#I think the clues were misleading though

[lulu2992]

This post is long overdue, but because I promised exactly seven years ago today that I would talk about this “later”, I want to finally do it!

So, prior to annoying everyone here about the Far Cry series, mostly Far Cry 5, and complaining about its nightmarishly-inconsistent lore, I used to annoy everyone with Final Fantasy XV and its... surprinsingly-not-that-inconsistent story. It’s not perfect, of course, and I’m sure many people could tell you more about it and its flaws better than I can, but considering it was told in the span of at least three years across four versions of the main game (which was updated several times to add more cutscenes and information), four DLC episodes, two films, two books, one animated series, one multiplayer expansion, as well as a few more spin-off games, demos, and trailers (not all of them canon), I still think it’s impressively coherent and that things could have been way worse.

Despite having never played this game myself (I don’t even know if I’ve ever said that), I fell in love with it, and more specifically with a character named Ardyn Izunia, a charismatic antagonist with a tragic past. Yes, I have a type.

Anyway, one thing I loved to complain about at the time was the English localization of the game. Although it’s far from being terrible, it slightly differs from the original Japanese version, and while some changes are appropriate and make sense (a localization isn’t meant to be a literal translation, after all), others are... questionable. The English version also had the luxury of having its own facial animations, which means the team didn’t even have to worry about being 100% faithful to the character’s original lip movements and emotions. And they weren’t.

Some of the choices that were made regarding Ardyn in particular are still upsetting to me. The way he talks about his name is unclear? People get confused. A sentence he finishes in Japanese gets interrupted in English for no apparent reason? That creates a non-existent mystery. A frown is turned upside-down? That erases a rare and therefore important angry reaction. He doesn’t chuckle at a key moment? That changes the tone of the scene and his feelings on the whole situation…

So, on March 19th, 2018, I said I wanted to talk about “when he sounds mocking and unimpressed instead of surprised and offended in the Pocket Edition”, so this is what I’m going to do, at long last. The mobile version of FFXV is interesting because it contains a few lines that were not in the original game and never included in the other editions (unless that’s changed; it’s been a while since I’ve studied this game). Those lines are exchanged between Noctis and Ardyn during their final battle.

From what I’ve seen and tried to translate thanks to online tools (I still don’t speak Japanese), the English conversation is nearly identical to the original Japanese version, but there’s one thing Ardyn says, and especially how he says it, that is very different to me.

When Noctis asserts he will save him from the darkness, in English, Ardyn replies, “Will you?” in a rather derisive and dismissive tone. In Japanese, though, he replies, “何?” (“What?”), and it seems Noctis’ words actually affect him. You can hear both versions below. Focus on Ardyn’s tone:

Original videos: English - Japanese

To me, the way he replies in English suggests he doesn’t take Noctis seriously at all. It’s like he’s saying, “Aw, that’s cute; as if you could do that”. In Japanese, however, I think he sounds shocked, like he can’t believe someone would genuinely want to help him despite everything he’s done and the monster he has become.

His reaction reminds me of the moment Lunafreya softly tells him he will eventually know peace… and he just slaps her. I could never decide exactly why he did it. I don’t know if it’s because he feels insulted and belittled by her words or if, on the contrary, he can’t stand the fact she’s showing compassion, not to mention right after he’s just mortally stabbed her. Does her kindness hurt him because he believes he doesn’t deserve it? Does she remind him of the man he used to be, the selfless, naive healer she somehow managed to still see, deep inside of him, despite the many layers of darkness he’s spent ages burying himself under?

In any case, it seems Ardyn is supposed to react strongly and be thrown off balance when someone believes he can and deserves to be saved, so what I wanted to say in 2018 is that I thought, and still think, that it’s a shame the English version of his line in the Pocket Edition doesn’t reflect that.

[minorlyatfault]

𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐈 𝐆𝐎, 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐆𝐎? 𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒, 𝐁𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄? 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑? t. drake x fem!detective! reader.

𝓢ynposis: having cracked a tough case, you & tim finally have a chance to relax. what began as competition turned into a collaboration between two teenage detectives▰& something more

𝓦arnings: grammatical errors. ooc. tim pulls a ravi singh. tim & reader pulls a percabeth if you squint.(& if you've read the books.)

𝓝otes:

001. first tim drake x reader work YAYAYA

002. tim drake x female!detective!reader is growing on me..

003. mmiiiiiiiggghhhhhhhttttt start writing 4 m. townsend next.

004. can you guys tell that i've been rereading the naturals & agggtm..

005. i can't decide ondea wriryingstyle im gonnakms

006. after two months of being locked up in my drafts, she's free.

the case had taken a long time, the clues lying in disorder & misleading, but you & tim had finally solved it. the city outside your apartment window was silent now, the case closed, leaving you with an odd sense of relief.

you were both spread out on your couch in your apartment. tension had slipped from your shoulders, & being in the same room with him, no longer searching for answers but just laying, was comforting.

"so," tim said, his voice deflating the quiet(but relaxing) tension, "can't believe that one case put us together like this."

you glanced over at him with a smile, resting back on the couch. "yeah, it's hilarious when you think about it. but seriously, i don't know if i would ever want to do this with anyone else."

tim smiled, his normal reserved self relaxing, letting his guard down as he glances at you.

he looked down at the file in his hand, snapping it shut with a sense of finality that was strangely pleasing. "i'll say this, i didn't think you'd be this good at that," he said, grinning but also sincere. "i figured i'd have to drag you out of the case mid-way."

you arched an eyebrow, smiling at him. "you actually thought i'd let you do all the fun by yourself?"

"no way." tim relaxed against the back of the seat, folding his arms across the top of his head, his relaxed attitude radiating ease. "i just didn't expect you to get it so quickly. you had to see your face when you solved the last clue. it was as if you broke a code no one else could crack."

you brushed it off, glancing up at the ceiling, not wanting the compliment to sink too deeply. "what can i say? i'm a professional."

tim laughed, a low, pleased sound. "you are a professional."

you let the compliment go, your heart fluttering slightly. but before you could say anything else, tim sat up, grabbing the file once more. his tone was light, teasing. "nice work, sarge."

you blinked. sarge? you paused for a moment, the cheeky grin on your face morphing into a chuckle. "did you just quote a line from a good girl's guide to murder?"

tim looked at you, a flash of something in his eyes▰guilt? he didn't respond immediately, but the edge of his mouth quivered. "maybe."

"maybe?" you raised an eyebrow, your eyes narrowing in (playfully) suspicious consideration. "that sounded definitely like ravi's line. don't try to fool anyone, tim drake."

he rolled his eyes, though the smile curving at the edges of his lips gave him away. "okay. so you caught me. but i did think the line was funny."

"i find it cute the way you can recall things like that," you teased, your eyes sparkling playfully.

"yeah, well," tim replied, his tone slightly softer, "you did drill it into me for weeks when we had just started dating."

you felt your heart soften at the reminder. there were so many little moments you'd had, talking about YA mystery novels, allusions to books, to cases, to jokes. you & tim had gotten to know each other over time, at first, you two could not stand each other. tim thinking you were interrupting his work, & you thinking he's interrupting your work.

the atmosphere between you two changed then, becoming comfortable & more personal. you'd gotten to know him by this point, & he'd gotten to know you. but between you two still lingered that unmistakable fire▰one that both of you weren't quite willing to put out, at all.

"say, speaking of which," you said, standing up, "how about we go get a bath? we've been working nonstop for days now, & i'm fairly certain i could benefit from the relaxation."

tim went with your look towards the bathroom door. he softened his smile & nodded. "sounds good to me."

the bathroom had the scent of vanilla & cherry, your bath bomb you had slipped into the water releasing a soothing aroma into the air. you slipped into the warm water first, exhaling as the heat started to relax the tightness of your muscles. tim soon followed, slipping into the water next to you. the two of you had been in a relationship for some time now, so the initial awkwardness of bathing together was already forgotten.(compared from the first time you two took a bath together.)

"so," tim spoke after a moment of quiet, his tone low, "are we ever going to discuss the fact that we just cracked another case?"

you opened your eyes, looking over at him with a grin. "another case? tim, we've cracked like five or six in the past month. are you counting?"

he smiled softly, the sound familiar in the air between the two of you. "i guess i lost count."(no, he didn't. he's just giddy that he gets to crack another case with you.) but it feels different now, you know? not just the case, but▰well, everything."

you shifted your gaze to meet his, a gentle, silent comprehension passing between the two of you. "yeah, i know what you mean."

"i've been thinking a lot about how we ended up here," tim went on, speaking softly. "how this▰us▰ended up this way. & i never really thought i would feel. this way about anyone. heck▰if i shoo'd you away that time, i wouldn't be able to experience this. & you have no idea how glad i am that i didn't."

his words sent your heart racing, & you spun around to confront him fully, the space between you heavy now with something beyond the steam of the room.

“well, i'm glad you came to investigate the same case that time," you whispered, hardly above a murmur. "i don't think i'd be able to work cases with anyone else."

tim's eyes softened, his hand against yours in the water, a gentle touch that sent heat through your entire body.

"you know," you said, trying to keep the teasing out of your voice, "i think you owe me a couple of victory kisses for breaking that case."

tim's lips curled upward, a smirk spreading across his face. "victory kisses, huh?"

"yeah, victory kisses," you'd repeated with a smile. "you did say you'll give me some after we solve the case. alive.”

his eyes flashed dark for an instant, his teasing attitude changing into something more somber. "i think i can manage that," he whispered.

& then, suddenly, the second stretched between you two, your eyes locked, the stillness charged with tension, until finally, tim leaned in, his lips touching yours.

it wasn't hurried or rough, only soft▰slow. but when you kissed him a second time, it was deeper. the water that surrounded you was long forgotten, & the world outside your apartment died down. it was only you & him, wrapped up in each other's arms, everything else falling away.

when you broke apart at last, you both were breathing a bit harder, but neither of you broke eye contact. "you're good at this," you whispered.

tim grinned, his hand going to push a strand of hair behind your ear. "glad i'm not rusty."

"not even a little bit," you replied, your smile growing. "& now, i think i might just need another bath to wash off the rest of this case."

tim smiled, but his eyes stayed on you, gentle and happy. "i think that sounds like a good idea. & afterwards, i can help you dry off."

the bath was over, & you both emerged, towels wrapped around your bodies. tim leaned over & started drying your hair first, his fingers gently working through your wet locks.

when he was done, he held the towel out to you, his face warm. "your turn."

you smiled, grabbing the towel & beginning to dry his hair with the towel.

as you were done, he helped with the final part, his hands on your skin as he dried your back, his touch, in contact with your skin a second longer than it needed to.

& at last, the two of you went to the bedroom. the cool sheets were tempting, & you crawled into the blankets together. tim hugged you(so)close, his head on your chest. you stroked his hair, the room quiet except for the sound of your breathing & the distant hum of the city outside.

"good night," you whispered, laying a kiss on the top of his head.

"good night," tim muttered slowly, already going under.

the weight of his body on your chest, his steady breathing filling your ears, sent you tumbling into easy sleep too, the heat of the moment, the closeness, wrapping you both like a mother gently wrapping a christmas present. making sure it's protected & won't shatter what's on the inside.

© minorlyatfault, 2025.

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

Watched The Rookie 7x06!! Loved it it was a fun episode :D

I did remember Scott and went :O! Did not remember Gretchen though lol. Like vaguely not no clue where she came from xD

And I kept wondering who the girl from the community center was - ASHA LOL!! The same actress as Asha from 9-1-1 Lone Star xD nice little reminder given this is the first week without it too :')

Glad Celina had fun lol! Poor Lucy and her not getting to have Galentine's though xdd. And I'm so glad they found Claudia :')). And AAHHH they fell in love :'D. Also best dad ever?? Stops at nothing to get her back, attacks the men who kidnapped her with a crowbar, and then goes :D yay great news!! when she introduces the woman she's going to marry :')). Iconic <33. Glad they got their happy ending 🥰.

Hope Seth's doing okay! Sick day for real 😬

Poor Miles and his girlfriend :'(( I'm glad they both get to follow their dreams and be happy but it just sucks D: and I totally get why he would feel like he owes her, it makes sense. But she loves/loved you bro, it's not something that was hard for her/something that needs repaying :'))

Nyla and James looking great 🥳🥳. I hope Anita ends up okay :(, her boyfriend seems kinda 😬😬. And by that I mean very yikes xD. I'm glad they noticed though and were helping her out (as in leave) <3.

Chenford 😳😳!! Woww :OO I figured from the season promo it would be a hook up but thought it might be a mislead, but nope lol!! Happy for them :D. But also YOU IDIOTSS and YOU ARE NOT READY FOR THISS 😭. Gosh, the fools xdd. The neck was such a wild excuse too lol. Very contrived but eh I don't mind it xD. Their scene was cute :)). I was like Lucy you will regret this girl 😭 both of you will 😭 but wh you know xD. And then both being awake was hilarious lol. Also Tim's face when he was sitting up facing away from her :(( gosh, you could feel that one. Anyway, you guys (them) are idiots xdd <3. I'm sure they'll get it together eventually lol.

Also that poor couple where the girlfriend turned him in 😭🥺. He loved her :((. I do see what she was saying but that's rough :'((. Also definitely paralleling/reminding Lucy and Tim lol.

Gray and Luna being icons as always 🥰🥰. This was a great event that she helped plan, and a really cool setting to see them in, proud of her :'D. And these two are sweet as always 🥰 like the food basket to Miles and his girlfriend's room? Aww :)). And loved Luna giving him advice 🥺 <3. His own mother isn't around to do so but she is :'). Anyway, Luna and Gray remain the sweetest (not more than another couples but yk).

Okay I get what Bailey's saying but can I be honest? I'm on Nolan's side. I do understand what she's saying, he tormented her and she just wanted him out of her life, but she committed a crime and was basically implicated/involved in a murder. And while taking steps to get rid of him she refused to take steps to keep herself safe. I'm glad he's gone but I feel like he would've gotten caught anyway, Bailey texting Malvado or not. And I understand why she didn't tell John, but bro. He's literally a cop and you committed a crime. When Wesley committed almost crimes for Elijah because of their deal Angela was basically ready to kill him lol. I don't think it's unreasonable for John to be mad at her at all. I understand the tension of their different stances and will live to see it play out more, but I think Bailey feeling like she's completely in the right and not seeing his side of things (and being angry) is not only a) hypocritical but b) just eugh. I love her I do but I was 😬 with her this episode xd. Her dress was beautiful though lol. I just hope they work things out :(( <333.

And to end on a lighter note, Wopez 🥰!! Nyla DEFINITELY knew Graham liked Angela, like in the first scene, and Wesley being so eager was hilarious xDD. Him and Gretchen are cute though, I'm happy for them :D. Poor Wesley and Angela not getting their room though xd 😭 xD. Why Wesley lol! I think Gretchen and Graham would have been fine lol. Also Wesley saying that these people don't end up their friends anymore (either way this time it works out slfjdjks) is hilarious xD how many times have they done this lol?? Imagine if Wopez were the ones who got Chenford back together lol 💀. Anyway xD. I'm SO glad to know that Angela knew lol. I was thinking she might (or was in denial in the first scene) and when she said "you figured it out" I was pretty sure lol. It is nice that Wesley gets cover for how he found out too lol. And Angela seems understanding of how he felt which is good 🥹🥰🥰. Can't blame her for using the crush lol. Anyway, it almost felt anticlimactic, but I'm glad this storyline ended softly/quietly 🥰. I want them to have drama and storylines but still be happy 😭 xD. And I'm glad they are 🥰🥰. I love them <33.

Loved the episode!! Was super fun :D. Excited for the next one :))!

[thespiritssaidso]

Lassiter's Favorite Scent

Summary: Shawn takes Lassie to Bath and Body Works

Notes: Couldn’t stop thinking about this one the moment I saw it. 

Flufftober day 3: Favorite Scent

—————

“Tell me again why we’re here, Shawn?”  

“I ran out of my special pineapple lotion. But that’s not the only reason. We’re here because you still have yet to discover the wonderfulness of Bath and Body Works!”

Lassiter groaned. He shouldn’t have told Shawn about that. It just kind of… slipped out. Shawn had been talking about how he needed to go to the store and was going on about how the layout was nice, even saying “Well, I’m sure you already know about the special display they usually do in the fall.” 

And of course, Lassiter told him that no, he had no clue what Shawn was even talking about. 

One thing had led to another, and here they were, standing in the middle of the store in front of a small table packed with candles. Why there were candles at a store literally named Bath and Body Works, Lassiter would never know. But there they sat, looking as though fall had thrown up on the display. 

“Not that I don’t like spending time with you, but don’t you normally do this with Guster?” 

“Not this time. Gus said he got COVID, so he’s down for the count.” Shawn reached out and grabbed a candle at random. Autumn breeze. It was a light orange, almost a bit rustic in color. It looked like a leaf that had begun its change. “Here! Smell this one.” 

Lassiter lurched backward at the candle being shoved in his face. “Shawn-”

“Come on! Just one sniff!” 

“No, I don’t-” he stopped mid sentence when the scent hit him. It was surprisingly delightful. 

It took him back in time to a memory he’d almost forgotten. One of late October, picking pumpkins with his little sister Laura and watching over her as she played in the corn pit. He could practically smell the crisp air from that day over twenty years ago. 

Lassiter blinked, and he was back to the store. “Huh. It smells nice.” That was putting it lightly. It had a nice scent, and was very nostalgic. Although he wouldn’t list it as a favorite. It was good, but not ‘top three’ good. But if he had to buy it, there would be no complaints coming from him. 

Shawn, fluent in ‘Carlton-ese’ — that’s what he called it — seemed to be able to tell exactly what Lassiter was really saying. “Okay then, how about this one?”  

Yet another candle was shoved in his face, and Lassiter couldn’t help the automatic recoil. It was another orange candle, but a bit darker in color. The label had a picture of a pumpkin pie. Pumpkin Spice. 

He took a whiff, and was once again taken back to another memory, one more recent this time. He was eating pie with Shawn, one the same shade of orange as the candle, and covered in whipped cream. He didn’t stop the small grin growing as he remembered that moment. 

“Yeah? Good?” 

Again, Lassiter blinked away the memory. “Mh. I think I’ll look around myself.”

Shawn shrugged. “Alright, just don’t eat any of the samples, that’s not what they’re there for.” He put the cap back on the candle and set it back on the display. 

“I- that was one time!” But Shawn had already left, presumably knowing exactly where he was going. But Lassiter could tell by his gait that he was only pretending. He watched as Shawn confidently strode in what was probably the wrong direction and mumbled to himself, “The label was misleading…”

Lassiter wandered away from the fall display and towards the walls, where the more generic scents were kept. Blues and whites and pinks… shelves upon shelves of lotion and body wash and candles and even perfume — with a small section set aside near the entrance for cologne. 

Picking a direction at random, he walked over and grabbed the first bottle he saw. Fresh Laundry. It was sky blue, and the label had a picture of a white towel hanging on a line, flapping in the breeze. 

He popped the cap off and gingerly took a sniff. Yup. That was definitely clean laundry. It was fresh, too, which was extremely impressive. 

How the hell did they do it? Some of the scents here weren’t actual objects, but rather concepts of a scent. In fact, just to his left he could see one labeled On the Horizon, whatever that meant. But he was pretty sure that if he smelled it, he would understand. 

He set down the little bottle and stalked off. Lassiter couldn’t see where Shawn had gone off to. You’d think someone like him would stand out in a place like this. But nope. It was as though his boyfriend could suddenly blend into the blue and white surroundings like a chameleon. Or a spy. Hmmm, Shawn as a spy… probably not, for the safety of everyone. 

As he walked away, Lassiter noticed a small group of teenagers off to the side, just out of the corner of his eye. They were talking to each other in hushed whispers, giving him looks every now and then. 

At that moment, Lassiter had never felt more embarrassed in his life. His face burned, and he felt redder than the Candy Apple scented body wash just to the right of him. What was he even doing here? Why was he by himself? He looked like an idiot. Where was Shawn? 

A hand on his shoulder broke him out of his slow spiral, and with it a scent he was familiar with. Cheap cologne mixed with the smallest hint of tropical fruit. And there was Shawn, looking as handsome and goofy as ever. 

“Hey Carly! Sorry that took so a bit. I had to fight off some old lady with a bad perm for the pineapple body wash. But I won! Look!” He dug through the white and blue striped bag and pulled out a yellow bottle. The label was, of course, of a pineapple. Specifically of one laying on a beach chair sitting in the sand. 

Lassiter looked back and saw that the group of teens had disappeared. He turned to Shawn again and nodded. “Great, let’s go.” 

Of course, Shawn noticed the change in Lassiter’s attitude. But he said nothing about it, instead choosing to change the topic. “So, did you find something that smelled good?” 

“Actually, yeah. Yeah I did.” And it was standing right next to him, holding his hand as they walked out of the store. 

———

ao3 link

[the-copycat-hero]

Villain Monoma: thoughts?

what do you think he'd be like? how do you think he became a villain? or just generally, any thoughts on Villain Monoma? 👁️

initial thoughts: YOOOOOOOO

longer thoughts: tbh as it stands in canon i could never see Monoma becoming a villain because of just how determined he has been to stand out as a hero - and also because he is a Kind Boy who i can't imagine would ever be willing to harm innocent people. that said, there are a few AUs where i could see him fighting for the other side, and i think that the general concept is SICK AS HELL.

(going to put the rest of this under a read more because as i am typing this i can already tell that this is gonna be a long one)

HOW MONOMA BECOMES A VILLAIN

Option #1 - Classic Case of Kidnapping: an AU where All-for-One isn't a massive dumbass and realizes that acquiring a kid who can literally copy quirks like a smaller, less lethal version of himself would be a Very Good Idea. he yoinks small child Monoma soon after his quirk manifests and raises him like he did Tomura. not really my favorite AU though, since Monoma would likely be a very different person were he raised to hate hero society from the start.

Option #2 - Siblings (Doomed by the Narrative): Monoma and Toga are related, and he defects to the villain's side because he cares about her and is stupidly loyal to those that he cares about. the problem is that he also cares about his friends at UA, so he generally has a terrible time of it all. (this is basically the plot of Blood the Color of Pomegranates).

Option #3 (my favorite) - the League of Villains Adopts Another Child: kind of like option #1, except someone else from the league (maybe Compress?) takes Monoma in after some traumatic event in his life and treats him better than his biological family ever did. i may actually make a separate post about this AU (or at least a similar one) because the idea haunts and vexes me.

HOW MONOMA BEHAVES AS A VILLAIN

it really depends on the circumstances that lead to him becoming a villain, but in any AU i'd write, i think he'd behave a lot like he does in canon. just like... 20% more unhinged.

very loud and dramatic at his baseline, but occasionally drops a line that is so serious and borderline heartbreaking that it gives pause to whomever he is fighting. ("Surely, you've felt that way before... how the hopes and dreams of childhood now grow heavy as burdens. It's as if we are cursed." WHAT KIND OF HIGH SCHOOLER SAYS SHIT LIKE THIS? WHO HURT YOU???)

loves monologuing, but is incredibly smart about it; he never gives away any information that could help the heroes, but he does occasionally drop misleading clues / red herrings that they inevitably waste their time pursuing.

fantastic strategist. sometimes, he'll copy a hero's quirk just so that he can study it and figure out its weaknesses.

still provokes his opponent during fights, but he gets even more personal with it somehow. he reads the heroes to filth, and unlike in canon, he genuinely means every word that he says.

i like the idea that Monoma can use a diluted form of someone else's quirk as long as he has access to their hair, so as a villain, i could see him cutting a chunk of hair off of anyone that he's downed.

incredibly OP and lowkey terrifying because he has access to the most busted quirks ever. imagine how nightmarish it would be to have two Shigarakis on your ass. TWO ALL-FOR-ONES. (Monoma steals quirks and then they disappear with his copy of AFO.) the heroes are so cooked it is not even funny.

would not endorse targeting young kids, even as a villain. if there is a little kid in the vicinity of a fight he's involved in, he WILL relocate. (it's easy with Kurogiri's quirk at his disposal).

wanted to be a hero at some point, and sometimes wishes that things could be different. but once he's found his place in the league, he'd be far too attached to ever consider abandoning them.

POSSIBLY COULD PLAY THE ROLE OF UA TRAITOR? (food for thought).

stopping here but i will be plotting

[dangerpronebuddie]

considering that they said they dont wanna make a guy queer and then have him crush on his best friend immediately (cause cliches or whatever) i think eddie is going to be the one to take The Step which makes buddie canon. do you have any ideas or wishes as to what he could do or what could happen?

Sorry, Nonnie, this got long 😁

I'm still a big believer in the fact Buck needs to make the first move, and I could go on for ages about that, but I'm willing to entertain the possibility of it going the other way, or at least that both of them make a move. I think the remark about not wanting him to immediately crush on his best friend is a little misleading (and they can't be any other way, honestly). We've seen how Buck acts with Eddie, he's head over heels even if he doesn't know it yet. He needed to have that realization outside of Eddie, because he needs to ultimately choose Eddie.

I think that, if Eddie were to make the first move, there would need to be some kind of explicit feelings realization on Buck's part. With Buck's history, including with his latest relationship, he was guided towards it. The thought of calling Tommy after that date didn't cross his mind until Eddie told him he should. Buck does exactly as Bobby says in s5. He goes with the flow, landing in relationships with no idea how he got there and no clue what to do when things go south.

If Eddie were to make the first move, Buck would need to be sure of his feelings, cliche or no, because if he wasn't, there would always be that little sliver of doubt that he's with Eddie simply because Eddie wants it. And Eddie knows it too. He wouldn't make the first move unless he knew for sure how Buck felt.

I think they're probably going to reach the realization at the same time, or pretty close to one another though. Buck is already explicitly crazy about Eddie (*flails a hand at 7x04), but he didn't know he was queer until Tommy kissed him. He needed to see that men were an option before he could consider Eddie as an option. Eddie, however, needs to see Buck as an option. I operate under the idea that Eddie fell first, and has at least some awareness of his feelings, but has resigned himself to a life of pining. He knows that if he tells Buck and he doesn't have absolute certain confirmation of Buck's feelings, that Buck will make it happen for Eddie even if he doesn't feel the same. And since Buck told him he can't stop thinking about Tommy (despite his main concern being he lied to Eddie, but that's beside the point here (I have Thoughts™ about the coming out scene lol)), Eddie has once again pushed away how he feels. He now thinks that Buck won't love him instead of can't. It's not impossible, but it is improbable to him.

But, if Eddie were to somehow hear (by accidentally eavesdropping on Buck admitting his feelings to someone for example), there's a chance it would give Eddie the courage to make a move. But it needs to be a slap in the face kind of declaration. There can't be any doubt. Not "I think I'm in love with Eddie," but "I'm in love with Eddie."

And there's this debate going around about who would be the one to initiate their first kiss. If Buck were to confess first, I'm easy either way on who kisses first. (Because it's them, I see it being mutual more often than not, which I could also gab about some other time). But if Eddie were to confess first, Buck initiating their first kiss would make the most sense because it would still be him choosing them. Eddie could lay his cards on the table and leave it to Buck to decide what he wants.

Now that all that's out of the way, there's one or two ways it could go. Firstly though: I don't want them to get together at the loft. That place is a symbol of failed relationships. I think the best way would be if Eddie confesses and then bolts. That part could be at the loft. Say he goes all day thinking about what he overheard and decides he's just gonna bare his soul and leave the ball in Buck's court. Maybe he follows Buck to the loft or they're already there together. Either way, Eddie blurts out a confession in a moment of desperation and then leaves. Buck is completely flabbergasted by the fact Eddie loves him back, but he doesn't know what to do with it. Eddie loves him back, but he just ran from him. That would give Buck the chance to decide what he wants and whether or not he's going to go after it. He decides he does want it and goes to Eddie's. I'm a nut about the doors thing, so I see him knocking on the kitchen door again. Eddie debates not answering because he's terrified. Buck asks if Eddie will let him in and Eddie of course can't deny him anything. He opens the door, Buck asks if he can come in. We get a beautiful slow build up to a kiss, Buck asks if he can kiss Eddie maybe, and that's how we get Buck choosing them. It works with their love language because Eddie always uses words, Buck always uses actions. I'm still leaning towards Buck confessing first, but I can see how it's possible to be the other way around.

[xstarkillerx]

Okay but how would Anakin react to a short ass trying to top him. Because i cannot shake the need to dominate Anakin. Like i just wana pounce and wrestle him into submission before fucking his brains out. I want to ruin him. But i know even without the force its physically not possible as a 4'9 ankle biter but my god the thoughts wont stop 😭😭😭

LEEEEEEET'S TALK ABOUT IT, and I apologize if this ends up being a long tangent, but as a 4'11 switch who's had more submissives than dominants, I feel you! While there are always exceptions, the reality is we will likely never be able to have a dominance style that relies on intimidation or physically overpowering people, but that doesn't mean dominance is an impossibility!

Thinking about this from an Anakin-centric perspective, I'm gonna be honest, even if you WERE taller, stronger, aided by the force, you still wouldn't be able wrestle him into submission because that's Anakin H. Skywalker, that's Darth Vader, that's the Hero With No Fear, it's a losing battle regardless. But like I said, there are other ways to dominate, and what you have is the benefit of a misleading appearance.

Anakin is a cocky man who is often blinded by his love and desire, with that it'd be more of a game of easing him into submission and not showing your cards until he's on his back with his eyes rolling into his head and no clue how you got him there.

If it were me, I'd start playful, right. Distract him from whatever little droid or trinket he's modding in his spare time with a deep kiss and strategic brush of his jaw that implies more. Pull away, but only a little, enough to make him want to close the gap again and when he tries to, pull away entirely. It's bait and you'll see it in his eyes, intrigue for what exactly you're playing at. With your fingers tucked behind his belt, pull him with you; lead him to the bed and kiss him again, stripping off his outer robes and tabards, leaving nothing but his base layers. Before he can get you on your back, make sure his legs are right up against the bed so you can push him against it and climb on top of him.

Understand that, while caught off guard by this, Anakin still probably won't take you seriously at this point, but he's playful when he wants to be and he'd be amused if anything, so you're in a good spot. Keep an unsuspecting ere about it for now though, like you don't quite know what you're doing yet, like you're playing dress up. He'll put his hands on your hips and guide you back and forth against his hardening dick, "explaining to you" with his body what comes next when one is on top. Keep grinding, run your fingers against his skin, kiss his neck and jaw and what little of his chest is exposed while you rub yourself on him until he can't help but grind back. Pull his trousers low on his waist until his cock is exposed. Get him so hard and wanton that he begins digging his dull nails into your thighs, itching to flip you over and put himself on top. When his fingers curl under you, shove your hands beneath the hem of his shirt.

Tease your fingers over the expanse of his body and gyrate faster on his bare cock, as if you're the one losing control. Scrape the side of his ribs with your nails and listen to how the biting pain makes him purr. Kiss him through it. Bring his shirt higher until it lifts over his head and up the expanse of his broad shoulders, his biceps, then his elbows and that's where you spread your hands out over the fabric, locking it tight against his arm and putting your whole weight down on the bed.

It's an awkward restraint position to be in. I honestly think his initial thought would be that you meant to go for the wrists but aren't tall enough, however, you're exactly where you need to be. At his wrists, he'd have the option of using the full strength of his arms to break free; simple pivot from the shoulder is all it would take, but in this position, all he has is his upper arm strength and the awkward flailing at anything below the elbow. Could he break out of it? Oh absolutely, but the chains are the easy part, it's what goes on in here that's hard, Mentally you've already got him halfway there anyway. I personally think he'd be so intrigued from the moment he realized you're serious about this, that somehow you got him locked down with your pretty chest in his face, that he wants to see you go through with it now. Remember how hard you made him, remember that he's already dripping to be inside you.

Before his amusement runs out and he uses the full extent of his power to flip you over and have his way with you, get up close to his ear and make sure he knows "if you try to get free, I'll stop. Now put your cock in me." He'll have just enough range of motion in his arms to guide it into you with the force.

Now have fun fucking his brains out ♥️

Never underestimate your ability to be dominant, to take control of a scene. In my opinion dominance and submission is less about inherent power, but rather how power is transfered from one person to another, is it coaxed? Is it given on a silver platter, bent over in supplication? Is it won, is it bartered for? Everyone has their own way of getting and giving.

Contrast, unconventionality, the mental game of it, that's what's beautiful to me about BDSM now go forth and be a tiny Dom ♥️♥️♥️💖

[maximov-widow]

Hi, can I request a Nat x fem!reader oneshot where the reader is singing Russian songs she's heard from Natasha's playlist while doing mundane tasks ie paperwork, washing up dishes etc. The reader not knowing a lot of Russian doesn't realise how explicit the songs are just casually sings them in front of the whole avenger's team splitting the group with the members who can speak Russian finding it hilarious and those who can't just thinking it's a good song and Natasha's just sat there with a whole array of mixed emotions but is mostly impressed with how well the reader is singing.

Thanks in advance :)

Russian Songs

Pairing: Natasha x Reader

Warning: The usual tags I don’t really know what other tags would go here, just enjoy :3

Summary: After being moved away from missions and doing everyone's chores. You wanted to be more productive, but was that a good choice?

Word count: 2.7k

A/n: So I couldn't find any explicit songs per say, but I hope this song will work, it's very hard to look for songs in another language, anyway I hope yous enjoy.

My requests are always open so feel more than welcome to pop in a suggestion for the next story :3

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You were known to be a singer, well that's around the compound of course, you weren't brave enough to sing in front of thousands of people.

You loved singing all your life but your passion for doing good was too strong and it won over your life. If you were honest, not many knew about your singing ability.

It's not like you would be parading around and singing, it was mostly when you were doing mundane tasks, or when no one was around. It was like your little secret you didn't want to share with the group.

Even after dating Natasha for 2 years, she still had no clue you could sing and she was a spy so that was surprising, that was until recently..

During training with your redhead girlfriend, she has been putting light music but most of it was in Russian, meaning you couldn't understand anything.

It almost sounded like a challenge to you, to learn that song by heart and because it was catchy so you wanted sing it properly and just enjoy what it meant.

But that was exactly that, you didn't understand it so you didn't know what you were learning, even though that didn't stop you, you still learnt it- Well some of the words.

Somehow you ended up doing all of the chores in the tower, actually there was a reason, Natasha along with Tony came up with a 'punishment' for you.

Your own girlfriend came up with a punishment for you, it was because you ended up surrounded by hydra men, who had you tied up and ready to transport as way to kidnap you and use you to get out what they wanted for the Avengers.

It wasn't even your fault, Shields information was misleading that you ended up in the wrong section of the building, with tooo many armed men and you knew you didn't have a chance so you were glad when Steve along with Bucky were sent to help.

That's how you ended up doing months of cleaning, instead of missions, meaning you cooked, cleaned like washing up, paperwork of your teammates.

Natasha was nice enough to leave her own paperwork to herself to not over work you but that didn't mean you weren't tired, of course you stopped training with her as a way to show her you were mad at her.

But still the redhead knew, you wouldn't be mad for too long. When she found out that you were near to being kidnapped, she got scared.

The love of her life was in danger and she couldn't even save you. That's what got to her, that was the reason why she agreed to the punishment.

It kept you off the missions for a while, she knew you would be safe at the tower. Even if you were mad at her, giving her a cold shoulder most of the day, she knew you were safe.

Eventually she was going to talk to you, when things cooled off a little. But seeing how tired you were every night made her feel bad. She done this to you, with good intentions.

But maybe you didn't see it like that. Natasha never overthought before, she was there in the moment. But with you, she was afraid of losing you.

She loved you, so the thought of you getting brutally beaten, whilst she was so far away from you was taking a big toll on her. Seeing you clean and do everything else was easy to watch. To know that you were there.

That's what was happening right now. Everyone including you were in the living room. Well you was cleaning with headphones on, as after doing so many chores for months. You eventually got bored and just started to listen to music.

Helped to kill your time a little, whilst learning songs that you wanted to know. Being with the Russian has taught you some words. So whenever you heard a similar word you smiled, humming it silently.

Your back was to the door whilst you were washing up. In that moment the team went silence and your singing was exposed to everyone who had ears. Natasha's brows raised in amusement as she listened to what you were singing.

Everyone turned around to look at you. Half of the team understanding what you were singing and half was looking with confusion.

Tony was first to speak up. "Is she singing a Russian song?" He questioned as she looked over at Natasha.

She simply nodded with a big smile across her lips, she didn't know that her girlfriend was this talented. Thor smirked. "If my girlfriend sung like Y/n, I wouldn't even let her stop. I bet you are the same Natasha."

She would definitely beg you to sing for her many times if she knew that you could. She knew that you would be embarrassed about it but still follow through.

She still kept quiet as she listened carefully to your words. "Я заливаю глаза керосином...Пусть всё горит, пусть всё горит ( I fill my eyes with kerosene. Let it all burn, let it all burn )"

She nearly choked on the song choice that was spilling out of your mouth. Yelena, along with Clint, Thor and Bucky, looked over at Natasha for some sort of explanation. But there was none.

Yelena laughed, as she stared at her sister when you sang the words. "Выхожу на улицу гладить кота. А его переезжает тачка мента (I go outside to pet the cat. And he's being run over by a cop's car.)"

Shaking her head in disapproval. "What have you taught this poor innocent girl."

Natasha frowned. "That wasn't me. I mean I listened to this song whilst we trained but I didn't know she could sing it."

Tony was having the time of his life whilst he nodded his head at your singing. "Whatever it is, I love it. She will sing at the next event I have."

Natasha shook her head, knowing that when you find out what that songs means you'll be embarrassed to even face the team. Bucky smirked as he nodded his head. "I think that song suits you Natasha, maybe next time explain to your girlfriend what she is trying to sing."

You tried to sing the song perfectly but not knowing what it meant you mumbled most of the lyrics. Carol walked in as her jaw opened to hear the song leak out of your mouth.

"Why is everyone laughing? Someone tell her what she is saying." Carol walked over after waving at you with a fake smile.

Natasha sighed as she knew it had to be her. She nodded as she stood up, making her way towards you. Wanda rushed in as she heard it as well. Finding it all amusing at how you didn't even know what you were saying. Vision appeared, literally everyone was there. Tuning in on your conversation with the Russian.

Natasha gently tapped your shoulder, you looked over, saw her and went back to listening to the song. She sighed, yeah you were still mad at her.

She got closer, pressed herself against your back, taking the cloth out of your hand and the plate that you were wiping clean. Placing it all down as she spun you round to face her.

For a moment you forgot what you were mad about, this is the closet you two have been since the day you received punishment. Your hands hesitantly fell on her shoulders, whilst she took the headphones out.

"Y/n.. Sweetie.. Stop singing." She tried to say it nicely, but she set you off.

You narrowed your eyes at her. "Not only you ground me in the tower but now you're also telling me what to do."

"You know.. This is my choice if I want to sing or not. You can't tell me what to do." That was sometimes the issue with you. Instead of listening to why she said that. You put up walls and tried to deflect any attack on you.

She sighed as she placed her hand over your mouth, the other sat firmly on your hip. You loved when Natasha was dominant with you, it made her look a lot more sexier but not when you were angry.

"Not because I am trying to control you... But because you don't know what you are singing.." She approached it another way. She had to embarrass you for you to understand what she meant.

You swallowed thick at her words, eyes widen in fear at what your girlfriend was saying. So, she continued. "Have you even tried to look up the translation of the lyrics?"

You shook your head after Natasha took her hand away, this was on the Russian. She should've told you what it meant whilst yous were training. But she was so distracted by you and your body that songs just slipped her mind.

Her eyes darted towards the team, who somehow had popcorn appear in their hands. She narrowed her eyes at Wanda, who simply shrugged as she shoved more popcorn in her mouth.

That's when you got the hint that everyone heard you. Fear set when you looked over. You looked back at the redhead who had a cold expression across her face.

"Let me go. I need to go." You were slightly panicking, you never had anyone listen to you singing, you kept it quite quiet from literally everyone you knew.

Natasha's face softened up as she saw your panic. "Y/n it's okay-"

But you interrupted her. "Let. Me. Go." Your eyes flashes red and she moved away, causing you to storm out. Making the redhead sigh as she leaned back on the counter.

Moving to look at the team who now was looking anywhere but at Natasha. She rolled her eyes at them as she followed you out. It was easy to tell where you had wondered off. I mean she was your girlfriend after all.

As you sat on the balcony edge, looking down at the city. Natasha slowly made her way over to you. "Y/n.." She spoke softly, trying to get your attention so you don't get startled.

You sighed as you heard her, you knew she would follow you out here. "You know the whole point of walking out is not to be followed." You were bitter with right reasons.

It wasn't just the singing, it was the unresolved feelings that you both held. She knew that, she wanted to say something about it all the time but it never left her mouth.

She hummed softly, acknowledging your words. "I followed you out because I care Y/n."

You scoffed, rolling your eyes at her words. "I wonder where those words were, when I was punished for being the victim."

She knew you were right, how was she suppose to explain her feelings to you? It was all difficult but she had to. She took a deep breath. Looking at your side profile as she moved her hand over to yours. Gently taking it and intertwining it together.

"детка, I know you are mad. I would be too but I didn't do it if I didn't feel like it was necessary." Maybe it was the way she worded it, but that only made you more angry.

Your head snapped towards her, almost making her take a step back. "You're making decisions for me? Wasn't you the one who promised me that we would both take decisions as you never wanted me to feel the way you felt in the red room?"

That stung, but you were right. Natasha promised exactly that and she broke that when she decided your own fate. She sighed, feeling how you snatched your hand away.

Jumped off the edge and tried to make your way back inside the building, but Natasha had different plans for you. "I did what I did because I was scared."

Her words made you stop, you were still facing away from her but kept quiet so she could continue. "When I received the information that you were no where to be found. That your weapons along with most of your clothes were left at the scene. I thought I was going to die from how much fear I felt."

You never heard Natasha's voice that unsure. Her tone was always gentle and quiet when she opened up to you. Now you were facing the door as she spoke with an upset tone.

"It felt like the world stopped for a moment. The first thing I wanted to do was to rush over there but Nick stopped me. They knew that if I went everything could go even worse." She explained as her voice broke several times.

"I can't imagine my life without Y/n, how was I suppose to think straight when you were kidnapped. I knew you were scared I couldn't even be there." Tears were streaming down her face.

"I knew the second we found you, in that state of barely any conconse, I knew I needed you safely here. Where I could keep my eye on you."

"I know that I should've spoke to you about all of this, but I couldn't.." Her tone was just above a whisper. Yet you could hear her.

You turned your body around to face her. Tears sitting tightly on the edge of your eyelids as you stared at her. Maybe you didn't think this through.

Maybe you should've spoke to her after everything. You were so busy with trying to get over the traumatic experience that you didn't think how that impacted her.

The woman that you love with your whole heart. You were busy being angry at her for not comforting you when you needed it, when in reality it was both of you that needed each other.

A light sob came out of your mouth as you walked over to Nat. Hugging her tightly and melting almost instantly in the embrace. You missed her and you knew she missed you too.

No words were needed at this moment whilst she held you tightly against her. Like she haven't seen you for a long time.

You both were crying but you pulled yourself together. Pulling away as you looked at her. Sandwiching her face between your hands. "I'm sorry."

Her soft expression melted your heart and to be fair, if the Russian was honest. You were the only one who made her this open about her feelings.

She shook her head slightly with a small smile across her lips. "No, I am sorry."

You sniffled as her hands sat on your hips, holding you against her quite close. You could tell that she was telling the truth. You never had to doubt her from the way her eyes only looked for yours.

"I want to kiss you." Natasha choked out, letting a set of tears slowly roll down her cheek.

You smiled as you pressed your forehead against hers. Closing your eyes as you felt her breath hit your lips ever so gently. "What are you waiting for?"

She didn't need to say anything else, because thats all she wanted to do for the past months of you being angry. She wanted you close and just to feel your warmth against her lips.

She leaned in slowly as her lips brushed against yours. Feeling how soft your lips felt was really testing her. She missed you so much. Everything about you.

Zero thoughts were in both of your minds as all that you were really focused on, was feeling Natasha. Her hands tightly holding you, her lips against yours as you tried to keep your breath steady.

She pulled away just a little bit as she muttered out. "I love you" Before her lips collided with yours before you had the chance to say it back.

A slightly protest moan escape your mouth, you wanted to say it back but Natasha didn't let you. Her hands sliding around your body. Not letting you out of her arms.

The emotions changed quite quickly but could you blame yourself? You missed each other very much and being in her arms was the only place that felt like safety you needed right now.

Your fingers tangled in her hair and thats the only thing that was on your mind. The warmth-ish air breezing past the two of you as your embrace became more intimate.

That's what you loved about being with her. The power that you two can over come anything that stood in your way....

And make out whilst you are at it.

⸻⸻⋙☸⋘⸻⸻

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[smilingoctopus]

Umineko Chapter 5 thoughts

So the first of the answers arcs, definitely some spoilers below.

Okay so a really interesting one here after a little break between the questions and answers. I was thinking that this might be another mislead from Beatrice initially but was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't (I guess at least it wasn't so far).

So I'm actually going to jump straight to the discussion towards the end of the tea party with Dlanor regarding Beatrice wanting it to be solvable by Battler. This to me makes it sound like at this moment in time it's possible for us to figure out exactly what is going on on Rokkenjima. Indeed it sounds like Battler has done so and as such has become the Golden Sorcerer and Game Master, now I'm not sure what exactly that means for our remaining three chapters.

So in the spirit of everything being solvable I'll have another crack at things, though I believe both Erika and Battler's truths at the end of this chapter to be false.

Now we've had many more clues regarding the epitaph, certainly enough to solve it and I think it was solvable before though I'd gone for the red herring of the hidden mansion. I think the sweetfish river refers to the path between the mansion and the ocean. This also fits with Rosa's journey theory as it's a path directly between two points, the village could refer to either the docks or the mansion.

Kyrie, Battler etc. seemed quite certain on having characters and removing them from something, now it's possible this is in japanese and impossible but if we follow that train of thought to it's conclusion there is no answer so we'll ignore that possibility for now. It's possible that these are numbers as shown by the characters and this I think fits with my next thoughts. The stakes lining the path between the docks and the mansion are practically gifted to us as Erika mentions 'so that's what gouging means', with them in the background. This makes me think the stakes need to be interacted with to find the way to the golden land, possibly with the gouging of different parts referring to the location of the stakes on the path (I'm assuming the gouge the head and kill involves interacting with the highest stake). now this might be incorrect depending on the number of these stakes, but I believe this is how to reach a door requiring a code that is set out in the non-gouging lines.

So I'm not entirely certain on how to get the initial code unless that is the one Eva saw sprayed on the wall (I don't recall it and don't want to look it up for fear of spoilers). If that is the case it makes sense that you need to reach the door to the golden land and then worry about the key. Overall I'm not 100% certain on how exactly to solve this riddle but I feel we're getting closer. No one seemed to mention the underground passage this time so I think it's unlikely that is where the golden land is, though I'm fairly certain that is where Krauss was being held.

Then we've got the murder cases going on on the island. Previously with Eva solving it they appeared to stop and become Eva committing them but it's possible we were mislead. This time they didn't appear to stop following the epitaph being solved, which leads me to believe despite the murders following the epitaph they are technically unrelated. In the third game it's obvious what the supposed culprit of Eva would gain out of the murders happening but in the remaining games we have no survivors known of, though several people disappeared at the end of the games. From memory they're described as being torn apart by demons but the evidence suggesting their deaths is limited, a piece of jawbone here that may be them etc. So we have Kinzo (already dead), Maria, Jessica, George, Battler, and Eva being present at the end of at least one game. None of them survive to the end of every game, making a static culprit among our 18 unlikely, provided no deaths are faked as appears to be the case from some of the red truth's given.

Now I'd be tempted to say that the culprit is in fact almost the gold if not for a small detail, with each person who has found the gold being that chapter's murderer. However at the end of Chapter 4 we have Battler alone on the island, and Beatrice is there now and about to kill him. I doubt Battler's greed towards the gold would cause him to die, and we have Battler alone on the island. This leads to Beatrice being some non-human concept (more along the lines of poison rather than a witch). We can infer that Battler is also not the culprit in this chapter as it is stated that he is the detective up until chapter 5, and from Knox's 7th it's forbidden that the detective be the culprit.

So we have either an ever changing culprit, that at least up until chapter 5 was not Battler despite Battler being the last survivor, or we have an unknown person/entity committing these murders. Now the latter is unlikely, we've had the number of people narrowed down to specific numbers. There is one possibility though, that the red truth used to define the 'truth' is only a subject truth based on the speakers understanding, it may be that golden truth exists as an absolute truth separate from this. This could mean that we have more people on the island than initially though, particularly as Beatrice considers Shannon, Kanon, and Genji as furniture and not human.

I'm uncertain how this interacts with Battler being alone and Beatrice being there now and about to kill him however, especially as she did not define 'alone' in this instance. This could mean that there is no other 'human' on the island (would she consider herself a witch here to allow for a red truth), or simply that only Battler exists on the island in that moment. Overall I'm not certain we have a culprit among our 18 based on what we have for red truth so far. We know from Knox's 1st that our culprit needs to have been mentioned in the early part of the story which if we limit it to just the first chapter sounds like we're down to our 18 characters. However, there are a few others introduced if not directly, we have the boat captain that took them to the island, and the concept of Beatrice was at least introduced. My current thoughts are either we have a human Beatrice wondering around Rokkenjima, or the boat captain never left.

Now we've got some interesting things that came up during the actual events of the 5th game. The most notable of which to me is that the first twilight death's occurred and their bodies weren't moved after they went missing. Now I've got two interpretations of this, either they weren't dead, moved on their own and then died after they were reported dead, or the disappearance of their bodies was misreported. I don't recall how many characters went into the cousin room to check this so I'm uncertain on it. It could be that Battler is simply lying about them going missing, or their deaths were faked and then occurred later after being moved, the obvious place for this would be the hidden corridor they were held in during chapter 4. Now faking deaths with gashes in their necks feels like a difficult thing to do, they'd need some form of false bed and fake headless corpses, it seems like a difficult thing to do.

Then we have Hideoyoshi's death that occurred in the same closed room as his and Eva's in a previous game. This one I think is fairly easy to solve, Hideoyoshi exclaims surprise asking where someone came from, then dies. It's easy to pin this on Natsuhi as the only known character in there, however we know Natsuhi isn't the murderer. It's entirely possible someone emerged from somewhere such as under the bed, killed Hideoyoshi and then re-hid until Natsuhi has left the room. It seems clear this is unlikely to be one of the remaining characters as they're largely accounted for during this time. This leaves us with either person X, or one of our previous 'victims', we know they're dead at 24:00 on the second day but it's unknown if this is true before then.

I am still leaning towards Maria as playing a significant part in this, based on the black king motif in her crown, potential motive with the 'murder' of Sakutarou, though the means is a bit elusive, I'm doubtful that she alone could commit some of these murders such as overpowering Hideoyoshi, even if she had stabbed him in the back as there is audibly a struggle. I suspect this might be human Beatrice and Maria working in tandem, so Beatrice/Maria distracts him and the other stabs him in the back. Though for this to work she must have faked her own death in the part above.

I think some of these may have used hidden passages, Dlanor mentions they can't be used unless part of the theme. So far we have a hidden passage to the hidden mansion, and the hidden entryway to the gold so they seem reasonably thematic to appear up to twice potentially for murderous reasons. In fact outside of the game I'm sure Knox's 3rd is that no more than one hidden passageway may exist, we're allowed one maybe?

Now we've also had a bit of a hint in the vessels for the Chiester sisters, mentioning that their vessels may be the murder weapons used. This gives us potentially three separate murder weapons aside from the seven stakes of purgatory. This would seem unusual to me for a single murder to use so many different weapons, which leads me to think we do have multiple murderers on the island. We've not heard any gunshots early in the twilights so I don't believe they are guns. As they fire arrows it's possible one of the weapons is a bow but to get enough shots off at close range to murder 6/8 people in a room without being taken down seems unlikely, the same is true of a crossbow unless it's repeating. They may be a closer ranged weapon such as a dagger or mace, which might fit with the wounds suffered more accurately with the slices across the throat and half smashed faces.

So in the fragments we've got Battler becoming the game master, meaning he's solved the puzzle of Rokkenjima potentially? Does this mean he's remembered his sin? Beatrice keeps calling him a liar and the imagery of being lead to the top of Mount Purgatory by Beatrice seems to imply the game is almost created to lead Battler to Heaven or Hell with Beatrice as his guide. I don't think this is Battler committing the murders however his actions appear to have directly lead to them. I think it might be a failed promise to Maria based on some of what Beatrice has said this chapter and her reactions in chapter 4, it would explain why him forgetting it is also a part of the sin. It's even possible it was a simple as not showing up for 6 years after promising to play with Maria next year. This might've lead her to bump into a human Beatrice or invent Beatrice as someone to play with in her loneliness.

Anyway this is getting long, rambling and self contradictory. I think my theories likely contain some truth and some lies similar to Erika's, I don't think I've figured out a whole truth here yet. I'm still fully suspicious of Maria, despite her early death, and suspect there are more people on the island than we've been lead to believe. I think this all links back to a sin committed by Battler, likely against Maria, that's evolved into this game, which is likely why it is happening in his first year of returning to Rokkenjima after a six year absence. But we'll see, super interesting thus far!

[maineshewrote]

I-just-started-s4e9-thoughts:

The way Charles just described working with someone and not wanting to let them go is exactly what Oliretta was about in season 3. Also, it's about the connection that Charles and Sazz share—the woman's playing Charles in her everyday life to the point of adapting many of his mannerisms, in addition to the looks.

I feel like this Sazz scene was supposed to make us think Glen was a natural and Sazz gave him his break, but we know from Glen that he was actually working with Ben for a while before that. So it's either a very misleading scene or the guy who fell into Sazz's car was not Glen at all.

I'm noticing only now that the beer Sazz preferred is also Belgian.

With the exception of Ronnie, Oliver with an Irish accent gives me life. Also the fact that he didn't drop the act even when the others did.

Come to think of it, the beer is definitely a huge clue.

Oliver seems unreasonably calm about the wedding and the fact that he has to make all the arrangements. So far we haven't seen him make any, except for deciding on the ideal location. Okay, maybe not ideal, considering the abnormal amount of death in the Arconia, but it's definitely ideal for them.

Oh, good, Glen has been washed clean. Peace is restored.

This must be the first time there's two animals in the opening titles.

The green screens really took me by surprise.

I just had an idea. If the wedding is taking place in the Arconia, is the building going to be decorated somehow in the season finale's opening titles?

Completely unrelated and brought on by Charles saying that Glen was not the shooter, I just remembered the writer saying he had excellent vision. I'm still suspecting him, and that would mean he could shoot from a distance.

Also unrelated, but imagine the way Dudenoff must be fuming. What are the odds of a killer disposing of his victim's body right where Dudenoff had chosen as his final resting place, and therefore endangering the professor's neat plan of keeping his found family together?

Why does that masked stunt protégé have to be blonde? We don't know any suitable blonde suspects. At least not that I can recall. Not that blonde. Unless, of course, they changed their hair in the two years since. Ooh, maybe they got burned during the stunt and either lost their hair or it was somehow tinged due to trauma? We do know someone who can't grow facial hair, is all I'm saying.

While I'm speculating, a severe burn would make a right-handed writer write door notes with his left hand. Except, according to the timeline we were provided with this season, the Tim Kono case happened three years ago and the stuff with Sazz's protégé was after that. Yes, I am aware that I just eliminated my own theory.

Once again, everything about Sazz has turned out so tragic. She took someone under her wing, taught them everything she knew, even gave them her dear father's fireproof vest, and it seems the protege is the one who killed her.

Could we just skip the embarrassing mess that would be Oliver's bachelor party, please?

My respect for lady Melon keeps growing. She's had so many chances and ways to be a bitch and she's just never taken the bait. She has just kept on working hard, doing her part, being positive and helpful and just overall fun, in her slightly off-putting but already familiar way.

I would love it if Mabel took a look at the script and noticed a scene or something that is not common knowledge and would indicate that the writer knew more than he should. By the way, if it turns out not to be him, I'm going to be so disappointed in all the clues I put together so far.

Are they still sponsored by the deli chain, though?

I'm wondering why that emergency contact bit upset Charles, aside from it reminding them all that Oliver is starting a new era in his life. For a moment I thought Charles used to be Oliver's and Oliver his emergency contact, but it was sort of implied in season 3 that Oliver's is Will, which makes a lot of sense, and now that we've met her, Charles's could very well be Doreen.

Ah, yes, my boy Glen is all right. What a relief!

Oh, that protégé is so gonna burn. They're gonna do something wrong.

Poor Charles has been through so much this season. Can't we just spare him the nerve-wrecking task of arranging that nightmare of a bachelor's party. Knowing this show, it's either going to be extremely awkward and not worth the trouble at all or they're going to skip the party and have a cozy celebration amongst themselves, possibly at the Pickle Diner, which regretfully, hasn't made an appearance yet.

Currently terrified for Glen, but the only hope I have is that as a stuntman he would have extraordinary lung capacity and the good sense and skill to play dead until the killer leaves. Though, he can't really play dead if the machines he's attached to say that his heart is still beating. Unless he disconnects them during the struggle. That would be glorious.

I am devastated.

I just knew the villain got burned. And I know why, too. They moved too quickly after being put out. So it wasn't Sazz's fault in any way, because she taught them well, they just didn't listen.

Now, this time I didn't even think I'd be right—but those were two such sweet scenes between Charles and Oliver. This season is just one emotional roller-coaster after another, I've gotta hand it to the creators, they really outdid themselves with touching story-lines and scenes this time around.

I wonder if Mabel got Helga to help her change her door code or if she's just counting on the Oh Hells to not take advantage of the fact that they have access to her apartment.

I said it!! I knew it! The burning stuntman not only was at fault because of moving too quickly after being put out, but the fire made the director's facial hair burn off! That is a massive clue against the writer! And I bet what he wanted to show the director was his OMitB script (which was somehow conveniently on him seconds after going through a fire stunt).

No, Mabel, don't leave your phone on the bed when you go to get a beer for the killer.

AND! There was a clue in the beer box!!

The shoes, too! Oh, it's all coming together. I love it!

Rex Bailey! Oh, the guys may have no idea who that is but we do! Although, Charles should remember the name from right before he was knocked out. Glen talked about Rex Bailey at Sazz's funeral—and how Bailey "got his heel blown off" (so he was never that much of a good stuntman), so that's why he would steal and appreciate shoes which, according to Ron Howard, have extra cushioning in the heels.

I was so fuckin' right.

I was not prepared for the ending. If the story was not tragic enough before (which it was), it sure is now. I am weeping.

Darling Sazz was so proud of her podcast trio and so convinced that they were doing something extraordinary that she wanted to immortalize them by turning their story into a movie script. She worked hard to get to the bottom of the plot holes in season 1, which she was basing her script on, except nobody had the answers she was looking for, so she had to leave the plot holes in the script for the time being.

I believe that the script-stealing happened after the stunt burning disaster. So sometime between the stunt accident and Death Rattle Dazzle Sazz realized that Bailey/Marshall, who blamed Sazz for his accident and couldn't put together a half-decent script, had stolen Sazz's script instead. On the opening night of Death Rattle Dazzle Sazz was trying to save her work by calling Bev Melon but never got the chance to explain that the script that Melon loved had been stolen from her.

Mabel really shouldn't confront a probable killer so alone and so far from her phone.

[solarsavoy]

If there are still no other asks I will give you another one.

3, 6, 17 and 25 please.

Yup, still just you! (And I don't mind. Interactions are interactions. XD) Ask thing.

3. What's your favorite candle scent?

I think I'm going to go with most vanilla varieties. There are some others I like, but I don't remember the exact scent name and I always end up defaulting to vanilla anyway. It's the cheapest and I really enjoy it too.

6. Say three nice things about yourself (three physical and three non-physical).

So cruel to make me do this one! XD But okay. I love my nails. Despite years of dishwashing and me not taking particular care of them, they look great and like a natural french manicure and I get complimented on it all the time. Also, I like that I look super young. People are always surprised that I'm often a whole whopping decade older than I look, two decades even to some. (Average guess is 24 because my overall demeanor says a lot or they'd guess lower, but I've gotten as low as 16 more than a couple of times as well. I'm 36.) This last one is technically physical, but not necessarily looks, but it counts! I don't look like I can play DDR on double pad like a pro, but I totally can, and do. (Not a physically fit person, so I def don't look like I can do very many active things, but my appearance is very misleading in many ways, apparently.)

None physical things. I love my memory. I never paid much attention to it before and just assumed everyone's memories were this good unless they had some debilitating illness like dementia or Alzheimer's, but apparently it's not normal to remember all the words to a song I sang in a play that one time in third grade, including the second verse which many people have said they always forget first in a song. Nor is it normal to remember enough about a past event to remember the context clues needed to help the other person remember the event to a similar capacity, which they need in order to access that memory. I don't remember everything, but I remember a great deal and that's apparently impressive. (Don't even get me started on how many stories I got locked inside my head that I remember most details to even if I haven't even started writing them yet and came up with them months or even years prior. You can check my WIP list as a reference. Thanks to my self imposed new content ban, it hasn't grown... much.)

I like how intricately my mind can put together a story before I'm even aware of all the details I've put into it. I usually refer to it as "my muse", but am slowly coming to terms with it really being me, just thinking on a much higher plane than I'm aware of. I'm still not comfortable with the idea that it's actually all me, so I'm going to continue to refer to it as "the muse". Some notable examples are the meaning of Deshi's name and how appropriate it is, as well as where Stag's name comes from despite there being no "stags" anywhere on the planet he's on. There are many smaller things and most times, I don't even notice them until I've read my own work three, ten, twenty times and even then, I'm still finding little breadcrumbs my muse has left me. I often wonder if that's just how writers are when it comes to their writing. It's hard to believe it's simply "all me" all of the time coming up with all this stuff, but it's still a thing I really like regardless.

I like how cute I can act. Because I grew up really lonely without much interaction, I've adopted a lot of the traits that anime characters will generally have, poses and tonal inflections and other notable things, and this constantly makes my hubby squeal in excitement and he just has to hug me because "you're just so dang cute!!" XD I don't really do it on purpose, it just feels like it really fits in the moment to me, but I like that it has this effect. ^^ I like coming off as young and cute and vibrant and intelligent. It is the me I've come to accept. (Still working on the love part. I love some parts though, at least, so progress?)

Pictures!

My beautiful nails that I hope never ever go away no matter how old I get (although they're bound to get more fragile eventually.)

An example of some of my cute, real life expressions. (Using references, too embarrassed to try and make them on command and post them on here. 😅)

Explanation of pics translated into my mannerisms in order: 1. talking about my OCs or Krystar or anything else I'm super passionate about, 2. me being in a generally good mood (I hold out my arms and will even walk that way just because happy), 3. annoyed and wishing the problem would just go away, 4. angry/annoyed/upset with someone or their actions or just expressing my overall strong disdain of something/someone, 5. not wanting to broach a subject but also knowing I need to. Also general anxiety.

17. Fairy lights or LED lights?

Darkness! Seriously. That or the standard room lights. If I want light, I want it to be clear and bright light, otherwise I don't want it at all, and don't you dare give me any sun! HIsssssssss, I am a vampire, give me darkness.... (A vampire by the real name of sunshine because irony.)

25. What's the best personal gift someone could give you?

Honestly? Comments and/or talking about my book/writings. It brings so much more joy than anything I can think of. Drawings of my characters is about the same, but if I had to choose, it's the prior. Knowing that someone took the time to read, understand, and then expound on my stuff without prompting is the kindest thing anyone could ever do for me. It makes it so the time I spent creating such things was really worth it. Heh, I guess that makes me an official fanfic writer now (if I wasn't already one long ago XD).

[alarrytale]

I suggest talking to someone outside you and your fandom to understand why people call you conspiracy theorists. Cause tell me why I, a bi trans person person, have been told I don’t understand queerness because I don’t see the supposed queer signaling H&L do a lot of the time. Tbc I’m not strictly an anti or a Larry, I’m willing to accept H&L are or have been in a relationship together, I just don’t necessarily buy into stuff like only communicating through blue greening or shirts. These are conspiracies by definition. It reminds me a lot of the Paul Is Dead beatles theory were people tried to find clues through song lyrics and album covers. Pop culture conspiracy theorism is incredibly common.

You're not a conspiracy theorist for speculating that a celebrity might not be straight. You're a conspiracy theorist for thinking that a corporation is forcing a man to pretend to be a father and every image and video of Louis and Freddie is photoshopped or a deepfake.

Hello, anons!

I think you need to work on your reading comprehension again, because we were talking about why fans in other fandoms are using the term "conspiracy theorist" within their fandom about people who believe the one they stan is queer. The anon were surprised about the widespread use of the term and though it was contained to this fandom. We're not talking about this fandom or larries. It's well established that us larries are conspiracy theorists and why. Nobody is refuting that Larry Stylinson and babygate are conspiracy theories. Babygate is named after Watergate and conspiracies often ends in -gate. We larries created it and own it.

I also think we need to differentiate between celebrities who are in glass closets, don't comment on their sexuality or show any straight behaviour or push any narrative in the press vs. celebrities who have stated multiple times they're straight, sign bearding contracts or enters fake relationship and their label/agency make deals with the media to push a certain narrative, that's not true, to make said celebrity look straight. That's a conspiracy right there. Fans are being mislead and gaslighted by the celebrity, the label/agency the celebrity is signing the bearding contracts, and make deals and bargains with the media. Three powerful entities come together to sell a narrative that's not true to cover up the truth. That's a conspiracy right there.

So if Shawn Me*des says he's straight multiple times, enters relationships with female and show he's straight by doing pda, and the media writes about how Shawn is getting engaged to a woman or has a profile on Raya to find a new gf, while some fans believe this is all fake and made up to hide his sexuality and real relationship, said fans can be called conspiracy theorists.

If a conspiracy is in danger of being revealed, the conspirators might double down or try to illegitimise the conspiracy theorist by gaslighting further or ridicule them.

The Kategate conspiracy theorists said that Kate photoshopped the pic she posted to ig, and lo and behold she admitted it was photoshopped. You don’t need to believe everything everyone else believes in order to see that someone is hiding something and conspiring to cover it up. You don’t need to believe that H and L speaks through their t-shirts in order to believe that larry is real. You also don't need to believe that F is photoshopped in order to believe that L is gay and in a relationship with H, and not a father. You'll never agree with everyone about everything. You only need to believe that H and L are in a relationship to be a larrie and thus a conspiracy theorist, and you only need to believe that Louis is not F's biological father to believe babygate is real, and thus be a conspiracy theorist.

Just like Nixon was willing to go far to sabotage and cover up his DNC break in to win an election, huge music coorporations are willing to go far to cover up their golden goose's sexuality and real relationship in order to keep their fans and making money. In general, people in power are willing to cover up a lot in order to gain advantage and continue to win and thrive.

[landofzero-archive]

Absolute - To Abhor the Impure World 11

(Location: Michigan Townscape)

Jun: Haaah~…… The world is way too confusing.

NEGI: “It’s relatively common in this country. Absolute is the flashier one, but there are others where people hit each other with cars, and I heard that there are a lot of abandoned cars once the competition’s over.”

Hiyori: What would possess people to do that?

NEGI: “It’s insane. But that’s what makes it so interesting, you see.

Art can only be born from madness, I guess.”

Hiyori: Madness, huuh. We don’t have enough of that, do we?

Jun: It’s true that we always perform perfectly according to Ibara’s carefully thought out plans.

And that’s why unexpected things rarely happen.

But with Ibara, I’d like to see him break out of his shell and spread his wings, rather than staying stuck in his own expectations.

Hiyori: Ibara, even though he gets angry when we act unexpectedly and selfishly.

Jun: Ahaha. If he found out we’re walking around outside like this, he’d probably get angry.

Hiyori: Probably. I hate Ibara’s lectures since he just drones on and on and on, so let’s get this all settled before he finds out.

NEGI-chan. You said there might be clues at this Absolute venue—

NEGI: “I don’t have any proof though. The performers in Absolute essentially work individually, unlike ES with its unit system.”

Hiyori: The super idols that have already become obsolete in Japan are still mainstream, huh.

NEGI: “Yes. The same goes for Shaka, who, officially, is working as an individual.

But in reality, many staff members work together to create the stage— including a large number of backup dancers and a special effects team.”

Hiyori: It’s the same way in Japan. Behind the sparkling, shining sun, there’s a large number of staff supporting us.

NEGI: “Yes. And talented people are in high demand everywhere, and some of them work with Shaka while also helping other performers.

But then, Shaka disappeared. But not all of the people involved with him disappeared with him.

There’s a chance that one of them may know where Shaka is.

It’s a classic trope in mystery novels, it’s not that easy to erase a human being from existence.

There must be an accomplice who is guiding him or acting as a diversion in order to mislead the investigation.”

Hiyori: So the idea is to figure out Shaka-san’s whereabouts from that perspective.

However, since we don’t know who is involved in this incident, it seems like it’s going to be a pain to go around asking questions.

NEGI: “That’s true. But I know quite a bit about Shaka’s friendships, so I have a good idea of who it may be.

From here on out, I’m going to contact each of these people and ask them about it.

It’s straightforward work and disheartening, but I can’t think of anything else I can do right now.”

Jun: The fortress-like place where Shaka-san was being protected is on high alert.

It had an atmosphere that I couldn’t even get close to~. On-site verification isn’t possible, either.

Hiyori: I don’t think we would be able to find any clues even if we inspected the scene, no matter if we were detectives or not.

We just have to try our best and do everything we can.

I don’t really like that kind of uncouth stuff.

It can’t be helped, though. It’s for Nagisa-kun’s sake.

Jun: Well, we still don’t know whether Nagi-senpai has something to do with Shaka-san’s disappearance, y’know~. He could be back at the hotel by now.

He was just taking a morning walk, or something. Like he usually does, in his carefree way.

Hiyori: Yeah. It would’ve been nice if it had been a “we didn’t know that and had just been wandering every which way of our own accord” kind of disappointing punchline.

However, until we reach the truth, we can’t be optimistic.

Jun: Gotcha. At worst, Nagi-senpai’s life is at risk.

NEGI: “I agree. Let’s do our best. And for that reason, I need your cooperation.”

Jun: But we’ve said it a bunch of times already, we’re not detectives or anything, y’know~? Can we even be of any use?

NEGI: “But you guys are performing in Absolute, right? If you didn’t have that position, we wouldn’t be able to enter the staff’s tent village.

See, it would be a problem if fans could come in without permission and come in contact with the performers and staff.

This city is usually unsafe, so these kinds of security measures have been put in place.”

Hiyori: I see. So we’re like key cards necessary to enter areas that are normally off-limits to outsiders.

NEGI: “Something like that. Of course, to you there’s basically only foreigners here, so they don’t understand Japanese—

I’ll be the one to interrogate any shady people.”

Hiyori: I can also speak English to some extent since it’s necessary for socializing.

Jun: …… I don’t think I’ll be too useful in that area, so I’ll keep an eye on our surroundings, okay~?

NEGI: “Alright. Then, just like that—

I’ll get to the dirty work. I can’t stand having the biggest idols in ES do something like that♪”

Previous | Directory | Next

[empyrangel]

Fontaine thoughts:

Love Furina! She’s got just as much chaotic energy as I knew she would, however, one thing that a lot of people thought is that she would be completely amoral and merciless in her judgments of everyone around her. Even though she is quite impulsive and egotistical, she clearly felt embarrassment and even remorse for accusing an innocent person of murder, demonstrated by her maturity in the following trial. I’m curious to see where her character goes, and I wanna have a private conversation with her since all our talks have been in public so she’s always been using a dramatic persona.

Not sure what to think of Lyney and Lynette after all that. Them being in the fatui was a really good plot twist. I think they do genuinely think they’re doing the right thing, and given their backstory it makes sense why they’d trust the house of hearth and the knave, but this means that we might end up on opposing sides when it comes down to stealing the gnosis. Honestly, if I believed Arlecchino really would help the people of Fontaine with it, I wouldn’t have a problem, Furina doesn’t seem to be doing much with it, but obviously the fatui have ulterior motives. I just hope the twins find out they’re being deceived before we have to fight them. Very excited to see them again and I’m definitely still pulling for Lyney.

About their backstory… they never mentioned Freminet. Im assuming that he’s not their biological brother, but I still have questions. When did they take him in? Is he an orphan too? Does he know they’re fatui? What does he think of it? Is he from the house of hearth too? I need more than his 2 minute cameo!!! Where is my boy?!

Traveler’s kind of a hypocrite though, judging the twins for being fatui even with good intentions while being amicable frienemies with mr. impulsively violent fatui harbinger.

I don’t like Childe and seeing him get cocky and then get his ass beat again was nice (also I thought that I saw Furina stand up to stop him so when the smoke cleared and it was Neuvillette I was shocked). But I don’t think he deserved to be imprisoned for something he didn’t do. It’s weird how much people trust that oritrice to make final judgements. They’re putting people’s lives and fates in the hands of some machine. I knew it would malfunction when judging Childe, hearing that it never went against Neuvillette was like Chekhov’s gun. The oritrice has definitely captured my interest.

The trials themselves were incredible. Trials in real life are so boring, but I can see now why the people of Fontaine think of trials as stories. I got serious whiplash, especially from the first trial, but the whole back and forth made it really interesting. Also the logic chain and rebuttal mechanics were really cool. I love that they’re getting more into interactive elements like that, I hope that they do more stuff like this in the future.

The cutscenes were incredible. The Clorinde fight was beautiful but I think my favorite was Lynsey’s switching trick. Having the tension being built by Lyney’s purposely staged panic just to mess with the audience and then revealing that actually everything went fine just as the tank came crashing down! My jaw dropped at that part. I don’t think genshin ever murdered anyone on screen before. It surprised me even though I already knew what would happen from the trailer. I thought the accident with the tank would happen with Lynette’s trick, I think that was intentionally misleading. They have so many good red herrings and foreshadowing in this!

Don’t really have any opinions on Neuvillette. Don’t really get the hype for him. But I do know that he’s a dragon. I love how they sort of sprinkle in the clues for that gradually. I first talked to the melusine at the opera door and she said he had been nice to them for hundreds of years and I was like weird but okay. Then I saw him up close and his eyes, ears, and hair antennae things. And later I noticed that it always rained when Neuvillette was sad, like how Freminet said it would spontaneously rain when the hydro dragon was sad. But Neuvillette works with Furina and tolerates her. I thought the primordial dragons hated the gods considering y’know they stole their land and places as the rulers of Teyvat. I guess I am kind of interested in Neuvillette from that perspective.

The only part I did feel bored during was the first half of act 2. I think I know the reason for that. I like Navia, but I don’t love her. She’s a great person and a great character, but she’s not the kind of character that I’m personally interested in. She also isn’t nearly enough to shoulder an entire archon quest act on her own. Act 2 felt less like an archon quest and more like a Navia story quest. The first act was mainly about Lyney and Lynette, but it also prominently featured Furina, Neuvillette, and Navia herself. The second act we spent almost all of our time with Navia which quickly become mundane. Besides her there were very short cameos from Clorinde and Neuvillette, and then at the very end with the trial there was Furina, Neuvillette, Childe, and briefly Clorinde. About 90% of it was just with Navia though. I just wish there were more characters both so that we could get a fresh dynamic and a break from Navia and also that other characters can get a chance to have some screentime. Between her being prominently featured in the first act and being the main character of the second, I hope Navia takes a back seat for the rest of the archon quest and lets some other characters have the spotlight. I believe this would probably happen because it feels like Navia’s part of the story has concluded with getting justice for her father. Again, I liked the story, I just wish there was more to it than Navia.

The land scenery and architecture are pretty cool, but the oceans blew me away. There’s so much to see about them! I can also tell they took people with a fear of the ocean into mind because underwater it’s incredibly bright and well light all the way down to the sea floor, unlike the real oceans which are terrifying and foreboding underneath. Also as a former sky cotl player, I’m very grateful that genshin doesn’t have oxygen/something that functions like it and we can explore unlimited, and that the swimming controls actually work really well. And the underwater combat is fun. I like that we can’t use our characters abilities and have to rely on our surroundings.

As I thought they threw 40 different puzzle mechanics at us at once and now the tutorials for them are all buried under each other in my menu and I don’t know how any of them work. I’ll have to figure them out at some point if I plan on getting all the hydroculi. I heard there are gonna be as many as Sumeru. I don’t even have half the ones in Sumeru.

Not loving the new combat thing with the opposing energies, whatever they’re each called, ouija and pneumonia or something. Especially since I don’t know how to work their puzzles. I think they only implemented them because they felt like they needed something that would totally shake the meta like the introduction of dendro did, so they just gave Fontaine their own special combat boost. I don’t actually know how good the new system is for meta, haven’t heard anything about it. Maybe that’s just because there’s only 2 Fontaine characters out now.

[kyogre-blue]

Finally did the stupidly-named first quest of inazuma ch3 and some more (until right before the special shogun training) and I see the resistance still has no clue what the fuck they're doing, cool cool. Are you seriously telling me that NOBODY realised that using whatever kind of fucked up elemental energy Delusions use wasn't normal (like. elemental energy shit ain't subtle) until people started dying bc of it? And when exactly did we learn Delusions drained the bearer's life force?? Viktor didn't know shit about how they actually work. I'm so confused... (plus, yknow, Signora had a delusion for like 500 years and it did the opposite and kept her alive, but I guess she's a special snowflake. And it doesn't seem to track like how Diluc's dad died)

I wouldn't even know Teppei had died if it hadn't been for the mission description like. You can go to the back to talk to Teppei after the Dramatic Death Scene and he's still alive there even if his breathing is getting weaker?? Aren't we still in time to save him? Hello??

love how the domain letters were like 'we need to make sure nobody knows NATHAN is the spy, sure would suck if NATHAN's cover was blown bc NATHAN's role is crucial' did kokomi really have no clue about all this stuff? The GIANT RADIOACTIVE ZONE between your island and the rest of inazuma is pretty hard to miss, did she seriously not put any thought on how it got that way? How the hell did they get to the beach without trawling through that?

On the plus side finally met the scarameowmeow and I want to study him under a microscope he's so fascinatingly fucked up. humans always die so it's all the same if they do it sooner rather than later? (hello three betrayals trauma) seems to really believe killing yourself for power is worth it? just. Wow. Also he really sounded like some kinda sith lord for a hot sec there lol, more like he was trying to turn us than kill us. scara vc: EMBRACE THE ANGER!! EMBRACE IT!!!

As a result I'm kinda dubious of Yae Miko's claims of saving us bc sure, Scara was kinda laughing at us as we blacked out, but he really didn't seem interested on fighting us at all, given that the first thing he told us was that he wasn't in charge and to get going to find who was. Kinda thought he'd leave us there passed out and dip, plus given that Traveler's resistant to dead god taint (re:xiao's karma) + has purification abilities + it's hard to be angry when passed out = I'm sure we'd have been fine. Maybe I'm just looking for in-canon reasons for the main character shield though

But glad to know SOMEONE (even if it's Yae) sees how the inazuman people SHOULD be gunning for the shogun's head even though nobody does against all common sense (seriously, if that's not the goal of the resistance then Why The Fuck Are They Fighting. Fighting should be a means to an end, not the goal itself!)

I've stalled out on starting Inazuma act 2 on my alt because I don't want to deal with all that drama. Inazuma is so unappealing, especially as it keeps going... hot take, but Genshin is vastly improved by just not engaging with the story at all.

A lot of the information Genshin presents is misleading or just straight up wrong, so it's probably better not to think about it too hard. (Example A: Archons don't give out visions regardless of what characters keepsaying).

I'm amazed you got all that out of Scaramouche. Doesn't he say like 3 lines total to you there? I only recall that he sounded like a bland evil type and that was my first time ever seeing him, so I wasn't particularly impressed.

As for the resistance, Genshin's writing has a very strong pro-authority undercurrent. The authority of the archons and the divine is absolute and correct. We can only go against human usurpers who are misleading or misusing divine authority that doesn't belong to them. Since Raiden is the rightful god of Inazuma, naturally she can't be rejected or opposed, only lightly persuaded so she can find her way back to the right path or whatever.

The ultimate outcome for Watatsumi is that Kokomi advances the idea that people need to get over the Orobashi being killed (and used as material and tool to forge weapons??) and makes a backroom deal with Yae to have the government provide aide to them. And that's basically the outcome for the desert people as well. So yeah.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

I'VE BEEN PONDERING MANAGERS

Your early twenties are exactly the time to take insane career risks. That's the sense in which startups pay better on average, because there is more room for spikes. If the smaller investments are on convertible notes, and convertible notes have not valuations but at most valuation caps: caps on what the characters said and did the subtler clues, the better. Unless you're experienced enough at fundraising to have a remedial character. These are some of the biggest remaining obstacles is pride. And the best paying jobs are most dangerous, because they get their pick of all the startups. In most, corruption still has the upper hand. They have an answer, certainly, but odds are it's wrong. Like chess or painting or writing novels, making money is a very specialized skill. Maybe successful hedge fund managers are mean; I don't know why I avoided trying the statistical approach.1

It is just as true today, though few of us create wealth directly for ourselves except for a few specialists like thieves and speculators something you have to try very hard to make themselves rich. This question makes founders feel they should be planning to raise. For the average user, all the online stores were built by hand, by web designers making individual HTML pages. Be nice. I'll talk about tricks for coming up with startup ideas on demand. They all say they love you, but they need you to come in for one meeting to meet some of the biggest remaining obstacles is pride.2 But Balzac lived in nineteenth-century France, where the Industrial Revolution was well advanced. Thanks to Jessica Livingston and Chris Steiner for reading drafts of this. That's an interesting idea.

What counts as a substantial offer depends on who it's from and how much it is. They may also make the biggest investment. 96. I have to admit it's one of those rare people who have x-ray vision for character. It may seem unlikely in principle that one individual could really generate so much more distracting that I had to add a new application to my list of known time sinks: Firefox. You can probably start a startup and make them buy it to get you? Tv are a good example of close friends who work for big companies. It's inconvenient to do something. So perhaps one reason schools work badly is that they're too much influenced by recipes for wisdom have an element of subjection. Yesterday one of the reasons they did was that it used a TV for a monitor, which seemed intolerably déclassé to a high-school kid. A fundraising, and decide they should raise money too, since that seems to be growing. They say that they didn't have the people yelling insults out of cars.

Maybe successful hedge fund managers are mean; I don't know enough to say. How much were you planning to spend? At YC we're excited when we meet startups working on things that could be taught better by itself. A greedy algorithm takes the best of the options in front of a computer that could only ever have appealed to Harvard students, it would be to make the headers look innocent, but my guess is that it lets you jump over obstacles.3 The big change that experience causes in your brain. Meet such investors last if at all. Better to let the wrong idea become the top one, rather than their words. This was easier to grasp when most people lived on farms, and made many of the things the internet has shown us is how mean people can be. The unsexy filter, because the advice I've given is essentially how to play hardball back. It's oddly nondeterministic. An early stage startup.4

Notes

This includes mere conventions, like a headset or router. If they want you to believing anything in particular made for other kinds of work into a de facto chosen by human editors. But I think this is so valuable that visitors should gladly register to read this to realize that species weren't, because even being deliberately misleading by focusing so much from day to day indeed, is this someone you want to save money, the light bulb, the higher the walls become. I'm not saying, incidentally, that suits took over during a critical period.

Economically, the space of careers does.

This just seems to be a niche. This is the proper test of success. In a typical fund, half the companies that tried to pay the bills so you could try telling him it's XML.

More precisely, the top and get data via the Internet, and in a time machine, how can I make the police treat people more equitably.

Thanks to Geoff Ralston, Garry Tan, Alexis Ohanian, Patrick Collison, Jessica Livingston, and Fred Wilson for sparking my interest in this topic.