#i guess it's just a different flavour of the same thing

[pharawee]

(Slightly?) unpopular opinion time but I don't even need the four med princes in Fourever You. Just give me the compass cutie friend group and I'm all set for the whole 16 eps. 🥰

That being said, how well done is this show? The production values are incredible - from lighting to make-up and set design and colour grading. Just an absolute joy to watch!

I'm also not 100% sure what it is that makes Director New's Wabi Sabi shows so different from his shows for gmmtv (which aren't bad at all - it's just personal preference), I only know that they are and that I vastly prefer them.

[written4u]

CATCHING STRAYS ✴︎ LN04

There's a stray child in the McLaren garage, and of course, Lando is the one who has to deal with it.

━━━ 🔗 LN4 MASTERLIST

PAIRING.   Lando Norris x Single Mother!FemReader WORDS.   1k TAGS.   Tooth-rotting Fluff. NOTE.   The cutest thing I've ever written ( yet ). This drabble is about another pairing I had in mind... <33

Likes, comments, reblogs are much appreciated!

Something tugged at Lando’s race suit.

Amid the paddock frenzy, that subtle touch⏤so gentle he first thought he’d imagined it⏤startled him enough to abandon his pre-race ritual.

He looked down.

And found himself nose-to-nose with a pair of big amber eyes.

Lando blinked.

The child blinked back.

“What the—?” he murmured before crouching to her level. “What are you doing here, muppet? Where are your parents?”

She let go of his leg, stuffed her fist into her mouth—long enough for drool to glisten down her chin and wrist—and dropped onto the ground with a soft oomph.

She smacked her lips a few times—undoubtedly mimicking someone—and then clapped her hands, giggling.

“Mama!”

Lando cast a desperate glance around him, but the engineers and mechanics paid him no mind, wholly absorbed in their final adjustments to the car.

“I don’t know where your mama is.”

He ran a hand through his curls as stress began to rise. The girl looked at him with wide, hopeful eyes, only fuelling the tsunami building in his chest.

Of course it had to happen to him.

“Well... what am I supposed to do with you now?”

For a fleeting moment, he considered calling Oscar, who was probably still holed up in his room, but the Aussie driver was just as hopeless in situations like this—if not worse. His mother’s face flashed through his mind, and he suppressed a shiver at the thought of her scolding him.

That’s when he noticed it.

Tucked between the girl’s overalls and t-shirt, a lanyard.

Carefully, Lando pulled it free and let out a sigh of relief when he saw the pass. He flipped it over, softened momentarily at the ID photo, and read the name printed in bold.

“Apolline L/N? Well, at least we know you're not a paddock intruder, muppet.”

She giggled as if she understood him, then tipped forward—still figuring out her balance, clearly. Lando caught her before she hit the ground, muttering a quiet thanks for his fast reflexes.

As he resumed reading, he absentmindedly rubbed her back. Shaken by her near tumble, she had settled her head against his chest, sucking on her thumb.

Apolline L/N VIP ACCESS A guest of: SCUDERIA FERRARI

“Well, I guess your mama’s probably over at Ferrari. What do you say, Apolline?” He leaned back to meet her gaze. “Shall we go for a walk?”

He stood, a child in his arms and tiny fingers clinging to his fireproofs.

Together, they set off.

Eyes lingered on the duo as they passed by. Whispers soon followed. What was Lando Norris doing with a small girl in his arms? Was that his sister? His daughter from a past fling?

He could already imagine the headlines, always eager to twist the narrative. Watching warily as a cameraman aimed his lens at them, he tucked Apolline's head into his neck and tightened his embrace before quickening his pace.

He passed Williams, then Mercedes—ignoring George’s raised eyebrow—and finally stopped in front of the red garage.

The usual Monaco frenzy took on a different flavour here. Lando could almost taste the tension soaked into every inch of the garage.

Ferrari wasn’t swept up in Monaco mania, no; they were drowning in Chaos.

A Charles in full race gear paced, his phone pressed to his ear, while a flustered Alexandra—so far removed from her usual elegance—tried to comfort a woman in tears.

Her sobs drowned out the frantic conversations of the team, whose faces all wore the same expression: that of pure dread.

In his arms, Apolline began to wriggle.

“Mama!”

At the sound, the woman spun around. She tore herself from Alexandra’s arms and ran to Lando.

The latter remained frozen as he took in the woman before him. His eyes darted between her sparkling gaze and her intoxicating mouth. They would have travelled further down—drawn to the delicious lines of her figure in that dress—had she not spoken, brows furrowed.

“May I have my daughter back?”

Her French accent nearly made him faint.

“What? Your daughter… Oh—uh—yeah! Of course!” he stammered. “She’s yours. Right. Obviously.”

Clumsily, he transferred Apolline into her mother’s arms. She hugged the girl tightly before setting her down and checking her over.

“Mon ange! You scared me to death! Don't ever do that again. If you want to go wandering, we’ll go together. Understood?”

The little girl just laughed, unfazed by the turmoil she’d caused, and dashed off into the garage. Lando watched her wrap herself around Alexandra’s legs, and then—

Vanilla.

Lando instinctively hugged the woman back. He buried his nose in her hair and breathed in the sweet scent as his hands tightened on her back.

“Thank you,” she whispered with the kind of gratitude only a mother could convey.

When she stepped back, Lando was already mourning the warmth of her body against his. Flushing, he rubbed the back of his neck to chase the thought away and shrugged.

Control yourself, she has a child.

“It’s nothing. Anyone would’ve done the same.”

“Still. It means a lot.”

She offered her hand.

“I’m Y/N.”

“Lando.”

Alexandra called her over. Y/N gave him a small, apologetic smile—one that did something strange to his chest—and turned to walk away, tossing a final “thank you” over her shoulder.

Lando stayed there, a little dazed.

A throat cleared, breaking the spell.

Fred Vasseur stood in front of him with his arms crossed and one eyebrow raised. Only then did Lando realize half the garage was staring at him.

Knowing he had overstayed his welcome, he turned on his heel and headed back toward the McLaren garage—but not without grabbing Charles by the collar. The Monegasque struggled against his hold before freezing as Lando leaned in and whispered:

“Give me Y/N’s number, or I’m crashing into you at turn one, constructors’ championship be damned.”

[rox-of-iu]

More head disciple era doodles because i love these idiots

(EDIT i just noticed the mistake there was supposed to be "shimei" instead of "shijie" mannn whatever im not fixing that bye)

theyre so stupid and so fun. anyway more of my headcanons under cut if you wish to see

these are just my headcanons im not saying this is the correct way to see them just me having fun ok lets go (this is mainly MQF cuz duh yeah who would have guessed hgjfk)

MQF usually doesnt insert himself into the inter-peak messes and dramas, but does enjoy the fact that people tend to come to him to rant about the latest nonsense so he does get the latest gossip without a need to personally get dragged into trouble

Just the same, he is also not one to start tomfoolery (too busy for that and somewhat responsible, rip to him) but he does actually feel touched when the others think of him and ask him to be included in their tomfoolery. thats why he usually folds and accepts to take part despite his better judgement

dont be fooled MQF is also stupid silly kid just a different flavour that looks dignified on the surface but will not think twice before testing his newest antidote experiments on himself

if anyone is familiar with my fics then you know i love giving MQF a bad habit of gambling, inspired by the donghuas hilarious decision to use his model in that one scene just for the sake of it (originally rando in the book). absolutely brilliant. QQQ enables him in this most of the time and loves to take his money because she is the reigning betting champion

speaking about being inspired by donghua, one MQF background scene where he is posed on his sword is meant to look like a battle stance, but to me he mostly looks like hes trying not to fall hgjkf, thus spawning hc that he does not enjoy flying too much (on his own)

QQQ and LQG light-heartedly fight both with words and fists over the stupidest things. its enrichment

WQW's has a brand of humour that is sometimes hard for people to get and understand that he is actually joking, especially for people that dont usually interact with him. It is easier to clock for his closer circle though. (inspired by the extras)

this also continues as WQW grows more into adulthood, because he gains somewhat of a severe resting face, despite his jovial nature around his friends. He looks intimidating and grows to be more restrained and exasperated at nonsense that takes his time for no reason, but still keeps his mischievous spirit

damn i had more notes written but i misplaced them somewhere so this is it ok bye

[inoluvrr]

⟶ satoru's scented lip balm.

⟶ moot me up. pls

cw:: tooth rotting fluff, not proofread, gn!reader, babygirl!satoru

“Hey. C’mere,” Satoru whispers conspiratorially.

You look up at him. He's on the other side of your office, leaning against the wall. His blindfold conceals his eyes, but he struggles to hide the way the corners of his lips are twitching into a cheeky grin.

You tap your pen against the paperwork you're filling out, which was actually his paperwork that he pleaded with you to do, and roll your eyes. “No. You come here.”

He doesn't even argue, too caught up in what he really wants to share with you. He bounds over to your desk, pushes your chair back, and sits sideways over your lap. You let out a slight oof as he settles in, but your hands still wind around his waist.

“Notice anything different about me?” he purrs.

Your hands trace up and down his waist as you furrow your brows in thought. It doesn't seem like he's gotten his hair cut, and it looks like the same blindfold you'd just washed last night, and he hasn't painted his nails or gotten laser hair removal or gotten his already blinding teeth whitened further.

“No,” you shrug. “What is it?”

He huffs. “I’ll give you a hint.”

He leans forward, connecting his lips to yours. He kisses you slow and languidly, and although it's tempting to force your tongue through his shiny pink lips, you do resist.

He pulls away with a final peck. “Get it now?”

You still don't. “New toothpaste?”

“We share toothpaste, silly!” He huffs, knocking his forehead against your cheek. “Okay, one more hint.”

He places a kiss on your nose. Then another, and another, until your eyes are finally widening in realisation.

“New lip balm,” you say. He grins.

“Yes! You're so smart, baby.”

That explains the rosy tint to his lips, then. You bring a finger up, tracing along the slight sheen. “Pretty.”

“Okay, okay. Now guess the flavour.”

You hum, tilting your face towards his, your nose brushing against his lips very slightly. He doesn't resist the urge to give you another kiss, leaving the slightest pink shimmer on your skin.

You narrow your eyes, your stare wandering around the room as you think. “It's sweet.”

“Yep!” Satoru grins, his blindingly white teeth glinting from the corner of your eyes. “Guess!”

You sniff again, then once more. “Cherry.”

He squeals, wrapping his arms around your head and squeezing you to him. “You're so smart! My smart baby. You've earned another kiss.”

“Duh,” you smile, tilting your head up to meet his lips as they push against yours. It's a slow, affectionate kiss, and you can feel your fiancé's smile against your lips, drinking in all the things you feel for him but are too prideful to say.

You're so cute.

He pulls away, leaning his head atop yours, his cheek pressed to the crown of your head. “I need to keep my lips soft for you,” he sighs, answering your question before you can even say it.

You hum. “Thoughtful.”

[16wolke11]

PENGUINS-Ollie Bearman

A/N I hope you like this pretty random shot of Ollie

WORDS: 1519

SYNOPSIS: When Ollie is drunk he likes to ramble. Todays topic: Penguins

__________

It's a late Sunday evening after a long race weekend. The drivers have either already left for the airport to get as much time at home as possible, are finally resting, or are at this party. Even though all of them are pretty tired after the adrenaline of the race has calmed down, some of them are still going strong. Some linger on the dance floor, others just sit around, talking with each other, most of them with a drink in their hand, not caring about keeping up their picture-perfect behaviour for the media.

Since I am working with Prema in the supporting junior categories, I do know a fair amount of the drivers, helped them achieve their dreams, or just was with them one step in their journey. Because of that, I end up at those parties pretty often. They know they can be themselves around me, and I am glad they feel so relaxed with me being there, even though I am not in their driver bubble.

"Hey." A tall figure comes closer to me, and I don't even need to see him properly to know who it is.

"Hi Ollie." I smile at him, having to look upwards because he is towering over me. He is swaying lightly on his feet, and I am pretty sure he is drunk by now, eyes glossy and struggling to focus on my face.

"You're different." Ollie just blurts out before taking a sip from his drink. I raise my eyebrow, kind of used to his strange behaviour, but this kind of approach is new.

"Am I?" I ask him and tilt my head slightly to the side, having no clue in what direction this conversation is going to turn, while Ollie just nods.

"Yes, you don't just talk about normal stuff, but also about the weird things people say." He blabbers, and I need to suppress the grin coming onto my lips, already knowing this will be one of the weird kinds of conversations.

"Well, I try to be a good listener." I shrug my shoulders while being honest. Thinking that it is important to listen to people, even though their topic might not be my favourite. For example, encouraging a child to speak about their favourite dinosaur or a drunk Ollie and Kimi trying to explain to me the concept of something they came up with.

"And even though you said some strange things before, I kind of like it." I add, telling him the truth. Sometimes a good chat while being more or slightly less drunk is all you need.

"Strange, huh?" Ollie huffs, crinkles his forehead, like he has to think about it, before a goofy smile comes onto his lips.

"I guess I say some weird stuff sometimes." He admits before one of these stories comes to his mind and his eyes light up.

"Like, do you remember the time I told you about how I would be a great superhero? I could like... bam, save the world with a slice of pizza or something." Ollie fulfils a mimicked throw of a pizza slice, spilling some of his drink over his hands, but he doesn't even notice.

"I think your idea was to throw it like a boomerang. But sure, a superhero with pizza powers would certainly be interesting." I nod along, remembering this conversation pretty well. How he imagined the different flavours having different benefits for his attacks.

"Pizza powers were a good one." Ollie sighs, smiling proudly at the memory, only being quiet for a short moment before speaking up again.

"But you know what? I've been thinking," Ollie pauses, now sounding pretty serious. "I think I am onto something."

"Something deeper." He adds, and I bite down on the inside of my cheek to suppress the laugh. If it is at the same level as pizza-powers, I am curious about what he has come up with this time.

"What's in your head now?" I ask him, knowing I encourage him even more, but that is probably a big part of our friendship.

"Have you ever... have you ever thought about penguins? Like really thought about them?" Ollie asks, and I just blink at him while he continues.

"Not just pictures, but the wild ones." He adds, leaning forward a bit, while he gestures with his free hand. Then he wraps his arm around my shoulders, clumsily pulls me closer, before ending his speech.

"I think we should think more about penguins. A LOT more."

"Penguins?" I ask him, struggling a bit to keep standing straight because he is leaning his weight onto me, and I am not exactly tall enough to support his body. "Uh, okay... what do you mean exactly?" I ask him, eyeing our surroundings for an empty couch or something where I can let him sit down safely.

"They are this tiny tuxedo-wearing," Ollie starts, missing one word while his hands are gesturing around. "Creatures," he finally adds.

"They waddle around cute and stuff, but they are also like SUPER deep, you know?" Ollie asks me but doesn't give me a chance to say something before continuing his penguin speech.

"They mate for life and wander through ice and snow to find their... what's the word again? Their soulmate or whatever." He stares at me for a moment, before dropping his voice like he is telling me a secret.

"Like, that's what we humans should be doing."

I stare at him for a moment, trying to process all the things he just told me. "Wait, so you think we should be more like penguins? That's your idea?" I ask him with raised eyebrows, still struggling under his weight, but suddenly he is standing up straight again.

"You get it!" Ollie exclaims, clapping his hands once, a wide smile on his lips.

"We don't appreciate them enough, and we should talk about them more."

"They bring a gift to their partner, a little stone." Ollie pauses, trying to create a dramatic build-up, but it is rather hilarious seeing him sway on his feet while holding this passionate speech about penguins.

"I don't even know if someone would like getting a stone, but they do it. Searching for the perfect one in the frozen world, deciding which one is the perfect and... okay, maybe not the dramatic search, but still." Ollie's words are slurred, but I do my best to follow his explanations, finally breaking into a smile.

"So, you want us all to give stones to each other? Like romantic stone gifting?" I laugh softly, not about his idea, because it is really cute, but just about the fact that he knows all this stuff in a drunk state.

"Yes!" Now Ollie beams, probably picturing the scene in his head right now.

"It's not about the stone, the gift, but the effort. The thought and the commitment." Ollie explains, and my heart warms up. It is comforting to think about true love between two creatures being sealed by something as simple as a stone.

"Penguins don't worry about the best stuff," Ollie continues. "They're just giving their hearts away in the form of a stone. I can't even walk to the kitchen without tripping, and penguins?" He has to stop because he has to hiccup. "They are penguin-ing through life and being awesome." Ollie nods to underline his own words, and by now the smile is plastered on my lips.

"Okay, I think we've established that penguins might be romantic creatures, but maybe we need to tone down the penguin obsession for now. And I think you've had enough to drink, don't you think?" I tell him, trying to reach for his drink, but Ollie just holds it higher, so that I can't reach it.

"You don't get it." Ollie pouts, attempting to cross his arms, but then realizing he can't do it without lowering his arms again.

"Don't you ever just want to be a penguin?" He asks me with a dreamy look in his eyes.

"Forget about the stress, no bills, no deadlines. Just waddling, sliding on your belly, and gifting your favourite penguin a stone." Ollie sighs, looking into the distance, and my heart aches softly. His whole speech about penguins probably has a deeper meaning with him wanting a partner for life or something like that, but at the same time, it is pretty hilarious.

"I just want to be a penguin, a free-waddling penguin." He pouts again, and I stare at him with a grin.

"I think you had too much to drink." I state again because if I am certain of something, then that Ollie shouldn't finish this drink and especially not get another one after it.

"Maybe." Ollie admits, lowering his arm, but still caught in his little penguin daydream.

"But we need to talk more about the penguins, we're not done here." He grins, eyes sparkling with passion.

"We are just getting started."

And I am sure the rest of my night will contain a lot of facts about penguins, a drunk Ollie, and memories that will brighten up any dark moment.

[osterby]

So the flavour of the day is Bad Fandom Stats, and it turns out that not only is centreoftheselights using a wildly inaccurate method of counting ship popularity during a given year for the Year In Review fandom stats, but also that nearly every column on the chart is a lie. @5ummit exploded the whole methodology issue last year, so I'll just link their post and dive into other stuff.

One would think, looking at a list of popular ships with their fandoms listed next to them, that the named fandom is simply the one within which the ship exists.

The ship at the top of that list is "Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)" and the fandom is listed as "9-1-1 (TV)"; that's pretty straightforward, there's only the one TV show and those characters are from that show.

But then we get down to ships with characters that exist in multiple versions or subsections of a canon which have their own fandom tags on AO3, and things start getting janky

One of the first things I noticed was weird about this year's chart (aside from the numbers themselves being just straight up wrong) was that the fandom for Kirk/Spock was listed as "Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)", the AO3 tag for the reboot movies. That felt wrong, because while I know the reboot movies are big on AO3, most of the K/S stuff I've seen recently has either been expressly original cast or not specific to any one cast or iteration of canon.

I thought that the list might have been saying that Reboot Kirk/Spock alone was big enough to make the list while Generic and Original Kirk/Spock were separate fandoms that hadn't gotten onto the list. That would be absurd for new fic count, but there are stranger things on this list and the methodology favours newer ships, so I went digging.

A search for Kirk/Spock fic posted in 2024 and a glance at the sidebar gives us this, out of 2,255 total fics

Searching for Kirk/Spock fics updated, rather than newly posted, in 2024 also puts the All Media Types and Original Series tags above the Reboot Movies.

But searching the entire unfiltered ship tag gets us this, out of 22,426 fics

This means two things.

1.) Despite the listed fandom on the year end chart, Kirk/Spock (and by extension, all the other ships from fandoms with more than one iteration of canon [and some Batman ships are on there, so we've got far more complex things than simply reboot movies and TV/anime adaptions of novels/manga]) is a generic ship tag.

2.) the fandom listed was taken from the unfiltered tag, not from this year's data.

And centreoftheselights confirms that this is indeed her methodology.

The fandoms are, quite simply, wrong.

--

Since we do not have access to her data and her methods are not replicable, we can't check how many of the ships might have been struck with a mismatch between which version of their canon is most popular overall vs this year.

I can't even be certain that there is a mismatch for Kirk/Spock. It's possible that the fics that actually make up her numbers have more reboot movie fic than otherwise. No one will ever know.

--

It is interesting to dig into the differences. I find it utterly fascinating that Kirk/Spock had a period that pushed the reboot movies to the top of the list overall and has since settled into Original Cast being more popular, all while the ships remained consistently popular enough to regularily end up on Top Ship Lists.

Centreoftheselights' data does not allow us to dig into those differences, or even to meaningfully speculate about them.

--

And yet more! As I explained in this reblog, the "type" column is not harvested from the data itself, but is a subjective interpretation of what centreoftheselights believes the characters' genders is or could or might be. So not only are all the columns wrong, they aren't even wrong in the same ways.

Over the whole sheet, the columns are: ⚠️Rank: Well, it accurately lists the order of the inaccurate counts, so I guess the column technically isn't inaccurate ⚠️Change: This is indeed the change in rank from last year's chart. It accurately lists the difference between two different inaccurate ranks ✔️ Relationship: accurate! This is the ship tag on AO3 ❌ Fandom: Inaccurate. Actually a top tag within the ship tag, not the fandom the ship is from ❌Works Gained: Inaccurate. see @5ummit's debunk ✔️Total Works: accurate! this is indeed the size of the tag on AO3 ❌Type: Inaccurate. OP's best guess, subjective interpretation, or headcanon ❌Race: Inaccurate. Same as above.

--

Tagging @olderthannetfic and @5ummit since you two have kind of been doing the heavy lifting on this one :)

Also plugging the more accurate chart by Randomist1031, which, in addition to having accurate fic counts, also lists fandoms by generic names rather than top tag, which increaes both accuracy and readability. https://archiveofourown.org/chapters/158271001

[nymika-arts]

like a river runs

chapter 9 of 10, 6.8k read on ao3 | read from the beginning

“Do you think fruit loops have different flavours, or do they all taste the same?” Chimney asks, a box of the colourful cereal in his hand.

“I don't think I've had a fruit loop since I was seven,” Buck responds.

“That explains a lot about you.” Chim puts the cereal in the cart and moves on. 

“Weren't we here to pick up dinner?” 

“I'm just getting the essentials.”

“Uh-huh. Ooh get—” he gestures at the shelf.

“Hot Cheetos,” Chim finishes for him. “I like the way you think.”

Chimney throws a bag into the cart and continues on.

(“Get hot Cheetos,” Buck said, pointing from behind the cart. 

“We're just here to get what we need,” said Eddie. It was one of those days where they realized after a long week that they had absolutely nothing to throw together into a meal.

“We need them,” Buck said. Eddie gave him a look. “Seriously. Essential to my survival.”

Eddie rolled his eyes and picked up a bag. “Alright, well, if it'll keep you from dying on me.”

“Aw, he loves me.”

“Yeah, yeah. Don't push it. What do you want for dinner?”)

“What do you want for dinner?” Chim says.

“Hm? Oh, uh, whatever.”

That’s about as deep as the conversation goes for as long as they’re shopping. It's so mundane, but somehow exactly the sort of thing that keeps him missing the past.

It takes them another hour before they're finally at the checkout. 

“Oh, hang on,” Chimney says, glancing back towards the store. “You go ahead and grab this stuff, I’ll catch up. Forgot to get butter.” Then he disappears back into the aisles of food.

The man at the register is an older fellow, reading glasses on the tip of his nose as he pages through a magazine, the cover of which is sporting some overly edited photo of a plane with the headline: ‘Time Travel or Resurrection? The True Story Behind the Mystery of Flight 242’. Buck rolls his eyes and starts unloading his basket onto the counter.

The man peers over his glasses at him, then slowly folds his magazine over and sets it down to start scanning his items. 

"You know that plane that went missing?" he says, tapping on the article with two fingers.

"What?" Buck says sharply, almost dropping his wallet.

The man chuckles, either oblivious to or unbothered by Buck's tone. "'Course, everyone in the world knows about it by now. They're still writing about it. Hard to find anything more exciting than that to report on, I guess.” He pauses. “Jumping five years into the future, isn't that crazy?"

"Yeah. Crazy."

"I wonder what it would be like to time travel."

"I bet it sucks,” Buck says, snatching the bags of groceries and walking out without looking back.

read the rest on ao3

[morporkian-cryptid]

Thoughts on Lupin Russian Edition

Warning: spoilers for Zenigata and the Two Lupins!!

So, I am indeed disappointed that Koike didn't go with the existential angst of not knowing who's the clone and who's the original, but I'm glad that was obvious from the trailer so I had time to lower my expectations on that front and be open to other themes. Speaking of which:

What they did explore was "what if Lupin was evil". And I think they did a pretty compelling job on that.

They may look and act very different on the surface, but Lupin Russian Edition and Lupin Original Flavour DO have a lot in common. Namely their motivation. They both just want to have fun, do things for the hell of it, "to make this boring world more interesting". The question OG Lupin asked Russian Lupin is very telling. "Why go this far?" The question wasn't "why are you evil", "why do you kill people", why do the things you do- because he knows the answer to that already, because it's the same as him.

The difference between them isn't in why they do what they do, it's in where they put the limit. Why Russian Lupin doesn't have that limit. (and I think the movie also did a great job in putting Lupin and Zenigata's moral compasses against each other, but I'll make a separate post about that.) The fact that without that limit Lupin would blow shit up and kill people is apparently a given, something OG Lupin doesn't question.

They have the same love of thrill, the same disregard for their own safety, the same way to see life as a game. OG Lupin acted surprised that Russian Lupin rigged a bomb to himself, but honestly? The Lupin we know absolutely 100% would kill himself and take everyone else with him if he seriously thought there was no way out for him - and make it into a game. He's always been quick to gamble with his own life, and we see that taken to an exteme with Russian Lupin.

It wasn't just the killing himself and taking OG Lupin and Zenigata with him that was important, it was the giving them a limited time to try and deactivate the bomb, seeing them panick and fight for a way out and not get it. The point wasn't just taking them down with him, it was making it into a challenge and (hopefully) seeing them fail at it.

We also see that, to a lesser extent, when he attacked Fujiko - he could have just kidnapped her, or straight up just killed her, but no, he had to make it a chase, give Fujiko a chance to escape, put himself in danger (he was almost as banged-up as her after the two cars crashed). Same again with the suicide bomber. That was an absolutely horrendous thing to do, but it was showy, bombastic, entertaining in a very twisted sense of the term. It was a very Lupin thing to do, if Lupin were an evil bastard who thought murder was fun.

The one big difference I do see between them, other than their moral compass, is the fact that Russian Lupin worked for Whatshisface (the supreme leader of the Rovietic Union, I forgot his name already). OG Lupin would never work for someone, or take orders, but everything Russian Lupin did up until something more interesting (namely, OG Lupin and Zenigata) showed up, was in pursuit of Whatshisface's warmongering plan.

I think that's got to do with the fact that Russian Lupin was created by Mamo as part of his whole GMO Assassin Factory thing - like Binkam was sold/rented out to the pharmaceutical overlord (we don't have proof that Jael had any connection to Mamo before he got his arm turned into a colander, but I personally think he was like Binkam, sold or rented out to the Doroan government). Russian Lupin was built for the express purpose of following orders. I kinda wonder why Mamo bothered to model him after Lupin, but I guess that's going to be the big question in Immortal Bloodline, so I just have to wait.

Although, it's not a very unsual choice: we've seen it happen before in a lot of entries in the franchise. Lupin is almost superhuman, and a lot of powerful and evil people want him for their own to use as a tool or a weapon. That's the plot of at least a dozen episodes of Red Jacket, a bunch of movies, and more recently, the entire second arc of Part 6. Mamo just skipped the entire "kidnap and force Lupin" process and straight-up just built his own. Which… fair, I guess XD

In conclusion: the first step to any good crime is to have fun and be yourself Lupin!

[teaboot]

Gonna write a transman character. Any tips on things to include/avoid?

idk bud it's p different for everyone

Like

I consider myself transmasc, but I personally don't use a binder very often (uncomfy and not super useful anyway at bigger bra sizes) and still present feminine at most of my jobs, so I suppose my own deal is just that just my inner monologue takes a minute to buffer whenever someone calls me "she, her, lady, girl, woman" out loud.

So, for like... writing someone like me, I guess I'd be like. Pronouns different, self-image different, outside people behaviour towards me the same as a lady.

For writing someone else, maybe different? I don't know. I've only ever been Me so far.

Some guys don't like the basement being referred to with feminine language. Others don't care. I personally don't, but again, that's just me.

I suppose it depends on what kinda person your character is? Is he SUPER into performing socially acceptable "man" stuff, or is he gender non-conforming? Does he have a lot of dysphoria, or none at all? Maybe he has good days and bad days? Is he on hormones or Nah? If he's very active and wears a binder either he'll be sore a LOT or he'll have a sports bra, if he's chesty. Unless he's had top surgery. Or is naturally just flat. Lucky bastard.

But I guess I'd just... write a dude? Sprinkle in the nitty-gritty here and there for flavour, unless that's the main focus of his story, but yeah. Probably just writing a dude and then throwing in that he's trans is fine.

Open floor for anyone else wanting to add on? My abilities may be limited here and I'm not exactly the elected spokesperson

Good on you for asking, though!! Research is always a great start

[alpaca-clouds]

The Limitations of Masculinity

A couple of days ago I saw this study done on young men, that basically found one thing: A lot of them were looking for role models to provide them with a more healthy outlook on masculinity - but they were not finding it.

And this I absolutely do get.

Because here is the thing: Media sucks in regards of depicting male characters. Like, we are constantly bitching about how women are are basically reduced to love interests and sexy lamps - which is correct and all. But the thing that does not get acknowledged enough is that there is absolutely no diversity in the depicitions of male characters, ESPECIALLY white male characters.

Look, personally I could do well without watching another series featuring a white, abled, cis male character for another 10 years. Mainly because I personally do not need a white character to identify with. However, I do get the issue.

I mean, just look at the Marvel movies. Because frankly, most of the male heroes in the MCU are THE SAME FUCKING CHARACTER. They are narcissistic menchildren, who have a character arc about learning to grow up and be a bit more self-sacrificial - something that will then usually be flipped around, because the characters need to stick around for the sequels after all. Tony, Thor, Peter Quill, Rocket, Steven Strange... They all kinda fit into this one character mold. And while Steve was a bit of a different character, he was also far from a nuanced male character, given that he was pretty much reduced on "being a very strong and virtuous, stoic man". Which is not really a good reference for young men, I am sorry.

Generally speaking, male characters in western media tend to come in one of three flavours:

The manchild (who is a bit of an asshole and has to learn to think of others)

The nerd (who is also a bit of an asshole and has to learn a bit - but not too much - empathy)

The stoic masculine (who idealizes usually the soldier's virtues)

And that really, really is an issue. Especially as this goes double for white, cis male characters.

I can absolutely think about some characters from anime/manga that do break out of this, but as soon as I am thinking of western media? Castlevania has good male characters who are a lot more vulnerable than the average. And I can think of some games. But that's... pretty much it. Oh, yeah, and technically I guess I can also count Peacemaker into this. But that is then the end of it.

Don't get me wrong. I love how much great female characters we are getting in recent times. Like media for girls has really gone somewhere.

But we do need some media for boys too with cis white male characters, that are breaking out of the three stereotypes defined above.

I kinda have the hope that James Gunn will provide a bit more of those characters with his DCU. Because - despite me really not like the worst Chris - I do think that of the man child variety Peter Quill definitely is the best written in the MCU. And James Gunn is one of the few writers who seem to really get the dangers of toxic masculinity. But yeah... Right now? It is a bit dark.

[dreamlessdreamss]

party 4 u - Wolf Keum x Reader

(inspired by the Charli xcx song, soulmate au)

Flashing lights, blaring music, dancing bodies and an endless stream of alcohol. Yet Wolf waited, sat down at his own party, disengaged from the clear social aspected parties brought. “Hey you good man? You’ve been sat there for hours,” Hwangmo came to sit near him, a drink in hand and hair slicked back. At least he was enjoying himself. “Not interested.” Wolf shrugged taking a swig of his beer and Hwangmo rolled his shoulders back to relax into his chair. “You’ve thrown this massive party, it’s basically a club in here, and you’re not going to enjoy it?” He asked and once again Wolf didn’t care, this party wasn’t about enjoying himself or getting drunk it was about… “Still looking for her?” Hwangmo asked and Wolf whipped his head around to look at him. “Look, I wouldn’t say this to you sober but you’ve got to let her go. She’s not going to turn up again if you keep searching, the universe will let her come to you.” 

Hwangmo should be glad that Wolf was also drunk in that moment as sober, straight thinking Wolf would’ve punched Hwangmo in his jaw. He wouldn’t be ‘letting her go’. Not now. That night when he met her was different to every other extravagant party Donald Na would host, usually Wolf went as a simple curtesy and to get free booze. Yet when he browsed through the multitude of glass bottles and held one in his hand to read exact what flavour of liquor it was a girl appeared next to him. “That’s mine,” she said pointing to the bottle in his hand, he furrowed his eyebrows to look at her. “You have good taste,” the words left his mouth before he had a chance to think and the girls grin widened as she looked at him. She wore a beautiful dress and in such a striking colour, Wolf had been surprised he didn’t notice her earlier. “Woah, crazy! You’re my soulmate!” She laughed loudly pointing at her wrist where the words that just left his mouth were written in neat cursive. “I always wondered what the context would be to that, guess I know now.” She continued to talk as Wolf stood frozen in place, looking at her in disbelief. For someone that just met their soulmate she didn’t seem at all bothered. 

Wolf had often wondered about his soulmate, what kind of girl had the universe destined for him to love? Clearly here she was, wasted out of her face as she rambled about who knows what as he repeated her first sentence in his mind. That’s mine. Two words that had been ingrained on his chest and changed the trajectory of the next year. Soon after meeting Wolf lost her in the crowd of the packed house and stupidly he never had asked her for her name, let alone her number. No amount of threatening party guests got him anywhere when it came to the identity of his soulmate. So he did the only thing he could think of, throw another party with the same guest list as Donald Na’s original party, plus ones included, in hopes she would return again. Party after party, bigger each time, more blaring music, and more alcohol to drown out the idea that she was gone forever. The hope she would notice grew more intense, everyone in the union now knew about Wolf Keum’s infamous parties and everyone wanted to come. Everyone apparently but her and it was ruining him. Wolf was a possessive person, she was his soulmate and the idea of her out there, perhaps with someone else was eating at him slowly. Sighing, he waved off Hwangmo’s words, letting go would be ridiculous. 

The next day, his head ached just as much as his heart, as if someone had taken a hammer to his head. Usually Wolf could handle his drink well, but drinking in sorrow just did something to him he couldn’t quite explain. Glasses and crumpled sweater on, he headed out, his hang over remedy every time after these parties was going to a coffee shop near his house and getting a ridiculously sweet drink to calm the banging in his head. The shop was relatively busy for the late morning but he kept busy with his phone, Hwangmo had posted many photos from that night. Mostly him and people from other schools with one of them. Wolf looked less than impressed in the photo as his eyes looked elsewhere. Sighing, he quickly put away his phone, looking up at the counter to see his order sitting waiting for him. Did he miss his name being called? 

Walking over he took hold of his drink but when he turned to leave he was stopped by someone who appeared behind him. “That’s mine,” she said simply pointing to the drink in his hand and for a moment time seemed to stop as Wolf felt his stomach drop. He looked from her to the drink than back at her, “You have good taste.” Just like before the words left his lips before he had a chance to register them and just like before her face lit up in a wide grin. She was just as beautiful as he remembered, even more so in the morning light where he could take in her features more clearly. “You’re my soulmate?” She asked lifting the sleeve of her jacket to show her wrist, those same words staring back at Wolf for a second time. After all this time the universe brought her back to him and this time he was not going to let her go. 

[velvetvexations]

whenever I see the TMA/TME shit being thrown around, I'm just sitting in the corner with my head in my hands mentally begging the people who think it's good to get a grip already

oppression and marginalization and privilege are complicated and nuanced, and this doesn't suddenly just go away for trans people! the way trans people engage with gender and are treated by society is often complex and personal and dependent on any number of things, you can't just say "these things are transmasc and these things are transfemme and that's it"

just claiming that everybody who isn't a trans woman is "exempt" from transmisogyny is frankly an absurd statement to me. bigots often don't even care to know the distinction between "gay" and "trans", let alone the different flavours of trans identity! and even if they do, they don't target their bigotry based on "who specifically identifies as the people i hate", they look at anybody who seems close enough and go "oh they must be the people i hate"! despite how hate crime levels seem to be a common justification for arguments that "trans women have it worse than trans men actually"... do they think people would go "look, a trans woman, time to get to hate criming! oh, you're actually just a cis guy who likes to wear dresses? guess i'll just leave since you're exempt from the effects of transmisogyny."????

and that's not even touching on the way it's so frequently used like a fuckin shitty-ass replacement for agab-type terminology; heck, ive seen at least one person actually refer to it as a better replacement for agab! i'm nonbinary, i don't consider myself transmasc OR transfemme, stop trying to shove me into a yet another shitty little reductive dichotomy! i'm already rejecting the idea that i need to have "M" or "F" assigned to me, i shouldn't need to disclose my agab so they can decide whether or not i get an "A" or an "E" instead! at least agab stuff doesn't inherently make assumptions about my identity and experiences as a trans person!

The idea is that only trans women are "targeted" by transmisogyny, but this is ridiculous, because cis crossdressers are just as in the line of fire. A drag queen is the same thing as a trans woman to cis transphobes. They do not care about our internal sense of self. Similarly, they do not care that trans men are not trans women. They don't. You can tell them you aren't a trans woman when they beat up because you advised to use the woman's bathroom. They don't care.

[loki-zen]

i feel like we would probably rip the piss out of anyone who said like, idk that they felt like Inside they were a punk but they were forcibly assigned Normie/ boring good kid by Society and shit and bc their parents wouldn't let them dress how they wanted and have their hair how they wanted and they were too helicopter-parented to actually do anything they'd get in trouble for. especially if they were actually now an adult but they just hadn't managed to fix any of this bc now their job wants to control what they can wear and look like and they still don't actually know how to Start doing any of that shit, how to make the social connections and feel okay walking into the alt music venue, they don't ever hear about protests until after they happen, all of that.

and to some extent fair enough i guess but i feel like if we don't take this seriously we're putting Gender on some kind of a Plane that we shouldn't be; we're conceding shit about it that we shouldn't

really seems that like the reason one thinks "fair enough" is that we all think, well that sucks for you, but punk is looking like a punk and doing punk things, isn't it? maybe to some extent being part of a community of sorts but mostly not / mostly all that "community" means aside from your actual friends is that the people you don't know recognise you as someone to hand flyers for a punk night to, so. let's say not 'community' so much as social reecognition? which is itself mostly predicated on looking like a punk and doing punk things (even if those things are: making choices that indicate a way in which you wish to be percieved)

which means that thinking gender is different means we still think gender is something Else.

idk where im going with this tbh i just know that legit half the shit that's really Bothered me when i was a kid about how people Percieved me in ways that ring true to descriptions of social dysphoria was often to at least some extent this sort of thing too? and I know that I could frame it in gendered terms (girls are very much Expected to be more well-behaved, and it always pissed me the fuck off that i was in fact constantly in conflict with school and other sorts of authorities, but a certain calibre of other kid would just unthinkingly assume that i was a Good Girl who cared for teachers' approval just because i was occaisionally in receipt of it) and it would sort of become (locally!) Respectable if i did that? which is weird.

and conversely my Problems with people percieving my gender are very similar sorts of thing; it's like with a few exceptions that not a lot of adults with jobs get to present as full time, there are a bunch of Social Archetypes/Types of Guy that people will understand you as where there's often a more-or-less-equivalent Boy Flavour and Girl Flavour but they're still not Actually the same thing.

[fab-ernathy]

a half fleshed out papenathy soulmate au

the concept: every year on your birthday, starting at age 8, you have a dream where you learn something about your soulmate, that's at least true as of the time you meet them. it's different for every person what you learn each year, but on your 21st birthday, you find out their name.

Francis

Francis' first dream is the knowledge that his soulmate is a boy, and from the start he recognised that he would have to keep a lot of things secret. Next he dreamed of a bland town with nothing but a hot climate and bad memories. Then, the flavour of yellow cake and jarred chocolate frosting. Something about English class. A safe, stable feeling, one of being known and loved anyway. He dreamed of hands in his hair and a head on his chest. An aching longing for the aesthetically pleasing, willing to do just about anything for it. A confused, slightly horrified, "What?" to something he said, though he can't remember what prompted it. His soulmate is a liar. A side profile silhouette. He senses a father's disappointment. An ordinary life, so different from his own. The snipping of nail scissors on hair. Knowing, deep in his chest, that he will meet him in the next year.

Francis' 21st birthday falls just 10 days before they kill Bunny. He could tell that this was coming; he noticed Richard and could recognise that, if he wasn't his soulmate, he at least bore a striking resemblance to him. The trouble was that he never showed any indication that he was even into men. It's not like he hadn't tried, that day on the lake. What is he even supposed to do with a soulmate who won't even admit his attraction to him? So he pushes harder, kisses him, tells him it'll be fun.

And he gets told that really, Richard isn't attracted to him. (Maybe he's broken. Maybe this is one of those times where it's not mutual. Oh God, what is he going to do?)

He resigns himself to the uncertainty and waits.

Richard

Richard dreams first of red hair. Then just a colour - red, but not the same as last year, a deep wine. The smell of cigarettes, which before he hated, but now he knew the girl he was destined to love smelled like them, he learned to appreciate. Next a burst of laughter, raspy and light at the same time ("So," he thought, "guess she smokes a lot, if her voice is that deep"). Eyes that seemed to change from blue to grey to green to hazel under different lights. A frantic, yet lazy energy. Soft, bony hands that fidgeted and shook but were held with such grace. Some vague figure stalking across a field, gothic buildings in the background. Handwriting: "Forgive me," He dreamt he felt an absolute emptiness and devastation over things that usually wouldn't bother him. Whispers in French, Latin, Greek (Should he study Greek?). How a narrow waist feels under his hands. A sense that they've already met.

After the events of the previous year, Richard expects to see Francis maybe a handful of times ever. But when he wakes up with a start on his birthday, the only thing he can think to do is get to Boston ASAP. He doesn't even get properly dressed, just pulling on whatever's scattered on the floor, and practically dives into Henry's (well, his now) car. About 4 hours later, he's at the address he'd been sending letters to for the past few months, knocking rapidly. Someone answers, but it isn't him. Clearly, though, it's the right house, because the woman at the door looks like a relative.

"Is Francis here?"

"Who's this?"

"Please, I need to talk to him."

At that moment, Francis comes up from behind him. "Richard?"

He turns, hair and eyes wild, "It's you." His voice is barely above a whisper.

Francis nervously glances at the door, clears his throat, and takes Richard by the upper arm, "Let's take a walk."

When they're out of sight of the house, Richard can't help himself; he flings his arms around his friend, his... he would hesitate to say lover just yet, but that's what this is, right? Love? Some kind of gnawing feeling that's been brewing since he was 8, this thing he's never let himself name when it came to them. He runs his fingers through the hair at Francis' nape, presses his nose into the crook of his neck.

[spanishskulduggery]

hi I have some very Argentinian colleagues… I live in Spain and I’m not used to their flavour of Spanish! could you explain “vos sos” 😅

To be clear, Argentina's voseo is extremely unique so bear with me as I explain way too much about all of it

Apologies if I explain this like you're 5, it's just that there's so much historical and regional linguistics to this

And again this is generalizations and language is constantly changing so I might be a bit off on some of this but this is what I know

-

You're probably familiar with vosotros in Spain

The root here is vos - historical vos was polite "you" for a singular person, so there are some countries that see vos as fancy since that was how you spoke to someone you didn't know or someone with a title so you were giving them proper respect. Eventually the term of address was Vuestra Merced "your lordship/ladyship" or "your grace" something equivalent and that became usted

-

The general rules for Spanish pronouns today are:

yo -> I tú -> you (informal) usted -> you (formal) él -> he ella -> she elle -> they [non binary singular] ellos / ellas / elles -> they [plural; masculine or mixed, feminine plural, and NB plural] nosotros/nosotras -> we ustedes -> you (all) [plural; for most countries it's the only plural option, for Spain it's specifically formal] vosotros/vosotras -> you (all) [plural and informal; primarily Spain]

The use of vos is called el voseo and will depend on the country

In Spain, vos has that historical fancy ring to it like Shakespearean or Medieval

General Latin America uses vos with tú conjugations - it's usually a more familiar version of tú

...

The big differences are in rioplatense Spanish; which is primarily South America in the Cono Sur - the general term for the Rio de la Plata

Argentina (and Uruguay, Paraguay, parts of Bolivia etc) tend to use vos one way

And Chile uses it a different way

-

Argentina's use of vos is like if you took Spain's version of it, but you omitted the I, and put emphasis on the last syllable (or the only syllable)

For example, vosotros sois for Spain -> vos sos for Argentina, just omitting the I in that conjugation, and since it's monosyllabic it's just that one syllable to emphasize

Then you have vosotros habláis -> vos hablás; that last syllable gets emphasized and it's almost like tú hablas but not exactly the same pronunciation [since normal rules say it's hablas]

IMPORTANT NOTE: Argentina uses vos for EVERYONE - there's a tú and usted that's taught and you understand it for reading etc - but in Argentina, vos is used as the default "you" singular. Plural is ustedes like you'd expect from Latin America, but vos is the default in Argentina

I would say Argentina is the most similar to how English "you" works now

Originally we had "thou" and "you", and thou was informal [looking like tú in Spanish, or du in German], and "you" was formal - much more of a big thing in Medieval times when the entire English-speaking world would have been under a monarchical feudal system

Over time in English, "you" came to be used as the only option

We tend to use "thou" to sound more Medieval in high fantasy even though it's technically informal but we perceive it as fancy

...

But anyway, Argentina's default 2nd person singular pronoun is vos

I'm not sure if Paraguay and Uruguay follow how Argentina does it, but at least with Argentina you're never guessing about formality

...

Chile is the exception with voseo

To be clear, Chile's use of vos has a weirder conjugation that's somewhere between the Argentinean way of conjugation for vos and a mix of tú in there.

While Spain says vosotros sois [which is plural], and Argentina says vos sos [which is singular], Chile would probably say something like vos eri/so instead of plain eres; not sure if that's like a swallowing of the S sound or just how it works out when you eliminate the S

While Argentina removes the I from Spain's vosotros, Chile tends to remove the S instead... so you might see vos hablái

A lot of Chilean voseo ends in an I

The other main distinction is that - to the best of my knowledge - Chile's voseo is considered low class and at times, rude

Using vos in Chile is a bit like saying "bruh" or "dude", not something you'd use with the older generation or in polite contexts

That's very different from Argentina even though they're right next to each other

-

The general (non Chilean) conjugation of vos is easier to find on WordReference but it usually looks like tú with the exception of present tense and commands

[solomorne]

unfortunately. i’m having less fun with avowed the more i play

part of this is because of bugs, glitches and performance issues which may be sorted with the day one patch which will come with the games official release

but the rest of it is unfortunately just with. avowed.

like roleplay is super limiting so far, lots of dialogue options have ended up being the same thing said slightly different. i’ve seen no opportunity to play an evil aligned character, the best you can get is sometimes you can be Super lawful in a way that’ll piss people off or you can be a bit of a dickhead sometimes, but not often. at one point a companion said he was leaving and i was given 4 dialogue options all basically saying “please don’t go” in different flavours, when it could have been really cool to say okay, leave then if you want, even if it ended with him asking to stay or the other companion saying hold on a minute we need you. yknow?

also the companions you’re with make this harder: you cannot dismiss them, so once you recruit the two first you’re stuck with them until you get your third, but you’re still stuck with one, until your fourth who is apparently recruited in the final act. so if you dislike anyone, well get fucked. you’re with kai for what feels like forever so you better like him: but also he’s a very nice guy, very good aligned, doesn’t like you mistreating anyone, but particularly lawful, killing bad people, or generally anything bad vibes. and he will voice it! so if your roleplay is mismatched to his personality good luck, you’re gonna have an annoying time. also marius is okay but he’s like a tsundere in kai’s words so he’s rude and closed off but that’s his affection. i guess. okay. and from what i can tell none of these characters lean at all towards “not a good person” so. your dickhead envoy is hanging out with a bunch of losers for the entire game. like even marius whos quite selfish in a “survival first” way isn’t a dickhead in the “lawful” way. so if you’re roleplaying your lawful envoy who does everything the lawful way… they’re not gonna get on with you very well

also i’m being driven insane by this because i don’t really like kai or marius at all. i’m rushing through not exploring or doing side quests because i just wanna get rid of them! i’m not really enjoying their company! but i’m at like 8-10 hours now i forgot to check and i still don’t have my next companion! i’ve met her but she’s not joined me yet. oughhhhhhhhhh at least let me dismiss them and leave them behind for a bit!!!

also part of the main quest is boring me to tears and it seems to be what so much of is. which is politics and people hating me and me disappointing everyone and i’m not even given the opportunity to roleplay my opinions on it, at least enough that it’s felt impactful … the cool part is the stuff with the voice and i haven’t experienced any of that for hours 😭 though i did meet lodwyn and she was like i vaguely remember you but you bring back feelings i haven’t felt in a long time..seeing you was not unwelcome… because i made us ex lovers lmao that was the best but idk

also i hate to complain about this but some npcs literally seem to have the exact same faces. especially the women?? idk what’s up with that. also the facial animations are soooooo bad sometimes it’s a little scary watching people talk. and that has been taking me out . the immersion is struggling .

IDK!!!! when i started to play i was so excited and it was all so exciting and now all that’s fading it’s becoming a bit. mediocre

also it keeps telling me i can upgrade items and it’s fucking shit i’m not using but i’m holding onto for various reasons like to sell at a shop. SHUT UP. SHUT THE FUCK UPPPPP

there’s still parts i really enjoy… i like parkour… the game is pretty when i’m not stuttering… magic is cool…. combat is genuinely challenging… at one point i pissed off an entire gang and they haunted my fucking every move and it was terrifying and i nearly died so many times… i like the voice and the memories stuff a lot…. lodwyn is the only cool character in the game so far (and yatzli but i haven’t seen much of her yet… or lodwyn tbh)

idk. i might wait for the day one patch before i play again. there’s definitely stuff that interests me here im just. not getting enough of it . honestly though? i think i could look past most of my issues if i really enjoyed the companions i had, and i wasn’t thinking “god i wish yatzli didn’t join in the final act”. at least in other rpgs you can choose not to bring companions who annoy you or piss you off if you just don’t like as characters . idk man