#but as the game goes on she starts becoming more confident even though she never stops being scared

[fascinationstreetmp3]

You did this? ...Yeah! Yeah, I did this.

[dreamingunderacloudysky]

hey! Cool to see another MW writing blogs come up! Especially with our girl Anya <33 speaking of can you do a SFW alphabet with Anya? Tysm!!!

Yes! I sure can hun! ☁️ Before the crash, I'm assuming? Hinted to be F! Partner but anyone can read it.

SFW ALPHABET: ANYA

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

If Anya is with someone, I feel she's more confident than people typically perceive her. She is taking your hand, but don't expect her to push beyond that publicly! Behind closed doors, she craved physical contact in some way, shape, or form, so expect her knee touching yours under the desk while she works or just wrapping her arms from behind as she recharges her social battery from a tough day.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

Honesty, it can be pretty easy to befriend Anya! All you have to do is pay attention to what she talks about and acknowledge what she's saying through some interest of her own (given how the cast in-game pretty much ignored all of her problems)

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Oh, absolutely. I think she would like laying in her back and having her partner rest their head in the crook of her neck or spooning (little spoon or big spoon doesn't really matter to her, but if she's got a smaller partner she leans more to big spooning)

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

If she weren't on a damn space cargo vessel, her dream would be to become an accomplished nurse or psychologist and share a cozy flat in suburbia. I don't expect her to be terrible, but she's not a fantastic chef. Great at improvised meals in a crock pot like pot roasts, casseroles, stews, soups, etc. Simple comfort foods.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

Via letter, she takes care of the little things, and she wants to put the effort of all the words in her mind on paper, worrying that she'll mess up if she tries saying them out loud.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

Being in a confined, stressful environment grows a relationship exponentially in a short amount of time. Eating, sleeping, struggling, and working together really expedite things. Given that you've been on the cargo crew the whole time and nothing goes wrong, give it a month of being back on earth, and you'll turn around and catch her on one knee, velvet box in hand.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Physically? she is Very gentle and terrified of hurting her partner or injuring them. She'll have her bold moments of affection, but never enough to even come close to hurting you. Emotionally? Yes, she is very soft, though she does have a biting, mischievous side, especially with game nights

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

Yes, yes, yes, I kind of covered this in my cuddling take, but she's a big hugger. She will find any excuse to do it.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

It's not super fast, but not super late either. It's kind of hard to put a timeline on this one

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

Not really a jealous woman, but it is very cautious if you're oblivious to someone else's advances. I'm not afraid to subtly show that you're taken, like walking up and taking your hand or kissing your cheek.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

She loves soft, slow, intimate kisses—preferably on the lips. Otherwise, on the forehead, temple, or silly days, she'll take your hand and drag a smiling kiss to the back of your knuckles.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

Pretty good! Better than you might think, if she were ever forced to work in pediatrics, she'd have coloring books for all the kids stuck in the waiting room.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

I feel like she works nightshifts, so expect to see the world's messiest mop of jet-black hair smashed into the pillow till at least 9 AM. Most mornings on off days are spent in bed with her, and the only way to get her up is the promise of biscotti and coffee.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

A lot of different ways. She has a passion for board games, so expect some of those. TV nights are open, too, but she also loves to star gaze. If you're both on the ship, expect to chill on the couch and chat about that dead pixel and life back on earth while curled up against her side.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

Reveal things slowly. Most likely, starting with her hobbies. Swimming, drawing, her secret bias towards fast food, and she'll start going into deeper topics once you get to know her. Examples are work, schooling, history, and values.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

Not quick to anger, but still very much capable of being angry. She's slow to anger, but she is capable of it.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

Oh, Anya WILL remember. She is used to people glossing over what she says 90% of the time, so if you take the time to listen to her, she will log into her brain all the little details. She has excellent attention to detail.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

First kiss or her taking you to the lounge room at night and showing you the night sky screen to talk about the pixel.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

Extremely protective. It's in her nature as a nurse to see how attentive she is to the rest of the crew about their needs, even pressing Curly to be more honest on his evaluation. She will most likely be the most protective out of the whole crew.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

A good amount. Anya is a dedicated woman (I mean, trying to pass nursing school 8 TIMES? That's dedication); it may not be fancy or extravagant, but you will quickly tell that she puts her whole soul into doing things for you and always remembers the little things.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

I'm not digging deep into this, so we're going to the surface level. She probably doesn't have the best table manners. She probably eats with her elbows on the table. He is not the best at helping herself with issues compared to helping others. She puts others before herself too much at times.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

Not very. Busy woman, she'll make sure she's clean and maybe the occasional mascara, but typically, that's it.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Yes. You quickly become the primary motivator to make it back to Earth alive. Losing you, she would not know what to do with herself.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

She has the craziest bedhead known to man. Hair spiking in every direction. Also, she gives GREAT massages, especially if her partner is stressed.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

Disregarding what she says, you must listen for Anya to appreciate you. Also, a partner that's unyielding to their own opinion. Lack of humbleness is another. Purposefully reckless partners, too.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

Sleep talker. Anya would be an amusing one at that. She gets into bed cold and leeches all the warmth from her partner. Good luck, sailor!

A/N: This was actually super damn fun to write and gives me a better idea of how I want to write. Anya going forward, so thanks again, Anon! ☁️☁️☁️

[french-unknown]

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒: luffy, zoro, nami, usopp, sanji, robin 𝐂/𝐖: hurt/comfort 𝐖/𝐂: 950 +

| m a s t e r l i s t | - | p t . 2 |

𝐋𝐔𝐅𝐅𝐘

You're insecure because, unlike him who's passionate about his dream of becoming the King of Pirates, you don't have a big dream to fulfill.

You joined the crew because you wanted to leave a family in which you were unhappy and where your destiny was already mapped out until your death. Once you found a new family thanks to the Straw Hat crew, you decided to set sail on their ship to stay with them. You were happy with your daily routine as well as the adventures you were having, and that was enough for you. During the trip, you took the opportunity to start a book on life at sea as well as on the lifestyles of the inhabitants of the islands you had visited. However, it was more of a hobby than a real passion or a dream. So when you see Luffy giving all he got for his dream, you're afraid he'll think you're less interesting for not having a goal you care about so much.

𝐙𝐎𝐑𝐎

Zoro is a calm and silent man, especially since your reunion on the Sabaody Archipelago, so you're sometimes afraid that he'll get tired of your bubbly and very talkative personality. You were worried that he would wake up one day from one of his many naps and leave you because you required too much attention and time.

You have always been an outgoing person who liked to chat with people and be aware of the latest gossip. It had always been an advantage when you were alone in a new place or in new social groups. Yet when you were with Zoro, you sometimes found yourself wishing you could shut up. Indeed, where you spent hours telling the swordsman whatever goes through your mind under his attentive - though rather neutral - gaze, you found yourself regretting having talked so much afterward. You wondered if you had annoyed him and if he wouldn't prefer a less noisy person.

| he comforts you about your insecurity |

𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐈

After spending so much time with her on your adventures, if there's one thing you've learned about her, it's that she's very popular. She is beautiful, intelligent and you have no doubt that if she left you, she would have no trouble finding someone new given the list of suitors.

You've never been an extremely rich or extremely important person with rock-solid self-confidence so you didn't really see what made Nami choose you over all the people at her feet. It was a stroke of luck. She is also not very expressive about the reasons for her choice because she never clearly expressed what she liked about you. The dynamic of your relationship is mostly a teasing game on her part to which you gladly answer as long as she continues. But it sometimes makes you wonder when she'll let you down to find a better partner.

𝐔𝐒𝐎𝐏𝐏

With Usopp, what scares you the most is your fear of rejection because since he's also someone who is insecure, you are afraid that you will both leave the relationship if something goes wrong because of your insecurities on both sides.

Usopp is a fearful person, and while he's willing to overcome some of his fears for his friends, his inferiority complex has caused him to quit the Strawhat Pirates once. On your side, you are also terrified of being rejected in general, so you often prefer to stay in your comfort zone. The fact that you have that in common means that you often understand each other and it is also what brought you closer to each other in the first place. However, you can't help but tell yourself that, if there is the slightest problem, he will prefer to abandon your relationship because of the fear of not being enough. And you might not be strong enough to get him back either.

𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐉𝐈

The man is a womanizer who, unfortunately, can't help but rave about every woman who crosses his path. It's stronger than him, he becomes unrecognizable in the presence of a woman.

So even though you know he loves you dearly, you can't help but feel insecure about women. Maybe if, in your own way, you were as beautiful as Nami or as smart as Robin, he wouldn't leave your side to court them. Yet, even though you realize that's not the right way to think about it and that he mostly admires them for their gender qualities as a "gentleman", you still feel that empty feeling when you see him going to swoon over every woman he sees. Each time, the only thought that crosses your mind is that, if you were attractive enough, he wouldn't let you down for strangers.

𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐈𝐍

Robin is very intelligent: she reads a lot, she can decrypts the poneglyphs, she is interested in many fields etc... However, you are very far from being the most intelligent person in Grand Line and you often wonder if you don't make her bored.

You love to listen to her speak about what she reads and you could drink her words for hours when she talks to you about subjects that fascinate her like archeology or the mysteries of history. You are captivated every time she says something to you, even if you don't always understand everything she tells you. You also follow her with great happiness each time she asks you to accompany her to discover the city - and its bookstore - as soon as you arrive on a new island. Sadly, the fact that you're not as smart as her often makes you ask yourself if she's bored with you or just missing out on being able to argue with someone rather than just relate.

𝐉𝐎𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐘 𝐔𝐏𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄

[heartofsol]

Elise & the Duke

Elise's relationship with her father isn't discussed very much. I think it's actually one of the most interesting aspects about 06.

In a flashback, he's shown telling a young Elise "Don't cry" and "Become a strong queen who doesn't cry no matter what happens" in response to her grieving over her mother's death, which is...not great. A child should be allowed to grieve over their deceased parent. Although the Duke means well and says this because he genuinely believes strong leaders never cry (which is far from the truth), that doesn't make what he's doing okay. It doesn't matter that he's saying it in a soft and gentle tone, either. To a child, it's likely gonna seem like a dismissal of their feelings (which it is). This also shows that he was telling Elise to never cry before he used her as a vessel to seal Iblis.

Another thing I find interesting is that Elise says "I understand everything my parents said to me now." It could imply that Elise's mother held the same sentiment as the Duke, but we don't know for sure.

Now, onto the Solaris Project. Some time before the project began, the Duke told Elise that Solaris' power would allow them to travel through time and rectify past mistakes. The main reason the Duke began the project was so Elise could see her late mother again. Once again, good intentions, but the Duke experimenting with supernatural forces beyond his understanding cost him his life and hurt many people, perhaps his daughter most of all.

So long story short, the project goes wrong and the Duke is fatally wounded in an explosion but shortly before his death, he sealed the Flames of Disaster in Elise and pretty much left her clean up his mess. She was cursed to never shed a single tear, had to rule an entire kingdom at a young age, is relentlessly pursued and kidnapped by a madman who wants to harness her power, and when she makes a single friend, he gets murdered right before her eyes by the creature that her father experimented on all those years ago. Elise is suffering the consequences for her father's actions.

And how does Elise feel about her father after all this? She still loves him deeply. She doesn't express any anger towards him or angst about the way he treated her, or that he inadvertently caused her suffering, even though she has every right to do so. You get the sense that she doesn't even realize her father's "love" was actually quite abusive, which is just really tragic. She's been conditioned to accept this as her role in life and you can see it in her behavior. At the start of the game, Elise lacks confidence, is unsure of what she can do in her situation, and even blames herself for the things that are happening. Her attitude gradually changes when she meets Sonic, who encourages her to be more proactive and truly enjoy life instead of being restricted by her role as a princess.

Yet people get on Elise's case for breaking down once at the tail end of the game over the fact that she'd lose the memories of her only friend and would be separated from him?

Elise doesn't mean what she said in this moment, and blows out Solaris' flame to save the world seconds later. She had to bottle up her emotions for a decade and now has to say goodbye to the person whom she grew to love over the course of their adventure. Her reaction here is more than justified.

Elise is such a good character 🤍

[twisted-confessions]

https://www.tumblr.com/cheekinpermission/746227919612936192?source=share

Hope not late! 25 , 5 and 28👀👀

Nope not late at all!!

25. Which character(s) would you actively avoid? Personally, you would not see me anywhere near Vil, Rook or Sebek.

I can appreciate Vil's efforts to have people more self-confident in their own image however I absolutely despise how forceful he goes about it, especially with Epel and the dance troupe. If I EVER caught him trying to change parts of myself that I'm proud of (my australian accent, my nerdy sense of fashion, etc.) it would be ON SIGHT- (Can you tell I'm still not over Book 5?)

For Rook, i can say I..... respect his dedication and loyalty to his beliefs. However? That man... he scares me... Also, i'm still extremely salty over the VDC/SDC results WE SHOULD HAVE WON THAT AND WE LOST TO THE TWST EQUIVILANT OF BABY SHARK- Rook, i don't care about your reasonings for why we weren't at our best, I've seen the video performance AND THE NRC TRIBE FUCKING NAILED IT!!!

And then our croccy boi- Now don't get me wrong, I do love Sebek as a member of the first year gang of idiots. I also don't know a lot about him personally since I've only known him in events and havent started Book 7 yet. From what I have seen, he does annoy me a lot with his blatant disregard and disrespect to anyone who isn't Malleus or Lilia. His ego and his racism also really piss me off and make me wanna slap some sense into him. I understand it comes from a place of self-loathing but dude, PLEASE read the room for once and not screech our ears off. I'm certain that I would eventually befriend him but if we actually met face to face, it would be a miracle for me to not punch him 1 minute after his insults.

5. If you could have any unique magic / signature spell in the game, which would you choose and why?

Ooooh I've never thought about that until now actually. Personally, i would want something that would be useful and practical both in a day to day life or in a fight since I'm not very physically strong. Going with that idea, i'd more than likely pick either Split Card or Paint The Roses/Doodle Suit. Multiple me's to help me do chores around the house or distract someone in a fight? YES PLEASE!! I also have a lot of sensory issues so I feel like Paint the Roses would really help me eat the things i need to or make a certain texture that feels funny to me turn comfortable. We've also seen how useful it can be in a fight during Riddle's Overblot when Trey turned the rosebush into cards and saved us.

If just for fun though, I'd love to try out any of Savanaclaw's UM's/SS's. Now THAT would be chaotic heheh.

28. What is the TWST related content that you've produced that you are most proud of?

I personally really love my HTTYD x TWST fic that i've been writing. Knowing myself, I probably wont ever finish/post it so I'll have what I've written linked here for anyone who's interested in my favourite brainworm lol. Bella is a very special oc near and dear to my heart as she's the first one that I've enjoyed writing for since being kicked out of home over a year ago. She gave me back my creativity and I couldn't be more thankful for it.

Right now, I've even been imagine a Fairly OddParents x TWST fic in my head which I think would be a BLAST to write, where my Twisted version of Timmy Turner (a girl called Izzy) would use their rule free wish to be a part of Wanda, Cosmo and Poof/Peri's family as their bio daughter when they're no longer her godparents and becomes a half-fairy hybrid in the process. The idea of a "magicless" girl at NRC who out of nowhere suddenly can not only make but GRANT wishes that bend the laws of reality around her is absolutely hilarious to me. Haha take that you pricks, you thought I was weak? BOOM you're a hedgehog, now you really are a prick. Rewatching FOP and seeing how Timmy can be such a menace/pos really makes me think he would fit in GREAT amongst NRC lol.

I'm also really proud of the Card edits I've done for other people where I turn their OC's into different rated cards so it looks like it's from the game. Seeing all the different kinds of OC's and hearing about their characters is so amazing.

Feel free to send in any more asks or questions!! I love interacting with the Twst Community <3

[summer-nights19]

hii! may i have a hcs of vorpal swords meeting kagami's cool older sister who is like, very chill, has piercings on her mouth, and has a smoking addiction. and also is studying in a law school (sorry if this is too self indulgent lol) have a nice day!!

Hi anon ! Thank you so much for the request, hope you enjoy ~

GoM guys meet Kagami's older sister

Aomine

- She definitely sounds like she could be his type . Might try to hit on herand take her out at first, but she'd be dismissive due to the slight age gap

- Become pretty good friends over time, and often hang out as a three with Kagami there, playing basketball together or simply going out

- Definitely asks her for advice with girls secretly- he's too embarrassed to ask anyone else, and she'll keep the secret.

- Have smoke breaks on the rooftop together when Aomine's having a lazy day

- She would also probably tutor him throughout exam season along with Kagami since she has the brains in the family

- They often tease Kagami together or bring up embarrassing shit he did in the past. Aomine managed to get a lot of ammunition from her.

Kise

- Who would've known Kagami's older sister was so attractive ? He tries to hit on her at the beginning, but she'd probably still see him as a bit young and brush him off

- Become good friends with time and have tea spilling sessions at her apartment that consist of self care routines and talking shit

- Definitely exchange advice on beauty products and skincare

Kuroko

- They'd be so chill together

- I could see them hanging out semi regularly due to how close Kuroko and Kagami are

- Acts like an older sister to him too - encourages him to keep pursuing his passions and working hard even when he's faced with tough competition

- He high key admires her confidence and intellect and aspires to find that in himself one day

Akashi

- Their relationship would be one of mutual trust and respect after a while - he values her intelligence and confident, outspoken manner and she also understands how important his talents are to her brother's team

- Starts respecting her more than Kagami after a while, which annoys him to no end

- Even though he won't admit it, he admires her academic career

Midorima

- Was definitely dismissive of her before they got to know each other better, seeing her as just another attractive girl.

- However, when he learnt more about her and got to know her better, he'd definitely start seeing her more like Akashi does

- Now, he always tells Kagami that he received none of the brains in the family

- Will never admit how much he respects her intelligence to her face

- No matter how much time passes, he'll never grow accustomed to all the piercings and cigarettes

Murasakibara

- They'd definitely chill together after basketball practice or when Atsushi feels especially lazy, sharing snacks and cigarettes

- Atsushi feels comfortable enough to open up a bit around her and vent to her about the problems in his life, and she's happy to give him advice

- He greatly respects her as a person and is one of the few people he actually enjoys the company of

- Sometimes she'll pack him extra snacks if she goes to see them in a game

Masterlist

[pressplay-if]

if we're permitted to ramble about our MCs.......

Harper Bishop is the lead singer for the band 'Fawn.' their music is very chill and upbeat, but had an overall cynical tone to most of their works, which matches Harper pretty well! raised by distant parents, Harper always tried to be a good kid, in the hopes that her parents might give her approval, but it never came (she couldn't even imagine having a rebellious/lashing out phase, she made being the perfect child a part of her identity).

s college went on, i think she sort of...gave up on her parents, and started forging connections that gave her love/validation elsewhere. but, that good girl image stuck, and Harper definitely gives "girl next door" in terms of her stage persona. she is generally a sweet, caring person, if not a bit shy/reserved (bit of stage fright, but she's doing okay). i believe she does have a mean streak that can be easy to miss with how she acts the majority of the time that may come out more as she changes over the course of her career.

this combination of shyness vs need for approval has her pretty conflicted about fame and about Lincoln. if she gets more confident as her career goes on, she will start chasing more attention and fame. her goals at the beginning of the band were just having fun, not really expecting them to get anywhere, and yearning for a simpler life, but we'll see how fame changes her! (hopefully a lot i want her to be a fundamentally different and perhaps a worse person by the end of the story)

Stevie has a crush on her and Harper has no idea because she's absolutely the type to mistake romantic interest as just "being nice" so we'll see if she ever figures it out. also interested to see how her relationship with Stevie evolves as Harper potentially becomes a crueler, more selfish person because i believe Stevie would still try and keep defending and excusing her behavior and i think Stevie enabling increasingly terrible behavior would be super interesting to play through! i love character conflict!!

I love into how much detail you went here, especially considering what music Harper's band actually makes. Thanks so much, I love long asks, even though my answers always fall out shorter. Don't worry, Harper can, depending on your actions, definitely come out much, much worse by the end of the game. That kind of development is particularly tragic with Stevie's crush route...

[sgiandubh]

Jottings: Season 7, episode 6. A woman is... possibility

Contrary to what I usually do in here, just jotting down spontaneous impressions of the episodes, with no great pretension to anything, I had to re-watch Where The Waters Meet three times over last week. And it was all my fault, because this is truly a good and dense episode, that could have very well ended this half-season.

It also becomes more and more clear that my decision of not reading these damn books was a very poor choice. Probably because the storyline seems cramped, at times, I find myself gliding through moments and scenes with the very unpalatable sensation of bagging a munro without the right equipment. Not a good picture, I know. But bear in mind I just started Drums of Autumn and it already reads like a root canal intervention - sorry for the book purists. I should, however, hope to somehow catch up before part B of the season: no promises, though. If, by any stretch of my vivid imagination, I start to hear Herself's screechy voice in my head while reading, it immediately goes down the drain, despite my best intentions & effort.

But I digress. While Fort Ticonderoga is being evacuated with the help of the friendly Cherokees and their lightweight canoes, in Lallybroch there is a bit of fussing over Jemmy's cursing in Gaelic at school. Which leads to Roger being invited to give a wee lecture on the topic by a very enthusiastic Headmaster and yet another (Lord in heaven and all His cherubs) constipated domestic conversation with SS. The only cheerful thing about her is that self-assertive fringe, so 80s I could cry (I hate the Eighties with the passion I worship the Sixties, heh). And her grabbing me by the sleeve (Hello, people! Lookie here! I can haz acting! I am acting! ) every single time she has more than three lines on air is distracting and, again, annoying.

Walter Woodcock's demise instantly took me to Season 1, when that proud Scot was killed by the boar and Claire helped give him the good death he deserved. Not surprising at all, since the whole OL dynamic is a pendulum between loves, timelines and worlds.

The new Rollo dog looks less direwolfish than Rollo 1. #GoT, stopped watching upon Khaleesi's arrival at King's Landing. Never looked back.

Rob Cameron, you antagonist, you. That new acquaintance you instantly find too pushy not to feel suspicious about, and yet you can't afford to be irrationally rude to. Also, with no SS in sight, RR is pulling off his scenes quite fine & dandy, and with ease. What is that woman's dark secret? How can that be? Court is still in session, on this one. But give me more Hunters and less #Broger, dear God. I would take it any day, any way you see fit. I will be nice to everyone and take my vitamins. I will even consider jogging. But get them off my back, for Christ's sake!

Vandervaart. Consistent. Present. Owns his game. Elegant. Loved every single moment (Your servant, Madam - especially and for obvious reasons). A very, very good cast honoring both J and LJG. I can only fawn and paeans are not really my specialty. But I continue to be impressed and confident and I see great things for this talented kid.

Spoiler: I said yes, Claire. And just like that, with the click of the rifle's hammer, he tells her their whole world is yet again thrown upside down. Theirs is a dense scene, clearly dominated by S, whose mastery of voice and expression is once again flawless and thoroughly appreciated. She follows, at a - by now - completely symbiotic pace, but make no mistake: he gives her the cues. And I would take that subtle, unspeakable tenderness any day, gladly, if the writer's final choice was not to insist on what might be - perhaps unjustly - construed by some as geriatric porn. He still looks at her like that.

For that only, if not for all the rest, I will continue to watch it until the end. Because I feel you morally lose the right to criticize the moment you throw the towel and your opinion suddenly turns into bitching. Something I will most probably never do, as far as OL is concerned.

Onwards to Dreaded Seven. Let's see if I can be properly disgusted by poor acting yet again.

Credit given to @flllk. B&W is a great idea - the right kind of depth

[pixeldistractions]

Would she potentially quit over this?

An essay reply for @kimmiessimmies from this post.

Sorry to make an essay out of this reply, but I couldn’t stop, and tumblr replies are limited, and now here we are. 🙃

So, if it was a one-off thing and Sharon didn’t press the matter any further, I think Stephanie would try to tell herself that she imagined it or misread Sharon’s intentions, and she would stuff it under the rug. She may always have a shadowy doubt cast over their working relationship, but she would probably stay for as long as it made sense to stay.

I have to keep in mind the character I’ve established for Stephanie already over many stories. She’s had probably more development than most of my sims. By now, I think it’s well established that she is meek and not the kind of woman who stands up for herself or makes a stink unless things got really bad. So things would have to get really bad first, then she would probably make a gentle excuse for why she needed to quit. She might say she wants to focus on her family, or to have another baby (even though she’s not really thinking about having another baby right now). And she would never bring up the topic again. She might convince Justin that they should move further away without telling him why. Even though he would be the person she most wanted to confide in, she couldn’t tell Justin because he would 100% make a huge stink on her behalf and she wouldn’t want that.

I also have to take into account that Sharon has been described by many of my characters as a beloved employer, very thoughtful and generous, and pillar of her community. So what is going on with her that she would cross this line with one of her highest ranking employees? And only two months after that esteemed employee married the love of her life at this property. Is Sharon that lonely? Does she need to start dating? Or is she obsessed? Does she regret not saying something to Stephanie before the wedding, just in case she might have had a chance? Are we writing a stalker story now? 😂

(Do you see the plot bunnies breeding like mad? This is how I end up writing five thousand stories all at once, and how my brain goes straight to mega drama! Stalker story, here we go, whee!!!)

Okay, so. In the end, it may just be that sims are sims and Wicked Whims is crazy, lol!

Also though, sims are sims sometimes and the way they consistently behave in game can be hard to ignore when you’re writing about them. If it becomes that much of a thing in gameplay, it taints all the ideas I had about them and their working relationship, seeing it happen over and over again, then it would probably have to carry over into the story and become a real thing.

TL;DR: So, would she quit? Only if things got really bad, which means we may be writing a stalker story.

This would be so far off in the timeline, but just for shits and giggles…

[redwineconversation]

writing letters addressed to the fire (Galatarasay - Lyon Postgame Thoughts)

What did we learn about this game? Quite a lot, actually, even though it was at times a little boring.

Hegerberg got a decent amount of minutes, scored, and didn't get injured. Is it safe to say she's back? Not yet, but she is definitely getting there. There were a couple of bad misses which I am willing to excuse as rust, but the grace period isn't indefinite. The moment which really made me smile was when she tapped her imaginary watch as the Galatarasay players were rolling around during yet another break in play. Hegerberg has no patience for blatant time wasting, especially so early in the first half.

Both Dumornay and Diani were really bad this game. They both held onto the ball too much, made bad choices, and let the frustration of having a bad game get to them. If Diani gets in her head and goes quiet when things go wrong, Dumornay gets more erratic and the frustration becomes more visible. It's frustrating because I think she can be a really good player but she has got to start learning to manage her emotions better.

Carpenter was uncharacteristically sloppy in the opening 10-15 minutes of the game, but got better as the game progressed, and her cross for Hegerberg's goal was really good. She has improved a lot this season, be it because now there is genuine competition for her spot with Huerta, there is actual rotation, or maybe just the coach is good. Who knows? I will take it either way. But I think we're really seeing her grow as a player this season.

Renard was solid except for one nervy moment, which was also uncharacteristic. Sombath did good but isn't on the same level as Gilles. That being said, I'm curious what the lineup will be against Nantes. Lyon plays Nantes in Lyon on Saturday, and I think we will see more rotation ahead of the big Wolfsburg game next Tuesday.

Two comments about the substitutes: I'm surprised that Huerta came on for Bacha instead of Svava but will let it pass considering Lyon has two more games to play in the next 6 days; if Horan had missed the bicycle kick the way Becho did Twitter would have had an absolute meltdown and demanded Horan be sold effective immediately. Since they would never have double standards, I take this as they will join my incentive to get Becho to transfer to another team in the January window.

The biggest football crime is people pretending that Becho is good that Le Sommer plays on the same team at the same time as Hegerberg. I still feel to this day that Le Sommer doesn't get the recognition she so rightfully deserves. She is everything you could ever want in a footballer (barring maybe height?), and I just wish people would appreciate her more. As a romantic I would have loved her 50th UWCL goal to have been against Wolfsburg but I guess not all love stories happen when you want them to.

I keep thinking back to the start of the season when Mbock wasn't replaced, the Svava signing was announced, Bacha's surgery was announced, and Huerta was signed (not in that specific order). But I remember the absolute (and in my opinion, justified) outrage at what Lyon's defense would look like. There was a ton of doom predicting. There was absolute head loss. But look at where we are now: Lyon is top of the group, guaranteed to finish first, has only conceded one goal so far in the UWCL (TBD if that changes against Wolfsburg), two goals in the actual league.

We have to give credit where credit is due: Montemurro may not be a perfect coach, but he has done a really good job so far with Lyon. He has managed this team well and got them playing well. I am not certain that anyone can say with absolute confidence that they predicted Lyon's stats would look like they are now in Summer 2024.

[mania-sama]

👻 trick or treat motherfcker 🎃

oh, what a lovely costume you're wearing! that's right, take a candy from the bowl... and you've got a fic idea! i have tons of those bouncing around my brain.

alright, this idea has been pinging around in my head for a month or so, now. i've thus far written not a single word for it in the google document i opened for it, so i will spill my brains out the best i can into this ask. additionally, with the candy you've pulled out, i will include a very short extra scene to go with it. because ideas are ideas. they invade my mind and don't let go, and god do i love this one.

let me set the scene: an alternate universe of sorts, where everyone is in university. aran is in his final year of university for his RN license, working as an intern at a nursing home as a CNA, in direct care of the residents. he's been working there for a while, but he's recently been put in charge of another resident after one of his coworkers was fired (i like to think something horrendously dramatic, like caught injecting heroine for a second time in a resident bathroom, but that's neither here nor there).

the resident he's now assisting truly doesn't need much help, and it puzzles him exactly why she's even there, aside from her momentarily lapses in memory and clarity. then, while he's entertaining mrs. yumie (as she's already asked him to call her, even though they've known each other less than two hours) over a long game of scrabble, someone knocks on the door. yumie doesn't seem surprised by this, and shoos aran to go let them in.

aran opens the door and greets kita shinsuke, a young man with white-and-black hair, clear skin, and large brown eyes. aran fumbles for a second, momentarily awestruck by the young man's beauty, before he demands their relation. kita introduces himself, learns that aran is the new attending CNA, and makes himself at home with his grandmother. aran doesn't question him, not really; kita doesn't volunteer any information about himself, and yumie seems content to let her grandson and her attendant settle into each other's presence on their own. he leaves them together, after a while. he gets the feeling kita may want alone time with her.

and most visitors only come by once every few weeks or months. a grandson isn't anticipated to be seen but once every few years. so, when aran is once again pulled into another game - this time, dominoes - and there is a knock at the door, aran does not open it expecting to see the same young man again.

and he sees him again the next day. and the next. and the next. and it happens until he realizes that, oh, this is the guy his fired coworker always gossiped about, the one who came by at the same exact time every single day without fail, come rain or shine. his coworker had bitched about kita, though; said he was difficult to get along with, that kita would always make it a point to ask his coworker to leave the room.

aran doesn't get it. kita has never asked him to leave. and while being rather quiet and non-expressive, kita has never been unkind or difficult, either. in fact, aran would say that they are warming up to each other quite well.

and that's where the fic continues. it would go on to describe their budding friendship and general feelings towards each other, as aran finally gains the confidence to ask questions. kita answers them, obviously; he's just not going to volunteer anything, most of the time, aran realizes. and it's not for the necessity of a private life. kita just doesn't pick up that sometimes, he is expected to answer questions that people don't verbally ask. it bypasses him, so aran goes on to make himself more clear.

the situation is this: kita hadn't been the one to volunteer his grandmother into a nursing home. he isn't home a lot. she starts wandering from home, up and down streets. she has lapses in judgement, where everything becomes confused and disoriented. she's sharp, most of the time; that's why she realizes that without kita home with her, since he goes way to both attend the farm and university (a different one than aran), that she is both stressing her grandson out and a danger to herself. so, she signs herself up for the nursing home.

kita visits at the exact same time everyday, at two in the afternoon, since he purposefully scheduled himself to never have class at that time. it's too hot to be outside, either, so he never has an overriding guilt of not overseeing his crops and farmhands at the time. he stays for an hour, then promptly leaves. it's a routine, and he intends on sticking with it. aran is merely absorbed into that consistent routine.

while this fic would have a happy ending, it's important to note that, if i did ever write it, nothing serious would happen between aran and kita until his grandmother passes. having a grandmother with alzheimer's wrecks the soul. when it starts going downhill, it goes down fast and hard. kita would cope with it the best he could. there are breaks when, in the late stages, he couldn't bear the fact that she would look at kita and see a stranger for the entire hour together. and aran would be there, supporting as best as he could, but he's torn, too, having started loving yumie as much as his own grandmother. that stage of pain and grief would be the climax, of sorts. only then would they get into an sort of serious, long-term relationship, after all is said and done.

i would also like to note that it wouldn't just be about kita. it would be about aran, and all of the tribulations that come with the healthcare industry, and especially with the elderly. he is constantly surrounded by grief. it is not easy. it is taxing, and kita would be there for him when it all starts to bear down too heavily. he's the reprieve, the eye of the storm in the thick of the hurricane. aran would be the central character, with his struggles being the one reflected in those around him, not vice versa.

an interesting sidebar: i was going back and forth on whether or not this would be arankita or atsukita. even now, i still entertain the idea of either or. i think they could both work in their respective places, only i probably wouldn't have atsumu by a CNA/RN. he'd probably just be a receptionist or something that hosts weekly bingo night. but regardless, he'd meet kita all the same, every single day.

but, with the ship that i have written entirely in this version of what i will lovingly dub the Nursing Home AU, i want to present to you a scene that i find hilarious. aran is working, as per usual, and anticipates kita's arrival. however, when the knock sounds, it's different. harsher. an alternating pattern that's familiar but most certainly is not kita familiar. when he opens the door, he's face-to-face with atsumu, and osamu ducked behind him. atsumu has a book in his hand, grinning grimly, and says, "hey, aran."

aran looks him up and down, then osamu, who's expression really isn't any better. he demands to know why they are here, and atsumu reveals that they've been friends with kita since high school. aran is old friends with the twins; they playing together in middle school, but aran ended up in a different high school. they reconnected in university, in an off-chance where aran had to retake a class with a lot of incoming freshman and meets osamu, just to find out that atsumu was recruited to join the collegiate volleyball club. queue aran-miya twins friendship, where aran did not know that they were also friends with kita.

and, atsumu tells him, waving a book in his face, they are here to read to granny yumie per kita's orders. kita couldn't make it because he was out with illness and didn't want to drag it into the nursing home, where a bunch of old people with weak immune systems could catch it and die. atsumu's words, not kita's. anyway, aran is worried and it makes the twins laugh a little. they offer kita's address, should aran want to stop by.

osamu says he brought onigiri. and that's really aran's only condolence as they sit through atsumu's terrible reading of In A Grove by Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, a story that would take any normal, sane person ten to thirty minutes to get through, tops. it takes atsumu the entire hour. yumie does not spare an beratings when the time calls for it because, really, a university student should not be this bad at reading out loud.

aran hopes kita never falls ill ever again.

anyway, if anyone reading this ever wants to write about this concept in any capacity, go right ahead. i'm sure i'll never get around to it.

[tvbles]

What if: Dennis got Christine instead? A half assed ramble.

For starters: Based off both Novel/Film. It’s still doomed. I don’t know how to lay it easy, it’s still gonna end in tragedy. There isn’t going to be a true happy ending for them if you swapped roles.

> NOTE: This would make him a unreliable narrator because part one is his pov, so the audience would be reading from the mind of someone who is slowing obsessing over Christine. Thinking buying Christine is a good idea, a great one even! Arnie’s thoughts come through part 2 of the novel and him recalling stuff with Dennis. Leigh’s too.

Anyhow, Dennis and Arnie would have different upbringings, with Dennis already being a popular jock and fitting some criteria. However would start being distant and distracted a lot (he isn’t a gearhead like Arnie as well, so Christine’s repairs would be delayed longer too unless Christmas did the work herself into repairing to help him).

I see Dennis turning into a stuck up, over confident ass. He would still have some relationship with Leigh as well, managing to actually pull her in the beginning or envious attraction (Maybe Arnie actually still has that relationship with Leigh and it gets Dennis jealous that his friend actually scored with the prettiest girl in school “but she would never be isn’t Christine”).

I don’t know how football would play out for him, it seems like he was the better team player than the rest. So - perhaps he becomes over confident and more aggressive during the game - leading him to a suspension from football or he starts ditching it to be with Christine. Over all still going with the “I’ll never play football again” storyline.

His relationship with Arnie is also different. I imagine that it’s the same dynamics like before, but with slight changes of character. Arnie knows that Dennis couldn’t repair a car like he can, for the one taking autoshop III and a gearhead by heart. Though Arnie already had his suspensions, especially being interested in a new car that is totaled when Dennis was literally driving a nice, blue charger (1968 Dodge). He never seen Dennis so interested, so compelled to have something like that before. It concerned Arnie, “I can fix her up” was unheard of coming from Dennis’s mouth. He tried to convince him not to buy the car, it wasn’t worth it, but Dennis wouldn’t budge. Strange - it’s so strange. Dennis calling the car “her” “she” “Christine”, he was never the type. To call for a car, another.. Arnie doesn’t have a good feeling about it at all - hell, it scared him shitless when Dennis offered to drive her going to his place.

“No, I’ll drive her Arnie. Just drive my charger for me.”

“Dennis, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’ll drive he- it instead.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, it’s fine Dennis. I won’t do anything, it’s just taking her up to your place. No harm.”

“Thanks Arnie, you’re the best.”

When Arnie drove Christine to Dennis’s house, it wasn’t the most pleasant ride a 1958 hunk of junk could be. He was nervous driving it, and had - or tried to block out the whispers that swirled through the whole ride. “Come on big boy, let’s cruise.” “Let’s see where the night takes us.” “Atta boy.” It was overwhelming. He felt so much relief when he got out of that car. His suspicions rose about Christine and tried to take about such with Dennis - but he wasn’t having it. Telling Arnie that he was just making excuses why he shouldn’t have bought it and stuff.

“Ridiculous excuses Arnie, I thought you were better than that! Don’t kid.”

Arnie wasn’t kidding, but Dennis didn’t even listen. The next few months would be rough, for the both of them. Then next year rolls around and so does Dennis. There goes Dennis.

Star football player turned arrogant, over confident, possessive - that wasn’t Dennis that Arnie knew. If he would’ve known that Dennis would end up like this? He would’ve suggested going to long way than the cut pass back home. If he knew that he wouldn’t seen Dennis again, Arnie would’ve never stepped into work that day.

If only he knew, if only.

Dennis never aged a day over 17 when Graduation hit. When Summer hit. The dogs days are over. Done and gone. “If only you know what summer meant to me. I would’ve never wanted it to end with you.”

[m34gs]

For the fanfic ask game: 4, 7, 8, 13, 27!

Thank you for the ask, friend! I am very excited to answer now that I am feeling better!💜💜 (from this post)

4. a story idea you haven’t written yet

I have...SO MANY. You have no idea. I even cleaned up my folders, and somehow I ended up with MOre??? I'm truly hopeless. This brain doesn't rest. So, I think I'll indulge myself and talk about more than just one :)

Rin is Human: a Blue Exorcist au where Rin is the only human in a school of monsters (I am a sucker for this kind of plot/setting)

Four Brothers: I want to write a really serious Blue Exorcist fic in an AU where none of them are demons or exorcists, where an overworked Mephisto and a heartbroken Amaimon have to suddenly raise their 16 year old brothers Rin and Yukio after Shiro's untimely death. It will be an angsty feast (but I promise no one aside from Shiro dies).

Teach Me to Play: Twisted Wonderland Kalim/Idia fic where Kalim stumbles across the board game club meeting one day and becomes enamored by how expressive Idia is when playing; and subsequently begs Idia to teach him video games and board games so that he can continue seeing those expressions.

Octavinelle wants Trey's baking: for this one I am going to share the notes I have thus far because I feel you'll appreciate them. This is based on one of our many many conversations:

Azul wants Trey’s cooking in his kitchen; he keeps trying to get Trey over there working for him. Trey is confused and also a little nervous that Octavinelle has such an interest in him. Riddle wants to know why the fuck the Octotrio are trying to steal his vice housewarden. Cater is ugly-crying in the corner and eating ice cream straight from the tub because he thinks his boyfriend is gonna get eaten by the fish mafia. Ace and Deuce make Cater’s crying worse.

7. your preferred writing fonts

Times New Roman. Why? Because it's what I'm used to. Yeah, now the default font in Word is calibri and I've gotten used to it, but a long time ago it was Times New Roman and let me tell you, I used to write so much on my family's computer that it became a comfort for me to see (my sister and I both used to take turns writing and we would write for hours and hours; and my mother never denied us our writing time as long as chores and homework were done because she was happy we were being creative and also not getting into trouble). It's a bit nostalgic and it looks right to me. Though, Calibri has grown on me and if I had to choose a second, I would choose that one.

8. if you had to write a sequel to a fic, you’d write one for…

This is so hard. Honestly, if I'm going to write a sequel I usually have it planned before the first fic is done. So, unless it's for one of our ongoing aus (Bar and Saw) or a fic that I've already started writing a sequel for, I don't think that I really would...

But in the spirit of the question, if I *had* to choose, I might write a sequel to If I Lay Here, my Haikyuu!! Shizumo/Yachi fic for whumptober 2023. In the fic, I left off with the girls deciding to run away after Yachi's mother disapproved of their relationship. If I were to do a sequel, it would probably be a snapshot of their time finding themselves and setting themselves up in their new life together.

13. a fandom you’re thinking about writing for

I, too, am thinking of writing for Link Click. Honestly, it's so good. I don't know if I'll wait for Season 3 before I start, it depends on what I want to write and how Season 2 goes (I'll probably decide once I finish watching S2, honestly, but since I do a lotta writing in AUs, I could easily see myself writing for the fandom before S3). I also am sorely tempted to write for Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens, but I'm less confident in that my grasp of the characters in that one, so it might be a while before I venture there.

27. your favorite part of the writing process

I have many favourite parts! One of them is the planning process! I love thinking about an idea and rotating it in my mind until I have a shiny little plot outline :D

[heartofsol]

Elise's themes & leitmotifs

Hellooo, I haven't posted in a while. Thought I'd do an analysis of Elise's themes, just because. This was also partly an excuse to compile all of her themes in a single post.

"Running Through the Plains" is the first time we hear the leitmotif of Elise's main theme, "My Destiny". It plays briefly when Elise touches a butterfly that landed on Sonic's nose, then builds up again when Sonic and Elise run together ~ 😊 With the way the leitmotif starts off quiet, but becomes bold near the end, I feel like this song symbolizes the start of Elise's growth.

"In the Forest" is the second time we hear this leitmotif, but now it's more prominent throughout the whole song. One thing I like about this song is that it starts off bold and magical, but ends on a more quiet and sad note. The exact opposite of Running Through the Plains. In the Forest plays during the cutscene where Sonic takes Elise to see blossoming flowers. There, Elise reflects on her adventure with Sonic and how much fun she's had despite her initial fear. However, she knows that Sonic must leave after he defeats Eggman. It's something that Elise accepts, but the thought of losing her only friend almost brings her to tears.

"Elise Goes Alone" mostly has Eggman's leitmotif, with Elise's leitmotif only coming in at the halfway point. I believe this signifies Elise becoming more confident. Eggman doesn't kidnap Elise here, but she sacrifices herself to protect her kingdom. Other than that, I don't have much to say about this song (it's good though).

Near the end of the game, we have "Just Smile". To save the world, Elise just has to blow out Solaris' flame. However, this would erase the timeline, meaning her and Sonic will never meet. She understandably agonizes over this before regaining her composure shortly after and blowing out the flame once she remembered Sonic's words. The song does a wonderful job of conveying this: Starting soft as Elise prepares to blow out the flame, getting louder when she realizes that they won't remember each other once it's over, reaching the climax when she breaks down, and ending on the same soft note as she comes to terms with it.

Lastly, we have Elise's main theme, "My Destiny". I couldn't upload the audio file because it was too big, so I'll have to insert a video here. My Destiny is the culmination of Elise's character arc. It's a song about love, hope, and remembrance. One line I like in particular is "You've taught me that life can be revived". This obviously refers to how Elise revived Sonic with her love, but I think it goes deeper than that. Before her adventure with Sonic, Elise led a rather lonely life. She wasn't truly experiencing the world, instead being restricted by her role as the Ruler of Soleanna. Then Sonic came along and made her feel more alive and free than she'd had in years. In a way, Sonic revived Elise's life with his love.

I think Elise has the best themes in the Sonic series. Not only are the orchestral instruments of her themes unique for the series, they also contain a lot of leitmotifs, which is something I absolutely love. When I listen to her themes, I'm filled with a sense of nostalgic melancholy. I'm reminded of happy memories from my childhood, but I also feel sadness because those days have long since passed. I did a little searching and found that this feeling is called saudade. Here is the definition:

This perfectly encapsulates Sonic and Elise's relationship. They were happy, but eventually they had to say goodbye. And even though they forgot about each other in the end, the happiness they shared remains in their hearts.

Well, now I'm kinda bummed out.

..Sega, please bring Elise back. I need new content. I'm starving...

[fangaminghell]

A refresher on Leo for those who don't know.

19 years old, he/him

Was born and raised in Kalos.

Comes from a very rich family: they own a law firm.

Said family comes from a long line of psychics ( mom's side of the family) and aura users ( dad's side of the family)

Leo has an older sister named Suraya ( she is very important,as another protag). She is the heir to the family company and is training to be an aura guardian. She also has psychic powers, but they aren't as strong as her aura ones.

Leo is the opposite. More intune with his psychic powers, but not so much with his aura ones. He would be strong with his psychic powers if he trained more but he. Doesn't.

Leo's parents are genuinely sweet people, but they ultimately ended up neglecting their children for their work. Suraya often played the role of mother than sister, despite only being 3 or so years older than Leo was. This is also why Leo leans on her a lot.

However, as they get older, Suraya's life becomes more and more busy- she has aura training, goes to company meeting, as well as going to college for law. All of which results in her spending less time with her brother. Leo, already in his loneliness due to his parents neglect, dives even deeper into it.

It doesn't help that his parents still expected a lot from him - they didn't appreciate him slacking off on his duties, and always seemed to look disappointed in him. Again, they love their son and just want him to succeed, but they haven't done a good job showing that. Leo thinks that they see him as a failure of a son.

To be clear though: Pre-Reborn Leo was an asshole. He liked feeling on top to compensate for how terrible he generally feels. This resulted in him treating his "friends" poorly, even the one he had a crush on ( though he'd never admit it - not even to himself) , resulting in them tearing him a new one and leaving him for good. This was the wake up call Leo needed to really think about himself, about who he is....though it just resulted in more self loathing, but it was self loathing what said " I need to be better", so yay?

When Leo found an ad for the Reborn league, he immediately thought it would be his chance to start over. To be someone better than he was before.

......he did not tell anyone about his plan. He simply ran away.

In Reborn he still tries to present himself as cool and confident - and he certainly has the charm to do so. But he is actively trying to not come off as a jerk, and kinda holds himself back sometimes.

Some smaller facts:

Leo is a big cat person! He loves cats ( a shared trait from his mom)

His hair is naturally black and wavy/ a tiny bit curly. Pre-Reborn and for a good chunk of Reborn itself, he straightened his hair and dyed it white. Something something, not liking his real self, wanting to seem like someone better. He gradually lets his hair curl again throughout the game, but he actually likes the hair dye lol. Though he doesn't use it as religiously as he used to.

His favorite color is red

Loves jewelry

Kind of a dumbass.

Also pretty dramatic ( thinks a helicopter filled with roses is a normal way of confessing his feelings to someone)

Also he's gay. For the majority of Reborn he is in deep denial about this. Unfortunately for him, Reborn is filled with hot men. Three in particular ( Cain, Cal and Taka)

And that's Leo! There's sooooo much more about him ( post game stuff, his eventual trauma, Richard, his future kids) but I wanted to touch on his Pre-Reborn stuff.

[lightandfellowship]

Examining Vor's motivations

(Major KHDR spoilers)

So if you’ve experienced KHDR's story, then you’re probably aware of how...confusing and seemingly contradictory Vor’s motivations are, at least on an initial viewing. Because of this lack of clarity surrounding her circumstances and inner thoughts, it can be a little difficult to get a solid grasp on her character. However, I think her motivations, feelings, and choices start to make a lot more sense once you analyze her cutscenes closely. The key to understanding her, I think, is realizing how human her emotions are. And human emotions are oftentimes a complex web of contradictory ideas that can't always be easily defined, explained, or reconciled.

In light of this, I decided to engage in some character analysis where I examine her story more in-depth, going over some scenes from the game and trying to break down her motivations into something a bit more easily understood. (Also be forewarned that this post is fairly long and image heavy, so you might want to open it in a new tab or something.)

So, Episodes 1-2 aren’t very useful for analyzing Vor’s character, one because not much happens in those episodes, and two because those episodes utilize the “pick your party member” system where the characters are sometimes interchangable without many significant alterations of dialog (sometimes no alterations at all.) Technically Episode 3 uses the same system, but at least here the dialog changes are substantial enough to make a bit of a difference. So let’s just start with the end of Episode 2 and go from there.

(FYI, I wanted to use even more images in this post, but I was running into some issues, so I decided to reduce the number of them. I apologize if the lack of an image in certain places creates any confusion.)

Episode 2/3

The end of Episode 2 has Vor noticing that Xehanort and Eraqus are scheming a plan together, and she's suspicious/curious enough to (rather forcefully) insert herself into the group so that she can get all the juicy details. That is if you choose to take her with you as your third party member, which...why wouldn’t you? It’s clearly what the story wants you to do.

But just for the sake of thoroughness, know that if you don't pick her, she'll dramatically pout with a "Aww..." and look really sad while everyone else smiles. It's played for laughs but she honestly looks pretty upset about it.

Anyway, when you give in to her request, she’s very pleased. She jumps up and down excitedly and says that Xehanort and Eraqus won’t regret bringing her along (even though Eraqus looks pretty unhappy about it). Even as early as this moment you can see that Vor likes being included in things and getting the opportunity to prove her usefulness/worth to her friends. As the episode goes on it becomes even more clear:

She gets upset when Eraqus still refuses to let her in on the plan despite allowing her to tag along, throwing a tantrum and smacking him repeatedly.

"Don't look so surprised. You made it pretty obvious." She reveals that she's way more observant than they give her credit for, correctly guessing that their plan involves the Queen of Hearts and her darkness. And do note, regardless of which party member you selected at the start, they all "figure out" Xehanort and Eraqus' plan, but out of all of them Vor receives the MOST shock/doubt from Xehanort and Eraqus, like they never expected her to be that clever. Again, underestimating her.

"...so you were going to leave me to do your own research!"

She gets upset again when she finally learns the details of their plan and questions why they were leaving her out of it/refusing to let her help them.

And finally when Xehanort and Eraqus explain that they didn’t want to involve anyone else for fear of their classmates getting hurt, Vor ignores their concerns and confidently declares that they should go visit the queen together. Xehanort and Eraqus are, in a way, trying to exclude her from their plans with the excuse that she might come to harm, but she won't let them leave her behind.

Again, just to reiterate: it’s clear that she loves her friends a lot, wants to be included in everything they do, wants to feel like a useful, strong, reliable member of the team, and something that will be stated more directly later: she wants to feel like she belongs somewhere.

Episode 4

Where all the important stuff actually happens, but mostly at the end.

But some details of minor relevance before we get to that: Vor is the first one to rush off to help the seven dwarves when Xehanort, Eraqus, and Vor overhear that a cave-in happened in a mine. Makes sense; she’s naturally curious and likes to be helpful.

After they help the dwarves reunite, Vor makes a comment about how the seven dwarves remind her of her and her six classmates. Her friends and her place among them is fresh on her mind, for reasons that aren't known to the player yet but get revealed soon afterwards.

She also looks pretty pleased with herself to have a solution to Xehanort and Eraqus’ problem, when they say that tracking down Darkness isn't going to be easy. Vor corrects them, and reveals that she discovered an all-knowing Mirror that could potentially solve all of their problems. Again, this ties in to her desire to be a helpful member of the team.

But anyway, on to the actual meat of this whole thing.

Xehanort, Eraqus, and Vor go to speak to the Magic Mirror. The Queen interrupts their discussion, throws a potion at the mirror, and the group fights it. After it's defeated Vidar shows up, and compels Vor to reveal A Secret.

Here we learn through a flashback that when Vor first discovered the mirror, she discretely asked it a question of her own without telling her friends that she did this. She asked it if she would ever become a Keyblade Master.

A single sentence question, but it implies a lot about Vor. The fact that she’s asking this at all means that she isn’t confident in her abilities or her future. Even the use of the word "ever" suggests a level of desperation to her query.

So here's the thing: when Eraqus approaches the mirror, his first instinct is to ask a silly question like “How can I beat Xehanort at chess?”, and Xehanort makes no attempt to ask the mirror a personal question at all (though knowing him he would probably ask about his dream friends like MX does later in life). I imagine even if Hermod, Urd, and Bragi had the opportunity to ask the mirror a question, it wouldn’t be about the possibility of them failing to become a Keyblade Master, it would be about something else that bothers them. So I think this anxiety about failure might be unique to Vor specifically.

But what makes her think that she might not become a Keyblade Master? Some possibilities: maybe she feels like she’s falling behind on her studies compared to her friends. Maybe she feels like she’s become complacent in her comfort. Or maybe she feels like people underestimate her abilities because of her appearance and stature (Xehanort and Eraqus were shocked at her picking up that boulder, after all.) Vor is very observant and has a good intuition (even her name comes from a Norse goddess with this exact reputation) so if people were looking down on her, I think she would notice quickly. And this might be why she’s so eager/persistent to be included in activities and allowed to be useful. She feels like she has to prove herself constantly in order to be on the same level as her friends.

Anyway. The mirror gives its answer but it wasn’t the reassurance she was hoping for. “With friends thy heart doth lie, content and free of woe / In comfort stagnant calm, forward thou fail to go.” Let’s break this down line by line before we get into her reaction.

“With friends thy heart doth lie”. She spends a lot of time with her friends, yes, but also the focus of her heart, the focus of her affections, is directed at her friends (wouldn’t surprise me if they’re the most important people in the world to her).

“Content and free of woe”. She has a pretty good life with her friends, for the most part. “Content” doesn’t necessarily equate to an overabundance of happiness though, the connotation of it is like...satisfactory enough. Right? “I’m content with something” vs. “I’m overjoyed with something”. Things could...probably be better? Maybe underneath the surface Vor can tell that something is wrong, but since things are Good Enough, she doesn’t try to think about it too hard, y’know? Don’t fix what isn’t broken. This Is Fine. If I try to improve things I might accidentally make things worse instead.

“In comfort stagnant calm”. Comfort. Something that eases the pain. Friends who make you forget about the pain. Stagnant. Unchanging, unmoving, lifeless or unable to support life effectively (like stagnant water), unable to progress or develop or improve. Your friends are moving forward and bursting with potential and you are not. Calm. Stillness. Peace. But it’s unexciting, unrewarding, you’re not being challenged by anything or anyone and it isn’t conducive to improvement or learning.

“Forward thou fail to go.” Pretty open-ended wording, but since Vor was specifically asking about becoming a Keyblade Master, that must be the subject matter the mirror was answering about. For whatever reason being with her friends is going to prevent her from becoming a master. I kinda have a theory that the mirror was basically saying (in his usual cryptic unhelpful way) “if you stay with your friends you won’t become a Keyblade Master because you will DIE” but who knows.

Vor takes this. Not well. In fact, she’s very angry. She runs up to the mirror, gets right up in its face and yells at it, and then raises both of her arms up into the air like she wants to break it. We've seen this before where she’ll smack Eraqus over and over again (despite her official bio saying she shies away from battle, she’s surprisingly prone to some mild violence) but it almost seems like she’s ready to kill this thing, lmao.

She does say something interesting though. First she yells “That’s not true!” and then clarifies “I want to become a Keyblade Master as much as everyone else!”

Is that true? Is she just as motivated as everyone else? Maybe. Maybe not. We’ll get to that.

But the Mirror’s matter-of-fact statement about being literally incapable of lying makes her calm down real quick with a quiet "Oh."

We flashfoward back to the present. Vor explains her feelings in more detail.

She says that recently, she started to realize how she really feels. I think the moment she’s referring to is actually shown in the game: it’s the flashback that plays at the end of this scene where the lower classmen discuss their reasons for wanting to become Keyblade Masters. So let’s go out of order a little bit and talk about that.

Vor asks all her friends why they want to become Keyblade Masters. It’s hard to say exactly why she brings this up, whether she had a specific reason or if it was just idle chatter. Everyone gives their reasons and at the end Eraqus returns the question to Vor. Why do you want to become a Keyblade Master, Vor? And wow Vor practically goes through the five stages of grief within the span of five seconds when asked this.

First she’s a little taken aback, like she didn’t have an answer prepared (because she didn’t). Then she looks confused, like she’s NEVER BEFORE asked herself this question and is suddenly realizing that her brain can’t find motivation dot exe. Then she looks HORRIFIED, the true implications of what this means dawning on her. And then realizing that she needs to put back on her cheerful mask before her friends start to suspect something, she pulls herself together enough to come up with an excuse for why she can’t answer. She makes a joke about how wishes won’t come true if you say them out loud so HAH I tricked all of you! Now NONE of you will become Keyblade Masters!

So. Okay. That was a lot of emotions she just went through in a short period of time. But what does it all mean? I think it means that she never once stopped to consider why she wanted to become a Keyblade Master, because she was just following in her friends’ footsteps. She wants to go wherever her friends go, that’s all. Like a baby duck following a bunch of other baby ducks. Oh, all of my friends are joining the Keyblade wielder program? That’s gonna take up a lot of their time and I won’t get to spend as much time with them as a result...wait, what if I join too? Then I get to hang out with them during school and outside of school, and we get to go to class together and do activites together and go to lunch together and I get to belong somewhere and and and! Oh, why would I want to become a Keyblade Master? Shhhh don’t ask me that la la la la I can’t hear you!!!

What’s interesting though is that despite seemingly coming to realize that she might not actually have her own personal motivations for becoming a Keyblade Master, she still asks the mirror if she'll ever become one as if she still wants to. Maybe it’s not a matter of needing to find a different path in life, maybe she just needs to find a better reason for wanting to become a Keyblade Master? Or maybe she just wants to prove herself capable and strong enough to accomplish this feat? Or maybe she was in denial? I guess denial would make the most sense actually since she reacted pretty strongly to the mirror's implication that she wasn’t as motivated as her friends, even though she’s probably already realized this about herself at this point.

Her lack of a definite reason isn’t the only thing she realizes, though. She also realizes that even if she finds her true motivation, even if she successfully becomes a Keyblade Master, one of her other desires will inevitably escape from her grasp: her desire to be with her friends. Because for whatever reason, the path of the Keyblade Master requires them to go on their own separate paths. And even in the scenario where Vor fails to become a Master, she has no reason to believe that her friends will fail alongside her, meaning that they would all eventually leave her to go do their own thing anyway.

So, you can see where all the contradictory feelings start to converge. She wants to become a Keyblade Master. She doesn’t want to become a Keyblade Master. Actually, maybe she does want to become a Keyblade Master? But in the very least she wants to do it for a better reason than “because her friends are doing it”. But wait, if she and her friends become Keyblade Masters, then they’ll go their separate ways and they won’t be together anymore. Vor doesn’t think she can handle that. But what could she possibly do to prevent that? She can’t ask her friends to give up on their dreams just to make her happy. So is separation inevitable, then? In that case, how can she reduce the pain of that separation? The longer she stays with her friends, the more she’ll grow to love them, and the harder the separation will be. But what if she left now? Wouldn’t that be easier in the long run? Plus, the mirror said that staying with her friends will prevent her from growing, so isn't leaving undeniably a good thing?

And so she leaves.

It seems that Vor’s departure from the group kills two birds with one stone: leaving her comfortable bubble allows her to escape the stagnation that’s been plaguing her development, and it also allows her to preemptively nip in the bud the pain that’s only going to grow more and more unbearable over time. She’s essentially ripping the bandaid off in one fell swoop rather than peeling it back slowly and painfully.

As for Vidar...at least initially, Vor’s decison to help him probably had nothing to do with wanting to help him and everything to do with just needing a good excuse to finally bite the bullet. He gave her an out and she took it. After all, Vidar gave her NO EXPLANATION whatsoever on what his plans were. How could she possibly judge whether or not he was worth helping with zero information to go off of? However, once she finds out that Vidar is trying to do something “noble” and “good” (defeat darkness) I imagine it wasn’t too hard to get her on board. Though I’d be curious to know what she thought about the whole “purging the world” thing. Unless he just kept that part under wraps and was vague about what “defeating darkness” actually entailed.

The next time we see Vor after her departure is in the lamp room in Agrabah. She doesn’t say much in this scene other than reiterating that she wants to help Vidar. However, there are two moments during this scene where I think we can get a glimpse at what she's really thinking. The first:

Here we see Hermod angrily denouncing Vidar's plan, saying that what they're doing is wrong. And Vor looks pretty startled and upset about that. She's probably not too comfortable knowing that her friends don't approve of what she's doing.

Second, is when Vidar says this:

And now look at how her expression changes with each line of dialog.

She starts off sad/worried, then becomes a little more despondent, and then gets really upset (eyes shut tight).

Vidar talks about losing sight of what's truly important, and when Xehanort asks what that important thing is, Vidar basically says "my friends, and us fighting by each other's side."

Interesting thing to say in front of someone who you helped convince to leave her friends, and therefore is no longer fighting by their side...

You could argue that Vor is only making these faces because she's sad/upset about what happened to the upperclassmen, but it's so much more interesting to me to think that in this moment, she's starting to seriously doubt her decision to leave.

One other thing. At the end of this scene when she’s about to leave, there’s a pretty sad moment between her and Eraqus. Vor looks at Eraqus, who is GLARING DAGGERS at her. She's upset about it for a split second before her expression becomes determined instead (sucking it up, trying to harden her resolve). She walks through the portal and leaves, and Eraqus, perhaps realizing that his anger isn’t actually making him feel any better, drops his glare and goes back to being sad instead. But here's the thing: she never sees him drop his anger. She leaves thinking that Eraqus hates her right now. Why is that important? Because it’s the last interaction they have before they meet up again during Vor’s death scene. Oh. Great. :’)

Speaking of her death scene. Yeah that’s the next time we see her. Or, we see her talking to Baldr a couple of times before this, but her death scene is the next relevant topic.

Vor apologies, saying she messed up big time. Eraqus incorrectly assumes she's talking about...her death? Not being able to stop Baldr? Something like that. But she clarifies she's not talking about now, she's talking about her decision to leave her friends behind. Leaving them was a mistake. A mistake that, in her eyes, was her fault. Since she's dying she doesn't really delve into why it was a mistake or how she came to that realization. Instead she simply states "This is where I belong."

Whatever happened on her journey with Vidar, she must have concluded that leaving her friends early on in order to minimize her pain later wasn't the right call. Why? Because her true place of belonging was with them, regardless of the inevitable pain that may result from that.

Perhaps she thinks that leaving them was a moment of weakness, that she should have been stronger, strong enough to endure the pain. Perhaps she thinks that her friends deserved better, didn't deserve to be "selfishly" abandoned by her. Perhaps she realized that Vidar's plan was wrong and she shouldn't have left her friends to join him. Or perhaps she simply realized that being separated from them actually caused her more pain in the long run, which would kinda defeat the point of her decision to leave them in the first place. Either way, she ultimately changes her mind about leaving her friends, seemingly re-finding her purpose in a life she already had before but now has tragically lost.

Without further information about Vor's journey, it's hard to say if she ever got closure to...anything. Does she still want to be a Keyblade Master, or no? Is she still afraid of change/not changing? What does her decision to return to her friends mean for her character? Because like, it's entirely possible that her choice to return was a form of character regression, where she realized that she couldn't handle being disconnected from comfort and familiarity. Or maybe it wasn't! Maybe she realized that she could fight against her stagnation and her tendency to follow others without having to abandon everyone in her life to accomplish that, and we just don't get to see that because she died prematurely. With so little information to go off of, I think it ultimately comes down to personal interpretation. What flavor of tragedy do you want her death to be? What kind of resolution do you want for her character arc (positive or negative)? Is the tragedy of her death that she crawled back to her bubble and remained stagnant? Or is it that she died right as she achieved enlightenment about her true desires and her place in the world, meaning she didn't get to reap the benefits of her character development?

Anyway, that's about everything I have to say about Vor for now. If you have any thoughts or feedback, feel free to send them my way in the form of tags, reblogs, replies, or asks. I'd be curious to hear other people's interpretations of Vor's character and story. Especially if I missed any important details that you think are essential to understanding her.

Thanks for reading!