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ellesthots · 6 months ago

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Fateful Beginnings

I. “the club within the club”

parts: next

plot: when you find yourself needing a topic for a journalism final, you seek out an interview from Gotham’s elusive vigilante: Batman. this proves even more difficult than it already sounds, and tensions rise when you discover an intimate secret—just as Bruce Wayne realizes his own.

pairing: battinson!bruce wayne x fem!reader

cw: 18+ MATURE! NSFW! canon-typical violence, slow burn, enemies to lovers, angst, fluff, forced proximity, eventual smut, mutual pining, POV alternating, Bruce Wayne needs a hug, mental health issues (psychosis, suicidality), substance use, blackmail (or is it?), serious health issues, grief, brief mention of sa, gaslighting, mild gore

words: 2.1k

a/n: this is my first fic i’ve posted to tumblr and ao3, very excited to see how people like it ✨ same user on ao3 :) comments and reblogs are so appreciated! 💖

"I haven’t turned in the assignment yet, I'm so sorry," You fumbled with your book and it slipped forward on the desk. Your professor wasn't too happy with you; already a week late, this assignment was creating a piece of journalism about happenings around the city—the city was used loosely, because it was school policy not to require students be in the field for assignments. You never wanted to linger on what might have caused that rule to be enforced.

Dr. Vry was usually the picture of impatience, though she had a soft spot for you—she described you as a ‘journalistic prodigy’. You couldn’t see it, and it didn't help that you couldn't write your final piece when graduation was so near. While you’d done well in the intro courses, now that the material was more complex… you were struggling. She would say it was all in your head, and the only thing holding you back was lack of confidence in your burgeoning journalism skills, but you weren’t so sure. You had come from a sociology background but had interest in learning journalism with your last few credits, unaware how much grief this would cause you.

"Y/N, you're overthinking it.” She gently shook her head, her salt and pepper hair unmoving in the slick bun. “I'll extend it until the end of next week without point reduction. But after that it's out of my hands!" With that you thanked her, hurrying out of the class with your book tightly squeezed to your chest. Thank god, you thought. I can't fail out of a class in my last term.

That evening you holed up in your apartment per usual. You absentmindedly texted your one friend here, Margaret, but knew she was out clubbing. You’d met in a sociology course last year when you transferred. She had been the only one kind enough to show you around the city, the social butterfly she was; holding your hand as she dragged you from bar to bar, club to club. This led to a cat and mouse dynamic between you both: her always hopping to the next party albeit the occasional pit stop in your apartment and you, the reclusive homebody. You hadn’t always been so subdued, but you hadn’t always lived in the crime capital of the US.

You longed for more companionship, but focused on how you'd be leaving Gotham after graduation. The sting of loneliness here was too great, and it was no use stringing more people along. Mar had snuck her way into a crack in the first few months of your arrival. Back when you thought you might find something here. Back before you were proven wrong, and you’d given up on this godforsaken city.

Mar didn’t usually respond but tonight, she did.

Y/N, get your ass to the club! I miss you.

You chuckled a little to yourself at the idea of getting all ready to be sweaty in a room full of strangers. No thanks, have fun!

Within a second she had disliked your message and sent another: You'll find more inspo here than in your studio. I'm sending a taxi, be ready in 10

You groaned and threw the phone down. Ugh. You were tired from a long day of classes, and didn't want to pay to be humped by random clubgoers. Men in Gotham were nasty, taking every opportunity to try and get something from a woman. Plastered all across downtown were blistered posters with a faded number to report drink tampering. You should have expected as much with the city’s reputation, but coming from a small town you were naive. You picked up your phone and her text stared back at you. The day’s exhaustion had worn on your resolve, and the longer you looked at her text, the closer you were to giving in. More inspiration... she might be right. You looked around at your empty walls and the waning light outside, the sun rapidly giving way to a dark, rainy abyss.

Fine, only for an hour.

You reluctantly walked over to your closet to pick an outfit. This was gonna be a long night.

You found yourself standing out under your apartment patio, shivering in your dress. You chose something subtle: mini, dark, with some heels to match, though you admittedly didn’t have many options. You’d hurried and only put on lashes, lipgloss, and brow gel, because you thought your driver would be on time. Staring out at the flashing headlights threatened a migraine, so you whipped out your phone and went onto Scypher, a Gotham-area social media. You didn't bother going on very often, only on the rare occasion Mar dragged you out into the city. There was a handy 'Crime' tab, which had up-to-the-minute updates. It seemed pretty empty, only some car vandalisms the past hour. Hmm. You felt uneasy, the environment unusually calm for a Friday evening. Maybe it's a good thing. Wouldn't want to go out during a crime surge. You looked up as you heard a tire tempt the curb. Your driver called out your name, and you slunk into the backseat.

The drive was quick, with clubs practically on every corner. Mar hadn't told you which one, so you weren't prepared when the car pulled up to one of the most elite clubs in the city. Your face went pale, and your voice cracked as you failed making excuses to the driver. "I'm so sorry, my friend must have given you the wrong directions—"

"No, it's correct." He was stern, and when you started taking out cash to pay, he waved a dismissive hand toward you. "Your friend already paid, Miss." Flustered, and frankly confused he hadn’t sneakily accepted double payment, you thanked him and stepped out. The line wasn't too long, so you got behind a few people who were laughing hysterically. You noticed some green tinfoil out of their pocket: Drops. You forgot all the biggest dealers hung around here every night. What was Mar thinking bringing you here?

The line moved fast so you didn't have time to find an excuse to leave. You held out your ID to the burly, tall bouncer who gave you a once-over and a smirk. You stifled a groan, hating being looked at like a meal. Living in Gotham meant always feeling eyes on the back of your neck. The bouncer grinned and handed back your card, holding out another hand for the club fee. Shit. You fumbled in your bag and realized you didn't know the amount. Sheepishly, you looked over from your bag and scanned the wall behind him as quickly as possible. $50. Jesus. You managed to find three twenties crumpled at the bottom of your bag, and begrudgingly handed them over. He smiled and opened the door for you. "No change."

Well, guess I'm eating ramen this week.

Your ears began ringing the second you entered the booming club. People were packed in like sardines, and before you could even muster a thought you were grabbed fast from behind. You suppressed a scream.

"Y/N!!!" Mar wrapped you in a hug and you grabbed her to steady yourself. "Shit, Mar,"

"You look SO good! Fuck yeah!" She smiled and smacked your butt as she took your hand and led you towards the stairs. You hadn’t gotten much of a look, but her eyes looked bleary, red. "I met some guys that got us a lounge!" She was giggling but you pulled back, wincing. You'd already been sufficiently creeped on by the bouncer.

You rolled your eyes. "I thought this was a girl's night,"

She shook her head, grinning. "C'mon Y/N, get loose!" As she turned back to step up the stairs, a circle of green tinfoil fell from her pocket. You yanked your hand back, frustrated. No fuckin’ wonder. She was wasted. "MAR." You bent down to pick up the litter just as a man came up behind you, grinding against your ass. A bit of his drink spilled on your side, and you spun around to shove him back. Mar stepped up, always a willing wingman. "Hey, don't fuck with a woman like that, bitch!"

BAM BAM BAM BAM. Popping noises that sounded like gunshots rang out from the far corner of the bar. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. You grabbed for the railing to head for the exit when people running from downstairs rammed into you. After a few seconds desperately straining your vision to look for Mar, you covered your head with your arms while you ducked. The gunshots inched closer and closer, egging on your heart rate, curdling your thoughts sour. I shouldn't have come. I don't want to die. I shouldn't be here. What the fuck am I doing here? I shouldn't have come. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I'm going to fucking die.

You heard a rapid increase in gunfire and then a total ceasing. You wanted to look up, but it was too terrifying. Sweat beaded on your entire body as it became electrified with adrenaline—you had known how unsafe Gotham was, you just hadn't seen yourself in the crossfire… until now. You squeezed your eyes shut, pushing yourself hard against the side of the stair to try and make your body as small as possible. You wondered if everyone else had been killed, and they were looking for any survivors… The rough concrete texture burrowed itself into your arm as you jammed it even harder, forcing yourself to be compact. I could be dead with just one bullet.

Before more morbid thoughts could form, you yelped as you felt your body being lifted and slung over someone's shoulder. Something was hard and slick against your stomach, and you opened your eyes manically to see the world whizzing around you. The arm that held you was strong, so strong you couldn't slip out if you tried. You ducked your head as the person ran you both toward the back exit with total ease. Panic started to set in. It's so dark. Who is this? Is he gonna have his way with me?

As soon as you were brought an alley down, fully away from the chaos, you began fighting against the stranger. The streets were so dark you still could hardly see, but it felt like the person was armored. You’d heard some small grunts from them on the short sprint here, or maybe you’d imagined them? Regardless, you couldn’t place the voice while your ears were still bright with tinnitus. You shouted, trying with all your might to shove them off of you, to no avail. "Let me GO!"

"Stop fighting." A low, gravelly voice spoke right next to your ear. You continued struggling to the point you felt a bruise forming on your bottom ribs. It was as if the entire world had zoomed in, and nothing mattered more than escaping. You drew a quick breath, tensing your body to fight. This motherfucker isn't gonna let me go, is he?

Without warning he relinquished his grasp and you slid off the man, landing squarely in a puddle. You looked up and through the darkness saw a masked man clad in deepest black... the Batman.

"Thanks, uh," You immediately broke eye contact, feeling awkward. The tornado of panic in your chest relaxed ever so slightly. You felt bad for fighting so hard against him, but you hadn’t known any better. Before you could fully realize the gravity of what had just happened, how Vengeance himself was standing before you, he noticed something glint behind your ear.

"Turn around." The voice was low and gravelly still, and you spun around instantaneously. You'd heard good things about the Batman in your year and a half here. A few of your classmates had direct experience with him, having been saved on one occasion or another. "He never stuck around, he was always gone as quickly as he came." It seemed almost instinctual to trust him. And, his voice brooked no argument.

Suddenly the back of your head lit up in flaming pain.

"You need stitches." He stepped back and through the deadened night you saw a screen light up on his arm. "Victim with head wound on Feller and Kelley." You heard a faint 'Roger' before the screen went black. Fear shot through you the same time as relief. You were safe, but you had to get a needle snaked through your scalp. The thought made you physically ill.

To your surprise, he was already halfway down the alleyway when you looked back; just as he turned out of view, police lights illuminated the alleyway. Holy fuck, you'd just met the Batman.

And you hadn’t gotten a good look at him.

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sapphicdib · 7 months ago

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Rot Au Explanation!

(and an introduction to my OCs and stuff!!)

I’m making this little intro post to put most of my rot au thoughts in one place! The tag on my blog is #rot au, but some of the older info is probably outdated at this point. I ALSO LOVE ASKS ABOUT IT!! I like replying to them with little comics sometimes so feel free to send some my way :D

Finally: TW for Manipulation, toxic as fuck relationships, SOOOO much murder, no one in this AU is a good person at all!!

Becoming increasingly frustrated with his citizens treating him like “Moon but worse”, Pebbles goes to Sig for help—he wants to be able to retaliate, or at least throw them out of his chamber when they’re being especially insulting, but he can’t do that with the taboos placed in his code. These restrictions are physically painful to break, in order to keep their artificial gods in check. Above all hangs one taboo so deeply encoded in them that rumor says if you even think of breaking it for too long, you’ll shut down from how overclocked your systems become from the pain: the altering of one’s own genome.

Much to his chagrin, Sig is the best bioengineer Pebbles knows, and probably the only one crazy smart enough to pull this off. Sig is reluctant at first, knowing how dangerous and nigh impossible such a task will be, but eventually is convinced, agreeing to help give advice and nothing else. Pebbles agrees, and they get to work.

...And it fucking works.

There are 2 main local groups: 037 (Moon's group), and 1650 (Sliver's group). In descending order of age, they are:

Looks to the Moon - (she/her) Group Senior of local group 037. One of the oldest still functioning iterators, softspoken and kind, despite the fact some other seniors might consider that a weakness. She tries to take care of her citizens and work on the great problem, but she can’t really bring herself to care much about it anymore, after working on it for so long. She is incredibly caring to her group, but she does know when to put her foot down, though she has never found it in her to use her seniority privileges against one of her group members, as she considers them a violation of their autonomy. Sig’s partner.

Seven Red Suns - (he/xe/they) Second oldest of local group 037. Close to Moon in age, which means their emotional AI is not quite as advanced as those younger than him, which can lead to issues when they are trying to understand their own and others’ feelings. He does his best though, and is generally a dedicated and agreeable member of the group, though they’re kind of aloof until Pebbles is constructed. They are active in the politics of their city, mostly as someone to give advice and guidance, rather than a leader.

Sliver of Straw - (she/her) Group Senior of local group 1650. One of the youngest seniors there is, she’s closer in age to Sig than she is to Moon. This makes her highly insecure, and she is determined to “prove” to everyone that she is a capable Senior. This leads to her being very strict with her group, as she wants someone within it, or herself, to find the solution in order to show her worth as a leader.

Once Stagnant Opportunity - (she/her) “Second in Command” of local group 1650, she’s basically Sliver without the inferiority complex. A bioengineering-focused facility, mostly specializing in creating things to make her citizens’ lives easier. She doesn’t give a shit what others think of her, and speaks her mind freely, aside from around Sliver herself, who she pretends to like but is actually insanely jealous of. She thinks she could be a better leader than Sliver ever could be, and resents her for it. (OC)

Echos of Indigo - (he/she/they) Member of local group 1650. Very soft spoken and shy, his self esteem is in rubicon from being bullied by OSO (and Sliver) after being put online. Their facility is a nature reserve, which has some of the very last natural, unpurposed biodiversity left. OSO specifically does not respect her because she thinks preserving such things is a waste of time. He tries his best. Kinda a “mom friend” to ABL, and really wishes he had some friends his age. (OC)

Chasing Wind - (he/him) Member of local group 1650. Rules his city like a dictator, due to being terrified of his own citizens taking advantage of him, so he took initiative with a “hurt them before they hurt you” mentality. He doesn’t trust his group members further than he can throw them, and suffers with some paranoia. Sig is very close to him though, they were put online within 50 cycles of one another. Sliver HAAATES this, because she thinks Sig is a lazy asshole and doesn't want her “distracting” Wind. He doesn’t particularly care, though, because he can actually let himself chill out around Sig.

No Significant Harassment - (she/he/it) “Second in Command” of local group 037. An advanced medical facility with a specialization in bioengineering, and the northernmost iterator in her group, her can is in an extremely cold area. Doesn’t give much care to the great problem, prefers to spend his time goofing off. Is considered the “Second in Command” because Moon trusts her a bit more than Suns, as they’re closer. Has a generally laid back and sarcastic personality. Moon’s partner.

Pleading Intellect - (they/them) Member of local group 1650. Built near EOI, their city has become a tourist destination because of the beautiful climate around them. Their chamber is a glass box in the middle of the city, so visitors can watch them iterate and even ask them questions. They are constantly tired due to this, since they have to be running at 100% around the clock, as they’re always being watched. Their city is the richest in the local group, and their puppet is decorated in gold and jewels to reflect that, and for the delight of tourists. Friends with Sig, Wind, and Pebbles.

Unparalleled Innocence - (she/they) Member of local group 037. While she can be a little bit of a brat, she’s a very dedicated caretaker for her city. She enjoys her citizens’ celebrations and rituals, and is generally content being their iterator. Her can is an industrial facility, and manufactures a lot of machinery for her local group and others. She’s quite popular among the iterator populous, friends/on good terms with most around her. ABL is very close to them.

Alienated by Light - (they/them) Member of local group 1650. The youngest of the group, has yet to be crushed by the futility of the great problem. Loves their citizens, and their city is very religious. They are a bit of a kiss-ass to the older ones of their local group, as they desperately want to be accepted and liked by their peers. Sliver and OSO just find them annoying, though. They consider themself close friends with Indigo (who keeps them at arms length at best), but UI is genuinely close with them, and they have a developing crush on her. (OC)

Five Pebbles - (he/him) Youngest member of local group 037. Built as a support structure for Moon, so her systems wouldn’t have to strain themselves trying to keep up with caring for her citizens. His construction was tumultuous, as there was heavy political opposition and even a couple attempted attacks in order to stop it, though obviously it didn’t work. Cycles later, he still can’t seem to shake being referred to as the “Apostate Superstructure Abomination” in certain political circles. He is deeply frustrated by this, and becomes disillusioned with his purpose rather quickly. He becomes close with Suns when he tries to distance himself from Moon, who he is constantly being compared to.

-------------

Once Sig and Pebbles manage to alter their genome, things seem fine for a couple cycles, or well, at least for them. They start distributing the code they created to a small group of friends/iterators they know are frustrated with their situation, unknowingly dooming them to a slow, painful death from the rot. Word gets out eventually about what Sig and Pebbles have done, especially once Pebbles starts “retaliating” (killing) his citizens when they annoy him too much. Cue absolute fucking panic.

Their citizens freak the fuck out. Their iterators, their homes could literally decide to just betray them at the drop of a hat. Political mayhem ensues, among both iterators and their citizens. Some of their citizens immediately go to groveling at their iterator’s feet, begging them not to infect themselves, while some lobby for trying to reason with Sig and Pebbles and the rest of those who have gone rogue, to work out a solution that would satisfy both of them. Some want to shut the entire iterator project down. Meanwhile, on the iterator side of things, workgroups are created, with some wanting to work to reverse/talk Pebbles and Sig down, some secretly gathering in hushed whispers to voice their wishes to go rogue themselves, and some are trying to figure out how to kill the traitors. Sliver is a part of one of those groups:

This is where Wind comes in. Wind is Sig’s best friend, put online about 50 cycles before her. Wind is part of Sliver’s group, and she absolutely despises their relationship, considering her contempt for Sig. However, this doesn’t stop them from goofing off together, as Wind really only drops his stoic and standoffish personality around her. He is incredibly paranoid, and distrustful of his own group (considering how Sliver continuously tries to prevent Wind from having fucking friends), as well as his citizens. When he realizes his citizens could be planning to shut him down, he tightens the reins on them even further, as he was already basically a strict dictator beforehand. He thinks that because of his treatment of them, his citizens absolutely want him dead, so he locks down his city and turns it into a literal surveillance state.

While this is happening, Sig notices something bad. They’ve got the fucking rot. Since they’ve already created so much chaos, they decide to keep it a secret, as they think they can just cure it as quick as they can and just sweep it under the rug, and no one will be any the wiser. Yeah that doesn’t work. When Moon notices that Pebbles shut the dams between their shared water supply, using more water, and has been acting very strange and distant, she goes to Sig because she knows they’ve been hanging out and Pebbles may have disclosed something to him that she doesn’t know. When Sig is similarly cagey, she asks for a diagnostic sweep of his systems. Sig refuses. Moon uses her seniority privileges, something she has never done before, to force Sig to send her the equipment manifest, and the truth is revealed: Sig and Pebbles are horrifically sick. Sig didn’t even realize the extent, as the rot has begun to hide and warp information they can collect from their structures.

Upon learning that Sig and Pebbles have given themselves the fucking rot, Suns completely cuts both of them off. He refuses to speak to either of them, because they’re scared that they could become convinced to “join them”, and this hurts Pebbles deeply. At the same time, Sig becomes distracted trying to convince Wind to infect himself (which I’ll come back to in a minute), and Pebbles is left feeling betrayed and alone.

Pebbles, despite his contempt for his citizens, actually really enjoys their culture. He thinks that when they aren’t being led by corrupt and rich assholes, they are a very interesting species and likes documenting and learning about them. He’s always been friendly with Pleading Intellect, who if you remember, is very involved in their citizens’ celebrations and daily life, so they begin to talk, growing closer. PIn eventually even begins to develop a crush on Pebbles, which spoiler alert, does not end well, like most things in this god awful au.

The way that seniority privileges work is that a senior can only use them on their own group. This means that Sliver cannot do jack shit to Sig or Pebbles, but she is going to try her damndest to figure out how to be able to extend her seniority to them. Sig knows this, and comes to the conclusion that he has to kill her before she kills him. This leads to him trying to convince Wind to infect himself so he can alter his own code to basically give himself seniority privileges and brain blast Sliver into oblivion. Sig uses the fact that Wind is already deeply paranoid against him, and he is eventually convinced, and the two end up killing Sliver:

This is what finally knocks some sense back into Sig. She realizes that HOLY FUCK WIND WE ABSOLUTELY FUCKED UP, and begins to desperately scramble to find a cure. Because Pebbles is still pissed at her, he refuses to help him, and even goes so far as to contact Suns again…who accepts the message. They start talking again, and out of an act driven mostly by the rot’s manipulation of Pebbles, he sends Suns the virus in a compromised message, and now Suns is infected. Sig is fucking PISSED. Why the hell would Pebbles fucking SPREAD THE ROT TO YET ANOTHER GROUP MEMBER, and also LEAVE HER TO DO ALL THE WORK WHILE HER SYSTEMS ARE DETERIORATING RAPIDLY?! Unfortunately, Pebbles has basically completely stopped fighting against the rot’s takeover of his mind and body, and pretty much succumbs to its whims.

This leaves Sig on her own. Moon and Wind try to help, though Wind has become so paranoid due to the rot feeding into that delusion he eventually shuts everyone out. Moon and Sig quickly realize that Sig barely has control of his structure anymore, and any and all attempts to run experiments or simulations of a cure come back with an error message near immediately. Moon knows that while Sig’s systems are very advanced, there’s no way that these errors are being processed this quickly, and the rot is manipulating his systems into not letting her hurt it whatsoever.

Meanwhile, the rot feeds on Suns’ love for Pebbles and twists it into a horrific jealousy/obsession. When they find out about PIn’s crush on Pebbles, he becomes incredibly angered by it, and one night while Pebbles is visiting PIn, they show up, grab Pebbles, and erase his memories of PIn right in front of them. PIn freaks the fuck out, and goes to Moon for help, and this is how Moon learns just how insane Suns and Pebbles have gone. This is getting bad!

PIn eventually goes to Wind and asks for the code to infect themself. They realize that even on the slim chance Sig and Pebbles and everyone else were to be cured, nothing would ever be the same again. They are already worked to the bone by their citizens due to being watched by them nearly 24/7, and they just want some damn sleep. Wind gives it to them.

Sig is also completely losing her grip on reality. The rot knows how hard Sig is trying to fight it, and begins just fucking melting her neurons, giving him what he wants (which are basically just hallucinations of Moon), to pacify him and stop him from focusing on attempting to find a cure.

Upon learning about what Suns has done to her brother, Moon tries to contact them, begging Pebbles to come to his senses, and eventually tries to use her seniority privileges on both of them to get a response, and this is what finally makes Suns snap. Moon comes over to Pebbles’ chamber right in the middle of him erasing Pebbles’ memories of Moon and Sig. Panicking, Moon tries to get Sig to come over, to help, to do ANYTHING, but it’s too late. Pebbles doesn’t even know who they are anymore.

Moon tries to use her privileges again to stop Suns, shut them down, get them to stop feeding Pebbles lies about Sig and Moon, but this just pisses off Suns more. Sig tries to defend Moon from them, but at this point he’s so weak a light breeze could have probably killed her, so Suns is easily able to kill her.

And then kills Moon too.

The end :3

And that's the basic explanation! Horrible, isn't it? :D

#rain world #rain world downpour #rain world au #rain world iterator #iterator oc #rot au #my art #rw #wow look i have actual ocs!!

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lettucing · 3 months ago

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look of love, rush of blood | chapter one

words: ~4.3k | pairing: jschlatt x she/her, afab reader

summary: What starts as a reluctant outing with friends takes a turn when you accidentally spill a stranger's drink at the bar.

notes: FIRST CHAPTER IS HERE WOOOO!!!! hope u guys enjoy this (not so) lil intro while i get into the good stuff... >:]

⭑

"Y/N! COME ON, THE UBER IS HERE!"

“Shit. Where the hell is it?” You think, frantically digging through your makeup bag for your favorite lipstick. You’re racing against the clock, determined to finish your look before your roommate decides to leave without you. “Sorry! I’m coming!” you call out, your voice tinged with urgency.

You sigh a breath of relief as you finally spot the lipstick, buried deep in the bag like it’s playing hide-and-seek. You apply it as quickly yet precisely as you can, topping it with the matching lip gloss. You step back and give yourself one more look over in the vanity mirror, mostly satisfied with your outfit, and give your hair one last tussle for good measure.

Just as you grab your bag and phone the door swings open, revealing your roommate Joelle, her expression a mix of excitement and mild panic. “Y/N, did you hear me? We’re late! The others are already waiting!” You barely have time to process her words before rushing out the door behind her. “Agh! I lost track of time!” you exclaim, locking the door to your apartment with a sense of urgency. “It’s fine! We just need to hurry before the bar gets too crowded,” Joelle replies, her smile reassuring you as you dash down the stairs, not having time to spare to wait for the elevator.

When you reach the bottom floor, you glance through the glass front doors of your apartment complex to see your Uber driver waiting at the curb. “Oh, thank god he waited,” you mutter, relief washing over you. You and Joelle hop in the back seat, your thoughts wandering while your roommate makes small talk with the driver.

Going out wasn’t really what you had in mind for tonight. After a grueling week at work, you envisioned a peaceful Friday evening at home, possibly even treating yourself to your favorite takeout. You had already changed into comfy sweatpants and settled in with your laptop when Joelle got home, practically bouncing with excitement. She eagerly proposed a night out for drinks with your mutual friends, Sage and Alana, at a bar and lounge you’d never been to before. The thought of braving a crowded bar was the last thing you wanted. But as she continued to plead her case, you found yourself wavering. With a resigned sigh, you finally agreed, knowing deep down that it wouldn’t be so bad. There was something therapeutic about getting pretty for a fun night out with your friends- the couch will always be there when you get back.

When the car finally pulled up to the bar, the vibrant energy spilled out onto the sidewalk. Music pulsed faintly through the air, and the sounds of the bustling city enveloped you as you stepped out. Taking a deep breath, you followed Joelle inside. As you stepped into the trendy lounge, the warm glow of hanging lights illuminated the room, buzzing with activity; people chatting at the high-top tables and booths, others leaned against the bar, drinks in hand. A disco ball hung from the ceiling above the small dance floor at the back of the room where a few brave souls were already swaying to the rhythm of the music spilling from the speaker system.

Joelle turned to you. “I’m gonna get us some drinks. Sage and Alana are right over there.” She points you to a cozy corner where your friends were already gathered, their laughter standing out to you amongst the buzz of the room. As you approached, the couple's familiar faces filled you with warmth, easing the lingering reluctant nerves from earlier.

“Finally!” Sage called out, grinning. “We were starting to wonder if you guys were actually gonna show up.” You grinned, settling into the booth on the opposite side of your friends. “It took me a minute to get ready! I was already in my sweats when Joelle nearly started dragging me out of the apartment by my ankles.”

“Worth it, though, right?” she teased, raising her drink in a mock toast.

You chuckled, glancing around the bustling bar. The warm glow of the lights, combined with the upbeat music, started to lift your spirits. “I guess it’s not so bad.”

Just then, Joelle slid into the booth beside you, her smile wide and infectious. “A vodka-cran for the lady!” she declared in a mock-old-timey British accent, placing a glass in front of you. “Why, thank you, dear!” you replied in the same accent, laughing before shifting back to your normal tone. “I’ll get you back later?” Joelle just grinned. “Nah, consider that my thank you gift for changing out of those ratty-ass sweatpants.” You gasped dramatically, placing a hand over your heart. “Excuse me? Those ‘ratty-ass sweatpants’ are my favorite comfy pants! A beloved staple of my wardrobe!” “Staple? More like a fashion crime,” Alana shot back, laughing. “But hey, the outfit you swapped them for is adorable!” You roll your eyes with a grin and take another sip of your drink. “You guys suck.”

The four of you sat and talked for a long while after that, sharing stories, teasing one another, and catching up on all the latest happenings in your lives. Sage had plenty of horrifying encounters to recall from her job as a daycare instructor, while Alana shared the latest drama on who was hooking up with who at her office staff parties. Joelle insisted on a second round of drinks, and before long, you felt that familiar warm buzz starting to settle in.

As you finished your second drink, Joelle leaned forward over the table, a playful grin on her face. “Okay, not to change the subject, but that dance floor is getting full and I think we need to go dance.”

You couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at Joelle's sudden enthusiasm. “Oh yeah?”

“Absolutely! Come on, dance with me!” Joelle said, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

You took another sip of your drink, weighing the idea. The music pulsed through the bar, calling to you. “Alright, let’s do it!” you said, feeling a surge of spontaneity.

Joelle shot up from her seat, her confidence contagious to not just you but to Sage and Alana as well. The three of you followed Joelle’s lead, and as you made your way toward the dance floor, you felt a mix of nerves and exhilaration.

With the music thumping around you, you stepped onto the dance floor, letting the rhythm guide your movements. Joelle began to sway, her energy infectious. You couldn’t help but smile as you joined in, letting the music wash over you. As you lost yourself in the rhythm, the energy of the dance floor enveloped you. Your friends’ shouts mixed with the beats, and you could feel the weight of the world slip away. The crowd moved in sync, bodies swaying and spinning. You jumped to the beat with your friends, singing carelessly.

After god knows how many songs, you realized you needed two things: a moment to sit down and another drink. Your friends were still bouncing around, showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Leaning in toward the group, you raised your voice a bit over the music. “Hey, I’m heading to sit at the bar for a minute. Do you guys need anything?” Joelle flashed a wide smile, clearly a bit more buzzed than you. “We’re all good, babe!” With a playful wink, Joelle added, “There’s a really pretty guy I've got my eye on. Let us know if you need anything, okay?” You smiled back. “Of course, good luck! Love you!” you shouted as you turned toward the bar. “Love you more!” Sage called after you.

As you made your way across the lounge floor, you suddenly became aware of the slight sway in your step. You quickly settled onto the last empty barstool all the way at the very end of the bar, next to someone you didn’t pay much mind to.

As you sat for a moment waiting for the bartender, you turned in your stool to glance back at your friends. Sage and Alana were dancing together right in the middle of the dance floor, while Joelle had already moved off to the side, chatting with a tall brunette guy wearing glasses and a couple of chunky rings. They seemed to be hitting it off, and you couldn’t help but smile at your friend’s confidence. Damn, you thought. You’d be lying if you said your roommate had bad taste in men.

As you turned around, your hand collided with the bartender’s just as she was setting a drink down next to you, causing her to drop the glass and spill its contents across the bar- and into the lap of the man sitting next to you.. “Oh shit, I’m so sorry!” you exclaimed, quickly facing her. She waved her hand dismissively. “No worries at all.” She looked at the man sitting next to you. “I’ll grab you some paper towels and make you another one. Just give me a sec.”

You put your head in your hand, a wave of embarrassment washing over you as she handed the man a roll of paper towels. You sighed to yourself, figuring you should apologize to the stranger next to you for being an idiot. As you shifted on your stool to face him completely, your breath caught in your throat.

Shit.

He glanced back at you, thick eyebrows arching over warm brown eyes framed by long lashes. Messy brown curls peeked out from under a Yankees baseball cap, and he sported well-groomed mutton chops and a mustache. The intensity of his gaze combined with his broad shoulders gave off an intimidating presence that made you feel another wave of shame for spilling his drink- but damn, was he handsome.

“I’m so sorry about that. I was watching my friends, plus I’m a little buzzed— I just wasn’t thinking straight.” you stammer as he palms his thighs with the paper towels, feeling your nerves kick in. The man smiled slightly, placing the used paper towels down on the bar as he finished wiping off. “Don’t sweat it, ’s just a drink. I’ve had worse nights in bars.”

You mentally thank whatever higher power is watching over you for letting you spill a drink on someone easygoing instead of a hotheaded jerk. “I still feel bad." You smile nervously. You pause, a silence hanging heavy over the two of you. You glance at him, and the two of you lock eyes.

You can't tell if it's the liquor, the eye contact, or both- but something in you pushes to make small talk.

Shifting your weight in your seat, you raise an eyebrow. "Well, okay, how much worse of a night are we talking here?” He chuckled reluctantly, as if he were unsure about sharing the story. “Well, there was this one time I saw a girl getting hit on by some creep, she looked really uncomfortable. After a few drinks, I guess I tend to get a little bold, so I decided to tell him to back off.” He paused, shifting his weight leaning on the bar. “Turns out, he was her boyfriend.” You winced. “Oof…” “Yeah.” He nodded, laughing a bit. “He almost kicked my ass. I finished my drink and got the fuck outta there.” You smiled, thinking about how he went out of his way to make sure a girl he didn’t even know wasn’t in danger. “At least you tried to help her,” you said. “That counts for something, right?” He shrugged, a hint of humility in his smile. “I guess so. But it’s funny how quickly things can turn, y’know? One minute you think you're doin’ the right thing, and the next, you're just trying to dodge a punch. Literally or metaphorically.” You nod with a smile. “Yeah, I get that completely.” He nodded back, and the conversation faded for a moment.

You glanced at him. “I’m Y/N, by the way.”

He returned your gaze, a slight smile appearing on his face again. “Schlatt.”

As if on cue, the bartender brought over his replacement drink, and you reached into your pocket for some cash. “Here, let me pay for that.” you offered, and he waved a dismissive hand. “Nah, it’s okay. I already have quite the tab running with my buddies.” Before you can protest, he holds up a finger and grabs the glass, taking a sip of what was presumably whiskey. You watch his expression as he drinks, noting how his nose scrunched slightly as he downed the liquor. He places the glass back on the counter with a soft clink. “Agh, that’s some good shit.” he sighs, lifting his hat to run a hand through his curls before placing it back on. Your cheeks warm- you blame it on the alcohol.

“Can I buy you a drink?” Schlatt asked after taking another sip, and you laugh, shaking the heated feeling from your face. “Do you always buy a drink for someone when they spill liquor in your lap?” He shrugged with a smile, a playful glint in his eyes. “Only the ones who make a memorable first impression. You shoulda' seen your face when it spilled, you looked like you had just shot me or somethin'. It was fuckin’ hilarious.” You rolled your eyes, laughing along. “Yeah, well, I wasn’t exactly aiming for comedy tonight. But I guess I’ll take it as a compliment.”

“Hey, every night out on the town needs a lil’ bit of chaos,” he said, leaning his forearms against the bar again. “Makes for better stories later.” You grinned. “Yeah, you got me there.”

Schlatt tilted his head, gesturing towards the bar. “So, what’ll it be?” You laughed. “You really wanna buy me that drink, huh?” He holds his hands up in mock surrender. “I mean if you’re passin’ up on a free drink, be my guest.” You smirked, weighing your options. “Alright, alright. When you put it like that...” You pick up the cocktail menu, and Schlatt scoffs. “Oh, you’re one of those.” You cocked an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?” “Nothing!” He grinned. “I just didn’t think you were the type to go for a thirty-dollar, ninety-percent-ice, hangover-waiting-to-happen kinda’ drink.” You narrow your eyes playfully. “Yeah, well,” You signal over the bartender. “Fine, asshole. We just met, there’s a lot you don’t know about me.” You feel Schlatt’s gaze linger on you as you order yourself an Old Fashioned, his look long and heavy. “I guess so.” He grins, and orders himself another whiskey.

⭑

“So, what do you do when you’re not out like this?” you ask, genuinely curious. He makes an indifferent face. “Honestly, not much. I work a lot, and when I’m not working, I don’t really go out unless I have a reason.” You nod. “What’s your reason tonight?”

Before he could continue, a loud voice booms from behind the two of you.

“SCHLATT! THERE YOU ARE, YA BASTARD!” Schlatt gives you a look, as if to say “there’s my reason”.

A tall man walks up and drapes an arm around Schlatt’s shoulders, clearly tipsy- then you recognize him. The guy Joelle was talking to.

Oh shit. Is he one of Schlatt’s friends?

“Get ‘offa me, dude.” Schlatt groans, his whole demeanor changing as he unravels the man’s arm from his shoulders. “What?” He questions. The other man laughs. “Nothin’ man. We were just wonderin’ where you were. We haven’t seen you in a while.” Schlatt rolls his eyes. “Yeah, ‘cause I don’t wanna be seen with you three making yourself look stupid on that dance floor.” The man chuckles, unfazed. “C’mon, you know you love it. We’ve got the moves!” He gestures dramatically, demonstrating some ridiculous dance move. “And, for the record, there’s a beautiful lady over there that’s been chattin’ me up for a while.”

“Yeah, okay. You’re drunk, Ted. ‘Ya sure that beautiful lady isn’t just Tucker?” Schlatt retorts, crossing his arms.

You can’t help but laugh at their banter, knowing he was talking about Joelle.

The tall guy, who you’ve come to learn is named Ted, turns to you, an amused expression on his face. “Oh, i see what’s goin’ on here.” Schlatt rolls his eyes again, somehow harder than the last time. “Dude, can you not?” Ted raises his hands in mock surrender (the same way Schlatt had earlier- the two seemed to share a handful of mannerisms), a grin spreading across his face. “Just making an observation! Looks like you’ve found yourself a partner in crime.”

“More like an accomplice to my embarrassment,” Schlatt mutters, shaking his head. You chuckle, still enjoying the playful back-and-forth. “I dunno, this is kinda funny.” “See? She gets it!” Ted interjects, grinning at you. “I’m Ted.” He extends his hand, and you shake it loosely. “Y/N,” you reply with a smile.

“Nice to meet you.” Ted continues as you break the handshake. “Anyways, Schlatt. C’mon man. You gotta come out there with us.” “Pass,” Schlatt says, shaking his head. “I’m good right here.”

“Suit yourself! You’ll regret it!” Ted shrugs, stepping back- he glances at you, then back at Schlatt.

“Regret? Not in this lifetime,” Schlatt takes a long sip of his whiskey. “Wrap it up. I wanna go to bed.” Ted rolls his eyes. “Alright Captain Buzzkill.” He claps Schlatt on the back. “Give us 10 minutes.” He turns to you “Nice to meet you, uh…” You smile. “Y/N.” “Right. Y/N. Sorry. Had a few drinks.” Ted returns your smile and heads back to join the crowd on the dancefloor, leaving you and Schlatt at the bar once again.

You shoot Schlatt a look, as if to say “Well that was something.”

“Welcome to my life,” he sighs, rolling his eyes playfully. “Always a spectacle.”

“Looks like you’ve got quite the crew,” you say, taking a sip of your drink.

“Tell me about it.” Schlatt shakes his head with a slight smile. “They’re here visiting. They’re a bit much sometimes, But they’re my guys.” The two of you turn and watch Ted blend back into the swaying mass of bodies, reconvening with Joelle and who you presumed to be another one of Schlatt's friends.

“Wanna know something funny?” you ask. Schlatt hums, intrigued. “That girl your friend has been talking to? She’s my roommate.” Schlatt laughs. “No fuckin’ shot.” You nod. “Yup. Her name’s Joelle. Sweetest girl on the planet.” He shakes his head. “What a coincidence, eh?” You stare into your drink. “Yeah, crazy.”

The two of you chat for a bit longer and you discover that Schlatt makes a living through YouTube and streaming, which you think is incredibly cool. He mentions that a bunch of other content creators are currently in New York for a Twitch event, hence the reason Ted and Charlie were staying at his apartment. After asking him a million-and-a-half questions about it, you share that you’re a journalist, writing articles for local NYC art magazines. He asks you questions too, and you can’t quite tell if he’s genuinely interested or just really good at faking it, but either way, you feel heard. The conversation flows effortlessly, jumping from topic to topic like you’d known each other for years. It was comforting, in a way.

Ted reappears as you’re laughing at something Schlatt said, this time with two others behind him- the rest of Schlatt’s friends. Ted places a ringed hand on Schlatt’s shoulder. “Not tryin’ to break this up, just letting you know- we’re ready to go when you are.” Schlatt nods and downs the last of his whiskey, that familiar slight scrunch of his nose making an appearance again. You might’ve called it adorable if you hadn’t just met him.

He settles his tab and stands from his barstool with a sigh, looking at you. You smile. “It was nice meeting you. Thanks for the drink.” He returns your smile tiredly, as if the liquor had just hit him all at once. “Yeah, you too. No problem.” Out of the corner of your eye, you notice Ted’s eyes widen as he elbows one of his friends— maybe Tucker?— in the side.

“I’ll, uh… i'll see you around,” Schlatt says, nodding before heading off. You give him a slight wave, then wave at Ted as well.

As they’re walking away, you hear Schlatt mutter- “Finally ready to part with your sweet Joelle?” Ted shot him a look of pure confusion. “What the fuck? how do you know her name?” You laugh, still amused by their ridiculous interactions. Before long, the four of them are out the door.

You sit at the bar for a moment longer, finishing your drink. You decide to get up to find Joelle, along with Sage and Alana. You spot them standing near the booth the four of you shared at the beginning of the night. As you approach them, Joelle’s eyes light up. “Hey pretty lady! Havin’ a good night?” You smile. “Yeah, starting to get tired though. You guys ready to go?” Sage nods. “Yeah, i’m ready to call it a night. Maybe we can grab some food before we go home?” Alana chimes in. “Yummmm, A late-night snack sounds perfect right now.”

The four of you gather your things and split the tab from your drinks earlier. As you all head toward the exit, you can’t help but glance back at the bar, thinking about the guys you met earlier. You wondered if you might run into Schlatt and his friends again- the night still felt full of possibilities.

You and your friends discover a cozy little gelato shop a short walk down the road, where you all sit together and enjoy your treats. Eventually, it was time to call it a night, and you exchanged tipsy hugs and cheek kisses before you all ordered your Ubers, you and Joelle heading back to your apartment while Sage and Alana made their way to theirs.

⭑

As you unlocked the door to your apartment, Joelle walked in and flopped onto the couch with a satisfied sigh- she was definitely a bit closer to drunk than you were. You smiled and sat down next to her legs. “Was tonight everything you wanted it to be?” She turned to face you, excitement sparkling in her eyes. “Hell yeah! I had such a blast! And did you see that guy I was talking to?! Oh my god.” You chuckled, recalling the conversation you had with Ted and Schlatt. “Oh, I definitely saw him.” Joelle giggled. “His name is Ted. He’s from Los Angeles, can you believe it? AND I got his number. Maybe if things work out I'll convince him to stay here.” You laughed, astonished at her already growing attachment to this stranger from the bar. “Maybe.” Joelle sat up, leaning her arm on your shoulder. “Hey, wait a second! Don’t act like you weren’t chatting someone up too! I saw you and Mr. tall-dark-and-broody at the bar.”

You raised an eyebrow, trying to suppress a grin. “Mr. tall-dark-and-broody? That’s quite the title.” Joelle nudged you playfully. “Come on! You know you were vibing with him. What was his name?”

You could feel Joelle’s gaze probing, urging you to say more about the guy you’d spent nearly two hours chatting with. Eventually, she cracked you, and a smile crept across your face. “Okay, fine. His name was Schlatt, and maybe he was really, really attractive. But I wasn’t talking to him, we were just… having a conversation, y’know?”

Joelle raised her eyebrows. “Schlatt? I think Ted said that was the name of his friend that he’s staying with.” You avoided eye contact, not sure what to say.

After a moment of silence, Joelle gasped. “Oh! Oh my god! He’s-, they’re-,” she grabs your shoulders. “Your guy is friends with my guy!” “He’s not my guy!” You interject, and Joelle waves her hand. “Yeah, okay, whatever. Anyway, ‘just having a conversation’, huh? You sure you weren’t flirting a little?” You roll your eyes. “No! I wasn’t! It all started in the first place because I wasn’t paying attention and knocked his whiskey into his lap.”

“Oooh, a whiskey guy. That’s hot.” Joelle giggled. “Okay, you’re definitely drunk and totally missing the point.” you said, laughing as you slung your arm around her shoulders. “That doesn’t matter! I don’t need to be sober to tell you that you should text him back the moment he reaches out. I could feel the chemistry from the dance floor.”

Suddenly, a realization hit you.

“Shit. He’s not going to text me. I didn’t give him my number.”

“WHAT?!”

⭑

After Joelle started to crash, you helped her change into pajamas and remove her makeup, and once she crawled into bed, you did the same for yourself. As you stared in the mirror at your bare face, your thoughts drifted back to Schlatt. You kicked yourself mentally for not offering him your number, but you told yourself it was fine. If fate wanted it to happen, it would. Sometimes, you meet a beautiful stranger and never see them again—that's just how life goes.

Then you remembered that your best friend and his best friend had really hit it off. Even though you didn’t give him your number tonight, it was bound to come up eventually if Joelle and Ted stuck it out. You started spiraling, envisioning yourself ten years down the line at Joelle and Ted’s wedding—locking eyes with Schlatt across the dance floor, remembering that one conversation the two of you shared ten years ago at some random bar before you left New York City and fell off the grid, and-

You stopped yourself. What the hell was that? You sigh and glance at yourself in the mirror again, thinking, “I’m still tipsy, and I really need to go to bed.”

As you settle beneath your covers and close your eyes, you hear your phone buzz on the nightstand—an unusual vibration pattern that signals it’s Joelle. “I thought she was asleep?” you wonder. But as you read her message, your heart skips a beat.

jelly<3: texting ted jelly<3: he said he had a lot of fun tonight jelly<3: and schlatt did too ;) jelly<3: bet ur glad u came out with us!!!!!!!!!! i love u

Your heart flutters thinking about Schlatt again. Unable to think of a better response, you quickly type one out and toss your phone back on the nightstand, switching it to Do Not Disturb mode this time.

you: go to bed!!!!!

You drift off to sleep, trying to ignore the butterflies in your stomach.

Shit.

⭑ next chapter →

#jschlatt x reader #jschlatt x y/n #jschlatt x you #jschlatt fanfic #chuckle sandwich fanfic #chuckle sandwich x reader #look of love rush of blood

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willowthewiisp · 5 months ago

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This is legit such a controversial take but, what if the statues in the haligtree aren't depicting godwyn embracing the afflicted twins, but messmer.

As far as we know godwyn was a perfect child, the golden boy. Messmer was afflicted, he was cursed just like the twins, we know messmer had a big ooey gooey heart that was subjected to the plights of others. For God's sake he allowed his men to preserve hornsent culture when they asked him because they felt bad about the whole genocide for no reason thing (don't at me there's plenty of evidence supporting this wasn't about the jars it was never about the jars stop saying it was about the stupid meatball jars). Messmer would have been at the proper age to have been there in their childhoods since we know for a fact he was an older brother figure to radahn, ergo he could have also been an older brother figure to the twins who were cursed just like him. Granted this has absolutely the same amount of plausibility of this being godwyn too! Both are good, I just think it would add a layer of complexity to messmer, since we really don't know WHO this is depicting. There's no names no texts no nothing. We just know it's Miquella and malenia being sheltered by someone.

Also, have to point out, though godwyn doesn't have any statues suspiciously, and the only images we have of him depict him with primarily straight locks of hair.

From the trailer

From the intro

And finally his corpse. Granted you could argue he's got wavy hair but honestly it just looks more messy and matted and shit since y'know. Corpse.

But we know messmers hair isn't straight

Look at those lovely wavy locks. I kiss you mwah.

I'm not saying the statue ISNT godwyn, but it could also absolutely be messmer. Hell, it could be radahn for all we know, but just considering messmer and his character, I could absolutely see him having sympathy and a kinship with his two afflicted siblings especially malenia who also shares that wild red hair....

#godwyn the golden #messmer the impaler #miquella #malenia #godwyn #messmer #isnt it weird we get no images of godwyn in the game????#no statues no nothing

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seeker-ophelia · 1 month ago

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Ophelia Rants: Veilguard is Weird

I had another post (Review, Pt 4) composed about how much I love dragons, but the AMA kinda knocked me on my ass.

* * *

[INTRO]

* * *

I’m going to share the image I made collected from the results of my survey:

And while everyone only contributed one word for this, it IS possible for Veilguard to be ALL OF THESE THINGS AT ONCE.

Now. We need to take this with a grain of salt and remember that most of these responses came from tumblr, and often ones Social Media Frens are an echo chamber of ones own thoughts.

The words that repeat over and over are all similar; sanitized, shallow, underwhelming, trimmed, incomplete… Fun But Not Dragon Age.

And I could not agree with this more.

Caitie (YT: Ghil Dirthalen BS: Ghil Dirthalen), (Mythal’enaste her and her data-mining efforts) has released so much information from Datamining Veilguard. So much dialogue not used, paths ignored or forgotten, Keep choices abandoned, Lore identified.

Flipping through the Art Book shows how much time and effort and ideas have been put into DA4; all of its iterations. All the creativity, the different worlds, the different possible paths. YEARS of work, abandoned.

Which feels soooo… opposite. I’m not a writer. What’s the word for a complete opposite dichotomy in all things? Contradictory? Inconsistent? Irreconsilable? Antithesis?

How can Dragon Age be Sanitized and Shallow… but so much work be put into it?

* * *

[OPINION]

* * *

After I removed my emotional connection from Dragon Age, IMO, it really does feel like something is missing from this game. Even if one tries to lay down their preconceptions of what the game might have been in their dream world, this game, to me, could not decide what it wanted to be. Narratively, it’s a sequel to Inquisition. Solas’s story matters from Inquisition, the Inquisitor matters from Inquisition… and yet it spends so much time onboarding new players. The story feels simple, the world is straightforward, like its dumbed down for players new to the series.

Inquisition, even though in a gameplay sense it is different from Origins and 2, still feels like its building off of a complex world that the player might not understand. And when I played Inquisition, I hardly understood any of it. That’s part of the joy of Dragon Age. People who read LotR or Malazan or WoT or ASOIAF, don’t expect the author to hold their hand. They’re dumped, unceremoniously, into a world, and they have to figure it out themselves (figure it out through strategically placed tidbits from the author). Dragon Age (O through I), was a masterclass in this, I think. Somehow, no matter how deep you want to dive into the game, whether just playing superficially one-and-done, or playing it over and over to capture as much lore and depth as you can, Origins through Inquisition does that. It gives you just enough crumbs to keep you going, keep you questioning, and to point you enough in the right direction, that when you DID get a lore reveal right, you felt GOOD. Yes, plot-twists and subverting expectations are important, but so is letting your audience figure things out, giving them concrete answers. Veilguard drops you, sure, literally in Minratheous into a Gods Magic Ritual. But then it takes your hand, and skips with you through beautiful landscapes, phenomenal level design, and whirlwind combat, to place you right in front of the information you need. And then gives you a cutscene explaining, just in case you didn’t get it 😉).

We, as fans, need to realize that while the Personality of Veilguard is Toothless, the Lore, The Skeleton, is not.

Yeah, Epler said some things that hurt my feels during the AMA. (I’m ignoring the Solas stuff, because I really do believe Epler is speaking from a personal bias and not from a cannon-perspective. [edit: he just talked bout this on BlueSky]) But do you know why? Because they broke my personal headcannons. They proved MY theory crafting wrong. The real problem with Veilguard is that it came out too late. 10 years is too long to have people care so much about a game and theorize and craft worlds for themselves.

* * *

[LORE]

* * *

Superficially, VG dropped a lot of lore. But Deeply? To the DA Lore-Core? I don’t think they dropped ENOUGH.

[Image Credit: Helena Hansen on ArtStation]

HOW did Soals cleanse the dagger? HOW can Elgy & Ghill control the blight? HOW do they control their archdemons? HOW does the veil work? (How can it be weak with Elgy & Ghilly holding it up but 100%-strong-no-holes-perfectly-good with only Solas providing power for it?) HOW do spirits work? HOW do souls work? WHATS the difference? HOW does a Dragon-thrall-bond work? WHY isn’t Lusacan a Great Dragon? HOW does the rite of tranquility work? WHAT happens to Solavellan in the Fade? Is it different from what happens to a tricked Solas in the fade? WHAT happens now to Hawke/Stroud in the fade? WHAT is an orb? WHAT is a cube? WHATS the difference? WHERE is The Black City? WHAT is the ‘real blight’? (Because according to VG Solas, it’s still in the prison and its still super dangerous and way more dangerous than the blight that’s out in Thedas.) HOW did Solas burn his Vallaslin off? WHAT is the Calling? WHAT is the NEW song in the calling? WHY did ‘Mythal speak the calling’? WHY does lyrium sing? How is lyrium mined? WHY can tranquil work lyrium safely? HOW did Dirth & Falon split? WHY did Dirth & Falon split? WHERE are the rest of the Evanuris? WHERE is the Abyss? WHAT is the Abyss? WHAT do you MEAN there was more than 8 Evanuris?? HOW did you make your lyrium bodies? HOW can Elgar’nan destroy a FEELING?

WHERES MY ELVHEN DICTIONARY.

Obviously not ALL. But SOME of these NEEDED to be answered, or at least strongly alluded to, IN GAME. NOT in an AMA.

“We're leaving that ambiguous on purpose…”

“We haven't been SUPER specific about this…”

“I'm so glad these stories have their hooks in you! We have to leave some threads to tug on for future stories.”

What DID get answered in game?

Some of the Evanuris hats. Archdemons/Old Gods = Evanuris. Solas (w/ Mythal?) tranquil’d the Titans. Solas (accidentally) created the Blight. Solas used a Blood Magic Ritual to create the veil. Solas regrets a lot of things & has mommy issues. Worm-Solas (which, do not get me wrong, a million thank you’s and blessings for werm-Solas… But…) That’s it. That’s IT?

Oh, and there’s a shadow organization that’s been pulling all the strings from behind the scenes but I am NOT getting into how much I hate that idea in this post we don’t have time. Do we? No, we don’t. You know what, fuck it. This is my blog. Once you introduce that idea there is no way anyone NOT the author can know how much sway the puppeteer has over the marionette. ‘Oh it’s just a nUdGe, just a *whisper,* ‘they still have their free will’. Bitch get fucked what does that MEAN. That doesn’t MEAN anything its just a lazy retcon-y way to tie in a new villain to old material. Completely erasing the autonomy of they characters your fanbase has come to love (and love to hate). Do not corporate-speak at me with synergy and circle-back and deliverables. WHAT is a WHISPER? WHAT is a NUDGE? Because unless you lay it all out in an ELI5, NO ONE CAN KNOW- EXCEPT FOR YOU.

Ok obviously I have feelings about that we need to move on.

You can argue Veilguard was about the Evanuris, you can argue that Veilguard was about Solas. You can argue that Veilguard was about Regret and Pride and letting it all go. You can argue that Veilguard was about the ~*Power of Friendship*~ But for me, who has been obsessed with whatever the ever-loving-fuck has been going on in Thedas since 9.30 Dragon, Veilguard is about the Blight.

Corrine from the AMA: What really captures my imagination now that we've resolved some of the mysteries pertaining to the blight and the Elven gods, is exploring the aftermath of this crisis in a deeply destabilized Thedas.

Sorry… What did you answer? We actually know nothing about the Blight except that Solas created it, and with Antonie and Evka claiming the song has changed… what does that mean? Is a Titan consciously controlling the blight now? Is it soothed because Harding Soothed it? Is all the blight from the Kal-Sharok Titan? Are all their orbs/cubes in the Black City? Do the Executors control the blight? What is a calling, then? Will the Wardens never be called to the deep roads again? The Blight is different in a Warden than it is in a darkspawn, or an Archdemon? How? WHY? The wardens are just going to fade from existence because… all the darkspawn are just going to disappear now? Where in game is this stated as truth? Actually, in fact, ZERO questions were answered.

But Wait…

I feel like the news of the AMA COMPLETELY overshadowed the two IGN articles that came out; 1 & 2. Because… holy shit you guys. There was A LOT of lore dropped here.

Unfortunately for Epler & Corrine, and this is a hill I will die on, ALL OF THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANSWERED IN GAME. The fact that it was NOT? Is inexcusable. You cannot drop giant lore reveals like this outside of the game and hope it smooths everything over. The lore dropped in these interviews could have been a DLC, a side quest in game, or at the very least a novel or WoT Vol 3.

* * *

[What IS Dragon Age?]

* * *

I've used this photo before and I'll use it again I fucking love it so much

I wish Veilguard came out a year later, I would have waited longer, paid more for it, if it was a more a whole, inclusive game.

The problem with dumbing down a pre-existing franchise is that you’re alienating the fans that are carrying you on their shoulders. They carried you through a game-less 10 years, and through Andromeda. And you can bet your ass when they drop you, the new fans you roped in with VG are not going to be picking you up.

Dragon Age feels like it cannot find its identity. That Veilguard, inexplicably, does not feel like Dragon Age.

“But how can you explain what Dragon Age feels like when every Dragon Age that came before it was so different?”

New Protagonists, new companions, new locations, everything is different. On top of more meta things; new gameplay, new combat, new art styles, its all different.

So what makes Dragon Age, Dragon Age?

Well, when I was nervous about the game back in September, I asked Kala, when she got pre-access to the game, if she FELT anything.

“I’d love for you to touch on how the game made you FEEL… Did anything you played in Veilguard make you Feel™?”

She sent me a private message with 1 word: Yes.

We can go into the design decision to have the companions react with each other instead of Rook and how that can be alienating to the PC. We can talk about how shafted the romances were. We can go into how gentrified Minrathous and the Crows were. We can go into how child-locked the lore was. We can discuss the toothless-ness of Veilguard.

But Veilguard still made me Feel.

And, even if that emotion is anger, if Veilguard made you Feel, it did it’s job.

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ffverr · 8 months ago

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hello I come to you with a request. I watched x men 97 recently and was saddened by how little time the whole magneto in charge of the x men storyline got and I know he does this longer in the comics (I can't say why but the phrase "its seven in the morning max..." lives rent free in my brain) so I wanted to ask if you have any recommendation for comics from that era / any recommendations for comics with mister magnet-os because I want to get into x men comics but comics as always are so daunting

It is my great pleasure to answer this!!

Disclaimer 1, I am still going through a lot of the issues of this era but I will try my best to make it as clear a guide as I can for you!

Disclaimer 2, Headmaster of the school and leader of the X-Men are quite different positions that they kind of fused together in the 97 show so I do want to make it clear that magneto in the "seven in the morning" era is headmaster of the school, teaching young kids, while Storm is leading the X-men team and Scott is leading the X-factor team, so with that said:

Magneto's teacher arc starts in uncanny X-Men issues 199 and 200 (iconic issues containing the trial of magneto that was adapted in the show!) And then he is headmaster of the school in the book "The new mutants" by Chris Clermont, from issue 35 to issue 75. It is A LOT I admit and he gets a more minor place considering the book is about the kickass young class of new mutants that he's teaching. But it is worth checking out! Many consider this to kind of be peak magneto because.... he's trying so hard to be a good teacher and to handle all these kids and it's very humanizing for him!

I mean look at him and his 8 kids!

Now, how to get into Magneto overall? Let's get into it:

I believe it is impossible to get into Magneto without reading his ultimate origin story, Magneto: Testament by Greg Pack. It is a quick intro, it barely features his powers (not an action comic) and it is a very very emotional read. I consider it essential magneto reading!

Next up: Two One shots if you want to get a quick primer on the character pre moral arc instead of sitting through his few appearances in the Stan Lee comics:

A classic one: X-Men: God Loves, Men Kills by Chris Claremont. It is an iconic comic book one shot that can be read out of continuity just to see what his deal is when he's not necessarily on the side of the X-Men but fighting for his own ideals! It's overall a brilliant comic book!

If you want a more recent retelling of the first appearances of magneto you HAVE to read X-Men Mythos that retells magneto's major first appearance in the 60s in quite a beautiful and amazing way! It also has an absolutely insane magneto scene that is very memorable! (So this would "chronologically" come before God loves men Kills)

Now for his switch from cartoon villain of the 60s/early 70s to complex guy in the 80s, read the issues 149 and 150 from the run Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont. This is THE pivotal moment for "good guy" Magneto

(know that after issue 150, somehow he falls in the ocean from asteroid M, is rescued from a shark attack by Scott's girlfriend Lee Forester. They have a quick relationship where he struggled with his change of morals then he comes to the new mutants)

if you want to continue chronologically you read the issues 199 and 200 that I recommended at the start then go to the new mutants book I talked about earlier!

If you want MORE MODERN comics, then I advise you get right into what's happening at the moment!

House of X powers of X are two series that intertwine (you'll easily find them in the right order) by the same writer, Jonathan hickman!

It serves as a status quo change/relaunch of the X-Men universe. Magneto plays a big part of the story as he is directly involved in building a mutant nation. I'd say it's a bold but quite functional intro to X-Men comics!

Then he appears as a major character in the GREAT series X-Men Red by Al Ewing alongside Storm, a character that meant a lot to him in the 80s, so it's really nice to see again.

In this he is- epic, depressed, suicidal, sassy, it's great magneto stuff! This series is widely regarded as the best X-Men comic out right now!

(if you want context for this book read the event X of Swords, or I could explain if interested)

That's about all I will lay on you ! If this is hella confusing, don't hesitate to dm me! I can detail more cleanly exactly what you have to read and when!

Good reading!

#magneto #erik lensherr #ffverr answers #comics ARE so daunting #but the trick is just to get into it until you piece together what the hell is happening and the history of it all #or in other cases you have me! who can talk about magneto and the X-Men for 5 hours to five you the big picture #x men comics #xmen #marvel #ffverr reading guides #x men #xmen 97

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nameismizuki · 5 days ago

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I told myself that if i reached 300 followers then I'll post a proper introduction here, so yes— here it is ✨

BLOG INTRODUCTION / ABOUT ME ☆

Hello everyone, welcomee ~ and thank you for those who followed me! I really appreciate it 🤍

» You can call me Mizuki, or Rei(which is my irl nickname), whichever is comfortable for you i don't mind

» 🇵🇭 | 20↑ year old Artist, March 23rd | Aries ♈

» Pansexual. He/She/They, any pronouns really, if you see me as a guy or a girl, i'm totally fine with that

» I LOVE LOVEE Legend of Zelda, and that includes Linked Universe as well! I love Dark Link and Fierce Deity, they're my best boys 🤲💞 I love all Zelda games, but Skyward Sword will always be my number one 🫶

•────────────⋅ ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅────────────•

• MY CURRENT FAVORITES / OBSESSIONS —

» games : Legend of Zelda, Sky: COTL, God of War, God Eater, Danganronpa, Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, Undertale, Tales series, Soul Calibur, Mouthwashing

» music artists : JVLA, AURORA, Sleep Token, Odetari, BTS, Bad Omens, Linkin Park, Imagine Dragons, Yaelokre, Vocaloid

» tv shows/movies : Stranger Things, Umbrella Academy, School of Rock, Interstellar, The Greatest Showman, Murder Drones, Helluvaboss, Hazbin Hotel, The Amazing World of Gumball

» anime : Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Kimetsu no Yaiba, HunterxHunter, Lovely Complex, Death Note, Sket Dance and a lot more tbh

•────────────⋅ ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅────────────•

ABOUT THIS BLOG ✨

☆ English is not my first language, so I apologize if there will be some misunderstandings, or grammatical errors

☆ I wanna keep this blog as a safe space for everyone, so NO HATE SPEECH OR ANY NEGATIVE COMMENTS/TAGS please. I understand we all have different opinions/preferences, but please if you are not a fan of a certain character i drew then i suggest you keep it to yourself instead of spreading hate. Remember to always be kind to everyone 🙏

☆ And of course, as some of you may already know, there will be a lot of Legend of Zelda fanarts in here, but I might also draw fanarts from other fandoms

☆ If anyone is interested, my art commissions are still open! 💌

click HERE 👈 for my commission sheet

That's all for now. I think i've made this intro quite long lol so if you made it all the way here, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ THIS! ʕ⁠´⁠•⁠ᴥ⁠•⁠`⁠ʔ ♡

Have a great day/night! HUGSSS 🫂❤️

#introduction #intro post #legend of zelda #tloz #art #artists on tumblr #<3

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11queensupreme11 · 1 year ago

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ARSENIC BLUES

this is a masterlist of all things related to my book arsenic blues. in here you will find certain asks, posts, headcanons, drabbles, etc. the sillies & misc: part 1 & 2

THE YANDERE GODS!

❦━━ gojo vs poseidon: who's worse?

❦━━ pjo vs ror powerscaling: 1, 2, 3

❦━━ my shitty attempt at ship names 😔

❦━━ who's the slow burner and who's the fast burner?

❦━━ least to most likely to babytrap

❦━━ poseidon and love: 1 & 2

❦━━ what kind of yanderes are they? (+ loki) (+ anubis)

❦━━ marriage proposal issues

❦━━ their kinks 😏 (+ loki) (+ anubis) (+ cú chulainn)

❦━━ what if percy called out for anthonius during somno sex?

❦━━ would poseidon actually respect or like sally if he knew about her? 🤔 (+other gods' opinion)

❦━━ fatherhood! how many kids would they want & best to worst dads!

❦━━ how would they react if percy started crying?

❦━━ how they would imagine their future with percy 😍

❦━━ misogyny amongst the gods... 🤮: 1, 2, 3

❦━━ them when they get percy back from pjo verse

❦━━ BEELZEBUB IS NOT POSSESSED BY SATAN! STOP SPREADING THE SATAN PROPAGANDA! 😩

❦━━ the gods' hypocrisy 💀: 1 & 2

❦━━ most to least likely to resort to using blackmail

❦━━ what their wedding would look like! 👰🏻‍♀️

❦━━ their reaction to her rejecting godhood: 1 & 2

❦━━ if percy died during childbirth...

❦━━ would they cheat?

❦━━ if anthonius raised their kid: 1, 2

❦━━ a reader's poki guess

❦━━ if their kids wanted to sleep with them

❦━━ if their daughter had the electra complex: 1, 2

❦━━ the yanderes as in-laws: 1, 2

❦━━ peepee sizes 🍆

❦━━ songs

❦━━ anubis 🐶: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,

❦━━ sick!percy 🤒

❦━━ the akhlys scene

❦━━ what percy would wear during dates (by moonchild-artemisdaughter): poseidon, hades, apollo (part 2), beelzebub

SEAWEED BRAIN!

❦━━ who she would rather stay with

❦━━ percy when she gets her memories back LMAO

❦━━ if percy was a goddess when she got isekai-ed

❦━━ will percy get bullied? 🥺

❦━━ her ethnicity!

❦━━ what her intro would look like during ragnarok

❦━━ percy x qin ideas: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,

❦━━ how oblivious will she be 💀

❦━━ cheater!percy

❦━━ if percy wanted to be a maiden goddess

❦━━ if percy was a guy 🙍🏻‍♂️

❦━━ a bratty percy scenario hehehe

❦━━ pregnant!percy: 1, 2, 3, 4

❦━━ percy's kids make her cry 😢

❦━━ if percy went numb...

❦━━ how her kids feel about sally!

❦━━ how much the isekai has ruined her life

❦━━ percy's voiceclaim

❦━━ percy's style!

❦━━ dark!pjo!poseidon with percy

❦━━ soul swap/possession au 👹

#👸🏻| arsenic blues #👸🏻| masterlists

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broodwolf221 · 1 month ago

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kinda nervous to post anything like this bc it feels inherently like i'm @/ing ppl but i am not i promise!!! just sharing my personal thoughts

so: why i like veilguard so much, in terms of the narrative (also known as: i have literally 0 complaints about the narrative. or the game. or anything. i love davg an unreal amount actually)

intro is so intense. you're thrown right into things in a way that i find very compelling and enjoyable. that's the 'hook'

the cutscene for the risen gods is SO eerie and unnerving. the visuals, the music, the effects.... yeah, it works together really well

the scale of things makes perfect sense to me. i had a theory well before rook was announced as the protag that this would be another game with a 'small' main character, someone more like hawke than like the inquisitor. rook is just a person, a team-leader, but not The Leader, not a destined one (imo no DA protag is a destined one, i'm just saying that rook also is not)

similarly, i LOVE the fact that in major moments, the whole team is involved. ppl can't do each other's jobs and that feels right!

also love the leveling system being based on your connection with the companions. leveling systems don't break immersion for me because i'm just used to them, but i feel like this is such a unique way to fully keep with immersion while still letting you strengthen your companions

the entire lighthouse. like just everything about it. i love it so, so much

i think it's a well-done, cohesive story; the different factions make sense to me as to why they're involved and why they care. traveling between a lot of different places doesn't break immersion bc of the crossroads - that was a nice touch. i can bounce btwn minrathous and nevarra and it doesn't feel weird at all

similar to the leveling system, i have never found it immersion-breaking to be able to badger your companions until you can only [leave], but i think that veilguard's system is a lot more organic

frankly, i feel like all the interpersonal aspects of the game are a lot more organic. this isn't a dig at prior games, either; i have no or very few real complaints about them, either, but this was a pleasant surprise and a nice change of pace. you have to spend time with the characters, you have to travel with them, to begin to really know them. you have to let yourself get involved (that said, having companion banters also trigger at the lighthouse was a brilliant move)

thedas as a world is heavily expanded upon in this game, which i deeply appreciate. we also get to see some - realistic, imo! - nuance in factions that we have already met, because there's no group in the world that's a monolith

there are certainly in-world aspects that the social justice side of me wants to question. things like how antiva relies upon a group of assassins, for instance; not the best political system, really! but at the same time, i feel like it wholly makes sense within the world and within the established narratives, and it's complex and flawed in a very realistic way

i love how davrin and assan are so connected. they're personally connected - they care so much about each other - but they're also narratively connected. davrin is discovering so much about himself by seeing it in assan; discovering that someone who felt like he was destined to be a warrior, a hunter, a fighter, can also be gentle, protective, and can have strong relationships without fear. the more he comes to accept and appreciate assan, the more he comes to accept and appreciate himself and i find that underlying narrative deeply profound and moving

all the companions have these really remarkable arcs. they all have to face regrets - which is the primary theme of the game, after all! - and eventually, rook has to face their own regrets. that's a whole big part of the narrative. this is a game structured around regret... and around the difference between fixing it (solas) and accepting it (rook) and how different each process is

and not all of them do fully accept their regrets by the end! for some of them, it's still too new, too painful. for some of them, the regrets come up during the game narrative itself, so it's VERY fresh

but they all grapple with regret

so, i find it useful to approach this game from the perspective of a medieval fantasy that does not shy away from the sociocultural and political things that might mean, while also being a narrative primarily around regret and the different reactions to it

tl;dr - i think the narrative 100% fits the story told, including the mechanical gameplay aspects of it. i'm not being stubborn or blithe when i say i have 0 complaints. i think this is a genuinely masterful piece of writing

end-game spoilers under the cut jic:

i was deeply moved by the solavellan ending where she joins him

but i also understand why they have an ending where you can outsmart the dread wolf - which is entirely possible! one of solas' biggest flaws is that he always thinks he has the full picture, but he never really does. i love him beyond reason, but that is a flaw that can be exploited under these circumstances

and i always knew there'd be something there for fans who hate solas, who wanted to kill him. that's just how games like this work. but the fact that it's not about killing him does make me a little happier. in the outsmart ending it seems that he does get imprisoned which is obviously Not Great (but not narratively that stark - he imprisons the evanuris; he himself gets imprisoned. it's circular and i think that's on purpose. a god who imprisoned gods now being imprisoned as a god), but it's worth noting how many times the dread wolf has been shown to escape such things. it leaves the ending open, narratively speaking, and allows room for interpretation while still acknowledging the fanbase that hates him

i like that he returns to the fade in the end, in the good endings. he's going home. and he's going specifically to attend to his very first victims, the titans. it will be hard. it will be work. and as i understand it, the blight is kept in the black city, which will be a miserable place

but to me, in a narrative about regret and redemption. he can't atone by destroying things to change them back; he can't atone by ignoring his still-alive victims; he can only atone, only truly find his own redemption, by addressing directly the harm he has caused

now, did i want veilfall? yeah! do i still want veilfall? i do! but with the additional lore of the blight, it makes sense to me why it's risky. why it's too risky. the quest in dai about siding with the mages and seeing that bad future has new context now, because that red lyrium future might have been what he unleashed. we can't say for sure!

but without the ticking time bomb of the evanuris' impending release, i fully believe that solas can take his time and find a way to pursue veilfall that is less disruptive to both mortals and spirits

personally, i find that nuance compelling.

#da4 spoilers #davg spoilers #no rbs i'm scared of parts of the fandom rn

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