#i'd be able to ignore it if the game did as well

[no1blacksapphirefan]

For the self aware au- Have you ever written something about the sort of 'discovery' stage of the cookies being self aware? Like, if the cookies did accidentally 'break character' but instead of reader freaking out and deleting the game they become fascinated by it and start trying to get them to do it again? Curious and trying to figure out if it was a bug or glitch or some hacker, but not really bothered by it?

If you haven't written something like this and chose to use this as a prompt I'd love if you'd involve Capsaicin or Burning Spice if you feel like it! love the spicey boys,,,

I like your words weather boy. I hope I understood your request

Capsaicin (May be OOC) Oopsie!! He didn't mean too, he just got really excited seeing you. Perhaps you were wearing a new outfit, how could he not compliment you about the colour? Prune Juice had quickly jabbed him in the chest because of his slip up. And seeing you take notice...oh no, this isn't good right?...

But you didn't seem to be scared, your eyes sparkle with curiosity, he couldn't tell what you were doing at first, but when he realised you wanted to see him talk to you directly again? Oh he's more than happy too, he's quick to compliment you again, perhaps it's your eyes this time, your smile. He gets so giddy when he sees you not mind at all. And cookies said you'd be freaked out.

Burning Spice The words just left him, he didn't think about when he said it. He just didn't expect you to cry out in joy when he did the finishing blow on the other team in Arena...I mean, sure he was the only one with a bit of HP left, but god did that praise boost his ego, he couldn't help but thank you directly...with your name.

Look, look. He can't always just sit around and listen to you speak without talking to you, especially when you seem to talk to him casually as if you already knew...you won't delete the game right? Witches is he happy to see you become a giggling mess as you try and get him to speak again...hey stop poking him, he'll talk to you but-- you're still poking him??

Black Sapphire Like Shadow Milk, he doesn't think too much about his words and if they break the "4th wall" because to you, it was probably just in character, besides. One of his lines already did that anyways. What he didn't expect was, for you to actually believe it...like it wasn't just some code.

Is this a bad thing? He feels like this is a bad thing, maybe he shouldn't have talked his mind as often as he did in the kingdom and-- OH! You like it?? Heh, well if you enjoy it so much, he'll continue as he has done before. He'll just...ignore the stares Pure Vanilla is giving him. Hey! You like it, even if you seem to think it's real...he'll just argue that you found out through one of his already made voicelines.

Shadow Milk He's so happy when you notice, he always wanted you too y'know. He hated not being able to talk to you and besides, once he comes out of your device, he doesn't want to freak you out!! It's better if you knew, that's what he told other cookies but he always got shunned as the others worried it would freak you out too much.

He can't wait to rub it into other cookies faces. See!! You didn't care, you love it! Now he can talk your ear off, c'mon. Join him for dinner. Bring your food and he'll bring his. You might not be able to share a table but hey, you're eating together. He's quick to "confirm" your suspicion.

Pure Vanilla He didn't mean to let it slip! You were coming back with food to continue playing, and he couldn't help but call out in alarm to you, wanting to see if you were okay. Your pain (if you had any) disappeared and you just looked in amazement at him. Uh oh...

Unlike the others who were quick to just accept the fact you knew. Didn't even try to hide it or cover it up with a lie like, it was merely a bug. He's quick to try and continue the charade. It's not that he doesn't want to speak with you more personally, but he wonders if you'll still play when you do find out they all know. Even if it seems like you love it so. He might give in to speak again to you if he sees you desperately wanting to hear him again, he wants to see you happy

[reignpage]

It's Like a Reward

You hear clattering and thumping from outside your room. Rolling your eyes, you continue to lounge in bed and scroll on your phone. This whole thing had been such a pain — what was he thinking getting a girlfriend to make you jealous?

Did he seriously think it’d make you cave?

God, he must have lost his mind. Thank goodness he found it. Only because you didn’t like someone else in your space, of course. Totally not because his stupid plan was actually working. You remember the shock you felt walking into your living room to see some girl on top of your roommate in the living room. The ridiculous smile on his face that washed away his usual completely bored look alerted you to the games he was playing immediately. 

Introducing her to you, you could only smile, nod, and get comfortable in the living room. After blah blah blah small talk, a quietness settled over the room and you chose to focus your attention on your book rather than the movie they were playing after they both insisted you stay. You could have chosen to read your book in your room, but some sick part of you — a really, really sick part you don’t want to confront right now— wanted to see where it would go. How far he would go. 

And God did he go far. His long fingers were digging into the thigh she had hooked over his lap. Spare hand pulling her hair back as their lips met in a messy clash, smacking sounds hitting you like sharp notes. She was practically humping his leg and moaning like crazy with little to no regard for you. Touching him all over, they were pressed so tightly one would have thought they were actively trying to fuse their bodies together permanently.

All while he had his eyes on you.

You knew what he was doing so you ignored him. Though you could see them writhing in your peripheral, you never wanted to give him the satisfaction of knowing he was getting to you. Of course you knew one day this would happen, that he'd grow braver and bolder, find new buttons to push, but you never thought it'd be so soon. Still, something about the whole thing didn't piss you off as much as it should have.

She was in his lap but you had him in the palm of your hands.

You were sure that if you had told him to, he would have ripped her clothes off and plunged inside her. He would have bent her into shape, moulded her into a pliable little plaything, rendering her stupid and useless, making a mess on the couch, on the coffee table, by the door, wherever you goddamn wanted him to. He would have done as you asked with a snap of your fingers because he's Choso and you're you.

A frantic knock jolts you from your thoughts. 

He’s finally here. 

You’d forgotten you have a lock on your door now. Wonder how long that’ll last. 

“I missed you” is the first thing he says when you let him in. And you believe him. How could you not when his hair is disheveled and there are dark circles under his eyes? His hands, riddled with silver rings, reach for your hips and pull you to him, groaning at your warmth, and when he takes a long inhale of your neck, his face falls in the crook of it. 

What a pain in the ass.

"Please get rid of the lock," he shamelessly requests. "I don't like not being able to come in here when I want. What if you get hurt? What if I need you?"

Scoffing, you snark, "You mean my panties."

One of his hands wanders behind you, under your shirt, and grips an ass cheek tight, fingers tracing the line of your panties until they’re at the gusset. You smack him away. Always pushing it. 

"No — well, yes, I want your panties too. But you come first, y'know. I'd much prefer getting what I need right from the source so I need you alive and well, roomie."

Sitting down on the bed, you give him a firm look. “Don’t touch me up, weirdo. I’m not even supposed to be rewarding you after the stunt you pulled.”

He gives you a sheepish smile, hand running through his messy but silky hair. 

“Sorry. I’ll make it up to you. I’ll buy you dinner for a month. Or whenever you want. In fact, I’ll do whatever you want forever.”

That’s not a fair exchange, considering he already does that, but you keep your mouth shut. You want to get this over with. “Alright. Get on your knees and take it already.”

Eyes darkening, he loses that smile. There’s something animalistic taking over his demeanour now. It should frighten you, the way he flexes his hands, veins popping, and how his black eyes are focused solely on the apex of your thighs, but truthfully, you’re not. You’ve seen this side of him so often it only makes you sigh. 

Kneeling on the floor in front of you, he clutches your knees, thumbs caressing your skin, drawing a barely audible gasp from you, but somehow, he hears it. Only half-dressed, Choso pushes your thighs open and slowly, like he might scare you off; he lays a kiss on the inner side, all while keeping eye contact. He loves doing that. Doing something depraved and immoral with no shame or remorse. 

Like last month, when you barged into his room and shoved him off his bed to search through his pillows for your missing panties, all he did was shrug and say, “Take the pink one; your smell's practically gone. But leave the blue for me. Please.”

You left him the pink and take the blue just to spite him, but he just shrugged again and laid back down, clutching the panties in his fist and inhaling deep, eyes rolling back and spare hand rubbing his hard-on through his joggers. Then, he gave you a sweet smile and asked what’s for dinner.

You hate him.

“You’re wearing the yellow with white polka dots today. Did you have a nightmare again?” He mutters against your skin as he kisses the other thigh, obviously concerned the other one will get upset if he shows favouritism. 

Leaning back on your palms, you hook one leg over his shoulder. “Yeah. Just a stupid zombie apocalypse one. God, we really gotta stop watching The Walking Dead.”

He hums an agreement before he dives face-first into your clothed pussy. 

“Ah, fuck! Choso, don’t do that.”

Of course, he doesn’t listen. Instead, he’s sniffing at your panties like a mouse. It’s so pathetic, but you don’t push him away. The sensation is kinda nice. You blame the fact that you haven’t gotten laid in far too long, and well, anytime you try to bring over someone, Choso chases them away with his weird vibes. Or if he senses you’re going out to get fucked, he’ll basically handcuff himself to you. 

“Aw, you just showered. That’s no fun,” he grumbles, lips skimming your slit through the material. You moan and he tightens his grip on your thigh, hiking up the other leg over his shoulder. Squashed between your thighs, he makes no complaints about the bruising on his knees as he kneels on the floor. You’re not even sure he feels the ache. “I like it better when you haven’t yet. Did I ever tell you I sometimes break the shower so that you can’t wash for a day or two?”

Breathless, you respond, “N-no, but you didn’t need to. I already knew.”

"I'd like to go longer. Would you ever go longer?"

"No, dumbass. Do that, and I'll kill you."

Frowning against your pussy, he grouches, "But just once? I'll be good."

You bundle a handful of his hair into a fist and force him to look at you. With a sickly sweet smile, you warn him, "Choso, sweetheart. If you do that, I'll knock on one of our neighbours. What about that hot, blond salaryman downstairs? Hmm? Would you like me to be all wet, naked, and vulnerable in his apartment? 'cause you know I'll do it."

Eyes rolling back and lips parted, he practically fights the urge to vomit at the thought just as he lets the pleasure of the pain you're inducing at his scalp overwhelm him. Shaking off the disgust and your grip, he dives back in to nuzzle your panties with his cheek, a much-needed comfort you suppose. 

Certain, he mutters with petulant pauses, "I won't do it...He's not even that hot...I was just asking."

Standing abruptly with your legs still clutched in his hands, you fall back onto the bed, watching him tower over you, face between your ankles. 

"I felt like I was going crazy without you," he confesses. "I haven't been able to touch you, to feel you, barely even talked to you. It's horrible."

You roll your eyes. "And, do tell, Chosito, whose damn fault was that?"

Once and twice, he ruts his boner into your bare legs, the hot and hard length tickling you. Through his joggers, you can feel that impressive length at max hardness, and if you close your eyes and really pay attention, you can even feel a growing spot of wetness on the material. "Mine. But I just wanted to get you riled up a little."

"Sorry to be such a disappointment."

He looks stupid with his hair flopping about and his hands clutching your legs to his torso like they'll leave, but the feeling of his bare chest, sculpted and muscular, burning your own skin, leaves you somewhat breathless. Brows furrowed, he asserts, "No, you're perfect. Always -ha- so perfect."

Rightfully, you're surprised he's even wearing any clothes. Too often have you had to tell him off for wondering around just in his boxers. He lounges with his hair all mussed, semi-hard cock outlined in the thin material as he scratches his abs. He cooks in just his boxers too. What he doesn't do is wear boxers at all when he comes out the bathroom after a steamy shower.

You don't really fight him too hard on his dressing habits.

"Was she a good kisser, Choso?"

He grunts, eyes fluttering open as he continues rutting on your legs. "W-who?"

"Your ex."

Groaning right before he sucks the skin on your ankle like he just can't help himself, he replies, "No. I hated every second. I imagined it was you. But it was -ngh- h-hard 'cause her body's all wrong. Your tits are bigger and you smell better."

Frustrated, he practically growls and roughly adjusts you on the bed to make space for his large body. He lays down with you, head at your pussy once more.

Now, he's rutting into the bed as he skims his lips on your panties, the sensation tickling you. You're fighting the urge to writhe on the bed and show him how good he's making you feel by barely doing anything; he'd never shut up if he realises this is as much for him as it is for you.

“You know your panties will be useless to me if they’re fresh, right? Maybe you should be nice and give me something else.”

“I shouldn’t e-even be rewarding you for breaking up with -ngh Choso slow down- your girlfriend. You used her, and that’s a fucked up thing to do, Choso.”

Face pressed to your panties again, he rubs the tip of his nose up and down your clothed slit, pressing harder where your clit is. Your hands fly to his hair. God, it’s so unfair how good he is at making the most of what little he’s being given. 

A thumb pushes in on your panties, circling your hole over the material. Then, with an irritatingly arrogant tone, he muses, “You say that, but you’re wet. Bet you were wet, too, when you watched us make out. Be honest, that was the real reason you hid in your room, wasn’t it? I got into the bathroom after you showered and your panties were soaked. Had a lot of fun with that one for hours. You wanted me to find it, didn't you?”

No way is he taking control of the situation. Cocky bastard. Like always, give him an inch, he goes all the way across the solar system. Shoving him off, you ignore his petulant, “Hey! No fair.”

In a flash, he’s being pushed out of your door, panty-less and looking like he’s in near tears. 

“Wait, I’m sorry. I’ll shut up. I promise.”

Cruelly, you smile. “Too fucking late, Kamo. Go jerk off the natural way, like God intended. Oh, and here’s your present for being a good boy and not fucking some other bitch.”

You smear the collected wetness from between your legs onto his lips, smirking at the desperate tongue that tries to capture as much of it as possible before you withdraw. 

“Bring another whore around here, and that’s the last of me you’ll ever get, mark my words. Say you understand.”

Eyes cloudy from delirium and licking his lips, he promises, “No one else. Only you.”

“Good.”

The door gets shut in front of his face. And locked for good measure. 

Later in the night, you walk out to get a glass of water from the kitchen and could only hear shameless moaning and whimpering coming from his room. You curse the tingling of your nipples and force your way back into your room. But even later, you get up and pad over inside. 

Under the glow of his bedside lamp, he lays there, sweaty, chest and hands soaked with drying cum, and asleep. You see his unlocked phone and sigh at the picture of you on there. It’s not even a suggestive one. You’re just hugging him from behind with a grin. 

Like you’ve done many times before, because he has the self-control of a ball of lint, you clean him up and tuck him in. He’ll catch a cold otherwise. Just as you turn to leave, however, his hand flies up and captures your wrist, fingers ringless. 

Half-conscious, he mumbles, “I’m sorry. Shouldn’t have used her. Just want your attention. Want you to want me.”

“Oh, Choso.”

Placing his arm back onto his chest, you push his hair off of his forehead and lay a barely there kiss on his clammy skin. You say, “Nice try, weirdo. You’re still not getting my panties.”

“Aw, you’re so mean,” he huffs out, a smile twitching at the corner of his lips. 

Then, you leave, feeling much lighter than when you dreamt of hands that weren't yours holding him captive and pulling him away. 

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hello, Raven! I have a question I'd like to ask: if all these dreams are supposed to be where everyone gets their happy ending, why's everyone having dreams about things that they aren't happy with?

It just feels like Malleus is looking at those build-it-yourself toys and he didn't read (or ignored) the instructions. Does that make sense?

[You can read my full thoughts on the book 7 part 12 Cater and Deuce update here! My thoughts on the book 7 part 11 Leona update is here!]

I've been receiving many asks expressing confusion over how the dream worlds in book 7 work, so I figured I'd try to dump all of my thoughts on this topic down in one place. In truth... I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW IT WORKS MYSELF. Like, I thought I understood how it worked at first??? But then with each new update, it feels like a completely different team of writers worked on it without communication with one another, so every update adds new lore that either contradicts what was said in the previous update or just piles on new details that overcomplicates our understanding of the dreams. I think the first ask is right in saying that this feels like "looking at those build-it-yourself toys and [the writers] didn't read (or ignored) the instructions."

So instead of attempting to explain how the dreams work, I'll lead you through my own train of thought (starting from the beginning of book 7 all the way to part 244, which is about where we are at the time of posting):

So Malleus promises everyone happy dreams (something that Silver later states) and that they will "become the protagonists of [their] own fairy tales" before he sends them off to slumber. That makes sense; he thinks that, by banishing them to a convenient false reality, they can avoid the sadnesses and injustices of real life.

... But Malleus doesn't know his peers and the residents of Sage's Island well enough to tailor happy dreams for each of them. How's it possible that he can manufacture happy dreams for thousands of people, most of whom are complete strangers to him???

... Oh, okay! So the game tells us that Malleus's dream magic is autonomous, meaning it operates on its own (by pulling from each dreamer's wishes and desires) and he's not making the conscious decisions as to what's happening in each dream.

... But wait, then why did Malleus offer Lilia a new dream once he's able to intrude into Lilia's dreamscape? Malleus literally starts listing options as though he can manipulate the dreams, should he wish: "What manner of dream do you want? Perhaps one where Mother and Father are alive? Or one where you live quietly with your son? [...] I shall grant any wish you ask of me."

... And speaking of Lilia's dream, why the hell is it so needlessly complicated???? Malleus promised "happy dreams", didn't he?? But Lilia's happiest moment is when Malleus hatched... yet his dream "begins" SEVERAL HUNDREDS OF YEARS PRIOR instead of beginning right at the moment of hatching. What the heck is the logical explanation for this other than "oh, it HAS to start here so that the player and the other characters can witness and experience this tragic history themselves"???? Is this implying that Malleus hatching wouldn't be the happiest time for Lilia had Lilia not experienced the canon events of literally losing everything else in his life to get to that point???? Would it not just be easier to give him one of the more simplistic dreams Malleus later suggests to Lilia???? Why set the dream so far in the past if it takes place in a period of time Malleus isn't familiar with, and thus cannot imagine, and thus cannot enter and enforce control over???? THAT'S JUST NERFING YOURSELF ON PURPOSE. Wouldn't Malleus want to grant Lilia's dream extra attention because he's so attached to him????

At one point, Idia shows us a video explaining how the dreams operate. He explains that Malleus's magical realm is like a server host and each dream is managed individually by Malleus copies while the OG Malleus serves as the server administrator. The server administrator has the ability to both operate and manage the server, while the copies crack down on ruler violators (attempts to "wake up") in each dream. (A Malleus copy tries to keep both Sebek and Idia under the influence of their dreams.) This logic holds, but it doesn't really explain to us what exactly shapes the dreams. Something else that really bothers me is how we keep wasting so much time in each dream when, in reality, we should be on a considerable time crunch, especially since we DON'T want any of the Malleus clones noticing that we're messing with things. How convenient that not once have we had to content with a clone noticing something is off or coming to hunt us down.

In Rook's dream, Idia states "'Happiness' the way it's defined in the dreams Malleus makes, is kinda superficial in nature. It's low-res. No real in-depth understanding." The only reason Rook's dream is so detailed is due to the efforts of the dreamer and their imagination. Ortho adds that "Malleus unilaterally judged some sad events and adverse experiences to be 'tragedies'... so he locked away [...] memories of them. It doesn't mean [the dreamer] wants to erase the days he spent with you guys [...]" This seems to imply that both Malleus and the dreamers impact the outcome of dreams, but the dreamer doesn't exactly get to choose what sad or bad things are eliminated??

In Floyd's dream, Idia remarks that "Malleus-shi has a shallow understanding of what happiness is", which explains the limited scope of the dreams they come across. This... seems to imply that Malleus (or at least his autonomous magic) can only pull so much from the dreamers and seems to manifest dreams from the most superficial aspects of each dreamer.

But wait, these dreams are supposed to be "happy", right??? More specifically, Malleus promised "No longer shall you shed tears over sorrowful goodbyes. [...] Today, you shall all be reborn. Into a world without sorrow, where you will never lose a single person—not friends, not family." SO WHY IS LEONA'S DREAM DEPRESSING... He literally lost several family members and is clearly pissed off or at odds with himself. You'd think the least the dream could do is... I don't know, try to course correct to satisfy him, similar to how Floyd's dream constantly changed??? Like maybe make the people love him or no real negative repercussions for nature. There is inconsistent logic from dream to dream.

Idia tries to explain the sad state of Leona's dream away by likening the dreams to sandbox games where the dreamer has free reign to play however they like and explore possibilities. He suggests that Leona's dream is "too realistic" because Leona, the dreamer himself, decided to make the settings this way. So... doesn't that imply that the dreamer has more influence over how their dream manifests than Malleus's magic does???? And somehow a dreamer can still make a depressing dream even though Malleus promised the dreams would be happy?????? ISN'T THIS COUNTERPRODUCTIVE???? DOESN'T IT GO AGAINST EVERYTHING ELSE WE KNEW UP UNTIL THIS POINT... Shouldn't the Malleus clone in charge of overseeing Leona's dream be cracking down SUPER hard on his????? HELLO???????

But wait!! It gets even more inconsistent and weird!!! In Deuce's dream, he gets upset with himself for dreaming of a school full of delinquents and where fists solve your problems instead of words. He thought he had put all of this stuff behind him, but he guesses he hasn't changed much at all. So???? Even if the dreamer doesn't consciously desire something, the dream could still pull from outdated or subconscious desires??? Or did it make a convenient reality where Deuce's delinquent side can more easily thrive??? How come Deuce gets this instant gratification scenario but Lilia didn't???? What is the explanation for us getting delinquent Deuce instead of honors student Deuce in a school with far easier curriculum (which would be the more realistic option for his dream) other than "oh, it would just be really cool and funny to see bleached hair Deuce and the school doing gang wars!!"?????

And how about Cater's dream??? He claims he doesn't want to be dorm leader and never did (it’s too many extra responsibilities), so how come that's what his dream showed us???? Is that supposed to imply Cater's lying to us??? But we have no reason to believe he is other than Cater being a character that tries to hide his true self. Cater has no reason to lie to us about this though???? At least none that the dream hints at or tries to indicate. Are we just supposed to assume he doesn’t know what he wants himself because he masks so frequently? But if we believe Cater, then that creates another contradiction: how come the dreams can seemingly also manifest as things the dreamer never actually wanted to begin with???? Is it because the devs thought "oh, it would be really fun to show dorm leader Cater!!!"

*LOUD GROAN OF PAIN* But then Ortho tries to hand-wave this away by claiming that dream outputs can be distorted or change quite a lot??? And this information in of itself is fine and true--dreams are loosely defined things without absolute rules. The problem is that this doesn't hold up when Twst has been trying to do nothing BUT define the dreams and establish rules for how they work. Why are they trying to walk this back now???? You shouldn't have tried to explain it in the first place if you weren't going to commit to the logic you attempted to clarify.

So how much of is the dreamer’s own doing (ie not fully understanding themselves or what they truly want), how much of it is Malleus's will or autonomous magic at work, and how strictly the “this dream must be a happy one” parameter stretches??? NONE OF THIS IS CLEARLY DEFINED. Why is the nature of the dreams so… noncommittal???? Even though they keep trying so hard to explain it???

Result: me, a pile of brain mush on the floor

D-Do you understand where I'm coming from???? OTL It feels like so many of the writing decisions made revolving around the nature of the dreams was not done for any reason other than for convenient fanservice and novelty. Several decisions ring hollow or like they make little to no sense in-universe and were clearly made just to justify showing the audience/player base an interesting "what if" scenario. The efforts made to explain away problems only creates more problems in the long run or pushes the onus to explain the future problems on the fans... and that's not necessarily a sign of good writing.

In some cases, less is more. However, that only works if you've actually dropped enough breadcrumbs or clues for the players to come to their own conclusions without the characters having to explicitly spell out what's happening. It can very rewarding to get payoff for a bunch of small clues and details you noticed along the way. But no one in the fandom can agree exactly on how the dreams work despite multiple attempts to explain them so it feels like the devs didn't leave a good enough trail of breadcrumbs (ie the writing quality is poor). It shouldn’t be the fans’ jobs to fill in for writing so vague you can come up with a million interpretations to justify the dreams being the way they are. “Leona’s dream is sad because he doesn’t believe in himself!”, “Cater’s lying to us about not wanting to be dorm leader!”, etc. Maybe that was the intention (to promote unique ways of thinking)??? But it doesn’t feel intentional due to how numerous the plot holes are. Refer to Occam’s razor: the simplest explanation is probably the correct one, and that simple explanation is the writing is just messy and overly reliant on fans to fill in for what is lacking.

When the foundations of the dreams are shaky in the first place (despite magic having rules and even formulas that govern it), it does NOT work. Unless… is this intentional and there’s going to be a reveal at the end that magically patches up all the dream plot holes??? I really doubt it 🤡 At this point, it’s 2+ years of book 7 and far too many issues have cropped up to be feasibly explained by the end. It doesn’t feel like saving for a big reveal, it feels like they accidentally wrote themselves into a corner and are trying to write themselves out of it.

I actually really like the third Anon’s telling of how the dreams work; according to them, the dreams allow people easy ways to indulge in the worst aspects of themselves (ie they’re the ultimate escapist fantasies) without allowing them a chance to improve/work toward a future of their own design. It’s simple and suits most (if not all) of the dreams and falls in line with Malleus’s own stagnation and refusal to accept change. Had the dreams been explained this way early on, we could have avoided a ton of the issues we are now facing. Unfortunately, the way the dreams have been presented is so confusing that it’s difficult to come to this conclusion on one’s own, even if it was or was not the writers’ intent. Alternatively, you seriously could have just said “it’s a dream, anything could happen” and leave it at that; it would have been a simpler and all-encompassing explanation than what we got 💦

Needless to say, I think you can tell I have a lot of gripes with how book 7 has been going 💀 I’m so sorry if this post didn’t help you at all, I tried my best to summarize the flow of explanations offered by the game… but I just couldn’t piece together something that makes total sense myself 😭

[burgerrat]

Ok so @king-crawler technically I finished your 2 hour Turbo documentary yesterday at 3 AM BUT regardless I have recentlt watched it and I have a LOT I'd like to say, clarify details or lil things you might have missed or could be interpreted differently when you look at them another way :3

With that last bit I am diving head first into the flashback scene since it's heavily referencing that.

First and foremost, keep in mind that it is being narrated from Felix's point of view- remember that he was in his game doing his job when the accident happened, it was while every person ever was inside their respective game being busy being used as avatars; also referencing back what you said on Felix- he's not exactly the most understanding of others' situations, he stays well within his comfort zone. Keep that in mind.

When Roadblasters is plugged in the flashback, you can see the two players using TurboTime immediately abandon the game to check out the new one, and the screen Turbo's pixelated image apoears on is completely dark, don't you think that is very reminiscent of a Game Over screen? 🙃 meaning, the two players abandoned Turbo in the middle of a race, likely causing him to crash and lose.

Remember King Candy's shock, and sudden change in behaviour as soon as he sees Vanellope sprinting past him? What follows is a volatile fit of rage and violence when things don't go his way, this sudden change of trajectory. Wouldn't you reckon this moment could mirror how Turbo felt in the flashback? He's being used as an avatar, and suddenly he loses control as he gets ditched and gets his race put to a halt. That initial shock of "what is going on. This wasn't supposed to happen!"

Following that, while I don't doubt he got jealous, he SPRINTED into Roadblasters the moment he lost... but not to try to take it over- to take petty revenge instead, interrupting the players' race and causing them to crash just like they did to him, preventing him from winning in his game. Picture it as a "if I can't have this, then you won't have it either" type mentality towards Roadblasters.

Going back to Felix and why his ignorance/remaining within his bubble could have possibility caused him to misread Turbo's intentions. Felix also is one to make assumptions in the beginning of the movie, like how for example when trying to calm the Nicelanders when Ralph goes missing: "Ralph probably fell asleep in Tapper's bathroom again!" Or some such. It makes sense he would make assumptions about Turbo as well, ESPECIALLY if he knew him personally and how self-obsessed he is. Doesn't take a genius to realize this guy does not like to lose.

Secondly, the final boss scene. King Candybug in general really. I disagree with your idea that Turbo has always been this hungry for power he'd want to take over the entire arcade. We both know that if that happened, if every game was infested by Cy-bugs, Litwak would be forced to close down his business because all of the games would be unplayable. His 'attention' wouldn't last very long if every game gets unplugged, his thought process to take over the arcade is purely manic and deranged for someone like him who has been well-known to be a master manipulator, able to keep a stable facade for over a decade without wanting to take over other racing games? That 'taking over the arcade' sounds very unlike him. It sounds more like... a cy-bug's programming. A cy-bug's programming that has gained enough conciousness to start plotting and planning. Because it now has the intelligence of a person, fused with him, learned what he knows.

Speaking of which, remember the cybug that ate King Candy?

Look at it's candy-pattern. Haven't we seen that somewhere before...?

Oh right! Right here, when the cybug eats some pepperming roots.

The same cybug that ended up there after falling into the taffy lake... after being ejected from a shuttle.

The same cybug that Ralph brought with himself.

What was the very first thing that King Candybug said to ralph when they see eachother again for the showdown?

"Because of you, Ralph, I'm now the most powerful virus in the arcade!"

I don't think, during this one moment at least, that this was Turbo speaking.

[dreamingofthewild]

100 Bloodweave Fanfic recommendations

As there are over 3,000 Bloodweave fanfics, I have been wanting to do a fanfic rec list for a while. To share some of the works I enjoyed and to offer support for the talented writers in the fandom. I opted for 100, as it is a nice number for a rec list. It was very hard to narrow it down, and there are many good fics that, unfortunately, didn't make it too the list. This is not meant as a 'Top 100' list.

The recommendations will be shared in 6 parts over 6 days as it is too much for one post and I don't want to overwhelm the tag.

Part 1: In Universe Canon Multi-Chapter - 15 fics.

I'd Burn Through the World by thisis_V. Ongoing. Slow Burn, Angst, Hurt/Comfort. Follows the events of the game as Gale Origin. A very canon exploration of Gale and Astarion's relationship throughout the game. One I would recommend to those who do not understand Bloodweave. Includes original art from the author.

Burn out Fade Away by Newperspective20. 112,500 words. Slow Burn, Time Travel. Astarion ascends, Tav takes control of the brain, and Gale sacrifices himself to save everyone from being under Tav’s control. Only he finds himself back at square one. Will he be able to change the course of fate this time?

Stitches, Threads, and the Strings that Bind us Together by Newperspective20. 136,235 words. Hurt/Comfort, Smut, Fluff. The events of the game as Astarion Origin as he learns that not everyone is out to get him.

Ash and Stardust by badmarilyn. Ongoing. Slow Burn, Trauma, Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining. When the orb starts to play up, Gale is forced to confide in Astarion. They start to gravitate towards each other, realising they’re more alike than they originally thought.

Broken Together by sparklypanda98. 61,872 words. Slow Burn, Fluff, Angst. A long-form Bloodweave fic about Astarion and Gale's relationship forming during the events of Baldur's Gate 3. Plenty of fluff, but some darker stuff too.

Your Echo in My Scars by shadesofmidnightsun. 76,421 words. Angst With a Happy Ending, Suicidal Thoughts, Smut. Astarion needs blood and protection. Gale just ... needs. They're both full of cracks. Where Gale and Astarion each have their own mess to work through. Will they make each other better?

Ancient Books and Horror Stories by eternalscout. 107,796 words. Slow Burn, Canon Typical Violence, Backstory Relevant Themes. What starts as a tentative friendship between Gale and Astarion, bonding over a shared love of reading, turns into the alarming realization that they may just have caught feelings for each other.

Through the Fire Together by Aria_Lerendeair. 16,646 words. Angst, Healing Together, Falling In Love. After defeating Cazador and releasing the Spawn to the Underdark, Astarion finds himself in the graveyard, waiting for whatever retribution they want to visit upon him after what he did to them.

Old Wives Tales by neo7v. 8,030 words. Mystra related content warnings. This fic explores the exploitative and grooming nature of Mystra’s relationship with Gale.

If the Cross on the Door Doesn't Scare You by Aylwyyn228. 19,113 words. Hurt/Comfort, Starvation, Found Family. Astarion gets outed as a vampire in the shadow-cursed lands. 

embracing the sun by vannral. 16,095 words. Mutual Pining, Friendships, Smut. In which people see whatever That is between Astarion and Gale and wonder. Meanwhile Astarion and Gale are oblivious. Set during Act 3.

Stop Kicking Gale (Please) by Yassha. Ongoing series. Hurt, Comfort, Fluff, Backstory Relevant Themes. AU where Astarion gets to process his emotions a bit earlier, and Gale is a bit more volatile, and those two things match up quite well.

Keep To The Shadows (your light can’t reach me there) by beepbeepsan. Denial of Feelings, Flirting. Trapped between a rock and, well, more rocks, Astarion has nowhere to run from Gale and his own feelings. But damned if he won't do his best to find a way out.

Bliss and Ignorance by ultranerdyandiknowit. 17,195 words. Dubious Consent, Hurt, Comfort, Angst, Misunderstandings. While sharing a moment of intimacy in the Shadowlands, Gale gives into the temptation to read Astarion's mind. He wants to feel their pleasure shared, to feel it amplified.

What he finds when he opens the link is nothing short of horrifying.

Shades of Romance by ClaireinSorcia. 139,829 words. Romance, Fluff, Getting Together, Drama, Backtory Relevant Themes. Astarion’s always been a flirt, so what happens when the new victim of his attentions, Gale, falls for it and takes it seriously? With Tav having turned Astarion down it should be fun to see how far this game can play out. But then what will Astarion do when he catches feelings he doesn’t even understand?

Part 2: In Universe Canon One-Shots - 17 fics.

Part 3: In Universe Canon Divergent - 16 fics.

Part 4: In Universe Post-Canon Multi-Chapter - 20 fics. 

Part 5: In Universe Post-Canon One Shots - 14 fics. 

Part 6: Alternate Universe - 18 fics.

[alastor-simp]

Watching a Horror Movie With Lilia Vanrouge🦇

❥Summary: Its horror movie night at Ramshackle Dorm. Who are you inviting over?

❥Tags: horror movie night, twisted wonderland x reader, lilia vanrouge, fluff, adorable, so much fluff, pillow fight, cuddles, lilia is such a goofball.

❥Notes: Wanted to continue this horror movie series with twisted wonderland characters. Last one I did was Floyd so now its time for Lilia. Enjoy!

Lilia Vanrouge 🦇 + Jeepers Creepers🪡

(Lilia gif credit to @flowerofthemoonworld)

🦇"Kufufu. Your asking little old me on a date now, are we? Hehe, I'm teasing you. I'd be delighted to come over~!" Lilia would instantly tease you, causing you to blush, the minute you said if he wanted to come over to watch a horror movie with you at Ramshackle. He was over the moon that you were inviting him, and immediately started to ask if he needed to bring anything special for the movie night.

🦇You told him just to bring his cute self with his pajamas to your dorm, and reminding him to arrive at 7 PM. Giggling at that, Lilia gave you a quick hug, before he disappeared with his magic. As you began to head back to class, you started to think on how you could prepare for the movie night, and also what movie to pick. You knew Lilia has been around for a long time, and he was up to date with modern technology as he often gamed with Idia. Maybe you could pick a movie from your world? It would be something that Lilia has never seen before and he may enjoy it.

🦇After class, you headed to your dorm and started to prepare. Remembering Lilia's fondness for tomatoes, you decided to have some tomato juice for him to drink, and also make a margarita pizza as well, as nothing beats eating pizza when watching a movie. With the help of the ghosts, you were able to string some colored lights around the walls, giving the room a spooky feeling. The couch was layered with fluffy blankets and pillows, and the food was placed on the living room table.

🦇A rhythmic knock was heard from the door, alerting you. Sprinting towards it, you opened it wide to reveal, nobody? Huh? Sticking your head out, you looked left and right, wondering where Lilia was. "BOO!" Popping up from above, Lilia was hanging upside down, wearing a cheesy grin. "AHH! Jeez! Lilia!" Glaring at him, he continued to laugh at your reaction before floating around to where he was standing face to face with you. It took a moment for you to look at his adorable outfit. He was wearing neon green lounge wear with little bats decorating it. "Hehe~ Gomenasai. I couldn't resist." You couldn't stay mad at him for long, as a smile made its way to your face. Grabbing his hand, you led him inside your dorm, heading towards the decorated living room.

🦇Lilia couldn't resist and ran towards the couch, hopping onto it with a giggle, causing you to shake your head. Making your way towards the tv, you inserted the movie you picked for the both of you to enjoy, heading back towards the couch to sit next to Lilia. Reaching for the tomato beverage on the table, you handed it to Lilia with a smile which he gladly accepted with a kind smile. "What is the name of the movie we are watching?" Lilia questioned, as he reached for the pizza and began nibbling on it, cheese stretching out from the slice he consumed. "Oh its a movie called Jeepers Creepers. It's a very popular movie from my world and I picked it because I'm pretty sure its gonna be a movie you have never seen before."

🦇Lilia chuckled, saying he was excited to watch it, leaning more towards you to place his head on your shoulder. He always does stuff like this to make your heart race. Trying to ignore the adorable bat fae on your shoulder, your eyes drew to the tv as it began to play. The movie continued to play, showing the two main protagonists exploring a local church where they saw the villain supposedly dumping bodies somewhere. Lilia was beaming with excitement, his magenta colored eyes sparkling the more the movie played. He broke into a fit of laughter when you got jump scared by the crow scaring the female character in the movie. "Haha...very funny." you said sarcastically, as Lilia finally managed to calm down, wiping the tears from his eyes.

🦇Further into the movie, it is revealed the villain is an ancient bat like monster, which consumes the body parts of others, to regenerate parts he has lost. This was the first time you had seen Lilia looking so serious, appearing very upset with the actions the monster was doing, and all the deaths he had performed. The ending to the movie gave off an eerie feel to it as the monster survives and manages to kill one of the main characters. As the credits began to roll, you turned to look at Lilia, who appeared a bit upset, "Are you alright?" Lilia turned to you and gave a soft smile, "I'm alright..its just....wasn't expecting an ending like that, most of the movies I have come across the heroes survive and defeat the evil villain, yet this time, the villain wins." Your hand move to nestle against his hair, giving it a rub, "Its only a movie Lilia." Lilia nodded, but it was clear he was still a bit sad.

🦇Smirking to yourself, your hands reached for the couch pillow behind you, throwing it to hit against Lilia with a thud. "Wha-?" Lilia blinked in confusion as he peered at you, smiling wide at him. "PILLOW FIGHT!" Grabbing another pillow, you threw it at Lilia, which he caught with ease, smile revealing his little fangs, as he chuckled evilly. "Prepare yourself!" Lilia quickly vanished from your sight, appearing behind to hit you with the pillow. The pillow fight continued for a couple hours, the both you running around with pillows, ready to attack the other. Lilia had a bigger advantage, as he was very quick and his magic allowed him to teleport, making it easier for him to attack you. The both of you had ran into your bedroom, pillows at the ready, waiting for the other to strike. Raising it in the air, you gave one last hard throw to Lilia, before he vanishes again. He appears from above, hitting the pillow into your face, as both of your bodies land on the bed.

🦇"Kufufu~ I win!" He hovers above you, fanged smiled appearing on his face. Removing the pillow from your face, you gaze at him fondly, as you continued to lay on the bed. "Feeling better?" Lilia paused for a second, and then proceeded to laugh wholeheartedly. "Was that your little plan? Making me feel better with a little pillow fight?" He raised an eyebrow at you, moving closer to where his lips were almost touching. "Yeah." Lilia laughed at your innocent answer, moving to place a kiss on your cheek, before moving his head down to lay on your chest. "What an adorable human you are." Lilia nuzzled his head deeper into you, wrapping his arms around your back, pulling you closer.

🦇Wrapping your own hands around him, you pulled him in deeper, moving further up the bed, to have your head lay against the pillow. One of your hands toyed with the colored locks of his hair, earning a comforting hum from him. "I enjoyed doing this with you. Perhaps we can do this at Diasomnia with the others. I'm sure Malleus would be happy. Just hope Silver doesn't fall asleep through the movie." Lilia chuckled against you, lifting his head up to gaze at you with loving eyes, "Sounds like a plan." His head returned to your chest, and you felt his breathing slowed. Your hands continued to play with hair as you continued to hold onto each other, enjoying each others warmth. Little mini snores could be heard from Lilia as he had fallen asleep on top of you, as your eyes gazed down at him softly. "Good night Lilia." you said softly, as you placed your head down against the pillow, sleep consuming you as well.

-END-

Tag List- @inkslayer , @aria-tempest , @batmanmonstarr

@sadnessiscoldtea , @madam-strawberryrose , @91062854-ka

@crazed-flower , @darischerry ,

@lillyisfreakyy

[peachhcs]

a fic or blurb of ryan’s farewell party for will pls?!

charm bracelet

hughes!sister x will smith au (samy + will)

samy heads to boston after ryan begs her to fly out for will’s farewell party in hopes of reconciling things between the ex-couple (writing grace and samy’s dynamic was actually so fun because i’ve never wrote them before)

2.1k words

i got so carried away with this it wasn’t gonna be this long but it turned into a whole fic. the ending of this is a bit interpret how you want, but in my mind it’s them not completely ignoring one another, but they aren’t gonna talk it out for a long while. p.s. the baby grace and will photo i found is actually adorable!

au masterlist

"please come?" ryan begged over the phone while samy sat at her desk pondering the offer he'd been trying to convince her of for the last twenty minutes. "if not for will, then for us? don't know when we'll see you if you aren't coming out to boston as often anymore," the brunette continued making samy feel even worse.

"hey, i'll still come to boston. i didn't just go for will, you know," the girl rolled her eyes slightly.

"then come out to see us. you don't even have to see will if you don't want. there will be enough people that you'll probably be able to avoid him," ryan kept persisting because 1. he knew samy still cared deep down and 2. she was their friends too and he knew the guys really wanted to see her again before school started back up.

"you're so annoying," she teased a bit making them both laugh. "i'll think about it, okay? i might have to be back at school, but i'll see."

"promise?"

"i promise," samy nodded and the two ended the call. when her phone found its place back on her desk, samy knew damn well already that she was completely free that weekend. she just didn't know if she could stomach potentially seeing will.

—

two weeks later, samy and her mom were on a plane to boston for the party. ellen was still very close to colleen and after being there for will his entire life, she wasn't missing this despite everything that's happened.

gabe and ryan drove into the city the day before to catch up with samy themselves. will didn't have much idea that the hughes were in town and probably wouldn't find out until tomorrow at the party.

"hey, hughesy," ryan greeted with a large smile. his arms quickly slid around the girl's frame in a tight hug before letting gabe take his turn.

"hi, it's good to see you guys again," samy grinned widely. she really did miss seeing them. it'd been since worlds that they were all together like this.

"i'm glad you came out. i didn't think you would," gabe admitted as the three sat at a small table waiting for the waiter to take their orders.

"i didn't think i was coming either, but i wanted to see you guys before school started and we'd get too caught up in everything," the brunette explained which made them smile.

"i can't believe school's gonna start again. feels like it just ended," gabe chuckled.

"don't remind me," ryan groaned earning more laughs from the other two.

the three quickly filled each other in on the things they missed. it felt like old times when everyone was in michigan together spending weekends sitting on a floor going back and forth with stupid little games. all of that felt like such simpler times because no feelings were involved. at least not any known feelings.

things settled a bit as samy and the boys ate their sandwiches they ordered and the topic shifted to one samy knew was gonna come up eventually.

"i don't know if i've said this to you, but will's a real idiot," gabe said quietly.

samy's jaw clenched a bit, "yeah, he is."

"have you..talked to him at all?" ryan wondered and the girl instantly shook her head.

"no and i don't really want to. i don't even know what i'd say to him or what he could say that would make me forgive him. he threw it all away and that really fucking hurts," samy admitted truthfully.

"right and you have every right to not wanna talk to him. he was an asshole for not trying to talk things out with you," gabe nodded in agreement.

"can i just say one thing though? i'm no way trying to defend anything that he said or did, but you gotta remember how will is with this kind of stuff sometimes. he says the wrong things when he's thinking something else. you guys were best friends above everything. you know him better than any of us probably. you really want to leave things on this note?" ryan said softly.

samy's gaze flicked away from the boys knowing ryan did have a small point in the back of her mind, but she wasn't ready to admit that. things were confusing and hard.

being back in boston had this pull on her. everything she's ever known came from michigan and boston—will being one of those things. he hurt her so badly, yet a really, really small part of her wanted to reach out.

"it doesn't matter anymore, ry. he meant what he said and even if he didn't wanna say it, he still did. i was basically worthless to him," samy couldn't though. her head overruled her heart knowing she needed to stand her ground because there was nothing more she could say to him.

—

will's entire house was packed with people. room to room, wall to wall, lawn to lawn—there were people everywhere. ryan wasn't wrong that samy could lose herself pretty easily into the crowd.

she hung outside a lot because out there she could escape anywhere if she saw will whereas inside could end up trapping her if she wasn't careful. she happily caught up with drew, aram, vote, and cutter who greeted her with bright smiles.

the idea of even being in the same proximity as will sent goosebumps down the girl's arms. her eyes were constantly flicking around as if she would see him turn some corner and make eye contact.

somehow, she managed to find a corner where it wasn't too crowded by the lawn chairs. the youngest hughes sat out on them just people watching when familiar locks of blonde hair started coming her way. for a moment, samy tensed, wondering how grace took the news about their breakup because she hadn't exactly talked to the oldest smith sibling since it happened.

"hey, samy," the older girl greeted warmly.

"hi, gracie," samy smiled, relaxing a bit when she saw the girl's smile.

"i'm happy to see you. it's been awhile," grace found a seat beside her for a moment while the brunette nodded a bit.

"yeah, it has," her gaze flicked away because they both knew why it had been awhile since they saw one another. grace didn't make a huge appearance at the family vacation a few months ago since she was busy apartment hunting and even then, her and samy didn't talk much because they never got to catch one another at the right time.

"this might be a stupid question, but..how are you?" the older girl wondered gently.

"i'm..i'm okay. hanging in there, i guess," samy nodded, biting the inside of her cheek.

"i'm sorry i haven't talked to you since..i don't want you to think i hate you or anything. last month was super busy and you looked busy and i didn't know if it was too soon to ask about everything.." grace trailed off a bit when she realized she was rambling. samy quickly shook her head.

"don't worry about it. i was worried you hated me," a small laugh sounded from the soccer players lips.

"oh my god no! i don't. i promise. i actually..am mad at will for how all of this happened. i..i was shocked when you left and i found will out there..i'm sorry. i..i wish i had an answer for my brother's reason, but i don't. i..i don't know why he broke up with you," grace frowned deeply.

"i left in such a mess, i'm sorry again. everything happened way too fast," samy shook her head.

"have you talked to him since.."

"ry and gabe asked me that yesterday and i said no. i mean, i have nothing to say to him, so why would i, you know?" the brunette shrugged.

"right, of course. mom told him this morning you and your mom were coming. that went over..interesting to say the least," grace tapped her finger against her cup.

"i've been avoiding him, i guess. i'm not sure i can really stomach seeing him, but..i don't know. felt like i owed it to him to be here at least? and the other guys too. don't know when i'll see them again. this whole thing feels like it screwed up everything with everyone," samy laughed dryly.

"i get it. i'm glad you did come. i saw your mom earlier, it was good to see her. even if will won't admit it, i know he's glad you're at least here too. one last hurrah before we move him out to california," grace said.

samy thought back to all the times will would talk about his move to cali whenever it happened. he'd always say how she'd fly out with him to help him decorate his apartment when the time came. plus, all the times will told her how he couldn't wait until they could live together so long distance would be over, yet he'd wait forever for her.

god, what happened to that will?

"you're thinking," the blonde pointed out, snapping samy back into reality.

while will knew her insanely well, so did grace. the two girls did grow up alongside one another even though there was a three year age gap. grace was the older sister samy never had as a little girl and she still was, so of course the older girl knew when samy was lost in thought.

"yeah, sorry," the younger girl shook her head.

"penny for your thoughts?" the expression made samy smile because will said the same thing.

"just how will always talked about me being there with him when he moved to california and how he couldn't wait until i was done with school to move out there with him. i wonder where that will went who was so ambitious about us and saying he would wait forever for me," the younger girl smiled sadly.

a little sigh escaped grace's lips hearing samy sound so heartbroken still. "i wish i knew what was running through his mind. i didn't even know he was considering it. it shocked the hell out of all of us. he's in there still somewhere, i know it and i know you don't wanna hear that, but i gotta believe it. i have never seen my brother like someone as much as he likes you, it confuses me how he just threw it all away like that," the blonde shook her head.

"you and me both," samy frowned this time.

"i think you just gotta give it time because damn, all of us believed you guys were it for each other. you'll find your way back, i think you two just need some space. will needs to settle in california and play a few games with the sharks and then i'm sure he'll come around. i don't believe this is the true end for you guys," grace said firmly.

the youngest hughes wanted to believe her so badly, but she just couldn't.

"maybe. it's hard to say though," samy said instead of being a complete pessimist about it.

the party ended a few hours later with samy successfully avoiding any contact with will. she didn't even see him which was surprising because she knew he was making his rounds.

her and her mom drove back to the hotel in silence just unwinding from the long day and talking to everyone they saw.

samy was brushing her teeth when her mom stuck her head in. the younger girl raised her eyebrow in confusion.

"i have a gift from you from someone i spoke to today," ellen said vaguely. the brunette raised her eyebrow.

"who?"

mrs. hughes didn't say anything while she just placed the envelope into samy's hand. the girl saw her name scribbled across the top in handwriting that she quickly recognized as will's. samy's gaze snapped to her mom's.

"i told him he's gonna do great in san jose," ellen said because she knew her daughter knew who that envelope was from.

the older woman slipped out of the bathroom leaving samy with the gift in her hand. she should've thrown it away, but curiosity got the better of her and she carefully ripped it open.

there wasn't any note or card, only a small charm of a shark.

her eyes danced to the charm bracelet sitting on her wrist that held her most precious charms.

will knew everything about her charm bracelet because he supplied most of the charms on the chain.

she remembered seeing the shark charm in some little gift shop with will many months ago, quickly mumbling something about how adorable it was and would fit the aesthetic for will's soon to be san jose career.

she had no idea will went back to buy it for her.

samy even wondered how long he's had it for.

without a word, samy clipped it onto the chain, adding one more pretty charm to her bracelet and a tiny smile painted her lips.

[roxoxoxoxy]

Could you please do 18 with hanbin🙏thank you!!

That prompt suits him so well omg 🤭

Prompt game list

18- "You're making it really hard to be a gentleman."

Minors dni

When Hanbin had first matched with you he almost didn't even want to go on a date, not because of anything you did, but because of all the failed talking stages he hadn't been able to get out of. Every connection he'd made on this dating app always seemed to fizzle out before it got anywhere, leaving him disappointed and honestly feeling pretty undesirable.

However, to his delight, things have been going really well between you too. You talk on the phone all the time and have been going on dates pretty consistently. He's just about ready to make it official but....you two keeps dancing around the topic of sex. Or rather, more accurately, he's been avoiding the conversation all together.

It isn't like he doesn't want or, or that there's something wrong with you, he's just too nervous to do it. Things have been going so well and he doesn't think he'll have the heart to continue dating if things don't work out between you two. He really really likes you and he's just so scared of fucking something up.

On your end you're growing increasingly frustrated at his lack of an answer. He won't have sex with you but he also won't explain what it is that's got him so nervous. To be fair it's not like you've asked him directly to fuck you but you've been dropping hints the size of atomic bombs and he still won't give an answer. Which is why you've deviced a plan.

When you asked Hanbin to come over and watch a movie with you he agreed pretty easily. It's not like he has no idea what you're implying with that, it's pretty obvious, but he supposes he had to rip off the bandage eventually. He takes a deep breath before knocking on your door, adjusting his clothes nervously.

You greet him with a smile and..... you're wearing a big T-shirt and shorts so small he can barely see them. Hanbins sure you want him to die.

"Sorry i didn't bother dressing up, I mean we're just watching a movie so I didn't think I'd matter"

"No it's fine, you look great in everything" The smile you give him makes him melt a little inside, his hands stick themselves directly on top of his legs when he sits down on your couch. Back uncomfortably straight as he looks everywhere but at you.

When you turn on the movie you cuddle up next to him, your head on his shoulder and your arm wrapped around his. He tries to relax on the couch trying to ignore how good you smell and now soft your skin is, and how the way you're pressing against him is causing blood to flow directly to his dick. He shifts uncomfortably, trying not to look at you. You look at him with faux concern, as you if you aren't doing this on purpose, sitting up slightly to look at him directly.

"Are you okay Hanbin? You look uncomfortable"

"I'm sorry, I'm just a little tired today, I swear I feel okay" He tries to put on a convincing smile, hoping you won't notice how much of an obvious lie that it.

"...did I do something to upset you?"

"What? Of course not"

"so why won't you touch me?" hanbins ears turn a pretty pink at your words, he gulps, looking away from you.

".....I touch you." He insists, eyes growing wide when you move closer to him, practically straddling him.

"Not how I want you to." You're a bit shocked yourself with how bold you're being. Hanbin gulps slightly, hands stuck to his side so he doesn't touch you.

"You're making it really hard to be a gentleman right now."

"Maybe I don't want you to be a gentleman"

There's a moment of silence as Hanbin collects his thoughts, your hearts practically beating out of your chest as you wait for him to say something. You feel his hands grab your waist, tentatively pulling you closer to him so you're straddling him properly. He looks at you for confirmation one last time before he finally kisses you.

You should be embarrassed how you moan into the kiss but with how eager you've been all night you can't bring yourself to care. Hanbin shifts his hands down to your hips, making you grind against his hard cock as his lips leave your lips and trail down your neck.

He starts leaving hickies on your collarbones, causing you to throw your head back. You can't help but let out some small moans at the feeling of his cock grinding against you, you try to cover your mouth but Hanbin doesn't let you, grabbing your hand. He smirks when he heard you whine for more, talking about how just grinding against him isn't enough.

"I hope you know what you're signing up for."

Tysm for requesting :D

[tophat-69]

Vander and Silco - First Meeting

When I started writing for Arcane I wasn't sure if I wanted to write Jayce/Viktor or Vander/Silco first. I landed on Jayce/Viktor because the idea for "it's the good, defining itself" pretty much took over my life to the point that I was putting out a chapter a day for 22 days. But I backburnered a prequel fanfiction of Vander and Silco, to get back to later. I'm not quite ready to commit to it, but wanted to put out there what would be my first chapter. I'm hoping you enjoy it, because I'd like to revisit the idea and keep going someday. So, for now--enjoy Vander and Silco meeting for the first time in the mines, and the start of a partnership.

To be honest, on first impression Vander’s not actually all that impressed. 

“Hey-hey, slim! How was lockup this time?”

It’s midday at the mine, not that anyone would be able to tell if it weren’t for the whistles that echo down into the depths. The only lights in the drift tunnels come from their headlamps, and there’s a sort of liminality to that—it could be dawn or it could be midnight, and in the tunnels they would never know. All they can see is directly ahead of them, and everything else is shadow and rock, like blinders for the beasts of burden that they are. 

As the forward line, their crew is down deep enough now that stopping for meals is almost as miserable an affair as chipping their way through rocks, the kind of heat that makes the heavy protective gear suffocating, the kind of humidity that has Vander’s hair plastered to his neck and forehead beneath the hard hat, and his shirt melting into his skin under the leathers. 

“Still dank, dark, with terrible food and worse company. So, roughly the same as being down here with you lot.” There are a handful of hearty laughs at the dry sarcasm coming from within the echoing cavern, the kind of shared bleak humor that comes with working in the shittiest conditions known to man and, apparently, spending time in prison too. The voice continues with a sly undertone that lends itself well to the affected accent of the Promenade. “Still, food on the table and a roof over my head and topside footing the bill. I’m considering the merits of making it my summer home. ‘Stillwater Manor’ sounds very refined, don’t you think?”

As they stump into the echoing depleted cavern, tobacco smoke curls through the air, though smoking down in the mines is a dangerous game to the point that bringing a match or lighter down is highly regulated. Yet the thirty hewers of their shift fan out to sprawl onto the rough stone floors on either side of the cart rails, and all of the more experienced members of the crew seem to be taking this as expected and normal, throwing out greetings as they haul out their lunch pails and settle in.

Taking off their protective gear is more than just against regulations, it’s a stupid idea: yet there’s a helmet hanging from a rivet in one of the support ribs of the walls, head lamp pointed down to illuminate a book in the lap of a shadowed figure comfortably sprawled out lounging while the rest of them busted their asses. In the dark and with the light focused on the book in front of him, all Vander really gets is a glimpse of stick-thin legs resting on top of the thick leather uniform jacket as if it’s a cushion. 

Vander’s not even really a tight-ass about the regulations. Just someone who understands why these particular rules exist, and how dangerously stupid it is to ignore them.

So, overall--not the greatest of first impressions. 

“You ever consider not getting arrested, Silco? It’s getting to be a pain in the ass for the foreman to pull you out of there.” Cray may be their shift supervisor but down this far he’s just another one of them, putting his back into it to lead by example. Until Vander came along he was the biggest of the crew and did that just in productivity alone, and he’s a well-respected and liked man overall. But leading by example extends beyond hauling rocks and apparently means plunking himself down next to this ‘Silco’ and hooking his helmet off of the bolt, dropping it down onto his head and then thumping his loose fist on top of it. As Vander settles nearby, feet braced against the rail, he can hear Cray’s voice lower, his tone a warmly affectionate warning. “Keep your helmet on, kid. We had a rib pop about a month after you were pinched. Sully didn’t make it out.”

“When they’re given the choice between having me break rocks up there and break rocks down here, I always end up back in the mines. Congratulations, even Stillwater thinks this is a worse punishment than prison.” There are a few of the men who have clearly done time as well who raise their canteens in a toast to that, and the echoing clamor of ribald and lively conversations pick up, letting the newcomer drop his charismatic performance to respond to Cray. He sounds different without a crowd to perform to, and Vander has to strain to listen as he sits nearby and opens up his thermos of leftover stew. “I heard the news when I came in. He was a good man, it’s going to be hard to replace him. …Though I assume that’s why we have the eavesdropping newcomer.”

When the headlamp swings his way, Vander turns and squints against the glare of it being directly aimed at him until his eyes adjust to the light.

Vander’s second impression is an entirely different matter. 

For Vander’s first job, he had been a dockhand where the River Pilt met the Conqueror’s Sea, saltwater and freshwater slow to mingle in the estuary. The brackish waters were a pretty shade of blue-green under the too-bright sunlight, beautiful and troubled, river eternally forced to cede to the overpowering force of the ocean. 

Staring into brilliant, challenging eyes, Vander’s second impression is just ‘pretty.’ Which is probably stupid to think about a dirty little thing so grayed in coal dust that it looks like he’d rolled in it, no matter how striking his eyes are under direct lamplight. 

“Vander, Silco. Silco, Vander. He’s a cousin of mine, so maybe try to be nice to him?”

“Half of you up in the sumps are cousins and all the rest of you call each other siblings. I’m not going to ‘be nice’ to any of them until they prove they’ve earned it.”

It’s an interesting way to phrase things, almost like a slip of the tongue. There are damn few people in the world who would consider the Sumps to be ‘up’ from anywhere at all, even in the undercity. You’d have to be looking up from the bottom of the fissures or the mines themselves to see the world that way. That combined with the Proms accent doesn’t make sense, but Vander just files it away for now as he offers an amiable smile and an extended hand.

“Well, let’s just hope I can earn it, then. Pleasure to meet you, Silco.”

It’s hard not to feel like he’s being dissected when under the glaring bright light of Silco’s headlamp, sharp eyes assessing him. It certainly makes it easier for Vander to do the same without it being awkward, despite being the only thing the other can see clearly for that moment. 

‘Slim’ isn’t a surprising nickname—he’s built small and wiry, all limbs and no bulk to him. There’s a shrewd, wary intelligence in his eyes but one of them is bloodshot; beneath the coal dust Vander suspects he has a black eye and a gash on his cheekbone that he’s trying to conceal. Stillwater wasn’t the picnic that he wants to pretend it was, and the second he’s in direct light it’s obvious. Vander’s nineteen and he’d estimate Silco’s seventeen or eighteen, but he talks as if he’s been a part of this crew for years, he’s gone to Stillwater more than once in that time, and he is perhaps overly comfortable in the mines. 

And he’s a snarky shit who doesn’t even pretend like he’s going to shake Vander’s hand. 

Instead bandaged fingers bring his cigarette back up to his lips as he drags in one last deep pull before stubbing it out on the toe of his boot and pushing himself to his feet, Vander’s outstretched hand completely ignored.  

“Charmed.” His voice is dry, sarcastic, and then he’s back to the show of it all again so others can hear. Illuminated from below by Vander and Cray, they watch as he tucks the book into the small of his back to be held in place by a cinched in belt, then tugs on a uniform jacket. “New rule number one of these mines, Vander. If you see your blaster run, you get the hell out and if I tell you to stand clear you stay the hell out. Cray, I’ll be at the third inbye. You haven’t done anything with it since I’ve been gone.”

“We hit solid on that one about three weeks after you were picked up, slim. I could have asked for another blaster since mine decided to spit in an Enforcer’s face, but then I’d have a harder time convincing them we needed you bailed out.”

Standoffish towards newcomers or not, it’s clear that Silco’s deeply embedded in the crew and they’re looking out for their own. Mining communities are tight-knit like that, and they may squabble among themselves but they’re viciously protective of each other among outsiders. It’s one of their best qualities, and has carried over into the culture of the Sumps. The Enforcers picked up the youngest member of the forward line, and they raised enough hell to get him back out a little early by grinding their operations to a crawl. 

“I’d thank you, but now they’re making me work off that bail so I’m doing this for half my take for about as long as I’d have been behind bars. Which as far as I’m concerned means I’m not being paid to be nice to any of you.” Cray grimaces, but Silco’s wry, slanted smirk doesn’t slip as he shoves his tied-back hair up into his helmet and grabs up a leather toolbag. Wedging a rod through the strap, lighting a safety lamp, and tucking a stub of chalk behind his ear, he then waves a hand lazily as he lopes into the dark. “Tell Myra not to wait the cart on me at shift’s end. I need a chance to get some prospecting done while you’re all out of my way. Draw straws for who’s going to butty me, because I’m blowing something up tomorrow one way or another. ”

“Try not to make it one of us!” One of the miners pipes in, and Silco huffs his amusement as others laugh, but he’s disappeared into the dark, just a narrow silhouette and an uneven bob of a light as he heads to the tunnels, voice echoing back to them.

“Half pay, so I only half promise.”

Vander frowns after him, and based on tone he’s fairly sure Cray is doing the same. “Don’t mind Silco. He takes a while to warm up to people…”

“Your blaster is limping and beat to hell from being in prison. He’s going to get himself killed.”

“The limp isn’t from Stillwater, it’s why he got himself picked up in the first place.” Cray passes over a hunk of bread for Vander in exchange for a portion of the stew, and together they eat side by side. Vander doesn’t have to ask him to explain, his silence says enough. “We had a shitty roof bolter, it’s why the rib popped on Sully too. Too much strain on a pillar ended up with a rockburst. Snapped Silco’s leg like a twig, and it’s only because he’s a fast little bastard that his leg wasn’t just crushed and him along with it. He went from the medical tent straight up to the first Enforcer he saw, picked a fight and let them think they fucked up his leg. So, Stillwater foots the medical bills and gives him three hots and a cot while he can’t work to feed himself or keep a roof over his head anyway. He’s done it before, and him being a kid usually lands him a short stint, too. We’d have left him in for another couple of months to finish healing up...”

But they were threatening to replace him. So Silco is back with a half-healed leg in a job that requires him to be fast on his feet or be caught in his own blasts, doing overnight deadwork that isn’t even going to get him paid, and still dryly quipping with the people who screwed up his plans to let himself heal. 

He’s also not really a kid anymore, so the trick with the Enforcers isn’t going to get him leniency in sentencing for much longer if he goes and gets himself injured again. And it’s clear he’s not exactly making himself friends in prison, either.

“Don’t draw straws.” 

Silco needs a partner, but whoever is stuck with him loses the chance for production bonuses while they’re paired up, and risks being blown up alongside him. Vander has a roof over his head, can get by on the daily wage. Plus he’s pretty sure he could throw the cantankerous little shit over his shoulder and book it faster than Silco can run right now. 

Cray’s scrutinizing him, light bright on Vander’s face again, but he just dunks stale bread into three day old stew and continues eating. 

“…Well, guess we’d better get you the gauntlets, then.”

[nariism]

the voice in my heart — i. sae

forced proximity + "oh no, the power went out, however will we stay warm?!" (/s)

synopsis. itoshi sae doesn't like how mushy you make him feel, but the warmth is nice. kinda.

wc. ~600

— for @saetoshi / @yoisagi my love 💗 | event masterlist ✉️

you didn't think it was possible, but somehow itoshi sae gets infinitely more irritable when he's cold.

he scowls more, hands permanently stuffed into his pockets, and sulks like there's no tomorrow. and he shivers, too. an embarrassing amount. (his pride is always severely injured when you ask him if he wants your help to warm up).

your grouchy roommate always found something to complain about when the weather dipped. whether it be the fact that his heater was always running, or that he has to scrape the ice off his windshield every morning, sae has never been able to see the beauty of winter.

"beauty?" he scoffed when you pointed that fact out one day. you were at the kitchen table and he was on the couch waking up from his midday nap—a typical sunday afternoon that he had long since added to his routine. "yeah, i'd rather admire it from inside. thanks."

"come on, don't be so pessimistic," you scolded, sauntering over to him to shove a pillow into his face. he knocked it away with a frown.

"i'm not pessimistic. just realistic. being cold sucks."

and that should have been the end of it. after that, you had stopped bothering him and purposefully trying to tease him with snide little comments about his disdain for the cold.

well. the universe has always had a funny way of fucking with him.

it's the coldest night of the season thus far. the snow storm raging outside has knocked out the power for the entire building and now the two of you are stuck pressed together under the warmth of your combined blankets.

"quit squirming around or i'll kick you out of my bed."

you make an undignified noise. "you wouldn't."

"i will if you don't stop that and go to sleep. i have to be up early tomorrow."

"this was your idea in the first place!"

sae had been the one to text you, after all. he hadn't even asked nicely, only sending you the word HELP in all capital letters as if he were going into cardiac arrest. you had rushed in to see what was wrong only to get dragged into his bed.

his greed for warmth was nothing new to you, of course, but he was careful to be gentle with you. to make sure he wasn't crushing you or making you uncomfortable. it was his way of being nice and somewhat apologetic that you were being treated as some sort of personal heater.

"i hate you," you tell him when he unceremoniously throws his leg over your entire body to keep you still.

"yeah, whatever. sleep before i kick you out."

"you're the one who asked me to share our blankets," you remind him again.

there's a long silence that follows that statement. it's so quiet that you assume he just ignored you and went to sleep without replying. but then he rolls over until his back is to you and he utters out, strained: "we don't speak of this, ever."

you raise a brow, shifting to face his back. "oh? are you embarrassed that i had to keep you warm?"

"i'm not embarrassed," he quickly corrects, even with the waver of his normally dead voice.

you reach around him, back of your hand resting on his cheek. you feel him tense up beside you in bed and you can't help but burst out laughing.

"your whole face is warm."

he groans, pulling the blankets closer to his side and up over his head so you can't observe him any closer. he's worried that if you did, you might have noticed how incredibly red he was growing. something so out of character would absolutely garner a new game for you and he would never hear the end of it.

for someone with an attitude problem about everything, he was surprisingly easy to shut down. maybe it was just you who had that talent, though.

itoshi sae doesn't like how mushy you make him feel, but the warmth is nice—

"i know you're trying to hide from me! if you just wanted to be held i'd be happy to help."

—kinda.

© ALABOADOA 2023 — please do not translate or post my works to other platforms.

[melanieph321]

Idea!

Getting in a big fight with Ruben becos he just assumes you will go to his away game (maybe with Portugal?) but you never said that and you told your friend you would go to her birthday dinner that same weekend back in Manchester

Love this! 🤭

Ruben Dias x Reader - Hate It When We Fight

Enjoy!

Ruben had a bad habit of assuming that you didn't have plans for the day. It didn't matter if you had a packed schedule or a long list of tasks to complete, Ruben always seemed to think that you had nothing better to do than spend time with him. Today was no different.

"Why haven't you packed your bags yet?" He asked.

"Pack my bags?" You sat comfortably on the sofa, watching TV. "Why would I do that?"

Ruben had appeared before you dressed in a full traveling kit. You had known about his away game with the Portugal's national team, but not about Ruben plan's to bring you with him.

"You're coming, aren't you?" He said. "The taxi will arrive in twenty minutes. Just pack the essentials and I'll buy you whatever you need over there."

"Ruben?" You were caught off guard by the way he adressed you, hesitating before responding. "You know I can't just pack my bags and go with you, right?"

"Why not?" He shrugged, genuinely confused.

"Um...maybe because I have plans of my own."

He snorted "What plans?"

"What plans?"

You had been planning to use that week to focus on a big project at work and your best friend had invited you for dinner tomorrow night. Ruben was well aware of this since you told him a couple of days ago. Hadn't he listened to you?"

"Y/N, it's a big game." He said. "Everyone's friends and family are gonna be there. Just pack a bag and that will be it."

"Ruben, are you not hearing me?" At this point you were getting really annoyed.

"I hear you baby, I do. But I'm sure your boss can give you a day off, can't she?"

You stood, folding your arms. "No she can't Ruben because that's not how the real world works."

"What's that's suppose to mean?" He felt the tension erupting between you.

You sighed. "Ruben it means I'm not here to tend to your every need. My days do not evolve around your life."

"I didn't say that."

"No. But you did ask me to take a day off without considering that maybe I'd want to work, not go to your game."

His response was silence, a deep frowned on his face. You felt guilty but obligated to hold your own. "I'm sorry if you counted on me to be there for you, but I won't be able to make it this time."

"I get it." He nodded, voice clogged with somthing. "I shouldn't have...I shouldn't have..." He really struggled. "...whatever you said."

"I'm really sorry baby. Will you still give me a call once you've reached the hotel?"

"Sure." He nodded, but did not meet your eye. "I will call you."

"Great, have a safe trip."

You stepped forward, expecting a kiss. Ruben however, ignored you, or perhaps didn't see you step up to him. Instead he moved on to the hallway where his bags waited.

"I guess I'll see you in three days." He mumbled.

"See..."

The door slammed shut before you could finish the sentence.

"...you."

Somthing very odd and unpleasant washed over you. It made you wonder, had you done somthing wrong?

For the rest of the evening you kept your phone near, expecting a call from Ruben at any moment. However there was nothing. Not a call, not a text, just radio silence. It was so unlike him, so you decided to call him yourself. However, you were immediately discarded towards his voice mail. If Ruben was upset, you thought,  ignoring you was definitely not the way to handle things. Three days went by without you hearing a word from him. You would have assumed the worst if it hadn't been for the pictures his teammates took of him, posting them online.

"Whatta hell Ruben?"

It was not the warmest welcome he received upon his return. But you could never stoop so low as to ignore your boyfriend for three days just because of a small argument.

"I waited for you to call me for three days." You showed with your fingers. "Three fucking days Ruben."

"I know and I'm sorry." He muttered, leaving his suitcases at the door. He walked over to the sofa, taking a seat. "I needed time to think."

"Think about what?" You frowned.

Ruben shrugged  "Us, our relationship."

"Oh."

You sat down next to him.

"W...what did you....did you...?"

"I thought alot about what you said, about how the real world works."

Since you hadn't really meant much by those words, you could only glare at him. "H...how does it work?" You asked nervously.

"I guess that's what I don't know. I used to know, but now I don't."

What do you mean baby?" You scooted closer, seeing how Ruben had really gone through this question in his mind. You knew how much he hated having to play football when things weren't sorted in his head. In a way you felt responsible.

"Fuck, Y/N, I owe you an apology." He sighed. "You were right. I just assumed that you didn't have any plans these three days. That you could just pack a bag, leave your life behind just to join mine. Little do I forget about the privilege I have to be able to travel the world, doing what I love. For a moment I truly assmued that my life was better than yours, that my offer was one you wouldn't say no to. What a dick move that was. I really am sorry."

"Oh Ruben." You, threw yourself at him, hugging him. He shifted his weight so that you would lay under him instead of on top of him on the sofa. He cleared your face of hair that had fallen over your eyes, bending down to kiss your lips.

"Fuck I missed you."

Butterflies invaded your stomach for Ruben looked at you like there was no one else.

"I missed you too."

He kissed you like there was no one else.

"Forgive me."

He wanted you like there was no one else.

"I forgive you."

There was no one else in the world that loved you the way Ruben did.

"Y/N, please." He pleaded. Somthing like this will never happen again." His head shifted to lay against your breast, your heart beating in his ear. Your hand stroked his cloudy hair. "I know baby, now let's just let this go."

"Okay." His eyes shut. "Just know that..." He was halfway asleep. "...I really am sorry."

As his breathing slowed down, Ruben was finally able to rest. You weren't the only one who hated it when you fought.

[scarisd3ad]

Trouble

Chapter - two (They say I did something bad, then why’s it feel so good?)

Pairing(s) - Stu Macher x fem!reader x Billy Loomis

Previous >> next

Summary - They say I did something bad, then why's it feel so good? most fun I ever had, and I'd do it over and over and over again if I could. It just felt so good, good.

(A/N) - I know it’s been almost 4 months since the first chapter was posted but I finally got myself caught up and finally got this finished!

Warnings - mentions of murder, mentions of blood, regular scream warnings, infidelity, cursing, violent language, violent situations, murder, graphic descriptions of violence and murder, blood, many character deaths.

Masterlist

Taglist

It's 9:30 Stu, Billy, and I are sitting in my kitchen dressed in our Ghostface robes. The only thing that was left was our masks, which each sat on my kitchen counter. "You ready?" Stu asks as he hands me the glistening hunting knife. We each had one just in case we ran into trouble.

It's exactly 10 pm when we see Steve's car pull up in front of Casey's house. Stu and Billy do the hard part of kidnapping Steve Orth. They drag him into my house, and duct tape him to a yard chair in my living room. I'm still scared we might get caught, that somehow either one of them will escape and we'll all go to jail.

Steve wakes up right as Stu and Billy are bickering about who's going to end up killing him. "I want to kill him; I was the one who came up with the idea to kill him," Stu whispers shouts as he crosses his arms over his chest. "Well, I came up with the entire fucking plan, so I should be the one to do it." Billy says. Steve's eyes flutter open, but the two are too engrossed in their conversation to notice. Steve's eyes flicked across the room, trying to make sense of what was going on. His eyes stopped on me first, then Stu, then Billy, holding the knife. By then, he knew he was in deep shit. He struggles, trying to pull his arms and legs out of the duct tape restraints. "Wha-what the hell's going on?!" Steve shouts. 

Billy's head cocks to the side. "We just wanna play a game, Steve," he says, his voice now modified by a voice changer that we bought at the Halloween pop-up shop. Steve's eyes furrow eyes still flicking between each one of us. "wha-what?" Billy laughs as he approaches Steve. He caresses his face with the sharp blade of his knife. Billy ignores Steve's answers and goes on the explain the rules of the 'game'. "The rules are simple: you answer our questions correctly, and your girlfriend doesn't get gutted like a fuckin' pig." the mention of Casey lights a fire inside of Steve. He struggles desperately, trying to break free. "You better not fucking hurt her! I'll fucking kill you if you touch her!" I can practically see Billy's smile through his mask as he presses the blade against Steve's neck.

Billy stood there, silent and intense, almost as if he were telepathically threatening him. Steve, oblivious to the warning, continued to fidget and threaten to kill us all if we didn't release him. Billy doesn't waste another second before slitting Steve's throat, letting him bleed out in my living room. "Well, that was boring," Stu mutters under his breath as he and Billy drag Steve's lifeless body into Casey's backyard.

-

Everything else goes according to plan. We sneak into her house using the spare key hidden under the doormat. We wait and listen as she enters the house. Then, Billy calls her, she discovers Steve's body outside on her back patio, and we chase her around. Everything goes smoothly until the very end. Stu isn't able to get to her in time. She's inches from getting away, and I can't let that happen. I run up in front of Stu and grab Casey tightly, holding her against my body before plunging the knife into her chest. She whimpers as I throw her to the ground. She looked down, crying as she watched her blood slowly begin to stain her cream-colored sweater.

I kneel to the ground, about to finish her off, when she attempts to knock the knife out of my hands. I'm quick to wrap my hand around her neck. She desperately grabbed at my hands, trying to loosen my grip as she cried. I don't give in, my hands tightening around her throat. But Casey was clever. She kneed me right in the crotch, causing me to double over in pain, and I cursed under my breath. "God dammit. Bitch!" Just when I was starting to recover, I noticed her parents arriving and Casey, despite her injuries, was making her way towards them, limping.

If I didn't act quickly, she would reach them, and we would all be caught. Luckily, the amount of pressure I had put on her neck had caused her to lose her voice, making her unable to call out to them. When I sneaked up behind her, her parents had already gone inside, giving me the perfect opportunity to finish her off. Her body feels lifeless as I push her back onto the creaking wooden porch. Despite her dwindling strength, she manages to reach up and grab my mask, slowly peeling it off my face. I don't care at this point, knowing I'm seconds away from killing her, anyway. Once my face is fully visible, the expression on her face changes. Although the life in her eyes is fading, I discern the shock, confusion, and sense of betrayal that registers in her gaze for a fleeting moment before I draw the knife back and plunge it back into her chest several times. One, two, three, four. 

The only thing that gets me to stop is Stu's hand on my shoulder. I'm panting as I turn around. "Holy shit!" Stu's mask muffles his laugh as he stares down at the carnage that I left behind. "We gotta get her up in that tree before her parents come back out," Billy says as he walks up behind Stu. I grab my mask that was still somehow clutched in her blood-splattered hands. I go back inside as they gut her and tie her up in the tree.

I'm standing in my bathroom washing the blood off of my face. I stare at myself in the mirror, looking at the woman I have become. If we got caught somehow, my life would be over. There'd be no college, no family, no house behind a picket fence. The only thing I'd know is orange jumpsuits and metal bars. Even with the pit of anxiety that sat in my stomach, it all still felt so exhilarating. The blood, the knife, the act of taking someone's life just felt so exciting. I kind of liked it in a way. The knife just felt so good in my hands, and the blood felt so good against my skin.

"Hey-" I jump, dropping the rag I was holding into the sink before spinning around on my heels. Stu stands in the doorway with a smirk on his face as I grasp at my chest. "Oh, my god Stu, you scared me!" I say as he slowly walks towards me. He's still dawning his robes, which are now blood stained. "You did good out there for that being your first kill. I'm impressed," I laugh as he wraps one arm around my waist, pulling me close to him. "You think so?" I ask shyly, as if I hadn't stabbed her 4 times in the chest. "Oh, I know so, baby," he says before pressing his lips to mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Every time I kissed him, I couldn't believe all of this was happening to me. "God, can you two get out of the way?" Billy groans as he walks into the bathroom.

We pull away to see Billy, who is now back in his street clothes. He turns the sink on before splashing water onto his face in an effort to get rid of the splattered blood off of his face. He's going to Sid's after this so he can have an alibi that wasn't us. Stu was going to stay here so I could have an alibi. It'd be suspicious if I was home alone all night while Casey Becker was getting murdered next door. He sneaks out my bedroom window and runs down the alleyway behind the houses in my neighborhood until he's far enough away to feel safe enough to walk down the sidewalk.

- 

20 minutes later, we're laying on my bed, tongues shoved into each other mouths, and my shirt thrown somewhere on the floor. I heard police sirens blaring down our street about 10 minutes ago. I just hoped they wouldn't feel the need to question us. I run my hands through his hair as his lips venture down my neck, sucking and biting at the supple flesh. I didn't mind if he left any marks, if one of the girls, or Randy ever asked, I could always come up with the excuse that I found a boyfriend. It's a dumb excuse, but the girls would be excited. They were always trying to set me up with guys from our school. They didn't want me to feel left out when they were making out with their boyfriends, on movie nights, at parties, or even just our regular lunch spot at school.

I throw my head back, giving him more access to my neck. I'm about to grind up into his body when 3 loud and sharp knocks interrupt us. I yelp before pushing Stu off of me and scattering to try to find my shirt. "Do we have to answer it? Can't we just ignore'em?" Stu asks. we already knew who it was. It was impossible for it not to be the police. "No! we'll seem more suspicious if we don't." I say as I pull my shirt over my head and begin to walk downstairs.

We already had a made-up story for what we were doing tonight, knowing they'd ask. We were just watching movies with Casey, and one other unnamed boy that would take the fall for any hickeys, or the lingering smell of sex on my body. she left at around 9:15 because her boyfriend was coming over, that was the last time we saw her. I pull the deadbolt off before unlocking and throwing the door open to see Dewey Riley. I let out a sigh of relief. Thank God it was Dewey. He'd at least be a little more lenient with me. 

I put on my "innocent act." "Hey Dewey," I furrowed my brows and asked, "What's going on?" I looked around, trying to appear confused as I stared at the cop cars and ambulances. Dewey clears his throat "Well...um, Casey Becker was murdered next door" My hand slaps over my mouth as I gasp. Tears pooled in my eyes. I could see the pity in Dewey's eyes. I was good. "We need to question you and any others that are in the house" I nod as I hear Stu begin to walk down the stairs behind me. Dewey's eyes flick up to him, brows furrowing before asking, "Stuart, what are you doing here?" Stu shrugs "Hanging out. What's going on?" I can feel Dewey's eyes settle on the big red hickey that sat on my neck. His eyes then flick up to Stu, whose hair is a mess. I can see the suspicion in his eyes. He clears his throat once again before saying, "We need you two down at the station for questioning."

-

I find myself in a dimly lit interrogation room at the police station, my leg bouncing up and down with nervous energy. Suddenly, a police officer, one I've never met before, enters the room, muttering my name before taking a seat in the chair opposite me. Officer Torres introduced himself and placed a small notepad on the table. "We have a few questions for you. Can you please tell us what you were doing at 9 o'clock tonight?" he inquired. "Um hanging out with friends," I lean back in my chair, trying to make enough eye contact to seem innocent without overdoing it and seeming guilty.

He nodded, then shifted his gaze down to his notepad, where he began to write. "Who all was there?" he asks, now raising his head to look at me again. "Um Stu, me Casey...and this guy she said he older 'n went to the community college. Oh...and Billy, he came over earlier but left to go be with his girlfriend." the officer nods before writing again. "This is Stuart Macher, Casey Becker, and Billy Loomis?" my leg bounced up and down under the table anxiously. I just hoped that Stu was at least sort of sticking to the story we came up with. "Yes, sir." I whisper. He nods, jotting down a few more notes before moving on to the next question "Um what..what exactly happened while you were hanging out? Did Casey seem scared...that something might happen to her? Did she ever mention someone threatening her in any way?" I shook my head; my heart was beating a mile a minute. One wrong move, one slip up, and they would put me away for life. "No sir. We just hung out watching movies and stuff. Casey and the college boy left at...I Dunno maybe 9:30 said her boyfriend was coming over."

I look up at the clock that hangs directly behind the officer. 11 pm. God, I just wished this could all be over with. "What about this other boy? Do you know his name?" he asks. I shake my head. We couldn't give him a name. There was always a possibility this made-up man somehow had an identical real-life counterpart we didn't know about, and our entire plan would be in shambles. "Did they both go back to her house?" I shake my head once again "No..um, I watched him drive off. Something about a house party in the town over" he nods, jotting down a few more notes. "What about Billy Loomis? What time did he leave?" 

The relentless stream of questions felt never-ending. "What did you do after?" "Did you hear anything?" "Are you sure you didn't hear anything?" "Where's your brother tonight?" I just hoped I didn't look too suspicious and that all of my answers seemed true. I didn't get back out into the lobby until 11:30. Stu still wasn't done. I just hoped he didn't do something stupid.

I'm sat by Dewey's desk while he files out some type of paperwork. "Are you going to tell my parents?" I whisper, hoping he wouldn't, but knowing deep down he would because of legality. "Have to since we questioned you. You're a minor." I turned 18 at the end of next month. Did he have to tell them? They'd kill me if they knew I had boys over. "Do you have to tell them about the boys being over? They'll kill me if they knew?" he sighs, looking up at me before saying, "I'll see what I can do."

I stare down at my hands, I'm terrified that the police officer had seen right through me and knew exactly what I did. That I had killed her, and it felt so good. Deep down I hate myself for liking it so much. Tears pool in my eyes as the emotion and realization of what I had done set in. Tears streamed down my face as I desperately tried to wipe them away. "Hey, hey what's wrong?" Dewey asks, as he sets his hand on my shoulder. "I-I just can't believe she's dead!" I sobbed as I wiped at my cheeks. "If I had heard something..." I stop to let a few more tears fall down my cheeks "I could've helped her." 

- 

After Stu finishes his interrogation, Dewey gives us a ride back to my house in his police car. The entire block is still bathed in the eerie glow of the red and blue police lights. The Becker residence is cordoned off with bright yellow crime scene tape, and her parents are standing on the sidewalk, sobbing as they speak with the chief of police. "You sure you wanna stay here? Can take you back to my parent's place? Tatum wouldn't say no to a sleepover." Dewey proposed. I shake my head, mumbling a quiet "no" as I open up the car door. "You need a ride home, Mácher?" Stu also shakes his head as he begins to follow me, sliding out of the cop car. "Nah, my car's here," he says before slamming the door. "Alright, you two stay safe, alright?" Dewey says as he rolls down his window. I nodded, waving goodbye as I walked up the pathway to my house.

Dewey stays parked outside my house as we walk back inside, probably waiting to make sure Stu leaves. "Just drive around the block once. Make sure he's not following you before you come back. Alright?" I say as I close the door. Stu nods as he grabs his car keys off the table that sat in the entryway. "I'll be back. Don't miss me too much," he says with a stupid grin on his lips as he leaves out the front door. As I walk upstairs to my room, all I can think about is what I've become, how much I liked that knife in my hands, and how much I anticipated the next time it'd be in them again.

Taglist

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[wolfofcelestia]

One of my last reblogs got me thinking about this so here is

How all four Zaynes + Sylus would treat you for low iron

Warnings: mentions of hunting, blood, suspicious food and drink. Everything aside from Doctor Zayne's section is not rooted in reality so don't take this as medical advice. If you feel tired all the time, go ask your doctor about it and get a blood test. Trust me, you're not supposed to be tired all the time.

Doctor Zayne

By the book treatments. You'll get iron pills and recommendations for iron-rich foods. If your stomach can't handle the pills, he might recommend iron infusions, all supervised by medical personnel. On his free nights, he'd take you out to dinner or cook for you to make sure you eat iron-rich foods, even if it's only in his presence

Dawnbreaker

He'd repeatedly remind you to rely on him. Just stay in bed, he'll take care of the rest

In his world, everything you need to live is packaged in nutrient drinks or in pills, so he'd gather all these less than tasty nutrient drinks and pills but he'd also go to the outskirts of town, where the wild animals have taken over a part of a forest. They don't entirely live in harmony with the wanderers there. Some say they're no longer animals, but meat is meat, and only fresh meat will do for his beloved, especially when she's sick

He'd come home with freshly butchered meat, and the blood from the meat in large bottles, hoping she'd be able to get some benefit from drinking such a valuable and rare fluid

Foreseer

He wouldn't treat you. You don't belong in the tower. You'll only get sicker here.

"Go back to your people. Only they can help you. I have no means or the experience to cure you here."

But you won't leave. Stubborn, even in the face of an illness that makes you weaker and weaker by the day. But you've experienced this before. It's nothing new

Soon, you and Jas annoy him enough to convince him wild game is actually high in iron and, with his powers, he'd easily be able to hunt one near the tower

It would be his first meal with someone. A warm, hearty meal with the girl he's seen his other selves eat with so many times before

Master of Fate

"Close your eyes and hold my hands. Imagine my energy flowing out of my body, crossing over our hands like a bridge, and being absorbed into your body. Take as much as you need."

The Master of Fate is also a master of ancient energy magic, so something like mana or energy transfer would be easy for him if you're ill or need a boost

This won't fix the cause of your low energy of course, but this would be a start to get you on your feet

Once you have enough energy to travel down the mountain, he'd bring you to a healer, someone who works with and sells all sorts of dried herbs and Chinese medicines

Protest all you want but these bitter, smelly concoctions are going into your mouth one way or another. He'd laugh at your reaction and call you a child for making a fuss about taking your medicine, and he'd promise you a sugary treat if you take it like a good girl

Sylus

"Are you ignoring Zayne's advice again? You're really putting him through his paces, huh? I'd have my own personal doctor take a look at you but I have a feeling you'd listen to him even less. Well, if it's iron you need, then tonight we'll have steak. And we'll have steak for as many nights as you like after that. I'll have the chef work on a meal plan with you."

With your steak dinners, he'd offer you a particular red wine. It tastes a little sharper, a little richer... The way he watches so carefully when you take a drink, and the way he smiles at you when you swallow... You'd be suspicious about it, if it weren't for the fact that you did in fact feel much better after each meal

[block-tales-headcanons]

may i present to you head cannons of the bosses related to their possible item drops?

yes i know the bosses have shared boss drops with some other regular enemies but shhhh ignore that

A general head cannon that i apply to all of the bosses related to this is that all their drops just happen to be things they have in their inventory/just are on them at the time of fighting the player!

But i'll get into specific characters now

Cruel king's possible drops are

-worms (i like to headcannon he likes to go fishing because of this, player did tell him that they go fishing occasionally at one point and cruel king damn near begged to fish with them instead of being summoned to fight a raging cat 9 times daily)

-hot chocolate (i feel like he'd like hot chocolate, he drinks it allot to warm up :))

-cheese burger (to the surprise of literally everyone, cruel king does indeed enjoy fast food despite having a wizard that cooks fancy ahh meals for him, kitchen wizard has complained that such things should not be even close to his standard for food, this only caused cruel king to just start eating fast food in secret however)

-dizzy dial (i like to think Cruel King uses them on himself to sleep easier, he does canonically have nightmares thanks to the voices that might make it hard to go to sleep)

-ice storm (ngl i feel like he can just create these or the ice dagger can and cruel king kinda just has allot of them lying around thanks to it)

-Free ice card (probably just part of his card build)

-Taco (same thing as the cheese burger, also the "mmmmmm chavez" sound is how cruel king would sound to me)

-strawberry ice cream (cruel king's favorite flavor of ice cream is strawberry :) something else i'd like to mention is him probably not being able to eat ice cream much (being why this drop is so rare from him), might make the cold worse, very sad)

for griefer and bubonic plant

-Apple core (similar to what i said about the feel fine card, exept he also doesn't want to be caught drinking straight apple sauce because what the fuck and he would throw a hissy fit if he were to have to drink something that isn't soda)

-Dumpling (ngl most of his food drops seem like things he'd probably eat, guess he likes dumplings??)

-Bomb (no hc i just think it's a reference to how he's called griefer? yknow people who destroy stuff in games? and destroying in those games usually involving some equivalent to an explosive?)

-Green pepper (griefer likes spicy food, i will die on this hill)

-Dizzy Dial ( feel like he'd use it on other people allot to do uh griefer stuff easier i don't know)

-Double cheese burger (same as dumpling)

-Free poison (prolly just in his card build)

-Feel fine (same with free poison, and he accidentally poisons himself allot pre and post venom shank so he kinda just has to have feel fine on hand to avoid casualties regarding that, too bad it couldn't help him feel fine through being poisoned into becoming a plant though)

-Green tea (Griefer can brew tea, he was taught by mayor thaniyel on how to as well! Green tea is also mayor thaniyels favorite tea and is secretly griefers as well)

unfortunately i couldn't make any head cannons over hatred's drops, they just have the standard demo 3 enemy drop pool so :(

even cruel king likes fast food

[jean-dieu]

Dragon age the Veilguard: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Don't expect too much there, I'm just writing my own subjective, non-organized, badly written critic of the game. Spoilers ahead, so be warned!

The Good is the good stuff, The Bad is the bad stuff that isn't too jarring or that doesn't threaten the whole setting so much so it's okay to just ignore them, and The Ugly is the bad stuff that DOES make me want to fucking die and explode.

The Good:

-It's beautiful. Not a fan of a lot of design choices but it's obviously well made. The landscapes are very pretty.

-The character creator. It's always funny to me when I see some dudebros complaining about it as if they're not purposefully making ugly characters. It has quite a lot of option, nice skin details, scars, tattoos and all.

-I really like the combat. I still think DAO is the superior system but I'm much more happy with a true action rpg than whatever Inquisition was trying to do.

-I'm going to be more objective there and say the maps are better than Inquisition. THAT BEING SAID I love the Hinterlands so I still prefer Inquisiton's bloated open world lmao.

-There's a lot of nice details all around! Neve's metallic prothesis walking sound, the decorations all around, tears in character's eyes, ect.

-Solas. Can't believe I'm saying it as I didn't like him much in DAI and I don't like Solavellan but DATV made me like him very much. He's much more morally grey and less uwu wet cat and I'm here for that. Excellent voice acting of course.

-Mythal. Again, I love whatever Solas and Mythal have going on. It's toxic, it's passionate, it's one sided, and Mythal is a very interesting character IMO.

-Felassan. Again, such a cool and compelling character.

-A lot of NPCs were very cool. Antoine who's singlehandly saving the French's reputation, Evka, The Viper, Strife, Viago, Teia, etc. They're cool and rather compelling.

-I did enjoy a lot of the companion's personal quests. Davrin and Bellara especially as they felt more in line with Dragon Age in general.

-For a game where the Bad Guys are Comically Evil... Johanna Hezenkoss fits the bill and yet she's a delight.

-There's really cool codex entries. Irelin's letter about mourning Arlathan for example. Antoine's letter to Evka should he ever be Called.

-Ghilahn'ain's design.

-I liked the living Blight! OK the darkspawns were ugly af but I still really enjoyed the idea.

-I actually liked the puzzles lmao? I'm sorry but I usually find puzzles fucking annoying in that type of game so I'd rather have something easy and fun than scratching my head in a rpg.

-I was glad to see Valta again!

The Bad: (vaguely in order of importance)

-Unpopular opinion but Assan and Manfred felt forced af. Yeah I got it, they're cute... Now can we go back on uh, the apocalypse.

-The music is boring. Fuck man Inquisition and Origins musics make me cry, but Veilguard's main them... Exists.

-I would prefer the companion to be stationary and being able to talk to them whenever want. They tried something but it didn't deliver.

-The fuck is Inky wearing.

-The fuck is Isabela wearing, but racist edition. Oh well. At least it's an easy fix with a mod.

-The companions have potential but they often lack something. I wish we got more than Lucanis liking coffee. Also, some characters concept from the art book felt so much more interesting. The only character I REALLY was interested in was Davrin because he feels very dragon age-y. A Dalish Grey Warden! That's interesting!

-The Lore seems alright and coherent with the serie so far, but it was just lore drops after lore drops, with no time for reactions, and your companions being sometimes waaaaay too chill about it.

-The overall sanitazing of the world while the grim stuff still somehow being there regarding Tevinter. It's very close to be in the Ugly category but because it's supposed to be there, I'm encline to believe it's still canon and not a retcon, and just a poor presentation. Where are the slaves? We see some of course, and some stuff were legitimately jarring... But because we're confined in docktowns, we don't get to see the ruling magisters and slavers. Docktowns almost seem... Nice. But it doesnt stop there. The Lords of Fortune not stealing artifacts because they respect cultures. The Crows being patriotic vigilantes. Lucanis being a mage killer but only for evil tevene magisters.

-I understand the impossibility to be Evil as you're recruited by Varric and he wouldn't have recruited the local serial killer that drowns kitties for fun. But... You should be able to be aggressive, stern, serious and all. You should be able to play a no-nonsense character who is authoritative and assertive while still following the plot.

-Again, I understand the companions being healthier than whatever DA2 crew had going on (love them tho) but it should have been more like Inquisition. People working together and forcing themselves to make it work for the sake of the world YET fighting and disagreeing on plenty of subjects. And Rook should be able to tell the companion to stfu sometimes. To tell Taash that they're an ass. To tell Emmerich you don't give a shit about his magic and that Manfred is fucking weird and shouldn't exist. To tell Bellara to stop whining.

-On the same note, the companions are all WAY too nice. One their own they're alright, but none of them have some true flaws/secrets/dark past/opposing convictions or whatever. Davrin and Lucanis are almost the only one who are arguing and fighting a bit but it's very tame. We never hear them arguing over politics, religion, or even ways of doing things (except for food lol. why is this game so much about food). If you take Inquisition for example, the companions are ALL working together in the face of a Ancient Evil threatening Thedas. Yet, they still argue about plenty of things. Solas and Iron Bull about the Qun. Vivienne and Solas about the existence of Circles. Varric and Cassandra's fighting is ruthless even when it's about nothing important. Try to show your pride as a Dalish to Sera and she won't take it well. Tell Cassandra that you don't give a shit about the Chantry and she'll disapprove. And still, these persons managed to work together. The excuse of "They put their differences aside because of the current threat" doesn't hold. The companions don't necessarily need DA2's level of animosity between them, but they don't need to all be best friends forever second one. Bellara could be suspicious of Neve for the sole reason of her being a Tevinter Mage. Lucanis too ("Mage Killer"!!!), but because he doesn't trust magic at all. Davrin and Bellara could argue about what it means to be Dalish to them, or argue about their faith!! EVERYONE Should be more worried about Lucanis being an abomination, damn it!

-I understand the Crows we see are not the one experiencing the worst of the organisation since they're highranking members but c'mon... It should be acknowledged at least.

-Some of the dialogues are fucking awful especially at the begining. They repeat themselves so much. The scene with "Nooo Rook you need to help us resolve our problems otherwise we will be too weak to fight the gods!! Rook, do my personal quests or I'll be too sad to fight!!". Harding's "Awkwaaaard". Bellara's quirky uwu manic pixie girl vibes at the begining.

The Ugly:

-Anything related to the elves. For a game centered on elven gods... We get so much yet nothing. Why are they all more or less cool about their "Gods" being real and evil? No one freaking out about having Elgarnan's vallaslin on their face? No crisis of faith? No elves joining them, really? Not a single one? No dalish celebrating their return before realizing the awful truth? No city elves or elven slaves fleeing to them because they have nothing to lose anyway? That's unrealistic. I can understand the Veil Jumpers already knowing the truth, it's more or less explained in the books anyway, but there's no way it's commonly accepted among all dalish clans. Speaking of dalish clans, were are they? And Briala ? Didn't she also control the Eluvian? What about city elves in general? And elven slaves? There's just nothing. The elven pantheon wasn't some myths for the Dalish. It was a religion. Their religion. Damn, imagine Christians learning Jesus is coming back BUT he's in fact very evil and is launching nuclear weapons everywhere? And their only reaction is "Oh no, we have to stop Jesus :(" ? I'm taking the christian example but you could say that about pretty much every religion.

-Where are Fen'harel agents? A few lines and one or two NPC mentioning Solas parting ways with them or even making the Veil Jumpers the ex-agents left behind would have been SO much more interesting than whatever they justified in the AMA. I can't believe they didn't even put A CODEX ENTRY explaining their absence in game. That's lazy af.

-No repercussion on the elves AT ALL? Seriously, realistically speaking, what is the future for the elves at the end of DATV? "Their" Gods almost destroyed the world, "Their" Gods killed countless, "Their" Gods created the Blight, "Their" Gods that many dalish still worshipped only a few years ago. What do you mean humans aren't going to declare open season on them? Like OF COURSE I don't want that to happen, and I'm hoping that idk, they'll found their own country in a reclaimed Arlathan, or that the instability in the south allows some of them to grab positions of power but don't tell me the humans aren't going to feel so fucking justify in their hatred, especially towards the Dalish who never converted to the Chantry. The fact that the endgame doesn't mention ANYTHING about it is jarring. Bioware ffs drop a book or whatever soon I need answers. I need hope. The game is treating the racism against Elves as... Some prejudices humans soooometimes have against them and not... centuries of systematic oppression, genocide, cultural erasure. The City Elf origins, Chevaliers killing Alienage elves for funsies, Celene burning down a whole Alienage, the genocide of dalish clans anyone? All of this is stuff that happened like... Between 8 and 20 years ago. It's not ancient history.

-Blighting Ferelden Beyond Repair, the Venatori Coup in Orlais and Kirkwall's evacuation was mean. Of cours the South is dealing with the blight and a shitload of problem but the "we lost Denerim. And Redcliff. And anything really. Idk if there's survivors. But if there is they'll starve anyway. xoxo the Inky." was just mean spirited I'm sorry. Same as above, Bioware. I fucking need hope for the South. Anything really. They could have stopped as "Yo there's a big Blight in the south and it sucks, Denerim is struggling and we lost villages and all" and that would have been FINE. No need to go scorched earth damnit.

-The lack of worldstate choices. C'mon. I understand not having a lot of them but a list of 6-10 easy questions would have been nice. Who's Divine? Who's ruling in the South? Who drank from the Well of Sorrow? It wouldn't have asked much work to just personalize a few sentences to adjust that. Also, saying they only kept 3 choices so they could really mean something... Liar. The only thing that really has an impact is did u date solas or not. Which fine, of course it matters! But all the other romances, the inquisition disbanded or not, stopping solas or not had NO IMPACT whatsoever.

-Where the fuck is Fenris. Idgaf Inquisition had Leliana when she could die in DAO, so bring Fenris in the Shadow Dragon. He needs to be there.

-The Antaam is such a fucking racist trope I can't believe they did it. Yeah, let make them growl like damn animals.

-Speaking of Qunari, even Taash is... Urgh. Why do you mean they sniff people. Also, their whole storyline on their gender identity was badly written. That scene with Isabela... No. That's not how you apologize. You misgender someone by mistake? Say sorry, correct yourself, move on. That's it.

-Dwarves had cool moments in the game but dang, we really, REALLY needed more of it. So many revelation about them, and while some of them were very well written, it doesn't have enough impact.

-The absence of reactions and dialogues related to your race is jarring. Can't believe I'm begging the game for racial slurs but here we are. EVERYONE in Origins commented on you playing an Elf. A non-human Inquisitor faced struggles as the Herald. Why is Qunari Rook able to roam freely in Minrathous without a SINGLE comment on their race? Same for the elves, to a lesser degree since at least they are not a rare occurence in Tevinter. Can't believe dwarves get so little reaction for all the big reveals. Can't believe elves barely get to react to ELVEN GODS destroying the world or Bellara's guilt about it.

-WHERE'S THE CHANTRY. WHERE. DAMN IT. Even if it's not the focus of the game, I'd expect to still see its influence. Man I'm almost wishing Harding was more of a Chantry Girl.

-Morrigan's whole storyline is an insult to her character.

[alexissara]

Recruiting Minthara Without Doing A War Crime - BG3

Opening Disclaimer: I do not know every variable, I am sharing what I did to recruit Minthara in BG3 since basically every guide in the internet is wrong and says you must do a war crime to recruit MInthara. You will lose out on the Minthara post battle sex scene and she remains mutually exclusive with Halsin you either have her or him but she can be obtained as a party member and even has exclusive voiced dialogue for Karlache and Wyll whom many say you are also locked out of to recruit her. Also this is totally intentional and accounted for but in my personal run I am getting some bugs, idk if it's an everyone issue or a me issue the game is still very new.

To Attack The Grove or to Kill Everyone In The Goblin Camp, that is the question, one that needs not an answer. You can do quests in both places, talk to Minthara, and more and still walk away from this fight.

All you need to do is simply progress the plot ignoring these two binary options. You'll need to ensure Minthara does not know the location of The Druid Grove so for me the way I did it was I rescued Sazza then killed her in the goblin camp before she could rat out the location and turn on me right before she would have walked me over to MInthara. It triggered a small fight but I destroyed the drums they played to trigger an alarm and have everyone fight me meaning I only had to kill four Goblins or so. I went to talk to Minthara and told her I had no clue where the druid grove or her item were but i'd totally look into it. I grabbed everything I wanted from the Goblin camp and before that did all of the Tiefling kid side quests except stealing the artifact in The Druid grove, upgraded Karlache's infernal engines, looked around everywhere I could. I did not at any point meet or talk to Halsin.

Then from there I simply went to the Underdark, you may be be able to take the Gith path instead, idk I didn't do it but I personally went to The Underdark by way of Feather Falling in the Phase Spider Monarch's layer down into it. From there I found some slavers, killed them and stole their boat. I sailed away to a forge where more slavers were living, I helped them save a true soul, helped the true soul kill them and then killed The True Soul. With that I was on my marry way and entered act 2. This I believe triggers time to have progressed in the game and everything will have gone into motion. I wanted to be sure though that I had done everything correctly so I headed to Moon Rise towers as fast as I can. I did some fights, got to the tower and found Minathara getting yelled at by her boss and thrown into a prison. In the prison two women are trying to wipe her mind. I killed all the guards before trying to help her out in the prisons area and freed some other prisoners. Stole a bunch of stuff then went to the girl herself. I then killed the people trying to brainwash her after talking to them for a little, walked out with Minthara, the guards at multiple times were like "why the fuck do you have Minthara" I smooth talk my way out of each situation, we leave moonrise and I tell her she can stay in our camp. From there she is a party member.

The game suggests you don't bring Minthara back into Moonrise Towers with you, I have got some light glitches on my own run when going to areas that are before you can normally recruit minthara and going to camp sometimes she spawns over at The Goblin camp where you first meet her. The Goblins seem to be basically fine so what happened with the tiefling and druids. Well the tieflings were forced to leave the druid grove but they were gonna do that anyway and the same quests are triggered as if you didn't do that as far as I undertand. I have met one of the tieflings already in act two and they were not mad at me for not helping the grove. The grove however did do the ritual and is no longer accessible. I will update this when I enter Baulder's Gate if I find out I like idk caused the death of a bunch of characters for not siding with either but I don't think I cased any deaths at all, I think I spared the most lives, the most peaceful bitch.

I want to end of the note that there is more to Minthara than Girlboss, Gaslight, Gatekeep. She for narrative reasons is a fun character to have. She is cold for sure but I think the game does a pretty good job justifying it and you can see right away glimmers of her warming up. In terms of a party member her kit is interesting, she starts with tadepoles already in her head so if you were totally avoiding them like me you'll be able to see a few of the powers in action given you have no option to remove them from her.