#i hope he turns out to be a little evil like his dialogue seems to suggest 🙏

[fruit-brush]

guys dont forget he's a Fatuus,,, 👀

[everythingseasoning]

Love, forever? (Updated Masterlist moved here)

vampire! suguru x reader x vampire! Satoru

vampire! Suguru x reader. includes: Morality, and selfishness vs selflessness themes. // Vampire! Suguru and Satoru, who are vampire hunters that protect humans from evil ones. // Blooming rivalry between Satoru & reader for Suguru’s attention. // AU characters. Satoru is clingier and more emotional than his canon self. Suguru despises the strong (vampires) for hurting the weak (humans). // New vampire lore ;). // Angst. Suguru battling his inner demons, trying to do good despite his vampire nature and urges. // Reader has multiple targets on her back (Naoya appearance!) // Both Suguru and Satoru fall for reader. // Eventual smut in later chapters. //

Ch. 01 Teaser // NOTE: if you saw the teaser already, I’ve edited it a lot and added in more juicy dialogue & scenes ;) feel free to read it again, I recommend that.

The drink is nothing short of young and dumb, the blend of tooth-rottingly sweet flavors hitting your taste buds as you stare holes into Suguru’s back. You can see the sculpture of his muscles and beautiful bones through his tight tee, your ex’s sculpted body turned away from you. He’s speaking to a girl you had heard about— the life of all parties, pretty, smart, and fun. Was he moving on already? Did you really mean so little to him? Would she be the one to make him stay? 

You take another swig from the plastic blue cup, hoping the painful twisting motion of your heart would be soon dulled. Coca Cola, sherbet, and yakult alcohol would be your poison of the night, you think, swallowing down the concoction as tears prick your eyes. 

“Another one of those people who drinks their troubles away?” 

The voice amidst the bass and booming music causes you to turn, your eyes meeting striking blue ones. Snowy hair rests soft and thick on his head, your heart skipping a beat when you see such a beautiful stranger. 

If you were being honest, you weren’t in the mood to talk to somebody else— not when your heart was still tied right onto Suguru’s. You love Suguru, you really do. The recent past haunts your every waking moment. And even in your dreams, he’s there, chuckling as you braid his hair, the nonfiction book he’s been reading facedown in his lap as your fingers thread his silky locks; He’s watching you with a fond smile as you run ahead of him in the campus garden, jumping amongst the flowers; The warmth and sturdiness of his hands against your face as the two of you kiss— his soft, supple lips meeting yours in that familiar dance and tangle. In your dreams he’s still yours. You both made up. In your dreams, things are warm and right. 

When you wake up in an empty bed, with an aching heart, it just feels cruel. The light slipped away again. You thought you had it. You had your dream come true only to realize it was just that— a fleeting dream. There’s no respite from the memory of all his adoration, thoughtful gestures, all the times you’d stare mesmerized as he sat focused, his eyebrows pinched as he worked… The way he felt when you were wrapped in his embrace, your face buried in his sturdy chest— that feeling of being cared for— 

You missed him bad, with every fiber of your being. 

Suguru is still all you can think about. You’re at this damned college party because, even a month after he’d broken up with you, all you wanted was to be close to him, to see him. It’s pathetic. Knowing he’d be here, knowing you’d be tearing your heart open again, the wound freshly cut back open— and you still came here. How many times had you stalked his social media despite having been removed from his following? 

“Cat got your tongue?” The beautiful stranger breaks you out of your thoughts, forcing a reply. 

“No—” you start to say, raising your voice. It’s just barely audible over the clamor of the party. 

“Really?” He butts in, raising an eyebrow. “‘Cause it seems like there’s some hard evidence against your statement.” His small smile is as unconventional as it is disarming. 

“And you are?” 

“Satoru Gojo, if you haven’t heard about me already. I go to a different university. A better one.” 

You roll your eyes, scoffing. “And why would I know of you?” 

Satoru just tilts his head ever so slightly, his smile unwavering as he replies, “Your head is under a rock, is what I heard you say.”

Confusion flits across your face before your mouth falls open slightly, a feigned look of offense stretched on your features. You feel like ignoring this pesky person. You glance away for a second, in search of Suguru’s back— the spot he’d been standing in holds a different person, somebody you don’t know, somebody you’re not at all interested in. You frown, scanning the crowd.

Satoru waves a hand in front of your face. You look up at him, annoyed.

“Why are you talking to me?”

“What? Need a reason to talk to a pretty girl?” 

“That’s an overused line,” You shout back, the music so loud you can barely hear yourself. Your attention shifts away from the snowy haired man back to the sea of party goers. You desperately search the throng of buzzing chaos. No sign of Suguru. Just dancing, mingling, kissing, drinking, the typical activities going on under the strobe lights. Fuck.

Suguru, where did you go? Please… Your heart feels like it’s a rock in your stomach. Please don’t tell me you’re fucking her right now in somebody’s bedroom. It’s not my business— but I can’t stand the thought of it—

Satoru chuckles, and you look back at him, unable to hide your expression of pain. You’re about to excuse yourself to find a bathroom to cry in, when he speaks again.

“You’re right. How should I flirt, hm? Wanna coach me? It’ll lift your blues, too,” His smirk would’ve had you folding had you not ever met Suguru. But you did cross paths with the raven-haired man— collided and intertwined, more like— and now nobody compares to him. Nobody would ever be him. 

“Not really. Excuse me,” you begin to say, before turning slightly, about to slip away—

“Suguru is my best friend,” he says. 

You freeze, whipping around now to face Satoru.

“He told me about you— first time he ever told me about anyone, actually. Suguru said you were somebody he actually loved.” Satoru’s cheeky expression has been wiped off, replaced with one of aloof nonchalance and detachment. It’s almost eerie, but your focus isn’t on that.

You’re at a loss for words, eyes caught on Satoru’s, hanging onto everything he says like maybe, just maybe, it means that Suguru wants you back.

“He’s had his fair share of flings and hookups, after all.” Satoru teases, smirking again, bending down to your level.

“I thought I was losing my best friend to a weakling.” His breath is surprisingly chilly against your face. “Turns out you were never the one. Sucks that you couldn’t make him stay.” You feel everything shatter. “Sucks for you, I mean,” Satoru finishes. He leaves out the part where he gloats about being the one Suguru has always admired, and stuck with. 

You’re shocked, mouth hanging open. You’re hurt. You’re aching in confusion about what wasn’t good enough about you. You’re angry and betrayed— all the feelings clash like giant waves crashing against one another inside your heart. 

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” 

Satoru grins, shrugging. “It means what it means. But I’m curious,” he says, leaning closer, his pearly teeth glinting red under the strobe lights, “What is it about you that had Suguru caught up on ya?” His lips graze your cheek, his voice in your ear, “I don’t get it.”

You slap him before you can realize what you’re doing. Violence is not the answer, but this time, it sure as hell felt like it. Your fingers sting, your panicked thoughts a running train. Did I just? Oh my god! I didn’t— I fucking did—

“I— I’m sorry—” you stammer quickly, eyes wide in shock at your own actions. Satoru is eerily emotionless, staring down at you with those startling ocean eyes. You shiver despite the heat of the stuffy, overcrowded room. 

“Hm.” 

It’s all he says. You open your mouth to speak again, blinking— 

And he’s gone. 

— — —

A swig of the liquor causes the liquid to slosh in the green bottle. 

“Thought you liked shy girls, Suguru?” Satoru pokes, a red handprint on his cheek. He’s kicked back on the couch outside the bathroom, grimacing when the alcohol hits his tongue. He’s spitting it out back into the bottle immediately. 

“I do,” Suguru replies calmly, a streak of lovely bare skin showing amidst the shaving cream on his face. He runs the razor back down, taking off more of the fluffy white foam. 

“Yeesh. Can’t believe we used to drink this shit,” Satoru sticks his tongue on dramatically, tossing the full glass of alcohol across the room. It lands right in the trash bin with a clang. “That’s where it belongs,” he huffs. 

“So?” Satoru prompts, kicking his feet up. “You realize she doesn’t fit your ideal type, right? Why’d you get with her for a whole year, then?”

“She was shy at first,” Suguru says softly, a glint of something like pain in his eyes. He catches Satoru’s gaze on him in the mirror and the glint disappears. Satoru notices, but says nothing, now peeling open a candy from its foil wrapper. 

“And I told you already, Satoru,” Suguru continues, sparing his friend an exasperated glance. “I love—d her.” A blip. A mistake so quickly covered that if it was anyone but Satoru, they’d have missed it.

Blue eyes pierce Suguru. 

“But it wasn’t going to work out. Love isn’t meant for us. You and I… We’re not meant to be with humans,” Suguru murmurs, looking at his face in the mirror. It was myth that vampires didn’t have reflections. They do. But there’s something the myths forgot. Some sort of change is written in a vampire’s eyes. There always has been, and always will be, some sort of difference from a person’s antecedent human form, and their new, evolved one, hidden in their eyes after they turn. Suguru touches his eyebags, dark and heavy. 

That’s not what changed. No. His warm, earthy brown eyes had turned purple the night Satoru turned him. He woke up with them, the day after everything changed. 

Suguru’s tired reflection stares back at him, rich amethyst irises shining like glossy, sharp stars in the mirror. He wishes he didn’t recognize them. Now he’s stuck dealing with people commenting on his “cool contacts,” for the rest of eternity. Suguru exhales deeply, softly, his still, dead heart aching.

“Being undead with a vital thirst for human blood will do that,” Satoru ho-hums, blissfully unaware of the insensitive nature of his obliviousness. 

Suguru is silent, continuing to shave, but the blade knicks his skin. He curses quietly. 

“So,” Satoru grunts with chocolate melting on his tongue, grateful that at least his cravings and delight in sweets didn’t change when they turned, “You don’t trust yourself to be around her without hurting her. But you were doing well for a year. What do you say changed?”

Suguru dabs at the blood dripping down his otherwise unmarked face. It would heal, his skin would be perfectly smooth again in a day, not a trace of his mistake, or scar, would remain. All wounds heal within 24 hours for vampires. It’s something Suguru was grateful for, considering his job of being a vampire slayer. 

“My urges got insatiable. Blood bags weren’t enough,” Suguru says curtly. Despite the battle of breaking up with you being long over, Suguru’s mind is a war zone. I couldn’t even look at her… without… needing to taste her blood. His fists clench on the marble sink. It got bad. I almost hurt her.

Satoru stares at his best friend, knowing that in this silence, his mind is a maelstrom. Suguru sees Satoru’s unflinching gaze, but remains quiet. He knows his friend won’t understand. 

But Satoru presses on anyway, nodding, looking bored. 

“Right. You can’t suppress your urges right now. That happened to me too. The second year is the hardest.” Satoru was the one who turned Suguru, after all, on that unwelcomed, fateful night. “It helps when you just feed on multiple pretty girls a night and compel them all to forget— You could’ve had both, you know. Her and human blood from others. You’re so mopey now.” Satoru’s callous remark piques Suguru’s irritation, a flame of anger burning in the raven-haired man’s chest.

“I won’t do that and be in a relationship.” 

“I saw you feeding on that random chick an hour ago. If you and I didn’t always ask for consent before feeding, I’d never have believed she would be okay with that,” Satoru’s eyes gleam playfully. Suguru doesn’t reply, and Satoru deflates. 

“You’re still grumpy. You move around like you’re actually dead, Suguru. You torture yourself by still caring about your ex. She’s nothing special. I don’t get it.” 

Ah. The truth comes out. Suguru’s eyebrows knit, his mouth pressed into a firm line as something dark flickers in his eyes. 

“Satoru, she has a name, and she’s worth something even if you can’t see it. Just shut up.”

“And what worth do you see in her?”

Suguru is silent for a moment. How could he convey the light and warmth that you were in his life? He’d died twice, once literally, once figuratively, and yet— you brought him back. “…She’s… good.”

“And?”

Suguru’s temper flares. “You just don’t get it, so will you just leave it?” He snarls, fangs involuntarily popping out. He curses silently in disgust at what he has become. 

“You’re such a grouch nowadays,” Satoru huffs, before popping another chocolate into his mouth. He gets up, stretching. 

“Well. I need to feed again.” 

“Be safe about it. And I’m not referring to your safety,” Suguru says sternly, his whole head turned to look at Satoru now, some white foam still on the man’s face. 

“Yeah, yeah, mom, I got it.” With that, Satoru pulls his black coat over his lean, muscled body, a wolfish grin on his face as he slips out the apartment door. Did he need the black coat? No. Not at all. Vampires don’t get cold. They’re already icy to the touch. But it helps him blend in, both with humans and the night. 

— — — 

You’re intoxicated. It’s two AM and you’re stumbling around campus like a fucking idiot. 

Well how about that? Satoru spies you from across the quad, your movements sluggish and uncoordinated. 

He slips through the shadows. 

You nearly jump when a tall, dark figure appears before you, looming over you. 

Snowy hair shines in the lamplight, blue eyes flashing like glaciers, staring right at you. You swear they flash red for a second.

“You again?” You slur your words. You aren’t scared. He’s Suguru’s best friend, which means he by extension must be a good guy. Almost as if he hears your thoughts, Satoru grins. His teeth are brilliant, his canines shining ivory and glistening like expensive accessory jewels.

Do not plagiarize my writing in any way. Do not feed my writing to ai.

Comment to be on the taglist :)! Sharing your thoughts are appreciated!!!

[flicklikesstuff]

How about rambling about your top favorite Epithet characters?

Uh oh, I’m afraid you’ve unleashed a great beast my poor, poor Anon….. But if you insist :)

Introducing My Top 5 Favs:

AND full doodle page ;)

(⚠️HUGE EE Spoilers below⚠️)

1. Rick Shades

UGHHHHHHHHH. LOVE this man 💖💖 A pathetic and pitiful wizard dude with one of the coolest epithets! My favourite bit of him is that he’s introduced as some creepy weirdo who sounds like he’d backstab you BUT turns out to be a really fcked up guy with no social skills and genuinely really does want friends. I LOVE it when stories twist expectations for a character and Epithet Erased just keeps doing it a lot.

While Rick is mostly silly and used as comedy relief through POP really, his tragic backstory adds in so much depth and the narration treats the horrors he went through with respect. Chapter 8 has repeatedly dug my grave each time I listen to it. I’m going insane with any Rick/Toidei thoughts. There’s so much I could say about how his traumatic childhood affected him so much and how it shows through his mannerisms and behaviour that we’d be here all day. (Oh wait- I’ve already indulged into his character in like 4 posts.)

Anyways, in general, I would offer my soul to the scary magic man and treat him to a nice day at the beach.

2. Dr. Sylvester Ashling

Sylvie was the reason I got into Epithet Erased in the first place 😂. My favourite thing about him is his DESIGN and POWERS. The swirls and cloud/sheep motif looks sick and his epithet showcase in the museum arc is beyond awesome. Like omfg, it’s just so genuinely amazing to look at.

He seems fun to bully, especially with that pretentious grown-up attitude he puts up. But underneath that, Sylvie’s character is just depressing to the point where it’s intriguing for me. The choice they made to quickly grow up and skip childhood? I wonder what made them decide to do that. Despite what he says, Sylvie really just wants someone to talk to and he really does care for people. He’s just scared to loosen up and become vulnerable in front of anyone.

Sylvie wanting friends but having trust issues and not knowing how to make some? Honestly, what a mood-

I got too insanely happy hearing his short little cameo in POP, even though they weren’t around for too long. He was in there waiting and looking for his only friend awwwwww.

3. Molly Blyndeff

Molly my CHILD 🥺🥺!! Her bear motif is adorable and her character arc within the museum is so wholesome and satisfying to watch. Reading POP just cemented her as my top 3rd fav because her inner dialogue and way of thinking hit way too close to home for me. I was so close to tears many times throughout and I just LOVE her.

Molly just overall learning to stand up for herself and making it very clear she’s no longer taking any sh*t? She’s the character I wished my younger self got to know earlier because it’s what she would’ve needed at the time.

4. Giovanni Potage

Is it much of a surprise he’s in my top 5? Why wouldn’t I like this total sweetheart who would lift the earth for his minions? I adore how he has like one of the lamest-sounding epithets but his insane level of creativity makes up for it completely. I also really found his unique view on bad guys really interesting. The stark contrast between being evil but also absolutely wholesome makes for a great character I love seeing interact with everyone!

Hoping he gets some sort of character arc though. So far, he’s still the same Gio we know from the beginning and it would be very interesting to see him go through a struggle or make tough decisions.

5. Ramsey Murdoch

Haha funny ratman. As I’ve mentioned before, my expectations for him were twisted and I LOVED it. My fav character in the Redwood Run Arc because poor dude isn’t allowed to catch a break. Even outside the show within the streams, he gets absolutely bullied by the plot. This is entirely what he gets for being 1 of 2 people (the other is Molly) that have the braincell to question the bizarreness of….well, everything.

Ramsey is an impressively intelligent character who just has the hilarious misfortune of having things almost never go his way. He’s entirely the reason he and Percy manage to survive Zora and he STILL gets screwed over by getting arrested. Anyways, yes. I love his dynamic with Percy being a subversion of the typical buddy cop trope. Looking forward to having more of him in the next book: Sweet Escape :33

…………..

If you haven’t noticed already, this ask led me to go through multiple trials of tests to see which brushes and colouring process I prefer digitally.

Rick’s was my first attempt and it’s just… terribly basic really. I wasn’t used to Procreate at that point 😅.

Sylvie’s was next and after watching basic tutorial videos, I turn to really like the colouring style I did for them. Wasn’t fond of the rough outline though.

Gio’s was the exact opposite of what I’ve done with Sylvie. While I liked how it popped out in a comic-style kind of way, I wasn’t a fan of the solid shading.

For Ramsey’s, I was a lot closer to finding out my preferences. I pretty much just combined what I liked from Sylvie and Gio’s drawings. Softer shading and a smoother, thicker outline.

Molly’s was my last attempt and one I’m heavily satisfied with! :D It’s the same as Ramsey’s, but I added a lot more detail to the eyes, coloured in some outlines and even added an overlay!

The whole trial and error process was so much fun and very much worth it too! X3 💖💖

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again no problem 11/26/2024

i don't have a good anecdote this week, i have the flu. look at my cat

listening

ty @shinygoodrock for the rec! billy bragg's the marching song of the covert. i was startled by the british accent but briefly forgot the uk's been colonizing way longer than god's favorite country, the usa

so SO cheery and so catchy! samples When The Ants Go Marching In!

Here we come with our candy and our guns And our corporate muscle marches in behind us For freedom's just another word for nothing left to sell And if you want narcotics we can get you those as well

it reminds me a lot of this poster i have framed but not hung up yet, jesse purcell's "A.G.F.T.P.O.T.U.S.O.A. (A Gift From The People Of The United States Of America)" (getcher own print at the link through justseeds)

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reading

my favorite tinned fish newsletter is back! i like this newsletter for its dry anecdotal voice, but i coincidentally have a tin of mackerel in tomato sauce in the pantry for mackintosh name reasons. seems like the best way to have it is fairly plain with some light seasonings. the author was a senior editor at vice and has been out of work for a bit since that site's collapse, so it's good to see him back doing silly free nonsense like his tinned fish newsletter

i had Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis on hold for nearly six months so it extra hurt when i didn't particularly care for it.

like, what a premise! a beautifully written blurb that got my attention! i think i got an ad for this one on instagram. either that or it was floating around on this site.

A sharp-witted, high fantasy farce featuring killer moat squid, toxic masculinity, evil wizards and a garlic festival - all at once. Perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, K. J. Parker and Travis Baldree. It’s bad enough waking up in a half-destroyed evil wizard’s workshop with no eyebrows, no memories, and no idea how long you have before the Dread Lord Whomever shows up to murder you horribly and then turn your skull into a goblet or something. It’s a lot worse when you realize that Dread Lord Whomever is… you. Gav isn’t really sure how he ended up with a castle full of goblins, or why he has a princess locked in a cell. All he can do is play along with his own evil plan in hopes of getting his memories back before he gets himself killed. But as he realizes that nothing – from the incredibly tasteless cloak adorned with flames to the aforementioned princess – is quite what it seems, Gav must face up to all the things the Dread Lord Gavrax has done. And he’ll have to answer the hardest question of all – who does he want to be? Dread Lord Gavrax has had better weeks.

this is a debut novel based on a friendgroup's DnD campaign, and it does show a bit. maybe you have a friend who’s freshly into improv? it gets a little wrapped up in Doing Bits. at several points i did think “i could be reading terry pratchett right now instead of enduring this bit.”

the writing itself is solid on a technical level-- there's a good balance of dialogue to description, no word choices really slammed me in the face, it flowed pretty nicely and was a fast read. flounders a bit in the middle but does pick up speed, a middling-okay pacing. if this were not a debut novel and felt a little bit more done on purpose i would be interested in talking about how the frantic lunge from plot point to plot point mirrors our protag's internal sense of self.

i do not think this rises to the level of farce, or even pastiche. it is a darkly comedic but fairly straightforward fantasy. very light PG romance elements.

so much of it is concerned with perceptions/expectations/visual tropes and then the big baddie is simply a baddie with no further interrogation. like a lot A LOT of philosophical musings on the nature of evil and the expectations thereof creating self image and morality and has unionized goblins. everything else in this book is questioned. you can’t go halfway with a deconstruction or you’re just writing more of the genre you’re trying to deconstruct. there was a scene that really clicked satisfyingly in my brain with a female sorceress, where she goes basically everyone expects me to be a bitch and a whore so let's just cut to the chase and have fun being a bitch and a whore. this alternate viewpoint of misogyny making you evil does not successfully contrast with our protag's internal calibration and view of evil but damn if that isn't the experience of being a woman in stem.

the protagonist, gav, wakes up with No memories and thereby becomes Good. or at least Better. does rozakis feel that everyone is born good and your reactions to things happening to you shape your morality? there's a reveal that one of the murders amnesiac!gav is most torn up about didn't actually happen bc his staff faked it and smuggled her out. i think this seriously undercuts the moderate amount of thinking and soulsearching and figuring out how to atone for past actions he does previously. and then it doesn’t really address any of the problems it tangled with in favor of a movie ending. it did tread a bit into therapyspeak for me. fewer shades of gray than i would have liked.

this book is also extremely heterosexual for what i expect a modern comedy fantasy to be. it neatly sidesteps the gay=/= evil conundrum but it was startling to find our protagonist with not even a curious homosexual thought.

occasionally irritating, but it was funny, except when it had to unfold some plot and forgot about being funny. this was a perfectly pleasantly written debut novel but wasn’t quite what i wanted or expected. it tries a lot of things and it’s interesting to watch the rube goldberg machine of a plot work and fail in some parts, even if it really did not carry through on its central philosophy.

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watching

breezing through a lot of stuff bc it's easier to sleep propped up on my couch arm than in my actual bed. i usually don’t long DNFs but has to remind myself never to try Quo Vadis again. my god is that a tiresome film. and not even pretty costumes or pretty set design for the first forty minutes. whereupon i bailed. all of these were first time watches, dunno why I haven’t been reaching for comfort movies lately

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playing

genshin update knocking it out of the park and also really reminding me of link tearsofthekingdom. also introduces a really good bird you can possess and fly around with. lots of vertical sky/coastline exploration which is so so so fun. i have done most of the things in this update inside a week bc i don't think they anticipated unemployed people like mainlining it between applying for jobs.

this girl's village has background music that reminds me of classic american westerns like bernstein or copland? heavy billy the kid ballet vibes. the music in this update is SO good im excited to yell about it in an future week when they drop the next album.

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making

still fallow baybee. currently incubating the influenza. no longer feverish thank u nyquil

[bastart13]

What's the game you're making? What's the premise?

Love and Legends is a fantasy isekai dating sim, originally written for and produced for the Lovestruck app. The app shut down a few years ago, and though the game is archived in videos here (x) I wanted to give remaking it a shot.

The premise is that one day, the MC has just got out of work, only to be struck by lightning and teleported to a fantasy world of knights, elves, fairies... and evil queens. And turns out she looks just like the evil queen, the one killed three years prior. People in the world either want her in a dungeon or to restart war as their despotic overlord and she has to learn to navigate the world, chosing someone to stay by her side.

There are seven love interests:

Lord Reiner Wolfson - A second-born son of the former leader of his domain, forced to become leader after his family died fighting the Witch Queen. A kind, considerate leader with a love of bad jokes, prepared to but the weight of the world on his shoulders to protect what remains of his loved ones.

Altea Bellerose - A young, gifted wizard who's devoted most of her life to refining her art and fighting for justice. She's deeply curious, quick-witted, and determined to prove herself against those who might dismiss her.

Prince Iseul Idreis - An elven prince with a family history with Reiner's, who served him in war and now takes time to enjoy the peacetime. Laid-back and sharp-tongued, he seems to take nothing too seriously but cares deeply for his friends.

Saerys - The last known demon after the Witch Queen launched a brutal extermination of his people. Isolated and marked, he struggles to find his place in the world. As much as he loves and trusts his allies, he does not believe he has a place among them.

Sir August Falke - Reiner's most loyal knight and fiercely protective of their won peace. He does not allow any threat to pass, even if it leaves him a little uptight. Taking care of his beloved noble steed, Wyndsor Royale, shows off a softer side to him.

General Helena Klein - The Witch Queen's general, former lover, and apprentice, Helena's gift with magic breaks bounds. Though she has a long, dark history of pain, even when she thought it might be love, she hopes for a way to escape.

General Alain Richter - The Witch Queen's longest-standing general and oldest friend, he followed her down an evil path, sowing pain whenever she commanded it, he wants nothing more than to return to a time where he and his love find peace together.

The writing is overall very impressive, with a strong sense of character chemistry and dialogue. There's a lot of variety between the characters and routes, each following a unique story with variations on the world's lore. The MC is a surprisingly strong character in her own right, allowing interesting dynamics between her and the love interests rather than a default.

[vindicated-truth]

On the morning after Minjeong's murder, three things are apparent:

1) Dongsik's antagonism for Joowon by this time is gone, mostly because Dongsik now knows for sure that Joowon isn't the serial killer he first suspected him of in Episode 1, when Joowon was acting strangely when he seemingly recognized Lee Geumhwa's body. Whatever antagonism is left is borne out of Dongsik's desire to know a) what Joowon's culpability is in letting Lee Geumhwa be killed, and b) why Joowon isn't owning up to it.

I realize now too why Dongsik himself is holding back from making haphazard accusations about Joowon—because Dongsik knows exactly what it's like to be wrongfully accused based on too little evidence. He's not going to turn around and do it to Joowon.

But he is doing his best to needle at Joowon because what he wants to know now is—what is Joowon's stake in all this? Is the body, Lee Geumhwa, related to him, and that's why he's seeking justice for her, just like Dongsik is seeking justice for Yuyeon? Does that mean Joowon is someone whose help he can manipulate into enlisting because Joowon knows exactly what it's like to lose a loved one?

Or is Joowon just like his father, out to protect his own privilege and image, and nothing more? Is he just more of an example of the corrupt and power-hungry cops that has continued to fail him and so many other victims, over and over?

2) That shot of Dongsik's sneakers as he was walking to place Minjeong's fingers in front of the grocery store comes right after Jeongje mentioned the night before that Dongsik had been "jogging" in leather shoes.

Again, what's so brilliant about the writing of Beyond Evil is that when you know how to look for it and you know how to listen, every single scene and seemingly casual dialogue has a reason why it's there.

It means that Dongsik had only thought of relocating Minjeong's fingers after Jeongje revealed to him that Joowon was poking around at the General Administration files and had discovered that Lee Yuyeon's and Bang Juseon's files were missing.

Before this point, Dongsik had been lost, not knowing exactly what to do with Minjeong's fingers. In later scenes in later episodes, it was shown that he had kept Minjeong's fingers in his basement while he went to dinner at Jaeyi's, hence why Minjeong's blood was found there.

But as soon as he realized, through Jeongje's revelation, that here is this stubborn Lieutenant that seems strangely determined to solve this case of his sister's, that's somehow related to the mysterious dead body they found together at the reed field, that Dongsik finally, finally felt, after 20 years, a twisted sense of hope.

Maybe, just maybe, this fresh young Lieutenant can do what no one else in the police force would do, not even the Lieutenant’s own father:

Pursue Yuyeon's case.

Because here, now, are two new clues from two new bodies: the mysterious woman from the reed field, and his own beloved Kang Minjeong.

And Joowon seems to be determined to pursue what Dongsik has just then also realized is a serial killer.

If this was a gambling table, this was Dongsik going all in with his bet on Han Joowon.

It's why he decided to place Minjeong's fingers in front of the grocery store, why he deliberately led Joowon to it, why he even deliberately let himself be caught on the dashboard camera on his way to Mount Simju when he was about to plant Lee Geumhwa's phone there.

Because this is the third point:

3) Dongsik had also been deliberately dropping hints to Joowon, as they were walking down from his house towards the grocery store, because he showed Joowon the way to Mount Simju. He quite literally told Joowon: turn right, take the road behind the county office all the way up to the mountain.

He told Joowon all this, because he was counting on the fact that Joowon would follow through with his own investigation.

It makes all the more sense now why Dongsik was smiling when Jung Cheolmun sent Jihwa and Dosoo to arrest him. This was what he wanted Joowon to do: to pursue the case with the stubbornness of the xiezhi Joowon had been so determined to represent.

Because that is exactly what Dongsik wants him to be:

His last remaining hope to ever find Yuyeon—and Yuyeon's murderer.

[sheeple]

Miracles don't exist | 9: Something fishy

Genre(s): Riddle!reader / Slytherin!reader / kinda slowburn / little happy moments Fandom(s): Harry Potter Pairing(s): Theodore Nott x Reader / Harry Potter x Riddle!reader Summary: Being the Dark Lord's daughter and raised under the strict supervision of the Malfoy's is no easy life. Especially if you start crushing on your father's arch-nemesis, Harry Potter. And that while being engaged to one of his follower’s sons. Warning(s): None this chapter A/n: Did I use dialogue of Catching fire. Maybe. But that scene is so damn cute and I love it how Peeta looks at Katniss. Ugh [Masterlist] [Mini masterlist] [Playlist]

The days grow slowly less cold but wetter when the second task approaches in February. It's been weirdly quiet. No letters from your aunt or uncle and no letters from your father. You're very relieved that he hasn't written to you in such a long time. That means he is too weak, he's too occupied with something evil and nefarious, or he's dead. You highly doubt the last option.

You walk with your cousin and his friends to the dock so you can take a boat to one of the three platforms. You see Harry walk not much further from you next to Neville and you speed up, catching up.

"Hey", you say, making both boys turn towards you, "Good luck with your task. Please be safe, yeah?"

Harry nods shakingly, obviously anxious about what's to come. You reach out for his hand and give it a squeeze. "You can do this. I believe in you." You give him a small smile, hoping it gives him some sort of comfort.

"Where are Hermione and Ron, by the way?" You look around but don't spot the redhead and the brunette that's usually not far away.

"I don't know", he mumbles. "They've been gone since yesterday. McGonagall asked to talk to them and since then they haven't returned."

You frown. It's not like them to just disappear. "I'm sure it's nothing. Maybe they are a part of the task?"

Harry looks solemn towards the water. "I rather hope not."

Arriving at the boats, a hand on your waist steadies you as you step into the wooden boat. You look up and see Theodore glaring at Harry, who looks too anxious and concerned with the second task that is minutes away from happening to even bother.

The other Slytherins fill the remaining seats in the boat and you wave goodbye to Harry.

Nobody says anything but you feel the glares from around you. "What?", you snap.

"Seriously, Potter?", sneers Draco, his bottom lip curled up. "You know what I have said about fraternizing with the enemy."

You sigh, massaging your temples. "For Merlin's sake, Draco! The boy is terrified! Who knows what he is going to encounter down there. If it were you, you would already be screaming and crying to your father to put an end to the tournament."

Draco's jaw ticks but it seems to shut him up effectively. 

The boats stop at the raised platforms and you immediately get out, not accepting the outstretched hand of Theodore. Seeing your opportunity to get away, you climb the first set of iron steps to get to the top deck. There you have a nice overview of the water and the surrounding landscape.

Your head rests on your hand as you lean against the railing, waiting for the contestants to get ready to dive in the water when Theodore slides into the empty space next to you. "I've been thinking─"

"Congrats on using your brain, Theo. You didn't strain it?"

Theodore stops and looks at you with raised eyebrows. Quite perplexed.

You bite your bottom lip. You've grown too comfortable too quick at the idea of Theodore being your friend and you've overstepped boundaries. "Sorry. I've never been really good at being friends."

He smiles, obviously enjoying your little quip. "For starters, it helps when you know the person. I hardly know anything about you except that you love muggle books and that you have the most amazing smile, even though you rarely show the real thing."

The comment about your smile makes your cheeks heat up but you decided to push it down. "That about sums me up."

"There is more than that, you just don't want to tell me."

"It's like I said─"

At that moment Professor Dumbledore starts his speech to explain what the second task contains and with the sound of a cannon firing, the contestants jump into the water. Harry follows after them a couple of beats later.

Theodore leans close to you and says, "Listen, Black, how the whole friend thing works is that you have to tell each other the deep stuff."

"The deep stuff?", you whisper back, your eyes focused on the murky water.

"Like...", he glances up at the sky, "what is your favourite colour?"

Turning towards him, a smile adorning your face. "Now you've stepped over the line."

The both of you laugh. You slap a hand over your mouth and hit Theodore in an attempt to quiet him down before it attacks the attention of the people around you. 

Still smiling, Theodore props his head on his fist and says, "seriously though, what is it?"

You think for a moment. What is your favourite colour? Most of the clothing that you own is black and dark green, but that's more to blend in with the rest of your family and the Slytherin students. Your room back home is also mostly black. The only colour you can think of is-

"Pink", you decide.

It makes Theo's eyebrows raise in surprise. "Pink?" He looks perplexed. He for sure expected you to say some variating of green or something.

"Pink", you confirm. "But not old pink. More like… a tulip pink."

Theodore hums, a large smile forming on his face. "Tulip pink?"

He bursts out laughing and you push his shoulder smiling. "It's a nice colour! What is yours anyways?"

He doesn't hesitate for a moment. "Green."

"And you're critiquing my colour of choice?"

Theodore bumps against you with his shoulder. "Shut up. The Whomping Willow leaves colour nicely in spring."

One corner of your mouth twitches up and you snicker. "Whomping Willow leaves?"

The comment earns you a look from the brown-haired boy.

The first to get up to the surface is Fleur ─ who didn't finish her task ─ next is Krum, followed by Cedic. At the last minute, Harry shoots up out of the lake and lands on the platform. The crowd goes wild and you jump up and down, happy that Harry is safe and well.

The task ends with Victor getting the most points and Fleur the least, but the winners are Harry and Cedic.

There is this restlessness in your body, going down all the way to your core. You've been tossing and turning for hours and flipped your pillow over too many times. With a huff, you sit up and decide that you are not going to do this any longer.

You swing your legs off your bed and scramble ─ as quietly as you can as not to disturb the peace of your sleeping roommates ─ for your sneakers and make your way out of the Slytherin common room.

It's quiet when you roam the halls. Of course, it is, it's after curfew after all.

Something in you tells you that something is coming. It festers deep within your soul, twirling and whizzing around. It makes you anxious.

Hearing steps coming from the hallway adjacent to yours, you swiftly hide in an alcove. You suck in your breath in the hope to appear as a shadow. You release it once you see it's Harry that's passing by.

"Harry!", you whisper, making the boy turn his head. His stance relaxes as soon as he sees it's you, and he slides his wand back into his pocket.

"What are you doing out of bed?", he whispers back in the same tone as you walk next to him.

You shrug. "I couldn't sleep. Again. You?"

Harry looks at the ground, searching for the right words. You grab his wrist as a sign he can tell you.

"Barty Crouch is killed. I found him in the forest while walking with Hagrid, Ron, and Hermione. Turns out, Crouch's son was a Death Eater and responsible for torturing Neville's parents."

You hold a hand over your mouth in shock. "Oh, poor Neville. Does he know?"

"No. At least - I don't think so."

You frown. It was never a question of why you felt remorse for the boy. It was your mother after all that tortured the Longbottoms to the point that they are now. And, in your opinion, it's far crueller to leave a boy behind with parents that don't remember him than to leave behind an orphan.

As the two of you pass a hallway filled with portraits, arguing voices cut through the silence of the night before a door flies open and reveals Professor Snape and Professor Karkaroff ─ who has his sleeve pulled up and revealed his dark mark, which slowly grows more intense.

"It's a sign, Severus. You know what it means as well as I."

Karkaroff snaps his head towards the two of you and angrily storms off, sneering.

Giving each other a wide-eyed look, the both of you decide it's for the best to just continue walking. But Snape has other ideas.

"Potter! Black! What is your hurry?"

You sigh and turn around, not daring to look at Snape's harsh glare.

But the Professor's attention is focused on the boy next to you. "Congratulations. Your performance in the Black Lake was inspiring. Gillyweed, am I correct?"

"Yes sir."

"Ingenious. Run along, Black, you mustn't be caught roaming the halls after curfew."

You nod, giving Harry a sorry look before you get house points deducted for whatever Snape is irritated with.

As you round the corner, you know what you have to do. There is no denying that something is going to happen, with the Dark Mark on Karkaroff's arm and the uneasy feeling in your bones. You have to go to Dumbledore. To at least report to him, as you promised.

Taglist (bold means I couldn’t tag you): @the0doreslover @lqndkxlmqma @st4rrry @choppedpartymuffinwinner @ledtassoo​ @pietrobae @literallyobessed @vanishingcherry @lestat-whore @harrysnovia

[kryptonbabe]

Superman: Earth One (2010) by J. Michael Straczynski & Shane Davis: A Review

Clark Kent is a reserved young adult, he's leaving his familiar Smallville for Metropolis, looking to find himself, build a life. With an anguished demeanor and sad eyes he navigates the big city unscathed, but never satisfied. There's a veneer of trauma to the story, Clark talks more with his dead father, Jonathan, than to anyone alive in the book. While his parents are pumped to have a superhero son, Clark just wants to give his mother a good life, after his father's passing, and to belong somewhere, anywhere.

This had so much potential bringing this different perspective to the Superman mythos, exploring all these heavier feelings we are more used to seeing in the origins of characters like Batman or Hulk. The thing is that while Batman and Hulk earn their angst, Clark's behavior feels unjustified. It's never clear how his otherness can be an obstacle, his abilities are always described as achievements, he's easily accepted everywhere he goes. He could be depressed and that would be interesting (what to expect when the most powerful being on the planet is not evil, but isn't hopeful at all?), but that is never really mentioned.

Clark's feelings are exposed in dialogues and monologues, but his wallowing seems out of place, his father's death is not traumatic, he had a healthy relationship with his parents, he's a genius, he's super strong, he can make a lot of money really fast, but hmm, I guess everybody always asks where is Superman, but no one ever asks HOW is Superman. He's just sad, and we must embrace this.

There's also a kind of mall goth / 2010s emo to this art style and dialogue, the moodiness, the angst, the aversion to primary colors, the Welcome to the Black Parade palette of the underdeveloped villain. As an emo kid myself, I'd probably have a much better time reading this in 2012, when all was new and darkness was inherently exciting. But now, as an elderly decaying millennial emo, I just feel like I need more than aesthetics to make me interested in a story, invested in a character.

The freezing cold take of "Clark Kent is the costume of Superman" was already old in 2010, this view was popularized by the Kill Bill vol. 2 movie, released in 2004, and it's an oversimplified perception of the character, one that considers certain aspects of his history while ignoring several others, lacking the nuance a character as old as Superman deserves. It's jarring to hear this coming from Clark's mother, at this point in the story he is not Superman yet, he doesn't even know if he will someday choose to wear the cape. When Martha says "the mask is what you'll have to wear the rest of the time" she's disregarding Clark's humanity, the life he lived so far, the bonds he might develop when he's not in Smallville anymore. All of this belittled in front of the bigger goal: to turn Clark into a Superman.

In the flashbacks the couple seem slightly manipulative, Jonathan and Martha's only subject with Clark is about him becoming Superman, which might explain why the boy feels so on edge, as if deep down he's trying to run away from this fate of becoming an all achieving force of nature their parents want him to become. It's his parents who give him the Superman name, the costume and the idea to become a superhero. Clark has so little agency in this story, acting resigned, his intentions vague, it's frustrating.

On a positive note, I really liked the fact that Superman destroys a giant spaceship on board his baby ship, (even though, how exactly he stops a world invasion happening in multiple locations with multiple vessels by destroying only one single ship is never explained), overall the baby ship was a nice touch, the science fiction logic of it was very interesting too.

Superman Earth One felt like a very hopeless post-9/11 Superman story, surface level deep, moody and often bleak, without any of the positive emotional impact of the character. The art is nice though and emo Clark is cute. But I need to cheer up now. Thanks for reading this!

[notmorbid]

the word for world...

dialogue prompts from the word for world is forest by ursula k. le guin.

this world was made for men.

i like to see things in perspective, from the top down.

hating you isn't worth the trouble.

who told you what to do?

it's hard to turn your back on two pointed guns.

may i come in? i've come a long way.

i took you for a god.

it seemed to me i had seen you before. perhaps in a dream.

we must hear your story.

alone, you downed a giant?

it is altogether bad. there is nothing good left.

you don't see the danger. how could you?

i'm not raving. this is true fact and dream.

the world is always new, however old its roots.

where is our home now?

you have done what you had to do.

it is always your choice, whether to believe or not.

so long as the door is shut, everything will be alright.

my dreams are all bad, and they're all the same.

you have left your roots behind you.

i'm as full of forebodings as a stupid old man.

here we met. and here, part.

you are surer of me than i am.

i dream very little for myself anymore.

i'm an old, hollow tree. only the roots live.

the fruit of fear is ripening, and i see you gather it.

all that we fear to know, you have seen. you have known.

this is a new time for the world. a bad time.

where you go, fire burns. only the blind cannot see it.

i dreamed of you before we met here.

i don't like opinions stuffed into my own mouth.

you did not think things through.

am i to take all this simply on your word?

you're a fool, but a loyal and brave one.

wrongs done cannot be righted.

the anthropologist cannot always leave his own shadow out of the picture he draws.

what luck to meet you here.

i don't know what you are.

it would be better if i had never known you.

you should have a tougher hide by now.

old women are different from everybody else. they say what they think.

you might have escaped, but you stayed.

you can't save a people by selling a friend.

it's the way things are. it's human nature.

maybe leaving descriptions of what we wipe out is part of human nature.

i prefer to seek facts, rather than the truth.

in diversity there is life, and in life, there is hope.

i thought to drive the evil, but it drives me.

why aren't you like the others?

it seems that nothing will ever be the same or be right again.

help me up. i have eels for bones.

i'm not sure you know what a promise is.

this is no dream. this is real.

a realist is one who knows both the world and his own dreams.

there is no triumph in the world anymore. only death.

if you'd left, where would you have gone?

i'm not inferring anything. i'm saying it straight out.

`sometimes you have to be able to think about the unthinkable.

you can't trust anybody anymore.

few can actually face reality, when the going gets tough.

i don't feel so good.

[dokidokitsuna]

New Game?

So recently I was scrolling Twitter’s dying remains and found out that Kirby character “discourse” exists (which is just hilarious to me…how can you look at these adorable friends and decide you need to use them to start arguments).

And while I was laughing, I was reminded of something that I did find weird about the Magolor Epilogue: the idea that it’s supposedly Magolor’s ‘redemption arc’. Even in the game, one of the pause screen descriptions mentions something about ‘atonement’...

But I dunno, maybe it was an error of localization, maybe it’s just my bad sense of humor, but nothing that Magolor says in the game mode gives me the impression that he’s the slightest bit sorry about anything he’s done. ^^;;; Like, that little ‘sad sigh’ that we all saw in the trailer and used to extrapolate the tone of ME (which turned out to be hilariously inaccurate) was pretty much it. After that, he’s just like “screw this, I’m getting my powers back” and that sets the mood for the rest of the game. Determined, resilient, triumphant…those were the vibes I got from Magolor Epilogue. ‘Apologetic’ or even just ‘regretful’ was not among them. XD

The little dialogue blurbs he does when he’s upgrading his Magical Skills (you can read them here) were what really convinced me-- they’re 100% Magolor’s usual cute, funny, conceited self; if you read through them without knowing the plot of Magolor Epilogue I don’t think you could figure out that this character is supposed to be at his lowest point. ^^;; He’s still making world-domination jokes, even! THIS LITTLE--

…I hope I don’t sound angry; I actually find it really, really funny and fitting for the character; personally I wouldn’t have it any other way. XD But yeah, I’m not seeing a redemption arc here. The whole time I was just thinking “THIS BOY DIDN’T LEARN A DAMN THING” over and over as I watched…he hardly seems to feel sorry for himself, let alone for what he almost did to Pop Star. Essentially, it would not feel out of character at all for him to just go back to being a villain. 

In fact, I have to wonder…if he didn’t go through another dimensional rift at the end of the game mode…if he destroyed the Master Crown and was just stuck in interdimensional purgatory, left to figure out what to do with his life…would he consider it his second chance? Like, maybe he’d realize he never needed the Master Crown…his little anti-hero’s journey taught him that he has the potential to become an evil overlord all by himself~

[redtoondevils]

Poppy in Poppy play time.

It's about time that I talked about something different. Today, I am going to be talking about the little doll Poppy, and give my thoughts about what I think about her, and what I think she'll do, in the fourth chapter. At first, Poppy looked like a creepy doll, that looked like to be an antagonist.

Just with her voice lines. It's in between of, I believe that she's helping us, but at the same time it looks like that she's using us. With what? At the end of chapter 2, when she took you to the train, and left you. It appeared to be 'Betrayal.' And she looked evil back at those chapters.

But, now in Chapter 3, she's appearing to be okay. Her ark, seems to be taken to another turn. She's given a bigger role with Kissy. It say's that Kissy Missy is the beacon in Poppy Playtime co.

And she seems quite friendly. But, she can still get aggressive. Even with Kissy, she seems to be a child almost. Almost innocent, and curious.

One thing I hope to say, to prevent Poppy from being evil, or being the final antagonist. 2 things actually...Is the founders.

So, I'm updating my theory to add this as further info. I was listening to the characters lines, that there's more to this evil, with evil people than this doll. Both of which, designed the monsters.

One of them designed the Prototype, and the other one designed the cat monster, Catnap. There is so much more going on. And they may be working together, their child factory is so fishy. One of the founders name is:

.Harley Sawyer.

and

.Lieth Pierre.

Harley Sawyer is the guy who created the Prototype. Lieth Pierre is the guy that created Cat Nap, or is in charge of him. And is keeping him as a wild animal, than all the other critters. And theatrically modified the red smoke into him.

I don't know much info about it, I'm just going with what I believe. And I believe, that they both are the true master minds that crafted the red smoke to trap children.

And use a cat, that most kids find cute, to lure them in, and gain their trust. That's what Catnap is used for, at the surface. That's why you see this huge play den in there, when you walk out of the cabin.

And by the sounds of it, Lieth does not care about the wellbeing of Catnap. He has a built in labyrinth for him, similar to how Dogday is being kept in, and was treating him, as if he's just as an experiment.

What makes his case unique is that Catnap has a real name Theodore. Otherwise known as 'Theo' His full name is Theodore Grambell. That name sounds friendly, for a Goblin wearing a bell. And he's kind of a pet to him. No wonder Catnap is so hostile.

Furthermore, it makes Catnap's name appeal to be a normal person's name almost. Whereas you have the other experiment names be, more like Nick name, pronunciations such as "Huggy Wuggy." "Kissy Missy." "Candy cat." ect. Than the very few that sound like offical names such as "Bron." The dinosaur, and "Poppy". The doll.

With Catnaps case, A.K.A 'Theo'. With his treatment, and role has some significant Importance with it. It has a lot of lore with him.

Which also extends the idea, with the more hostile creatures, back to "Huggy Wuggy." being treated like they are brainless monsters, this gives aother light, to how the monsters are being treated by the founders. With no good care.

They trap them, and release them to cause havoc. Like the others. They're probably getting the similar miss treatment, just differently to each monster. But all of which, not with care. Indeed abusive. With out a doubt. Especially with Poppy as well.

And here comes the second thing. With Poppy, yes her dialogues sound like, that she's up to something. But hearing it in her voice when she says that she wants to get revenge, and free everyone.

Even with that her dialogue sounds promising. I feel like maybe she shouldn't turn on us. Then on the other hand, it's like it's still in between, because she needs us.

Although, seeing the dynamic between her and Kissy. Is the reason why, I kind of don't want her to turn on us. She clearly has a concern for us. But don't make the right decisions. So, I am already reading into her as a flaw character, but don't really mean any bad intentions.

I'm believing that she is trying to help us. But, at the same time there is some skeptical feeling about her, with what she's going to do next. So far, she seems to be ok. She does have a concern for us.

And she does have a concern for Kissy, and have a deep connection to her, that I think that it would go down this road of Poppy, actually becoming the one that genuinly want's to help.

If the developers write here to do that. Which also gives me a reason, because she's been locked up. And referring back to the founders, they're likely to have treated her like that.

And it is proven, that some of the experiments are not dangerous. That, if she stays true to her word. Then the developers will have to write her, accordingly into genuinely helping to stop the Prototype. And rescue Kissy.

It is a good thing that some people are saying that, they hope to see Poppy NOT become the villain. Because of her connection with Kissy. There's something innocent about it.

And it's rare to have a doll, trustworthy in horror games. Poppy would be the very first savior, just like what Dogday said, to save the Play toy factory. Ever.

If she stays true to her word. This connection with her, and Kissy being written. It is deeper. Which helps to add on. That if her ambitions were to be evil, now changed because of this connection.

Is why I think, maybe Poppy is not evil, and not going to be used as the villain. Because so far, she's being written to find vengeance. That's what I think.

[blackjackkent]

Our first bedtime cutscene in a little while! Although it seems to be mostly Hector just pontificating.

(Spoilers - it escalates from here. A lot.)

Narrator: The events of the last days weigh heavily upon you. Sleep's rest is slow to come to one whose mind is so full.

The Absolute is not a god, but an elder brain controlled by the Chosen of the Dead Three. They mean to use it to take control of the Sword Coast. All who carry the tadpole are governed by the brain, and by extension, the Chosen. It will take but one order to transform them into an army of mind flayers. This would have been your fate too, were it not for the Astral Prism and the mysterious visitor inside of it.

With her help, you have uncovered the cult for what it really is - a plan of conquest orchestrated by the gods of death themselves. Together, you have the power to thwart the Dead Three. If you follow this path to its end, the elder brain will not answer to the Chosen. It will answer to you.

Will you liberate them from their parasites and their religious delusions? Or will you use the power you gain for your own purposes?

Well. That's a terrifying question. I don't think Hector has really considered this before, and this feels like one of those moments where he suddenly sits bolt upright in the middle of the night and thinks, oh, shit.

Obviously, though, he has no intention of continuing the control of the Elder Brain over the cultists; they need to be released from their parasites before it is too late. The frightening thing, really, is what to do with the brain itself - they have to either kill it (and what effect would that have on those it controls?) or somehow convince it to return to its slumber, neither of which sounds like an easy proposition.

And then there are his companions. He trusts them all with his life by now, but Astarion at least would gladly jump at the chance to control an Elder Brain and all its followers. Would some of the others, too? Will this terrible power turn them against each other?

I can't let it. That's all there is to it. I must be strong enough for all of us.

(The available dialogue options here - of Hector in response to the Narrator, I suppose :P - are all SLIGHTLY off from Hector's thought process.

a) "All I want is to be free of this parasite. I will do what is necessary to make that happen." A little less altruistic than Hector's overall goal. b) "I will succeed where the Chosen will fail. I will dominate the world." Obviously not Hector. c) "When the moment comes, I'll do what feels right." Pretty indecisive-sounding. d) "I will free everyone of this evil - I will be the hero that saves Baldur's Gate." This is probably the closest to what he wants, but it's already been established several times that Hector does not want to be remembered and memorialized and idolized.

So we'll go with d), but honestly I think his thought process is more along the lines of "This evil has to end. And I will see that it does - for the good of all it has touched.")

Narrator: You will not have long to wait. All you need to do now is sleep... But sleep is not for you.

Pain - a sudden burst of it, white-hot, crashing through his skull like a dagger. The Voice of the Absolute erupts like a thunderclap, bursting out over the camp, through the mind of every infected in their little group.

"HEAR ME. GATHER. THE RECKONING IS UPON US. THE CITY THIRSTS FOR DOMINATION. MARCH. JOIN MY POWER."

Dimly he is aware of the Prism vibrating with energy, flowing around them in agitated circles just out of his reach. The guardian is trying to block out the attack... but the power is too great.

"Ahhh... gods... " he cries out. "It hurts. Please... please..."

The Prism bursts with light around him. A ragged portal rips open in the fabric of reality; he can barely make out the pale blue, welcoming light of the Astral Sea where the Guardian resides.

He looks up towards it with desperate hope, expecting to see the guardian emerge from it, for her to save him from this agony yet again.

What emerges instead are three githyanki - lean, powerful fighters with blood-madness in their eyes.

"We're under attack!" the guardian screams in his mind, almost as loud as the overwhelming voice of the Absolute. She sounds more terrified than he has ever heard her, all the usual gravitas gone. "Help me!"

Panic, an instant brutal surge of it. Is the guardian under attack within the Prism? If she is killed, all will be lost. There will be nothing left.

Instinctively he lurches to his feet in spite of the pain, his vision blurring with the agony of the Absolute's claws in his mind.

"RUN!" he bellows to his companions, hoping against hope that he can break through the similar cloud in their brains. "RUN! TO THE PORTAL! GO! GO NOW!"

[wetcatspellcaster]

A few questions, which obviously can be answered at your convenience because I don't want to add to the burn-out you're experiencing (I hope you get some rest and relaxation soon!).

1. Do I need to know anything about Dragon Age to read your other fics? I'm desperate to read anything you've written because you're so talented, but I haven't played and don't know much about it.

2. I just reread Pieces again, and am so curious to know what Rosalie's dad is like and what he thought of Astarion! Also, "Rosie" 🥰

3. I'm American, and my attempts to write English/British characters make me cringe a bit because my American-ness seems glaringly obvious. I suppose this is a bit of weird question, but I've read my share of fics where I'VE thought, "Oh, this author is DEFINITELY American" so I would imagine you have, too. Do you have any advice for writing more... authentically, I guess?

Thanks, in advance!

hey anon! sorry for the delayed reply - i was sick and trying to leave the asks with more complex answers until a time when i had more than one unhappy braincell!

honestly, a mix? my dragon age fic was the first fic I ever wrote, so it was more reliant on existing plots and I also retell a bunch of stuff, particularly in my longfic? which means that it's actually more accessible than my current fic, which tries to avoid too much replay of canon dialogue and canon scenes and so expects the audience to know them, I suppose? But I'm not good at gauging how easy they would be to read with no knowledge of say, the concept of Grey Wardens. I do have one dragon age modern AU though, which is entirely independent of canon :)

Ahhhhhh, you're the first person to ask this!! To be honest, I chose to show Rosalie's mother rather than her father bc the aim of the final scene was to give this timeline's Astarion a chance to use the Charm My Ascension Turned Evil for an utterly harmless use, as a wholesome resolution to the story! Rosalie's father is a handyman (he met her mother doing repair work for the store she worked in at the time) and so he's slightly taller/stockier than you would perhaps expect (of course, in Pieces, he's now more of a wiry and lean old man). he's soft spoken and stoic, the kind of man who deliberately wouldn't raise his voice for being seen as intimidating (particularly with the canonical treatment of tieflings by WotC) but who's opinion is often valued and taken seriously when it is offered, because it's rare for him to speak up. To be honest, I think a meeting with him and Astarion would be hilarious for different reasons, I think both parties would mostly be befuddled on first meeting bc Astarion is very performative and her father is the opposite of that. If Astarion found canon timeline Rose's 'no ulterior motives' infuriariting, I think 'no front whatsoever but also no clear indication of his opinion of me' would also cause him to have a minor meltdown.

This question is difficult for me to answer, because I unfortunately have the Posh British Accent Download and additional DLC due to certain things that happened to me in life. But to be honest, my advice here would maybe be the following: 1. try to fact check any idioms or speech quirks with either a UK friend or something like reddit, or lift them directly from British TV/film dialogue. just bc I have seen certain turns of phrase used a little off-centre and that's what tends to give it away for me? not the 'oh you're clearly american' but the 'oh, you've clearly never heard this used in an actual conversation' 2. Read authors that have a 'British' voice (I cringed, but it is true!) I'm not Neil Gaiman's biggest fan, but authors like Gaiman and Terry Pratchett have a little bit more British English in their writing and so immersing yourself in one of their novels for a bit might help you emulate the stuff I do subconsciously (others might be Sarah Rees Brennan, Kieron Gillen's comic book The Wicked and the Divine, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, the Skulduggery Pleasant series... this all depends on what kind of British you're aiming for!!) 3. The way I still get into 'character voice' to this day is just by listening to youtube clips on loop. I can't do impressions but I can try to imagine the voice saying the line i've written!

[fumikomiyasaki]

[evil] Hewwo bestie i offer ❝  you know i’m yours,  right?  i only have eyes for you.  ❞ for jealousy dialogues and [ CARESS ]  for actions for anyone you want :))c

Jealousy

❝  you know i’m yours,  right?  i only have eyes for you.  ❞

Old wounds carve deep they said... and similar it was for Phobetor... even if he was getting better, being closer with Orphne and slowly dealing better with his cursed body... on that day he noticed himself glancing back at his former lover... given this joined event settled different students from different schools into this room, yet Orphne ignored him and focused on what the staff had to say... eventually he snapped out of it and turned his gaze back to her instead of Camilla... feeling somewhat guilty he did and took a deep breath.

He tried to join her in listening but eventually his gaze shifted once in a while... pain stinging in his chest as it got better once Orphne accidentally let her arm lean on his... moreso to relax but it snapped him back... once the talk was done the two oft them were alone near the rose gardens as he spoke up.

"Something on your mind?"

"Nothing really just another daydream..."

She was the same as usual but still he took her hand feeling the guilt pressing into him.

❝ You know i’m yours,  right?  I only have eyes for you.  ❞

"I know, so what?"

"I... often still feel trapped by the past... like some things are left unsaid hence... I felt bad looking at her."

"And what do you want? For me to punch you about it? Whats done is done... and you should accept that."

"You are right..."

With a small smile he held the Dame's hand... walking with her... its good he had her as a somewhat calming force to his broken state of mind... and so he managed for the rest of the day to not look back anymore... only at his current partner... in hopes to not be consumed by the nightmares himself.

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

[ CARESS ]  for one muse to possessively kiss the other in public.

Keres didn't really want to be here, but still they accompanied hiding behind Nanoya and Flynn to this gala to celebrate Flynns debut... in the end for most of the time they were just standing to the side with Nanoya and chatted a little but even he was dragged away being questions by some paparazzi while they hoped nobody would spot them... just to be approached by an actress who looked at them in disdain.

"Urgh and somebody like you gets to hang closely with such a refined actor... he really must take pity on you."

Pity, huh? Thats what they thought alright... it always been like this... people only hanging out with them cause of pity, at least thats how they saw it... maybe it wasn't the best idea to come here... what if they ruin the reputation of the both of them... what if this all is just an elaborate scheme over all this time.. they gripped their arms in annoyance untill Flynn stopped by with smirk.

"Hey is this colleague of mine bothering you, my dear Amber."

"Just admit it, Flynn... You only hang with this person for your own entertainment, they seem like a good person to fool... our scene had far more impact toget-"

Before she could talk on, Flynn already gave her a light smack across the face, much to Keres surprise... but even moreso that he pulled them close for a passionate kiss... clearly marking his territory among the other guests that they belong to him, glaring sharply.

"I am sorry, deary but... if you dare to insult my dearest partner then, you can be assured your next few auditions for roles might not go well... you should watch your back if you dare slander my dear Ambers name."

"You little."

He turned to Keres.

"Are you alright?"

"I a-am but could you not focus on me."

"Right... let me draw all the attention to me so you can rest."

He took one of the mics and went onto the table... it was like he was set on ruining that womans name in front of the crowd... deserved it seems cause she been causing quite some trouble for a while... Nanoya meanwhile came back and leaned his arms around Keres.

"If there is one thing Flynn is passionate about its protecting who he cares about... its always been this way..."

They looked back at him, feeling the warmth of Nanoyas arms and looking how much he made a show out of this somewhat pushed some of the bad thoughts from before away.. but not all of them.

[anam3ii]

-1bitHeart-

Nov, 28,2023,

Hi, I'm new here. I've been wanting to create a blog for a long time now. I wasn't sure how to start a blog, what exactly should I share. I meaan...I have a lot to share but I was thinking to my self..should I just be consistent and stick to one thing or would it be ok to do a little bit of everthing?? Well I guess we'll see since I'm kinda..winging it. lol

Today I'd like to share with you what I've been up to recently. I decided to give youtube a try. I love to game and thought why not..it might be fun. I recently finished a game and posted the short series. I still have a lot to learn about editing so it's not great to be honest but the good thing is I've learned a lot for my first time.Oh yes..from the many mistakes. It was not so fun starting over a lot, I'll tell you that ,yet I hope the next series is much better and maybe I'll even have some commentary.

The game I recently completed and posted on youtube is called 1bitHeart. It is created by, not a very well known, developer Miwashiba. This Japanese dev is from Fukuoka and has illustrated and created various cute and interesting RPG games. Miwashiba is known for creating their own pixel adventure games Alicemare, LiEat series,1bitHeart and the sequel 1BeatHeart.I just found out, while doing some research, that pool of creativity has not run dry just yet. In fact,there is a game in production right now by the name of The Faceless Double. You can find all of the games on steam; all but one,1BeatHeart.The game is available and you can find it here on this link.I have yet to give the game a try but so far the big difference I see between them is the more dull or muted colors and maybe less cuteness? It doesn't seem to be going on steam anytime soon so I'm a little hesitant to give it a go.

So far, all of the games that are available on steam are also published under the same publisher, PLAYISM. They publish a variety of genres. From story-focused games to Horror to strategy etc.

Now, I'll be honest, I didn't dive too much into the dev or the publisher so sorry I have no idea if there is any juicy gossip lol. I do though, want to tell you a little bit more about the game,1bitHeart. As far as I know, the game was released on steam back in 2017. The game is set in Japan, in the near future, where technology has progressed to the point that I'd say it's somewhat similar to now in our lives; it is used pretty much everyday, everywhere. It dominates the lives of everyone.

In the game, we play a young guy by the name of Nanashi, who spends most of his time indoors. He is very intelligent but a bit socially awkward. He meets a young girl by the name of Misane. While out making friends and solving mysteries, he learns of a frightening plot to take control of people via hacking. Together they set out to stop the people behind this evil plot.

I have yet to play the other games myself but I can tell you that this game, compared to the others, it's a 2D side scroller instead of using the top down perspective the others used.This allows for larger side view portraits of the game's many characters which lets the game to emphasize Miwashiba's incredible skill at designing cute characters and more detailed during dialogue. The game doesn't have turn based battles like LiEat, according to some other reviews, and also isn't solely based on exploration like Alicemare.The game has it's own systems. The hints being one, that helped me, which you get to chose to have them on or off in the very beginning. When you come across hackers and they attempt to hack the player, you defend yourself by directional inputs; which are basic. Still, the game is fun when you have to play detective and have the subsequent confrontations. You also progress the story by solving the various cases through the chapters during which you need to gather information and evidence.

Stardew Valley is a game I have played, but not finished but I can tell you that in the same way that you are able to give gifts to the characters that hang around the town in 1bitHeart you do the same. You'll trigger scenes once you become better friends with them but you are not able to romance any of the characters like in SV. This leads to one of the most impressive parts: there are actually about 48 characters in all that are spread across the town. Each with their own story, personality and style. The end goal, depending on what end you want, is of course, for these characters to become the main character's friend. You can see the amount of love and effort that was put into the game. In a review I read that the backgrounds during character's dialogue could use a little work. They probably could but I think it was done that way so the characters and their dialogue was the main focus.

Like I mentioned earlier, you need to give gifts to the characters in order to be friends but you need money or bits to buy gifts. You get bits by playing tetris-type minigames but it'll take A LOT of grinding=time to get enough bits to befriend everyone. Fortunately, the dev was aware of this flaw, as there is a secret in the game to acquire endless bits=endless gifts.

Honestly, I enjoyed the soundtrack. It's ok. One of my favorites its the opening theme.

The biggest gripe I have with the game is that I didn't see the option for borderless windowed or something to prevent the game from minimizing. The game would minimize each and every time I clicked out of the game. It was very frustrating and annoying. Honestly, it's one of the reasons why I'm hesitant to play them to record them.

I wonder if streaming would be easier in this case?? I don't want to totally give up.Anyway..If you made it this far, THANK YOU for taking the time to read my blog today. Let me know what your thoughts are...til next time!

-A

[sosleepylars]

I recently reflected about all the differences and arguments inside the Star-Wars fandom as well as my own thoughts about them. This was initially supposed to be a little rant, but got way out of hand quickly. So buckle up, this is a long one. A long time ago (it must be roughly 15 years by now), in a little town far, far away in europe, there was a boy. The boy sat in front of the TV and watched with growing awe Episode 2 of a thing called Star Wars. He didn't new that this feeling never would truly vanish and that the awe would grow into love. Love for a universe, that seemed endlessly rich with stories and wonders to dwell in, a welcome distraction from all the problems the boy had in school. When he grew older, he started to read books. "Order 66" by Karen Traviss, "Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader" and "Labyrinth of Evil" (both by James Luceno) to name a few. These grounded him even more inside this fantastic universe, widened his view upon it, bridged all those years that saw no new content and, at least in Karin Traviss'es case, shaped his world view and ehtics to a certain degree. Star Wars was not only a passion or a hobby. It was something the boy identified with, something that gave him the feeling that he, for the first time in his life, was part of something. And that people who loved Star Wars too understood him. That was, until he talked to people who were older than he. He asked them about the films and told them how much he liked them, especially episode 2 and 3. And he would never forget, how they made fun of that. How they said he wasn't a "true" fan. That the "prequels" were trash, and the original films far far superior. This angered him. He WAS a true fan. Those people just couldn't see what made the films good. They just were too old and dug in inside their beliefs of what Star Wars should be like to see it. But the boy, HE could understand the grandeur of the music in the finale of episode one, as he watched Qui-Gon fight for his life and ultimately fail. HE could thrive in the breathtaking pace of episode 2, that started out so small-scale only to end with a view over thousands of soldiers marching gloriously in the sunset. And, lastly, HE knew how hard it was to hold back the tears he felt coming up, as he watched two brothers turning on each other while everything they (and also the boy) had once believed in, crumbled in episode 3. Sure, Jar Jar was annoying. And the romance dialogues, even tho synchronized in German, were still awkward and felt misplaced. But those flaws got outshone greatly by the magic, George Lucas created. And the fights! Nothing like the akward stick-fighting in the hallway in episode 4, or the to lengthy, drawn-out Dagobah-scene in episode 5. Not to speak of the fact that Episode six felt at times like a déjà vu. Those films had their moments, and they where not bad. But they paled in comparioson to the films he had grown up with. Truly, the boy just loved the prequel films. This little boy was me.

Fast Forward to the year 2015. I 19 years old now. But the love for Star Wars only had grown. I had always thought there wouldn't be another Film in the universe, tho of course I always had hoped for it. And so, Books like "Labyrinth of evil" and "Dark Lord - The rise of Darth Vader" by James Luceno and "Order 66" by Karen Traviss helped to quench the thirst for more adventures in the Galaxy far, far away. Especially Traviss, with her unique ability to fill the Clones with life and personality, not only shaped a great portion of my world view and ethical beliefs, that lasts to this day. She also provided the cement my perception of the films rested upon. Her stories of the Mandalorians, the idea of 151 emergency orders, of whom Order 66 was just one, this was the fluff that had filled those years for me. On a rainy, cold day in late december, I went to the cinema to watch Episode 7: The Awakening of the Force. And oh boy. That I was excited would be more than an understatement. Back when the Clone Wars-Movie released in 2008, I had a short hope of a comeback for my beloved Universe. And even tho the Movie broke with as many of my ideas and head canons as it expanded on them (I had mixed feelings about Ashoka back then, to say the least) I still was glad to have it. Until it was announced that there would be a TV-Show building up on it. You see, in Germany it was (and sometimes still is) notoriously hard to get your hands on american shows. Many TV broadcaster here battle for the rights to air them, and when it finally did come to Germany, I couldn't watch it since I was in school whenever it aired. YouTube provided some of the Episodes in German dub, but the quality was bad. Nonetheless, I sucked up every bit I could. Then, I learned, the show got canceled. So back to no content, I thought. Then, 2012, Disney bought Star Wars and announced there would be a new triology. And I E X P L O D E D. I would have a chance to watch a complete new trilogy right from the start and finally experience how it must've been back then, when the movies released that brought me into the fandom initially. Whe nEpisode 1-3 already looked so good, I couldn't even start to imagine what they would do with all the new technology they had now at their disposal! And so, on this afternoon in December, I went out of the cinema, back into the pouring rain, and was trying to comprehend what I had seen. It was a disaster. Sure, it was a Star Wars movie. It was all there. A hero rising up from the ground to save the galaxy. Space fights. Exotic locations. A gripping introduction scene to the new threat to the galaxy. Seeing old faces. The occasional comedic relief. And of course the hero saves the day in the end. But it felt so soulless. Where Episode one somewhat hinted at Episode 4 with its build-up and story (Droid-Controlship and Death Star analogy), this was just a bland copy. It felt to me as if the movie had been made according to a formula. As if all the writer had tried to distill the essence of what made episode 4 great and just...do it again. Which isn't bad in itself, if you present new and refreshing taskes on it. But this movie was far from it. As if it was designed to scratch the itching nostalgia spot. On my way back how, I pulled myself together. It was the first film. Episode one hadn't been too great either overall. Surely, they would do better in the next entry. I only got worse. In the end, when I left the cinema after watching "The Rise of Skywalker" (ironically enough again a rainy December day) all that was left inside me was anger. They had not destroyed the fandom I held so dear to my heart. They had dug up its peacefully resting carcass, robbed it, spat on it and duped it onto a disposal site to rot, after it was quenched for money.

This grudge should last for the years to come, while I watched the several new shows unravel on Disney+. And while some were better than others (to put it lightly), the anger and hatred for the new movies faded. To be absolutely clear, I never understood why people blame the actors when something is wrong with the movie they're in. I didn't partake in this. But I spilled several "Hottakes" during that time I'm not really proud of. And looking back at those I wonder... Did I do the same to a new generation of Fans, that was done to me

Have I, in my disappointment and anger that Disney "ruined" the franchise I so loved, been blind to what my words may cause to someone whose first entry into Star Wars those films were? A young girl, who first experienced the magic of the Galaxy far, far away in Episode 7? Who identified with the troubles Ray had, only to be laughed at and hear how terrible the films are, that Rey is a Marry Sue and basically worthless as a character? How would I have felt? And I remembered it. Angry. Misunderstood. That those hut’uun just couldn't appreciate the magic of those movies. And so, in the end, my point is as follows: I don't want to lecture anyone by this. But I for myself want to deeply apologize to anyone I might've hurt. Be it because you read a comment on YouTube were I flame about the movies and their fans, or a tweet, that states how much I dispise people who support these because I didn't wanted Disney to profit from something that hurt me so deeply. But this is the thing: it only hurt me. To you, it might have given comfort in a time of need. Spent that deeply desired distraction from a life that maybe was short of being too much. Provided a welcome escape from the pressure of daily life. Or was just a fun thing that came up the right time to enjoy with friends. Whatever your reason is to enjoy the sequels: Have fun! Love them! Cosplay its characters! Draw fanart, write fictions, replay the scenes in the woods with sticks together with your friends and laugh at how cringy you all are, as long as it makes you happy YOU ARE VALID. Nobody has the right to take it away from you. Not the critiques. Not the fans on Twitter or YouTube. And certainly not me. Now, in the end, I just want to humbly ask to forgive me for what I have said.

May the force be with you. Always. - Lars