#lol poor mirage

[floofyfungi]

ok i had this idea pop into my head but what if when the autobots did find Alexis but it was in the middle of starscream grooming her or something? Like startscream is either trying to get her to settle down or ready for bed and is being all so gentle with this tiny human, would kinda freak the autobots out a little lol.

That would be hilarious! I've written out a little scene of this possible scenario. Hope you enjoy!

The Autobots have finally located Starscream's base. It was in Vos, after all this time. They send in Mirage, because of his outlier ability he's one of the few dragons who might make it out alive.

His footsteps are soft as he scopes out Starscream's fortress. It's been here for a while. Centuries at least, likely built during one of Starscream's earlier banishments

Mirage is not looking for anything in particular, just checking the defences and seeing if there are any weaknesses he can exploit. The Autobots will have to launch a raid on this place eventually. Leaving a guy like Starscream to his own devices was a receipe for disaster.

Mirage sneaks past hordes of dangerous seekers, all while keeping in contact with Autobot HQ through his coms. Managing to stay alive only becausd he was invisible. The seeker guards were relaxed. They didn't suspect anything this deep in the toxic lands of Cybertron. Mirage felt a point of pride as he walked right past Thrust and Ramjet, he was the only one who could do this.

Eventually the small drake made his way deeper into the mountain fortress. If the Autobots were ever going to launch a successful assault, they need to know the full layout.

And then a human ran around the corner.

Mirage nearly glitches right then and there. He shimmered for a moment before returning invisible. The human stopped and stared with sharp little green eyes.

It was so small. All humans were. But the looming decepticon architecture made her seem even more so.

Did she see him? What was a human even doing in this base? In the middle of Cybertron in a decepticon fortress. Was it a prisoner? But then why was it just walking around and-

Mirage's thoughts are interrupted when the ground shook ever so slightly beneath his claws.

The human smirked.

And pit-spawned Starscream himself prowled around the corner. Mirage had forgotten how big the seeker was. Deadly blue claws clacked against the marble floor, supporting giant red wings that could swallow an organic army in their shadow.

Mirage flattened himself against the wall as the white dragon glared down at the human.

"Alexis! This resistance is futile!"

"I'm not tired!"

"I don't care. Come here!" He pointed to the ground with his claw.

"Make me." Mirage's optics nearly popped out of his head.

Starscream smiled. The human bolted. But Starscream was on Alexis in seconds and pinned her to the ground. Mirage cursed himself for not acting sooner. He had been so stunned. But now that poor human was a goner and...

She was laughing?

There was no crunch of bone or blood staining Starscream's servo. The human was clutching the claws and laughing as they gently curled around her and lifted her up to Starscream's face. She hugged those serrated edges like they were pillows, and rested her cheek against the tip of one claw, "but I'm not tired."

"You've to be up early tomorrow, you'll thank me later," Starscream's voice was strange, the rasp low and soft. Not the screeching enraged pitch Mirage was used to. One claw gently stroked Alexis's back. Mirage had seen those claws cave in Autobot helms.

"I don't want to."

"Too bad."

"You're being mean," the human grumbled as Starscream began walking away. In a stunned daze Mirage followed. He had to see this.

"Oh? What took you so long?"

"What if I just stay up all night?"

"That would not be wise."

Alexis yawned, "I'm totally going to do it. Unless... you make sleep worth my while."

Starscream stopped and started down at her. She smiled.

"What do you want you little vermin?" Mirage didn't know Starscream could sound fond.

"We've run out of strawberries. If tomorrow there was some, I could perhaps be persuaded to fall asleep."

"You made me chase you halfway across this fortress for fruit!?"

"It's not my fault you're slow."

Starscream tossed her in the air. Mirage held his breath. Starscream caught her between his teeth and kept walking.

"So is that a yes?"

"I'll think about it."

"So yes?"

"Perhaps."

The human cheered, nestled between giant teeth that could rip her to shreds in an instant. Starscream vanished around the corner. Gradually the tremors faded and Mirage was alone.

He raised his shaking claws to his helm and activated his comms, "Jazz, we've got a problem."

[creativitysparks4everxoxo]

🤣🤣

Mirage wants to try some of those tender, loving head touches Charlie and Bee do all the time. He's a little too enthusiastic. 

[vaguely-concerned]

I think the most defining thing about kremy as a person is that he desperately wants to be a man with a mustache -- while being physically, biologically incapable of producing hair follicles lol. like no wonder he takes to drag so much, that's basically most of what he's already doing with his outward identity! and the physical aspect of that is smaller, I feel, than what he's got going on psychologically. he's someone who doesn't want to be -- can't be? -- who and what he is, and who can't be what he wants to be because what he wants to be doesn't really exist, so he lives his life somewhere on the border between them. the almiraj might be no mirage, but the perfectly clever and charming and utterly untouchable version of kremy that kremy would like to be -- instead of the vulnerable neurotic mess of longing and fear and striving for control he clearly actually is -- absolutely is, I'm afraid. it's just a shadow on the wall with nothing real to cast it.

(all of this also goes into the many Gender and trans readings of him too, of course! men will say they’re fighting demons and the demons are trying to live up to a very specific brand of toxic masculinity they've sort of invented for themselves lol)  

the one deep down entrenched assumption we see kremy make again and again especially interpersonally is that if he's open with who he really is and what he feels or thinks at any given time, he would be revealed as fundamentally unacceptable and at best discarded and abandoned, at worst endangered. (it's literally spelled out with the cyclops in the witchlight carnival, but you see him go through this process all the time through the rest of the story too! being unable to lie or dissemble was a catastrophic event in this dude’s inner landscape. I’m sure that means nothing) and because he is also frequently kind of awful this assumption may not be entirely off base some of the time lol (deeply affectionate), but I think it comes from a much deeper place than that. kremy is ashamed of where he's from and who he's been -- that dirt poor wide-eyed kid from the swamp who saw all the fancy gentlemen in town and Wanted. wanted to be that, wanted to have that power, probably some confused sexuality want mixed up with it all as well for spice. wanted more than anything, perhaps, to BE something, because next to that he feels like nothing. which means abandoning the earnest kid who guilelessly loved unicorns and his meemaw and cooking without meaning to impress anyone and silly soft things in the swamp he came from while he went off to the big city and modeled himself after men like garou. (and his relationship with garou surely also had some effects on just how shifty he's become at intimacy too, aside from the building a facade of it all, that might be some secondary damage that was not his fault nor in his control at all)

even when he's acting seemingly shamelessly, he is fundamentally a shame-based psychology, is what I'm trying to get at. the only times he lets his thoughts and emotions out into the world unfiltered is when he's brought to a point of frustration where he throws up his hands and abandons manipulation or subtle machinations as an interpersonal tactic -- see: the several times he argues something with frost or gricko and then finally admits 'I literally don't actually care about this! you guys figure it out and deal with this if it matters so much to you I'm going to bed ffs' haha. his depression shines through when he’s too tired to hide it, especially in the later episodes. every open emotion is an admission he really didn't want to make and thinks is tactically disadvantageous for him. (and sometimes when he's being really for real he'll even admit to being worse than people gave him credit for, like when he admits he suspected mr. witch and mr. light were capable of doing something really really bad to torbek and handed him over anyway. kremy being that blunt and open is like. remarkable and also a sign that he's actually taking it seriously, for all that he's also revealing himself to be even more of an asshole than previously suspected lmao. that's not nothing, for kremy. BUT at the same time he is also the person who cried to see a unicorn broken and abused, and who saw something in gideon upon meeting him that no one else did or cared to at that time and offered him genuine companionship and support — as the story goes on he’s starting to admit to more things about himself, the bad and the good.)

all of which of course also is why he's having such a hard time being honest with gideon about how he feels (and the sheer immensity with which he feels it too, probably) -- that's incredibly vulnerable for a person who’s built himself up around the idea of never being vulnerable. ('i'm just a shadow, nothing you do can really touch or hurt me.') And yet if there’s peace and redemption to be found for kremy, if only within his own soul, between these versions of himself, I feel that discovering and accepting his own capacity for loving someone else so much that it transcends all selfishness or fear would be integral to it. (he loves gideon. So much it makes me a bit dizzy you guys)

[emthimofnight]

learning that mirage has a bad relationship with his dads makes me so sad :( are they sad? do they feel disappointed? do they stay up late at night wondering where they went wrong? those poor guys have been through some shit

I'd say they are more exasperated than sad?? Silver in particular is always trying to reach out and connect with Mirage, but Mirage finds him annoying more than anything else. Both Silver and Espio have a pretty strong sense of justice, so the fact that their son is a morally ambiguous spy who has no real allegiance with good or evil stresses them out LOL

Mirage is just a very intelligent, aloof, and independent person. He gets along a bit better with Espio than he does with Silver, mainly because Espio knows when to back off. Silver definitely mourns the days when Mirage was an itty bitty little lizard that only wanted to hang out with daddy, HAHA! 😂

[genopaint]

Week 19 of the Daily Dragon Challenge! Been having a busy May! Which isn't always a bad thing I suppose. But I've been slowing down on my Daily Dragon Duties. Gotta pick it up!!

As always you can follow me on twitter where they’re posted daily

And read more info on each of them below the cut

Daily Dragon #126 - Hothead

Happy 40th anniversary TMNT!! I've been wanting do draw Hothead, or just some TMNT dragon, for a bit now. Soooo, why not take advantage of the anniversary, right?

This is my own design inspired by a few different sources, mainly the action figure and tournament fighters' boxart and his in game sprite. There's a LOT more TMNT dragons than I think you realize, so dont be surprised if I do another one later

Daily Dragon #127 - Marci Midas

This dragon's main interests are: Gold, Golden things, looking richer than everyone else, and ignoring you. Maybe if you ask reeeeaaally nicely and give her presents she'll look in your general direction,

Saw all the really good gold week posts and the idea of like, a dragon that hordes gold wearing a golden bikini came to my mind so I thought I'd try making her. I'm not 100% satisfied with how it came out but I think the concept is hot enough, and she's already finish so- yeah

Anyway happy (late) gold week I suppose, I may try to do other clothing challenge dragons in the future but we'll see how I feel cause I have a hard time keeping up with all of them and I keep wanting to draw the Axel girls in them instead

Daily Dragon #128 - Mirage Wyrm

Those who are lost in large deserts and tundras, when stricken with exhaustion and dehydration, often see Mirage Wyrms approach them. Although they are strange 2D specters, they are physical manifestations and WILL consume you if you're weak

Daily Dragon #129 - Dojo Kanojo Cho

Missed yesterday's dragon and I feel like the perfect dragon for a late day is our boy Dojo! I feel like I don't talk about it nearly enough but I LOVE Xiaolin Showdown so much it's unreal. Don't be surprised if I do another dragon from it

tear down the false idol

Daily Dragon #130 - Naten Shellie Shieldheart

This character was a ton of fun to work on and I'm glad people trust me enough with non-animal characters to design their humanoid ocs lol Thanks for letting me include them in the challenge!

Daily Dragon #131 - Raptor Wyvern

These predators can tear through the air at incredibly high speeds, using their massive claws, they can strike at prey quick and swoops them up before the poor animal even realized what happened

Daily Dragon #132 - Huggogon

Large, kind, and fluffy dragons who just love love! They're very affectionate, love hugging, and are kind to everyone they encounter. Similar to Capybaras, they seemingly have no natural enemies

Quick redraw of a dragon I did at FWA LAST year. Figured it was the perfect chance to reboot them for this challenge! I also love the other two so dont be surprised if they get a redo eventually too

[writernopal]

⛺Camp? Camp.⛺

We're 10 days into Camp Shrimpmo (we renamed it to something like that lol) so here, have an edited passage of AASOAF 3 as a treat :3

WC: 645 CW: thalassophobia, minor body horror

a/n: recommend listening to Siren by Amanati while reading!

The Mirage tottered violently then, listing one way then the other until the sparkling sea washed a tongue, perhaps even a finger or a leg, over the bulwarks and a sort of sucking sound came from somewhere down below. Blackened and shiny limbs followed—his subjects—and slowly, the Mirage relinquished her will to breathe and sank. 

The sea closed around us, tossing my hair up in one great mass as bubbles tickled the back of my neck and the sunlight flickered through the surface like pale spears. Fishes and sharks and other sea life, peered curiously in our direction, seeming in awe that a surface dweller like me breathed their water as commonly as air. Their attention was short lived, however, as they quickly darted away once we reached colder waters. What lay below were the mostly eyeless stares and out of tune humming of sea witches—beings they wouldn’t dare cross.

But we drifted freely by them, their poor excuses for eyes—beady lumps on the back of the heads—shining like wicked marbles as they warped themselves round in corkscrews to get a better look at their master. Strange half-shrunk and faceless creatures they were, with bony fins and tails, maws in their necks, and skin grey as decaying flesh. A few seemed to be blessed by him, Satoyev, as their limp bodies hosted swollen bellies. He paid them no mind.

We touched down on the sea floor, the expanse before us was so dark it seemed an illusion, as if I might wave my hand before me and find a velvet curtain concealing the world. But here, my outstretched arm was swallowed, such that anything beyond my elbow was invisible. I’d become a collection of stumps, sprouting from the seed of the overeager sun upon my chest and the heart beating beneath it. The light and warmth of my brand’s celestial counterpart was a foreigner at these depths, perhaps even a myth. Its rays could never penetrate this darkness, much less affect the temperature of this place, which I could only, and inadequately, describe as cold.

I returned my hand to the visible realm, resting it over my chest. With it came Satoyev, his fins and scales glowing dull blues and reds. He put a hand beneath my chin and drew me close.

“Come.” 

I didn’t resist, so he clutched me close, his many eyes pulsating in the darkness, and we began to move. How fast or in what direction I couldn’t say, but my stomach lurched and my eyes became so unbearably cold that I shut them. At intervals the current snatched them open, painting glowing smears of bright blues and greens—kraken eyes—curiously watching us. No doubt they rejoiced their lord's return home. 

“Here.” 

We passed underneath a dark mass, and toward something shimmering. It appeared the surface of another ocean but when we cleared it, there was no air, just more water, this time strangely warm and very salty. The area was small and clouded by strange thick grey gasses rising from some place. Clusters of pale worms and shrunken mollusks peeked between their billows. In the center of the space was a sort of cradle crafted of whalebones and decaying flesh. Peering between its remains shone a hazy blue light.

I squinted into it as we drew closer, my eyes struggling with this brightness after desensitizing dark, until its source finally came into view—a large rough cut sapphire. It was similar to the one I used to summon Saviyesaih, but thrice as big, and gave off a much more powerful energy. The water around it formed gentle ripples, as if the stone itself breathed, the frequency increasing as Satoyev and I came near. We came to a stop just before it. Whispered whale song floated from it, caressing not my ear, but my heart instead.

AASOAF 3 Taglist: @outpost51 @thelivingdeceased @faelanvance @captain-kraken @illjustpretend

@elshells @full-on-sam @the-mindless @zestymimblo @tabswrites

@void-botanist

Join/leave the taglist using this Google Form.

[officialesmilgram]

hello!! I edited some of the lyrics to killed by angel, a new song by alice schach and the magic orchestra! I edited it to be more friendly to singing along and covers! (which, I haven’t seen any of their songs, surprisingly)

also this is the first time I’ve done something like this, so any (constructive, lol) criticism and advice is very appreciated!

the edited lyrics are under the cut!

Now spit out all your fears

Let’s become one

I’ll send nutrients to every corner

Of your starving cells

“I’m sick of your insane mirage”

Why? I’m telling the truth

Yet the strange doctrine tries to behead me

With a rusty red guillotine

“Everything about your existence annoys me”

As you wished,

I shouldn’t have been born into this fucking world

You pour your desires into the bag,

And when you no longer need it, it’s off to the trash bag

Soon to be crushed into the truck, it’s a awfully beautiful, beautiful fate

That’s right! it’s all because of this poorly managed brain

This is the culprit of all our suffering and pain,

Just collapse,

Just collapse already!

My poor little baby

Thrown into the darkness of rags

To bury such an ugly body

Follow the guidance of Heaven

“Even God will abandon you”

Inhaling the ecstatic helium, let me soar farther than the rainbow

Looking down upon all the flies, shaming them with a strong voice

You will never be able to touch me, the reborn me

[grimalkinmessor]

Do you have any hcs for both omega Yoichi and omega afo? Omega on Omega gives me yuri vibes tbh

HMMM DEFINITELY NOT YURI VIBES LOL

It's more,,,,,not masculine, but something....something. Not yuri though. The colors clash in my brain—AFOFA yuri is a mirage of deep purple and pastel pink and ivory and black and red 🙏 O/O AFOFA is black and dark green and red and dove gray and gold and hot pink. Very different vibes to me; a knife and a gun, really.

SO, scents first as always: Yoichi's stays the same, whitebark, mint, and nickel, while Takashi's only changes a liiiittle bit from his Alpha scent; ozone and orange honey. Something more natural and thick—something softer.

Again, given that Omegas' presentations don't need to be "triggered", just grown into, neither of them have explosive presentations. Takashi does, however, present before Yoichi, so by the time Yoichi presents their little space is full of the finest (stolen) pillows and blankets and mats ever. Takashi is actually far more particular about the nest than Yoichi is, which means that it's neater and more color coordinated, but Yoichi keeps dragging more colorful blankets and pillows that he likes into their nest too. Takashi begrudgingly allows this, because those pillows and blankets are the ones Yoichi likes to snuggle with most, so they're more saturated with his scent and the nest subsequently smells even more like him. Happy Yoichi smells are more important than the blessed color coordination of the perfect nest 🙏

That said, while Takashi is more uppity about how the nest looks and feels, Yoichi is far more anal about what comes into their nest. While Takashi will drag Yoichi into the nest to sleep regardless of how dirty he is or what he smells like, Yoichi refuses to let dirty blankets and new smells into the nest. If Takashi killed someone while he was out and comes home covered in blood he is to fucking clean it before he steps foot in the nest. Yoichi growls and snarls and bites at him otherwise—the smell of blood tends to distress him, oddly enough lmao

While Alphas have more protective instincts, Omegas are actually more territorial, so both of them are far more vicious about defending their space—any squatters or thieves likely found out very quickly that these two white-haired Omega brats are not people to mess with. If they come and find you fucking up their space, you'll get maimed or murdered, depending on who finds you first :3 A lot of omegaverse stereotypes in my mind are societally enforced, and no one ever taught these two not to bare their teeth and claws and maim people ✨ Much like canon though, Yoichi got all the morals in the womb so sometimes he'll refuse to hurt someone for a reason Takashi can't comprehend, i.e. a mother with a hungry child digging in "their" dumpster, a man accidentally venturing into their building to get out of the rain but leaving promptly. Yoichi recognizes the little nuances of various situations whereas Takashi very much,,,,does not. (Is this the beginning of an autistic AFO headcanon...? Is it...?) Everything is very black and white to him, and he'd rather kill everyone that comes in their general vicinity than stop to wonder why they have. They aren't an immediate benefit to he and Yoichi? DEAD. That doesn't change at all.

Omega Takashi is also probably very used to kidnapping attempts. Especially after he presents, because as a kid with a powerful Quirk AND an Omega status, he would be "high value" on any sort of underground market. His kill count likely skyrockets from how many dumbass Alphas try to accost him after he presents. And after Yoichi presents, it gets even worse. He comes home (or brings them both home) covered in blood more often than not until he builds his reputation.

Yoichi, however, is the one who first learns that he can use his Omega status to get people to do things for him or give him things. He's just a poor little Omega 🥺 Give him your boxed left overs please 🥺 Give him your coat 🥺 Give him your scarf and get a little kiss on the cheek 💕

Takashi only learns to imitate him far later, when he can speak more eloquently. He sees Yoichi's intelligence more than any other AFO with any other Yoichi. He and Yoichi still aren't equals, but Omega AFO is far less likely to underestimate him.

As they get older, both of their heats take a turn as they get out of that 'survival' stage, and when they turn horny instead of just needy, they start helping each other through their heats sexually. And, after a year or so of that, their heats sync up completely and they spend them tangled up together taking turns. They take care of each other, so they don't have that instinctual need for an Alpha—they're each other's "Alpha".

In that vein; there is no vault. Takashi and Yoichi have never been apart for any significant period of time, and not having Yoichi in the nest distresses All For One out like nothing else. Yoichi gets chained to the nest if anything, rather than being locked away in a vault. O/O AFOFA are far more codependent. He'd rather have distressed and angry Yoichi nest smell than no Yoichi nest smell.

As for Ichinii in this verse,,,,, it's. far more difficult of a relationship than the other verses. As I've mentioned, Second is always an Alpha in my brain, no matter the others' dynamics, and for Yoichi, who has never really been around an Alpha much less had one, his and Second's dynamic is very strained. O/O Yoichi is warier of Second than other Yoichis would be—thus any affection builds far more slowly. It would also be incredibly awkward when Yoichi goes into heat away from Takashi for the first time and is subsequently in so much pain and panic it drives Second to try and comfort and soothe him—only for Yoichi to register him as a threat :') They fight, and they fight like DOGS. They hurt each other badly. It only ends when Yoichi pretends to "submit", Second drops his guard, and Yoichi uses the opening to kick him out of the room amd lock the door. It is awkward and tense for weeks afterward. Until their wounds heal, at least. Yoichi feels bad about hurting one of his saviors, but he's got plenty of gashes and bites himself, so definitely not TOO bad.

Two months wouldn't be enough for them to start a relationship. They'd need at least a full year to get to a point where they'd get romantic with each other—maybe less if we go the Ichiniisan route and Third is there to mediate. Either way, Yoichi and Second are more antagonistic towards each other in O/O verse. Which is INTERESTING to say the least,,,,,but they'd still love each other. Eventually. It's just a far slower burn.

[kitts-mechanix]

Inktober 21: Cybertober - Racing

Okay so this Cybertober prompt was "Race" and I tried to draw Sunstreaker and Sideswipe....It took THREE attempts and they still came out horribly....Lambos are HARD and I could not find good refs....anyway enjoys the twins racing while poor Mirage crashes in the background (don't worry, he'll be fine lol)

[hymns-across-the-stars]

9. what song do you associate with each muse ?

20 Questions for Multimuse Blogs

---

// okay so i still don't have a lot of songs i feel fit my muses. BUT. i do have some that aren't like a complete copout (their own theme in their source material).

// Arti is pretty easy in a way. anything that has a strong feeling of rage or vengeance already does a lot. in that vein, Hell's Coming with Me by Poor Man's Poison (though i have Annapantsu's cover saved instead). If i understand the song correctly, a drifter was wronged by a town and swore to enact vengeance. that promise was eventually fulfilled (though long enough that it seems that the townsfolk more or less forgot what had happened), the town was burnt to the ground by said drifter. sounds like an Arti thing to do lol.

// for Mirage, a couple other songs were brought up before, so for the sake of new material, i'm stating one that i found out after i made that post: Glitter by Daisy the Great. Just kinda has the tired, kinda depressed vibe... and a sort of want to be more? i feel? i actually have a vague idea for an pmv for her to this song, though actually drawing that feels like a lot.

// Siffrin only recently got muse rights and i haven't really been collecting songs for them yet. but i did see a tiny ISAT animatic using Curses by the Cranes Wives. i think you can kinda make the lyrics fit someone who's very lost emotionally and feels stuck, and desperate to keep others with them. which, you know! is what's going. there's also a few lines towards the end (all my aching bones are trembling / and i may yet fall apart / won't you stay with me, my darling / when the war starts in my heart?) that feels like late game Siffrin in a strange way, especially with the almost growl on "won't you stay with me"...

[daddy-eggman]

Been thinking of Eggman x The Conductor a lot I need those old men to fuck so bad lol. Sorry to the old guy's wife or whatever but Eggman is gonna get some. The way the Mirage Express robot's hand was petting the Conductor while he was all tied up inspired me especially 👀

Eggman tunes in with his camera to be met with the pleasant surprise of the robot feeling the old man up in interesting places. Though the truth is that he may have secretly designed the train this way intentionally and intended for this to happen. He enjoys watching so much that he needs to get in there and experience him for himself.

Eggman orders the train to deliver The Conductor to him and enters to see him looking so cute and nervous as the wires change position to expose more of his body, as well as move between his legs to rub his bulge and squeeze his butt. Eggman is very pleased with the sight and mockingly coos at him for being a poor helpless thing but doesn't get him down from there.

He says it gets hot in this small cart so he could do with losing his big coat. He clicks his fingers and the robot unbuttons the Conductor's coat and all he can do is watch. It grabs hold of the waist of his pants and starts to pull them down too, revealing a shameful semi in his underwear from the tightness of his restraints and how it feels him up.

Eggman's eyes wander and he licks his lips as he admires his small but pudgy titties, cute soft fuzzy tummy, the imprint of his girthy cock in his briefs, and his round bubble butt that looks close to spilling out of them. The Conductor gulps nervously because he hasn't had anyone check him out like this and look at him with such desire in a long time.

When he realizes something is up he tells him he's married but Eggman is just like "aww how cute~ well too bad she's not here to stop or watch us, ey?", stroking his chin and putting his finger to his lips to hush him and silence his "but-". He tells him to relax and that it's just the two of them and the Mirage Express and nobody else has to know about this, it's just a bit of fun

The Conductor is speechless and when he doesn't object, Eggman leans in and kisses him on the lips and his cheeks burn bright red. He licks and sucks his neck and makes him shiver and lets his big hands roam over his bound body, squeezing his butt and rubbing his bulge through his pants. The Conductor gasps in surprise but doesn't tell him to stop.

He also can't resist licking and sucking his tits, they're smaller than his and cute and pudgy and perky that way. Eggman feeling him up and kissing him along with the pressure of the robot's wires still restraining and slithering around sensitive places while he's helplessly trapped has him very worked up and aroused with confusing conflicting feelings.

It's clear he's trying not to enjoy it when sweating with his face flushed and he's trying to squirm and writhe but the powerful wires hold him back. He tries to swallow his noises too but Eggman catches a small soft moan slipping past his lips when he kisses him again. He smirks and teases him for his cute hesitance and struggle in the restraints.

He gets Eggman excited to the point of overheating in his multiple layers, so he ditches his clothes too. The Conductor closes his eyes as if he doesn't want to see but opens them to find himself curious and feeling rather strange at the sight of his hairy chest, fat jiggly titties, and big soft fuzzy belly with a peek of a happy trail above his undies.

Eggman is clearly very excited with his big hard on stretching his red briefs with his logo on them. He presses it against the old dog's and grinds into it while going in for more kisses and feeling him up, this time with their soft tits, bellies, and bulges pressed against each other's. It feels so naughty and forbidden but it makes it even more exciting.

Eggman kisses him again even more passionately, deeper and sloppier and grinds against him harder, it gets messy with their sticky precum wetting their undies and drool connecting them by the lips. Eggman says "this feels so good, doesn't it?" and can tell he feels the same by how hard his cock is too as he's clearly fully erect now.

Eggman is too eager to wait any more and pulls his briefs down. He's correct, it's not as long as his but is thick and juicy as he imagined and it makes his own throb in excitement. He rubs it tenderly between his finger and thumb and it drips with precum. He cheekily smirks and says "Oh you really like me, don't you? You can't hide it from me~"

The Conductor is confused because he can hardly comprehend having these strange feelings for a man at all, let alone man like him. Eggman suddenly pulls away and says "alright I won't tease you any longer, I should give you something for being such a good boy for me" and makes the Conductor wonder what he's going to do next. Maybe finally free him?

But of course he's not done with him yet. Instead he turns around and starts shaking his big fat ass, patting it and asking if he wants some of this. He pulls his briefs down and moons him and precum drips onto the floor because he loves showing off. The Conductor never would've expected him to be a dirty old slut but he can't say he hates the sight.

He has the Conductor lowered to the floor at last and lay down on his back but he still doesn't free him. He still doesn't answer Eggman's questions verbally but he's embarrassed by how eagerly his hard throbbing cock answers for him as it twitches at the sight of his ass and more precum trickles out. Eggman teases him for how it's clearly aching for him.

He stands over him and says he looks so cute as he jerks himself off over his body and a few more drops of precum hit the Conductor's furry belly. They're so sticky and messy already and they've hardly gotten started! Eggman finally gets down and straddles him, spreads his ass cheeks apart and positions himself to push his tip into his hole.

Eggman is already so thrilled by the feeling of his fat cock sinking into his ass, it's so thick that he feels it stretching his hole wider and sighs happily. He easily takes his entire length in quickly with the first few pushes and drops down onto it as he gets moving. Eggman moans at how full he feels and the firm pressure it so easily has on his prostate.

The Conductor tries to avert his gaze but the robot hand moves his face to make him face Eggman at all times as he tells him not to be shy. He takes him by surprise by being so pervy and dirty and dominant as he rides him while the robot holds him in place for him. He teases him by saying that he knows he wants a piece of this fat ass, he can admit it

He still won't say it but as Eggman starts to go faster, it becomes obvious as his moans start getting harder to hide. Eggman keeps teasing by asking if his wife would ever ride him this good and asks if he's the first man that's ever taken his cock and he's delighted to learn he is when he nods. Not only that, he's never been inside an ass at all.

Learning that he's the first turns Eggman on even more and he really wants to show him what he's been missing as he rides him harder and faster. The Conductor is overwhelmed by how deep inside his ass he is and how his hole feels so tight when sucking in his thick cock and Eggman loves how he fills him up and hits the spot every time.

Eggman then really goes for it and fucks himself on his big thick cock as hard and fast as he can. He cries out that it feels amazing, his eyes roll back and he sticks his tongue out and drools over him. His hard cock slaps his soft belly and feels good too, he rides him relentlessly and feels like such a dirty slut. It gets them moaning loudly together.

The Conductor has no choice but to look up at the handsome big hairy bear on top of him and can't deny that he's attractive when seeing him in this new light. The feeling of his fat jiggly ass bouncing on his cock, being so deep inside him, and the sound of it slapping against him feels so dirty but so good when he rides him like he rides the train lol

The Conductor finally blows and groans deeply as he pumps a big thick load in his ass. Eggman bets it's the first time he's been able cum like that in a while by how overwhelmed and stunned he is. Feeling him cum deep inside him and thinking about how his ass is the first he's ever filled makes him cum too, so hard and shoots so far it lands on his face.

He giggles and apologizes for making the first time a man cums on him so messy and licks it off while kissing him. He asks how it feels to cum inside a man and have one make him cum and if he liked it. The Conductor is still too shy to answer but is surprised to find he enjoyed it with how hard he came and learns something new about himself.

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

And Eggman doesn't leave it at that because he's got it bad for him after that. He loves how forbidden and scandalous it feels, he finds him really handsome and loves his cock and he has more plans with him. He makes it part of the deal of working in a train built by him. He likes to come and visit him to "check on things" and takes his chance.

He pretends to care about how things have been going there but gradually gets closer and more touchy, putting his arm around him and pulling him in closer while they talk. When they sit down together, it doesn't take Eggman long to get down on his hands and knees on the floor and crawl up to him with a mischievous glint in his eye.

He says his missed him as he puts his hand on his thigh and traces it up to his cock to unzip his pants and starts feeling his cock through his undies. He buries his face into it and sniffs and says "hey it's a package delivery for me ;)" in the cargo car and the Conductor can't react in disappointment at his joke and only from pleasure of how good it feels

He enjoys nuzzling into his balls, licking, sucking, and kissing his cock, and feeling him get hard in his mouth. This clearly isn't the first he's ever taken in his mouth but this is the first time the Conductor has ever been in a man's mouth. He gives him the best as he kisses and sucks and slurps and slobbers on his cock and balls so passionately

He asks him if he's giving him the best he's ever had and knows it's true, he has the large tongue, deep wet mouth and tongue, and skill to put it to good use. And when he gives him that look of pride and cheekiness while licking and swallowing his cum and getting it all over his face, he loves how blushy he gets. He knows how to make him weak

It also escalates to him bending him over the dashboard and fucking him too, teasing him and saying "don't you love cock?" and pounding his cute fat fuzzy butt so hard. He can't help but stick his tongue out and pant and wags his tail and he grabs hold of it to pull him against him harder and fuck him deeper and he loves how he moans and whines

His mind goes blank with pleasure and he breaks and Eggman keeps teasing him for how gay he is to be loving this so much and he can't deny by how hard his cock is, how intense his orgasm is, and how immense his enjoyment is. And he has to embrace it as the truth that Eggman helped him find by making him fall in love with his cock and ass.

He bets that he hasn't felt this good in a long time. And it's true, he hadn't felt such a spark like this and experienced pleasure of this intensity for a while and it's getting harder to pretend that he doesn't have a thing for him every time he accidentally melts into his kisses or pushes against him harder and desperately to silently plead for more

And he record all of it to make sure he has the evidence and will enjoy watching it back later hehe

Eggman knows just how to get people falling hard for him and constantly long for more even if they don't want to admit it verbally, he knows how they think about him, discover things about themselves and embrace it and become addicted because of him and he loves taking great pride in it and encouraging them to be naughty with him 💜

[angelmichelangelo]

I do appreciate that it might have become a little tiring to have all 4 turtles go through a ptsd arc at different points in the show but holy crap they ALL deserved some ancient one therapy one way or another. I like to imagine post series when they're all chilling in their thirties they all talk to the official Justice Force HQ therapist so they can fully get this stuff off their chest, down to the wackiest sci-fi details 😭

I'm hopeful!!! Especially because IDW has been churning out all sorts of tmnt crossovers lately now that they have exclusive comic rights... I would adore for them to make something new for 2k3, sort of how they've started up the saturday morning cartoon comic inspired by the 87 series. 2003 is a VERY popular TMNT iteration even now, what with the story being so close to the mirage comics, so there would definitely be an audience for it??? So IP holders if you're listening......... Take some notes 👀

Sam Riegel really does have the nicest Don voice, he's probably my favourite version of Donatello. Such a soft kind soul 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

im imagining the poor justice force sat around a table after the turtles leave with their heads in their hands like ‘….oh my god”

also as ive gone back and rewatched the episodes, i totally forgot that don more or less watches his family die twice!! in that ep where they had the astral plane dream.. he thinks casey and april get blown up and BOY is he panicking. don had some untapped ptsd after sainw.. im bubble wrapping him. bubble wrapping him with a thousand bubble wraps forever and ever.

and yes ! the whole 40th anniversary comic is so exciting, i feel like even though all iterations of the show get good enough rep, the older shows like 2003 are getting a little more love which is nice :) they also released (or are releasing) a full dvd box set if im not mistaken! which is huge HUGE because finding any a good quality version of that show is like gold dust so that’s just upping my expectations slightly that we’ll get something…. if the ninja turtle gods allow it….

(also am i naive to also want the scrapped 2012 movie that they’re taking bits and pieces of for the 40th anniversary comic?? yes i am but i can dream)

and yeah. there’s just something about sam as donnie! don’t get me wrong i do enjoy crazed scientist donatello or snappy snarky dry wit donnie but 2003 donnie is so special to me that increases tenfold because of his voice. i hold him gently in my hands like an injured bird lol

[mirageofficial]

✿﹒⤷﹒🧸﹒ EUNAE'S LIVESTREAMS ﹒

( headcanon )

just like ateez, mirage goes live on youtube!

much like her brother when he goes live himself, she rambles on about whatever it is that they’ve been up to

the jeon siblings are incredibly close, they spent a lot of time together throughout their lives—eunae moving to korea to support jihun is the product of it

although...eunae likes to tease her older brother and share funny stories (or, at least SHE finds them funny…typical sibling bantering basically)

talks all about how he tries very hard to be that overprotective & scary big brother type, but he’s so soft n sweet that he’s practically just a big teddy bear like her

her most recent episode of "exposing her dorky big brother," was this week’s livestream, her first solo stream since tour ended

gossiped about how at the seoul show, both jihun and her boyfriend (of only about a few months at the time) were present—naturally, it was the first time they were introduced to each other

jihun tried to play it off as being overprotective but his own members (cough cough marley cough cough) called him out for being a bad actor…right in front of jeonghan

"so…moral of the story…promise, isn’t my brother great at first impressions? marley is a fantastic wingwoman, gotta give her props for her hard work…"

IN SHORT, EUNAE IS A SWEETHEART BUT SHE HAS RECEIPTS…AND WILL SHARE ALL THE GOSSIP WITH HER FANS

just like she gives daily song recommendations on bubble, she does the same when she's live!

at some point, nako will insert herself into the livestream

one way or another, she will FIND. A. WAY.

whether it be a phone call, barging into the room, or yelling from the other side of the dorm

but it’s okay because that’s eunae’s bestie & nobody tolerates nako like she does

nako once pranked eunae while she was live during rebirth promotions. she hid behind eunae’s curtains for like half an hour into the stream & jumpscared her so bad that she fell out of her chair

now eunae doesn’t go live if there’s curtains behind her lmfao the poor girl was swearing in both english & korean just from pure shock—the staff had to mute her 😭

nako was also banned from pranking the members on livestreams after that, much to her dismay lol

if her mom or dad calls her while she’s on live, eunae always answers and asks for them to greet everyone

gushes (and i mean GUSHES) about her boyfriend, never drops jeonghan’s name for the sake of privacy but simply mentions that she’s seeing someone…does not care if people hate her for it honestly lmao she just wants to tease her fans a little and be candid about what her life is really like as an idol

talks so much about him & what they’ve been doing together that fans even ask for updates it’s so cute…and they don’t even know WHO he is either

"ah…no, i can’t show you this picture of our recent date, but i can tell you about what we did!"

talks about the books she’s reading recently & reviews them in english

ALWAYS blushes when she gets comments about how pretty, fancy, or beautiful her english accent sounds…she’s also a wreck when someone comments that her accent suits her better than when she speaks korean

rarely does her lives in english, instead she has small segments where she does or announces if they’re going to be fully in english

a BIG romcom and fantasy romance enthusiast…gossips about kdramas like you’re her best friend fr!

ask her about whatever it is that lee dongwook did and she probably knows lol she LOVES that man and has seen all of his acting projects

talks about her time while performing in musicals a lot as well! shares the shows she was in + her roles, also shares all of her stories of successes & failures as a (very short-lived) musical theater actress!

overall? eunae makes it feel like you’re on facetime with her as an old friend, there’s always a warm and fuzzy feeling when you get that notification that she’s live!

MENTIONS JEONGHAN FROM @offlivne

TAGLIST | @neocityocs @alixnsuperstxr @ying-yang-qiao @kadieswrld @ino3zi

JOIN THE TAGLIST HERE!

[englishbutter]

Mirage’s story trailer: analysing the narrative

Originally posted here. This is part of a series of posts/essays I’m importing over from Reddit to Tumblr, because I like them and I want to sort them so they don’t get lost in my general comment history.

General housecleaning preamble:

This was written in the 24 hours after the drop of Mirage’s story trailer on 12 June, 2023, in response to a whole lot of crap posted specifically on the subreddit and Twitter about “the story won’t be good because it’s just pandering to the old fans”. Which I don’t believe. I’ve used my narrative analysis skills to break down the trailer and have a stab at what might happen, and the TL;DR of this is, I think we’re in good hands. The impression I’m getting on the story from this two minute trailer is that we might be in for the best AC story in a good long while.

But I also want to emphasise a couple of things.

Firstly, all of this is just a guess as to what’s in store based on the information solely given in the trailer. At the point of writing this, I hadn’t seen any other information released by Ubi (and I honestly still haven’t paid much attention to it). So although my attitude towards Mirage’s story is pretty positive based off the trailer, it doesn’t guarantee that the final product will actually be good, because as we’ve known for years, Ubi are masters at the marketing game. Secondly, as was pointed out in one of the comments I recieved on the post, this breakdown doesn’t take into account acting and delivery a whole bunch. So even if my story guesses are solid and turn out to be in the right direction, if not nailing it on the head, the presentation of said drama can be ruined thorugh things like AI cutscenes, poor voice direction, etc., which the previous RPG titles are notorious for. Because I approached this breakdown as a novelist where you don’t need to worry about this stuff lol

And now, onto the post.

At first I was going to only talk about Mirage's story trailer and why it’s promising, actually, but then it spiralled into a big thing about AC’s narratives as a whole: An Analysis (Reddit post, 13 June, 2023)

Hi. Maybe you’ll remember me from hit posts like Assassin’s Creed isn't about Order vs. Chaos, or that one time I wrote a 165k book about Connor and Arno vs. Shay. Point is, I write a lot about Assassin’s Creed and its narrative, and I’m here to write more about it now that we have more information on Mirage’s story and why I think, despite so much negativity towards it, we’re going to be just fine, actually, and how we could be in for the most interesting Creed-story in a decade.

Buckle up, this is a long ‘un.

For years, we, as an online community across multiple platforms, have been talking about how “AC isn’t AC anymore”, and one of the topics that gets brought up repeatedly is the story. The narrative isn’t as good anymore; I want them to talk about the philosophy of the Creed just like they did in AC1; I want interesting characters who are themselves instead of these ‘choose your own adventure’ RPG games; etc. And it looks like, with the new drop of Mirage’s story trailer, we have what has been asked for.

Yet sadly, but unsurprisingly, I’ve seen many complaints across social media following the trailer drop saying that what we have been presented on the narrative is crap. It’s nostalgia bait. It’s just trying to trick us again. To which I say, “Huh?”

Look, I get it. I get that many people have been so burnt by the series that this response is akin to an automatic reflex to protect yourself from disappointment. I get the cynicism people are feeling because the last game’s marketing was focused on “returning to the roots” and it did not meet expectations. I get it because people want to go to the timeline where we have a game that is a direct improvement on Unity, or pulls more from Ghost of Tsushima. I get it. I have been there. I understand. I’m here to try and assure you that we seem to be in good hands for the story, at least.

I’m not going to talk about the gameplay (aside: Assassin Focus is friggin’ sick, nor is it a magic teleport à la Odyssey), or the graphics, or world design, or anything else. I’m going to leave that to people who are smarter than me in those areas, but narrative is what I’m smart in. So, let’s have a look together.

We’re going to be talking spoilers from here on out, but getting into detail about endgame Valhalla spoilers in relation to Mirage, which I will mark if you would like to remain unspoiled for that. Also, we’re going to be doing a lot of groundwork first before getting into the actual analysis of the trailer, because I need it to properly talk about the trailer in the context of the wider franchise. Thanks for your patience. I promise that, if not interesting, it’ll be worthwhile (high-five to fellow narrative nerds).

Okay!

First, we’ll go briefly back to the beginning of the series and so the game that started this giant love affair. AC1, and the Creed. I want to start here because the heart of the trailer is about Basim’s relationship to the Creed (which for now, we’ll just say is complex, further supported by what we know about him from Valhalla), and it also touches on what we the audience want and expect from explorations of the Creed, and why those expectations might not be the best approach to story.

There’s a gorgeous article I often point people towards regarding audience reception to Star Wars, written by the incredibly empathetic and smart Film Crit Hulk. The Beautiful, Ugly, and Possessive Hearts of Star Wars. Though I highly recommend reading this article, the reason I’m bringing it up now is that, in summary, it makes a deeply resonating point: we care so much for the things we love because of the way they spoke to us when we first fell in love with them. For Star Wars, it got many of us as children. Watching A New Hope for the first time might have imparted your love for Luke as a heroic Jedi Knight with his lightsabre, or the overwhelming arc of good vs. evil in the Rebels vs. the Empire, or it might be for the resonate message of hope, etc. Hulk calls this “the Core”, and the idea behind this is, it’s what drives the love for Star Wars in each individual. It’s the thing that captured your imagination about it above all else, and when that “Core” is challenged or damaged, then it makes people furious. It’s why there was such split reactions towards The Last Jedi. It’s why we’re currently in a Renaissance for the Prequel Trilogy, and why I’m expecting in ten years to see a similar resurgence of love for the Sequel Trilogy. And something similar has happened with Assassin’s Creed. We all love it for different reasons, be it its roots in historical adventure fiction, its particular flavour of a hyper-competent killer (and the and/or nature of sneak vs. battle master, which is more commonly divided by the fandom into stealth vs. combat), its gameplay functions (“classic” vs. RPG) … you see where this is going. We all have our own “Core” for AC, and Ubisoft has not been able to reconcile what I call the “classic Core” fans and the “RPG Core” fans.

Why are we talking about this again? Oh yeah, we were talking about the Creed in AC1 and how that relates to Mirage.

AC1’s focus on the Creed is praised by some to be thought provoking and driving Altaïr’s development, which is all true, but I feel many people get wrong as to why this works as it does, and ignore that for many, it did not work. See all the jokes about making Altaïr spin in circles in Al Mualim’s office as they’re waiting for him to shut up. So, in the second last bit of introduction for this essay, I want to briefly discuss character vs. plot writing.

Plot writing is where the story is being driven forward by the demands of plot. “Oh no! We have to stop the bomb from blowing the city up, and every action we shall be taking shall be focused on doing that!” The Avengers movies are good examples of this.

Character writing is when the decisions made by the characters are driving the plot. “Jane is hiding secrets from me, and so I’ll react in response to that.” This results in more drama-driven stories; stories about characters doing things because of other characters. This is stuff like Arcane (especially Arcane; my God that show is built like a Swiss clock) and House of the Dragon.

Then you have media which is a mix of both. Things like Into the Spiderverse (another Swiss clock uunf) is a mix. Miles and Peter have to go to Alchemax to steal the information on how to shut down the collider (a plot driven need, because Miles, trying to master his spider powers, has accidentally broken the USB that 1610 Peter Parker acquired to shut down the collider), but the heist goes horribly wrong because Miles is trying to help 616B Peter with Kingpin’s unexpected arrival but, again, doesn’t know how to use his powers (a character driven development).

There is not one formula that is better than the other. Different story techniques are different tools, much like how you’re not going to use a saw to hammer nails into wood. And we’ve had both kinds of writing in Assassin’s Creed before that work really well! AC2 is primarily plot-driven, Unity is primarily character driven, and AC3 is a mix of both. But Mirage’s story trailer is tickling all the right areas in my brain for a character story. We’ve established that the main conflict is within Basim’s relationship to the Creed, how it demands his unflinching loyalty to the hierarchy of the Brotherhood and yet preaches freedom at the same time.

I think people focus so specifically on “we want a good game talking about the philosophy of the Creed” because that goes back to their “Core”. It made me think, it made me care about Altaïr as a character, it made me invested in what was going on in the story. And this is great! But you also have to recognise that if you talk about just philosophy, it has the danger of steering straight into almost unwatchable/unretainable territory. Think of the scene in the second Matrix movie where Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus go to talk to the Merovingian at the restaurant. Most of that conversation was all about philosophy (causality, for those who would like the reminder), and most people found it boring to watch and didn’t remember most of it even directly after it was done. When you rewatch the scene, or you write out the dialogue and take time to analyse it, it’s really interesting! It’s thought provoking! But it’s not a good watching experience. What most people came away with from that scene was, “Did he just give that woman an orgasm via spiking her cake?” So how do you fix this? You dramatise it. And the AC1 team were successfully able to dramatise the philosophy in AC1 that it captured enough people’s imaginations to go on and spawn the other philosophical parts of AC later. Ezio’s actions in Revelations. Haytham’s conflict with Connor in AC3. Shay’s torn loyalties between duty and what is morally right in Rogue. The conflict between Arno and Germain (once you get through the … lack of presented information) in Unity.

You can argue that the philosophy about the Creed has eaten itself to nothing in the last few games. That there’s nothing left to tell after fifteen years of the same damn thing. But I disagree.

The way to make the philosophy interesting isn’t to discuss the Creed as a concept of itself, which I see a lot of these requests asking for. We’d have wrung ourselves dry of that years ago if we did that. So, how do you fix that? How do you make it interesting whilst continuing to make a video game that is financially successful? You make it about character relationships to the Creed. On a narrative level, those possibilities are endless.

And Basim’s faceted relationship to the Creed looks to be shaping up as character and philosophy coming to mix. Which leads us finally to the last bit of groundwork to get into before the trailer stuff: Basim himself.

Valhalla spoilers below.

When we’re first introduced to Basim, all seems well on the surface. He’s a powerful figure in the Brotherhood, both as an experienced killer, a worldly traveller, and a teacher. Yet there’s something off about him; maybe it’s the lingering camera shots where he’s just standing a bit too off-puttingly. For someone so high up in the Brotherhood, he too seems awfully callous about Eivor having the Order’s secrets whilst not being a member, an attitude directly contrasted to Hytham who objects to Eivor’s schooling after just having met her. Basim’s also very closed about why he and Hytham have come to Norway. Basim talks big about how they’ve come to hunt down members of the Order of Ancients, but there’s certainly a sense he’s hiding information. That his friendship with Sigurd isn’t all that it seems, and that there’s a deeper arrangement going on that we are unaware of.

That arrangement, of course, being that Basim tries to help Sigurd unlock his godhood. Again, there’s a sense that Basim is hiding something. Why would he do this? And Eivor pushes back on it, but she’s helpless as she watches Basim and Sigurd go down the path of madness together, putting not just themselves at risk, but the clan, too.

At the end of the game, the truth comes out. Basim was using Sigurd to get to Odin, who he did not realise was reborn as Eivor until the climax. Why? Basim is the reincarnation of another Norse god, Loki, blood brother to Odin. And Odin imprisoned Loki’s son Fenrir for fear of prophecy. Now Loki-become-Basim wants revenge.

Basim in Valhalla is a man who has gone beyond being tied to the Creed and will only have it in his mouth and wear it as it suits him. He is unshackled, so to speak. He is his own agent, and we’ve had to take the entire game to notice that that was what was off about him when we first met. And one of the questions we should get answers to in Mirage was how he became the way he is.

End Valhalla spoilers.

Mirage takes us back twenty years before the start of Valhalla to a younger Basim. A street thief who is suffering from hallucinations and nightmares of a “djinn” that he alone endures. On a surface pass of this, I think it looks great. The trailer has a clear narrative throughline of Basim being saved by the Hidden Ones and joining them, but soon finding out that what was sweet at first bite, a promise of freedom, has turned somewhat sour. Basim is made by other characters throughout the trailer to question both his place in the Brotherhood, what they’re doing, and what he is, a question that cannot leave him alone as he continues to be haunted by his visions.

This throughline is fascinating to look at. You have a strong premise and strong conflict, and you can start to piece together the shape of what the story is going to be about. You know how I said before the trailer gives me a strong impression that this will be a character-driven narrative? Let’s dive into that. And we’ll talk about the Creed at the same time.

What I think looks strong narratively about this is you should be able to play Mirage without knowing how Basim’s story goes in Valhalla (there is another marked section of Valhalla spoilers later, but otherwise I’ll only be talking about the content of the trailer). This is because the narrative looks contained. We’re not introduced to Basim as a “you already know who this is because it’s a prequel!” character, but instead as a new character. He is a street thief, and he sucks at it because he’s just been caught by two guards and is about to be punished by them. But then! Shock and surprise! Basim is saved by a powerful warrior. She grabs him and tells him to follow her, we have to go! Basim has no choice but to do so as she clears an escape route without trouble. She leads him up to a leap of faith spot and gracefully jumps.

Basim, on the other hand, is clumsy and doesn’t know how to do a leap of faith. Off he falls into the river below. I actually went “Ouch!” upon watching the trailer for the first time because he lands in the water on his back. Painful! And not only does it lead into a classic shot of a person being swallowed by black waters, but it’s so perfect an illustration of a character who isn’t competent in the world they're about to enter, and, of course, what that world will turn them into soon.

It can also be symbolically read as death and rebirth.

After Basim has been dragged out of the water, we then cut to a campfire and have talk of the feather ritual. I was kind of shocked to see people reacting negatively to the inclusion of this. The most common criticism I’ve seen of this scene (this isn’t including the AI animated cutscenes or what have you) is that it’s nostalgia bait! It’s one of those pieces of marketing that is trying to trick you into buying this game! I think this take is the culmination of Internet-flavoured cynicism. Maybe these critics are right and marketing is part of the reason why this scene was included in the trailer, but narratively, this scene is excellent because it starts to put down the base of where Basim’s psychology starts. After Basim, obviously by himself, has been rescued by Roshan, this cut establishes camaraderie between members of the Brotherhood. A sense of community and belonging, which is something that Basim is painfully lacking. But the other thing it does is offers Basim purpose. If he can join this Brotherhood with its close connections and rituals, and if it gives him the power to save other powerless people like Roshan saved him (not only from death, but from a life of oppression and/or scratching by), then it is an opportunity to find himself, to be part of something greater.

Because the “job” of the first part of this trailer is to mythologise the Hidden Ones in Basim’s eyes and show his radicalisation to the Creed. It’s getting him to care so much about this that he pledges himself to the Hidden Ones and to put him in a position where, once he emerges from the bubble that is Alamut, the world starts chafing against his ideals when it doesn’t offer the simple existence presented at Alamut.

Radicalisation to the cause is actually what a lot of the other Assassin stories have been about. It’s Altaïr’s story, it’s Ezio's, it’s Edward’s. Arno suffers consequences for not being radicalised to the cause (expulsion from the Brotherhood for one). And for the reverse, Shay’s story is about his slow conversion from an Assassin, to a wayward lone wolf, to a Templar. It’s about why should these people take up these causes and devote their lives to something that won’t be remembered in the history books, and why they choose to become one of endless, lashing waves throwing themselves against the breakwall.

And Basim’s radicalisation is further cemented in the trailer by Roshan directing him to strike down the Order of Ancients. “The Order has held dominion over man and their empires for centuries,” she says as she hands Basim a feather. Go forth and kill.

Something that I’ve always wanted to see in an AC game is a character’s reaction to the first time they kill someone. From the top of my head, there are two times we’ve seen this talked about in the franchise, and one of them I don’t really count. The first is Shay’s reactions to killing his Templar targets at the beginning of Rogue. He isn’t happy about it, and it’s the first crack set that ends up with his defection. But this is the one I don’t count because Shay’s issue isn’t so much with the act of killing, but with the why behind the killing. The second time is in the novelisation of AC2, when Ezio kills the city guards who come to arrest him just after he’s claimed his father’s arms and armour. Ezio is completely shell shocked when this happens. He’s just killed someone. Oh my God, he’s killed someone. That has an impact. Taking a life is no small thing, and I would like to see the weight of that addressed for once in this franchise. And I do wonder, given the theme of this trailer, if we’ll finally have this. I hope so, because it seems that it’ll tie perfectly to Basim’s arc.

Because the arc is heading in a direction that only Rogue has really touched on. That being the crash from the high. What happens when you’re no longer a believer? What happens when you look back down the path of your life and reflect on the things that you’ve done … and you’re not sure of it?

What if you’ve got buyer’s remorse for this Creed?

You want AC philosophy? Well, here you go.

The trailer then cuts to a voiceover that introduces the main character conflict on the Brotherhood’s side. “Swallow your questions. Serve without complaint,” a woman says. Her name is Nehal, and she’s Basim’s childhood street rate friend. As such, they’re close to each other. Nehal’s talking about his relationship with Roshan and seems to be ranting to him about how Roshan treats him. Maybe Basim has been venting his frustrations about his teacher to her, and this woman is trying to help him. But there are two main points here that are important – Basim is having second thoughts about the Brotherhood, he’s frustrated with them (it’s unclear at this point if he has brought this frustrations up with Roshan yet), and secondly, his relationship with Nehal is important. They’re in each other’s corners, and it might feed more conflict into Basim and Roshan.

The trailer then goes further into establishing the conflict between Basim and the Hidden Ones. “Everything you do serves the Hidden Ones. That is a strange kind of freedom.” This is said by another important character, Ali. There is tension there. Basim is obviously having doubts about his role in the Brotherhood, and it’s not helped by other people feeding into it.

This conflict of interest is further hammered on with the rawest line in the trailer. “You are not the first to walk the shadows broken. Pour your pain into the Brotherhood.” On this note: Acting! I love Basim’s expression. Honestly, he has lots of good micro-expressions in this trailer, and I adore it. In this shot-reverse-shot, you have this deep anger and frustration in him that’s barely being held back. And this frustration is so compelling because it screams to me that Basim is trying to communicate with his teacher, perhaps by telling her about the djinn, perhaps by sharing his doubts with her about things that have happened either in the plot or his street rat backstory, but he’s being rebuffed. He is not finding help here. He is still alone. That’s going to pour more fuel onto the fire for certain. Because the other emotion I read in his body language here is this painful acknowledgement that he is not going to get the help, nor the understanding from Roshan that he needs. Because pour your pain into the Brotherhood sounds an awful lot like a deflection after she and Basim have had a fight about personal torments plaguing him.

And the tragic thing is: this is good advice for a lot of people who come to the Hidden Ones. They are made up of people who have been hurt by the imbalances of society, and that is a rage you can direct back towards helpful sources. But it’s not good advice for Basim, much like Yoda saying to Anakin, “Just turn off your emotions lol,” was terrible advice.

Oooh the drama’s cooking.

Almost to the end of the trailer!

“We are messengers of justice, and not the final judges.” I’m going to have to think more on this, as I’m not sure how it relates to the trailer’s narrative throughline here right now, but I shall think on it. For now, I would say this is a calming line, a way to cool the heat the rest of the trailer has built up between Basim and the Brotherhood. We talked about radicalisation before, and this might be here to remind Basim that he needs to sit and calm down a moment before doing something stupid he’ll regret. What that might be, I’m not sure, but it might be taking action against the Brotherhood. Just a little treason.

And finally, to round this out, we come to the djinn. My God I’m so excited to see what happens with this, Ubi don’t let me down.

I talked before how I don’t think this is a Rogue situation where this questioning of the Creed is coming from Basim having moral thoughts about killing people. I think it comes from his conflict with the djinn. “He knows not what he is.”

The djinn is so interesting. I want to take a stab in the dark here about what the djinn’s narrative purpose here is as a devil on the shoulder, but I think it ties into Basim’s relationship with the Brotherhood. Basim is haunted by this terrifying shadow demon only he can see, and I’m sure if someone as powerful and confident as Roshan and the Hidden Ones came into your life talking about freedom, Basim might see it as a chance to finally escape this horrible thing in his head. To get away from the nightmares that he, tragically, has no chance of escaping. And the Creed can’t help him with that.

Valhalla spoilers once again.

In fact, the Hidden One’s work might only make the problem worse because it has been established in Valhalla that the consciousness of the reincarnated Precursors are brought about when their previous lives and their current lives come closer to each other. This was why Tyr awakened in Sigurd when Fulke cut off his arm. This is why Odin started to awaken in Eivor the more she stepped into a leadership role. And this same pattern starts awakening in Basim’s life earlier than Eivor and Sigurd’s did. Because Basim is a thief, he is a rogue, and as he becomes a Hidden One, he becomes a killer, all of which feeds into the bursting dam that is Loki’s life.

In light of this, I’m expecting that the problem of the djinn will only become worse the further we go on in the game, that we’ll be seeing it more and more until Basim is so far pulled down by it he might go to it to try and escape (“He in his madness prays for storms, and dreams that storms will bring him peace.”). Because it might end up being Roshan who is the final straw on the camel’s back. Not through any fault of her own, but because her leadership, her existence as Mentor, caps the concept of “freedom” the Hidden Ones represent. Basim can never be truly free if Roshan is there. Just like Loki could never truly be free until Odin was gone (remember from earlier, Basim is challenged by Ali asking about his “strange kind of freedom”. Freedom seems to be a massive theme of this story).

Mirage has been described by its devs as “a story of tragedy and madness”. What better way to do that than this?

End Valhalla spoilers.

“Have you not wondered at your nature?” I like how this cuts into the menacing shadowed-face shot as Basim rises, a hooded killer. Good silhouetting with the beaked hood as well! Woo! And if you’re not yet convinced about Basim’s wavering on the Creed, how much the djinn will be affecting his arc and his choices, the trailer song, How Villains Are Made by Madalen Duke, is practically screaming this theme aloud. Just look at the lyrics!

And that’s what I’ve got to say about the trailer, about AC’s narrative direction as a whole, and, for the first time in years, why I think we’ve got some good reasons to get excited about an AC story. It seems character driven, full of juicy, interpersonal conflict, and is the story of a young man who goes from a scrawny dude getting his arse kicked, to a powerful Hidden One, to someone who’s had the light beaten out of them by life, his fracturing mind, and deeply tragic circumstance. Some other bonus things from the trailer I would like to know about:

0:57, the silhouettes behind Basim in the White Room. Who are they? Also, the White Rooms once again looking awesome.

2:00, there’s a guy who comes out from behind the pulpit speaker. He seems to be Basim’s target here, as Basim only engages the hidden blade once this guy comes into view. I wonder if he’s an important target.

2:07, Basim and Nehal seem to be fleeing from Ali. Is this part of the story's conflict? Or is it only trailer editing?

2:09, a merchant looking guy backhands street thief Basim. This might be a representation of the “inciting incident” that landed Basim in his position at the beginning of the trailer. Note that how Roshan saves him in the announcement trailer vs. the story trailer take place in different locations. Same thing might be here for Basim stealing from others. (The room’s blue and orange lighting too is gorgeous.) I think that we see the djinn directly after this might be the first djinn cutscene in the game, based on Basim’s outfit.

The other thing that gives me hope that we could get this great story too is the game length. The devs have said the narrative will be about 15-20 hours, which is a fantastic length of time to explore a drama like is being promised in the trailer.

And, on top of that, if it’s relatively fun to play? I’m game.

[msfbgraves]

wait is Jones so repulsive that he can’t get an omega or something lol? or can he only get “lower class” omegas and not someone from Daniel’s station? i thought alphas could get whatever Omega they wanted. i mean how did Terry end up with Daniel anyway? yeah he’s a feared crime boss but he was poor growing up and came from a totally different social circle than Danny. he only “won” Daniel because he threatened to annihilate the family.

There's not enough omegas by far for every Alpha. There is a roaring trade in omegas in exchange for American visas as a result. Because there's so few omegas, and the omegas born in America get absorbed into the 1% really quickly, they're prized, yes - but when they come to the States they are foreign and uneducated and the richest Alphas don't want them for an official mate. They're worth a fortune as escorts, though, or in crime - because so many Alphas react so strongly to omegas, they completely lose their heads. Some omegas do very badly in those tough environments though, and they do run away or get dumped - Johnny's mother may have been such an unlucky "kitty" caught up in crime and unable to cope. Johnny ran and, in this case very luckily, found John and Betsy. (His name is not Johnny. His name is Vilém, but he took John's name in gratitude). Mike's Daisy got found by Daniel before she could get abused. Of course those are worst case scenarios - some of those omegas who get sold to America simply mate inside the mob or a kind boy or girl, and if they have omega puppies, those can do very well. But those not suited to street life, again because of their sensitive, caring nature - oh, it's not good. May have had one or two pups 'adopted' (read sold) away as well. Of course there are also poor omegas who come to America with their families and they usually make very good marriages. But the ones around Terry? They usually got crushed by the world in some way. Doesn't matter if all you want is sex, but to have a family with? Even for mobsters it may be smarter to find a nice beta girl to marry instead.

Daniel is from a different universe. Mid level cops like Jones barely even meet omegas like him. He was trained to marry way up.

But don't underestimate Terry. He came from nothing to threaten someone as well established as Don LaRusso. The guy is good, evaded several death traps... Jones is not on that level either. Basically what Daniel is selling him is a complete mirage. He could never get an omega like Daniel. Best, again, he can do is a first generation immigrant with little education. He couldn't even arrest one of the high level escorts because that would be thwarted by some CEO who is enjoying an extra heat while their upper class mate waits at home. The only omega he could get on his own is a crime victim, and the reason he hadn't before was he didn't want to deal with all the trauma.

Jones is a deeply average Alpha, and an asshole to boot.

[istherewifiinhell]

okayyyy more. revisting 03s version of the 'leonardo #1' aka 'leo fights all those dudes in the rain' aka 'leo vs that damn window' aka 'one of wifis fav moments of the "i want episode were he pass away not because i hate him because i love him" variety'...

At this point i have seen. as fair as i know EVERY version of that specific moment. 90s movie (its raph actually!), 03, 12, mirage and idws (both incredible. i believe eastmans layouts for mirage, stunning. and soph. campbell art on the idw one. so EMOTIONAL). oh and its in the mobile game on apple arcade too. yeah.

and in my mind, 03 a lot of legs up, you get motion over still image for action heavy scenes, animation over live action for less physical limitations on the action, and 2d over cg, which specifically for the relavant eras on tv budgets, helps tune in the colour pallet and textures. is dark and its raining, can you can really see both. cool tone pallets and rain that just poors down the characters skin. at least in the close up shots. lol.

BUT i will admit. and oh i am not usually this person. like. kids/all ages media is gonna be the way it is. its silly to expect it to be otherwise. I WAS. a little struck. by feeling the absence of really heavy hits. like. he cant KILL people. its 4kids.... but as their throwing ya know. waves of enemies, and just using the stock animation attacks and cut away techique. its a little diminished. now it still has the escalation of stakes, gives you that sense of pronglonged exhausting battle, lets you feel both leos skill and when hes in too deep. just the composition/choreo leaves a little wanting.

THAT SAID. it IS a 2 parter. the adaption of the leo micro is part one. issue 11 is part 2. AND. OH i found out where they put all the animation! Its here. NOW this. pretty much makes complete sense when youre not me who just got sicko focused on the endurance sad boy test...

the second half is of course where you have ALL of the characters getting in the mix, an established set piece location of aprils apartment and shop. and you know, time for THE SHREDDER. to actually get in the mix. and not just get his guys to do the work. the difference is kinda wild.

you have a lot of really specific locational fighting, not cuting to the action lines background. constant awareness of where all our players are and what their doing. and when the turtles fight the 'elite guard', (about as literally as you can get to, they are mini bosses). i was thinking. Hey is this rotoscoped? cause something about the form factor of the characters, the heft of their movement, and the full body mechanics of the fighting. it feels so night and day. super impactful and very cool to see.

also what we call. casey with the good hair. instead of the flat middle part hair, they draw him with a bit of volume, some wavy texture... it really gives the impression he JUST tried a new conditioner thats really working for him... its not really here nor there. fun tho.

so. as much as i will silently morn not getting a rise leo no 1 moment (hell they could make it raph again. why not). just cause. god could you imagine? or any of the other newer animations... if you let the batturtles team do it they could get some brutality.. or if they do it in the mm show... shit.

I AM still, getting appreciation for 03 playing the beautiful game, of how you work your stories around animated tv show restrictions. just the previous arc, notes from the underground, has so much unique style of lighting, and one other shot that really stuck out to me. just the turtles repelling down a cliff, arms out front and behind, walking basically, straight down. Its necessarily such an awkward gesture, but it looked really nice, just for a short little transitional shot. respect.