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absolutebl · 3 months

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This Week in BL - In Which None of You Should be Surprised by a MAJOR Upset in the Standings

Sorry this is so late. I had a pretty epic series of delays landing me at NRT for like 18 hours or something ridiculous. To be fair there are much worse airports to be stranded at.

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

June 2024 Week 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

The Rebound (Weds Gaga) ep 1 of 12 - Fuck all ya'all if you thought I had taste. MeenPing are topping this damn list because... have you any idea how LONG I have been waiting for a real sports centered BL starring at least one boy who actually played the flipping sport? My whole damn life. You ready for me to go into euphoric splooges all over your screens? I don't think you are. SUFFER! And now some splooging:

It’s off to a great start. Thank you, Rebound, for being exactly what I wanted. By which I mean Meen has his shirt off literally in the first two minutes of the show. Also it’s a bit of a childhood sweethearts reunion romance. There’s nothing wrong with this beginning. Fantastic. For a change, I even enjoy the intro music. Golf is directing MeenPing this time, so maybe something magical will happen. Frank is aging so pretty!!! How nice for all of us. Even the bb play is good. It’s a proper sports BL. I’m so damn happy right now.

Wandee Goodday (Sat YT) ep 9 of 12 - I’m so tired of Ter, but everything else was lovely. Also they are SUCH boyfriends.

Sunset X Vibes (Sat iQIYI) ep 3 of 12 - They are so cute in these roles. I don’t know why, I just like their vibe better here than in the previous show. (And I really enjoyed Big Dragon at the start.) This show is a lot more classic romance and kind of pat because of that. I do hope the ingénue character gets some kind of additional development and talent. But even if it stays mundane, these two have the chemistry to carry it. So I suspect I’ll keep enjoying it regardless. I am mildly intrigued by the spice of the PNR element, so I hope they run with that a bit more. I suspect they will have to, to extend the plot for 12 eps.

My Stand-In (Fri iQIYI) ep 10 of 12 - Ah Ming... famous last words. This one just makes me sigh a lot and whimper sadly. I don’t know where they’re going with this plot or how they’re gonna resolve it. Joe finally being the asshole Ming deserves is a lot of fun though (double entendre intended). I’m scared but it did make me cry... a lot. (That's fine, I'm a sap.)

Imma say this because no one else has. Wardrobe is unilaterally terrible in this show. I mean Thailand is notoriously bad in general but this show, nash.

We Are Cute (Weds iQIYI) ep 13 of 16 - They are so fucking adorable. And so flirty! Also a crying kiss? My favorite! Chain’s little moment of "Cupid shoot thyself" was epic. ("Physician heal thyself" but for the BL world?) Honestly, I could watch a whole show about these two...

The Trainee (Sun YouTube) ep 1 of 12 - How does Gun still look like he’s just out of high school? Madness. Does the set for the print shop that he’s working in at the beginning remind anybody else of Mork’s dad’s place in ‘Cause He’s My Boy? I swear GMMTV has about 3 sets they rotate through.

To be brutally honest, I was not looking forward to the show at all. No idea why. OffGun aren’t my most favorite OG pair, but I respect them for their longevity, optics, acting shops, and enduring brand. Maybe I just needed more of a gap from Cooking Crush?

Whatever, I was absolutely riveted by this first episode. I’m enjoying The Trainee a lot. Like, a lot a lot.

My Love Mix-Up Th (Fri YT) ep 4 of 12 - This version did the "clear up of the inciting miscommunication" in such a sweet achey way. Frankly that "ache of first love" really plays to G4's strengths as a pair. This was a good ep and I’m now starting to enjoy this one for its own sake and get some distance from the JBL version. It's just there is A LOT of good stuff coming out of Thailand right now.

Love Sea (Sun iQIYI) ep 3 of 10 - I was inspired to write a Shakespearean style sonnet in this week's trash watch. Mame seems to believe that no character can have depth without suffering. And I found this episode both boring and rushed at the same time. Trash watch here. (This week's trash watch also VERY delayed.)

Knock Knock Boys (Thurs Gaga) ep 6 of 12 - It’s eminently missable... so I missed it this week in order to get this weekly update out. Next week will be a two in one.

Only Boo! (Sun YT) ep 12fin - Okay, that’s it, I guess?

Summary:

An idol romance about a sunshine boy who dances good and wants to be a star and a reserved food stand vendor. Other side of the tracks, grumpy/sunshine pair who fall in love but, of course, to be an idol baby boy can't date. It wasn’t particularly bad, it wasn’t particularly good either. 7/10

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

I Hear the Sunspot AKA Hidamari ga Kikoeru (Japan Weds Gaga) Ep 1 of 10 - A new series adaptation of beloved yaoi I Hear the Sunspot (first adaptation was feature film Silhouette of Your Voice 2017).

I expected the soundscapes in this one to be fantastic, but I didn’t expect the filming to be something special too. But it really is. I’m not gonna lie, I'm nervous about this show because I love the manga and was disappointed by the film, but we were off to a really good start. First names already? So cute. I love them.

Takara's Treasure AKA Takara No Vidro (Japan Mon Gaga) ep 1 of 10 - Shy awkward Taishin goes to a Tokyo university in order to reunite with Takara, a stranger who consoled him over the loss of a parrot the year prior. He finally gets a chance to express his gratitude but is given the cold shoulder. (My thoughts this weekend's round up)

I can't believe Japan is holding it down for the non Thai BL. I mean to say.... JAPAN!!! What alt reality are we living in? It being Japan, I'm scared of the ending.

It's airing but...

Blue Boys is still going on and I'm still enjoying it (despite the cheating) but I don't know when it drops or where it's going, so I will report in at the end. When they tell me it's ended.

The Last Time (Thai Fri YT?) - Convoluted story of loss and possible reincarnation or something. Can't find it.

OMG Vampire (Thai Sun ???) 10 eps - I've put the search on hold for and y'all can let me know if it's worth tracking down once it ends?

In case you missed it

The Time of Fever AKA Unintentional Love Story 2 (Korea movie) trailer released to Korean theaters 5/25. HoTae & DongHee, side couple from Unintentional Love Story are back! Same actors, same character names. I love them. Devastated this hasn't had international distribution. I demand you tell me the moment you find it!

Next Week Looks Like This:

NO IMG - we half way through this week already - sorry.

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

July Releases to Come

7/5 This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans (Thai iQIYI) - trailer here, The PittBabe team behind a new restaurant set BL full of hidden agendas and starring my new favorites SailubPon. Delightful!

7/10 Century of Love (Thai Gaga) 10 eps - trailer here, DaouOffroad are back, this time as fated mates in a quasi historical paranormal moment. San has spent many lifetimes waiting for his lost beloved, to reincarnate from her death a century ago. But if he fails to find her within this century's time window, he will succumb to a tragic death. And this time she's a boy. Very much Director Who Buys Me Dinner meets First Love Again, hopefully better than both. I love this pair and think they can handle the premise, it's whether the storytelling is up to the challenge. I'm curious to see but I have reservations.

7/26 4 Minutes (Thai Netflix or iQIYI?) - Great is a university student from Faculty of Business and the son of a wealthy business owner. Out of the blue, he gains the supernatural power to see four minutes into the future.

7/29 Battle of the Writers (Thai ????) - trailer here, TutorYim return and while I adore them, I really hope this is better than Middleman's Love. Won't be hard. However: that premise! Ugh. Something something authors fighting - save me. Why don't writers understand that nothing is more boring than writers?

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Defining @heretherebedork 's favorite endearment of "tiny idiot."

I love him. I also love what a class act they both were about this turn down. Thailand shows Korea how to handle a love triangle by NOT HAVING ONE.

Both We Are.

We stand a lap sit on this blog, but I think this is my first lap spin! I adored it! (Sunset X Vibes)

It's fun to watch them follow the original narrative but with these cute little Thai twists. Sometimes these are shifted for language reasons, sometimes for cultural, and sometimes I think just to draw a clear distinction from the JBL. I'm not mad about any of it. (My Love Mix Up)

Not just for you, honey. Truer words were never spoken. Yak is the biggest green flag ever to walk BL's verdant earth.

Linguistic corner!

I love this way of putting the translation. Usually, in Thai, the phrase used means "he's my happiness" (sounds like: kwamsook). To use sabai is different. Sabai more ubiquitous (sabai is one of the most commonly used phrases in Thailand) but also so different from the usual phrase we hear in ThBL at this moment. Thus, this execution is special, particularly from a doctor. I'm not quite sure how to put it but sabai can also be translated as feeling well, as in, not ill. So there is a way of looking at Wandee saying Yak is both his peace of mind and good for his health and well being.

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in it's infinite wisdom doesn't like too many tags.

There's these tricks, remember.

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serahlink · 3 months

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‼️HELP A HOMELESS ARTIST ‼️

Reblogs are greatly appreciated! :")

Making a new post because my family and I are in dire need of help. My name is Link, I'm a 22 y/o artist and since November 2021, my family and I have been homeless and living in a motel. Since neither of us had our documents or IDs when we first got here, it was up to me to open commissions to support us. Although my father has his id now, getting a job out in the mountains where we don't have transportation or a way for them to contact us is very difficult. Until that changes, we're still dependant on my commissions to help us through paying for rent and soon food, as this is our last month of food stamps due to the policies here.

This week and especially this month has been super tough on us since work has gone down for me tremendously. There's been weeks were we can't pay and owe upwards of 100$+ every other day since it adds up so quickly. There are days where if we didn't have food stamps, we wouldn't have any food at all and since it's ending soon, I'm hoping this will help me find some more work to care of my family with. Right now our situation is urgent. We need 250$ to cover for tomorrow and we don't have anything as of yet. If we can't have everything paid for by tomorrow, we will be kicked out and since families on both sides have cut us off both communication and money wise, it doesn't look good if that happens.

So, all my slots are open for anyone who's interested in helping us out! I'm a primarily DnD/fantasy themed artist. I mainly draw Dragon Age centered art but I've also done work of Baldurs Gate 3 tavs and other DnD related stuff as well! I can also work outside of fantasy, I've done all things from simple portrait commissions to furries to even dragons, I'm flexible with most things. The only thing I won't do is sexual nudity since I'm not particularly educated enough to draw that sorta stuff yet. Payment will be upfront since our situation is extremely dire at the moment and in turn since we have to use the money we get immediately for rent and soon enough food, no refunds can be given back so please take that into consideration. I'm all for making changes if you aren't happy with how a piece is turning out.

My prices will be below! Thank you to all that sees this and helps either through reblogging or commissioning me, it always means a lot to my family and I! :")

~Prices~

Sketch (price depending on type of sketch) - base price of 15$

Sketch page - 15$ per sketch

Headshot - 25$ (+10$ if shaded)

Bust - 35$ (+10$ if shaded)

Expression Sheet (minimum of 3 heads per sheet, 10$+ per extra head) - 45$ (10$+ if shaded)

Half body - 50$ (+10$ if shaded)

Full body - 70$ (+15$ if shaded)

Couples Commission (a commission that includes two people) - 90$ (+15$ if shaded)

Group commissions (commission that includes more than two people, price dependant on the details) - 60 base price(one character, unshaded; each extra character is +75% to the original price) (40$+ if shaded)

Paintings (price depending on the details) - 100$+

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childofsardior · 1 month

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I was asked to share my current Ludwig's Headcanon, and I'll do it with immense pleasure, so here we are!

I'm actually going to talk about my personal take on Ludwig from my very self-indulgent HC/AU - so I'll warn you: you're going to find LOT of comfort/self-indulgent details and stuff here!

NOW PREPARE YOURSELF TO BE INFODUMPED ABT MY HC FOR LUDDY FROM MY AU!

General Info:

Full name: Ludwig von Koopa. He specifically put the "von" there instead of "van" to sound more like a noble. Chose this name after one of his favorite Human World's composers (after trying out a few different ones) when he was around 7 and stuck with it - yes, Luddy's been a musical nerd since he was an hatchling.

Gender and pronouns: He's a trans man. Pronouns are he/him. Very aware of this since he was very small, started to correct people with his chosen name(s) and right pronouns as soon as he realized that they were all wrong, and probably stupid from his point of view, even his mother - he had to bite her a couple of times before she understood it wasn't a game. Since Tarrasquins are related to dragons, his transition was a bit different from most species. Nowdays he almost never talks about his queer background, except made for people he blindly trust like his siblings - for occasional gender-related or name-related jokes, especially with Lemmy - or with his GF, usually for the same reasons. He's also confident enough to indulge in typically "feminine" behaviours time to time, without feeling ashamed, especially when hanging out with his sister Wendy. He's Ludwig von Koopa after all, he doesn't gives s**t about other people's opinions.

Sexuality: He doesn't like to use labels, but if asked to pick the closest one to describe himself Lud would probably say "something close to pansexual, but only with people smart and sharp enough to catch my attention." Dated a guy when they were teen, for a while. Now he's dating a girl named Estrela. If Estrela was a guy or an enby-koopa, he would litterally not care.

Age: He is currently 19 and a half (in "canonical" years) and the oldest among his siblings. Considering my Royal Koopas maturing faster than Humans and similar creatures during their first 25 years of life, you could compare Ludwig to a 21-23 years old Human in terms of mental maturity. (Could not say the same about sentimental maturity, but only 'cause Ludwig's always been a bit troubled in sharing genuine feelings even with trusted pals, and he has yet to learn how to manage it. But this is has nothing to do with his species development nor his age.) Birthday is November 12th (Scorpio).

Species: Tarrasquin (also known as "Royal Koopas" or "Dragon-Turtles") - that happens to be a powerful and rare species related both to Koopas and Dragons. The lack of horns at a young age and the number of spikes on the shell may point to the subspecies known as Plains/Field Tarrasquin, while some other details could suggest a "mix" with the Vulcanic bloodline. In addition, all the Koopalings seem to share an innate inclination toward magic and some other unusual details never found before in Tarrasquins, such as tail feathers or natural armors protecting the limbs, along with peculiar tiny gem-like scales scattered around their bodies in different patterns.

Physical appearance: He's a yellow-scaled Tarrasquin, resembling mostly the Vulcanic subspecies like Bowser. He's got blue long hair and tail feathers along with a sapphire-colored spiked shell. He has gray-blue eyes, and a single Royal Fang in the middle of his upper jaw - even if a couple of smaller Royal Fangs are recently growing on the sides of his mouth. Like most of his siblings, his head and shoulders are covedered of green scales/skin, and he also has some of it over the back of his hands. Sapphire-like scales appear all around his body, four of which can be clearly seen on his cheeks. He's quite short for his age, but if you compare him to the others you can guess he's among the oldest siblings, considering his body proportions and a more mature appearance.

Personality: Ludwig's arrogance is quite famous around the Dark Lands. He's extremely full of himself, and doesn't miss an occasion to remember you how superior he is. This is how most people see him from the distance. Actually, Ludwig's character is quite more complex than that. He surely likes to mantain his "I'm clearly better than any of you" mask, especially with his enemies, but he's actually way more chill than that if you start to know him - and if he consideres you your equal, he can actually show his softer and sillier side to you, and prove himself a nice company. He doesn't know what proper "anxiety" is, but he's quite nervous and always on the edge - trying to be perfect, to prove himself and his siblings to be the best leader, to prove everyone (but mostly himself, again) he's a great and talented artist and musician, and so on. He's also a bit lunatic, and had to train himself to be patient during the years, considering the amount of tiny Dragon-Turtles running and creating chaos around him. It's not so common for an insult to land on him - since he rarely cares about other people's opinions, even when they have actual good opinions about him - but when it happens he could grow red with anger or just give the cold-shoulders treathment for a while, depending on who you are. He also rarely feel completely calm or relaxed, his mind always trying to fix some problem or coming up with something new even on background, but from time to time he needs a break too and will probably spend some days playing some instrument in his room without a purpose, or playing video games alone or with Larry and Iggy, like he used to do a lot as a kid. Last but not least: he kinda looks like a guy that never cries or gets emotional, but it's inaccurate. Ludwig rarely cries or weep nowdays, but when he does it's always dramatic and theatrical - even his sibs become a bit afraid of him, never knowing what to say or how to help, when he breaks like that; he'll probably just go to his room playing his piano while crying until he's too tired to continue and probably will just fall asleep. But on the brighter emotions, he is also very much easier to be moved by kind actions than it seems. If any of the people he cares about surprise him with a special gift for his birthday, or prepare something cute thinking about what he loves most, or even just giving him a drawing about him and Junior conquering the Sky Kingdom together - this happened for Lud's 18th birthday, and was Junior's gift - he will probably be surprised, a little embarassed but mostly filled with a mute joy he'll do his best to hide... probably failing, considering those big wet eyes.

Hobbies and passions: They say he's a kind of prodigy, being so young yet skilled in dozens of different things - from battle and magical techniques to various arts - but the truth is that he works really, really hard for everything he wants to learn. He's a bit jealous of Iggy and Junior to be faster and more intuitive learners than him. His main passion revolves around music since he was a kid, but he actually likes to do A LOT OF STUFF - some in a "I'm sooo good at it" way, some other just as hobbies. He likes to play videogames (and even used to do it on a competitive level for a short while), enjoys TTRPGs with his siblings, likes to paint with spray paint from time to time, knows how to sew, learned how to fence and he's quite proud about it, loves to pose and even compete with his sibs (mostly Roy and Wendy) in some cool-poses showoffs when they all feel to... he also enjoys to hum and sing when happy, and he literally learned to speak German to make an impression with a perfectly-faked accent when needed. A current inside joke in the family is claiming that naming what Ludwig can't do would take less time to talk about what he can do - Iggy's even taking notes every time they find out something new Lud is not capable of - the first thing wrote down is "Luddy can't be humble". Talking about music only, his favorite genre has always been the classical one, but contrary of what everybody around him think, he actually enjoys a lot of other genres and also has a bunch of favorite contemporary singers and bands among his infinite list of musicians he likes or likes to take inspiration from. He just strongly dislikes that sort of "music" that only consist in "random and horrible noises, like the sort of thing that Larry listens to". He can himself play dozens of instrument, mostly are the classical orchestral ones but he knows how to play a bunch of modern and electric instruments too - he was the one learning-while-teaching Lemmy how to play the electric bass and the electric guitar, after all; his favorite and main instrument is the piano, followed with the violin and the cello just after. He likes to compose - or at least, try to - his own stuff since he was 10, just after learning the piano basic from Kamek and Bowser themselves. His own first pieces were not exactly... melodious, and now his "4th Symphony" is a recurring meme his brothers and sister like to tease him about. But nowdays he's getting quite good, and has even started to conduct a small orchestra on his own, all made of young people from the Dark Lands and all around the near Kingdoms. He's also fantasizing about making this passion his future main occupations, maybe as a composer in the film's industry or something like that...?

Relationships:

With his siblings: Being the eldest among 8 has not always been easy. Even if Junior has been mostly raised and educated by Bowser, Kamek and a bunch of loyal servants, the other 6 where very much his responsability after their mother sudden disappearance - of course Kamek and the others were taking care of the newly adopted kids, but you know... they needed time to settle in and Ludwig was their main point of reference for a while. So he had to force himself to grow up even faster than before, in terms of responsabilities and leadership. That said, nowdays he still consider himself the leader of the whole "Koopalings" gang - even if most of his siblings can perfectly take care of themselves and often laugh or complain if Lud tryies to impose himself too much, especially when he's doing that in his presumptuous and arrogant way. Still, when things get hard, they all know that they can ask their big brother for help.

Now, for each relationship with the siblings:

Lemmy: They are in good terms. They do not spend too much time together, but when combined can become the Unsufferable Duo Of the Eldest and literally use their Age Superiority to assert dominancte on the others. Lemmy is also one of the few Ludwig can actually confide in, Lemmy being the biggest heart and probably the more emotional mature in the family - but Lemmy's the one EVERYBODY confides in, so it's a bit of cheating.

Roy: They used to fight often when younger, Roy being the only one bold enough to confront the big bro authority. Now they just respect each other, and while Roy trusts Ludwig's cunning brain, Ludwig can fully trust Roy's loyalty, sharpness and strenght, especially for missions that involves fighting and conquering.

Iggy: They are engaged in a mutual, mostly positive rivalry about who is the real family genius. Spoiler: both are, but in different ways. Iggy is an intuitive type, and learns mostly by watching his sourroundings and experimenting, while Ludwig is a studious type, that prefers knowing all about theory before trying things out. Iggy can't really understand music and arts in general - he enjoys them, but in a very "superficial and bland" way, in Ludwig's opinion - and Ludwig can't understand what is so cool about classyfing rocks, animals and plants, and will never get the green-shelled brother curious hyperfixations. Ludwig is also refusing to aknowledge Iggy's higher IQ score than his. But they can actually work together if needed, especially when some project or blueprint or plan needs full-brain power.

Wendy: They get along very well. Their shared passion for music is a good start - when Ludwig tries to compose something more "modern" than usual, it's always to have Wendy singing along with him playing the piano or the violin - but they can generally do various things together and enjoy their mutual company - from going to the SPA to planning the conquest of the next Kingdom. Also, Wendy is probably the only one among them Lud doesn't dare to anger, and also the only one he consider *almost* equal to him.

Morton: Ludwig loves Morton's blind obedience. Then if he thinks too hard about it, he feels bad. Actually, Morton follows Ludwig's lead because he trusts his brother, not because he's a sort of perfectly obedient puppy like some other brother jokes about. The two are in neutral-good terms. They do not spend much time together normally, but during missions Ludwig can count on Morton's natural protective nature to be sure the younger ones won't get too hurt, especially Junior - and this applies to some of the older siblings as well, from time to time.

Larry: The relationship between the two is a bit strange. Like the most of the group, Ludwig can't really stand Larry for too long - the latter is a 13-years-old Royal Koopa acting as an average 13-years-old Human boy most of the times - but as the Big Brother he must set a good example and hide his irritation while he tries to teach his younger brother the art of war and such. But it's hard. Larry is easily distracted and doesn't like to listen to others anyway. Even if Lud manages to get his attention, the azure brother will probably stay on his cellphone all the time. Larry loves to work with and actually playing electronic/techno music, but also trash and YouPipe-worth-meme-songs, "an insult to real music" in Ludwig's opinion. Larry also wants to prove himself as a good leader for the group, even if "lacking with basic leadership knowledge", and tries to fight with Ludwig about it from time to time. When tired or in need of a day off, Ludwig allows Larry to "play the leader for a while", knowing that Wendy or Roy will actually take the real role instead.

Bowser Junior: This one is a complex field to navigate, full of bitterness and mixed feelings. Junior being the only biological child of Bowser makes him the official Heir, but also, somehow, more "important" than the others in terms of social rank and authority. And Ludwig doesn't like this. He can't truly behave normally around Junior; he hates the fact that a child has the right to tell him what to do, especially when he does so in a very bratty and unsufferable way - luckily, Junior is growing up nicer than in the past, but still a kid remains. Ludwig is also jealous of Jr. even if he's never going to admit it aloud, since the little brother still has one parent to take care of him and love him, and this parent is the King of the Koopas himself. "If only I was Bowser's son..." he finds himself thinking about sometimes, but tries not to elaborate further. Ludwig tries to avoid Junior when he can, and Junior does the same since he doesn't like the way Ludwig yaps about everything. But...! Very recently the two have started getting along a bit more. Ludwig noticed Junior proving himself to be much more clever and empathic than he thought, and is now searching for something in common to share. Lud tried to talk Jr into the world of music like he did with most of his siblings, but hasn't been very successful yet. Junior on the other hand convinced his blue brother to paint with him, and Lud discovered that, in fact, he likes it. So they do paint together, from time to time, or wander with Iggy, Morton and Larry around the Dark Lands metro to draw fancy graffiti all together. Ludwig too needs to feel again like a kid or at least a teen time to time.

* * *

With King Bowser: Ludwig is one of the few Koopalings that not address to Lord Bowser as a "father". He was almost 10 years old when they all were officially adopted by the Royal Family, and always saw the King as "the King". He is very loyal to the Crown and likes to think about himself as Bowser's first and most trusted general, and always showes his most serious and adult size when reporting to him. On the other hand, Ludwig feels a bit nervous and insecure in everyday life situations he spends along with the adoptive parent, when Bowser's just acting as Dad-Bowser and not as King-Bowser-Koopa. Behind his back, Bowser desperately and secretly hopes Ludwig will start addressing him as "dad" one day.

With his mother: He had a very good relationship with his mom (OC)- taken aside that short period of time she couldn't understand why he wanted to be "addressed as a boy" - but it ended well anyway. He also liked to think of himself as their mom's favorite child. Now he doesn't want to talk about her, especially with Junior.

With his girlfriend: He and Estrela (OC) met almost a couple of years ago in Ludwig's personal orchestra, and they have been dating for one year now. Before meeting Estrela, Lud had a poor opinion on Koopa Troopas/Common Koopas in general, especially if civilians or commoners. Then he met this super skilled violist, they started to flirt a bit after some time but then Ludwig kind-of-insulted her for trying to reach "a Royal" and... well, she decided to make him pay for that, planning something quite "funny", and in the end Estrela proved the Royal Koopa that even "commoners" can outsmart the "great Ludwig von Koopa". He was startled by this to the point he totally fell in love. They are both enjoying their relationship now, sharing interests and passions and all, joking all the time and being silly together when none can judge them, even if Luddy still has to learn to be less arrogant with his loved ones - lukily for both he's doing enough progresses already to prevent the relationship to become toxic or bad. Ludwig loves Estrela's strong personality and the fact that she can literally - and will likley, if needed - stand up to him from her 1,40 m (around 4.5 ft) of height and cute Common Koopa appearance. And he loves the way she plays the viola, of course. In his mind, maybe influenced by Lord Bowser's way to think, he's already picturing is future wedding... along with their royal palace and personal realm in the Kingom of the Sky.

Relationship with the Mario Bros., Princess Peach and the Mushroom Kingom in general: He strongly dislikes the two plumbers, and do not approve his sib Lemmy's friendship with them. He mostly hates Mario, considering him the real threat among the two. He would very unlikely call a truce between the Koopalings and the two Humans, unless it was his last option. Peach knows him since he hatched - and she tries her best to treat well the young Royal Koopa siblings, since she used to know their mother - but he doesn't really care about this, claming that since he can't remember it, it doesn't count. He is not very excited by the possibility to have Peach as their step-mother, but during her forced staying at Bowser's place after the occasional kidnapping, he sometimes asks her if she wants to take a look at his last music sheets or if she wants to listen to some of his new pieces. And for the Mushroom Kingdom, he merely saw it as the future Dark Lands' personal granary until he met his GF, who's from said Kingdom. Now he is a bit more aware of it, and nervous about eventual future attacks King Bowser could plan against it.

Peculiarities & co.

Ambidextrous: He trained himself to be almost perfectly hambidextrous, mostly thanks to his piano training. Nobody remembers if he was naturally right or left-handed in the beginning.

Senses: In contrast to what his name could suggest, his sharpest sense is hearing - he can not only hear a whisper on the other side of the royal dining room, especially if it's about him or something he may be interested in, but also got an almost-perfect pitch. If he looks like he didn't hear you, he was either too concentrated on his own toughts or just... blantantly ignoring you.

Body quirks and special abilities: He is way lighter than it looks like, probably due his shell peculiar conformation and unusual lightness, and sometimes it even seems like gravity isn't working on him as it should - he can in fact jump quite hight, flutter jump and even floating in the air for a short time when fighting. He can also walk on clouds without any power-ups or magic, a privilege usually related to winged or sky-born creatures only, such as Paratroopas or Lakitus. Nobody seems to know why, since Ludwig has no wings (even if he secretly wishes he had) and such. Last but not least, he is also able to control thunders with his own hands when things get really hard - in a similar way Luigi can do after knowing the secret technique in Mario&Luigi Superstar Saga.

Random Facts:

His Royal Fang is one of his weak points. He doesn't really like it, and mostly tries to ignore the fact that, of all the possible Fang patterns, *that* specific one happened to him. Mostly, it makes it hard to play woodwinds instruments - he only plays his portable harmonica without much trouble - drinking from everyday glasses - he almost always drink from straws, but gets easily embarassed if he needs to order one when dining in a fancy restaurant - and kissing his GF. This one specifically frustrates him a lot.

His GF finds his Royal Fang cute.

Like most Tarrasquins, he can purr. But since purring only occurs when they are extremely satisfied or happy or comfortable, it's very rare to hear him purr.

He's base respect for any other living creature not related to him is 0, especially with Goombas or other "simpler species". Once beated, outsmarted or both at the same time, he will probably reconsiderate your existance and include your kind in his "this one earned my respect" list. Hopefully, he'll grow out of this when he gets older and wiser.

He owns something like 14 pianos (one of which is possessed), around his various fortress and all. He wanted a super fancy piano for his 18th birthday, like one with a custom color, made by hand and with his name engraved in gold on the front of it, from the best piano brand of the world. Bowser gifted him a huge, golden pipe organ instead, thinking it would have been cooler.

Ludwig is scared as heck of pipe organs.

In the end, Kamek was the one gifting him his "best piano". Bowser is the one that loves to play it the most.

Ludwig is also scared of deep water. That is funny considering he once piloted a submarine. If asked, he will give a bunch of explanations about that claming that staying inside an advanced submarine is very different from swimming in open sea where you can't see nothing under you. Plus, your hair can't get wet as long as you remain inside of the submarine. His brothers and sister often speculate about how to convince their big brother to learn how to swim.

He likes to act fancy and classy when he's at social events and similar. His pompous attitude helps a lot with that. But he has the tendency of stain his clothing without noticing and does so almost every single time he dines out.

Even with the adult and serious appearance, he would never give up French Fries when there is the option in the menu.

He can also legally buy and drink alchool now, following Dark Land's laws, but even if he enjoys some champagne from time to time, he's more a juice type. His favorite one is orange juice, and always keeps a bottle of it near before an all-day-playing-music session.

He hated brushing his hair when he was a kid, and hated even more the idea of cutting it. His mother gave up when he was 3, and Kamek and some servants tried to run after him once, following the little blue rascal around the whole castle for the whole evening. Kamek was the one that eventually convinced him into taking care of his curly bush of blue feathers - but it took him 2 years.

His natural hair is actually curly, like his mother's was. He straightenes it with an hair straightener after every bath, and uses tons of hair spray every morning to recreate in his iconic hairstyle. This hairstyle was actually heavily inspired by Madame Flurrie's one, after a 12-years-old Ludwig watched one of her theatrical perfomance (on TV) for the first time. He was fascinated by her hair that looked like wings and looked very elegant at the same time, and decided he would have based his personality around that style for the next years.

He didn't know at the time that that specific winged hairstyle was very popular among actors and artist of a certain level, especially from the musical field. When he found out, he was even more amused and claimed it was "destiny" that his tastes happened to be so refined and elegant.

Only recently Lud started to try out new hairstyles, or to be more accurate, some "custom variants of his classic one". He likes to keep them looser when conducting his orchestra or playing in public. He keeps it "sharper" for fights. He would NEVER tie them up.

His GF actually loves when Lud has uncombed hair, and thinks he's way cuter this way. He hates it.

He also loves and hates being called "cute". He actually got angry when Estrela called him "cute" or "adorable" the first times. Now he secretely enjoys it, but still gets quite embarassed.

He'll grow a tuft of feathers under his chin when he'll grow up. Since it's not too common for Koopas to grow facial hair, he will keep it with pride and add it to his style.

When he's sourrounded by his siblings when in need of some peace but can't escape the situation, he takes his professional headphones and put on some classical concerts, german heavy metal music by unknown indie bands or Pure Cosmic Silence, depending how desperate he is.

He loves the smell of ginger. He also likes the smell of gingerbread. One time he ordered a ginger perfume, but the store mixed his order and sent him a very unusual gingerbead perfume instead. He tried it anyway and found it amusing. He would now put gingerbread perfume on himself from time to time. He claims it's a peculiar but great scent, just like him. His siblings mostly thinks he smells like a cookie.

He is also secretly almost-parent-like proud of his siblings any time they manage to do well something he teached them first. This applies mostly with Larry and Junior, especially for the latter being a very quick learner.

He sometimes has a recurrent dream in which he finds out he's actually an only child and goes to party just after. For some *unknown* reasons this mostly happens after spending a very long and tiring day with Junior or Roy.

Four violinists in his orchestra are Piranha Plants, named, respectively, "Todd, Justin, Scott and Ashby". They joined Ludwig's orchestra in an attempt to escape military service, but they didn't know how to play a single thing at first. With time, the quartet became very good with the violin. They will still be present in Ludwig's personal orchestra when he will be a professional composer, as some of the best musicians of the orchestra.

He really dislikes the harpsichord as an instrument. There is not a specific reason about that, he just... really doesn't like the sound it makes, and thinks of it as an overrated baroque instrument. His GF really likes it instead, and they sometimes have silly fights about that.

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meanbossart · 7 months

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DU drow asks time

Lore questions/sweet messages/stuff that made me laugh that's about DU drow specifically that I decided to compile in a single post!

First of all, "outraged to be used as a medium for old man gay divorce" is a hysterical sentence LOL

As for his thoughts on the Ansur debacle? Negative ones. He hates the emperor, he doesn't care about his third-time-twist real identity, he doesn't particularly care about Wyll either (well - he kind of finds him entertaining, he's kind of really frustrated by him, it's complicated) but he saved his dad on a whim to spite Mizora anyway. BUT HEY, all that trouble would have been worthwhile if he's about to get an ancient dragon fighting alongside him - this old duke sounds a little too confident in this fairy tale, but stranger things have happened, right?

Then the situation unfolds as it does, and if he wasn't eager enough to use that orphic hammer before, he certainly is now. There is very little that the Emperor does past Act 3 that DU drow doesn't find a way to twist into something that confirms his resolve against him. If he could have taken Ansur's side in that fight, he would have - not that he shed any tears over killing him either.

Sick sword though, that helped soothe his nerves a bit and I'm sure spared everyone a little bit of a tantrum at camp later.

HAHAHAHA I can't confirm nor deny because I see so few large body-type elves as it is (which is fair, elves aren't usually... That massive). I did set age to 50% because it does look a little weird when it's all smooth. Maybe that's the trick?

Though I guess if you find it unsettling, then... No wonder it suits him! however this just looks like an impressively handsome fella to me, to be honest. I insist on fucking him up further whenever I draw him for that reason.

Thank you so much for following along and for giving the fic a try!!! And no worries, english isn't my native tongue either so I've been there 😎👍

I do actually have a couple of very short comics planned that take place pre-tadpole, but my backlog of WIPs is... Massive. Not to mention the commission work I do (currently not taking any more). I have one that's about his first interaction with Orin and another about a business dinner with Gortash gone-wrong, but I have no clue when I'll be able to work on them. Hopefully soon though!

You know, I've always hoped that after I died I'd be remembered as the guy who inspired others to make their nipples card-swipe-able.

Joke's aside, thank you LOL I love that my guys' nips have taken up non-insignificant room in your mind, it's always comforting to know that you aren't the only one.

Piercings and the such aren't really his style though. While he finds his scar-work weirdly comforting, he isn't so interested in aesthetic results as much as he just enjoys having pain inflicted upon him in a controlled environment, by people that he loves - He doesn't recall this post-tadpole, but the scars were a result of a kind of... Recurring ritual between himself and Orin that served to replace normal intimacy, pretty much.

Since you touched on it though, I do like to believe that Astarion finds his cut-up body fun, both on the eyes and on the hands LOL.

I'm starting to think you guys are all in on this. It's like the fifth time someone catches me in the act - god damn it, is it that obvious that I wanna slide down Peter Steele's cold corpse like he's a a ride at the Magical Ice kingdom... Which is to say, yes, both the guy and his music are not-so-lowkey a big inspiration behind a lot of DU drow's characterization!

That's all for now folks, thank you so much for the asks!!! This isn't all of them but I try not to spam people's feeds when I can help it/space them out. I see all of your messages and I guarantee you that if I have an interesting answer for them, you will see a reply eventually!

#ps: i only made that peter steele joke because i know he would be ok with it LOL #ask #DU drow #bg3 spoilers

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apostaterevolutionary · 3 months

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Collecting some thoughts on veilguard cause tbh I really don’t know how to feel lmao so. Unstructured ramble time

I’ve watched the trailer and the demo and I feel very. Idk? Still ‘wait and see’ mode for me. It’s been 10 years. Inquisition imo was the weakest of the 3. And while I have kind of moved on from DA there is a part of me that wants this to just blow everything out of the water and be amazing. I’m just not sure if that’s what I think will happen. Right now, I just think it doesn’t feel dragon age-y enough (in terms of what I, personally, consider the defining traits of the series) but I don’t want to jump to conclusions with so little information

The trailer was. Fine. Vibes were a little off but given its Varric narrating, it makes sense (also. Unpopular opinion lmao. I love Varric but I don’t think he should be a companion again. If there’s a carry over companion, it should have been Dorian. And tbh he could still be there, considering they said 7 companions but Varric is not included in that. So did they mean 7 *new* companions and maybe a few others? Advisors again maybe? Idk. Maybe Varric is a temporary companion, but I don’t think he should be there except maybe as a cameo. Scout Harding is an unexpected but fine carry over though). I don’t really have an opinion yet on the companions themselves cause there’s just. Nothing to base an opinion on other than the character designs

Gameplay demo shows that they’re definitely going very Inquisition-y. As in, continuing further down the path it started. Which isn’t unexpected, but is a bit disappointing, though not necessarily a dealbreaker as of yet. It’s probably smart tbh to go more in an action rpg direction than back to the crpg roots given it’s going to be compared to bg3 no matter what they do - better to differentiate as much as possible. Though I don’t think that’s why they did it, probably more a happy accident. I just. Idk, I found inquisitions combat a bit boring and I haven’t been impressed by what I’ve seen yet. But a 20 minute demo is probably not enough to really form an opinion

I feel like you can still see the echoes of this being a live service game at one point too. Healing potions coming from pots found in the environment (I never got over healing spells being cut btw lmao, bring back spirit healers already), the “ability wheel” (unsure about that too, given it sounds like we can’t control companion characters anymore? Kinda really don’t like that :/), stuff like that. I still feel like DA2 combat was the perfect balance between fluidity and strategy but it is what it is. It performed badly, so they’ve disregarded it wholesale rather than consider that some aspects of it may still be worth exploring. It sucks, but that’s capitalism I guess

As for all the other little things, idk, I really am not sure what to think yet lmao. Some sound good. Some less good (why only 2 companions, I don’t like that at all - also weird that the demo shows you won’t have a tank for the initial bit of the game. That’s a weird choice). Nothing to make me go aaaaaa either positively or negatively yet. I don’t even know what to say. My feelings are just so complicated about it, but also kinda empty at the same time. Like. It’s a bit of kombucha girl meme but also muted? I would like to feel just. More about it. But I don’t yet. I’m too unsure. Not quite numb, but almost tbh

At this stage, I feel like I’m gonna wait till it comes out and see what happens. No pre-ordering until I get a better idea. It’s like. With origins, I’ve played it a lot. DA2, even more - countless times lmao. Inquisition though, I played 2.5 times immediately after release and have tried to play it multiple times since but. I only ever get 10-20 hours in before I get bored and can’t make myself continue. I’ve tried many, many times and idk why but I just can’t do it. I never even played any of the DLC, so like. I kinda need to do that first if I’m gonna play veilguard but I have never succeeded before so idk how I will now lmao. But I feel like at least trespasser is necessary and I have genuinely never played it. And I gotta play the rest of the game first to get there and I genuinely don’t know if I can sksksjs

And with that in mind like. If inquisition is that unappealing to me, a game that feels very inquisition-y, potentially leaning even more into the stuff I didn’t like about it, is. Definitely not what I was hoping for. It’s still possible it’s leagues better than inquisition and actually playing it will be a great experience. But right now I just don’t know. I probably won’t be able form any kind of opinion until it comes out and I start getting info from trusted folks that I know have good DA opinions lmao

Idk. I’m not trying to be a wet blanket or a hater, and I genuinely don’t think I am being a hater at all, but I am just. Very tired and nervous. But also cautiously hopeful. I’ve said ‘idk’ a lot lmao but I truly don’t know at this stage. I guess we’ll see. Let’s hope it’s actually amazing and the very thing we need to make the series as a whole feel like it used to for us lapsed DA fans

#and this isn’t even getting into like #the usual bioware complaints of their inconsistent lore and unequal treatment of characters #and the retconning and the bad grey morality bs #and the crunch culture and other shit they do as a company #and the layoffs and everyone who quit #I’m trying to not even consider any of that right now lmfao #idk just some complicated feelings I needed to express #gonna reblog stuff though #the gifsets and stuff are pretty lmao #text #dragon age #shut up nerd #veilguard

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penrose-quinn · 3 months

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Lost Generation

A breeze whistled between your footsteps, ambling in a slow, thoughtless pace that had him thinking both of you had all the time in the world, even if the road ahead was just another meandering path to a farewell. “You'd stay in Black Dragons for a long time, right?”

pairings: benkei | keizo arashi/reader ❁ background (oblivious) shinichiro sano/reader

content tags: companion piece prequel to green light and spin-off to couldn't tell. first gen black dragons ultraviolence era. gender neutral reader. summer coming-of-age ft. gangs. lots of bromance and bickering. mostly friendship. growing up together and growing apart. beach trip. preemptive grief. tw: violence (and glorification of violence), shady gang behavior, underage drinking and smoking, and minors getting tattoos. there's a weird age gap scene with college-aged women showing interest in someone younger, nothing sexual happens but still. everyone is 17-18 here.

a/n: like my waka fic, this is mostly platonic!first gen black dragons x reader but more benkei and bromance and beaches. also no one man-crushes harder than benkei lol. btw it's not necessary to read my other installments for this and lots of flashbacks interspersed in the plot!

couldn't tell ❁ green light ❁ read on ao3

From the highway to Chiba, it’s like all of you parted the sea on your motorcycles.

Benkei smelled salt everywhere. There was no end to the ocean that surrounded the road ahead, the industrial plants no more but distant daydreams back in Kawasaki, and then he realized he hadn’t been exposed to open water like this, swore to have never ridden a ferry in his life.

His heart was too landlocked in the city to care, but this was all Shin’s idea.

Said he wanted to go to a real beach, all white sand shores, shaved ice, and hot babes.

The journey was still more than an hour-long drive, and Benkei would love nothing more than to throw himself underwater right now. Takeomi wouldn’t stop ranting about the heat and truck traffic. Ignoring his tirade, Wakasa was tanner for baking under the sun. You’re almost caught speeding for badly needing a restroom break, which Shinichiro had to prevent along the way to Umihotaru.

The pitstop was short but unhurried. Takeomi was still at the register while Benkei and Shinichiro soaked up the frosty air of beverage coolers until the store manager told them off. Chewing gum, Wakasa waited with you outside the convenience store. Your gaze was elsewhere, drifting in the waves, and the trance went on upon arriving at Onjuku Beach, crowded in the summertime.

Benkei never got to know what was on your mind, riveted by a statue of two camel riders from a distance.

A water bottle was tapped on his arm, and after he exchanged his thanks, you asked him, “where do you think they’re going?”

“Who knows? The sea maybe,” he replied, uncapping the bottle for a drink and dumping the rest on his face, dribbling cold water all over his collar.

“There are showers here, you know.” Your lips quirked up amusedly, and then you pointed at the shoreline crested over with blue, radiant waves. “Or you can go over there.”

“Got excited.” Benkei grinned, finally shrugging off his open shirt and balling it up to wipe himself. The tattoos on his chest and arms flexed from the motion and it caught the curious eye of a child, building sandcastles. She wasn't old enough to turn them into a wall yet. “Aren’t you gonna swim too?”

“Maybe later. No one’s guarding our stuff,” you said, jerking your head at the beach blanket pile-dumped with bags, a haphazard mess. There's a sweaty t-shirt, a tube squirting a bit of sunscreen on the cloth, and some mixed garbage of snack wrappers and half-empty bottled drinks shoved inside a plastic bag.

Benkei cringed, about to comment, until he got a good look at you. Traded for your glasses was a pair of shades from the bargain bin, making you look like a poser, though with the way you quietly huddled and sat on the blanket, arms tucked to your chest, the obnoxious air dispelled. He joined you, ducking under the umbrella; yellow and blue pinstripes, like the ones rented by couples entwined under the shade. You scooted over to give him more room, your elbows brushing each other.

“Where are the others anyway?”

“Waka went somewhere, I don't know. Shin dragged Takeomi to, well,” a long, expectant sigh, “girls.”

You snorted. “It is a beach. Sure they’re trying to get their dicks wet too.”

Benkei laughed. You never withheld yourself for those two. Perhaps it came from knowing them since childhood.

“Hey, what are the odds? Maybe our weak king might have a chance this time.”

“Or come here crying, same old.” You already sound done though there's a sort of rough affection grating through your words, “Shin's a baby like that.”

“A baby?” Some crybaby who had Tokyo in the palm of his hand. Someone who Benkei had sworn to follow for the rest of his life.

“Yup. So how well do you take rejections?”

“Pretty bad. I’ll cry too if I had to lose someone that way. You?”

You mulled over it for a bit. “I don't know. I haven't confessed to anyone before.”

“Me neither.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Probably would’ve scared ‘em off before I could try.”

“You don't know that yet,” you refuted. “But I think you’ll fall for someone who's brave enough to let you try.”

His lips curled up at that. His vice-captain told him something similar after gaining the love of his now girlfriend, lucky bastard. “You know me that well?”

“Sure I do,” you said cheekily before tilting your head on one side, humming in thought. “At least I know it’d hurt a lot to lose someone like that . . .”

Benkei was unable to add more because it's just as you put it. He didn't mind listening to you most of the time. There's something revealing about your input that he hadn't taken into consideration himself.

Wakasa would've labeled him a blockhead unlike Takeomi who'd been wise enough to not slip aloud that Benkei wasn't the smartest in their group. It's not the reason why he’d been expelled from his first middle school and he didn't see it as a point of shame if he could smite some sense into anyone who thought otherwise.

Benkei just fancied himself a big picture kind of guy, preferring to focus on the broader strokes of something, but maybe that's why he valued your tangents. He wondered if wearing fake glasses helped with your attention to detail, even though he couldn't take you seriously in them.

You pushed up your shades and he sighed. Or in any tacky eyewear you own, really.

“You should talk to some girls,” you prompted suddenly, making him let out a huff, c’mon man, and you shrugged. “Or go surfing then. It's better than cooping yourself here with me.”

“Now you sound like you want me to go away.”

“Never. Just meant you should enjoy the beach while you can.”

“I enjoy being with you.”

A meek, baffled pause. He’d always caught you off guard with big statements like that, wondering if people say that enough to you other than Shinichiro.

You recovered with a simper. “Me too,” still awkward after reciprocating, you changed the subject, “it’d be so nice to swim . . .”

In an attempt to cool off, you're tugging the collar of your t-shirt to fan yourself but it's futile when sweat had already curled on the hairs from the nape of your neck. You hadn't changed into any swimwear yet, and then a more intrusive thought caught up to him.

“Yeah, we should go together.”

“Sure . . .” this time, you removed the stupid shades, your eyes sincere as they met his. “But just so you know, I won't be mad at you if you went ahead of me.”

Blinking, Benkei felt a bit misled by that, and before he could insist on waiting for you, you beat him to it.

“I’ll definitely follow after you till someone takes my place,” you reassured him, gazing back at the sea. “One of us has to stay behind.”

True to your word, you did catch up to him. Wakasa tailed after you from the shore, calf-deep into water.

"What are the two of you doing?" asked Benkei, wading towards you. The sun prickled his damp neck.

"Jellyfish hunting," you stated. "Waka agreed that if he gets stung by one, I get to piss on him. Or the other way around, whoever gets stung first."

When Benkei gawked at you, you offered with a straight face, "wanna join in too?"

Bemused and wide-eyed, Benkei turned his gaze to Wakasa.

"So you're that kind of guy."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Wakasa wasn't really into the kinky stuff. Though for all his standoffishness, he was a lot smoother than what Benkei gave him credit for persuading you to come out here when the bastard had been better at ignoring a person as if they never existed. Or destroying them.

It's more amusing to see him sweat for something – someone adamant as you – which granted Benkei so many chances to sneak in not-so-subtle jabs at him in moments like this. Moments where everyone's dumb and careless and in love with their youth.

"I think I saw—fuck!"

You slipped, about to fall into water, until Benkei grasped the back of your collar and Wakasa caught you by the wrist. All of your shorts were wet from the splashing.

Your shades fell in an awkward drop and you craned your head up at them with a grateful grin, murmuring, “uh, just seaweed . . .”

This didn't deter you in your search. In fact, it made you more motivated. Benkei didn't tell you that there weren't any jellyfish in Onjuku Beach, so did Wakasa. They agreed that your efforts were sort of endearing.

Benkei asked Wakasa if he'd let you piss on him. He didn't answer for awhile until he settled for a shrug.

Sparing him a retort, Benkei didn't repress a chuckle.

Benkei met you when he hurtled himself headfirst into a fight that wasn't his.

It was yours. Though it just didn't sit well with him that those Kodo Rengo pricks had the gall to step into their territory so the enemy of my enemy was my friend and he went along with that logic when he abruptly joined in with the impact of a boulder.

You didn't seem like you were a part of any gang at all. Just a random middle schooler but a target regardless. Not an easy one, that's for sure. You fought like you'd been at it for years, all blood and grit.

You were strong and Ragnarok happened to be in search of that kind of strength so he figured he should recruit you first before someone else did.

The thing was you weren't just a target when you earned quite a reputation, tied to your older brother who was the leader of a gang that ruled Kanto with an iron-fist from some glorious past. His seniors never shut up about it, him and them being a part of something that used to make them invincible.

Someone who you despised and even with the proposition of taking him down after he’s released from his jail sentence, you'd still decline his offer, not giving it much thought. "I'm sort of helping out my friend. Said something about making a gang."

“Ah, so you're already in his gang . . .”

“No, he just always gets into a lot of trouble! If I’m not there, who’s gonna protect him?”

“Protect, huh.”

But that meant he'd have to fight you too one of these days. You didn't tense over his reply, neither a threat nor an insult.

Behind those glasses, there's an edge to your eyes. Your brother's eyes, but they weren't cold and wretched.

Benkei couldn’t recall the last time anyone had insistently called him Arashi-san or had bought him a steamed meat bun out of politeness, even though he’d known for years that polite people would rather not hold his gaze, passing over him in an attempt to shun what didn’t fit in the mold of what defined their monotonous, undisturbed lives.

Regardless, he’s not one to refuse free food and taking another bite of his meat bun, he looked at you closely.

You were terrifying but you seemed sort of nice. In an uptight way.

So Benkei suggested that you and your friend should just join his gang and you blinked at him before wheezing out a short, honest laugh, claiming that he had already set out his dream.

Learning he never equaled you in a fight, it only registered to Benkei that he's a weak guy because strength dictated everything in this brutal side of life. Strength like yours and his. When Benkei asked how he was going to lead a gang, you stood against the brilliant glare of the evening and he thought he saw a glimpse of it.

You smoldered in those colors, one he likened to glory. There was promise in your words.

"You'll see," you said, staring back at him from your shoulder with a smile. "You probably haven't met anyone like him."

The red sun fell on the name from your lips.

Sano Shinichiro.

There’s no history behind his name like yours and it intrigued him so much that he agreed to meet him so that he could beat him up in a fair fistfight, bringing up that whoever's the victor would have you in his gang.

Benkei didn’t lose but the favor went to Shinichiro just because he was the most interesting guy he'd ever met.

He had never met a man who won from his losses. How could one be so triumphant and pathetic at the same time, Benkei didn't know. Though he understood what you meant when you stood by him.

Shinichiro held the things closest to him sacredly and once he called you his friend, he wouldn’t give you up for anything. Benkei didn’t complicate himself to define what kind of relationship you had. All he had to know was how he fought for you against him, against rival gangs, and even against your brother.

Everyone held him in reverence for being a pillar of the delinquent world. Except for you.

Your gaze for him was more familiar, softer, though unlike Takeomi, you disagreed with him in too many instances about his reckless lifestyle and the proposal as one of his captains. Shinichiro would come back to you a second time, third, fourth, perhaps more as to measure the desire to have you join them officially. They were convinced he'd be on his knees if this went on though he held up strong in a battle of fortitude.

Both of you, however, just happened to have the thickest skulls when you butt heads over each other's stubbornness.

"Of course, you're going to be a part of the Black Dragons. Hell, you're even a founding member!"

"You already got what you want! I don't see why you still have to drag me in your gang too."

"I thought we'd do this together? Why not go all the way when you could be my—"

"Should we break them up?"

Wakasa was the one who suggested it after mentioning that you looked like you're about to duke it out. Sensing the escalating tension too, Benkei was about to step in until Takeomi shook his head, cigarette in his hand.

He assured them that you wouldn't hit him for something like that. Another drag of smoke and a sigh.

"Just give 'em time."

Everyone split on a big bowl of mango shaved ice.

Two of you were against red beans mixed in at the suggestion of matcha flavor. It wasn't as fun when the syrup couldn't stain your tongues, but it was refreshingly cold and milky sweet when swimming had failed you under the afternoon scorch of 2 p.m.

Prioritizing dessert didn't ruin your appetites for chatter over lunch: comparing sunburns, college girls in bikinis that were way out of everyone's league, and then a callout about Takeomi having his hair tied back into a bun because it actually drew attention. The scar gave him an edge and inflated his vanity. Some more waffling about what women were into, even though no one probably knew what they're talking about.

You found it weird because they're older than the rest of you and Takeomi brought up that you weren't when you had that dragon tattoo.

“It's not for showing off to have a hookup.”

“Then what’s the tattoo about anyway?” asked Wakasa and his sudden interest had you flustered.

“Yeah, tell us about that.” Benkei smirked with him, cornering you into a hot seat.

“Bet you cried like a pussy when you had it,” retorted Takeomi.

“Bet you are a pussy when you don’t even have one.”

“Hey, you little—"

“Anyway,” Shinichiro cut in, clearing his throat. He plucked a piece of karaage dipped in mayo from your plate because he's the last one waiting for his food and it’d already been thirty minutes. He was nibbling on Benkei’s fries awhile ago. All of you agreed to feed him out of pity. “Why do you have one?”

“You already know!” you hollered, bumping your fist on the table from the betrayal.

“Huh? Don’t remember,” he feigned obliviousness. “I wasn’t with you when you had it done.”

“You’re still sulking about that?”

“Whatever. C’mon, just tell us—”

“Number 105!”

“Finally.” Shinichiro stood up, taking his stub with him before shooting back at everyone, “you better not start anything without me!”

He headed to the popular food stall that had the longest line in the area. Probably was the reason why he was in the mood for grilled eel.

“So how long did you have it?” went on Wakasa, casually chewing on a yakitori stick like a toothpick.

“Hm, it’s been four weeks, I think? It isn’t that sensitive anymore.”

“That’s fine. It’s the same for me when I had mine the first time,” Benkei chimed in.

“It's a hassle to cover up in school, though.”

“Aren’t you committing yourself more to the gang?”

Takeomi interrupted, scrutinizing you under his hard stare. You returned it with an unblinking one.

“Nah, I’m just attached.” You shrugged before leaning back on your palms, smiling a little. “Figured it was kinda obvious.”

On the day Benkei brought you to the tattoo parlor, he thought the dragon was botched when it's facing the wrong direction.

He’d been more indignant about it than you were, not even realizing his voice raised in complaint, until you touched his wrist and censured him for being too loud, apologizing to the frightened artist for the trouble and paying for his service.

He was a new hire, a nervous wreck of face piercings, from somewhere. The tattooing business was still the underground kind and getting hold of an artist often came through word of mouth, shunned for the craft as much as the one whose skin had been inked. It always ran deeper for Benkei. He was ten when he first had his on the cusp of his shoulder until they proudly bloomed all over his chest, surviving his adolescence.

Even behind the saran wrap, the detailed blackwork on the tattoo was impressive, curving around your right calf like a painting. Still . . .

"It's fine. You're looking at me like I'm kinda lame now."

"You're not." Then he gestured his hand at the fallen dragon. You told him before that he articulated his emotions more with his body. Everything around him became askew for it. Passersby twist around a different route from his direction. "Just—it just looks off, you know? Dragons should be flying up and all."

You scoffed. "So you're upset about some bit of symbolism? Yeah, Inoe-san got it wrong but you didn’t have to be an asshole because—"

"I'm upset that you regret this and you can't take it back anymore," he admitted, head hanging low. "And I brought you there . . ."

"I don't want to take it back,” you said, unrepentant of how adults would appraise you for once: a kid with a tattoo, a kid heading nowhere good in life.

There's a war in your eyes. He’s more ashamed of himself for doubting you than letting you down.

Benkei was damn sure there wasn’t an inflatable he hadn’t stepped on or an umbrella he left untipped.

They were scattered everywhere but the beach stretched wide enough for a stroll to not feel so cramped. He’s just avoiding the sunbathers and families who were spread all over the area, waiting to watch the fireworks display tonight.

Because of that, he joined in with you and Takeomi, retreating somewhere in the parking lot.

Benkei didn’t often see you two alone, much less without Shinichiro defusing an argument, though he found a rare solidarity between you smoking together. You were nodding. Takeomi's arms were crossed after sharing a few words with you, stopping short when Benkei stepped in after coming back from the restroom.

He asked if he disrupted something and Takeomi answered that he wasn't, stomping his cigarette with his shoe. You followed after him when your eyes narrowed at the strangers emerging before you in serpent-emblemed uniforms, some gang from Kansai judging from the accents. Jormungandr.

You seemed more annoyed than anxious about getting jumped. Takeomi didn't mind an introduction through a bloodbath because it’d been a long while since anyone challenged Black Dragons and Benkei had already charged forward for the brawl.

It ended with you.

Jormungandr’s leader met his defeat with a kick so high the last thing he saw was the dragon soaring up.

Your sandal flew off, landing on the heap of mangled bodies that had been dealt by Benkei. His knuckles still smarted for being outnumbered. Takeomi was just as scuffed-up. With his hair down and disheveled, it made his face more severe after pressing a warning on the leader’s hand with his newly lit cigarette.

Don't mess with us again, trash. The extra measure was for insurance, but there's a cruel streak to his apathy for letting skin burn. Benkei had seen him done worse. You didn't speak against it after overhearing a threat on Shinichiro's life.

Sensing another presence lurking near you, you swung your leg up and Wakasa reacted fast enough to sidestep away, a hairbreadth close.

Sadly, your foot missed his face.

He whistled. “Nice reflexes.”

“Shit, I could’ve gotten you! Stop coming up behind me like that!”

“No.”

“You three were taking so long. Figured we should check up on ya,” said Shinichiro, strolling towards them amidst the battle; fallen adversaries on his feet. He acknowledged Benkei and Takeomi with a nod, and then picked up your sandal when he approached you. “We should've come sooner, though.”

“You would’ve missed out the action anyway.” The insult wasn't without a light, teasing note, and Shinichiro didn't take it personally, letting you snatch the sandal from him. “We handled it pretty well by ourselves, don't you think?”

“Brutally,” he sighed, unable to hide that disarming grin slowly peeling up his mouth. “You look like hell. Let's get you all patched up—”

A sudden, fluttering burst of light from the distance.

Shocked, all of you looked up at the sky.

“The fireworks . . .”

“Oh wow, it's starting now.”

“It’s still going on. Let’s make a run for it!”

It hadn't been long since Benkei told you about Ragnarok and you taught him what nostalgia actually meant.

Natsukashii. The end of summer, he believed, sweltering with memories under his childhood sun in Oizumi, until you scrawled the characters on the back of a gym flier and kindly corrected him, oh, it's natsuku, not natsu. As in to become, you know, attached.

懐かしい

Your ballpoint pen lingered on the heart radical, lacking the character of a season.

Benkei wasn't chagrined about it; he's enlightened.

The end of summer, you repeated, finding it more fitting, and pondered on how summers had to die like sunsets as you scraped the horizon with fingers in the color of twilight.

Then he asked how much you were well-versed in Norse mythology.

You shrugged. "I'm more familiar with apocalypses. Why'd you name your gang after something like that?"

“It’s inspiring,” said Benkei, omitting the part that he wasn't a founding member and the true meaning of its relevance might've been lost to him when Ragnarok sounded more like a gang that was meant to bring destruction to the gods from an older generation. “The kind that could define our era.”

“You guys are so obsessed with that,” you pointed out, but not to mock him. It’s just a measured observation. “Shin never shuts up about it. Takeomi goads him on because it's getting in his head too. Even Waka wants to be a part of it and you . . .”

“You don't want it too?”

“I just don't get it,” you blurted. “What's an era all about anyway?”

“You could say it’s how we want to be remembered,” he said it with his chest. It's how we want to show people how we fought and lived.

Benkei didn’t understand why you wanted to be invisible. Or keep up with all these social pretences to be accepted.

When he asked you why you wore fake glasses, you didn't give him a reason. You just shot back why he had his eyebrows shaved instead. He found the exchange amusing, concluding that nobody probably had the balls to ask both of you about it.

He couldn't help but smirk how you got a bit defensive from his observation as if you had never stood out around them.

You're the only person he’s ever known to be conflicted over the dichotomy of your life. He’d seen you enjoy listening to the rap mixtapes of his bootleg CDs, stress over college applications more than fights, denounce delinquency and yet.

It took him a long while to figure out why you looked so out of place in the gang but it still felt as if you belonged there. The otherness spoke to him, really. Guys like him just couldn't seem to find their place in anything after falling through the cracks and it hadn't always been as grandiose as it was until Shinichiro granted them a reason.

Not a lot of them gave a crap about being honorable but they sure did when it felt good to be a part of something greater than themselves.

It's the stuff of legends, our era.

Takeomi said it with pride and Benkei couldn't have worded it better himself. He glanced back at you, no longer giving in to chase when you let them go on without you, a fond, distant smile on your lips.

Wakasa sprinted ahead of them. Shinichiro still had a slight limp from getting it broken months ago so he fell behind until Takeomi turned to him and offered him his back, waving at him to get on and make it quick.

Despite them joining forces, Takeomi wasn't all that strong or fast for both of them and no one could ever beat Wakasa in a footrace, but they ran, howling out wild laughter as if they won anyway.

Benkei slowed down to your pace, walking with you. “So attached, eh?”

You blinked at him before letting out a chuckle. “Well, yeah.” You stretched out your tattooed leg a bit. “I took it quite literally too . . .”

He was distracted by the startlingly tender expression on your face, your lashes lowered, longer, until he snapped out of it and nodded.

“Benkei.”

“What?”

“Would you hate me if I told you that I'll quit the gang?”

“No—” The word slipped, and there was something about the urgency that felt like a tug, a step forward. Calmer, this time, “no, not at all.”

You registered his answer for a minute, too quiet next to him. He realized he should back away a bit, collecting himself to offer the reassurance you probably needed to hear more than he did.

“Hey. Whatever decision you're going with, just know we're all rootin' for ya.” He gave your shoulder a pat and felt himself unwind a breath the moment you untensed from his hand. “You probably have your reasons. Good, I hope?”

It took so much from him to not demand why but you're smiling at him again. Maybe a little sad, a little scared, but it's still your smile, something regained. He’d hate for it to go away.

“Yeah, thanks. That means a lot to me,” and then hesitant, you opened up more, “think Shin will hate me?”

“Idiot, he won't,” Benkei replied. “His heart's too big for him and he cries like a baby for it. You think that's the kind of guy that'll hate anyone?”

“No.”

“There you go.”

“But it's just that I haven't told him yet. I haven't told anyone, just you,” you confessed, wistfully glancing down at your tattoo.

“You know, I was actually terrified when we went to the tattoo parlor. Like what if something goes wrong? There's always something. I couldn't go by myself. Yeah, the tattoo didn't turn out perfect but I like it. I'm glad you were with me when I had it. Then Shin made this stupid tantrum over why I didn't bring him along, but he got over it when he was all giddy and excited over the tattoo. Cheered me up a lot when stuff at home was . . . ” a short breath sucked through your teeth. “Seeing him like that matters so much. I want him to always be like that . . .”

“You'd stay in Black Dragons for a long time, right?”

“Yeah, it's my everything now.” Benkei stared at the dragon on your skin, and then back at you. “And even if you leave, you're still a part of it.”

You huffed at that and looked onward longingly. "Jeez, you sound like him."

“He isn't wrong about that,” he said, following after your gaze where everyone was, waiting and waving and yelling at the two of you to hurry up; behind them, the fireworks sprung like a flurry of stars in the midsummer night.

It's a moment he felt in his chest too.

Guess we're all just attached.

Unfortunately, the fireworks ended too soon.

All of your stuff was left untouched while the people were already packing up and departing from the beach.

They ignored your wounds. More plasters were bought from a cornershop nearby when your first-aid kit wouldn't suffice. Some schmucks brought bats and brass knuckles though there wasn't any serious damage on your end, even less serious on boasting each of your body counts. Whoever ratted out your location was still an unresolved issue, but your vacation wasn't totally ruined.

Shinichiro was into the idea of heading to Choshi after learning it's Wakasa's hometown. There were grunts of protest though his whim was met with little to no resistance after the downturn of events and something about the spontaneity was exciting.

Whatever heart to heart they had, Benkei couldn't fault Wakasa for giving in to Shin’s persuasion as much as he did when he agreed to merge their gangs a lifetime ago. Embark on something new together in a last minute excursion, not knowing what to discover in your destination.

Your motorcycles were left in the parking lot to stay overnight. There were few passengers on board and three of you were already snoozing away after switching to a new train at Naruto Station. The landscape shifted behind the window; a nocturnal outline of bedtowns and cabbage fields. Wakasa's face was neutral all throughout.

Benkei broke the silence.

“I didn't know you grew up here.”

“Once,” Wakasa shrugged, looking less like a mystery. “Didn’t feel like something I should bring up anyway.”

Wakasa regarded Chiba like it's foreign land and there's no place for him here. Benkei couldn't imagine him coming home to parents – anyone.

With their paths colliding the way they did, he had always assumed they were orphaned in Tokyo, meant to split it together or conquer more for themselves. It didn't matter which with all the devastation they had caused, leaving a red trail of history in their wake, and sometimes that's enough proof of their existence than a birth certificate.

Wakasa never asked Benkei about his past. There's more of it branded in their mutual blows and bruises. Benkei knew the brunt of his kicks, his temper. His tendency to be a loyal asshole. How he had the worst sweet tooth ever because, of course, all of you came on this long journey just for him to lead you in a dango shop. The room inside was shabby but cozy in a lived-in sort of way; the menu unvaried.

The old lady who owned the place gladly obliged, fanning fresh skewers on the grill, after Wakasa approached her with your orders.

Look at you, being a good grandson, Shinichiro joked about their overfamiliar interaction, and Wakasa quipped back that yeah, he's sure to rebel and get an earful like him with his elders.

Curious, you asked Wakasa if he'd been here before. He was chewing his dango thoughtfully when he offered each of you a stick, glazed in sweet soy sauce, and told you he hadn't with no sense of nostalgia. Just craving for some.

Inubosaki had coarser sand, a harsh, rocky coastline. A white lighthouse stood atop the cliffside, reminiscent of a twelve-pointed beacon that once ruled East Kanto.

The inspiration didn’t go unnoticed. The old monument had been relegated into a tourist attraction but it still glowed in the dark.

It’d been the one thing that seemed awake after passing a row of shops on your way here; most closed for the night, others for good. There were places in town that looked rundown, abandoned, similar to the ones in Tokyo. Black spots of a failing economy.

Takeomi was the most informed about how the country was in deep shit under debt deflation. He asked Wakasa for spare change and the Sanrio-themed gachapon machine almost ate his 150 yen coins until he cranked it up again, coughing up a keychain souvenir. Benkei guessed it's for his sister. It's your second time napping, sitting next to him in the waiting shed with your head on his arm.

Shinichiro didn't wake you after catching sight of the bruise on your jaw, exposed by the dull lamplight, as if realizing how he could have missed that, among other things.

Benkei sighed. There's a heaviness hunkering down his shoulders. A part of him wondered if he told Shin now, could he convince you to change your mind?

“You uncomfortable there?” asked Shinichiro.

“Nah, I’m good.” Benkei replied, as your warmth curled on his side. Sleep made you clingy.

He wasn't the only one terrible at subtlety. Shinichiro perched on the space next to you when he couldn't steal you for himself this time. He’s got it all wrong, though.

Benkei didn't like sitting on what they would still lose.

The train station wouldn't be open until a few more hours.

Shinichiro’s cheap hair gel failed his pompadour, flattening his hair over his ears, as he leaned on his fist, dazed, with something unspeakably raw to him.

Deep down, he must know there's a future in his dream but humble as always, he’d deny this and nod off to you for having the superpower to carry and crush it. He had unshakeable faith in the way you wielded the future. It wouldn't change how he still saw you everyday. It's probably what gave you that ability in the first place.

Benkei had this urge to wake you and tell you that you’d be okay, but suppressed it once Shinichiro spoke up, a note somber.

“I don't want to go back yet.”

“Why?”

“This is a nice change of scenery,” which was bullshit because his boredom was painfully obvious.

“Sure, the ocean again.”

“Okay, okay, I didn't think things out before wandering here,” he admitted, huffing an amused exhale under his breath. "But maybe I just wanted to escape and drag you all with me somewhere faraway.”

“You runnin' away from something?”

“Not really,” he murmured, stalling for another minute to brood over it. “We’ll get busier soon. It sucks. Does that count?”

“Things’ll just go back to normal,” Benkei said without withholding his sympathy. “The beach was fun, though.”

Shinichiro agreed, meandering on bringing his siblings along someday because he rarely spent his summer without them. He got away a lot more with you guys, gulping down cheap beer wherever, getting all this sand in his underwear. There was still other stuff you hadn't tried yet, if only you had more time.

“There's just this sinking feeling like something’s gonna catch up to me, don't know what it is, when, but—” his gaze landed at you, him, a flit of a smile on his lips, before staring at those endless waves, as if all of you had finally reached the end of the world.

The sunrise bled through the horizon, and Shinichiro watched listlessly. "Whatever happens, I want to be here for awhile."

In the early hours of the morning, his bike swept past 80 km/h on the road; not a lot of cars and cyclists, busybodies.

The motions didn't stop until everyone had to pull over at a gas station nearby a remote industrial area in Ichihara. Factories still gave off strange smells no one could recognize, but Benkei had already revved up his engine to flee. It didn't matter anymore in another city.

The world woke up a bit after a mile while all of you were dragging yourselves through the travel tolls of yesterday. One moment it's a blame game, and then it snapped into a "screw this" and "this is stupid" next to a punched vending machine because you were incapable of deciding where to eat in a testy mood.

A common trait, despite having uniquely different, unbearable personalities. Aside from the energy drinks, Benkei's gut felt queasy from the mean, collective silence until you reached the last stretch of Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line. It's a miracle how everyone could stand each other, sometimes.

But you're still driving together to the path, the multiple crossings crowded by people from all walks of life, striving to make theirs a little fuller. The urban streets blurred after each turn. Somehow riding back to Tokyo almost didn't feel real. The day wasn't over yet but it felt as if he's missing something before it's gone.

Benkei didn't know how to explain it, eyes on you marveling at a wall graffiti of profanities from an unfinished construction site. Shinichiro was repeating what he was saying but it's left unheard, lost to the shrill of the track signal. The sun hung high and hot while all of you waited for the train behind the railway gate.

There's a faster route to Shibuya, but none of you took the expressway. The road back home was long and unwinding.

a/n: title is inspired from the same namesake, referring to a whole generation of japanese youth who were gravely affected by japan's lost decade in the 1990s to early 2000s. first gen bd is in that group but ironically, they were at the top of the delinquent world at the time until their eventual disbandment.

#benkei x reader #keizo arashi x reader #shinichiro sano x reader #tokyo revengers x reader #tokyo revengers x you #tokyo revengers x y/n #tokyo revengers scenarios #tokyo revengers #keizo arashi #shinichiro sano #wakasa imaushi #takeomi akashi #first generation black dragons #pen writes #i'm posting this now or i'm gonna regret not to later t.t

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mooshs-crack-headcanons · 11 months

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What fucks me up the most about 1098 is something I don't see many people bringing up

So we have the very fucked circumstances around Bonney's birth, right? Everything that happened to Ginny is beyond fucked and capulates exactly everything that's fucking wrong about the Celestial Dragon "system" and the World Government.

Then you have Kuma, just imagine dealing with this trauma AND having to have heard your wife - who was on death's door as she's on the phone with you and your closet comrades - tell you she's dying of a terminal illness and it's a miracle she even had the chance to talk to you for the last time, you leaving to teleport to where she is in desperation to save her ultimately missing her last I love you and her probably dying ON CALL given how we see the den-den mushi receiver still in her hand after she's already gone, THEN finding Bonney, her daughter, and the million fucking horrific things that must go through your head for her even to be able to exist, then swearing to your dead wife you will raise her as your own. Think about how fucked that is.

But then, turns out Ginny's illness was genetic. And Bonny now has it and can no longer be exposed to sunlight. The kid's make fun of her over it - over something she can't control. Then it turns out she has only five years to live because no normal doctors can find a cure, ultimately and I'm assuming leading to Kuma going to Vegapunk to find a cure and maybe that's how the Government finds him and only lets the treatment happen in exchange for Kuma working for them as Warlord - the last part being only a theory for now.

So you have all of that, right? But you know what's the kicker for me?

All the stuff about Ginny, Bonney only just found that out when she looked in Kuma's bubble. She didn't know beforehand.

I mean why would she? She's actually twelve, a child, only appearing older due to her fruit and probably having to appear older to be a pirate and all the stuff being a pirate entails for her own safety to at least appear to be an adult - which I'm heavily guessing she only did become a pirate in the first place just to find her dad, which is really really fucking sad. But she's a kid, Kuma - also probably dealing with the World Government and Warlord shit at the same time and pre-pacifista - would've never told her at this age. This is a fucking heavy topic, and to learn that not only Kuma isn't her biological dad but she's also... part Celestial Dragon is something that should take a lot out of anyone and with her apparently crying all night after seeing the bubble, now it just makes even more sense. But even still, she loves her dad - not some fucking monster who enslaved her mother, her actual dad who loved and raised her and most likely agreed to being a World Government genie pig in exchange for treatment to save his daughter's life.

Only so few chapters so far and I'm personally already considering it my favorite saddest, depressing, gut wrenching backstories. And general this flackback just adds so much to all the pre-established stuff we already knew about Kuma. It's the type of flashback that puts so many things in place just 🫠 it's fucked up and sad but I absolutely live for these types of flashbacks like I'm crying, disgusted, my heart ripped out but damn Oda. You really didn't pull punches, huh?

#one piece #op spoilers #op 1098 #op ginny #bartholomew kuma #jewelry bonney #non request related

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wendynerdwrites · 4 months

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Pretty cringe on Bioware's part

Okay, so I do not work for Bioware, don't have connections, and what I'm writing is based only on some background and experience in social media and online marketing. I HAVE NO INSIDER KNOWLEDGE AND CLAIM NONE.

But... It VERY MUCH LOOKS TO ME that this new name change is a plot to try and circumvent SEO on the new Dragon Age release being about how delayed the game is and all the layoffs and the severance lawsuits and shit.

And yeah, maybe this'll seem obvious to some of you, but I kind of just want to word vomit: (and this is a further musing on a TWITTER thread I made earlier. Sorry I just have to get this manic-episode cynicism out)

Why else at the supposed 11th hour would you change the game title to one that is just, so bad for so many reasons?

(It should be obvious that I'm editorializing here, but I like to cover my ass more these days)

So yeah, reasons why I think this name change is so bad and nonsensical it could only be made for desperate reasons:

Okay, so because I like to overthink stupid shit like video game name changes and have become quite Dragon Age fixated over the years, I was going over this bullshit too much.

Like, I tried to explain things to myself because sometimes I want a break from feeling cynical even with shit like this.

So I read this and mulled it over:

"BioWare general manager Gary McKay explains that while Solas is “still very much a part of the story of Dragon Age: The Veilguard,” the team wanted a title that reflected a “really deep and compelling group of companions.” --- Kat Bailey for Gameinfomer.com

Okay, fine, well, the last game is called "Dragon Age: Inquisition" and not "Dragon Age: Corypheus" or "Dragon Age: Elder One." And you know, stuff like "Leliana's Song" focuses on, you know, Leliana."

But you what, me? That doesn't hold up.

For one thing, Leliana's Song is a DLC. No one is going to mistake a main series Dragon Age release as being not about an ensemble cast of characters and just being about Solas because of a naming convention in the DLC. Especially given how common that can be in RPG's anyway.

First thing you often learn about Dragon Age as a series is that it's story focused RPG with strong cast of supporting characters and a lot of lore. Granted, that may not be the case for EVERYONE depending on when they or how they got acquainted for the series; but that's how it's commonly characterized.

In one game, Solas was given far more significance plot and character wise than Corypheus had in two.

Corypheus has good points. He's got a backstory that is couched comfortably by the lore and significant to the story. He's got motivation - he's pissed about there not being Gods and Tevinter falling, so he's trying to become a God now to restore the world he wants. He's got one of the most FUCKING BALLER VILLAIN REVEALS:

youtube

He also works very well thematically. He's a good symbol of corruption and the results of hubris and tyranny when Thedas is being torn apart by it's various authorities and their abuses of power. Civil War in Orlais. Templars have broken from the Chantry, the mages from the Templars, and they're all at war. From the first game we know that this is what is left of the peace and safety won by your Warden and their people. And we know a few reasons why. In Dragon Age II, we know how that happened and SO MANY MORE reasons why. THERE'S CORRUPTION IN THE WARDENS AND WTF IS EVEN HAPPENING IN WEISSHAUPT??? OR THE DEEP ROADS??? We add in an Orlesian Civil War and also, boom! Whoops! THE GUY WHO CAUSED ALL THOSE BLIGHTS WE'VE DIED IN IS BACK AND HE WANTS TO RIP THE SKY APART! OOH LOOK HE JUST DID!

He's the anthropomorphic personification of all of that.

But, uh, even with fabulous voice acting, Corypheus is not much of a character in his own right. He is more of a device for both plot and theme than, like, a person. As far as more humanizing antagonists, we get that from Samson, Calpernia, and Alexius than Corypheus.

Corypheus wants to restore Tevinter to the Empire he wishes to be God of. He's pissed at there being no Gods. So now he wants to rule over everything (while also destroying it.) "THIS CORRUPT WORLD NEEDS TO BE MADE ANEW BLAH BLAH BLAH I'M AN RPG BIG BAD"

And that's fine with me. Never had a problem with Corypheus turning into Darkspawn Skeletor.

Corypheus is a dick who wants to be God. But he works as a device to save the world from and lead to lore revelations and shit.

I don't know if Corypheus ever had anyone he cared about. I don't know what he like(d?) to eat. He has no goals that don't serve glorifying himself and being a tyrant. I don't know if he hates Thedas as anything other than standing in the way of the Tevinter he can be god-emperor of. I don't know what he really thinks of anything in the world of Thedas other than "inferior, kill it." He doesn't have complex motivations or thoughts on the world we're playing in. We don't know if any of his thoughts or perceptions have changed over the course of the thousands of years he's lived. If there's anything he enjoys. We don't know what kind of personalities he's drawn to. What he actually enjoyed about the world he came from.

We get all of that shit and more from Solas. Even if you don't like him, don't play with him much, he has a distinct personality. And his significance to the lore of the world actually reveals a lot more than Corypheus's. Solas CREATED THE FUCKING VEIL. ALSO THE ELVEN LEGENDS ARE ALL FUCKED UP. FLEMETH IS ACTUALLY HIS ANCIENT DIVINE PLATONIC DOMMY MOMMY FROM BACK IN THE DAY WHEN THEY WERE BOTH LITERAL GODS! DID WE MENTION HE CREATED THE VEIL?! BECAUSE THE DALISH ARE FUCKING WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING! AND TEVINTER DIDN'T DESTROY ARLATHAN! AND WE'RE ALSO GOING TO LEARN SOME SHIT ABOUT THE FORGOTTEN ONES! ALSO DID WE MENTION HOW THE VEIL CAME TO BE????

All this through this Elven God of Bad Decisions:

Also, yes, Solas has got major thematic importance but I feel like that's a whole other rant and this is getting too long.

Point is: Solas is, flat out, more significant to the world all of these characters inhabit than Corypy-tits. The literal fabric of their plain of existence is woven by him. The entire way magic has worked and been handled, (something that is extremely significant character-wise for at least a third of this game's cast) is because of him and his history. There was a century between the fourth and fifth Blights. And, you know, the veil he created played a part in their origins.

Even putting aside that legacy characters like Varric, Cullen, and Leliana all have personal history. Solas is why Circles exist/ed. Those Magisters who started the Blight did so by fucking with his creation. He is why elves age and live as a diaspora.

And that's just what we know him to be responsible for. What about those hints about the Forgotten Ones? Exactly how did his rebellion work? What is his plan for the other Evanuris and will it work? [(No.)] What will that reveal about what the others are/were capable of? And what exactly happened between them and the Titans?

Look, I'd go on, but I don't want to go on too much longer like the Solas girlie I totally am. Point is: Solas's backstory alone has had significant ramifications for everyone in Thedas. And the ways he's affected their lives varies between races, generations, magical ability, etc. And that's through creation of the Veil alone.

And we know a shit ton about who Solas is as a person.

You don't need to be a Solas pro, Solas-anti, neutral, or Solas-mancer for this to be true.

So yeah, I would say he's "very much a part of the story." But also, in a way that informs and contributes to the characterization of the ensemble cast.

Inquisition's antagonist was no Fen'Harel. And you're not going to subtract from your ensemble, but rather enhance them (if you care at all about writing them well) by having a focus on him.

Now, I totally think the idea that the final big antagonist will be the Evanuris or someone else lurking behind the veil has merit. But Solas will ultimately be that catalyst.

"Okay, but maybe Bioware doesn't see it that way. Maybe they saw some social media complaints about too much Solas focus and did a hasty rebrand."

Well, for one, that complaint has been around for years now. And it's valid. The problem isn't a lot of Solas, it's that we got so little else. The promotion is bad, not the character or their role in the story. But if that's really it, why now? Why are they only changing the name now?

Now, okay, but Inquisition was still called Inquisition.... This game is about the Veil Guard. It's called Veil Guard.

Cool, but once again, then why hold onto Dreadwolf for so long? Why focus so much on Solas? Why haven't we gotten any glimpses of companions?

And, um, if this is really what you want, shouldn't the title be... better?

Inquisition is a good, solid, and communicative title. While the Inquisition of Thedas is not exactly the Spanish One, there is enough association there to give a general idea. Origins had a group of dumbass misfit fugitives drawn together to save the world. II was similar except they were mercs who get drawn into shit against their will and unwittingly. Inquisition: okay, so this time they'll probably be more of an official, religious-quasi military organization. It'll probably be controversial.

You can be a complete noob to Dragon Age and figure that out.

Veil Guard sounds like something last minute they got from Game of Thrones at the last minute. Okay, the Kingsguard are cool. They guard the king. We're stopping the veil from being torn down, so Veil Guard.

Here's the thing: none of the main ASOIAF series is called The Kingsguard, and you don't need to know anything about A Song of Ice and Fire to get it. Everyone knows what the fuck a king is and why he should be guarded. So even if there is a book called "The King's Guard" we'll get it. It's a book about fuckers guarding a king.

This game is about fuckers guarding... a veil....? The veil?

If you're up on your Dragon Age lore and are really into it, yes, you know what that means. If you're a noob or a casual who hasn't given much thought to Dragon Age in, say, a decade, uhh...:

Noobs: "The game is about fuckers guarding... a veil...? The veil???? Is it some sort of artifact, like it has Jesus's face on it? Or if they mean veil between worlds like some Lovecraft shit, is the new Dragon Age a horror game? Are people trying to travel to different worlds and we're trying to stop them? "

Casuals: "Or wait, is this about that dream world thing? That demon place that spits out demons? Didn't we just get done fixing that in the last game??? Wow, real original. Bioware Magic! "

It also just sounds uncool. Inquisition is an imposing title. Dreadwolf is an imposing title. The Veil Guard sounds like a sartorial maintenance product.

You want people to focus on your ensemble cast? SHOW IT! Because as long as all the promo keeps giving us new Solas anyways, it's just weak sauce.

Nah, this has panic move all over it.

Now, I'm trying to spin this optimistically in that I think this means we may actually get the game within this decade. Because I refuse to believe a) "Veil Guard" is the best they got out of a proper round of workshopping and b) That if this was truly about trying to avoid focussing on Solas too much, they'd announce this without a bunch of promo for the rest of the cast to accompanying it.

Bioware: "We wanted people to know the story is just all about solas, but more about our ensemble cast! We wanted this enough to change the name this late in the game!"

Everyone: "ALRIGHT! SHOW US THIS ENSEMBLE!!!"

Bioware:

Nah bitch, that's not what this is about. Bioware needs this to be a hit, and they need a hit soon. But they don't want their long-awaited blockbuster release to be mired in bad press. They don't want the general audience googling their new massive title only to find articles and reddit threads about layoffs, labor disputes, Mary Kirby's departure, the massive delays, the contract non-renewals happening in the midst of severance lawsuits.

BioWare wants to get their title out finally and they want to bury all the bad shit that's been plaguing this project. All the stories about the labor disputes, layoffs, firings, and lawsuits have mentioned the "Dreadwolf" team.

And quite frankly, it's just shitty. It looks bad. It's desperate.

#dragon age #dragon age 4 #dragon age dreadwolf #dragon age the veilguard #bioware #Youtube

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kaija-rayne-author · 1 year

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Is Solas neurodivergent?

Of course, unless Weekes confirms one way or another, we'll never actually know. But I'd like to point out a few things.

Firstly. I'm autistic/ADHD, so are my kids and I've been an advocate for invisible disabilities, especially those two, for almost a decade now.

I offer an option on my Patreon for parents (or even just people) who need or want advice.

I have a little bit of a clue here. (More like a massive clue by nuke, but I digress 🤣.)

Why I code Solas from Dragon Age: Inquisition as neurodivergent.

1. Mentally ill fits under the neurodivergent (ND) umbrella. There's no way on Thedas that Solas isn't mentally ill.

(Yes, it really does fit. I'm not going to entertain arguments on the topic. It originally meant 'autistic' it no longer means that and hasn't for a long while. Neurodivergent brains = brains that work in any way other than 'the average'.) The antonym is Neurotypical. I tend to abbreviate them. Neurodivergent = ND, Neurotypical = NT.

At the very least, he likely has survivor syndrome. I'd wager on Depression and CPTSD too. (I have these conditions and am comfortable with saying he has a lot of the traits.) The guy was the leader of an enslaved elves rebellion and a war against the Evanuris. In his own words, he got his hands bloody.

No matter who you are, violence, whether you're the perpetrator or the victim, causes trauma to the psyche. And it went on for actual ages. An Age, in The Dragon Age franchise, is considered to be 100 years, so for hundreds of years, if not thousands, this dude has been fighting. Humans can get CPTSD just from a bad childhood. There's no way he hasn't developed it too.

Survivor syndrome is the response of a person when they believe they have done something wrong by surviving a traumatic event when others did not, often feeling self-guilt. (Can we classify Solas clearly with this? Yes, yes we can.)

He wakes up in a world so horrific to him that he can't even conceive of the people as people.

That's a type of disassociation, which is a symptom of many mental illnesses. Depression is the most obvious. He fucked up, he knows it, he's now trapped in a hellscape. (Heeee, we're all trapped in a dystopian hellscape right now and Depression is on the rise, the correlation is there.)

Disassociation is feeling disconnected from yourself and/or the world around you. For example, you may feel detached from your body or feel as though the world around you is unreal.

There could be a few other things there. He'd be a classic case for Disassociative Identity Disorder, for instance, but given the shit rep on the topic, I'm not going there.

2. ADHD

ADHD is still not very well understood by the average person. Sometimes people think it means we can't hold still. But a lot of the time, the H-Hyperactivity portion is only evident in our brains. For me, for instance, I have to constantly be feeding my brain written stuff or I get very antsy and uncomfortable. (ADD no longer exists, we're all ADHD now.) It's why i developed the habit of reading encyclopedias for fun. (Yes, I really do this.)

Solas is constantly reading, or studying, or thinking.

He shows a pretty typical type of temper for an ADHDer several times. Our tempers can be hot, flaring up suddenly for seemingly unexpected reasons. He absolutely does that. Now, there's always a reason for it, but few people on the outside of us will be aware of whatever the issue is.

ADHDers can also experience incredibly fast (compared to neurotypicals) shifts in emotion. Solas does this. Especially in the after the well of sorrows/pre-breakup scene and the break up scene itself. He see-saws emotionally a lot.

He's incredibly creative. He paints (and probably draws at least a little to paint the way he does). So many neurodivergent people are incredibly creative.

Snark. Many ADHDers tend to be snarky or sarcastic because of, well, everything that usually happens to us in life. The snark and salt simply spill out of Solas. Especially on the 'make him hate you' route through the game. Or any time he's around Vivienne.

Finally, ADHDers very frequently have a deep seated drive to change the world and make it better. Stares at Solas. Yup!

3. Autistic

So, firstly, let me say that most people don't understand what autism is or what autistics look and act like.

As an autistic/ADHD person, my experience of life is completely different from a neurotypicals simply because my brain is wired differently.

Reminder that you can't see autism or ADHD. You can sometimes see common comorbids, but without a brain scan, you cannot see autism or ADHD.

I connected and empathize so heavily with Solas because he's a well written, complex character, and because I love anti-heros.

But also because he's exhibits the exact same type of autistic/ADHD traits that I have. (Both autism and ADHD come in different flavours.) Seeing that rep in a triple AAA game was an incredibly powerful experience.

Even though, given Bioware's absolutely shit rep re: disability, it had to be accidental. I credit Weekes with that rep. I read on Twitter they were recently dxd with one or the other (ADHD or Autism, I honestly can't remember which. And up to 80% of ADHDers are also autistic.)

Solas practices esoteric arts. It's a common thing for many autists & ADHDers to learn and practice arts that just aren't as common anymore. Mine? I spin with a spinning wheel, drop spindle, or Andean hand spinner. I make maps. There's several other strange hobbies and skills I've picked up along the way too.

He shows hyperfocus several times in the game. (Hyperfocus is a trait of both ADHD and Autism.)

He stims with his hands a lot. Especially in the kiss scene. I don't recall seeing any of the other characters do this. I'm not talking about the 'dry hand wash' movements most of the characters do. Solas does a thing I do, taps the tips of his fingers against each other. Whoever did his modelling (is that the right term for making a game character?) understood neurodivergency or are ND themselves. Whether they know it or not.

You could even call his painting a type of stimming.

Stimming is where someone will use repetitive motions or sounds to self-soothe. It's really bad to prevent an autistic/ADHDer from using their stims.

I used to have to have a book on my person at all times. I'm late diagnosed, so I didn't know I was using the books as both a stim and a comfort item.

Solas has something autists call 'flat face effect'. Basically, his face is a bit masklike. He doesn't show emotions strongly on his face or in his body language (unless you make him angry 😅 which is also pretty typical for many of us). I've seen rather a lot of discourse about how emotionless Solas appears. I can read him easily, the emotive cues are there, just subtle, like they would be in an autistic & or ADHD person.

He's a decent actor. Now, most autists will agree that we're not innately good at lying or acting. But we're also really good at acting, at least, many of us are by the time we're adults. It comes from having to mask (autistic masking) almost every second of every day just to survive. Masking kills us. So it's not good that we are forced to do it. But it does make many of us incredible actors.

Anthony Hopkins is argueably one of the best actors of the past several decades. He's openly autistic. And he's spoken of how he got to be a good actor. Dan Ackroyd and Darryl Hannah are a couple of others who are out about it. I code a lot of other creatives as being one or the other, but it’s considered rude to assign a diagnosis like that to a living person. That's for them to do.

Solas managed to stay hidden as a 'unwashed apostate hobo' for however long the Inquisition took to fix things. I've seen estimates of 18 months to 2 years. That's a looooong time to be acting like something you're definitely not.

We see in Trespasser that he's not like that at all. But he still sold it so well his reveal at the end of the game shocked many people.

He's a nerd. An absolute nerd about the fade. Nerdery isn't solely the domain of autistics and ADHDers, but it’s a really common trait.

He's stand-offish.

Many autists and ADHDers are rather stand-offish with people for a variety of reasons.

1) We've been hurt so many times because of people refusing to do half the work of communicating with us. (Trust me, autistics and ADHDers are trying ALL THE TIME to communicate with neurotypicals. Y'all could pick up your part of things, y'know?)

2) We've been rejected so often for a genetic condition(s) we can't change. But accommodations for us, which are usually pretty simple and often help neurotypical people too, are considered 'too much'. There's something called RSD that most, if not all, autistic and ADHD folks experience. Rejection Sensitivity Disorder is a bitch kitty and there's no dealing with it well. It hurts.

3) We're often stand-offish while we try to figure out whatever social rules exist in that space/time. We often warm up when we know (or think we know) the rules. Or once we get to know people.

4) Solas is often alone, he's rarely pictured as being with anyone else other than Cole and the Inquisitor. NDs often end up either pushed to the edge of the crowd, or we choose to stay distant as a preventative measure so we aren't rejected.

Food sensitivities: Solas utterly loathes tea. There's a whole cutscene about it. (Fun fact, Solas doesn't like tea because Weekes doesn't.) But that extreme reaction to a relatively innocuous drink is a classic example of a food sensitivity. Most autistics and ADHDers have food or texture sensitivities or both. I can't abide raw tomatoes, and I'll get the urge to cry if I touch corduroy fabric.

Sensitivities can really be anything, but if you know someone who has them, please understand we're not trying to be difficult or to ask for extra attention or to make trouble. The modern world is frankly hell for most autistics and many ADHDers. Brain scans of us when we’re exposed to our sensitivities show that they actually are causing us physical pain. Pain centres in the brain light up like a Yule tree.

Solas is quiet, until he's not. Then he'll talk your ear off. This is pretty common for many of us too.

Solas and the fade. Special interest, anyone?

Special interests: Most autistics and ADHDers have Special interests. It's something that can utterly enthrall us. We tend to want to learn everything we possibly can about the subject we're fascinated with. And we love to share that information. In something called 'infodumping' we're trying to connect with other people. It's one of the ways many of us say we care about someone. By sharing our favourite things. We're also deeply penalized for something we can't change, there, too.

We deeply enjoy the thing and want to share our enjoyment with people we like/love. This can utterly backfire on us, but it doesn't change the urge to share. Often until our audience is giving us the 'dead fish face'. It's where the person's eyes are a little glazed over and they look a bit concussed. Anyone who has ever taught a class of students or is a parent or child caretaker, or is autistic/ADHD knows the look I'm talking about.

I'll stop blabbing for now, but those are most of the reasons I heavily code Solas as autistic/ADHD/mentally ill. Or, in another word. Neurodivergent.

Thanks for reading! If you have the wherewithal I'm a disabled mom of two disabled kids and a tip would help more than you can probably understand. Another way to help is to become a patron. My work of words is my only income and we live well under the poverty line. Like a lot of other neurodivergent people do.

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#solas #dragon age series #solavellan #dragon age inquisition #dragon age #inquisitor lavellan #solavellan hell #solas dai #dragon age confessions #neurodivergent #actually adhd #actually autistic #actually neurodiverse #neurodiversity #autistic adult #autistic problems #autism #adult adhd #ADHD

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felassan · 4 months

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this post is just some thoughts on/speculation re: the recent news (the new blog post and the IGN article etc). under a cut for length.

I’m so excited for the official first look at the gameplay!! (ofc) and psyched that it’s happening in early summer as opposed to late summer like August or thereabouts. it feels surreal in a good way that it’s now basically ‘DA:TV Eve’ :D With 15+ minutes of gameplay from the start of the game, we could gain a lot of new information and context such as who the PC is, where the story kicks off and the premise/framing of the story, who the starting companions are, etc.

it surprised me that the name of the game changed, but I like the new title, I think it’s cool and unusual and from dev comments it's not something they decided on a whim or anything. a title change makes sense in the light that Solas isn’t the only focus of the game or the only player on the board – that he’s a key player, but not the heart of it, and the companions are who is being centered. in any event the feel of a title to like say and stuff for me doesn’t affect gameplay or what it’s like interacting with characters etc. I would play this game if it was called Dragon Age: The Quantum Blorbening anyway.

‘The Veilguard’ is the name of our crew of companions, as in a group or faction. (It reminds me of “the Kingsguard”.) Obviously we can see from the name that this group will be involved in protecting and defending the barrier between the Fade and the waking world in some manner. I wonder, will it be a group we form, or a group we join/are recruited into? They must be a fairly recent addition to Thedas. What’s their relation to the Veil Jumpers, if any? Does the existence of the Veilguard imply that the theories that the game will begin with the Veil torn down already aren’t the case? Will the Veilguard always want to protect the Veil during the story, or will there come a point when they re-evaluate that idea? It sounds like they’re always able to take down the new evil threat, but will they always be able (or always want to) to prevent the Veil from being destroyed? also, in-world, who named them The Veilguard?

Maybe our PC’s own ‘title’ (Warden, Hero, Inquisitor, Herald of Andraste, kinda thing) will be Veil Guardian or Guardian of the Veil or something like that..? we obviously won’t be the only veil guard, but while the DA:O PC was ‘the Hero of Ferelden’, in-game they often were referred to in passing simply as Grey Warden or The Warden, despite there being another Warden present (Alistair). When the devs have been talking about The Avengers, I think about that and also get Guardians of the Galaxy kinda vibes. With Varric and Harding’s storyline in DA: The Missing, I wonder if he will be like the Nick Fury (he kind of brought the Avengers together and coordinated them right? Or at least recruited them all, put the team together?), with Harding joining the team itself..? Avengers assemble, form Voltron, etc. with stuff like “you’ll unite this team of unforgettable heroes”, it sounds like the PC (as in previous games) will end up leading the group in some manner, even if they are new to the squad. That reminds me of the HoF. ^^

Somewhere out there in the multiverse, on a different plane, DA4 came out and it was a multiplayer game. it’s good to hear about refocusing on creating a singleplayer game with a focus on characters, choices & decisions, worldbuilding, companionship with characters with their own deep storylines that intersect with the main plot etc, with the customizable hero and the cast of their companions at the center of an SP story. and no online team members, no live service etc.

The world of Thedas itself is still my favorite ‘character’ :D

Warden, Hawke, Inquisitor mention. 🥺

I don’t mind one way or the other about most gameplay specifics. Some of the aspects of combat gameplay (of course, I’m just guessing based on reading some lines in an article atm), like the pausing the action and the ability wheel to give orders, sound like ME: Andromeda gameplay, and Andromeda had good gameplay/combat gameplay that was fun and fluid to play.

One thing I am 😔 about tho is the change of party size from 3 companions to 2. I love Mass Effect and it’s a 3-person squad in that series too (and it works well ofc both in terms of gameplay and dynamics), but I’ll still miss having 3 companions with me in DA :< esp in a game with such a focus on the characters/companions. What can I say, I’m just a blorbo hoarder. I’ll also miss all party members being directly controllable.

I wonder if the 7 companions (seven is a lucky number ^^) will have a class split like 2 warrior/2 rogue/2 mages+1 ‘unique/special’ companion (e.g. Dog, Shale – maybe the flaming head Skellington?) or +1‘extra/secret’ companion or something (e.g. Loghain).

Also, speculatively, being that we’ve never had a qunari woman as a companion before, I hope one is a qunari woman, and since we’ve never had a dwarf woman as a companion before in a ‘main’ game (ily sigrun), I hope one will be a dwarf woman. That also makes me curious about the race and gender split of the 7. Maybe it’s like 2 humans/2 elves/1 qunari/1 dwarf/1 ‘unique or special’ (e.g. Shale)..? Maybe it’s like 3 men/3 women/1 nonbinary person, or the first 6 are a mix of men, women and nonbinary people, and the seventh is something like Dog or a spirit or something?

There were 6 companions in ME1. In DAII, there were 8 in the base game (Seb was DLC), but Bethany/Carver were only around for part of the game. today one of the main things people love most about DAII is its cast of companions. ^^ also, with the way the devs talk about the companions, it's giving "Found Family" trope vibes. that's another thing that people love a lot about DAII. ^^

will it just be the 7 of us, like the crew in DA2? Will it be like in DA:I, where the organization (Inquisition/Veilguard in this case) has main figures/an inner circle, but also commands other people? Or will it be like Mass Effect, where you have a crew which is comprised of companions (in this case 7) who join you on the field as well as a few other developed characters that hang out at ‘home base’? on the number paring down from 9 to 7, I’d rather quality and depth over quantity. In ME2, Kasumi and Zaeed (as DLC) didn’t have proper conversations on the ship. I wonder if “pare down” refers to it being versus the number of companions we had in DA:I, or whether at some point in development of DA:TV there used to be more than 7 companions and some were cut.

each of the 7 companions is from/represents a different faction. For example, while not stated to be a companion in the trailer he was revealed in, it's common speculation that he is, and Davrin is a Grey Warden. Going by the 4 factions Varric and Harding deal with in The Missing, surely 4 of these companion backstory factions in DA:TV are the Grey Wardens, the Antivan Crows, the Veil Jumpers and the Shadow Dragons. And the other 3..? the Lords of Fortune are a new addition to the lore that have also been prominent in recent material. A Grey Warden, an Antivan Crow, and a Veil Jumper walk into a bar.. : ) the composition of The Veilguard is reminding me of Duncan’s words about the Grey Wardens: “Men and women from every race, warriors and mages, barbarians and kings.”

---

some more wild speculation on the 7 factions.

1. Davrin - the Grey Wardens

2. Bellara - ??

3. Harding - Inquisition/Inquisition remnants (I do not think Varric is a companion)

then, based on prominence in previous promo material and The Missing etc -

4. A Lord of Fortune

5. A Veil Jumper (STRIFE PLS!!!)

6. An Antivan Crow

7. A Shadow Dragon

or… this prev concept art (bearing in mind it might represent nothing at all except ‘general mood’ & no specific actual characters, or be from a different version of the game before a reboot or before cuts etc, who knows) shows 8 characters. could it be the 7 companions and the Player Character? Skellington Guy (green flaming skull guy) could easily be the (speculative!!) ‘unique/special 7th one’, assuming a 2/2/2 warrior-rogue-mage classbreak down among the other 6 (which is speculation only too ofc). lmk what you think : )

I’m nervous about upsetting or getting the new companions killed already HH.

It’s nice to read how strongly they feel about the new characters and their stories.

I’m so excited to explore all the regions and varied biomes.

I’m still not clear/sure on whether “you can romance the companions you want” means all 7 companions are bi/pan+, or that there are no non-romanceable companions among the 7 (like no Stens or Varrics), or whether it was more like a general off-hand comment that can’t be read into that much.

I wonder if the Varric-narrated in-game cinematic from 1 year ago plays at the start of the game? Or after we meet Varric?

here is a link to a ramble/speculation about the new logo/icon.

All of Thedas is at risk from a big, scary new threat. As we know, Solas was never the only being interested in the Veil and its removal or destruction. (you can also outline lots of reasons why it should be brought down, like the way the world used to be, elven immortality, the effect on mages/magic etc). it’s also long been theorized that Solas isn’t the main threat/main antagonist in DA4, and maybe more like the Dragon to someone/something else, or a figure like Loghain in DA:O, who you can kill or convince to join you in your fight against the real overarching threat, in that case the Blight. Corypheus broke the Veil in the Red Lyrium future. Demons always want to cross it. the Evanuris are trapped in some way that involves the Veil being in place. Flemythal can never achieve true vengeance while her killers are sleeping or imprisoned somewhere she can’t reach. The Bio25 book says that “The Evil Gods have Thedas in their sights” and that “shadows of the past stir”. It also says that the “Deep Roads teem with evils both new and old”. There are theories about a double Blight. The most recent trailer has someone gushing “Glory to the Risen Gods. They’ve come to deliver this world”. Tevinter Nights hints at fck-knows-what – places and beings, “past the Veil of our world, neither demon nor spirit”, things with chthonic kinda vibes. Etc. a threat being “unleashed” has the implication of someone let something go.. or someone.. let something in... there are also other groups and beings to consider, like the Old Gods, the Forgotten Ones, the Executors.

I thought this phrasing from the IGN article was interesting, though it's not a direct quote from Gary. “Solas, who helped create the Veil, now wants to destroy it.” Helped create? Until now it was more like “Solas created the Veil”. Helped who..? 👁️

The other evil threats/the real threats, these ‘other gods’ (Gary McKay mentions them twice: “it might not just be Solas”, “the Dread Wolf is not the only god” you need be worried about), are surely the upside-down figures in this mural, right? Surely they are the “Evil Gods” (whoever /they/ are) mentioned in the Bio25 book, right? :D

#long post #longpost #video games #dragon age #mj and the world #dragon age: the veilguard #dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #bioware #solas #lgbtq #strife #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda

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