#but just whats presented in the game and why i think it wouldn't make sense any other way

[fangsandfeels]

>Ok but he doesn't. He thinks he does. He thinks he has Rook all pinned down. It's why he doesn't expect Rook to escape the Prison of Regret but Rook does. Solas is convinced that all of his manipulation to get Rook to drown in regret is enough to keep them trapped in that prison. In his pride, he doesn't expect Rook to escape. He once again doesn't expect Rook to see through his final betrayal about the veil. He also doesn't expect Rook to have enough cards by the end to stop him (which is conditional based on what you do in the game)

I don't think that Varric was thinking that far ahead when he was hiring Rook. Hiring someone who can make decisions during high-risk situations and face the outcome is logical - you know that this person has the resilience necessary and won't back away from a challenging task.

However, to hire them because they're unpredictable and can potentially outsmart or outwit Solas? I don't think they were aiming that high or planning that far ahead. They just needed reliable people to hopefully intercept Solas before he sets his plans in motion.

Also, it's not uncommon for Solas to underestimate people. He woke up and decided that the beings living after the Veil deserved to go extinct because he saw them as terminally disabled due to their disconnect from the Fade - and only later was he forced to acknowledge them as people, which didn't dissuade him from his goals, just made him feel bad about what he was going to do.

He had flawed opinions about dwarves, Qunari, humans - and he still has them, but recognizes the Inquisitor as "one of the good ones" on High Approval. So, his pride has always been his weakness and the reason for his hubris.

The Inquisitor would have gotten out of the Prison of Regret, just like many other determined and strong personalities Solas knew personally - because they made as many, if not even more hard decisions as Rook did, and they didn't let regret stop them.

>Cassandra also spent time in the Hunterhorn Mountains north of Orlais, where she worked to rebuild the Seekers. For a time, the new Seekers remained reclusive, showing no interest in worldly affairs and working to a purpose few outside their order could guess.

"For a time" doesn't necessarily mean "for entire 10 years". Also, Seekers seeming reclusive and working to a purpose few outside their order could guess makes sense in the context of the Trespasser - if Cassandra decided to use the Seekers to assist the Inquisitor with searching for Solas, she isn't going to tell everyone and their mother about it.

Nobody knows what exactly Seekers are working on because nobody needs to know. Cassandra did learn a lot, and she learned how to be subtle. At least, had she been included in the plot of the Veilguard, there wouldn't have been any disconnect between the epilogue and her actions.

As for her not showing up in Southern Thedas due to political reasons, it would have been understandable, especially if there was a particularly intense geopolitical situation (I'm elaborating on this in the final paragraphs below). However, since Solas could be anywhere because of the Eluvians, she still can help in the regions she can go to.

>With Corypheus gone there is a power vacuum. A cult of fanatics don't just say "oh well, guess we'll go home now." According to Tevinter Nights (which the franchise being a mixed-media franchise has it's own problems), while a lot distanced themselves from the Venatori there were still a good number of loyalists who remained active. This leads to Aelia trying to fill in that role. She does gain a decent amount of support for it. Even when she's "captured" she has enough sway to escape prison and cause problems. Why? Because the Venatori's ideology is appealing to a lot of people in Tevinter even if they don't directly associate with the cult. However, with her "failure" we have another power vacuum present - so why is it "lazy writing" to have the emergence of another powerful mage that speaks like Corypheus and offer power similarly to what he did fill that?

First of all, yes, telling the story of the game in bits of other media is a horrible practice. Not all people are going to read them - so, it should be explained in the game. Not just by codex entries, but by the characters. I had no clue who Aelia was and why she was bad news - and Neve's vague explanations didn't make it any clearer.

Second, without Corypheus the Venatori lost their competitive differentiation, so to speak- their ideology wasn't any different from the general ideology of Tevinter, just a tad more honest and aggressive.

Yes, Tevinter is obsessed with the idea of its supremacy. Yes, it believes it deserves to rule the world and is working towards this goal.

Venatori are just too loud and messy about it, especially without an ancient god/demigod backing them up. So, if the Venatori can't serve the Tevinter's cause meaningfully or at least fall in line, the Tevinter's power would have either dismantled them (either forcefully or by destroying them from inside), just so they would stop causing so much ruckus and getting unwanted attention.

Alternatively, Tevinter would have exploited their zeal and fanaticism (for instance, encouraging their unethical magic research or even agreeing to finance their search for magisters like Corypheus) because despite being absolutely despicable Tevinter isn't stupid and it knows an opportunity when it sees one.

What I mean to say is that the game tries to show that the Venatori are the main reason why Tevinter is corrupt and not getting any better instead of showcasing how deep the problem goes and how it's much more complicated than "defeating a group of bad guys with an evil name"

>The supremacist ideology of the Venatori embody everything you're saying here. The examples you're giving are all part of the supremacist mindset. Hedonistic and power-obsessed ruling class? Yep. "Slavery is bad" and "we should treat non-mages as people" Those two concepts are directly against the supremacists ideology. We also do get some notes from Dorian doing just that Veilguard. The Venatori isn't just one shade of ugly, it's the embodiment of everything wrong in Tevinter. It's the supremacist ideology given form.

Then why make such a focus on the Venatori if the entire Tevinter is built on the ideas of supremacy? Why?

By making the Venatori solo bad guys of Tevinter, the writers washed their hands off the entire corrupt system of Tevinter established in the previous games - see, guys, magisters aren't that bad and the entire Tevinter society doesn't need a wake-up call, it were the Venatori all along. The Venatori are bad, Tevinter nobles practice slavery just because they're misunderstood and confused, and I guess Danarius, Hadriana, and all the slavers from Tevinter you had met before were just the Venatori in trench coats.

The reason why Tevinter refused to acknowledge the Venatori in the Inquisition was because of their cultish obsession with Corypheus and unsubtle aggressiveness, which didn't look good for their long-term ambitions and plotting.

It would have made more sense if the Venatori either became an official ruling party by the events of Veilguard (no coup needed) because a) they didn't meet any resistance from Senate or the people of Tevinter, b) they brought proof of ancient magisters actually existing, which gave magisters a huge ego boost and added quasireligious delusions to the Tevinter's program, c) Par-Vollen officially started its invasion (like it was promised in the previous games) by attacking Antiva, giving Tevinter the opportunity to be more active and aggressive (infiltrating Antiva by offering it "protection" from the Qunari, reintegrating Kirkwall under the guise of defensive measures), preying on the neighbor's desperation and vulnerability to its influence.

But instead, they're shown as that malicious cult that is officially opposed and rejected as if Tevinter somehow had an issue with their philosophy.

>Varric is the one tasked with forming a small team. It's his responsibility to form that team and onboard people and vet them. With the way it's framed in "The Missing" Varric had full authority to bring on whoever. He didn't need approval. They kept in touch via Charter and sent correspondence to the Inquisitor but there wasn't any need for approval.

That's the problem, especially considering that the group was going against Solas with his immense abilities and his network of spies. Bringing on whoever is dangerous. There should be at least reporting to the Inquisitor about new recruits because otherwise Varric had been putting himself in a stab-me-in-the-back situation for Solas' spies all that time.

>Given Varric's line to Neve at the beginning, Varric is upfront with the information: "I also told you he was an ancient elven god." Whether the person believes them is dependent on the person. Rook has been tracking Solas with Varric for a year or so. I think by now they've witnessed enough to believe Varric's information.

Having the information doesn't mean being prepared to face Solas - a guy who has been manipulating and doing psychological warfare long before the the Veil. Also, Varric gives a very one-sided perspective on Solas because he only knows him as his former ally. The Inquisitor gets to know a lot more about Solas - after all, they're the one he rants to during his High Approval scene at the balcony, they're the one he subtly confirms his chosen course of action with, they're the one who sees him leave after the Orb is broken, and they're the one to meet him again in the Trespasser. Varric doesn't have this information, he didn't see that side of Solas, so whatever information he gives to Rook is incomplete. Rook doesn't know what they're dealing with. Moreover, Rook doesn't need to know that Solas is sentimental - Rook needs to know that Solas is very good at lying and deceiving people and that he is ruthless.

It all could have been addressed within prologue dialogues, but all we got was Rook asking "So, when we find this Solas...then what?" - which sounded as if Rook joined the group just yesterday. As a result, Rook sounds woefully unprepared.

>You think they wouldn't let that stop them. I think they're smart enough to not continue to play an active part if any information they get or send off is information Solas is spoon feeding them. If their continued involvement would cause more harm then good then yea, I think they would take a step back. I think they would hand off the reigns to others.

The problem is: who are these others? The entire "there is a real elven god walking around and he wants to destroy the Veil" story is very hard to explain to anyone who hadn't been around during the events of the Trespasser. Dismissive and derogatory attitude towards the elven culture aside, people don't respond to the "gods are among us" claims well without proof. It's not the Blight, which is super hard to ignore. It's something new - and it's so challenging to everyone's religious ideas that engaging new allies would have required some thoughtful wording and messaging.

There is a reason the guys who believed that Andraste reincarnated into a dragon were considered lunatics in the DA:O. To find others who can handle Solas (while knowing what he is and bracing themselves for a tough challenge) would take time and effort - meanwhile, both Leliana and Josephine have the burden of knowing the threat, knowing it's coming. I can't honestly imagine them sitting on their hands and hoping that the Inquisitor finds someone.

Now, there could have been a wonderful way to keep them busy and not as involved without making it look odd. For instance, if Par Vollen officially declared war and started invading Rivain and Antiva.

In that case, Josephine would be fully committed to doing whatever she can for her country, while Leliana's presence will be crucial for a) the morale and safety (if Divine), b) working against Ben-Hassrath and gathering intel (if Sister Nightingale).

>They do find new allies through their journey.

We don't see them in the game.

>They do find people who have ample knowledge of magic and ancient history.

We don't see them in the game.

>This idea also continues to play out in Veilguard. We find someone who has connections.

There is only Neve who is more of a investigative journalist/freedom fighter who never dealt with gods, ancient magic or anything like that. She herself admits that she is way over her head.

>We find someone who has ample knowledge of the fade since that's what Solas was directly trying to manipulate.

Aside from Emmrich, there is nobody else available - and Rook employs him after Varric is out of commission, leaving Rook desperate for help and clues because they have nothing. That's the issue: there are no tangible results after the 10 years of search. Rook starts from the ground zero - even though they aren't supposed to.

>I do not think it implicitly means what you've interpreted it to. I think that's how you interpreted that and I think that's a valid interpretation of it. Unfortunately that's not where they took it. That's also now how I interpreted it. I think a lot of the fandom interpreted this in different ways and that leads to disappointment if their interpretation wasn't correct. I think that's what's happening to you here. I don't think Bioware not catering to your interpretation means "they don't care." or anything like that. I think it's just that what you predicted or assumed based on the information provided ended up being incorrect. Other people predicted it correctly. If anything this just means that the marketing team could have done better at setting expectations and making sure everyone was on the same page.

From my point of view, there are things that are meant to be interpreted differently by players, and that are part of worldbuilding that isn't up for interpretation. For example, the Warden can be absolutely merciless and cruel in their decisions - and their motivations depend on the player's interpretation (trauma, anger due to oppression, refusal to be kind to the world that screwed them over, simple assholery). Similarly, the Warden can be heroic and selfless - why are they like that is still up to the player's interpretation. However, the end goal doesn't change: Kill the Archdemon. It doesn't matter how evil or how kind the Warden is as long as they get the job done. They become the Hero of Ferelden regardless.

All the threats created or hinted at were never up to interpretation. Blights are extremely dangerous. The Mage-Templar war caused massive destructive disruptions across the Andrastian regions, leaving mages and templars particularly vulnerable to exploitation. The death of the Divine led to hysteria and massive crisis of faith, while the Breach and the rise of Corypheus led to the emergence of the Venatori and red lyrium zombies. And the characters always responded accordingly to the threats -- either because of their rank and calling or due to them having exclusive understanding of the problem and needing to be in the loop.

The ending of Trespasser implied that Leliana and Cassandra were sticking around, working with Inquisitor and following the Inquisitor's decisions (and certainly taking note of how easily Solas infiltrated their networks). For them to just bow out without any explanation or reason isn't the problem of interpretation - the game didn't deliver its own buildup.

>But Bioware can't just make whatever they want. Bioware is owned by EA (not just published through them. OWNED by them). Bioware has to pay people to make the games. They need to get the funding and approval from EA to do so. This means that no matter how passionate the team is, there's only so much they can do and EA gets a huge say in what that is. EA who explicitly stated earlier AFTER BG3 released that they don't think single player story based games are worth investing in. WHICH IS INSANE TO ME. EA had them start developing the game one way. EA had them change development midway. EA had them remove all multiplayer pieces. EA cut funding to Bioware forcing them to make cuts in staff.

I admit, I don't know whether it was Bioware or EA who decided to completely dunk on the elves and their entire arc in the Veilguard, make a clown show out of Qunari, destroy Loghain as a character and erase nearly the entire Southern Thedas - and then naively hope for Dragon Age series to get the next game.

I don't know whether it was the Bioware's love ruined by the EA (which definitely played the part in it because I know how soulless and greedy management can fuck up the production) or Bioware writing it all out of spite and then releasing the artbook so people could pay $75 to see the content and the story that never happened and will never happen.

The outcome is the same: there is no reason for me to give them money. If Bioware can no longer make it's own creative choices, I will no longer buy its games because it means rewarding EA for its abhorrent practices.

There is no point in believing in Bioware anymore and support it because if this is where EA is taking it, I'd rather let my favorite series die and be put to rest than see them twisted into the parody of their former selves.

I understand your point, but IMHO, the problem of Veilguard isn't that it's not perfect - it has been actively hurt by the choices and management, which is why it's the pale shadow of what it was supposed to be.

Moreover, I don't even know what the writing team thinks because they either lump reasonable criticism together with elon musk fanboys whining, which is downright insulting or carefully pat themselves on the back for the job done. I understand that EA may have made them sign some kind of BS contract that doesn't allow them to speak ill of EA and its decisions for 100 years or so, but even refraining from comments would have sent the message.

Right now, both behaviors create an impression as it's the players fault for having expectations and wanting the proper final of their story, instead of just consuming the content.

And that's just sad.

Bioware writing team has a comfy, sheltered life and it shows

I'm sorry, but how come that the only people Inquisitor sent to look for Solas were Varric and Harding? How come that the only people recruited in 10 years of pursuing Solas were Neve and Rook? Do the writers understand that this is NOT how a serious effort looks like?

What about Leliana? Divine or not, she is still Sister Nightingale with an immense spywork. You'd think she won't mobilize everything she has to track Solas and his followers?

What about Josephine? What, she decided "nah, I'm done" and didn't use any of her diplomatic talents and connections to let the Inquisitor's agents have access, permissions or information they need?

What about Dorian? As a political figure, you'd think he will be the first Minrathous contact for the Inquisitor allies, the one arranging things and providing insights?

What about Cassandra and her Seekers? Isn't she interested in stopping another world-ending threat?

What about Sera and her sabotaging potential? If she organized the group of people for performing vigilante acts, people who are her eyes and ears, how come nobody from her group is helping with the effort?

I get it why Varric takes part in it - he knew Solas, the Inquisitor trusts him and his judgement, but for the game to imply that all the responsibility was lumped on Varric's shoulders is fucking disgraceful. I get it writers, Varric is popular character, and you would use him as bait to your heart's content, but the context you've created implies that Varric might have been the only one to take the threat seriously, while the Inquisitor and the rest were doing God knows what.

Varric should have been handing the Rook information on all the contacts they can recruit, all the useful agents, all the people to work with, not tell them to ask Neve because she might know someone because detective (Neve is a good character, but the fact that people who were supposed to spend 10 years chasing Solas look up to her for finding them contacts is appalling).

"Oh, but all these people were in the previous parts and we don't want to mention previous parts because muh new players" - well, you shot yourselves in the foot. Maybe, just maybe, you should have AT LEAST cared more about the choices made in DAI.

Congrats.

[marie-wisp-of-curiosity]

DA:TV thoughts, part two

Part one here, about Rook!

Spoilers for everything Dragon Age.

ABOUT THE TONE: An homage to our favorite Thedasian writer!

I think DA:TV's writing references Varric's books.

I was reminded at points of DA2, where Varric tells the story of the Champion to Cassandra, the one he ends up writing in his most popular book.

DA: TV's more "campy" sides are inspired by serials and pulp fiction. Some, but not all, signs of this are:

The end of chapter narrations where "Varric" is hinting at what's to come, like a serial's writer would.

Neve's story that is written like a pulp fiction detective story!

The theme of books, reading, and writing being present throughout the game. I loved the book club codex entries so much! The end of chapter narrations also makes me think that Rook is telling this story after the facts. If this was just Rook, in the present, imagining Varric telling their story, they wouldn't know the future. I think that by showing us that our narrator knows what is coming, the game may be telling us that this is Rook telling the story after the facts. (*Before the reveal of Varric's death, this actually was part of what fooled me. I remember thinking that if Varric was telling us what's to come, he was going to survive. * :') ) This would also work with the idea that Rook is Varric's successor… Maybe Rook is Thedas' next writing sensation!

About the villains, the Crows and Dalish elves joining the elven gods About the villains In DA:TV, Rook doesn't spend a lot of time explaining the nuances of why the Big Bad Guys are bad because they don't need to. What Rook needs their public to know is that those assholes kill and enslave innocent people and that they will destroy the world for power. We do not get a big slavery in Tevinter plotline or mission, and I think that was a sensible choice in the game we got. It's still mentioned often. My favorite example is Lorelei, the Shadow Dragon's shopkeeper, who is one of the elves that was sold into slavery to Tevinter by Loghain in DAO. Slavery, blood magic, violence, and abuse are everywhere in the game, as part of its context.

I think that narrative choice was made because of the time they actually got to make the game, but also because that's not the point. This story is not about how fucked up the world is; it's about how to actually save it. It's not about the abuse or trauma; it's about healing. Rook has to find people who already see how messed up the BBGs are and round them up to make things better.

Still, there is some nuance about the smaller villains: it is said towards the end of the game that any Venatori or Antaam soldiers that want out are spared and helped. Even some BBG, like The Butcher, chose to do the right thing (in their way) at the end. I was also glad we got to see Qunari people outside the Antaam and regular people in Tevinter; to me, that felt more important to support an idea that transcends all Dragon Age media: people are people, no matter where they come from.

The Crows I do wish we had gotten a darker portrait of the Crows. They were changed in one of the books, and in DA:TV they are shown more like vigilantes than an actual guild of assassins. It does feel like a choice made for time, maybe? It would have been interesting to see Rook struggle with working with them. Or maybe the Talons we work with could have been shown as exceptions to the brutal ways of their predecessor? I feel the same about the Lords of Fortune; the "cultural" artifacts thing didn't make a lot of sense to me, and I would have found it more interesting if it was a bit more challenged. We do get more nuance with the Grey Wardens, so I do think this is a time thing. The idea of working with groups you disagree with on some stuff because they also are ready to do the work to save the word could have been very interesting to explore.

That said, if you believe my theory that the game is the story told by Rook, you can tell yourself this is just part of their editing of a more nuanced truth, hé hé!

About the Dalish Going with my theory that this is Rook's telling of the events, I also think that they don't talk about Fen'Harel's agents or elves siding on the side of the Evanuris on purpose. There was probably some, in actuality, but Rook knows very well that elves are already persecuted enough as it is and won't risk giving them even more bad press.

In conclusion! I have so much more to say about that game, but this is already so long! I'll probably write more as I continue to think about it. I hope you enjoyed reading this and wish you a great day! Au revoir!

[elumish]

I've been reading Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros, and it's gotten me thinking about how worldbuilding is multilayered, and about how a failure of one layer of the worldbuilding can negatively impact the book, even if the other layers of the worldbuilding work.

I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, so I'm going to talk about it more broadly instead. In my day job, one of the things I do is planning/plan development, and we talk about plans broadly as strategic, operational, and tactical. I think, in many ways, worldbuilding functions the same way.

Strategic worldbuilding, as I think of it, is how the world as a whole works. It's that vampires exist and broadly how vampires exist and interact with the world, unrelated to the characters or (sometimes) to the organizations that the characters are part of. It's the ongoing war between Earth and Mars; it's the fact that every left-handed person woke up with magic 35 years ago; it's Victorian-era London except every twelfth day it rains frogs. It's the world, in the broadest sense.

Operational worldbuilding is the organizations--the stuff that people as a whole are doing/have made within the context of that strategic-level world. For The Hunger Games, I'd probably put the post-apocalyptic nature of the world and even the existence/structure of the districts as the strategic level and the construct of the Hunger Games as the operational level: the post-apocalyptic nature of the world and the districts are the overall world that they live in, and the Hunger Games are the construct that were created as a response.

Tactical worldbuilding is, in my mind, character building--and, specifically, how the characters (especially but not exclusively the main characters) exist within the context of the world. In The Hunger Games, Katniss has experience in hunting, foraging, wilderness survival, etc. because of the context of the world that she grew up in (post-apocalyptic, district structure, Hunger Games, etc.). This sort of worldbuilding, to me, isn't about the personality part of the characterization but about the context of the character.

Each one of these layers can fail independently, even if the other ones succeed. When I think of an operational worldbuilding failure, I think of Divergent, where they took a post-apocalyptic world and set up an orgnaizational structure that didn't make any sense, where people are prescribed to like 6 jobs that don't in any way cover what's required to run a modern civilization--or even to run the society that they're shown as running. The society that they present can't exist as written in the world that they're presented as existing in--or if they can, I never could figure out how when reading the book (or watching the film).

So operational worldbuilding failures can happen when the organizations or societies that are presented don't seem like they could function in the context that they are presented in or when they just don't make any sense for what they are trying to accomplish. If the story can't reasonably answer why is this organization built this way or why do they do what they do then I see it as an organizational worldbuilding failure.

For tactical worldbuilding failures, I think of stories where characters have skillsets that conveniently match up with what they need to solve the problems of the plot but don't actually match their background or experience. If Katniss had been from an urban area and never set foot in a forest, it wouldn't have worked to have her as she was.

In this way (as in planning), the tactical level should align with the operational level which should align with the strategic level--you should be able to trace from one to the next and understand how things exist in the context of each other.

For that reason, strategic worldbuilding failures are the vaguest to explain, but I think of them like this: if it either 1) is so internally inconsistent that it starts to fall apart or 2) leaves the reader going this doesn't make any sense at all then it's probably failed.

[parkersgnome]

⭐️Mima Rants⭐️

I remember coming across slideshow on tik tok this about a year ago, and even *I* (as someone who used to be grossed out by proshipping) thought was ridiculous…

This is the title of the slideshow.

Just a heads up guys, just like our favorite ships, None of these stories are real.

And if they were based on actual events, wouldn’t it make more sense to make a video about that instead of making up shit that never happened?

But, Let’s go through each of these as if they were real stories, shall we?

First one

“Caleb uses the internet to deal with his trauma”, Alright, I’m gonna stop you right there.

Isn’t “Staying off the internet is beneficial for your mental health” something we learned in, idk, fucking grade school? Cyber safety PSAs in middle school? Something that dozens of people have screeched from the top of their lungs since social media was invented?

Who the heck told him that being on the internet was going to help with his trauma and improve his mental health???

His feelings are valid, I get that. He has every right to be disturbed by Sage’s writings and fantasies. However, it seems that Sage isn't encouraging these actions in real life and keeps them strictly within fiction. As long as it’s in text or art, Sage has every right to express his fantasies.

Anyways, Caleb should seek a better therapist who can teach him better coping mechanisms like going out for walks, yoga, baking, or some other fourth thing instead of browsing social media where there’s a good chance he can run into something that makes him uncomfortable.

Next one…

“Jackie is 10-”

Yeah no no no no no no.. no… NO.

10-years-old. That’s, like, what? 4th grade? Shouldn’t Jackie be watching cartoons, playing with toys, or better yet, playing outside? Why did her parents give her internet access? Why aren’t they monitoring what their elementary schooled daughter is watching online?

If Charlie was going out of her way to promote this to minors then I would say she’s in the wrong, but this story never implies whether her content was specifically targeted to and/or letting minors come on to her account.

I've never seen proshippers create accounts specifically targeting children. If Charlie makes it clear her content isn't for kids, then it's not her fault if some random little girl she doesn’t know ends up consuming it.

If Jackie started to think this was normal, then it is her parent’s fault for neglecting her online safety and allowing her to access adult-targeted content at an age when media literacy is at an all time low.

The last one

“dEGenErates LiKE hiM 🤓” 💀💀

Once again, unless you can present to me a REAL LIFE incest/pedophilia case where proshipping was involved, this is not a valid argument that fiction affects reality.

Alas, we're treating these stories as if they were real. If Trey feels compelled to SA his sister after seeing writings or drawings of problematic ships, this suggests he’s likely an untreated mentally ill individual, especially since he can't differentiate fiction from reality.

What? If Trey played GTA V and started shooting and robbing a bank because he wanted to be like Trevor Phillips, should we consider banning violent video games?

As proshippers, we do not endorse real-life criminals and genuinely terrible people. The essence of proshipping is that all negative or degenerate actions should be confined to fiction. Understand?

End of discussion.

Anyway, as ridiculous as that slideshow was, please refrain from harassing or bothering the artist who made it. They have the same freedom of speech we do, and stooping to harassment and bullying wouldn't make us any better than antis who promote such behavior.

[nat20composure]

Astarion and Agency- The Necessity of Discomfort to Self Discovery and the Infantilization of Victims

Minor Astarion discourse ahead that mentions the treatment of SA victims post-abuse:

I want to open this post up just with like. The statement that I don't think there is a correct way to enjoy media and that I LOVE to see individual head cannons and takes on characters in media. I think that is also, to a degree, an integral part of video games because of how unique the experience of playing a game will be to every person who plays it. But it has been making me feel so incredibly sad looking through fan content, art, or discourse for BG3 specifically because of how many people have taken the route of infantilizing Astarion.

I understand the instinct to shield or protect an individual that you love and care for. I also understand that because of the nature of the things that Astarion goes through, a lot of people also feel very deep emotional stakes in him. I'm one of the many fans of the character who is a victim of SA and CSA, I really do get it. That is also why for me personally it is so demoralizing to watch so many people treat him like he is a child who cannot make his own decisions or stand up for himself. Part of that frustration stems from it feeling like a media literacy issue, and the other part of that sense of defeat is just because it feels indicative of a broader attitude that people seem to hold towards victims of abuse, particularly those who are victims of SA.

To explain what I mean by people infantilizing him: I see so many people refuse to allow him the opportunity to be hurt, or to feel uncomfortable. They see this character who has been through an immensely horrible and traumatic experience, and their instinct is to try and shield him from anything else that has the potential to upset him. I get that the people who want that aren't doing it with malicious intent, but frankly it is not really...Helpful? To try and prevent victims from Experiencing Discomfort tm. I also think it kind of disregards the entire thesis of Astarion's character and arc.

When you go through something that robs you of your selfhood and agency, the world can become a crushingly terrifying place. In Astarion, that fear presents itself in a desperation for power, control, and at the core of both of these desires- Safety. One thing the game is clear about is that he has a right to kill his abuser. He has a right to escape his situation. A lot of Astarion's personal arc is centered around being able to finally do that. But the game doesn't just leave it off at getting him to safety. So much of it is also about him needing to take responsibility for himself and his actions, with needing to learn who he as a person is.

The inclusion of the Gur children and Sebastian as characters is a good example of ways in which the game gives Astarion the opportunity to take responsibility. I think that if the intention of the arc was meant to be that "Astarion should never ever have to deal with being afraid or uncomfortable again", then the Ascended arc wouldn't Come with such heavy moral ramifications, like sacrificing the other people just like him, killing the victims he lured in, literal child murder. The game infers that he doesn't deserve to die because of the things he Needed to do to survive, but it also makes it very clear that there is a difference between addressing an Active Threat and using your fear as an excuse to hurt others. Breaking that cycle of abuse when he finally gets the chance to is what separates Spawn Astarion from Cazador.

Taking responsibility for himself, and letting himself sit in the discomfort of vulnerability ultimately ends up being a thing that he is very proud of and cherishes. If you tell him you will make sure nothing like that ever again he himself says that he doesn't want you to be his protector. And so it blows my mind when people go into all of these discussions about Astarion with this...Weird moral high ground for never, ever making or letting him make choices that might hurt him?

I see this the most when it comes to discussions about the possible polyamorous relationship with Halsin and the interaction with the drow twins in the brothel. So many people are just...outright angry? At other people engaging with either of those options? And I feel like that anger is one) rooted in the projection of their Own feelings on non-monogamy and what a victim of SA can or cannot look like. and two) Relies on undermining the agency that Astarion BEGS you for at every turn.

When it comes to the drow twins, the game adapts Astarion's response to them based on where he is in his own personal development (a really cool thing imo). Obviously, if he still doesn't feel good or safe about engaging with sex he declines and says you can feel free, though he hopes you aren't just doing it because he hasn't had sex with you. I think this makes sense: He's just gotten out of a situation where his Safety and worth were directly tied to him having sex. I imagine he feels afraid that not wanting to have sex with you makes him replaceable or inadequate because at this point in the game, he feels like that's all he has to offer. The interaction is relatively the same if you ask him for a poly amorous relationship with Halsin: He just asks you to reassure him that you aren't only doing it because he hasn't had sex with you, and then tells you he isn't worried about it otherwise.

A lot of people have taken the expression of that insecurity in combination with him still allowing you to go forward and do these things as him just "sucking it up" because he's afraid of losing you. (I am aware Shadowheart says he wouldn't be able to handle it when you ask her if you can date both of them- But keep in mind, Astarion says she wouldn't be able to either, and THAT obviously isn't true of her. For the purposes of this discussion I'm only including interactions with Astarion as a judgement of his character.) I understand that concern, but I feel this take disregards so many other points of dialogue, and is also continually rooted in the baseline vilification of discomfort.

To further go into it, the way that he speaks about both of these interactions changes significantly if you speak to him about it once he is completely free from Cazador, and has had time to allow himself to start reconnecting with himself and his sexuality on his terms. He has absolutely No reservations about an open or poly relationship with Halsin, and says he trusts that things will be ok because he one) feels secure in Your relationship and two) Knows Halsin is experienced and trusts him to not be a messy bitch about it.

I think that shift, in combination with the in game explanation of why he isn't ok with being in that sort of relationship with the other Origin Characters (for Lae'zel and Wyll, he says they'd never agree to that. For Shadowheart, he says she's not experienced with open relationships and that he doesn't think it'd work out. For Karlach, that it would break her heart. And for Gale, he says you need standards.) is a pretty good indicator that he doesn't actually care about polyamory or monogamy. I think the vilification of that choice relies on you picking and choosing when you do or do not believe Astarion or just outright not liking non-monogamy in the first place. This interaction has more to do with the player's choice and comfort level, and so is not as important to the broader discussion I am trying to have in this post.

The interaction that is more pertinent to not Allowing him to make decisions is, I think, the drow twins. If you interact with the drow twins after the completion of the Cazador questline, he is outright giddy at the prospect of interacting with the Drow twins. Specifically stating that he is excited to see how he likes these sorts of things now that he's free.

NOW- I do NOT think that he enjoys the act. The game makes that abundantly clear, and I'm not arguing that he has a great time. He obviously does not, and dissociates during it. That being said, allowing this interaction to happen does not make a player evil or selfish. You are not playing the hero if you decide to moderate his choices just because you do not think he is ready for it. Once again, no one is evil for Not doing it either, and I am not saying anybody has to want to. I am just saying that treating this choice like it is an evil choice to make relies on completely disregarding what He wants to do.

Astarion says so many times in the game that he is anxious about finally having the freedom to find out what he wants to do, and I think that his excitement for the drow twin exchange is one of the opportunities the game gives him to make a choice. He makes that choice- And it sucks for him. He doesn't enjoy the act, and having done it he would be able to move forward knowing that. I think it's really cool and important that the game represents that facet of recovering as a victim. While you are trying to renavigate who you are, you are going to make a million new choices you never had before. And sometimes those choices are going to suck ass. It would be a different matter if he knew these things would hurt him and went ahead and did them anyway. But so many people expect him to move forward avoiding even the Potential of being hurt, and I think that is extremely reductive of his arc and who he is.

Beyond the matter of interpersonal relationships, the choice between Ascending or not Ascending Astarion is not a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils. It is a choice between his fear and his humanity. Between letting his trauma and his fear define him for the rest of his immortal life, and allowing him the vulnerability of deciding who he is when he isn't running from the world. When he's willing to listen to the parts of himself that want to do right, that wants meaningful connection, that wants to be proud of himself. That wants to meet himself. To confront who he is when someone else isn't deciding that for him.

Astarion as a character is extremely ambitious, inquisitive, and adventurous, three traits that only become more and more evident as he breaks free from letting his own fear dictate how he lives his life. I don't understand how so many people can see him and want to take the core of his character away from him, when he spends the entire game fighting desperately to take it back.

Victims are not casts of the abuse they have gone through. Their shapes may be changed by the hands of others, they may have to relearn how to be the person they want to be. But they are not broken or irreparable or fragile. They do not need to be freed from the grip of one person to be held tight in the grip of another. It is so fucking unfair and self-important to think that your hands will be the ones that fix them. That your hands know better than theirs. I think the kindest thing you can do for a person is to trust them with themselves, and to listen when they tell you who they are and what they want. Please listen to the voices that have only just learned to speak. It is the only way they can get better at doing it.

[cringefailvox]

overlord husk aus are very interesting to me in part because they present such a radically different vision of the huskerdust dynamic that is very compelling to me. present-day husk and angel are exhausted. these are people genuinely at rock bottom, who have been so worn down and chipped away at by the long, dragging stalemate of their circumstances that they have nothing left to give but their bare minimum selves. which is okay, and it's enough for them; a lot of what makes their dynamic so interesting is that it's about two people at their lowest rediscovering what it feels like to not be alone down there, to even begin thinking about the possibility of climbing out of the deep dark hole they've made their peace with now that they won't be doing it by themselves.

in contrast, overlord husk aus imagine a version of husk and angel before they were losers together. they imagine versions of them that haven't been beaten down all the way just yet: husk at the height of his greed and power and reckless addictions, angel riding the high of his stardom while adamantly refusing to peel back the surface and acknowledge the rot. both of them still digging the hole and saying to themselves, "i've got a ladder, i'm not going to get stuck. i can always climb back out."

and having these two meet at this stage in their lives, i think they would really, really not make each other better. husk's consideration for the souls on his chain had to have been close to zero for him to use them as gambling chips the way he did, especially the recklessly self-destructive way he did that ended with his own soul in alastor's pocket. and i imagine that for a long time, angel lived in total willful denial about val's escalating abuse and the toll his increasingly demanding job was taking on him, because acknowledging it would be tantamount to making it real, making it something that could actually hurt him and not just be rationalized away, and so of course he'd put off doing that for as long as he could.

if husk had actually won angel's soul, it wouldn't have been any different from all the other people he traded back and forth across his table just for the illicit thrill of the game. angel probably would've had a whole sunk-cost freakout about it (what was the point of all that pain and suffering and lack of autonomy if all the consequences are coming from a stranger now and not val? when it isn't personal? and now he can't even claim a little bit of power back by saying he chose it, because he didn't.) angel knows full well what it looks like when someone is going to kill themselves with their addictions, but what obligation does he have to the guy who would just as quick give him up to somebody else if it gave him an adrenaline rush? nothing, that's what, and he has enough of his own problems anyway.

crucially, they're both INCREDIBLY self-absorbed. not even in a conceited or vain way, but just in that they're so wrapped up in their own mess that they can't see beyond it, they don't have any space for empathy, and furthermore, they have no reason to even try.

it's why the version of their dynamic we get in canon works so well—they're in the same place now, at just the right time to finally start opening up their worlds to how they affect other people (angel watching charlie interact with val at the studio; husk being forced by alastor to engage with the hotel's residents as the bartender). there's space for empathy in their lives now, because they've finally been brought so low that they can't hide anymore, can't look away, can't deny how completely and totally fucked they are. it's a kind of brutal honesty that can only really come from confronting your absolute worst-case scenario. but for them to even begin connecting with each other in any authentic sense, they needed to have the ladder taken away so they could finally bring themselves to stop digging, look up, and realize there's been someone down here with them all along.

[saintsenara]

We all know Weasleys come in two varieties - short and stocky or tall and gangly. Has anyone ever been brave enough to give us a thicc Ginny? What do you think she looked like?

an important question, anon.

the books suggest that ginny looks like her mother - most notably via harry having the sudden urge to flip through a bit of sophocles when he's trying to lie to molly about his mission in deathly hallows - which means, even though vast swathes of this fandom seem to be too cowardly to admit it, that her bonafide baddie powers [enough to have several men canonically willing to risk it all] come from molly as well.

the books also suggest that ginny looks like fred and george - as we find in order of the phoenix, when harry's not exactly acting like he's about four weeks off falling head-over-heels in love with her by telling ginny to fuck off when she tries to accompany him to the department of mysteries - and her brothers also say that she's short.

[although she's also fourteen at this point, so she doesn't have to stay that way.]

and this makes sense - since the lanky weasleys are all said to look like arthur, the stocky weasleys must resemble molly.

molly never really gets treated by this fandom as someone who's attractive - and, let's all be honest, the fact that the books describe her as fat is a considerable proportion of the reason why. ginny - on the other hand - is canonically hot, which means that far too many fans end up falling into the trap of assuming that she must, therefore, be thin.

whenever i read fics which describe ginny's physical stature in detail, she always seems to be written as having a very slim, dainty build - like a ballerina or maybe, at a push, a distance runner.

which isn't a bad thing, and doesn't necessarily indicate anything about an author's assumptions. it's just that there is often a subtext when ginny is described that way - especially if many of her canon traits, like being bolshy, sporty, cheeky, and relaxed [that is to say, not being uptight, giggly, prim, vacuous, emotional, etc.], are present and especially if the fic is pairing her with harry - that gets a bit "cool girl":

Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot.

but what if - hear me out - ginny is still able to have several men foaming at the mouth without being very slim, just like her mother before her? wouldn't that be hot?

and since she's someone who's an enormous fan of and goes on to make a career in a sport which is heavily modelled on rugby... we have lots of references for how she might look while she's ruining lives up and down the halls of hogwarts:

i would like to see it.

[ghouldtime]

*slides into the DMS*

S O. What does social anxiety for König look like through your fantastic characterization then? 👀

(Love your Alone operator series btw. Got me on the edge of my seat with each chapter!!)

(Thank you!! 💚💚💚 I'm so glad you're enjoying :D you all have been so so sweet with it and Im over the MOON so many people have liked it)

To answer this question I'm going to have to be a biiig yapper and explain why I think of him the way I do

Going to say this to start, but I'm going with the true fact that König is indeed diagnosed with social anxiety - anything else I'm saying is based off of my personal interpretation of how he acts in game as a disclaimer

I'm also going to state that personally, the König I write is in his lower to mid 40's. Sorry not sorry, I don't see him as a young dude. Especially not when it's pretty much agreed upon that he's a colonel. So he's had a SIGNIFICANT amount of life experience, and a significant amount of time to work on himself and have introspection.

To me, it makes the most sense that he was diagnosed with social anxiety earlier on in his childhood since it was significantly more obvious when he was younger. Something that severe wasn't unnoticed by those around him because some of them did care about him. It's also stated he's suffered from severe social anxiety throughout his life so that's how I took it.

I personally go with he grew up in a more rural town in his homeland of Austria, which meant there weren't exactly others around during the first few years. "Go play with the neighbors kids" didn't really work when there weren't neighbors around. It was mainly him and his parents and an occasional relative over.

What could be brushed off as initial shyness clearly couldn't be anymore when he finally was enrolled in school.

Even on the first day when it's "introduce yourself to everyone", he fucked that up so monumentally it'll be engraved forever in his hall of shameful memories that he thinks about late at night. School was an utter nightmare, quite frankly, from moment one. The whole situation was too much, too stressful, and too different from the life he had at home. He flat out refused to get up and present in front of the class and wouldn't talk in group projects just for the fear of embarrassing himself. At that time, he was hitting all the indicators for social anxiety like they're the targets he shoots at today.

He missed out on a lot of interaction with other kids initially because of how awkward he was - and having any form of anxiety never helps in social situations. Talking to others wasn't something that came naturally and his own panic amplified it tenfold. Most times, he'd either pretend he didn't hear them, avoid them, or stray as far to the edge of the group as possible to avoid it. Unfortunately this made him an easy target because kids are RUTHLESS and turned him into even more outcast as well which only worsened it.

School always sucked for him due to that, despite the fact that he was a smart kid. No amount of smarts could save you from social persecution when you had nearly no social skills to boot. [ side note but I'm dying on the hill that he's incredibly intelligent and has a bachelors degree (at the very least)].

His parents kept him in therapy to help him manage because without it, he'd be back at square one refusing to go to school and faking a cold just to get out of it. And of course, therapy is a very important tool when it comes to healing, coping, and managing severe mental disorders. The whole reason why he doesn't show such bad anxiety anymore is because he kept the skills he learned and applies them so much that it becomes his second nature.

He's had at least 35 years of this, he's good enough to mask and to keep up his facade.

Another part of why he doesn't show it nearly as much is because he joined the military and was thrown through the wringer with it. Being bullied for so long was a major motivator for joining in the first place, as he needed something to get away from the peers who tormented him so and he needed a new life where he wasn't known as target #1. But he ALSO wanted to gain actual confidence and more certainty in himself.

Joining the military really means you're not left with such things as many choices when it comes to anxiety in social situations. You're forced into quarters with others, have to work side-by-side, do nearly everything together, so on and so forth. He knew that going in but at that point for him it was like extreme exposure therapy, the last step he needed to really put everything he learned in therapy to work.

That doesn't mean he didn't suffer or loved it. No, it was terrible, intense, and nerve-wracking. But he wouldn't have done it otherwise if he didn't want that. Being in the military didn't give him the leeway to avoid what made him anxious, it taught him to face it head on and fight.

Now that he's up there in age and has considerable more experience (and leeway with having a higher rank), the ways he expresses it [look at me finally answering the question] are more subtle.

On the field, you're likely not going to notice it. Because that's him turning the little auto pilot switch in his mind to on when he has a job. The job is his focus and everything has been so engrained in his mind that it's muscle memory. He's, quite frankly, focused on not dying and getting any job done over himself. The joking you often hear him do and taunting alike is part of how he's expressing the confidence he feels when he's in his element, when he KNOWS what he is doing.

If you look closely or approach him off the field, however, it's another story. He usually tenses or straightens himself out when people approach and will hold that until they leave (unless they're someone who he truly knows). Many assume that's a taught habit of the military, but that's only half-true. He did that before then.

Unlike when he's working, he doesn't have a guide or things he knows he has to do in a specific order to best ensure survival - no matter how much talking to other people feels like the heat of the battle, you can't (legally) solve it with a gun or throw a frag and book it out of there. There's no true guide to social interactions and that stresses him out. There's no manual, no field guide, no ten step card on how to successfully navigate them.

He knows things that are normal to say, he knows sometimes what he should say - it's just a matter of finding the phrasing and how to say them. Yet it seems like whenever someone doesn't follow his pre-programmed line of thought when it comes to their talking, his mind can shut down and go blank as he stares, trying to figure out where to go or what to say (spoiler: it usually doesn't end well).

He's usually awkward to talk to because he's running over everything in his head as he tries to think of what best to say to avoid further interactions or ones that could be more targeting to him. And, as mentioned, he lacks the average set of social skills that plenty learn in childhood because he didn't have that proper socialization. He's also still not the best at talking itself and can be blunt and to-the-point, which also doesn't usually go down well.

Not to mention, he's bad at small talk and has a terrible, sarcastic sense of humor that many can't read and it quickly turns things uncomfortable very fast because everyone takes him seriously. It never helps he usually doesn't explain himself all too well, usually leaving it as is as he secretly wishes he didn't talk at all when mortification sets in. Hurrying away with an excuse of some paperwork or something else to busy himself is his go-to after those.

When possible, he'll avoid small-talk and greatly prefers gestures instead. Someone who can appreciate his greater need for silence and a lack of talking is someone who he will greatly appreciate in turn. He's a firm believer that not all silences are uncomfortable and sometimes, it IS best not to say anything at all.

Due to his childhood too, he's not really fond of being around many people and will do his best to avoid it. Unless he has to grin and bare it, he won't. He finds his mind calmest when he can just be himself without having to worry about saying the right things to appease others or to be friendly. That way he can focus on what he wants, think how he wants, and feels how he wants without second guessing himself or having to worry about existing.

He's going to avoid most public settings when possible. Though he can now suitably manage his anxiety, they're something he passes up on. Grocery store trips are something he does maybe once a week or two, if that - stock piling so he has to go to the store less is his usual strategy. Anything he can do himself, he WILL do himself, if he doesn't have a trusted person who can do it better or can help.

Notably, he also doesn't have many friends. He's like talking to a brick wall and unless you're considerably persistent and understanding of his need for space, you won't get far. A lot of people don't have the time nor patience for it, but if you do get close to him, he does come out of his shell. He appreciates anyone who cares enough to actually get close to him and get to know him despite how awkward he can be, and will be loyal to the end because of that.

Another side effect is that he doesn't sleep well. Between the massive amounts of trauma from his job and the trauma from his childhood, he doesn't sleep well as is. But the social anxiety aspect comes into play because many nights, his mind is rerunning all the interactions he's had as he chronically overthinks them. He always wonders what he could've done, how he could've improved, and what they're thinking of him (even if they're someone he may never run into again). Its very hard for him to shut his mind off and doing such usually requires him drowning everything else and making himself not think about that, or anything, any more.

[Another side note: He's an avid reader. Reading gives him new things to think about and can help put him to sleep, especially before bed. It's a good way for him to stop thinking about whatever was nagging him and shifts his mind into thinking about other things he enjoys instead)

Basically, IN SHORT this isn't my full in-depth detailed characterization of exactly who I think he is - the reason he's not presenting it as an anxious ball of pure energy who is so uwu shy and soft is because he is incredibly well-managed with his severe social anxiety at his age and that's uh, just not him. Social anxiety doesn't mean he's a blubbering mess or will cry at the slightest inconvenience and reducing him to that or treating anyone with social anxiety like they're a child because of it does not help at alllll.

He's had extensive therapy for this, he's got his methods, he can mask very well. He's a WHOLE GROWN MAN who is responsible for not only his actions but how he manages his emotions and he knows it. But if you know him and know what to look for, you'll be able to pick it up.

(Also the sheer amount of scenarios I've seen where people think he just would... cry if you took his mask off??? Him???? HIM???? König, "I can make you talk, where are they?" the skilled PMC operator? That one? That guy? Yeah no, anyone dumb enough to do that better have signed their will prior or hopefully has an intensive love for scrubbing all the floors with a single old toothbrush. He won't tolerate people harassing or hustling him or pressing on his nerves. Sure, it reminds him of his childhood bullies, but quite frankly that behavior as grown adults trying that is RIDICULOUS, it pisses him off and immediately lowers his opinion on them.)

To whoever made it this far, I hope this made sense, I took melatonin before I got the ask so I'm in another realm right now LMAO. König is one of my favorites and was the first character I realllly really loved and I just hate seeing him done so dirty. Especially as someone with severe social anxiety myself, it irritates me when it's portrayed just so... wrong and quite frankly, in a lazy, offensive manner lacking any nuance especially in relation to the character who has it. Like just making him stutter and cry isn't all social anxiety is and there's SO much depth and things to work with despite the... actual substance as far as his bio goes

[verysium]

i need to know what blue lock boys think about “male-female friendships” a.k.a do they think they can exist without one of two thinking “what if” situations (it can, i repeat, it can🗣️)

👏 give it up to anon for making me visualize the most stress-inducing scenario of the year. the first thing that comes to mind is that this would not sit well with a majority of the bllk boys.

however, the situation is particularly a no-go for the following:

the itoshi brothers would not approve. if you just look at their interactions, you can already tell. sae literally kicks rin for even thinking about replacing him when he goes to spain. they already have trust issues due to their dysfunctional sibling relationship, and to my knowledge, they don't have any female friends of their own. hence, i don't think they would understand that a male-female friendship is just a friendship and nothing more. regardless, this could go one of three ways. (1) they would probably give you the silent treatment and be secretly upset. would not spill anything unless you pry it out from them. (2) they would give your friend an absolute death glare. hyper-vigilant when it comes to any form of physical contact between you two. seething jealousy and possessiveness. and (3) for sae specifically, he would be petty about it. probably decides to leave you on read for the rest of the day. may or may not ghost you. and when you ask him to hang out, he's like....😒 don't you already have a friend?

reo also would not take this well. i mean....he had a whole mirror monologue and mental breakdown when nagi left him. i think he is highly insecure about people abandoning him since he doesn't really have anyone he is close to. would probably welcome your friend and hide his discomfort, but after a while, it becomes difficult for him to act like he's okay with your friendship. you would have to heavily reassure him that there was nothing beyond platonic going on between you two.

barou acts like he's alright with this situation, but your friend better have zero flaws because he's not going to tolerate anyone substandard. still, i feel like he would get jealous even if he doesn't show it directly. would probably make a fool out of your friend on purpose.

kaiser wouldn't think anything of it at first. after all, you're dating the great michael kaiser, why the hell would you need anyone else? but then, it starts getting to him. why is your attention on your friend and not him? is he not good enough for you? given his self-esteem issues, i don't think he would take this well. he would probably blame your friend first and then you. would be a dramatic baby about it, but it's secretly eating away at him from the inside out.

ness probably plots the entire murder of your friend and hides a body bag and shovel in his trunk. acts all sweet and sugary when you're present, but the moment you're not there, he's grabbing your friend by the collar and shaking the living daylights out of them. probably whispers "get the hell away from y/n" in the most menacing tone. your friend better leave because delusional ness does not come to play. his obsession is no joke.

shidou terrorizes your friend to the point they don't want to be friends with you anymore. this man just exudes a traumatizing aura. your scary dog privileges are revoked because he is now going rabid. i don't think he's going to have a problem with a male-female friendship, but you just might (as in you're not going to have much of a friendship anymore by the time he's done dismantling your friend's corpse.)

the only characters i can imagine this playing out healthily with is isagi, kurona, yukimiya, and maybe nagi.

isagi is usually highly understanding, and he has many friendships of his own. i think he would also encourage it if your friend happened to be one of his teammates or someone interested in football. but this does come with a caveat. if he senses something wrong with your friend, it's immediately game over. he's usually pretty open-minded except with the people he holds extreme dislike for. for example, isagi is willing to at least try to understand rin, but he clearly doesn't have that same willingness when it comes to kaiser. so...just don't befriend a jerk, and you're good.

kurona wouldn't mind because he's kurona. he trusts you, and he usually rationalizes his insecurities enough to keep them at bay. the only time he would have a problem is if you start neglecting him in favor of your friend. since he's pretty introverted, he probably wouldn't confront you about it, but he might feel a little bit slighted. just check up on him from time to time.

yukimiya is usually easy-going. i don't think a male-female relationship is going to be a huge problem for him, but they better treat you right. you mean the most to him, so he's going to support you through thick and thin. to be fair though, you probably won't even want to spend time with your friend because of how magnetically charming yukimiya is.

nagi doesn't mind because he just doesn't care. he's too lazy to deal with any resulting drama, and the only sense of personal attachment he has is with his bed.

[solomoniscriminallyunderrated]

Lucifer is suspicious of you.

Of those butterflies you tell him you get when Mammon is next to you, of the smile that your face melts into when you realize that he's watching you.

He has seen it before, he thinks. You looking at Mammon like you look at him. He knows what that look is, and the idea that he might have misread you makes him sick.

And then, of course, the thought that you could ever have the ability to deceive him in the first place is preposterous. You would not dare.

And he is right. You would not dare. The way Lucifer has you hooked around his fingers is enough to make anyone with any common sense wary.

But you? You have no common sense. And your sense of self-preservation has been warped since you fell through the portal and ended up here, in Devildom. You don't understand what he's capable of, not really, and you find yourself wanting to test it.

The fact that the demon who is always on your mind is Mammon? The brother he is the closest to? The brother he is the most protective over? That doesn't make the idea any less alluring.

That is why, one night, after a day of hanging out with the Avatar of Greed, you are back in your room, and you text Lucifer.

'Can I come over?'

You know that he will let you in.

'What is it, MC?' he asks. He sounds tired. But he lets you in nonetheless, and you're sure he's got an idea of what's going on.

"I have to confess something," you say, sitting down on his bed. He takes a seat next to you, and the way his eyes shine in the light makes your breath catch in your throat.

"Oh?"

"I think," you say, voice barely above a whisper, "that I have a crush on Mammon."

You hear the sound of his hands clenching into fists, and a dark chuckle from his mouth.

"A crush, hm?"

"I feel awful for it," you continue, leaning in, your hands gripping the sheets.

"Oh, but you do?" He moves closer as well, and the heat between your bodies is palpable.

"It's like my heart belongs to you, but my head belongs to him." You look away, feeling your face heat up. "And it's not fair."

"You're a selfish human, aren't you, MC?"

He lifts your chin with his gloved hand, and your eyes meet. His expression is a mixture of disgust and amusement, and it's making your insides stir.

"I... I guess I am," you murmur. "Is it wrong to want to be happy?"

"Oh, you poor little thing," he snarls. "Did you really think it was the right choice to confess this to me?"

You should have known he would react like that. After all, he's the Avatar of Pride. The last thing he would want to do is to share you.

"No," you say, biting your lip. "I didn't. I just wanted to see how you would react."

He chuckles again, and the sound makes your hairs stand on end.

"Oh, my dear. You do not want to play these games with me."

"What if I want to, though?"

"You wouldn't."

"Maybe I will."

Lucifer laughs, and it's a low, deep, dark sound that echoes throughout the room.

"You don't know what you're getting into, little human. Are you sure this is what you want?"

His eyes glow, and a smirk is present on his lips.

"Yes."

"Then you're an even bigger fool than I thought you were."

Your heartbeat quickens. You don't know why, but the threat in his voice is making you feel things you can't explain.

"I'm willing to take the risk."

Lucifer's hands are on your face, and he's looking at you with an intensity that's hard to describe.

"You'll regret this."

"I won't."

You're not sure where this sudden burst of confidence has come from, but you're thankful for it. It's the only thing that keeps you from running out of the room screaming.

He leans in closer, and your lips are almost touching.

"Let me be the one to teach you a lesson, then," he whispers.

And the kiss is a mix of fire and ice. His lips are cold against yours, but his hands are burning as they roam across your body, setting every part of you aflame.

"You are mine," he growls.

He's got you pinned against the bed, his hands gripping your wrists tightly. His claws are digging into your skin, and his eyes are glowing.

"Say it."

"I'm yours."

You're panting, and you can't tell whether it's because of his kisses or because of his possessiveness.

"Do you love him?"

The question catches you off guard. You've never heard him ask a question like that.

"No," you say, voice trembling. "Not in the same way I love you."

You see his lips curl into a smile.

"Good."

The rest of the night passes in a blur. You don't remember much, only his hands all over you, his kisses leaving marks all over your skin, his words whispering sweet nothings into your ear.

You wake up the next morning with him still sleeping beside you, and you can't help but smile.

[starlitsemantics]

the most frustrating thing about larian's underwriting of wyll (to me, purely selfishly) is that even when centered as a character, his key choices (killing or sparing Karlach, breaking his pact or saving his father) aren't even weighted

every other companion as far as I can tell gets default choices for resolving their quests that you can support or talk them out of, which is very rich character wise

wyll not getting default choices (as far as my testing goes anyway) *could* be interesting for an interpretation of him as lost or indecisive, but his writing outside of those scenes doesn't support that

he made his pact decisively

he can decide to join Karlach in Avernus

now obviously, part of why that works is that those choices are both the selfless, kind paths, whereas the others come with a moral quandary component in theory, but I don't think that quite clicks

sparing karlach is not a super complicated choice when presented to the player - she is pretty obviously much more Zariel’s victim than a danger

breaking his oath means not just that his father dies tadpoled, but also that baldurs gate loses a leader they'll need (iirc ulder's role in rebuilding is even flagged in the dialogue options)

if wyll is meant to be decisively selfless and good, which I think works perfectly fine as a character, not only should his default choices reflect that, but it should also feature in way more of the game's plot and dialogue as a counterpoint to the other characters (in particular, shadowheart and astarion). it just doesn't make sense for him to be passive in those quests (killing nightsong to have an easier time getting to ketheric especially - why do we at most get a negative comment, instead of what he does in act 1 if you choose to do evil for better access to the cult)

some of this imo could genuinely be fixed by just giving the player a "do nothing" option and letting him act - give this man agency

it wouldn't fix everything but I would at least know how to write and understand him as a character

[edelfie]

#𝓣𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗘! this means war.

while you are off doing your own thing, being controversial and whatnot, a certain pest in your side seems to be buzzing about. unfortunately for her though, she’ll have to try a little harder to keep up with you.

or, lia loses her mind a little

POST CREDITS! —

As far as Lia is concerned, you are nothing more than an obstacle in her way. Sure, a persistently irritating obstacle, but a measly one nonetheless. Whatever game you were trying to get at wouldn't work on her.

She really shouldn't be wasting her energy on you anyways. She already has everything she wants: the best job in the world, all the money a girl could dream of, and her fiancé. Keyword: hers. Perhaps she is a bit territorial, but isn't it natural for any girl to be with their things?

Following their heated argument though, she isn't so certain where she stands with the man in question. She knew her words were hurtful the moment her fingers flung across the screen, and she won't fawn and play innocent knowing that was exactly why she sent them in the first place. It's just...so hard to communicate her emotions to Atsumu when he takes everything she says or does as a joke.

It's funny. Everyone in her life has expressed their own feelings about the constant push and pull of their relationship. Years of infrequent dating and uncertain feelings culminating into a very real, very permanent engagement was not how she envisioned their relationship ending. Because while Lia thinks she loves Atsumu, she knows he's difficult to be with.

When they were younger and had just started dated, she gave him the benefit of the doubt more often than not. That he was simply "like that", constantly riding on the brink and not giving a damn about what others thought about him. And to a degree, she found him aspirational for that and even wanted to replicate him in that sense.

That was, until, it started affecting her work. She began losing brand deals and sponsorships because the boy she was dating couldn't behave himself for the two hours he was in public. It was ridiculous! At times, it felt like she wasn't his girlfriend, but his mother, his publicist, and his manager all in one. And maybe that does make her selfish for not going to his games, but when does she get to be selfish in their relationship?

She feels the most empowered, the most authentic, the most selfish every time she calls it off. She gets to enjoy her freedom, then watch as Atsumu comes crawling back to her. Sometimes he outright says he'll change (he doesn't usually), or he'll demand that she "match his effort" (she won't). Maybe it's antithetical to some, but for Lia it just makes sense.

So despite dating Atsumu Miya being equivalent to forcing a square into a circle, Lia would rather die than let anyone take him away from her.

NOTES! —

Sorry for the smaller chapter today! I just couldn’t think of a way to fluff it up that wouldn’t already be included in future chapters. If I do get any ideas though, I’ll be sure to update this and post a notif. Also, Lia isn't meant to be like a token "mean girl", she's very flawed and human and that's a result of her environment. She is still bitchy of course, but not evil. Anyways, today’s fundraiser is to help the Liberty Lancers Marching Band purchase new uniforms! While it may seem miniscule compared to other "issues", as someone who's partner marches and has come to love band themselves, having new uniforms would mean the world for these students. You can click here to donate or read more on their story.

In other news, I am back from my (tiny) break! Though I’ll admit, I didn’t use that time wisely to plan ahead for my next releases LOL. I had fun though!

I presented my speech in class on Tuesday, which wasn’t as scary as I thought but I’m still glad it’s over LMAO. After that I went to the gym to work out for about 30 mins, before heading home to go on a date. We walked around downtown and went bowling, to which he absolutely wiped the floor with me I fear. And then today in one of my classes we had a rock, paper, scissors tournament (gotta love college LOL) and…I WON! We did it a few times but I just kept winning or getting very close, so I was named the RPS champion ^-^

PREV + MASTERLIST + NEXT

© all rights reserved—edelfie (2024) // do not plagiarize, modify, copy, use, translate, or repost my work on other sites without permission

[jinxedshapeshifter]

Something I don't see discussed at all is how Team Chaotix runs. Obviously, Vector, Espio, and Charmy are all detectives, but they serve different roles within that.

Vector is the team's lead investigator, and generally has a job more akin to what we view as "detective work."

Espio is the team's spy. His job is similar to Vector's, but he focuses more on undercover investigation, while Vector focuses on investigation in general. Espio is also the team's data retrieval specialist, but in his own words, "data retrieval isn't exactly [his] specialty" (although it is worth noting that Espio doesn't suck at data retrieval in Shadow the Hedgehog and he does some data retrieval in Team Sonic Racing when Team Chaotix is investigating Dodon Pa).

Charmy is, from what I can tell, basically the team's "ideas guy" but also serves a similar purpose to the team that Vector does. Due to how scatterbrained he is, he's not quite as good a detective as Espio or Vector, but I think everyone can agree Team Chaotix is not complete without Charmy, even if at the end of the day he's a mascot that sometimes contributes to a case.

Espio isn't as good at being a detective when he's not undercover, because he can't do much direct investigation when he's not undercover. Espio just isn't great at investigating things unless he can utilize his abilities in an investigation, because his abilities make him an incredibly effective spy and that's where he thrives when it comes to being a detective. Being a spy usually allows him to get information that Charmy and Vector wouldn't be able to, and that's what he specializes in. It means he doesn't have to do as much logical thinking as Vector does, which is very likely why he didn't realize Eggman was their client in Sonic Heroes; he wasn't getting information in the same way he would have if he'd been on a separate mission as a spy, and the information he was getting required doing a lot of thought on what he was hearing, which is what Vector specializes in.

It's not that Espio is a bad detective, it's that when he's sent on solo missions he doesn't have to do the same level of thinking about evidence that Vector does, so when he's presented with information that he needs to think about and doesn't look at it the same way Vector does, they don't get the same information Vector does from the same evidence (same applies to Charmy but Charmy's 6 so it makes sense for him to not be all that good of a detective yet. Charmy also tends to forget what he was told to do if Sonic Colors DS is anything to go by).

Charmy and Espio didn't realize that Eggman was their client in Sonic Heroes because they aren't used to doing the kind of logical/critical thinking about evidence that Vector is. Vector implies he knew who their client was incredibly early in the game, because he's used to thinking about the kind of evidence he got from the walkie talkie the Chaotix were using to keep in touch with their client. In fact, Espio's implied to mostly do things based on his gut feeling, based on him saying he has a bad feeling about their case in Sonic Heroes and him trusting Silver with almost no hesitation, likely for the same reason he had for not trusting their client in Sonic Heroes.

In Sonic Heroes he knew the Chaotix's client was untrustworthy based on what we can safely assume was a gut feeling, and in Sonic Rivals 2 he immediately trusts Silver likely for much the same reason (as he himself says "For some reason I trust you" which indicates he doesn't know exactly why he's decided to trust Silver).

TL;DR: Espio isn't a bad detective, he just has his own way of investigating things that don't work when Team Chaotix is investigating something as a group on the same case like they did in Sonic Heroes. Charmy is 6, so it makes sense for him to not have great investigative skills yet.

[amourningcrow]

Late game spoilers, particulary about Varric! I wasn't able to put this into words before, but now that I've had some time, I think I can actually talk about it. It's a little long though.

I tried to start a new playthrough three times now, but I can't even make it to the ritual side without breaking down. It is, frankly, embarrassing.

But Varric means so, so much to me. I knew deep down that he wouldn't make it out of this alive - that he even survived past DA2 was a surprise to me. The man's got tragic death written all over him! But I still wish we had gotten some more out of him. Some more interactions with the companions, more banter, more relationship dynamics. We never even found out what he would have called the others! (Aside from Neve, who was 'Slick', apparently.)

This isn't even a criticism of the writing! I think it makes sense and fits his character, sadly. (Though it's also the first time they actually managed to make me hate Solas, which is quite a feat.) It's just me being heartbroken about one of - or maybe even my ultimate - comfort character. I played DA2 (and the others, too, but DA2 holds a special place in my heart in this regard) during a time in my life where I was very much just... lost, I guess. God. I think I actually felt physical fucking grief when I went through the Fade prison scene? I was shaking and sobbing the whole time and I don't know if I have it in me again.

I'm a bookseller by trade and Varric loving stories always resonated with me. He's often reduced to being the sarcastic sidekick, but I love all his aspects and complexities so very dearly.

The son who didn't ever quite fit in with the society he grew up in, who couldn't hold up to his parents expectations and so instead refused to be tied down by them, but still had a deep love for his family.

The man who was so tragically in love with a woman he couldn't have that he made her his little secret, keeping Bianca's identity even from his best friends. Who probably still didn't let go of his yearning all those years later, maybe because it was easier than opening up and getting hurt again.

The one who was always bickering with Cassandra, this steely woman he was always at odds with, but still wrote her a continuation for his romance series he didn't even think was good because beneath all of his veneer, he still cared.

Who was presented with this half-spirit half-boy and saw just a squirrely kid who needed some help to find his place in the world. (And yeah, this is special to me. Because god damn it, I never had someone like that growing up, and I would have given all my limbs and a kidney for it.)

Who was so, so full of compassion himself, despite all the shit the world had already thrown at him.

I don't know. Maybe I just have a thing for people who try to lock their hurt away so not even they, themselves, have to confront it. (Maybe because I'm a little like that myself and maybe that's why I like Lucanis so much, as well. Damn you, Mary Kirby.)

But anyway. Sorry for the vent. I just needed someplace to share this, I guess. I don't know what to do with this hole in my chest, but props to Bioware (and damn you again, Mary Kirby) for putting it there, because it's definitely not normal for me to care this much. I wasn't even this sad when I had to leave my Hawke in the Fade. Maybe they'll finally find each other again, wherever they are now 💔

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

It's actually said that Jack is inspired by the Disney movie White Fang about a wild Wolf who's author is called Jack London. Someone said that his Bday vignette actually gives hint or actual info, i'm not sure -sarah

[Referencing this post!]

... Where does it say that? As far as I’m aware, no such confirmation exists, whether in-game or in additional materials that extend beyond the game.

I believe what happened is that a fan's theory or personal interpretation of Jack's Platinum Jacket vignettes was mistaken as canon. He opens those vignettes by describing various paintings featuring wolves, which are most likely references to Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book. This is one interpretation. The painting descriptions could possibly be referring to other scenes in Disney properties featuring wolves (like the ones in Frozen), but there is not enough detail to confirm them as specifically attributed to one or the other. You must likely stumbled across someone who interpreted Jack's painting descriptions as referencing White Fang. While I'm open to fans having different takes on the same material being presented, I will always recommend researching and checking sources for yourself before accepting claims as canon.

Where do I stand on this particular detail? I don't think Jack was inspired by White Fang, at least not in a large part. It just does not make sense when you compare it to the design philosophy of the rest of the main NRC boys. White Fang is an obscure live action movie. Why would TWST want to prominently feature a character from a property that isn't well-known and isn't animation when everyone else (of the students) at NRC is? Not only that, but why is Jack supposedly named after the author of White Fang? Wouldn't it make more sense to name Jack after the actual wolf in the movie? And if this was the case to begin with, how come Jack is the only student at NRC named after someone irl??? That makes no sense to me. I think the more likely explanation is that "Jack" is just a common enough name that "Jack London" was misattributed as being the source of Jack Howl's name.

As I’ve expressed before, I think of Jack as an ambiguous amalgamation of various Disney wolves. I really don’t see the point in labelling characters as being twisted or inspired by one particular Disney counterpart; having a concrete answer might satisfy the itch in our brains, but it feels sort of limiting to me.

[goofy-goobers-r-us]

Arrogance

A homestuck creepypasta

Concept and story created by me

Arrogance design by: @disintegore

Note: I won't be doing the typing quirks and any pester logs or conversations the characters have are plain typing styles as to make it easier for some readers to understand especially if those struggle at reading said typing quirks

Every troll knows of her imperious condescension... The empress of Alternia.... One who believed in the chance of having the troll race a chance to grow... A calculated dictator with nothing but vanity, utter corruption and the very example, of what is wrong with what we stand for as royalty; as Fuchsias and Violets, as the very idea of what a highblood is to be.

I was molded by that very arrogance, that very utter corruption that has not only been shown from her actions but rather this entire wretched planet. It is a plague I will continue to exterminate.

As long as I can remember I've come and go. I've removed those unfit of such rich blood and I fear again my work isn't over or ever will be. Many could possibly have deemed my judgements unfitting or undeserving but in my very eyes in how I see things, I have a different vision that cannot be comprehended by all.

This game that has been happening has simply given me more work to do, and I sense... A new victim has come to take the step.

YOU ARE; ERIDAN AMPORA

You stand in your respiteblock. You are a SEA DWELLER. A sub-race of troll distinct by commoners. A caste that which rules over the entire species. However.. Ruling just simply isn't enough for you. You kinda just maybe sorta have a huge genocidal complex with an ego so huge it's sorta a miracle that some of those can even tolerate you.

Though recently you can't shake off this feeling.. As of recently you've been feeling cold. A different kinda cold though. The kinda cold you can't shake off no matter what and you've also been hearing what sounds like a strange tune. Sometimes that tune gets kinda quiet, then loud, then quiet again... Recently though that said quietness isn't as present. What could that mean? Well.. For now you bother your moirail.

caligulasAquarium [CA] began trolling cuttlefishCuller [CC]

CA: glub glub

CC: glub!

CA: hm

CC: what!! What is it!!

CA: what!?

CC: it'd be nice if you can just tell me what's on ur mind already

CA: well I'm not sure if you'd wanna hear it..

CC: I would actually. We're moirails we're supposed to talk to each other

CA: well you wouldn't exactly like it considering it's to do with my agenda and I don't think you like. or any of my agendas at all really.

CC: are you really fretting over ANOTHER one of your contraptions.

CC: your plots to kill land dwellers just never works out and everytime you DO wanna make a contraption it's just some piece of junk.

CA: well all military masterminds never give up. 7th times the charm or whatever the saying goes.

CC: I just feel like you know its wrong and yet you don't care!

CA: idk why I have to explain this to you this is important to me I feel like that's enough.

CA: especially for our kind. even you don't get that

CC: We aren't better than everyone else. And if you're REALLY as sickened as you say then how come you talk to trolls like Kanaya so damn often!!

CA: Well I never said she'd be excluded from what I have for my plans.

CA: Even if she's someone I tolerate she's just still another land dweller. She's nicer than other ones but she still is someone to be aware of

CC: I don't get how you can say that. I feel like you should still think about the fact they are your friends!!

CA: well this Is all just military tactics that's all it ever is!

CC: they're still ur friends. you really think they're that beneath you???

CC: you especially still like talking to them. I wish you'd stop pretending that you didn't. we both know that.

CA: we all know in history some conquerors just sway their enemies to get them later. simple.

CA: on some other note though. I still don't get why she ignores me. I feel like we had some sorta good rivalry there. good chemistry and all but idk what happened

CC: umm, idk sometimes people aren't as into the quadrant as the other one is yk.

CC: so you really think your feelings are in the dark for her?

CA: it doesn't really matter she's bored shitless of me for sure so perhaps I'm not as good as an adversary as I thought.

CC: THATS RIDICULOUS!! I'm sure any girl would be as lucky to have someone as DIABOLICAL as you for a kissmesis!!

CA: well thanks for thinking so.

CC: we should talk about our romantic aspirations more it's exciting!!!

CA: shrug

CC: Ah but you keep gossiping to your nubby horned bro so much! nothing for your dear sweet moirail...

CC: SPEAKING OF QUADRANTS! What about any red leanings... There some lucky lady or lucky fellow!??

CA: oh uh. God.

CC: TELL MEEEEEE. embarrassed so suddenly? Come on!

CA: alright fef this ain't any of ur damn business. I'll be back soon.

caligulasAquarium [CA] ceased trolling cuttlefishCuller [CC]

CC: aw man.. 38(

Well that was an emotionally draining conversation! Feelings and problems. You and this princess definitely splashed hard into the Moirail zone. Maybe some way or another you can reveal those true feelings to her someday.

Feferi: Get a beverage

Geez. ANOTHER emotionally draining conversation. Some high maintenance moirail alright. Tonight might be a good idea to talk about your real feelings with the guy. For now... You need a sugary drink.

Eridan: This isn't right.

You were gonna have a sugary drink to chillax about everything but everything feels too off. You feel like you're being watched. Something is off. This isn't your usual overthinking antics about your relationships with your quadrant mates either. This is different. You feel a sense of dread. It's. So. Cold. Why is it so cold. That tune why is it always present. Whats happening.

Such foolishness. That's all it ever is isn't it.

CA: who's there?! I feel. You. This. Feeling. It's you. It always was you.

You're just like her. That same behavior. That same vanity. It's always the same, that behavior never truly fades does it...

CA: what are you talking about.

You feel strange. You feel physically weaker you feel like you can't move your body unless it's just you shaking in fear. Everything around you looks so dark.

You don't have to be afraid child. I will rid you of your arrogance. This is all a dream. That's all it ever is... Your rest will come soon.

CA: I am above them, I am. It's always for us for her. For me.

Your very actions, your behaviors... It goes against everything we have ever stood for. Your arrogance and especially her existence are why I have been born. I have come to cleanse this planet. And I will start with you, for I am. The No More Arrogance

CA: I don't understand it. Why.

Be not afraid child. You won't have the same fate as she will. This will make everything okay. For the better. An eternal rest... This is all it ever is...

You see a glimpse of its face. But why... Does it look so much like her... It's tall and imposing figure. It's long hair as sharp looking as a blade. Those horns... With what looks like a halo connecting between the two. It's sharp claws and, that sign on it's chest..

CA: What is going to. Happen. I still have to tell her. I don't understand. What are you.

You won't go out in only fear child. Just close your eyes for me.

As it finally approaches you, you see the creature in its entirety. You feel as if you're losing all sight... Your body finally feels as if its collapsing.

Goodnight, sweet sweet child. You can finally rest easy... You will be okay. You have nothing to fear.

You feel.. So tired.. Your heart is slowing down. slowly.. And slowly... It bumps slower... Till it eventually will stop completely. Your eyes are closing.

Eridan: Have your final dream

CC: Eridan. Eridan. Eridan!

CA: Huh?!

CC: You okay? You kinda blacked out.

CA: I... Yeah. Yeah. I'm okay.

CC: that's good!!

CC: Though since you're fine I have something to tell you

CA: oh.. What.. What is it

CC: alright! But this is weird to say!

CA: I'm sure it'll be alright..

CC: When we had that talk of red feelings. You know how I asked who it was. I never told you mine

CC: It was you.

CA: wait. Really..?

CC: Mhm.

CA: That's.. Wow. Me too. Me too.

CC: Well then I guess that makes us..? 38)

CA: Yeah.. I'd like that

As you finally rest, you feel... Comfort. Even if you're slowly dying... You can't help but have a feeling of euphoria. Guess you finally got outta the moirail splash zone.

Eridan Ampora - Dead

cuttlefishCuller [CC] began trolling caligulasAquarium [CA]

CC: WOOOOOOEEEWWW

CC: I'm in!!

CC: Sollux finally came through and.. I believe the full chain is now complete!!

CC: Eridan?

CC: Eridan!

CC: Well maybe you're away.

CC: Since you are. I would hope you at least read this when you are able too

CC: since everything has happened and we have left everything behind

CC: and you can't pose any danger to those people you always planned too

CC: I don't think its necessary for me to be your moirail anymore.

CC: I'm sorry eridan.

CC: looking after you has just been exhausting. and it took a toll on me.

CC: It might be better for both of us

CC: as just. regular friends

CC: ...

CC: I'm sorry. I have to go help sollux now!!

cuttlefishCuller [CC] ceased trolling caligulasAquarium [CA]

Curious. How curious indeed. No matter. You can finally rest easy now child. Sweet dreams..

Whatever signs of the creature being there are now gone. The only thing that remains there is what looks like Eridan sleeping... Peacefully. Arrogance is gone now.