#at least that's how I played Aloy

[artsytrashpanda-art-blog]

When you realise the newcomer who's helping you is a fiery, explosion-loving maniac gremlin who isn't scared to blow up everything for her mission

[lonepower]

man this guy does not actually give a single shit about history the way he claims, huh

[simplyafountainpen]

Red Looks Good On Us

{𝓟𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼}: Demon!M!Reader x Grell Sutcliff

{𝓓𝓮𝓼𝓬𝓻𝓲𝓹𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷}: (Y/n) was particularly rude today, and as much as Grell loved it, it seems like her adorable little girl would need some punishment for that naughty mouth of his~

{𝓣𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓼}: Sub!Top!Reader, Power Bottom!Grell, Demon!Reader, feminization (of reader), punishment, bondage, impact play, Mistress title, praise, Reader wears makeup, Grell's privates referred to as cock and pussy, (y/n) is the "Mourning Dove Demon"

"But belooovvveeddd!!-"

You sighed as you pushed your Master, Alois Trancy, behind you. Today was supposed to be a simple outing with the boy, a little walk through the city and perhaps even through a park to get him out of that stuffy office of his. He had been swamped with work recently, and even if he didn't want to, it had to be done.

For weeks you watched as his patience grow smaller until he'd snap at the slightest inconvenience. It grew annoying, and finally out of control when he decided it would be a great idea to throw an entire piping hot tea set at you and Claude. You quickly ushered him out of the house as the other demon cleaned the mess - also to allow him to calm down and not rip the child to shreds. He still needs the child's soul, after all.

It had been peaceful for a time, until you and the boy ran into a certain red head. You stuffed the boy behind you, ignoring his small noise of questioning, and stared into those chartreuse phosphorescent eyes of hers.

"Grell. I will not be abandoning my duties for you. What ever are you even doing here?" You grumbled. The both of you stared at each other, Grell biting her lips while you could feel the veins budging in your forehead. You had no time for this.

"Well, beloved, I saw you from across the street and I just simply had to say hello to the most scrumptious looking man in my life, right?~" Again, you grumbled.

"Now isn't the time you damned succubus, off with you." You waved her off with a hand, turning back to a less than pleased Alois only to feel her hands on your shoulders, causing you to growl.

"Now now dearest, is that anyway to treat the woman you loovvee?~" You shrugged her hands off, again turning to Alois with a mumble, asking him to go the opposite way as a fly seemed to be buzzing in your ear.

"Oh come now darling, don't walk away!! Let me join you at least!! I'm so very bored and haven't a thing to do for hours!!~" You turned to her.

"What of the paperwork I know for a fact you're putting off right now?" A smirk now laid on your face, and the woman sputtered. Alois chuckled at her face in your grip. Both immediately - but silently - noted that you seemed to puff up in accomplishment.

A fact about you was that you were a being of irony. A demon, yet you were based off a dove. A mourning dove, to be precise. Grell huffed and folded her arms. She leaned closer to your face, noses almost touching.

"Mmm... you're no fun around this brat." Grell mused. Her painted lips were creased into a pout. She stood up strait, looking you in the eye.

"Well then perhaps you should be off then? I certainly wouldn't bat an eye." You leaned even closer, foreheads touching. Both of you continued in silence, until Alois coughed into his elbow. You grunted, backing up quickly and turning back to the boy in question. You sent one more cynical smile her way, accompanied by a wave, and went off with your Master.

Grell stood there for a moment more. She knew you wouldn't truly belittle her or do anything truly physically damaging considering your... relationship, but she still couldn't help but shiver at how dismissive you were. And though she understood why you wouldn't stop to chat - you being under a contract, she couldn't help but feel slightly peeved at how quickly you brushed her off! No long winded insults, no pushing her, no attention, why, you could make a girl feel neglected like this!

She smiled with a dark chuckle. Oh, you'd be paying when you got home that night, she'd make sure of it.~

·:¨༺ ♱��¨:·ᨐฅ ᨐᵐᵉᵒʷ·:¨✮♱ ༻¨:·˚─── ⋆⋅⛥⋅⋆ ──

You entered the house quietly, a greeting and apology on your lips for how you treated Grell, only to be met by silence and no lights. Immediately you began lighting candles and flicking on lamps to fill the room with light. In doing this, you noted that the lights in the bedroom were on and abandoned your current mission, walking over to the closed door with light pouring from beneath it.

"Grell? Honey? Are you in there?" You knocked gently on the door, pressing an ear to the wood before gently opening it.

"I want to apologize for my... statements... today." Instead of a sleeping or a - hells forbid - working Grell, you found your girlfriend in nothing but her underwear and corset, a satin robe hanging scantily off her shoulders. She looked back at you with a smile, glasses glinting in the light of the many candles lit in the room, speaking of:

The room itself was dimly lit with said candles on holders and on the floor, rose petals delicately strewed throughout the room. On the vanity were a few open makeup boxes, all the makeup being red of course. The bedsheets had been changed to Grell's favorite scarlet ones, and carmine satin ribbons dangled from the headboard and footboard.

The most damning thing, however, was the set of blood red lacey thigh-highs, panties, and bra neatly folded at the foot of the bed.

You didn't notice her stand, but rather heard the door being closed behind you, Grell's fingers making their way around your shoulders, feeling her breath against her neck.

"Oh, so you wish to apologize, is that it?" You felt her lips against your neck, your sensitive skin picking up on the kiss mark left behind. Her hands trailed downward, crossing your chest and fliting over your sensitive nipples, making you suck in a quick breath. Not being able to find your voice, you nodded.

"Well, I think I know of one way you can make it up to me.~" She was by your ear now, lips lightly pressing against it for a moment. You shivered, eyes closing. She giggled.

"You you want to make it up to me, pretty girl?~" You clenched your teeth and turned away, her hands wrapping around your waist and meeting right above your hardened cock. She looked at you for a moment and sighed. Hearing this, you whipped your head around and nodded rapidly, to which she simply walked around you, now facing you with her hands on your ass. One left its perch and took your chin, forcing you to look at her again.

"I want a verbal answer, darling. You're free to say no, you know." Your eyes widened, then you took one of your own hands and placed behind hers, moving both to your cheek and nuzzling into them.

"I do..." Grell immediately smiled, grabbing your face and slamming her lips on yours. She overpowered you easily, tongue invading your mouth with you putting up no resistance. She turned you around and pushed you back onto the bed, forcing you to sit and then sitting in your lap. One of her hands rested on your shoulder, the other making its home around your neck. You whimpered into the kiss and she smiled, breaking it off.

You looked up through tear-laced lashes and she pecked you on the head, getting down on her knees. She began to remove your clothes, starting with your shoes and socks, kissing and nipping up you leg until she made it to your waist. Her fingers made quick work of your belt and the buttons on your pants, you lifting yourself up slightly to make it easier to slip them down your legs. Before you could sit back down, she slipped her finger into the waistline of your drawers, tutting. Wordlessly, she unbuttoned them and drew them down with your pants. You gasped as the cold air of the room hit your now exposed cock, whining. Grell planted a quick kiss to your inner-thigh and continued.

Your waistcoat was removed slowly, the woman above you massaging you shoulders and whispering sweet nothings in your ear. Languidly, she removed the rest of your layers, ghosting her painted nails over skin. Tears layered themselves in your eyes and she kissed them away, cooing at your nakedness. Then, she grabbed the laced thigh-highs and unfolded them, taking one and gently unrolling it, she grabbed one of your legs and slowly pushed the fabric up, fixing and smoothing it out, then doing the same for the other. She grabbed you by the waist, forcing you to stand. Grell then grabbed the panties and lightly bit your neck.

"Lift one of those pretty legs for me dearest, would you?" She whispered into your ear. You nodded, lifting you left leg, and she quickly pushed them up, running her hand over your ass and the small of your back while she slipped you through one hole of the panties. You both then did the same on your right side, and she gave you a quick kiss as a reward. You were then sat back down as she ran her hands over your chest, twisting your hardened nipples, causing you to moan.

She continued to play with your chest, making sure your skin was sensitive to the slightest touch. Grell hummed at her work, grabbing the bra and lifting one of your arms, sliding it into place.

"You know," she said as she slipped the other in and clasped the back, "I got the smallest size for you, darling. And look at this! You can't even fill it out!~" The lace brushed against your skin, forcing a few pants and moans from you. Another kiss was pressed to your temple as Grell helped you up, walking you over to the vanity and sitting you down.

"We're not quite done yet my dear, just a couple more touches and you'll be perfect.~ Don't you want to be perfect for me, dearest?~" You nodded rapidly, but Grell clicked her tongue. More tears filled you waterline as you gasped, quickly correcting your mistake.

"Y-yes. I do want to be perfect for you, M-mistress." Grell stared at you as those whispered words left your lips. Taking a strand of hair between her fingers, she twirled it around.

"Mistress hmm? I quite like that..~" She smiled at you and sat back in your lap, turning around and hovering a hand over a small box filled with red lipsticks, all different shades. The reaper choose a slightly lighter shade compared to your current attire, softly applying it to your lips, humming a turn you didn't recognize. Then it was an eyeshadow, mascara, then a blush, the soft brush tickling over your skin.

"Oh look at you!~ Such a pretty girl!~ Why, I don't think I could even tell you were demon if I didn't know better. I might even dare to call you an angel.~" Her hand was under your chin, forcing you to make eye contact. Your hands griped the arms of the chair beneath you, nearly splintering the wood. Your breathing became heavy as Grell leaned closer, lips caressing over yours.

"What do we say?~" She whispered, and you whispered in kind.

"Thank you Mistress."

With wild abandon, she smashed her lips onto yours, hands tangling in your hair and yours flew to her hips. Grells tongue forced its way down your throat, your eyes rolling back from the sensation. She broke the kiss, staring at your fucked out expression.

"Look at how sensitive you are.~ My good little girl." You whined, drool slipping from your lips as you felt her grind down onto your cock. Her hand began to stoke it through the lace panties, making you whine louder. The tip of your cock peaked from the top, pre bubbling from the tip and onto the lace trim.

"Already ruining your panties? Tut tut darling." Grell mused. She grabbed your upper arms and dragged you up, doing all but throwing you onto the bed. She gripped your hair in her hands, resting against the headboard. One of her painted nails ran over your lips, inserting her thumb into your mouth. Her other hand went down to her own panties, rubbing herself through the fabric at the sight of your disheveled form. Her manicured hand pulled her painties down till the rested beneath her balls, revealing her hardened cock, budging and red.

"Open wide, dear.~" Her thumb slipped from your lips, and her cock was rammed down your throat, effectively gagging you.

"MHMP?!?" "Hehe, look at how well your taking me, pretty.~" Grell's hand traced your throat, squeezing it lightly to feel her length poking out.

"Go on then," she pat your head, tangling her hands in your hair, "Show Mistress what this darling throat of yours can do.~"

You groaned, sucking her down and hollowing your cheeks, dragging your tongue up and down the side of her sex. Your lipstick stained the base as you bobbed up and down, breathing through your nose. Grell's hands landed on the sides of your face as you sucked, nails digging and nearly piercing your skin. Without warning she took control, slamming you up and down her cock, the tip touching the back of your throat and your drool slicking up her entire shaft, making it shine.

Grell continued, your lipstick smearing across her girth as the mascara she had applied ran down your face. She then shoved you all the way down, blocking your airflow. To add to it, she gripped one hand around your neck, making the dark spots in your vision grow faster. Your shaky hands gripped her thighs, eyes rolling all the way back as your throat constricted more, spit running down your chin. She held you for a moment longer, your shaking about to cease, moaning at how tight your throat had gotten. Just a second before your fully passed out - which would be a feat - she pulled you off, your head falling onto the sheets. Your tongue lolled out and drool pooled below you, breathing heavy. Grell quickly began stroking, slick noises filling your ears, and thick white ropes covered your face, some getting into your panting mouth. You whined and Grell chuckled breathily, taking some cum onto her fingers and tasting it.

"You make everything sweeter dear. I suppose white is also a good look on you, isn't it, dove?~" You cooed at the nickname, shoving your head into her thigh, which now had your spit on it. You kissed and sucked at her skin, pupils blown out.

"Oh? Is my dove okay?" Her voice had tilt of merriment to it as she lifted you, switching your places so that now you were against the headboard and she was kneeling on the bed. You cooed again, muttering nothings under your breath as you allowed her to wrap you wrists in the silk attacked to the bed. She tied small yet firm knots, tugging to ensure you could still escape if need be. The reaper pat you on the head, giggling when you nuzzled into her touch with hair puffed up.

"Dove, it's time. Are you ready to finally make it up to me?" you gave a mumbled reply. Grell smirked.

She fully slipped of her panties to reveal a already slicked up cunt, glistening with lube, strawberry scented. She positioned herself above you, spitting on your cock and rubbing it in good, she lined up the head with her hole, before giving you a quick peck on the lips.

"Good girl.~"

She slammed herself onto you, both of you letting loud moans from the feeling. Her hands gripped your shoulders, nails finally tearing into your skin, you hissing at the dull pain. She bounced up and down, walls clamping down on you with such force that you began to cry, the tears that had been welling up spilling over your lash line.

"O-oh dove - NGH - so p-pretty!~ Even w-ith your makeup all - UGH - ruined!!~" Grell complemented, her hips meeting yours with squelching noises. You were no longer comprehensible, borderline animalistic with the bird-like chirps and coo's you released. Your hands tugged fruitlessly on their binds, desperately clawing out towards Grell. Her thighs slapped on yours, her chest pressed to you still sensitive one, compelling a high-pitched keen to escape your throat, which only caused Grell to coo at you more.

She stopped bouncing and grinded on your cock, walls sucking you in and squeezing, your noises never ending, flowing freely from you lips. Grell pressed her head into the crook of your neck, kissing the skin softly and sucking hickies harshly onto your jugular, biting at it even.

You mewled and wailed at the attention, makeup nearly completely washed away by sweat, drool, and tears. Your head was rolled back as she continued to grind you into her, eyes showing nothing but the whites and jaw fully relaxed. After a moment of her slowing down, the stillness, she suddenly picked herself up and rammed you all the way back in, tip to hilt, in one quick movement. Grell's bouncing was much more aggressive than before, your arms reached back and grabbed onto the headboard. Your teeth grind together, and with heavy breaths you released the loudest whine yet.

"Are y-you about to cum, dove?" Grell groaned. Your nodded quickly, and she gave you a kiss on your cheek. "T-then cum for m-me dove!! CUM FOR M-ME!!-" You screamed, cumming hard into the warmth of her cunt. You gasped, sobbing, trying to catch your breath as Grell came in kind, cum painting your chest. She leaned against you, breathing hard and smiling. Her hands immediately went to your hair, tracing shapes in your scalp, giving you time to slow your breathing.

"Are you awake, dear?" You mumbled something, nothing of substance though. Grell smiled at you, before pulling you out of her. You huffed, watching your seed leak from her lightly gaping hole.

"Alright alright hold on..." She untied your wrists and rubbed them to sooth the dull ache she knew would be there - no matter how much you would deny it - and smiled at you.

"I'll go get snacks, water, towels, etc., etc. dear. You just wait right here." She booped you on your nose and you snorted. Grell then laid you down on the sheet and slipped on a pair of slippers, walking out of the room to the kitchen, though you couldn't help but watch the trails of white that flowed down her legs.

You snuggled deeper into the fabric of the sheets, beginning to nod off. All you wanted was for her to return and hold you. Eventually she did, holding a tray filled with aforementioned snacks, water, towels and set it down, leaving for a moment to grab new sheets and popping by the vanity to grab a few makeup wipes. She gave you some water before she began to wipe the streaked makeup off your face.

"You did wonderfully dear, I can assure you you've apologized fully." You giggled and she smiled, leaning in so the bridges of your noses were touching.

"I love you, Mistress." Grell chuckled.

"And I love you, Dove."

·:¨༺ ♱✮¨:·ᨐฅ ᨐᵐᵉᵒʷ·:¨✮♱ ༻¨:·˚─── ⋆⋅⛥⋅⋆ ──

"What are those dark spots on your neck, (Y/n)?" You turned to the sound of Alois's voice, sharply keeping your gaze right above the eyes lest you end up like Hannah.

"Whatever do you mean, your Highness?" You asked, and he pointed to a specific part of your jugular, and after you ran a hand over the bruise, your eyes widened.

"It's nothing, your Highness I promise, nothing that should concern you anyway..." Though that only made the blonde pout and start whining childishly.

"Well now I simply must know!! What is it??" You looked over to Claude who only shrugged with the tiniest of smirks on his face, that bastard.

You were going to kill him one day, if you didn't die of embarrassment first, anyway.

{𝓝𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓼}: This is a bit longer than the last one. If you could not tell at this point, I adore Black Butler. Thank you for reading.

-🖋️

All publishings on this account belong to @fountain-pen-anon. I do not authorize my fics being altered, translated, stolen or published/reposted to other sites, thank you.

© fountain-pen-anon - all rights reserved

[anime-grimmy]

Soooo, you've probably noticed Ive been replaying HZD recently so my mind's been stuck on the franchise for a while.

I finally took the time to actually try and experience Burning Shores for the first time, this time with an unbiased opinion.

Bcs, ngl, when it came out, I was very negative towards it for a couple of reasons. It already started out with me not being able to freaking play this DLC, even though I was so excited for it, cos while HFW was on PS4, the DLC wasnt. And Im wasnt going to buy a whole ass PS5 just for a DLC.

(I will get it once I buy a PS5 for MH Wilds though).

And then, ofc, the elephant in the room - Seyka, or rather Aloy's relationship with her.

I'll preface this with, though it should be obvious with my content, I do NOT have a problem with Aloy being in a gay relationship.

What rly irked me, and honestly still irks me, is that Aloy finally gets to experience new feelings IN A FUCKING DLC. AN EXTENSION A LOT OF THE PLAYERBASE WONT PLAY.

The second reason I didnt enjoy this decision was bcs it felt so rushed. I mean, we're talking about Aloy here! Miss "I dont have time for feelings bcs I gotta save the world"! Miss "I barely just learnt to let others in"!

From what Ive heard, the DLC is over the course of a few weeks/months, so it's not like they fell in love just like that, but Ive also heard that while playing you do not get a feel for that passage of time. I'll have to experience that for myself though.

Now that Ive had some distance from the franchise though, my feelings have changed a bit

Im not going to lie and say I now loooove this decision. No, I am still miffed such enourmous character developement for Aloy is stuck IN A DLC. Not to mention that it was such a bold move to try this with a new character, cos this relationship being perceived well hinges on the player liking Seykay and that fast. Imo she's a fine character but also nothing special.

Now, I do have to say, I am really happy that Aloy has finally come so far that she allows such intimate feelings to develop, or rather, that the devs let her be this way. I know a lot of us still perceive Aloy as this single minded protag, that wont let anyone in bcs "the mission is too important", so Im glad Guerilla shows us that Aloy has undergone quite the growth.

Im also pleasantly surprised that Guerilla has the guts to include romance for Aloy, bcs they were one leg in the "strong women need no (wo)men" pit, so it's great to see they dont let Aloy fall into that trope.

Now, for the FUN part.

I actually have a conspiracy theory, ie I am gaslighting myself on why such a big thing is stuck in a DLC.

I think Guerilla is testing the waters to see how players react. I am pretty sure they can gather the data on what dialogue options players used, so Im thinking this:

Guerilla is trying to gauge the player reaction on a) Aloy developing feelings, b) players thinking Aloy is ready/willing for a relationship, c) same sex relationships. They tried killing quite a few birds with one stone.

I have seen quite a few teasing, winky face posts and replies from Guerilla staff about romance options in the third installment, so my guess (delusion) is that the relationship is hidden in the DLC so Guerilla can plan on how much and obvious to include several romance options in the last title.

I know this is all just wishful thinking, but even if Seyka is a good character, I hope to fucking god that they dont just take that relationship decision away from us, esp with a character bound to a DLC.

Guerilla gave us such a wonderful cast of characters over the last two games, and if they want to give Aloy an "end game" in the third title, I hope they do let us choose with who. Or at least I hope they dont force a relationship we cant choose onto us.

Cos as much as Aloy is her own person, it is still US that make the decisions in game. Through our individual playstyles , we give Aloy our own interpretation. Now, we cant change her core values, but still, I hope to GAIA that Guerilla will give us enough wiggle room.

(Guerilla, Im begging you, Ive already waited 8 years, please dont let my ship sink)

[xamiipholia]

Since it’s been a year since Burning Shores came out, some thoughts on Seyka:

TL;DR: Great character, really happy with her as a love interest for Aloy. They do some really interesting things with her that I never really see addressed so I wanted to talk about them.

She is tangibly shown to be much more of a match for Aloy through gameplay. Compared to other npcs, she solves things faster, does more damage, is a much more formidable melee combatant, faster climber - she even has a fucking Valor Surge using her Focus that does pretty significant tear damage to large machines like Slaughterspines. Environmental storytelling- Seyka’s skiff has at least 2-3 Tiderippers’ worth of parts, meaning she’s been out on her own killing the things to build boat motors, and she has some ambient dialogue that strongly suggests she’s fought and killed Slaugterspines before. Is some of this npc tech advancements in Burning Shores? Maybe, but it feels intentional. 

Seyka has a natural probing curiosity about the old world that for the most part Aloy’s other companions didn’t have without some significant hand-holding from Aloy to get them started, and some of her close friend (but not base team) characters just don’t have at all. I don’t mean this as a moral judgement, everyone is different and has different strengths and priorities , but it’s absolutely critical that a partner for Aloy have that kind of curiosity - it’s such a big part of her character. While she lives in this new world, she’s never going to be entirely a part of it. Like she says, she finds belonging in individuals, and not really the tribes. I don’t really see Aloy settling down in Meridian or Mother’s Heart. She needs to have a life of exploration and discovery and Seyka seems cut from that cloth too, whether she was always that way or being marooned gave her a fresh perspective.

Seyka did risk death using the focus and decided to do it anyway- in Rheng’s notes he calls for capital punishment for her. The threat is never *too* present but honestly I think that’s a broader critique of the series and pretty consistent with the writing of conflicts in Horizon. I agree they could have played up the dramatic tension a bit, but this is a person who weighed the risk of a military execution by a totalitarian state and immediately decided it was worth it to save her sister and others. I think Aloy can intimately relate, given what she went through for Beta.

Even though it’s a DLC, she has a TON of screen time, probably comparable to Kotallo in HFW, and Horizon does SO much storytelling through gameplay and ambient dialogue. I think she’s given a LOT of narrative space to breathe. She’s also has her own musical cues and leitmotifs that do a ton of foreshadowing work through the DLC - in terms of musical cues and framing she’s very associated with the acoustic guitar, and the flute melody in ‘Her Sky, Her Sea’ has for Aloy and Seyka the same function that ‘It Can’t Last’ does for Ellie and Dina in TLOU2 - next time you play Burning Shores, listen for it. That and the guitar cues from ‘The Idea of Home’ and ‘For His Entertainment’ do a lot of emotional work. It’s great stuff.

Okay and lastly- YMMV on this one - I’ve def talked about it with friends before but I don’t think I’ve said it on Tumblr. I’m a firm believer that meta narratives and the way that stories are situated and created in our own world matter and that art deserves to be taken seriously and dissected. I love Horizon, but it, and Aloy as a protagonist, are absolutely drenched in white savior and colonial storytelling tropes. Every time I play Frozen Wilds, all I can think of is Jack Sparrow going “and then they made me their chief”. There’s a lot of iffy stuff in the games, as much as I absolutely love them. We’ll have to see how H3 goes, but Burning Shores is MUCH better about this and honestly Seyka is a huge part of it. The story centers itself on a queer woman of color who is pretty tangibly presented as Aloy’s equal with her own strengths and weaknesses throughout the story and takes the lead just as often if not more than Aloy does, which I find really refreshing. It doesn’t entirely fix Aloy’s white savior issues but I think it’s a really good move for the narrative that continues the themes found in HFW about community and connection.

Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds (2017)

[luffyvace]

Ciel Phantomhive relationship hcs~

He looks so goood in the new artsyle! The animation studio did black butler justice!!

Update: did undertaker will Alois sooner or later 😉

Okay in these hcs your whatever gender you want but your an earl/noble ;}

also Lizzy is your friend and she introduced you to Ciel

okay now that that’s cleared

when Ciel first met you let’s be honest here he probably didn’t fall head over heels in love with you 🗿

cmon guys let’s be realistic

but he certainly did live up to the expectation of the phantomhive hospitality!

he was very thoughtful and caring of you as his guest~

and your comfort definitely took priority!

your were throughly impressed!

he held a small smile as he chatted with you and gave a mini tour

he admits to himself he finds you to be very beautiful/handsome

onwards to after the courtship! :)

when you first start dating it’ll be the phantomhive hospitality all over again

…times 100.

<3

Sebastian might as well be your butler by the way he’s making your butler/maid look

LOL

your pillows are fluffed and your sheets and blankets are warm and clean each day

(thanks mey rin 💗🗣)

the food is always scrumdidiliumstious (scrumptious)

you play many, many games to keep you from being bored

any drink you want is in your grasp

whatever you want to do—as long as Ciel’s not busy—sounds wonderful to him! 😊

if you annoy him like how Lizzy does in the anime you’ll never hear of it

and I mean- don’t get me wrong he’s not perfect

especially not someone such as him, who has a lot of stress on him

so you might here a huff (that you weren’t supposed to hear)

but he’s sure to make it up to you quickly 💖

his love languages are acts of service and gift giving

half because those two things can be materialistic which ngl is kinda easier for him

particularly when it comes to showing love and affection

and half because he feels really good when he gifts you something you love

even if you don’t have a grand reaction he still feels satisfied

and acts of service is easy too!

he can simply tell Sebastian to do whatever it is you want!

even though you have your own butler/maid- 😃

AHAHHAHA

He most certainly won’t like pda

If you initate it he won’t shove you off obviously

he loves you!

and that’ll ruin his reputation!

but when your back at the manor he’ll gently break it to you that he’s not comfortable with it and it’s not that he doesn’t love you it’s just that!-

he also plays it very safe when it comes to what you do in the public eye

everyones looking for him to screw up

Even more so because he’s so young

to which he always make sure to use utmost care and delicacy when out and about with you

honestly I feel Ciel would like someone who’s a bit more patient or calm

at least don’t be bouncing off the walls 😞😭

he enjoys going on walks in his or your garden

I think he would be happy with traveling as well

somewhere relaxing and quiet

less bustling with chatter and carriages

It’d make a perfect anniversary gift for him *hint hint* 😉

even though I’m sure he’d have more than enough activities for you all planned

i know you two’ll work it out 💕

Ciel absolutely keeps you away. from Alois

he tells you who he is (some things) and all so you don’t get too curious

so please, don’t be curious.

that killed that cat! :P

Ciel would want you to try out Earl Gray but if you don’t like it he wouldn’t mind indulging in what you like 👍

Ciel doesn’t believe himself to be the best possible candidate for a partner out there

Even though he believes he needs to be. for you.

what you think?

when you hear the word ‘love’ he’s the first person that comes to mind ♥︎

:3 cute.

Yus undertaker next ♪( ´▽｀)

[iridescent-solstice]

𝐀 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤 . . .

⤷ | {𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐬 x 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫} | ᴀ ᴍᴀꜱᴋ ɪꜱ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴀ ᴡᴀʏ ᴛᴏ ʜɪᴅᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴛʀᴜᴇ ꜱᴇʟꜰ, ᴀɴᴅ ɴᴏ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ ʜᴏᴡ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴀᴛ ᴘʀᴇᴛᴇɴᴅɪɴɢ ᴄʟᴀᴜᴅᴇ ꜰᴀᴜꜱᴛᴜꜱ ɪꜱ . . . . ʜᴇ ᴄᴀɴɴᴏᴛ ᴘʀᴇᴛᴇɴᴅ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ɴᴏʀᴍᴀʟ ꜰᴏʀᴇᴠᴇʀ

An old fic I might return to in the future . . . But for now, this is all there is, I hope you enjoy reading this despite that fact

Nowadays you often found yourself with far too much free time after the master of the manor had gone to bed. Winter was fast approaching, and Alois prone to getting sick would be tucked in earlier than normal. Claude's orders... Yeah... You didn't understand his decision either. Despite being the closet to him, you often had no idea what was going through his mind. Even more so now... because the two of you had not spoken in 3 days. A fight had taken place. Your very first infact.

For you see, Claude knows how to sweeten the poisonous love he feeds you daily. But one cannot play pretend a 100% of the time. Cracks form every now and then. His faltering smile when you mention going to town without him, or when you share a cup of tea with Hannah... He hides his distain with a tight-lipped smile, but you saw through it. You were quite observant after all. The clenching of his jaw gave him away, and if not that then the quick glare in her direction. His ticked off expression that escaped his cold composure only for a second. So, how could he expect to hide his little attempt to put Hannah back in her place from you?

Not once had you ever acted out against him, told him off either. Always following what he said with a shy smile. The only logical conclusion could have been Hannah. Trying to corrupt you to mess with him. But he would not let her. You... were his!

His only mistake? Not predicting you'd be on your way to greet him, only to find him choking her against the tree. Her face blue and pale. Eyes watering with tears streaming down her face as she tried to reason with him. Pitch black nails scratching and clawing at his wrists. To no avail. He only got angrier at whatever reply she gave. You couldn't hear their squabble from afar, but you rushed over nonetheless, she was your friend after all... "She suffers enough misery at the hands of the young master! You don't need to add to it." You had hissed and yelled at him. Once there was enough distance between the two of them you moved in front of her. Hannah held up close to your body barely conscious. Leaning against your tiny frame as you protectively put yourself in front of her. As much as you could. To protect her from him. Seeing this display of closeness, of defiance. He simply snaps, "don't pretend to know it all. She's no saint." An insult from your side, and he pursues his lips, simply turning on his heel. Away from you. Leaving you to watch upset as he walked away from the scene. There had been no conversation between the two of you since then.

So, as you sat on the tiny window nook he had made for you, your mind wandered to him once again. Head leaning against the cooled glass of the window as you watched the snowflakes outside fall. One by one. Your hands were shivering from the cold, but you wanted to be awake in case he'd come to see you. If you were to crawl into bed, he'd simply leave you be. At least if you stayed here, he'd see you right? Gripping the blanket on your shoulder you tugged it closer. Contrary to popular belief, he was quite diligent when he wanted to be. Careful not to even brush past you in the hallways or look at you when instructing you of your daily tasks. Not a sliver of attention your way...

No late-night kisses or gentle whispering in your ear as you dozed off. No candle lit dinners together. You would often dine alone now. Not even Hannah dared to speak to you. You felt lonely. You almost found yourself wondering if resisting was even worth it at this point.

Now, you were not sure he would even come to your shared bedroom. Opting to stay in his office, filling taxes and pretending he had better things to do. You knew why, he wanted you to come to him... And you found yourself giving into it tonight. He was going to pay attention to you, you were going to make sure of that. You just wished this confidence had stayed once you appeared in front of his office door. You just wished this confidence had stayed once you appeared in front of his office door . . .

{ᴘᴀʀᴛ 2} (ᴄᴏᴍɪɴɢ ꜱᴏᴏɴ? Maybe . . . But I hope you enjoyed reading part1!)

[ᴅɪᴠɪᴅᴇʀꜱ ʙʏ: @chilumitos] ᴅɪꜱᴄʟᴀɪᴍᴇʀ: ɪ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴅᴅ ᴘɪᴄᴛᴜʀᴇꜱ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴇᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴏᴅ ꜰᴏʀ ꜰɪᴄꜱ. ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇʟᴏɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ ᴜɴʟᴇꜱꜱ ꜱᴛᴀᴛᴇᴅ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀᴡɪꜱᴇ.

[pikapeppa]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Spread the self-love ❤️

Oooh don't mind if I do since I'm on a kick of rereading a bunch of my own writing currently! 🤣 First off: tagging back to you, lovely @johaerys-writes, and forward to @crackinglamb @alyssalenko @sinsbymanka @vorchagirl @chloefraazers @mwasaw @himluv @ocean-in-my-rebel-soul @contrivedchaos and anyone else who would like to play! Please, anyone and everyone, join in!

So okay. I thought wayyy too hard about this and had A LOT of difficulty choosing because I actually really enjoy rereading my own fics 😅 but I did my best! Answers below the cut for anyone who wants to keep reading:

- Fall Into The Tide: Dragon Age, Sten/f!Mahariel, ~54k words. The premise of this fic is that Mahariel decides on a whim to follow Sten on his maritime journey back to Par Vollen. This was actually the first fic that came to mind as a favourite, and to date, I feel that it's the best thing I've ever written; I'm really proud of Sten's characterization and the emotional beats. I still cry like a baby every time I reread it LOL.

- Lovers In A Dangerous Time: Dragon Age, Fenris/f!Hawke, ~525k words. This is my Fenris the Inquisitor fic. I just finished rereading it and I had a lot of "wow I wrote this? Good job me" moments while reading it! 😂

- Until We Meet Again: The Witcher, Geralt/f!Reader, ~250k words. The point of this fic was that I personally want to fuck Geralt so I made it everyone else's problem BAHAHA. This fic completely mutated from self-indulgent smut to accidentally-falling-in-love in a totally unplanned way, and I'm so thrilled with how it turned out!

- Just Hold On, We're Going Home: Samurai Champloo, Mugen/Fuu/Jin, ~38k words. SamCham is my favourite anime, and the end of it is so heartwrenching to me, even though it's a happy ending. So I wrote this fic to heal myself 🤣 This fic was entirely a gift I wrote for myself on the assumption that no one would actually read it, and it's been lovely to see how many people were craving a poly happy ending like I was!

- The Love That Grows From Violence: Dragon Age, Felassan/f! Lavellan, ~181k words. This is a post-Trespasser fic where a bitter Lavellan falls in love with Felassan, who was made Tranquil rather than killed in the Fade. This fic holds a hugely special place in heart partly because the idea was BRILLIANT (it was suggested to me by a wonderful reader-friend!), and because writing this became my cozy escape during the worst of COVID. I'm really proud of some of the emotional beats in this fic and the lore aspects, and I really hope that Veilguard will not end up proving me entirely wrong or I might just die LOL. 

HONOURABLE MENTIONS (I CAN'T HELP IT, THIS WAS REALLY HARD):

- Even The Hardiest Desert Blooms Need To Get Wet Sometimes: Horizon Forbidden West, Drakka/Aloy, ~365k words. I JUST REALLY LOVE DRAKKA, OKAY? I JUST LOVE HIM. A LOT. I had a ball writing every chapter of this fic just because I adore the disaster Desert gremlin, and I always love the opportunity to write texting in fics, which I got to do here a lot, so this fic makes me a very happy girl 🥰 The only reason this didn't make my top five is that I don't actually reread it very often!

- Inadvisable: Dragon Age, triple romance for Solas/f!Lavellan, Abelas/f!Lavellan, Felassan/f!Lavellan (different Lavellans LOL), ~668k words. This is my modern AU university fic collaboration with my beloved friend and artist Elbenherz. IT WAS SO HARD NOT PUTTING THIS FIC IN THE TOP-FIVE; the only reason it didn't make the cut is because it was either this one or The Love That Grows From Violence, and I just have such cozy-fuzzy vibes/memories of writing TLGFV. 

If anyone decides to check out any of these fics, I hope you enjoy! 🥰

-- love from your friendly neighbourhood Pika xoxo

[teecupangel]

I am so sorry, I just now realized I sent my rant to you via an ask, I don't know if that is the correct way or if a dm would have been more appropriate. I don't know if I even made a whole lot of sense in the last 'ask' but I hope you will understand what I mean.

So that this one will be a ask/request, I wanted to ask you if you have still the ideas for the HZD AltDes Au? I scrolled through your notes ideas post and that one immediately catched my eyes. Like I can kind of imagine that either one would have a similar plot like Aloy? Maybe someone who worked either alongside Elisabeth Sobeck or would replace her(and therefore Aloy) and then it could follow a similar route like base HZD and Forbidden west. Maybe Desmond would be the genetical clone to the scientist working alongside Elisabeth like Aloy is to her but instead of just having the genetic necessary code he would retain the memory's or regain them to fight the rogue AI (I don't know the name anymore, I really have to play the games again, love them). If Desmond/Altaïr would replace Aloy or have similar plot like her, maybe the other one could either be like a childhood friend/stepbrother like in your fic Old Mentor or another 'clone' (with the explanation why there are two clones, so that it is guaranteed that at least one will see the light of day and potentially save the world from further destruction with the right genetic code (Hehe)). OR to connect it to the AC universe (and I kind of just got the idea from your Old Mentor fic) like, Desmond survives the solar flare, Altaïr is for whatever reason with him in the 21th century, helps him survive the eye etc. From some Isu crap or whatever they have a like a vision or something from the future (HZD, more like the war with the machines who absorb biomatter), they work on it to not really prevent it but like ensure that humanity will live through the catasrophe and put their DNA like Elisabeth Sobeck into the project for the future.

I just scrolled up and realized I might have just grabbed the plot bunny and ran like a mad man, ups

Nah, you’re good. I like reading rants hahahaha

I can’t find the HZD AltDes AU idea post so I’m not sure what I’ve already written and what I didn’t include in the post itself sooooo…

Let’s just make this a separate idea where AltDes happens during HZD lollol.

We’ll borrow a bit from my HFW x AC crossover oneshot Falconry for this one.

In this one, Altaïr would be Aloy’s twin although they look nothing alike. The real reason for this is that they were both born at the same time with Aloy being born from Sobek’s DNA but Altaïr is a bit of an anomaly.

The plan had been for Desmond to be cloned using Sample 17 but Sobek only had a small sample of an already small sample.

Not to mention, due to Ted Faro’s actions, the sample wasn’t in its best state but it did manage to create an imperfect clone unlike Aloy.

The two of them were raised together and Aloy acts more like an older sister to Altaïr who preferred to be quiet and seemed to see things that others cannot see.

Many things he’s weird and Aloy always try to beat them up because of this.

Aloy is pretty good with figuring how machines work while Altaïr likes to make new things based on the scraps and metal they get.

They were a constant headache to Rost, that was for sure.

The thing about Altaïr is… he has a friend.

A friend that only he could see.

Someone who grows with him and talks to him and play with him whenever Aloy was busy or Rost wasn’t looking.

The boy’s name is ‘Desmond Miles’.

Desmond thinks he’s a ghost. A person who had died and was now haunting Altaïr.

And he knows a lot of things. Not the machines but the much older tech.

Desmond likes to say that they were living in a distant future after humanity probably ‘fucked up so badly’.

It took years for Altaïr to understand everything that Desmond was saying.

To Desmond, his life ended when the world was just ‘starting’ to bring what he liked to call ‘sci-fi-esque’ technology to life.

The machines they hunt are part of that sci-fi-esque future that Desmond never saw.

But the really older artifacts that Desmond liked to call ‘technology’, those he knows or can guess what they do.

He’s ramblings are what give Altaïr an idea of how he can make new inventions using those parts.

At the very least, the parts that Rost didn’t take away because he didn’t want them messing with machines and stuff.

Altaïr knows that Desmond knows more than he’s letting on but it was fine if Desmond doesn’t want to share them yet.

Sooner or later, he will.

That was the kind of person Desmond was, after all.

.

Unorganized Notes:

Yes, in this one, Desmond is the ‘Bleed’ XD

To be more exact, because of the botched cloning, Altaïr is like Aloy, his own person who shared the DNA of their source (Sobek/Sample 17)

Unfortunately, because of both Sample 17’s current state when it was used and the genetic makeup of Desmond himself, Altaïr gets a ‘genetic ghost’ for the ride.

Desmond remembers everything. He does think that Altaïr is not really Altaïr but a person who just coincidentally got Altaïr’s name. He acts as a friend and companion to Altaïr growing up and he does see Aloy as a younger sister.

Which is funny because Aloy thinks she’s older than Altaïr and Altaïr never tried to complain about that and went along with it.

HZD and HFW plot go along with Altaïr for the ride as Aloy’s tagalong brother. Aloy gets a lot of sweet tools and weapons because the two of them together… well… Desmond is just glad they don’t have the drive and time to try and figure out how to make nuclear weapons

Altaïr (and Desmond) learned the truth behind his birth at the same time as Aloy and it doesn’t change the fact that Aloy sees Altaïr as her brother and Altaïr sees her as his sister.

(Rost lives because I say so)

Towards the start of HFW, Altaïr (with GAIA’s help) managed to create a small eagle machine that can show Desmond as a hologram by staying connected to Altaïr’s focus so Aloy and the others can finally see him. Before that, towards the end of HZD, they can hear Desmond if they connect with Altaïr’s focus with their own focus

Now the twist of HFW connected to Beta and Far Zenith also happens but this is where we get a few more plot points from Falconry

Far Zenith has a puppet by the name of Seventeen

And after GAIA talked to Beta, she believed she can use Seventeen to give Desmond his own body

[brammariek]

WAIT WHAT she actually animates beyond the door even tho we can’t see her after we talk to her? I wonder if the devs had originally had her accessible for a time

SHE DOES! it's just a few seconds looking at each paintings, and you can see her through the focus if you stand close to the vault door, so she's very much there, and she's very much walking around.

now since she doesn't have anywhere else to go (that we know of) I'm assuming she stays in the vault until Aloy brings Sylens "to heel" as she says. Thing is, you're not supposed to stay in an art vault for very long periods of time, because the air quality and humidity needs to be very exact for art to be preserved, the gasses in the air are not ideal for human lungs. When i visited a museum with my university, we were allowed entry to one of the storage vaults, to see how conservation works, and how art pieces are stored when not on display, and IIRC you're not supposed to stay there for more than... an hour, maybe 2 at a time? so that makes me curious as to how much of Tilda's body has been altered with the nano-tech the Zeniths have. (I haven't played burning shores yet, so i have no idea if more lore is revealed there, but my guess is that we learn a bit more about them)

Like the paintings were already really old when Tilda got her hands on them, the oldest piece being Lidded ewer, by Adam van Vianen, 1614, and the Aloy being born in 3021, that makes the piece at least 1427 years old by the time Aloy sees it, compared to it's 410 years today in our timeline. that is impressive conservation considering no-one was there to monitor the vault and it's content at all. like in comparison, art that is 1427 years old to us, is from 597 ad, that's when England adopted the Julian calendar, so wer're talking Byzantine art period, like the Hagia Sophia was built between 532-37 AD. and as a visual reference to what a lot of western art looked like around that time, here is a mosaic panel of Empress Theodora, from around the 540s, in the church of San Vitale in Ravenna.

like this is the span of time we're talking about, this is so fucking old, and i just fhjdshafjkds have a lot of thoughts around that.

ofc we can assume that conservation tech was pretty evolved from what it is today, but i still believe human hands would have a large part in conservation... as an art-history student, i just have a lot of thoughts around Tilda and her vault FJKDSJLKF

[ryuichirou]

Replies

A couple of replies today! Kuroshitsuji and Twst.

Anonymous asked:

are you ever gonna make some Kuroshitsuji 2 art featuring my favorite blonde psycho?

We love Alois and I did draw him a couple of times! We posted some of the stuff here, but everything that wasn’t posted on tumblr can be found in this kuroshitsuji log on pixiv.

I’m not planning on drawing him in the nearest future, but since he is very special to us, it might randomly happen at some point…

If you have any troubles with pixiv, let me know and I’ll post Alois art from there here.

Anonymous asked:

The thought just crossed my mind... Do you ship Sebastian with any other characters aside from Ciel? Do you have any thoughts about those ships, if you do? Do you see Grell as a top or a bottom, too?! (I can't pick a side w/ them personally)

We talked about our Kuroshitsuji ships some time ago, here is the post if you’re interested! But in short, we kind of ship him with William because their interactions in the Circus Arc were hilarious and William was 100% playing hard to get. I don’t think I’ve even drawn them at all, but I should do it at least once… I should draw all of our Kuroshitsuji ships at least once, to be fair :(

Ironically, we don’t have any ships or even thoughts about Grell, sorry for disappointing! Maybe it’s due to the fact that while we were hating on Kuroshitsuji all those years (dark times lol), Grell was pretty much the only character I would draw anyway because of the cool design… But not really, to be honest; it’s actually more likely due to the fact that none of the Grell ships really clicked with us :( As for the position, it’s easy to see Grell as a bottom, but it doesn’t really help in this case.

Anonymous asked:

I've noticed I think y'all ship idia the same way I ship silver LOL just 24/7 running a list of characters through my head like "would it be hot if they dicked down Silver? It would be a little hot, wouldn't it? Lets just add them to the list anyway 😌" [he and said character has spoken a total of 2 times]

YES This is the treatment Silver deserves, his father would be so proud lol a little jealous, but still!

It is fun though... I always say it, but twst cast is very interesting, so a lot of characters who seem to be just a random pick could have such nice chemistry that it’s easy to start shipping them after just one interaction or a voice line. I love it so much lol

Anonymous asked:

i can not stop thinking about how Ortho has 24/7 access to any and all porn ever uploaded to the internet. and with a little modification he can bring even some of the most fantastical ones into reality.

He is just way too powerful, isn’t he? And the worst thing is, no one can even stop him anymore, now that Idia can’t access his system anymore…

If you think about it, Ortho is the perviest and the most knowledgeable person in NRC, even if he isn’t actively aware of all the kinks in the world. To think that only 5 minutes of buffering time separates him from being completely unaware and him having seen the entire collection of sex machine porn videos… And knowing Ortho, he’ll definitely want to try some of the things irl lol

Anonymous asked:

Hello! I'd like to know your thoughts on one of the side characters: Fellow Honest.

Sorry if you've already talked about him and I missed it.....

I'm just curious, because you seem to like Rollo and Che'nya, side characters that have made a few appearances in your art.

Do you have any interest in Fellow? Any headcannons? Or are you waiting until next Halloween, when Playful Land is available in English, to talk about/possibly draw him?

Hi, Anon! Sorry for the late reply.

I haven’t talked about it, and unfortunately I still can’t really talk about him. We are very intrigued by both Fellow and Gidel, but we haven’t seen their event yet. So I can’t make proper judgments and come up with any headcanons :(

We don’t really care about the EN release because we watch fan translations on youtube, but we just don’t have time to watch anything these days unfortunately. But when we do watch it, you’ll definitely notice, because there is no way I won’t draw Fellow at least a couple of times. His design and his sleazy faces are just too much fun lol

[rebeccathornewrites]

I have an MFA in writing, 5 years of therapy, and far too much time. buckle up for my analysis of Gayloy from burning shores

Ok the MFA is coming in 3 weeks, but WHOO BOY i have thoughts.

Click below for spoilers. DO NOT READ UNTIL YOU FINISH.

As a bi woman who writes lesbians professionally, I want it known that I was 1000% on board with them as a couple, and cleared literal days of my schedule to play it and confirm.

And I still don't think Aloy is ready for romance. I think The Kiss is the least plausible, and least enjoyable, of the three endings.

Let's dive into why.

It starts at childhood, as always.

Aloy has grown up an outcast. She relied on herself and Rost--and then Rost died, and it was just her. Every single chance she's had, she's rebuked romance. She wrote it off as "I'm saving the world" or "I just don't know how people work yet," but the reality is that she doesn't know HOW to rely on people.

Vulnerability is a learned skill.

I'll say it again. VULNERABILITY is a LEARNED skill.

Some people, those with healthy households, learn this skill early on, and practice it often. Those are the people we see giving everything of themselves to someone they love. They feel deeply, empathize well, and have happy relationships.

And then there's people like Aloy. Someone who was shown love from one person--and a whole lotta hate from the rest of them. Someone who grew up being told that she couldn't rely on a tribe--because if she failed the Proving, there wouldn't BE a tribe to rely on. Rost hoped for the best... and prepared her for the worst.

Then she dove into the world at large, and was presented time and time again with romance opportunities. The Sun King is the biggest one--obviously his infatuation ran deep, but of course it would, finding the one person in a whole kingdom who'd challenge him. She turned him down, and in her mind, she probably reasoned it away in a neat little box.

"I'm not like the other suitors he's met. He only likes me because I'm different."

This can be true.

"But he doesn't know who I really am."

This can be true--but it's also a defense mechanism. A barrier Aloy placed to protect herself from rejection. Because if she convinces herself these people don't really know her, it's easy for her to keep them at arm's length.

Easy to be the lone warrior.

We see the same kind of thing with Varl, hoping to follow her into the wilds. With Erend, so excited to see her, so irritated she doesn't reciprocate. Kotollo viewed her admirably, although I think his personality is a bit too subservient to truly challenge Aloy (essentially his commander) into the growth she needs.

Man after man demonstrated their affection, and she held them all at arm's length. For the good of the world, right?

So, okay. She's a lesbian--or at the very least, bi or pan. We can reason away the men, certainly, but she uses the same techniques with the women. Talanah, our fan favorite, was truly a perfect match for Aloy. Strong, resilient, excellent fighter. They progressed in the same way Seyka did--and yet, Talanah was deep in the throes of another man.

Which was probably a huge fucking relief to Aloy. Because if Talanah was after a guy... then she wasn't an option for Aloy.

Which means Aloy didn't have to do any intensive introspection to discover why they might be a good match.

She could wave Talanah away, and feel absolutely no remorse or grief when Talanah returned home. In fact, Aloy might have even left that experience feeling satisfied that she helped a friend--and be utterly oblivious to the chemistry they could have had.

This is how avoidant people--those who haven't learned to trust, to rely on others, to show vulnerability--experience the world.

And this is somewhat devastating, because Talanah's quest came at the exact time that Varl was teaching Aloy how to empathize, lean on people, be vulnerable for the first time in her life. Aloy didn't have to do it alone--and if Talanah had been in a position to receive it, I think they could have had a spectacular romance.

But it didn't happen.

So, we move on.

Aloy loses Varl, learns to lean on her friends, learns to let people in. This alone is spectacular character growth--but it's easy to have friends. Humans crave it. We need companionship, so once Varl laid the groundwork, Aloy was able to embrace this.

We don't see her embracing romance.

Until Seyka.

This is where the potential had me--and the execution lost me.

Because Seyka is presented as this fantastic option for Aloy--and the starving, desperate fanbase standing behind her. From the first interaction, I had high hopes. When Aloy says, "you must be confused," and Seyka basically responds with "confused about why you'd FLY towards that TOWER OF DEATH, maybe," I was ready for someone who challenges Aloy.

I wanted a love interest who was more competent than Aloy in some ways. I actually liked Varl in that way, before he found Zo: the fact that he challenged Aloy to push her own comfort level in order to embrace others was a great complement to Aloy's abrasive nature.

Seyka, while fantastic, almost feels like an Aloy clone.

They're both competent, capable, and closed-off. They're both hiding secrets to spare the others' feelings--when in reality, they're sparing themselves from tough conversations.

Because that's what Aloy, at least, has been trained to do. Bear the burden alone to spare the others. Fight the machine alone to keep the others safe. She protects fiercely, which means that she never has to be the one experiencing loss.

How convenient. >.>

I love the idea of Seyka. I can't wait to see where fanon takes her personality. But right now, with just the DLC content, it feels like she's the caricature of a romantic interest for Aloy. The perfect girl--in theory. But not when you consider psychology.

There was a huge missed opportunity when Aloy finally revealed Nemesis's existence, in my opinion. Aloy protected Seyka from this Big, Dangerous News to help her morale--and to keep from ruining what they've developed with something possibly devastating.

She finally told Seyka... and Seyka responded by literally fleeing the room in horror.

I get that everyone needs time to process these things. But in my mind, all that reaffirmed for Aloy is, "My instincts were right. I can't rely on others with this Big, Dangerous News. They can't handle it. So, I have to handle it for them."

There was SUCH an opportunity there. A chance for Aloy to tell her, and for Seyka to contemplate it for a moment, smile, and say, "I'm glad you told me. Let's tackle it together."

Something to show Aloy, in that concrete moment, that this is a person she can rely on.

That is what would have made Seyka great, to me.

Everything that followed after is a series of insta-love, in my opinion. Aloy looks at Seyka with near-literal hearts in her eyes, but it didn't feel earned. By the end, I don't feel like Seyka did anything unique that Aloy's friends in Forbidden West hadn't already done to her at some point: rescue her, adventure with her, stop a massive scheme with her.

Seyka, in my mind, doesn't currently have enough personality of her own to stand out. She's just another soldier in Aloy's army.

There will be [straight] people angry at the LGBT+ rep here, and I don't even feel that our community can argue it. As far as lesbian rep goes, that was not a great example of a natural romance. It felt forced for most of that DLC.

But that romance could be great. And that's where I love that the developers added options other than the kiss. As much as I loved the idea of them kissing, I still don't buy it with the scenes we were given.

Seyka latched onto Aloy because Aloy treated her with admiration at a time when Seyka's tribe nearly disowned her. Fair. I believe Seyka might truly be in love with Aloy.

But Aloy herself? There's no way in hell she'd be diving into a romantic relationship after one single adventure with this girl--even one as sweeping as this. Aloy doesn't know who Seyka is. Aloy hasn't seen Seyka in a relaxed setting--only one where she's panicking for her tribe, her sister, and the future. And Aloy's brain will be too logic-entrenched to succumb to emotional impulse alone.

Because that's the interesting thing about avoidant people. They rely on themselves, and their logic. That's what's kept them alive until this point. If Aloy showed vulnerability in the past, she put herself at risk in every sense of the word.

Even Seyka wouldn't be enough to break that barrier right away.

But I do think she could try in the sequel, and that's why I'm thrilled for this character. Someone the developers can truly use to force Aloy to grow emotionally.

To do that, though, the developers will have to dive into Seyka, and show me why she's the person for Aloy. What about her history makes her The Candidate? It can't just be that she's "an inspiration." I need more than that. I need to see Seyka in a relationship, coaxing Aloy through the moments of panic and shattering the barriers Aloy erects out of fear, under the guise of "logic."

Show me that, and I'm on board with a kiss.

Until then, I'll go write some fanfiction.

Sincerely,

An avoidant working through her own shit.

Thank you very much for attending my TED Talk.

[natsuki208]

Here’s a smaller birthday gift for my friend @yourneurodivergentlady

Basically Ciel singing this song from ‘Hercules’ about him and Alois, and his servants know about it.

———

Ciel: If there's a prize for rotten judgement, I guess I've already won that. No man is worth the aggravation; that’s ancient history, been there, done that.

Servants: Who'd'ya think you're kiddin'? He's the Earth and heaven to you. Try to keep it hidden, master, we can see right through you. Sir, you can't conceal it, we know how ya feel and who you're thinking of.

Ciel: No chance, no way, I won't say it, no, no.

Servants: You swoon, you sigh, why deny it, uh-oh.

Ciel: It's too cliche, I won't say I'm in love.

I thought my heart had learned its lesson, it feels so good when you start out. My head is screaming get a grip, man, unless you're dying to cry your heart out!

Servants: You keep on denying, who you are and how you're feeling. Master, we're not buying, sir, we saw ya hit the ceiling. Face it like a grown-up, when ya gonna own up that ya got, got, got it bad!

Ciel: No chance, no way, I won't say it, no, no.

Servants: Give up, give in. Check the grin you're in love!

Ciel: This scene won't play, I won't say I'm in love!

(You're doin flips, read our lips, you’re in love)

Ciel: You're way off base, I won't say it. Get off my case, I won't say it.

Servants: Now don't be proud. It’s okay, you're in love.

Ciel: Ooooh. At least out loud, I won't say I'm in loooove.

[randomnameless]

Random AU :

While helping to clean what's left of the Monastery in FE16, Gilbert finds Cyril pretty pissed because he found the "box with important things" Lady Rhea kept in her room empty, so he wants to recover what was inside ("i'm sure those imperials soldiers stole it!") but, well, he never asked what was inside.

Gilbert only notices a weird thing next to the box on the floor, but promises to help Cyril later on.

Still, he picks up the thing and while he's curious about it, given all the events happening, he puts it in the back of his mind.

One night though, he studies it more attentively (or actually wanted to make space in his inventory) and notices it's a broken toy!

(but missing two wheels)

Cursing the Imperials under his breath for not even having spared children, he imagines it might have belonged to a kid who couldn't escape the assault and tried to hide in the Archbishop's room, only to be found out and, well, neither kid nor toy survived.

However, he notices this toy seems to be old as fuck, and while he only paid regular (for Gilbert!) attention to the monastery's inhabitants, he never saw any child in the monastery play with a similar toy. What was it doing in Lady Rhea's room?

Later asking Cyril if he found the missing wheels ("the what? who designs a horse with wheels?"), Gilbert, again, refocused on the war and his duty and left that mystery aside.

After the Bridge of Myrddin and it's high number of casualties, he felt like he had to "help at least" this "maimed" toy standing on his desk - he made wood wheels himself and managed to find a branch to make everything sort of stand and roll.

When Annette learns about it, she cries to his great dismay, it's nothing - but she tells him it's everything, this war only takes lives, but the sheer act of repairing this toy means so much - there will be hope later on, and children will be able to play again. Her dad might suck at white magic, he can still "heal" things, like toys. Can he imagine the joy on its owner's face when they will finally be able to play with it again?

(even if she thinks it's a bit weird to have a toy designed as a horse with wheels)

Seteth overheard Cyril's quest about looking for Rhea's "important stuff" even if he doesn't know what it is, together they find a slab of wax and a weird golem stuffed thing with a :) face.

Cyril ignore those things, but Seteth guesses those were the "treasures" Rhea stored in that box - under Cyril's disbelief, those are junk, not important treasure!

"Well, I am sure if you gave her something, she would have stored it in this box."

After retaking Firdhiad, everyone is happily, well, taking a rest at GM before going to Enbarr and Gilbert is assaulted by dozens of orphans who are sheltered in the monastery who ask him to "heal their toys". Gilbert only says he is a knight and will help as best as he can, which prompts Dimitri to wonder if he too, can help, before remembering that he still has difficulties to control his crest activation and would most likely break the toys.

Dedue tries to cheer him up, and one of Alois' jokes leads Dimtiri to vow to open a "toy hospital" in the castle when he returns - after all, he can help in his own way, right?

After hearing the story from Cyril about the contents of Rhea's box, Gilbert returns the toy immediately - to a kid's chagrin since they found that horse very neat ("it can roll on the walls!").

Rhea ultimately returns, and, after much consideration, accepts to give the contents of the box away since it's "time to accept the past and move on".

She gives the golem :) stuffie to Billy, saying it was one of their mother's favorite toys and how she refused to sleep without it when she was a child, because Rhea made it for her 5th birthday.

Rhea nearly cries at seeing Lycaon's horse on wheels repaired and thanks Gilbert, before returning it to the kid who was playing with it, telling them the precedent child who played with it told her that horse could fly, and was actually a "dragon-horse".

The kid looked at the archbishop weirdly, before nodding and calling their new toy a "draco-horse".

However, his sigillaria wasn't as popular, an Adrestian orphan managed to recognise a duck on it (this orphan was one of the survivors of the various "weeded lines" over the decades) but still called that thing weird (tfw he didn't inherit the Hresvelg artistic skills) and prefered to play with cats instead.

Little does Rhea know, Archbishop Billy roped Cyril in their plan to give her a new present, a herborium.

They filled it with the hundreds of flowers Billy gave her during their time at the monastery, before the war, and Cyril added the small flowers and lilies he helped grow during her absence.

Rhea's so overjoyed that she cries and hugs them both.

[i-promise-im-not-a-murderer]

Even more Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji headcannons because I can't stop thinking about these characters for two seconds!!!!

- Grell's multilingual (English, Russian, French, Japanese, BSL, and Morse Code)

- William has at the very least a basic understanding of most languages that Grell speaks

- Grell and Ronald talk shit about people in the office and gossip in BSL so most people don't understand what they're saying

- Undertaker visited the Phantomhive manor almost daily before the tragedy. He misses sitting around with his family while watching the twins play

- Two of the lockets on Undertaker's belt are dedicated to Vincent and Rachel

- Lizzy remembers that Undertaker is hers and Ciel's grandfather and she doesn't understand why he pretends to not be related to him

- Lizzy cries a lot at night because she misses how her family was before the tragedy, she's so childish because she misses when she was a child and everything was alright

- Ciel's actually quite close with Finny, as he's his main caretaker when Ciel's having an episode. Finny knows more about Ciel's backstory than any other mortal and Ciel has grown to see Finny as a kind of older brother

-Bard treats the other servants like his children, even though Mey-Rin is old enough to have been his younger sister. Bard finds comfort in the family he has and he loves them all deeply

-Alois made Claude start killing people at the manor so that he could take to Grell more. Over time, she became somewhat of a mother to Alois and visited without him having to kill people to see her. She eventually helped Alois realize that he deserves people around him who care more than Claude and they go on little mother/son dates. The two love their bond because Grell gets the child she's always wanted and Alois gets the parent he's always needed

- Grell occasionally brings Alois to work. William hates this, but he secretly admires how good of a mother Grell is. He sometimes catches himself thinking about raising Alois with her

- Ronald moved in with Grell to spend more time together and they have to constantly dismiss dating rumors

- The reapers all have mourning lockets dedicated to Eric and Alan, none of them have ever really recovered from their deaths

- Grell's family was originally from Russia, that's why she's fluent in Russian, William learned so that he could talk to her properly when Grell first arrived in dispatch

- (Tw) Grell dealt with csa in her time as a human to "fix her". Whenever she has a hard time with her body because of this or dysphoria, Ronald will get William to go with him and help Grell distract herself from the problem or let her cry with someone. Grell always feels a lot better after her crying sessions with them

- Othello has experimented with a lot of things in order to help Grell feminize herself

- Snake gets really insecure about his scales. Whenever Grell is over at the manor, she sneaks off with him to about their struggles with fitting in, the two are actually really close because of their shared experiences with poor treatment from others

- William is really good at baking and often bribes Grell into work with the sweets he makes. He actually gives them to her as a way to show affection, hence why almost everything is heart shaped, Grell's starting to catch on

- William has to be physically forced to stay home when he's sick because he's so dedicated to his work

[xamiipholia]

okay y'all seemed to like the last one so here's a few more Horizon 3 thoughts:

Aloy won’t die. It would completely upend the series’ themes and just be really nihilistic.

Since Nemesis is a gestalt entity I think it’s a safe bet that we’ll see Sam Witwer, Carrie-Anne Moss, etc again. I’m curious how they’re going to do it because at least structurally, it’s basically a reaper. Maybe it’ll use different Avatars when communicating like the Leviathan in ME3. 

It's gonna take some work to make a flashback/dream/vision not contrived but I would love to see Varl and Rost again. I think we deserve that.

Minerva is gonna have its work cut out for it blocking access to both the dormant Faro Swarm and the ZD terraforming system. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Nemesis has some sort of corruption function that becomes the equivalent of the corruption in HZD. It would be a really fun tech showcase if GG uses Zenith nanotech for machine corruption and leans into mechanical body horror.

If we’re going to Ban-Ur I really really hope they do the work to make the Banuk less problematic and more fleshed out as a culture. A quasi-Spartan society absolutely would not survive in an extreme environment, *especially* without megafauna to hunt. The Banuk characters are lovely and well-written; they deserve a society as well thought out as the Utaru or Carja. I’m honestly fine if there’s retcons or revamps to the cultural lore because the whole “outsider barges in and becomes chief” is rooted in racist, colonial tropes and we just don’t really need that imo.

The most recent footage of Death Stranding 2 (also running on Decima) has me SO excited for the visuals. GG’s gonna knock it out. The facial rendering and animation that Kojima Productions are doing looks industry-peak and I’m sure GG’s gonna match that. Aloy’s Gay Panic™️ scene on the beach in HBS is already top-tier nonverbal storytelling through animation. Digital Foundry actually just posted a really cool tech breakdown of the current Decima engine. I’m especially excited about the environmental stuff. The ocean simulations in HFW are already incredible and I hope they increase verticality in the world. I can’t wait to see the Sacred Lands in current gen graphics. 

I really love Kotallo’s DIY arm and it’s so so important to his development but Beta and Gaia now have access to Zenith nanotech, maybe give your buddy a sick upgrade hmm?

Speaking of, I can’t wait to see Beta come into her own. She’s one of the best parts of HFW and Aloy’s character absolutely shines in a sibling dynamic. 

I wouldn’t get your hopes up for a romance mechanic. Everyone’s feelings on that aside, it would be really odd from a game development perspective to just overhaul part of how the narrative develops Aloy’s character in the last act of the story. Yeah, there are flashpoints but I would argue that the presence of choice in Horizon is smoke and mirrors- cosmetic at best. Kentucky Route Zero (which you should play) does something similar where the player is given a certain amount of control over the substance of individual conversations and scenarios and it does absolutely nothing to alter the plot, by design. I think it’s the same here - this isn’t really a choice-based RPG, the flashpoints don’t really affect anything plot-wise or for Aloy’s character development. Olin is still out of the story, Nil lives, Regalla still dies one way or another. Aloy’s character development is pretty firmly on rails (think Jin Sakai, not Shepard - you get to guide some momentary character reactions but that’s it). I don’t think HBS is a testing ground either - If they were gonna introduce a romance mechanic I think they’d just do it, and not spend two years making a direct continuation of HFW’s main quest and establishing a specific romance hard-baked into the plot, complete with multiple leitmotifs for the character relationship (which is something they haven’t done before afaik) just to introduce a side quest mechanic coming in 5 years. I genuinely can’t think of any game or dev that has beta tested a major alteration to upcoming game mechanics that way - it doesn’t really make any sense in terms of developer resources, and these games are extremely time-consuming to make. I know this is a thing a bunch of people want and I can totally empathize with that! I just think it’s probably not on the table. 

I would bet money the series will bookend itself and the epilogue will involve a) the naming of Zo and Varl’s kid and b) Lis’ pendant. 

Mostly I'm just looking forward to being surprised. One of my favorite things that Horizon does is use carefully established elements in the world to pull the plot in unexpected directions and keeping the world grounded while they lean into speculative science fiction. I can't wait to see what Guerrilla is cooking up