#I've been meaning to draw life for so cause omg she's so pretty..

[doodlingstar]

A little birthday gift for @shippyo ‼️🎉

I hope you have an amazing birthday bestie 🥺💙

[randomgentlefolk]

CPC CHAPTER 168

I'M GONNA. I'M GOING TO.

Oh thank goodness Frederick has a cat-like flexibility. No but fr tho. The fact that he can fit in small places and just, fold his body??? He's a cat.

OH I AM SO DOWN TO GWEN, AURELIA, THE POSSUM, AND THE RAT PROTECTING FREDERICK LET'S GOOOOO. Also The possum and Gwen's sharp teeth and Aurelia's spit? Heck yeah. AND THEN AURELIA PROTECTING GWEN!! I'm so glad she had a redemption arc :')

OH. OH. I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS. Do you understand the amount of time I've been thinking about Frederick throwing a book at his bullies and Leland to the point I want to draw it but give up midway due to unable to draw anatomy of a person throwing a book? Yeah. And Frederick calling Leland a doofus LOLLLL.

Curtis not being able to see shit but still defending the aid kit station pretty well? That's what I call true skill. I mean he's really fighting multiple soldiers with armor and spear, and he's winning. But man his hand tho. I'm guessing those are from splinter and maybe some sorta swelling from holding the broom too long (idk how to describe it) or smth? Those has got to hurt...

HAHAHAHHAHAH I can't believe I didn't expect she would say that LMAO. Also she looks so goofy in the second image HAHA.

Nah the commander really went for Laverne too... Did Leland even agree on that?

Omg....Lorena catching Suzie....Lorzanna....

Leland's strength continues to terrify me. He just broke stair railing that seems to be made from marble, WITH HIS BARE HAND. I swear the Pastel palace is gonna need LOTS of renovation after all of these end.

"You don't decide what you want" oh bull I say, bull. Boooo Leland rotten tomatoes rotten tomatoes boooo nobody likes you go home boooo rotten tomatoes.

Eugh I'm surprised Frederick hasn't broken AT LEAST a bone with how much he got slammed and thrown hardly. The door broke bro the door broke. His spine...

Now that I think about it never have i ever with syrah would probably be wild XD

Okay at this point I am the most glad that frederick told cpc because otherwise many bad things would happen...

Wait a minute. What happened to spider Prez? I can't seem to remember...Did she pass out after breaking the door?

Wait so the Plaidypus isn't the royal plaid army?? Wait cause I'm kinda confused now :') if someone can explain it to me that would be great.

OH CRAP OH NO.

Shit, Frederick fr need a doctor asap. All those tossing around, the dusts, nah...

Okay this is sad and all but Syrah with the long nose made me giggle.

THANK YOU PRINCEL-WHOSE-NAME-HASN'T-BEEN-REVEALD!! Blaine really missed like ¾ of the war lmao.

I swear cpc is responsible for me learning new vocabularies daily.

OH??? BLAINE?? BLAINE??? I don't, I really don't know how to start.

First of all, there's a new meaning to this. So what I'm getting here, Blaine wants to be at the top because if he gets all the attention, Lance and Frederick won't be in trouble because he thought Leland wouldn't notice him much then. I suppose what's in Blaine's mind is, it's better to be neglected by your shitty parents rather than being noticed and verbally/physically abused by them?

Okay, I'm starting to get it. I'm the youngest sibling so I don't know if I'm getting it correctly, but this is what I get: "I will take all the abuse from our father so you, my younger brothers, can live a happy life without being notices by him."

Older siblings, amirite?

So, Blaine has been trying to protect his brothers but because Frederick keeps upsetting Leland and then making him proud, Blaine's plan keeps on being in shambles?

One thing I'm confused about though. Hear me out, Blaine most likely has golden child syndrome right? So how do we draw a line between which act is because wanting to succeed due to believing that's all his worth, and which act is from protecting his brothers?

Oh but he still owes Frederick and Lance lots of apologies though. Don't think I can forget what you said to Frederick in the dungeon, Blaine. That chapter broke me. To Lance, well, to be honest I don't exactly know what he should apologize about, but I feel like Blaine still has to? Sorry, I'm not making sense. Maybe apologize due to not talking to Lance and Frederick about his plan?? Oh man someone help me–

Imagine this tho: Blaine apologizing to Lance and Frederick for letting them get hurt by father, but then Isolde came and assured him that what Leland do isn't his fault. Haha I love to analyze this guy's mental health.

I hope he goes to therapy after this is all over. The plaid princes really need a lot of therapy. Actually the whole plaid family need therapy.

Okay say goodbye to my professionalism for awhile.

OABDUANSUAKSBW BLAINE??? PROTECTING FREDERICK?? THIS IS LIKE A DREAM COME TRUE. LAMBCATTTT THANK YOU LAMBCATTT!!!!

Frederick looks so amazed and I won't blame him cause I WOULD TO. IF I WAS ABOUT TO DIE, And someone suddenly came to save me, then proceed to throw the bad guy and himself out of the window by breaking the window and letting the damn sun rise view come in. I. I would look like that.

Blaine looking at the sunrise and realizing the true meaning of life and contemplating what he has done. I love him so much you got this bro.

Also Blaine turns out to be strong! I remember headcanons of him being the weakest out of the three. I mean that could still happen, but the fact that he carried Leland in which who knows how much he weights, and threw him out of the window. Damn.

But they're still falling though, that's not good. I doubt Blaine will die for that matter. It would be wasteful. He barely had his redemption arc. I'm thinking either he uses Leland to break his fall, or Nell's premonition about the tent save him. But the forest is a little far though... Oh! Or maybe, because the pastel kingdom is full of hills, they would fall and roll down towards the tent! That's a possibility!

SHE'S WEARING RED. I REPEAT, SHE'S WEARING RED!!!! YOOOO I WONDER WHAT SHE DID?? I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER...which is in 20 minutes lmao

That's it for now. See ya next chapter!

Mono out! (But still in to hear your thoughts. Please actually tell me your thought on this because I NEED answers and theories. Also psychology analization will actually make me go insanely happy)

[marichat-verse]

Mist Memories

Leo Valdez x reader for his birthday ahhhh (even though it's angsty) with a platonic/developing jason x reader cameo at the end (lmao im sorry i couldn't help myself 😭)

Based on this picture I found in pinterest + also [kinda] based on traitor by olivia rodrigo and omg i really recommend u guys listen to this edit because it reminds me so much of this fic that's been stuck in my head for MONTHS also kind of a run away with me prologue lol

Your POV

I nervously made my way across the forest until I reached a limestone cliff. I knocked on the iron door, not really expecting to get an answer.

My boyfriend has been shutting himself in Bunker 9 for the past few weeks. I stood there counting up to seven before knocking again. I knocked again two more times, until he answered in the middle of my last knock.

He removed his goggles and winced as sunlight hit his eyes. He'd grown thinner and paler, making the dark circles in his eyes more pronounced.

"Oh, Leo..." I reached out to brush a few strands of hair away from his face, but he moved away.

"What are you doing here?" He said in a monotone voice.

I moved to walk inside the Bunker, brushing off his hesitation to let me in. "I'm your partner, remember? And I'm really concerned because you're shutting yourself out lately. You know everyone's starting to worry about you. Percy asked me to check on you because you missed pegasus riding with him. Oh, and I'm pretty sure Jason's coming back from Camp Jupiter soon. I was hoping you and Annabeth could be with Piper while Percy and I hung out with Jason because it's been a little awkward since their breakup. Plus Piper wanted to tell you something—"

"Please," he said forcefully causing me to stop and look at him. "Just... Get out."

Normally, he'd shut himself from the world for a few days to work on an important project or because he was feeling really sad and he needed space. But this was getting out of hand. He had never locked me out of his life when I offered to help him. He was never this mean when he asked for space. I was not having this attitude of his.

"Okay, Leo. I tried to play nice. What is so important that you blow off all your friends for nearly a month that you can't even tell your partner, or maybe say hi to your best friend who's coming back from the other side of the country?"

He didn't say anything. He pursed his lips and avoided eye contact. I scanned he room for any signs.

It was messier than usual with all the crumpled paper scattered on the floor, especially on his desk. He could have been drawing up new plans. Something in my gut told me that something wasn't right. There were no new unfinished projects, indicating that he wasn't starting a new invention. Harley's helicopter lay on his bench in the same state it was weeks ago. Huh, not even his siblings could enter the Bunker.

I turned and Leo was already changing Festus' oil. I took this moment of distraction to pick up a few pieces of crumpled paper on the floor and on his desk. I had to process the words a bit longer—too long that Leo took notice. Damn dyslexia.

I heard footsteps speed up behind me, but it was too late. I read enough and got the gist of what he had been trying to do these past few weeks.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He yelled at me. Small embers started to erupt between his curls.

I laughed dryly. "So this is what you've been up to?"

His fists tightened, further crumpling the paper in his hands. His eyes flashed with anger, despair and confusion.

I sighed and focused my eyes on his desk, not daring to look at him any longer. Under some pieces of paper were old photographs of him and Piper from Wilderness School. Yup, those definitely were the mist memories she had with Jason. I read the latest draft he'd been writing:

Dear Piper,

Remember the mist memories from boarding school with Jason? They were real, but they were with me.

I miss you. I miss when it was just us. I miss the night on the roof.

Yours truly,

Leo Valdez

I tried to keep my voice from cracking. "How long?"

I heard him sigh. "Three weeks."

I balled my fists. Tears started to fall and smudge the ink. I wiped them away as fast as they came.

"How?"

"In a dream," his tone softened now. "Hera came to me in a dream and told me to check an old drawer in Bunker 9. I found the photos and the memories came rushing back."

"How long were you dating back then?"

"Two weeks."

"Were you ever going to tell me?"

Silence; then a deep breath.

"No."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Why?"

"Because I knew you'd get upset like—"

"I meant why would you throw away months of our relationship for a couple of weeks of your relationship with her? And without even bothering to tell me? Gods damn it, Leo. We've been together since you've first arrived at camp. And what about those promises you made when we were sailing to Greece? You've been keeping these feelings away from me and you've been lying to me, making me believe that there's still something between us and—"

"Oh, calm down," he said with an annoyed expression and tone, which only infuriated me more, "it's not like I did anything were her yet! I didn't kiss her or tell her how I truly felt for her! She just got out of a relationship with Jason around the same time I had that dream. I had to figure out how to talk to her about it. I've been alone in this Bunker for three. Fucking. Weeks. I didn't cheat on you."

"Oh, and that makes everything better?" I countered. "Being in a relationship isn't about not cheating, Leo. It's about being honest and communicating with each other."

"Oh, like you've been communicating with me? After the war, you take go back to Manhattan for school, and you take a job. I haven't seen you much during the holidays because work has been keeping you in the city. And you won't tell me what you even do for a living!"

I took in a deep breath. "I told you I needed to have a life outside of camp! I needed to know first that I could handle myself in the mortal world as a normal human being. I needed this demigod part of my life to be separate as much as possible! I've been in two wars, Leo. I needed time to myself, too. And I was about to tell you guys in a few more days. But I guess now, I'm glad I've kept you out of that part of my life. At least I have an escape from all of this. And now, especially from you."

I took another deep breath and walked to the door, about to let myself out. I turned back again, both our tear-stained eyes meeting each other.

"If it makes you feel any better," I said softly, "I would've hated the idea of us breaking up. But if you really love her, if you really feel like you have this special connection to her and she makes you happy, then I won't get in your way. You could at least have had the decency to talk to me so we could have left on a good note."

He looked at me with wide eyes, clearly regretting his actions. I sighed and looked around the Bunker, possibly for the last time. Lots of memories were definitely created in this room; all just as grand and meaningful as the inventions they made here. But just like some of Hephaestus' contraptions, some of them were flawed and dumped in his scrapyard, no matter how much potential it could have had.

"Goodbye, Leo."

I sat on a rock on the beach that gave me a beautiful view of Long Island Sound. To my left, the sun started to set, casting an orange filter on everything. My heart broke, remembering how everything glowed orange in the Bunker. Leo always left the fires burning when he was working. The sunlight twinkling against the sea reminded me of how small bits of flame peaked through his hair earlier. I remembered how mad he was at me. Or maybe he was mostly mad at himself.

"Hey."

I jumped when someone sat—or rather, landed—beside me. I turned and smiled, seeing one of my good friends back at camp.

"Hey, you're back," I said weakly. "How long have you been here?"

He smiled at me, although he could maybe sense that something was wrong. "Half an hour, maybe? I saw Annabeth making plans to expand camp to have a city. She made me do an aerial inspection and I told her I'll get back to her tonight. That's when I saw you."

"Mhmm," I mumbled, not really knowing what to say. It was silent for a few minutes before I spoke up again, knowing he was just waiting for me to open up.

"I broke up with Leo."

His head quickly turned to me. I guess he wasn't expecting it to be that bad. "What?"

"Oh yeah," I laughed dryly. "Turns out the mist memories Piper had in Wilderness School with you? They were real. But not with you."

His eyes widened. "Oh... With Leo."

"He locked himself in the Bunker for weeks trying to write a letter. It was heartbreaking. Like, truly heartbreaking. He wanted to tell her how much he missed her and how much he missed them. Then he said how much he missed that night with her under the stars and... It hurt. Like hell."

"Oh," he said. "I guess Piper didn't tell me everything then."

"She knew all along?"

He shook his head. "Maybe not everything, but she told me she's been confused about her feelings lately and she'd been having visions or dreams of possible old memories that were messing with her head."

"I'm sorry about you and Piper," I said.

"Don't be," he said. "I understand her. It did hurt, though. But I think I can get over it some day. We're still awkward around each other, but at least we left on a good note."

I scoffed. "Leo couldn't even give me a good ending to our relationship."

"Hey," he said as he put a hand on my shoulder. "You're a great person, y/n. You've done so much, especially for him. It's his loss that he was stupid enough to let go of you."

"I know that."

"Do you really?"

"I do!" I said. "I'm a great person and I know that. But that doesn't mean what he did doesn't hurt me."

"I know," he said. "You'll find someone who'll treat you like the queen that you are. You're a great person, and I'm not just saying this to cheer you up. I truly think you're amazing."

I smiled at him. "Thanks, Jason. And you'll find someone great, too. Maybe not as great as me but, then again, who is?"

We both let out a laugh. The conch sounded in the distance, signaling dinner. I moved to stand up before hearing Jason speak up again.

"Hey, do you maybe want to just grab a couple of plates and eat out here?"

I smiled. "Yeah. That sounds good. I don't really want everyone else hounding me about the breakup right now."

I don't know how long it was going to take me to get over Leo. We really did gave something special. It was cruel how the universe gave me something so good, to make me have hope that something was finally going right, then have it yanked away from my arms just as suddenly as it came.

He never cheated on me, but that didn't mean he didn't betray every promise we made to each other. I should have known it was too good to be true. Life has always played cruel jokes on me.

Then again, who's to say that things won't turn out for the better, right?

•••

Tagging: @drvrslcense @bubblybubbubs @dreamerball @quteez @aesthetxcimagines @chasingpj @beingleft @wadewilsonsgreatestfriend

[dorianpavus]

katieeee you're super good at mercy (seriously, i get hype every time you post a highlight video, i love watching you play) and i was wondering if you had any tips for dying less on her :o i'm a good healer but my e:d ratio is abysmal, and i've started using her pistol more lately, so i just need to. not die as much. rip

omg first of all?? thank you so much omg!!! :’)

so this is gonna get a little long, so i’ll try and organize it so it’s an easier read, ya? below the cut~

step one: constantly fly around

i mean it. most people are not a) good enough, b) playing a mobile enough hero, and c) patient enough to consistently try and tail a mercy that’s flitting around nonstop. you can keep your stream on a teammate that needs the heals and still fly around constantly, as long as your teammates are relatively close by. don’t think you should camp with your tank or dps. mercy’s greatest weapon isn’t her blaster (though being lethal with that is certainly Clutch), it’s her mobility. make sure you’re using it!

how to fly around easier/be more mobile:

you have to keep stock of where your teammates are at all times, for your own safety as theirs. look around constantly, so that someone watching you on death cam might get a little sick. this helps check for enemy flankers (constant vigilance), as well as giving you an understanding of where you can fly to escape at all times. no one wants to end up being a mercy who’s being sizzled by a winston and doesn’t have any idea where their teammates are, cause while you’re looking, you’re Getting Dead. always keep stock of them, so at the first sign of danger, you can be like “lol nice try buddy” and fly away. those seconds that you don’t have to spend looking for an escape route are gonna save your life.

naturally, if you have a pharah or a widow, congrats, they are your escape 9 times outta 10. flying up to characters on platforms is super helpful cause normally, ya know, people can’t get to you while you’re up there so quickly. it takes time, and now that mercy has been buffed, she regens health super fast – faster than most mobile heroes have access to their abilities. if they still come after you after you’ve found a teammate and regained your health… rinse and repeat. they’ll get tired or dead eventually. (see below)

what to do when someone won’t leave you alone

so let’s say you’re flying around constantly, trying to make yourself a hard target to hit by choosing smart and irregular flight patterns. but alas, you have someone tailing you! what should you do?

if your team has a good enough dps:

try and fly to them and attack boost them (and duck around any shelter you can find to keep yourself out of range of bullets, obviously). if they’re good, their attack boost will wipe out whoever is chasing you, as long as they notice you’re being chased and want to help… which is why this is usually easier when you’re either grouped with them or they have Proven Themselves as an honorable and cherished teammate :^)

if you don’t:

tragically, let’s say you’re playing alone, or your dps sucks and is evil and selfish and you’re suddenly in a horror movie where everyone is out to get you… there are things you can do to stay safe!

tracer attacking:

tracers are usually really easy to kill as mercy, as long as you’re good with your blaster – she only has 150 health and 1 recall for every 12 seconds. that’s less health than you, and less than 100 health more than you if you count her recall.

tracers don’t expect mercys to fight back a lot of the time. if you start shooting at her, and knock her down to half health in like a second, she’s gonna use her recall back to full health 90% of the time. then she’s either gonna be like “oh shit this mercy’s not worth it run away” or she’s gonna continue to attack. 

if she does continue to attack, keep flying around your teammates (always fly around, always always always), make her burn her blinks to get you. and keep shooting the entire time. tracer does more damage the closer she is to you, so if you can keep distance between yourself and her and make her lose that recall, you can kill her ez.

genji attacking:

most genjis aren’t very good with their weapon, because it’s hard to aim with it. well, i suck at genji, and i think so at least. you’ll find that a lot of the time they’re trying to come after you, they’re running at you in a straight line – because they don’t think you’re gonna fight back, either, and it’s easier for them to aim that way. perfect. unload a few shots into that cute lil face of his and genji will be dead very quickly – his coming at you straightforwardly makes headshots easy.

but let’s say this genji is actually pretty mobile – double jumping, that sort of thing. just keep shooting – honestly, your blaster is easier to use than his weapons. unless the genji is really good, you’re gonna out-shoot him, especially if you’re making yourself a hard target to hit, too. try and stay around corners and everything, find shelter so he can’t dash through you.

and always be ready to pull your finger off the trigger in an instant if he starts deflecting. no one wants to die to their own bullet.

winston attacking:

a tank?!? a tank???? god. i know. tracer and genji are so slight, but winston’s packing 400 health and armor?! honestly, you’re not gonna win a 1v1 fight with winston. you’re not, most of the time, unless he’s already taken some hits or he’s really bad. 

you need to draw this out as long as possible – keep as much distance between you and winston as you can. fly to a teammate, ideally a dps. when winston starts to leap after you, the teammate is now caught in winston’s sizzle. they’re gonna fight for their own life, and you should start blasting away at winston, too. the two of you together should be able to take him down – but if you find yourself about to die, fly away again. winston will either remain preoccupied with the dps or he’ll come after you – but hopefully you’ll have followed the advice from above and regained some health points first. then fly back to the dps, heal them up a bit, and repeat. winstons don’t usually have a pocket mercy, so he probably hasn’t healed much in the 10 seconds this has all transpired in. you can take him down now. 

d. va attacking

your strategy for d. va is much the same as it is for winston -- you’re not gonna be able to take on a full-health d. va usually, so fly around and get help. even if your teammates aren’t the type to protect their mercy, if you bring the d. va to them, they’re gonna have to fight for their own sake. :^)

try NOT to find cover inside a building with d. va, though. she’ll just corner you in a room (winston’s jump doesn’t really work for that, but d. va’s boost does) and make it impossible for you to fly away to a teammate. since you always want to fly, and you can’t kill her on your own... that’s pretty much instant death.

sombra attacking 

honestly, sombras are a lot like tracer. they don’t have too much health, and when they take a hit, they usually use their translocater to fall back to a health pack. that’s usually enough time for you to regain health and reposition yourself better. 

sombra’s biggest strength is hacking you, of course. so the second you hear that sound, you start firing your pistol -- she can’t hack you if she’s taking damage. DO NOT try and fly away when that’s happening, because she’ll just hack you, you’ll lose your mobility, and then you’re stuck in a 1v1 shootout. you could still win that if you have good aim, of course, but you never want to put yourself in that position.

pharah attacking

it’s hard to shoot a pharah out of the air with mercy’s pistol, so don’t bother. fly to your long-range dps so they get hit with her rocket too, and now you have someone who wants to kill pharah. try and alternate between healing them and attack boosting them (hopefully around some kind of cover to shield yourself) to help them wipe her out.

if she’s super committed to killing you, though, and still dogging after you hard... keep trying to make yourself hard to hit, and try and make sure your dps is doing their job. you’re really not going to be able to kill her on your own, unless she falls down to the ground. if she does, and she’s already taken some hits, finish her off -- otherwise, unless you know you have really good aim and can land some headshots, keep flying. pharah’s rockets do too much damage for you to be particularly effective against her.

no one’s really coming after you, but you still end up dying

maybe a soldier is firing into the crowd and he just keeps hitting you, or maybe you’re getting sniped, or roadhog keeps hooking you. what can you do about that?

avoid line of sight

most of those kinds of problems where mercy ends up dead is that you’re making yourself too accessible. maybe you’re not flying around enough, or you’re not taking cover enough. mercy should usually be doing one of those two things -- flying, or behind some sort of cover, whether it’s around a corner while your teammates fight on the payload, or just far back enough that no one’s bothering you (while you keep a constant eye out for flankers).

if a roadhog keeps hooking you, just keep tabs on him. make sure you stay far back and behind shelter. he can’t hook you through a wall (not anymore, anyway. take that asshole). if he’s hooking you, it’s because honestly, you left yourself too out in the open, too vulnerable, and didn’t put anything between yourself and him (even if that’s just a teammate).

if widow is sniping you, it’s the same thing -- you’ve left yourself too vulnerable. widows are usually super stationary, so as long as you keep tabs on where she’s set up, you can not step out into the place that she has an angle on -- and if you must cross it, try and fly past it, so you don’t fly slowly into her Zone but quickly across it. just.. be generally careful when you fly if the other team has a good widow. you still need to remain mobile, but always try and walk along walls and stay out of her scope.

if someone is just shooting you, same thing. take cover, either behind a tank or a wall (preferably both). and once they start shooting something else and your health is regenerating, get back to flying a lot.

avoiding ults

a fundamental part of playing mercy is avoiding getting caught in people’s ults -- if you’re caught, you can’t heal or rez, and it’s a tpk. ALWAYS take note of who you’re playing against, and if the other team is good, play defensively so that you don’t get caught in things. 

if you notice it’s been a little while since zarya ulted, stay far behind your team. if it’s about time for a death blossom, constantly scan around for a flanking or teleporting reaper (you can, you know, shoot the red smoke while he’s teleporting, and that will hurt him and make him super super super easy to kill). if reinhardt has been on fire the whole game, try and stay behind a wall and/or out of alignment with the rest of your team, so that if he sees the three of them grouped up all ripe for the picking, you don’t get caught. if you’re coming from spawn and the fight is brutal, don’t fly up to your teammates --- walk up. they might get hurt more, one might even die since it took you longer to get there, but then you won’t have flown into a massacre.

basically, just never stop thinking about the other team ulting and how that can affect you and how you can avoid it. never. :^)

well... that’s all i got for right now, haha. if you actually read this i’ll be amazed. :P but also if you have any questions, let me know!!! i probably forgot something useful.

but seriously, thanks for asking in the first place. it’s very flattering :’)

good luck with mercy friend!!!

[shatcey]

unrelated but people who make you feel safe talking about your interests are the BEST people.

Oh, that's sweet… thank you. It's nice to meet someone who is on the same wavelength with you and can understand you surprisingly well, it's a pretty pleasant experience. But I would say the intention to understand a different point of view can be interesting as well. Looking at the world through other people's eyes is a challenge, but it no less rewarding. It expanded your knowledge and gave you ideas that you wouldn't have been able to get otherwise. More opinions - wider mind. My point is... I'm incredibly selfish.

Is this a good time to mention that Alfons's Kate and you talk so much alike for me that I'll be reading his route and be like… Where is Shay's paycheck cause she must have worked on this for Kate to sound so much like her.

OMG, thank you🥹… that's… probably the best thing I've ever heard in my life… I've felt a connection with this Kate ever since I read Ally's route on JP. I really see myself in this story… almost from the very beginning. And I completely agree with all her actions and decisions… But I didn't expect anyone else to notice this… this… extremely sweet. Thank you. I won't cry, I won't!!! I don't need Roger's card!!!!!! Ally won't let him in anyway.

Indeed, Rumpel filled the room with gold… and each time king ordered more and more spacious rooms to be filled. This king is a pretty greedy guy. Now that I think about it… there are a lot of very nasty people in this story, but the guy they called the villain didn't do anything wrong. He just wants a child. What kind of crime is that??? Maybe he'll be a great parent… probably much better than this greedy king and manipulative woman.

The problem with a good theory is that the more you think about it, the more arguments you can find in favor of "this should be the one." But it can also be wrong, so I try not to stuck on one idea and find something else. So I will probably write a new post about the ideas you inspired me to. This one turned out to be quite long even for the most enthusiastic readers.

But… about the hair… I found this beautiful picture of how to draw a character. I'll use the first one (it's not because it's easier to count that way).

The picture from the Youtube.

On the sprite, Vivi's hair covers his… butt. It's a normal word. So, absolutely randomly, we got the number 4 out of 7, which is surprisingly perfect for the length of his hair.

Vivi's height is 183.5 cm. If we divide it by 7 and multiply by 4, we get the length of his hair. It's somewhere around… 104.8 cm. Actually even before the calculation, I thought it should be a meter…

I took another look at the Wiki (why not?)

And I've also heard that men's hair grows faster. I'm starting to envy them. Their eyelashes are longer, there are fewer wrinkles, and their hair grows faster. If the first two could be explained by the fact that they don't use so much cosmetics, then the latter… It's just not fair! Continue. So… let's take the average number, as they say… 1 cm per month. It will be 12 cm per year. And… if we divide our 104.8 cm by these 12… it will be 8.7 years.

So he grew that hair in 8.7 years. IF!!!!! He didn't cut it. Which is unlikely, hair tends to get worse at the tips and starts to fall out if you don't trim it. You literally have to cut your hair to make it longer - another paradox of this world.

And since I feel a certain connection with this guy (a girl can dream), I would say that he started growing it (hair) when he created the Crown… as a symbol. It's pretty random… but I got my first tattoo because I wanted to have something that would stay with me forever. I only had two of them, I more into meaning than numbers. Perhaps he had similar thoughts. He wanted something to keep growing… in his life. And it pretty much matched his cursed ability… Which I'll talk about later.

I need time to collect my thoughts… I have too many of them.

I wish we could see Victor's face when we tell him we stopped looking into human villains like no, you're definitely either have been confused with a poisonous apple or a tower to lock up a girl in. I bet we'd get that adorable taken aback puppy face! Your honor is this the face of a killer? No, no it's not.

Let's ask him on X/Twitter during the promotion campaign before release of his route. I hope he answers that.

Victor please come quick the girls are waiting for your route :')

Vivi probably agrees with Willy and just give us time to unravel all his mysteries… because it's so... much... fun)

Victor theories. His curse.

Just because I'm already mentally ready to Victor's route, and it's still sooooo long before it'll be released… to brighten up the wait, I decided to think about this gorgeous man. At least while Ally isn't watching. First of all… I like Vivi right from the prologue. He wasn't my the most favorite (and still he's just the second), but I always was interested in him. Not as a leader of Crown, father (or rather say mother) figure of the boys or Queen's aid, but just a person. Then I think about Vivi, about the fairy tale he could be from… the feeling that "I should know this", "it's somewhere very close", "I can catch this thought at any moment", doesn't leave me. But for some reason I cannot figure out. But one line from Dark IF event somehow ignited me, and I finally found something to cling to. I'm not sure if my ideas will be confirmed in his route, but it doesn't matter. I'm doing it JUST FOR FUN…

In his story from the "Dark IF. part 2" event which @.reccyls beautifully translated, was a line that he was from a very old fairy tale.

I looked into the Wiki and find this part.

A little bit about the fairy tales from this list:

Jack and the Beanstalk. We've probably all heard at least a little bit about this story. The guy grew a huge beanstalk and climbed up to the clouds where the giants live. He stole from them and eventually killed the giant. Do you really need to explain who I see as the villain here? But… I don't see Vivi in this story at all.

 Beauty and the Beast. Another story we've all heard about. The prince was proud and rude, and some fairy or witch (I don't remember, it doesn't matter) turned him into a beast. And the only way to become a human again is if beautiful (why beautiful?) woman fall in love with him, despite his appearance. The villain is obvious but… I kind of understand her and don't even blame. There are several versions of this tale. There is even one in which the witch who turned the prince into a monster was his aunt, who wanted to marry him. Damn it, these fairy tales are no different from the Greek myths. Cybird used this concept to create a full-size game. I doubt they will use it again.

Deal with the Devil. In my opinion, this is a less common story. Simply put, this is the legend of Faust, who sold his soul to the devil for endless knowledge. But different versions have different main characters and the reasons why they sold their souls. But the result is always the same: the dark creature literally came for what belongs to him, and was deceived. Again… I'm not sure who the villain is here, and… this story could actually work.

Rumpelstiltskin. Some very strange man boasted that his daughter could make gold out of straw, and… to help the poor girl do as her daddy claimed, a little man came and helped in exchange for her firstborn. I've never understood why do they even need children? Do they have problems with childbirth? Or… No, there's nothing to eat… Why are they needed them? Note that I'm not even considering the possibility of making the protagonist suffer. There must be something for the villains. I see only inconveniences. So in order to keep the child, they need to guess his name. The villain was deceived again. In the milder version, he runs away, in the bloody version, he kills himself. I really feel sorry for the guy. Another good option.

 Swan maiden. It's harder to explain. This is not a fairy tale, but a concept involving a character who can transform from a swan into a human and back again. We already know about "Swan Lake", which is actually based on this concept. There is a story about guy who marry a swan lady and hid her skin so that she cannot transform. And there was also a male version, which for some reason I remember very well. Some witch who turned (I think) 7 brothers into swans and their younger sister needed to sew them nettle shirts. Assemble it, make threads from it and sew clothes. Probably, the concept of creating clothes impressed me so much when I was a child that I still remember it. But… We already have swan boys, so I doubt Victor is from the same story.

So… I've stopped on two options.

Deal with the Devil

At the "Death or Love" event (yes, I couldn't wait a month, I read it again), his thought led me to think that it might be related.

Maybe it's just a figure of speech, but for me it sounds like he sold his soul. But in the fairy tale, the one who sold his soul was the main character, not the villain. Even though he tricked the dark creature in the end, he's still kind of a good guy… Oh, those double standards. As much as I would like to consider this option, I'm more inclined to the other one.

Rumpelstiltskin

Let's take a look at Victor himself

The first thing I noticed right away (obviously after his hairs) was how many layers he had. I see three coats, and the value of the top one is the most questionable. It is shorter than the other two, with very wide sleeves and some metal fragments on one side and nothing to connect them with on the other. A really strange coat. Probably just for show. Where else would he hide his pigeons?

So… layered clothes. Not only the coat, but his entire image consists of many layers. A shirt, a vest, one of the coats looks like another vest, and three coats. Even his shoes seem to consist of several layers. The obvious one is the horizontal detail on the back of the leg and the triangle on the front side. But the shoe design looks more complicated than necessary.

I don't think I need to explain what thoughts came to my mind because of this. He is an extremely complex person. And finding the real one behind so many layers is probably extremely difficult.

When he takes off his jacket, only a plain black shirt remains. And he looks even more dashing in it. My personal biased opinion.

Another detail that attracted attention is the spikelet motif. A decorative detail of the second coat, the lapel of the coat. The pattern on the lapel of the same second coat somewhat resembles an ear of wheat, and on the third, presumably, a metal pattern. Not to mention his shoulder straps, which really look like wheat ones. Perhaps this impression is created because of the color though.

So his outfit screams of gold (color) and spikelets (motif). And the fact that we don't actually know his real name suggests that he might actually be a Rumpelstiltskin.

Besides, I remembered… the adaptation… this fairy tale, or rather, many fairy tales. Once apon the time (2011-2018). There was the character Mr. Gold. I can't say he's handsome, but he's incredibly charming and funny. I've been watching this series for probably only 2 or 3 seasons, so I don't know if he was later or not. So. He was Rumplestiltskin. I can describe him as a very lonely man whom everyone hates, who has very talented hands (craft) and who is literally fixated on one person. Belle. Damn, why can't they come up with another name? And it pretty much matches Victor's description.

I had another sudden thought… at some event, someone called Vivi the "god of death". And that immediately made me think of Greek mythology. Thanatos.

This article contain too many symbols we already seen. The butterfly and the poppies are from Elbert's Route. And in this legend Thanatos has a twin brother Hypnos (God of Dreams). And who else can be called a hypnotist, if not Alfons? They're not related, right? This can't be!!!

And to complicate things even more, a phrase from the same Dark if event, that makes me doubt everything I found (translated by @.reccyls):

So… It could be a Deal with the devil, with a female protagonist... But the words "over and over again" indicated the reiteration of the same mistake. But if she has already sold her soul how could she repeat that? Groundhog Day? Reincarnation? But I… don't remember anything related to this concept… And "the path that leads to destruction?". In which fairy tale does the main character eventually die for good? I don't know… And again… this feeling… I'm so close, but I still can't reach it.

And at last… The developers could use something completely unrelated to fairy tales. For example, an old lullaby or a creepy story that is told to children to make them docile…

These are just my thoughts, and they most likely have nothing to do with Vivi's real curse. But I extremely enjoy to build a chain of assumptions, you never know what it might lead to...

The design of the spikelet on the dividers is from Designed by Freepik

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🔝 𝕊𝕋𝔸ℝ𝕋 ℙ𝔸𝔾𝔼 🔝

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