#also THE LAST ONE??? is LOCKED BEHIND A DIFFERENT QUEST???

[unfortunatelyilikebnha]

Guess who just checked all 76 aranara locations in one sitting 🥰 <- do not do this

[wisteria-lodge]

Since you’ve talked about Molly and Draco, can you talk about Snape as well? When you said that there was a disconnect with Snape’s character I honestly wasn’t sure if you meant the audience was supposed to like him more or less than they actually do.

This is a complicated one, because Book 1-3 Snape and Book 5-7 Snape are written so differently that I actually want to talk about them as two separate characters. 

Book 1-3 Snape… kind of sucks. Maybe he sucks in a way you find funny (which I completely get. A lot of comedy - especially British comedy - revolves around finding the humor in really *mean* people. Snape is *written* to be funny in a dry, acerbic, Roald Dahl kind of way.) But maybe Snape sucks in a way that’s not fun for you, he’s just upsetting and cruel. Either way, he’s petty, unfair, a bully, completely unreasonable, and doesn’t really appear to have any redeeming qualities. Snape protects Harry in Book 1 only because James Potter saved his life and, according to Dumbledore:  

“Professor Snape couldn’t bear being in your father’s debt. . . . I do believe he worked so hard to protect you this year because he felt that would make him and your father even. Then he could go back to hating your father’s memory in peace. . . .” 

Later on, Snape’s motivation will become “Protect Harry because you couldn’t protect Lily.” But there’s no hint of that here.

I actually think it’s very likely that ‘Snape was in love with Lily’ is a plotline added during Book 4, because 1-3 Snape’s motivation is so completely focused on JAMES. He hates Harry because he looks like James, he hates James because (according to Lupin) he’s “jealous, I think, of James’s talent on the Quidditch field.” Within the context of the series it’s easy to say that Lupin is lying, and with good reason… but in the context of the first three books, I think that’s just meant to be true? Snape, as we know, is a stealth quidditch hooligan the way McGonagall is. Also… James’ characterization shifts around. He’s not a bully in the first three books, he’s Head Boy… and that Head Boy thing doesn’t quite gel with what we hear from Sirius later: 

“No one would have made me a prefect, I spent too much time in detention with James. Lupin was the good boy, he got the badge.”

(I know JKR plans things out in advance, but she absolutely does change things on the fly. Arthur Weasley not getting killed by Nagini is an easy example that we definitely know about. And come on - the entire last book is a Deathly Hallows fetch-quest. Was there really no way to slip in a reference to Beedle the Bard - or a super-powerful semi-mythical wand - anywhere in the first six books?) 

So, in books 1-3, there's no hint that Snape is a potion prodigy, particularly powerful, or even particularly clever. He wrote a logic puzzle and ���knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts.” But that’s it. “Potion Master” isn’t an advanced rank, it’s just the posh British boarding school way of saying “teacher.” (Like headmaster = head teacher.) Early Snape is also a lot more *emotional* than he is later on, when his ability to “Master yourself!... control your anger, discipline your mind!” becomes extremely plot relevant. Like, can you picture 5-7 Snape (or Alan Rickman, who plays a distinctly later-books Snape) doing any of this? 

Snape was beside himself. “OUT WITH IT, POTTER!” he bellowed. “WHAT DID YOU DO?”  “Professor Snape!” shrieked Madam Pomfrey. “Control yourself!”  “See here, Snape, be reasonable,” said Fudge. “This door’s been locked, we just saw —”  “THEY HELPED HIM ESCAPE, I KNOW IT!” Snape howled, pointing at Harry and Hermione. His face was twisted; spit was flying from his mouth.  “Calm down, man!” Fudge barked. “You’re talking nonsense!”  “YOU DON’T KNOW POTTER!” shrieked Snape. “HE DID IT, I KNOW HE DID IT —”

In Movie 3, Snape gets a cool protective moment where he shoves the kids behind him during the werewolf attack. In Book 3, Snape is unconscious during the entire werewolf attack because Harry, Ron and Hermione simultaneously decide he’s too dangerous, and too much of a liability to keep around. Here are are some bangers from Book 3 Snape: 

- “Don’t ask me to fathom the way a werewolf’s mind works.”   - “KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!” Snape shouted, looking suddenly quite deranged. “DON’T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!” - “Up to the castle?... I don’t think we need to go that far. All I have to do is call the dementors once we get out of the Willow. They’ll be very pleased to see you, Black . . . pleased enough to give you a little Kiss, I daresay. . . .”  - “I’ll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the dementors will have a Kiss for him too —”

If you sort of squint you can maybe say - okay, maybe this is a PTSD response. Like I’m writing a Snape POV fic right now, you can make it work. But it’s not work the books do for you, and it’s not the characterization choice they make in the films. 

BUT. Snape goes through a little bit of a revamp/retcon in Book 4. It’s totally deliberate - he’s Book 1-3 Snape at the beginning, then he basically vanishes from the narrative… the reader kind of forgets about him…  until it comes up during Karkaroff’s trial that Dumbledore ABSOLUTELY trusts him, even though he was a Death Eater. So now when Snape turns up at the climax - he’s a figure of intrigue, and it makes sense that he’s one of the two people Dumbledore brings with him to deal with Barty. Honestly, it’s a pretty cool magic trick. We buy it when - instead of hissing and spitting and hopping around like he does when he confronts Fudge at the end of Book 3 - Book 4 Snape deals with Fudge like this: 

Snape strode forward… pulling up the left sleeve of his robes as he went. He stuck out his forearm and showed it to Fudge, who recoiled.  “There,” said Snape harshly. “There. The Dark Mark. It is not as clear as it was an hour or so ago, when it burned black, but you can still see it. (...) This Mark has been growing clearer all year. Karkaroff’s too. Why do you think Karkaroff fled tonight? We both felt the Mark burn. We both knew he had returned. Karkaroff fears the Dark Lord’s vengeance.”

Calm, collected, focused. This is a character who you’re supposed to take seriously, a character who you are supposed to respect. 

I think it’s very interesting that after Book 4, we don’t see Snape *bully* the students during class again. He’s strict, and he’s a hard grader, and Harry still thinks he’s unfair, but like… the narrative framing is on his side now. 

“Tell me, Potter,” said Snape softly, “can you read?”  Draco Malfoy laughed.  “Yes, I can,” said Harry, his fingers clenched tightly around his wand.  “Read the third line of the instructions for me, Potter.”  Harry squinted at the blackboard(… ) His heart sank. He had not added syrup of hellebore, but had proceeded straight to the fourth line of the instructions after allowing his potion to simmer for seven minutes.  “Did you do everything on the third line, Potter?” “No,” said Harry very quietly.  “I beg your pardon?” “No,” said Harry, more loudly. “I forgot the hellebore...”  “I know you did, Potter, which means that this mess is utterly worthless. Evanesco.” The contents of Harry’s potion vanished; he was left standing foolishly beside an empty cauldron. “Those of you who have managed to read the instructions, fill one flagon with a sample of your potion, label it clearly with your name, and bring it up to my desk for testing.” (...)  “That was really unfair,” said Hermione consolingly, sitting down next to Harry  (...) “Yeah, well,” said Harry, glowering at his plate, “since when has Snape ever been fair to me?”

Like he isn’t nice, but he also isn’t asking Harry questions he can’t possibly know the answers to, threatening to kill someone’s pet, or calling Hermione ugly. He didn’t even take away house points. And - during the next lesson, we are told that the approach Snape took with Harry actually worked?

Determined not to give Snape an excuse to fail him this lesson, Harry read and reread every line of the instructions on the blackboard at least three times before acting on them. His Strengthening Solution was not precisely the clear turquoise shade of Hermione’s but it was at least blue rather than pink, like Neville’s, and he delivered a flask of it to Snape’s desk at the end of the lesson with a feeling of mingled defiance and relief. 

I want to do one more close read, on a excerpt from Book 5: 

Harry realized how much Professor McGonagall cared about beating Slytherin when she abstained from giving them homework in the week leading up to the match. (...)  Nobody could quite believe their ears until she looked directly at Harry and Ron and said grimly, “I’ve become accustomed to seeing the Quidditch Cup in my study, boys, and I really don’t want to have to hand it over to Professor Snape, so use the extra time to practice, won’t you?” Snape was no less obviously partisan: He had booked the Quidditch pitch for Slytherin practice so often that the Gryffindors had difficulty getting on it to play. He was also turning a deaf ear to the many reports of Slytherin attempts to hex Gryffindor players in the corridors. When Alicia Spinnet turned up in the hospital wing with her eyebrows growing so thick and fast that they obscured her vision and obstructed her mouth, Snape insisted that she must have attempted a Hair-Thickening Charm on herself and refused to listen to the fourteen eyewitnesses who insisted that they had seen the Slytherin Keeper, Miles Bletchley, hit her from behind with a jinx.

This has a very similar structure to the sequence when Snape refuses to punish Draco for enlarging Hermione’s teeth. Slytherins and Gryffindors having an altercation, Gryffindor girl gets caught in the crossfire. BUT a few key things have been changed. One - the section is told in second-hand narration, which makes it less emotional than the teeth-scene. Two - the section begins with comparing Snape to McGonagall: she’s being biased/helping out her students too, so it’s only fair if he does it as well. Three - his insult isn’t “Your face has always looked like that,” it’s “You must have messed up a spell,” which is a lot less personal, and a lot less mean. (If anything, Snape is subtly insulting her for casting a cosmetic charm/being too girly… and being a girly-girl is an inherently suspect characteristic in JKR’s world.) Everything about this passage is set up to create a “Snape the Bully” moment… that kind of excuses Snape. 

So, what do we have? There are the people that think Book 1-3 Snape just went too far, and you can soften the narrative framing around him, and you can add in as many tragic backstories as you want, and it doesn’t really matter. THAT is definitely not what JKR wants you to think. She wants to bring you along for the ride, and (as you can tell from the framing) she's started to like Snape a lot.

HOWEVER. I do not think that the fan who likes 5-7 Alan Rickman Snape is… quite seeing the same thing she is. I get the sense that in the text, Snape’s tragic backstory is not meant to *explain* his bad behavior so much as it is meant to *excuse* it. He stays mean and bad-tempered… but he’s allowed to be, both because he is always acting in service to a Good Cause, and because he was abused at home, bullied at school, etc. A big part of why I think JKR likes writing Snape so much (and why she’s so protective of him) is because she finds something cathartic in letting a character be nasty… but for it to be allowed because they’ve suffered, and also because they're in the right. Sadly I think this describes a lot of her current online interactions. 

JKR also loves the idea of *pining.* (It is crazy how long the main characters’ pining/longing/will-they-won’t-they thing in the Cormoran Strike books has lasted.) It’s a very safe kind of romance, and (again, sadly) you can tell from her writing that romance is not generally something that feels safe to her. Snape is sometimes characterized by those who dislike the character as an incel-type who wants to possess Lily, and I just don’t think that’s in the text. If anything it’s the other way around. Snape has some unconsummated, medieval courtly love thing going on, where he has decided to live his life in Lily’s service. 

I wrote about why I think Draco Malfoy (unintentionally) appeals to fans. With Snape…  I actually think a lot of his current (unintentional) appeal comes from the way a softer Snape reframes the narrative into something more complex, and especially the way it reframes Dumbledore. Manipulative/Morally Grey Dumbledore is a *very* popular fan interpretation, and the way you get that is with a sympathetic Severus Snape. 

“You disgust me,” said Dumbledore, and Harry had never heard so much contempt in his voice. Snape seemed to shrink a little. (...)  “Hide them all, then,” he croaked. “Keep her — them — safe. Please.”  “And what will you give me in return, Severus?”  “In — in return?” Snape gaped at Dumbledore, and Harry expected him to protest, but after a long moment he said, “Anything.”

The implications here are really far reaching. Because to me, the main question when it comes to Snape is - why does he STAY at Hogwarts? He clearly hates it, why doesn’t he just leave? If you’re talking about 1-3 Snape, it's because he’s eternally holding out for the Defense Against the Dark Arts job, and he’s just kind of a twisted miserable guy who would probably be equally miserable everywhere. 

But books 5-7 add the context that he’s brilliant, he’s brave, he’s principled, he’s got a sense of humor. He seems close with the Malfoys. He has *options.* So now the (unintended?) implication is… he doesn’t leave because Dumbledore won’t let him. The fact that he keeps applying for the DADA job becomes dark and borderline suicidal when we learn it’s cursed, and that Snape knows it’s cursed. If he takes it, he’ll leave (or die) at the end of the year. That means, every year, he’s tacitly asking Dumbledore “Can I leave?” And Dumbledore is answering “No.” 

That’s such an interesting, juicy character dynamic. Snape is being kept miserable on purpose because… he’s easier to control that way? And if that’s true… then oh boy is it sinister that Dumbledore left Harry with the Dursleys. He knew he was raising Harry “like a pig for slaughter” (as Snape puts it.) And if Harry doesn’t have a support system, if he’s miserable, if Dumbledore can swoop in as his savior… then doesn’t that make him so much easier to control? 

[pianokantzart]

My Theory on Pachacamac and The Iblis Trigger

There is talk about how much they changed Pachacamac from a warmongering, power hungry tribal leader, to a goofy grandpa figure, but I think the truth of Pachacamac's nature might be somewhere between the two interpretations. Despite his friendliness, you can't forget he did lead a clan that wiped out the owls with a singleminded focus on capturing Sonic and reclaiming The Master Emerald. Pachacamac, now a ghost, has visited Knuckles to tell him he needs to expand his tribe. There are no other echidnas left, so he asks the sole survivor to take on an apprentice. "Show him our customs, teach him our traditions, and soon our tribe will grow once again."

There is no acceptance or acknowledgement of the fact that the clan's current situation is the result of a bloody feud and the destruction of an entire race besides their own. There is also, unsettlingly, no acknowledgement of Tails, Sonic, or The Wachowskis as members of Knuckles' clan.

While there are questionable elements to Pachacamac's approach, his motivations are at least understandable. Knuckles is a minority– the last of his tribe and the only surviving member of his species, so of course his old chief wants to see their traditions and culture preserved.

Things only get really weird when Pachacamac takes hold of Wade– Knuckles' apprentice and the soon-to-be new addition to their clan–and rewrites history. Rather than the tale of a lone owl that the echidnas hunted down in a quest for power, the story is instead of an entire flock of owls that were the aggressors, killing off Knuckles' tribe and burning down his village for no reason other than for the sake of the slaughter.

Similarly, Knuckles isn't described as a lost child left behind, but a fellow warrior who battled alongside his father until the bitter end.

So, knowing that Pachacamac's version of events is wrought with lies leads to one very serious question: What is the true story of Knuckles' battle with Iblis? If there's one thing we know about The Echidna Clan, it's that they are fixated on raw power. They're a warrior-focused society where the best fighter gets the highest honor and the most privileges. They were the ones who crafted The Master Emerald from the seven chaos emeralds. They were the ones who tracked down Sonic when he was a child with the intention of obtaining his power, before Long Claw wiped them out in her final struggle.

And who else do we know that was accidentally unleashed in a reckless pursuit of power?

Iblis, the raw power of the sun god Solaris. Iblis, who was sealed away within a child using the power of the chaos emeralds.

Now, there's no doubt that "The Flames of Disaster" in the SCU are very different from "The Flames of Disaster" in Sonic 06. In the movie universe the flames are merely a type of wieldable power rather than the name of an apocalyptic event. However... what better way to rewrite the fact that the echidna tribe nearly caused the end of the world and locked an immortal fire demon within an echidna child, than by pretending that The Flames of Disaster is just an inherent ability Knuckles unlocked through an epic battle?

What if "The Flames of Disaster" wasn't a power he obtained through a magnificent fight, but a power he survived after it was thrusted upon him by his elders? ... What if one of the many, many reasons reasons his father didn't let him join the fight was out of fear of what would happen if he cried?

[thebaronsilver]

First of the bat, let me say this as a disclaimer. I love the og Percy Jackson series. Secondly, my fav character is Nico and then the Percy from the og series.

Do you know why I make this distinction? Because, Heroes of Olympus ruined Percy's basic characteristics.

Just think, this is the percy who was bullied in almost every school he attended (except, maybe, Goode). Even, camp half blood,till he came back from the first quest. This is the guy with so strong a sense of loyalty that he was willing to get into trouble with the teachers for Grover when they studied together, was willingly an outcast because he would rather be friends with the one guy everyone picked on and thus be bullied himself. He was pretty excited to have a brother once he got over the whole Cyclops thing, too. This is the same guy who spent all his free time looking for a runaway kid who said he hated him. Maybe it was out of misplaced guilt. Maybe it was due to the fact this guy big brothered everyone he could get away with. (Atleast, I felt like that.)

While we're on that issue. Was Nico right to blame Percy for Bianca's death? Absolutely, not. But he was also a grieving ten year old who just lost his only family (even though she had, in a way, already left him behind. But that's an entirely different rant on the Hunters as an institutions. Bianca was also a child, remember.). And considering that Nico changed his tune once he found the truth out and even helped Percy and the camp willingly afterwards, I like to think he more than made up for that mistake.

There's even a part where Percy refuses to burden Nico with the prophesy and claims it for himself. Considering that till then he was trying not to even think about it, I believe we can easily claim that Nico was in some ways important to Percy. Maybe not in the same way his Mom, Annabeth Or Grover was to him, but still an important person.

Then we have in the last Olympian, Percy using Nico as an example why Children of Hades shouldn't be treated as Pariahs. Because if not for him and the reinforcements his powers brought (not even counting the three whole deities he brought along) the casualties would have been higher. (It was Hades who locked Percy up. He even confirms that Nico hadn't had a clue. Nico in turn broke him out and got himself in trouble. Then in a turn of events, Percy starts to blame Nico for something that wasn't in his control. A reversal of roles so to speak. I had thought that it had been momentary anger on Percy's part, but apparently considering all the references to how Nico betrayed him in the HoO, it wasn't. He'd pushed it aside momentarily, it seems.)

Percy was not to blame for what happened to Nico in the original series. Life isn't fair and it just happened to be extra unfair to Nico. Even then Percy went out of his way to look after the kid, to make sure he had a safe space.

This is the Percy who I liked. The Son of Neptune only emphasised this. Even without his memories, he took Hazel and to a lesser extent Frank under his wings. He actually recognised Nico in a vague way. Not just Annabeth (which is something else I have beef with. What about his mother? Why didn't he remember Sally till a lot later and even then he didn't let her know he was safe till a lot later?)

Then comes the Mark of Athena. He apparently told so many horror stories to the 7 that there was a debate on whether or not they should save a 13 year old demigod, the brother to one of them, from a preventable death. This wasn't like the Titan war were demigods could be the enemy. Then why was there even a debate? It's like all that loyalty disappeared. This is the guy that was once bullied at every school he's attended. Doesn't he know the impact of telling tales when people aren't there to defend themselves? To tell the whole story? Then House of Hades. Every single person in that ship thought that Nico was spooky, creepy whatever and all that poor kid was doing was exist. He made himself scarce, barely spoke unless necessary and even then they were like ew, creepy. It's like Percy's personal loyalty became loyalty to just Annabeth. Fuck whatever happens to anyone else. It upsets me.

The later books ruined Percy as a character. And I will stand by this.

[artiststarme]

Don't Call Me Stupid

Can I make you cry four times in one day @pyrohonk? I hope you guys like it and please leave your thoughts in the comments!

Now with a Part 2!

~*~*~*~

Steve was used to being the dumb one. He was the kid in class that would ask stupid questions that the other kids and sometimes even the teacher would laugh at. He never quite understood what teachers were saying in class or what the words written on the board were supposed to mean with their squiggly letters that jumped around. Eventually he learned not to raise his hand at all. Better to be confused than embarrassed, right?

Nancy, when they were dating, would always call him an idiot. He brushed it off at the time but looking back, it made him wonder. If he was a little bit smarter, a little more astute, would things have gone differently? Would Nancy have sought comfort in him instead of running off to Jonathan? Would he have noticed Barb’s disappearance from his yard that started all of this in the first place? He had to wonder but even that wouldn’t change anything. 

His stupidity was also a highlight point for his parents to focus on. He once was the popular jock, an airhead but one that was popular and good at sports. Now, he was just a deadbeat that barely graduated high school and certainly couldn’t get into college. He was a loser working at a dead-end job that was going nowhere in life. Ah, what pride he brought to his parents now. He could only grieve the life he used to lead every time he saw his parents staring at him in disdain. At least he had the Party… right?

It was a well known fact throughout the Party that Steve was a little slow. His brain worked at a different pace than the rest of them, a concept woefully apparent to everyone. His brain was focused on the music underlying the Russian code and the Black Widows underneath the floorboards. He was the last to connect the dots and truly only helped the Party by taking hits to the head. They only kept him around to take the hits after all. 

Even Robin, his best friend in the world, his platonic soulmate with a capital P, called him a dingus on a near hourly basis. Sure, it was affectionate now but it started as a derogatory term to poke fun at his intelligence, or lack thereof. He was a fool in her eyes, affectionate or not. Even still, he was just the dumbass that slept around with half of Hawkins, a sassy soundboard for her to bounce lesbian crushes off of. 

He was used to being called stupid but it still hurt every time. 

So in the first fight he and Eddie have as a couple, it really hits a sore spot when Eddie hisses, “what are you, stupid?”

All of the fight drained out of Steve in an instant leaving a broken, empty shell in its place. His anger melted away to reveal the hurt hidden underneath. “You should go.”

“What? No, we’re talking this through,” Eddie shook his head, giving him a look of confusion. 

“I probably won’t understand anyways since I’m so stupid. So you should go, save your breath. Whatever you think is probably right anyways.” With that, Steve walks up the stairs to his bedroom and locks the door behind him. He pulls his old Walkman over his ears and lets the sad tones of Queen’s All Dead, All Dead wash over him. 

He was sick of being treated like trash by everyone he talked to. Everyone that was supposed to love him; his parents, Nancy, Robin, Eddie, the kids. They all thought he was a dumbass. He’d tried so hard to be better, to be smarter, to be more useful to everyone else. But in his quest, he lost everything that he once was. He lost his charisma, he lost his old friends, and his hobbies to become this loser who still no one liked. 

So, he ignored his boyfriend’s knocks on his door, turned up his tunes, and planned his move away from Hawkins. If he wasn’t appreciated here, maybe he would be anywhere else.

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[pausegame]

Lucanis is so cute 😭🥺💜✨🐦‍⬛ Emmrich is as well 🥺💜✨☠️

Some spoilers for Lucanis's romance under cut I have to gush and talk about him and Emmrich a little. They form a full necrosis team with my Rook which is great against Antaam encounters (and for a few bosses in the Crossroads behind locked doors), so I've gotten a good handful of their banter.

Also random thoughts and some comparisons from others a wee bit, since I'm not done.

Romanced Lucanis with my Crow because it felt right in my soul, and got to know that Emmrich ends up seeing Strife if not romanced himself 🥺💜 There's a brief cutscene between Lucanis and Emmrich discussing what would be a suitable date which Rook walks in on and is able to recommend.

Later there's follow-up banter between the two where Emmrich says Strife does indeed like knives as gifts (Lucanis had recommended knives as gifts prior), which Lucanis says he'll recommend his blacksmith. In a follow-up Emmrich asks who he gave a knife to as a gift, and Lucanis said another Crow a long time ago, and that he was never good at flirting like his cousin. When Emmrich asks why that didn't turn out as well as he assumed it would (since you think it would, right?) Lucanis reveals that he and the team had already met the Crow in question, and can glean his personality and why he wouldn't be into it, implying it was likely Viago.

Another banter has Emmrich expressing concern that he and Strife arr very different and don't have too much in common, to which Lucanis says the two like to be around each other and both like to discover things and poke them (in Emmrich's words then, a shared passion for discovery), which is more than can be said of Illario's string of partners. When Emmrich asks about Lucanis's dating history, he reveals Rook would be the only one, and he doesn't know what they see in him, but he's happy, and likes being around them.

I think I'm near the end of the game but so far his romance has been incredibly pure and friendly 🥺💜 There's only been one instance where they almost kiss, and nothing more. I could make the argument that Rook hangs out more with Davrin casually than Lucanis lol. You recruit Davrin after Lucanis but aside from taking him on missions and killing Antaam his bond progression is a lot slower/spaced out in segments different to the story. Davrin is a good comparison point since a lot of the middle of the story has to do with the Wardens, so building a bond with him goes incredibly fast and in a pretty steady order.

The titles of Lucanis's relationship phases is super cute though: Flirting with Danger, Personal Demon, and finally Rook's Talon.

I will kind of nitpick at BioWare's animations for general cutscenes though because the last personal mini quest/hangout with Lucanis I got, I probably would've preferred if both he and Rook reached across the table and held hands, grazed fingers, or for ease of factoring in race choice and animation differences, their pinkie or index reaches out to brush the other person's briefly, or if visually their coffee cups were touching but I'm very Repressed Victorian like that. Although IMO I think slight touches would be pretty big for Lucanis so those would be pretty meaningful for him to have someone to hold on to. Also Pride & Prejudice (2005) and period drama hand holding has me by the jugular so they would work really well in a fantasy setting.

I did hit flirt options with everyone else and instigated opening up for romance with everyone but Taash and Harding bc I wanted to see how that played out (it's very cute) and out of Emmrich, Bellara, Neve, Lucanis and Davrin, Bellara's is the only one that isn't interrupted before a kiss can happen (they don't kiss though, it's just a conversation). Emmrich's doesn't have a kiss at that point but there is an interruption. Lucanis, Neve, and Davrin all lean in for a kiss but Neve and Davrin are interrupted, while Lucanis pulls away himself to clear his head.

That initial almost kiss with Lucanis so far is the most suave he has been lol he's really earnest and sincere 🥺💜 which is very different from the stage Zevran set, not that Zevran isn't those things, but Zevran fits the Antivan Romantic vibe whereas Lucanis feels like an introvert. His story factors a lot into it, of course. He's very thoughtful and maybe a little distant, measured. Flirt options with him feel subdued, and I'd say he speaks with his eyes and the looks he sends, which are all beautifully animated.

I do wish that a romanced Lucanis is factored into the story of Treviso, esp if Rook is also a Crow but I can guess they wanted it to be easier for whatever faction for the story. It would have been nice though. I haven't gotten a whiff of any ambient dialogue about them being a thing, and I think it should be, considering who Lucanis is and how well known Rook becomes throughout the course of the story.

My Veilguard vacation is almost over so I'll be going the rest of the game at a normal human pace with a day job but it's been a lot of fun, and I def have to go draw a ton of meaningful glances and finger brushing between Rook and Lucanis once I'm done the full game 🐦‍⬛💜🐦‍⬛

[an-apowell]

Mohg enters the tower and focuses on Ranni, limp and nestled amongst the crystals where Radahn thrown her. Ranni with a harsh tone: I quoth it ere and I shall repeat mine words. I shall not help on thy quest. Mohg, shrugging: Sure, Doll. Ranni as Mohg scoops her up: Do not speak to me that. Put me down. Mohg with Ranni tucked in one of his arms collected her hat with the other and started for the tower's stairs: Ranni, right? Radahn spoke a lot about you. Nothing good, I should mention, however... I did pick up some things he didn't quite want to say but wanted to. For my own curiosity, enlighten me. Mohg sets Ranni down on a table on the second landing of the tower, away from the commotion. Ranni: I’d grant thou a nasty look yet you’ve already got one. Mohg's chest shook with a chuckle, but he tried to stay serious, dusting off her hat: You're the one behind the night of black knives, yes? Ranni, almost annoyed: Indeed, I marshal't the night through fearsome rite. Now, thou bring everyone so much joy when thou leave the room. Mohg, locking eyes with her: Why did you do it? Ranni: To cast away my flesh- Mohg: No, I mean why Godwyn? Why kill him? Ranni, confused: Why doth it matter? Mohg: Enlightenment... Oh, right. Also, hi Lord Mohg, Lord of Blood, and descendent of the Golden Lineage. The last part ain't my favorite thing to say. Ranni didn't expect this. A member of the Golden Lineage, let alone an Omen, at her door: You jest. Mohg: I wish I was, so... enlighten me. Ranni watched Mohg for a second or two: 'i one word. "Opportunity." Mohg, shrugging: In many, he was you, but not. A soul that is equal to or more exchanged for your body. An empyrean for an empyrean. Don't want to go after the related twins, kill one the other will surely want revenge- Ranni: And thou do not? Mohg: I don't care, honestly, but I liked your answer; "Opportunity." Mohg places Ranni's hat back on her head and fusses with it a bit to get it right: One opportunity can change the course of a battle or change the course of your life. However, sometimes I wish that he was still around so I can throw him into a few choice walls. With a tap of her brim, Mohg turns and starts for the steps down: But in this day and age, wishes don't come true. Only actions make a difference. Ranni closes her eyes: Wait. Thy situation doth intrigue me and I am curious myself what thou would doth. I shall not say to Radahn, yet I shall say to thou what I wot.

[omartinyosef]

THE THREE WATERFALLS ULTIMATE THEORY

So. Okay. Let's get this shit done.

The waterfall as a symbol can be interpreted in many different ways, depending on cultural, historical, and personal context. Here are a few common interpretations:

Nature: Waterfalls are often seen as symbols of nature's raw power and beauty, representing the majesty and grandeur of the natural world.

Change: A waterfall symbolizes change, as it is a constantly moving, evolving entity. The flowing water can represent the passage of time, or the journey of life.

Cleanliness: The waterfall's cleansing properties can symbolize purification and renewal, often used in religious or spiritual contexts.

Abundance: Waterfalls are often associated with abundance, fertility, and prosperity, representing a source of sustenance and life.

Adventure: Waterfalls can symbolize adventure and excitement, representing a journey into the unknown and a quest for discovery.

Continuity: The waterfall also represents continuity and the flow of life – how life flows, including its highs and lows. 

So. Mike said ''three waterfalls''. Giving the word waterfall the last meaning, it symbolizs that life keeps going. But using the meaning of change, the thing changes (haha humor de cuñado).

Three waterfalls. Three ''changes''. Okay. What could this mean? Of course something that changes the whole series. Something that screams revolution 'cuz it's the end of the season and all that stuff.

Also: ''Waterfall change management is a sequential and linear approach to managing changes in a project or system.''

This could mean that, through the whole season, we are gonna see three important changes/plot twists, but happening slowly? And the three waterfalls Mike said could be the final product of those changes. Of course Mike and Will are gonna have romantic interaction in season 5. And shut up you milkvans 'cause it's undeniable. Like, really. It's confirmed Will's in love with Mike, so it's gonna be a important part of the season. And if we think about byler happening, we have one change.

Another change that could happen is El and Mike's relationship. 'Cause if they break up we will have a change that affects the whole series. And with that we have two changes. Now third, which i dont have any idea of what it could be. Let me know in your comments. And if we think about the video games, surprise!! Often a video game has a secret hiding within a waterfal. So, this is gonna be like 3 secrets developing on season 5.

Like, could this be a pararell with 'Fantastic beasts: The secrets of Dumbledore?'', cause there's 3 secrets along the film. And the first revealed secret (that we all knew about) Is that dumbledore and Grindelwald we in love. AND we know that will's in love with Mike. So DING DING DING!!! First secret. Also, it's clear that One/Henry/ Vecna is hidding something about Will. Cause like, really, look at this

This is NOT a demogorgon and It used telekinesis to open the shed's door will locked. And manipulated the lightning. Bro. Fr. So we will find out why Vecna took Will and not anyone else. And DING DING DING!!! Second secret revealed. The third secret could be that this little guy:

LITERALLY SCREAMS:

(I use this flag cuz idk if you think mike's bi or gay)

So this three waterfalls have 3 secrets behind them and through the season we will see our dear characters face it and solving their messed up shit?

Maybe.

Good Lord i dont even know how i did this

[il-predestinato]

Elle, you are actually writing a Hogwarts AU???? 🙈🙈🙈 When is it set timeline wise? What year are they in? Houses I think I know, but the rest???

Hi Pi! Oooh, I mostly have notes on this one and not much written! Except for this little snippet (probably a cut scene rather than part of the fic). I'll share another super short snippet and then some rambling answers to your questions: 😁

Before Max could blink the sleepiness out of his eyes, he was already soberly aware that he was - most unfortunately - alone in bed. After a disgruntled rub across his eyelids, he was able to crack open enough of a slit to glare at the empty pillow beside his own. A head-shaped indent stared back at him mockingly. A torn piece of parchment sat neatly at the centre of the indent.

He snatched it up and frowned at Charles’ offending penmanship:

‘Had to take care of a secret Slytherin thing something’ followed by a creepy scribble of a smiling niffler (or perhaps a Dementor - Max couldn’t be certain, no matter how long he squinted at the poorly drawn lines; no one would ever accuse Charles of possessing artistic talent).

‘Meet in the Prefect's bathroom at 0800!’

“Maybe I won’t,” grumbled Max as he crumpled up the piece of paper. Of course you will, he can almost hear Charles’ self-assured, scoffing rebuttal.

He grabbed his wand from under his pillow and casted a silent “Incendio.” The Silencing Charm that Charles cast around Max’s four poster bed from the previous evening had likely worn off by now. He couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face as he watched as small embers transformed the parchment into ash. While Charles may be uniquely gifted at wandless magic, Max still had him beat in nonverbal spells - much to the chagrin of his Slytherin rival (sometimes friend always thorn in the side occasional bedmate).

-

Some notes:

Timeline wise: 2013-ish because they are 15 (fifth years)

Both are still born in 1997 (kind of cool that canonically both would be born at the height of the second wizarding war)

Max is a Gryffindor and Charles is a Slytherin

Story is a long-ish one shot. Title is "Unforgivable"

My base storyline is borrowed from a quest in the Hogwarts Legacy game (minor spoiler alert):

Charles has a sick family member at St. Mungo's who is suffering from a blood curse and is basically beyond all magical help. There is a secret Slytherin spell book hidden in the Scriptorium (think Chamber of Secrets, but a different room) rumoured to lead to a spell/artifact that cures dark curses, so Charles wants to retrieve it. Max is ... not a fan of this idea, because Slytherin was a pretty dark wizard and all around bad guy, so nothing good can possibly come out of this. But it's Charles so of course he chooses to help and goes down to the Scriptorium with him. There are a few tests (e.g. puzzles, speaking Parseltongue, etc.), each unlocking a set of gates, but you can't turn back because the gates lock behind you as well. At the last gate, there are a bunch of creepy skeletons (because people died here after getting stuck) and tortured faces on the gate/the world "Crucio" engraved on the floor. Max and Charles figure out that in order to pass the final test and not starve/die down there, they must successfully cast Crucio. And that's really the climax of the story. Who is going to cast it on who? Also, as Bellatrix explained in the books, you must have intent and truly want to cause pain and suffering to succeed in casting it... In the Hogwarts Legacy game, three characters are involved in the story: Sebastian Sallow, Ominis Gaunt, and Y/N [aka. player character] (yes, don't worry, I'm laughing at myself for using this term given my well known 'love' for uh... imagines 🤢). Ominis refuses to cast Crucio. It comes down between Y/N vs. Sebastian. In my fic, Charles would be loosely based on Sebastian, and Max is a combo of Ominis and Y/N (sorry, I can't keep a straight face whenever I type this.) Let's just say I have an entirely DIFFERENT idea as to how this plays out between Max and Charles (can anyone guess?) compared to the game.

Other super random details from my notes:

Charles and Max have a fierce quidditch rivalry (yes, there was an inchident with a puddle, because the puddle is a universal constant, a fixed point in time and space if you will).

Both are Chasers (but they do like challenging each other to one-on-one seeker games).

Max made the Gryffindor team in his first year (just like the Boy Who Lived) which irks Charles (who made the Slytherin team in his second year).

Charles' Slytherin teammates include George (beater), Lando (chaser), and their new seeker (Oscar).

Max's teammates include Carlos (chaser, Head Boy) and used to include Lewis (chaser, graduated).

Max really likes the grass flavour of Bertie Bott's every flavour beans and one time, Charles bought like - 200 boxes of every flavour beans and spent all night picking out all the grass flavoured ones to put into one box to gift to Max.

Charles is better at wandless magic - raw and uncontrolled power - but Max is better at nonverbal magic - precision and controlled power.

Charles is great at Charms and [hilariously] Divination (umm... he IS called 'il predestinato'), Max is great at Transfiguration and Potions. Both are excellent at Arithmancy (math nerds) and DADA.

Max's wand is vine, 12 ¾ inches, phoenix feather, reasonably supple. Charles's wand is yew, 12 ½ inches, dragon heartstring, fairly stiff. And yes, I spent like 30 minutes reading up on wandlore until I was happy with the choices. 🤣

[anacat195]

Some additional snapshots of my time with Palia so far.

- Hodari mentioning how Najuma’s mother had a fiery temper/hair. Me (a redhead): So what I’m hearing is you like redheads….

- A pro tip: you do not always need other people for flow trees. It’s polite to call them out, but sometimes it’s a super small tree and with the iron axe you can outpace the healing yourself. It will only give like 2-3 flow wood though.

- The devs mentioned a few times that you do not have to engage with all of the mechanics if you don’t want to and there are built in ways to work around requirements. I personally feel this is misleading because there is a main story quest that requires you to turn in rare fish/bugs/etc. And there are several skills you have to level up to be able to get those things. I am just now at the point where I can grow the bait needed to get those last rare fish. And at least from what I’ve seen on the requests you can only request items that you’ve already obtained once.

- Speaking of requests there is a quest that asks you to fulfill five player requests. Since so many people are joining and we’re all hitting these early quests, I try to use my request slots for easy things other players can give to meet that quest requirement. Just a thing to consider in the spirit of community playing.

- I love Kenyatta and Nai’o’s little fling they got going on. It’s cute. I had considered doing all of the romances just to see all the storylines, but I kind of don’t want to break them up. Maybe I’ll leave them alone until I’m in the mood to cause some drama.

- The furniture building is the most frustrating part for me so far. Chair is pictured with a cute cushion. Build it. No cushion. Bookcase is pictured filled with books and has little drawers on the bottom. Build it. No books, no drawers. 🤬 I’m losing my mind. I feel like I’m wasting resources building things because they don’t look like the picture.

- I do also sometimes find hunting frustrating but that’s because I like to set up my shot slowly more like a sniper and most people are running all over the map treating it like an fps game and spooking all the sernuks. I just try to move to the less traveled areas when that happens; it’s just a difference in play style. Though there was one person doing that who I swear followed me all over the Kilima map once.

- I am once again asking for romanceable Hodari. Let me open this man up to the terrifying vulnerability of loving someone again. It would even make in-game sense to lock it behind max friendship. I’d be fine with it! Hell, lock it behind max friendship with his daughter too. That’s how much I want it. (I also would not turn up my nose at an opportunity to romance Sifuu. I love a buff lady.)

[wxndswept]

I'm realizing that every second Archon character quest (Zhongli, Ei and Nahida) involve the introduction of a weekly boss.

And Venti only has one part to his quest.

Also, if you're not counting the Wolf(while he does function slightly differently than the others, I guess why would you not count him) every region has two weekly bosses. The boss from the climax of their respective story(Dvalin, Tartaglia, Signora, Scara, the whale) and the boss that is directly related to the Archon(Azhdaha, the Shogun, Apep's guardian)

The Knave doesn't really fit there so there will probably be something later down the line more closely related to Neuvi or Furina. Or nothing given what happens in the main story. You can also say that Dvalin fits both categories by being both the antagonist and Barbatos' close friend, though he shouldn't, given that there's a lot that hasn't been touched on in the game, so hopefully the next thing will be that long-awaited Mondstadt expansion that has a lot to do with Venti.

Or just Mondstadt in general, nothing important has happened in like two years. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last big thing there was the fake Albedo fiasco, and that was locked behind an event.

Edit: OH also, Venti, Zhongli, Ei, and Furina have lighter-hearted first parts to their quests that kind of show how they are in the current world, but their part 2 dives deeper into their backstory which is interesting. Nadhia is just kinda dark all around tho. Ei still needs a buffer quest but I like her part 1 and will die on that hill "waifued" my ass

[sportingoat]

Tight Race for Top 4 Heats Up in the Premier League

The English Premier League is living up to its reputation for drama this season, with a fierce battle raging for the coveted Champions League spots.  As of April 7th, 2024, the top six teams are separated by just a handful of points, making the remaining fixtures crucial in determining who qualifies for Europe's elite competition.

Currently, the race for the top four is a six-horse race.  At the forefront are the surprising high-flyers, Aston Villa. Under the guidance of Unai Emery, they've defied expectations and sit just one point behind the current leaders, Liverpool.  Arsenal, who finished outside the top four last season, are back in the hunt, occupying third place with a two-point cushion over the reigning champions, Manchester City.

Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United are also in contention, albeit slightly further adrift.  Spurs, with a squad brimming with attacking talent, are just five points behind Arsenal, while United, despite their inconsistencies, remain within striking distance, six points off the top four.

This congested fight for Champions League qualification adds a layer of excitement to the remaining matches.  Every fixture holds immense weight, with dropped points potentially derailing a team's European ambitions.

Here's a closer look at some key contenders:

Aston Villa:  Their attacking prowess, spearheaded by Ollie Watkins and Philippe Coutinho, has been a major factor in their success.  However, their lack of experience in such a high-pressure race could be a potential hurdle.

Arsenal:  The young Gunners, led by the impressive Bukayo Saka, are playing with a swagger and a hunger.  Maintaining their consistency will be vital in their quest for a return to the Champions League.

Tottenham Hotspur:  Harry Kane and Son Heung-min remain a lethal attacking duo, and the arrival of Dejan Kulusevski has added further depth to their squad.  Their performance in crucial head-to-head clashes will determine their fate.

Manchester City:  Despite their struggles this season, Pep Guardiola's tactical genius should never be underestimated.  They possess the experience and squad depth to stage a late surge.

Beyond the Top Four:

The battle for Europa League and Conference League qualification is also heating up.  Teams like West Ham, Newcastle, and Brighton are locked in a tight race for these coveted European spots.

The Bottom Half:

At the other end of the table, the relegation battle is surprisingly open.  With several teams hovering just above the drop zone, the remaining fixtures will be crucial for their survival hopes.

Unpredictable Finish Looms:

With the top-four race so tightly contested, injuries, suspensions, and crucial fixtures will play a defining role.  The next few weeks promise to be a thrilling ride for fans of English football, with every point potentially making the difference between Champions League glory and European disappointment.

[miloscat]

[Review] Avatar: The Last Airbender: Quest for Balance (PS5)

This show deserves better than this cheap and sloppy tie-in.

Peru-based studio Bamtang are the latest to be granted the Avatar licence, after making some decent kart racers for Nickelodeon. Quest for Balance is the result, and although it’s functional this revival game struggles to live up to the predominately Australian-made tie-in games that were contemporary with the show (and movie).

My expectations were quite high for this given the advances in technology since 2006-2010. But there are always other factors at play in game development, like budget, time, and the experience of the dev team, that are potentially lacking here. What I'm saying is the game feels cheap, from the bland level design to the simple combat to the abundance of rough edges.

Quest for Balance covers all three books of the original show... more or less. The six levels in each try to hit the major points while some episodes and events are skipped over; if you're lucky these will be summarised with a cutscene. But even the significant stuff is dealt with perfunctorily. I did like the side quests in the more hublike levels, with named NPCs and items to find that expand on the world a little bit, although it doesn’t amount to much.

The core gameplay isn’t too different from child/family games we have known such as the Traveller’s Tales Lego games. You explore a level, break objects and interact with interactables, get into fights, and solve some puzzles. Locking the fights into little battle arenas reminded me of the first two Avatar DS games, while the puzzles (maybe the strongest part of the game) recalled the third DS game. I still think I liked those better though.

These gameplay elements are often sectioned off, and the levels are mostly a flat and uninteresting sequence of rooms. There’s an inventory which I barely touched, and an upgrade system that incentivises finding goodies by improving your combat powers. I did get through most combat by just mashing with the most effective characters (Sokka and Toph as far as I could tell) but there is some depth when you’re not just getting stunlocked. Like most of the game it’s just let down by a pervasive clunkiness.

Co-op is available… most of the time. A fatal flaw is not letting a second player participate when the story requires a solo character’s involvement, as well as being unbalanced. That is, when the maximum three-character party is present, player 1 can swap between two of them while player two is locked to only one. These choices hamper its viability as a multiplayer experience (also, my spouse just thought the game in general was subpar and so left me to it).

I’d like to circle back to the cutscenes, as they represent the ramshackle feel of how the game is put together. A mere handful are in 3D, using the game models with some decent animation, which despite being prerendered can chug heavily when a lot of stuff is happening. Some are in 2D, going for a motion comic look but with distressing animated png warping. This includes a cute framing story where Iroh, Bumi, and Pakku are recounting the tale to a Ba Sing Se playwright. Others are brief in-engine dialogue scenes where the characters stand motionless. Or you might just have one of the aforementioned three recounters summarising exposition over a paragraph of text. Even with these various methods of varying levels of effort, they will at times neglect to properly set up the next gameplay portion. It’s frankly a mess.

I also have to mention the voice acting, which ranges from decent soundalike performances (eg. Katara or Toph) to… “an attempt was made”. As far as I can tell from a quick search of Behind the Voice Actors, the only VA that returned was Dee Bradley Baker for creature noises, and even his mastery in the field is undermined when you play one of the dull Appa autoscrolling segments and notice that they appear to have forgotten to apply any pitching down or treatment to his voice?? It sounds bizarre and unfinished. I do have to give the game credit for casting a higher proportion of actors of Asian descent though which is nice to see.

Let it be known that I 100%d Quest for Balance… minus some trophies like the one for completing boss battles hitless. In this janky combat engine and with the bosses as boring as they are, I couldn’t face it. But the game is just competent enough and revisiting stages is streamlined such that I didn’t mind going back for the side stuff, which is my favourite aspect anyway. On the whole though I can’t really recommend this game except to superfans; the old tie-ins are frankly of a higher standard and by virtue of having dedicated instalments for each season, do a better job covering the material on top of having more depth and variety. Plus the first one has an original story! This could have been a triumphant revisit of a beloved story, but it ended up a cheap cash-grab. Oh well.

[muraenide]

4. which muse of yours is your all time favorite? if you stopped writing them: why?

10. what genre do you most enjoy, whether in roleplay, or fiction as a whole? (fantasy, period, superhero, etc.)

QUESTIONS FOR MUNS. // @ramshacklestar

4. which muse of yours is your all time favorite? if you stopped writing them: why?

I have a group of muses who are my all-time favorites. 1st main blorbo: Mukuro Rokudo from KHR The first main antagonist of the first season of the series, but eventually joins the main character's team. Reasons why he did so is... a bit complicated, but he is possibly my first muse and the muse that resembles Jade the most. I still love him but the fandom fell out of popularity and there were hardly any rp blogs for the fandom. I've never actually left the fandom. The fandom itself died for a while, so I simply moved on to other fandoms.

2nd main blorbo: Narsus from Arslan Senki Arslan Senki is so far my favourite fandom in terms of rp experience and content quality. It's possibly the fandom where I met most of my current friends, especially @oftwilight, @madakoka, and @corruptiongifted, and a lot of us are in different fandoms now but we still talk from time to time. Narsus is a rebellious aristocrat in ancient Persia who joined the prince in his main quest to retake his kingdom. Sybil (@oftwilight) played a great Daryun and our muses often fought and squabbled like an old married couple bc that's also their canon dynamic. The fandom had a total of 10+/- people, and we were all friends due to how small it was so everyone knew everyone. I stopped writing Narsus because I fell out of the fandom when the last light novel dropped and it was... bad. We understand that the author got tired of the series and wanted to end it quickly, but it's still a lovely series regardless and I tend to revisit it from time to time.

3rd main blorbo: Sion Astal from Denyuuden Sion is a young puppet king with a split personality and shares his present body with a demon. The light novel is written by the same creator as Owari no Seraph, but the anime covers very little of the main storyline. The interesting parts are locked behind the light novel, but Sion is probably one of the more complex muses I've written. If the main trio were to be compared with Castlevania, Sion would be the Alucard among the group. The fandom had a total of 3 rpers including me, it was funny how dead it was. I left it when the other two rpers stopped being active, but I still enjoy the fandom regardless.

4th main blorbo: Diluc Ragnvindr from Gen//shin Impact I don't remember why I love Diluc but it started on discord when a friend (Cass) dragged me into Gen//shin and loved the grape man. I got very invested in his lore in Gen///pact to the point that I would read both the CN and EN versions, have a folder for all its screenshots since we can't replay events, and even dug out possibilities of the Ragnvindr Family Tree members all the way to the first Ragnvindr Knight. I stopped writing him due to how unbearable the fandom became once people started joining and it became big. I will refrain from going into detail about this though! But Gen//pact is still a great franchise. As someone who knows quite a bit about Middle-Eastern and East-Asian mythology, Gen//pact really portrayed some aspects of the old myths that I've never seen show up in any type of media before, which is really refreshing and honestly eye-opening.

10. what genre do you most enjoy, whether in roleplay, or fiction as a whole? (fantasy, period, superhero, etc.)

I like mysteries and crimes, horror, cosmological science, fringe science, high fantasy, medieval fantasy, anything historical, supernatural, steampunk, and cyberpunk as a set up for my threads. As for themes, I'm mostly an angst and romance writer. I'm a bit picky with romance though, because I do enjoy romance as a subgenre in my fiction/rp, but never a main theme. In the sense that they start off normally and eventually develop a romantic interest in the other. If romance is the only thing my muse has in common with the other muse, I wouldn't find it as enjoyable, and eventually get bored of it.

[s-essha]

OPEN 01 : PHANTOM PAIN.

Damn,  it was that late already? ———   gold hues peeked their way from the monitor's blue light,  pretending to ignore the quest plastered across the screen.   He accepted it,  naturally;   there was every ounce of confidence in him that it would take five-minutes tops,  and maybe that’s what made it lack appeal so severely.   An endless loop of redundancy until a fated release to deliver salvation from impending boredom.   It was so boringly un-funny that it became hard to imagine he’d ever make it out alive from the same-old same-old.   This was the bed he made,  senselessly plundering through main story without a second thought,  and now he’d have to sleep in it.   Not that it made the itching restlessness any less noticeable.

No matter where eyes land,  it’s difficult to ignore the elephant in the room;   no new releases means less content to stuff minds with.   There’s a vapid difference between casually playing games to kill time and immersing yourself in all it has to offer to drown out everyone if not everything.   Not even a decent DLC graces the presence of latest gaming,  like,  how is that even possible?!   With a market as new and diverse and advancing day-by-day…   With that news,  not even the sweetest of DIY candy kits can lift moods for the collective group,  but Idia especially.

An idle stretch states his ultimate point;   maybe it was time for bed,  or at least to rest the few muscles he had used.   In activities pause,  the soreness bit hard enough that a  ( previously )  quiet presence of tender muscle was slowly reaching the point of insufferable.   Frustrating,  but to be expected,  much to any nerd's dismay.   Maybe he had been craving a break all along.   Arms locked behind his head,  exhaling shakily before rising from his chair with a pop that shakes ——   breaking down at 20 years old?!   Just what was his health stat last left at?!   It was hard to determine whether or not that came from his spine or his hip,  dubiously lucid,  bending palms-down over the desk to at least shut off the computer and pick back up where he left off later.   No way he had the brainpower to sit through an extra hour of grinding,  no matter the difficulty LVL.

Whirring shuts to silence.   THAT leaves only two light sources left;   the one from his hair,  and the one from his phone,  preemptively tucked into his hand,  and it’s duty as a light source being taken lukewarmly serious before an unceremonious flop onto his bed, offering no effort made to attempt crawling beneath the duvet. A duvet not even made for the day because re-making it every day was way too impractical.   Clothed enough that the dorm’s sterile chill hardly registered,  so unless he really wanted the extra boost in warmth,  that was also pointless,  yet dwelling on that of all things seemed more draining than previous attempts at entertaining himself.

      “Crimson-shiiiii............”

A groan so distressed anyone would think he was asked to repeat the year.   Clicking open his phone aids his pouting.   Even Crimson was busy!   Crimson!   His online comrade,  his number one virtual confidant!   Placing blame there though wasn’t the idea;   with a family like Crimson’s,  work would definitely be cut out for him too.   Ortho alone was a handful.   A welcomed handful,  though. Idia was left to assume the same about the other's family. Fingers scroll shiftless through messages,  none received since midday yet craving a response, lazy or not, and lips tug into a grin while skimming back through older messages,  shiftless scrolling taking him back far enough to re-live the messages from the moment. Memo to Idia; when they return, they've got raids planned and scheduled.

Focusing on the suggestion rather than drowning in sulk eased the gloom,  anyway.   Not that sitting in pitch-black save for an ever-dimming amalgamation of flamed light presented itself as an 'happy place' of any kind,  but it was better than turning on the lights to uncloak the fruits of his ( to be honest, dysfunctional ) labor.

[denos-ghost]

So you really wanna know why miracles don't happen anymore

You really know why god isn't here?

You really wanna know why heaven has been pernitmally removed from our relm???

Okay

Okay...

But it may change everything

???

Ok........

Back before 2011 god would send angels to improve faith on earth after the atheist revolution of the 2000s

One of gods most loyal angels was Jaseph, he was the 13th angel to go earth in 2010 (13 is the unlucky number) he was adamant about going to the sinful earth at first, but because of his loyalty to God he was sent down. Jaspeh was the last angel to go on these quests, and the last angel to ever leave the heavens,it was also...the last time he ever saw heaven...and will...

Joseph, disguised as a stray cat and roamed the earth...coming across a young boy named...Cary..

Cary wasn't exactly living in the best household, his mother would bring back different men every night and had...sex with them... And his father would smoke and drink. He had a sister, but she went missing in 2006, April 19th...

Cary was abused by his mother and seeked solace in video games, especially the Pokemon series (what a nerd) and the "stray cat". He would sneak the cat into the house with him and slept with him on his bed at night. However...this cycle would lead to the worst incedent ever known to mankind

Cary's awful mom was in the kitchen when she heard a crash... She ran to the noise and found her stinky son attempting to push the dirty cat trough the window. In an act of fury she began aggressively hitting her son publicly in the front yard. Joseph have had enough...

Though I'm unsure of the angel's backstory... something happened in his past that made him...snap, when this happened.

In just three seconds all of Cary's horrible mom's limbs were voliently torn off,and it is said that the father exploded into guts in blood while he was at the pub when this happened.

Cary started violently crying, as even though his parents were horrid, he couldn't help but feel connected to them, and saddened by the appearance of his bad mom's dead body

God had seen this, as he sees everything in our relm.

As punishment he locked Joseph into Casy's ds... The newly released game at the time Pokemon Black and White was in the consle, because despite being abusive, his abusive mom made sure to buy him every new Pokemon game.So Joseph was stuck in the game... This was a horrible mistake by god... As god could see and control the human relm but not the Pokemon relm....

What an awful mistake...

....

Joseph woke up...he was no longer in the world behind the pearly gates...he was in quite the opposite actually... He was in... Pokemon...

Surprisingly he wasn't a Arceus...or even a Pokemon trainer...

He was a timburr, which actually makes sense since god had randomly transported him to the game.

At first confused he wondered the grassy plains endlessly with his rectangle of wood, beacuse despite being with Cary every night, he didn't listen to anything he said when he was info dumping about Pokemon

Suddenly he was jumped by a giant yellow spikey fox, it was a Pokemon that belonged to an unknown Pokemon trainer who started shouting at him, before he knew it, he was in a Pokemon battle where he WAS the Pokemon.

But he saw something, a shadow that was infront of him, it was the player playing the game

He knew what to do...

He started speaking to the child across the screen in what he assumed was her primary language, perfect English....

The little girl was shocked at first, but continued to listen to him.

He described the heavens above and told the nieve girl how she could get there, she was interested....

Suddenly he pulled his timburr hands out of her screen as it turned into a black vortex as she screamed for her mommy.

The little girl was the first victem, she was now a Pikachu in her game...or his game.

He knew exactly what to do

If he was no longer allowed in the world of heaven, he would create his own world

One where he only wasn't a measly angel...but god...

And so it began

Each week a new victem was forced into the game, and brought back as a character from it.

Those who disobeyed him are banished to Pokemon hell

It's like hell but the timburr poke god watches you and laughs as you are tourted as a Pokemon

Despite his power he stays In the Pokemon franchise as an omminescent being, as he is no longer allowed in heaven and would be sent to hell, despite that he is more powerful than our god himself probably...

"If timburr is so evil then why doesn't gamefreak remove him"

They tried to remove him in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet but due to fan demand he was added to the dlc

He is also the reason why every Pokemon game is the same, as Timburr wants to repeat the Pokemon plot over And over again in sick little twisted world. Once he has enough people turned into his Pokemon he will completely rewrite the universe and remake the story of Christianity but in his vision...

He is also gods reason for leaving us, the being he had created was to much for him to spare and completely gave up on Earth, so we can no longer go to heaven.

Phase 1: normal timburr, he seems normal but something is off

Phase 2: strange timburr, his pupils are dilated and his smile is long

Phase 3: eyes form all over his face and keep their track on the player

Phase 4: his wood breaks into to shards in the back of his back... He pull them out and use them as fallen angel weapons

Phase 5: when he is defeated in phase 4 his wood will turn into a cross he is nailed on and his guts are spilled out

Phase 6: His arms will grow longer and black striped and shards of glass, his eyes are also completely black with oil spilling out

Phase 7: his limbs are gone, he is too powerful for them

Phase 8: he is a glowing ball of white, eyes, and Pokemon heads

Phase 9: to scary to describe

You might be wondering how I know all of this... I'm trapped in his Pokemon world, but luckily I have my phone

Plz help