#I just love these characters so much

[crystallizsch]

despite twst being a "villain" game

i love it when i see how certain characters speak to certain people. like how people just relate to their struggles/personalities/etc.

there’s riddle coming to terms that not everything has to be perfect, unlearning from what he has been taught growing up that not everything has to be followed to the letter;

ace who is gungho and earnest about what he believes in and has the natural inclination to defend those he grows to genuinely care about;

deuce always striving to improve himself despite setbacks and being aware of his own shortcomings;

leona who acts like he’s given up from being cast aside his entire life and coming to terms to the fact that there are people that do look to him as a leader, as someone who’s worth something;

floyd who unapologetically just does what he wants, choosing to do things that interests him at the moment;

kalim choosing to be happy and kind always, living life everyday to the fullest knowing what he’s gone through;

jamil with the expectations and obligations to essentially "perform" and do things for others more than for himself, especially when he has the potential to shine by himself with his own abilities;

vil rejecting gender norms and restrictions, while still being confident in his own masculinity, and also wanting other people to bring out their best and truest potential even though he may be strict about it;

rook being able to pick out so meticulously the beauty in everything and everyone whenever no one else is able to;

idia with his introverted yet very passionate energy towards things he cares about;

silver with his love and dedication for those he considers his family;

malleus with his loneliness and bringing out his genuine self with someone he's able to consider a friend;

i know some of these sound pretty surface-level but these are the ones that just came to mind at the moment, these are not my full-on thoughts on each of them

my point overall is i just really love seeing when there’s a character that REALLY speaks to someone that doesn’t particularly speak to me because it gives me a whole new perspective on characters i initially didn’t care about or didn’t like and makes me appreciate them more

also it just shows how how these characters are different enough in that sense so that there are characters for everyone to love and relate to 🥺💕

i could gush more about relationship dynamics as well but this is getting long enough hfdsfjsljlks anyways i would love to see others’ own takes and why a particular character(s) relates to them or why they just like them in general 👉👈 i want to spread some good vibes 💖 but anyways idk these are just my thoughts 🤧

[romqnticalgirl]

there's just something about this type of male anime characters...

[taamlok]

neve showing up for bellara and saying "as long as i'm around you've got family" is going to kill me

[rainteaanddragons]

Time (and all it brings)

Colin works to atone for everything he’s done. It is only at the end that he feels the need to find an old friend.

-

Life had never been kind to Colin Provolone. Born to a legacy that would only doom him, and a father that would probably do much worse. Yet here he was - more whole than he’d ever expected to be at his age, physically at least. His mind, however, haunted him.

~ ~ ~

At the mouth of that cave. Where his freedom had cost him so much. Colin couldn’t do much else other than save him (as he had done for Deli, so many times before) but in that moment he knows it would have to be the last time. Colin knows that when he turns away this time, it would have to be the last. Not only, in the wake of what happened, is he so unsure of himself, Colin is unsure of what the past events would do to Deli, and even to Amangeaux. What he knows though, is that he has to leave. Eventually at least.

So against his better judgment, he stays with Deli and Amangeaux for two weeks. While they recover, while they grieve. It’s the strangest two weeks for Colin, and that scale includes the week with the events that led to him hiding out in Comida. There is so much to say, but he doesn’t know where to start. So he barely says anything at all.

That is until the night he leaves.

Colin leaves a letter for Amangeaux, noting that he will keep in touch, but not his destination. He’s not sure that he even knows that himself. He considers whether to do the same for Deli, but still with no words, he just leaves a note. Short and to the point.

As he puts a hand on the door, Colin hears a shuffle of movement behind him in the dark. He turns to see Deli staring at him reproachfully, a similar bag to Colin’s flung over his shoulder.

“A bit late for a walk.” Deli says steadily.

“I say the same to you.” Colin nods towards Deli’s bag, noting his own once abandoned cheese rind dagger at Deli’s hip.

“It’s time for me to go.”

Colin waits a moment, watching Deli’s still expression in the shine of the light from the lamp outside the window. “Anywhere in particular?”

Deli chuckles darkly. “There’s nowhere left for me to go, but away, just away.”

Colin nods, then pushes open the door.

“What about you?” Deli cuts in, putting a hand on Colin’s arm. “You were just going to leave, without- without saying anything?”

“Weren’t you?”

When there isn’t any response, Colin leaves, and turns towards the road leading out of Comida. All the way, pleading with himself to not turn back.

~ ~ ~

Colin spends his time working through and taking down the last followers of the FDA. It’s the least he can do to try and atone for what he has done both in their name and with the goal of his own survival. He’s not sure though that he can ever do enough.

In his letter to Amangeaux he explained his intentions with the idea that she might be able to help. She had definitively said that she wanted to follow in Karna’s footsteps with the skills she had developed in the past six years. Plus with no title to her name, she would be able to blend into the shadows.

They keep in touch, Colin feeding her secrets he discovers in his travels, and with Amangeaux passing on details on pockets of FDA followers for Colin to seek out. In this time, for the first year at least, Colin keeps track of Deli. Well, Amangeaux keeps him updated. After that first year Colin asks, in the most round about way possible, for her not to update him. He figures that knowledge would come to nothing.

Eventually, after years of hard work, words turn to whispers, and whispers turn to nothing. Colin wipes out the last of the followers of the FDA. Somehow it isn’t as satisfying or clarifying as Colin thought it would be.

Mostly it just hurts. Quite literally.

As it turns out, the end of the line for the FDA spells the end of the line for Collin too.

Colin isn’t sure how he gets back to Amangeaux’s hideout after he is infected by the mould but he does. She is the last person he can turn to, or at least the last person he can trace.

“Are you sure there’s nothing I can do?” She asks, a hand on his arm.

Colin shakes his head. “I just wanted to see you again. You’re the last-” he hesitates, “actually, you might be able to help me.”

“Anything, old friend.”

“You didn’t happen to continue to keep track of Deli did you?”

“Naturally.” She smiles, knowingly, though there is a sadness there that Colin only just picks up on. “He hasn’t gone far in the past few years. I can tell he’s trying to stay in the shadows.”

“Aren’t we all?” Colin can’t help but groan under his breath. If Amangeaux sees she doesn’t make a big deal of it.

“Here.” She hands him a small piece of parchment. “You’ll be able to find him here.”

“Thank you.” He offers her a wry grin. “There’s something, something I need to say. To him.”

They sit in silence for a moment. Then Colin stands, and stretches, trying to ignore the growing ache in his limbs as it stretches towards his chest and lungs. I don’t have long.

“I should go.”

“Thank you, Colin.”

“Huh?”

“Thank you for coming back.” She pulls him into a hug. “It’s good to see someone who understands.”

Colin knows Amangeaux couldn’t be more right in her words, but also wishes he didn’t know. He nods anyway. “Farewell, Amangeaux.”

~ ~ ~

Colin finds Deli where Amangeaux said he would be. Though it takes a while for Colin to find the exact spot. Deli sits atop a hill, far from, but overlooking the meat lands. A stooped, wise old tree shading him.

He looks older, as is expected, but this is different. As if the man’s choices in his life have worn away at his build and his spirit.

“You are the last person I expected to see out here.” Deli says slowly as Colin lowers himself down to sit next to him.

“Funny that.” He chuckles. “We didn’t part on the best of terms.” He waits a moment, then adds, “Again.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Deli bumps his shoulder to Colin’s. “They managed to bring out the nasty side of my ambition.”

“They’re all gone. Now. You know?”

“The FDA?” He asks needlessly.

Colin nods. “I took them all out. Every last one.”

“Well,” he pauses, “that is something. I always knew you were one to keep on my good side.”

“Still managed to piss me off.”

Deli laughs, his head leaning back against the tree, his full body shaking.

Colin startles for a moment, not sure what he said was that funny, but then again, there is maybe something in it. They used to laugh like this all the time. Before the FDA turned all that upside down. Their partnership could have been something. Maybe laughing like that is all they need now. All they can do.

Colin joins him. Deli’s laugh is infectious after all. The magnetic personality that kept Colin by his side well after the job he was hired for was done. His laugh draws a rough cough from his chest though and he ends up doubled over. Breath wheezing, eyes damp with the beginning of tears of pain.

“You okay?”

Colin can’t see any point in lying. The dull ache has solidified squarely within his chest now. I don’t have long. “I took out all the FDA, but the last one managed to take me out too- or at least, set the gears in motion.”

Deli gives him a look that Colin can’t quite decipher. Maybe shock, even regret, but whatever it is, it’s mingled with sadness.

“Don’t look at me like that. It’s too late for looks like that.”

“Why did you find me then?”

“I didn’t, Amangeaux did.”

“I know.” Deli nods. “Why did you come here?”

Colin isn’t sure, but he wishes he was. Maybe Deli - the first person to give him a real home before the FDA stormed their way in and ruined it - maybe he is the last person he needs to see before he follows the fate of Karna and Raphaniel before him. There is so much history there, so much left unsaid after both departures.

“I think, I think I just needed to see you. Make sure you hadn’t completely lost yourself to the same guilt and regret that drove me to hunt them down.” Colin sighs. “I guess I just wanted to make sure you were as okay as you could be.”

“Even after all this time?”

“After all this time.” He echoes. “Plus, I guess, I wanted to leave on good terms for once.”

“For once.” Deli snorts a small laugh. “Well, it’s good to see you old friend.”

Colin smiles, then allows himself to lean against Deli. At this point he is not sure what else he can do, his chest burning with every breath.

“I’m sorry.”

“No need,” Colin says gently, “I did what I felt I needed to do to make up for it all.”

“No. I’m sorry I wasn’t there.” Deli corrects. “I should have gone after you that night, but I didn’t, so that I could do what? Wallow in my thoughts?”

“You were exactly where you needed to be. So that I could be here now, with you.”

Deli doesn’t say anything for a while, but he does reach an arm round Colin’s back to support him. “How long…” he fumbles over the question, not sure how to ask what he wants to ask.

“I don’t know, but-” he falters as he coughs again before admitting, “I am in pain.”

“I can,” Deli pauses, not sure of what he is trying to say, then settles on “can I help?”

“I think you might just be able to.” Colin reaches a hand to Deli’s hip where the cheese rind Dagger is still strapped.

“You sure?” He asks hesitantly.

Colin nods. “I can’t go like that,” he puts a hand to his chest, “I just can’t.”

Deli pulls the dagger from where it is strapped, and for the first time in a long time he is holding a weapon. It seems almost as alien as the mould creatures had when they’d first encountered them so long ago. He can’t help the shake in his hand.

“It’s okay.” Colin whispers. “Thank you.”

Colin then steadies Deli’s hand as the familiar dagger sinks into his own chest, just as he had planned to for Deli if he had befallen the same fate. A small smile graces Colin’s lips with his last breath as he finally knows the haunting will cease, and he’ll be at peace.

-

This idea has been circulating on the microwave plate of my brain since the season final and the last adventuring party for Ravening War. I had to get it out! The microwave timer had to start beeping eventually.

I am sorry for any pain this fic causes? I made myself cry writing this. I hope they were in character, they feel like they were for me. I promise though, that I did not plan that last moment - it happened as I wrote, but it felt right.

I hope you enjoyed! :)

[thedeafprophet]

I love when trauma makes characters messy. I love when characters don't know how to show love. I love when they lash out. I love when they're vile and break down. I love characters who aren't perfect victims. I love when stories don't excuse behaviour but allow you to understand it

[tearlessrain]

please help me- i used to be pretty smart but i’m having so much trouble grasping the concept of diegetic vs non-diegetic bdsm!

gfkjldghfd okay first of all I'm sorry for the confusion, if you're not finding anything on the phrase it's because I made it up and absolutely nobody but me ever uses it, but I haven't found a better way to express what I'm trying to say so I keep using it. but now you've given me an excuse to ramble on about some shit that is only relevant to me and my deeply inefficient way of talking and by god I'm going to take it.

SO. the way diegetic and non-diegetic are normally used is to talk about music and sound design in movies/tv shows. in case you aren't familiar with that concept, here's a rundown:

diegetic sound is sound that happens within the world of the movie/show and can be acknowledged by the characters, like a song playing on the stereo during a driving scene, or sung on stage in Phantom of the Opera. it's also most other sounds that happen in a movie, like the sounds of traffic in a city scene, or a thunderclap, or a marching band passing by. or one of the three stock horse sounds they use in every movie with a horse in it even though horses don't really vocalize much in real life, but that's beside the point, the horse is supposed to be actually making that noise within the movie's world and the characters can hear it whinnying.

non-diegetic sound is any sound that doesn't exist in the world of the movie/show and can't be perceived by the characters. this includes things like laugh tracks and most soundtrack music. when Duel of Fates plays in Star Wars during the lightsaber fight for dramatic effect, that's non-diegetic. it exists to the audience, but the characters don't know their fight is being backed by sick ass music and, sadly, can't hear it.

the lines can get blurry between the two, you've probably seen the film trope where the clearly non-diegetic music in the title sequence fades out to the same music, now diegetic and playing from the character's car stereo. and then there are things like Phantom of the Opera as mentioned above, where the soundtrack is also part of the plot, but Phantom of the Opera does also have segments of non-diegetic music: the Phantom probably does not have an entire orchestra and some guy with an electric guitar hiding down in his sewer just waiting for someone to break into song, but both of those show up in the songs they sing down there.

now, on to how I apply this to bdsm in fiction.

if I'm referring to diegetic bdsm what I mean is that the bdsm is acknowledged for what it is in-world. the characters themselves are roleplaying whatever scenarios their scenes involve and are operating with knowledge of real life rules/safety practices. if there's cnc depicted, it will be apparent at some point, usually right away, that both characters actually are fully consenting and it's all just a planned scene, and you'll often see on-screen negotiation and aftercare, and elements of the story may involve the kink community wherever the characters are. Love and Leashes is a great example of this, 50 Shades and Bonding are terrible examples of this, but they all feature characters that know they're doing bdsm and are intentional about it.

if I'm talking about non-diegetic bdsm, I'm referring to a story that portrays certain kinks without the direct acknowledgement that the characters are doing bdsm. this would be something like Captive Prince, or Phantom of the Opera again, or the vast majority of bodice ripper type stories where an innocent woman is kidnapped by a pirate king or something and totally doesn't want to be ravished but then it turns out he's so cool and sexy and good at ravishing that she decides she's into it and becomes his pirate consort or whatever it is that happens at the end of those books. the characters don't know they're playing out a cnc or D/s fantasy, and in-universe it's often straight up noncon or dubcon rather than cnc at all. the thing about entirely non-diegetic bdsm is that it's almost always Problematic™ in some way if you're not willing to meet the story where it's at, but as long as you're not judging it by the standards of diegetic bdsm, it's just providing the reader the same thing that a partner in a scene would: the illusion of whatever risk or taboo floats your boat, sometimes to extremes that can't be replicated in real life due to safety, practicality, physics, the law, vampires not being real, etc. it's consensual by default because it's already pretend; the characters are vehicles for the story and not actually people who can be hurt, and the reader chose to pick up the book and is aware that nothing in it is real, so it's all good.

this difference is where people tend to get hung up in the discourse, from what I've observed. which is why I started using this phrasing, because I think it's very crucial to be able to differentiate which one you're talking about if you try to have a conversation with someone about the portrayal of bdsm in media. it would also, frankly, be useful for tagging, because sometimes when you're in the mood for non-diegetic bodice ripper shit you'd call the police over in real life, it can get really annoying to read paragraphs of negotiation and check-ins that break the illusion of the scene and so on, and the opposite can be jarring too.

it's very possible to blur these together the same way Phantom of the Opera blurs its diegetic and non-diegetic music as well. this leaves you even more open to being misunderstood by people reading in bad faith, but it can also be really fun to play with. @not-poignant writes fantastic fanfic, novels, and original serials on ao3 that pull this off really well, if you're okay with some dark shit in your fiction I would highly recommend their work. some of it does get really fucking dark in places though, just like. be advised. read the tags and all that.

but yeah, spontaneous writer plug aside, that's what I mean.

[platoapproved]

louis + cruelty

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

You're just not toxic enough.

[quibbs]

FINALLY got to know minthara... no notes. life of the party

[humming-fly]

He was feeling left out

and the higher rez stills, since gifs always export as if you're sending messages through a metal can~

[ministarfruit]

yuri month day 3: I want you to kiss me ♡

(femslashfeb prompt list)

[egophiliac]

2025 is the year of the DRAGON SLIPPERS

[palarien]

sketched this out at jury duty actually

[o0kawaii0o]

no mercy 😭

[somewhereincairparavel]

"jason is a knockoff watered down percy" NO hear me out, jason actually parallels annabeth immensely, sharing SO many similarities with her personality, not percy, in this essay I will-

edit: my full analysis is out now! here

[zorangezest]

thanks for listening