#a lot of people thought I was Lara Croft

[therealmylesmorales]

SFW Alphabet|| Lara Croft

Kiss kiss anon, here’s what you requested 🫶🏾

No warnings, I don’t think. Just low key Dorky!Lara. Might make that my brand.

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

On a scale from 1-10, Lara’s a solid 9.5; the only reason why she’s not a 10 is because she’s away a lot. I’ve decided that physical touch is one of her love languages as well, love touching/being touched by you. Especially kissing. She would even playfully pout at you if you deny her of your touch.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

Lara met you through Sam. You were a friend of Sam, meeting through university and got back in contact when you moved back to England. At first, you thought Lara didn’t like you you just made her super nervous. Eventually, Lara became a good friend to you as well, especially when Sam cut contact with Lara. The friendship…then the relationship grew from there.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Cuddling is Lara’s favorite activity with you. She loves laying on top of you, completely covering your body like a blanket as you play with her hair. It’s often that Lara would nap while you did that. As for the big spoon/little spoon, Lara’s mostly the big spoon, loving the feeling of your body pressed against her.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

Lara grew up with maids and chefs but spent enough time annoying around them where she picked up some tips. However, she enjoys your cooking more, claiming that your cooking is much better. She’s British y’all, give her a break.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

For kicks and gigs, let’s just say that Lara would want to break up with you. Lara’s mature, she would give you reasons on why she feels a certain way and for how long. She would want only space at first, just to see if her feelings would mellow out during that time period.

But if things don’t change, she would let you know that it’s not your fault; she’s the one that feels that way. And she would not want to stay in contact afterwards, knowing neither would heal if that’s the case.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

As soon as that “girlfriend” title was placed, Lara would be all about you. And after a year of being together, she could see you being in her life forever. But she probably wouldn’t propose then and there, just give her time to plan it first. Unless you somehow throw off her plans by proposing first, she would just give you the ring after you had your moment.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

You’re like a flower to Lara. Beautiful and fragile, and she treats you as such. The way she cares for you is unlike anything you’ve imagined. She would never let you take on more than needed, more than willing to take on the load if you’re feeling too stressed over work.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

For the plot, just pretend that you’re short. Lara’s like 5’8”, just vibe.

Lara loves giving you hugs; resting her chin on top of your head, smelling your perfume, it brings her peace. Her hugs are warm, feeling her strong arms around you would make you feel safe. She gives you hugs around the same amount as her kisses..

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

Lara almost said that shit on the first date. But she somehow held herself back, not wanting to scare you off. It surprised her that you were the first one to say it, after six months of dating. And ever since, Lara will always say it to you at least twice a day.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

We saw a jealous Lara. She would try to let you handle it. She trusts you with everything in her…just not other people. So, when she sees them being pushy and not respecting you, Lara would have to step in.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

Lara’s kisses are soft, tender, almost as if she’s afraid you’d break if she’s too rough. And she lingers, like she wants you to remember how she feels even when she’s not there. Her favorite place to kiss you are your lips, obviously. Another common place to kiss you is your knuckles, she’s just in love with you like that.

As for her, Lara would never turn down a kiss from you, no matter where you decide to place it. However, the bridge/tip of her nose makes her giggle. I’d call that her second favorite type kiss.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

Lara likes children but not enough to the point to want one of her own. She’s comfortable with just the two of you, maybe an animal or two as well. However, maybe more down the line, you would gain her attention if you mentioned having a child with her.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Those mornings where you both have nothing to do are Lara’s favorites. She’ll get to bask in the morning sun and in the attention you give her. Lara would try to keep you in bed for as long as she could until you pulled her out to get the day started.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Nights with Lara are tranquil. If you were apart for most of the day, she would lay with you, just to hear you talk; good, bad it wouldn’t matter to her, you would still have her full attention. Alternatively, if you spent the day together, there would be an hour where Lara would catch up with her own work or even read. It was her winding down time.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

Lara would be shy during the first few meet up’s, so she’s unnaturally quiet. But over time, she would quickly warm up and reveal a few things about her. Just about anything would be on the table for her to talk about.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

Lara is a very patient person, especially when it comes to you. It’s even rare for her to raise her voice around you. However, for those times that she’s running thin, she wouldn’t hesitate to ask you for a bit of space just to calm herself down.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

One thing we can’t do is deny how smart Lara is. She would remember something you mentioned once. One your first date. YEARS ago. Lara would have to remind you about a few things you said.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

Lara’s favorite memory is when you agreed to be her girlfriend. It was your third date, when Lara finally understood that she didn’t need to be extravagant in order to impress you. She showed up at your apartment with a small gift and a bouquet, the question on the tip of her tongue but she hesitated; she wasn’t sure if her feelings were one sided and you only saw her as a good friend. Lara you fuck ass lesbian.

But that hesitation immediately washed away when you kissed her mid movie after sensing her nervousness.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

Like I said in one of my first headcannons, Lara would teach you how to use a gun, and it would not be up for debate. Trinity might be gone but that doesn’t mean she’s free of enemies and she would be damned if they got to you. She would tell you about the weapons hidden around the manor just in case as well.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

Lara puts effort with everything in her. She would always manage to bring you a small trinket from another country, to the point where you have an entire bookshelf filled with them. For your very first date, she rented out a museum and tried to impress you with her knowledge on a few topics. She nerded out a few times but she succeeded. And not to mention the time she took you to Hawai’i for your one year.

Moral of the story, Lara would go above and beyond for you.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

Lara gets in her head a lot and forgets to do a lot of human necessities. When she’s locked up in her office, Lara would get obsessed over her next clue, the code she would have to crack and would accidentally ignore you. She would give you short responses or even politely decline your offers for food. Lara would feel bad about later, when she noticed you stopped coming in and would timidly apologize later that night.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

Honestly…I don’t see Lara being that vain. Every other week, baby girl is covered in dirt, blood, mud and new scars. Yeah, of course she does her best but she dosen’t see the point in most days especially if she has to leave soon.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Lara wasn’t complete until she met you. She was going through the motions, life was a routine. Then you got added. You made her life more exciting, she couldn’t wait to be around you. You added something Lara didn’t know she was missing.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

No Edward Cullen type shit, but Lara loves to watch you sleep. When she wakes up before your alarm goes off, she likes to soak in those few extra minutes of your peaceful face. She would try to coax you awake with soft kisses to make your morning.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

Lara doesn’t like people that are unnecessarily mean. Therefore, if your way of flirting with people is by being mean, you have no chance. Sorry, mean fems. You have a better chance with Claire than Lara.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

One thing for sure is that Lara is a heavy sleeper. When she’s out in the wild, she’s alert, waking up at every little noise so she gets little to no sleep. But at home, when she’s safe and with you? Not only will Lara sleep like a log, but be prepared to hear grown man snores coming from her after being away.

Another thing that Lara would do is keep you captive on the bed. Because, until she wakes up, Lara would not move off of you. Even if you try to move her arm from around you, she would whine and move closer to you. Luckily, Lara is an early riser.

[thelaithlyworm]

Daomu Biji Watcher’s Guide, May 2024

A few new entries have been popping up lately, and I’m always hopeful new fans will stumble into the pits and never leave so I thought I’d paste up a rough map.

(Obviously the best watching order, like the best reading order of Discworld or the Aubrey-Maturin books, is ‘whatever first comes to your hand’ but for the people who don’t like that…)

tl;dr:

Daomu Biji is a series about tomb raiding. Think Indiana Jones or Lara Croft but much, much longer. The protagonist Wu Xie is deeply in love with BFF1 Zhang Qiling, a hundred-year-old cryptid, and BFF2 Wang Pangzi, who was stolen in a raid from another book series. It’s comic, tragic, horrific, zany, prone to musings on life, love, desire, attachment, and has many, many piss jokes. (‘Journey to the West but modern’ is maybe the other comparison I’d make.)

Notes:

– This guide is not talking about “quality”. All of the adaptations have their own strengths and weaknesses and tone can vary a great deal, which is to say, if one of them doesn’t suit you it’s likely something else will.

– Wacky endings, and plot threads that disappear unfinished and get picked up a long time later, are as inherent to the franchise as the piss jokes.

– It’s common for the dramas to introduce characters and subplots a lot earlier than the books do. Sometimes we’ll see a character introduced ‘for the first time’ on multiple occasions and strangely familiar scenes. I’ll try to point out the biggest continuity clashes as I go.

The Soft Entry:

There are a few movies that are entertaining as standalones but will introduce various characters and background. I would recommend:

Escape from the Monstrous Snake + Mystery/Grave of the Abyss – two monster movies featuring Hei Xiazi, a supporting character. He’s a pragmatical mercenary who’s going blind in kind of a weird way, and goofy as hell when he isn’t tiptoeing over a vast abyss of existential dread. So many fun action scenes.

Time Raiders (2015) – so there are some textual clues that late in his career Wu Xie wrote this story as a memory-jogger for an amnesiac friend. The plot is a freewheeling wild ride which doesn’t directly match any book plot but introduces some major characters and how they relate to each other. It’s colourful and fast-moving. Enjoy, enjoy.

Conjuring Curse and Misty Creed are… theoretically set late in the series even if the actors look about twelve. Both work as stand-alone adventures, though Misty Creed is maybe a little deep in the lore. Again, colourful and fast-moving.

The Chronological Order

You could honestly start with most of these – they tend to come with a ‘what has gone before’ at the start or a newbie character that things get explained to. The only one I wouldn’t start with is Heavenly Palace in the Clouds, which is lovely but also the second half of a set and things won’t make sense if you haven’t seen Lost Tomb 2 first.

Lost Tomb 1 – a highly digestible 10-12 episode version of the Seven Star Lu Palace arc, ie. Baby’s First Adventure. Introduces A-Ning, Xie Yuchen, and Huo Xiuxiu early and a couple of og characters for Wu Xie to talk to instead of monologuing to himself. The restaurant scene at the end was raided from a later arc and you’ll see it again in Ultimate Note. A book character, Da Kui, was cut which is a small problem because how he died is a minor plot point discussed in Lost Tomb 2. 

Lost Tomb 2 – covers Raging Sea, Hidden Sands (underwater tomb) and Qinling God-Tree (weird bronze tree in the mountains) plus a whole lotta side stories and original content exploring the world and foreshadowing later plots. Mooostly in continuity with Lost Tomb 1 (see Da Kui above) and made as a set with Heavenly Palace in the Clouds – they share resources and a lot of actors, and some threads begun here are finished in Heavenly Palace.

Heavenly Palace in the Clouds – covers the Mt Changbai arc, a journey up a mountain to find a very old, very grand tomb. This was made so close to Lost Tomb 2 that LT2 borrows shots from Heavenly Palace and not the other way around, which is fascinating because it pointedly contradicts the last five episodes of LT2. It also brings forward some plotlines originally from the Tamutuo and Zhang Family Old Pavilion arcs (San-shu’s past in the underwater tomb, and the Huo Family videotapes) dragging some characters on-screen and forcing them to talk about their feelings, which they would clearly rather die than do. Given those plot-tweaks and the early, deliberate continuity clash, I’m tempted to call this a Canon Parallel Universe. Got some interestingly chewy character dynamics and luverly, luverly set design.

Mystic Nine – This is a prequel about Zhang Qishan – Fo-ye – and his peers, but later dramas expect us to know who Fo-ye was so I’m sticking it here. Kinda… picaresque? Lots of action scenes and Republican-era flavour and various factions jostling for power – kinda feels like an old-school wuxia story, only set in the 1930s with all that glorious Republican-era styling. Has some unfortunate cut scenes – the details of how Fo-ye recovered at his family’s house don’t make a lot of sense in the aired version, and there are a couple of missing fights in the penultimate episode. Shrug. Still a lot of fun. Comes with four side movies about supporting characters.

Ultimate Note – Covers the Tamutuo arc (a trip through the jungle) and two-thirds of the Zhang Family Old Pavilion arc (investigating Zhang Qiling’s past is like kicking a hornet’s nest). Very, very flirty and has some zippy-zip action choreography. Politely ignores Lost Tomb 1–Heavenly Palace continuity (Xie Yuchen is, once more, introduced for the first time, now with a romantically coded friendship arc) and brings in a lot of cameos from Mystic Nine and Sand Sea, which it was filmed after. Kinda tiptoes around parts of the book plot, which I suspect would be hard for anyone to film, re: Fo-ye’s actions in the 1960s. Fair warning, this ends on a cliffhanger. This is also where the Xinyue Restaurant scene appears again – two cakes!

Tibetan Sea Flower – If Tibetan Sea Flower ever airs, it will go here.

Sand Sea – Based on the Sand Sea novel. After Tibetan Sea Flower, Wu Xie goes into a bit of a decline and makes that the world’s problem. We the audience, plus Li Cu and Liang Wan, EDIT: a lovely doctor, are pretty much dropped in media res into a number of ancient conspiracies and complicated plots coming to a head in the manner of a boil. It’s weird; it’s messy; it’s mad fun. Like Mystic Nine, has a lot of factions jostling for power and colourful jianghu characters. We will, once more, see the Xinyue Restaurant scene. Also has some side movies.

Time Raiders – The textual hints that suggest Wu Xie wrote this, suggest he wrote it around Sand Sea-era, when his life was a bit complicated. I’m putting it after Sand Sea because I believe it caps a conversation that, ah, doesn’t quite make it into the drama. But notionally this is where it should go. Ah…. at one point, someone tells a story about an ancient ruler, King Mu of Zhou, who sought immortality from the Queen of the West in Tamutuo. The longer book conversation suggests that a) King Mu of Zhou engineered a “trap” for someone like Wu Xie to fall into in the future, and b) that Iron Mask Scholar, a villain from Lost Tomb 1, was an alias that King Mu of Zhou used in the Warring States Era. Which makes some of Iron Mask Scholar’s appearances in Time Raiders… interesting.

Reunion: Sound of Providence – sometimes known as Reboot. Having peaked in badassery in Sand Sea, Wu Xie has to consider what his life is going to be now, and also, he would like to track down a missing family member. So this was tweaked to make it more accessible to new viewers (so some parts of the back-story are not mentioned or conflated for simplicity) and that mostly works but I did find watching this first and then picking up the earlier dramas a bit of a mindscrew. Zhu Yilong is, however, a powerful draw and the rest of the cast sparkles. Probably best to think of Season 1 as two short seasons jammed together, which is to say, once the Warehouse 11 arc starts there are a number of characters who won’t reappear until Season 2. It’s a fun arc even so. Season 2 ends with a badass action scene and then a big party, which I think is a great way to end a story.

Escape from the Monstrous Snake, Mystery/Grave of the Abyss, Conjuring Curse, Misty Creed – these are all theoretically set around or after Reboot-era, though they can certainly be watched as stand-alones.

[yamishika]

have any other ethnicity headcanons for fairy tail characters?

Fairy Tail Characters Ethnicity HCs

I don’t have as much extensive proof as I do for my Erik headcanons post but I will explain my thoughts for why I think certain ethnicities.

Natsu Dragneel : Japanese + Greek? (Because of the clothing style in his past flashback with his biological family)

Erza Scarlet : British + ? - I say British because she reminds me of Lara Croft who in her older days had reddish hair, also English history is big on knights, which Erza is. The other half I can’t tell as I don’t actually know what to think of her father Rung as. He seems like a POC though. (Maybe Mexican?)

Lucy Heartfilia : British / American - Because Lucy’s heritage as a noble it reminds me more of English nobility, but then her characteristics remind me more of american for some reason (it doesn’t help that Lucy looks a lot like Ashley Graham from the original RE4 and she’s American so I am kind of biased there)

Gray Fullbuster : Canada or Serbia (I think that’s mainly because I am making the link of cold countries though). Also if with Serbian I can see Ultear and him coming from similar places)

Gajeel Redfox : Native American (His hair and features remind me of Native Americans and I don’t know he kind of reminds me and looks like of Ratohnhake:ton / Connor from AC3) Juvia Lockser : Spanish + Russian (Spanish as the name Juvia is Spanish origin and Russian since the ushanka she wears and her clothing style in general)

Jellal Fernandes : Mixed ethnic - Mixed Arab (mainly Levantine Arab) + Brazilian, but then in my HCs he’s also part Desi too since the name Jellal is most prominent in India (And I want Erik to have a desi bro in CS). And the Arab/South asian idea came from him wearing Kohl/Surma in S1 in the anime. 

Ultear Milkovich : Serbian with mixed Central Asian or Kazakh (Again cold countries but since Ultear looks Eurasian but with dark features these countries came to mind. Serbia because apparently the name Milkovich is Serbian origin)

Macbeth/Midnight :  English w/Scottish + Irish + Japanese - English/Scottish/Irish is a given since his name ‘Macbeth’ but since his aesthetic is alike to Visual Kei, I see Japanese influence. But I don’t know, I just can see Macbeth with a british accent, maybe that’s just me.

Sorano Aguria : French and Korean/Japanese (I don’t know why I have the French, it just fits me when discussing with my friend @acutemushroom. Korean/Japanese because despite having a Japanese name (her and Yukino) due to her features she gave me kind of Korean vibes for some reason)

Sawyer : English (I can’t explain other than the name. But I thought of Romanian too for some reason, so English + Romanian?)

Richard Buchanan : South African + Scottish? (My only thought for this was because Buchanan I knew it as a last name big in South Africa, and Scottish is probably because of the red hair and ruddy complexion that I know scottish people can have)

Meredy : Irish (I don’t know why, it was hard to think of anything for her)

Kinana : Desi (Since the name Kinana is an urdu name apparently - So Pakistani) 

Cana Alberona : Irish + Italian (Guildarts gave me tanned Irish vibes for some reason and Alberona is I believe an Italian name)

Minerva Orland : Chinese + Latina (She wears a Cheongsam and her hair reminds me of Chinese culture but then I see Latina too) BUT, maybe she has Egyptian too and Italian since Minerva (Italian/Latin) but the blue eyeliner/eyeshadow she always has is alike to Malachite powder that was used by ancient egyptians 

Laxus Dreyar : Ukrainian + Russian (He gives me eastern europe vibes and also his features) but also since he's Makarov’s grandson he’d have Russian in him 

Makarov Dreyar : Russian - (I think his full name is of Russian origin but I can't be sure.) These are the HCs I have off the top of my head, hope this answers your question!

[mysadcorner]

Hello! I have a request on a head cannon on the whole bat family discovering that their adopted sister is basically out in the world discovering tombs raiding them for sport, and getting dangerous artifacts to store them safely and protect them in the manor. Basically Lara Croft and I’m basically basing it on the unified timeline for the tomb raider games which contain the original timeline, Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld or LAU for short timeline, and the survivor timeline. You can pick the personalities for Lara from each of the three timelines to creat your own unified Lara Croft. Sorry if this doesn’t make sense I have been think of this a lot and was searching for any head cannons that I had in my head. But I would love if you did my request, thanks! Oh btw I love your work! ❤️

BatFam x TombRaider!Reader Headcanons

- Credit to the gifs owner - Please be specific about which character you want in headcanons -

Masterlist Navigation

I haven’t written for ant of the female batfam characters before, so I decided to leave them out. Sorry in advance!

Bruce Wayne

• Bruce’s first reaction to you having an interest in tomb raiding and searching for artefacts would be one of interest. He doesn’t have a lot of time to do what you do since he’s always so busy with his business and helping people, so he’s inclined to know more about what you do despite him generally being well travelled himself but in a different way.

• He would be incredibly supportive of you and wouldn’t be able to tell you to stop as he also has questionable ways of spending your time. If he ever did have some spare time he would like to go with you on one of your trips, but he would have to schedule a bit of time to do this in advance as he doesn’t like to be away from Gotham for too long.

• Bruce loves your company, so he doesn’t really like to be away from you for long periods of time, especially as he’s always concerned about something bad happening to the people he cares about after all he’s been through. However, since you do this regularly and know how to handle yourself he will be reassured that you’ll come home to him fine like you always do.

• Bruce has plenty of room at the manor for any of the artefacts you find and has plenty of protection to look after them safely; he’ll even have the resources to find out more information or history surrounding the pieces you find. Even if you wanted to put any of these artefacts on display for a private crowd he’ll be able to get an exhibition arranged for you instantly.

• Because you’re constantly dealing with valuable relics and artefacts there is a high chance that someone else will be looking for it as well, or will at least have an eye on it once they find out that it had been found. Bruce will promptly make sure you and the artefact are safe and will deal

Jason Todd

• Jason has always had a bit of an interest for history so when he finds out that you deal with historical artefacts he is genuinely interested in hearing you talk about what you do. He’s always going to listen to you and will be one of the few people you know who knows the right questions to ask which causes you to fall into a deep hole of knowledge surrounding the things you’ve found.

• He’s very supportive of you and genuinely likes the thought of you travelling rather than being stuck in Gotham with him. He likes hearing about the things you’ve found while you’re on one of your trips and will be awake no matter what time you call.

• Jason misses the emotional and physical support you offer him, so if you are away quite often then he will struggle with this quite a bit. However, if the two of you manage to stick through this then he will be much more appreciative of your time together when you are home.

• Jason may not live in the most expensive place if he’s living away from Bruce, but he does have more than enough connections to find you somewhere to keep all of your finds safe. And you already know that he has plenty of men on hand to guard everything you bring back with you that are of value.

• If there is anyone that tries to get in your way or tries to steal your artefacts then Jason will approach them quite brutally. He can’t stand the thought of anyone negatively affecting you or hurting you, so he’s going to put them in their place before anything bad actually happens.

Dick Grayson

• Dick is always interested in the things you get up to, and seeing that you have a passion for something makes him happy. He may want to know more about why you’re so invested in the things you do, but overall he’ll be happy to hear about it.

• Dick is one of the most supportive people you could ever meet, and he’d stick through pretty much anything you decide to do. He may want to give you self defence lessons of you’re aren’t already taught as he will worry about you being away and in possible dangerous situations.

• Dick will call you multiple times a day if he can when your away on your trips, and he knows he can be a bit overbearing at times but he just can’t stand being away from you for long periods of time. Luckily the two of you enjoy talking to each other so much that you never get tired of hearing his voice no matter what you’re doing, and you’re able to express your excitement to him every time you find something.

• Dick will be pretty curious about the things you bring home and will want to touch as many things as he can if you let him, and he’s quick enough to make sure he doesn’t drop anything you consider as important. He’d hope that you would show your finds off due to how proud of you he is, but if you aren’t willing to then he’s fine to admire them in private with you.

• Dick will always be incredibly protective of you, so he’ll be keeping an eye out for anyone possibly out to get you or get a hold of the relics you’ve recovered. He may keep this quiet at first though, as he doesn’t want you to get worried about any potential danger coming your way.

Tim Drake

• Tim would be very visibly excited when he finds out about your interests in tomb raiding and finding lost or forgotten artefacts due to having his own interest in expanding his knowledge on every subject he can possibly get a hold of. He may not know much about what you do, but he can certainly find a way to help you fairly quickly.

• Supportive - Tim is very supportive and will keep an eye out for any new information he can get his hands on which may help you while looking for artefacts. He’s also good at moral support and will listen ti any concerns you have about what you’re heading out to do or if something bad happened when you last retrieved a relic.

• Being away from you would be a bit stressful for him if he’s used to your company and is suddenly left without you when you’re away on a trip. He can’t wait to see you again, and will try to keep in touch to see how you’re doing as much as he can.

• Tim always asks you as much as you can about the items you bring back with you and is happy to hear you explain them and their historical value in depth. He also looks into anything which may be related to it and will help you complete a collection if you ask him to in his free time.

• If anyone tries to get in your way or tries to get a hold of the things you have found then he’ll get everyone he can to keep an eye out for you, and will make sure no one gets their hands on you. He’ll always be worried about you, but he’ll also be happy that you’re doing what also makes you happy.

Damian Wayne

• Damian has been around his fare share of things which hold ancient value or historical context, so he may have heard something about what you’re looking for. If not, he’ll want to have an in depth and deep conversation about it with you - he especially loves conversations which make him think about things in a deeper way and has him mentally stimulated.

• Damian isn’t exactly loud and expressive about how he’s proud of everything you do, but he definitely is. If anything he’s much more defensive of you; he’s always prepared to stop anyone who has anything bad to say about you or is out to stop what you’re doing, and if you need something specific to keep you going then he’ll be more than happy to provide it.

• You calm Damian’s angst and anger a lot so when you aren’t around he does seem to be more cranky and less patient to others. He does struggle with this, but he’s also very strong willed so he is more than capable to wait for you to come back every time.

• Damian is very gentle with the artefacts you bring home, so you don’t have to worry about him breaking anything. He’s also very invested in the stories you have about your travels, much more than he is about the value of anything you’ve retrieved.

• Damian will instantly be aggressive to anyone who tries to get near you with bad intent, and will happily come with you on your travels if he thought you may be in any danger. They would never see Damian coming, and he would make sure everyone saw what he did as an example to stay away from you.

[bigirlsdontc5y]

My thoughts on Marie, Jordan, & Halloween

If they don't do a couples costume...

Jordan is definitely the type to pretend they’re chill about Halloween when they’re absolutely not. If someone asks about their costume beforehand, they’re like, “I’m not going.”

Spoiler Alert: They go.

When (not if) they go out, their costume is most likely a character from an iconic video game or action movie. I can see them as Lara Croft, which is a great choice, because the costume is super slutty in both forms. Or they show up in a yellow tracksuit with black stripes on the sides, and when people inevitably say, "Oh, you're the bride?"

They’re like, "No, I'm Bruce Lee in Game of Death 🤨"

They chose their costume, specifically, to throw people off. It's a fun little game they play. But Marie guesses correctly on the first try, and Jordan is a little annoyed for the rest of the night.

Anyway, Jordan wins the costume contest with a costume they started working on at 9 pm the night before.

Marie, on the other hand, is 100% a last minute costume person. The only reason she’s dressed up is because Emma asked her to. And by dressed up, I mean she bought a cat ear headband from Walgreens for 5 dollars on her way to the event. Emma is going as a sexy mouse or Alice (of Alice in Wonderland), so they technically match. Just one person put effort into their costume, and the other person still has the tags on theirs.

If they do a couples costume...

I had a lot of different ideas when I was theorizing this. At first, I wanted Marie as Claudia from IWTV(2022). I feel like Marie would find a lot of comfort in her character. Claudia, like Marie, did not get to experience girlhood in the same way as her peers. Choices they could not make for themselves took it from them. Marie was given compound v as a baby, and they turned Claudia while she was unconcious. Both instances made them into something their family members were disturbed/afraid of. (This is me advocating that someone get to work on a Claudia & Marie edit.) But I eventually decided I wanted to do a couple's costume, and Claudia does not work with that.

Because I was still very attracted to the idea of Marie as a vampire, I stuck with it. I wanted to do something with classical monsters because the tropes they come with have so much fascinating symbolism.

Vampire novels, to me, are about hidden desires. Vampires are creatures that take what they want when they want it. Usually, it's an analogy for general hedonism, queerness, sex, gender ambiguity, etc, etc. The main character of a vampire novel is often disturbed by their desires, needs, and inability to control when they engage with those needs.

Jordan and Marie feel a certain amount of insecurity and discomfort around their powers. There was a time when Jordan didn't shift unless necessary, and Marie believes her powers make her a danger to society. Their discomfort harms them more than helps them because their powers are a part of their identity. Those characteristics make them conceptually aligned with the vampire.

Another choice, in line with the theme of identity and uncontrollable compulsions, was Maren and Lee from Bones and All.  But I felt like Lee wasn’t a character that Jordan would be interested in embodying.

Eventually, I settled on Marie being a vampire and Jordan being a werewolf. Werewolves share a lot of themes with vampires, but there’s one key difference. Werewolves explore ideas around transformation. Sometimes, their transformation is permanent, but usually, the werewolf is in constant movement between being a werewolf and being human.

Werewolves are about a fear of the true self. It’s the idea that being free and exploring things outside the mainstream will hurt other people. Being different from the masses makes you a danger to society. This story is preached to a werewolf so often that they believe it themselves. They take desperate measures not to shift. Even though said measures harm them.  A werewolf is depicted as being in constant emotional turmoil because they’re not “strong enough” to prioritize the needs of their community over themselves.

The werewolf's experience mirrors Jordan's experience. Their parents, ex-partners, and Vought tell them their identity is too confusing. That their identity is hurting their relationships. And that their identity is hurting their career. They tell Jordan that if they just stayed a boy, their life would be better. But Jordan knows staying a boy would be a disservice to themselves and their happiness.

Jordan putting on the costume of a werewolf is their form of reclamation. They take it on as a symbol of what they used to be (afraid of themselves) and contort it to their current feelings of who they are. Jordan’s Werewolf is about being yourself, being free, and making your own decisions.

The couple's costume Is 100% Jordan's brainchild, and Marie just agreed to go along with it. They go as a nerdy vampire and a werewolf jock. Their costumes are a fun twist on 1950s youth culture. While they’re visually mainstream, taking on the role of a monster separates them from it. The 1950s was a time when the policing of gender and sexuality was at an all-time high. Playing these characters for Halloween is a fun, transgressive experiment.

With that, I’ll walk you through each mood board and explain some of my aesthetic choices.

Marie’s preppy vampire has claw-like nails. Her teeth are sharp and uncomfortably white. She wears a neutral-colored button-up with a knit vest pulled over it. On her feet are a pair of unstylish black oxfords and fuzzy red socks. To keep her hair out of her face, she dons a ribbon or headband. A pleated skirt and leather belt tuck in her top. Blood paints her face.

The costume includes a brooch. Which is in reference to the 1950s youth culture practice  of “getting pinned”. It implies that Jordan’s Werewolf and Marie’s Vampire are dating. I chose a pin that incorporated pearl with Jordan’s Frankenstein pearl necklace in mind. So it’s less of a pin and more that she has a piece of Jordan attached to her knit vest.

In her hand, Marie holds her school books, which she ties together with a brown leather strap. The book strap calls back to an era before backpacks were popular. It solidifies the time and place of her costume.

Jordan's werewolf has recently gotten into a fight. The skin around their stark yellow eyes is a dark, discolored purple, and there's a gash across their nose. Blood drenches the front of their crisp white shirt. They styled their hair after jocks of the 50s. By that, I mean (too much) gel helps to form perfectly placed curls .

For their ears, they have prosthetics that make them appear larger than they are. The ears add an extra amount of scruff to the otherwise clean-shaven look.

On their neck, Jordan has two bite marks. The implication is that the marks are from their vampiric girlfriend, Marie. I decided to include this aspect in their costume because I get the vibe that Jordan is the sort of person who engages in PDA. They like people to know Marie is their girlfriend, and the faux bite marks are a new way for them to do it.

I heavily considered having Jordan wear their signature bomber instead of a letterman. But if I went that route, it wouldn't be of a costume. So, Jordan is sporting a blue letterman jacket to solidify their werewolf's role as a jock.

(Bonus - Cate is a siren, Sam is Chucky, and Andre is a loser.)

Happy Halloween,

bigirlsdontg5y

[theamityelf]

Much like Sakura, I feel like a lot of people would have it bad for Akane. It's honestly wild that she didn't have a Kazuichi or Tenko equivalent, because people would simp so hard for her. Like, she is what "Not to be a lesbian but oh my god" was made for. The parkour, the casual disposition, the gleefully clueless behavior? Get outta here. She goes through life with such an air of confidence, she completely lacks self-consciousness when she admits she doesn't understand something, she has a cute smile, come on. This girl has Undyne energy.

In fact, here's me lowballing a list of characters I think had a crush on Akane when they were attending Hope's Peak:

Chihiro. Absolutely. Akane is strong in so many ways that Chihiro would appreciate. I can just see Chihiro in the library working on some new project (maybe white hat hacking the school) and Akane parkours past a window and Chihiro just runs up to the window and stares out, admiring. Chihiro blushing when Akane walks past. Chihiro smiling shyly when Akane calls her by the misremembered name she never corrected. (Might be "Cheerio" or "Fuji Apples".) One day Chihiro and Chiaki are hanging out, and Chihiro mentions having a crush on Akane (which, to a lot of people, would be like playing a Tomb Raider game and saying, "Wait a minute, is Lara Croft kind of hot?"), and Chiaki just goes, "Of course. She's the Undyne to your Alphys." And it changes Chihiro's life.

Mahiru. She swears she usually likes people she considers "reliable", but Akane's free spirit nature just really speaks to her. (Not to give credence to Freud, but I do think the experience of her mother often being out of reach was a formative one, and Akane being someone who will be having a conversation with you one minute, fighting coach the next, and climbing the school the next, would maybe invoke a lot of those feelings for Mahiru.) And she starts to notice that Akane has some depth to her that others don't care to notice, and that drives her crazy. Someone talks crap about Akane, and Mahiru lambastes them to the moon and back. Hiyoko would hate it. Like, it would be just the hugest force of humbling for Hiyoko. I like Hiyoko, by the by; it's just deeply funny how much of her classism would get challenged over this.

Gundham. I kind of addressed this in my Soniakanedam posts, but yeah, I feel like Gundham could easily have a crush on both Akane and Sonia for very different reasons. He has two subtly different energies that he likes to embody, and Akane matches one and Sonia matches the other, and it blends so well. And not for nothing, he would be such a gentleman about it.

Mikan. Easy. Akane is just walking around slightly injured all the time, and she's there insisting Akane sits down so she can at least bandage her, and also cautioning that Akane should really wear a helmet when she does dangerous things, and generally fretting over her in a way she doesn't get a lot. And Akane defends her to other people in a way she doesn't get a lot. It's easy.

Teruteru, but that's almost a free space.

Leon, but with a vibe comparable to Teruteru, in that I'm not serious about it.

Makoto could have a small crush on her, probably in passing. I'm hearing "big-boobed supermodel" and I'm thinking he would at least notice her as an older student who is pretty and cooler than him.

Potentially Nekomaru, but I think it would take him a while to recognize his feelings for what they are. And also I'm kind of partial to them being the way they are but it's completely platonic. But romantically, it's a nice ship that I do like.

(Okay so I have thought about a throuple with Akane, Fuyuhiko, and Peko for a while now, but I'll save that for some other time. It might just be that I want to ship Akane with Peko. It's kind of a Celeste/Hina situation, in that I think Peko would not want to have a crush on Akane but would be unable to help it. Any potential for romance between Fuyuhiko and Akane I mostly see in the post-SDR2 space.)

The only reason I'm not listing Sonia is because I see it less as a crush than a casually flirty friendship with the potential to become more.

[ericmicael]

A few words about "Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft", there will be some spoilers.

Has it only been 3 years since the 2013 game? This anime takes place after the last game, Shadow, and the anime starts by saying that it took place three years after an adventure between her and Roth that took place before the 2013 adventure. I never really researched dates, but it seems like people agree that Shadow takes place in 2018… I don't know.

This anime is quite LGBT, huh. It starts with the girl in the village having a huge crush on Lara that is even mentioned by Jonah.

There's Lara's childhood friend (I thought they were ex-girlfriends, so she said she sees Lara as a sister and in my frustration I even deleted the screenshots of her that I took, lol) who is Roth's daughter and has some suspicious photos with women, there's the new Zip (the "Tomb Raider" reboot follows the logic of the "The Legend of Zelda" games by bringing new versions of characters, but in the case of "Tomb Raider" there are only two universes: the classic and the reboot) who has jokes about him going out with men and at the final party he's dancing with another man.

But by far the thing that most draws attention to those who played the reboot games and went after the art books and comics, heard about the kiss that Lara would give her (in the dream) and that turned into a hug, the half-Japanese: Samantha Nishimura. She only appears in flashbacks of Yamatai (2013 game) and in some hallucinations/nightmares that Lara has during the journey. I only went after the comics briefly and from what I remember after the 2013 game Himiko's spirit returned to possess Sam, there is a group of bandits involved with this and at the end of the mini-series they manage to banish the ghost for good, but Sam decides to move away to treat the traumas that this experience brought her… That's more or less it. In the art book for "Rise of the Tomb Raider", the second game in the reboot, it says that the initial plan was for her to accompany Lara in the game and not Jonah, and honestly I don't think they changed the role before giving it to the guy since all he does in the game is: be absent for about 70% of it, get kidnapped, mess around with a gun and make mistakes… Considering that Sam in the 2013 game is Princess Peach for Mario Lara to save, it seems like they would have given Nishimura that kind of storyline a lot, but maybe when they decided to swap her out for Jonah they were short on time and used the storyline she had. In "Shadow of the Tomb Raider", the third game in the reboot, Jonah is in fact a more present character and even ends up finding a sweetheart who he marries in this anime.

But Sam… Sam, although she is practically the co-protagonist of the 2013 game, only has mentions in the other two games and there is this plot from the comics that left her out until now and when she is mentioned a lot again in this anime, what happens? She is still away from Lara working abroad and it is the cliffhanger for the possible second season. I admit that I was more irritated by this than excited, damn man, why take her so far away from Lara's life? Don't you want to canonize this LGBT shipp? Don't canonize this (I would be very sad, I love Lara x Sam), but what a bummer this waste of a character and this obsession the writers have with Jonah, at least in this anime Lara has more than one friend.

[novi-val]

random stuff i wrote down from luke's discord server q&a call (jun. 4, 2023):

"this is my therapy, sorry you all have to hear me"

he was drinking rosé throughout all of this

he likes roses but likes the stems + thorns more than the flowers, so his friends used to buy him bouquets of just rose stems and he thought it was great

one of his favourite books is the picture of dorian gray (this explains everything. why does this explain everything)

favourite eurovision acts were brunette and blanca paloma ("you thought i was gonna say blanka huh :///")

mimicat and teya were the friends who helped him out with stuff when he needed it, teya was the extrovert friend who adopted him at the preparties ("didn't talk to anyone, i was just drinking and doing duolingo")

"i learned english ostensibly through playing lara croft" + talking to online friends on video game forums

"i'm butchering french all the time. i was talking to la zarra a lot and she was just side-eyeing me"

TEYA AND LUKE COLLAB IN THE WORKS

favourite album is american life by madonna (first album he bought for himself(?))

had to google what a ttrpg is, bless

he's very, very happy that the server has brought joy and support for so many people, because when he was 15-16 he wanted to use his music to create a safe space so people wouldn't have to be so lonely and go through some of the same things he went through

question: if you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be? "i would've liked to not have my bitch era"

he only applied for the esc national final because he was planning on releasing samo mi se spava around that time and figured he'd go to promote it. he was not planning/expecting to win and go to eurovision. "i didn't even quit my job or anything"

if you see house on the hill live at a show, it'll be a longer version (the studio version is as short as it is because it was out of spite for universal music when they used to tell him all his songs were too long)

favourite game right now is solitaire

past fall out boy enjoyer, current panic! at the disco enjoyer (😭😭) also sir i need to know did you listen to my chemical romance. please. please this is very important

other artists he likes (incomplete): the killers, the cure, the white stripes, lana del rey, lady gaga, madonna, tamino, mika

"well after eurovision i'm bankrupt"

people were ordering merch from him during the call after he mentioned his merch site and the email notification sounds were going off in the background as he talked every few seconds (as of the end of him answering questions from the q&a channel the cds got sold out!)

aaand that's all i got before leaving the call because i needed to sleep

[leonkennedygvrl]

tw: opinions.

sometimes i truly cannot stand videogame fandoms. the constant comparison towards the women is insane. i always find people arguing with me about ellie williams, ada wong and numerous others being ‘strong’ enough to beat lara croft in a fight.

first of all — all these women work completely different jobs. i don’t even know why ellie is being brought into the conversation, considering she hasn’t experienced anything like lara, and more so like ada, but not exactly. this brings in my first argument, really; she doesn’t share the same experiences considering she’s much younger than both lara and ada so let’s quickly draw her out of this!

second of all — regarding lara and ada. the reason i get into so many debates is because the people i’m talking to are usually hardcore aeon stans. which is fine, i’m not going to generalise, and really i couldn’t care less about who ships who. it’s just annoying, considering ada is heavily inspired by lara in many, many ways. lara is not just an archaeologist (you don’t see her digging up fossils and researching them. 🤦🏼‍♀️) she’s done many spy-like jobs like in tomb raider 7. i like ada, re4og ada is actually one of my favourite videogame characters, but definitely not the first. i don’t mean to say lara is better because my opinion wouldn’t apply to many people and another thing that irks me, these two brilliant women are from completely different videogames.

lastly, my actual thought on this debate? lara would win. i’m sorry, but let’s bring some facts into this. ada lacks upper body strength because she uses mainly grapple hooks and fireweapons, but this doesn’t mean to say she’s weak and can’t throw a good punch. it would just put her at a disadvantage, plus the heels she wears (which she rocks) but let’s be real for a moment here. ada is incredibly agile, she’s a fast runner and can think well in complicated situations similiar to leon which is an attribute i think they share, so her lower-body strength is really good. only problem is, she’d be versing a woman who literally has the best aerobic ability, both in the reboots and the classics. if you haven’t seen how high lara can jump, i suggest checking it out. she’s flexible, incredibly intelligent and sneaky, i can’t really give a comparison between the reboots and classics because she’s equally good in both.

another thing that puts ada at disadvantage, her arsenal. lara uses all sorts of fireweapons (rifles, launchers, sub machines, hand guns and etc.) , combat knives, archery gear, explosives, and of course, grapple hooks, climbing equipment— her hands and legs. in the resident evil four remake, ada wears that iconic sweater dress which tears quite easily in seperate ways, which also puts her at disadvantage as lara usually wears tactical gear that can protect her. her critical hit damage ranges from over 300% whereas ada’s (and leon’s and almost every other resident evil character) ranges from 25%. why? experience. she was born in 1968, which makes her older than ada in 2024.

so if some silly person were to ask me that immature question again, and actually wanted an honest answer; then yes, i do believe lara would beat ada, i do believe she would beat ellie and lots of others. even jill. but this is my opinion that’s based on facts that i’ve seen from playing the entire tomb raider triology.

but overall it’s a stupid thing to even discuss because it seems like i’m putting those women down. i’m not. they’re all strong in their own ways. if ada weren’t an anti-hero i believe she’d get along with lara, and it’s needless to say that ellie and lara would get along too, kind of in a claire and sherry way, and jill? honestly, i think they’d be best friends.

(by the way, i love leon so much, but he wouldn’t stand a chance against lara either. especially classic lara, who is practically op.)

[lopsidedtreetrunks]

Here is my submission for @dribbonart 's amedot fusion competition! I like her a lot, although there are a couple of things I probably could have done a bit better lol

Steven is there for height comparison. All of the text on the page is in the alt text :)

I have A LOT of notes under the cut, which can get a bit stream-of-consciousness-y (because I can never just be chill about something bsdjaksjdlskd),, so I apologise in advance for how long it is 😭

Early research notes:

Mixing amethyst and peridot's skin colours together gets you a kind of sage green colour, so I researched to light green gems

Aventurine stuck out to me as it was the only one i found where it was actually described as sage green, so i thought 'that's perfect' lol

A lot of the healing properties of green aventurine I think resonate with both amethyst and peridot's personalities, from its promotion of friendship to its emission of positive energy

I liked that one of the sites i used to research aventurine mentioned ancient civilisations' usage of green aventurine and i wanted to incorporate that into the fusion's design/personality

It's important to me for her to have aspects of both amethyst and peridot shown in the design somewhere. Most of the time when i design fan fusions I do this in their hair, which is not different this time. I made her hair long, with a bushy tail on her braid representing amethyst, and her three skull braids representing peridot's triangle hair. Her hair is also in a braid bc when i hear the word adventure for some reason the first thing i think of is Lara Croft so,,, thats why i gave her a braid 😅

I wanted her body design to kind of resemble athleisure-wear since she loves relaxing but can get up and go at any point, ready for adventure! She also doesn't need to be complicated. I don't think she needs extra limbs etc since she has her vision power.

Obviously the crystal gems are very important to both amethyst and peridot, so I wanted to give her at least one star on her body. Her torso seemed like the most obvious place, but I'm not sure if she should have more elsewhere, too. The star on her torso can be like a tattoo.

I think she would be very intense in her love for her friends, which might make people uncomfortable. She will back off if she senses this, but she means well I promise!!

She can be spontaneous when it comes to her adventuring, sometimes dragging Steven and the other gems from their beds to go on a Cool Adventure (pearl is NOT a fan of this lmao)

When I say 'adventuring' I really mean just travelling and/or exploring new places, which could be anything from a new city to a deep jungle. Normally these adventures don't last longer than a couple of days... unless they get lost..........

A few amedot related rambles notes:

One of my favourite things about amedot is that they're sooo opposite. I'm such a big opposites-attract truther almost everything I ship there's one puppy dog and one wet cat there's nothing i love more than polar opposite pairings <3

With that said they also share a few things (cough being short asses cough) such as their love of their friends (even if they show it in different ways) and they can both be pretty headstrong. They both had their own journeys - amethyst with her self confidence and feeling inferior, and peridot with unlearning the system of homeworld and the traditions she was so used to. They both had to learn how to love themselves enough to be able to stand up for what they believe in and to let themselves be true to themselves (i hope that makes sense lol)

I think their opposing traits can be quite complementary. Peridot is quite intense; she gets excited about her favourite things and she gets embarrassed easily. Amethyst is more laid-back and tends to roll her own way. They complement each other well.

More refined notes:

Amethyst's personality: Mellow Lazy/messy (affectionate) Improved self-esteem Fiercely loyal

Peridot's personality: Self-confident Smart (robotics) Analytical Intense interests/personality Learned to enjoy life/appreciate Earth

Aventurine properties:

Quartz

Name comes from Italian for adventure

Known as a heart-healer for it's relation to the heart chakra

Said to bring prosperity in all facets of life

Emits a positive energy, slows overactive minds, guides lost spirits, promotes friendships

Ancients Tibetans used it in statues, believing it's glimmer gave them higher vision

Amazon tribes used it in jewellery, believing it gave their royalty and warriors guidance in battles

Aventurine personality:

Self-confident

Enjoys seeking adventure but really values her downtime

Adores her friends - loyal

Can take charge if needed

Can be spontaneous with adventuring

Emotional decision-maker

Although she is very smart, she tends to think with her heart rather than her head

She has a special power - higher vision grants her the ability to see for miles and can focus in any person/thing in the present

Similar to Sapphire's future vision but stays in the present

She gets her street smarts and go-with-the-flow attitude from Amethyst

She gets her intense love and confidence from Peridot

Hyper but content in life

[gaymer-hag-stan]

How we feeling ladies and gays???

Lara Croft's impact as a pop culture icon is monumental, transcending her origins in the Tomb Raider video games to become a symbol of female empowerment and representation. She was one of the first major female protagonists in gaming, breaking ground in a male-dominated industry and becoming the face of one of the most successful franchises in history, now with over 100 million units sold. Her character has earned multiple Guinness World Records, including "Most Successful Human Video Game Heroine" and "Most Recognizable Female Character in a Video Game." Beyond gaming, Lara successfully transitioned to Hollywood, portrayed by Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander in major films, further cementing her mainstream appeal. Lara has also become a merchandising powerhouse, with action figures, comics, novels, and brand collaborations. Her character evolved over time, especially in the 2013 reboot, to focus on her emotional depth, intelligence, and resilience, making her a symbol of empowerment for women worldwide. Lara Croft’s legacy has influenced not only the gaming industry, where she helped push the boundaries of storytelling and character-driven narratives, but also popular culture at large, where she remains an enduring icon.

We did it!

And of course, we have to talk about the next three games getting remastered too!

I'll be VERY honest with you, I straight up did not expect to see Angel of Darkness. I thought they were never ever gonna touch it again, and I wasn't even sure about Chronicles either, I thought that since they didn't do all five of the PS1 games together, the chances of them either doing Last Revelation & Chronicles or TLR alone were still slim. But it's one of the times that I am very glad to have been proven wrong!

As much as the Core purist community has made me retroactively wary of this era of the franchise, I understand and appreciate that these games still mean a lot to many people who are very normal and don't go out of their wave to make everyone else feel miserable, so to those people who had been fighting for AoD's return for so long I say congratulations, you deserve this, we all do.

Possible SPOILERS?

From what we can assume from the leaked Xbox achievement list, they are adding the Times Exclusive level in the Last Revelation, a very weird and very exclusive PC DLC that they released back in the day, sponsored by the London Times of all things, to commemorate sixty years since their coverage of the opening of Tutankhamen's tomb, no I'm not joking, and also adding back the dual pistols and corner shooting in AoD, stuff that were ultimately cut from the final version of the game. This could possibly mean that Angel of Darkness and Chronicles are not just getting a shiny new look but also possibly getting their very-well-documented game-crashing bugs fixed which is great.

I am very much willing and hoping to approach Chronicles and Angel of Darkness with an open mind and see if, with the new tweaks, they are not so bad after all. Neither of them are terrible games, only mediocre at worst, because even at her lowest, Lara still serves, but still, I think it's safe to say that this was, objectively, the lowest point in the series.

Now, I personally would hope that they will see it worthwhile to remove the cutscene where underage Lara is almost seen topless in Chronicles or is groped by Kurtis in Angel of Darkness, but I don't think they'd go that far. Still, a simple trigger warning like they did for the racist depictions in TRII and TRIII won't cut it this time.

But we're here to celebrate! Fingers crossed they add her opera dress in Chronicles, like they did for that horrid leopard print suit in Nightmare in Vegas, that would be an actual serve!

Also, this announcement only cements one thing in my mind... Next year in October we're celebrating the announcement of "Tomb Raider VII-VIII-IX Remastered, starring Lara Croft" and I swear, I will never shut up about it when it happens! Hopefully we we even get Guardian of Light too... Who knows!

[littleprincessfawn]

Trying to get back in touch with my sexuality, because I feel like my sense of self and my sexual side has taken a beating over the years from how badly my ex-husband treated me and then messed with my head.

I'm thinking back to the daydreams and fantasies I used to have as a teenager, you know, when you first start developing urges and feelings like that?

A list of fantasies under the cut ->

One of my most played fantasies was a kind of dark guardian angel, a male with black angel wings, wavy black hair, who would come and protect me. He lived in a stary night time realm. He could read my thoughts and he could feel when I cried or was scared and he would send his presence to comfort me. He appeared to me in dreams. I think his name was Damian. (Side note, no wonder I loved the Court of Mist & Fury book by Sarah J Maas so much!) The concept of this dark guardian angel protector figure lives deep in my soul and is maybe my most romantic/deep fantasy that means the most to me. I know he wasn't real but the idea of him got me through my dark times of childhood (looking back I consider my young teenage hood as childhood as I absolutely should have been protected by adults but I was not). Sometimes this dark saviour was linked to crows/ravens. Sometimes he was a vampire.

Another fantasy was me being a fallen angel, my wings injured or sometimes even ripped off, and a ranger found me in his forest. The ranger tended to be kind of gruff/blunt/quiet and had brown hair and stubble. He would take me back to his cabin in the woods, even though he hated people, but he had to heal me. Sometimes he kidnapped me and was cruel or kept me chained up, sometimes he was caring and sweet. In all my fantasies though he tended to my wounds and took care of me as I slowly healed, and he helped encourage me to fly again.

Another fantasy was of an Elvish Prince or noble son who would find me hiding in a tree and fuck me up on the tree branches. Idk what was with that. I guess I like nature? He would have long hair, either light brown or sandy blonde. Sometimes I'd be a peasant human or elf girl and be his childhood friend that he protected from bullies. Sometimes I'd be a stranger, a human princess who was lost.

Ohhh that reminds me another fantasy I had about being a runaway or exiled princess who was lost in the forest with a torn princess dress. All manner of things might happen to me, evil queens dominating me and poisoning me and keeping me as their slave girls, strong warrior men finding me and protecting me or degrading me (or a mixture of both!).

One fantasy I often had in some variation was either being a spoiled princess or a shy servant girl and there was a royal wizard who made me his apprentice. I was thirsty to learn magic to become powerful and he was happy to teach me... if I paid him with being able to use my body. As a spoiled princess he would humble me, it would be hate-fucking until he fell in love with me and I revealed I had a crush on him all along, I just acted like a brat. If I was a servant girl I was quiet, obedient, loyal and took whatever punishment he gave totally submissively, earning his grudging respect, and he encouraged me to step into my power.

I also had fantasies involving women, I mean first was of course meeting Lara Croft or Angelina Jolie and being taken for a ride on her motorcycle, and then she kisses me and corrupts me and I become her sidekick.

I definitely wanted to be Gabrielle to a Xena. I still very much have that Gabrielle type persona when I have a crush on someone, the loyal sunshine follower archetype.

I did often fantasise about a cruel witch or unseelie Fae princess or queen who would abuse me, slap me, whip me, chain me up, humiliate me in front of fantasy creatures and degrade me while I bore it all stoically, showing quiet grace that she could never take away from me. Lots of kissing and fae fruits.

Oh and don't even get me started on the sexual fantasies I had about being Persephone in Hades underworld with the pomegranate seeds. There's a reason pomegranate is my favourite fruit. In my fantasies he might have thought he was abducting me, but I always went willingly, though I may not have told him. I refused to tell him how attracted I was to him because I didn't want to give in, not to his lust, not to his power, until eventually he humbled himself before me and confessed his deep love for me, offering me the role of being by his side as his equal, as his queen. Only then did I tell him I loved him too, that I would willingly be his consort, and submit to him sexually.

I definitely had a thing for teacher/mentor and student/apprentice dynamic, and still do. I read a ton of Snape/Hermione fan fiction in those early days. I loved a stern teacher, or an encouraging teacher, who pushed me to be my best, to aim for perfection. And would punish me if I did wrong. I loved being a teachers pet. I still do, and had crushes on some of my university lecturers.

Oh the priestess fantasy! Okay I often had a fantasy either being a Greek priestess of a cult like maybe Diana, or later a priestess of Ishtar (once I learned of Ishtar/Inanna/Astarte, I think I was 18 then) and being a kind of forbidden fruit, a sacred holy woman. And some hot soldier and I having BIG lust between us but not giving in to temptation... until we finally do.

I fantasised and wrote erotica about Jeannie and Major Nelson from I dream of Jeannie, the idea of being some guys magical devoted sexy slave and calling him Master? Yes please!

These are all the fantasies I can remember for now, I'll add more if I remember any, but they were all the main things that I thought of, daydreamed about, got myself off to. Thinking about all of them now makes me feel good, they feel like my true desires, not impacted by other people.

[late-to-the-magnus-archives]

Corrupted, chapter ten: A Sopping Wet Cat - a Malevolent x TMA crossover

Between elderly Lara Croft and the deeply-adoptable Jonathan Sims, Tim's feeling less alone.

Now if only Bouchard and Hastur weren't playing footsie while Tim tries to find his own footing…

Chapter ten of Corrupted, a Malevolent x TMA crossover.

AO3

--------------

It’s after five p.m., but Tim is sure Bouchard will let them in. He doesn’t even bother calling this time before taking the bus. If Hastur is right, and Bouchard can see just about everything, he’ll know they’re coming.

Tim’s not sure how he feels about omniscience actually being real and belonging to just… some guy.

The gods in this world might be dead, but they exist, and that throws his entire philosophy of life into question. Even worse, they were eaten by something worse—which begs the question of what the fuck a god actually is.

“Is that guy a god?” he murmurs into his earpods.

Who?

“Bouchard.”

No.

“Right. How are we defining gods?”

How do you define a cat?

Tim purses his lips. “Guess you know a cat when you see one, huh?”

Indeed.

“So it’s not just a power thing, apparently, given that this guy isn’t one. Did that mean there were gods without power, too?”

Yes, actually. Hastur sounds warm again. You can be so very smart, Tim.

“Flattery will get you everywhere, blah blah blah,” Tim mumbles.

Hastur laughs softly.

Tim falls silent. He has a lot to process.

At least it’s easier to reach the Magnus Institute now that he can see. The area is truly lovely; old buildings, probably all National Trust, absolutely clean sidewalks (he can’t imagine the army of people paid to preserve that), and discreet little signs that don’t stick out in any way because reputation matters more here than advertising.

“Oh it's expensive,” Tim sings to and I'm so happy. “So damned expensive! Couldn’t afford a cup of tea! Bet the coffee tastes like pee!”

Hastur laughs. What on earth are you doing?

“Being delightful so the poor police don’t come out and nab me.”

Unlikely to work as a deterrent.

"Well, a guy's gotta try." And then Time spots a slight man in a sweater-vest juggling and losing his folders in a spray of knowledge all over the steps.

“Damn and blast!” the fellow announces like an eighty-year-old, and Tim knows who he is.

“Hey, Jon, right?” Tim says, jogging lightly toward him. “Let me help.”

“Oh! Mister Stoker.” Jon blinks at him. Then behind him. Then at him again, looking confused.

Tim turns and sees nothing. He shrugs and turns back, bending to gather papers. “Sorry I don’t know what order all this goes in.”

“Oh, it doesn’t matter,” says Jon in a deeply peevish way. “She’s not going to organize them anyway.”

“She?” says Tim.

“I have been reassigned to the archives,” says Jon with a little sniff, and pushes his glasses up his nose. “There, I have discovered that Ms. Robinson has no sense of order, nor a positive attitude toward anyone who wants to help.” He stops. His eyes widen. “I am so sorry. This isn’t any of your trouble. Please don’t say… er, anything. I’m very grateful for the opportunity.”

Just listening yesterday, Tim had thought Jon was a prick. Looking at him today, he’s certain Jon is actually a nerd—probably a bullied one—who’s wearing spiky intellectual armor to stay safe.

Tim knows the type. He’s adopted a few in the past. “Mum's the word, boss," he says, and hands over a sheaf of paper back.

Jon stuffs them into folders without any attempt at organizing. His face looks hot. “I’m sorry to have inconvenienced you, Mister Stoker.”

“Tim, please. I’m gonna be around for a bit, so no need to be so formal, yeah?”

Jon’s shoulders untense. “You are? That’s, ah, good to know? I’m sorry, but this is after business hours, and we’re closed.”

“Naw. Elias will let me in,” says Tim.

“Oh! He’s expecting you?” says Jon. “And I’m keeping you! Come along, now, let’s not waste any more time,” he says as if the delay were Tim’s idea, and scurries up the stairs.

What an annoying little man, says Hastur.

Nope. Dorky in the extreme, maybe; he definitely knows the type. Tim grins and follows.

Jon juggles folders and keys; ungraciously accepts a hand with the folders; drops his keys; and finally, face red, gets the door open. “I’m glad to hear we were able to help you. Nasty things, Leitners.”

“Leitners?”

“That bookplate. Jurgen Leitner owned evil books—and legitimately produced some of the few verifiable supernatural occurrences on record.” Jon gives him a challenging look.

Tim just wants to scoop him up and wrap him in a scarf and make him watch some sci-fi. “I believe you.”

The relief is visible. “You do?”

“Seen some things. Yes.”

“I’m really glad we can do something for you,” says Jon. “You know, it’s very strange. I’ve worked here for three years, and I've never once seen Elias get involved in any—”

“Mister Sims, what are you doing?”

And there she is—the little old lady who doesn't look like a bad-ass god-fighting machine, but definitely is. She's tiny; conservatively dressed. She’d be cute if she weren't so severe. Her reading glasses hang from a chain around her neck, and though she lacks any obvious weapons, she still has books in her jacket pockets.

Tim wonders which one's the flamethrower.

Tread carefully, Hastur says, unnecessarily. I don’t know what she remembers after Kayne’s intervention.

“Ms. Robinson,” Jon stammers. “He’s, ah. There’s been a, ah.”

"Hello," says Tim. "Your boss asked for me."

Her look flatly dismisses what he says like wiping away footprints in the sand. "Did he."

Jon looks confused. He's frozen, folders bulked under one arm, keys still in hand.

"He did!" says Tim brightly. "So why don't we all go and see what happens?"*

The old woman stares him down.

Gimlet eyes, Tim thinks, having encountered the phrase in publishing a few times, but never before now actually seeing them.

"Let's do that," she decides, and gestures toward the darkened Institute and Elias’ office. "In we all go now, chop chop," says elderly Lara Croft.

He's already inside. Bouchard. It's safe to enter.

Tim would give a lot of money to know how Hastur knew that, but he can't ask now. He smiles his absolute warmest at both of them and walks into what he desperately hopes is not his tomb.

#

Bouchard is waiting for them, standing in his office doorway. Tim feels weirdly justified. “Thank you, Gertrude,” says Bouchard. “Tim, if you please—right this…” He stops. Stares. “Interesting,” he murmurs.

“Are you sure you want to handle this?” says the murderous old bat.

“Yes, it’ll be fine. He’s not a danger,” says Bouchard.

He’s lying. You are.

Bouchard’s look. It’s hungry. What the hell.

“Jon,” says Bouchard, suddenly. “I will need to see you after this meeting. All right? Clear your schedule. It’s going to be a bit of a thing.”

Jon looks absolutely spooked. “Sure, of course, Elias. Right.”

Lara “Gertrude” Croft looks highly suspicious.

“Right,” says Jon, glancing back and forth. “Um.” He flees.

“That guy needs a movie night,” Tim says.

Gertrude stares at him.

“You know. With friends? A bit of beer, or something? Snacks? Everybody cozy in socks? Bras off?”

She stares harder.

“Right. Maybe you need one, too,” says Tim.

Bouchard clears his throat. “Shall we?”

“Sure.” Tim gives her his brightest smile.

She does not respond. Well, now she’s a challenge.

Bouchard’s look has not changed. Thoughtful. Penetrative. He gestures to the seat across from his desk and sits behind it, fingers steepled.

“You really make a guy sweat with a look like that,” says Tim.

“I’m glad to hear it,” says Bouchard. “And please—do call me Elias.”

Tim shifts. “We’re all on first-name basis here, I guess. Tim.”

Elias does a little gracious nod. “So you’ve had an adventure of some kind since I last saw you,” he says. “For one thing, your vision has swapped hands, if you'll pardon my mixing of metaphors."

“How did you—yeah. That happened. Also, that old bat out there tried to kill me for no damn reason?”

She was aggressive, says Hastur.

“I must apologize for her, not that I have any control over her, really,” he says. “The fact is that when it’s time to stop her, I’m going to have to kill her—but she makes a marvelous distraction in the meantime, doesn’t she?”

What an absolutely fucked up thing to say. “I’m not sure I can agree with that?” says Tim.

Yes… I see your point, says Hastur, because of course, it makes sense to him. And she has done so since before you claimed this body, am I right?

Elias’ smile grows teeth. “I see you don’t miss much.”

No.

“I am mindful of it,” says Elias.

I’d guess… in the neighborhood of two centuries?

“Very good! Yes. I’m surprised one such as yourself would be aware of such mortal lifetimes.”

Hastur responds like a cat petted along its spine, arching its arse in the air. I’ve had to pay attention to such things. Human bodies are… regrettably fragile.

What the actual hell?

Tim frowns, feeling the anger rising, trying to push it down. “Hey, old guys. I’m still here, you know,” he says.

“Yes, and that is a perfect segue,” says Elias, smooth as fucking butter. “I don’t know what happened yesterday. I know Gertrude came back with her memory altered; I know whatever you got involved with raised a sort of… fog through which I could not see.”

“So you were watching,” says Tim.

“I watch everything I can,” says Elias, as though this is perfectly normal. “That is how I serve my patron. But I could not see what happened.”

Tim doesn’t care to tell him. Elias just rubs him wrong.

Chaos. That’s what happened.

“Vague, but fair enough. I cannot even see the memories in your head, Tim, which tells me on one level how strong the forces we’re dealing with are—but there is one thing I do see. You have been marked.”

Tim feels… bad?

He hunches a little. It’s not a familiar feeling, this. He's not even sure "bad" is the right word. “Yeah. Apparently, I’m doomed to become a rage monster, la-di-da.”

“This does place me in an awkward position,” says Elias. “You have, in a manner of speaking, been claimed by a patron other than mine, and they tend to be… possessive.”

Yet you have not thrown us out, says Hastur warmly (because the manipulation seems to have worked), and Tim frowns just a pinch harder.

“Naturally. I’ve never seen anything like this—which means, I fear, that you are practically catnip for me.”

And the two old assholes laugh, and Tim has almost had enough.

(But should he have had enough?)

(Wouldn’t he be more patient with this nonsense, normally?)

“Right,” Tim says. “So. I’m going to assume you also saw what happened at the police station.”

“I did. Most unfortunate.”

"We had something of a plan about that."

“Yes, and I may be able to help you with it—if you’re willing to make a deal.”

Here we go again, Tim thinks. “If you’re already watching, what difference does it make?”

“All the difference. It changes your perception of events, and alters how you feel. It becomes a gift to my patron—given under duress, which is even better—and thus, empowers me.”

Tim stares. “At least you’re honest.”

Surprisingly honest, says Hastur darkly.

Elias shrugs. “The fact is that you're difficult to see into, which is... unusual for me. Surface thoughts are easy; but I don't even know your name.”

He didn’t mean Tim. “You don’t know?”

“I can’t see it. I can see his memory of himself, but not his name—it’s clouded, even in your mind.”

We really are catnip to this guy, Tim thinks. “You don’t have to tell him,” says Tim.

I know. I’m weighing whether his aid is worth whatever price he extracts.

“I assure you, whatever ‘price I extract’ is going to be observation-based. That is, after all, what I’m all about.”

And that was weird. Very weird. Because Tim thinks Elias just lied.

There’s no reason for it. He can’t see any difference in face or body language. But he’s sure Elias lied. He’s getting something out of this beyond observation. Anger bubbles, slowly simmering.

I’ve had… various names.

Elias is looking so damned intense. “I would love to know. It might even help me refine my current thought on how to give you some… support.”

“Don’t give away the farm,” says Tim.

I see no reason to hold this back, Hastur decides.

“If you’re sure.” Tim is not sure.

I have been called Hastur. The Unspeakable One. I have been called… the King in Yellow.

Elias’ eyes light up like he just won the lottery. “Phenomenal,” he whispers. “Lord of Carcosa. Regaled in a gown of yellow, twice as tall as any man! Majestic, he glides over the ground to take his throne in lost Carcosa, for he is the king that was and shall be!”

“Oh, boy,” Tim says.

Yes, Hastur says.

“Well… I am, I will not lie, deeply honored,” Elias lies, and does a proper bow as he says it so Hastur can tell by the sound that he lowered his head.

Tim wonders if this really is the better option than cultists.

The metaphorical lid is beginning to bounce on the pot of his anger, clanging, jarring out of place with rising rage—and Elias sees. Tim knows that he sees.

Elias is enjoying this.

Rein it in, Tim tells himself, because this isn’t like him, this isn’t usual, he’s a patient man, he’s dealt with shit like this from shitty managers all in the past, this isn’t new, this… he doesn’t have to… he…

“Your self-control is extraordinary,” says Elias, softly. “I’m very impressed, Tim. And I appreciate it. I don’t particularly want to be burned—so I thank you.”

At least that time, he wasn’t lying.

Tim.

“What?” Tim snaps between clenched teeth.

Please.

Well, fuck, what’s Tim supposed to do with that?

They’re both waiting to see what he does with that.

Come on, you, he thinks. Pull it together. He breathes slowly. Deeply. Shuddering.

“You are remarkable,” says Elias, and he sounds like he means it. “I wouldn’t have guessed—forgive me.”

He is, says Hastur, as though he planned for any of this.

“I think I hate you both right now?” says Tim.

“Fair,” says Elias. “And I’m sorry that you’re in the position you’re in.”

Again—he’s telling the truth now.

Does Elias know Tim picked up when he was lying?

Tim thinks he does. Elias, Tim realizes, is a fucking dangerous piece of work.

You have an idea? says Hastur.

“I do. This is, of course, based on research and memories from those in my line going back some thousands of years. If I understand correctly, your current vulnerability is largely based on… well. Your host’s mortality.”

That isn’t… fully inaccurate.

“As opposed, let’s say, to possessing a body closer to what you had before?”

My original body? There are no bodies here closer to what I had before.

“What if one could be created? How would that affect your situation?”

Tim has no idea. “What, give him his own body? Go all deific Frankenstein?”

I need to… consider this. You say it as if there were a possibility of such a thing.

Elias’ eyes lid. It’s like he knows he’s hooked a fish, and can take his time reeling it in. “Well. You no doubt feel the stored power of this place. That is because we collect artefacts. This particular hobby is not unique to us. I may—theoretically—know of some deific flesh, carefully preserved in crystal. And I may—theoretically—know someone who could potentially use it to craft you a new body.”

“Why would you go to all that trouble?” says Tim.

“Because it will be an amazing thing to watch, and as things currently stand, you won’t live long enough to… ah. I apologize.”

“Scratch your itch?” says Tim, dry. “Get you the fuck off?”

“Something like that,” says Elias, who isn’t so easy to ruffle.

I need to think about this.

“Of course you do. Might I suggest you stay here until you do, though? No obligation, no payment—well, beyond watching you, which I will be doing anyway, no matter where you are.”

“You knew I already planned on that part,” says Tim.

Elias shrugs like a prince. “I choose to be gracious, nonetheless.”

Tim wants to hit him.

Keep it down, he tells himself. You’re not the rage. You not the… whatever the fuck wrath monster. You’re you.

“I offer protection,” says Elias. “We are not, of course, impervious to invasion, but we are far safer than a hotel, or an apartment, or, gods forbid, the street. Three agents I can see followed you here—two of the Corruption, who would devour you with mold, worms, maggots, disease; and one of the Desolation, who… well, to be frank, I don’t know what she’d do, given that you, Tim, are marked—but I assure you, she is not here on a mission of mercy.”

“What?”

“You were followed—and I am not talking about your policewoman.”

“Wait, we were?"

“You didn’t notice? Oh, dear,” says Elias.

Fuck.

Yeah, pretty much.

We shall stay, says Hastur as though the favor being given is them gracing this place with their presence.

Tim realizes with a shock that he isn’t sure his opinion is any good right now. He’s too angry. It’s not his rage. But it’s… spilling into everything. Tim has never felt unsure in his life. This is a horrible feeling. He wipes at his eyes, surprised to find them wet.

“Come.” Elias stands, not revealing whatever he thinks of this display, and heads for the door.

Are you all right?

Hastur seems to mean it. Can Tim trust that, either?

Yes. He knows he can. Whatever else is wrong with him, he knows he’s reading other people correctly, including Hastur. “Not really?”

I will do what I can for you once we are alone.

“More spells?" Tim scoffs.

Oh, the things I can teach you...

“Sure,” says Tim without conviction, and follows Elias Bouchard deeper into his spooky mid-london temple.

#

Elias hadn’t lied; it’s a neat little space down there, in the archives.

Well. It’s a mess. But the living quarters are definitely cute.

Gertrude Lara Croft Robinson is down there already, eyeing them, visibly daring commentary on the stacks of mismatched files, the open cardboard boxes balanced precariously against each other or on chairs, the truly heinous amount of cobwebs in every corner, between every shelf.

“Uh,” says Tim. “Nice haunted house you’re running here.”

“Mm,” says Elias.

Gertrude gives Tim a skewering look.

“No, really,” says Tim, stepping over six sagging boxes and around two piles of unsorted papers. “Get a fog machine down here and you’ll make bank.”

“Yes, well, Gertrude insists there is a reason for all of it,” says Elias as if his kingdom’s condition is of no concern.

Gertrude says nothing.

Tim suddenly wonders if she’s hiding weapons in the paperwork.

The little living area is, happily, free from nonsense. A very tiny kitchenette, a small cot sharing space with boxes and office supplies, and a bathroom with a cramped toilet and sink.

“There is a shower upstairs,” says Elias, “though it is in my office, and you will need to arrange time to use it.”

“Weird,” says Tim. “But okay.”

Elias shrugs. “It is a very old building. James Wright had it installed, so I am to understand, but what he was thinking, doing it there… well. I have no idea.”

A lie. Tim peers at him.

Elias smiles and it is a bright, sharp thing, like light glinting off a blade. “Oh, you are good at that, aren’t you?” he murmurs.

“What—was that a test?”

“It was. Over something I think you can agree, at least, is harmless.”

“Hard not to be insulted,” Tim says.

“Of course—but I had to be sure you knew on your own. I can clearly see Lord Hastur did not clue you in.”

“Lord Hastur?”

“I’ve never met a god before, and I’d prefer to be on his good side. Wouldn’t you?” says Elias.

Tim rolls his eyes so hard they hurt. “Subject fucking change. How can you help with that police officer?”

“Are you willing to do some footwork?”

Tim frowns. “Sure?”

“Good. Then I can send you to a few places which will, in time, lead her on a completely different trail.”

“So you already knew our plan.”

“Yes. I won’t send you alone, either. It’s hardly safe. Just give me some time to make a couple of arrangements.”

Truth. “Okay. I guess. Fuck, this is… Am I really kipping in a haunted basement to hide from maggot gods?”

“I fear before all of this over, you will experience far stranger things than this,” says Elias. “Now—do try to get comfortable. I will fetch you a key, as well as the code for the alarm.”

“Elias!” Gertrude protests.

“He is officially under our protection.”  And there, right there, is the most real Elias has been this whole damn time, because that hardly sounded like the same man. The smarm is gone, replaced with a frankly terrifying hardness, the kind that makes Tim think he could shoot a guy in the face and walk away without a second thought.

But maybe it’s necessary to corral someone like Gertrude. She looks positively raucous for a moment, then glances at Tim.

Tim holds his hands up. “No quarrels with you. I’m just trying to stay alive.”

“I reserve the right to kill him if he tries a ritual inside the Institute—whether or not he knows what it does,” Gertrude snaps.

Well, she certainly remembers some of what happened.

“Fair,” says Elias.

“Sure?” says Tim.

Gertrude nods as if her head is an axe and marches away.

Elias sighs. “I really do apologize for her.”

Will she honor your command?

“For a while, anyway. Her focus is ‘protecting humanity,’ whatever that means, so as long as Tim provides no such active threat, he will fall off her radar.”

“She came after me yesterday," says Tim.

“She’d thought you were attempting a ritual to give one of the Fears more power,” says Elias.

“She didn’t even ask. She just… assumed.”

“In the name of saving the world, she sacrifices people,” Elias says coldly. “It makes one wonder what the value of life is to her.”

So that’s a whole host of unspoken stories. “Wow.”

“Indeed. I’ll send help down with a key and all shortly. Rest, Tim. As best we can, we’ll keep you safe.” Elias smiles (and, oddly enough, was telling the truth), and leaves.

Tim flops onto the cot.

It squeaks.

“That’ll make masturbating awkward,” he says without thinking.

Hastur laughs.

#

Tim did not expect to fall asleep.

It’s not like this is the best cot in the world. But there’s something weirdly peaceful about this place; the sounds of paper rustling outside the little room, presumably Gertrude moving piles from one spot to another (also presumably just keeping an eye on him). The sweet emptiness of being underground, with so much stone and paper and threadbare carpet, is its own wonderful white noise. Tim hasn’t been in a silent place in a long time, and finds it soothing. Even the simmering anger seems to be calming.

He yawns, stretches, is amused that the cot creaks again. “Mm,” he says. “Guess this is what monks see in it, or something.”

What—the silence and isolation? Perhaps; though they tend also to be… industrious orders, working far more hours than usual. The time allotted to rest in silence is slim.

“Fuck that, then. Guess I’m starting my own monastery—to laziness.” Tim stretches again. “Hey—why do you know about monks?”

I’ve spent more than one life in one such place.

Tim sputters. “Are you serious?”

Yes. There isn’t much in this world that I have not at least tried, Tim.

Tim sits up. “You really did monk things?”

I did.

“Like… prayed to gods you knew weren’t there, or whatever?”

A dark chuckle. Well, says Hastur. I will admit that I tended to leave such places altered, compared to when I went in.

“What did you do?”

Finely honed insanity, says Hastur, as though recounting a garden he’d grown.

Tim gapes at nothing. “Insanity? Hastur, why would you do that? What'd they do to you?"

Nothing. It was merely amusing at the time.

Maybe Tim is overtired. He should find this beyond horrifying, but instead, it’s just frustrating. “Look, do you even know it was wrong?”

Why would it be wrong? Hastur feels sincere. I am a god. I am no mortal. I am no human. I have graced this world with my presence out of necessity, but I have the right to do as I wish while I'm here.

“No, you don’t,” says Tim, baffled as to how he can possibly get his message across.

I disagree.

“Yeah, obviously, but that doesn’t make you right.”

No? And your twenty-nine years of life tell you this, do they?

Tim has an epiphany. “No, actually. That Kayne guy did.”

It feels like Hastur goes stiff as a board. What?

“If just being bigger than someone gives you the right to do what you want to them, then we’re actually morally wrong for running away from him.” Tim’s proud of that one.

Hastur has no mouth to sputter. He manages to do it, anyway. That is not the same!

“Sure it is. He can, so he should, right?”

I didn’t say should.

“No, but you said you have the right to do it. Well, does he?”

It’s not the same, Hastur insists.

It’s Tim’s turn to be smug, and he leans into it. "I didn't realize you were morally deficient. That's gonna make this rough, Hastur."

I am not deficient. I am morally superior.

"Right. Superior. In being deficient."

Tim...

Tim sighs. “What the hell am I gonna do with you?”

I think, Tim, rumbles Hastur in a low and terrible tone, the real question is what I am going to do with you.

Tim goes very still.

And there’s a knock at the storage closet door.

Tim has never been more grateful for an interruption in his life as he leaps off the cot to answer it. “Saved by the… hey, come in!”

It’s Jon.

Jon, who looks like a gray ghost, who holds out a key, a post-it note with a six-digit code, and a torn-out notebook page with addresses scribbled on it. He looks smaller than usual, as if whatever just happened to him has compressed him right down.

“Oh, thanks.” Tim takes them. “Hey—you okay?”

Jon stares at him. “Did you know there are things?” he says.

“So that’s a nope,” says Tim, who has decided to adopt Jon whether Jon knows it or not, and takes his arm to gently lead him in. “Sit down, already, before you pass out?”

“I am not going to pass out,” bristles Jon.

Tim sits him down, anyway, right on the cot.

It squeaks.

Tim checks a box labeled PAPER, finds it sturdy, and plops down onto it. “You okay?” he says again.

“There are… there are fear gods.”

Poor guy. “Apparently so. Might help to talk it out, yeah? Why don’t you start at the beginning? Was it Elias?”

“Oh, gods, yes it was Elias.” Jon puts his face in his hands.

Hastur finds Jon’s distress funny. The chuckle is soft, dark, cruel; it makes Tim angry—and he’s pretty sure this anger is his, not some stupid Desolation’s. Still, he takes a moment to force it down. “Yeah. I did know, little buddy, but only for about… two days? Or so? I’m losing track.”

“Oh,” says Jon.

What the hell had Bouchard done up there? “I’m guessing your boss filled you in.”

Jon looks forlorn. “One of them’s got me already, apparently?”

Accidental priest. “He just went full info-dump, didn’t he?” says Tim, who feels utterly justified in disliking that guy. “I’m sorry. I’m still wrestling with it all myself.”

“He says one of them’s got you, too,” says Jon. “And I am… I’m to go with you as we leave today, and as we gather what is necessary to distract… police? From your trail? Then retreat back to the Institute as quickly as possible.”

TIm blinks slowly. “He’s sending you?”

Jon reddens. “Yes. He says I… he says. I…”

“Hey, it’s okay. Hey. You can tell me whatever. Just verbally process, I don’t care."

Tim, we don’t have time to play therapist.

Tim ignores him. “What happened, Jon?”

“I tried to quit to prove him wrong,” says Jon. “I couldn’t.”

“Okay,” says Tim. “That’s horrible.”

“I wouldn’t have believed him except he knew about Mister Spider,” says Jon.

“Okay,” says Tim. “Do I want to know what that is?”

Jon stares. “Can we go? I… I don’t think I can sit here and think too much about this right now.”

“Sure, all right. We can talk later,” says Tim. “But—no offense—why is he sending you?”

“Oh. Because I saw who was following you this morning.”

Tim blinks. “You did?”

“Three of them. Two looked quite ill, but one just looked… angry. They all made me nervous; I’d assumed you knew, but Elias said you didn’t.”

Remarkable, says Hastur. He truly is in tune with the Beholding.

“I didn’t see them,” says Tim. “I really need the extra set of eyes. I’m a bit of trouble, you know?”

“That’s what he said.” Jon stands (and the cot squeaks). “I’m really not in a place to wield rational arguments at the moment.”

“Right. Well, let’s go, then.” Tim guides him out the door. “What's at these addresses?”

“He didn’t say.” Jon is shaking. His slightly oversized sweater-vest nearly hides it, but he is, and it makes his voice tremble.

Pathetic, says Hastur.

“Do you hate kittens, too?” Tim murmured softly.

“What?” says Jon.

“Nothing.”

Gertrude is glaring at them. “I’m watching you.”

“What?” says Jon very weakly.

“There’s a queue for that,” Tim quips, and hurries Jon out.

“That was odd,” says Jon in a high, spooked voice.

“Yeah?”

“Could’ve sworn she had blood all over her for a moment.”

What? says Hastur. Tim. Tim, I’m going to need you to do a spell.

Tim ignore that. “Don’t suppose Elias told you why I’m in trouble.”

“No. He said that was your purview, should I earn your trust.”

Tim! We need to do a spell. I need to know what’s going on with this annoying little man.

“Earn my trust? Wow. He really is a dickhead, isn’t he?”

Jon sputters. “He’s… I don’t know! He’s just Elias! I’ve barely noticed him in the past three years. Once my interview was done, we’ve hardly interacted!”

Tim!

Hastur’s confidence in Tim’s spellcasting abilities might be high, but Tim does not have that confidence. At any rate, it’ll be difficult talking to Hastur unless Jon knows the score, so…  Why not? “Right,” Tim says, trusting Jon at Elias. “So… the Powers Elias told you about? Something like that jumped out of the book I brought in. It’s in my head right now.”

Jon is taking this very seriously. “Really?”

“Really. Talks all the time. Real awkward.”

Tim, Hastur warns.

Tim deadpans it: “He wants me to cast some kind of spell to check you out.”

Tim!

“Check me out?” blurts Jon, stopping before the final stair. “For what? A new host?”

Hardly. That would not be worth my time, Hastur snaps.

“Naw,” Tim says. “He’s not a swinger. He just wants to see, is all.”

Jon’s eyes seem take up half his face. “What?” he says.

“You know, because he’s in me already?”

This has gone right over Jon’s head. He stares at Tim as though he’s speaking Sanskrit.

Like a sopping wet cat, Tim thinks with growing fondness. “Never mind. Let’s go check out these addresses, yeah?”

He’s an idiot, Hastur declares. Mentally deficient.

Is Hastur jealous? He feels jealous.

“Sure,” says Jon weakly.

“It’s gonna be okay,” says Tim, and pats him on the shoulder.

Hastur growls quietly.

New game, thinks Tim, because how could he not, and follows Jon into the lobby.

[sapphire-weapon]

hey! wanted to ask you this as you are someone that’s been in the fandom for a while. why do you think that people consider ada a well written character? like i have recently seen a bunch of people praising adas character in terms of writing and overall direction. some even going as far as to say she’s a better written character than other popular female video game characters such as lara croft, jill and ellie.

like you can like ada because she’s a hot and badass character but saying that she’s well written is just absurd imo. shes so inconsistent and has only recently had a game where she was written moderately good. but what are your thoughts? is ada actually top female video game character and im missing something? or are people just smoking whilst writing these opinions?

if this sent twice sorry my tumblr is crazy

it sent three times lmao

but idk you'd have to ask them. anyone from my generation knows that the writing in RE is shit, even by video game standards.

my best guess is they're desperate to justify their ship + they don't actually play video games.

a lot of baby aeons, i've noticed, don't actually play video games. RE is one of the only, if not the only, game fandoms they've ever been in. they have a really skewed perception of aeon's importance and ada's quality as a result.

because ada wong has already been done way better. by the same man who oversaw ada's creation, even.

i fucking can't stand OG ada. the less i see of her, the better.

juli kidman is in my top 5 video game women of all time.

[fantasylandbitch]

My little brother asked me a question the other night and it went a little like this.

Little Bro: Do you ever question the video games that we play?

Me: What do you mean? I'm not getting what you're asking.

Little Bro: For instance, I like playing video games that dismantle the government like Prototype, Infamous, Maneater, and Watch Dogs 2 or to feel things like games about loved ones.

It starts to hit me a little bit about what he was saying, about how the games that we play say about ourselves. Because for a little info on myself and my little brother, we like to have philosophical conversations at night when we're actually supposed to be dead asleep. I on the other hand can sometimes be up questioning a lot or that my head is filled with emotions or thoughts that won't let me sleep. I sometimes have a hard time shutting my brain off for whatever reason.

However, back to what he asked, he posed a really good question because he does like playing games about dismantling the system, environmental changes, getting justice, openly expressing anger, openly expressing sadness, and sometimes catastrophic events. These themes he mentions and the games he's played can sometimes say a lot about his character he clearly wants justice, he wants to change the system, he wants to openly express his emotions, and he thinks about ways to get out of really horrible situations. That last one is called catastrophing .....I'll continue the conversation.

Little Bro: What games do you like playing?

Me: I like playing a lot of Adventure games, RPGs, and other games. Adventure games like Shadow of the Colossus, The Last Guardian, Horizon Zero Dawn & Forbidden West, Lara Croft, and Assassinates Creed. For RPGs like Red Dead 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, and Mass Effect.

Little Bro: Well that says a lot about you.

Me: Yes it does.

Most of the adventure games that I like playing you end up having an animal companion with you, changing the system, environmental changes and how to help, finding artifacts, and helping people. For RPGs it's more like creating a you in a different universe or creating a cool story similar to D&D which I haven't played btw don't @ me for it but like the story and character building. There are literally other genres that I like to play and get so much more into then what I've typed but I'll have to save that for another time.

[lulu2992]

This book had been sitting on my nightstand for about 9 years, but I’ve finally read it!

Although I’ve played the entire Survivor Trilogy and read the comics Season of the Witch, Secrets and Lies, and Queen of Serpents years ago, when they came out, I don’t consider that I dove deep enough into the Tomb Raider lore to properly assess how consistent The Ten Thousand Immortals really is with everything else, but I enjoyed the book and thought its story was gripping.

What I also enjoyed was the foreword, in which they say:

The novel must satisfy the Tomb Raider community, a wonderful, passionate group of people around the world. They love Lara Croft, and can be fiercely protective of her history, quickly letting us know about any inaccuracies or incongruities they find. (…) Was there anything in the novel that contradicted something from the origin story timeline and events? Not that we could find, but we're sure the fans will let us know if we missed something...

I didn’t note any major inconsistencies in the novel, which features a lot of characters who never appear in the games anyway, but I appreciate the fact they basically said, “Look, we promise we tried to make this perfect, and we’re sorry if it’s not.”

This shows they care about their universe and their fans, and I like that.