#completely run out of ideas by now

[terminalvelocityfrfr]

The Magnus Archies spoilers

mag 56 - children of the night

When different people listen to this they’ve either got the biggest grin on their face or are tearing up

[atwas-gaming]

I've had a scenario in mind for a while now about what it would take for Sonic to finally own up to his feelings about Amy. And I think what it would take is...

Shadow.

Well, just plain jealousy and a fear of losing Amy before he even has her. But Shadow would be the best one to instigate it.

First, some headcanons about how they behave romantically:

Amy's maturing and spreading her wings. She's not moving on from Sonic, not really, but it's possible that she's starting to notice other guys. There's some hints in the Twitter takeovers that she may be developing some small interest in Shadow.

Sonic is clearly interested in Amy, and if you pay attention, he has been for a long time. What he's not interested in is marriage- at least, not yet. And Amy is clearly wifey material- she cooks, she takes care of people, she has a caring nature, she's protective, and she's extremely loyal. She's not someone you can use for a one-night stand, you take all of her or you risk shattering her into pieces. She's Sonic's friend, no matter what else he may feel about her, so he avoids any romantic interaction because he doesn't want to hurt his friend.

Meanwhile, Shadow is... not aro-ace, per se, I don't know what you'd call him. He can see that Amy is attractive, but so is Rouge, and Shadow has no interest in Rouge. He just isn't interested in the physical side of romance.

What I think it would take to get Shadow's attention is something deeper, an emotional or spiritual connection.

So here's the Sonamy/Shadamy love triangle scenario that I came up with:

As Amy ages, she feels her desire for male companionship growing stronger. Sonic takes little notice of it, but it doesn't escape Shadow's attention.

Somehow or other, Shadow and Amy end up alone together, probably on a mission or something. I haven't figured out the exact circumstances, but they're together for quite a while. Amy loves to talk to people and get to know them, and Shadow has a soft spot for her, so she's able to get him to talk to her about things that he's probably never told anyone before. And he knows she won't tell anyone about them, either, so he feels safe telling her.

At some point, Shadow realizes, she's done it. She's broken through his barriers, and at the same time, she's calmed the storm of emotions that he's had swirling inside him for 50-odd years. He hasn't felt such peace since... no, not even then. This is something else. He's never felt this way before, and he doesn't have the words to describe it, but he's fallen head over heels for her.

This is why he never lets his guard down, even around the people he trusts most. Because if he lets them in, even a little bit, he might let them in too far. ("Can you see all of me, walk into my mystery, step inside and hold on for dear life.")

He loses control of himself and kisses Amy.

And when he lets go, he instantly hates himself, he starts throwing his barriers back up, because... she's crying. She's crying because she liked it, and she wants more of it, but she's still so desperately in love with Sonic, and she's starting to think she'll never get it from him, so she'll accept affection from just about any man, and it's not like Shadow's unattractive, and, and, and...

So Shadow's raw and open and hurting, he knew before he said or did anything that he was going down a dangerous path, but talking to Amy felt so good he didn't want to stop. And he wants to erase what just happened like it never did. But now he has to be the one to comfort Amy, because this was his fault, Amy was just being the kind and compassionate person she always was and Shadow was an idiot for letting it get to him and making more of it than what it was and losing control. So he has to keep his barriers down for just a moment longer, just long enough to hold Amy and tell her it's not her fault, until her tears finally stop.

It leaves Shadow burning with rage, and as soon as he can, he forcefully confronts Sonic (I imagine Shadow slamming Sonic against a wall or a tree and shouting in his face 😝) and basically tells him, "Amy needs attention from a man, she wants that man to be you, but if you can't grow up and do what it takes, then I'll be more than glad to take your place."

Which scares Sonic good and proper. It's bad enough to think that he could lose Amy, anyway, but to lose her to that faker??? And it finally makes him go to Amy and (very, very awkwardly) ask her to be his girlfriend. And... I'll let y'all imagine the rest.

As for Shadow... he, quite understandably, becomes somewhat aloof towards both Sonic and Amy for a long time after that.

But Shadow's immortal, right? And there's other Amy's in the world. He doesn't have to be alone forever.

Oh, and as for why Shadow would confront Sonic instead of just taking Amy for himself: because he respects both Amy and, especially, himself far too much to do that. He knows good and well she will never be able to fully commit to anyone else as long as Sonic is still an option. If Shadow was to start dating her, she'd go along with it, but it would become a power play between him and Sonic to try to "win" Amy's affections. Shadow has no issues with fighting Sonic over just about anything, but when it comes to his own feelings, he won't stoop that low, and he's not about to hurt himself by playing such a game. I also don't think he would view Amy as "a prize to be won."

[calamitoustide]

alright, hear me out jegulus amnesia au! james wakes up married to regulus with no memories of it ever happening in fact he doesn't even know who he is but he lives in a nice house where everything is sweet and kind and they spend their days together trying to get his memories back doing their normal routines trying to spark something and then he does remember but it comes back in flashes of war and hiding away in a room only they had access to. he has visions of them sitting in the astronomy tower but he doesn't recognize where they are, it looks so different.

no other memories come. he lives through losing regulus again, he swears he can feel the newspaper slipping from his hands and the screams turning his throat raw. he feels it still.

no one understands what's happening and all regulus wants to do is comfort him but he doesn't remember their previous life he lives in this sweet world with no understanding of the war james is living through. james looks at him and he looks like his regulus, the real thing, he is his regulus, but it's different, and james knows a completely different life from the one he's living. he doesn't want to break it to this regulus, he doesn't want to turn his kind eyes sad. so he keeps it to himself... until he can't anymore that is... because suddenly these new memories are coming back ones he didn't live... ones that are different...

because his regulus the one back in his old life is back, he's older and his eyes are colder but he's his regulus, and the james he's supposed to be is the one with him and james needs to get back to him... but he also needs to get this regulus' james back

[neonhellscape]

The towering creature comprised primarily of metal spikes looks at you with its nine optics.

[itspileofgoodthings]

I am legitimately so proud of all I have done in teaching this week.

[harvestmoth]

what do we think about pet store workers team xen

[spinninglightning]

whenever i read fics i always end up thinkin of a song for the fic or like, th chapter and then i canr stop associating the fic w/ those songs

[bunnyboy-juice]

literally have just been sitting up for 30 minutes trying to will myself to get ready

[randomnameless]

15 days ago :

...

Two weeks is "long" enough not to be called soon, right??

So in that run, Alain repaired a bridge and crossed it, under his advisor's stern and despaired glare, and we saw a horrible cutscene with evil!Scarlett now going on by the name of Norbelle.

But since I couldn't be assed to grind to, well, play the final map, I just unlocked the cutscene and then went on my way to rescue Scarlett before she turns "evil".

@megafan1993 : iirc you theorised in a comment that maybe angel people can't be Zenoira'd like the bestrals because we don't see any zenoira'd angel in Albion? Given how Scarlett's line is basically an "angel experiment" that went right (like she got magic mc guffin powers instead of sprouting wings) Norbelle's here to tell us that she could be hijacked... even if I checked on YT videos and apparently it's bit more weird, like Norbelle says she was channeled in this body when Scarlett's soul left, but when we defeat Norbelle Scarlett's still here somehow asking Alain to live?

Anyways, wanting to continue on my "get cutscenes I didn't get in the first round", but being too much of a chicken to execute then Cornian recruits (:'( ) I decided to have Alain talk to Gilbert from the South in the final Drakengard map - and now instead of having them talk, Gilbert apparently remembers having talked to us?

Virginia being all "maybe you should talk to Aramis and ask him to reassure his brother about his role and status as the King", well, nope. Just like she told Alain, when we first met Berengaria, that their family matter was something between them and not for us to intervene, Alain went with something like "it's not for us to intervene in Drakengard's royal affairs" or something.

Which had her be a bit pissed, but she ultimately gives up because that's Alain's decision, and he is the leader of the army. So instead of talking to his brother, Gilbert faces his father's throne with doubts and his armored adviser (Hermann) tells him not to worry, and how everyone supports him even if his brother - who hasn't been confirmed to be dead yet - has a better claim to the throne.

However, given how he still has doubts and voices them to the Cornians - after Virginia asked him to "speak his mind" or something - and says he would rather join the Liberation Army, but defuses the situation by pretending it's a joke... well, let's say this plot point is left in the air.

(but it could make for a nice plotbunny in a fic : what if Gilbert later learns that his brother is still with the LA and how Alain and Virginia both kept that info for him? Marriage or not, I doubt he's going to be chummy with the Cornian royals, especially if he believes they kept that info from him to have some sort of leverage against his crown/rule by threatening him to reveal Ludwig's existence to the world and thus directly challenge his legitimacy... - what a clusterfuck this decision of "letting them deal with their family matters on their own" would create lol)

But he swore he will be assisting us in the last battle!

I don't think there are any other "meaningful choices" after Drakengard, maybe I'll kill Bertrand (:'() in Bastorias to get that entry on the archive ?

[sekaicards]

i love the tournaments you’ve been running and you’re crazy dedicated to keep doing such massive brackets. i dont mind waiting for polls to be posted cause i understand that it takes a ton of time and you have a life of your own, but do you think you could post more about when to expect/not expect rounds to go up? i would really appreciate even just hearing something like “no polls today!” when you can’t do them

[scarlettfevor]

I must admit, it is funny how Kodaka making all these other games has revealed that he's sort of a one trick pony

[headful-of-worms]

I really need to stop getting my hopes up and brainstorming/ building D&D characters for campaigns that aren’t finalized or don’t even exist

[wereh0gz]

Not feeling great abt some of my creative endeavors rn

[kelpiemomma]

I find it great that a lot of the fandom looked at two out of time, out of place characters. Ingo and Protagonist, two characters with similar origins and have so much to relate to and thus fans agree that it is criminal and inexcusable that Gamefreak barely interact in Canon.

Everyone literally said "Screw Canon, These two are found family, train guy is dad/uncle/friend now

Love your PLA fics of that dynamic. I don't know if you're still open to prompts. You don't have to do this if you don't feel it but here's a prompt I got for you.

Explore Ingo's and Akari's relationship that develops post-game.

Many fics have them bond during the main plot but not much do post game events.

(You could touch events that occured preplot or during plot and explore how characters felt before they met)

Ohhhh interesting interesting interesting..... I think that's because most of us find it easiest to maneuver them around in-game events, and I don't think I've done too much post-gaming myself (easily distracted, started two other playthroughs)

I am definitely intrigued by this idea though. Do you mean they have their basic interaction in canon, but the further relationship develops post game? And what are we counting as post game- calming all the nobles & fighting palkia and dialga, but pre-volo? Or is Volo still part of the main playthrough?

Because I can see (rolling in the dad direction, as I do, in various directions) Ingo being distantly friendly with the protagonist (let's say Akari, as is my usual :,D sorry) He provides training at the dojo with Zisu, sees Akari there mostly, but doesn't much interact with her otherwise. I truly can't imagine him seeing her kicked out of jubilife and not doing anything- moral-wise, at least, I feel like he would say or do something. Even if he felt it wasn't his place as someone not of Jubilife, I think that he (and most of us, I would hope) would protest kicking a kid out of a safe area. It's possible he either wasn't there (returned to the Highlands for a time) or saw it happening, but didn't see Akari's face and assumed she was just going out for another mission. By the time he does hear about it, or understand what happened, and goes looking Akari has already been picked up by Volo. Ingo asks Irida if she knows where Akari can be found and Irida promises she's somewhere safe but can't say more. So until she returns, all Ingo can do is be satisfied that Akari is safe. He no longer trusts Jubilife residents as he did, especially Kamado, and spends less time there. When Akari returns having tamed the two gods, Ingo decides that maybe it's a little fucked up that this kid has done all this on her own. She's still just like 15 at most, right?

He attempts to strike up conversations at the dojo without being creepy, because some part of him is well aware how it might seem if someone of his age shows too much interest in a teenager (the very thought turns his stomach in disgust. He feels regretful that he couldn't help earlier.) but thankfully Akari likes to talk about the Pokedex, and Ingo is a walking Pokedex as well in a way. There's no one able to battle quite like him, which actually helps Akari with her research. She starts searching him out more because he never requires anything or expects anything of her, and they can talk about pokemon or item crafting or food easily. In fact, she starts going to him when she finds strange pokemon in space-time rifts because Ingo almost always finds them familiar and has something to say about them. Sometimes they'll run into each other in the highlands and Ingo will take her somewhere cool, or just take her to a neat little meadow and tell her to chill out because she's spiraling in anxiety over the work she still has to do. They end up bonding over little things and helping each other, with Ingo gradually becoming the first person Akari goes to when she has news because his enthusiasm is always genuine and a little extra but it's nice.

They bond further after Akari battles Volo and comes down from the summit looking absolutely wrecked and in tears. She's been betrayed and had what she thought was a dear, close friendship destroyed. Ingo doesn't pry as much as he wants to- he's upset that she's upset, and he wants to know what happened because this time they're friendly. He cares for her as family and wants to hurt whoever hurt her. But Akari comes first, and so he takes her to his home and lets her wallow in her misery until she can tell him what happened. He asks if she wants him to track Volo down and take care of him, but Akari denies it and says he doesn't need to act like her dad when he isn't. Which kind of makes Ingo stop and think bc... Well. He doesn't have kids. Has never had much interest in having kids. But he likes Akari, and he thinks that she could use a father figure, and he wouldnt mind filling those shoes... So he accepts her request, but he tells her then and there that he doesn't mind acting as her father (figure) because he does genuinely care for her and her well being. Which isn't something Akari was expecting and she kind of stammers... Declines... Takes off. And it hurts but Ingo lets her go. It's her decision to accept or not, and he won't force her one way or another. He appreciates their friendship too much.

Akari avoids him for a couple weeks, which sucks but Ingo stands by his decision to not push. He continues his work in the Highlands, continues training at the dojo, until one day he finds himself standing in front of the photo parlor. He's gotten a picture of himself before, but he was alone and it didn't feel right. It felt like something was missing. Someone should've been by his side, at his back. He's lost in thought until he feels the wristband of his coat get tugged on and looks to see Akari standing beside him, shifty. She apologizes for running off and avoiding him, explains that she had to think, and he accepts her apology. Says he understands, because it was something he'd gradually come to realize and that he shouldn't have sprung it on her. And Akari is clearly Not Of This Time because she gets quiet and then asks him, really fast and kind of quiet, that he meant like being her DAD and not her DADDY right, because she REALLY didn't see him like that and- and Ingo immediately says NO ABSOLUTELY NOT. Just... Dad. Acting as a caretaker. Keeping her safe. Being a place of refuge. Platonic father feelings ONLY. And Akari looks relieved, and Ingo is also relieved because he definitely doesn't see her that way and is glad she now understands that. He shudders at the thought, and she laughs at him, and Ingo pretends to glare at her and scold her but she settles in a little closer.

She looks at the building with all the photos and paintings and asks what he was up to. He explains that he was wondering if he should try getting another picture done, that he'd had one taken before but had needed to throw it away because looking at it made him feel uncomfortable. Akari asks if he thinks it has something to do with the man in white and ingo... nods, because now that she mentioned it, yes. Because the man in white is not here, and Ingo is alone. Apparently he says that out loud, and Akari's face flushes as she takes his hand and drags him inside. Because Ingo's not alone anymore, she says, because they're family. So until the man in white is back, she's going to be where he was. And they take the picture, and it's not exactly perfect... She doesn't fit like he thinks she should, and the pose is weird and not quite correct, but as he looks at the photo she handed him before going to grab some of her gear to take up to the Highlands - there's something she needs to check on, she said, and since Ingo has decided she's his responsibility obviously her DAD needs to go with her! - he feels... Better. Not fixed, but still... Complete. He's not alone. He has family now.

He tucks the photo into his coat for safe keeping, and when Akari returns to his side (she said she'd see him as her father, would she call him dad? Should he call her his daughter? They'll need to talk about it.) he smiles, and she smiles back, and for now everything will be okay. He is not part of an incomplete set anymore.

[ball-of-butter]

cal so freddy fazbear coded

[sorikkung]

people interacting w wgoin in my notes... this would be a rly bad time to say all my writing will probably be on hiatus for the indefinite future huh