#I just rewatched a few cutscenes

[humming-fly]

Delighted to discover that the way shadow unlocks new abilities in sxsg is a perfect parallel of the pringles iron maiden

[waywardsalt]

im actually going to tear into totk’s dragon’s tears/ memories rn bc i remember feeling distinctly unsatisfied with them when i got all of them so im just going to write some general bullet points about them, about what i dislike or maybe what i do actually like about them, leaving out both master sword scenes and the mummydorf one because i’m here to talk about the stuff in the past not that

- off the bat (i play this game in english btw so all of this is based on the english text and translation i am aware some stuff is slightly different in other languages) im not really a fan of how the descriptions of all of the tears is just a literal description of what happens?? i think my issue with it is that some of the text is a little bit too in depth, as in it just tells you literally everything about the scene. this might be nitpick-y but i personally dont like it

- what’s up with zelda saying ‘but that must mean...!’ at the end of the scene. is it suggesting that she’s made the realization that rauru and sonia are the first king and queen of hyrule? because they literally tell her that like ten seconds before. i guess it’s suggesting she’s realizing she’s in the past but... idk the texts says ‘she’s left startled by a suspicion that she’s heard those names before’ yeah theyre the first king and queen of hyrule?? they tell her that. they tell her their names and that they are the first leaders of hyrule is she just now connecting the dots that she’s in the past? that’s what the next cutscene implies. but all of the surrounding dialogue and the description don’t suggest that that’s what she’s realizing i feel like this was kind of muddled in the translation

- why did sonia elbow rauru he was just standing weird he didnt say anything this isnt a nitpick im just confused. is it because he’s not being very empathetic towards what zelda’s going through? she elbows him and then she goes and talks to zelda why even elbow rauru. ordinarily you elbow someone like that if you mean for them to go do something why elbow someone if you’re going to do the thing you want anyways

- why doesnt zelda offer to help with the purah pad or anything like that. what happened to her sheikah tech fascination from botw. not even as someone actually familiar with the technology who could give mineru some points as to how it works

- what are sonia and zelda doing behind rauru when he shoots that insane fucking beam at the mulduga swarm they’re clearly doing something with their stones but like... are they amplifying rauru’s power somehow?? what do time powers have to do with the beam of light i dont- what were they doing please the text description only mentions him using his powers so are sonia and zelda just... supporting his powers? idk man

- dragon tear #5 is a whole can of worms with its worse-than-oot reenactment of that one scene from oot. why the focus on sonia and her tear btw. i mean yeah she dies to motivate rauru and zelda but like. why not aim for the new girl who probably doesn’t know how to use it as much and is probably more likely to be separate from the king who can shot insane lasers. im really not a fan of this scene for how strongly the game sides with rauru and zelda being passive and judgemental but ganondorf is literally the best part of it there’s a lot of character in just how he picks up his sword and stands up to leave

- putting memories 6 and 7 together just because of how there was just. no fucking care put into the idea of zelda learning to use her time powers. memory 6 zelda talks about wanting to use her time powers and sonia gives her tips on how she could use it and visualize the use of it and then in memory 7 she can just use it perfectly with great control and timing. why even bother talking about her nothing yet understanding how to use it when the very next scene she just uses it like it’s nothing. how much time has passed we get nothing to show us zelda trying to practice this power just. nope. she’s good she can use it perfectly. also more awkward dialogue sonia saying ‘what a picture zelda paints of him’ as she is. looking directly at zelda. change the line to like, ‘what a picture you paint of him’ she is literally looking right at zelda so why would she say it like that

- generally i feel like memory six should have been before 4 and 5 (4 being where she uses some power to... support??? rauru and it being before memory 5 so that there isnt this weird break in between the memories concerning ganondorf.) memory 6 does not have anything to do with memory 4 or 5 so just put it earlier so there isnt a weird shift in focus between the two big ganondorf scenes

- good god they introduce the idea of sonia and zelda being aware of ganondorf using a fake zelda but theres literally nothing about it having been a problem or them having experience or like. anything. they just TELL you that they know and suggest that it’s been like. a thing for a bit??? also obligatory ganondorf’s face model rigging is fucked comment he’s still the best part

- the pacing of these memories is just weird in general, memories 7 and 8 being separate but the same scene is strange when other memories are long as fuck but cover one event each, plus theres clearly barely any passage of time between memories 7 and 8 it almost feels like they were split up to fill space or just because otherwise it’d be... too long? man idk

- ‘queen sonia needs you!’ girl she is DEAD good fucking luck doing anything to help her

- ganondorf’s horse and its armor both look sick as fuck i really wish you got to see more of it outside the memory it appears in

- everything about the original sages honestly sucks. they aren’t characters they’re just walking macguffins. they have no names and are not relevant or mentioned or make any appearance until they are needed by the story. why does the zora sage talk about getting word about the attacked gerudo village in this scene when like. they’ve all met up and have clearly. been together for a bit. when she gives them the news it’s clearly the first they’ve heard of it... but... why would she wait until this moments to give this info unless for the benefit of the player watching the scene. why does the ZORA sage have this news and not... the gerudo sage?? what’s with the masks. they’re all made of zonaite or whatever sure theyre gifts from rauru but like. i hate that it kind of denotes them being subservient and lower than him and the zonai. honestly i really hate this scene in general mostly because of the uncomfortable showing of how rauru absolutely holds power over them and despite them being leaders as well they are expected to be wholly blindly loyal to him. rauru only gives them these stones when he needs their aid and they swear loyalty too him soon after but you also see that sonia and mineru have stones, too, so they’re clearly withholding these things despite it being kind of reasonable for him to give each race their own secret stone as further proof of their pact? there is so much shit to be said about the imperialistic themes or whatever in this fucking story and i really hate it

- i do kinda like how the next scene shows you that the one rock in the corner of that first hidden room in the forgotten temple is sonia’s grave

- zelda’s phrasing and description of how she and link found ganondorf is weird to me ‘he’s still alive’ ‘he lives on’ girl that was a mummy. he was not moving until you got there. he’s undead at best as far as you know. this is def a nitpick but eh. also the reliance on link is a... bit odd when zelda does not actually know that link is safe until she gets the master sword. its fine but still. also her shell-shocked expression after rauru talks about her being in the past for a reason is a bit... it doesn’t fit her emotion it’s kind of similar to the expression she had when sonia was killed

- the memory about the imprisoning war starts with practically the whole story up until now being repeated back to you by mineru with a decent amount of bias on mineru’s part and while it’s fine because of some of the extra stuff you learn but it does a lot more telling rather than showing when it comes to the actual imprisoning war and... idk the whole thing about their ‘fight’ kind of falls flat when you don’t actually see any fighting you just see that the sages have gotten their asses beat. i think it would have been a little interesting if in the god-awful repetitive sage-awakening scenes they had actually showed you the og sages fighting ganondorf instead of just. slow-mo freeze-frames for whatever. once again ganondorf if the best part of the scene

- the rest of the memories are fine idc

i get the feeling that the japanese-to-english translation was either all-around rough or somehow rushed, because some of the phrases in the game as well as some of the dialogue is really awkward and... could have been better. i don’t know how it works but it feels like a lot of it was very literal, direct translation and no one at noa thought that it ought to be tweaked just a little bit

these memories also do a fuck-ton of telling rather than showing and it really is like they don’t really trust you to connect the dots, and some of it does come off like they either didn’t want to make more memories or ran out of time or something. i felt like the memory of ganondorf just summoning his monsters and riding on his cool horse could have been a bit longer to actually show us the forces of hyrule fighting him and having a hard time with it

a lot of the character animations doesn’t have a whole lot of personality to them, ganondorf is the character who had the most distinct and interesting movements. rauru and sonia had their... singular movement (rauru putting a hand to his chin and sonia taking zelda’s hands) and zelda was kind of just... standing around and reacting to stuff, and neither mineru nor any of the other sages had any really interesting animations asides from mineru’s coughing fit in memory 16 (plus her reclining chair that was a nice touch). very few of their movements really express anything about the characters besides some really baseline values or traits.

the ordering of some memories is kind of odd, the excessive flashbacks in memory 17 are a bit much, the telling rather than showing, the sometimes awkward dialogue, a lot of the scenes are characters just... talking at each other, you don’t actually see very much of hyrule in the past or any characters beyond the main four, and it really did nothing to actually get me to care about these characters at all.

tldr i dont like totk’s dragon tears

[esperhood]

yuuhime, previously, kept herself alive primarily because she trusted yamato; yamato had a plan to free them, and she trusted that he would succeed. she didn't bet on him taking control of her, however. once he did, she quickly became even more despondent than she had been previously and, especially at the beginning, stuck in the initial misery...her mental state is bad at a base level, but it was really, really horrific. she attempted suicide, and...couldn't.

she just — couldn't. her body wouldn't do it. trying to push it prompted burning pain throughout her body, like the punishments her old master built into her should she try to share any information about him. she sobbed, furious and desolate, for hours. her brother had known she would try, and had altered her not to allow it. her brother would not even offer her the mercy of a death. not while he still had use for her.

she still wants to get free, and will do so by any means necessary. but death is increasingly looking like the best option she has, and so she will continue to look for ways to die.

[enduringfaith-archive]

Hnnnnnnnnn someone help me with more ideas for Mickey.

[elitadream]

Guess Who's been rewatching cutscenes of Ratchet & Clank lately? 😁🔧

I was looking for a character to illustrate as a quick demonstration in response to a previous ask, and it just so happened that this franchise was one of the many I suddenly remembered I once had quite a fondness for; hence the little tribute.^^

So here's how I proceed for the shading process!

When it comes to monochromatic sketches, I have a special liking for warm and earthy tones, but any color can work really well depending on the atmosphere needed. When choosing one, I pick the background first as a general indicator, then follow it up with the contour lines. This helps me find the base for the character itself, which is always somewhere in-between. That way, the figure stands out reasonably while also having visible details even at this stage. :3

From there, I separate each darker and lighter zone by using the already existing tones that I have and creating blends. Same goes for the shadows, which I keep fairly subtle and only emphasize in some key areas for a softer effect. 🎨

Depending on the complexity of the piece (and especially when using a more diverse palette), I will often trace the final version first, but in the case of a simpler drawing like this one, I usually apply most of the shading on the rough sketch instead and make the remaining adjustments from there. When cleaning up the lines, I use pen pressure to obtain varying thickness and create a more dynamic result. Sometimes, I will also include a few tiny elements outside of the color range I'm working with as a fun bit of contrast and finishing touch. ✨

Aaand that's about it! Not much else to it. 🤗✏️

[saiscribbles]

Lily is correct. She doesn't make rage bait. You'd have to be at least a little clever and actually plan out your video scripts to do that.

Lily's opinions are just so off-base, so deranged, so childish, so wrapped up in her own personal bullshit and delivered in that smug ass Ben Shapiro "I'm so right and smart and logical" style that it just stabs painfully into the brain of anyone with sense who hears them.

And aside from this strange deficiency she has when it comes to understanding narrative, she doesn't seem to fully watch or play anything she ever talks about!

Utena? Clearly didn't see it. She didn't even know the name of the villain. If she had watched it she'd have been screaming about the tone and either praising or deflecting on the three sibling relationships of varying degrees of incestuous in it.

Steven Universe? I doubt she's rewatched it since it aired. She constantly gets things wrong or is surprised by things that are in episodes. And the movie? I doubt she watched it beyond just a few clips. She went by a bunch of edgy Reddit fan theories, didn't know what any of the songs were actually about, and then kept disgustingly saying reset Pearl being a Pearl to Greg was gay conversion therapy and cut out Opal's entire existence to maintain that narrative.

Even Kingdom Hearts? Well mah boi Crim from my supporter Discord went over that one. Lily, supposed big mega fan of KH, tells you to just skip a bunch of the games. We now wonder if she's actually played them or only watched cutscenes.

[alllgator-blood]

(Technically 3 question about Shamura)

Do you think they would speak similar to the Gman from Half-Life? As in similarly awkward pauses/stutters/inhales/drawn-out syllables on account of their brain injury?

Also, do you think them having a sudden episode of visions could/would be similar to the whole "leave me alone" meme from Akira (like imagine them just chilling around having tea and then suddenly random images of Narinder going on a bloody rampage while flipping off the camera start flooding his mind).

Please tell me I'm not the only one who's always pronounced it "sham-yura".

ALSO CAN I JUST SAY YOUR VERSION OF KALLAMAR IS ONE OF THE MOST PERFECT KALLAMARS I HAVE EVER SEEN, LIKE LITERALLY YOURS AND AVELOKA-DRAWS VERSIONS ARE MY CURRENT TWO ABSOLUTE FAVORITE KALLAMARS AND I DESPERATELY NEED ONE OF THEM TO SWEEP ME OFF THE GROUND BRIDAL STYLE SO I CAN KISS HIM ON THAT TOOTHY FUCKING SPLIT MOUTH OF HIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(oh and your Narinder somewhat reminds me of those awful prank youtubers like Jack Doherty, like literally the most perfectly awful combination of spoiled+narcissist+sociopath, the only thing he's missing is that dumbass broccoli haircut)

I haven't played half life in forever but now that I'm rewatching the gman cutscenes, you're definitely onto something....if I could come up with what I think shamura could sound like, it'd have to be your suggestion blended with beatrice horseman (from bojack!) after she develops alzheimer's. I think gman's incredibly uncanny way of speaking mixed with beatrice's distantly pleasant cadence masking unending terror would be PERFECT for shamura.

NO WAY YOU MENTIONED AKIRA AND SHAMURA IN THE SAME SENTENCE CAUSE I LITERALLY DID A SHITPOST ANIMATIC A FEW WEEKS AGO THAT USES THE "DING!" SOUND EFFECT FROM THAT SCENE. I'LL HAVE TO POST IT SOMETIME. For my specific shamura, their visions and prophecies appeared only in dreams before The Incident, so their next angst comic is gonna be about the visions coming back while they're still awake. THAT'S when it becomes more like the LEAVE ME ALONE!! scene

I've heard youtubers say it like sham-yura but I'm dead set on shuh-murr-uh personally, I think they say it like that in kallamar's metal song!

OH GOD LMAO I FEEL LIKE JACK DOHERTY IS MORE OF AN EVIL PRESENCE THAN NARINDER CAUSE AT LEAST NARINDER IS FUNNY. My sister told me I should draw him with the fuckass broccoli cut, but I think narinder has been through a lot at this point, he doesn't need the prank youtuber haircut on top of that :')

ALSO, I'm very glad you like my kallamar that much and as such, I present you with this drawing! Idk how to draw a bridal carry but kallamar is just a bunch of wiggly tentacles so this was probably the perfect character to draw with this pose

[larrythefloridaman]

thought about them again. sorry. it will keep happening

dont read the nccts then rewatch season one and go back to the nccts. worst mistake i ever made. So anyway let me pepe silvia at you about crimtoinette i have an essay prepared-

wasnt joking. If it were up to me this wouldnt be a link itd be a long post on here but the drafts function is not cooperating with me <3

Various stuff i drew while this analysis was in the making:

[bunabi]

Gotta throw my 2 cents in here, having just finished VG three days ago. I didn’t romance Solas in Inquisition but I started VG with an inquisitor who did, because I was curious about how it would play out.

The cutscene where the Inq talks to Rook about her love for Solas and basically says “yeah he’s really toxic in every way but I love him—“

I had been FULLY INTENDING to have Inq reunite with Solas. But that conversation hit way too hard thanks to a past relationship of mine, the things she said were almost verbatim things I said and felt during the aftermath of that relationship, so kudos to the writers for realism I guess… But the only two ways to tell her she should reunite with him are “you deserve to be happy” (aka you deserve to live out your delusions) and “you were good for him” (BARF). They both felt so naive!

I stared at that screen for a good five minutes, but eventually I could not consign her to an eternity of being his moral compass. So I went with the option that had Rook telling her he’s not good for her and just. I was very disappointed that two of the three major Inq appearances in the game are centered heavily around her feelings for him without feeling like there’s much of her own agency, and she’s willing to just give up everything for him despite his history, or else stick around in Thedas depending on whatever Rook says (which also a complaint I have with the game in general, where everyone leaves their major life choices up to Rook).

Overall just very strong “GIRL WHEN SOMEONE SHOWS YOU THEY ARE, BELIEVE THEM” vibes from me. Feels bad!

I went back to rewatch the Cobbled Swan scene and huh yeah the entire conversation is about Solas. It makes sense that we can't ask about their organization, their life as a Dalish Rogue/Warrior/Mage, or what they've been up to: that would require world state choices. But if Harding is able to have little anecdotes on the Inner Circle, I'd expect the Inquisitor would have something to talk about other than her not-quite-ex-lover. :'(

But I do admit: I don't know what they could've done instead. The Trespasser scene alone apparently took a month to complete. I don't think nuance of that level was gonna be possible for DAV. But this take on Lavellan feels too much like a charicature of how she exists in fanon.

I couldnt disagree more with the 'lets blame John Epler for everything' energy but the wires got crossed somewhere. I was hoping Weekes would participate in the Dec. 4th AMA and answer a few questions, explain the vision a bit, but they've been relatively quiet.

[bleedingcoffee42]

Part One- Currahee

Band of Brother's rewatch and the things I'd have like to have seen even though there was a lot in the episode, a lot to cover, and a story to tell but this is just a wishlist and really a "Boy I hope we get all the cutscenes some day in an extended cut like LOTR" so....feel free to add any cool history bits. I understand stuff doesn't fit with the end product, I just want it.

The March to Atlanta. Besides the record breaking march, there are some little things like David Lowrey picking up the stray dog Draftee and carrying in his pack because he wore his nails off marching with them? Sherman Irish who was Sobol's favorite and the guy everyone loved who volunteered to drive Sobol's car to Benning for him. Then told him it broke down and got money to fix the transmission, only to never show up because he sold all of Sobol's stuff including the wheels off the car.

Burr Smith, Forrest Guth. I just want them in this show.

Al Mampre too. Not only for being involved in putting boots on a bobcat but for being the guy who, with Spina, at Camp Mackall gave Sobol a fake appendectomy.

The guys smuggling bobcats, dogs and a Red Cross nurse ON JUMPS?

Popeye collecting money for Shifty so he could go home on a 3 day pass. This guy got no time.

Buck Taylor going AWOL at Benning to see a girl because passes were revoked. Lipton sneaking out too because he had plans to see his wife.

Ed Tipper getting into his billet in England and hearing Lord Haw Haw who was like Axis Sally broadcasting to demoralize allies and greeted them with "To the 101st Airborne, Welcome to England" even though they had to cut off their patches to arrive in secret. Just would have been a neat overlay of "We've been watching you" before the big jump, even though that wasn't the tone they were going for. Still would have been cool background noise.

Speirs racing Reed on Currahee and Reed just breezing it and Speirs wheezing and dying because he had to try to keep up

More Meehan. Make us miss him. Kick us in the gut when Guth walks by his crashed plane next episode. (In this extended cut where he has a role.)

Winters breaking that guy's back while wrestling. THEN give us Buck.

THE KNIFE. Like this just needs to be a few seconds of Nix giving him the Knife and us seeing the engraving of L.N to D.W. <3 .

Buck and Moose ending up in Speirs wedding party?

Photographers. Whoever kept taking pictures of Winters barely wearing clothes and Lipton laying in he grass like a model. Whoever took that file of photos Dick trades Lugers for. Bonus if they are on the yearbook committee that made the Currahee Scrapbook.

Speirs vs. Billy Turner, Fierce Valor makes it sound like the second civil war. Turner kicked him from C to D company and Speirs was not shy about telling everyone he wanted to kill him.

To be continued....

[chynandri]

My Thoughts on Ratchet After 14 Years

This is nearly 5000 words of my analysis and impressions of Ratchet as a character (...there are pictures, at least 😃). I can't say I've been interested in any other character for this amount of time so - he truly is special to me. I wanted to externalize all I love and see in him in one post, more for myself than anything as I've held so many thoughts in my head for so long.

This is largely based on my own inferences. I won't bother to make proper citation or anything, it's more of a huge ramble based on me rewatching basically all cutscenes, the movie, and rereading the comics. Almost every year I do a big Ratchet and Clank marathon like this, but I might get some things wrong or skip over some things as I'm focusing on articulating my thoughts rather than being completely comprehensive.

Ratchet's Beginnings

Ratchet’s background is pretty fundamental to all this so let’s establish that first.

I will be basing this post on Ratchet as he is in the original games, but I do want to say that I like movie Ratchet too! I don't think it completely cancels out all my thoughts because imo they captured all the main traits of Ratchet. In one scene he says he wishes to 'matter'... to others, as a person, to the universe? Maybe all three. And that is truly the most concise way to describe what drives Ratchet the most.

But for now all we can do is infer on his life prior to Ratchet and Clank 1. I think it’s not too hard to make some assumptions based on the circumstances or a few lines:

1. Ratchet seems to have fended for himself/lived alone.

2. He is likely self taught on rocket mechanics and general machinery. He has an intuitive understanding of how machines generally work and wings it.

3. He has been on Veldin the whole time and never had the chance to go anywhere else. He also could not afford many things.

4. TV (or Holovision) is the most accessible form of media and likely what Ratchet grew up with, as he is aware of and looked up to heroes like Qwark and Ace Hardlight.

Given these inferences let’s look at how Ratchet behaves in 1. He awkwardly addresses authority figures, is rude to Clank and others - he’s just very blunt and critical of people’s intelligence. And why is that? Thinking of how he had to probably rely on himself first and foremost, having street smarts and situational awareness must be important to him. And that he’s likely not had friends before Clank - he’s not gonna know how to act lol. Besides that, he’s honestly just a Guy and a teenage Guy at that. This is his Very First Time outside of the backwater planet he’s been ‘stuck on’ (his words) and it’s extremely exciting for him. And what is the thing that consistently gets him excited and motivated to do things? Fame.

He loves the idea of being famous, like the celebrities he’s seen on TV and the ones he meets while on this adventure. And while this is a pretty common desire for kids, let’s think about why this is for Ratchet specifically.

We inferred that he probably has been alone up to this point. This means: no friends, no family (the movie also makes Ratchet explicitly say how he had absolutely nothing to his name.) Family as we know becomes a huge part of Ratchet’s character arc later on. No friends or family means no support system: no attention, love, or validation. You see what I’m getting at. Ratchet always responds with pride and excitement when others praise and recognize his actions - puffs up his chest and grins, it’s very goofy and all. But you have to consider how he likely just did not receive this validation much prior to 1. Now he’s doing all this stuff and getting recognition. This is how he ends up acting very selfish and self absorbed, the most prominent character flaw of his. In his eyes, Clank’s insistence on him seeing the bigger picture is just not as important as all this sudden attention and new experiences that finally validate his pretty lonely and insignificant existence.

And let’s consider that Ratchet and Clank are not even really friends until the end of the game. For the most part, they are useful to each other in their goals. When Clank claims that it ‘isn’t like Ratchet’ to not care about what’s at stake, Ratchet responds with ‘and what do you know about me?!’ - and it’s true, what DOES Clank know about Ratchet, or Ratchet know about Clank? Clank, too, hasn’t had a long time to exist yet and this is his very first friend. But he does have a natural charisma and strong sense of morality - which leads me into some more core aspects of Ratchet’s character and inner conflict.

Ratchet's Struggles

In the first game and onwards, Ratchet and Clank are kind of like rivals in certain things often for a gag. To put it simply - Ratchet has no rizz or game. Clank often catches the affections of both robot and squishy people. He DOES always know what to say without even trying. Clank always does the right thing. And that’s the thing… in these same situations of talking to girls, or making a speech or commercial - Ratchet tries too hard.

Consistently, when put on the spot, Ratchet freezes up and all his bravado is gone. He stutters and stumbles and is just a mess and Clank has to speak for them. Ratchet visibly shows how frustrating it is that Clank has more rizz than him. He’s clearly jealous of how Clank always knows what to say and do and people just seem to like him more. And his pal is the star of a TV show while he’s the bumbling side character who gets fired anyway. Not only is Clank ‘better’ than him, Clank is getting more validation and attention than Ratchet is - the one thing Ratchet has lacked in his life.

But let’s consider the first time a girl DOES actively like and pursue Ratchet - Sasha. The first time they speak is cringe but cute. Sasha is describing the state of the art gaming console on the Phoenix and Ratchet is so impressed he says in a daze ‘will you marry me? 😍’ AND IMMEDIATELY SLAPS HIS FACE cuz he really was just NOT THINKING. But Sasha doesn’t seem to mind, she goes along with it! I think she can tell he didn’t mean to. And although it’s not been long since they met, her father tells Ratchet ‘she’s said a lot about him’. And… when Ratchet is recounting his fight with the Teranoids, she’s giggling along and very engaged with how he’s acting out his story like the silly guy he is.

And although the first 3 games occasionally emphasize how heterosexually interested in girls Ratchet and Clank are based on Ratchet’s comments about girls - when Sasha kissed him he’s just… quiet and bashful and has no smartass ‘cool guy who likes girls’ comments. He obviously has no experience or idea of what really goes on with girls or relationships lol. If you think about it - has he even really tried to like… flirt? He’s all talk about it, but doesn’t seem to put it much into action. He also associates popularity with girls as a part of fame.

But - he pulled a girl without even leaning into status or fame. What I’m getting at here is: Ratchet didn’t try hard in front of Sasha and she was so endeared to him. She LIKES how goofy and cringe and, in a way, how pure he is. She was probably like ‘can you believe he wanted to marry me just because we got a PS5? Hehehe’ at her dad. He was just his cringe, rizzless self and talked to her like she’s anyone else. We can infer that Sasha, as the daughter of the President, is not used to that and likes it.

But let’s think about why Ratchet feels he’s suddenly got to be a different person when on the spot? He tries to sound cooler and more well spoken (like Clank, Qwark… people on TV!) but he’s no good without a script. In Deadlocked, he even felt like he had to rehearse a bit before calling Sasha (this is why Ratchet’s characterization there is a bit weird to me, when they’re supposed to be more comfortable around each other).

This is all indicative of how Ratchet is not confident in his sense of self - and where do we get a confident sense of identity from? Our friends, family, culture, community. Things Ratchet did not have a lot of before meeting Clank. Ratchet may have asked what Clank knows about him in the first game. But what does Ratchet even know about himself? What consistently gets Ratchet angry and protective is when Veldin ends up in danger. Veldin was really all Ratchet knew for a long time, and we can assume he sees it as part of himself. But beyond that…

This is why Clank is so… so… SO… important to Ratchet and why he could literally be nothing without Clank. Despite Ratchet being mad at Clank’s uselessness and stupidity in the first game, Ratchet is genuinely upset at the idea of losing Clank when lightning strikes him. He awkwardly suggests that he and Clank stick together at the end of the game without directly saying so. It’s his first time having a friend and wanting someone to stick around. In the end… he’s not as independent or self assured as he thought he was.

Size Matters may be a weird spin off game but it did have a pretty important line: after fighting the Ratchet clones, Ratchet tells Clank that these clones weren’t that powerful because ‘I’m not half as good without you.’ It’s a really significant thing to say, and this sentiment echoes all across the games. After all, without Clank’s robot ignition system - who knew how long it would take for Ratchet to get out of Veldin, if at all? Would Ratchet have gotten as far as he has now as a person without Clank?

It’s an admittance of how much Ratchet truly depends on Clank for self worth even if he feels inferior to him - Clank consistently supports, loves, and believes in him despite his flaws. He basically never had this presence in his life. Clank is like his whole support system while at the same time, a source of his feelings of inferiority and jealousy. Although as time goes on Ratchet does thankfully make more friends along the way. Even though Qwark is nothing but trouble to them, I suppose Ratchet still bothers with the guy cuz he’s just that loyal to the few people consistently in his life in some way.

Ratchet's Home

And this leads me to another point. Ratchet’s lack of belonging, identity, and validation ends up having him go from occupation to occupation, world ending situation to world ending situation. In the second game he is markedly different now that he’s got military training and surprisingly (to me) doesn’t question Fizzwidget that much (though the goofy rough parts of his personality still shine through while out in the field). Then he’s the captain of the Phoenix for a while. But overall he’s just kinda unemployed until he’s gotta shoot people and save the world. When given a sense of purpose and belonging he seems serious about it, though how long he has a purpose and group to belong to is relatively inconsistent.

Aside from the meta circumstance that the Ratchet and Clank games needed a new plot, it’s in the Future trilogy where Ratchet started thinking deeper about his origins. As we often have new revelations or thoughts about ourselves and past as we get older, I think Ratchet finally started to realize… there’s quite a big thing missing from his life - which to him was his ‘normal’. Why IS he one of the few lombaxes in the universe? Why did they leave HIM behind? You can imagine the amount of sad thoughts from just asking that question, when coupled with his already shaky sense of self worth.

The way Ratchet acts in Tools of Destruction is interesting. Although he could hardly be qualified as an expert on his own species cuz he’s never even been a part of lombax society - this is something Talwyn does not hesitate to tease him about, which he seems to not take so well. Yeah he gets it, he’s a disappointing representation of his people. And for some reason he acts like the spokesperson for lombaxes when they come under fire by Tachyon. He takes it all SO personally, as if he invented the dimensionator himself. Which then really becomes all about how he’s invented a series of not too successful inventions and sees Clank as someone who doesn’t support him enough. He uses the lombaxes as a way to validate himself: ‘oh, so a lombax can’t invent anything useful?’ he says derisively at Clank and you know it’s not JUST about the lombaxes as a group. Here he is finally finding the reason for why he is the way he is and that his inherited inventive spirit just isn’t appreciated enough. With the way this games story makes Ratchet feel stupid and inadequate at every turn for his lack of connection to the lombaxes, I can see why his worst personality traits jumped out with all his insecurities.

I think Ratchet wanted to lift himself up by association with the lombaxes, to say he IS lombax enough and he knows what it means to be one! Which then made him lose sight of what really mattered - destroying the dimensionator before it breaks the universe and no one is safe. And ironically, when Ratchet realizes this and refuses Tachyon’s offer to see his family, Ratchet embodied the heroism of lombaxes more than when he was trying too hard to prove he was one.

Now put into perspective how Clank fully finds HIS own purpose and origins in this trilogy. I read an interesting YouTube comment on a Size Matters cutscene video that said something like ‘Ratchet is so against the idea of technomites and the Zoni being real, because he always had a feeling Clank was meant for something more and admitting they were real is like losing his friend.’ I thought this was so profound because Clank truly is all he has and could leave him when he’s found his own purpose and family.

Especially since for a while, Ratchet was prepared to do so himself after learning that there is a chance to save his family with the Great Clock. Even if it meant not ever meeting or remembering Clank, the biggest person in his life. But Ratchet's character truly reaches its most mature in ACiT. Instead of reacting negatively to Clank finding his own home and family while having a possible means of fulfilling Ratchet and Alister's desires - Ratchet is supportive and willing to let go of Clank. Because after all, they have to be their own people and Clank has supported him long enough. Just because Clank has found where he belongs, doesn't give Ratchet any right to selfishly keep Clank to himself. I feel so proud of Ratchet in ACiT, as it was clearly hard for him to let go of such an important person in his life. But the combination of what he learned in ToD and from Alister's own life led him to be at his best in this game.

(But come on they're so inseparable there’s no way Clank would be happy without Ratchet either. Because that’s HIS very first friend in the whole universe that gave HIM a place to call home even if it’s just the two of them in a small garage. It’s RATCHET who decided that he wanted to actually be friends with Clank, beyond fulfilling their goals, at the end of the first game. They’re… each other’s home 😭)

Alister represented a major turning point in Ratchet's own definition of himself. And in the end he chose not to be like Alister, to not let his identity as a lombax control his life. Unlike Alister, Ratchet isn't bound to a childhood of belonging to lombax culture and society. And though Ratchet shared Alister's goal for some time, the way Ratchet goes back to rescue Alister when he was captured just goes to show that Ratchet won't think like him. It's just not in Ratchet's character as we know it to forsake the present when up to now he has always, always been about loving and enjoying the present moment and all he could do in it. From Ratchet chastising Clank for not being able to have fun, to being a guardian of all that he loves in the present... it is a beautiful progression of Ratchet's character.

Ratchet so far has been given two chances to finally reach what he thinks should validate his own existence. But he chose to protect the present, the universe he lives in, the people who already give him a sense of self - most importantly, he chose self-determination.

However, he didn't know he would lose Alister with this choice. But it was out of his control, as Alister was too far gone and would act regardless of what Ratchet said. The shock of not only losing someone like family to him, but the sole link to his past and family sends Ratchet into depression and grief. His choice to own his life is not made with triumph as it should've been, but with deep regret and fear. From this point on he truly has a different vibe to him. His energy is dimmed, he gets down on himself more easily. He had his fill of the validation of being a hero, and with Clank choosing to remain with him he's content to retire from it all and try to go back to the things that defined him from the very beginning.

And exactly so as in the comics he went back to Veldin and being a mechanic. Though Ratchet seems his usual, careless self the comics reveal the huge amount of underlying emotions Ratchet has been struggling with in the aftermath of ACiT. The comics have Ratchet going through an utterly terrible time, as someone whose mental health is already fragile: Veldin is in danger once again, Clank recklessly kills himself for an hour, and he nearly lost Talwyn for good. Ratchet almost loses the three crucial things that defined him. Talwyn, Clank, and Sasha help Ratchet work through his guilt over what happened and taking time for himself, while also making a point of how self-isolation isn't healthy for him.

And eventually, Ratchet does get back on his feet and involved with his friends again - but not unscathed, as one major issue would still affect him. The pain of loss leaves Ratchet with a deep fear of experiencing, or being the cause of it, again. And this wound would be reopened too soon with Into the Nexus where we see him struggle to cope with losing Cronk and Zephyr on his watch - if the events of the comics weren't enough...

Watching the scene with him hiding in the crate and refusing to come out, the distance between the goofy and prideful kid we used to know and Ratchet as he is now has not felt more evident. Into the Nexus really highlights how Ratchet at this point just wants a secure and permanent place to belong to. Tal is so important because she may really be one of the few people who could understand and relate to Ratchet. Her family is missing too, she’s been lonely her whole life too. She is a link to lombax culture. She was there for him when he lost Clank. They see themselves in each other, and I think the opening scene of this game speaks a lot to how comfortable and perhaps emotionally reliant they are on each other.

It‘s understandable that Ratchet would let go of the pursuit of finding the lombaxes for someone who not only needs him, loves and supports him just as he is - but also someone he almost lost for good. She is also home and his family, even when or if Clank chooses to go back to his Clock duties. Ratchet just doesn’t want to lose anyone else, can’t handle the possibility of losing one more person - so he finally decides to end his eternal search for purpose, belonging, and validation and cling onto his sources of such things that were in front of him the whole time.

But as fate would have it, Insomniac really will drag out this whole finding the lombaxes thing even longer lol. This is the logical conclusion to the Ratchet and Clank story as of now, so Ratchet isn’t allowed to give up just yet.

Ratchet's Heart

WHY I started thinking so deeply about Ratchet’s character is because of how he is in Rift Apart. I LOVE Ratchet and Kit’s friendship so much because it highlights and reveals so much about each other!!! There’s probably a reason why Kit and Ratchet share a colour palette, and it’s because they’re kinda parallels:

1. They’ve let bad experiences in the past control their present and future - but it limits their world as a result. (Interestingly, Alister also let the past rule his life. But he was so obsessed with righting the past that he would endanger the present. Ratchet learned what not to do from Alister, but he kinda ended up being a different version of him.)

2. They’re both afraid of getting hurt and causing hurt - so they avoid it. They both have a tendency to hide away when feeling bad about themselves. They’re both seen as cowardly for this (Vendra and Rivet judging Ratchet for being too scared to find the lombaxes).

3. Ratchet’s advice to Kit when it comes to socializing is ‘don’t overthink it.’ I’d love to make a connection here to how Ratchet would overthink what to say on the spot or overcompensate for himself in the past.

Kit is potentially dangerous and doesn’t know how to be a friend. She’s caused real hurt before. But Ratchet accepts and believes in her, and is adamant about expanding her world, seeing all the good in her, and encouraging her to grow. Ratchet knows what it’s like to not be perfect, to be stuck somewhere, to make mistakes, and be rough around the edges. I believe this is why he is so kind to Kit, providing the validation and belonging and opportunity he would’ve wanted for himself.

And it’s to Kit that he opens up about his anxieties. Ratchet’s true feelings about finding the lombaxes… he’s so… defeated, unsure and doesn’t think much of himself anymore. This was also evident in how anxious he was about the parade celebrating them at the beginning of the game. Yet another indicator of how different Ratchet is now - younger him would’ve loved all the attention even if ‘unearned’ (cuz they haven’t been a hero for a few years). It’s crazy because he’s done SO MUCH and yet - from the way he talks to Kit he still doesn’t feel like he measures up to how great the lombaxes are. Or his parents, judging by his apologetic tone when he explains that his dad tried so hard to keep the dimensionator safe.

And let’s think on this idea of not measuring up - his self worth issues, he’s not exactly a successful inventor, overall flawed and clumsy personality, seems to only be useful for shooting some bad guys, plus not being able to prevent the deaths of some people very important to him - it becomes clear why he thinks so little of himself in comparison to the lombaxes legacy of being brilliant heroes and creators. Beyond the misfortunes that seem to happen around the dimensionator, Ratchet’s problems stem far deeper into his sense of self. So he tells Kit that even if the lombaxes are the perfect family - would they be disappointed in him, or he disappointed in them? He also doesn’t want to lose the life he has now, not when it has finally given him some stability.

But it is Ratchet’s very own kindness and faith in her that allows Kit to turn this issue on its head and address the crux of the problem and reveal the precious thing that ultimately defines Ratchet and his identity - perhaps more than wanting to matter and belong, what he had almost lost over the course of his life up to now.

I would like to say that in a word, Rift Apart is about possibilities. The alternate counterparts of Ratchet’s world and all the implications of it exemplify this.* The Clank sections directly use this word I believe, as he helps Gary fix the dimensions.

*(I don't know where else to fit this observation, but the ways Rivet and Ratchet contrast are somewhat relevant. Rivet, unlike Ratchet, has friends and a group to belong to earlier on in her story - so she doesn't end up falling into the same character pitfalls of being selfish or self absorbed. She and Clank share that big picture awareness. But she's lonely in a different way: having to be strong for herself and everyone else, she's a Ratchet that doesn't know how to be open and vulnerable. I just wanted to point out how cool it is that they considered all this as a 'counterpart' to Ratchet.)

‘Possibility’ is also probably… at the very heart of Ratchet’s character.

One of Ratchet’s defining character traits is his recklessness. He risks too much, takes too many shortcuts, doesn’t think enough when he should. But this is precisely why Ratchet is amazing at the same time. Of course it’s good he grew more careful as he got older. But the big thing to take away from his anxiety about finding the lombaxes and him wanting to stay safe and content with what he has is that - he’s almost lost that crazy and beautiful ability to risk it all and take a chance. Namely, on himself. And it’s ironic because he convinced Kit to risk it all and be friends with him, to go out into the world she’s so afraid of! And this is exactly what Kit points out to him, and expresses her belief that finding the lombaxes will turn out alright for him - even if he still struggles to believe so.

In the way he loves living in the moment, pushing himself to the limits, making weird inventions, pulling off unsafe stunts, throwing together scraps to fix and modify things against better judgement, trying to beat the odds, befriends strange little robots that are just as odd as him - Ratchet thoroughly, intrinsically embodies possibility. If you have nothing to define you, then you have so much freedom to define yourself. And that has been Ratchet’s whole life. Being able to not only think of all that’s possible, but being brave and silly enough to try to achieve them - that in itself, is an extremely valuable gift.

Ratchet is just not the same anymore because he is scared to be and act on what is the most natural and fundamental to him as a person - lest it lead to immense pain and loss. And as I have established multiple times in this post: Ratchet is at his best when he allows himself to just be… himself without pretense. Perhaps Clank knows or doesn’t know this, but he took it upon himself to try to help Ratchet find what makes him whole and himself again. Because the people around Ratchet can see that him completely giving up on what is in his heart would be truly sad and a loss to the universe he loves so much.

Ratchet and Clank were always meant to keep expanding their universe and themselves! That is the very spirit that propels this franchise. And by the end of Rift Apart, and even if Ratchet is still scared - he’s going to find the lombaxes, scared. He’s not going to give up on himself anymore: just as he didn’t want Kit to give up on herself, didn’t want Rivet to give up on Kit, and how Clank never ever gave up on him, believing in the possibility of him being a good and worthwhile person from the very start.

I feel really optimistic for Ratchet and wonder how they will (possibly?) end his character arc in the next game. I’m deeply grateful that Insomniac still cares about this franchise, and cares about Ratchet as a character so much. It truly is a unique privilege, I think, to see one character’s story develop and grow and change over a decade. I love Ratchet and all he is and represents so, so much.

[honshew]

we are so back

monster hunter is for taking screenshots of your dnd pc in different outfits that do not match everyone else's

[inviouswriting]

Perfume

Was rewatching some cutscenes for Zhongli about the perfumes that were made for Guizhong.

This is a smut story loves.

I meant it to be soft and sweet... turned into spicy.

Warnings below.

Zhongli x fem!reader

Contents - afab!reader x Zhongli, cunningulus, blow job, sex, multiple orgasms, female squirting, doggy style, established relationship, married couple being happy and horny.

“What about this one?” You hold up a bottle of oil to Zhongli. He looks at it, the scent of gardenias.  

“Too floral. If you like the scent, we can include it.” Ningguang gave you an idea to try with Zhongli in creating a perfume and cologne set with him. So, you both spent the morning and into the day with him matching scents between you two.  

“Floral might be too much.” You make a face, then pick a bottle that has glaze lily to it. Sweet and delicate in the scent. Before you can uncork the bottle, Zhongli plucks it from your hands, a half pained look in his eyes regarding the fragrance. He leaves it corked not even taking a second to smell the fragrance within.

“Not this one. I want to separate you from the memories of Guizhong as much as possible.” He explains in a gentle manner, and you nod, understanding what he means. Glaze lilies were a special memory for him, and he did not want to cross his past with his future. You have noted the times he will present you with a flower always looking at you instead of the flower. As if to associate you with the new memory he makes instead of making it about her.

You see him look at the bottle with fondness, then set it down gently with reverence into its spot. He hovers his hand over another bottle next to it. A bottle of vanilla, then tugs along with it a bit of sandalwood.

“I think this will be better. I’ll also use sandalwood as a base. What do you think to go with it?” You look at the bottles again, sitting alot closer to Zhongli when he tugs you in under his arm. He brings a dish of coffee beans for you to cleanse your sense of smell.

You look at the bottles in front of you, trying to find one that feels like Zhongli. You even feel his eyes on you, taking a glance up to his amber eyes, you feel them warm and comforting. Like fire, but that gentle heat that can warm you, but also burn if you stoke the wrong way.

You move your hand over a bottle and lift one that is of orange blossom for you and tea tree for him. It melds with the sandalwood nicely, and you present it to him.

“Fitting. You find ways to surprise me even now.” He likes the scents, and he adds another small scent to yours in a sweet mint.

You both present the perfume oils to the maker, letting them do their own magic.

“It will be about... four days to cure. Will that be okay with you?” You’re asked and nod a yes.

“That will be fine, we’ll return then.” When you both leave together the scent of fresh air hits you both having spent the last while smelling everything to create something for you and him. Zhongli tugs you under his arm having a moment to himself with a gentle press of his nose to the top of your head to take in the natural scent of you with whatever soap you had used.  

“Li, people are staring.” You remind him you’re in public, this doesn’t make him move to straighten himself or make it look like you’re less in love than you are together.

“Let them. I’m not doing anything foreign, am I? Just give me these few minutes.” He lowers his head to your neck, and you feel your face red as another small intake of breath from his tells you what he’s trying to do.  

“I’ll be a second my dear.” He slips back into the perfume shop and you stand bewildered at his behavior of smelling you that way then leaving you with a few straggling shoppers giggling at the unique display of affection, to anyone else it looked like he was kissing your head or neck, when you know he was scenting to figure out another smell to go along with your perfume and cologne.

When he rejoins you, he takes your hands to bring both to his face to kiss your fingers in apology for the display he did. You regard him warmly with your eyes, seeing how much love he has for you in those vibrant gold eyes.

You spend the rest of the day with him from eating at Wanmin to finding a spot on one of the cliffsides to watch the harbor and sunset. You are seated in front of the former archon, and he’s almost wrapped around you with his arms crossing in front of your chest, and you settled between his legs facing away from him. His head rests on top of yours, you don’t see the way he smiles content with where he is in this life.

The next few days were a blur filled with anticipation for the perfume and cologne that was made. Zhongli had picked the fragrances up and you were waiting for him at home when he arrived with the bottles. You could tell he is happy with the bottles looking like geo symbols, yours on top of his as a way to symbolize how much he supports you and if the bottles were turned the reverse. You nudge his side as you pick up your end.

“Still the geo archon.” You see the way his eyes light up at the comment, a laugh from him.

“Some habits don’t die.” He takes the bottle from you and takes your wrist to dab some of it on then at your neck. The scent fits you, refreshing from the mint and calming with the sandalwood. The other note that you catch is cloves with the orange blossom. Sweet yet fiery has a delicate way of being intoxicating. You had closed your eyes missing the way his eyes fixate on you.

Zhongli’s scent mirrors yours with the gentleness of the sandalwood, his having more of a lavender bergamot, and to contrast your clove scent was cinnamon. Also, spicy but fitting as a fiery man he is, the hidden dragon underneath it all. There was something underlying and you couldn’t put your finger on it when you smelled the scent once it was on him.

It was like a flipped switch, even your husband noted it; a smile on his lips when you feel your face warm and your legs warmer.

“Seems like it is working. The reason this perfumer is sought after is their work with pheromones.” He had begun to undo his clothing, and before you knew it you were engaged with him in an intense kiss. Zhongli had safely set the perfume bottles somewhere safe before he pinned you to the table, proceeding to climb on top of you as he kisses you into it. You writhe underneath when he nibbles on your neck, his hands slipping underneath your dress tugging at your clothes to undo them swift to be further entangled with you.

You let him undress you, taking layers of silk and lace from you, while you tug off him his suit, tugging him by his tie with a grin. Zhongli cups your face when he kisses you, returning his hands to your body once he has it bare.

Zhongli sheds his clothes when he raises up and tugs you by your waist to him. You let him love you right there. You sigh underneath him when he presses into you, he is too impatient to properly tease you after the scents drive him insane that he has to have you now.

Your scream resonates in the quiet air, and you reach a hand up to him to touch his face as he rests inside of you. You tug him for a kiss, and he meets you for it. You both are soon lost when he begins to thrust, each movement leaves you wanting more from him, the mild sting ebbing off into pure pleasure.

Zhongli lifts your waist into his thrusts, and you see stars behind your eyes when he does. The former archon keeps watch of your face, when your expression twists to pure pleasure he hits that spot again till your legs wrap at his waist to pull him in deeper. Your hands go to his shoulders to scratch at his skin while he holds you to him.

You feel the first orgasm rush through your body and coat his cock in juices with a breathed sigh. Zhongli follows afterwards with filling you, watching how you search his eyes when he’s relaxed. He isn’t done with you, far from it. He soon tugs you with him to the floor where he has better leverage to love you, his lips catch an ear as he arranges you on your hands and knees. Zhongli gets you into the position he wants you in and without waiting much longer sinks himself back into you with a loud groan from the former archon at feeling you tighten around him.

All you can think of is how good he feels inside, you even rise up so you can brace yourself for the thrusts he was about to do. Slow draw backs then strong thrusts in that make you yelp when the head of his cock is so much deeper than earlier. Zhongli reaches a hand into your hair to begin tugging it so your neck is exposed to him. He presses a kiss to it as he intakes the gentle scent of the perfume mixed with the pheromone, he could detect making him twitch inside when it works to relight his drive to have you over and over.

You feel nothing but pleasure, fingers reaching under to play with your clit till your legs tremble and you let an orgasm rush through you and drip onto the floor after cumming on his hand. Zhongli feels this and buries himself deeper to feel you clenching on him, he grins seeing the way your face is pressed to your arms as you lay your head on the floor to catch your breath.

Zhongli takes a good look at you blissed out, panting for breath and moaning out from your last orgasm. He sees your limbs trembling, and he casts his eyes up only to catch sight of himself in a reflection from a glass door. He looks less of the gentleman that others are accustomed to and more like his former self in his archon days. He regards how you look with glossy eyes staring at nothing.  

With ease Zhongli flips you onto your back and guides your legs back to loop over his shoulders. His gold gaze drifts down as he guides himself back into you, proving just how much stamina the man has. You barely hold onto the last of yours.

“We will work on your endurance so you can go all day and night with me even after we’re use to the perfumes a bit more. I know it is a little intense for your first time using a pheromone based one. You my dear are absolutely.... intoxicating and I can’t get enough of how you feel, sound, and all of your darling expressions. My love, one more for me.” You see his eyes light up and knew what he meant, you reach your hands out to grasp anything and find your hands on the legs of the table as Zhongli starts to thrust again a lot harder and more precise as if ensuring he is pressed as deep as he goes till the tip bumps against the spongy spot of your g-spot.

You can’t help the moans that fall from your lips as he makes you see stars behind your eyes. Each cry you make is punctuated by one of Zhongli’s groans at how good you feel, he tugs you underneath him better till you both are lost to pleasure, and you reach a hand towards your husband, he catches it to lace his fingers with yours. His other hand catches your left foot to where he can kiss an ankle while staring down at your pleading face. He smooths his hand along your leg down, letting it rest on his shoulder while he rubs your clit again in circles till you are trambling again from pleasure.

The constant thrusts against your g-spot left pressure buidling in your belly and white flashes behind your eyes as you arch up in a series of cries as you have such a powerful orgasm that you squirt on his abdomen and almost force him out of your pussy.

Zhongli is watching your face twist in pleasure till you are so lost in what you feel, he sees how you release this gush of fluid like earlier, even a part of perversion in him as he spreads your folds so he can see how it sprays out. He keeps his fingers rubbing your clit to encourage another squirt, till he is sure the floor is drenched just from your unique cum you produce.  

“Keep going my love, you can give me another. Yes... like this... keep going.” You barely hear Zhongli through your own moans as he draws orgasm after the next till, he’s tugging gently on your sensitive nub.

“Li! I’ve had enough please!” Five more orgasms after the last one and he’s came four within you working on the last one. He relents on you and knows you’re getting tired. After your last one, he pulls from inside you and you know that look in his eyes as he kneels over you, and you immediately start sucking on his cock.  

The moans he makes from deep in his throat as you take him deep into your mouth, not minding your own taste as you swirl your tongue around the tip. The hand on the back of your head guides you in going down till your lips brush the base. Your fingers touch the sac to roll his balls as he thrusts into your mouth.  

“Good girl... good girl! Swallow!” You taste him as he cums the salty sweetness of his seed. If you weren’t so sensitive from earlier you would have been touching your pussy for more, but when you glide your fingers over the slit you feel a slight sting from being overworked. You pull off of his cock and swallow what is in your mouth a few stray streams of his cum on your lips as you meet his eyes taking you in being covered in it.

“My dear... I’ll draw a bath for us, long enough for you to rest. We’re far from done... the water will help keep you from getting sore...” You look up at him pleading to have mercy, and you understand that he’s holding back everything to keep going.

“At least let me eat something?” He smiles at your request.

“Of course, you’ll need the energy. I’ll prepare for you, don’t keep me waiting too long?” You bite your lip to see how he is hard again just after that. You lay on the floor to regain your strength as you pant and slightly giggle to yourself.

“I’ll have to wear that perfume on special occasions.” You gather yourself on shaking legs and grab something to nibble on to give yourself a lot more energy for your husband. Former archon, but also loving husband and insatiable lover once you stoked his fire.

“Morax, I’ll be a little longer to clean the mess we made in here.” You blush seeing a mix of your fluids and his.

“My love, I’ll take care of it and clean it properly. Please come here. I need you.” You can hear the strain in his voice, and knew if you didn’t get to him in a timely manner, he will either come out to you and add to the mess, or drag you in. To spare the floor further mess, you mop up what you could with a towel then proceed to join your husband after dabbing a bit more of the perfume on.

You see his eyes the moment he smells you, and know you aren’t leaving that room for a while.

“My dear... you have no idea what you’re doing to me.” Zhongli sighs at seeing your mischievous gleam in your eyes.

“I think I do know what I am doing. Satisfying a dragon in heat.” You join him in the bath and immediately are pulled to straddle his waist.

“You’re in for a long session this time. I hope the water is to your liking. Now please... I need my mate.” You sigh and humor him. You laugh as you begin to ride him and nuzzle his face to kiss him. He returns these subtle gestures and you are kissed in every way even as he breathes into your skin to inhale the perfume and etch every expression into his memory.

“Long night indeed.”  

[secondarysefikura]

Rewatching some cutscenes from Rebirth and I just realized that only Tifa and Aerith even try to do anything when Cloud goes to give Sephiroth the black materia. Meanwhile the guys and Yuffie are just standing there a few feet away.

Barret, Vincent, and Yuffie all use ranged weapons. Both Barret and Vincent could pretty easily try to shoot Sephiroth considering he was just standing there for a good five minutes with no cover in sight.

And hey, if that doesn't work, then shoot Cloud in the leg and drag him away. He's pretty distracted so I think you could manage to land the shot, and he's suffered worse so he'd be fine in the long run. Really do anything to maybe help prevent Cloud from helping the enemy.

Genuinely though, what was everyone doing that they didn't even think to yell out "hey Cloud, don't do that."

[desultory-novice]

Hi hi! I'm going to answer a couple of different video based asks all in one post because they all follow a similar theme~!

EDIT EDIT: I realized that no one could actually access the links because I took screenshots and added links to the video following each ask!

[VIDEO]

Oh yes! It was one of the first videos I watched when I decided to be brave and finally join the fandom! I remember really liking it, though I don't remember the video contents itself well...!

:cues up for a rewatch:

Heh! Heehee! It's still quite a lot of fun! Years later, I can notice clearly now that this video relies very strongly on what I understand is a controversial/outdated interpretation of Void lore based on the EN translation which is...well, it's the Star Allies English Translation... (As for the details of WHAT it got wrong, o~hhh, I'm not going to get into the Void stuff ~ You'll have to go to other Kirblrs for that! I'm too busy with fixating on my personal blorbos! XD ) However! The end bit about who Kirby is and what Kirby represents? That part of the video remains golden and is something I am 100% in agreement with!

Edit: I realize now you said "videos" and if they're the ones I'm thinking of, then I think I did watch the whole series back then and enjoyed it very much! Sorry for not giving my modern day thoughts on them individually. I didn't want to make you wait too long on this!

[VIDEO]

AH! I just saw this one a few months ago and YES! Yes yes yes! Ohhh, yessss! I agree! It's funny to watch this one back to back with Designing For's video about how the early games were kind of empty fluff compared to the lore-heavy Kumazaki era when Star Warper highlights one of my FAVORITE things that's been gone for so long!!

...I would be SO happy if they focused more on this kind of "natural" world building and character exploration. I suppose, if I have one criticism of Kumazaki, it's that he maybe TOO MUCH of a writer? It's okay to focus where he specializes in, and he's really good at it, but I hope that Star Allies "micro cutscenes" mean we might get them back in a new title, rather than a "last nod" to Kirby history...

This reminds me, I never did anything with this (got swept under by RL) but I came away from this video thinking that I would LOVE to make a series of cutscene animations for the games that don't have them! Just imagine what silly things Kirby or the rest of the characters are getting up to before handing the action back to you!

(Gosh... I don't think I have the experience necessary for this but... with all these collabs, I wonder if anyone would be interested in forming up a collab to make cutscenes for the games that don't have them? I don't know if there's that many animators in the fandom, maybe splash images would be enough? ...Interesting thought?)

But one last enthusiastic yes! As an outspoken fan of, "Show us the daily life of the people in Dream Land PLEASE" this video speaks to me. And I'm glad others feel this way!

[VIDEO]

I KNEW THIS WOULD BE THE CAKE SCENE! I LOVE THE CAKE SCENE! Honestly, I don't know anyone who doesn't just burst into kittens when faced with the cake scene...! It's so cute...! vvv

Speaking of the 25th Anniversary Concert, I have to share my other favorite moment and unfortunately I can't find the full video to refresh my memory (...pulled down for copyright, maybe?) but there was one silly moment when they asked Kirby how old he was, like HIM not the series, and he's like "...I'm 25! ^o^" and of course, it's silly and ridiculous and everyone laughed and for those fans who see Kirby as a very young child, it is just the picture of a child being silly and saying whatever but...as someone who always saw Kirby as growing up with me, I beamed a little with pride? XD

And I think that's the way it should be, maybe? The things Kirby says can be as interpretable as Kirby themselves! ...Reminds me of another quote from Kumazaki that he didn't want Kirby speaking (in Japanese) in the globally streamed 30th Anniversary concert as they did in the 25th because he wanted everyone across the globe to "understand Kirby equally." That if he talked in just one language, a limited number of people would understand him, and everyone should be able to see themselves in Kirby!

It was a very sweet gesture - even though I myself missed hearing Kirby talk in Japanese! Ahh well, at least I'm surrendering my bilingual priviledge card for a good reason! XD

[VIDEO]

OH! Ni~ce find, Anon!

I've seen the fan animation of the phone skit and one more but I was wondering where I might find the rest...! Thank you, video anon!

These are soo~ooo cute! And you're so right! Kawata-san's Kirby really is perfect! I say that feeling the same way about Oomoto-san's Kirby too though...! They're all perfect! This kind of voice (and short skit style) would be perfect for a series of official shorts imo! The kind of ones that occasionally get released on Twitter and the like. (Not that I don't already love the animations made by Courtesy!)

And ahhhh, it's so nice to hear Kirby speak full sentences too~ I really, really enjoy this interpretation of Kirby! I can't believe it's from as far back as 1994! Amazing! Truly amazing!

-

Thank you, anon(s) for the fun video links! And I hope everyone has fun watching them too if you're not familiar with everything listed here! If you ask me, everything here is worth a listen!

[a-simply-simping-simp]

SEGA WHEN I CATCH YOU SEGA SEGA WHEN I CATCH YOU

So mad so mad so mad so mad so mad at SEGA why why WHY must they do this to me. Imagine falling in love and then KILLING that same love. Hahahahahaha imagine being a kid when it happened. HAHAHAHAHA IMAGINE HAVING ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS JUST WATCH YOU SOB AS YOU HOLD THE TRIGGER TO SHOOT YOUR LOVE. HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH IMAGINE ALL THATS LEFT OF HER AFTER YOU EXPLODE HER WITH AN ENERGY CANNON IS A SINGULAR SEED. IMAGINE NOBODY EXCEPT ONE PERSON REALLY COMES TO SHOULDER YOUR PAIN AND TEARS. IMAGINE NOBODY THOUGHT THAT MAYBE A CHILD SHOULDN'T HAVE TO SHOOT HIS NONOFFICIAL GIRLFRIEND. IMAGINE-

Anyway, all greiving aside, I miss her.

I joined the Sonic fandom in a kinda odd way ngl. At the time, I was stupid and a fresh middle schooler and it was extremely popular to make fun of the sonic franchise cuz it was a whole meme and stuff. I also made fun of it cuz I thought I was supposed to. But I realized it was stupid to make fun of something I haven't even seen before. So I wanted to educate myself on it. Coincidently, I saw a video. It was by CourtneySNT about her first ever sonic fancomic around that time. I really enjoyed it actually. Sometimes I go back and rewatch it. Anyway, in her comic, she had introduced Tails to the screen and I fell in love with the fandom. Grant it, her depiction of tails at that moment was the polar opposite of what he's actually like, but still. It compelled me to watch Sonic X, The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Boom, Sonic Prime, A bit of Sonic Underground, and just...Sonic the Hedgehog. I also watched a few gameplays and a lot of cutscene movies of the videogames as well as parodies and fan content. So...yeah.

Now it's just a Sonic Prime Nine analysis/rant below lol

Also, since I mentioned SONIC PRIME, I might as well rant about it. NINE. WAS. SO. PERFECT. He was well written, well scripted, and well developed. Everything about nim was chef's kiss. His story was literally just a what if. What if Sonic never met Tails? Well, number one, he wouldn't be named Tails. He'd make his own name. Nine. Also, he became cold and distant because he expected others to treat him the same due to his two tails. Perfect character already but then they fleshed him out some more and introduced this...guy named Sonic.

He didn't know Sonic at the time nor did he really know...anybody. So when this blue loser comes waltzing into his house unannounced, he obviously gets hostile. Why? Well, one, because a rando broke into his casa. But also because everyone he met was hostile to him first. Crazy. Then this guy seems to be friendly. A first. So, Nine lets down his ice cold walls and trusts him. Let me emphasize that. NINE TRUSTED SONIC. Remember that. It is SO important.

So, Nine goes along and helps this guy for no real reason other than the fact that he considers him a friend. Now, you'd think he also helped to stop the egg council, but he really never had bad blood with them in the first place. He isn't in the resistance nor shows any resentment. He's Nine all on his own, with or without the council. In fact, he probably doesn't care if they rule because he wanted to be alone anyway. But he helped. Why? Because he wanted to help his FRIEND.

This goal warps when Nine discovers an empty realm called the grim. He can have a fresh start there with him and sonic. Just the people he cared about. He asked Sonic to go with him because he wanted to share his dream with him. He wanted Sonic to be a part of it with him. But Sonic undermined his dreams. It'd be one thing if he simply disagreed with it or gave a good, justifying, and well explained reason for refusing, but instead he didn't explain himself well. Sonic entitled himself to the prisms, assuming him getting home was everyone's priority. I don't mean to villainize him because this was simply reckless and unknowing behaviour, but still. Nine got upset that his FRIEND was trampling on his dreams as if they didn't matter nearly as much as Sonic's.

So, he "betrayed" Sonic. I want to bring this to everyone's attention. Nine had critisized Sonic because he recklessly didn't think about what woukd happen to everyone else if he DID bring back his home. Like, nobody knows jack squat about the prisms. Sonic, Nine, Shadow, even the egg council was lost when it came to those big shiny rock things. It shines and made our universes. That's all they knew. So, with that in mind, it makes sense to be concerned. Like what if it kills us? What if it destroys our world in order to bring back yours? They only exist because of the prism being destroyed, so if you fix it, would that kill them? Idk, I feel like this was mentioned once and never brought up again and it makes me mad. Such potential.

Anyway, after the situation, Nine goes back to the grim to make his dreams come true by himself. Because the one person he TRUSTED broke his trust. So, after a bunch of irrelavent stuff happens, Sonic goes to the grim after making a deal to Nine. Nine lets him into the grim and Sonic starts to preach to Nine about their friendship. Nine listens and almost starts to trust him again, maybe thinking about his actions and how they might not have been the best. How their friendship could maybe be salvaged. Why? Because Sonic said he woukd sacrifice himself to save Nine too. But then an entire army shows up to beat Nine into a teeny tiny pulp. Grant it, Sonic did not call them to the grim. But then he imediently sides with them in taking Nine down in an all out war. After saying he'd sacrifice for Nine too, he pulls an uno reverse on him. Trust broken. Again.

So now, he wants to trust nobody. Why? Because Sonic broke once too many. So he starts fighting. And fighting. And fighting. Like he's been doing his entire life. Who is he fighting? Someone who he thought was his friend. Someone who claims to be his friend. Someone who he thought he wouldn't need to fight. And he's clearly breaking his own body in desperation while doing so. Nobody really said anything about it either btw. Like, he's literally hurting himself and Sonic, his "friend" didn't even try to stop him because he was hurting himself, but because he was huring others and taking the prisms. I understand of course because he's hurting your friends, but his own pain wasn't even a slither of his drive.

Anyway, the ending sucked personally. It was anticlimactic. Nine gives in just because and then Sonci goes home, mystery never discovered, and yay we're done.