#I liked it but also I didn’t replay either route

[waspgrave]

Rip but twc book 3 came out and everyone got quiet after 2 weeks, huh….

[yourdeepestfathoms]

a Pathologic tier list based on how good of an adult the characters are to Clara, a child

this is based on P1, but the tier list site i was using only had the P2 models!

i was meant to have longer, more in-depth explanations, but then i got lazy 😅 so i just have some basic reasoning!

also i haven’t replayed the Changeling route in a few months, so i’m going off of memory!

Actually A Kind, Considerate Adult To A Stressed and Traumatized Child

Lara- Lara is hands down the best adult in this entire game. She’s kind, understanding, and patient with Clara. She never insults her, and even when Clara is being a bit snooty, she still treats her gently. She also literally has a line where she points out that Clara is a child struggling with an immense burden. She calls attention to the fact that she’s just a kid, which NOBODY ELSE DOES.

“Poor thing, I’m so sorry for you. I wouldn’t want to carry your burden.”

It can kinda be read as pity, but pity is better than the cruelty and ignorance to her situation most of the others give her.

Also she has the one voice like where she’s like, “Poor child, she’s so tired” in reference to Clara.

Lara stays winning fr fr

The Tragedians and Executors- Idk if these guys can count, but they’re here anyway. They’re always so nice to Clara, calling her little pet names and explaining stuff to her in a kind way. They talk to her like how adults talk to young children, which she is. And it’s wild how these bitches beat THE ENTIRETY OF THE WHOLE CAST, minus Lara.

A Good Adult

Oyun- I actually cannot believe this guy is this high.

Surprisingly, he’s actually pretty nice to Clara. If not nice, then very respectful. He treats her like a queen.

Rubin- He’s chill with her 👍 (if i remember correctly)

Yulia- Similar to Rubin, she’s chill toward Clara, minus, I think, one little offhand comment that’s kind of rude. But compared to what some of the bitches below say to her, it may as well be a compliment.

Decent But Has Their Moments

Artemy- So, I feel like Artemy is very neutral toward Clara. There is that part in the Changeling route where he sends her a letter where he threatens to kill her, BUT that only happens if you rat out his location to Daniil, so it’s not a set event that always happens.

He speaks to her very curtly, and you can get the sense that he’s probably annoyed by her presence, but he’s not outwardly verbally abusing her unlike others.

If this were a ranking based on P2 interactions, however, he would be WAY LOWER because jfc, he is SO MEAN to Clara.

Daniil- So, he was actually lower at first, but then I saw some really good posts talking about how he cares for Clara in his own way (giving her money, keeping her in the Stillwater, worrying over her)—even if they are a little unconventional.

However, that doesn’t erase the fact that he is still pretty awful to her at times. I mean, he literally threatens to kill her twice, one of which happened when he first met her.

I love the “Daniil is a reluctant father figure to Clara” so much, but I also don’t think he would be any higher than this.

Also, like Artemy, if this were for interactions in P2, he would absolutely be lower.

Neutral

Olgimsky- I think he and Clara talk exactly two (2) times, and both interactions are short and don’t really do anything for the story (if i remember correctly). Also I don’t think they give af about each other at all.

Bad Grief- Neutral. I could have put him higher, actually. He seemed actually kind of nice.

Eva- Same with Bad Grief. Her interaction with Clara wasn’t hostile at all.

Victor- I’ll be real with y’all- I don’t remember them talking 😭

Not A Good Adult

Maria- She’s my second favorite character in the whole game (just behind Clara ofc), but even I can’t deny how cruel she is to Clara. She is SO MEAN.

Aspity- I actually had no idea where to put her. At first, she was in the “decent” section, but that didn’t seem right. Then she was in “Neutral,” but that didn’t seem right, either. Finally, I just decided to put her here. Because, looking back on their interactions, they were pretty hostile.

I don’t think Aspity liked Clara. A lot of the things she said to Clara were either vaguely threatening or directly threatening.

Anna Angel- She was so rude to Clara in the Haruspex route when Clara came running to her house, crying, on Day 6. Also I remember her making shots at Clara often.

Georgiy- Literally threatened to kill Clara the moment he met her. Enough said.

Mark- I remember this bitch ass being snappy with her. Which is good enough for me.

Vlad Jr.- This dude isn’t necessarily mean, but I do remember him being weirdly fanatical toward Clara. He spoke to her like she wasn’t a child but rather someone to be idolized.

Peter- He also wasn’t rude, but I just felt very uncomfortable every time he talked to her. He didn’t speak to her like a child but rather an adult. And yeah, a lot of people did that, but he was just so creepy to me. He acted like she was a goddess or something. It really rubbed me the wrong way.

Block- This may be a bit of an unpopular opinion, but I just can’t put this guy anywhere but here.

Yes, he was kind to her, but he also idolized her, which is just…Not Very Good. Also he fully tries to bring her to war?? If you say no when he first makes the offer, he literally ignores her and keeps going on about it which is a huge red flag.

Horrible Fucking Person

Andrey- I can’t stand this guy. Y’all don’t understand how deep my hatred for him goes. But this spot isn’t even a biased decision he is, SO CRUEL. The way he screams in Clara’s face when she went to his bar?? And yeah, he’s kinda right in some sense, she isn’t old enough to fully understand what she’s doing, but that is not her fault in any way. The blame should fall upon Katerina for making her run around indoctrinating people, not her. And he shouldn’t have yelled at a little girl, spewing insults at her, because at that point, his argument is meaningless when it directly attacks her.

He’s terrible. I hate him.

What The Fuck Is Wrong With You

Aglaya- Basically every word she spoke to Clara felt like a shotgun blast to the chest and had my jaw on the FLOOR. I was not expecting the sheer disgust and hatred she had toward this child.

As such, I have compiled a short list of some of the things she said to Clara:

1. Calls her a “dim, pathetic creature”

2. Calls her insane and deranged

3. Accuses her of having a split personality disorder and being schizophrenic

4. “Prohibits her from existing”

5. Says she has to leave the town or else she’ll have her executed

Among other stuff.

Obligatory “Awful Parents” Spot

The Saburovs- I could go on about how horrible these guys are. Not even just as people, but as parents, too.

The neglect, the exploitation, the abuse, the total disregard for Clara’s feelings when she comes back traumatized while carrying a severed head, the way she’s used to inaugurate people into a religion…

They are truly awful people, and they do not deserve Clara.

[ri-writes-if]

Hi, Ri! I've recently had time to play your if (finally!) And let me tell you that I'm obsessed with your writing. I love the setting, the worldbuilding you've lovingly woven inside is so marvelous I want to chew on it (in a good way).

The second thing I'm most fascinated by is the Oracle— as soon as I read their inner monologue the words 'anxious meow meow' appeared in my mind. They're so... I don't know how to describe it, cute aggression would be the closest expression. I wish for them to go through the Horrors™ to get that healing character development and be at peace with themselves yet I also want them to make the ROs go through it with worry. Must be the spirit of hurt/comfort talking lol

Speaking of the ROs and the Oracle... I have a question. I want to befriend them but I also want to spend time with my RO of choice. Will I lose significant content if I choose to spread the Oracle's attention?

Hello! I’m very pleased you enjoyed the story so much hehe Thank you for taking your time to write me a message 🥺💛 I appreciate it!!

I love that the fandom agrees that the Oracle is a wet cat 😹 poor meow meow indeed. They’ll get both: go through the Horrors and worry all the characters, lol! Hurt/comfort is my favorite, so there will be plenty of that.

You can spend time with everyone one by one in the first four chapters if you want, you’re not missing any content you won’t get later. I wanted my readers to be able to hang out with different characters, feel them, and then decide whom they want to get closer with, so the relationship system allows just that. I made sure that any important info that could be missed would be mentioned later (if you didn’t learn it). (Like with Ash. You learn some things about them in the third chapter, and a couple of these details are mentioned later if you missed them.)

The characters’ side stories start after the route lock, which means you’ll be able to experience the full content of the side story only if you choose that specific character (because the Oracle will become either their lover or close friend... or a secret third option). You’ll get glimpses of stuff happening in the other routes, but you won’t participate in it and won’t get to know everything. If you want to, you’ll need to replay the story with different routes.

I hope I explained it clearly! Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any other questions

[red-balloon12]

Sooo since people are complaining about Chaggie/Vaggie being boring and stuff (though I don’t see much of people trying to give ideas to how this could be fixed-)

I’m gonna give a layout to make both Vaggie and the relationship more spicy.

So I think the best route to go about this is to have Vaggie still be a fallen Angel. But the thing about this is that Charlie doesn’t KNOW she’s a fallen Angel. As far as Charlie’s concerned, she met Vaggie a while ago while wandering the streets of hell trying to find someone to aid her in her “Happy Hotel” start up quest.

She meets Vaggie at some coffee shop and the two make quick friends. To Charlie, she just met Vaggie but to Vaggie, she had already met Charlie, some time ago during the last execution.

Vaggie, still as an Angel, did not like heaven. She thinks it’s full of hypocrisy and she’s not all that well treated there. But the two things had kept her from leaving heaven was the fear of hell her hatred of demons. (I’d imagine she probably hated Charlie a lot because she’s the daughter of hell) Until one execution where she was about to kill one demon but said demon was saved by Charlie. Hell, they could even have a face off. But in those moments, Vaggie’s worldview is challenged by Charlie’s unwavering want to protect her people.

The angels retreat and Vaggie is stuck with her battle between her and Charlie replaying over and over in her head. If the daughter of hell can have kindness….then maybe other demons can? This thought finally pushed Vaggie to leave heaven (or get kicked out. Idk how it works-)

She decided to transform into a moth demon with Charlie in mind (because cute moth to light allegory).

Flash forward to current times and Vaggie is the manager of the Happy/Hazbin hotel but, as we can see from what’s out already, the past has come to haunt her in the form of Adam. Throughout the show Adam will constantly tease and hint at Vaggie’s past and Vaggie will have to work hard to deny everything. After all, why would Charlie ever love someone who tried to kill her and her people?

Hell, Alastor could even get in on the tea after finally putting together the pieces. Have him constantly plant seeds of doubt within Charlie, saying something along the lines of “you’re love with Vaggie isn’t as strong as you think it is” and such. Have Charlie slowly start to doubt Vaggie on her love and loyalty to not only the hotel but to her. Have Vaggie dig herself deeper and deeper into a hole with every lie she tells Charlie.

And when the truth finally comes out, due to either Vaggie trying to protect Charlie from something and accidentally outing herself, Alastor or Adam, Charlie feels betrayed…but not because of anything Alastor would try to say to Charlie (spinning things so that it would look like Vaggie was a spy sent from heaven to ruin the hotel) but because Vaggie didn’t trust her enough to tell her about Vaggie’s past.

This angst can go one for maybe an episode or two. Through events Vaggie can talk to Lilith about stuff and Lilith can say something along the lines of “the people who truly care about you wouldn’t care about who you were then, but who you are now and you have to do that for yourself.” For you see, this story isn’t just about Charlie and Vaggie but it’s about Vaggie realizing how much she’s changed but also how much she needs to grow. She needs to learn how to forgive herself and stop letting her past as an Angel hinder what she has now.

And for Charlie (as much as this isn’t her fault) reflects (maybe with her dad) about Vaggie. Lucifer tells Charlie about how Lilith found out about him being a fallen Angel and how they made their relationship work and how fell apart. How he doesn’t want the same for her and Vaggie.

The two meet up…maybe at the coffee shop where they “first” met and they talk after a while. Vaggie goes on to apologize for lying to Charlie, the executions and explains the real reason she fell into hell. And her reasoning makes Charlie fall in love with her all over again. Vaggie chose hell over heaven for her, she chose to work with her to get her passion project up and running and stuck by her despite all of the backlash the idea gave them. Despite the backlash and consequences for being a traitor of heaven.

It makes Charlie appreciate Vaggie so much more than she did before. And she expresses this. Yes, she’s hurt that Vaggie wasn’t honest with her, but she understands why she wasn’t. Charlie tells Vaggie that she’d love her no matter what and she shouldn’t have to be afraid to tell her anything. She reflects that maybe she’s helped a little bit in that insecurity, being so wrapped up in the production of the hotel, constantly letting other people sway her mind and being a little neglecting towards her. Charlie apologizes as well and the two get back together, stronger than ever.

Is this perfect….nope. But I think it does the duo some justice while also utilizing other characters as well. Lemme know what you guys think.

[sleepapparition]

I just thought about how Malbonte can literally hear Vicky’s thoughts, while replaying HS2; so like if you decide to romance other characters does that mean he can hear it? Like especially that scene where Astaroth & Vicky were eyef***ing each other with the Horsemen, Malbonte & the order standing there. Could he hear that internal dialogue? Now I’m so curious but it also makes me wanna replay on someone else’s route less lmao. I don’t know if I wanna add to his trauma 😩

Like he said at the first ball that he did it just that one time but we clearly know if we continue his route that that was not the only time. Plus I feel like either in HS1 or the beginning of the second book that that were moments prior where it seemed like he was almost reacting off her thoughts. He just didn’t make it quite so obvious then.

I don’t know if I have the courage but I think imma at least try the Astaroth scene on my playthrough lmao

[xxxavxx]

So I replayed Damien's route with a couple of friends I'm indoctrinating introducing to Seduce me The otome. We got to the part of where we choose whether or not to let Diana turn Damien human. And I didn’t realize how much it changed?? And no one is talking about it??

For context, when I first played, I played Seduce me before Seduce me the complete story came out, so I played the original game. In the original game you give Diana permission on whether or not to turn Damien human, also meaning allowing her to have sex with him.

In the Complete story however, you don't choose. You either have the option to WAKE HIM UP so he can choose for himself or to not wake him up at all which leads to keeping him a demon.

I find this interesting cause this is like a major change and yet, NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT IT??

[fancifulplaguerat]

“Any choice is right as long as it’s willed” may be one of my favorite lines in the entirety of Patho Classic and I’m obsessed with looking at how Artemy perceives his autonomy within the framing of that quote

Replaying Artemy’s route I noticed that he has fewer dialogue options than Daniil or Clara, and overall seems to have the most conversations where the player is only afforded one dialogue option. Admittedly I was bothered by this because having returned from the Changeling route I was cracking my knuckles to analyze how Artemy feels like an outsider in town, how he could foreseeably reject his path just as Daniil or Clara—in the Changeling Route, Artemy is often likened to Daniil as an outsider, but that sentiment is far weaker in his own story than in Clara’s. I was vexed about it because that would’ve been interesting to explore, but I think it’s because in the Haruspex route we play as Artemy ascending to his role, that is the plot for us and for him. Everything the player does in his route to progress the game necessitates that we choose this “claiming my father’s duty” path, so that it feels strange to me from a character perspective to get to those final days and say “actually I want nothing to do with this” because while there are occasional dialogue options where Artemy expresses his hesitancy, he doesn’t have the same option to oppose his path like Daniil or Clara; he doesn’t get to have any vehement “actually fuck this town I don’t belong here or want to be here” options until the final days, which feels wildly dissonant considering it comes post-hole excursion and killing Oyun. It feels like the only way to leave Artemy’s beaten path is just not to play, which is why I see his route and way he perceives his autonomy as deeply linked to “When every step you take has been predicted, you are still free to either take it or not.” 

I also feel that Artemy has the most concrete “sense of self” in comparison to Daniil and Clara, though of course he can assume different characterizations depending on how one roleplays as him. I think that feeling partly lies in the fact that Artemy’s route has a separate objective to ending the plague. Though Daniil and Clara likewise have motivations besides the plague (saving Thanatica/defining her identity) the resolution to their conflicts becomes linked to the plague: Daniil must stop it to save his research, and Clara likewise claims her identity through how she combats it, but Artemy has two conflicts which overlap but can still remain separate. 

All of this particularly interests me in the context of Artemy’s reaction towards the Powers That Be reveal (I’m using his reaction in the Bachelor and Changeling routes, since his own is nearly identical to Daniil’s). When Daniil tells him, Artemy says “Like I said, I don’t care all that much. Aglaya told me about this too, you know... She expected to stun me with the news, but I wasn't sad at all. Although I didn’t take her words that literally. But I'm honest with myself—so does it really matter what I'm made of?” 

Similarly in the Changeling Route:

Haruspex: I'm not a toy, Changeling. I am Artemy Burakh, a Haruspex who knows the lines, a Warden who has fulfilled his mission and reconciled his father's spirit with the Earth, and has made the correct choice. That's who I am. Do you understand?

> So you're a believer in salvation through ignorance?

Haruspex: I must admit I'm a bit confused—but it was for the better. It allowed me to escape the iron grip of my preordainment. I'm content with being able to choose with my heart.

This line of thinking follows what Artemy has said throughout his route, such as “They may say I am predictable, but no one would ever say I am easily controlled” or “I will do as my conscience tells me to. If this aligns with someone else’s schemes, so be it.” All of Artemy’s route he speaks about acting according to his conscience, that is what matters to him, no matter what else, hence “any choice is right as long as it’s willed.” What I especially want to focus on is “I’m honest with myself—so does it really matter what I'm made of?”

To me it reads as Artemy claiming his autonomy through “I act according to my conscience and because of that I am the person I perceive myself to be” which I very much enjoy. As tragically entertaining as a character trapped in a narrative is, it’s still interesting to me to see how Artemy asserts his autonomy via asserting his identity; he’s a little like Clara in that sense. I just love that line sm it’s so delicious to me <3 Like an old friend of sorts  

[crimswnred]

Not Fusebox tryna get back in our good graces with the after party 😭 very depressed because I didn’t get to replay the old seasons before they’re removing them, legit done with them after s7 is done

they always make the stupidest decision istg nobody and I repeat NOBODY gaf about season 7. their social media is DEAD, I can count in one hand how many people commented about last volume here on Tumblr, the fandom is dead DEAD and they decide to give THIS season extra episodes?! 😭 I need to know what was the thought process.

and they got everyone mad af with the whole "we are getting rid of the first few seasons" bullshit. like, these are your most loved seasons. they have your most beloved LI of all time, and that's how you treating it? just tell me you have no consideration whatsoever for the people who give you money omfg (but tbh we already knew that).

anyway, this little rant outside... I feel you, anon! I couldn't play much either :/ there are a few blogs for archive (@litgarchive and @litgmemories for ex.) and I know @mrsbsmooth is putting together screenshots and videos for most routes. it's a shame we have to do that to keep these stories we fell in love with but it's also a great example why I love this fandom so much.

here's hoping they actually do remaster the game and bring these seasons back without ruining everything. but knowing fusebox, I wouldn't hold my breath

[badlydrawnyttd]

4, 5, 17, & 30 for the ask game? ^_^

4 : whats your favorite moment ingame?

basic ahh answer but the end of chapter 2 kills me every time. replayed it recently with my roomie and we voice acted it cuz we’re silly like that and i voice both kanna and shin so i was NOT ok by the end of it

5 : which character did you change your opinions on the most?

first instinct was qtaro, but honestly i never really hated him like a lot of people of people do- so probably ranger. his angst did NOT hit me at all the first time, ill be so real i didn’t give a shit about him. but boy the kai minisode KILLED me i love that little shit so much

17 : do you think. you could survive/get out of the death game?

i’d either survive a long time or die first, no in between. because i feel like i’d be pretty good strategy wise but i can also see myself just being like “yeah fuck this shit imma kms” because if i already think imma die i’d just do it immediately lmao

30 : what do you want to see in chapter 3-b?

gonna make this 3-2 as this is a pretty old ask game lmao-

-i want that knife cg that was released to be logic route exclusive. it’s the knife from the sara stabbing shin cg, and i think it’d be sick if we were the one to choose whether shin survives the 0%, or at least how long he lives/how he dies.

-i hope shin learns kanna is his sister cuz i wanna see him break <3

-i hope we have to choose between keiji and gin dying because angst

-shin getting his collar off?? touch on that please???

-MISHIMA HEAD WHERE ARE YOU

-what is UP with him cuz i love him dearly but Gin? sweetie? how did you get to the first floor and back all fine? why have we never seen your collar, even in nankidai sketches? i love gin SO much but he is connected to death game in SOME way, i dont think he’s the mastermind or anything but like. yeah.

[spinningbuster98]

Metroid Fusion Ending: The Big Dumb Ending

Fusion introduces a design element that will become a staple of every single game afterwards and that many fans dislike: the so called “final victory lap”

Essentially plenty of the game’s items are locked away by blocks and objects that require really late-game items to reach, in this case the Screw Attack, meaning that if you want that 100% item completion you’ll be forced to go through the ENTIRE game right before facing the final boss

Many fans detest this aspect of the games feeling that it’s unneccesary padding that only serves to make the game’s backtracking skyrocket for no real reason: after all Super Metroid didn’t have this

I used to agree with this assertion

Not anymore since a couple of years

Because I asked myself: why? Why do this? For what purpose from a level design standpoint?

Many fans just chalk this up to the games’ inferior level design and more linear structures when compared to Super Metroid

But...it doesn’t make sense when you really think about it

If this truly were a case of superior VS inferior level design then why do Metroid 1 and 2 also allow you to collect everything with minimum backtracking, like Super, despite those games having a lot of level design issues?

It also can’t just be a matter of linearity because Zero Mission, basically a game that can be even LESS linear than Super, also has a last minute item round up

Hell: even AM2R does this! Yeah sure it makes things more convenient by allowing limited fast travel upon reaching the third to last area, but you’ll still have to revisit each previous area to complete some “bouncing ball” puzzles that only become available upon restoring power to the systems in the third to last area. This is not how Metroid 2 worked.

So why? Why do this?

Well.... I think most people see this from the wrong perspective

My personal favorite way of playing Metroid games is by 100% them while ALSO speedrunning them (though not in a “professional” way since I’m not nearly that good)

Now I’m not trying to tell anyone here how they’re supposed to play or enjoy their games but I, personally, believe that this is the best way to experience 2D Metroid, to the point that I’d argue that they’re specifically designed for this

These are adventure games so exploration is indeed an important element, so 100% item completion is logical...but after replaying the games enough times you’ll know where everything is and so item collecting will become merely a matter of “go to X and shoot Y block to get Z”.

However these games have also undeniably always been built for speedrunning. Keyword being: built. It’s not like speedrunners have a fascination with this series just because Samus happens to run fast, the level design and movement kit of these games are all centered around giving the player a very satisfying experience if they plan on testing their own time. In general you don’t lock ending rewards behind clear times you don’t also want your game to be speedran. However JUST speedrunning a Metroid game can also be rather...unsatisfying because it will often lead you to skip over half of the content: many hidden items and puzzles will just be left there to waste

However....you can combine these two elements together

Now I don’t want to present this as some kind of revolutionary design quirk that only these games have as I’m sure others do as well, but every 2D Metroid game is designed specifically to allow you to both complete it and speedrun it at the same time

It’s something that’s difficult to explain, you kind of just have to “feel it”, but the way the areas are designed, the way the games are often paced, the way Samus moves, it’s all in service to both speedrunning and exploration done in such a way that it absolutely allows you to do both and reap the rewards of both approaches without either’s downsides

If you’re both speedrunning and collecting every item will need to be collected quickly and following a distinct route, so it’s no longer a matter of just checking something off a list

And if you’re exploring while speedrunning that means that you’re not skimming over half of the game’s content anymore

It’s essentially the “ultimate” way of experiencing these games I find, the best way of putting your skills and knowledge of the game to the test.

And this is why it sort of bugs me when people just dismiss this aspect of the games. You don’t HAVE to play them like this, it doesn’t make you any less of a fan if you don’t, but this isn’t just some weird niche way of experiencing these games that only big time speedrunners relish in. This is a big part of 2D Metroid’s core design: Fusion even locks a special ending images behind a sub 2 hours 100% requirement and so will Zero Mission, so it’s by no means some accidental or unimportant element: the developers made these games to be played in different ways and this is just as relevant as others

So what does any of this have to do with the “final victory lap”? Well if you just approach these games in a very casual way in terms of 100% item hunting, just looking for items slowly in a very lax way then this final lap will be very stupid and useless to you

But in the context of a 100% speedrun this final lap has a purpose: it’s one final challenge, one final test of your movement skills and especially of your knowledge of the map

You’re never getting everything during this section before you reach the 2 hour marks unless you map out a route that will allow you to get everything and then go to the final boss as quickly and smoothly as possible

In a game as linear as Fusion this is especially needed because otherwise it would be too easy: just follow the game’s forced path and get everything you find along the way

And I know this can be very daunting, trust me I’ve been there. But this doesn’t require you to be a literal master like some guys on YT, all it requires is for you to be good with movement and to memorise the map, which can actually be easier than it sounds because of how replayable the games are and Fusion’s linear nature alraedy giving you a clear path 90% of the time

Now despite this....I have issues with Fusion’s approach. Specifically with the way it hides items

Fusion is probably the most cryptic game in the series when it comes to item collection. It’s certainly customary for the series to hide items behind breakable blocks with no visible marks or behind fake walls or such. But Fusion does this A LOT more than the others. The main issue being that this game doesn’t have a good equivalent to the X Ray Scanner from Super. The closest that you get are Power Bombs which can at least reveal any block they can’t break...but they can’t reveal fake walls and even then what this all means is that, if you wanna 100% this game without resorting to a guide, you’ll have to plant Power Bombs every 5 fucking seconds in every single room in the game while keeping your eyes peeled for any tiny block that may get revealed as breakable in the process. Now nowadays I know where everything is so it’s no problem but during my first few playthroughs I DISTINCTLY remember just how slow, meandering, frustrating and just overall boring this process could get, it’s borderline pixel hunting! And yeah getting everything in such a cryptic game is certainly a big satisfaction but they should probably chilled a bit there

....oh you must be wondering by now why I titled this “The Big Dumb Ending” eh?

Well it’s got nothing to do with the gameplay side of things. No I’m talking about the story

Fusion is...a bit of a fandom dearie when it comes to its story I believe, with some even considering it the best story in the franchise

And while I wouldn’t consider it awful or even bad by any means I have come to believe that it’s...pretty overrated honestly.

The thing about Fusion is that it’s at its best when it affects gameplay and the game world in interesting ways, but when it comes to the actual plots you actually get various issues that can be pretty easy to miss given how often the game just throws new stuff at you

Funnily enough I’ve come to realise most of these issues upon seeing peope criticizing Dread’s story and comparing it unfavorably to Fusion’s. Don’t get me wrong: Dread has its issues too but one thing I noticed is that some of Dread’s narrative hiccups are actually also present in Fusion except they tend to be way worse there

Let’s make a few examples:

Dread shoves Kraid as a boss with little to no explanation as to how he got there on ZDR. It’s forced and kinda muddles things....but I’d argue it’s not that big of a deal since the game does give you some vague hints that can allow you to for your hypothesis regarding his presence: you can notice wall paintings in Ferenia depicting Space Pirates fighting Mawkins impying that the two races have battled in the past. In Dairon you can even spot the silouhette of what appears to be Draygon in a giant testube. Raven Beak at one point even mentions cloning Samus, implying he has access to cloning tech and with Dairon being a biological lab and the Mawkin having encountered the Pirates before AND the game’s official site at one point describing Kraid as “a creature that looks like Kraid” it’s not impossible nor improbable to imagine that that is not the Kraid we know but rather a clone. It’s not a full answer but Metroid as a series has often worked with implying things with its environmental storytelling rather than outright stating them so I can’t fully fault the approach. Plus: it’s just Kraid. He may be iconic but he’s not really important either to the plot nor to Samus

On the other Fusion shoves Ridley and a bunch of Zebesian Space Pirates on the BSL.

This is...horrendously stupid and forced on so many levels.

First off: how can they even be here? Zebes exploded, Ridley in particular was blown to pieces by Samus in Super and THEN Zebes blew up for good measure. They should be a bunch of atoms floating in space. The game makes absolutely ZERO effort to explain their presence here, neither through implications or direct narrative. I could at most excuse the Zebesians by imagining that maybe some of them could have been away from Zebes at the time, but Ridley is inexcusable. And don’t you Other M me, that game came out 8 years later and introduced a lot more issues than it fixed, plus it’s THIS game’s job to clear out its issues or at least reassure the player that they’re not issues but rather unanswered questioned that will be cleared by a later game

But the worst thing is that Samus doesn’t react nor comment at all on their prsence

She will take the time to ponder about Adam or the animals but NOT about the evil aliens she thought she had killed? About the guy who MURDERED HER FAMILY!?

Not only is this baffable it actually feels super forced from a narrative perspective: the game plays the revelation that the BSL had an illegal Metroid breeding program as the tipping point for Samus, the moment she realises that this section of the Federation is corrupt...but honestly she should’ve come to this conclusion at the beginning upon encountering Ridley and the Zebesians, which clearly indicated that the BSL was up to some shit because there should be no good reason for housing dangerous criminals on your innocent research lab. Yet the game ignores all of this, making this blatant attempt at a callback an actual fucking plot hole that makes Samus look blind at best

Raven Beak is sometimes criticized because his plan involved letting Samus live, which fucked him over in the long run. And yeah it’s partly your usual villain cliche but it has an actual in-story reason beyond simple arrogance, much like how Dark Samus in Prime 3 had an actual reason for letting Samus live at the start which in the end proved to be her demise

The evil Federation guys in Fusion on the other hand?

Samus’ mission here was originally to see if there were any survivors on the BSL.  Then it’s implied that the evil government guys got interested in the X and stopped sending her upgrades in order to prevent her from engaging the SA-X

Here’s the issue: this story should have logically ended by the time Samus frees the animals. Because by then every human on the station has been confirmed dead by Adam. So...mission accomplished. Let’s go home. There’s literally no more reason to stay here. Oh sure Samus wants to eradicate the X, but instead of limiting her power ups why not just straight up order her to leave so that the Federation can totally bomb the station from orbit thus absolutely destroying every X? It certainly sounds way more logical than trying to kill them one by one. It would have certainly prevented Samus from discovering their little Metroid pet project

(There’s also other minor stuff like the Omega Metroid for some reason only being vulnerable to cold and not missile which is literally the opposite of how it worked in Metroid 2 and is given no explanation but whatever that’s its own can of worms)

However by and large my biggest issue with Fusion...is its ending

First off: Metroid games usually have some form of sense of anticipation towards their endings, something that makes you feel like you’re gradually getting closer to the climax: Metroid 1 and Super had you fight a number of Pirate leaders before you could access Tourian. Metroid 2 had a literal countdown in the form of the Metroids you had to kill, Dread has a bit of an issue with having a rushed ending but the EMMIs served as a countdown as well

Fusion’s ending sneaks up on you: Samus just happens to stumble upon the secret evil lab which had only been foreshadowed one about an hour ago then, in quick succession, we get the big info dump about what the evil Federation guys want to do, then we get Adam coming to his senses I guess, then the final battle with the SA-X, then the escape sequence and finally the final monologue (that was translated wrongly and created a 20 plus year long misconception but whatever) where Samus quickly mentions that “Oh gollee jee! I didn’t know that the Federation frequently uploaded the minds of generals to computers! That’s why Adam is still alive!”

It feels...not just rushed but anti-climactic and flaccid. Like the game suddenly ran out of ideas and just said “ok it’s ending time”

But my absolute biggest issue with this ending, and the entire game for that matter, is the scene between Samus and Adam

Putting aside just how rushed and sappy it feels that the AI that reminded Samus of Adam GASP!! Was actually Adam all along!! Helping Samus out from beyond the grave! What a coincidence!

As I said in another video one of this game’s main themes is Samus going from a position of vulnerability to gradually becoming stronger thus allowing her to violate Adam’s orders repeatedly

And it all leads to this: a big confrontation between the two, with Adam locking Samus in a room

....and it’s solved by Samus accidentally triggering Adam’s repressed memories (I guess?) thus having him open the doors and giving her one last order on how to solve this mess

I hate this

very

very

much

After an entire game dedicated to Samus growing stronger and slipping away from Adam’s control in the end she doesn’t beat him through her wits or through her powers. She doesn’t even INTENTIONALLY trigger his real personality, as she only called him Adam by reflex. Samus here is basically resorted to begging with the AI and she’s only freed because he LETS her go. Samus, in this moment, is essentially stripped of her agency and Adam regains control over her and the game doesn’t treat it as a negative because it’s too focused on its sappy narrative about how special Adam was for Samus and how much of a surprise it is for him to have been essentially resurrected in such a way

I once saw an old forum dating back to 2007 where old time fans were criticizing Fusion and Zero Missions for being unneccesary sequels after Super had essentially ended the story and for feeling like fan fiction

And while I don’t agree with this opinion in the general sense I do believe that this scene gets pretty fanfictiony in a bad way. Samus is not only at the mercy of Adam, a new character that’s been introduced not only to the series but to her backstory, but she’s also being presented as not only weaker when compared to him but also dumber: Adam points out that if Samus went along with her original plan of blowing up the station to take out the X she wouldn’t actually be accomplishing much as there would still be X on SR388 and she would only be sacrificing her life for nothing. This is a mistake that is pretty weird for a hardened and professional bounty hunter like Samus to do, one that I could excuse as being due to her missing a crucial detail due to the stress of the situation but I’d say it’s pretty obvious that it only exists so that Adam can present a better plan and show just what a brilliant military mind he is! Even if it means making Samus look like a fool in the process!

And doesn’t all of what I’ve just said reawaken memories of a certain other game...?

[i-cant-stop-fandoming-help]

Hanahaki (Words better left unsaid(?))

Fuck it i'm splitting it into parts. this is part one. ALL OF IT IS IN ONE DOC THATS SEVEN PAGES LONG AND STILL NOT COMPLETE. HERE'S THE FIRST FOUR PAGES.

Anyways this is filled with headcanons because only the MSS demo is out. HERE YOU GO BORIS I HOPE YOU LIKE FUCKING. CHUBEE BEING ANTISOCIAL OR WHATEVER IDK HOW TO DESCRIBE IT.

EAT THE ANGST WHILE I GO AND MAKE MYSELF SOMETHING TO EAT FOR I HUNGER.

also a friend and I wrote a fic with our OCs that involved Hanahaki like. 2 years ago. And the resolve of that fic was that the sickly person lost their memory and thats how the hanahaki was rid of. and i liked that idea so Input "FORGETTING UR LOVED ONES WILL CURE YOU OF THE FLOWERS!!!" in here.

Uhhh tw for Hanahaki, memory loss caused by concussion, and idk what else. please ask me if you need something tagged cuz i genuinely have no idea what to tag.

also i had to replay all the routes in the demo so I could do my best to write the personalities. I mainly just like kicking chubee while he's down because. idk actually. ig its just cuz i like him as a character? I'm really tired

im going to stop rambling pls just read this so i can get back to working on the second part AND my other angst fics. and the singular happy fic in my WIP collection.

Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump. Chubee knew the feeling well. Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump. His heart was pounding, and his stomach was spinning about. Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump. Rongdien was snort-laughing at Matu, who had tripped over Aloiki’s fake tail and fallen flat on his face.

Rongdien was one of the hardest of the group to make friends with, it took the beekeeper a while to figure out how to make them grin. While everyone else was somewhat open with their interests, they had remained stone-faced.

That frustrated Chubee, although he hated showing it. Deep down, he felt that he was only good for jokes and “therapy”. Nobody really cared about him, nobody wanted to know what he was interested in, or what he had gone through in life. So when someone didn’t see him as good for either, he could only feel hollow. If he didn’t have a purpose, why should he live?

The red-head glanced at the blonde, gaze clouding with confusion. “You’re staring, ‘Bee. Why are you staring, Chubee.” Their voice wasn’t loud, but it was commanding enough to make Chubee stand up straight.

“Sorry, Mx. ‘dien.” He tried for a grin, but it was hard to manage. Their amber eyes were sharp, piercing him through and making his knees wobble, making it hard for him to stand.

“Why are you staring.” Rongdien repeated, making the beekeeper attempt to straighten up even moreso. 

“Don’t see you laugh often, is all!” There was something bitter rising in his throat, and his breath was growing hard. “I don’t feel so well, though.” He kept the grin up as he backed up, the bitterness growing.

He booked it. Chubee ran down the halls, ran towards his room. He slammed his door open as fast as he could, before his knees buckled. Petals flooded out of his mouth, that of the red windflower. Typically, he would’ve stared in awe, but they were coming from his mouth.

“No, no, no.” He whispered, tears welling in his eyes. He had this sickening curse once before, back before he graduated, and someone else had to tell him years later.

“You had this sickness. “Hanahaki”, I believe it is called. You were spewing up entire bouquet’s worth of purple petals. 

Chubee was unusually still. His hands weren’t patting his knees, his foot wasn’t tapping the ground, his eye wasn’t twitching. 

“It was weird that you were missing so much school, y’know. Everyone was worried, even…” the brunette paused, her lips pursing. “Even Pedro.”

The name hung in the air, and she stared at him like he was about to spew out an entire flower again.

“Maria, it’s fiiiineeeee!” He hated how his voice wavered, “I’m over it. You know how? I got a concussion.”

Maria’s eyebrows furrowed, and she looked at him quizzically. “How would that help?!”

The blonde just shrugged, taking off his gloves and touching his fingers to his palm repeatedly. “I had a talk with Carmen,” he tried to keep any and all emotion out of his tone. “ ‘Pparently, forgetting the one you love helps. It’s why I didn’t show up for the rest of the year, either.”

She still bore a concerned expression, and Chubee itched with discomfort. He never knew how to react whenever someone showed concern for him.

“Y’know, Carmen has a killer throw. Never trust ‘em with a tennis ball, you’ll regret it.” Shivers went down his spine, but he tried to sound like he was joking. “Knocked me straight out. Only knew he did it because he was next to me at the hospital.”

Maria glanced out the window– the sun was setting, and it caused a beautiful gradient to cover her face. Blue, pink, orange, and then yellow. “He said you got a bad concussion, and everyone wanted to see you… Many people are fond of you, Garcia.”

Chubee had no retort to make, as much as he wish he did. 

“At the beginning of the school year, when the teacher made us do an introduction assignment… a lot of people remembered your interest in beekeeping from that day. It’s why Jaime got you the bee plushie, and why Lucia and I saved up to get you those bee-themed pixie lights.” She raised a finger, pointing at his hat– the one he always wore. “It’s why Antonio got you that.”

Chubee snapped back to the present, he had lingered on that memory for too long. What purpose had there been to think back to it? He already knew that he just needed to forget. Forgetting was a lot easier than opening up about his feelings.

“You blood-havers are strange.” A metallic, squeaky, voice rang from above him.

He jolted, looking above and wiping his mouth. “Estelia.” He muttered, his tone bitter with hatred.

The robot just giggled, hovering in the air before staring at the petals. “That’s gross. Humans are gross.”

She began to ramble, but he cut her off as keeled over, pressing his palms into the hardwood flooring and cringing as more petals spilled out of his mouth, accompanied by dots of blood.

“You should see a doctor.” Estelia vanished after saying that, although her steel-cold giggles still echoed about in the halls.

Chubee ignored that comment. He was too busy thinking about who could help him forget. 

Maybe Carolia could hit him on the head, whether it be with fist or hammer. Carolia never did seem to like others, so perhaps he wouldn’t ask questions.

There was a knock at his doorway, and dread filled his chest.

“Nice petals.” The voice was monotone, uninterested, and yet somewhat amused. “I don’t see that every day.”

Chubee did his best to gain his composure, but it was difficult.

“Mina says hi, by the way.” the brunette crouched down, patting Chubee on the back. “I can see if any of Mina’s medicine can help with the petals. With all the medicine substitution needed in my field, I’m sure I have something that could aid.”

Mezsha stood up with furrowed eyebrows, pulling Chubee up by the hood of his jacket. “But,” she continued after a long inhale. “It won’t be a permanent solution. There are three ways to survive this. But there are four ways to come out of this sickness.”

His throat was dry as he spoke. “How can I survive?”

Mina chortled at Chubee’s voice, which stung slightly, but it wasn’t important at the moment. Mezsha seemed to be thinking.

“Well,” She said after a few minutes, “I’ll dumb this down as much as I can, for your sake. The first way you can survive is by confessing your feelings– but your feelings must be returned. Obviously.”

The bee-keeper buzzed softly, kicking at the petals and pursing his lips. His parents stopped showing care for him long ago, and it taught him something. Never, ever, be honest with your feelings. Even in a life or death situation, don’t be honest. It’ll just hurt you in the end.

“The second way is surgery. I’m the only one here capable of performing such a feat– at least, without you risking some sort of infection. Also, I don’t know if the others would be able to perform it right. This is the most simple way, especially with how you’ll lose your feelings after, but you’ll have to place a lot of trust in me.”

Mina squealed and swiped the air.

“And, no, Mina won’t be in the room for it. That would be unsanitary.”

The blonde buzzed in amusement, rolling his shoulders. “Thanks for the reassurance. Really makes the idea less scary.”

The veterinarian stared at Chubee, a small spark of entertainment darting through her honey-yellow eyes. “Do not use sarcasm against me, Garcia. Moving on, the third way to survive such a condition is to—”

“Lose your memory.” The words burst out of his mouth, and as soon as he realized he cut her off, he took a few steps back. “Sorry.”

Mezsha’s glasses slipped down the bridge of her nose, her eyes narrowed as she stared at the beekeeper. “Most people don’t know about that, how do you?”

Chubee had never been as honest as he had been in that moment. Words spilled out without a stop put to them, and it felt like he was going to crumple over. He explained everything, how he had had the disease once before, and how a classmate told him that memory loss would help, and how the concussion left him hospitalized for a month– the last month of the school year.

He explained how hard it was for him to be honest with his emotions, because it never felt like anyone would ever care. How all the tears he forced down were trapped because he didn’t want to be picked on for crying, how he was scared of anyone getting too close because he might become attached and he didn’t want to grieve when he was abandoned.

He could only stop when his hyperventilation became too much to speak through, and it was then that he realized how nice it felt to cry. To let all he bottled up, flow out. And his words hung in the air, only interrupted by his sharp sobs and sharp, uneven, breath.

Inhale, inhale, inhale, inhale, exhale, exhale, in. He could almost feel Mezsha’s pitiful gaze, he didn’t have to look up. Exhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. His heart was pumping, and tears dripped off of his chin and to the hardwood tile. Inhale, exhale, inhale, inhale, exhale.

A fluffy heap was pushed into his chest.

“Bah!” It was a tiny, yet high-pitched, roar. Mina.

He wrapped an arm around the bear cub, tears clearing from his vision as he spoke gently. “Oh, hello there, Mina…”

Mina chortled again, turning her head to stare at her care-taker. “Raaah?”

Mezsha’s jaw was tight, and her eyebrows were furrowed together. “Keep holding Mina until you calm down. Petting her may help.” Her voice was much softer than usual, even with a hint of sorrow in it. 

Chubee’s breath slowed down bit by bit, and tears were no longer welling in his eyes. His eyes stung from dryness, and his cheeks were burning from the lament.

“Thank you for opening up.” 

He looked up, and Mezsha was slightly crouched to his height. Her eyes were damp with sympathy, and her irises were much more of a marigold color.

His words caught in his throat for a mere second. “I shouldn’t have.”

Mezsha tapped her finger against the wall, her gaze clouding and growing distant. “No, it’s okay. Bottling up emotions will never do you any good, and it will only cause harm.” 

A snarky comment came to mind, but he let Mezsha continue.

“But you should not be forced to confess your feelings, or to let others know at all times how you truly feel. So perhaps we should head back to the original topic.” 

“That would be appreciated.” Chubee’s voice was nothing more than a whisper.

----

[operationnope]

In a way, I love that we Ozzy girls are being reduced to a T; that’s kind of what happens irl too. No one’s right for everyone, so I guess this is a bit of “natural selection” (the good kind).

Anyway, back to what I was saying before and the reply you got on the post - I’m the anon from before. I understand why people are upset (as I’ve already said), and I don’t blame them for it. When I sent that ask, I was just sharing my own and very personal opinion. I know that a lot of people - most people honestly - don’t feel that way, and that’s okay. But I feel what I feel, and I wanted to share it so that we weren’t all being sad about what happened today, but also trying to share some positivity.

(Now, being okay with it, that’s another thing entirely, and I’ve never said anything about it).

And speaking of my opinion, I also feel like Ozzy not having just the CA kiss “to explain” puts things into perspective, rather than making them worse.

Because if it was just the CA kiss, sure, that could’ve still happened because Ozzy was hurt and confused, but the storyline would’ve been much weaker (even more so in a route in which MC doesn’t return his feelings). But when you add Ozzy’s problems with Grace to his feelings for MC AND his desire not to hurt either of them, that’s when you get - under CA’s uncertain and peculiar circumstances - a pretty explosive combination.

Honestly, that’s the point and that’s what Ozzy’s whole storyline has been building up to. If someone doesn’t like it to the point that they want to switch routes, they have every right to do what’s right for them and choose someone else (seriously, I’m not saying it to be mean, everyone should do what they feel like doing).

Overall, I think Ozzy really needed to get to his lowest point to understand that good intentions do not always lead to good actions. Sometimes, hearts need to be broken, no matter how sad one can feel about it (by this I mean with words, before things escalate). Now, FB’s poor execution of this entire storyline - and their need to add very random and dramatic elements - didn’t help, but that’s not on Ozzy; it’s on them.

I guess we’ll see what happens going forward, but really, we’ve been through so much worse - every Noah girl or general s5 player knows what we’ve been talking about. And y’all who stuck with Levi after everything, you were brave.

Ozzy came with a warning label. We knew his route would be messy. And coming off the last season, the writing has been… let’s say lacking. We shouldn’t be surprised by this. Believe me, I was surprised, but we really should have expected something like this from FB.

And I get all the emotions people are feeling. We’re invested in these pixels, for better or worse, and when they let MC down we feel let down, too. But this game/story is based on a reality tv show where things like this happen ALL THE TIME. And most of the time it’s worse!! As the MC of our story, we don’t want it to happen to us, but sometimes it does- in fiction and irl. Relationships are never straightforward; there are bends and turns, high and lows. And Ozzy has led us to a ledge. And we all get to choose if we want to continue or not.

So if you still love Ozzy, love Ozzy. If you think he’s trash, that’s ok too. And I 💯 agree- the Ozzy drama has been building this entire season so something had to give. Just like irl, when you push your feelings down, things have a tendency to explode. And it’s never cute. I suppose I should give FB some credit for giving him depth of character. Did his freak out have to be so massive? That was a choice.

And I am a Levi stan, I’ve played for Henrik and Noah, and I even liked Finn. For me, it hurts so good. But that’s not everyone’s vibe, so there’s Bobby and Bruno and multiple LI’s this season who are loyal. We get to give our pixel hearts to the pixel LI of our choice, that’s the beauty of the game. Then we get to see if they’ll hold it sacred or break it. And then we can replay!

Thanks for your insights, anon 💖💖

[laurzvahll]

for the rockstar phos au, what's the equivalent of the winter arc here? whats going to happen to antarc, and will it give phos ptsd and hallucinations like in canon?

HELLO ANON!! Thank u for the ask😆😆 answering from my phone rn because I didn’t want to wait.

This post might get long so im gonna cut it here

ALRIGHT, a little bit on Antarc and the winter arc. Just a warning that characters might be a little ooc im trying my best LOL. This isn’t 100% set in stone, and if people have better suggestions or ideas I will be very glad to hear them considering I just thought of this AU for funsies so the routes I made up may not be the best there are. If that makes sense.

So, initially I wanted Phos to be invited by Dia to a holiday party or maybe just a normal house party towards the beginning of December. All the college gems are celebrating being on winter break and whatnot. Phos goes because I don’t think Phos would reject a party invite, but also because it’s mentioned that there’s a possibility Cinnabar might be there. Spoiler alert, Cinnabar is in fact not at the party. But it’s okay because Phos takes this as an opportunity to get to know others more. They’re having quite a bit of fun, but once the other ‘gems’ start asking if they’re going to submit their college application and join them, Phos avoids the questions and decided to ask Dia if there’s a quiet room where they could take a quick break.

Dia leads Phos to the room and Phos closes the door behind them, only to realize there’s already someone else there too! And this is none other than Antarc, who im thinking of making some sort of exchange student to explain why they’re only around some months of the year. Phos sits down somewhere and wants to start a conversation but Antarc looks very busy (on their phone, totally busy). But Phos starts talking anyway after being bored for a couple seconds, and while Antarc is very hesitant at first, it’s not long before they both end up moving to a small couch in the room to continue their conversation. I’d like to think they talked for hours, Phos doing most of the talking ofc but Antarc seemed content with it. At some point, Dia comes back in surprise to see them still here and lets them know that the party is over. Phos says they better walk back to their apartment, and Antarc offers to walk them so Phos wouldnt have to walk home alone at like 3 in the morning. So they walk to Phos's apartment and Phos offers to exchange numbers. And thats pretty much how their first meeting goes! :3

I have a bunch of little scenarios thought out for the time they spent together but i dont want the post to get tooo long so just know that im thinking Phos's help towards Antarc's 'work' would be helping Antarc write a song maybe perhaps NOT TOO SURE YET but i do want this AU to revolve a lot around music :p

As for what happens to Antarc, (THIS MAY CHANGE) sorry guys but in my AU i am NOT letting Antarc die i cannnottt. But i Will let Phos believe Antarc is absolutely dead. The only reason im not letting them die completely is bc i want them to come back like at the end of canon where theyre turned into a lunarian. Im not entirely sure how im going to go about it, but theres going to be an incident where Phos and Antarc will get hurt, and Phos will only be able to watch unable to help Antarc at all just like in canon. Antarc is going to disappear, most likely to a hospital lawl, and the accident will make them have to go back home without Phos even knowing if they survived. For a reason i havent yet decided, Phos's texts cant reach Antarc either so that rly makes them believe Antarc issss x_x.

Phos's mental health plummets, their guilt is immense and they start not being able to sleep because when they do sleep their dreams are filled with that accident replaying over and over. They always believe to see Antarc out of the corner of their eye, and they do have full on hallucinations like in canon and their ptsd, i will not erase that important part of their character 🙏

Thats pretty much it for now sorry this is so long i rly didnt think it was gonna be this long LMAOOO. thank u sm for the ask im very happy to be able to talk about my AU xP

[aikoiya]

What if the UT Monsters were still racist with humans, even after the Pacifist Ending and Frisk was sick of it?…

Papyrus: That went so fast, we didn’t get a chance to mention you, or say anything about how we-

Frisk: Oh, I think all of you said plenty.

Sans: What do you mean?

Frisk: “Clearly there’s a biological component”? “That some humans may be reverting back to their primitive, savage ways”? Are you serious?

Undyne: We just stated the facts of history. I mean, it’s not like a monster could get as crazy and savage as that.

Frisk: Right. But someone like me could, huh?

Mettaton: Frisk, stop it! You’re not like them.

Frisk: Oh, there’s a them now?!

Alphys: What Mettaton means is, you’re not that kind of human.

Frisk: The kind that needs to have their souls contained in jars?

(The monsters flinch at this.)

The kind that makes you think you need to intimidate, attack or destroy?

(Frisk glares harder.)

Or the kind you need to carry a taser in your lab coat? Yeah, don’t think I didn’t notice that little item the first time we met, Alphys!

(Alphys looks guilty.)

Frisk: So l-let me ask all of you a question: are you afraid of me?

[The monsters stare at Frisk in disbelief and fear.]

Frisk: Do you think I might go nuts? Think I might go savage? You think that I might try to… ATTACK YOU?!

[Undyne summons her spears, Mettaton charges his hands with electricity, Alphys reveals her taser, and the Skeleton Brothers summon their bones.]

Frisk: I knew it… Just when I thought somebody actually believed in me, huh?… Probably best if you don’t have a human as a part of your family.

(Later…)

Mettaton: Wait, listen! I… I know you’ll never forgive us. And I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t forgive us either.

Sans: We’ve had very thick skulls… and we’re sorry.

Frisk: …

Undyne: We were ignorant and irresponsible and small-minded. But both humans and monsters shouldn’t suffer because of our mistakes.

Alphys: We have to fix this, but we can’t do it without you.

Papyrus: And after we’re done… you can hate us. And– [he starts crying; voice breaking] And that’ll be fine, because we were all horrible friends, and we hurt you, and you– And you can walk away knowing that you were right all along. I really am just a dumb bonehead.

[Papyrus continues crying, until Frisk replays his words with a recorder.]

Papyrus: [through recorder] I really am just a dumb bonehead. [rewind] I really am just a dumb bonehead.

Frisk: [turns around and smiles] Don’t worry, Bonehead. I’ll let you erase it… in 48 hours.

[Papyrus tears up with joy; he wipes away his tears as the group slowly walks slowly towards Frisk]

Frisk: All right, get in here.

[The group all hug Frisk, Papyrus still sobbing; Frisk embraces them all back]

Frisk: OK. Oh, you monsters. You’re so emotional. There we go, deep breath… You are standing on my feet though…

Papyrus: Oh! I’m sorry!

---

Exactly! I’d especially want to see them all have to process the fact that they’re all assholes & their thinking is super backward. Individually & in their own ways. I get the feeling that Sans & Undyne would be the most stubborn & take not only the longest, but the most extreme route to realization of their own prejudices.

Also, realizing that even the humans who sealed them away weren’t as bad as they think they were. Think about it. The monsters were defeated & rounded up in such a way that they were all imprisoned in one spot.

If those humans were as evil & merciless as they were described, then why didn’t they just kill all the monsters outright?

I’ve probably said this before & sound like a broken record, but I feel like it’s worth saying again.

[luckyqueenreign]

I’m replaying double trouble just for fun and I’ve just got to casa and I decided to go all out since we now know that what we do in casa isn’t shown in movie night. So anyways I was just thinking how crazy it is how fast marshall switches up on us. Like I’ve mainly been grafting him and he says he’s really into mc and all that but the second he meets amelia he’s over it? Insane. Honestly if I was really on the show I would be high key hurt by it lol. And the fact that he says he made a mistake towards the end of the season doesn’t make it better imo (why did fb have to ruin such a hot guy😩)

I KNOW!!! I replayed casa during the season to see what Marshall was all about and I was shocked at how quick he switches up too.

I think the problem with that season was that Ozzy was basically a secondary main character. The game didn’t necessarily force you into an Ozzy route like it did with Alfie/Dana in S5 but it definitely pushed him onto us. So I think that fb assumed ppl would either do the Ozzy route or at least try it out at some point since in challenges he comes after mc a few times. So in the end it would be weird for her to jump from one brother to the next. I think that’s why they never really considered that we’d go after Marshall to begin with at casa. If you play it that you don’t give Marshall the time of day and shit on his and Amelia’s relationship the whole time, when he confesses he made a mistake and maybe picked the wrong twin it almost makes more sense. And also plays into the sibling rivalry they have shown Ozzy and Marshall to have

[youcantkillamutant]

The Advocate: Two Weeks Before Finals

Author: youcantkillamutant

Fandom: Marvel (Black Panther)

Pairing: Erik Stevens/Killmonger x Black!OC

Summary: Lex is just trying to get through senior year without failing anything massive, so when she sees a lamb on her running route she ignores it, mostly.

Warnings: Cursing, Mention of Death (Human & Animal)

Words: 3.7K+

A/N: Hi….Remember me? Yeah. I’m still here, this time with a God!Erik AU. *shrug*. I only own my original characters of course, Marvel don’t sue me I’m broke.

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2 Weeks Before Finals

“I knew it! I knew gods were real! And now one needs your help. This is the most amazing thing to happen in the history of forever. I mean can you beli—What are you doing?” Ruby’s head turned to Lex, where she saw her flipping through something in her periphery. “Why are you studying?”

“Finals are in two weeks Ruby.” In all honestly, Lex was just scanning the pages and hoping that the information would be absorbed. She was too busy thinking about the golden goddess and her message.

“You have been chosen as an Advocate by the gods of Wakanda…”

“Who cares about finals! A goddess just appeared in our living room Lex! With a freaking quest.” By the time she finished speaking, her voice was nothing but a squeak.

“She didn’t say it was a quest Ru.” She said her nephew needed help. Do gods even have nephews? Weren’t they all born out of clay and shit?

“Ertumke, the god of Predator and Prey requests your assistance in a Trial to be held…”

“Fine a task. Maybe even a favor! You can’t ignore a goddess Lex!” Lex slammed the book shut, mostly to stop replaying the scene in her head, but also to scare Ruby into shutting up. Just a little. It was a moot point either way. The chance of that happening after tonight are about as slim as having a goddess appear in your apartment while you’re dripping wet in a towel.

“Do you really believe a goddess just popped by our apartment? I mean seriously Ruby, maybe there was something in our cereal this morning or the smog is—” Ruby’s mouth dropped open in shock, brows scrunched together.

“Lex, you cannot be serious. We don’t even live in a city! There is no smog!”

“You don’t have to live in a city for smog to—”

“Say smog one more time. I dare you.” Ruby looked like she meant it, and after the day I’d just had, I wasn’t interested in whatever payback she was thinking about delivering if I took her up on the dare. “Lex, we just saw a goddess in our apartment and you think it was what? Some weird cereal trip? You don’t even eat cereal!” Ruby’s tone had gone from placating to disbelieving in a sentence, but Lex brushed it off, determined to forget anything happened at all.

“You offered food and drink to an animal he holds sacred. You have initiated a connection…”

“Fine it was a mass hallucination.” Lex waved her hand like the idea of hallucinating at all didn’t send shivers down her spine. Drugs were never her forte.

“There’s only two of us.”

“Then we’re both crazy!” Ruby rolled her eyes so hard she knew she’d have a headache. “Ruby, finals are in two weeks. I am not wasting four years and a shit-ton of student debt for any God.”

“Lex, a Wakandan god just asked you to be their Advocate. That shit only happens in legends. Legends that I’ve studied Lex. There’s no way that this is just som—” Lex could see that Ruby wasn’t going to let this go. They’d been through this before. Well not this exactly, but Ruby had spent all of sophomore year trying to convince Lex that fairies were absolutely real. They still don’t agree and Ruby didn’t speak to her for about a week when Lex had blown her off in the middle of some ‘documentary’ about it.

“Ruby I’m tired. I’m going to bed.” Lex turned on her heel and took the few steps she needed to get into her room. It was early still, the sun only now starting to set, but Lex got in bed anyway. She didn’t want to think about the golden woman and her request. Didn’t want to think that she just might have the life of a god in her hands.

*^*

“The rest is up to you nephew.”

That’s all his dear Auntie gave him. Sure she’d gone and told the girl about being an Advocate, but his chosen advocate didn’t seem all too impressed. Apparently, all she’d done was politely shake her head and promise this is the only time she’d speak to a hallucination before asking Ramonda to leave. What kind of mortal asks a god to leave?

“You’re pacing cousin.” Erik jumped. Trust Shuri to sneak up on him.

“Wouldn’t you be? I assume you heard about my Advocate?” Erik’s voice bordered on contemptuous. Shuri’s brow rose. “She doesn’t even believe in Gods Shu! She thought your own mother was a hallucination.” Shuri snorted at this.

“I know you find this hard to believe cousin, but not every mortal dreams of being visited by gods, especially not now a days. Their gods are much closer than we ever were.” Erik snorted at this. He’d heard of the humans now, dropping their worship of true gods to bow at the feet of musicians, writers, and liars (actors, if you ask anyone else). “You’ll just have to keep working at it. I’m sure you’ll think of something soon enough, you’re mildly clever.”

Shuri disappeared in a metallic flash and Erik did his best not to sniff at her exit. The least she could do was be helpful if she planned on visiting. He couldn’t even be sure why she bothered to come if all she wanted to do was judge his ineptitude to convince one mortal to—

Erik huffed a laugh. Of course, mortals don’t dream of gods. At least, they haven’t in centuries. Erik would have to change that. Leave it to Shuri to inspire and berate him. He knocked on the glass of his cell and shut his eyes.

*^*

Much to her surprise, Lex found sleep, but not rest. Her dreams were filled with silent lambs, rotting fruit and outstretched palms. Whether they were offering or reaching, she couldn’t tell, but she knew the dreams were strange. It was as though she was watching the images on a screen, somewhere else, far away. 

The air was cold and there was complete and total silence. Like someone had reached delicate fingers into her mind and pulled the aux cord. Just as the silence veered from strange to alarming, she heard the rush of a wave coming towards her from somewhere overhead. Lex hurriedly gasped a breath and closed her eyes. Seconds, minutes, hours could have passed, but when she blinked her eyes open, she released a relieved gust of air.

She was in her bathtub, soaking in warm, black water and shrouded in steam. Silver orbs dotted the water, glinting when she looked closer, so instead of looking, Lex closed her eyes. She could hear waves lapping at a shoreline she’d probably never see, and soft padding footsteps. Like a cat, a big cat. Lex pulled her eyes open, turning her head towards the sound. 

A woman appeared, at least, she seemed to be a woman. She was an obsidian Venus, voluptuous and gleaming. The world seemed to bend around her, pulling the stars above to her head like a crown and the night blue sky wrapping around her like a second skin and rich earthen soil guiding her feet along. Or maybe she was the world, or at least the night. Silver starlight dotted the darkness of her form like moles and her face was all too brilliant and beautiful that Lex had to blink and blink and blink to actually get a sense of what her face looked like at all. She didn’t get much.

The black Venus leaned into Lex’s space, resting her face so closely to Lex that she could feel her slow, measured breaths in time with the waves crashing on that unseen shore.

“Advocate, your God would like to speak to you…” She didn’t so much say the words as she breathed them out. Her lips barely moved but Lex could feel the woman’s words drifting through her ears. Before Lex could marvel at the woman any longer, she was gone.

The sounds of the waves was abruptly replaced by howling winds and heat. Blinking, Lex looked around and found miles and miles of sand. Perfect dunes of blood red sand. She sank deeper into the tub, the water cool enough to anchor her in this heat. Before she knew it, the sounds of the windy desert were lulling her into a calm she’d never felt before.

“So you’re the Advocate my family is so excited about.” Lex jumped, sitting upright so fast that the inky black water sloshed over the tub and sizzled on the sand. She could hear footprints in the sand, circling the tub, but when she glanced to her left and right, there was only desert air. “Not very talkative, but I suppose I can see the appeal.”

Lex wrinkled her brow and opened her mouth to say…something, but between once breathe and the next, a man appeared at the foot of the tub, brown arms crossed and smirking.

“What the fuck!” The man kissed his teeth, brows lifted in surprise and maybe a hint of mirth. Lex didn’t know the…whatever this guy was well enough to figure it out. She did know however, that she was naked in this tub.

“Hmm, I would have thought you’d have better manners considering my cousin picked you out.”

“You’re one to talk about manners.” Lex leaned forward in the tub, shifting to her knees and exposing her back instead of her chest. “Who the hell are you?”

“You really can’t guess?” The man seemed annoyed by this and continued on as though this entire conversation was a chore. “I’m Ertumke, and you’re my Advocate.”

*^*

“What did you say he looked like again?”

“Ruby!” Lex had been explaining her dream to Ruby all morning. Ruby had clearly been listening selectively.

“What? He sounds hot.”

“This is not helping.” And it wasn’t. It really really wasn’t, especially because after her dream, Lex woke up…wet, like she’d been dumped from the tub in her dreams right onto her bed. “He said his name is Ertumke and he seems like an asshole. Have you studied any gods like that?” Ruby snorted and rolled her eyes.

“Plenty.” Lex groaned. “He really didn’t say anything else? Nothing about your quest—” At Lex’s withering look Ruby stopped short. “I mean your…mission?”

“He told me his name like it was supposed to mean something, leered at me in the tub and condescended to me so hard I thought about breaking his nose.” I woke up before I could make that happen, but my annoyance lingered.

“Yikes.”

“On the off chance that this is actually happening and I just met a god in my dreams,” Lex huffed “I want it on record that I do not plan on helping him at all. I never agreed to be an Advocate and I sure as shit ain’t helping that dickhead.” Ruby winced like the dickhead in question could hear me, but nodded.

“That’s fair, but honestly…You’re gonna be hard pressed to find a god that isn’t an asshole if my nearly finished mythology degree is anything to go off of.” Lex groaned again.

*^*

Lex couldn’t focus. She’d been at the campus’s largest library for three hours, and all she’d accomplished was color coding her notes. She hadn’t read a word of them. All she could think about was that dream. That stupid, weird, distracting dream. Well, she also couldn’t stop thinking about the text Ruby had sent her with a link to…well she didn’t quite know what the link was for yet, but Ruby’s message had made it clear that it was about the god from her dreams and Lex was trying to establish boundaries about this. Specifically boundaries that would encourage her to write the last few days off to exhaustion and go back to her super, super normal life.

It wasn’t working.

After another 15 minutes of staring at her computer screen, she caved and clicked the link. Oh great, while lex was doing everything she could to forget about the god in her dreams, Ruby had pulled everything she knew about the god in her dreams and delivered it to her in a very organized, perfectly color coded google doc. Perfect.

Ruby might be the most vocal in the necessity of taking a break from studying, but when it came to her work, she was nothing if not thorough. The document itself was about 30 pages with a hefty table of contents, blue links dotting the pages and a bibliography to boot. I recognized some of the books she’d cited because they were often strewn about our dorm. Ruby was not messing around on this. To start, I skipped straight to the section about the ‘Advocate Tradition’, Ruby clearly wanted me to start with the gods themselves, but I couldn’t, didn’t want to think about that. Not yet.

“The gods are not particularly known to be fair to mortals, but amongst their own kind, they make an effort. No god truly wants to see the ichor of another dripping down the hilt of their incabuka, no matter the strength of their anger. To prevent this, and any loss of godly life, the Elders created a system of judgement. A trial of sorts, more of a tribunal would be held against the offending party. They would be required to stand in front of the elders and hear of the grievances of the gods, but they would not be permitted to speak, the gods are persuasive, even to their own kind, and so the Elders decided that an Advocate, a mortal must be the mouth of the god on trial. It was only fair, mortals may be able to sway one another with pretty words, but a mortal mouth can’t do much against a group of gods and certainly not the Elders. No, this was fair, putting the life of an accused god in the hands of a mortal the Elders thought. Very fair. ” — African Gods and Legends, p.72, 1978, Zuri Kahandu

Lex sighed and cracked open a new tab.

*^*

From what Lex could find, the God Ertumke was totally a dick. He had been given his dominion over Predator and Prey to curb his trickery. Trickery that apparently got his cousin cut in half (the effect easily reversed with a spell from the Queen Mother, whoever that is), flooded an entire country with snakes stolen from another (not easily reversed, but part of his punishment was to cull the population in their new country) and even stopped the birth of new lambs for a decade after being offended by a mortal daring to question his power.

Total dick.

Still, Lex had to admit she was curious. What could he possibly have done now that warranted a trial if none of his previous stunts had?

“Oh good, you’re still here!” Ruby plopped into the chair across from her, slightly sweaty but managing to look glowy. She tossed a book into Lex’s arms, and the colorful tabs on the side flashed in the library light. “I brought you some reading.” Lex turned over the book, noting the gilded symbols on the cover and a title in a language she couldn’t read.

“Um…thanks?”

“It’s about Ertumke, or well, his pantheon of gods.” Lex narrowed her eyes at Ruby and she raised her hands placatingly. “I know you said you wouldn’t be his Advocate, this is just incase you change your mind.” Lex’s shoulder’s dropped with a sigh. She still wasn’t sure about any of this, but something pushed her to keep learning. She’d tried to stop it after the whole ‘goddess in our living room’ crap because she knew an obsession when she saw one, and Lex simply did not have time for a new obsession.

“Can you give me the Cliff’s Notes?” Ruby squealed so loud that the librarian left her desk to give them a dirty look.

*^*

Night fell over campus like a blanket, tucking the smarter students in and allowing the careless partygoers to don it like a cape. Lex and Ruby arrived at their place laden with gas station snacks, entirely too much fried chicken for two people and melted brains. They’d spent hours pouring over the book Ruby had brought, the websites Lex had found, and a few more reference books from the library. Lex had come to the conclusion that the gods, in all their omnipotence, were actually absolutely ridiculous and lowkey too sensitive to have all that power.

She and Ruby were cackling about how Gods reacted to “slights” from mortals as they pushed through the door and dropped everything onto the coffee table in front of the couch.

“And the god…what’s his name? W’Kamte? When he built a giant anthill on the home of some human who said ants weren’t as cool as snakes. I mean come on, could you be more ridiculous?” The girls fell back onto the couch, giggling.

“I agree, W’Kamte always has had a flair for the weird.” Breathless, the girls looked at each other. The voice that had shared that tidbit wasn’t theirs. It was light, with a musical lilt. Lex might even call it playful and Ruby definitely would. The two sat in silence for a moment, and between one breath and the next a golden figure shimmered into existence. And then another. And another.

“Do you see three golden figures in our living room?” Ruby whispered to Lex.

“Unfortunately.” The first figure laughed like a song, and for a moment Lex wondered if this is what every church choir in existence had tried to replicate. A soft and melodious sound that swept you away for just a moment, making you think you’d heard just a bit of heaven in those notes.

“I like you! Mother, you chose well for Ertumke.” The second figure looked more familiar now, taller than the first and exuding some sort of energy that made you want to ask for motherly advice. The figure only nodded towards Lex as the first figure hopped, literally hopped in front of Lex.

For all Lex didn’t want to believe this was happening, she felt the heat coming from the figure as it leaned into her face. Her eyes burned as she tried to keep her eyes on the figure invading her space, blinking rapidly when the figure finally leaned back with a sigh.

“You don’t have to believe in us to be an Advocate.” The figure said this casually, and it brought Lex up short. “We still need you. My cousin, he needs you.” There was something in the figure’s voice now. On any mortal, Lex supposed it would sound like pleading, but in the mouth of this god, it was imploring.

“From what I’ve read, your cousin is a dick.” The third figure, taller than the rest, snorted. The sound was deep and tiredly amused. The first figure nodded and waved an arm.

“Be that as it may, he needs an Advocate. He needs you.” Lex looked to Ruby for some kind of confirmation that what was happening right now was crazy. Ruby’s gaze was locked on the golden figures in the room. “My cousin is not particularly noble, or honorable, or moral by the standards of a mortal, but he is loyal. He has defended my family, our lands, and the lands of his allies for millennia. He is unwavering in his fealty and he deserves the same from us.” The second figure nodded again, though begrudgingly this time. The third figure took a step towards me before speaking.

“Ertumke is being blamed for a crime even the Elders will not explain.” The figure paused for a breath, though Lex had the sneaking suspicion that he didn’t need it. “That alone is concerning, but considering the rest of the…upsets happening in our realm, this case, Ertumke’s need for an Advocate…It’s…worrisome. I do not like to see my cousin in chains and I do not trust the Elders to pass judgement, not now. Not—” Before the figure could finish, the lights in the room blinked into darkness. The figures no longer glowed gold, but flickered to a steaming silver. Lex didn’t dare breathe, but she had a feeling she wouldn’t find air in the room if she tried.

The second figure put a hand over the third’s arm. Restraining him? Soothing him? Lex couldn’t decide and let the thought drop as the second figure spoke.

“Watch how you speak of the Elders my son. Remember that they are the makers of our world. Of us.” And with those words our light flicked back on. The silver figures burned gold again and a wave of unrelenting heat rolled over the room. Only for a minute, but enough for Lex to know that the Elders were not to be fucked with.

“I’m sure you know by now that we cannot reveal our true identities to you, but we can help you, should you chose to become Ertumke’s Advocate.” The second figure said this calmly, but Lex could see the tension in the figure’s shoulders. In fact, she could feel the tension sloughing off of all the figures like a slow avalanche. It hit her then, that this was real. Mass hallucinations and sleep deprivation couldn’t create a tension this palpable. Ertumke’s family clearly loved him, knew he was deserving of that love, and now…now they were going to the mat for him. And Lex was their secret weapon. Oh God. Gods? Shit. Lex released a sigh before she spoke.

“Tell me everything you can.” And they did. They told her about the worst things Ertumke has done, the murders and the creations he’s borne. They told her about the battles breaking out in their realm, spreading like a sticky spiders web. They told her about the Godsickness that appeared, leaving the strongest of their pantheon leaking ichor and magic and power. They told her about the worst of it, and then they left. Faded into mist leaving Lex and Ruby to blink the gold out of their eyes. The two girls sat in silence as the moon rose and fell, and when they finally breathed in the reality of their apartment air, cold fried chicken and the strong honeyed scent left by those golden gods they turned to each other.

“You know, the leasing agent should have told us that this apartment was a beacon for Gods.”

“Ruby!” Lex tried to sound indignant, but she couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled up, and if it was a little hysterical, Ruby wasn’t the type to judge.

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A/N: Let’s all pretend I didn’t leave this story alone for two years. Cool? Great! I hope y'all are doing well! Life punched me in the face, helped me back up and then dropkicked me and I didn’t have the capacity to write. 

My goal is to finish this story before the end of the year, so if you’re still reading this, thanks for sticking around and I hope to give you an ending you’ll love! 

As I said before, I’ve had this idea rolling around in my head for a year and some change now (I think), and I was inspired by Champion by killmongersgurl.

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