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tsuutarr · 6 months ago

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A were-wolf hottie and no pic, give me the fluffy hooligan please 😫

Extra points if it's enemies to lovers trope, except no vampire verses wolf, more like were cat or coyote vs wolf?. Scooby-Doo zombie mayhem got me

(So I ended up doing a bit of a rivals to lovers kind of thing rather than enemies! I didn't have too much info to go off of, so if this fic isn't to your liking, feel free to send me another ask with more details!)

Pairing: Vilkas Lunewood (werewolf OC) x werecat! reader

Contents: one-sided rivalry (somewhat one-sided romantic pining) where Vilkas thinks of you as his greatest rival to beat on exams.

Word count: 1180

Even though Vilkas would rather read his favorite book in a cozy nook, he’s known as a brute – someone who can weaponize his fists to subdue all that cross him. His sharp eyes and broad figure do little to deter his reputation as a brutish hooligan. However, despite his reputation, Vilkas has never started any fights – it’s just that he’s always finished them, being the last one standing.

It’s hardly his fault that he’s so strong, though, especially since strength is the least of his concerns. No, his much bigger concern is defeating you, his stupidly pretty werecat rival, academically.

“Hm… I could’ve done that a bit better…” you murmur from beside him. You’re both staring at the recent exam scores posted on the bulletin board.

He smells you before he hears you. Vilkas has always noticed your scent, something warm and soft – something he associates with afternoon naps basking in the gentle rays of the sun. Not that it matters, really, not when you’re constantly kicking him to the curb in terms of your grades. He’s been number one for as long as he can remember, but then you come along and place him in the number two spot consecutively. And you look cute while you do it. Frustrating!

“Ah, Lunewood, your score’s gone up, hm? That’s good to see.”

Vilkas scowls at how easily you address him, gloating about your victory. You’ve never been scared of him, always talking to him whenever you can. It’s stupid. You’re stupid. You and your stupidly lovely ears and stupidly adorable tail and that sweet voice and–

“Lunewood?”

“What?” he growls, his eyebrows furrowed at the center.

“Ah, you look rather upset, is all.”

“I am not.” Of course Vilkas isn’t upset – he’s good at taking a loss! And even if he is upset (which he isn’t), it’s not like he’s bothering anyone! The clear distance most people are keeping from him is definitely, definitely not because they think he’s scary for scowling – that’d be ridiculous!

“If you say so.”

Vilkas’ scowl deepens.

“Ah. It was quite nice chatting with you. I’ve got to head off now.”

Vilkas’ nose scrunches. You’re probably gonna stick your nose into a stupid little book (something he’d do too). You’re gonna brew yourself your favorite beverage as you curl up to read something you like and you’re gonna look so cute doing it and it’s so annoying to Vilkas to think about.

Stupid, stupid werecat.

The next time Vilkas encounters you, it’s because he smells your warm scent mingled with a scent he’d only describe as sour. His frown deepens as he follows the smell, before coming across you getting harassed by some no-good werewolf.

Ugh. Seriously. Like yeah, you’re cute and charming and whatever, but couldn’t that stupid werewolf pick another cat to pick on? Like why’s that dumb werewolf wasting time flirting with you? And why haven’t you just beat that stupid, no-good werewolf off with a stick? You’ve got the claws to scratch him up. Ugh. Whatever. It’s not his business–

“Leave the cat alone,” he spits, despite his inner monologue. He’s not helping you because he thinks you need his help or because he’s worried or whatever. He just doesn’t have anything better to do. That’s what he tells himself as he sizes up the werewolf that’s been hitting on you.

“Yeah? What’re ya gonna do about it if I don’t?” the no-good werewolf hisses, standing taller to appear bigger. The no-good werewolf is bigger than you, a werecat, but can’t compare to the sheer muscle mass Vilkas boasts.

“I’m not gonna do anythin’ about it,” Vilkas growls. “‘Cause you’re not gonna give me a reason to do anythin’ about it.”

The no-good werewolf falters briefly at the deadly gleam in Vilkas’s eyes, but decides to stupidly stand his ground. “You want me to give you a reason to scram?”

“You think you got what it takes?” Vilkas shoots back, his teeth bared. His tail bristles, ears flattened against his head.

“Lunewood,” your voice calls, which irritatingly makes Vilkas feel calmer. “Let’s just go.”

Vilkas isn’t sure what to do – he’s not really one to back down from a fight, but your voice and smell just make Vilkas feel… softer, like he’s wrapped in a you-shaped blanket.

“Wait–” the no-good werewolf’s face pales. “Lunewood? Vilkas Lunewood?”

Vilkas stands taller. “What about it?”

“No–nothing!” a squeak leaves the werewolf’s mouth as his tail tucks between his legs, before he runs away.

“...I should’ve punched him once,” Vilkas grumbles, crossing his arms.

“Hm, maybe you should’ve,” you agree lightly. “The more I think about it, the more I dislike him.” You spin on your heel, turning to Vilkas with a smile. “Thanks, by the way. I appreciate it.”

Hmph, a good ploy on your part – trying to make him lower his guard by thanking him? If you think that your thanks makes Vilkas’ tail wag, you’re so very correct – Vilkas tries his best to temper his tail’s excitement, but he just gives up because he can’t. “It’s nothing. I didn’t do it for you.”

Your cute little cat ears and tail twitch. “Oh.”

Vilkas immediately feels bad.

“I guess it was one of those territory things, then? Did you want to mark your territory?”

Vilkas huffs out something akin to a laugh. The only thing here that he’d want to mark is you – wait, scratch that.

“Well, anyway. Can I take you to a café or something to thank you?”

What? Why would you want to feed him? It’s not like he did anything great. Is this a trick? Are you trying to poison him?!

“Or do you not like sweets?” you look contemplative. “Maybe barbeque…? But my campus job doesn’t pay that much…”

“A café is fine,” he grunts, tail swishing behind him. “You can buy me a barbecue when I beat you on our next exams.”

You tilt your head to the side, confused. “But you’ve never been able to beat me before?”

Vilkas’ eyes narrow as you hum in thought.

“Oh! Is this like a bet?” your eyes glint mischievously, a cheeky smile curling on your lips. Cute. “How about it, Lunewood? If you beat me in the next exam, I’ll treat you to a barbeque. If I win… Well, I’ll keep that a secret for now.”

“What?” Vilkas asks, frown set deep in his mouth.

“Hm? Are you scared?” you tease, your voice taking on a lilt that makes Vilkas want to chase you down and mark you.

“Don’t bet on it, kitty-cat,” he responds. “I ain’t scared of anything.”

“Then is the bet on?”

Vilkas doesn’t hesitate when he answers with, “You bet.”

(You two do head to the café, much to Vilkas’ pleasure [since he wants a sweet treat, that’s it. It’s not because he’s hanging out with you or anything]. You’re surprisingly interesting to talk to, which he should’ve maybe expected since you’re his rival. You’ve got pretty good tastes when it comes to books and a good eye for cute cafés too.)

#werewolf x you #werewolf x reader #werewolf oc #monster boyfriend #monster oc #werewolf oc x reader #tsuuper ocs #Vilkas Lunewood Tsuu OC #monster lover #monster romance #monster boy oc #monster boy

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year2000electronics · 2 months ago

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Did Mario know about the rumors of the Dark Star Child? If yes, what exactly did he know?

What exactly was that one alternate timeline with Luigi on Bowser's side like? And what had happened to its version of Mario?

Has Antasma ever used his vampire transformation powers (in the main timeline)? And what exactly does that whole process entail?

What happens if any of the Star Children are seperated from their jems?

Does Luigi's Dark Star necklace act funky after the prophecy was foiled, with all that forbidden power but its assigned cause being no more?

EXCELLENT QUESTIONS! answers going under the cut because they got long

so both light and dark prognosticus are kept very secret in the FOTS world, obviously, but seeing as the dark prognosticus is ACTUALLY dangerous, it's far-better kept, so the prophecies of the light prognosticus enter the cultural consciousness much easier, so the stories of the four star children get spread far and wide, and in contrast, the far more secretive dark prognosticus gets seen as "not canonical" or just "old wives' tales"- so for a lot of people, the idea of the dark star child ALONE is ridiculous (it'd kinda be like if you talked to two different, i dont know, christians, and one says the book of revelations is about a hypothetical end, and the other says the rapture is happening Tomorow)

and even then, people who DO believe in the dark star child usually go "well it's probably that furious monster king they mention. he sounds scary"

it's the same for mario, because as much as i love to focus on Luigi's Issues, taking a step back into mario and luigi's ENTIRE life- yknow from birth to present- here's pretty much what it looks like, right

the purple tallies are every "foreshadowing moment" i've put in the timeline, so there's yoshi's island, where the only person who saw that foreshadowing is kamek, and then dream team, where antasma says he sees something dark in luigi, brothership, which i won't get fully into because spoilers, and finally, what i've been lovingly referring to as "the train wreck"- where a bunch of grand reveals all happen near the tail-end.

so for mario, it never even occurred to him! he's lived with this guy for at least 20 years with no incidents up until now! the heck is going on??

as for the alt timeline, i imagined it would be a very similar sort of situation to mlp season 5's finale where the gang travels through a bunch of different super-crazy timelines and you get just enough info to understand what's going on, but you can't stay for long because THERE'S THINGS AT STAKE!!

BUT this specific timeline has luigi being raised by kamek as one of his own, so it's bowser and luigi who end up being The Brothers instead of mario and luigi! mario ends up fine, of course, he just needs to work twice as hard to get stuff done. maybe peach teams up with him instead of getting kidnapped? much to think about. in a hypothetical where this was the real timeline, mario would have to convince both bowser and luigi to go along with him to do SPM lol, what a headache

i did a few sketches of some hypothetical alternate timelines- flashy, conveys what it is quick, and then POOF! its gone

as for antasma, i actually had the idea a while back that maybe he slowly starts turning everyone on pi'illo island into his army, so the more you clear the story, the darker the island gets- but that kinda happens with brothership and the glohmed concordians so i might have to scrap that

but yknow, in bowser's early appearances, he's portrayed as this blue-pale colour, and he also is rocking this really cool cape- and seeing as antasma is using bowser for his own plans in a parasitic way, i think it would actually be super cool for bowser to be a vampire for most of dream team

i think antasma would be the only one who could CAUSE nightmares/fear but anyone turned into a vampire by him would have to suck all the rest/good dreams out of people, so youre left super exhausted and when you go to bed you'll either have no dreams at all or have freaky nightmares

the necklaces have a special connection to the star children! i'm sure youve seen those 'cursed object' or 'magical object' stories where the object will just spawn back somewhere if it's lost. that's good for the star children! their artifacts aren't Artifacts Of Power or anything, moreso just yknow, charms of protection, of good luck, stuff like that. it's a representation of the star spirits' blessing. so a lot of it is just 'these things have sentimental value to these crazy kids'

but of course, they'll come back even if the star children don't want them to at the moment...

and after the fact, luigi's necklace is... wait for it... perfectly normal! it's no longer hidden, but it's not like it's some big scary macguffin, either. it symbolizes that the star children have broken free from the chains of "fate" and "destiny"- how they can choose who they wanna be now. and luigi chooses to be a normal guy!

thanks for your questions!!

#mario #mothra answers #my art #fate of the stars au

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fortisfilia · 10 months ago

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Promised Part 11 - Tom Riddle x reader

Info: This is a rewrite of a story I've posted on my old account years ago. If it sounds familiar, that might be why :)

Summary: In this story, Tom didn't grow up as an orphan, but with his grandfather and uncle. Reader's sister got very sick and the Gaunts offer their help. But not without asking for something in return.

Warnings: Arranged marriage, an unholy amount of fluff

Word count: 2.3k

Masterpost | Masterlist | Part 10 | Part 12

Part 11 - The Earth's Centre

Starting to brew the antidote for Mors Grano proved easier than anticipated. The potion’s base was quite similar to any other healing draught, and so was its production. You had decided to begin the tedious process, even though the Banshee tears were missing. According to the recipe, they were the last ingredient to be added, so you had plenty of time to find them, even if you didn’t know exactly how.

For the first few weeks, there was nothing to do but the Moondew cook, stirring it frequently. The cauldron stood in Tom’s room, its content simmering steadily, ready to be examined at any moment by one of you.

Professor Beery had denied you the bonus points for the N.E.W.T.s after you had told him that the Moly had unfortunately died. Those points were the least of your problems, however.

The plant had, in fact, bloomed beautifully, ready to be added to the potion.

And that was when the difficulties began. As soon as you dropped the blossoms into the cauldron, the potion started to smell. Very strongly. The mixture reacted in a way that wasn’t described in the book and started to produce yellow steam, as well as a sour, headache-inducing odour, which reached beyond the walls of Tom’s room. The fume filled up every last inch of his dorm and even seemed to creep out into the Slytherin common room. Other students had begun to mention the weird smell and even Dippet, who had paid Tom a number of unfortunate surprise visits, was beginning to grow suspicious.

You had sent your parents an owl to inform them you wouldn’t come home during your semester break. They weren’t exactly happy about it; you had never stayed at Hogwarts during the holidays after all. But you had insisted, telling them there was so much studying to do until they finally let go. That wasn’t even a lie. There was a bunch of work to do. Granted, not all of it was related to school, but you still had a lot on your plate.

Tom stayed in Hogwarts for the week as well. You weren’t sure but highly doubted that he had notified his own family about it. And to be fair, they wouldn’t really care about that, would they?

Although the school was practically empty, with only a fraction of the students staying with you, those who remained complained of the pungent smell in all the Slytherin dormitories. On Sunday evening you heard that the housekeeper had been sent to find the source, and Tom was informed that Mr Carpe would begin his search the following morning.

So there you were, worrying about what to do, stirring the cauldron for the twentieth time within the last minutes, hoping it would steam less, the more you whisked through it. No matter how hard you concentrated, how many options you took into account, there was nowhere to take the cauldron where its smell would go unnoticed.

The Potions classroom was off-limits, even though it was much better equipped for the fumes. Slughorn would spend a lot of his time there, to prepare tasks for the upcoming semester. You had even considered taking it home and telling your parents about it. But using the Floo-Network with an item this heavy wasn’t possible, and taking the train with a simmering cauldron seemed ridiculous. Besides, the antidote still took months to finish, so you would have to take it back to Hogwarts a week later anyway.

Hell, you had even thought of taking that damned kettle out onto the Quidditch pitch or into the forest, so no one would smell it anymore. But you couldn’t leave it out in the open, of course.

Just when you had given up hope and realised that you couldn’t go on brewing the potion in Tom’s room, or anywhere else, he had told you about another possibility. There was this room on the seventh floor that he had discovered in fifth year. He called it the Come and Go Room and was positive that no one but himself, not even the teachers, knew of its existence. The room must have been enchanted, according to Tom, and only appeared when one was in dire need.

So the two of you went there that same night, in a cloak and dagger operation, levitating the cauldron behind you. You had covered it with a white sheet so that if someone saw you, they at least wouldn’t know initially what you were doing. The disguise was weak and you knew if Dippet or any other teacher would spot you, you would be screwed.

Luckily none of them were around when you rushed through the halls, aside from Warren O’Connor, a Ravenclaw fifth year, who patrolled a corridor next to their tower. He was too far away to detect the poorly hidden cauldron and didn’t even seem to look at you once he recognised Tom.

When you had finally arrived, chest heaving, thoughts rushing from relief and tension, Tom instructed you how to summon the Come and Go Room. You walked past the stone wall three times and imagined, very carefully, what you needed. An airtight room that allowed you to keep on brewing your potion in peace, that no one would be able to find unless you wanted them to. Suddenly, a door appeared. You looked at Tom and he nodded before you took the handle and opened it.

The small room behind the door was, simply put, perfect. Your very own Potions laboratory. Dark and nifty, it offered enough little cabinets to store all the ingredients for the antidote, as well as a worktop to put the cauldron on. Everything looked as if it had been custom made, just for this purpose. Which it was, you had just created it all yourself.

Now that the cauldron was in a safe place Tom felt more at ease and even thought that the semester break could turn out to be enjoyable. Why did that relax him, though? A question he had asked himself more than once. He didn’t have to care, nor did he have to help his fiancée to save her sister. Then why had he done it?

He didn’t have a logical answer to that question, even though the illogical one seemed to grow stronger, slowly putting down roots and beginning to blossom. He shrugged it off. But there were so many questions of the same kind running through his mind. Why did he care? He had never cared before. For anyone. That girl wouldn’t bring him where he wanted to be just by marrying him. Sure, her family was respected. Of course, they were purebloods, which was why his Grandfather had taken notice of them. But it had never been Tom’s wish to marry her. So why didn’t he mind the thought anymore? The idea of watching her walk down the aisle had repelled him immensely when he had found out what Marvolo’s plan had been. And now it didn’t. He must have gotten used to the idea. It even bugged him to think about the fact that the marriage wouldn’t happen by chance if the antidote was finished soon enough. Then why did he help her?

There was something inside of him, something he couldn’t just pinpoint yet. Something that made him do the things he had done, even when it had gone against his own benefit. Something that made him care less and less about himself. It must have turned all of his morals upside down, because somehow, and he couldn’t explain why, the most important thing was to see her happy. He didn’t even know when his priorities had changed. When he had stopped putting himself first. But it had happened. And that irritated him beyond belief.

She had been so easy to dislike. Back then, when they were sitting in her dining room alone. When she had stared at him, eagerly waiting for him to pity her. So conceited. Desperate for his attention. But then again, she had been so easy to like. When had he started giving in? At first, he had felt nothing more than disgust, appalled by the turmoil inside his head. That nasty feeling in his chest and his weak knees. But once he had surrendered, it had begun to feel good.

All he wanted - no - all he needed now, was to make sure she was safe. Protect her. Help her. That wasn’t just an act of kindness though. He had figured out that apparently, he mirrored her emotions. When she was pleased, he was too. When she was angry, he couldn’t help but feel furious as well. When she was sad, his chest stung with her. It felt like a purpose. Like she was the earth’s centre and everyone else, even himself, merely spun around her. She had his full attention now and he didn’t plan on taking it from her anytime soon.

If someone were to ask him why, he wouldn’t even know where to begin. How does one even begin to describe such an embarrassing accumulation of emotion and weakness alike? If he had to, he’d start with her glow. That devotion she seemed to radiate anywhere she was. Her relentless spirit and how ready she was to combat anyone with it. How tender she was with people that deserved it. And how ruthless she could be with those who didn’t. The way she moved in her sleep, slowly and gently, turning over and unknowingly stealing his blanket at least twice a night. The way her chest moved up and down when she lay next to him. How her eyes seemed to light up when she awoke and looked at him. The hours he had watched her. Held her. Felt her skin brushing against his own, just like in this moment. How could anyone experience that and not have the urge to keep it? To freeze those moments in time and lock them up, safely, for nobody to see.

Tom wasn’t sure if she was aware of how nervous she made him. He knew how to hide it, but was ever so annoyed at how much he depended on being close to her. And he usually wasn’t the one to become jittery. That was the response he normally got. Freda Morris, for example, couldn’t seem to think straight when he had taken her out once, during their sixth year. Merlin’s beard, that lass was nerve-wrenching.

Quite contrary to her. No one had ever done that to him. She had crawled under his skin and into his head, drugging his mind until almost every single thought he produced revolved around her. But he knew his place. She hadn’t befuddled him just to make him her pawn. He knew, because that was what his family had done ever since he could remember. She had never done him wrong. Maybe that was why he had helped her. And why he was willing to do anything for her, even if it meant for him to suffer. He was the antagonist in their story, he knew. And if he was poison, she was the remedy. If he was the villain, she was the treasure worth saving.

Tom’s pitiful monologue was interrupted when she woke up, opened her eyes and looked at him.

“Morning,” she said quietly and smiled.

He looked at her for a moment. If only she knew.

“Morning,” he replied.

She stretched her arms in the air and yawned, then turned towards him and ran her fingers along his jawline. Bliss.

“How long have you been awake?” she asked, staring at the stubble on his chin that her thumb had just touched.

“Not long,” he lied. “Just a few minutes.”

She grinned and placed a kiss onto the left end of his lips. “I have to get up and stir the potion. Care to join me?”

“Sure.”

“Good. Oh, and I think I’m going to go to Diagon Alley in the afternoon. To buy the Foxgloves. I have to add them next week.”

“I’ll come.”

She exhaled and pulled him in, nuzzling into his neck.

“Do you think we should go to Knockturn Alley as well?” she asked, her voice muffled. “While we’re there. I want to see if any store offers Banshee tears.”

“I don’t think they do,” Tom said and she lifted her head to look at him.

“But where else then?”

“I think I know where we could get some.”

She nodded, urging him to tell her.

“Well, I’m sure Morfin owns a flask. He had to get it if he wanted to brew the antidote, didn’t he?”

“But if they never planned on curing Elsie entirely, I don’t think he would have gotten them.”

“Marvolo never planned on curing her,” Tom said. “Morfin did. He’s a Potions master. One that doesn’t care about legality. He knows every last person that deals with ingredients like that. Even if he never intended to free her, I’m sure he got them just in case he ever needed them for himself.”

Her eyes roamed his face as she pondered. “So what do we do now? Go to your house, search his chamber and steal the flask?”

Tom shook his head. “That won’t be as easy. They’re always home, Marvolo has his eyes everywhere. Even the house-elves would alarm him.”

She frowned, brows furrowed while she lightly tugged on his hair.

“They’ll be gone,” Tom went on. “In late March. The Order of Merlin gets honoured and they are both invited. We could go then and try to find it.”

There it was again. That spark in her eyes.

“Okay,” she answered. “Let’s do it then. But for now, let’s stay here for five more minutes.”

Masterpost | Masterlist | Part 12

Tags: @ariachaos @daardyrnitta

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spectrum-core · 10 months ago

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STEPHCLAIR IS BAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD

Alternative title: a very angry (and tired) Full Stop fan's thesis.

ok, so me being the stephan/sinclair comparison's strongest hater is a bit i really like to lean into, but for the sake of keeping things semi-serious i will try to keep the actual essay content as free of me ranting my frustrations as humanly possible (which i mean commitement to the bit aside this will be hard bc it is frustrating to see people calling them both the same character, at best it shows a very surface level understanding of either character and at worst it shows just reducing them to cookie cutter meme fandom archetypes neither character actually fits into, so bear with me if i slip up and make unserious comments from time to time)

so before i start the actual essay let me say this: this essay doesnt even scratch the surface of how much i hate this comparison you guys cant even possibly fucking imagine ive been obssessed and i mean OBSSESSED with the full stop office since 2021 and im glad i wasnt in the limbus prerelease fanbase because if i had to see people comparing my beautiful boy and beloved best friend to a guy we had no info about other than "hes based of the guy from demian" i would have turned into the joker this is not even about saving my own mental health this is about sparing the entire pjm fandom of the monster i would have turned into

spoilers for ruina and limbus, universe terminology heavy and surface level references and interpretations of demian by herman hesse because imma keep it real with you guys the first and only time i read that book i was still in high school and i barely remember shit.

Table of contents:

Stephan - a summary

Sinclair - a summary 2.1. Emil Sinclair in Demian (1919) 2.2. Emil Sinclair in Limbus Company (2023)

Addressing common arguments

1.- Stephan - a summary

And of course I will start with Stephan, because I love him very much, just like Liwei he's one of my favorite pjm characters (yeah i like him more than your favorite popular character don't ask) so it's not surprising that i have A Lot to say about him, right?

And of course, I do.

As I said in the serrated duo post, a core part of my perception of the Full Stop office depends on the fact that they are poor. Mentions of money are common all across many factions in the game, yes, but the Full Stops are extremely constant about money, how taking a wrong turn means losing more than they can afford, how they can't afford to drop their weapons because they were too expensive, how even getting the permissions to be able to buy and wield these weapons was ridiculously expensive and so on. Of course, Stephan is the one talking about this the most (something I will elaborate on later), but Liwei and Tamaki also make a few ocassional mentions to it in their dialogue and keypages and considering this is a shared business it just makes sense that this is something that affects all of them.

These are just some few of the callbacks to money that Stephan alone does in his dialogue, without focusing in keypage text or what Liwei and Tamaki have to say about it.

And idk man, at least to me the difference between social classes is an important aspect for their characterization, specially because of how constant the concern with money is for Stephan. From this point alone comparing them feels like erasing a core aspect of Stephan's characterization, a lot about Stephan (and the Full Stop office as a whole, let's be real here) starts making more sense once you read the office as lower-middle class (and I'm saying lower middle class because they can afford some place to live and their weapons, but to me these guys are the types who precisely because of their need to keep bullets at all times can't pay for water or electricity all the time and sometimes they simply can't afford food or if they do they can spend a week straight eating nothing but unsalted pasta).

Now, going back to Stephan being the most outward about his complaints with money, he is in general the most outward about all problems the office is facing, to the point in which he doesn't mind inconveniencing everyone else with his rants, being one of the few guests who interrupt Angela's introductory speech and getting into Tamaki's nerves (something he's well aware he's doing, as these two know each other) at least two times through the course of their pre-battle cutscene, even Roland comments after the reception on how he wishes he would always have been as open about his problems as Stephan was.

However, it's worth nothing that he doesn't spend the entire cutscene crying about his miseries, and he only starts losing hope at three key moments: when they can't kill Eileen inmediately (making them waste more bullets than needed), when Argalia shows up (forcing them to retreat and making them fail their mission, meaning they won't get paid for this after they already lost a ton of money, as well as turning the situation into something much more dangerous than what they had signed up for) and once they enter the Library (an Urban Plague grade threat they have little to no information about, when him and Tamaki are almost out of bullets so Liwei is essentially the only fixer with some chance of putting up a fight and, you know, making it out alive).

Now, while it's true that Stephan is someone who dislikes danger, he isn't someone who isn't used to seeing gruesome events, his instinctive reaction to seeing a guy getting his head put into a meat grinder was cracking jokes and calling the concept of thought gears "a load of horseshit", which is something that falls in line with him being a somewhat experienced Fixer (sure, grade 5 isn't amazing but we can assume it's still either in the higher side of average or barely above average, and for someone specialized in firearms, which are far from the best weapon in the city, getting that high means he must have some experience and skill, right? more so considering he's been at this for 5 years at most) who has seen a fair share of horrid shit and can be unfazed by (most of) it as long as his own safety isn't on the line.

Another point is... he dislikes danger and is always wary about money and expenses, to the point in which he enjoys checking his bank account (or at least he believes so, if we go for the theory of the artbook profiles being more a mix of what the characters perceive themseves as/would describe themselves as to others, which is a theory i go by, I see him as someone who's convinced he does that for fun instead as out of desperation), but this seems to be more a generalized feeling of impending doom at everything rather than something that can be traced back to a particular traumatic event (anything can be dangerous, anything can cost him money), dude's from the backstreets after all, he's seen shit and he's used to assuming the worst. How I see Stephan, he's a guy who already expects bad things to happen but once things go wrong he starts freaking out about how this time They're Screwed For Real, but he never really tricks himself into believing "maybe things will turn out just fine this time?" or who thinks "well, we've done this before, surely we can handle it again."

This is not very related to Stephan as a character in terms of personality but I think it's still an important point to make as it is particularly related to body mods, his physical condition and his body shape.

So we can easily say that Stephan is a strong dude, at least if compared to real world standards without the fancy and insane body mods we see people in the city have access to. He carries that huge rifle around with his bare hands, something that Tamaki doesn't do and that not even Stephan himself in earlier iterations of his dessign did, and his main talent (which based of my theories is something that can be assumed as "something he's proud enough of to consider it the thing he does best") is physical labor.

Pictured, Tamaki's talksprite, carrying a rifle almost as long as she is tall with a strap supporting the weight on her shoulders, like a normal person.

Also pictured, an earlier iteration of Stephan's dessign, carrying the same rifle his current version does, but also holding it with the help of a similar strap supporting the weight on his shoulders.

And finally, Stephan's current dessign, holding that shit with his bare fucking hands in an exhibition of his brute animal strength, what the fuck is wrong with this man (affectionate)

And Stephan's artbook profile, the important part here is his speciality being physical labor, not only he's strong but he aknowledges this.

However, I made a point about the Full Stop office being poor, right? Even Roland says that "giving a whole office augmentation procedures is cheaper than keeping a decent supply of bullets in stock" (not the exact phrasing).

At least personally, I see this as Roland essentially saying "it would be cheaper (and more efficient) to get body mods for everyone in the office and buy another (cheaper) type of weaponry instead", but as things stand, the Full Stops can afford to either buy more ammunition and maintain their weapons, OR to get body mods, and since their whole deal is firearms... well, they can't really Stop investing in them, meaning they have no body mods At All and they got their grades purely out of their own physical strength.

Similarly, Stephan makes a similar point about how body augmentations are required for people to be able to run while carrying their weapons around (specifically talking about the rifles he and Tamaki use).

And... you know, the whole point is that they couldn't run carrying their weapons because they were too heavy, Argalia mocked them for that, Liwei urged them to drop their weapons, something they refused to do because of the prices.

Lastly on this point, while it's true that Ruina talksprites have a very bad case of Long Anime Legs (to the point in which how Roland's legs take about 2/3 of his height is a common joke), if we focus only on his head and torso, Stephan looks pretty Wide, and not only because he's wearing thick, fluffy and multilayered clothing, as other characters wearing similar clothing styles still look thinner than him.

This is all to say: I don't think this guy is a twink, or thin at all. He's a prime example of the strongman build to me and this is yet another hill I'm willing to die on watch project moon turn him into a beanpole once he inevitably shows up in limbus and me turning into the first real world distortion as a consequence.

Finally, Stephan is very notoriously the most informal member of the office, not only being the only one who doesn't wear any sort of formal clothing fully prioritizing comfort and practicality over looks but also completely disregarding formalities with his attitude at work (again, he interrupts Angela's introductory monologue, and again, his first two lines when being introduced are him cracking jokes), being the only member of the office to swear on screen and using several informal expressions and metaphors through both the reception dialogue and his keypage story.

And for good measure, he's a compilation of Stephan being the creature he is.

The literal introduction of the characters, also known as the moment in which Stephan became one of my favorite characters because he's Just Like Me Fr

Very normal behavior for someone who hates blood and violence and isn't used to seeing it. This man is more than capable (and willing, assuming money is involved) to murder kill.

Which, I mean, this attitude is very different from what we see from Sinclair.

2.- Sinclair, a summary

In retrospect I probably should have made this one first because I'm gonna be honest with you, Sinclair is one of the sinners I care about the least (I still like him and think he's pretty cool mind you I just don't vibe too much with most of the tropes making up the character) so what I have to say about him is less me grasping for straws and subtext because I don't care enough about him to be bothered with a super serious and in depth analysis like I did with Stephan and more things we can explicitly see about him in game and things that happen in the novel Demian.

And if I can have a small parenthesis here, people saying that one of my favorite pjm guys Ever is in any way similar to a guy who despite being pretty cool is just Not the type of character I fully vibe with... really, it gets annoying fast. Anyway back to the serious analysis now.

2.1- Emil Sinclair in Demian (1919)

To be able to understand Sinclair as he is depicted in Limbus Company, it is important to first be familiar with the source material of the original iteration of the character, that's it we're doing your high school homework by compiling several literary analysis of a symbolic psychological early 20th century autobiographical novel i hope you guys signed up for this (and if you didn't, though luck! i will do this anyway, I love literary analysis).

In the novel, young Emil finds himself torn between the worlds of light (which can be equated to the Garden of Eden, but it's more tangible meaning for our protagonist is his childhood home and family, a serene and well structure/organized space where he can be innocent, untainted by the evils of the outside world) and darkness (basically all the scary shit that goes on outside, where people do evil things for the sake of it), he finds himself tempted by the violence of the outside world, particularly through the actions of his classmate Franz Kromer, which eventually leads him to consider that due to being exposed to this tainted world of evil he no longer can return to the world of good and innocence.

Here, the character of Demian acts as a guide, someone who helps Sinclair to trascend this binary perception of good vs evil and to see himself as someone worthy of happiness because him witnessing the world of evil didn't taint him as a person but rather merely showed him another face of the world, Demian here mentions the Mark of Cain as a symbol of mental strenght and freedom, considering that bearers of this mark are capable of making their own choices and should be able to go beyond their assigned roles, being able to embody aspects of both worlds. This is to say that Demian's view is less focused on good vs evil, instead taking a more order vs chaos approach (without giving an explicit moral character to either).

In the book, the symbol of a bird breaking out of the egg is frequently used to represent Emil's personal growth, the egg represents safety and innocence, but a bird must eventually leave the egg or it will die, and getting out of the egg is a process than can be seen as violent, as a bird must fight to get out of the egg, and getting out of the egg represents birth but also an irreversible change, it can be seen as breaking out of the world of light and getting permanently in the world of darkness since a broken shell can't be fixed, but it can also mean achieving the enlightment and personal balance to not feel permanently bound to a condition, place or state of being and therefore growing as a person by learning to see himself as a whole human instead of supressing his "evil side" by only forcing the "good side" to surface.

Max Demian is here to show this second meaning of growth/self improvement (while also explaining that Sinclair is permamently growing and must always keep this balance between all the parts conforming the whole being that is himself rather that trying to make parts of himself antagonize each other). This idea of personal growth being one of the core themes of the book.

2.2- Emil Sinclair in Limbus Company (2023)

With Sinclair's source media analyzed (at a very surface level, mind you), we now can start talking about the depiction of Sinclair in Limbus Company, how it parallels the book, why the book symbolism is important for this instance of Sinclair and so on.

When we are first introduced to Sinclair in the game he's clearly nervous, he doesn't know what he's supposed to do as he hasn't worked for a similar company before and he isn't used to the gruesome sight of the bus eating people, this does fit inmediately in the motif of a naive person with limited experience about the world (well, to be fair to him most people won't be seeing man-eating buses at a regular basis, but the average backstreets dweller would be familiar with equally violent situations).

With this said, despite Sinclair's obviously nervous behavior... he isn't really a pessimist like Stephan was, in fact, almost every chapter (counting cantos, intervallos and the short mini chapters such as the Dante's notes update episode) have at least one key moment with him trying to rationalize horrible stuff as something much less violent, or simply going "but I thought this thing didn't work like this..." when confronted with the more horrible realities in the city. He thought the G corp veterans were really going to let them pass without a fight, he thought the people being controlled by headhens were just actors wearing mascot costumes, he thought mermaids were the beautiful half-woman half-fish creatures he heard about in fairy tales, and there's more examples but I don't really feel like looking for The Entire Fucking Plot Because This Guy Is An Actual Protagonist Instead Of A Background Guy Like Stephan Was to make my point clearer than it already is. And it's only when he realizes that the real world doesn't fit his expectations that he panics.

Well, there is one exception to this pattern: his own canto. Here, he panics inmediately as soon as K corp's nest is mentioned and spends the first half of the chapter pleading to turn back while saying that they are going to get killed. So what is different here with the rest of the plot?

Obviously, the fact that is related to his very own very personal very specific trauma. That is to say, unlike Stephan who is wary of anything that can put him on danger or cost him more money than it should, Sinclair has a very specific traumatic event that makes him act Like That (sure, he gets scared and nervous outside that, but these are more normal "I'm unfamiliar with this and I don't fully know how to react, this is normal behavior in a human being" reactions than outright "I am Actually Terrified due to being reminded of an actual traumatic event, this reaction is a textbook definition of post-traumatic stress disorder").

HOWEVER, Sinclair being someone who's deeply traumatized and kind of a scaredy cat when it comes to violence and unfamiliar situations... it doesn't mean that he's incompetent or a bad fighter. Almost all of his identities are terrifyingly good fighters (at least in their lore), Los Mariachis fear jefe Sinclair, Cinq director Sinclair is someone most association members are terrified to duel even during training, Blade Lineage Sinclair is considered a talented killer (it's also worth noting that save maybe for the mariachi one, in none of these mirror worlds Sinclair is precisely happy of being recognized as "the guy who's very scary when he fights people", unlike Stephan who I don't think he particularly likes killing but has a more "as long as I get paid..." mentality about it), the only "not very good at this" Sinclair id I can think of is the molar boatworks id where he's more a mechanic than a fighter so he fears he's lagging behind in that aspect. Hell, even the Canon Timeline so to speak (which is to say: his base identity) has him carrying that huge halberd, going on a frenzy attacking some already mutilated inquisitor's corpse, piercing through Guido's armor and dealing a fatal blow that finally killed him for real. To compare, Stephan is good at physical work, but we don't know about his close combat capacities other than the fact that he dislikes it, for Sinclair however we know he's terrifyingly good at physical combat.

Now, I've seen a lot of people call Sinclair a twink and while it's one of these words that nobody agrees on what it means, let's give it the benefit of doubt and say "alright, for the duration of this analysis let's settle on a twink being a young looking (regardless of actual age), thin man with almost no facial/body hair".

Since Sinclair is a rich guy (not just Any Rich Guy though, we're talking of someone whose family had ties to a Wing, probably not some elite guy like Daniel or Hong Lu, but not a self perceived "mediocre" nest dweller like Samjo either), and pressumably not very experienced in combat in most mirror worlds (we know he has no prior experience in the base one where he joined Limbus, at least), let's say that he has enough body mods for him to be much stronger than he looks like despite being thin, he does look thin and young and much to my dissapointment he also has no facial hair, so yeah, under this very broad definition of the term he is a twink.

However if you start adding personality archetypes to the definition he stops being one almost inmediately, as we've been shown time after time that his "submissive" attitude is mostly a result of him not knowing too well how to impose himself and just going along with what the rest say or do, but he's starting to grow tired of that ever since Hell's Chicken (even if he clearly still isn't great at that), as it should be more than obvious for anyone who even just googled "demian herman hesse literary analysis", Sinclair is undergoing a lot of changes even now, and the game is doing a good job at portraying that.

Honestly I also think he'd be hotter with a sleeper build but really, I don't care enough about him to argue about that.

And for the last point, precisely due to his upbringing as a rich guy AND his traumatic experience with Kromer, Sinclair is not only a very polite and mild mannered guy (again, unlike resident creature Stephan), but also he tries to take as little space as possible, both literally and metaphorically, as Dante notices near the end of canto 3 when they finally comment on how Sinclair never talks about his own problems until it's too late because he doesn't want to bother the others as they probably have it worse (again, unlike Stephan "i don't mind loweing team morale and making everyone in the room uncomfortable as long as i get to vent" Full Stop office).

3.- Adressing common arguments

Alright, now that I talked about each character, let's see some of the most common arguments I've seen people use to compare them.

"They look the same!" No, they don't. The only thing they have in common is being blonde but even their hairstyles are different with Sinclair having a simple bowl-ish cut with slightly wavy hair and Stephan having curlier hair (not to mention the whole point I made about body types because I'm the sort of lunatic who cares about that stuff). I won't even bother with this argument.

"They have the same personalities!" Again, they don't. Stephan is very cynical with a lot of his attitude being clearly derivated from him coming from a poor background and having stayed there his whole life, he also doesn't care about his cynism getting in the way and bothering everyone else. On the other hand, Sinclair is someone who could almost be described as naive due to having lived a sheltered childhood and only having his experiences with Kromer and his time at Limbus as moments of realizing that the rest of the world is Not Like His Childhood House, still believing that the world is a binary of good vs evil and expecting things to turn out fine or be much better than they actually are, just to be hit with the reality of the city Not being a nice place where people are nice and polite and not trying to kill him, this is not to say he doesn't have his own issues but even Dante notices during his Canto that Sinclair makes a point to avoid bothering everyone else with his personal problems, keeping them to himself even if that makes things worse on the long run.

"Both are opposed and harmed by a lunatic!" This is an argument I've seen a lot and is incredibly filmsy at best, half of the city's population are lunatics and the other half are people who got opposed by them some way or another. Will you say that Ishmael and the rest of the Pequod crew can be compared to the Full Stop office (or really, even mention the other Full Stop fixers instead of just focusing on Stephan because he happens to be blonde and can be compared to Sinclair) because of their situations with Ahab? Or the W Corp crew who got their train targetted by Jae-heon and Elena (or, you know, the train passengers who were turned into Love townspeople or puppets)? What about the Vermillion Cross who got killed by the Reverb Ensemble? Or the Cane office fixers? or the Zwei association section 6 who got beaten to death by Gyeong-mi just because he felt like doing so? Or the Liu association section 1 who had to deal with Argalia taking Philip away? Or the Kurokumo clan members when they were attacked by Tanya? You aren't comparing them to either Stephan or Sinclair, right? Not to mention that in her weird and fucked up perception of things, Kromer was less opposed to Sinclair as she was trying to lead him to join her and her cause, even the last things she says before getting killed are her calling him to follow her.

"Both are compared to birds!" Oh, right, because I forgot that a very directed symbolic comparison to a baby bird breaking out of it's shell as a symbol of rebirth, learning about the nuances of the world and self improvement/liberation that is consistently used in the source material Sinclair comes from is exactly the same as one (1) throwaway line the big bad guy uses to mock not only Stephan but the whole Full Stop gang, right. And if you want to say "but Tamaki compares him to a bird once too", yeah she calls him a parrot because he keeps repeating the same complaints over and over, it's still not the same as a consistent metaphor.

"Both are sad blonde twinks! They're essentially the same guy." Sad? Yeah, everyone in the city is sad but their ways to be sad are polar opposites, and neither of them is the pure cinnamon roll uwu crybaby archetype people tend to lump both into, Stephan was merely having a bad day and people decided to make that his whole personality (when honestly we get more insight on his actual personality before Argalia shows up, when he's making sarcastic remarks and getting impatient because they weren't starting killing people fast enough) but he's still perfectly capable (and willing) to murder people, and Sinclair is just... someone who lacks experience about the real world and how it works and has a tendency to get nervous because of this, but he can adapt quickly to situations once he understands them. Blonde? Yeah, but I guess if that's a point to draw a comparison then we should also compare them to Don Quixote, the Tiphereths, Lenny, Yun, Lulu, Olga, every single npc, librarian, and agent who comes with blonde hair from the generator... Twinks? Stephan absolutely isn't one, Sinclair depends on how you define twink as nobody seems to get to an agreement with that, if you define it as merely "young looking thin man with almost no visible body hair" then yeah he is one, but if you go for any more specific definition than that he stops fitting into the definition almost instantly.

In conclusion: if I see anyone else comparing them I'll start blocking people liberally bc I'm sick of seeing that shit (I do that already tbh but just so you know), now scram

#pjm #library of ruina #limbus company #.🔫#this full stop office shit gets serious #probab ly not exhaustive but ive had this sitting on my drafts for way too long so i needed to post it so people understand how much i Hate #that godforsaken comparison

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okayto · 8 months ago

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Mini-Review: Polygon Unraveled

A video series that explores the dangers of taking video game lore and logic too seriously.

Or as others online put it:

A series of viral videos for the gaming website Polygon in which he slowly goes insane while talking about video games.

Brian David Gilbert tries to unravel game lore without losing his grip on reality.

Several years ago, this guy who somehow managed to exude cryptid vibes despite appearing to be the walking embodiment of an excel spreadsheet kept coming across my dash. I gleaned enough info to determine he was a YouTuber and promptly scrolled on.

A couple years later...I'll be honest, I have no idea how I actually came to watch any of this. At some point, someone on tumblr tricked me into watching a completely different channel, which showed me that there is, in fact, entertaining content on YT despite a preponderance of talking heads and intensely parasocial fandoms, and the Almighty Algorithm recommended me a a video with a title I couldn't ignore, probably The Perfect PokéRap.

Host Brian David Gilbert is to all appearances an unassuming besuited nerd with high charisma and an even higher ability to subject himself to mental torments in the form of reading in real life all 333 books in the video game Skyrim, calculating how much money in OSHA fines Mario would owe, and interviewing his mother as part of a mathematical process to determine the Game of the Year...during which she kindly says, "This is a lot of research into things that really have very little meaning."

"A lot of research into things that really have very little meaning" would be a great and accurate tagline. Unraveled tricks you into thinking it's about video game-associated nerdery, but actually refers to Gilbert's mental state.

At any rate, it's easy to see why this garnered attention: it's funny and full of the specific pedantry that fandoms enjoy, taking canon details seriously to their ridiculous conclusions.

The subject is video games, but I haven't play the majority of titles/series/franchises featured and enjoyed it all, so it should be accessible and enjoyable to people who similarly haven't. Clips and brief descriptions of games/gameplay/stories are included when necessary, which for me gave all the context I needed.

Because listen: you do not need to be familiar with any Legend of Zelda games to enjoy the hilarity of Gilbert and a non-gamer coworker trying to recreate 78 recipes from Breath of the Wild using only ingredients listed in the game (that is: very few ingredients). I don't need to know anything about Hideo Kojima or the games he creates (and to this day, I do not) to understand the humor of his character names, because Gilbert explains that particular brand of peculiarity in the course of generating an 11-page form that will help him generate his own similarly-kooky names. There are a minimum of three different song/musical interludes throughout this series that are enjoyable and impressive.

Final comments: Highly recommend. It's accessible and fun even with a very small amount of video game knowledge (the small amount I have via pop culture osmosis) and witty; Gilbert has a talent for spouting great one-liners that contribute to the preponderance of gifs on this website.

Subtitle availability: English captions (not auto-generated) are available!

Where to watch (USA, as of May 2024): A playlist (X) on Polygon's (@Polygon) Youtube channel contains all episodes. Polygon's channel contains literally thousands of other videos, so I recommend using the playlist regardless of whether you watch them all or just a few.

Start watching with: My best recommendation is starting from the beginning using the playlist, with Solving the Zelda Timeline in 15 Minutes, because individual videos are great but it's also fun to watch Gilbert increasingly, well, unravel. But if you want a few videos to sample, I'd start with any of these:

Every Sonic game is blasphemous

The Perfect PokeRap (live convention panel; trust me it's worth watching instead of the PokeRap-only video)

We made all 78 Breath of the Wild recipes in one day

Calculate your pet's HP with my 100% legitimate formula

I used The Sims to perfect my apartment

Status/Frequency: There are 28 videos total, most of which are 15-20 minutes long with only a handful of outliers. The series was released from 2018 to the end of 2020, when he left the company to pursue other projects.

Click my “reviews” tag below or search “mini review” on my blog to find more!

#Polygon Unraveled #Brian David Gilbert #reviews #recommendation #I thought I'd try adding YT to my review roster. What do we think?#I was suspicious of YT for the longest time bc my exposure to 'consistently watching YT' was mostly #'personality-based stuff I don't care about‚ pranks‚ and video game playthroughs'#some anon did in fact trick me into watching a completely different channel several years ago & I'm still going through it

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finniestoncrane · 2 years ago

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Your One True Nemesis

Chapter 17: also on AO3 Masterlist Here Arkham!Riddler x Female!Reader, word count: 2.2k would you believe that coflict and tension really stress me out? and yet... request info • prompt list • send me a request • kofi • masterlist minors DNI!! 🔞 cw: angst, arguing, mean things, aggressive kissing

You woke up in your bed to a headache, the reward for the resounding nightmare that was the night before. Back to normal, you supposed. No more escape. No more relief. No more Mark. Just the inescapable and oddly addictive punishment of being openly disliked by Eddie, a man you still admired and desired for some reason. Nothing to do but to take his criticisms, because they were all you had now.

Stepping into the living area, you slumped down onto the sofa, noticing Eddie at the kitchen table once you had rubbed your bleary eyes and were awake enough to take in your surroundings. He looked up at you over his coffee and book, offering no expression or words, and then returned his gaze to his reading. He had nothing to say to you, not yet at least. While he was happy that you had moaned his name, he was still irritated that you’d even let someone else put their filthy hands all over you. Or… not someone else. Just someone.

Cursing himself, he forced the thought to remain before pushing it away. There was no point in lying, he had to be honest with himself now. The evidence was there, and only an idiot could ignore it for much longer. He wasn’t bothered because you allowed just anyone to kiss you, to touch you. You lived with him, and he was clearly the superior stock. Why weren’t you begging him to touch you? Why wouldn’t you let him do that? And why did he want to? But, of course he knew the answer. To all of those questions. It was impossible though, and ridiculous, and he refused to admit it. Which infuriated him all the more. You had him questioning himself, and his intelligence. Unable to listen to his own brain.

Eddie gripped his coffee mug, knuckles white with tension, and glared at you, not realising when you had caught his eye until you questioned him.

“You good?”

You had noticed his stare from the sofa, and it concerned you. There was nothing you could think of that you had done wrong since getting up. Nothing you had done wrong, that he knew of, last night. So the intense, hate-filled stare made you worry more than usual. You weren’t sure you could take his insults this early in the morning. Not yet, anyway. Not while you were still hurting from Mark. Not while your heart was heavy with the realisation that the choice between him and Eddie had been made for you, and that the option you were settling for might not be the right one.

“No. I’m not good. I was having a pleasant breakfast until…”

“Until?”

“Until you interrupted me.”

“Oh my god, it is eight in the morning. I can’t do this so early.”

“Do what? Take criticism? Behave normally?”

You looked into his eyes, maintaining the stoic silence in the face of his jibes, the way he was obviously trying to goad you into an argument.

“Very well. You can apologise later. But by that point I will be fully awake, and so I’m afraid I won’t go as easy on you. I might not even accept your futile attempts at reconciliation. I might instead unleash the full force of my fury. Of course, you could just sit there like a good girl and take your punishment, and then apologise…”

Your whole body tensed, a holy coursing through your veins and up your spine at the words. It was comforting, horrendously so, to know that you still held feelings for him. But you kept still and quiet, much to his dismay.

“Fine. But the likelihood of you running to your room in tears as usual increases exponentially with each minute that goes by where my irritation must remain tethered and without apology. And when I use exponentially, my dear, I use it correctly. Not that you would know.”

Despite the fact that you were still reeling from his comments, you could feel your rage building up. It wasn’t the day for it. You were still wrestling with the difficult residual emotions from last night with Mark. The last thing you needed was for Eddie to give you grief over nothing, and worse than that, to let yourself be dragged down with him.

To Eddie, though, this wasn’t an argument over nothing. He was jealous, and angry because of it. And his inability to accept how he felt, or god forbid tell you about those feelings, meant he had decided there were no other options but to divert that rage for himself at you. Berating you was par for the course, it was what was familiar to him now, and to you. So, unless he wanted you to catch on to him, he had to keep things as normal as possible.

Staring at you, he tutted, opening his mouth to speak. But you interrupted him before he could get a word out.

“Eddie. I’m warning you. This is not the day. This is not the time. If you start something with me, I’m not sure I’ll be able to hold myself back.”

Smiling with cruel intrigue, he placed his mug down on the table and tented his fingers in front of him.

“My, my! You’re actually going to attempt to best me? Very well. But know that insulting you is like shooting very stupid fish in a very small barrel.”

“Oh, of course. I imagine it is. You’re very good at making me feel small.”

“I am, aren’t I? My finest work. My masterpiece. Is that what you consider yourself? Do you think under my tutelage that you’ve become brave and clever enough to even attempt to best me?”

Eddie watched as your face fell, eyes wet with the threat of tears. Suddenly, his rage paled in comparison to the sickening empathy he felt for you. Even if he wanted to force the feelings into the back of his mind, there was no denying them. And admittedly, as pleasant as it was to relieve some of the tension he held by letting his anger out, it was only hurting him further. To be the one who made you feel that way, to make you cry. Perhaps he’d pushed you into someone else’s hands. Expertly, of course, but unintentionally.

So, instead of continuing to irritate and berate you, he stood up from the table and walked away. No explanation needed, he felt. He was content to end the conversation with no resolution. Watching him slinking into his office, you felt you should have been grateful for the abrupt end to your abuse, but by that point you had decided that you weren’t going to take it lying down anymore. You were angry. Angry at Eddie, and at Mark, and at yourself. Someone deserved to take the brunt of it. Taking a leaf out of Eddie’s book, you decided he would be the one to take it.

Opening the door quickly after he had just closed it, you stood in front of his desk. He was taken by surprise, suddenly shaken from his thoughts. His rumination over why he couldn’t be nice to you, despite his desperation to do so, was interrupted by your presence. Eddie narrowed his eyes at you, raising an eyebrow in anticipation. He waited patiently for you to speak, scoffing derisively at what you had to say when you finally plucked up the conversation to say it.

“Fuck you, Eddie.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said fuck you.”

“Yes. Well, is that all?”

“No. It’s not.”

He sighed, looking up at you. He was afraid to stop you. This was more than you usually spoke to him, and with more passion than what he was used to. He had been worried he’d broken you. This bout of bravery made his chest tighten, his palms sweating as he watched you steady your breathing before you continued.

“You need to… get a grip. You need to control yourself. I don’t know if you’re stressed or upset, god knows I am. But there are… other ways, better ways of calming yourself down than hurling infantile insults at me. So… shut up. Just. Shut up, or I swear…”

“I see. So you’re going to start a fight with me? Dish it out as good as you get it? I’m not allowed to insult you, but you’re going to threaten to be just as mean back. Does that make sense to you?”

“Yep. If that’s what it takes. I think we can get along. I think there are better ways of clearing the air. But if that’s how you want to play it then… so be it. What’s stopping you now? Let’s go.”

Standing up, Eddie paced slowly around his desk until he was standing in front of you.

“Are you even sure you’re capable of handling that?”

“Not particularly. But I’m willing you let you hurt me if it means I finally find the courage to attempt to hurt you. To tell you exactly how I feel.”

“And… how do you feel?”

There was something about the way he asked, softer than his usual tone. Genuine curiosity behind the words. You wanted to tell him everything, all of the truth. But right now, you wanted to scream at him. Letting him know your anger felt more important in the moment.

“I feel angry. I feel trapped.”

“Hm, trapped in an opportunity? Trapped in… free housing?”

You shook your head, laughing incredulously.

“Trapped with a lunatic! With a giant baby who can’t express his feelings and doesn’t know when enough is enough, despite claiming to know everything!”

Eddie took a step towards you, and you defiantly stood your ground.

“And I suppose for me this is like a pleasant vacation? Or is it more along the lines of me having to adjust my living space and routines to an imbecile who is constantly in my personal space and is incapable of doing the job she was hired to do?”

“Maybe it’s impossible to meet your ridiculous standards? Did you ever think that? Maybe that’s why no one can tolerate you, and no one has ever been able to? No friends. No family. No one. I was willing to… I could have been… just… But no! Because you-”

Eddie could feel the words that got stuck in your throat, the things you left unsaid revealing more to him. He could piece it together. That you cared. Or you had at one point. And it was unknown to him if it was too late to claw back some of the early admiration you had displayed. He wouldn’t be much of a curious man if he didn’t at least attempt to find the definitive answer though.

Stepping closer now, his nose practically against yours, his breath hissed. Spit frothed behind his gritted teeth as he tried to figure out what he was doing, or what he was going to do. You waited with bated breath for his final blow. He opened his mouth, lips curling, trembling almost. The words were right there, but they weren’t coming.

Instead of speaking, he brought his mouth to yours, his fingers gripping at your forearms, drifting to your back, his arms wrapped around you. He was holding you, no strong emotion you could place, as though there were a hundred attached, keeping you in place. He was vamping, trying to distract you maybe? As though he were unsure what to do or say.

You gasped, placing your hands against his chest. You had assumed you were going to push him away, but you found yourself gripping at his shirt, holding him to you. You made the mistake of letting loose a soft moan, almost imperceptible. Eddie suddenly pulled back, staring at you with wide and terrified eyes. He really didn’t know what to say or do. And neither did you. You just stared back at him, mouth slightly open. It was too much, far too much to take in. Eventually, Eddie found it in him to speak.

“I didn’t mean that.”

He was enraged. Those weren’t the words he wanted to say. But they were the first ones his brain managed to force out.

“Of course not.”

You turned, walking away from him. In a daze, you made your way to the work room with every intention of starting your day normally now. You hoped you might be able to pretend like nothing had happened before now. That you hadn’t kissed Eddie, that neither of you had held the other against them as though you never wanted them to let go. Because the concept of that, of what had just transpired between you… It was out of your intellectual grasp, as Eddie might have said. Walking away seemed like the safest option. You should have done that in the first place. When he tried to argue with you in the living area. When you’d first stepped foot into the sewers. When you had met him face to face. You should have walked away.

#finnie writes #arkham riddler #arkham edward nigma #riddler x reader #arkhamverse riddler #the riddler #arkhamverse #riddler #the riddler imagine #riddler smut #the riddler fanfic #riddler fanfic #riddler x you #edward nigma x reader #edward nigma #arkham!riddler #the riddler fanfiction #arkham!verse #finnie yotn

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queerfables · 9 months ago

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911 season 6 liveblog part 3

6x12

I love this scene with Wendall carefully pulling down Bobby's walls. I'm keen to see more Bobby content (tbh every character they ever focus on I'm like "Yeah! More of this please!" because they have great characters and always nail the character driven stuff

Oh shit Wendall checked himself in to try and help the people in there? Oh no

Buckley siblings taking care of each other T_T

Lmfao @ Josh being like "did I get my time wrong?"

Oh no cute Buck is hiding from Maddie's check ups at Eddie's

AND THEN HE IMMEDIATELY FALLS ASLEEP THAT'S SO CUTE

Jesus this is an extremely fucked frame up job

Is it bad that I feel a lot more chill about Bobby being arrested than I might otherwise on account of he's married to a cop?

Aw, Buck is fucked up about almost dying. Hugs for him.

6x13

Buck got maths superpowers? That's hilarious and amazing

Yeah so this is why you can't help kids lie to their parents

But it's kind of fair of Denny to be upset when he was just in a car accident and his dad is in surgery. This is was maybe not the right way to approach that conversation.

Oh God I hope this lady who lied about being Maddie and Chimney's neighbour isn't going to try and take Jee-Yun

Are Buck and Eddie on a date??

Why are they all dressed up together this is so cute

Buck is suddenly a poker genius this is fun

Oh Eddie is so into it

Karen giving voice to my exact thoughts, Nathaniel should have told them!!

Okay this is getting ridiculous are they not allowed to say the word vibrator on network TV or something?

Buck do NOT call women you haven't spoken to in years to ask them if they were sexually satisfied for fucks sake

I would love to hear what Taylor has to say though she would be so mean about it

6x14

Chimney trying to get back on track to his Guiding Light speech about Bobby xD

Robbie!!

Jesus Christ I knew something bad was going to happen to productivity obsessed boss but I still was not prepared for how awful it was gonna be

Nobody but Athena could make citing legalese sound so dramatic and moving

Lmfao "how about this book?" and the tiny child shaking her head dramatically

Aw Bobby sent Chimney to the academy to get Robbie back that's soft

6x15

Wait are they trying to resuscitate the corpse

Oh I see she's not dead

A living funeral. Huh.

Awww Buck is hitting it off with the end of life doula

I wonder if Maddie and Chimney are being audited because they filed taxes as individuals but they're actually a defacto couple

For fucks sake what happened to no info they don't ask for. Guys come on.

Omg did Athena's collar fake his death??? Amazing

There is no way it can by true that getting married has such a major impact on your taxes. Where I live, there isn't really a difference between marriage and defacto relationships. Can that be true??? America is bizarre

I am rapidly catching up on this show and I'm not sure if I'm ready for that

6x16

Hen and Chimney got arrested?? Lmfao!!!

Lmfao everyone is planning the wedding even before Chimney proposes

Watch that child with the ring please

"You guys realise you're just pitching potential calls right?"

Oh no Hen and Buck are on opposite sides of the should Chimney propose question that's bad

Lol one of these characters of the week randomly has the exact first and last name as an ex boyfriend of mine

I bet the kid is at the book shop

Oh I get why Hen and Chimney were arrested now.

Lmfao of course it's gone

I'm pretty sure Jee has the ring and that Maddie is gonna find it and propose to him because that would be so cute

Oh Hen you're so worried about him

This was probably not the way to tell him though

LMFAO Athena stopping Chimney from saying her name so she doesn't have to arrest him for real

Little Jee's cute babbles as she wanders around

"Tiger tiger tiger!" "Is that a carrot?" So true.

#911 abc

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isthedogawolfdog · 1 year ago

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Do you have any posts with sources on the wolf eradication in North America? I've been interested in why otherwise smart people could make such a stupid ecological mistake, and whether or not they benefited from it.

Also, could someone observing at the time have predicted that the coyotes would take their place and would be more resilient and invasive

This post lists several books that could be of interest regarding the persecution of wolves in North America! I’d recommend most of Rick McIntyre’s of course, but specifically War Against the Wolf by him might be helpful since it has info and sources all the way to the 1600’s. Though I will warn you, people hate wolves, so it can be a bit graphic. If your not looking for books I think the International Wolf Center (wolf.org) might help too.

Regarding people predicting the effect coyotes would have, there probably were people who knew coyotes would be more resilient, but they were probably either scientists or the indigenous. I don’t know about invasive though as coyotes aren’t invasive to, well anywhere in North America really. If there were people who mentioned eradicating wolves would be a bad idea they would either be a) mocked and ridiculed or b) completely silent. Pretty sure the first mention of bringing wolves back was only a decade or two after they were all gone in the USA, maybe less. This was of course from scientists and was shot down by the government and public. Coyotes themselves have a reproduction pattern in the wild slightly different than wolves which is what made them so badass hard to destroy, that and something else but I can’t recall at the moment.

#wolves #wolf #coyote #coyotes #ask

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bookish-monster · 2 years ago

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RECOMMENDATION

Love, Laugh, Lich

by Kate Prior - find her on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok as well

The storygraph link contains info such as publication date, number of pages, community-created content warnings, and more.

Love, Laugh, Lich is the first installment of the Claws and Cubicles series, and it completely stole my reliquary—I mean, heart. First of all, the situation is absolutely hilarious: a lich takes over the realm, instituting an Evil Dominion o’er all, and yet… people still go to work! There are office jobs! Lily, the human protagonist and the lich’s personal assistant, complains about a lack of PTO and shitty severance packages alongside the virgin sacrifices that the Lich Lord demands! It’s wild and utterly ridiculous and I truly enjoyed every moment of the sheer incongruity of it all. Look at this quote:

[The lich is] pacing the lower inner level of the Sanctum, the ritual floor. It’s drawn up in runes and incantation circles, with all his most-used ingredients lined up near the edges, and an altar for sacrifices in the center. "And there’s the initiative to bring more women in the STEM fields. That’s Sneakiness, Traumatization, Evil Studies, and Misfortune," I trail off...

It’s so corny and silly that I can’t help but love it. It feels like corporate D&D with the absurdity of the setting, almost, but with an office romance twist. This is one of those books where I learned almost nothing about the FMC outside of her interactions with the love interest, but I was weirdly okay with it because the setup was so outlandish and fun. Anyway, I truly did enjoy Lily as a protagonist. Usually I don’t jive much with first person POV, but I liked Lily’s. She is, of course, rather disconnected from reality and potentially crazy—it’s not wanting to jump a lich’s bones (ha) that makes me say so, but the fact that she has a continent-sized crush on her boss and agrees to sleep with him for work. FOR WORK! Girl…

Janice, Lily’s best friend and the company’s HR manager, is the voice of reason here (and potentially the FMC of the next installment of this series) but she is sadly—or perhaps happily?—ignored by Lily in favor of Soven (the lich) and his trifecta of cocks. You heard me right: trifecta. Soven has three dicks (one of them dedicated to clitoral stimulation) and he isn’t afraid to use them. Lily is a big fan, as am I. Soven is also a bit of a dork, which is super endearing given that he has enough undead magical power to (probably) level a city block without breaking a sweat.

I actually liked the conflict in this little novella. You can read the entire story in a few hours, but it feels appropriately sized—not too grand, but also not cramped. The story was (to quote Goldilocks) just right for what it was trying to do. The fact that sleeping with one’s boss is generally considered a bad idea all around, even in the real world, was acknowledged heartily—Lily agonizes over her feelings and Soven’s feelings and what the boundary is between “work” and “a relationship” and honestly it’s a whole mess of emotions that ordinarily I would find tedious… but because the novella is so short, the miscommunication and pining and angst didn’t get drawn out even close to the border of my patience, and I had a great time.

The ending is very cute and a definite HEA that I found very sweet without being cavity-inducing in its intensity. The sex scenes were fun and varied, and as someone who prefers more lavish, drawn-out sex scenes I was reasonably satiated with these. Overall, Love, Laugh, Lich was a great, funny rom-com, and I’m looking forward to picking up the next book in the series as soon as my next paycheck comes in.

Buy this book on Amazon Kindle (US)

#monster lover #monster romance #terato #book lover #bookblr #monster smut #human x monster #monster love #book recommendation

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theyraylovehate · 2 years ago

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Hey yall! So this is a bit different from my normal posts but I was think why not try?

So I'm looking for someone that might want to do a one-on-one roleplay! I am open to homemade or fandom-based ones with anyone of any gender identity!

This is going to be alot of info but this is me just putting everything that I can think of that might interest someone!

Gender/Preferences

So I tend to play more AFAB/feminine characters because I am nonbinary but I do have experience playing male presenting characters. I'm open to whatever gender you would like to play! Male, female, nonbinary, Trans, ect. Whatever you are comfortable with I'm down with!

Fandoms/Homemade plots

For fandom based plots I am a bit more picky especially if you are wanting to follow closely to the plot. I personally need to be confident in the show/movie/book unless you want to base the plot off of an idea from it, for example taking the idea of Camp Halfblood from the Percy Jackson series and building our own world around it.

Fandoms I'm 100% comfortable with role-playing:

Marvel

DC (including young justice)

Maze Runner

Harry Potter/Marauders Era

Riverdale

Stranger Things

Divergent

The Umbrella Academy

Greek Mythology

X-Men

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead Game

IT (2017)

Desendants

The Hunger Games

*List is subject to change, roleplay may differ between book and movie adaptations*

As of pairings, I tend to do OCxOC or OCxCanon where we would play eachother's crushes. I usually avoid CanonXCanon.

Homemade

I have done way to many homemade roleplays to count so I have come to find I prefer certain genres.

Genres I am comfortable with:

High fantasy

Modern fantasy

Dystopian

Sci-fi

Historical

And of course if you have another genre you like, you are more than welcome to bring it up, this is simply what I find myself doing the most and enjoying.

Triggers/Warnings

Triggers and Warnings will be discussed prior to beginning the planning stages. These are very important to me in keeping not only my partner but myself safe and comfortable.

My personal triggers:

Any sort of noncon

Explicit talk of r*pe (besides in a coming out way)

Warnings:

Warnings are anything that would be considered something that you would mention at the beginning of a piece that you think is important for your reader to know.

Any warnings I list below that I am comfortable with role-playing are 100% optional and if any conflict with your triggers they will be scrapped.

Warnings I am comfortable with adding:

Self harm/suicidal thoughts

Eating disorders

Sexual acts (consensual)

Sever Angst

Depression/Anxiety disorders

Mental disorders

Violence/Gore

Writing Style

I don't give a set length I'm expecting a person to write to that's ridiculous. All I want is for the lengths of our messages to somewhat match to a reasonable extent. I.E. if I send a two paragraph message, I'm expecting more than a sentence. I've had to carry roleplays before and it's not the most enjoyable experience for me.

I am comfortable with writing in first or third perspective, whichever feels appropriate for the roleplay at hand. We just need to agree with one another on which one we will be using.

Character/World building

I'm very big on character and world building, especially with a homemade plot. As of characters, I want to be able to either see or visualize in my mind what they look like and how they're acting within the roleplay so I go into some pretty deep character building.

For world building, with Fandom based plots we simply need to agree if we will be following the plot of the show/movie/book or if we will be vering off on our own path.

Homemade plots I tend to delve deeper into. I want to create a well rounded world that we can shape and mold as we please. When a world and bland and flat, it can be hard to take it in the directions we want.

I hope this interests someone! If you are, please message me on here or at discord at ray.4602

My time zone is CST so I may not get back to you right away but I will!

#roleplay #looking for roleplay #roleplay partner wanted #roleplay partner search #roleplay partner needed

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lady-snowbl00d · 1 year ago

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Undisclosed Desires & Power Plays (2/?)

Coriolanus Snow x OC Warnings~ This chapter has none. Future chapters will be spicy smutty.

This chapter - No Coryo, just OC and a friend. Character info/development and stuff.

About ~ Post-TBOSAS. Takes place when Snow is Head Gamemaker and he has to work with someone who doesn't exactly like him. Enemies-to-enemies with weird shit going on. If you want me to continue or tag you in future chapters please reblog or comment! Just please let me know if you like this. Also: First chapter is posted on ao3

....

Demetria Fontaine was lying on the sofa in her library, reading one of her friend Lyla's books from the Academy. She remembered some of the material herself. She had her legs draped over the arm of the chair, happy to be lounging around after a long day.

Today was dreadful.

They had been already preparing for the next games, and Demetria, obliging as she was to her duties, had done as she always did. She ensured everything was working as it should in the control room and on the floor where they all worked. She kept analytics and helped devise the beautiful traps and treacheries. That was the part she was not so good at. The creativity. Which is why she had been appointed to numbers, data, the mechanisms of it all.

She had done well, and yet she was called to Coriolanus Snow’s office to be disciplined in the most passive-aggressive of manners. Because nothing was straightforward in the Capitol. In this world.

He expected her to do more. Do better. Snow, who was practically her age. Who only recently acquired any status. Boy, did he revel in it. She saw it today, more than ever, when he wasted her time. Bit into an apple and kept her there like a plaything. As if he were better than her. Cold and calculated he had looked at her, though he offered the calmest of smiles and gazes. Of course. What was he without such pleasantries.

He was a snake, like the rest of them. Like her own bloodline. Pretty and selfish and manipulative. Otherwise, he would not have climbed his way to his position so quickly.

“So how are your studies going?” she asked her friend, as she realized her thoughts had strayed from the reading material. Lyla was in front of Demetria's computer. She would come here when she needed to do some schoolwork.

“Honestly? I’m a little overwhelmed. I have all these reports to finish, and my mother doesn’t stop hounding me about finding work. Roger, God I love him, he tries to help, but -”

Roger was Lyla's long-time boyfriend, and although not exactly very resourceful, he seemed kind and genuine. She hoped for her friend's sake - her friend, who was something like a little sister to her - that he really was.

“Lyla-"

“Maybe I shouldn't be studying at all. We need the money-”

“That's ridiculous. You know I could help,” Demetria interrupted, placing down the book and crossing her arms.

“You know I don’t want that,” Lyla sighed.

“But then what are friends for?” Demetria joked. “I’m kidding. But really. You don’t have to suffer. It wouldn’t hurt to take my help.”

“I know, Dee. I just feel weird about it. This is enough. You just having me here...” she pondered, typing up something on the computer.

“Fine. At least let me finish one of your reports,” she leaned over on her stomach and nudged her friend gently on the shoulder.

Lyla sighed in defeat.

“Fine,” she rolled her eyes, and stood, switching seats with her friend. “It’s due Monday. Don’t make it sound too…fancy or anything. Remember It’s my first year. It should seem like it.”

“You make it seem as if I can’t be convincing. Relax, I know exactly how I need to make it sound.”

Demetria sat in front of the computer, seeing what Lyla was working on. Something about ethics in advancements in weaponry. Very on the nose for the University. Predictable. She read over Lyla’s work so far, corrected some errors.

“How was work today by the way?” said Lyla.

“Fine,” Demetria shrugged as she typed away. Then she spared a glance at her friend, who was now lounging on the seat enjoying a cup of coffee. “Well, actually, it was a bit of an annoying day. I got called into Snow’s office."

"Snow?"

"Yes, our Head Gamemaker. I felt like I was in the Academy again getting called to the office.”

Which had happened a few times. Luckily, by the time she had reached the University, she had learned to keep a lower profile and improved conduct.

“Except the 'professor' in this case is barely older than I am. Good God. It’s ridiculous. And since when do Head Gamemakers have a private office?” she went on.

"What?"

"Yes. He didn't have one last year. This year, a whole pretty office."

“Well, what happened? Why did he call you in?” said Lyla. She was always so interested in what went on in the planning stages of the Games, and Demetria worried she almost admired it all.

“Honestly I have no idea. Something tells me our Gamemaker creates problems in his own mind.”

She turned a page from Lyla’s book on the desk too quickly and the paper cut her a little.

“Ow,” she winced and sucked some of the blood.

“Well, he probably knows people talk about him. There must be rumors…” Lyla said.

“Yes. Well, I don’t talk much about him...I think he is…” she waved a hand in the air. “Telling me to work harder. Something like that. Threatening me to do so. He's done that before with some others.”

“Hm…That’s not weird at all.”

Demetria laughed.

“That’s how these people are. They like to keep people on the edge. After all, we live in a place that makes children pay for the sins of their fathers.”

Lyla remained silent.

“So what do you want to do?” she said. “In the future?”

“My parents want me to continue work in the Capitol. Move my way up to the cabinet to show I am more than deserving of my place,” she scoffed a little. “I reckon if they couldn’t pay my way there, my parents would have me sleep with the President to get there.”

Even though she was of age she knew she was still immature, a child entirely under her parent's control.

“Demetria – don’t say that,” Lyla said shocked.

Maybe it was shocking to Lyla, hardworking but a little sheltered. Though she could say the same about herself, Demetria knew her parents had no limits to how they would use their children. She doubted anyone here did.

#coriolanus snow x oc #coriolanus x oc #fanfic

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jenzel · 1 year ago

Note

As someone who really likes the new Hunger Games movie, I'm actually really curious to hear why you didn't like it, if you're okay with answering that

HI HELLO

No actually thanks for asking because tbh I didn't give it a fair shake in that post, usually I would have rambled in the notes a bit more SO

Disclaimer: I didn't read the book.

also I'm just some guy

Things I loved, no notes:

Rachel Zegler is an actual Star and I want to go and watch everything she's been in now. Her voice is incredible and fully sold the impact of the character.

Things I loved, some notes:

Premise and plot - I was really really intrigued by the idea of seeing an early form of the Hunger Games, like I would actually just read a massive essay on the history of them and also how they work on every single level (and may have been binge-watching the Tales of The Hunger Games series on youtube). I kind of don't care about some critiques of how plausible or not plausible the entire setup of Panem is because it's consistent within the narrative and it's a Neat Idea, which gives it some immunity from worldbuilding logic.

So, with all that being said, I was left a bit wanting.

My main issue, which I've had with a LOT of high-budget high-concept stuff recently, is that it all still felt sort of cheap and rushed - outfits and sets didn't really look lived in, I felt like a lot of scenes could have benefitted from more interesting dialogue and shot choices. Maybe something to disguise the very necessary info dumping and exposition in the way that the OG did so elegantly. Maybe I'll go back and really highlight some specific things (like whyyyy did the scene introducing the rainbow snakes feel so... not tense at all) but every time I got on board with the movie it seemed determined to throw me off. I might stop with this particular bit of critique now because I feel like if I'm not going to go and do a proper breakdown then it's unfair.

Costumes - Of course the costumes slap. They gotta. I saw some people weren't keen on Lucy Gray's dress but I don't care it was cute, maybe I've got bad taste. I will add that unfortunately all the other tributes and a good portion of the rest of the cast completely failed to imprint on me in any way, and the samey styling contributed to that. Actually add this to my point above, where were the supporting characters who stuck as vividly in my memory and attention as Effie, Haymitch, Rue, Gale or Cinna?? Maybe I can't name all the 74th Hunger Games tributes off the top of my head but I can picture a lot of them, they felt distinct enough for the screentime they had.

Volumnia can stay, Viola Davis had the most fun on screen of all time.

And as much as I did love the costuming, and as much as I would also put Hunter Schafer in incredible outfits all day if I had the opportunity, the Whole Idea of some of these characters were smothered by their cool wardrobes. I'm not buying that the Snow family are in an absolutely DIRE situation when Tigris has a new outfit for every appearance (she COULD have, like if we were given the impression that she was altering and making new outfits herself!!). I'm not seeing Corolianus's obsession with saving face, with presenting the image he wants to present, I'm not seeing his too-tight shoes I'm just being told that they are.

Onto one last point, maybe.

Things I was completely eh about:

Corolianus - ehhhhh. Some friends told me that the internal monologue you have access to in the book is a massive part of his characterization and I'm going to take their word for it. Prose is a ridiculously powerful way to get inside a character's head.

So I'm going to have to assume that he was more memorable in the book, because I'm really not sure what I was supposed to take away from his story... and not in a cool ambiguous interpretation way. He felt overwhelmingly just There.

That's everything I can think of right now!

#hunger games fans please don't read this I know nothing #I don't even go here #prin you're the exception because you Asked #and also I hope this is okay!! honestly I feel like you'd be able to say much more interesting things about this movie

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theadventurerslog · 2 years ago

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King's Quest VI: Heir Today Gone Tomorrow | Part 3

The Adventurer’s Log

King’s Quest VI: Heir Today Gone Tomorrow Part 3

Time for more Isle of Wonder! And another conversation with good ol' Jollo.

There are a number of things to deal with on this screen: the baby plants-baby tears, the tomatoes, the snapdragons, the wallflowers up in the right corner there beside the gate, the hole in the wall beside them and on the left side of the gate, clinging vines.

After some general examination of things I went for the tomatoes first, specifically the grumpy tomato on the ground there.

Of course I wasn't gonna let this ol' rotten tomato sit and rot alone. Into then inventory he went, where you can still talk to him.

That's a healthy adventurer's inventory, sir! One more item and I'll have to scroll!

I then took a peek at the hole in the wall, or rather, through the hole in the wall.

The land beyond the gate: a giant wavy chessboard.

I wasn't quite ready to go through the gate yet though. First I talked to the clinging vines. They just want to "LIKed" and "HUGged" and can't go anywhere because they're clinging vines, not exactly mobile. If you try to touch them... well, they cling.

Clung to death...

After reloading I attempted to pick up the hole in the wall, but it darts to a spot behind the wallflowers. The wallflowers are naturally shy and cluster together when you get close so you can't take the hole. And the snapdragons snap threateningly at you for bothering the wallflowers too.

So, for now, I moved on beyond the gate to Chessboard Land as informed by the guarding knights.

Very quickly said queens arrive but they're in the midst of an argument over who shall get to have a lump of coal to gift to the vizier and the princess for their wedding present.

Some important info here in regards to the singing stone as we've been told that the treasures of the Green Isles had been stolen, starting all the feuding between the islands. Well, that and arguing the virtues of coal versus a spoiled egg as presents for the vizier (and the princess, sorry Cassima?) has its own entertainment.

They try to get Alexander to decide but he avoids the whole thing with attempted diplomacy stating he's partial to both red AND white and is sorry, but afraid he can't solve their problem. One of them will have to be gracious and let the other have the coal.

They think that's a 'ridiculously stupid idea.' and hop back away down the road, though not before Red drops her scarf.

Of course the scarf can be taken and if you try to give it to the knights they inform you that the Red Queen is always dropping her scarfs and thinks it's fashionable, so just be honoured and keep it.

Sadly, you can never go further into Chessboard Land. I know there's only so much a game can have, but it's right there! So tantalizingly close.

There wasn't much more I could do on this island with what I had so I popped back to town. My main goal was the pawn shoppe to get the flute next, but I stopped first at the book shop because I remembered there was a book on the owner's counter I never tried to get.

Turns out it was good I stopped by because Jollo was back again too. Talking to him I learned that wedding proclamations have gone up. Jollo gives a little more info about the vizier--that Abdul Alhazred had first come around 15 years ago and wormed his way into the king's trust. Alexander is concerned for Cassima's safety and Jollo wasn't entirely reassuring in not knowing if she'd be safe or not though figured the vizier would rather keep her as wife. However, he's the sort who would use her to his best advantage.

As for the book:

It's a book of spells. The shopkeeper wants another book in trade. So, I'll need to find something of interest to trade for it. Alexander's got another bout of incidental wizardry coming his way I suppose.

At the pawn shoppe I ran into the robed 'man'--clear by now who he really is after that scene with the vizier and Shamir--getting mad that the candy dish is empty. No more mint for him and he stomps out.

I traded the mechanical nightingale back for the flute--not before attempting to trade the rotten tomato only to get a message that it wouldn't appreciate being traded at a pawn shop. I tried some of my other items as well for various denials from the shop keeper.

Outside, I found one of the wedding proclamations:

Wedding and coronation oh my. Not looking so good for Alexander's crush here, or poor Cassima.

I went back to the Isle of Wonder because it's time to get that hole in the wall, not that I have any purpose for the hole in the wall right now, but when you see a thing to be gotten you get that thing! It'll be needed later.

I put the flute to use!

With the wallflowers busy in their dance I was able to pick up the hole.

I then realized I'd miss a route from the beach where the horrible gnomes were and that took me to this place.

Books, books, books! But first I checked out that web with the big spider.

A very uh, flirtatious spider, but also there's parchment in that web. If you try to touch anything though she comes over and bites you and Alexander racks up another death. A widow after all...

I wasn't quite sure what to do here just yet, so let things be for now.

Instead I tried poking at all those book only to draw the ire of their owner, the book worm.

We need a rare book to trade for the spell book at the book shop, and this certainly seems to be the place to get one. Despite what the book worm says here, he is willing to trade for something interesting enough. Such as

or an idiosyncrasy among other things I didn't have. Alexander could only refuse each of them while two others fellows popped up to to chime in, but we are assured not to pay them any mind.

Did I mention I love the Isle of Wonders? I love the Isle of Wonders. So much silliness like this here.

There wasn't much more I could do here for the moment but I realized that while I saw the lettuce in the screen with all the flowers, but forgot to pick any up. It's icy cold lettuce, iceberg lettuce perhaps.

And there's that boiling pool at the Isle of the Beast. Yeah I went back, tossed the lettuce in and it became cool enough to get though, although still hot enough to be uncomfortable. Alexander was doing the hot hot hot jumpy walk through it. But on the other side I found both an old hunter's lamp and this fellow.

He didn't trust me at first but once I gave him that string of words he was ready to talk. And, indeed, he is a dangling participle who flew from home and got lost. He let me pick him and I went a little further down the path to here.

And a not at all suspicious gardener who's certainly not a genie trying to lure Alexander to another untimely demise. That would and has never happened already. Drowning, what drowning? Those statues are totally safe.

Yeah, of course I went for it and got killed. I got rewarded with a groaner.

Anyway, if you leave instead he gets mad and disappears in a poof of smoke. Yep, nothing weird there at all.

I went back to the book worm who was very happy to see the dangling participle returned and gave me a rare book of riddles. One page was torn that had Alexander very fascinated by what the question and answer were. But, we need that spell book so I went back and traded it in at the bookshop. The spell book has three spells all requiring various ingredients, much like the third game, but all things I don't have yet. The spells are Make Rain, Magic Paint Spell and Charm the Creatures of the Night.

I still had that black widow to deal with so I tried one more time and found there was a thread of web to pull that unravels some of her web causing her to go over to the hole. Unfortunately, I took too long to grab the parchment while she was distracting and got poisoned and killed by her again. I think that was my first accidental death in this game.

I was successful the second time and the scrap looked like it was from the riddle book, but only had the answer: Love. Then it was blown away but Alexander committed it to memory--given his current lovesick situation, an easy thing to do.

With the Isle of Wonders tied up for now (more to come in future!) I'll end it here. I'll probably go further into the Isle of the Beast next time, since I already went part way.

Points: 76/231 Deaths: 8 Time: 3:11

#king's quest #king's quest VI #heir today gone tomorrow #KQVI #KQVI_Log #sierra #adventure games

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