#MERCENARY POSITION

[hyperfocusthusly]

Been thinking about this post for the last two days and my hand slipped

Big shout out to @caeseria-k for writing The Fire and The Flood which is an incredible fic and it lives in my brain rent free forever - if you haven’t read it yet you absolutely should

[madadrawing]

Joyce is such a fascinating character to me cause she feels so... defeated? In a way that feels at the same time distinct and very similar to Harry. I think the reality lowdown sometimes gets written off as being manipulative, and maybe there's an element of that, but she's also self-aware and vulnerable in a way I can't imagine a woman in her position would ever be with Harry. And she seems genuinely sad about how everything turned out; she wants to be forgiven by Harry, and if you do, she doesn't feel like she deserves that forgiveness anyways. She's intelligent, and aware of history in a way that real world CEO and economic leader types rarely, if ever, openly admit. She openly regrets the way all that history played out, and it's so fascinating to me that she chose her idealogy and career while knowing and internalizing so many emotions about the revolution. She wanted them to succeed; but she's a survivor, first and foremost.

There's so many characters I wish we would ever get to see more of, but at least for me, Joyce seems like a character I'd really love to learn more about her past. Especially with how she talks about Cindy, it makes me feel like she had a revolutionary streak when she was younger; I doubt it was lost in any way that wasn't boring, life washing away her edges until all that remained was what we see in the game. Maybe it'd make her less interesting to learn more about her, but she's one of the most fascinating characters in the game to me, in a game filled with some of the most interesting and thought provoking characters I've seen in the medium.

[adiluv-moved]

Trick or treat with Naib? 🧟

"... So that's where my jacket went."

Naib's voice is nothing short of monotone as he makes the observation, his figure remaining entirely still as he stood in front of you—almost as though he were one of Galatea's infamous sculptures, only meant to replicate your lover instead of the angels and devils she often favored. Not that you weren't used to it, of course. Not that you'd failed to accomplish anything, either, if the tiny glimmer of mirth dancing within his muddled blue irises were anything to go by.

Without another word, his hand instinctively reaches out towards you, playing with the familiar article, a low hum slipping past his chapped lips as you informed him of your costume's inspiration. A zombie, you'd stated, a sense of pride within your voice, and he decides to reassess your appearance with the additional context in mind.

It certainly was convincing. The murky tones of the fabric, combined with the clothing you wore beneath—old, and torn, and stitched back together after particularly brutal matches—certainly did work to your advantage; enough so that he could almost ignore the memories of you laying within the infirmary, carried back on the shoulders of your other teammates.

That train of thought is interrupted, thankfully before he can go down the rabbit hole, by the sound of your voice. And while he isn't entirely certain what you'd just said, he takes the opportunity to pull away and catch himself, raking through his brain for memories of the custom. He's aware of what Halloween is—had to be, really—having been constantly exposed to all sorts of different holidays after deciding to join the army, though he'd never once had the chance to truly participate.

Something so leisurely would've only slowed him down, back then. Made a difficult job all the more unbearable. But now he was stuck within this God-forsaken manor where reality was flipped over on its head and time was easily the most bountiful resource he had, so it's not as if it'd hurt to indulge you.

He turns around, and you follow him into his room, taking a seat on the bed as moves towards a hole in the wall—a stash for anything he didn't want others to know about, including the bar of chocolate in his hand as he pushed the dresser back into place. You reach out towards him in order to relieve him of it, only for your eyes to widen as he snaps the confection in two.

The larger half is relinquished to you, mattress weighed down as he sits beside you, wasting no time in indulging within his share. There's another beat of silence. "For stealing my clothing." He murmurs, and you let out a small laugh, bringing your attention to your portion of the bar.

... Naib finds he might like Halloween a bit more than he'd originally assumed.

[adelinamoteru]

anyways I don’t really care if jason is written as an anti hero or villians bc

well written villains are ones who the audience can still empathize and agree with (to whatever extent)

I don’t need characters to be the symbol of unrelenting good for me to like them, its not at all a necessary criteria. in fact, in most cases I would argue that it makes them less interesting

[frumfrumfroo]

But did Star Trek give us an Afrofuturist utopia? Did DS9 get a movie I haven't heard of? No one is denying the impact of Star Trek, but the entire franchise put together has fewer black characters of note than just the first Black Panther movie.

Do you seriously think making one entry to your established formula franchise in 2018 with a predominantly black cast is 'doing more' than writing an explicitly and confrontationally post-racialised future where bridge officers were Black, Japanese, and Russian on US network TV in 1966?

[tovaicas]

obsessed with the hints that ishgardians’ sense of self-worth is tied to their sense of societal ‘usefulness’ btw

[lills-and-kay-chaos]

Why are you so stinkin cool/pos

….HUHHH??? SINCE WHEN—

I’m not even joking, since when like bro what I just do silly goofy things

[[GlitchyK]]

[235uranium]

every time the female character discourse happens i just sigh. the ppl critiquing fandom misogyny don't even like that interesting of women

[bronanlynch]

For the character ask game: 4, 7, and 8, your choice of fire emblem character!!

ok so today you're going to hear abt felix fireemblem

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in? he would fucking thrive in a sports anime. he needs & deserves to be in a story abt high school kids who take their sport way too seriously. he would the Most 'takes his sport too seriously' guy and then has to learn abt the power of friendship and how it's not all abt becoming the best etc etc

the rest is going under a readmore bc it got long oops

7. What’s something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like? there's a lot of very good dramatic art of him fighting against his old friends/his father (like, he was recruited and they weren't/can't be recruited and now they're fighting to the death). lots of people do very fun symbolic stuff with shadows and blade and dramatic angles and it's nice to look at

8. What’s something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise? thank you for giving me this platform. I don't like how ubiquitous it is for people to talk abt his endings in routes where he's recruited away from his home faction as though he's automatically going to be 100% miserable for the rest of his life. like this is the guy who spends the entire game talking abt what a mess faerghus is and how badly he wants to leave it and not remain trapped in the fucked up system that caused his brother's death and will very likely cause the deaths of everyone else he cares abt including himself. and you want me to think he would actually inherently be happier staying?? (like I'm not saying he could never be happy if he stayed, he can, I've read & enjoyed plenty of fic where he stays in faerghus and learns to live a life there that he likes too, it's just that I don't think it's the only way for him to be happy and lots of people say that it is) and yes leaving always comes at a cost and yes he would mourn and yes I too ship him with several of the people he would be leaving behind (or who are dead in this sort of worldstate) but like. he's at most 24 years old at the end of the game I promise he can find a way to move on and live a fulfilling life for himself and Imo nothing in the text of most of the endings that people point to as "the tragic ones" suggest that he doesn't. his whole thing is that he hates the overwhelming societal pressure to treat Dying For The King as the best thing you could possibly do, something you should aspire to above anything else, and would rather fight on his own terms and in this setting becoming a mercenary is the way to do that, y'know? so it's kinda disappointing when I constantly see people say that becoming a mercenary is some horrible fate for him

[anarkhebringer]

I can't make a noble OC that actually acts like a noble to save my life, because when I do they're poked fun at by my other noble OCs or made to be genuinely unlikeable jdsihufih

[dawnstarranger]

Salvatore writes such fantastic sex scenes ;)

[kariachi]

What happens when the brain says ‘we need Radgit’? I write Radgit.

Aw look, they care. And Argit attracts assholes but look at his life that’s a guaranteed.

Warning for implications of boundary ignoring in bed.

~~

While he lowered his weapon as soon as Kateux was out of sight, Rad didn’t move from his spot. Not that Argit paid matters any mind from that point. He kept an ear out, on instinct more than anything, but for the most part his attention went to checking his poor tail. Rad was back, there wouldn’t be any trouble he wouldn’t handle quickly and happily.

“That’s the type of guy you have around when I’m gone,” the Amiose asked as soon as the sound of the front door shutting echoed through the apartment. Argit huffed, carefully running his fingers over his tail.

“Normally they’re smart enough to do as they’re told,” he said. “Does nobody teach their kids that pulling someone’s tail means you’re yanking on their spine anymore? Could do some serious damage with that shit.”

“Didn’t have it in schools when I was young,” Rad said, resetting the safety on his weapon with practiced ease and setting it aside as he sat on the bed beside him. With a care that belied his reputation he took Argit’s tail in one hand, checking the length himself for signs of injury. “Did he do any damage?”

“Nah,” Argit said, shaking his head and with only a little hesitation letting Rad do as he would. “I’m sturdier than I look, Kev’ll tell ya.” Yeah, his tail was sore, but it was moving easily, no obvious new kinks, and there was none of the pain he associated with proper injury. He’d probably still end up getting it looked at the next day though, especially if Kevin found out, and from the look Rad gave him he would find out.

“Uh-huh,” he said, moving from the tail to Argit’s spine proper, shifting quills aside as he worked his way up vertebrae by vertebrae. “I’ll head out tomorrow and make sure he doesn’t bother you again.” Argit snorted a little laugh. Crossing his arms under his head, he flashed a toothy smile.

“Think holding a humming blaster to his head probably did that just fine, Danger.” Rad gave a snort that was probably even more proud than he intended it to be.

“Never hurts to make sure.” Halfheartedly, Argit rolled his eyes.

“Well take him his pants when you do, I don’t have any use for ‘em.” He had to bite back a laugh as Rad looked back over his shoulder at the floor, sore tail twisting over itself at the thought that he’d been so pissed off he hadn’t noticed. Seeming to find the damn things wherever Kateux had tossed them, he shook his head and sighed. Still, he began to let himself relax, tension slipping from his frame as he laid down on his side. All without his hand stopping or altering its methodical trek up Argit’s back.

“Sure thing, Fuzzball.”

“Without lighting them on fire or something.” Rad huffed. Argit smirked.

“It’s always something with you.”

“Nobody makes you come back.”

The silence that followed was long. Uncomfortable, in some ways. Almost warm in others. Through it Rad continued his checking, all the way up to the base of Argit’s skull. Once there and satisfied, he smoothed fur and quills back down into place in one fluid motion from his mane to the base of his tail. His hand stayed there, firm but not grasping. Loosing a sigh, Argit allowed himself a small, soft smile, end of his tail hooking over one of Rad’s feet.

“So, what about you? Everything go alright on this last job, or do I need to send Kevin after somebody…?”

[wyvernne]

the sumeru archon quest???? help????????

[chorus-the-mutate]

I don't know if this will happen but I also want to see Casca get a new outfit soon or regain her recent fighter outfit instead of staying in a nightgown for the rest of the manga. Has Casca gotten two new outfits since she got her memory back? Yes. Has she been in the same outfit for years because she lost her memories after the Eclipse? Also yes. I feel like if she was ever going to get an additional outfit this situation in the recent chapters would be the perfect catalyst. Plus I just want more of her. I want to see her again. I want her to get something else to be her best pretty self in. Let me be greedy.

[ruvviks]

vitali is so special to me actually because on a surface level he might look like just some corpo but when you KNOW him you know he's a lot sexier than that

[tovaicas]

I literally can't believe you do not get a one-on-one section or conversation with estinien until the VERY END OF THE GODDAMN EXPAC