#i guess i can thank necromancer for that

[where-is-caithe]

Every day I write more about Cross and Haven and I don't actually play either of them in game even though Cross is an alt Commander and Haven is with her in PoF and on.

[thresholdbb]

So when they jettison a coffin into space, is it just flying forever?

[livingsurreal]

More thoughts and theories about our favorite Necromancer

My darlings, I have too many thoughts and my obsession is running wild. (How I missed you, hyperfocus). If you have read my last meta post about our Emmrich, here it is: First Meta Post

That is not a required read however. I am still wondering why anyone is reading my word vomit U_U

Anyway, I love reading other peoples theories, so please, send me yours. <3 And a lot of thanks and love for all you darlings who make this fandom such a beautiful and nice place. Especially to @jaal-ama-daravv - who makes the most beautiful videos, and writes such wonderful character studies.

Warning, from here on there will be spoilers as well as mentions of sex. If you don't want to read about any of that, do not read the rest.

Also pictures and way too many words. This is a ten page word document, save yourself while you can. I tend to go off on a tangent once I start writing. I am also well aware that not everyone will agree. This is just my personal read on Emmrich.

Now, after my first essay I have some more thoughts on Emmrich and Rook and specifically their intimate relationship.

Emmrich is such an interesting and baffling contradiction. On the one hand he is confident, self-assured, all manners and poise. He is smart, and he knows it. He has special gifts, and he knows it.  He is confident without being proud. He likes to teach others without being arrogant. He still likes to learn about new things and is, as far as I’ve seen, never judgmental about different beliefs and ways of life. (Unless someone treats him with disdain or bully him)

He is a man who is confident speaking of his thoughts and feelings and fears. How he just casually drops his thanatophobia is just astonishing. He is honest and open-minded in the best ways.

And then there is the other side of him. The wet kitten side of him. As open and honest as he is about his emotions, when we get to the meat of it, to the scary bit, the real feely bit, he locks up completely. As long as it is surface level (or he can pretend its surface level), everything is up for discussion. But once we reach deeper and touch *love* he gets so scared and refuses to admit and commit to his feelings. And as much *death* scares him, love scares him more.

So how does that influence his intimate relationship with Rook?

According to the banter with Lace “everyone knows about it”. He was rather surprised by that.

That tells us two things:

They were trying to be sneaky or at least keep their private business private.

They failed, massively.

Add to that Laces comment about them moving rather fast (when, where? I would have loved to have seen that. Comments like that just give me the feeling that we should have had some more cutscenes after the dinner date, to show us those two besotted fools).

But back to them moving rather fast. I would guess that they both did a lot of gazing lovingly at each other, blushing, spacing out while watching their darling, stollen kisses in the hallway when they thought no one was watching, stuff like that. Just being to besotted fools.

But moving fast usually includes sex. Lots of needy, sweaty sex. The inability to keep their hands of each other.

That moves us to the question of the day – did they have sex before their coffin time?

Let’s look at what we know about Emmrich. Emmrich is no virgin. That man has experience. He had past lovers. But what he tells us at that sweet diner date – “nothing serious for years.” We know not much else besides his crush on a boy in his youth and his fling with the Orlesian Art Lady. He is not someone to kiss and tell and that is appreciated. That man has class, and we love him for it.

So - nothing SERIOUS for years. If he hadn’t had ANY relationships in the past years, he would have said so. But what he says is that he did, in fact, have UNSERIOUS relationships in the last few years.

I would read that to be somewhere along the “fwb, lovers, affairs, paramours, companions, a fling, a little romance” line. Something not purely, but mainly physically driven. Someone you like and respect, you can go out and have a good time with, have lots of amazing sex with (b/c he is a living being and has his needs). Spending time with people he liked, was sexually attracted too, but nothing as serious as love. A physical relationship. A little thrill, some fluttering, but never that deep.

Not to say that those situationships would not have been romantic. He is (buried under all that resignation) a deeply romantic man. I am pretty sure he went on nice romantic dates with his previous paramours too. That this is something he just enjoys too much. Treating a companion with some quality time, not just in, but also out of the bedroom.

But after he’d given up on his dreams, he did not have any notion of those flings being more than a “enjoy the moment”. There was never the expectation of deeper feelings, beyond friendship, attraction and/or respect. All those romantic gestures were nothing more than a little bit of “play pretend”. To give himself the illusion of true romance, just for a little time.

Take the fact that you can go a “everything you do is creepy but I still flirt with you and I want you to throw me over that tombstone” and his comment on “the attraction of the forbidden”? This is not a relationship born of mutual respect and deeper feelings but out of purely physical attraction. And he is OK with that.

I want to repeat – Emmrich is very much okay with a casual, sexual affair. He does not require love to have a relationship with someone.

And then think about that Johanna calls Rook specifically his “paramour”. Which is a lover, especially an illicit one. This word was very specifically chosen by Johanna. For various reasons, I would think.

For one, I do believe that it is a dig at his dreams of the eternal flame. It’s a dig at him, that Rook is not his love, but his paramour. A lover for a time. To be parted from soon enough. B/c that silly dream of his, as if it ever would become reality.

Second, I think it is a comment on the way his relationships often went, especially in the past years. Those unserious flings of his. Never to amount to anything substantial.

Did he try to have something serious in the past? Oh yes, for sure. But it never worked out. Then he gave up his dream and just let himself have a good time with people he found to be nice and attractive.

To pick up my point of self-sabotage from my last meta post – I’ve come to a point where I believe Emmrich is a kind of chaser. I know someone like that and it’s so fucking tragic.

Emmrich feels deeply and strongly. When he falls in love with someone it’s a lot of emotion. But at that point it’s all dream, want, wish. As soon as someone returns these feelings - those dreams, wants and wishes become reality. And reality is scary. In this wishful dream about the eternal flame, there is no fear. No fights. No loss. But that is not reality. As soon as it becomes reality, he gets scared. Before, his feelings were no threat, because you can’t lose what you don’t have. Once those feelings are returned, there is a clear possibility of losing, of being lost, of being left behind.

Emmrich is not a chaser because he enjoys the hunt. He is a chaser because being loved by someone is scary. So damn scary. So, he starts to pick fights and is looking for excuses. From being the chaser, he becomes the chased. He is hunted by his fears, and his fight or flight instincts go all flight.

After years of this cycle he gives up. Resigns himself to flings and little romances without even thinking of more. Or so he thinks. Dreams like that don’t die, they just get buried.

And I’d think that there was not many, even of those short term flings, lately. His life revolves around work and Manfred.

Now remember he comments on Rook “showing unexpected interest in a new companion”.

First of all – unexpected.

They are a daring adventurer. He thinks of himself clearly as the more boring one, compared to Rook. He never expected any of those flirts. But he is clearly flattered.

Second – companion.

That was such a weird way of saying “hey do you like me?”. This whole “companion” thing does not scream “I have FEELZ for you/you have FEELZ for me” but rather, “I think you might want to spend some quality time with me”.

The possible answers - dashing good looks, kindness, his way of words.

He feels he is fortunate if Rook thinks him good looking. Hallo, Mr. Professor, sir… Have you looked in the mirror lately? Consider that he is meticulously grooming himself, takes his exercises daily in the morning. That man does not like himself aging. I think it is a reminder of how his pending death is a step closer every day. But it shows, to him, that his efforts of taking care of himself are not in vain. Or maybe it shows him that his age does not matter. Rook finds him attractive despite (or because) of his physical age.

Rooks comment on his very charming way of putting things makes him hope his years behind the lectern have proved useful. Hey *years* behind the lectern. Again, this is a way of saying his age is NOT a problem but a benefit.

If Rook remarks his kindness, he answers “you humble me”. It’s the one answer that does not touch his age/experience/looks. It’s a remark on an innate character trait he possesses. Kindness. His whole demeanor in this option shows he is actually touched. And maybe a bit baffled. He did not expect this, at all. Its like he sees his kindness not as an attractive trait. Which he should. He is nice without TM and its sexy as hell.

The next part is his statement “If your attentions go beyond charming flattery… that would interest me, indeed”. This reads to me not necessarily as “do you have feelings for me” but as “do you just enjoy the flirting, or do you want to do more than flirting?”

And oh boy, does he want to do more than flirting. I want to repeat my earlier statement – this man has given up on love. But some little fling with an exiting young adventure who was constantly, awkwardly flirting with him? Hell, yeah.

(I want to remind you that we were able to have mutually enjoyed flirts with Dorian as fem!Inky. You can flirt with someone and still never want to fuck them. And you are also perfectly able to want more than flirting without having deeper feelings. Like sweet, dump Shepaloo said it so eloquently “Lets bang, okay?”)

Again, I want to pick up a point of my last post, that this is all surface level thoughts. I do believe that their emotional attraction and depth of feelings go deeper, from the start. But how often does it take quite a bit of time to realize one’s own feelings. Especially this wonderful, silly man whose modus operandi is running away.

Now, an interested Rook can answer in an open “lets see where this goes” way. Mirroring his rather open idea of a little romance, a fling, some quality time. Something that does not have to end in an eternal flame, but a simple enjoyment and exploration of the moment.

Rook can also reply with a “I think they do.” – What Rook actually says is “I think they already…”

And conveniently Rooks answer here is cut short by our sweet boy Manfred. They get cut short, no matter what answer you choose, but in this specific case, I am convinced this was very much on purpose. What would the whole sentence have been?

“I think they already go way beyond flattery.” (?!?) Something along those lines. But that goes into danger zone. WAY into danger zone.

If Rook had finished that sentence, at that point in their budding romance? It would have been over before is all started. Too much, too soon. Too much for him, period.

Now we have the hard lock – their sweet romantic moment in the Memorial Gardens. And he is smitten. He fell hook, line, and sinker for his own play pretend. Just a little romance, but that man is falling, fast. (Not that he would admit that to himself).

A beautiful date, all arranged by Emmrich, to spend time with Rook. Because a couple should have a quite moment to get to know each other. I mean there were menu cards with gilded edges, ffs. And, oh yes, they were “lets dig into the feelings”, he said couple. He is falling, falling, falling fast. But it still hasn’t hit him, how deep he has fallen for his darling Rook. Poor Emmrich.

Then a fight, where we really see the wet kitten side of him for the first time. A little wet, feral kitten, hissing at the hand that’s trying to feed it.

Emmrich is lashing out for no good reason (or no good reason for anyone but himself). There is no real confidence there but a desperate act of pretending. An iron (slipping) grip, trying to control himself and the narrative. Shoulders squared, back straight, an arrogant stance, raised chin, turned half-away from Rook, and a condescending way of talking to Rook.

Like I said in my last post – he is working his way up to breaking up with them. And he tells himself it’s like ripping off a bandaid. Be strong and confident and say what you have to say, and they will see the wisdom of that.

It’s only that, they don’t. Because there IS NO wisdom in what he is doing right now. They don’t take his bullshit but throw it back at him. They don’t accept his mock excuses.

Look at him here, how he looks down ON them. I can’t recall any other time he looks down on Rook, despite him being a tall king.

Especially the route where Rook throws it in his face that he DOES in fact love them. Speak what he can’t even think.

“I can’t… At my…”

“I can’t love you. At my age…” Why not? Does he not deserve love, just because he is a bit older? It’s just heartbreaking how he views himself.

And again, he lashes out.

“I am perfectly serious.” So is Rook.

“One of us has to pay attention to these things.” As if Rook is not paying attention. They got to the meat and bones of his problem in just a few seconds.

No matter what route you go here, the gist is the same. He is scared shitless, treats Rook like a child, and goes on how the is the only one thinking the important thoughts.

When Rook in reality way ahead of him. They thought about it and came to the conclusion that being with Emmrich is a really good idea.

Rook knew they were falling for someone older than them. (Even if that age difference is just a decade, with a mid-40s Rook.) They knew it, and still went with it. They are not a child who is too inexperienced and stupid to make decisions about their (love) life.

But now, here, at this moment? Emmrich treats them with disdain. Like a silly little person, who does not think things through. He holds himself above them. Physically and mentally. They are too young, he knows better.

And not once has he done that before. He always treated them as an equal. He follows them into the most dangerous situations ffs. He trusts them with his life in a fight against would-be gods.

All that fear and anger at himself that reaches a new high get redirected at Rook.

The next day they are off to Tearstone Island. That night must have been hell. For both of them. But its going to get much much worse.

In any case, Emmrich seems to have come to some conclusion or realization, because on that island? He apologizes.

They both did react very emotionally, but he came at Rook with superiority and, to a certain degree, dishonesty. All fueled by his fear. So that he is the one to take the first step and apologize to Rook instead of doubling down? An important step. As I said in my last post – he NEEDED to be called out. A sweet and nice counterargument would not have had the impact Rooks raw an honest emotion hat on him.

Emmrich “Rook? Darling? I wanted to say-“

Rook “Yeah, about that argument…”

Emmrich “(Sighs) It’s no time to apologize, is it?”

And here we have the most heartbreaking line, in hindsight. “We’ll talk back home, Emmrich. I promise.”

(Narrator: but they would, in fact, not talk about it back home. Because someone would not go home.)

One fight and weeks of horror later, they find themselves in a private crypt and finally they do more than share a kiss.

Now - to the point I originally wanted to explore with this post – is this in fact their first time? (I am sorry, but my brain is a circle and nothing makes sense)

Let’s look at what evidence we have from the cut-scene.

Rook did not know he is an early riser.

That leaves two possibilities:

They never had sex up until that point.

They did have sex, but never spent the night together.

Now what does that mean?

This depends a lot on your personal Rook and how they feel about sex in general. If Rook wants to wait, or is not ready, he will absolutely accept and respect that.

But for the sake of this analysis lets go with the idea that Rook is not opposed to sex at an earlier date.

They never slept with each other

Why? He clearly was not opposed to casual relationships in the past. What would hold him back now? Especially if you recall Laces comment about them moving fast. Why not jump into the bedroom?

Now my first crack theory is that they get interrupted, like every time. (Rook interrupted The Dread Wolf, and now he cursed them to always be interrupted when they want to have some private time)

But now, in all seriousness, maybe it’s just that part of him DOES realize that this goes beyond a very unserious relationship. That they both have deeper feelings, that spark of something greater, something beautiful.

So, he holds back. He does not give his all. He is charming, he is flirty, he takes Rook on dates. But it’s all very technical. Very performative. Yes, he is a very romantic man, yes he enjoys those moments. But there is always a feeling of control.

Those moments when you see him let go a bit (that kiss beneath the eternal lovers, “I think, sometimes you indulge me”), are so beautiful and you glimpse a bit of the man behind those walls.

He has a tell, you see. (I am telling you about it further down)

But generally, he feels very much in control of himself. And to lie with Rook? To go all the way? Too dangerous. Who knows what happens in that sweet moment after la petit mort? What secrets would his lips spill?

2. They slept together, but did not spent the night together.

They do have sex, but sleep alone in their own beds. Casual sex is fine, but to fall asleep in each other’s arms? Too much. Too real. Sex okay, but sleepy post coitus cuddly? Woah, slow down your horses.

So, they have sex, preferably in Rooks bed. First, does he even have a bed? Second, it’s way easier to leave Rooks bed after the act, than throwing them out afterwards.

Oh, and how many reasons he has. Rook needs their uninterrupted sleep; they are stressed and must have proper rest. He wants to get some reading done before he retires. He needs to look after Manfred.

Oh, he is a bad liar, for sure. He is lying more to himself than to Rook. I would think that (if this is the build up to their fight) Rook realizes that he is giving poor excuses.

And the sex itself? A technical 10/10. He knows his anatomy, after all. But his heart is not really in it. He can’t allow himself to. He holds back, keeps a tight lid on his emotions. They both are well spent afterwards, but like so much else, it’s performative. Technically very well executed, but rarely do you see HIM, the real him, behind all that performance. Whenever something slips through, he reels back and closes up.

And then we are in that crypt. Rook was gone for weeks. The last thing they said that night before were words of anger. Rook called him out on his feelings and from that point on there was no possible way of lying to himself anymore. Those feelings were there. They were real. Rooks feelings were real. And those weeks spent in desperation, trying to  get them back? Those walls came crashing down.

His true face, when all the walls are gone? You see that face when Rook leads him to the coffin. There is no pretense anymore. No performance. Just him, and all his love for Rook. The amount of emotion the animation team packed into those short moments in the cutscene? Mindblowing. Who ever crafted that expression on his face? They are the GOAT. I watch this part of that scene on repeat, and it never gets old.

So, I told you about how he has a tell, yes? Okay, two actually, but we all know surprised pikachu Emmrich. In that last scene it is resolved in the most beautiful way.

He looks down, when something touches him deeply, when he goes into his feels.

A few (way to many) examples:

And the worst wet kitten look? After the fight, when Rook leaves.

Its a look of shame. Of hurt. This man is hurting so badly.

Now here at the end we have that moment when Rook leads him to the coffin. His face turns down, like before. But here he looks up at Rook. He does not turn his eyes away but looks directly at them. Ahhh my heart.

Now, think about the fact that ROOK is leading in that moment?

In those moments where Rook leads or startles him (or is simply annoying enough so that the truth slips out), you see the most emotion from him.

Rooks flirting startles him, and he has a pikachu face reaction every time.

Their first kiss? Rook leans against the monument, and leans up, telling him without words that NOW is the time for a kiss. How can he not go for a second kiss?

That moment when Rook calls Manfred “our son”? He very conveniently ignores the word “OUR” and goes in defense mode over the word “son”. But called out on his feelings for Manfred? How can he deny them? He has tears in his voice when he says how he would not exchange this moment for anything? A real, deep emotion.

In their fight Emmrich is again all technical, all performance, so logical (or what he sells himself as logic). But Rook wrestles that moment from him and takes lead, calls him out on his bullshit.

In the crypt Rook pulls him up into a kiss and then leads him to the coffin, guiding him, taking him with them.

Most of the other times he takes the lead, very much in control. But the most emotions you get from him, are those times Rooks leads, when he lets go of this tight control over himself, or he is startled in to a reaction. For all the age difference that is played up in their relationship, in the important moments Rook is the one who guides. And he follows where they lead.

Those little moans he makes? If they did have sex before, I bet he did not make those sounds then. Where they did have some incredible sex, now they are making love. Open, vulnerable. He gives in.

And then they fall asleep together. Skin to skin, arms and legs intertwined. Their hands caressing, no sound but that of their heartbeats and soft breaths. Pure and utter contentment. In that moment nothing exists but them. Can you imagine that moment he woke up? The amount of emotions he must have felt then? This need to speak those little words? Those huge little words. He does not say them, not yet. But he is almost ready.  

Finally, they stand there, on the battlefield of Elgar’nans madness. And he tells Rook. The last wall falls. Gives the most precious thing he can give to anyone.

“I love you.”

[kopykunoichi]

Refresher for the people still confused about this...

In a galaxy far, far away, EVERYONE has midi-chlorians in their blood. The Force resides in all living things. It binds the whole galaxy together. Midi-chlorians are what allow beings to commune with the Force. The more midi-chlorians you have, the more potential you have to RESPOND TO and WIELD the Force. But notice that Asajj couches her statement with the line that those with a higher m-count were "believed" to be more capable of wielding the Force. There's a correlation, but it's not necessarily the only factor (see Sabine Wren).

This is the moment where the clones literally become stand-ins for the fans.

"What? If you can use the Force, you're a Jedi!"

No. If you can use the Force, you can use the Force. To use it as a Jedi uses it, you have to train as a Jedi. To use it as a Sith uses it, you have to train as a Sith. To use it like a Nightsister, you have to train as a Nightsister. Or you can get some rudimentary instruction and decide how you want to use it.

Jango Fett didn't have a high m-count, so his clones didn't either. But Omega and the rest of the Batch were special cases. As Cut said, the Kaminoans create with a purpose. Their deviations were intentional. Hunters abilities have always suggested he had a higher m-count than the others. But Omega's ability to perceive things before they happen (her bad feelings are nearly always spot on) and her affinity with animals have always been hints that her m-count is a little higher.

(Will update with screen grabs when I get them)

At the end of the episode, Omega asks Ventress if she has a high m-count.

Ventress: *looking at her nails* From what I've seen...no.

Omega: Then why is the Empire after me?

Ventress: Believe it or not, I don't know everything. But seeing as how a high m-count would make you a target, consider yourself lucky.

Omega: But I'm already a target.

Wrecker: Don't worry about it, kid. We'll figure it out. C'mon, let's get some chow.

Omega: *sigh* Thanks for trying.

Once they're out of earshot...

Crosshair: You're lying.

Ventress: About which part?

Hunter: You tell us.

Ventress: If Omega did have that potential, she'd have to be trained. Which would mean leaving you behind.

Hunter: That's not happening.

Ventress: What you want is irrelevant. The fact is, the Empire is after her, and they won't stop. If I were you, I'd leave this place. You're not as safe as you think you are. Our business is done.

Crosshair: I still can't figure out which side you're on.

Ventress: My own.

Okay, so Ventress is clearly not telling the truth about the m-count, which we know, because we've already seen Omega's charts. I really don't understand why people keep taking Ventress at her word here. We know better, and so do Crosshair and Hunter. My guess is that she's trying to protect Omega because she knows firsthand what it's like to be taken from your family and trained as a young girl.

We know that when Omega was at Tantiss, she was receiving transfusions of blood with midi-chlorians the same as all the other clones (harvested from the dead Jedi they're undoubtedly holding in the vault). They were taking her blood samples, but Nala Se kept throwing them away because she knew Omega would retain the higher midi-chlorian levels and she didn't want Hemlock to know that. The Emperor needs a clone that will maintain a high m-count so he can eventually get himself a new body. We know he does get that body, but not for decades - presumably because a) he never gets Omega, and b) the Batch is gonna take the fight to them at Tantiss and blow up their entire supply of midi-chlorian donors. Think about it - they're still working on Project Necromancer in The Mandalorian (24 years after The Bad Batch), but their resources are severely limited. The Empire has been all but wiped out, the Emperor is hiding out on Exegol, Dr. Pershing is clearly no Hemlock since he keeps killing his test subjects, and Grogu seems to be the only m-count donor they can get their hands on. The Emperor's cloned body is also deteriorating rapidly in TRoS, which suggests that even 25 years after The Mandalorian, he STILL hasn't figured out the right formula for cloning himself (which is good news for Grogu and Omega).

Which brings us back to the question, "Is Omega Force sensitive?"

The answer is, "yes", she is sensitive to the Force due to her elevated m-count. We've seen this all along. Hunter most likely is, too, and maybe some of the other Bad Batchers, to varying degrees. Tech could riot race, which takes incredible reflexes. Hemlock said that Crosshair didn't have a high m-count, and we don't know where Wrecker's abilities stem from. Omega can't wield the Force because she is untrained, but the potential is there. A person's aptitude to wield the Force seems to be strongly correlated to their m-count, but we've seen others with low aptitude eventually open the door to the Force with years of training and a decent dose of impending doom (we see this clearly with Sabine in Ahsoka, but it was also a topic in Legends).

Omega being Force sensitive doesn't mean that she has to leave her brothers. She can choose to pursue her training or not. She'd also have to find someone willing to train her. I'm not convinced Ventress is looking to take on any apprentices at the moment, but she could possibly connect Omega to Quinlan Voss (imagine the trouble those two would get up to).

But I don't think Omega will choose that path. One, it would just make her a bigger target. Two, I don't see her prioritizing power over family. She's a clone, and clones are ALL about family. They're Mando coded, not Jedi coded. Screw the space Buddhist lifestyle - clones parade their attachments around like trophies. Omega goes around collecting attachments like most kids collect rocks..."Hello, stranger trying to kill me, let's be besties."

[mistystepmoonbeam]

Reborn into BG3: Chapter 12

You're reborn into BG3 with only the memory of your past life. Now you're Tav's companion on his journey, and must learn about yourself as much as your new reality.

Chapter 12: You take a walk through the cellar in the blighted village. When the others catch up you say something that freaks out Astarion.

Word count: 2.6K

A/N: I was undecided if I wanted to post this >.> But what the hells.

You’re on your own, now.  Just for a bit, thanks to Wyll convincing Tav you don’t need to be watched at all times.  And with no more goblins between you and camp you’re able to be left alone to sort out…yourself, you guess. 

You didn’t throw up again after leaving Ethel’s, but you may have done some crying as you walked in circles around the forest by the village.  If it wasn’t for having to face the others you’d have run back to camp, pulled scratch into your tent and bawled your eyes out.

Though you promised to go back to camp you find yourself in the blighted village.  You can't read the sign at the entrance but you know it says Moonhaven, and you try to memorise what you think the letters might be.  

A little stop can’t hurt, you think.  Anything to avoid a conversation about what happened.  And you can collect the herbs that are in the cellar, along with anything else that might be useful.  You take a small swig of the health potion to get the taste of bile out of your mouth and then stash it into your bag, since it’s now nearly empty after leaving your personal hoard at camp, and head down into the cellar.  Whatever objects had been clinking in there remain a mystery–you still haven’t looked inside and won’t even as you add more to the pack.

As much as you had wanted to abandon your staff you took it with you.  Necromancy or not, it could bludgeon someone should the need arise.   And apparently it can cast light in a small radius around you because it does just that when you make it to the bottom of the ladder.  

With a slight purple tint, the staff lets out an eerie glow giving you just enough light to see by.  There’s a small buzz of energy through your body that you assume is the Weave.  Not wanting to question things anymore, you get to work prying open the barrels and crates and find the herbs you’re there for.  You circle around and pick up a couple health potions, a couple mystery potions to be identified later, and find the hidden lever.  You hesitate before pushing it down, but curiosity gets the better of you in the end.  You watch the shelves move and step into the secret cave.

Now that you’re aware of the phantom limb and what it has been reaching for, you can feel the dead weigh on your mind.  You know where they are, kind of in the same way you could navigate your room in the dark.  They’re permanent objects stuck in place, and should you so desire, you can reach out and move them. 

“I guess I’m a necromancer,” you mutter as you pluck a bone cap out of the ground.  “Awesome.  Couldn’t be a wizard or a sorcerer or…wait, am I one of those?”

Wyll seemed to make it sound like a necromancer was separate, but it kind of was a subcategory of wizard.

You straighten and keep moving, turning the corner and finding the cavern.  You ignore everything there and head for the mirror that waits beyond the wooden planks.  

When you step up to it the staff's eyes glow violet again, and the mirror slides open.  You sigh.  “Necromancer it is, then.”

But…maybe there’s a clue to your identity in this place if you’re powerful or rich enough?  You move inside and find the lab on the right, the paperwork scattered about, and logbooks.  Or you assume they’re the logbooks—you can’t read, after all.  Instead of flipping through them you head to the exit and find the rusty key on the shelves.  Soon enough you’re standing before the first trap that lights the braziers, and risk the step.  The room is filled with light as the fires blaze to life.  

The Necromancy of Thay is just beyond the barred door, and this time you can hear it.  It whispers to you, quiet little voices that speak in a language you don’t know.  They’re distant, but like with the bodies of the dead you know where the book is.  

It takes some strength to push the rusty key into the padlock on the door, and with some force you manage to turn it.  The whispers quiet.

“A well hidden laboratory, wonder what it’s doing down here?”

You turn to find Tav, Wyll and Astarion walking into the lab.  He still has both eyes, at least.  After he outed Astarion you thought he might take the hag’s deal. 

“How did you find this place?” you ask.  

He only offers you a shrug, eyes darting around the lab in search of loot.

You relent,  “I found the hatch and started looking around.”

Tav smiles and rests his hands on the back of his head.  Maybe he’s just happy you aren’t ignoring him again, or running away.  By the way his tail flicks at the air you think that might be it, and the reason he’s being quieter than usual.

“I followed your tracks,” Wyll reveals.  Well, he did hunt down all sorts of beings as the Blade of Frontiers.  “What have you found?”

“Creepy book,” you reply.  They approach you, surveying the book and everything else in the small cage.  

“Trapped, most likely,” Astarion says.  He steps forward carefully and does something to the stand the book is on.  It’s so quick you don’t have time to peer around him and get a good look at what “disarm trap” really looks like.

Astarion picks up the book, turning it in his hands.  They begin to discuss what it could be when you remember the bracers that are down here.  You slip away without a thought and find the nearby gilded chest, poking it before opening it.  There are traps here, who knows what else could be rigged to explode?

When you open the chest you feel a wave of magic—Weave—come from it.  It’s different from the warmth of the healing magic, somehow sharper, more demanding.  You pull the bracers out and put them in your bag, nearly overflowing with loot now.  

You turn to rejoin the group only to nearly run into Astarion on the level below you.  You stumble back and catch yourself.  “I think Shadowheart was right about putting a bell on you.”

He gives you a smirk, genuine, your surprise.  A thought occurs but rather than ask it you bite the inside of your right cheek.  

“You are just full of surprises, aren’t you?” Astarion asks.  You don’t know what he’s referring to, considering the amount of surprises you’ve had lately.  He goes on, waving one hand in the air.  “Filthy rich, can’t read, enchanted clothing, and now, a necromancer.”

“To be fair, I don’t know anything about all of that.”  You try not to sigh too hard thinking of what Auntie Ethel had said.

“I wonder what other secrets that little head holds…” he muses.  It’s more to himself than you.  “And you killed on my behalf, I’m flattered.”

“I didn’t mean to, though.”

“I know, that’s what makes it all the more entertaining.  You, the picture of innocence, murdered a man for a vampire spawn.  Ha!”

You furrow your brow, unsure how you could be considered the picture of innocence.   But maybe that was only compared to those Astarion knew.  It was your first murder…and only murder!  Not first.  Just the one, and only, murder.

Yes, you are rather innocent in the terms of this world.

Astarion pinches your cheek between two fingers, bringing you back to the conversation.  “Don’t think this makes us even.”

“Okay,” you say when he lets go.  You rub at where he’d pinched, shocked he touched you so casually.  And not just that…his fingers are warm.  “Uhm…”

Astarion quirks a brow.  “Yes?”

“Can I ask you a question?  About being a vampire.”

He leans his weight into one foot, crossing his arms as he eyes you warily.  “I suppose.”

“Why are you warm?  Shouldn’t you be, like, cold?  Or room temperature?”

Astarion, for all his acting, is easy to read.  His eyes widen as he steps back, arms uncrossing and held out before him like he’s trying to catch his balance.  “What did you say?”

“Sorry, is that rude?”  You shift on your heels.  “I just thought vampires would be cold, with the…being dead, and all.”

“We are,” Astarion confirms, voice grim. 

“But your skin is warm.”

“I assure you, it is not.”

“I literally just had your hand on my cheek.  You’re warm.”

“I think I know what temperature my own body is!”  Astarion huffs and walks away.  You notice the bag that rests on his back has the weight of the book within.  

You move down the steps as he paces, annoyed.  

“What’s wrong, Astarion?” Tav asks.

You answer, “I asked him why—”

But you don’t get to finish it because Astarion wraps one hand over your mouth and the other on the back of your head, successfully silencing you.  He says, “Nothing!  Nothing at all.  Just discussing what reward I might offer for valiantly saving me from a monster hunter.”

You roll your eyes.  But having his skin on yours again confirms his heat.  He feels like a living, breathing human.  Why did that freak him out?  When he releases you he gives you a hard stare that’s easy to understand.  Shut.  Up.

Wyll and Tav watch you, waiting to see what you say but you just shrug.  “It’s not that important.”

Wyll frowns, but lets it go.  For now.  Tav bites into his bottom lip but keeps silent.

Astarion’s words remind you of something you’d like to forget.  The Gur.  You can’t even recall his name right now.  Maybe you should have tried harder to keep Astarion away, or convinced them to not go there at all.  But you didn’t, and there was no reset now.

You watch Tav flit about the basement collecting loot.  It does little to help your mood, but at the very least you take comfort in the fact that they didn’t call you a monster for what you did.   You promise to keep better watch of those chords in your head, the little phantom strings that connect to the dead around you.  Because avoiding the dead is an impossible task, at least as long as you travel with Tav and everyone.

When you return to the surface the others are waiting by the well.  You spot your bag of gold on Gale’s shoulder and hurry to take it from him, but he holds up his hands to stop you.  “What kind of man would I be if I let an injured person carry so much weight?”

You’re about to argue but think better of it when the world sways a little.  You manage to stay still, probably, and thank him instead.  

“Oh, right,” you say, pulling the magic bracers from your other pack.  “I thought you might want these.”

Gale takes the bracers.  It’s then that you notice the bags under his eyes are especially dark—and you realize he hasn’t told anyone about his condition.  As far as you know.   The little lines that travel up the side of his neck and towards his left eye are darker, too.

Your thumbnail scratches at your staff as you wait for him to say something.  Anything.  Literally anything would be good right now because it’s been ten whole seconds of him staring at the bracers and that’s long enough of him being silent that the others are now looking.

“Gale?” Tav asks.

It jolts him out of his stupor.  “Yes?  Oh, yes.”  He looks at you.  “Thank you.  Perhaps there’s something I must admit…”

Gale goes through his first speech about the orb, and then his second.  It’s a lot to take in in one go, if you haven’t heard it all before.  At the end he says, “I understand if you want to part ways—this orb, for lack of a better word, is immensely dangerous.”

Tav asks, “Why?”

All eyes turn to him, his head tilted with a smile on his face.  

“Because I could explode,” Gale says slowly.  

“So?”  Tav points to each companion as he adds, “Shar worshipper, warlock turned devil, angry githyanki, infernal engine that could explode, vampire, necromancer with memory loss, and I’m sorry Halsin we’ve barely just met, but…uh, old?”

There are worse things to be said, about all of you.  

“Plus we’ve all got worms in our heads,” Karlach says.  “Oh, well except for…”

Gale lets out a small laugh.  “Thank you.  All of you.  Now, even I’m getting tired of my own voice so shall we get going?”

The group begins their journey back to the goblin camp. 

“I am not angry,” Lae’zel says, her voice almost a hiss.  “At least not at any of you.  The mindflayers, however…”

Halsin walks next to her, asking questions about the tadpoles and their magic, while Astarion and Wyll follow, then Shadowheart, Karlach, and Tav.  You and Gale are last to leave the village.

“You knew, didn’t you?” Gale asks. 

You hesitate too long before answering.  “No.”

“You are a terrible liar.”  He keeps his voice low as you walk, putting the bracers on his wrists.  “But I consider that a good thing.”

You chew the inside of your cheek, unsure of what to say.  They seem to consider your knowledge to be some kind of deadly premonition, so maybe you should lean into that.  “I can’t really explain it.”

Gale smiles but it’s weak.  

“We’ll find lots of stuff for you to eat,” you assure him.  “Or absorb, I mean.  Like those!”

You point at the bracers.  He holds them closer to where you know the orb is tattooed on his chest, breathing deeply. 

“And if we can’t find anything there’s always my boots, or coat.”

“You would offer me those?”  Gale looks you up and down like he had when you’d first met.

You shrug.  “Of course.  Oh, do you need them now?  Because I just need to sit down to get them—”

You lift a foot as you walk, nearly stumbling to the ground when Gale stops you.  “No, no, I’m fine for now.   I am just—very grateful to have such a generous companion.”

“It’s not really generosity if it’s something you need though,” you argue.  

Gale smiles gently but moves on.  “So what’s this I hear about you being a necromancer?”

Whatever emotion crosses your face makes him pull back and try to change the subject.  Regret, maybe, or pain.  You can’t focus on controlling your features with so much going on.   “I don’t want to be…that.  I can feel…I can feel where they are—like something is dragging behind me.  It’s heavy, but easy.  I don’t want it to be easy.”

“Just because something comes easily to you doesn’t mean you need to do it.”

You look up at him, unaware your gaze has been on the ground this whole time.  “But I did it by accident.  I can’t—I can’t exactly control it.”

“That’s no problem to learn,” Gale says, as if moving the dead was no harder than riding a bike.  “Learn to control it, and don’t use it.  Though if you can move a boar in your sleep you must have some considerably…powerful benefactors in Baldur’s Gate to deal with.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t mean to frighten you,” he says, “but if you can use magic without the intent, without the movements or incantations, then you hold a great power.  And that is something that doesn’t go unnoticed by the wealthy elite.”

Chosen.  Like Gale had once been of Mystra you too could be the preferred mortal of a god.

“Meaning there may be some unhappy people if I don’t use magic.”

“It’s only one possibility of many,” Gale assures you.  “And until we know more I am happy to help you control your magic.  I’m told I’m an excellent teacher.”

You twirl the staff between your fingers and laugh.  “It would be an honour to learn from you.”

Taglist:

@half-poison-and-half-hope @sanscas @hotmesshobbit @godoffuckedupcats @thequeen-oni @terrenuserinj @straewberrysoda @theomnipotentfox @becksynthetic @quitecontrary-to-mary @furblrwurblr @mega-trash-cringe @fandomsbookclub @dontneedbiologytoadopt @pebble-bb @v3lv3tvampir3 @mrow-kat @jeneralmischief @notsaelty @runaway-17 @aoirohi @tinswhimsy @xxgrimripp3rxx @kemonocat-blog @thetiredtoad0-0 @sleepydang @iwannabealocalcryptid @troutberryspoon @betwixttheweave @the-pale-elfs-love

[ibunyang]

pirate au go brr. sorry quick lore drop about this au

so it starts with moleswift(DUH...) as pirates they were first mate and his captain (swifts) captain, they were probs looking for something to make them immortal idk fountain of youth pirates of the Caribbean core, they find it they drink from the fountain and mike dies almost instantly compared to norton and he has to get traumatized to see him die in his arms

Norton realizes he is immortal under the full moon like he's full skelly under the light, so he's just actually a dead man walking. Mike's dead tho but he gets another form of immortality (constant reincarnation)

Anyway, norton and every iteration of Mike throughout 500 years

< soul and sparrow - i think this was his ronald of ness era where he was still trying to hide the fact he was immortal so he kept changing his identity, the first ever time he met another mike that found in a barrel at like 19 years old.. maybe idk, sparrow grew part of his Golden Rose crew, during the whole time… and mike looked up to him as his captain.. until smth more… Ronald projected swifts the most on sparrow, and honestly ended up having to leave him when sparrow was realizing that norton wasnt aging at all since they met, he had to leave him bc he was having an existential crisis about being immortal and not aging at all anymore no matter how he tried to hide or ignore it, so he left sparrow (and the crew, basically fakes his own death.) this is when he just embraces his immortality at this point, after being kind of a recluse for a while

< cocoa and soul - maybe 100 years after sparrow, and hes given up trying to fake his identity, he has the face paint and everything, hes mostly known as soul now.. cocoa is the owner of an inn and he meets him every time he docks at his towns port, hes nice to him kind.. much softer than sparrow or swifts, but still as cocky and confident in himself (he notes that this mike smokes) cocoa lets him stay over whenever he wants to (hes trying not to get attached to this mike , so hes thankful for the fact that hes not a pirate or a sailor, just someone he can come home to any time, his light house per say.) he didnt have to do a painful goodbye with him, just a letter and the occasional sack of gold and jewels to spoil his favorite chef.

<pomegranate mike, and soul honestly pomegranate was probably part of a traveling merchant boat that got destroyed at sea, luckily souls crew was around to fish them out of the water, this mike tho wasnt interested in anything that he had to offer preferring the life of being free with his guild at sea or anywhere, he loved to entertain but staying with soul probably felt like a cage. he probably asked soul to take them to the nearest port, hes was a nice equally fun mike, but wasnt interested or too scared to commit to soul. (Wahh da one that got away) soul respects him, of course, but it cant be denied he was hurt over this. and he grew a little bitter because of it.

<cunning and soul.. - at this point 300 years passed already…pomegranate was the last mike he found and he didn't stay with him long and let him go without fighting because thats mikes choice man WHATEVER anyway, this is nortons sad emo boy era or as i like calling it weezer norton era. he became relentless, ruthless and his name was known through the seas, hes travelled the world at this point and his immortality has never failed him yet. he learned magic from patricia at one point, and now he has a crew of ghosts he necromanced into life to man his ship,- really kicking up the visuals in my head here but he has a literal ghost ship, its a physical ship but everyone on board is probably a ghost or a zombie (WHATEVERR MY AU MY WORLD BUILDING I SAY THEY EXIST.) anyway (onepiece reference i guess) when he saw cunning in one of the meetings for idk pirates or smth, tagging along with hollow (also a pirate bitch on his ass for the past years hes annoying as hell), he ws down right pISSED. (he hasnt seen a single mike reincarnation in 300 years, hes tried sleeping around getting over him, but NOTHING really compares to his soulmate.)

BUT anyway basically, in this au Hollow is looking for Alice (eternity whatever) and Soul knows where she is so he makes a bargain, he'll give Hollow Alice in exchange he gives him of of his most trusted men. (Points at cunning.) IF he gives him Alice in a pretty little bow for him, he can have cunning for himself.

Cunning is like "pft. Yeah right. You're not gonna find her before we do." And soul is just smiling (horny depressed and has been blue balled for years at this point, u don't know what this guy can do) so he just smiles.

Hollow, surprisingly agrees. "OKAY if u find her before we do I'll give my end of the bargain." Cunning is a little upset at this, but he's determined he'll find Alice before soul. (eermmm)

Soul wasn't lying about knowing where Alice was tho, so he kidnaps her and takes her to hollow. Like a sack of potatoes.

"Gimme gimme." smth like that and mike is so distraught about this he's crying, verbatim; " I don't want to be that bag of bones property- I'm not property " but he's already at souls shoulder and he's kicking and screaming. He's such a bitch in this au I LOVEE BITCH ASS CUNNING WHINEY WHORE. nortons kind of an ass here and hes sort of using him as a way to distress the last 300 years away. Before he spoils him with everything hes gotten (for mike.)

So it's just rough hostage core treatment for the first couple of months until he starts using the money he's been hoarding on mike to spoil him.

But anyway, after cunning dies in idk when, 🤷‍♂️anyway when he dies kay the next one and final one is quinlan, he's an immortal vamp/witch and hes the only mike who remembers every mike reincarnations memories, he knows that soul is out there looking for him but he doesn't care about that rn, in this life he's looking for his mom, and ignoring souls horny whale calling in the back of his mind until they inevitably cross paths BEC they are SOULLMATESS AUGRGRHSHAHAGGZ In my head the way they meet went like this "Mole."

soul looking at him in surprise bec ever since someone misheard his name being soul and he grew tired of correcting people its mole, he hasn't heard that name in years. he wasn't even sure if this was his Mike, he doesn't have the blue eyes he used to have they were more green/gold… and each mike he's met always had swifts eyes. So thats why he's like emo. Do u get it anyway, this is their reunion in the middle of an pub that cocoa bean used to run, they standing in front of each other and quin almost looks too relaxed when their EYEESS MEEETTT FUCKKK anyway, "Swift?" and theres just that LOOK thats unmistakably mikes on his face that mole just couldnt help but take him into his arms like a the sad depressed man he is. They kiss and they start sailing together forever until they turn to ashes.

THE ENDD

[theoraclej]

well, that was bitterly disappointing to the depths of my soul.

yes, I'm talking about Tech.

he deserved better. the BATCH deserved better. OMEGA deserved better.

I don't like the way they basically just erased any and all grief for Tech except for a couple of fucking off-hand mentions that barely whetted the appetite for more of the only character I really identified with

because I'm the info dumping autistic guy in my irl groups

and to see him shuffled off in the manner they used was a fucking insult

and to be teased about it by the show creators

or worse, harassed by the bad lot of Star Wars fans

and to kill off their autistic guy who DEFINITELY had chemistry and the first hints of flirty bonding with a Black woman is a bad look, v bad look

imo they botched the whole finale, not just the Tech thing because like look:

I guess this zillo beast is just gonna live on that planet now, instead of getting involved in the story they had it fuck off to the jungle - what

CX-2? who was he? too bad we'll never know because he was dropped before he was identified

it was shot so dark, everything was hard to see, and mind you my television set is especially tuned for it to NOT be dark because I hate that shit, I am going to be forced to watch it again despite not wanting to so I can listen to the audio descriptions and better understand the fights

they totally dropped Omega's force sensitivity stuff, like I wanted to know more about that, and about the other kids, will they even be safe? cause we know the empire keeps stealing force sensitive kids

speaking of those kids, what even was the point? the research was destroyed yet we know project necromancer is eventually successful or maybe they're retconning that too, who knows, all the rules are off the table and nothing matters

writing was inconsistent for an episode meant to be important

Crosshair did not deserve to have his hand cut off. I know prosthetics are "easier" and "more accessible" in this universe but also I don't give a fuck, just insult to injury and more, this man has suffered enough from the moment they jacked his chip up to 11

back to Tech: they spent so much time being cute little shits about him that his return seemed inevitable, as I watched the season I kept counting down time left for him to show up, and I had hopes all the way through until the first fade to black, only to be bitterly reminded of his death with the goggles in Omega's ship

--

two highlights I did enjoy - Omega and Hunter at the end, making me wonder if there will be a show about Omega set during the rebellion or if she'll show up in The Mandalorian or Ahsoka

Nala Se killing the shit out of rampart as she herself died, thank you Nala Se

but overall UGH, I will be tender from this one for awhile, I almost want to cancel Disney+ until I feel able to watch Star Wars stuff again

might write some fix-it fic, I'm too hurt right now tho

I'm commiserating with the rest of you who seem to have much the same reaction to this disaster of a finale

so yeah, we all deserved better, fictional folks and real folks and zillo beasts alike

[alexissara]

Sapphic Games List Summer 2024

Welcome to the Upcoming Sapphic Games List Summer 2024. This is a series where I the divine goddess of the lesbians grace the video game information I painstakingly researched onto you my humble sapphic audience. This is not a review series or a series of pitches but a best guess series with some amount of impressions and details to give you an idea of games you might get to see yourself represented in if your a person who wants sapphic romance in their life. These are upcoming games so I really can’t promise their quality, the details, and even games with clear cut queer romance could idk pull a shocking homophobic ending or something so remember this is based just on trailers, demos, previews, interviews, and me asking questions to developers. These games are still in development, things can change and some of these are just strong guess although I try to make my reasoning make sense or put it in high probability rather than any other section.  You can check out the last two ones I did of these here and here.

I am making this before whatever Nintendo Direct in June happens, I attempted to wait it out but they hadn’t announced it by the 14th so I decided to simply wrap up this article. To that end I may do a quick extra addition with a few more games as I keep digging, which I am always doing plus whatever has potential from there if there is anything new. 

It takes a lot of research to make these so if you’d like to send any support at all my way Patreon and Ko-fi are the best ways to help me keep making these while I work on making my own lesbian art for sapphics of all kinds to enjoy badass sapphics. 

Action Lesbians

Nova Hearts 

Nova hearts is a magical girl dating sim RPG. While a bit closer to a Visual Novel then say a persona game Nova Hearts still has solid evolving RPG combat paired with social sim mechanics that grow relationships between your main character and the cast both in the party and outside of it.  It's really cute and you can play the first chapter of the game yourself for free with Nova Hearts: The Spark.

Food Devils 

This might be more of a Make Your Own Gay but given the roster has 3 women and 2 men plus an avatar of your chosen gender it’s pretty hard but I guess possible to make it where the game ends in all MF pairings. That said I have a strong feeling that there will be some degree of canon queerness outside of player choice given the game has chosen to default to the female avatar and the main romance they showcase is her romance with another woman. It's an SRPG with base building and it seems like romances will go beyond the devils too and give the player some options to romance maids and butlers as well thanks to kickstarter goals being met. It seems like it's going to have like an interesting twist on some coz vibes of cooking food and romancing hotties. 

Sword of the Necromancer: Resurrection

A remake of an amazing Lesbian Roguelike game is in the works and set to be released probably pretty close to when this goes up. You play as sword Lesbian Tama who is willing to do anything to save Koko who eas tragically killed recently. You gain The Sword Of The Necromancer and use that to revive monsters and fight through the dungeon to gain enough power to revive Koko. 

Sword Of The Necromancer: Revenant

The original intended game from Sword of the Necromancer: Resurrection, Revenant adds a man to the fold which, yes boo, tomatoes, tomatoes [or at least it seems to] but it keeps our main two adorable lesbians in the plot after their happy ending and brings them into the fold in this new chaotic story remaining main characters. Spoilers for the above game I guess, the lesbians are unburied in one of the possible endings and this game follows that.  We'll have to see how it ends up working but Tama and Koko both seem to be playable in it and so it seems like you'll just have a little party to use in the plot. 

Abyss  X Zero

This game is getting a gay benefit of the doubt. The creators are queer, their last game is queer, I can assume somehow it'll be baked into the story of A and Z probably them being gay for each other despite them both needing to fight the other.  The games a 3d metroidvania with a super nice art style, some level of customization and two Playable characters. They look great and the game looks great, very cool action and really brimming with style. 

BRIGHT RED SONG OF LOVE

A new game being developed by Lily Valeen, creator of Boss Game. Boss Game was a game about girlfriends being gay and working gigs and fighting monsters so and this game looks gay too, so expect some gay ladies doing some cool stuff. All we have is screenshots and it’s probably like omega early in development but I wanted to mention it because lily Valeen made a really cool game and this is a great reminder to follow her and maybe check out boss game on Steam or on your phone or on Itch.io. 

Crescent County 

You ride on a motorbroom and try to make some cash cuz your broke as fuck. You are a gay witch looking for cute girls, new friends and new rivals, maybe all three at once. It looks really cool and fun and she kisses a girl in the trailer so I know it’s gay. It sounds like you might have several romantic options but it doesn’t seem like optional queerness just romantic options. I didn’t have a queer racing game on my bingo card of types of games I’d update y’all on or see but here we are, so cool, I love it. This seems like it has a queer dev team making a queer story in a new interesting way that I haven’t seen many games do. It sounds like the romance system is pretty neat too the dev mentioned that like you need a bed frame to have a girl over cuz she is going to have more self respect then to fuck you if you just have a matress on on the floor. So like, it sounds like a lot of fun.

Unbeatable 

You are a pink haired girl who beats up cops and is in a rock band and the cast seems to mostly be women, if you are not gay in this game I believe it to be a hate crime and I will fight the developers. The game looks incredibly cool and the stunning hand drawn animation is just great. It is a kinda rhythm game I think in a setting where music is illegal and you love doing crime. I’m sold on this game I just need it to be gay, that’s it. I’ve bought it in my heart already but make it gay please, please, please.  Also it looks like it’s tagged as LGBT+ so you know, it’s possible, I believe, I chose to believe. It looks too good to not be gay. 

Make your own Gay

Demonschool 

In This game you do tactical combat against a flurry of demons and build relationships with other characters. I had romances confirmed and well the trailer shows our main protagonist reaching for another woman’s hands. I also had confirmed there is some side stuff that isn’t the main character Faye with someone so there may be some canon sapphic stuff that isn’t just player directed and optional. This is a tactical RPG with shin megami tensei flare but doesn’t play like any other SRPG I’ve played even SMTs own SRPG, Devil Survivor. This game is heavily focused on unit placement and doing things in really tight deadlines. I hope they have an easy mode or something in the full release because I utterly love the social sim elements here and would love a bit more room to fuck up. On the sapphic end the roster seems to have tons of cute girls even outside of the probably intended to be canon romance girl there is a haughty rich girl who seems like a perfect enemies to lovers arc and a cool delinquent girl, there is a lot of range for a lot of dynamics but we’ll have to see how all of those systems work on release. 

Long Story 2

A very kid friendly visual novel type experience. It’s cute, it’s sweet, it’s simple and it’s the kind of soft story you can get excited about if you just want something wholesome to enjoy. You really Get to craft your story so it's very craft it yourself. 

Moonlight Peaks 

We really do not have a ton of details but it’s likely to release in 2026 since that’s when they said it would and have have a pretty strong publisher in Marvlous behind it. This is one of the most exciting farming sims I've seen. You play as a vampire and unlock new vampiric powers over time. It looks as if there will be 7 women who are different kinds of super natural for you to romance in this. Also an interesting talked about feature is the werewolf romance options might shift in personality a little on a full moon and stuff like that which makes for a neat way to push for a different vibe in a farming sims cast.

Monster Prom 4: Monster Con

The 4th game in the monster prom series, the potentially PVP dating sim is back at it again with more goofs, new monsters to fawn over and a new setting.  If you're fiending for more Monster Prom, Camp or Road Trip then you already are gonna be grabbing this but if you're new to hearing about this series or finally wanting to check it out because one of the characters designs it’ll be an exciting jumping on point. Romances are player focused, characters themselves though are canon queer sometimes having same gender exes and stuff. We have a canon queer trans woman as one of the main love interests this time so that is really excited and also a really cool set of two new women. If you come with a full party of lesbians as it stands you’ll have to fight over at least one girl given there is only 3 women to romance and 3 men but if your playing 3 players you can each aim for a different girl in a run if you want to avoid PVPing or simply play in single player for a chiller romance comedy vibe. This is a really silly game series that is all about the bits but there is a lot of good stuff even outside of the comedy. 

Arcadia Fallen II

Arcadia Fallen 2 is the follow up to Arcadia Fallen. The first game let you be sapphic and this game probably will also let you be sapphic as well. I think it’s a safe bet, they say there will be 3 body type so probably the typical choice of He/She/They pronouns with a chose whatever body suits you best choice. This should be a choose your own adventure style visual novel with a magical setting and while I haven’t played the first yet, I am keeping my eyes on this one’s kickstarter to see where it goes. The artstyle is gorgeous and it’s always nice to see artists from across the world making games where you can be sapphic, in this case some awesome Danish devs. 

Sensei! I Like You So Much!

This game bills itself as a fangirl simulator where you create your own favorite characters and geek out with fellow fans, take commissions and gather in community with others. My vine is this game will have no romance however, I feel compelled to bring it here because I mean you can be really into a lesbian ship and geek out with other women who are really into a lesbian ship or so it seems from the trailer. Obviously, like any of these I only have whatever the devs have said and whatever I see in trailers, screen shots, etc to go off of but it looked like you could make a girl and it looks like in the trailer they made yaoi so I am gonna guess you can make yuri. So, here we go, it’s sapphic but like, different than other sapphic games, probably, I’d personally be way more into romancing a fellow fan of something than a lot of other concepts for a dating sim so I’d love to be wrong and there is some secret dating sim element. 

Reanimation Scheme

It’s an Otome visual novel where you can date four men but also there is one sapphic wrote. I hate these kind of gender rations but hey, this exist, it’s upcoming, you should know about it, maybe it’s written super good. The art style is solid and if you like the design of the exactly one woman you can date in the game you can prep for some sapphic fun even if a lot of your time in the game will be interacting with men, You play as a Necromancer which is always really cool and ya, enjoy. 

The Crush House This is a reality show managing sim with a spooky mystery. It’s like putting you managing the sims lives in context where you try and push people to behave particular ways based on audience demands and what you feel like. You can make women be gay with each other and even run a show for Girls for Girls audiences and stuff so there is a lot cooking here for a silly and strange little game. 

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Dragon Age, a little known indie series from abusive publisher EA from Abusive company Bioware now potentially hanging onto it’s last chance for life with a brand new game. Dragon Age is a fantasy roleplaying game where the people who look like lesbians are straight and the people who look straight are lesbians at least that’s the classic Bioware flavor.  This time though, unlike these other games, an actual queer woman is the director [after like 4 directors left] and she seems like a really cool person with good taste so I want her to be successful and for this game to not crash Bioware into the dirt like so many other studios under EA. You’ll likely be able to make a character of one of two genders and have them fill a role in this plot.  We know that every character will be pansexual in the game meaning you’ll be able to romance anyone and if you don’t romance characters they will romance each other. 

Grave Seasons 

Like farming sims, like murder mysteries, want to make sweet sweet passionate kissy faces with a murderer? Then Grave Seasons might be the game for you. You do typical farming sim stuff but a randomly generated one of the NPCs that are romanceable. You need to figure out the mystery, if the hottie you're making heart eyes at is the killer and if they are what you wanna do about it. If it’s not you might want to find the killer and fast lest your cutie get taken out too. At least that’s what it sounds like to me. There should be several women you can romance and it seems like a fun game to replay and a farming sim that puts the romance at the front even for people who want to be efficient because well you don’t want a bunch of people dying do you [unless you do]. 

Freeride

So this one is really making your own gay cuz I do not think they gender proto and proto is just supposed to be a stand in for you but I flirted with a cool looking bunny girl in the demo and she seemed to be into the conductor who was a demon girl so like maybe it'll even be explicitly represented in this. It's hard to know with so few details but you can gift people stuff and everything.  It's a physics based game mostly focused on choices and doing a secret personality test on you. 

Fable 

It looks like this Fable game just has you play as a woman, like I am just taking precedent here to say that romance to some extent will exist and you can in fact marry women. It be weird if you couldn’t so I’ll say that is very likely here. If you like RPGs with big budgets then this might be the one, it doesn’t seem to be as silly as some of the previous games but they weren’t always going for silly so I think the tone seems just about right. 

Narrative Games 

Cage of Roses

Lesbian vampires are always a good time. It's a visual about some lesbian vampires. You're in by the art style and visual novel or you're not. It sounds exciting to me. 

Rainbow Valley 

A game from yuri game developer and publisher Studio Elan. This is a collaboration with a monster high focused YouTuber and you can see the Monster High inspirations in the designs. I imagine this is really going to capture the vibes adult fans of monster high really have been wanting to explore while not being locked down by the big company. 

Tithe In Blood 

Another  game from yuri game developer and publisher Studio Elan. This is a darker yuri story about a woman practicing blood magic after the loss of a loved one.The romance and blood magic lead to a lot of deadly twists and turns. 

The Witch's Bakery

The Witch’s Bakery is a game coming to Kickstarter soon that’s about running a cozy bakery and being a little gay witch doing it. This game is coming to kickstarter at some point in the near future at the time of writing. It has a canon romance so I don’t think you’ll be picking who you swoon and instead you’ll get to play out a soft little love story while you bake, run a shop and make friends. 

Lost Records

Life is Strange and Tell Me Why Developers are back with a new game and the first trailer had the main four women of this plot kissing so it’s gay, that’s like locked in it’s not even like Life Is Strange 1 optional gay it’s just gonna be gay. It seems like a nostalgia trip featuring a bunch of sapphic women in the lead and that seems like the most perfect game for Dontnods main audience. 

Cabernet

A gothic vibe lays over this game, it tickles at horror while also not being terrifying, you are the vampire newly created and enter this society. This is another one that might be more of a Make your Own Gay but it’s vampires and that’s inherently gay so I gotta put it here. I had the devs confirm to me that this game will include gay romance and you can have your girl read Carmilla so as far as I am concerned I think her sexuality has a decent shot at being part of the narrative and not just an option. 

Tavern Talk

This is a game inspired by exclusively other queer games in the same style of those queer games, I am gonna say it’s safe to guess this is a soft little queer game that will take you through an interesting narrative perspective all while mostly being behind a bar and making drinks for people. 

Psychroma

This is a horror game with what seems to be a queer non binary protagonist but it may not be all sunny and rainbows, for sure prepare yourself for angst. The protagonist has amnesia and doesn’t remember who seems to be her girlfriend. This is a cyberpunk horror which is shockingly not a super standard combination despite the clear synergy between the two. It has a sapphic energy, it’s always hard to draw the line on a non binary character and if their sapphic or not before you get the context because well that’s a massive umbrella of genders, identities and feelings. Still the vibe test for me passes as sapphic and I am here to tell you about vibes, that’s the point of this series, I have an extremely high success rate and so I will take the shot here. If you're looking for something creepy and queer then this is for sure it even if the sapphic vibes are a false flag. 

Life is strange: Double Exposure

IDK if they’ll make Max and Chloe canon here or how they will right around it but also like the game studio making this game has a bunch of like allegations against them so I don’t particularly care too much. I do want to find out so I will look around for details but ya know I mentioned Lost Records earlier maybe look to that one instead if these come out around the same time at least. Otherwise, idk you do dialog and stuff in this one and mess with timelines. It does look like Chloe is dead so, you could go to your local library and read Life Is Strange: After The Storm for free instead, a possible suggestion too. 

Love Ghostie

Your a lil ghostie and you play match maker and you can make little sapphic pairings so, ya you can make sapphic stuff happen in this game and it’s like part of the point. It’s a very adorable game with very adorable little monsters and looks to be a great game to cuddle up and just live your best shipping life. 

Sigh of the Abyss Sigh of the Abyss is doing something really cool in the visual novel space and it’s bringing a feature I’ve wanted in games with mix gender romance for a long time to the table. You can in your options at any time say your looking to romance Men, Men and Women, Women or no one. In the game you play as a woman and the game defaults you to being bisexual but you can actually have it where the game simply does not have men push romance on you which is such a relief because it’s one of the world part of mix gendered dating games for me is being here for the women but having to be flirted with by every man and never able to say “Hey, I’m a lesbian.”  How deep these options will go I am not sure but it was really swift in easy in the demo. If you're looking for some dark fantasy story telling this seems like an exciting place to go for a story. 

High Potential 

Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2

I mean it’s got vampires and roleplaying like probably. Maybe it'll be too uptight and serious but we'll see what it's like. 

Sorry We're Closed

The games listed as LGBT and the main characters on the art and stuff are women so pretty clear. It’s a horror adventure and it seems really aesthetically unique, I think this is one to keep your eyes on it might just be a big new thing.

RPG Maker WITH

I mean it just depends on if people make a sapphic game in it and share it. It's like a game about making games. There's a good chance someone will want to make Yuri but also I wouldn't expect it near launch.

Ra Ra Boom

There is a vibe here, it's a beat um up which is a kind of game not famous for it's story but idk the vibe tells me these super cheerleaders are gay.  That’s all I got to say really, it looks fun and if it’s gay bonus points to me.

Fighting Games

So Fighting games are hard to cover on this because fighting game devs are cowards an also don't make their narratives compelling and their mostly about men with women relegated to the sides. I love fighting games though and I don't want to ignore them so I put just a general pin on potential sapphic characters dropping in 2024. Like Skullgirls recently added Marie who has some queer coding with Peacock and she's like a main villain so there's stuff. Guilty Gear Has a season 4 coming out which could add a story expansion and idk confirm Bridget is a lesbian. Granblue's next characters are likely datamined but there is a chance of a suprise appearance and many likely candidates are sapphic characters. Plus a new game might come out, maybe Diesel Legacy will have the cool mobster girl be a lesbian, we just won't know util stuff comes out. 

gillford academy 

This is an rpg putting a lot of emphasis on your choices mattering with characters. The characters are pretty young but there is a chance they might be sapphic at least in a if player chooses the right choices way. 

Mixtape

I think I saw a gay moment in this trailer. It's like 90s nostalgia the game, I have no idea how it’s supposed to play. I assume it's kinda standard narrative 3D gameplay  which I think is always a pleasant time.  I don’t know a ton about this game but I am keeping my eyes on it in the future that’s for sure. 

---

If you enjoyed this post and want to help me do the level of research I put into these please, please, please consider funding me on Patreon or giving me a one time donation over on Ko-fi. I am a writer for a living so that means being professionally poor and any bit of money really helps so much. Every dollar helps me make new sapphic art myself from making TTRPGs to working on my own game project and lots more. If you don’t have cash following me, sharing, etc is always lovely and I love nice comments. 

There should be more of these in the future. I couldn’t fit every single game I saw with potential or even straight up confirmed into here so I am hoping to make this more regular maybe even pivot to video and do game by game chats or something. We'll see what the future holds but I hope you found at least one new game to look forward to.

[violet-prism-creatively]

My live reactions to Harrow the Ninth

Continued from my pre-reading assumptions and post-reading thoughts about Gideon the Ninth

Everyone who said "Harrow the Ninth will take a while to make sense, be patient and it will pay off" was absolutely right! I made a lot of notes throughout with predictions, some of which were correct and some of which were... not.

Theories that were wrong:

The Emperor wiped Harrow's memory of Gideon

Gideon has spoken with The Body

The Body's eyes now appear yellow because they're Gideon's eyes

Harrow only sees her own eyes as black because she wiped her memory of Gideon, everyone else perceives them as gold

The Sleeper is The Body

The Sleeper is Gideon

"Ortus the First" is Gideon (the Ninth)

Harrow is haunted by Gideon

The picture in Camilla, Coronabeth, & Judith's shuttle is of Gideon

Cytherea's body moving around is a hallucination

Gideon's sword is haunted by the lyctor who established the Ninth House

I also did make some pretty good guesses, though. Here's some more of my notes that are just fun reactions!

"Her parents had... found out... about what she had done" SHE DOESN'T REMEMBER GIDEON'S VITAL ROLE IN THIS

This Teacher is a lot more helpful

there are advantages to having God himself as a father figure

"the grey-wrappered figures of Camilla Hect and Palamedes Sextus laid on the slabs in the mortuary" NO :(

bookmarking this other incomprehensible clue

it's that graffiti S that everyone drew in elementary school lol

"You had noticed at previous dinners that he did not like some particular vegetables, so you had put them all in." that's so petty, I love it

"said Camilla Hect" YAY

"the skull of someone who, soon after death or symptomatically during, had exploded" Palamedes!

Harrow never got actual sword training as a lyctor, did she? Now Camilla can help her!

"Nobody had seen you walk through that door [to The Tomb]. Nobody had watched you leave." GIDEON SAW AND THAT'S WHAT'S GOING TO CONVINCE HARROW THAT SHE'S NOT INSANE, EVENTUALLY

"What a destructive, romantic, ridiculous act. It was always a certain kind of ass who approached love like that" yeah it's a certain kind of stupid, heroic, selfless, etc. to make yourself forget the person you're in love with to protect them

"Harrow Nova" another alternate universe where Harrow is in Gideon's role?????

"they've got a hotshot new BARI star" oh my god it's a coffee shop au in space

SHE REMEMBERS GIDEON!!!!!!! (how??)

"You sawed open your skull rather than be beholden to someone. [...] Harrowhark, I gave you my whole life and you didn't even want it." AAAAAAAAA!!!!

"I was, and am, a grown man, and you both were neglected children" thank you Ortus for taking responsibility. actually a decent person

"What the fuck is going on?" yeah i feel u babe

"'The only thing that ever stopped me being exactly who I wanted,' she said, 'was the worry that I would soon be dead... and now I am dead, and I am sick of roses, and I am horny for revenge.'" hell yeah!!

oh Ianthe was gaslighting her. yeah Gideon wreck her!

"you'd kept my sunglasses" awww

"I never made her look like that. She can't love me, even if I'd wanted her to." aw :( and she's still so devoted anyway

"Your art, not my strength, was the ultimate source of our victory." so Ortus does get to be a hero after all, in his own way!

"Awake Remembrance of These Valiant Dead Kia Hua Ko Te Pai Snap Back to Reality Oops There Goes Gravity" I remember seeing posts about this name now! lol

yeah it's a weird chain of people in other people's bodies (Gideon would love the innuendo)

"We needed your, ahem, genetic material" Ianthe was right, ew. Also Gideon is the daughter of God I guess?

"You watched us kill our cavaliers in cold blood, and none of them had to die." ok that is a pretty bad thing for him to do

the tragedy that Gideon only had John as a father for a few minutes, while Harrow had him as a father figure for months but didn't want that

"'my necromancer started an affair with your mother... not knowing I'd also been doing the same thing, using his body.' // I said, 'What the fuck.'" extremely valid reaction from Gideon

"Oh, we'll still hate each other, my dear, we have hated each other too long and too passionately to stop... but my bones will rest easy next to your bones." that's kinda romantic in its own way

to be fair, if John dies, the entire solar system of Dominicus dies

"We died" no actually I think you might be alive and being saved

???????? Another alternate reality memory thing??

Multiple notes about how Harrow might just be the way she is because of growing up in a temple with strict routine, no social interaction, and no variety of sensory input... but I'm headcanoning her as autistic. Also headcanoning Gideon as ADHD, and autism/ADHD gay couples are my favorite ships.

Tagging people who have been following along. I'm going to switch to not tagging people anymore after this, but tagging all posts as #violet reads tlt, and you can follow the tag. @procrastinationaccount @vivaciouscynner @pearlofmydreams @cursed-druid-girl @ghostly-atv

[kittymama01]

So... Blood magic. Is not going to be in Veilguard.

Kind of disappointed, honestly. I mean they have some dark specializations in Veilguard. But, according to the team, Blood Magic is too "nasty" for our hero.

... What?

Look, I get that blood magic is deemed evil. But, in Inquisition, Solas makes a very good point about it. It's just another form of magic. It's no different to other magic. Magic is dangerous. One of the specializations in Inquisition is Rift Mage, which involves the Fade. The Fade is dangerous. There's also Necromancer. Necromancer really... Didn't do anything, but the concept of it is that it's messing with spirits and uh, yeah, dangerous.

It's all, I guess, "nasty".

Heck, there are specializations for other classes that are dark, like Assassin, or Reaver. Being a Reaver is honestly a different type of blood magic- involving dragon's blood. Use your abilities too much, you might lose yourself to the beast's blood. There's even the new specialization in Veilguard: Reaper. Which I'm looking forward to see. "A dark fighter who drains the life of the enemy and risks death to gain unnatural abilities". Gee... Kind of sounds like blood magic. 😂

If you're a mage in Inquisition, you can say to Solas "I wish I can learn more about it, it sounds useful."

Solas responds with "I wish I could teach you, but I also don't know it because it makes my connection to the Fade weak." Which is interesting, honestly, what does he mean by that? What does this mean for Tevinter mages who turn to blood magic, does this mean their connection to the Fade is poor?

Anyway, oh well, no blood magic. It's just that their reason for not bringing it in this game is stupid. "It's nasty", "It's mean", etc. We kill people in these games. We're given specializations for fighting and killing people. Also the entire point of these games is "what kind of person or hero are you?". Are you a tyrant, are you neutral, are you genuinely a good person, do you just do this for money, etc. So... Yeah. Dumb reason. But, thanks for Reaper, I wanna see how this specialization works.

[arithmonym]

20 questions for 20 writers!

thanks to @accidentallyadorable for tagging me! this was fun. :3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

30! only 20 are visible from my profile, though. my older fics and drabbles are quarantined to a separate account, and a few things are posted anonymously.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

113,190 words.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

it’s mostly the locked tomb these days. i also have a few old works for the penumbra podcast, the magnus archives, and the adventure zone—and a few even older works for harry potter and percy jackson, but those are on ff.net so i can pretend they don’t exist.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

it’s familiar (but not too familiar) - fluffy griddlehark time travel fic. this was my first attempt at writing them and i could definitely do a better job now, but the prose still holds up.

alive, barely breathing - post-canon griddlehark first time fic that’s fucked-up and sad. sometimes i look at the comments when i want to feel good about my writing. :3

bring your hunger - post-canon griddlehark grief/relationship study. also a WIP. (honestly, this one might go on anon for a bit—it’s vulnerable in ways i don’t want to explain, and i’m shying away from writing the next chapter because the Fear of Being Known got to me a little.)

it’s not unusual - fluffy modern AU where team 69 go to a bar and play catan. palamedes has an oral fixation, because of course he does. this one is campal with background griddlehark getting-together, but i might write a sequel from harrow’s POV someday.

bad idea right? - modern AU chatfic inspired by this post by eskildit. it’s about camilla dealing with the paldulcie situationship™️ & enduring so much dyke drama thanks to the nature of her friend group. it received a podfic recently, which is fun!

(… i also want to write a camdulcie sequel for this one. i’ve been rotating the idea frequently.)

5. Do you respond to comments?

almost always. there are a few scattered comments i haven’t replied to yet, but i like responding! it’s an excuse to drop more lore about the fic and the writing process, IMO.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angiest ending?

the ace cam fic i haven’t finished yet, which will probably be posted on anon. (i feel like people are going to attack me for poor representation or something, but it’s inspired by my own experiences, so. can’t win them all. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

something sweet is pure, uncomplicated fluff, so i guess i’ll go with that!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

not really. i’ve blocked a few people for being rude, but i haven’t gotten hate in years.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

occasionally. i’ve only posted 4 explicit fics, but so far it’s a pretty even mix of f/f, f/m, and other.

10. Do you write crossovers?

i have a tlt/w359 fusion AU i want to pick up again! i need to untangle some threads of the metaplot, though.

(also, the first fic i published on ff.net was a harry potter/rise of the guardians crossover. yes. it was cringe. yes, it’s probably still posted on the internet if you want to find it.)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

nope.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes, actually! a few of my old hp fics were translated into spanish or chinese.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

i wrote a round-robin fic with the campal server once. i also started co-writing a fic with quinn a while ago (before we both got busy with school) that i’d like to return to at some point, because the concept still makes me vibrate with glee.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

i’m not sure that i have one, actually? i’m a multishipper to my core.

15. What's one WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

i have so many WIPs in my google docs that i’ll probably never finish.

i’d like to revisit my fic about necromancers & dysautonomia some day, but my writing style has changed so much since then. i might have to rewrite what i’ve posted.

16. What are your writing strengths?

i’m frequently complimented on my worldbuilding. i’m good at examining the implications of things that other people might not think about, so my plots are original even when i’m writing a fandom trope. (i can’t wait to post my harrow nova AU for this exact reason.)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

sigh. pacing. i write from very close POVs, but sometimes i get too far into the character’s head, and it drags the story down. i’m trying to write sharper prose, but i’m going through an awkward growth phase as a writer—i know the structure i want, but it’s a struggle to get there concisely.

also, i over-edit instead of writing new words, which does me no favors.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i guess it depends on context? i have a pretty good grasp on code-switching from being bilingual but not quite fluent, but the memory of that one klance fic haunts me.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

i mentioned my first published fic earlier, but the first fic i wrote was a percy jackson self-insert fic when i was twelve.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

indelible! cam and pal figure out that dulcinea isn’t who she says she is at the fifth’s anniversary party, but it doesn’t change anything. <3

///

tagging @harrowharkwife @friendamedes @cindthia @logicbutton @thewinterstale @sluggydrabbles & anyone else who wants to participate!

[rileyglas]

Demonic Convergence - Pt. 3 - Dueling Practice

Hazbin Hotel OC Story x Alastor

Frustrated by Vexel and Alastor's constant power struggle, Althea suggests a friendly duel practice for the men to get more accustomed to each other's power. Two cocky, powerful sinners fighting for 'fun'. What could possibly go wrong? @laudrawin killed it once again with Vexel's part AND this chapters artwork - she perfectly captured the intensity of this 'friendly' battle.

Meet the OCs Pt. 1 - First Impressions Pt. 2 - A Cold WelcomePt. 2.5 - The Long Game

It’d been a few weeks since Vexel spoke with Althea. Plenty of things were in motion, however he wanted to make absolutely sure of the information he was given before dragging her and Alastor into the mess with the Vees. Things are starting to get serious and now, he has no choice but to reach out. He opens a portal on the roof of their hotel room, peeking his head around to find it empty. Guess I’ll just wait, he thinks to himself. He plops down to the bed and makes himself at home with Heniffer happily nestling on his chest.

A few quiet moments pass. Just when Vexel starts to feel himself relax, a voice cuts through the room, "You know if you wish to stay on my good side, the use of a door would be wise. Especially when it comes to making unannounced visits."  Alastor chirps behind a newspaper, annoyed. Having sensed someone in his room, he shadowed in moments earlier, sitting by the bayou in his chair. He crosses his legs, refusing to even look at the unwelcome guest.

"Use of a door would require interaction with those I don’t care to see. Where's Althea?" Vexel’s monotone tone fueled Alastor’s frustration, not to mention how he nonchalantly played with necromantic glyphs and runes without a care in the world. Alastor slams the paper to the table, voice dripping with static, "Is there something I can help you with? Something that will get you out of MY BED!" 

The necromancer chuckles darkly, "Bring me Althea, I just asked for it- Oh, wait, they let pets in the hotel? How amusing they give someone like you a bed.” A growl rumbles in Alastor’s throat but his smile never falters. With a snap of his fingers, a single black tentacle wraps around Vexel’s ankle and rips him down off the bed. The force sends Heniffer flying off his chest with a thud. The dark appendage retracts immediately as Alastor hums in amusement,  "What do you need with her?"

"Do not touch me -" Vexel grunts, laying on the floor for a moment before getting up. “- unless you want me to chain you to that pretty chair of yours…or send you away. And that would be me being polite." He shuffles to lean against the window pane. His tone drops slightly at the realization the demon could easily send him out of the window, "If you must know, we have a deal to talk about."

Alastor nods, containing any further hostility for the sake of keeping his word to Althea. He grins menacingly at the chicken, "She should be here shortly. In the meantime, mind your vermin. It would be a shame if Nifty had to take care of it." Heniffer walks past him with a hiss and a glare. Vexel smirks, “The great Radio Demon is all bark and no bite, isn’t he?”

"Hardly.” Alastor sneers, “I am merely respectful of Althea and her....ideas.  She seems to think you have potential of sorts. I, however, think you're only taking advantage of her kindness. I just hope she sees through this act of yours before things go too far." He stands from his chair, summoning a cup of tea and setting it within arms reach of Vexel, "Do not cross us. I have made a promise to not agitate the situation further but will step in if I need to." 

Vexel cautiously takes the cup, sniffing for any oddities before taking a sip and nodding as a thank you. "I may or may not. You see I've spoken to Vox - all three Vees, actually. They don't like you at all." He opens a tiny portal, his hand crossing it to get a spoon of sugar for his drink.

"Trying to play both sides of the field? Can't say I'm surprised in the slightest." Alastor stalks slowly towards Vexel. His growing demonic form makes the lights flicker throughout the room, "So you do intend on crossing us if you're cavorting with the Vees. That's all the reason I need to -"

Althea opens the door, "Alastor!" she yells, scolding the scene she sees before her. He quickly retracts, glaring at Vexel. "My dear we have a visitor." he says calmly before taking a seat by the fireplace across the room. 

"I was wondering when I would hear from you!" she bounces towards the man leaning against the window happily but stops to take a step back, "Sorry - personal space - I know...What do I owe the pleasure?"

"At last someone with a brain I can properly speak with." His eyes dart to Alastor before focusing back to her, "I've met the Vees, and they really believe I'm on their side. Oh and Heniffer wanted to see you too." The hen peaks from behind the necromancer, chirping and jumping to Althea’s arms. She lets out a quiet giggle as she pats its head adoringly. Vexel’s head turns to the Radio Demon, “Also it'd be nice not to be dropped on the floor like a ragdoll next time or be threatened when I'm proposing to be your undercover associate.” 

The demon scoffs and rolls his eyes, "Maybe lead with that information before announcing your communications with such company." Althea sets a loving hand on his shoulder and looks to Vexel, "Our history with the Vees is far from civil. You have to understand our apprehension when it comes to dealing with them in any form." She moves to the bed, setting Heniffer on a pillow for her to relax.  "They play dirty - What have they offered you in exchange for your alliance?"

"The ‘all powerful Vees’ offered me a seat with them. Just for the small price of using my power against him.” Vexel’s eyes shine for a moment, making Alastor’s fingertips grow numb. 

"Don't do that!" Both Alastor and Althea snap. 

“Apologies. It seems I can do it anytime, but I won't." His eyes go back to normal and Alastor shakes out his hands in annoyance. Vexel smirks, "I could reject their offer but I believe getting some extra knowledge would be more useful." He tilts his head, eyes burning into Althea, "Just say the word."

She clears her throat, "Any information is useful if it means keeping ahead of their plans. It's dangerous to get involved without getting tangled in their web. They're probably looking at you as merely a pet, only to be rid of you the second Alastor is out of the way. I wonder though..."

She begins to pace, Heniffer happily jumping down to shadow her, "They fear being overpowered...to not have control...you obviously can overtake Alastor with ease - " Alastor groans at the comment to which Althea holds a finger up, "- bare with me dear - is there a way you can train him to fight off your control? It would allow you to explore your abilities more, give Alastor a fighting chance should you ever need to prove yourself to the Vees, AND be a show of power on our end. If no one can control us then they'll be running with a tail between their legs."

Vexel follows her with his eyes. "I guess I can. I'm trying to outsmart them, no need to worry about me falling for any of their tricks." His stare moves to Alastor for a moment then back to her, "Mutual training sounds good. Do we need a safe word or will he accidentally pierce my heart before I can even say it? How far do they overpower you, Alastor?" 

Alastor sighs. He can't believe he's actually going along with this plan, but he'd do anything for Althea...and to get Vox off his ass. "Get each one alone and they do not stand a chance against me. However, as mentioned, they do not care about playing fair." He walks over to Althea, grabbing her shoulder to force her nervous pacing to stop, "If this training happens I want to use my full capacity and you shouldn't hold back either. I think for best results, Althea should overlook the sessions to ensure neither of us go too far."

"If they are weaker than you, then I should be able to control them as well." His eyebrow lifts again, "If they don't stand a chance, how come you haven't killed them already?" 

"Taking out an Overlord can cause quite a ripple in the hierarchy of Hell. Killing all three would do nothing but bring unwanted attention and danger to our doorstep." Althea takes Alastor's hand. Sensing his apprehension, she gives a reassuring squeeze before continuing, "Alastor has taken out many Overlords in the past. The only reason Valentino still breathes is because Al stopped me before I could finish the job. We don't know the repercussions of my power if I were to take a life and we don't wish to find out." 

A look of astonishment crosses Vexel’s face for a moment. "You escalated that far as an Overlord just by healing and getting contracts? I'm glad I don't underestimate you anymore. Though it seems the danger is already here. No offense, but Alastor here seems to be the life goal of Vox.”

"Damn, I save your ass and you still don’t have an ounce of trust." Althea mumbles, taking a seat by the table in front of the wooden bayou. If they were going to work together, she needed some level of respect and trust. Something she knows is going to be a slow process. Vexel snaps back, "This is Hell, Althea, sooner or later someone will stab you in the back. You’re here so obviously your intentions were not always good." 

"The system is flawed, don't assume my reasons for being here." Althea growls then points to Alastor with a shrug, "Him on the other hand? Serial killer." Alastor's toothy grin darkens with pride. She turns the focus back to the issue at hand, “Vox has eyes everywhere, we will need a place he cannot find us. Where do you suggest we train?"

Alastor walks over to the table, snapping his fingers to make a map of Pride City appear, "His cameras are usually on every corner along with his drones going where they please."

The necromancer approaches the table, focused on the map. "Any underground caverns? That's where I set my studio. It's quite silent and the worst thing that could happen is us provoking a light earthquake." 

She looks at Alastor, "Can you see if you can find a good area? Preferably one with enough room for your full form?" He nods in acknowledgement then turns his attention to Vexel, "No kidnapping, no mind control. I'll be back." he sneers before disappearing into his shadow.

Vexel can't help but let go a soft laugh at his words. "Alone at last." With Alastor gone, he feels free to wander the room, "Do I need to ask him for permission before having a private meeting next time? I suppose I need to make my intentions clear so your demon can breathe when you're left alone with the mighty necromancer." He chuckles.

She matches his amusement, giggling at his sudden, but welcome, change in demeanor. "He'll warm up. It's admittedly entertaining to see him squirm a little. He could use some humbling." Her eyes track him across the room, "He's just a little apprehensive. However I'm very much my own person and I extend you the freedom to visit whenever you please." she offers a small smile before turning to look out at the bayou, "Humor me, if I - er well we - weren't in the picture, would you have accepted Vox's offer to join them?" Curiosity always tends to get the best of her, but she enjoys exploring possibilities.

"They wouldn't have gotten in touch in the first place if it wasn't for your demon getting chained up." He tilts his head, questioning her sudden prodding, "If what you mean is - would I join them if I didn't owe you my life, the answer would still be no. Vox is loud and immature. Valentino's stare was uncomfortably predatory. Velvette seems smart though. If they're easy to control, power would be mine in no time, Velvette could have joined my plan, siding with the more powerful party. Hell would be ours, the end." 

"Hmph. Possibly." she breathes unsurprised by his absurd assumptions. She points to an armchair by the fireplace. "Please have a seat, make yourself comfortable." She stands to pour more tea, offering him another cup, "And don't be so confident in your 'take over Hell' plan. You forget who truly rules over the seven rings..." a shudder rolls across her shoulders, "...Lucifer. Fallen Angel, King of Hell. And a royal pain in my ass."

He takes the cup without hesitation, an unfamiliar ease taking over, "So Lucifer was real after all! And you're in touch with him? Why doesn't he get rid of the Vees for you? And I assume the pain isn't literal."

An uncomfortable laugh leaves her throat as she mumbles under her breath, "If he had it his way, it would be." her eyes widen in embarrassment for being so forward. She cooly tries to recover, “I mean...yes he is real and yes, he is Charlie's dad. He doesn't wish to get involved with anything unless it directly affects himself or his family.”

"Excuse me? Is he - bothering you?" Vexel took in her words but seemed to hang onto her discomfort towards Lucifer. His knuckles whiten with tension. Althea's face twists in shock at his sudden worry, "It's nothing I can't handle..." she sighs knowing there's no going back now, "But you wonder why Alastor is so apprehensive and jealous of you? The last two men who said they wanted to 'help' or 'team up' were Vox, who nearly killed me...and Lucifer...who seems to think my body is where his hands and lips belong."

She shrugs, both in indifference and to shake the chill that ran down her spine at the thought. He remains quiet. His eyes stare into her with something she's never seen from him before, though she can't put a finger on it, "I told you...things work differently here. And the system is...well it's fucked. Key reason Al and I have chosen to stay here and try to help Charlie with the hotel."

"Of fucking course, we're in Hell after all." He huffs with his own reminder, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Next time you find yourself stuck with him - I can only hope I’m there to help…Valentino had those eyes, too. Perverted, disgusting eyes. Perhaps this Hotel and my studio are the only safe places in Hell after all. It makes sense now - Alastor's overprotection I mean."

She hums with admiration at this new side of him, a soft smile curving her face, "You are a quick learner. Thank you Vexel." A ringing in her ears pulls her out of the sweet moment, "Ah and here he comes."

On queue Alastor’s shadow dances across the wall shortly followed by the demon materializing by her chair. "Oh good, still in one piece." He says half joking half serious. "I've found a decent cavern just below Cannibal Town. We can either portal, shadow, or need be, Rosie's Emporium has a cellar with a shared wall." He says boastfully, clearly happy with his find.

"Welcome back." Vexel’s body returns to its cold, tense state as he stands up and opens a portal, "Just for you to know, Alastor, I'm not a threat. You don’t need to worry about me.” Alastor shoots a confused glance at Althea. She chuckles, standing to place a kiss on his cheek, "You did great dear." she coos before bouncing through Vexel's portal into the cavern. 

A cool air stings her face the moment she enters. The glow emitting from the portal is just enough for her to see how large the cavern is. The ground seems clear and solid enough and there were only a few groups of stalactites decorating the ceiling above, "Holy shit Al - this place is huge. H-how has no one found this? It's perfect! Needs a little light but -" With an elegant move of his hand, Vexel sends necromantic bolts all around the cavern, leaving no corner without a teal light, "Until we can afford some candles, this will work. Are you joining us, deer man?"

"Woah - neat trick. Remind me to give you a call next time Vox takes out the power in the city." she teases. Alastor, refusing to use the portal, shadows in a few feet behind Vexel, "That's all necromancers are good for...tricks." With a snap of his fingers, a few chairs and a large table materialize from puffs of green smoke on one side of the cavern. He pulls a chair for Althea, locking eyes to Vexel, "Enlighten me, where exactly have you learned such a craft?"

The necromancer lifts his chin and crosses his arms with a subtle cockiness, "Living world. We had all the information, just lacked the magic touch. Once I got down here I gathered any new knowledge and made it happen. But hey, it's just a trick." 

Annoyed by the hostility the two men continue to brew, Althea scoffs, "Alright I think you two need to let off some steam. Heniffer dear, would you like to come sit with me while the boys get their frustrations out?" she pats at the chair to her right, "When I announce it's enough, you both will stop. I don't feel like dealing with the pain of healing just because you two can't get along."

The hen jumps off Vexel's head. Her body comically runs to Althea while her head follows with a small delay. "About time to put him in his place!" Vexel grunts through a wide grin, eyes glowing and threads of necromancy clinging to his body from thin air.

The Radio Demon swiftly moves to stand across from Vexel, "And what place is that, sir?" he begins to glow green as he summons smaller shadow minions who rush towards Vexel.

"As equals." He smirks, the skull hanging from his belt shines bright. His power begins to flow through his hair and body, eyes shining a bright teal. With a move of his hand, orbs appear and run to each of the demons. Within a moment the small shadows rot from the inside, “How rude using souls to fight for you!" 

Alastor’s fingertips become numb, quickly spreading to his wrists as necromantic threads start to embrace him. A feral snarl comes from Alastor, "Not going to be as easy this time." his body begins to contort into his full demon form. Althea can’t help but smile watching his eyes flash to dials and a red 'x' flickering on his forehead. “There you go, don’t hold back.” She eggs him on. He continues to grow as tentacles flail from his back, sparking with green power. The dark appendages bolt towards Vexel, swiping at his body and landing a few blows.

A portal forms beneath Vexel as the first tentacles make him fall. He appears suddenly behind Alastor while sending a couple glyphs and harmless bolts into his back, "I don't want this to be easy!"

The demon stumbles forward before swinging a large claw behind him. Static fills the air as red liquid begins spilling from his mouth, "Then you should start trying harder. You're supposed to be teaching me how to defend against you, not have a pillow fight." his other hand swings to the roof, breaking a few stalactites. They crash violently around Vexel. 

"EASY AL - Power only. Don't bring other elements into this!" Althea warns while giving Heniffer a few pats.

"Listen to your girl!" Vexel taunts. A glyph appears in front of him, forcing his body to swap places with Alastor, "This is practically child’s play!" His power begins growing across Alastor’s arms and legs. A chain appears in Vexel's hand, connecting him to Alastor who gradually feels the loss of control over his limbs.

"Put your energy in staying in your own head, not obliterating him. You might physically be more powerful but you're allowing him to break you through your mind. Focus!" Althea shouts, trying to keep the demon grounded in the fight. His confidence will always be his greatest weakness and right now he is showing it more than ever.

Alastor falls to his hands and knees from the pull. He shrinks slightly, still keeping his flashing eyes and extended antlers. "Let me turn up the heat then!" he shouts, sending a blazing ring of green flames around him and forward to knock his opponent back.

Vexel lifts a hand as a silent request for a moment to breathe after that hit, "What if you have to fight me and Vox all together?" 

Alastor pauses in an attempt to catch his own breath. He sheds his jacket, gracefully brushing it off and tossing it to Althea. "One thing you'll learn about Vox, he won't even bother trying to fight when he has a pet to do it for him. Even if you're pinned down, the coward will leave you to die before stepping into a fight. Especially against us." 

Smokey green symbols emit from the demon and he fades into the shadows. They flood throughout the cavern, surrounding Vexel and hindering his ability to see. "You can control the dead, but can you control what you cannot see." his voice echoes off the cold walls.

"Can’t you see, that is my only worry -" Vexel closes his eyes as he gets up. His power transfers to Heniffer and she glows in the chair. He uses her eyes to get a better look around, "- I worry he wants to test me against you. He will ask me to control you." A portal opens under his feet, allowing him to reappear next to Althea. "But indeed, I can control what I can't see." His whole body charges, absorbing energy from his surroundings. He crouches, touching the floor as his magic looks for his objective - dead bodies buried within the ground around him. 

Black shadows sneak over Vexel's feet then climb up his legs with the weight of concrete. "There has to be a limit to your control, I just need to chip away until I find it." Alastor's laugh bounces around the room before he reappears in the middle of the cavern, "And he will never ask anything. You will be his pet and he will treat you as such. His ego is about as fragile as that screen head of his."

Althea watches Vexel who stays completely still. She realizes he is waiting for something, "No outside elements. He's frustrated. His mind is weak right now." she advises under her breath to him, half expecting him to ignore her. His threads find the demon once more and chains fall into his hands, "You enjoy talking about how I'll be a pet, yet I’m not the one wearing the harness." Vexel chuckles and pulls the chains connecting him to Alastor. 

Alastor's mind blurs, disorientating him. Not even gravity makes sense once his conscious is pushed to the back, unable to act on his own. With another yank he is pulled out of his shadow as if being fished out of thin air. Vexel guides him to stand in front of Althea. The demons once black and red eyes now glow a deep teal.

“Well your mind is weak, isn't it? You need to work on that." The necromancer approaches his new puppet, "Sing for me, radio man" He smirks through the command. A hum can be heard from Alastor’s chest. Althea stands from her seat, "Fight it Alastor - push him out. You control your soul, so fuckin act like it!" she yells, further trying to enrage him into power.

"Check this out, Althy -” Vexel laughs and covers his mouth, doing a classic puppet/puppeteer impression, “I actually think Vox is quite attractive and Vex is way better than me!" Alastor's voice speaks out with a wide, relaxed smile. He watches from the back of his mind, seeing everything through his eyes like a movie but unable to say or do anything - The fuck did he just call her? 

"Oh wow Vex, you really got him now. Hey, could you make him admit I'm always right?" she teases, purposely putting on a more flirtatious voice that Alastor hates. If pure ire wasn't flowing through him already, it was now. He feels himself trying to lunge back into his mind. He only needs a moment of control back, and right now he is fighting tooth and nail to get it.

Vexel keeps focused on him, realizing he's actually resisting. "Keep trying, demon, I have all the time in Hell.” His hair flows around him with such strength a whip of it could leave a red mark on anyones skin. Alastor’s voice rings out again, “You are always right, my dear. I'm a cocked up demon who should let others spend some time with you as well! Especially in private with Vex!" Vexel smirks, noticing Althea’s acting and going along with it.

That’s all it takes for Alastor to finally snap. He lunges past Vexel's control, eyes flashing from teal to a bright red. It only takes a moment for him to regain complete control out of pure rage, screaming as he comes back to his senses, "FUCK YOU!" 

Vexel turns being caught off guard, "F-fuck -"

A large, glowing red fist lands a full power hit against Vexel's cheek. Before his body has the chance to hit the ground, Alastor wraps a hand into his hair as a handle to throw him against the cavern wall. The sound of his skull cracking against the stone is deafening. 

"ENOUGH ALASTOR!" Althea rushes over, pushing him out of the way to make her way to Vexel. She stops short a few feet in fear of the possible retaliation. This is bad and doesn’t want to be at the brunt of a return attack. 

All orbs in the cavern vanish. The necromancer grunts after a few seconds, weakened from the blow. He feels all of his magic gone, causing even Heniffer to drop "dead". His eyes search frantically for Alastor in the darkness but all he can sense is Althea close by. As soon as he catches a solid breath, he casts a portal beneath himself to get back to his studio.

"Damn it!" Althea yells into the darkness. A hand wraps around her and within a second she's back in their room, "Wait - go get Heniffer." Alastor rolls his eyes at the request but complies, disappearing and reappearing with the limp skeleton chicken. 

Althea scoops her from him. She takes a deep breath to speak softly, "I'm not angry at you. We pushed you and I know it was hard, however lashing out physically was not necessary in the moment. You broke free of him, you need to hone in to how you did that." she rests Heniffer on the bed, "I think you should go to your tower. He won't want to see you after that and I know he's hurt pretty bad."

Without a word he leaves with a mix of anger and hurt in his eyes. Althea sits next to the chicken trying to figure out how to reach out to the necromancer. I know he can communicate or at least sense through Heniffer...Worth a shot... "Vexel? It's just me here. Please....let me heal you. I'm sorry..." her voice desperately calls out to him, defeated and embarrassed.

[beesmygod]

"PINWHEEL IS TRYING TO BRING BACK HIS FAMILY": THE WORST AND DUMBEST THEORY OF ALL TIME

we all know and love gravelord nito, right. he's a big jumble of skellingtons covered by a robe of bad vibes. he's not dead, he's just "sleep[ing] deep within the Giant Catacombs, quietly overseeing all death". nito, first of the dead, is weak to fire. nito discovered his flame and burned himself to death making him the first loser in recorded history.

and we know pinwheel, the poorly named (look i know its hard to get the idea across but "pinwheel"???) boss whose japanese name (San'ninbaori) is a reference to a comedy act performed with two people. in this case it's three (hence "san"). you can see in the concept art how they're stacked on each other under the blankey

a particularly nauseating and saccharine theory proposes that pinwheel is but a harmless family man trying to restore his dead family. this theory is based literally entirely on the fact that his masks are named "the mask of the father/mother/son". thats it lol. this ignores several things:

the masks are clearly based on greek theater masks and are representing archetypes and not literal people.

no one in dark souls or any reality wears a mask to inform people what their familial role is. are you stupid.

they're undead you dipshit! it's a world of people where the problem is they don't die!

the idea is also just toothless and stupid; it's cliche and expected. it's the kind of lazy theorizing that occurs when you fundamentally do not understand how to read text beyond just putting the literal words into your head. look,

undead clerics go on pilgrimages to the catacombs of lordran to become fire-keepers by partaking in the rite of kindling, which will tie them to a bonfire (which is kindled with remains, nito's death lead to the discovery that bonfires are kindled by sacrifice/humanity). thisis a power unique to nito as a consequence of burning himself. or it WAS.

pinwheel is "the necromancer who stole the power of the Gravelord and reigns over the Catacombs". when we interrupt him hes in the middle of grafting a gravelord sword onto his next addition in order to mimic ol' nito.

the fundamental difference between pinwheel and nito is size: pinwheel is a collection of (likely) undead, nito and the other lord souls, except the furtive pygmy, were "gods", a race of giants with powers or great strength. if you see a really tall fucker in dark souls, they're a different species and not a human.

with that in mind: it seems like he's trying to usurp nito in a weird parallel to our own adventure. in one of the two dark souls endings, the player character can choose to inherit the role of the gods by giving their life to extend the age of fire, just as the god gwyn did. pinwheel is following the blueprints to become god laid down by his predecessor; nito too was once three dudes smooshed together!

nito's boss area has a weird detail: two open sarcophagi....or....IS THERE!!!!

christ it took me forever to find the source for this and i guess no one cares about it enough to talk or notice it outside of this one video. thank you illusory wall. speaking of illusory, the pinwheels in front of nito poof into illusion dust when you kill them. illusions in dark souls persist even after the death of the person who cast them. you can kill gwyndolin and the fake sun remains in anor londo

[catsandgoodbooks]

No. 20: “People don’t change people, time does.”

Blanket | Found Family | “You will regret touching them.���

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

“Careful, it’s hot.” Philza passed Dream a cup of tea, who took it cautiously. Dream wrapped his hands around the cup; his hands were cold and the cup was warm. It was nice. “It went well, mates?”

“We got everything we wanted done, so I’d say yeah, it did,” Technoblade answered, hanging his cape up on a hook. 

Punz scoffed, rolling their eyes. “You don’t say, Technoblade.” They looked back at Phil and Dream. “I mean, he’s dead now and the whole place’s burnt to the ground. It’s taken care of.”

Niki smiled at the two of them brightly. “It’s safe to say we won’t have to worry about them anymore, right?” she asked, sitting down on the couch and narrowly avoiding sitting on Dream’s toes.

“Thanks, guys.” Dream knew they wanted him to say that, and he didn’t want to disappoint them. “Like, that’s great, thank you, but did you have to do that–”

“He hurt you,” Techno interrupted. “Quackity hurt you, and we needed to make sure that he would regret that.”

“Exactly,” Punz acquiesced. “We might not of had to do that, but we fucking wanted to, Dream.” (“My poor monetization,” Techno grumbled.) “He deserved it, and there needs to be consequences sometimes or everyone’s going to be running around doing whatever the hell they want.”

“I can’t speak for everyone here, but I think it’s safe to say that we care about you, and, uh, we don’t like people we care about getting cut up by people we don’t,” Ranboo volunteered from where he was hovering. 

(Phil offered Punz a cup of tea as well, and they took it. “Thanks.” The mercenary pulled out a chair and settled down)

“I couldn’t of said it better myself,” Techno agreed, and Ranboo puffed up a little bit at the approval. “We care, Dream. Even if you don’t want to admit it, it’s the truth.”

“Uh-huh.” Niki smiled over at Dream. “We care, and that’s the important thing here. We’re family at this point.”

“You have a point there,” Techno commented. “A very good point.” He glanced over a Dream. “You hear that? You’re never gettin’ rid of us.”

“Nope,” Punz remarked, smiling crookedly. “Not even this ‘until death’ shit. We all know that’s stupid.”

Dream rolled his eyes. “You know that I’m the necromancer here, right? I could just, like, not bring you back.” 

(He and Punz still hadn’t told the rest of the Syndicate about the Revival Book situation. They didn’t need to know about it. It would just invite too many questions)

“I think it’s a bit late for that, mate,” Phil told him, smiling faintly. “You wouldn’t still be here if that was actually a possibility.”

“Fine, fine,” Dream compromised. “I’ll stop. I’d totally bring all of you guys back if you died.”

“Good to know. Now I don’t have to worry about losing any of my lives,” Technoblade joked. “I can do as much stupid stuff as I want now.”

Dream glared at him. “That’s not what I said, Techno.”

“It basically is,” Punz responded. “Also, there seems to be a bit of double standard there, you know, considering the fact that you literally locked yourself up in prison.”

Niki grimaced. “Not your greatest moment, was it?”

“Let’s not talk about it right now. Doesn’t matter.” Dream really didn’t want to talk about that right now. (Or ever, really) 

“Thanks, I guess.” Dream pulled the blanket tighter around himself. He wanted to just make sure about one thing, but it would be showing vulnerability, opening himself up to admitting that he cared and getting hurt…

“Just checking but…you’re not going to leave, right?”

“Of course not, Dream. You’re one of us now. Yes, yes, I said it chat, you can stop screaming now.” Techno rolled his eyes but sobered up quickly. “You’re family, Dream.”

[talesofsorrowandofruin]

WIP Questionnaire Tag

Thanks for tagging me, @space-writes! :D

I'll do this for The Power and the Glory:

What is the first part of your WIP that you created?: The idea of a necromancer accidentally causing the zombie apocalypse. All of the other elements came later (and then tried to take over the original idea...)

If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?: Something catchy but spooky. Khachaturian's Masquerade Waltz, maybe.

What are your favourite characters that you made? Why?: Ilaran and Lian. They're both morally ambiguous and have done some outright villainous things, so predictably I like them best :D

What other pieces of media do you think your fan base would share?: The Untamed (because necromancy), I guess

What has been your biggest struggle with your WIP?: Getting the characters to do what I want instead of taking the plot in a new and weird direction *glares at them*

Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!: There aren't many ordinary animals, but there are immortals who can shapeshift into animals (snakes, sea serpents, a dragon, a phoenix...). These transformations tend to happen at inconvenient times if the shapeshifter isn't used to them. And they aren't always helpful -- Ilaran is afraid of heights but turns into an eagle.

How do your characters get around? (Ex. Trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.): Mostly on foot or by horses. For longer journeys they take either the train or the airship. And for travelling to another planet they use spaceships.

What part of your WIP are you working on right now?: Currently planning book five. I got a few chapters done then got distracted, so I just need to pick up where I left off.

What aspects (tropes, maybe) of your WIP do you think will draw people in?: Probably the zombie apocalypse. But people who come for it will have to wait a long time before it gets started ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

What are your hopes for your WIP?: To finish it, then to edit it, and finally to publish it.

Tagging @lychhiker-writes, @finickyfelix, @the-golden-comet, and anyone else who wants to do this! :D

[crispy-kitten-princess]

If i ever were able to list all the things i dislike in Magisterium series, this post would've been endless. Instead, I'd mention smth i love so much that it makes me re-read the series for the fifth time and gives me inspiration for new drawings and playlists

The first one is aesthetic. I don't think I've ever read a YA book with the death and necromancy as the main lore theme. Also, the first book in series is so sweet and innocent compared to the fourth I can't believe it lol. Corpses. So gothic. So edgy. Love it

The second is very similar to the first - chaos magic. We come across elemental magic in all sorts of media, but they don't usually have the 5th element, or if they have it's more likely to be electricity or smth. Not ACTUAL NECROMANCY omfg... I love it. Also Makars being able to manipulate not only chaos (the void itself) but the soul.... Cute

So next. The main character ofc. Callum Hunt. What can I say he is such a cinnamon roll hating himself for what he is not. Screaming, crying, throwing up. I can feel his pain with every fiber of my soul he's so relatable. He is a type of chaotic neutral main character which is rare I guess, and at the same time he doesn't act like a total jerk and piece of shit. Can't name some other like him, idk. He's sweet but also edgy. His self-confidence is below the surface of the earth. He's just like me frfr my poor little meow meow. Also he is disabled and it influences the events of the book. Sometimes. Cool, representative. Not a disabled person myself but can appreciate it

Another reason for me to love the series is the changing of Call's secrets idk how to call this. The structure of his character lore. His secrets and abilities, they're layered.. you know... And every book one by one uncovers these layers: 1 - he uncovers that he is the reincarnation of Constantine. 2 - he gets his powers (which made Constantine evil at the first place). 3 - he learns more about Constantine's family, and the whole world finds out that he "is" the Enemy of Death. 4 - omg how much he uncovers here lol i can't. May be my favourite book thanks to its maaad vibe. Everything he learns here makes him closer and closer to Constantine. 5 - i know that most of the fandom thinks it was stupid to make Constantine himself a reincarnated thousand-years-old evil Makar. And i may agree. But in the moment of reading this it was so impactful for me idk why.... I literally cried idk!!! Lol. Love the moment where Call opens his memory to help his friends to fight wolves or smth, and PASSES OUT. KING. So, the other secret is uncovered here. Everything he learns makes him understand Constantine's/Maugris's motives, but he never ever becomes anything like them nor wishes to follow their path. Pretty symbolic and meaningful

Upd. SOME MOMENTS ARE FREAKING HILARIOUS

So what can I say? Every series has it's weak and strong points. Some of them become classic literature, some are forgotten in the abyss of YA books. I understand why Magisterium's place is with the second type of series, and it's not even saddens me anymore (we're so underground teehee). But i see many posts where the series is shitted over, and not much of posts appreciating the things that we actually love in it. Aren't they the reason you started and finished it sometime? So I'm here spreading positivity! And also because I'm so tired of being a fan of this shit so i tried to acknowledge all that i love, and why am i here in the first place

I think it's all for now, maybe I'll come with more ideas later

Fandom are you alive? Heh am I a Call kinnie to the point that i become necromancer?...

P.S. sometimes i think I'm so cringe to be periodically obsessed with this STUPID POOR-WRITTEN CHILDISH BOOK ABANDONED EVEN BY IT'S OWN CREATORS BUT I CAN'T HELP IT...... AND THE WORST THING IS THAT I DIDN'T EVEN READ IT IN MY EARLY TEENS (except the 1 which i read when i was around 13. Read it twice in one week so maybe that's the moment my brain was damaged) I READ IT WHEN I WAS 16 ALREADY aaarrrhh I'm so cringe. Why obsession why why why why why why i hate this but this is literally the only book which makes me cry and scream and feel every fucking time i re-read it even when i know EVERYTHING THAT'S GONNA HAPPEN LITERALLY EVERYTHING reading it all again for the 6th time FOR GODDESS SAKE WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME