#PLOT ARMOUR TO THE MAX

[loveyouleee]

I just finished s4

genuine question how did Clementine survive like she was on the brink of death from the illness and AJ amputated her bite and somehow she was fine??? why didn’t that work for Lee when I cut his arm off while had NO symptoms ☹️ also how did I get spoilers for things that didn’t happen I was told Violet and Ruby were gonna die

[falling-feels-like-flying]

[one-of-the-shrimp]

haha me when I am silly

[f0point5]

Yak got so lucky with that infinitesimally small budget cap breach because it’s becoming increasingly clear he just throws out accusations at the wall like limp penne and waits to see if something sticks…and it did one time.

[fullmoonhijinks]

I just wanna talk about Laura and Max for a second. In almost all the mainline Supermassive games (Little Hope being kiiind of an exception?) they have a motif of starting you out in the past, playing out a scene of inevitable tragedy with a couple of characters who act as sacrificial lambs. Nothing you do can save them. It acts to set the tone for each game, make new players feel like their choices have consequences, and now to string all the games together along with other stylistic similarities - like a narrative makers mark.

So when Max and Laura show up in the opening scene, encounter spooky ghosts, and get mauled by a monster in the basement, you don’t really think twice about it. They are the sacrificial lambs of The Quarry, they encounter the truth before our real protagonists do and are made to pay for it. As a result, when the game reveals suddenly that they’re still alive, that they have been this entire time, that you’ll even get to play as Laura again (that Max section totally doesn’t count), it takes on this brand new quality of redemption. They’re Schrodinger’s lambs now, both slaughtered by the narrative and also active in the course that the rest of the story will take. You’re given one last chance. Depending on your choices, you can still save them... but by default they’re already doomed, both bitten by the time they return. They’re like Orpheus and Eurydice on the brink of escaping the underworld. One last trial, one long night, and maybe, just maybe... they can conquer death.

[catboybatman]

you ever think about the in-universe online world of dc? the youtube essays must be insane

[54625]

I miss kelp cocaine

I miss everyone congregating at Phil and Missa's, I miss Roier's over exaggerated moan every time he and Cellbit kissed, I miss everyone throwing their balaclavas on and going "passa tudo...", Tubbo's constant grilling of Fit and Pac (especially Fit), Mike's hairdressing, everyone singing the Pac e Mike wow wow song, Gegg, the admins striking people with lightning perfectly on cue, the Foolish cheating allegations, Slime and Mariana traumatising their viewers, Dorime playing randomly, people turning eachother rainbow coloured with the rainbow jelly, Dapper randomly pulling out all kinds of crazy creatures from his backpack, the extremely overwhelming pre-event meet ups, Las Casualonas, the casualonas dance, Sunny's materialism, Etoiles telling everyone how and why their armour and weapons aren't actually optimised, Phil breaking the fourth wall, Baghera and her fish joke, Rubius abusing his creative power, Foolish ruining the tension during serious moments, Cellbit obsessing over every lore lead or clue, Roier and his hilarious PNG builds, Felps "finally being added to the server", Fit always looking after Mariana's builds in his absence, everyone playing hide and seek, Cucurucho spying on and jumpscaring everyone, Quackity constantly being made fun of for his dead kid, Phil and Fit's aggressive "friendly" flirting, Cellbit talking over Richas' shoulder while he's painting, Leonarda's spoiledness, Ramón's obsession with the citric acid cycle, Slime's ability to show up for an event out of nowhere and just completely derail everything, new players always freaking out about Fit's voice, Quackity desperately trying to find a match since day 1 and always failing, Maximus' talk show, people teleporting in and out at just the right second, Jaiden's love for Hatsune Miku infecting the server, Bad and Foolish's encounters, Ramón threatening to blow himself up or digging himself into the ground when he doesn't get his way, Tallulah drowning herself when she doesn't get her way, the hilarious mistranslations, the wonderful screenshots, Vegetta's mines, Jaiden's expanding list of nationalities, Antoine being an enigma, the in-game karaoke place, Bobby starting fights, Juanaflippa dying over and over, Empanada trauma dumping about her first death to Bagi, Cellbit's vivo turbo ad, Bad yelling "language!", Pol and Foolish and Mouse not being able to stop laughing around each other, Pierre and Max's damn furry club, "no mames!", Spreen leaving for cigarettes, Bad stealing furniture, Missa being incomprehensibly cringefail (I will never forget that "bucket clutch"), Felps' hole, Tubbo's bigger hole, Mike going crazy that one time, Chayanne whipping out his cooking utensils, "Fofoca!", Pomme being the French Sniper, Pepito being homeless for a sec? Richarlyson's many personalities and characters, Tilin being "la tres leches", Trump even being called Trump to begin with, Cucuruchito flirting with everyone, dozens of plots to break into various federation buildings, hundreds of rule breaks, DanTDM being theorised to be Bagi's missing brother, Etoiles' love-hate relationship with the codes, Kameto going out for milk, Tina's heavily one sided rivalry with Fit, everyone changing their skins for events and some people being so extra with it, things falling into chaos every time an event needed them to travel a long distance together, the messy group photos, Charlie's grief spirals, people meeting up at Spreen's bar way back when, everyone making an effort to speak languages they don't speak, the sharing of international memes, the teaching of swear words, the joy that was born from the interconnectivity.

Just all of the things, dumb, hilarious, or adorable. The moments, bits and little jokes that made the QSMP so engaging, fun and entertaining to watch. That made you feel like you were participating in one massive celebration. I miss it.

[crepes-suzette-373]

Sanji black fire theory

I know a lot of people already were talking about it, but because the theories I saw tend to associate it with some demonic epithet, I have been very hesitant to adopt it. The theory I have is that his max power would have a godly/holy name (my theory/explanation here), so I had been very reserved about the black fire thing.

I have now somewhat changed my mind about it.

It occurs to me that if the black fire is the manifestation of conqueror haki, it can still have a "holy" epithet. For example, Shanks's haki attack is called Kamusari 神避, or translated as "Divine Departure".

With that in mind I'm gonna revisit the "foxfire" idea I once mentioned, just with some slight tweaks.

"Foxfire" is kind of a fire ability that is not entirely explained. Back when Sanji said it in Thriller Bark, it was being portrayed as a joke. However, Kin'emon later uses "foxfire technique" that actually interacts with real fire. It produces fire, and also cuts fire.

Unless I missed something, I cannot find explicit description of what exactly makes the fire, but it seems to be implied to have been Haki ability. Once again, until proven otherwise, based on this I will assume that somehow Haki can generate fire.

In which case, it's not impossible that Sanji's "foxfire" joke can later manifest as a full-fledged fire ability that allows him to actually fly (like Ace).

In the same Thriller Bark context we already had a joke manifesting into reality. Remember that when Usopp told Sanji about Absalom, he just went completely berserk, and Zoro told Usopp to stop lest he "henshin into something"?

Well... further plot development shows that if Sanji get really angry, he can now indeed "henshin into something":

Some people have also theorised that the black fire will be related with the Germa modifications because of this, since the name "Stealth Black" implies that a successful modification would've made Sanji's hair black.

I somewhat agree with it, though I don't subscribe to the idea that Sanji's hair will turn black if he unlocks the ability to use black fire.

Going back to Kin'emon's fire ability. Assuming that it's indeed haki, then it means that he makes the fire by channelling the haki into his sword. In which case, maybe that was the same with Sanji, except that it's channelled through his leg and not through a tool or weapon.

It may be possible that if Sanji manifests advanced Conqueror Haki, which can be infused in body parts or weapons, his fire legs will be black flames. It would also match his already existing epithet, "Black Leg".

This also fits my theory about Sanji being symbolised by "solar eclipse" in relation to Kamen Rider. I may have to re-explain it based on the new material I have, but the short of it is: I see Sora as representing "sun", while Germa is "moon". Solar eclipse is a phenomenon where the sun and moon lines up.

The Kamen Rider connection is that Kamen Rider Black, whose name and powers symbolise solar eclipse, has all the body modifications given to him (including an exoskeleton armour) by the evil organisation. However, due to still having human heart, he uses all that power for good. I strongly feel that sensei used this particular character as Sanji's reference.

Therefore, I feel that this means that Sanji will use "both the sun and moon together", not see the "moon" as a hindrance. He will "redeem" the exoskeleton and other Germa modifications that he has. Someone somehow will fix it later so that it will not affect his ability to empathise and be kind, and he will combine the exoskeleton (Germa science) with Armament Haki and Conqueror Haki (Sora's influence) to use the black flames.

Why is Haki "Sora's influence"? Because as we've seen with the other brothers, not having fear of death means that they also don't have a particularly strong will to push themselves to the limit. They do have some fighting spirit still, but it doesn't seem to be enough.

Even if you argue that Perospero's candy is too strong to break, you don't see the Vinsmoke brothers bothering to even try. For example, until proven otherwise, Yonji's power was supposedly some kind of superstrength that is above Ichiji and Niji. Why is he talking about the weapons and not trying to break free?

Compare that to Luffy, who we know has very strong will, using all his power to try to pull himself free from the book pins that trapped him. Nami and Opera both told him it's no use, but he still tries anyway.

Haki is a power that comes from willpower. No strong will, no haki. Therefore, Sanji's ability to use haki is because of Sora's efforts to preserve his "heart".

Aside from the symbolism, we already saw that he needed to have the exoskeleton in order to use Ifrit Jambe. His normal body is not strong enough to withstand the heat. If black fire is even more powerful than Ifrit, he will need the exoskeleton even more than this.

It would be really cool if the flying foxfire joke manifests as black fire wings, really. It would be a close allusion to the Lunarians, without actually making him one.

My personal favourite guesses for the "godly/holy" names Sanji might use for his max power are: Acala (Fudou Myou'ou is a god connected to solar eclipse), Garuda (Lunarians resemble Garuda), Archangel (as a counter to Seraphim)

I'm sort of reserved about Garuda, honestly, because Sanji knows that was Judge's name. The clones were saying it when the two fought. Sanji might not want to use it as his own power name, because he hates Judge, and even "redeeming" the Germa ability for good usage might not erase his distaste for the name.

Still, maybe it will turn out that Garuda has a much deeper significance in One Piece lore. A personal favourite theory of mine is that Germa in the past is actually a force of good, and Sanji will be the one to "reclaim" that good past somehow. Maybe Garuda is related to that, and so if the good outweighs the awful stuff Germa has become, maybe he'll be okay with it.

Secondary guesses that are still cool, but not my personal preference: Draco/Dragon (due to yin yang symbolism), Vulcan (fire god), Surya (sun), Ignis/Agni (also fire).

A rather unlikely option, but it would be funny if it's true: "Erasmus". St Elmo's fire is sort of the Western version of foxfire, and "Elmo" is the shortened form of "Erasmus". Funny because then we can make Hellmo memes about it.

[xamaxenta]

See the problem with otome prince sabo is that hed not allow the bullshit Marco and ace allowed him in the flip side. Marco is HIS and he doesn’t care if Marco is reeling over this change in reality and needs space. This man has ensnared him and now Marco is not allowed a breath of air where sabo is not present and jobs are a trivial little thing that Marco should really disregard, he’s got better priorities now. Except they both still need to eat and sabo isn’t a prince here so Marco kinda needs to keep working but it’s really hard to talk sabo into not going full yandre on the comparatively squishy modern surgeon man who is not in fact proficient with a sword like he is.

Oh, did I say problem? I meant more a problem for Marco and Marco only

Precisely, sabo came with the sword by the way and its very real and sharp and deadly and no hes not over compensating and god he brought over the attitude too

Thing is is Sabo wields his pretty privilege to the absolute max, his charisma borderlines prodigious and tbh it goes with the psychopathical tendencies anyway

He can get away with a lot when Marco convinces him to leave the sword at home

Oh he gets so cagey about the surgeon thing, luckily for Marco “undertaker” was a job option in character creation so it… the whole working on peoples bodies thing is still kinda the same so Sabo can understand it sort of.

But ooh he gets freaky about Marco touching other bodies that arent his own!!!

Marco sighing and pulling up an education video of xyz standard surgery and has him watch it like trust me. Its not what you think (he still loves him tho so so so much hes gonna throw up god Sabos everything hes ever wanted he can FIX HIM!!!)

Sabo watches the whole thing with narrowed eyes and then comments why cant you do this to me Marco balks like w-what? Why theres nothing wrong with you

Sabo grasps his hand adoringly like oh yes, im completely lovestricken by you Marco cant you see im rather unwell?

On the flipside when Ace inevitably shows up its because hes set a neighbourhood on fire and then proceeded to do donuts with the firetruck that showed up

Then he managed to escape the cops (plot armour clearly followed him to this world) and he climbs in thru Marcos window

Where marco gets home to find Sabo sitting on Ace holding him at swordpoint its very. Erotic h-how long did you say you two were here like this for?

Sabo: that doesnt matter, this intrUDER—!

Tips Aces head back with the tip of the blade and Ace grins like yeah do it pussy, ive heen under this pissboy for like four hours

Marco head in hands dot png

[stromuprisahat]

How do you think Alina becoming the queen alongside Nikolai and Zoya replacing Aleksander as the general would have gone?

First of all, we need to rid them of their plot armour. There will be no miraculous adoration from hateful masses. Not in my world.

Second- Ravka's doomed.

Unless all three of them grow up pretty fast, the country will be torn apart in months max.

Nikolai's too nice to everyone and it's not just armour in his case. The only time we read about him doing something unpleasant is when he retails a story of Sturmhond, and later, when he's starving his own people to make Aleksander's reign harder. For which he's cheered on, because everyone hates the Darkling more, obviously. His reign is built on naïve plans, sudden widespread love for Grisha and stupid/accommodating nobility.

Alina doesn't really want to be involved. She likes the advantages of being important, but doesn't care for responsibilities. She's severely underprepared for leading position knowledge-wise, prone to jumping to conclusions and whenever there's a glimpse of growth on the horizon, either Malyen or Baghra drag her back down the shamebbit hole. She'd need to get rid of both of them and avoid older female authority figures, unless she gets over her mommy issues, learns confidence and realizes being valued for herself means INCLUDING her powers. Oh, and that mentioning she's Grisha isn't the same as living their life.

Zoya wanted to be a soldier. She longed for recognition. What if she gets the highest position possible without merit? Will she work on herself to deserve it after that? Would she be able to recognize she doesn't deserve it to work on herself additionally? Would she be able to let go of her black-and-white worldview, carefully maintained delusions and grow a spine? What about her desire to be loved and appreciated by a father figure? Would she recognize it makes her vulnerable to ancient dragon shapeshifters? (No, according to KoS, but we've already established we're ignoring it for the purpose of this exercise.)

So yeah, either the scales have to fall from their eyes, or they'll soon end up dead with Ravka in flames.

[omgkalyppso]

So I really enjoyed the Orc Heritage Armour questline. After getting into dragonflight and Alexstrasza, Kalecgos and Khadgar kind of acting like they'd never met Borgakh (again), being welcomed and greeted by Thrall / Go'el and his family was so fucking delightful.

I'm going to post the screenshots from the final cutscene first and then a few more things with commentary below the cut.

-

Be warned it's long. You can press J to skip it on desktop if you open and change your mind.

-

Tbh, having not played dragonflight I thought they were about to throw Eitrigg into the Nathanos role and this was going to be related to world quests. I'm glad it wasn't. Eitrigg's history makes me uncomfortable.

I care them.

While I kind of wish they'd let Drek'thar cast from his wheelchair, it's also interesting to think of him having some mobility.

I know some people really don't like Aggra, but I have and do, and I found this delightful. A circle completed.

All the little moments with Durak were very sweet. Very grounding after other story elements in the main plot have gotten so convoluted and absurd.

Thank you, Rexxar, for also recognizing a title (Huntmaster). I was really thrown when Khadgar was back to calling you Adventurer and not either Champion, Hero, or My Friend — too open ended for people new to the game!! ^^;

I go back and forth with the Countess from the Court of Harvesters and Huntmaster titles when I run around with Borgakh because while I still hate shadowlands for what it did to the various in game religions (and the orcs especially since I'm biased) I think these titles would mean a lot to her. To be acknowledged and given the promise of authority / contribution / significance wrt Countess, and to be acknowledged by her peers wrt Huntmaster, which is also tied up in my favorite expansion and all the seeds of Horde and Alliance working to a better future together.

When it came to choosing a clan, I imagined Borgakh sharing a look with Aggra about how it was "obvious" that now, given the choice, that she would follow Thrall / Go'el anywhere. But unlike how it presents the player character as having never belonged to a clan, Borgakh has been for Years, headcanoned as part of the Warsong clan. I felt it added depth and weight to her struggles.

And then not only did Thrall / Go'el have The Weakest pitch for joining his clan (undoubtedly because they knew he and the Frost Wolves were going to sweep anyway), but I got to the choice screen and imagined the question for Borgakh as being, "But would I give up a core part of my identity for you?"

She is still part of his Horde, and she would die for him and his family, but I decided to keep her a member of the Warsong clan.

Borgakh has had maxed cooking in this game for like, ever. And that the final trial was to prepare a meal as an offering for her ancestors was something I really enjoyed. That the cookbook included a spicy as hell recipe from the Warsong was a bonus and reaffirmed my enjoyment of maintaining her membership with her clan.

I really appreciated this. After shadowlands? Bring me back to the uncertainty and faith of the past wrt what happens after death and the peace and connection with those lost and those who remain.

That this quest began with the premise that the orcs felt disconnected from each other and their culture and clans and this gathering and a new ceremony to replace the old coming of age ones that an orc could take part in regardless of age was very sweet. I have so many more screenshots of all the smaller npc's and things they've said in case I want to revisit it either for myself or for fic writing in the future. Loved it.

Thank you if you read my rambling.

[gremoria411]

Metaphor Re:Fantazio is a pretty good game. It’s a solid Persona-style JRPG and I’d recommend it.

Considering that a few people might be getting it for Christmas/might be more interested in it due to the recent Game Awards, I thought I’d do a quick post on it.

I’ve only played around the first 15 hours at present, so this’ll be more of a first impressions thing, and I’m also not going to be discussing the plot, this’ll mostly be about gameplay and mechanics (I’ve found the plot so far to be really good, and I’m liking a lot of the characters). I’m also a big Persona 5 fan (though I still haven’t finished that), so I’ll be comparing it a little as well.

Actual discussion’s under the cut, in case you want to go in completely blind.

General Tactics

Alright, so how Metaphor Re:Fantazio’s combat works is that you’ve got a standard 3rd person hack-and-slash when you’re in an area, and when you move to attack an enemy you go to traditional turn-based combat. If you wear the enemy down first then you’ll gain advantage in the turn-based fight, but if the enemy gets the drop on you then they’ll have the advantage, so you really want to ambush enemies as best you can. It’s simpler than I’ve made it sound and the game does a good job of tutorialising its elements.

You can flee from opponents if the battle is going poorly, but you seem to only be able to do this once per foe.

In combat, each of your party members (you can have four at once, but you only have three for much of the opening) channels a heroic archetype, which are this games equivalent to classes, in your typical fighter/mage/thief/etc. set-up. Each Archetype has skills associated with it, and as you level up more archetypes, you can mix-and-match these skills to improve the versatility of your archetypes (say, if you want to teach your fighter a healing spell, or teach your mage an attack buff). Any character can learn any archetype, but will naturally gravitate towards certain types (ie. some characters will have good physical attack growths, others will have good magic growths). But fundamentally, your party composition and skills will make-or-break your party, so it’s important to get your head around (you can respec your party as long as you aren’t in direct combat, but it’s still important to tweak your build to the area you’re in).

With all that said; level Healer and Mage early on.

You don’t have to get them all the way to max or anything, just get the basic healing spells and the mage’s 2-3 elemental attacks (around level 5-7), because let me tell you, they’re really useful, and they’ll save you a lot of pain in certain areas. You don’t need everyone to have them, just as long as they’re an option at your disposal.

(Did I make this entire post because of one tricky boss that I had to retry 5 five times due to bad party composition on my part? Maybe. Please learn from my mistakes).

Dealing with lingering instincts from Persona 5

Kind of a double-edged sword to be honest - some Persona instincts are right on-the-money (ie intuiting Enemy Weaknesses), some really aren’t (you really have to shepherd your resources a lot more, and it’s a lot harder to just steamroll your way through enemies).

I’d recommend talking to your followers ASAP if you have the time, they aren’t as regularly available as Persona Confidants (and they have a more direct effect on combat), and you’ve got to think on a longer term than Persona 5 from the time management perspective - some quests or locations are 3-day commitments that you need to fit in your schedule, as opposed to Persona 5 being a more day-to-day affair.

Weapons and Armour are a little bit odd - you only really need to re-spec if you’re changing a character’s archetype, but you really don’t get that much money from selling old equipment, so you have to consider new purchases a lot more. Shops do have regular weekly discounts, but sometimes you will just have to make do with only one new weapon (you will also gain new equipment from dungeons, but still).

You do have social stats to level up as well - honestly I haven’t found any particularly effective ways yet, so just do what you feel like (admittedly, Courage is tricky to level up early on, but it gets easier after the opening, so I’d say it balances out).

Honestly, I only bring up the Persona 5 comparison because a) I’m seeing a lot of other people mention it. b) I basically went from a Persona playthrough straight to a Metaphor one and c) I found it interesting which instincts were helpful and which weren’t.

Difficulty

Just a quick one here - I’d say Metaphor Re:Fantazio is challenging, but I wouldn’t say it’s hard (at least not yet) - most of the parts I struggled with were due to me not investing in the tools early on, or me forgetting I had a tool that would solve the problem. Other than that, I’ve found the difficulty to be very good, since it makes it all the sweeter when your party composition is just right for the task at hand.

Closing

So yeah, Metaphor Re:Fantazio. I’ve really enjoyed it so far and it’s a solid recommend - plot,characters and world all feel really good, and the gameplay’s the sort with some nice tactical depth (once you figure it out and get into the groove). Honestly, my only real criticism (if you can call it that) is that the Villain designs are *really cool*, so every time I come to fight them I’m always kinda reluctant.

Please feel free to mention anything I’ve missed (though keep in mind this is just on the first 15 hours)!

EDIT: I am aware that there’s a function to check other player’s party compositions at the are you’re at, but honestly I didn’t find it that useful. Early-game there’s too few options to make it worth the bother, and later on the parties are too varied in skills to give you any real sense of what’s coming up.

[charlescoded]

I'm neutral about mpreg charles until the video and you mentioning all the mpreg charles plots, arranged marriage and omegaverse vampire. Your vision is sooooooo good! But what I like the most is max kneeling and kissing charles pregnant belly. I'd sell my kidneys to read this scene.

im soooo not neutral about it, im incapable of being normal about it actually lmao, but glad you liked the ideas! i have many more, but most i'll keep contained in my head or the dms for safe keeping

so yeah, anyway, this took me 50 minutes to write, but here you go, it's based on the lestappen arranged marriage idea:

-

Charles lets out a loud groan as soon as the door slams closed behind him. He leans back against the dark wood and scrubs his hands over his face, frustration leaking out of him. When he drops his hands they slide past the now obvious bump of his stomach. He looks down and grimaces. Maybe it was a mistake after all, maybe he should—

He flinches when someone knocks on the door. Charles grits his teeth before replying, “Go away.” He shouts. They’d fought enough today, and Charles had no intention on continuing the conversation. All they ever did was call him reckless, or a fool, or a whore, or everything all at once. 

“I just wish to know whether you’re alright, my prince,” A soft voice says, and Charles rips the door open in sudden haste. Max stands on the other side of the door, armour moulded to his body in all the right places, a worried frown adorning his face, and Charles is distracted for a moment.

“I’m fine,” He says once Max closes the door behind him. “Just frustrated. They were complaining about how they’ll never be able to marry me off to some other old guy when I already have a kid.”

Max’s gaze is calculated. “It was not just that, was it?”

It’s a rhetorical question. Max must have heard something while he stood guard. Charles deflates. “Yes, well, they were calling me selfish and incapable of putting the people of my country first when I act like this, but what else is new…”

When Max extends his hand, in offer, in question, Charles takes it. Max guides him to the side of the bed. “Sit, my prince,” He murmurs. Charles gives him a dirty look but does as he’s told. Max kneels down in front of him and Charles allows him to take off his boots. Max presses a soft kiss on the inside of his knee. “They’re wrong about you,” He whispers. Blue eyes pierce through Charles and he shudders under the attention. “You’re far more capable of compassion than they ever will be.”

Charles swallows dryly. “Not that it matters. They’re the ones in power.”

He watches as Max slides the soft material of his hose down his thighs, unable to look away. He bites his lip. “They’re not, that’s why they’re angry you’re not listening to them.”

Max leans forward and trails his lips up his leg and towards his crotch. Heat pools in his stomach. “I must listen to them or it will harm my people, Max, you know this.”

When Max shakes his head, Charles sits up straight to protest, but his voice falters when Max places his hand over the swell of his stomach. “You’re not, Charlie,” The soft nickname sends a shiver down his spine. “Your baby—our baby—, that is your proof. You can go against them, you have, they cannot harm you.”

“But,” Charles places his hand over Max’s. “They could harm the baby.”

Max shakes his head. “That would be stupid of them, you could easily get pregnant again.”

It’s so blunt that Charles can’t help but smile. “Would you?”

“Would I what?”

His smile grows. “Get me pregnant again?”

“Of course,” Max’s hands slips under his shirt, sliding it up to expose his stomach. He leans forward and presses butterfly kisses along the expense of skin. “I’d give you as many children as you want.”

Charles licks his lips, arousal growing. “Yeah? Maybe we should start to practice then…”

The corners of Max’s eyes crinkle as he smiles up at him. Then, for a moment, he turns serious. “I would protect you, you know, you and the baby, always. No harm will befall any of you.”

“I know.” Charles whispers, and he means it. Whatever mistakes he might have made, choosing Max wasn’t one of them.

[sir44lh]

max has crazy plot armour

[reddie-ao3feed]

Back to the hole where I went insane

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/fi6hFey by AngelGhost After Vecna destroyed half of Hawkins (although the government would say it was an earthquake), a program was started to help survivors move elsewhere. Karen, ever the optimist, had jumped at the chance to finally move her family somewhere “safe”. Derry, safe? Yeah right. Mike's old house is apparently still standing, left untouched after his parents went to prison. Now, because he’s just so damn lucky, Karen had even convinced his friends’ families to join the move. He had tried to convince his mom, or rather his aunt, that moving to Derry was a terrible idea but she wouldn’t take his word for it. Short of telling everyone every nasty detail of his last summer there -wouldn’t that be fun at dinner- he has no more arguments. Not that he’d tell anyone anyway. ---------- Or; After the events of IT things get worse, Richie's parents are arrested for child abuse and neglect and he's sent to live with his Aunt Karen and becomes Michael Wheeler. What will he do now that Vecna's destruction leads his aunt and friends to all pack up and head to Derry, Maine? Or; or; I can't get this idea out my head so I'm writing it myself Words: 3915, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: IT (Movies - Muschietti), Stranger Things (TV 2016) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M, Multi Characters: Richie Tozier, Mike Wheeler, Nancy Wheeler, Eddie Kaspbrak, Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Beverly Marsh, Will Byers, Karen Wheeler, Stanley Uris, Eleven | Jane Hopper, Bill Denbrough, Lucas Sinclair, Ben Hanscom, Dustin Henderson, Mike Hanlon, Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley, Jonathan Byers, Joyce Byers, Jim "Chief" Hopper, Holly Wheeler Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Beverly Marsh & Richie Tozier, Maxine "Max" Mayfield & Mike Wheeler, Richie Tozier & Stanley Uris, Will Byers & Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair & Mike Wheeler, Eleven | Jane Hopper & Mike Wheeler, Mike Wheeler & Nancy Wheeler, Bill Denbrough & Richie Tozier, Ben Hanscom & Richie Tozier, Mike Hanlon & Richie Tozier, Dustin Henderson & Mike Wheeler, Holly Wheeler & Mike Wheeler Additional Tags: Richie Tozier as Mike Wheeler, Post-Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2, Vecna is Defeated (Stranger Things), Richie Tozier is a Little Shit, Mike Wheeler is a Mess, Past Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Richie Tozier Flirts, identity crisis, Bisexual Mike Wheeler, Bisexual Richie Tozier, Beverly Marsh & Richie Tozier Are Best Friends, Maxine "Max" Mayfield & Mike Wheeler Are Best Friends, His emotional support gingers, Derry (Stephen King), The Hammock (IT), This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, It won't go the way I think, It has a mind of its own im just a vessel, Good Parent Karen Wheeler, Bad Parent Ted Wheeler (Stranger Things), Richie's parents were also shit, Karen is his aunt on his mums side, Dont worry ill make them american, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Oblivious Richie Tozier, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Dont pay too much attention to the order of tags theyre all over the place, POV Richie Tozier, POV Mike Wheeler, Richie Tozier-centric, Mike Wheeler-centric, Mike and Richie are 180s of each other so this'll be interesting, Pray for my writing ability, Writing 2 complete opposites into one character is hard it turns out, Give me time to settle into it, Richie doesnt forget cause plot armour, Post-Pennywise (IT), Richie Tozier & Stanley Uris Are Best Friends, I Had To read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/fi6hFey

[twdgkidsdeservebetter]

I love the Quarry but I think it could use a complete fix to improve it.

I know a lot of stuff was scrapped due to Covid-19 getting in the way, but there's always potential for a remake (I can only hope)

Making the two save options ACTUALLY let you save Max/Nick. The only thing we get from that are different dialogue lines.

Number 1 is also a reason why we should add character relationships and traits back. Don't get me wrong, I like the pause menu for The Quarry, I think it's super unique, but there's plenty of space to add relationships and traits back in. That's what made Until Dawn so unique, especially when you do a deep dive on character traits changing with your dialogue options. (like for example, Mike's honesty goes down when he tries to comfort Jess).

I also think more options in the game that would change characters fates in different chapters would give a larger variety of story. Like for example; instead of Max getting infected, it's Laura whose infected and Max has to go out and kill Chris. Instead of Jacob getting captured, we have Emma captured. Instead of Nick getting infected, we have Abi infected. This would definitely give more characters some screen time and from someone who thinks characters in a story bring everything together, would allow people to select characters they like in order to give them more screen time over other characters they may not like as much. (It's sort like watching a horror movie but not being invested in what happens to a character you don't like).

Change chapter 8. From someone who has replayed the game several times in order to get 100%, I found chapter 8 to be the most boring and repetitive out of every single chapter. I understand why they made the chapter that way to explain what happened to Laura and Max, I just don't like the execution of it. Especially when we've been following 7 other characters for 7 chapters and now we're focusing on 2 characters we haven't seen since the prologue.

Removing plot armour from Ryan, Laura and Kaitlyn. These three characters can only die at the very end of the game, which sucks, since I really don't care for Ryan or Laura. I know they're fixing that with Mike and Sam in the new Until Dawn remake, allowing them to die earlier, rather than at the very end of the game. (And I know Chris is also getting an alternate death that is a chapter earlier).

When they first announced The Quarry, they said that each character would have several ways to die in the game, which obviously, was not the case. More danger would definitely up the risk factor of the game.

Adding additional scenes for those infected after the curse has been broken. For the characters who have the ability to turn into a werewolf post-curse breaking is; Max, Emma, Nick and Dylan. BUT, we only get Max and Emma scenes. I would've loved to see Nick appear again and be super disorientated. Along with Dylan, who would obviously be searching for Kaitlyn.

Adding scrapped dialogue back in to make scenes make more sense and more fleshed out. Kaitlyn's whole, "You done?" line makes zero sense without Dylan and Ryan's scrapped lines.

Making the ending better. I thought the ending of The Quarry SUUUUUUUUUUCKED. We get this intense car chase with Silas and then we find him curled up in his cage? BORING. It was super anti-climatic (and I get it, covid happened) and should've been more fleshed out.

Also, FIX LAURA'S HAIR!