#its still enjoyable

[biohazard-inevitable]

“So what’d you do over winter break?”

Got through 2 one piece arcs why

[chloesimaginationthings]

What comic is the bottom left image of springtrap from? (On the post where you say why you draw him blocky)

It’s from this comic!! A very normal father son reunion

Og post here

[lilybug-02]

Eimmet High...temmiE high. OMG!

Part 28 || First || Previous || Next

--Full Series--

Next update may take...much longer! I have finals and an internship and not to mention I have to draw- A LOT :')

[fvedyetor]

merry christmas 🎀

[sketchy-tour]

OH WHATS THIS??? A MAN I HAVENT DRAWN IN, LIKE, A YEAR???

Yea remember when I originally was a sun and moon artist for two seconds? Legit popped into the fandom and then disappeared. Lmao

Anyway drew this on a magma with pals! Was kinda relaxing to doodle this dork again! Oh man I...really need to actually watch Help Wanted 2! Hadn't gotten a chance to!

[hauntingofhouses]

Very interesting to me that a certain subset of the BES fandom's favourite iterations of Mizu and Akemi are seemingly rooted in the facades they have projected towards the world, and are not accurate representations of their true selves.

And I see this is especially the case with Mizu, where fanon likes to paint her as this dominant, hyper-masculine, smirking Cool GuyTM who's going to give you her strap. And this idea of Mizu is often based on the image of her wearing her glasses, and optionally, with her cloak and big, wide-brimmed kasa.

And what's interesting about this, to me, is that fanon is seemingly falling for her deliberate disguise. Because the glasses (with the optional combination of cloak and hat) represent Mizu's suppression of her true self. She is playing a role.

Take this scene of Mizu in the brothel in Episode 4 for example. Here, not only is Mizu wearing her glasses to symbolise the mask she is wearing, but she is purposely acting like some suave and cocky gentleman, intimidating, calm, in control. Her voice is even deeper than usual, like what we hear in her first scene while facing off with Hachiman the Flesh-Trader in Episode 1.

This act that Mizu puts on is an embodiment of masculine showboating, which is highly effective against weak and insecure men like Hachi, but also against women like those who tried to seduce her at the Shindo House.

And that brings me to how Mizu's mask is actually a direct parallel to Akemi's mask in this very same scene.

Here, Akemi is also putting up an act, playing up her naivety and demure girlishness, using her high-pitched lilted voice, complimenting Mizu and trying to make small talk, all so she can seduce and lure Mizu in to drink the drugged cup of sake.

So what I find so interesting and funny about this scene, characters within it, and the subsequent fandom interpretations of both, is that everyone seems to literally be falling for the mask that Mizu and Akemi are putting up to conceal their identities, guard themselves from the world, and get what they want.

It's also a little frustrating because the fanon seems to twist what actually makes Mizu and Akemi's dynamic so interesting by flattening it completely. Because both here and throughout the story, Mizu and Akemi's entire relationship and treatment of each other is solely built off of masks, assumptions, and misconceptions.

Akemi believes Mizu is a selfish, cocky male samurai who destroyed her ex-fiance's career and life, and who abandoned her to let her get dragged away by her father's guards and forcibly married off to a man she didn't know. on the other hand, Mizu believes Akemi is bratty, naive princess who constantly needs saving and who can't make her own decisions.

These misconceptions are even evident in the framing of their first impressions of each other, both of which unfold in these slow-motion POV shots.

Mizu's first impression of Akemi is that of a beautiful, untouchable princess in a cage. Swirling string music in the background.

Akemi's first impression of Mizu is of a mysterious, stoic "demon" samurai who stole her fiance's scarf. Tense music and the sound of ocean waves in the background.

And then, going back to that scene of them together in Episode 4, both Mizu and Akemi continue to fool each other and hold these assumptions of each other, and they both feed into it, as both are purposely acting within the suppressive roles society binds them to in order to achieve their goals within the means they are allowed (Akemi playing the part of a subservient woman; Mizu playing the part of a dominant man).

But then, for once in both their lives, neither of their usual tactics work.

Akemi is trying to use flattery and seduction on Mizu, but Mizu sees right through it, knowing that Akemi is just trying to manipulate and harm her. Rather than give in to Akemi's tactics, Mizu plays with Akemi's emotions by alluding to Taigen's death, before pinning her down, and then when she starts crying, Mizu just rolls her eyes and tells her to shut up.

On the opposite end, when Mizu tries to use brute force and intimidation, Akemi also sees right through it, not falling for it, and instead says this:

"Under your mask, you're not the killer you pretend to be."

Nonetheless, despite the fact that they see a little bit through each other's masks, they both still hold their presumptions of each other until the very end of the season, with Akemi seeing Mizu as an obnoxious samurai swooping in to save the day, and Mizu seeing Akemi as a damsel in distress.

And what I find a bit irksome is that the fandom also resorts to flattening them to these tropes as well.

Because Mizu is not some cool, smooth-talking samurai with a big dick sword as Akemi (and the fandom) might believe. All of that is the facade she puts up and nothing more. In reality, Mizu is an angry, confused and lonely child, and a masterful artist, who is struggling against her own self-hatred. Master Eiji, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

And Akemi, on the other hand, is not some girly, sweet, vain and spoiled princess as Mizu might believe. Instead she has never cared for frivolous things like fashion, love or looks, instead favouring poetry and strategy games instead, and has always only cared about her own independence. Seki, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

But neither is she some authoritative dominatrix, though this is part of her new persona that she is trying to project to get what she wants. Because while Akemi is willful, outspoken, intelligent and authoritative, she can still be naive! She is still often unsure and needs to have her hand held through things, as she is still learning and growing into her full potential. Her new parental/guardian figure, Madame Kaji, knows this as well.

So with all that being said, now that we know that Mizu and Akemi are essentially wearing masks and putting up fronts throughout the show, what would a representation of Mizu's and Akemi's true selves actually look like? Easy. It's in their hair.

This shot on the left is the only time we see Mizu with her hair completely down. In this scene, she's being berated by Mama, and her guard is completely down, she has no weapon, and is no longer wearing any mask, as this is after she showed Mikio "all of herself" and tried to take off the mask of a subservient housewife. Thus, here, she is sad, vulnerable, and feeling small (emphasised further by the framing of the scene). This is a perfect encapsulation of what Mizu is on the inside, underneath all the layers of revenge-obsession and the walls she's put around herself.

In contrast, the only time we Akemi with her hair fully down, she is completely alone in the bath, and this scene takes place after being scorned by her father and left weeping at his feet. But despite all that, Akemi is headstrong, determined, taking the reigns of her life as she makes the choice to run away, but even that choice is reflective of her youthful naivety. She even gets scolded by Seki shortly after this in the next scene, because though she wants to be independent, she still hasn't completely learned to be. Not yet. Regardless, her decisiveness and moment of self-empowerment is emphasised by the framing of the scene, where her face takes up the majority of the shot, and she stares seriously into the middle distance.

To conclude, I wish popular fanon would stop mischaracterising these two, and flattening them into tropes and stereotypes (ie. masculine badass swordsman Mizu and feminine alluring queen but also girly swooning damsel Akemi), all of which just seems... reductive. It also irks me when Akemi is merely upheld as a love interest and romantic device for Mizu and nothing more, when she is literally Mizu's narrative foil (takes far more narrative precedence over romantic interest) and the deuteragonist of this show. She is her own person. That is literally the theme of her entire character and arc.

[triglycercule]

horrortale waterfall game broke me sorry (hey just like horror!)

[aropride]

nothing in the world can convince me that weather that makes u drenched in sweat & exhausted & sick to ur stomach & dizzy & irritable & generally physically unwell, & to top it off the sun is out and it burns ur skin and is possibly giving u cancer. u CANNOT convince me that's enjoyable weather

[mooneggtarts]

Some modern-esque au thing as a way of coping with the series. Also...

The most devastating realization has dawned upon me... they remind me again of the Elric brothers from FMA Im gonna cry

[garnet-xx-rose]

I love watching Phantom where the Raoul is giving it his all and is trying his best to be a good boyfriend and yet Christine is still visually conflicted on choosing him or the literal murderer that lives underground.

[roseserpentpress]

In singular deranged days work (where I was supposed to be getting OTHER things done) I made a cipher journal for decoding the ciphers in Gravity Falls, specifically for Journal 3, the Book of Bill and thisisnotawebsite.com. This included (ultimately) three pages of common ciphers used in the Gravity Falls fandom; originally I was only going to do two, but then got to the Blendin page in Journal 3, sighed deeply and made an extra page on the Vignére cipher. The clasps I made myself by hand, and the little white toggle is a raccoon tooth, which I may change out depending on what becomes available. The purple ink, although unable to be seen within the photos, actually glitters and looks rather cosmic to my delight.

Considering I made the most of it within a day, it meant I used the paper I had at hand, which wasn't good paper for actual ink as it bleeds through slightly (and is thus unbecoming), but as a fancy schm-ancy idiot who insists on using actual ink with dip pens for the 'breadth of the experience', this means I'm ultimately only using one side of the paper (to my chagrin) and the letters aren't as clear as they could be when I write on the paper. Nevertheless, I am rather happy about the result; young me from about a decade ago, who began to make a similar journal only to abandon the project would have been immensely excited that I actually made one and am currently using it to decipher things within Journal 3. There is something rather satisfying about it, I do confess.

[welcometogrouchland]

It's mostly the fault of poor editorial practices that B&R is so heavily misaligned continuity-wise w/ the main batman book. But walk with me for a minute:

You are Damian Wayne. You are 14 years old and have had one of the worst years of your life last year. Which is saying a lot.

Your brother, one of the people you were closest to, got shot in the head and forgot who you were. Your best friend went to space for a week and came back 3/4 years older than you, taking away your previously established dynamic and leaving you to have to bond all over again w/ a new one. You may or may not have gone wayyy too far with your new superhero team, who now all hate you, because you fucked up big time*

And worst of all, when you do try to do the right thing, you end up forced to watch Alfred, a father figure to you, the only one at your birthday that year, the person who has been so patient, loving and trusting with you, even when you probably didnt deserve it...die. you watch him die, and feel it's all your fault.

And your dad never corrects you on that last point. So you run away.

First to your mom who can tell something's up with you, she knows you don't give up that easy, you decide not to stay with her because you remembered how actually, neither of your parents are good at communicating with you despite their best efforts, so now you're 14 and flying solo.

And you do fly solo. For a while. Make new friends, new enemies. You think you're better off for it. You've got your best friend and your brother back. They're not around as much. It's fine.

And eventually your dad tells you that it's not your fault that Alfred died. Bit late but it's appreciated. Really. There's a bit of a hiccup where you get possessed by a demon and wage war against your father but after that, all in all, you two are...together again.

You start to think maybe you want to give him another chance, for the two of you to be father and son.

And in a change of pace, it works out! It's going good, mostly. He insists you go to highschool, you resist, feel like he wants you to be something that you're not (wants you to be normal), but eventually you acquiesce for your own reasons. He cheers you on at soccer and nosies around at your fundraising events with the other parents and gives you a stern talking to about your choice of girlfriend. Because he cares.

Except all the while this is going on, your dad is currently having his brain slowly taken over by an evil version of himself that he created and every time you look away he's slowly tearing your family apart (your brothers are just barely keeping it together. The ones who didn't get lobotmized that is Jesus Christ). You keep taking his side in these conflicts, for whatever reason. Maybe because he promised it would be different this time, and it isn't** and you're going to stick with him until he keeps his word for once.

But at the end of the day?

It's like your brother says. You're not the one who saves him. Broadly speaking, you've made things worse and needed others to come save you. And what else is Robin really for? You thought it was about redemption and teamwork but guess you're wrong. It's about saving your self destructive, apparently two-faced and erratic father. And you can't even do that right.

* TT (2016) by Adam Glass is a racist ooc mess, but unfortunately it's still canon so I'm referencing here, though like a lot of works authors clearly wish weren't canon but are, it's been subsequently glossed over. Win? Maybe? Or not?

** again Zdarky's characterization of Damian is so outdated as to be ooc, and considering the way he constantly and explicitly uses it to illustrate Tim's strengths as robin, I'd argue there's. Also implications there. But the batshit insanity of the main batbook compared to B&R rn is crucial for this post, so I'm attempting to justify it. This time..

[just-null]

Kokichi, similar to Noritoshi in the sense that they're analytical and kinda tsun, but that's mostly it. This is another Megumi and Noritoshi situation where, on the surface, they appear to be very similar, but you squint and realize they're extremely different.

Whereas Noritoshi isn't as bold because he still holds remnants of pride, Kokichi is just shy about it since it's so new. He won't back down from it, just hesitate.

[Long ass rambles under the cut! + bonus doodles.]

When referring to shyness, Kokichi leans into the awkward and stiff type. There's always confusion and slight fear in his eyes when he's experiencing something new or romantic. He doesn't want to mess up, but if he does, he just hopes it works in his favor.

Being born in a body where he was under constant pain and stress, someone touching him was the last thing he wanted. He'd never known the loving touch of another because the heavens decided he wasn't allowed to.

After meeting you, that yearning to be next to you became too much. To hell with his restrictions. He'd to do whatever it takes to be able to be with you even if he had to sacrifice others to do it.

In retrospect, he feels like he should've done it sooner. Being touched or even grazed doesn't feel like his skin is falling off anymore.. Plus having both arms and working legs is always a good thing. It's new and odd, but not terrible. His mind never once wandered back and regretted those he's thrown under the bus because why would it?

Unfortunately, when his body was being healed, Mahito made him healthy.. and that's all. Knowing Mahito, he'd leave Kokichi to struggle with catching up to the rest of his peers by working for his own stamina, weight, and strength from square one. Though Kokichi isn't complaining much about it. He'd still take this rather than being stuck in that god forsaken tub for a second longer.

He used to hate being fussed over because of his illness. He prefers to do things on his own and now he can. Yet, Kokichi still gets pitiful looks on other's faces when he's too weak to carry something. It makes him want to spit at them, he can use Mechamaru to do his heavy lifting for now. He doesn't need a beefed up body to do it.

Unless you're the "beefed up" one fussing over him.. He doesn't mind it when it's you. In fact, Kokichi feels grateful when it's you, endeared even. He never feels belittled or pitiful when its you.. Only you.

Judging by how he treated panda for having the ability to interact with others in person despite being a cursed corpse, Kokichi has a number of insults and creative verbal abuse he's ready to spew out once someone tries getting a little too close to you. Scratch that, he's rude in general to those he isn't familiar with.

Kokichi has a lot of anger for those he deems ungrateful. What do you expect from someone who thought he was gonna rot in a bathtub for the rest of his life to do? Not harbor resentment? Luckily, he holds just as much, if not more, love for you who he's unbelievably grateful for!

Your affection is so odd to him, a new experience that he never knew he could grow to yearn for. It's not terrible, quite the opposite. It's so wonderful he can't get enough. Every time you're around, he wants to have at least one hand on you at all times. Doesn't matter where, just as long as he feels you're around. Safe to say, he's extremely touch starved.

Oh how Kokichi would drop everything for a walk with you. He'd use every Mechamaru he had just to make sure no one disturbs either of you. Murder is just a side effect if they get too persistent. He just wants to spend time with you!

Though he likes walks, he still gets out of breath easily. Walking is nice, but he still needs time to get used to it. Offering to help will only cause him to lean against you, it's not too difficult, he doesn't weigh much for better or worse. He loves when you lend him a hand, it's just another reason to get close to you.

When you part, it's only natural that Kokichi gifts you a little trinket he made. Rejecting it will only reward you with the most devastated frown, so just accept it. If you get rid of it when coming home, it somehow always finds its way back to you? Destroying it will lead to Kokichi giving you another one.

Yes, it follows and watches you, but it's just to keep you safe! Who knows what could happen. Whether or not the little trinkets are subtle, all depends on how you reacted to him asking if it was alright to know your location at all times when he's not around. Kokichi is understanding if you're not okay with it. He'll just make his gifts extra subtle so you wont know he's watching.

He just wants to be by your side constantly, even if he's not able to be there in person. Watching you through a screen gives him a sickly familiar feeling in the pit of his stomach, but it's better than not knowing what you're doing. He can even pick up little things about you this way for when he sees you next time! This is nothing but a win-win in his mind even if others beg to differ.

Kokichi never felt blessed. Not once since the day he was born, not until he found you. You who he feels is truly a gift from the heavens. You who he would give up everything to have. In a way, Kokichi is delusional. He sees you as the reason he got a heavenly restriction. It was as if other worldly forces tried to keep him at bay from pursuing you, but you're also the reason he broke his restrictions. He now has the body he wished for thanks to you, his drive, his motivation, his purpose, his love.

[extra shit]

Kokichi’s so fucking low key about being a chuunibyou. you're telling me he named his mech after an anime he watched. half his attacks have ultimate or ultra in the name.. HE MADE A FUCKING MECH. Your ass can't tell me he didn't watch anime while growing up and got inspired to make it a reality. He probably watched Evangelion or something.. Woah, anime dates with him where he makes your favorite creature and uses it to his advantage.. woah.

[Bonus Kokichi verbal abuse]

[lilithschosen]

Smut prompts!

❝ Your heart is beating so fast. ❞ ❝ Be gentle with me. Please. ❞

ok i don't know why my brain decided this needed to be a vampire butch!Agatha thing but it did. lowkey channeled Jennifer's Body too so if you know the movie, you'll see where i got it from lmao

When her doorbell rang late at night, waking her from the light sleep she was already in, she shuffled off to answer it. Clad in a band tee and cotton shorts, she pulls the door open to see Agatha, hands in the pockets of her usual denim jacket.

"Agatha?" Rio asks, rubbing at her eyes as if she didn't believe it. "What are you doing here? Are you okay?"

Agatha just nods, lifting her hands out of her pockets as she flexes her fingers. "Yeah, I just wanted to come see you."

Rio's heart skips a beat. They work together, see each other every day. Why would Agatha desire to see her in the middle of the night? The corners of Agatha's mouth pull up in a slight smile before they drop entirely.

"Can I come in?" Agatha asks, "You don't have to say yes, I can go. I realise this was a stupid time to visit."

Rio steps to the side, taking the door with her. "No, please. Come in."

Agatha's eyes flash with something that Rio can't catch and she chalks it up to still being partially asleep. Agatha glides through the threshold, visibly relaxing as she does. Rio shuts the door behind them and crosses her arms over her chest, her hands hooking on her shoulders.

"So what's up?"

Agatha turns to face her and gives a smile. "I was thinking about you. I do that a lot."

Rio's eyes widen a touch in surprise. "I- oh?"

Agatha nods, stepping into Rio's space. "I've never had the courage to say anything because I never want to put you in a shitty position."

Rio's mind goes blank, internal voice beginning to chant about what positions Agatha could put her in before she snaps out of it.

"I don't think you'd ever do that, Agatha."

Rio shifts, stepping back as she gets overwhelmed at everything happening so fast. "Do you want something to drink?"

Agatha steels herself, chin lifting up. "Sure."

Rio quickly heads off, moving around the stairs and to the kitchen, knowing Agatha would follow her anyway. She takes two cups out of the cabinet and fills them up with water from the sink. As she turns, Agatha is standing right behind her.

Rio jolts in surprise, holding the glasses tight in her hands as she curses. Agatha didn't make a sound, normally the wooden floors creak when anyone gets near them but they didn't with Agatha.

"Sorry," Agatha says, taking Rio's wrist to steady her, "I didn't mean to sneak up on you."

Agatha rubs the pad of her thumb against the pulse point in Rio's wrist, calming her before taking the glass from her.

They sip at the water in a brief silence, Rio's eyes diverting to the floor. Agatha sets the somehow still full cup by the sink as she clears her throat.

"I like you, Rio."

Rio aspirates the water, choking momentarily. She slams the glass on the counter as she puts a hand to her chest as the coughs. Fear flashes across Agatha's face as she reaches for Rio again but recoils and takes her hand back, mentally scolding herself.

"I'm fine," Rio wheezes, coughing once more to be sure she dislodged the water in her windpipe. "You like me?"

"Yeah, though it was obvious. But I guess I'm not as obvious as I seem."

Somehow in the dull, yellow hue from the light above the sink, Rio sees Agatha differently. The once calm and collected woman, in her thick black boots and flannel that she always sees when she walks in early in the morning was now nervous and jittery. She doesn't meet her eyes, hesitating to even be in her space.

"I don't want you to take me as this hard, butch woman," Agatha begins, "I haven't been myself around anyone, but you make me feel safe. That I can be my open, honest self around you."

Rio blushes, looking up at Agatha finally as their eyes connect. Agatha looks away impulsively, face turning to the side but then slowly creeping back. Rio gives a gentle smile, a warm and accepting one.

"I like you too, Agatha."

Agatha's face softens as relief rushes over her. "You don't have to just say it, but I think you're telling the truth."

There was this pull, an allure from the woman. Rio was drawn in the moment they met in passing that first day she joined the Westview Police Department. Somehow Agatha was leaving early in the morning, just before sunrise. She didn't bother to even look at Rio, stalking out of the station and toward her shitty sedan.

She only saw Agatha when she was coming in or leaving, never was the woman there during the day. She assumed it was due to the all nighters she was pulling, which was a common thing since Agatha was the lead detective for the precinct.

Rio came in early every day because of it. A way for her to be around Agatha, to bask in her presence.

Agatha steps forward into Rio's space again. She cups Rio's cheek in her hand, still smiling. Rio's pulse quickens and Agatha's throat bobs up in down from swallowing.

"Can I kiss you?"

"Please?"

Agatha's lips take hers in the most gentle, ghost of a kiss. Something to test the waters. Rio feels her fingertips tingle from it, her hands lifting behind her to grasp onto the counter to steady herself.

Agatha moves in closer, her breath spreading across Rio's face as her gaze flicks between her eyes and lips. Rio's back presses into the counter as she watches Agatha's mouth twitch.

Suddenly it connects, the breaker being flipped in her brain as electricity runs through her brain. The thoughts run rampant, ones she pushed as absentminded and untrue. Fantasies. Something that made her feel neurotic, that there wouldn't ever be a reason her thoughts were real. But now, with Agatha having her cornered in the kitchen at 2am, she sees it.

Agatha's lips pull back as she smiles and flashes her long canine teeth.

"Your heart is beating so fast, Rio."

Agatha's head lowers as she inhales the scent of Rio's fear and something sweeter. Rio swallows hard, fingers digging into the granite counter behind her.

"I've been so hungry," she groans, lips hovering above Rio's throat, "I have needed you since I first saw you, to know you, to have you."

Agatha flexes her neck, extending it as she cracks it and regains her composure. Rio's heart is pounding in her ears, but she can't look away. She wants her in every sense of the word.

"I meant it," Agatha slowly explains, "I don't want to put you in a shitty situation. I'm who I am- what I am. But I still want you for you."

Exhaling a shaky breath, Rio extends her hand to grab Agatha's jacket. "Okay, Agatha."

Agatha's eyes darken, her pupils dilating to swallow the blue irises completely. She juts out her jaw, mouth opening and fangs extending.

"Please," Rio whimpers as she wraps her arms around Agatha's waist and leans in to kiss her again. "Be gentle with me."

Agatha stops herself before they kiss, voice small as she stares into Rio's eyes.

"Always."

Their mouths connect, slow and gentle at first but the passion growing as Agatha's blunted fingernails dig into the exposed skin of Rio's hips. She licks into Rio's mouth and moans feeling how warm it was against her tongue.

Her hand trails up underneath Rio's shirt, her skin reacting and raising as she moves up to her breasts. She palms one, squeezing the flesh with her fingers. Rio's voice catches, the little whimper an untrained ear wouldn't catch but Agatha's do.

She kisses down, lips sloppily descending to her chin then down to her throat. She licks and sucks the skin around Rio's pulse point as she slides her knee between Rio's legs, pressing up into her clothed center.

"Fuck, Agatha."

Agatha grins into Rio's throat, her sharp teeth tracing a line into the skin. Her hand slides down from Rio's chest, fingertips dipping into her navel as she continues down to the waistband of her shorts. She acts as if she'll push beneath them, but doesn't.

"Please," Rio whispers, her own hand wrapping around Agatha's wrist as she guides it into her shorts to cup her. "I need you."

Rio was soaked, and with no underwear on to hold her arousal back, she was dripping down her thighs. Agatha breathes heavily, eyes closing as she feels Rio's desire for her.

Her palm presses to her clit as her fingers spread through her folds. She coats her fingers in Rio's slick before taking her hand out of the shorts. She holds the glistening fingers up to Rio's mouth, wiping the pads of her fingers across Rio's bottom lip before taking them to her own mouth and sucks them clean.

Rio's tongue creeps out, swiping herself from her lip and watches Agatha with rapt focus.

"You're just as sweet as I imagined."

Agatha shoves her hand back into Rio's shorts, pinning her to the counter as she pushes two fingers into her wet heat. They both gasp simultaneously at the feeling, Rio's hands finding purchase in Agatha's hair at the base of her skull in reaction.

"All of this for me?" Agatha asks, pumping the fingers into Rio's cunt, "I could smell you the moment you opened the door. I thought it'd be for someone else."

Rio shakes her head, eyes pinching shut as Agatha fucks her. "Only you. Only ever you."

Agatha's head drops back to her throat, open mouth kisses to the vein throbbing underneath the skin. Rio's walls clench around her fingers as she moans out Agatha's name.

"Are you gonna cum for me?" Agatha's voice was like velvet, pouring gasoline on the fire churning in her lower belly as the orgasm builds, "I bet you look so pretty when you cum, wanna see it for myself."

Rio nods rapidly, whining through her clenched jaw as it continues to build and build and build until the ripcord inside her snaps. She curls into Agatha as she lets go, hips grinding into Agatha's palm. Rio cries out her name like a hymn and it's the closest thing to heaven she'll ever achieve.

Agatha sinks her teeth into Rio's throat, drinking from her at the height of her orgasm. The pleasure sings in her blood and Agatha can barely control herself as she falls into her own orgasm. She doesn't take long to recover, soothing the open wound with her tongue, cleaning the remaining drops of blood in the process.

Rio's head is cloudy from everything Agatha did to her, but she feels on top of the world. Agatha's forehead touches her own as her eyes open. She smiles, thumb wiping the bit of blood off Agatha's chin.

"You are," she stammers, brain still mismatched to her mouth as she tries to get the words out. "You are something else."

Agatha matches her smile, humming. "I know. Kinda happens when you're a vampire."

The honesty and acknowledgement of her affliction makes Rio's knees weak. That she wasn't dreaming it all.

"Are you okay?" Agatha questions sincerely, "I didn't take too much?"

Rio shakes her head, kissing the tip of Agatha's nose. "No, you were fantastic."

Agatha blushes, cheeks feeling warm as she sits with the praise.

"So does this mean I'm yours now?" Rio asks, playful confidence coming back to her now. "I read about claiming in those shitty young adult novels, but I can only assume what we just did means I'm entirely yours."

Agatha gives a breathy chuckle. "Yes, Rio. You are mine now."

[anonymocha]

Mesmer Jr and Medicine Pocket having beef in official arts collection (as of 1 May 2024). I hope they keep beefing for all of eternity.

[rawliverandgoronspice]

I think what particularly annoys me with the "zelda was always gameplay before story" is that... it's not true? At least I don't think it's true in the way people mean it.

Zelda games were always kind of integrating story based on the standards of the time. When game stories were in game pamphlets, Zelda's stories was in the pamphlets. ALTTP tried to tell a pretty complicated stories with the limitations of the time. OoT was actively trying to tell an epic, cinematic tale packed with ambiance and expand what 3D could offer that 2D games struggled with. Majora's Mask is deeply character-driven in many, many ways. Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are both pretty concerned about their stories, down to the point that some people were bored by TP's cutscenes in particular. Skyward Sword, from what little I have played it, is very very invested in its characters and their journey (and 2D Zeldas have Link's Awakening, Minish Cap... None of them are visual novels, but they are concerned with emotional journeys, character arcs, mysteries about their own world...)

What is true is that the narrative wraps around the mechanics, and not the other way around. The mechanics drive themes, aesthetics, emotional beats and character journeys; and that's great. The world is a puzzle, and the world is delightfully absurd when it needs to be, full of heart when it calls for it, dark and oppressive when it suits the player experience.

That does not mean the games aren't invested in their stories. Even BotW has a pretty complicated story to tell about an entire world rather than one specific tale or legend --all of it at the service of the gameplay, which is exploration and mastery of your environment.

So. Yes, none of the Zelda games are million-words long visual novels that care deeply about consistency and nuance; but stories don't need consistency or deep lore to be meaningful and serve an emotional journey. Again: gameplay is story. The two cannot be so easily parsed from each other.

And Zelda as a franchise obviously care deeply about story, characters and setting (and still does right now --otherwise there wouldn't be a movie), even if it doesn't try to imitate prestige narrative-driven games, which is great and part of why I love this series so much. Doesn't mean it couldn't have done better in the past, it obviously could have, but I feel like pretending that nobody ever cared about story or character is just... false? It's a huge disservice to the devs too. Some of them obviously cared immensely.

The "gameplay above story", at least in the extent to which it is paraded today to defend TotK, mostly, is a really recent development. And I think it's one that deserves to receive some pushback.