#her design is one of my favourites in the game . but oh my god.

[12th-shavie]

[100 hours in]

Up next, the long-awaited follow-up to Osvald and Partitio's crossed path ! I was really looking forward to this one

Coffee, huh... of course that would be their stances on coffee, I can't imagine Partitio drinking it too bitter, that sweetie

Aww they're using the coffee bit when threatening thugs ! They're such good buddies

And now they're keeping it going as they threaten the loan shark before mugging him, how adorable~

Partitio, my boy, do you not know of the Moon ???

And here comes the ominous night-time that shouldn't possibly be... and the end of the quest. Obviously. I can't get to the juicy bits just yet I guess

Oh well, that's just more of a reason to move on the chapter I kept as the last one : Temenos' fourth (I hope he kicks the evil god's ass or gets closer to doing so)

Oh we doing genocide flashbacks now ? Okay...

Ort I mean to put this in the nicest way possible but maybe you should've doubted your boss before she reached the spooky cave and started being nefarious about it

Kaldena has the same kind of shadow energy as Harvey... evil.

But her boss sprite ? Oh her boss sprite is looking fine~

And it even gets better... Kaldena of the Night is a banger design (the sprite work in this game gets me every time)

That fight was over quickly... but that's just the Osvald nuke setup for ya, he's allowed all the spotlight he wants <3

The end artwork is in front of Crick's grave... T^T (Temenos looks incredibly baby on it tho)

I found and did Ort's next chapter pretty quickly after that and the bit about the lost hair ornament bugs me so much, wasn't Mindt just shown to have lost hers ?? How involved is she actually ? And why do I not get any extra info about anything extra suspicious lately...

Oh well, fine, game, Laila's next chapter it is then

Hermes sure loves her fishies, but I wish she would've just kicked this guy's ass then and there... a girl can dream

As for Veronica's next chapter, I found the right npc at last after trying my luck with every Dolcinaea-related location (it didn't really take all that long)

I can still see the scene after that and picture the metaphorical game looking me in the eye telling me Veronica and Dolcinaea should kiss (screenshots were taken)

Anyway, time for the Throné and Temenos follow-up !

That's looking like a new murder myster- oh Alpates is the victim, so much for asking her about last time

I love how Temenos won't knock the guard out himself but completely endorse Throné doing it (and stealing from dead bodies but that's the gameplay integration for ya)

Onward to the mysterious cave of time shenanigans !

Oh shit is getting real detective mode is back ON !!

I love how Throné casually welcomes Temenos back from detective mode, she's so chill about it

So the treasure is the full mirror... and something about those who hope for the dawn... what were you hiding Alpates...

And that's the ominous cutoff point, obviously

Guess I'll try and finish every last side story before seeing what that "Extra story" is all about, it sounds like a grand finale to me

I found a next chapter for Shirlutto, who I definitely hadn't completely forgot the name of, and he wanted a bunch of stuff I had from my inventory (because I am a nosy player who can and will investigate everything !)

Oh that was the story for the guard in Lostseed !

And that's baby's first desire for revenge, I guess ?

Not gonna lie, that wasn't my favourite quest, the beastling speech patterns got to me pretty quick and they're not my jam

Alpione's next chapter had a fun twist on the hunter premise, she got to do something good for the creature this time around

For Mikka's next chapter, let me see... we have more Benkei being here and a good bean, and Mikka and Pala flirting. A lot. I can almost hear the metaphorical game breathing down my neck and whispering "gay gay homosexual gay" and yuri-ing away or something

Since I was around, I also got to finishing the tower (I had found and started it previously, up to the third floor) thanks to the wondrous Osvald nuke team

And lo and behold ! A final support class ! I first gave it to Partitio since I had him on hand and he had the JP for those juicy support skills (in this household we love a Partitio with plenty of SP and skills that half its consumption are good) but then decided to give it to Castti to consolidate her supporting capabilities (and she looks cute in it) (and I really like cleric Partitio as a versatile support that can heal a solid amount)

While going about my sidequest log I got back to the one for stage actors in Tropu'hopu and coerced the guy to see if I got more info on what he wanted, and let's just say that "Temenos the Diviner" entertained me a fair bit

But since I had a save right before it and Osvald to try and mug the guy, I reloaded the save and let's just say that I didn't know I needed "Osvald the Thieving Gentlemage" until it was right before me

I'm curious as to what skits happen for Hikari and Ochette, but I think I'll look that up eventually, as a treat

And with that, my quest backlog was done... except for a teeny tiny insignificant one in the spooky island with the gates to a cryptic name and the (dying ? or just in really bad shape ?) guy who wanted to translate the book "From the Far Reaches of Hell", so definitely nothing important that I should devote lots of attention to...

Instead I scavenged for more cleric, scholar and apothecary licenses and I'm not afraid to say that the manor ruins being completely silent started stressing me out at some point while hunting for the big deers

And with the 100-hours mark approaching, I knew what I wanted to do : prepare my endgame teams for the true final stretch !

After lots of thinking on synergies and break coverage, I decided on splitting up the party with thief Agnea, cleric Partitio, conjurer Castti and arcanist Osvald for the magical nuke setup with good physical damage from Agnea on top, and inventor Ochette, merchant Throné, scholar Temenos and armsmaster Hikari for a more physically-oriented team with disguised Throné to double up on scholars if need be and extra versatility out of the learned skills/monsters

I got through a lot of equipment management to come up with builds I liked but I am pretty proud of myself for coming up with these

Of course, this has nothing to do with the sidequest boss from hell that requires to split the travelers in two teams and certainly not the fact that it wiped the floor with me when I showed up unprepared

Anyway, up next should be the final chapter, although I don't know what to expect !

Octopath Traveler II delayed playthrough blogging

[10 hours in]

Contains light spoilers of some early chapters I guess

I started the journey with Agnea because she looked like a sweetie (and she is) and she really has the most jrpg "leave of this small village to see the big wide world to make your dream come true" beginning

I got her to allure a villager that replenishes SP with every dancer skill she uses and she's been the cornerstone to most battles ever since

The second traveler I got was Partitio and he's a funny lad, I love his vibe, hat, jacket, and speech ! Also, the atmosphere of his storyline was a nice dramatic change of pace after the cozy first one I got

I headcanon that Roque's betrayal was in fact very much a divorce with Partitio's dad and I cannot wait to see how that applies to future chapters (I do hope it ages like fine wine rather than milk)

Partitio's combat performance was pretty solid despite a lack of AoE but the weapon variety for breaking was the early highlight

I ignored the fork in the road that lead to Hikari in favor of recruiting Castti because I wanted a healer and I feel slightly guilty (but also not at all)

Castti is literally so nice to people I can't wait to see if she really has an extremely shady past that will torment her for at least 1 chapter before she decides that she's going to be a good noddle in spite of all

Her concocting is pretty fun but I wish I had more diffusing serum (I can make do with latent power for now but it'd more fun to let her do some fun nuking)

Castti is also extremely tanky (she's the only one I have with over 1k HP so far) so she was a very welcome addition to the party

The next step in the journey was recruiting Osvald (I wanted to start with him but the 2 forced chapters made me decide to instead make him the reward for reaching the eastern continent) after I ignored the boat that lead to Ochette and wandered around until I stumbled upon a boat that lead really close to Osvald on the map and eventually found him face-down in the snow (which makes my decision to no start with him even better)

His first two chapters cemented him as one of my favorites beyond the visual vibes I got from the first selecting menu, and his skillset was a cherry on top

AoE magic nuking when I already have some buffing and BP donating in my party ? I'm sold. Free weakpoint reveals every battle ? Even better ! Osvaldo battle voicelines ? Yes please !

After that I found the scholar license and decided that Agnea should also learn to buff spell intensity to make my Osvaldo nuking engine even stronger (she's been doing great and I'm very proud of her)

Since it was on the way to Agnea's second chapter for which she was at the recommended level, I went on to recruit Temenos and he did not disappoint ! He really gave me an impression of being a seemingly upstanding fellow who is in fact not only shady but just the right blend of ambiguous tease with genuine words thrown in (props to his voice acting that really sells it)

His detective moment was also pretty cool, especially after seeing the duality of his abilities to get people to follow him without risk of failure and his (very shady) coercing to get more intel

I considered replacing Castti with him as my party healer but he is very squishy compared to her, and she also has weapon diversity and more consistent debuffing over him so for the time being he's just chilling at the tavern waiting for a party composition that makes him shine

On my way to the big city I found the inventor license and could simply not resist giving it to Partitio it simply fit him too well (and more weapons to break with is very nice), although I'm thinking of changing it later to try a Temenos build that would allow him to break even more and coerce better

Now onto the big city to recruit Throné and let Agnea's story unfold further !

[timebom]

thoughts while watching episode 2! ☆

summary: necessary amount of love for jinx, unnecessary amount of child hate lmao

oh my baby girl i love u it's ok don't be sad please

jinx focused episode let's gooo

me: omg was that a flash of powder?!

*rewinds*

me: ...who the fuck is that.

me: oh no. oh no. this kid is important enough to make it to the intro, jinx is going to take care of this child isn't she. that sure is... a choice

oh no the kid is here

ugh for me personally the only thing worse they could have done is make her pregnant or have a baby. i hate storylines like this im so sorry. it's different when the parent-child relationship is like the main focus or the premise of the show/movie (the mandalorian, the last of us, the walking dead game, silco taking care of powder who's the main character), but when a random ass child shows up years late to the party and needs someone to take care of them and the child character has no previous connection to the audience... i really dislike that in stories im so sorry. leave jinx alone

also, in what world is jinx ready to be a mother figure to anyone lmao she's very much stuck in a child-like state herself half the time. this is not what she needs, we both deserve better

i like the child's design though

honestly, i hope arcane makes me take all that i just said back, but we'll see

jinx i love you

her voice is so good, the voice acting is sooo good oh my god

does she kinda have a different vibe or is it just me?

honestly thought she would be doing a lot worse than she is. good for her!

don't get me wrong, i get that from the orphan's point of view jinx just saved her life and she's clearly super strong, what else is she supposed to do than follow

what i'm saying is that i personally do not want jinx to take care of a child right now. i want this to be about the sisters. the fact that i don't like this is on me, the writers can obviously do whatever they want with their story buuut.....

sevika<3

can't wait for her and jinx to team up

wait does sevika even know that jinx was the one who killed silco?

i don't know what's going on with viktor and whatever he's saying here is not helping

did she though?

everything viktor does now is so slow. the way he speaks, the way he moves...

im not a jayvik girlie but i imagine that those who are felt rly sad after this scene

ekko my boy! the biker mouse from mars can speak?

my brother: he really does look like one

i literally facepalmed and my brother groaned

ekko please ditch this creature you're better on your own

shut up. you're not cute, you're not funny.

i should probably clarify that heimer is my least favourite character in the show, i kinda have no patience for anything he does 😂

i literally said DO IT JAYCE out loud

this made me laugh

same, ekko, same.

can we talk about the way he's holding the cup lol

it's also kinda funny and kinda sad at the same time that this is probably his first time tasting tea

SHUT UUUUPPPP

i screamed

vi? nooo, what the hell 😫 i thought it was the bad guys after her but no it's VI? don't hurt jinx like this, don't hurt me like this

the animation is making me feel like i'm the one who can't breathe damn

hasn't my girl been through enough?? stooooppp

this looked really cool though

there's no way those were the only two times he saw her cry

also, she's insane, blinking and getting even closer. i am obsessed with her

YESSSHHHH

after getting her ass kicked by vi and jinx repeatedly in season 1, i have a feeling this is a battle she's finally going to win 😆

the whole-body movement she did here, so cute, i love her so much 😭

GET JINXED OMG!!!!!!!! 💙💙💙💙💙

holy shit you can always trust arcane with fight scenes

my brother: no one does fight scenes better than arcane.

me: i know right?! that was so good! best scene in season 2 so far!

brother: yep.

oh wow ok. girl, 1st of all, ew. 2nd of all, that thing was like 80% machine what was there left for you to eat? 3rd of all... this begs the question, what do these people eat, exactly? do they draw the line at cannibalism but everyone else is fair game? huh.

i doubt the people in piltover eat like this

no, let's not do that<3

what is he, jesus? this is a bit too much.

[itsnotmourn]

Not ship chart related but I think your art is so pretty!! Do you have any tips? Especially with coloring if it’s okay <] (/nf)

waah thank you very much! i'll try and explain but here’s my colouring-specific tips, or at least how i choose my colours !! <3

unless for stylistic reasons (e.g. greyscale drawing), i personally avoid pure black, greys and white for colouring. go and choose off-colours instead! for lineart, black is okay but i always go for an actual colour anyways heheh. for the background colour of your canvas, sometimes an actual colour (rather than white or grey) may help you pick your palette to be more harmonised!

following this, i also don't like using pure/neon for colours, unless it's for a certain aesthetic or artstyle (e.g. the character has a "toxic/radioactive" aesthetic; the character is a scenedog (or similiar); or highlights). see below for examples! they may be subtle but sometimes the subtly can make the difference you are looking for... if you're looking for a natural look. if you're aiming for the bright/old 2000's artstyle, then pure/neons may be your friend!

when i'm casually drawing characters (oc or not), i rarely colour-pick from the reference image. i find that when you're "forced to make the palette", it can come out more pleasing to your style/atmosphere of the drawing! it’s more personalised that way... like yea, that’s my favourite versions of those colours! i'm not saying that my colours are better though, only that "hey that's me! in those colours!!" you can have the reference image on the side or go by memory. here’s me doing this with pride flags:

nowadays, when drawing the spooky month characters—who have simple designs god bless—i can just imagine their reference and adjust the colours in my head lol example: if i know that Lila's colour palette is purple, and that her winter sweater is coloured lighter than her hair, then i can just go ahead and pick whatever shade i want following that rule!

(of course, always double check with the actual reference for physical design inaccuracies and skin tone if it applies. my advice above is just for general hair/clothing colours! …because yknow you don't want to accidentally whitewash a character's skin in the name of aesthetics lol. if you’re unsure and want to be on the careful side, please do colour pick the skin at least !!)

moving on... gradient maps and certain blending modes (like exclusion, luminosity and darken) can be a game changer too. for normal drawings (e.g. drawings with no environment), i use darken the most because it changes a few colours rather than the entire piece... (the percentages are opacity levels!)

oh and as a really basic shading tip without using blending modes: sometimes, you just gotta go for grey. shading a warmer colour? use grey to make a cool tone. shading a cool colour? use grey to make a warm tone. not all the time (because you don’t wanna make your shading seem muddy), just sometimes…

and that's that! there's always exceptions to rules and often times, your headshot doodle ends up as one big experimental mess (in a fun way, hopefully)!

this is how i choose my colours though most of the time, it is just me going “good enough”

i think we're pretty similar on how we like warm colours! i enjoy going the simple/lazy route and avoid blend modes but then again, shading is a whole different thing…

hope this helps in any way !! <:3 !!! <3

[swissboyhisch]

Halloween Surprise

Pairing: Matthew Knies x Marner!Reader

Summary: The team's Halloween party seemed like the perfect time to reveal to everyone who you were dating.

Word Count: 2546

Warnings: Alcohol, blood, a little bit of 18+ content towards the end.

THE MASTERLIST JOIN THE TAGLIST HOCKEY DISCORD

Halloween. Your favourite holiday by far. Growing up, your parents decorated the house with tons of decorations and your mum always went all out with family costumes. When you moved to Toronto to live with your older brother and his girlfriend, you were always in charge of organising the Halloween parties or costumes. 

And nothing changed. As soon as it was announced it was Mitch’s turn to host the team’s Halloween party, he came straight to you. It was your job to organise everything but luckily, since Mitch will be busy with the start of the hockey season, Steph is more than happy to help you. It would give her something to do. And it means the two of you can spend more time together. 

First thing was to create a list of people who would get the invites. Then organise a time and place for the party. Mitch and Steph said they’re happy to have it at their place instead of hiring out a place. Due to game schedule conflict, the party was going to take place on the Friday before Halloween.

Once the who, what, when and where was decided, Steph and you designed the invites and sent those out as soon as possible. Next was the entertainment. You had a couple Halloween Playlists from previous parties you had hosted so you just said you would bring your audio system and set it up around the house and use Spotify. Food wise, Steph said that she was thinking the two of you make the food the couple days leading up to it. She loved to cook, and you loved to bake so it was the perfect pair. Drinks were just going to be bins with cans of alcohol and soft drink in them and pitchers of cocktails. Then it was just costumes for you guys and decorating the house and backyard.

“What are we going to dress as?” Asked Mitch as he joined the planning party of you and Steph on the couch. 

You just smirk, “You two are going to be a ken and barbie variant. It fits so perfectly.”

Steph let out a squeal of excitement. It really was perfect for them. “Oh my god, yes!”

“And Auston is going to be Alan. A permanent third wheel.”

“What are you going to do?”

“It’s a surprise,” You retorted to your brother. As a fashion major, you had an endless number of options. But one in particular was the number one choice. It wasn’t hard but it was a fun one. “You’ll see at the party.”

Then it was onto planning the couple’s costumes. For Steph, you were thinking of a cute pink satin dress that stopped mid high. Low cut but not as low as you could go. A pair of cute white heels and white accessories. Her hair is in waves with pink makeup and hints of silver. A white clutch to top it off.

Mitch, luckily, will go with whatever you choose. Which is going to be matching pink pants, a white button down not fully buttoned and a pink satin scarf in the pocket. That will be made from the same fabric as the dress. His hair will be styled and maybe you can convince him to have a little makeup on.

Auston was a little harder, but he was going to be dressed in blue pants that are the same as Mitch’s and shirt striped like Alan’s sweater in the movie. A permanent third wheel who you question their involvement in a relationship.

You lived in an apartment in the city, close to where you work. Since Mitch and Steph got married, well a bit before that, you managed to find an apartment and skedaddle out of there. So, you found yourself the night before the party organising your bag full of your costume to take over to Mitch’s place early in the morning. It was late but it had to be done now and you had gone to the game against the Stars.

Your apartment's buzzer going off surprised you. No-one was expected. When you peaked at the camera footage, the familiar boy dressed in the same suit as earlier was standing there waving at the camera. You were quick to let him in and eagerly await his arrival. 

“Hey,” Matt greeted as you let him into your apartment. Pressing a kiss to your lips. “What are you doing?”

“What am I doing? What are you doing here at this time of night?”

He shrugged off his suit jacket and hung it up on your coat rack, “Was on my way back to John’s from the arena and thought I’d stop in.”

“And does John know where you are?” You question. 

“Yes, I told him,” Matt whispers, his lips brushing against yours softly. His warm breath mixes with your own. “Don’t worry your pretty little head.”

You had to shower so despite Matt already showering at the arena he took up the opportunity to join in on your naked task. The two of you took a little longer than necessary but it was all in good fun. Now you were cuddled up in your bed with Coraline on the tv.

“Seriously?” Matt chuckles when he sees the movie title card. 

You just shrugged innocently, “it’s a favourite at this time of year.”

“This time of year?” He laughs harder knowing the truth behind that statement. “You mean any time of year.”

The next morning you were up early regardless of Matt’s whining when your alarm went off. The brunette tried to keep you in bed a little longer, but you wanted to get ready and head over to Mitch’s. The boys had a morning skate so you knew Matt would have to get up anyway. No sympathy from you.

“I’ll see you tonight. You have your costume right?” You mumble. 

Matt hums, pressing a reassuring kiss on your lips. “Yes, I have everything. I get dressed then just have to style my hair and splatter some blood from that bottle over my face and hands.”

“Perfect.” You pressed a kiss to his lips one final time and headed out the door. “Lock up on your way out!”

Steph and you had done most of the cooking and baking yesterday. The big decorations were already done as well, just the main decorations and little bits and pieces were to be put in place. 

The drive to your brother’s went quicker than you expected. But it was welcomed as you and Mitch crossed paths; him heading to practice and you arriving. He gave you a quick hug before you retreated into the house where Steph was eagerly waiting.

“Let’s get this started,” She says excitedly, pressing play on her phone.

Halloween themed songs started playing through the music system you guys had set up the previous day. You two finished off the food first giving it time to rest and cool. Then onto decorations. Starting with the inside, you decorated the entryway, then lounge room and dining room before finishing with the backyard.

“I think we are finished,” Steph states happily, looking over the pair of you’s hard work.

With a glance at your phone, it was 3pm. Perfect time to slowly start to get ready. “I’m gonna go have a shower and start getting ready.”

“Good idea.”

You went straight to your old room that had an ensuite and started to lay out your outfit. A pair of black booty shorts, a black lace corset bra, a blood splattered white button down and a pair of fishnets. That was the basis of your costume. Then a mask that was the same as Matt’s, both lighting up blue.

First things first, shower and prep first before starting on your hair. Then onto make-up, pretty simple, before getting into your costume. The last touch was blood splattering over your make-up. When you finished getting ready, you went downstairs to make a cocktail for Steph and yourself.

“Oo, what’s on the menu?” Steph questions as she comes downstairs in her costume.

“You look so good!” Steph did a twirl for you. “Ah, I picked the perfect costume.”

At the mention of that, Mitch came down solidifying the choice. He was the perfect Ken. Complimenting Steph’s barbie. When he came into the kitchen, he looked you over. Looking at your costume. “What are you?”

“From the purge,” You answer. You poured two cocktails into nice glasses and slid it over to Steph. “Cheers to another successful Halloween.”

“Cheers.”

When you took your first sip, the doorbell rang. Mitch went to greet whichever teammate had arrived first. And knowing the team, it’s either Mitch’s boyfriend (Auston) or the captain and his wife.

“What’s up little Marns?” Auston greets as he presses a kiss to your cheek. “I like the costume.”

“Thanks Aus.”

The group all enjoyed the music that was playing and the alcohol while waiting for others. Soon Will and his girlfriend arrived dressed as Fred and Daphne from Scooby Doo. Penny joined the other two girls drinking cocktails while the boys sat around outside chatting.

“So, are you still talking to that guy?” Steph asks.

Penny immediately turns on you. “Guy? What guy?”

“Uh,” You stutter. Steph was the only person to know you were talking to a guy. But she didn’t know who he was. “Yeah, I’m still talking to the guy.”

“Who is he?” 

You shrug and go to answer the door as an excuse to leave the conversation. The person knocked at the door again as you walked down the hallway. 

“You will tell us sooner or later,” Steph calls from the kitchen.

The door opened to reveal Matthew, dressed exactly how you envisioned. God, he looked so good. Even with the blood splattered all over him. The brunette lifted his mask and smiled down at you. Well, more like smirked. 

“Heya babe,” he muttered, making sure to peek over your shoulder before pressing a kiss to your lips.

“Hey, you look good!”

“So do you.”

You shut the door behind him and lead him through to the kitchen. As soon as Steph took in Matthew’s costume, she knew exactly who you were talking to. Her eyes lit up as she ran to hug the boy. It was the first team event for Steph to meet the rookie player.

“Hi, welcome to the team,” Steph rushes out excitedly. She looked over the pair of you and your matching costumes. “How are you liking Toronto?”

“I have a good guide,” He replies, sending a small smile to the girl beside him.

“Where’s the captain?” Mitch asks when he sees Knies. 

You waited for your brother’s reaction but it seemed like it wasn’t clicking. Oh well, it will make sense at some point in his golden retriever brain. 

Matt shrugs, “He and Aryne were waiting on the babysitter.”

“Ah, come join the boys out back,” Mitch suggests, already making his way outside again. 

Steph lets out a chuckle, “We’ll see if it clicks for him at some point.”

Matt just shrugged again and kissed you once more and made his way to join his teammates outside on the patio. When the backdoor shut, Steph and Penny both turned and gave you a look.

“The rookie? Really?”

“He’s cute,” You argue.

The pair both agree with a laugh and start to ask you a billion questions. When did you meet him? Where? What was your first date? At the arena before a preseason game. Then he took you out for a late-night meal at a diner.

Soon the house was full of team members and staff dressed in every type of costume you could imagine. Funny, scary, awesome, iconic. You name it, someone is dressed in it. Everyone was mingling and snacking on all the things you and Steph had made during the week. 

“Hey,” Matt greets as he comes up to you talking to Aryne. 

Aryne smiled at the two of you dressed up together. “I love the costumes.”

“That was all her,” The brunette grinned. He pressed a kiss to your temple but soon was interrupted by a yell.

“What?!” You turn to where Mitch was standing with William and Auston. “No way.”

Steph was quick to drag Mitch inside, with the other two of the trio following suit. Luckily not many people had seen the scene created. Knowing your brother, if you and Matt delayed the conversation any longer, he’d come and drag you too in as well. 

“Let’s get this over with,” You mutter, slipping your hand into Matt’s.

As soon as you stepped foot into the living room, Mitch only paid attention to the joint hands. “Oh no, no, no.” He speeds up to you two and separates you both. “Not for the life of me are you dating a hockey player.”

“Come on Mitch.”

He shook his head. “No. I told mum and dad I’d protect you when you moved out here with me.”

“Mitch, I’m not 18 anymore. I’m a big girl. I can date who I want without your permission.”

Knowing he wasn’t going to convince you, he turned on Matthew. He got up in the rookie’s face. “And you! I told you that my sister was off limits!”

Matt couldn’t get in a word before you stepped in and pushed your brother a step back. But he was quick to pull you into his side. 

“Mitch,” Steph murmured.

“I’m serious about her,” Matt spoke up. “She’s perfect. Smart, beautiful, talented. She’s not your sister, she’s just her own, amazing person.”

You teared up. That last point he said was an insecurity you had shared with him. People only want to be with you because of your brother. “Matty.”

“She’s my person,” Matt stated. Making sure to look your brother in the eyes to convey how serious he was. 

“Let them be Mitch,” Auston chuckles, “They like each other. If he hurts her we can beat him later.”

“Fine,” your brother huffed. 

You skipped up to him and hugged him. “Thanks Mitchy. Love you!”

Without another word, you intertwined your fingers with Matt’s and dragged him to your old room.

“Door stays open!” Mitch screams when he realises where you were going. 

You didn’t listen to your brother’s order though. Matt made sure to slam the door loud enough for your brother to hear it over the music. When the door was closed, Matt immediately pulled off your mask from the top of your head before kissing you hard. 

“God you look so good,” He groaned “And your ass in those shorts.”

After making sure the door was locked, you pushed Matt onto the bed. First piece of clothing to come off was the button down. Revealing the lacy corset for all to see. For Matt to see. 

“Damn baby.”

You giggle and dance along to the faint sound of ‘I Put A Spell On You’. Matt grabs your hips guiding you close and flipped the script, making you on the bed and leaned over you. His hand gripped onto your hip as he rubbed his hard dick against your pussy. You let out a quiet moan which only spurred the man on more.

“Yeah, I’m gonna make you scream,” He smirks.

Matthewkniews posted on Instagram!

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[kkatastrophic]

Screenshots of my favourite characters from the Danganronpa Manga:

(From Chapter 2 Game 1 onwards)

Special Mention Page:

The display his trauma so much better in this than in the animation. In the animation it's just "I'm stronger than you! AND I'M STRONGER THAN BIG BROOOOOOO!!!!"

That line made me mad because like... where's the depth...? ALSO WHO CALLS THEIR SIBLINGS "BIG BRO" OR "LITTLE SIS" I'M SORRY BUT I HATE WHEN THE DO IT, ESPECIALLY IN ANIME-

THE MANGA GIVES ALL OF OUR FAVOURITES MORE SCREEN TIME TOOOOO!!! Because, a load of characters don't get much screentime until they're respective chapter, so we know a sit ton about Toko and Aoi and Byakuya etc. but we really don't know much about minor characters, because they die too soon, or get TOO much screentime you just know they're going to die anyway, so why do their FTES.

Also, we were robbed, GIVE ME A FULL SET OF ISHIMARU FTES NOW!!! I WANT TO SPEND TIME WITH KIYONDO AND NOT HATE HIM SO MUCH!!!

Okay, more SS

Makoto is a cutie patootie in this :,)

OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD MONDO WON THE DAM SAUNA BATTLE, I'VE BEEN WONDERING FOR LIKE A YEAR NOW!

Oh my GOD Celeste is far from my favourite character, but she is MAJESTIC

Yk what, Majestic panel of characters GO!

WHY ARE THEY ALL SERVINGGGG AHHH-

Honourable mention the this comment at the end of Celestias Chapter:

"Ahhhh honestly I love celestia. i mean yeah she murdered people but at least it was the two most annoying ones."

I love Ishimaru but reading the manga he wasn't the best- he's still my favourite but he would be annoying IRL let me be real here-

Anyway, that's all of the manga so far that has been updated, check it out if you can at https://m.manganelo.com/manga-no101782

IT'S SO GOOD.

Also, it proves my point further that Celes has no humane motive and shouldn't be considered an extremely popular character! People mainly like her because of her design, but no hate to those who do enjoy Celeste as a character. She just wasn't my "cup-of-tea" :-)

[dr-spectre]

Guess what game I just finished!!!

I dont have a lot to say on this because I think over the past 20 years people have already said enough.

But... MY GOD! The level of variety, creativity, and fresh ideas each chapter brings holy SHITTTT!!! One moment you're going underground with a cute goomba girl, then you're fighting a dragon, then you're playing a World 1-1 recreation with BOWSER! Then you're playing as Peach who has this deeply emotional and sad relationship with an AI (Tec is the goat, I love that ai. Top 10 ai in fiction idc), then you're doing a tournament arc AND THEN YOU'RE DOING A TRAIN MYSTERY OH MY GOODNESS!!!!

The combat is really fun and charming, THE DIALOGUE IS SO WELL WRITTEN AND I LAUGHED MULTIPLEEEEE TIMES!!! I love the characters, I love the world, I love the art style, i love most of the boss fights, the music is banging (I played with the original ost), God there's so much to love.

I will say, the final chapter of this game did kinda drag on, and there's so many points where I was thinking "okay NOW I get to fight the final boss!" And it takes another hour to get to them.... there's so many obvious signs of padding (copy and pasted hallways, a trash "pick the right door" puzzle, etc.)

I also didn't like how when you swapped partners that counts as a turn, i feel like you should be able to swap without wasting a turn because it would help with the flow of combat and make using Goombella's tattle less of a fucking pain...

Also....

VIVIAN IS SO FUCKING CUTE!!! I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!! SHE'S MY FAVOURITE PARTNER BY FARRRRR!!!!! Goombella is really cute too and she has amazing dialogue. I love the storyline of Admiral Bobbery too and that stuff made me cry... but...EEEEE I LOVE VIVIAN!!!!

GOD I JUST WANNA HUG HER!!! I WANNA PINCH HER CHUBBY CHEEKS!!! I WANNA RUB HER BELLY!!!! Nintendo I need a plushie of her yesterday. Come on. Please... I need one...

I shall leave my partner rankings as well, i wonder if I got any hot takes or not...

6. Flurrie.

No. Just... no I don't like her. Her design creeps me out, I don't give a shit about her moves. I never used her. Get her away from me.

5. Goombella.

Although very cute I found her more of a hindrance and i kept going, "ugh I gotta swap to her to get the tattle..." At least her design and personality are cute. Plus, she's more useful than that creepy ass Flurrie....

4. Koops.

I like him! He helped me out a LOTTT in the final battle, his later moves that you can unlock make him pretty damn good. Although I am jealous that this wimp has a girlfriend....

3. Admiral Bobbey.

Honestly I think the reason why he might be this high is because of his story. I really felt bad for him... his design is also killer, I LOVEEEE Bob-ombs so much!

2. Mini-Yoshi.

The fact that you can name him is really funny to me idk why. He's got some very helpful moves and his ability to help you move faster in the overworld is really nice. I like how he calls you Gonzalez too. What a fun character man.

1. Vivian.

I already said why I like her earlier but I'll go on further.

I LOVE HER STORYLINE TOO!!! I LOVE HER DESIGN!!! I LOVE HOW SHE'S TRANS AND THE REMAKE DIDN'T GET RID OF IT LIKE HOW THE ORIGINAL NORTH AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN RELEASES OF THE GAMECUBE VERSION GOT RID OF IT!!!

God.... I love her. I wanna kiss her on the cheek. She's so cute. Her moveset too is fire!.... wait..

Also btw I didn't know that this RATTTT was an optional party member... oops...

[rotteneggssuck]

AAAAHHHH!!! Ok. I saw some TikTok videos saying “combine the last video game you played and last tv show you watched” and I was like “oh, that would be danganronpa v3 and dungeon meshi”. Now I’m going fucking insane over it.

Anyway, here’s what I think all the v3 characters, races would be in the dungeon meshi universe.

Angie-Gnome. This one is kinda weird to start with BUT, gnomes live side by side with nature spirits and ask them for help with magic and stuff. I think Angie suits being a long life race, idk why. Also she’s would looks so cute with the ears.

Gonta-Oger. Big. Need I explain more? He’s just a gentle giant, and I think the big horns and teeth would also add to his “people get scared when they see me” story.

Himiko-Gnome. It’s literally perfect, shut up. Magic being culturally significant, generally a pretty short race, even for a character design point! The sleepy droopy eyes!!!! AHHHH! Love her.

Kaede-Tall man. She’s just so!!!! That’s all I can say. I just think if she was made another race it would take away from her everything. Like I debated an elf but, it just didn’t feel right.

Kaito-Tall man. Are you going to sit here and tell me that kaito isn’t the most guy of men. He would 100% say shit like “I only have a short life, so I need to make the most of it!” Then run head first into a dragon fight without any plans.

Kiibo-Beast man. Specifically a werewolf, like just. “I know I’m a beast man, but I’m still just as human as anyone else!” And he would still get to contemplate his humanity:DDD. I can just picture kokichi being a massive bitch about it too.

Kirumi-Elf. She’s just hot like that. Also you know, the expectation of her being perfect and talented. I feel like at first she would pity short life races and fall into the “they are like children” mindset (obviously still doing anything they asked of her, she’s still herself) then after meeting the cast, would go “oh, wait. These are just people. They don’t need pity for just existing”.

Kokichi-Half foot. Ok this is another one that’s absolutely perfect. Like the lock-picking, them commonly being known for thievery, and he would absolutely use those big old ears for no good!!!! Literally just a perfect match.

Korekiyo-Kobold. Ok. This is going to be the first of a few “because I said so” he would just look so god dam good like that. It would just add to his “I’m mysterious and not much is known about me” vibe. Yes. I know kobolds tend to stay in there community’s, and can’t speak in the common tongue that well. Fuck you!!!

Maki-Half foot. I know some might question this, but hear me out! It would be so handy for her assassin thing! Like the hearing would be a massive help, her size would make it easier to go unnoticed, also she would be incredibly light footed.

Miu-Dwarf. They’re like the technology race! They invent shit! Also her brash attitude would just fit in most with dwarves, she’s probably a bit confused why everyone’s getting mad at her for being, well, her.

Rantaro-Elf. Because I said so #2. He’s just hot, I don’t think he would pity short life races tho. My mans is too well traveled for that shit to slide.

Ryoma-Dwarf. Ok yes. It is because he’s short. But also because of his demeanour, like he’s really gruff and stoic, I imagine his backstory would be much of the same, but with the added benefit of “I will outlive most of the friends I make, so why make friends in the first place”.

Shuichi-Elf. Pure fucking vibes. Just look at him. Also something something, his parents are probably these great Influential people or whatever, and he feels like all he’s achievement’s mean nothing….. something something.

Tenko-Kobold. Another absolutely perfect one! Like, just! AG! Look at everything we know about kobolds! It can be applied to Tenko!! Also she’s not immune to the “because I said so” argument. She’s my favourite. Kobolds are my favourite. Boom. Done.

Tsumugi-Tall man. Don’t even try to argue this one. Tall men are the “nothing too special about them” race. The plain race. Like I don’t know what you want from me.

Anyway that’s all. Maybe keep an eye out for some art of this crossover. Idk. Had lots of fun tho. Obviously if anyone wants to use this idea as a springboard you absolutely can, but please let me see!!! I wanna see someone going as insane as I am about my favourite game being crossed over with such a cool manga/anime

[my-my-my]

For the character ask game: 4, 18, and 25 for Clive Rosfield and Aizen!

Oh yay thank you for asking me this! I'm going to put my answers under the read more. As an FYI I'm still not done FF16 yet, so my opinion on Clive might change (hopefully not drastically haha).

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Oh this is such a good question that got me fairly stumped! I would have to say I think I would and can see Clive in Nosferatu. I think he would readily accept Ellen fucking Count Orlak even if it pains him. (And fun fact, the doctor in the newest Nosferatu, is Cid's voice actor!!) anyways, I can see Clive being a more daring, rugged Thomas... he has no qualms about killing 😗

For Aizen, my brain kept thinking "Fruits Basket" but ugh, he's too sinister and I would never want Tohru to be subjected to him. She's too good and he's too jaded and would take advantage of her kindness 😔

...so I think my choice would be to put him in xxxHOLiC because Yuko is interesting enough to engage with Aizen, but wouldn't indulge him in his whims. Watanuki would have no idea what's going on, but is polite, Mokona is Mokona, Doumeki would steer clear and (un)fortunately for Aizen, best girl Himawari would inadvertently give him more bad luck (lol). It would be entertaining to see how he handles that kind of supernatural phenomenon.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

So before I played a bit more of FF16 today, my initial response would have been Clive's relationship with Cid or Gav, but I honest to god, I am such a sucker for sibling relationships. I'm very close with my siblings, so I cried when Clive and Joshua reunited and cried LOL. So maybe it's not so much admire, but I really do love their sibling bond.

For Aizen, this is hard because he's someone who manages to isolate himself even though he was surrounded by people. I think though, I would say I admire his relationship with Shunsui. He's polite and respectful enough to Shunsui, whereas someone like me would be upset with Shunsui (if I was in Aizen's position). I think there's a lot of resolve with Aizen to be courteous to someone who rather have you dead.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

At first I didn't think much of Clive, I was like "oh another soldier... in a FF game..." but it wasn't until he reunites with Torgal and befriends Cid where I'm like "oh ok 👁️👁️" (that dungeon scene may or may not have swayed me...). Now I think he's very sweet! Rugged, but sweet! He doesn't sway me like Tidus, Zack or Noel (from FF13) did, but I really like how he doesn't hesitate to kill enemies lol. I hateeeee the deliberation some characters (in other media) have about killing people. Clive is like "yeah let's kill him."

Omg I was so young when I first saw Aizen. For context, Captain Aizen's design is generally the kind of look I go for in men, so watching Bleach and then meeting him?? It was over for me.

AND THEN HE DIED!?!? I was so upset!! i was gonna stop watching bleach (I was like 15 lmao). And then he became a villain and the rest was history hahaha. He's one of my top favourite characters of all time. He's so mysterious, so I gobble every tidbit of lore Kubo shares with us, and have headcanon the shit about him FOR YEARS! I love how interesting he is, how he balances being polite with being an asshole. Snarky without it coming off as childish. He's so effortlessly cool imo. And yah, he's hot too LOL

Thank you so much for asking me these questions!!

[jazzajazzjazz]

My thoughts on DAV for anyone who gives a shit:

Heavy spoilers under cut (read at your own risk)

Stuff I liked:

* The abundance of book/comic characters that made appearances. I really enjoyed meeting a character and excitedly saying ‘oh it’s [NAME]!’ Evka and Antoine were absolutely wonderful and I adore them and would die for them

* The environments are stunningly beautiful, particularly Treviso. I also love how darkly oppressive and hopeless Hossberg felt. And the Necropolis are you KIDDING ME 😭😍

* Generally speaking I enjoyed the companions and how they were written. Emmrich was absolutely my favourite but I also loved Davrin and Bellara, and I found Neve and Lucanis very endearing also.

* Bellara being more than the token quirky girl was such a wonderful surprise

* The CC is SO fun to play with like wow

* Boss fights are pretty cool

* Act 3 battle in Minrathous was a lot of fun

* English fem Rook’s voice is fantastic and it’s so refreshing to hear a Geordie accent (my own accent, no less!) in DA

* Combat is a lot of fun and for the first time playing a mage in DA I actually felt dangerous.

* Ghilly is kinda cool I guess

Stuff I disliked:

* The romances are utterly lackluster. I romanced Davrin and while I adore the man and enjoyed the scenes I got with him there was barely any chemistry between he and Rook. By the time they slept together they had kissed twice (and that was in ONE scene). The flirty lines are barely even flirtatious at all. And why can’t we kiss our LI’s whenever we want? Why would you take that away???

* Why isn’t there any option to just….talk to your companions? Ask them questions? Ask Neve about her most infamous cases, her upbringing, who designed her badass prosthetic. Ask Davrin about his clan, how long he’s been a Warden, and about some of the monsters he’s hunted. Make the companions feel like they have….I dunno, lives?

* Why boast that your game has nudity when it doesn’t even make an appearance outside of the CC? Even then it was just tits?

* Where is the cruelty of Thedas? The injustice? The slavery? The racism? My Rook is an elf from Minrathous for goodness sake. (and don’t use this point of mine to accuse me of ‘fantasising about racism’ like one smoothbrained fuck on reddit did) But if you’re gonna establish that your world has these terrible things and then said terrible things just sort of vanish or aren’t mentioned then it looks like HR was in the room with the writers.

* Taash’s weird ass writing

* Inconsistencies in the quality of voice acting. I’m not talking about audio but the acting itself. Sometimes Neve’s performance was very weak.

* The music is completely forgettable and Trevor Morris should have been brought back. The theme that played during the boss fight with Ghilly made me exclaim (OUT LOUD) ‘The fuck is this shit ass music?’

* Why didn’t Maevaris have her gorgeous blonde curls what did you do to her

* Dorian was just there because Dorian. Same with Isabela. Thank god they didn’t bring Fenris back 🙏

* The Varric twist is just kinda dumb

* Solas doesn’t really act very Solas-y? 🤷🏻‍♀️

* Having to choose between Davrin or Harding felt so forced to me. Making it so the one you pick can die if you haven’t built up their loyalty? Okay, I can buy that. Especially since late act 2/act 3 of this game is very much a DA version of ME2. But I guess Harding will always be my choice because honestly even with the Titan stuff I found her boring

* Basically everything coming back to ‘it was the Elves!!!!’ is boring

* Rendering the previous games obsolete/pointless was a spineless decision made by the writers and I hope they feel bad about it

* The Executors twist is pathetic and ridiculous and I completely disregard it

* We could have had a quest where we rescue/encounter whoever was left behind in the Fade in DAI? Wow fuck you too

Companion Ranking

1 - Emmrich - everything I hoped for and more. He’s eccentric, he’s goth af, he’s almost excessively polite, and he is just an absolute delight to be around. He’s wonderful and I adore him. I will absolutely be romancing him next when I feel like doing another playthrough.

2 - Davrin - I’ll readily admit that I’m a bit biased because Davrin was my LI and is utterly gorgeous but that being said I love him to bits. I love his arc of basically working out how to be a dad to Assan. I love his confidence, and I’m a sucker for a tough guy character with a cute hobby. And I was HELLA invested in getting those damn griffons back.

3 - Bellara - I mentioned above that I was relieved that Bel was so much more than the token quirky girl and my god was she a breath of fresh air. At first I still wasn’t sold on her because of that tonal whiplash in Act 1 but once I gave her the time she needed I related to her more and more.

4 - Neve - Again I may be biased as I played a SD Rook and I love detective characters but I thought Neve was great. Her relationship with my Rook was like that of a big sister and I bought it completely. I love how she wonders aloud about problems and mysteries.

5 - Lucanis - I like Lucanis, don’t get me wrong. But I feel like he’s easily the most half baked and under-utilised companion in DAV by a country mile. So much of him just doesn’t feel finished, and Spite is just….barely there. He deserved better. Also, I get it. He likes coffee. Quit mentioning it all the damn time, game.

6 - Harding - Boring. Simple as that. I didn’t give a shit about Harding in DAI but at least she had a personality? Her whole thing relates to the Titans, one of most interesting pieces of lore in the DA universe, and they managed to make her completely forgettable. 🥱

7 - Taash - Felt like Taash’s entire existence is as an after school special/self insert. Their ‘growth’ was paced weirdly and their hypocritical attitude stinks. They came across so well in Vows & Vengeance and I was really looking forward to meeting them and was very disappointed. They do get better as the game progresses but it felt like it was too little, too late.

Final Thoughts

I’m an OG DA fan who has been here from the very beginning and quite frankly I loathe this game. I maintain that there are plenty of things to enjoy about Veilguard. If only if wasn’t a DA game. Sadly it is.

There are a ton of things I had to purposely ignore (retconning, weird dialog, characters acting out of character, etc) in order to enjoy certain parts of the game and I shouldn’t have to do that. It’s very apparent that long term fans of the series aren’t the target audience anymore and that ultimately feels like a betrayal. It stings.

I’m not giving a rating because I don’t do that but yeah those are my thoughts. I genuinely enjoyed parts of my time with this game but I mourn what this series has become and what could have been. So much of this game just feels….unfinished. Fuck this game and fuck BioWare.

[rhythmmortis]

NEW DEMO AND TRAILER THIS IS NOT A DRILL I REPEAT THIS IS NOT A DRILL

ALSO HELLO CODA AND REAPER AND FREDDIE AND REDESIGNED NOCTURNA!! FUCKING AAAAAAA

EEYYRGTGY4267728ITYGUHDSHJDJDFFD!!!!!!!!!!! GENUINELY I DO NOT HAVE COMPREHENSIVE OR COHERENT WORDS LIKE. I NEED THIS GAME SO BADLY. THIS TRAILER IS KEEPING ME FED FOR MONTHS.

redesigned nocturna genuinely almost made me cry like. to see that they actually listened to feedback and then took steps to rectify their mistake is so refreshing to see, as a person of colour myself it makes me so happy. ALSO SHE IS GORGEOUS STUNNING AMAZING SHOWSTOPPING I LOVE HER

REAPER??????? MY BELOVED??????? i'm so excited to see reaper in here and i'm really curious to see what her role will be, especially considering they're going for realism in some aspects, but her design goes so hard....

CODA. OH MY GOD. SHE LOOKS SO COOL. considering the difficulty already in the demo i'm VERY EXCITED to see the absolute hell she will bring! i do find it kinda interesting that they mentioned on their twitter that they weren't gonna add bolt and they posted some beta designs for them, but they DID add in coda. does feel like they could've still added bolt in but we'll see what the full game is like

FREDDIE!!! MY GUY FREDDIE MERCHANTRY!!! SO JOYFUL!! SO JOVIAL!!! MY MANS IS GONNA BE FUCKING IT UP ON THESE TRACKS, GET IT FREDDIE

merlin still cute as always seriously her design might be one of my favourites, and i love suzu crouching in the corner, GOD THEY ACTUALLY HAVE PERSONALITIES THIS IS SO COOL

and as always i appreciate you updating me thank you :) this was one of the first things i saw waking up and i'm glad it was because this had made my entire week, perhaps month

[ninadove]

Hades for the ask game>=)

OH GODS THAT IS AN EXCELLENT ASK

Blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most)

Zagreus. Oh my god, Zagreus. My favourite video game protagonist hands down.

Many of my Felix mutuals like to joke that he would never play video games because of the whole “controlling a character” bit, but I’m here to tell you: he would play Hades, in fact he did play Hades while watching his father slowly die in the hospital, delivering the final blow without breaking eye contact Every. Single. Time.

And of course, he developed the biggest crush on Zagreus.

Zagreus spent his entire life (potentially centuries?) enduring the most horrifying abuse and then just. Woke up one day and decided he had had enough. He dies again and again and and again, always respawning in the very same prison he grew up in no matter what, but he does not let it get to him; instead, he picks himself up and tries again, just for a chance to catch a glimpse of the sun. Not taking any bullshit from anyone, but remaining kind and soft through his entire ordeal.

A model and an inspiration to us all. ❤️🩸

Scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped)

The ace lesbian ever. 💚🏹

(Baby girl please give me your Call boon in every run I’m begging —)

Scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave)

This one is hard because every single Hades character has a significant fanbase, even fucking Bouldy (as he should, I myself love him very much, but he’s literally a rock).

So I’m putting Meli here instead, because I want her in this post and she has nowhere else to go.

When I saw her eyes, I cried. Because one of the first things Zag asked Hades upon learning the truth about his parentage was wether or not he had any siblings. If there was someone like him, out there, going through similar hardships.

I was so happy for him I did not immediately realise that meant we would get a hella sapphic game. 🧡🌙

Glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week)

The one and only Froggo. 💚

(Seriously though, I want to highlight how incredible the release trailer is from a Marketing perspective. The team came up with a checklist of everything we wanted to see, from the long-awaited Apollo to the new love interests, and managed to cram everything in there in just over two minutes. And Froggo made the cut because they knew how much we loved petting Cerberus. It’s just *Chef’s kiss*.)

Poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave)

Nor really “problematic”, definitely not unpopular and certainly not pathetic, but I’ll put Nyx here because she’s a liiittle bit classist and was straight up mean to Dusa:

Let’s be clear, she’s still Best Mum (I do not care for this version of Persephone).

Horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason)

There’s only one (1) valid answer to this one:

But I also think Eurydice could do wayyy better than Orpheus. I haven’t forgiven him for not being a lesbian like I thought he would be when I first saw his design.

Eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)

And I’d kill you; in a hundred runs, with a hundred different weapons, in any version of this game, I’d find you and I’d kill you.

[et-cant-phone-home-no-signal]

The Last of Us HBO - Episode 2 thoughts

Warning: Pure yapping ahead! More thoughts and things I've noticed watching the show, it's not serious and I don't invite arguments (fellow yappers are more than welcome though)

(continuing with my episode by episode analysis of the tlou show, it's a long one folks! all chronologically written as i was watching the episode. spoilers under the cut)

Fantastic opening - love that we get to see the initial discovery in Jakarta and that they speak Indonesian only! It removes the show from a purely American pov and makes it international, which is something I personally missed a little from the game so it's a welcome addition

The little detail that the military men walk so fast, she has to jog a little to keep up

I like the fact that they didn't even try to cover the dead body at all - why would they?

Same girl I'd have that exact same reaction too 💀💀 visceral as shit

The following visual of the cordyceps reaching out of the corpse's mouth.... Eugh

Ibu Ratna's reaction after hearing 14 workers are missing - her shaking so badly she has to put her cup of tea down, her face reads of pure undiluted horror 🙌👌 - worth mentioning that the casting of Christine Hakim is absolutely top tier (she's basically the Dame Judi Dench of Indonesia fr) and she really brings a gravitas to the role

I find it fascinating and refreshing that the first thing the military man does is to ask about a vaccine or medicine to fix this situation, but the scientist/professor, instead says with absolutely certainty that there is nothing, and then proceeds to say with an eerily calm and assertive tone and face that they must bomb the city. Terrifying yet wonderful that they've finally used a different format to this conversation

Ibu Ratna stifling her sobs and asking to go be with her family, because she knows there is no other solution - Brava

That soft, gentle opening shot of Ellie curled up in the sun on a lush bed of green, a single butterfly crossing over *chef's kiss*

Her turning to see Joel and Tess, sat in the shadows on chairs, Joel with his gun drawn lmaooooo that's comedy right there

Ellie's sass at the interrogation 🤌

"There's not gonna be anything bad in here?" "Just you." "Oh, funny." 💀😂

The fact that Joel broke his hand beating that guy to death - the way Tess looks at Joel, all knowing and vaguely soft

Tess defending Ellie indirectly by wanting to continue with bringing her to the state house - Joel wanting to return to the QZ and saying it would be better for FEDRA do shoot her than them 💀

"You need to stop talking about this kid like she's got some kind of life in front of her." Damn Joel, Tess' face says it all

Joel: struggling to break of a piece of EXTREMELY dry and chewy jerky, Ellie: sammich

Ellie in the warm light, Joel in the cold dark, and Tess in the middle of the two?? Gorg

It's so funny how terribly Joel and Ellie get on at this point, like, they basically hate each other my god

"If she so much as twitches.." *Ellie immediately starts twitching* and then Tess's "Don't." She is so done with these two already lmao

The iconic scenery 🙌 the two massive skyscrapers with one leaning on the other? Oooohhh yeah

The fact that Tess stops and answers Ellie's questions :')

I can't stop looking at Ellie's bag it's just so accurate I love it

"Well, I mean, you got some balls on you, sister." SLAY girls support girls ✨

The specific way Ellie says "no" at the boyfriend question 💅

It's interesting that Tess' reaction to hearing the description of what we know to be a bloater, is "shit, I hope not", insinuating perhaps that she and Joel haven't dealt with those before, but then the way that she looks at Joel after Ellie asks about clickers tells me they know exactly what she's talking about with that one

Immediately after we hear a loud ass creepy scream in the distance, okay!

The set designers got this shit so extremely right goddamn, the hotel gotta be one of my favourite locations fr - I love that they still included this location even if it's at a completely different place in the original story, it works so well here and with Tess added on, the humour is great and the way the characters interact is fun and interesting (Joel's little hop into the water especially gets me, he's such a shit lmao)

Ellie is genuinely so fucking funny I love this kid

Joel offering his hand, immediately snatching it back once she's mostly up cause it's his broken one (but you can see it's more than that)

"Fuck, holy shit." "Come on, it wasn't that bad." "You try climbing ten fuckin floors with our knees. See how you feel." 😭😭

Joel's face at being left alone with Ellie lmao

"Nice knife." great conversation starter Joel, but also, reference to his pocket knife Sarah held in the previous episode? He doesn't have it, when did he have time to grab it after all, but yeah. Maybe I'm overthinking this lmao

"Where'd you learn to do that?" "The circus." *Joel rolls his eyes with such exasperation taht I can feel it through my screen*

"How long do infected live?" "Oh, I thought you went to school." "It's a really shitty one."

Joel avoiding answering the question about the FEDRA dude he killed due to Tess returning is peak writing

I really enjoy how the infected are portrayed in the show - they're not just individuals, they're part of a hive mind in a way, the mycelium connects them all one way or another, and they act like it (the way they all react to sunlight and extra so because they all react to each others pain as well, wow)

Added onto that, this extra lore about the way the cordyceps works is fantastic, it makes it even scarier that, according to Tess, you can accidentally wake up and attract infected from somewhere totally different - this means you're never actually safe 💀

Really love how Tess is so damn nice to Ellie all things considered. Still answering her questions, telling her she has to be careful, that just because she's immune doesn't mean there's no danger

"I have a spare hand." "Congratulations." 😭

I do love how quick Joel is to run over to Ellie whenever something happens (her swearing, falling over, gasping loudly)

The look that Joel and Tess share - they think they know and they're probably right

Dad mode™ activated

That building is anxiety central for me

Joel is so jumpy and twitchy it's a little funny tbh, I like it

Ellie's "oh shit whoops" face

Joel helping Ellie up :')

The sound effects 😭💀😭 they got the same team that did the game clicker sounds to do the show ones and I can TELL

The anxiety is palpable!! My stomach is in knots!! The entrance of the first clicker is terrifying!!

Joel's silent, almost sign language like, explanation for Ellie 😌

The clicker actors are fucking amazing jesus christ. And the special effects and makeup? So GOOD wow absolutely grotesque <3

Not me gasping with Ellie

If I were there I'd probably just hide under a table and hold my breathe 😭

I find the clickers to be quite bird-like, in game and in show

The silence as Joel reloads his gun, the sudden much closer clicking, the flashlight shining directly in its face 🤌

Joel now being the one to step on something crunchy 😩 THE WAY THE CLICKER LAUNCHES ITSELF AT HIM AND ELLIE ACROSS THE DISPLAY

Ellie crying out with pure fear and Joel holding the clicker back more so it's on him not her - HIM PUSHING HER BEHIND HIM!

BIG TESS SLAY

Impressed by how calm their reactions all are to seeing Ellie get bit (?) again (I thought it was more of a scratch at first but I assume it to be a bite due to their reactions to it)

"That was scary, this is wood." HA

The way Tess looks at Joel when he's busy wrapping her foot with diligence and care

I think this is the first sign that Tess had been bit, Joel seems to be looking at her like "what the hell is your problem" but listens and goes to watch Ellie anyway

The view line 😭🤌 love how we basically get this exactly from the game, including Joel looking at his watch :'(

The music 🙌

Second time you can really notice that Tess is differently - she handles Ellie harshly for basically the first time ever and totally ignores Joel

Joel moving Ellie away from the dead body

The squelching of the blood EUgH

Go makeup team go!

Oeiii screaming match :( mom and dad are fighting

The step back speaks volumes

"Oops, right?" just stab me it would hurt less, Anna's delivery of that line is heartbreaking

In fact little quick note of love to Anna Torv, she's such a fucking amazing actor and I love her portrayal of Tess so so much, she brought warmth, strength and balls of steel to the character fr!!

The fact that Tess basically confesses her feelings here, proclaims the knowledge that she feels something for Joel that he was never entirely able to reciprocate back, my god - her BEGGING him to take her because she knows nothing about the future but she believes that Ellie can change it in some capacity

Pedro's eye acting here is so potent, he says nothing but his eyes and face say it all

The mycelium!!!!!! Terrifying that in show canon, infected can basically call for backup!!! Brilliant addition and makes them so much more intimidating (also I HATED seeing the mycelium creep under that infected person's nails that really got a shudder out of me)

God bless the extras

Tess my beloved you make me cry so much you're amazing and you deserved better 😭 she's brave as fuck for this

Joel shaking, his lips quivering because fuck, she's going to die, and now he has to be fully responsible of this kid and he can't do this without her but he's gotta - the anxiety and fear in his eyes, his firm resolution after she says "save who you can save", the way he SNATCHES Ellie and walks away, Ellie fighting him tooth and nail but he knew she would, thats why he grabbed her like that.... I'm honestly just in so much awe and pain from this scene

The fear is Tess' face is so 😭😭

FUCK NO THAT ALMOST MADE ME THROW UP I WASN'T EXPECTING THAT JESUS FUCK. That was disgusting what the fuck 😭😭 don't know how to feel about watching the fucked up kiss of death like, eugh

The feeling when after failing to light the damn thing, she finally gets it, feels almost like a relief after all of that

Joel "big sad brown eyes" and Ellie "big traumatised brown eyes" will be the death of me

This is such a fucking sad ending to Tess' character but also, satisfying since she didn't die in vain

That final shot of Ellie alone with the burning state house in the background, sun beating down and a soft breeze in her hair, damn

If you make it to the end, thanks for reading! It's literally just my running thought process whilst watching!! Do you agree with some of my notes, was there anything you noticed that i didn't? Comments and reblogs welcome <3

Episode 1 thoughts:

Episode 3 thoughts:

[slightlytoastedbagel]

OH AND kohane for that character ask game :3

ok hi finally getting to this

first impression: ok this is the one with the gay thing with blue girl right? she's cute. nice design

impression now: this fucking hamster has altered my life good god. they put so many social anxieties into her. how she is the only one in the cast who does not have any specific goal or wish at the beginning of the game. how she believes she can only have it now because of other people. but the fact she picked up that resolve and wanted to continue singing to begin with shows that this is something she DOES want. her desire to support An, who is why she can have that dream in the first place. the frustration she's beginning to let herself feel. and also she's just so. weird. just because. but in a tamer way to some of the other cast so it doesn't come out unless you know her. she's got a pet snake and has an interest in pxl to the point she knows the spots for all of the hidden phennies (and found a new one on what is basically a date) and she does photography but didn't consider it a proper passion until meeting vbs. have I mentioned how she doesn't view herself as someone capable of feeling passion for something unless she gets it from someone else? hey colopal are you going to do anything with that or do I have to. uhhh anyway yeah Kohane Azusawa I like Kohane Azusawa. A Lot.

favourite moment: ough there's so many good ones. first of all Kick It Up A Notch is a beautiful event I have no notes and her solo is beautiful. her fes story. so much good stuff there. "it's frustrating" is a line that haunts me and I used it as fuel for what is just the most self indulgent thing I could have possibly ever written. OVER RAD SQUAD. THAT SCENE WHERE SHE'S WALKING INTO WEEKEND GARAGE WHILE CONTEMPLATING EVERYTHING AND AN/AKITO/TOYA ARE IN THERE SINGING. yeah it's probably that scene actually. that's my fav.

idea for a story: (stares at Kohane timeloop au) uhhhh I really would like to do a continuation to the crossover fic with my initial idea for it in mind (putting the boy in street sekai to see if that maybe fixes him) (it won't but the moment of spiderman pointing at spiderman between him and kohane will be hilarious) but other than that. I do want to do something with the "Kohane has a classmate that's terrified of her because everything she does is out of context to her" idea. or aforementioned timeloop au. make her suffer <3

unpopular opinion: outside of "stop making her the background lesbian", An Shiraishi being unit leader makes no sense from a story standpoint. while it is odd that VBS is the only unit to do a pov switch after the opening chapter we the audience just would not get as good of a story from An's pov because we do not know the world of Vivid Street like she does. Kohane's character is designed in a way where we learn things as she does in the main story, and also unit leaders mean nothing besides marketing it's really not that big of a deal. also some people don't get AnHane at all lmao

favourite relationship: AnHane my love my life my everything in this wah wah world. they orbit each other and want to be the best they can for the other but they're messy because they've never had anything like what they had with each other before. honeymoon couple of singing duos. they make me insane. Kohane's relationships to all of VBS (and the NPCs) make me sick but An specifically... ough...

favourite headcanon: Kohane does become a photographer in the future. VBS do all just set up another cafe outside of Vivid Street (Kotaro keeps Weekend Garage... I think he deserves it) but she does photography on the side. also fuck colopal she still wears her glasses frequently just not when performing

[auraxins]

hiii Ven! I saw your post about the gacha game burnout and that's so real ahh. Those games aren't going anywhere though so you can always take your time getting back into it!! I'm wondering what afkj is o: Can you share more about it and what you like about that game?

hello beloved ze !! i've been thru gacha burnout before (especially with genshin LMFAOOO) and i'm trying to make my peace with getting back into it whenever i feel like it, because i know from experience that stressing too much about the burnout makes it worse PFFT

afkj is short for afk journey!! it's the second afk series game made by the company Lilith (their first was afk arena!) and its this fun mix of story, exploration and automated combat. my personal highlight of the game is how amazing and varied the character designs are, honestly. both for journey and its counterpart arena, because there is some overlap with the cast and will likely be more as both games continue to have updates! ive popped some of my favourite character designs under the cut to save this post being too long on the dash:

first and most importantly, my wife, Talene. she's phoenix-inspired and oh so gorgeous and i adore her with all my soul. (her original Arena design is the left and the Journey design is the right, so you can see the differences)

and another of my favourites is gwyneth! I'm never gonna say no to a gorgeous dragon lady LOL she's only in Arena but god i hope she's added to Journey one day

shoutout to the pretty boys dionel (left), bryon (middle) and eironn (right) who are just. mm lovely <3

and a few collage images of my other fav designs because oh my fucking god there are so many pretty characters in these games it's actually unfair

if i could i'd end up doing whole posts on all of them and why i love them but i do not have the energy for that so u will have to take my word for it NDJDKSBSKB

Arena has also done a bunch of collabs in the past, including Persona 5 & The Witcher (i think?), which is rly fun!!

But Journey, the newer game, is the one I'm most into because I prefer the overall cleaner aesthetics and battle mechanics <3

[dandelion-system]

I need to find a way to incapacitate my mum so she can rest and stop working because I swear to god she’s going to run herself into the ground at this rate

She’s cleaned almost the entire house in a single day. She can barely stand up, and she’s still planning on making dinner from scratch. I can’t change her mind on that. But she wants to clean even more before she makes dinner.

And I don’t have any problem with her ruining her body and causing herself immense amounts of pain, if it didn’t mean that she treated me and my brother like shit! She just yells at us like we’re bad people because she’s in pain that she’s cause herself!

Anyway. I sorted out my wool and my bedroom and stuff ready for Christmas so it’s a bit tidier now. I’ll either play video games or crochet this evening (my fingers will have to deal with it)

And dinner is actually a really tasty one! Nice pasta with a side of leftover homemade garlic bread! (Made by us, and delicious. I seem to be this houses designated bread maker. I really don’t care though because I love making bread. Everyone is always like ‘oh but bread is so hard you have to get it spot on’ but I find that more when I make cakes. I can just feel bread. I’m gonna learn to make loads of different types of bread. When I have my own family one day I’m going to bake us bread. My kids will draw their crayon pictures of me next to freshly baked bread. My wife will come home to the smell of fresh bread rolls. I will be the bread champion.)

Uh, that derailed. Anyway. Garlic bread. Pasta. Tasty.

We started doctor who again too. (Picked it back up where we left off) mostly bc we want to watch the new Christmas special and we haven’t finished 13 yet. (We struggled getting into her tbh. I think it’s a different writer? She’s a good actress the stories just feel a bit different. I’ve always been iffy about the episodes that were written by the non regular writers because they felt strange. Our least favourite episode is the space sleep dust one. Hate it.)

Anyway. Thats all of that.

[gegengestalt]

Katerina Ivanovna Verkhotseva! (For the ask game thingy)

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

(You don’t have to answer all of these if you don’t want to, however I love your takes on her and am dying to hear you talk about her more.)

Oooh, finally! Someone sends me something related to the ask game! And about one of my favourite girls, too!

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

If I had to choose just one, it would be how explosive she can be. I love it so much when things don't go her way and she goes from being so doting to resorting to insults and almost throwing hands. This is not simply the rage of a young woman who shows her true colours when she doesn't have what she wants, she really, really seems to be convinced that things are going her way... And then reality hits her.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Oh, Katya Ivanovna, you would have loved Me and My Husband by Mitski. Somehow I imagine the lyrics being about her and Mitya at first, but as the song goes on she's actually talking about Ivan.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

I don't feel like Katya is talked about much in general, and I can say so confidently after navigating as much TBK related content on the internet as I could. So I don't really know what to say. When she gets attention, I specially love it when her God/saviour/martyr complex is adressed and appreciated. She is a little weird.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Tough question, since there is a lot I dislike about how female characters are treated by readers in general (as well as narratives). I'm going to try to be original and say something I haven't said before. I don't really like it when the girls are pitted against each other, like you have to choose one of them or think one is better than the other. I think a lot of the animosity between her and Grusha come from struggles with themselves and their fears and insecurities, and I feel sympathetic towards both of them, both young women who want to feel some control over their lives. So it breaks my heart a little when other people who prefer Grusha put down Katya and viceversa.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

This is half headcanon half character reading, but knowing that she lost her mother at a young age and that there is a theme of absent mothers throughout the book, I like to think that the loss of her mother impacted how she turned out and why she seems to take on some motherlike, overbearing tendencies herself.

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

Hmmm, I don't know how I'm supposed to answer to this, but I associate her with elegant, long clothing in green, blue and white, sometimes with gold accessories. Combined with the light brown hair of my design, it gives her a springlike kind of look.

In The Sims, I gave her a preppy, simple look with light colours. Here she is, I don't know why she's loooking at squids on her phone.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Katya was a character who had to grow on me. On my first read, I didn't like her much, but I didn't dislike her either. She was, in fact, one of the harder characters to visualize. I had to make several sketches of her designs because all I could think of was "tall slender girl with dark eyes and a lot of hair". Only after processing what I had read for a longer time I started to pick apart everything she said and started to appreciate her more (and started to appreciate her relationship to Ivan as well). In retrospective, the buildup to her introduction was great. It's not as good as Nastasya's, but it's the work of a good writer. I love Katya, saviour complex and all.