#I thought of this while watching the livestream he did in Spain

[doughposting]

POV: You are a pencil

Oh no! You fell on the floor!

[sailorgreywolf-legacy]

Below the read more is a drabble of Mexico and Spain interacting in the present.

----------------------------

“Do you mind if I join you?”

Mexico looked up from his phone to see Spain standing next to the empty chair with a coffee in hand. He knew he could say that he wanted to be alone, but he  did not mind. It was just a break between their meetings, and he could use the company. 

He replied, “Go ahead. I don’t mind.” 

Spain sat and smiled at him. Mexico looked back at his phone as the other settled himself at the table. He only glanced up when the other cleared his throat like he had been expecting to get attention as soon as he sat. 

Mexico said, as he turned his attention back to his phone, “Do you want to see what I’m looking at?” He could hear the barely restrained enthusiasm in Spain’s voice as he said enthusiastically, “I do!” 

Mexico wouldn’t have offered if he didn’t know that his distraction was inoffensive. He picked up his phone and showed Spain the video he had been watching. It was a livestream of his living room where his dogs were frolicking happily. He said, with a slight smile, “They always do this when I’m away.”

It was a ritual for him: between meetings he had the opportunity to check on them, so he took time to watch the live feed. He could see the way that Spain was smiling at him, but the man didn’t say anything. There was a shine in his eyes that said he wanted to say something. 

Mexico prodded him, “What is it?” 

Spain shook his head and took a sip of his coffee. Mexico kept his gaze fixed on him until Spain cracked and said, “You don’t want me to say it.” 

Mexico raised an eyebrow at him and tried to imagine what to he was thinking. He could imagine any number of things. He decided he would rather know than speculate and said, “Go ahead. I will not be upset.” 

He knew it was a promise that he could not entirely keep. There were many things Spain could say that would be justifiably upsetting. 

Spain waited for a moment before saying, “You’re adorable.” 

Mexico crinkled his nose at him in faux disgust. Something about being called cute made him feel uncomfortably like a child, but it was not even close to the worst thing the man could say to him. Spain chuckled and said, “I told you that you wouldn’t want me to say it.” 

Mexico was glad when the waiter appeared with a sandwich and his second cup of coffee. The waiter silently put it in front of Mexico and walked away.

It did enough to change the subject. Spain said, “Is that for you?” He then checked the time on his phone and said, “It’s 10:30 in the morning. Did you not eat breakfast?” 

Mexico shot him a glare as he picked up the sandwich. He did not appreciate Spain’s sudden interest in how often he ate. It felt like nagging, like he was still a child and Spain was making sure he ate all his meals. He answered, “Not that it is any business of yours, but I did have breakfast.” 

He took a bite before continuing, “But let me tell you what is going to happen: after the break Alfred is going to get up and start talking. He will keep talking into the lunch break, and none of us will eat for at least another hour.” 

He paused to take several more bites while Spain looked at him with an expression that could best be described as amused. He seemed to be greatly amused every time that Mexico explained people.

Spain didn’t say anything, so Mexico decided he was supposed to finish his thought. He finished chewing and took a drink of the nice strong coffee before saying, “I am eating now so that I’m not ‘disruptive’ later.” He drew air quotes around the word to make it clear that it was America’s word, not his own. It was the catchall that America used whenever he was unhappy with his behavior.

 Spain seemed to be doing the calculations of how many calories were in two breakfasts and a lunch. Mexico could clearly see the numbers churning behind his eyes. He could already guess that the unwanted prying into his diet was going to continue. On cue, Spain said, “How do you stay so- “

Mexico filled in the word before Spain could say something more offensive, “Fit? A lot of boxing and a lot of swimming.” 

He hoped that Spain would catch the hint and leave the topic alone. He finished off the first half of the sandwich and started on the second while he waited for Spain to react. 

To his credit, Spain nodded and pivoted, “Did you finish the book I gave you? It seemed like you were enjoying it.” 

He didn’t need to say that he knew it from the texts; they both already knew it. Mexico had barraged him with reactions to the plot points. In truth he was enjoying the book, and was mildly impressed that Spain could estimate his tastes so well after so many years of barely speaking to each other. 

He also knew that it made Spain quite happy to see his enthusiastic reactions. He smiled and said, as soon as he finished chewing, “Almost. I’m savoring the ending. You’ll know when I’m done.” 

He could see exactly how self-satisfied Spain was that he had chosen a good gift. Mexico knew that he could backpedal and put out the enthusiasm, but he decided not to. He was trying, though he had reservations, to keep their conversations warm. The goal was to have boundaries while keeping their relationship professional. 

He took another drink of the coffee and glanced at the time. When he looked back up, he saw Spain looking at him with that old affection, so strong that it almost scared him. He knew that look far too well and knew what he needed to do about it. Spain never succeeded in resisting that impulse, so he needed the temptation removed.

Mexico wrapped the remaining sandwich in paper, put it in his bag, and said, “I should go. Alfred will want to talk through his speech before he starts.” 

Spain pulled in a breath through his nose like he was bracing himself and Mexico immediately dreaded what he was about to say. As Mexico stood up, Spain said, “Ale, can we get dinner some time? I’ll pay.” 

Mexico sighed. He had expected it the moment he saw that affectionate look. 

He said, “I have told you before: No dates. I have a boyfriend; he’s about to talk all of our ears off for the next few hours.” 

Spain took another deep breath and tried again, “It doesn’t have to be a date. I just want to get dinner with you.” 

Mexico avoided his gaze, since he knew Spain was pleading with his eyes. He said, trying to be clear about his boundaries, “No, Tony, we are not there yet.” Then he walked away, before Spain could dig himself a deeper hole.

[wolferals]

⚡️celebrity crush⚡️

arón piper preference

*

*

-so lets imagine you‘re a famous actress on some Netflix stuff

-it all started with an instagram livestream you were doing with your best friend on a boring Saturday night

-you guys were having fun, talking to the people and had like 30.000 people watching you

-you played dumb games, tried to speak different languages and just acted totally crazy

-at some point someone asked you what your favorite show besides your own was

-and you couldnt help but start talking about la casa de papel and elite

-you were basically fangirling on another level

-you told everyone to watch it

-cuz its good, duh

-you then were asked about your favorite character

-and you simply said „ander“ because he‘s been through so much but still stays positive and gaypride and all

-you know what i mean

-suddenly your friend screamed out loud while staring at her own laptop where she was reading the comments you guys got

-„omar ayuso is watching!“ she yelled

-„oh my god really?“ you freaked out and started fangirling even worse

-you were embarrassed but didnt care because you were so nervous

-„omg hiiii! Omar hi! Omg he‘s really watching?“

-„yeah he just sent a laughing emoji“ your friend replied shocked

-„oh my god.“ you got up and left the camera frame

-„he asked if he could join the stream.“ your friend then screamed loudly

-„WHAT THE FUCK! YES!“

-you jumped back onto your bed to look at the laptop screen

-not even 10 seconds later you saw a familiar boy‘s smile on your screen, waving at you

-„omg hi!“ you managed to say

-„hola! How are you?“ Omar asked with a cute little smile on his face

-„we‘re good. Im good. Oh my god hey!“

-you couldn’t speak

-„im glad to hear that.“

-you guys kept talking for like 2 minutes

-you were still sweating and fangirling

-he then asked „oh my friend just got here. Wanna say hi? He‘s a big fan.“

-you expected anyone but him

-Arón Piper‘s face then popped up on your screen

-wtf

-you freaked out even more

-„ANDER!“ your friend yelped

-Arón just stared and you and then clearly looked at Omar just to say something in Spanish

-but you didn’t understand

-but thank god your friend did

-she started giggling and whispered in your ear:“he said, what the fuck thats her. Shes like... gorgeous.“

-you became fucking red

-Omar then laughed and said „your chance to talk to her.“

-Arón and Omar both appeared on the screen

-arón looked fucking hot

-he was wearing a white shirt with a deep cut, revealing his tattoos

-„hola.“ he smiled shyly

-„hey.“ you grinned back at him

-he was definitely more attractive than you had thought

-„he‘s shy.“ Omar laughed and earned a resting bitch face from arón

-„he‘s a little fanboy dont take it personal.“

-you guys started laughing and kept on talking to Omar while Aron just looked at you through the screen and didnt really speak

-„we actually gotta go to our friend‘s birthday party. It was so amazing to talk to you, chicas.“ omar then said after a while

-„slide into my dms mr ayuso.“ your friend said in a serious tone but then laughed

-„will do preciosa, will do.“

-you then hung up and ended the livestream soon after

-after your friend had left you were laying in your bed

-out of boredom you then checked your Instagram

-aron had texted you

-„im sorry for what he said. Its not true😅“

-you started smiling

-„whats not true?“

-shortly after he replied:“I‘m not like a fanboy, im not obsessed with you or your work:)“

-you laughed out loud and answered:“thats too bad, cuz i might be obsessed with yours.“

-he then sent u a voice message saying „if thats the case, i‘d gladly talk about it. At dinner. Whenever you‘re free.“

-you couldnt believe it

-like

-he had

-asked you

-out.

-the handsome guy you secretly had a crush on asked you out

-wtf

-„i mean sure but how are we gonna do that? I dont live in Spain.“ you texted back

-„im sure we can find a way to go out.“

-„ya? Why so confidence suddenly?“

-as an answer he sent you that picture:

-you lowkey liked his cocky personality

-it was fun and different

-you then sent him that:

-thats how you met

-and the dinner was just the beginning.

[ridiculousn3sswrites]

Bitter End

*Platonic Loki x Reader

*Summary: Reader looks back on their friendship with Loki.

*Warnings: Angst

*A/N: So this is neither the new chapter for My Princess nor college fluff, but it’s something I was able to write and helped me face my own feelings about a situation like this. By the way, would y’all be interested in me sharing my Instagram with you guys? Just a thought.

**********

It was another Saturday night spent alone in your room as you tried to work on anything. You were supposed to write a new chapter for your followers, but the inspiration just seemed to evade you. Your phone lit up with a notification from Instagram, so you decided to just go on there to waste some time while you tried to figure out where you were going with your story. Somehow, instead of going through your feed, you ended up on your own page, looking through your pictures. You laughed as you read through your friends’ comments, their stupid memey comments always making you feel better. It wasn’t until you hit a picture from nearly two years ago that you stopped, the username making your heart ache a little.

Godsgreatesttrickster.

**********

The two of you met in middle school, he was the new kid in your eighth grade class. At first you hadn’t really planned on befriending him, but he was friends with one of your friends, and everything just seemed to fall into place from there. The two of you were into a lot of the same things: the same shows, the same fandoms, the same music, the same type of humor. Once you got past the initial stage of awkwardness you had with everyone you met, you realized just what great friends the two of you could be.

You and Loki became nearly inseparable, even though you both had your own friend groups. The two of you hung out the most often when you were with your mutual friend, and you didn’t really talk to each other out of school, but you still had a great connection. Within a year Loki had become one of your closest friends, and you would even consider him one of your best friends.

Once eighth grade ended, you kind of figured that your friendship would either die out or continue into high school. You didn’t even really know which high school he was going to, but you were kind of okay with that. Sure, you were really good friends, but you’d only been friends for a year so it wasn’t as difficult as it would’ve been if you’d been friends for longer. It wasn’t until a few weeks into summer vacation that Loki messaged you on Kik. That entire summer you two were texting, just talking about anything and everything that popped into your minds. Even though you weren’t seeing each other every day like you did in school, you were probably getting closer to each other than you did during school.

It didn’t take long for you to find out Loki was going to the high school across town instead of the one next to your middle school. You were kind of bummed out about that when you found out, but at least it wasn’t like either of you were actually moving. You’d still be able to see each other on weekends and stuff, just like you were planning since your other best friend was moving to the next town over. You knew that for a good friendship like this, it didn’t really matter if you saw each other every day.

Throughout the year, the two of you kept in touch nearly every day even though you never physically saw each other. On the weekends you’d call for hours at a time on Skype, just happy to sit there as you each scrolled through whatever on your phones. You’d be texting during classes, he’d be telling you how he hated his new school because he didn’t know anyone there. You always talked about him transferring to your high school, but you both knew it probably wouldn’t happen. Even though it was unlikely, just saying it kept your hopes up, and it helped Loki get through his days. With everything that happened during your respective freshmen years, it was never like you went through it alone even if you didn’t have your two best friends there with you.

Near the end of your freshman year it happened. Loki got expelled from his high school. As soon as he was in the principal’s office waiting for his mom to show up, he had already started texting you. You were in Spanish when you got the first text. The entire year he’d been getting bullied by some other guys, and he’d finally reached his tipping point. He didn’t get into a physical fight or anything, but he’d blown up on them during class, and when his teacher tried to stop him, he’d yelled at her too. You didn’t know all the details, only what he’d told you, but you knew it had to be worse than you thought if your normally mild-mannered friend blew up like that.

He’d been freaking out when he talked to you about it, but you tried to calm him down by joking that he could finally transfer to your school if he got kicked out of his. When the news came that he’d officially been expelled, you didn’t know what to think. You were always worried about him, but if he came to your school then you could keep an eye on him and make sure he was okay. Your hopes were crushed about a week later when he found out that he wouldn’t be allowed to transfer to any of the schools in the district. That combined with other issues happening in his family just made the decision for his parents: they were going to move out of state for a fresh start.

When Loki told you he was moving out of state, you felt your heart shatter. He was one of your best friends, and you really couldn’t stand the fact that you wouldn’t be able to see him for who knows how long. What broke your heart even more was that you couldn’t see him on his last day in town, and that was all because your parents dragged you to the Verizon store to figure out what was wrong with your brother’s phone. Your mom felt bad about it later, but that didn’t change the fact that your best friend was now days away and you couldn’t see him one last time.

**********

You clicked on the username, heart breaking further as you saw the dreaded ‘User not found’ message. You already knew that he’d blocked you from his public account because that was the one he used more often, but it still hurt to see that someone you once considered a brother didn’t want you to know anything about his life. You switched over to your professional account, figuring he probably hadn’t blocked you on that one. Sure enough, the profile popped up and you were able to see his posts. His last one had only been a week ago at most.

**********

Throughout high school, the two of you still talked almost every day. The Skype calls started happening less frequently, but they still happened a couple times a month. He still struggled a bit in school; moving after high school already started was a definite change, but he’d been making friends that made it more bearable. You were happy for him, especially since that meant he had other people that could look out for him and be there for him when you couldn’t. 

Though he was having more fun at his new school and was starting to fit in more, he still wanted to come back to your state. He was the one that brought up the idea of both of you trying to get into the same college so you could eventually live together. During one of your Skype calls, you both worked on finding a college that you liked and would be good for what you each thought you wanted to major in. It took a few hours, but you finally found a college you could agree on, both of you excited for the future.

High school was also when you’d started writing and actually posting your stuff online. Loki was one of your biggest supporters, and when you started writing a story with original characters, he was one of the only ones to actually read through it. That encouragement just helped fuel your love for writing, and the two of you collaborated on a few stories so both of you could work on your skills. There were some nights you’d stay up until nearly dawn just to write and talk, and even now you looked back on those nights with fondness.

It wasn’t until your senior year that things kind of started to change. You and Loki still talked a lot, but you noticed he was more hesitant to tell you things that were happening in his life. You kind of figured it was due to the stress of college applications, trying to graduate, and ultimately just stress from life in general. You didn’t blame him, but you also didn’t want him to shut you out completely if he needed someone to be there for him. Even if you weren’t necessarily his first choice anymore, you still couldn’t get over that feeling you’d had since freshman year: you needed to protect him.

Near the end of your senior year, he told you something that you just couldn’t believe. Him and his family were moving back in state, but he was going to be living an hour away. You didn’t care about the distance, even just the possibility of seeing him in person again would be enough. He wouldn’t be back for your graduation, but that was because his school didn’t let out for another few weeks after yours. You tried to figure out if he’d be able to make it to the graduation party, but that was his last day before moving back; and when he was finally back, you’d be on vacation with your family in Spain.

As you were running around, trying to settle things for your graduation party, you watched the livestream for his graduation. Seeing him in his cap and gown, practically beaming as they called his name, made your heart swell in pride. He was in a much better place than he had been for a long time, and you were unbelievably proud of him. You made sure to screenshot him as he walked on the stage, getting his diploma that you knew he worked so hard for. As soon as the ceremony ended, you sent him a text telling him how proud of him you were, and how lucky you felt to call him your best friend.

**********

You scrolled through the pictures, reading his captions. He only had a few posts up, which wasn’t unusual because he tended to delete his older posts. He’d gotten a girlfriend, he was posting best friend appreciation posts about someone else, and you just felt your heart aching as you went through his profile. You were happy that he was doing well, but you still couldn’t help but feel sad about not being part of his life anymore. You knew that people grew apart, but you never imagined it could happen to the two of you. If you were being honest, thinking back on all of the time you’d spent together, being there for each other, and now facing this reality made you want to cry.

**********

If you could really place a time on when things changed, it would be your first year of college. The same year your friendship actually ended. You still tried talking to him, but it fell off like with all of your friends from home. You’d just gotten too busy with everything going on, and Loki didn’t really make the effort to reach out to you either. You checked in on him every now and then, but it just wasn’t the same.

It wasn’t until Thanksgiving that you’d actually properly talked to him again. One of your friends had started a ‘22 Things I’m Thankful For’ thing in her story, and you decided that would be fun so you did it too. You tagged Loki in it as one of the things you were thankful for, and that was when he messaged you. The two of you talked for a long time after that, and you agreed to Skype after you were both back from your Thanksgiving dinners. That night the two of you talked for hours just like you did during high school, and things felt right. 

After Thanksgiving, the two of you talked more often than you had during the first part of the semester. You called a couple times, and it felt like things were going back to normal. As time went on, though, things fell off again. It was during spring semester that you realized he’d removed you from his followers, and when you tried to refollow him, he blocked you. It hurt, but you weren’t going to push him about it. It wasn’t like he was responding to your texts anyways.

**********

You would never fault him for deciding he didn’t want to be your friend anymore, that was his choice who he wanted in his life. There were times that you felt like you needed him, simply because there had been no one that you could trust enough to vent to like you trusted him, but he’d made it clear how things were now. He’d given you six amazing years of friendship, and you were so grateful for that. Sure, sometimes you wondered why he made his decision, but you respected it. You were happy to see your friends grow and get the world (because honestly they deserved the world), even if that meant it was without you. You clicked out of his page, blinking back the tears that threatened to spill over.

The empty feeling would go away eventually, you knew that. Maybe there could be some point in the future that you’d be able to message him and the two of you would reminisce on the good times you’d had. Maybe he’d reach out to you and the two of you would pick up right where you left off like you always seemed to. Maybe neither of those things would happen and you’d just be left with the memories. You made peace with that, and looked back at your laptop. It wasn’t the new chapter that you promised, but you had something to tell your readers now.

**********

Permanent Tag List: @spidey-pal

[dantecampanas]

hello all, i’m pepper and i have never been on time for anything, ever, in my life dsjksdkj, but i am literally so much later than usual though, i am so sorry y’all but to make up for my tardiness under the cut is some stuff about this mess, dante. it’s messed up ride so i hope you enjoy? also, like this if you want to plot and i’ll literally come sprinting okay. 

BIO ; tl;dr basically craig kielburger, but make it dark 

to start here is Dante’s pinterest board.

and here is a song that reminds me of him so much it may as well be his anthem but also this other song because i wrote his app to it basically, it reminds me a lot of him, more the vibe than the actual lyrics but still. 

okay so Dante’s family is kind of inspired by the Quinns (from ‘You’ on Netflix), the Castillos (from How to Get Away with Murder) and like Henry Goulding’s family in Crazy Rich Asians. 

Dante Isaac Campana was brought into the world in Madrid, Spain with a silver spoon dangling out of his mouth. You’d never guess from looking at him, what with his hobo chic style and generally unkempt appearance but it’s the truth. He came in this world out of a well paid surrogate as the second child of the famous Sofia and Gabriel Campana, and he wanted for nothing because for it. His parents made sure of that.

Gabriel was a CEO and Sofia was a wildly successful author, and from the moment Dante could breathe his parents had his whole life set up for him. After all they wanted their son to be successful and they planned to make sure of it. A hefty trust fund in his name, to be accessible at the age of eighteen. A place in the family business that he would fill the moment he finished university. They even had an arrangement for who Dante would marry eventually, before he was even old enough to understand what the concept of marriage was. It was all planned out for Dante without the slightest bit of input from Dante himself, and Dante was just supposed to accept that. The funny thing is, at first, he did.

After all he was young, and he had no reason not to. He loved his parents deeply, passionately, but honestly, that was how Dante loved anything. One of his very first memories of his life is of his grandmother. They used to feed the ducks together when he was a child. Dante would throw whole loaves of bread into the water and his grandmother would always laugh and laugh until there were tears building at the corners of her wrinkled eyes. And one day, the day of the memory in question, Dante remembers her sitting him on her knee, smoothing back his wild curls and telling him that he was born with a heart too big for his body. A heart too big for this family. Dante was too young to know what it meant at the time, but it stuck with him. And by the time he was old enough to understand it, he knew she was right. 

The truth is the Campanas were cold. Dante for the most part was an anomaly. Because while his parents probably did love him in return, they had an odd way of showing it. Cold hands pressed to warm cheeks, thin smiles of approval that didn’t quite reach their eyes. Never the words ‘i love you’, or ‘i’m proud of you’, or ‘i believe in you’, but instead the heavy feeling of expectation. If you wanted love, you had to earn it. If you wanted them to be proud of you, you had to do something to make them proud. Not be a person to make them proud, no. You had to do something. 

So when Dante was twelve years old he did. Not on purpose mind you. Dante wasn’t even thinking of his parents in his pursuit, only of others. You see, when Dante was twelve years old he, mostly accidentally, started a non profit. I say accidentally because that wasn’t really what Dante was setting out to do. Honestly, it all started when he met a homeless teenager not much older than him, sat beside them on the little street corner they begged on, and was struck by the overwhelming, gnawing need to help. To make things better. To protect them, because no one else was doing it. It started with Dante rallying up the children at his private school, and later those children’s parents, and later those children’s grandparents. Or maybe it really started when Dante climbed up on the stage one school assembly, took the mic from their principal’s hands and gave an impromptu speech on the cause. No, to be honest, it really started when someone recorded that speech and put it on YouTube. Because the moment that speech went viral, so did Dante and his charity. 

Even today if you look up Dante Campana you will be assaulted by a myriad of articles and photos of young Dante giving impassioned lectures to interviewers, to audiences, to millions of people over livestream. It was just something that Dante was passionate about that became much bigger than he intended, but he didn’t mind. He was helping people. He used the money that the charity brought in to build youth shelters, and food banks, and rehabilitation centers, all for homeless kids. It was everything he wanted.

And for once, his parents were proud. They loved him. They didn’t say it, but Dante knew it from the way they looked at him. Like he was their pride and joy. (Later, he would look back on that look. It would strike him as disturbingly too close to how one might look at a shiny new trophy, and he would never be able to look at his parents the same way again.)

Dante only became aware of how conditional his parents love for them was when his elder sister started to slip under the pressure they put on her shoulders. Anya Campana was about sixteen at the time, and Dante, three years her younger, had to watch as his sister crumbled. Anya had always cared too much about what their parents thought of her, about impressing them and making them proud. It didn’t help that her parents made it clear that they would not accept anything less than excellence from her, their first born. Anya was supposed to be their champion. The head of the family once their father was gone. The pressure of it all drove Anya to the edge. At first the edge was just adderall. Later cocaine, just to take the edge off, just to make things easier. To help her focus. Dante remembers catching her in the act. Remembers her crying. Remembers being shocked still, and just staring and staring as his perfect sister literally fell apart at his feet. 

It wasn’t long until the weight of their parents expectations had drove Anya to a full on addiction, all in the pursuit of their favour. But of course, when Dante’s parents found out about Anya’s problem, they had no sympathy for her. Only disappointment. That ‘slip up’ cost Anya her role. She could no longer be the head of the family if her resolve was that weak; instead the position would fall to Dante, and Anya would be sent quietly, and shamefully, to rehab. it was an eye opening experience for Dante, honestly. To see just how replaceable their parents saw them.  

The Campanas brand of cold was also fake. Plastic. Sure, they smiled in the public eye and the relationship between the siblings at least was genuine, but the truth was Gabriel was cheating on Sofia when he thought no one was looking (Dante was. A story for another time), and Sofia had openly slapped each of her children across the face at least once, usually when she got a bit too much wine in her. The older Dante got the more and more he felt his love for his parents becoming more of an obligation than anything tangible. Something cold and plastic itself. And he despised it. 

When Dante was fifteen, just after Anya’s second stint in rehab, he and his sister were spending the day together to catch up. All they wanted to do was get ice cream together, talk a bit. But those plans were foiled when a black indistinct car rolled up beside them, and before Anya and Dante could even put up much of a fight, they were both blindfolded and tied up in the back of the car. It honestly shouldn’t have been as surprising as it was considering the Campanas were easily the wealthiest family in Spain. But the kidnapping was traumatic and shocking to Dante, especially because of course all these men wanted was money. 

Their kidnappers called his father with every intention to get said money within the day. They asked him for one billion dollars for each child, which was a lot of money, but not an amount that the Campanas didn’t have, or couldn’t get access to if need be. But it was then that Dante got the second big shock of his life. His father refused to pay. Dante remembers his blood running cold at the statement heard over the speaker. He remembers his sister crying. He remembers the kidnapper shoving the phone into his face, demanding he beg his father otherwise. To convince him to love him enough to pay for his life. Dante remembers crying so much it hurt. Before that day he didn’t know that was possible. 

The kidnappers gave their father a deadline. He had a full twenty four hours to get the money, or they would be killing one of his children. Their father agreed, and so Dante and Anya were left in the hands of their kidnappers for a full day. Dante still hasn’t properly talked to anyone about what happened during that time, and he’s not even sure he can. Honestly, looking back, the memories of it all are all a blur. Like even his hindsight is blurred with his tears. 

The hour came and their father was called. He was asked for the money and told that if he didn’t pay it, his daughter would be shot. Once again, he refused. Dante can remember the gut wrenching sound Anya made at the news. It was at the chilling mid point between a sob and a scream. He can remember crying himself, but trying to comfort her as much as he could with his arms tied behind his back. And because he was touching her, he can remember the exact moment Anya flinched from the gunshot fired into her stomach. He can remember the warmth of her blood over his skin. 

Dante can’t remember much after that. It’s like his mind filmed that day with a fish eye lens and half a roll of film. All blur, until it cuts out. More blur, and then it cuts out. The next thing he properly remembers is being in a hospital bed for shock. He remembers seeing his parents there. And he remembers being filled with a hatred more consuming than anything he ever felt before. Apparently he lunged at his father in a moment of rage. He doesn’t remember it, but enough doctors attested to it for Dante to find himself with a semi permanent place in mandated therapy. Well, due to that specific moment and, you know. The circumstances. 

Dante learned that day that to his father, he and his sister were of different value. Dante was worth more than Anya. He didn’t mess up as much, or quite as publicly, and with everything with his charity, the media loved him. He was smart, and charismatic, and maybe he was a bit sensitive, but he could grow out of that. If they lost Anya, so what? They had Dante. He would lead the family to greatness. 

And Dante did. After an abundance of therapy of course, well, during an abundance of therapy. Despite it all, somehow Dante didn’t buckle under the pressure. He took some time off from school, but once he got back to it his grades were the same as ever. He spent some time away from his charity, but once he was ready, he threw himself back into it with a single minded focus. He made a foundation for Anya, his sister. His world. And then he moved on. Came back stronger. At least in the public eye. 

Privately, Dante was furious, and disgusted, and grieving. His sister, his confidante and likely one of the two people in his life to love him unconditionally, was gone. And she was never coming back. And Dante would never, ever be the same. He remembers attending Anya’s funeral. Seeing everyone cloaked in the colour she always hated, crying over her and telling lies about how much they adored her. He remembers his mother saying how proud she was of her daughter. He remembers his father saying how much he loved her. And he remembers feeling nothing. He remembers getting up on stage, drunk, and numb, and he remembers looking hard at them all. He vaguely remembers telling them all to fuck themselves, but after that? The film cuts out. 

Dante spent a lot of time leaning on his friends then. Hiding from the sharks that were the paparazzi. Dante’s pain was like a healing wound, and they were drawn to it like the animals they were. Picked at to see if they could get him to bleed again. How are you coping, Dante? Will you be testifying in the court case, Dante? How much do you miss Anya, Dante? There is footage of Dante ripping a paparazzo's camera straight out of their hands and throwing it at them. Or at least there was. His father got rid of it before it could truly make it to the press, and the paparazzo, well, he walked away with three new stitches in his eyebrow and a significantly heavier wallet. Dante, for his part, walked away empty. 

The truth was, now Dante was plastic. The bleeding heart that he once was now sadly hollow. He played the part though. And he played it well. To the world Dante was the golden boy. Any mistakes or slip ups were covered up neatly by his father, or his mother, or both. And the legend of Dante Campana, child philanthropist, and hero lived on. Y’see, Dante’s mother wrote a book about the whole experience, and took some creative liberties. In the novel, Dante tried to save his sister. Fought his captors. Held her hand as she bled out. As sick as it is, Dante read it, hoping it might jog some of his memories from the whole incident. It didn’t, but it could have been true for all Dante knew. Didn’t make him hate his mother any less for profiting off of the whole thing. 

Eventually, Dante graduated. Accepted a position at Ashcroft University. And then he was handpicked for the Imperium Society. And that’s where he met Lady Macbeth. 

And It was like for the first time in three years, Dante was living his life in colour again. He fell, and he fell hard, almost immediately upon meeting them, which was as much of a surprise to him as it was anyone else. Yes, Dante had dated before, and had crushes but he didn’t necessarily believe in love. Not after his parents lousy display of the whole thing. But he met them and that changed. He was consumed by love. Driven by it. He would do anything for them, absolutely anything. And he made that very clear very quickly, and never wavered. Not once. 

In the time that Dante loved them he was brought back to some semblance of his old self. He found his passion again. He found his happiness again. And he knew it was because of them. They brought him back to himself. They made him better. And the gratitude, and codependency, and love all stirred itself into a poisonous mess that was more adoration, or rather idolization, than love. What he felt for her was something all consuming and probably not entirely healthy, but something that Dante dedicated himself to, like a religion. 

Which is why when they told him about the issue with Octavia Dante was so incensed about it. For the most part, despite previous outbursts, Dante was kind. A peacekeeper. A joker. A lover. But when it came to those he loved, after everything with Anya, Dante was painfully protective. He promised himself long ago that no one coming after those he loved would get away with it. Not again. 

That said, when Dante went to meet with Octavia he did his best to be calm. To be levelheaded, and understanding, and kind. But Dante’s reputation must have preceded him, because Octavia didn’t seem to see any reason why she should listen to him. Dante was the artist. The charity guy. The hippie. He was about as threatening as a puppy, or at least his public image was. Her words were sharp, and her disposition was cold, and Dante wouldn’t have cared, he truly wouldn’t have cared if the words she spat were just directed at him. But the moment Lady Macbeth was brought into things, Dante snapped, Othello’s presence be damned.

The film cut out. 

The next thing Dante remembers is the aftermath. The water bottle he’d bought to reuse, to spare the plastic, to save the environment, to save the world, now ironically covered in blood. His hands slick with it for the second time in his life. Othello’s understandable panic. The shock was thick as fog once again, and the next thing Dante knows he’s at Lady Macbeth’s door, eyes hollow and hands shaking around the water bottle as he fully realizes what he’s done. 

He never meant to. It was an accident. He lost control. All he wanted to do was protect them. 

But somehow instead they ended up protecting him. And leaving him for Othello. A large part of Dante knows that he deserves nothing less. That what he did is a crime that deserves a much larger punishment, one that Lysander unfairly took on for him. But his heart is heavy with guilt, and now heartbreak on top of it all. 

As if watching Lysander go to prison for his misdeeds and witnessing Lady Macbeth and Othello in their honeymoon phase all wasn’t enough torture, well, then there was Octavia’s ghost. Which was truly the most painful torture at all. Every time she visits Dante just ends up with breaking down. Terrified, guilty and asking for her forgiveness. He’s pretty sure it’s not helping in the slightest though, and he can’t blame her for being angry. She has every right to be, and honestly Dante is quickly reaching the breaking point. He’s seriously considering just turning himself in to appease her, and to make things right for Lysander, and he would do so in a heartbeat if there wasn’t the risk of Lady Macbeth going down with him. So Dante is at a stand still. Miserable, and in pain, but doing his best not to show it to keep up appearances. Luckily it’s an act he’s been putting on for a good portion of his life, so he’s good at it. But he’s crumbling at the edges, and he’s not sure how much longer it’ll take for everyone to notice. 

To cope Dante has been indulging in a lot of his sister’s old habits. Drinking. Drugs. The same mechanisms he used to cope with her death, but quit once he met Lady Macbeth. Now, without them, he’s just using leaning on them in an attempt to make things easier.

PERSONALITY ;  god who knows dkjsdjksd dante is very fresh and new so he’s a bit of a mess in my brain and he will definitely develop into something new passed this point but

PASSIONATE! god he’s so passionate, like dante just feels everything on 10 one hundred percent of the time, especially since lady macbeth came into his life. The type to get teary eyed over a dead bird, but also the type to like stay up five days straight working on a project because he can’t get it out of his mind. 

despite this used to think romantic love was a straight up myth lmao because of his parents relationship, so we love a contradictory king. a bleeding heart but also a philophobe, and now a murderer, wow what a resume. lady macbeth changed that a lot for him, so for like a WHILE dante like became the poetry writing, love is the answer, romantic which had to be a drastic change for anyone who knew him before 

nurturing honestly? but only with people he actually cares about like juliet or lady macbeth.

but also impulsive, as we can see, like dante doesn’t tend to really think before he makes any decisions. he just does things man 

thinks he’s funny! sometimes he is tbh. a bit of a good natured goofball generally. willing to do pretty much anything to cheer someone up

a big ol’ flirt just naturally, like he’s honestly very charming, but like so was ted bundy yk. also bi, but like all my muses are, so sdkjsdkj are we surprised at all, i don’t think so. 

very touchy feely tbh because he’s a tactile person.

a live and let live kinda guy like actually,,, so close to a hippie it’s not even funny. 

a bit promiscuous more so before lady macbeth came into his life and he became entirely enamored, and now a bit because he’s heartbroken and just looking for any sort of connection.

the most generous person when it comes to money and kindness. the type to sit down with a homeless person and end up giving them his jacket, five hundred dollars, and a new outlook on life as he leads them to one of his youth centers. Has actually thrown himself into his charity a lot more since Octavia’s death. Is kind of viewing the whole thing as penance. 

the type to hold a grudge until the day he dies, but also the type of person who can’t NOT help someone who needs help you know. like he hates his parents but if his mother called him tomorrow like i want to see you one last time before i die, he would fly out to spain to see her.

very liberal. literally can’t talk to conservatives without wanting to physically fight them. has definitely gone to protests and gotten arrested for punching a nazi, but his father probably covered it up. 

HEADCANNONS ; alright now onto the fun stuff

fun fact, was actually brought into the world via surrogate because his parents had a lot of trouble conceiving, like both of them were pretty much impotent. so he’s not technically blood related to either of his parents, neither was anya. 

deaf in his left ear and has been all his life. it’s kind of difficult for him to hear a specific person talking in a crowd of too many people, especially if you’re standing on his left so he might straight up text you instead. also if you’re standing on his left side in general, he might turn to face you to better hear you. can speak multiple different sign languages including asl, bsl, auslan, and of course catalan. 

has delightful spanish accent but speaks fluent english because of all the networking he grew up doing with his parents, also you know, very expensive private school. also is fluent in french, italian, romanian and portuguese, like just the romance languages honestly. he’s traveled a lot though so he can get by in a few other languages, which basically means he can hold a stilted conversation and ask where the bathroom is. 

Despite his charity being his life and occupation kind of, at heart Dante is an artist. Like his art is everything to him and his is actually quite popular. He gets a lot of offers from people wanting to buy it but he can never part with anything he’s made so he always refuses the offers, no matter how much money the customer is bidding. It’s not like Dante needs the money anyways, so he has refused offers on grounds of menial things such as ‘i didn’t like the vibes he was giving off’ or ‘he looked like a republican’ or even, once ‘pretty sure i saw that guy in a dream once. god, he sucked.’ So most of his art decorates his dorm room instead, and he’ll even give some to friends for free. Dante actually wanted to become a full time artist once he graduated, along with keeping up with his charity but considering how picky he is about who actually buys his art,  he’ll literally make no money, which is okay because again, he’s rich. Now though, he’s considering just pouring himself into his charity and forgetting about his art because, you know, penance dkjdf.

Actually learned to cook from his family chef, and is really, really good at it, like professional level good at it. He hasn’t really had time to get any actual professional training but he really wants to. He has absolutely snuck into culinary school very briefly before just to sit in on a few classes. Just pretended he went there and made a bunch of friends and he learned a lot of stuff, and even taught some culinary students a few things. He was eventually discovered, but then he made friends with the professor, and now he just comes by whenever he wants or has the time. That’s the kind of guy Dante is. 

Honestly pretty good at anything having to do with his hands, like if he had a label it’d probably be the artisan. Dante is the type of person who knows nothing about like mechanics but can like fix something if you put it in front of him. Likes to make furniture as a hobby, so hit your boy up if you want a sexy chair. Also makes sculptures and does a bit of pottery, like he’s a jack of all trades when it comes to tactile things only. 

Intelligent in the way that he just has a lot of pretty well informed opinions like if you want a fun fact don’t go to Dante but if you want a good insightful conversation he’s your man. Not like… clever at all though, like he doesn’t have a manipulative or conniving bone in his body, and it’s really hard for him to tell when he’s being manipulated or taken advantage of. He thinks with his heart rather than his brain honestly. Like if you’ve ever heard the story of the foolish traveler... that’s Dante’s fool ass. If you haven’t here it is. 

A big defender of the environment. He was planning on launching a charity for that too, and honestly he’s probably throwing himself into that project to stop thinking about all this.  

Has a bunch of tattoos, usually of his own art or other art that’s moved him. I imagine him with at least one sleeve that’s beautiful, and he’s probably starting another. Is seriously considering a neck tat. His parents would hate it and that just makes him love it more.

If you watch jenna marbles i want you to know that Dante is Julian in the kitchen and Julian in the kitchen only, but somehow everything he makes end up coming out near perfect anyways. 

surprisingly has a green thumb? can revive almost any plant with relative ease.

never learnt how to ride a bike tbh, but does ride a motorcycle so?

Has taken to religion like a mad man ever since Octavia’s death, like he’s suddenly at church once a week. He tells everybody that it’s for his art, and that he just wants to study the stained glass, but really he’s praying for Octavia’s forgiveness. He’s pretty sure it’s not working in the slightest though. 

Kind of salty that Octavia of all people is haunting him but he hasn’t seen his sister’s ghost once. Actually kind of believes in the supernatural and karma and all that, so he wasn’t too shocked by the whole Octavia coming to him in the night thing. Always thought that he could feel his sister watching over him so, now at least he has that confirmed. 

suffers from black outs, but i feel like that was obvious in my little bio sksdjkjsd straight up has stretches of time that he has no recollection of. it tends to happen when he gets really angry or in really traumatizing situations but honestly people close to dante probably know that he’s just lost stretches of time like you could mention something from his childhood or even a few weeks ago (actually especially a few weeks ago) and dante would just be like... i don’t remember that. honestly has been feeling like he’s kinda going crazy since his sister died, so literally since he was like fifteen oof. 

has been painting some pretty dark stuff lately like since the whole octavia thing, like just in tone and color. probably a bit reminiscent of the stuff he painted after anya for those who knew him then, but if you met him after lady macbeth then this is a drastic change because his art got very beautiful and full of life then you know. 

[eirenare]

FFXV: Episode Ignis — My experience (hint: a lot of feels)

Okay, so between me needing time to get out of my happy shock for Episode Ignis (gods, it’s been hard to find the will to write because I couldn’t even arrange my thoughts well enough), certain movie coming out, and the fact that I usually need to wait for nighttime’s peace to write (and often inspiration and/or will are quite picky, not to mention when your brain gets blocked when it comes to writing), I took my time to finally write this, but... 

Here I go!

[22/12/2017: EDITED THIS POST TO HIGHLIGHT NAMES, CHECK PUNCTUATION AND TAGS, AND EDIT MISTAKES.]

I would like to start by saying that Episode Ignis gave me way more than I would have EVER expected. Like, really. I expected for it to be a great DLC, but the experience exceeded that word easily: it was EVERYTHING. And it was everything because it HAD everything.

I’m still not over it, days later. Damn, I’ve even dreamt with it two times (and I remember almost nothing, but I think Ravus was in both lol).

I was sooo hyped for Episode Ignis that I started playing it a little after midnight and I ended up... AT 6 AM. And I had to wake up in theory at, like, 9 AM. But that night, nothing else mattered outside this DLC and, DAMN, what a night. Totally, absolutely worth it to spend so much hours playing it and losing sleep. I had a great time, and oh gods, some parts had me so excited.

I mentioned this already in my non-spoiler comment about Episode Ignis, but... I expected to cry more than I did in the end. For years, I’ve been a person that cried way too easily when watching movies, playing videogames, reading... Like, really, I tended to cry so much. I often was an emotional mess, I would sob a lot and my chest would literally hurt (if you had seen me with FFXV’s ending, oh dear...). But lately I’ve noticed that, in that regards, I’ve become... a bit “numb”. I enjoy the stories, oh gods if I do, and I still get feels (a lot), but it’s like the intensity has lowered some, and that’s something I don’t like. I miss being a crybaby about these things, damn.

During Episode Ignis, if I recall well there was only one time in which I cried, and that was at the end of the original route of the DLC, when Ignis tells Noctis about “sharing the load”. My goodness, Iggy, you’re such a good, great man...

But well, the thing is, I may have not cried much when I played Episode Ignis, BUT the excitement, the feels, the emotion were there. 

I would sometimes jump a bit on the sofa out of excitement, for example when the last scene of that amazing alternative ending was starting... A moment which also had me frantically gesticulating with my hands in the air, much like when I saw Noctis alive and sitting in the throne (I thought Ignis was just like, going to bow before an empty throne and then say something like “thank you” and cry, but OH GODS, I’m happy I was so wrong in that assumption).

I was smiling while fighting with Ignis all around Altissia and collecting items, and damn, my smile went from ear to ear during the alternative ending, ever since I saw Ravus alive in the stairs (and SMILING, Ravus ACTUALLY SMILING, that’s something beautiful and precious — although I have to admit that seeing his beard almost made me laugh a bit, it was between weird and adorable), and up until the very end of it. And what an ending, oh my goodness... That ending was EVERYTHING, and I can’t stop thinking about it. And oh gods, the addition of that camp scene at the official ending, THE FEELS...!

Oh, and I can’t stress enough how much of a “FUCK YES” it was to see Caligo die and, the best thing, by Ravus’ hand. I don’t know if anyone reading this has seen my post about Caligo, but a past trailer had a VERY creepy moment of Caligo cornering Luna when she was a child while a storm raged on outside the building they were in, and ever since I noticed that the man was Caligo I’ve been wanting so badly to see him actually die. 

On the other hand, some moments really made me frown, or be SO sad. Seeing Ravus so broken about Luna, and then lashing out at a protective and understanding Ignis... Man. MAN. And Ignis. Oh dear gods, Ignis. It was sad to see him sacrifice himself to save Noctis (Ignis is such an AMAZING character), and I worried so much that he was going to die in that alternative ending... 

Still, if there’s something that would make you picture just how much excited I was, it’s this: NON-STOP TREMBLING. 

And it was that kind of trembling that shakes all your body and that you can’t stop (it simply couldn’t be because of the low temperature though because I was warm, wrapped in a blanket like a burrito and with the heating on). I don’t know when it started but it just happened, and it didn’t end until some time after I finished the DLC at 6 AM. Basically I spent hours trembling because of my excitement, so... yeah, that was the biggest sign that I was excited, haha

Damn, my legs even were WEAK, although I didn’t notice that until I got up from the sofa. Also, I still trembled as well when I watched a livestream that same day.

But well, continuing on~

Having Ignis and Ravus as teammates was SO AMAZING. They had such synchrony when they executed movements, that was BADASS. 

And the gameplay was SO good, so smooth, so strategic while at the same time being fast! Seeing Ravus execute “Last Rites” (here in Spain the name is a reference to the boat to the othe world, though) is espectacular, and Ignis jumping like that? HELL YEAH. I didn’t use much the “Overclock” in all honesty because I loved to spam the jump, lol. The dagger system felt really amazing, and probably my favourite element for them was ice. The lightning element was exhilarating, and fire did so much damage... But I just loved the ice daggers too much, not only because of how they felt, but because it was kinda beautiful, like seeing Ignis dance lol. 

And oh my goodness, Ravus and Ignis fight together almost feel like a choreography, and I DIED at how perfectly they combine their moves.

Oh oh, and I went absolutely scavenger mode, looking out for items all around the map, haha. Going to cross the bridge to help Noctis? ... Nah, the loot man, THE LOOT. 

And Altissia... Oh my god, Altissia was amazing (although it hurt to see a place that had been so beautiful now destroyed), such a good open place to explore~ I had INSANE FUN with the hook (oh gods when I discovered that as you fall you can still use I went full Spiderman mode hahaha), and taking back territory from Niflheim. As of now, though, I haven’t picked up all the collectibles and average items, or bought these awesome glasses, or fought Noctis in the Friendly Match, but... SoonTM.

I have to say I accidentally discovered that, if you’re out ot combat and press triangle, Ignis removes and puts on his glasses, or checks them, and so on, lol. That was a cute detail. Oh, and I liked that Weskham did that little appearence! Camelia is just... well... it’s... her. I don’t like how Camelia acted, to be honest... 

Buuut well, onwards.

The music was just PERFECTION. Every theme was AMAZING. That’s an aspect I’ve loved about this DLC, it’s so very well executed! Every piece fits to perfection, and... I just have to mention this: Ardyn getting another version of his theme. One that is just SO scary... Damn, the music of this DLC was perfection.

And now, the time has come... The time to talk about characters and story. The time for DEM FEELS.

The story was just SO WELL EXECUTED. It wasn’t very long, but I felt it SO satisfactory.

Seeing Ignis so worried about Noctis really does something to your heart, like... Just how much this man cares about him? It’s overwhelming, in the good sense.

I’m glad that Ignis got to show in this DLC just how amazing of a character he is, because he deserved it. I mean, he’s shown during the game itself that he cares deeply, but in this DLC you can see just how far he’s willing to go to protect Noctis, and it’s amazing, it’s beautiful, albeit tragic. It’s not that he’s so dedicated because it’s his role to take care of the King of Light, no, but because it’s NOCTIS. He does it for the person, simply. This DLC just shows to what extent, and oh dear... The word is DEVOTION. 

Seeing Ignis not harbouring any doubt before putting the Ring of the Lucii to fight Ardyn later on is just... Wow. He goes through so much pain, through such of a sacrifice, risking his life, to protect Noctis. It’s A LOT. And, you’re going to pardon me for breaking the epic of his act, but... Ignis looks so gorgeous with his hair down and so disheveled. Not to mention that aura around him... I think the world would be “feral”.

Ignis is amazing, in every sense. He’s got a fierce, protecting soul. I don’t doubt that he was scared about what he was doing, but he cared so much for Noctis he just did it. It’s sad when he just falls to the ground besides Noctis after fighting with Ardyn, when he asks Ravus if Noctis is alright, with that tone, because he has no way of knowing by himself. I loved that Ravus talked to him like he did (being all understanding, reassuring), you can tell there’s respect after seeing what he just did. Man, I love their dynamic, even if the time they spent as comrades was short. 

And I just can NOT talk about what happened after they landed on the altar.

Pryna... Oh gods, Pryna. I wasn’t expecting that, to see the poor thing dying just before Ignis’ eyes... And sure as heck I wasn’t expecting for Pryna to show Ignis the future. That left me agape and added yet another layer of pain to Ignis... 

Gods, Ignis and Ravus deserved such a hug.

It was moving seeing Ravus so broken at Luna’s death. One sees earlier he wants to protect her badly, but this... Gods, how much of a pain must be to see a dear sibling lying dead before your eyes? I can totally understand why he lashed out like that, thoughts totally clouded by anger and grief that it’s way too heavy because not only is he grieving Luna right there, but also re-opening the wound of losing his mother. Good thing that Ignis was there to avoid another tragedy...

The fight was... pretty intense. I loved that moment in which Ignis pushed Ravus twice to avoid getting closer, it was a nice touch to the scene. And damn, Ravus really was resilient, it took a bit of time to defeat him, although I liked that fight. 

And, gods, the scene of Ravus embracing his sister, begging for her not to leave him... That was truly heartbreaking. It was his dear sister, but it’s not only that, no... With her death, he was totally and absolutely alone, and since the goal of his life seemed to be protect her, that’s gone as well. He had nothing. The poor man looked so lost and pained... 

Oh, and Ardyn. Ardyn, as always, quite the showman (and a scary one, all the more in the alternative ending, when he tells Ignis the truth and they fight). I have to admit that, for a moment, he had fooled me. I’m impressed that Ravus saw right through the disguise so easily. That means he either knows Ardyn a lot, or that Ardyn might have changed his appearence earlier before him. Or it could be he thought that Gladiolus was being way too much of an asshole and suspected of Ardyn... But, regardless of what it is, it just implies that Ravus knew back then there was something off about Ardyn. I really hope he hadn’t used his appearence change for anything fucked up related to Ravus...

I liked that you could swap point of view and move the camera during that scene with Ardyn, it was interesting. He wouldn’t have, however, killed Noctis. He needed him alive, after all... and for Ignis to get blinded. He just had to push some buttons. I can’t help but think of Ardyn’s expressions when Ignis was hellbent on putting on the ring, before it happened... It happens briefly, but the look doesn’t seem fake, just like in the train, when he talks about Noctis hurting his feelings. I would have loved to know what was going on Ardyn’s mind in these moments when his performance cracks. 

I have to admit I thought we would have the option to choose the alternative path from the start, but well, better like this, being forced to choose the original option on the first time. It would have been weird to start with the alternative universe.

Oh, and before I forget it... The soldier with Ardyn’s fedora. Gods, I automatically smiled then, it had been a funny gesture that almost made me laugh. I wasn’t expecting that at all.

The confrontation with Ardyn... Ah, yet another hard fight, but I achieved to defeat him (and, omg, that moment when he just teleports in front of Ignis, that was between awesome and scary). As I said, I loved the scene with Ravus back then. Also, Gladio almost reaching for Ignis’ hair when he’s on the ground... Bury me with feels. Bury me even more when the credits, too. Seeing Ignis so vulnerable, with Prompto and Gladio so nervous and breaking... Not to mention the scene of Ignis’ talk to Noctis. Oh, dear... I get that he wanted to protect Noctis from death (what a heavy knowledge to bear, knowing of the future...), but it wasn’t a very logical thing, to suggest Noctis to stop. Uuunless he wanted to cause Noctis to move forward.

Chapter 3 Verse 2 is... ANDLFNGLFNLDNASDAS. Or, translated to English, straightaway my death because it was SO-A-MA-ZING. Tragic. Beautiful. With a happy ending (YESSS I mean I love tragedy in fiction but this alternative ending made me soar and now I can’t stop thinking about it).

I almost forgot to say this, but... That “Mysterious Voice”...? In the credits you can see that the voice actress in every language is Luna’s voice actress, but it’s weird that they would process the voice like that AND not say it’s Luna... Not to mention that the way that voice talks isn’t very much “Luna-like”.Regardless of who it is that is talking, the only thing we know is that it’s a voice coming from the Crystal.

A thing that I haven’t mentioned earlier, and it’s very much noticeable now, is that Ardyn has been VERY hard with Ignis, and it may sound crazy but it looks as if he’s just taking it out on him. He said about speeding the process of Noctis becoming the King of Light, but isn’t Ardyn reaching important levels of aggresivity? And it’s not like his mood is the same as always, no, you can see that sometimes his perfomance craks here too, as it does when he fights Noctis in Insomnia. He reveals to Ignis who he is, though (and gods YES at least we get him explicitly saying it was his brother, something that’s good because a lot of people was still thinking who Izunia was), before attacking Ignis... And, in fact, it’s not just that he goes hard on Ignis, is that Ardyn becomes VICIOUS to unsuspected points.

The music of his 4th theme helps make him look scarier, too, and not to mention the fact that he seems to own every weapon of every descendant of his brother Izunia... The fight against Ardyn was VERY hard and tiring.

An interesting thing: while in English the options are named “sacrifice your life”, “risk your life” and “give up”, in Spanish we have that, instead of “risk your life”, the option’s named “sacrifice your senses” > “sacrifice your body” > “sacrifice your soul”, depending on if you choose that option repeatedly until only “sacrific your life” / “give up” remain.

it was sad and worrying seeing Ignis doing such sacrifices, and I seriously thought he was going to die... But, somehow, Noctis made the Crystal answer to his call in such a way that it would heal Ignis, and that was sooo much a relief. This scene was so tragic, it gave me so much feels... Gods, hearing the brothers voice their grief... And Gladiolus specially reached me. 

When I saw the group going around in the credits scene, talking to other characters everywhere, it was SO nice. I loved it, it was very nostalgic, and I love so much FFXV’s NPCs.

But the best thing was the alternative ending... *internal screaming noises of happiness*

“We walk tall — together”. YES. I loved that new version of the phrase.

Ravus being happy, and with that weird, funny yet adorable beard~ ... And SMILING. After all that shit in his whole life. Give me TEN. PLEASE.

And oh my goodness Ignis nodding to Ravus like “you’re one of us, come”, and Ravus going with them with ANOTHER SMILE. Omg. You can blame this DLC that now I headcanon that in this alternative ending Ravus is friends with the bros but specially with Ignis (I mean, Ravus was totally ALONE, he needed someone around him that could understand his pain, and who better than Ignis, that saw him at his worst). 

And in fact, I’ve started to ship both Ravus x Ignis (both one-sided and loved back), and Ignis x Noctis, apart from liking a lot BROTP Ravus/Ignis... HELP hahah. Nah, I’m kidding, don’t help me, I’m comfortable in shipping/BROTP hell lol.

The last scene... Ah, dammit. I wasn’t expecting for Noctis to be alive AT ALL, yet there he was, all majestic and amazing, with that smile on his lips. As I said, at first I thought Ignis was going to enter the throne room to do something symbolic, like saying “thank you” while crying or something, but... NOPE! And I’m so glad I was wrong.

Pfff... This DLC is PURE BEAUTY. 

It has amazing music, a good scenario, smooth gameplay, it answers some questions while it makes you question other things, but most importantly... it portrays the characters very well and gives them more deepness, and the story is solid. 

I don’t know if I’ve forgotten something, and I think I could have written this way better, or express more feeling, but well, this is what I’ve written for now, haha.

To anyone that might be reading this: thank you for checking the post, and have a nice day!

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Thoughts on the Eurovision 2017 Grand Final (late, as usual):

The individual country introductions/Parade of Nations at the beginning of the show might be my favorite obvious change that the show has made in the last five years. The screens were put to good use, and with the camera work it made it look like every contestant materialized from the darkness in a shower of glitter and confetti under an enormous image of their national flag.  Did the announcer’s mic cut out a couple of times? I didn’t hear him announce Belarus or Armenia.

I don’t have a lot of new comments on the semifinal qualifiers.  In general I liked them better than I did in the semi, possibly because of repeated viewing and possibly because the performances were actually better.

Israel, IMRI, “I Feel Alive” – Good choice of high-energy song to start things off. 

Poland, Kasia Moś – Strong vocal.

Belarus, Naviband, “Story of My Life” – Awwww.

Austria, Nathan Trent, “Running on Air” – Definitely more relaxed, and better for it I think.

Armenia, Artsvik, “Fly With Me” – She really holds my attention.

The Netherlands, OG3NE, “Lights and Shadows” – Staging is kind of literal, in multiple senses of the word.

Moldova, Sunstroke Project, “Hey Mamma” – Still well done.

Hungary, Joci Pápai, “Origo” – I like this much better as a live performance than audio-only.  (I was inconsistent about paying attention to visuals in the official videos.)

Italy, Francesco Gabbani, “Occidentali’s Karma” – I am not sure this staging (EDIT: and camera work) helped the song.  It was constantly minimizing one of the strongest elements of the performance – Francesco himself.  

Denmark, Anya, “Where I Am” – Tough spot in the running order.

Portugal, Salvador Sobral, “Amar Pelos Dois” – I had barely noticed the backdrop of trees, but it was very nice.  I think his singing was stronger this time.

Azerbaijan, Dihaj, “Skeletons” – Also in a tough spot.  Probably my favorite entry from Azerbaijan.

Croatia, Jacques Houdek, “My Friend” – I preferred the feeling of the first music video (the one with the writing).

Australia, Isaiah, “Don’t Come Easy” – Better singing this time but I still don’t understand the stage presentation.

Greece, Demy, “This is Love” – This is fine.

Spain, Manel Navarro, “Do It for Your Lover” – This would be perfectly pleasant if not for the chorus (and that unfortunate screech).

Norway, JOWST, “Grab the Moment” – That was fine. 

United Kingdom, Lucie Jones, “Never Give Up On You” – Not bad.  I was feeling more positive after the semifinal preview clip, while this seemed a tiny bit overwrought.  But it sounded pretty good and the staging looked good, and it appears to have been a solid effort.  

Cyprus, Hovig, “Gravity” – (shrug)

Romania, Ilinca feat. Alex Florea, “Yodel It!” – Kiss was a little awkward.

Germany, Levina, “Perfect Life” – Liked the camera shot that came down through the chandelier lighting contraption thing.  Liked the color scheme, though as a visual presentation it was very restrained.  Nice but not a standout.

Ukraine, O. Torvald, “Time” – Guitar break was the best part. Did not really understand the giant head, even when it was explained in the semifinal preview.

Belgium, Blanche, “City Lights” – She looked so much more comfortable on stage.  What the staging said to me: if you did want to take her hand, you’d have to get through all these barriers around her – the swirling triangle mesh (which seems to pop from the screen thanks to the display and lighting effects), the whirlpool on the floor, the cage of lights, the triangle ring, all the while trying to avoid upsetting the giant pulsing orb behind her.  Sounds kind of like a video game but it works as a metaphor.

Sweden, Robin Bengtsson, “I Can’t Go On” – This is at least my sixth time watching this on a livestream and it just isn’t  song I need to hear that often.

(EDIT: oops I forgot to add a comment on Bulgaria)

Bulgaria, Kristian Kostov, “Beautiful Mess” – I think Bulgaria and Australia would have had similar goals as far as presentation, and I think Bulgaria executed better.

France, Alma, “Requiem” – While I liked the background graphics, couldn’t they have done a bit more?  

On the results:

Happy for Portugal.  One unexpected side effect of this year’s competition is that I am inclined to look up Luísa Sobral’s music.

Befuddled by Bulgaria.  For whatever reason, this song has barely made an impression on me.  (Yet I occasionally find last year’s “Soldiers of Love” playing in a loop in my head.  My mind can be a mystery.)

Surprised and happy for Belgium.  Fourth place is considerably better than I expected after the semi.

Surprised that Italy didn’t end up closer to the top given the expectations.  Later on I watched the Sanremo performance and realized it had some of the same graphics (I had only watched it once before) – but with much, much more focus on Francesco.  Could Italy have gotten a better result if they’d used fewer shots where he was a barely-visible dot on the stage?  I think so.

Belarus and Armenia, not even on the left side of the board.  Europe, why?

On the whole it was a pretty good show and not that bad a year for songs, even if none of them turned out to be as all-consuming as “If Love Was a Crime.” I don’t plan to buy the album, but I’ve already bought "City Lights” and may get a few of the other individual songs.

[atlien]

The Real Housewives of Atlanta returns after a short hiatus with the 12th episode of it’s 10th season (February 11, 2018).

Two weeks ago, we were left with a cliffhanger as Cynthia Bailey received a bit of bad news about her new beau during Kandi Burruss’ Essence Cover party.

[READ: RHOA Recap: 5 Things Revealed on Season 10, Ep 11 “Tea is of The Essence + Watch Full Video]

This week’s episode is titled, “Peaches Be Trippin'” as the ladies all prepare for their upcoming girl’s trip to Barcelona.

Bravo synopsis:

Cynthia deals with the fallout from Porsha’s news about Will, leading her to question their budding relationship. Porsha sits down with an unexpected ally, while Kenya begins shifting priorities after some potentially life changing news. Cynthia enlists NeNe’s help in getting all the girls together for a girls’ trip to Barcelona and Porsha attempts to squash all of the beef in the group by hosting a vegan dinner. As everyone gets ready to leave for Barcelona, the ladies are all shocked to learn who is – and who isn’t – going to Spain.

Recap + full video below…

Will wants to know what he “signed up for”…

This week, finally get to find out what happened after Cynthia got word from Eva that her new man has a girlfriend.

Apparently when the drama died down, Porsha offered even more “tea” as she told Cynthia that she heard that Will was using her as an “opportunity”.

As Will escorts the emotional model home, he gets even more offended by her questions and poses the question any opportunist would ask:

What opportunity am I going to get from being around you? Do I get a Ferrari? You gonna get me a Lamborghini? You gonna buy me a house. I’ve got a house. I’ve got a theatre room.

Apparently Will has it all… except he’s never had the platform of RHOA prior to Cynthia.

Interestingly enough, during their ride home he wonders aloud what all he “signed up for”.

Moving on…

Mama Joyce shows some compassion…

Mama Joyce seems a bit kinder and gentler these days as she meets with Porsha (allegedly without Kandi’s knowledge) to get a better understanding of Kandi and Porsha’s fallout.

Joyce, the true leader of the Kandi Koated Clique, wants to know exactly how Porsha could have ever believed that her daughter would try to drug and rape her.

Porsha expresses remorse and states that she only believed it because her BEST FRIEND, who happened to be an ATTORNEY, told her that she head it WITH HER OWN EARS.

Clearly it’s still open season on Phaedra Parks and this time, Joyce has got the gun as she helps Porsha push the knife deeper into Parks’ back.

Each and every one of her fellow cast mates seem to feel that Porsha bears some burden when it comes to spreading the rumor, but apparently Mama Joyce is giving her the benefit of the doubt (presumably due to the fact that Mama Joyce HATES Phaedra).

Mama Joyce actually seems impressed that Porsha was such a die hard friend to Phaedra and tells her that she thinks she deserves forgiveness. For what its worth, Mama Joyce assures Porsha that Kandi will come around soon.

Soon… being the operative term since it took almost 20 years for the songstress to forgive her fellow Xscape members and that “forgiveness” is still being questioned.

Kenya’s “inconclusive” pregnancy scare…

Kenya says she’s 6 weeks late for her period, so she thinks she may be pregnant. The newly wedded beauty queen is joined by her cousin, Chef Che Moore at the doctor’s office for a pregnancy test.

Apparently Kenya and her huzzzbannn have been humping like rabbits (whenever they’re actually in the same state) and she believes that she may finally be pregnant.

Unfortunately, the doctor says that the test is “inconclusive” so she’s going to have to submit some blood for further testing.

For the record, Kenya didn’t appear to be pregnant when she was in Egypt two weeks ago. She was also spotted at the Bronner Bros. hair show this past weekend in Atlanta and the overall consensus is that she’s NOT pregnant at this time.

Excited vs Stupid: Cynthia’s Unhealthy Attachment To her Next & Her Ex…

Nene and Cynthia discuss Bailey’s recent dating woes over lunch. Nene offers some solid advice to her friend as she tells her to take it slow and “don’t be stupid” when it comes to Will.

Nene also notes that Peter Thomas, is probably more Cynthia’s speed as she’s been known to prefer a man whose a little more rough around the edges.

Cynthia apparently agrees as she meets with her “ex” husband later on during the episode.

It’s also during this lunch that Cynthia reveals she wants to plan a girl’s trip to Barcelona to move past all of her relationship woes. She and Nene then discuss who should all be invited… Eva? Kim? Marlo?

‘Sure, invite them all’ Nene says, even though she has her doubts that Kim will actually travel with them.

On a related note, Cynthia has a lunch date with Peter and it seems the couple still has quite a spark.

Peter CLAIMS he moved because he doesn’t want to run into Cynthia with anyone else, but I find it odd that he comes back into town every other weekend to do just that.

I’ve already shared my thoughts a thousand times about how I feel Cynthia and Peter are pulling a “Nene & Gregg” (click HERE if you missed that) and if Peter’s confessional is any indication, he’ll clearly be around for Cynthia as long as she wants him there.

The “No Beef” Party…

Since Kandi invited Porsha to her Essence event and Nene invited her to Barcelona, Porsha feels it’s a great time to invite the girls over to her home to further foster their relationship.

Porsha decides to hava a “no beef” party filled with vegan dishes from her new chef and of course she’s left high and dry and Nene, Kenya, and Kandi all have other plans.

No worries though because “friends” of the show Marlo, Shamea and KKKim are there to pick up their slack alongside peach holders Cynthia Bailey and Sheree Whitfield.

The ladies all seemed to have fun during Porsha’s dinner. The laughter flowed as well as the tea and the shade!

Cynthia admits she called Peter, she confesses that she still “loves” him. Marlo confesses that she has to visit a “friend” in an old folks home.

When Cynthia announces the “girl’s trip,” Kim wants to attend but says she has to bring Kroy because of her health issues.

Marlo, who appeared to be SUPER DRUNK, then calls out Kim and asks if for once, she could travel with the “African-American” girls since she always finds an excuse not to go.

Kim (and Kenya) Get Booted From Barcelona Trip…

The ladies all load up and head out to Barcelona for their girl’s trip.

Kim is adamant that she’s not traveling without Kroy and that is an issue with the other ladies who feel that since they can’t bring their husbands, neither can she.

For that reason alone, Kim gets booted from the trip.

Kandi notes in her confessional that if Kim can’t travel without her husband, she should stay at home… which she does.

Kenya is held back for another reason. She’s being “punished” by the higher ups at the network for her secret wedding. I discussed that in the post below.

[FLASHBACK: #RHOA Tea: The REAL Reason Kenya and Kim Aren’t On The Barcelona Girl’s Trip…]

Sheree seems to be the only person who is ok with Kim bringing Kroy along as she states that if Kim’s man want’s to sit in the parking lot, she doesn’t see a problem with it.

Honorable mention: Nene blasting Kim about Kroy’s booty implants.

Who knows what she’ll be doing while she’s at home. Maybe she’s getting Kroy a new set of booty implants.

In case you missed it, I also shared a few of my thoughts about the episode last night LIVE on Youtube:

Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel to catch my next livestream.

What did you think of this week’s episode of RHOA?

#RHOA Recap: 6 Things Revealed During Season 10, Episode 12 ‘Peaches Be Trippin’ + Watch Full Video… The Real Housewives of Atlanta returns after a short hiatus with the 12th episode of it's 10th season (February 11, 2018).