#i love a character who despite everything still is just normal. day to day existing

[canonkiller]

celebratory valkas also

[fenrelmercar]

Woobification of Solas.

This is a fandom critical post. Proceed at your own risk.

Let me start this piece off by saying that this post is not meant to target a specific demographic of the fandom. If you feel targeted, that’s on you. 

In this essay, I want to talk about the infantilization, woobification, or just good plain headcanoning the bad out of Solas. Mostly it comes down to a few of the most regurgitated lines of thinking: he is a spirit of wisdom despite everything he does or has done and he is just confused and perverted from his natural state, Solas is his true self while Fen’Harel or The Dread Wolf are just select masks he wears. The sentiment is so strong that at points it comes down to disregarding or ‘uncanoning’ the entire storyline of The Veilguard because in the minds of individuals that follow this school of thought it does injustice to the character of Solas they have created in their minds. In their minds, it is bad writing to show Solas being a prideful, treacherous liar. 

Because the man, who led rebellion for centuries using dubious means, using creatures he claims to respect as if they are expandable, killing his closest confidant because he dared to oppose him outright somehow is a paragon of virtue that is just bent out of shape by his misguided loyalty. All the atrocities he has committed through thousands of years he had a physical form comes down to him being manipulated and emotionally abused by his former closest friend Mythal and later by grief and anger of losing her. Slapping the label of emotional distress and trauma on a perpetrator of … well, quite literally, war crimes, does make them more palatable, but it does not mean it should be seen as a normal practice. The acts Solas commits during the war with Titans, his rebellion against the Evanuris, and later on in current day Thedas are being construed as desperate actions of a broken man, wisdom twisted from his purpose and left to fend for himself, despite his self-induced isolation. So let me ask you this: how many acts of desperation does it take to realize that they are becoming choices? 

Yes, he was manipulated through their shared emotional bonds by Mythal. Yes, he was coerced to leave his spirit form in favor of a physical body. Then Mythal used his wisdom as a weapon, warping him against his own beliefs, making him participate in the war in ways he did not wish to. Yes, he was pushed by Evanuris’ cruelty to rebel and then lost what he perceived as his only friend to their arrogant ways and later had to live through her death by their hands. He was broken to the point he could not see a way out and doomed the entire way of Elven existence just to win the fight against the cruel and the unjust. Yes, he is a man who lost his people and his version of the world due to his own actions. He is a traumatized, sad, lonely man, who has predetermined himself to the path from which he cannot see a way back. And yet, many of the steps he took along the way cannot be downplayed as acts of a spirit of Wisdom that was bent out of shape by grief and desperation. Destroying the Titans and leaving their children orphaned is seen as an act of devotion and unconditional love towards his manipulator, Mythal. But as the world’s best detective, Jake Peralta has once said: “Cool motive. Still a murder.”

And now we arrive at the most beloved sentiment. Solas is his true self. Fen’Harel is just a mask. Oh, boy.

Everyone says that they hate one-dimensional characters until they are served a multifaceted one on the platter. Then they get to declawing and defanging them, ripping their personality apart into this and that, robbing them of parts of them that make them whole, and when that is not enough, they take on dulling off any edges they might find too abrasive. Assassination of the character is just the beginning; the remains have to be sanitized and scrubbed off any wrongdoing whatsoever, so supporting them doesn’t seem like a moral failing on fandom’s part. 

Cutting Solas and Fen’Harel apart as if they are some conjoined twins, where Fen’Harel is the evil one, is stripping Solas of things that are inherent parts of his character for the sake of feeling more comfortable with his actions. Solas is kind, caring, and wise. Fen’Harel is prideful, scheming, and treacherous. These two sides of him are now separated by their representation in the Inquisition and Veilguard. In Inquisition, he is Solas - a thoughtful mage obsessed with dreams, a soft-spoken man keen on sharing his knowledge. Except for the part where he doesn’t see current Thedosians as real people. Where everyone is tranquil in his eyes and thus, lesser. People, who he is willing to sacrifice to achieve his goals. The thoughtful things he said by the end of the road to the Inquisitor he supposedly cared for:

“I will do what I must, but there is no benefit in allowing harm to come to innocents before it's necessary.”

“I will save the Elven people, even if it means this world must die.”

“As this world burned in the raw chaos, I would have restored the world of my time... the world of the elves.”

And then he mutilated them. Yes, he did it to save their life. But the Inquisitor had no choice in the matter. What if my Inquisitor would have rather died than lost their arm? Doesn’t matter, because our thoughtful, kind apostate knows better. A kind apostate who sacrificed his world to avenge Mythal, but then by the time of the Inquisition killed her all over again. For power, of all things. And then he stripped the dignity of the one who carried what remained of Mythal through ages by depicting her as an elf, proving once again that he does not see current Thedosians, humans, as real. 

The most egregious crime of Solas’ portrayal in Veilguard seems to be painting him as a liar. Because in the Inquisition he didn’t lie. He just avoided telling the truth. He shaded it in a comfortable tale that no one would question. He spun the narrative. Solas made himself appear as an apostate mage who has gained all his knowledge from the Fade. He crumbled just enough truth without revealing his hand. Or simply said he was lying by omission. Luckily to him, no one would ever ask a random mage if, by chance, they are the infamous Fen’Harel, so he doesn’t need to lie outright. 

And what did he do in Veilguard while not being his true self and wearing that mask of Fen’Harel, that degree of separation from his true, kind self and the trickster god? He spun the narrative. He said just enough truth to be believed. He was deceitful. Solas can be caught saying one outright lie—“I abhor blood magic.” Oh, wait. He can be caught lying exactly one time in Inquisition too—if you confront him about missing court intrigue. So much for a completely different man in Veilguard. 

Fen’Harel as a mask is such a beloved statement that it disregards thousands of years of his life. “I was Solas first. Fen'harel came later, an insult I took as a badge of pride.” A badge of pride Felassan used to flock followers to his side. Badge of pride he wore all through his rebellion. The one he tried to reclaim once meeting Dalish of the current day Thedas. One he used to amass following during the events of Trespasser. How many millennia can a person willingly wear a mask and not have it be a part of who they are?

And then we end up here, where somehow the portrayal of Solas in certain parts of fandom becomes an eerily similar story to that of Portrait of Dorian Grey. We have this beautiful, virtuous man, who’s telling you the most fascinating stories of the Fade, lulling you with his kind voice and beautiful eyes. One who was manipulated, traumatized, desperate, and pushed to act against his good nature. One who would tear down the Veil to restore what was lost and make the world right again. An idealist, working towards his goal. Damned be the sacrifices it requires. Because being hurt in some minds absolves people of guilt. Some agree with his goals and damn his ugly side to the attic. The one who manipulated, one who deceived and killed. One who has the blood of countless lives on his hands. One has to exist for the other to reach that goal. One who is just as much part of his true self as the other. 

Solas is Fen’Harel. Fen’Harel is Solas. One could not exist without the other. And to love someone truly, we must accept the good, the bad, and the ugly. Because to be loved is to be seen fully. Loving a villain is not a moral failing. And yes, he is a villain. Doing something horrible for the sake of something good is still, at the core, doing something horrible. 

Love him because of the awful things he did and in spite of them.

[laviebunnie]

Creepypasta Relationship HCs / Types! 𐙚⋆°.⋆ ( 1 )

Characters : Tobias Rogers ‘Ticci Toby’ , Evan Myers ‘HABIT’ x Reader

Word count : 2k

A/N : hello pookie bears! (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶) My request are open right now so please please please spam me with suggestions or fic ideas!!

Tobias Rogers ‘Ticci Toby’ : You were a new beginning, an artistic melody that painted the sky with strokes of light and color. Toby was a faded light, dimmed and jaded— but you lighted his heart ablazed. Once he touched a fragment of heaven, he knew he couldn’t turn away. Because, Toby was never known for being a selfless man.

Toby is someone who desperately wants to be loved— but with how his life turned out, being on the run during his late teens and early twenties, then serving the being that haunted him since he was a child— to put it lightly, Toby never had the time to connect with someone.

It does mess with Toby deep deep deep down— that he isn’t normal, that he can’t build strong relationships— like others do so easily, though it’s something he does crave— he isn’t that delusional; he knows he wouldn’t be able to maintain any sort of relationship anyway.

But that’s thrown out the window when he meets you— I fully believe Toby’s a ‘love’ ( lust ) at first sight type of guy. He tends to fixate on people, starts learning everything about them ( all the parts he likes, anything else he’ll block out.. like it doesn’t exist. ) projects his dream partner onto them, till he gets bored or they break the perfect woman perception— he had for them.

It’s probably a small / insignificant act of kindness that brought Toby’s attention to you.

Maybe it’s when you paid for his meal inna hole and a wall diner / or you helped him when he was injured( even if he doesn’t feel pain— the thought still counts ) / or maybe in passing you complimented his sense of style. No matter how you met Toby, he fell hook and sinker.

In a relationship, I feel that Toby would naturally go for someone more maternal. ( even if your the most masculine woman / person — he’d still project a motherly role onto you. ) He’s so used to older angry masculine male figures in his life— who call him crude names and make him feel less than.

He just wants someone who’s nonjudgmental. Someone who’d love him despite his ugly scars— to kiss them gently, love them like they are art on a canvas.

Toby knows that’s wishful thinking.. and you probably don’t even know he exists but a man can dream.

Toby daydreams about you ALOT, it pisses both Masky and Hoodie off cause the kid won’t do his darn’ job correctly— Masky is one bad day away from grabbing Hoodies gun and blowing Toby’s brains out.

TOBY IS SO AWKWARD IT HURTS.. he isn’t the most social guy ever.. the only real conversations Toby has is either with one his victims.. and Toby barely would call someone begging for the life a conversation— Two, Tim and Brian… and Toby fuckin hates Tim ( the feeling is mutual ) Then Brian… Toby doesn’t exactly have a problem with him.. but Toby thinks Brian a fuckin werido for even liking to be around Tim. Lastly— the voices in his head.. and I won’t elaborate on that.

So when Toby tries to talk to you.. he very creepy— like very fuckin creepy..

Unwavering direct eye contact, prolonged touches, Talking in an unnatural manner, like he’s reading off a shitty 2000’s screenplay.. it’s bad— so bad.. but Toby thinks it went amazingly! Honestly it went better then what he’s been imagining in his head!

I think Toby would try to be a flirt… but he’s straight up tremendous at it— but I wouldn’t recommend telling him that, he has a very small fragile ego.

Realistically.. Even if Toby bagged you, he wouldn’t be able to be with you for long— once his job is over he has to move towns unless..

Yeah, bro kidnapped your ass— are yall really that shocked??

Not gonna lie, getting kidnapped by Toby is lowkey the worst lol ( who would’ve thought?? )

That’s when you’ll learn the most about Toby— mostly how seriously deranged this fucker is.

You’d have to deal with his horrible psychotic episodes, where he trashes the whole fuckin cabin, screaming at you for not loving him back— full on man child tantrums.

Toby most definitely dissects animals for fun.. so good luck with the rotting smell of corpses in your bedroom.

When Toby comes back from ‘work’ he’ll always have a gift for you.. though don’t ask him who or where he got it from— just smile and say thank you.

Toby most definitely stole the password to Tim’s Hulu account.. yall watch anime together.

Toby doesn’t talk much, since he wouldn’t have much to talk about.. ( Toby also hates his stutter/tics.. so he’d rather hear your soothing voice instead of his raspy one ) but he’s a total nerd— Ask him a question about Star Wars and he’ll yap for hours.

Toby accidentally hurts you— more often then he’ll like to admit.. he doesn’t comprehend his strength— and it’s hard to understand a concept you’ve never experienced, so when you cry — he thinks you're being a big baby.

Toby is a DIY husband, always building something new when he’s home— cannot stay still.

You're gonna have to do all the cooking… This man eats like a 3 year old.

Toby loves you unconditionally— though depending on how you treat him, your experience with him will either be hell or decent..

also don’t try to leave the cabin, he’ll find you.

Evan Myers ‘HABIT’ : Evan is losing his mind, a parasite— a monster is taking over his body. It nibbles on his brain, whispering unsavory suggestions into his head. His thoughts aren’t his own anymore, neither is his love for you.

Evan is short-tempered, vulgar, and a bit of a smartass. Not everyone can handle somebody like him— yet there you are ( foolishly ) loving him through everything.

Evan feels his sanity slipping from his grasp, he knows he’s less than sane, that he’s borderline psychotic. He knows the right thing to do is to let you go. That he can’t even trust himself to protect you anymore— especially from himself.

Yet, he selfishly clings onto you, because you are Evan’s breath of fresh air, you're as gentle as a baby bunny, softly holding him throughout his night terrors. Gently patting his tears away with cloth, whispering sweet nothings into his ear— sweet empty promises that everything will be alright— that you’ll stick with him, no matter what— that nothing can take him away from you.

Evan can’t handle the thought of losing you, he’d actually start tweeking out. Especially if slenderman had something to do with it. ( Evan will somehow someway throw slenderman out the window just like he did the rake. )

But seriously— Evan can’t lose you. You are the rainbow after his storm. Evan is a whirlwind of contradicting emotions, yet— you're his only constant that pulls him out of his episodes. He can’t live without you.

You are his distraction, his comfort outside of the hell that is his life. All Evan wants is your touch, your undying nor revering love, and in return he’ll give his everything to you.

Correction: he'll give you everything BUT information on what he does with the EMH ( EverymanHYBRID ) crew.

He has you blocked on all social media, and changed the password to his computer, Evan doesn’t want you involved in his fucked up life.. well more than you already are.

Evan knows that you're not an fuckin’ idiot, there’s only so many times that he can come home with a new injury till you're catching on that the ‘workout’ videos aren’t all he’s doing.

But in Evan’s defense there’s only so many excuses he can make up about how these crazy ass scars keep on randomly appearing on his body— Or the weird brown stains on his jacket.

you're growing more suspicious— even if you don’t directly question him.. he can see in your eyes that you’re worried.

But if Evan were to tell you the truth ( he wouldn’t inna million fucking years ) he doesn’t even know how he’d start that conversation.

“Babe, don’t freak out but.. Y’know slenderman? Yeah, that tall lanky malnourished mother fucker’ that we made fun for having no face? so.. he’s real— surprise! Ohhh, and has been haunting me and the gang for months..and wanna know the best part? I never told you till now! Haha..” yeah no.. Evan rather uses his own body as a pin cushion for his knife collection than ever admit something as lundquist as that.

Evan believes ignorance is bliss ( but only when it comes to you. )

HABIT adores dumb little things, like you. He loves the way your eyes light up whenever he comes home from a long day of ‘work’. HABIT also loves your expressive facial features, how he wishes to contort it, to dismember it into something else entirely new. But what HABIT loves the most is the fact that the ‘man’ you kiss every morning, who you trust unconditionally and let into the deepest crevices of your body, isn’t who you think it is.

HABIT is an inhuman being that predates time itself. He doesn’t have any connection to humanity, only existing to find a suitable host.

It isn’t hard to get HABITS attention, in fact it’s pretty easy. It's just extremely hard to maintain.

But you're so awfully pathetic, kind soul, that he sorta ‘feels’ bad for you. That you ended up with a guy like Evan, and return him.

HABIT finds you interesting, specifically your selflessness. He notices when you go out of your way to help others, or how you consider his feelings whenever you make a decision, or whenever he’s upset, you always make ‘him’, his favorite food.

You're really as sweet as they come, and he’s the murder that wears your boyfriend's skin.

HABIT fucks with you a lot, ‘accidentally’ tripping you, moves your shit around so you can’t find it, constantly trying to scare the shit out of you— just to make fun of you for being scared.

HABIT brings you dead bunny corpses as gifts

HABIT isn’t used to preserving life, that was never really his cup of tea. He prefers breaking down his host, ( or their loved ones ) to their very limit, mentally and physically— till they're unrecognizable from humans or beasts.

Yet, now he does facial saturday’s with you / joins you in your everything showers / and lets you paint his nails any color you want.

It’s not that HABIT, gotten soft— he’s the same evil unforgiving ass mother fucker that possessed your boyfriend, ate a baby, and works with the fuckin slenderman and the rake, you cannot fix him.

HABIT lovesss to mock you, he loves making fun of his dumb little wife for asking ‘dumb questions’— he often flicks your forehead.

HABIT loves that you're a crybaby, he loves wiping your tears away condescendingly— like he wasn’t the one who caused them.

Most definitely daydreams about killing you.. more often than you’d expect— he especially thinks about it when yall are intimate. When HABIT holds you, tracing your body with his fingers— looks at you intensely like you're the only woman in the world— just knows he’s thinking about how you’d look if your organs were spilling out of your stomach.

HABIT unlike Toby can flirt— he never liked the whole brooding boyfriend type of thing— Evan had going on at times— HABIT in his words, ( not anyone else’s ) He’s a simply a little demon, a whimsical silly creature who does things for his own entertainment, and his current fun outside of fuckin’ with the EMH crew is fucking with you. ( sometimes literally )

May that be blowing into your ear, to make you shiver— or picking you up and carrying you, to see your shocked expression — or even holding you by your waist, while the EMH crew is around to embarrass you / prove a point to the group.

HABIT would do it especially when vinnie found out that he processed Evan— the shit eating grin, he would have as you invite Vinnie over to your place for dinner cause ‘he’s been looking stressed lately’ you’ll make Vinnie’s favorite meal, trying to make it feel like old times— but vinnie cannot even enjoy you and your thoughtfulness when your sitting on that monsters that’s cosplaying his best friends lap.. it’s making him sick.

‘Vinnie, are you okay? You.. look pale,’ you ask softly, drink in hand— you walk over to him, handing Vinnie a glass of water.

‘Yeahhh, Vinnie,’ you feel a strong pair of familiar arms wrap around your waist. ‘—What’s wrong buddy?’

ANYWHOO HABIT randomly telling you the most out of pocket shit and just smiles and says,

‘Sorry— hunnie, It’s a bad habit.’

[devilish-cherry]

i love your MWMS fic, it’s so lighthearted and cute and funny 😭 i saw you wrote a story that isn’t canon to MWMS but still in that setting for Nanami- can we get something for Choso or any other character? I can’t imagine a scenario, though, because the Nanami one just made sense, yk? Him helping the barista out and teaching them things, can’t imagine how the others would be as useful 🤭🤭😭

ᨳ♡₊➳ choso x reader

ᨳ♡₊➳ pure crack with fluff

ᨳ♡₊➳ set in minimum wage, maximum suffering

Choso takes romantic advice from Yuji.

This is a mistake.

ᨳ♡₊➳ a/n: first of all, thank you so much!! i’m so happy you’re enjoying mwms—lighthearted chaos is exactly what i was going for, so i’m glad it’s hitting the mark!! and second—YES, i absolutely had to do a mwms side story for choso. it was inevitable. 😈

just like the nanami one, this isn’t canon to the main fic! think of it as a fun little “what if” scenario/alternate timeline. the main story remains completely unchanged. you don’t need to have read mwms to read this! hope you enjoy!! 🖤

It starts with a perfectly normal day at the café.

Which is to say, everything is a mess, you’re severely underpaid, you’re contemplating the legal gray area of unpaid breaks, and you’re internally debating whether you can sue your manager for emotional distress.

Yuji and his quiet, brooding older brother have been sitting at their usual corner table for a while now. Yuji’s been enthusiastically explaining something to Choso for the past ten minutes, and Choso has been nodding along, looking deeply concentrated like he’s trying to solve a math problem with no numbers.

You don’t think much of it. This is normal. Choso always looks like he’s staring into the abyss, and the abyss is just slightly out of focus.

You’re in the middle of making someone’s overly complicated coffee order when you feel a presence. Not the normal kind of “someone’s standing near you” presence. The kind where you just know that when you turn around, it’s going to be weird.

And you are correct.

Choso is standing at the counter. Staring.

Not in his usual “processing the weight of existence” way. No, this is something different. Something focused. Intense. Maybe even… nervous?

Which is terrifying, because what could Choso possibly have to be nervous about? He is a six-foot-tall, pigtailed enigma with the emotional processing skills of a Victorian child who was locked in an attic for too long.

"Hey, Choso," you greet, outwardly polite despite already bracing yourself. "Need something?"

He blinks at you, his expression still unreadable. His gaze pierces through your soul like he’s about to say something deeply profound.

Then, in the most serious voice known to mankind, he speaks:

"Forgive me my weakness, but I don't know why. Without you, it's hard to survive. Because every time we touch, I get this feeling."

Your brain buffers like a 2008 YouTube video on dial-up internet.

"...Excuse me?"

Choso does not elaborate. He just stares. As if those words should have conveyed everything.

Behind him, Yuji is at their table, looking like he’s about two seconds away from exploding with laughter. That’s when it clicks.

This is his fault.

"Is this a bit?" you ask, voice deadpan, still trying to piece together what kind of avant-garde performance art you’re being subjected to.

Choso shakes his head, still dead serious. "No. This is romance."

Oh.

Well, okay.

That was not what you were expecting.

You flick your gaze to Yuji again, who is gesturing wildly behind Choso like an unhelpful stage director, his hands saying Just roll with it!

You sigh. "Alright. Did you… want to order something, or are you just going to serenade me at my place of work?"

"I wish to express my feelings," Choso says, his voice so somber you’d think he was making a funeral announcement.

Then, before you can mentally prepare, he pulls a crumpled piece of paper out of his sleeve.

"I’d catch a grenade for you… throw my hand on a blade for you… I’d jump in front of a train for you…"

Your lips press into a thin line.

"Choso."

He pauses, tilting his head.

"Yes?"

"You do realize that song is about an extremely toxic and one-sided relationship, right?"

Choso looks down at his paper. His brows furrow.

"...I see."

There is a long, excruciating pause where he seems to be genuinely reevaluating his entire approach. Then, with all the solemnity of a man about to make a life-altering decision, he reaches into his sleeve again and pulls out a second crumpled piece of paper.

Oh no.

"You are… my fire."

"Choso, please."

"The one… desire—"

"No."

But Choso is committed to the bit—or rather, he is tragically serious about whatever this is. His face remains completely neutral as he powers through the lyrics of I Want It That Way with the same energy someone would recite their wedding vows.

You inhale sharply. "I’m begging you to consider alternative methods of communication."

Choso finally stops. He looks at you, then down at his notes. "...I see. You are unimpressed by just words alone."

Oh god. That is not what you meant.

Before you can clarify, before you can so much as process the surreal series of events unfolding before you, Choso does something deeply, deeply horrifying.

He gets down on one knee.

Your soul briefly leaves your body. You feel yourself ascending. Somewhere in the distance, Yuji screeches like a dying seagull.

Choso, with the most intense expression you have ever seen on another human face, grabs your hand. His grip is warm and firm, and suddenly you are hyperaware of how much bigger his hands are than yours. He’s staring at you like a man about to make a life-or-death declaration.

And then—

"Every night in my dreams… I see you, I feel you…"

Oh. Oh no.

"That is how I know you go on—"

"Choso." Your voice comes out strangled.

He does not stop.

"Far across the distance—"

"Choso, please."

He finally pauses, his brow furrowing in slight confusion. "Do these words and actions not move you?"

"I—move me?" You don’t even know how to respond to that. "Choso, what is happening right now?"

Choso stands up again, still holding your hand. You feel like you’re in some kind of fever dream.

"Yuji said music conveys feelings," he explains. "I do not have experience with romance, but I have strong feelings. I wish to express them properly."

Yuji, who is now doubled over in laughter, gives you a shaky thumbs-up.

Your eye twitches. "And he specifically told you to quote love songs at me?"

"Yes." Choso nods gravely. "I also listened to his playlist."

You immediately fix Yuji with the most withering glare you can muster.

Yuji grins sheepishly. "Look, in my defense, I didn’t think he’d take it this literally—"

"You are both on thin ice," you say flatly.

Choso suddenly steps closer, and you find yourself automatically stepping back until your back hits the counter. He looks at you with deep, genuine sincerity.

"I do not fully understand these feelings," he admits, his voice quiet but certain. "But when I see you, I feel warmth. And when I think of you, I feel light. And I wish to be near you, always."

Your brain ceases functioning.

You open your mouth, then close it.

Then you clear your throat, because there is absolutely no reason for your heart to be doing whatever it’s doing right now. Absolutely none.

"...You don’t need song lyrics for that," you say, hoping your voice doesn’t betray you.

Choso considers this. Then, with alarming decisiveness, he nods and pulls out his phone.

Yuji, recognizing the immediate threat, lunges. "WAIT, NO—"

But it’s too late.

Choso successfully navigates to his playlist. And the instant you hear the first note of Careless Whisper, your instincts take over, and you slap your hand over the speaker like your life depends on it.

"This conversation is over," you declare.

Choso looks at you, then at the phone, then back at you. "...Was this not romantic?"

You sigh deeply. "Choso, I don’t need grand gestures or song lyrics. Just… be yourself, alright?"

For some reason, this makes him freeze. Like you just spoke the most baffling sentence in the universe. "Be… myself?"

"Yeah." You cross your arms, trying to ignore the way your face is heating up. "I like you just fine when you’re not making me feel like I’m in a cursed karaoke session."

Choso processes this for a long moment. Then, slowly, he smiles. It’s small, a little shy, but it softens his entire face. It’s… dangerously cute.

"...Understood."

You exhale. Thank god.

Then he reaches for his phone again.

"But I should still play—"

"Choso, I swear to god—"

[cherrieflavouredheadcanons]

I finally came up with a request! Would you be able to write "Octatrio (separate) teaching reader how to swim" (inspired by the fact that I can't swim after a whole swim class and my family trying to teach me). I understand that Floyd's character is a little difficult to write, so if you need me to, I can request something different!

I love the Octotrio, they are along with Vil (my beloved) my favourite characters! I hope you enjoy this headcanon, especially since it's my first time writing for twisted

Teaching you how to swim

Characters: Azul, Jade and Floyd Established relationships, Reader is gender neutral

Azul Ashengrotto

When he learned that you couldn’t swim he was shocked to be honest.

He had just informed you that his mother would love for you and him to visit her and her husband in the Coral Sea so they could finally meet you. He left out the fact that his mom called you ‘the person that has our Azul wrapped around their finger’ you did not need to know the power you have over him.

Now don’t get me wrong, Azul is fully aware that not every land dweller is able to swim, but he just assumed that you would be able to.

Azul, being Azul, quickly tried to overplay his shock with a proposal (sadly not a marriage one).

He would teach you how to swim, if you swore to never bring up any of the baby pictures of him his mother was bound to show you once you were visiting her. Especially to the twins

This incentive made you giggle, he may have gotten slightly better with accepting his past self, but he still had a few hiccups about it. But of course you agreed, after all you wanted to meet the woman who raised your boyfriend! (and also wanted to see his baby pictured since they were bound to be adorable)

Now before he teaches you how to swim, he is learning things himself, obviously learning how to swim is very different if you grew up in the sea as an Octo-mer or are a normal human.

Azul wants to be sure he can be the best teacher possible for you so he throws himself into research, which of course makes him a big target for teasing from the twins.

When it comes to actually teaching you how to swim, no matter how nervous you are he will be 100 times more nervous.

Much to your disappointment he refuses to be in his octopus form while he teaches you how to swim.

But despite that he is an amazing teacher, making sure you are safe and that you understand everything.

If he has to touch you to correct your form, he will ask politely if he can do so, all while blushing furiously and dying from embarrassment on the inside.

With him as a teacher you get the hang of swimming rather fast and don’t need that many lessons, once you are able to swim fully on your own he will praise you for being such a good student.

Jade Leech

Unlike Azul he wasn’t shocked that you couldn’t swim, it was a small surprise sure, but nothing that would throw him off.

You told him you couldn’t swim when he told you about his plans to take you on a date in the ocean to look at Marine fungi (I googled they actually exist cause I was unsure lol) and then to go to the restaurant Azul’s mom owned.

Jade was quiet for a second after you told him, just looking at you which was rather unnerving to say the least.

He stared at you like that for a moment before giving you a close eyed smile “Well, we can’t have that can’t we my love?” he had his hand on his chin as he said that, still smiling.

You were just confused, what did he mean by that and why was he smiling like that? Despite dating him for a while his close eyed smile still was unnerving sometimes.

“I will just have to teach you how to swim. I would not want to go see the Marine fungi alone or with anyone else, so this is the only option, don't you agree?”

You just nodded, still somewhat confused. And that is how you found yourself in a pool alone with Jade a few days later. Did you want to know how he managed to get the pool to be empty for just the two of you? No.

He is in his human form, but he would change into his eel form if you wanted him too, but you may or may not have to beg for it.

Jade is not as good a teacher as Azul but still solid. He did not do research on how to teach humans how to swim, he just somehow knows how to.

 Also unlike Azul he isn’t embarrassed if he has to touch you to correct your form or to help you, on the contrary he will make you embarrassed.

He has his typical smile on his face as he holds you, and whispers in your ear, nothing dirty, just whispers about your swimming like what you can do better or what you are doing good, but it is enough to embarrass you and make you flustered.

 It takes a bit longer than with Azul for you to learn how to swim, mostly due to him flustering you nearly any chance he has, but he is still an adequate teacher.

Floyd Leech

You barely had the time to tell him you can’t swim until it was nearly too late.

He had somehow gotten the idea to take you on  a surprise beach date and as soon as you were at the beach he pulled you along to the water, school uniform still on and everything.

You tried to stop him, but the tall eel was stronger than you so you had to yell out to him that you can’t swim just as your feet were about to touch the water.

Floyd stool still in his tracks, turning around looking confused but then smiling wide. “Whaat? Shrimpy can’t swim? But you are a shrimpy, how can that be?” 

You tried to explain to him that you simply never learned it but he interrupted you.

“Well I can’t have a shrimpy who can’t swim so Floydie is gonna have to teach you!” You gulped at how excited he sounded.

If it were up to him he would have just taught you how to swim right then and there at the beach but you convinced him that it would be better to do it in a pool…once you wore swimming clothes and not the school uniform, he agreed but only if he could squeeze you on the way back from the beach.

Unlike his brother, Floyd will be in his eel form the whole time while he teaches you how to swim, which makes it a bit harder for him to explain things to you since he doesn’t have legs, but he refuses to switch back.

He honestly doesn’t know what he is doing, he is just going with the vibes white teaching you and it somehow works.

Though be prepared that he will splash you with water, especially with his tail saying it is to imitate waves of the sea, but you know he is just being a little shit.

If you thought you wouldn’t get squeezed while trying to learn how to swim, you are severely mistaken, he will wrap his tail and his arms around you, squeezing you against his chest, if it were anyone else you’d probably be scared of going down in the water but you knew you could trust Floyd in that regard.

But he isn’t a complete asshole and will genuinely praise you for the progress you are making, since that means you two are one step closer to swimming in the sea together!

It will probably take the longest to learn how to swim when Floyd is the one teaching you, but it also is the most fun, since he doesn’t take things so seriously and just wants that the both of you amuse yourselves.

[prinzrupprecht]

When Someone Else Tries to Impress You

It’s been forever since I did a Valhalla scenario one shot. Might turn this into a series with other characters.

Pairings: Okita Souji x fem!reader

Synposis: Valhalla was another wonder of mysteries and vastly beautiful. Everyone and everything co exists in one place. All the humans that died were summoned to Valhalla in their prime. You were died young anyway but you were reunited with your friends and of course, Souji once again. Yet, things go south when you befriend the demigod Cu Chulainn that happened to be training one day nearby.

No warnings.

WC: 1585

You loved everything about Valhalla. There were no wars and death. You and Souji were always next to each other when you both lived and promised each other to be with one another in the next life. Well, instead of being reborn, you all were summoned to Valhalla. Everyone that you had known was summoned in their prime years. Nagakura used to brag about how he died as an old man but was brought to Valhalla in his late twenties. You died not long after Souji so you never had the experience of aging like he did. It seemed that mostly everyone was still young and alive but in Valhalla.

“Oh cool, everyone is still practicing.” You chuckled as you sat down by Kondo. It was amazing to you how Kondo’s group still stuck by one another and had their own lodges set up near a forest.

There was no more fighting, at least no one to betray each other. Even Abiru, Yamanami and Heisuke were still with you all in the afterlife despite their bad choices when you guys were alive. You don’t loathe anyone… except maybe Serizawa for being a complete jack ass and he was elsewhere with his own group. At least he didn’t stick around with you guys.

Souji was happy and better, unlike his sick self. At least you can’t catch diseases and illnesses in heaven. He was able to spar with the others and see him laugh again. You could resonate with him how he wanted to see them once more before he died. He wanted to fight alongside them in the war. Most of all, he wanted to be with you and Kondo forever. It sucked how that turned out but in the end, everyone ended up together again. You had your family again… your Souji… the boy you swore your loyalty to. Valhalla was too unreal to be true.

After everyone was done with their practices and had eaten Kondo’s homemade meal, you quickly dismissed yourself and wanted to check the river nearby alongside the cliffs. You were going to ask your Souji to accompany you but he looked busy with everyone.

Maybe they won’t even notice you leaving for a bit. It didn’t cross your mind as you wandered around the forest down to where the river was. It didn’t look safe to cross from the looks of it. You heard someone counting like as if they were training nearby. You didn’t want to spy or anything. You haven’t met many new people in Valhalla either.

You slowly walked away but accidentally tripped over your feet falling backwards. Clumsy… like usual. You remember how Souji has caught you a few times when you’ve tripped or fallen from heights. He was normally there for you… suddenly guilt formed in your stomach. You wanted to return but someone was towering over you.

“Spying on me now?” A man with long silver hair gathered in a braid stared down at you. His blue combat uniform looked odd and he wore a red cape supported by a golden medallion attached to his right shoulder.

“N-No… I was just wondering around. Who the hell are you?” You sat up and moved away a bit to be cautious. You were mad that you didn’t bring your weapon with you in case he tried to attack you. You were internally scowling at yourself for being stupid.

“The name’s Cu Chulainn and you didn’t answer my first question.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

“What? Spying? I already said I wasn’t! Besides I’m leaving,” you tried to get up but your foot was stuck under a fallen log. You cursed and panicked but the man was baffled how terrified you were around him.

“Here, let me.” He pulled the log up so you could move your leg freely. You jumped up and still stumbled but didn’t fall this time. Was he showing off? How was he able to lift a fallen tree like that?!

“What? I was trying to help. Besides you still haven’t given your name?” He raised one hand to his face as he observed you. Was he really acting nice towards you? You were hesitant but gave your name to him.

“I— I need to head back.” You finally stood up and the man Cu Chulainn leaned against a tree with his arms crossed.

“So soon? You barely got here,” he laughed and you heard a dog. A dog barking.

“There he is,” a fluffy white dog walked up to Cu making your left eye twitch.

“You know, my dog Geiss normally doesn’t like humans, but he seems okay around you.” Doesn’t like humans? What the f— is he then? Was he trying to impress you with that statement?

You reached your hand down to pet the dog and he was nice enough to let you touch him. “He’s soft…” you were surprised by the dog’s reaction to you petting him.

“See, Geiss likes the pretty lady, huh?” Cu cooed that last part as he patted his dog. Pretty lady? You kept telling yourself to not get flustered. You can’t be flustered. You belonged to someone already. Oh god, oh god.

Cu was trying to impress you with his dog? You mentally laughed and you overstayed in the same spot. “I should head back but I must ask why are you here?” You have been wondering this for some time. He wasn’t Japanese. You have no idea what he was? He said his dog wasn’t particularly fond with humans.

“I train in all sorts of places, this happened to be a random spot I sometimes come to.” He responded as he went to pick up something huge like a tree but not quite. His weapon?

“My mentor gave me this and told me to train every day to master its technique. Maybe I can show you someday,” you were feeling guilty all of a sudden. Cu Chulainn or whoever he was must’ve been a warrior somewhere. He was strong for sure, but you didn’t have time to play questionnaire.

You heard leaves crunching behind you. “I found you. Why did you leave—" Souji stopped mid-sentence as he saw you with someone else. Geiss started to growl making Souji step back a bit. He was contemplating on pulling his sword out of his sheath. He was confused while he stayed a few feet away from you. You seemed too relaxed around the man as well.

Were you secretly seeing someone else? Souji wouldn’t know how to handle that, but he wasn’t going to jump to conclusions. Souji fell silent and didn’t know why you were here with someone else.

“Wait—! It’s not what it looks like.” You stepped in front of him.

“Who’s this?” Cu asked while he placed his weapon down. Geiss was lying next to him while you felt more guilty than ever.

“It doesn’t matter, we’re heading back.” Souji grabbed your arm to leave with him. Cu didn’t stop you from leaving. Well, he thought you were cute but that was it. It would be unfortunate, if he was your boyfriend. He seemed to dislike him but it didn't matter to Cu Chulainn anyway. He didn't even care if he sees you again.

“Hey wait! Why are you mad?” You haven’t seen Souji lose his temper but he was itching to kill the man you were with.

“Were you and him…" he didn’t want to finish while he was turned away clenching his hands tightly.

“No, I just met him and well, he talks a lot and has a cute dog.” You tried to make the situation better but Souji frowned still. Cute dog? That thing wanted to kill him.

He had calmed himself a bit and apologized. “Sorry, I almost lost my temper back there.”

“Aw, are you jealous that someone else was talking to me? Souji…” you were surprised but this wasn’t the first time. He even got mad at Hijikata and Nagakura a few times for trying to date you numerous times when you all lived.

Souji ignored what you had said. “Let’s head back. Venturing off is still dangerous without telling anyone. You were just lucky,” Souji grabbed your hand and pulled you along with him. He wasn’t wrong with the lucky part. Cu Chulainn could’ve harmed you but he didn’t.

“Fine, maybe we can see him again and he can show me what his weapon does.” You felt his hand tighten when you mentioned seeing him again. You noticed the tension in the air changed. Souji glanced at you with murderous intent in his eyes. Not to kill you, but he would for sure kill him.

“I said we, you and me! He didn’t seem—"

“No, just leave it.” When you two got back to the main area where you all were staying at. Souji had let go of you but something made you nervous around him from his behaviour earlier. He gets overprotective but this time he was different. He actually looked hurt but played it off when you explained that you had just met him and nothing happened. Now he’s back to acting normal around his friends, but when you two were alone, he wanted to mark you. Everyone knew who you belonged to. Souji always says the sweetest things to you alone which made your heart beat differently. How could you leave him? You wouldn't. Ever.

Something only he can do to you as his woman and no one else.

[leikeliscomet]

Who’s Afraid of Tenmartha? - Thoughts on Doctor Who’s Most Hated Ship 

All about attraction and desire, fandom morality and ‘ethical’ shipping, if that even exists.

Intro Chapter 1 - She Loves Me, He Loves Me Not Chapter 2 - Bad Girls Club Chapter 3 & Conclusion - All’s Fair in Love and Shipping

Intro

‘Martha deserved so much better than that’

This is the first thing you’ll hear if the word ‘Tenmartha’ is ever typed or spoken out loud. For many, Tenmartha is a problematic ship and one of their least favourites. But Doctor Who’s known for its messiness. The Master with their homicidal tendencies is still a big contender for Thoschei. Meeting River as a literal baby and her brainwashing didn’t stop the DoctorRiver train. There’s people who overlook the platonic bond of Ten and Donna and ship them romantically regardless. People even ship Thirteen and Graham. The ‘normal’ in the idea of a normal ship with the Doctor is doing A LOT of leg work when it comes to this show. But despite all of this, Tenmartha has taken the crown for the worst ship. Or at least, is sharing it with Thasmin. Tenmartha and Thasmin are battling out for the title of ‘worst’ ship but Tenmartha still has the upper (or lower?) hand. Whilst the thassies have built up a small community for themselves with zines and collabs galore, Tenmartha seems to take a beating every week on the tl and even outranking the more ‘problematic’ ships I just listed in most hated ship polls. If Tenmartha’s lucky to rank high you can bet the ‘why would you do that to Martha’ tweets fill the quotes. But on the flipside, we’re also in a Tenmartha renaissance, with Tenmartha archive accounts going viral every other day and viral snippets from series 3 because of how interesting the dynamic was. It seems Tenmartha is a marmite ship; you love it or you hate it. In the eyes of some it’s awful and for others it's Doctor Who’s guilty pleasure.

I don’t ship Tenmartha mainly from the fact I don’t really care about the Doctor’s ships like I did when I was a kid and I care more about companion ships generally (this is strictly a Clani and IanBarbara household only!). But also from the main fact I really don’t like how Ten (and RTD) treated Martha in series 3 at all. But, when you factor in the long-existing Martha Jones hate train, the misogynoir towards Freema Agyeman, the long history of fandom’s hatred of interracial ships, society’s even longer dynamics of romance, sex and how Black people especially Black women participate, or if we’re even allowed to in the first place, plus the concept of morality when applied to Black characters, I can’t say the anti-Tenmartha wave is entirely in good faith. Especially from how I’ve already done a deep dive into how Martha and Freema Agyeman’s treatment was rooted in rampant antiblackness and misogynoir. Is the buzz around Tenmartha fully about her ‘deserving better’ or are there missing pieces of the puzzle? Is Tenmartha even being shipped in good faith? Is there an ‘ethical Tenmartha’? I’m gonna try to unpack my thoughts on Tenmartha, its fans, its antis, everything in between and outside.

It’s time to ask the question, who’s afraid of Tenmartha? And most importantly, why?

Chapter 1 ->

[evil-women-step-on-me]

Sayeon Lee: A Tragedy of Her Own Making

"Am I a bad person? Or just a weak one?"

It would have been easy for Sayeon Lee to be drowned out by her more colorful supporting cast.

The main three, for example, have their own main character-level backstories. Ryujin's adoptive family was massacred by the Aberrant Corps, the organization she is then forced to join; she seeks to avenge them by killing the Level 9 officer behind her family (and maybe crush's) death. Iseul's father was an apparent beacon of goodness within the shady Aberrant Corps and died before Iseul came of age; Iseul strives to succeed him, even though the Corps is a darker organization than he could ever imagine. Min was stripped of his essence at a young age, the trauma forming his stoic, mute personality. He joins a gang of criminals led by a woman he probably loves- even though she will never love him back- at least not in the way she loves her real sister, Sayeon Lee.

And who is Sayeon Lee? She's a hard worker. She… goes to school. She had maids? Her day-to-day existence is pretty cushy. It's explicitly stated that Sayeon has never worried about money, and probably food. Samin provides her with everything should ever need. As Officer Cha drives her to the Corps, Sayeon worries about her salary.

And despite how sheltered Sayeon is, and how "normal" her goals are compared to everyone else's ("Make the world a better place"…. ok, gurl) Sayeon still manages to be a devastatingly tragic character. To me, the reason is simple: Her tragedy is largely of her own making.

After Samin killed her best friend's dad, Sayeon could have reacted in so many ways. She could've tried leaving the home, or she could've not. She could've accepted Samin (and her family's) criminal history by acknowledging many of their actions as necessary, or she could've not. She could've lived her life and tried embracing the things that bring her happiness- or she could've not.

She doesn't, she doesn't, she doesn't. Sayeon chooses, inexplicably, to become a prosecutor. She studies until her nose bleeds so that she can get into a top school and put people like her sister in jail. She rejects having friends, hobbies, comfort, or any leisure throughout her teens just so that she can fulfill this purpose. She, essentially, rejects happiness itself.

And she didn't NEED to. From the start, no one has forced Sayeon to do anything. In fact, she has something that no other member of Cell 4 has: the backing of an ultra-powerful, ultra-rich family member who would do literally anything for her, no strings attached. Sayeon is the single most privileged member of Cell 4.

Ryujin didn't choose to be captured by the Corps. She didn't choose to sit in jail for years. Iseul is happy to be at the Corps, but he didn't have a choice in that either- unlike Sayeon, he isn't conveniently related to a family of supercriminals that would bail him out if he wanted something different. Min has had so little choice in his life that his character is basically defined by it. Even now, he is watching Sayeon on another person's orders. Does he even know he has a choice?

By contrast, Sayeon is FREE. She's still bound by society in some ways, so no, she won't become a prosecutor. But she had a choice between the Corps and a luxurious underground life as the untouchable sister of a superpowered heiress, who built an entire criminal empire just to protect her, and loves Sayeon with her whole heart and more.

And Sayeon still chose the Corps.

Sayeon is so mad with guilt and grief, so stuck on the idea of becoming society's Perfect Angel, the embodiment of her country and culture's ideals in some twisted form of repentance for something that she didn't even do- the actions of her family, which she did not choose and could not control- that she rejects happiness every time.

THIS is her fatal flaw. THIS is Sayeon's tragedy.

Not that she doesn't have a choice. But that she's always had one.

[perfectlovevn]

Haiii!!! I love your game so much, your work is genuinely impressive! I was wondering if you could give some tips on game development. I am new to all that and I don't know many things myself and since I am kind of looking up to you I was curious if you could help!! ^_^

Man I love talking about game development. It’s so much fun!

I have a couple things tagged under #Milo resources to check out. I would highly recommend Catskets guides, however, it seems like it’s kinda dead right now, so I’ll just recap some stuff from it.

So first off, always start small. This is true for a lot of things that you start out with like comics, making music, etc, but for game development this is especially true. It’s better to make a bunch of small things rather than making something huge as a first project. 90% of the time if you make something huge as your first project, you’ll never finish it, and even if you are the 10% that are able to finish it, you’ll have to likely spend years working on it pretty much non stop. Despite the game not being relatively long compared to other longer games in the genre, I still kinda fell into the trap of making a kinda long game, which still took me about a year to make.

In terms of deciding how to make your game, follow the KISS rule, which is just keep it simple, stupid. However long you think your game will take, double that time. I thought I could finish my game in six months and it ended up being a year and that was working on it almost every day. I purposefully took a lot of shortcuts like using free music, kept everything black and white to prevent coloring and used stock images for background.

Have a solid idea for your game and write an outline. Personally I always write everything first because for me I feel like once I have everything down, I can figure out the sprites and things I need without having to waste time messing around. Be able to describe your game in one sentence and really focus on whatever your games purpose/core ideas are. My game can very easily be described as a diy yandere game and my core ideas are having an evil mc that’s able to manipulate someone who doesn’t deserve it into being a yandere. If you find that you can find the things that people will like about your game. Focus on your strengths and what you like. If you’re a good artist and really like bright neon colors, put that into your game. If you’re not that great of an artist but are a good writer and like comedy, put that into your game. If you’re gonna work on your game for months or even years, make it something you enjoy making.

Research whatever you’re trying to make. If you’re making an rpg horror game, play a lot of horror rpg games. If you’re making a comedy game, play a lot of comedy games. Find out what you like and what annoys you. Find out what you think is missing from the genre that you wish they had. For Perfect Love, I didn’t particularly like how most of the main characters were relatively normal and didn’t have much personality in yandere vns and I really wanted to see one that was actually more threatening/dangerous than the yandere itself so I wanted to make that a core aspect in the game. I tend to play a lot of Yandere vns because I run a blog about it, so I know what I believe makes a good Yandere game in my eyes and what doesn’t.

Have diligence when making your game. This is the genuinely hardest part of making a game because you often will have a lot of things you need to juggle and often for a pretty long time, especially if you’re working by yourself. It’s very easy to stop working on the game because you don’t feel like it, but if you want to have it exist you have to work on it. I’m not saying you do nothing but work on the game or never take breaks- that’s a sure fire way to get burn out- but you do need to consistently work on it, even if it’s just an hour a day. This includes doing things as making deadlines and figuring out what you’re going to work on. Deadlines, whether you make it or move it, are very helpful in making sure that your game comes out, even a soft deadline is important. To be honest, if a game doesn’t even have a soft deadline, then I generally assume it won’t be finished because there’s no urgency to it. I’ve had multiple deadlines that I pushed back constantly but my mentality is that I would work on the game for at max a year because I didn’t want to stall it any longer than that. I also feel that having devlogs, even if it’s just a picture of something you drew once a month, is really helpful in showing that you are working on something and makes it more likely to be more consistent in your work.

Try not make an ask blog before you have like 90% of your game done. This is sort of rough especially if you’re trying to make money on the game or try to get it recognized, but remember than an ask blog is just another one in line of things you’re doing to make the game, which means another responsibility you have to pay attention to. A lot of game blogs will end up spending too much time on asks rather than working on the game itself, which is fine, it’s really fun to interact with an audience, but that does mean less time into working on your game itself. I only made a blog after the majority of my game was finished with only one major scene and sounds being the last couple of things I needed to work on because the bruntload of my work is done. If you do make a blog before then, just be careful not to slip into just being an ask blog and work on your game.

Finally, you gotta let go of perfection, man. This is perhaps ironic coming from a game dev who made a game called perfect love, but I had to do this a lot. Part of the reason I chose the style that I did was so I could get away with making mistakes more easily, since everything already as a less polished style. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of I have to make this perfect, but the reality is that most people will probably not notice the things you find imperfect and if they do, they might not care. There’s a difference between doing your best to make game and trying to make everything perfect. Your game, especially your first game is, probably not going to be that good and that’s okay. Your second game will be better than your first and your third is better than your second, this is just what it’s like learning and getting good at making things. The best thing to do is just to make it and take notes about what mistakes you can fix afterwards. There’s a phrase of don’t let perfect get in the way of being good. Sometimes there are just things that need to be good enough when making your game.

That’s all the general stuff for organization, let’s get onto the actual making of the game. I’ll be mostly taking about Renpy since that’s what I used for this game, but a lot of this can also apply to other game engines as well.

Honestly, Renpy compared to some other game engines doesn’t require a lot of coding and isn’t that hard to use, but there is still a learning curve to figuring out everything. The best thing I can say is follow a couple of basic tutorials and just google things when you can’t figure it out. Nine times out of ten you can find a solution to it and if you can’t you can always just cheese it. Hey, as long as it works. Ask questions or try to see what other games are doing the things you want and then just break into them. You can usually just open rpy files and you can even look up more compressed files if you can find it online. For Renpy, reddit, lensoft and even f95 are good places to find what you need. You can also just… steal code sometimes. No it’s not illegal, yes you can do it as long as you’re not like stealing an entire game. Steal and repurpose. That’s all you need sometimes. Indents will probably be your enemy for a while in the beginning though I will say. Sometimes you need to google different key words to find the what you want and sometimes you need to smash things together to get it to work. Comment out things you don’t need and keep backups. Comment to make it easier for you to find stuff or to figure out what you’re doing. Visual Novel Design and Zeil Learnings are really good for this and the Renpy cookbook is fun for adding in smaller things. If you know how to code with python you can do a ton of other crazy stuff with it. Keep your sprites and everything organized so it’s easier to direct your code to them, and you can split your script into different files if you want to. Renpy documentation is kinda messy but very helpful.

Screen and script are coded differently so be careful when doing that. Screen is coded more similarly to how css is coded (if that’s helpful) so know if what a vbox/hbox, style and buttons are made are very helpful. You can take apart my code if you want, though fair warning some parts of it feel more like it’s taped together with duct tape at times. Always play your game when making changes, and play it multiple times. Read it out loud if it helps you, and really nail parts you want to be more impactful. If something is boring to you while reading it, change it to make it more interesting.

Personally, the way I make games is something like ideas > writing > art > coding > music. Art and coding are generally worked on at the same time but I always write everything out first so I know what I need to draw. Perhaps the process might be different for you though, so do what feels right.

This is something I didn’t really do as much as I wanted to do in this game, but always play test your game with others. You’ve probably played your game like 1000+ times but it’s a different experience for others that have never played it. You can see what they liked and disliked, what things they’re confused by, what actions they take most, if your writing is giving the right emotion, if you missed something, if there’s any bugs etc. I did this mostly when I was basically almost finished, but honestly I should have gotten more feedback thought the entire process to really understand what people thought about it. It’s pretty daunting to the point where it makes me kinda cringe listening to people read it out loud, but it will help your game nonetheless. I probably should have know considering that’s literally what a UX designer like myself does all the time as a job but we live and learn.

That’s a butt ton of stuff to say and honestly there’s probably even more I could go into because I love game design a lot, so hopefully you’ll take some of the advice I’ve given and I hope that it was helpful! It’s honestly a bit overwhelming but honestly just jump in and start it, which if you literally follow nothing else I wrote just do that. Good luck! I wanna play your game so hand it over when you’re done.

[moonrisecoeur]

soothing - leon kennedy

a/n: (PLEASE READ) hey! this is moon! this post would not show up in the tags with the long and detailed warning i put on it, so i made that a separate post. please read this post first before you even look at this one (that post will have the normal info like what content is it and word count along with more notes).

—

leon knows you’re… obsessive. he’s noticed your harsh glares and you possessively holding his waist when you’re both out together. he doesn’t miss the way you talk to other people, especially other people you know would theoretically be leon’s type. he assures you that he’s yours, he belongs to you, that no one will never get to have him the way you do, but it doesn’t make those feelings go away for you; it only mellows them for a short while.

he can’t say he planned for his partner to be so insanely obsessed with him, but it does make him feel better sometimes. especially when he’s having really rough days. when he feels worthless, like the only purpose of his existence is to be a weapon for the government to apathetically throw at problems, you’re there. you remind him, in your own twisted little way, that he’s valuable to someone. even if it’s in a “i need you like i need oxygen so no one else can ever have you and no one else deserves to lay a finger on you i will cut their hands off if they try” kinda way.

the world is fucked up anyway, who’s to say he gets to judge moral character? you make him feel desired and wanted, so what if you’re not a good person?

he’s rather introverted anyway, so it’s not like he’s going out every night and meeting new people. combine that with low self esteem and trauma from, well, being leon, he’s drained and can’t be bothered to care if you’re a little too obsessed.

hell, his last ‘relationship’, if you could call it that, was with a girl who tricked and betrayed him time after time and yet he loved her despite it all. maybe he has a type for the bad ones.

he loves you now. he knows he loves you. he knew he loved you when you once risked everything to save him, and he knew you loved him when you got very brutal revenge on his behalf. he kinda likes your violent side when it works in his favor.

but he still tries to keep you from doing the worst that he knows you’re capable of. he knows if he said more than a few words, or god forbid smiled at any of his friends who you thought ‘wanted him’ (because why does literally everyone want to fuck him?) you’d lose it. he tries to keep your temper contained, so he plays nice, though it’s worth it to him.

to have someone want him so badly that they’d kill for him and do anything to keep him… the idea makes leon’s knees weak. he’d do anything to feel wanted and needed for you. the more you claim him as yours, marking your territory, the more butterflies he feels in his stomach.

you tell someone, “he’s mine, so either back off or i swear that i will fucking rip out your teeth one by one.” he watches them run away pitifully, before turning his attention back to you. you’re smiling at him, and bring your hand up to play with his hair.

“sorry you had to see that, know you don’t like it,” you say softly.

he brushes it off, because he always does. he knows you mean well (even if you don’t). he knows you only threaten others or act violently because you love him and he needs that love. besides, you’re so thoughtful for apologizing because you know he doesn’t like seeing this side of you (which is not entirely true but he did feel bad for that person).

one day, you stumble upon him in your shared room while he’s crying. he tells you it’s okay, it happens, he’s learned how to get through it by himself. you shake your head, noting that this obviously isn’t okay. you sit next to him on the bed, wrapping your arms around him, and you two sit like that for just a moment.

“you’re okay,” your voice stills the air, brings him back to reality, “you’re not in danger, and i’m gonna be here to protect you, okay? i’m here because i care about you, so let me care for you, baby.”

he nods with tears in his eyes, resting his head on your shoulder. he’s forgotten what it feels like for someone to really care, to hold him and tell him he was going to be alright.

after a moment, he’s able to get his breathing under control.

“thank you…” he whispers.

“of course, baby, i’m here for you. i’m always gonna be here for you, i care about you so, so much, leon. no one else will ever care for you the way i do, as much as i do,” you murmur, and he doesn’t seem to notice something glaringly wrong with what you just said.

he doesn’t notice the thoughts swirling around in your head, adoring how fragile he is right now, wanting him to always be like this so he’s always this vulnerable, this dependent on you. he can’t notice any of it. he just lets you hold him, and holds you back in return.

you hold each other until he starts to pull away first, rubbing his teary eyes with the back of his hand, “god, i- i’m sorry. jeez, nothing even set it off. one minute i- i was fine! and the next…” he trails off, and you tell him he’s okay. he’s allowed to be vulnerable and emotional with you. you like him like this anyway. or maybe you just like the way his blue eyes shine when he cries.

and you’re wayyy too overpowering just as a person for him to ever be in charge, especially in bed. sometimes it’ll be soft, just two lovers touching and fondling each other, gasping and moaning and kissing wherever possible. but sometimes your possessive side comes out. it happens the most when he does something you don’t like, i.e. ‘flirting’ with someone else (he was just talking and joking around).

he does like your possessive side though. he likes being pinned down, and if you think you’re not strong enough, trust me, you can put yourself in the right position to make it so he can’t get out from under you. or you could just handcuff him or tie him up, that always works, but there is just something about being physically held down and kissed until his brain shuts off that makes him into a perfect fucktoy.

he likes when you pull out a marker and write stuff like ‘mine <3’ or ‘property of y/n’ on him. especially if it’s with a permanent marker and in a place that people can easily see, on his wrist or neck. he feels claimed, owned, a sense of being property belonging to someone else, not himself.

despite loving your darkness, leon appreciates that you’re rather… soft on him. you take it slow so he has time to adjust, make his heart jump with love and affection every single time you praise him (which you do often bc how could you not? it’s leon, c’mon now) he knows you have it in you to be harder, to fully degrade and humiliate him if you really wanted to. you choose not to.

one day you come home, covered in what he can assume is not your blood. his stomach drops at the thought of what you did, and he goes through every possible interaction he had that day that could have made you do something so drastic, so terrible and cruel. he comes up with nothing.

“what… happened?” he asks, nervously. he tries to keep distance between his body and yours, but you’re closing in on him.

“killed two birds with one stone… literally…” you smirked as he takes a cautious step back, feeling what used to be butterflies in his stomach turn to this heavy sense of dread, “that girl that told you your eyes were ‘so pretty’ and… that guy that touched your arm like he wanted to fucking bite it. don’t worry, sweetheart. i took care of them.”

were you expecting him to thank you? for… committing murder? he’s… at best he’s disappointed and at worst he’s literally horrified.

and it’s terribly timed, but on a separate note? you look insanely hot covered in blood. maybe the feeling in his stomach is only half fear and half something else, or maybe one of his kinks is being afraid for his life. who knows?

you come closer to him, and he can’t find it in himself to ask you to stop approaching him, closing in on him like a predator does it’s prey, “baby,” you murmur to him, softly like you do when you’re soothing him when he’s crying, your hands both coming up to cup his face, getting blood all over his cheeks. your thumb brushes against his bottom lip and he swears you’re intentionally smearing blood on it, “it’s okay,” you say.

it’s not okay, dude. you just killed two people.

maybe you’ve killed more that leon doesn’t know about, and tonight was the night you felt like having him see you like this. you could have gotten away with it if you wanted to, and he would never have known, but you chose to let him find you like this, clothes ruined from how much blood splattered on them, that sadistic ass smile on your face.

you wanted this. you wanted him to see you like this. you wanted to take him like this.

you lean in, pressing a bloody kiss to his forehead (imagine whatever kinda scenario necessary that fits this height wise for u i’m sorry >.<) before leaning in to kiss his lips, both tasting the iron and feeling the wetness of the blood dripping down your chins as he touches you back gently, his hands caressing your arms as you hold him and landing softly on your hips, like he’s saying it’s okay, i accept you for the monster you are.

he knows it’s wrong, he knows he’s a good person and you’re not and there’s a clear line that you’ve brazenly crossed, but he can’t help the butterflies he gets when you’re the darkest, cruelest version of you. covered in blood and all, you want him. despite all his flaws, you want him. he can’t deny you, not when you’ve only ever soothed him when he has traumatized breakdowns and assured him that he’s more than just a weapon or a tool, that he’s loved and needed and wanted.

you press one of your legs between his thighs, forcing his legs open and he lets you, whining as you continue to kiss him, and your hand palms him over his jeans. he feels weak, cornered, and you know you’ve got him right where you want him when you lean to whisper in his ear, “mine.” and he whimpers pathetically, nodding fast as you kiss his neck just a couple times, gently and bloodily.

despite everything, you’re just so endlessly gentle with him that he can’t help but let you get away with this. maybe if he could just get the image of their faces out of his head, he could get over it. once you’ve made him cum three times in a row, his body on the brink of giving out on him, safe to say that’s when he finally forgets. he can’t really think much of anything.

“oh, sweet little thing, don’t you understand? i had to get rid of her, she wanted to get in the way of our love,” you say. and he’d just nod dazedly.

“o-okay,” he mumbles. his brain is foggy and your touch makes it hard to think, but if you say it’s true, then he’s inclined to believe you. clearly, you were doing the right thing by getting rid of her. obviously.

“and that poor boy, it’s too bad that he was a whore, wanted to grope your muscles so fucking bad, hm?” you smirk, “did you like it when he did that? when he touched you?”

“n-no, i-i only like when you do stuff like that to me,” he says he exactly what you want to hear, grasping onto you for support, knowing without you he’d fall apart, “please, i don’t care what you do or… or who you hurt because you love me! just please love me!”

“of course i’ll love you,” your tone softens, you take the victory with a smirk turned soft smile, brushing his hair out of his eyes behind his ear, “you’re so pretty when you’re obedient.”

conditional praise; truly the best way to manipulate him for example: “you’re such a good boy when you only look at me.” that’s his kryptonite, because leon thrives off of praise. being told he’s a good boy makes him giddy on the inside, even if he tries to control his reaction. praise is how you control him.

and after you’re done with him, you put your clothes in the washing machine, take a shower, and walk out like your normal self. he makes you both dinner and you cuddle him to sleep just like usual. though while you’re fast asleep, he lays awake, thinking about what just happened.

he’s always known this could happen, and maybe this isn’t even the first time you’ve killed someone because of him. he’s known for a while now that you’ve become cruel and violent when it came to his relationships with other people, but he can’t shake the feeling of fear deep inside his soul when he physically saw what you’re capable of.

even in your sleep, you touch is soothing to him, and he remembers that he doesn’t really have any better options. he’s convinced no one will ever love him as strongly as you do (not just because you’ve told him that but because again, he’s got low self esteem and you’re way nicer to him than he feels like he deserves).

does he just let you be? no, that wouldn’t sit right on his conscious. does he continue to try and curb your violent tendencies against his better judgement and morals?

or does he try to leave you? he thinks he knows you wouldn’t ever truly hurt him, and he wonders whether or not you’d let him leave if he tried. (he’s not going to, but he wonders...) he just… doesn’t see what else he would do. find someone else? they won’t love him like you do. be single? sure, and be miserable every day because all he can think about is your love, your touch, you.

“what do i do with you…” he mumbles to your sleeping form, resting his head against your chest, feeling the slow heartbeat pumping inside. he likes how it shows your humanity, your normalcy. the one thing about you that doesn’t feel so far away from him.

leon loves you. truly. he doesn’t want that fact to be overshadowed by how disproportionately and insanely you love him. he loves you, still cares about you, still wants to see you happy. you make him happy, in some ways, even if you really terrify him in others. you comfort him and soothe him, you assure him that he’s safe with he wakes up with nightmares from the horrors he’s seen.

he wants to care for you, wants to be the one to hold you when you’re sad and you’re having a bad day. somewhere deep inside his heart, he wants to protect you and keep you safe. even if he knows that’s absurd (because you’re a killer… god he can’t get over that..) he can’t help that his nature is to care for people. maybe that’s what drove you to such insanity in your love for him: in his heart, he never stopped caring about other people. he is the same selfless hero he always was. his softness and care for everyone around him is what made you fall for him… and what made you insane when it comes to your love for him.

despite how terrible you are, he remembers all that you’ve done for him, the moments where your softness and gentleness really showed. he loves that side of you the most. that’s the one he fell for, after all. but he’d be amiss to think that’s the only side of you, or to not acknowledge the other. your cruelty towards people other than him is a side of you just like your kindness towards him is a side of you. they coexist whether he likes it or not.

he comes to the conclusion that there is no sweet you without cruel you, and he must learn to love both or to love neither. he decides he’ll love both, but still maybe try to keep the evilness contained. maybe he can try to talk you out of killing more people.

and when he begs so pretty for you to focus on him and not on the girl trying to flirt with him at the coffee shop, how could you refuse him? if you pulling him away to suck dark, tender hickeys into his neck is the alternative to you killing that poor girl, then he’d say that’s a win-win.

[catras-breakup-song]

I took an entire day off work to binge the final season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Me and a friend had spent months talking about the potential of Catradora being made canon. It would be the perfect ending to a series that was never afraid to broaden the scope of LGBTQ+ representation and showcase that everyone deserves to be seen, even more so in a fantasy world that builds upon and surpasses the classic that inspired it.

I took an entire day off work to binge the final season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Me and a friend had spent months talking about the potential of Catradora being made canon. It would be the perfect ending to a series that was never afraid to broaden the scope of LGBTQ+ representation and showcase that everyone deserves to be seen, even more so in a fantasy world that builds upon and surpasses the classic that inspired it.

We got our wish, with Catra and Adora saving Etheria from devastation through the power of their combined love alone. Even as it played out before us it still didn’t feel real, and the conclusion we had spent seasons hoping for was being fulfilled with no strings attached. It wasn’t just a celebratory finale however, it also recontextualised every single interaction between the two women who, despite going through so much, never stopped loving one another. You’ll be shocked to learn that Catra’s confession made me cry for like two hours.

Opposite sides of a war couldn’t keep them apart, and neither could the nefarious influences of Shadow Weaver and Horde Prime that sought to poison their minds and make it clear that power will always triumph over love. To them, being alone is the price of success, but Catradora was able to show that life is so much more than a binary goal to be achieved. It’s about the people you meet and fall in love with, the places you travel to and experience, and the lessons you learn to become a better person even after bordering on the brink of self-destruction. ND Stevenson helmed a show that placed this lesbian relationship at the centre, slowly but surely building to a crescendo that he himself wasn’t even sure was possible.

Catradora is such a powerful pairing because of everything both the creators and characters went through in order to make it possible. Before discovering a mysterious sword and transforming into a magical princess, Adora’s placid existence might have seen her rise to the Horde’s upper ranks to live a happy and successful life. She is the golden child, a symbol of hope and power amidst a fascist regime that has bred her for war and bloodshed. Yet this lifestyle is normal to her, so she obediently follows orders until she’s forced to see the other side of things. Turns out a place known as ‘The Evil Horde’ isn’t all that hot when you stop to smell the smouldering roses. When she suddenly becomes a princess and has the power to help instead of destroy, she turns away from Catra and into the arms of Glimmer and Bow.

Catra is distraught, convinced that she wasn’t and has never been good enough for Adora in the face of impossible expectations and a relationship that has now been left to crumble. She and Adora could have ruled the world together, taking over the Horde and shaping it in their own image as the power structures beneath them began to fade away. The stubborn cat girl could never see beyond that ultimatum, or ponder a future where she left her abusive childhood behind and sought out a new life with the one girl she’s ever loved. She wasn’t willing to accept where she’d gone wrong, instead digging a hole that only went deeper.

She-Ra takes its time to develop these character arcs, pushing both of our heroines to the brink until they’re ready to accept the truth that has been standing before them this entire time. Love can save the world, but only if you’re willing to accept it. It’s why their eventual confession felt so groundbreaking, a euphoric climax that saw love expressed in a way that not even the most cynical of reactionary YouTubers could deny.

ND Stevenson has said following the show’s success that Catradora being canon wasn’t always guaranteed, but he worked up to it whether it was on the cards or not. This was clear from the opening episode, with Catra and Adora placing an intimate trust in one another that clearly goes beyond normal friendship, even if the two don’t quite know it yet. Princess Prom is a sexually charged battle of bodies and wits, with each of them using their assets to make the other feel vulnerable and defeated. It culminates in a truly incredible dance sequence that me and my fellow gay cartoon queens think about at least once a day. There are so many moments across the five seasons that act as building blocks towards the eventual confession, with distance making the heart grow fonder as Catra almost hits breaking point and Adora is asked to deal with a destiny that unfairly sits upon her shoulders.

Catra and Adora are very different people, almost opposite personalities fostered by the same abusive environment that expected them to be little more than war machines. It took their separation for everything to change, for Adora to abandon her troublesome upbringing and childhood friend to help save the world and confront a destiny she isn’t ready for. She was raised as the perfect soldier who excelled at everything, so of course she’d have trouble abandoning an eventual demise at the hands of fate instead of loving herself, and realising the importance in striving to survive and recognising her own worth.

She isn’t alone anymore, and never really was. Now she and Catra can move forward as lovers instead of childhood friends turned bitter rivals who would tear apart entire realities to avoid talking things out. It remains difficult to watch Catra grow so isolated that she ruins the only friendships she has left, coming to realise that ultimate power means nothing when there is nobody to share it with, and the one girl you’ve done all this for has long walked away and is never coming back. She even had the chance to join her and refused.

Catradora is one of the greatest romances animation has ever seen because it felt real, earned, and unapologetically queer in every conceivable way. Catra and Adora are both flawed people with so much to work through, but are stronger together and come to recognise the value of accepting love instead of stewing in perpetual conflict. Their kiss saved the world, but they also saved themselves and paved the way for a future together.

Years from now I’ll still look back on She-Ra and the Princesses of Power as a watershed moment in queer representation for the medium. It sits alongside Steven Universe, The Owl House, and a handful of other shows that are steadfast in their intentions, with the creators fighting so hard to have these stories told without compromise. Adora and Catra sit at the centre of this diverse success, waving the flag for all of us as we move forward.

[oceanlipgloss]

ONLINE FRIENDS

LEVIATHAN.

+ warnings: angst, strong language.

+ my mc is the heroine, so the pronouns are feminine.

It is said that existing in the same world as someone you cherish is better than nothing at all. He had read that many times. Many times. More than he can count. Despite the different timezones, the great distances, the knowledge that the two of you live in the same galaxy—separated by tangible barriers just—is enough. But even then it’s hard. It’s so, so hard.

They the two them are like online friends. Overwhelmingly close, fun together, yet never truly knowing each other that well.

What if the only thing that kept them apart was not metrics, but who he himself was?

Too shy, too awkward. So clumsy, so useless.

Fickle.

Was he fickle?

Yeah, the heart can be a fickle little fucker, but was his heart like that too?

He’s always been told that he’s loyal to his passions, that he loves his interests so passionately. That had always been true, always been his conviction, until she came along and it began to feel wrong.

Sometimes—no, on most days—he couldn’t quite focus solely on her. The real, living, breathing woman with a beating heart. He bundled himself up in fiction. He wrapped his heart up with the virtual stuff and let the phantom medicines treat his deep-rooted anomalies, or at least waited for them to.  

He liked those worlds. In them, he could be worth something. He could be number one, yank all the great ranks. He could conquer the good things and be a celebrated one: a holder of grand specimens of accomplishments, an owner of the rarest of premium trophies.

In the planet beyond the intangible bars—with their pixellised models and complex codes—though, he was...no one. And sometimes, even his soul in that binary place was mangled by those who are better, even if they had not spent as much time—if at all, really—brandishing their skills like knives. Simply because they were born with talent that glowed in a surreal magnitude of magnetic stars in their cells.

He liked certain challenges, of course, but there are times when it gets...too much.

To him, it seemed that almost everyone else excelled at something, no matter how apparently useless, and there is always that one candidate or contestant that crushes all others with the golden weight of their shiny gifts.

Yeah.

He didn’t like himself.

What was there to like?

He couldn’t even love right, like his love for everything special in his measly life was a wheel of hot pizza that he had to cut up into pieces time and again. And when he bit into it, he always scalded his tied tongue.

More often than not, he loathed the real world. In it, millions of normal creatures normally go about their normal lives, while he remains a lot like the oldest model of the oldest Macintosh computer models: freezing, lagging, malfunctioning.

Mismatched.

He never had the right words, never mind the perfectly right skills.

At least characters have pre-programmed reactions. They do predictable things. Real people are nothing like that. Characters don’t hurt him. They just don’t. They’re not meant to, you know? It is not part of their program until it is—so even if and when they do, he knows it is only because they were coded to.

Yet, he’s expected to unlock the door, go out and deal with actual people, handle the scummy things they do like it’s nothing, then at the end of the day go back to his room. Everyday.

He hated these disgusting times.

When you’re like that—lost and unprepared for the basics of your century—even those closest to you can feel most unreachable, like distant friends online.

+notes: yes, hello, bonjour, I am regretfully indeed still alive. And in celebration of this fleeting but grand surprise visit of mine, I have prepared a Michelin-star humble feast, so why don't you help yourselves to the first piece I've written in over 2 months and eat this mouldy writing that has been aging in my WIPs for so very long? I invite you to indulge in a main course of braised angst, seasoned with an ounce of identity crisis projection. In all seriousness, though, the fic may have been an old WIP, but I literally just scooped it out of the pan finished it. It's still fresh. Very fresh. *logs back out*

+ MASTERLIST

+ AO3 POST

©𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙨

[minty-muse]

Ok but one of the things that people miss is that Rika is basically the reincarnation of Hanyuu's actual daughter. And that makes her a bit more nuanced than what some people take away from her character. It's always "Hanyuu is selfish and only kept Rika in the loops because she was lonely." I know it's outright stated at some point. But I feel like that's a very surface-level take, if you can't get anything else from their relationship.

Of course she'll be sad when Rika's gone. They've been physically and emotionally connected since she was a baby. She basically raised her. She knows her better than her real parents. They're literally inseparable. Not to mention, Rika is the spitting image of her real daughter. It's literally her chance to start over as a mother, without the guilt of the burden she placed on Ouka.

And although Hanyuu loves Rika, it's only natural that after being together for so long, she would be terrified of going back to being a single entity. Their existences have been intertwined for so long that the thought of being apart-of being independent- is terrifying.

And I'd go so far as to say that Rika feels the same. Hanyuu does get on her nerves, but she's relied on her for so long that the thought of losing her isn't even something that crosses her mind. Because Hanyuu has always been there. She'll always be there. Hanyuu is the only person who understands her grief on a personal level. She's the only person she's shared her pain with for all those years.

Rika is Hanyuu's daughter. Hanyuu took on the burden of raising a child who wasn't her own and in doing so ended up in the position of a mother who would do anything to ensure her daughter lives a happy life. Especially after she loses the ability to send Rika back far enough to even attempt to save her parents. At that point it isn't just a desire to protect Rika, but a responsibility. The responsibility she must bear for selfishly touching the world of man and choosing to adopt a child who wasn't hers to begin with.

Sure, she places the burden of having to live through endless suffering on Rika. But at the end of the day she only wants Rika to live. She wants to see her reach her happy ending. Being lonely is just an excuse, so she doesn't have to divulge into the deep-rooted guilt she associates with her powers. Her powers are what got Rika into this mess. They're the reason Rika will never eat dinner with her family again. The reason Rika began to reject her real mother and sabotage any semblance of a good relationship she had with her. And even if Hanyuu isn't the direct cause for that, she probably still blames herself for it, as someone who meant to keep Rika safe.

She can't let Rika go until she knows for sure that she'll be fine without her. Even if she doesn't really believe it will ever happen. She needs an excuse to hold on. Because the thought of letting Rika die for real without doing everything she can to prevent it is too much to bear. Maybe Rika resents her for it. But Hanyuu is fine with that. So long as her daughter survives.

One thing I can't wrap my head around is that, if Hanyuu really truly didn't want Rika to be free, then why did she decide to put her feelings aside and fight with her in the final hour anyway? Why did she decide they'd succeed and attain happiness together when she could have easily kept Rika trapped forever and prevented her from ever accessing the final fragment? And then she leaves after Saikoroshi/Sotsu/Meguri anyway once she believes it's time for Rika to be independent. She lets go willingly despite the uncertainty, because she thinks that's what's best for Rika's development and she wants her to be able to move forward and live the normal life that was robbed from her so long. So sorry. but I can't see Hanyuu as just some irredeemable bitch who only wants Rika to suffer.

I get making the Umineko connections with Featherine and trying to come up with an explanation for how everything ties together between the connected universes is fun but this one just doesn't sit right with me.

[chasing-faith-and-fate]

Gift ideas!!

Psychic abilities that can slightly influence others’ thoughts and emotions. Like an extreme version of smooth talking. They can influence someone to be slightly more friendly or open to suggestion than they otherwise would be, but can’t make them act totally out of character. If someone’s dead set on fighting them, they can’t do much about it, but, if the interaction can be calmed down in any way, they’re more likely than most to be able to achieve the peaceful option.

Slight future prediction. Think Garnet Steven universe. They can vaguely see some possible futures and can sometimes influence where they’re headed by taking or not taking certain actions. However, they can’t change events that are already very likely to happen or dictated by the actions of someone who won’t listen to them, and they have trouble telling the difference between anxiety over possible outcomes, nightmares / night terrors and genuine predictions of the future, so they’re not always accurate.

Ability to pick up skills quicker than average. They may only need half the lessons their peers do to master a hunting technique or fighting move. However, they do still need to practice their skills regularly, or they’ll get rusty like any normal person, and the lack of effort they need to achieve the same things as their peers could lead to them becoming overconfident or developing an invincibility complex, which isn’t a good thing when dealing with a supernatural threat you may or may not be immune to.

Knowing things they shouldn’t. Think John TMA. Some examples: looking at tracks and instantly knowing they were made by a taker, despite them looking normal to everyone else; knowing someone has gone to a specific location without seeing them leave or talking to them prior; being able to tell things like leaves or berries apart without any training; knowing people’s names, ranks and/or clans without having interacted with them previously; knowing about events they weren’t there for; knowing about the existence of things they had no way of discovering; etc. They don’t know everything all the time, but they know too much to be normal. Could be fun if they also habitually eavesdropped to compound on the amount of things they shouldn’t know.

Extreme luck. Not like winning the lottery every day luck, but, somehow, they always manage to avoid dangerous things, even if the danger is right in front of them. They step over twoleg traps without realising they’re there. They decide they don’t feel like eating rat today, and it turns out that all the local rats had been in contact with poison. They take a left turn instead of a right, avoiding a nest of venomous snakes by total coincidence. Sometimes it’s just good things with no strings attached; prey occasionally runs right into them while escaping something else, and they end up with an easy catch. But, most of the time, their circumstances were beyond dangerous, and it gives their peers constant anxiety for their wellbeing. They can still be hurt, they’re just less likely to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

PS I am so honoured that two of the kit names I suggested were picked!! I love your stuff hehe.

Oooooh juicy!

Ngl been looking for an excuse to use Knowledge as a gift, this is all I need to justify throwing TMA ideas into this bitch,,,

Also no way which names did you suggest?

[stripetkattelalala54-gf]

Rainbow Madness

Summary: While riding a roller coaster, Mario gets a little bit too much reminded of a certain Rainbow Road incident. Takes place sometime after the movie.

TW: Panic attack

Characters: Mario, Luigi, Mia, Pio, Tony, Arthur, Sofia (Mario and Luigi's little niece)

“I wanna go on that one!”, Sofia exclaimed excitedly, bouncing on her feet as she pointed to a massive roller coaster that extended high into the sky towering over all the other roller coasters that were nearby. It was her 10th birthday so the whole family had agreed to do something a little bit more special than usual to celebrate it.

Since they all knew how much she loved the Mushroom Kingdom ever since Mario and Luigi took her and the rest of the family there to show them around and how much she loved amusement parks, they agreed that combining these two things together would make a good birthday present for her.

So, Mario had asked Peach if amusement parks existed in the Mushroom Kingdom. Peach had looked at him confused at first but after explaining the concept, her face lit up and she informed him that the Mushroom Kingdom indeed had something like an amusement park albeit under a different name.

Now it was him, Luigi, Uncle Arthur, Uncle Tony, mom, dad, and Sofia walking through the FunMush park. They played various games, went on different rides, and tried food which they had never heard of before. It was nice and everyone was having fun. Aunt Marie hadn’t been able to come with them as she had fallen sick. Sofia was sad at first that her mother couldn’t come with them, but that sadness vanished as soon as they set foot in the FunMush park.

Sofia was still bouncing on her feet as she looked at them excitingly.

“Sure, thing sweety we can go on that one”, Uncle Arthur said, laughing. “Who’s coming with us?”

“As if you even have to ask”, Uncle Tony responded with a smirk. “Mario, Luigi you coming too?”

“Of course”, Luigi said without hesitation. Just like Marilyn, Mario could see the excitement radiating off his brother. Despite of everything that Luigi was afraid of, his brother loved roller coasters. Mario normally enjoyed them too but today he couldn’t help but feel uneasy whenever they went on one. Up to that point, all the roller coasters had been relatively small. Still, memories of the Rainbow Road fiasco resurfaced whenever he found himself on one of those rides, but it was manageable.  

Now looking at this big roller coaster that was a few feet away from them, made the knot in his stomach that had been there ever since the first ride he went on today, grow even more. It absolutely didn’t help that the roller coaster was very bright and colourful itself.

Mario swallowed thickly but immediately recovered when he saw his whole family staring at him as they still waited for an answer from him. He forced himself to smile. “Yeah, sure I’m coming too.”

It was probably going to be fine anyway. It was only a roller coaster. He would survive a ride on this even if it made him uncomfortable. He never told his family about the Rainbow Roadpart of his adventure not even Luigi. It was a part of his journey that he’d rather forget, the feeling of terror when the explosion threw him off the road and the feeling of hopelessness and despair when he and DK were swallowed by that eel was not something he was eager to voice out loud.

Besides it was probably nothing in comparison to what his brother had to endure during those three days. His family didn’t need to worry about him too when Luigi was already clearly struggling because of everything that happened. It was fine. He could deal with it himself. He pointedly ignored the voice that told him that he hadn’t slept a full night since he came back because he had nightmares about either the Rainbow Road incident, Luigi dying or Bowser beating him up or some combinations of those scenarios that way too often involved that Luigi somehow got hurt or died because he was unable to protect him. Or that he once almost had a panic attack when there had been a sudden loud noise. Or that one time when Luigi came back home a bit later than he’d said he would. Or-

“Mia, Pio are you coming as well?” Uncle Arthur asked, pulling Mario out of his racing thoughts. “I think we rather sit this one out”, his mom said with a smile. “But you go and have fun. We’ll be waiting just right next by the exit of the ride.”

“Well then let’s go!”, Uncle Arthur cheered. Sofia let out a happy squeak before she was running off on her own. Uncle Arthur laughed following her right behind. “C’mon”, Uncle Tony waved, signalling for Mario and Luigi to follow too.

They made their way through the crowd and before Mario knew it, they were right in front of the roller coaster. Uncle Arthur and Sofia were already standing in line waving them over as soon as they saw them.

Only now that they were right in front of the roller coaster, made Mario realize just how big it was; It was towering over them, its twists and turns extending high into the sky and the colours were dizzyingly bright. It made his heart beat faster but not in a good way.

Mario’s heart felt like it would stop when he got a look of the name of the roller coaster. “Rainbow Madness” was written in the same bright colours as the roller coaster was itself. This had to be a joke. Because of course the name would have a remarkable resemblance to the thing he absolutely didn’t want to think about. Just perfect. It did not help with his growing uneasiness at all.

The nearer it was their turn for the ride, the worse it got. He clapped his fingers together in a nervous manner and he could feel a cold sweat forming on his brows.

His uneasiness must’ve been more visible than he thought because Luigi suddenly nudged him gently into his side. “You okay?”, he asked in a concerned tone but silent enough so that others wouldn’t hear him. “I’m fine”, he waved his brother off. Luigi didn’t seem to be convinced. “Are you sure? You’re really tense”, he pressed again. “Yeah, of course”, Mario smiled this time in the hopes that it was enough to convince his brother that he was fine.

Luigi looked like he wanted to say something more but before he could do it, the line cleared up and it was their turn.

Mario climbed into the seat next to Luigi while Sofia and Uncle Arthur took a seat together behind them and Uncle Tony a seat behind those two. Then the safety harness clicked into place. His heart started to race even more now that he knew that there was no going back. It was okay. It was only a roller coaster nothing bad would happen while riding it, he told himself.

The roller coaster suddenly gave a jolt, and before Mario knew it, the ride began its way up the steep descent. His breathing quickened even though he tried to remain calm. It was okay, he told himself over and over again. It was only barely working. He gripped the safety harness tighter as the ride went up higher and higher. This had been a bad idea. He should’ve just stayed down and made up some excuse why he wasn’t coming on the ride. Just as they were about to reach the peak of the ride, a loud bang echoed through the park and Mario’s heart dropped and his breath got caught in his throat.

And then he was falling. His ears were ringing, he couldn’t hear anything. The explosion had been deafening. He was falling. He was going to die. He was going to die without being able to safe his brother. Luigi was going to die because of him. Their family would never know what happened to them. They would never know it was his fault.

He was falling and he was going to die and there was nothing that he could do about it and why was it so hard to breathe and oh god he was still falling, was this never going to end-

“Mario!”

Mario gasped for air as his surroundings came vaguely back into focus. He was on a roller coaster that was moving at a breakneck speed was the first thing he realized. The second thing, he realized was that he wasn’t breathing right. He was choking and he could barely get enough air in.

It’s gonna be okay, just hang on!”, a voice shouted next to him, but Mario could barely hear it over his own heartbeat. The roller coaster took its twists and turns, and Mario could do nothing more than to just hold on.  

He squeezed his eyes shut, clutching the safety bar of the roller coaster as if it was a lifeline. His breathing was still too fast, making it hard to get enough air into his lungs. Dizziness was washing over him, and he felt like he would pass out at any moment.

Suddenly the roller coaster came to a screeching halt, and everything stopped. Somebody took him by the arm, nudging him to stand up but his legs felt like jelly. They only supported him for a few steps, and he would have collapsed on the ground if it hadn’t been for the person’s firm grip on him.

He was being led away a few steps before he was being gently lowered down to the floor. Everything was spinning, his chest felt like it was too tight making it impossible to get enough air in. His hands gripped at his chest, pulling at his shirt. He needed it off, he needed room to breathe, he needed-

A hand touched his shoulder shortly, but it was enough to make him flinch.

“Hey”, the voice suddenly spoke again. “Hey breathe with me. Just follow my lead.”

“In. Hold it. Out.”

Mario tried desperately to do as he was told, but the air just wouldn’t fill his lungs. He coughed and choked.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, try again.”

“In.” Mario took a shaky breath in. “Hold it.” He held it for a few seconds. “Out.” Mario breathed out again.

“Good, very good. Try again.”

Mario did. He did it again and again until he was finally able to breathe normally.

That was when his surroundings finally came back into focus. Luigi was kneeling only a few inches in front of him, concern and fear clearly written over his face.

A little bit more behind standing, were Uncle Tony, Uncle Arthur, his parents and Sofia. They had the same concerned expression while Sofia looked scared, clutching Uncle Arthur’s hand. Oh. Oh no.

“You back with us bro?”, Luigi asked in a soft tone.

Giving a shaky nod was all that Mario was capable of. His throat felt like it was on fire making it impossible to form any words. He felt completely exhausted. It was as if all his energy just got sucked out.

Mario could hear footsteps and then his mom was kneeling right in front of him too. She put her hand on his cheek which made him instinctively lean into it. He felt like he could fall asleep right there.

“What happened tesoro? Are you okay?”, his mom’ s concerned voice brought him out of his haziness. She gave him the same worried look as Luigi.

Mario opened his mouth to give a respond, but his throat still hurt too much to speak. And if he was being honest with himself, what would he even say? He didn’t want to tell what actually happened. He would only ruin Sofia’s birthday even more than he already had, and he would make his family unnecessarily worry about something that he shouldn’t even be struggling with. But he was also physically and emotionally too exhausted to come up with a lie.

“Mario?”

His mom looked even more worried than before which made Mario realize that he must have stayed silent for a bit too long. He gave her a smile and a quick thumbs up to signal her that everything was fine, but it was clear that she and Luigi didn’t believe him.

“Mario-“, Luigi started this time but Mario interrupted him.

“I’m fine”, Mario pressed the words out. It hurt but it was necessary to convince Luigi and his mom that he was fine enough to continue because he really didn’t want to ruin Sofia’s birthday completely and he certainly didn’t want to talk about anything that happened back there.

Luigi and his mom still didn’t look convinced, but they seemed to understand that Mario wouldn’t talk, so they didn’t press any further.

“Alright. Then let’s go back to the others”, his mom said. She gave his shoulder one last comforting squeeze before she stood up.

Luigi got up from his kneeling position too, extending a hand towards him to help him stand up as well. Mario gratefully took it. His legs still felt wobbly, but it wasn’t as bad as it was before. Together they walked to where Uncle Tony, Uncle Arthur, Sofia and his dad were standing.

They all looked worried but before anybody could say anything, his mom spoke up: “Everything’s okay now.” She gave them a pointed look that clearly said, “no asking questions” and Mario was glad for that. Then she turned to Sofia with a smile. “Say, Sofia what do you want to do next?” At that Sofia immediately brightened up as she pointed to the next thing she wanted to do.

The rest of the family joined and so the day continued. Mario tried to be joyful during the whole time, forcing himself to smile and laugh whenever Sofia pulled him and the rest of the family into new games to try out.

While he knew that Luigi and his mom could probably look right through him as they kept a close eye on him, he hoped that at least the others wouldn’t be able to. Though from time to time he could see that even his father gave him a concerned look, so it didn’t seem that he was doing a convincing job. He was so tired. All he wanted to do was lay down in a bed and sleep forever.

Finally, the day came slowly to an end. The sun had already begun to sink behind the horizon as they went back home. Since Aunt Marie was sick, it was his mom who took over with cooking. She prepared spaghetti with meatballs as Sofia had wished for her birthday.

After dinner there was cake that Aunt Marie had already baked the day before. Sofia was still in high spirits even though it was starting to get late and even though they spent the whole day at the FunMush park.

Mario though for his part felt very tired. Not having been able to sleep through a whole night, either because of his own or Luigi’s nightmares, since he was back plus the panic attack from today, really made the exhaustion catch up with him for good. So not long after the cake but also not too short to seem unpolite, Mario excused himself.

Nobody said anything against it, not even Uncle Arthur or Uncle Tony teased him about getting to bed ‘quite early for someone his age’, which probably meant that he must’ve looked as bad as he felt. They all just wished him a good night and then Mario was finally alone in his and Luigi’s room.  

He put on his pyjamas, brushed his teeth, and crawled under his bed sheets, ready to just fall asleep and forget everything that happened today when the door to the room opened. Mario didn’t even need to open his eyes to know that it was Luigi.

The light was turned on, footsteps could be heard before he felt the bed dip beside him. A hand touched his shoulder.

“Hey”, Luigi began in a soft tone. There was a longer pause before he continued, seemingly needing to gather his thoughts first. “You- This afternoon on that roller coaster- you really freaked out there. It really scared me too. What happened? I’ve never seen you like this.”

Mario took a few seconds before he finally turned around to face his brother. There was nothing but concern written over his face. He knew he couldn’t lie. He was in no state to pretend that everything was fine, and Luigi already knew that something was wrong. But he also really didn't want to talk about it. He didn’t need Luigi to worry about additional things when he already had enough to deal with himself.

But then again, he knew that he would need to talk about it at some point because he knew that Luigi would absolutely worry if he didn’t talk about it. Mario sighed. Better get it over with now.

Mario sat up so that he was able to face his brother.

“I guess”, he started, “this roller coaster just reminded me of the whole Rainbow Road fiasco.”

“Cranky- DK’s father- suggested using karts to quickly return to the Mushroom Kingdom via a shortcut so that we could ambush Bowser and his troop during their attack”, Mario explained. “The shortcut was a rainbow road. Literally. It was a rainbow that served as a road. It was unbelievable.”

Mario paused and took moment to gather his thoughts. He didn’t know why it was so hard to form into words what happened back there. Still, he forced himself to continue.

“So”, Mario went on, “it turns out that Bowser knew we were going that route and his troop ambushed us instead. The whole chase was crazy. It kinda felt like being on a roller coaster.”

Mario took a deep breath.

“We did almost manage to escape them. But then a blue-shelled koopa flew towards us and exploded right on me and DK. I don’t know how, and I honestly try not to think about it”, he chuckled but there was no humour to it. “Anyway, the road broke and we were falling. I thought I was gonna- but then we hit the water. Which was good I guess until we were eaten by a gigantic eel.”

Not wanting to go into more detail, Mario just carried on. “But of course we made it out and yeah. That was that.” Not really knowing what to say anymore, he stopped talking.

“Whoa.” Was all that Luigi said.

“But it’s okay, I’m fine-“

“No you’re not”, interrupted Luigi. “Are you even listening to yourself? You had a panic attack today because of what experienced on that rainbow road. You are clearly not fine.” There was no anger in Luigi’s voice. It was like he was just stating a fact.

Mario’s first instinct was to protest that he was fine, but he paused. He did have frequently nightmares about it even though it was not the only event he had nightmares about. The panic attack today didn’t make things better. He was tired. He was so so tired.

Luigi took gently his hands into his. “I’m sorry I didn’t notice you were struggling this much. I-“

“No, Luigi, no!” Mario couldn’t help but stop Luigi right there. “It’s not your fault, you weren’t even supposed to know. You have enough struggles yourself you don’t need to be burdened with mine.”

Luigi gave him a sad look.

“We can take care of each other”, he said. “You don’t always have to be strong you know. I’m here for you too just like you are for me.”

Before Mario knew it, he started trembling. Everything was just too much. A lump started to form in his throat and his eyes started to burn. He swallowed but the lump didn’t go away.

Warm arms enveloped him. He was being pulled close until Mario was buried into Luigi’s chest. The trembling intensified, and before he could stop it, the tears started to trail down his face. A hand started to stroke through his hair while Mario tried to focus on Luigi’s heartbeat to help get a hold of himself. It wasn’t working.

His body shook with his sobs, so he gave up and just let it go through the motions. Luigi held him the whole time, never once letting go.

When he finally managed to get a hold of himself, he felt even more tired which he didn’t think was possible. Mario didn’t have the strength to protest when Luigi laid him down and covered him with a blanket.

“Sleep. I think you really need it”, was the last thing he heard before he fell asleep.

Later that night, he awoke again from a nightmare. He shot up, trembling and shaking. It was hard to breathe, his throat was on fire like he was drowning. Like he was back in that cold water waiting to die, knowing Luigi would die too because he wouldn’t be able to save him-

And then warm arms were suddenly around him, holding him close very similar just like a few hours ago. “You’re okay”, Luigi said as he soothingly rubbed his back.

Mario didn’t say anything, he was just clinging to him until he was able to calm down. He vaguely realized that Luigi must have anticipated that there was a chance that he would be having a nightmare tonight. Mario had gotten used to wake up quietly after a nightmare so he wouldn’t wake up his brother and tonight hadn’t been any different.

So, either Luigi stayed up the whole time or he was just sleeping very lightly which often happened when he was worried about something. It was probably the latter one.

Finally, after who knows how long, Mario managed to calm down again. Still, he didn’t want to let go. He wasn’t ready to lose Luigi’s comforting touch just yet. He didn't… he didn’t want to sleep alone. He also didn’t want to voice all of these things because he didn’t want to inconvenient Luigi any further than he already had. Apparently, it wasn’t even necessary.

As if Luigi could read his mind, he took Mario by the hand and guided him over to his bed. No words were spoken, and they didn’t need to. Luigi gently laid them both down on the bed in a way that Mario was now laying on Luigi’s chest with arms wrapped protectively around him.

It was a weird position to be in. Normally Mario was the one who held Luigi like this. Arms wrapped protectively around him, letting his brother know that he was always there for him, giving him comfort and a sense of being protected. Being the one who was receiving this kind of hug now was definitively something he was not used to.

It felt good though. It felt good to be able to be vulnerable and knowing that somebody was there to hold you through it.

Mario closed his eyes and let sleep wash over him.

[simplyreveries]

hi, it's nice to find a TWST blog with creative and personal writing. Normally the blogs I come across follow some kind of embarrassing rule in all their fics.

with the characters malleus, rook, silver and jade. with a gn reader who somehow gets enough money, and what he wants to do is go get new experiences, like adventures, and live a life in peace since he doesn't believe he will return to his original world (I guess here grim maybe exists but is not relevant to the plot). and the reader has friends and all that, but he is not satisfied with all that about the overblots and the director. so reader decides that he is going to live his life however he wants.

I hope this request seems comfortable to you. and have a nice day.

wanting to leave and explore; malleus, rook, silver, and jade

thank you<33

malleus draconia

when you had confessed and told malleus, opening up a bit to him during one of your nightly conversations with each other he was intrigued and quite surprised. he’s curious as to knowing the reason more to behind your decisions. he inquires if it's because of crowleys unhelpfulness and avoidance of seeking much of an answer to your situation.

he’ll likes the spark of adventure seeking in you. he realizes how different and so much new of an experience twisted wonderland may be in comparison to your original home and world. he’ll tell you a lot about what he knows, mostly of briar valley— because even malleus himself still has a lot to learn despite being centuries old. but he may tell you about lilias travels as well and what he's heard from him— and he believes that you’ll learn to love it.

malleus wants to be someone that can support you, even though you've found a way to provide a lot for yourself- he’s really willing to give a lot to someone like you that has randomly appeared in his life and now holds a really special place in his heart. I mean, once you're ready to go explore why not start in his home kingdom? you’ll receive the best treatment he has to offer his favorite human.

rook hunt

oh? he finds your sense of adventure and desire to just explore twisted wonderland quite fascinating. he’ll tell you all about the beauty twisted wonderland has to offer, that it should be something to be excited about to learn all about and see. rook will also tell you about his family's villas that they own all around twisted wonderland! and though you seem well prepared yourself you're welcome to have a place to be.

if you can, he would love to hear and know about everything you see and learned— he's always interested in knowing more about the beauty of the world around him so considered him highly curious.

rook feels disheartened when he hears about your own disappointment and dejection about not being able to find a way home-! he had always personally admired and was ever so intrigued by your own story and predicament you've found yourself into. he’ll give you some words of encouragement.

silver

he seems to be pretty worried about you and your well-being. though he does have a sense of some understanding of what you must be feeling with the situation you're in he does know some of the danger twisted wonderland entails- you must know too, after experiencing what a crazy and dangerous thing overblots are… his own protective instincts come out wanting to make sure you fully know what you're getting into when adventuring about this world.

if you're dead set on your decision and know what you're doing from now on here in twisted wonderland- like malleus, he’d recommend you come by briar valley. he feels a bit upset for you because of your unfortunate situation regarding your home world, though there is a hope of meeting someone who can help you when exploring.

silver only wishes for what's best for you. and he understands how rough twisted wonderland in itself can be, but if you feel like that's what you need to do then as long as you are content. silver will give you some advice to help you, various books too so you have some knowledge on things you may run into.

jade leech

he tilts his head and peers at you curiously when you tell him about your ideas. he’s a little intrigued on how exactly you were able to sustain yourself and provide abundance of madol in such a period of time and especially since you're so new to how this world still works. he can't help but wonder and suggest playfully if you've made some deal with azul about it.

jade will hear you out on your issues concerning getting back to your original world and nods, he shakes his head and laughs knowing how crowley is… he isn't surprised that man hasn't been able to do really anything regarding your world and helping you get back. it truly is a pity.

nevertheless, jade does understand the sheer desire to explore this land, as he's only accustomed to life in the oceans, he dedicates a lot of his time to studying and taking care of various plants and fungi on land. and hey, he’ll even point out and tell you which types you should be on the lookout for when travelling.