#AA Route 5

[toxictoad]

The Geometry Anomaly twins from Route 5!

I was mostly joking when I said it was just the parent trap. The only real similarity is that they're twins that both go with one parent respectively.

Slightly more in-depth explanation of this Route under the cut :D

(Also @acerobot suggested that Juno have a princess scepter and that was such a good idea that it's what prompted me to draw this lol)

Nicknaming this route the division AU because I think I'm clever.

After the Breakup™️ Bill takes Juno with him to the Nightmare Realm. Ford keeps Quentin and is holding him when he gets portal-ed.

Canon progresses otherwise as normal, with the twins and their weird aging making them teenagers by the time Weirdmaggedon happens.

This Route gives me an AWESOME opportunity to contrast Bill and Ford's "parenting" styles.

Juno grows up getting basically everything she wants whenever she wants, as long as she also does what Bill tells her to. It's basically golden handcuffs as a parenting style. She's his little princess! His darling daughter who can do absolutely nothing wrong! Unless she tells him no. Juno grows up being told that Ford (and by extension Quentin) betrayed them, and that they need to use force to make them a "real family" again. She feeds on approval and outside validation, and cannot take genuine criticism at all. To Bill she's just an extension of himself, and so any deviation she makes is treated just as harshly as he would treat himself for it.

Quentin grows up being dragged across the multiverse with Ford, and while he's an objectively much better parent than Bill, he isn't... great. Quentin grows up less being parented and more being ordered around. He needs to listen to what his father tells him because they're trying to survive. He's just an addition to Ford's single-minded quest to defeat Bill and take Juno back. Chin up, soldier. We don't have time to be afraid when there's work to be done. He loves his son, but also he subscribes to the method of Emotional Repression™️. So Quentin doesn't value his emotions, and is even more stoic than he is in the other routes. He's convinced that if he just does everything right then people will love him, and nothing bad will happen (Of course he's wrong about this).

The thing about this route is that it's the only one where the twins aren't together, so they can't temper each other the way they usually would. Juno can't speak up for Quentin when he's being quiet, and Quentin can't calm down Juno when she's mad. They're both alone with one parent who is doing their best (Debatably, in Bill's case) and they feel like they're missing something without their twin. Juno can kind of check in on Ford and Quentin, but she's explicitly forbidden from contact with them. Quentin only knows about his sister from what Ford can tell him- which isn't much, considering that he hasn't seen her since she was less than a year old- and news about Bill and the Henchmaniacs, which obviously doesn't spark much optimism.

When Weirdmaggedon finally happens they end up on opposite sides. Quentin doesn't get captured with Ford, so Bill sends Juno to hunt him down.

They definitely fight, and Quentin wins, and tries to sway his sister over to their side. Now, I don't think this would go too well, but I do think that she would go along with it at first.

Cue a faux-redemption arc where Juno pretends to be a good person, and then actually becomes a good person. And then during the showdown in the Fearamid... there is a choice to be made. And she either has to save the rest of her family... or side with the demon who raised her.

And she chooses her family.

[good-beanswrites]

es should go through the blender but my finger is tired of holding down the button. so i shall pass the blender to you (with an es nui in it). do whatever you wish with them.

Oh why thank you :) I will take the blender gladly :) *Tosses some T2 angst into the blender* *adds a little bit of funky structure/style* *gives it a little pinch of headcanons* *and another pinch of random angst I got from ace attorney at 14 and never forgot* :) BBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Caretaker Log J.16.7.2

Summary – The Warden’s condition continues to worsen since last entry. All decline remains self-inflicted. 

J.16.7.2-M – Sleep deprivation has resulted in mood swings and irritability. Though denied by the Warden, extreme distress, melancholy, and laughter have been noted. They lash out verbally and physically toward the prisoners (1) only to apologize at a later time. Observations (2) result in speculation that hallucinations are another symptom. 

J.16.7.2-B – The Warden's obsession with notetaking remains steady, though most pages of planning are merely rewritten versions of earlier notes. Their nightly ritual has grown more rigorous: four cups of coffee ingested in the time between dinner and the kitchen’s closing. A fifth cup is brought back to the courtroom, where the Warden will once again sleep on the ground. (Refer to J.5.5.2.B for initial detail.) 

J.16.7.2-P – Sleep deprivation and/or caffeine intake has caused shakiness and overall weakness. They show severe eyebags and have not changed into nightclothes in several days. Though they wash themself and fresh civilian clothes have been provided, they insist on returning to the uniform. Motor skills (3) and computation abilities have suffered.

J.16.7.2-S – The Warden spends their days around the prisoners, but avoids participating in all necessary conversations and activities regardless of invitation (4). They limit speech to the Caretaker only about their denied request (5), though they can be coaxed into conversation when fatigue overtakes them.

(1) After 005 offered the Warden something to help with their sleep, they threw the pills to the ground and shouldered past with force; 008 attempted to read the Warden’s notes, and they slapped her hand away.

(2) Flinched away from 003 even when standing still; shocked expression at 004's face despite nothing out of the ordinary; looked nauseous and refused to eat fresh fruit from the dining hall; interrupted a conversation with 010 to listen to silence.

(3) Handwriting has grown nearly intelligible; dropped one of their coffee cups and nearly panicked at the subsequent breakage and spill.

(4) Left the room when 002 began setting up a game; ignored 001's encouragement to join him for a meal; refused to answer personal questions from 006; snapped at 007 when trying to begin a lighthearted conversation.

(5) Request submitted on 30.8.2 for padlocks to fit supply closet and cell doors.

Appendix. Subjective caretaker commentary – Poor kid. I’m glad it’ll all be over soon. 

[o-berriesandhotsauce]

having one of those nights where i wanna pick up every fanfic project i've left dormant..........

[hesbuckcompton-baby]

I'm Your Man - Robert 'Rosie' Rosenthal x OFC - Chapter 15

Masterlist | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 |-| Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19

AO3

Summary: When Rosie doesn't return from a mission, Frankie is forced to deal with the fallout

Warnings: ANGST. just so much. consider this a blanket warning for everything honestly

Word Count: 3.3k

Tags: @mads-weasley @xxluckystrike @curaheehee @footprintsinthesxnd @dcyllom @storysimp @latibvles @love-studying58 @justheretoreadthxxs @ginabaker1666

Files tucked beneath her arm, a cup of coffee in one hand, George strode along the halls of command, humming to herself as she went, the day as monotonous and ordinary as any other. Golden ponytail bouncing with each step, the route back to her desk was so familiar that her mind didn't even have to steer her, the movement utterly brainless as she passed Crosby's desk. Douglass stood talking with the navigator, the pair frowning in concern, but she didn't give them notice until she heard Harry speak.

"No word on Rosie, still. I'll call back in a while, see if he's made it back."

George's pace ceased so suddenly that her coffee sloshed over the side, a great brown puddle landing on the ground with an audible splatter. The two men turned to stare, frowns deepening.

"Aarons?" Croz asked, brow furrowed.

"What did you just say?" She asked.

"... I said Aa-"

"No. About Rosie. What did you just say?"

The men exchanged a wary glance, and Croz sucked in a long, deep breath.

"Rosie's plane didn't make it back with the others. We don't know if-"

That was all she needed to know. George discarded everything she'd been carrying upon Crosby's desk in a single, frantic movement, the last of her coffee spilling droplets across whatever map he had currently been working on. He let out a yelp of protest, but she was already gone, heel almost skidding against the polished floor as she made a dash for the exit, sunlight stinging her eyes after so many hours hunched over a typewriter.

Frankie. Frankie. Frankie.

The thought ran on a ceaseless loop, too panicked to even conjure a whole sentence. But she needed to find Frankie - now. Before anyone else could. If the news came from anyone but her, who knew how much worse the damage could be. George hadn't the time to think before she burst into a sprint, almost skidding against the gravel several times as her mad dash carried her towards the hardstand, sweat drenching her hair brown by the time she arrived.

Her heart was beating out of her chest, breath coming to her in quick, ragged bursts, chest heaving. Lemmons had spotted her the moment she approached, expression already contorted in a miserable scowl, rubbing the grease from his hands with a tattered old rag.

"George-"

"Where's Frankie?"

"She's working on one of the ATS trucks. But George, Rosie's-"

"I know," She uttered, barely more than an exhausted huff as she broke into a run yet again, heartbeat pounding so hard she could barely hear anything else.

The ATS depot was deathly silent as she arrived, the scene almost unnerving. There was not another person in sight, everyone else off on the day's supply runs. As for Frankie, she stood bent over the engine of one of the remaining trucks, one hand propped against the hood to keep it upright, muttering to herself as she tinkered and tweaked, her other hand lazily wrapped in a rag to keep the first away as she poked around inside. George's thundering footsteps pittered to a stop just behind her, fighting to breathe again, desperate to regain some composure before she had to deliver the news.

Frankie never glanced up, assuming the new arrival to simply be another ATS worker. "Yeah, I think it's a problem with the valve - I'll have to get a new spring," She mused, eyes narrowed.

"Frankie," George urged, voice coming in little more than a croak. Frankie paused then. As time had gone on, she'd stopped making sure she was on the tarmac the second Rosie's plane touched down. If there was another pressing job to do, she could get it done and find him after interrogation, so sure had the pair of them became that he would always make it back. After all, he'd returned from fifty-one missions - would else could say that? She'd gotten too comfortable, too complacent in the knowledge of his competency. And now she was paying the price.

Turning to look at George, red-faced and panting, tears in her eyes, Frankie felt her blood run cold. Instantly she was back in the mechanics' hut, more than a year ago now, opening her arms to George as the news of Curt's death arrived. The situation seemed so eerily similar all of a sudden, that her first instinct was to ask after Blakely. Even with Everett safely on the ground, it somehow seemed more plausible that something had happened to him than it did Rosie - the idea that Rosie of all people hadn't made it back didn't even cross her mind at first.

"... George?"

George swallowed hard, blinking away the tears that were forming. Her mouth had gone utterly dry, the act of speaking tearing painfully at her throat.

"Frankie... Rosie's plane didn't make it back."

She didn't flinch, eyes glassy, gaze fixed on some invisible midpoint, never quite settling on anything real.

"Did his chute go up?"

"We don't know."

George had expected her to cry - to let out one of those terrible sobs, or even to empty the contents of her stomach onto the ground below like she had when Egan had gone down. She'd expected her to fall apart, to make it messy and loud.

Her silence was so much worse.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Frankie was floating - the feeling of her feet rooted against the ground suddenly ebbing away, as if she had broken free from her body and began to slip upwards out of her own skull. She could hear nothing save for the thumping of her heartbeat, the sudden swell of blood leaving a prickling sensation in her fingers, as if her hands were being stabbed at by a dozen tiny needles, burying beneath the skin at the softest parts of her. Any colour that remained to her had drained from her face, skin left a cadaverish grey as her mouth gaped open, any and all moisture sapped from her throat until every breath felt like sandpaper scraping against raw flesh.

George was trying to speak - she could see her lips moving, yet no sound permeated her thoughts. What was she saying? It didn't matter. How could it? If it couldn't bring Rosie back, it wasn't worth a damn thing.

Screwing up the rag in her hand, Frankie tossed it blindly into the open engine of the truck she'd been working on. She moved past without a word, shoulder brushing against George's as she began to walk away, relying on her body to move her feet, trusting it was working even when she couldn't feel the press of gravel beneath her. She couldn't feel anything. It would've been terrifying, but that was a feeling too.

"Frankie-" George croaked, but with a lift of Frankie's hand she was silent, jaw snapping shut, eyes red with tears as she watched her best friend leave, overwhelmed by the unknown. Because she simply couldn't say that Rosie was dead. But she couldn't say he was alive either. And that was worse, in a way - its own unique form of torture.

The hut was empty, an eerie silence hanging over it as Frankie entered, letting the door swing shut with a creak behind her, not even bothering to lock it. She closed her eyes, taking a long, deep breath and letting it seep outwards again, the pain in her throat still tender. Everything here was unchanged. How could everything look the same? How could something so fundamentally shift within her, yet the world outside remained exactly as it was? It almost didn't seem real. Here, in the same old hut, the one Rosie had never been allowed to enter, it seemed easy to pretend nothing outside of these metal walls had happened. He'd never permeated this space, so his absence didn't leave the hole it did everywhere else.

But then there were the poppies.

Tucked inside that battered old book George had given her years ago, which sat as ever on the nightstand, the edge of one of the pressed flowers peeked into the light, a tiny glimpse of red against the aged, yellow pages. It had been the best part of a year since the day he'd given them to her, but in this preserved state they'd never lost their colour, as bright as the day she'd first seen them.

Striding towards her bed, Frankie stopped just before it, flicking open the battered cover. Seeing the flowers there, scattered atop one another like they always were, flicked some kind of switch within her. A terrible scream left her, batting the book with one hand as it went spinning across the room, the fragile flowers scattering in all directions. An anguished sob ripped through her chest as she felt her strength leave her, collapsing against the bed as she fought for a breath. Egan's jacket was still hanging over the end of the bed frame. It wasn't cold here, but she put it on anyway, zipping it up as far as it would go as she tucked her chin into the collar, inhaling the smell of old cigarettes that had never gone away.

When her mother had died, had her father felt like this? If so, it was a miracle he'd lived this long.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Snow stuck to his eyelashes, freezing air battering his cheeks, and Rosie wailed through gritted teeth as one of the Soviet soldiers helped him up into the back of a truck, his arm sending shockwaves of agony rippling through his body. He wasn't quite sure where he was - even less sure where he was going. If he considered every single problem the situation posed, his mind might have crumbled in on itself. So instead, he thought of only one.

"I - I need to get back as soon as I can," He stammered, the cold chattering his teeth so fiercely that it was difficult to even speak. "My - my wife, she's waiting for me... She's a mechanic at the airfield - sh-she won't know what's happened," Rosie pleaded, receiving nothing but blank stares from his surrounding company. Either they didn't understand a word he was saying, or they simply didn't care - both options struck him as equally fair.

Everyone had a wife waiting at home, someone they wanted desperately to return to - what difference did his make to anything?

But it was Frankie. Frankie made all the difference in the world. They'd understand if they'd only met her - seen her smile, heard her laugh. Or at least, they would in Rosie's mind. Because how could someone meet Frankie and move on? How could she not become the centre of one's world?

He'd called her his wife without even thinking about it. The word felt at home on his tongue.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Crosby glanced up as a knock sounded against the doorframe. George never stepped into the room, merely hovered in the hallway, coffee steaming in her hand, tiredness tugging at her features. "Any word?" She asked.

He shook his head. "No."

She took a deep breath, nodding as she turned away, and he listened to her footsteps echo down the hall until she was gone. Passing through the next room, she brushed by Blakely's desk without so much as a glance, and his gaze followed her with a mournful frown until he couldn't stand to let her take another step alone.

"George," Everett breathed, pushing himself up from his seat. She trudged so slowly that he scarcely had to make an effort to catch up, and with a gentle hand on her back, he guided her swiftly around the corner, out of view of their coworkers.

"Hey. Hey," He cooed, cupping her jaw with both hands so that she'd meet his eye, her expression awash with exhaustion. "Baby, c'mon."

"It's been a week," George sighed. "She's not getting better. If anything, it's just getting worse."

"She's still up there?"

"Yeah."

The morning after the Riveters had gone down, Frankie had packed up her personal effects and rented out the hotel room above the pub that she and Rosie used to spend the night in. She was yet to come out. When George tried to visit, sometimes she'd let her in, but sometimes she'd simply be left out in the hall, talking through a locked door, desperate for a response. She wasn't going to work. She wasn't showing up in the mess hall to eat. The room itself was mercifully cheap, but nevertheless, if she persisted to occupy it, she'd run out of money eventually.

"... Call her dad," Blakely said.

George considered this. "Yeah. You're right he should - he should be here. But I dunno how I can get him to come, he can't drive with his leg, and he's got the kids to look after, and-"

She had begun to ramble. He pressed his forehead against hers, taking in one deep breath after another until she joined in, breathing in synch until she felt her heartbeat slow.

"I'll drive. You stay with the kids. It's alright."

"But we've got so much work to-"

"George," He spoke firmly. "It's alright."

She sighed, nodding, the faintest of smiles beginning to manifest. "Yeah... Love you."

"Love you."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The bed sheets were pulled up over her head, isolating her from the sunlight that peeked through the curtains as Frankie lay curled up on her side, picking at the hem of her blanket until it frayed. The room was beginning to smell. Well - not beginning. It had passed that point yesterday. But she hadn't noticed, or just simply didn't care. She didn't care about much of anything, not if it wouldn't bring Rosie back.

A firm knock sounded at the door. Frankie threw the sheet off, squinting in the light as she stared, hoping the sound - and whoever was causing it - would go away.

Another knock.

She huffed, calling out. "George, I don't-"

"Come on, petal."

There was that voice - that warm, grumbling, wonderful voice that took her back to her childhood whenever she heard it - to curling up in her father's lap and pretending to fall asleep so that he'd carry her to bed, to Christmases and birthdays at a two-person table, singing and laughing like they were the only two people in the entire world worth being with.

Frankie was in tears before she'd even opened the door.

No matter how tall she grew, he was always overwhelmingly huge, arms like tree trunks as she threw herself into his embrace, staggering out into the hallway. The relief was immediate, his soft shushing blowing warm breath against her scalp as gentle hands stroked her hair and squeezed her tight. He herded her back into the room without her even realising, closing the door behind them with the slightest of clicks.

"Blimey. What's all this then?" Her father breathed, surveying the state of the place. Clothes were tossed over every available surface, save for the ones that were littered with empty cups and food wrappers, every single thing dropped without any intention of ever being picked up again.

Frankie sniffed, wiping her face with the back of her hand as she glanced around. She hadn't noticed how bad it had gotten, hadn't broken out of her trance for even a second long enough to realise that she was rotting here. Her father pushed the window as far open as it would go, and she blinked at the feeling of fresh air on her face.

"Sit down, then," He nodded, and she did as he asked without a second thought, perching on the edge of the bed, hands pressed together, squeezed between her legs like an anxious child. His huge, calloused hands reached for her, tucking hair behind each ear until her face was in full view. "There we go."

The bedframe creaked beside her as he sat down, the entire mattress shifting beneath his weight, the silent feeling of presence infinitely more comforting than anything else she could imagine.

"I don't know what I'm doing," She confessed. "... What did you do? When mum died."

Her father sucked in a breath, closing his eyes for a moment as if picturing the woman whose face Frankie could only recall from photographs.

"...I got on. My Hazel was... the second-best person I've ever met. But she gave me the first," His arm wrapped around her, squeezing her shoulder so tightly she had no choice but to lean in, resting her head against him. "It felt like everything was supposed to stop. But the morning after she died you still woke me up at three in the bloody morning, screaming your head off 'n all. And the next morning, and the next. Everything kept going, and you needed me more than ever - and you were so tiny that I never wanted to put you down for a second, I just wanted to look after you forever."

He beamed down at her, and she choked out something between a sob and a laugh as he continued. "I moved your cot into my room, and I'd just sit there and watch you sleep for hours. I couldn't sleep, so I made sure I'd be there the second you woke up, so you'd never have to cry... You find something that needs you. Even if that something happens to be the littlest bundle of trouble you've ever seen-" She squirmed as he dug a finger into her side, letting out a giggle. "- you find something else. Or someone."

Frankie sniffed. "I don't think any-"

"Don't give me any bullshit, now. Those planes fly 'cause of you - the ones that make it back make it back because of you. And if you can't do that, do something smaller. George needs you."

"George doesn't need me-"

"George is sittin' on the living room floor at home playing dominoes with Jill right now, just so I could be here. You think that girl doesn't need you? You need her - why wouldn't it be the same the other way? When you started tellin' me about her in your letters, I thought 'Oh brilliant, she's found a nice bloke to look after her, all's right with the world'. Now, it turned out she wasn't a bloke - just a funny nickname - but I was bloody right about the rest, eh?"

Now she let herself smile, biting back another sob as she nodded, lips parted in the best grin she could muster.

"Dad," Frankie croaked. "... I was gonna marry him."

"I know. Course you were. But you'll marry someone else - or you won't. I didn't. D'you think my life hasn't been worth it in a million other ways?" He asked. She shook her head.

"We're gonna get up. We're gonna clean up all this shit. You're gonna come home for a couple days and then you're gonna get back to it, yeah?"

Her father rose to her feet, brow raised expectantly as he awaited a reply. Frankie sniffed, nodding as she wiped the tears from her cheeks with both hands.

"Yeah. Yeah."

He had already begun to gather up the litter before she could even stand, calling back over his shoulder. "And you're gonna give George a hug for me."

She let out a burst of laughter, feeling tears well in her eyes all over again. "Always," Frankie affirmed, chuckling. "... Dad?"

"Yes, m'love?"

"... Love you."

Her father stood up straight, turning to face her, a sympathetic smile creasing his perpetually reddened cheeks.

"Love you more."

The realisation that Rosie was no longer the last person she'd said those words to almost knocked her backwards, swiping the breath from her lungs.

But then she steadied herself, fists clenched.

"Love you most."

[ms-demeanor]

(remaking the post because you can't edit polls and i gave the wrong options)

Alright I'm registering for classes and someone needs to talk me out of doing stupid shit but I'm unsure of what shit is stupidest.

Winter term:

I just finished an 8-week photo class that ended up being a huge investment in time just to go and shoot. However that was introductory photography and there is a 6-week intermediate photography class over winter term. I am signed up for photography. (Elective option for AA in Visual Arts)

There is also a 6-week introductory python course over winter term that I am signed up for and will be taking. I'm solid on that one, as long as I pass my C# class this term I'm going to be taking Python for 6 weeks at the beginning of the year.

Spring term:

College Chemistry Saturday class. 7am to 12pm for sixteen weeks. Lab and lecture; this school doesn't offer any chem classes that are after standard 9-5 hours during the regular week or that can be taken even partially online. Pretty sure I'm going to be stuck with this one and am configuring the rest of my schedule around being *less* miserable because of this class.

Survey of Western Art - Online, seems like a gimme. Does have a textbook but not one that I'm going to pay for. (Required for AA in Visual Arts)

2-Dimensional Design - Online, seems fun and like a gimme, Free/No textbook. (Required for AA in Visual Arts)

Object-Oriented Programming - Online, seems difficult, expensive textbook. Will probably be very necessary if I end up going down a more CS/tech path. Probably going to force myself to take this class.

Java Programming - Online, seems not unapproachable, expensive textbook. I don't particularly wanna but my school offers really limited options for computer science and I want to get what I can out of it before I go somewhere else.

Rationale for these weird combinations:

I'm applying as a nursing student at three schools and a biochem student at one of those schools (nutrition programs are apparently only for first-time students; 2nd Bachelor's applications are a lot more limited. I could apply to major in Francophone Studies at one of the schools though). Supposing I get accepted, these classes certainly won't hurt my status at any school that accepts me and the chemistry class is going to be really really necessary. This is the "i give a fuck about nutrition science and also directly helping people" path and if I go this way I'm interested in NP programs down the line. LOTS more school of the serious "I can't work and do this kind of school at the same time" variety.

If I *don't* get accepted to the programs I'm applying to, I'm going to go to a different community college and start working on a couple of AS degrees in computer junk (network admin and security management, computer and networking technology) and get some computer junk certs. I don't think I want/need a BS in compute science, this is the "practical" route of "I could finish this stuff pretty easily and continue working in a field where I have a lot of connections and familiarity with the industry but I am indifferent about a lot of it (pretty passionate about security and accessibility tho). Also allows me to keep working while I just churn school in the background, and all of the computer classes are transferable between the two schools.

Art classes: I think having multiple degrees is funney. I am currently 5 classes away from an AA in visual arts, at the end of this term I will be 4 classes away; if I take all the classes here and can take an elective over the summer I'll have a degree in visual arts. (There is a reasonable possibility that I'll continue taking bullshit classes behind the scenes to get silly degrees regardless of what happens otherwise)

Pretty sure the sensible thing is to drop *at least* photography and survey of western art and also possibly Java and 2D design. I'm somewhat concerned that if my spring term is just Saturday chem and object oriented programming I will start biting things.

So:

[alexa-nowak]

One of my old texts from YouTube arguments about Astarion endings

I am not that invested in this discourse nowadays because I lost hope to change anyone's opinion and also, I am simply tired from dealing with toxic bs that I am getting as a response to some of my old comments on YT to this day. My favourites are those who will reply to my every comment to say how delulu I am and I probably just dreaming about being in a toxic relationships myself, while being unable to understand that people have their own ways to heal through art and that throwing poison on people like that is not helpful at all.

I will leave it there and funny enough, I am not even so much of AA fan, I just don't like people being ignorant and rude.

And I like writing essays, so here it is.

So, what this dark romance fantasy is about for me personally,(even though i prefer spawn romance, i absolutely understand the appeal of A!Astarion because honestly, i was all about this kind of romance during my childhood and teenage years, hardocore the Phantom of the Opera girl is here, inside your head 💀), and why it's also healing route for some players,and no, it's not about kinky vampiric banging.

1)A lot of people feel extremely worthless and insecure, lonely, like no one really cares for them at all. It's a very deep wound that hurts and it's difficult to overcome even in perfectly loving, healthy and supportive relationship with a good partner,and even with therapy. So fantasy about a vampire, being obsessed with you so much that he is ready to do absolutely anything just to be with you for forever is really comforting. Also,you don't have to think too much about your imperfections, because for him you like a center of his vampire heart.

Besides, you sympathise with him - it's like a selfcomfort mirror, i love this monster despite everything, so in a way, i accept myself despite any flaws i see in me.

2) Safety. When the world around you feel like a wilderness, full of monsters, it feels like only the most terrifying loving monster can protect you from it. He is powerful and protective, and i am so precious to him, that he will set the world on fire just so i would be safe.

3) Responsibility. As you may see, this kind of relationship have daddy issues vibes and codependency, and in real life, you can't just fully submit safely to anyone, I don't think i have to explain why it's a dangerous idea to seek this kind of relationships in real life. You have to stay a grown up independent person and seek safety for yourself without expecting someone to come and heal all your wounds. But this is fantasy, so finally you can use this as a comfort fantasy with no fear about being taking advantage of, without shame to be called childish and etc.

4) Independence. Spawn ending is very terrifying for anyone who has issues with feeling safe and independent, because some of us prefer violent power fantasies over "we have each other and that's all that matters", second of all, this ending also has some shady co-dependency undertone to it that can be triggering for some people. I love Spawn Astarion a little bit more more than Asc and yet my heart stayed absolutely broken after running away from the sun scene, and i hate that he is so dependent on Tav. Larian owes me some emotional refund after this.

5)SA trauma: it wasn't even seen as a possibility for healing way by writer, but it is for some.Asc Astarion feels like he is the most powerful creature in the world,and he is fully controlling everything that happens between him and Tav,so finally, it's a kind of situation where there is no chance of him being abused again. It's one of the reasons why some people become Doms in BDSM dynamic relationships: finally, full control of the process and a partner, who trusts then enough to fully submit, trust issues is also big deal in Astarion story of healing. I find idea that that only Subs can enjoy Asc Astarion a little bit naive. Because,well, some news for you: Doms like it too because they understand why he is so eager to be a top

Unrealistic, not the healthiest way? Probably! But this man and this love is not real anyway.

Yes, i think many of us, especially folks who went through therapy and a lot of self reflecting are already aware that it's basically romanticized version of narcissistic obsession and in real life this is creepy, but it's not real, it's a fantasy. People use BDSM to heal, romance books and all other forms of art to deal with their inner demons and it's absolutely normal. Even if someone is blind to see what is wrong with Asc Astarion, I highly doubt that toxic bucket of shame and aggression are able to help see anyone problematic side of things. Do you know who is usually up to romanticize toxic dynamic in romance? Victims of abuse. In real life, if you just scream and yell at any poor girl/boy/whatever about how stupid they are for believing that their abusive partner really loves them, people will either break down and cry or tell you to f#ck off and they will have every right to do so, but they won't see what's wrong with their partner,in whom quite often victims of abuse see their only source of love and safety in life.

Hells, I am so sick and tired from this "white cloak knight saviour from cycle of abuse" toxic flood in this fandom. If you really want to educate people - do it with extreme care and compassion. Real life healing is not working like it's with Astarion in the game,few right dialogs and boom, dude is on the right path.

It takes enormous amount of patience and love, be kind to one another, and stay safe, darlings. Being toxic on Asc fans you are not helping anyone, you just hitting your superiority complex button in your ass.

[tobiasdrake]

AA 4-1, Turnabout Trump, is the best opening case in the history of Ace Attorney. Bar none.

(To be fair, 1-1 and 2-1 fucking spoil the killer for you in their opening cinematic because they think new players are stupid and 5-1... 5-1 makes me shake with homicidal fury at the shit it pulled. So the competition isn't very steep.)

4-1 had the unenviable task of breaking the audience in to a brand new status quo. Seven years after the events of the original trilogy, we have to introduce our new protagonist Apollo Justice. The easy way to do this would be to have Apollo sign up to work for Phoenix and then have Phoenix mentor him.

Screw you, let's get fucking crazy, PHOENIX IS A HOBO and his law career is DEAD. Oh, and he's not the mentor. He's the defendant. Buuuuut he's also still the mentor because he's smooth now.

Incredibly bold of them to go this route. They had to have known that players weren't going to like this. Phoenix's law career ended in disgrace five minutes after Trials and Tribulations ended!? He's been fucking disbarred for seven years!? WHAT!?

What do you mean he has a daughter!? What!?

And she's a precious cinnamon roll!? What!?

WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S OLD ENOUGH TO DRIVE IT'S ONLY BEEN SEVEN YEARS YOU ARE FUCKING WITH ME NOW FOR FUN

This case took a sledgehammer to the Ace Attorney status quo. This was a huge gamble. People don't like it when you tell them that their favorite characters promptly got kicked in the nuts after the credits rolled last time. They like the idea that everything worked out and it was great. And they riot if you tell them otherwise.

Did it pay off? Uh.

In terms of reception? No. Everybody hates this game. It offended the AA fandom on a deep and visceral level.

But me, I love it. I think this kickstarted an interesting shift in the core identity of Ace Attorney. And the biggest mistake they made was going back on it.

And it starts here with this magnificent bastardry of a scheme.

Phoenix does fill in the mentorship role for Apollo in our Tutorial to Ace Attorney case, but it's... twisted. Because Apollo is apprenticing under a professional attorney and close personal friend of Phoenix's, Kristoph Gavin - But Phoenix has made the curious decision to request Apollo's representation over Kristoph's.

That's not to say that Apollo's doing this entirely alone, as Gavin pitches in to lend his struggling protege some mentorship on the job.

But that's the trick. Phoenix has, throughout his career, successfully identified murderers among various witnesses, two prosecutors, and two investigating cops. But this unique setup allows him to do battle with a defense attorney. His own defense attorney, at that.

(He hasn't had to pin down a judge yet but HO-HO he will get to that in two games' time!)

There's shades of 2-4 buried in 4-1. So much so that they even cite the main theme of Justice For All while they're at it.

Literally what Justice For All is about. Dare I say... Apollo Justice for All?

2-4 fractured the relationship of trust that exists between attorney and client, that the trilogy is built upon. So much of the series is about believing in your client and giving your all to their defense, and 2-4 took a crowbar to that case by asking, "What if the client is untrustworthy?"

4-1 sets the stage for the new status quo by introducing the opposite question: What if the attorney is untrustworthy?

This isn't the kind of question that an AA game asks. It's... unsettling, given the franchise's romanticized view of defense law. The notion leaves an ominous discontentment that can be difficult to place, and sets the stage for what will become known as the Dark Age of the Law.

And yet, this is the kind of over-the-top legal nonsense that can only emerge from the realm of Ace Attorney storytelling, which does not give a fuck. A murder has been committed with Phoenix in the crossfire, and he has successfully created a scenario where the killer is not only in the courtroom, but is defending him in court.

Well. His protege is, anyway. Phoenix was very careful not to allow his representation to fall directly into Kristoph's hands, after all. Instead, he takes Apollo under his own wing instead.

What gets me about Phoenix and Kristoph's relationship is that Kristoph is genuine about wanting to help Phoenix.

We've seen plenty of murderer frame-ups throughout the series, and even one case of a murderer entering the courtroom as a defense attorney to ensure their fall-gal gets convicted.

Kristoph isn't planning that. Rather, he has a different target in mind that he can pin this murder to. His relationship with Phoenix is much too professionally valuable to let Phoenix go down like this.

As with 2-4, we have a perfectly adequate suspect to accuse in the defendant's place. A reasonable case could be made for Olga Orly's complicity instead of Phoenix's. Phoenix could go free by letting the wrong person be convicted.

But he's going to shoot the moon instead.

And he's going to do it, he's going to defeat the untrustworthy attorney, by putting his faith in a trustworthy attorney instead. The same way he defeated an untrustworthy client years ago.

4-1 has met with some criticism for the way so much of this comes down to Phoenix vs. Kristoph, with Apollo relying so heavily on following Phoenix's breadcrumbs. But for me, that works fine. Phoenix can light the course but it still falls to Apollo to navigate it, and that works for me as Apollo's very first case in his career.

After all, Mia leaned on Diego plenty in her first case. And Phoenix leaned on Mia a lot throughout the entire original trilogy. This case serves as Apollo's introduction to the Wright method and its unconventional approach, as Phoenix makes sure that special attention is paid to the kind of small details that unraveled prosecutions in his own time.

Ultimately, Apollo is as much a part of this as Phoenix is. None of this would work without him. We see him torn between his mentor and his hero as Kristoph realizes what Phoenix intends, and the jaws of the trap begin to close around him.

But ultimately, Kristoph's presence in this room leaves him cornered like a rat in a cage. Phoenix already saw to that.

Thus, one mentorship is fractured beyond repair while another is forged in iron. Phoenix even finds a moment to squeeze in foreshadowing for the final confrontation in 4-4.

This is such a fantastic introduction to the new status quo of post-timeskip Ace Attorney. It hints at the darkness inherent to the new world of law following Phoenix's disbarment, while also building the relationship between our next-generation hero and his predecessor, and serving it up alongside the maddest gambit ever to hit the courtroom of Ace Attorney.

And Also Payne is nearby but who gives a shit. XD

The prosecutor is less relevant in this case than any other in AA history. He just stands there uselessly at his booth and watches Phoenix's masterpiece unfold.

That this helpless performance is Winston's swan song, to be replaced by Gaspen in future games, is just the icing on the cake. So long, Winston. You won't be missed.

[voiidegg]

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR AA: DUAL DESTINIES UNDER THE CUT :D

i finished the game this morning, i’m on 5 hours of sleep, i stayed up all night playing it because i got way too invested.

NOT ONCE. NOT ONCE DID I SUSPECT THAT IDIOT OF A DETECTIVE. IT WAS ONLY UNTIL THE VERY LAST MINUTE THAT I REALISED. i felt absolutely sick to my stomach when i realised. i don’t even know why i trusted him so much, i literally thought he was just irrelevant to everything. there were NO HINTS. my brain absolutely HURT

hell, even I HAD DOUBTS about athena. i thought perhaps the murder was just a huge mistake. i figured out that athena must have been the one to put her mothers body on the operating table because she would think it could fix her, but i was in the dark about everything else. the MINUTE athena talked about blood getting on the handle, i knew it couldn’t have been her, i was so relieved.

i cannot begin to tell you the absolute CHILLS i got when miles revealed that the real bobby fulbright is DEAD. and had been for a year. that was the most chilling thing i’ve heard in this franchise so far and i don’t even know why it got to me so much. i think it was the thought of how the real fulbright had family, and nobody confirmed his death for a whole year, so that family was wondering where he had gone. it hit me right in the feels cuz personal experience :,) i don’t even know if that fact is true, it’s just something i thought of.

this case was absolutely amazing. usually i (and i’m sure many others) can figure out the culprit just before the final trial, but i was left in the dark for so long. even when that cctv image of the phantom showed up, i knew it had to be somebody we already knew, because why would they introduce a new person so late into a case? so i looked at every profile hard, AND WHEN I GOT TO FULBRIGHT’S, I RULED HIM OUT, SIMPLY BECAUSE I COULDNT LINK HIM TO THE MURDER 7 YEARS AGO. i was at such a loss on who it could have been.

and then, the one statement aura had after establishing the escape route. and i froze. this is by far the best case in the franchise, i couldnt stop playing even if i wanted to. there were so many bone chilling moments, like the emotions overload from blackquill, the NO emotions from the phantom, the messing around with emotions from him, finding out who he was posing as, him getting straight up sniped in the courtroom, apollo questioning athena.

and GOD SPEAKING OF APOLLO the way he just suffered alone i cAANTT ugghh. and poor athena… she was just a kid T^T

also i revoke my previous statement about blackquill. he’s a good guy. can be annoying, but he’s good at heart. i enjoyed his character in the end. i can’t imagine how furious he must have been when his phantom of 7 years was right under his nose the entire time. blackquill did everything to protect athena and i found it so endearing, i love what they have, it’s so sweet. i think i just need to learn to give prosecutors a chance, because i always dislike them until the finale, then when their motives are revealed, i see sense and i like them.

i was so angry i didn’t get to see the phantom’s face, but after sleeping on it i’ve realised that’s actually better than seeing his face. i dunno it just feels more right for his true face to mean nothing.

so, to conclude my ramble, what a game. so worth me staying up all night til 10am for :] i don’t think anything can top that, but i’ll be pleasantly surprised if it happens

i may follow up this post with some video reactions i clipped, we’ll see :D

[rui-drawsbox]

halo halo this might be out of blue but may i ask how’d you fall in love w Baxter? I wanna hear the story of like how you started to like him if you don’t mind sharing . tysm!!and i love all your artworks!!!!

AGHHHHHHH i was about to go to sleep but healty schedules are overrated. Take a sit cuz this is gonna be LONG bc i dont know how to get to the point (jump right to the end to get the 3 lines resume lmao)

if you ask me why i like right now: he's a dramatic loser. But that was when i finally understood his character! you wouldn't be surprised if tell you that i'm an idiot right? i'm super slow to read between lines and understand people, that applies to fictional characters too lmao (+add that english isn't my first language) So! at first i didn't actually understood what was going on with -well- anything :D.

Took me a few playthroughs to actually understand the game in general, i started to play before step 4 was out so all i could do was play and replay different ways to fall in love with Cove (starting to crush at step3 was my fav) but tbh he was never my *type*, Derek was interesting but just bc he like us by default. Even after playing his dlc i felt like he was just a really good friend (which was kinda weird bc to this point i've just played his romantic route). So, what's different with Baxter?

To begin with! he's... he's....... huhh my first impression wasn't actually strong tbh, i was like "huh new guy to date yay". I didn't actually understood his character the first few playthroughs ngl. I started in fond ofc to get into the dlc but *I* was pretty indifferent, probably in Drinks where we finally see Morning Baxter was that i said "oh shit he's cute" and cuteness+gapmoe is enough to make me fall for any character tbh.

But! that was not enough to provoke a brainrot like this right? i'm the "Oh i love this *forgets about in a week*" type. What sealed the deal (badum tss) was probably bc of the fandom? Once i was done replaying the dlc 5 times in a row i went straight to tumblr to feed of headcanons, fanarts and fanfics. My favorite way to understand a character is thru the fandom tbh, my favs are the long aa essays talking about a character personality.

Long story short, he was dramatic troubled flirty gap-moe guy (my fictional type, coincidentally) with an excellent storyline. I still wasn't 100% into him but he was top1 romatic choice for me (sorry Cove and Derek, love ya but platonically), so i made 2 fanarts for his dlc in may and let the hype die... only for 6 months otherwise we wouldn't be here, would we?

AH-HA-HEM the day 28th of november, beginnings of summer, i went out in the morning to do some errands with my mom, we stopped to buy vegetables in our way home and she bought a small watermelon bc i love them. That same afternoon i was eating it and thought "watermelons are finally here, summer it's officially here!" and got struck with Olba memories like a sleeper agent. (made a minicomic abt that, that's why i have the exact date lol) SO i replayed the game again, reading everything again, and oh boy i finally understood so many things, one of those things was Baxter himself!

A lot of stuff made sense once i actually took the time to comprehend his character with the information i gained out of the game (mainly all the asks ppl sent to gb). Add the way that i always played like *me* on my first playthroughs of anything and then you'll notice why he hit me so hard, it felt like i wasn't giving him enough credit before dasjkfas.

Tbh his dlc is my fav bc it has such a strong storyline, you get to know him and his insecurities thru all step 3, and have a lot of sweet moments too! (and that night goodbye?? omg it hits me so hard bc it's right after the ending song) and because step 4 it's right after you go with all the fresh memories of your summer together and seeing him so cold towards you it's so painful but also so funny because HA I CAN SEE THRU YOUR FACADE YOU STILL LIKE ME HAHAHA and i finally knew the perfect word for him: loser.

Anyways i also did a deep dive in the Olba and Baxter Ward tag here in tumblr and eat pretty much everything, also helped me to get a better grasp for all the little details i didn't noticed before bc haha i told you im an idiot?

sO yeah i made a few drawings of my Mc interacting with the characters, surprisingly it got a lot of attention from the fandom so i made a few more and when i noticed i was deep into the brainrot and i wasn't able to draw anything besides my Ruri and Baxter being cute lmao

Funfact. Ruri is a variation of Rui (duh) that i used in games when i didn't feel like i wanted to be called my name directly, now that she expropriated me of that name i use Ruru, i'm so creative right?

Long story short: it was mix of the game itself, fandom content and people actually liking my oc content. The fandom is super welcoming with everyone's oc's i love that akjdlfhask

ajksdfhasjk WOAH THAT IS SO LONG i def went over the top didnt i? I tried to explain my train of thought and fill the spaces where my memory is blurry with stuff i think i would've thought at the moment, it's also 3am so im- not entirely here tbh hjadfhkj

ANYWAYS THANKYOU ANON FOR LETTING ME RAMBLE I LOVE TALKING TO NO ONE IN SPECIFIC ABOUT THE THINGS I LOVE LOVE YAA<333

[navcommrelay]

JUNO 1-1

Operation: TOUCHDOWN LZ JUNO Battle Report

First Deployment: 0600 Hours

Drop Pod Near Objective  1st Wave (0600 hrs)

SWMC Alpha Lance 

SWMC Bravo Lance

2nd Wave (0630 hrs)

SWMC Bravo Lance Auxiliary (Fire Moth, Elementals)

Objectives: Alpha Lance: Deploy directly to target zone “MADELEINE,” eliminate any local garrison elements and await support. Bravo Lance: Deploy behind and support Alpha Lance, assist with cleanup on any remaining garrison elements, then coordinate fire with Alpha to disable or destroy all non-capital-class AA targets. 

DropShip Deployment at Primary LZ

CFRI 1C Beta Lance

CFRI 2C Alpha Lance

CFRI Angel-4, Angel-5, Angel-6

Objectives:

Alpha Lance: Make landfall at LZ JUNO. Secure drop site. Disperse into surrounding forest / highlands and sweep for contacts utilizing reconnaissance equipment.

Beta Lance: Make landfall at LZ JUNO. Hold position within 100 meters of clear drop point and ensure no hostile forces threaten LZ.

Angel Element: Mid-flight deployment during reentry. Break away from DropShip wing and proceed north towards SWMC Alpha / Bravo. Neutralize any active enemy air elements en route, conduct bombing run against primary capital-class AA targets to secure near-orbital space.

After-Action Report:

SWMC Alpha and SWMC Bravo lances made planetfall on schedule into a curtain of enemy anti-aircraft fire. No casualties on descent. One Drop Pod struck by LRM surface artillery, but damage minimal. OpFor presence at installations limited to a single Level II armored formation at the target. Armor engaged and Anti-Air defense infrastructure targeted at distance. SWMC Forces continued to engage for several hours following the initial drop. Both lances suffered moderate damage, leaving Alpha 2 and 3, and Bravo 3, 4 and 5 below standard performance. Anti-Aircraft Missile batteries targeted with ARAD LRM fire, opening nearby airspace for CFRI Angel Squadron. Objectives complete, awaiting reinforcement and resupply to push to target “HERA.”  Engaged and Destroyed: 1x Prowler IFV (3140) 1x Black Blizzard IFV 1x Fury III MBT 1x Burke C3i (Heavy PPC) 2x Zephyr C3i 6x Heavy Air Defense Turret  Damage and Losses: All Units - Armor and external damage Alpha 2 - 2 Jump Jets (RT), Lower Leg Actuator (LL), significant internal damage (RT, LL) Alpha 3 - Shoulder (LA), Lower Arm Actuator (LA), significant internal damage (LA) Bravo 3 - ER Medium Laser (LA), ER Micro Laser (LT), significant internal damage (LA, LT) Bravo 4 - ER Medium Laser (HD), moderate internal damage (HD, RT), Pilot injury (Treated) Bravo 5 - minor internal damage (RL)

CFRI 2nd Company Alpha Lance Swept a one-klick radius of LZ for enemy contacts. Two targets neutralized, returned to secure the site for the second drop wave. Surveillance equipment noted a significant increase in encrypted traffic over local networks and a concerningly large heat signature originating ~200 klicks southwest- request OPSCOM pass this along to CENTCOM and relay any available intelligence.  Engaged and Destroyed: 2x Hi-Scout Cunningham

CFRI Angel Element deployed during drop and made for targets at full afterburners. Contacts en route did not delay element arrival to the AO. Successful operations by SWMC Alpha and SWMC Bravo resulted in minimal close AA support. Angel-4 and Angel-5 scored hits against enemy command and control structures. Arrow-IV Anti-Ship Missiles launched from Angel-6 achieved confirmed kills on target “MADELEINE” for primary objective success. Engaged and Destroyed: 2x Ripper (ERML) 3x Command Bunker 1x Heavy Anti-Ship PPC “MADELEINE” Damage and Losses: Angel-4 Meteor Inseki II successfully deployed ordinance against auxiliary targets before AC-2 anti-aircraft fire caused catastrophic ammunition detonation. Deceased with Honors.

SWMC Combat Comms Log Excerpt:

SB1: “Kerensky’s cock sheath! Alpha three are you ok?” SA3: “Right as rain, Commander. Just barely- Fuck!” SA2: “LRM impact on your drop pod, Alpha three.” SB4: “Think he’s going to shit?” SA4: “Oh, for sure.” SB2: “One hundred percent.” SA3: “Yeah…” (Severe ‘mech damage aural warning audible)

CFRI Combat Comms Log Excerpt:

NL: “Angel Actual, this is OPSCOM. You have incoming, weapons hot.” A4: “Roger, OPSCOM, Angel 4 taking wing lead. Angels, go hot.” A5: “Angel 5 copies. Sensors show two VTOL craft inbound, we- Fuck! A5: “SPIKE, SPIKE! GO DEFENSIVE!” A6: “Breaking formation! Watch clearance!” A4: “Angel 4 defending! Fox-2 on the first target!” A5: “Hell yeah, you got him! Eat HE you Blakist son of a bitch!” A6: “Coming about, high. Cover me, this boat doesn’t turn that fast!” A4: “Copy, copy! I’m on your low 5-o’clock, pulling with- A5: “FOUR, WATCH BELOW! TRIPLE-A!” A4: “What? I- Fuck! Incoming, incoming! Dropping payload!” A4: “Bombs away! Bombs away! Evading, someone check effect on target-” (A4 FEED ENDS. A5 / A6 FEEDS RECORD DETONATION.) A5: “ANGEL-FOUR, PUNCH OUT! PUNCH OUT!” A6: “He’s gone, Lieutenant!” A6: “OPSCOM, Angel-4 is down. Angel-6 assuming command. On target.” NL: “Copy, Angel-6. Finish the mission and get your ass home.” A6: “Roger, OPSCOM. Ordinance away.” (EXCERPT ENDS)

@is-the-battlemech-cool-or-not @the-tired-merc @the-clawtake @lt-chari @frogblast-the-ventcore

[blackiochronicles]

Make something of yourself, they said with a smile in their hand-stitched suits - real fabric, not plastics.

Keep walking, Luis muttered, keeping his head down low as they passed the cheerful teal recruitment stand with the intertwined snakes. My uncle signed up with them guys last year, and what they sent back weren't enough to fill a Yip-Loc.

That was twenty years ago. He thinks about it every now and then, on the mornings where he wakes up and his side is a single roiling sea of pain and fire. They counted fifteen pieces of shrapnel on the X-Ray after all was said and done, and told him to thank his lucky stars. The others in his squad - well, their constellation wasn't nearly so fortunate, vaporized as they had been with the rest of the tiltrotor. Extracting the fragments was out of the question, of course; not at his rank or his pay grade.  

The pills helped, for a while - one of the perks of holding guns for Big Pharma, until the pills did less and less and chewed out more and more of his paycheck with each passing month. And the aches and pains kept piling up, oh yes: bullet wounds, broken bones, concussions.

Then the cuts came. Dropping from AA to A combat readiness hurt as bad as that tiltrotor explosion once he discovered what it meant for his monthlies. The drop from A to BB+, worse still - out of the A-range, the money jobs dried up, the rotations got longer. Months of guard duty at some packing plant in Senegal, days staring into the middle distance, nights tossing in some shack because the drugs, the damned drugs that cost him 60% of his monthlies, were just about enough to keep him from putting a bullet in his head and not a speck more.

It was during one of those sleepless stretches - 3 AM, rolling on those cheap-and-gritty synthetic sheets that kept the sweat and piss at bay - that he finally got the message. Literally: they'd injected the text into one of his PharmaPlan updates, right below the cheerful form-written paragraphs about how his prescriptions were going to go up another 5% TO BETTER SERVE YOU, THE CUSTOMER. There they were: six lines of chimeric text, shifting fonts and colors to stay ahead of the content filters; one highly illegal job offer backed by a number in Reconstruction Dollars bigger than anything that had troubled his pay slips in the last ten years.

Two days later: a routine run, hawk-eyeing an autovan full of antiagathics en route to the airport and from there to the Sil-Val elite, each golden pill worth more than he, his squad, their tracks, their guns and implants. Making the turn onto Bassovar Highway, that damned side flared up again and - fuck it, the last physical was going to drop him to CCC by month's end anyway...

Five minutes later, sweating and aching, he dragged himself from the white-hot wreckage of the tracker. The autovan was history too, flames sparkling green and white as the triple-patented chemicals in the cargo blistered away. At the speeds they were traveling - TIME IS MONEY! TIME IS MONEY! - the vehicle's bastard robot brain never saw it coming. One clean hit, flip, boom. AAA.

Now all he had to do was find his contact and get the hell out.

[bbnibini]

Oops I kinda went on and off here;;; It bothered me that AAS/PSISLY only gets written updates at a turtle's pace, so I went on a rampage, restricted myself from going into socmed, checking notifs and messages, cut down on game times (except if it's research for this fic), sleep etc (cause I can't exactly cut time off work lol). to write.

Estimated release is late this year (around winter!). Still deciding if I want some other stuff commed but it's hard to decide when the original material isn't finished yet.

I would like to say I'm looking forward to everyone reading it, but honestly, I just want it to be over lol. If you like it as much as I hyperfixated on making it work, once it's posted, it would mean the world to me. :))

Let me know if any of you are interested in beta reading! (You can DM me or send an ask) I need it- Arc 1 on its own is chonky (estimated to be around 25k words or more just like my usual bulk updates per route...god help me this has 5 arcs. I didn't count the bad endings and some side stories already written;;)

[raven]

what video games would u recommend. based on me seeing ur posts and thinking ur right even though i never know what youre talking about. also i have dogshit taste but i have good taste actually but its bad

OMG

hop on backloggd heres mine and heres my buddy rory's bc they make points too and are generally more serious than me so if you want to be serious u can go there. More under the cut bc i cant shut up 👍

otherwise my pretentious but #real and #true recs that i genuinely think everyone should play are disco elysium, pentiment, and kentucky route zero.

"theyre just good!" - who's lila?, the world ends with you, return of the obra dinn, hylics 2, portal 1&2, ghost trick, outer wilds (however outer wilds may be difficult for whatever reason- i recommend hollow_tones on twitch's streams although she has not streamed the dlc!)

series that have taken over my life for periods of time, for good or ill - dragon age (2 is my fav, all are worth playing, inquisition is dogshit storywise but has good gameplay, centrist liberal writers that make u want to bomb a church (for the record @ fbi this is a reference to the events of one of my favorite characters in the series, not real life. he was justified), ace attorney (1-3 are great with some questionable moments but apollo justice is the best overall game, 5&6 are some of the worst games ive played in my life, and the great ace attorney... exists), and persona (UGH). i can go more in depth about any of these, but i will go more in depth about persona because thats my current disorder and because theyre the most problematic, LOL. but dgmw da and aa are also problematic in many ways

persona - ive posted about it. im realizing i didnt talk about the misogyny in that post because i thought it was well known honestly but like. my god. the misogyny. especially persona 5 royal. dont play 4. or do, bc i need anyone to suffer as i have, but im serious. i feel like whatever people say, its worse. ive also posted about 4.

if you want to lose a week of your life in a "game for 16ish hours, sleep for 8ish hours, repeat" cycle play baldurs gate 3. its a fun game it takes up your time it has great mechanics! do not pay attention to character discourse baby.

if you like good gameplay, play dishonored 1&2

if you don't like good gameplay, play morrowind (this is kind of a joke in that i dont actually think morrowind has bad gameplay, but it still can be tedious.)

if you don't like good gameplay, play the persona 2 duology (this is not a joke, the gameplay in those games are actually bad.)

if you like gameplay, play any katamari game

also gonna plug one of my favorite genres, nonlinear visual novel adjacent games (lots of wordy, story-based segments but there are actual gameplay portions) these games also are not necessarily "good" but they are "fun": 999 (play on DS!!), ai the somnium files (note that this and 999 kind of require a... specific taste with the sexual humor) these games did have sequels but theyre all pretty bad for various reasons but check em out if you enjoyed the originals, paranormasight (one of the best ones in this genre imo), gnosia, 13 sentinels

also i have not hopped on final fantasy 7 (ORIGINAL) but i am about to hop on final fantasy 7 (ORIGINAL). and i am currently struggling against the current playing smt iii nocturne.

also, games that i have not played but interest me storywise and deserve honorable mentions are baroque (not really planning on playing but planning on watching stuff), pathologic classic (played a little and watched a full playthrough years ago, probably will get back to one day), pathologic 2 (never completed), fear and hunger (played for a few hours and decided to watch a playthrough instead), and fear and hunger 2 (not played but planning on playing bc ive heard its a little more user friendly than the original!)

so thats video games.

[livsthetruth]

Spencer and Olivia are getting their spotlight to heal individually

Olivia’s episode had her in a situation where she was holding a bottle exactly like she did in the finale of season two where she drank and relapsed. They had her hold onto that bottle behind everybody’s backs like she did with the pills in season two. She had it the entire time and nobody knew. She had Billy’s bottle and nobody knew. They recreated the conditions to show how much she’s grown by having her come clean and ask for help this time. They gave her trigger and reasoning it’s ‘why” this time. They let it be moment of real growth for Olivia because they created the opportunity to repeat Olivia’s pattern of behavior to cope and we watched Olivia take another route this time. She’s grown. She’s changed. They are doing the exact same thing with Spencer. 

Season 2:

When Spencer’s dad died Layla was gone and they were broken up Spencer quit the team Spencer backslide to Kia Olivia was nowhere in this narrative because she was struggling with her own sobriety

Season 5

Now Billy died Alicia is gone, she left him Spencer quit the team Spencer’s trying to backslide to Kia Olivia will be nowhere in this narrative because she is dealing with her own sobriety. 

They are recreating the same conditions and Spencer isn’t just behaving the EXACT same way, he’s worse because unlike Olivia, Spencer never dealt with his problems head on. Unlike Olivia who was in AA for her addiction and to grow, Spencer was in therapy for his shooting, not his dads death. Not his abandonment issues. He’s never actually dealt with any of it. He shoved it down and leaned on Billy. Now he lost Billy. So Spencer has no coping mechanisms but what he’s been doing but worse. They gave him the same conditions to show Spencer’s pattern, the only difference is Spencer is not going to change unless it’s by fucking force because he is stubborn. Why Spencer backslides to Kia is part of his pattern for comfort because this is Spencer’s own issue. Why the second his new girlfriend leaves him, he runs back to Kia. Why he can’t be alone is tied to his abandonment issues, death is abandonment.

[truly-morgan]

[Adult Mob with a 9-to-5 job and his exorcist adventure]

Shigeo Kageyama | Mob Psycho 100 20-03-2023

Now @unashamedfully made me have brain worms

But Mob ends up having a normal and boring 9-to-5 job, even tho he still helps Reigen from time to time with spirits.

and every time coworkers ask him what he did on the weekend and he answers honestly with stuff like:

"I travelled to Fishing City to go to a house near the sea so I could exterminate some evils spirit that was haunting the place since my shisho needed help"

and everyone is either "😃" because wtf senpai or "🤨😒" because they believe that he's lying or crazy

And it is always like this, no one actually believes that he does any of this. Shigeo Kageyama, one of the most normal dudes in their department, playing exorcist for a shisho he keeps mentioning?

yeah, sure.

but they still listen because it's entertaining.

but then I had two routes here.

1-

Someone who is stuck with what they believe to be a spirit and although everyone says that Kageyama-senpai is lying about his story or has to be insane, they still ask him for help, and they are ready to take a gamble for that.

sweet old Mob who accepts because why would he ever reject someone in help? When they end work he follows them home and takes a look at their apartment.

Sure enough, a spirit had been bothering his kohai and taking care of it for them. The spirit has gotten stronger from feeding on them for so long, but it's obviously nothing Mob cannot deal with, he has seen a lot worse.

He does apologise for all the stuff that ended up knocked to the floor as he replace everything in their place.

Lill' Kohai who is dumbfounded by what just happened, barely managing to say that it's nothing at all really.

they aren't sure if what happened was all true, but sure enough, all the weird event and feeling weirdly exhausted even after sleeping properly is gone.

now Kageyama-senpai always has someone listening to him like "😲🤩" when he talks about what he does of work with Reigen-Shisho.

Maybe they also try to make the other stop slandering him like that, what he says is true!! But everyone thinks that poor Kohai is gullible.

but it's okay because they know, and if anyone seems to be having a similar problem they are ready to refer Kageyama-senpai for help.

or 2-

Someone who wanna "catch Kageyama-senpai being fake" and asks for help about evil spirits.

They take him to an abandoned building where they planted speakers and stuff like this to pretend there's a ghost. And when Kageyama-senpai will pretend to exorcise something they are gonna reveal everything.

Only, Kageyama-senpai doesn't react much, and makes his way around the place while they follow him. They try pushing him to say something, but Mob simply says that he doesn't feel any spirits, but he'll keep looking.

He does follow all the weird sounds and all the weird movements, but he doesn't pretend to be an exorcist.

The college loses sight of him for a moment, only to see him reappear and continue searching. then after so long of just searching around Kageyama-senpai turns to them as he checks the time on his phone. "There's nothing in here AA-san, Maybe what you saw was someone playing inside of some animal who got in"

and the college isn't sure what to say. After all this time looking around, he isn't going to show off his "exorcist talents"?!? But there was plenty that could have convinces so.

"But I am certain there was something here and people say there is a ghost here" they try to push.

Meanwhile, Mob is already making his way out.

"Sometimes ghost stories are just that, ghost stories," Mobs says.

And then, just before he exits the room, "Oh and AA-san, it's not very nice to fake a place being haunted just to trick people". Then Mob is out, leaving them alone in the very normal abandoned building.

I can imagine Mob eating ramen with Reigen a couple of days later and retelling that story and Reigen is just like "I can't believe people would fake it just to trick you and make you lose your time"

Original

[lonely-soul-02]

Actually DOYS charted better in the US than their previous albums in the 00s! No 5 on Billboard 200 (DBTT was 12, HC - 23) - not that bad for the UK band past its prime and that was with half-arsed promotion and half-arsed everything really (I don’t like it sorry) The trend was raising. Better album with better promotion could ve done better

And it was myth that Liam didn’t let Noel be more adventurous with music - the myth perpetuated by Noel much later, in his disco years not so long ago . If you read an interview posted by Devilsrefugee some time ago I think he said in 2008 (or bit earlier) music wise he and Liam on the same page, their issues is purely personal. If you listen to the songs he wrote in that period there was nothing not “Oasis-y”, it wasn’t like he wrote disco or whatever songs and shelved them because the evil Liam made him, they didn’t exist. It was Liam who bring Death in Vegas in their studio. because he wanted the next Oasis album be different, at least in the 2000s he wasn’t against changing their sound a bit. Sooo that’s just another Noel lies. Oasis was criticized for their lack of music evolution or whatever and Noel instead of taking responsibility for it like “the chief” and the main songwriter of the band, put the blame on Liam

Yeah it was my point about Amsterdam, there was potential for the band for growth at least on the European market back then (and even the US wasn’t hopeless case), Liam wasn’t wrong

Even if they’d had a ‘better album’ as you say (what would have made it better?) with better promotion, how far do you think they could have gone in an era when rock was in decline? And they weren't Coldplay, or the Arctic Monkeys. The trend wasn’t rising. For rock as a genre, it was falling. By 2010 with a few exceptions, rock had largely given way to pop, dance and hip hop/rap. So we'll probably have to agree to disagree on that one, but that's fine, it's all opinions/speculation!

Re: Liam and Noel's musical differences. Yes, Noel lies and spins narratives to suit himself, but that doesn’t mean there is no truth in anything he says. At any rate, I think Liam's issue was less to do with not liking Noel's offerings and more to do with him trying to assert some control in a situation where he felt increasingly insecure. Saying that, would Liam have supported Noel taking Oasis ever further down the melodic pop and strings route; would he have championed Noel taking Oasis into Who Built The Moon territory? Bearing in mind that Liam has said WBTM isn't even all that 'far out' (he's right) yet he still hates it. I could see Liam wanting more psychedelia and less romantic pop to be honest.

In any case, Oasis was not the vehicle for Noel to branch out creatively, and Noel knew that. With his penchant for pop and dance and his collab with The Chemical Brothers, it's not surprising that after he left Oasis Noel turned to Amorphous Androgynous. He got cold feet on that collaboration (the divisive fan reaction to WBTM confirms he was right to get cold feet). But listen to the beautiful Ibiza infused AA Shoot A Hole Into The Sun. Can you imagine Liam approving that for the next Oasis album?

Let’s not forget that Liam’s opinion and his ‘great set of ears’ mattered to Noel. It was Liam’s opinion that Noel sought first. If Liam said a song was't good enough for Oasis, Noel listened.

This is not to say that ‘evil Liam’ made Noel shelve songs. It wouldn’t work like that. Noel was constrained by being in Oasis. Being in Oasis meant writing certain songs in a certain way for a certain crowd - you said yourself you don’t like DOYS. You’re one of many. As Noel has said, over time, the pressure to please everyone gets to an artist. I don’t believe that Noel really wanted to leave Oasis. What he wanted was a creative outlet where he didn’t have the pressure of Oasis hanging over him and time away from brotherly conflict. And Liam didn’t want Noel to have that outlet because he was understandably terrified of losing him, along with his purpose in life. Now he sees he should have let Noel have the outlet but as young man with his own issues and insecurities, he couldn’t see it then. 

They were bound to have creative differences as they grew. Liam is his own person with his own ideas, of course he wouldn’t agree with Noel’s ideas all the time, of course they would disagree. That’s just bands for you. But with those two, their personal differences exacerbated any musical differences.

I adore this version and wish we could hear the whole AA album.