#but plenty of players are shit without being hated as a person

[lys-jeorge]

People are so full of unjustified rage towards Nisqy

[kikitakite]

@fantasyfictionfables

I was going to reblog some of your posts because I wanted to discuss your takes on Mystra, but then I found out you're a Christian conservative who hates gay people.

No gay person thinks their sexual orientation is their identity, but it's absolutely PART of their identity, just as being straight is part of yours. You can claim otherwise, but it determines who you might love and marry and that person will one day become a part of you and your identity. It's inevitable. As a wife and mother of three, you should know that better than anyone.

But people from groups like yours shame gay people for exploring that part of themselves and that's why Pride Month exists. Pride isn't "propaganda". It's about marginalized people showing the world they exist and they're not ashamed of it. Parades are also a great way for gay people to meet each other. My bestie met her wife at a march 15 years ago and they've been together ever since. It's beautiful. They have two happy, gorgeous children who wouldn't exist without Pride, because their moms never would've met.

Pride also raises money to help gay teens who've been cast out of their homes and gay refugees who've had to flee their country because being gay is illegal there. It also provides support for gay people who need medical help, therapy for abuse, suicide prevention and more. It's a safe space for people who are often discriminated against and even KILLED just for being who they are. So sorry that seems to bother you.

Your take isn't brave, it's just ignorant and hateful. You didn't have to write that post. Nothing provoked it. You just WANTED to to air your allegiances. And then you turned off comments and reblogs lmfao. For the majority of the year, gay people survive just like us straights. They go about their day and don't even mention being gay. You picked the one month in the entire year that's dedicated to them to complain about their existence and call them "deranged". And then you have the audacity to say you "bear no ill will" towards them? Bullshit.

I can only assume the word "pride" scares you because you're a Christian and it's a sin, am I right? Well here's something ironic: lust is also a sin, yet your entire blog not only consists of Gale thirst posts, but you're also stealing Tim Downie's voice to make audio clips using AI. Hmmm, I wonder if God would approve of a married woman posting NSFW content and using a man's voice for her hedonistic writings without his consent. 🤔

And by the way, as a veteran DnD player I can tell you right now that Mystra has done some absolutely VILE shit to her followers. She's not perfect. None of the gods in DnD are. They're flawed and often cruel. I've seen you compare Mystra and Gale to stories in the Bible, but that almost feels blasphemous. Mystra has a history of evil deeds. She orchestrated Elminster's rape, made sure he had kids and never told him about them. She turned Volo into an anchor without his knowledge. She tortured a peasant because he refused to sleep with her, then killed his wife and punished him for crying about it. And don't even get me started on the "daughters" she created. The third Mystra (who has Mystra and Mystryl's memories) is cruel to Gale as well and the game gives so much context for that. Plus ALL the companions agree she's unreasonable and tell Gale to reject her, and if he does it leads to one of his most satisfying endings. He's happy, he's a teacher, he marries tav and everyone approves. Your way of playing isn't the only right way and people aren't wrong for criticizing Mystra. There's plenty about her that deserves to be criticized, as is the case with every god in the pantheon.

Speaking of, I have nothing against Christians, but I do when they use their faith to shame people and act like total hypocrites.

[mikareo]

⌗ SEASONS OF LOVE ₊ ˖ ་. a 呪術廻戦 miniseries

“ ࣭⸰ ★ SERIAL ROMANTIC ; gojo satoru x fem reader ⠀ ꒰ . . episode one ! ꒱ . . . word count; 1.2k ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ᯇ remember when we first met?

⊹ ⠀⠀ you might possibly be the least helpful person in the world when it comes to making a hinge profile...gojo can attest to that.

contains; gojo satoru x fem reader, university (year 2) au, fluff, gojo's a dick, swearing, best friends to lovers, love triangle

⋆⋆⋆⠀ ⠀pm or send ask to join/be removed from taglist,, ⋆⋆⋆⠀ ⠀link to miniseries masterlist

"y'know, i'd appreciate it if you could help at least a little bit."

gojo can feel your hard glare targeting him, piercing into his skull like a red laser beam, yet still chooses to ignore you. he doesn't understand why you can't just finish unpacking later. you're kind of being a buzzkill. yes, he'd be a better friend if he continued to help you unpack your boxes and organize your cluttered dormitory; but he's got more important things to do. things that require his complete and utmost attention. things that are life or death on a college campus. things that will make or break his entire young adult experience...

...things like finishing his hinge profile!

"i promise— wait no. i pinky promise i'll put all of your shit away later, just tell me which photos to pick for this prompt, i'm stuck." he's begging and pleading for you to focus on him, which isn't unusual when dealing with a narcissist such as himself. c'mon. c'mon. gojo knows exactly how to win you over. it really isn't that hard. all he has to do is beg and whine a little, give you some puppy dog eyes, and you'll do whatever he says! there's no way he's actually going to put all of your clothes away; that'll take like...forever.

with an eye roll in response to the cheer of joy gojo lets out, you set your boxes to the side and lay beside him on the carpet. he can feel your nose tickling his neck as you lean close to see his screen, and he wonders why his heart skips a beat. eh, it's probably nothing.

"this is so dumb, satoru." you point to his screen, your finger directed at his favorite prompt so far.

don't hate me if i: have blue eyes

"okay, wait!" he flicks your forehead, laughing as you pout, and clicks on the 'add image' prompt. "it's like a thing now! girls hate guys with baby blues like mine!" being handsome is so hard nowadays.

if he asked anyone at jujutsu university who the biggest player on campus is, they'd name him off without blinking twice. while only being a freshman last year, gojo managed to become a household (or a dorm-hold?) name that'll be talked about for years after he graduates. there may be a possibility he's either flirted or made out with every girl in his graduating class, not including you, all in one school year. without the use of dating apps, he went on a total of eighty-seven first dates from august to june; albiet seeing a few girls more than a few times for some special alone time, if you get what he means; and he had the absolute time of his life and needs to recreate that thrill again.

"you don't need an app to get girls, you get plenty already."

ugh why do you always have to rain on his parade?

"obviously i don't need an app, but it's way more fun this way." he argues, "imagine if i hit a hundred first dates before may. i'd break last year's record."

"and why are you getting so butt-hurt about my dating life?" he's treading into dangerous territory. the two of you never talk about your romantic experiences, considering you never want to talk about them with him. "it's not my fault you had a total of...hm what was it? zero dates last year?"

"just find a fucking photo and get this over with."

yeah, your love life is off limits...

a chuckle rumbles from his throat as gojo continues scrolling through his camera roll, searching for a photo that screams 'boyfriend material'...or to be more specific 'one night stand material'. while he's searching for a photo that'll make girls want to sleep with him, he doesn't notice that his brightest smiles only appear in the photos with you. then again, he never notices you; and if he ever did, it's unlikely he'd date you anyways. you're his best friend. he doesn't want to ruin that. he can't ruin that, because then he'd have to imagine a life without you in it.

a particular picture stands out from the rest, and you choose to point it out. it's the two of you in your high school uniforms, standing side-by-side beneath the cherry blossoms after your third year graduation ceremony. his hair is slightly shorter and his height hadn't reached its full potential yet, but you look absolutely adorable— almost like a kitten that he's protecting from the no-good boys of the world (technically he belongs in that category, but that's besides the point).

"do you remember when we first met?" a soft hum is murmured in his ear and gojo finds the sound quite comforting.

he thinks for a moment, completely blanking as the memory escaped his mind, and takes a random guess. "middle school? english class?"

the look of disappointment on your face immediately tells him he's wrong.

"look it was a really long time ago, i know that at least." no amount of excuses will make up for his awful recollection, but he tries nonetheless. gojo satoru is a shitty friend. that's just how it is. you both know it and he tries his best to be better for you, however, he can't help the way he is. some boys are born to be boys. "i'm trying my best—"

"it's alright, just stop."

you're so upset.

"there are more important things to remember, really it's fine."

why are you so upset?

"i'm sorry," he mumbles. this feeling of guilt isn't familiar to gojo and he can't help but hate it. "i'll try to remember."

what is it that you were trying to reminisce about? he wants to know but he shouldn't pry any more, you're clearly done with the conversation and want to move on with a concentrated thinking face gracing your features. you look pretty. woah. you look really pretty. he's never thought that before. why hasn't he noticed before? suddenly, the thought of however many hinge girls want him isn't very appealing and he just wants to make you smile again. you're so pretty when you smile. his heart is beating ten times faster than usual and he's urging it to calm down, but it won't.

...maybe that's a good thing, though.

⋆⋆⋆⠀ ⠀pm or send ask to join/be removed from taglist,, ⋆⋆⋆⠀ ⠀link to miniseries masterlist

⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⊹₊｡ reblogs are greatly appreciated! ˚₊⊹

[massivechestplate]

Is anyone else tired over recent events? Not in a sleepy way, but in that bone-deep depression way?

Bit of a long post about the general Gacha game-sphere. Needed to get this off of my chest, might as well scream into the void.

I ask this as someone who flirts between these gacha games out of boredom mostly. They're free, they're phone, they got Story, and I'm not spending a cent on them personally, so that's why I play them.

But every fucking day it seems we got another controversy. Bad VA this, fired an artist that, White_Pharaoh.png being handed out like fucking candy on Halloween lately.

And then we discuss on how Its Bad, and we all know Its Bad, people discuss on what to do, Boycott, torch the franchise and run, stay and try to fix it, ignore it because it's been your Comfort Media for the past 3 years, all that stuff. And it's hard. And a lot of those choices always feel half-assed.

I've been around a bit, I've seen it. I was around when Fate Grand Order had LB7, Wandjina, and all the other shit on 2023 JP hit, and there was talk, some talked but stayed, others left but chose to still engage with Type-Moon works, some might've left completely but I never heard of them.

I was around when Project Moon fired Vellmori, and there was betrayal, some deciding to leave, others staying because Project Moon wormed into their hearts and they decided to stay even knowing what was happening. Knowing what it was now built on and where the lines were drawn.

And I'm here now in the midst of the Hoyoverse shittery round 2, I don't think I need to speak at length on that. We've all seen it.

And all the time every potential choice to take feels half-assed?

Do you leave, abandoning the franchise as if leaving without fighting to improve something makes you good, preserving your own morality at the cost of never making anything better? The lack of evil substituting for substantial good?

Do you boycott? If so is it purely not spending money or not even logging in? Does it even make a difference? After all, when do these oversea companies really listen to anyone outside their country of origin? Is it enough to stop on that one specific game and still buy other works, or do you condemn the whole?

Do you continue on as normal, to indulge in the media? To continue what brings you joy and comfort? Is criticizing and acknowledging the faults enough or just lipservice?

Are we arrogant to impose our values on others, hating foreign companies not conforming to our beliefs? Or is this completely reasonable, every scathing speech and point completely justified and never bordering on some level of sinophobia?

And just... it's hard. Hard enough trying to be a Good Person normally but here? In this space? Part of it feels natural and some action is necessary for the Good of Everything, the other part feels like a big fuss over something ultimately small and meaningless.

And it hurts. You give out pieces of yourself to these stories, let it become a part of you, then become forced to tear it out of your heart just to be Good. And when I say that I don't mean in that internet point "I'm a good person way" but the way of being Good with yourself, proving only to yourself.

And it doesn't help that plenty of us have devolved into humanity's good old passtime of tribalism, mockery, and a lack of empathy for The Other. Everyone's been taking the piss out of the other gacha players for the stuff their games pull as if their own games haven't done the same. Some of it might be in good nature, over exaggerated and self-deprecating, a joke or criticism, but its honestly become indistinguishable from genuine malice and contempt.

And...

I'm tired.

Tired of seeing this. Tired of dealing with it. Tired of wondering what to do, what's the best choice, what choice even is there.

Part of me is honestly tempted to just not care. To accept that I'm a bad person by playing these games and going through with it anyways because I'm so tired and cynical that hedonistic indulgence just becomes more worth it than trying to be good. At most accept a Gacha-game that's a 'Lesser Evil' compared to another, if that even counts.

Because it hurts. Because you let these stories change you, touch you, let them into your heart, and then have to tear it out with your own two hands and pretend it doesn't hurt. And you can't feel like you can mourn what you lost, because someone will come in and start raving about how it's dumb you even cared to begin with.

I've seen arguments for every option, from people I don't respect and people I do, strangers and prominent community figures. I've warred with the argument of "Morally Pure Media doesn't exist, don't beat yourself up over it" and wonder just how absolute that statement should be.

And I don't know.

And all I want is to go to sleep, and wake up and have it magically be better.

[tater-tot-jr]

Honkai: Star Rail fans, I’m here to yap. Major spoilers for 2.4.

So, I’m the certified number 1 space china hater. I hate that place, I don’t trust it, I didn’t like its first story arc that much. But holy shit that ruled. That was awesome. It’s obviously impossible to follow up Penacony and outdo it, and you can certainly nitpick some faults, but the war dance arc thus far was super enjoyable to play.

Let’s start with the fucking Yanqing character development holy shit?? Seeing the ways he matured and humbled himself was super fucking cool, and his dynamic with Yunli was peak comedy. His monologue about why he wields a sword was completely awesome, very well done by the VA. Hoyo making sure to let us know that both him and Yunli are literal child soldiers and we should be concerned about that was based. The conflict between him and Yunli was actually presented really well. (I haven’t done the new march event yet so maybe I’ll come back and edit this if I remember) The didn’t really push someone as correct or incorrect, they just showed us the situation and let us form opinions. Yanqing getting some character development was awesome and I love that for him.

The plot? It still had some of that trademark complexity but it was much easier to follow this time around. It felt like events naturally lead to one another and the characters reacted as they actually would instead of just reacting as necessary to move the plot. It gives you a shocking amount of player agency to succeed or fail and I really enjoyed the stakes that came with that. I’m liking how dark some of it is, it’s not crazy but there are certainly some moments.

I love all the new characters, they’ve all managed to endear themselves to me very quickly. Even the characters I was meh on like Jiaoqiu and Lingsha managed to worm their way into my heart a little. Feixiao is a total badass and Moze really interests me. Yunli was really funny and I enjoyed her shenanigans. As much as some of the mechanics and designs of these new characters disappointed me I still found them compelling in the narrative.

And the fucking angst? Hello?? It was peak.

This might be a hot take but I think the shackling prison is my new favorite singular section of the game. I love Dan Heng, I find his lore and personality fascinating and was dying to see some more of it. His VA did a great job this entire patch, Dan Heng is very stoic so it was impressive how his VA managed to portray the general unease he felt being back in the Luofu. He was just normal enough to not have anyone make a big deal out of it but you could tell that something was just under the surface. Then you get to the shackling prison and it just… man. You get to the door and you hear his voice just break. For someone so stoic you hear him overwhelmed with emotions, and it’s so juicy. Wonderful way to set the tone, Hoyo. Then you get inside and wow it’s evil looking in there. The other chance you get to chat with Danny boy before shit hits the fan is just as good. They decided to give me personally a treat with his lines like, and I’m paraphrasing here, “it’s just as cold as I remembered.” And telling the trailblazer they “shouldn’t have to see this place.” Hoyo chose violence with that shit. Also, Fox Boy™️ literally got held hostage and (kinda) enslaved. Incredible.

The pacing of that section was awesome. Seeing Xueyi get destroyed and then rushing down with Hanya was a simple trick but goddamnit it worked. The way it managed to portray that rushed and dangerous feeling without going overboard on the monsters around you was impressive. It was so much fun to watch the mystery come together in a way that felt like both a climax and a cliffhanger somehow. The cinematic stuff was so well done, it was all so pretty. There were plenty of POV swaps but they felt natural and necessary to the plot. I was unenthusiastic about going back to space china but goddamnit Hoyo has done it again. Fuck.

It was just a really fun patch, 2.5 feels so far away…. :(

[bqstqnbruin]

So. Like. I’ve been feeling ways about hockey fandom, especially since the season ended for my team. Mostly, like, sad that it feels like everyone else hates my team? (It may just be a fun combo of like, I’m sure a lot of people feel similarly and I’m just looking at the wrong spaces + meanwhile, I’m finding all the wrong spaces where fans of rival teams are out there talking shit). Idk, I guess I’m just feeling like I’m stumbling into all the bad aspects of the fandom. Plus, I guess it’s not helping that my team — moreso, specific players on it — is more known for iffy hits. But I also feel like every team out there has those players that fans defend occasionally for bad hits, so I know it’s not just specific to my team. Ugh. I guess I have a bad case of disillusionment (again) mixed with ‘I’m pointing fingers at villains but I’m a villain myself.’ Maybe I should spend the offseason wisely by distancing myself for a sec. Sorry for like, venting and working through my problems in your inbox 😅 I consider you to be like, a normal person within hockey who’s good with advice, so that’s why I’m here! With that being said, love you 😘

Honestly you can like the team as a whole without liking certain players on the team; there are plenty of players on the Bruins who I've hated and you could not pay me to defend them (fucking bartkowski miller and hamilton), but also at a certain point there are always going to be people who hate your favorite team, so you just have to ignore it. No matter what team you like, there are going to be people who don't like them and even hate them for some reason or even no reason, and there are going to be people who hate your favorite players, hell I've seen people say they hope the Bruins team plane crashes so there's no more team (which is ??????? WILD). I think the only way you become a villain for liking a team is if you defend them no matter what and you turn a blind eye to when they do something shitty (like the Bruins signing M*tchell M*ller what the fuck was that)

[misterellyott]

In June I started working overnights at a small, but beautiful resort.

It has 22 rooms and is outside the city surrounded by a vineyard owned by the same person who owns the resort.

On the outside looking in and even in pictures, it's absolutely beautiful. It's got a large man made lake, for the vineyard, it's got a decent sized yard with plenty of grass, a heated swimming pool, and a stunning view of the surroundings.

However, working here hasn't always been the most fun someone could have working for a hotel.

We are constantly short staffed, mostly due to our upper management letting go of the hotel manager and not making any active steps to hire a new one. And not really taking any steps to hire for understaffed positions, housekeeping and cooks.

At first the overnight position was amazing. It's super simple, easy to get the hang of. And with some of my free time at night I have expanded and taken on some tasks that weren't my responsibly.

However, now due to them being short staffed in housekeeping they are trying to shadily slowly but surely pass off a lot of their tasks to me.

Such as, taking out all trashes in the kitchen and bathrooms, keeping the bathrooms stocked with toilet paper/paper towels/hand soap, sweep the bathrooms, make sure the bar is clean, and to sometimes do dishes in the kitchen.

While I very much believe in being a team player, i.e. helping when other coworkers are sick, or seeing something I could easily do real quick to make one less task for the next shift, etc.

I am not about to take on a housekeeping roll without extra pay. The amount of tasks they are slowly piling on me will begin to eat away at all my time I have for my other tasks that I have to do at night in order to make sure the day shift runs smoothly.

Sure, I still have a few down time moments, but most my night is constant motion. I sit for maybe a combined hour at most.

If they don't want to pay me more, than they either need to move some of my tasks, like polishing the silverware and rolling them into napkins, setting up the coffee bar, putting ice in the bar, making the coffee/hot water, watering the flowers, folding the pool towels and putting them out, putting the dirty pool towels in the laundry room, etc, on to other shifts.

I'm not a one man show. Sure, I could cut out some of my time by not walking out to the bungalows and use the golf cart instead, but I enjoy the time walking in the night in the cool weather instead of being cooped up in the hot as hell buildings.

But, the fact remains. More work requires more pay. I'm happy to help out in as many ways as I can that don't take me over 15-20 minutes, but I'm not about to take on tasks that could add well over 2 hours of work a night and still be expected to make the same paycheck.

That being said, I have begun looking for a different overnight job in the event that my boss tries to fire me for not taking on these addition tasks due to his unwillingness to ensure that they have enough housekeeping to do them.

I absolutely hate job hunting, it's mentally exhausting. I've been here three months and really thought that this place was going to be a wonderful job that I could stay long term as they have really good health insurance as well.

But the whole place is slowly going downhill every day.

From serving hand made scones and muffins, which were amazing, to the premade just pop in the oven kind that taste like shit.

To dishwashers that can't even properly sort and get the silverware ready for me to polish at night so I have to waste a ton of time sorting them into their proper containers in order to even begin polishing and folding them.

To lazy coworkers that refuse to pick up after guests leaving me spending a good chunk of time collecting all the used plates and glasses and doing their dishes, when they had more than three hours to have done so.

To other coworkers complaining that my polishing job isn't good enough and I need to do better before folding them, even though I take my time and polish every single one sometimes taking over two hours to do.

And now them trying to pawn off housekeeping jobs onto the night shift.

I don't know where to go from here other than find another job.

I don't have time to sit down and speak with my boss when he is here about everything as he gets here long after I'm already home and in bed before going to my day job.

Now, to find the time for interviews. yay.

[jackiesartden]

Modern Call of Duty is Ass

I know I am late to this party, but I bought MW3 when it was on sale for 30 bucks, so I played it only starting a month or whatever ago.

Holy shit, this game is ass.

Where to even start? I do unironically enjoy this series, as much as its grating hyper-individualized uncritically pro-military USA propaganda is annoying to me. Call it a guilty pleasure, I suppose, but it still is a fun shooter and it's not like my individual purchase is going to make a meaningful difference to the affect it casts on impressionable tweens, teens, and adults. I am a sucker for 'immersive' types of games with dramatic cinematics, narrative and fun casual gameplay.

But damn, are they trying to ruin this series. The imperialism propaganda meter has been turned up to 11 since MW2019, having the fucking gall to reframe real life American war crimes as other countries, emboldening xenophobic vigilantism as long as it's in the best interest of 'what's right' AKA the West and especially the USA. The Black Ops storyline is as uncritically anti-communist as always, but they're getting bold with the 'heroic' portrayal of Ronald Reagan in BO: Cold War and I'm cynically looking forward for how they'll manage to overtly rewrite history to embolden the 1980's and 1990's CIA in Black Ops 6. You can't make the CIA look good without being seriously dishonest or ignorant, and given the franchise's past ties to the actual US Military, I'm expecting a whole lot of the former.

In the MW reboot, they've taken what you could earnestly call a classic, if a bit goofy (and subtle propaganda) storyline into a mediocre (and blatant propaganda) rehash with dwindling levels of effort being put into the campaign, something especially noticeable in MW3. I remember hearing rumors that MW3 started off as a DLC, and man does it feel like it. Several of the missions are basically a mini DMZ session with some exposition thrown in, which feels like filler content that was quicker to make rather than a thought out plan of gameplay. Playing thru MW2019, MW2, and MW3, I think there's a clear slow decline in care and effort put into the campaign, and then a swift smash into a brick wall for the latter game. I won't do spoilers, but the way certain important plot elements of the original games were recreated were, to be generous, undercooked. The 'big thing' comes out of nowhere, feels underwhelming, and extremely contrived.

How about the multiplayer? It's...ok. I play it, I enjoy parts of it. But I've noticed that the classic maps that have been ported over seem to not fit the overhauled gameplay. I don't hate the movement as much as I've seen some complain, but I would personally prefer something closer to the classic mechanics, with just sliding here and there. I will say though, I do think the 'omnidirectional movement system' as they call it in the Black Ops 6 beta is an improvement. It feels like a more refined version of the same vibe, and I look forward to playing more of that game's multiplayer when in comes out late next month.

There are some major gripes I share with others in the community, though. For one thing- please get rid of fucking SBMM. It's just annoying, and sucks fun out of what should be a fun casual game. CoD has always been a fun game to play casually. It is not at its best as a hardcore shooter, and I think that the 'hardcore' gamemodes and ranked queue should be cleanly separated from the mass player group who plays it casually. I saw a dev claiming that SBMM has always been a thing in the classic games. But here's the thing- even if the basic system was present, there is no way it is anywhere near as strict as it is now, and every reasonable player knows that. Most people do not want to grind skill rank; we have Counter-Strike, Valorant, Rainbow Six: Siege, and plenty of other well-balanced, better-made games for that.

Another thing that annoys me but seems hit or miss as a complaint from others, is the netcode. I'm not quite sure if it's peaker's advantage, lag compensations, or whatever other combination of multiplayer netcode terminology, but it just doesn't feel good to me. When I kill other players, it feels like TTK is long and I'm mag-dumping, but when I get killed, it feels like they locked onto my head instantly and took me out with like two shots. Then, when I watch the killcam, they had five business days to slowly move the crosshair towards my direction and destroy my face. It's hard without insight behind the scenes to know how much of this is perceived, and how much is actual latency issues or whatever, but even if it's just a presentation problem it still sucks to play with.

Am I still gonna play CoD? Yeah. I'm still playing MW3, and I pre-ordered BO6 and enjoyed the beta multiplayer overall. But I can dream of games being better and less pumped with shitty messaging. Something something no ethical consumption under capitalism

[thefirstknife]

I'm gonna say it: I think Bungie doesn't really have a character idea for Crow. They've taken his potential and just thrown it away in favor of 'uwu softboi crow'. It was understandable when it was the Cabal and Saladin was genocidal, but they've turned him into a caricature. This week just confirms that they want him to be hated by the fanbase and it's working. I don't know if his VA is too expensive or what, but it really feels like they're running his writing into the ground so they can kill him off without protest next expansion.

I don't really agree. Bungie has never made Crow into a "uwu softboi Crow." That's the fandom at work.

Crow is a deeply traumatised man who has been through more shit than someone should've been through in his short life. From incomprehensible violence at the hands of the Guardians that drove him to killing himself, to literal slavery with the Spider where he was demeaned, kept on a leash, starved and severely punished for making minor mistakes, to manipulation by Savathun who more or less forced him into coming to the Tower and accepting a Vanguard job before he was ready for it, to being manipulated yet again into getting Uldren's memories back, to being pushed into more work by the Vanguard...

He's a tough and hardened person. He has his convictions and deep empathy towards people who suffer like he did. He is not defenseless or clueless: he is misguided and confused. People either decide to turn him into a baby or to still hate him and that's been the case since he returned. Crow is a very capable and skilled Guardian. Very few Guardians get official jobs with the Vanguard within the first 2 years of their life and his jobs so far have been extremely important and taxing.

People who hate him after this week have always hated him. Nothing will ever change that. He made a mistake, he is going to suffer for it for years to come (someone as empathetic as Crow who wants to save innocent lives causing the death of an innocent...), but as I said in a previous post, he has been forgiven and all who were affected by his mistake have decided to move on, not hold a grudge. This is most evident with how patient and understanding Saladin is with him, but also with how Zavala decided to shut down the Psion stuff for good despite the disagreement with Caiatl, and with how Caiatl is not compromising on the alliance over this incident because, in her eyes, the debt is paid.

I think the "uwu softboi" interpretation mostly comes from how emotional Crow is and that comes from his trauma. Being emotional doesn't mean that someone is immediately a soft person. Saint is very emotional as well. I think this comes from being unaccustomed to seeing men openly emotional as they are. Despite being emotional, they're both uncompromising on their protective instincts and their morals and their care for innocent lives. Crow has argued plenty of times against the status quo and against his superiors. He's not always correct, a portion of his mistakes comes from inexperience. But I don't really view his narrative as him being shown as what the fandom tends to do with him and turning him into a baby.

Crow has been pretty consistent and has been advocating for peace, empathy and understanding with our enemies. He's done it with the Eliksni since he was rezed, even with Wrathborn Eliksni, he's done it with Cabal, the Eliksni again, and now the Hive. He sees himself in these outsiders who are viewed as monsters based on what they look like because HE was being judged based on what he looks like. His characterisation hasn't changed in that regard, imo.

I don't think they're planning to kill him off by making the players hate him. I certainly don't hate him: I think he is a valuable member of the team who should be given more help and understanding. As Saladin put it, the Vanguard "put a gun into his hands and told him what they wanted him to be." He needs time to find out who HE wants to be.

And also Bungie doesn't kill off character for VA reasons. If the VA is expensive, they will recast the VA.

[zoeywades-spouse]

lol the "woman can merely snicker" thing is from a popular twitter joke about white feminists. i think the joke is that some of you are taking this too seriously. sadie tried to frame a black man for murder, it's perfectly valid for people to dislike her. also, some people are uncomfortable with big age gaps and that's ok.

Hi Anon! Thanks for reaching out.

I’m not on twitter so I’m not aware of the joke and I didn’t even know it was a joke. I still don’t get what the women can merely snicker thing actually means.

I think me and some other queer blogs brought up very valid issues about how the fandom treats male versus female LIs which oftentimes can alienate queer players. Unfortunately there have been plenty of times in the fandom even here on tumblr in which queer fans feel alienated by the response to the Sadie scene or mftl mc being bi or so forth. That’s basically our main concern.

I flat out said in one of my posts that Sadie is a shit person. I literally hate her. She’s a godawful human being and I got no respect for her. And it’s completely valid for people to hate her for those reasons.

However, when all we’re seeing is people calling the scene nasty and uncomfortable without any context it can be easily misunderstood. I’ve literally only seen one account on here state that they found the scene gross because of what Sadie did. But when you have people just saying it’s nasty or uncomfortable and leaving it at that especially from straight female blogs who have a history of romancing toxic men there are those of us who have seen it as underlying homophobia.

Also, it’s frustrating when the same people who romanced or wanted to romance toxic and problematic men like Marc Antony, Aerin, and gaius then shitted on the Sadie scene. And again this goes into the same argument we’ve made that when those same people then shit on that Sadie scene when it’s coming from specifically straight women who romanced those men it feels like there’s again some underlying homophobia there that again makes some queer players feel alienated from the fandom.

Being uncomfortable about big age gaps is also completely valid. It makes me uncomfortable as well. I think what myself and other blogs pointed out is that it is hypocritical of people who find dilfs and older men attractive yet shamed the Sadie scene because she was older. But that wasn’t one of the main points.

Basically hating Sadie for what she did or finding the scene uncomfortable because of age gaps is completely valid. But when all we’re seeing is a ton of hate with no context coming specifically from straight women who romanced toxic/problematic men that’s when it becomes homophobia. Perhaps I didn’t state more clearly that’s who I was referring to in my previous posts but that’s the group that’s being hypocritical and homophobic. If you’re not a part of that group then we weren’t talking about you. And it’s frustrating because we are genuinely tired of seeing homophobia both in choices and in the fandom.

[fruitcoops]

I think it would be really interesting for leo and sirius to talk ab how they both didn’t go to college and how they both joined the nhl at 18 but had v different upbringings

Ooo, I like this one! I’m always down for some Cap and Knutty bonding. SW credit goes to @lumosinlove!

TW for mentioned bad parenting

“Kinda weird, isn’t it?” Leo said, breaking the nighttime silence after many long minutes of just their breathing. Sirius hummed in question. “Starting all this so young.”

Sirius made a noncommittal noise and Leo shifted, never taking his eyes off the sky. There was too much light pollution to see the stars properly in Gryffindor, but the roof of the rink didn’t have a bad view; the planes flying overhead brought pinpricks of brightness to the indigo blur.

“Was it hard for you?”

He heard Sirius’ coat move. “Was what hard?”

“Starting the NHL at eighteen.”

There was a long beat of silence. “Sometimes.”

“I didn’t know if I would make it,” Leo confessed, still barely above a murmur. Nobody else was around, but it didn’t feel right to talk in normal voices. The whole world was muted, save for the noise of the city below them. “There was just so much to do.”

Sirius laughed softly. “I hate to break it to you, rookie, but that doesn’t change.”

“How do you deal with it?”

“Before, or now?”

Leo thought for a moment. “Both.”

“Before, I would go home and shoot pucks until I was too tired to stand up. Sometimes I would read.” It wasn’t a secret, but it still made Leo’s heart hurt to remember. Nobody as kind and hardworking as Sirius deserved that. “Now, I make myself some food, take a shower, and steal Re’s softest hoodie.”

Leo could hear his smile in the dark—it echoed his own. “Nothing better, huh?”

“Nope.”

“Finn’s fit me best,” he mused. “But Lo’s smell better.”

“Ah, he finally discovered deodorant?”

“Shut up,” Leo teased, elbowing his ribs. Sirius laughed a little louder; in the light of the streetlamps and the absence of his granite-hard focus, it was easy to remember that he was only 26. Leo had worshipped him as a kid, but now he just saw Sirius for what he was. His captain, who guided him through the playoffs even when his personal life was crumbling apart. His older brother, though Sirius certainly wouldn’t think of him that way. His friend.

“Really, though, it’s important to have those connections,” Sirius said when they both calmed down. “Being alone is good, but only if you know you have people to talk to when you need them.”

“Was it easier when you weren’t living with someone?”

“No.” The answer was immediate.

“Sometimes I want the apartment to myself.” Leo lowered his voice unconsciously, then sighed. “It’s not because I don’t want them there. I just need to be alone. Wash the dishes. Clean my room. Call my mom.”

“You should tell them.”

He turned his head slightly; Sirius was still scanning the sky. “Is that what you did?”

“It took a couple hiccups, but yeah. If one of us needs some alone time, the other will go to the grocery store or take a walk, maybe hang out with friends. You just have to make sure your boys know that it’s not personal.”

“You’re freakishly good at sage advice.”

Sirius snorted. “Merci, rookie.”

“I’m not a rookie anymore.”

“Yeah, you are.” He raised his hands, as if outlining a marquee. “The Eternal Rookie, starring Leo Knut.”

Leo stuck his tongue out, feeling rather petulant about the whole thing. “Watch it, Cap, I’m gonna sic Dumo on you.”

“My own father?” Sirius gasped dramatically. “How could you?”

“Did you ever get homesick?”

The question was out of the blue—he didn’t blame Sirius for faltering. Honestly, Leo was kicking himself for asking in the first place, though he had been keeping it in for ages. Unspoken rule of the Lions #1: Don’t ask Cap about his childhood.

“I…” Sirius fell silent once more.

“I’m sorry,” Leo apologized, and he meant it. “That came out of nowhere.”

“I missed Regulus,” Sirius continued carefully without acknowledging him. “But no, I didn’t get homesick. I didn’t have time, or a real reason.”

Alone in a new city, finally out of a horrible living situation, but desperately missing the little brother he left behind… Leo couldn’t even begin to imagine going through it when the NHL by itself was already overwhelming to his teenage brain. He scooted an inch closer until their shoulders touched. “I get homesick every couple of months.”

“You have a kind family.”

“Have you even met them?”

“At the party.” Sirius’ smile was practically audible. “Your mother was very excited to see me.”

“Oh, god,” Leo groaned. “What happened?”

“She—“ He broke off with a laugh. “She was very nice, I promise, but I think I surprised her because she squeaked when I said ‘hello’.”

Leo shook his head. “Did you sneak up on her?”

“I’m six two, I can’t sneak up on anyone!”

“You walk like a fucking ghost, dude! It’s creepy!”

“Okay, rude.”

“I swear, you and Loops need to be belled like cats,” Leo huffed.

They lapsed back into comfortable quiet for a few more minutes as a train rattled past on one side and the metro busses rolled down Main Street on the other. It had taken Leo a long time to figure out Gryff’s layout, and even longer to get used to the sounds of the city.

“What does it feel like?”

Leo blinked, unsure if he had heard correctly. “What?”

“Being homesick.” Sirius shifted again and folded his hands over his stomach. “I didn’t notice much of a difference in practices when I started the NHL, and going back to my parents’ house wasn’t my exactly a highlight of my year.”

Curiosity overrode his tact and reasoning skills. “You never asked Logan?”

“Non. It was different, with him. He had already left to go to college before I knew him, and spent four years away from his family.”

“Right.” Leo forgot about that on occasion. That Finn and Logan might be five years older than him, but they had only been rookies a year or two prior. Not everyone went straight from their city select team to an official draft. “It’s hard to describe.”

Sirius made an understanding noise, but he couldn’t entirely mask his disappointment. Leo licked his lips and tried again.

“It’s like a piece of you isn’t where it’s supposed to be. And it keeps tugging on your chest, but you never know when it’s going to start and stop so you just… deal with it. You ignore it some days and you think about it other days.” He swallowed around the lump in his throat. “The hard days are when you remember you can’t go back to the way things were before. I don’t even call my mom sometimes, ‘cause I know it’ll make me sadder.”

“The way things were before?”

“Yeah, like—like all my classmates are in college, and I’m laying on a roof with one of the most famous hockey players in the history of forever.” That drew a light laugh from them both. “I’m gonna go back to my reunion in a couple years and have literally nothing in common with the people I used to be friends with.”

“Sometimes I wish I went to college,” Sirius said. “But I would have missed so much if I did. I don’t think I would have been happy there.”

“Finn and Logan get weird about college.” Maybe he shouldn’t be talking about it, but Leo had the feeling none of their conversation would leave the rooftop. “It was hard for them, with all their shit.”

“Re does, too.” He recognized the sad edge in Sirius’ voice; it was the same as his own. “For a different reason. It started good, and ended bad.”

“I’m glad I missed out on that,” Leo said, biting down the urge to scream at the universe for putting their significant others through so much hardship at an already-difficult time. None of them deserved the pain they went through. “Besides, it’s not like we need degrees to play hockey, and we’ll have plenty of money afterward.”

“I never thought about my life after hockey until my ankle.”

“My parents always pushed me to make sure I wanted to do the NHL instead of more school.”

“You’re lucky to have them.”

“I wish you did.”

The words hung suspended between them before Leo could swallow them back down, somehow dangerous and calming at the same time. It wasn’t like he had never thought about it before; he just hadn’t said it out loud. The first time he had seen Sirius’ parents across the rink had given him a case of the heebie-jeebies so strong he had to shower twice. All the times after that just made him angry.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Sirius’ voice was quiet, but not upset. “You’re not the first person to say it. I’m glad you feel like you can be honest with me.”

Leo frowned. “Well, yeah. Obviously.”

“I try really hard to not be an asshole captain, so it actually does mean a lot.”

“I don’t think you could be an asshole if you tried.”

The barking laugh that split the night startled Leo so bad he nearly jumped out of his skin; Sirius clapped a hand over his mouth, though he was still snickering. “Sorry, sorry, I just—holy shit, I forgot you didn’t know me before. Mon dieu.”

“You weren’t that bad,” Leo protested. “Pots said you used to be grumpier, but that’s it.”

Sirius shook his head, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes. “I was such a dick. There’s not a single picture of the whole team where I’m smiling for about two years and I was such a stickler for the rules.”

Leo gaped at him. “You followed rules?”

“To the fucking letter. It was awful.”

“What happened?”

Sirius shrugged. “I got friends. Idiot friends who did things like showing me the easiest way onto the roof. Pots used to drag me up here every Friday.”

“Really?”

“Ouais.” Mischief flitted over his face. “He skipped date night with Lily once on accident, and she tracked us up here like a bloodhound. It was terrifying.”

“What did you do?” Lily was one of the nicest people Leo knew, but he knew better than to get on her bad side.

“Lied to her face while James hid behind that strobe light.”

“Did it work?”

“Are you kidding?” he snorted. “She called me a liar and suggested getting a better best friend. That was after she told James he’s better have something nice planned for their next date if he ever wanted to get in her pants again.”

“And yet you didn’t listen to her.” Leo tsked. “Of all the people on the team, you chose the hot mess.”

“Trust me, rookie, James had his whole life figured out compared to me.”

“Did you…” Leo trailed off and but his lip. He had pushed his luck a lot already; who knew if one more question would be the tipping point? “Did you ever think about coming out? Even just to Pots.”

Sirius didn’t hesitate. “After every single game.”

“For seven years?”

“Up until the day those pictures were leaked. Even more after Re and I were together.”

“How old were you when you knew?”

“13. You?”

Leo exhaled slowly. “I’m not sure. I think I had an idea of it as a kid, but didn’t really get it until I was in high school. My parents were even more worried about the NHL after I told them.”

“They worry a lot about you.”

“Only child, and I was going for a wildly unstable career path with no guarantee that I would ever see the ice.”

“They’re proud of you. More than you know.” Sirius’ watch beeped. “It’s ten o’clock. Are you supposed to be home?”

“I should probably make sure my boys haven’t burned down the apartment.” Neither of them made an attempt to move. “Can we do this again sometime?”

“Of course.”

You’re like a brother to me, he wanted to say. I don’t know who else I can talk to like this. “Thank you.”

“Any time. We don’t have to do extra practice beforehand, either.”

Leo nudged him gently. “You’re the best captain ever.”

“You’re the best rookie, rookie.”

“I’m not a rookie.”

“Yeah, you are.”

Yeah, I am, he thought as they laid side-by-side in silence once more with the past behind them and the future ahead. And if I end up like you, it means I did something right.

[prettyboyeddiemunson]

Hey Sweetheart,

I’m so sorry something triggered you earlier. I’m glad I sent that last letter just in time then. Even if it may have only helped a little. I hope you’re able to sleep well tonight and get plenty of rest. Also, I hope waking up you feel better. I responded to your answers to the questions I asked and answered them too. Figured it would help you get to know me more.

1. I’ve been wanting to read a Stephen King novel for a while but I’m currently reading The Hollow Ones by Guillermo Del Toro and chuck Hogan. I love the show Twin Peaks! I was super unaware there was a book!!

2. That’s so cool you got to go ghost hunting with the cast of ghost hunters! I think ghost hunting is really cool and I definitely plan to do it at least once someday. My favorite memory is when I scared the shit out of a group of NFL players in a haunted maze when I was dressed as a vampire.

3. Picking at/biting your lips can count. As much as I love reading, whether it’s books or fanfics, I have a habit of my eyes skipping ahead on me and reading further ahead. I used to skip to the last page to read the last sentence but I haven’t done that in a few years.

4. Do you have an idea of what kind of book you would want to publish? I would love to finally write a movie script. I don’t care if it gets used or not. Just the idea of finally accomplishing that, would be amazing.

5. It’s terrible that people think it’s okay to yell at or berate wait staff and retail workers. I’m one of those people who go out of my way to stack up the plates and trash at the end of the table when I go to restaurants. The people who think it’s okay to cheat don’t deserve to be loved or be in relationships period. I hate how people don’t realize how easy it is to put in effort to make the relationship work.

6. Pancakes are hands down the best!

7. Vampires are really interesting. I’d definitely pick that one too

8. I have a family that’s so big I wouldn’t want to wish it on anyone. I’d honestly rather be in a small family

9. I never got to grow up in one place, not military. And honestly it really hurt my childhood.

10. Seeing yourself happy, being published, owning a home, and having a family are really great goals. I could definitely say the same for myself with the addition of being more well traveled.

11. My funniest experience involved me getting a C.A.T. scan. So the radiology tech asked if I ever had surgery to have anything removed or metal added in. Without missing a beat I said, “nope I’m still a whole person.” I’ve never heard someone laugh that hard in my entire life. I really must have caught her off guard with that one.

12. Eyes are what I notice first too. There’s so much you can tell about someone with how they express their emotions by their eyes. I also look at body language too. People can lie but their bodies tell the truth.

13. That’s a really good goal. I’ve been feeling nostalgic for the Christmases we had as kids. So I’m really trying to emulate that this year.

14. I’m going to be honest, I was super nervous but excited when I sent the first ask. I get that same feeling every time I hit submit. I’m enjoying getting to know you more.

Honestly if you ever need/want to vent about anything and everything I’m here for you. Just call out to me in a post and I’ll be there.

Song to go with this letter: Do I Wanna Know? - Arctic Monkeys

-Your Secret Admirer

awww thank you, and thank you for providing those answers! if you want some Stephen King recs, my favorites of his are the stand, the dark tower series, the shining, and salem’s lot! the stand is massive, both editions, but I recommend the uncut version! it’s longer, but it includes everything that his publisher made him cut out to shorten the length of the original novel. as for twin peaks, there are actually three books! the secret history of twin peaks and the final dossier (don’t read that last one unless & until you’ve seen season 3!), and the secret diary of laura palmer. i recommend all three, if you’re a big fan of the show!

i love your favorite memories and other things as well! as for what book i wanna publish, im currently slowly working on a horror novel right now! I’d like to try & get it published someday, if I ever get it done and ready. what about your movie script?

[slytherinnbitch]

Day 26: Accident

when harry woke up in a hospital bed for the millionth time, his first thought was hermione is going to kill me. and it was true because hermione had threatened to do exactly that if he landed himself in the hospital yet again. 

but when he finally opened his eyes, there’s no red or bushy brown hair in sight. just the pale blond one which belonged to the prat he hated the most. Draco Fucking Malfoy. and for some reason he looked relieved to see Harry. that couldn’t possibly be right. because draco hated harry with passion and he would have been happy if he died-

“Merlin, Harry, gave me a right scare. can’t you play one game without getting injured or is that too fucking much for you?” draco asked, and while the words and the tone of his voice were in perfect contradiction; one thing was clear. Malfoy was concerned about Harry. but that was something he would focus upon on some another moment when his mind wasn’t full of some half a billion questions. starting with what in merlin’s name was malfoy doing here?

“Malfoy, what the fuck are you doing here? he asked, annoyance clear in his voice. and because he couldn’t help himself he asked the other question which was burning a hole in his brain, “what game are you talking about?”

as far as harry was concerned, he had last played in hogwarts, although he did still participate in some of the impromptu Weasley weekly sunday matches but he doesn’t think Draco knew about that. harry’s words seemed to stop malfoy in his tracks. he frowned at harry, then he stared into his eyes for a long time before harry looked away. 

“uhm, okay. Ha-Potter, could you tell me what year this is?” malfoy asked, did he really think harry to be so dumbheaded that he would forget the year. 

“malfoy, do you really be asking me that? don’t you have better work to do? or did your small brain forget the date?” harry scoffed. malfoy was undetered, he asked harry the same question again, as if he hadn’t even heard harry’s words.

“ugh, you’re so annoying. its January 2001, unless i was unconsious for more than two weeks, then it would be february 2001.” harry replied, and the fuck was he alone? that too with malfoy to keep him company. he was about to ask just that when malfoy said-

“i’ll contact hermione and ron. just- sit here and try not to break anything or get out of bed.”

“and who would you be to comand me that?” harry challenged, like seriously what right did the poncy git have?

“as your appointed healer, if nothing else.” malfoy replied before leaving his private hospital room. 

.

"okay so it's 2011 and I have somehow forgotten ten years of my life. So what's up with me right now then? Senior Auror? Please don't tell me I went for Minister!" Harry tried to joke, it wouldn't do good to panic now afterall. "and however did I end up here? Malfoy mentioned something of a game?"

Ron and Hermione share a look. Harry always hated when they did that, especially after they got together.

"and why did you both allow Malfoy to be my healer? What were you both even thinking?" he added because he can't help but feel slightly betrayed by his friends. Malfoy entered at that exact moment, nosy git that he is, can't let people have some privacy.

"so does he know then? Doesn't look like it," Malfoy claimed, and Harry wanted to strangle him because he was aware that the he was him.

"harry was just asking about his job, and ... other prospects of life." Ron said, looking back and forth between Harry and Malfoy.

"well, I would be going really blunt now because reg would be wanting answers soon." Malfoy motioned his hands around as if whatever he said made sense and who was this reg person even?

even if Malfoy had appeared confident just a moment ago, he took a deep breath before he started, looking determinant, "you're a professional quidditch player. You resigned from the aurors about nine years ago and have been persued by various teams, and have changed teams twice. You now are the main seeker for Puddlemere United. You got hit pretty hard by a bulger before losing consciousness. And then here we are two days later. Does that answer your questions?" Malfoy asked calmy, it's a lot to take in. Well, Harry never fancied being a Auror all that much after defeating that noseless bastard so it's a good decision on his part. He wondered how he came to the decision.

But more importantly, he still had plenty questions let, "who are you? I know your name, malfoy. I am curious to your status in my life." Harry asked and by the look on Hermione and Ron's face and pain reflecting on Malfoy's, he wondered what was so wrong about it.

"Harry, I must have forgotten to tell you. I'm the Minister now. And Ron became head auror just six months back! don't you think that's incredible?" Hermione asked but Harry knew when a topic was being changed pretty well.

"it's no use stopping the inevitable, Mione. He would know eventually and I rather face it myself firsthand. Would be the best route for my heart, you know?" Malfoy said sadly. As if he had something to be sad about, Harry scoffed mentally at that. And what ths fuck? Mione? Not only was Malfoy on first name basis but he also called his best friend by their nicknames? What had the world turned to?

"We are married, Potter. And no, I haven't used any illegal or inauthentic means to achieve it. We have been together for the almost nine years now. And married for the past six." Malfoy said in one breath and what the actual motherfucking fuck?

"Yeah, right. So what's the real shit?" Harry snorted because malfoy might have a humor but this was so fucking far from the truth that it was downright ridiculous.

"Draco is telling the truth, Harry. You both are married." Ron said, and are these people alright? Harry was getting worried.

"what did he do to the two of you as well? What kind of potion did you use? Or is it a spell? Tell me, Malfoy. How have you been doing it for what did you say? Nine years, yeah?" Harry sneered. Malfoy's face shattered, as it should. He had been caught afterall.

"Draco..." Hermione started but Malfoy quickly put up his hand.

"I can't, not right now. It's fine, Mione. Don't worry about me." Malfoy said with a broken voice. Harry had never seen Malfoy showing this kind of emotion publicly before, but Harry didn't care.

"oh, and if we are actually married. I would like a divorce, immediately if possible. You can take whatever you want from my vaults if you want, if money is what you have been after. Reckon you wouldn't need much, what with your family fortune but I guess some people are never satisfied." Harry taunted because that's what he knew best, even if Malfoy looked like he was on the verge of crying.

"are you sure you want that? You won't regret it when you get your memories back?" Malfoy asked slowly.

"oh, absolutely. I think my actual self would be actually thankful. And please do this as soon as possible." Harry requested, although his tone showed anything but.

"very well, Potter. If that's what you wish for, then that's what you get. Don't say I didn't warn you," Malfoy said one last time. Harry just snorted at that.

Ron looked torn between shocked and upset and Hermione was actually crying. She started protesting but Draco just shook his head and smiled at her.

"I always knew this dream would break, mione. I'll be fine. I have reg." Draco sighed before he came to stnd directly infront of Harry.

"break the bonds then, the certificate would already be produced after we do that. I'll contact the advocate right after." Draco put forward his hand and Harry hesitated for a bit before putting their hands together. The touch was familiar, the skin soft and tender. Harry didn't even dwell on that for more than a second.

Malfoy spoke a foreign language, although Harry did catch a few Latin words in there as well. He didn't really care, but when Malfoy finally extracted his hand. Harry gasped loudly, his heart felt lighter and there was a whole comfortable weight on his shoulders that was gone. He didn't like that feeling even one bit.

Malfoy silently wiped the tears in his eyes, as if that was insignificant. He stared at Harry for a long time, to the point that Harry started feeling uncomfortable.

"well, goodbye Potter." Draco said atlast and Harry just lifted an eyebrow and sneered at him. He gave a sad smile to Harry's bestfriends as well. Then, malfoy actually hugged both of them, together.

When they pulled apart, he said, "don't worry, you both. He is not my Harry anyway. I'll be fine." Malfoy didn't look fine and even Harry could tell that.

"what about reg?" Hermione asked. Seriously, who was this reg?

"I'll be taking him with me. Or since ha-potter is the one who is leaving. Reg would be staying with me."

Draco then smiled, Harry didn't like that look one bit, he looked at Harry through his red eyes and said, "i must have forgotten to mention but I'll make sure Regulus stays with me. What with you being unable to even remember him. I'm sure I would have no problem at all. And don't even try otherwise. Consequences would be deadly." Harry shivered at the words but still, didn't understand who Regulus was. The only Regulus he knew was Sirius's brother and he was long dead.

"Potter, Regulus is, Regulus Malfoy-Potter is our son. Or I should say my son." malfoy closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "and don't even try contacting him by anymeans before- no even after you have gained your memory back. Because trust me it will, and it won't be pretty. I don't want my child to go through anything that would cause him trauma, and trust me when your own dad can't remember you, that's going to fuck up anyone's mind real bad, especially for a one and half year old." Malfoy spat out.

Harry could still hear some words ringing in his mind. Child? He had a child? He was a dad? He had to-

"Your rings, Potter." Malfoy out forward his hand, Harry frowned at it.

Malfoy finally gestured at his left hand and he say it, a solid but thin band of gold with small diamonds encrusted. It looked perfect. Just what Harry would have wanted for himself. Did he choose the ring himself then? Not detered, he slid the ring out of his finger. It was with some struggle but it came out atlast. But malfoy was still standing with his hand open.

"what now?" Harry asked, irritatedly.

"the family ring." Malfoy coldly stated. Oh, he then noticed the Malfoy family ring on his tiny finger of his right hand. He practically threw that into Malfoy's hands. Who wanted to be even near that thing?

Malfoy's hand pulled into a tight fist and Harry noticed that he still had a wedding band. So of course, Harry asked, "what about the ones you are wearing?"

"what about them?" Malfoy inquired and Hermione asked at the same time Hermione cried out, "harry, can you please not?"

Harry ignored her and lifted his eyebrows at malfoy again, "well if you take away the ones I had. It's only fair, I get those back."

Malfoy's eyes flashed angrily before the icy facade was back on, "i didn't want dissolve the marriage. I have no obligation to return the rings. And even if I did, I won't. My Harry gave them to me afterall." Malfoy said coldly, but his voice broke at the end.

"and the child-"

"nothing of it. Regulus is my son and he'll be known as such from now on. I would like to see you try otherwise." Malfoy basically growled. Then he gave one mock salute to Harry and turned his back to them and strode out of the room.

The three of them sat in silence for thirty more seconds before Hermione got up, mumbled something about Draco and left the room hurriedly. Ron took off soon after.

He patted Harry on his shoulder and said, "mate that wasn't good. You're going to regret it." Ron had said it with such conviction that it had Harry frowning for several minutes.

In the empty hospital room, with no one but himself to provide company, he felt a strange sensation of dread creep up. He looked down on his ring finger and the slightly lighter skin tone seemed to taunt him.

Harry felt extremely lost, again.

Day 25: Battle || Day 27: Babysitting

Part 2

[im-gay-and-mentally-unstable]

Video game AU

-The School is an online game that had existed for years and is now long after its times of glory, only the most determined players remain and not many newbies show up

-they still host competitions with small sums of money as the first prize

-there's plenty of smaller guilds, but they are slowly getting absorbed by the two largest- Forever and Never

-Forever, its members simply Evers, was the first gathering of some of the strongest players in the game, most of them already connected by friendships, and they slowly took over a lot of resources, earning a huge in-game advantage

-however, a lot of strong players didn't get past the member limit and felt disgusted by the advantage guild players received and in reaction, they made a guild of their own, even the title solely to spite the Forever- they named it Never

-the two guilds are in never-ending competition with each other for years, no one ever being able to grow significantly stronger, stuck in a cycle, almost no one joining in or leaving until Agatha and Sophie come along

-they have both grown up in the same household with Stefan and Vanessa, except Vanessa is dead and Sophie hadn't quite recovered before Stefan remarried again, straining their relationship permanently

-in attempts to earn her affection again, he buys her various gifts, this time, he bought the game to try and give her a new hobby

-she'd normally just abandon it, it's so out of fashion and she isn't interested in things like that in the slightest, but the most popular guy of their school, Tedros Pendragon, who also happens to be the interest of Sophie's undying love, or climbing for popularity, however you want to call it, is the head of Forever

-she makes a master plan, where she intends to join the game, become a legendary player and help him on his journey, making him fall in love with her in the process

-the thing is, she doesn't want to do it on her own (and absolutely doesn't want to go through pages of guidebooks and class descriptions), so she begs Agatha until she agrees to go through with it with her

-they start going through the early stages of the game and level up quickly

-Sophie spends most of her time trying to search for Tedros and save him while Agatha builds their collective inventory

-she very much hates to admit it but she got really into the game

-they become really good fast, mainly because of how much time they spend there (for very different reasons) and the talent for the game they both have

-while Sophie is off hunting for Tedros, Agatha joins a new guest that has just appeared and manages to complete it before the members of Forever, who just walk into the scene and are impressed

-Tedros invites her to fill the last available place in their guild and she tries to refuse and recommends Sophie instead, but they insist and she caves in

-Sophie finds out and is furious, in her frustration, she joins the Never guild in an upcoming tournament, motivated even more to prove herself

Character classes:

Tedros -> fighter

-> honestly the obvious choice

-> strong attack power, almost no health

-> fights in the first line of attack all the time

-> pretty dependent on other players' support

-> at his best as a team player, but incredible on his own too

-> thought the armour looked cool

Agatha -> paladin

-> she just liked the idea of protecting everyone but also doing damage and not being codependent

-> she made the smart choice for balanced gameplay

-> her saviour complex also came into play

-> never plays the first line unless forced to, but if she does she absolutely destroys everyone

Sophie -> sorceress

-> didn't read any of the guides, but liked the idea of throwing fireballs and destroying shit

-> somehow gets all the overpowered spells

-> again, she has huge attack power and very poor defense

-> she doesn't even need defense though, just kills everything and everyone before it gets to her

-> spent an ungodly amount of game money to buy pretty outfits

Hester -> sorceress

-> spent hours trying to figure out the best character for her playing style

->somehow has mastered all the spells involving explosions

-> always in the first line of attack

-> extremely powerful but very prone to getting killed in the first seconds of the match

-> doesn't like to say she depends on backup but the rest of the coven somehow needs to save her often

Anadil -> assassin

-> mostly plays from the shadows without getting discovered

-> usually prefers playing in team as support but also really powerful on her own

-> spends a lot of time making her skills as balanced as possible

-> somehow always plans the strategy

-> the person that spends hours on choosing the best possible armour and weapons

Dot -> cleric

-> just wanted to spend some time with her friends at first, ends up enjoying the game a lot

-> likes playing support even though it's extremely underrated

-> doesn't really do attack stuff unless forced to, usually just healing and defense

-> usually a team player

Nicola -> paladin

-> unlike most others, she prefers playing alone to playing in team

-> her whole character was built around the fact she planned to play on her own

-> and she's way too good

-> she switches between guilds as an exchange player to help out and is very widely respected

Kiko -> druid

-> usually just wanders around with cute animals and smiles

-> then she absolutely destroys you in combat

-> she always says she does it for the joy of playing with her friends

-> she very much just wants to win

Hort -> assassin

-> just chose the character that sounded the coolest and edgiest

-> soon regretted it since his playing style is to rush towards the enemy and try to not die in the process, which is not very compatible with the low defense his class has

-> Dot feels bad for him so she keeps him alive during matches

-> Hester and Anadil often use him as the necessary sacrifice in battles

Beatrix -> fighter

-> she shocked everyone with her character choice but her whole team supports her

-> usually rushes into combat side-by-side with Tedros

-> would be first one to sacrifice herself heroically if Reena wasn't obviously biased in her favour and didn't let her

Reena -> cleric

-> never really plays in the front line

-> supports her friends from behind

-> doesn't mind playing the underrated role, it makes it even more fun to her

-> really powerful even though she barely shows it

Millicent -> druid

-> not really a lot of reasoning for this one, I just have her associated with nature

Chaddick -> archer

-> he prefers bow in the series too so that's it, that's all my reasoning

Ravan -> fighter

[ravenadottir]

hey! i just wanted to say that i 100% agree with your reasons for not playing s4 and good on you for standing by YOUR choice. <3 it's wild to me how it's pretty much accepted by everyone that fb is a shit company, yet people feel the need to send you hate messages for not playing a game produced by said shit company. i've only just come across your blog, but i can tell it's great without you having to suffer through whatever s4 was. i didn't know fb stole content like that but also not surprised

OH MY GOD, THANK YOU!! it seems so hard for people to understand.

and it's not like i'm telling them to not play it. each one to their own, you know? you wanna go through the circus on fire, my guy, go for it!! i fully don't think less of you as a person or consumer or player because of it.

in fact, i had plenty of people sending me asks about it during the entire season, and i didn't mind it actually, because they were fucking hilarious. and it was a good opportunity to defend thabi, which i'll never dismiss.

it's just... i have so much work, not counting the hours that i dedicate to answering asks, writing, trying to come up with new stuff to post here, so it doesn't get boring, but also... i just don't have the level of horniness i had with previous seasons.

those were absolutely fun, even the bad stuff, or the lazy dialogues...

here's the truth: i've been here since season 2 jakub/chelsea coming in, and you know what? it was pretty magical. the weekly posts, the memes, making fun of whatever was happening... just collectively being fed up with noah's storyline, or missing bobby and gary and lucas so much.

seeing the boys coming back with blake... there's a reason why we still talk about it. it was a huge impact and it was well done;

i remember hundreds of people never wanting gary as an li, and completely changing their minds after that pool dialogue (the one about his body).

it was so moving to see him becoming more popular because of his layers in the game, and not because of headcanons or things the players did, because it meant the writing in the season did that.

he was my very first li, and people used to make fun of him for all the nan talk and how much of a player and superficial he came across as. when we got the pool dialogue, people shifted their view on him. and yes, many of us, gary stans, contributed a lot for people to explore his route, but we watched it happening during weekly releases too. it was so cool!

do you have any idea how much i cried when priya left? or how tumblr was actually in shambles because of it? the moment we realized it was either hope or priya, and regardless of what decisions you made before, she would be leaving?

the posts??? tumblr was in a funeral!

there were just so many moments that were remarkable. emotional, funny, sexy, moving. season 2 did that. no other season that came afterwards even remotely compares.

why should i waste my time on a lukewarm version? my time is precious. they just turned the game into a generic piece of shit app.

honestly? i miss playing the game, i really do! i miss being shocked and coming to tumblr to see if people got the same responses, what memes we were gonna spend the week laughing about.

but fusebox kind of stole that from us. it's not only how watered down the storylines are, or how lackluster the dialogues have become, it's also how they don't care about delivering something remotely good anymore.

they really went, "oh you don't like season 3? alright... here's a season that's gonna make you miss it."

i'm genuinely missing just spending half an hour a week, or more, going through the game, but this? season 4? i have better things to do.

and to the people that still send asks in my inbox, telling me i should play it, what do you think it's gonna happen if i do? be honest. do you think i'll fall in love with them? do you think the season is good enough for me to stop writing for s2 and do it for s4? that i'll dedicate hours and hours to fics and headcanons?

is that what you think it's gonna happen? let me ask you something. WOULD YOU? if it's not to rewrite the season, or rewrite a character, would you spend even a minute on it? if the answer is no, then you know exactly how i feel.

and um, yeah... season 3 and 4 can suck light pole size dicks...

and about the stolen content. there's an ask on queue with everything i could remember. i think it's like four or five posts below this one.

[so-writing]

Sugar, Honey, Ice and Tea - Matthew Tkachuk (1)

Note - i’ve been wanting to write something like this but it’s already been many times and done so well that I was discouraged a little bit but whatever, here wo go!

All parts in the master list

--

You knew this was something that happened on occasion, but you’d been traveling your entire life and had yet to encounter it. 

Now that you were in your twenties with plenty of window seat time under your belt, you assumed it was one of those things you only heard about. It was one of those things that happened in movies and would never be something you had to deal with. 

Unfortunately, you were wrong. 

*

You had been with the Flames for a little over two years. As an assistant to the coaching staff, you spent a lot of time with both those guys and the players. It was strange at first but you fell into your position easily and began to form bonds with everyone. 

Everyone except a certain winger famous for starting shit, Matthew Tkachuk. 

Matthew did not like you from the moment he met you and he had never been afraid to show it. Most of the time he completely avoided you, but when he was forced to be in your presence and speak with you, his words were short and he made little eye contact. 

It was childish, especially coming from the potential future leader of the team, but you didn’t have any other choice than to just accept and tolerate it.

*

 As soon as his words reached your ears, you began to panic. The Flames team got along great so it was weird that their head coach was purposely calling out potentially problematic roommates. You felt strangely exposed as you listened to him read off the rooms and give out keycards.

Well, fuck. 

You silently cursed to yourself as you heard your name called out next to your new roommate. Unlike you, he didn’t care to hide his disdain.

“Really? Out of everyone?!”

“Yes, these are random and the hotel is doing what they can to accommodate us.”

He immediately put on his game face and went to grab the keycard, not bothering to acknowledge you as you grabbed yours.

*

You could share a room with Matthew Tkachuk. Sure, he was a complete asshole that had always been mean to you but you were a professional and a grown ass adult and you were not going to let an immature hockey player get the best of you. 

It was only for 5 days, barely even a week if you squinted at a calendar. You could do this, fuck how he felt. 

“Let’s just get this over with and chose our beds,” Matthew rolled his eyes as he let the two of you into your new room. 

Oh. 

Oh, well.

Oh, well, shit.

The room was smaller than you expected and contained exactly one bed.

You bit your lip and closed your eyes, expecting a temper tantrum from Matthew. He had never liked you and you were far from his biggest fan so it was going to be hard for the two of you to share a bed. 

“Fuck,” he rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his curls, “there’s not even a couch in here to sleep on.”

“Nope,” you whispered, waiting for him to get angry.

“Pick your side of the bed. We have an early skate so I know you have to be up even sooner than I do.” 

You were surprised by how calm he was being. Matthew waited in the room while you changed in the bathroom and gave you plenty of space as you crawled into the bed the two of you would share for the next several days. Sleep came easily to both of you. 

*

“Chucky’s in a mood today,” one of the other assistants observed as the two of you watched him slam a teammate into the boards harder than he probably intended, “what did you do?”

“I don’t think I did anything? Why would you say that?” 

“I heard him bitching about having to share a bed with ‘the shrew’ and how her alarm went off way earlier than he planned to wake up.”

“Seriously? The shrew? It surprises me that he knows that word, I’m not convinced he’s even able to read.” 

“That’s not nice,” the smile on his lips prevented you from taking him seriously, “he’s highly educated, probably.”

The two of you shared a laugh, unaware of the eavesdropping ears lingering in the tunnel. 

*

Morning skate was brutal. Matthew was in a bad mood and taking it out on the guys, which rippled into everyone on the ice sensing his irritation and playing like garbage. The best thing about the morning’s practice was the end and you could see it on everyone you made eye contact with.

The Flames held a players only meeting after the skate and you happily ran back to your room to catch up on your sleep. It was nice to be alone. No brooding, grumpy Matthew meant you could fall into bed without having to worry about invading anyone’s space. 

You passed out as soon as your head hit pillow.

*

Not even the slamming of your door, on purpose, pulled you out of your slumber.

“Hey,” you woke up to Matthew gently shaking your shoulders, “wake up.”

“Fuck, what the fuck? What time is it?” 

“It’s almost two in the afternoon. We have a few hours off before we need to practice, shrew.”

Shrew. Absolutely-fucking-not.

“I am in no mood to deal with your bullshit, Tkachuk.”

“Oh? I figured you might want to rip on my reading comprehension a little more before you decided to really tell me off.”

Your cheeks lit up with a red blush, “you weren’t supposed to hear that.”

Guilt fell over you like heavy rain. Making fun of Matthew being an asshole was easy when he wasn’t in earshot but hearing him call you out on what you said about him had you feeling shitty.

“I know you can read, that was a joke.”

“It wasn’t a good one.”

You should have probably taken the easy way out and apologized. The problem was that he was such an asshole and you were tired of dealing with it, with him. 

“You’re a dick, Matthew, you’re a complete fucking asshole and you have been since I started working with you two years ago. I have been nothing but polite this entire time but you choose to treat me like I’m a subhuman, so yes, I questioned your reading comprehension, because that was the kindest insult I could give at the moment. You have no fucking idea what I really want to say.”

He removed his backwards cap and ran a hand through his curls before replacing it, “do your worst.” 

“Do my worst? You sure?”

“Absolutely.” 

“Fine, I don’t know much about you but based on my experience with you these past two years, I can confidently say that I hate you. I hate you, Matthew Tkachuk. Your words have caused me to cry alone in my apartment more than a few times. You have been so fucking mean to me these past 24 months that I don’t even feel it anymore. Your insults go in one ear and out the other. You’re a great hockey player, but you’re a terrible person. If I never saw you again, it would be too soon.”

Silence filled the room, the look on Matthew’s face was unreadable. What seemed like days passed before he turned and left the room without a word. You felt the weight that had been resting on shoulders for the past two years finally lift away.