#case file: poe (game)

[himawariness]

Testing out animated talk sprites... >:] (don't mind the sketchy placeholders lol)

[pupsmailbox]

DECTECTIVE︰MYSTERY ID PACK

NAMES︰ adler. aeris. agatha. aiden. aisha. akakios. alec. alistair. amadio. amos. anastasia. andie. annika. ansel. arden. ariel. aspen. atlas. auda. audr. august. augustine. augustus. aventurine. avery. barett. beau. belladonna. benedict. bentey. bentley. bian. blanc. blythe. bonaventura. bradley. briony. buenaventura. calix. caper. casey. castle. cebba. chance. chanceline. chancey. charis. chase. cipher. claude. cleo. cliff. clu. clue. clyde. colette. columbus. conan. constance. cora. corbin. cypher. daley. dalton. damon. daphne. darcie. darcy. darnell. darwin. dean. deanna. declan. dee. delia. devin. dex. dice. dot. dottie. doyle. duncan. edith. edmund. edric. edward. eivor. elmer. elysium. enigma. fog. fortuna. fortune. foxglove. gizem. godid. hannah. harley. harlow. harper. haze. holmes. indigo. iris. juke. jules. kasper. keme. king. leto. lilith. liraz. locke. maya. mist. morana. myst. mystery. nancy. neil. noir. noire. obscure. odilia. onni. ophelia. ortun. otto. pandora. poe. poirot. quinn. river. rivers. runa. rune. runfrid. sam. scarlet. selma. sher. sherlock. silver. sitheach. spy. sylvi. sylvia. tec. tyche. tychon. veil. veila. velma. vera. verity. vesper. vesta. watson. widow. wisteria. zero.

PRONOUNS︰ analyze/analyze. book/book. caper/caper. case/case. chance/chance. cipher/cipher. claw/claw. clu/clue. clue/clue. code/code. crime/crime. crime/scene. cypher/cypher. deal/deal. detect/detect. detect/detective. detective/detective. en/en. end/end. enigma/enigma. evidence/evidence. eye/eye. fate/fate. file/file. find/find. flaw/flaw. game/game. glass/glasse. grit/git. hidden/hidden. hide/hide. hint/hint. hunt/hunt. hypo/hypothesi. inv/investigate. invest/investigate. investigate/investigate. it/it. justice/justice. lore/lore. luck/luck. magni/magnifying. magnifying/glas. murder/murder. mys/mystery. myst/myst. myst/mystery. mystery/mysterie. mystery/mystery. noir/noir. note/note. obscure/obscure. per/perplex. poi/poison. private/private. psych/psych. puz/puzzle. puzz/puzzle. puzzle/puzzle. que/question. read/read. rid/riddle. rob/rob. rob/robbery. rpg/rpg. scene/scene. search/search. search/searche. sec/secret. secret/secret. see/see. seek/seek. sight/sight. sleu/sleuth sleuth/sleuth. sol/solution. sol/solve. solution/solution. solve/solve. spot/spot. spy/spy. stake/out. stake/stake. step/step. stole/stolen. story/storie. tape/tape. thon/thon. threat/threat. track/track. watch/watche. ⚰️ . ❓ . 🎭 . 🎮 . 🐦‍⬛ . 💉 . 💊 . 💡 . 📁 . 📖 . 📚 . 📹 . 🔎 . 🔐 . 🔑 . 🕹️ . 🗃️ . 🗝️ . 🗞️ . ��� . 🧩 . 🧬 . 🩺 .

[detectivejay]

Detective/Mystery Media List

Open to more recommendations if I’m missing any favorites I should check out, let me know! Particularly any other good Sherlock adaptations, but also interested in finding more female, PoC and/or queer-led detective media.

Watched/read/played/etc:

Sherlock Holmes (ACD canon)

Sherlock - Basil Rathbone adaptation film series

Sherlock - Granada, Jeremy Brett adaptation TV series (some episodes, need to rewatch) - shoutout to @thegreatandlovablespacedorito for reminding me to revisit this one

BBC Sherlock TV series

Sherlock - Robert Downey Jr movies

Enola Holmes (movies)

Moriarty the Patriot/Yuumori (manga and anime)

Ron Kamanohashi: Deranged Detective/Forbidden Deductions aka RKDD (anime, need to read the manga)

Hercule Poirot novels (not all but a large portion) - need to watch more of the TV show Spenser novels by Robert B Parker (not all but a large portion)

Auguste C Dupin - The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe (short story)

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (book)

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (book)

Case Closed / Detective Conan (anime, some episodes/seasons)

Knives Out movies

Psych TV series

Only Murders in the Building TV series

The Dresden Files books

Brookyln 99 TV series

House MD TV series

Monk TV series (watched some episodes)

Murder She Wrote (a few scattered episodes)

The Clue movie

Anita Blake book series (up to book 10)

Some Nancy Drew books

Ace Attorney video games (AA1-AA6 plus Investigations 1)

Professor Layton video games (not all but I believe at least the first 3)

Sherlock Hound

The Great Mouse Detective

Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century

Inspector Gadget cartoon

Scooby Doo cartoons

The Boxcar Children

Detective Pikachu movie

The Case Study of Vanitas (anime/manga)

The Millionaire Detective - Balance: Unlimited (anime) - @prapo237 got me into this one x3 so silly

Currently watching/reading/playing/etc:

Sherlock - Elementary TV series (on 2nd season)

Only Murders in the Building season 4 (TV series)

The Invisible Library novel series by Genevieve Cogman recommended by a friend IRL - up to book 6 currently, The Secret Chapter

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (video game duology, includes Herlock Sholmes)

Ace Attorney Investigations 2 (video game)

Persona 5 (video game) recommended by friends on the JR Discord

Sherlock Holmes and Co - podcast (seen a lot of posts about this, but I’m terrible at following podcasts so TBD, going to try some suggestions from @wasabitheweirdo to help with this)

To watch/read/play/etc:

My Dear Detective: Mitsuko’s Case Files manga suggested on the JR Discord

Detective L - Chinese Sherlock-inspired TV series on Youtube recommended by @meg-pond

Miss Sherlock - Japanese series also suggested by @meg-pond

Bodkin TV series on Netflix - Irish, female-led, recommended by @rubycountess

Columbo tv series

Murder on the Orient Express movie

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes film

Bonnie MacBird Sherlock Holmes books recommended by @romanathree

Soviet made Sherlock Holmes film recommended by @imlostatau on Youtube

Baskerville play by Ken Ludwig suggested by @wolfyraged

Without a Clue suggested by @helloliriels

Young Sherlock suggested by @helloliriels

Charlotte Holmes books by Sherry Thomas suggested by @lej418

Sherlock Holmes stories by Anthony Horowitz ("House Of Silk" and "Moriarty") recommended by @bringerofworlds

Miss Marple novels by Agatha Christie

Any other Agatha Christie novels I haven’t read (Sad Cypress recommended by @romanathree )

AJ Raffles books by William Hornung recommended by @romanathree

Dead Boy Detectives on Netflix

Elemental Masters by Mercedes Lackey

Holmes, Marple and Poe by James Patterson - curious to see how this book treats these original characters inspired by the greats, the new characters are Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple (maybe related to Jane Marple?) and Auguste Poe (takes his first name from Poe’s detective, Auguste Dupin)

The rest of the Dupin stories

The rest of the Raymond Chandler books

More Arsene Lupin stories (including ones vs Herlock Sholmes)

Nero Wolfe novels by Rex Stout

Pet Shop of Horrors anime/manga recommended by @eden-falls

Otherside Picnic recommended by @eden-falls

Lonely Castle in the Mirror recommended by @eden-falls

Phryne Fisher's murder mysteries books and TV show recommended by @milenathebrave

The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison, saw this one posted recently by @seeingteacupsindragons and I'm curious so added it to the list

Magnus Archives horror/thriller mystery podcast recommended by @writingandwritten

[selfaware-bungou-stray-dogs]

How does the whole thing work? How is Oda alive? Rimbaud?? Just genuinely curious I like the self aware bsd idea

Self-Aware! BSD. World Building. Gacha and how it affects others

Warning: English is my second language. Slight spoilers for BSD Manga, LN and Anime. Firs part is an explanation about BSD Mayoi Game, in case, you haven't played it.

_______

First, some basic facts about BSD Mayoi Inu Kaikitan game.

It's a gacha game. When you have enough Ability Stones (gacha currency) or Scout ticket(s) (from 1 to 10 free pulls), you do the Scout. Ether basic Rare Scout or Limited Scout.

Then you create a team with three cards (+1 guest card) and use marble to clean up orbs. The more orbs you collect, the more damage characters can do.

Cards, that you choose, will be shown as Chibi Sprites of characters, that will attack characters in order.

There are five types of cards in the game, four of them you can get in a scout.

R cards - simple sprite of a character

SR cards - a little more colourful character images. Can illustrate some moments from the anime (Dazai on Shrooms; Mori's Glare, that scared Lucy; Atsushi with newspapers, when he poses as newspaper boy etc)

SSR Cards (+ EX cards) - most colourful cards, with two sub skills and with animation, when you use active skill. Can either show moments from anime (Ranpo, when he was stuck in Poe's novel; Hirotsu in art museum; Chuuya and Dazai vs Lovecraft etc), Show Character's abilities (Matchless Poet, No Longer human....). Or show characters in different outfits and School AU (Student Fyodor in winter clothes, Dazai in yukata, Oda on a surfing board and so on).

EX cards are SSR cards, with two active skills. One will put Character in a special state. Second skill will either do damage, power up the attack... Example of EX card - Dragon Head Conflict Chuuya, where first skill put him in Corruption state, and second will do damage to enemies.

UR cards are former SSR cards, that can be Awakened after meeting certain conditions. Buffs cards.

With that out of the way.

How gacha affects BSD Characters

______

1. Let's start with alive characters, who are already had in-game cards and who still don't have cards.

People, who aren't affected by the Scout. Almost. They will feel a wave of power, when you get their cards for the first time and will get new outfits from cards, where they wear something different.

But, Dazai/Atsushi/Chuuya/Kyuusaku/Teruko/Gogol/Others still could use their abilities, even if you don't have their cards.

But, some of this character can affect themselves with the scout.

After characters get access to Game Files, they start messing with the Scout (Fukuzawa rises chance of getting his cards, Dazai hacked Chuuya's Birthday Scout, so you get everyone's cards, except Chuuya's). Soon, they start adding their own cards. They either gift it to you by Gift Box (Dazai and Oda playing poker from Dazai's Entry, Chuuya, gifting you his cards after Dazai's hack), or in Scouts (mentioned in My Favourite (Teruko's edition) and I am aware, that you are aware).

Still, some of the characters don't have an Ability Card, that explains their powers (Fitzgerald, Fyodor, Alkott, Ango, Tachihara and some more don't have such cards). And, of course, Season 3+ characters don't have any cards.

So, they can alter their abilities a little by adding an Ability Explanation card.

They can't alter their ability too much. Example: Gogol can't add "My overcoat can transform into wings" to "The Overcoat". But, he can make the distance that he can interact bigger, then in cannon. And Aya can't add an ability to herself.

2. So, about deceased characters.

There are cards of deceased characters in Bungou Stray Dogs Mayoi Inu Kaikitan game. There are Shibusawa's cards, Oda's cards and Gide's cards. The game won't take away Oda's and Gide's cards after you finish the Dark Era levels.

And their chibi sprites will be on the battle screen, attacking enemies. Like they are alive.

But, there is one catch. Dead Characters will be brought back to life only after you get SSR card from the scout. Doesn't matter, which one. It can be both limited and standard SSR.

Power of revival was discovered on the incident.

In this AU, it started with Oda. When you got his SSR card, Oda was brought back to life.

At first, everyone thought, that it was a miracle, and it can't happen again. But then you got Shibusawa's SSR and Gide's SSR. And both Shibusawa and Gide were brought back to life.

BSD Cast finally saw the pattern here. They wonder if they can do something with it.

It was a leap of faith. They decide to add the third season to the game. And new Scouts.

Because they started to mess with Scouts earlier, by adding new cards, they had some experience.

So, they finished with Fifteen Arc. And add Rimbaud's card. They used some official art and their own art skills. And add new 'card' in the scout.

They weren't sure, if they will succeed.

But, the moment you get Rimbaud SSR card, he was brought back to life. Well and unharmed.

When BSD Cast were adding STORM BRINGER to the game, they create SSR cards for the Flags. And that's why Flags are also alive.

Gide by himself created SSR cards of Oda's orphans.

Note! Karma was spared by Fyodor and his card was added as a normal SSR card.

So, to conclude, by adding new cards in game and pulling them, BSD Characters will bring deceaced characters back to life

[ghostofskywalker]

Poe Dameron vs. The Claw Machine

Poe Dameron/Reader

Fictober 2023 Day 23 of 31

Words: 824

Summary: [Modern AU] After splitting away from your boyfriend at an arcade, you're shocked that you can't seem to find him. Or, at least you were until you actually saw what he had been doing.

Poe Dameron Masterlist

Your boyfriend was missing.

Well, he wasn’t missing in the sense that you would need to file a police report, but you had spent the last ten minutes searching for him and hadn’t yet been lucky enough to find where he’d been hiding.

The game room was loud, dark, and crowded, which was probably why you were having a hard time in the first place; it would be difficult to find anyone in here if you didn’t know exactly where they were or what game they were playing. And unfortunately, right now you knew neither of those pieces of information about Poe.

The two of you had first split up in the arcade when you challenged him to competition on who could win the most tickets, and you absolutely still wanted to keep that bet going, but it had been a little while and you also wanted to order some food. The whole point of this outing in the first place had been a date, so spending time with your absolutely wonderful boyfriend was another line on the list of things you wanted to do here.

He didn’t answer your text, so you set out searching for him among the crowds of people. You passed dancing games, dexterity games, shooting games, and even ski ball, all with no sign of the telltale curls you were looking for. You knew there was no way he would have left without you, but it was certainly confusing that you hadn’t found him yet.

It was a last ditch attempt to walk towards where the prize case was, and it just so happened that in order to get there, you had to walk by a row of claw machines.

And of course, that’s where you found your boyfriend, in a little bit of a compromising position (or at least, that’s the phrase you first thought of to explain the visual of him laying on the ground with his arm up the slot of the machine).

The two of you locked eyes, and you couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “Am I interrupting something?”

Poe however, did not seem to find the situation as funny. “I’m not stuck, if that’s what you’re asking.” As if to prove his point, he pulled his arm back out and stood up.

“I wasn’t, but it’s nice to know you’re okay,” you said, a giant smile crossing your face. “I’m really just wondering what happened that led to you putting your arm up the slot of that machine, and I’m also trying to figure out how lucky you are that none of the staff here caught you.”

Instead of answering right away, your boyfriend turned and pointed at one of the stuffed toys through the window. “That’s why,” he said, and you immediately understood why he did what he did.

Sitting atop a small pile of plush creatures, was the prettiest stuffed animal you had ever seen. Not only was it of your favorite animal, but it looked like it was made of the softest material in the entire world. “You were trying to win that?”

“For you,” he said. “I blew all my tokens on trying to grab it and then had to resort to different tactics when i ran out of arcade money.”

He was absolutely right in the fact that was absolutely something you would want to bring home, but you had no intentions of sticking your arm up the slot like Poe did to get it. “Why don’t I give it a try?” you said, pulling out two of your remaining tokens and dropping them into the machine.

Once the lights began to flash, you moved the joystick to hover directly over the stuffed animal you wanted before pushing the button. The arms went down, and curled directly over the head of the creature.

You and Poe both waited with bated breath as the claw managed to grasp the animal and bring it towards the chute. But luck was on your side today, and you were soon hugging it while Poe looked on in shock.

“I can’t believe- I tried so many- what?” he said, clearly having trouble believing what was going on.

“Aww babe,” you said, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. “I really appreciate that you tried to steal it for me, but sometimes it’s just best left to the experts.”

He rolled his eyes playfully as he turned to you. “And you’re an expert?”

You just smiled as you pulled some of the tickets you had won out of your pockets. “You were saying?” you said, feigning innocence. “Unless you have more tickets than I do.”

Silence.

You just laughed, and soon the joy on your face had spread to his. “Come on hotshot,” you said, reaching out to take his hand. “Why don’t we get something to eat, and then I can teach you how to do the claw machine correctly.”

“Shut up.” 

- the end -

i no longer have a taglist! if you're interested in being notified when i post, you can follow my library blog @ghostofskywalker-library and turn on notifications!

[speaker-of-the-void-cats]

//ACCESS: RESTRICTED

DECRYPTION KEY: FVC8910D339$IKO-006

REP#: WHISPER-PORTAL, NESSUS-CORE

AGENT(S): POE-344

We solved a mystery today.

During the defense of the Last City just prior to the commencement of Operation Ahamkara, we reopened an old case file with the help of ERI-223. In looking back into the anomaly on Io, we encountered one glaring change; the displayed destination of the mysterious, lone Vex portal once surrounded by Oracles. Where once it opened onto the Vault of Glass, it now showed somewhere... Dark and unfamiliar. A line of violet light extended into the darkness. A single purple Oracle sat nearby.

We have discovered it led here, into the heart of Nessus. Into Maya Sundaresh's domain, her laboratory. Agents are encouraged to report further findings on Hidden channels.

REPORT ENDS — PLEASE EXIT TERMINAL

PLEASE ENTER CREDENTIALS

ACCESS GRANTED

DESIGNATION: HADAL

CLASSIFIED

FOR IKO-006 EYES ONLY

Ikora, I bring this to you in confidence and hopes that you will understand my thinking, though I do not fully understand it myself. I believe grander games may be afoot, and I fear we near the endpoint of a plan set in motion before we dare venture guess. This portal was only accessed via a small crevice in a wall far below normally accessible terrain. This crevice only appeared after a series of tasks within Sundaresh's lab were completed. These all related to Vex portals, connections, and access, and the conclusion of it all was to bring me back to where I started, where the portal now lie.

Attached are photographs collected by VIP #2014 showing abnormalities at the sites both leading to and surrounding the portal. Note the red organic substance on the ledge above the drop. Within the operational area, this substance appears only on this ledge. It can also be seen on the cliff faces adjacent to and leading to the portal's hall.

A black, tarry substance was also noted within the tunnel leading to the portal's hall. The ledge outside rests behind curtain of water (a common pre-Golden Age interactive fiction storytelling technique, I'm told by the Neomuna archivists), through which can be seen the Core Pyramid.

Within the portal's hall, there is a single, straight depression dividing the room in two down the middle. It is filled with Radiolaria and descends to the portal at an angle of approx. 25-30°. Similar depressions and Vex greebling branch from this central trunk. At the end of the line, the radiolaria surrounds the portal in pools of concentric circles.

I think on the Witness' design language, its logic trees we have so often seen. I have traced the lines as best I can in hopes we can rule this possibility out.

But another oddity appears here as well; Taken essence. The Taken are not loyal to Sundaresh—though the strength of will within the Echo of Command could draw them here. But I cannot help but think.... The Whisper. Worms. The Taken. Sundaresh. The Vex. It all leads one place.

On first exploration of the core, I noted to my fireteam the similarities in architecture, theme, and general meaning between it and Whisper—an emphasis on delving deeper, becoming lost, finding dead ends and trick paths. We have noted this in Exotic Assignments and Anomalies before, most recently during Operation Dual Destiny, but it is keenly felt here. The loops. The red light coaxing and the purple light leading. Eyes and outflow valves. Pathways that require one to double back, shift their perspective, look deeper to move forward.

And so I think back on the portal and I wonder—what have we missed? Does some transient whisperer already lie among us? What Taken thing has slithered out of its jar on our lost Io and into the core of Nessus?

Clarity in action, always. Signing off.

REPORT ENDS

[irritablepoe]

❌🥺🤲 for the fic writer's asks

omg thank you for the ask sin!!🥺

❌ What's a trope you will never write?

i really dislike amnesia tropes if i'm honest, so ig i'd not write that, same with time travels to fix sth in the future or present, i can't really see the appeal with that ig so i'd not write that as well? in general i'm very very picky with au's so you'd not catch me write a lot of that, i always prefer to write in canon universe (with a few exceptions like the little bartender au oneshot with ranpoe :3 or the kind-of crack lotr-c&p crossover lol)

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

for razumikhin and rodya as well as ranpoe it's always the hurt/comfort thing when one of them (preferably poe and rodya) are emotionally or physically hurt or disturbed or whatever and the other takes care of them. literally in tears every time. but i also realised that i like writing (especially ranpoe) them teaming up against a threat despite their own issues atm ykwim?

🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

“You’re always hugging me these days.” Ranpo let his fingers stroke over the stones of his brooch. “I know why you picked this gift. And this colour. If I put in the effort maybe I’ll find out everything about you right now.” Poe swallowed. “You think you would?” “Maybe. Maybe not. You want me to try?” Treacherous, treacherous heart. “No.” “I understand.”, Ranpo smiled and leaned back a little bit to look at him properly. “You want me to try something different then?” Poe was helpless with those emerald eyes looking up at him. “Anything.”

Minoura’s office space wasn’t a singular office but a shared room with multiple desks on which sat inspectors and detectives that had sharp ears and eyes. That’s why Minoura chose to speak in a hushed but not less upset voice when he asked them what the hell they thought they were doing in his office. “Fairytales.”, Ranpo said. “Fairytales?”, he asked back. Poe laid a hand to Ranpo’s shoulder. “We’ve come to ask you if there are any special cases on hand that seem suspiciously connected.” Minoura’s eyes went small. “Special means fairytales now? Not abilities?” “Well, we’d be happy about both.”, Poe said politely. “Why?” “Because I’ve received this in the mail today.” Ranpo handed Minoura the letter with the solved riddle underneath. “A cryptic message addressed to you got you coming here invading my workspace on the busiest time?” “Yes.” The inspector sighed. “Special cases, huh?” He dug into the files to his right and eventually pulled out five of them. “I guess you’re lucky that the police is trusting me with cases including ability users. You do know though that I’m not the only officer here?” “Why? How many inspectors could there possibly be?”, Ranpo asked and to Poe’s amusement it sounded genuine.

don't mind them being gay :33 also i couldn't pick sth from the upcoming chapters bc they'd all be spoilers lol, so you get a snippet from chapter 15+19 of "how do i say goodbye" (i couldn't decide between the two i'm sorry)

fanfic ask game

[flecksey]

100% Clears 2024

Since I've already done a few so far I'm gonna start a somewhat belated collection of 100% clears in games for the year. I've long since become a sicko for this sort of thing and I'd like to catalogue exactly what it took for me to get 100%, guides and all

I nearly forgot because it was so early in the year, but I suppose this technically counts for my first clear: AI: The Somnium FIles

I made sure to finish the Zero Escape games before this one, so ZTD might really be my first clear here but whatever. This game was pretty dang good, definitely more cohesive than the later zero escapes by virtue (lol) of taking place in a new world. Didn't quite hit the highs of 999 for me but Uchikoshi seems to always at least put on a fun show.

Replaying the action sequences and interrogations to do them perfectly was a little tedious but it was great getting them right the first time. I also had to look up one achievement that simply involved investigating something early on in the game (not to mention completing the Appendix), but overall a pretty breezy clear that I had mostly finished by the end of the story.

Next up is my first Zelda of the year: Link's Awakening for the Game Boy, no DX included.

I went with the original here to truly go in release order because it's the moral thing to do. I actually ended up enjoying it more than Link to the Past, due in part to it being far less obtuse than that game. Easily the best Game Boy game I've played, it honestly holds up even today imo.

That said there were still a couple stinker heart pieces, namely one arbitrarily hidden in a moat underwater and another past a completely unhinted bombable wall that I had to look up. Still, it gets points for actually having more shells than you need to get the upgraded sword. The trade quest is also delightful and not too difficult with the boomerang being a great reward, though that being the case isn't quite apparent at first.

Afterwards I continued with my Zelda conquest, completing Ocarina of Time on my friends' N64 while I stayed with them. Sadly I didn't get a picture of this one, maybe I'll edit one in later if I can get them to take a pic.

Anyways, what is there to say about this game? A true classic that I really enjoyed playing for the first time (though I had played Ocarina 3D) No real complaints, just a fun time the whole way through if you play it normally.

100% is kind of a lot though, huh? 100 skulltulas on top of all the regular stuff, there's no way you're getting this done without looking something up. For me I entirely forgot the purpose of the bottle bugs which locked me out of 9 skulltulas, as well as some bullshit grapple points that prevented me from getting another 2 AND a heart piece. I probably never would have figured out the big poe quest for the fourth bottle either, but oh well. It was still a great time.

After that I fell off the Zelda train and didn't complete another game until Celeste 64 came out!

A delightful little game that has pretty jank movement at times but is honestly fantastic for what it is (a free game made in like a week). I wouldn't mind a fully fledged 3D Celeste like this but with more time put into the movement, though I can't say I expect anything like that.

A pretty breezy clear that still left me scratching my head at one strawberry, which ended up being a platforming puzzle where you had to eliminate all of a set of disappearing platforms. A little obtuse for sure, though I gave up kind of quickly because I was following along with a stream. I'm still happy that I found all the others on my own.

[himawariness]

animation test 8]

[iridophorium]

Thank you for the apology, I forgive you, misunderstandings happen to us all! Thank you for the clarification of your thoughts and perspective on canon and head-canoning in the Zelda-fandom as well. I agree with your thoughts on presenting head-canons as canon, I get a bit annoyed as well when such things aren't properly labeled as such. I've had to do one or two kinda long research grinds to prove or disprove some head-canons that were presented as canon before. I don't often call things out tho, since I often feel satisfied when I myself find the answer I was looking for. 

I admire you for trying to correct stuff publicly. That must take a lot of effort, it seems that way to me at least.

I'll be moving onto the response on the canon/lack of canon depiction and possible interpretations I have now. I'll be responding to some of your words directly, since I found it to be the most effective way to order my thoughts without getting too off topic or ramble-y. So I'll quote the sentence/part of sentences I am responding to and then put my response underneath.

From “However, I would like to remind you…” to “And yet, I still thing it is worth at least bringing up.”

I agree with this. I find it a good place to fill in with head canons or theories.

From “Another thing is something you, yourself, brought up…” to “Because it is quite heavily implied that the Gibdos are specifically the infested corpses of dead Gerudo.”

This seems to be the case, yes. 

I specifically went back to play the Lightning Temple on a new game to document cases where this is implied. (Could have watched a walkthrough, but they don’t linger in the places I wanted to investigate.)

One case is in the Lightning Temple, where a Gibdo is found in a chamber with what seems to be to be graves, one open and one covered. 

Of course the second case is the whole of the underground cemetery. But since there are remains of Gibdo nests around it as well and poes seemed to occupy the graves, this one gave me doubts of the origins of the Gibdos that where in the Cemetery's surroundings. 

The most convincing case of Gibdos being reanimated Gerudo corpses is in the Gerudo Sanctuary, on the way to the Statue of the Eight Heroine Room, where a Gibdo is in an upright tomb. And it definitely is a tomb, because the stone slab covering the opening is called Obj_DesertRuinTomb_A_01 in the game files. 

(The stone slabs coving the graves/tombs in the Lightning Temple are called DgnObj_ElectricStoneBoard_A_01 (and 02) and the Gerudo Underground Cemetery slabs are called MinusObj_UDSpot_StoneBoard_B_01) 

While looking for the names of the stone slabs in the lightning temple and arbiters grounds (depths) I found this is what Gibdo nests are called: FldObj_Gerudo_ZombieNest_A_(and more designations for where they are used) so, yeah! 

The reason I am thorough with this point, the origin of Gibdo, is since there seems to be two places we see them originate from. From the hives and from graves/reanimation of the dead. This point confused me at first, I thought only the hive one was confirmed and the other was simply theories. But now after the research I have done I have concluded both are correct!

Oh, yes, and also a third method, the one we see in Memory 10 “The Birth of the Demon King”, just summoning the Gibdos there with magic, similarly to the blood moon cutscene.

I don't know if it is just the blood moon occuring in Memory 10, like the one in-game/current time. The blood moon cutscene that occurs to reset enemies and loot in-game has a different animation when summoning. It has no 'comet tail', so it could be a different kind of event? I’ll categorize it as such just to be safe. 

It seems the Upheaval caused the reanimation of the corpses, since we can find the Gibdo's before the first blood moon, so I'll put the Uppheaval under the reanimation origin. (Though I admit Link, and us players by extension, might have missed a blood moon in the time between the castle rising and waking up on the Great Sky Island.)

And blood moon under it's own category, just to be sure.

Now, we do not actually know if the hive origin, blood moon origin and the origin method in Memory 10 means the reanimation of Gerudo corpses. But yeah, they create the same monster so it is probably intended to be so. 

(But again, we do not get in-game confirmation so one could interpret it differently. I do not currently, but one could.)

From “First and foremost, even if the body…” to “ Or if she had, instead, been a traitor to the Gerudo as a whole,”

I’m going to talk a bit about consensual and non-consensual reanimation, before addressing the morality of the act of reanimation itself. 

I want to point out evidence for your point of the reanimation being possibly non-consensual. And I think it is, during the Uppheaval at least. 

The crucial point is the architecture of the Gerudo Underground Cemetery. It is Zonai architecture, meaning the Gerudo who where buried there are heavily implied to be either Gerudo from the reign of the Zonai (before their disappearance and Rauru's Hyrule) OR they were Gerudo of Rauru's kingdom after the imprisoning war who adopted the Zonai architecture style. 

(We know people still built in the style after the imprisoning war from the spirit temple and construct factory (at least the parts that build constructs like Mineru's construct), which I think was built after the Imprisoning war.) 

In either case, the people could not consent to the reanimation, at least in life. 

We do know that spirits exist and can talk and do things after their death, see the BoTW Champions, King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule, Monk Maz Koshia (if not all monks), Rauru and Mineru. So, idk, maybe it's possible it could be consensual? But it seems not to be.

From “...it still implies a degree of disrespect for the dead.” to “...cross certain moral lines to benefit his own ends.”

I cannot do anything other than agree with you here, since you word it as you do. Of course he crosses "certain moral lines" with his action of reanimation, since some morals can be strictly against any kinds of reanimation, consensual or not. 

What I believe is important is whether he crosses his own moral lines and/or moral lines of the person he reanimates. I additionally could include the moral lines of the people he leads as a whole as relevant as well. 

Is consensual reanimation crossing a moral line in those relevant people's eyes? Consensual reanimation, like in the case of the Gerudo who you presented, who pledged herself in Ganondorf's service even after death. Would that be crossing a line in the relevant people's mind? 

That is what I think is important, instead of the not well defined "certain moral lines" you described.

(To clarify, I do not intend to shame or disapprove of you for using non-specific language in that sentence*. My commenting on that sentence is simply because I disagree with the sentiment I interpreted from the sentence, not to disapprove of the actual wording of it. This clarification may not be necessary, I do not  know. However I have seen people using the way I quoted your words to express mockery/sarcasm in text before. So I want to clarify that this is not what I intend. *"[...] ...show a degree of willingness to cross certain moral lines to benefit his own ends.")

And we do not know what those answers about moral lines from the relevant people are. What we can infer from the graves/tombs we find, is that at least the people buried there did not consent to reanimation during their lifetime, since the graves/tombs are covered with stone slabs that are normally to hard to move by hand. A person who consented/wanted to reanimation before death would not be in such a tomb.

But what about other funeral practices that may not have been as well preserved? Cremation, sky burial and burial at sea (the Gerudo desert does have a coastline outside of the traversable map) come to mind as things that may not have been preserved. One culture may have many ways to conduct funerals, as seen currently, where both cremation and burial is common in many countries.

Anyway, yeah. I am once again arguing for lack of information and that it can be filled many different ways.

From “And, furthermore, if he is able to bring himself to…” to “...of someone he considers and enemy be so farfetched?”

Sure, this could be the case. I admit it, it does not seem farfetched if one thinks he has purposely reanimated people without their consent and/or one goes with what the creators probably intended to imply. Though as I have described here and in the previous posts, one can interpret it another way without clashing with what we have been shown in-game, in my opinion at least.

From “Furthermore, why would he choose to use, when he could've instead summoned Redeads, which are dead Hylians…” to “...he still chose to use Gibdos, which indicates intent.” 

On this we may have different perspectives: should we consider things from other games outside of the game pair of BoTW and ToTK that explicitly take place in the same world* when discussing this topic?

(*Though of course there are several relevant points to this statement: The inconsistencies between the games that go unaddressed in-game what those mean for the canonicity of the events of BoTW in ToTK, canonicity the amiboo/dlc gear that is further incorporated in ToTK, and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, which also takes place in the same world but has not been produced by Nintendo. These may or may not be relevant to our current discussion, but I bring them up since they /could/ become relevant.)

The case of the ReDeads are a particularly interesting case, since in some games ReDeads and Gibdos are the same creature. In Majoras Mask that seems to be the case, according to one of the Zelda wikis https://zeldawiki.wiki/wiki/ReDead#Majora's_Mask . 

So, I ask rhetorically, what should we consider 'canon' in this discussion? 

I suggest that we merely include things that are depicted in the BoTW and ToTK. (However I could be convinced to include HW:AoC, since it takes place in the same Hyrule, but in an alternate universe of sorts.)

I have not myself played any Zelda games outside of BoTW and ToTK, something which you may have done. I recognize that your perspective and opinion on that suggestion may differ from mine due to this, and it is your right to see it that way.

I think it may be difficult to debate/discuss if we do not build our information and arguments from the same agreed upon ground. As this conversation is not done in a way where one can immediately answer a question, suggestion or statement, I will currently go with my suggestion. Of course I can change this approach if we agree upon another perspective of what is to be considered canon and existing in this debate if you wish to do so.

(For example we could agree to include the events of games referenced through the previously DLC/amiboo exclusive gear that in now further integrated with quests/old maps in ToTK in addition to things in HW:AoC that occur before the timeline is changed with that game's time travel. Or something else.)

So, going by the parameters of this debate that I currently abide by, (that only things depicted in-game in BoTW and ToTK are canon), the existence of ReDeads is debatable, as well as the fact they are the hylian counterpart to the Gibdos. 

Of course I realize that a lot of my previous arguments hinge on things not depicted being able to be interpreted in multiple ways. And that I may now be arguing that a thing that is not depicted should be dismissed. Though I would like to point out that the circumstances are different, one are the actions of beings we see depicted in cutscenes which occur between cutscenes. The other is the existence of a creature that we never see depicted. 

One is "filling holes" in different ways and one is "expanding off the shoreline of story". I am not saying one is better or more valid than the other, only that they are different approaches. And ToTK itself does the same "expanding off the shoreline" approach with it's story and monsters. We had no idea or hints that, for example, Gibdos ever existed in Hyrule during the events of BoTW. 

Also a relevant point is that Gibdos don't appear outside of the Gerudo Desert, the cave of the 8th heroine statue, Glooms Lair and the three Queen Gibdo rematch-places in the depths (two of which are outside of places named after the Gerudo). So. They seem to be tied to the Gerudo desert.

So yeah, my ultimate point about the ReDeads is like, yeah, that which you say about reanimated Hylians being ReDeads could be true, if you interpret the story that way. 

Or maybe, the creation of Gibdos and reanimation of corpses was delegated to Queen Gibdo who happened to be in the in the Gerudo desert during her most powerful and just reanimated anything in the vicinity. Then when she was defeated she lost the power to reanimate things in such a large vicinity, like she lost the power to create the sand shroud. That could be true too, though it's more wordy and Ockham's Razor applies, I guess. 

Or people worshiping Hylia* can't be reanimated into Gibdos. Could be true too, and isn't too wordy. What I come back to once again is interpretation of absences and holes being varied and, to me, equally valid. 

(*We don't see any of the big goddess statues in the Gerudo territory (Gerudo Desert, Gerudo Highlands, Gerudo Canyon and East Gerudo Mesa), Muave's statements in BoTW and the seeming spiritual reverence of ancestors and the seven heroines instead. In current-time ToTK that may have changed, as they took the goddess statue into the shelter with them. Hope you don't think I'm "cheating" the Ockham's Razor thing by explaining the statement of the lack of worship of Hylia in Gerudo culture being canon supported. If you do, that's okay to, I'm not going to fault you for it.)

“The only ways that I can see that would absolve him of such would be if he actually had no control of what monsters he summoned…”

On this point of control I wish to point out Zelda's experience with her secret stone, of which she had no control of the first time she used it.

And we do not see Ganondorf being able to summon monsters before. He specifically needed a specific musical call to lead the Molduga that were already in existence (And they did not go up into purple smoke when defeated, like in current time BoTW and ToTK, pointing towards them not being summoned by him.)

Do we expect different things of two people using a power for the first time? 

And yes, Ganon has experience with a different but similar sort of power, making "physical illusions" or "phantoms" I guess. But the fake Zelda we see in Memory 9 is ONE being that HE controls. Summoning (or reanimating) mass amounts of creatures each with their own consciousness* is different, in my opinion. 

Besides, Zelda has experience with time as well, with remaining alive and young-looking while holding back calamity Ganon for a thousand years. Their situations are more similar in ways than what is immediately apparent.

*And spirits, according to him in the ToTK blood moon cutscene. But he is also a biased source in that situation so I'll take it with a grain of salt. But Zelda also says they have spirits in BoTW's blood moon cutscene. So it's a bit more reliable information, since two opposing sides are reporting the same facts.

From “...or if the stone had somehow subdued his…” to “...anything that happened in the game after he'd killed Sonia.”

I guess it's possible that it altered his personality, there is nothing depicted in-game that totally strides against that concept. I agree it can feel dissatisfying as it is presented. It is dissatisfying to me.

Let me entertain the idea of a being that is not explicitly depicted in BoTW or ToTK exists in the world/story for a moment.

If it is the case that like Demise took control there as you present later in your post, his form does change to match the appearance of Demise more. Additionally the line "You tried to control me, Rauru" has some like value as a literary tool, as contrast/poetic irony. And the line "A mere mortal... will not stand in my way!" that he says before his draconification makes more sense factually, as Demise seems to be an actual being that is not mortal. 

(Of course I will not deny that the line makes sense even without Demise being involved in any way. It just makes sense in a character way, that he sees himself as being beyond mortal and a god of sorts.)

“Which… honestly just feels dissatisfying & like a cop out as far as his character goes.”

On this line I feel like I need some clarification. Do you mean in both scenarios or only the latter? 

I am unsure because in a previous part of your post you specified the statement applying to both scenarios that you had presented before, but you did not do so in this one. I am not criticizing your wording, I simply wish to understand, thank you.

From “(But, please, do remember that he did…” to “...An effective tactic, granted, but absolutely reprehensible!)”

Oh, this one is gonna be a doozy… (I hope I am using that saying right. I mean it’s gonna be a lot of text.)

I agree with this! These interpretations are all super valid. And I subscribe to both the interpretations you present in most situations. He did something absolutely reprehensible there. Even in the situations I choose to believe a more favorable interpretation of his actions I cannot deny this is a painful murder. Or I guess it's called an assassination when it is for political reasons? 

Though I think maybe one of his main focuses in this scene is in power, the power he gains from the stone (he just turns around after Sonia falls and he has the stone, not showing any care towards her) and the power he exerts/expresses (through the method of killing her and his mocking of Rauru).

As for a more favorable way to interpret this, I do have a possible motivation for him that could change one's perspective on the scene to a more understandable one. So, let me try to argue for several connected points: 

Weapon wielding monsters are sapient and sentient (meaning having human-like consciousness and intelligence) This point has several arguments. 

Monsters (or at least Lizalfos) seem to have a formal military structure.  History of the Zora, part 3 “Our scholars say that in the distant past, Zora's Domain had a king with no special talent for the art of war. [...] One day, news reached the king of a horde of monsters gathering in the Zodobon Highlands. [...] the cunning Lizalfos general saw an opening and seized it, driving the king's forces into a corner. Just when the general's sword was ready to crash down upon the king, a miracle took place.” We do not know the species of the other monsters in the horde, so other 

They create weapons, meaning tools.  The descriptions for monster tools show that they are made by them. 

(Could Ganondorf be the mastermind behind the weapons? In the main monster summoning cutscenes (BoTW blood moon, ToTK blood moon, Memory 10 Birth of the Demon King and Memory 11 The Demon King's Army) they are not summoned with weapons. Of course we also see gameplay where he summons monsters with weapons (ToTK Crisis at Hyrule Castle, in the fight with the Demon King’s army and BoTW the Lynels in Hyrule castle). So I guess it is possible that Ganondorf makes the weapons. 

But it doesn’t really make sense that he just came up with the designs for at least 48 (the equipment named after monsters in BoTW) PLUS the like at least dozens of weapons combined from different things we see them wielding in ToTK. Sure, like, he had thousands of years to maybe think of them IF he was able to think during the sealing. 

The easier answer is that monsters just make the weapons.)

They can and will at times cook their food.  Examples include the seared steak we can steal from them and the grilled fish that are definitely cooked by them. (There is grilled fish that is in the Lurelin well at the pirate attack, only a boko is present.) To that we can potentially add the stuff that they have in the monster bases in ToTK that usually trap Hino the blood moon guy. Those could be stolen, I guess.

(Cooking things is an exclusively human thing in our world, one of the objectively observable and measurable things that makes us different from other animals. But admit fire is easier to come by in a world where everything from bats to rocks to giant dragons who are wreathed in the stuff exist, making the evolution of cooking with fire much easier/statistically probable.)

They build complex structures that employ building techniques that are exclusive to sentient and sapient creatures, in our world and in game. That point is self explanatory. No non-sapient and non-sentient creature in our world naturally builds structures with the techniques employed by monsters. And in-game the only other creatures we see using the same or similar building techniques are sapient and sentient beings.

They seem to have a complex-ish language.  There is an animation for the bokoblins that to me implies a spoken language that is similar to human languages. See the taking of turns, paying attention to others and the sheer length of time that they spend only doing this. 

(I guess there are other animals in the real world that have similar traits to their vocalizations and other communication. Though I feel there is something about the animation that to me implies human-like language. Its similarity to human body language and the structure of the communication is probably it.) Here is the first video that I found that featured long and detailed shots of it: https://youtu.be/Wsi1IbjPAkM?si=vT8JeNXFI2Z7KD0f&t=486 

Monsters have spirits like the people we see 

So, for this I will present some in-game information before I make any statement regarding my interpretation of the information presented.

From the BoTW blood moon cutscene, said by Zelda: “By [the blood moon’s] glow, the aimless spirits of monsters slain in the name of the light return to the flesh.”

From the ToTK blood moon cutscene, said by Ganondorf disguised as Zelda: “When [the blood moon’s] red glow shines upon the land… the aimless spirits of slain monsters return to the flesh.”

From the introduction to a new bargainer statue “[...] …spirits that ought to return to the after life. They are pitiful beings that have lost their way home and wander this land.” 

You could say they are aimless spirits. (Okay, maybe a less solid connection but…) (Here is a video because it’s hard to find videos where people don’t just skip that dialogue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idMM3xYqQ4U ) 

Also Mineru’s spirit looks like a poe when going into the construct, and then in the after credits scene looking like the other spirits we see in the game.  

So yeah, I believe that monsters have spirits/poes like the Hylians, Zora, Rito, Zonai, Gorons, Koroks and Gerudo. 

So basically my point with the above is that weapon wielding monsters are people. I would also include Gibdos in that category, of being people, or at least being people at one point. Other non-humanoid monsters are, to me, on par with animals or whatever Blupees and Satori are.

There are monsters that are not “created” by Ganondorf after he gained the secret stone 

The Molduga that are featured in Memory 6 “The Gerudo Assault” are an obvious argument for this.

There is a tablet from the quest “Messages from an Ancient Era” that mentions monsters before the Imprisoning War. It also can’t be Molduga, because it was in the lands of early Hyrule, when Gerudo weren’t a part of Hyrule yet because that definitely comes later in the timeline of Rauru’s Hyrule. I am not featuring the text of the tablet here because I will feature it later in this post.

Another detail I wish to point out is that the Molduga in Memory 6 don’t go up in purple/black smoke when defeated like they do in game, implying that the smoke of black/purple are something that is exclusive to monsters summoned by Ganondorf. 

But maybe the Molduga are just not sufficiently hurt or just stunned and therefore didn’t evaporate? That is a thing I thought about too, however I have some evidence that that is the case! BoTW Memory 8 “A Premonition”. In that cutscene, the monsters lay dead/defeated without going up in smoke. And there have been no blood moons to revive monsters, or else it would have been mentioned as a premonition as well. Blood moons something which we most always see when monsters are summoned. (Not in when fake Zelda summons monsters in “Crisis at Hyrule Castle”, the ToTK Demon King’s Army and in BoTW with the Lynels in Hyrule castle, but what do all of them have in common? The location, Hyrule Castle where Ganondorf is sealed.) I think these are not Ganondorf's revived/summoned monsters, simply other monsters that foresaw the Calamity, like the fortune-teller that told the Hyrulean royals in BoTW. (Though I admit it can be interpreted differently, and the Doylian explanation for it the monsters in Memory 8 is probably to show the previous battle more clearly than just monster horns, teeth, hooves and more laying around. But yeah, even if it’s an unintentional differentiation between monsters, it’s still depicted and therefore canon, so…)

(Also, in Skyward Sword all monsters are described as being creations of Demise. But as I have stated previously I do not currently consider that to be relevant or true in this current debate. Only BoTW and ToTK stuff.)

There were monsters being punished for unknown misdeeds by cruel means

Wordsworth about the tablet in ancient Hyrulean that is in the East Hebra Sky Archipelago: “The subject here is the actions of King Rauru and Queen Sonia undertook not long after Hyrules founding. With the kingdom established, they were worried for their people, so they set out to eradicate the monsters troubling them. They created structures called Shrines of Light to seal the monsters away so that they could never be revived.” 

Of course this is a translation of a secondary source, meaning it is even further removed from what actually happened, so I provide the original text he translated and a more literal, word by word translation by a fan at the end of this post. 

But to summarize the differences between the original text and the honestly embellished summary of the translation: The more extreme word ‘eradicate’ isn’t used, they use the words ‘driven aback’ and ‘seal[ed] them away ’ to describe what Sonia and Rauru did to the monsters. Revival or the hindering of revival is not something that is mentioned at all. 

And… I guess my argument kinda hinged on those two concepts of ‘eradication’ and ‘hindering of revival’ to be as solid as I imagined it to be. 

However! Like I argued in my first reply to iowaco-sediments, the one expressing this account of what happened - and in this case I mean Sonia; who is the primary source - is biased towards their own views. 

The words used to describe what the monsters did in the original text are (this from the translation): “Of [the] early days since Hyrule’s founding have diverse monsters besieged and assailed her [kingdom]. Unceasing in strife, they brought to despair folks’ lives.” 

I find this to be able to be interpreted in many ways. From the perspective of a ruler of lots of land, people do not accept their rule and still live there and fight to live there because they have lived there before could be said to have ‘assailed’ and ‘besieged’ the kingdom. Causing ‘strife’ and ‘despair’ can also be relative or exaggerated if it is true. It could be that the monsters and people of Hyrule had disagreements (violent or nonviolent) about resources like water, forests, agricultural lands, hunting and caves. Disagreements about things like this can cause people to feel things that can be described as ‘strife’ and ‘despair’.

But yeah, it could also be that it is as bad as you can imagine. Monster barbarians raiding Hyrulean settlements and all the death that that entails. We do not know. 

However, what we can infer is from the placements of the Shrines of Light. They are EVERYWHERE. That means the monsters were everywhere. They did not come from the outside. They were there when Hyrule was founded. (Or not. We know that the Shrines of Light in the Gerudo area were probably put there after the Imprisoning War. Or I guess it could be between ToTK Memory 7 and Memory 9. Ganondorf’s fondness of using Molduga makes me doubt the latter though.) 

Look, you can interpret this in many ways. But the more favorable interpretation is that monsters are native to the lands that then became Hyrule too, just like the Zora, Hylians, Rito, Gorons, Gerudo and Koroks. And if some powerful rulers decide suddenly that this is not your land anymore but these other people that have lived here as long as you, then disagreements happen. In real life they are often violent and both sides try to twist the truth into making it morally right for them to fight and do bad things. 

And if one rejects the notion of what nintendo intends with the story of inherent evil versus inherent good, as people have a right to do… Then the ‘evil’ that the political leaders of Rauru’s Hyrule keep talking implying and stating directly sounds more like political leaders trying to convince themselves and their people of it. To make it the morally right thing to do, to drive back and punish the monsters - the people and beings of indeterminate analogy. 

But yeah, as always this is just one interpretation. Anyway, I mentioned punishment so let’s move onto that.

Since we do not see the besieging, assailing, strife and despair caused, we do no not know to what extent the monsters caused trouble. 

But we know the punishment Rauru and Sonia put upon them: being sealed.

And that sealing means anything similar to what Rauru did to Ganon, is a very cruel fate to bestow on many people and beings of indeterminate analogy. 

From what we know of Ganondorf’s sealing, we know it includes ‘binding the heart’, ‘stealing one’s magic’ and that green-blue spiral that comes out of Rauru’s back. The Shrines of Light also have that green-blue spiral, which ties the two together and implies a similarity between them. The end of Ganondorf’s sealing is marked, in part, by the disappearance of the blue-green spiral. When does the blue-green spiral disappear on the Shrines of Light? When the end is reached by Link. So… have the monsters been sealed all this time? 

We do not know exactly how the sealing works, but if we assume the answer to be yes to the above question then I have a few thoughts about the possibilities. 

If the monsters are aware of themselves and of time passing, it’s basically solitary confinement. 

If they are aware of each other as well, that could be better, but the imprisonment by the sealing also exceeds any lifetime imprisonment that we as humans are capable of experiencing. 

If they aren’t aware and don’t ever wake up, then it’s basically an act that dooms them to non-existence, and eh, what is death but being doomed to non-existence? 

If they wake up/become unsealed and haven’t been aware? At least ten thousand years have passed, all their relationships are severed, they have no home and no way to get home. Correlating it to the closest real life crime is kidnapping someone and then setting them free in a foreign place where one doesn’t speak the language and has no way to get back to the life one led before.

The least cruel interpretation of the sealing would probably be the monsters that were sealed together being able to interact with each other and then being unsealed some time in the undefined future. Or the one basically equivalent to death, depending on your definition of cruelty. 

But putting the nature of awareness while sealed aside; at the time of the Imprisoning War the ‘punishment’ of being sealed would be milder if the monsters were unsealed like, a lifetime later. But, we do not have any indication of the leaders of Hyrule intending to unseal the monsters. I will admit that we do not have any indication of the opposite either, so… Make of that what you will. 

ONTO THE MAIN POINT

Anyway, how does this relate to Ganondorf’s motivation for killing Sonia as he did? Ganondorf is on the side that has monsters fighting beside him. We know he has fought with monsters (Molduga) before he killed Sonia. Gerudo have trained the Molduga, which at the amount of Molduga present in Memory 6 “The Gerudo Assault” must have been a big undertaking.  Is it too far-fetched to imagine he cares about the fate of monsters under Hyrule’s rule?

So, I argue revenge as a motivation. Revenge for the cruel fate and the control that Rauru’s and Sonia’s kingdom has put the monsters through and under. That which he wanted his kingdom and its inhabitants to avoid with his repeated refusals to join Hyrule and his attack during ToTK Memory 6. 

(Also, bringing this up now, in Memory 11 “The Demon King’s Army” he refers to the monsters as his servants, which may imply that he views them as lesser and that could disprove the revenge motivation. However, as you probably know, that Memory is not a Dragon Tear and simply a scare-tactic vision that Ganondorf makes during “Crisis at Hyrule Castle”. And as I have previously said, I argue for Ganondorf before and during the Imprisoning War.)

Also, many times when he summons monsters with a blood moon in the background later in current-time BoTW and ToTK he explicitly revives them, returns their spirits to the flesh. Could he have been reviving them during Memory 10 “The Birth of The Demon King” too? Returning the monsters that weren’t sealed, just killed, to the flesh so that they can take revenge on the kingdom that killed them with their own might. Could be kinda poetic or something.

I understand that revenge is still a motivation that is often called morally wrong. Yeah in this case, it’s just more punitive measures upon punitive measures. And in this case, it didn’t lead to any change in the situation of the monsters and arguably made it worse. But, whose fault is that? Not Ganondorf. He’s not the one who sealed himself and stopped the biggest military/political force on the side of the monsters, keeping them from regaining a place in the land that remained Hyrule after the war was over. 

Of course the potential motivations he had does not absolve him of the reprehensible way he killed Sonia. It doesn’t absolve him of anything he did after the Imprisoning War. And it does not absolve him if he committed war crimes in the Imprisoning War that we have not seen, and therefore do or do not exist.  

The motivation posited here kinda just makes him look better. Killing an oppressor of your allies sounds much better than killing a leader of a peaceful nation. 

(It would also kinda explain Ganondorf’s scoff at Rauru saying “[...] my kingdom and the peace it brings [...]” in another way than the Social Darwinist ‘peace is for weaklings’ thing he expresses before his boss fight. And the smile he does after could be him straining to keep the scorn off his face. (I don’t think he’s a great actor despite his ability to create illusions, but that could just be the amateur actor in me speaking.))

So. Yeah. That was my explanation of an interpretation that one can make regarding Ganondorf’s motivation for and during killing Sonia and stuff. Moving on! 

From “And even in the case of the stone altering…” to “...none of the new Sages had suffered a similar fate? Genuinely.” 

Some others argue that the powers that Ganondorf gained from the secret stone were inherently different in a powerlevel kind of way. I don't remember where it is said and I don't know if I agree with them. I know it's not an answer to your question but like, if one goes with that reasoning then it maybe makes more sense? Like, it's different because the power level is different? I don't know, not particularly confident in that.

“Is it possibly Demise's influence? Even if it was, wouldn't that still negate his responsibility for what he does in the present of Hyrule, thus minimizing his free will?”

Yeah, it would be. And as I have stated before, that would be unsatisfying to me as well, with the content that we have. If there was like a storyline of a power struggle between Demise and Ganon I could maybe get on board with it, but I don't currently want to imagine anything like that.

From “I'd also like to bring up the fact that, even…” to “...mistaken in his belief that Rauru was trying to control him.”

Yeah. That is true. 

However we do have evidence of Rauru's Hyrule influencing Gerudo settlements, the Shrines of Light.  Though of course we do not know if they were built before or after the Imprisoning War. I like to think after, but yeah, then it would be a mistaken belief on Ganondorf's part. 

But the influences of Rauru's Hyrule that came after the Imprisoning War in that case proves him right, somewhat? Like the Ancient Prison Ruins including a Shrine of Light. And the one on the Arbiters Ground. And the reliance on Zonai devices in the Lighting Temple. Not to mention the mines in the depths, Rauru states during his ghost appearances on the Great Sky Island that they built the Steward Constructs, and who do we see manning the mines that remain functional?  Even if the Zonai before Rauru built the mines, they would have had to have been maintained by the Hyruleans. I think. You can disprove me if you want. 

Also I know that the cause of those influences could have been caused by the Imprisoning War and Ganondorf's actions and that they maybe wouldn't have happened if he remained peaceful. That's possible too.

“Because, at least from my perspective, he very much comes across as more the leader of an alliance.”

He does! He is. He is the leader of an alliance for people who agree with him or to be part of his kingdom. They literally wear zoanite masks and wear white like Zelda, Sonia and Hyrules soldiers. But that doesn't mean all of their people agree with that Rauru and Sonia should rule them. And some do accept that and want that.

“Because if he had strong-armed the Gerudo, then why had the Sage of Lightning sided with him?”

A possibility is that she thought that it would be better for the Gerudo to be part of Hyrule, for trade and stuff for example. And that she didn't see it as a strong-arm, simply a redistribution of political power. 

Another possibility that could be combined with the above is that she disliked the concept of a birth-right king. Rauru and Sonia came to rule by founding the kingdom, so maybe she liked that system more? I don't know, that one is not that solid. 

Another possibility is that she thought she would gain a high position in the new Hyrule, something that she didn't get in Gerudo society even though she possessed magic/power like Ganondorf did. (And I hesitate to mention Koume and Kotake, because them using magic in the ToTK and BoTW world is not confirmed. But idk, if they did that would be another two people who have magic and are in a very high position.)

Or she just disliked Ganondorf for personal reasons and allied herself with those who are against him.

Or in the scenario/interpretation mentioned before, where monsters are being sealed in a cruel way and stuff, she feared that if the Gerudo fought alongside the monsters that they would get sealed with them. Siding with Rauru could be a way for the Gerudo to not be 'lumped in with' the monsters and be sealed too.

Or in the same scenario, she just agreed with Rauru, that the monsters were inherently evil or just lesser or in the way. Deserving of imprisonment.

I don't know, there are many possibilities. I don't know which one I subscribe to at the moment.

“Also, if this were the case, then wouldn't it also be possible that he did the same to some of the other races?”

Yeah, it could be possible. Totally. We have lots of holes to fill as to why the Zora, Rito and Gorons chose to join Hyrule and how they fare under its rule. And there are lots of ways to fill those holes. The holes there are even bigger than in the case of the Gerudo.

From “And, if he had, then why would they promise to aid…” to “...Not even the Sage of Lightning?”

These can be the same reasons as described before, for the Sage of Lightning joining Rauru. Or something else. I'm kinda running out of steam here in the last bit, haha.

“I just feel like there would need to be a lot of very specific coincidences for this to work.”

And you have the right to think so! You're super valid for sticking much closer to what nintendo intended for the story that I did with the stuff I presented in this and the other posts. 

I like the "monster sealing being somewhat unfair and Ganondorf fighting against Rauru and Sonia for that reason" interpretation I came up with and most of the other ideas tying into it, for story writing reasons. I feel as though I built a pretty cool thing from the pieces of canon we get, and that the picture I built in-between the holes with it is an interesting thing to explore in fanfiction or just theorizing. 

Sure, maybe it's more of a devils-advovcate-theory than a supervalid interpretation. I'd definitely tag it as "AU - Canon-Divergence" if I ever put up a story includes that idea on AO3 or tumblr, haha. But I like and feel like it fits, at times.

This discussion/debate was fun for me too! But exhausting, haha! I don't think I can do an as long rebuttal again any time soon, but it was fun! Researching and putting pieces of canon in different places and filling in the spaces between was fun, and your questions and arguments only fueled my motivation to do that. 

Thanks for being such a nice debate/discussion partner and for changing the way you debated after my clarifications of my intention! I hope this rebuttal is as nice to read as it was for me to read yours. 

Wishing you a good day today, or a good tomorrow if you read this when your day is over already. Cheers!

TOTK THOUGHTS

I'm gonna briefly talk about my thoughts/points if asked I'll elaborate ALSO, it's fine to have your own opinions its good to form opinions based of information you read about. If you have a different opinion that's fine I would love to talk about it. Also remember to be kind it's just a video game, no need for pitch forks we can agree to disagree. ♥︎

I feel like Ganondorf is givin too much credit in TOTK, a lot of people like to say that he was just mindin his own business until one day the evil white (he's not) goat man and his cult of masked individuals came in a ruined everything. Also people say that Rauru forced ALL the races to bow to him, but I'll mainly touch on Gerudo because these people need help😭

I think that's not true in anyway, this man is not a good man, he's not a good person and he's not a good leader. It really makes me angry when Rauru forced the Gerudo to be apart of Hyrule and the Gerudo didn't want that. THIS IS NOT TRUE! In the memory where all the sages and Rauru meet up (Memory 12 "Sages vow") the first line is "King rauru...We just received word that the last free Village in the Gerudo Desert has fallen." -Sage of water. They were free until Ganondorf came along... if he is king of the Gerudo and was a good leader why would they need to be free from him? It's almost like he's a bad ruler.

(quick side note yes ABSOLUTELY are an oppressed race and that should be a discussion! but they're not just oppressed by the other races their oppressed by their own leader)

[wishfulwithwine]

Secrets - Chapter Four

Aaron Hotchner x BAU Female Reader

Summary: A transfer NCIS agent to FBI BAU agent comes with a lot of baggage. Will the Unit Chief be able to hold his feelings back for the new, younger agent? 

WARNING: THIS CHAPTER IS 18+. INVOLVES EXPLICIT/NSFW CONTENT. PLEASE DO NOT READ IF MINOR.

photo from pinterest

“You tried it with the long sleeves on?” Y/N asked, as she knelt down from where she was preparing lunches in the Hotchner kitchen to look at Jack. She knelt in front of him, smiling at the young boy who had taken over her heart along with his father. 

It hadn’t been long before Y/N was spending more nights with Aaron than without. After Aaron had introduced Jack to Y/N, Jack was the one who wanted her to sleepover all the time so they could stay up late to play games and cook breakfast together in the mornings. When Aaron had to work late, Y/N could spend time with him and sometimes would get him ice cream. She would cook better dinners for the family, and Aaron was incredibly grateful. Jack loved Y/N. 

“I don’t want to be Spiderman anymore” Jack replied, as Aaron walked into the room. With a kiss to Jack’s forehead, Y/N got up, as Jack directed his attention to his Dad. She went to finish the lunches and plating the halloween cookies. 

“Why not?” Aaron asked, as Jack turned his attention to his dad while Aaron kneeled down in the spot Y/N was in.

“I don’t know” Jack replied, shrugging his shoulders, looking between Aaron and Y/N.

“Well you have to make a decision by tomorrow” Aaron reminded him, before giving him a kiss on the forehead, before walking over to Y/N to give her a quick kiss on the lips. Jack smiled at the site of his dad happy with Y/N.

“Good job on the cookies” Aaron said, looking at Jack.

“Team effort” Jack said, before high-fiving Y/N. Aaron smiled at her, as Y/N blushed a bit. Jack was so easily accepting her into their little family, it felt effortless to be included. 

“Thank you Jack” She replied, kissing his forehead. 

“Can I have one?” Jack asked, looking to the cookies before looking at his Dad.

“You want a cookie? Can I have a cookie?” Aaron asked Jack, with a smile. Y/N looked at the pair, smiling but shaking her head at Aaron’s playfulness. “What do you want, black cat or a pumpkin?” Aaron asked.

“Black cat” Jack replied and Aaron got him a black cat, before getting Y/N and him a pumpkin. 

“Cookies before breakfast? You must be in a good mood” Y/N teased, smiling. Aaron stood up, before standing behind her, pressing himself close to her back, his mouth near her ear.

“I’m in a very good mood because of my very good girl” Aaron whispered into her ear, pressing his hips into her back, causing her to press her hips into the counter, feeling him harden behind her.

“If you’re quick, we’ve got some time we could spend in the shower, Sir” she whispered, and he grabbed onto her hips. He felt like a horny teenager with her now, as she had unlocked a side of him that Haley couldn’t have even reached.

“I’m toying with the notion of either going to the Edgar Allan Poe Shadow Puppet or the reenactment of the 19th century Phantasmagoria” Reid said, as Y/N and Penelope walked into the round table room, already beginning to seat some of the team around the table. Y/N raised an eyebrow to Derek, who just shrugged. 

“I don’t want to know” Rossi stated.

“Oh yea, you do. Phantasmagorias are these amazing pre-cinema projected ghost shows invented in France where the showman attempted to spook the audience using science magic. And it just so happens I have an extra ticket” Spencer said, looking to Penelope and Y/N. Y/N just simply shook her head, not willing to give an explanation because usually she’d be up for this sort of thing so she didn’t have a good excuse. 

“Tempting” Penelope said, before starting to distribute the case files to everyone.

Y/N began listening intently to the team’s theories, as she had already been through the information with Penelope, before the team headed to Detroit.

Y/N had taken the Communications Liaison position seriously, and the team commended her on her ability to handle both the police and media, as well as remaining an active part of the profiler team. As soon as the team landed in Detroit, she went to the station, meeting the commander and fellow police officers to set up the team and points of contact. She had contacted family members to interview with herself and Rossi, seeing if there was anything they could get through cognitive interviews when they disappeared. 

“How you doing?” Y/N asked, as she saw Tony Torrell’s wife sitting in the conference room alone. 

“Uh, I’m fine. I’m here to see Agent Y/L/N and Agent Rossi” She said, nervously with a sadness in her eyes.

“I’m Agent Y/L/N and Rossi is going to be with you in just a few minutes. Are you Kiersten Torrell? I believe we spoke on the phone” Y/N asked, sitting down at the table.

“Yes” She said.

“I’m very sorry for your loss” Y/N said, putting the file she had in her arms down.

“Is there a picture of him in your folder? I want to see him” Kiersten stated, looking at the folder.

“Kiersten, your husband was very badly burned. I don’t think that’s a good idea” Y/Nsaid, as softly and gently as she could. She could see the emotions running through Kiersten’s face.

“What do you mean, he was burnt?” Kiersten asked.

“The person who did this uses fire as a weapon” Y/N reply cautiously.

“Was Tony set on fire alive?” Kiersten asked, realizing.

“We don’t know that” You tried to say, before Kiersten got a bit hysterical.

“Oh my god, this can’t be happening. Next week was our anniversary” Kiersten said.

“I’m so sorry” Y/N said.

“Are you married?” Kiersten asked, tears threatening to stream down her face.

“No I’m not, and I can’t imagine what you’re going through” Y/N said. “But everything you tell us can help us find the person who did this to Tony. I know this is hard but I want you to try to remember that when you’re talking to Agent Rossi” Y/N said, noticing Rossi by the window watching them.

“Aaron! You ran into a burning building? Are you crazy?” Y/N screamed in a whisper when Aaron made it back to the station after they caught Kaman. She had waited on scolding him until there was an opportunity when they were packing up their gear at the hotel that she could get him into an empty room and talk to him. It was highly intense case, and although Y/N was glad it was over, she was furious at Aaron for putting himself in harms way. 

“It was the only way to get him” Aaron tried to defend himself.

“You could’ve died! You had no protective gear on you” Y/N said, trying not to actually scream and draw attention to the pair from everyone. They still hadn’t told the team and no one had questioned them about the two, or even remotely hinted at anything so neither of them thought the team suspected anything.

“I’m sorry” Aaron said, at a loss of words.

“Tell that to Jack when you get home” Y/N said stubbornly, before turning away from him to go walk back in to the department. Aaron reached out and stopped her.

“I will, but I’m telling you now. I’m sorry. Seriously” Aaron said, staring into her eyes.

“Ok. I get it, but please try to be more cautious next time” Y/N replied. Aaron nodded.

“Can I kiss you now?” He asked, squeezing her hand softly. Y/N raised an eyebrow.

“Not until we get home” She said, and Aaron grinned at the way she said ‘home’, referencing his apartment. She didn’t know how much he wanted her to move in with him, but he also thought it might’ve been a bit early for that.

“What are you grinning at?” Y/N asked, suspicious of his smile.

“I love you” He said. “And you just called my apartment home” 

Y/N felt her heart stop for a moment, as he said those three words.

“You…” She stuttered, trying to wrap her head around the moment.

“I love you, Y/N Y/L/N” Aaron said, kissing her in a knee weakening kiss.

“I love you too, Aaron Hotchner. And calling your apartment home just feels right” She said, causing both of them to smile.

“We should head to the jet” He said, looking at the time on the clock on the wall. She nodded.

“That kiss was an exception. No more until home” She teased, before leaving the room and letting him wait to stagger their exits. Aaron sighed, staring at where she was just standing. 

“Dad! Don’t look at me” Jack said, as he heard Aaron settle in the living room. Aaron had come back to the apartment later than Y/N since he had more paperwork to fill out, and Y/N had been getting Jack all ready to go, as well as herself. Aaron and her were doing a couples costume as well as whatever Jack had finally chosen to wear. With puppy dog eyes, Jack had convinced the pair to dress up with him too, deciding they should be Superman and Superwoman.

“Are you almost ready?” Aaron asked, as he waited in the living room.

“Yes” Jack said, and Aaron looked to the closed door, hearing Y/N’s mumbled voice tone through the door. It opened a bit, and Y/N came out, closing the door behind her so Jack could make an entrance. Aaron’s jaw almost dropped, taking in her costume, reaching out and pulling her by the waist close to him.

“You look gorgeous, like you’re not going to be sleeping a wink tonight” Aaron whispered in her ear.

“Are we going to tell Jack we were watching a scary movie?” Y/N whispered with a smirk, and Aaron shook his head looking at her as she bit her lip with anticipation of tonight’s post-candy activities.

��You ready Jack?” Y/N called out to him, before Aaron could respond.

Then, Jack came out in a suit.

“Woah. That is definitely not Spiderman” Aaron said, confused, looking between Jack and Y/N. Y/N was smiling so large.

“He’s not a real superhero” Jack said.

“He’s not?” Aaron said, crossing his arms. “Ok I give up. Who are you supposed to be?”

“I’m you, Daddy” Jack said, and Y/N watched as Aaron’s whole face changed into a smile. Her heart melted at the sight. He picked up Jack, giving a huge hug, and kissed his forehead. Y/N walked over, kissing both her boys cheeks, and then they went to go trick or treating.

They walked along the normal streets, Y/N and Aaron hand in hand while Jack ran up to each house asking for candy.

“I want your candy” Aaron whispered in her ear, as Jack went up to the next house. Y/N squeezed his hand, pulling him closer, and he wrapped his arms around her.

“You naughty Superman” She whispered, winking at him, before he kissed you.

“Ew”Jack said, seeing them kissing. Y/N blushed as Aaron chuckled, before they headed to the next house.

It wasn’t long before Jack got tired, and Aaron carried him home, with Superwoman in tow. 

[deepbluefrog]

TESFEST 2022 - Day 5 - Divine

The centerpiece of the main quest in Sanguine Debauchery is an attempt at finishing what Al-Esh couldn’t do... Ascension. Becoming a new Daedra in her own right.

I read multiple sources about CHIM, the God Head, The Wheel, The Towers and other mantling ideas from obscure corners of Elder Scrolls Lore. Like with Dragon Breaks, I am fascinated by the fluidity of the Lore. If feels like layer upon layers of ideas, hypotheses, accounts distorted by political or religious agendas.

But how can I add to the quest on a short budget?

The answer after the spoilers...

Bonus - I like how Dream AI made whole worlds come out of a dreaming head. This is a case where having something distorted and abstract works well. I can’t wait to try something more realistic like Midjourney.. but I didn’t make it in time for an invite for TESfest.

I came across a story in some interview about a quest that didn’t make it to .. Oblivion maybe? ... that would have required the player to edit the game in order to finish the quest.

I can’t remember where I read that but it was the perfect answer to what I needed to do.

From what I gather, one of the paths to ascension is to realize reality is just a dream and be powerful enough to take control without losing yourself in that discovery.

In order to ascend, the player will have to wake up from the dream.. by literally stopping the game and editing it in a simple way.

Since it is way outside of normal gameplay, I will use multiple ways to accomplish this - a global variable that can be edited or set in the console, a json file, maybe a script to recompile and if that fails, a menu option that will only appear at that point in the quest.

The tricky part will be to give enough hints to the player without being too explicit.

I am thinking of a dialogue with Sanguien, with a question along the lines of 'All that we see or seem, Is but a dream within a dream.... what are you?' (with apology to Edgar Allan Poe). 

All the answers will be wrong, unless the player picks up on clues in the comments from Sanguine with each wrong answer. Put together, they should point to changing the game. Literally.

I don’t have a warm feeling people will make it through that part of the quest. I will be very happy if one person figures it out :)

[ontheoddoccasioniwritestuff]

Valentines Day for Nerds (Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader)

Summary: Spencer’s favourite holiday is often taken up mostly by work, but this year his enjoyment doesn’t seem to be as disruptive in the BAU bullpen. The team soon realise why.

AN: It’s a bit late- who am I kidding? IT’S ALWAYS HALLOWEEN IN OUR HEARTS! This was a part of @imagining-in-the-margins fic swap, for the brilliant @agntprentiss <3 

For my smut fic from the swap, check out A Little Indulgence (18+ only!)

Reader uses she/her pronouns!

Word count: 1.7k words

Gif credit to @imagining-in-the-margins​ <3

Your name: submit What is this?

The first breach of boredom was Penelope practically skipping into the bullpen, her arms cradling a bouquet of flowers as if it were an infant. The bold orange roses contrasted with the dyed black petals of its counterparts as they were planted upon Spencer’s desk.

“Delivery for Doctor Reid!” trilled Penelope, clapping her hands now that they were free of said delivery. Dropping his pen onto his unfinished paperwork, Spencer pivoted the base of the bouquet before he found a small black envelope.

It held a little card with two pumpkins, happy faces carved into them both. Inside were the following words:

 Black is for new beginnings,

Orange is for enthusiasm,

Spooky times are afoot tonight,

Watch out for ectoplasm!

I spent ten minutes trying to think of a rhyme for that. Happy Halloween, Cara Mia!

Y/N xxx

Spencer beamed as he placed the bouquet at the edge of his desk, next to the fake severed hand that now held the card in its stiff fingers. He scratched his bristly cheek. Less than a day until he could shave this off. It’d be worth it though.

“Is it from Y/N?”

He looked up to see Penelope had lingered like a lost spirit, waiting to see if her trials of passing on the bouquet had been worthy enough for her to move onto the next world – her Batcave. She was poised with a hopeful expression.

“Yes,” Spencer said, watching Penelope lean up on her tiptoes as she tried to rein in her delight.

She clapped her hands, her purple painted nails clicking as they tapped together, “Are my two favourite ghost hunters up to much this Hallow’s Eve?”

“We’re going to see the Phantasmagoria re-enactment after we go trick-or-treating with Henry tonight.”

It was hard to ignore the absolute glee with which Spencer spoke. Even if one completely ignored the way his voice carried a light excitement, the way his eyes lit up and his broad smile almost fell off his face was enough to connote that he was very excited for tonight. It was also hard to ignore the mild bemusement on the faces of everyone who heard.

Glad to be back and bearing witness to his elated behaviour regardless, Emily cracked a smile, “Maybe she’ll cling to you when she gets scared.”

A heat crawled up Spencer’s neck and he tried to return to work now in hopes that his gift’s display would be cut off. He’d rather sit in the glow of receiving the flowers without mockery.

To the team’s credit, no one ribbed him for it.

The flowers were not the last gift though.

Soon Penelope reappeared, “Your Cupid has returned with another gift for you!”

As he tore at the paper and revealed an Edgar Allen Poe pin – the titular Raven he instantly attached it to his satchel strap – in pride of place, just like the bouquet.

Derek was the one to notice how Spencer’s sandwiches had been cut into little pumpkins. Some digging and Spencer revealed that he had gotten Y/N to order a cutter online. He held his lunch in one hand, his collection of classic Halloween short stories in the other, with a childish glee that no one wanted to squander.

When Spencer climbed the steps to drop off a file to Hotch around mid-afternoon, Rossi walking behind him noted the brand-new socks. A classic odd pairing, and obviously they were Halloween themed. This kid left no opportunity untaken when it came to celebrating Halloween – more than his own birthday.

But Rossi was not closed enough to get a good look at them, and no one else was as close. So, he recruited Emily and Derek to discover what the pattern was. It was Emily and Derek who upped the stakes by wanting to get a glimpse without arousing suspicion. Now that outright asking Spencer was not an option, the game began as they dropped several pens as an excuse to bend over and strain for a flash of those socks.

Derek eventually resorted to a pantomime attempt at tripping in front of Spencer’s desk and gave the jig up straight away by shouting to a stressed Emily (whilst also catching the attention of Hotch through his office’s blinds): “IT’S IT!”

A few language barriers hurdled later, and hindsight brought them both clarity. The red splodge on Spencer’s ankle was officially defined as a balloon.

“So tell us! What’s the other one?” Emily said, her voice strained with how much she was invested in this single sock.

Spencer hiked up his trouser leg to display the skeletal zombie sewn into the sock. “It’s Curtis Danko from When Good Ghouls Go Bad. Y/N had it commissioned for me!”

JJ was watching nearby, unaffected by the tensions of the sock bet. She knew the film because Y/N had wanted to show it to Henry the other week when she babysat him. But upon further inspection, the R.L. Stine film – while intended for kids – might be a little intimidating for Henry to watch without his profiler mother and godfather, police officer father, and favourite auntie there to protect him from the cursed statue.

No one else in the bullpen knew the film.

The team soon discovered that Spencer was not the only one to be on the receiving end of such gifts. Six o’clock rolled around and Y/N entered the bullpen. She was wearing a fuzzy black scarf, some sparkles shining within the wool. At the tail of it, a lucky black cat patch was sewn onto the end. It caught Rossi’s eye and he hid behind a folder as he smiled. The three times that Spencer had forgone a card game with him (in favour of knitting the scarf on the flights back from cases) had been riddled with playful teasing. It was good to see that it was worth it.

Especially when Spencer saw Y/N wearing it and his back snapped straight up. His chair flew backwards, spinning around with the effort that Spencer had launched himself from it, and he and Y/N embraced each other with casual affection.

“How was work today?”

“Not as boring as I thought. But, I have to say: I’m meant to call you Cara Mia.” Spencer’s eyes darted to the card Y/N had sent that morning.

Y/N caught onto his meaning, “Should I stop?”

“Never.”

She rubbed her nose against his and Spencer went pink again, giggling like a teenager. True, he was as smitten with Y/N as Gomez was with Morticia. Then he remembered he was in the workplace as Y/N went to greet the rest of the team, and Spencer’s pink became a scarlet.

“Aww, Pretty Boy,” Derek grinned at him from his desk chair, “You’re so cute!”

“It’s like Sergio!” Emily said, admiring the scarf with her thumb rubbing over the stitches around the cat patch.

“Make sure he’s safe tonight,” Y/N squeezed her hands for a second.

Then JJ appeared from her office, coat and bag over her arm, and she, Y/N, and Spencer wished the bullpen a Happy Halloween before they left.

They had three hours before the Phantasmagoria started. Plenty of time to get ready.

Henry was right behind the front door of his home. The second it opened, he bounced at Spencer’s feet, his tiny hand clutching onto two of his fingers to drag him inside. He was babbling away at such speed that Y/N could barely keep up. She gave Will a wave across the ironing board where he was diligently ironing Will’s cape.

“Well don’t you look handsome!” Y/N beamed at Henry while JJ combed his hair back, slick with gel. It was something he agreed to but only if Spencer was doing the same. Which he was, occupying the downstairs bathroom as he prepared his own costume.

The moment Spencer had finished shaving everything bar the moustache, he was plonked in front of the television. Henry smoothed out his cloak and put in his plastic fangs in to watch the rest of his new favourite Halloween film, The Little Vampire. He mumbled along with Rudolph’s lines and sat enraptured as he pointed out to Spencer the flying scenes. Luckily for him, Will and JJ were getting dressed as Frederick and Freda Sackville-Bagg upstairs to join in the Halloween spirit – last year’s Halloween date night disaster long forgotten.

Henry put in his plastic fangs and hissed at Y/N who emerged in her long sleek black dress. As she stepped across the room as elegantly as Morticia, Spence spied that she was wearing the black spiderweb tights he had bought her today.

“Hello, Gomez,” She smiled radiantly at Spencer, smoothing out his suit jacket as he stood before her. He presented her with a red rose that matched her lipstick to a tee.

As she breathed in the flower’s scent, he kissed her cheek, enjoying her giggle at the bristle of his ‘stache, “You’re stunning.”

“Thank you, and you’re handsome as ever.” She swung their linked hands between them in the opposite way she poised on her tiptoes. “Maybe we should have taken a tango class.”

And she laughed loudly at Spencer’s wincing at such a thought.

“It’s ok, Cara Mia. I’ll settle for a kiss instead.”

Oh, that was something he could do forever. He brought her hands to his lips and kissed her knuckles then the inside of each wrist.

Unfortunately, Henry interrupted the stream of kisses that were headed in Y/N’s way. “Ready to go!” He skipped his way between the happy couple.

It was hard to be mad at Henry, especially with how adorable he looked beside his parents and with his bright orange pumpkin bag ready to collect candy. He felt safe with his four favourite adults guarding him.

“Tonight,” Y/N whispered into his ear and he could hear the smirk in her words, “After the Phantasmagoria.”

Spencer beamed, his dimples delightfully framing that smile. One day maybe, they would have their own Wednesday, Pugsley, and Pubert to join them. And maybe then Derek would dress up as Uncle Fester.

[puzzles-are-fun]

Hidden Object casual games

I play a lot of Hidden Object casual games and there are frequently tasks right at the beginning where you have to make enough noise for the person inside the home to hear you knock at the door and let you in. They are often listening to music so they can’t hear the knock.

Often the solution is to find a bell or something that is louder than just knocking. Sometimes you have to repair a doorknocker or find an airhorn. 

The thing I don’t understand is, if the person inside wrote the detective (usually the protagonist of the game is some kind of detective, like in Dark Tales: Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat or Mystery Case Files or similar games) to come to their home to help solve the mystery/case, why are they listening to loud music when the detective arrives to try to solve the mystery/case? Like, you called me, why are you not answering the door when I show up to help? Why did you decide to listen to loud music when you were expecting someone to come to your house and need to knock on the door? Depending on the game there is modern technology like cellphones, so the person in need of the detective could have totally been listening to music on their phone (wearing headphones or not) and received a text to say the detective was at the door.

I get that the person in need of help might not know exactly when the detective would show up (again depending on the era the game is set, there isn’t modern technology) but maybe if you are expecting company, don’t make it so hard, right at the beginning of the game, to let them know that the detective is there to help!

Also, to all hidden object game developers everywhere (or at least the ones who don’t already do this) please have an interactive map if your game involves a lot of backtracking, which is most Hidden Object games. It just makes sense to fast travel from the attic to the kitchen if that is where the map tells you that you should go next. Having an option to lock the inventory bar is good too. You frequently need to use your inventory, why would you not just always have it shown. It only takes up about an inch of the HUD. Not much happens in that part of the screen. Have the inventory always there and then we don’t have to mouse over it repeatedly to access it! This happens very often and it’s frustrating.

Another thing I find weird in these games is when there is a situation like a princess (sometimes it’s not a princess but occasionally it is, which sort of makes sense, in context, but sort of doesn’t) is forbidden to go see her love interest and is locked in her room but the king or bad guy who is in love with the princess and doesn’t want her to be with the good guy cause he’s (the bad guy) an asshole, do that tired old trope of putting the key back in the keyhole on the outside of the door which is ridiculously easy to get out with paper under the door. Sometimes it’s locked from the inside and the protagonist has to find the key to get out of the room. Why’d you lock yourself in your own room if you didn’t need to? I can understand locking the front door but if you needed to get out of your own room to go solve the case, why lock yourself in? Modern doors would have a deadbolt and no need for a key but Victorian era doors (so many of these games are set in that era, I guess to make that trope work better) had keyholes and people were stupid and kept putting the key back in the door on the other side instead of taking it with them. Though there is also often a corresponding lockpicking trope that goes along with the paper under the door trope where the female protagonist can open the door with a hairpin or some other stereotypical female accessory. Blech. Good job on the feminism game developers. Not!

[poeticandors]

Cut to the Feeling Part 3

Poe Dameron x F!Reader (Babysitter!AU)

Summary: After graduating college and needing to have some cash in order to survive while doing an unpaid internship, Y/N decides to take up a babysitting/caretaking job. Little does she know that she ends up working for a familiar face.

Warnings: small mentions of smut, just little flashbacks really, and a ton of angst at the end

A/N: This is for @propertyofpoeandbucky Mystery Challenge! Thanks for waiting patiently, everyone! It’s been wild trying to figure out what to write but I hope this does justice. This one definitely got to me, and you’ll see why.

Part 1 Part 2

GIF by @captain-flint

Booster seat? Check.

First aid kit? Check.

Snacks in case Eva Bey gets hungry? Check, check.

You nod, double-checking the inventory again before finally closing the door. Today was your first official day, and you wanted to be prepared. You had to prove to Poe that you were the best choice.

Heading into the driver’s seat, you buckle up before you put in the address for Eva Bey’s school, and drive off. As you grip the steering wheel, your mind only wandered off. Was this a mistake? Did Poe make the wrong choice, hiring you? Did you make a mistake accepting the position?

No, none of this was a mistake. Sure, you may have slept with the guy who was now your boss, technically, but it was only a one-time thing. Everything had to be professional, which is how you would act when interacting with Poe. Every text between you was simple, it never led to a full conversation. Just simple directions and information that you needed. That’s all it was, and that’s all it needed to be.

Fuck, you taste even better, his deep voice rings in the back of your mind. You can’t help but think back to that night. The image of Poe kneeling on his knees in front of you as he throws your legs over his shoulders is clear as day. The way the light peeked in from outside and how his hands felt as they dug hard into your thighs, how his mouth felt—

Stop!

Shaking your head, you quickly think of something else. You really needed this job, and despite that one night no matter how amazing it was, you would not let that happen again.

Finally, you pull up into the pick-up car line and step out, taking a look around the school. Poe made sure to let you know the earlier you get there, the better chance of getting a good spot in line you would get. The parents can be very competitive, he told you.

You checked your watch, and realized you were right on time, so you started heading to the front office. As you look around, you notice just how much more lavish the vehicles in line were than your own. The front door had a buzzer that you hit to be let inside, and you noticed all the security cameras. This was definitely elite compared to the preschool you remembered going to.

Walking inside, you head straight to the front desk, spotting a receptionist. She gives you a friendly smile, leaning forward.

“Hi! Are you here for a pick-up?”

“Um, yes? I’m here for Eva Bey Dameron.”

“Oh, you’re the nanny, right? Mr. Dameron called and let us know you would be picking her up from now on.”

“That’s me,” you nod.

“Well, if I could see your ID please? It’s just a procedure when we get someone new for pick-up. I’ll copy it and put it in Eva Bey’s file.”

“Sure,” you reach into your bag and grab your wallet, pulling out or driver’s license to hand to her.

“Perfect, and if you can fill out this emergency contact form as well?” She hands you a clipboard. “It also asks for your vehicle information.”

“Okay, no problem.”

Just as you finish completing the form, she hands you back your ID. She then tells you which room Eva Bey is in and you make your way down the hallway.

The artwork displayed on the bulletin boards and the colorful decorations on each classroom door brightens up the hallway. Drawings, paintings, and even cut out projects fill each board. You finally make your way up to Eva Bey’s classroom, spotting a drawing of hers on the bulletin board. Smiling, you knock on the door before stepping inside, and see all of the children at their different stations.

A young woman walks up to you, a friendly smile on her face. “Hi, you’re here to pick up Eva Bey, right? I just got the call from the front desk.”

“Yeah, I am,” you shake her hand, giving her your name.

“It’s good to meet you. I’m Miss Connix. Eva Bey is just finishing up with her sensory station so after she washes her hands she’ll be ready to go.”

“No problem, can I grab her bag?”

“Sure, her cubby is over there,” she points and you nod in thanks as you go grab the small, pink backpack.

You hear your name being called in a small voice, and turn to see Eva Bey hurrying to you. Smiling, you kneel down.

“Hey, Eva Bey! Are you ready to go home?”

“Yeah! Will my daddy be there?”

“No, he’ll be at work, remember? It’ll be just us today.”

“Okay!” She turns to her teacher. “Bye, Miss Connix!”

“Bye, Eva Bey! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

She grabs your hand as you stand up, making your way to sign her out before you lead her out of the classroom. She skips along next to you as you lead her to your car, her dark pigtails bouncing at the top of her head.

After getting her seated in her booster seat and buckled up, you quickly move to the front seat and look back at her.

“I brought some snacks if you’d like,” you smile. “We have granola bars and some Goldfish.”

“Can I have some Goldfish, please?”

“Sure.”

Handing her a bag, she happily takes it before swinging her feet over the edge of the seat. Flipping on your Disney playlist, you begin the ride to Poe’s house.

++++++

The trip back home wasn’t too bad, you were lucky enough to get past most of the traffic. A lot of the drive was spent singing songs from some of Eva Bey’s favorite movies, and hearing about her day at school. She mentioned how they were working on writing their letters, and also showed you a finger painting project she did for the letter ‘e’, which she was very excited to show you.

After arriving at Poe's house, you both quickly settled down so she could relax for a bit. Then, it was on to practicing tracing her letters from one of the few books Poe had left for Eva Bey to work on to practice each day. You sat and helped her for the first portion of the page for the letter ‘a’ before she was able to independently do the motions herself. While she worked on that, you quickly worked on getting a few things done for the house.

After putting away the dishes that were left in the dishwasher last night, you went on to go ahead and wash the few that were in the sink. There was a basket of Eva Bey’s dirty laundry that sat in the hallway, so you took care to get that started in the laundry. After getting that taken care of, Eva Bey ran straight up to you to show you the letters she did by herself.

“Wow! Look at that! That’s so good, Eva Bey,” you smile.

“Can we play, now?”

“Sure, we can play a bit before I start cooking dinner.”

She smiles and takes your hand, pulling you to her bedroom. As you sit on the rug in the floor of her room next to the small table, she goes and grabs a crate filled with various Barbies and other dolls, and then another filled with small dress up clothing accessories like beaded necklaces and hats.

“What are we going to be playing?”

“Tea party!” She comes up, placing a necklace around your neck.

“You know what? I was definitely ready to drink some tea, too,” you laugh softly. Her smile brightens and she quickly starts setting up the table. “Are there going to be treats, too?”

“Well, there’s biscuits! And cookies.”

“Maybe one of these days we can bake some cookies, what do you think?”

“Can they be Snickerdoodles? Those are my favorite.”

“Sure!”

You scoot closer to the table as Eva Bey sits down, pretending to pour tea into your little plastic teacup. Propping your pinky up, you feign taking a sip as Eva Bey giggles. The game goes on, the both of you acting silly and acting out a tea party when you notice how quiet Eva Bey suddenly gets. She stares down at her lap, and when she lets out a whisper of your name that’s when you realize something might be wrong.

“Yeah, Eva Bey?”

“...Did you ever play tea party with your mommy?”

The question kind of catches you off guard, but at the same time… You always wondered why Eva Bey’s mom wasn’t present, but knew it wasn’t your place to ask about it. From the way Eva Bey looks up at you with her soft, brown eyes, you figure it’s probably a sensitive subject.

“Well, I don’t really remember playing tea party with my mom,” you start off. “But I do remember playing other games.”

She only nods, and looks back down at her lap. You figure that’s all she is going to ask until she sighs softly.

“I don’t have a mommy,” she says simply, with a mere hint of sadness laced. “I ask my daddy about it but he says he will tell me when I’m older.”

“Oh… well,” you scoot closer to her. “You know, Eva Bey, there are a lot of people who don’t have mommy’s.”

“They don’t?”

“No, and that is okay. I know it can make us feel upset, too.” You say softly. Eva Bey mutters something and you lean down towards her to hear her. “Hm?”

“Sometimes the kids at school talk about their mommy’s, and it makes me feel a little sad.”

“Well… that’s okay to be sad, sometimes. You know why?”

“Why?”

“Because you have a daddy and grandpa who love you very much. And you know that you can always talk to them about it, and they will always be there to give you hugs and kisses when you feel sad.”

You hope that this was enough for Eva Bey to hear— you were not expecting this to be one of the first serious conversations with the four year old. But when she looks up at you, the corners of her mouth lift up slightly.

“Yeah… they do love me a lot.”

Relieved, you let out a slight laugh. “I know they do. Very much. Do you feel a little better?”

Eva Bey smiles fully, a bright sight, and nods. “Yeah.”

You smile, and check the time on your watch. “Oh, we should start cleaning up so that we can cook dinner. How does mac and cheese with some broccoli sound?”

“Okay!” She quickly jumps up, rushing to put all her toys away. You can’t help but chuckle at the sight, and help her out before heading to the kitchen.

++++++

Poe stretches as he gets out of his car, inhaling the crisp, cool night air. Everything is quiet now, despite the few cars driving along the road, and he checks the time. Eva Bey should have been in bed two hours ago, and he hoped that was the case.

Poe wonders for a moment how your first day together went: if there were any issues or if you guys had a great time. You didn’t have to contact him, except to tell him that you both made it home safely, so that should have been a good sign. And he knew that Eva Bey was talking nonstop about seeing you again after the first meeting.

Poe was glad, though. He wanted her to get along with you. Eva Bey was usually pretty shy, but yet you were able to get her to open up to you after minutes of being with her. She asked Poe plenty of questions like if he knew your favorite color or anything else, which Poe of course could not answer. Poe realized he didn’t know too much about you, and the little he did know was only what he learned from the interview and… the night before.

The sounds you made as he pinned you to the bed and rocked his hips into yours were etched in the back of his mind. The way you gasped and threw your head back in pleasure as you dug your nails into his back while he rubbed his fingers against your sensitive nub is pictured clearly. He hadn’t been with anyone who made him feel that good in so long and…

He should not be thinking about that right now.

Poe shakes his head, and wipes his hand down his face. He needed to stop. Whatever happened wouldn’t happen again, and he definitely would not cross any lines that were made between you both.

He unlocks the front door and steps inside, hearing nothing except the slight sounds of your humming. He sets his bag down, and walks to the kitchen to see you sitting at the counter with a laptop and binder out.

“Hey.”

You quickly look up, smiling. “Hey, I didn’t hear you come in. Eva Bey fell right to sleep at eight.”

“Did she? That’s good,” he nods as he heads to the fridge.

“Oh, I… actually made you some dinner— well… I happened to make more dinner for myself then I meant to, so… I made you a plate.”

Poe watches you walk over to the microwave, pulling out a plate of food. Turning, you place it in his hands.

“I figured you would want something different then Mac and cheese and broccoli,” you chuckle. “But I wasn’t sure if you ate on the way home or not, so—“

“I didn’t. Thank you, I’m starving actually and this looks way healthier then a drive-thru burger.”

Poe puts the plate back in the microwave and warms it up, while you stand awkwardly in place wringing your hands together. You desperately want to bring up the conversation you had with Eva Bey, but that would mean possibly having to bring up a new conversation that seemed to be sensitive with Poe.

But when he glances down at you, and sees the look on your face, you figure it’s too late to turn back.

“Um… can I ask you something?”

“Sure, anything.”

“...What happened to Eva Bey’s mother?”

Poe sighs, rubbing his brow as the microwave beeps and he pulls the plate out. He grips the edge of the counter, looking down in silence, and you wonder if you just crossed a line.

“I’m sorry, it’s just… she asked me a question about my mother and then she told me how she doesn’t have one—”

“No, it’s fine,” Poe waves you off. “It’s just… I’ve been trying to come up with a way to talk to her about it. But every time I think I found a way, I look into her eyes and just…”

Poe trails off, and you silently rebuke yourself for not keeping this to yourself.

“Poe, if you don’t want to talk about it—“

“No, no, it’s okay. I… I need to talk about this.”

Slightly relieved, you nod as Poe pushes away from the counter and faces you.

“When I was a sophomore in college, I met this girl. She was pretty nice, and of course I was just a dumb college kid. So, we made up this… arrangement. We were usually careful, but one thing led to another and, well, she ended up pregnant.”

Poe scoffs, shaking his head. You waited patiently for Poe to continue, leaning against the counter.

“Of course, I was willing to start a relationship. I told her I wasn’t going to walk out on her, and I didn’t want the kid to live without both parents. I took her out on dates, planned everything for the baby with her. I thought… I thought things were going well. That she felt the same way I did for her, and god, I even think at one point I was in love with her.

“Well, I must’ve been blinded or something. Because after she gave birth to Eva Bey, and she was cleared from the hospital, she left with no word. There was no way for me to reach her— her parents lived out of the state and I didn’t have any way to contact them. She just… disappeared, and left me alone to care for our child.”

“Oh, Poe… I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, well… as Eva Bey got older, I tried coming up with a way to tell her about her mother. She’s only ever asked a handful of times, and of course she is so patient. She just looks at me and nods when I tell her ‘we’ll talk about it when you’re a little older’. But I just… I haven’t told her because…”

Poe swallows thickly, and you swear that if the crack in his voice doesn’t make your heart ache, the next thing he says will.

“...What kid wants to hear that their mom didn’t want to be their mom? That they didn’t want to read them bedtime stories and watch their dance recitals and miss their tee-ball games? Or kiss them goodnight and sing them to sleep?”

And of course, you feel for Poe after he says this. How do you even come up with a way to explain all that to a child? How can you tell them without making it feel like they did something wrong when in fact they did absolutely nothing?

And just how can someone look at a child— especially one as bright and sweet as Eva Bey— and decide they don’t want to be in their life?

All of these questions roll through your mind and you just miss the slight sniffle coming from Poe. Glancing at him, you watch as he wipes away a single tear.

“I just… I love that kid so damn much. I want to give her the world because she deserves it. Because she is one of the sweetest, and kindest kids. And she doesn’t even have the luxury of having both parents in her life. Just me—“

“Hey, don’t do that,” you shake your head. “Don’t even think of putting yourself down like that. Eva Bey is so lucky to have you as her father. That little girl loves you so much, I can see it all around here: from all the photographs and drawings of you both to the way her eyes light up when she talks about you.”

Poe lifts his gaze at the time you stare directly into his dark eyes, making your point quite clear.

“And she knows how much you love her. So do not ever doubt that you give her enough when the truth is you give her so much and more. She is so lucky to have you, and you are the only parent she needs, Poe. If her mother doesn’t want to be in that sweet little girl's life, then she doesn’t know what she’s missing out on. Because even I saw just how special Eva Bey is from the moment I met her.”

Something flashes in Poe’s eyes— something that you have to tell yourself isn’t really there because if it was, then that would be bad. But you continue to stay silent, staring into his eyes as the ticking from the clock in the living room makes its way to break the silence between you and Poe. And just as he stares down at you, it’s almost as if… as if he—

Poe clears his throat, taking a step back. “...Thank you, for saying that. About Eva Bey.”

You almost don’t hear what he says, but you quickly nod in response. “Well, it’s true. She’s a wonderful girl, and I’m lucky to get to be here and get to know her more.”

“...She’s lucky to get to have you here, too. And… so am I.”

A small, sincere smile forms upon your face, and Poe returns it all the same. Before you can say anything further, you happen to catch the time on the stove clock.

“Oh… it’s getting late. I should… go.”

“...Right. Right, you should.”

Poe watches as you gather your laptop and binder, and stuff them into your bag. As you throw the strap over your shoulder, Poe nods and follows you to the door silently. He opens it, and the slight breeze from outside hits your bare arms and causes you to shiver right away. Poe pretends not to notice as he walks you to your car, and you glance up at him.

“See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Thanks for dinner, by the way. And for… the talk.”

“Of course.”

Poe looks as if he has something else to say, but hesitates, and instead bids you good night before you get into your car. You watch through your window as Poe makes it back into his house, closing the door, and you let out a sigh— the emotional exhaustion finally catching up to you. Running your hands down your face, you finally start the car and proceed on your way back home.

What a first day, you think to yourself as you turn off onto the main road. You were not at all prepared for any of that — for the few questions from Eva Bey to the long, heart-rending conversation with Poe. Eva Bey seemed to be fine after you were able to get her to eat her dinner and play a bit more before putting her to sleep. But Poe…

You think back to the way he looked at you— there was definitely something hidden beneath those brown eyes of his, but you didn’t know what that was. It was for the best, you figure. But still, you couldn’t help the way your heart raced against your chest as you think back to it.

Tonight definitely changed things between the three of you.

++++++

Tag list: @bellamys @liziihorta @woakiees @lizajane3 @danicalifxrnia @mrsdaamneron @spectre-leader @mystical-934 @atonemnt @shakespeareanwannabe @cyarikaaa @fandomtravels @someplace-darker @darksideofclarke @kittyofalltrades @galaxy-of-stories @thesoftdumbass @yougottakeeponkeepinon @obipoelover @none-of-your-bullshit @newyorksins @kittycatty072 @cheekygeek05 @mserynlarsen @loveboat

[ionlycareabouthhn]

Every HHN House I Have Ever Done: Ranked

Yes, I’m a lunatic. This list grows larger and larger each year. It’s always interesting to see how things shake out....apparently I hit 101 houses this year. Woo! Here goes nothing....

1.      The Shining

2.      Halloween

3.      From Dusk Till Dawn

4.      Silent Hill

5.      Catacombs

6.      25 Years of Monsters and Mayhem

7.      Saws n’ Steam

8.      Nevermore: The Madness of Poe

9.      Poltergeist

10.  Nightingales: Blood Prey

11.  Silver Screams

12.  Universal Monsters

13.  Dead Waters

14.  Gothic

15.  Carnival Graveyard

16.  Slaughter Sinema

17.  House of 1000 Corpses

18.  Krampus

19.  Hive

20.  Dollhouse of the Damned

21.  Dracula: Legacy in Blood

22.  Puppet Theatre: Captive Audience

23.  Yeti Terror of the Yukon

24.  Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin

25.  Beetlejuice

26.  Body Collectors: Recollections

27.  Ghostbusters

28.  Graveyard Games

29.  HHN Icons: Captured

30.  Walking Dead: No Safe Haven

31.  Evil Dead

32.  Scarecrow: The Reaping

33.  Seeds of Extinction

34.  The Bride of Frankenstein Lives

35.  Case Files: Unearthed

36.  Insidious

37.  Cabin in the Woods

38.  Revenge of the Tooth Fairy

39.  American Horror Story vol. 2

40.  American Horror Story

41.  Texas Chainsaw Massacre (16)

42.  Alice Cooper: Welcome to my Nightmare

43.  Havoc: Dogs of War

44.  Winters Night

45.  Tomb of the Ancients

46.  Dead End

47.  Leave it to Cleaver

48.  Frankenstein: Creation of the Damned

49.  The In-Between

50.  Stranger Things

51.  Trick r Treat

52.  The Haunting of Hill House

53.  Nightingales: Blood Pit

54.  Lunatics Playground

55.  Freddy vs Jason

56.  Us

57.  Giggles and Gore

58.  Ghost Town

59.  Havoc: Derailed

60.  House of Horrors

61.  Roanoke: Cannibal Colony

62.  Depths of Fear

63.  Stranger Things 2

64.  Scary Tales: Deadly Ever After

65.  The Exorcist

66.  La Llorona

67.  Welcome to Scarey: Horror in the Heartland

68.  Killer Klowns

69.  Horrors of Blumhouse

70.  Halloween II: Hell Comes to Haddonfield

71.  The Orfanage

72.  Saw (17)

73.  Dead Exposure: Patient Zero

74.  Run

75.  Zombiegeddon

76.  The Thing

77.  Legendary Truth: Wyandot Estate

78.  The Forsaken

79.  Texas Chainsaw Massacre (21)

80.  The Walking Dead: End of the Line

81.  American Werewolf

82.  Halloween 4

83.  Dracula Untold

84.  Alien vs Predator

85.  The Fallen

86.  The Walking Dead 5(2016)

87.  The Walking Dead: Living and the Dead

88.  Penn and Teller: New’ked Vegas

89.  Blumhouse 2

90.  Asylum in Wonderland

91.  HR Bloodengutz

92.  Ash vs. the Evil Dead

93.  After Life: Death’s Vengeance

94.  Walking Dead: Dead Inside

95.  Psychoscareapy: Echoes of the Past

96.  The Hallow’d Past

97.  The Purge

98.  Resident Evil

99.  The Wolfman

100.  Hades: Gates of Ruin

101.  Saw (09)

There it is. I said what I said.