#I have some ideas but idk if I have the free time to execute them...

[onesidedradiostatic]

hell's courtroom vs heaven's courtroom

[not-handsome-enough]

FLASH AND GLITCH WARNING it’s not bad by mtl standards but it hurt the hell out of my eyes when I was working on it 😭😭

There more explanation under the cut cause there’s some explaining to do.

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So this is set Post AOTD and the only parts of Dick that survived are his brain and heart. His parts are discovered by Charles when he went back to Deus Keeps remains to scavenge amongst the og Army for an intact left hand that he would transplant, as well as searching for survivors in general. ( something to note is he doesn’t find a replacement and he ends up having it replaced with a golden prosthetic )

He secretly brings Dick’s remains back to Mordhaus where he begins a project to slowly regenerate Dick’s body. He doesn’t tell anyone outside of a select few klokateers and the scientists ( Brian and Jimmy ) mostly due to how unstable the execution may be. Kind of like a don’t get the boys excited cause if it doesn’t work it will be just another downer/uncertainty that they don’t need right now.

I don’t know if Charles is employed with Dethklok or if he’s there for the sake of normality. Either way the boys want him there and he wants to be with the boys.

William finds the operation by accident. He kinda went back to how he was pre-mtl albeit a bit more open with his emotions. There are periods where Dick is left alone and Willy finds him during one of those periods. By the time he finds Dick it’s been a few months since Charles has brought him back to Mordhaus, so while his body isn’t ‘online’ yet, his brain heart and eyes are.

This is kinda how Willy first finds Knubbler. He recognizes the eyes ( which aren’t meant to be yellow like they are in the image above this was made before I had a concrete timeline set up ) so he talks his way into staying as long possible without being caught. They managed to set up a basic communication system with Dick’s eyes ( like yes no maybe but with eye colour ) and that’s how Willy knows he’s not supposed to know about the project. For the first few visits it’s just Willy apologizing to Dick for killing him and just getting out everything he wanted to say and apologize for. Similar to Nate and Rebecca but Dick can yk. Talk back. To an extent.

Cause while physically Dick is in the tube his soul is free to roam around the room. So while Willy’s talking to his eyes Dick’s walking around and just making faces at him and shit.

( I don’t like the colour I went for the ghost mode for him here but idk how to do ghost so best I got I’m sorry 😭 )

Initially it was just really emotion heavy and Dick wanted to be able to hold a full on conversation with Willy about the events of the Mtl but then Willy started bringing entertainment down to the lab and it spiraled a little.

Eventually Willy mentioned how upset he was that he didn’t finish planet piss and it turned into a month and a half of planet piss production ( nothing was recorded and sessions usually ended in a Willy typical tantrum and a promise of coming back tomorrow )

Despite how much these sessions pissed off Dick, his recovery ended up speeding up quite a bit, much to the delight of Charles The Scientists and the select Klokateers. Who still don’t know about the daily visits. Whether or not it was motivation to actually talk back to Willy and shut down his more destructive ideas or to be able to help him I don’t know.

At some point during the PP production Willy starts bringing board games like scrabble and battleship. Shit that made it easy for both of them to cheat. Which they ended up doing. Every. Single. Time. It’s impressive how neither of them caught on to the other cheating. Actually it’s more impressive Dick never caught Willy cheating since Willy was usually in control of Dick’s moves.

While this is happening Dicks body continues to reconstruct itself and eventually it becomes basically back to normal except in its green gooey goop ness ( the animation is like a sped up version of what happened )

( Again his eyes are not meant to be yellow I made this before I had the timeline set )

Dick, realizing that his body is basically reconstructed, starts trying to make his physical body move / tries to reconnect his soul ghost to his body. Unknown to him by rushing the process he glitches his eyes out.

So while he thinks he’s moving his Body he’s actually moving the Wires around his tube.

He practices while Willy is gone because he wants to be able to surprise him / scare the shit out of him a little bit, but this ends up being a detriment to him because when he finally does move in front of Willy it is not his body that is moving. Most of the time if he’s practicing he’s working with The Scientists and Charles

This is where that rough animatic at the top comes in so we know that Willy freaks the fuck out, runs away, and Dick is upset. Gonna jump a lil more into that tho.

So some things to explain / note in the animatic that I just didn’t explain well.

To show that Dick was glitching while moving his eyes turn yellow. The Scientists and Charles know about this, but before trying to move for Will, they never caught that what Dick was actually moving was the wires around the tube and not his body.

Willy was not scared that Dick was moving. If it was just dicks body or even just the wires he would have freaked out a little but wouldn’t have run away. He ran away because Dicks eyes were yelllow. Like he was possessed.

This is basically what was happening

Dick never punched his way out of the tube or talked to Willy.

That being said the flashing alarm was set off by Willy. He knew that the science gang would come if he sounded the alarm. He didn’t get caught by them but he saw that they weren’t panicking like he was.

Dick had no idea why Will ran away that badly until after the science boys came in and his body was unglitched ( which is why his eyes turn green at the end of the animatic ). He thinks Willy ran away because of the wires, not his glitchy eyes.

Also small note the scientists are there when they run in I just didn’t want to draw them because I watched the liquid album episode and they annoyed me a little bit I’m sorry.

Dick’s in the tube for about another month ( where he can control his body ) but Willy doesn’t come back to see him until a week before he is taken out of the tube. They end up having a repeat of the initial cycle ( apologies planet piss and then board games ) but sped up and a little differently. Apologies only last a day, planet piss lasts an hour because Dick is not about to repeat that whole ordeal again without having his equipment around, and the board games last for the rest of the week until Dick is transferred to a private hospital room. Dick ends up actually making sure Will doesn’t cheat and they get really competitive.

Willy doesn’t know where Dicks transferred to and Dick is once again bored out of his fucking mind.

They reunite again eventually but I’m leaving that up to interpretation cause cycles need to break eventually.

I didn’t go into detail about what their talks were day by day because I cannot write dialogue well which means this can be interpreted as Platonic OR Romantic. This au was written with the intention of being romantic ( doomed in original versions ) angst but it’s vague enough where it could be platonic and either way I’m happy.

[taetaespeaches]

showing care through tending to each other’s hair

bts x reader (ocs) genre: fluff word count: 2K

a/n: Hi lovelies! Here’s just some blurbs about bts and reader/oc tending to each other’s hair in different ways. Idk if this is executed as well as the idea I had in my head, but I hope you all like it anyway. I just think caring for one another’s hair is kind of romantic... maybe? Thanks for reading! :)) 

↬ seokjin: “What on earth did you do?” Standing at the doorway of the bathroom, you eye your boyfriend as he lowers the kitchen scissors and flashes you a bashful and guilty grin. “I don’t like when my hair covers my eyes,” he pouts cutely, making you giggle. “Those are our kitchen scissors, Seokjin,” you point out as you walk towards him to inspect his hair cutting skills. Jin turns to face you and leans against the edge of the sink, fighting desperately to not laugh at your attempt to pretend like he didn’t completely botch his hair. “How does it look?” He asks, amused by himself as you snort in response. “Your stylists are going to kill you,” you finally tell him as you trace the uneven ends of his hair with your pointer finger. “Fix it?” He suggests cutely, peering into your gaze from under the askew fringe. Gesturing for the scissors, he easily hands them over, allowing you to take over. “You should have waited for me anyway,” you giggle as his arm snakes around your waist to hold you close to him. “I have actual hair cutting shears, you know.” You watch as his plump lips curve into an amused smile as he nods at you. “This is more fun though, don’t you think?”

↬ yoongi: Your boyfriend is sleepy as he watches the basketball game, his head resting in your lap. He’s spent the first half of the game re-explaining the rules of the game to you for the umpteenth time as you toyed distractedly with his hair. It’s gotten so long, enticing you to keep brushing your fingers through it. “I think your hair is long enough to braid.” You watch as he contorts his features into a confused look that makes him resemble an old grandpa except with pouty lips. “What’s that look for?” You question as he holds back a grin. “Why would I need to braid it?” Rolling your eyes, you comb your fingers through his soft strands. “Why not?” you counter before sectioning his hair into three pieces. As you thread the pieces together, Yoongi’s head becomes heavier against your thighs, his breathing deepening. Intertwining his hair a few more times, you smile to yourself and the pretty braid on the side of his head. “See? I told you,” you tell him, holding the braid together between your fingertips. He simply smiles lazily as he pretends to ignore you, much too enthralled by the dribbling of the ball. Unraveling the strands and brushing them out, you begin again, repeating the motions over and over. Looking up at the game, you watch as one of the players gets fouled and takes to the free throw line. “Wait, why do they get to shoot for that foul but the other guy didn’t?” You ask, getting no response. Peering down at the man, you find he’s been lulled to sleep by the gentle touches on his hair. Grinning at him, you continue braiding his dark hair, happy to see Yoongi so relaxed in your lap.

↬ hoseok: “What are you looking at?” your boyfriend asks over your shoulder as you sit on the kitchen stool, peering down at the phone that holds your attention. Gasping and tugging the device against your chest, you look over your shoulder at his pretty smiling face. “Can’t a girl get some privacy with her second boyfriend?” You tease, Hoseok immediately tsking in disapproval and shaking his head. “You’re so mean,” he playfully complains as you lower the phone to let him see the images you’re scrolling through. “I want to change my hair,” you tell him as he scrutinizes the different hairstyles. He oohs in excitement taking the seat next to you and leaning over your body, touching his pointer finger to the screen and swiping through your options. “Wah,” he suddenly exhales as though he was overwhelmed just by the thought of you with the style displayed. “You’d look really sexy with this,” he kisses your shoulder, causing a small smile to tug on your lips. “A bob? You think I should go that short?” You ask skeptically. “If you want,” she shrugs. “I think it would look really good.” Smiling at him, you deposit the phone on the counter and rise to your feet to stand in front of your boyfriend, squeezing yourself between his thighs. Draping your forearms over his shoulders, you bend just enough to leave a kiss to the apple of his pretty cheeks. “You always think I’m sexy though,” you point out, Hoseok giggling in amusement. “Because you are,” he replies, wrapping his arms around the back of your thighs and tugging you closer to him as he beams. “But still, I like the bob.”

↬ namjoon: You watch in amusement as Namjoon struggles to twist the top of his water bottle off. When he looks across the kitchen island at you with wide innocent eyes, you have to fight back your giggle. Reaching out your hand, he reluctantly places the bottle in your grasp. “Arm day?” You ask as you screw the cap a little, just enough to hear the cracks of it opening. “They’re dead,” he sighs, taking the bottle back from you when you hand it over. “Thank you.” Smiling at him, you tilt your head to the side. “You look like you need to relax for a bit,” you tell him, the man giving you a soft smile. “Let me wash your hair for you.” His eyebrows lift in surprise as he runs a hand through the soft strands. “What? Really?” Nodding at him, you start walking toward the bathroom. “Come on,” you gesture down the hall, telling him to follow you. He does, like a giddy puppy, following wherever you tell him. His face is all crescent eyes, a beautiful smile, and cute dimples as you turn on the water to let it warm up. “We need to give your massive arms a rest,” you tease, though being sincere. Namjoon scoffs but smiles in embarrassed flattery, his expression handsome and slightly goofy.  “Let me take care of you, babe.” You love taking care of him, and it’s not often that you get to dote on him in such a way. He shakes his head and squeezes his eyes shut bashfully, but follows his shyness by taking his shirt off and stepping toward you a bit more confidently. Perhaps you didn’t think this plan through.

↬ jimin: Standing in front of the bathroom mirror brushing your hair, you catch Jimin’s reflection entering the bathroom with his eyes glued to you. “Want help?” He asks through a stunning smile, making you lower the brush and lift your eyebrows in expectation. “You wanna help me, angel?” You ask, Jimin appearing behind you and nodding. “Let me see.” You hand him the brush and tilt your head back slightly to give him better access to the strands. His strokes are gentle as he drags the bristles against your hair, taking his time. There is no rush, as though he would love nothing more than to stand just like this until you feel completely relaxed. Jimin has always been so doting and nurturing, always caring for you in any way he can. Shutting your eyes, you allow yourself to fully appreciate his soothing motions. That is until he giggles, making you pop your eyes open to find him in the mirror smiling in amusement. “I need you to stand up straight, Dear, you’re kind of melting into me here,” he laughs, placing a hand on your hip and guiding you forward. “Sorry,” you smile, realizing you had relaxed completely into his body. However, you immediately miss the feeling of his warmth, this time taking an intentional step back against him. “Dear,” he giggles, giving up and resting his chin against your shoulder. Laughing happily, you turn into his frame and hug your arms around his slim waist. “Sorry,” you say again, this time less sincere as you smile against his neck before leaving a kiss to the spot. “No you’re not,” he retorts, wrapping an arm around your shoulders. “No, I’m not.”

↬ taehyung: Eyeing the ends of your hair, you sigh. “I need a trim,” you pout from your spot on the bed as Taehyung hangs some clothes in the closet. “Want me to do it?” He teases from across the room, a small smile on his face as he finds amusement in his own joking. “Could you?” You suddenly ask, gaining his full attention as he snaps his head in your direction, his smile dropping into a blank expression. “What?” He asks in confusion, lowering the shirt and hanger to his side. “Just the ends,” you clarify, fighting back the smile that wants to break through in response to his concern. “I was kidding,” he points out. “I’ve never cut hair before.” You can see the gears in his head turning as he tries to figure out if you’re in your right mind. “There’s a first time for everything,” you shrug. Taehyung’s expression softens slightly as he cracks a small smile, still in disbelief of this interaction. “Peaches,” he sighs, making you giggle. “Dearest,” you reply with a grin. You know the idea of trying something new excites him, and perhaps that’s why you’re pressuring your boyfriend with no hairdressing experience to trim your ends. You’re prepared to tell him how good he is at it just to watch the confidence fill up his stature in that way you love. “You’re losing it,” he then grins as you stand from the bed and make your way towards him. He hangs the shirt just before you reach him and settle your hands on his hips. “Oh, I’m batshit, baby,” you joke. Resting his arms on top of your shoulders, he leans toward you, his lips almost touching yours. “And if I fuck it up?” You shrug again, Taehyung’s face opening into a wide boxy beam. “It’s just hair, Tae.” Pushing yourself forward, you leave a soft kiss to his lips, appreciating the way he has to break away because he’s smiling just a bit too much.

↬ jungkook: Sitting on top of the bathroom counter, you toss your head back in laughter, attempting to catch your breath as Jungkook stares past you and into the mirror with his bambi eyes. A streak of blue sits across his forehead as he asks, “Do you know what you’re doing?” With your blue-stained glove-covered hands held out to the side, you pull a face of offense. “No, but when has that ever mattered?” you question him, watching as a boyish smile overtook his features. “You’ve literally dyed your own hair before, and you’re worried about me.” He glances from his reflection to you as he sighs. “Do I look hot yet?” He asks, pulling a giggle from your lips. “Super hot.” When Jungkook mentioned wanting to dye his hair blue the other day, you jumped on the opportunity to do it for him. Wiping the blue from his forehead, you whisper a quick apology. “I’ll be more careful,” you grin guiltily. “Remember, you’re next,” he warns, flashing a mischievous smile, making you bite your lower lip in thought. “That was not part of the plan,” you argue as you place more dye onto his hair, only for him to take a step away from you to shoot a glare your way. “We’d be couple goals, babe.” Rolling your eyes, you cocked your head to the side, Jungkook mimicking your sassy stance. “We gotta match.” With a sigh, you relent, never really being that against the idea, and never being able to deny him anyway. “Fine. But you’re not done yet,” you nod for him to come closer again. “We’re gonna be so hot together,” he whispers to himself, making you giggle as you get back to work on his hair.

[meo-eiru]

MERU😭😭😭 i finally had a free moment to relax and the first thing i wanted to do was play hold your tongues and i've spent the last few hours pouring over how absolutely beautiful of a piece it is in storytelling and visuals. i genuinely have so much to gush over and idk where i should be doing it so into your inbox it goes. i apologise in advance, you also don't have to respond to this bc 1) i am aware it's gonna get vv long and 2) spoilers will definitely be mentioned

i hope sel knows what an absolute gem of a writer she is for executing all of this bc i am fucking gobsmacked by how well certain ideas and concepts were interwoven throughout the entire piece. maybe a lot of the things following are just my interpretations, but that's another thing i really really love — there's enough ambiguity in the prose to be able to infer it in so many different ways

first to the namesake of the game, ‘hold your tongues’ and the many connotations of tongues that are explored throughout; as symbols of liberation and entrapment that intermingle so so well. i feel like the game really delves into the struggles that women face in society, in relationships, just in general and i like how since it's done so through maelyn's own perspective, we're privy to a more complex and raw display of how deeply emotionally scarring it can be.

eric is a little bitch imo (i won't retract that statement ever) but the ever judgmental, taunting and superior tone he has as the ‘voice’ in maelyn's head speaks volumes of the character he possessed and the lasting impact it had on her. giving her dress to another man makes her ‘unfaithful’, the fact that it's emphasised that these are only ‘remains’ of a dress too — bc eric left her with shreds, physically, mentally. 

if we take the dress to act as a metaphor for maelyn herself, he left her in shreds.

in response to this, maelyn bites her tongue, so hard that it bleeds. it's restraint, quite literally biting back your anger and the feeling of being wronged. grounding yourself again to the harsh reality of it all, and it brings her back to the present moment when starling points it out.

we see a similar occurrence later on when maelyn relays her tongue ‘longing for a taste, was to be kept down.' so again, she stops herself (and i think the wording here is particularly interesting, that it was to be kept, so intrinsically this too may also link to how women are commonly taught to be submissive and forced to fit to certain standards). 

in both contexts, the act of biting the tongue can be taken as a suppression of some sort of desire — the first is the desire to be mad, and the second is the desire of lust. both which women have been criticised for through the ages.

i also like to think that the tongue is a representation of freedom. starling is very much making wings to fly out of them, and taking them away from ppl has ‘forever deprived of their ability to lie’ (in which case lying = freedom, i won't expand on this too much bc it'll be another whole essay😭) so going back to maelyn, her biting hers can also be seen as her freedom being hurt, prevented.

another thing is, the line just before ‘he never ran out of tongues’, we can take this as starling never having his freedom threatened. and it poses further questions. is this because of his strength? is it because he has the ocean ‘wholly’? is it because he's a ‘man’?

on my first run through, one of the most prominent questions i came away w/ was what was it that attracted maelyn to starling? to the concept of these monsters of the sea that had surpassed human constraints that had her waiting out all those hours to catch a glimpse of one to begin with. what was it that kept her coming back? time and time again, day after day when she could've not gone back to that shore after leaving.

the text narrates a couple of things that i think contributed, there's a sense of warring humanity and animosity in the repetitive motifs of dirt and uncleanliness, in her noting that starling looked ‘half a man’ and that one half could've ‘consumed’ the other. maelyn has an envy that's touched upon frequently. does maelyn want to be closer to a monster so that no one can hurt her? or does she feel like a monster is all she can be now?

then there's a dynamic with power that was honestly done so well. again, my praise to sel for how well thought out it all was. that part where she put her hand into his guts and he made sounds he was ‘unable to control’, another when she tells him ‘cut’ and he does so without question — she recognises she holds the reins in that moment, acknowledges, ‘in control, I breathed.’ 

starling listens to her for the most part, it's a reoccuring theme. even when making his wings, he's following her instructions although it's made clear that he learns quick and is capable. perhaps this gives her comfortability.

but we see this turn on its head when things start to go left, starling begins to do as he pleases and maelyn is taken back into her trauma, back to feeling ‘disgusting’ and ‘unclean’, she even apologises and promises to do better.

leashes are mentioned a few times, maelyn first describes them as a sort of ‘necklace’ — perhaps this is tribute to the way a woman's submission is often beautified and normalised. the ‘leash’ starling puts on her in one of the ends is made of pearls, he keeps it in his mouth before this. could this be a reference to eric's sweet words that bound maelyn before he revealed himself? starling ties it somewhat loosely ‘so she could breathe’ yet that doesn't take away the fact that it's still there. it has a sort of your cage is not small, but that doesn't mean you're not locked in it kinda feel.

there's so much more i could say but i think ive alr said too much😭 i didnt even get to touch on the cuddle ending which was my favourite, or the symbolism of losing fingers, the significance of the numbers two, three and four to the story. I DIDN'T EVEN TALK MUCH ABT THE ART😭😭 MERU SORRY I GOT DISTRACTED BUT THE ART WAS PHENOMENAL❗️❗️❗️❗️

maelyn is super pretty and i love how her and starling contrast each other in design so nicely. starling's expressions were stellar ++ the bgs and cgs were beautiful (you're right, if you didn't clarify it i would think you were behind the chest one haha). also the body horror aspect was really brought to life with the visuals and ik it definitely mustn't have been easy drawing all those organs, thank you for your service meruuuu

i'll shut up here before i write another 3k, but both you and sel did such a great job w/ this. the two of you deserve a nice break to rest so pls make sure to take things easy and take care of yourselves!! drink water and sleep when you can, and know that you've made a masterpiece♥️

OH MY GOD THIS ASK IS MAKING ME GO FERAL

It's so well written??? You did such a good job picking up the details hidden behind their lines??? I fish you continued writing because I for sure did not want to finish it and please do send the other thoughts you had if you can, I love this so much

I'm sure @celerifleuri will too so I'll tag her

You already mentioned the spoilers at the start but I'll also note it down here for people who haven't played the game yet. I'm sure sel will do a much better job answering your story analyses but I'll also say you're completely right with most things you've said.

The story takes place in 1800s with dated gender roles we unfortunately can still relate to. Maelyn is a curious woman who wants to study and experiment, but is being held back by society and even people who she thought she could trust, but again Sel will do a better job explaining those.

I'll talk about the art a bit. One thing I really enjoyed that was kinda unintentional on my part was the use of night and day.

The story starts at night time, the first ever cg we get of Maelyn is her jumping down the cliff, with the moon's reflection on her left and the waves giving an illusion of wings as she looks up, in that very moment she is free.

On the other hand the first ever cg of Starling is day time. The sun is shining brightly from his left, almost blindingly, as he looks down. His hair covering the screen like spider webs.

To contrast these, it's night time in the wood ending. Just like the first cg of Maelyn, we can see the soft moonight shining upon them but not quite reaching Starling's face. Maelyn is alive.

Meanwhile in the bone ending, even though they are underwater we can tell it's day time, just like the first Starling cg. We get to see a glimpse of them through the seaweeds covering our view, the sunlight showering them gently. Starling is alive.

For the character designs too, a bit of a reverse but I'd say Maelyn resembles the sun, meanwhile Starling is like the moon.

They both share green eyes, although quite different shades. Maelyn has bright red hair that contrasts Starling's red tongue tail.

I also like that Maelyn's hair, albeit a bit loosely, is braided and kept tidy. Meanwhile Starling's hair is usually all over the place and quite messy.

[nobodyexpectsthe]

okay i'm going to do a veilguard critical post and i want to start it with this post by david gaider that has lived rent free in my brain since i read it.

and i want to be clear as i begin this rant that i am critical of studio leadership. not the development team themselves, because god fucking knows they tried.

i cannot emphasize enough that the game we got is not the fault of individual writers, or game designers, or any creative team leads. the issue came from people way, way, way above their heads.

and that is extremely important to remember that veilguard's active retooling had only been in play for, what, a year? from 2022 to 2023? when the games industry decided it was time for record layoffs?

where like their entire QA team got shitcanned?

and devs had to fight to get more than two weeks fucking severance?

if veilguard had remained an always online multiplayer experience i think it's story would have been praised, because the story was not meant to be the main draw. the gameplay and character customization was. any story in an online game that isn't an mmorpg is generally praised - even if its a stupid mystery box story where you're just drip fed tiny details that will take actual years to pay off.

in a singleplayer experience in a franchise that people went to because of it's storytelling the whole thing just falls so short.

but for me the issues went so much deeper.

i like most of the character concepts. i like most of the ideas the game was built on, but the execution made me angry.

needing to constantly leave and come back to the lighthouse to pop new quests was frustrating. if they dropped me in the middle of the hub it wouldn't have been so frustrating, but to talk to lucanis i have to go from one end of the map to the other.

there was nothing to do at the lighthouse besides that and i guess upgrading my armor. i can't talk to my companions. i can't even like - prog conversations between them? why can't i use my caretaker points to build out areas for my companions to hang out in, drop some fucking items in there associated with them, and maybe get the conversations i want to hear instead of lucanis talking about fucking coffee for the sixteenth time?

there's a dining room. why can't i use that to get ambient banter conversations?

why am i at the fucking mercy of what the npcs want to do?

so much of the gameplay felt like a holdover from the multiplayer version. things that wouldn't have bothered me as part of a game that was meant to be played in realtime, with idk the conversations being daily login incentives,

but nothing stood out to me as bad as the quest recaps did. the quest recaps actively fucked with my ability to get immersed and stay immersed. they were either clearly a holdover from when there were meant to be huge real time gaps between content drops or an extremely poorly thought out addition that really only made the stop-starts of every quest that much worse.

and the little pop-ups that reminded me why a character did a thing or felt a certain way were infuriating. that just happened. literally at the start of this quest.

the companion quests don't change. they come to conclusions on their own, and even if you try to sway them in another path it doesn't ultimately change anything? i think emmrichs is the only one you can drastically affect the outcome of.

like yes, game, you are not terribly complicated. i have a handful of choices so if a character is doing something or saying something directly related to a choice i pushed them to make, i would assume that's why.

except i had no actual choices. i have replayed dragon age 2 & inquisition multiple times just to see how different scenarios play out depending on my choices. i have played BG3 to fucking death to see how little dialogue options get called back.

i am not talking the grand sweeping choices at the end of the game. i am not talking about the four different endings - which i actually did not enjoy at all.

an ending where everyone dies because you didn't amass enough political power and/or recruit all the party members would have fucked hard actually.

and see, one of my favorite rpgs of all time is tales of symphonia. that's a jrpg. that has a set plot, a set way things play out, you cannot change it except for one small detail - your interpersonal relationships.

i do not need to drastically change the ending of the game, i need to feel like the little stones i throw make little ripples. i need to see that my actions, the person my character is, has an influence on the people around them, their willingness to stand with them and follow their orders, and veilguard didn't give me that.

what i got instead was the illusion of a choice.

what if instead of rook assigning people to missions (THAT IT HOLDS YOUR HAND THROUGH TO PICK THE RIGHT CHOICES) it came down to a matter of trust? what if you gave an order and rather than following it, your teammate / the faction decided you knew jack shit actually and deviated from the plan?

or what if their unhealed personal trauma actually came up in the thing that gets them killed? what if instead of it being cinematics, it was something you had to play through ala DA2? where you have the option to try to salvage the relationship one last time before they either die or get themselves killed?

why was i a fucking spectator in this game that was supposedly built around the strong bonds the veilguard had? because like the whole ~hero of the veilguard~ thing falls flat to me if their fatal flaw isn't ultimately what destroys them.

an ending where i got fed up with the same boring repetitive sidequests & didn't go back and forth from the lighthouse often enough to get

the fact that the game auto-saves at key choice points too is indicative that they know this is not a replayable experience.

looking @ corinne bus.che's departure from bioware and her statements, i don't have a lot of hope for the company. i think that she's saying in the politest way that things are still bad and she's moving on to greener pastures and hopes that the studio can fix itself.

and i say this because i'm remembering the actual months of all hands meetings where execs said the same thing over and over again right before they dropped that projects were being scrapped, games were being sunset, and layoffs were imminent. and my boss, bless him, was trying to reassure me that my team was safe.

only for him to log in one day and find out that someone above his head had laid off team members without his say or input. and how this happened again, and again, until i was the one sending him a text message bc i'd been called into a meeting with someone above his head. my whole team was devastated, our already small size reduced even further, and the workload became that much more stressful to everyone left.

and it kept coming. the way the SLT undervalued anything that wasn't their own fucking jobs was disgusting. heaven forbid you don't lose your bonus. but sure, okay, hq needed that luxury spa the almost entirely remote team will never see.

i had to sign stuff saying i could never disparage the company so i could get my severance.

i remember sitting in allhands meetings with my team, watching the divide between the people who actually make the fucking game and engage with the audience & the people who call the shots grow bigger, and bigger, and bigger until we had a blowout during a meeting regarding our bonuses structure changing THREE DAYS after another project was cancelled AND THE COMPANY HIRED AN ADDITIONAL CEO.

i have been the person in meetings with an exhausted dev team, listening to the writer say they want to do more but the studio won't let them. i've seen the artists showing off work they know will never see the light of day because their project was doomed. i've seen the team lead with defeat in his eyes saying they desperately trying to explain to SLT (who had no knowledge or care about the IP what the project needed to succeed) only to be dismissed.

and like, that might not be her energy. that might be my disillusionment with the industry speaking, but it's so fucking sad. so fucking sad.

she's currently getting a lot of flack but like - it's not her fucking fault my dudes!!! the game was pushed out on a crazy timeline, there were layoffs, she inherited so many problems.

i hope she uses her title and experience to find a better studio to work at and has the chance to make the crpg she wanted to. i hope that studio understands that you can't just staple trends from other games & genres onto yours and make it a success, because bioware & EA sure don't.

i genuinely hope baldur's gate 3 and larian's entire approach to game design forces these grifting finance bros out of the industry and i wish so desperately the discourse would focus on how that is the fucking problem here. but i don't think it will.

i'm going to be so surprised if bioware isn't stripped and sold for parts after mass effect 4 drops. i've seen it too many times at this point.

ips are only as strong as the people making them. and if you have created an environment where these people are leaving in droves, or are constantly anxious for their job security, or you keep interrupting it and retooling it to chase a trend, you've fucked yourself and don't even understand why that trend is popular.

why in the fuck is someone going to pay for knockoff of a better game that's doing numbers with an active playerbase? do you seriously think that the dragon age skin you put over it does anything for that?

i am so tired of the conversations around this game centering on how 'wokeness' ruined it. it didn't. these have always been progressive games. the issues with vg came from people far removed from the writing, design & art process. i think a lot of the clunkiness of the game came from the fact that these stories had no fucking time to develop and grow naturally, they had to be shotgunned bc they had no time to do anything else.

when all is said and done, my honest impression of veilguard is that its a miracle it came out. it is. it genuinely is. few games get out of development hell after that long, let alone in a playable state with any redeeming qualities.

but that miracle isn't enough for me to forgive all of its faults. the slog that was act 2 damn near killed me. there was no narrative pacing with the companion quests. there was... no quests outside of the companion quests. it would have been one thing if i was doing a main story quest and then everybody had feelings related to that quest, but i think 99 percent of act 2 is purely fixing everyone's emotional problems so they don't die in the final battle.

anyway the last thing i'll say is i've seen a lot of people criticizing the team for fluffing the project up. and... man, i hate to tell you this, but they can't say anything about it right now. they just can't. and more than that, like... they are allowed to have pride in what they managed to pull together. the fact that game came out at all is, and it cannot be understated, a miracle.

if there are expirations on their NDAs & non-disparagement clauses, we're going to get some tea in 5 - 15 years.

[scoobydoodean]

how much do you think chuck was actually affecting the movement of the plot throughout the series?

personally, i think he was just observing them from season 6 to season 10, but then he actually had to get involved upon amara’s return. and i do like the theory that he was responsible for the “vision” that cas thought he saw from jack, and that he kinda let mary get killed after cas’s prayer in 14x17, before again becoming fully involved throughout season 15. but for the other seasons 1-5, most of 12-14, and really for the overall universe, idk how much can, or should, be ascribed to chuck’s machinations. like i can never decide which route would be most satisfying for me as a viewer, and so i’m just curious as to what your opinion might be :)

Jack visions theory

Probably helps just to say starting off for anyone who might be coming from a different perspective, that my own understanding of Chuck's machinations in Supernatural (at least when it comes to Sam, Dean, and Cas) do not involve directly violating their free will. Chuck's machinations involve shaping the experiences around our characters to convince them to make the choices Chuck wants them to make. For example, when Dean tosses the gun aside in 14.20 and refuses to kill Jack, Chuck shouts "Do it!" instead of putting some kind of mind whammy on Dean that makes him kill Jack because Chuck either can't do that or won't do it because it wouldn't get him off. Chuck needs Dean to do what Chuck wants him to do (kill Jack) because Dean was brought to a point psychologically where he chose it. The same thing is true of Sam in season 4. The demons or the angels or Chuck don't operate Sam like a robot—they slowly convince him to take one turn after another based on the psychological state he's in, the things happening around him, and the things being whispered in his ears until he's killing Lilith and Lucifer's cage is opening, and Ruby says,

No. It wasn't the blood. It was you... and your choices. I just gave you the options, and you chose the right path every time. You didn't need the feather to fly, you had it in you the whole time, Dumbo! I know it's hard to see it now... but this is a miracle. So long coming. Everything Azazel did, and Lilith did. Just to get you here. And you were the only one who could do it.

I refer to Chuck's influence on the narrative as causality rather than fate. I have a tag for this called #spn and causality. 4.18 goes to great lengths to show how difficult it can be to subvert causality. For example, Dean tries to defy the writing by moving himself and Sam to a different hotel than Chuck wrote them to be in, but the motel's neon sign goes out, causing the name of their motel to "change" to "The Red Motel"—the motel Chuck wrote. ("No matter what details you alter, we will always end up here" etc etc). However, this episode goes on to show that it is possible to leap out of causality's flow. Chuck's control of the narrative ultimately works via anticipation. If he can anticipate his creations choices, his writing realigns everything with the narrative. If they do something he is unable to anticipate? They can leap out of his narrative just long enough to make a difference.

How do they leap out of causality's flow? Two things together: Dean and Cas. Quoting myself here in this post:

Leaping out of causality is something Dean and Cas do together in 4.18, 4.22, and 5.22. In 4.18, Dean pleads with Cas to help him save Sam, even though Cas thinks what’s going to happen is fate and can’t be subverted. Cas doesn’t personally act, but he gives Dean the idea that Dean then executes, leading Chuck to say “What are you doing here? I didn’t write this.” In 4.22, Dean pleads with Cas again. They again fight about the inescapability of destiny. This time, it’s Dean’s pleading but Cas’s actions—flying Dean out of the green room (somewhere Dean is incapable of escaping from on his own). Chuck says when they pop into his house, “Wait. T-t-this isn’t supposed to happen” and then “Yeah, but you guys aren’t supposed to be there. You’re not in this story”. In 5.22, after Lucifer takes Sam over (something that was foretold to happen in Detroit), Cas and Bobby despair, but Dean refuses to give up and calls Chuck, who says, “Oh, uh, Dean. Uh, wow. I, uh, I didn’t know that you’d call.” Then Dean goes to Stull Cemetery alone. However, the moment that Michael begins to walk up on Dean and says, “You little maggot. You are no longer a part of this story!” Guess who suddenly appears with a holy oil Molotov cocktail?

Dean and Cas are something Chuck seems to have a lot of trouble anticipating. I think this is true both individually and as a unit. Individually, Dean is the narrative heart, to an extent that his capacity for love is always exceeding the bounds that Chuck anticipates, leading to confounding leaps like showing up at Stull in "Swan Song" and dropping the gun in "Moriah" and saving the world with the power of love in 11.23. Dean in turn pleads with Cas with that heart, and Cas is angel with a crack in his chassis straight of the line. Naomi/Chuck cannot get Cas to do what he's "supposed" to do no matter how many times he's reprogrammed. He has Loving Dean Winchester/Humanity (same thing) Disease and it's incurable no matter how many lobotomies are attempted.

In the season 1-5 setting, Chuck is actually fairly hands off despite all of this being his prophecy foretold. He told the archangels that everything would end with Sam and Dean as the vessels for Lucifer and Michael (5.08) and Lucifer passed these stories on to his princes, and the angels and demons brought that prophecy to fruition—including with deliberate meddling in the Winchester/Campbell bloodline (5.13, 5.14). Heaven and hell act as Chuck's hands and feet, carrying out his plan out of desire and (in some cases) religious fanaticism. Because Chuck's so painstakingly worked on this narrative and everything is set up in advance, he can just watch it play out. When he interferes directly, it's actually to give Team Free Will a better shot at subverting him. Chuck only directly interferes in

4.22/5.01 to transport Sam and Dean to the plane, un-demon blood Sam, and resurrect Cas

5.22 to resurrect Cas again

All that said, I think season 1-5 is the original Chuck canon, which is subverted by Team Free Will working together, and most specifically, by Dean and Cas interfering in ways Chuck did not anticipate. And Chuck was fine with this. His narration at the end of "Swan Song" reveals that he's pleased, even if the story turned in a direction he didn't anticipate (maybe the Michael and Lucifer story started to bore him—they bore me, and him wanting Sam and Dean to mirror them so rigidly was rather uninspired).

I get the sense that Cas is probably a good litmus test for whether Chuck's entertained or not by the story subverting his expectations, because Cas is not "supposed" to be a part of the original story, but Chuck keeps bringing him back anyway. And yet, somewhere down the road, Cas falls wildly out of favor with Chuck, and Chuck is hurling rage at him for never doing as told—the very thing he seemed to like about Cas at first.

Maybe I'll see things that will make me change my mind as I work through seasons 7-10, but so far, I agree with you that season 6-10 seems to be a mostly "hands off" period, with Chuck only arguably interfering once, to bring Cas back a third time in season 7, depending on how seriously/literally you take Daphne's recollection of events in 7.17:

EMMANUEL/CASTIEL A few months ago, she was hiking by the river, and I wandered into her path, drenched and confused, and... unclothed. I had no memory. She said... God wanted her to find me.

It's not necessarily clear exactly where Chuck loses interest (or if for example, Cas might fall out of favor with Chuck before Sam and Dean do). Chuck shows up in season 10's "Fan Fiction" to see a play of his work, so he was clearly feeling fond enough to celebrate his handiwork in an very non-prestigious but intimate setting. But when Chuck shows up in season 11's "Don't Call Me Shurley", he talks to Metatron about traveling (to his other universes, perhaps?). Chuck's writing his memoir, and Metatron claims it's full of self-doubt and nebbishness. Chuck's apathy jumps out to Metraton quick too. Metatron criticizes Chuck for writing only two paragraphs on the archangels in his memoir, lending to the notion that Chuck had come to a point where they bored him. Metraton tries to remind him that Lucifer was his favorite because he rebelled, but Chuck then denies that Lucifer was ever even his favorite! He doesn't like this rebellion thing so much anymore... which might also tip his hand as far as how he's beginning to feel about Team Free Will. I think it's likely that Amara is the catalyst for his change of heart, but I'll have to wait until I circle back to season 11 to have a fully formed conclusion on this.

Then we get seasons 12-15 where—at least arguably—Chuck begins planting the seeds for a new final ending, trying to force Dean into the role of Michael—the son so loyal to him that he killed his own brother. The problem is that Dean's never really been like Michael, and that's the whole reason season 5 never worked. It's also the reason "Moriah" doesn't work. Lilith claims in season 15 that Chuck has a creepy obsession with Dean—Dean specifically. Dean whose loyal love fills Lucifer with such seething jealousy in "Swan Song" that he loses control of Sam's body just as Dean's pleading brings Sam's consciousness to the surface to fight. That same loving heart thaws Amara toward Chuck in 11.23, and I think Chuck... decides that he does not like this. It is something beyond his capacity to express or to anticipate and write around. It is transformative, causality-defying love, that ruined his original ending (and he's BORED and TIRED). And has given Cas Winchester Derangement Syndrome so he can't be controlled. He decides that he hates Dean Winchester's heart, and he tries to obliterate it out of existence and force Dean into the Michael role once and for all.

[caffetato-the-caffeinated-potato]

Yeah, I know this is a few days late. But this drawing took me a lot more time than I anticipated, and the executives weren't always functioning, so it is what it is.

It's hard to believe that I only started posting art Rise art in late September, and have already gained a modest following. I have @onejellyfishplease to thank for a lot of that, I believe. I would often make fanart for them and when they reblogged it I'd receive a significant spike in notes, and sometimes a new follower. So thank you, Jelly!

Jelly is also the one who encouraged me to make Tabletop Turtles, the first AU I've made since I was 12! And now I'm starting to be able to carve out my own following without needing to ride on Jelly's coattails.

Speaking of TTAU, how about an update? [Under the cut]

TTAU is still very much in development, though I'd say it is now out of the conceptual stage and is now in the planning stage. I've got many ideas for the story and am currently in the process of organizing those ideas into a rough outline and filling in some blanks.

The story of TTAU will retell the plot of the show, reimagined by the fantasy setting and different dynamics created by the separated AU aspect. Plus, with some of my own subplots and worldbuilding thrown in as well.

All that to say; this story will not be short. In classic Me fashion, I've managed to take a simple concept and turn it into an epic-length story. Because I'm incapable of telling short stories, apparently.

So, the comic probably won't be ready to start for at least a couple more months. I am a plantser, who leans a little more towards outlining, so I don't want to jump into the story without at least a general idea of where I'm going. I'll try to keep making some art for TTAU in the meantime.

And, because this is my first time ever making a comic, and literally every comic making advice video ever practically begs you not to start with a long comic, I'll be making several short comics as practice. I'll probably start with simple comic strips, work my way up to short stories. Some might be related to TTAU, but most probably won't.

Thank you for your patience, and your encouragement! Especially to @overthinkingspark-blue, @idk-im-just-here-now, @starsandspacefog, and @varianlikescheese! This idea would have fizzled out a long time ago without you guys bouncing my excitement back at me and keeping this flame burning.

And as always, if you have any questions, feel free to send me an ask!

[aro-culture-is]

i’m like 99% sure you can ask for advice here so here goes

so, basically i have a queerplatonic/platonic crush on my band president. AND I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT KNOW HOW I DEAL WITH IT. so, for some context we started talking last year because i just joined the school and the bad and we started talking around mid-year and we weren’t that close orginally but there was this night we had a long, deep convo and after that we started to get really close. after two months, i started to have strong feelings for her (but not romantic) and i think it’s a platonic or queerplatonic crush and i didn’t really go to school and band that often for a while because of autoimmune disease and when i was there i tried not to make it seem like i’m too excited to see her which kinda makes me worried that she thinks i’m iggoring her but we text a lot so. anyway, even though we usually don’t interact irl that much [:(] we still do sometimes, and whenever my score has a rest i always look at her. especially when she has a solo. one time we went to experience this colleg band thing and i asked for a hug and she accepted❤️ i wanna hug her again. i do kinda wanna get touchy with her but not TOO MUCH, y’know? besides, i’m shy/nervous around her and anyway, she’s alloromantic. but anyway, today during our cca fair we kind of kept on kinda locking eyes (accidentally?? idk. but i know i was doing it on purpose) and it made my aromantic heart flutter

anyways so i don’t know what to do should i say i have a platonic/qpr crush on her? though i can’t tell which one it is…..

uhhhhh so, as a nonpartnering sort, I think I'm gonna give some general advice, and leave the specifics to the crowd.

broadly: do you know her views on queer stuff? could you casually bring up "oh, I was reading a queer story --", or if you know she's queer-friendly, "oh, out of curiosity, how many of the flags do you know?" type of stuff? Just, get a general vibe of her views of 1) queer people, 2) what she does and doesn't know or think she knows, and 3) if she knows about aromanticism, what she thinks it is and how she feels about aro folks.

I like to start there personally, because it gives you a lot better of a place to start a conversation about your own identity if you have a common ground on what feelings and definitions are being used. It's really easy, I find, for someone to confidently state they know what something is / what you mean, and be totally off base to the point that you're having totally separate conversations and don't even know it.

To use an example: in high school I had a friend who... lovingly, he grew up rich and sheltered, and probably only was not diagnosed as autistic because he was low support needs. His social skills were, lovingly again, as well informed as he could make them, but executed like a train wreck that most everyone attributed to "boy genius is a little weird". (He was, simultaneously, the heart throb of our school, and a lot of guys realized some queerness because of him, but that's a whole other funny story)

He was super nice about me coming out as trans, but clearly in a "he's confused but got the spirit" way. No idea what I meant, but he knew it meant a lot to me. A few weeks after that, he quietly admitted, "I thought it was about like, gender roles like cooking and cleaning and stuff, and I'm starting to get the impression I might not be right about that."

...

So, I now recommend everyone start with "let's get on the same page about what things mean" before having any big identity chats lol. It often leads to a quiet revelation on their side that you're guiding it to "Hi, I am that identity", but also puts it in a place where they're free to ask questions, and in my experience, treat it a little more thoughtfully and seriously than if it were a fly-by "heyyyyy i am aro and i am scared of this conversation, bye!" that can happen with enough anxiety. totally (/sarcasm) not speaking from experience.

hope that helps? from there, just... keep up communicating, leveling the knowledge field, and if a relationship is what you want, do the work. talk about what that means for you. ask what it means to her. talk about if that's compatible, and how conflicts might be navigated. if that goes well, congrats! if not, congrats! you've probably avoided the messier options, even if it isn't what you'd like.

[fatuismooches]

greetings!!! this is the first time i've ever shared my idea to anyone, kind of worry but guess that i have to share it with you because your writings are so good and i love how you execute scenarios and ideas (literally awake all night scrolling through your brainrot 😭😭😭😭)

let me tell you that fragile!reader and dottore is what keeps me awake at night i love them so much, i literally read everything in the tags, the fluff and angst is SOO GOOD NGL.

so, angst/ no comfort (because i love tormenting myself (⁠◠⁠‿⁠・⁠)⁠—⁠☆), fragile!reader and terminal lucidity - somebody suddenly became lively and conscious before their deaths. i see that you have written about fragile!reader whose memories are slowly deteriorating or slowly losing their eyesight. imagine one day, everything just come back...normal, the sudden recollection of memories, vision returned miraculously, no pain, no suffering, as if they were back to the days at Akademiya. they became gleeful, happy, full of live, no longer the gloomy, sick-ridden individual.

Dottore, of course, was surprised at this phenomenal, run more tests and check-ups just to be sure that we are actually healthy because there is no way we actually turn healthy after being sick in centuries. the segments however, especially Zandy, didn't think much about the whole ordeal. you are fine!! you can finally walking and running freely without being on life-support. your turn in health manage to turned them into a bunch of joyful, blue-haired maniacs with giddy, happy smiles on their lips.

we are fine for a few weeks, which also make Dottore himself believe that maybe, maybe his efforts have paid off, maybe our health have been stable, and maybe from now on, he could spend the rest of eternity with his beloved.

then we die (this is so mean i'm so sorry 😭😭😭😭😭). how they perish is completely up you but i'd preferably that they die in their sleep, a peaceful death. Dottore and the segments are... well, shocked is an understatement, their whole world have...gone, they'd question themself: how can this happen? you were fine in the past few weeks? In which Dottore blame himself the most, he shouldn't have believed that we were fine, he should have run more test, he should have been more cautious about the whole situation but now he completely felt... helpless, for the first time in millions of years. the only person who went thick and thin, the person that can tolerate him in the Akademiya days and the person that he can tolerate now have passed away.

(the ending is kind if short because idk what else to say since my vocabulary and grammar is rather limited. i hope this would be sufficient 😭😭😭😭😭 also looking forward on how you react to this. for now i'll just cry myself to sleep with this scenario while waiting for your work ❤️🥰)

- 🪷

It would come out of nowhere, no one expected it, no one believed it in the beginning. After all, over four hundred years of debilitating illness makes it hard for anyone to believe something good finally happened. But it does, when you first wake up you can feel that something is different - you definitely do some test runs in your room, picking up objects that were once too heavy for you, simple actions that no longer left you tired, no more aches or pains, it was marvelous. So obviously with your newfound energy, you sprint out to find anyone, hell even a random agent would do, because you're finally free. (You can already hear the voices of the segments - no running in the lab because of the very obvious dangers.)

Naturally, Dottore is very skeptical of this, yes, he does not trust how his heart beats at the sight of your glowing self putting on a little performance for him to show how healthy you are now, he can't bring himself to. He's witnessed how low you could become from the worst stages of your sickness, so although he's more than happy to see you well, the possibility of you falling back into such a state is very high. However he cannot find anything, and you don't show any visible signs either. Even so, he still watches you very closely. It's a feeling that always nags, one that may always nag him perhaps, the thought of you becoming worse. But he's not going to damper your mood with his thoughts, you should enjoy this.

Dottore and the segments would still scold you for your recklessness but realize that you are no longer sick and frail and they no longer have to fuss over your health. It's a very strange sensation that's hard to break out of since they've been doing it for so long. But it's good! You're happy! You're strong! You're the [Name] that was buried away, come to rise to the surface once more. Let's just say Zandy very much enjoys the piggyback rides. The checkups still persist as a general measure, but they always go smoothly. It seems there's nothing to worry about.

You would want to assume your role of his assistant once again right away - it's something you've been longing for, to be able to be useful to your lover just like how you once were. To live those days of banter and sharing fascinating knowledge and listening to each other's ideas once more. And so you do, Dottore's more than happy to let you, oh how he's missed you by his side so often. He's excited, he's ready to put the past four hundred years behind and move on, his mind already racing with the countless possibilities that have opened up now. Unfortunately, they don't come to fruition.

Perhaps you felt something wasn't right but it was already far too late - on the day of your death you acted like everything was normal, carrying out your new duties, but also with a lot of added affection, visiting each segment and Dottore and kissing them with all your love. They don't think much of it, you're usually affectionate like that. If only they knew that would be the last time they were embraced by you. Little Zandy too - it would be the last time you ever hugged him and listened to you read him a story. He'd be absolutely inconsolable after your death.

With you gone, the spark in his life would be gone. It would be the same routine of his duties and experiments and research, with nothing to ease his tension. Sure, he no longer has to spend lots of time finding a cure or producing medicine, but this wasn't the way he wanted it to happen. It's the same as when you were sleeping, except this time he no longer has the anticipation of you eventually waking up. Or does he?

Resurrection is a forbidden art, but he is Il Dottore, the one who has no problem sinking his hands into what should not be done, and he is Zandik, the one who loves you. If this world wants you gone so badly, then so be it. He will simply reach for your hand and pull you back to him every time, because even if it is lifeless, he will make sure it's warm once again.

[themetalvirus]

Hi 😃 some questions about your AU. Since you mentioned shadow being eggmans favorite child and silver being his least favorite, how do eggmans preference ranking of his children manifest in his treatment of them? In what ways are the egghogs aware of this and how do they feel about it? Also, does silver have asthma in this AU / any other lingering effects of his birth circumstances? Thanks!

SUCH GOOD QUESTIONS!!!!!

yes, they're keenly aware of their standings with their dad and know from experience that it's best to not think about it. going out of their way to try to please him just makes him angry because you're not doing what you're supposed to (either working or leaving him alone).

shadow is his favorite, so he keeps shadow on a short leash. shadow is the assistant mechanic when he's building boss robots, deals closely with reporting to eggman and maintaining communications between him and the egg bosses (like the egg bosses in archie), is often forced to be his personal stenographer, and is in charge of providing him coffee ASAP whenever he asks, among many other things. shadow is forced to manage eggman's emotions and make himself as small as possible lest he be subject to his rage.

eggman tells shadow outright that he's the favorite, he's so lucky, he's his own special boy. i made you myself (lie), of course you're my favorite. his first son. so shadow is expected to make him proud. that means he has no control over any aspect of his life, it's all dictated by dad's whims, and he has to make sure he executes on plans and instructions perfectly because he is under the most scrutiny. lots of expectations.

sonic is the middle child and middle favorite. he sees much less of his dad than shadow does, and thus can construct a fond fantasy of him in his head freely. he's sent off to do god knows what, usually much less delicate jobs than shadow gets. he does a lot of scouting for new promising land to develop and gets a lot of "the distraction" or "blind destruction" tasks. that or powering eggman's army by running on a big hamster wheel for a few hours several days a week (which he enjoys to an extent). he also has more free time to doof around, either by himself or with silver. he's a fighter.

eggman is fond of sonic and is happy to not know where he came from. he's strong and full of chaos energy, he's almost a walking chaos emerald. he's eager to please, but eggman thinks he's a bit stupid, so he gives him easier jobs (relatively speaking lol) that he's more likely to be able to accomplish.

silver is the baby and least favorite. eggman got to him the latest in his development as a baby. he's a year younger than his brothers by a slim margin, but he was discovered at 4-6 months old (idk the exact age dont expect me to be consistent on this in the future). eggman literally hit the "be born" button on shadow's tube, and sonic was found at ~2 months old (again dont expect me to be consistent on this). so there's this pathological idea in his head that there's Less Connection, that he's the last committed to the cause.

his status as the least favorite makes him less overlooked than sonic, but under much fewer expectations than shadow. his failures aren't as disappointing because he just sucks more. eggman expects a lot of him because of his powers, pushing him past the limit in mandatory training over and over so he can "heal back stronger". he chugs the juice out of chaos drives to keep himself going during sessions sometimes. he tries so hard to become strong enough to be loved but he is never strong enough.

with his status as a psychic, he's expected to be more precise than sonic and more destructive than shadow. he can cause massive damage in little time and that's what he's used for. eggman is hoping he'll be a key player when his boys are eventually old enough to remake the universe in his image, but that doesn't come to pass. that's part of why he wants silver to be so precise - eggman thinks he's going to be the architect of his new world.

silver is made to study for that same reason (usually materials made by the empire or eggman himself), though he enjoys studying so it's an effective strategy to keep him occupied for a long time without complaint. he's found he very much enjoys architecture. handy!

he's also great for assisting large construction efforts. he can lift a lot of weight at once and put it where it needs to be quickly. how helpful! that's also great for sorting inventory and scrap that isn't easy for robots to parse.

silver DOES have asthma, as well as a damaged, scratchy voice. i will fully admit i haven't done any proper research into smoke inhalation injuries but he has miscellaneous difficulties with breathing under a lot of physical exertion, relying more on his powers than his muscles. he's wheezy

[so-many-fandoms-here]

hi! idk if youre taking requests atm so in case u don’t, feel free to ignore this :-) anyways, i’ve been obsessed with the way you write and i was wondering if you could write something with niragi, inspired by house of balloons by the weeknd!! i think his character kinda suits the lyrics so i thought that could be fun!! it can be anything rlly, smut, angst or just anything :-) tysm and have a good good day!!! 🫶🫶🫶

Heyy :)) This is my first request since quite a while so I'm actually pretty excited right now :D Thank you so much <3

I listened to the song a few times beforehand and you're right, it really suits Niragi.

I took a lot inspiration from these verses:

You look into my eyes You can't recognize my face You're in my world now

So just don't blame it on me, girl 'Cause you wanted to have fun

Oh this is fun fun (...) This is fun to me

—

(English isn’t my first language so feel free to correct any mistake you notice)

• Characters: Suguru Niragi, fem!Reader

• Genre: Angst

• Warnings: abuse, bullying

Remember

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:

I have no idea how I was able to survive so long without anyone by my side. I lived like a stray dog for weeks until I met these really nice guys (who probably just wanted to fuck me). They had a fucking car and told me about this place.

The Beach. That's how they called it. It used to be a resort back in the real world. Some crazy guy, Hatter, found it and created some cult-like society. I didn't had the best gut feeling but anything was better than my current situation. So I let them touch my tits a few times and in return they took me with them.

The Beach was a way bigger deal than I thought. Dozens of players lived here and there was food, water and electricity. This place was actually alive.

Yes, it still was a weird cult-like place, but a safe place afterall. I was just supposed to bring the cards I own to Hatter (they didn't exaggerate, this man was definetly some kind of crazy) and had to wear swimwear so I couldn't hide any weapons on my body, which actually made sense to me.

The guys that brought me here explained a bit more to me. At first I didn't want to listen, but when they mentioned the militants I started to pay attention. Because they where allowed to carry weapons with them.

I didn't really care about anything else they had to say about them.

They where allowed to carry weapons with them!

Call me paranoid but I would feel so much more safe around here if I had a gun or something. These people might be in the same boat with me but everyone would safe themselves first from drowning. Me too.

They wanted to survive. I wanted to survive. And in the time I was here I lost a lot of my empathy because it would get me killed in the blink of an eye.

"Who is the leader of those executives?", I ask, swirling my (h/c) hair around my right index finger while putting on my best doggy eyes.

They looked at me like I was just as crazy as Hatter but after a few seconds of hesitation they answered anyways. "Aguni. Really short hair, scar on his face. It doesn't matter though, you instantly feel that he is the leader, when you are around him."

I took note of the facts about his appearence anyways, just in case.

"He is never alone though. His comrades are like flies, pretty sure this man doesn't even shit alone." I ignored his comment and was already looking around.

"Imma head to my room guys", I said without looking at the men. "I'm tired." They either didn't caught my lie, or they simply didn't care. They just nodded and let me head off.

I was of course not going to my room. I was way too curious about this Aguni. The things I would do for a stupid gun...

The sun was long gone when I saw him. The boys where right, he had this aura that basically screamed at you. And as expected, he wasn't alone.

For a second my confidence began to fade. Did I really want to talk to this guy? Would that be as smart as I thought? But I caught myself quickly again. I would die one way or another, where is the difference if it's through a game or his hands?

After I took a deep breath I stood up from my chair I had sit on and walked straight up to him. People stared, some whispered but I ignored them.

"Are you Aguni?" I ask him when I arrived in front of him but before he could even think of an answer another man slipped around him and build himself up in front of me. A big gun rested on his shoulder and the amused look in his dark eyes showed that he wasn't afraid to use it.

But there was something else in his eyes. Something so familiar but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Maybe we went to school together? That wasn't so unlikely based on how many people were here.

"Do you really think our boss has time for a stupid chick like you?", he asked while he grinned like an idiot. A hand placed itself on his shoulder and shoved him to the side. "Niragi." A voice scolded him.

The name didn't ring a bell. I probably saw him around school sometimes. Based on how he acted here he probably was one of those bullies in school that degraded literally anyone. You didn't even need to look or act different, sometimes you where just at the wrong place at the wrong time and your school year was literally over.

"Let her talk", the voice appeared again. Agunis voice.

I tried to make myself taller than I was and tried so desperatly to look brave, that I probably looked like a fool. "I want to join the militants."

I held my breath while biting my tongue. I really didn't know what to expect. Maybe he would kill me right on the spot? Or maybe not. I didn't know which one I would prefer.

He tilted his head and eyed me from head to toe. "It's not that easy." "I don't care!", I interrupted him and felt the heat spreading into my face immediatly after I spoke.

There was silence for a short while and I was absolutely sure that someone would kill me on the spot, but then he laughed quietly which scared me even more. "Or maybe it is that easy after all", he said eventually.

I felt the burning eyes of his subordinants and for a second I thought I would throw up on Agunis feet. "I like you. You're in."

I didn't know what just happened. It was so much yet nothing. All it took was for me to interrupt the leader? This had to be a trap, right?

"Nobody dared to talk to me like that since I came here", Aguni explained. "Don't think I would tolerate it, I don't, but at least you're somewhat reckless. If you're reckless in other aspects too, this could work." His hand dissapeared in the pocket of his jeans and came back out with a pair of keys which he handed Niragi. "Show her the guns."

Niragi looked far from happy about this order. "Why me?", he asked rather irritated. Aguni looked him dead in the eyes. "'Cuz you're my right hand. And you do what I say."

It looked like Niragi wanted to say something but bit his tongue. Instead he turned around and stormed off. Without saying a word I followed him, now even more scared than I was before.

Niragi walked quick and with big steps he crossed the halls of The Beach. At a heavy door he stopped and turned around to wait for me. "Hurry up!", he yelled annoyed while waiting for me. Slightly out of breath I stopped next to him and looked while he opened the door which revealed a rather dark stairwell that only lead down. "It's downstairs", he explained before starting to walk again.

I tried my best to stay beside him while we walked down where I supposed was the basement. Here were probably the generators and all that kind of stuff.

We crossed another long hallway until he stopped at the last door on the right side. Then he used the key to unlock the door and before I could process everything properly I found myself between dozens of weapons and guns.

Niragi pushed me inside and quickly closed the door behind him. Then he locked it and turned around to look me in the eyes. Fear crawled up my throat and my heart started to beat faster than it ever did in my whole life.

"Long time no see (Y/n)", he said. The keys dissapeared into his pockets so I had no chance to get them. Confusion mixed with my fear. "You know my name?"

His smile appeared back on his face for a second but then faded again. "How could I forget?"

My confusion grew while I desperatly tried to remember from where I could possibly know him.

"Come on", he cooed while he looked at me with expectant eyes. "Don't you remember?" He raised his free hand, made a circle with his thumb and index finger and held it in front of his eye, mimicking glasses, while tilting his head to the side. Then he pushed his lower lip slightly in front of his upper lip, frowning exaggerated.

It hit me with such force that I felt nauseous again. The sad face he put was badly played, but I could see it anyways. I saw the boy with the glasses in front of me, crying while my brother swung the baseball bat. "There it is", Niragi whispered. "The recognicion."

All those years I tried my best to forget these eyes. And I did. But now it seemed like this was a huge mistake.

„When I saw you upstairs my stomach dropped. I thought one of us would die when Aguni said I should show you the guns. The thought of all the feelings you could bring up again did something to me but I must admit that it’s rather pleasant to be alone with you.“

I stumbled back, tried to get more distance between us but Niragi instantly closed the distance again by taking the same amount of steps in my direction I took to get away from him. Not because I was scared, not only, but because I was emberrassed.

"How's your brother?" My eyes locked with his. As I looked longer into them I see how broken they are. Just like back then, but still different somehow. The eyes that looked into my direction, screaming for help, which I avoided like the plague because the guilt shook through me. The guilt that I didn’t dare to help him.

My brother made me look how they tortured him and for everytime I looked away, he would hit me when we got home. With his fist, with his belt or he would throw plates or glasses at me.

"I'm sorry", I whispered, tears stinging in my eyes. Again I avoided his eyes but I couldn't for long because his hand found my face and forced me to look at him.

"I remember your black eyes, the gross swelling shimmering a different color everyday", he whispered and I felt his breath on my face. "Blue, violet, yellow, like a violent, ugly rainbow."

Niragis eyes studied my face, stopping at the scar over my eyebrow. I knew he looked at it because I it suddenly started to throb just like the day I got it.

"That was for when I didn't threw the baseball at you", I answered before he could ask anything about it. It felt good to remind him, remind me, that I didn't want this to happen. When I refused to, he threw a mug at me. It broke it half when it landed on the floor, then he picked it up and threw it again. It cut into my skin leaving the about 2 inch long scar behind

"Where is he now?", he asked still inspecting my scar. I shrugged my shoulders. "I came here alone." I was scared that he might thought I was lying but he seemed to believe me, which made me relax a bit.

"He'd be surprised what his little games did to me. What I have become…" He let go of me but I still looked at him. "I always liked you, you know? You understood." I nodded. "I will kill him if I ever see him again." I nodded again. "And will make him suffer how I suffered." I nodded a third time while I took a glance at his pierced tongue. The pictures of the dirty needle my brother pushed through it popped up in my head again.

"I will find him and then we will play my game." Niragi walks up to one of the shelves and took a gun, rather small compared to his, then some ammo and handed it to me. "Our game."

I looked at the gun in his hand. It was my choice. If I take it I would make a pact with him. I hated my brother with all my heart but I was still hesitant. Is vigilantism the way? My way?

"It's your choice", Niragi reminded me. I took the gun. There is no justice in Borderland, so why not make it myself?

"I will make it my world", he said. "Where no one will look down on me ever again. On us."

His eyes practically burned into mine but I couldn't look away. My iris's where tied to his and I wondered if somewhere inside was still the Niragi I met in the past or if it destroyed him completly.

[l3viat8an]

Ok so I know this isn't about Asmo but... I had a thot 👀

(Feel free to ignore/delete if ur not comfortable with this)

What if Beel really like roleplay, especially something with a kidnapping dynamic

(idk the actual term for this, please don't come for my ass)

Like he will come up to you at some random time in the day and grab you from behind, put his hand over your mouth and drags you back to his room, kicking and screaming. Then he rips of your clothes an ties you up (Ya know the rest🤭)

Of course it's 100% consensual. You guys discuss it in the morning or the day before, but he picks a random ass time to actually execute it.

I feel like he started exploring this idea after the two of you had a discussion about people being afraid of his size and strength.

~🍒

Nsfw content MDNI

I don’t think this falls under the same dynamic but I’ve seen predator / prey ‘play’ with Beel before and it’s hot- tho I changed this a tiny bit because I can’t control my brain ghghdfs

You’d talked about it a few days before and sets some ground rules and a safe word. If anything went too far Beel would stop then and there and make sure you’re alright.

The only thing you didn’t set was an exact time and place, so when big hands moved to covered your mouth and grab you hands while you were studying in your bedroom you panicked, genuine fear in your muffled screams until Beel turned you around.

Your next scream died in your throat as Beel picked you up and moved to your bed, setting you in his lap as his arms still hold you still as you kicked and tried to break free, “Got you and now you can’t get away.” his voice was almost teasing, as he leans down, kissing and nibbling on your exposed neck.

The hand that was around your middle hold you still moves and basically rips your shirt off exposing more of your skin to Beel, and his hand move to run across your chest and tummy squeezing here and there and just taking you in~

You’re obviously enjoying this Beel can smell it, but you keep up your little act whining little “Please no…” and “W-Why??” into the hand still covering your mouth.

Beel just tsks at you “Stop whining, I know you’re enjoying this. You like the idea little human, like the idea of a big bad demon taking advantage of you.”

You shake your head no but almost moan at his words because you do that’s why you’re here after all.

The tears filling your eyes aren’t because you want Beel to let you go, they’re there because you want more. You need more and Beel is taking his time teasing you.

And you’re teasing him just as bad, every movement you make in his lap has you rubbing against his cock and it feels so good~

Soon enough Beel sees your tears and chuckles, the hand that had been teasing your chest finally moves down and rips off your pants, “For someone who’s so sure they don’t want this….you’re really wet MC~”

Beel slips two fingers into your wet pussy and starts working you open, as much as he wants to skip straight to fucking you, he’d never hurt you.

But he’s feeling impatient and wants to be in you already, he really didn’t think he’d enjoy it this much….he slips his fingers out of you, licks them clean right over your face and half picks you up while he grabs something out of his jacket pocket, “Be good and quiet or I’ll have to but something in this pretty little mouth.” Beel grins at you and moves the hand away from your mouth and giving you a quick (somewhat out of ‘character’ kiss) before moving again.

Still grinning at you Beel lays you down on the bed, not sure what’s going to happen next you stay good and quiet as Beel shows you what he had in his pocket. Handcuffs.

He chuckles again when you gasp as he grabs your arms and handcuffs you to the headboard, leaning back a bit to take you in, nude and spread open and all for him~

Beel pushes his pants down just enough to free his cock and moves to finally fuck your and you remember you’re not supposed to be enjoy this starting to tug at the handcuffs and whine again “B-beel please…n-not like this.”

Beel pauses as if actually considering your words before shaking his head, “Too late. You’re mine remember?” and sliding his cock inside. You both moan at the feeling, and Beel starts moving. Slowly at first then picking up the pace.

——————————————————————————

After your little ‘scene’ Beel’s back to his usual self, taking the cuffs off and cleaning you up, asking if you need anything, how he was, did he go to far? Did he-

You have to sit up and kiss him to shut him up “You did amazing! That was fun Beelz~ we should try it again sometime.” Beel looks relieved at your words and kisses both your cheeks, smiling “Yea if you want too.”

[distxrtionist]

how are we all feeling about amphoreus? or more specifically, what do you guys think the three paths that preside over it are? my take on it (feel free to correct me if i'm wrong, i'm open to new thoughts and ideas as well!): remembrance is quite obviously one path, but the other two are a little trickier because of the possible combinations that exist (all of which would make a good amount of sense). there's also a lot of speculation about a theory that believes that amphoreus no longer exists, and we're visiting memories/ruins of it in some way. in my opinion (feel free to disagree with me, you're totally entitled to your own opinion and i'm merely theorizing based on what we already know!!), some of the strong contenders for the other two paths are as follows: 1. Erudition 2. Elation - theatre was a major part of greco-roman life/culture 3. Finality - assuming that the land of memories theory is correct, this would be pretty fitting. apparently, finality has also been hinted at a couple times before. 4. Enigmata - okay, this one sounds a LIIIIITTLE strange but hear me out. it'd fit the philosophical portion of greco-roman culture accurately because of its wildcard nature of having no definitive answer for things through the questioning and doubting of practically everything. this is #4 because i do think that it's a little out of bounds (but i'd really love for this hunch to be correct). you could also look at enigmata as the opposition of erudition, in which case it'd be unlikely for erudition to coexist with enigmata and vice versa. as for the speculations of others, i don't think that nihility is one of its paths because of how we've seen it impact planets and characters in the storyline. take acheron as an example. nihility eats away at memories and is, more accurately, nothingness. i've also seen some talk about preservation and abundance, but idk... both of them just feel inaccurate to the themes behind amphoreus and stick out in comparison to other possible path combinations. overall, i REALLY hope that amphoreus' lore and writing is executed well. it has so much potential and it'd be such a waste if hoyo found a way to mess it up. what do you guys think? i'm open to chat about this in comments or reposts, i just wanna know about everyone else's thoughts :0

[masochist-marmot]

Tokyo Debunker - went in for the toxic anime boys, stayed for the unexpectedly unsettling episodic horror.

I mainly play the visual novel as a bedtime story whenever I'm having a hard time falling asleep, and then I'm occasionally spooked wide awake by the well executed horror manga page turn moments. Luckily I'm used to consuming horror content before bed, so it all works out for me.

The characters are... fine? Most of them hate my guts, but joke's on them, because I'm into that. Haku is best boy as a genuine love interest, but Jin is my own personal brand of "I can fix him". There does seem to be a good amount of variety, and I love that a lot of the ghouls represent another type of supernatural monster/trope. I'm also digging the interactions between characters. While the characters all function as romantic interests for the MC, there's also a lot of shipping potential.

The overarching story is also just fine, although I'm not all that taken by the mystery yet. But it's an episodic game, and I'm not even done with all the story we've unlocked so far. Works well enough as a bedtime story. My over-active mystery-oriented brain is also constantly cooking up theories in the background, but there's been nothing too compelling yet.

For a mobile game of its scale, I was honestly surprised by the production value. The music is obviously just royalty-free classical music (that contributes to putting me to sleep), but all the scenes are voice acted, and the story is sprinkled with comic sections that breathe some life into the action and horror (and fanservice). They've also added a comment section to each chapter where you can interact with other players and discuss your thoughts and ideas. Overall, I've been pleasantly surprised.

I won't touch on the gameplay or gacha elements, because they are secondary to me. Gacha will always be an evil that I'll tolerate because it keeps the game free for me.

TLDR; idk, play it if you like visual novels, cute anime monster boys, cute (monster?) cats, cute mystery/horror.

[nymphrasis]

I miss arcy

KJASGAJGJD SJGH HONESTLY I AM CRYING ON THE INSIDE, IN HAPPINESS, THAT SOMEONE REMEMBERS MY BEAN I AM REALLY, REALLY SORRY! I put that blog on Hiatus because of a few things: 1) I wasn't happy my backgrounds looked at the time. During then, I was still practicing.

Like... I didn't feel like I did the colorations right on the grasses and I am not too keen on the layering. Each time I make pieces with this background, I've felt unsatisfied. That I could of done better. But I was still practicing and learning what colors look best on things such as grasses.

2) There actually haven't been a full design yet of the non-beta Arceus. There were concepts, yes, but I didn't felt truly satisfied with them. It just didn't hit that certain click to the brain where the design of a character felt absolutely right ;-;. There was also going to be a Mew present as well. I did had a design of them at the time, but sold it in the end, as I've felt that the design was a little too complicated to work with ( Ah how I love to add a lot of details, haha >w<". I have learn to do that less nowadays ). There will be a newer Mew design, yes, but it is thinking on how to execute it :think: And, speaking of designs, I do plan to remake Arcy friends. I did already sold the group, except Arcy. I feel of creating more newer designs, truth be told. I do want to keep it as a group of five, as it felt the most balanced amount! I will still keep the ideas an personality for each character, something I will continue to consider for each newer design of the other beta Arceuses!

3) There was a moment of time where I have forgotten what email I have used for the Arcy blog. By literal months actually. It was actually somewhere around last year when I did found it again. But at the time I was like... Wanting to improve my art a little more before blogging again ;w; I remember that I did at least try to do emotes. I've never progress further with them tho. I don't remember the reasoning, truth be told, since it was a year ago. But here is a gif of the emotes qwp

( Idk why they look so cronchy ) Maybe I will retry the emotes at some point? I am not sure qwp.

Truthfully I do want to bring back Arcy. Do I know when? Ahhhh not really. I don't have a preparation in mind. Like... I hold zero intentions of rebooting / restarting Arcy story. I am very firm on continuing it. Idk if it would appear off with the art style being set to Clip Studio PRO, since I no longer am doing Paint Tool SAI ;w;. One idea is I could go with the freedom style that I do plan to do with Kuruna's blog :think:. Where I just go with this or that style, whatever I am in the mood to do on that day ( Sketch there, sometimes colors, maybe very basic animation, ect, ect. Basically a free for all on art stuff, if that makes sense xd ).

My lil Arcy still exists qwp. Just havent been certain aaaa.

So Uh I'll repost this old piece that I still love of Arcy. So enjoy qwp

[moony-rabbit]

i was literally JUST talking about how good yuri is so hard to find with a friend today, ravioli ravioli give me the yuri reccomenduoli please & thank you🙏

OMGGGGGGG I didn't expect someone to actually ask me for yuri recommendations but wow! Anways here we go!

Actual GLs

After The Curtain Call

A manhwa about the budding romance between a theatre nerd and her favorite actress. It's really short compared to other manhwa/manga on the list, only 51 chapters, but it is SOOOOOOO good. The art is nice, the characters are funny and adorable, the plot is clean cut and doesn't feel rushed at all. A perfect choice if you want to read something relaxing and comedic. It's one of my favorite manhwa!

Her Tale of Shim Chong

A historical love story of two girls from different social classes: a beggar and a noble lady, who just got married to the local chancellor. The art is simply stunning. The story works with some rather heavy themes, mainly sexism but also involve depiction of suicide and SA (none of them are realized, but still some parts can be quite triggering if you're sensitive about the subject). This one is over 80 chapters long with side stories.

(side note but apparently the author of this manhwa defended another artist who used revenge porn as art reference. It's not related to Her Tale of Shim Chong's content, but I still want to mention that just in case.)

Not So Shoujo Love Story

Now this one is a masterpiece. If you love a good laugh, you surely can't skip this one. The art is gorgeous since day one but it keeps getting better. The humor is off the chart. It isn't afraid of dabbling in heavy subjects at time either, and the drama is executed quite well (though you'll have to brace yourself for a lot of mood whiplash). There's currently two seasons, but it seems like there might be a third in the future. Anyhow, this one is a 10/10 for me.

She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat

A lovely slice-of-life manga about two neighbors falling in love. I really like this manga, it's like a breeze of fresh air after reading so many silly young yuri. The two main characters are all adults, so the tone of the manga is softer than the typical schoolgirl yuri slice-of-life. I really like how fat positive it is too (definitely a big plus point). I heard this one was picked up by a publisher though, so the English translation got taken down. Idk if they have published it yet or not, but if you ever come across it, this manga is definitely worth the money.

Butterfly Soup and Butterfly Soup 2

This one is a little different to the other ones on the list, as it's a video game. The game is free to download, and there's even a mobile version so you can install it on your phone. It tells the story of four Asian American girls and their adventure with the school's baseball club. The main characters in the first game are the two on the right of the picture, and the other two are focused on in the second game. The game talks a lot about racism, queerphobia, xenophobia, and also touches on disabilities too (one of the main characters is deaf in one ear). I really like the game, and it's pretty fast to play through too. If you want to try out a yuri game, you can try out this one.

Special mention: I don't want to add another button for it bc this is getting long already, but if you're interested in GL games and want to find more, NomnomNami does have a lot of yuri games in stock for you, like her tears were my light.

The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't A Guy At All

Okay I have no idea how did I forget to add this one to the list when I first made the draft THIS IS A CRIME. Anyways, this was one of my first GL ever. I read it in English on Manhwatop at first, stopped, then found it again in Vietnamese and have been following it since. The art is phenomenal, the interaction between the two girls are heart-fluttering, the tension is well-written and doesn't feel forced or dragged out like comedies sometimes have. I really, really, really like the main girls as well as their friends, it's just *chef's kiss*. Wish I have half of Koga's rizz really.

Not confirmed GLs/not romance-oriented but has a hefty amount of yuri hints anyways

(this is a very indulgent list because I REALLY like these ones, please understand (* _ _) 人)

Kiyo in Kyoto: From The Maiko House

A slice-of-life manga about the daily life in a maiko manor, pretty obvious from the name. What makes me add it into the list is, the manga is absolutely packed with yuri subtext. Actually, it's not even subtext anymore. Every once a dozen chapters there will be one that seems like it walks straight out of a GL. Besides the subtext, the story itself is really cute too. The manga is nearly 300 chapters now but they'll be over in the blink of an eye once you start it. If you need something to heal your soul after a long day, Kiyo in Kyoto might be the perfect choice for you.

The Dark Lord's Confession

Okay there's a million things I could say about this one and yet none of them can do it justice. It has everything: humor, drama, angst, hot women, amazing art, great music, hot women, strong lovable characters, morally grey characters with the power to divide the fandom into two. This manhwa is classified as fantasy, but the feelings between Lapis and Calla (the ones above) have been confirmed as romantic love. The lore is mindblowing, to say the least. There's some rather annoying loredumping conversations but if you are willing to close an eye for it, everything else will be more than enough to outweight the occasional exposition. Beware for mood whiplash though, this manhwa will make you keel over from laughing and kick you in the gut with a steel toe shoe in the span of three chapters.

Star Dream Idol Project

Before you say anything I'll have to let you know I am a HUGE. Fan of this one. I first read it in 6th grade and thought "oh wow these girls are def gonna be the endgame". Guess how heartbroken I was when it turned out untrue. I still have a lot of complaints about the loveline but let's put that aside for now.

This is one of my favorite manhua, not just because of the gayass friendship between the two main characters, but also because of how well-written everyone is. There's no "female side characters being evil for no reason" bullshit. All of them are treated with respect as real, valid human beings instead of canon fodders. And while I'm not fond of the love interests, I have to admit the way the author handles romance in this manhua is quite unexpected. My favorite thing about it is that it values the girls as themselves and does not force them to enter a romantic relationship at the end of the story. In fact, only one of them got married at the end, the other two are still single and happy with their life.

About the two main characters, they can only be accurately described as soulmates. It will always be them. They are the most important person in each other's life because of their own choosing. The devotion they have for each other is insane. They tick like every single boxes in childhood friends romance tropes I'm not even exaggerating. If you read it and get hooked like I was, I suggest you stop reading at the final chapter (351) and do not read the side story to avoid heartbreak.

----

That's all for now! If you do check them out, pls stop by and drop an ask if you find it good! (*^▽^*)