#Engagement Ring Designs For Females

[maryse127]

I have so many mixed feelings about Fire Emblem Engage but I do really like that I could give the ring to anyone despite gender. So guess my male Alear is now married to Alcryst. I am still not a big fan of this cast but he is my poor little meow meow and one of my best units so if I got to S-support anyone he gets the honor.

[hazoorilaljewellers]

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[roosterforme]

Yours Truly, Bradley Bradshaw Part 20 | Rooster x Reader

Summary: Bradley gets the update he's been waiting for. You get something you weren't expecting. Neither of you can tell the other how you're feeling.

Warnings: Fluff, angst, adult language, romantic Bradley, 18+

Length: 3700 words

Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x Female teacher!Reader

Check out my masterlist for more! Yours Truly, Bradley Bradshaw masterlist

You drove Bradley's Bronco back to his house, dragged yourself back inside, and climbed back in bed. You cried so hard when you watched him carry his duffle bag into the airport, you had painful hiccups for twenty minutes afterwards. Now you were emotionally drained and on the cusp of a headache, and this was only the first day.

With your cheek on Bradley's pillow, you pulled the covers over your head and took a few deep breaths. He didn't know much about his deployment, but the communication blackout was designed to keep you from learning anything. If something happened to him, it might be weeks before you heard about it. Your heart ached as you thought about how lonely he was going to feel after he made it a point to tell you how much he loved getting mail from your class last time.

You felt your phone vibrate in your pocket, and you scrambled to get it out.

About to take off. I love you, Gorgeous. I'll let you know when I land.

Well, you had about six hours to kill until you would hear from him again, which felt bad enough. Then seven full weeks after that. You typed back to him with fresh tears in your eyes, and then you tried to sleep, but the hiccups came back. When you moved to the couch, it felt too cold. You were tempted to call Natasha, but if you couldn't even make it a handful of hours without Bradley, you didn't think she would be able to help you.

It would start to get better. It would have to. When your winter break ended, you'd be back in your classroom with your students. You could dive into your lesson plans for the new year. You could focus on teaching. You could do this. Because if you found out the hard way that you couldn't, then you had no business being with Bradley.

--------------------------

Bradley was given a tiny room in the barracks on base in Norfolk, and he spent the entire night talking to you on the phone. Literally six hours straight before he passed out, sound asleep, hanging halfway off the bed with his phone connected to the charger. One of the last things he remembered you saying was, "As soon as you know if it's San Diego or Norfolk, let me know. I love you."

The following morning, he was so exhausted, he was practically dizzy as he met with his commanding officer, Admiral Walker, for this new special deployment. Even his arm felt heavy as he saluted Walker in his office. It was barely seven o'clock which equated to four in the morning in San Diego, and he knew it would take him a few days to get caught back up on sleep at this point. But every second of talking to you was worth it.

"Lieutenant Bradshaw. Welcome back to the Atlantic Fleet," Walker told him, gesturing to the empty chair in the office. 

"Thank you, Sir," he replied, even though he was far less than thrilled to be back in Virginia at all. The prospect of a change of station could not have come at a worse time when he spent the flight from California looking at engagement rings on his phone.

As Bradley sat down, the older man said, "We never wanted to lose you to the Pacific in the first place, so I'm sure you can understand why you'll be staying on the east coast after your seven weeks on the Gerald R. Ford is complete."

His heart sank to his feet, and he felt like he was going to throw up. "Sir?" Bradley asked. "That's it? There's no chance of me returning to North Island?"

When the response he got was a raised eyebrow, Bradley pressed his lips into a line. This man wasn't going to give a shit that he owned a house in Coronado or that he was in love with the most beautiful woman in the world who happened to work in Mira Mesa. Something told him that keeping his mouth shut was the better option right now, even though he felt like punching a hole in the wall and flipping the desk.

Walker shuffled some papers on his desk. "Plans still need to be finalized, but it is our goal, and the goal of the US Navy, to change your station to Norfolk."

The words echoed in Bradley's mind. He couldn't decide if he should tell you about this yet. It wasn't like he had signed paperwork in his hand. Until he did, as far as he was concerned, he was going back to Top Gun and the love of his life. He knew you were stressed and concerned enough as it was, and he didn't want you to have to dwell on this unless it was finalized. 

"Once aboard the carrier, mission details will become available to you and the other aviators," Walker informed him. "I have a folder with your bunk assignment and some more information that you can take with you right now. You'll have access to your phone for about another hour, but as soon as you report to the carrier, it will need to be shut down and locked up. Are we clear, Lieutenant?"

Before Bradley could even respond, there was a sharp knock at the door. Walker heaved a weary sigh as his gaze left Bradley's face, and he barked, "Come in."

Of all the faces he knew from North Island, Bradley wasn't exactly sure if it was a friendly one, but when the door opened, Admiral Simpson came strolling inside in his service khakis. He couldn't fathom why his meeting was being interrupted by Cyclone, but he sat quietly with the folder in his hands. 

"Admiral Walker," Beau Cyclone greeted, voice as stern as ever. "You never returned my calls, and red eye flights the week of Christmas are not something I find endearing."

Walker stood behind his desk with all of his accolades hanging on the wall behind him, and Bradley jumped to his feet as well. "Admiral Simpson," Walker replied, voice dripping with disdain. "There was no need for you to fly out in person to release your pilot to my fleet."

Bradley could hear Cyclone's knuckles crack as he watched his eye twitch. He was somehow caught in the middle of this, but it looked like the Top Gun admiral was in no mood to be outmaneuvered and lose a member of his team. Bradley silently goaded him on while he stood there completely still.

"I'm not releasing anyone to you. That's not how this works," Cyclone barked. "If you can't manage your fleet, you don't get to poach from mine."

The admirals seemed to be in a competition to see whose face could get redder. "Admiral Simpson, I'm sure you'll find my rank alone is reason enough for-"

"You do not outrank me," Cyclone interrupted, voice loud but calm. Then he turned toward Bradley with his jaw clenched and said, "Lieutenant Bradshaw. You are dismissed. Please board the USS Gerald R. Ford on time for your deployment."

"Yes, Sir," he replied, saluting both men before walking back out into the hallway on slightly unsteady legs. He paused, hoping to hear some more of their conversation or an outright blow up that would give him a clue as to what the fuck was going on, but instead he walked the rest of the way to the barracks to collect his duffle and head to the docks. 

With his phone in his hand once again and his bag slung over his shoulder, Bradley called you. He knew it was early and he'd be waking you up, but time was tight now. And your voice was the only thing that would keep him sane at the moment. 

"Bradley," you sighed a second later, and he pressed his phone tighter to his ear. 

"Baby, I miss you so much," he promised, heart aching. He swallowed hard and decided not to bring up anything that was going on since he didn't have a completely clear understanding of it himself. "I'm about to board the carrier."

He could hear you crying, and he wanted to kick himself. "Just come back safely. That's all I want. As long as you're safe, that's all that matters to me, okay?"

He was having a hard time keeping his own tears at bay. "Me, too. We'll figure out the rest of it later, Gorgeous. Take care of yourself. Write in the journal. And don't forget to check the mail."

"I love you, Bradley!"

"I love you so much."

As soon as he ended the call and turned off his phone, he had to walk through a small building for security screening. It was there that his bag and phone were taken from him. When he exited the other side, his duffle was handed back to him, but his phone was not.

"Sorry, Lieutenant," the petty officer told him with a shrug when he glared. "I'll tag it for you and return it when you get back to Norfolk. At least it's not a long deployment."

Bradley couldn't even argue with that. It wasn't that long in the grand scheme of things. He'd been overseas for a full twelve months at a time when he was younger. This should have felt like nothing, but he knew it would feel like the worst one. He hefted his bag higher on his shoulder and started to head for the bunk that would be his for the duration. There was no sense in standing on deck when there was nobody who would be looking for him to see him off.

He made it down two hallways before a loud voice echoed off the walls around him. "Lieutenant Bradshaw." When he turned, Admiral Simpson was heading his way, face so red it was almost purple. Bradley's heart sank.

"Yes, sir?"

The other man pulled his composure together, sighing like an angry bull. "While you will be under the command of Admiral Walker for this deployment, you will fly directly back to San Diego when you return to port in Norfolk. You'll be presented with the paperwork today."

Bradley's jaw dropped open. "I'm returning to the Pacific Fleet, Sir?"

He got one firm nod in response. "I told you last week that I would do what I could to retain you."

This was honestly the best case scenario, and Bradley could feel some of his tension melt away. "You weren't kidding," he mumbled before clearing his throat. "Thank you, Sir. Being in San Diego is important to me."

"Fly safely, Lieutenant. See you in seven weeks," Cyclone barked before turning on his heel and walking toward the ramp back down to the dock.

Bradley pumped his fist in the air. "Fuck, yeah," he whispered, spinning on the spot. He would get to go back to the station he preferred in North Island as well as his friends, but most importantly, he would get to return to you. There would be no stress of packing and moving and hoping you were still willing to come with him. He could stay in Coronado.

When he slid his hand into his pocket to get his phone out to call you back, he froze. "God damn it."

------------------------------

If waiting for emails and letters was bad before, this was torture. The early days of getting to know Bradley through written notes left you with constant butterflies in your tummy, but now it felt like you were walking around with a lead weight instead. You constantly caught yourself reaching for your phone to text him before setting it back down in frustration. 

You hadn't heard from him since before he stepped onto the aircraft carrier, and that was four days ago. Today was New Year's Eve, and at least you had the wine bar with Natasha to look forward to. While you got dressed and ready to go, you couldn't help but put in just the bare minimum amount of effort. What was the point when your boyfriend wasn't even here to give you kisses along your neck and call you Gorgeous? You pouted at your reflection in the bathroom mirror and put the cap on your lip gloss before even using it.

"You look nice," Nat said as you climbed in the front seat of her car. You turned to look at her with one eyebrow raised.

"I'm wearing Bradley's old sweatshirt with a pair of leggings that are starting to get a hole in the crotch."

She started cackling as she pulled away from the curb. "Well, you still look nice."

"Thanks," you said softly, watching the houses go by. 

As Nat turned toward the highway to head up to Oceanside, she asked, "How are you making out?"

You pressed your lips together for a few seconds, trying to make sure you weren't going to cry. "I'm just having a hard time being off from work while he's gone. It's... harder than I thought it would be. I can't wait to return to my classroom in a few days."

"I'm sure that will make it easier," she agreed. "You'll be so busy, time will start to fly by. Oh, I forgot to ask if you got any interesting mail at Bradley's house since he left?"

You shook your head. "I barely remember to check the mailbox most days. Why?"

"Don't worry about it," she replied smoothly. "You'll be back to work in a few days, but in the meantime, we've got merlot and chardonnay to keep your mind occupied."

"Sounds like you're talking about two hot French men," you said with a laugh.

"I could be! You don't even know!"

Now both of you were laughing. And you were still laughing when you actually did order a glass of merlot and a glass of chardonnay. You and Nat enjoyed some wine flights and cheese platters, and she regaled you with stories about Bradley from flight school.

"When he was twenty-two, he probably weighed a hundred and twenty pounds," she said with a smirk. "He was such a nerd, too. God, it was so bad." You were trying to stifle your laughter as she added, "Once he really started working out and grew the mustache, he thought he was hot shit. He's still a fucking nerd."

"He kind of is," you agreed through your giggles.

"But he's a good one," she promised. "Wears his heart on his sleeve too often, but I don't think he has to worry about you breaking it."

You ran your hand along the sleeve of his sweatshirt. "Never."

Once the two of you were filled with cheese and sober enough to get back in the car, you paid for your adventure with the gift card Bradley gave you, only to find out it had five hundred dollars on it.

"Natasha! We need to come back like four more times," you said as you signed the slip.

"I don't see any issue with that," she muttered, leaving cash for a tip. "I think I'll write Bradley an email and thank him for funding girls' day so he can read it when he gets back to Norfolk."

"I think he'd like that."

You started thinking about the journal sitting on the nightstand in his bedroom. Every night before you fell asleep, you'd been pouring your heart and thoughts out into the thing, but even the mention of the word��Norfolk had you fretting again. You managed to keep up the conversation with Bradley's best friend as she drove you back to Coronado, but perhaps you should keep most of your things packed after you moved your stuff to his house. What if you had to move to Virginia when the school year ended?

"Thanks for driving," you told her when she pulled up to Bradley's driveway to let you out.

"Anytime," she said, waving you off. "We'll go back up again soon." When you leaned in to give her a hug, she told you, "Don't forget to check the mail."

"Okay."

You weren't sure exactly what her deal was since Bradley couldn't send you anything, but if she wanted you to, then you would. You already promised your boyfriend you'd keep an eye on anything unusual that arrived, so as you walked up to the front door, you took a peek inside the mailbox. Empty. Just like the house. You curled up on the couch with the journal and started to write your daily entry.

I heard from a very reliable source (Natasha) that you were and still are a nerd. I'm going to need to see some pre-stache photos of you when you get home. Your best friend is a wealth of information when you get some wine in her, and I had a great time with her today. 

But I miss you. So much. Sometimes it knocks the breath out of my lungs. Your house is too cold and quiet without you here, hogging the couch and eating snacks. I'm looking forward to school starting up in a few days. It'll be a little less lonely when I have eighteen kids telling me what they got for holiday gifts. Of course I'll have to tell them they won't get a visit from their favorite aviator for a while. We'll just be nineteen sad pen pals.

---------------------------

On January second, you were working on your lesson plans while wearing Bradley's gym shorts and eating potato chips. Tomorrow you'd get back into a routine with work, but first you were going to allow yourself one last day of being kind of pitiful. You bit off more than you could chew with Bradley, and now you were paying the price. 

You sporadically started crying at random times throughout the day, and it was only made worse by the overwhelming feeling of being alone. If you could barely make it a week without hearing from him, how were you going to make random deployments with no communication your lifestyle? Why did you even think you could?

While you were crunching your way through some potato chips, you heard something thump on the front porch. The sound made you jump on the couch, and you set your snack down on the table and crept to the front door. When you peeked outside, there was nobody there, but when you cracked the door open, you saw a box. A fairly large box. Addressed to you.

"Oh my god," you gasped. It was from Bradley. According to the date stamped next to your name, he somehow sent a box from the post office in San Diego last week. "Oh my god!"

You grabbed it and kicked the door shut, almost tripping on your way back to the coffee table. When you tried to claw at the tape, you almost broke your nails. "Scissors," you shouted, running for the kitchen drawer by the sink where your boyfriend kept a random assortment of junk. Then you walked quickly back to the couch and started to cut into the box.

Natasha had to be behind the arrival of the box, but you couldn't fathom what could possibly be inside. If Bradley wanted you to have something, he could have simply given it to you before he left. Your heart was pounding as you set the scissors down and looked inside.

"Bradley," you gasped, tears filling your eyes as those familiar butterflies zoomed and swooped around in your belly. You'd been so upset about missing out on his letters, he sent you a whole box of them. There were dozens of envelopes and little treats filling the box nearly to the top, but a neon orange envelope with OPEN ME FIRST written on it caught your eye. You pulled it out of the box and tore into it.

Hey, Gorgeous,

I'm thinking about you right now. Guaranteed. It doesn't matter when you get this box or when you read this note, I'm thinking about how much I love you. And if I'm asleep, I'm dreaming about us eating Thai food on the beach in front of a sunset that is nowhere near as beautiful as you.

I hope you realize there was no way you weren't going to get some letters from me while I'm deployed. I would never let that happen. Somehow, you fell in love with me this way in the first place, and more than anything, I want you to feel as loved as I do. So I filled this box with little notes and long, rambling love letters and things I thought you might like. When you read the individual envelopes, you'll know what to do.

Please fill that journal up for me. I can't wait to read it in seven weeks. I'm missing you like crazy, and I selfishly hope you're missing me just as much. I love you.

Yours Truly,

Bradley

With shaking hands, you set the note down on the orange envelope and swiped at your tears. You never dreamed you would meet a man this romantic, but somehow you did, and he became your boyfriend. "Oh, Bradley," you whispered, picking up a stack of envelopes and reading what was written on each one.

Open me when you've had a bad day

Open me when you really want some coffee

Open me when you need a laugh

Open me when you're in bed

Open me when you need a girls' night

Open me with your class

You flopped down onto the couch and kicked your feet in the air. "Bradley!" you shrieked, voice breaking as you started to cry. You hugged the letters to your chest and let the warm feeling of being loved wash over you and fill your heart. He was unbelievable. He was perfect. He was everything you wanted. And somehow you loved him a little more and missed him a little less with this box on the coffee table.

------------------------------

He's so romantic. He's taking care of Gorgeous from afar! He's coming home to San Diego, but she doesn't even know it! Thanks @beyondthesefourwalls and @daggerspare-standingby

PART 21

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[deliciousangelfestival]

New Light | B. Barnes

Character: Neighbors!Bucky Barnes x Female!Reader

Summary: Y/N meets a mysterious neighbor in a stuck elevator.

A/N: I live in an apartment and often encounter different people. I wish I could start a conversation like the reader 😭

Main Masterlist || support: Ko-fi

Thank you to anyone who gave a like, reblog, and left a comment. It motivated me to write more. 

Y/N had become a recognizable presence in her apartment building, exchanging greetings with familiar faces each time she entered the lift.

One tenant, however, remained an enigma—Bucky. Tall and always clad in a large black hoodie, he never uttered a word during their encounters.

One evening, after a long day at work, Y/N stepped into the lift, and to her surprise, Bucky entered just before the doors closed.

As the elevator ascended, an unusual silence settled between them. Y/N, feeling the need to break the ice, finally spoke up, "It's been a long day, hasn't it?"

Bucky, still maintaining his stoic demeanor, nodded in agreement. The hum of the elevator provided an awkward backdrop to their brief exchange.

As they continued in silence, the lift abruptly stopped, causing them both to shift their attention to the sudden halt.

"It's probably just a minor glitch," Y/N reassured, attempting to ease the tension. She reached for the Ring button, pressing it to summon help.

The building security's voice crackled through the speaker, providing assurance that maintenance were on their way.

With a shared glance, Y/N and Bucky exchanged a subtle acknowledgment of the situation. Y/N tried to strike up a conversation again, "So, Bucky, do you live on the same floor as me?"

Bucky, though initially hesitant, replied with a simple nod. The conversation was slow to develop, yet Y/N persisted, asking about his day and interests.

Bucky, gradually opening up, revealed snippets of his life. "I work from home most days, I'm a graphicdesigner," he admitted, his mysterious aura starting to unravel.

In turn, Y/N shared stories from her workplace, finding common ground in the challenges and triumphs of daily life.

In the middle of their conversation, Y/N noticed subtle movements within Bucky's hoodie. Curiosity getting the better of her, she finally asked, "Is everything okay in there?"

Bucky hesitated for a moment before revealing a small, furry face peeking out—the source of the movement. To Y/N's astonishment, Bucky introduced her to Alpine, his cat.

Y/N was awestruck when she caught sight of an incredibly adorable cat. Its fluffy fur and playful antics immediately captured her attention, eliciting a warm and delighted smile.

Approaching cautiously, Y/N couldn't resist commenting, "Alpine is such a sweetheart! Does he always greet everyone like this?"

Bucky, Alpine's owner, looked pleasantly surprised as he replied, "Actually, Alpine is usually quite reserved. He doesn't warm up to strangers easily."

Feeling a bit special, Y/N observed as Alpine continued to display an unexpectedly friendly demeanor, rubbing against her legs. Bucky chuckled, "This is a rare sight. Alpine doesn't usually take kindly to newcomers."

The atmosphere shifted as Bucky eagerly shared stories about Alpine's quirky habits and endearing antics.

Initially taken aback, Y/N found herself engaged in a lively conversation with Bucky about their shared experiences as pet owners. "Alpine loves to climb onto my shoulders when I'm working on my laptop," Bucky chuckled, his reserved demeanor giving way to warmth.

Sensing Bucky's willingness to share, Y/N asked about his hobbies. "Besides graphic design, what do you do for fun?"

Bucky cracked a faint smile, "I'm a bit of a movie buff, and I like taking Alpine for walks." Y/N's eyes lit up, "Really? I love movies too, and I've been meaning to explore the nearby parks."

As they exchanged stories and discovered shared interests, the once awkward elevator space transformed into a comfortable setting for connection. Bucky, now more animated, even shared amusing anecdotes about Alpine's adventures, eliciting laughter from Y/N.

Y/N thought Bucky was a scary person, but it turns out he's not. She sees him in a new light.

In the end, as the building security announced that they had successfully repaired the elevator.

Relieved, Y/N couldn't help but express gratitude for the unexpected camaraderie. Before parting ways, Bucky suggested, "You know, since we've become elevator buddies, how about we walk Alpine together to the park sometime?"

Genuinely pleased by the idea, Y/N smiled and replied, "I'd love that!" The invitation marked the beginning of a new chapter in their connection.

Author Note:

Hey friends,

If you've been enjoying the content, I've set up a Ko-fi account. Your support through tips would mean the world and help me keep creating. Only if you feel like it!

Here's the link: Ko-fi

Thanks a bunch for being fabulous followers!

Tag list:

@thezombieprostitute

@scott-loki-barnes

@rebeccapineapple

@ordelixx

@winters1917

@kandis-mom

A/N: I'm sorry I couldn't tag everyone because I wrote and edited this on my phone.

[yurious-george]

For those of you who don’t know anything about Hollow Knight or its upcoming sequel, Silksong, there is some drama of astronomical potential that is going to be hilarious to see how it shakes out.

Three things. First, as you may already know, Hollow Knight is one of those hardcore games that attracts a certain type of cishet “gamer guy”: I’m sure you know the type. They can be more or less overtly bigoted, but either way, they’re all kind of That Guy. Second, Princess Hornet is one of the major characters in Hollow Knight, and the player character in Silksong. Third, every character in the Hollow Knight world is a bug, and aren’t depicted as having sexually dysmorphic traits that humans have: there are no insects with tits in this game, despite being bipedal and anthropomorphic. (Despite that, Hornet is frequently drawn with tits anyway, because the aforementioned demographic is outrageously horny for her. This is important later.)

In Silksong, Hornet is strongly implied to have a rival/deuteragonist, Lace! Not much is known about Lace, except she’s described as sadistic and set up as Hornet’s rival. And gamer dudebros hate her.

Maybe not full on hate, but they don’t like her. “Too mean and dislikable,�� if memory serves. If I had to guess, they’re subconsciously picking up on the subtext and being homophobic about it: Hornet is the waifu of many a gamer bro, and between the subtext and Lace’s implied importance in the narrative/sadism/independence/backhandedness, Lace does not have a lot of love in that half of the community.

(As for the other half of the community, the player character of Hollow Knight is canonically agender. There are two canon gay couples within the game, and while not required, completing their side quests is essential to 100%ing the game. Despite being a couple of Cishet Male Gamers themselves, the Hollow Knight team is gracefully supportive of the LGBT+ community, and much of the fan base is LGBTQ+!)

But back to Lace: Lace and her subtext. Lace has insane amounts of wedding and romantic subtext despite only having 2 trailers and a demo’s worth of content. Off the top of my head:

association with white & gold, particularly white roses

Lots of church imagery, especially an emphasis on ringing bells

Lace’s and Hornet’s VAs are both Japanese, and Lace is straight up wearing a Japanese wedding garment while dressed head to toe in white

Visual design and presentation wise, Lace is framed as an equal and opposite to Hornet. Lace is likely to play the rival-won-over role that Hornet had in Hollow Knight, to the point of leaving the arena the same way as Hornet when her first fight ends

Calls Hornet delicious when first introduced. Then says she likes her when Hornet tells her to fuck off

Strongly implied to have saved Hornet in the opening trailer

And, last but certainly not least: the original Silksong announcement, with Lace’s introduction, came out on February 14th.

And that’s just off the top of my head!

I don’t want to get my hopes up, much less expect anything and get disappointed, but in my heart I am hoping gamer bros take the BIGGEST L when Silksong comes out. I hope Lace is complex and engaging and still sadistic. I hope Lace is the Vriska of Silksong. I hope Lace and Hornet have so much subtext it’s practically text. I hope the good end is locked behind a lesbian wedding.

I don’t hope for that last one specifically, but just imagine. Go on, pair off the one character that cishet male fans go “hhhurngh… female character” and draw with massive balloon tits to the character they hate the most. Do it. I believe in you

But seriously: The main character of the most wishlisted game on Steam confirmed in a wlw relationship, effectively alienating half or more than half of the fan base. Hollow Knight: Silksong has the potential to be the funniest lesbian W in the universe and I cannot wait to see how it all goes down.

[mochiajclayne]

Hi there,

I hope you're doing well.

i read your post regarding SasuSaku and Sarada as a family and you stole the words right off my mouth.

I'd like to know your thoughts and opinions on Sasuke Retsiden because from what I can see, its only Jun Esaka (a mere light novel writer that writes non canon stuff) all over the internet being equally all over about her Sasuke Retsuden. I haven't seen any other light novel writer being more active about something non canon. Even kishimoto himself doesnt behave like this regarding his own work.

I'd like to also know about your opinions regarding Jun Esaka ATTEMPTING to remove or metaphorically kill Karin Uzumaki by making the main villain a Karin look alike and giving her sensory abilities to Sakura, which again, makes no sense. Does that woman hate Karin and SK so much? Is that woman so threatened by the very thought of SK as a couple that she had to incorporate a villain that looks like Karin Uzumaki down to a tee?

These are just my thoughts and speculations but I'm also really interested in knowing your side of the story.

Thanks for reading my long comment and i wish you a wonder day/afternoon/evening/night

Hi, @theuntamedangel! I appreciate the long comment! I hope you have a wonderful day/afternoon/evening/night, too!

Before I share my thoughts about Sasuke Retsuden, let me share that I did, unfortunately, have a sasusaku phase. I know. Shocker. The entire lore is here in case you're interested (promise it's relevant to my explanation).

I did hear about Sasuke Retsuden when I was still in college. Bits of information, specifically, about the chakra ring and from a perspective of someone who used to ship sasusaku casually, my initial reaction was okay good for them and I went on with my day. Note that I wasn't as heavily engaged in the Naruto fandom like I do now so for me to isn't active back then, hearing about Sasuke Retsuden, speaks volume on how it is over the internet that it even reached me.

I hate Sasuke Retsuden. It's badly written, it's OOC especially for OG Naruto characters, and the canon inaccuracies are more than enough to drive me into aneurysm.

Below this cut is my detailed thoughts about Sasuke Retsuden.

The villain looking like the male version of Karin caught me off guard. I don't know what the intentions behind the character design but I think they aimed for association as Jiji, one of the characters from this godforsaken novel, reminded me of Juugo.

I am not a sasukarin shipper but I do understand where the shippers are speaking from. I think they'll make a cool couple because Karin actually freaking cares about Sasuke when shit gets serious and outside of her "gag", she respects Sasuke's boundaries. Might be speaking out of the box but this novel in its existence was meant to be sasusaku-centric so the possibility of being threatened by all Sasuke-related ships, especially those making far more sense than SS, is high. I don't think Jun Esaka hates Karin. I would dare say that she picked a random character that could work as a direct contender to Sakura and unfortunately, she decided to scapegoat Karin. Moreover, the entire sensory ability shtick added to Sakura was uncalled for. I would go even further and say that Esaka's version of Sakura is what her stans hailed her to be--a superior version of [insert any Naruto's female character]. Even their pink haired kunoichi is incredibly OOC here and you expect me to take her seriously?

The funniest thing about Sasuke Retsuden is the way that they had to use SNS at first, specifically, Sasuke's mission is to find a cure for that chakra illness that Naruto alone suffers. Sure, this is SS centric but it all comes down to Sasuke and Sakura working together to find a cure for Naruto. Now, she could just write a novel about SS without using Naruto's "sickness" as some kind of a plot device, right? But no, she had to convince us somehow and an effective way to do that is literally Naruto and Sasuke.

The dinosaur. Don't even get me started. Even tailed beasts cannot fight against Sharingan to the point that canon graciously provided us evidence of both Madara and Obito controlling the Nine Tailed Beast. The very same Sharingan that made the higher ups of Konoha suspect the Uchiha clan as mastermind for that same incident. We're talking about the same dojutsu that manipulated the Fourth Mizukage. The canon inaccuracy throws me off the loop.

More inaccuracies. Suddenly Sasuke is an Earth and Ice Style user. Wow. Conveniently forgetting about Kakashi mentioning in Part 1 how Ice Style is a Kekkei Genkai that even Sharingan can't copy. As far as Naruto canon goes, Sasuke is a Fire and Lightning Style user. I don't consider Boruto as canon but even that animanga doesn't show any moment of Sasuke using Earth Style. It's insane that people claimed this as canon.

THIS DISTURBING INTERACTION. I did say that the OG Naruto characters are OOC in this shitshow novel and yes, unfortunately that includes Sakura. We've seen the way she react around Naruto's sexy ninjutsu antics. Unless objectification of women or the mere implication of it doesn't perturb her, then it says more about how Esaka portrayed her. I'd personally file a restraining order when a guy says he'd settle for my old, half smoked cigarette butts. I'm surprised that she didn't throw any snide remarks here.

WHO IS THIS SASUKE AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM. This panel made me laugh so hard because I feel like Esaka straight up ignored that Sasuke canonically spent years with his family before the Uchiha downfall happened. I don't think he'd be this clueless about how a married couple acts. Even in flashbacks, Sasuke was shown around his parents or Itachi, literally with his family. I think he knows well enough about married couples.

The ring part as well makes me cackle because Kurenai literally wears a ring in Shippuden. Trust me, Juugo-look-a-like, rings are used in Konoha by couples.

The Uchiha clan symbol takes me out because AREN'T YOU GOING UNDERCOVER IN THIS PRISON? WHY ARE YOU SHOWING THAT OFF?

The Chakra ring in question. Finding out the lore behind this further upset me and I am thankful that I no longer ship sasusaku. Show these panels out of context to someone with little to no exposure to canon and it would be romantic but if you know Narutoverse like the back of your hand, this novel served nothing. Seriously, the fact that Sasuke is incredibly OOC on this novel speak volumes. Imagine annihilating Sasuke's character to make SS work? Insanity.

Writing Edo Tensei with rose tinted glasses disgust me. That jutsu is straight up manipulating a dead body at your bidding. Tobirama shouldn't have invented that jutsu. Hinting that jutsu to be used to revive a loved one that passed away is vile and disgusting. The lack of attention to canon isn't a new thing for Esaka at this point.

Even this novel can't cover up the fact that Sakura doesn't know Sasuke well. If there's one thing that's consistent in the prequel, it was Naruto that gets into trouble. Sasuke doesn't use honorifics and he got away with it. His bluntness doesn't get him and everyone around him in trouble. Sasuke only began resorted to extremes when he was batshit blind and sinking into the unhinged depths of his hatred. Probably the only things that Sakura got correctly was Sasuke's kindness and his nonchalance about his looks but that's it. So the claim of knowing Sasuke inside and out is preposterous. The one who can say that is, guess who? Naruto.

Ending this long analysis with this panel because honestly, Ino is asking the questions for me. Unfortunately, despite being "married", their dynamic stayed the same. Sakura is still that same girl that has a crush on Sasuke, except she's in her 30s and Sasuke is still the same boy that rejected her date offers and the idea of being together with her, even reaching the point that he's away from her a lot.

I do apologize for going off to the point that I decided to pull a meta post about this. I do hope you're doing well and I appreciate the ask!

[drinkyourvillainjuice]

Secretary's DYVJ OC

Or, a study in character design by the secretary.

Hello my audience of fools and creatives, this is how me, the Secretary, designed past characters for Drink Your Villain Juice. I've designed a couple of the beloved gamers such as random one-off heroes (hello, Portrait, my beloved), and the one and only Wil (which some of you really love).

The background:

We have a free spot on the SCUM team, which is essentially a super-violent villain team doing very atrocious team for what appears to be no reason in particular. While this isn't entirely true since tragically people have motivations to hurt others (even if it's just fun!), SCUM attracts, well, scummy people and also people who may or may have no other choice than to choose these sorts of groups. They may be groomed into a role, forced to rely on violence to keep certain people at bay, or might just have been repeatedly failed by the systems than they were supposed to be protected by.

With this free spot in mind and the other characters already having fixed roles, we need a character to fit a specific niche.

The niche is secret for the audience, but essentially, we need a female character that counterbalances the other female characters within the team + illustrates a typical trope of villain characters. As you might have noticed, many of the characters within the story kinda play on tropes: Surpass is super(wo)man but a jerk, MC is a trope on the chosen hero being a villain, etc.

I'm pretty interested in making a character who might unironically have some sort of sex appeal going on. So let's brainstorm:

The base concept:

I think female characters within superhero fiction often have to rely on sex appeal to keep an audience engaged. It's rare to find a character like this within TV or comics or books that has any sort of depth to them - but the thing is, this is a one-off villain so how do I give the audiences the tool to discern the character's backstory. I have a couple of ideas:

Lack of armor and mask: This is a reckless character. She lacks foresight in protecting herself. Maybe she doesn't view herself in a good light, and maybe she doesn't even care if her face is shown to the world. Maybe she lost too much to care about her body being hurt and her face being plastered on every wall - or maybe that's exactly what she wants to punish herself.

Collected jewelry from her victims: A means to intimidate, really. If this is someone who has lost it all, gaining these small possessions mean that she holds controls over somebody. It might be tied to her power - or not! - but it is obviously tied to her psyche. Maybe she was riding the high life and it came crashing down, or maybe it's a physical manifestation of all the lives she had taken in the past as a physical mark on her body.

Trashy expensive clothes: To really solidifies the concept of someone who has lost it, maybe anchor the physical manifestation of the character by trashed wealth. Clothes that are too expensive or reserved for special occasions are being torn apart. They are mish-mashed because the character is holding down to past wealth despite the lack of coordination. What if she is also taking the clothes of the female victims? Could she be green with envy that someone is living the life she wanted to life or had lived?

With these three characters point, let's move to appearance.

The physical manifestation of her psyche, and what it means to be her:

She is an attractive woman down on her luck. She fits the specific standard of beauty within the region. She wears clothes and jewelry that are expensive, but obviously aren't hers by the way they don't fit. Her clothes are poorly mended clothes, showing that she tries to put forward a tidy image, with blood that doesn't seem to wash out, implying not everybody gave their clothes willingly. She also has too many necklaces, bracelets, and rings, especially wedding rings. If someone shone a light on her, people would be blinded by the dazzling. She wears too much makeup, caking her features, and it hides her real emotions from the cracks and drip of sweat that she is obviously exerting. Her lack of armour reveals a body that isn't honed for combat or physical exertion, implying that whatever makes her able to keep going is more psychological than physical. She may be a tad overweight, and "letting herself go" would most likely be what she would say about herself, but someone with a keen eye might be able to grasp that she is comfortable in this new life. She carries herself with a lack of confidence that makes herself appear as arrogant. She doesn't flinch, she doesn't get scared, she doesn't run - but she is clearly despondent at whatever her fate might be.

It would take a miracle to fix her, but by that point, she might have killed too much to go back.

Tying it all together with a knot:

I opted for the name Spring Breaker. Spring Break is a time for young people to go out somewhere sunny and get tanned - or at least, that's what I've learned from Jersey Shore. I think this character might be a past college student, having ignited during her spring break, and losing what was making herself. Her power should also be based on water. It would make sense with the theme of womanhood being a failed state for her since water is often seen as a feminine and passive element. But she isn't passive, she only has an image of it to probably protect what she holds on to - which is her appearance. Maybe, her power could involve drowning people which a lot of sirens, which one could say that she is, are known to do to take the riches of sailors.

So what about a young woman who was on spring break and was involved in someone's death by drowning. She might have pushed them into the ocean, or maybe have forced them underwater, due to her envy for their wealth. She ignited with the ability to constantly relive that trauma that ruined her life. In a way to punish herself, she names herself Spring Breaker, lacks a real civilian or mask identity, and puts herself in situations where she finds herself forced to drown people. She also wants to go back to before, when she was able to buy expensive clothes and have the jewelry she liked, but every time she grabs someone's chain and puts it on her neck, she finds herself back in the pool causing her downfall.

Her place as a villain:

Spring Breaker is an infiltrator in SCUM. She is what one could be best described as an assassin, taking out targets in the surroundings of the fight, and slowing going toward the fight. She takes out people from the back and makes her way forward. Her power is simple: she coats anything she touches in a thin film of water, dry drowning those with the misfortune to be grappled by her. Her ignition gave her the compulsion to steal valuables - or maybe she had it all along but now has a very good excuse - which enables her ability to rob people. Her costume changes based on what happened last time. She might wear a two-piece swimsuit with a feathered boa one time, or a see-through babydoll dress with lace underwear, or maybe a full-length gown with three bullet holes she couldn't mend around the abdomen. In every case, she leaves behind her drowned and drowning bodies, stripped of valuables.

She is obviously a bad person, but it's hard not to pity her by the way she sulks around. Some may say she should be put down for her own good, but others think she should taken out for the bodies left in her wake. Spring Breaker thinks it's a bit of column A and column B.

Final notes:

i think i can fix her

[spacedoutsheepy]

For how god damn horny Fromsoft fans are, and eager they are to sexualize literally any female character in their fanart, they sure do love to shit on the only female character who actually explicitly expresses her sexuality, huh?

Like, for real, most previous fromsoft characters have not been all that sexual. I mean, yeah, there have been sexualized designs or framings, but sexuality rarely factors into their stories, lore, or characterization directly. And that's part of the reason why the games have been a breath of fresh air to me, and why it's so fucking frustrating how horny fromsoft fans are for every female character. There is something to be said about how the literal text of Bloodborne is that the Doll is a twisted image of an actual strong and complicated woman made by an old pervert into his fetishized plaything, forcing her into a box in his head where he can control and own her: a perverse and docile servant that can only come to life in his disturbed dreams. That's not subtext, that's just text. As a girl who is made uncomfortable by the male gamers' attitude and sentiments towards women in the franchise, I wonder if the fanbase has ever reflected on this.

"Whoever thinks this is precious must be troubled by severe naivete." -Doll teardrop item description But then we got Fia. Fia is a deathbed companion. In her lore, that means she laid with the dying or the dead so that they could be reborn. And this is reflected in her characterization, which revolves around her intimacy. The first way most players interact with her is intimate, when she invites them to be held. Every element of her character design is dripping with intimacy and sensuality— in how she holds you, in how she whispers, and especially in her item descriptions.

"The fabric itself is soft as silk and thin enough that those embraced can feel every pulse; every bit of her warmth." -Fia's Robe

It's dressed up in fancy contrived Miyazaki writing, but sexuality and sensuality are deeply rooted in her character and her story/questline.

And the fanbase loves to shit on her for it.

I can't count the number of videos or comments I've seen calling anyone who gets her ending a Fia Simp. People call her an e-girl, or refer to the bossfight as Fia's Simps, or joke that it's a questline about getting cucked, and reduce her character to a thought-terminating trope that kills any serious analysis of her character or her themes.

We see constant analysis by the Elden Ring fandom of characters like Radahn, Marika, Ranni, Morgott, and the other major characters, and this is not to belittle that. They are all amazing characters with themes worth exploring. But none for Fia. She's just the e-girl, don't think about it. I've never seen a 40 minute youtube lore video really getting into her characterization or motifs.

It's as though Gamers only want to engage with sexuality when it's something they can force on a woman, rather than explore consensually with one.

[purgemarchlockdown]

Mikoto being so heavily associated with the female characters while Kotoko isn't is really intriguing with how he's so heavily sexualized in MeMe and plays into a lot of horror tropes.

The bathtub and the shower scene are common locations in horror, especially for Women. With one of the most iconic horror scenes Ever being the shower scene from Psycho, in which a woman is murdered in the shower.

Not to mention the lyrical pattern of calling back the title of the first MV that all the girls, except for Kotoko, follow. With Mikoto actually calling back to the title of his T1 MV in Double and having it be such an important part of it that they call back to it in the Trial 2 Album. Something originally pointed out by oboetmasuka here and candckirby who also mentions Mikoto's role as the "Final girl" and his consistent pregnancy metaphor with how John is called a newborn.

I think the way Kotoko connects to Masculinity is subtler but just as important, her interrogation question shows she's not attached to it, but she doesn't seem against it or anything.

(Kotoko Interrogations)

T1Q10: What do you think about the word 'feminimity'? A: It's one of the means you can take. It's something you can freely choose depending on the scene, so it's not something to cling onto.

Kotoko doesn't wear anything traditionally feminine but she doesn't lean super masculine either...except.

Okay so, 1moremilgram-enjoyer made this really interesting post about Kotoko's cap you can read here. Basically her cap has the name Jacques Roulet on it's front. Jacques Roulet is the name of a Male Serial Killer who killed two children and claimed to be a werewolf.

This cap appears in her outfit in Harrow:

But also appears in her T2 Design:

Establishing some sort of connection between him and Kotoko.

If we're reading into this Further. John and Kotoko are actually very similar in their want to become someone's "savior" as that's what gives them a sense of purpose.

John's an interesting character in this dynamic. Because if Mikoto is the helpless princess, John is the faithful prince. Coming to save his pitiful damsel whose too weak to protect himself.

(Mikoto T2 VD)

John: It’s true that I was the one who wanted to destroy everything… and the weakness of Boku, who couldn’t stand up for himself all alone, might have been the origin of that. But… that’s all there is to it. Is that a sin?

Mikoto has little to no agency and he Knows This. He doesn't know what's happening, is confused and terrified all the time, and feels like he's on a train with an unknown destination. He feels powerless and like he has no control. While John tries his best to help him, but ultimately harms him, cause John will do what He thinks Mikoto needs without knowing what Mikoto wants. Something he seems regretful for.

Hey, I just wanted to save you So why did it come to this?

However, Kotoko does have some sense of Power and Agency and actively Holds this over others.

From the begin I've never asked for your understanding! My actions, one by one, are bringing earth closer to peace. Useless Weaklings should just shut up and let me protect them!

There's nothing inherently wrong with wanting to present more masculine or feminine. However, there is a problem with enforcing strict and rigid roles onto people, especially if those roles enforce systems of power that allow for the exploitation of groups of people by elevating one group and putting down the other.

Even if the gender roles the two fit in are flipped, it is still playing into unhealthy ideals of gender and society that perpetuate abusive systems of power.

(Utena Scripts)

Voice:  Was the ring from the prince meant as an engagement ring? Voice:  That part was good, Voice:  but because of the strength of her admiration for the prince, Voice:  the princess made up her mind to become a prince herself! Voice:  But is that really good for her?

(I got it in!)

I think I might have to wait for Deep Cover's MV to release to fully discuss this, but this is really curious to me.

[midnightstay-blog]

Forever without you

Angst 🌖| Space travel Au 🌕 | Female reader 🩵 | Fluff🌙 | Scenario✨

Tw: Implied death

An: I saw one of those TikToks where people ask couples scenario questions. One of them was if you and your partner were in space with a group of people and your pod malfunctioned and woke you up earlier than planned would you let them (your partner)sleep or would you wake them up? This is inspired by that and that one movie (it has Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt in it). Disclaimer I’ve never seen that movie but I know their pods break while they are on their space journey. I wanted to write something semi-sad for a change of pace. I might turn this into a full fic later but I don’t know yet. Anyways, happy reading.

Genre: Seungcheol x female reader

Theme: Right person not enough time / Lost Love / established relationship

Summary: you and seungcheol are selected to be one of the many couples who get to go to a new planet to start over. However, the trip doesn’t go exactly as planned.

Word count: 1730

“I’m sorry but we don’t seem to have that name on file,” one of the workers tells you as they scroll through the list of names on their tablet.

“that’s impossible the email that I got specifically said to come here and ask for his file by name,” you say sadness and a bit of anger laced in your tone.

Feeling frustrated you let out a deep sigh before checking your phone. You noticed the date March 14th two years to the date since that day, the day your world changed forever. You fiddle with the ring on your left hand. Originally, he had given it to you as an anniversary present. It served as his promise to you.

“Wait here it is Mr. Choi, right? “She asked as she double-checked her screen.

Nodding you confirm and shortly after two men come out of the back with a large box full of his things. You had thanked them before signing for the box and taking it with you back to your apartment. A short cab ride later and you had arrived at the high-rise that you’ve called home since that day. It was supposed to be your new home with Cheol. after all, he had designed it along with the pods that brought you to this place. Stepping into the unit you are greeted by your cat as you remove your shoes and place the box on the table next to you. 

After getting settled you place the box on your work desk before switching on the lights and having a seat in front of it. For a while you just stare at the box until a brief, but small meow escapes your cat pulling you back to reality. “I know... I know but it’s been so long and I- I’m not sure if I’m ready.” You tell the furry animal. Soon she begins to paw at the wires under your desk before you take her and move her to her tower in the other room. Placing her on the tower you return back to your office before taking a deep breath and reaching into the box. Your heart begins to race as your hands find an envelope post marked to you. You run your fingers over the writing, His writing before setting it down and continuing.

The next item is an old picture of the two of you. It was of your first official date. You smile as you recall the memory. The two of you had met at a friend’s engagement party and had been inseparable ever since. When Coups had asked you on a date it had been about two weeks after that party, there was a carnival in town, and he couldn’t wait to take you. In fact, you made it a group trip with him and his friends. You guys ended up staying the whole weekend.  It was a little unconventional for a first real date, but you grew to cherish the time. Looking at the picture one last time you set it on your desk before reaching back in the box. This time you had come across a few of his hoodies and a few discs. You place the hoodies folded on the other chair next to you before grabbing the discs and setting them on your desk. It had been a long time since you were able to watch anything in disc form. Most forms of media had been preloaded onto a projector so now all you had to do was pick up your remote and press play. After looking at the discs you decide to start with the letter. Opening it you begin to read its contents. :  Love, if you’re reading this then that means that something went wrong concerning the pods and I’m not with you right now. Though I can’t be with you physically I want you to know that I’ll always be in your heart and that you’ll always have mine. I’m assuming you got the discs. There should be about 12 or so total depending on what time the malfunction happened that’s if it happened. Everything that you need is on them. Make sure you watch them in order it’s important. I know we had a lot planned together but I want you to know that you will get through this and that I will always be rooting for you. If you need anything the guys are always there so don’t be afraid to reach out to them. Also, don’t be afraid to start over I know it’s gonna be hard at first, but I believe in you. Yours always, Cheol.

Once you finish the letter you wipe your tears and pick up the first of many discs. However, before you can watch it you have to look for your old DVD player. Getting up you make your way into the hallway closet near your living room before digging through a few boxes. Eventually, you locate the DVD player and begin to make your way back to your office. However, before you do you take the chance to change into one of Cheol’s hoodies from the box and a pair of pajama pants before you eventually make your way to your office.  Setting the DVD player on the desk you plug it in before you turn off the lights and place the first disc next to it before turning it on. It takes a while to boot up before the familiar logo starts to dance across the screen. Placing the disc in the machine you wait for it to load and soon Coup’s face pops up on the screen. For a moment you contemplate turning it off not sure if you’re ready. Taking a deep breath, you press play, and the video begins. He’s sitting at his desk drawing up what looks like blueprints for something. Soon one of the boys calls his name pulling him from his work. Looking up he offers a small smile to the camera. “Why are you filming me I thought you were supposed to be documenting the project.” He questions amusement in his tone. “Well since you’re the lead engineer on the project and you’re currently working on what will become our beds for the next couple of lightyears. I figured they’d want to see the before stages too.” Vernon chimes.  

 “Plus, what if she sees this? “He inquires.

“If all goes well, she shouldn’t have to see it.” Coups says reminding his friend.  There is a brief moment of silence before another person pipes up.

“Oh, please by time this comes out I wouldn’t be surprised if the two of you were probably be married with kids.” Mingyu half jokes. 

“we’ve only been on one date dude.” Coups reveals.

“Yeah, but we’ve all seen the way you two stare at each other. It’s as if one of you is gonna float away or something.”  Vernon teases as the two share a laugh. Cheol’s face begins to burn red from the teasing of the younger men. You smile to yourself seeing them all together again as the video continues. When you to met originally it was a Boo’s engagement party though Vernon had been the one to introduce you to Cheol.

Eventually, you two had started dating shortly after that and a few years later his project at work had been approved for launch. Initially, he was so excited about it but as time went on, he began to have a few worries but he tried not to let them show. Also as time went on you two grew closer and closer and eventually you were one of two couples to be chosen to go to this new planet. He explained it as his bosses wanting him to help out with some of the living arrangements and though you were skeptical about it at first eventually you came around. If only you knew then what you know now.  Hours passed as you watched all the other videos. In some, he talks about your time together and how nervous he was when you met his parents. In another about the time you were house-sitting for him and Kuma got out. He laughs at the memory now.

Soon, you make it to the last one. At this point, you get up to check on the time and it is well past midnight into the early morning of the next day.  As you return to your desk you press play for the finale time that night. This time coups is sitting at the front of the ship staring at the stars. For a while he just sits there in silence occasionally glancing between the sky and the camera.  His hair is longer almost past his shoulders but not quite. Turning towards the camera he takes a deep breath before he begins.

“This will be my last vlog.” He states letting the words hang in the air.

“I tried to fix the pod but without the right components it’s basically useless.”  He states while rubbing his face out of frustration.

“I know at some point you’ll see this, and I want you to know that I’ll always love you.” He exclaims looking directly into the camera.

In that moment you take in a breath wiping the stray tear that began to fall from your eye with his sleeve. He continues saying his goodbyes to all of his friends and family members leaving instructions for how you are to be taken care of etc. Eventually, you watch as he walks over to the suites and begins to put one on. Making his way to the airlock he gives the camera one last smile before the screen goes black.  Once the video ends you sit there soaking in his final words for what feels like forever. Eventually, you manage to pull yourself from your desk and try to get some form of sleep. However, just as you are about to place the discs back into the box your computer dings from the corner of your desk catching your attention. Walking over to it you click on the notification revealing an email. Shocked by its contents you back away from your desk in disbelief before you drop your computer and sit on the floor staring at it. The email reads: Don’t give up on me yet. -Coups

Request are open

[thedreadvampy]

watched monkey man. Thoughts:

dev patel is a really good actor

it's a beautifully put together film visually, the action flows great and the close focus and different speeds are really engaging.

also really enjoyed the sound design for the most part although Roxanne was a pretty funny needle drop for the strip club scene

haha this film is not even in the vicinity of fucking around. not since del toro's peak has a film been so utterly resistant to subtlety when it comes to You Understanding What It Thinks Of Fascism. which I appreciate, to be clear. it is right and good to beat hindutva fascist murderers to death with a shoe.

I was legitimately really emotionally moved by the protagonist's character arc and I thought it handled the trauma and sexual violence elements in ways that were sensitive and not gratuitous

having said that I did feel like it dropped a lot of threads I would have liked to see carried through more fully, and I think that hurt its attempts to be sensitive about gendered violence.

outside of the protagonist there isn't really much of an arc to the female characters - other than the temple guardian, the hijras aren't really given any character or individuation other than as an en masse backdrop to dev patel's badassification, and although it's sick as hell to see them kick some ass at the end, they kind of fall into the background, without their actions or deaths being given much dramatic weight.

Similarly the sex worker character gets two moments of significant characterisation - when she talks to him outside early on and when she fucks up the hotel owner at the end - and that implies an arc of her moving from resignation to hope but imo a lot of what we actually see of her in between those moments is only through the lens of how her mistreatment triggers the protagonist into thinking about his mother's assault.

So I don't think it's intentional and it clearly reads as though we're meant to understand both the hijra community and the sex worker as the protagonist's allies and comrades, but because we only really see them through the lens of how they move his story forwards, it does at times feel like it falls back into a trope of 'women and marginalised people's abuse happens in order to motivate a man to do manly violence' and none of the women depicted as the subject of violence - not the hijras, not the sex worker, not his mother - are the focus of power and subjectivity in the story. The mother comes closest in that - she's clearly established as involved in resistance and she acts both to protect her child and defend herself, and is also humanised and characterised - whereas the present-day women are kind of instrumentalised - they don't have particularly defined personalities and they mostly exist to inspire the protagonist to act by their suffering, and to be inspired to act by his example.

Other than the gender/power aspect where it gets a bit male saviour-y, there were a few other characters I felt like I was expecting to come back or be expanded on that just didn't.

The dog was one element - it was very built up early on, obviously it plays a part in his first failed attempt, then it just falls off the film which is weird cause it felt like they were introducing a thematic throughline.

also the guy from the hotel - I was already kind of confused about his motivation for going with Dev Patel in the police chase, since I thought we'd established him as being profit motivated rather than having a significant relationship with the protagonist, and then we see him on and off throughout the second act, which feels like it's building to him having some significant part to play, and perhaps it's understanding why he chose to align with the terrorist against his employer. then after the Dev-Patel-Has-Leveled-Up ring fight scene, where he's Dev Patel's biggest fan, he fully vanishes from the film never to be seen again. I do not know what I'm meant to take from this character.

couple more thoughts

the priest character is a really strong villain and that final fight was really really good, it truly did keep me on the edge of my seat.

I'm a little bit in love with the mother

man he REALLY wanted to bite that guy's nose off in the brothel fight. he literally goes in to bite the nose off THREE SEPARATE TIMES before he successfully does it. there are other bits of him to attack, I just think.

based on the trailer and the marketing, I really expected it to be gorier I think? there are some conceptually gnarly injuries and kills but the camera speeds by then pretty fast and the bulk of the film is not about the spectacle of violence. this isn't a complaint but it wasn't what I anticipated.

for me I think actually the only thing that made me wince was the bleach thing. and also I'm no pharmacist but I feel like snorting bleach should have fucked singh up more than it did, he seemed surprisingly fine other than a mild nosebleed.

speaking of bleach - really enjoyed that setup and payoff and callback but like the bit where he bleached the mask was very cool and then he only wore it for like 1 minute of screen time then took it straight off again before even entering the hotel. I just feel like he's not fully committing to this Hanuman thing.

ooh I really liked the bit right before the final fight kicks off where Not-Modi is addressing the room full of donors and it's so full of references to the British Raj and highlighting Not-Modi's public school accent, I thought that made really good points about the commonality of oppression. I also appreciated the moment where Dev Patel chooses to let Not-Modi, the political outcrop, go, and instead go after the ideological heart of the movement.

look it's been said but the bit where he bounces off the window in the first act is such a good choice. it's funny and it's also tense. works well.

all told I had a good time, and I liked that it was as on the nose and specific about its goals as possible, although I did feel like it dropped some threads which made it feel weaker than it otherwise might - I think that while I liked the first act, some of it could have been trimmed back in favour of fleshing out some of the side characters in the back half of the film so that they felt a bit less instrumentalised and a bit more human, which was done really well with the mother imo. overall I reckon 8.5/10.

[a-crack-in-the-universe]

Cursed Love

@cotrk-events

Dorcas Loom had a secret. She was in love with Gabriel Silk, the famous concert pianist. But there was a small problem—she was cursed.

It had started with her illustrious ancestor Ifalda Loom, who had gotten herself into an affair with a married French Lord. Unfortunately, that lord had a powerful witch for a wife, and once she found out about the affair she became enraged and cursed poor Ifalda to never find love. She also cursed her husband—she turned him into a toad.

Sadly for Dorcas, the curse was inherited by Ifalda’s descendants, particularly her female descendants. Dorcas only found out about it on her eighteenth birthday, when she came of age and her longtime boyfriend broke up with her suddenly for a very vague and strange reason. It was the curse, her parents told her when they revealed the truth to her. The curse had driven him away. This was to be her fate, for the rest of her life.

Dorcas was understandably distraught. She would never be able to find love, and all because some stupid ancestor had pissed off a witch. It was outrageous, it was unfair! For years she lived in denial and tried to circumvent the curse—she pursued countless men (Dorcas had never been attracted to women) but once they got to the engagement stage the men would either suddenly drop dead, disappear or break up with her. None of her relationships lasted.

It had to be the curse, working its magic. After years of this, Dorcas had to accept that it was real and that she would never find love. But then she fell in love with Gabriel Silk.

Gabriel Silk was an old friend from her school days. They’d gone together to Bloor’s Academy, but she hadn’t thought much of him then. He’d always been so moody, depressed and odd. Plus, she’d also put him into a coma once by enchanting a cape he tried on—something which she’d assumed he wouldn’t forgive her for. After all, she wouldn’t forgive anyone who did that to her.

More recently, however, she’d reunited with him in a coffee shop in L.A. where they were both working now—he as a concert pianist and her as a fashion designer. And as he said hello to her and smiled, she found herself blushing and stammering like a schoolgirl. Oh my god, she realized, Gabriel Silk is hot!

Unlike herself, who was still as pudgy and plain as she’d been as a teenager. But Gabriel didn’t seem to notice that and just said that she looked great.

They got into talking to each other and found that they had quite a bit in common. They exchanged phone numbers, since they had to get back to their jobs right then, and Dorcas almost swooned as Gabriel wrote his on a paper napkin and gave it to her with a sweet smile.

‘I’ll see you later, won’t I?’ he said. There was hope in his eyes that warmed Dorcas’ hollow heart.

‘Yes, definitely,’ Dorcas breathed out.

‘It was only after he left that Dorcas remembered about her curse.

Their first coffee date was a huge success, and so they arranged another one, and then another, until they had to admit that they liked each other a lot. So they started dating. At this point, Dorcas knew that she should tell Gabriel about her curse, but part of her was reluctant—what if Gabriel broke up with her, and wasn’t their relationship doomed to failure because of the curse anyway?

Still… she had to tell him at some point. It wouldn’t be fair to him otherwise. She just had to wait for the right moment.

The right moment, it turned out was months later, right when he was about to propose to her.

‘Wait!’ she screeched, as he knelt before her with a rockstar diamond ring in his hands. ‘You can’t propose to me yet! I’m cursed!’

Gabriel looked at her incredulously, but listened as she told him her story. She expected him to freak out and run away from her, but once she’d finished speaking he only took her hands and said, ‘I’m sorry you had to go through all of that. You still want to marry me, right?’

‘Of course I do!’ Dorcas said. ‘More than anything.’

A steely determined look filled Gabriel’s eyes. ‘Then let’s break your curse so we can get married and live happily ever after!’

Dorcas didn’t have his optimism, but if it did work then she’d be able to be with her love forever, so she smiled and agreed.

Their first step in breaking the curse was research. Dorcas knew how the curse had started, but not how to break it. It took months of searching and a visit to a magic library and a witch doctor, but they finally discovered the three key ingredients—a Mafia’s tears, a pearl lost in a crocodile-filled swamp, and a True Love’s Kiss. The True Love’s Kiss was a very special kiss and could only be done when the couple in question were so in love that nothing could keep them apart. Also, one of them had to be dying for it to work. Yadda, yadda, something to do with the tales of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White and how their princes had woken them up from a death-like sleep with a kiss, Dorcas read.  

Ugh. She didn’t want either of them to almost die so that they could be together. But if it was the only choice, well, they would have to deal with it when they came to that point.

For now, they had to get the Mafia’s tears. Luckily for them, one of Gabriel’s best friends from Bloor’s Academy, Lysander Sage, was now a Mafia mob boss. Dorcas had no clue how that happened, for hadn’t Lysander gotten into a law degree at some prestigious university back in Britain? Gabriel shrugged. He didn’t know either. He’d lost touch with Lysander when he moved to L.A. to become a famous musician.     

They travelled to Lysander’s Mafia group’s secret hideout in San Francisco, where Lysander said they could meet when Gabriel had contacted him. When they did meet, Lysander embraced Gabriel with tears in his eyes, which was very unlike him. ‘He’s high on weed,’ one of Lysander’s minions said. ‘It’s his favourite drug.’

Since Lysander was a Mafia boss and he was already crying, Gabriel asked him, ‘Hey Sander, can I have some of your tears? We need them to break Dorcas’ curse so she can marry me.’

Lysander sniffed and said, ‘Yeah, sure.’ And so Gabriel took out a small bottle from his pocket, uncorked it, and held it underneath one of Lysander’s eye and five drops of tears dropped into the bottle.

Dorcas sighed with relief. That’s one ingredient down. Now two to go!

However, just before they could leave, the hideout was invaded by another Mafia group lead by none other than… Dagbert Endless!

‘Dagbert?’ Lysander stared, surprised. ‘What’re you doing here?’

‘Hey, babe,’ Dagbert said to him. ‘My Mafia minions have come to take over your turf and destroy everything you’ve built. While they’re fighting do you want to go get married in Vegas? I’ve got a car waiting up front for us.’

Lysander thought for a moment, then shrugged. ‘Sure, why not?’

He and Dagbert kissed and ran off while their minions were shooting at each other and dying. Since Gabriel and Dorcas were heading in the direct of Las Vegas anyway, they decided to join Lysander and Dagbert in the car. Dorcas thought this may have been a mistake, since the whole way to Las Vegas Lysander and Dagbert kept kissing with their eyes glued to each other and didn’t stop even when Dorcas threw one of her shoes at them.

In Las Vegas, the two lovebirds got married. Gabriel was Lysander’s best man and Dorcas was Dagbert’s maid of honour. The best thing about this wedding, Dorcas thought with some satisfaction, was that Lysander and Dagbert were both rich and paid for whatever bridesmaid dress she wanted to buy. So Dorcas bought and wore a pink Cinderella style dress with matching high heels and had her hair done up like Marilyn Monroe. She felt like a queen and Gabriel said that she looked gorgeous.

After the wedding, Lysander and Dagbert went back to their wedding suite to fuck and Dorcas and Gabriel used that to their advantage to steal their car. After all, it was a long way to New Orleans.

It took them an unknown number of hours to reach New Orleans—mainly because this author is not American—where their second ingredient was. A pearl trapped in a swamp surrounded by crocodiles. It sounded like a suicide mission, but they would have to try if they wanted to break Dorcas’ curse.

So they bought some good swamp clothes, boots and weapons against crocodiles and headed into the swamp. The swamp was really icky and smelly and disgusting, but hopefully they would be out of there quickly. If they didn’t get eaten by crocodiles first, Dorcas thought grumpily.

They managed to reach the location of their prize fairly easily. It helped that the pearl was shining like a lighthouse beacon, guiding them toward it as if it wanted them to find it. The problem now was that it was surrounded by a ring of hungry crocodiles.

“Oh grief, oh mum!” Gabriel screamed and almost fainted. He did collapse, though.            

Dorcas wanted to scream as well, but since Gabriel had collapsed, it probably wasn’t a good idea if she did too.

‘Hey, you!’ she snapped at the crocodiles. ‘I need that pearl, so you can skitter on out of here!’

The crocodiles turned to look at her, and Dorcas was reminded that they were very hungry and she probably looked like an appetising meal to them.

Then one of the crocodiles spoke. ‘Uhh pearl? We don’t care about that,’ it said. ‘We’re just lying here so that someone will feed us if they come searching for the pearl.’

‘Then you won’t mind if we just take it?’ Dorcas asked.

‘Only if you feed us,’ the crocodile said.

Dorcas rummaged through a bag Gabriel had brought with them and lo and behold, she found the leftovers of the wedding feast she, Gabriel, Dagbert and Lysander had eaten way back in Las Vegas. ‘Catch,’ she called out, and dumped the whole lot of it in the middle of the ring of crocodiles.

She and Gabriel watched for some time as the crocodiles ate the feast. Once the crocodiles were done, she said, ‘Now can you please let us pass? We need to get that pearl.’

‘Sure,’ the crocodiles said. ‘That feast was nice. Thanks!’

Polite crocodiles. Who would have thought it? The crocodiles moved to let Gabriel and Dorcas through and Dorcas collected the pearl, which glowed between her fingers. Thank god, she thought. Now they could get out of there. She hated swamps.

Now, there was only one ingredient left—the True Love’s Kiss. Dorcas wasn’t looking forward to that at all. She and Gabriel drove all the way back to the witch doctor they’d first visited ages ago, for surely the witch doctor would have something they could use to induce a death-like sleep.

Thankfully, the witch doctor did have needle that would put one into a seemingly deadly coma upon being pricked by it. Much to Dorcas’ annoyance, the doctor insisted that she must be the one to be pricked by the needle, for ‘in the tales it’s a princess who falls asleep and is kissed awake by the prince’.

'What kind of fucked up sexist shit is that?’ Dorcas snapped, outraged.

Dorcas didn’t hear the witch doctor’s response, because while Dorcas was distracted the witch doctor had stabbed her in the arm with the needle and Dorcas fell over unconscious.

‘There,’ the witch doctor said to Gabriel. ‘Now kiss her and you can be together forever!’

‘Here?’ Gabriel asked doubtfully.

‘Hmm.’ The witch doctor thought for a moment. ‘No, you’re right. The setting should be a lot more romantic than this.’      

And so they moved the unconscious Dorcas to a clearing filled with sweet-smelling flowers in a forest and laid her down gently on her back. Then it was time to do the thing. As Gabriel gazed down at his love, he hesitated for a moment, for the idea of kissing an unconscious person felt a bit weird. Was it considered assault if his lady wasn’t awake to say yes? But then he remembered that the whole point of this was to break Dorcas’ curse so that they could be together, and so he leaned his head down and kissed her gently, softly on the lips, and willed with all his heart that she would awaken and be free of the curse so they could get married and be together.

It took a few moments, but Dorcas stirred, came awake and kissed him back ardently. The witch doctor cheered.

When they were done kissing, Gabriel asked the witch doctor, ‘Now that we have all the ingredients, how do we break the curse?’

‘Oh,’ the witch doctor said, ‘the curse should already be broken now. All you really needed was the True Love’s Kiss.’

‘What?’ Dorcas glared daggers at the witch doctor. ‘We went to San Francisco and to that horrible swamp for nothing?’

‘You’ve made me rich,’ the witch doctor said. ‘That’s not nothing. I can sell the pearl at a great price and get out of this hellhole. And I can use the mafia’s tears to give my greatest enemy Hanahaki Disease.’

‘That’s… great?’ Gabriel said, bewildered, while trying to hold Dorcas back from gouging the witch doctor’s eyes out. ‘Well, we’d better get going. How will we know if the curse is gone?’

The witch doctor shrugged. ‘If you get married, I’d say it’s been broken.’

‘Great, thanks!’ Gabriel dragged a still-angry Dorcas away and toward their car. After all, it was a long way to Las Vegas and they had a wedding to do.

Dorcas and Gabriel arrived in Las Vegas to find Lysander and Dagbert still there, as those two had decided to stay and party after realising that their car had been stolen. They were rich, after all, and didn’t need to worry about how much it would cost. Upon being told about Dorcas and Gabriel’s upcoming nuptials, Lysander and Dagbert enthusiastically agreed to be their best men.

And so Dorcas and Gabriel were married in a beautiful Italian Roman-looking chapel in Las Vegas. Gabriel was dressed in the most handsome black tuxedo, and Dorcas in a Hollywood-style fluffy white wedding dress with so many layers people wondered how she could walk in it. She had a tiara in her hair, because it made her feel like a queen. Petals were thrown into the air, vows were spoken, and she and Gabriel kissed, and neither of them dropped dead. It was a dream come true.

After the wedding, the newlyweds ran off to their honeymoon suite to fuck. Meanwhile, Dagbert and Lysander took this opportunity to steal back their car and journey to places unseen, for after all it was originally Dagbert’s car in the first place and they wanted to give Dorcas and Gabriel a tiny bit of their own medicine. But they did leave behind enough cash to allow the newlyweds to get out of Las Vegas when they were done fucking, as a wedding gift.       

THE END

[hazoorilaljewellers]

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[quintessentialgaymutant]

A Queer Reading/Analysis on Claude in Fire Emblem Three Hopes

A long analysis I wrote about Claude’s writing in 3 Hopes, specifically in comparisons to 3 Houses regarding queerness. This is my interpretation of the text, and is not meant to be absolute for everyone but I felt it was worth sharing! It’s a long one and begins under the cut:

Claude was a character many queer men wanted before release, and right before the game released; there was a scene featuring a ball in the opening movie where Claude pulls in Male!Byleth’s hand in for a dance; leading many to speculate that he could be a queer option.

Once the actual gay options for men were revealed, there was massive disappointment. Many campaigned for Claude in particular, and even his VA commented on his unfortunate S support situation.

Claude differs quite drastically between Houses and Hopes. In Houses, he is an S support option for female Byleth only and has some of the most romantic endings with women, with many, if not all of his A supports implying romance before the ending.

Hilda, Petra, Ingrid, Annette, Hapi, Marianne, Lysithea, are all women he can support. In comparison, his male supports only include Lorenz, Raphael, Ignatz and Balthus. The opposite sex to same sex ratio of his supports may be amongst the highest, compared to the rest of the cast.

His support with Ignatz is also quite heteronormative with the two of them talking about female Byleth’s beauty, nothing similar is mentioned if you play as the male version.

3 houses does have some subtextual same sex supports and endings between many characters. Dimitri/Dedue, Sylvain/Felix, Caspar/Linhardt, Dorothea/Petra are some that come to mind; Claude has one such pairing that has subtextual potential; Lorenz.

However, even that specific pairing isn’t as blatant as many of the other subtextual ones.

3 years after the release of Houses, 3 Hopes was announced. It was revealed to be a brand new alternate universe story based in Fodlan, with a whole new protagonist to boot!

Fans speculated if romances would return and many queer men silently hoped for the possibility of better characters than what Houses offered. Claude was also back with a gorgeous new design and a more focused story.

Fast forward to now, and It’s been over a year since Hopes has been released and its stark change in perspective and queerness was something that still grabs me, and Claude sits neatly in the center of all of that.

It should be noted that 3 Hopes does not have S supports in the traditional sense; but I would argue that it still has romantic aspects, albeit more subdued but still effective.

First off is the merc whistle; an item you give to any character in the game, regardless of gender, when you receive an A support.

A support is poignant, not only because it’s the highest level but because even in Houses, many A supports were very flirty and/or romantic and that ranking was required in order for Byleth to give them a ring. Thus, this mechanic clearly draws from whatever the equivalent of an S support is in FE games that have it.

Once the whistle is given, the charcaters in question will have some special dialogue, give you a memento in return and then will write you a personal letter once you finish the game.

Many of these letters are very overtly romantic. With characters saying they want to spend the rest of their lives near you or that you’re special to them.

This is not unlike paired endings of past games and is an actual, direct precursor to the Pact Ring in Engage, the newest game in the series as of writing. It’s important to note that the Pact Ring in Engage can also be given to any character regardless of gender.

Beyond that element; the game also has the most intimate simulation setting; expeditions. These are essentially dates you can take any character on, and their dialogue will change depending on support level.

Once again, A support ranking comes with some overtly flirty and romantic dialogue, with blushing and all, and none of this is restricted by gender.

All in all, though the S support system doesn’t exist in Hopes, these alternatives clearly exist for the purpose of romance/shipping and have dialogue that in some cases, is more flirty and intimate than what we even got in Houses, barring direct confessions.

Claude has many unique qualities within this framework, specifically with Shez, none of which is restricted by gender, unlike his Houses incarnation, which was deeply heteronormative.

For starters, his A support expedition dialogue is some of the most overtly flirty and sexual amongst the cast.

If you look at his face, he boasts about how you’re into his face and that you can gaze at it as long as you like. If you look at his hair, he teasingly states that you’re also really into it and that it’s not going anywhere, luckily for us. And finally, if you look at his body, he teases us by saying that he might look scrawny but is actually quite fit.

This last line has a bit of a sexual edge to it in the Japanese version, in which he teases that if he takes off his clothes you could see that he’s not actually that scrawny and is decently built!

These lines imply physical interest and a desire to be gazed at in a more than platonic sense. He doesn’t just like that you think he’s cute; he *wants* you to stare at him and is inviting you in, in some cases, quite proudly and eagerly.

Once you leave the expedition; he says that he’ll be counting the minutes until he can do this again with you.

This level of flirtation and physical intrigue is quite relevant because it’s Claude. Even in Houses, he keeps Byleth at arm’s length in their S support; but in Hopes, a huge part of his story and development revolves around his inability to lean on and trust his friends. The fact that he’s this intimate and vulnerable around Shez after all they’ve been through is quite significant.

Beyond these blatant forms of flirtation, Claude in particular is the most influenced by Shez in Hopes. He arguably gets the treatment Edelgard got in Houses, in which she was clearly written as being romantically interested in Byleth, and is the most influenced by whether or not the player chooses her, regardless of gender.

To demonstrate this, we’ll have to look at Claude’s narrative and Shez’s role in it.

It starts early on, Claude takes an interest in Shez, similarly to how he does with Byleth in 3 Houses.

He views Shez as an “outsider”, like himself, which is the foundational point of their bond. This is brought up multiple times in their interactions, for example, when Shez asks why Claude wants him around, and in their B support when Shez opens up to him about his past and being disowned by his village - he sees a kindred spirit in Shez and actually organically wants to open up to him.

The inability to open up to others represents a large part of Claude’s inner conflict and the fact that it’s Shez who plays a direct role in mitigating that showcases how necessary their relationship is to each other.

He also is constantly lowkey flirty with Shez, beyond the very overtly sexually implied Expedition lines; he calls him “his favourite mercenary” (which he says even after meeting Byleth) and says “I knew we had a thing!” When you decide to join his house.

He also claims that he “wants you” when Shez wonders why Claude wants him to go to Leicster with him after the Monastery closes. He says this again during his paralogue with Judith and Nader, and says he was “laying it on pretty thick” if you don’t get the hint.

He notably doesn’t display this carefree, playful, teasing banter with many other characters, he will maybe jest at them but not be this affectionate and interested.

Things get tense when the Almyran army tries to invade Fodlan’s Throat a second time, now years after the first attempt. It’s an even larger army this time, and it happens as soon as Claude and his army are about to seize Gronder Field from Count Bergliz.

Claude recounts how this must be his brother Shahid. He is hiding the fact that he is Almyra’s Prince at this point and doesn’t tell Shez how he really feels despite Shez catching on that he’s upset.

After Shahid’s death and learning Claude was his brother, Shez feels a wall between himself and Claude; that he’s not being completely open and honest about his feelings. Arval implies that he is still “scheming” and that he’s an ambitious man who keeps to himself, but Shez will be important to him and he’ll open up eventually.

4 moons later, Claude creates the Leicster Federation, not telling anyone about this idea, including Shez.

It’s important to note that without Shez, he never gains the determination to create the Leicster Federation in the first place and it never forms if Shez sides with another house; once again, showcasing how important their bond is to his own story. He says that he apologizes for never telling him about it but asks Shez to promise to stay by his side.

Claude’s inability to confide in his friends comes to a head in his first mission as the federation king. He agreed to a contract with Edelgard; in which he aids her in her conquest against the Central Church of Seiros. The Federation’s first mission is to send troops to Aillel, the Valley of Torment, in order to help general Randolph defeat the knights of Seiros, lead by Thunder Catherine.

Instead of aiding Randolph when he needs it, he commands his troops to secure all of the strongholds in order to trap the Knights of Seiros, blocking their escape, while they focus their efforts on Randolph and his imperial troops. This is seen as a self serving strategy which treats the empire’s troops, whom Claude agreed to protect, as expendable, whilst the Federation’s army remains unscathed.

Claude did not trust in his own army’s (his friends, mind you) ability to both protect the imperial troops and defeat the Knights of Seiros. Claude’s own ambitions require him to think of the bigger picture; however his conscious is at odds with his techniques as he feels guilty after the fight, saying the decision left a bad taste in his mouth.

He says his own hands will never be clean after this and there’s no going back now. He views this as the only way forward, despite it feeling wrong. He is dealing with this inner conflict alone.

This whole time, Shez has felt Claude has been too guarded and unpredictable with his priorities. He cares for Claude but there’s always been something in between them. That tension culminates here; with Shez proclaiming that after this, he feels expendable to Claude and that he is no different from any other noble who views mercenaries as nothing but a means to an end.

Claude does care. He says in an incredibly sullen tone: “I could never do that to you.” His inner conflict is in full display here; he is attempting to balance the duties of an ambitious king but isn’t able to reach his loved ones. Then, Judith comes in, agreeing with Shez.

Judith is almost like a mother figure to Claude and it takes her and Shez to get Claude to see that he needs to not take the burden of leadership solely on himself and that he needs to trust his friends.

They effectively stop him from becoming a shrewd, detached strategist, something he can indeed become in other routes (Scarlet Blaze’s bad ending).

The interaction between Claude and Shez here is full of tension and has a lot to do with how they see each other. Shez wants to be close to Claude but at this point; doesn’t see him as someone who is trustworthy. Claude has always cared for Shez, and has viewed him as irreplaceable but wasn’t able to let him truly in, he never learned how to share his woes (not surprising considering his childhood).

Expressing certain intimate emotions seems difficult for Claude in general. He’s always having to lean on himself to get the job done. Even when killing Shahid, he didn’t expect himself to struggle with it. When he saw himself struggling, he was surprised and thought himself impervious to such emotions; despite it being his brother. Once again, it was Shez who helped him find his resolve and do the deed.

Before leaving for Garreg Mach to fight The Church, Claude thanks Shez for aiding him and asks if he’ll continuing supporting him even after all of this. Shez teases him saying only during the war, but Claude was unwilling to accept that. He wants Shez near him even after it; to share in the cultivation of his dream for Fodlan.

Overall, this is the most direct and personal impact Shez has on any character in the game.

Claude has said many times throughout the game that he yearns to open up to Shez, and that there is a natural chemistry there; the progression of the plot has this trust be at the crux of Claude’s personal development. It’s his trust and vulnerability around Shez that inspires Claude to create the Federation.

The fact that Claude has all of this and was the most vocally desired character by upset queer male fans may not be a coincidence.

Lastly, unlike Houses, Claude’s A supports with all the women he can support with have no flirty or romantically coded lines, most of them speak of Leicster and their roles within it going forward. He doesn’t really open up to any of them, he offers to support them and vice versa but the interactions feel more role centric than personal.

Meanwhile, not only does his A support with Lorenz retain some subtext, it adds even more; with the two of them opening up to each other, looking out for each other, with Claude feeling at ease with Lorenz on his side. They get a special CG, the only A support in the game to do so!

All of this showcases Claude’s unique differences regarding queerness compared to Houses. He is allowed to show the same depth of desire for the male player as the female player, which is relevant in this game as that relationship is at the crux of both the development of his ambitions but also his inner conflicts.

Unlike Houses, the endpoint of the relationship is open to both genders instead of just the female one. This openness to both genders regarding character endings, flirty dialogue, and gifting a special, exclusive item is relevant because it’s the same approach the series embraced in its next entry, showcasing a schema shift from Houses regarding queer readings in the series.

His romantic interest in women is much more obsolete in Hopes, while it is at the forefront in his dynamics with them in Houses. Meanwhile, Lorenz is the one character to retain the possible romantic reading, even surpassing Houses by giving the two of them a CG.

All in all, the schema shift between games not only did better by queer male fans, but also let Claude be more subversive regarding his character interactions and desires than what Houses provided. The series can and still should do better with more overt representation and diversity of queerness but this still meant a lot to me, personally.

[vivalgi]

Damn how disappointed I was upon seeing that COP proposal special. I guess I forgot the demographics this app was made for but I had imagined a completely different scenario than this silly 2-chapter side quest.

I mean, it's a book about a duo who are both gender of choice. Why go for the stereotypical 'the LI proposes to the MC' trope and not something more original for a change? We don't have many GOC books involving engagement and marriage anyway and the few past ones were so obviously made with female MC and male LI in mind.

I'm having trouble coming up with that one time in the history of Choices where our character was the one making a huge romantic gesture. It's always been the LIs who organize dates, surprises and pamper the MCs in other ways. It would have been much cooler if the engagement was a huge part of the 3rd book where instead of Trystan being the typical Prince Charming/Knight in Shining Armor it would have been our usually serious detective MC trying to come out of their shell and be the romantic one instead.

Between solving crimes they could have been trying to plan a perfect proposal and it would have all gone to hell so the proposal would have taken place in the most unexpected place at the most unexpected time and perhaps Trystan would have surprised with their own ring at the same time because somehow that fkr knew about the MC's plans. Or maybe it's just missing Lovestruck hours because that's roughly how it all went down in Vanessa's route 😅

But I guess PB had to give someone about to be laid off a short task to come up with a stupid engagement special to keep them busy until the doomsday. Book 3 will probably be a diamond spending spree, i.e. your typical Choices wedding book where it's the MC's job to pick the venue, dresses, cake designs etc. 🥱😪