#anyways. just a little nitpick with the game

[nukacourier]

Knowing about taxidermy means I get very annoyed whenever a mounted creature in Fallout 4 needs its meat in order to build it for some reason

[batw1nggg]

i'm making a komahina chart !! process so far

omggggg it looks like its going well !!! also heh . hehehh hajime is reserved . i see what u did there hehehhehehee

[violentlydefending]

KEEP LIVING, ICHI............

[pa-pa-plasma]

i really think the atla fandom needs to take a page out of the One Piece fandom's book & chill the fuck out & also stop being fucking weird. no, not all live actions suck. yes, bright colours are good. yes, the brightness being at a see-able level is good. yes, the actors not looking exactly like the cartoon is okay. yes, indigenous tribes living near/in the arctic have enough resources to make & mend clothes (i can't believe i even have to say this). no, not every fantasy needs to be grimdark & hyper-realistic.

i get that the movie sucked ass, but if you're gonna judge the live action for these things alone, then you better start judging the original cartoon too because that's where it gets it from

[rawliverandgoronspice]

I have so little respect for what TotK does to the series as a whole, it's wild how my opinion just keeps on degrading with time.

And look, I'm not even that big on Videogame Lore. It's a thing that tends to annoy me, especially when it gets in the way of gameplay loops and especially themes; it can absolutely go overboard and mistake broadening ideas with deepening them to fake complexity. It's a thing a lot of videogames do and I genuinely kind of shrug at it in general.

(especially when you see how many lore decisions are made behind closed doors, and it's generally not nearly half as thought out as what fans will eventually do with them --which is cool! I think it's a cool thing worth encouraging! But in general, unless it reveals something new, I don't care about endless details that are striving to be cool rather than meaningfully coherent, which is what a lot of videogame lore is to me tbh)

I'm completely fine with a looser structure or a lack of rigid continuity, if it means we get to introduce fresh new ideas! That's partially why I adore this series, I'm always so curious about what they'll do next!

However.

(putting rest of my short rant under the cut)

Then just don't call it a sequel. Especially: don't call it a sequel and then be contemptful towards people who were invested in the continuity you used as a marketing tool to sell that game.

(and to be clear: I wasn't even one of these people. The sheikah thing doesn't bother me nearly as much as the rancid narrative decisions regarding the current game plot, the downright insulting quest design or the rampant orientalism. I have a ton of respect for BotW, but it's far from my favorite Zelda game. Yet, Still.)

I think I would have been less mad at many of the choices if they had called it a new iteration of Hyrule. I still wouldn't have liked the game, but it would have been easier to put to the side as a misstep as far as I'm concerned. Here, it tries to be a definitive expression of many of Zelda's ideas (returning to the idea of a first kingdom, the Zelink vibes, Ganondorf is back and so is a billion meaningless easter eggs, the highest grossing shadow of BotW that leads them to keep the same artstyle, the same structure even if it makes no sense in that context, the same locations even if there is virtually nothing new to discover about this Hyrule...) while also not committing to anything novel.

They speak about new concepts for each game tied to each ancient civilization, but frankly: what new concept? Sure, Ultrahand and Fuse are cool and novel tools, they are fun and I liked playing around with them, but fundamentally and structurally there is nothing different between the concept of going from shrine to shrine in Botw and then disrupting giant structures to awaken a Sage/Champion in TotK. These are not different ideas, they are the same idea with a vaguely (VAGUELY) different paintjob and a vaguely different toolset at your disposal. It's either a blueberry flavored popsickle, or a lime flavored one; it's still a popsickle.

So to disregard the shoulders you stand on and introduce frankly worse and watered-down and blander ideas of what came before, disrespecting a lot of what pushed a 30 year old dedicated fanbase through all the loops of previous titles by all clomping it together as easter eggs just to satisfy the fans because you do not understand why it was ever meaningful to them apparently; still get the marketing bling of calling it a sequel by slapping a cool gameplay loop on top, which IS cool and I don't want to disregard the content design and some of the side quests and the soundtrack and stuff I'm not saying all of it is bad --but as a cohesive project? It just doesn't work. Where's the thematic unity that *carried* this series historically up until now? The game built around the new feature instead of the other way around?

I didn't want my final opinion on this game to be: this game is microwave-reheated BotW because BotW was the highest grossing success of the entire series, refusing to integrate its flickers of originality and daring and love (like some mechanisms, some side quests, again the soundtrack, the technical achievements, the mood of the Depths, EVEN the dragon thing if I'm willing to be less gngngn about things, etc...) into a coherent whole; neglecting theme so much we can't even agree as a fanbase on whether the game tried to be about relying on each other, about sacrifice, or about some fun stew of undigested japanese conservative values; and overall putting its ambition in all of the wrong (technical + how to kill in a more fun way + eternal empty vastness) places.

But yeah. It definitively is that, and that interview really cemented some of the Nintendo leadership nihilism that I believe led to this product being the way it is.

what if i explode into a million pieces out of sheer anger

[blitzyn]

shut up

childe x m!reader

request: none

a/n -> im sick and tired of winter WHERE IS SUMMER. help i wrote some of this in public so i had to stop myself from acting out some of the motions just to figure out how to write it lmao. guys i kinda made him a little mean i just got a little carried away oopsies. anyways one more non req and ill work on reqs i hope

wc -> 3.8k

cw -> very dubcon, hate sex, a lil bit of blood, anal sex, spit as lube, not a lot of prep, degradation, manhandling, throat fucking, asphyxiation, reader is a masochist, mean dom childe, spitting (in ur mouth like once), chokehold, prone bone position for like 2 seconds lmao, brief descriptions of fighting, reader offs someone cuz he felt like it kinda, it starts sorta abrupt tbh lol, not beta read

Childe fucking hated you. This was old news—absolutely anyone who had the barest idea who he was knew that. Everyone within a twenty meter radius could hear him arguing about something, and it never seemed to be about the same thing more than once. There always seemed to be something the two of you nitpicked about each other, throwing it out into the open which, more often than not, led to a fight with no clear winner.

There wasn’t anything anyone could do about it since the two of you were Harbingers. You were ranked tenth after Signora’s death and The Balladeer’s desertion, just behind Childe who was in ninth. But that didn’t stop you from riling him up relentlessly, even finding some type of enjoyment from his anger because you knew it wasn’t particularly common to see. Really, there wasn’t much of a power difference between the two of you other than the fact that you were less experienced.

As such, you were often assigned to missions together—if assigned meant that you simply joined him when you didn’t have anything important to do, much to his obvious displeasure.

This time, you followed him towards a hideout hidden between large rocks. It was simple, and you preferred that it wasn’t so easily accessible, but you supposed that hiding it in plain sight was acceptable for now.

“I don’t like how easy it is to find this place,” you commented, taking in your surroundings as if you were impressed by how large the area was compared to the small cave entrance. “It’s so obvious.”

Childe only offered you a grunt in acknowledgement, making his way past a few scattered materials on the floor. This wasn’t a facility that the Fatui used as much as before, but some machines were still operational and functioning.

“Ignoring people when they’re talking to you is rude, Tartaglia,” you chided, but you couldn’t care less that he wasn’t responding. “Besides, it’s not like you disagree with me. You wouldn’t want a poor, helpless child accidentally stumbling across this place while they’re playing a game.”

He glanced at you from the corner of his eye, and you could see him grit his teeth when he noticed the smug expression on your face. “Nobody’s gonna find the entrance. It’s been around for years and there hasn’t been a trespasser.”

“Really?” You hummed, nodding slowly to yourself. “If you say so.”

He eyed you warily, instantly skeptical of how quick you were to accept his statement. But that wasn’t important right now—he needed to retrieve some documents and collect money from a few debtors.

“Just… Just stay here. Don’t touch anything,” he instructed, unnerved by how you obediently sat on a rickety chair and watched him expectantly.

“Yessir,” you replied with a playful tone in your voice, crossing your arms over your chest comfortably.

He silently stared at you for a few moments. “What are you planning?” He blurted out, annoyed with the eyebrow you raised in question. “You don’t like listening to me.”

You rolled your eyes at his accusation. “I don’t really favor getting chewed out by whoever needs those papers, so hurry up and get what you need. I’d rather talk to the debtors, anyways.”

He didn’t move from his spot for a few more moments before hesitantly making his way toward an isolated room, seemingly accepting your response. You chuckled through your nose at his reluctance as you swirled your finger around, creating a small rabbit made out of Cryo. It was quiet and unassuming as it silently hopped around before you sent it out of the room, searching for any valuable items worth keeping as you waited.

You leaned back in boredom, shutting your eyes to focus on keeping the rabbit's form. You could feel a faint hint of interest radiating through you from your creation, cringing slightly at the smell of metal before you relaxed again. The rabbit was mid-search when an arrow whizzed past it, nicking its back. Quickly, it fled, leaving a trail of Cryo. The hunter cursed loudly and chased after it, but it wasn't long before it made it to its destination.

Curious, you released your focus on the rabbit as you stood up to pick up whatever it found. You looked up when the hunter suddenly walked through the cave entrance, slightly surprised to know that they hadn't stopped trying to go after your rabbit. The two of you stared at each other before you spoke up in mild disinterest.

"Can I help you?" You questioned, inspecting your find once again. It was shiny and had intricate designs on it, but ultimately worthless.

"Uh... Uh, yes! Yes, you can," they said after a moment, scoping the area in search of their nonexistent rabbit. "Have you seen a white rabbit run through here? Small, quick, and leaving some sort of trail behind it," they described eagerly, taking a few steps forward.

"I'm afraid you can't come in here," you said, raising a hand to stop them in their tracks. You analyzed them for a moment, taking in their appearance. They couldn't have been older than fifteen, with shaggy brown hair and tanned skin.

"Then why are you in here?" They countered stubbornly, crossing their arms. It seemed they forgot all about their hunt in favor of digging into your business.

"That's none of your concern," you replied, ignoring their questioning gaze above your shoulder. "If you don't leave now, I'll have to resort to force."

You bristled a little when you saw them roll their eyes. Too stubborn for their own good, apparently. "Yeah? Well, I'm the chief's kid. What's a weird-looking guy like you gonna do to me?"

You frowned, visibly offended. You stared at them for a moment before raising your dominant hand again, this time letting an icicle form on the tip of your middle finger before flicking it directly at them. In the blink of an eye, they went down with a loud thud. "Kill you," you replied to the body.

You walked up to them and lifted their head by their hair, examining the wound on their forehead with a hum. Blood leaked in copious amounts down their face, and you couldn't stop the grimace when some landed on your foot.

"Oh, shit," you hissed under your breath when you caught a better look at them. You wondered why they seemed so vaguely familiar to you when the realization suddenly hit you-the chief was one of the debtors. You pursed your lips before standing up with a shrug, placing a hand on your chin to ponder different ways to dispose of the body without tarnishing the Fatui's name even further. "I suppose I could just toss them in a lake? Or lure in a wild animal to eat them? Burning's too obvious..."

"What the fuck did you just do?" You heard Childe curse from behind you. You turned around to face him, eyebrow twitching in interest when you noticed his normally void eyes alight with fury. Honestly, though, you didn't quite understand why he seemed so upset. Maybe it was because of how transactions with the debtor may not go as smoothly as he wanted, or the fact that the person you killed was still technically a child.

"Someone found the entrance," you shrugged, unbothered by his reaction. "We don't want anyone finding important information about the Fatui, right? So I killed them. I told you it was easy to spot." You rolled your eyes like it was the most obvious thing ever, which only served to anger him. You tried to make your way past him deeper into the facility in search of something interesting to take when a sudden blur slammed your body into a wall. You let out a pained grunt, instinctively wrapping your fingers around the wrist where he pinned you down by your throat.

You knew he was ruthless when he needed to be, but you weren't given a chance to see it with your own eyes up until now. He was far from gentle, holding your delicate neck with such ferocity it made your skin tingle. It was exhilarating.

"Like hell they just conveniently found the entrance," he spat, his voice low as he glared deep into your watering eyes. "You deliberately lured them in here, didn't you? And for what? Because you were bored?" He refused to slacken the hold around your throat, internally finding that he preferred how you looked when you couldn't breathe.

"You—cough—You're much the s-same, Tartaglia," you strained out, trying to furiously blink away your tears. "Don't pretend you don't crave vi-violence, too."

You could see him grit his teeth just before he tossed you to the floor, watching you cough and regain your breath with disdain in his eyes. "No. Don't compare me to a fucking psychopath like you. I don't kill kids just because I feel like it!"

"To-may-to, to-mah-to," you groaned, rubbing your sore skin. You could still feel his hand around your throat, his grip burned into your flesh in a way that sent a familiar heat through your groin. He took a second to examine your body before zeroing in on the growing bulge between your legs, disbelief written on his expression.

"There's no damn way," he muttered to himself as if trying to convince himself you weren't aroused by him strangling you. With a growl, he stepped forward and harshly pressed a foot on your crotch, merciless with the amount of pressure he used. He watched in disgust as your hips jerked in response, frowning deeply at the pained moan you let out. "You're seriously turned on?"

"If it wasn't obvious—" You were unceremoniously cut off by a swift kick to your jaw, accidentally biting down on your tongue. You tasted the metallic tang of your own blood that originated from your mouth and your nose, wiping it away quickly. Your cock only throbbed with an increased fervor in your pants that strained for release against the fabric.

"Shut the fuck up," he snarled, staring down at you for a few moments, deciding what to do with you now that he had this newfound information in his hands.

"What's gotten you so upset?" You teased him, obviously not taking your situation seriously. You felt a pleasurable chill run down your spine at the fierce look he gave you, sitting up a bit in anticipation when you saw his hand stray down toward his pants, roughly undoing them.

"You just can't shut your mouth, can you?" He hissed, leaning forward a bit to grab a handful of your hair. He yanked you closer, forcing you onto your knees as he pressed the tip of his flaccid cock against your waiting tongue. "Fine, then. I'll shut it for you."

You hummed at the salty taste of his skin, raising your hands up to hold onto the swell of his muscular thighs. He groaned quietly when you dragged your tongue along a prominent vein on the underside of the shaft, looking up at him through your lashes. You let out a garbled moan when he forced you all the way down to the base, seemingly satisfied with the way you gagged a little.

Your nose was buried within his pubic hair as your throat tightened and spasmed, feeling yourself beginning to drool as the thick strands of saliva seeped out of the corners of your lips. You could hardly breathe, but you loved it. You loved the way he tugged on your scalp, starting to move his hips back and forth. You tried to contribute as much as you could, but the way you could feel his cock hardening sent a pleasant ache through your jaw.

"Fucking hell... You're not fit to be a Harbinger," he spat, holding you still as he reached down to swipe a bit of the blood from your nose to messily wipe it on your cheek. You couldn't see what he was doing, but the patterned swipes made it clear what he was writing.

S, L, U, T.

The word sent a jolt of electricity down your spine. You could feel your cock twitch in your pants, leaking a profuse amount of precum that served to stain the fabric. You let out a moan and slipped a hand underneath your clothes, jerking yourself off shamelessly.

He let out a breathy scoff at the sight, but he couldn't help the way his dick throbbed when your throat squeezed around him. "You're too good at this," he groaned, gradually moving his hips faster until he was fucking your face. "You don't belong in the Fatui. You're better off at a goddamn whorehouse."

He relished in the sound of your chokes and gags, finding that he preferred this much more than your voice. He let out a heavy sigh and shut his eyes, tilting his head back in ecstasy as he lost himself in the sensations. He was unaware of how you shifted your hand lower, using your precum as a subpar replacement for lube to push two of your fingers in your hole. You weren't in any particular rush as you leisurely pumped them in and out of you, adding in the wet sounds to your strained moans and ragged breaths. You were brought back to your senses when you heard him bark out a mocking laugh, squinting up at him through the tears that accumulated along your lashes.

"You're fucking pathetic," he muttered lowly, almost to himself, but you knew it was directed at you. "Is this—shit—all it took? You just needed a dick shoved down your throat, huh? Should've known you were such a whore," he demeaned, and you could only whine in response. Suddenly, he leaned a bit forward to press the sole of his shoe onto your aching cock, watching intently at the way you choked in surprise. "Maybe the rest of us should get a turn with you? Turn you into our little fucktoy? Our good-for-nothing cumdump?"

A grin made its way onto his pale face, turned on with the amount of control he had over you. His left hand slid lower, maintaining a firm grip on the junction between the back of your head and neck as his other one moved up to pinch your nostrils shut. He thrust harder, faster, shuffling closer when you tried to tilt your head away. He ignored your muffled protests and focused solely on getting himself off, letting out satisfied groans that you weren't fully there to appreciate.

It wasn't until you could hear a high-pitched ringing did he finally cum, shooting his load down your throat without a care for whether or not you could properly swallow it. He held himself there for a moment longer before he pulled himself away with a harsh shove to your body. You coughed and panted hard, taking a moment to regain your composure before looking back up at him, eager for more.

"Still not satisfied?" He questioned rhetorically. You both knew you weren't done yet, not when you found out how he could get when you pushed his buttons just the right way. "Stupid question, huh?" He huffed a laugh through his nose before roughly kicking you onto your stomach, dropping to his knees not a moment later. He haphazardly tugged your pants and underwear down in one go, ignoring the pained hiss you made when you felt yourself sandwiching your drooling cock between your abdomen and the floor. He spread your ass apart to spit on your asshole, shoving a finger inside you for good measure before jerking himself off using some of his saliva.

"Tartaglia, please—hurry," you whined, looking over your shoulder to meet his gaze. It was satisfying to see you in such a pitiful state, but the sound of your voice, although hoarse and raw, annoyed him.

"Be quiet or I'll leave you here like this," he snapped, giving your asscheek a quick slap before positioning himself over your hole. He rubbed the tip of it against your skin for a moment before pushing himself inside, groaning loudly at the feeling of you clamping down on him so perfectly.

It fucking hurt; after all, you only used two meager fingers to prepare yourself, and even then, you hadn't done much. It burned like he was tearing you apart but in the best damn way. The pain of being stretched out so mercilessly only mixed in with the insatiable fire in your groin, shooting jolts of electricity up your spine so intense you nearly came on the spot.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck! Tartaglia, please, you're so—!" You cut yourself off with a moan when he suddenly slammed himself down all the way, ramming the head of his cock against your sensitive prostate.

"I said shut up!" He demanded, pressing his hips down to grind against you. He wasn't as deep as he could go in this position, but he still managed to fill you up just right. You groaned when he leaned down, pinning you to the ground with his body weight as an arm snaked around the front of your throat, pressing it against you firm enough to restrict some of your airflow.

Instinctively, you raised a hand to grab at his forearm, digging your nails into the scarred skin in a futile attempt to get him to ease up. You could hear every sound that left his lips, every labored breath that brushed the shell of your ear. It didn't take him long to start moving, pulling out until only the tip remained before slamming back into you mercilessly. You could feel every inch and vein with each drag of his cock, your body jolting alongside his harsh thrusts, grinding your dick up and down on the ground.

"God... you're so damn tight," he muttered, picking up the pace. A low moan escaped his throat when he pressed against your prostate just right, ignoring your fleeting struggle.

It was hard to breathe. You could feel him everywhere around you all at once, and it didn't help that he fucked you hard enough to knock the breath out of your lungs. Your moans and whines were strained and hoarse, clawing at his arm, but you knew you didn't really want him off. Your body ached at his rough handling as wet slaps echoed through the abandoned facility, briefly wondering if anyone outside could hear, but you could hardly maintain your train of thought long enough for it to become a concern. He fucked you fast and rough, hips slamming against your ass hard enough to sting, but he didn't find it in himself to care.

"Tar-Tartaglia! Slow...—!" You tried to plead, beginning to find everything overwhelming when you cut yourself off with a squeal. He quickly shifted himself, leaning back to hold your throat with his hands as he pulled, forcing your back to arch uncomfortably.

"No," he replied, tilting his upper half over you just enough to spit in your gaping mouth. He felt you tighten in response as he relaxed his hold the slightest bit, feeling you swallow his saliva eagerly. "You wanted this. So you're gonna fucking take it."

The heat in your belly intensified to an unbearable degree, and with the way he practically filled up every crevice of your hole, you weren't sure you were going to last much longer. With one hand on your throat, he moved his other one down to spread one of your asscheeks to intently watch his cock move in and out of you. He could feel every twitch and shudder you made, and it satisfied him to know just how easy you were to break down despite your initial resistance.

"Fuck... I can feel you," he groaned, yanking your head back a bit to get you to look at him. "You're about to cum, huh?"

It was hard to find the right words to reply when he fucked every thought out of your head, but the panic in your eyes made it clear that you didn't want him to stop so suddenly. And although he wanted to see you beg like the whore you were, he needed to finish this quickly. He still had a job to do, after all.

"You're lucky I still need to collect some money," he growled, glaring at you with familiar disdain. "Otherwise I would've left you like this for hours."

With renewed vigor, he removed his hand from your throat to roughly push your face down by the back of your head, tugging your hips up to bury himself deeper inside your ass. You cried out in ecstasy as your eyes rolled back, making an attempt to withhold your orgasm when he wrapped his fingers around your throbbing cock, jerking you off in time with his punishing thrusts, but to no avail. Barely a moment later, you came with a loud moan, cumming so hard it left you lightheaded and dizzy.

He chased after his own release, giving you a few more rough thrusts before he stilled, burying himself as deep as he could go inside you. You could feel his thick cock throbbing as he filled you up with his cum, shuddering at the warmth before you slumped back down to the ground. He remained still for a moment longer, catching his breath while he watched you tremble. With a sigh, he pulled out, grimacing a little at the sight of his dick slick with fluids, but he tucked it back in his pants regardless.

"Get up. We have to hide the body and get to the chief before anyone finds out you killed his kid," he said impatiently, walking towards the hunter to inspect it.

"Just... Just bury them, or something," you suggested, taking a moment to calm down before pulling your pants up. Finding a reflective surface, you summoned a bit of your Cryo and melted it with your body heat to wipe away the crusted blood on your face.

"Eugh... I can feel your cum," you found the energy to complain, turning to face Childe with annoyance written on your face. The audacity.

"Shut up and let's go. We're already behind schedule after your bullshit." He scowled, picking up the body, already having decided what to do with it. At least it wasn't your problem anymore.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," you said, quickly fixing your appearance. If it weren't for the slight limp in your gait, nobody would be able to tell he just fucked you within an inch of your life. Perks of being a Harbinger, you suppose.

cross-posted on ao3

[essycogany]

Here’s a personal take!

The Sonic Prime 3D models have the best facial expressions seen from the modern cast. Why? Well, I’ll explain with my 0 experience in 3D animation. I’m only explaining as an observer. Not a professional. Anyways, onto the fun.

First of all, let’s talk about the current models in the games. The animators became better at animating them in Sonic Frontiers.

You can tell effort was being put in, but Frontiers still has limits due to the structure of Sonic’s face and eyes. I’ve seen fan animations with this model which animates him wonderfully. But no matter what, he’s still going to have limitations because his hands are too big, eyes are too far apart, mouth looks like it was made to only stay on the side, and more issues. The design frankly looks dead. Even in motion.

In all fairness, this character was built for a 2D design due to it being inspired by Mickey Mouse. But Sonic Unleashed (because they used different models like Dream Team) proves this character CAN be expressive in 3D with a good workable model. It’s not the animation that’s the problem in Frontiers. Here are similar expressions from Sonic Prime and Frontiers.

See how wider the expressions are in Prime? It allows their faces to be more flexible and warped. Prime!Sonic has rounder eyes making his head look easier for his facial structure to have an array of expressions. It’s kind of close to Sonic Dream Team with the minor tweaks of the OG models. Which is why the expressions in that game looked so good. ESPECIALLY when animated.

It’s even why other designs are able to have great facial expressions. The eyes being close together just works. While the OG looks like he’s pushing expressions that’s near impossible to push. Yes, it’s still expressive, but you can see how limiting it is because the eyes aren’t supporting the face. And his mouth is always stuck to one side.

Onto more compliments to the Sonic Prime models. They emphasize the hight differences too. I personally think Sonic and Shadow look like mixtures between their 06, modern, Boom, and movie designs. They have long quills like 06. Their entire look is inspired by the modern designs. Their eyes are shaped similar to Sonic Boom and they have cool textures like in the movies. Other characters count but it most notably is for the two hedgehogs.

The hands are smaller like in the movies and Boom. The pupils being bigger gives volume to the faces. I also adore their fur and quill patterns to give the designs flare. Their gloves have little details too. I especially love how they can change the quills for Sonic and Shadow and make them look similar to a 2D style. Usually they’d make the quills smaller in the games to get that 2D look but Prime Shadow and Sonic are able to have long quills while the animators adjust them however and whenever they need to.

Their mouths are also well animated and smooth when transitioning to different sides of the face. The characters body shapes are also 100% better. While the Game model looks too straight the Prime model has a pear shape torso that are also given to Boom and Movie Sonic respectively. The Prime models look like they were made for action scenes.

I know some people complain about the eyes not going down, but honestly it’s what makes the expressions weaker when used in 3D. I’m glad they have a balance of it sometimes to allow the expressions to get their points across. I really appreciate the colors on everyone also. They look lovely and bright with help of the lighting.

The few critiques I have are due to multiple watches but they’re not a HUGE deal.

1. I can easily see their necks at points.

2. The mouth animation looks weird when characters makes an O shape and the tongues/teeth are jarring.

3. I wish their hands weren’t so flat and skinny. Other models had their hands shaped like Disney characters, but Prime’s hands can look flat sometimes.

These are just nitpicks though.

Even compared to the CGI cutscenes while still good I think Prime conveys a subtly previous models didn’t do too often. Of course the CGI looks amazing and it still holds up, but the nuance in Sonic Prime cannot be ignored. Hope my take makes the slightest of sense.

Stay Creative! 💜

[what-eats-owls]

It matters how you do it

I finished Dragon Age: The Veilguard and had some big feelings about it. Spoilers for basically everything under the cut, and frankly, it won't make sense unless you've finished the game anyway.

First of all: I had a blast with this game. I didn't find Act 1 slow, I did find Act 2 a bit of a whack-a-mole, and then Act 3 kicks you in the kidney (complementary) while insisting it's for your own good.

I've seen some recurring complaints: that it lacks depth/edge/darkness, that it abandons previous lore, that the previous choices don't matter. I don't entirely disagree. To me, it felt like a massive Dragon Age 4 game that pivoted to a different, tighter game after complaints about bloat in Inquisition. The key is that when editing down, there's such a thing as trying to trim the fat and taking a chunk of the roast with it.

I enjoy the concept of Lucanis's character, and the voice actor sold the hell out of him, but the storyline felt like being taken to a museum and allowed to see one (1) beautiful unfinished sculpture. Why did Spite, specifically, work? We know the spirit of Justice became Vengeance by abomination, we knew Solas was Wisdom before he became Pride, so what was Spite before, and why wasn't that tied to Lucanis's own personal arc? (Doubly so if you romance him!)

Similarly, Harding was a delight, and her greenhouse was such a lovely little haven. I would have loved to see more explanation of the connection between plants and the titans, and how Harding's own personal struggles with rage connected to that of the titans. She has every reason to be angry and scared, and the game tells us she pushed that away—but we don't actually see her toxic positivity manifest to that degree, until she abruptly has an angry clone.

On the flip side, I loved the other five character quests, and I felt they had solid, poignant arcs that delivered. I also adored their interactions with the codex—if anything, I wanted to see more of that type of interaction on the screen. You have to fill in a lot of the character work for Rook yourself; Rook has all these interesting potential backgrounds, but I think starting the game playing through those, a la Origins, would have gone miles towards establishing more personal stakes up front and made for a stronger start.

So that's all my nitpicking. But let's talk about the bigger theme: It matters how you do it.

In the first Fade conversation with Solas, he gets so mad when Rook refuses to let him DARVO them about the consequences of his botched ritual. This makes way more sense when you understand he's literally imprisoned by his own regrets, and he needs Rook to have that same kind of regret in order to take his place. His entire arc is about rationalizing binary choices and shitty actions that hurt others in the name of a hypothetical greater good that he wants.

Solas can't engineer every binary choice Rook's forced into, but he uses Varric to maximize Rook's regret. He is trying to quite literally mold Rook into him, and the game is great at presenting this both as a coldblooded manipulation and a broken plea for validation—if you let it. You don't have to give Solas a moment of consideration; you don't have to take time to view his memories, or kill his demons, or listen to those scraps of Mythal still holding onto the good in him. You don't have to do any of it.

But you can. And in the end, it matters.

It matters because for every companion, you can encourage them to either be more nurturing/compassionate or destructive/closed off versions of themselves, and that is frequently tied to continuing or breaking from a cycle. (The exception is either Neve or, presumably, Lucanis, who are forced into the Hardened version depending on which city you save.) These aren't presented as morally opposing choices, just who you want them to be. You can see how the Grey Wardens fucked up bad with griffons and decide they have a better place. You can help Emmrich face his fear by finding deeper meaning in life instead of indefinitely postponing death. You can help them do things differently.

So when you get to the final choice in the game, you may have two options: physically force Solas into saving the Veil, or trick him into it. The kind of binary choice Solas has molded you into making by pelting you with cruelty and manipulation.

Or, if you've taken the time, you can get him to understand he's wrong. You bring out the people who saw the best in him and speak to what he's had to endure, even as you're showing him there's another way. You reach him not as Pride, but as Wisdom. And he goes willingly.

Ultimately, I think DA2 and Inquisition grappled with big questions of oppression and violence, faith and authority. It makes sense for those games to delve into harder, uglier subject matter, and ask you to make binary calls.

But my read of Veilguard is that, at its core, it's about how those decisions are meant to trap you in regret at best, and numb you to rationalizing cruelty at worst. It's why the companion who loses their home city becomes colder, more isolated, in response—more like Solas.

That's why it offers you a third way at the very end, but only if you've worked for it. A better way is possible, yet it has to be more than words. You have to understand where the pain comes from, what maintains and is being maintained by the current cycle. Then, and only then, can you break it.

I can't wait to play it again.

P.S. Utterly obsessed with the Trevisan fish merchant.

[atarathegreat]

Scary Wife Privileges Tokyo Revengers

Featuring: Chifuyu Matsuno, Mitsuya Takashi, Hakkai Shiba

You were getting tired of it, hearing Chifuyu complain about Takemichi and how the man runs things. "He'll come back, I know he will, but it's just aggravating right now."

When he talked about his boss he made little sense. You never understood his ramblings about "any day now." and "It's been twelve years." Some days it was too much and you started an argument with Chifuyu, an argument where he constantly refused to tell you anything about what he meant. It was pissing you off. Majorly. You wanted Chifuyu to be happy, but when he came home exhausted and angry every night, you didn't feel that he was happy.

His friends greeted you as you walked through the big building, smiles and waves from both sides as you walked to your husband's office. Chifuyu had been in a particularly bad mood the whole week and you hadn't made it any better by causing fights when he came home. Remorse was one of the many emotions you were feeling, topped with a cute little bow to compound everything and stamp it in like concrete.

"Fuyu," You spoke softly, a way you hadn't spoken to him in months, "do you have time?"

It was in his eyes, the fact that something had already happened was painted into the dark circles under his lashes. It made your heart lurch as he smiled sadly at you. "Always have time for you, baby." Chifuyu held a hand out to pull you in as you approached, "As long as you didn't come here to fight, in that case, I'm in a meeting." His half hearted joke made you sigh, "Already, today?"

His chest heaved with a sigh, "Trashed his own office. Don't worry, he wasn't mad at me this time."

There was no time for a response as the very man exploded into your husband's office behind you. He was on edge, clearly, but you didn't care about what he had to say. Months of anger from seeing your husband drink until he fell asleep with his face buried in your chest just poured out.

"Shut up. No one cares about whatever bullshit you're about to spout. Is this how you treat all of your workers?" You snapped, hands on your hips as you chastised him, "You're the exact definition of an asshole and so help you if my husband comes home angry again."

Takemichi looked caught off guard, a stark contrast to the man you'd not only met at your wedding, but the man in the stories Chifuyu brought home. He stumbled over his words, but you continued to chew into him as Chifuyu hugged around your waist and smiled into your shirt.

Mitsuya was used to the nitpicking his clients did, often smiling and agreeing, even if he didn't. He wasn't the type to retaliate because of a bad mood, especially since it was going to be something the other person wore and he would never have to look at it again.

And yet he kept having to send you silent glares and pointed looks to keep you from speaking up as you watched him work.

"And maybe if there was more detail in the train-"

"Do you know how long he's spent on this ugly garbage?" You spoke clearly, your nose in a book so you couldn't see Mitsuya glaring at you, "All the detail on the sleeves took two months anyways. And that's not including the beading along the end. Can't you appreciate that?"

The client stared at you, open mouthed and shocked. But you kept on, "To ask for more detail when he's already fixing the fabric to your measurements is... Stupid."

Mitsuya sighed, "Apologies for her."

"Don't apologize for me." When did you get off the couch? "How about you let him finish this piece so he can come home to his family at a decent time, yeah? His daughters are tired of going to sleep without Daddy tucking them in."

The club was loud. Too loud. You cursed under your breath at your husband for bringing you along with him. It wasn't your vibe, the whores and half naked bartenders that walked around while rich, old men played card games. Your dress, the one Hakkai told you to wear so you would fit in while still being modest, was swaying around and scratching at your ankles. People were staring at you as you walked through with your heels in hand. It wasn't your fault, the shoes were hurting your feet and Hakkai had disappeared almost an hour ago. You would've already headed home if you knew Hakkai wouldn't throw a fit.

"Black Dragon trash." You hissed under your breath when you finally saw him. He was laughing with his guys, seemingly ignoring the woman massaging his shoulders. Hakkai zoned in on your hips as you straddled his lap, your chest pressing into his face as you got in the woman's face, "Hands off, unless you want to give hand jobs with stumps for the rest of your life."

The fear you instilled in the woman was attractive to Hakkai, and his men noticed as well. It wouldn't have been the first time you'd left them with raging hard ons, and Hakkai sent a glare at all of them.

"Go rub up on someone else's husband, or so help me god the only use that pretty little mouth will have is sucking food through a straw."

[creepercraftguy]

My thoughts on BOWSER VS EGGMAN

This was easily my most hyped matchup thus far. Knowing that we were getting Bowser Vs Eggman this year, I was definitely more excited for this compared to Bardock Vs Omni-Man.

This matchup carries a fucking legacy with it. These are the two most notorious video game villains of all time, and the chance to see them actually bash against each other is something that, for Death Battle, has been a long time coming.

But was the episode good and did it live up to the hype? Let's see.

Everything is under the cut as per normal, because I will be spoiling the episode:

Okay. Short answer?

Yes.

Yes it did.

You want to know what my biggest regret for this fight was in general? The fact that I didn't think to grab a goddamn bucket of popcorn before I watched it because MY GOD.

I!

JUST!

WATCHED!

SOME!

CINEMMMAAAAA!

I'm gonna talk about this in the order that I normally talk about this, which means I'm gonna start by talking about the analysis, but...to be perfectly honest, I don't really CARE about the analysis this time, lol.

I think it's because it's honestly VERY hard to come by someone who DOESN'T know who either of these guys are and what they can do. Like I said, they're easily the two most notorious and well-known video game villains to ever exist. Even if you're not a gamer, no doubt you know who Mario and Sonic are, and by extention, you should also realistically know who Bowser and Dr. Eggman are.

With that said, I didn't really have a problem with either of these analyses besides the fact that they're a little hard to follow. They were intuitive, but it also just kind of felt like STATS STATS STATS NUMBERS MORE STATS MORE LORE STATS LORE LORE LORE!

Besides the overabundance of lore squishing and stat squishing, it's all good and kind of fun, especially in the editing.

Also, for Bowsers segment, it surprises me just how little time they spend talking about Kamek, despite how in the post-analysis, Boomstick mentions that Kamek is one of the largest reasons why Bowsers army triumphed.

And in Eggman's analysis, they brought up the Hard-Boiled Heavies and...I didn't even see them in the fight the first time I watched it.

Most of the limelight in terms of the minions was given to Kamek, Metal Sonic, Bowser Jr. and Sage, and that's kind of what I wanted anyway, but still, why bring them up if they're not going to show up?

And I expect this, and this isn't a nitpick at all, but there are several points where they talk about resources that don't really matter, because they're never actually used in the fight. They CAN use everything, but we'd be here forever if they did, it ultimately comes down to what's their best kit, and who's best kit is better.

But with that said, I will be coming back to this in the post analysis because there's something else that's kind of important that I need to mention.

Either way, what's most important to me with the analysis and post analysis is that bost combatants are respected, and made out to be as powerful as they can be, and for this battle, that was done very well.

Even listening to the stats, it didn't give me a clear indication of who was going to win in the end, and I actually think that's a good thing because it makes me more hyped for the fight.

Okay, NOW we talk about the fight! YES YES and more YESSSS!

I just want to take a moment to talk about the animator for this fight, MORO. With these analyses, I don't really talk about the actual animators behind Death Battle, because I treat all of them with an equal amount of respect, and I will only talk about the actual animator if the battle itself stands out.

And trust me. THIS stands OUT!

I said in my previous analysis of Joker Vs Giorno that I was really hoping that MORO would blow it out of the park with his battle, because that's what I cared about most of all, and holy fucking hell he DID IT and he DID IT WELL!

MORO first started working with Death Battle in Season 10, and no doubt bringing him on to work on the show was one of the best decisions that Death Battle have made in their entire run. Bill Cipher Vs Discord, Gojo Vs Makima, and Stitch Vs Rocket are just a few of his previous battles, and all of them were hype as fuck.

This one is EASILY the most hype though. The way everything happens in this fight, well...I could break it down and...you know what? I think I WILL!

Especially considering that...well, I can't speak FOR him, of course, but I get the feeling that MORO really loved animating this fight, because the thing I wanted to say about the post-analysis is that it features fully-animated scenes of the alternate outcomes, and a post-battle scene of Eggman's forces signing up for Bowser's army, which we haven't seen in YEARS.

I doubt MORO NEEDED to make these scenes, but he still did it because he cared so much about exploring these alternate outcomes, and covering everything that they discussed in the analysis, so they could go over all of them in the post analysis.

Because there are so many ways this fight could have gone, and thanks to this gigachad of an animator, we got to see all of them.

Okay, but the fight itself, and what we DID see in the MAIN sequence. Yeah...It's GODLY!

Something I absolutely loved about this fight was that going into it, we all knew that this was going to be an all out battle of armies, and everyone leading up to this was "This is less of a battle, and more of a war."

And goddamn it FELT like one!

The ambiance of this entire fight, from beginning to end, felt so goddamn chaotic and...honestly FRIGHTENING! Like, this goes above and beyond just the simple cartoonish antics of the Mario and Sonic series. This fight is fucking GRITTY, and EMOTIONAL! With stuff like the grey sky, the copious amounts of destruction that comes as a result of the fighting, the rain, the ambiance, etc.

And no, that's not me memeing. This generally felt like a short war flick, just with silly superpowers in it. There's genuinely a climactic and emotional weight to this fight, and one thing I noticed upon rewatching is that this lacks something that Death Battle is famous for, and yet it still manages to be a fantastic battle anyway:

Blood.

The lack of blood in this episode is pretty surprising, because when the characters die, they die in ways that replicate their deaths in the original games; i.e. kind of just popping out of existence. Even when Metal Sonic runs Bowser through post-transformation, there's no blood. Bowser just collapses to the ground.

And I actually don't mind it!

I genuinely think that even if this is a war, and it feels like a war thanks to the ambiance, if there was loads of blood, it would actually take away from the experience for me. The lack of blood doesn't reduce the impact of what's going on for me, and I think if there was this much gore, they'd be trying too hard. They were trying to make a spectacle of Mario's arch-enemy and Sonic's arch-enemy and their respective armies brawling each other, and they damn well succeeded.

This is very much backed up by the voice acting from everybody, which in general is very well done. Only three characters; Bowser, Eggman, and Sage, (Metal Sonic gets I think ONE line) speak in this. I don't actually know who voiced Sage, but they do a very good job, but even more importantly is Arthur Romeo as Eggman.

I don't know if Romeo was intending to go this route, but I really like that his Eggman impression is more reminiscent of Deem Bristow instead of Mike Pollock. I love Mike Pollock as Eggman, don't get me wrong, but Deem Bristow (for those who don't know, Bristow is the one who voiced Eggman in the Adventure games) really works for this fight because it's not the kind of scenario where Eggman would be the kooky villain that he is in a lot of the modern games, where it's kind of funny to see him fail.

This fight is treated VERY seriously, and the voice really works for it. As for Bowsers' VA, Zack Watkins (an animator who has been with Death Battle for a long time now, with his first animated fight being Batman Vs Captain America) his voice is pitch-shifted because...well, it HAS to be, because you can't really reach that low gruff voice if you don't. But when he DOES get a good line, he sells it really well. The highlight for me is Bowsers rage after Junior gets whomped by Metal.

The fight admittedly starts very weirdly, even if it's pretty funny. I think what was supposed to be going on is Eggman tricked Bowser into thinking he was marrying Peach so that he could get all of his forces in one place to wipe them out at once, which is admittedly cool in concept, but for me at least, I didn't get that on the first watch. It felt more to me like Eggman pulled a prank on Bowser, then announced that he was going to take over the Mushroom Kingdom.

Also, I know that people weren't very happy about the Snapcube reference, but...what's the problem with it? It's a neat reference, but you're not supposed to linger on it.

But yeah, in case I haven't sold it hard enough yet, this fight is brilliant from the establishing shot that shows the two armies and when they launch themselves at each other, right until the end when Bowser deals the final blow. MORO absolutely KILLED IT, and I CANNOT stress that enough.

Like, genuinely, there was so much stellar animation, and so much emotional weight, power, and feeling to this fight that it genuinely made me tear up a little, and I'm not joking. Like I already said, this was CINEMA, there is no other way to express it.

Side note: I genuinely wasn't expecting Infinite to be in this fight, but its hilarious how he shows up for about...10 seconds, does his bullshit, then dies almost immediately, and I...do NOT care, lol.

Honestly, had Infinite been in the fight any longer than he was, I might not have liked it as much. So to have him here to establish how Eggman has the Phantom Ruby and little more was honestly the perfect way to go about it, especially since we get a brief "clash" (I'm hesitant to call it that because King Boo basically just one-taps him) between Infinite and King Boo with their similar abilities.

And I love how in this scene, you can really see the difference between Bowser and Eggman in that, instead of trying to find a way to fight back against Infinite's control, Bowser is instead using his dark magic to protect his minions, and it's up to King Boo to take Infinite out.

That doesn't only show me how much Bowser cares about his minions like they're his family, but also that he TRUSTS them, because to me, it felt like he knew he couldn't take out Infinite without sacrificing his men, but trusted King Boo to do it.

Both Bowser and Eggman are written masterfully in this episode, and I'm glad because they are already such phenomenal characters on their own, and to show both of them for who they really are inside is wonderful, especially if it's done in a way that is this subtle that it doesn't take away from the action.

Just...GOD I LOVED THIS EPISODE!

I don't want to go into a full breakdown, because we might be here for a while, but beyond this opening sequence that shows how both of these sides are treating this war, here's a list of other moments in the fight that I think were absolutely godlike. And keep in mind this is just a FEW stand-out moments for me personally:

Metal Sonic's transformation into Neo Metal Sonic, and the step he does towards the camera before he pounds Bowser's ass.

The scene where Bowser Jr. turns Bowser into Fury Bowser, and Bowser's "SHOWTIME...!" as he transforms. As I said, even if his voice is pitch-shifted, and even if he lacks in the dialogue department compared to Eggman, when Zack Watkins delivered a line, he delivered it in a pristine package with a nice little bow wrap.

Sage throwing a legion of robots at Fury Bowser, and Kamek building a war of pipes to block it - Absolutely mindblowing choreography.

My absolute favourite moment in the fight: Metal Sonic Vs Shadow Mario, being a nice callback to Mario Vs Sonic, and Bowsers reaction when Junior gets knocked to the floor and is badly hurt. The rage in his voice and the blast he lets out that absolutely DECIMATES not just Metal Sonic, but creates a black hole that wipes out most of Eggman's fleet is so Dragon Ball-like.

Bowser shielding his ENTIRE ARMY against the Death Egg blast! THIS is the moment that made me tear up! Like, how could you NOT root for Bowser after this!? The guy absorbed the full blast to prevent his minions from getting annihilated, to the point where it completely shed his skin off his body and almost killed him, but he held his ground because he would rather have DIED than let his army; the people he CARES ABOUT, get wiped out by Eggman. And then the motherfucker comes back swinging anyway and ENDS that bald bastard!

Eggman's death isn't climactic for the death itself, but for what Bowser does to him during the sequence, as well as the actual setting. Again, the animation and choreography for this episode is godlike, but this shot at the end when Bowser is reassembling himself as Dry Bowser ready to deal the final hit, it's important to note that Bowser has his son at his feet, and his minions rallying behind him. They are in the middle of a warzone, many of their comerades have died, and yet they are STILL WITH HIM! And as for Eggman, he has no one. Not even Sage is there anymore. And as Bowser sucks him in for the final blow, Eggman exhausts all of his options, and Bowser counters all of them. Bowser's final line might as well have been "YOU'RE FUCKED!" because yeah, he just was, and Bowser let him know it regardless. (Also, it's revealed in the end that Kamek also survived, despite being knocked into the horizon by Metal Sonic.)

Alas, despite all this grandeur, I have one minor complaint. Granted, it's not a huge one, and it doesn't affect my overall opinion of the fight, but I still feel like I should bring it up.

I understand that it's next to impossible for every single one of these minions to get a time in the limelight, but what was important for me going into it was that Junior, Kamek, Metal Sonic, and Sage all got some time in the limelight to absolutely kick ass.

And most of them did...except Sage.

It's not like Sage did nothing, but compared to Bowser Jr. and Metal Sonic especially, she didn't really do an awful lot beyond throw things, block an attack, and activate the Death Egg when Eggman told her to. Metal was doing most of the fighting and yeah, okay, Metal is built for combat while Sage isn't, but Sage can still fight. I would have absolutely loved to see Bowser's son throw hands with Eggman's daughter though.

Again, it's not enough to completely throw my opinion to the wayside, but had Sage been given more to do, that would have made this episode absolutely perfect.

And overall, my least favourite part about this fight, genuinely, is that it ENDED!

Like, I KNOW these can't go on for more than a few minutes but I didn't want this fight to stop. I could watch a whole MOVIE about these two armies going at it.

More specifically I would watch it if MORO was the one animating it. But again, the guy has done MORE than enough.

And of course, the last thing that I have yet to talk about is the music.

My god the music, especially when it hits in the fight. Remember how I said my favourite moments in this fight were when Bowser rages over Junior, then blocks the Death Egg? A big part of what made those scenes so phenomenal is that the music went full-capital HARD for those scenes!

Like...Brandon Yates! HOW does he DO it!?

I genuinely think Brandon Yates is one of the best music composers of all time, and that's not even an exageration. I love all of the work he does for Death Battle and I love all the work outside of it. I love that the Death Battle crew are lucky enough to have found this man because he, and Therewolf Media too, are a massive part of why the Death Battle fights are so enjoyable to watch. Music makes these fights so good, and the modern episodes are so much better compared to the old episodes where they had to use other audio.

Also, I'm not gonna ignore Victor Borbo and Tyler Anderson who sung the vocals for the track, because they together are, medium, 50% of the reason why it absolutely slaps.

Final thoughts: When this fight was coming out, I genuinely expected that Eggman would win it. But now that I've actually watched this episode, and I got to see Eggman and Bowser at their full potential and doing everything they can to destroy each other, I actually think that had Bowser lost, I wouldn't have been as satisfied.

As they said in the post analysis, Bowser actually cares about his minions. Eggman doesn't, except for Sage. And as I pointed out, there are several points in the fight where Bowser actively tries to protect his minions over trying to take out Eggman's. When he defends them against the Phantom Ruby and Infinite, and then when he shields all of them from the Death Egg. And they REPAY that loyalty and kindness in the end, and are with Bowser during the final blow.

I was rooting for Bowser, but betting Eggman, but after this whole fight ended, I don't care what anyone else has to say about the stats, or whether things add up or not. That Koopa King EARNED and DESERVED THAT W!

It's honestly hilarious how I'm both a Persona fan and a JoJo fan, and Joker Vs Giorno didn't captivate me NEARLY as much as this spectacle did. It's not that I think Joker Vs Giorno is bad; I rewatched it a dozen times. But this fight is hands down the best fight they've done in YEARS! I think it even beats out my top contenders from Season 10.

My last note is the next time:

Okay, I wasn't expecting the 2024 finale to be such a meme matchup, but...I know that this was a thing that people kind of wanted to see, but I'm genuinely curious HOW they scale this with any kind of logic.

My current bet is on the Imposters because they actually kill things and have stuff in their bodies and equipment that are designed to kill, and the Fall Guys are just stupid beans that get knocked around a lot.

So my biggest thoughts about this are 1) how the fuck to you stage a fight between them, and 2) What kind of stats do you calculate?

Like, as a meme, I like this fight, but now that it's an official episode? I don't know, man. I really don't know how to feel about it.

Teaser was hilarious though.

Final score for Eggman and Bowser? 10 out of goddamn 10.

[foxglovepng]

Hello! I don’t know if you write this kind of thing, but could I have a silly little crack fic about Grim sabotaging different boys’ attempts at flirting with the prefect? Little guy has gotta look out for his henchhuman, y’know?

Characters: Ace, Cater, Floyd, Rook.

CW: Ace's part mentions his ex, Bit of blood in Floyd's part, Cater's is kind of sad, Rook is Rook.

A/N: Hello Anon! I hope this is to your liking. I made Ace's part kind of long and since you didn't specify which characters I just let the wheel picker decide. I feel I may have written Grim a little OOC so apolgies for that I don't normally write for him, but I do love a challenge.

If you liked it reblogs and likes are always greatly appreciated!!

Not proofread

↠ Part 2

Ace- He nitpicks at his attempts/ruins them

After the events of Riddle, Leona’s, Azul’s, and the Jamil overblot he wasn’t present for. Ace had started taking a liking to prefect they were close after spending so much time together and he liked Yuu however a certain cat had other plans. Ace was always worried that he wouldn’t date anyone especially after what happened with his ex-girlfriend he was worried he wouldn’t be able to date the prefect, so subtle hints of flirting he gave to the prefect. However Grim started taking a notice to Ace’s behavior towards his henchman and didn’t really like that. The next time Ace would try anything Grim would try and stop it. 

“Henchman, can you get me some more Tuna?” Grim asked

“Grim I just got you some Tuna we barely have the expenses to get you more. I still need to eat as well.” Yuu spoke as Grim sighed, mumbling something. 

“Yo prefect.” Ace’s voice was heard as the Prefect turned to look at the red head who was jogging over.

“Hey Ace. What did you get on the test yesterday?” Yuu asked

“I got a 100%.” He crossed his arms proudly

“In your dreams you did.” Grim spoke 

“What! No, I totally got an A.” Ace defended himself

“It was an easy test so I would hope you get an A.” Yuu spoke giggling a bit.

“Anyways. Prefect you wanna grab some lunch? I’ll pay.” Ace offered flashing a cheeky smile.

“Yeah I.” Prefect was cut off by Grim, “Actually we were going to the library to study.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to have some lunch Grim.” Yuu spoke

“Yeah I can totally help you guys study as well.” Ace spoke

Grim gave up as Yuu started walking with Ace to the cafeteria. Grim was obviously annoyed. He needs his Henchmen to not dally off with boys that will distract them from him becoming a great mage.

“You had a basketball game recently, right? You were pretty amazing.” Yuu spoke to Ace

“I have to do well, so I won’t be benched. You should come to my games more often. It would help if you were cheering me on.” Ace nudged Yuu

“If you want a personal cheerleader you could just hire one y’know.” Grim crossed his arms

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Ace rubbed the back of his neck

“I don’t mind going to your games, in fact I really like seeing you do something you’re passionate about.” Yuu spoke which made Ace turn red a bit.

“Can we go back to studying? You two are getting off track.” Grim spat

“Jeez Grim, it was just some small conversation.” Ace spoke

It went silent as the air felt heavy. The only sounds of pencil writing and pages of textbooks flipping. Eventually it was almost time to go to class.

“We should probably get to leaving class is going to start soon.” Yuu spoke

“Yeah. I’ll meet you at class.” Ace spoke feeling defeated by Grim’s tactics who felt quite proud of himself. Maybe Ace will have another chance to tell Yuu how he feels.

Cater- Ruins photos/Justs gets in the way

Cater enjoyed hanging out with Yuu a lot and he always tried to find a way to hang out with Yuu. Taking photos while hanging out to save for memories incase Yuu ever decides to leave this world he has something to remember Yuu. Whenever Yuu needed help or needed something he was always offering just to spend time with Yuu. However as of recently due to Halloween being at the end of the month and midterms coming up Yuu hasn’t had a lot of time to spend with Cater not to mention Grim is also finding a way to try and keep Yuu busy. Grim didn’t want his Henchman to get distracted by one of the coolest and chillest third years. Cater started picking up on Grim’s behavior but just pushed it off as he just wanted the both of them to work hard so they don't get expelled.

“Hey Yuu.” Cater walked up to the Prefect.

“Hey Cay. Sorry we haven’t been hanging out a lot, just been so busy.” Yuu spoke

“It’s no biggie. We can find a way to hang out soon.” He spoke

“Do you have any unbirthday parties coming up soon? Maybe I can attend.” Yuu spoke

“We do actually I was going to see if you can come anyways. It’s on Friday at the usual time.” Cater spoke

“Yeah I’d love to come.” Yuu spoke

“Henchman.” Grim’s yell was heard as he came running up to the prefect. Jumping on them, climbing on them to their shoulder.

“Hey Grimmy.” Cater greeted Grim.

“Can we go to Sam’s please?” Grim begged, ignoring Cater.

“You aren’t going to get 20 cans of Tuna are you?” Yuu asked

“Please.” Grim started begging gripping Yuu’s shoulder.

“Okay we can go. I’ll see you later Cater.” Yuu spoke as Cater waved and they both left.

Cater felt sad. He wanted to hang out with his favorite freshman, but of course they got caught up with something. Cater would also feel upset seeing the message Yuu sent the very next day saying they can’t make it to the birthday party another hangout ruined.

Floyd- He ruins any food/gets defensive whenever Floyd gets too close

Floyd liked his shrimpy, he loved the way Shrimpy hung out with him, he loved the way he got to squeeze his shrimpy. However Floyd’s been noticing the baby seal has been passive aggressive to him recently. He’s also been noticing food he makes for Shrimpy also gets ruined. Floyd has done many checks no one in the kitchen is messing with prefects food, and it’s certainly not Jade or Azul doing it. Azul started complaining Floyd is spending resources on food that doesn’t get paid or eaten so eventually he had to stop the free food for his shrimpy. Jade has pointed out it could be the doing of Grim, but Floyd isn’t hoping Grim would go that far. Would he?

Prefect decided to pay a visit to the Octavinelle trio mainly to check up on everyone and see how they are doing. Grim was getting antsy because he wanted to go back to ramshackle to take his daily nap. Floyd was working a shift, but decided he was going to take just a small break to go see his shrimpy.

“Shrimpy.” Yuu heard Floyd’s voice as he came from behind them and squeezed them. Grim got fed up from wanting to take a nap and Floyd so he did what his instinct told him to do.

“Grim.” Yuu called as there were lines that started to bleed on Floyd’s arm. Grim had scratched Floyd and he didn’t look pleasant with that. Yuu pulled Grim away as Jade looked shocked watching the interaction.

“Brother let me go get the first aid kit.” Jade spoke walking off as Floyd exhaled and walked away. Baby seal is getting a talking to tomorrow and not a fun one.

Rook - He destroys love letters & poetry

Yuu had caught the eye of Rook. Naturally from not being from his world he took interest in the Prefect and fell for their beauty. Rook is a gentle poetic lover meaning the Prefect is his muse. Rook has definitely caught on that Grim does not like him, but would never think Grim would go as far to destroy his pieces of work to protect Yuu. Rook would send letters and Poetry to Yuu every day, and even went as far to handing the letters directly to Yuu before grim threw them away, not caring about either one’s opinions. 

Rook deemed it as a challenge and decided he would use any means necessary to make sure the prefect knows they are valued and appreciated. Rook is simply a poet and Yuu is simply his muse; he wishes to know every bit of them if they decide to leave his world.

Even if Yuu decided to leave in a poet's eyes the muse lives on forever.

-

Special mention

Malleus- …

Grim is dead before he can intervene with the courtship of him and his child of man (/hj)

[ilguna]

☼ attention (Finnick Odair) ☼

summary; you can't let her flirt with Finnick, even though you know she doesn't even stand a chance.

warnings; swearing, prostitution mention

wc; 1.6k

–

Annie’s testing your patience, and it’s beginning to run real thin.

You’re not sure what’s going through her mind right now to make her think that it’s okay to flirt with her mentor, but obviously there’s something a little fucked up in her head if she think she holds even a sliver of a chance with Finnick. 

You let it slide for the first few days, trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. There’s been plenty of tributes you’ve seen before that unintentionally flirt with people, and it’s because their natural instinct is to flatter to get something out of it. You even thought that she might have been stupid, because there have also been other times where you thought you had a competent tribute and they turned around and surprised you.

However, no matter how many hints you drop, she can’t seem to pick them up. It’s either that, or she’s ignoring them on purpose to see how long you can go like this before you snap. And you’re getting close.

Each time you try to tell Finnick to stop feeding into her delusional mental state and scoot back a little bit, he tells you that you need to stop worrying and nitpicking his actions. He doesn’t seem to understand that he has a hand in this too by not diffusing the situation.

You can’t even recall the amount of times that Finnick’s told you that there’s no competition between you and her. You’re his girlfriend, and you have been for a couple of years now. There’s no chance that he would want to go after a tribute, anyway, especially when there’s a fifty-fifty chance that they’ll just die in the arena.

The thing is, you know that he would never leave you for Annie, you’re not worried about that. The problem is that she doesn’t know that, and she’s embarrassing herself more everyday by thinking she’s got a footing on him. When in reality, she’s not going anywhere, and she will never go anywhere.

You honestly thought that Finnick would be uncomfortable and ask her to stop himself. You always knew he was an unbothered person, but this is bringing it to a whole new level.

You wish you could not care like he does.

The good news is that after tomorrow, you’ll never have to deal with her again, unless she wins the Games. And until then, you just have to continue to bite your tongue and pretend like you’re listening to what Finnick’s suggesting, instead of picturing your fingers around her neck, strangling her to death.

“Do you know what my dress will be?” She asks, biting her lip. She doesn’t give Finnick a chance to respond, lifting her shoulders to her chin, where she squishes her cheek against it, “What if I give Caesar a look like this?”

She pauses, lip jutting out to pout at Finnick.

He stares at her for a long second, eyes squinted, clearly thinking, and it’s not about the god-awful pose that she’s doing. If you were mean and horrendously evil, you’d suggest she go through with that pose, but Caesar’s a little questionable at times, and that would be too much for you to watch on stage. Even if it is for three minutes.

“No, I don’t know what they’re going to put you in.” Finnick’s face is slightly twisted, “And that’s a bad angle for you to go for.”

“Oh?” Her shoulders drop, “Why’s that?”

She’s playing the dumb angle again. You feel like smashing your face through the table, but you know that if you start, you won’t stop until you knock yourself out. It’ll save you the nightmare of sitting and watching this unfold from the sidelines.

You were helping him coach at first, but when it was clear that she was absorbing his words and not yours, you got up and sat over here, at the dining table. You'd go and help the escort with her tribute partner if you could, if only she didn’t insist on having her sessions be one-on-one.

“Because you’re not that type of person.” He deadpans, finally sitting back in his seat.

She doesn’t move from where she’s leaned forward. She’s wearing an actual shirt today, instead of that tank top bullshit that she’d been putting on to purposely lean over shit to see if Finnick would look. When she went to train yesterday, you took all of the tank tops out of her closet and drawers and threatened the avoxes if they even thought about restocking them.

They know you didn’t mean it, but the edge in your voice must’ve been a giveaway that you were on your final straw. She may think that you can’t control anything, and you’re just a little mentor, but you’re about to make her life a living hell in the arena if she doesn’t cut it out.

“What type of person am I?” She asks.

“Not a very smart one.” You murmur, rubbing down your face.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” He says, “What did you say that your parents do?”

“My father’s a fisher, but my mom used to be a model for some of the designers. She says I take after her, with my body and all.” She smiles, hands running down her thighs.

You almost let out a laugh, because it really is funny.

However, you’re about a minute away from making a scene, especially if Finnick doesn’t set some boundaries. He must hear your thoughts, because you don’t miss the way his eyes flicker in your direction, like he knows you’re getting upset.

“Okay, let’s drop the whole flirtatious idea.” Finnick waves his hand.

“Why?” Annie frowns, “Isn’t that how you got your sponsors?”

You shake your head, letting out a noise. You’re drawing a line here, because you’re not going to do this anymore. When you check the time, it seems like it’s nearing when the escort said you should take a break and switch, anyway. Which you’re going to do.

“Okay, we’re breaking for lunch.” You slap your hand on the table, making Annie jump at the sudden noise.

“But—” Annie looks at you for the first time in twenty minutes.

“Finnick, come here.” You motion with your finger.

He gives you a look, clearly not happy that you’re cutting her time short. You can’t give a fuck. In fact, you hope it sabotages her in the end. You can stomach her trying to stab at you from the sidelines. She can show her boobs, she can bat her eyelashes and play stupid all she wants.

When she starts suggesting that Finnick did the same to get sponsors is when it starts to become too much to handle. Finnick never acted like that, he was just a boy when their perverted thoughts started rolling in. And he hasn’t been able to escape them since. 

You can’t expect her to know this, it’s private information. It doesn’t mean you’ll let her think that’s the case.

Finnick comes up the steps, Annie doesn’t move from her spot on the couch. You wait until he’s within arm’s reach before you yank him closer, throwing an arm over the back of his neck to pull him down to your height, before carefully pressing your lips on his.

You can feel him smirk on your lips, clearly entertained by the idea of doing this in front of Annie to prove your point, yet again. Finnick is yours, he always has been, and he doesn’t have a plan of ever changing that, and neither do you. She doesn’t seem to get that, but hopefully this will make it clearer to her.

The first thing that Finnick does when he pulls away, is give you this massive eye roll, as if he hasn’t done the same thing before. You two will go out to bars, or the festivals, or shopping, and when one guy has his eye on you for too long, it’s like he can’t take his lips off of you.

The second you do it, you’re jealous and overreacting.

“I love you.” You say.

“I love you too.” He tells you loudly, making a face at you when he does it, because his back is turned to Annie. She can’t see a single thing that’s happening between you two from this angle.

“I know.” You say, removing your arm from his neck, “You want to go tell them that it’s lunch time?”

“Sure.” He kisses you again, and immediately moves to walk past you to head in the escort’s direction.

You swing around, open palm ready as you take a full swing at Finnick’s ass, a smile coming to your face at the sound that fills the air. Finnick glares at you over his shoulder, you let out a laugh, turning to take a look at Annie on the couch.

Her face is a beet red, you don’t think you’ve seen her this color yet. It doesn’t matter, you won this round, there’s no coming back from this. And the best part is, she’ll be tortured for the next two hours or so because she’ll have to learn how to walk in heels and act like a proper lady. Your escort isn’t nice by any means about it.

For good measure, you grin at Annie, “I’d say his lips are my favorite part about his body, but I’ve seen under the belt, so.”

“Oh.” Annie squeaks.

“Yeah, but his ass is still pretty nice.” You snort, turning to walk away from her, shaking your head.

[arabellasleopardcoat]

Alicent spanking reader for the bingo card? Congrats on 150!

Crime and Punishment (Alicent Hightower x Reader)

Summary: The Queen and you get along wonderfully. After all, the strongest friendships are based on shared interests.

Warnings: Spanking. Masochism, mentions of self harm. A bit of blood. Reader and Alicent being sad lesbians. The author is a recovered catholic.

A/N: How many times can someone who has not received a spanking write a spanking? Two, it turns out. Thanks for being patient!

Some nights, you are not in a good place. Not mentally. It’s as if you are your worst enemy, falling back into damaging habits and patterns, and then hating yourself for it.

Before, you used to bite at your lips until they bleed, picking at the loose skin there. You would nitpick at your face, pinching every imperfection. Punish yourself with baths so cold your teeth would chatter, wash your skin with the roughest rags, until your skin was red and raw.

You know it’s unhealthy. A bad coping mechanism, that leaves you injured and exhausted, but lets you sleep after it.

That was before meeting Queen Alicent. Really meeting her. You had been, of course, aware of who she was. Loved by the people, married to the King, daughter of Otto Hightower. But you hadn’t met her yet.

Hadn’t noticed how her hands would pick at her cuticles and nail beds until they bleed, tugging the small bits of skin until they were bloody and raw. Hadn't noticed the way she wore a particularly sharp medallion of the Seven Pointed Star, and how she would cling to it, so tightly her knuckles turned white, sharp edges digging into her skin.

When you arrived at court, you watched. And Alicent watched back. As two dancers in a well-rehearsed piece, you circled each other, pushing and pulling. Both of you were aware of the unhealthiness of your behavior, how dangerous the game you played could turn. Yet, neither of you could resist the temptation of raising the stakes.

On nights like these, now, you come to her. You drop your dress, letting it pool at your feet. You pass her the wooden hairbrush she uses every night before bed.

The vanity is cold as you brace your hands against it, seeing the despair in your eyes reflected in the mirror. It’s weird, but it’s one of the conditions she has set for this agreement of yours. You must look at yourself in the eyes, face your fears. Watch yourself break and get built up again.

“I feel bad.” Alicent says, as she steps behind you. She remains fully clothed, the seven pointed star necklace still in place. Her finger runs down your spine, softly. The room is warm enough for you to be comfortable naked, but you shudder anyway. “I dislike hurting you.”

“I know.” You answer, meeting her eyes through the mirror. Her expression is solemn. She grabs the hairbrush. “I am sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Alicent frowns. “I dislike it more when you hurt yourself.” She squeezes your bare shoulder, gently. You hear the words, even when she doesn’t say them. This way, I can keep you safe, her big brown eyes seem to say. This way, I can control how much you hurt.

It’s a respite you desperately need. There is something about the pain that you find freeing, something that fixes you when you feel bad about yourself. And the Seven know that sometimes, you go overboard with it.

Who could blame you? When something feels good, when something feels right and distracts you from the bad things in life, it’s only natural to crave more.

Alicent rubs the hairbrush against your back, the side with the bristles against your naked skin. You shiver. The pressure she applies it’s just enough to make you squirm, but it doesn’t feel painful yet. It feels as if someone is scratching your back just a little too rough.

The hairbrush goes lower. Right on top of your hips. Alicent’s hands, on your stomach, encouraging you to arch your back and expose your bottom. You whine. You can’t take the teasing, tonight. It’s not a game to you, but a need. If she delays it a bit more, you are afraid you might break, shatter and explode into a million pieces.

As if sensing your mood, the hairbrush descends even more, harshly scratching at your cheeks. You fight the urge to tuck your hips in, to wiggle and make yourself a smaller target.

You hear the smack before you feel it. A harsh, dull sound that makes your thighs tremble, straining not to move away and break position. The ache comes next, a flash of hot red exploding against your skin. Warmth. You yowl.

Alicent shushes you, rubbing between your shoulder blades and forcing your head to hang lower.

“The guards can’t hear.” She says, as her other hand urges your hips to tilt back more, instead of going inwards. Her hand settles just above your mound, keeping you in position. It’s an uncomfortable stretch, your naked breasts nearly touching the vanity, forehead pressed against the mirror. “You have to be quiet, or we will be caught.”

You whimper, pitifully. You know it wouldn’t look good, for either of you. Alicent and you haven’t crossed that line yet, but you toe it often. Just tethering on the edge of sexual as you are, it would be a scandal if you were to be found in the Queen’s rooms, naked and with her hands all over you.

Darkly, sometimes you wish it happened already. At least that way, she would recognize this, whatever that is growing between the two of you. But Alicent is too focused on pretending dutifulness that she can’t allow herself to want something that's not right in society's eyes.

Alicent looks around for a few seconds, eyes shifting from the objects in her vanity to your discarded clothes. She is looking for something to keep you quiet, as she often does. But today, nothing seems to please her. Finally, she takes off her necklace, and holds it in front of your lips. You open up, and she presses the pendant between your teeth.

“Keep it there. Don’t let it fall.” She orders, before bringing the hairbrush again over your vulnerable behind. You bite down on the metal, trying not to let it slip from between your teeth.

The taste of iron and the feel of it against your teeth it’s unpleasant, making you shudder as it bangs against your gums. The star shape isn't doing you any favors, either. There is no respite from the points when there are seven of them.

The pain it’s unbearable. The hits of the hairbrush seem more and more distant as you focus on not letting the medallion slip from between your lips. You can’t focus, starting to drool around it. Your cries remain muffled between clenched teeth, but you want to scream and scream and never stop.

Your problems fade away, leaving you in an impossible state of clarity. There is nothing on your mind but the pain. The impact of each hit and the knowledge that you can take one more for Alicent, that you can be good for her.

She keeps at it, cautious to keep an eye on your face. After a certain number of hits, her palms rub at your sore bottom and thighs, shushing you. The pause makes you want to cry even more.

Tears and drool are now freely running down your face. The points of the star dig at your gums, and you try to swallow down your sobs to not jostle it more.

Hurts. Hurts so bad. You are shaking. It feels as if your arms are unable to keep you upright anymore. Finally, you collapse, chest squished against the vanity, weak legs trembling, hips out for Alicent to keep at it.

She does, but in a much crueller manner. As you pant there, she turns the hairbrush over, and starts rubbing the bristles over your abused thighs and cheeks. You sob more, body shaking so hard you rattle the vanity.

Power through it, you say to yourself. You need to endure it. You need to be good. This is the only way. You have to take what she gives you, prove yourself. Pain it’s the only thing that will give you what you need now. A clean slate from your transgressions.

She is both lover and judge, your queen. Jury and executioner. Able to cleanse you from your sins and cradle your injured body, nurture you back to health. Back to piousness.

You wish you could spend eternity at her feet. Forgive me, Mother, you think to yourself. For I have sinned in my thoughts, all about her. In my words, to keep our secret. In what I have done, and in what I have failed to do. Her lips, her smile, her eyes. The fact that you never once kissed.

Alicent shushes you. Meanly, her nails drag against your cheeks. The metal inside your mouth tastes like expiation, slightly coppery and leaving a faint pain in your gums. Never had you felt closer to the Gods than now, confessing to your private Septon.

Your teeth clench more around the seven pointed star. She spanks you again, this time with her bare hand. You sob, focused on not letting go, no matter how much it hurts. It’s not only for her, that you need to be good. It’s for yourself.

You need to prove you are good, show that you have some worth. If any, that you are capable of obeying. But on the next hit, you are unable to keep the star inside your mouth, and you cry out, both in pain and despair.

You failed. You had one task and you failed. Your sobs turn more hysterical. Your stomach sinks. Suddenly, you can’t breathe. There is an ugly, choked sound on repeat. Like the cries of a hurt animal ringing in your ears. You realize too late that you are the one producing it.

Alicent looks up, and freezes.

“Oh, sweetheart.” She brushes your hair back, and kisses your temple. “You did so well. So well, it’s over now.”

She gathers you in her arms. It’s only then you notice the mess of drool and tears on your face has turned red.

“I’m sorry.” You hiccup. “I didn’t….”

“Shh, no. You did outstandingly. It was all my fault.” Alicent gently pries your lips open. You go with the motion, opening up for her. She checks your gums, very tenderly. There is a small gash on the inside of your cheek.

Alicent pours you a glass of wine.

“Rinse your mouth with that for me.”

Still a bit floaty, you do as she says, head bobbing lazily. Once you do, she helps you get dressed and sits by you, nursing her cup. You lay down on your side, looking at her.

She is so pretty it hurts. You give her a loopy smile. Alicent smiles back.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Alicent asks as you rest your head in her lap.

“No.” You reply, voice still a bit off. She rubs your shoulder blades, soothingly. Then, she leans towards a center table and reaches for a board filled with cheese and fruit.

“Here. Eat some.”

You blindly chew whatever Alicent presses against your lips. No matter what it was, coming from her hand, you would.

“I don’t want to go to my rooms.” You mutter, hiding your face in the folds of her skirt. You drop a kiss to her clothed knee and Alicent scratches your head just the way you like.

Every so often, you wonder where her mind is, when she is delivering what you clearly need. Her own pain, perhaps. How much she craves to be the one receiving the hits. You have seen the way her eyes glaze over, when your hands rest casually on the hairbrush.

Perhaps, she is thinking of her. The other woman she loved. You have an inkling of who she is, but you don’t dare even think of the name. They say, sometimes, spirits pay attention when we speak about them out loud. You don’t want to think about her, childishly afraid of jinxing it. Nor do you dare ask because some things are better not known.

Is that why she refuses to turn this thing of yours into something romantic? Is she too fearful of admitting she loves you?

You fear you know the answer, already. You are not a placeholder, or a substitute, but Alicent is too scared to acknowledge it. She prefers pretending this is nothing more than a Queen disciplining her subject.

This is easier, you convince yourself. You shouldn’t have spoken, you shouldn’t have asked to stay. Both of you got what you wanted. Pain. Control. Crime and punishment. You should be out of here.

There is a dreadful feeling of wrongness in this. A cold shiver that takes over you, as you try to get up and claim back a semblance of calm. Alicent feels it too. Her brows are pinched, conflicting emotions displayed in her eyes. Sadness, and a plea for you not to go. Yet, she doesn’t speak it out loud.

The silence stretches. Almost as if an angel had passed between the two of you, stealing your voices, burrowing the words that could not be spoken aloud.

Alicent’s hand reaches forward, quick as a viper. A shove, against your shoulder, making you stumble back into bed. You whimper, body still feeling bruised from your recent experience.

“Stay. Stay the night.”

“Your guards…” You protest, but you are already getting comfortable again, your head on her pillow. Drowning on the smell of her, her, her.

“Ser Criston won’t speak a word.”

So you stay. And the next morning, Alicent doesn’t exactly tell you she loves you, but you feel a little better anyway.

[airyravenmaid]

SAGAU: My Style

Back at it again with sharing my personal ideas with the Self-Aware Genshin AU. I don't see myself writing a full-on fanfic about it because I do NOT trust myself with characterizing everybody properly, and some of the ideas I have in mind wouldn't make for a good universal experience for all, if that makes sense. So, instead, I'll just stick to pitching like I'm at a silly ol' business meeting and providing a simple layout. Now, keep in mind, this is going to focus more on my rendition of an Imposter AU specifically, which means I'm also going to do a little nitpicking of some common tropes in it that I find could be done better or even differently. It won't be me saying that anybody who writes them in the traditional sense is bad or doing a bad job, just what I'd do differently. So, without further ado, check out my mish-mushed ideas below the cut:

It all starts with the Creator Themsleves, aka, us. Or, rather, us before we became us. Not making sense? That's fine, but lemme delve into that a little better. Game lore-wise for this AU, there actually was a fully existing, fully breathing Creator that's been around since even before the Archons (but not by too much; Zhongli's still no spring chicken in spite of this). Yes, they did create Teyvat and all that's good in it like the flora, the fauna, and the creatures, and they had a close bond with said Archons not just as people serving, advising, and worshipping their God/ruler, but also in a legitimate friendship (so, no, they're not 100% subservient or gutless ass-kissers-- it's more of an equal dynamic). Maybe one Archon of your choice (within reason) being close enough to the point of being (secret) lovers, if you'd like. Such explains the Archons' deep attachment to the Creator, and their eagerness to see them again after tragedy-- like, say, the Cataclysm that razed Khaenri'ah-- renders them comatose and not to awaken again until present day. Until then, the Creator's body lies safely in sleep like Princess Aurora within their main temple/palace, occasionally visited by their old companions (minus Ei, who's in her hidey-hole until the Inazuma AQ's, but that goes without saying).

But, just before they do wake up, here comes a little (presumably Celestia-sent) POS known as the Imposter, who worms their way into the temple where the Creator lies, steals their garbs and replaces them with normal, less divine attire before sending their body far away apparently never to be seen again and lying on that resting spot acting as the Creator on the verge of waking up. And since no one knows what really happened, it looks like the promised day has come without issues, and the Imposter is welcomed by nearly all back to a throne that never actually belonged to them. As for the actual Creator... they're in good hands, because Teyvat would never mistake another for the All-Parent that breathed life into it and acts to protect their body hidden amidst nature in whatever region they landed in (your choice) until they really do wake up.

And when our in-game body does wake up, our real-life consciousness is transferred into it and overwrites our old, godly memories with our normal ones. Since I can't stand isekais that require us dying an early death IRL (like, at all, actually), we're either magically transported to Teyvat the old-fashioned magic way, or part of our consciousness goes into our in-universe body and leaves our physical forms in reality alone, thereby creating two versions of us going around two separate worlds. For better wording, that is, but that's the gist of it. Either way, we're the real deal Creator, but one without our old memories (apart from short visions we get of our old divine life that come up every now and again) as far as everyone else in Teyvat is concerned. They're not totally wrong, anyway. I was thinking this could be justified to everyone by our "past self" saying pre-slumber that they will reawaken without the knowledge of this world (aka, the Genshin one), but it will still very much be them/us.

By the way, when we stumble into the main town or city of whatever region we wound up in, the locals don't just immediately attack us for looking like the Imposter. While sometimes, I do enjoy kicking back and enjoying pure angst, I otherwise found that aspect of Villain/Imposter!SAGAU to be, comment dit-on... absurd, especially with nobody in Mondstadt (outside of that one nun not buying it and simply scolding him) giving two honks about Venti despite him looking like (being) Barbatos, and nobody in Liyue even noticing the resemblance between Zhongli and Rex Lapis/Morax. And given how much those nations revere their god, the argument of us being a higher deity cannot be made. So, instead, at absolute worst, people are just really unnerved by the uncanny resemblance we have to the Creator, but otherwise don't get alarmed... until the Imposter catches wind of us and changes that. The reason people start attacking us at all is because the Imposter weaves a forewarning of the Creator's antithesis equal to them in power known as the "Destroyer" will descend on Teyvat, attempt to steal the throne using the Creator's face, and do worse to the world than the Abyss Order ever could try to if not stopped. And, this may sound like something they just made up to get us killed, but in a way... it's true, only issue is that the acolytes + citizens have the wrong idea of who's who, of course. Plus, the actual, all-powerful Creator, if pushed too far by say... an incredibly lengthy and traumatic manhunt after being mistaken for the Destroyer, is capable of tearing the world limb from limb, because those who create can as easily destroy, but those who destroy can never create.

Speaking of "all-powerful"... why are we always completely powerless in these SAGAU works apart from crying and/or getting really angry (which ARE realistic and valid reactions to the shit we're going through, but it's not mutually exclusive to getting cool abilities)? Because we're not actually from Teyvat? Even Aether and Lumine have the power to wield the elements despite coming from somewhere else, and for us to not get that same honor is frankly dull as dishwater. That's a lot of missed potential to dip into the fantasy aspect of a fantasy game like Genshin Impact. It's here I'd like to take some inspiration from a show I've enjoyed for years known as none other than "Avatar: The Last Airbender". Not to mention, the term "avatar" generally refers to a "divine incarnation in human form", hello??? Ahem! In other words, instead of being completely incapable of defending ourselves, we-- being the almighty Creator-- are able to wield all seven elements at once, but we have to gradually learn how to effectively use and master them. We do start with one element (any of your choice), then work our way up in order of the loading screen. IE: say your element is Cryo, you'd have to go Geo -> Pyro -> Hydro -> Anemo -> Electro -> Dendro. Such was the same in our past life, but we had the Archons to teach us and help us master those abilities through time.

Which means now, we need other people to help us do it again in our new "incarnation", and that's in the form of 5-star Vision holders since they fit the bill of "master" a bit better, being the rarer, stronger characters and junk. Of course, this is likely with discretion, because some might not be wise to learn from (such as Klee, funny as that'd be). I'm also discounting learning from the Archons because not only has our time with them from the previous life passed, but I don't find it fair to learn from a powerful god of that element, even if we're a god ourselves. It's more balanced learning from someone beneath that level (so, yes, an adeptus would still qualify). Also, important note here: not every single playable character is going to try and kill us for the Creator-Destroyer thing. NPCs are one thing because, let's be real, they're sheep, but it isn't realistic or in-character for everybody playable to want us dead. While a fair chunk would probably be on board for the sake of not letting the world blow to smithereens (and not because, you know, Same Face Syndrome, because that's completely insane), some might not outright believe the alleged prophecy for one reason or another, such as not being fond/trusting enough of the apparent "Creator" to just listen to them right off the bat, or getting to already find out who the real Creator is and knowing we're not the enemy. Whatever the reason is, we're going to have allies, including ones that join us in our quest to defeat the Imposter and take back the throne to restore balance to Teyvat. This can also include those who initially sided with the Imposter, but for one reason or another such as seeing our gold blood, they have a change of heart and tag along for the ride. For us to just go about Teyvat on the lam with nobody having our back is just... depressing, and not even in the fun way, either. I understand this faction of SAGAU tends to be purely angst-based, but come on, it doesn't have to all be a total bummer all the time. There's no rule that says we can't go through the angsty, heartwrenching stuff with traveling companions to call our own there for us through it all.

Now, of course, whoever those traveling companions are is really up to you because not all of us are gonna wanna tag up with and learn from the same bitches as the next guy. So, it's anybody's game with anybody's reasoning and circumstances (such as which region we wake up in, who our first companion(s) would be there, then which region we move onto, and even what element we have to learn next). Also, fitting the max. number of characters you can have on one team, it'd just be four actively traveling alongside us through Teyvat with other allies remaining where they are, whether they helped us master an element or not. But, no matter anybody's personal tastes and choices, I really wish there was more of a thrilling "fantastical group adventure" kind of element to this genre of SAGAU, because the potential is there, just-- seldom reached, from what I've seen, personally. I'd be more than happy adding onto this with anything I might have missed, but that's basically the gist of my view of this AU.

[smalltowncryptidfucker]

I started playing Octopath Traveler the other day, and I gotta say, it fucking slaps.

The soundtrack is incredible; the battles don’t feel tedious (they do take a long ass time to get through sometimes, though lmao), and I love the weakness mechanic for the enemies; the little pixelated character sprites are adorable, the characters themselves are really good, and have a shit ton of awesome abilities, and the way their stories all connect is really interesting.

I’ve only met six of the eight characters, but I haven’t found one I dislike in any way yet. (Aside from maybe Alfyn’s hair, but that’s honestly nitpicking- it’s an anime-style game, idk what I expected lmao.) Currently going through Cyrus’ prologue (he’s the sixth one I’ve met).

Anyway, yeah, mini ramble over, I just wanted to gush about the silly little JRPG I’ve been playing lol.

[cboffshore]

Call me the timepiece section at IKEA the way I've just been clocked. Anyway, counter confession notes and associated mad rambling under the cut - and to those of you expecting this to be Zane-heavy, it's not, but he is certainly there. TLDR this is mostly a drawn out Nadakhan analysis, but Zane's the case study. Specifically, the chess scene.

It's going to get messy, but it'll be fun, I think. (And you know I love flexing the analysis rebuttal muscles.)

I'm not going to put anon on blast here. Those days are behind me, mostly; I just never get to discuss these points and that confession reminded me of the topic. What I will say is that the general criticism of that ask - that is, the sentiments of "Skybound only works because everyone is OOC and stupid the whole time" and "Nadakhan is not actually as smart as he's made out to be" - are takes I've seen for years, most often deployed as This Is Why Skybound Is The Pits proof. If I had a nickel for every time I've seen it, I could buy a time machine and travel back to the Skybound production period to fund a full seasonal soundtrack.

What's interesting is that they're both, to some extent, true - but in a way that makes them both something of a narrative strength, imo.

See, Nadakhan's entire schtick is destabilization. When you look at all his actions, it becomes clear that they all have the same core: undermining what already exists and using it to his advantage, collateral damage be damned. There's the very literal destabilization of Ninjago, the tearing the infrastructure down to remix into something a lot flimsier, held together by bubblegum and many, many wishes; there's the meta angle, where he becomes the first villain in the show to thoroughly buck the seasonal rhythm and actually make it to his finish line for longer than usual. There's his upbringing, where for whatever reason he couldn't - or wouldn't - hack it at home, and so left (or was exiled? Jury's still out) to pursue a career based on - say it with me now - taking advantage of others for his own gain.

In that same vein, it's no surprise that destabilization is how he approaches most of his attacks... which brings us to Zane, and a little more anon nitpicking, and the chess scene.

So, first up: I don't think fact that it's chess that matters that much. I'll agree that that's a very easy way to inject an air of Smart Shit Is Going On Here for the audience of children, even though it's a completely wackadoodle game as per this excellent Reddit post I just linked. Obviously it builds on the chess motif that carries Zane through the season, plus gives Nadakhan an easy way to add insult to injury at the end there. If you want to get fancy shmancy with it, you could make up some bullshit about losing queens, but I digress. Honestly, you could swap it out for poker, or UNO, or a pancake flipping contest, or anything Zane is ever shown to be familiar with, and it would work fine.

Because it's not the chess that's important at the end of the day. It's what it represents: familiar intellectual territory for Zane that Nadakhan is able to destabilize.

Ordinarily I'd want to see more of Chess Freak Zane before making a claim like that, but the nice thing about Skybound is it's a sandbox; the chess thing is limited to that space. In "Infamous" we see him ending a streak of over 100 games against Jay, which for Skybound means: Chess Freak Zane, Google en passant, holy hell, you get the picture. Point is, chess is painted (in VERY rough strokes, to be fair) as Zane's Thing. So when he goes belowdecks and that's the centerpiece of the challenge, he should be fine, right?

Nope. Obviously he's not. That's not helped by it not being about the chess for Nadakhan, either - obviously he just wants Zane's soul, and is able to read him well enough to find a weak spot. Which means it's time for destabilization! Again! We see that in the discussion and wish exchange, where Nadakhan seemingly ignores Zane's initial loophole safeguard wish (more on that later!!!) and then immediately kills Pixal after "granting" the tenfold-harm one. I'm open to arguing that killing Pixal does safely circumvent the harm-to-Zane principle in that he suffers no physical damage, but as for emotional damage... yeah, this one is weird, but I'll get to that too!

Anyway, the way Nadakhan conducts the exchange scrambles the already limited information Zane has on him and how he operates, which opens up an avenue for Nadakhan to manipulate and keep Zane from having the time to adjust to it. For instance, Zane's expecting to get three wishes total; he doesn't. He only actually gets two - the tenfold-harm one is not phrased as a wish, so Nadakhan's under no obligation to grant it as such.

For whatever reason - high on confidence, maybe - Zane doesn't catch that mistake and just moves on to his "third" wish. Nadakhan does catch it, though, and praises Zane's originality - just to make it seem like it went through - before he jumps into the discussion of wish one. This throws Zane off and frustrates him. He starts to panic, is unable to defend his original wish, and then Nadakhan slaps down the Kill Pixal card... and we all know what that does.

So: it's not that Nadakhan is as blisteringly intelligent as the show wants us to believe. He doesn't really need to be. He just needs to be smart enough to take advantage of whatever openings he can get - in this case, Zane's complacency and confidence in familiar territory. I'd argue that counts as intelligence - more of a street smarts compared to the book smarts he's up against with Zane, but smarts all the same. Still, though: Nadakhan's not stupid. Zane's not, either. He's just not great at adjusting to this new challenge, because that's how Nadakhan wants him.

Back to the original sentiments I'm writing this rebuttal to so I can wrap this up:

Skybound only works because everyone is stupid and OOC the whole time: I wouldn't say the whole time, but I won't deny some characters keep taking the Idiot Ball and holding it close. This is not a flaw on their part; this is Nadakhan's method. Find the weakness, exploit it, profit. His plans only work, and Skybound only continues as written, because he can pull it off and nudge people to be stupid and OOC as needed.

Nadakhan isn't actually as smart as the show makes him out to be: he doesn't have to be, at least not all the time. See above - he's just got to be smart enough, or in a way his enemies don't expect him to be, such as the way he reads and attacks Zane.

That's about all the notes I have on that specific issue, but I do want to make a few final statements regarding that tenfold-harm one - which is fascinating in a couple of different ways.

I think something people forget about this scene is that Nadakhan doesn't actually get a chance to interpret Zane's wishes as the first wish instructs. Remember, Zane never actually makes a second one that isn't wishing it all away. See above - the tenfold-harm one isn't worded like a wish, so it wouldn't apply. Technically, Nadakhan switching the topic to the logic of the first wish to ask Zane if it would apply to Pixal isn't twisting his words. At best, it's trying to understand those parameters. (Which, in a fun twisted way, would honor that original request to understand Zane fully - how can Nadakhan grant any following wish accurately if he doesn't know the terms and conditions?) At worst, it's distraction. That's why Nadakhan suddenly pivots to that - to distract Zane from realizing he's actually got two wishes left, because just like Zane, he doesn't have the time to adapt to a new formula. They're both expecting three wishes to happen and they're not going to exceed that limit, dammit! Trapped by societal conventions or whatever!

But, just for fun: let's pretend that second "wish" went through.

Let's say Zane did word it properly, W-word and all, which I've noticed has been the working assumption since the episode came out. Zane fell for it, and so did the audience, so let's take a look at it through that lens.

It would obviously be very, very bad for Nadakhan to experience the equivalent of ten Pixals dying at that moment - he'd be incapacitated. I'm not even sure what would count as that under his circumstances in that episode, which is fine, because obviously that doesn't happen. Nadakhan always grants (or, at least, tries to grant) wishes in a way that benefits him, so it makes sense that he'd throw in some fine print for this one. Even under the taking-Zane-literally wish, this works out just fine. Zane didn't specify a timeline for when the tenfold harm has to happen to Nadakhan; as the wish interpreter and granter, Nadakhan would get to set those parameters.

I imagine he wouldn't want that much harm happening until after he's equipped to deal with it somehow - say, using infinite wishes to just negate it. So: let's say Nadakhan pushes the activation period off til after the wedding. No matter what happens, he's insured: if he can't pull off the wedding, the harm never kicks in.

But, as we all know - the wedding does happen. And what happens right around the same time? Nadakhan gets high on confidence. He fully loses his entire crew, either to eroded trust or banishment. He loses his rebuilt realm and his new powers before he can remember to negate that tenfold-harm wish in this hypothetical (which he canonically hasn't forgotten about, if using the same language against Flintlocke in "Wishmasters" says anything). Delara is resurrected and quickly ripped away; he is humiliated, forced to delete his own golden era timeline, and then thrown straight back into the teapot, all his work unraveled - and, if you believe in the Hageman Brothers tweet fun fact canon, left to stew about it for eternity.

The numbers are a little nebulous, but that all seems like it would suck enough to be worth about ten dead Pixals.