#Resident evil Survival Guide

[tyanis]

Original Re2 Mr. X concept art.

Realized I still hadn't posted all of the concept art from the Resident Evil 2 Survival Guide. Whoops.

Looks like he had a gasmask and some sort of gun early on.

It's a little hard to see, but I think his mask has a little Umbrella logo on the side. Would you guys have preferred him with the mask? It looks kinda neat and I love masks but his emotionless stare feels more unnerving to me.

They seems to have dabbled in having a full face mask too. Also, look at the long black nails on his "normal" hand.

This one reminds me of Handsome Squidward.

Anyway, that's all for now. There are still more images of concept art in the guide but I'll be posting those another time.

[caffeinated-rants]

you can't tell me they aren't the same person XD

[the-gamer-geek-lounge-blog]

How To Get Through Specimen Storage RE4 Remake

Had some anxiety during this section of the game... Who wants to walk through a ton of hanging body bags?!?!? Check out this tense episode.

[haplogamingchef]

First Look at Resident Evil Requiem (RE9): Gameplay, Story & Fan Reactions

Introduction: A Big Reveal at Summer Game Fest 2025

Capcom made a major splash at Summer Game Fest 2025 with the official reveal of Resident Evil Requiem (RE9). With fans anticipating the next chapter in the survival horror franchise, this trailer did more than tease — it stunned. Hosted at the end of the showcase, the world premiere brought cinematic visuals, emotional story hints, and intense fan reactions.

Let’s break it all down: what was shown, how fans responded, and what to expect next from the Resident Evil universe.

The Trailer Reveal Moment

The RE9 trailer wasn’t just dropped — it was celebrated. The host introduced it as one of the most exciting global announcements, saved for last to build suspense. While the game could have debuted anywhere, Capcom chose Summer Game Fest, giving it a huge spotlight and immediate buzz.

From the moment the trailer began, some viewers were unsure of what they were watching. Suspenseful dialogue, shadowy environments, and subtle clues hinted at Capcom’s involvement before the Resident Evil brand was fully confirmed.

Early Clues: Capcom’s Signature Style

Fans quickly picked up on classic Capcom elements — the art style, voice tone, and slow-building mystery. Despite initial doubts, many began to guess it might be Resident Evil, but few were sure until the trailer’s mid-point. It was only when the trailer’s visuals began connecting with past storylines that long-time players started putting the pieces together.

The suspense worked perfectly. By the time the “Resident Evil Requiem” title hit the screen, the audience was already buzzing online.

Meet the Characters: Familiar and New Faces

One of the most discussed aspects of the trailer is the appearance of a character named Grace, potentially tied to older entries like Outbreak. Another key name, Alyssa, was mentioned — a figure who apparently died eight years ago. This connection hints at a return to deeper lore and older characters, which long-time fans will appreciate.

The trailer also teased a mysterious villain or prophetic figure who referred to someone as “the chosen one,” adding to the intrigue surrounding the game’s plot.

The Setting: Return to Horror Roots

The Remwood Hotel, a central location shown in the trailer, could be one of RE9’s key environments. With mentions of past murders and crime scenes, it brings back the investigative elements that were essential in earlier RE titles.

The game seems poised to blend both psychological horror and survival action, potentially drawing from what worked in both RE7 and RE4 Remake.

Gameplay Direction: Action Meets Horror

According to the final announcement, Resident Evil Requiem marks a shift in both gameplay and tone. The developers are focusing on cinematic storytelling while maintaining the series’ horror roots. Expect tense exploration mixed with high-stakes action, something Capcom has been gradually refining across recent titles.

While the trailer didn’t show detailed gameplay footage, it’s clear that Capcom is targeting a more intense, story-driven experience for RE9.

Voice Acting and Audio Design

The voiceover work stood out right away. The emotional delivery, the ominous lines about loss and hope, and the eerie music gave the trailer a polished, emotional edge. Whether you're a new player or a series veteran, the sound design set the mood right.

A standout line like “Please know that you are my hope” suggests a deep emotional narrative — a possible new direction for the franchise.

Fan Reactions: Shock, Theories, and Excitement

Many fans watching the stream live had mixed reactions at first. Confusion gave way to excitement as the pieces came together. Comments flooded social media as the trailer aired, with users sharing their guesses, theories, and strong language — all signs of raw, passionate fandom.

Phrases like “This is [expletive] Resident Evil” and “I [expletive] hate you Capcom” (in a joking tone) show just how emotionally invested the audience was. The surprise worked. The internet lit up within minutes.

Playable Demo at Gamescom 2025

One of the biggest follow-up announcements is that RE9 will be playable at Gamescom 2025, starting August 19. Fans attending the event will get hands-on experience months before release. Capcom also confirmed they’ll be hosting the Opening Night Live, further suggesting a major marketing push through the rest of the year.

Expect gameplay previews, developer interviews, and more storyline reveals in the months ahead.

Release Date and What to Expect

Resident Evil Requiem is set to launch on February 27, 2026. With almost nine months to go, there’s plenty of time for Capcom to release more gameplay details, trailers, and perhaps even a public demo.

For now, the trailer gave just enough to spark curiosity while keeping many of its secrets.

What This Means for the Franchise

Resident Evil Requiem appears to bridge the gap between old-school horror and modern action storytelling. With references to previous characters and a renewed focus on emotional narrative, Capcom is clearly aiming to expand the series lore without alienating longtime fans.

This could be one of the most ambitious Resident Evil games to date.

Conclusion: A Promising Future for RE Fans

Capcom’s RE9 trailer reveal left a big impression. With emotional storytelling, intense visuals, and high-stakes gameplay teased, Resident Evil Requiem is shaping up to be a major entry in the franchise.

Whether you're here for the scares, the lore, or the action, this trailer delivered on all fronts — and it’s just the beginning.

FAQs

Q1: When was Resident Evil Requiem (RE9) revealed? A: It was officially revealed during Summer Game Fest 2025 as the closing announcement of the live show.

Q2: What is the release date for Resident Evil Requiem? A: Resident Evil Requiem is scheduled to launch on February 27, 2026.

Q3: Will RE9 be playable before the release date? A: Yes, the game will be playable for fans attending Gamescom 2025 starting on August 19.

Q4: Which characters appear in the Resident Evil Requiem trailer? A: The trailer features characters like Grace and Alyssa, suggesting a link to previous games in the Resident Evil universe.

Q5: What kind of gameplay can fans expect in RE9? A: Resident Evil Requiem will blend survival horror with cinematic action and a story-driven experience.

🎮 Meet Haplo Gaming Chef 🍳

Level 99 Kitchen Warrior here! I'm on a quest to transform your gaming sessions into epic culinary adventures. When I'm not farming rare ingredients in MMOs, I'm crafting real-world recipes inspired by your favorite video games.

Specializing in: • Game-inspired recipe creation • Cooking quest guides • Power-up snacks for gaming sessions • Achievement-worthy meal prep

Join my party as we explore the delicious intersection of pixels and plates. Whether you're a casual foodie or a hardcore gamer, there's always room at my crafting table! #Gaming #GamingGuides #GamingChef #HaploGamingChef For More Visit: https://haplogamingchef.blogspot.com/

[anim-ttrpgs]

Your post detailing a story in ad&d of a band of warriors delving into a dungeon filled with large lads and undead inspired me to look into ad&d 2e myself and so far I have found myself enjoying the mechanics greatly. So thank you for that do you have any advice for those just getting into ad&d?

Thank you! I love AD&D and am happy to help get more people into it, or any other rpg that has similar pre-WotC dungeon crawling gameplay.

Here’s a few rapid fire tips off the top of my head for those trying to get into AD&D2e and similar games:

Everybody Reads Both Rulebooks

Really this is my stance for basically any TTRPG, but I think that everybody should read the Player’s Handbook and the DM Guide. A session of any game will always go smoother if everybody has read the rules instead of one guy being tasked with remembering them all.

Check the Wiki

There’s a very useful wiki for AD&D you can use.

While I still recommend you read the rulebooks themselves to get a full understanding of the game you’re playing, the wiki is way better than a crusty old PDF or questionably formatted and nearly-falling-apart-by-now physical copy for quickly checking rules mid-session, and for waking you through character creation.

Start Small

Even before WotC brought the D&D brand and made it the overwhelming monopoly it is today, D&D was a juggernaught if the industry, and, even though I think from reading them that TSR-era D&D was very much written with more passion than just trying to soullessly sell products, TSR still had the dollar signs in their eyes and released like a million supplement and all that crap.

My suggestion: Stick with the DM’s Guide and Player’s Handbook at first. There’s just too much shit otherwise, and a lot of the later additions and supplements have a lot of very questionable content that will not really improve your experience. For instance, why did they introduce a fucking proficiency for eating and drinking?!

Use Even Older Adventure Modules

AD&D2e is retroactively compatible with the adventure modules made for previous editions, and I suggest you use these instead. While I think AD&D2e is the best ruleset to come out of TSR D&D, the adventure modules saw a pretty sharp decline around that time. This is when adventure modules started to be more like scripted stories rather than the dungeon crawling sandboxes they previously were.

Some suggestions that should get you started and keep you going for many many sessions are:

In Search of the Unknown

The Sinister Secret or Saltmarsh

Keep on the Borderlands (get the later version not the original version.)

Village of Hommlet

Throw Everything You Know from D&D3e Onwards Out the Window

If you aren’t sure how to handle something mechanically, do not default to assuming you do it the way it works in later editions. For instance, there are no skill checks in dialogue. You might roll Charisma once at the start of a conversation to determine if the other group trusts the PC or not, but that’s it. Everything else it just talked out.

Also, encounter balance? Throw it out. PCs will have to negotiate, sneak past, run away from, or use clever tactics to survive encounters. It being unbalanced is the whole point. You should be playing this like you would play an old survival-horror game like Resident Evil or Silent Hill, not like an action game. The PCs are fragile and will die easily if they just try to take everything head on.

This is another reason that everyone should read both rulebooks. If you don’t, then you’ll default to playing I like WotC D&D, which is a totally and completely different game.

Run it as a Challenge Game

These games only work if you run them as “challenge games,” which means they are scenarios meant to challenge both the PC and the player. No one should ever fudge dice, adjust HP values of monsters, change the solution to a puzzle just to be what the players thing is right, etc. It’s a dangerous gauntlet and you see if they live or die based on their own decisions and your descriptions. If the GM bends reality to ensure the party’s success (or ensure their failure, but everyone already knows that’s bad) then the whole game and whole story is invalidated. There will be a story, but it cannot be preplanned, it will emerge from seeing what these PCs do and who they turn out to be when they encounter these challenging scenarios. That has to include the possibility of unceremonious death.

Run a Troupe Campaign and Play Multiple Characters on Large Parties

A “troupe campaign” is one where instead of a small party, there are dozens of PCs which form a pool or roster to select from. Like you read in that post, we do ours as a mercenary free company. They get hired to do this stuff.

This makes it so that, in a highly lethal game like AD&D, the “story” doesn’t end as soon as a PC dies, which also means you’re less inclined to cheat to keep them alive when they shouldn’t be. That was just one of dozens of main characters.

Also, get used to playing multiple PCs at once. Make everyone create 3-5 PCs at the start of the campaign, and everyone bring at least 2 of them per adventure. This may take some getting used to but it is really not that hard, especially if you learn to play in third-person like Eureka tells you to.

Get used to party sizes between 6 and 15 PCs. Despite ironically being less focused exclusively on combat than WotC D&D, AD&D doesn’t pretend it’s not descended from wargames.

Ignore Alignment

Yeah alignment still mostly ranged between being pointless and being bad back then too. It meant something back in the very earliest editions of the game, but by the point of AD&D2e it was already mostly a vestigial system that you can and should ignore for most classes. You can keep it for, like, Clerics and Paladins if you want, that’s what we do.

But generally you should give up on the idea that your PCs will even be good guys at all, they’re amoral mercenaries and/or treasure hunters. This doesn’t mean they’re necessarily “bad guys” either, it’s more complex than that.

(art by @chaospyromancy)

Sir Ferdinand, one of my PCs and Captain of the White Company, is a scoundrel who overcharges his employers whenever he can get away with it; does dirty mercenary jobs like raiding, robbery, and extortion as much as he does heroic jobs like rescuing kidnapped children and protecting towns from raids, sometimes even at the same time. Recently he calmly and politely told a village of lizardmen they had better swear fealty to the local lord while subtly implying that something terrible could happen to their home if they don’t. In an adventure before, while overcharging a town for protection due to a threat that the White Company knew was not credible, once the company stumbled upon a secret smuggling and slavery operation that had been kidnapping people from the town and nearby village, he put every effort towards rooting it out despite it not being their job and even later being ordered by their current employer to stop sticking their noses in it. As he said before engaging an extremely dangerous and magic-wielding man in full plate armor while he himself had only maille at the time, he could not call himself a Christian in good standing if he turned a blind eye to slave running.

What alignment is Sir Ferdinand? None of them. He doesn’t have alignment, he has values.

[lemon-slushie]

Epiphyllum revamp!

Along with her story undercut! Warning it’s a total yap fest but like also please read 🥺 there’s a surprise in there

She’s the daughter/creation of millennial tree and sugar swan from an epiphyllum flower (the one on the back of her head, it’s a part of her body), but most of her magic comes from millennial tree, such as creating plant life and such(bring back Mary sues)

She created beast yeast before it was used as a prison for the beasts, the forest was originally named the Hero’s Garden. Epiphyllums was sent out by her parents to build this area for the great hero’s made by the witches. This would also help to work on strengthening her magic by creating multiple different biomes and plants and creatures. She became somewhat close with the hero’s, caring for them deeply like a mother. She mostly resided in faeriewood, the forest was dense and beautiful with large trees that blocked out the sun and glowing spores that lit up the dim floor under the trees. The darkness was good for Epiphyllum as her flower blooms at night and it helped keep her vibrant. As she continued crafting the land the hero’s moved in, bringing their followed with them. The beauty of Epiphyllums creations mixed with the hero’s drew more cookies in and they began visiting and soon inhabiting it as well.

- she spent years putting together her forest and land, caring for the life within it, it was quite the sight to see before the witches forced the beast prisons into it. The magic and chaos that seeped from the beast prisons greatly impacted her forest causing many of her creatures to become hostile, suddenly attacking and crumbling her cookies

After the beasts insanity spread and they began terrorizing and crumbling the cookies around them Epiphyllum did the best she could to defend her cookies and attempt return everything to its original state. But the change was so sudden and drastic affecting nearly all of her land she couldn’t contain all of it. The continuing depletion of her forest and excess use of her magic weakened her and she could no longer fight, eventually faced one on one with a beast left her crumpled and defeated. With epiphyllums defeat all of the remaining cookies who once lived there quickly evacuated, except for the faerie kingdom ofc. The cookies that survived and evacuated began warning all travelers of the evil in the forest

This quickly caused many rumors and tales that twisted the truth of Epiphyllums forest and caused it to become a sort of myth as years passed, the original name being lost to time and becoming known as “beast yeast” to anyone who heard of it

Epiphyllum was absolutely crushed, all of her work and care ripped from her, her creations was her pride and joy. This paired with the crushing heartache of grief at the loss of her cookies and betrayal from the beasts left her bitter.

- she specifically dislikes elder faerie because she’s envious of him. After all the destruction from the beasts he still has a lively and glowing kingdom, every time she sees it her heart aches for what she once had.

Years pass and Epiphyllum still roams the forest with her butterfly lantern because she still cannot bare to part with it, clinging to the hope she can fix it. Deep down she knows all of her work is pointless but she is far too gone to leave, too humiliated to face her parents after such a failure. Her mind is constantly plagued with ways she could’ve prevented it, what she could’ve done better. She’s bitter and hates the beasts for what they’ve done, resents elder faerie for having what she can’t, but ultimately she feels it’s also her fault and she belongs in the forest after all the damage.

After years of loneliness something happens, White Lily finds beast yeast, and she is excited to be there. Happy to see all of the life in the forest. Epiphyllum is shocked and enthralled to see someone find the beauty in her forest once more, even with how much it’s fallen. She quickly befriends white lily, guiding her safely through the forest and chatting with her about everything she’s made. White lily is genuinely interested and happy to speak to her, Epiphyllum is over joyed.

- She has spent that past years alone and working and to finally have someone who notices fills her heart. She’s happy. She takes white lily everywhere she can think of, her old villages, springs, flower fields, all of it. Maybe it was her intense loneliness but she falls quick for white lily, she loves how curious she is and how they talk for hours.

eventually white lily finds silver bell and goes the faerie kingdom, epiphyllum stays behind, still holding a grudge.

- Epiphyllum is sad to see white lily take more interest in the faerie kingdom but doesn’t say anything, she’s happy as long as white lily is. She occasionally enters the kingdom to check in on lily and talk to her and hang out but always returns to her forest, refusing to stay as the faeries are also quite awkward around her as in the past she lurked around their walls and would very rarely speak to elder faerie unless he approached her first.

- When visiting white lily she noticed her bond with elder faerie had grown quite a lot, this only deepened her disdain for him, but once again she allowed it to slip by because white lily was happy

One day Epiphyllum entered the kingdom to see white lily but was stopped by elder faerie, telling her white lily had left to go the gathering of witches.

- Epiphyllum quickly becomes enraged, yelling at elder faerie for letting her basically walk into her own death. She doesn’t care what defense he has and quickly storms out and desperately searching her forest in hopes to find her before it’s too late but instead she finds nothing. She now truly resents elder faerie and blames him completely for the loss of white lily.

after dark enchantress is created and white lily is comatose in the faerie kingdom Epiphyllum can be frequently found at her casket. Elder faerie told her about the casket, as he felt it was wrong to not let her know since he knew she cared about her deeply. He’s tried talking to her since and offers to let her stay in the kingdom so she isn’t lonely. These only end in arguments as Epiphyllum cannot bring herself to forgive him and wants nothing to do with him or his ungrateful kingdom.

Then ofc white lily wakes up but Epiphyllum is unaware of this as she isn’t constantly in the faerie kingdom. There is something that immediately captures her attention, shadow milk. A surge of chaos and commotion erupts and rings throughout the forest. Obviously startled and confused Epiphyllum follows it back until she’s overlooking the fae kingdom. Shadow milk sticking out from a giant crack in the silver tree leaves epiphyllum frozen in fear. The memories of the past flooding back to her. She’s stuck staring at the chaos of the silver kingdom. She wants to help but is too horrified at the sight of the beast and the thought of them returning. Epiphyllum feels weak again and like a coward slips back into her forest, desperately trying to get away from the noise of shadow milk.

She hides within her forest, at a complete loss of what to do.

- Wind archer finds her after being sent to beast yeast. He’s almost shocked at the sight of her. Of course he knew she was still alive. As after the beasts were sealed away he visited often, trying to get her to return to the millennial forest but she also rejected, becoming more and more frustrated as his visits continued, as she only felt more humiliated. After a while he finally stopped.

- He breaks out of his shock and tried to tell her what he saw but she only shakes her head and tells him she knows they’re are returning. Her obvious distress causes wind archer to keep the knowledge of the ultimate cookie to himself as to not freak her out more. They stare at each other silently as if already in agreement. Epiphyllum is weak and her years of grief and loneliness clear on her face. The beasts return only leaving her more vulnerable. Wind archer grabs her hand and she lets it lay limp in his grasp, no longer pulling away. She’s tired. He leads her out of the forest and they begin their journey back to Millennial tree.

Another oc!

Angel trumpet cookie

She comes from a line of priests and priestesses that originated from beast yeast (formally known as the hero’s garden, and still referred to as such by angel) so she was brought up very religious but as time went on and the family went years and years without their goddess their stories started to rely heavily on memory and word of mouth. Angel is the most recent descendent of this line as was raised by her grandmother after her parents passed. Her mother had already taught her a bit about their goddess before the passing, getting angel quite intrigued by the goddess and what caused her downfall. After the loss of her parents angel had to rely on her grandmother for more knowledge on their goddess. Though in her old age angle’s grandmother became forgetful and often jumbled up her stories. Angels interest in their goddess and the lore of her creations only grew as time past. This intrigue mixed with her devotion led her to begin an exploration to gain more knowledge about her goddess and hope to learn the full truth of the situation.

- The cookies that escaped beast yeast didn’t realize that it was the old hero’s terrorizing everything so they’re unaware that it’s now called beast yeast

After the attack of the beast the cookies view on epiphyllum became skewed

- Some believe it was her fault, Spreading rumors that her magic was faulty and caused her creatures to begin acting out and become viscous or blame her for being too weak to save them

Once they evacuated quite a lot became separated and the ones that stayed togethers belief and devotion to epiphyllum became very far and few between

- This mixed with her creation being over shadowed with the terror of the beast left her nearly forgotten and having little to no archives on her

[noblesandsstories]

Life is rough so I'm indulging two special interests at once...

Resident Evil Characters and What Their Partner Pokémon Would Be

(Note: Some are more fleshed out than others, and this isn't their ace, this is their emotional support partner pokemon. Edit: I made this at 12 in the morning and it shows. I did some polishing.)

Chris Redfield:

Lucario!

A pokémon known for a strong sense of justice and being very picky about it's trainer.

They met while Chris was in S.T.A.R.S. and while the lucario was still a riolu. Chris helped him out and took him in when the riolu was abandoned. It takes high friendship to evolve one, and the union between these two is strong.

Lucario actually evolved during the Mansion Incident, protecting Chris when he got knocked down.

From henceforth, the two are found side by side, upholding justice and protecting the weak. Whenever the other doesn't feel strong enough to continue, the other reminds them how strong they really are.

Jill Valentine:

Absol!

Absols live in the mountains and can sense when danger is about to occur sooooo...

They met at the Spencer Mansion. He was trying to warn them of everything going on (and had tried to save some of the murder victims) but stuck around to help Jill survive the mansion.

He was also essential to her survival in Raccoon City, and helped her avoid Nemesis once or twice.

Jill had her pokeballs on her when her and Wesker took that swan dive, but upon arrival to Africa, he had disappeared.

He knew something was wrong and looked over her from afar, but they were reunited when Jill was escaping with Josh and plan to stay that way from now on.

While she's had other pokemon for longer, the bond between these two is formidable and they are always in sync.

Claire Redfield:

Alolan Ninetails!

I do think regular ninetails could work as well, however Alolan Ninetails are known to be more protective of vulpix and guide people in distress (even if it is for slightly selfish reasons).

Maybe Chris got her an Alolan vulpix to help Claire emotionally, maybe they stumbled upon each other. I haven't quite got an idea as for how these two met, but they match each others vibes perfectly.

If Claire is mad at something, she's mad at it too, and vice versa, and I fucking dare you to hurt someone under their protection. It's a death sentence.

Claire's house is always cold as shit, since she's got a fancy fox to keep comfortable, but she doesn't mind it at all. The price to pay to keep her best friend comfortable.

Leon Kennedy:

Dusk form Lycanroc!

A combination of the loyal and calm demeanor of the Midday form and the battling spirit of the Midnight form, he works with our favorite dog special agent.

Where the two met, I'm unsure, but his rockruff evolved into a dusk form lycanroc the dawn after the Raccoon City incident. (My game is broken so I don't know when that would be)

Both move with expert precision, taking out foes quickly and efficiently. They are good at what they do, and no matter what the situation may be, they always have each other's back. (The idea of this little guy biting Ramone's ankle has me rolling with laughter.)

When Leon was going through the worst of the worst, drinking till morning, and hardly taking care of himself, his little buddy was with him the whole way. There would be times where, in an attempt to soothe and keep him from drinking anymore, lycanroc would curl up in Leon's lap and rest his head on Leon's shoulder. Leon cries like this often.

When Leon starts getting better, there is no creature on this Earth happier than his lycanroc.

Great now I'm emotional.

Rebecca Chambers:

Audino!

A healer, but they still put up a fight. Perfectly describes both.

Audino's ear tendril things work like stethoscopes and can sense a pokémon's feelings and condition, so she probably picked one up for her time as a medic on S.T.A.R.S. and the two became like peas in a pod.

Even when Rebecca worked as a virologist, the audino was a huge help, even if it was just holding pens or watching a stopwatch.

I feel like Rebecca would rubber duck her audino a lot, AKA talk and talk and talk at the audino until she came to a solution.

Imagining the scene in Death Island where Rebecca give's everyone the vaccine and the audino uses it's feelers to check up on everyone afterwards makes my heart weak.

They just want to help people so bad.

Ashley Graham:

Lampent!

Hear me out.

Hear me out.

Hear me out.

Ashley at home probably had something like a glameow, but it was probably more spoiled than she was, and not great at connecting emotionally. They are cowardly and probably ran when Ashley was yoinked.

Somewhere along the way to the castle in Spain, however, she found a litwick stuck in the rain and brought it into the castle for safety. They parted ways with it, but the litwick didn't forget her.

When Ashley gets separated from Leon and has to face the knights on her own, it's not the lantern she finds, but the now evolved lampent, who does everything in her power to make sure Ashley feels safe.

The lampent isn't stunning the knights so much as it's just draining their souls.

When Ashley get's taken again after this segment, she spends the rest of the time trying to reunite with her. They do meet back up at Luis' lab, where Ashley takes a stray pokeball and officially becomes the lampent's trainer.

Was Ashley's dad impressed? Probably not. But this thing saved his daughter, and that means something damnit.

Idk, something about her having a spooky pokémon she befriended due to the power of friendship.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have so many thoughts on this idea, and this isn't even everyone I've thought of, just the big ones.

[pianokantzart]

Seeing you excited about the return of Mario and Luigi inspired me to get the game. I've finished the game and I have a lot to say, but I still have a lot to process and I don't want to bother.

But I can say one thing

SPOILERS!!

Reclusa is a hypocrite.

For someone who claims that being totally alone is the best, when you realize that Reclusa needed outside help to get out of the shell.

Chicks need the care of a mother hen to get out of the shell.

and I was misgender Zokket all this time.

I am a monster

I wouldn't worry about the Zokket gender confusion. If they had a Tumblr bio at that stage in their life it probably would've said "any pronouns, IDC" or something along those lines.

That, or Cozette wasn't so much "brainwashed" as she was taken over by an actual spirit who resides inside the Zokket mask and works as a forerunner for Reclusa, which is a fun fan theory I've seen bounced around.

But regarding Reclusa's hypocrisy... yeah.

One might argue Reclusa sees momentary, one-way, forced-devotion from his followers to be a necessary evil to survive, since he does recognize that his victims will wither away and die without their connection to other people.

But Reclusa also claims to "shun communication" which is clearly not the case. If you look through Zokket's notes, they explain Reclusa telepathically communicated with them on the regular to guide their actions and mindset.

And then there's the fact that Reclusa's got a very bad case of Villain-Monologue-itis, and constantly demands attention at every possible opportunity even if it's to the detriment of his overall plan.

I've got a few headcanons about Reclusa, but as the sovereign demigod of isolation I'm fairly cetain he feels genuine loneliness as we know it– an empty, aggressively uncomfortable sensation, and he is in severe denial about it, especially as a being that quite literally feeds off of loneliness to the point that he has parasitized entire worlds out of existence.

[general-brain-rot]

The Soul and that time you first googled “what is depression?”

I think what I’m really enjoying about the course of Deltarune so far has been my interpretation of the relationship between Kris, the protagonist, and the Soul, the embodiment of the player. The two entities are independent of each other yet inextricably linked through some Gaster mumbo-jumbo or just some greater plot we aren’t aware of at this time, but what’s important is that basically two sets of personalities are residing inside one body and that is causing, uhhhh, problems for everyone involved. Kris often tears us out of their own chest in obvious pain to seek out surprisingly mundane things without our watchful gaze and consuming control, like downing an entire warm pie left in the kitchen or absolutely demolishing multiple glasses of chocolate milk (or it’s pilk because I think that little weirdo would absolutely do that, or the far more evil option is that was alcohol and our local enby teen is in worse shape than we thought-) or playing the piano. This is a seemingly desperate bid for autonomy from the player that both breaks my heart when I think about it too hard and also intrigues me deeply considering I don’t think I’ve ever played a game with this much confusing animosity between player action and a playable character’s life. And while I’ve had a ball seeing other artists, authors, creators of all kinds expand upon the in-game Soul and Kris dynamic in ways like making ‘soul-sonas’ which are all so adorable/funny I love them, I still haven’t seen anyone discuss the potential of a metaphorical interpretation of that bond (bear in mind I may be grasping at straws in an unfinished story to reach) about the concept of having a piece of your identity directly in conflict with the rest of itself. I absolutely acknowledge that while the Soul that the player guides is *not* Kris but its own entity entirely, there’s something to be said about the commentary that this relationship gives, so without further ado…

Being a teen and trying to figure out what your deal is:

It’s unclear whether or not Kris needs the Soul to survive, but they keep us nonetheless for reasons relatively unknown to us (we’ll get to the cage stuff later), and seeing the pain they put themselves through to separate us for even a short time is hauntingly relatable. I feel as though it’s hardly a stretch to say that the majority of the people who resonate with Toby Fox’s work also have experience with challenges to their mental health, I know that I absolutely fall into that category, and Toby is just one of those creators that can articulate a lot of the nuance that comes with enjoying being alive but having to fight to stay that way. Kris’s story, while only halfway realized at the point of writing this essay, has resonated deeply with me and I think I can finally start to articulate why: the Soul feels like a physical manifestation of the parts of Kris that they feel in direct opposition with, like if all the intrusive thoughts you have and bad habits you’ve relied on and social masks you’ve manufactured and can no longer let go of had a physical presence within you instead of just being woven into your psyche.

Whether it’s chronic pain or insomnia or uncontrollable dissociation or any other plethora of things, a lot of us have some aspect of ourselves that are fundamental to our existence yet are also hostile towards ourselves, pieces of us that we are in constant battle with just because we are simply alive. And when you’ve dealt with your own mind/body/soul fighting against you for long enough, the fantasy of being “rid” of the very things that ail you become increasingly enticing. I imagine that I could probably become the most powerful person on Earth if only I could remove my dissociative habits under stress, for instance. The birdcage at the foot of their bed leaking old blood out onto the carpet serves as a stark reminder of every painful strategy both Kris and any potential player has ever used to try to free themselves from their own overbearing pieces. The Soul, the part of each of us that is sharp and intertwined in our most heavy memories and guides every customer service voiced de-escalation or white lie for the sake of comfort or tight lipped smile when all we want to do is crawl into a dark place for a while, stakes its claim over Kris in a similar yet literal way to how we on the outside of the game are familiar with the feelings. Kris removing the Soul feels like a literal representation of someone like, fighting with their brain to do something they think is fun even if they’re bad at it while their brain yells at them for being bad at the thing. It’s that type of energy to me, going to drastic and self-damaging lengths to allow other parts of your own personality to get the chance to exist past the ever-present fog of your own psyche.

It reminds me of the strategies other games like Omori use to get a wider player base to understand a particular feeling. Case-in-point, Omori forces even the most neurotypical of people to face what it feels like to make any mistake and feel like it’s impossible to forgive yourself for it, which is something many people with depression and other adjacent mental issues deal with in their lives. The game does this by forcing the player to face a seemingly unforgivable act so intense that most anybody would struggle to forgive themselves for letting it happen and convince them to forgive themselves anyway. While the game provides an extreme example to showcase it’s point, the more common instances that the game comments on are times where you may say something accidentally insensitive in conversation and tear yourself down for having said it, or if you’ve broken something precious to someone on accident and can’t bring yourself to look them in the eyes after, or literally any other accidental blunder that you feel like you need to be killed with hammers about. Even if it’s something small, the weight of their mistakes weighs as heavy on them as something catastrophic as depicted in game. It’s exaggerated symbolism, and it’s extremely effective. I think that, while maybe not the point, Deltarune is doing a fantastic job of allowing the Soul to act as that exaggerated symbolism for the struggles of navigating a contradictory and at times hostile sense of self.

Told you I’d talk about the cage stuff later, well, later is *now*:

If the in-game prophecy explored a bit in chapter 4 of the game is to be believed at face value, then Kris being described as “The Cage, with human soul and parts” paints a bleak picture of their situation but may also play into this idea of the metaphor of The Soul. If Kris is a “cage” for something, said something assumed to be the Soul, then their fate as stated directly is to not let the Soul out of their control by trapping it in a sense. By extension, to go to any length to manufacture a personality and body that will jail the Soul (a manifestation of the hostile parts of all of our own minds), which feels so similar to the experience many young adults can call back to when they were first learning about mental illnesses during their teenage years. It’s as a teen that we are first exposed to the raw world of psychology at large and can actually start to see patterns in our own behavior and begin to navigate them, and that early exploration of the self often feels a bit like losing control over our own life. One day you wake up and learn that there’s a part of yourself that you don’t fully understand but now are equipped with the knowledge that it can be detrimental to not only your own wellbeing but the wellbeing of the loved ones you surround yourself with, and all you can think to do is immediately try and trap and control that possible beast in your mind. For Kris it looks like changing their tone of voice when the words coming out aren’t exactly right, or yawning in the middle of a hurtful phrase to cut themselves off, or covering their mouth with their hand to muffle the sound of things they don’t want to speak out loud (or in Weird Route cases, biting their hand hard enough to bruise). I’ve mentioned the birdcage above but all the imagery of cages throughout the game thus far adds depth to the idea that something (like the Soul) untamed, potentially dangerous, and relatively unknown, must be contained despite how integral it is to the game, how integral it is to Kris. While perhaps not integral to survival considering how they absolutely beat the hell out of us with that hockey stick or in the continued Weird Route when they pummel us in the trashcan, they’re obviously keeping the Soul around for some necessary reason or else why stick through all the pain we’re causing them? That is likely a deeply story-entwined answer that we won’t be getting anytime soon but thinking about it through the lens of our working metaphor, it could be because Kris can’t just throw out part of their personality so simply like that. If we could just cut out the habits spawned by mental illnesses, then therapy bills would be way cheaper and look more like visits to wreck rooms rather than patient and long-term work. But that’s unfortunately not how it works and Kris, like us, has to figure out how to tame the hostile parts of themselves, because keeping it caged forever is both not sustainable and not healthy for anybody long-term.

Grats on making it to the end of my musings! Here have some mac n cheese for your efforts, we also have vegan mac n cheese if that’s your style. I like reading way too far into metaphors that may or may not exist in media I enjoy based on vibes, so if anybody else has fun thoughts on Deltarune’s many metaphors (I skipped over the big ones like freedom, hope, resilience, and teen spirit because those are already being fleshed out and are fantastic to read about) please please please share! the delicious! thoughts!!!

[hemingwaystan]

A Guide To Actually Portraying The Lords Part 2: House Beneviento

Hello, fellow RE8 fans, this is the second part of a rant/post/open letter/essay which I intend as a detailed essay with five parts on how they should've portrayed the lords and then Miranda, with more realism and nuance, because they are nuanced characters when you actually think but Capcom is so bad at showing it. This is my opinion, feel free to disagree.

This is the section I'd change the least of but that doesn't mean I don't have a ton of shit to say so here we go. I'd say the player shouldn't be lured to the manor, the Duke just tells you where it is, no Mia picture, assuming we keep Mia because honestly? Ethan as a single dad makes more sense. No Mia bashing it's just that a marriage, if we think with even a tiny bit of logic can't survive all that. Also single dad rep is so rare in media. Because the player being lured to the manor, to me, just feels illogical to her portrayal otherwise, think about it. Donna is portrayed as a recluse who almost never leaves her house right? She probably didn't even want to have a Rose flask. She's the least involved in Miranda's work. Why would she want to bring another person, let alone one set on killing her or at least from her perspective but honestly pretty much true, to her house? Why would she in any universe want a home-invasion. So the player arrives in the manor and begins tripping balls. I'd keep this mostly the same with a handful of major changes, Angie and Donna don't do anything that could be misinterpreted to cause the braindead infantilization of them some people have been doing.

Throughout the house you'll experience flashbacks, one of your life in the mannequin section, and 2-3 of Donna's life, besides that mostly general horror stuff but also those. You'll see a few major moments in Donna's life so the characterization isn't limited to just reading stuff. But right before the end, in a vision, she cries, she has no idea you're seeing this as with the others. These visions of her only happen after the player first gets a hit off on Angie (Donna) which I'll instead put around 65% in. Killing Angie is still the focus through this because as far as you know Angie is not secretly Donna and they're, of course, trying to kill you. This happens because it lessens her control over her powers which she had before but in the pain is also experiencing a spiral because like, wouldn't you if you were in this situation, especially if you already had Major Depression. So we see our own reflection in the proverbial mirror but we also see manifestations of Donna's life and emotions.

The player will also be attacked by groups of armed dolls more than once, maybe every time you break them in defense Angie gets angrier causing some kind of increase in danger. Just because you get one stab off on Angie early doesn't mean it will end quickly, because Angie could be anywhere, not just among the dolls, hiding in any number of places, maybe even in the basement at times although the baby would've already happened by now. Trying to destroy Angie is just the goal but you have to do all the other Resident Evil puzzle shit throughout as before. And I'll put this to rest, the baby is and will be a hallucination, being eaten by it is representative of losing your mind. Why the fuck would she keep a giant baby in her basement? This is kind of out there but toward the end their could be like a sanity meter that goes down slowly. Like 90% in, you're in the room where she said "You can't leave, I won't let you." earlier. And right as you're finally about to defeat Angie the mirror shatters and you see the actual world.

Donna is on the floor, the blood is still on the wall, but she's very much not dead, just very injured, she'd survive because Cadou regen if you don't continue. You see her face either way because the veil was knocked off during the fight so there'll be real emotion to see in her expression. She begs you not to kill her. It's your decision whether you do or not, if you don't she'll show you where she hid the Rose flask, this also means she might say a couple things to the player, maybe good luck or something, Angie will say something too so it's proven and not just obvious that they're independent entities that are closely connected. Maybe Donna gives you a really good defensive charm and if you do kill her you'll get Angie and a Donna crystal to sell to the Duke for like combined 1.5x what Angie is worth in game, you'll also get a horrible charm with a directly opposing bonus as the one she would give you in the spare route (this is more for storytelling purposes as opposed to the kill one being useful) but you will have to search the house for the flask which will be a fucking pain but still a puzzle with clues. But past the gameplay decision, the real, meaningful choice is, are you putting a mentally ill servant of Miranda that tried to murder you out of her misery or is she not evil, just a victim of Miranda that deserves to live.

[churino]

Design for autonomous maximus The great dome of iacon , vector sigma , and auntie vector sigma's avatar to the future

beneath the montain, vector sigma guided the transformers as their maternal god, and as society emerged around her resting place, the mountain came to life to protect it's mother computer by joining the autobots,

Remaining on the planet after vector Sigma's deactivation, it's said that autonomous maximus is still on cybertron to this day as its last autobot while his body became the basis for arks that Shepherd his fellow autobots off world

Deep bellow cybertron lay the allspark powered mother computer vector sigma, responsible for running the great machine that was cybertron, she sees the transformers as her children so she showered them with great love but infantilized them in her head as unable to do evil, so she did not act as their society corroded, secluded away in her chamber where she could gaze milions of years into the future, she guided cybertron's ecosystem into becoming a mechanical version of earth with robot animals and of course robot humans in the transformers, as she knew even back then that the unremarkable earth would play a great role in her children's history,

With her knowlege of the future she created messages put into the right places to allow her to comunicate wifh future generations she sees herself as a god but her nature is entirely mechanical, she doesn't even have a spark, and her ability to see the future is based on algorithms and what she already knows via the "sensory organs" of cybertron, so sometimes her messages spiral off into tangents and nonsense after having predicted the wrong response from her intended listener

In messages for earth, Vector Sigma uses an avatar called auntie as she sees earth as a sister to cybertron. Though its residents aren't fully on board with the idea, it's like that aunt or uncle you barely know that acts way too chumy with you in a way that's off-putting rather than charming,

Above her chamber stood the city of iacon, greatly respected, but over the years, it became the house of all corruption on cybertron as the functionist council excavated it's great dome to act as their captital. The building itself shackled as iacon grew into a massive metropolis, and all the spilled energon that naturally came from its massive population threatened to bring the building to life,

when the revolution tore down the government, the restrains were destroyed, and the building began reformating itself with a robot mode just as megatronus and liege maximo revealed their aliance with bruticus maximus. But before they could end the autobots with their opening assault autonomous maximus awakened, and in a split second decision, protected the autobots from harm with a single mighty punch

With the newly christened decepticons retreating, the autobots named themselves after the giant that saved them and over the course of the next milenia civil war between the autobots and decepticons raged until the two sides had captured so much terrain and became so diferent from each other they were separate nations, nations whose war plundered cybertron and the world off of it's resources until the planet was spent.

The autobots omit this part of the story, but it was the autobots who took the allspark and tossed it into space to keep it away from the hands of the decepticons, quickly regretting that action as the planet died around them, the part they do tell is that the surviving transformers hid away inside titans like autonomous maximus, overcome with the weight of sins on their back, they began to construct arks to search for the allspark, all based on autonomous maximus' design, each housing three great titans

While maximus himself opted to stay behind on cybertron. Loyal to it's mother above all even as her lifeless husk hung from the celling of her chamber, to give the arks power to lift off prima used the star saber to gather celestial power into the arks, dissipating her body entirely, while maximus fought off the decepticons wishing to attack the arks,

or at least thats what they tell you. Even a most basic analysis of the story would tell you the decepticons obviously also wanted to escape the planet, meaning the ancient autobots were willing to let their enemies die from their own atrocity. What could have happened to turn a culture like any other with its complexities and grey morality into heroes?

Guilt. With the fall of cybertron, the autobots became suicidal, and their leaders had to turn that self-destructive impulse into the service of others, ideas that permiated autobot ranks to this day, as new generations were born aboard the ships, that initial melancholy faded away as the new faces never stepped foot on cybertron,

but from the moment they came online, the autobots were taught to live for the well-being of others as their number one priority, till all are one, drilling that message into their heads is their society's one goal, as with anything their sucess rate varies (see barricade). While their search for the allspark became myth, then legend,

It was in that world that our autobots, natives of ark primax came from, and that leads us to today, with them telling the story to the earth's own population of transformers, most are skeptical of certain aspects of the tale, but the mistress of flame is enchanted by their story, dispite their claims otherwise, easily becoming part of her view of cybertronians as gods

[dutiful-wildcraft]

141 Headcannons: Video Games

Here, have something silly!!

Soap: Never takes anything serious, always names his character something goofy. Protag has their own backstory? Not anymore. Soap is making one up. Crash bandicoot is now a career criminal hell bent on stealing crystals. Cranks all the sliders to the max in character creation. Gets insanely butthurt about losing pvp. It has come to fisticuffs over mario kart. He's the type to make Arthur Morgan bald and choose all the wrong dialogue options. He's a big puss when it comes to horror games.

Gaz: Likes to do speedruns for fun. If the game has multiple endings he will play through each one. Feels just a little bad for being mean in game. Studies guides to figure out all the dialogue options and what they result in. Loved 999. Enjoys fromsoft games and makes multiple builds for shits n giggles. Completionist, will play long after he doesn't like the game just to get the achievements. Falls into wiki lore rabbit holes for the obscure shit. Likes side scrollers. Makes the most diabolical levels in mario maker. Has been playing candy crush consistently since he was a teenager.

Ghost: Didn't play much until Gaz fixed him up with a solid computer for his office. Then mostly played bc Gaz and Soap needed a third guy for stuff. Plays completely silent when online with them. He's mindlessly gathering resources in their minecraft server. No build. Only mine. This was the gateway to his love of survival games. Alternates between The Long Dark and Rust. Half-life enjoyer (Imagine him playing The Hidden). is not phased by horror games at all. Stomps absolute ass in online multiplayer, hates campers (chronically camps). has stardew valley on his phone.

Price: Not a gamer, unless the rest of the team is playing. Then he'll jump in. Really likes racing games. Once played resident evil with Soap and got so enraptured that he lost hours of time, got freaked out and quit playing. Gets more upset than Soap when playing online shooters. (It's the controllers fault, he can aim better than that!) Really likes sitting in the room and watching the other play, he's a back seat gamer and just enjoys watching the story. Barks out directions or help throughout, “That way Soap, behind you!” “You missed ammo!” Plays words with friends with all the boys, will send reminders.

[the-gamer-geek-lounge-blog]

Join León as he fights his way to the Sanctuary to rescue Ashley. With scary giant bugs and crazy mind controlled infected, this is one crazy section. Can he get to her in time to save her life?

[resbangmod]

Resbang 2024 Promo #2

Devil's Den

Presented by Author: @blackbloodteeth [AO3]

With Artist: AquilaAktuk Artist: Parastaein [Instagram] and Artist: @not-so-scandalouss

Pairings: Maka Albarn/Soul Eater Evans Rating: PG-13 Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Heavy Angst, Survival Horror, Psychological Horror, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Bugs & Insects, Animal Death, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Dissociation

Summary:

When a seemingly normal investigation in Spain goes horribly wrong, Maka Albarn is left on the brink of death while her partner, Soul Evans, fights for their survival and his slipping humanity as his infection steadily mutates him. Can he get them both out alive, or will he succumb to hell from all sides? A heavy Resident Evil 4 (Remake)-inspired AU.

Please enjoy the story and art previews below the cut!

“You two sure about this?”

Soul is already helping Maka steady herself into the boat as she responds aptly. “This is where our investigation leads.”

“You’re crazy...” the boat woman mutters, following them onto the opposite end despite the low snicker.

“That’s in our job description.”

The motor then roars to life, and the trees and watersides pass him by again. 

His gaze drifts along the scenery, the chill of sea breeze flowing against his back being honestly kind of refreshing even with the engine reverberating through the occasional waves, and sometimes it flicks back to their guide – There wasn’t anything that particularly stood out about her, aside from her relatively young face being whipped around by stray strands of loose silver hair; Certainly more grey than his but close enough that his eyes would’ve rolled doubles if anyone said they could be related.

At least the trying to avoid excessive eye contact was mutual.

Staring back out into the water, his eyebrows perk up when he pinpoints the implications of fish scurrying some distance away from their disruptance before suddenly furrowing, a vague murky shadow shifting deeper below and leaving him uncertain of its full scale or if he’d actually seen something to begin with with it settling just as quickly. Turning to Maka, his eyes are soon pulled to the approaching cliffside where the remains of a lonesome dock sat undisturbed up ahead.

Looks like they’re here.

The boat slows to park, but not shut off, next to the sturdiest-looking foothold for them to disembark on, letting him balance her up with him as the woman shouts over the idle motor. “You’re lucky I’m coming back in an hour – If I don’t see you two by then, you’re finding your own way back!”

“Got it! Thank you!”

Soul watches their ride turn around and drive away, a speedwalk then jolted out of him when he notices Maka already starting her ascent – “Watch your step.” – up the worn stairs winding around the isle’s edge.

[noobiestnoober]

I Told You to Leave Me Behind (Leon X Reader)

Trapped in a collapsing corridor, Leon S. Kennedy lies bleeding while Y/N fights to save him—refusing to leave him behind. As silence presses in louder than the chaos outside, memories of shared missions flash through her mind: near-death escapes, quiet moments of healing, and the bond they built through fire and blood.

In this emotionally charged Resident Evil one-shot, hurt gives way to raw confessions, and survival takes on new meaning. From the wreckage of war to the quiet hum of a recovery room, Leon and Y/N must confront not just the fight to live—but the reason why they keep fighting at all.

The sky outside was a haze of flame and ash, casting flickering shadows across the ruined corridor. Somewhere in the distance, the groan of a crumbling building drowned beneath the bark of automatic gunfire and the unrelenting shrieks of the infected. Smoke curled through shattered windows, thick and acrid, stinging the back of her throat. The air buzzed with heat and decay. But in this broken hallway, there was only silence.

Y/N dropped to her knees beside him, boots scraping against the blood-slick floor. Her hands trembled as they pressed firmly against his abdomen, trying to stanch the flow of blood seeping through his shirt. It was warm and fast, soaking into her gloves.

"Stay with me," she whispered, her voice tight and breathless. "You're going to be okay. Do you hear me, Leon? You're going to be okay."

Leon S. Kennedy coughed, the sound harsh and wet, his body twitching from the pain. Despite it, he forced a crooked smile, as if trying to ease her panic. "You should’ve gone when I told you."

"Shut up," she snapped, eyes glassy with unshed tears. "I'm not leaving you. Not now. Not ever."

He grimaced, trying to speak, but it came out as little more than a ragged breath. "I told you... to leave me behind."

The words were soft, barely audible over the muffled gunfire outside—but they hit her harder than any explosion.

Y/N’s vision blurred as she pressed harder on the wound. "You don’t get to decide that. Not for me. Not after everything we’ve been through. You’re the reason I’m still standing. You don’t get to just check out."

Her mind reeled with memories—visions burned into her like scars. She remembered their first mission together, standing back-to-back on the rain-soaked rooftop of an abandoned hospital. Infected hounds lunged through the fog. She'd been shaking, nearly dropped her weapon. He had calmly adjusted her grip, guided her stance, and whispered, “Focus, breathe, and shoot. I’ve got you.” It was the first time she had trusted someone in the field.

Back in the present, his blood was everywhere—on her hands, her knees, smeared across the floor like a grim signature. He reached up, fingers trembling, and brushed her cheek with the gentleness of a man holding back everything. "I didn’t want you to see me like this," he whispered. "I wanted you to remember me standing. Fighting. Not... bleeding out."

She clenched her jaw. "Then you should’ve fought harder," she whispered, voice breaking on every word. "You don’t get to die like this. Not while I’m still breathing."

His hand slipped from her face, falling limp at his side.

"No," she gasped, more a plea than a denial. "No, no, no. Don’t you dare. Not yet. Not like this."

The corridor trembled from another explosion, dust raining down from the cracked ceiling. The infected were being held off, but it was only a matter of time. She could hear the faint shouts of backup echoing through the rubble-strewn hallways, still too far.

Her mind flashed again. A warehouse ambush. A dozen infected. She had been pinned, comms down, terrified. Leon had thrown himself into the line of fire, shouting over his shoulder for her to get the generator running. She had seen him take the hit. He never looked back.

And then that night in the safehouse—her hands fumbling as she stitched a gash along his ribs, fingers slipping in his blood. He had made jokes the whole time, calling himself "a bad patient with good abs." She had called him an idiot. He had laughed, even then.

She leaned forward now, forehead pressed against his. Her breath trembled. "You don’t get to give up. You hear me? I need you. You idiot. I love you."

For a heartbeat, she felt nothing. Then—a twitch. The corner of his mouth lifted faintly. His voice, barely audible, rasped against her skin. "Took you long enough."

She laughed through a sob, salty tears dripping onto his cheek as she clutched him tighter. Behind them, the distant rattle of boots signaled help was finally here. But she didn’t let go. Not until they pulled him from her arms and wheeled him away.

The med bay smelled like antiseptic and recycled air, the steady beeping of heart monitors a metronome for recovery. Sunlight pooled on the tile floor, catching the edge of the bed where Leon lay propped up by pillows. His face was paler than usual, a patch of stubble darkening his jaw, but his eyes were open. Alive. Watching.

Y/N sat by his side, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, her fingers tangled tightly with his. Her eyes hadn’t stopped watching him since the moment he was brought in. She remembered the long nights beside him—listening to machines, watching his chest rise and fall, terrified each breath might be the last. The coffee beside her had long gone cold. She hadn’t touched it.

"You stayed," Leon murmured, his voice still scratchy.

She turned to look at him, lips twitching into a tired, broken smile. "Told you I would. Didn’t believe me?"

He exhaled softly. "Guess I hoped you’d be smart and run."

"You forget who trained me to be this stubborn."

He chuckled, then winced. The movement tugged at his stitches. "Touché."

They fell into silence again, but it was a quieter one now. Safer. After a moment, she reached out and smoothed a hand across his hair. "You scared the hell out of me. I thought I lost you."

Leon turned his head slightly toward her. "You almost did."

She didn’t reply. Instead, she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his temple. He closed his eyes. "You saved me."

"We saved each other. Like always."

Leon let out a long breath and turned to face her fully. "So what now?"

She smiled softly. "Now? You rest. You heal. And when you're ready, we go back out there. Together."

He smirked weakly. "And if I get shot again?"

"I’ll kill you myself," she said with a straight face, then finally let herself laugh.

It was the sound he hadn’t realized he missed until now. And for the first time in what felt like forever, Y/N let herself breathe. Because he was alive. Because they both were. Because this time, survival wasn’t just about escaping the monsters. It was about finding something worth surviving for.

[skidtheperson]

Shower idea because all good ideas come from the shower somehow

Poppy Playtime swap AU where the roles are swapped

The Poppy team (Poppy, Kissy, Dogday, ect.) are the "bad guys" and team Prototype (Prototype, Huggy, Catnap, ect.) are the "good guys".

Playtime made Poppy, a small doll for kids, mostly girls. She is the same as she is in the game, human like and interactive. The only part different is that she isn't made from a human. She is instead just a regular doll that is really human like. After this, Harley saw potential since the doll was so popular... Toys, animatronics that could BE like human kids, thus can bond more with them, what can better than that for a kid's toy factory?

The BBI (Bigger Bodies Initiative) are actually good in this, creating huge plushie like animatronics to play their own role in the factory. Huggy is the guide, Mommy is the caretaker, the Smiling Critters are the playmates, ect ect. They all have a purpose (other than Prototype since he was supposed to be the guide, but was a failed experiment). But, Poppy, the original, started to question everything.

Why were they so much like kids? They felt so human... TOO human. She doubted if she was just a toy. The similarities were too much, too many. She then came to the conclusion that they ARE children. What else could it be? They were too similar, there had to be a connection! She told others her theory, and some agreed, starting to doubt their creators and in fact hate them, while others disagreed and just said that they were toys made for children. But she didn't give up.

Then one day, they struck. They started killing workers, higher ups, and even parents. Yet because they believed they were children, they left the kids unharmed. In fact, some lead them to the orphanage where they then locked them in there to keep them "safe". The others saw this and tried reasoning with them, but to no avail. They wouldn't listen over their beliefs. This resulted in thousands deaths, which then caused the factory to be shut down.

Years later, we, the player, come back after hearing about what happened. We left due since it was mostly just something to make us money, but we didn't care that much about the kids. But after we heard that shit happened in there, we were curious and explored.

In this, Huggy is a guide for us instead of trying to kill us. He's the Poppy of this AU. He even warns us about her, saying she went crazy and started believing these lies and false truths. She was nice,, but then she thought too hard, which caused chaos... Poppy is basically the Prototype, trying to manipulate us into believing that Elliot was a horrible person. Huggy stays with us as much as he can, even helping us with high heights. Kissy is Poppy's apprentice, attacking us and Huggy when we get to close.

Mommy is a caretaker, giving us a place to stay before we have to go down further, allowing us to explore and keep safe. Though it's not fully safe, since we're still being chased and hunted. The toys (Boogie Bot, CatBee, Bron, ect.) are basically followers, and will chase and try to attack. Once er finally are able to get the train code, we go in and it's the same thing. Poppy overrides, but this time, it's to stop us from leaving cause she believes we're evil and trying to hurt them. So she tries crashing the train so we die, but thankfully we survive (how do we survive this stuff-).

Chapter 3. Huggy and the player are passed out, which gives the antagonist, Dogday, a chance to throw us in the crusher. Or whatever that's called. The events are the same there, we escape, get out, take the tram, then get to the Playcare. It's still relatively empty. This when we get to here from the Prototype, who helps us gain access to new areas. Dogday, Kickin, Bubba, and Hoppy are all the main antagonists of this area. Dogday resides in the Playhouse, Kickin is in the Counselor's office, Bubba's in the School, and Hoppy is roaming the outside most of the time, though she lost her ears while fighting, so she depends on her speed and sight.

The Toy Store is the first place we go into, which is where we meet Crafty and Bobby, both nervous and scared. They at first are afraid of us, avoiding us and hiding, but eventually warm up and start helping us around. We get the power and we are able to leave. Next place we go to is the School, where we meet Bubba. He attacks us and tries killing us, in a chase sequence like Ms. Delight's, but gets killed. We find out this area's power had been destroyed, sadly, so we move on. Next, we go to the orphanage, where we meet Picky, making food. She sees how hungry both the player and Huggy (don't ask how) are, so she gives us food and her room to rest up. Though we can choose not to.

We once again get attacked, this time by Hoppy. She and Picky fight, and we're able to crawl away thanks to Huggy, who follows us after. We get the power and escape. We then go to the Counselor's Office, where Kickin then tries to get us out of. But Huggy holds him down. And does so the whole time we're in there. Kickin will try and escape, but he's just kinda stuck. So we explore, and eventually get caught by Dogday, who knocks the two of us out. Dogday then lets Kicks free and makes sure he'll keep an eye on us and make sure we can't escape, then leaves back to the Playhouse. Once we awake, we have to find an exit, which is not that hard since the dumbest fell asleep. So we have to escape through the caves, bringing us to the Playhouse. It's basically the same, mini toys trying to hurt us, Dogday chasing us throughout, until we get to the Cage Room. There we finally meet Catnap, trapped in a cage and chained in the wall by his ankle.

He sees us and tells us to leave. This place was no longer safe. He's been here for years, with no clue of the outside other than what Dogday told him. That it was horrible, everyone was dead, and that there was no more fun. Only sorrow and misery. He didn't care to escape, no reason to do so since everyone had died. He told us to just leave him here, as although it was a fate worse than death, eternal isolation and torture by your once best friend, it was the only place he could call home. So we instead leave, getting the power from here and going down. Though sadly, we have to leave Huggy behind.

So yeah, that's it. Some things might change if I actually wanna keep this or not. Just a random thought I had that someone's probably already done Idk.