#In my mind he's either got a cute Fairy Outfit or just a copy of the Neo-G*rm*ny Trace Suit and he's doing the little dance! 😭 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

descendantofthesparrow · 4 years ago

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Shuffle Playlist - Rewrite - Part of Your World - Part 16 - Cotillion p1

all outfits link since i dont feel like putting them all here

You rolled the chain of your ruby necklace between your lips as the stretch carriage made its way closer to the cotillion ship. “you okay love?” Harry whispered to you, placing his warm hand on your thigh. You slowly nodded, mind flashing back to the movie, remembering Uma’s entrance and her transformation to the giant Cecaelia.

You only hoped that if her arrival at cotillion still happened; nothing would happen to Harry or Gil. “I’m…fine” you reassured him, dropping the chain from your mouth and turning to smile at him “Sorry, just nervous”

“Same here,” Harry chuckled, taking your hand and intertwining your fingers “haven’t done an event like this since beasty boy’s coronation” you lifted your free hand and pressed it to his cheek.

“You don’t have to do anything but stand there and be handsome, and you’re already nailing about half of that” Harry’s cheeks turned pink and he leaned in to quickly peck your jaw.

“Thank yeh love” you glared at Evie and Jane as they giggled at you.

“oi no one told you to look over here, shoo” they just gave you an amused look and returned to their conversation. Jay leaned over a bit and held his fist out, laughing as Harry smacked it away.

The carriage slowed to a stop and the driver opened the door moments later. You and Harry, being closest to the door, stepped out first, Harry quickly climbing out and holding out his hand to help you.

You picked up your dress with your right hand and grabbed Harry's with your left, carefully stepping out of the carriage and whistling at the loud music and bright lights that were erupting from the top of the ship.

“Nice job Jane” the short fae grinned and held onto Gil’s arm as he led her to the entrance. Evie and Doug stopped next to you and Harry, Evie nodding towards the ramp with all the press.

“shall we?”

“…les do dis” you smirked, turning to a grin as Evie giggled at the word choice. “yall go ahead, I think we have to be in a line anyway” Evie nodded and walked forward with Doug.

Harrys hand-squeezed yours, making you look at him with raised brows “you okay?”

“aye” he muttered, letting out a soft sigh “do…do I look okay?” his soft ocean blue eyes turned to you, anxiety swimming deep within.

You gave him a once over, pulling at his pirate-style tailcoat and ruffling his hair “you look perfect my love, only bruise insight is hardly visible” you poked the dark purple hickey on his neck, grinning as his ears turned red “Sorry, couldn’t resist”

You looked back at the entrance, brows raising again “how did I just notice Doug's suit is different?” Harry hummed in confusion, looking over at Doug and Evie “well in my world he wore this ugly ass ill-fitted gold suit, now he’s wearing a maroon suit with gold accents, much better suited for him” Harry snorted at your fashion rant and threw his arm over your shoulder.

“let's go, love, we’re burning moon-light” you sighed, slightly pouting at the fact that he saw through your stalling tactics.

“fiiiine” you groaned, Harry slid his arm off your shoulder and offered it, winking as you took it and walked you over to the press.

You squinted slightly at the bright flashes of the cameras and the immediate yelling of the press.

“(y/n) you look beautiful tonight!”

“who designed your dress?! Where are your earrings from?!”

“Harry who designed your suit?!”

“Evie and I collaborated on Harry and I’s cotillion outfits, and my earrings are designed by Dizzy of the isle” you gave a polite smile to the press and leaned your head on harry, squeezing his arm a bit to ground him as you saw his leg start to move a bit.

One of the guards walked up and gestured for you and harry to move onto the ship, saving you and Harry from any further questions. You quickly walked onto the ship and let out a sigh of relief, thankful to be away from all the press. There was a camera crew for cotillion but they were more focused on cotillion itself, along with Mal and Ben.

Speaking of which, you wondered if either of them got the chance to tell the planners or anybody else that wasn’t your little group about their breakup?

“Jane! There you are my dear!” you glanced to the right, seeing Gil and Jane standing next to the stairs and Jane puff her cheeks a bit before turning to her mother “everything looks beautiful my love, now we just need to ladle out the punch before the sherbet melts~” Jane stopped her before her mother could get any further.

“Mom?” FG looked at her with a smile “I have a date.” a bright smile broke out on the older woman's face as she gasped.

“A date?! Really~” she cooed, looking over at Gil a second later “and do you have a date too?” Gil smiled and nodded, looking down at Jane with soft eyes. “really~”

Gil and Jane shared a teasing smile as Jane reached out for Gil’s hands “mom?” the older woman hummed before noticing their intertwined hands.

“oh~ how wonderful. Now Jane, I don’t want a repeat of last time you hear?” Jane gave a sheepish smile and nodded “Gil is a very sweet boy and you will treat him well, same goes for you my dear” Gil laughed a bit and nodded.

“yes, Fairy godmother” FG nodded in satisfaction and turned back to the punch table, leaving Gil and Jane to move onto the dance floor with Evie and Doug.

Evie spotted you and reached out with her hands, making a grabbie motion at you and nodding towards the dance floor. You rolled your eyes and lowered your hand to Harry’s, intertwining your fingers and dragging him onto the floor with you.

Jay and Lonnie danced by you, the two spinning around the other dancers and seemingly dancing the tango to the high beat music.

The music came to an end, the crowd applauding the DJ and turning to the main staircase as the guards lifted fanfare trumpets and Lumière stepped into the spotlight. The guards lowered their trumpets and Lumière smiled down at the crowd and announced with a loud voice;

“the future lady Mal~” you winced a bit, Harry laughing at your face as he knew what you were thinking. Mal stepped out from the left side of the stairs entrance and turned on her heel, her eyes almost glowing from her anxiety as she looked at nothing. Her hair was a bit different than it was in the movie, it was now back in a low bun with two locks of hair framing her face. but it made sense since she had cut it shorter and dyed it a different color, but she mostly looked the exact same as she did in the movie.

“She's zoning out” you muttered to Evie, who cooed and started cheering to help ease Mal's nerves, you and the VKs followed her lead, the rest of the crowd following in turn.

Mal snapped out of her zone and made eye contact with you and Evie, giving the two of you a nervous smile, turning to Lumière with a laugh as he whispered something in her ear.

As Mal made her way down the stairs, Beast and Belle greeted her, Mal biting her lip as the two offered what they thought were comforting words “you are exactly what Ben needs” she made eye contact with you and you shrugged, pushing Evie a bit to retrieve your anxiety-ridden friend.

“Hi,” Evie whispered, holding out her hand for Mal and squeezing it as Mal tightly gripped it “How are you feeling?”

“uh, sorta like I’m going to throw up?” Mal whispered back, almost speed walking over to your little group and huddling next to you. “That’s fine, it's okay to feel nervous” you whispered, reaching up and firmly gripping Mals shoulder.

“We’re right here with you” Carlos smiled, reaching around Evie and patting Mals back. Mal gave a watery smile and turned, gasping a bit as the fanfare started again and Lumière began to announce Ben's arrival.

“Did either of you tell anyone other than us that you broke up?” you whispered to Mal, who gave you a panicked look “I’ll take that as a no, don’t worry, I’m sure Ben will clear things up before anything happens” Mal nodded, turning back to the main stairs.

“King Benjamin!”

Ben walked into the spotlight and you heard Mal’s breath stop for a moment, and you smiled. While their break up was really for the best, until both Mal and Ben got their mental shit together, their reactions to each other were still cute. You looked back up at Ben and cursed under your breath.

His eyes were purple.

Uma was here.

You tugged on Harry's sleeve, subtly nodding towards Ben. Harry followed your eyes and stopped, realizing what you were pointed out.

“Why are his eyes?” Harry whispered, stopping midsentence as Ben reached the bottom of the stairs and bowed to Mal, and instead of curtsying, Mal copied his bow back at him.

You looked from Ben to the stairs, knowing Uma was just around the corner “Harry, I should have told you earlier, but something bad is going to happen tonight” you rushed to whisper back, keeping your eyes on the stairway entrance. you didn’t want to be harsh with the young sea witch but while she had good intentions deep down, she was still planning on completely taking down the barrier.

And that wasn’t a good thing for anybody in Auradon.

“love what’s-“ Harry was stopped as Ben apologized to Mal and turned back to the stairs, Uma stepping out into the spotlight and nervously looking down at the crowd. While for her everything was going to plan, it would be nerve-racking for anybody to step out like this. “wrong….Uma?” Gil stepped next to Harry; their eyes locked onto their oldest friend.

Your hand drifted down from Harry's sleeve to his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. Uma locked eyes with Harry and Gil, and the mask of indifference in her eyes broke, and you saw the girl who just wanted her two best friends back, but it was quickly covered up by anger and the shy new girl act she was presenting for cotillion.

Mal looked from Uma to you, disbelief clear on her face ‘did you know?’ she mouthed, her shoulders dropping a bit as you mouthed back;

‘I wasn’t sure if it would still happen’

Mal turned back as Ben met Uma halfway and led her down the rest of the stairs. ‘What’s happening?’ Mal thought, looking down at Ben and Uma’s intertwined hands, gasping in pain as Ben took one of them and kissed it, seeing the class ring ben had given her five months ago now on Uma’s finger. ‘yesterday he said he loved me and now…now this?’ she felt her nose burn, she looked back up at Ben, who was only looking at Uma with a look she had seen looking straight at her two days ago and now it was pointed at the girl she had fought with for 6 years. “Ben?” Mal whimpered, hands clenching onto her dress “What’s-What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry” Ben started, finally turning back to Mal. Her brows furrowed as she looked into his purple eyes…that…reminded her of something “it all happened so fast!” Uma looked at Mal, a big grin on her face. It looked authentic, but Mal was hardly paying attention to that, her mind whirling around with confusion and hurt. “something happened to me when I was on the isle with Uma.” He looked back into Uma’s eyes, a soft smile growing on his face “a connection”

“What are you saying?” Mal pushed, feeling her chest begin to tighten and her legs start to feel like lead. Ben looked away from her.

“I’m saying-“ Uma interrupted him with a giddy grin and laugh.

“It was love~!” Uma made eye contact with Harry and quickly looked away; Harry squeezed your hand. “I just…” she looked back at Ben “ I realized how alike Ben and I are you know?”

“we are” Ben whispered, smiling as Uma giggled and agreed “you’re so beautiful” Mal shook her head slightly and took a small step back, trying to get ahold of herself so she could deal with the situation properly.

“Ben” Mal tried, clenching her Jaw as Ben ignored her “Ben” she tried again, tilting her head in concern as he finally looked at her. “did…did you go back for her?” she finally asked, the tears she had been holding back dripping down her face. The purple in Ben's eyes misted away for a moment before Uma touched his arm and he looked back at her.

“he didn’t have to…I dove through the barrier before it closed. And I’m an excellent swimmer so…” Ben laughed a bit and smiled,

“you are~” Uma gave a sheepish grin and laughed.

“thank you” Mal looked down at the floor, trying to make sense of everything, what had gone wrong? What had she done wrong? ‘everything’ a voice whispered in her head, Mal closed her eyes and forced it away, opening them as Uma stepped closer to her.

“listen...Mal?” she grabbed onto Mal's hand, and Mal looked down, swallowing harshly as she saw the class ring on Uma’s finger “I just really want to thank you” Mal looked back up at Uma’s face, furrowing her brows, thank her? Uma didn’t even like her? ‘she has every reason to not like you, you deserve everything that is happening to you right now’ Mal forced her nails into the palm of her free hand to force the voice down, where was it coming from? “I do, for everything” Uma sighed, glancing back at Ben for a moment before she pulled Mal into a hug, Mal's arms instinctively going to wrap around Uma’s shoulders before she stopped herself, watching as Ben just looked at them with a smile.

What was going on?! Ben was always aware of everyone; couldn’t he see she was distraught?! There was a difference between Mal pretending to be a perfect princess and then her being visibly upset...something was really wrong. “thank you, thank you so much”

Uma pulled away, pressing her lips together in a somber smile. Ben leaned in over Uma’s shoulder, grabbing Mal's attention. “don’t you see Mal? You were right?” she looked at him confused, what? What was she right about? “you knew we weren’t meant to be together; that’s why you never told me you loved me, that’s why you broke up with me.” Mal felt her heart shatter.

“What?” she croaked, looking back at her friends, making eye contact with you and watching you shake your head. She looked back at Ben “What no that’s not what I-Ben I-“ she couldn’t breathe, heat rising in her chest as she felt her body tremble.

Ben and Uma gave her one last smile and turn to each other, Ben taking Uma’s waist as gentle waltz-like music began to play.

Mal stumbled back, letting gout a harsh breath as she felt Jay's arms wrap around her “Mal what's going on?” he whispered, looking between Uma and Ben dancing and Mal.

“I-I I don’t know” she whispered, reaching up and gripping onto Jay's sleeve tightly “I don’t know, I don’t-I can't breathe”

Harry and Gil stepped closer to Uma, Harry gently calling out her name, she ignored them. “Harry?” you whispered, reaching out and wrapping your arms around his “are you okay?”

“yeh remember wha’ I told yeh ‘bout Uma righ’?” he whispered, sad eyes following Uma as she danced with Ben around the deck.

“you loved her?” you guessed, rubbing his arm as he shakily nodded “oh love…come on” you slid your hand down and grabbed his, reaching around and hitting Evie's shoulder “let's go, she doesn’t need to see all this” Evie nodded, looking back at the shaking Mal and nodding towards the stairs at Jay. Carlos walked around to Mal’s other side and the two boys guarded her as you all started to walk out of cotillion, Gil and Jane at the rear. Beast and Belle stopped the boys as Mal passed them.

“Mal” Beast sighed, bowing his head to her.

“I’m so sorry” Belle reached out, holding Mal’s hand “we had no idea”

“I’m gonna talk to him” Beast promised, nodding firmly as Mal just looked at them. Jay and Carlos pushed her forward, Evie and Doug just behind them.

Jane squeezed Gil's hand before pushing past you and Harry and whispering something to Lumière.

‘oh, right the stained glass’ you thought, stopping as the spotlight once again stood on Lumière and he gestured toward the other end of the ship.

“and now! For the unveiling of King Bens masterpiece, made especially for his lady~” Uma made a face as the fanfare played, the spotlight shifting from Lumière to the other side of the ship, where a large curtain covered object sat. Mal sighed and turned in Jay and Carlos' hold, using her palm to wipe away a tear on her chin.

The curtain dropped, revealing the stained glass that Ben had made for Mal, but it wasn’t like it was in the movie, instead of Ben kneeling in front of Mal, he was now at eye level, his hand reaching to Mal as her stained-glass-self hovered her hand over his, her eyes glowing a bright green. The sun in the background now placed between the two instead of just behind Mal.

(I know I just described it but I spent three hours on this yall better appreciate it)

The crowd gasped as they looked at the beautiful art that had been revealed, Ben stepping away from Uma and staring at it. Finally, as Mal looked at the stained glass, her mind cleared just enough to realize what Ben's purple eyes had reminded her of.

The love spell she had put on him six months ago! Mal had lost her spell book on the isle, and Uma had found it! Ben was spelled!

“Evie” Mal whispered, the blue-haired girl stepping closer to Mal “Ben-Uma spelled Ben” Evie looked back, gasping as Uma pulled Ben back towards her and made him look her in the eyes. “He’s not doing this willingly, like-like the song he did for me at that tourney game, Uma love spelled him, she found my book.” Harry glanced at you, gritting his teeth a bit as you nodded to confirm it. He glanced behind him, locking eyes with Uma before her mask broke and she separated from Ben and yelled at Lumière;

“cover that back up!” Lumière denied her and the crowd gasped at the rude display, Uma glanced around, wincing a bit as she realized she had screwed up, but she could save it. She turned back to Ben with a smile “why don’t you tell everyone about the present you have for me Ben~!” Ben turned away from the stained glass, his eyes flickering from brown to purple, before it settled on purple again as he looked at Uma.

“I have an announcement!” Ben held his hand out to Uma, who grabbed it and pulled herself close to Ben “Uma, will be joining the court tonight, as my lady” the crowd gasped, looking from Mal to Ben.

Beast walked up, taking off his glasses and trying to talk to Ben “son-“ Ben snapped and yelled at him, making Beast reel back with wide eyes.

“Not now Dad!” Ben stumbled, his words slurring at the end, Mal perked up at that and tried to step down the stairs but Carlos and Jay stopped her. “uh, so as my gift, uh, to her!” you squinted, stepping away from Harry a bit and looking at ben…the spell was losing its hold on Ben. You looked back at Mal, nodding at Ben, she nodded back, breaking free of Jay and Carlos’ hold and going down the stairs, stopping next to you. “I’m bringing down the barrier once and for all!”

Gil and Harry looked at each other with wide eyes, that wasn’t good. Ben smiled at Uma again and turned to FG, gesturing to her “Fairy Godmother! Bring down the barrier” the fairy shook her head and took a step back.

“I most certainly will not!” Ben let out another snarl, Uma’s anger channeling into him.

“I am your king!” Uma glared at FG.

“Obey him!”

The crowd gasped again, and Uma grabbed onto Ben's arms and made him look into her eyes, realizing the love spell was breaking as Ben shook his head and his eyes flickered.

Mal looked up at the stained glass, her eyes glancing from her stained-glass glowing ones to Bens deep brown. Mal took a deep breath, wiped away her tears, and walked towards Ben and Uma. “Ben” he slowly looked away from Uma, looking slightly confused as Mal stepped closer to him. “Ben” Mal smiled up at her ex-boyfriend.

“Ben look at me” Uma demanded, her eyes widening a bit as Ben continued to stare into Mal's eyes.

“Ben, remember what you said on the isle? You said you loved me, the real me; the one who curses without thought because it’s a second language to her, the one who picks her teeth with a fork, the one who is way too possessive of strawberries, the one that chewed her hair because it smelled like grape juice” Mal laughed, a bright grin growing on her face as the purple in Bens eyes started to dissipate. “that girl you love Ben, she’s me, and I love you too! I was just so scared to say it because my entire life I've only been taught that love will only hurt you in the end, but I don’t give a fuck about that anymore, I love you, Ben. The only reason I broke up with you is that I’m not good for you right now, I need to be better for myself before I can be better for you, if I don’t do better, you’ll only be hurt in the end I can't do that to you.”

Uma let out a frustrated huff as she watched Mal step even closer to Ben, reaching up to cup his face. “but you taught me what it means to love, and how it feels to be loved, and love means sacrifice, and I will die a thousand deaths if it means you’ll be safe and happy” she leaned in, lifting herself onto her toes to get closer to Ben's face “because I love you”

Mal pressed her lips to bens, and you felt a shiver run down your spine as the spell on Ben broke. Mal pulled away, biting her lip as she looked at Ben’s closed eyes “Ben?”

He opened them; the deep honey brown clear as day. He smiled, reaching his hand up and cupping Mal's cheek “You love me?”

“yes” Mal laughed, pressing her forehead to Bens as his free arm wrapped around her waist “yes you dork I love you”

“true loves kiss” Evie whispered, bringing her clasped hands up in front of her lips, hiding her smile “works every time~”

Uma yelled and turned towards FG, reaching out for the wand “Give it to me!!” FG screamed and recalled back her arm holding the wand, Evie quickly reacting and grabbing onto Uma’s arm and pushing her back.

“no! Guards seize her!” Harry and Gil look at each other and broke away from the group, following Uma towards the rails and yelling for everyone to stop.

“STOP!” Harry yelled, spreading his arms out, protecting Uma “stop!” Gil stepped next to Harry, pushing back a guard that had not listened and turning to look at her.

“Uma please” Gil whimpered, holding up his hands as if he was calming a scared animal “you are our best friend, we know you.” Uma’s eyes widely flew amongst the crowd around her, the only way out of her corner was the sea behind her. She looked back at Gil, her breathe shuddering as she looked upon her two oldest friends.

“please Uma’” Harry reached out to her, his hand open, hope swimming in his eyes “please stay, I don’t want to lose yeh again, I can't do it again.” Uma and Harry stared at each other, her eyes drifting to his hands, hers twitching towards it. “we love yeh Uma, we’ve been trying for the last five months to bring yeh here, please-please just stay” Gil held out his hand, giving Uma a soft smile.

“We never meant to leave you there”

Uma’s necklace began to glow, and honing beacon-like sound began to echo from it, Uma reached forward a bit, her eyes glancing between Harry's hand and him.

She looked to his left, her hand stopping as she looked at you. Her eyes flashed turquoise. “traitors” she snapped, ignoring the pain in Harry's eyes as she said it turned, climbing on top of the rails and jumping into the sea below.

“Uma!” Harry and Gil screamed, running to the rails and screaming her name again, leaning over them and desperately searching for Uma in the dark waters. All they could see were beams of light that were slowly disappearing as Uma sunk deeper into the waters.

You grabbed Harry’s arm as water began to rise, it swirled around as the glow from Uma’s shell became brighter “oh no” you whispered, yelping a bit as Harry’s arm ripped from your hold and wrapped tightly around your waist, slowly backing away from Uma’s transformation.

The rising tunnel of water burst, Uma’s cold laughter echoing across the sea as a huge wave of water splashed across the deck, soaking everyone. You and Harry rushed back to the rails as Uma’s cecaelia form settled into the water, her turquoise tentacles wading through the waves as she gave a sharp smile to the cotillion crowd.

“true love's kiss won't defeat this!” Gil’s arm wrapped around your shoulder, staring at Uma with a pained look “the world will know my name!” she turned a bit before whipping her arm around, one of her tentacles following her arm and snapping above the crowed.

Harry pulled you and Gil back, holding you close to his chest in an attempt to protect you from Uma. You pulled away, eyes widening as Uma looked straight into your eyes and screamed;

“YOU TURNED THEM AGAINST ME!” her arm whipped out, one of her tentacles reaching for you. You suddenly were shoved to the ground and landed with a hard smack. You quickly looked up and screamed.

It seemed to happen in slow motion, Uma’s tentacle wrapped around Harry's torso, pulling him off his feet, his ocean blue eyes staring into yours as fear-induced tears started to trail down his face.

“HARRY!” you screeched, quickly standing and almost toppling over the railings as you watched Uma slam Harry into the water, his form instantly disappearing under the waves.

“HARRY!!!”

-end of part 16-

uh yep....that took a turn didnt it? i know i know yall hate me but it gets better!...soon...maybe...idk well see how i feel when im writing p17.

anyway i hope i made the Mal true love talk shit better and no they aren't going to get back together this was just them realizing they do love each other and are going to go to fucking therapy because they need it.(ps the half isle half Auradon bullshit Mal was spewing is bullshit, along with that “dont let ur pride get in the way” bish its ur pride in the way)

also Huma confirmed because no matter what timeline it is Harry will always love Uma even if he falls in love with someone else. Supportive (y/n) is supportive.

also did you know that if you hit the surface of water hard enough its like you just smacked into concrete :) thought yall might like that little fact~

ALSO I WILL BE DOING A FLUFF ONESHOT FOR YALL AFTER THIS BECUASE I MADE MYSELF SAD WRITING IT AND I NEED TO WRITE FLUFF

permtaglist

@queer-cosette @sephiralorange

@lunanight2012 @daughter-of-the-stars11

@musicarose @remembered-license

@random-thoughts-003 @imtryingthisout

@verboetoperee @thecaptainsgingersnap

@descendantsobsessed @rintheemolion

taglist

@thesailbells @beccad10x

#disney descendants #harry hook x reader #harry hook descendants #harry hook #harry hook imagine #Descendents #shuffle playlist #rewrite #part of your world #agnst #so much suffering #anti mal #just in case

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dlamp-dictator · 6 years ago

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Allen’s Rambling: My First (Person) Experience (Mary Skelter: Nightmares)

Sorry this took so long folks, Blazblue Cross Tag Battle has been taking over my life recently and I also got back into the grind-fest that is Disgaea 5 again, not to mention a personal project of mine for this month has been happening, so needless to say I’ve been both busy and distracted lately. But moving on, I’m finally making another opinion piece, this time on Mary Skelter Nightmares, a first-person dungeon crawler that I was a bit hesitant to buy at first due to my distaste for the genre. However, the character designs of the cute girls, hearing a bit of the OST, and knowing that voice actresses like Cristina Vee and Kira Buckland were taking the lead roles got me interested. So I caved and bought the game, praying that I’d get my money’s worth. After about 30 hours of play time I think I can safely say that this game was worth the purchase but allow me to go on in more detail about this.

But first, that plot synopsis:

The game is set in the underground prison known as "the Jail". Monstrous creatures called Marchen act as the wardens of the Jail, capturing humans and bringing them inside to perform various tortures.

The story's protagonist is Jack, a boy who is imprisoned in the Jail with his childhood friend Alice. The two cling to each other for stability in this hell, trying to survive for that one opportunity to escape. Until finally, a mysterious girl appears wielding an absurdly large pair of scissors. Destroying the cells that hold the prisoners, she introduces herself as Red Riding Hood. And so begins Jack's journey.…

That’s the basic premise copied straight from the wiki, but the story expands from there, going into more about the world-building and culture of the Jail. But anyway, as I tend to do in these Ramblings, let me address the elephant in the room… the gameplay one specifically…

First-Person Dungeon Crawler

I’ll be upfront about this, I don’t like first-person dungeon crawlers, I never have. I find them restrictive, I find them as a lazy way to save on doing character models, and I find the overall design to be either insultingly simple, or annoyingly complicated. However, after playing this game for about 30 hours I’m slowly warming up to this style of game. Let me just go over some of the good points of this game.

Immersion

This kind of perspective makes the game very immersive. Actually walking through these dungeons, actually running away from the Nightmares, actually pushing all the buttons and pulling all the switches. This kind of stuff is where the first person view shines, especially with some of the sound design. You can hear traps springing in the distance, the utterly bone-chilling growls and laughs of the Nightmares as they close in, the fact that you can hear each footstep you take, the atmosphere is done very well in my opinion, and I highly recommend playing with headphones for maximum immersion.

The Monster Designs

Another aspect of first-person dungeon crawlers that can be compelling are the monster designs. If I can’t look at cute girls then you better have some interesting monsters to look at. And thankfully (or unfortunately, depending on your view) Mary Skelter delivers on that. Some of these monsters look down right disturbing. I have to praise the designers for these creatures because damn do they look disturbing. Especially the Nightmares.

And these guys only get freakier as you take apart their armor.

However… those design tend to wear out their welcome when you see recolored versions on the first damn chapter.

This is honestly something I just can’t let go of. When I was seeing reskins of the enemies on the second floor of the first level I had to put down the game for a moment. I decided to just shrug it off and continued playing regardless, and then proceeded to lose my mind screaming on the second chapter when I was seeing reskins of the enemies of the first dungeon in the new Graveyard area. To be fair to the game, these reskins are likely to keep every zone with the same theme of enemy types, but this really made me shake my head when I saw them. I just… can’t let go of this.

The Puzzles

Now this is where I think the first-person really shined. When you lose your ability to reliably see from a top-down perspective or in third person it can do wonders for puzzles. I think all the puzzles I’ve played so far were done well. I loved the puzzle in the Temple where you had to shoot a flaming arrow through flammable walls to proceed, pushing blocks through the path of your arrow that would change its trajectory. Some of the switch puzzles were interesting as well to turn off certain traps, if a bit tedious. I’m only on chapter 6 as of writing this, so I’m hoping to see so more interesting puzzles.

And since I’m talking about the puzzles, I’ll move onto…

The Actual Gameplay

So, the game is turn-based, much like Final Fantasy and Persona. There’s not much more to say there. The main issue I have with the game is the difficulty. Some enemies can two-shot you in the first and second chapter, and while Mary Skelter thankfully has something of a quick save option, getting use to that difficulty and high damage isn’t exactly a fun time when you’re constantly dying from a surprise attack or just when you’re on enemy phase. This isn’t like Epic Battle Fantasy 4 or Persona 5 where it’s a matter of having proper buffs and equipment, these enemies can just annihilate you for existing. I’d say this game was almost as annoying as Fate/Extra in that regard if not for the ability to lower difficulties mid-game. This game has it out for you. There’s not a lot of room for trial and error here unless the trial and error comes from you constantly dying and losing party members mid-battle. This and a few other issues I had with this game’s difficulty made me go straight to easy mode after Chapter 2. Doing this lowers the amount of EXP I get which makes grinding a pain, but honestly… I know I’m not the only one that did this, so it might be worth the price.

But moving on from that, something I found interesting was the class system. Every character has about 6 different classes they can go into. Certain characters have a specific class type such as Physical DPS, Magical DPS, Ranged Attackers, Support, and All-Rounders, but those types have different classes. Physical DPS classes can become tanks or berserkers, Magical DPS classes can focus on element damage or healing. Support units can become Mimics/Blue Mages or Item Classes, the All-Rounders can slightly specialize themselves for different tasks, the list goes on. And each class changes comes with a cute new outfit for the character as well. I was honestly tempted to keep Alice in her Marshal class solely for how cute she looked until I got Cinderella what came equip with the Marshal class, but then I realized the Marshal class grants reliable first-turn advantage and just kept her there, with Cinderella being use to experience with the classes of that type.

If there’s one major piece of advice I can give for this game it’s to focus on getting AoE skills that attack/debuff every enemy at once or buff/heal every party member, and leveling those skills up. You constantly get attack in mobs, and bosses have several parts to target until their second phase. Just save yourself the trouble and get AoE skills to make those random encounters a bit less of a pain. Seriously, even on easy mode this enemies pack a punch and can three-shot you. This wouldn’t be too much of an issue, but remember that I said these guys attack in mobs that range from 4 to 6 enemies.

But moving on, another interesting aspect of this game is Massacre Mode and Blood Skelter. Much like in Senran Kagura Deep Crimson’s Frantic Mode, by bathing yourself in the blood of your enemies you gain power. When enough blood is on you it triggers Massacre Mode, a powered-up mode that transforms your Blood Maiden. They have higher stats and access to game-breaking Massacre Skills that do heavy damage for minimal SP. However, this is a double edged sword. If you take heavy damage that blood will become corrupted, and you have a chance of going into Blood Skelter Mode the more corrupted that blood gets. This mode jacks up your character’s stats through the roof, but they also make you unable to command them and they attack both enemies and allies. You can purify the corrupt blood and even get them out of Blood Skelter mid-battle thanks to Jack, but this is why I recommend Easy Mode. When the enemies can one or two-shot you and corrupt that blood often, and this game gets frustrating.

Ah, speaking of Jack, he has a place in the party too. While the girls are all fighting Jack is in the back managing the girls’ corruption and healing them with items, as he’s the only one that can use items outside of a specific item class. He can also get girls out of Blood Skelter too, but doing these things usually cost him blood, and if he loses consciousness if he loses too much. He’s able to do other things like take a single hit for one of the Blood Maidens, or heal their SP as well, but as of the point I’m at in the game that’s really it for Jack as a function.

Another issue I have with this game is how tedious it is to get better weapons and armor. You either do this by random drops, or more likely through the wandering merchant you’ll see through the dungeons. He shows up randomly (of course), but his prices are… well, what you’d expect from a random shop in a dungeon, expensive. Again, this game is frustrating, and I don’t know if it should be. Some other tedious parts of the game can honestly be traveling through the gargantuan dungeons. There may be a map, but that means jack when it takes forever to get to the next floor, and even then you might have to search through all of a floor just to find a key item.

On a lighter note, the side quests in this game, much like in Fairy Fencer are honest to god side quest that are optional. And you can take on as many as you want. The rewards are nice, but nothing feels mandatory, which is how I like it.

Another nice touch I like are the Nightmares. These bastards can randomly show up at certain points in a Dungeon. They’re basically like the Reaper in the Persona series, but when they show up you lose map visibility (on normal mode or higher anyway), the ability to even pause the game, and they can only be stunned in combat so you can run away, at least until you get to the end of the dungeon and destroy that dungeon’s core.

Again, these guys look terrifying, and for damn good reason. You want to run away from these things, and beating them at the end of each chapter is very satisfying from both a story and gameplay perspective, as these are the only challenges when playing on easy mode.

So… now that I’ve given my opinion on the gameplay, let’s talk about…

Idea Factory/Compile Heart Games

So what I said about the gameplay might sound a little familiar to you guys if you’ve read my last Rambling talking about Idea Factory and Compile Heart. Just to recap on my opinion:

“…Both these companies tend to make the focus on grinding a bit too much for my liking. Well, a better way of putting it is that Compile Heart/Idea Factory games really depend on your numbers being bigger than your enemies. A lot of JRPGs do this, but even in Disgaea, the game that parodies this concept, can still be won with proper strategy if done right. Compile Heart/Idea Factory games… they don’t really give you that chance, you just need higher levels or you’re screw or need to play on easy mode, something I have little shame in doing at times… The long and short of it is that a lot of Compile Heart/Idea Factory games don’t know how to properly scale enemies and characters with their leveling systems.”

You might realize that quote fits for Mary Skelter as well given what I’ve said about the gameplay. As I’ve said before, these kinds of games are only really fun if you can break them or have the option of breaking them. I say this because trying to play a game likes this seriously only to be rewarded with enemies that one-shot you doesn’t feel fun, and winning doesn’t feel rewarding, it feels like a lucky break before you have to go through the nightmare again. Now, that might just be the point of Mary Skelter specifically, as the atmosphere and story are very oppressive, but I honestly don’t feel that the gameplay compliments the story in this regard. But anyway, breaking these kinds of games feels rewarding, a sort of “Hah! I don’t have to trudge through this difficult game anymore because I found a loophole!” way. The ability to breeze through the later half of a game after suffering through the difficult early game is something of a right of passage.

Just to say this now, You can break Mary Skelter to an extent, but not in the way you’re thinking. You see, much like in Trillion, Mary Skelter has its character come with an affection level. You raise this by giving each girl gifts that suit their taste. The better/more tailored the gift, the more their affection goes up. When you increase it enough you’ll trigger events that’ll advance their social and grant them a new Massacre Skill. Like I said before, these skills can one-shot enemies on mass if you have the right one, so it’s only a matter of finding the right gift to spam and waiting for the events to happen. The only issue with this is that some events are tied to story progression, so even if you’ve maxed out affection by chapter 2, the girls won’t go through their events until the beginning of chapter 5, which can be annoying at times.

Continuing with the Trillion comparisons, let’s talk about Jack for a bit. He’s no Takt (thank God), but he’s a far cry from Zeabolos. Jack was made to be something of a self-insert character, he’s light on personality, and the only thing separating him from the player is his obliviousness to the girls’ feelings about him (something that I’m sure you’re rolling your eyes at as I am), but he’s got a good heart, wants to protect the Blood Maidens, and wants to be useful. He’s someone I can root, but he does lack the maturity and charisma of Zeabolos, making his moments with the Blood Maidens feel less impactful and more… pandering, especially when those harem elements come up, but more on that late.

There’s also more voice acting than in Trillion. Something I always wanted in Trillion was for the events that followed CG images to at least be voice, and Mary Skelter delivered on that point. However… the game’s writing has one too many harem elements in it for me to say I appreciate it. Don’t get my wrong, I love the fact that Alice is voiced by Cristina Vee. In fact, the whole cast is notable for those familiar with English voice acting. Cristina Vee, Kira Buckland, Sarah Williams, Casandra Lee, Christine Marie Cabanos, this is quite the cast. However, when I have to deal with Jack “accidentally” seeing characters in a state of undress I’m rolling my eyes.

But while we’re on story, let’s talk about that for a bit. I’d say this game is very similar to Tales of Berseria in a way, where there’s a pretty good mix of character development and world building. You slowly learn more and more about The Jail and The Tower, learn about each character and their motives, about society within The Jail and The Dawn, the resistance group that rescues Jack and Alice. These are all good things. In fact, the limited edition version of the game came with a novel about the world of this game. I’m going to read it once I finish the game as it has spoiler content in it, but something I’ve always appreciated about Idea Factory/Compile Heart games is how much they love the worlds they create and how much they want to explore them. From this game, to Trillion, to Omega Quintet, each game has a well thought-out world and characters that really explore. The only exception to this being Fairy Fencer, but I hear the updated re-release has some more content in that regard.

And just mention it, I love a lot of these characters. Alice, Red Riding Hood, and Gretel are my favorites so far. I like them a bunch. I wish I could go into detail about them, but it’d lead to some heavy spoilers I’d rather not give.

Something I will admit about the story is that I don’t think the writing is as strong as in Trillion. The character events play more to a harem anime than the more down-to-earth and almost melancholic tones in Trillion. That might just be because this game is more light-hearted by comparison and less character-focused since all of the cast is alive throughout the game, but that’s just my opinion.

I’ll also add that the music is fantastic. I didn’t know you could shred on a violin until I heard some of these tunes. And I’ll also give props to the open, as I think it’s a bit better than Trillion’s.

So... I think I got everything out the way that I wanted to talk about, so I’ll move onto...

The Conclusion

Overall, while I think Mary Skelter has its issues, it has a lot of good points too. The girls are nicely designed and decently written, the voice acting is solid and more plentiful, the story holds up so far, and for as apathetic I am to the gameplay it isn’t boring... at least during the boss fights. The only real issues I have are the size of dungeons, the difficulty in gaining resources like weapons and armor, and the enemy damage scaling. I think I’m going to try and get through the rest of this game on normal difficulty and see if my opinion changes… if I can avoid getting two-shot-ed anyway…

#mary skelter #mary skelter: nightmares #your dictator is speaking

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