#companion piece with my last set basically

[rocktheholygrail]

2x07 || 2x08

[queensparklekitten]

I think I just guaranteed queen of nothing by the crane wives a place in my spotify wrapped tonight because of time princess

[sylusonychinus]

Bring Your Pet to Work Day

It was Bring Your Pet to Work Day at Akso Hospital, a once-a-year event where employees were allowed to bring their furry companions to lighten up the usual hustle and bustle of the medical environment. Reader was out of town on a business trip, and Zayne, for reasons even he couldn’t fully explain, decided to take her cat, Prince, along with him.

The morning began with Zayne standing in Reader’s living room, Prince sitting atop his cat tree like a king surveying his kingdom.

“Alright, buddy,” Zayne said, holding up a sleek black cat carrier. “Today’s the day. You and I are going to work together.”

Prince blinked at him, unimpressed.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Zayne muttered, stepping closer. “I’m doing you a favor. You’ll get attention from people who actually like cats. Not to mention, this is a great opportunity for you to bond with your favorite human.”

Prince turned his head to groom a paw.

“Fine, your second-favorite human,” Zayne corrected, rolling his eyes.

Getting Prince into the carrier turned out to be a battle of wills. Zayne tried everything—sweet-talking, bribery with treats, even dangling the feather wand Reader always used during playtime.

Prince, however, refused to compromise.

“Just get in, you little tyrant,” Zayne grunted, trying to scoop him up.

Prince dodged effortlessly, darting under the couch.

“Of course,” Zayne muttered, dropping to his knees to look under the couch. “You’re really making me work for this, huh?”

Twenty minutes, two scratches, and a very smug cat later, Prince was finally in the carrier. Zayne grabbed his bag and headed out the door, muttering, “This is the last time I try to do something nice for you.”

The Hospital Takeover

The moment Zayne walked into the hospital with Prince, all hell broke loose.

“Is that a cat?!” one of the nurses squealed, rushing over.

Zayne nodded, setting the carrier down on the counter. “This is Prince. He’s…uh…Reader’s cat.”

Prince, sensing an audience, decided it was time to make his grand entrance. He sauntered out of the carrier with the air of a celebrity stepping onto the red carpet.

“Oh my god, he’s gorgeous,” another nurse cooed, reaching out to pet him.

Prince allowed the attention for approximately five seconds before turning his head away with a flick of his tail.

“That’s just how he is,” Zayne said, shrugging. “Selective.”

“What’s he doing here?” asked Jeremiah, one of the younger doctors.

“Reader’s out of town, and it’s Bring Your Pet to Work Day,” Zayne replied. “Figured I’d bring him along.”

Jeremiah snorted. “So, basically, you’re babysitting?”

Zayne gave him a look. “Something like that.”

Prince, meanwhile, had jumped onto the nurses’ station desk and was inspecting a stack of papers with great interest.

“Prince, no,” Zayne warned, but it was too late.

With one swift paw, Prince knocked the papers onto the floor.

The Rounds with Prince

Zayne had somehow managed to get Prince to follow him during his rounds, though it was less of a peaceful walk and more of a chaotic adventure.

“Okay, Prince,” Zayne said, stopping in front of a patient’s room. “You stay here while I—”

Prince ignored him completely and walked right into the room.

The elderly patient inside beamed. “Oh, what a handsome boy!”

Prince leapt onto the bed, curling up beside the patient as if he belonged there.

“Well,” Zayne said, crossing his arms. “Looks like you’ve got a new assistant.”

The patient laughed, stroking Prince’s fur. “He’s much cuter than the usual doctors.”

Zayne sighed. “I’m standing right here, you know.”

Chaos in the Cafeteria

During lunch, Zayne decided to grab a quick bite in the cafeteria. He set Prince down on a chair, figuring the cat would behave for five minutes.

Big mistake.

As Zayne was distracted by his sandwich, Prince jumped onto the table and started sniffing the tray of food.

“Prince, no,” Zayne said, trying to push the cat away.

Prince, of course, ignored him and batted a piece of bread off the tray.

“Seriously?” Zayne groaned.

By the time Zayne managed to wrangle Prince off the table, the entire cafeteria was laughing.

The Afternoon Nap

By mid-afternoon, Prince had decided he’d done enough work for one day. He found a sunny spot in Zayne’s office and sprawled out on the couch, purring contentedly.

Zayne glanced at him and shook his head. “Must be nice, huh? Just lying around all day.”

Prince yawned, as if to say, Peasant, you could never understand my responsibilities.

Reader’s Phone Call

Later that evening, Reader called to check in.

“How’s Prince?” she asked.

Zayne glanced at the cat, who was now perched on his desk, swatting at his pen. “Oh, he’s been great. Totally behaved himself.”

Reader laughed. “You’re lying, aren’t you?”

“Completely,” Zayne admitted.

Prince meowed loudly in the background.

“Aww, I miss him,” Reader said.

“Yeah, well, he doesn’t miss you,” Zayne joked. “He’s too busy running the hospital.”

The End of the Day

By the time they got home, Zayne was exhausted. He set Prince down, collapsing onto the couch.

Prince jumped up beside him, curling into a ball.

“Finally tired, huh?” Zayne muttered, scratching behind Prince’s ears.

Prince purred, but only for a moment. Then he stood up, walked across Zayne’s chest, and plopped down directly on his face.

“I hate you,” Zayne mumbled, his voice muffled.

Prince purred louder, his victory complete.

a/n: TO ALL MY GURLIES WHO LOVED PRINCE HERE YAH GO @nezuswritingdesk @seris-the-amious

[alpaca-clouds]

How redeeming Gortash would improve Karlach's story

I will admit, that the title is a bit overstated, because by the time you actually get to interact with Gortash, the plot just does not have enough time left to redeem him. Because other than what some folks in Hollywood think: No, giving a character one last minute "heel-face-turn" with one big symbolic act does not in fact redeem a character. Redemption is a process that takes time.

BG3 actually understands this, because Astarion's arc basically ends with: "You took the first steps towards redemption." Which is really good.

However: You could end the game at least in a way to set Gortash up for a possible redemption arc - and more importantly just... not have him die. Because actually that would improve Karlach's character arc.

I will get one thing out of the way first: The entire "Gortash redemption" idea is always contentious on the fact that he is a really bad guy. Like, he is bad. He brutally killed and tortured, he enslaved people, all of that.

I am an anarchist though. Hence, I do not really believe that punishment is in any way just. And to put it differently: Killing Gortash does not undo any of the harm he has caused. Not a single dead person will live through it, not a single tortured person will become untortured through it, and no slave is freed through it either (you kinda gotta say that as the player in a different mission).

And yes, I will say at this point that in general I was iffed by the fact that in many fights of the game I was not given a choice really. It was "either join the bad guys or kill them", and my "all charisma bard", who does not believe in killing for revenge, was like: "But... But..."

Like, my Tav was on board with killing Cazador (because literally in the situation it is "kill Cazador or have 7000 people die") and killing Ketheric (because he needed to die to end the curse), but he is already iffy on Orin (as she never had a choice but to be a killer) and definitely is not on board with killing Gortash (because there is no good reason to do it).

But let me talk about Karlach. Because the thing is... I have seen a lot of commentary on how Wyll is underwritten. And he is. But not as underwritten as Karlach. Like, her entire companion quest basically goes: "Kill some fake paladins, find Dammon, find two pieces of Infernal Iron, kill Gortash (which you have to do for plot reasons either way)". She doesn't really have a dungeon connected to her quest. Nor really an exclusive boss fight, because again: Gortash you kinda gotta fight for the story either way. Nothing really.

Every other character, too, also has to make one hard decision. Where they want one thing - but what is actually the good thing is something else. I wrote about this before, the "become what you hate" decision, basically.

Karlach doesn't. Sure, you could argue that the "die or go back to Avernus" decision is her big decision. But it feels very different than the decisions of the others.

Which brings me to Gortash and saving him.

Here is the thing: Logically speaking Gortash should probably be able to fix Karlach's engine. He understands infernal engines, as he built the Steel Watch around them. You can easily argue that yeah, he should be able to fix Karlach. And that... would actually make for a great decision for Karlach's story.

If I would get to fix Karlach's companion quest, I would probably do it like this: Put in some sort of dungeon where Dammon sends you in the hope that you can find some plans there, that might give him an understanding on how to fix the engine. Heck, if you do not wanna do a whole new dungeon, you could also just put some plans or whatever into the Steel Foundry.

The point is that it will then turn out that, yeah, even with those plans for some reason Gortash is the only one who could fix it. Putting Karlach into the spot to make this decision: Does she value her life more than her revenge on Gortash?

Because here is the thing: Gortash is supposed to be 1) the intelligent one of the dead three chosen, and 2) also clearly is the one who acts first and foremost in some sense for his own self-preservation. Which made me go like: "Nah, this does not make sense," when he decides to fight against me after his Steel Watch was disabled and I already killed the other two chosen.

So, yeah... You should get at least a chance to persuade him to just give up - or, going back to what I was talking about before - to save Karlach.

And again, I actually think that even for the Gortash part of the story it would make for more interesting storytelling. Killing him is not really that interesting.

Especially as, once again, killing him does not undo any of the harm he has caused. But given that he is this big egghead he could actually do something good if he got to live. And yeah, also there is the fact that... You know... Given what we know about his backstory, his actions are about as understandable as those of some of the companions.

Some of you might already know, I have written some fics dealing with the way how I would imagine something like this to go. Mainly Hurt begets Hurt (which is basically my Tav convincing Gortash to give up), An Impossible Future (Karlach inner turmoil after her engine is fixed) and Cheesy Noodles (Gortash being a big meany towards Tav, who is unphased by this).

I am right now writing a story featuring Astarion dealing with a very, very depressed Gortash.

[woodymattmoon]

Cooper Howard qotues

Why, is this an Amish production of The Count of Monte Cristo or... just the weirdest circle jerk I've ever been invited to?" – The Ghoul after being awoken

"Well, what makes you think I'd give a good goddamn about that?" – The Ghoul to Honcho about a bounty

"Well, I tell you what, boys, whenever somebody says... ...they're doing one last job, that usually means their heart's not in it. Probably never was. But for me, well... I do this shit for the love of the game." – The Ghoul to the bounty hunters

"You right, friend, about one thing. This right here was your last job. My paycheck wasn't quite what you expected, but... well, you know what they say. Us cowpokes... ...we take it as it comes." – The Ghoul while murdering Honcho

"Now, last night a bounty came in through all six agencies. A hefty price on the head of a man that fits the description of that fella right there. Now, I may not know much, but I do know a bidding war when I see one." – The Ghoul about the bounty for Dr. Wilzig

"Well, now, that is a very small drop in a very, very large bucket of drugs." – The Ghoul after being shot at by Lucy

"You got to be fucking kidding me." – The Ghoul after seeing Maximus' arrival

"Well, I'd say come up here and get me, but... it's hard to walk upstairs when you're wearing a 12-piece cast-iron skillet set." – The Ghoul to Maximus.

"Well, I guess basic training ain't what it used to be. 'Cause you drive that thing like a fucking shopping cart. Rule number one: read the manual." – The Ghoul taunting Maximus

"Yeah, well, the Wasteland's got its own golden rule. [...] Thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshit every goddamn time."

"Well, Lucy MacLean, it ain't all canned peaches and marmalade left up here, sweetheart. Sometimes a fella's got to eat a fella." – The Ghoul while harvesting Roger's remains

"I'll bet that outfit makes y'all fell like a big man, don't it? Well, I know 'cause, well I used to wear one back in the day. There was only one problem with it. There was a flaw in the welding just below the chest plate. I wonder if they fixed that in this new model? I guess not." – The Ghoul confronting the Brotherhood.

"Oh, you want another autograph, young Henry? Feo, fuerte y formal." – The Ghoul to Hank MacLean.

"When your daughter said her last name was MacLean, well, I just couldn't believe it was the MacLean. Hell, this kid used to pick up my wife's dry cleaning. Now, I've waited over 200 years to ask somebody one question. Where's my fucking family?" – The Ghoul confronting Hank MacLean.

"War never changes. You look out at this Wasteland, looks like chaos. But there's always somebody behind the wheel. And that's who I want to talk to. That's where your daddy is headed." – The Ghoul to Lucy Maclean.

John Hancock quotes

Of the people, for the people."

"Plenty of folks wanna make life hard for people just tryin' to survive. I'm not willing to stand for that kinda shit."

"What kind of settlement requires a test for entry?" – Referring to Covenant.

"Whoa, the Downs. Hope we're not going anywhere for a while." – Referring to Easy City Downs.

"That kinda bull is the reason I became mayor in the first place." – Referring to The Big Dig

"Damn. Hey, look, if you wanna get outta here..." – If taken to Nate/Nora's corpse in Vault 111.

"If someone needs help, we help 'em. If someone needs hurting, we hurt 'em. It's not hard."

"Like it? I think it gives me a sexy, king of the zombies kinda look. Big hit with the ladies."

"Hey, does that play "Red Menace?" Love that damn game." – Accessing a terminal

"Looks like you can use a little pick me up." – Said when initiating dialogue with him as a companion (and him giving the player character a random chem)

"Whoa ho ho, I like you already! Walk into a new place, make a show of dominance. Nice." – referring to the Sole Survivor killing Finn

"Listen close. It's the last thing you're ever gonna hear." – When Sinjin tells the player character to stop speaking as The Silver Shroud

"Christ, it's bright in here. Clearly they didn't consider some folks might be nursing hangovers. " – Possible comment when entering Vault 81.

If completing The Big Dig with Bobbi No-Nose:

"How you doin' killer? Arms tired from all that digging? You know, my strongroom is surprisingly empty now..."

"Now if it was just the money, I'd rough you up, break a few bones, and then we'd be square once you paid me back. But you killed Fahrenheit. That means blood for blood."

When traveling naked:

"Hey Emperor, love the outfit."

"Let them stare."

"Don't mind me, just enjoying the view"

When committing Cannibalism:

"Suppose they're...beyond caring at this point"

"You...you do what you gotta"

"That one...all yours"

"At least you have the politeness to wait til they're dead"

When using chems:

"Two a day, keep reality at bay."

"Lean back and enjoy the ride."

"That's a good one, take it all in."

"Never trip alone."

When getting Addiction:

"You feel as bad as you look?"

"Wow, how much did you take?"

"'ay, you should slow down, and that's ME saying that"

When not responding while talking with him:

"Did I say something wrong?"

"You wanna talk? Make me a little nervous over here."

"What gives? I thought we were talking."

"Did your chems just kick in or something?"

"Like talking to a brick wall."

"Hmm, lights are on but no one's home."

"What? Mole rat got your tongue?"

"Uhm... You alright?"

"You check out on me?"

"Anybody in there?"

"That's right. Take it all in

After committing to a close relationship

"Words don't begin to do it justice. You, you're the best thing I got."

"Guess you're the piece I'd always missing...that and that toe I still can't find..."

"It's like I found a part of myself I never realized was missing... which happens sometimes when you're a ghoul."

"Nothing to lose but each other."

"Moments like this, I know all that karma stuff is bull. Because no one like me should be this lucky."

"You sure you wanna be stuck with this ugly mug?"

When Lover's Embrace is activated:

"Morning, sunshine."

"Well look at you. I must still be dreamin'..."

"Don't mind me... just enjoying the view."

Upon picking up junk:

"Careful! You don't know where that's been."

"That actually worth something?"

"If anybody could find a use for that."

Upon looting a corpse:

"Time to collect."

"To the living, go the spoils."

When the Brotherhood of Steel arrives in the Commonwealth:

"Holy shit." – When witnessing the Prydwen's arrival.

"Brotherhood knows how to make an entrance. I'll give 'em that." – When commenting on the Brotherhood

Cooper Howard VS John Hancock quotes these two has some good quotes it's hard to pick one for me I say both anyways you can use these for Headcannons, Edits, Memes, and so on I just put these here so it's easier for some people to use them I also tag people if your interested talk in the messages there open I have so many things I want to make but the next one is going to get Cooper Howard and John Hancock with Serena I was thinking doing a Picture Edit with some quotes and yes I do requests too.

[des2dream]

Love for Bee & Puppycat🐝🌌🐕🐱💕

Bee & Puppycat has always been on my radar, but I haven't watched it until years later. I thought the pilot was okay, but something didn't feel right. It wasn't until I saw all the episodes on YouTube that really hooked me in. Things got even more interesting when the show got remade into Bee & Puppycat: Lazy In Space airing on Netflix. For anyone who doesn't know, Bee & Puppycat is a show about a young woman named Bee who just got fired from her friend, Deckard's family-run cat cafe and comes across a cat....or puppy who falls from the sky. While Bee looks for a new job, Puppycat brings her to a magical temp bot who gives the two temp jobs all throughout Outer Space instead. Every time they complete a task, Temp Bot pays them enough money to pay rent.

There's a lot of mystery as to who Puppycat is and there's a lot of shock as to who Bee is. The two have become such good friends as well as roommates. The show also has lovable side characters. You have Deckard's family which consist of his many older brothers and no-nonsense (and former wrestler) twin sister, Cass. You have a young boy named, Cardamon who plays as acting landlord while his mother is currently in a deep sleep and gains a puppy companion named, Sticky. There's also a last place wrestler named, Toast who has beef with Cass as she always literally breaks into the house. She's also voiced by Terri Hawkes (Sailor Moon's DIC Dub voice).

I absolutely LOVE the aesthetic that this series is going for. Every scene, every frame, every piece of detail is so beautiful! The voice acting may not be all the best, but it feels so organic and natural. I love intergalactic settings so doing temp jobs in different planets instantly made me continue watching. There's a cat bathhouse planet, a video game planet, a cherry/dessert-like planet, and so much more! I also love how it's basically a Magical Girl series for adults as it focuses on issues that adults would normally have such as paying rent, going to college, and trying to figure out what to do in life. I can't really recommend this show to everyone, but for those (of age) who are interested, I hope you find it an enjoyable watch.

[marniethelordwizard]

Going back to replay Baldur's Gate 3 has really helped to illuminate why I found Dragon Age: Veilguard to be such a frustrating, unfulfilling experience. I think it boils down to the missteps of Rook as the protagonist.

To preface, I liked Veilguard. It is a good game, a solid 7/10. It's not the mess people are making it out to be, nor does it hold a candle to the previous games in the series. It's a gorgeous, fun experience with good side characters. The last act in particular was spectacular.

When I began DAV, I decided to roleplay my Rook as a gorgeous, badass female Qunari. I chose all of the assertive, ‘renegade’ dialogue options to serve the character's stoic, no-nonsense attitude, with the intention of making her softer as her story progressed. And yet, it still felt like I was playing a predetermined character with a very distinct personality. At times, I could be rude or harsh to others, but it was so often followed up with a quippy, lighthearted remark that felt super out of place in the conversation.

I remember reading the experience of one of the people who participated in the Community Council for Dragon Age 4 during the development process. One of the pieces of feedback the Council provided to the developers regarded Rook's character, specifically how Rook basically resembled a tongue-in-cheek Ryan Reynolds-like Marvel superhero, which the Council found annoying and irritating. In response, the developers toned down these aspects of Rook's character, which is the version that made it into Veilguard. Despite these alterations, that quippy, Marvel personality still felt like a defining characteristic of my Rook, even while trying to play as the exact opposite. If you’re going into Veilguard planning to play Rook as a happy-go-lucky protagonist through the funny, sarcastic dialogue options, you’re going to have a better experience.

Playing Rook felt more similar to playing Geralt in The Witcher games than the previous Dragon Age protagonists. As the player, you can determine how Geralt reacts to events and make choices which shape the game’s outcomes, but Geralt remains fundamentally the same character no matter your decisions. To me, that’s what playing Rook was like. I couldn't be mean or rude, or purposefully antagonize my companions. The only characters I really could antagonize were the clear-cut villains and Solas.

On that note, I think that’s why the idea of Rook serving as a foil for Solas didn’t work for me narratively. A cool idea, sure, but perhaps not the right one for an RPG. IMO, this is where the problems with Rook as an RPG protagonist are most obvious. Veilguard wants to provide players with the agency to make their own character with a distinct background and have meaningful consequences for their choices, while also needing to set up Rook as having enough of a predetermined personality as a hero to contrast Solas’ role. Rook has to be a certain way for the overall story to work both narratively and thematically, but this undermines the function of Rook as an RPG protagonist whose personality, background, and choices you can decide as the player.

The execution of the regret prison failed for me because you never truly make decisions which allow you to feel regret. Of the choices you make, they are simply not comparable. Rook’s choices led to one of their companions dying after making the conscious decision to sacrifice themselves when the time came. Solas’ choices led to *ahem* an entire group of beings becoming tranquilized, his mother/lover/bestie getting murdered (twice), the fall of the Elven empire, people being cut off from the fade, spirits being banished to the fade and becoming corrupted upon leaving, the elves losing their immortality, the canonization of Evanuris’ propaganda in Dalish clans, etc.

Like, one of the reasons Solas is so incapable of moving beyond his mistakes is the whole sunk-cost fallacy. His actions have caused so much irreparable damage to the world and so much harm to the people he was trying to save that to stop would be to give up on those things, despite how much he wants to.

I guess you could argue the Treviso/Minrathous choice is more comparable to Solas’ mistakes, but it never even comes up in the prison where Rook is facing their regrets? You’re never blamed for your actions in any meaningful way. You can face some pushback when choosing between Minrathous or Treviso, but it’s still not framed within the overall narrative as Rook’s fault and something they should be saddled with regret for.

I think this is partly why the world was stripped of any social or political context. If we were given more control over our choices in a morally grey setting, make bad and harmful decisions, antagonize and alienate our companions, that foil narrative would serve no true purpose; Rook would no longer be a hero. Erasing the world the previous games built up avoided any potential for Rook to be as bad or worse than Solas, which comes at the expense of player agency.

I’ve read people say the Inquisitor would’ve better suited this purpose, but I still disagree. There are more parallels between the Inquisitor and Solas (figureheads of powerful organizations, leading armies, navigating politics), but again, you can't have your RPG protagonist serve as a foil to another character, because it fundamentally undermines the mechanics of that genre. Sure, you can create an Inquisitor who strives to make the world a better place and serve their people, but you can also make a self-serving, power-hungry Inquisitor who cares little for anyone else.

If Veilguard was going to set up a foil for Solas, I think it truly only would’ve worked with a NPC, similar to how Lelina is written to be a foil for Corypheus in Inquisition. Davrin or Bellara could’ve been super interesting to set this narrative up for. The Viper could’ve been another cool character to set up, who has tons of interesting parallels to Solas.

Veilguard sacrifices the player agency of Dragon Age as an RPG for the purpose of making the design of Rook's character work - which overall weakens the story, setting, characters, and fundamentally, Rook as a protagonist. It’s not something I blame the writers for. The writers worked in terrible workplace conditions. The development process was a nightmare. It's not John Epler's fault either. He came on as captain to a ship that had already sunk halfway under. After Inquisition, Veilguard was not the game Bioware intended to make. I can believe it’s a game they’re proud to have made, particularly under those circumstances, but as we’ve seen from the ideas in the Joplin years, it’s far from the game they envisioned. I would’ve loved for them to have created a game on par with Baldur’s Gate 3, which they had the potential to do, but it would’ve required enough resources, respect, and support from the studio, not one where writers are alienated and resented.

[anthurak]

Okay so about a week ago, I did this somewhat unhinged ramble about ARC-V Alexis Rhodes getting a Cyber Angel/Herald/Drytron deck and generally getting to be the badass she deserved to be. Instead of being shackled with the fate of basically any cool girl in a shonen anime; getting nerfed to all hell and subsequently beaten by a massively plot-armored generic hero guy or edgy villain dude.

And as something of a follow-up/companion-piece to that, I have found myself doing something I frankly would never have seen myself doing two weeks ago:

Workshopping an alternate scenario for a Yugioh duel.

Sooo… here’s my version of how Alexis vs. Yuri in Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V SHOULD have ended:

On her last turn after swiping Yuri’s Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon with Cyber Angel Natasha, instead of playing Fusion Destruction, Alexis sets two ominous facedown cards.

Yuri does his big, dramatic reveal that he plot-contrivanced GX’s most OP card; Super-Polymerization into his deck, steals back his Reactor Dragon and fuses it off to make Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem, just like he did originally.

At which point, Alexis reveals one of her facedowns…

Drytron Asterism, which Alexis activates by burning 1000 ATK off her Natasha (being a Ritual monster) to immediately blow up Yuri’s new Golem. Which also just so happens to be represented by a pair of mysterious, shadowy figures flying around in the sky above firing laser blasts into UAGG.

Though while Yuri might be questioning what just happened and what the hell a ‘Drytron’ is supposed to be, he is still able to use Ultimate AGG’s effect to bring out an original Ancient Gear Golem when it’s destroyed.

Which in turn is exactly when Alexis triggers her other facedown,

Drytron Meteor Shower, which immediately bounces Yuri’s AGG back into the deck, and happens to be represented by another mysterious figure flying high above raining down the meteor burst.

Thus begins Alexis’s reveal that Cyber Angels aren’t the ONLY Ritual monsters she’s packing, and the proper introduction of her new Drytron monsters. With Alexis spending her turn popping off a combo of cycling through multiple Drytron modules to get her ritual spell, materials and monster. All culminating with Alexis bringing out her new boss monster:

Drytron Meteonis Draconids.

Which Alexis has also powered up with Cyber Angel Idaten, showcasing just how well her new monsters synchronize with her existing Cyber Angels. While perhaps also subtly hinting at a third group of monsters she’s using when she negates a trap Yuri tries to counter with using Herald of Purple Light.

Now perhaps Yuri somehow managed to bring his Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem back, which while it might not be able to beat the now-5000 ATK Draconids, will at least soak up enough of the attack to let him survive to the next turn.

At which point right as she’s starting her Battle Phase, Alexis drops Limiter Removal.

And so, facing down a giant angry mechanical space dragon now sporting ten THOUSAND attack points, Yuri is now, for the first time in the show, completely FUCKING terrified.

In fact, Yuri is only saved by the timely arrival of the Obelisk Force and other elite Academy duelists to rescue Yuri and challenge Alexis. Yuri does manage to escape, but it is clear that Alexis was ABSOLUTELY the winner of this duel.

Speaking of Alexis, she is now facing down basically an ARMY of Ancient Gear Hunting Hound fusions and Chaos Ancient Gear Giants, buuuttt she still has her 10,000-ATK Drytron Meteonis Draconids. Which also has the ability to attack ALL of her opponents’ Special Summoned monsters.

So Alexis and her dragon proceed to utterly ANNHILATE the ENTIRE army of Academy duelists with ludicrous amounts of beam-spam.

Heck, even when the time limit for Limiter Removal runs out, Alexis is able to use the Machine Angel Ritual she played earlier to keep Draconids from being destroyed.

Thus, Alexis and her Ritual Monsters cement themselves as the true secret weapon of the heroes against all the increasingly ridiculous Extra Deck-focused nonsense of the villains, and probably even Zarc himself.

Meanwhile Yuri spends the rest of the show desperately trying to convince everyone, and himself that he isn’t completely fucking TERRIFIED of Alexis now.

[azzysecondary]

Ok it’s finally time……

My honest feelings on the ZENO:Remake

Spoiler warning for the entire game ( ESPECIALLY The true routes and Ushirono route)

Also as a heads up….. this will be highly critical…… and long.

(Cws also apply for the content mentioned in game, please look at those before reading! )

I will be addressing Maeno and

Tsugino by their true names for convenience sake

Preface

Before we begin I wish to say, I do not mean to start war with this. The last thing I want is drama, I just wanna analyze and critique a piece of media- Genuinely I am open to discussion on anything I may have gotten wrong (as I am not an expert on Zeno lore or anything, and have not played daily life or the VN), or just for discussion in general! As long as it is productive (please genuinely read everything first though-)

Introduction

So I went in wanting to like this game ! I really did, I had heard nothing but praise, and that it was really good! So I decided to play on a discord call with friends! At first I was genuinely intrigued to the point I did some fanart doodles, and I would be genuinely be excited to play when the time came, and I wanted to see it to the end! The gameplay and puzzles were pretty fun and challenging, I played on chase setting one so I had a sense of dread entering each room, and the mysteries genuinely intrigued me! I also really liked the art and character design (if I had to chose a favorite it’d be Maeno!! Something about short red head characters and doctor characters plus hot heads have a soft spot in my heart!!!) the Music was also pretty good, and added to the vibes! However….. my point of contention comes to the story.

I went in Knowing there was toxic Yaoi, and cannibalism was not the issue…. Those themes are fine on their own, I’ve consumed many a dark media in my time……. It’s how the game handles its themes I take issue with. more specifically WHAT THE FUCK THEY DID WITH NATSU. Ushirono route basically soured the whole experience for me, and I did that after doing both the True and Sin routes + a normal route ending (which was my first) ( the one where Maeno leaves and waits for Tsugino forever,after Tsugino sacrifices himself). so again, my main issues stem from the end of Ushirono route.I was already iffy on the whole “maeno ate Natsu because she told him to” thing, but……

THE INTENTIONS OF HER HAVING A UNRECIPROCATED CRUSH ON AN ADULT, CAUSING HER TO HAVE A FUCKING ZENO ONSET, AND THEN WANTING MAENO TO EAT HER, FOR THE REASONS SHE DID ARE WHERE I DRAW THE LINE. IT GIVES ME THE FUCKING ICK FOR A COUPLE OF REASONS.

The Natsu Ushirono Problem

it was completely unnecessary.

Maybe I’m missing some theme with the whole “love equals food” thing but even then, even FUCKING then it’s clearly shown it’s really not, and that everytime someone is canabalized for another’s sake, it just leads to misery for the parties involved. I’m mainly using Tsugino in endings where he eats parts or all of maeno for example, and then just feels hollow because in the end, despite it being what he thought “love was” due to everything he had been through…. It truly wasn’t what we wished for. He genuinely seemed much happier in endings where he instead gained Maeno as someone to understand him, and as a life companion to heal with. So that from a narrative point to me CANNOT BE THE ANSWER. Genuinely the plot could’ve still been the same, if it was changed to her genuinely experiencing something traumatic. The love subplot just serves to be more shock value, and no genuine narrative purpose that couldn’t have just been familial rather than romantic love. (Please see section after my other two points to see what I mean)

2. It makes no sense lore and narrative wise

To complete the game you need to gain a pretty good understanding of how the Zeno Virus works. Zeno onset in game is caused by a traumatic event. Lets take a look at each character’s cause of Zeno onset in order

Maeno - First onset- I think it said it was either the death of his family, something relating to the ocean, or a mix of both ( take with a grain of salt) of which was cured by eating of the EQUIVALENT OF HIS LITTLE SISTER ( equally or even more traumatic event for him) Other cases of relapses include Him discovering FUYU’s (his childhood best friend’s ) corpse bleeding out in front of him, or in Ushirono route( I AM NOT INCLUDING THE FUCKING BS OF NATSU’S SOUL CAUSING IT BECAUSE IF THAT WERE THE FUCKING CASE IT WOULD’VE HAPPENED ALOT FUCKING SOONER), the director verbally beating Maeno’s trauma into him over and over until it becomes traumatic and he snaps.

Tsugino - already VERY mentally unwell due to his family basically pretending he was non existent, and physically, psychologically,and verbally abusing him since birth. He grew up without a single ounce of love, already a recipe for Zeno. His traumatic event was witnessing Maeno eat Natsu, of which was life altering traumatic to the point it became his whole purpose to “find love like that”. Relapses are caused by him remembering this trauma after memory therapy.

Fuyu-translation made it a little hard to parse but I think it was LEARNING HIS BEST FRIEND ATE HIS FUCKING SISTER!!! Yeah that definitely would fuck anyone up.

So all of these have a couple of thing in common

The death of a loved one/ watching someone die

Something life alteringly traumatic

The eating of Natsu?? ( not important to development of Zeno, but to the main story also not the case for Maeno onset one)

Now what was NATSU’S cause of Zeno?:

GETTING REJECTED BY MAENO WHEN SHE CONFESSED ROMANTIC FEELINGS TO NOT ONLY SOMEONE MUCH OLDER THAN HER, BUT ALSO HER TECHNICAL OLDER BROTHER.

So basically, you’re trying to tell me, that’s equivalent to EATING A LOVED ONE, OR WATCHING SOMEONE DIE. Yeah. It makes no sense

3. Romanticization

( Heads up, most opinion based section, based on what I personally feel)

Lowkey, this is a problem prevalent throughout the entire game. I’m all fine and good with problematic themes IF YOU HANDLE THEM WELL. It feels like most of the morbid content isn’t handled with much subtlety and is very much shoving everything down your throat Again, and again going,

“Hey! Look at how disturbing this is!”

And also giving a somewhat rose tinted lens to the whole “toxic yaoi murder cannibalism”-

diving into the main discussion point, the best possible ending for Ushriono route comes from helping Natsu achieve her goal, showing narratively, it was a GOOD THING that she got what she wanted in the end. She’s seen as a figure of Martyrdom in the narrative which is….. yeah- And even then, even if we KNOW everyone in this game is fucked up in the head (that gen might be why), but this isn’t a literary critique of human nature, I don’t think that was the intention.(again open to discussion, I’d be fascinated to see what people think of the intentions behind the work~)

Now….. here’s a rewrite that addresses the issues I had with with Natsu’s character motivations and agency in the narrative, even without changing much of the general plot. (Keep in mind I am very much not a writer, I just like reading and stories)

Natsu and Fuyu’s parents died due to *insert tragedy here (something most likely watchable, and quick. Perhaps a murder to fit the other causes of Zeno onset) unlike Fuyu, however, who was out with Maeno at the time….. Natsu witnessed thier death right before her eyes, deeply traumatizing her. Thus the also parentless Maeno becomes apart of a little found family of sorts with them. However, she and Maeno both make it to stage three, and in her desperation to see not see another one of her family die, she tells Maeno to eat her. She pleads and begs saying she wishes to let him live on, that’s all she wants. For her brothers to live. And he does, what other options do the two have?

This not only aligns with the other onset causes, but literally changes NOTHING because we don’t even know the status of the Ushirono parents (unless otherwise stated in supplementary material I have not played). It just changes the motivation and inner monologue of Natsu as a character, and nothing else in the game. Heck it gives the Ushironos a little bit more to work with character wise with loss and grief besides just Natsu herself. Maeno then becomes the only person Fuyu has left, and even then he’s absolutely disgusted with and betrayed by his former best friend. It’s an interesting addition to his characterization besides “I will avenge my sister”. Rather he’s lost quite LITERALLY everyone and it quickens the pace of his Zeno onset that he hides because he’s so desperate to cure Zeno in his sister’s name.

The translation

Yeah….. as much as lines like “what the folly”, “I will worship his death” and “-Your brother was happy to become a brother and sister with you. And is happy, will be happy, always......”, and “let me blast~” are funny….. it genuinely did not help with taking this game seriously in later parts. It was decent at first, with some indiscernible sentences here and there , it genuinely only got worse on true route and then Ushirono route respectively, was the worst in this regard. Combined with its subject matter it made the story kinda hard to understand at some points- like to the point I genuinely can’t tell if half of my issues are translation issues. It also led to the last of half of the game being taken completely unseriously by our play group to where we just Abridged Ushirono route completely to cope- like some of these lines came out better than the actual translation when put through google translate like 5 times!!!!! Like HOW?!?? I know the translator was trying their best but genuinely how did it degrade so badly?!?? It was genuinely fine in the beginning what happened-

Conclusion

I’m genuinely suprised I haven’t seen anyone out there talking about this yet- I know people are just here for toxic Yaoi and maybe I’m too Aroace for this/silly (genuinely a joke but I was actually here for the story…..) and I know people were more focused on Maeno and his Zeno induced saw trap death maze, or on the boys getting out ok and wanting them to kiss etc, etc (mostly what I’ve seen for why people like Ushirono route the best), while just outright ignoring this whole very prevalent elephant in the room. While I also was intrigued by the ideas of things like the Zeno virus, the name swapping mystery, and the lore of this universe…….. it was just so disappointingly executed to me that I was just left kinda sad- maybe the translation is what did it in and if I just played it in Japanese I would get the hype! Who knows! But for now, these are my opinions. Will I play Daily life when it gets a translation? *stares at the content warnings that are even worse* probably not because oh god I am scared of where that goes……. Maybe the other VN? (If there’s none of the crush stuff). Again I went in just wanting to enjoy myself I really did wanna like it but I just…. Can’t as of now. Again open to Productive discussion on my views thank you so much for reading if you’ve read my ramblings this far! I kinda just wrote down all my thoughts without any editing so apologies for the scuff- Ive also never done one of these before, the closest I’ve gotten is papers for AP lit a year or two ago - Have an awesome day!!!

[paingoes]

Crash Out - Goal

okay this is basically a companion piece to yesterday’s update and not the “next” update. i realized it would be better to post now. next update is the really long one and the one ive been referencing. this is more stream of conscious.

(Content: concussion mention, angst, guilt, wound care)

The grass of the field was no more than polyethylene. She knew this well when she was pinned against it. The scent of it was harsh and chemical — and without the pressure at her back, without the yelling, and still without being allowed to move — it was all she had to focus on.

Back home she had felt safe enough to sleep anywhere, though rarely was she ever tired enough to. She had liked the long days of summer most, where the heat would get to her and she had let it. She cost fall asleep dead in the middle of the pasture and wake up with a calf’s head resting right on top of her chest, no other disturbance.

She was nearly deafened as the ship took off. But it only lasted for a second. She laid there a few seconds more before she slid her hands up beneath her, pushing her body up into an arch. All fragile. Dead alone. Somewhere in the distance, the low thrum of the cicadas. Sometimes it seemed like all the planets were the same.

Lorelai walked back however many blocks it took to reach the ship, however many minutes that must have been, she really wasn’t sure. The phone screen hurt her eyes. All the light wielded ghost trails against her vision. She thought to call Paris. Her first instinct was to call Paris. But if he even had his phone on him when he was taken, setting the ringer off wouldn’t do him any favors. She’d have to wait.

The phone rang.

VI: Hello?

LORELAI: I have a concussion.

VI: Okay.

LORELAI: Did you hear I got your message delivered?

VI: Oh, yeah. I heard all about it. 

VI: They like you a lot, you know. They think you’re funny.

VI: Made a fucking mess of things though.

VI: The royal thing — that would’ve been important information.

LORELAI: You knew it just from looking at me.

VI: It’s different if it’s you. He doesn’t get a pass.

LORELAI: Well, he did. I didn’t think he was going to. I thought your folks were gonna shoot him right there on the concrete.

VI: That’s more your style than ours.

LORELAI: I’m not like that.

VI: But you want to be.

LORELAI: I want to be like you.

LORELAI: I have a concussion. I’m drunk.

VI: Where are you?

LORELAI: Saturnalia, I think.

VI: Oh, honey, I’m not even close.

LORELAI: I’m scared.

VI: Send me your coordinates. I’ll send someone. It’s a wide net, someone has to be close.

LORELAI: Where are you?

VI: Other side of seven solar systems. You’re gonna be fine.

LORELAI: But where are you?

VI: Juliiet. It’s nice. It’s only morning here, it’s still dark. I was in the cafe when you called. Now I’m outside of it. Where are you?

LORELAI: In the parked ship.

VI: Oh, you still have it?

LORELAI: Yeah. I don’t think I can drive.

VI: Don’t. What happened? Did he run out on you?

VI: If he touched you-

LORELAI: Taken. Again. 

VI: What happened to your head?

LORELAI: Pistol-whipped. Never had that before. Doesn’t even hurt, really. I don’t feel it.

VI: Oh boy.

LORELAI: Did I mess up?

VI: What?

LORELAI: Do you think I made the wrong choice?

VI: What choice is that?

LORELAI: Coming here. I could be home right now. I miss my parents. I miss home. I can’t go back now. They’re under investigation, I mean, I can’t even go. It's my fault.

VI: Fuck, what did you tell them? 

LORELAI: I told them that I was fine. They knew I wanted to go.

LORELAI: And now they tell the cops that I was kidnapped, that he put a gun in my face and that I had no other choice. Colorful things. I didn’t know my dad had a mind like that, the shit he came up with.

LORELAI: It’s all the same to Paris. In for a penny, in for a pound. But it still makes me feel bad.

VI: You never would’ve been happy at home.

VI: But I think there were more than two options, probably. It didn’t have to be like this either.

LORELAI: Do you think I’m stupid?

VI: No. I think you’re fucking weird.

LORELAI: You think I’m an idiot. I-

LORELAI: Hang on.

LORELAI: Ew.

VI: Okay, honey?

LORELAI: Nauseous. I drank too much. I’m sorry.

VI: Someone’s coming to get you.

LORELAI: Can I bring the ship?

VI: Yeah. I don’t think you’re stupid. Just weird. I wouldn’t have done it. Not in a million fucking years would I have done it. But I’m not like you.

LORELAI: I really love him, you know?

LORELAI: I’m scared. I don’t know.

LORELAI: I really feel like. I don’t know. I’m scared. I don’t think he’s coming back this time.

VI: He’s slippery. He’s survived everything else. Arrow through the heart. The reckoning. I think if you’ve made it this far, you’ll make it through anything.

LORELAI: I don’t think so. I don’t know.

LORELAI: I don’t feel well.

LORELAI: I love you.

VI: …

LORELAI: I love everyone.

LORELAI: I wish I could protect them.

VI: You can’t.

LORELAI: Why not?

LORELAI: What else am I doing? All I’ve done this year is get fucked up and play pretend. I want to be like you. I even want to be like him, sometimes.

VI: No you fucking don’t.

LORELAI: His problems are real. All mine feel…imagined, sometimes. Just a listlessness.

LORELAI: I want to be a sword.

LORELAI: I want to be useful, you know that? I want to be like you. I want to do what you do.

VI: What is it that you think I do?

LORELAI: I don’t know. You help people. 

VI: You met me at a nightclub in a half-sunken city.

LORELAI: I just want to be useful. I think I fucked up.

LORELAI: Everything feels so cruel.

VI: Well, it is.

LORELAI: It doesn’t have to be. I wanted to help him, Vi. I’m scared.

VI: Someone’s coming for you now. You’re going to be alright.

LORELAI: I feel like you’re not listening to me.

VI: No. I am.

VI: She says she can see you.

LORELAI: Oh.

LORELAI: I think I see her too.

When the new ship finally did pull up, they would extend one hand gingerly to where she’d curled herself up in the passenger seat. The transfer was all gentleness. Drunk as she was, and walking lopsided, they treated her with all the precious fragility of a newborn foal. Like the mess she had made of things might’ve endeared her to them.

They masked their surprise when she bared her neck to them, like there was never any question but to trust in them. Like there was never any doubt.

She was right, this time. The new girl combed Lorelai’s hair back in careful strokes to keep the blood from the curls and the curls from the blood. She washed the dirt away from her face with a wet cloth, careful to avoid the rhinestone halo at its center, certain it must have been sensitive. Lorelai didn’t flinch or correct her. She stripped her own shirt off to show the ring of cuts the cleats had left in her back. She hissed when the antiseptic seeped into the wound, but otherwise made no sound. No matter how softly the engine purred, she could not bring herself to sleep.

[emcandon]

oooooh I'd love to hear your thoughts about DAV if you do ever feeling like writing them out. I personally have been pretty disappointed with how disneyfied the morality of the game has been.

i'm hoping to finish my first run through of the game in the next week or so! and am going to reserve anything longer until then. but in a broad preliminary sense:

i do have positive thoughts and feelings about the game -- they may even be the majority of my thoughts and feelings! imo, structurally and quest-wise, veilguard is possibly the best dragon age has ever been. the overarching plot is legible and tangible, the sidequests are dramatically driven, and the game does a lot of work to make sure your companions are both visible and meaningfully involved

the big set-piece story missions have also by and large really worked for me--i've gasped out loud MULTIPLE times! vs. inquisition, when the only time i even really Felt anything about the plot was during the burning of Haven + finding of Skyhold. (i liked it! i had fun! but that was the only part of the game that had my FULL ATTENTION.) (also DA2 is the best game overall, followed by DAO and DAI duking it out in the parking lot bc they both have positive qualities that the other emphatically lacks)

also as i'm starting to hit the big pivots in every veilguard companion's culmination arc, i've really liked that they don't feel like Obvious Choices (in fact, DA's usual Oppressed vs. Oppressors choice has been basically absent! hoorah!). i'm looking forward to making different choices next play through! (a liiiiittle afraid the choices won't have much material effect but on the other hand, i'm okay with that bc DA's choices are usually set dressing anyway.)

HOWEVER

Disneyfied, MCU-brained, Whedonesque -- whatever the name, we're all reaching for a way to describe that pervasive sense of flattened positivity. it's not just in the tonally off attempt to integrate modern takes into a fantasy setting (tho i would argue DA has been guilty of this before in different ways, and it was silly then too, if less...tiring), but in the way we're constantly tripping over Codex entries or conversations where the game is trying to like, paper over its own lore? basically the writing keeps putting a hat on the Problematic Tropes it's accidentally walked itself into to try and reconcile with its own past, but it's usually not a very interesting hat.

for ex: any time the lore tries to address having determined that the elven gods are 1) real, 2) just assholes, actually, and that because the elves have been alternatively an analogue for indigeneity and jewishness, that makes the evanuris both a colonial trope and an anti-semitic one. uh oh! uh oh!! probably there would be a more elegant and interesting way to unpack this in text, but it's not the majority of what the game is doing.

this has overall bummed me out bc i think dragon age was always at its best, lore-wise, when it was being creepy. and now it's kind of afraid to be creepy!

also i was tempted into playing the first one bc a friend described the mage situation to me bc they knew i'd love it! that i'd be so happy with a setting where all the magic users were walking time-bombs, and the crapsack world's crapsack strategy for dealing with that was to stick all the time-bombs in a box and SHAKE IT REPEATEDLY AND AT LENGTH. that's a bad solution! with some potent human emotional stupidity driving it! how fun!

anyway this is a lot more words than i intended but i just finished emmrich's last big quest (my man...i'm romancing him next run through i can't wait...i love grandpa...) and had to EXPEL THOUGHTS

more on the way at some point possibly? or more deets on specific elements once i've actually seen the ending.

[vintagelacerosette]

Art Tag 🖼🎨💕

I was tagged by these talented magnificent artist thanksss 💕

Molly @deathclassic Julissa @heymrspatel Deanna @deedala Ice @spookygingerr Ling @lingy910y

Have you always been interested in creating art? Yes, I was that kid in high school doodling anime girls throughout class lol

What's your favourite medium to use? I really like digital for the infinite undo button with my perfectionist ass lmao & I'm using Clip Studio. Paper art has been quite therapeutic for me too

Do you create outside of fandom? Yes

Share something you haven't finished and/or never got around to posting

I made a tribute to our Gallacrafts zine, but at the time, the mods had changed, so I was gonna create a companion piece. I didn't get around to it & then the mods had changed again 😅

Some OG crafting overlords Rhys @smokey-mickey Leah @whatwouldmickeydo Donna @sleepyfacetoughguy

I also have gallacrafts I haven't completed for really old themes, but I do still wanna post lol

Favourite piece you've made? Toss up between my gallacrafts Pride 2 piece (see piece that has most notes question) or my 2024 gallavich valentines/my icon

Draw your icon in a minute or less

You get the gist lmao

An underrated piece you've made in your opinion

A little bit to thus This collection of missing posters with the mixed media.

Do you do art in a professional setting? No, but I wanted to. I studied Visual Arts with a major in screen arts in university tho. Uni wasn't what I wanted my plan was to do animation, but, plans fell through

A piece you don't like but did really well on social media

This. The portions are wack basic background, Ian's face feels off & I rushed this

Post an old piece and compare it to your most recent, what are the similarites?

Wow pretty good that I get to compare these two lol. Still got the star motif & the way I'm drawing bodies is has improved yay! Look at that looooong squiggly pointing arm

Have you ever collaborated with another artist/s? Yes, with the lovely & super talented Ling @lingy910y I couldn't have as for a better first time collab partner 🫶🏼 Would love to collab more 🥰

What piece has the most notes? Are you surprised?

This one has the most notes for hand drawn art & the other is my most notes for art/crafts in general. I'm pretty proud these are top dogs & pleasantly surprised with the Deleted scenes one 😄

Who/What is your favourite subject matter? Our boys but also when I'm acrylic painting I'm loving painting clouds & sunset/sunrise skies hues

Show us something not from fandom you've made

I've been experimenting with acrylic paints after getting inspired by a sparkling water painting I saw on tumblr & here are some cute cows I drew for Leah

Where do you like to create? There's a table in the lounge room that's very spacious, has good light & a cart with a stash of my art supplies. But I wanna migrate back to my room bc I got a new big desk there to keep my mess away lol

Do you have a tag that you use to group your creations? Tell us so people can follow it. It's under Myn's art

Give yourself a shoutout, where can we commission/buy/follow you for more pieces? I don't sell my art or do commissions, but I kinda have some drawings I do love & toy with the idea of making postcards or have it on a mug

I'll tag sensational & inspiring artist if they wanna play 💖

@suzy-queued @tsuga-of-mars @samantitheos @burninface @darthvaders-wife @psychicskulldamage @michellemisfit @sgtmickeyslaughter @mickittotheman @y0itsbri @friend-bear @matt404b @takeyourpillsbitchh @michellemisfit @mikhailoisbaby @mikcrymilkovich

[blank-t137]

Original by 山中一夜风交雨 on Lofter

DS!Nightmare in this story's setting by Blank_T137

Other characters in this version is by 山中一夜风交雨

(My Doomsday AU is inspired by 山中一夜风交雨's 末日的惩罚)

This short story is written by 山中一夜风交雨

Translation by Blank_T137.

DS!Nightmare was in a complex mood, unable to speak. Countless thoughts mixed together, and finally turned into a heavy sigh, while pulling the mastiff collar in his hand.

One of his eye sockets was bloody and empty. As early as the first day of the zombie outbreak, this eyeball was eaten by a zombie cellmate. Fortunately, the infection did not succeed by coincidence, but DS!Nightmare's half-zombie and half-human physique also made this wound never heal.

Wandering makes people waste time, especially as an alien, but in terms of quantity, it is difficult to say who is the alien between zombies and living people. DS!Nightmare is very self-aware. He cannot cooperate with human survivors because he is not a human now; however, those confused walking dead are not the same kind. Not only does DS!Nightmare look down on them, but they also suddenly realize from time to time that DS!Nightmare is not a companion, and then chase him and bite him all the way.

Most of the time, the zombies treat DS!Nightmare's attitude is amiable and he accepts him hanging around; but sometimes he will find out that he is not a pure breed, and he will be furious and rush to bite him.

The result is that the zombies chasing DS!Nightmare are comparable to the police sent by JR in the past. Considering that most of JR's people did not survive the outbreak of the doomsday, the zombies chasing him now may be the same group of police who arrested him.

Thinking of this, DS!Nightmare shook his head helplessly again. As a political prodigal, he has a good brother with real power.

DS!Dream hates DS!Nightmare's various behaviors and basically treats him like a living stain. DS!Nightmare never cleans his own ass. When he is happy, he goes to the black market bar all night and indulges himself, and orders children's bones to make leather bags; when he is unhappy, he exposes some illegal secret islands into the public eye and laughs at those dignitaries who are in a mess.

But all these are gone with the wind with the arrival of the doomsday.

DS!Nightmare tore a piece of raw meat and chewed it slowly with blood. The virus had affected his diet at the physiological level. If he didn't eat flesh and blood for a long time, he would gradually go crazy, and it would get worse and worse until he could no longer maintain his normal personality and became unreasonable.

Now it was even more difficult for him to join his brothers. The last example of a similar situation was a zombie (or half of a zombie...) that relied on eating humans to maintain its intelligence, Ink. After being captured, he was forced to work and was squeezed to the bone. Moreover, his attitude was clear that he would be killed after he was used up, and if he was not allowed to be used, he would be killed now. DS!Dream was completely cruel and merciless to non-human aliens that feed on humans, and he showed no mercy.

In a better situation, DS!Ink was still a human being in essence, but he was carrying the virus but it had not yet occurred, so he retained basic human rights, but he was also strictly guarded by DS!Dream.

DS!Nightmare didn't have good expectations for his brothers' attitude, so he escaped from the prison as soon as he was infected, leaving only the bloody headband and blood-stained pillow for DS!Dream to pay tribute to.

DS!Dream didn't know until his death that his brother was still alive in a sense. He always thought that DS!Nightmare died on the first day of the zombie outbreak, and the residue was eaten up, leaving only the headband that he had been wearing since childhood.

When the afterglow of the Justice Dynasty was completely destroyed and all efforts to end the doomsday came to nothing, DS!Dream calmly chose to shoot himself.

Perhaps in his eyes at that time, death was just going home, sleeping in history with the destroyed prosperity.

Passing through the zombies and human remains that died in the crossfire, prying open the dusty office, DS!Nightmare saw DS!Dream sleeping at his desk, just like the days when he worked overtime until late at night, but what was pressed under him was not documents, but his suicide note. A pistol fell next to him, and a bullet passed through his eye socket, and the blood and a little brain matter that flowed out had already solidified.

The rumors heard from others were truly confirmed, DS!Nightmare's irritable mind, which was irritated by lack of blood, stopped working for a moment, and part of his motivation for life was permanently taken away, dissipating along with the gunshot that he did not hear.

"I told you, the savior is not always successful."

DS!Nightmare sat next to his brother's body, and another swivel chair was also splashed with some blood, but he did not mean to be disgusted by the dirt. This office has been disturbed by many people, rummaging around, kicking over obstacles, and the broken furnishings were in a mess, but no one touched the remains of the great leader.

Today, the only person who did not regard DS!Dream as a god walked into the office, even though half of him is no longer human.

DS!Dream's gun was very clean, and he aimed at the vital part of the brain, not wanting his remains to become part of the creature he once hated the most, the disaster that destroyed him and everything he loved. So, he enjoyed the rare quietness in the land where the living dead were rampant.

"My dear...little brother," DS!Nightmare sighed, "You haven't done enough. Even if the living still respect you, the dead will not let you go."

Along the way, he has seen countless corpses in the battlefield ruins resurrected, wandering aimlessly, gnawing every comrade who has not turned into the same kind. The chance that DS!Dream's remains can rot and turn into bones peacefully is too small, and he will never get a decent funeral.

DS!Nightmare pulled out the butcher knife in his boot.

"Instead of being eaten by maggots, I'd rather give you peace." He said.

The obedient boy was exhausted from the experience of the world, so the rebellious brother took him home, although it was in the form of sky burial, and DS!Nightmare was the vulture.

After wandering in the wasteland for many years, DS!Nightmare's way of thinking has long been out of the scope of humans. He was not like an ordinary person from the beginning, and now he is happy to accept his changes. He did not plunder DS!Dream's flesh out of hunger or greed, just don't want his brother to be taken to nourish other wild dogs or maggots and flies.

Cut open the stiff muscles, and the soft internal organs slipped out. Picking up a section of intestine from DS!Dream's abdominal cavity, DS!Nightmare held it to his mouth and was about to start swallowing, when he suddenly looked into the eyes of a golden pupil.

The dead DS!Dream sat up and stared at him dully.

...

The vitality of zombies is ridiculous.

DS!Dream is indeed dead, died of standard brain damage, but the resurrection does not require a complete brain. In theory, the brain stem is enough, even if most of the head is gone, only the chin and the back of the head can survive.

Compared with the almost headless corpse, DS!Dream's death is indeed not outrageous enough, so he did not get his wish to lie down quietly.

However, DS!Nightmare could not bring himself to kill DS!Dream again.

When he just discovered this, DS!Nightmare was very worried, wondering if he had made a big mistake. He was worried that DS!Dream could not accept the current situation. If he became an intelligent zombie like Ink, he would collapse emotionally the moment he regained his sanity, because he would become the thing he hated the most, a monster that maintained his sanity by cannibalism, hunting living people when crazy, and his mouth was full of blood when sober. Even if he became a half-corpse like DS!Nightmare, he would still feel very uncomfortable. In addition to the psychological pressure brought by eating raw meat and drinking blood, the despair of career failure and the hesitation of becoming an alien would all return from death with his thoughts and become eternal pain. However, he found that DS!Dream was just in the right situation. "Ah~" After tearing off his own piece, DS!Nightmare fed DS!Dream another piece. Since he was over five years old, DS!Dream never accepted food from his brother. The bullet permanently destroyed the possibility of DS!Dream regaining consciousness, and he would never feel pain again. Emotions such as entanglement and nausea only exist in living people. They don't matter to the dead without minds. He can't feel them. Everything is over. It's peaceful and quiet as he wants.

But DS!Dream's humanity is not completely destroyed. Although he is basically an ordinary zombie, sometimes he will be a little rational for no reason. He hesitates when he should bite DS!Nightmare and looks at him without taking any action. For example, when he is given canned food, he can still remember to open the package and eat it with a spoon like a human. Once DS!Nightmare made barbecue, DS!Dream took the barbecued skewers very naturally and ate the meat slices on them elegantly instead of stabbing the meat and skewers into his stomach.

The most impressive thing for DS!Nightmare, and the only human nature that DS!Dream showed after becoming a zombie that was not related to food, was that one day he accidentally put the pistol that DS!Dream used to commit suicide next to DS!Dream.

DS!Dream stared at the gun for a long time, suddenly picked it up, skillfully unloaded and prepared it, reset the trigger, then put the gun down and shot at DS!Nightmare saluted.

The military salute of the Justice Reigns.

His remaining brain tissue only had very basic functions, but he still remembered to salute.

No matter how DS!Nightmare tried to find joy in misery and find the bright spots in DS!Dream, zombies were still zombies after all, and he was a zombie.

DS!Dream's sensitivity to half-zombies was sometimes effective and sometimes not, and he wanted to taste his brother at every turn, often chasing DS!Nightmare up and down, and when he led the charge, he complemented the zombies transformed by former JR employees on the street;

Zombies' desire for living people is an uncontrollable nature. Maybe the zombie DS!Dream doesn't care, but DS!Nightmare knows that DS!Dream would never allow this to happen when he was alive. Whenever a survivor passed by, DS!Nightmare had to use his 165-centimeter height to hold his 188-centimeter younger brother;

Don't let DS!Dream eat human meat, this is DS!Nightmare set a bottom line for himself, so he had to find an extra portion of food for one person, and he had to find a way to prevent DS!Dream from refusing to eat. Not every meal was a good time, and DS!Dream suddenly remembered what to eat;

If he was not tied up and handcuffed tightly when sleeping, DS!Nightmare would often be bitten by DS!Dream with a scream...

"Don't look at me with such innocent eyes."

DS! Nightmare pulled the dog collar on DS!Dream's neck again.

Thanks to his previous experience of hand-making zombie pet toys on the black market, DS!Nightmare was not completely unfamiliar with raising DS!Dream.

The insulting nature of dog collars and muzzles was too strong. If it wasn't necessary, DS!Nightmare didn't want to use this method on DS!Dream. However, this is indeed the best way to deal with zombies, combining protection and restraint.

In this way, even if DS!Dream goes crazy, at most he will press him down and rub his muzzle wildly. The leather padding outside the muzzle is soft and harmless. If you let him go crazy for a while, he will lose interest and let go. The collar leash is connected to the souvenir bracelet transformed from handcuffs, so there is no fear of running away. Even if DS!Dream wants to run, DS!Nightmare will be dragged wherever he goes - zombies do not have the intelligence to untie the collar by themselves.

DS!Dream's golden eyes stared at him, as if in silent protest, but DS!Nightmare knew that this was just an illusion brought by appearance, and he was still a walking corpse.

"Okay, let's go, we're going to the next city."

Putting away the melancholy from the past, the brief bitterness and softness were replaced by a heart of stone again. DS!Nightmare pulled the collar forcefully for the last time. DS!Dream reluctantly stood up his tall body and followed his much shorter brother step by step.

The setting sun in the distance was like blood. The bombed blackened buildings exposed twisted and broken railings and steel bars. The buildings were more or less incomplete, and the burnt and abandoned vehicles accumulated thick dust. The hustle and bustle of mankind and the attempts to save themselves had stopped. Moss and vines crawled in the cracks, making a natural annotation for the end of civilization.

Half a zombie led a zombie and walked towards the desolate street in the distance.

[ink-flavored]

Writing Share Tag

tagged by @noblebs, thank you!

The last thing I wrote before I went on vacation was an outline for one of my anthologies.... so I'll share part of that!

Gargoyle Adoption The carver is a middle-aged dwarf woman, with her beard braided back into her hair so it doesn’t interfere with her work. The adoption center looks like an eclectic curiosity shop or antique store, since all the “animals” are basically just living statues. All the gargoyles are loose around the store, but they don’t move until people get near them. The door is big enough for the biggest creatures with several smaller-sized doors within it. Begins with the dwarf carving a gargoyle that will go up for adoption in the shop; their personal pet gargoyle is bugging them—it’s noticeably decorated with gems and engravings. She waves it away, telling it to go eat its food that she set out for it Is forced to stop carving when a customer/potential adopter comes into the store (rings the bell at the counter?). The customer is a very serious-looking elf in fancy elf clothes. Can’t decide on gender. Dwarf asks what she can do for them. They ask if she’s open for Specially Commissioned Gargoyles. She says she is, but that her work doesn’t come cheap. They say no problem, I’m good for it. Elf produces a lovingly detailed sketch of the commission they want. It’s very complex, they’ve obviously thought a ton about this design. The dwarf looks over it, impressed, but not without misgivings. She compliments the drawing, but reminds the elf that a gargoyle is a living creature, as unpredictable as any animal. It may appear as though she can mold it to act however she wants, but the gargoyle has its own personality and preferences. If the gargoyle she carves doesn’t bond with them, she can’t help. She’ll refund the price of the adoption fee, but the commission money itself won’t be returned. The elf hesitates, but ultimately agrees to those terms. Payment is exchanged, the elf leaves, and the dwarf sets aside her first project to get started on the commission. Her office/workspace is a complete mess except for the spot where she carves the gargoyles. She has a specially organized set of tools, magnifying mirrors, magical and mundane light sources, etc. It’s very professional She starts with a solid block of the magical stone that all gargoyles are made of, chipping away at it once piece at a time. Her pet gargoyle hangs around. The more she carves the elf’s design, the more it seems like a kid’s drawing iterated upon by adult perspective, trying to make realistic something imagined from youth. This gargoyle design must be a childhood dream pet they’ve been aching to make a reality She can’t help but hope it likes them, even though she knows there’s no guarantee. Thinks about some of the gargoyle commissions she’s done where it hasn’t worked out. Starts talking to the in-progress gargoyle as she carves, which is something she normally does, but this time it’s more directly about how great it is to be someone’s companion animal. About all the things she and her gargoyle do. Her gargoyle lands on the desk and agrees (it can't speak but you know. animal sounds) with how great it is. She hopes this is enough to convince the magic in the stone to agree.

What happens next!!! A thrilling cliff hanger only to be answered whenever I write this thing for real!

Tagging: @foxys-fantasy-tales @noblebs @ceph-the-ghost-writer @auntdarth @damageinkorporated @srjacksin @void-botanist @vacantgodling @duelistkingdom and anyone else who wants to share something!

[riddleredcoats]

I just finished my first playthrough of Veilguard and boy oh boy, do i have thoughts.

but, TLDR:

Bros, this game is so fucking strange.

It literally giving me everything I wanted; every theory for the past 10 years I've had to speculate is bang on, they bring niche characters in a way that makes sense, they give us nice romances, they give us cool combat, EPIC set pieces and then [gestures].

Anyway, this is more for posterity than any real, coherent thoughts.

The Good:

I don't know what sort of wizardry the devs at Bioware made for this game, but this game runs smooth AF. Actually insane in the year of our lord 2024 that a AAA viddy game manages to do it. Kudos must be given.

The art-style grows on you really fast, actually. And considering what happens in the game, especially in the back half, I think making it more stylised was necessary to also compliment the aforementioned point of it running smoothly.

There is in fact, a lot of dark themes in this game. I don't know what game some reviewers played, but to say its basically a clean version of a DA game is... just wrong. I have a theory, in the Bad section, about why they believe that is the case, but Veilguard is filled with Dark Themes.

The set pieces of this game are fucking insane. Like, there is no comparison to any other Bioware game. Even ME3 with its bombastic set pieces isn't a match to Veilguard in the prologue. The Siege at Weisshaupt? Gagged the whole way through. That last 2-4hrs of game were amazing and while I have beef with it - further down - for what it is and what it is trying to be? They succeeded. Some of the best viddy game I have ever viddy gamed, frankly.

The lore drops are also insane. I basically watched all of Solas regrets back to back to back and basically it was confirmation upon confirmation upon confirmation. I'm still in the high of the Solas/Mythal confirmation and that happened like 3 days ago, lmao. And if you know me, you know why - it goes wayyy beyond Solas and Mythal for me, personally.

Morrigan's place in the narrative. Keeping it vague, but just [gestures to all of it].

Issenya... Just... Issenya, man.

The companions. Yeah, they're all great, I don't think there's really a dud one. Sure, I connected more with some than others, but man- these companion quests are involved and meaningful and progress the story. You do get to know them very well. Harding, Neve, Davrin and Emmerich will always have a place in my heart for their questlines, even though I love all the other companions too - but those really resonated with me.

Combat. Holy shit, a DA game with a fun combat system. That's all really.

The Middling

The music. I don't love it but I don't hate it. I can count on one hand the amount of times the music made me feel something - basically the last scene of the Harding questline and when The Main Theme came in during the final quests. Trevor Morris reigns supreme; I teared up more for The Lost Elf theme return than any other musical moment in the game.

The pacing of this game is... baffling. I'm not sure if its my own fault for basically trying to do everything in the first act, but Act 1 took me like 40 hours, while the remaining two acts took me 20. Weird. Will need to experiment because it might absolutely be on me, but yeah.

The Bad

It's basically one thing but honestly, every time it was brough up it was like a dagger piercing my heart while my stomach was stepped on by a bronto.

The lack of geopolitical talk both past and present.

Much as been said from the infamous 3 choices that Veilguard imports - and I will say, that even those 3 are laughably implemented imo - but never is it more felt than in this aspect. The past straight up does not matter. Worse; they actively disregard it imo. There is no difference between world states, no world leader talk, no nothing. It is just... nothing. And listen, the specifics deserve their own post eventually, but im just processing shit still.

The game is really fun, and the themes and characters that are there and the lore is fantastic and when im locked in, I'm REALLY locked in, but then when I try to put it in the context of the past games, what I loved about it - the politics, the disagreements, the sheer brutal way that history and prejudice can just fuck up a country, Veilguard just... it feels hollow, without any bite or flavour.

And this is the crux of all the problems, really, in the present in Veilguard.

The way people talked about the dark tone being gone? Yeah, I can see it here considering that there is no distinction between Dalish and City Elves anymore basically. The discrimination against elves is just... gone, apparently? Which is insane - because we are in Tevinter and it's just... abandoned? The way Rivain is all cool and shit about Magic and Spirits with like zero nuance or, more imporantly, any real consequences when [gestures to the past games] - it just makes the South Really Dumb because of course they are now ig. The Crows - these assassins that bought children to train, in what amounted to a sponsored slavery ring - are now freedom fighters and all the nuance of the assassinations is gone? The Wardens are fine mostly, really, but they are suddenly very above board all of the sudden.

And that's the whole thing here.

They have tried to make everyone stay so above board, to make everyone The Perfect Ally That No One In The Real World Can Criticise, that it retroactively sucked all the nuance and Flavour For Thedas At Large out of the story. It made the story worse because everyone is just so gosh dang nice and A Super Ally when in past games the conflict, the flavour of the Whatever Big Struggle was that everyone hated each other and was constantly in-fighting. Which made it fun and interesting to play.

Okay, sorry i forgot I had another one:

the fuck is that ending credit scene? with the executors implying they have been behind everything since DAO? Oh man, Bioware you can't do those types of stories - you tried in ME3 and [gestures]. Why can't Loghain just be a dude traumatized by Orlais which led to All The Things in DAO? Why can't Bartrand just be a greedy bastard whose actions bring about DA2 and DAI and basically informs Varric's character from then on?

What the hell.

Anyway.

Yeah, initial Veilguard thoughts.

Oh yeah, and Neve is hot and I love her.

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

how do you click into a characters ‘voice’ as well as you do? People are so consistently in characyer and I notice that as a unique standout of your writing

Advice for Writing Characters: Design, Arcs, and the Role of Plot

Warning: hella spoilers for my Doctor/Amy/Rory 'verse because that's what I'm using as examples for this writing breakdown of sorts.

First off, thank you so much for the compliment to my writing! I have worked so hard on my characterization over the years and it means a lot to hear that you liked it.

But onto the actual writing breakdown:

So I'm going to sound like every basic English teacher you've ever had to suffer through with this opening piece of advice, but it really is about practice making perfect. I wrote disastrous dialogue/characterization when I started out writing in 2014 (when I was 14). Looking back at my old characterization it's hot garbage. Dead awful.

But I have improved a lot over the years. A lot of that has to do with about my ability to sit down and re-watch episodes over and over again and find the right music to listen to, but a lot of it also has to do with the three things I always look to/think about when writing characters.

To be honest, I still have my weaknesses as a writer. I don't always like writing settings and I'm still improving on my action scenes and my intimacy scenes but my favorite things to write have always been a good extended metaphor and diving into character POVs. I write because I like exploring characters. There's a reason why the most popular additional tags on my ao3 account look like this:

I love writing character-driven stories. Plot comes as a secondary device to link the character moments for me and not vice-versa (though I'm not gonna lie, I can occasionally come up with a decent plot twist, ala the Master, Clara-River-Ytroswinasleen, or Bill/Clara reveals). Writing characters is about exploring what threads twist themselves together to compel the character/story forward, whether that be backstory, current stressors, or what their motivations are to go forward.

For example, with the Doctors it's easy to explain because they're divided by era. To talk about Eleven, you have backstory: the ENTIRETY of Ten's character arc hope from Rose -> guilt/grief from losing her -> Martha/Donna helping him believe in himself/find joy again -> grief from losing Donna -> Time Lord Victorious leading into Adelaide Kane/him finally doing one kind thing for Wilf. Then, as shown in the only good moment in Let's Kill Hitler, his guilt over everything he did to those three. Then you have current stressors: the sheer loneliness he feels after regenerating alone/isolating himself, the guilt he feels after "abandoning" Amy as a child/leading to Rory's death, and the ever-present knowledge he has with every companion that humans do have a tendency to die/leave him.

Backstory and current stressors tend to play off of each other to lead to future actions, aka: Eleven freaking out and assuming that Amy and Rory will leave him after the baby is born and trying to cut them loose before he can or later, after we establish the Martha&Jack&the Master of it all (and the guilt that he still feels after how Ten handled All That Shit), it makes sense that he might go a little Time Lord Victorious when you find out that the Master was behind River's kidnapping because the Doctor finally has a family to get protective over.

And this is all just from one character point of view! It's also about how characters bounce off of each other- my absolute most favorite part of writing. It's what creates the most interesting parts of the story. When you have Rory's desire for a family/desire to do-no-harm/loyalty hitting up against Amy's desire to keep her family safe/the established ferocity of her love/her willingness to face danger in the face and not blink hitting up against the Doctor's fury of a time lord/guilt over doing things wrong the last time/desire to make things right not just for Martha and Jack and himself, but for Amy and Rory and River, things are bound to get not just messy but satisfying when you have Rory look the Doctor in the eye and tell him that he can't take that choice out of people's hands in the end. That the Doctor has to give River and Amy the choice that the Doctor didn't give Martha and Jack regarding the Master before.

Characterization is as much about a satisfying arc as it is digging into a character's mindset. As much as I love writing "character studies," that's only half of the battle when it comes to writing. Yes, you need to know where your character's head is at. But you also need to understand where they were and where they are going. Learning to figure out a satisfying bend to that curve is one of the greatest tools in an author's toolbox. I am constantly aiming to create as satisfying an arc as I can for every character, and this is usually the bit that fumbles most writers. You can come up with the coolest character design and then make their arcs either boring (sadly the case with a lot of Thirteen's companions in canon) or unsatisfying as hell (the case with Rory, River, and Amy's canon character arcs) because you don't plan them out well enough or just start and stop them within a single episode (everything regarding Mel/River Song in Let's Kill Hitler is a fantastic example).

The great thing about fanfiction is that since there are no limits for number of words or length of installments, I can throw words on the page regarding insights I have and figure out the order or how/where they fall later. I can rearrange episodes and give myself plots to bounce off of to develop characters. Because this is where plot comes in: it can give you an opportunity to explore a character in not just how they see themselves, or how they react to each other, but how they react to being challenged by their circumstances. That's how you get great moments in this series like exploring Eleven/Thirteen's unresolved loneliness with the Planet Sanatorium arc or Amy figuring out how to stop the mummy because of her own experience with war or Rory responding to the poisonous hallucinations or Amy getting closure by Eleven popping up as the voice interface or Thirteen seeing Rose in the Solitract or Amy's slow Doctorification thanks to how she reacts to Solomon/the TARDIS-as-Idris/the mummy/the pocket universe in Hide/the prison break situation or Bill figuring out the flesh in the database. You can only go so far with character motivations/their relationships with each other when you don't see how they react to conflict/challenge/separation. You can, however, use the challenges to directly lead into character arcs.

As a final example of all three elements coming together (motivation/character design, character interaction, and plot as challenge), I'll use Thirteen/Amy/Rory's arc. You don't get Thirteen, Amy, and Rory making up at the New Year's wedding if you don't have the arc of trust between them. The Cybermen are used entirely and only as a device to show their characterization/development off as characters. When they first appear, you get a glimpse into how the hundred-year separation has affected Thirteen and how her anger/fear/protective instinct go just as deep as Eleven, if not further, but also how she isn't sure if she can trust Amy/Rory yet, while you also get to see Amy's faith in the Doctor contrasting Rory's doubt but also the nuances of his position (loving her but not trusting her because she has revealed that Eleven didn't trust them). This leads into the Chameleon Arch plot which gives you Bill (my beloved) but also a view into Rory's changing opinion, both Amy and Rory's own development and their ability to hold their own, and the fact that the Doctor trusts them with her life. Then we get It Takes You Away and the realization that the Doctor would stay with Amy and Rory over anything, even Rose, then the wedding scene (kisses! rings! comms! Dr. Pond!). But then the Judoon come back after the Cybermen issue, prompting the TARDIS crash/the multidoctor fic where you get a stark contrast between Eleven at his worst and Thirteen at her best (fantastic place to explore characterization) where you also get to see Rory finally get closure/see that that he really does trust Thirteen. Then Thirteen giving herself up to the Judoon to protect innocent people AND because for the first time in the entire series she completely and fully trusts Amy and Rory to save her. The Cybermen as a villain don't truly matter in the end, other than some really fun imagery and exploring a bit of the mind control angle/just how far Thirteen is willing to go for Amy and Rory. It's about how Thirteen running against them provides the structure of sorts for her, Amy, and Rory's developing characters (and, hell, Bill, for that matter, regarding the Chameleon Arch/prison break plot), just as the Master provided an obstacle/structure for Eleven/Amy/Rory working through their own arcs.

...Whoops. That was a lot of writing. I'm almost sorry for all of that. But I hope that the three-step process made sense! I also recommend reading analysises of characters (and for a show like Doctor Who, I read analysises from both pro-Moffat and Moffat-critical blogs, same as with Chibnall) and just rewatching the show! You don't necessarily have to take notes or anything, just kind of take in thoughts you might not have thought of otherwise! For example, I got a lot from @tenmartha, @orpheustwelve, and @variousqueerthings, all of whom had completely interesting and different takes on Eleven, Amy, and Rory as canon characters!

Hope this gave you a good view into the process or even some advice for your own writing, and I hope you continue to enjoy my writing! (Right now I'm currently working on a much shorter, five-chapter AU to the end of Season 3 where Riley from "42" travelled with the Doctor/Martha for the last six episodes of Season 3, using these same three rules to explore the growing dynamic between Ten, Martha, and Riley, if you're interested.)

Thanks once again for the compliment- the absolute greatest gift I can receive as an author is questions/compliments like that!