#Fun fact this is the second version of this. I did two versions despite the fact that this is the most headache-inducing enemy for me

[hrokkall]

ULTRATOBER DAY 15 /// SISYPHEAN INSURRECTIONIST

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[onsomenewsht]

from the vault:

she's unpredictable, unforgettable

》 Beautiful Crazy, Luke Combs

》 Leah Williamson x Reader

》 wear one's heart on one's sleeve [idiom]: to show one's emotions very openly

“My love, just one more”

“Don’t my love me, Williamson!”

“Use my full name if you want to make it believable”, she smirks as she comes closer to you.

After years together, the blonde footballer still manages to amaze you with that effortless charming attitude.

Whipped around her finger, that’s who you are.

“I’m still on time to call the wedding off”

“Jokes on you, we already signed the papers”

The work you’re trying to finish is forgotten on the kitchen island as soon as she slots herself between your legs, hands on your thighs too strategically placed to be casual.

Leah closes the distance, kissing first your forehead to then carefully graze her favourite features of your face – the tip of your nose, your cheeks, even the hidden space behind your ears.

When she finds your lips, the kiss is soft and tastes a lot like the comfort of home.

“Nice try, we’re still not adding another one”, you whisper with your eyes still closed.

“Oh, come on!”

“You’re turning it into a country concert”

“And how could that possibly be a bad thing?”, she genuinely asks, folding her arms in the stubborn way you learned to love.

A child-like behaviour that, despite her frown, always gets a loud laugh out of you. One more proof you actually just married a tall, blonde, stubborn toddler.

You prompt her to sit on the kitchen island top, holding her waist in your hands - work long forgotten.

“I want to renegotiate”

“Let me hear your terms”

You realised pretty soon in your relationship with the English skipper that the best way to deal with her in a mood to get what she wants is letting her think she can have her way.

The fact that you usually end up giving her anything she wants regardless is a completely different story.

“You let me add one more country song on the reception’s playlist and I’ll take that cooking course with you”

“You promised that three one-more-songs ago”

Leah’s frown grows in contemplation. You can’t tell if she forgot or she just hoped you did. Either way, she needs to find something else to bribe you with.

“I’ll dedicate my next goal to you”

“You’re a defender”, giggles escape you as a finger traces the deep line between her eyebrows, “and you already do”

“Ohi, I will stop buying those big boy shorts you hate”

“You promised that on our first anniversary and I can’t even remember how many times you broke that promise at this point!”

“I never promised that, I said I would try for you”

Another country song is not gonna ruin the party you two are planning to celebrate your marriage, you know that. But the curiosity to see how much she’s willing to put on the line to win this little game of yours is just too much fun.

“You could let me add it just ‘cause you love me”

“Already done that one Taylor’s Version ago”

“My love, please!”

The athlete’s blonde head drops dramatically on your shoulder, her arms enveloping you and holding you firmly. The calm lasts a second, though. Your hands barely reach the back of her neck when she sprints away with a new determination on her face.

“Just listen to it, you will like this one”

Laughs fill your home as she runs to find her phone, almost tripping on her own feet, to come back in the kitchen with a cocky smile and two country hats.

“Don’t even try–”

The acoustic version of a familiar song resonates in the room. Leah carefully places one hat on your head before finding the right key to join the singer in an quite impressive duet.

And here you were, thinking you couldn’t fall in love with her more.

When she offers you her hand, lovingly guiding the two of you in a slow dance in the middle of your kitchen, you’re sure she is more than the love of your life.

The song stops, and you don’t even realise. Her lips and hands fade the world around.

“Just one more”

[cacti-are-like-flamingos]

Living Waters...

Gojo Satoru x Reader x Geto Suguru

The Cursed Trio | Desert Oasis

...

Before setting off for the day, you made sure to grab an extra hairband, anticipating that Geto might need one if his broke. As it turned out, he had the same foresight, which wasn't all that surprising considering the amount of times you'd lose them.

Another curious fact, for some reason, everyone came to you whenever their uniforms got a tear or two simply because you had once mentioned liking to sow things back together

You swear Gojo would do it on purpose considering he always had his stupid fucking infinity on. Geto, on the other hand, likely made sure to be just a tad bit more reckless with his uniform before turning it into you.

He actually liked to watch you work, eyes entranced by the way your hands move and manipulated the fabric --- all while you hummed some tuneless melody under your breath

Moving on

Did you know that Gojo accidentally revealed to Yaga that you had a fondness for unique plushies? Since that day, Yaga began surprising you with a new plushie every day. Sometimes he'd toss them straight at your face, while other times, he'd leave them outside your door.

As the days passed, your room became a plushie wonderland, and you realized you needed to have a serious conversation with Yaga about this overflowing collection.

Despite your talk, the "plushie issue" remained unresolved. However, every Friday after class, Yaga started setting up the classroom to teach you how to knit as a way to compromise.

With this newfound skill, you took matters into your own hands and began creating mini-plushies of everyone around you.

For Kento, you designed a stylish cream business suit that perfectly complemented his rather bland calm personality. You also created a matching outfit for his best mate, Habaira, but in a sleek black color. Habaira was overjoyed with the gesture, though he playfully joked that he looked like his mini-plushie was ready to attend a funeral. Kento couldn't help but chuckle at the comment, a rare small smile gracing his lips as he softly muttered a heartfelt 'Thank you.'

For Ieiri, you crafted a unique plushie, dressing her in a doctor's coat and adding her trademark little cigarette, capturing her essence beautifully. She was absolutely thrilled when she saw it, expressing her excitement with a lazy smile as she kissed you on the cheek.

Yaga received a miniature replica of his current look, which he proudly displayed by placing it next to his computer monitor in his office. Sometimes, you'd catch him smiling at it.

Gojo's plushie was a fun challenge, with a spiky-haired version of him sporting a blindfold instead of sunglasses. Gojo playfully teased you about making a second version because you just couldn't get enough of him. You threatened to take it away, and he protested, holding the plushie just out of your reach. Lanky bastard.

(You never did see that plushie ever again tho, wonder what happened to it)

As for Geto, you searched the internet for some fashionable outfit inspiration and dressed up his plushie accordingly. He later humorously referred to it as his mini shaman (the fashionable outfit was a shaman's attire. Sorry not sorry) , but he assured you that he genuinely loved it. In fact, he liked it so much that he transformed it into a keychain for his bag, carrying it with him wherever he went.

I should mention that by now, your fluency in Japanese had improved dramatically. However, out of a sheer habit, both boys had the tendency to order for you. Then again, they also ordered for one another. Everyone in this fucking three-way has memorized each other's orders like the back of their hand.

You know their coffee orders by heart; Geto knows both of your favorite meals by heart, and Gojo knows both your and Suguru's favorite sweets by soul. (Sorry not sorry)

You all take turns treating one another, but often it's Gojo who insists on paying for you and Geto, given his big-boy bank account. (You will never reveal to them how somehow Mei Mei has become your sugar mama and pays you for simply existing, on the daily)

Geto can't ever drink your or Gojo's coffees because they're just too sweet. It's so sweet it could put a diabetic into a coma. So the two of you happily share taste-sips with each other.

On the other hand, Gojo couldn't handle the intensity of your and Geto's meals due to their overwhelming spiciness. Just the aroma wafting around would bring tears to his clear sky-blue eyes. As for you, vegetables weren't your preference, so Geto would kindly slide his plate close to yours, allowing you to discreetly transfer the unwanted veggies onto his plate without creating a mess on the table.

Gojo would then tease you for your preference, mocking you as he likened you to a small child. So properly, the only adult response was to engage in a game of footsies with him under the table until, accidentally, Gojo hit you a bit too hard, causing you to flinch and squeak. Geto noticed your reaction instantly, and he gave Gojo a piercing glare, silently warning him to be more careful. Gojo, feeling a bit awkward, focused on stuffing his face to avoid eye contact with Geto.

Ah, nothing like a protective mama Geto

Whenever you're trying to avoid Gojo and his endless taunts, you have a clever strategy: hiding in his dorm room, a place he never imagines you'd willingly go. As he spends the entire day searching the school high and low for you, you're actually inside his room, peacefully resting or just relaxing. Oftentimes, you snoop. Hehe

You possess like some Gojo-detector, giving you the ability to sense when Gojo is about to return to his dorm room. The moment you feel he is messing you, you swiftly sneak out unnoticed. He never manages to catch you, and the mystery of why his bed sometimes smells like you remains unsolved for him. That is until one night, he stumbles upon your favorite bracelet tucked under his pillow, the clasp broken.

You can't escape him anymore

Geto finds solace in your room, partly captivated by its enchanting fragrance. The persistent presence of an oil diffuser emanates an aroma that seems to be woven from the fabric of dreams. Its sweet and gentle, a lingering scent that holds a subtle allure, almost addictive in its embrace.

Lost in the allure of the ambiance (doesn't help that you like to keep your room dark and cold with blue lighting) Geto spends literal hours nestled amongst the plushies, lulled to sleep by the whole scenario. Whenever he departs from your room, the decent clings into his clothing. Leaving a trail of flowers behind that informing others of his presence in your room.

Speaking of him

Sometimes, you wake up in the dead of night, feeling something off. It's as if you possess a strange, innate ability to sense when someone is going through a rough time. Perhaps it's connected to your Cursed technique, or maybe your soul simply has a way of recognizing their distress. Regardless of the reason, you find yourself instinctively reaching for one of your pillows and following the invisible trail of energy.

Tonight, your focus settled on Geto's room. He had entrusted you with a key long ago, allowing you to enter his private space when desired.

You approached the door with a gentle, single knock (you have this specific way of locking that involves lightly tapping on the door with your nails. Much like a cat would) before letting yourself in. And there he was, sat up on his bed, his blankets tangled around his lap as beads of sweat trickled down his face. A haunted look in his eyes.

Geto prided himself on being able to maintain a stoic poker face, but even he had to admit. Out of your little trio, you were the one most attuned to their emotions. You could read the warning signs long before they fully manifested.

You slipped into his bed, performing your nightly ritual of unraveling his locks from the right bun he wore to sleep. Quietly, you would always mention how it wouldn't do any good for his hair and how it might give him more morning tangles (knowing well that you yourself slept with your hair loosely tied). Yet, with tender care, you gently massaged the palms of his hands, hoping to bring him back to the present, back to you.

And he came back to you, blinking his lovely onyx eyes as they lightly widened at the sight of you in your nightgown, sitting right next to him, his hand in your grasp as you cooed him back to safety.

No words were truly exchanged; that was for the morning routine. So, for then, the two of you simply settled back into his bed. His hand never left your own as you slowly placed it onto your chest, just where your heart would be.

Your heart beat, calm and strong, lulled him into a dreamless sleep.

...

(A/N): As I was writing this, you fuckers kept blowing up my phone with the amount of likes you were giving my shit. Like damn, I see now we have some early risers here. Goddamn.

I have such a headache rn it's not even funny.

The idea of being a Gojo-detector is rather humorous, isn't it?

Wonder what Geto dreamt about that had him so distressed. Is it the start of something or just your everyday PTSD?

Drop a comment

Feel free to buy me a 🦩

Hope you enjoyed!

Edited: 7/24/2023

[fanterfane]

Dullahan Diplomacy! (Palmtop)

After having her head cut off and stolen by a headless woman, Palmtop knew she was in trouble. For one, she should be dead, she had no body. But for some reason, the magic of the monster kept her alive and breathing. In fact, she felt completely fine, as if her body were still below her but in a pocket dimension or something. If anything, the most discomfort was from how the dullahan who'd stolen her crown was playing with her. The light squeezing of powerful thighs on the sides of her head were discomfortingly pleasant, despite making her fear that she was about to get a watermelon treatment... Thankfully though, it seems like the headless woman had other plans for the bodyless head. Palmtop was gonna be the new powerful top for a powerful body... Whether she wanted to or not, the power that came from being plopped on top of that body instantly corrupted her. She couldn't tell if she was acting normally or not, but she didn't care anymore... She was powerful now, and nothing was gonna stand in her way... This is one of the finished versions a YCH auction I did earlier this year! I had a lot of fun working on it! I view it kind of as a spiritual successor to dullahan dilemma. I've always been fascinated by the concept of head swapping and head stealing and symbiosis so, this exemplifies those ideas for me! I hope you all enjoy it, and look forward to the second one being posted next week :3

If you like the art I make and you want to support me to help create more of it, please consider joining my Patreon at www.patreon.com/FanterFane for all of these benefits and more!

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[umishiqu]

☀️ explaining kalim’s poison recognition abilities

this is a little short because all i’m doing is compiling and emphasizing information from the main story into one post. this does go into detail with implications, but any specific timelines on when or how these skills were developed are left out because i refuse to sleuth for information on the scarabab’s timelines with each other 😂

i made a rant in the comments of a tiktok video explaining this information so i might as well post it lmao

kalim says in book 5-34 that he “studied” poisons. there’s two methods he describes taking specifically to make sure he doesn’t consume poison. the first is knowing or having reassurance that the food isn’t poisoned in advance, which is the method he mostly takes in events when he’s asked to eat something (tamashina mina, playfulland). someone else (in both situations, this job falls on leona, but in book 4 this job went to grim) would eat it first to give reassurance that it isn’t poisoned, and then kalim would eat it afterwards. this also comes up in jamil’s school uniform personal story, where kalim is reassured by eating the cafeteria food because everyone else is eating the same food.

something even funnier to think about with this method: he outright just denies allowing riddle to bring any food of his own into the party kalim’s throwing in kalim’s school uniform personal story. this implies a few things that i’d rather unpack elsewhere lmao

in the case that doesn’t work, the second method is knowing if it’s poisoned or not as soon as he takes the first bite. the second method, along with the use of quotations around “studying”, implies he had to consume non-lethal doses of poisons to understand if the food has been poisoned or not at a first bite rather than conventionally study through text or descriptions of the poison’s tastes. this one is just an implication seeing as the quotation marks aren’t in the Japanese version (translations: ShelBB on YouTube), but you can deduce how much it implies about this particular method for yourself.

these are both measures similar to internal business controls - preventative (eat food with the assurance it’s not poisoned) and detective (eat food detecting at the first bite that it has been poisoned). he specifically mentions that, when it comes to his poison recognition skills, he’ll have a better chance of detecting even magic poisons if he “brushes up on his sensory abilities”. jamil says that for a person like kalim, who is insensitive, using sensory abilities to detect poison is a long reach. kalim says that he doesn’t know until he tries. despite what Jamil says, in the climax of book 5, it’s implied that kalim did brush up on his sensory abilities (intuition) since he knew vil was going to poison (or incapacitate) neige in some way, having the same expression jamil had before his ob.

fun fact: that intuition comes up again when leona talks about kalim and his charisma/money, doing things either intentionally or unintentionally to reach an end result (further relationships). in the context of knowing whether he’s poisoned or not so that 1. kalim enjoys a good meal, and 2. so that a surviving kalim can forgive the other person if they do poison his meal, the idea of the ethics of care coming into play with Kalim’s intuition in general is relevant.

intuition is something kalim is currently working on; although a lot of other events with kalim’s luck does imply he had this skill to some capacity, and just had to realize and apply it practically.

[angelinpiink]

May I ask for some hange nsfw head-cannons❤️

❥ note: ofc! ive been waiting far longer than forever for someone to request some hange fics so i'd have a reason to expose my obsesssion w them so yayy with that being said enjoy ^-^

Hange Zoe Nsfw Headcannons࿐ྂ。

Given their personality, hange is neither submissive nor dominant. They are an experimentalist always wanting to try something new to keep things exciting in the bedroom. They’re so very versatile, so much so you never know which version of hange you’ll get– the sadistic side of them waiting to inflict sexual torture with some new toy she’d discovered or the side that is desperate for you to do the same to them.

Hange often uses pet names like “darling.'' And let's not forget to mention the tons of praise you'll receive for just existing. They call you “good girl.” any chance they get as if your life depends on it. They’ll do just about anything you ask with the exception of degrading you. They just can't seem to bring themselves to say such awful things to you without feeling guilty afterwards. Hange just adores you far too much. However, that's not to say they can't find joy in it when it's done to them.

In fact, nothing makes hange more turned on than when you are mean to them. It's exciting for them to see how far they can push, teasing you until you are a whiny mess, begging for them to take care of you. Or How when the roles are reversed and you are the one in control, they say all the right things to make you cave and give them what they want.

Hange has a high sex drive and truly doesn't care where you are or if you too fucked a few minutes ago. They will never ever get enough go you. Just being in your vicinity is enough to get them worked up. Did I mention they don't know how to keep their hands to themselves? They have to be touching you at all times because let’s face it they are obsessed. This will undoubtedly lead to you two fucking at the most inappropriate of times.

Public places are not exempt from the list of places they’ll have their way with you. Hange will make you sit with a vibrator inside of you, when going out to dinner together with friends and turn the settings to the highest vibration, giggling to themselves because to them it’s a fun little experiment or game to see how long it takes everyone to notice you're on the verge of cumming. Originally they don't notice at all. Instead they just take your shuffling in your seat, the fumbling over your words or the random inflections in your voice when you you speak as hange’s personality rubbing off on you. That is until the two of you excuse yourself from the table mere minutes apart from one another, your reasoning for this being to head to the bathroom and hange’s unclear gibberish answer of where they’re headed off too makes its obvious that their destination is the same as yours.

During sex, hange likes to start things slow and sweet despite what their personality may suggest or how eager she may come off as, things are more enjoyable to them when they have a chance to savor it. This is not to be confused with hange being slow in bed either because the second you ask them to quicken the pace of their fingers pounding into your pussy, I hope you can take it. Hange will fuck you mercilessly until your thighs are quaking and tears are streaming down your cheeks and all because hange is so fond of savoring the moment they're not going to let you cum anytime soon.

It's safe to say that hange is a one of a kind lover, you won't ever find anyone who can satisfy you as well as they do or who’s as wrapped around your finger. Never will you be bored of them due to them constantly introducing you to new things and helping you uncover what it is that gets you off. In short they are the full package, any needs you have can and will be met.

here's my masterlist!

ps. be on the lookout for nsfw headcannons for all aot characters.

[ym-loreposting]

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Timeline Placement

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a crossover between two mystery gaming series... Professor Layton and Ace Attorney. Officially, this game is set in its own parallel world separate from the canons of either series, as stated by Shu Takumi (the creator of Ace Attorney and a writer for the crossover itself):

4Gamer: Did you decide on a particular point in the timeline of the Gyakuten Saiban series where the Naruhodo and Mayoi in Layton Kyōju VS Gyakuten Saiban come from? Takumi:  Not really. In the Gyakuten Saiban series, there is a clearly defined timeline, but this is just a game for fun, so it is set in a parallel world that is unique to Layton Kyōju VS Gyakuken Saiban.

Despite this, there are several clues in the crossover that allow it to be placed in the timeline of both series. It is a fun exercise which I will be going over here. Spoilers for both series and the crossover follow.

The crossover in the Professor Layton Timeline

The timeline of Professor Layton consists of the six original games featuring Hershel Layton as the protagonist (Curious Village, Pandora's Box, Lost Future, Spectre's Call, Miracle Mask and Azran Legacy), the movie Eternal Diva and the titles Layton Brothers: Mystery Room and Lady Layton: Katrielle & The Millionaire's Conspiracy. These last two are set several decades after the original titles and feature Hershel's adoptive children. New World of Steam, which is set to release in 2025, is set a year after Lost Future, the original game that is set latest in the timeline.

There are no exact dates or years given for the games in the Layton series, but the time between each is more or less known. Relevant for the crossover is that Luke, Hershel Layton's apprentice, uses his design from the original three games, which are all roughly set within the same year. Layton also has the university office he has in these first three games, as opposed to the office he has in Spectre's Call, Miracle Mask and Azran Legacy (which are all set before the original three games).

Left: Luke's design in the first three Layton games and in Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Right: Layton's office in Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (top) and Layton's office in Lost Future.

Left: Luke's designs in Spectre's Call, Miracle Mask and Azran Legacy. Right: Layton's office in Azran Legacy.

A fun fact here is that in original versions of Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Luke used his design from Spectre's Call. But nonetheless, these details place the crossover somewhere between Curious Village (the first game chronologically where Luke has his original design) and Lost Future (where Luke leaves Layton's side to go live in America). We can get more specific however.

In the crossover, Layton and Inspector Chelmey of Scotland Yard know each other. This detail places the game between Pandora's Box and Lost Future, as Layton and Chelmey meet each other for the first time in Diabolical Box. Chelmey supposedly also appears in Curious Village, but is later revealed to actually be Don Paolo in disguise.

So in conclusion, a hypothetical placement of Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney in the Professor Layton timeline would look like this:

The crossover in the Ace Attorney Timeline

The Ace Attorney timeline consists of two main trilogies and two duologies of spin-offs. The first trilogy is set in the latter half of the 2010s and consists of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Justice For All and Trials and Tribulations. The second trilogy is set seven years later in the mid 2020s and consists of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice. The two spin-off duologies are the Great Ace Attorney and Investigations series, the former of which is set about 100 years ago in the late 19th century and the latter of which takes place a month after Trials and Tribulations.

The timeline of Ace Attorney is more rigidly defined, as each case in each game specified the dates it takes place and each year is known (aside from those of the two Great Ace Attorney games, but those do not really factor into the placement of the crossover as they are set in the distant past).

There are a few references to events in the Ace Attorney timeline in Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney. The first turnabout of the game, the English Turnabout, features a character called the PC Badger, the mascot of the Metropolitan Police. He is based on the Blue Badger, which received the design the PC Badger is based on in Rise from the Ashes (the final case of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney), placing the crossover after.

Later, during the Golden Court, Phoenix Wright cross-examines the parrot Cracker. He comments that the situation feels oddly familiar, referencing the events of Turnabout Goodbyes (the fourth case of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney), where he cross-examined the parrot Polly. But given Rise from the Ashes is after Turnabout Goodbyes chronologically, this doesn't say much.

The crossover also has references to Trials and Tribulations. Maya Fey says the catchphrase 'Zvarri' a few times, which she picked up from detective Luke Atmey in the Stolen Turnabout (the third case of Trials and Tribulations). And when they are exploring ruins under Labyrinthia, Maya can comment that some of the statues there look similar to a statue of Ami Fey at Hazakura Temple. This is a reference to Bridge to the Turnabout, the final case of Trials and Tribulations, and so would place the crossover after Trials and Tribulations. While the statue also appears in the Stolen Turnabout, Hazakura Temple is never mentioned in that case.

But this makes things complicated, as Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney can only be set during a pretty small window of the timeline. Bridge to the Turnabout takes place from February 7th to February 10th of 2019. Meanwhile, in Apollo Justice, it is shown in the flashback portion of Turnabout Succession that Phoenix lost his defense attorney's badge on April 19th of 2019. During the events of the crossover, he is still a defense attorney.

So the crossover has to take place somewhere in that two-month window, but we can narrow it down further. During the credits of the crossover, it shows Phoenix defending a case back in America and standing in court against his rival, prosecutor Miles Edgeworth.

This is notable because during Trials and Tribulations and afterwards, Edgeworth is abroad studying foreign judicial systems. He only returns briefly to America during Bridge of the Turnabout to help Phoenix during the case. In the first Ace Attorney Investigations, which is set in March of 2019, it is revealed that Edgeworth went back to traveling abroad after Bridge to the Turnabout. He only returns to America during the events of Investigations and mentions he spent the previous month away from his office.

Investigations takes place from March 12th to March 17th and its sequel, Prosecutor's Gambit, takes place from March 25th to April 8th. Given how busy Edgeworth is during these days and the fact Phoenix and Maya can be seen in the background doing their own things in both games (The Kidnapped Turnabout in Investigations and Turnabout for the Ages in Prosecutor's Gambit), it seems rather infeasible the crossover takes place in these time frames. That leaves the 8 days between the two Investigations games and the 11 days between Prosecutor's Gambit and Turnabout Succession as possibilities.

The crossover takes place over the course of six days (including the prologue in London). Phoenix and Maya arrive in England per plane and it takes 10 hours to go from Los Angeles to London (and about 14 to 15 from Japan if one wants to take the Japanese versions of Ace Attorney into account). So an extra day can be tacked onto that, coming out at a total of 7, as Phoenix and Maya arrive in London during the first day the game takes place on. The crossover thus most likely would take place between Prosecutor's Gambit and Turnabout Succession, as that gives a few days to spare, tough a placement between the two Investigations games is possible if one assumes that Phoenix and Maya travel to London during one of the last days of the first Investigations game.

[ganondoodle]

i know i said i wouldnt be ranting about totk anymore, but i realized i didnt really count the sage dungeons as story (dont ask me why) so i thought im gonna write a better summarized version of my opinion about totk (i have around 60% of the game, all lightroots, not yet all shrines (missing like .. 20 or so, know the reward), not all krogs (dont know the reward), not all mayoi (half know the reward?) )

(in no particular order)

good stuff (in my opinion)

the. MUSIC! god the music is good, it was good in botw too but now with much more different bosses it really is probably one of my fav soundtracks of all time (most fav are all three phases of the end fight, the pre-fight to that, the build up one before all of those, Frosgeira (wind tempel boss) the glorious mASTER KOGA and more tbh)

the build up and end boss fight(s) are fantastic, i dont think im ever not gonna have my heart racing when approaching it (despite now skipping almost the entire way bc i set a teleport thing right before it) just bc the build up is so well made and the music(again) is such a banger and the fight(s) itself is so fun too, tbh i keep wanting to play it just bc its so fun

i LOVE how many themes play into the music (endfight alone had so many layers, fav probably is ganondorfs classic theme and calamity ganons both in the same piece among much more, and daruks theme in the fire temple)

(edit) YOU. CAN. TOUCH. DA. DRAGONS!!!!

ganondorf

ganondorfs design (x3)

ganondorfs weapon designs

ganondorfs voice (japanese)

everyone elses voice (japanese)

all voices (german)

thE YIGA!!! i love everythign about them and am so happy they got to be more than just some mini mission

(edit) also the fact that they get zonau tech to work without any special ghost powers is so ????

(edit) koga can summon and use zonau tech unlimited?? hes so cool

NO stealth mission!! (as far as im aware)

bosses are very different from each other

main dungeons are not too short and not too long and mostly fun (mostly bc i personally didnt like the gerudo one), i love that you can still somewhat cheese them and do them your way

sages felt like they got a bit more involved

(edit) you gotta do more stuff before getting to the actual dungeons and i really like that, feels less like a fetch quest but that you are actually helping

(edit) each sage is actually there in the dungeon and is required for it, which is great!

each settlement saw a much bigger danger/change (tho that has more impact if you have played botw) and its problems felt much more real

shrines are well varied tho i think overall a little easy (only got stuck on two so far and later solved them easily bc when i first started them i was tired and exhausted, no brain left lol)

NPCs felt less flat + more bigger sidequests that felt like they had more impact

cool new monsters + designs

the underground was pretty appropiately creepy

the sages abilities are neat

you can refight bosses!!

stable points system is a neat way to encourage you using them

weapon fusing is neat

(edit) the forest of the krogs being corrupted like that is both creepy and a neat nod to oot

(edit) the vai gerudo outfit being gone!! (one) evil has been defeated

(edit) the health bar going so far off the middle in ganondorfs second phase is honestly just funny hnjdfdjk unfortunate that you only need the master sword and with a few perfect dodges his health melts like butter in the summer

(edit) the music when dragondorf transforms sounds so sad .. its probably meant as a oh no world is actually ending sad but i like to think of it as a oh god what did he do to himself sad

the scene where rauru seals ganondorf kinda fruity

(graphic, animations and the overall world is still fantastic)

bad stuff (in my opinion)

everything zonau they feel forced into every bit of the world and its history (i know them being somewhat alien is intentional but not like that) it feels crammed into places they werent before and shouldnt be and it makes it all feel very artificial

the glyphs/dragon tears/memories really ruined alot for me, while it gave you insight as to what happened, it felt like it showed you too much and too little at the same time and i think it would have worked better if it was all in text for once if even at all, so the past stil stayed a mystery and youd be left wondering

timetravel .. really wasnt necessary and felt more like an excuse to get rid of zelda + make her the poor little sacrificial girl again + and to make her turning into a dragon as tragic as possible, like nothing but a stepping stone to the big reveal tm

shiekah tech being not just fully irrelevant but practically erased, wiped off the world (i know about the literally last guardian parts in hateno, it feels more like an oversight tbh, purah technically using it ... tho i dont think she ever calls it that, the purah pad is jsut the sheikah stone but worse), there being no good explanation, no remains, nothing as to why it would suddendly stop working and why even the titans and ESPEICALLY the shrine of life would be destroyed, if anything why wouldnt you enshrine it as a memento to history it was such a focus in botw and so well integrated into the world that it being fully gone, not even old overgrown, or visibly reused to build homes etc., or remains of how they built the og shrines in the underground feels like a HUGE missed opportunity (seriously it would have been so easy to make the ancient shiekah base their tech on old zonau tech, without stealign the gocus but buildign a connection)

all of the continuity problems, totk feels like botw didnt happen and the excuse of 'they didnt want to confuse new players' doesnt make a lick of sense in my eyes bc; its supposed to be a sequel, if you want it to be a standalone game then dont call it a sequel- if you start to play a game with the sequel instead of the first part its your own damn fault if you get confused; if anything, it would have been a good opportuntiy to make people interested in botw so theyd buy and play that one too

ganondorfs character is very flat, you basically get to know nothing about him (yuno even calls that out midgame but its never elaborated upon nhgfrdfhkk)

the zonau and their kingdom of hyrule is presented as this so perfectly good thing to such a degree it turns creepy, the end cutscene with mineru going poof was kinda uncomfy to watch tbh

the reward for all shrines being essentially a reveal as to who the hero in the tapestry was and it being, of course, some weird half zonau is the lamest answer to a mystery i didnt want an anwser too, it doesnt feel like it came naturally either (again my point of the zonau being forced into everything)

the shrines (zonau) feel so much more unnatural than the shiekah shrines, alien in a bad way and not in a good way + really are like a bad reskin of them, their sudden appearance and use is so much less logical

back in botw i was doubtful of if the shiekah tech wasnt going to far too modern tech and cause it all to feel like a bad mix of modern tech and medival fantasy, but they balanced it perfectly (tho the eponator zero was very much the limit imo) but the zonau tech .... oversteps that line i think, it really does feel, more than anything else, that it was just bc they wanted the stuff to be in there bc it might be fun to play around with, im not against that kind of stuff mind you im all for fun, but it feels a little like they thought of a box with endless stuff to play with first and a zelda game second (if you get what i mean)

quite a few quests or things in the game seem like they are more and then end in a dead end (the worst of all is impa saying she wants to go research what could help zelda turn back, and i was excited and convinced that shed give me a quest to find some mcguffin that would do that after i beat ganon but there wasnt anything you could actually do; less bad one but disappointing nonetheless the dongos were mentioned and treated like this big awesome thing from alot of NPCs all around the map and then when you find them they are bascially just gem vending maschines)

the way zelda turns back and link gets his arm back is incredibly unsatisfying, none of them even have something like a scar, or mark from it all, zelda spent thousands of years as a dragon (a transformation that was said to cost your soul but i guess that wasnt true) and link had his arm bascially eaten by miasma and he gets it back like it was never lost, zelda returns all intact as if nothing happened, getting blasted by some magic tm by two ghosts that were supposed to be long gone is the solution to all problems!!

(edit) link losing an arm wouldnt just be super intersting but also lend itself well to lead up into the next game where his prothesis is the focus and source of abilities

(edit) zelda got done so dirty, instead of her actual interests and character to shine she just gets shoved into yet another crisis surrounded by strangers in a world that looks like hers but isnt, and all she does is beg the ancient sages to swear to help link and sacrifice herself again (can you call that fridging? bc she sure feels like she got fridged) i like zelda and i dont like how much i didnt care about her and tbh im angry at the game for that

(edit) both link and zelda not even slightly changing in the years btween botw and totk kinda boring, like a haircut can only do so much

(edit) sonia really is the wife that dies to make husband sad thing isnt she? i get that gan had to get his hands on an enigma stone but i feel like there had been better ways to do that, the fact that she dies that easily is almost funny honestly, why does ganondorf even have weapons when he can just one punch people to death (tho i find it funny to imagine he can literally just kill people in one punch but hes too prideful to do it most of the time so he always uses weapons to look more cool)

(edit) so many new characters that you barely get to see or interact with, i really ... couldnt get myself to care much

(edit) zonau tech being so irrelevant to the games story while its also the focus is .. weird, its really just play doh for the players and nothing else honestly

(edit) monsters mining sonanium feels strange bc ... they dont do anything with it? the best thing i can think of is that they were told to do that so link cant .. upgrade his battery thignies? but then again you could just destroy the mines and remaining constructs to stop it .... also you really dont need anything zonau tech related to beat gan?

(edit) ganondorf beign so utterly uninterested in their tech is weird considering how he dealt with shiekah tech (and we KNOW it can get corrupted) he should be a tech nerd tbh

my twitch VoD of the first time beating the game getting muted at the credits despite me talking over it

nitpicks (in my opninion)

(edit) ganondorf should have a bit more of a boar inspired design, as treat, i think

(edit) the enigma stone wandering back to ganondorfs forehead even after transforming is? weird? i guess an excuse for da epic last stabby but still? (how cool would it have been to have to plunge into his mouth and break it there or something)

(edit) the underground gets a lil old after a while, the fact that its pretty much the same everywhere aside from some .. very strange flowing magma is a lil boring

(edit) ganondorf could have gone way more crazy with abilities and all that, imagine hed spwan multiple miasma arms on himself when you get him to a certain level of health

(edit) i miss unique weapons, there arent even normal axes around anymore, everything is about fusing really, i miss the cool shiekah tech weapons

(edit) the forest of the krogs being largely irrelevant is kinda weird

(edit) mineru being the sage of spirit still is kinda meh, the robot is neat but i thought tauro or purah would be the surprise sage tbh

(edit) the bosses were a little easy (i did boldo gohma rather early and did it without even getting hit)

you cant talk to koga normally :(

you cant find koga again after the last fight :(

you cant refight him (to my knowledge) :(

i find it very strange that yuno seemingly lost daruk shield, despite him having inhereted it in botw

the sage powers are not .. very great integrated, while its fun to haven them run around and help you fight, to actually use their powers you have to chase after them, something that in the heat of a battle is very annoying to do, constantly activating the wrong on or them losing their charge up when they get knocked over is like trying to herd a wild pack of geese while a three headed dragon is shotting laserbeams at you

some widlife just disappearing all of the sudden is very strange (like the rhino in hebra)

some new houses or settlements would have been cool, that the material things at the sides of roads are really only for you to play around with and not to build anything that lasts

you cant fight ganondorf (non dragon, even the dragon is locked to that evening sky) in the sunlight, night or rain, i would have loved to fight him at various times of day

their refusal to show any kind of blood is honestly turnign serious scenes into very awkward ones, sonia just getting punched and she dies with not even like, losing some spit from the force or something, or the fact when you defeat ganondorfs second phase he acts mortally wounded but doesnt even look scratched is just :/

amiibo stuff while neat being included its really mostly just bloating your inventory, if i wanted 5 vaguely different link outfits then i would have gotten the amiibo for it

why hide the -now-totally-not-phantom-ganon-armor- behind such a long questline and then .. have that NOT be upgradable

they put in a house building thingy and then not let you have a roof or a tree or something :(

at some point stable points jsut get you more and more of those free staying over night tickets that i maybe used .. once at the very start and now its just accumulating in my inventory

only one new horse coat pattern :(

satori now only being a thingy that shows you caves is kinda boring, i loved the mystery around it in botw (additionally, that it shows you caves you have completed already kinda sucks)

the end of the shrines isnt that cool anymore, speaking to a mummified monk that gives you essentially his last remains of life energy is so much cooler than a statue of the oh so awesome god king and his wife

the many references and reuse of old names is neat but together with timetravel etc. it easily leads to confusing and fighting among fans for who is more 'right' and its just .. tiring

(edit) considering how much of the advertising was about the sky islands i wished there were more and bigger ones, the underground (that was a little one sided after a while, it all looking the same rly) could have been alot smaller if the sky was bigger instead

(edit) i wished there was more of a sense of .. lost life in the ruins you find, from all races, the ancient ruins are jsut some bridged and ceremonial stuff and i wished there were more like .. houses, like people actually lived there and it not being all around beign a platform for you

(edit) the fact that the half zonau hero exists mean either rauru and sonia had kids but those were clearly not important enough to ever show nor mention, or there were other mixing of them before they all mysteriously died out the fact that the ancient hero was half zonau means their genes survided till then but somehow it never came up? the tapestry still exists and impa and purah say like its a well known fact that the hero looked like that (not at all close to any modern species) when you talk to them while wearing it (the fact that the hero armor thingy is very reminiscemt of ganondorf is like some backtreading bc we were theorizing about the hero having been ganondorf once and they wanted to stop that .. but the more funny thing is the HC of its a descdendet of rauru and ganondorf nhjdfknhdgkfnhkfd) (edit to add to the HC; the game being a big battle about child support is funnier than it should be idk if nintendo knew what they were doing adding details like that)

all in all it just feels like missed opportunities, lost potential, and more a game build around some game mechanics they really wanted to get into than telling a neat story, espeically so bc they called it a sequel, most of my complaints wouldnt be there if it was some alternate thing instead

i probably forgot stuff but if i think of more i will add them later with a little note that it was added in an edit (sidenote, i find it funny how much more nuance that whole conflict would get if rauru and ganondorf were bitter exes bfdrjfbdfndk)

[multifunctionalnitroglycerin]

The Locked Tomb Series Names and Symbolism #4

Hiya folks! Hope you are all doing fine and dandy. This series ofc couldn’t be complete without our beloved Sex-Pal in the count. Now according to wiki there are two figures that inspired the Master Warden, Παλαμήδης, the Greek mythological hero that took part in the Trojan war, and Palamedes the Arthurian knight. I am more well-versed in the Greek myths than I am in Medieval plays, I admit, but I will do my best to do justice by both these inspirations.

            But first things first, some etymology. There are two most prominent versions for the etymology of the name Palamedes or well, Παλαμήδης. In the first one, it’s a derivative of the verb παλαμάομαι meaning devise/contrive and invent. Aka the inventor that devises plans (Or concocts schemes, depending on how you want to see it). In the second one it is believed to derive from the verb παλαίω => παλεύω aka fight and μήδομαι => σκέφτομαι, συμβουλεύω aka think and advise. So, Palamedes would be the one that thinks abt the battle and gives advice for it. Both etymologies I feel fit our inventive strategist, The Master Warden of the Sixth, to a t.

Let us now begin with the Greek hero from the Trojan war. And no my pals, this is not yet another Iliad reference, for our proclaimed hero does not actually appear in the Iliad. His first appearance is in what has been known as the Κύπρια, a well-known epic of the ancient Greek literature that despite being quite famous during the classical period, has been lost to the sands of time. Long story short, this epic is a part of the Trojan circle and follows the conclusion of the Iliad. Palamedes’ story is one of many included in the epic that counts I think 11 books.

            Truth to be told, Mythological Palamedes did star in quite a few epics, tragedies and other works that refer to the Trojan war or the time after it, but for the sake of keeping the post relatively short, and since I do not quite have the time to hunt down every ancient text reference and draw a parallel to the Master Warden, we’ll mostly reference the most relative ones and I’ll leave a list in the end, in case some of you do want to go hunting ancient texts.

            I’ll start with a fun fact. According to a Trojan priest of Hephestus, Dares the Phrygian, Palamedes was described as tall, slender, wise, magnanimous, and charming. Now I cannot speak for everyone, but well, to me that sounds like Palamedes Sextus.

            In general, there are not many direct parallels that I can make between Palamedes the Euboian and Palamedes Sextus, bar for the most obvious one, that they are both ingenious. Palamedes the mythological figure was accredited with inventing part of the Greek Alphabet, lighthouses, navigation, coins, the division of time into months days and hours and a few board games, with κύβοι being one of the most prominent (to my understanding it’s the equivalent to dice). Palamedes Sextus on the other hand, figured out the secret to Lyctorhood, necromantically bound his soul to his skeleton, saw through Cytherea’s ploy, exploded himself, created a bubble in the River in which he persevered until Camila could glue his skull back together and he figured out a way to co-exist with her, in her own body, without killing them both, plus the Grand Lysis and Paul’s creation.

            What mostly sticks with me from the above, among others, is navigation. One Palamedes is the inventor of it, and the other, though by that point is Paul, seems to know a way to the Tomb via the River. The river that even God struggles navigating – at least with other people on the way. So, could it be, that Palamedes -that beat even Cassiopeia in time survived in the River – figures out a way to truly navigate this sea of the dead?

            Two smaller parallels we could draw from mythological Palamedes are 1. Pal seeing through Cytherea’s ploy, the same way that Palamedes the Euboian saw through Odysseus’ ploy when he wanted to avoid fighting in Troy and played mad, plowing the earth with a horse and an ox throwing salt in the holes.   2. The syphoning challenge. This story also includes Palamedes butting heads with Odysseus – not going to lie to you, they were evenly matched in genius – although according to some accounts it’s Palamedes who was the brightest and most ingenious of the Greeks - , but Odysseus never forgave him for uncovering his ploy and may or may not have orchestrated Palamedes’ murder – only in this analogy Pal is Odysseus. In a time of great hunger for the Achaeans, Odysseus was sent to Thrace to find wheat and returned empty-handed. Palamedes mocked him, and Odysseus replied that for all his ingenuity he too would return emptyhanded. Palamedes did embark on the quest and was successful, returning with shiploads of supplies. In the syphoning challenge, Pal is Odysseus, the one who turns up empty handed, refusing to risk Camila’s well-being once he figured out how the test worked. And he is also the one that tries to talk Harrow out of completing the challenge. Harrow much like the mythological Palamedes jumps in the opportunity to prove herself – through the challenge’s objective had little to do with proving one’s self, as we saw – and succeeds, obtaining the key.

            All in all, the biggest parallel’s we can draw here, is that Pal like his mythological namesake is a genius inventor and strategist, a bright necromancer and brighter scholar still. He is the Odysseus in Harrow’s Palamedes and vice versa.

            And now that I drew the parallel with Odysseus I cannot unsee it. He made his body the Trojan horse that exploded in Cytherea’s face. He was stranded in the River – the sea of the undead, of the souls and corpses and all that nice stuff – for however long it took Camilla to piece the skull together, like Odysseus lost in the seas. He found his Ogygia in Camila’s mind where he stays safely stored until his stop in the island of the Phaeacians – Naberius’ body. A brief stop gathering supplies, gathering courage before going home. Back to Camilla, but now as one. There is no him and her anymore. They have had a home in each other, and it’s time he returned to it, burning down the ruins of the past, and getting reborn as something new, together, as one. (Cam and Pal are a phoenix metaphor if I have ever seen one.)

            Onto the Arthurian Palamedes now, our friend was a knight of the round table, and makes his first appearance in an expansion of the Tristan and Iseult legend, as a knight vying for the princess’ hand, much like our beloved Sex-Pal wanted Dulcinea’s affections. There are no Trsitans in this world however, merely Cytherea as an imposter.

            Now what is interesting about the Arthurian Palamedes, is that according to various tales he is the hunter of the Questing Beast – a multi animal snake like monster that he, Percival and Galahad are tasked with exterminating. In most versions the hunt is futile and bears no results. After Palamedes converts to Christianity however, releasing himself from the worldly entanglements, he is finally able to slay the beast after the other two trap it in a lake. My theory here is that the Questing Beast, Beast Glatisant or whatever you want to call it, is a Resurrection Beast, perhaps even Varun the Eater. And the Warden has “converted to Christianity” by ascending, aka completing the Lyctorhood process. He shed his mortal shell, disentangled himself from the coils of mortality and worldly needs, becoming very much the equivalent of the “converted Palamedes”.

 Practically, to sum up, Pal through Lyctorhood and Paul could be the one to slay the Resurrection Beast that is Varun the Eater. With the help of two other individuals – for some reason I feel one of them would be Pyrrha – they trap Varun in a “lake” – could be the Tomb, could be the First, could be yet another metaphorical body of water – and he is the one who end the RB that allegedly killed and consumed Cassiopeia the First.

That’s the post folks, now the list of ancient Lit that I promised:

Ἀπολλωδώρου, Βιβλιοθήκης Ἐπιτομή, 3.7 /  Apollodorus, library epitome 3.7 (But he, not wishing to go to the war, feigned madness. However, Palamedes, son of Nauplius, proved his madness to be fictitious; and when Ulysses pretended to rave, Palamedes followed him, and snatching Telemachus from Penelope's bosom, drew his sword as if he would kill him. And in his fear for the child Ulysses confessed that his madness was pretended, and he went to the war)

Ὑγίνου, Μύθοι, 105/ Hyginus' fabulae 105

Παυσανίου Ελλάδος Περιήγησις,/ Pausanias' guide to Greece

Γοργίας, Υπέρ Παλαμήδους Απολογία / Gorgias Palamedes’ Defense

Ovid, Metamorphoses pp. 13.34-60, 308-312

Virgil, Aeneid pp. 2.81-85

Plato, Apology 41b

Take care of yourselves! See ya on the next one!

[tumblingxelian]

I doubt I have the time or focus to write it but legit fascinated of an "Adrien never went to school" AU thanks to re-reading the Enemies to Lovers Bakers AU.

I imagine the sequence of how this happens would be:

The first day happens as canon. But on the second day, Adrien is better contained at home until Stoneheat 2.0 lets him slip away to do hero stuff. Despite this, the fact the mayors daughter was nearly killed is used as Gabriel as a pretext as to why Adrien will be staying home. This nixes any plans, arguments or work arounds he or Chloe could come up with.

So, with Adrien contained to the manor, work & slightly more occasional Chloe hang outs, what becomes of the story overall? Well let's look at the season 1 plot from the main 2's perspective:

Marinette:

Off the cuff her story doesn't change much.

She doesn't befriend or start crushing on Adrien and because Chloe's distracted there's no seat dispute. With no Adrien, she may instead have a crush on Alya & Chat, but is not willing to act on or even necessarily aware of this at first. Though she may end up feeling heartbroken 'for some reason' when or IF, Alya & Nino start dating, but with no Adrien it may not happen, or could happen differently.

On a more long term level, I imagine some of the school Akuma don't come up, like there's no 'reason' for Chloe to try and steal Juleka's spot on photo day. & Chloe in general is probably bit more distracted & the two have slightly less reasons to butt heads, so the stories focusing on that would be stuff like the class election.

Her relationship with Chat would be largely unchanged given little has actually changed on that front. Though he may be a bit clingier and more overtly lonely so they may talk more. Adrien to her is just a pretty face who she sometimes sees hanging around Chloe.

I think the big divergence would really happen because of Lila. Mostly because without the Adrien factor she may handle the lies with a cooler head, this plot could manifest in two ways, but I will handle that lower down.

Adrien:

So, Adrien has been denied the chance to go to school because of the Akuma. He definitely resents his father and Hawk Moth a bit more overtly in this version and is even more inclined to use Chat Noir as an escape. What little freedom he did manage to claw out of the shift is usually spent hanging out with Chloe. This would also be easily used for comedy juxtaposition what she tells him of school with what we see.

As noted he also tries to spend more time around Ladybug and is perhaps a bit more fast and loose with details about his life, for good and ill. This could also lead him to slipping the truth to Chloe on accident or by intent shifting her dynamic with Chat, or there's still the fun contrast in how she treats the two.

Beyond that, and as established he spends a decent chunk of his off time with Chloe. In this context he is likely the one doing cosplay, which could may Lady Wifi notably hilarious if very stressful for him. He may also briefly connect with the class during the student election.

But again, he's otherwise very cut off from other kids. Though through this we do get to see a, if not softer, then "Trying to be a good friend" Chloe which is as awkward and clumsy as one would expect.

The main big divergence comes with his discovery of the book, likely born from a bit of rebellious snooping in his fathers office. As with the Lila piece above, this deserves its own segment.

Season 1 Finale:

The Book & the Story Teller would likely be the name. It'd be a dual story with Adrien uncovering the tome and realizing its importance and Marinette grappling with how to handle Lila's deceptions. I forsee 2 main varients.

1: Closer to canon. Adrien hears about Ladybug's "bff" from the Ladyblog and goes to give her the book to see if she can get it to Ladybug. It ends up with Marinette who suspects Adrien or his dad of being Hawk Moth. When the book is discovered lost, Adrien is barred from any outings or visits.

Chloe goes on a rampage to try and find it & to get Adrien to reveal Lila lied about them dating, causing her to Akumatize. Marinette does return the book at the sight of Chloe hiding somewhere sobbing over not being able to see her friend but not before making a photo copy version.

2: Very non canon. Adrien still discovered the book but is told to sneak off with it to tell Master Fu, and he does so. Gabriel is distracted by word of Ladybug's BFF and sends an Akuma after Lila. Because Marinette was already keeping an eye on her to reveal the truth she appears and quickly saves her, which makes it look like the lies are true, much to her annoyance.

Lila is now aware that this lie being believed is not good at all, she assumed Hawk Moth wouldn't notice or buy it. But she doesn't want to admit she lied either because then everyone would question everything so she's kind of stuck and ends up as the more common damsel essentially usurping Chloe's position as nominal Akuma target.

While all this was happening, Adrien was grappling with worries regarding his father and Fu and the Hawk Moth situation. He may also briefly lose the book when helping with Lila and it gets picked up by Ladybug so they both get to meet Fu. This sets up the Collector & also the return of the book via the above method.

I think I rather the latter as it feels more natural.

It also does something different with Lila with her still being a presence in class that irks Marinette and draws Akuma into everyday life.

It also lets her potentially be taken in a different direction with her being the target of attacks meaning she's sure as hell not going to work for Hawk Moth. Plus with no Adrien she likely fixates on different would be famous kids, be they:

Chloe (Hilarious because Chloe is as friendly as a porcupine), Marinette (Self starter designer who has to be polite through gritted teeth) General socializing (The Class) different targets of the week (Such as Luka) or a greater focus on Ladybug and trying to use her for social media fame, while also dealing with the stress of constantly being under attack.

Conclusion

It is harder to say what happens in season 2, but I imagine as changes would begin to pile up more things would diverge.

Kagami might make Adrien & Chloe a trio, or a quartet if Sabrina's been brought in more. She'd also potentially have a friendship episode with Marinette sooner if that was still to be a thing.

Chloe might not reveal herself as Queen Bee, or she might actually get picked by Adrien as a temporary hero, possibly along with Kagami, or Sabrina, so both he and Ladybug have a pair of friends.

It may be Nooroo's birthday that reinvigorates Hawk Moth, or he just can't quit in general. Less focus on school as the story heads into a "school break" period so more room for unexpected encounters & events.

Some version of Heroes Day and the Crimson Army is probably still the season finale. Or that could be the season 3 finale given its scale.

As said, unsure.

[arosnowflake]

Something I really love about A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening is how they mirror each other. Despite the fact that Link's Awakening has very little connection to A Link to the Past, it functions brilliantly as a sequel by complimenting and contrasting the latter.

A Link to the Past is a grand tale of destiny, of world-saving adventure that will no doubt go down as myth. Within the opening sequence of the game, your uncle dies in front of you, setting the tone for the rest of your adventure: this is serious, this is dark. You spend at least half your time in the 'Dark World', a corrupted realm with dangerous enemies, people trapped inside by their own greed. Your main enemy in the 'Light World' are brainwashed knights of Hyrule. And this game is difficult; enemies respawn constantly, ways to restore health are rare, a lot of the dungeons and bosses are incredibly punishing. Danger lurks around any corner, and there are very few truly safe areas in the game; and even then, they may be raided (see the Sanctuary).

Don't get me wrong: ultimately, A Link to the Past is a children's action/adventure game and the tone reflects that. There are a lot of fun, whimsical moments, and the darkness is more supposed to underscore the important nature of your quest than it's intended to be a horror upon itself. You are on a quest to save the world, and it wants you to feel the gravity of that. It is not afraid to get dark with it when it has to. This game takes itself very seriously, and wants you to take it serious as well.

In Link's Awakening, you get into the second dungeon by rescuing Madam MeowMeow's giant chainchomp Bowwow from dognappers. This game began as a fun side project of the developers and it shows. Link's Awakening is not a grand adventure to save the world: it is a quest to get off this fun, eccentric island. The stakes are lower and the game takes itself much less seriously, going so far as to incorporate Mario elements for no other reason than because it's fun. Perhaps this is version dependent (or, y'know, a skill issue on my part), I'm unsure, but at least Link's Awakening DX was also a lot less difficult than A Link to the Past, with much more frequent health drops and less and overall easier dungeons. It's not just that its story is more lighthearted; it feels less punishing to play than A Link to the Past. Link's Awakening does take itself serious when it has to, and asks that you take especially its emotional stakes seriously, of course; just like A Link to the Past has a lighter side, Link's Awakening has a more serious side. But ultimately, Link's Awakening never tries to fashion itself as some kind of grand adventure of myth: it's the tale of a single, strange island, as you grow to love it. Nothing more, nothing less.

In this, obviously, the two stories mirror each other: A Link to the Past with high stakes, a dark tone, and a harsh difficulty curve, contrasted to Link's Awakening, with lower stakes, a light-hearted tone, and much more forgiving gameplay. This works out beautifully for Link's Awakening; lots of sequels fall into the trap of trying to one-up the original, and it very often ends badly for them. Creating its own niche allows it to shine on its own without having to be compared to A Link to the Past, despite being a direct sequel. Famously, Majora's Mask also did this to great effect.

But what I find really interesting is how their endings contrast each other.

A Link to the Past has the most quintessential happy ending a game could possibly have. You reach the Triforce, and it magically makes everything okay again. People who died during the game (your uncle, the King of Hyrule, flute boy) are all alive and happy, Hyrule is thriving, all the maidens are save and happy, even the monster and the little ball from the Dark World, bully and victim in the game, are friends now. And finally, you place the Master Sword back in its pedestal, where it will sleep.... forever. (Hilarious with the power of hindsight, of course, but still.) A Link to the Past ends as happily as it possibly could have, with all the negative consequences of the game undone and everyone thriving. You fought a grueling fight, and now you and everyone you love gets to live happily ever after.

Link's Awakening, famously, does not end like that. From the beginning, you get clear hints that something is not right about Koholint, hints that become glaring fact as the game progresses and it's revealed that Koholint is a dream. And dreams have to end. Link's Awakening is not a tragedy; Koholint's disappearance is not a bad thing, and the game goes to great lengths to ensure you know this. Dreams are not meant to last forever, and waking the Wind Fish is Koholint's happy ending. And yet: it's sad. It's so terribly sad. Watching Koholint, the vibrant island you've come to love, disappear at the end of the game is heartwrenching. The ending of Link's Awakening is bittersweet, happy and sad at the same time. It's triumphant, it's necessary, and it's heartbreaking.

This, too, is a contrast and a compliment. In A Link to the Past, after all our hard work, we are rewarded with an uncomplicated happy ending that we simply do not get in Link's Awakening. Link's Awakening's ending is complicated; there is no way to soften the blow, to remove the consequences: Koholint will disappear. We see it happen. And we are not only asked to be okay with this: we are asked to be happy, despite how sad it is.

This is not something A Link to the Past does. A Link to the Past does not end with a shot of Link and Zelda happy despite the death of their caretakers, of Hyrule dealing with the consequences of Ganon's attack but growing despite it all; it ends by removing the effects of it entirely. Everyone who died is fine now, Hyrule is fine now, you are fine now. There is no sadness, no complexity: it is reality-defying happiness.

None of this is a bad thing: A Link to the Past has an extremely satisfying ending. But I love the way Link's Awakening contrasts it, forces you to deal with reality, to watch the dream pop and find beauty in it. Something can be sad and happy at the same time, and this is something to be celebrated. Where A Link to the Past offers you a no-string-attached happy ending, Link's Awakening forces you to confront the sadness that comes with happiness, complicates it in a way that A Link to the Past explicitly avoided.

A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening, despite at first glance having very little to do with each other, work very well as a series because of the way the two games compliment each other: light where the other is dark, complex where the other is simple, mirroring each other near-perfectly. It makes it extremely worthwhile to read their stories in tandem to each other; taking the other game into account can enrich the stories of both games immensely.

[twistofstory]

Some time ago I had troubles working on some other illustration, so I took a break and shook the dust off my pictorial art skills. And now I have a painting of my boy Crimson~ "The Scavengers" actually has a full-fledged The Magnus Archives AU!! I did three paintings for it - I’m not so sure about the first two, but this one looks cool, especially since I managed to improve my lineless art skills. Talking about the AU itself: it changes the entire plot, and I throw my most tragic and bloodthirsty ideas there - including elements of the first version of the story (believe me, this one is a lot)

And, well, I just actually adore the genre, despite the fact that I'm very anxious and easily scared 😅 I may not do well with visual horror, but it’s super fun to draw creepy pictures myself, and monster design is my passion. What didn’t you know about the artist so to speak lol

Second version under the cut !CW: semi-realistic spider!

[tmwcs]

hi hi! i hope ur doing well, i dropped by here to ask if you can write a drabble where like a rare event happened and heelel went to the mortal world to like idk have fun go to theme parks and sum and then he spots like a woman who looks like realena but not entirely. He sees her from like her behind or her back and comes up 2 her and flirts w/ her but her bf is like there like 🤨 and thats all my brain let me produce, i would LOVE for u to write abt this, ily stay safe and keep healthy eat ur meals! ♡♡♡♡♡♡

”Like a Sore Thumb.”

This one has two versions of y/n. One on earth that resembles the y/n that Devil!HS is in love with. This is not canon.

Warnings: shameless flirting, deceiving, mentions of non-con acts, yandere theme, mentions/implications of non-con acts used as a form of punishment and or to express love, mentions of forced breeding, creampie (implied), human rights violation, reader is kept against her will, imprisonment. MDNI 18+.

What an exciting day it was for you and your boyfriend! The new theme park had just opened, and the day couldn’t be any more lovely for the occasion, which is why you adorned his favorite sun dress, paired with tastefully subtle heeled shoes. You bloomed like the flowers of spring.

“We should go check out the Ferris wheel after we get a cotton candy ball.”

You were eager to taste the massive fluff of cotton candy, as evident by your prolonged stare at the food vendor that served it. “Let’s go stand in line then.” Your boyfriend mentions, jovially taking you by the hand in seeing your smile. You both wait in line, it was so long, but you knew it would be worth the wait. The temperature grew hotter, and you both started to feel thirsty. “Do you mind standing in line while I get us some waters?” He mentions, and you shook your head as you pull him in to kiss his cheek. “Not at all. I’ll be here.”

He delicately shakes your hand before heading off, and as you promised, you wait in line. It felt as if the line was barely moving, what with the vendor taking time to create each cotton candy stick, you knew that it would be a while before you’d get to the front. But no matter. This was part of the experience, so you continued to wait, picking your nails as you stood motionless.

…………………

“What a pretty flower.”

you heard a deep voice emerge from behind, and furrowed your brows together in confusion. Did someone just call you a flower? for a split second, you thought it was your boyfriend being sneaky, yet the very moment you turned halfway, you come face to face with a dashing figure. The man was tall, had dark hair, and was dressed all in black. It was strange, he looked so poised and clean, as if the heat was not affecting him, despite wearing trousers, a button up with a black trench coat. His hair was somewhat smoothed over to the side, partially revealing his forehead; and his face…it was devilishly handsome. Too handsome in fact.

he just stood there, smirking at you. You felt the blood rush through to your cheeks as the heat of blush takes over. God, you hope he didn’t notice.

“I-I’m sorry? Were you speaking to me?” You soundlessly spoke, almost too scared to say anything really, the man’s looks was more than just attractive, it was intimidating.

“oh yeah.”

his response was simple and yet, it caused your heartbeat to rise. “Oh yeah”?? What sort of answer is that? You couldn’t help but become more curious about the man who continued to stare down at you.

“I’m sorry…do I know you?” You were confused by his behavior, despite him being the most handsome man you’ve ever laid eyes on, you had a feeling in your gut that proposed a level of uneasiness as the man continued to scan your face with his eyes, looking as if he had seen you before.

“no.”

You internally huffed at his naught response. Clearly he didn’t care to elaborate, which sent signals that the man may have been a creep. Nonetheless, you did your best to be polite and to shoo him away. God only knows you didn’t want to make him mad, because even though he was handsome, there was a glint of subtleness in the form of chaos and malice in his eye.

“oh I’m sorry. I have to meet with my boyfriend, please excuse me.”

“Try harder.”

“excuse me?”

He chuckles aloud, revealing a toothy grin. You had to admit, it only made him more attractive to see a dashing smile to go with his aura. He speaks lowly, in a very deep tone, one that nearly made you collapse.

“I said try harder.” He takes a pause to bite down on his lip, furthering that uneasy ball that was forming inside. “That lie about meeting with your boyfriend, it ain’t it. If you really wanna lie to get your way out of things, you need to…” leaning in, he raises a hand and gently pinches your strands in between his fingers. Rubbing them softly together, he takes in the softness before looking back into your eyes, deeply…closely…and intimately. Whispering, he finishes his remark, his breath grazing your skin. “Try harder.”

you couldn’t think, breathe, or speak. You stood there nearly zoned out in his gaze. He spoke out once more, snapping you out of it. “Go ahead, try. I’m giving you a second chance….pretty.”

you gulped as you took him up on his offer. “I’m not interested…sorry.”

smirking once more, he narrows his eyes and whispers “good girl.” His hand drifts over, his finger traces your jawline until it levels at the center of your chin. From there, you felt the cold tip of his index drag downward, along the center of your throat, in between your collar bones, and right down at the center of the faint cleavage exposed from the scoop neck of your dress. It was enough to make your heart stop beating.

“y/n?”

you blink and widen your eyes as you hear your boyfriend from behind the unknown man. You slightly tilt your head to the side and watch as your boyfriend witnesses the man taking in the feel of your skin.

“oh…um..” you stutter, yet was cut off when the man injects his smooth tone, as he turns his face to reveal his side profile. “The boyfriend.”

you watched as your boyfriend stood, rather frozen. It was apparent that he too sensed the intimidating flow of the man’s aura. Not to mention that a faint switch in his gaze caused his rather handsome face to look more frightening than anything. The man turns back to you, and cups your cheek as he bids you farewell, all the while his thumb strokes in side motions, just above your cheekbone.

“Didn’t mean to disturb your date, you just look like someone I know….someone very dear to me. It’s a shame she can’t be here to show you the resemblance….” He sucks the air through his teeth and formulates a “tsk” sound as he finishes his statement…a statement that sent shivers down to your spine. “But she was a bad girl, so I had to lock her up for a while. That’s okay though…you’ll eventually know how to use that face.”

“U-use…my face?”

“mmhmm.” His thumb continues to stroke your cheek, your boyfriend stood uncomfortably and irritated, yet he was uncomfortable to say anything after receiving what looked to be a death glare from the man in black.

“I…I um…I don’t understand.” Confused, you took in his gaze as you broke the awkward silence.

“well…I can show you.” He leans his face closer…too close. You winced your eyes shut before feeling his breath coat your lips as he spoke. “Tell me….what you want, preeeeeeetty…”

you flutter your lids as you re-open your eyes. “Umm….I don’t know…”

“yeeeees you do….tell me what you want.”

“Um…well…” You peer your gaze off to the side at the cotton candy truck. His chuckle instantly caused you to look back at him, when out of nowhere he raises his other hand. In between his cold fingers, was a long stick with a giant ball of cotton candy, in the flavor you wanted to order.

“h-how—“

“Learn how to use your face.” He smiles as he presents the cotton candy to you. As soon as you took it out of his hand, he peers off to your side, taking a grab on your upper arm and squeezes as he passes through. The very second he was no longer in your sight, you turned to reach out, yet….

“where did he go?….he…he was just here….”

your boyfriend was also flabbergasted as the man disappeared in a blink of an eye. He walks over to you and hands you a bottle of water.

“um…y/n?”

“oh…I’m sorry babe….I…I don’t know who that was but….”

“never mind. Since….I mean now that you have this giant ball of cotton candy….I guess we don’t have to stand in line. Let’s go to the Ferris wheel.”

“okay.”

you both walked off and enjoyed the rest of the day. Throughout your entire visit at the theme park, the man’s words replayed in your head. “Learn to use your face.”

………………………….

The chiming sound of the chains cling together as you remain immobile on the grand bedding. Under the watchful eyes of dual dragons, you lay resting, knowing that you the possibility of you staying locked and chained would be likely. Guess you messed up big time, angering him, all by going against his wishes and continuously begging to go back to the life you once had. For days and days, you tested and pushed his patience out the window as you snapped and yelled, demanding to either be killed or to be released. He stood, not saying anything. Instead, he glared heavily and performed physical acts that left you sore in between your thighs. Who would have thought that out of all the scum you knew on Earth…the Senator, and his shallow followers, it would be the Devil, your own husband, to sexually assault you…all in the name of his insatiable “love” for you. Was it really love? Or was it madness? Or maybe…both.

the way he plunged deep inside, pinning your wrists down on the silk threaded sheets, thrusting, pulling, burying and seeping his essence inside of you as he whispered how much you hurt him with your careless words. He locked, bit, and sucked on every part of you. The marks are still there, they’re everywhere…you looked as if you were recovering from some sort of disease as the coloring scheme of purple, red, and pink adorns your nude body. And his words….the words that replay in your head over and over again….they won’t leave you alone. You could still feel the warm breath of his whispers penetrating your ears….

“don’t ever talk like that….you stay…you will stay…and be here with me….forever. My wife….my queen….I need my queen…I need you so much.”

……..

you shutter as you recall his sickening words were followed by his grunt as he released deep inside your crevice….forever reminding you of the fear you could not escape from…the fear of being forced to carry and birth the offspring of this monster…this demon…the devil.

you begin to sob quietly when you hear the calm footsteps of pure leather shoes meeting the marbled flooring.

“crying?” His voice was calm and smooth. Too smooth. Your body shivers as you hear him approach closer. Why can’t he just let you leave? It had been weeks since he brought you to Hell, and already you were going out of your mind with being stuck, forever under his gaze and nude. He wouldn’t even let you wear anything, always claiming that he wanted to take in everything about you before he drapes fine silk and chiffon on your body.

Your mind snaps back to the reality of the situation as you feel him take a seat by your side on the bed. The dip of the weight causes you to look his way and watch him sit while being finely dressed in black. His trench coat was light, and draped over the side of the bed as he crosses his legs and arms. His back leaned against the golden headboard while his eyes fixate on you.

“please….what am I supposed to do? I…I can’t live like this…..I just want to go..to go home.” You tearfully jut out as you cross your arms to cover your breasts. He tilts his head and peers a narrowed gaze your way with an expectant look.

“didn’t we learn anything the last two days? I guess you need more time to think about your wrongs.”

just as he was about to stand and leave you alone, you reach for him. It didn’t make sense to you, but somehow, even though you despised being here and was upset with his selfishness in keeping you, somehow….you found yourself not wanting to be alone. Perhaps it was from all the numerous punishments; being restrained and kept from contacting anyone for a long period of time really messed with your brain. Somehow, you became dependent on him, yearning for comfort and social interaction as the thought of your stay being prolonged in this glorified prison was too much to bare.

“please! Please! I promise I’ll be good. I don’t want to be alone anymore….please just…anywhere but here….I don’t want this….anything but this…..”

delighted that you had a change of heart and that you were begging for him to stay, the Devil’s heart softens. The one thing that makes him happy, was your love for him….your dependence on him….you yearning to be with him just as much as he wants to be with you. Slowly, you weee getting there.

“did you learn your lesson?”

“yes! Yes!”

“Good girl.” Snapping his fingers, the chains disintegrate and you gain mobility. You look up at him with pleads of mercy in your eyes, and he returns a look of reassurance and satisfaction.

“y-you’re not mad anymore?” You quietly stutter, desperately trying to confirm that he had forgiven you.

Shaking his head, he cradles your waistline and pulls you in. Reaching up, he taps the tip of your nose as he smirks. “Of course not. If you say you’ll be good, I’m going to trust you.”

He eyes you up and down as he takes your hand and forces you to run your fingers through his hair.

“don’t I always tell you? I’ll do anything for you…for that face. All you gotta do is use it.”

[hugsandchaos]

Part Chao AU

Sonic Boom AU

In this AU, Shadow has one more trick up his sleeve as the ultimate life form. He already can’t be ended by several things, but when he realizes that there’s no escaping death, his “unconscious” part of the brain uses chaos energy to send him somewhere safe. Once he’s there, he lays down and curls up. An egg shell forms around him, just like a chao.

Inside the egg, his “old” body dies and breaks down for a “new” one to rebuild. Shadow’s new body is downsized to what looks like a 6 to 8 year old version of himself to make it easier for his body to when he hatches.

The process takes about 6 to 8 weeks. Warm to moderate temperatures are best for the process. In colder weather, the process will take longer because the chaos energy, which is largely responsible for the process, will also have to work on heating Little Shadow from the inside.

Once he’s out, Little Shadow doesn’t have a lot of memories. He knows how to speak Portuguese, his first language, and how to walk. He has a grasp on how to understand things and can put things together quickly for someone his age.

However, he doesn’t remember much from his past. He doesn’t remember what happened, but a part of his brain keeps a good idea of who’s “safe” and who’s not based off who he recognized as good or bad at the time of the incident, so he may be scared of whatever or whoever he considered the enemy when he became so hurt. This is why Little Shadow had conflicted feelings about Team Sonic.

Before he turned into an egg, he was still rivals with Sonic, but really thinking about how he and his friends help people (like he used to) and wondered if he was in the wrong.

Little Shadow wanted to trust them, but was hesitant and unsure if it was safe, so he just followed them at a distance at first. When they offered friendship (and food), he would flinch back if he thought they were going to hit him, but eventually got used to them. Once he learns to trust them, things really turn around in the long run.

Occasionally, he’d suddenly feel like he did something wrong. This is from when he realized he was in the wrong as an “adult”. Little Shadow would hug the nearest member and apologize over and over. When asked why, he replied honestly and said that he didn’t know, but he feels like he did something to hurt them and wants to apologize.

Another example of him not remembering what happened, but feeling the effects are loud noises. Specifically sudden banging noises. Little Shadow is terrified of them and starts searching for some kind of threat. He has to be near someone because he thinks they’re in danger and being near them brings him the comfort of knowing that they’re okay and that he can “protect them”. Thunderstorms aren’t fun at all for him.

Here’s two more examples because I really like this idea, okay?

Sticks took the longest to gain Little Shadow’s trust. He just kept feeling like he had to hide from her. This is because as an adult, Shadow saw and heard her rants about aliens coming to invade and do sick things. Being part alien, Shadow came to the conclusion that she was the last being he wanted to tell. He didn’t want to deal with endless questions and traps being littered everywhere on the island.

As an adult, it was more of an annoying inconvenience. As a child, it’s scary because he doesn’t remember what he doesn’t want her to know or why.

Little Shadow doesn’t trust Eggman. In fact, he pretty much hates him. End of story.

Shadow was lied to by Eggman and because he jumped to attack Sonic for something the blue hedgehog didn’t actually do (just Sonic in this AU), he’s really unhappy with him. By now, his patience with being lied to is very short, so no second chances either.

With Little Shadow, it’s on sight. Despite his small size, he’s surprisingly strong, and has punched Eggman across the room more than once. He will bite if Eggman tries to grab him. Little Shadow just has this constant suspicion of him and strongly dislikes him. He doesn’t believe a word he says.

He’s not sure why his instincts are like this, but he’s not arguing with them this time. Not when Eggman keeps hurting people.

Because Shadow was stupid enough to believe him at the time, Little Shadow apologizes after every Eggman fight. This time, he apologizes for thinking Eggman could be trusted. He’s not sure when he did or what about, just that he did and it was a lie.

Over the course of three months, Little Shadow will slowly get flashbacks. Viewing the Earth from space behind glass. Syringes being poked into his skin. Blaring alarms and a red hallway going dark. A human girl calmly carrying him down a white hall humming a tune. People in white coats cutting him to test his regeneration skills.

A bat calling him “honey”. A small creature that looked like him, but with small wings and a red ball on its head. A large robot helping him up. Being put in some kind of clear tube. Flashing red and blue lights. A feeling of longing for a home he can’t remember when he looks up at the stars.

Once these three months are up, Little Shadow will feel really sleepy and find a safe place to curl up and turn into an egg again. Another 4 to 6 weeks later and Shadow comes out as an adult. He remembers everything, including the time Team Sonic spent looking after him this time around. He remembers what they said, and what they really meant with some of the things they said.

Shadow is really considering trusting them now. He doesn’t want to approach them, though. He doesn’t know how. He hasn’t talked about something like that in many, many, many years. One might say… decades.

However, if he were to end up in the same situation again, perhaps going to Sonic and his friends wouldn’t be a bad idea…

That’s all! Bye! 👋

[bloodweavefangnatic]

✨ Companions kisses + romance scenes ✨

Pairing:

Starlach (Fieryblood)

Rating:

10/10

Okay might be a little biased here because I’ve only just tried these two out and I’m obsessed with how adorable they are together (comes to a very close second to Bloodweave 🤭)

Scenes:

10/10

I love the fact that when you first “sleep” with Astarion at the tiefling party — if you’re playing as Karlach — is that, okay, yes he was a little frustrated that he couldn’t sleep with you (her) because of the engine problem but I think this was a good thing because it made him slow down for a little bit (even if he was a little annoyed by it) but he didn’t exactly say “see you bye” and leave the area, what did he do? He actually stayed with you (her) for cuddle and companionship — pun not intended — even though it was something he didn’t usually do

Next up, is how cute , dorky or vulnerable their respective scenes are- both on different ends of emotions so if it’s the graveyard scene that’s happening it’s both vulnerable, sentimental, but also slightly comedic (because really who is Astarion without a little comedy? Even when he’s being a total sweetheart 😂)

or how quirky awkward Karlach’s scene is (if you’re, obviously, playing as Astarion) and how quickly she becomes protective over him — the player, really— after Henk’s nasty attitude

Intimacy:

12/10

Oh. My. God! To be honest I was convinced that they really weren’t all that compatible (what with her morality and his, well, lack of it but that was honestly before I started to realise that there WAS actually more to Astarion’s actual personality than what was on the surface (what we and the other companions already see)

I kid you not I literally fell in love with the way these two were interacting with one another whether it was; pet names (depending which is which currently being played as), the way they kiss one another and just somehow make sense, the way their height differences are completely opposite to each other (which is odd seeing cuz I romanced Gale and Astarion 3 times each so I was used to the “tol and smol” differences 😂)

Conclusion:

Honestly? I just love the idea of any “morally good” companion; whether it’s Halsin, Karlach, Gale, or even, yes, Wyll just showing Astarion that he/she/ or they (all of them 😂) care — now whether romantically or platonically is totally up to you I mean it is called a “choices game” for a reason. So yeah I’m actually glad I made this kinda of canon for Karlach — considering she said she would have ridden Astarion but wouldn’t trust him (I think she was a bit wrong there and was seeing his “above surface personality”

Pairing:

Fieryblade

Rating:

12/10

Okay, I pretty fell in love with them (I’m a sucker for “enemies to lovers” dynamic, the minute these two meet each other although it hits harder and much different when playing their origin run

Scenes:

8/10

Despite not being a “Wyll girlie” I actually did love the socialite dance he performed for and with Karlach (the fact that for once he didn’t judge anyone— and just smiled adoringly at her own version of dance) before trying to wrap up the night of their “date night” — I was a little disappointed when they didn’t sleep together after that (seemed more like a Gale move than anything else 😂) but the kiss(es) are nice and meaningful

Intimacy:

12/10

I just love the fact that, despite Karlach not being able to touch the player (as Wyll), she still sits next to you (similarly to the “Starlach” run) whilst being her most vulnerable and even have the option to kiss her on the lips even if it is a little hot, literally.

Whilst you can’t actually get many romance scenes due to the fact that her engine wouldn’t allow her to touch anyone without burning them it’s still a very wholesome moment all through Act 1 and Act 2 (which is the fun part when she gets her second upgrade in)

However it’s really Act 3 that’s the most fun, even before defeating Gortash shortly after you (as Wyll) enter the city she asks you out on a real date and to “get into anything other than camp gear”. Like I kid you not my heart absolutely melted when that was said and I thought: this could not get any more better.

Boy was I wrong! The date itself was both charming and awkward as fuck like in that cringe “I don’t know what I’m doing” type of thing, but not in a bad way. I absolutely loved every moment of it from the way of ‘let’s pretend we don’t have tadpoles’ to the way she got particularly fired up (pun intended) by Henk’s — owner of the Sining Lute — sour mood

Pairing:

Bloodweave

Rating:

12/10

Scenes:

12/10

I did — do — love how Bloodweave had a magical moment with one another (A. I don’t have the heart to turn Gale down in his “magic lesson” scene and 2. I always head-canon that Astarion WAS a wizard — necromancy for sure — in his past life anyway so win-win! I absolutely loved that you could either choose “imagine kissing Gale” or “Imagine walking hand in hand” or plainly “Imagine you kick Gale” (which I found absolutely hilarious 🤣 because you’ve got all these wholesome stuff and then just a really mean option)

Similar to Karlach (but reversed I guess) is that whilst I didn’t love the whole “Oh we better not sleep together right now because I feel like the orb won’t take it and will blow me up” thing is a bit of an excuse, I kinda understand where he’s coming from. He’d been hurt before so he didn’t want to jump into the relationship straight up like last time (smart Gale smart) although he could have just easily said “I’m not ready for that yet” or “could we slow down a bit”, but then again, as someone having autism; we don’t always communicate properly or feel like we need to come up with a white lie to spare that person’s feelings because we always feel like we’re doing the wrong thing 🤷🏼‍♀️

Oh! Act 2 Astral Planes is my absolute favourite scene in the game (despite having very little flirting and barely any action in Act One, which is more on the “wholesome” side of Gale’s romance however by the time one gets to Act 2 is the REAL fun begins; first up — after defeating some monsters (and possibly innocent beings in your Durge run) he actually confesses to the player after painful romantic interactions in the first act you finally get inside Moonrise Towers the scene later that night 😘👌🏻

Next scene is when Astarion and Gale go on a “boat ride” in the Outer Planes (just like the one in Act Two this atmosphere is just as beautiful but this time this time you either talk him down from getting the Crown of Karsus or talk him up into getting it— I personally wouldn’t ever do it again because he becomes so unrecognisable) I absolutely love the fact that you can either “shut him up” by kissing Gale on the lips — I always choose this option 😂 — or just tell him that he’s enough as he is and that he doesn’t need to pursue godhood to be happy; only if you don’t want him to go after the Crown which I really loved in itself because it shows that he will listen to him regardless if he says “go ahead” or “I don’t think it’s a good idea”

Another great thing about all of this in the morning after your “boat date” he will immediately start to call him pet names like for instance my love (I’m sure there is a lot of endearments Astarion’s been called over the last 200 years but I don’t think “my love” is one of them and THAT absolutely makes my heart soar!)

Intimacy:

9/10

The only reason I give this a nine-out-of ten is because 2 of the kisses is pretty chaste and I understand that Gale is a bit of a virgin (emotionally) because he has no problem bragging how “expertised” he is with his tongue 😜 buuuuut WHERE is it? Where is the French-kissing??? Where is the Oscar award for this tongue performance? The only tongue I ever see is when Astarion (again playing as him) ever so slightly dominates Gale’s mouth with the swipe of his own tongue— no wonder his partner moans 😂

However despite all the chivalry I DO DO DO love how gentle they are with one another, from chin-holding-kisses to slightly brushing down to Astarion’s (as the player) shoulder in reassurance and how eyes are held with such reverence for one another as if they’re the only ones in the world — which is actually a big deal for him because he knows that Gale isn’t just going to leave him behind (like so many of his bedmates after post-sex, after feeling like a used toy 🥺)

[sugutoad]

Matchup Trade for @kanao-tsuyuri-art

╰┈➤ Thank you for doing Matchups at Sugutoad

╰┈➤ Rengoku Kyojuro ‘If you put in your all, you'll stand your ground even in death’

Just for a clear thing, I had not picked this man for you due to the fact of how much you loved him. He was my top option for you when I was in the middle of reading your personality. On to the Headcanons!

The floor seemed to creak under your sandals. You, the new Hashira, had been given the rank of a Hashira. How could anyone seem to reuse an honour like that? Certainly not you. The paper had wrinkled up when you had received it, but the bold handwriting was clear. It had seem that you were recommended to be a Hashira by a man who went by Rengoku,

You knew of him, who didn’t? Well, unless they weren’t a demon slayer. He was known for his loud voice but there must have been more to him, right?  Upon meeting him, you thanked him endlessly. This man had changed your life, only because he thought you were an impressive fighter. For a time, he mentored you for a bit until the official role of a Hashira had been given to you.

He loves how optimistic you are. He grew up in a house that looked down at him, yet you found beauty in the smallest of things. It was truly a gift. 

The two of you go to the library quite often and get scolded at. The chapters seem to never end with Rengoku but you seemed so fascinated by samurais. The amount of times you have been scolded by the librarian due to his loud voice is unbelievable. But upon seeing your disappointment of not being able to stay any louder, he felt bad. He really did try to lower his voice the next time he went to the library, he could feel the eyes of the librarian looking at him with perhaps a smile.

You are his best friend. No one seems to understand him really. All he is to them is a loud mouth. But you… you understood his burden and helped him carry them. You see the real version of him and he sees the truth of you. A person who hides away all their struggles for others surely needs someone. He will laugh with you and cry with you. What you feel, he feels too. And if you ever are in a state of wrong, he will guide you through it. He affirms you with words and food, food makes everyone happy! Especially doughnuts! 

You both have such high energy! Never letting a day go to waste and always making sure to leave the house at least twice a day! Where it’s for small walks or hiking in the forest, he always seems to be making everything more fun than when the activity is done alone. 

He doesn’t kinda like being a Hashira but a part of him longs to be a family man. To have a wife eating for him at home and kids running to hug him when he arrives. 

His confession had to be special. A memory that could not be forgotten by you or him. It was a nice spring day, the sun wasn’t blazing down at you. The petals on the cherry blossom fell softly on your hair. The two of you sat down and ate and talked. That’s when he went quiet. Something did feel off, he was so loud seconds ago. That’s when he told you he liked you. You smiled at him and kissed him, it was soft and his lips were warm. No, they were sort of hot.. the feeling you get when you eat something spicy. But they were somehow sweet. But it made sense, he was after all eating your baked goods a while ago, the sugar still at the corner of his lips.

After dating for a while, he wanted the next step. He went to Tengen, he did have three wives after all so he must be a professional. But he didn’t listen to Tengen despite wanting to. His ideas were too flashy. Rengoku had to do something else. Despite not being a good baker, he tried. When you left for a mission, he stayed home and made cake. On top he had written a proposal. ‘Will You Marry Me?’ Tears stinged in your eyes as you saw that. You said yes. The wedding wasn’t that big, just a few relatives and friends. Mitsuri was your maid of honour, mainly since she wanted to be part of the wedding but also the happiness she felt for you.

The rays of the sun managed to sneak through the opening of your curtains. He was already awake. He sat in the kitchen, adjusting his clothes. It seemed he was going for a mission. Your two year old daughter sat across him, brown hair in two pigtails and red eyes attached to her cereal bowl. He kissed the two of you goodbye, his favourite girls. But no one had told you that would be your final kiss. What had seemed to be seconds after his departure, a black crow pecked at your window. A letter was attached to his foot. You were worried, your husband wasn’t back and now his crow was at your window. When you read the letter, you wished you could turn back time… you sobbed in your room, tears spilling out. 

Rengoku was dead…