#but also it's very inspiring too bc they're still surviving and people are trying to care for them even when they don't have it in them-

[yardsards]

dungeon meshi (especially the parts with the former dungeon masters) just hits differently when you have a mental illness that robs you of your ability to truly want things

[byfulcrums]

Okay but, might be an unpopular opinion but I don't really want Apollo becoming a Good Person™. Like. Let him keep killing people. Please

He's a very contradictory god, not only in PJO (I made a post about about how much he contradicts himself), but also in mythology in general. He's the god of medicine but also the god of plagues, for example

In PJO, what I want him to be like is a better person. Not good, bc he's still a god and he's still quite literally made out of human minds and human minds are not completely good, but still better

I want him to visit his children, to acknowledge that some of the stuff he did was fucked up, etc etc etc. But I want him to be all that while still, idk, killing entire cities with plagues. Because he's the god of plagues. Come on

Like— he's the plague that killed your family but he is also the doctor that saved your dog. You get what I'm trying to say?? Gods are essentially what they're the gods of (Ares is war, Dionysus is insanity, for example) and that means that they are not fully good, but still sometimes necessary

Here's the thing about sickness: it's unfair, and it takes people away from you, not caring if they deserve it or not. And here's the thing about healing: it's needed, and there are so many versions of it it's almost impossible to know the exact number. Healing is something good. But you need something bad for it to work. You can't be healed from sickness if the sickness doesn't exist

And there are so many contradictions that come only w bring the god of the sun

The sun burns. It's deadly. Nothing can get close to it without burning to the ground, and being under its light for too long can literally give you cancer. But the sun is also warm. We need it to survive; we use its light to see, it inspires us to make art, its heat is the only reason we're still alive

Idk if I'm explaining myself very well, but I need Apollo (and the rest of the gods) to still be morally gray instead of suddenly becoming Good People. They need to become better. Not good. Just better

[capcavan]

I want your theories - when did Kevin and Riko get together? Had they fooled around in the nest? Or was it only after? Bc I think Ravens are banned from romantic/sexual relationships bc it takes up too much time and takes their mind off the game. Or maybe they're encouraged to build team cohesion (although I doubt it).

Maybe there was some shower time mutual stuff? Or maybe things happened in that shared dorm? But when would it turn from just sex to actual feelings?

On an unrelated note - I love that drawing of Riko & Wymack ❤️❤️

Tl;dr: Yes

Bonus headcanon with Riko, Kevin and Dadmac

After Riko gets closer to foxes he forms relationships and bonds with many people, both on and off team. Kevin struggles. He has no idea how to navigate any of this and solicit some alone time with Riko.

Wymack is an amazing wing dad and often takes them for small silly trips to the zoo or to have dinner with Abby (it's also part of Riko’s therapy since the boy needs to get used to more normal living environments as he was never part of it. They used to domesticate Kevin that way too) 

This way Kevin gets some no pressure exclusive Riko time where they can just talk and be together without anyone else interfering

I take inspiration from Nora's extra materials mostly!

She mentioned there that Kevin and Riko would never get together in canon because it could fuck up their future careers, but then again she also wrote there that

So you know, I will only pick things I like!!! 

She also wrote that they have very unhealthy dependant relationship and that Kevin used to love Riko (Not phrasing it 100%, but I love myself enough to not open extra content file more often than once a month if I can help it)

Riko and Kevin grew up together. They went through hell together. The portrayal of their relationship in the canon/extra content is very fluid because they seemingly go through phases that go from one extreme to another. They can be close friends, trusted brothers or on the flip of switch, Riko becomes Kevins worst nightmare/abuser.

I think in one way or another, they were always together. They survived too much pain not to occidentally grow into each other as their wounds healed.

I see Riko as a person who is bad because he was never given a choice, was it a horrible environment or lack of therapy or medication, and I see Kevin as someone aware of it but in the end enjoying the distance the 1 year long break gave him. Yet he is still looking back because he understands that Riko is the way he is because of the people around him. They are not healthy for each other or together but at this point letting go or amputating the other is impossible. 

In all of my au's, no matter the ships, I always see them together. They aren't always romantically involved, but they share a platonic connection? Call them soulmates if you like. They are very pretentious and often refuse to define their love for each other in simple terms.

In the nest they were the only other kids their age, thrown in a world of adults and impossible training.

They were teammates in a pair system, always together. They shared quick, painful sex that was not allowed comfort of preparation and tender aftercare, but they loved it and craved it when allowed to have it. Their love language was tending to each other's wounds - often wounds Riko caused Kevin as disciplinary action - often on Tetsuji’s demand because Tetsuji saw them close and Tetsuji needed them apart to keep them easy to control.

Kevin was aware a lot of it was master’s doing. He was afraid of Riko because he knew Riko was too cowardly to go against master's words.

But now Riko is not in the nest anymore. Riko is going to therapy. Riko is allowed to be a person for the first time in his life.

And Kevin is afraid that when Riko is done picking broken pieces to build himself there won't be a spot for him.

Kevin is trying to retrigger him and halt this growth, scared of Riko moving past him the way Andrew and Neil moved past him, because Kevin stubbornly clings to his pain.

Kevin's inability to heal is Riko’s motivation to recover and get better - he needs to make sure they can do things right this time around.

-----

Kevin and Riko bonded over all the small things like escaping from the training hall into rain and getting sick after laying on wet grass just to then spend the whole next day cuddling because they were too ill to train.

The days they spend locked in the training hall when there is nobody to oversee them playing pretend to pass the time. For a child who never held anything else than an exy stick and ball, Riko had imagination. He was a king of the kingdom and Kevin loved to play his little games

And big things

Like exy 

Nora said in the extra content that Riko was happy in his life because he truly knew nothing else. He was unaware how bad the life they had truly was (Kevin at least got few short years with his mom)

I think Riko struggles to see value in his life now that he knows how much of it was wasted, but he would never see time he got to spend with Kevin as wasted time so it's not all bad Also this is my fave trope:

[spacexseven]

Ooh that was fantastic! SK Reader my new beloved. Also the idea of a spinoff with yu-yu? 👀. However I’m still absolutely foaming after obsession Nikolai. He’s something else, so disturbing and entertaining. Also, rip aku, ango, hirotsu, and mushitaro. I’m wondering so much of this universe: who was Sk Reader’s First kill? Is it Japan wide or does SK Reader’s kills only cover Yokohoma? We already know SK Reader main reason, but did someone or something else help develop the urge to kill ability user for SK reader? Has the public noticed the trend of killings or is it considered non connected murders? Has the reader been given a name by the public? Any vague information on the ADA and SK Reader? Or the Port Mafia considering they lost a resource with Akutagawa’s Death? (higuchi rip) . Sorry for the questions and thank you for the amazing fic. Your writing is wonderful. It gives so much inspiration for many. Thank you again for sharing your work with us. - 🦄 anon.

hehe to answer some of your questions

their first kill was some small time ability user; they didn't know about how their ability worked until this point

i like to think they're working their way into the heart of yokohama, where the ada and pm reside. yokohama is known for having multille active ability groups so it's where their later kills will be focused. ango, oda, hirotsu and akutagawa were tasked to find sk reader first, which is how they ended up being killed by sk reader. initially these names were near the bottom of their list, since they were planning on slowly infiltrating yokohama, and killing off prominent users would hardly let them work unnoticed

i'm still working on sk reader's ability, but their ability allows them to take the ability of users they kill, so that's another main motivator. they kill for the ability they want to have. it probably started out as a survival thing, but now they just do it for the ability

it just looks like random murders to the public, though it appears to be done by the same person. a lot of ability users don't let others know about their abilities, so it's the special division and other ability user groups that figure out the murderer is only targeting ability users first

uh no name yet bc im not creative enough for that haha

i think it'll be hard to write anything between ada and sk reader except for them wanting to throw them in jail bc dazai is obvs going to be very upset about oda's death, and fukuzawa wants to restore order to ability users in yokohama. sk reader is like. an irredeemable bad guy ㅠㅠ

pm, since mori sent his people after sk reader i don't think he'll be as upset as surprised. he might actually try to recruit sk reader or at least see what they're up to bc they killed many of his strong members already. i don't think the other mafioso will be too thrilled about meeting sk reader though...

i think for this au, the hunting dogs and doa make for the best in terms of characters to explore sk readers dynamics with so i can talk more about that later if you want ^-^

man...im such a sucker for the villain x detective trope like yukito is literally haunting my dreams i am obsessed w the idea of him going after sk reade

thank you for all the questions! i had fun discussing this au with you ^-^

[carpetcat2]

Want yo know your fusion knights better! 😲

16. What makes their stomach turn?

21. Why do they get up in the morning?

B) What inspired you to create them?

D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?

Sorry for the long wait ^_^u 16. What makes their stomach turn? They're all toughies! I'm sure most of them could handle things the average person would find creepy or crawl-y. Most of them would agree that whatever degree Parasite is awful, though.

21. Why do they get up in the morning?

Hiber: To appreciate nature <3 and to take care of basic health needs that's really important too. Snare: Sometimes he doesn't. Wheel: Spite. Psilo: For the thrill of discovery! Every new day is an opportunity to learn plenty of new things! Like "hey, did you know there were a billion spiders under your porch?" Very cool. Train bros: Well, they've got a business to run, don't they? They have to make sure the trains run on time! Lumin: There are always new stories to be collected. Tales of treasure and tales of woe, of fortune and of fate. Parasite: "Oh boy! I can't wait to make other people's lives miserable! On purpose!"

B) What inspired you to create them?

I wholeheartedly love character design exercises and this was one of my favorites.

D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?

I have plenty of concept art for these guys lol. I think Hiber, Wheel, and Steam are the only ones that basically didn't change too much from their initial concepts.

Design notes -

Hiber was a lot skinnier before, but she has a lot more meat on her bones now bc I wanted her to fit more into her hibernating theme. Gotta have enough meat survive the winter.

Snare was always gonna be big and tall and imposing, but it took a lot more finangling than I first thought to finalize his design. His earlier concepts had a more armored and ragged look. One cool idea that I scrapped was that he'd have his head and hands in a pillory, but he had extra arms on his back that he could use instead. Another one was that he’d carry around a giant coffin and smack people around with it the same way Puzzle used his compass. Those were overhauled bc they leaned into Specter a bit too much, and felt incohesive with his theming. I ended up taking more design notes from BodySwap Specter since they had a bit more design overlap with Puzzle. In was a fun decision in the end bc I think that caused him to look a little like Luan too.

I think I had a pollution theme going on in Lumin’s early concepts. He was and still is based off of siphonophores so I imagined he would steer around some long train of boats absolutely filled with human garbage and human treasures, but underneath they’d be attached to some gigantic eldritch sea monster. I think his earlier concepts had mechanical arms for some reason. I think I’ve solidified him into being a vaguely eldritch creature cosplaying as a goofy pirate trope, but his design itself is still a bit of a work in progress.

Coal and Steam were supposed to be one guy, but I couldn’t decide between making the one guy a conductor or an engineer so I had to split them up. I don’t think they changed too much from their initial designs except for some tweaks, like giving Coal a belt and fixing his hat, or shaving off a few inches from Steam.

Wheel’s design is mainly based off bikers and medieval jousters. One thing that didn’t make it in was her also being a cowboy(?????). I got rid of that pretty quickly bc trying to fit too many concepts into one character would be really messy, but I mourn the fact that I couldn’t figure out how to fit in wheel spurs in her boots. Her final design didn’t stray too far from her first concept, but some stuff was reworked.

The funny thing about Psilo is that I specifically chose Plague, Spore, and Prism as his components bc they had a lot of similar design elements. That turned out to be more of a challenge rather than a convenience bc I had to actively work to make Psilo Not look like one guy over the other. He still looks too much like Plague Knight, but I will keep convincing myself he is not a Plague clone. I wanted to go for a witch-y design for him at first, and I settled on that for a while. I don’t really remember why I went in a different direction but I guess it’s bc I wanted to represent Prism and Spore more in the design. I think his final helmet was actually based on concept art of Plague Knight from the SK artbook where he had a bottom visor that made him look like he had a big toothy grin, which was really cute and convenient for incorporating Spore’s visor.

A Lot happened with Parasite. I was gonna settle on "grouchy old man" Parasite, but he was being developed to be used in a friend's DnD campaign as an enemy and said friend characterized him very differently to that idea, so I wanted to make him fittingly look unhinged. The way I draw him now vs his current "official" render is a bit different, but that mostly comes down to me getting a better idea of his proportions rather than any significant design changes. Sorry about how disorganized this concept compilation is. I'll try to organize these by character later.

[violetreminder]

Happy Willamette Outbreak Day!

So today is the day where Frank West first arrives at the Willamette Parkview Mall, and as I start typing this it is in fact 11:27 AM, the exact time that Dead Rising 1 starts as Frank West is flown over Colorado. To celebrate I thought I'd write a little about Dead Rising 1's story and why it holds up so well even in comparison to its sequels bc I just love this game so much!

So then, what is the *deal* with Dead Rising? Well firstly it should be mentioned that this game came out in 2006, right in the middle of the mid-00's zombie craze. I say this because what sets Dead Rising apart from its numerous peers of "yet another piece of zombie fiction inspired by the works of Romero" is that Dead Rising is seemingly one of the few of these to actually understand Romero's films and their messages instead of just having zombies around because they're popular and scary. Specifically, those in "Dawn of The Dead", which it cribs to the point Capcom put disclaimers out saying that DR isnt associated with DotD.

The parallels are obvious: both stories revolve around people trying to survive in a shopping mall amid a zombie apocalypse using whatever is on hand not only against the zombified hordes, but fellow humans driven to extreme violence. Both also overtly critique American consumerism though Dead Rising takes the established themes from DotD and runs farther with them, but for more on that let's jump back a little bit to remember the plot to DR1

So in brief: Dead Rising tells the story of photojournalist Frank West, who flies to the quarantined town of Willamette, CO amid supposed 'civil unrest' to try and land a career-making scoop. Upon arriving at the town's shopping mall Frank is shocked to find out Willamette is overrun by zombies who soon-after overturn the barricades and flood into the shopping center. After a couple days of aiding/investigating a pair of DHS agents also trapped with him in the security room, Frank comes to realize the dark truth:

The Willamette outbreak is the result of a terrorist attack perpetrated in an act of revenge on the US government for a brutal coverup of the original zombie outbreak in the Central American town of Santa Cabeza, which occurred after US-backed researchers mutated a local species of parasitic wasp in an effort to increase cattle growth so as to sustain American eating habits. Frank at some point becomes infected, though with some help is able to synthesize a temporary cure. This lasts long enough for Frank to escape amidst the chaos of a military clean-up operation and reveal the truth about both Willamette and Santa Cabeza.

Again the parallels are clear, neither story is very subtle about the destruction consumerism causes, though Dead Rising goes a little farther to add a light colonialist aspect. While the origin of Dawn of the Dead's outbreak was an unimportant mystery serving only to set the scene, Dead Rising frames its zombies as an act of almost righteous comeuppance, the US "Finding Out" after "Fucking Around" in Santa Cabeza and the decades of US imperialism leading up to that, if you will. These themes also extend beyond just the shared vision of zombies shambling around a mall vacantly pushing shopping carts and into the world design of Dead Rising itself, for instance:

Dead Rising fans have remarked for almost two decades now that Willamette is a fairly small town for supposedly having a population over 50,000, and that even if this number holds true then the Willamette Parkview Mall is absolutely massive for a population that size. Honestly even just two of these plazas would likely still be too big [for reference, I live in a city of over 177,000 people and our main mall is about a quarter the size of Willamette Parkview Mall]

[above images taken from STiP0 on youtube, who has loads of great videos on DR1] While some of that may just be down to the scope of the game and what the developers were able to make/what they felt was strictly needed (Why model a whole town when youre only going to briefly see the zombie-filled main street before spending the rest of the game in The Mall) this also ends up serving the themes of 'the human cost of consumerism' even if by accident.

As stated by Frank's helicopter pilot in the prologue: The Mall seems to be the only notable spot in Willamette, hanging around its numerous plazas seems to be the only thing anyone in town ever does. Whats more, automated intercom announcements tell you that The Willamette Parkview Mall is only 3 years old by the time of the game. So while Willamette may not have had much before, any prior local identity has been totally wiped clean by the grand temple of consumption erected in its center.

Perhaps this is why Carlito chooses Willamette as the staging grounds for his grand plan of vengeance: this was a town that had no purpose but to aimlessly consume, with no thoughts given as to the suffering created in the wake of that consumption (for starters, one might ask how many local businesses and livelihoods were destroyed by The Mall?). A perfect microcosm of the stateside societal conditions that brought about the Santa Cabeza incident.

All of this to say that even if it is a bit heavy handed and unsubtle, Dead Rising 1 is well-grounded in those themes of the United States's over-consumption and its bloody struggle to maintain that level of avarice at the expense of the already impoverished. The military coming in to try and cover up the truth of Willamette and by extension further covering up Santa Cabeza underlines the latter.

Dead Rising is not always a serious game though, and in fact the majority of it is quite silly. Zombie hordes are treated largely as one big combination Stage Hazard/Meat Gag, you can clothe your Frank in ill-fitting kids clothes, dye his hair blond, and as you level up Frank learns a repertoire of moves straight out of professional wrestling that will see you decapitating zombies with backflip-kicks and ripping out their guts like you were in Mortal Kombat. What makes all that silliness really stick though is that the story never drops the dead-serious tone it opens with. Sure it has bits of humor here and there, and the seriousness of the cutscenes can be a little undercut when everyone is stone faced while Frank wears an oversized horse mask, but its that same dissonance that makes the game unforgettable. In my opinion a similar comparison to make would be to Saints Row 2, widely known for having a more serious and hard-hitting story in a game where you can hose people down with a septic truck in your free time. This comparison becomes even more apt in regards to the sequels to both titles sort of...missing that point and losing that identity, instead giving in to the chaos of the setting and making the world and its stories wackier with every installment to the detriment of the overall believability of the main plot. This might sound a bit ridiculous to say about a series where oversized wasp larvae zombify people (PLEASE do not ask me to explain how transmission works in this series) but throughout Dead Rising 1 once youre past the threshold of "Zombies are real" the rest of the plot and the world it takes place in all make sense for the most part, but by the time of Dead Rising 3 the world is mired in a stew of government and corporate conspiracies that makes Deus Ex look utopian by comparison.

[a solid example of Dead Rising 3 and its tone, though the issue there is less from the psychos and more that the setting has gone fully off the deep end by then] This isnt to say I dont like the sequels, in fact I think Dead Rising 2: Off The Record is the peak of the series in regards to gameplay, and maybe I'll do more writeups on the other entries [I wanted to get into more but this is already SO LONG] but the short of it is that Dead Rising 1 manages such a captivating balance between its ridiculous moment to moment gameplay and the dramatic weight of its setting all while not only holding on to the core themes of its greatest inspiration in Dawn of the Dead, but expanding upon those themes to make a stronger point of it than Romero did. Wow this went on longer than I'd thought. Its also come out way more coherent than I expected, but lemme wrap it up. I dont have the money for the Dead Rising Remake that came out today, but I've heard good things so far outside some performance issues, so maybe Capcom might be looking to bring Dead Rising back like they did with their other zombie-fest, Resident Evil. And maybe, just maybe, if we dream hard enough, they can retcon Dead Rising 4 like they should retcon RE6, but thats a writeup for another day. PS, to all Dead Rising fans: As someone who lives in the PNW, the game says Willamette wrong and it peeves me every time, its supposed to be pronounced "Wool-Lamm-Iht" not "Will-uh-met" but I know thats a losing battle.

[tacticalhimbo]

SUMMER GAMES FEST 2023 THOUGHTS

lots of notes. lots of betrayal.

i am so 😐 at the fact phantom liberty had no news and they're keeping it behind one of their small sgf play days. we were hyped for a main event reveal. i literally sat through the event JUST FOR THIS.

thoughts below the cut and very much unformatted idc

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

- Loved the mixed trailer; Gameplay! more companies need to do this

- Not really into 2D BUT I would play that

- actually available on xbox one! yes this is a note im making on entries

Mortal Kombat 1

- Reboot! new timeline. inchresting.

- This year?? wow. WOW. good secret.

- I played some of the og Xbox games... dunno much lore but 👁 curious

- Story seems kinda cool tho with the modern take and retelling of some of the lore; subzero and scorpion are brothers??? okayyyyy 💅 cain and abel 2 electric boogaloo!

- kameo fighters... allies!

Path of Exile 2

- uhmm... idk shit about this! congrats to the fan girlies

- is it supposed to be like LoL and WarCraft? looks like it.

Street Fighter

- looks cool! more of a mortal kombat gay myself

- aritifical intelligence companion? robotic ryu?

- why is everyone a robot- ohhh... idk what exoprimal is but okay!

NICK CAGE DBD I'M STILL PISSING OVER THIS

- NICK CAGE INTERVIEW IMMMM

- the suit is nice. it's a good shade of green

- "horror is my fave genre and it's a museum of horror that's good enough for me"; also aww family inspo. probably one of his kids if he has those.

- at least it was confirmed that he is, sadly, a survivor. killer nick cage would've been funny.

Witcher Season 3

- Very surprised Netflix is doing a season 3 of a show! Definitely a way to try and distract from the WGA strike bc why pay for writers when we can announce a beloved series and make people forget?

- Don't like Cavill for some things he's done but good for him to play a role he has passion for. I know he said he wasn't gonna be in season 4 bc of the writing direction so.

- It is what it is. Won't be watching regardless bc I wanna learn the game lore first.

Witchfire

- Epic can make good cames and honestly? Visually appealing.

- Not my cup of tea honestly

Crossfire Sierra Squad

- VR gunfire. That makes my head hurt!

- Looks kinda gun tho.

Remnant

- Looks interesting

- Co-op shooter souls game realness

- I wanna know the lore because it looks like a cool universe

Sonic Superstars

- OH!!!! cute

- the music still slaps i couldnt stop wiggling to pay proper attention

- multiplayer!

- xbox one!!! let's go!

Honkai StarRail

- i've been curious about this one; it's made by hoyoverse tho

- genshin wasn't my cup of tea and this probably wouldn't be either (minus the universe; i do kinda like the aesthetics)

Lies of P

- inspired by pinnochio??? that's quite the opening line

- resident evil energy lowkey... another interesting universe concept

- music is nice!

- like resident evil, final fantasy, and bioshock infinite had a weird little baby

- shark submarine!!!

- xbox one

Sand Land

- art style is interesting; made by the person who made dragonball

- looks cool but not my kinda play style

- ur telling me THATS not on xbox one???

Throne and Liberty

- oh god an amazon game

- noticing a trend of characters opening doors in trailers

- it looks okay honestly; i like that you can turn into creatures

Warhaven

- Free to play adventure thingy; Reminds me of For Honor

- You can turn into supernatural stuff? Looks aight

Party Animals

- another gang beasts clone

- i mean it's a good genre of game but i personally dislike it

- vague releases... xbox x only or all xbox? specify!

Dying Light Update

- Okay! I've been interested in this series

Crash Team Rumble

- online multiplayer... style is cute!

- forgot crash bandicoot still had things going for it

Alan Wake 2

- been interested in this series too honestly; know some moots will be excited

- what i have seen of the universe looks cool as fuck

- love me a good survival horror with interconnected timelines. i'm a sucker for transdimensional fuckery

- the creator seems very chill. his voice is nice.

- the gameplay looks good for being unedited and unfinal

- maybe i'll finally check this series out... not on xbox one tho 😔

Warhammer Space Marine 2

- co op campaign? aight. up to 3 players is ofdly specific but the squad does look like a predetermined trio

- space marines... looks abt right. style is cool

- gameplay and cinematics look intetesting too; reminds me a bit of gears of war

Yes, Your Grace: Snowfall

- OOH PIXELS!! i genuinely loge softer styles like this

- honestly would check out the story if anything

TOXIC COMMANDO

- oooh john carpenter made it

- the characters look cool, the monsters look cool too

- the bad singing,,, me and my friends fr!

- bit fast paced for me but i'd honestly give this one a shot

- no xbox one 😔

Baldur's Gate 3

- OOH more official news and release stuff

- idk shit about the franchise but i've seen so many cool looking ocs and i wouls check it out for the character creation alone

- it looks pretty !!

- i forgot wotc was involved with it tho... hate them ♡

Spider Man 2

- YESSSSS GOOD SHIT

- i watch my brother play these games and that last trailer they released at the playstation showcase had me 👁

- nice box art; nice conceptual art too! that venom art is fucking SICK. curious to see where that goes bc it's not eddie brock and idk any lore like that

- manhattan, queens, and brookyln holy shit. that's a huge map

- october 20th release date woagh!!!

PalWorld

- ope world survival crafting...

- pokemon... with guns??? this man has some interesting openers

- HUH?????? THE MINIGUN????? SHEEP WITH MINIGUNS?????

- what the actual fuck am i witnessing im-

- i didnt know i needed this but I NEED IT

- early access next year okay periodt

BLACK DESERT

- ooh souls combat style

- looks pretty

- i got so excited but it's black desert dlc

LOTR: Return to Moria

- NEW LOTR????

- DWARVES!@@@ O7GYYYYYY

- my face was just the poggers emote the whole time

- FOR ROCK AND STONE BABEYYYYT 💅✨️

- i hope this isnt bad like golem PLSSS

Final Fantasy: Ever Crisis(?) I couldn't read that font I'm sorry

- IOS/andoird?

- hey bitch where u at 🤳

- oh... okay.... that looks.... 😐

- hm. there are too many styles at once u got the chibi cutscenes the rendered battles and the anime portraits

Banishers Ghost of Eden

- oh hot character... oh no he looks like john seed that's why

- gameplay looks cool; i fw that mutated hound that showed

- TRANS-DIMENSIONAL LOVERS!!!!! devotion 100%

Like A Dragon: The Man Who Erased His Name

- YAKUZA!!!!

- Codename Joryu 👀

- i didnt play like a dragon but i know bits of it and this looks just as cool

- OH NO THE BBE IS HOTTTT

- xbox one!

Under the Waves

- ooh underwater game; no thank u i get too scared.

- looks pretty!

- xbox one babey!

Call of Duty Season 4 MW2 Warzone

- medieval castle?? soccer stadium?? zoo???

- vondel is the name of the place

- looks cool! too bad i can't play it (or anybody for that matter since cheat menus are currently grabbing ips and force crashing)

- my xbox cant run warzone anyway even on lowest graphics

Porsche

- im not a car guy but congrats on however many years it was

- pretty xbox console

- waiting for someone to say it went woke

- not for sale?? it's a competition?? boy. y'all coulda made MONEY

Fae Farm

- cozy games my beloved

- the style looks like mysims

- omg wheelchair user!!!

- i'd probably play this it looks adorable

Marvel Snap

- ... okay ig

- imma be real i don't get card games; esp collectible ones

- this guy is. okay! good for him for being so enthusiastic. even tho he has that classic marvel personality (derogatory)

- PROZD????? i'd play his card game over that.

King Arthur Legends Rise

- mobile/pc fantasy squad rpg

- cullen rutherford is that you? KDJDKDJDJD

- why that dragon look like the lotr one?

- cinematics look okay, gameplay looks better than i thought tbh

Wayfinder

- the comic style of this is cute. so are cinematics

- love a resurrection arc

- playstation and steam only. huh.

Stellaris Nexus

- turn based space game

- ngl i havent played turn based stuff

- heard stellaris was cool tho

Space Trash Scavenger

- cute style! huge 3d platformer

Star Trek Infinite

- oooh star trek. a franchise i know fuck all about

- it looks cool tho!

Twisted Metal

- Peacock? I used that service once. It kinda sucked ngl

- big beefy clown,, i wanna [redacted] his [redacteds]

Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior

- duplicating oneself to multi task? aight

- OUGH THE STYLE I WANNA EAT IT

- fuck it's so pretty

- gameplay style is cute too!

- love the protag's design and voice ♡

- seems like a cool concept

Immortals Og Aveum

- fps magic shooter?? now that seems interesting

- interesting splash art

- the in game cinematics look good; so does the combat style

- very surprised to see ea behind it but i mean what arent they behind nowadays

- the gameplay looks decent tbh. it'd take me some time to learn bc it's minimal (which i do like minimal uis), but honestly? im curious

Fortnite C4S3

- i still cannot believe transformers are gonna be canon in the universe now too

- i probs wont get this battlepass but it looks cool.

- you can ride raptors. and ride vines!!

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

- hä? i thought this was supposed to be like. phantom liberty?? or like. something. kinda a let down for a finale (at least bc of the hype i've seen)

- good news for the final fantasy gays tho. y'all got fed today with some stuff.

- this is a franchise that makes me curious but i've heard it's so convoluted that i never got into it.

- ANDREW TATE LOOKING HEADASS????? LMAO

- like usual: looks great, combat is wild, good shit from someone who knows nothing

- ps5 exclusive looks like

CDPROJEKT WHYTYY 😭😭😭 i feel annoyed and betrayed wym it's on one of their play days!!!

[meirimerens]

do you have any hcs about the kids/termites and their lives before the game? if so... please share (i love all your hcs dearly!)

thank uuu 🫂 and while i mostly have hcs for the kids after the game i have a few for some of the kids before

Grace: her mother used to pour twyrine on the graves, dance near them and sweep the stones with her hair, and Grace has been trying to recreate that in some ways. she cannot dance very well so she mostly does little steps around. she is in contact with herb fledglings a lot as she's just right by the steppe and sees them dancing often so she's like. hmmm. could take inspiration from that [and then she doesn't because they dance like crazies]. since she sings songs and tells poems to the dead, I think she has a stack of papers where she writes them down; she never learned how to write so they're written in a language only she understands. she used to steal twyrine from andrey's bar to pour on the graves but now he leaves some by the door so she doesn't have to come in, or leaves them by her Lodge when he goes to the cemetery. he also of the people who leave her some food.

Murky: tracer of lines on the ground enjoyer. i think she spent (still spends) a lot of her days wandering around just making paths on the ground with a little stick. people at first were freaked out bc they had no idea what these lines were/where they came from but soon realized. oh it's just her. she always makes a point to fill the earth back in at night and comes to it again when morning comes. etc etc. she collects anthropomorphic & zoomorphic rocks and pieces of bark those are her dolls.

Khan: he was supposed to be sent away to study, at least for a while, at the Capital; it ended not panning out. he has brought many books to the polyhedron, which he doesn't read often, and more has them here as a keepsake. an interest in astronomy blossomed when he started hanging out in the Tower because you can see the night sky from it.

Notkin: i know his jacket belonged to someone else. I'm still deciding if he has stolen it or it was a hand-me-down. i think it might have been his father's, that he took after he died as a keepsake, or an older brother's who didn't survive the first outbreak. not necessarily about His Life Before The Game but I think he has face tics to me, that are more prominent when he's stressed. he has helped many a stray cat deliver her kittens.

Sticky: i know for a FACT this little thief has a huge stack of matches somewhere. and I know for a fact he makes little towers out of them. and he thinks of peter's polyhedron "I could do that too [with matchsticks]. i also think he hoards gasoline cans and smells a bit of it.

all i gaht for now ! :3

[andorerso]

i'll bite, what the ever loving heck is the divorced zombie au bc it sounds like something i want also

OKAY SO

I mostly have the backstory figured out for this and it's standing on shaky foundations but plot has never been my strong suit

it was mostly inspired by the Resident Evil universe but I took what I liked from it and chucked out or changed the rest, so you don't really have to be familiar with RE to get with this

anyway the backstory

pre-apocalypse the Empire is experimenting with viruses in the hush-hush but sometimes there are outbreaks and it needs to be covered up so the public doesn't find out about it. Jyn and Cassian are both special squad in the military which was specifically created to clean up these messes and exterminate zombies/monsters whenever things get out of hand and the virus needs to be contained. first they both believe that they're doing the right thing, after all they're killing the zombies, trying to stop any further contamination, but after a while it becomes clear that the government they're working for is actually in cahoots with the Empire, and it's getting increasingly hard to justify working for them, even if they're just the clean up people

they have one last mission that goes pretty horribly, ending in several military and even more civilian deaths, possibly Cassian's back injury. their squad is disbanded, the government is trying to wash their hands clean of it, and the ones who survived are all discharged but secretly there's an unofficial hit out for all of them because they're no longer useful and they know and saw too much so they're just a liability and the Empire basically wants them gone. and a lot of those surviving members start to mysteriously die in the following months, although it's always covered up as an accident or an unexpected illness or something. Cassian and Jyn's relationship suffers greatly, both dealing with their trauma and guilt over what happened on that last mission, and Cassian becomes obsessed with stopping the Empire, partly because he wants to atone and partly because he knows that someday this bioweapon they're creating will end up destroying humanity

so their relationship is on the rocks, they don't really see eye to eye on their futures anymore, and eventually after long months of arguments and slowly drifting apart, they make the painful decision to get divorced. I also imagine that they both kinda remind each other of what happened on their last mission (which I don't have details for rn but in my mind it was very fucked up) so there's that too, they can't really look at each other anymore without remembering all that and it poisons their relationship

Cassian disappears for five years while he works to undermine the Empire, and I imagine this is when he joins the Alliance. meanwhile Jyn's just pretty much trying to stay under radar and avoid being taken out by the Empire like much of the rest of their old squad. so eventually the bioweapon is unleashed in some big American city, accident or purpose who knows, and it's pretty much impossible to stop contamination from then. in three weeks the entire world is affected and billions are dead or undead.

this is really the gist of it, but after this I'm imagining that Jyn and Cassian run into each other somehow, maybe not even right away but a year or so into the apocalypse? I think Cassian's on a military base with the Alliance and Jyn ends up there somehow, and I think it'd be cool if they found the rest of their old squad who are still alive and teamed up to take down the Empire once and for all. maybe they cannot undo the apocalypse now but they can stop the people who did this and perhaps even find an antidote?

so when they team up again, they fall back into their old partnership and realize they still make a really good team and despite the fact that their marriage ended badly, now there's this tenderness between them and old feelings resurfacing, and suddenly they're reminded of why they fell in love with the first place.... but they also don't really jump right back to where they were, I want pining and the classic "does she still love me? does he still love me?" because that's the good shit

they'd also still have to work on solving their old issues and making things work but I think surviving the apocalypse and not even knowing for so long if the other is still alive is a good incentive and kinda makes all their old problems seem so insignificant

ALSO, I have absolutely zero details for this one but I think it'd be interesting if Galen was somehow involved with creating the virus for the Empire re:canon

tbh in my mind, the story would mainly take place when they meet again during the apocalypse with their marriage falling apart only in flashbacks.... but yeah, I'm just here for the angst and the second chances

[mrpenguinpants]

Oh lore?? I read your post on Dainsleif and BOY it gave me a lot to think about dsfjgkd

Along the same vein, what do you think of the relationship between the unknown god and Kaenri'ah? In Albedo's trailer they seemed to reference two new elements (time and being) and if perhaps the unknown god is the god of time, then does Khemia make use of "being" in its creation of life?

In Mihoyo's other game (honkai) they introduced a new "type" about halfway through the story which seems to me to be similar to the abyss in Genshin. The quanta type is independent of the three types that were present from the beginning of the game and it's tied to an abyss style region called the Sea of Quanta. Maybe I'm reading too much into it and they don't plan to imitate what they did in Honkai but?? Time and being as new "elements" introduced a few years into the game seems possible at least?? Maybe they're exclusive to delusions bc there's only the seven Archons at this time so no one can grant time/being visions lol

Djfkdj I hope this was at least slightly understandable I love looking into lore especially for things I write about!! I'll end this now before it gets too long lmao the new tumblr asks give me too much power XD

TUMBLR DELETED MY REPLY AHHHHH I HAD TO RE-WRITE EVERYTHING. THAT’S WHY I’M LATE TO THE PARTY. I’M SO SORRY CATTY 😭

---

Major spoilers for Khaenri’ah and minor spoilers for the unknown god

:DD I’m glad you read my word vomit haha. I love talking about lore so much, ty for enabling me. 

What do you think of the relationship between the unknown god and Khaenri’ah?

The logical side of my brain thinks:

They either have nothing to do with each other and Mihoyo really likes using the same star for everything and Khaenri’ah just happens to live in the void or sky so the easiest way to distinguish citizens from there is the star (or it was just hot to put star pupils in and you know what, they were right). 

Or there’s some sort of connection between the Eclipse dynasty that ruined Khaenri’ah and the unknown god. Since genshin really likes to do that (see Zhongli and everyone calling him Morax before 1.1 dropped). 

Re-watching the prologue cutscene and “we will be reunited” (Gonna refer to this a WWBR) Aether drew the same two stars into the sand which makes me believe that either a. stars literally have nothing to do with anything and Teyvat only knows how to draw one star (which doesn’t hold up well considering Mona’s outfit and pin) or b. there’s some kind of connection there. The way Paimon phrases her question she says: 

“But when you wanted to leave and go onto the next world your path was blocked by an unknown god?”

It implies that Aether and Lumine have already travelled through Teyvat since we see two yellow stars travel over Liyue and Mondstadt. I know Aether was sent into some sort of deep sleep and only now awoke and met Paimon (since in the trailer we can see the lantern festival and the genshin upload was in march (chinese new year is in feb) but I’m not super sure on these details but I’m pretty sure it’s canon that this happened based on WWBR). 

Then when the unknown god appears and the same 3 red stars appear [tumblr throws a fit when I try and upload this]

She refers to us as Outlanders and calls herself 

“The sustainer of heavenly principles. The arrogation of mankind ends now.”

This could be a reference to “being” that was in the Albedo trailer while Dainsleif is “time” since time is "not something he lacks". If we’re going on the theory that Dainsleif is actually a god then maybe they are fighting? Or in some type of push and pull war. It would make sense since the Unknown God believes in heavenly principles (so the rules either set by Celestia or Gods themselves) and believes mankind is arrogant and wishes to either destroy it or remove it entirely. The complete opposite of Dainsleif who believes in mankind and hates anything relating to the Archons.

Or dainsleif has nothing to do with the unknown god and is just a final challenge to the player who will then face off against the Unknown God. 

In Albedo's trailer they seemed to reference two new elements (time and being) and if perhaps the unknown god is the god of time, then does Khemia make use of "being" in its creation of life?

In this theory, this would make the Unknown God the god of time, which is also equally as valid. Since she does talk about time and how the arrogation of mankind ends now. I think it’s right to assume that Khemia makes use of being in its creation of life since we see Albedo talk about chalk and turning things from “nothing” (it’s not really nothing, he’s still using something or the “being” in order to transform it) to something. 

If Dainsleif uses Khemia or even created it then taught it to the people of Khaenri’ah to help them survive in their archonless land, that could be a valid reason why he believes in the strength of mankind. Since the unknown god’s power seems to consume the person trapped within (as we see in the prologue). Plus in WWBR we see first hand how destructive that power is. This could also be the time where Dainsleif lost faith or hated the celestial beings. 

---

In WWBR, according to the wiki it states that our sibling was taken to another point in time, in an unknown location. But this event leads the sibling (Lumine) to become the leader of the Abyss Order. 

Lumine says: 

“But until the abyss has engulfed the thrones, my war with destiny will see no end.”

Lumine seems to know about the archons and the abyss mages follow her so it’s safe to assume that the “abyss” she refers to is either something entirely new or the red blocks we see here. It seems as if she’s trying to change destiny which could be why Dainsleif wants to save her. 

I will say right now, I really hope the theory that Paimon is secretly the unknown god doesn’t come true. I know it’s funny and I would enjoy seeing our emergency food pull a turned table on us but unless there are more instances where it’s hinted or it’s handled really well I would not like it. I just finished a manga and I felt like I was watching 20M plot twists happen in the span of 3 pages. I would totally be okay if the unknown god and paimon were somehow related (I can understand that) but I unless it’s handed really well or as the story progresses and we get more info on paimon. it would just be really out of left field. I haven’t seen any theories on this and I honestly try and stay away from lore posts until I’ve finished mine because I feel that might make my ideas biased.

The “everything must be connected into some kind of plotline or I will make it a plotline” brain thinks:

Now, this is just be spit balling and making up my own headcanons with no lore to go off on. This is pure indulgent stuff with no research to back it up besides very loose threads. 

I’d like to believe that since the Eclipse Dynasty was the last dynasty before Khaenri’ah fell. That might be what is being depicting above in WWBR. Perhaps khemia backfired or the unknown god turned against the people for their arrogance (I’m not sure if people know the myth but in short terms, a giant stole fire to help the people who were cold. He was punished for going against the gods and saving the people, this could be similar to Dainsleif). 

Perhaps Lumine and Aether had stopped this event from happening and as they were about to leave, the unknown god appears and separates them for their arrogant actions against the Gods and sends Lumine back to the past. Without her brother she ended up failing in saving Khaenri’ah. Or, the image we see is actually the future and she goes back in time to try and prevent that event from occurring, still trying to beat destiny but this time in the future. 

Or another idea, Lumine has only seen the evil that’s depicted and hasn’t personally met any of the archons. We actually got to meet Venti and Zhongli so we obviously want to protect them from Lumine’s point of view, that might not be the same so she aligns with the abyss order that tries to control Dvalin. So her goal is to somehow defeat the archons and that could be why the Cyro archon is trying to collect them all in her war of peace. 

Honkai and quanta

It’s kinda funny but there’s no reliable wiki source for this sea of quanta like there is for genshin, or at least I couldn’t find anything. I think they might nod at certain things between the two but I think it’s totally fine to believe they might do some sort of crossover and take some inspiration. We have Mona who was able to read the stars and Scaramouche who said the sky was a giant hoax so I think time and being becoming new elements is very possible. But I don’t really know a lot about Honkai so I can’t really say too much about it haha. 

---

Yep no worries, it was fun talking about some more lore and if you have any more I’d love to hear them. Haha, honestly pop off I love getting long asks. As always, it’s nice seeing you again catty 💕💕

[theplanetprince]

Fanfiction Review

I can already tell this is gonna be super confusing bc I've been writing fic since I was 12 but have since gone through so many identity changes. But let's play anyway!

Thanks for the tag @redead-red

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

My current library is 8. I don't actually write fanfic too often unless a specific idea intrigues me-- or something in the fanon just doesn't line up with me. I do have at least 4ish more stories planned and maybe a revised version of an ancient story from when I was young. 2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

166,451! Pretty neato!

3. How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they?

Uh, in no specific order,

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (lost to purging)

Doctor Who (you ain't gonna find these)

Sonic

NiGHTs into Dreams

Dead by Daylight (<3)

Danny Phantom (my beloathed) Supernatural (my other beloathed)

and uhhhh, I think a bunch of various other video games I can't remember. For the sake of brevity I'm gonna put the rest under the cut.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

This is actually pretty funny bc I have so few fics released. I only get emails for certain ones all the time, so I wrote this part out by guessing, but I ended up not needing to change it. (also, don't read most of these; they're old and bad)

1. Schrodinger's Adolescent, 337 Kudos (Danny Phantom)

2. Teen Years and How to Survive Them, 97 Kudos (Secret Trio)

3. Two Fake Feds Come up the Laneway the other dayyyyyy, 56 Kudos (Letterkenny/Supernatural)

4. Brother's Keeper, 40 Kudos (Halloween, DBD)

5. Beginner's Guide to Destroying the Moon, 37 Kudos (Sonic)

5. Which of your fic do you want more attention for?

I'll be real here, I still enjoy most of the work I did for both Beach House Bummer, and Beginner's Guide to Destroying the Moon. I just wish I got more love for the latter bc I might be inspired to finish it lmao.

6. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I really try to! I love the long rambly comments I get on Schrodinger's because I can feel those people are giving me the same passion I put into my work-- Though most of the time I get the generic "post more" or "update plz" which I dunno I'm grateful for the interaction. Still, I don't really want to repeat like "I'm trying my best, dude." about 12 times a day.

7. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I'll be real I only have two completed fics rn-- but I can tell you I had this one fic that I wrote when I was fourteen where the ninja turtles had to burn down a lab full of half-born mutant embryos, and like I remember writing that and then going to middle school the next day like "They don't know I'm a literary genius."

8. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Probably the Letterkenny/Supernatural crossover-- I feel very strongly about SPN and how people take it way too seriously, so when I found out it was filmed in Canada. It used famous Canadian actors from the show Letterkenny, it felt way too good to pass up. I do hope to write in that space again when I'm feeling less depresso-espresso.

9. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yeah. It's probably a big reason why you'll never see the tmnt fics for a while. I also used to write a lot of OC stories, and this was back in 2014 so like those were def hit the hardest. I'm glad to say it's like... subsided for the most part. I don't get hate as much as I just get really confusing and creepy comments, which don't hurt my rejection-sensitive-ass as much.

10. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Hahahaha, no.

I am kind of bad at writing it, and I don't really like writing it. Which yeah that makes sense. My friends sometimes when they find out I write fanfic as a joke they'll send me some of the worst examples smut they can find and to test my talent I'll try to rewrite it to make it some kind of titillating-- but alas it just isn't my forte. The cons of being an asexual I guess.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Uh, yes and no? I think I had one of my older fics stolen, retranslated, and then retranslated again to English? That was so long ago tho.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I'd love to give it a shot sometime.

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Honestly, it's sonadow. I know it's cringe but I'm free, dammit. Outside of that I guess my favorite dynamic is jock/nerd, which you've probably gleaned from my resume here fhsdkjf.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I've been working on Teen Years and How to Survive them since I was 16, I only started making headway on it when I was 19-- so I feel like that speaks for itself hskjhg.

15. What are your writing strengths?

It's been told to me that I'm very funny and I write convincing dialog that captures a character's voice. Which is extremely flattering despite the fact that I feel like I'm tricking you all.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

probably scenery and landscape, if I'm honest. I also accidentally keep creating scenes just for the dialog instead of action or environment.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I think as long as I can guess what they're saying from context clues, and the writer is courteous enough to include body language and the like, then it's mostly harmless. I love including a bunch of references in fic whether it's cultural, historical, or just like a quote from a movie or something so I have a bunch of tabs open regardless it wouldn't be too inconvenient for me to fire up google translate or something.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

19. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Probably Schrodinger's Adolescent, it really opened up a lot of doors for me in the DP fandom and I got to meet a lot of cool people because of it. It really cheered me up from a dark place. And despite me writing it initially out of anger and spite its grown into this soft thing that really means a lot to me.

20. What fic are you most proud of?

Honestly, I can't pick. I'm both embarrassed by them all and yet glad they bring people some form of comfort.

Uhhhh who to tag-- I don't really know

@ten0rreaper is the only one I can think of-- whoever else I guess can have at it. I'm not very good at these things lmao.

[phoebehalliwell]

Paige/Jinny enemies to lovers - is it still enemies to lovers if only one of them knows they're enemies?

ok, so this is pre-season four, bc it's the only way I can see it working. sometime in season two/three, Jinny's latest master comes to San Francisco. maybe he's trying to impress the source, wants to kill the charmed ones, etc. point is, he's in SF, and Jinny is out of her bottle for some reason, and she takes advantage of being in a crowded city to make a break for it, punches her master in the face and just books it the hell out of there. she's not really thinking, bc he can always just order her back in, but he comes after her nonetheless, grabs her by the arm and gets physical.

enter Paige.

she's just coming off work, she's had a long day and she's tired, but when she sees some creepy old dude with his hands all over this young woman, very obviously threatening her, she goes a little bit apeshit. she cold-cocks the demon, yells for someone to call the cops, makes a huge nusiance of herself until everyone on the street is looking. and the demon knows he's outnumbered and he's too smart to make a further scene, not when he's got Jinny's bottle to control her with, so he takes off before things get worse. only he dropped the bottle when Paige punched him and Paige picked it up to give it back to Jinny, inadertantly making her Jinny's new master.

not that she has any idea of this, because she has no idea magic even exists, she just thinks she rescued Jinny from some kind of abusive relationship. for Jinny's part, she's not about to tell some random mortal that she's a genie; she doesn't know what kind of wishes Paige would make right off the bat, and she can't risk losing the chance to get wished free. so she decides to bide her time, gain Paige's trust, then betray her later by getting her to make a very crucial wish.

but Jinny underestimates Paige, and Paige's compassion, and that when Jinny tearfully insists she can't go to the police, Paige will take her home with her to take care of her because she's obviously terrified and traumatized. and when Paige asks who Jinny was fighting with, Jinny calls him her master, so Paige is now convinced that she rescued Jinny from some kind of sex trafficking situation that Jinny doesn't bother to correct.

Jinny tells Paige that her family is dead, and she has no home, and Paige offers to let her stay on the couch. and she offers Jinny new clothes to change into, and free run of the fridge, and a shoulder to cry on if Jinny ever wants to talk about what she's been through, and Jinny's kind of baffled bc no one's ever treated her like this. not in the underworld as a lowly demon just trying to survive, not when that sorcerer seduced her and then cursed her into the bottle, and certainly not from any of her previous masters. it's been a long time, if ever, that she's experienced kindness, and she finds that she kind of likes it.

she lives on Paige's couch for a while. days, then weeks, then months. she and Paige get along well enough that Paige just never asks her to leave, plus Paige is aware of the whole 'alone in the world, nowhere to go' thing and she's not about to throw Jinny out into the street. Jinny goes out and explores the city and then gets a job at a coffee shop near the apartment, bc Paige never ordered her back into the bottle, never set any limitations on how far she could go, and she's kind of bored and maybe a little addicted to the shop's coffee and what better way to have a free, unlimited supply. she finds herself talking to other people, and helping people, and slowly doing more and more good. her bottle sits on a shelf somewhere in the apartment, gathering dust.

Jinny maybe also starts seeing a therapist. Paige's suggestion, to help her deal with the trauma she's lived with for so long, and normally Jinny would laugh at the idea of spilling her guts to a mortal, but it's rather cathartic to talk things out, at least as much as she can without revealing magic. she asks Paige to come with her to one of the sessions; Paige holds her hand when her voice starts to break, takes her out for ice cream and a long walk in the park afterward.

Jinny's been living with Paige for almost six months when she realizes that Paige keeps the fridge stocked with the fancy lemonade Jinny loves, that she's got a toothbrush in a cup beside Paige's on the sink, that she knows Paige's favorite coffee order to bring to her at work as a surprise. that maybe she's falling in love with this mortal she's supposed to be tricking.

she has a bit of an existential crisis then. she's supposed to be evil; it was what she was born to be, it was what all those masters made her with their treatment over the centuries. but Paige doens't treat her like she's evil, doesn't treat her like any of the others. Paige treats her like she's something wonderful and worthy, Paige smiles when she sees Jinny making breakfast in the morning, says 'thanks, babe,' in that scratchy voice that tells Jinny she's still half-asleep and not actually listening to what she's saying. Paige is - Paige is maybe in love with her, too?

Jinny's not entirely sure how to deal with that.

so she doesn't really; just shoves it to the back of her mind, thinks about it every once in a while but not for very long. certainly not enough to be obsessing over it. she has a mission after all, and she can't let these pesky feelings for Paige get in the way of her revenge.

but then Paige comes home that night having crashed a stranger's funeral, and she's all wired and jittery and she asks Jinny if she wants to go clubbing, and then they get attacked by a demon and Jinny's mind is made up. Paige is hers, and no demon, not even the Source's personal assassin, is getting his hands on her.

Paige's new sisters being the Charmed Ones might be a bit of a bigger obstacle, but Jinny will deal with that after she finds a way to tell Paige about the whole genie thing. and find a way to get free without trapping Paige (or anyone else bc Paige wouldn't like that) in the bottle. and then she has to tell Paige how she feels.

omg. tbh ten times funnier if leo as a whitelighter can sense jinny is a genie and goes hey what’s with the the genie and paige is like jinny? and piper and phoebe are like GENIE?? and jinny’s like okay word i guess this is how i’m meeting my gf’s family also yes paige i am a genie but to be fair! i also didn’t know you were a witch. so like. i didn’t wanna scare u or anything. also funnier if piper or phoebe or hell even prue frequented the coffee shop jinny went to actually scratch that prue was a regular at the coffee shop jinny works at and they do chat a lot bc like. idc prue comes in on her lunch break or something to get away from bucklands and just chat blah blah blah they kind of become acquaintances where u barely know each other but r still homies and then prue kinda stops coming in and jinny’s like oh okay bummer ig but then like four weeks later prue shows up not remotely at her regular time with a camera bag slung over her shoulder and jinny’s like ??!!! okay spill and prue talks about how she quit her job at the auction house and is finally pursuing her dreams of photography and how liberated she feels blah blah blah prue & jinny talk about the concept of freedom with jinny definitely having her takes we’ll say prue has an art show with her photography and tells jinny about it jinny of course brings her girlfriend paige bc paige is also an artist they get all dolled up for the art show blah blah blah and they even like idk buy one of prue’s photos and have it in their apartment bc like again paige is an artist i think her apartment would be filled with a lot of art. paige even briefly talks with the photographer herself - what an interesting woman! and at some point in 2001 prue stops coming to the coffee shop and jinny wonders what happened to her but accepts that she’ll never really find out and doesn’t worry about it too much maybe she moved somewhere new and is taking amazing photos & living her best life. at least that’s what jinny hopes. flash forward to paige and jinny minding their own business in their apartment when piper and phoebe kick down the door like power of three spell now we need electricity come on lets go! and stop dead in their tracks bc that photo over the dining room table. where did you get that photo. and paige is like we bought it at an art show and jinny’s like yeah the artist used to get coffee at the place where i work and piper and phoebe are like that’s prue’s photo. that’s that is a photo prue took that’s her work and paige’s mind is kinda reeling bc holy shit she like. she met prue before. and she didn’t remember til now but she met her and they talked about their favorite artistic inspirations and the studio where they were both taking self defense classes at at the time and she had talked she had met prue before. prue had liked her. she had met her sister.