#because i want input from whoever wants to give it

[apilgrimpassingby]

One of my favourite aesthetics is one I haven't seen a name for and I'm not quite sure how to describe; I call it "urban dark Abrahamicana". My best attempt to describe it is through things I associate with it:

Hebrew and Greek writing (in certain contexts)

Classic angels dripping blood

Creepy lamb imagery

Run-down churches in deprived neighbourhoods - the congregation is afraid of criminals, the police and things living in the night

Candles burning in the dark

Cemeteries empty of people, but full of graves

Weird angels like the living creatures of Ezekiel 1

Sleep paralysis demons

St. John's Apocalypse (a.k.a. the Book of Revelation)

Prayers uttered in dilapidated flats (if you're American, that's an apartment)

Books of esoterica disguised as mundane ones and hiding in libraries

Mundane objects decorated with pictures of saints

Home altars/icon corners in the houses of poor people

Cities that are a combination of Brutalist and Neo-Gothic architecture

Demoniacs living on the edges of the community, either homeless or in run-down dwellings

Christ appearing as a homeless man; look through the black curls poking out from His beanie hat and you'll see the forehead scars

Crucifixes

A wanderer from out of town, carrying a Bible and a case of strange things

Se'irim sightings in abandoned factories

Fearful people performing dark rituals behind closed doors and in ruined buildings

Otherworldly figures in long coats who come appear to the abused in their darkest moments, and disappear once their mission is done

Secret gatherings of believers in underground tunnels

If anyone can think of any media like this, let me know - the closest I can think of is the album David Koresh Superstar, especially the tracks "The Woman Clothed With The Sun" and "A Book of the Seven Seals".

Tagging @idylls-of-the-divine-romance for his opinions about a name for this aesthetic and other things to go on the list, since his blog's pretty close to this.

[thebiggerbear]

Giving In

Summary: You've finally given in to what you've wanted all this time but will it be enough?

Pairing: ? (whoever you want it to be) x Female!Reader

A/N: This is a new format I was experimenting with while also practicing...well...smut. To a low degree. I've come across fics in the past for all different fandoms, on here and AO3, that have featured this "whichever character you want it to be" format. So this could be Dean, Russell, Beau, Soldier Boy, Jensen, whoever you want. I'm going to tag the ones I just mentioned just to give it somewhere to go but it was purposely kept vague to be whoever the reader wants it to be.

All unbeta'd.

Thank you @rieleatiel for pre-reading! I was so nervous lol. Once again, your input is invaluable and your time spent appreciated. 💖

Warnings: smut-ish (18+ - minors DNI); language

Word Count: 978

Taglist: @avada-kedavra-bitch-187

This work was recc'ed by @winchestergirl2 here

“Oh fuck,” you moaned as he moved in and out of you.

You felt his breath near your earlobe. “There it is. Let me hear some more of that, sweetheart.” He purposely moaned into your ear as an example.

You dug your nails into his back at the sound, matching the indentations that now resided in your bottom lip from your teeth. Fuck, that was hot. No wonder he wanted to hear similar sounds coming from you. “We shouldn’t—” You loudly gasped when suddenly without warning, he hiked your leg higher on his side, causing him to go just that little bit deeper. “Be doing this.”

“Yes, we should,” he whispered, feeling him trailing kisses down your jawline until he reached your lips. “I’ve wanted this for so fucking long,” he grunted into your mouth, squeezing your hand in his almost as if to echo his sentiment.

You let him kiss you passionately, make love to you, but the guilt weighed heavily in your chest. You meant what you had said before — neither of you should be doing this. Yet as his hips moved steadily against yours, as he broke away to lift his head up and lock eyes with you, panting harshly, you couldn’t help but admit to yourself that you had wanted this for some time as well. It was a truth you kept hidden deep down inside that you refused to acknowledge. Even when you’d taken a picture together last week with your friends and his hand had stayed glued to the small of your back until the last possible second. When his gaze lingered on you longer than it should in polite company. When the discreet tender touches began, the inconspicuous feathery brush of his lips on your earlobe happened repeatedly when your head was a little too close to his, and when his hugs lasted a little too long. Each time any of those things occurred, you knew that you were heading in a direction that would only lead to trouble, getting closer and closer until one of you couldn’t take it anymore. Like a rumbling storm cloud that was close to breaking, the electricity in the air around you two became more and more charged until eventually lightning would strike and the downpour would be sudden and both of you would be drowning in it. You should have put a stop to it, to any of it, but you hadn’t. Because deep down in that secret place, you hadn’t wanted to. 

And now here you were, underneath the man who had as tight of a grip on your heart as he did your body — tighter even. He was staring down at you with a mix of desire and something akin to reverence; you stared back at him, the same feelings coursing through you alongside pleasure and — well, love. You loved these eyes now, the ones that watched your expressions closely as he moved within you. You loved these lips, the ones that parted to let out a deep groan when you reflexively clenched down on him to slow him down. You loved the deep voice that followed, telling you, “Fuck, baby, you’re squeezing the shit out of me” as lust brightened the sheen in his eyes. You loved the warm yet prickly skin you felt underneath your hand when you placed it against his cheek, causing his eyes to shut halfway before he turned and pressed his lips to your palm.

You loved this man. You’d loved him when he insisted on playing you song after song from the playlist on his phone. You’d loved him the first time he’d laughed at something you said, appreciating your steady stream of snarky commentary from movies to news to every possible topic in life you two could find to discuss. You’d loved him when you turned to say something to him about the tv series you were binging together one day to find him already watching you with an affectionate smile and a soft, faraway look in his eyes. You’d loved him when he fell asleep on your couch one night after several drinks between the two of you, his head in your lap and his lips resting against your hand that he had brought to his mouth and placed soft kisses on before drifting off. You’d loved him when you saw an act of kindness from him to a stranger that wasn’t meant to be witnessed by you or anyone else nor was he aware that it was. You loved him beyond words with every smile; every conversation; every laugh; every exchange between you without words; every look; every phone call and facetime; every touch; every text message he sent; every embrace; every thought he had and shared with you; every time he spoke your name with that adoration attached to it — all of it. You loved him.

“I love you,” you whispered to him, straight from the heart.

He turned a dopey smile down on you, kissing the tips of your fingers reverently. He didn’t say it back; he never said it back. And you knew why. It was the very same reason you two should not be tangled up in each other like you were. 

But you knew that he loved you, too, even if he couldn’t say the words. The way he leaned down to kiss you; the way he moved your hand back over your head and slipped his fingers into yours; the way he continued moving both of your bodies anew; the way his mouth lingered near your ear and breathily encouraged your quiet moans with “That’s it, baby, let me hear all of it”; the way he held you to him as you shuddered in orgasm and pressed his lips to your temple — you knew he loved you. And that would have to be enough.

For now. 

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[gayf1hoe]

Risking It All

Scenario - Logan joins a brand new team to Formula 1 and is finally able to showcase his true talent however his new team principal catches his eye in more ways than one. But is his team principal willing to risk it all for his new driver.

“Y/N we have been going over this you need to choose the driver line up” 

“God if I had known it would be this stressful I would never have agreed to invest in this team” 

As Haas is leaving after this season in F1, me and my best friend, which is a term I use quite loosely, decided it would be a good idea to invest in an F1 team. We have always been passionate about F1 and it wasn't until we heard about Gene Haas pulling the Haas F1 Team out of the sport we decided to shoot our shot with the FIA and for some reason they agreed. 

As I have the biggest stake in the team I'm practically in charge of everything and I have been appointed team principal because our budget doesn't extend to the stage where we can employ thousands of staff. I have also been tasked with finding our driver line up and it's harder than it sounds because every driver wants a certain amount of money we don't have or wants to know what car we will have when it hasn't even been finished yet. I currently have a wall full of drivers' faces in my office with loads of red crosses on their faces. It basically looks like a hit list at this point. 

We have one driver confirmed and that's Pietro Fittipladi who was a reserve for Haas and we have decided to give him a chance in a full F1 seat. If he's shit then it doesn't matter because it's our first season so we can all blame the car. 

I'm down to my last 2 options and they are Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant. I can't decide which one I want but they are our only options as they are the only 2 people not trying to bankrupt us with their salary requests. Kevin is a good driver however his fines and penalties he likes to get from the FIA could be a problem but Logan is also a good driver but I fear what he may do to the car. 

“We need a decision,” my friend presses on.

“Listen Jarno I will give you an answer soon don't worry, but the more you press on the more it pisses me off” 

“Oh and by the way the new race engineer contracts are on your desk” 

That's another thing that has been a pain some of these Engineers have been asking for more than the drivers themselves but we eventually managed to get Pierre Hamelin who is Danny Rics engineer at VCARB and Steven Petrik who is Valtteri Bottas' engineer at Sauber. 

I stare Intensely at the photos on my wall of Logan and Kevin and make a decision like the responsible team principal I am going to be, I will make my decision by inputting their names into a random generator and choosing whoever it lands on and when people ask me how I made my decision I will provide them with some professional bullshit lie.

I press generate and look away from the screen and when I spin my chair around I see Logan written in capital letter on my screen so I pick up the phone and dial. 

“Is that Logan's manager” 

“It's Y/N L/N team principal of Apex Racing I was just calling to confirm logan as part of our driver line up for next year” 

We spent about an hour on the phone and when I left the factory it was pouring down with rain. 

Everyone else left to leave me to do the breaking stuff which is no surprise. I feel like it was a bad idea to create an F1 team with an Esports driver. Me and Jarno have been friends for ages but I was always into what I call “proper” racing not racing on the computer but the past year we have grown closer I mean we have had no choice we have been up until 2 am trying to find sponsors because there is no way either of us has the kind of money to spontaneously invest in and start an F1 team unlike some people cough cough Lawrence stroll. 

I go home and collapse on my bed ahead of tomorrow when we announce our driver line up. 

“Y/N maybe you should stand in the centre” 

“Maybe you should hurry up and take the photo” 

Who knew the media could take so long like it's just taking a photo? Why do I have to act like a model and do all these weird stances and things with my face which apparently is called smiling? I haven't done that since I set out to make this team. I mean there's not been a lot to smile about late night meetings, early morning meetings, travelling, emailing. I think I've forgotten how to sit down without doing some form of work.

Logan and Pietro are coming by to the factory later to finish signing their contracts, the current F1 season isn't finished yet and technically a team wouldn't be allowed to start manufacturing their car now but the FIA gave us permission as we have had to make major changes to the factory. We brought it from Red Bull it's one of their old factories and I guess they felt bad for the new guys so gave us a good price, well a good price for an F1 factory I guess, because I have never seen that amount of zeros on a price tag and been told “that's actually reasonable”. 

The first thing I notice about Logan is his smile and calm demeanour. He's had a tough time of late so it surprises me because I have had a tough time and I am probably the last person anyone wants to piss off. As I'm also team principal I will be seeing a lot of the guys at the track so it's imperative we get along, but the two drivers seem to get along. But it's how they get along on track I'm more focused on. 

Just because they are besties off track it doesn't mean they will be like that on track and I don't want any Hamilton Rosberg or Verstappen and Ricciardo situations because it will kill me and my bank account. 

We give the drivers a tour of the garage and I get talking with Logan as up until this point everything has been done through his manager. 

“So are you looking forward to joining the team?” I ask. 

“I am but I must ask how did an Esports champion and a former racing driver start an F1 team so quickly as well”

“It's a long answer and quite painful”

After a tour of the factory we get to singing contracts and doing the media posts and stuff. No one is surprised that Logan is leaving William's given they literally announced Carlos Sainz a week ago but I'm sure everyone thought he was done with F1 given his 2 year stint at williams has been far from extraordinary. 

Pietro I guess is a bit of a shock as well as he's been on the sidelines for a while he only really made an appearance after Romain crashed in Bahrain a few years ago but he's been pretty active in indycar and not been doing too bad.

“I will see you in Melbourne next year” I say closing waving logan off. 

I'm going on a long break and any issues Jarno or someone else can deal with. 

Pre Season testing was nothing to write home about, we had a few minor issues but I would be more concerned if everything was working fine because then we would have done everything right and not even teams like Ferrari can do that. 

Now FP1 is in session I'm looking to see what the two guys can do against the clock. 

We have a pretty decent car and by that I mean we are ahead of Sauber, Alpine, VCARB, William's we are sort of fighting between the Astons and Mercedes cars. 

“Let's do a simulated quali run on logan” I suggest turning to the race performance engineer. 

Logan comes in and puts on a fresh set of tyres and heads back out. I wish I could say I'm not sitting here thinking “please don't crash the car’ but I am. I mean Logan hasn't given me a reason not to think that my opinion of him is based on what he was like at Williams. But I'm not letting him know that as that would ruin his confidence. We have given him our full support and let him know of that. He has been told he will receive upgrades as soon as they are made he will never be sacrificed for his teammates mistakes and its seemed to improve his morale. 

Logan crosses the line and goes up to P4. It's not P1 but I will take it nonetheless and Logan's elation over the radio tells me we are in for a fun year. 

I'm on the pit wall with Sky Sports so after Logan's run I get the joy of talking to Karun Chandhok in the commentary box. 

Karun: Y/N first weekend as a team principal and a team owner of a new team and you have a driver in P4 and P6. It must feel pretty good right?

Y/N: Of course we have worked hard to put ourselves in a strong position and we want to give our drivers a car that can showcase their abilities. 

Karun: Well a question everyone is asking is why logan? His career at Williams surely couldn't have been the reason to choose him. 

Y/N: Well what I told Logan was forget William's ever happened or existed whatever happened or was said at Williams is the past. We have faith in him and we know what he can do with a good car and he showcased that to us on his simulated qualifying run. 

Karun: Lastly Y/N what is the goal for Apex Racing both this weekend and for the end of the year where do you want to be? 

Y/N: Ideally and realistically with the car we have we would like to finish P5 in the constructors with our main rivals being Aston Martin however with Mercedes taking on a rookie driver maybe we could capitalise on the lack of experience at the team as we have two experienced drivers. We haven't told the drivers where we would like them to finish in the standings, it's just go out race and have fun. 

At the chequered flag of FP1 I head up to the engineering office in preparation for the debrief, that's when I hear someone calling my name. I turn around to see Logan doing a light jog over to me. 

“Is everything OK?” I ask. 

“Yes i just wanted to say thank you for giving me such a good car and having faith in me I guess it was really nice to go out and show my full potential to everyone” 

“You're more than welcome Logan” 

He embraces me in a hug and as an automatic response I hug back not contemplating the implications of a team principal being this affectionate with their driver. But surely this won't come too much. Engineering meetings to someone who doesn't understand half of what they are talking about are quite boring. I mean I haven't got the first clue about the brake shape setting into turn 1 but I just nod as if I do. 

Throughout the whole meeting every time I look up I make eye contact with Logan. It's kind of like when you're in school and look at your crush and they are looking right back at you, not that I have a crush on Logan. 

Most of the day is spent doing admin stuff, things are still all over the place and we are just seeing how we function as a team. Most of our team is from Haas and we have taken on a lot of staff from F2 as it seemed the most economical way, as people with less experience don't cost as much. 

Qualifying. 

“OK before we go out I want to just say that this is our first weekend and anything above P20 I will be grateful for but we know what the car and both drivers are capable of so let's work hard and show to everyone we are not a joke” 

Both drivers hop in the cars and we time it so that on both drivers flying laps they get a tow which will gain us a few vital tenths. Logan's first lap puts him in P8 and Pietro’s P6 so they will definitely have to go out again.

We send both out at the same time and by now I have no nails, my eyes are just fixated on the live feed and sector times and as they cross the line Logan shoots up to P4 and Pietro P5. 

I can hear the team cheering behind me as the chequered flag waves on Q1. Q2 was just as successful with both drivers making it to Q3 knocking out the likes of Stroll, Piastri and Antonelli. 

Now the pressures on I can see the live telemetry showing how much Logan is pushing his car and I quite literally can't watch. And I don't look up until I hear the ecstatic cheer from being. 

Pietro P8 and Logan P4. Not bad for a new team I guess and a driver people had written off ages ago. 

We may be the only team happy with not being on pole but this is a great start in comparison to other teams when they first joined. 

In the team meeting later that day I don't have much to say other than “That was fucking exceptional”. I have never seen Logan smile so much. 

We are using Honda engines which are known for being quite powerful and the drivers are constantly praising the amount of power they have. It was a great day and I can't really fathom how any of this is real. 

As I'm sitting in my office writing a press statement about our first day there is a knock on my door. I get up and open the door revealing Logan standing there. I motion for him to come in and he takes a seat at the table so I pull out a chair and sit next to him. 

“What can I do for you?” I ask. 

“I was wondering if it would be possible to go out for dinner one night this week”

“Sure I think that would be a great idea, allow everyone to get to know each other it will be good”

“I sort of meant it as just me and you”

I don't really know what to say. I don't want to ask if it's a date because that makes it weird but then if I don't ask I will be left with this looming question of what does it mean. 

“Why do you look so confused?” Logan asks. 

“I'm just wondering why a driver would want to go out for dinner with their team principal”

“Well because I would like it to be a date” he declares whilst rubbing his hands together.

I stutter for a moment and Logan's face flushes with a pale red colour of embarrassment. 

“Sure I would love to go on a date with you” 

I haven't even been a team principal for one race weekend and I'm going on a date with one of my drivers that surely goes against every professional standard ever. I know that if I end dating Logan I will never hear the end of the fact that I am ‘biassed’. 

I spend ages looking through my limited outfit choices, I mean 85% of my clothes are work clothes and the rest are beach clothes. I eventually settle on a pair of light blue shorts and a white shirt that doesn't look too formal but also looks like I made an effort. 

Apprehensive, I open my hotel room door and make my way down to the car where Logan said he would meet me. It's kind of awkward as I'm just stood by his car whilst everyone looks at me weird or that's what I think they are doing I could just be very paranoid. When he finally turns up he already has an excuse ready. 

“Sorry I got held up by Alex who wanted to show me photos of his new cat” 

Dinner goes well, I mean we don't get spotted and the food is nice, the waiter did refer to Logan as my boyfriend although we booked a table for two at a romantic restaurant it's understable as to why he would make the assumption about us. 

Being on the pit wall before the race is a strange alien feeling. I mean sure I've been sat here for testing, free practice and qualifying but there's a completely different atmosphere today. Both me and Jarno are intently staring at the screens and both drivers know it so the pressure is on. 

Before the start of the race I make sure to give the drivers a few last words of encouragement over the radio and then I sit back and close my eyes for the next 2 hours. 

It's a fairly good start if you minus Lando’s jump start and Ocon nearly taking out Gasly. Logan gently introduces his tyres which will give him the edge on other drivers later. Today I'm not worried about gaining places or getting a podium. I would be happy with P9 and P10. 

There is a brief problem with Logan's car but the engineers give him some sort of code that fixes the issues, how that works I do not know but if I could fix my car with a few numbers I would have saved a lot of money. 

Pietro is first to pit and all attention is on the pit crew for their first Grand Prix pit stop and it goes fairly well being a 2.6 second stop. It's not as good as Red Bull and McLaren but we have to start somewhere. Logan's next and as he's coming down the pit lane William's release Albon way too close to Logan and he enters the box, it's almost as if they are jealous of the unlocked potential Logan has. 

5 Laps to go. I begin to see everyone's faces become more focused in the crucial last laps. Logan is in P6 Pietro P9 if they could just hold on to this I can cancel my meditation class. 

2 Laps to go. Yuki has been lapping on average a 10th faster than Logan each lap and is within attacking distance. 

“Tsunoda 0.8 with DRS” I hear the engineer say and this is when I spin my chair to look in the pit lane. 

Last Lap. Logan manages to fend off Yuki each time and they are approaching the finish line. All the team members are stood up out of their seats and are cheering. 

Anyone who said Logan was talentless must be regretting their words now. 

There's a firm knock on my door. 

“hey” I say looking up to meet a smiling face.

“hey, I just wanted to say thank you for allowing me to prove everyone wrong I never thought I would get P6” 

“You are welcome logan” 

“How about I show you how grateful I am” 

“How will you do that?” 

He pushes me against the fibreglass wall and pulls our faces together. I can still see the shimmering layer of post race sweat on the bridge of his nose. He inches closer making a firm connecting between our lips. Edging his tongue out of his mouth to connect with mine. Then the moment of pure euphoria is disowned by the sound of the team obnoxiously singing in the hallway. 

“I guess we will have to continue this later” I say with a suggestive smile whilst opening the foot to be greeted by the entire team in a small corridor. 

[jester089]

If it’s ok, can you indulge my love for The Amazing Digital Circus?

I was just thinking of the gang with an s/o who’s seen as the rock of the group that is always strong willed, happy go luck, helpful and supportive. But they stumble upon their s/o just having an episode where they’re crying in frustration and punching a wall to calm down before going back to pretending like nothing happened?

I have a thing for strong willed characters hiding their perceived weakness from others.

Be strong for them

Thanks for the request! I feel for this type of character a lot. Now you didn't specify if you wanted the whole crew and you being the s/o of one. Or individual. So I'll do individual so that whoever your fav is their'll be something for them. Except Bubble though cause I just can't come up with stuff for them, sry.

Caine

Despite being an AI who doesn't really understand humans I feel he would notice your inner turmoil. He kind of has too! Cause he has to watch for and know if someone is going to abstract. Moving on he appreciates you being strong willed and a joy to be around seeing as how it makes others stick around longer. You can't have a circus without performers after all. Caine being how he is he would most likely just appear in your room while your having a breakdown multiple times because he wants something from you not even noticing you having trouble mentally. Only time he would really notice is if you were at the apex of that breakdown when he showed up. I can 100% see him just floating a few feet away from you one eyebrow raised for a minute with worried eyes before he asked if you were ok. If you said yes, despite what he think's he'll believe you. First few times. If you say no and seem to be looking for some comfort he'll do his best but he isn't exactly good at that kind of thing. More likely then not he wont really touch you but he'll give some words of encouragement and probably ask if their is anything you want (except a way out of the digital realm.) And whatever you ask for you'll have in an instant. But their is a limit. He can't be spoiling you now. He still needs your input on things and giving gifts wont be special anymore if you get whatever you want whenever you want. And after doing the bare minimum and seeing you bounce back and be how you always are he'll assume that what he did worked perfectly and your fine now. He's a little dense I'll be honest. 2.5/10 comfort

Gangle

Now Gangle isn't exactly good with emotions. She has tons sure. But handling them is another story. But you being there and always seemingly in a good mood nothing really affecting you will help her keep calm. I mean just having an anchor can make stuff you usually can't deal with seem small. (Especially if you stick up to Jax for her. Or better yet get her confident enough to do it herself.) When she walked in on you having a breakdown first thing her mind would go to is that your on the verge abstracting which causes her to panic and make the whole thing worse. She doesn't try to it's just a lot all at once. Especially considering how you don't usually show this kind of stuff. Now once the initial shock has worn off and at least she has calmed down some she'll be pretty good at helping you calm down. I mean she's a cinnamon roll. Even if her ways of comfort don't work well just knowing she's trying will definitely help. Now if you cope with more self destructive ways she'll be more worried but try her best to trust you. Though that doesn't mean she'll just let you punch things, especially things that could hurt you (I've punched a few walls in my time and I can safely say it hurts.) Now when you just snap back to how you usually are nothing expect the red eyes and dried tear streams on your face will cause a whole load of more worry in her. How long has this been going on?! Are you ok?! Can she do anything?! DO YOU STILL LOVE HER!?! If you don't accept her help she'll probably start to spiral and take that as you don't trust her enough or you don't think she can help you. So for her sake, and yours let her help. Cause if you do that'll lead to a whole lot of trust and make a very sturdy base for your relationship. It'll also help her get better with emotions as a whole. She wishes she could do more for you but she can and will do what she can with what she has. 8/10 comfort

Zooble

Oof. This probably isn't going to end well. It's basically like a angsty teen trying to comfort someone they care about. Zooble probably acts like she hates how happy and upbeat you are. But she doesn't. When she's laying in bed not wanting to get up the thought of going on an adventure and watching you be dumb on purpose makes her smile and get up. Sure every day is the same in the circus, but with you there it's a nice version of repetitiveness. Now Zooble has a lot of problems. Everyone in the circus does. But if she walked in on your having a breakdown I feel like she would honestly just turn around and leave. Not because she doesn't care. But because she feels she'll make it worse if she stays. Every 5 minutes or so she'll poke her head back in your room to see how your doing. Probably accompanied with a quiet "You uhhh. You doing ok?" if your still crying. Now if she peaked her head in and you were back to normal she might honestly think she hallucinated you crying like that. But their are some things you can't hide. Like puffy eyes or how your voice is a little wavy from crying. So knowing even less what to do now she'll just join you in your room and sit on your bed hoping that just her being around will be enough. Now if you break down again and start venting about what is worrying you she'll sit there and listen intently. If not she'll think that your still not doing ok but she doesn't really know how to bring that out. Or help with it. Overall her comfort is a little lacking but she's trying her best. 4.5/10 comfort

Kinger

Now I headcannon that Kinger is really, really, REALLY good at comfort. I mean did you see the impenetrable fortresses door, and how it was being held up. I don't think a single person ever who is good at making pillow forts is bad at comfort. I feel like overall he would be pretty indifferent to you being all happy though he would appreciate the supportive vibe you bring. He's crazy, I'll just be honest about that. But he seems to be surprisingly resilient as he never gets worse, or better. He just is. When he walks in on you freaking out he doesn't flinch or is surprised. He's been in the digital circus a long time. And he's lost many. He understands why. So he just calmly walks in gives you a light hug No idea how. He doesn't have arms. and a quick forehead kiss. He sits you two down on the floor and makes a little pillow wall around you two. Then he (in a surprisingly calm voice) asks what's troubling you. Now you don't exactly have a choice of if you do or don't tell him. He's lost to many to just leave you on your own in this. So he'll sit there a hand resting on your knee while you mentally prepare yourself. Out of everyone he's the most likely to genuinely and long term help you calm down. He's seen many things, been through many things. No matter what it is that's worrying you it wont surprise him and he can probably help. 10/10 comfort

Ragatha

Well aren't you two just the perfect duo Ragtha is pretty mentally drained having the always be the one that everyone rely on. She was the only anchor for this place the only one keeping everyone spirits high. Then you showed up and made the work 50/50. That's what initially made you catch her eye. You two have enough infection happiness and good vibes to make just about anyone have a good day. Though their are diminishing returns the digital circus wouldn't be the same without you two. When she walks in on your falling apart she reacts two ways. One she also starts freaking out (Just instinct at this point. I mean you saw her in the pilot, every time Pomni started breaking down she interrupted it.) And two a whole lot of understanding on where your coming from. She sits down with you and lets your get it all out before speaking. She asks if your ok, if she can do anything, and what caused it. Once you explain that it's just all so much. The circus, having to be strong for everyone else. It puts so much pressure on you. On hearing that Ragatha breaks into tears flipping the comfort giver and receiver. Once she has gotten most of it out and can make comprehensible sentences again she explains how she's going through the same. On hearing that you feel really bad. You've only been here what a year and your already breaking down over it. But you've always had Ragatha there to lighten the load. But she's been here so much longer doing the exact same but without anyone else to help her. So you make it a kind of personal mission from then on to not make your problems hers and help her out when and wherever you can. -3/10 Comfort. She just had a lot of stuff bottled up and ended up making you worry about even more.

Jax

Jax's first thought would probably be "Oh great, another Ragatha to deal with." But something about you isn't as annoying to him as Ragatha. He actually enjoys and appreciates all that you do for him. And the others too I guess. Now be warned Jax deals with a lot of stuff with humor. And his sense of humor is putting others through anguish mental, emotional, and physical. So when he first finds you crying will most likely make a joke about you being a cry baby or "So you finally broke huh? I always wondered how long it would take" making you feel much worse about it. When if he notices that he'll feel bad and stop maybe. He'll more likely then not just exist in your room, leaning against a wall or grabbing random items off of shelves/your desk to fiddle with. Now when you snap back to how you usually are I really feel like he'll just be like "Oh cool. You fine. Well I'm gonna go get some food." then leave you alone with your thoughts. (I'm sorry to all you Jax fans it's just I don't go for looks like most do. I'm entirely attracted to personality. And Jax's isn't great. I mean Gooseworx confirmed that he isn't like nice deep down. He's just an a$&hole. So if Jax is your fav my Tumblr ain't for you.) 0/10

Pomni

You and Ragatha keep Pomni in one piece. (I mean if Ragatha wasn't in the pilot I feel like Pomni would already be abstracted.) So she kind of clings to you. Not physically but she would fall apart pretty quickly without you there. So when you asked her to grab something for you she did without a second thought. But she wasn't expecting to come back to hearing crying followed by a loud thump in your room. She sprints over and throws the door open only for you to be completely ok and sitting at your desk. You thank her for grabbing it for you then go back to what you were doing making her think she's gone of the deep end and is hearing things. But then it happens again, and again. Leading her to believe your just hiding something from her. So next time it happens she sneaks up to your door and carefully peaks inside only to see your tugging at your hair tears streaming down your face. You punch the wall making her jump and make some noise. Your eyes lock onto the small crack in between the door and the frame you two locking eyes. She blushes heavily then slowly opens the door basically admitting to eavesdropping. She was just worried is all. You quickly clean yourself up and apologize for having her see you like that only causing her to worry more. She doesn't push it knowing from experience how that feels but from that day on she tries to not put as much pressure on you. And makes an effort to return the favor when she can. 4.5/10 comfort (I sincerely enjoyed writing this. Cause I am also a sucker for that kind of character. Hope you enjoyed it!)

xoxo, Jester

[astarion-dekarios]

I did a live transcription of the Dragon Age: the Veilguard dev Q&A session today.

UPDATE/EDIT: I made a second pass of this and cleaned it up into a full/complete transcript.

Q: If you could belong to any of the main factions, which would you choose? 

Corinne: Listen Katie, you say softball but this is hard. I'm gonna cheat and I’m gonna give you two. So for fashion, the Antivan Crows all day long. their threads, you're gonna love it. For vibes though, the ones that capture my vibe, Mournwatch. Gimme those necromancers.

John: Those are good answers. I have one for fashion and for just general faction that I’d like to be a part of. Veil jumpers - who doesn't like a nice walk in the forest, you know, even if that forest is filled with horrifying monsters and terrifying anomalies, but uh, yeah.

Matt: For me it’s definitely the Lords of Fortune. I’ve had a chance to try out a bunch of them, and I think I’ve finally settled on them, and I think it’s just because pirate barbarian is just such a great combination of elements. Treasure hunting, plus beaches and palm trees and all that stuff, it’s a really good mix, so that’s kind of my default.

Q: I’ve seen a lot of talk about only having two companions in your party instead of three for this game. What is the reasoning this and will we get the same companion conversations and banter as seen in the previous Dragon Age Games?? 

Corinne: Such a good question. Thank you to whoever submitted this one. I'll start and then turn it over to John Epler. As you saw in the gameplay reveal, this is a much more intimate experience. We pulled the camera in. For those that aren't aware, the reason why is we want you to feel like you actually are in this world, like you’re walking these the city streets of Minrathous, you’re looking up at the buildings all around you. You're a part of this place. It's much more intimate, and we believe as the narrative unfolds that this creates a lot more immersion. Now how this relates to the companions is in doing this, we went back and forth on it a lot, but we actually found that having two companions allows them more visibility and presence. We've talked about the incredible depth and focus we’ve put on fleshing out these companions, they're very fully realized, so here you really get to see them more clearly, you get to see them shine. When you see Lace Harding jump into the air and release a volley of arrows, you can only get that because of this more intimate view. So I love the spotlight that’s been put on them. But I think in addition to the banter, one of the things people are wondering about is, ok but what about gameplay. Again, this has come about from our testing, working with the internal team and also our lovely our council of players. We just found that in the combat system, when you're planning your strategies, two felt like the right number to manage. Keep in mind, Rook has a lot of different types of actions: abilities, individual attacks that are more fleshed out than ever before. Timing and positioning matter a lot, so this really felt like the right balance. The number of inputs and actions we’re asking you as a player to take, including directing your companions, is higher than ever before. And I will also say that I engage with the companions, I actively control what they're doing more than I ever have before in any of the other three games. But John, I’ll toss it over to you for the banter.

John: So banter, honestly I don't think you could stop the writers from writing banters. I will say for myself, it's one of the more light but fun things to do. You get to write little stories, little arcs between the characters, and Veilguard is no different. Banter is still absolutely a core part of it. We've got global banter, you know the general stuff that you get in all spaces, as well as mission specific stuff. But yeah. It's definitely still a big thing, if anything it's the most we've ever done for pairings of companions. Beyond that, we’ve also made sure—and I mean, I’ve been on Dragon Age for a while, and I know there’s been an issue, you know, things like, “well, I don’t wanna miss this banter.” So we've even added stuff like interruptable and resumable banter as well, just to make sure that—because again, it’s a core part of the experience. Everyone loves hearing these companions talk to each other. Everyone loves hearing these little stories and relationships develop over the course of the game, and as mentioned before, companions are the heart of this experience. So we still have it, if anything like I said, you could not stop the writers from doing it, even if you tried.

Corinne: Well John, listening to you speak, one thing that comes to mind, maybe people are wondering, with two companions in the field, do I get less interaction? Like do I get a scene with my companions interacting with a broader group more often? And the way you'll gather them around the kitchen table, there's just so many of those moments where they're all interacting with each other. Those are some of my favorite parts.

John: Yeah, and that’s a good callout, because I think the other side of it is, we aren’t talking too much about your home, but we also wanna make sure that they feel like they have relationships and a life outside of just the times you take a certain pair of companions out on the field, so we made sure that they have interactions there as well.

Q: How customizable is the backstory of Rook? Will we get to determine their past in the character creator?

John: Absolutely. So Rook has six different backgrounds that you can choose from. Each  one is tied to one of the major factions in the Veilguard, and each one sets out who Rook was before they were recruited by Varric. While that sets up the broad events, as you go through the game and have conversations either with members of your faction, other characters, you can define not just what those events were but what they meant to you – what was your motivation, what was the kind of person you are as you build up Rook, because again, we wanna make sure that roleplaying is at the heart of this experience, and taking Rook, giving them a background in the world but letting you decide what that means and what that says about you is also a big part of it. And again, there are six different factions in this game. Two which anyone who’s played Dragon Age for a while would remember, you’ve got the Gray Wardens and Antivan Crows. We also have, in addition to them, four new ones because we’re in Northern Thedas. We’ve got the Veil Jumpers, Mournwatch, Shadow Dragons, and Lords of Fortune. A lot of different options, a lot of different backgrounds, and a lot of opportunities to define who your Rook was and who they are now.

Q: Will crafting return and has it been improved since Inquisition?

Corinne: Will crafting return? You can absolutely improve and customize your gear, yes. That is a big part of RPG progression, so yes you can improve and customize it. I will say though, it's different this time around, and it does get into spoiler territory so I'm gonna be a little cagey about it, but there might be a mysterious entity that assists you with that that will be an important part of the narrative.

Q: Can we kiss or romance Manfred the skeleton? 

John: I would say, not that skeleton, but we're not saying no skeletons.

Q: What were some of the development considerations that you had to take into account to ensure this game flows & functions with prior games & dragon age keep, if keep is being utilized? 

Corinne: We did an interview with IGN that goes into some of the details there. To summarize, we have taken a different approach on how you import your decisions this time around. It's now fully integrated into the character creator and serves a dual purpose, to be honest. It’s not called this in game, but I playfully think of it as "last time on dragon age". When I talk about its dual purpose, it's been 10 years since the last dragon age game release, so it serves as a refresher on critical events as well as allowing you to remake those decisions that are critical to you. The thing I love about it is it's very highly visual, it uses the familiar tarot card aesthetic, so it's actually a very visual and playful experience as you go through it. It is very much important to us that it's built into the client, though. You can play this game entirely offline, no connection, you don’t have to link to your EA accounts. That's been a really big request, so the refresher plus make those decisions in client, I think we're all pretty happy about that. I don't wanna spoil anything by revealing what decisions you can import. Y'all don't want the spoilers. But it's been a really interesting creative intersection for us. Because on the one hand, this is a whole new adventure. You're in northern thedas, these locations you've literally never been to before, so that affects what will matter and what we’re not using this time around as far as decisions. But obviously there’s some very very clear connections to existing characters. It’s no secret that the Inquisitor, our dear Inky, is gonna show up, so that's a factor.

Q: Will this next game be an open world game or is it just confined to Tevinter? 

John: Yeah, so you are in northern Thedas, but the game only begins in Minrathous. It doesn't stay there. I think one of the most exciting things for me, and again, I don’t wanna get into too much spoiler detail, but getting to go to and work with the art team, the narrative, the design team to build out these locations we've talked about, places that character have referred to as where they’ve come from, places that characters obviously in previous games have hailed from, has been absolutely exciting. So you do start in Tevinter, you do start in Minrathous, but again that’s not the entire game by any stretch.

Corinne: And the first half of it is, is it an open world game? We've gone back to what we believe delivers the best, most curated, intense narratives. So this is a hand crafted experience, it's mission based. Now these locations can open up, you can go back, solve mysteries, do some really great side content - not fetch quests, not grind quests, some really great side content. But I wanna be clear, it's a really curated, hand crafted experience.

John: Just to bounce off of that very quickly, the most important thing for us and what Corinne was saying about hand crafted, obviously we’ve talked about how characters, story, narrative are critical to us, and this has allowed us to build those experiences in a way that emphasized that really well while still tying it into the story threads and story beats.

Q: Will the companions have unique specializations like DA2 or the same as player?

Corinne: I think the best way for me to describe this is that yes, our companions will have abilities that are truly unique to them, but also the companions do fall into the archetypes of mage, rogue, and warrior. For instance, you might be surprised to hear, because she has a bow, but Bellara is in fact a mage, and I love that. Some of the abilities, the bulk of the abilities of the companions, are based on their own unique personalities. Neve is the only mage that is an ice mage, so you get distinct abilities for her. But because she's a mage, she does have access to abilities that all mages share, like Time Slow. We really like the balance there. It’s a good mix of representing their archetype, their class, and also their distinct specialization or personality or whatever you wanna call it.

John: Yeah actually, I would say the word personality is a great one, because all of these characters exist, have a story, have a history of how they became who they were, and part of that was finding that intersection between narrative and gameplay and making sure that again, we serve the needs of gameplay, but also allow these characters to exist as their own people, not just in conversation but out of conversations as well.

Corinne: I would also say that as part of that core mage kit, healing spells are there. So if your mages, you wanna make ‘em a healer, yeah.

Q: Will the Veilguard have tactical combat still? 

Corinne: Yes. Combat gets quite tactical. Obviously this is an evolution of the combat system. I talked about immersion, wanting to put you in the world like you’re actually living and existing in it, but it is very tactical and I will say we have a robust difficulty system. The tactics are increasingly important the higher difficulty that you go. So if you’re showing up for a highly tactical experience, I would crank that difficulty in particular. But I wanna make sure I’m super clear in my answer. You saw the gameplay reveal. Our pause time tactical mode is not overhead. It stays close to Rook. It does allow you to cycle between targets in and out of combat, there’s a reason for that. As the game progresses, you didn’t see this in that opening hour of the game, but it will display strategic information on the enemies, so what are their vulnerabilities, what are their elemental weaknesses, their enhancements, what are they resistant to, so your type of abilities, leaning into elemental gameplay matters a lot.

I would also say, this is a long answer because it’s such a great question, tactical decision making also takes the form, I would say this is front and center, of coordinating your ability usage between Rook and your companions to create synergies and or really devastating, we call them detonation combos. So let me give you a couple of examples, because it can be really hard to visualize, so hopefully this helps. One of the tactics that I personally enjoy in my own builds, I just recently played as a veil ranger, I love it, it’s one of my favorites. if I'm fighting fade touched enemies in Artlathan, I like to use Bellara's galvanized tear to pull enemies together, it’s like a gravity well. You then Slow Time with Neve – Slow Time affects the world around you, but it does not affect you, so you clump them up, you slow time -- and then with Rook I come in and do a devastating AOE or damage over time spell or ability. And it’s even better if it's a lightning based ability, because the fade touched in Arlathan are vulnerable to that. So there’s so many layers of coordination and strategies and tactics. We did talk about the devastating detonation combos, that's one of my favorite features, because that’s when you’re really leaning into explicit teamwork between your companions and Rook or the companions together. When I build out my team and I'm going into a mission, I try to ensure that I have at least a couple possible synergies, detonation combo synergies, between my team. It might be between Harding and Neve, Neve and me, or both. So here, I'd go into battle, pause time, open the ability wheel, get information on the enemy – and the wheel will actually tell you that there is a synergy combo, you  might have seen a screenshot that says “combo available” – it will remind you of synergies between companions, you can queue both of those abilities up at the same time, close out of the pause time menu, they’ll both execute, both abilities will happen. Then the detonation AOE happens, applies debuffs to all the enemies in a radius of it. It's so satisfying. I can’t wait for yall to see it, but the interesting thing is that too is a tactical choice. I’m choosing to use my companions to do that, and that means I’m not using them to heal me, or to give me that defense bonus, or to knock an enemy off a ledge, so it’s about the opportunity costs. I could spend the rest of the session talking about this, apologies for being long winded, but this is one of my favorite parts of the game.

Q: Can you choose rook's pronouns? If yes, is being non-binary an option? How detailed is the character creator?

Corinne: Well yeah you can select your pronouns. Absolutely. You can actually select your pronouns and your gender, because those are related concepts, but they’re not actually the exact same thing. Yeah, you can be non-binary, we have he/him, she/her, they/them. Yes. Emphatic yes. How detailed is the character creator? Oh my goodness, yall. Very. I don't wanna give away too much just yet but it's very very deep. It has been revealed, it’s out there in a couple articles about the focus on hair, the focus on skin tones that are done respectfully, full body customization, hell yeah, we love to see it. But we’re gonna come back, we’re gonna show you a lot more on character creator, but we wanna make sure we have the time and space to do that.

Q: Will there be a photo mode in game? 

Corinne: That is something we’re actively looking into, we know there’s a ton of interest, so stay tuned on that one, but we are very much looking into it.

John: I can add too, that is a feature that we like, we like the idea of, and it’s not just player facing, but internally it’s a really helpful thing to have that as we’re building things out, so we’ll let you know.

Corinne: Yes, yeah, absolutely. We are as geeked on that possibility as you all are.

Q: A lot of people were asking about abilities. Are we going to be limited in how many abilities we can pick from the wheel?

Corinne: Ability wheel does have a capacity. You have to choose which three abilities you wanna bring for Rook, which three for  a companion, and which three for another companion. What I like about this is there is kind of an emergent gameplay depending on who you and your companions are coming into a mission with. Now the reason for that is it actually creates a really interesting balance between strategizing, having to do that strategy about your combat kit before the mission, and then the tactical decisions once you're in the field deciding what to do. I want to clear one thing up, while there are three ability slots for Rook, there's so much more than that - other actions that you can perform directly from the wheel like you’ll have an ultimate ability associated with your class or your specialization, so there’s variants there. There’s a type of items you can get that function like abilities, they’re typically like buffs and enhancements, in the form of runes, so you’ll control that for Rook and/or the team from the wheel. You may have also seen that you can direct which targets your companions can focus on, but what you might not know is that a lot of the companion gear really synergizes with that directing with your companions. When you issue those commands, that too will proc depending on the gear they have equipped, really interesting and strategic effects. They can be more ability like, more like proc’d effects, there’s just so much from the wheel that once you get in and see everything working together, becomes more and more apparent.

Q: Will fireball and cone of cold be back as spells in Dragon Age: the Veilguard? 

Corinne: All these combat questions, really good. Fireball and Cone of Cold aren't specifically back, however their successors are, frost nova and meteor. These serve the exact same combat role and function as those other abilities. I would also say it gives them quite the glow up. Meteor in particular, so satisfying nuking a group of darkspawn with a well placed meteor. It’s wonderful

Q: What accessibility features are available? Arachnophobia mode? Mod support? 

Corinne: Oh my goodness, arachnophobia. I am wicked afraid of spiders too. My partner always laughs at me, I’m just terrified of them. That said, that's one we're going to save for a little bit closer to launch before we’ll go into full details about accessibility features. But I do wanna assure you we have spent a lot of time thinking about this topic, so that you can play the game in a way that really works for you. I'm excited to share that with you when the time is right.

Q: How long is the time skip from Inquisition to the Veilguard? 

John: Anyone who's paid attention to Dragon Age, and I can say as somebody who’s been on Dragon Age since Origins, timelines are always a little iffy. They change and they morph over development as we see how longs things are taking, but for Veilguard we were actually pretty consistent from the start that it's been about 10 years since trespasser, as you may or may not have noticed, Varric's become a bit of a silver fox. I’ve seen a lot of comments about that on social media. Yeah, 10 years. Solas's ritual has taken time to set up and you’re kinda coming in at the end of that hunt.

Q: Is Solas still bald? 

Matt: Yeah. I mean if you’ve watched the gameplay thing, we can all confirm that Solas is still bald, Solas is still Solas. I really like how Solas has turned out this time around. I will say, here’s a comment on this specific question that’s gonna sound like a non-sequitor, but once you get a chance to play a little bit more, maybe you’ll – In Thedas, ancient elves go bald when they are millenia old, so Solas wasn't always bald. So if you end up seeing what Solas looked like in the past, things might be a little different. Now that said, I’m sure some of you are wondering what happened to Solas’s wig from Tevinter Nights. I’m sure he still has it somewhere, so… It’s his most important possession.

Corinne: Some pride there, huh.

Q: Will we be able to change companions appearances and outfits or are they fixed, similar to Dragon Age 2? 

Matt: Dragon Age 2 was, we loved how the followers turned out in that, but it was sad given our constraints that we had to keep them with just one basic outfit. We really tried to make some space for them this time around. They have iconic color palettes and things like that, but they do have a wider range of appearances that you can find for them, some are just cool but then there are some  that are tied to directly to their narrative and just kind of what’s happening in their life.

Q: Will we be seeing or visiting Kal’Sharok? 

Matt: What’s been really cool, so in previous games, we’ve kind of alluded to this before, it was a lot of fun to hint at the locations that were off the map, the mysterious places you were not going, and so you could just bring in some props, some characters, a piece of art, things like that. Even Tevinter was only vaguely hinted at and we’d just add drips and bits and pieces, so that stuff was really fun. In the Veilguard we’re actually getting to visit a whole lot of those locations that had only been hinted at for real, so you do actually run around Tevinter and a bunch of the other locations that we’ve revealed. But this also means that we're not completely filling out the map, and that there are new things we can start hinting at and we can start drip feeding. It’s kinda fun, I’d say for what we can show of Kal’Sharok and other locations, there’s more to do.

Q: Will the dialogue wheel/options be similar to Inquisition and Andromeda in the sense that it's more tone based?

John: We have a number of different types of wheels in our game. All the dialogue wheels are based off the same principle, anyone who’s played a dragon age game and remembers what they look like. In Dragon Age: the Veilguard, we have tone wheels which are roleplaying your character picking consistent tone. We also have emotion wheels where you can pick specific emotional reactions, and choice wheels which are, I don’t have a strong emotional or tone tie here, but I do want to make a choice based on what I do. Investigate’s obviously return as well. We want players to understand as much as possible what it is they are going to be picking, we want the choice to be clear even if one of the best things about consequence is making sure that’s not entirely clear.

Q: How extensive are Rook’s dialogue decision trees? 

John: Huge. Again, it’s a Dragon Age game. We wanna make sure you have choices, we wanna make sure you can choose your roleplaying, but also choose outcomes of conversations, choose how events unfold. Again it’s a Dragon Age game, we wanna make sure we also react to decisions you’ve made. So for example, you may be talking to a follower who is an elf, and if you yourself are an elf, obviously you'll have a different perspective on events than someone who’s not an elf. Sometimes that means different conversation options, sometimes that’s going to be entirely new dialogue trees, as well as based off decisions you’ve made throughout the game, so again, making sure the game feels like it notices what you’re doing is a huge part of how we’ve written out the dialogue wheel and dialogue trees in this game.

Q: All companions romanceable by all player characters regardless of race and gender? 

Corinne: Yeah, yeah. We have talked about this in some of the interviews, I’ve seen a few articles about it, so I'd recommend everyone check out those articles, but let me just give you a quick interview. Each of the seven companions has full romance arcs and they are romanceable by all genders. Absolutely. But something that’s really important to us on the team, and so I just wanna make sure and double down on, that doesn't mean playersexual. If anyone’s unaware of what we mean by that, it doesn’t mean they conform or twist their identities to who you the player are. They won’t suddenly have a preference for men or women based on what you’re playing. Instead they have their own fully fleshed out identities. They are true and authentic to that. So in this game they are all pansexuals, they all have histories and romances, sometimes you’ll hear about preferences and things of that nature. And what I really love is if you don’t pursue a romance with them, they’ll actually build their own romances with each other. So in one of the interviews I talked about Lace Harding and Taash getting together. I give that example because it’s one of my favorites. I’m gonna put a question back to the community though. I’ve heard we’re going with Laash for that ship name? You tell me what is that ship name?

Q: What are the markings on the faces of the elven warden and veil hopper?

John: So there’s quite a few, I think more than we’ve done before, tattoos from various cultures. We're bringing the vallaslin back of course but there's a ton of different options, especially when we’re going into these new regions. Each area has its own kind of visual language for that. We are bringing the vallaslin back and a couple characters have them, but we've customized them a bit. They’re a bit more specific to their personality.

Q: What are you as a developer most proud of and excited for players to experience? 

Corinne: I suspect for most of us, myself included, it's the depths and authenticity of the companions journey along with on their arcs, learning about their hardships, what they care about, being by their side. That authenticity is just so good, they all feel like my dear friends. But I have to say, the closest runner up for me has to be the character creator. Has to be. That character creator, the makeup options, the range of sliders... I'm a Qunari fan, so even just the way you customize the horns and combine that with the really great looking hair. Character creator has to be my very close runner up.

Matt: As far as what I can say I’m most proud of on this one, I can speak for the art team, we worked incredible hard to make the story more visible than ever. Games are a visual medium, but sometimes it's easier to do things in text format or written in a codex somewhere or alluded to off screen, but we really leaned into trying to make sure that every design, prop, character, environment, that the effects we’re choosing, all these choices were putting the story on screen so you can see it unfold, and I think having worked on all the dragon age games, I'd say Veilguard represents one of the best attempts at that we’ve made yet.

John: I’m gonna cheat and kind of combine both Corinne’s and Matt’s answers. Honestly the companions for me are the absolute highlight. Just being able to work across all the disciplines, building characters who look and sound and behave in very specific and characterful ways. These are the deepest companion arcs we've ever done, not just on Dragon Age but in BioWare in general. Each companion has their own story arc you can go through, decisions you can make. They really do take center stage. As you play through them, you see the care and love that the team has put into each and every one. I mean, there’s moments in each arc that make you cry, make you angry, make you excited, and the way they integrate into the story as a whole for me is something that’s been really fun. Finding ways to bring these characters together, ways to bring this story, this narrative, of you know, you need to put together a team and stop the end of the world, has been absolutely exciting and thrilling. And again, you see the team's love in every single piece of it. As for what I’m most excited, Dragon Age has been part of my career and part of my life for literally the last decade and a half, I’ve worked on it since Origins, and there's something about the Veilguard that feels an amazing mix of novelty and familiarity, it’s like coming home in a way that I feel is going to be very exciting for people who are existing Dragon Age players, but there’s also so much here that’s just new and exciting for people, new players and old players alike. Going to parts of the world, seeing things we’ve never seen before, and just getting to take this amazing world and series and expand on it and build on it in ways that I’ve just been, honestly an absolute thrill, the best part of my career, and I’ve been in games for 17 years now and this has been the absolute highlight for me, so that’s what I’m excited about.

Corinne: I just wanna yes and that. I so completely agree with you. There’ve been times in companion arcs where even knowing what's going to happen, we work on the game, with some of these decisions, I've had to set down the controller, let out a heavy sigh, and go “oh my god, what am I gonna do here?” The depth of them is wonderful. I do wanna put this out there, when we talk about as a developer what we are most proud of, can we just give a big shout out to the dev team? I am so proud of them. This team has poured their hearts into this. Anyone from BioWare who’s listening in, thank you so much. Y’all are just the best.

Q: Why does Varric have dark hair now? 

Matt: He's been adventuring for a while now. His hair is more gray, but he's been in very dark scenes so far, so we’ll see him in some more contexts.

Q: Will the Inquisitor be appearing in the flesh or are we just choosing their major DAI decisions?

Corinne: Yes they will. The Inky does appear. We've know how attached y’all are to the Inquisitor, we’ve seen the love for your OC. Yes, the Inquisitor shows up. We'd already confirmed that a few places, so let me just say you can also customize them and it includes some of our new customization options. Yeah they’re gonna show up and they’re gonna be your Inquisitor.

John: And I think beyond that, the story of Solas and the story of the Inquisitor obviously are tied together as much as any story, so it would have been strange for us not to bring them in for this one. They’re gonna be a part of this story.

Q: Will there be any planned DLCs and transmog armor? 

Corinne: Right now our focus is entirely on the quality of the game, it's so important at this stage for us to be all in, all attention on finishing this game and delivering on the quality and the promise of it. So that's all I can really say on it, we're 100% focused on this being the most complete game we can make it. I wanna emphasize, there's not gonna be any microtransactions or battle passes, you don't have to connect online. Our focus is making this the most complete single player we possibly can. Now this was kind of a twofer question. Will there be transmog? Hell yeah. I’m the kind of player that believes fashion is the real endgames. Yeah there’s a transmog system, absolutely. It’s sick.

Q: Will any of the characters be asexual? 

Corinne: Such a good question. So, look I'm gonna be really forthcoming with yall and a little bit vulnerable, I'm ace. I'm a gray ace, I don't mind sharing that, I’m kind of public with it. I will say though that none of our companions this time around are explicitly ace. We look at the characters, their motivations, who they are, we always assess is this the right time. This time it wasn't. What I will say for everyone on the ace spectrum on there, I would love to represent an ace relationship sometime in the future when it feels like the most authentic fit for a companion, when we can do it best. And I do see some questions, what do we mean by ace? Asexuality. We often refer to it as the ace spectrum.

Q: Can mage Rook do blood magic? Will blood magic be a skill tree separate from regular magic?

Corinne: OK, this gets a bit spoilery, so let me just say, Rook has some pretty good reasons to avoid blood magic. Rook is not gonna wanna be interested in that. But I will say, the mage skill tree is packed with all kinds of spells, traits, and perks to give you a ton of flexibility in your magic. Gonna go off script just a little bit because I’ve seen “just tell us about the specializations”. I’m not gonna tell you the deets, but there is a necromancer one. There is an elemental one, and there is one that’s actually more of like a combat mage. It’s my favorite.

Q: Can we name the griffon? We also have a griffon emoji in this Discord server.

John: Excellent. So, someone in your party, again, spoilers, may have already named the baby griffon, but don’t worry, Assan is a very good boy.

Corinne: All these griffon emojis, y’all are killing me.

Q: Will we have a camp/home/headquarters that we’ll be able to customize?

Matt: Well this time around, in Inquisition you had Skyhold. In this case you have a headquarters called the Lighthouse. More to be seen on that, but narratively it serves kind of a different purpose, but also the same purpose. As far as customization goes, there are elements of it that change over time and some things you can adjust. I don’t know how much we’re really going into that at the moment. One thing I like about it is that it definitely does start to feel very much like home over time.

Q: We need to know, does pasta and noodles exist in Thedas? 

Matt: I’ll take it as a chance just to geek out about worldbuilding. Again, the Veilguard for us is a really kind of dream opportunity to go to places we've only ever heard reference to or we’ve seen in set. In going through the world building process, and trying to build these things out not just as neat things from the IP, but also as, if you’ve read about this stuff, you've got your own version in your head, you’ve imagined what it might be like and you're probably hoping for something spectacular, and our brains are always far better at creating this stuff than any game developer or any artist can really do justice to, so you really have to swing for the fences to make something very satisfying and exciting. That can be everything as big as architecture and landscape and biomes and ecosystems, but it does get into things like art and culture and costume design, and also food. This time around that was one of the many things we did look into to try to catch the character and feel of a place to make it feel believable and lived in. So that’s my really long answer for yeah, I'm sure at least one place does have pasta.

Q: Are we getting a mabari?

Matt: Ooh, that’s a good question. I will say you’re spending most of the game in the north of Thedas. Mabari are not nearly as big of a thing up there, so in this particular instance, no, you will not get a mabari, sadly.

Q: Can we pet the griffon? 

John: You, I’m really sorry to have to be the one to tell you—Nah, I’m kidding, yes you can. It's not even just petting the griffon, I've actually hugged the griffon, so that feels like even there a step up.

Matt: There’s lots of opportunities to interact with the griffon.

Corinne: Can we see Assan in chat if we wanna see him in the Lighthouse hanging out? And hey, y’all, this was so important to the team, too. Like this is the team’s like, just huge support for this feature, so props to them.

Q: Will we get to see any of the character creator before the game releases?

Corinne: Yes. Yes you will. You've probably seen we are laying out a roadmap for what we're gonna show and when we’re gonna talk about it. You will see it  as we get a little closer to launch.

Q: Will we be able to play as a qunari dwarf elf or human? 

Corinne: hell yeah you will. All 4. And all 4 have that full body customization. I already talked a little bit about, I’ve always loved the qunari, I will say in Dragon Age: Inquisition it was hard to get a good looking qunari hairstyle. So yes you can play as them, you can customize them, the horn options are rad, the hair options are rad. And also related to this, your lineage gives you a lot of really unique dialogue options. So that’s really one aspect of choosing your lineage as well.

John: So actually just to bounce off that, earlier questions about backgrouds. Each lineage, depending on the lineage you choose and the background you choose, there are some specific callouts to, for example, if it’s a Mournwatch, Mournwatch being from Nevarra and mages, if you play as a dwarf, obviously your experiences in that faction is going to be different from, say, a human or an elf, so there are also specific callouts tailored to those combinations and, with the intention of giving each lineage a little flavor as to how they fit into that faction as a whole.

Q: Where is barkspawn and is he ok?

John: Barkspawn is safely gnawing on a bone next to a fireplace somewhere in Ferelden. Don’t worry, he’s fine. You may ask yourself, “but John, it’s been so long.” To which I say, Mabari live exactly as long as they need to.

Q: Will Rook have a set of default name?

John: Yeah, so Rook’s last name is defined based on their faction, again we wanted to tie that into your backstory, but also there's a name generator that can give you a selection of first names, obviously if you wanted to make your own first name, that’s definitely something we support as well. If you’re somebody who maybe has a little more difficulty coming up with a name, so for example you name every single character Bob because that’s the only name you can think of, we also give that opportunity for that generation.

Q: When will the voice acting cast be announced? 

John: We worked with a lot of very talented actors on this one. I am super excited to talk about the voice acting cast, we’ll be talking about it more over the summer, we’re not quite ready to announce names yet.

Same answer for collectors editions and preorders, and required PC specs.

Q: Any special musical guests? Tavern songs? 

Corinne: Yeah there are tavern songs and a huge credit to the audio team and performance teams, because they’re pretty great. There’s one at a little tavern in Minrathous called the Swan, and the song you hear there might just be my favorite of the tavern songs.

Q: DA2's main theme brought back motifs from DAO main theme. Can we expect DAV to recall more or less of that original thematic material than inquisition? 

John: We are not quite ready to talk about music yet in specifics. But in broad strokes I can say that the process for us is always the same. Working with the composer, figuring out themes, figuring out what kinds of elements we want to keep, tying specific elements to maybe specific characters, it's very in depth process and a very collaborative process. We have some fantastic audio people on our team that have done some fantastic work, that have done an amazing job working with composers and with the team as a whole to make sure that again, we said earlier about cohesiveness, making sure that the music feels like a cohesive part of the experience.

Q: When writing the overall story of this game, what themes did you want to have as the prominent focus? 

John: Again, it’s interesting. When writing these games, and this has been true on every Dragon Age I’ve been a part of, what you start with and where you end up aren't always necessarily the same. Sometimes you start writing a theme, you realize actually it’s more interesting if you attack it from this angle, or maybe it ends up twisted a little bit. I will say for Dragon Age: the Veilguard, from the beginning one of the biggest themes has been regret. How regret shapes people’s lives, how they deal with their regrets, how maybe people move past regrets. Each of the characters and the story as a whole have elements of these. We wanted to have that thematic, that cohesiveness to the game’s story and the game’s writing.

Q: Can you play a dwarf and does the world react to your race and backstory?

John: Yes, you can play as a dwarf. Yes, the world does react to your race and backstory. And again you’ll have unique dialogues or unique conversations based on that backstory as well as that race.

Corinne: And to give you a little nugget here because I saw it scrolling through real quickly, you have beards. So when I think of dwarves, I think about glorious, fantastic beards. Hell yeah we do.

John: Yeah I can say, as somebody who plays a lot of games, the character creator—I don’t know what magic they did, but the beards, they feel like a beard should feel like, it’s great, they look awesome.

Q: Will our heroes and companions leave us if we go against their wishes? 

Corinne: Do y’all just love pain? Do you want us to make you cry? Um... if you go against their wishes and make decisions they don't like, I will tell you, you can piss them off, they might not agree with you, and they will take some time away. That said this is the biggest threat to Thedas we've ever seen, so they will always be willing to defend Thedas, but yeah you can piss them off and they’ll leave for a minute. As it relates to them showing up to defend Thedas, well yeah they will, UNLESS…

John: No spoilers, Corinne. No spoilers.

Corinne: Alright, alright. But they want it!

Q: Did any songs, books, movies, or anything inspire character writing? 

John: Art is always a synthesis of your own experiences both in the real world but also the art you consume, the art you pay attention. I don't think that any characters have a direct reference or inspiration, but yeah, they're all inspired by the things we do both in the real world and in the media we consume. And you’re gonna see elements of characters that yeah. The things that we’ve enjoyed show up in these characters. For me it comes down to, writing can be a deeply personal experience, so even if you don't intend for it to be the case, parts of you will show up in the characters. I think that’s true for all the characters in the Veilguard. Sometimes it's exploring things about yourself that you may like or may not like, and sometimes exploring things about characters you like or don't like. So that’s my longwinded way of saying yes, it’s impossible to not have that happen when you’re creating art, but I don’t think there’s one where you can say, “oh this is this character, this is this character.”

Q: What was the thinking process behind making Harding a companion this time around? 

John: When we released Inquisition, it was impossible not to see the love that people had for our murderous girl next door dwarf. She has always been a fan favorite obviously. But I think beyond that, it's something that Harding's writer wanted to explore, there was more of a story to tell there and more perspective. And beyond that Harding also has a strong connection to Solas, to Varric, and the events of the last 10 years. So I wouldn’t say it’s always been but I’d say Harding’s probably one of the first ones we settled on as like yes, this is a character we want, and the writer had a story that they wanted to tell with her, so it just made sense.

Matt: You know, actually, to piggy back on that, that’s something I hadn’t even thought about that much and it’s not a huge part of her character, but she tends to be one of the people that have the most insight into who he was.

John: Yeah that’s exactly—that’s a great way of looking at it, too, it also provides you with a little bit of perspective, for players who’ve been around for previous Dragon Age games, but also for new ones, who was Solas? What kind of character was he? Yeah it’s a great, using characters to provide windows into the world is honestly one of my favorite things.

Matt: And when I say was, I just mean in Inquisition.

John: Yes, that’s exactly, yes. Thank you for correcting that.

Q: What approach are you taking to quest and world design in the Veilguard?

John: I think for us it just comes down to relevance and narrative heft. We wanna make sure that each quest provides either a perspective on the world, a perspective on the characters, or it feels immediately and obviously relevant to what you’re doing here. You’re here to save the world. At the end of the day, one of the things that we heard loud and clear was the feedback about how relevant, or in our case not relevant, previous quests have felt, so for Veilguard, we really wanted all quests to feel like something somebody faced with the end of the world would believe was necessary and important. So again, there’s quests of all sorts and sizes, but all of them share that same feeling of, this is the kind of thing that the Veilguard would do. This is the kind of thing that my hero would do. Especially faced with the end of the world.

Corinne: That’s really good, John. That’s so right. I would just again double down on how hand crafted all the quests are. Whether you’re doing the main story or you’re journeying with your companions or you’re out exploring and you encounter a mystery, everything's hand crafted, intentional, we spend a lot of time listening to what yall said, and of course everyone has slightly different tastes, but you're not gonna be gathering shards in the Hinterlands. Everything is built with intention and they’re lovingly handcrafting the experience.

Q: Are there any locations in the game that can only be accessed by making specific story choices? 

John: So I don’t wanna get too much into spoilers here, but I will say that locations can fundamentally change based on decisions you make. Some of the parts of the world that you go to, you can have, the choices you make have an impact on how these spaces exist and develop.

Q: Will we be able to control companions in combat?

Corinne: If Rook gets KO'd, the player character gets knocked out, this time around it is time to reload your save, or better yet, the companions have really interesting progression. You can spec them out to be able to revive you, but that’s if you’ve invested in their progression and what they can do. And that said, I mentioned this earlier but I personally spend more time in the nature of this combat system when everything comes together, interacting and directing the companions than I have in any of the other games. So like that’s interactivity between them. Once you play it you’ll see just how engaged the scene is.

Q: Will Solas still occasionally or dramatically speak in iambic pentameter? 

John: I actually spent a little bit of time trying to figure out if I wanted to answer this question in iambic pentameter, and then I very quickly gave up. Massive kudos to Patrick who always writes Solas so well. Again, Solas is a returning character. It's the same Solas you know and love or hate depending on who you are. The same writer. So I think this is, the answer is yeah, it's Solas.

Q: Will our decision of who was left in the fade be important? 

John: While that decision does not show up—not for the Veilguard, now that said, that doesn’t mean that’s not a decision that won’t ever be important in the future. Not for this one.

Matt: I’m glad to hear you say that, John, because one of my favorite stories was Bob getting stuck in the web in Reboot.

John: That’s a deep cut! The sound of my childhood.

Q: Will we have mounts again? 

Matt: No, mounts were, they addressed a need in Inquisition that we don't have in Veilguard, and you’ll see why when you get to play.

Q: How is the side quest design? Will they be mostly story based or will there be a lot of radiant and quests for power like in Inquisition? 

John: We talked about this a bit earlier, but they are all hand crafted and story focused. The narrative, the companions, not just the companions but the characters and the world as a whole, are so much at the core of the Veilguard that anything other than handcrafting quests just felt like it would be a disservice to the game we were building.

Corinne: And maybe we can clarify as well, because with power was such a devisive mechanic in Inquisition, there’s no mechanic like that that blocks your progression until you fill a bar. That’s just not a thing in this. You have the autonomy to engage in these quests as you like, there’s no grind out gates before you can progress.

John: That’s right. Again we want to make sure that doing this content feels as natural and part of the logical flow of the story as possible.

Q: Will there be a similar system to war table? 

Corinne: We haven't talked much about the player's base, the Lighthouse, and we're gonna save that, but what I will say is that the Lighthouse, your headquarters so to speak, it has its own unique purposes and functions this time. So that's an area that we'll leave for you when we talk more about the Lighthouse and when you have a chance to hop in, you’ll be able to see what those unique purposes are.

Q: If there is dual wield for warriors, is it dex or str? 

Corinne: So we did wanna bring dual wielding back. It is part of the rogue kit this time, warriors are really focused on mighty two handed weapons, I can’t wait until you see, when you swing those weapons there's a real heft to it, and then of course sword and shield. So we’re leaving the dual wielding to the rogues, but you can see, the amount of hits you can get in in rapid succession dual wielding as a rogue is really satisfying.  

Q: What have been some of the challenges and advantages of working on a single game for so many years? 

John: That is a fantastic question. I have often joked, and I don’t know how much of a joke it is, that when this game is out and I suddenly don't have to keep all these pieces of game and lore and story and everything straight in my head, I'm suddenly gonna be able to speak Latin or something because there’s gonna be a ton of brain power freed up. But for me it’s just, the thing that keeps me sustained is just knowing the game we're building is the right one. Knowing that the pieces are coming together, and knowing just how much people care about this franchise, care about these games, and how excited people are going to be when they get to see the fantastic work the team has been doing. I’ve been on this project since the start, and even today I see things on a daily basis that I’m like holy smokes I can't believe what the team is doing, I can’t believe how good this looks. It's a huge game and I don't see every piece every day, so I get pleasantly surprised on a daily basis. Sometimes if I’m having a particularly long day, I'll spend about an hour late at night just watching cutscenes come in, watching the work coming together, and just sitting back and being like, holy smokes, I can’t wait for someone who hasn’t seen this every day as I have, to see this and just be blown away by the work.

Corinne: It's been very real, hasn’t it? I will just say speaking on behalf of the dev team, everyone's working so hard and putting so much passion, so much of themselves into it. This is a franchise they truly love and seeing your support cheering us on has meant a lot to them. So let me just say thank you to all of you.

[kusanagihaku]

don't mind this too much I'm just typing out my thoughts but I feel like Haku carries around a lot of emotional baggage and this might be because of his issues with his family and maybe--if there are any--unresolved issues with Frostheim?? I know him and Tohma aren't on the best terms fs.

Anyway, I feel like whenever Haku brings up any issues from the past he talks about them so... casually? When Haku brings up Tohma in his home screen voice lines, it doesn't seem like he holds any grudges toward Tohma--if anything I read it thinking they were almost friendly with each other before I saw his campus convo w/ Tohma. It's also silly to me how when Haku brought up his family being "happy to see him gone" he didn't seem like he was bothered by it at all. I don't mean to say he was actually unbothered by it ofc I just feel like he definitely has a lot of baggage and I want to assume he tries not to ponder on it too much for his own mental health and to maybe not be a burden on others?? lowkey relatable but my take on Haku is that he definitely doesn't like to bring up his past unless it's relevant to the conversation 😭 and even then he gives a vague amount of details and doesn't really seem to state his opinions on them.

I feel like his affinity 19 line kinda just reaffirmed this for me? it just seems like he bottles up a lot of his emotions so when you get really close to him he feels comfortable enough to just vent a little bit... but even so he still apologizes. it's also interesting to me how when you get closer to him with affinity he lets you in on his life a little more (his poor sleep habits, his kind of ominous level 25 line, also his mini rant about how much it must suck to have a curse. his input on that is interesting to me given that he's so close to Rui and he tells mc that he knows how to get around a curse but I digress)

my affinity with Haku is like 5 right now so I can't really speak but he's definitely one of my favorites so far so I wanted to ask an actual Haku fan what they thought!!!

regarding haku bottling things up: i agree with you that haku seems like he's carrying around a lot but tries not to think about it too much? i don't think he bottles it up on purpose, but haku does seem like he has a 'if i don't think too much about it i can pretend it didn't happen' kind of vibe. which is also what happened when we go to ask him about the clash - he doesn't want to talk about it since it brings up pretty bad memories for the ghouls.

but more so, i think he might also be a 'it already happened, so why bother thinking about it so much?' kind of person. he brings up his family being "happy to see him gone" and how they think he's an "irresponsible heir" in a pretty flippant way, which makes me think he's either refusing to think about it too much because he'll actually need to think about what will happen after he graduates from darkwick, or he's already finished processing it and is all like it is what it is, what can i do?

i'm leaning more towards the latter because of how casually he treats it and how he just drops it into conversation. it's not big enough of an issue to him that he has to keep himself from dumping it all on you. it doesn't read like a shameful secret either, just more like a part of him and his history that just is - it just slips out whenever it comes up in conversation. after all, there's nothing he can do to change it, right?

sidenote: it also makes me wonder if haku is putting in so much effort in hotarubi missions not only to make up for subaru and zenji (given that subaru has limited firepower and zenji is... zenji...) but also to prove (to who? to himself? to whoever is watching?) that he can be responsible, he can take care of his house... after all, it's not as if subaru and mc can go talk to his family and show them how responsible he actually is in taking care of hotarubi... right?

regarding higher affinity lines 19 to 23: i agree!! it seems like the closer you get to him, the more relaxed and open he seems around you. although the higher affinity lines do just read like you're just spending a lot more time in hotarubi in general - you're awake / maybe i'll take a nap / i'm going to bed... you're around hotarubi and spending so much time together with him in his room your hours start blurring together. it's really cute also when i think about him hinting in his chat he wants to take a nap with you on the veranda. haku, rest!!!!! i say, ignoring my own massive sleep debt.

regarding his affinity 24 line about being cursed: the more i read it, the more i wonder if it's not just him being sympathetic to rui and mc being cursed... what if haku has also been cursed? that's why he's so clear about the helplessness and the "why me?" that accompanies the curse... either that or he's just a really great listener and really empathetic and kind. which, given what we've seen of him, is also a very real possibility. he has a really big heart i'm gna beat his entire family up please he needs someone on his side and to see the good in him beyond what he does for others for ONCE

regarding affinity 25 line: i've been thinking about this also!! why does he want you to forget about him, and why does he think that's selfish!!!! you want to remember him and your time together because no matter what happens in the end / if you're hurt by him or your curse, these memories are precious to you - even if you lose him, at least he was yours to lose.

he wants you to forget because somehow, he thinks the memories you have of him will cause you pain. he doesn't want to see you suffer through the process of losing him as you succumb to your curse. if you just forgot him, maybe you could go a lot easier. to him, it's selfish because you clearly don't want to forget and they're your memories and it's your prerogative, but for his own sake, he wants you to forget because he wants to see you go without pain. if you forget about him, the only one who suffers will be him.

or: haku knows memories make a person. he knows this from subaru's stigma, and he knows this from how ghosts are just memories of people who live on. once the anomaly in you takes over, if you'd just forget about him, as long as it doesn't carry any memories of your life together, it means that you're well and truly gone and he can now kill the anomaly with the knowledge that there is nothing left of you, without any sort of guilt.

regarding the haku-tohma relationship: i think also in light of the theory that haku was a frostheimer who transferred out to hotarubi (and perhaps even transferred out alongside yuri) and left a big gap for tohma to fill, it makes sense that tohma doesn't see him in a good light. tohma seems like the kind who values loyalty a lot (given how he maintains his friendship with alan), and as a result might see haku as a traitor to jin/frostheim. which also explains why when they met in ep7 ch19 tohma was all like, "our wheelhouse?" when haku used 'our' to refer to himself as part of hotarubi, as if something about haku treating himself as part of hotarubi rubs tohma the wrong way. maybe he's bitter haku doesn't think of himself as frostheim anymore? which doesn't make too much sense to me since tohma transferred out of vagastrom... unless he also thinks of himself as vagastrom at heart? maybe his frostheim identity is stored in his monocle

at the same time, haku just treats tohma sort of coolly ("if you've got something to say to me, just say it.") - he doesn't want to play politics like tohma does. which i think is very much in line with what you said about him not holding any grudges towards tohma - if anything, the tension seems very one-sided and something haku wants to leave behind.

(that one theory going around also makes sense to me... that haku would transfer out of frostheim not because of anything major but because he couldn't stand the rich people politics going on in there... he's too lazy for that sort of shit... which is why he enjoys hotarubi a lot more, since subaru is a really sincere person and zenji is just... zenji...)

anyway tldr; sorry this was a massive word vomit and idk if i even answered anything but i think haku just needs someone on his side for once and mc needs to stop second-guessing him because i, for one, will follow him wherever he goes,,,

[celestialtarot11]

hey girly pop :) I noticed how mostly Gemini placements reach out to you; which is funny bc I’m a Gemini rising noticing this, I just think it’s so cute 😭 I love it here

But I also have a question 🤭 what makes a Capricorn venus seem so alluring like a black cat to others? I want to know how people perceive us & you seem like you’d be much more honest than “loves money & to be cold in love & not show emotions” which I h a t e how people see us that way bc we’re just cautious 😭 but I digress, I’d love your input you smart lady🫡 thank you if you do :))

My god do I love me a good tea time where I yap. Gemini to gemini *telepathy moment*

I think it mostly comes from a place of darkness. Rather than it being a materialistic attachment which pop astrology as normalized about Capricorns, I think there’s been something missing too. And that is the understanding of a Capricorn precarious environment. No one other than the Capricorn and whoever hurt them has seen them at their worst, and their vulnerable side. The needy, the scared, and the desperate part of themselves. It’s only been broadcasted to those who manipulated them, at a young age. I believe their power not necessarily comes from that hurt, but the transformation of that hurt and pain.

And I think because Capricorns seek to relinquish their power through those vulnerable moments. It’s what gives them a heavier energy. It’s their ability to have understood how painful and irrevocably morally wrong it was to have had others hurt them in such ways. They understood essentially the gravity of everything. The gravity of morals, values, and beliefs. And how a messy moral compass can misdirect a persons behavior, trauma, etc. What it all means, and the consequences. And they also understand the gravity of personal power and separating oneself so strongly from those people. Hence, their transformation.

Which is why their power is heavier, because they seek to separate themselves from the morally abandoned and righteous. It’s all about the weight of words, wounds, and cycles. How it passed down generations. I also believe a lot of Capricorns hit the startling realization that they are not just healing themselves, they are healing a mass of people who have been living in hurt. This is why their energy is so intense, because they are healing a lineage. It’s as if their ancestors are walking behind them, so their presence is felt strongly.

But feline? Where exactly does that come from? As much as Capricorns appear detached and independent, they also have a strong emotional inner world. It’s rich, even if they may not dabble in it 100% of the time. Because they understand the need for balance. Capricorns when healed have a strong feminine energy, the ability to receive. They know they do not need to put themselves in harms away so they don’t force. They don’t push, prod, or insert. They wait. And they observe. And they allow what is necessary to be. This is where their feline nature comes in from all that healing. Their ability to observe is powerful and immense.

This has nothing to do with their physical looks, just how they carry themselves which affects their energy.

[hoetachi]

HOW’D I DO? — I. MIDORIYA

➠ izuku midoriya x blk!reader

➠ mulan’s input; deku learns the tootsie roll

➠ c/w: black-coded reader, pet names [princess & baby], typical lowkey toxic family, deku got some seasoning in him

➠ TWO MONTHS AGO you begged midoriya to finally come with you to one of the many family reunions that were being hosted this year. he wasn’t worried about meeting your parents since he already sobbed for their blessing to date you, so seeing them again wasn’t on his mind too much

➠ HOWEVER, meeting the rest of your family was anxiety-inducing especially how you told stories of how judgement they were when it came to whoever you was dating. you gave him a heads up on the secret test that they’ll put him through to see if he was worthy of being you.

“zuku, don’t worry too much about the reunion, okay? if you’re not feeling up to it then i understand baby” you gave him a smile, but he could sense the disappointment behind it, which made his heart ache. when it came to disappointing you, it dug swords into his chest because you deserve the world and more and knowing he couldn’t simply do a single task for you. you were his princess, his baby and disappointment was one thing he never ever want you to feel towards him. so he conjured up a plan to make sure he made an everlasting impression on your relatives

➠ THE MONTHS LEADING up to the reunion, you noticed his constant absence. at first, you passed it off as him being drowned in his hero work and didn’t think much of it until you noticed these disappearances were also happening on his days off or days the both of you would plan something. you would ask him what happened those days and he’ll give you a sweaty panicked answers like ‘so and so said they needed a bit help at their agency’ or ‘all might needs me for so studying for one for all’ and then he’ll check his phone and rush out the shared apartment.

➠ YOUR SUSPICIONS became worse when you found curly pink stands of hair stuck on a shirt or sock of his. the thought of your deku possibly creeping around made your chest tighten and insecure. you started leaving him on delivered or read and also rushed out the house just like him so he could feel how you were feeling until he finally stopped you and actually sat and talked you. “the thought of being unfaithful to you will never cross my mind and the fact my favorite girl is feeling that way is killing me” he confessed making you feel secure about y’all relationship

➠ THE DAY FINALLY CAME and damn deku wished it didn’t appear so suddenly. you peeped his nervousness and the noticeable twitches, you placed hand on his freckles cheek caressing it with your thumb while giving a gentle smile, reassuring him that your family is going to love just as much as you do. his nerves simmered down just enough for him to remember what his goal was today with your family

➠ SO FAR things was going smoothly. deku met everyone and of course they appreciated his polite mannerisms as well how he treats you but they were still wary of him. your mom even made sure to let him know he got your grandparents approval, which he was so gracious for but his work was still not done

➠ EVERYTHING WAS GOING UNTIL you heard one of your aunts yelled ‘EVERYBODY TO THE DANCE FLOOR’ your heart dropped. you loved deku to death but your love could never blind you from the fact your boyfriend couldn’t dance to save his life and you knew this happy moment was going to come to end

➠AS EVERYONE DANCE you couldn’t help but noticed your cousins urging deku to come join the rest of the them as the previous song shifted to the tootsie roll song. you watched as your anxious boyfriend awkwardly made his way to center of the circle that formed and stood and watched everyone around him tell him to bust a move. he locked eyes and you quickly turned your back and gnawed on your bottom lip worriedly, not wanting to watch the train wreck that was going to happen

➠ BUT TO YOUR SURPRISE you didn’t hear words of confusion or disapproval, but of encouragement. you turned around and seen deku effortlessly and rhythmically going along to the beat. your face was blanked as you watched as your cousins and uncles all excitedly join him in the center and hype him up even more before he started getting overwhelmed by the attention

➠ AND ALMOST IN A INSTANT you were in his scarred arms littering his face with loving kisses and praises to match. “i hope y’all getting started on my grand babies” you heard your mom uttered causing an uproar of laughter from your relatives as well a blushing deku

[shattersstar]

Please use this as a free pass to write "admiring them from afar" with anyone you want :^)

the hellcat spangled shalalala

pairing: college!au jason todd x reader

prompt: blossoming romance - admiring them from afar

warning: harassment mention (in joking context)

a/n: more college basketball au bc i say so! seriously tho thank u for the request it worked out as a great free pass ☺️ this can be read as a stand-alone or taking place after drawstring. comments r appreciated and i hope y’all enjoy ! and expect another part soonish <3

—

shot at the night series.

—

when your judgment’s on the run, and you’re acting like a stranger cause you thought it looked fun.

The morning sun casted a milky glow, pouring in through the windows and lighting up the store as clouds moved on. Summer began to roll through, exams a thing of the past as Gotham hummed with warmth. You were going to the beach sometime next week, even if it was over a two hour drive away, you were beyond excited. It had been easy to forget all about school, despite the fact the summer term was coming up and you were taking a course. On top of working at a cafe during the week, the gas station on weekend mornings, and still unpacking your new place, you were surprisingly busy.

It was why you hadn’t really seen Jason. Or at least what you had told yourself. You two were in a confusing place, you both knew you liked each other, had worked through some things, but you wanted time. To figure out how genuine your feelings were or if they were just because Jason admitted to liking you. It was nice to be desired, to be sought after, but you didn’t want to string Jason along.

Even if Jason took forever to tell you how he felt and handled it like an ass, he didn’t deserve that.

No one did.

The thought made you sigh as you looked over the columns of scratch and lotto tickets. You had never bought one when you turned of age and always wished you did. It seemed fun, if a bit pointless. You were engrossed with the paper coated in gossamer film that glimmered in the sunlight when the bell above the door rang. You peered through your lashes at whoever came in, heart skipping a beat as the object of your affection breezed through like an early morning fantasy. Jason sent you a quick smile before ducking towards the fridges in the back and scanning through the drinks.

You watched his tall figure from where you perched behind the counter. Elbows resting on the plastic case holding the tickets that no longer occupied your attention. His broad shoulders rose and fell with a sigh, black waves brushing the back of his neck. He was in track pants that hung low on his hips, shirt partially tucked in and giving you a chance to take in how his waist curved and held muscle and fat you could only imagine the delicious sight of.

“You guys don’t have anymore Propel?” Jason called, looking over his shoulder.

You nearly fell over being caught staring, opting to scrunch your nose at the question. “Unfortunately not sir. They don’t sell well because, personally, those drinks are grossly sweet.” You said in your best customer service voice, a grin pulling at Jason’s mouth as he turned back to the fridge.

“Uh huh. Thank you for your input.”

“I live to serve.” You chimed, loud enough for him to hear over the hum of the fridges and the quiet playlist you had put on. Jason snorted from the distance, prompting you to steal another look at him before you busied yourself with refilling the lighter display, which you had abandoned in favour of zoning out earlier.

You had always told Jason you were tired and bored on shift, opening at 5am most weekends. It had become a habit during the school year for him to stop by, usually on a run, but today with a bag slung across his body, you were sure he was heading to the gym on campus. Off season practice you supposed.

You also realized it likely meant when Jason moved off campus, it was still nearby if he was able to stop by before heading to campus. That or he went out of his way to see you, which made your heart skip another beat. You looked back over to Jason at the sound of the fridge door closing, trying to keep your eyes low as you followed his footsteps. He walked up the furthest aisle than down the one closest to the register, lingering while you shifted behind the counter.

“Anything I can help you find?” You called, sweetly.

Jason shook his head no, looking over at you that crooked smile. “Nah, I don’t think you guys carry what I’m looking for.” He opened the energy drink he picked, taking a sip while you smiled in return.

“Yeah unfortunately we don’t carry steroids.” You shrugged. Jason nearly spat out his drink as he laughed, and you were unable to contain your giggles from behind your hand. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, picking up a bag of chips before turning towards the cash. Jason placed both his items on the counter and tossed a granola bar there after pursuing the treats that sat below the register for a minute.

“That’s all.” He said, while you pointed at the drink.

“In future, we ask customers wait till purchase before opening food or drink.” You said, the playful air in your voice still there.

“Oh give my apologies to the owner.” Jason remarked, while you scanned his items.

“Will do…its been a while since you came in. And you didn’t get a patty today.” You muttered, looking at the screen. You had become used to your early morning meetings, even if exams and everything that happened between you two had kept Jason away since the term ended. It didn’t make it hurt less, but it wasn’t because of him. You knew you were the one putting up distance when he finally opened up to you.

“You remember all your regulars that well?” Jason asked tentatively.

“Only the cute ones,” You said, tapping the screen before adding, “Like that redhead you used to come in with whose dropped dead gorgeous. You ever give out his name or number?” You teased, Jason was well aware you knew Roy and his number.

“What does he normally get again?” Jason countered, and you pulled your lip between your teeth as you met his gaze. You stayed silent before raising your hands in defeat, you knew when you lost your battles.

The computer beeped at you for taking too long, and you chuckled awkwardly before pressing a few buttons. You could feel his eyes taking in your side profile as he often did. You wondered how you didn’t know Jason’s true feelings before when you caught him admiring you so often. And worse, how could you think your feelings were anything, but genuine when every time Jason did something like that, your heart raced.

He was so beautiful and could have anyone, a sentiment you felt tenfold when you learned he played for the university’s basketball team, but Jason chose you. He looked at you and made you feel like no one else did and you had been foolish to deny that for so long.

“It’s 9.55.” You said, as he handed you cash.

“You can keep the change.” Jason said, shoving his snacks into his bag.

“I definitely don’t get paid enough so thanks.”

Jason hummed, fiddling with the lid on his drink, and despite the platform the counter sat on, he was still taller than you. You were almost eye level like this, but Jason still had to glance down as he spoke his next words. “You called me cute earlier.”

“Oh I did?” You played dumb and Jason’s jaw shifted, but you knew he wasn’t angry. The ease that normally flowered between you two took over your conversation as he nodded.

“Pretty sure.”

“Well if you wanna file a harassment claim, it’ll be with the owner you owe an apology too.”

“Maybe that makes us even.” Jason said, quiet.

“Maybe…or you could pick me up after my shift if you really wanna square things. I finish earlier today.” You said, gaze flickering between the lotto tickets and Jason’s face. A boyish grin took over his expression as genuine excitement seemed to fill him.

“Fuck yeah—I mean yeah, that’d be great. What time?” He reeled himself in while you toyed with his receipt.

“Noon instead of three.” Jason nodded, that wild glint in his eyes spelt trouble in the best way. He adjusted the strap on his shoulder and while distracted, you placed your palms flat on the counter and pushed yourself to his height. You pressed a quick kiss on Jason’s cheek before settling onto the stool behind you. Jason nearly dropped his bottle as he processed what you just did.

“See you later Jason, I’ll save you a patty if all the construction guys don’t get to them first.” You promised, as he headed towards the door, running his fingers through his hair and looking back at you with indiscernibility. It was shock and awe you supposed.

“See ya baby!” Jason called as he left, dazed tone and pet name threatened to set you on fire as a group of kids barrelled in and darted straight to the freezer. You paid no mind to their yells and counted the hours till Jason picked you up for your first date.

shalalala.

~

title/lyrics from the hellcat spangled shalalala by arctic monkeys

more reading: college/uni hcs + jason todd

[quinloki]

Sooo imagine reader/ y/n escapes, they get to an island for a couple months evade capture but then marinford happens and the wb pirates are disbanded/scatters or doin there own thing but one of them end up on the same island as y/n with the obsession still intact and finding them again has rekindled it even more.

How would they react on when they're alone without the other's input?would they contact each other and group up? what would be going through their heads?

(yan au where everyone survives except wb)

💧-anon

(feel free to completely ignore my ramblings but i have so many things i think ab and need to tell/ask ❤️)

I feel how someone would react would depend on the crew member. I'm not going to hit up everyone, just my usual suspects, so bear with me.

CW: Yandere, dub con / non con vibes, nothing explicit a lot of what ifs and summaries.

Marco would not contact anyone else. I love this man, but Yandere Marco is POSSESSIVE. He shares you with his brothers only because they are his brothers. If no one else ended up on this island with you and him then that's a them problem, and not HIS problem.

Depending on the manner of your escape would depend how Marco was, but regardless of if he thinks you left or were stolen away, he'll be delighted to have you back. You'll never leave his sight again, and if you do have to be away from him for any reason he'll make sure he knows where you are.

You will drown in him, whether its his love or his anger, but he will mark you, fill you up, and leave you exhausted and delirious more than not.

Ace would contact the others. He'd be so relieved to see you safe, and whether anyone else thought you left, he'd be convinced it had to be against your will. He'll be seeking reassurance to that end, and if you're smart you're going to give it to him. Shore up your story if you need it with Ace's help, because the other will be far harder to convince, even if what you're telling is the truth.

Whatever happens, and however things play out though, you'll always run into Ace. He'll pop out of the ground like a fucking daisy sometimes, scaring the hell out of you even though that wasn't his intent. But playful or endearing, don't think for a second it's accidental.

If you don't reassure him, if you do tell him you left because you wanted to, his reaction will be worse. He'll claim you as his and you'll probably have burn scars by the time the others arrive. It'll take Marco weeks to get you back into some sort of semblance of who you were - assuming he can even soothe the scars.

Thatch will let you set the narrative, and hell he'll even let you decide if he reaches out to anyone else or not. If you want to elope with just him, he'd be more than happy to oblige. He doesn't mind sharing with his brothers, but he won't deny such a heart felt confession and plea from you either.

He's likely to do to you what Marco would, making love to you until you're a pile of mush, exhausted and almost out of your mind. His stamina far exceeds your own, and he has months of catching up to do, he's missed you so much. And don't worry, he'll feed you and make sure you're hydrated, even clean your home, and earn money, you'll be too tired to worry about any of that anyway.

With Izou in the mix the rope burns on your joints are apt to become permanent. It doesn't matter if you say you didn't want to leave, you'll never be able to be taken away so easily ever again. He'll let the others know about you, and your fate will probably be decided by committee.

You will be under the influence of something when you're questioned, so unless you're really good at lying that's not going to be an option here. You're likely to survive your punishment, for better or worse, but whatever island you end up on with everyone (whoever constitutes everyone), the islanders are going to understand your position in the crew. Or misunderstand it.

but the only friends you'll have will be the brothers that take care of you. You'll want for nothing, save maybe freedom.

[kate7h]

Deku to Ochako - (pics from ep 6 and chapter 342)

Some thoughts on Deku’s feelings for Ochako:

Deku has thought a lot of things about Ochako—that she’s cute, she’s bright, she’s cool, her hair is perfect, she’s always saving him, etc. We’ve seen these thoughts on and off throughout the whole story, but it is more in a grey area what his actual feelings are for her, as opposed to how hers are broadcasted. I do feel it’s a show-don’t-tell kind of writing, which I can respect. But I have a couple character theories of why Deku himself hasn’t enlightened us.

1st, and less likely: he’s not aware of his feelings for Ochako. I’m not sold on this because this kid is constantly thinking, observing, and using input from all around him the gauge how to act and what to do next. Plus he’s shown how unafraid he is of saying what’s what to whoever needs to hear it, and that’s including himself. There could be an argument made for him having a lower self-esteem that makes him feel unworthy of that kind of relationship, but I also feel like that might not be accurate to his character as well. His lack of self-esteem manifests in his extreme behavior and what he does in the name of being a hero—putting his life and body on the line as necessary. This feels more like a sense of duty rather than anything else.

2nd: Deku has liked her from the get-go, big ole crush, can barely speak to her without blushing his face off. Which makes sense—she’s the first girl to give him the time of day, first real friend, she’s adorable and bright and so on. He’s absolutely adored her from the start. BUT! He’s on a mission and has pretty much devoted his life to that duty—to become the world’s greatest hero, to save people with a smile, etc. etc. Also, he’s learned to revel in having close, caring friendships, something he’s never had before. In the beginning, he could barely speak to her, and now has no issue at all, and can speak his deeper thoughts to her without any of that. I don’t see that as a diminishing of feelings, but of maturing ones.

Basically, he did the same thing she did—put aside his crush for the time being to not only focus on this immense goal and burden, but also to help him be her friend, and not just a blushing mess every time she’s near. Her friendship matters so much to him, so he didn’t let himself linger on those feelings so that he could get around those to actually get to know her.

So when Ochako’s arc comes to its conclusion and she is finally able to be honest with him, as she’s shown she wants to be, I feel like Deku’s response will be such joy and gratitude, maybe surprise, but I doubt his own feelings will be confused.

(There is a lull in the middle of the series where Ochako and him don’t appear much together, which feels more like a writing issue than saying something about their relationship. Hori chose to focus on more popular characters as the story got more popular, it seems, and as a result, Ochako fell more to the sidelines than maybe originally intended—which is very unfortunate, but what’s done is done)

[spadeprincesss]

I forget how to send asks so I hope this is the place

Who goes to who for advice or just to get things off their chest? Is there someone each wouldn’t go to for advice? Do they all go to Zelda? Like maybe blue wouldn’t go to Zelda for certain things/ all the time cuz idk maybe he wouldn’t want her to know he’s struggling with something? (even though we all know, she already knows when something’s up with her links)

This was sent in by @saltyskychild as a submission and idk how to answer other than editing so my answer below the cut!!!

Gonna start with a list of who goes to who for advice the most and the least!

Green:

Zelda - literally for everything, she knows all his secrets and he knows hers

Blue - to confide in, if he needs a shoulder to lean or cry on and Zelda isn’t available he knows Blue will have his back (and also beat up whatever made him upset)

Vio - for a practical response, he trust Vio and he knows that if he’s lost as to what to do then Vio will have an answer for him

Red - also for emotional support, but he can be a little reluctant because he hates that if he goes to vent and starts crying then Red will cry too and he hates making Red cry

Shadow - don’t get me wrong Green cares for Shadow a whole lot but he knows Shadow doesn’t understand his own feelings most of the time so he doesn’t want to burden Shadow with his own

Red:

Vio - Red often goes to Vio first to find a way to just rant without having to put his thoughts in order, Vio just lets him get it out before helping him sort it all out

Blue - Red LOVES Blue, but he hesitates to confide in him at times because he worries Blue will get a tad too protective and go straight to punching whoever made him sad. He IS Red’s first option when he needs optimal comfort though, like if he feels he needs a hug he will run to Blue (Blue gives the best hugs fight me)

Shadow - mostly to gossip LMFAO, Shadow also gives great hugs and always offers to kill anyone for him, Red has yet to take him up on the offer

Green - Red loves going to Green for comfort, he always listens intently and waits until he’s done to give him his input much like Vio does, Red just hates burdening him because Green is always so busy

Zelda - same as Green, hates burdening her but trusts her 100%, crying on her shoulder is a healing experience

Blue:

Red - Blue knows he can always go to Red, it’s always hard to get him to open up because of his pride but when he does open up it’s always to Red first. He knows Red would never judge him for being vulnerable so when it’s time to break down he only wants Red to see him

Green - Green is Blue’s closest friend, he trusts Green to always keep his secrets and give sound advice, but Green is also going to be his King soon and that makes him want to be even stronger so he can always keep Green safe from inevitable threats

Zelda - Blue has an immense respect for Zelda, as his friend, as a ruler, and as a person overall; he watched her rule her kingdom from a young age and keep the peace all six of them fought hard for. However as his queen he’s sworn loyalty to he tries not to bother her, keeps a respectable distance that Zelda herself tries to narrow

Vio - Blue and Vio’s relationship can seem complicated from an outsiders perspective, they poke and prod, they tease, but as they’ve grown and matured they’ve each learned when its ok to make fun and when you need to back off (it took a lot of trial and error throughout the years trust). Much like the others if Blue needs an answer to a question he will go to Vio, but it’s hard for him to open up emotionally to him because Vio always seems to kept together and he doesn’t want to fall behind

Shadow - to Blue Shadow is super fun to be around, they used to get into a lot of mischief together when they were younger and although they’ve matured a lot they find trouble one way or another. They’re both good friends, but Blue and Shadow are the masters of bottling things up so you won’t catch them having a heart to heart very often

Vio:

Shadow - the love of his life, Shadow knows things about Vio that Vio himself wishes weren’t true. Shadow sometimes understands what Vio needs before he even says it; and Vio doesn’t cry often but the times he has it’s been with Shadow there to put him back together

Red - Red is a great confidant, and Vio’s best friend, and although Vio considers himself the smartest in the group he knows Red has him beat in emotional intelligence, so when it’s his turn to be vulnerable (which he hates) Red helps him prepare for it

Zelda - Vio loves Zelda’s company, she’s smart and witty, yet completely honest with him; in Zelda’s rare free time they’ll sit and have tea together and talk about anything and everything. Vio would never admit it but Zelda is the funniest person he knows (he doesn’t want to hurt Shadow’s feelings)

Green - Vio trusts Green wholeheartedly, he’d put his life in Green’s hands in a heartbeat, but Vio doesn’t like how Green tends to hover so he hesitates to show any distress around him

Blue - as mentioned before Vio and Blue’s relationship is complicated, Vio doesn’t like showing vulnerability around Blue because he knows it makes Blue feel awkward seeing him as anything less than perfectly kept together. However not to say Blue wouldn’t be there for him, he would, they both would, but they try to keep strong in front of each other, it gives them a sense of normalcy and security they often need

Shadow:

Vio - just like it is vice versa, Vio often knows that Shadow is feeling down or overwhelmed before he himself knows, and although Shadow thought he would hate that he doesn’t. Vio is the one who taught him how to feel more than just anger and scorn, Vio gave him his first real laugh of joy, his first tears of sorrow and heartbreak, and even after all that Vio made up for it and taught him that he was able to feel all of that because he was in love. There’s no secrets between them

Zelda - to many people’s surprise Zelda is Shadow’s best friend, when he was first brought back he gravitated towards her, wanting to repay her for making him realize he wasn’t just a puppet of darkness but his own person. She took his emotions in stride and alongside Vio taught him so much about what he feels, so he confides everything to her

Red - Shadow and Red are very close, when Shadow needs a laugh or a smile he’ll rush to Red, he always has kind words for Shadow no matter what, confiding in his isn’t as easy as it is with Vio and Zelda but Red has always understood that and it helps put Shadow at ease. Again they gossip a lot together

Green - Shadow doesn’t go to Green often, much like Vio he doesn’t want him to overly worry and hover, but while he isn’t Shadow’s first option, he always brings a sense of belonging that means a lot to him

Blue - like mentioned earlier Shadow and Blue are masters if bottling things up, most of the time when Shadow goes to Blue it goes “hey this person made Red/Vio/Green/Zelda sad wanna go beat them up together?”

Zelda:

Green - that’s her soulmate, her other half; Green knows Zelda’s deepest fears and worries that she can’t allow herself to share with anyone else. He knows of her visions of the future and her past lives, of how much past wars haunt her, and he holds her through it all, when he proposed he promised to always keep her and her people safe, he would always be a hero worthy of her

Shadow - Zelda loves Shadow, you’d think she’d be scared of him given he was once her kidnapper, but as she’s always said “I wasn’t scared of you then and I’m not scared of you now”. Shadow is only slightly disappointed, but loves how she’ll ask for him when she’s overwhelmed, saying she needs someone who won’t try to sugarcoat anything from her. Zelda knows Shadow would move mountains for her and she would do the same

Vio - Zelda made Vio one of her advisors early on, she values not only his practical knowledge but his resourcefulness as well, they’ve spent many a late night pouring over documents together and its led to deep conversations. Vio takes as much workload off her shoulders as he legally can and she in turn forces him to take breaks

Red - Red is the little brother Zelda always wanted, as a single child who had to grow up too fast having someone so kind and fun to be around is something she cherishes so deeply. When she needs a hug she’ll seek him out, she knows she’ll always leave an encounter with Red with a smile on her face

Blue - Zelda knows she can trust all her boys with her life, and Blue is no exception, they don’t often confide in each other, but let’s just say that after a certain encounter that leaves Green in a terrible state Zelda learns Blue is not as cold hearted as she feared he was, and she’s made an effort to break down his walls. No knight should have to face monsters on their own, wether they be external or internal

So long story short these six idiots all love each other, but as you could have guessed they have certain people they go to for certain worries/situations. I can’t wait to share more on their relationships with one another!

[thewiz9062]

Smiling Critters: Together, We Resonate (No.6) - Catnap

NOTE: THIS IS NOT RELATED TO CANON IN THE SLIGHTEST. An accurate description of this au is that I took every playtime.co poster art and promotional material from the game and lit up the rest of canon in a bonfire. This means that EVERY character is part of one big cartoon. That's it. No bigger bodies project, no child souls, no experiments, just a depiction of a cartoon. PLEASE do not ask me to do anything suggestive with anyone.

Let's start:

Catnap had a fairly normal childhood up until four, where his parents died in front of him (cause of death is still pending)

After that, he was put in the system, and he quickly learned that it wasn't exactly the safest place, so he ran.

He ended up wandering for a while, sleeping in alleyway to alleyway until he found a random abandoned house (shack? Its one room and fairly small) in a secluded part of a neighborhood, and set up 'home' there. But is it really home without them?

Anyways, he made himself as comfortable as possible in his living conditions. If the residents heard crying near that secluded part of the neighborhood, they didn't say......well, except for Boxy Boo.

Boxy was the only one who dared to go check out the slight commotion and was attacked on sight. Well, pounced on, as boxy is about 3 times bigger than catnap at the moment. Even once he got him to calm down, he still didn't say a word to him, just glared at him until he left. What if it was my fault? What if i was the reason theyleftwhatifpeoplediebecauseofmeleavedontcomeclose But boxy made a vow to check on him at least once a week.

(Time skip- present day? Technically)

Bobby bearhug and picky piggy were picking apples in the forest next to the former neighborhood when they started hearing noises. Picky demanded that whoever was "messing" with them show themselves. And out came catnap. Picky dug into him about being creepy, but bobby was more worried about the state he was in. He looked way skinnier than he should be, assuming that he was their age (he is dw) so before picky sent him off Bobby offered some of the cookies she made. He was a little distrustful at first, but practically lit up for a second before quickly changing back to his blank face. But she noticed, and told him she could meet him back here tomorrow with some other food she wants him to try. He waved his hands and shook his head in a 'no' motion, but they were already off before they could register his response.

For the next few days, bobby brought him food to try, and he gave his best input for someone who doesn't talk. But she never really got to know anything about him, because any questions would be met with a blank stare. She pondered...maybe she should bring Dogday next time? He's great at making friends!

Guys look I traumatized him :D

This is supposed to be the whump but I feel like I overhyped it ngl

Additional notes:

-Insomniac (duh. I tried to give him eyebags in the little drawing I made but idk if they actually look like that)

-Situationally mute

-the whole red gas thing doesn't exist. I know it appeared in the little cartoon introducing chapter 3 but it feels extremely out of place here sooo

-instead, he hums or sings a little lullaby or melody to try and help him (others eventually ;) sleep. It usually has an opposite effect for him though, as the only ones he knows are his mothers, which reminds him of.....yeah.

-he really likes music because of this, even if he doesnt get to listen to it often. its sorta the one thing that he sorta still hangs on to.

I really enjoyed this one!! Next is gonna be our resident friend making machine, with a built-in recap to go with. Anyways BYEEE

[radiosummons]

Time-travel/fix it AUs with Cal Kestis as the main protag will always be funny to me, especially when authors pair him up with the Disaster Lineage (usually as Obi-Wan's new padawan since Ahsoka ended up apprenticing under Anakin).

Mostly because:

1) I will always fuck with AUs where Obi-Wan gets a new padawan, regardless of whoever said padawan is.

2) The sheer comedic and potential angst/anxiety of everyone trying to navigate having an actual tiny, baby Jedi on the battlefield with them.

3) Cal just mentally trying to process the whole time-travel thing on top of being a padawan to HIGH GENERAL, JEDI MASTER, COUNCIL MEMBER OBI-WAN FUCKING KENOBI!!!!!!!

4) The opportunity for Anakin to struggle with possible feelings of jealousy over Obi-Wan having a new padawan and maybe slowly coming to accept Cal as a Jedi sibling (with helpful, or not so helpful input from Ahsoka-lol).

5) Obi-Wan having to wrangle yet another droid loving padawan with very obvious mental and trust issues and OH GOD HE'S JUST AS TINY AS ANAKIN WAS AND HOW COULD THE COUNCIL HAVE EVER APPROVED THIS-

But, most of all, what I love about this particular AU is the additional, optional layer of Cal somehow knowing (usually through psychometry) that Anakin is Darth Vader and just having to struggle to interact with his new Master's former padawan without letting anyone else know, that he knows--

--which then leads to baby Cal Kestis meeting Anakin the Skywalker for the first time and just sort of blurting out something to the equivlaent of "... don't fucking talk to me" and then screaming internally when everyone inevitably reacts to Obi-Wan's new padawan clearly hating/not taking a liking to Anakin at all.

Obviously, Ahsoka would think this is hilarious, Anakin would take it super personally and Obi-Wan would just feel exasperated/delighted/resigned at the fact that he has yet another rude padawan to take care of.

*fics recs under the cut*

For anyone who might be interested in reading fics with this particular AU, I can't help but recommend these two in particular:

a distant fire is burning by e_va (AO3)/@e-vasong (blog)

(I Promise) This Time Will Be Different by Nation_Ustria

Make sure to give these authors lots of love. They've done an excellent job with their writing :3

Update: Since this post has started to sorta blow up (at least way more than I expected WOW), I just wanted to take the opportunity to shout out another fave Time-travel/Fix-It fic that I also adore called:

Lost Property Box by Young_and_spitefilled/@constantlymisspelled

It's not a Cal joins the Disaster Lineage fic, but instead sees an older Cal Kestis return to a timeline way before the events of Phantom Menace. And what do you know, he gets to interact with baby Obi-Wan and other child versions of the Jedi he looked up to as a baby Jedi himself. It's pretty great. Definitely check it out :3

[allwormdiet]

Gestation 1.4

[claps hands] Let's do this shit

And, of course, there's no reason why Taylor never even considered using a cellphone for totally non-traumatic reasons.

Interesting that Brockton Bay still has payphones, feels like another Earth Bet divergence unless I'm crazy and people were still using payphones back in 2011. It's been long enough that I could be misremembering.

Noticing she says "more" venomous instead of "at all" venomous. Also interesting that Taylor's still getting used to the sensory input from her bugs. Something for her to practice I guess.

And I've said it before but I'll say it again, fuck whoever thinks Taylor Hebert has a weak power, this woman is a walking plague of Egypt.

And now we see Taylor doing what she's wanted to do for months, unleash her powers in righteous fury, and she loves it. She's practically getting high from it. You can see how capes keep doing what they're doing even when it makes them miserable or threatens their lives, it's the gratification of doing Their Shit.

She has power over someone else, she's punishing a wrongdoer, she's protecting innocents (as far as she knows). No wonder she can smother the guilt at taking pleasure in this moment of pain, she has every reason to justify this glorious moment.

And now all of a sudden things are back to being serious and Taylor's high is quickly replaced by the fear that she's committed to something she's not sure about being able to resolve.

Taylor Hebert getting mean will one day be a cause of global alarm, and Lung's gonna be the first one to learn that. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

I'm not gonna put the excerpts in but her attacks on Lung's eyes are fucked up in a really impressive way. It's so creative and gross and mean and I bet this fight is a really good indicator of where every fight is gonna go.

Better to learn that powers are bullshit now than later.

"Dad can you pick me up I wanna go home"

TO BE CONTINUED

Current Thoughts

This chapter is mostly just fighting, so what I'll give credit on is that it's a cool fight. Lung is busted as fuck and the fact that Taylor managed to get any meaningful hits in is a mark in her favor... although I guess "meaningful" is a complicated one if you're dealing with a regenerator.

I'm kinda excited to say that the only thing I'm thinking about now is that I wanna see where this fight goes. This feels good, and not just because we're coming off of the low of the Docks/ABB narration.

[japyr]

Cooking Hc.

castlevania headcanons, starring: Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, Adrian “Alucard” Tepes.

⠁trevor:

it’s as bad as his odor, i mean come on. He’s obviously been living off bread and dried out jerky, so no telling if he knows how well dried out his jerky is..nor does he know what seasoning is.

He wouldn’t even want to cook in the first place, he’ll leave it up to whoever else in the house or the last option, sypha? or alucard? whomever it may concern, he’s not cooking.

let’s say he was coerced into doing the cooking! everyone is sitting in his face at the dinner table quiet, some talking complimenting his “culinary skills”. But you have alucard here being as blunt as ever when he tastes the unseasoned meat. Well at least it’s not dry?

Trevor already knew his cooking was bad before alucards input. But oh well, that just shows he can’t cook and literally didn’t even try.

⠁sypha:

even tho it’s not as bad as trevor, she still try’s and sometimes succeeds! usually goes to alucard to see how long to cook it or what seasonings to use.

she likes to cook because she’s learning new recipes, she doesn’t mine constructive criticism but not from trevor cause she thinks he is the last to be calling her food nasty.

but i would say she enjoys baking, like her cultural pastries. She was never really huge on cooking complex meals or cooking in general but she didn’t mind and never complained helping find herbs and vegetables for dinner or lunch.

she wouldn’t bake like cakes or stuff like that, maybe bread and cookies or small deserts but that’s all.

In my opinion, i see sypha as a breakfast type of person and trevor as a dinner type person while alucard is more of a lunch type of person. As sypha and trevor travel a lot, they really don’t have much time to cook whole meals just something quick for the road.

she’ll help cook tho!

⠁alucard:

can cook very well! obviously.

picked it up from both his mom and dad, mostly his dad tho. Since his mom was out being a nurse here and there., dracula taught him how to cook basic meals and eventually fancy meals.

he doesn’t go all out on cooking unless it’s for a special event (parties, birthday party, dates) stuff like that. Actually doesn’t mind cooking at all, he can make just as much dishes as he likes.

Gives constructive criticism back on both sypha and trevor. Especially trevor! he tries not to be so harsh on sypha about her cooking cause he knows that she’s actually trying and knows what she’s doing a little bit, but for trevor? he can tell that this man doesn’t even care how black his porkchop is on one side. That’s why trevor is constantly henpecking him about paying attention to the pan before he burns down the kitchen and kills every one in it.

would fight a frenchman about which bread is better.