#choosing a different dialogue option here also has him say that all the gods dying for rook's safety is a small price to pay

[frankensteined]

this is the most romantic thing anyone could say at the end of the world

like???? this man is devoted

[yourehereyourereal]

BLADES BLADES BLADES

(long rambling post about the finale ahead)

I simply have no words. @playchoices this book is FREAKING GOD-TIER and I LOVE IT SO MUCH and I don't say this lightly. I can honestly be singing praises to Blades until the end of my days. I fell in love with it at first sight but it was aging like a fine wine with every chapter and becoming even better. I really hope book 2 will be equally powerful and I believe in the writers and the team, they've got to deliver. I don't even mind for them taking the time, even though I will miss the book so much. It was my greatest quarantine joy and made the first half of my 2020. Here are my messy thoughts about the finale because I have finally found something new to nerd out about and Blades deserves all the love in the world.

First, the fight was epic. The Shadow Court lady was gorgeous, even though we had to end her. Nia the Dreadlord was SO ICONIC. The way she wanted to break through the darkness, how she controlled it, and her self-sacrifice. Speaking of which, I really regret not letting the timer run out, because, from the experience of Bloodbound, I knew there had to be something interesting, but I didn't have much time to think and kinda assumed that if you don't kill Nia she just kills herself or the Dreadlord does it or something. But I saw screenshots of everyone dying and... wow. It especially hit me how Tyril fought until the end, even when he was already stabbed - characters with that much inner passion and determination are my everything, and it was so sad and definitely how he didn't deserve to go. I'm kind of a sucker for dark endings that show "what could have been" and aren't actually canon or can be avoided (like in It Lives series), because they have a lot of depth and this alternate reality makes you really appreciate the times with your LI and friends.

The Nia art was AHHHHHHH. How come this book blessed me with such amazing, epic LIs and I'm supposed to choose between them??? I adore all of them, but I have a special soft spot for Nia and Tyril since their stories are truly god-tier. I romanced Nia from the very first chapter (and then Imtura a bit), but switched to Tyril recently, and I don't regret it one bit because he's amazing and incredible and I love him so much. But during these scenes where MC told Nia to resist darkness I was constantly thinking of how it would hit differently if I romanced Nia until the end, because I'm a MASSIVE SUCKER for tropes when someone's pure love breaks the spells or darkness in the other person. It kinda reminded me of the Bloodbound finale when the LI did it for us. I just have to replay one day and romance Nia, even though it will be sooo hard for me not to flirt with Tyril.

I knew the fandom would explode at the option of flirting with Aerin. I myself am not a huge fan of romancing him but I chose the seduction option anyway because I was curious, and it failed me because I didn't have history with him which cracked me up so much 😂 Then Kade punched him and it was truly something - you go, Kade! I wonder what consequences will it have in book 2, I was almost debating setting him free so we could see him again. He was a good villain. I also laughed at the "sack of potatoes" line.

MC with the Blade of Light was just... I FELT that writing. Like there was fire inside them. Like they were fire. Speaking of which, the writing in the finale was so, so good, I can't remember when it was that good for the last time. It was worth all the hiatuses.

THE SCENE WITH MEDALS GAVE ME SUCH A HUGE STAR WARS A NEW HOPE ENDING VIBE. I was so proud of the squad, they've come so far and reached a better understanding of themselves on a personal level.

I played a 30 diamond scene with Tyril and I'm speechless. I honestly don't know where I can ever find someone like him because he raises my relationship standards so highly. It was wonderful to go on a real date with him and have some relaxed fun as a couple. He said "my MC" and oh my freaking God that was awesome. Their romantic exchanges are always the best. They are cute, poetic, sincere and don't feel forced. There were so many indications of true love between them, and it's like PB wanted to feed us Tyril stans well today because the scene was simply neverending (I was playing it for such a long time, it seemed endless) and they just kept professing their love for each other and that's how you write satisfying, amazing diamond scenes that you don't regret buying and would buy all over again (take note, Witness). I'm a huge Damien Nazario stan and finally I found a LI with diamond scenes that are just as epic and emotionally charged as his. I feel like Tyril and MC's dynamics even remind me of Damien and MC's a little bit (and the two do have some similarities, but I'll probably make another post about it someday)

And the sex!!! I'm not a huge smut fan because I'm ace/demisexual and those things are not very relatable for me (that's also why books like The Nanny Affair are a bit cringe to me, just not my piece of cake), but I LOVE good sex scenes where the two characters have a strong emotional connection and genuine love for each other (totally a demisexual point of view). I was smiling and giggling like a little girl, especially when they were talking about making sounds and doing it in public (again, I somehow thought back to the Eiffel Tower scene with Damien/Dames and it made me laugh). And then he said those beautiful things like "you complete me" and ahhhh... Tyril loves us so much. We love him so much, too. MC just wants to be with him and assures that he grew as a person, even if he always doubts himself. It's true, he had the most amazing character development.

I will have to fully stick to romancing Nia on the next replay, I'm curious what her diamond scene was like. I have a feeling it's just as adorable and wholesome and has a lot of complexity. God, I really felt for a second like she's gonna die, PB gave me a scare as it did feel final and I was like "did they really just...?". I don't know much about other LI scenes but I heard Imtura's was cute (and you could shout "that's my orc girlfriend" which itself is great), and Mal wanted to open the orphanage and wow I'm so proud. On a related note, it's freaking great that they give all LIs similar scenes but don't copy-paste their dialogues like in some books, there are clear differences as they all have a unique distinctive personality. And, I forgot to mention that Threep and Loola are the best bat-kitties! (even though they wouldn't approve of this term)

I was on my second hour of playing that chapter (yeah, it was like, the longest one ever! Maybe it's because I was excitedly sharing screenshots with a friend and freaking out the whole time) when the book finally seemed to be coming to an end. I love how my MC fell asleep in Tyril's arms and then we had this nightmare that foreshadowed book 2. I'm glad they gave us a glimpse of what to expect (imagine if we didn't know it will have a sequel, plus the finale had a bit of a standalone feeling, and then boom! Surprise). I fully hope this book will have a book 2, book 3, and a Christmas special 😂 It's just so, so incredible, and this universe deserves expanding like no other.

I hope PB knows how we all collectively love it, and I also hope they'll learn from the success of Blades and will write more books where the funny banter and serious moments are balanced, the friendship group feels natural and like a family, the plots are breathtaking and the LIs are god-tier. It's obvious how much heart Andrew and the crew put into it, and I'll be patiently waiting for book 2, however long it takes. Hopefully, not too long, but like they said, masterpieces take time to create!

[polandspringz]

Director’s Cut of My Fic “I’d Rather Be Dry” Part 2 (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3 was probably the most painful chapter of a fic I’ve ever had to write, and not because I was sad writing the sad scenes. No, this fic was physically painful to write because it took 3 days and I was struggling to sit down and write it the entire time because even though I had the whole thing planned out, I just felt like I was dragging through it and eventually had to change some things to speed it up a bit. Still, it ended up being the longest chapter because I had to tie up so many loose ends! Luckily for me, my beta-reader @primal-shitposts​ read it through for me again, so I didn’t have to suffer again!!! If you want to support not only me but my beta-reader who makes sure my fic lacks grammar errors (and also gives you this great commentary on these types of posts), please go to their art blog @primal-interstellar​ and give their artwork some love!!! They deserve it after slogging through this mess of a fic for a game they don’t even play.

Since there are a lot of funny quotes from this proof-read, I’ll post them all under read more. Beta-reader (Primal) is in pink. If you see blue text, that’s me typing stuff in frantically before she skipped to the next line:

I actually originally wrote the opening scene with Satan in a lot more detail. It dropped us in the present where he was in the office, and Diavolo and everyone was just looking on as he slowly ran out of energy. But, I got about 3 pages in and realized it was dragging and so I cut it and swapped it for a flashback on the walk home.

While I intended for this to be a much more dramatic anime scene of Satan just silent as he ran out of steam and could barely move his arms save for slapping the guy, I love this interpretation.

I CAN’T EXPLAIN WHY BUT THIS WAS THE FUNNIEST COMMENT IN THE DOCUMENT. NOTHING TOPPED THIS. I DON’T UNDERSTAND BUT IT’S SO OUT OF LEFT FIELD IT HAD ME DYING

Primal knows about Lucifer birthing Satan because the moment I started playing the game I made her watch a crack video with me that mentioned it. Although I know she likes Leviathan cause sea monsters, I’m convinced Satan might be one of her favorites. On a side note, writing dialogue for Satan is very hard because he is very proper but when he snaps, I always feel unsure of whether it sounds believable or just like a string of curses that a twelve year old would think sounds cool. 😎 I do like the father/son dynamic Lucifer and Satan hint at though (and from what I hear the new lessons might be adding on to that? oWO)

I honestly don’t know how the demons who attacked MC aren’t dead yet. They’re basically disfigured and then Satan just doubled the damage and then tripled it in the council room this chapter. Somehow they’re not dead though! I wonder what MC will have to say about their punishment...

QUICK, SOMEONE DRAW SATAN WITH THE CRAFTING TABLE STARING AT THE DOOR WHILE THE EQUATIONS FLY BY HIS HEAD

I did choose the “yes” option when Beel asked to eat me in the animal event. It was not because of vore though, but I do make many vore jokes. I could imagine MC being forced to explain vore to Lucifer (or all the brothers) after making a joke and them being confused. Writing Beel’s breakdown this chapter wasn’t initially planned, and it was sort of what really started to make writing this fic slow down because as you might notice throughout the fic, I suddenly felt the need to give every brother an equal amount of screen time which sort of led to me RUNNING OUT OF VERBS for how to make each breakdown unique.

Okay, so the next part. I was actively seeing the comments as they popped up, but there was a delay with the comment box on the side appearing before the actual comments in the text. So, I saw this:

And had two seconds to go “Oh no” before this was added:

From here on it was chaos.

Listen, the boys are idiots. They’re all concerned, Mammon just doesn’t want MC to get upset again. In reality, this sort of dialogue stemmed more from me still lingering on the original idea of the fic. The original concept of this fic (when it was just a one-shot) was MC still getting attacked by a demon in the locker-room showers (for their soul) but because I was originally thinking about a female reader, I knew that it could have more of an undertone for sexual assault. I actually first discussed the fic idea with Primal months back when I first got into Obey Me, because I wanted to write a snippet of each brother helping MC after the event (it wasn’t going to be extreme, I was thinking more accidental scratches during the scuffle closer to the chest and such and maybe the assailants having more dialogue demeaning MC for being around the 7 brothers all the time) but I realized I didn’t have much experience with that and it would make writing scenes that I thought about (such as Asmo wanting to give MC a bath as aftercare) difficult as I could see someone after an attack like that not wanting to be in a bathroom with someone else or be vulnerable to them. I ended up playing with that idea in my previous Mammon fic with more different comfort aspects and touching on that kind of assault briefly, so this fic ended up just being focused on the brothers’ being upset over what happened to MC.

As much as writing Satan’s angry dialogue is a pain, I have fun making him talk with a more formal tone, it’s closer to how I normally talk, and prefer to write my characters talking. I have no problem writing contractions or more casual speech, but for one of my fantasy stories, where I’m writing in English but trying to differentiate different languages through italics or just whether they use certain contractions or not, I tend to really stress the characters that use absolutely zero and more complicated synonyms. 

I DON’T KNOW WHY BUT IT WOULD BE HILARIOUS IF MC JUST ASKED FOR SOUP OUT OF THE BLUE I’M IMAGINING ASMO BEING LIKE “BITCH I TOOK ALL THIS TIME DEBATING OVER HOT OR COLD TEA AND NOW YOU’RE SAYING YOU’RE FINE WITH HOT SOUP???”

I know the shower idea may have been really corny or cringey. I know a lot of people write things like the water in Devildom as being much hotter (cause their near hell and their demons! It makes sense, also I think Asmo might have mentioned in a text chat he would make the water cooler for MC? But I could be wrong) but I imagine their is some demons who aren’t powerful enough to handle a lot of the settings. Of course though, our demon bros are 7 of the highest demons in Devildom, so they’re immune.

*Slaps this comment* Congrats, Primal. You just summarized the entire chapter.

I find Leviachan to be such a funny nickname, mainly because writing any dialogue for Levi makes me cringe because while I was a VERY big weeaboo in elementary and middle school, I was so lucky I never hit his stage of acting like an otaku. While it’s charming, having to type him in more modern fic is even more painful because it’s like “oh god he actually goes into the real world and talks like this). Sidenote, I always mispronounce Levi’s name when I’m talking about him, mainly because I have to remember so many anime characters where their name is pronounced Lee-Vai or I just think of the brand of jeans (fashion major brain). So, whenever I’m talking out loud about him to someone, I have to stop and be like, “Levi... Leviachan...Leviathan...” because that “a” sound corrects my brain to how it’s supposed to be.

*throws confetti again* Believe I felt the pain of this fic dragging through every boy going back on their character development I had given them but I felt it was only fair that each of them got time with MC. As the tag on archive says, “everybody gets time to shine with MC”. (I really just want to write Barbatos’ scene for chapter 4 though)

This scene was hard to write because I wanted Levi to get closure on the scene with MC, but I couldn’t have him straight up kabedon them because then he would be cornering them and I thought that would be too much like what MC went through in the shower. Although I didn’t write anyone in explicitly summarizing what happened to MC, and Levi saw the least of it, I think he’s seen enough series depicting it to know that cornering them would be bad, but he still wants to show that he loves them and cares about them. Also, when I was writing this, I remember just going through a counter of who got the most smooches in chapter 3. Originally only Mammon was going to get 2, putting him in the lead above everyone who got 1, but then I felt back for giving Levi the least screen time and just gave him 3.

Honestly, chapter 3 really took a turn for a more intimate chapter??? Especially with Asmo’s one-on-one scene with MC, it was all downhill from there. I have noticed with quarantine, my writing has become more focused on touch (if you read any of my Balance:Unlimited fics or even my Mammon fic, you would definitely die if you tried to do a drinking game with the number of times someone TOUCHES the other gently). It’s just an unfortunate projection issue that comes with writing.

And here is complete chaos. I had blocked this game from my memory and then I was forced to remember it right here. 

Removing these meme images from the fic text will be tedious, and painful. But, I am preserving them here. (I type up these directors’ cuts before publishing the final version of the fic, so I don’t lose the comments)

I’m not even at lesson 16 yet, but based on all the spoilers I read, watched, and scene for research purposes, I’m pretty sure it was more of a-

This is what writing 11k+ words for one chapter worth it. The final read through I get to enjoy things like this.

I wish Belphie was 7′2″. 😳 I like Beel but Belphie is one of my favs. Ironically enough he was the one who skipped this fic. (I’ll make it up to you one day, Belphie fans.... will we ever know what they talked about and what made Belphie cry? Personally, I think it’s like the iceberg effect Hemingway talked about, and says more under the surface... it’s totally not because I got burned out, lolololol.... 🤭)

I WAS ACCIDENTALLY FEEDING DIALUCI STANS but again, if you’ve read my Mammon fic, you probably know my true thoughts on Diavolo and Lucifer’s relationship. This fic is so MC focused, I wasn’t intending to write it in so much, Diavolo was just supposed to order Lucifer to go home, that’s it. But, I got rejuvenated when I hit Lucifer’s scene, because I knew it was the homestretch for the chapter! I really played up a Hamilton reference accidentally, having the “Go home” line repeated, because it just felt like the vibe the scene was getting at. I am hoping to explore Diavolo and Lucifer’s relationship more in my modern au fic, Siberia.

I hate tumblr because if I attach a link in the initial post, this won’t appear in the tag, but Primal’s comment here made me think of this art I saw of Lucifer and Satan the other day by ObsessiveAlice (I don’t want to tag them because they’ll be so confused by this long unrelated post! But I’ll put the link to their art in the notes/replies on this post, so check them out!!!)

I know it wasn’t the most romantic kiss but again I WAS RUNNING OUT OF WAYS TO MAKE THE BROTHERS HAVE UNIQUE SCENES SO I GOT DESPERATE.

And that’s the end!!! Again, if you liked the fic, more than giving me a like or reblog, please go check out Primal’s wonderful artwork @primal-interstellar​ !!! She does a lot of great oc work and it needs more recognition!!! Almost all of my fics would never get posted without her help, so please, please, please show her support! (She has an animatic she just made which I will also link in the replies!!! Please give that love too!!!)

Anyway, if you made it to the end, I don’t know if you got a laugh out of this, but I hope you enjoyed the fic commentary somewhat! I was going to post chapter 3+4 at the same time like I did the prior chapters, but chapter 3 took so long I had to just lay on my floor for 3 hours earlier today to take a break from it, lol. Luckily, I’m very excited for chapter 4, so it shouldn’t take as long!!! 

[vaguely-concerned]

I played Death of the Outsider finally and I have some Feelings about it

and most of them not very positive. nice stuff first tho!

THINGS I LIKED:

- billie is such a good character. still new to her old self and slightly tender from coming out of the protective shell of lies that was meagan foster, full of old scars and doubts and bitterness but trying for something better, something kinder even though she still doesn’t quite understand what she’s walking towards -- the genuine care and tenderness in her voice when she talks to daud or thinks about deidre. I love her.

all that and she effortlessly IS also the queer disabled woc the gamer bros refuse to believe could possibly exist. exquisite. 

- the idea of ‘killing’ the outsider is compelling, but it’s the sort of idea that needs a full length game to support it and its implications. cool idea, completely wrong execution.

- saying that: I love that the injustice of the outsider’s creation being righted is only made possible by a long unbroken line of mercy and kindness. daud saved billie from the streets, corvo spared daud, daud saved emily and spared billie after her betrayal, billie tried to save aramis stilton and became entangled in the void, emily spared billie, billie took this job in the first place partly because she loves her dad daud and wants him to find peace. that idea is so beautiful that I wish the rest of the narrative was strong enough to hold it up lol.

there’s also something going on here with other people holding on to the important pieces of you -- that billie is ‘all that is left’ of daud after he’s dead. once he saved a child from true loneliness and gave her a purpose, made her feel seen again, gave her the closest thing she had to a home, and when he’s completely lost himself in the void... that kindness is still alive in billie, and she helps him find his way. again that is really touching and thoughtful and plays wonderfully into the chaos system in these games thematically! too bad about all the stilted dialogue and characterization messes and uh. everything else. 

- most of all I love how clear it is that billie and daud love each other. it’s a quiet love that has nothing to prove anymore, it’s survived all the blood and the ugliness and everything they’ve done to each other and to the world, a love with no demands left. it’s not the sort of love you usually see, in all its unsentimentality, but it’s real. when daud tells her he’s proud of her and trusts her no matter what she chooses to do, you feel how much he means it. (making his insistence on trying to make her choice for her all the weirder -- see my long rant of lamentation about his characterization in doto below lol)

there’s something about daud’s undramatic yet complete acceptance of and respect for billie that... I didn’t know I needed this, but it was a nice gift nonetheless haha, thank you. (it’s similar to how good it feels in D2 when you realize corvo just likes emily a lot as a person, even aside from her being his daughter. a good series for father & daughter stories)

- this carries over from D2, but I think the journal/log entries are better written and more insightful than the stuff out in the world.  

- it cannot be overstated how much the gameplay loop of these games is just... pure crack cocaine for my brain haha, very few things give me this specific kind of brain tingle. I love the sound of looting and I love the art style and ambiance and I love planning out a strategy after finding all the options and I love never being spotted or killing anyone and I love the puzzle elements they put into exploration sections and I love the feeling of how you move through the environment. it’s one of the few games where I routinely get so into it I end up with a crick in the neck because I’ve been so focused for so long and never noticed I’ve been sitting in a way that makes my entire spine hate me. I needed something to get me through the last few days and it did deliver that, at least. karnaca is pretty enough that I didn’t even mind that most of the levels were recycled from D2 either. 

- I’m not quite sure whether I understood this right but there’s a woman standing behind daud in the void -- I wonder if that is actually his mother and he’s been so close this whole time? at first I thought maybe it was jessamine but god no I hope she’s finally at peace after All That Nonsense, she shouldn’t have to hang around there anymore. there’s also a figure near him I could swear was corvo with his mask on, but he’s not dead canonically so that would make very little sense. oh well I’ll take my feels where I can get them even if I have to make them up wholesale  

- the bankheist was cool as fuuuuuck, that and the emotional impact of daud dying was sadly the height of this game for me, after that it all went mediocre real quick     

- paul nakauchi as shan yun was, as I have said before, a blast. ‘ugh I cannot continue my throat is as raw as a plucked pheasant’ fsdkfhlsadjkhfas

- daud’s funeral is genuinely touching. she gave him the entirety of her old life for a sendoff, battered and worn and dear as they both were. someone hold me 

THINGS I  H A T E D:

- the stuff they did with daud’s characterization. I am so unreasonably angry over this haha, the more I think about it the more I hate it. I think there are paths you could go with his ACTUAL character to make this work, but this was not it. I’ve said this before, but his most iconic, most defining scene is him surrendering himself to corvo’s judgement without justifying himself or deflecting the blame for any of what he’s done. this isn’t even regression in his character, it’s just.. a different character altogether. they could have gone for the angle that delilah almost managed to end the world b/c daud showed mercy and that’s the reason he’s moved to action, I think that might be a more compelling motivation for him at least. OR have him be more conflicted about how to do things -- violence is still the only tool he knows how to use but it’s not what he wants to or even can be anymore and the conflict troubles him, ‘His hands do violence, but there is a different dream in his heart’. or even use a different character for the ‘kill kill kill’ angle, he didn’t need to be here for this dlc at all.   

also, just on a purely practical level... for all his flaws and longstanding moral shortsightedness daud is not a stupid man. why the FCK would he be so sure that killing the outsider will fix anything? if I, dumbass extraordinaire, could within half a minute wonder if maybe something even worse would take the outsider’s place if you removed him... why does that never occur to the Knife of Dunwall tm, a man about Void for like half a century or whatever?? ugh fuck this, I’m having a hard time explaining exactly why it all feels weird and wrong to me, but know that it does and that I Do Not Like It lol. I feel cheated out of something important I thought I had.  

- again, this should have been a full game. (I think it is sold as one already, but it just hm isn’t) there’s way too much shit of literal cosmic importance for the game’s universe being picked up here for something this short to cover. save this HUGE idea for a rainy day should you ever want to do another game in the series and do something else with the dlc, honestly. 

- god but the outsider is insufferable in this. I don’t know what happened, but by the end I was like ‘*thoughtfully strokes chin* maybe daud has a point billie keep that knife handy’. he’s annoying and boring, which is wild to me because he was always a lot of fun in the other games.

for real tho I don’t know if this is just my atheist-but-still-angry-at-god-somehow??? talking, but daud HAS a point. people are responsible for their own actions, but the outsider didn’t have to do any of what he did either. he could have chosen to be bored through the centuries instead of seeing what people would do if you gave them such ~*morally neutral*~ abilities as y’know summoning a bunch of rats to eat other people. the game wants me to buy the ‘but really this black eyed boy is woobie tho uwu’ so badly and no I’m not buying that give me my refund I want my chaotic neutral bastard back pls. I’d probably be more inclined to want to help him like that. where’s his salt gone, arkane. if you didn’t want him to be edgy why did you make him look like that.  

- this is the lamest possible version of the outsider’s backstory lol, it feels like the pearl clutching panic about satanic cults back in the day all over. listen if it’s this easy to make a god the thrill is sort of taken out of it, if these randos did it anyone could. also how the fuck are they just normal-ish people anyway? why do they follow modern fashions? haven’t they been hanging around for thousands of years, haven’t their culture changed in any meaningful way? (I realize these aren’t the same guys as back in the day but it’s just weird) why do they speak a language billie and the player can understand? why did anyone think ‘idk some cultists no one’s ever heard of before with no thematic significance whatsoever’ was the way to go world building wise? they’ve taken all the unknowable eldritchness out of the eldritch horror and we’re all poorer for it now haha 

relatedly the last level is... just not very good. you come down from the awesome bank heist and then there’s... whatever the fuck this was.

- while I do like billie finding daud in the void and him remembering her I hate that he goes out still full of self loathing and rage when you talk him into the nonlethal option, that he can’t forgive himself or find any sliver of hope or peace. I wish there had been a few more moments for the two of them to come to peace with themselves before he gave the outsider back his name, some real catharsis. as it is I was annoyed when the outsider ‘woke up’ or whatever b/c it felt like he was stealing attention from what I was actually emotionally invested in and not done with.    

they had  n o t  built up billie’s or my sympathy for the outsider well enough either. again this is something I think they could have done if they’d structured things differently, if they’d been more deliberate in making you understand he was basically a child and letting you dwell on it. because there is a parallell there between him and billie, and billie and daud, but I, how do I put this, did not give a fuck  

in short this was really similar to my experience with D2 in that there’s enough good there that it’s all the more painful when it fails to deliver on it again and again, and it ruined things I already liked about this story from the first game (daud’s arc and everything to do with the outsider, mostly). give me some months of denial and hard core headcanon work and I’ll probably be able to live with it

[melonbreadreviews-blog]

Playing ‘The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’ Three Years Later

I’ll admit, I’m often late to the party on major title releases in gaming. I’d like to tell you that it’s an intentional choice of mine, that it’s in my best interest to let the best and worst parts of these landscape altering pieces of art simmer in a pot together. I picked up Bloodborne on a whim three years after its release, and after about a two hour play session, I decided it wasn’t for me; three months later I was glued to my TV every night after work searching every nook and cranny that the hunter’s dream had to offer me.

My point is that buying a game upon its initial release is a commitment to either loving or hating that game. I often feel compelled to shower praise on the solid parts of games that I love, and pressure to explain with hyperbole the games I just couldn’t vibe with. Playing Bloodborne years after its release at a much lower price allowed me to put it down when I didn’t enjoy it, and pick it back up when I needed it. The parts of it that I didn’t like weren’t exacerbated by a pressure to validate my own experiences relative to the gaming community. Likewise, when i picked the game up again, I loved it not because I thought I should, but because the experience itself was legitimately breathtaking.

Three months later, set against the familiar hum and drum of my slowly dying Playstation 4, my experience with CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt begins. I tried to begin this same journey a few months earlier, but that run died on the starting line in a messy tutorial and a post-Bloodborne haze. One enormous Dragon Quest XI run later, and I’m finally ready to give this journey three years in the making a chance. My expectations are a mixed bag; I carry with me the influences of a thousand burning reddit threads and the weight of an inescapable question: Has this game aged well?

For those of you who aren’t familiar with The Witcher franchise (I’ve never read the series or played a mainline game before touching The Witcher 3, so you’re not alone!), the main plot of the game follows the journey of a Witcher named Geralt as he searches for his protege and ward Ciri while also fending off the primary antagonistic force of the game, the Wild Hunt. Witchers serve as bounty hunters of the region, often dealing with the monsters and villains ordinary folk are incapable of handling themselves. Throughout the game, players can feel the tension in the air between Geralt and the people around him, often including the ones he saves. Witchers exist outside the realm of normalcy in this universe, and to some extent the amount of agency the franchise gives you over the lives of the people who exist around you is a direct cause of the aforementioned tension. Though the social world Geralt inhabits mirrors the dangers of the physical world around him, there are romantic options in the game that allow for a deeper understanding of his character and The Witcher universe. The lore aspect of this game really separates it from similar titles in the same genre.

My first memories of the game still hold true, though my feelings about them have changed. I love the comic style art that flashes across the screen as the game loads, not because it matches the aesthetic of the game, but precisely because it does not. If I compare The Witcher 3 to other iterations of the same genre like Skyrim or Fallout, I find myself enjoying that not every moment of The Witcher is something that I need to take seriously. Sometimes, it’s okay to be reminded of the fact that I am actually playing a game and not living and dying by the decisions I make in this world.

That isn’t to say that decisions in this game don’t matter, though; I find that The Witcher 3 places weight on its decisions in a similar fashion to Mass Effect, rather than Skyrim or Fallout. There are several moments in the game that require a timed quick response in conversations or during action, and those quick responses sometimes dictate both the flow of ongoing dialogue and possible relationships with the characters around Geralt. There are even dialogue options that seem quite diplomatic on the surface, but end in brawls or even death for characters that the player did not expect. These moments are meant to teach the player just how much agency they have over the lives around them; sometimes Geralt feels like a god, and sometimes he feels just as vulnerable to the whims of the world as the people around him.

Normally, worlds that freely give that sort of agency to the player overwhelm me. I feel paralyzed by just how much my choices matter, and my love for the friends I’ve made throughout the story keeps me from playing the game as intended. Through the use of guides and reddit threads, I orchestrate my game in order to keep those characters alive, and that leaves me with less of an experience in the end. The Witcher 3, however, doesn’t leave me paralyzed in the same way. Because much of the main narrative is decidedly linear, Geralt is free to explore the world around him, which includes contracts to kill creatures and free spirits and occasional games of a fairly fun but not too complex card game called Gwent. Not every decision has a role to play in the main story, and the ones that do feel natural in the game’s flow. Geralt is both insanely powerful and incredibly vulnerable, but I never fear for the outcome of his story while enjoying the fun of making decisions.  

The skippable tutorial of the game remains not so skippable considering the amount of experience I have with The Witcher 3’s combat, but I appreciate that I have the option of ignoring it if I decide to run through new game plus. It’s here that the meat of the game comes to the forefront. The reason I initially put down The Witcher 3 was because I didn’t enjoy the flow of combat, which includes the two primary slashing attacks with two variants of weapons, a myriad of magical powers called Signs, and the use of items like bombs, crossbows and oils which can be applied to Geralt’s main weapons. If you’re just judging the combat of the game on the first few hours, The Witcher 3 may not meet your expectations of a major title release. When disjointed in the name of learning, the combat feels clunky, and the first few contracts in the region, especially on higher difficulties, are a major challenge for the uninitiated.

But in the same way I came to love Bloodborne, I’ve come to adore The Witcher 3 because of my journey with it. Sitting through the first few hours of the game, especially in 2018, can be sort of a grind. The story has yet to materialize, the combat is underdeveloped, and Geralt himself can seem unrelatable, but as the hours move on, the game opens up in parallel fashion to the world it encompasses. The combat itself feels incredibly fluid, each piece of it tied together in a way that challenges the player to learn how to be a Witcher, while also rewarding enough to encourage growth and not detract from the side-questing and story that make this game fun. The Witcher 3’s systems include a hearty dodging mechanic that feels clunky outside of battle, but seamless in it, and a parry system that is absolutely necessary on higher difficulties. Geralt’s magic, Signs, interact with objects in the world, but they can also be morphed and shaped into crowd control devices. The ability tree is extensive, but in a way that represents a mixing of action and role-playing. Each playthrough can be different, but Geralt remains much of the same, just upgraded.

Though not combat in a traditional sense, I think The Witcher 3’s in-game card system, Gwent, represents an entirely different method of fighting for players. Though not required, there are various quests given to Geralt in different regions of the game which involved beating skilled Gwent players at cards. While the game involves a little bit of strategy, it’s never overwhelming, and because Gwent isn’t a major factor in the story, it’s skippable for fans who don’t enjoy it. I found myself going from inn to inn, challenging keeps to games for their best cards, and I really came to love a part of the game I didn’t enjoy all that much at first. It’s a missable portion of the game, but it definitely adds dimension to the gameplay without requiring too much effort on the part of the player.

Much of the game’s story is very compelling, and it isn’t saddled with an extensive lore that the player is forced to grapple with. There is lore, yes, but that lore is discoverable all over the world, and it’s the player’s choice to explore it, or not. There is a distinct moment in the first 20 hours or so of the game that allows the player to learn about about Geralt’s relationship with Ciri through dialogue options with another character. The player can listen to all of the heavy lore in the dialogue, or simply skip it. The Witcher 3 is chalk full of story, but it never asks the player to share the burden of that story. In much the way you can flow in and out of the narrative of the story through side-questing and contracts, you can simply choose not to pay attention to certain parts of the main quest line.

That isn’t to say that the story is lacking or is unfocused. There are reasons to want to stay on track, including a wide array of characters who are, though not as interesting as Geralt, incredibly complex. The Witcher 3 does a fantastic job of presenting its best qualities though, and those qualities encourage players to explore the world around them and creative a narrative journey that varies significantly from player to player. Whether or not a player values that storytelling approach, though, depends on their own taste. Personally, I found that I could have my fill of Gwent and monster hunting, and then pick right back up where I left the main story.

The Witcher 3 is not without its faults, despite my glowing praise up to this point. While the world itself is rendered beautifully, I found the interactions with other characters to pose the biggest problems for the game’s graphics. There were times where Geralt’s face would simply teleport all over the screen until the game was able to settle into the set animations for the dialogue, and I distinctly remember an interaction between Geralt and Triss Merigold which involved Triss pressing a hand to her face that was stuck in the Igni battle animation for fire. While these graphical glitches don’t detract from the overall product, they are wrinkles on the surface of the game that begin to show its age. I was surprised that the world remained incredibly stable, save for a few times I found my horse could fit between a clustered group of trees better than I could, while the dialogue options proved incredibly difficult for the animations in the game. It reminded me a lot of my time with Mass Effect, in both good and bad ways. There was a certain novelty, but maybe that novelty is a bit too dated for a Playstation 4 title.

I’d like to end this review where I started, and that is on the subject of playing games years after they’ve already debuted. I wish I was a strong enough person to not feel the pressure that comes with making a commitment to a new title, but I often let reviews and recommendations, either positive or negative, affect the way I experience games. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a near perfect example of my current status as a consumer, because I’ve been able to enjoy all the good that the game has to offer without taking the bad bits too seriously. I did expect the game to be great, of course, but I didn’t expect it to be perfect, and that’s partly because I don’t have a need to be justified in having purchased it. I haven’t tasked myself with deciding The Witcher’s place in history; that’s already been decided. So, for now, I feel quite content to stroll along cobblestone city roads and swampy marshes, living life as a Witcher.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Which arcana do you think fits FeMC besides fool?

Ok so I’ve been meaning to write an analysis for like……4 ormore years on this. But to summarize my basic idea, besides Fool (and Death obvs), Ithink FeMC ties pretty well with the Sun arcana…which in turn means MaleMC tieswith the Moon arcana (tbh it’s kind of ironic considering I may or may not have writtenlengthy analysis about Hamuko from The Fools’ Tournament as the Moon cause theauthor said so and it fits her more for that fanfic 8U). Ngl I think they canboth switch if they want (from what I can tell those two arcanas work prettyfluidly with each other, esp when discussion positive readings vs negativereadings), but I think the FeMC would best be described as a Sun arcana person ina Moon arcana world.

(under the cut cause kinda lengthy, but it’s also kinda thecliffnotes version of a more in depth essay I wanna write later)

Considering how day and night play a big role in this game Idon’t think it’s too far fetched. Especially with how both Sun and Moon arcanasplay in both routes and feel important in different ways (Sun being a dying manwhom both MCs will essentially join later in the afterlife as well as both his design resembling Messiah later; and then with theMoon on the male side whom is basically foreshadowing the end month of P3 alongwith the fact he looks like a chubbier maleMC and the MC is apparently the doppelganger of Nozumi’s fraternal twin bro; and then with Shinjiro on theFeMC where she can actually change history by saving him).

I personally like to joke to myself that both P3MCs arekinda weird love children of Tatsuya and Maya (just switch the genders andpersonality traits a bit). No really there’s a lot of similarities betweenthese 4 (and it might be because of how one came after the other and the FeMCwas originally part of P3 before they ran outta money and time andaofdns;aflka; my poor baby ;w;). Like, ok let’s play a game, tell me who this is: A brown haired,red-eyed (which are sometimes portrayed as brown for some reason in someofficial works I dunno Atlus can’t seem to decide), possibly (by which I meantotally) bisexual MC whom apparently has a lot of admirers at school, kind ofhas a crap love life, esp with one of their love interests being associatedwith the Moon arcana dying, luckily they have a blonde hair girl who is totallyin love with them, they have a motorcycle key in their possession, have aninitial persona who’s primary magic is fire, has signature personas who’srelated to music, has a prime/modified version of their initial persona, whoare kind of maybe the reason the world might be ending, and they sacrificesomething important so that their friends can have normal lives. So who came tomind? Tatsuya or FeMC? The answer should be both. 8U 

(also side note, I figuredP5MC wouldn’t be able to date guys cause I cracked the code long ago guys, onlyway you can date both genders in Persona is if you have an MC with at leastbrown hair and red eyes, so like atlus should’ve just scrapped P5MC and justmade Goro or Makoto the main character if you wanted to date both genders 8U)

Ok ok, enough goofing around, let’s talk about the actual arcana. I do feel like the FeMC experiences both the positive andreversed arcana (actually depending on your choices it feels like itfluctuates).

Positives meaning:(Youthful) Optimism, energy, clarity of thought, creativity/new ideas,enlightenment, and reality

Positives in game:All of these are shown throughout the game. FeMC has been said to be “optimistic”on countless occasions (to the point she feels similar to Maya even having ashout-out to Maya’s signature catchphrase). In P3P the unstable Tartarus dayswere introduced, bringing certain floors and a new line “you’ve come up withnew combat ideas you should be able to gain more exp on this floor.” She isshown to have a lot of energy (even commented on it by people, exampledepending on your choice when you first meet Ms. Toriumi). LastlyEnlightenment, tbh this fits the MaleMC as this is what they basically achievewhile fighting Nyx. Also same with MaleMC, “reality” can be read choosing to letRyoji live and facing the reality of death or whatever. 8U

Negatives meaning:Vanity, Fantasy, everything is clouded, cynicism (also one or two placesmentioned the feeling of being “left out”)

Negatives in game:Choosing to kill Ryoji could mean the MCs indulding in the fantasy of notknowing Nyx is coming. The one I really want to focus on is the cynicism….Now you can play her as kind/optimistic pretty much to the end, or you can playher as harsh/cynical….but there’s something interesting looking at the male vsthe female routes, in the male route he starts kind of cold/neutral and as thegame goes on he gets more…”positive” dialogue options. FeMC, however, has alarge range of emotions from the start, but as the game goes on she gets morenegative options (tbh I’m not surprised, her love life is a mess, one boyeither dies or is in a coma, one leaves her to go home to France after sayinghe loves her, one states he can’t be with her until he becomes a “better man,” oneis a guy who has sister issues and is a pain to romance, one is a kid and evenif she claims she’ll wait for him she’ll just end up hurting him even more, oneof your friends turns you down cause he already had/has girl issues, one isdeath itself and leaves you after saying he’s basically gonna kill you, yourrobot almost died on you and is now coming out of the closet just in time forthe FeMC to die on her….god I’m not surprised she’d want to personally shootall of Strega in the head herself. Like “the world’s ending, no one loves me,come at me bro”). In terms of feeling left out, I feel like this applies alot  more to the FeMC than the MaleMC,while other characters will do stuff off screen to forward the plot, theimplications of their actions to the P3MCs are different. MaleMC probably hasn’tor can’t SL with them, so while he may feel out of the loop it’s not like it’sreally negative. FeMC, however, has the ability to SL her team as soon as theyjoin or come back from injury *cough Akihiko* (barring Mitsuru and Aigis causereasons), so when a teammate does something off screen, I dunno like confidingin another character instead of their supposed “best friend” the FeMC, it mayimpact the FeMC more. It makes her feel even more left out considering she ismuch closer.

Other Associations:Fire and Masculinity

Other Associations ingame: Fire obvs points to Orpheus. But Masculinity, oh I bet you thoughtyou got me here, but nope. If  the FeMCequips Mara Theo comments how “unlady-like” it is, Liz says the same thing asshe says to  the MaleMC “Tee-hee howmanly” (at least if you romance her that is she’ll say that 8U). On top of thefact….she has a choice to have Liz as her VR attendant…. Cause VR Attendantsare supposed to represent the anima/animus of their guest: Theo is the FeMC’sanimus (aka  in the unconscious of a woman it is expressed as a masculine innerpersonality) while Liz, Margaret, and Twins are the P3MaleMC, P4MC, andP5MC’s anima (aka in the unconscious of a man thisarchetype finds expression as a feminine inner personality). So if FeMC is female, she should just have anAnimus right? Yet she can have Liz….which means she represents the Anima….whichmeans….she’s there to basically balance out the FeMC’s (hidden) masculinity? 8UMight be why she gets along with the guys so well (even actually having friend…orshould I say “bro” routes in her SLs 8U), and maybe why she kinda has similar “flirty dialogue” that the MaleMC has with the girls (cause it’s pretty much copy and pasted over 8U). (as for if MaleMC matches with theMoon’s more “feminine” reading, I dunno he seems more interested in the ladiesthan the men in his SLs so he’s pretty women focused…in a way).

I would be inclined to think that Star arcana would fit her too (cause optimism theme as well, and cause a star persona is used to create her ultimate weapon….and cause cause the star arcana seems to be a theme with Hashino’s Persona era tho it mostly applies to P4/5), but that fits more with naive optimism while Sun kinda has to face the harshness of the world yet still find a positive outlook. Considering the running “gag” (not really a gag in most cases) since P2, Sun arcana characters tend to find themselves in bad situations and have to struggle to find a positive outlook. I feel the FeMC’s situation becomes very…dire like the other Sun arcana characters (like I said above “the world’s ending, no one loves me, everyone leaves me out, come at me bro”). You could interpret that she could start off as Star and then switch to Sun (naive then maturing basically) as the game goes on, I mean Star does come before Sun (with Moon in the middle) so….yeah….FeMC’s side could just be 3 arc Star->Moon->Sun story (but, again, I think Sun fits her the best 8U)

[caepaecaesurae]

Caefora’s Internal Dialogue #7

> ... A response, from Pal.

Today at 5:57 PM deterministpalindrome liike ii appreciiate knowiing yeah? 2ooner2 way better than later iit'2 ju2t. yeah. ii appreciiate the dii2tance and tryiing not two do anythiing 2tupiid and ii can try two be ciiviil and 2hiit but ii'm not 2ure ii can do tact. mo2tly becau2e ii'm ju2t bad at iit u2ually. 2o. yeah. 2orry.

sugary-empress >Man, if that was him appreciative, you'd hate to see him mad! You're less mad than before. He's grovelling, so it's better. caepaecaesurae > It's about as hard for captors to apologize as it is for peixes and amporas...  It's a lot easier if you imagine having to say those words to another person. sugary-empress >Hmm... True... Yeah, you'll allow it. Apologies blow, which is why you never do anything you'd need to apologise for. caepaecaesurae > ... Yeah you do, you just suppress the idea that they might need an apology. sugary-empress >Name ONE time you did that!!! caepaecaesurae > Every time. sugary-empress >Okay, true. But still! sugary-empress >You try your best. 38( caepaecaesurae > And that's important -- but so is honesty, in all of the cases where it's more effective than lying. sugary-empress >Honesty is historically way worse for you than lying. Remember that time it made Sal be terrifying at you??? Honesty isn't a good call, ever. caepaecaesurae > Figuring out which goes where is hard. sugary-empress >It literally Can't Be Done, your only choice is constant lies. >Well, your only GOOD choice. caepaecaesurae "Really, anything but deat)( threats I can shrug off -- maybe next time you feel the need, rephrase it into a demand instead?  The t)(reat is implied, and that wvay wve don't havwe to wvorry about it and can skip directly to being reassuring!" sugary-empress >Yeah. He probably won't agree to that, though. caepaecaesurae > ...He might!  ..maybe.  Maybe?  Never know if you don't try! > Optimistm time! sugary-empress >Oh, you can provide the optimism! caepaecaesurae > So can Cae!  Together, they can believe! caepaecaesurae > ..subconsciously check bracers.

deterministpalindrome alriight 2o thii2 ii2 me beiing ciiviil 2o. no? iit wa2 a threat. ii wa2 beiing threateniing two a threat. ii'm not goiing two be /niice/ two 2omeone ii'm threateniing???? and ii'm 2ure a2 fuck not rea22uriing you about me threateniing you or anyone el2e threateniing you iif they felt the need two. that completely undermiine2 the whole /threat/ thiing yeah? ii don't tru2t you. at all. and ii'm not goiing two pretend otherwii2e. and ii'm wiilliing two be ciiviil and keep 2hiit on the back burner but ju2t becau2e ii'm giiviing you a chance doe2n't mean ii'm not gonna do 2omethiing iif you fuck up. and ii'm 2ure a2 hell not goiing two be 2neaky and hu2h hu2h about con2equence2 2o ii can fuckiing 2priing them on you je2u2. deterministpalindrome ii know half of you know2 me goddamn u2e that

caepaecaesurae > ...Still feeling pretty threatened and not okay.  Maybe pal isn't the best target for optimism, here.  He responds well to not being interacted with at least ... ? "I meant that wve could skip directly to me reassuring you I wvasn't going to do wvhatevwer it is each time, but my bad.  Nevwermind.  Thanks for civwil, I'll just...not talk to you until this is ovwer probably." sugary-empress >Sure, that reply was good, but a fun alternative: "I meant t)(at maybe if you could muster up a s)(red of compassion for t)(e )(alf of my being you consider a wort)(w)(ile person, you wouldn't send t)(at )(alf into paralyzing bouts of fear, but it obviously isn't important to you, or at least, not as important as assuring t)(at someone w)(o )(asn't been a t)(reat in a w)(ile doesn't suddenly START being a t)(reat BECOD Cae is in )(er pan now. Bye, )(ave a nice nig)(t!" >Both equally valid options, but HOW can you CHOOSE caepaecaesurae > ... you sort of want to send the second one but you also don't want to die. > ...but, you know, they would bring Cae back, and he would definitely bring Tyfora back if she died over this. sugary-empress >Well, there you go! It's consequence free! Go for it. caepaecaesurae > Fun times in impulse control central. sugary-empress >Honestly, you'll probably feel differently as you're dying, but as a concept: this is going to definitely be worth it. caepaecaesurae > That's always how it goes, but oh, the satisfaction of hitting enter.

http://geminidoomed.tumblr.com/post/158175247146

caepaecaesurae > ...You do sort of like thinking of yourself as a god of vice or desire.  Or chaos.  Or protection.  Or the eponymous "pauses" and "cutting short". > You just Never Admit It near clowns who don't like that. sugary-empress >That seems Entirely reasonable!

deterministpalindrome oh no ii don't thiink 2ugarhag ii2 a threat /becau2e/ cn'2 iin her head. 2he'2 /alway2/ a threat. ii don't care who 2he'2 fooled iintwo thiinkiing 2he'2 changed but ii'm not one of them and ii've never been 2hy about that. telliing her that 2hiit ha2n't changed ju2t becau2e 2he ha2 a conviieniiant meat2hiield now ii2 ju2t layiing down new rule2 a2 ciircum2tance2 change.

iif you don't do anythiing ii'm not goiing two kiill you. ii promii2e on my tiitle on my 2iign on the name ii haven't even earned yet.

and me talkiing two you ciiviily? that ii2 my attempt at compa22iion. ii'm wiilliing two actiively giive you a chance two not fuck up. two giive her the chance two lii2ten two cn about not beiing awful. two not brii2tle every tiime you talk two me. two keep my face 2hut and offer you friiend2hiip whiile 2hiit'2 awful.

and let me tell you. gettiing guiilted over tryiing two be a2 2upportiive a2 ii can? two do 2omethiing ii don't liike becau2e 2omeone ii care about ii2n't left out iin the black? yeah not a good 2tart two po22iible friiend2hiip there. kiind of makiing me regret doiing thii2 at all.

caepaecaesurae > ..and Cae is at a loss for words again, getting the vaguely nauseous feeling. caepaecaesurae > There's no control over whether or not people think they're /doing things/, and it just ... sugary-empress >Fuck that guy for doing the bare minimum and then trying to make you feel like an asshole! Fuck every bristly threatening Captor, right in. Uh. Well, fuck them, anyways. >This sucks and you don't deserve it. Well. You maybe kind of do. But Cae's here too! 38( caepaecaesurae "Good talk." sugary-empress >Yeah, he doesn't deserve to be talked at by you. You guys are done with him. caepaecaesurae > ...talking won't help, all it does is give more chances to make things Worse, except when /not talking/ makes it worse ... sugary-empress >Ughhh. caepaecaesurae > ...you try to gently put that train of thought to an end.  It's not productive, and there are better things to do with your time. > ... How do they feel about having a .. .. drink is considered, then discarded.  A smoke?  There's a vaporizer in cae's sylladex, it has nicotine but it doesn't leave any nasty buildup in gills..

caepaecaesurae Good talk. deterministpalindrome yeah fiine good luck doiing whatever caepaecaesurae 👉

sugary-empress >You've never smoked before! No time like the present. Ooh, maybe things like nicotine and caffeine and alcohol will actually affect you like this. caepaecaesurae > Hey, may as well.  Worst case, Cae has a taste for them and knows the good stuff. > Time to smoke on a device that looks vaguely like a metal cigar with LEDs and toggles and a clear glass tank of liquid in it.  It smells...like Caesurae.  Vanilla, anise, tobacco. sugary-empress >You've got whipped cream vodka, that's the good stuff, right? Smoking, though. Nice. Media indicates you're at least fifteen percent cooler now. caepaecaesurae > ..the sense of 'the good stuff' will take some retooling, but... there's probably some girly liquers that might suit both sides of them fairly well.  Time to teleport to a counter space, and start crafting a mixed drink, layer by layer.  Something fruity, with enough spices to make the flavor complex. sugary-empress > 38D !!! This fusion is fun! Nobody wants you guys to have fun, but by gods, you will if you have to pry the fun from their cold, dead, hands. caepaecaesurae > If they could just stop freaking out... sugary-empress >They never will. Well, they'll stop freaking out at Cae when he isn't stuck in here with you, but this is your life forever. No going back. Mixed drinks are fine, but you also take a sip from a bottle you were using to make your drink, because that sounds faster. caepaecaesurae > Your hand tries to hesitate ...  Alcohol is lovely, but you'll get there when you get there.  May as well enjoy the ride -- and the attempt.  Right? > You can waste hours this way, and there are so very many hours. sugary-empress >Fiiine. >... That last part is definitely true. caepaecaesurae > They'll be strong mixed drinks, and each will be Perfect.  ..and worth savoring, an inch at a time. sugary-empress >Why do you complement each other so well??? Sure, sometimes you turn into a positive feedback loop of impulsive terrible, but you're managing this pretty well, you think. caepaecaesurae > Is it really a surprise that the man who lives and breathes denial so hard that reality listens, and the woman from a dream-like reality where things work because they Must have coherent worldviews? > ..particularly since Caesurae's parts seem willing to bend and be accomodating about most things as long as they aren't moral issues or emotional highs. > ..and something not dissimilar on Tyfora's side.

[sassafrasx]

Hello my dearest yuletide author! :D

Thank you so, so much in advance for writing something for me. Please feel free to ignore all of this if none of my ideas work for you; I’m really flexible and enjoy most everything, so please go with whatever inspires you! I would never want anyone to feel forced to write something.

My requests this year are particularly queer-focused (as in they all involve canon queer characters, which \o/) and I have a lot of love for all of them; so if you get stuck on the fandom we matched on, the other two may also be up your alley as well. Both The Get Down and American Gods have only one season, and Captive Prince is a trilogy which is a fairly quick read.

Things I enjoy (in no particular order and organized in a way known only to my brain):

Humor, banter, wit, sass, dialogue, intelligence, competence

Worldbuilding, plot, action, shenanigans/ridiculousness, sense of adventure, wonder

Most genres, fluff, angst, smut, really anything but too much focus on H/C (I’ve had enough of that IRL in the past few years)

ALL the AUs, all of them, I’ve never met one I didn’t like: magic, fantasy, scifi, space, historical, modern, mundane, college/university, fairy tales, dystopia, D/s, movie/tv/book fusions, daemons, canon setting or divergence AUs, urban fantasy, magical realism, magical/mythical creatures, time travelling, coffee shop/any kind of shop/restaurant, etc (tl;dr if there’s an AU you’ve always wanted to write, I’ve definitely always wanted to read it)

Friendships, families of choice, queer themes, awesome women being awesome, equal relationships, relationships that are earned and have a long and winding road, relationships that just flow together naturally from the beginning, loyalty

As with the AUs above, I have great love for most any trope you can imagine as well: friends to lovers, enemies to friends to lovers, UST, pining, pretend relationships, ‘didn’t know they were dating’, slow burn, bets & wagers, obliviousness, road trips, travel of any kind, cats and other animal companions, epistolary, texting/messaging, case fic, clothes sharing, sharing a bed, forced proximity, quests, soul bonds/soulmates/soulmarks, a/b/o, age difference, etc

Trope subversion, particularly of the soulmate and a/b/o type tropes, or anything really that generally subverts or inverts expectations

Absolutely anything relating to mythology

The little details that speak volumes about characters even when nothing is said at all, realism, especially moments of realism grounding things in the midst of something fantastical or ridiculous or funny, and vice versa — those quiet moments of humor while everything else is going to shit

Kinks sold separately (so you may ignore more easily or zero in on them, depending on your smut-writing inclinations — I will be equally as gleeful whether I receive g-rated gen fic or the kinkiest PWP):

Rimming, comeplay, manhandling/athletic sex, switching, pegging, intercrural, oral sex, masturbation, dirty talk, all kinds of sex toys, sex magic, edging, bondage/restraints, spanking, phone/webcam sex, dubcon of the sex pollen/magic/aliens made them do it variety, crossdressing, lingerie, I could go on but I will spare you. Suffice it to say I enjoy most things of the porny variety ;)

My only DNWs: explicit noncon or major character death, as well as pregnancy, infidelity, character bashing or humiliation, animal harm/cruelty.

(Having said that, if dark fic is really your thing, I am definitely open to those sorts of themes; I’m just much more careful about what/when I read noncon and character death. But outside of that, please feel to go somewhere dubious or dark. Fics that get into morally grey areas and make you think are great. Ambiguous or open endings instead of outright unhappy ones generally preferred in this case; bittersweetness has always hit me in the gut more than complete tragedy.)

If none of the prompts below are working, please feel free to pick and choose from the top section here and write whatever inspires you! Fantasy AU fic, PWP, 1k of light-hearted domestic fluff, any weird experimental piece you’re dying to write, most anything at all, please have at it. Or ignore everything on here completely; optional details are optional and I will be unbelievably excited about anything you write for me. <3<3

I added this last year, but honestly it still applies: if recent events have you wanting to write all the dystopian AUs or dedicate queer, filthy porn to a politician of choice, I will be here with my chin in hands.

Captive Prince (Damen, Laurent)

Ahhhhh, I just have so many feelings about these two and their impossible, slow, perfect development. SO MANY. They’re the sort of pair whose relationship is just so satisfying and well-earned and who complement each other so perfectly, despite rubbing against each other in all the wrong ways through so much of their relationship. It’s the sort of thing where I could read their story in a thousand different ways through a thousand different AUs and be totally, wholly content. And I want all of those stories! All of them! So a lot of my ideas listed below here are heavily AU-centric, both canon and non-canon based.

Some ideas to throw against a wall:

Mermaids, selkies, daemons, that mysterious witch in a blue dress that people in the city keep whispering about

I know this is already a fantasy series, but I kept craving more fantasy elements while reading, so add some dragons, high fantasy, whatever have you to the canon universe and I will be pleased as punch

MYTHOLOGY - whether adding in some mythological elements to canon (there was a surprising lack of any sort of folklore or mythology in the series) or a total AU I am all here for anything with a myth-type twist

The stereotypical modern AUs: coffee shop, university, we live in the same building and your cat keeps sneaking in to steal my underwear, WHATEVER, I’m always down for meet-cutes and ridiculousness

Urban/modern fantasy, magical realism, all that jazz is my jam; my love for urban fantasy has no bounds

Non-traditional a/b/o - while I love a/b/o in general, any sort of twist or subversion is basically my ultimate iddy happy place - Damen/Laurent alpha/alpha AU anyone?? Or any other way you’d like to imagine it.

Porn. Anything from the top section, porn is always happily consumed.

Rival space pirate clans, because space pirates.

For the more canon-inclined, that’s awesome too! I realize a lot of my random ideas above are complete AUs, but I love canon fic as well. I particularly love divergence scenarios — not just major ones of the Auguste Lives type, but what if some small moment in canon happened differently, or didn’t happen at all? So much good stuff to explore there. Role reversal canon AUs, outsider POV and missing scenes are always awesome as well. Whatever sandbox you find most fun to play in really :D

As for side characters and whatnot, the more the merrier generally speaking! Nikandros, Pallas, and Lazar are particular favorites in this corner over here.

The Get Down (Dizzee)

I also requested this last year, and after the second half of the series, my request is still largely the same. One of the things I love about this show is that sense of the city in the 70s, the visceral feel of it, and how it was so well-done and it left me craving more — particularly more of Dizzee’s story.

(Confession: I am a New Yorker, which is part of why I loved this so much, but I was born about a decade after this takes place and in a different part of the country than where I now call home — so please don’t worry about me nitpicking historical details ;))

While we did get to see more of Dizzee in the second half of the series, I’m still hung up on that one scene with him from the first half of the series (the one where he goes with Thor and the other girl to the club) and that is probably completely responsible for this request. It hit me like a pound of feels straight to the chest. Queer culture in the 70s, the underground balls, the music, the voguing, drag, and everything else. GAH. And watching Dizzee navigate all that, open his mind to everything around him and recognize himself, so much love. And the way the scene fits in with the shows overall themes, how so much creativity and how new genres can come out of oppression, the way all these different groups and sounds interacted and fed off each other, which is so rarely acknowledged anymore. Anything that explores any of this will be loved forever and ever.

I didn’t specifically request Thor because Dizzee is my main interest here, but I think he’s great too! Or the girl from the club — or both! However you want to approach it, my queer heart will be excited. You could write a continuation scene (porny or not porny), Dizzee getting deeper into queer culture afterwards, some introspection, or just the scene from the show as it happens from Dizzee’s perspective, anything really. Same with the scene from the second half of the season where Thor and Dizzee paint each other. And I have no drug or alcohol triggers, so if you really just wanted to write 1k about Dizzee rolling his ass off tbh, I’d love to read that too.

Much more so than I usually request, this one really is a lot about the setting for me. Having said that, if you wanted to do it as a some sort of dystopian AU with similar themes and Dizzee as the focus, I’d read the shit out of the that. So much. (As an example — feel free to insert other AU compulsions if that’s your thing.) And I think there are a lot of awesome characters in the show, particularly the moral greyness of so many of them, but the queer themes of Dizzee’s story admittedly resonate with me on a much more personal level; please do feel free to include as many or as few of the others as you see fit!

American Gods (TV) (The Jinn, Salim)

I have been an enormous fan of the book since it originally came out and have reread it many times over the years; needless to say I am so unbelievably happy with the show so far and how they’ve chosen to expand upon and approach the original canon. Particularly, I love how they filmed the scene between these two characters, and then decided to give them a larger role in the series, which they didn’t have in the book.

For these two, I would love anything that explores their relationship, maybe what Salim was feeling or thinking when they met, how that sort of transcendent experience touched him, what his life was like afterwards as a cab driver in his new identity. Or something about his journey to find the Jinn again! How does he get there? What does he find at the end? What is their happily ever after? I’m so thrilled they’ve decided to go that route on the show, and can’t wait to see how it connects to the larger story. (As I’ve read the book, there is no need to worry about spoiling me if you would like to include details from future plots based on it; or go wild and go somewhere completely different! I’d love to read it all.)

The Jinn’s perspective would also be amazing: he’s been alive for so long, the things he’s seen, and he seems lonely when we meet him on the show? What has his experience/existence been like as a god, how has he seen history, particularly from a queer perspective, what does it mean to him when he meets Salim?

It would also be really interesting to see something that explored the mythological aspects of the show more -- or a complete myth AU! I think these two also lend themselves well to a lot of AUs and tropes in general and I’d love to read about all of them; if you wanted to raid any of the AUs or tropes above and go crazy that’d be amazing. Some kind of soulmates universe (with or without the mythology of canon), magical creatures of some kind, some sort of normal/modern AU, anything at all and anywhere you want to go, have at it!

Please feel free to include whatever canon characters you like; while I selected these two, I enjoy all of them and would be happy to see anything involving them. And while these requests lean more shippy, please make it as gen (backstory for either of the characters would be awesome) or as shippy as you’d like.