#She’s kind of a play on those people who like. Look forward to dying because they get to go to heaven!!!

[eff-plays]

Long Taash storyline rant by an enby 2, electric boogaloo

I think I finally figured out what to say about Taash's storyline so walk with me here.

It smacks a little bit of white lib homonationalism. If you don't know what homonationalism is, it's when Western countries see themselves as enlightened for being "more" accepting of queer folks compared to other cultures, and when this is used to justify racist (particularly anti-immigrant) politics. Usually you'll have far-right wackos claiming to be so so so pro-gay rights that they simply MUST keep the immigrants away in order to protect those sweet fragile white gays, who will surely be totally fine under a fashy regime.

Now, I'm not a sociologist and I might be talking out of my ass by making this connection. But as a nonbinary, non-white first generation immigrant, who was raised by a single mother who wanted to be free of the politics of her home country and thus moved in order to create a better future for me, when I played the Taash storyline, I got the distinct feeling that the writer of it either had a blissfully conflict-free coming out, or that they have no idea how complex the interplay of identity and culture can be. Or that they're a white lib who thinks getting somebody's pronouns right is more important than being an open-minded and fundamentally compassionate human being at heart.

Thing is, I understand what they were going for, kind of. In isolation. It was supposed to be a tragic death where Shathann finally revealed that she accepted her child as they were, right before dying, and it left Taash feeling like they were cut off from her when things were finally looking like they could be fixed. At least they know their mother loved and accepted them at the end, which makes it bittersweet, right?

But that's kind of what pisses me off about this, y'see. Because in practice, Shathann died for the sin of unknowingly misgendering her child, and for attempting to call them trans instead of nonbinary specifically. And she died because it was the easy way out for the writer -- kill the complex mother who comes from a culture deemed problematic in order to avoid dealing with how they'd move forward together, and how their cultural upbringings would clash with yet be mitigated by their familial love for each other. Help Taash choose between Rivaini or Qunari now that their mother's influence and opinions are gone and they don't have to wrestle with her culture anymore, just what they themselves think of it.

I don't think Taash's mother has any actual right to decide which culture Taash belongs to, that is Taash's decision, but the writers know that her influence would still make things more complicated for Taash. And we can't have that, right? Taash has to decide for themselves, as is their right, their right as a queer person to make decisions independent of and not affected by their mother's backwards culture. Their queerness takes priority, nay, dictates how they relate to their nationality/cultural belonging. Anything that might infringe upon that holy self-realization must be removed.

Y'see where I'm going with this? Y'see why it makes me a little uncomfy?

Now for the part where I put my on stink on it. My mom does not get my being nonbinary. She asked me a bunch of really ignorant and gross things when I came out in her attempt to understand it, or rather, refute it. The whole discussion lasted for about 2 panic-filled hours, and I don't think I changed her mind on anything. She still makes uncomfy comments about trans people. She still misgenders me, though this is partly due to our mother tongue not having any gender-neutral pronouns.

And yeah, all of this hurts, no doubt about it. But the thing is? My mom still loves me. She shows it with nearly everything she does outside of this enby stuff, but even with this stuff, she never pushes me to be more feminine. She said she'd switch to my new name if I ever decide to change it. She once apologized for putting "female" for me on a form she had to fill out because there were no nonbinary options. She bought me a perfume for men just because I idly remarked it smelled nice.

And I know what you're thinking, and yes this is a difficult situation to be put in. It's hard, but it happens every day, in families like mine. When your parent was raised to believe one thing, and have for decades, and they're confronted with something new, the switch won't be instant, or happen at all. And I knew that before coming out to her.

I was Taash's age when I came out to my mom, so Taash would've known that, too. And what's even more frustrating, is that Shathann doesn't even resist the revalation, like my mom did. She tries to apply a concept she is more familiar with in order to understand Taash, but since that concept isn't 100% exactly what Taash identifies with, she's in the wrong, immediately. Taash blows up at her for not instantly getting the name and concept of a completely new term dropped onto her head. And all we can do is console Taash on how poorly it went, but whose fault is that? Shathann removes herself from the situation when she notices Taash is about to blow a gasket, because what's the point in discussing anything with somebody who's already rejected your attempts at understanding them, while demanding you understand them?

And before somebody says that I don't "get" what Taash is going through, start reading the post from the beginning but really read it this time. For those who might say that Taash is justified in expecting the worst on account of how Shathann has been raising them up until now, then I raise you this: If Taash knew their mother wouldn't initially get it, why did they blow up when she immediately tried to get it? If they expected her to reject them, why are they still mad when she doesn't? Did they expect her to attempt to use a cultural concept she's familiar with in order to understand their identity, but didn't have an explanation ready to also frame it in a way that'd be familiar to her?

Instead, the order of events is essentially this: Shathann raises Taash in an overbearing way and places high expectations of femininity on them > her and Taash clash over this frequently > Taash, knowing how their mother is but feeling the need to come out to her anyway, says they're nonbinary > Shathann is confused yet calm, asks if they're trans > Taash gets instantly upset > Shathann, still confused, leaves the situation > Rook comforts Taash on how bad that went and says their mother will surely come around > Shathann, off-screen, figures out what nonbinary is, dies using the correct pronouns and confirming that she does love them for who they are > Taash is sad their mom dies but hey, at least they know she loved them at the end.

Shathann being a somewhat traditional Qunari, her expecting femininity, are all initially framed as obstacles for Taash to overcome. The overbearing, traditionalist parent must be confronted with the truth and realize their idea of their child is wrong. But before things can get too complicated, too bitter, and Taash has to actually confront this "obstacle", Shathann is instead removed from the equation entirely and killed in order for Taash to have their identity confirmed.

Except in that coming out scene, Shathann's characterization takes a strange, seemingly unintentional turn, and rather than reject her child's identity as the plot structure demands, she tries to understand it through her own limited framework. What's telling is that the narrative frames this as equivalent, that not immediately grasping a new concept and term is the exact same as outright rejecting it. It's framed as it being just another instance of her rejecting Taash's personhood and being dogmatic in her beliefs, but that only works if you're in that white lib mindset of "if you don't immediately understand my specific view of things and use the exact correct words that you might not be familiar with, you're a close-minded asshole and a bigot". If you're like me, whose genuinely very loving mother doesn't grasp the concept of being nonbinary, or if you just have a sliver of basic reading comprehension, you'll realize that Shathann is literally, in that scene, TRYING. But because she doesn't immediately get it right, it's deemed as insufficient, we're made to comfort Taash over their mother's grave insult, and Shathann is then killed for drama, but not before confirming that omg, she got it!! She got the fucking words right, and that means she finally loves them for who they are, which she apparently didn't do before!! All is well!!

Nevermind that Shathann is fine with Taash having female lovers, nevermind that, in Qunari culture, Taash being a dragon-hunting warrior would've effectively made them trans already and Shathann seemingly had no issues with that? (This is probably just a plot hole lbr.) Nevermind that she uprooted her whole life in order to provide a better life for her child, and nevermind the part where she admits she's done a poor job as a mother yet still clearly loves her kid. She didn't immediately get the new words and concepts right!! So she has to use the right words before she dies, in order for Taash to finally know that their mother loves them properly.

It's. Kinda gross. You know? It feels like Shathann, rather than being her own person, is essentially a prop to confirm Taash's identity, while hers is shifted around as the plot needs it. The plot both wants her to be an obstacle for Taash to overcome in affirming their identity, but also for her to affirm said identity. It conflates Shathann not immediately understanding and asking questions as her not accepting her kid, as her not loving her kid. And to fix that idea in Taash's mind, she has to die for them while also using the correct pronouns. That's an insane fucking thing to write.

If Shathann was instantly accepting, then that's boring and low-stakes. We can't have a parent who instantly accepts their kid, we want that family drama and painful coming-out story. Taash needs somebody to assert their identity over. BUT we don't want to deal with a parent not accepting their kid at all, that's just a bummer. So Shathann has to be unaccepting enough for Taash to have a conflict, but accepting enough that Taash doesn't have to assert themselves or fight too hard to be understood and accepted. Because that's just a bummer. And might signal that being nonbinary isn't valid and a-ok and totally cool and epic and awesomesauce and take my upvote and leave my good sir.

What's frustrating is that it could have worked. Have Shathann be like "Well you're a warrior, I thought you were aqun-athlok but didn't want to bring it up" and have Taash be like "No it's different, not like that" and Shathann be like "Ok then explain it to me." And maybe don't have Shathann get it fully at the end, but have her try. Have Taash come back from an off-screen conversation with Shathann and say that "We're good. She doesn't quite get it yet, but I think we'll be ok."

But instead, Shathann gets it!! Woo!! But then dies so. Don't even worry about it. At least Taash's enby-ness is validated with Shathann's dying breath. Because that's what really mattered in the end. Taash being so so so so so valid.

[delawaredetroit]

I mean did Ochako get a good resolution? She failed her goal in saving Toga (who killed herself for her) after she vowed she wanted to save people after Nighteye was dying in her arms. Her arc of suppressing her feelings basically goes unaddressed and her feelings for Midoriya are essentially dropped despite being tied to that heavily (for better or for worse, and whether people ship them together or not that was a big part of her character). She doesn’t even get a chance to help Izuku in the climax, which doesn’t fulfill her resolve to help heroes when they’re suffering. She was dying from being stabbed, while all the other heroes with worse injuries (Bakugou) kept fighting. I would argue that her arc is basically nonexistent, which is a shame.

I'm sorry, I stopped listening to what you were saying after you claimed Bakugou played a more meaningful role in the last arc because he had more fights in the final war arc.

Now, all jokes aside, yes, Ochako did get a better character arc resolution compared to other key characters in the story (maybe excluding All Might and All for One).

Ochako starts out as a girl who went in to heroics, a job she believed was a performance to make the public happy, in order to provide for her parents. She was always a caring person, but Ochako didn't think structurally and she didn't think about the severity of what she was walking into with heroics.

After a few arcs, she really came to admire Izuku, a character who embodies an altruistic heroic ideal of saving others. After confronting life and death situations during a work context for the first time during the Overhaul Arc, she realized heroics was more than a performance. And despite that revelation that there were lives at stake - she wanted to continue moving forward to save people.

But hero society neatly divides people into those who save (heroes), those who are saved (civilians), and those to be defeated (villains). Once Ochako determined she wanted to save people, she quickly ran up against the limits of their society's framework of who gets to be saved. It started in the Joint Training Arc when she saved Izuku when he lost control of his quirk. She started with well then who saves the heroes? After seeing Toga cry during the first war arc, her next question became are villains also people who can be saved? Ochako was also the one to confront the civilians about their own complacency and to take initiative to help save others themselves at the end of the Villain Hunt Arc.

She did not have to fight with Izuku in the final fight and Toga was not required to survive to resolve her arc. The point of the "who helps heroes when they are hurting" with Izuku and reaching out to Toga was for Ochako to break down hero society's narrow, dehumanizing roles. Izuku and Toga embody some of the most self-destructive aspects of heroes and villains respectively. She reached out and recognized the humanity of each of them in their darkest moments - the Rogue Arc for Izuku and for Toga in the final war arc while Toga was still mourning Twice's (and what she believed to be Touya's) death(s).

As for the crush/feeling suppression plotline, she wasn't required to confess to Izuku to resolve that plot point. That plotline is intrinsically linked to her relationship with Toga. Because as I have said before, Ochako actually took Toga's advice for how to approach her crush. Toga wanted to become just like her crush. Izuku suppressed all emotions he believed interfered with his hero persona. Ochako then responded in kind by suppressing her feelings after she realized she liked Izuku in the Second Act. But in the final arc, Ochako acted according to her own feelings. She reached out to connect to the villain instead of defeating her because she wanted to do so. Trying to suppress her feelings of wanting to save Toga by looking at the destruction she caused didn't work. She freely admitted to Toga and herself that she liked Izuku.

This was a high school crush. Most people don't get married and have kids with their high school sweetheart. The crush plotline at the end of the day wasn't about Izuku. It was about Ochako and Toga and at a thematic level it was about restrictive norms around love and connection with others, especially as teenage girls.

And honestly, the epilogue also resolved Ochako's arc well. She gets to vent to her friends and let out her suppressed emotions surrounding Toga's death. She was able to connect with Izuku again without running away in fear of her own feelings as she had throughout the Second Act. And there is evidence she put her ideas of rejecting these narrow roles of who can be saved into practice through spearheading these systematic quirk counseling reforms.

[righteous-pines]

HEY. THIS IS THE BLOG I MEANT TO POST THIS ON. Sorry AGAIN

character personality description below - cw/tw for severe depression and suicidal ideation. Sorry

Heavily encouraged by the previous leader, Pinestar, to take the position of a medicine cat due to her prophetic dreams, Daycinder looks forward to the day she finally closes her eyes and opens them up to a field of starry skies. Anxious from birth, always worried she’s failing her clan, not caring for them adequately, misinterpreting the words of her ancestors- Daycinder wants nothing more than to finally put the worries at ease, and rest. Unfortunately, she has yet to train an apprentice, and struggles with the gravity of condemning another apprentice to her own miserable life; and so, she remains, ever studious.

[peepee-ketchupman]

Title: The Things We Refuse to Name

|Noelle|

Noelle stabs her fork into the sad excuse for a school salad, scowling as a shredded carrot piece *dares* to slip off the plastic tines. She can already feel the headache forming behind her temples, an all-too-familiar pressure like an overfilled balloon pressing against her skull.

Across from her, Akarsha is talking.

Of course, Akarsha is talking.

Noelle doesn’t need to listen to know exactly what she’s saying—some asinine joke, some ridiculous theory, some obnoxious attempt at getting under her skin. It’s always the same. Always.

"What if every time you sneeze, it’s actually an alternate universe version of you dying and your body is just rejecting their soul trying to enter?"

Diya tilts her head in consideration. Min mutters something like, "That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard," but Noelle barely hears them. Her focus is already honed in on the source of the problem.

Akarsha’s elbow rests on the lunch table, her fingers tapping idly against her cheek. The corners of her lips are curved into that infuriating smirk, like she *knows* she’s annoying Noelle and thrives off it.

Noelle exhales sharply through her nose. "Are you even capable of saying something that isn’t nonsense?"

Akarsha gasps, dramatically clutching her chest. "Noelle. That’s so mean. What if I have Feelings™?"

"You don’t."

Akarsha shrugs, taking a lazy bite of her sandwich. "Fair point."

Noelle narrows her eyes, the inside of her chest twisting into something tight and unfamiliar. This—this feeling, whatever it is—it’s been *happening*. More and more. And it is *unacceptable*.

It’s not *fondness*. It’s not *attachment*. Noelle refuses to be one of those people who lets irrational emotions override logic.

She simply understands Akarsha too well. That’s all.

She knows, for example, that when Akarsha makes a joke, there’s a 45% chance it’s to distract from something real. That when she laughs *too* loud, it’s often to drown out her own thoughts. That sometimes, when she thinks no one is paying attention, her expression goes terrifyingly blank—like she’s momentarily stepped out of her own body.

Noelle knows these things with the same certainty she knows that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.

And *knowing* something doesn’t mean she *cares*.

Does it?

Noelle shoves another bite of salad into her mouth, chewing with unnecessary force. *She does not care. If anything, she loathes Akarsha. That’s the real emotion here. Loathing.*

Even as she thinks it, something about the words feels... off.

|Akarsha|

Akarsha knows Noelle is watching her.

She pretends she doesn’t. Plays it cool. Keeps up the act.

She smirks, cracks another dumb joke, throws in a little extra flair just to see if she can make Noelle roll her eyes. It’s a game, right? This is what they do.

This is what they’ve *always* done.

Except lately, it feels... different.

It’s the way Noelle’s gaze lingers just a second too long before snapping away. The way she *knows* things about Akarsha that even Akarsha barely admits to herself. The way her insults are still sharp but not *cruel*—like they’re designed to push, not cut.

It scares the shit out of her.

Because if Noelle notices *too much*, if she *really* figures it out, then what? What happens when Akarsha runs out of jokes, and all that’s left is the mess underneath?

And worse—what happens when Noelle rejects it again?

Because she *will*. Of course, she will.

Noelle is practical. Logical. The kind of person who calculates everything down to the decimal point. There’s no world where she looks at someone like Akarsha—a human disaster with more issues than a stack of overdue library books—and *chooses* her.

Akarsha knows this. But she still does it anyway.

She leans forward, propping her chin on her palm. "Hey, Frenchman."

Noelle tenses immediately. "What."

"You ever think about how romantic our relationship is?"

Diya makes a small noise of surprise. Min just crosses her arms, watching.

Noelle gives Akarsha the *nastiest* look. "In what world—"

"You know me better than I know myself. Isn’t that *intimate*?" Akarsha bats her eyelashes dramatically. "We’re basically soulmates."

Noelle’s face twitches. "That is *not* what that means."

Akarsha grins, but it feels flimsy, even to her. "Soooo you’re saying you *don’t* know me?"

For just a second—so fast she almost misses it—Noelle falters.

The thing about Noelle is that she doesn’t lie. She’ll evade, she’ll deflect, she’ll scoff and dismiss—but she won’t lie.

And the fact that she *doesn’t* immediately say no?

Akarsha’s stomach flips.

But then Noelle’s expression hardens, and she folds her arms like she’s sealing herself shut. "*Obviously* I know you. You’re impossible to ignore."

It’s meant as an insult. Probably. But Akarsha latches onto it anyway.

"Wow, Noelle. I had no idea you thought about me so much." She presses a hand over her chest, fake swooning. "I’m honored, really."

Noelle groans. "I hate you."

Akarsha winks. "That’s not what your heart says."

But the joke comes out wrong. Too strained. Too *thin*.

She waits for Noelle to roll her eyes, to call her stupid, to dismiss her like always. But instead, Noelle just looks at her.

Looks at her too long.

And something in Akarsha wants to *run*.

Because this isn’t like last time. Last time was easy—easy to laugh off, easy to pretend it didn’t mean anything. She was just messing around. Just joking.

But if Noelle takes the hint this time—if she *really* figures it out—what then?

What happens when she looks at Akarsha, understands her completely, and still decides she’s not worth it?

The thought burns like acid.

So she grins wider, masks harder, makes the joke bigger.

"Wow, you’re *really* staring. Are you, like, discovering your feelings for me in real-time?"

Noelle *slams* her fork down.

"Eat your food and *shut up*," she snaps, her face slightly pink.

Akarsha lets herself bask in the victory. But the bitter part of her—the one she can never fully drown out—already knows this isn’t a win.

This is just another day of pretending she doesn’t care.

[butterflydm]

"You lost someone important. Guilt's part of that."

*goes off and stares into the sea for a thousand years*

I do kinda feel as if I bought two games in one, because Veilguard is such a different experience in the second playthrough (this is not a complaint).

Grief. Regret. An ocean of it. And how to move past it. How important it is to be able to move past it and not let yourself be trapped by all your pain.

[endgame spoilers below]

Varric "goes to sleep" after your first big talk with him and then you can't talk to him again until after you've meditated and reached Solas (who is never far away, though you don't realize it).

It is amazing how Solas is able to criticize himself so strongly (via the memory of Varric) and then keep on doing everything that he's doing. He truly is the ultimate master of the sunk-cost fallacy.

Wisdom twisted into Pride. It is so painful to think that the thing that made Solas so furious and heartsick in his personal quest in DAI -- watching a spirit of Wisdom get twisted into Pride because it was brought into the mortal world to be a weapon -- is exactly what Mythal asked of him. And the anger that he shows towards those mortal mages (who he can and will kill unless you stop him) is thus displaced anger that he doesn't feel like he's allowed to feel towards Mythal.

So... what's up with the Rings of Power tag? It's about Solas, of course.

You meet a guy who is a lone wanderer. A vagabond, who claims no particular importance but somehow seems to understand the powers that are key to the world's salvation. He helps you out for a while. He's pretty arrogant - prideful, you might say.

You find out that he's essentially a demigod who has been lying to everyone for... weeks, months, idk. And that he actually is the person who helped break the world and make it what it currently is today... and he wants to fix the world. Except... well, except that fixing the world involves a whole bunch of people dying and basically destroying the world as it currently exists in order to create the 'better' world that exists in his imagination/memory.

His intentions may be good but every time he goes forward with his plans, it destroys so much and hurts so many people. His methods suck and his imagined perfect world can never exist. And he lies, over and over and over. He betrays you, over and over.

God of lies.

The Great Deceiver.

I've only finished one playthrough of Dragon Age: The Veilguard so far. And, in it, I gave Solas a good ending. The happiest ending that he probably could get. In which he doesn't get any of the things that he was trying to get during the game, but he does get a chance to atone for the many, many people that he's hurt and what he's destroyed. He gets shown a different path and is convinced to take it. He has someone who loves him enough to walk that path with him. "Where I'm going is terrible," he tells his love. "It won't be terrible if you're with me," she tells him.

Solas makes the choice that (Second Age/Rings of Power) Sauron couldn't make -- he chooses to stop trying to break the world in order to fix it. To atone by doing what the people of the world would want from him, rather than forcing his own vision on them. He stops. That's what Sauron can't bring himself to do. He can't stop trying to fix the world.

So finishing up Veilguard after watching Rings of Power let me play out a little power fantasy of: what if you could get him to stop? What if you could get him to see that his attempts to 'fix' the world are only making things worse? What would that look like?

Solas is able to admit -- after a lot of work by the protagonist to get him there -- that the world doesn't need him to fix it. By contrast, Sauron is going to double-down on his attempts to 'heal' Middle-Earth.

But it's interesting to get a chance to create a situation where a character who does have quite a bit in common with Sauron is able to have a different kind of ending.

As is tradition when I play RPGs like this, my first playthrough is for discovering a character and letting myself be fully led by the story, and now my second playthrough is to poke at all the choices and the seams of the story to figure out what I like best. And then I usually do a version of my first character again but 'perfected' in taking the alternative choices that I liked better than my first time through. So this second run is going to be for going through all the rest of the options and romances to see if I like them better than what my heart instinctively led me towards (Lucanis).

So this is my game plan for my second run:

Flirt with everyone. Make sure I do all Treviso quests before I go to get Davrin. Choose to save Minrathous (this is why I made my second Rook a Shadow Dragon -- Treviso seems so vulnerable to me, so I really have to stack the deck to get my Rook to choose to go to Minrathous). Sadly mourn that I cannot romance my Lucanis in this runthrough (my second Rook recently did the quest to acquire him and I found myself instantly enchanted all over again by his introduction. Thank goodness saving Minrathous takes him off the table; I don't see how else I could resist him).

Keep flirting until I get to the 'commitment quest' for each of the characters, and play through everything else until that's about all I have left. Then do separate saves for each romance. So six separate 'endgame runs' for this second Rook, allowing me to try out a variety of endgame scenarios.

Then, armed with lots of information, I plan to run as a dwarven Rook for my third runthrough, and do a run-through that uses my favorite choices now that I know how they shake out, and take a new approach with Solas. Probably a rogue. I've tried out the gameplay for all three classes, and rogue was my favorite (this is not a shock. Rogue has been my favorite in literally every DA game).

And now a collection of images I like to call:

They assumed Rook knew Varric was dead when these conversations happened.

Looking forward to what other conversations may happen where Rook is having an entirely different conversation than the other characters are having.

A collection of images I like to call:

Foreshadowing

A collection of images I like to call:

Ouch ouch ouch

One particularly excellent choice that the game made, imo, is that only Neve and Harding knew Varric already (of the companions). The rest of the team is assembled by Rook, and most of the team does not know Varric and doesn't even realize that there's a hole in the team, because Rook is already filling the position that she believes that Varric is meant to have. She is Varric's hand-picked second-in-command, and he trusted her to be able to handle this job. He chose someone with that thought in mind.

He knew the risks, and planned accordingly. He knew there was a chance (an excellent chance) that Solas was not going to listen to him. He had to try anyway, but he knows -- he says in the beginning -- that if it comes down to a fight, they will not be able to defeat Solas. He knows that if he can't talk Solas down, then he's probably going to die. And he goes in there anyway, because Solas is his friend.

He made a choice. Several choices. He chose to talk to Solas, knowing that it might lead to his death. And he chose Rook as his second, believing that Rook could save the day if Varric failed.

That's how Varric saved the world -- by finding the right person to finish the job.

[chickensarentcheap]

Especially for you, @tragiclyhip because I know you love them together

@watermeezer @youflickedtooharddamnit @secretaryunpaid @bardic-tales

And anyone and everyone else of course :)

“Some of them are pretty deep. And I know you tried when you were in the shower, but there’s stuff stuck in some of them. Dirt or wood or something. Aren’t they sore?”

“They’re SCRATCHES. I’ve had a hell of a lot worse.”

“They’re a mess is what they are.” She picks up the tweezers; eyes narrowing as she leans over him and plucks pieces of debris out of one of the wounds. “Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t things supposed to go down in the city?”

“They did. In Laos.”

“I thought it was going to be the same in Cambodia. You let me read what Anil sent you. I’m pretty sure things were supposed to happen in Phnom Penh? How’d you end up going from there into the jungle?”

“There was a change of plans.”

She smirks. “Obviously.”

“You know how it is, things don’t always go the way we want.”

“I’d say nine times out of ten, they don’t. Seriously though, your face is a wreck. You should have gotten this all cleaned up hours ago. BEFORE you got on a plane home. What if they get infected? You don’t know what’s in that jungle. They could have some crazy poisonous plant life or something. What if you got into something like THAT?”

“I think it’s safe to say we’d know something like that by now. What are you so squeamish about? You’ve seen me in worse shape.”

“Now THAT’S an understatement. Have you ever thought I just don’t like seeing you banged up and scratched up? Have you ever thought maybe I’ve had just about enough of all of that? Can’t I nurse you back to health from something else for a change? Like...I don’t know...the man flu?”

“You always complain when I get sick. That I’m too needy.”

“I have never once said you’re too needy. I have, however, complained about how whiny you get. How you come down with a head cold and act like you’re dying. How do you go through the things you have and survive what you’ve survived, and think a cold will be the cause of your demise?”

“Hey, those colds get pretty bad.”

“Worse than…” Pausing, she sits straight up and drops the tweezers onto the bed, then soaks a cotton ball with peroxide. “...you know what? I’m not even going to finish that sentence because that will only bring bad juju. Talking about all of that? Revisiting it? Nothing good will come of that. And we need good juju, don’t you think?”

“Are you drunk?”

“Who? Me? No. Maybe. Just a little. Is a whole bottle of wine for oneself considered drunk?”

“For normal people, yeah. For you…”

“Look, I had a rough day. In fact, it’s been a brutal FOUR days. And right now? Well right now, I should be getting laid. Or at the very least, have my husband going down on me. And what I’m doing? Playing nursemaid. And not in a fun, sexy way either. Not the kind of playing nursemaid that comes with little outfits and orgasms.”

He grins. “You ARE drunk.”

“I’m just saying, I had other plans for this evening and picking pieces of the Cambodian jungle out of your face wasn’t part of it.”

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

“Mmm...hmmm…”

“And I’d rather be doing other stuff too, but…”

“But the shit hit the fan and everything got fucked up and you ended up doing God knows what, doing God knows where. I’m not even going to ask how it went. I think I’m scared to hear the answer. It was obviously a dumpster fire if you went from the capital city of Cambodia to the bowels of hell.”

“There were a couple...snags.”

She returns to the task of investigating and cleaning the various scratches that mar his face and neck. “Anil let on everything went great.”

“Probably just didn’t want to worry you.”

“Was there something for me to worry about?”

“Not as far as I’m concerned. I’ve been involved in way worse things. It was pretty straight forward. Two easy hits.”

“First one went okay?”

“Exactly the way it should have.”

“Second one?”

“I thought you weren’t going to ask?”

“You don’t want me asking?”

“I don’t care if you ask. You just said you weren’t going to because you were afraid of what you might hear.”

“Do I have anything to be afraid of?”

“Esme, seriously? Do you want to know or not? It wasn’t THAT bad. I’m here, aren’t I? In one piece?”

She nods.

“It honestly wasn't that big of a disaster. Things got a little fucked up. The second one didn’t go the way it should have. I had to make some decisions; change some shit around. The Mark wasn’t where he was supposed to be. I had to find out where he was and I had to figure out how to make things work.”

“Well good thing it WAS you that Anil asked. Because it probably would have been a lot worse. At least you know what you’re doing; you can think on your feet and stay calm and focused. A change like that? That would have thrown other people off. They probably wouldn’t have been able to get the second guy. They would have been too frazzled. That kind of change would have totally thrown them off.”

“Are you speaking highly of me, wife?”

“I am. I tend to speak very highly of you. All the time. To everyone. Even when I’m picking pieces of Cambodia out of your face.” She grabs the tweezers and unceremoniously inserts the tips into a large scratch at the side of his left eye; yanking out a piece of wood. “And it’s a nice face, by the way. So I don’t particularly like you coming home all messed up.”

“Like I said, I’ve had worse.”

“I will give you that.”

They lapse into a comfortable, companionable silence; his hands resting on her thighs as she continues to work at disinfecting and cleaning the scratches and her fingertips rub wound aftercare ointment into his skin. And he admires her as she does so. That steely look of determination on her face; lips set in a thin line and her eyes slightly narrowed and her hands steady yet gentle. And she looks so beautiful in that moment; in the mixture of moonlight and the glow given off by the bedside lamps. Hair pushed into a messy ‘up sweep’; held together by various clips -colourful and unicorn themed, ‘borrowed’ from Addie’s room- and bobby pins. Her face freshly cleaned and scrubbed; bearing the lingering scent of the grapefruit and pomegranate body wash she’d fallen in love with months ago. Clad in what she considers pyjamas; a faded and slightly tattered plaid button down shirt he’d worn during their Colorado days that is enormous on her tiny frame.

It’s been just over twelve years. Since he’d first laid eyes on her; standing on his front porch in The Kimberley in her little denim shorts and that yellow tank top that clung to her like a second skin. He’d known right away that he was in trouble; feeling things he hadn’t felt in a hell of a long time when she so much glanced in his direction and offered a small, almost nervous smile. And it would take him nearly ten years to admit what she’d probably known not long after their initial meeting: that his heart was hers from the very first day.

“You’re beautiful.” He says now, and a smile tugs at the corners of her mouth.

“Are YOU drunk?”

“I haven’t drank in five years. I’m truthful.”

“Maybe your eyesight is worse than you think,” she teases, and dabs a peroxide dampened cotton ball against the scratches on his forehead.

“Or maybe you just hate compliments. Even twelve years into things.”

“You know I don’t handle compliments well. Even now. I know that doesn’t make sense, considering we HAVE been together that long and you’re the master of compliments and sweet talk, but that’s just who I am. It’s just me.”

“I will break you yet.”

“You’ve been trying for over a decade. Same way you’ve been trying to make an honest woman out of me.”

[hel-phoenyx]

Toshiki and Ian belong to @corneille-but-not-the-author, Ajeng to @soupedepates

___

There's a man a the Office for Special Investigations.

I didn't join it from the goodness of my heart, nor am I seeking justice. Justice is a concept only the naïve can uphold in this fucked-up country. Justice is an excuse the powerful use to crush the powerless. Justice is the reason invoked for massacres and death.

If there was any justice, she would not have died this way. Like a dog sent to slaughter.

So no, I am not here because of justice. That's why it's annoying to witness that man talking about giving it back its real meaning and saving lives under its name. Is that justice to you ? I think is ingenuity.

That word fits so bad to his face.

He's always frowning. Or emotionless. Always in uniform, even at times we don't need ti, like when Ian invites us to drink after work or he comes at my flat to inquire about the cases i'm working on.

You're married to your work, are you ?

You make it sound like it's a bad thing.

Well, work sometimes end up dying.

People die. Not work.

He doesn't know what I've seen. He doesn't know what i've witnessed. He will never know. He will live, and die, with this ideal of justice. Like Ian, biting off more than he can chew. I see the shadow of death looming over both of them. I saw what happens when people of power bit more than they can chew.

Everything in him is dark. Hair, jet black, skin, a deep brown, even his clothes are always grey or black. The uniform, not even accompanied with some kind of accessories like Ajeng's. The only color is his eyes. A bright orange, always focused forward.

He's my superior. A king in a king-less word. But he's not a king worth serving. Too naïve. Too focused. Too much of a loner.

I've tried so many things to break that shell. Jokes. Jesting. Seduction, sometimes. Everything. Anything.

Just prove me you're not a robot programmed with a false idea of what runs this world.

So many people stronger than him fell in my crutches. i've run a country for so long with a jingle of my bells. Yet in front of me I'm hitting a wall, and the one's cracking is not his face.

Instead it's the mask.

It's so annoying to be in front of someone who's resisting me completely. Always with those cold eyes and cold facts and the hands full of paperwork he handing me, go to work instead of acting like a fool, Mérénias. I am a fool. I was a fool. You are just too young to remember a time it was a compliment.

Why don't I ever see you crack ?

Just crack.

It's infuriating how inhuman you are. I should be the only one here. The only one not living.

I joke about your machine heart and you don't move a lid. I try the seduction methods that made kings unfaithful to their partners and you don't even look my way. Abyss, you have seen me bare, you have seen the cracks on my body, something I never showed to anyone in so many years, and instead of the fissures I wanted to see complimenting mine on your face you just pushed papers in my hands and turned away so I could have the time to dress up.

Stop playing around and work, you horny fuck.

I am not.

I hate how you break the mask through your own wall and yet it's the only thing you can see.

You're a naïve, emotionless, insentitive machine with a pretty face sticked upon it

You shouldn't be

I shouldn't be hoping you'd be

Anything else.

[krikeymate]

Fictober 2023: Day 30: “Are you with me?” - Run Rabbit Run Fandom: Scream Rating: T Warnings: Violence.

➖

Sam takes a deep breath, her fingers clutching a white-knuckled grip around the hilt of her knife.

Her father’s knife.

The one he used to Kill. Destroy. Ruin.

She smiles –

To Stalk. Hunt. Haunt.

– And pulls down the mask.

Sam’s not her father.

She’s something better.

With an indisputable elation in her chest, she creeps forward, following her unsuspecting prey through the dark corridors of the university.

It’s so easy, so simple.

See, Billy’s flaw is he went after the innocent. That he was selfish.

Sam doesn’t have that problem.

People turn the other way when it’s the guilty who die, no one ever wants to look too close, to find the truth. It’s the perfect crime, ridding the world of those it’s better off without. Everyone agrees with it, but few have the guts to make it a reality.

But Sam’s always know she was stronger than most.

Her rabbit pauses as a shadowed figure steps into their path.

The corridor holds its breath; one, two, three…

The seconds drag on.

Sam waits with excitement, a dog pulling at its leash, preparing for the moment the clip is released; her toy with anxiety, taking a step back at the unexpected intrusion to their midnight wander.

The guest stays frozen with a calm restraint, the way one might if they know what comes next.

“Wh- who’s there?” their bunny calls out through shaking hands. “What are you doing? What do you want?”

Every unanswered question makes the boy fidget ever more, and Sam’s blood sings in anticipation.

“You haven’t been answering my calls, Bobby.”

Now Billy’s other big problem was his subpar choice of partner.

“That really hurt my feelings.”

Stu was pathetic, a stupid little lapdog, begging for attention from his… brother.

“See… I want to play a game. Would you like to play a game Bobby?”

But maybe that wasn’t Billy’s fault. Maybe Sam just lucked out on the sibling department.

“Wh-what kind of game?”

“How about… Tag?”

The leash snaps, Sam lunges forward, teeth of the blade sinking into flesh. Clothing rips apart like paper beneath the sharpened steel.

He screams like a dying animal. It’s pitiful.

She only gave him a kiss.

A part of her thinks that he deserves to die for that alone. He cries as a match singes his fingers, but Sam, she and Tara? They were thrown into the volcano and had to climb their way out themselves, bloody hand by bloody hand, flesh stripped from their skin. They emerged hardened. No one would hurt them again.

“I thought you liked to play games, Robert,” she coos as he begins to crawl away, sobbing.

“Please!” he begs, “please don’t, please stop.”

“Oh Robert.”

It takes everything she has to stay calm at the feeble display.

“Did you ever stop?”

He freezes, shaking.

“Did those girls beg on their hands and knees, crawling away, crying?”

He turns his head to face her, falling to his side.

He finds no Ghost.

Sam is alive.

Her mask is as human as she is. She’s not her father, she’s a person. That’s what she does it for. For people, for her person.

“How do you- You- You don’t know anything!”

Sam steps forward. The snivelling man crawls back.

“So you don’t want to play tag then?” she teases.

The horrified expression on his face as he bumps into her forgotten partner is worth the delay in justice.

He should be scared. He deserves every agonising moment, every slither of hope he can muster so they can only rip it away again. They want him to suffer, as others have suffered because of him. As they have suffered.

“You’re being rude again Bobby,” Tara chastises.

Sam smiles beneath her mask. She couldn’t ask for a better partner.

She reaches down to grab their prey by his jacket, pulling him up only to slam him down again. The cry he lets out as his injured back slams into the concrete floor is music to her ears.

She slips the knife under his chin and lets him sweat as she considers where to begin to his blubbering symphony.

Glancing up, she finds Tara watching, enraptured, a look of wonder in her eyes.

Sam wants nothing more than to remove the bandanna from her sister’s face, to pull back the hood, to reveal it all and revel in her love.

But they have to work before they can play.

“Are you with me?” Sam asks, breathless. She sits on one knee and offers her knife.

She doesn’t think her heart has ever beat so fast as she waits for Tara’s answer. They haven’t done this before.

It’s always Sam who does the killing, who makes the mess, who takes her pound of flesh. And that’s how Sam likes it.

There’s a part of her that doesn’t want Tara involved. The rational part of her still alive inside of her that begs her not to do this, to keep her hands clean, to keep her sister clean.

It’s cut to ribbons beneath Tara’s hidden smile as she takes the blade.

“I’m with you.”

[bestbonnist]

Chapter 171.1

The battle between the immortals is played for laughs, but the way that each of their arguments is connected to their core character traits makes me think it's indicative of more deeply ingrained conflicts. Let's break it down!

Tonari's same old same old. She feels indebted to the people she loves, Fushi especially, and believes that if she wants to be around them, she needs to be able to pull her weight. She doesn't think she has any helpful skills apart from a base level of poison resistance, so that's what she focuses on. Tonari puts a lot of emphasis on how "useful" it is when she dies, on whether or not her death helped her friends or not. She puts herself down and uses herself like a tool for the sake of the people she loves.

Gugu is similar to Tonari in that he uses his body like a tool for the benefit of his friends. As an impoverished, abandoned child—also very similar to Tonari—Gugu thought his only attribute was physical labor, especially after he had his accident and from his point of view, lost his humanity. Gugu got into his accident in the first place because he put himself in harm's way to save Rynn. It's a mark of how little he values his safety.

The main difference between Gugu and Tonari, in this case, is that Tonari sees herself the same as other people, which is to say: bad. Humanity is all a bunch of assholes, and she's no different. Her friends are the rare exception. Whereas Gugu sees all of humanity as fundamentally good. And Gugu, being a monster, is below them. So Gugu is willing to lay down his life for everyone, and Tonari is willing to do it for the people she loves (yes I know she literally says she does it "for everyone" but she's only talking about the people in the park with her).

Messar says that he's enjoying his life but he keeps dying in horrible ways. He froze to death nine fucking times and hasn't learned his lesson. Is that really enjoyable? It seems more like he's disguising a disregard for his own well-being as freedom. And as Hylo says, he has no purpose, so he's just kind of stagnant right now. It's, uh... It's giving depression.

If Messar is too hedonistic, then Hylo is too restrained. By setting goals for himself, like saving all of Renryrr or becoming a baker, he's able to get a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment that makes him happy. But he has no chill. Those goals are the will to live that he thinks are so important. Without those goals, he's no different than Messar. Only Messar is able to find the worth of moments spent doing nothing.

This is also literally the same shit they said in Chapter 165.1. This argument has been going on for five hundred years.

Messar "left unhappiness back in Renryrr," referring to when Alme died. His reason for living was to protect her, he was literally unable to move after she died and got killed by a knocker. Moving on is all well and good, but if his recklessness is any indication, he hasn't moved on at all, he's just trying not to think about it. As Hylo—who has actually done the work to move forward after the loss of his foster mother—points out, you can't really call that happy. Hylo is so harsh on Messar because he used to be aimless as well. But Hylo found something to pursue in the Renryrr arc and Messar isn't even looking.

In her first life, March agreed to be sacrificed because it was the way to keep the most people safe. She didn't want her friend or her little sister and their parents to be hurt, so she went along with Hayase's plan. She also died saving Parona's life. At this point in time her idea of a good life/good death was similar to Tonari's and Gugu's—that is, to use her death to make the people she loves happy. But as a ghost, she saw firsthand how much her death affected Parona. Being dead wasn't better for the people around her like she thought it was. Now the way she doesn't make everyone sad is by staying alive. She encourages others to do the same, as seen in this chapter when she chastises Messar for not taking care of himself.

March also takes this into account during important decisions, like when Fushi consults their friends on whether they should take the Beholder's powers or not and she calmly tells them that the choice is theirs. A huge difference from the time she freaked out when they told her they would be losing consciousness indefinitely at the end of the previous era. March's way of living is at odds with Tonari and Gugu's way of dying, but they're all dedicating themselves to the people they love.

Bon doesn't get involved in arguments, ever since the Renryrr arc he's relegated himself to a mediator/advisor role. He avoids having any contrary opinions and goes with what will placate the most people. I can't say much more about him because he almost never gives away what he's really thinking (sadly he is not a perspective character anymore), but this is definitely a continuing pattern. It's a shame because he's actually pretty good at decision making, although he stepped down due to the number of poor choices he made during the Renryrr arc.

Kai, and Eko don't care very much about the best death argument, which doubles as a "whose life has the most meaning" argument. I wonder if it's because they found a reason to live by working as mechanics and transferring their good points to people within the system, so they don't feel as insecure about it.

Well, that's that! I think their squabbling was a neat way to introduce the issues that'll be explored in this arc and to show how Fushi's friends have adjusted to immortality. The doll point blank asks them why they're alive, and in a roundabout way she gets an answer: they're alive to die.

[joycrispy]

So I've mentioned before that I've had a lot of arts n' crafts small creative projects on the go (and a few not-so-small ones, but that's another post), and I just kinda felt like talking about 3 of them.

SO I WILL.

1. Bookbinding

This is more of an ongoing learning process than any one particular book I'm binding --but the process is going very well. Pictured here is the latest attempt, and my most ambitious attempt in that it was mostly me going, 'huh, I wonder if that would work' and dicking around until I got some sort of result.

(Example: I dyed that cover black. Did not know if it would work. It...kinda does? Further testing required.)

The final book is far from perfect, but I'm actually very happy with it. It's like a prototype of the kind of book I've been wanting to make all along, the whole reason I picked up bookbinding. Old fashioned tomes are the goal here.

More on that in a bit.

2. DnD Character Journals

At the moment I am in three different ongoing campaigns (including one I'd been playing in for two years before Covid happened, now picked back up again, and another which is a sequel to a previously completed campaign. Exciting stuff. The third is a character I usually reserve for one-shots, but she got a whole campaign this time. Good for her!), and I have completed journals for two out of my three characters.

(If you don't know what a character journal is: it's basically just a Character Sheet, but way more extra and ~Aesthetic. Sort of a functional gaming scrapbook. I also design mine to make the game as accessible as possible to my very ADHD brain. I highly recommend it, as a practice).

Pictured here is the main stat page for my monk, Wormwood, who just reached level 5.

Speaking of DnD...

3. Campaign Journal

So anyone who has played with me knows that I take EXTREMELY DETAILED NOTES, but this time around I'm taking the notes, immediately converting them into readable prose recountings (as opposed to fast n' easy notetaker's shorthand, which only makes sense to me), and then sharing them as an editable Google document with the group. They can add anything I missed, or flesh out details I skimmed over, add their character's POV of a scene, or whatever they like!

(This also has the neat side-effect of generating material for the DM's World Anvil, which is nice. He's free to pick and choose what he wants, or ask me to write an article for him, etc.)

This makes it very easy for the group to refresh their memories between sessions, but also, when the campaign is finished...there will be a very thorough record of it.

Last year I had the thought that, with the way I take my notes, I could easily print out a campaign journal and bind it as a physical book, and then have that as a memento/give it as a gift to the other players.

That's an exceptional amount of work to do AFTER the fact, but doing it one session at a time, as they happen...that's very doable.

I mean. People bind novel-length fanfiction for their own personal collections. There's no reason I shouldn't bind a novel-length campaign, lol.

And I can personalize each book to each player, as well! No, yeah, this is EXACTLY the kind of thing I love to contribute to a game. The group's excited, I'm excited, lots to look forward to, here.

I have other projects, including two large ones that are each going to take the better part of 2024, which slows all these little ones down...but I'm consistently whittling down the daily to-do list into something more manageable.

And work is nice right now because my main job atm is something I'm really, really good at...

(charity fundraising: my location is 1st in the district and 7th in the country for donations, and almost a third of those donations were made through me. I'm very, very good at this part of my job)

(I tend to be good at things I care about --ADHD, like I say-- and our partner charity benefits local queer and disabled kids who need shelter and support, so, YES, I CARE ABOUT THAT)

...so it makes the days pass quickly and peacefully. I get to come home in a good mood to all my little arts n' crafts. It's been very fun.

I'm glad I have time to be on tumblr again, though.

[atopearth]

Piofiore: Episodio 1926 Part 7 - Henri Lambert Route & Overall Review

Henri wearing glasses showing a gentle smile is so beautiful. I honestly wish for him to be happy so I'm looking forward to this route! Henri working as a translator is so nice! It's something I would love to do as well, so it makes me like him even more haha. Seeing them get to live peacefully is nice, and they're so silly but I can understand why they would think they shouldn't try to "change" their relationship but c'mon Henri!! No girl leaves her home and everyone she cares for, for a guy she doesn't love! The two of them holding hands and eating lunch together is cute~ I hope they get to live more openly without fear of being chased soon. The more excited Lili was to return home, the more obvious that the Phantom probably killed the children, but I still hoped that it wouldn't happen. They were such a happy little family. I know they need a reason to leave and face their problems, the Phantom and everything, but this is just so so cruel. I feel terrible for Liliana. I can't imagine how it must feel for her, she's the one who cared for the children the most and saw them the most, and she had to be the first to witness the bloodied house and see their bodies, I can't imagine the devastation. But I also feel bad for Henri knowing that their deaths were because of him.

Honestly, it's crazy to think that in the first game, I really felt nothing for Henri. But after seeing more of his story in 1926, his feelings and now seeing many more thoughts and emotions from him, I can't help but wish that Henri can be happy despite the things he has done. Otherwise, it's really sweet to see how happy the guys are to see her well. I always appreciate how kind Gil is in expressing how much he cares for Lili and how he's always willing to help her if she needs help. Even Yang's roundabout way of telling her he's happy to see her well was cute. I understand Henri's reasons for leaving Lili with the Falzone but I'm still hurt😭 He's too considerate for his own good, he doesn't care about himself enough. And I agree with Nicola, if I lived Henri's life where his family all died because of this Key Maiden thing and the Falzone, and then I was forced to live with distant relatives of the Falzone that hated me, yeah I don't think many people would not want revenge. Lmao at Lee being surprised at Yang saying he cares about needing to protect all the innocents dying in Burlone. You could feel Yang's sarcasm😂 Wow, Sebastiano actually killed every single former employee of the casino, all those poor people.. I actually really like how Lili isn't recklessly wanting to go look for Henri and instead just asked Orlok to give him a letter for her, I think that's very sweet since she understands everyone wants her to stay safe. I never knew I needed this, but a little Nicola and a little Henri playing together all the time back in the day is the cutest thing ever, I want to cry at the potential of how happy and sweet Henri's life could have been if he stayed at the Falzone manor with him. It just breaks my heart seeing them smile so happily.

I'm so glad Sister Sofia showed Lili the letters Henri sent to her. Lili always put Henri first and never sent any further letters back to Sister Sofia after the first one because she wanted to protect Henri and prevent any chances of people tracing his whereabouts, but Henri always put Lili first by constantly updating Sister Sofia of their lives and apologising for taking Lili away from her. He's such a thoughtful and silly guy😭 Dante, Nicola, Orlok and Sister Sofia planning a way to help Lili meet Henri without him running away was the sweetest thing ever. Everyone knows how hard she's been trying to fake being cheerful, so seeing them care so much for Lili is really heartwarming. I love how they all helped her meet Henri, and I'm so happy that he's realised how important it is for Lili to stay with him. Lmao when Nicola was making fun of how Sebastiano said Yang wasn't beautiful😂😂 It must have been difficult for Henri to go back to the Falzone manor, but I'm glad Giulia welcomed him so warmly and he can have some happy memories here. I'm glad Nicola helped Lili understand that she loves Henri, like lady, no one abandons their whole life for sympathy! It's so sad that Sebastiano dug up and stole Chloe's (Henri's sister) remains but Henri only thought about how it's good that Sebastiano is focused on him and not Lili. Honestly, I do enjoy how crazy Phantom is in this route. The fact that he killed beautiful women who looked like Chloe to gather parts of them to make the perfect Chloe is just so insane but very fascinatingly him.

I love how the guys encouraged Lili to give Henri a kiss to cheer him up lmao, but dang was she brave to actually do it! I felt so bad for Lili, Henri is really an idiot😭😭 I know he thinks nothing of himself and that's why he doesn't believe Lili could ever love someone like him, but that was sad. Nicola laughing at Henri for restraining himself was funny though, made me feel a bit better. I love seeing Henri interacting with all the guys, they're all so different and fun. Lmao at all the guys picking on Henri for having not done anything with Lili this whole time even though they eloped and lived together for so long. I died when Yang said he was a eunuch😂 I love how even Dante shyly joined in taunting Henri into doing the job of disqualifying Lili from being the Key Maiden haha. Henri is the best kind of partner for food outings! He'll notice when you can't decide between your options and just chooses both for you and he'll let you eat the best one while he eats the leftovers of the one you prefer least. Lili is so lucky🥹 I loved their date and I loved the confession. Henri expressing how much he loves her and how he thought he didn't deserve her but couldn't help but continue to want her was very sweet. Henri kissing Lili over and over again, and teasing her so gently was so nice to see, so happy for them🥹 Henri feeding her breakfast was the cutest thing ever! I didn't want to remember the pain of those poor children getting killed by someone as insane as Sebastiano, but it was also heartwarming to see Henri finally give Lili the handkerchief they sewed for both her and Henri.

Even though Sebastiano is a nut, I do recognise that his actions were probably the best way for him to force Henri to become the version of him that lived on hatred and vengeance again. And by doing all that, Sebastiano would be the focus of that hatred, so it would make him happy that Henri is so focused on him and constantly think about him. In his own twisted way, it must have made him so happy to see Henri think about him so much this whole route. It was obvious that by this point, there's no way Henri would still be super hung up over Chloe and her remains, but it was nice to see him actually say it to Sebastiano and make him die knowing that Henri will never be who he wanted him to be. It's sad that Chloe's remains will never be truly found since Sebastiano either hid it somewhere they can't find, destroyed it or locked it in that box that will explode if touched in the wrong way, but I think it's fine. The dead will remain dead and there is never any guarantee they are resting in peace as bones anyway. I loved the ending, it was so sweet seeing them smile so happily together freely in France continuing the peaceful life they had, the flower ring was beautiful! Honestly, definitely the best route and highlight of this game haha. The tragic ending was pretty cruel to have Henri go with her on such a happy date (that I enjoyed too!) and then have him end the night telling her she needs to sleep with someone and that he wouldn't recommend Yang and refuses to be the one even though she clearly expressed that she wants him. That ending was definitely much more devastating than I expected. I felt so terrible having to think of Dante's torture and Henri's mental breakdown. The only solace that could be found was that Gil died in a way that he would have liked and Orlok got to die with Rosberg, whereas everyone else was forced to die at the hands of things or people they hated the most and were forced to die with extreme regrets. But I guess I feel the worst for Lili because she will continue to live being imprisoned, shackled, raped and broken by the hollow shell of the man she loves and the crazy guy who will never let them go. Probably the most tragic ending in this game tbh and now I feel too down about this whole thing to go sleep lol! Lmao at the bad ending where Sebastiano uses a saw to cut Lili's head off, what a guy.

Overall, I kinda wish I did the tragic ending before the good ending because that shit was brutal LOL. Now my impression is that I finished this game with everyone dying haha! Anyway, it's all good, I'll live because even though it was a tough ending to swallow, I liked it because it truly was a tragic ending compared to some of the other ones. Basically, Henri's route was wonderful and exceeded expectations. I really didn't know what to think about him when I first started this route because I didn't like his route in the original game and felt it was too shallow in terms of story and just the whole running away with Henri thing. But dang did Henri's existence and personality change my mind not long after hahaha. Not only was the plot engaging with how Henri fended against Sebastiano along with getting to know a bit more of their history together and Sebastiano's obsession but the romance was so beautiful too. Innocent and filled with the desire to be together but feeling like it's better to not be together, but then in the end still choosing to be together, I love that shit hahahah. It was also really fun to see all the guys appear alot throughout the whole route because their interactions were just so fun and supportive! Sebastiano was also a much more compelling villain this time around and his insanity just went off the charts which I loved. I feel like the reason why I didn't like him in Alternativa is because Sebastiano's character was basically made for Henri, so without Henri, his character feels like "nothing" which is probably what he himself feels like too lol. Very satisfying in all aspects imo. I would totally read this route again.

Overall Review

All in all, I would give this game an 8/10 just for Henri's route itself haha, it was so good. Otherwise, I really enjoyed the romance in Nicola and Gil's routes. I will always be weak to Gil the gentleman haha. I would rate Nicola's route above Gil's just because Teo's struggles were nice to see and much more understandable compared to what he does in other routes, whereas I just wanted Gil's dad to disappear every time he appeared lol. Yang's route was nice and sweet but that wasn't what I signed up for with Yang, so even though it was nice, it felt kinda lacking. However, in terms of side character interactions, I probably loved the route the most just below Henri's because I actually really liked Rui and his story when it came to Yuan. I thought I would love Yuan more but I honestly fell for Rui instead haha. It's actually adorable how cute he was with the twins and how much of a good guy he was to admit his mistakes towards judging Lili and respecting her afterwards. I have to say though, I also like Lee much more in this game because his interactions with the twins in Alternativa was so fun haha. As usual, when it comes to Dante, even though I did enjoy the route much more this time around, I do think the story with Raul and the Falzone was pretty weak and bland, it doesn't help that other than being pretty, Raul is pretty much useless as a person with no personality lol. I also warmed up a bit more to the romance between Lili and Orlok but it's pretty outrageous that Orlok doesn't get any steamy scenes or just more romance focused CGs, but yeah as usual, Orlok isn't my type so I wasn't really into it anyway. So my favourite to least favourite route would be Henri, Nicola, Gilbert - Yang, Dante and then Orlok. Definitely recommend playing this game even if just for Henri's route tbh, it was so worth it haha. It's got pretty similar vibes to the original game and I'd say even though there are quite a few boring moments too, I still very much enjoyed it, 8/10.

[thegeminisage]

rushed tng update bc i am in a HUGE HURRY. monday we watched "q who" and yesterday i caught "samaritan snare" and "up the long ladder."

q who: had been looking forward to this one for WEEKS. and we were SO SO SO CLOSE. i loved every single thing about the borg. i loved their look. i loved the buildup. i loved their creepy little borg babies. i love their creepy cube ship because getting menaced by cubes is the natural state of the enterprise.

BUT NO ONE. GOT. BORGED

they had the perfect opportunity, too...that ensign, gomez? she could have been beamed out of the ship instead of those 18 people dying and they could have seen her when they beamed onto the borg ship. it would have been a wonderful way to impress how different people are once they get borged. that said i did love gomez and i was glad to see her pop back up in another episode. ms motormouth she's so funny she literally just has adhd thank you star trek for the Woman

like, the climax of that was so...anticlimactic. q just warps them back? that's so boring. i was getting ready to give q another chance despite him being SO FUCKING ANNOYING in all his other appearances because he was kind of funny here. like, i see why you guys kept telling me he had something going on with picard. i find it completely horrible just to be clear but i cannot deny that it is going on

AND i loved whatever he had going on with guinan...she was literally ready to get his ass. i loooved her expanded role in this episode and getting to find out more about her

but to have the episode end by q just being like ok i win i;ll take you back now :) come on. we were doing SO well. i was THRILLED. what a case of blueballs. and i checked and apparently only SIX tng episodes deal with the borg? that is so much less than i thought. huge letdown. oh well.

samaritan snare: i really dont understand what they are trying to do with pulaski and picard...is this supposed to be a romantic thing...idgi and i do not like it. like, what's the point of having him almost not survive this operation and then needing HER HELP SPECIFICALLY when he already stated he was uncomfortable with her doing it? the entire thing just rubs me the wrong way.

largely this episode was annoying and i nearly had to stop and close the tab when wesley tried to daddy issues his way into getting picard to parent him

however 2 good things did happen. firstly was the story picard told about getting his ass stabbed when he was an ensign. "a certain giddy warmth actually i laughed out loud" that was something actually.

and the other good thing as when worf was like "you will die without honor. you will never attain the 24th level of awareness" to geordi like i fucking cracked up for real. i wish tng had less unfunny bad humor and more of that because it was hilarious

up the long ladder: this episode was so bad it's UNREAL.

first of all, did worf and pulaski fuck? did that actually happen? they keep trying to make her romantic will picard and then will's dad and now WORF? what is GOING ON on this fucking ship??

i was actually kind of into whatever she and worf had going on when it was just a "let's be reckless idiots and drink the tea" thing because it was just that fucking stupid that it worked its way around to being endearing but every time i make emotional progress with her i am set back. i'm sorry women.

the rest of this episode was also unspeakable bad way to do clones in the most boring way possible and LMAO at them all hating sex or whatever. because it's a way to make them appear more unnatural <3 ok.

even riker slutting it up with that one irish chick couldn't save it because. and i feel insane saying this. every time those guys were onscreen they played like the funny music. you know. when irish characters get the little jig music and it's funny because they're irish? 90s tv did this a lot. shore leave in tos did it too. i'm so exhausted

ALSO LMAOOO TURNING THIS POOR WOMAN INTO BREEDING STOCK...not even asking her...misogyny wins again. i'm sure we can find another woman somewhere dot meme. good fucking god

i don't remember what episodes come next and i don't care because i'm going in release order and guess what was released next. final frontier. spock movie. it's finally time to see him again.....................

[duckielover151]

THE ONE PIECE DIARIES

Episode Count: 400

Holy crap. It's been so hard to hold out for the 400th episode to write an update. Everything just got crazy in the last 10 episodes or so. There are so many things to talk about! Strap in for a long one.

Okay. First. Sabaody. A location that is as beautiful as it is horrifying... Honestly, I feel like it took just a little too long for that fact to sink in for the crew. What part of Hachi's "Stand by and do nothing even if someone gets shot in front of you" warning was unclear that things are pretty fucked up here? The government's corruption has escalated even further with this new, up-close look at the human- (and other) trafficking and slavery system. It's honestly astonishing that anyone supports the World Government at this point.

And don't even get me started on the World Nobles. Never has a punch been more overdue yet so satisfying. I want them to storm into this so called "Holy Land" and just start beating up anyone they can find there too. (It's been a minute since I've talked about Enel, but have I mentioned how much I hate god complex characters?)

And then, of course, was the mass introduction of so many important characters... (Supernova is such a cool name for a group of rising stars... Maybe not totally, scientifically accurate... but cool.)

I recognize a lot of those names. The only one I really know much about is Law. I believe I've gotten basically his entire backstory, but I'm excited to see it play out in person, the little details I'm sure to have missed. Kid and Killer are also really familiar names, though I don't actually know that much about them.

I can definitely see why Law and Kid in particular come up so much in the fandom, if their introduction is anything to go by. That fight with the three captains fending off the Navy outside the auction house may not have been the most impressive fight in the series, but it was also a really fun spectacle. Kid, Luffy, and Law have already got a great sort of chemistry and dynamic, and I'm excited to see that grow.

There were a few others who stood out who I'm also looking forward to getting to know better... Jewelry Bonney is an interesting one. She seems to have the ability to age and de-age herself at will, which could be super useful... Though she doesn't seem much like the type for espionage... She seems like someone who really walks her own path. Some of these introductions were a little rushed, but I feel like hers was really good. They got in everything we needed to know about her, including her main policy of not getting caught up in anyone else's bullshit. And the Straw Hats seems to specialize in getting caught up in other people's problems... I'd like to see her team up with our crew... but I kind of get the feeling that she'll end up being an enemy, or at least a hostile rival, whenever they meet again.

Basil Hawkins is the other one who really stood out to me. He's another interesting one who I'm really not sure where he'll stand in the future. He has the potential to be either really cool or really annoying. Fortunetelling has the potential to be a fascinating ability... I'll be interested to see if he pairs it with another talent... and just how much he relies on it. His assurance that it wasn't his time to die because his cards told him so while his crewmate was panicking... isn't exactly reassuring. The concept of fate can be a tricky one in fiction. He seems like a character who might get shot down just to make a point if he relies on it too much.

And! I can't believe I almost forgot about Rayleigh.

Now, the huge backstory element that he revealed... That the Roger Pirates were never actually captured; Gol D. Roger turned himself in because he was already dying of some incurable illness... is something I already knew. But damn, those were some really great reveal scenes. Hell, Rayleigh's reveal scene, where they pause for just that extra second before adding that he's the former pirate king's vice captain (I think I prefer the term first mate, to be honest...) was really great. Kind of gave me the shivers even though I already knew who he was.

There were some really, really great moments throughout his story too... The one where he's reliving Roger's last words to him before turning himself in... It just struck me all of a sudden and made me kind of unexpectedly emotional... to realize that Rayleigh wasn't remembering the scene as his younger self. He was still the old man sitting at the table with the Straw Hats while Roger's comparative youth (and overall vibe) was frozen in time, as it always will be...

I think it really reinforced that Rayleigh's moved on and is living in the present, no matter how much he may have been affected by it at the time. But I think it also raises some questions. And comparisons.

We've already seen other characters meeting Luffy and being struck by the resemblance to Roger. But I think it's going to be these crews' differences that really stand out to me. Because if the Rogers are all still alive and well... it's almost a little disappointing that they're not still out there raising hell in their own ways, even if the crew's disbanded.

I just can't help pondering what it would be like if the roles were reversed. Because while I'm sure Luffy wouldn't want his crew to risk their lives for him... especially if they all knew he was already dying... I also can't picture it going down any other way than his friends storming the execution platform. After everything he's proven he's willing to do to save a friend... I can't help but feel the best way to honor him would be to live their lives by his example. I can't imagine this crew just fading into obscurity, even if they lost their captain.

But maybe that just has to do with the biggest mystery of all. Rayleigh basically comes right out and says that they were all changed forever by whatever they experienced at the end of their journey, whatever the One Piece is... And that they all made a choice when confronted with that knowledge. And maybe the Straw Hats will make a different choice once they find it.

And I sure wish I could say I would have had Robin and Luffy's resolve, to decide I wanted to find it myself, no matter how long that might take... But I probably would have cracked and demanded answers. Whenever it all does get revealed... I feel like the fandom's gonna explode.

[indigo-sodapop]

Substack Spotlight!

This will be a continuously growing post (or series of posts because I wager this will get verrryyyy long soon) featuring pieces of writing from Substack that I've really enjoyed, and want to share with you! To read them, you don't need a Substack account, and you can subscribe to the writers with only your email address, if you'd like! Happy Reading!

The Enchanting History of Creepy Little Girl-Creatures by Ball-Jointed Diary

"This innocent thing has teeth; large, haunting eyes, a disturbing aspect that can’t quite be pinned down. Many BJD artists follow in the footsteps of Hans Bellmer, creating dolls with ghoulish and fragmented features in the surrealist vein. Often, the suffering of girlhood is made apparent and oddly pretty in the subtle details of these dolls."

Lessons on Loneliness by Petrichoral

"he only wears black, so i’ll come dressed as the night. i’ll cloak myself in snobbism, lingerie, and obscure opinions. he’ll wear a cloak of his own, of course, but i’ll see right through it. but still i’ll play along. i feel like etching myself into someone’s story today. carve myself out of somebody else."

mellon collie and the infiinte sadness by Sudana Krasniqi

"I have never felt more alive than when I am in the throes of the kind of day that makes me wish I was dead."

12 Years Hostage: The Hidden Truth of Solitary Confinement in Texas by Xandan Gulley via Black Lipstick

"Perhaps death is a token of life to those who are hostages. I sometimes feel as though solitary confinement was made for that very purpose-- to make us look forward to dying. But against all odds, I am sane."

Becoming Bewildering by Faye Boam

"I'm a firm believer that we are all doing the best we can with what we have. Which has far more to do with the actual forces our body can handle than the ideas of 'willpower' and 'manifestation' that are thrown around like they mean something concrete."

Domesticated by Jimmy Gardener

"There he is, sprawled like an idiot on the floor. The selfish prick hadn't even bothered to finish removing the lid from my nightly can of shit paste. He had it in his hands when I saw him seize, jerking upright as if suddenly harpooned in the asshole."

Life be like by James Worth

"But I really do have to double down and insist this isn't about New York, New York anyway. She's a backdrop for a feeling I've been festering over for a year now that really just ahppened to come to fruition on her grossly hallowed streets. And even then, the fruiting body of this epiphany paid little if any attention to the setting."

i'm afraid i've been lying to you by c.s. mee

"i've been quietly collecting pieces of fabric, leather and corduroy it seems, to place atop my skin and say they are my face."

i miss running fast by tanit

"there's some research around loneliness, and how people who takr hotter showers are intrinsically lonely because the feeling of hot water on your skin is like an intimate touch. my showers are always either scalding or freezing. i don't think i need a scientific paper to tell me i'm lonely. i'm a capricorn moon for fuck's sake, i was born lonely, i live to shit myself on how lonely i am, fearing that i will die alone."

i take offense to not being loved as hard as a song by heaven

"I TAKE OFFENSE TO NOT BEING LOVED AS HARD A SONG

ONE THAT YOU'D PLAY MORE THAN THREE TIMES A DAY"

freezing fingertips/ warm places by birdbrain

"you thread your fingertips into the space between my ribs

your inhale hinging on my exhale"

how to stop sighing in public by Griffin Blue Emerson

"Even if our lives are uneventful, without action, at least there's the small actions we make to make ourselves ramen, to make ourselves breakfast, to make ourselves sleep, to make ourselves shower, to make ourselves get groceries, to make ourselves take stock of our own self and wants, and to try to make ourselves know what it is that we really want."

[thegirlwhoblooms]

19.4.23 preserve(d) - The End of An Era

The End of An Era

It’s the end of an era now. It’s a sunny day, which is kind fitting. Right now, I’m studying vectors for my maths exam in two weeks. I’m listening to the ‘Your Name’ soundtrack whilst studying, or at least trying to. By Friday you’ll have completed it. What does it feel like? I want to know. Surprisingly, I’m not as jealous as I thought I would be. I still feel a sting of envy but it doesn’t linger for long. I feel a strange sense of fulfilment. It’s like, although things didn't turn out the way I’d hoped they would, I still think of myself as one of the ‘lucky ones.’

The people I surround myself with are amazing; they’re kind and warm-hearted and I wouldn’t trade the world for them. To quote Fruits Basket: ‘They’re the kind of people who deserve the moon but would never ask for it.’

Things can’t go back; they can’t change, no matter how much I want them to, but these days I start thinking I wouldn’t change a thing, which is kind of funny. It doesn’t always feel like this but while it still does, I’ll relish in that.

Today is Wednesday the 19th of April 2023. I wrote the paragraph(s) above yesterday. I found out last week from Kelsie that Ed—the boy I was in love with since I was eleven—is now doing drugs and smoking. He dyed his hair from a pretty blonde to a mud-coloured brown. I hate it. He’s changed so much from that nerdy boy who talked about playing card games to some weird chad. I miss the person I fell in love with. Besides, the brunette look he’s going for is not for him. I used to write his name with chalk on my friend's backyard. I used to love everything about him, every small, intricate detail. Now I don't know where the boy I fell in love with has gone.

When I left, I played Way To Break My Heart by Ed Sheeran in the car (because, of course), I swore I could never fall out of love with him. I hardly recognise him now. 

These days, I play the song ‘Breathe’ thinking that maybe I’ll become like the girl in the song.

I've watched those eyes light up with a smile

River in the not good times

Oh, you taught me all that I know

I've seen your soul grow just like a rose

Made it through all of those thorns

Girl into the woman I know

I want to grow from that shy, scared little girl into a mature woman who doesn’t carry fear wherever she goes. I want the people who love me to see me grow and be proud to stand beside me and call me a friend. 

I’ll face life head-on now, no matter what. Even though I have regrets and heavy burdens, even still to me, those aren’t good enough reasons to stop moving forward. Not now. Not ever. 

It took me a while to understand that time doesn’t stand still, it doesn’t for anyone. No matter how much it feels like it does, sometimes.

It’s scary, isn’t it? Not knowing what comes next. 

The uncertainty of it all, the countless options that make you narrow it down, that’s where most of the fear stems from, I think.

But the truth is…

‘I Like Me Better’ when I’m with you.

It made me happy, getting to know all of you. The moments we shared, I’ll treasure them, always. 

Maybe I’m taking things way out of proportion and the short time we spent together wasn’t as meaningful to you as it was to me and maybe I’m too sentimental for my own good but still, I can’t thank you enough for the kindness you showed me. 

Conclusion of today’s inner monologue: Lauv’s music is superior. 

Dedicated to Jaimee, David, MJ (and Yakub, respectively) for teaching me what friendship is.

Point period blank.

[bokettochild]

Scars

This was prompted by seemingly nothing but it's the first productive thing my brain has done it a while so here

“What’s the craziest scar you have?” Wind asked randomly one night. 

The other heroes stopped what they were doing and looked to each other. Blue in all shades, and one set of hazel, flashed in the firelight as a few smiles formed and others smirked. 

Four motioned to their left ear. “A cat bit off the tip of my ear when I was a kid.” 

Warriors spun in his seat to look at the smithy at his side, “Is that why you hate cats?” 

“Yep.” 

Well that made sense. It also explained Four’s issue with people talking about claws. Wind had noticed that Four tended to shiver when those were brought up and he’d always sort of wondered. 

Time holds up his hand, on the outer side of it a small pink scar can be seen, one which most of them tended to gloss over but Wind had always assumed was because the man nicked himself with his sword once or something. “My mom bit me when I was a kid.” 

Faces fall and the heroes stare in shock and horror until Hyrule kicks their leader. “Your mother was a fairy, Time! How else was she to discipline you?” 

The man smiles but pulls his hand back, eye sparkling at their still frozen faces. 

Twilight hums softly. “I had my arm chopped off once.” 

All eyes instantly turn the rancher’s way. He still has his arm. Both of them. “When did that happen and how do you still have it?” 

A shrug. “A goat put it back. Scars still there though. It’s weird, sometimes I get phantom pains ‘spite still havin’ my arm. My brain just can’t process that it’s s’posed to be there or somethin’.” 

Warriors nods slowly. “Mood. I almost lost my leg during the war and I still have to remind myself it’s there sometimes.” 

Well, this is going downhill fast! He wanted to prompt some stories! Not a trauma fest!  

Wind shoots a look at Legend, the man usually has something to say at times like these, but the vet just stares back and shakes his head slowly. “Nothing interesting, sorry, sailor. Not the kind of stories you’re looking for.” 

Poop. Maybe Wild then? 

The champion chuckles, rolling up one sleeve to show a rather impressive scar on his good arm. “See this?” 

“How could we not?” The captain grimaces, looking more than a bit pained. 

Wild smirks. “Splinter.” 

Eyes widen and gazes trail back to the rather massive scar. 

“How big of a splinter?” Legend asks warily. 

The champion doesn’t answer, he just rolls his sleeve back down and gets back to doodling in one of his notebooks, looking entirely pleased with himself. 

“Champion, how big?” Warriors presses. 

Wild still doesn’t answer, he doesn’t even react and though Wind is dying to know he could also kiss his brother on the cheek for helping to lighten the mood again and playing coy the way he is. 

The rest of them huff, exchanging glances (and grins in Time’s case) and start discussing quietly among themselves. He knows he hears Warriors trying to calculate how big the thing must have been and Hyrule correcting him softly about whatever mathematical formula or nonsense they’re trying to use. Sticks are grabbed from the woodpile and the dirt is etched over several times before the captain caves and darts for his own bag and notebook. 

The rest of them watch, both entertained and intrigued by the answer, and it’s quiet in camp for a moment before Legend breaks it with a drawl. “Surprised the old man didn’t say he got scarred with a sliver of the moon or something.” 

The leader’s brows twitch just the slightest bit. “And who says I didn’t? Wind asked for craziest scars, vet.” 

Violet eyes twinkle slightly as Legend leans forwards, leveling their leader with a stare that’s met with equal force from the other side of the camp. The fire flickers between them, casting odd shadows and making them look quite strange indeed. “And being bitten by yer ma is the craziest you can get, Old Man?” 

“I don’t hear you beating that, vet.” Time’s lips quirk upwards for all of a second before his face is blank, only his good eye flickering enough to show a slight smile. 

Legend scoffs, but leans back into his own space as a few of the others giggle, Sky especially. The Chosen Hero nudges his friend gently, looking down at the vet with a teasing look. “What, you’re not going to tell them about the goat thing?” 

He’s never seen Legend blush, and he almost thinks the other will, but Legend only shakes his head, smiling slightly as Twilight looks to him in confusion. “Goat thing?” 

“Not explaining, rancher.” 

Sky rolls his eyes with a scoff. “Fine then.” Bright eyes turn Wind’s way with a smile he loves and which holds more warmth than their fire. “Zelda accidentally stabbed me with a knife when we were kids.” 

Across the fire, Warriors chokes and both he and Hyrule start up to stare at the Chosen Hero. 

Sky continues, entirely clueless, or else fully aware and pretending to be clueless. “We were pretending to be sword fighting and had stollen some knives from the school kitchens. I managed to trip her, but she ended up careening forwards and stabbing me in the leg.” He chuckles. “It hurt bad, and we were grounded for weeks, but it’s only a little scar and I honestly can’t feel it most days.” 

Four nods slowly, sagely. “I fractured my own ankle once trying to convince someone of something. It didn’t scar, but it sure hurt a lot.” 

To his surprise, while most of the others look vaguely concerned, he knows he sees Time crack a smile and Legend sniggers a bit into his hand.  

Hyrule nods though. “I once broke my leg in a keyhole. The bone cut right through and the scar is really nasty.” 

That gives them all pause save Legend who jumps up with a look of horror. “Excuse me you what?”