#could not figure out where the screenshot comes from
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y-rhywbeth2 · 3 days ago
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The Temple of Bhaal, BG1 vs BG3 (aka, my god this place has gone downhill.)
Fun fact about the Baldurian Temple: the Bhaalspawn born to Bhaal's priests were, for the first few years of their life, raised here communally with their siblings by the priests (their mortal parents and guards). Then the vast majority of them who would not go on to be a video game protagonist or their villainous brother were ritually sacrificed to their father here.
Very long post, largely due to screenshots.
First things first:
The Undercity
If you're using the lore from the knife, this is the city Bhaal grew up in. I still cling to my headcanon that it's a former Netherese enclave/flying city.
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BG1 (brightened a bit so it's more visible). Elevation didn't really come into play until BG2's maps, so it's a little flat. Still visibly a city. Inhabited by sort-of Bhaalists, lazy bats who don't understand that the temple doors opening is their dramatic cue to fly out, and the armed and bloodthirsty corpses of the formerly living citizens.
Crypts and sacrificial altar to the sides, presumably the altar is outdoors so that the ritual human sacrifice can be appreciated by the common citizen.
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Buildings in the BG3 version are a touch more intact. The map is bigger and harder to get a shot of. The bats are still present, and apparently attempts to make them understand the needs of dramatic effect and the narrative were not successful, they're just wherever nowadays. The architecture somewhat resembles the modern city, and now that the temple is active it seems the Bhaalists are decorating. Sadly, all the corpses are immobile and made no attempt to murder visitors. Literally what even is the point.
The Undercity has also acquired mysterious deep crevasses to nowhere, which may contain the ruins of more city who knows.
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Now has living inhabitants (no less full of craving for death and blood than the previous inhabitants). Priests are supposed to live in their temples, and in the case of Bhaalists, live a double life with a normal life in the city, but whatever. Let's live in ruins instead.
Corpses everywhere (which are supposed to go in the crypts with the rest of Bhaal's offerings, you messy bastards).
Everywhere we find giant pits going down into the earth into what I can only assume is the Upperdark (assuming we aren't already deep enough to breach the first layer of the Underdark).
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The Undercity is still in the middle of a sea cave, or underground lake, or whatever this body of water is.
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The designs of the doors reminds me of the Tourmaline Depths somewhat, which could imply dwarven influence. However the scale of the city structures suggests to me it was built by larger humanoids. idk.
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Front Doors
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So the BG3 one is a touch grander in scale. Also gets a bridge over a mysterious chasm that either leads into something volcanic or else Gehenna itself. Or they just enchanted it for effects.
BG1 gets points for having the correct colour scheme (black and purple, being the colour of the ceremonial robes should be his sacred colours).
'...the [sacred] colors of a deity remain the most common minor manifestation. [...] These colors also indicate the most common shades used in raiment by people of the faith, particularly divine spellcasters.' - Deity Dos and Don'ts
'...all Bhaalyn wore full ceremonial robes of deep purple or black with violet streaks...' - Faiths and Avatars
etc etc
We also have no pillars of bones, and I prefer the eerie figures of Bhaalist priests in their ceremonial regalia to whatever the horned things are.
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The Temple
'Urban temples dedicated to the Lord of Murder were typically dark, spartan dungeons located beneath a city's streets featuring an occasional mosaic or sculpture depicting a violent death. Most contained several chambers of tokens taken from the bodies of murder victims and large crypts filled with the corpses of past victims who could not be left where they fell. (The inhabitants of such crypts were often restless.)' - Faiths and Avatars
I am noting a great deal too many immobile corpses and a distinct lack of tormented enslaved undead victims in this house of death.
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Continuing the trend of giving BG1 points for the colour scheme: Purple and black! Golden skull bowls of purple fruit punch abounds. There also appears to be gold trim around, and that rug isn't cheap, so we're losing points on 'spartan.'
Points also deducted because the tears on the holy symbol are going the wrong direction.
Fulfilling the 'depictions of violent death' portion of the descriptions, we have an expensive looking rug depicting the hell portion of Angelico Giovanni da Fiesole's 'The Last Judgement.' Which carries interesting implications for interactions between the priests and Earth. Considering they don't expect to suffer for all eternity, one imagines it was just chosen for the violence.
Also some inexplicable Christian imagery in the form of crosses, which make no sense for Bhaalists.
The crypts should probably be in their own room, but whatever.
The statuary depicts Myrkul, for some reason. Why not line your house with statues of your bestie, I suppose.
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Ignoring the black smudge where Orin is because just like I did with her father, I'm ignoring the sacred kinslaying duel in favour of running around taking screenshots.
BG3 edition sort of wins points for being spartan (but you look closer and realise it's actually very intricate, just damaged).
We have regressed from the ways of our forefathers: Sarevok's party at least knew how to clean up after themselves.
The gold trim has been switched in for bone decoration:
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Ossuary: fuck yeah. Now either put all the other corpses lying around into a crypt or use them for artwork. As it is you all look like slobs, and if somebody trips over a bone or slips in a pool of blood and falls into the mystery pit or cracks their skull on the stone floor it's going to be embarrassing.
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Contrary to the mess the Bhaalists have left their room in, the stonework done by the original builders is quite intricate. The various letter-like etchings all graffitied all over the city and temple look like Iokharic, at a half-assed glance over, which might indicate it's Netherese (I'm not suffering from confirmation bias or anything)
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The Circle of Tears has migrated from the floor to the wall, (so that Bhaal can glare at his Primate/Primistress/Offspring when they are sent to their room.)
You pray to Bhaal by smearing blood over the eyesockets of the skull like tears. I have no idea how we do that in this temple. Water gun? Do we have big ceremonial paint rollers with long handles?
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We have the 'several chambers of tokens taken from the bodies of murder victims' which for some reason contains minimal amounts of corpses and offerings. The corpses are supposed to be in large crypts by the way. Just pointing out. It would not kill us to be tidy and organised.
The pit continues. Actually:
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These damaged bits leading downwards match the doors found around the city, so I assume that the actual temple complex is much bigger than it seems.
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We have a dais, with apparently meaningless symbols and we couldn't be assed to light all the braziers for some reason. At least there's a sacrificial altar.
Also still some gold decoration remaining, if you look closely at that square and the braziers.
Also there's Orin and Halsin. Wave everybody.
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Who decided we needed a library, anyway? I feel like it contains a mixture of the holy texts and the sacred tome (bible-type thing) all temples get, and the rest of it is Grimlark's poetry.
Moving onto the bedroom that wasn't on the original schematics:
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Bhaalspawn don't know how to use space properly. The Sims player in me is screaming.
I assume the blood bath near the bed is for ritual purification, because using it as an actual bath would be stupid. I also assume the blood all over the place is kept fresh and flowing via magic, because killing enough people to keep it all replenished would be idiotic.
To the West; a secret escape tunnel for bypassing your dramatic sister and sneaking into your/her room to read her diary and also your diaries that she didn't throw out for some reason.
To the East: the study, where there is a lot of alcohol and corpses.
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The rug is the only splash of purple in this temple and it's purely by accident but I'll take what I can get.
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Did Orin get this bed for herself, or steal Durge's? It is - unlike the rest of the temple - quite expensive and comes with more gold accents. Considering she complains about Durge not running the temple properly, I am assuming that Durge is at fault for the 'decaying' of the temple, as Orin puts it, and she's in the middle of renovations right now. ...Who did they commission for the gold holy symbol embedded in the headboard? It's also a bit redundant, but now Father has two faces from which to watch you sleep while he visits you in your horrific nightmares...
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oneinathousand · 2 days ago
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I've assembled some lesser-known quotes about Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, I hope there's at least one in here that most of you have never seen before, though the super-fans among you have likely seen them all ;)
Lee fancies himself playing Aragorn, the archetypal heroic figure of the piece - he would probably be cast as Sauron, the Satanic figure in Tolkien's Middle Earth - but he feels that only a Walt Disney feature cartoon could possibly do justice to the work.
-"Cinemafantastique" Vol 3 No 1 (Fall 1973)
I knew that Lee wanted to play Gandalf when he jumped on board the LOTR movie trilogy, but I didn't know he apparently originally wanted to play Aragorn! My guess is that once he got older, he figured he would be better as Gandalf, though of course he didn't get it. But Lee as Aragorn... if he played the part in the late 50's, 60's or early 70's, I could see him pulling it off, what with his swordfighting abilities. Did he ever comment on the Ralph Bakshi adaptation?
After the liberation of Germany, he [Lee] visited a number of the concentration camps, including Dachau, a deeply disturbing experience which, he says, provided him with such a close-up view of the charnel house side of real life that he is unaffected by anything he sees or does on the screen.
-The Dracula Scrapbook, Peter Haining
I have decided now to tell a tale a bit "out of school" regarding the relationship between Peter and Helen Cushing, especially since this is a lady who remains a bit of a mystery to most Cushing fans - like a figure out of an Edgar Allan Poe tale, considering the way Peter lionized her as if she was indeed his "lost Lenore." During the latter part of 1977, I saw quite a bit of Christopher Lee as he and his family were living in Los Angeles where he played golf (and made the occasional film or television movie of the week.) One afternoon, we were at lunch, and the subject of Peter and his wife came up in conversation; Christopher leaned over to me and said, "You know David, Helen Cushing was a bit of a psychic vampire in life; she kept Peter very close. It was as if she could read his very thoughts before they had them. They really were soulmates of the first order; make no mistake about that! I don't think Helen ever really trusted me where Peter was concerned - even after he and I had made several films together. In fact, Helen used to say to me, "I know you think you are now bigger than my husband don't you?" Well, I just looked at her, smiled and said, "Well Helen, I am taller than Peter you know." Christopher felt that Peter had such guilt - imagined or not - about anything he might have done when they were married; if for example he ever found himself attracted to any of the Hammer glamour girls; whom he worked opposite, it all was now too much to bear. On the other hand, Vincent Price responded to Peter's intense mourning with his usual brand of humor. During the filming of Madhouse, he observed Peter discussing ways of communication from beyond the grave by perhaps installing a phone in the crypt; Vincent listened to all this and then replied with that unmistakably deadpan voice, "Well Peter, what if she's out?"
-David Del Valle, "Diabolique" #16
A few of you may recall seeing a quote posted here from Lee calling Helen a psychic vampire. I tried to find the source for that, but I couldn't. Instead I found this other version, possibly by the same person, which seems to give more insight about what Lee actually thought of Helen, and it comes off as much less harsh on his part than the other one.
A while back, I looked up interviews about the making of The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, and I swore I saw a magazine or something where Roy Ward Baker, the co-director of the movie along with the Shaw Brothers, said something about Cushing during the making of it to the effect of: “He was absolutely miserable, poor bugger.” But I forgot to take a screenshot of it then and for the life of me I couldn’t remember where it came from, I tried to look through my search history but couldn’t find it. I swear that I saw it, though!
Oh well. Next up is a quote about Lee and Cushing watching Looney Tunes together for the last time, get your tissues out...
In the early 90s I worked for Hammer Films and was asked to organise a voiceover recording for a Hammer Films documentary. Both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee had agreed to work together one last time. Christopher Lee had asked me to organise one thing: a television and a VHS player in a private room and to have some alone time with Peter. After the recording, I cleared the studio and left Peter and Christopher alone with the TV. They hadn’t noticed that I was still at the mixing desk so I waited to see what they were going to be watching. I saw Count Dooku and Grand Moff Tarkin sit watching Looney Tunes cartoons – each doing perfect impersonations of Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Pie – all line perfect! I can’t remember exactly – but I think Christopher Lee was Tweety Pie and Peter Cushing was Sylvester.
-"Popbitch" 2015 Annual, the quote is just credited to a "JH", but IMDB lists a Jane Hughes as having worked as an assistant director in the Canterbury studio where Lee and Cushing recorded their voiceover, so this is most likely her. I personally would like to believe that Lee was playing Sylvester and Cushing was Tweety because Lee said he was always Sylvester to Cushing, and come on, Cushing MUST have been Tweety, that character would fit him like a glove!
For this final quote, I'm gonna do something different and copy-paste a whole interview done with Lee by a guy named John Exshaw about Cushing a year before the latter died for the magazine Cinema Retro, the interview being put up on their website. The formatting on the interview is all messed up, so I fixed the apostrophes and em-dashes and will put the whole thing here for your enjoyment.
I find this interview fascinating not so much for what Lee says about Cushing, but for how it implied he saw himself compared to Peter:
I didn’t meet him until we did the first Hammer movie. I’d seen him. Of course the thing which I’d seen which impressed me most, understandably, was 1984, which was remarkable. He was wonderful in that… Live TV! [shudders]
Total dedication; and this is the answer to why Peter Cushing is an actor. Total dedication. Total! The most professional actor I have ever worked with. And I’m not going to say underrated, because he isn’t underrated. He’s highly regarded all over the world as a brilliant actor, and deservedly so. The record shows that… Also, one thing that we do share, I think, more than anything, which is more important than anything else - I think we share the same dedication, I think we share professionalism, I think we share the same feelings about doing the best we can - one thing we certainly share is the same sense of humor, which of course the general public is totally unaware of. If they knew what we got up to on the set in every film we’ve made… the imitations that I used to do… Oh, we used to dance together in the rushes, yes; me made up as the Frankenstein creature, a sort of, a sort of, what do you call it - buck-and-wing dance, you know. And in years and years and years he and I have shared this idolatrous love of the Warner Brothers cartoons, you see, and Sylvester, and Tweetie Pie, and Yosemite Sam. And I’ve always imitated them, you see, and he’s done the same. And we used to do that on a set; people used to think we’d gone out of our minds, and we’d make each other laugh. Sometimes it’s so important - in a way, it’s absolutely essential - but we’re both of us ice-cold when it comes to doing it, even if we’ve been been laughing a few moments before. And that’s a thing we also share, total concentration.
And what can I say about Peter Cushing that I haven’t said before? I mean, consummate actor, brilliant technician, and a marvellous human being. I’ve always said, you know - I’m sure you’re aware of this - that he should have been a priest… Because there is a great love for his fellow man. There’s an almost superhuman loving kindness in Peter, and it’s always been in there. I’ve never heard him say anything harsh about anyone. He’s also a deeply religious man. Those are the two things we don’t have in common. I’m afraid I do say what I think. I’m not tactless but I am a more direct person than he is. I don’t have his tolerance. I don’t have his gentleness. I don’t have his faith; I wish I did…
He is not an easy person to get to know, believe you me. There’s a lot about Peter that I don’t know… But of course, as you know, Helen died in the 1970’s and that is his only desire left in life. And it’s genuine. He has stayed alive because he’s a man who would never take his own life because that would be a great sin, and he has stayed alive through some pretty terrible experiences, you know. He’s had cancer, and problems with his legs, his hips, breathing, and all sorts of medical problems, but the spirit is unquenchable and the speed of thinking and the mind haven’t changed at all. I mean, it’s another cliche - the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. The same thing with Vincent [Price]; mind like a rapier, both of them. Only the physical disabilities of getting old…
But he’s certainly one of a kind, and of course this business of staying alive, simply existing, which is how he looks at his life - existence. He’s only waiting for that moment; only waiting for it. And he’s been waiting now for twenty-three years. It must be terrible to be so admired and so loved and so respected but to impose, I feel, on yourself, deliberately, a sort of monastic seclusion which he seems to prefer. He seems to; I mean, you wouldn’t think of it if you saw him with a group of people but I think he prefers to be alone. I don’t think the house is full of people. I don’t think there’s many very, very close, intimate friends - but nor have I, and nor have many people.
Acquaintances, yes; admirers, yes - scores of thousands all over the world, people who feel they know him, people who feel that he’s a friend - all that. That’s on a professional basis; I think on a personal basis, I get the impression that he’s a person who keeps his life and his relationship with his wife very much to himself. It’s locked up in a cupboard of which he has the key. He doesn’t open that cupboard and release anything unless he chooses to. But I don’t either.
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happyk44 · 16 days ago
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[ID: An anime girl lies on the ground in front of an iron bar fence. She wears a black dress that ends at her upper thigh. Her face is covered one of her arms. The text edited over her reads, "need attention" /end ID]
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widevibratobitch · 1 year ago
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i hate them with a passion
#this may turn into one of my long ass posts with hundreds of screenshots of quotes from the books#but i dont have the energy for that just now#anyway. this moment makes me wanna throw shit at the walls. their relationship is my favourite thing from the very beginning#but dumas went really went out of his way to make it even more insane in the last book#and dont hit me with a 'aww they have such a big/little brother energy its so cute uwu' please im begging you stop saying that#nothing irks me more than hearing their relationship described as something that innocent. its so much more complex and intense come on#there is pure visceral hate there. jealousy. bile. cruelty. some fucked up form of codependency even? maybe? from d'artagnan's side?#there's nothing more horrible and cruel than the fact that THEY are the only two left alive in the end (not for long but yknow)#they would NEVER be friends if not for athos (and they would never hate each other so much if not for him too)#they hate each other so so much. but remember that d'artagnan starts out being absolutely bedazzled by aramis and looking up to him#his first impression of aramis is just. hearteyes and 'wow i wish that were me'. he doesnt do that even with athos at first.#he grows to adore athos yes but upon first meeting him he doesnt think much of him. unlike with aramis.#and then it changes instantly. does a 180° flip when aramis is a bitch to him.#and it stays that way for the entirety of the trilogy. until this moment. this one short moment when d'artagnan#who. mind you. is not innocent himself and was also manipulating the hell out of porthos and talking shit about aramis behind his back.#but he makes that step. he reaches out. 'i fucking hate you let me help you you dumb evil cunt' and aramis says 'no <3'#you know i have this thing where i am OBSESSED with finding the one moment where a character condemns themselves for good.#the one moment when they figuratively sign the contract for their perdition. that up to that moment they could still be saved somehow.#for rodrigo it is when he tries to kill eboli (in the play). for don giovanni it is when he refuses elvira's plea to change#(NOT when he accepts il commendatore's invite mind you)#and i feel like THIS is that moment for aramis.#the fact that it comes from d'artagnan is so just so fucking agsjssgsgsh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and of course he says no.#there is no version of this where he lets himself be helped. he has to say no he will always say no.#but boy oh boy is this making me bang my head against the wall.#the three musketeers#les trois mousquetaires#vicomte de bragelonne#alexandre dumas
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avirael · 1 year ago
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FFxiv Write 2023
Day 21 - Grave
It was the morning after the celebration at Lake Silvertear when Rael had woken up very early and stepped into the common room of the Rising Stones. No one was there yet and the rising sun shining through the frosted glass windows gave the room a special atmosphere you could only witness for a short period of time every morning.
Rael had just stepped in front of the bookshelf looking for a certain book Papalymo had mentioned a few days back, when a familiar face appeared in the room. Obviously in a hurry but still on silent feet A'viloh, who most certainly wasn’t a morning person, came down the stairs that led to their private rooms. In one hand he held a small backpack and with the other he stuffed some clothes into it, while heading straight for the exit.
"Where are you going?", Rael asked and made the Miqo'te jump with shock.
"Rael!", he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?!"
Rael held up a book. "I could not sleep anymore, so I thought I might as well get up and read a little before it gets crowded again. What about you?"
"Ah! I…uhm…", A'viloh gestured towards the door but didn’t seem to find a proper excuse where he was going.
"Are you sneaking out, A'vi.", Rael asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No!", he answered. "Why would I? I just… you know…"
Rael glowered at him and the Miqo’te folded. "Okay, maybe you are right... But I just have to get out of here for a while, that’s all…"
"Why?", Rael asked puzzled. Everything finally seemed to be alright again. They couldn’t understand what bothered him and there visibly was something bothering him. Usually they didn’t need to pry things like this out of A'viloh anymore. He knew he could talk to Rael. Something seemed off.
He shook his head and made a strangely sad face. "You wouldn’t understand that, Rael…"
Rael tilted their head and observed him for a moment. "This is about Thancred, isn’t it?"
A'viloh looked up in surprise and then back down to the floor, sighing deeply. Rael took that as a confirmation.
"But why? You are right, I don’t understand things like this very well. But I watched you sit at his bedside in tears for two whole weeks and now that he’s awake you not only refuse to talk to him, no, you do everything you can to avoid him. Why?"
"It’s better this way…", he muttered.
"Better?", Rael repeated incredulously and started to get an idea what this was about. "You do know that what happened to him wasn’t your fault right?"
"Wasn’t it?", the Miqo'te retorted. "I should have noticed something was wrong, Rael!"
"Noticed!?", Rael laughed. "How should you have noticed that. No one, not even his closest friends noticed, A'vi! You know why that is? That man is constantly wearing a mask, putting on a performance, it’s impossible to tell what’s true and what’s fake with him. No one would ever have noticed something was wrong with him because, Ascian or not, he wouldn’t have let anybody notice it."
A'viloh just shrugged. It meant that he disagreed and it made Rael furious but they tried to stay calm. "Please, just talk to him, A'vi! I’m sure he doesn’t blame you…"
"I just can’t, alright?", A'viloh exclaimed miserably.
"But why? You like him, don’t you? Even I can see that!", Rael asked and walked over to him.
A'viloh sighed again. "Maybe… I do, I think… but..."
"But?", the Viera insisted as A'viloh’s voice trailed off but the Miqo’te remained silent, staring to the floor with a grief-stricken face they only ever saw on him in one context.
"He is not U’laqa… is that it?", Rael asked silently.
A'viloh kept quiet and just glanced up at the Viera while biting his lip.
Rael sighed. "Oh A'vi… you know that U'laqa -"
"Is gone and isn’t coming back, yes I know. ", he interrupted. "By the Twelve, I know."
Tears started to run down his face and suddenly all his bottled up feelings just came pouring out of him.
"But I still feel so horrible! So confused and useless!… Some days… I don’t know… it all still feels so present. Everything happened so fast... Before I even realised it Laqa was gone. Just gone! You don’t know what that was like! One moment before he had been so close that I could feel his breath on my skin. It would have taken nothing but an ilm or two and I could have kissed him one last time. But then he was gone. Just like that! And after the shipwreck there wasn't even a body. I couldn’t even bury him! I could never say goodbye or that I’m sorry! And sometimes I feel like I will never get over the fact that he’s dead. That all of this was my fault. That I got him killed! What right do I have to—"
"What? No! This wasn’t your fault, A'vi!", Rael interrupted starting to see a pattern. But A’viloh was too upset to see reason.
"Of course it was! Without me he would never have left the Springs! Without me he would never have ended up on that godsforsaken ship! He only attacked that man, because he tried to protect me! And what was it all for, huh? Nothing! They got me anyway! His death was entirely meaningless and it was all my fau-"
"Stop!", Rael said loudly and shook him by his shoulders. "He did what he did because he loved you! That must be worth something, right? I may not have known him but I’m sure he wouldn’t have wanted you to blame yourself for this. And he also wouldn’t want for you to be miserable and lonely for the rest of your life just because you feel guilty!"
"It doesn’t matter! I just can’t do this anymore! No matter how hard I try, everything I touch, I ruin! I am cursed, Rael!", A'viloh tried to shake Rael’s hands off but the Viera didn’t let him and instead pulled him into their arms.
"I think I will risk it.", they said. "If only to prove you wrong."
For a moment A'viloh struggled and hissed but then he gave in and instead hugged the Viera back, hands clawed into the backside of Rael’s shirt and his face buried at their chest. "I don’t deserve you…", he muttered, his voice muffled. "I don’t deserve any of this…"
Rael shook their head and then rested it on top of the Miqo'te’s. "Enough with this nonsense now. You deserve all the love and happiness in this world, A'vi. And if you don’t believe that, I will remind you over and over again until you do."
A'viloh made a muffled noise that sounded like something between a sob and a laugh. For a while they remained like this until A’viloh seemed to have calmed down again. Rael patted him on the back and glanced around the still empty room. "Maybe it would be good if you let go of me now. It may look funny if someone sees us like this…"
Reluctantly the Miqo'te let go. "Thank you..."
"Anytime.", Rael said with a kind smile on their face. "What would you say to a few days of vacation? I’ll get some things and we’ll be on our way? Maybe some fresh air will really help your stubborn little brain to think all of this through…"
A'viloh returned their smile and nodded.
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insertdisc5 · 11 months ago
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📚 A List Of Useful Websites When Making An RPG 📚
My timeloop RPG In Stars and Time is done! Which means I can clear all my ISAT gamedev related bookmarks. But I figured I would show them here, in case they can be useful to someone. These range from "useful to write a story/characters/world" to "these are SUPER rpgmaker focused and will help with the terrible math that comes with making a game".
This is what I used to make my RPG game, but it could be useful for writers, game devs of all genres, DMs, artists, what have you. YIPPEE
Writing (Names)
Behind The Name - Why don't you have this bookmarked already. Search for names and their meanings from all over the world!
Medieval Names Archive - Medieval names. Useful. For ME
City and Town Name Generator - Create "fake" names for cities, generated from datasets from any country you desire! I used those for the couple city names in ISAT. I say "fake" in quotes because some of them do end up being actual city names, especially for french generated ones. Don't forget to double check you're not 1. just taking a real city name or 2. using a word that's like, Very Bad, especially if you don't know the country you're taking inspiration from! Don't want to end up with Poopaville, USA
Writing (Words)
Onym - A website full of websites that are full of words. And by that I mean dictionaries, thesauruses, translators, glossaries, ways to mix up words, and way more. HIGHLY recommend checking this website out!!!
Moby Thesaurus - My thesaurus of choice!
Rhyme Zone - Find words that rhyme with others. Perfect for poets, lyricists, punmasters.
In Different Languages - Search for a word, have it translated in MANY different languages in one page.
ASSETS
In general, I will say: just look up what you want on itch.io. There are SO MANY assets for you to buy on itch.io. You want a font? You want a background? You want a sound effect? You want a plugin? A pixel base? An attack animation? A cool UI?!?!?! JUST GO ON ITCH.IO!!!!!!
Visual Assets (General)
Creative Market - Shop for all kinds of assets, from fonts to mockups to templates to brushes to WHATEVER YOU WANT
Velvetyne - Cool and weird fonts
Chevy Ray's Pixel Fonts - They're good fonts.
Contrast Checker - Stop making your text white when your background is lime green no one can read that shit babe!!!!!!
Visual Assets (Game Focused)
Interface In Game - Screenshots of UI (User Interfaces) from SO MANY GAMES. Shows you everything and you can just look at what every single menu in a game looks like. You can also sort them by game genre! GREAT reference!
Game UI Database - Same as above!
Sound Assets
Zapsplat, Freesound - There are many sound effect websites out there but those are the ones I saved. Royalty free!
Shapeforms - Paid packs for music and sounds and stuff.
Other
CloudConvert - Convert files into other files. MAKE THAT .AVI A .MOV
EZGifs - Make those gifs bigger. Smaller. Optimize them. Take a video and make it a gif. The Sky Is The Limit
Marketing
Press Kitty - Did not end up needing this- this will help with creating a press kit! Useful for ANY indie dev. Yes, even if you're making a tiny game, you should have a press kit. You never know!!!
presskit() - Same as above, but a different one.
Itch.io Page Image Guide and Templates - Make your project pages on itch.io look nice.
MOOMANiBE's IGF post - If you're making indie games, you might wanna try and submit your game to the Independent Game Festival at some point. Here are some tips on how, and why you should.
Game Design (General)
An insightful thread where game developers discuss hidden mechanics designed to make games feel more interesting - Title says it all. Check those comments too.
Game Design (RPGs)
Yanfly "Let's Make a Game" Comics - INCREDIBLY useful tips on how to make RPGs, going from dungeons to towns to enemy stats!!!!
Attack Patterns - A nice post on enemy attack patterns, and what attacks you should give your enemies to make them challenging (but not TOO challenging!) A very good starting point.
How To Balance An RPG - Twitter thread on how to balance player stats VS enemy stats.
Nobody Cares About It But It’s The Only Thing That Matters: Pacing And Level Design In JRPGs - a Good Post.
Game Design (Visual Novels)
Feniks Renpy Tutorials - They're good tutorials.
I played over 100 visual novels in one month and here’s my advice to devs. - General VN advice. Also highly recommend this whole blog for help on marketing your games.
I hope that was useful! If it was. Maybe. You'd like to buy me a coffee. Or maybe you could check out my comics and games. Or just my new critically acclaimed game In Stars and Time. If you want. Ok bye
8K notes · View notes
voxsremotec0ck · 9 months ago
Text
𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐄𝐲𝐞.ᐟ
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ᯤ Vox x Fem!Reader
ᯤ Stalking, obsessive and possessive behavior, voyeurism, nsfw
˗ˏˋ While Vox monitors Alastor the Hazbin Hotel, he takes an interest in the newest guest ˎˊ˗
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Vox could kill Pentious for getting caught before successfully placing a single camera inside the hotel
Now he was stuck just watching the outside of the damn place
He wouldn’t even be doing this if Alastor hadn’t come back to ruin his life
FUCK
Vox once again sat in his monitor room working on multiple projects while keeping an eye on the shitty hotel
When for the first time in months
A new sinner walked up to the tall building and knocked on the door
He didn’t recognize you which instantly put him on edge
Now there was ANOTHER demon he had to monitor
At first you were just another non-Alastor resident to him
But slowly you became something more
You spent a lot of time out on the balcony right in his view
Reading, morning coffee, or just playing on your phone you were almost constantly outside
Which confused him because who the fuck wants to look around at Hell but whatever
At some point he started to pay attention to what books you read and how you liked your coffee
His interest in you got to the point where he stopped caring about what Alastor was doing
All Vox wanted was a chance to see you
Eventually you consumed his every thought
You were just so…
Perfect
He needed to figure out how to get a camera inside your room
Turns out he didn’t even need to do anything because one day you brought one of his products
And that was probably the greatest day of his life because FINALLY he got to see you up close
You were even more beautiful with your eyes peering right into his monitor
Vox took a screenshot and saved it to a private folder
One that would quickly fill up
Now he had unlimited access to anything he wanted to know about you
Search history, social media accounts, what kind of shows you like to watch
He stored all the information away for when he eventually made his move on you
Then one night something magical happened
It was late and you were still up
Which meant Voxs was still up to
As you were scrolling through Hells twitter a clip from a porno popped up on your timeline
And instead of scrolling away you watched it
And Vox watched you watch it
Eventually you clicked on the account and scrolled through the multiple porn clips on it
Skipping any that included Angel Dust because he was your friend and that was just weird
Vox watched you through the camera
He watched as your pupils dilated and your cheeks turn red and your breath become heavy
He was so hard it hurt
And when it became obvious that you were touching yourself, the camera shaking and little noises falling from your lips
He pulled his dick out of his dress pants and stroked himself to your fucked out face
Vox couldn’t give to shits about the porn you were watching
Honestly he wished he could mute it so he could hear you better
But this would have to do
He wanted to see what face you’d make when you came
And so desperately wished he was the one forcing those moans from your throat
One day
One day he would get to pull your legs apart and push his cock inside of you
Making you scream his name loud enough for all of Pride Circle to hear
When you came your head tilted back on a long moan
Your eyes closing with a look of pure bliss
And Vox had never cum so hard
He felt himself glitching as he spilled all over his hand and desk
Fuck
If this is how it felt just fucking his hand to your little moans and pleasured filled face
He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be inside of you
Vox needed to find a way to make you his
The sooner the better
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Sigh… I’m still trying to come to terms with the fact that I’m attracted to a man with a TV head
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nadvs · 4 months ago
Text
better off (part three) (end)
pairing rafe cameron x female reader
rating mature 18+
summary you and rafe take time apart to try to get better for each other. it’s harder than both of you expected.
warnings toxic relationship, smut
» part one / part two
» masterlist
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Rafe knew he’d see you around. He figured that he’d spot you at parties. After all, a party is where you two met.
And he knew it’d be hard to act like strangers. But not this hard.
It’s been almost a week since the day at the marina. As he watches you in the crowd across the room, he’s afraid of breaking some unwritten rule by starting a conversation with you.
You said to give it a few weeks, then you’d talk. It’s been just six days. And he’s losing his mind.
The month of silence after your break-up was hard enough. At least he was just angry then, numbing the pain. But this? Having you at an arm’s length, but leaving you alone for the sake of ‘getting better’?
He felt so stupid getting home after your conversation. He didn’t even know where to start. Staring at his ceiling. Wondering what the hell getting better even looked like.
His friends would laugh their asses off if they saw his search history. ‘How to be a good boyfriend’ has to be among the most embarrassing searches.
That stuff should just come naturally, but he’s been filling up the album named after you in his phone with screenshots. Now, piled up after his favorite photos of you are snippets from advice columns and articles.
Rafe has always felt a twinge deep in his core that he doesn’t measure up. He’s missing something that would deem him good enough. He knew from a young age from the way his anger consumed him that there was something off.
That’s why it felt like a dagger to his heart any time you told him there was something wrong with him. He hated the confirmation. And that’s why he’d say whatever he could to hurt you just as bad.
It always seemed to hit you the hardest when he said no other person would want to put up with you. You shut down whenever he said that. It gave him a sick sense of power. But that’s what he’s trying to get away from. Being sick.
It’s nerve-wracking. Knowing he’ll have to prove himself to you. Wondering if maybe after all this, you’ll come to the conclusion that you shouldn’t be together at all. You said you were bad for each other countless times throughout your relationship.
The anxiety flooding his body sharpens when he sees a guy start talking to you. And you actually start talking back.
Hot, urgent rage flares in his chest. Normally, if you were together, he’d waste no time rushing over there, pushing the idiot away and yelling at you for entertaining him for even a second.
But are you even together? While he wouldn’t be interested in talking to another girl right now, you don’t seem to feel the same way, looking pretty with a smile on your face while you talk to the stranger.
His anger is just getting worse. He needs to get the fuck out of here. He pushes past the crowds and finds himself in a bathroom, slamming the door behind him.
He’s hunched over the sink and staring at the mirror, his lips parted as he breathes heavily. He has coke in his pocket. He wants to use it.
But it always just makes him more wired and paranoid. And he thinks part of getting better is not giving into these sorts of vices. It feels like his only option for some sort of release, though.
He stands up straight, the heels of his hands over his aching eyes as he paces back and forth over the tiled floor. Crying again. It’s all his body has been wanting to do since you broke up, but he usually can find a way to stop through a bottle or a line.
“Stop,” he whispers to himself. “You’re being a fucking pussy. Stop.”
Maybe that guy isn’t a stranger to you. Maybe you’ve been talking to him, planning to leave Rafe in your past. Maybe all this being healthy alone to be healthy together shit is a game you’re playing just to abandon him in the end.
Goddamn it. He’s spiralling.
A few rapid knocks on the door pull him out of his thoughts.
“Fuck off,” he shouts.
“Are you okay?”
He flattens his lips, his heart twisting once he realizes it’s you, the only person he’d open the door for right now.
He looks at his reflection. He turns on the tap to splash cold water on his face so you can’t tell he’s been crying. But in his haste, he wets the front of his shirt too, and lets out a frustrated groan.
He swings open the door. Your eyes are full of worry. And they’re beautiful and look like home. Six days is a fucking eternity.
“Hey,” you say, your brows furrowed. “Did I cross a line or something?“
“What?” Rafe says.
“Why’d you run off after I texted you?”
He feels for his phone in his pocket and pulls it out to see a text from you. Can you save me from this guy?
“I - I didn’t see this,” he stammers. He realizes this means you don’t have him blocked anymore.
“What happened?” you say, your eyes dropping to his chest, a dark, wet splotch spread across his t-shirt.
“Did he do something?” he asks at the same time.
“You first,” you say with a small smile.
“It’s just water,” he says, quick to shift the attention back onto you. “Did he?”
You look over your shoulder, back in the direction of the front room where the party is.
“No, he was just trying to hit on me and I wasn’t in the mood,” you say. You’re relieved Rafe didn’t purposely ditch you after you texted him, like you thought.
It feels so familiar, him being so protective over you. He’s thrown quite a few punches in the name of keeping you safe and claiming you as his.
Maybe it was toxic to like watching your boyfriend swing at guys who made you uncomfortable, but you didn’t care. Other girls would try to pull their boyfriends away from fights. You would watch yours with a smile on your face.
You meet Rafe’s eyes again. Even though you’re the one who told him you wouldn’t speak for a while, you were worried you messed something up by contacting him. But he looks anguished over missing a message from you.
For once, the struggle for dominance between you doesn’t feel like a struggle at all. He so obviously just wants to be good with you again. You hold all the power.
“Don’t stress. It’s fine,” you say sympathetically. “He finally left me alone.”
You don’t tell him you told the pushy guy you were going to look for your boyfriend. Because while you feel optimistic about what the future holds for you and Rafe, you can’t say you’re entirely confident you can both do this. And calling him your boyfriend again feels like too much right now.
The more you think about it, the more you realize just how broken you both are. You’ve been reading about how important it is to learn the underlying reasons for toxic behavior. And the two of you never liked facing your demons.
Rafe shuffles in place. It’s nice to be talking to him again, but by how stiff he seems, you’re doubting that he shares the sentiment.
“Why were you smiling at him?” he mutters.
The edge to his tone and the hard way he’s looking at you throw you right back to when you were dating. To the dread you’d feel when you knew an argument was starting.
“I was being polite,” you say.
“Polite,” he huffs. “If you want to keep your options open, you can just fucking say that.”
That. That’s what keeps you from allowing yourself to slip into the warm comfort of hope. You didn’t expect a change overnight, but this is the exact same man who left you on the marina.
Jealous. Domineering. Combative. No improvement at all.
“Are you hearing yourself?” you say, bitterness swirling in you. “I literally texted you asking you to rescue me.”
“You were giving him attention,” he says, “and then what, he said something you didn’t like and you decided to stop ‘being polite’? If you want to talk to other guys, own up to it.“
Frustration tenses through your muscles.
“I don’t want to talk to other guys,” you state. “I told you, I want to be healthy on my own first.”
“Sure,” he scoffs. You know this feeling all too well, the sense of betrayal when he dismisses you and acts like you’re making shit up.
“So, I’m lying?” you mutter.
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” he says. He notices you flinch in embarrassment.
He’s still holding it over you, the way you let him believe you had someone new after you broke up.
You were wrong. The power struggle between you is still very much alive.
“This is exactly why we shouldn’t be talking,” you snap. The ugly impulse to be mean to him rises in you. “This is you trying to better yourself? Dick.”
You turn around to walk away. He hates himself for it. The fear of being left is such a powerful force, always taking him captive, always making him act possessively.
But he’s not wrong. You were smiling at that guy. And you have lied in the past.
He calls your name. You ignore him.
The next morning, you sit on your front porch with your phone in your hand. Rafe texted you early this morning.
Need to work on my jealousy. I know.
It’s weird, witnessing him admit to a wrongdoing. It’s not a sorry. But it’s something.
And despite your rash words, you’re proud of yourself for walking away last night. The old you would’ve stuck around for a screaming match. But you don’t want to be the old you anymore.
You finally reply: i shouldn’t have called you that.
He texts back: I deserved it.
You put your phone down. The exchange was stiff and almost formal, a far cry from how you’d normally speak to each other, but it feels like a step in the right direction.
Days pass. Rafe wishes you replied. He said he deserved it just so you’d say he didn’t.
But he used to do this a lot; saying or doing things just to get a specific reaction out of you. That might be part of what makes him sick.
The next weekend, you don’t see Rafe at your mutual friend’s beach party. It’s strange, considering he hardly ever misses an opportunity to get drunk with his buddies.
You look over to his group of friends for what feels like the hundredth time. He’s not there.
You were looking forward to seeing him. Maybe even talking to him. It’s been two weeks since you decided to try to better yourselves, and even though he hasn’t technically been your boyfriend for a month and a half now, missing him never gets easier.
You pull out your phone every so often, going back and forth between if you should text him. You check his social accounts, having unblocked him and refollowed him a few days ago, to see he hasn’t posted anything lately.
Step by step, you’re making space for him in your life again. Really, the space he once filled never went away. It’s just an empty void now.
This time apart idea is stupid.
You stop yourself from indulging in the thought. You did all the time back when you were dating - it becomes addictive to tell yourself whatever you were fighting over wasn’t a big deal. That you should just be happy to be with Rafe. That the issues don’t matter.
Maybe he didn’t ever really validate you, but you were bad at doing it for yourself, too. You need to remind yourself that this break is important.
But is it so bad to check up on him? Make sure he’s alright?
You pull out your phone and text him: You doing okay?
Your heart drops when the text immediately comes up as undelivered. He blocked you.
After every argument, if anyone blocked anyone, it always was you blocking him. He’d try to find other ways to contact you, sometimes even finding one of your friends on social media to ask to talk to you.
As you stand with your friends, you pretend to scroll through your phone, trying not to cry. One recurring theme in your relationship was that he always accused you of not really caring that much about him, at least not as much as he cared about you.
Your nasty habit of blocking him must be part of the reason why. Because this feeling of outright rejection, of someone clearly showing you they don’t want to hear whatever you want to say, stings.
You liked the power trip of when you blocked him because he always did whatever he could to talk to you again. And you realize just how fucked up that was.
You find an excuse to rush home, not wanting to even mention to your friends why you’re choked up. They’re already apprehensive about you and Rafe actually being able to have a healthy relationship.
You spend the rest of your night in your bed, crying because you and Rafe really did bring out the worst in each other. Because he might have decided he’s done with you and this idea of getting better for each other is not worth the effort.
Your pillow is wet with your tears by the time you finally fall asleep.
You try to spend the next day reading and journalling and imagining a life without Rafe. After the break-up, you were miserable, but you knew separating was what was best.
Now, after the promise you made each other to try to get better, it hurts so much more. You were hopeful. And he shattered that.
You’re desperate to feel the way you used to. When things were good. Your love could be bitter, but when it was sweet, it was incredible.
You once sat on the beach together well past midnight for hours, talking and laughing and cuddling as the waves crashed in front of you.
Now, every conversation turns into a fight. Why does this have to be so hard?
It’s a Thursday night when Rafe thinks about driving up to your spot. It’s a secluded, narrow trailhead that cars can’t get through.
You’d wrap your arms around him so tightly whenever he drove his motorcycle up the pathway. Once he reached the peak, which offers a vista of the island, boasting the beaches as well as the town, you’d sit on a blanket on the ground over the cliffside.
It was almost always quiet up there, a nice break from how loud things always feel for him. You two thought you were the only ones in the world who knew about the place, but other people have left pieces of their own memories there, empty beer bottles scattered around.
Thankfully, though, you’ve never run into anyone else up there.
He remembers one night, sitting next to you, thinking that he genuinely preferred you over everyone, even preferred you over being alone.
He realizes you never fought up there. Not once.
Rafe counts. It’s been eighteen days since your conversation at the marina. You said to take a few weeks. Almost three should be enough. He hopes.
He unblocks your number and texts you: Down to go to our spot? I can pick you up.
The anxiety as he waits for your response is almost paralyzing. Then, you reply: ok.
Holding Rafe again while on the back of his bike, smelling him, feeling his warmth, makes your chest tighten with the threat of tears.
You didn’t say much when you hopped on. You don’t say anything when you make it to the hill’s peak. You watch him grab the blanket he always carries in his bike’s rear trunk, bunched up in his big hands.
It’s all a fluid motion, working together how you always did before, flattening the blanket over the patches of dirt and grass and sand.
Rafe always got freaked out when you got too close to the edge, so you sit closer to the blanket’s far corner for his comfort.
He sits a foot away from you, his legs bent, arms resting on his knees. You haven’t looked at each other for longer than a second.
The sun is setting soon. The air is thick between you. It’s like you’re both afraid of breaking the silence.
You lick your lips, gazing out at the orange horizon of where sky meets sea. You see him look at you from your peripheral vision. You turn to meet his gaze.
You finally say what’s been turning over in your head for the past few days.
“Are we done?” you say weakly.
Rafe mournfully breathes your name, sounding defeated when he says, “You tell me.”
Normally, and probably aggressively, you’d ask him why he’s being difficult. But after so much time reflecting, you know he’s not trying to be. He actually thinks it’s on you.
Every time he muttered that you wouldn’t find someone who cared like he does. Every time he hounded you after you told him to stop talking to you. Every time he insinuated that you’re either considering cheating or have already cheated. It was his own poisonous way of trying to keep you.
Because now, you can see just how painfully insecure Rafe is. And it’s not on you to fix that. But it explains a lot.
And now, when he tells you that you’re the one who decides the fate of your relationship, you get why. He’s always been the one clinging onto you, but refusing to be vulnerable about it.
You hope he can be vulnerable now. And you’re willing to go first.
“How come you blocked me?” you say softly.
“You tried to text me?” He straightens. He looks genuinely surprised that you reached out first.
You get why. You never reached out first before.
“Yeah,” you say. “I wanted to check up on you.”
“It’s stupid,” he begins. “I wanted to text you but you said we can’t talk, so I blocked you and sent texts that couldn’t actually get to you.“
Your lips quirk in a sad smile. You did the same thing in your own way, writing down everything you wished you could say to him in your journal.
It was an exercise you read about online; saying what you want to say to your ex without committing to them actually hearing it. You wonder if he read that article, too.
“It’s not stupid,” you say. “Can I see them?”
“Some of them are…” Rafe looks away. “I was really pissed off when I wrote some of them.”
“That’s okay,” you say. “Mine aren’t all nice, either.”
His forehead crinkles, clearly taken aback again by the fact that you wrote him messages, too.
“I wrote what I wanted to say to you in a notebook,” you explain. “You don’t have to show me if you don’t want to.”
“I can,” he offers. “Just don’t get mad at me.”
You can’t promise that, so you stay quiet when he pulls out his phone. He hands it to you and you tap in his passcode, still the same numbers, and open his texts.
You see a glimpse of a message from his friends’ group chat. Someone simply texted: sure. And even though it’s mundane, it’s still so weird not knowing about Rafe’s day and his life and his plans.
You open your conversation. There’s a string of undelivered texts. You scroll to the top and take a deep breath.
Friday, 5:46 pm
It sucks not talking to you.
Saturday, 3:01 am
You think youre so mmuch better than me and it oisses me the fuck k off
You can tell he was drunk writing that one.
Sunday, 12:11 pm
I would take back a lot of the shit I did if I could
“What would you take back?” you ask.
“I don’t know,” Rafe says tensely. “A lot.”
Despite everything, you watch him through disappointed eyes. He would do this all the time as your boyfriend, act like an emotional conversation was corny and embarrassing.
He notices how sad you look. So, he pushes through for you.
“Like… I shouldn’t have yelled at you,” he says.
“I yelled at you, too,” you say, offering him anything you can during this moment of vulnerability.
“I scared you sometimes.” His eyes flit away. “You tried to act like you weren’t fazed, but I know I scared you. I’m sorry.”
The apology almost throws you off.
“Yeah,” you say after a beat. There’s no point in being dishonest.
You continue reading.
Sunday, 9:20 pm
I always fought to make this work and you never did. I always fucking cared more
Monday, 4:44 pm
I think about you every second. I’m going crazy
Tuesday, 9:57 am
I miss your laugh
Tuesday, 3:01 pm
I wonder if you noticed
You meet his eyes, immediately seeing the pink tinge on his cheeks, even though the sky is dark orange now that the sun is now seconds away from setting. He’s embarrassed, likely from how raw and exposed he must feel.
“If I noticed what?” you ask.
“That I wasn’t at that party last weekend,” he admits. He knew you were there because he asked his friends.
“I noticed,” you say. “That’s when I texted you. Where were you?”
“Home,” he says curtly as he reaches for his phone.
“I’m not done,” you say, looking back down at the screen. His body tightens in minor irritation. This just feels like humiliation now, especially if you’re not planning to stay with him.
Tuesday, 11:30 pm
Obviously I love you and it’s so annoying every time you say I don’t say it enough
Your brows pinch in sadness. Now that so much time has passed, you feel bad for every time you guilt-tripped him about not saying it back.
Yesterday, 1:20 pm
To be honest I would choose being sick together over being healthy alone because at least I’d have you
The next message is the last one.
Today, 10:22 am
I just wish I was good enough
You realize your eyes have started to burn with tears. Rafe’s not simply insecure. Now, you’re almost sure he feels a sense of inferiority.
It tracks. He likes to pretend he thinks he’s better than everyone, bragging all the time. But the more you think about it, the more it seems forced in retrospect.
He acts like he’s above people because deep down, he feels like he’s below them.
“You’re more than good enough,” you tell him. You give him back his phone. “I promise.”
Rafe nods, looking away, clearly tense and awkward.
You spent your whole relationship fighting each other for the upper hand, but now you’re trying to figure out how to give it to him so he’s not embarrassed.
“The last thing I wrote down was that I hope we find our way back,” you confess.
Blue eyes land on yours. His expression has softened.
“What else?” His voice is rough, almost strained.
“You want to know everything?”
“Yeah.”
You look out at the view again, crickets chirping, thinking about all that you’ve wanted to tell him. The breeze is gentle and the remaining sliver of the sun nestles into the horizon.
“I used to feel good about myself around you, and then at some point, I just… I really didn’t like who I was, Rafe.”
It makes everything in him hurt. But then, you continue.
“I blamed you and I shouldn’t have,” you continue. “We both fought unfairly, but you didn’t bring anything out of me that wasn’t already there. I’m sorry that I made it your fault when I was mean.”
He blinks, nodding, staring at your profile as you continue to speak.
“I didn’t like how controlling and jealous you could get,” you admit. “You didn’t trust me and it hurt. I never actually did anything to make you question my loyalty, did I?”
Rafe chews on his lip. Tears prick at his eyes.
“No,” he says.
“And we had a bad habit of, like… of trying to prove each other’s feelings wrong,” you say. “But if we hurt each other, we need to just accept it instead of arguing about it, you know?”
“I know.”
“We did bring out the worst in each other,” you say. “And I hope we can bring out the best. Because we were best friends before, remember? And then we just started trying to hurt each other. And I don’t want that for us.”
You feel the shift in the air between you immediately.
You meet Rafe’s gaze again in the dark summer air. Even though every other time he said this, it took effort, this time, he has to try not to say it. But why would he not say it?
“I love you,” he says.
Your lips part as you take in a short inhale of disbelief. It kills him to see how shocked you look to hear it.
But some things can never change and that includes how he prefers to show his love. He was always more action-oriented. So, he moves closer and gently cradles your jaw, his thumb rubbing over your cheek.
“Please let me kiss you,” he mumbles.
You leaning forward is your invitation and when his lips press on yours, your body feels weightless. You can’t remember the last time you touched this tenderly.
It’s the polar opposite of when you had what you thought was break-up sex. Your contact isn’t rough and angry at all. It’s soft like it’s the first time.
Rafe pulls back, his forehead against yours when a tear finally drops off his chin.
“I love you, too,” you whisper. His features crease in relief. You can tell he wasn’t expecting you to say it back.
“And you don’t have to say it to me all the time,” you say. “You’ve proven it. You’ve really been trying to get better for me. I can tell.”
He kisses you again, more impatiently this time. He missed this, missed you so much that it’s like he was lost without any hope of getting back home but now, he can breathe. Really breathe.
When he feels your tongue against his, his entire body reacts, getting hot and tight and hungry. He can sense that you feel the same when a whimper escapes you.
Rafe shifts and plants his hot mouth on your neck, still embracing your cheek as you tilt your head to give him full access.
The air around you is cool and dark now and you wonder if he wants to go all the way like you do. You’d hear someone coming up the trail and would definitely see headlights, so you’re not afraid of being caught.
You’re not afraid of anything. Not when he holds you like this.
You run a hand over the back of his neck, gently scratching the way you know he likes. He can’t take it anymore.
Rafe guides you onto your back, hovering over you, blanketing you with his weight.
“Should I stop?” he asks, breaths shallow.
“Don’t,” you say. “Don’t stop.”
A rush rips through you when you feel his hard excitement against you.
He wants you completely bare, but he can’t risk being caught out here, so he shifts to take off only what he needs to.
When he sinks into you, you’re both breathless and kissing through his thrusts. You wrap your arms around his shoulders, tilting your hips so he can fill you completely, be inside you as deep as possible.
“I’ll do anything,” he whispers against your mouth. “Just don’t leave again. Please.”
“I won’t,” you promise. “You’re everything I want, okay? You were always everything I wanted.”
Hearing that repairs the remaining cracks in his heart. He kisses you hard and for the first time in his life, he cries from happiness.
It’s slow and loving and the most gentle you’ve ever been with each other. Afterwards, he helps you get dressed again, kissing your skin wherever he can.
With your hearts still racing, you sit facing the view, his body curved behind yours as you lean with your back against his chest.
His fingers run over yours, stroking and rubbing and pinching, kissing your cheek again and again out of pure adoration under the moonlight.
“We won’t be perfect,” you tell him. “We’ll mess up. But I want to make sure you know I won’t give up.”
“Neither will I, baby,” he says. “I never did.”
Even though his methods weren’t always the healthiest, it’s true. He’s what kept you together, time and time again, as if he knew deep down that you two could be good together if you just tried.
You’ve never felt so solid with him before. You bring the back of his hand up to your mouth, kissing him.
It’s such a soft, loving gesture that Rafe has to tell himself not to cry again. It wasn’t a heat of the moment thing; he meant it when he said he’d do anything for you.
You own him. Completely. And he’s lucky that you want him back.
“I feel so lucky to have you,” you say.
“I was just thinking that,” he says with a chuckle.
You laugh and kiss the back of his hand again.
And you spend the next couple of hours talking and joking together just like that night on the beach months ago, except this time, you’re better people determined to get even better.
(the end) (alternate sad ending)
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katiascraft · 1 month ago
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"You think you won 'cause you got the man. But honey, you'll always be a fan" | CL16
Parings: Charles Leclerc x ex!reader.
Summary: Charles is now dating a copy of you and you don’t know how to feel about it.
Now playing: "always be a fan" by Eva Grace.
Word count: +1,2k.
Warnings: angst. Not a native English speaker so there could be errors. Not proofread.
Author's note: I don’t even know if this is good but yeah. Remember to like or reblog! And follow me so we can be friends :3 (and drink mate together!)
MASTERLIST
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You got to the party with your friend around 2 am in the morning. It was a hot autumn. You were invited to a private party. You didn’t know the people but as you were a public figure the invitation was sent.
Before coming you were kind of upset. You didn’t wanna come to be honest. You were so fed up with Charles’ new girl. She copied everything you did. Her hair is exactly the same. You posted your outfit earlier in the night on Instagram - to then see the screenshot one of your friends sent you of her story wearing just the same. You couldn’t believe it. You were angry and scared at the same time. Why was she so obsessed with you? And also, why did Charles choose a copycat of your person?
You were really triggered but tried to brush it off. It was a girl’s night. Or well, a girl’s night with franco colapinto and Alex albon included because they were boyfriends to Lily and Sara.
You hanged out at a bar first not sure if you wanted to go to the party in question. But after a few drinks we wanted to dance.
Franco and Alex in two different cars of course - drove to the party while listening to David Guetta and Lady Gaga. Or at least in Franco’s car where you were was like that.
You were having so much fun and made your mind so it could be the best night of your life. This was rare to happen within your friends because of your busy schedule. So you were grateful every single minute you spent with them.
Once you all got to the party, the dj was playing Latin music and franco was in his sauce. You danced around with everyone and laughed. Having fun with the people you loved. After dancing for a while you were thirsty so decided to go to the bar and order a drink. Sara went with you.
When you got to the bar you asked for a gin tonic and Sara for vodka. You joked around because of her selection.
The barman was really handsome and the drunk you started chatting and flirting with him. Eventually you got his number and an extra gin tonic for free. You felt victorious. And Sara was just laughing - you always got what you wanted… excepts for Charles.
Remembering Charles wasn’t the best stragedy to enjoy the night. You missed his voice so much. His smell. His grip. You needed to drink that glass already. And so you did. Bet you were gonna be drunker by the minute. But you didn’t care. You wanted to forget.
Forget him. And forget he changed you for a copycat. And forget the copycat. God she was like your fan. Like a crazy one. You were drinking with Sara and dancing the two together in the middle of the dance floor when you opened your eyes so big Sara thought you were gonna lose them.
There they were. Charles and your fan. Kissing on the dance floor. Just 10 people of distance. You almost choke with the gin tonic. You felt hurt. You wanted to run away from there and hide. But you were drunk and so furious you couldn’t think straight.
You walked towards them and started dancing next to them grabbing an unknown guy who was dancing there. You started looking at them so you could take their attention. Sara couldn’t believe her eyes. She knows you could go mad sometimes but not like this. She started dancing just to watch you and see you wouldn’t kill the poor insecure girl Charles is now dating.
“Oh I’m sorry I thought I was looking in the mirror!” I exclaimed when I purposely bumped into them, spilling my free drink all over her clothes. “You look just like me! Like you’re my fan! Do you want a picture?” You said like you were talking with some of your fans but cinical and the undertone was full of hatred.
“Y/n” said Charles surprised to see you and at the same time pissed for what you were doing. His girl looked at you without knowing what to do.
“Actually I think you’re my clone!” His girl said and you felt your anger grow. You just rolled your eyes and looked at Charles.
“If I knew you were leaving me for my copycat I would’ve killed you. You date her as she is better than me? What don’t I have that she does indeed? You’re so pathetic Charles. I wanted us to have a future and you just run scared. You are no man for anyone. I understand why now” you said spitting your words gritty.
“This is not the moment to talk about it y/n” he said making you roll your eyes again. His girl just fixed her outfit and left Charles to you heading to the bathroom. You smiled looking at her. Once you two were alone you could feel the tension. He was angry. Very angry.
“What’s wrong with you? Could you just ignore us? What you said it’s so immature! You’re so obsessed with me you need to seek help!” Oh god he was furious. Just as you were. But those words hurt you like hell.
“Me? Obsessed? Are you for real Charles? Don’t act like you wake up and look at her and you don’t see me! She has the same Brazil shirt I have! She has the same hair color! She even has lens with my eyes color! Or are you insane and you don’t see it? You once said I was the love of your life then one day to another you’re dating her who is obsessed with me as if it wasn’t a big deal or even obvious! You’re pathetic Charles. And you know what’s worse? That I still love you like crazy. And you don’t fucking deserve it!” You were so angry. In that moment Charles’ face changed with your confession. Because he was still in love with you but he didn’t have the balls to come back and talk about it. So he found her instead. He was so immature too.
“Wait y/n. I still love you too” he said, reaching for your face but you backed off. You just couldn’t do it anymore.
“No Charles. You don’t. If you did, you would have come like a normal person and talked about it. Forget about me. Hope you can be happily ever after with my fan. I have a life to take care of before getting destroyed again by you. I’m not letting you do that to me again. You had your chance. It 's too late now.” You said and walked out of the dance floor to the table your friends were in. Sara followed you. The adrenaline didn't let you even see she was there with you the whole time.
You really needed to forget about what just happened.
You drink whiskey from one of your friend’s glass. You didn’t like whiskey. But you also didn’t like to admit you still loved Charles but you couldn’t let him hurt you.
Ever again.
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Hope you liked it 💌 if you have any ideas my inbox is open so send your requests!
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shouts-into-the-void · 2 months ago
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Just read screenshots of the Aaron extra chapter and I have so many thoughts, so here they are:
It's always so funny to me to be reminded of the fact that the animosity between Aaron and Neil is mostly one-sided. Like, Neil finds Aaron frustrating, but all the antagonistic stuff he does to him is ultimately in service of helping him in some way and while he's angry when Aaron provokes him, he otherwise regards him with disinterest and even expresses the desire to see what he's like when he's relaxed and enjoying himself during the party with the Vixens. Meanwhile Aaron just really hates that man.
I really appreciated Nora using this chapter to clear up some of the gripes a lot of the fandom has had with Aaron's character in the past and confirm that Aaron's comments to Nicky have to do with his cousin making graphic and unwanted sexual advances on their teammates, and his accusations towards Neil were from a place of concern for his brother. I also liked that it was pointed out that of course he would have at least some internalized homophobia due to being raised by religious zealots in a conservative area, but is unlearning it due to Nicky.
On a similar note, I'm glad that we were provided the context that Nicky's inappropriate behavior is a defense mechanism to weed out people who might hurt him rather than legitimate advances, because I think the fandom tends to forget that he is also a character with extreme trauma written outside of the "perfect victim" stereotype. His actions aren't okay, but the entire point is that they are the result of what he's had to endure just like every other member of the team
The implication that Andrew specifically signed with the Foxes so Aaron could go to college
Aaron and Andrew have the same nervous habit of picking at loose thread
It causes me physical pain to see Andrew clearly trying to open up to Aaron about his self-harm, but because his way of communicating is less straightforward (he doesn't lie, but he because he stuggles to confront and be open with his emotions, he presents the truth in flowery, vague language) and because the two dont really know or understand each other, Aaron can't fully grasp the implications of what he's saying
On the subject of things that cause me physical pain: baby Aaron telling his mom that he wanted to be a neurosurgeon like the people on TV and her laughing and saying he'd never make anything of himself. Fuck Tilda Minyard, all my homies hate Tilda.
Andrew is so uncomfortable, someone Get Him Out of There.
Going off that and his nervous habits (that Aaron mentions he did often enough to be noticable as a habit premedication), I am highkey wondering if the reason Sober Andrew doesn't talk to anyone outside Neil is because he's just. Socially Awkward.
We get a little bit of insight into Andrew's "misogyny" (I personally think distrusting certain people as a result of extreme personal trauma is a little bit different than just being sexist, in the same way women distrusting men because they're used to being harassed and belittled isn't misandry, but that's up to your personal opinion) and that his distain for Katelyn comes from the fact that he thinks she's stringing Aaron along and will turn out to be awful like his previous girlfriends (there's also a notable implication that Aaron has the same self-destructive tendencies as Andrew, and may be why he went out of his way to get him into college and on the straight-and-narrow) also see that this extends to Bee as well despite their close relationship, with him being so afraid that she'd reject him for being gay that he can't even look at her while talking about Neil, probably made worse by the fact that she's a maternal figure for him, which is where this trauma response originates.
Aaron is the only person on the team who's aware that Andrew hasn't slept with Neil, and the only one to grasp the significance of the fact that they've gotten close to that point already despite Andrew's trauma, outside of Renee
It was overall really interesting to see inside Aaron's head (I actually wouldn't mind a book from his perspective, he has a similar way of thinking to Neil but much more grounded) and to see Andrew through the lense of someone who just views him as Just A Guy
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kurophiliac · 3 months ago
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Hello, It's Plato. I am making this post to provide additional context on the accusations for those who do not use Twitter. As you saw from @bezierballad 's apology, the screenshots were all faked. But there's more proof I wanted to add that they did not include. I'm sure many of you have already heard this on Twitter, so my apologies for the repetition. These are just the main points I want to get out.
Zex, the creator of the screenshots, has been caught in several lies.
According to the time stamps in the fake screenshots, it would have been impossible for the messages to have come from the server where they claimed the conversation took place. Charlie left in 2023, Zex joined in 2024, and the screenshots were all marked "today." They also can't be old screenshots because Zex and Charlie were not on the server at the same time.
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When asked to provide message IDs, Zex said that they had already left the server (where they claimed to have obtained the screenshots from). However, as of right now, they are still on the server. They will be promptly removed once a moderator wakes up.
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Charlie and I's nicknames from the screenshots are not nicknames or pfps we ever had in the server they supposedly came from. These nicknames were exclusive to a 7-person group chat. The only reason Zex knew of them was because of a screenshot I posted a month or two ago. It would have been much more believable if they had used our actual usernames.
(Edit) Something I forgot to add- when Zex was questioned about how they got onto the server, they said they pretended to be a proshipper and DMd me for the link to the server where they took the screenshots. However, I haven't been active in that server lately, and I never sent anyone any server links within the past 6 months.
How were the screenshots faked?
There are two likely scenarios. One being that they were generated by a bot. There are *many* services out there that will generate fake discord texts. OR they used an alt account or friend to "roleplay" Charlie and I thirsting over Charlie's non-existent 5yo cousin. Which is infinitely worse.
So, who really is Zex, and what was their motive?
The easiest explanation regarding motive is just that they wanted to make proshippers look bad. This is pretty typical anti behavior. Charlie and I could have been selected at "random" as we are two bigger sebaciel accounts. But there might actually be more to it.
Now, from this point forward, we are stepping outside the realm of fact and inside the realm of educated guesses. There exists a person who has serious grudges against me, Charlie, and Bezier. Only one person who we are aware of. This individual is a proshipper with a history of going undercover as an anti to stir up trouble and a history of faking screenshots to make antis look bad.
This person was also in the server where the original confession/accusation was made.
They had deleted their account prior to the confession. Zex is actually a new account that only joined the anti server (where the confession was made) yesterday. They basically came into the server just to make this accusation. Pretty suspicious. It's likely that Zex, in an attempt to ruin Charlie and I's reputation as revenge for us ruining theirs, created these screenshots. As seen in the posts by Bezier, Zex asked them to make a post because they didn't want to deal with the repercussions. Zex knows these screenshots are fake, and they also know that people will eventually figure it out. So, if their attempt to frame us didn't work, at least they'd be able to ruin Beziers reputation. Or perhaps even all three, if people were more divided and hadn't come to a consensus. Please keep in mind that there is no evidence that the individual with the grudge and history of faked screenshots and causing drama is actually Zex. However, it is seeming more and more likely.
Anyway. This has been a very tiring day. I am grateful to Bezier for taking down the OP and writing an apology. And as for Zex- I will likely be taking legal action against them.
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99pansy · 18 days ago
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ss/mayo blogspot lore + frerard theory
hi I'm about to drop some insane lore that I don't think a lot of mcr fans/frerard theorists know about. this isn't discussed often so I figured I should write about it here before all the evidence is lost to time.
this is probably gonna be a long one so buckle in! i have gathered as much evidence here as possible but there's no way to be certain about anything. i'm trying to maintain as much journalistic integrity as i can throughout this post (also trying super hard not to insert my opinion too much) because i think a lot of this speaks for itself.
so i have a pretty significant frerard theory but i have to give a lot of backstory and documentation for it to fully make sense. this will not be in chronological order (to best suit the narrative) but i hope it makes sense
many people know about frank's F.T. Willz endeavors which have been proven as him in recent years. however, "ss" or "shitsubou shita" was another blog he had before this which is not widely known
around 2007, there was a major theory in the fandom that gerard and frank were running secret blogspot accounts where they'd post journals, poetry, etc. frank's account was iamthemodernprometheus.blogspot.com and gerard's supposed account was its-mayonaise.blogspot.com. both accounts are still up, though i'm not sure if any posts have since been deleted. this probably sounds crazy so i'll explain everything!
evidence for frank as SS/shitsubou-shita/iamthemodernprometheus
i strongly believe this was frank's personal blog, but you can come to your own conclusions based on this info
frank's supposed original blogspot handle was "shitsubou-shita." once fans realized this was his account, he deleted it pretty much immediately. you can read some fan discussion about the fall out from this in a comment thread here. this comment thread will be linked a few times in this post because most of the screenshots on this post originate from there.
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apparently *frank* was posting some very personal thoughts/feelings on this blog that he did not want to be discovered. i'll go over some of the deleted posts in a minute, but first i need to give more a little more context.
at the same time the blog is found, someone comments "your fired" on a recent post. apparently some fans thought the comment looked strangely out of place, and it was one of the last comments left before the account's deletion, on one of the final posts made.
this will be relevant later on, and we'll get into the account's posts soon.
my theory is that someone on the "inside" could have found his personal blog and tried spooking him, which could have been the final straw for him. or, the account being deleted could be completely unrelated to the weird comment. all of this can be found here (same link i posted previously)
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months after deleting their blog, shitsubou shita begins posting under a new url "iamthemodernprometheus" (but still under the pen name "shitsubou shita" or "ss" as fans called him)
in his new blog, and similarly to F.T. Willz years later, he still leaves plenty of crumbs for fans to figure out it's him. screenshot sources are below
latin heading: his page had a latin heading that when translated, reads "keep the faith"
bio on blogspot: "industry - chemicals", and "you dont stop playing cos you get old…you get old cos you stop playing" both sound suspiciously personal to frank
his url choice: "the modern prometheus" is the full title of mary shelley's frankenstein. frankenstein is a character that frank has always deeply resonated with due to his namesake, love of horror, and being born on halloween
spelling of wierd: SS and frank both spell "weird" as "wierd"
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i think he enjoyed the mystery of having a secret online persona, which eventually led to the creation of F.T. Willz in 2008. it seems like wanted to leave just enough evidence for people to suspect it was him, but not enough to prove it.
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here are some snippets of 2007 era discourse about the identity of "ss" and their deleted blog. you can find all of these comments and more context here. this was around the time gerard got married and fans felt like the dynamic on stage was different, and they were concerned about the future of the band. it's a LOT to go over so i would advise reading the comments if you want more perspective
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on the next page, an anonymous comment is posted which fans immediately begin to speculate is SS (frank). again, if you click the link you can get way more context than i'm able to provide here.
this insinuates that SS frequented the comments on mayo's blog, which i don't think he would have done without believing/knowing mayo is gerard
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there was a lot discussed in this thread including pretty solid evidence that frank/ss wrote the ancient and historic "eliza post"
if you are not aware of the eliza cuts drama, that's a totally different and equally as insane rabbit hole you'll have to research on your own
tldr; she is gerard's mentally unstable ex-fiance who he was engaged to very shortly before lindsey
gerard and eliza got engaged on may 22, 2007 (the last show of the black parade tour) according to this reddit comment.
the "eliza post" went up on june 4, 2007. here is the post in its entirety:
"Hi I felt I had to write to you guys to allay some of your fears regarding the rumours and speculation surrounding Gerard and Eliza and the future of the band. This is the only time I will ever post. I will not be able to respond to your comments or enter into discussion or debate on what I'm about to say. We are aware that this is one of the most popular message boards for MCR fans and we know you guys are the most dedicated and loyal fans in the world. It saddens me to see such division amongst the fans over one woman. If it's any consolation, you guys are not the only ones affected. She is merely tolerated by both band and crew. Believe me, nothing anyone can say will change his mind. She's been the cause of numerous conflicts and while we dont have to like it, we have to accept it, at least for the forseeable future. From day one this woman has had a hidden agenda - her manipulation knows no bounds. Some of you may find this difficult to believe but I assure you I have personally witnessed the two sides of this woman. Her so-called 'good deeds' are nothing more than PR exercises for his benefit. But he does not see what goes on behind closed doors. We have tried to draw his attention to her blatant self-promotion and diva demands. This is a prime example of love being blind. His feelings for her do run very deep. Her feelings for him, however, are questionable at best. Many people believe, including myself, that he is being used as nothing more than a stepping stone. It's disheartening to see someone you care about and have worked with for a very long time change as a person, becoming more detached and causing the group dynamic to change as a result. There have been conflicts and differences of opinions and compromises have had to be made She does not accompany the band on the European legs of the tour. Since being on this current European leg, he seems much happier which suggest she doesnt make him as happy as he thinks. Despite being asked more than once to remain discreet, she blatantly disregards his wish to keep his personal life private by continually fuelling the internet hype. The band has always been about the music and the fans. This will not change. MCR have never endorsed any type of clique as it encourages and promotes the kind of high school mentality that MCR have always fought against. Your continued support is appreciated and rest assured this woman will have no adverse affect on the band and the music. For obvious reasons I am remaining anonymous. Eliza, we know you trawl these message boards and you probably know who I am - but I'd like to see you try and prove it!!!"
it's clear that whoever wrote this had a very strong distaste for eliza and was deeply troubled by the idea of gerard marrying her. based on the language used and style of writing, i strongly believe frank wrote this post. i'll be circling back to this in a minute, because i have a little more to go over.
for more evidence that SS is frank, we can reference this reddit comment made just 9 months ago by someone heavily involved in the blogspot community at the time, kapunua. their username on this post is "ReallyKapu."
if you read through the comment links I provided earlier, you may see their name pop up. they are also mentioned by name on the "iamthemodernprometheus" blog. if you also search "kapunua mcr" on google, you can verify their involvement in the blogspot community at the time.
kapunua is also mentioned in its-mayonaise's post here (no screenshot provided for this one, its just a small mention)
there's also a screenshot of a different comment kapunua made about 9 years ago with similar information. i found the screenshot here.
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evidence that "mayo" is gerard
as mentioned in the post above, mayo often used british english syntax in his posts. he also posted about some pretty juicy stuff including a blowjob poem (you can seek that out yourself)
using british english isn't out of the ordinary for gerard. he often used an accent on stage during this time. moreover, he is a writer who has written multiple characters with this type of accent, showing he has a certain appeciation for it. i think his persona for the "mayo" account could been a sort of character he put on to disguise his idenity.
if you decide to view mayo's blog, you'll see each post has nothing but comments from mcr fans exclusively. i find it very interesting that the writer of its-mayonaise never bothered to make a post saying "hey, btw, i'm not gerard" in the 4 years this blog was run for
we have somewhat less definitive evidence that gerard is mayo. however, it is clear that at the very least, they had to have been someone involved with MCR or their crew at the time.
mayo makes a post alluding to their identity here, which you can find in the first screenshot below. this section sounds a lot like something gerard would write:
"I have been asked to reveal myself to you. You all know me. I am whoever you want me to be, I am an artist, a poet, a singer, a motherfucker, and a contradiction, a mouthpiece, a friend, and an enemy, a brother, an informant, a whipping boy, a basket case, a queen, and a criminal...(credit to John Hughes.)"
there are THOUSANDS of comments, many of which speculate the identity of mayo on each of his blogspot posts. you should definitely do your own detective work and see what you think, because there is far too much info to go through here.
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a frerard theory
as i previously mentioned, frank had deleted his original blog for shitsubou-shita in late september. however, prior to this, he made and then deleted some particularly turbulent and questionable posts
for context, the frerard fight happened on august 22, 2007, and gerard and lindsey got married on september 3, 2007 (just four months after gerard was engaged to eliza)
gerard and lindsey are married on the last night of the projekt revolution tour.
mcr takes a break for one month after this, where we can probably safely assume that freshly-married gerard and frank did not plan on seeing one another.
i think this was very troubling for frank for many different reasons. gerard had just freed himself of the eliza situation and here he was making the same mistake again. he was on the verge of losing his dearest friend yet again, and i believe that despite his best efforts, he could not get through to gerard.
obviously, gerard and lindsey are still married to this day. however, many fans might be aware of what happened between her and mikey. there's also a lot of other questionable information about lindsey circling the web, but that's a different story for another time.
weeks later, similarly to the eliza situation, shitsubou-shita makes and deletes the following posts on his original blog (this was prior to the creation of iamthemodernprometheus):
Friday, September 21, 2007 Abandon hope, all who enter here... What the fuck happened? Why didn't I see this coming? I made a point to keep out of it this time, but at what cost? I'm trapped between a rock and a hard place, it's a lose/lose situation. I've always been honest with you, shouldn't that work both ways? What's with the double standards? People are starting to notice. I'm not talking about kids, I'm talking about people in their mid 20's and 30's. People with life experience who can see the cracks starting to show. What am I supposed to say? I just dont have the answers. How can I reassure them when I need reassurance myself?
he says "i made a point to keep out of it this time" which seems like a reference to the situation with eliza i mentioned previously. he alludes to the idea that fans are beginning to notice the band's dynamic is not the same anymore. this was specifically around the time when "frerard" moments came to a pretty abrupt end.
he says "i've always been honest with you, shouldn't that work both ways?" which can be interpreted in a few different ways. he may feel deceived due to his best friend's sudden marriage. however, the intensity of the language used in this post shows he probably had some very intense feelings toward the situation.
it seems like the writer was having a considerably difficult time coping with these feelings. a day later, this post is made:
Saturday, September 22, 2007 Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. Bullshit. I've always been a smart ass, even as a child, although my mom would prefer to use the term precocious. I've always had trouble keeping my mouth shut, I'm an open book, completely ingenuous - secrecy and circumvention are not my style. But then I've never experienced extreme paranoia. So I'm writing this blog. I know you will never read it, I wouldn't want you to. Not everything is about you. This blog is for ME, a perverse catharsis, I need this right now to preserve the small amount of sanity I have left. A blog fuelled by disappointment, frustration, confusion and dejection. I am not laying the blame at your door. The burden of blame is mine. I didn't speak up soon enough. I didn't want to rock the boat, I've been there before. I didn't want to fight or endure days of being given the silent treatment. Its not fair on the others. Why do you always make everyone feel like they have to take sides? If I had been a better friend, I would have stepped in regardless of the consequences. I acted selfishly because I didn't want to lose you, but ironically, I may have lost you anyway. I meant every word I said at the diner and although I didnt show it, your smirk and glib response hurt me more than you will ever know. I don't know who you are anymore. I cant seem to find the right words. Nothing I say seems to reach you. You are wrong. I DO care. I love you. I refuse to give up on you and I refuse to let you push me away. I am going to fight for our friendship, you aren't the only one with a stubborn streak. We are in this together, for the long haul, I promise. I want my friend back. I miss him.
it seems like whatever the writer is feeling toward the subject of this post goes beyond the boundaries of a typical friendship. the final paragraph says everything we need to know.
we can assume that based on this post's mention of meeting a diner, that frank and gerard likely met up during their month-long break to talk about the way things went down
lastly, i know there's at least one interview floating or blog post around where frank says he was a difficult teen and a pain in the ass as a kid, but i can't find it right now. if anyone has the link to that i would love to add it here, because i remember it sounding pretty similar to that first paragraph.
Sunday, September 23, 2007 Is the pen really mightier than the sword? And so you continue to blog, as do I. The difference is, I am not hurting anyone. I'm just trying to gain some perspective while you are publicly making a fool of yourself. Your words are hungrily devoured and dissected by the masses, you seem to revel in the chaos and controversy. At the moment your identity is pure speculation, but have you thought about the consequences if anyone was able to prove your identity? Not just for you, but for all of us? Have you lost your mind? How can you be so selfish? You have become a self obsessed megalomaniac. I know what I get out of writing my blogs - but what do you get out of writing yours? Do you even bother to read the comments? Some of those comments break my heart. These aren't just nameless, faceless strangers, these are real people with real lives and real feelings. These are the people that allowed us to bring our music into their lives. These are the people that we see on tour, the people that wait outside for hours in the cold and rain just to meet us, the people that write us letters and make us scrapbooks, the people who care enough to bake us cookies and brownies, the people that send us birthday cards and bizarre, crazy ass gifts, the people that have given us their love and support, the people that cheer us on, the people that made us. Why are you so hellbent on destroying not only yourself, but everyone who loves you? You wanna see how far down I can sink? Your mom called last night - and I lied to her. After everything she has done for us, I lied to her. How do you think that made me feel? Do you even care?
this last post, for me, solidifies the identities behind each blog. it is so clear through the details in this post. to me, it seems like frank was hurting so bad, and in such a vulnerable place, that he completely let his guard down and made this post.
the mcr lyric included "You wanna see how far down I can sink?" is undoubtedly mind-boggling and speaks volumes to how carelessly obvious frank was (maybe intentionally?) willing to be
there's so much to unpack in this post and i honestly can't even begin to wrap my head around it. i would love to hear anyone's opinion!
later in the post, it seems clear that he is referencing the iam-mayonaise blog and gerard's seemingly wreckless posting. but mostly, i think he was lashing out due to pain of betrayal after losing the closest person to him and someone he deeply loves not once, but twice.
again, it's hard to believe how obvious he was being here, but i really think it was a result of the pain/suffering he felt
if you scroll back up to the first screenshot of this post, you can circle back around to when he removed his entire profile after making this final post, eventually rebranding to "iamthemodernprometheus"
the its-mayonaise account makes this post on september 30, seemingly as a response. the title could apply to frank, who as we all know, was gerard's best friend and right-hand man. the rest of this post can be interpreted in many different ways, so you can make whatever you want out of it:
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however, the last paragraph does give me pause... i would love to see/create a full analysis of this post, but i'm trying to stick to facts here so you can form your own judgement
after gerard's wedding and mcr's month long break, they play two shows in mexico (oct 4 & 7, 2007) and then the hoboken show takes place, where frank yells "lie to me" during i'm not okay and seems very low energy and unlike himself
i believe things gradually improved between them after this point, but i'm not sure if their connection was ever completely the same.
conclusion/my opinion
coupled with all of the other available evidence about gerard/frank's tumultuous friendship/relationship/situationship, i think this information strongly alludes to the idea that at the very least, frank had some very intense feelings for gerard that were not fully reciprocated. i would love to hear what anyone else's opinion is on this topic, because it definitely isn't discussed often
i think it's completely heartbreaking (especially with everything else we know) but i do think their incredible connection is a massive contributing factor to mcr's legacy
if you notice any inconsistencies in this post or have any questions, please send me a message! i want to keep this as consistent, comprehensible, and well-sourced as i can!
lastly please follow me if you liked this! i spent months researching and compiling sources for this post and i would so appreciate it <3
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thegoldencontracts · 9 months ago
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Too Late!
You and Azul are texting each other one day when he accidentally sends you some more honest texts.
Note/Warnings: Azul/Reader, fluff with a smidgen of angst (specifically Azul insecurities, he gets comforted tho)
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You loved Azul. A lot. You'd been dating him for quite a while now, after all. But you couldn't deny that it felt like he was a bit- formal with you, to say the least. Sometimes, it felt like he was playing the role of a perfect boyfriend in a Romance Novel's screen adaptation. How did he really feel? Was he happy to be somewhere, or was he just playing along so that the other students in his dorm could see how attractive and understanding he was while they seethed in envy at the fact that they were single and he wasn't?
Which was why when Azul slipped up one day when you were texting, you were very, very happy about it.
It was a boring evening, like always. You were texting Azul, complaining about your homework while lounging in your bed like always. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Zuzuuu <3: You know, if you'd like, I'd be happy to assist with your homework. It'll even be on the house, just for you.
Me: cant believe im dating a capitalist mf /lh
Me: really tho, tysmmm for helping <3 I don't deserve u bbg...
And then, something completely out of the ordinary happened.
Zuzuuu <3: how could you say that you're literally so perfect? I love you so much I keep doodling you bc you're so. Pretty. I simp so hard for you plz never say that again <3
At first, you wondered if Floyd wrote the text as a joke. It was pretty in character for him, after all. But that didn't make sense. This wasn't Floyd's way of texting, nor did it even attempt to imitate Azul's. When Floyd was in the mood to prank someone, he put in the effort to make it good.
Whatever. You took a screenshot of the message so you could treasure it forever. And lucky you, because right after you did, the message was deleted.
Zuzuuu <3: Please don't say such things about yourself, even for comedic purposes.
He was not being slick with that. You sent a text in response, giggling all the while.
Zuzuuu <3: Regardless, would you like to come over later today?
Me: Real slick hehe... Plz show me ur doodles of me they probably look so good bc you're good at art just like everything else somehow
After a while, Azul replied.
Zuzuuu <3: I don't know what you're referring to. Regardless, would you like to come over?
As much as you wanted to press, you decided not to. Too much pressing would just make Azul clam up more. You'd just have to get him in person, where it'd be harder for him to run away when you showed him the screenshot.
Me: Sureee! Heading over right now
And so, you set out for Octavinelle, evidence in hand. You were going to make him admit he sent that text.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the time you got to Azul's room, you had everything planned out. He wasn't usually so candid with you, and he was clearly ashamed of it when he was. You were going to figure out why.
You knocked on the door, and Azul opened it, letting you in.
"Come in," he said, tone even more formal than usual, by some miracle.
"Thanks," you said, taking a seat.
"So, about that text-"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Azul said, quick to cut you off.
"So quick to interrupt, Azul!" You said with a mock-pout, before grinning as you pulled up the screenshot on your phone. "But I think you do."
First, Azul's mouth hung open in shock. Then, his whole face turned red, lip quivering as a high-pitched whine left his mouth. Then, he moved to snatch the phone from your hands.
You narrowly dodged, and you couldn't resist sticking out your tongue at him.
"Too slow!" You laughed as he tried to grab the phone from you again, only to fail even more without the element of surprise on his side, because for all of Azul's many strengths, speed wasn't one of them.
"Delete that at once!" He shrieked, voice cracking in the middle.
He kept trying to grab it for a while, before finally giving up.
"Fine, fine," he grumbled, pouting like a kid. Cute. "You win. Are you satisfied now?"
"Very," you said, "because I get to see you. Your actual thoughts. Not just the ultra-filtered version."
Azul scoffed at that, seemingly in disbelief, though you saw the way he stifled a smile.
"Don't flatter me," he said. "My 'true thoughts' are not something you'd want to see in the slightest. Merely a more pathetic, messy version of what I already tell you."
"And that's precisely why I want to hear it," she said. "You sound so perfect all the time that I wonder whether you're really being honest with me, you know. It's just so refreshing to see you be gushy and candid about things. And pretty cute."
"How odd," he said, before turning to you with a face more genuine. "Thank you. For what little it's worth, I'll try to be a tad more honest with you. I can't promise anything, though."
You smiled.
"That's all I ask."
And really, truly, that was enough.
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Bonus:
"So, how'd you learn so much internet lingo? Never took you for that kinda guy."
"I'm in the board games club with Idia Shroud. What did you expect?"
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complete-clownery · 11 months ago
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Not me deciding that I wanna figure out how does Macaques dojo work, cuz I couldnt seem to find any ideas of it on the internet lol
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Okay so long long LONG rant:
Ik that in canon the whole place looks kinda-- moldy and shit and I get the lot of hc about how Macaque probably doesnt even live there since its in a very industrial outer neighborhood of Megaplois, and also it probably isnt really decorated or looks like someone is living in there at all, but I like to think that he has standards and they put like 272636373 nois cancelation seals on their bedroom so he can sleep camly when he actually can sleep (since in my hc Macaque suffers from insomnia (its a pretty common hc tho, but you get it)) and I think the outer circle of Megaplois is even tho industral and under constructuion on most parts, its probably more quiet than downtown
And I also like to imagine, Macaque even tho if not commited to a place will make it more homy. But looking at my reference pictures, in the dojo there were also a lot of posters and paintings (and in MKAGC Macaque did mention he might have a poster of wukong soooo~~)
For the layout I went after whatever felt right, since I had like 4 pictures to piece together a two-story house with a gallery(??) so its actually just me deciding what I want and where I wanna put it
(Here are the screenshots from lmk s1ep9 I used:)
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Okay Okay if you couldnt tell, for some reason im really hyped about this stuff so im going to lead you trough my thougtprocess, when imagining this whole thing, in order from ground level to gallery
1. Ground level:
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Ahh yes ground level: the problem child
(Im going to keep it somewhat brief here cuz I wrote a shit ton of explanations for it, but that somehow got deleted which I am super pissed about btw)
So I saw that a lot of hc with Macaques place are mostly that first floor is the dojo and the second floor is the living area, buuut~~ based on the screenshots of the series that doesnt make any sense. My reasoning? Simple really, its bc you can see the ceiling If you are standing in the dojo. This could lead to the conclusion that:
"Okay maybe then there is no second floor just a gallery in there somewhere and thats it".
Sure we can say that, but then you would ignore the fact that you cant see the front door of the building when Macaque slams Mk into a weaponstand.
"Okay then its on the other side of the room that we never got to see in the episode"
I mean maybe sure but to me from an animation point of view it just doesnt make sense, just why would they flipp the camera angle like that (I mean anyone can think whatever they want, everyones opinion is valid, its not like anyone would ever argue me on this one ((or read this whole brainrot trough in the first place lol)))
Haha anyways regardless of anything, let's go back to talking about the first floor, shall we?
Everything is pretty self explenatory: when you come in on the front door youll see a little shoe rack where you can but your shoes, and one stair to seperate the ante-room from the rest of the house
Then theres a long hall that leads to the enterence of the storageroom, the random room and the staircase that leads to the second floor
I couldnt decide on what to put in that big room-- I had no clue -- I was thinking maybe Macaque could let other people rent it for a few days of maybe theres a shop with an owner whos ranting the place from Macaque (I think thats an interasting concept, but I didnt explore any of them) oh well thats that tho
"""somewhat brief""""
Second floor:
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This was probably the easiest, since 90% of it is the dojo
But before that when you walk up to the second floor you can see a big boubel door that opens to the dojo, and a normal door that opens to the bathroom, which is strategicly placed there by yours truely. There is big brain logic behind it,, it might be inconvinient for Macaque to walk down the stairs from his bedroom trough the dojo to the bathroom (but also he can just shadow portal there--), but when ocasionally he mentors Mk, he might have to go to the bathroom while hes at Macaques place and I dont think Macaque would apritiate someone stomping trough his personal area, and thats why the bathroom is conviniently placed next to the dojo and not that far from the bathroom I know im a genius (**read everything in the bathroom part with a lot of sarcasm**)
Anyways, we couldnt even see all four of the dojos walls so that was also a 'gamble', but I went with a simple bouble door that I mentioned before and two weapon stands (yes those are weapon stands) and other than that you can see the rest of the room on the screenshots, theres also the staircase and that has some closet underneath it, but thats about it
The gallery (my personal favorit):
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Looking at my reference pictures i could see that the dojo took up a lot of space almost taking up the 1/2 of the building, which I think is reasonable and kinda cool, but that means small living area which I think is even cooler (I am a huge fan of small practical spaces, they feel so so cozy)
So Yeah the living space: mostly two rooms that I also illustrated on top of this post, (you probably saw it) with a balkony thingy before the enterence of the rooms, where you can look down and see the entirety of the dojo, good for observing.
When you go in the door (actually havent decided if I want to put a door there or curtains for style but meh who knows who cares), youll enter the small but spacious kitchen. I dont see the Six Eared Macaque as a homecook, more of a fake cooking guy (only making basic foods like eggs or toast, maybe ocasionally pancake), hints there is no built in stove or owen just a portable stove, a kettle and a toaster and a small fridge that has MKs drawing (that he drew for them at the end of season 3) magneted there :]
Other than that theres a sink and an old television, he got from the randomest place ever, maybe he fished it out of the trash idk, but he put it on top of the cabinets (rarely watches anything on it)
On the baseplan you can see that there was supposed to be a small table next to the sink with a chair, but it didn't make it to the final drawing cuz let's be honest: drawing interior in correct perspective without a reference picture is just not my strongest artskill I posess, so I got pissed and put a trashcan in there, Macaque can eat in his bed
Talking about bed, let's move on to the Six Eared Macaques room:
It is very small but pretty comfortable with a small bed but a shit ton of pillows for a good nights sleep, other than that there are a nightstand that has the Lantern on it (I know it sorta got lost/destroyed after defeating LBD but I wanted to put it there) and a drawer.
The nightstand probably doesnt have a lot innit, just some nick-nacks and tissues and maybe snacks, or a book or something, the drawer stores some of his clothes, but since I like to think that Macaque is a fashion icon that wont be able to fit most of their clothes, so maybe he stores them in a pocket dimension of shadows, and only has some esentials there when he needs to get ready quickly.
And we could talk about the posters plastered around the room, but most of them are kinda self-explanatory, but there are the poster of his shadowplaly of the hero and the warrior, some drawing, a "Hang in there babygirl!" Poster with a cat on it hanging in there, a poster of the monkey king (heh), phantom of the opera poster and a-- well--- that ones for my bestie hope she'll notice it, its a spies are forever poster (really fun musical a of spies, go watch it its on youtube), and a drawing he brought( maybe)
And thats about the bedroom
And we are still not done, how are we feeling about that?? Huh?? (You dont have to answert, this shit took me about 2 hours to write :] )
LAST PLACE: the corner of the windows opposit the kitchen and the bedroom. Its just a chill little place with pillows and blankets, where someone can bundle up and enjoy some tea or read a book or brood, whatever the monkey prefers. The special thing about it, is that you cant access the place without knowing how to levitate, fly, jump high, or use portals, not that much of a game changer since more than half of the lmk cast could get up there, but still a bit of a barrier in my opinion
AAAAAND~~~ thats it omg
Hi hello if you read this trough could you please comment or reblog with this: "🐵" cuz I wanna know about the brave soilders who went trough this immense amount of clownery,,, holly mother---
If you read this all 👏👏👏 you are amazing thank you for appreciating my work this much, have an amazing day or night ✨🪲
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goldfishontheceiling · 7 months ago
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"Alastor is just using Rosie" NUH UH whips out the list
1. He is capable of making friends, as seen with Mimzy. So it's not that hard to believe that he can have another friend if one (cough cough MIMZY cough) just comes around when she needs something. Mimzy doesn't even benefit him in anyway, yet he doesn't cut her off, which shows he can make friends.
2. Aside from the cannibals in ep7, what else could he get from her? I mean she does recommend him deals sometimes, but anyone can do that. If his true goal was control over the cannibals then their bond would feel a lot more shallow, like ep1-ep5ish with Charlie.
3. If Alastor was using Rosie for deal recommendations (since she gives him "prime pickings for a deal to be made"), then why not just do so with a mutalistic relationship instead of having to form that bond?
4. He bleat like a fawn. If he was acting, he wouldn't let himself lose composure for an act.
5. They both kinda get close to eachother in a way they don't with anyone else. SHE PICKS HIM UP AND SPINS HIM AROUND AND HE DOESN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT. Sure, he hugged Mimzy, but if she ever did that? She would most likely be dead.
6. If anyone else openly/jokingly insulted Alastor, he would go all scary demon ahhhhhhhh. But Rosie? Perfectly fine.
7. The way he talks to Rosie is different to the way he talks to Charlie. With Charlie he's a little bitch sometimes (oh Charlie you look an absolute mess!) and he kinda takes every chance he can to be a little bitch while still being nice and showing he's important.
8. Rosie knows things about Alastor that he hasn't even figured out (I know your an ace in the hole!), and for Rosie to know these things, that would require Alastor to open up about himself, which he doesn't like doing because "must be mysterious radio deer man." Even to Charlie, who he does have a bond with, SHE STILL JUST THINKS OF HIM AS "MYSTERIOUS RADIO DEER MAN"
9. Hating someone together is one of the easiest ways to start a friendship, especially in hell, where people hating each other is really common (Susan? Susan)
10. If he truly was manipulating all of his friends, he's a sinner, he still has a humanish mind. Humans crave bonds with other people as part of their instincts. And you could just get fake ones, but if you're the manipulator in that situation you'll know it's all fake and it won't leave you fufilled. Which is why having one or two genuine friends (Rosie/Mimzy) would have to be a requirement.
11. He has manipulated other Overlords in the past, like Vox. But with Vox, they would realistically never get along. Same with Vaggie, Angel Dust, etc, he just wouldn't be able to form a true bond with/a very strong both with those people. So yes, he's manipulating/has manipulated them. Rosie on the other hand? They're both cannibals from similar time periods, with similar interests, and they hate the same people.
12. Rosie is smart. She easily reads Charlie, a stranger, like a book. And if she's known Alastor for years (which she most likely has), she knows how to read him past that stupid permanent smile. So even if he was manipulating her, she would know.
13. He HATES Susan, and Vox, and probably some other people I can't think of off the top of my head. He can't stand them. So if he hated Rosie? He wouldn't be able to fake a bond like the one they have.
14. His pupils dilate around Rosie, which is a sign that you like/love whatever it is that you are looking at
Look at these
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COMPARED TO THESE
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AND IT ONLY HAPPENS WHEN IT'S JUST THEM TWO
15. Rosie agrees with him when he says that Charlie is "filled with potential that I could guide," so she knows that he's using her for that kinda stuff. With that moment it shows that she understands that Alastor is helping Charlie with her dream in exchange. I swear I had more thoughts on this one but then I got distracted with finding screenshots for 14-
Bonus reason that's more silly then reason: THAT DANCE IN READY FOR THIS IS TOO COORDINATED THEY HAD TO HAVE PRACTICED IT
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theamberplumbob · 3 months ago
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My Thoughts on Inzoi
I figured since my post about the whole Inzoi terms of service debacle blew up in a way that I never would have predicted, I should probably give a more nuanced explanation of my stance on the game and the discourse around it in general.
First off, I will just say right off the bat that I am not a fan of Inzoi, and unless some very big changes are made to the game, I am not interested in playing it.
I also want to make clear that my dislike of Inzoi is NOT motivated by any sort of love or loyalty to EA or The Sims. If there's one good thing to come out of Inzoi its breaking the monopoly that EA has over the life sim genera and giving The Sims competition. I also want to say that I despise EA for what it has done to the Sims franchise, and while I have played an absurd amount of hours in The Sims 4, I think it is objectively a bad product.
My biggest problem with Inzoi, first and foremost, is it's the use of AI. Inzoi allows players to use generative AI to make custom textures, designs, and paintings within the game. You may not agree with me on this but I am fully of the opinion that real artists should have been hired and paid to create all of the textures/paintings/designs for this game. Allowing players to upload their own photos and videos is one thing, but Krafton, a multi billion dollar company, chose to not support real, professional artists so they could save what is essentially pennies to them. All this results in, frankly, ugly and uncanny looking generated designs plastered all over the furniture and decor. For this reason alone I do not support Inzoi, but there's so much more to it than that.
There's also the fact that we have no idea how their AI is trained. Krafton apparently has an "AI Ethics Committee," but we have no clue what their actual code of ethics are. While it's bad faith to assume, they could be using stolen artwork for their AI. It is also very likely that whatever images you upload into the game, as well as any use of their facial scanning feature, could also be used as material to train their AI. This could lead to all sorts of ethical and legal issues I don't even know where to begin.
Secondly, I have to say, looking at the early access footage from youtubers and everything else I've heard about the game, it feels like its only going to repeat most of TS4's mistakes. In youtuber NotMalcolm's most recent video he discusses Inzoi's overly sanitized approach to various aspects of life, most notably that you can't try for a baby unless you are already married (source). Just like TS4, Inzoi is appealing to a younger demographic and sanding down the rougher aspects of life in order to cater to them. I fear that Krafton is likely taking it a step further and not only watering down the game for the sake of potential child players, but also using them as an excuse to enforcing extremely traditional values on its players. I have no interest in playing a life sim that only allows me to play out a single, socially acceptable way of living.
It also, like TS4, feels like a Young Adult Wish Fulfillment Sim™. The gameplay looks shallow, and it feels like it exists more to make aesthetic screenshots than it does to be an actual game.
I think when people say that Inzoi is missing the "quirky weirdness" of the Sims, what they actually mean is that Inzoi is devoid of personality. One thing that stuck out to me immediately is that the animations are so stiff, robotic, and lifeless. Again, everything is made to be ~*Aesthetic*~ with no regard to an actual sense of identity or personality.
I know people will say that its only in early access, but given how close public early access is to release, I highly doubt any significant changes are going to be made to improve what will be given to us when the time comes.
On a similar note, there's the fact that Krafton has never made a game before now that hasn't been riddled with micro transactions. I personally predict that Inzoi's monetization strategy will be just as, if not more predatory than TS4's is. The fact that we are drawing so close to public early access and have not heard a single word on their method of monetization speaks volumes. I simply do not trust it.
Now, of course, I need to elaborate on the whole Terms of Service Situation. I understand fully that Krafton's terms of service is industry standard and not too dissimilar to EAs, however, this post highlights that whats really concerning about Krafton's ToS is how difficult and confusing it is for players to access and review it. I find it understandable that Krafton's proud use of AI makes people a lot more nervous as to what their data could potentially be used for, and are going to be a lot more weary of Inzoi's ToS. Though I understand that it is only speculation, many have made the assumption that Krafton may use user's personal data to train AI.
I did not expect my post on the subject to make so much traction, and I now regret how impulsively I made the post. I feel I've contributed to fear mongering, even though I feel my concerns at the time were valid and I felt like people had the right to know. I could have done more research and given more of an explanation for what my concerns were instead of basically saying "Yikes..." and leaving it at that.
I was also told through an anonymous ask that the auto accepting of the ToS on closing the game was a bug that had apparently been fixed the first day the character creation trial was available. I of course cannot verify this myself, but I will take them on good faith.
I would also like to touch on two other talking points that have been very prevalent in the Inzoi discourse:
Diversity - I think this links back to my previous point about the game's goal of being as ~*aesthetic*~ (and marketable) as possible at the detriment of everything else. The game is clearly catering to a very specific, very pale and thin standard of Korean beauty, and I think that everything that doesn't conform to that standard was sidelined as a result. I will be fair and say that the Inzoi team still has ample opportunity to fix this and add more options over time. TS4 was also severely lacking on release, but over the years has made great strides in regards to representation. However I would have hoped that Inzoi, a game planning to release in early access in 2024, would do a lot better than a game that was initially released in 2014.
Partnership with Curseforge - I've seen many people accuse critics of Inzoi's partnership with Curseforge of being hypocritical, since TS4 also has a partnership with them. Of course, one would have to ignore the massive, community wide boycott of Curseforge, and the pressure the community has put on CC creators to stop using the platform for that claim to hold any water. I also think there is a notable difference in EA choosing to partner with Curseforge before the Israel/Palestine conflict began, and Krafton actively choosing to partner with Curseforge now, during an active genocide taking place, in which Curseforge's parent company, Overwolf, actively advocates for and donates to those committing said genocide.
In conclusion, there are a lot of valid reasons to not like/be suspicious of Inzoi. Of course I can't tell you what to do or what games you play, nor can I force you to agree with me, but don't be so quick to write off or demonize those who are simply trying to raise awareness or drawing boundaries regarding Inzoi and those who choose to make content with it.
I also encourage you to consider the points I've made and maybe think twice before investing yourself in yet another game that will very likely exploit your attachment to it in the very same way that EA and the Sims has. You need to make them deserve your time and money, which is why I'm encouraging you to advocate for a better and more ethical game.
You deserve better. We all do.
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