#mostly because he seems like he had so much potential to be my favorite and tumblr’s little sadboy but just narrowly missed!!!

[synarthrosis]

fuck it trauma team posting. collection of various thoughts I have about CR-S01

- CR-S01’s characterization and English voice drive me up a fucking wall because of how VASTLY they differ from his appearance and vibe. Come on. He’s got such a good setup. Emo sadboy twink with pretty eyes and a tragic backstory. Prodigal surgeon. Amnesiac prisoner accused of a horrible crime that he can’t remember if he did or not.

- And then he opens his mouth and it’s the most bland boring emotionless middle age sounding white man voice you’ve ever heard. I think it’s primarily jarring because the voice sounds much much older than he is

- Also his entire character arc being “Woah… what if… I saved lives???” Is kind of bland to begin with and gets even more bland once you figure out that he didn’t even kill anyone

- For a while I didn’t understand why everyone was calling him ‘kid’, since he doesn’t look particularly young compared to everyone else (though I think this is just a fault in the art style, kinda hard to differentiate ages with it). I don’t think they ever explicitly mention his age in TT but I did the math and he’s like 24. So them constantly talking about how young and skilled he is actually does make sense considering most surgeons are like 29-30 at the youngest. But this was not shown well either

- Maybe this is just fault of his sort of unclear/nonexistent personality but I do not understand WHYY he chose to continue taking the blame for Albert’s crime once he learned about what really happened. He seems to a have a lot of painful feelings towards being treated like a prisoner and a murderer so it seems bizarre that he’d choose to continue serving his sentence and doing the surgeries to lighten it just so that he could hide Albert’s involvement

- Like I get that he was fond of Albert obviously for treating him kindly when his birth parents considered him a monster but bro literally framed him and got him sentenced to 250 years in prison!!! Like the peak of your emotions towards that should not just be ‘disappointed’ Erhard!!!!

- I guess the main takeaway is that he feels like suuuuch wasted potential especially since the game makes him out to be such a prominent and important character

[ritcchamadayo]

a little self-indulgent, but-

Meeting the Family! Ft. TWST Beastmen / Mermen

[headcanons / imagines]

TWST's Beastmen / Mermen x Reader ;

For the Winter Holidays, you were invited by your boyfriend to visit them at home! You happily accept, but you never know what happens when going to a non-human gathering...

(this is mostly going by my own personal hcs and whatever little tidbits TWST had given us about their families ;;;; TWST please do a family reveal..)

Beastmen

Kingscholar Royal Family

Cue Cheka running towards you in full speed :

Cheka already accepted you as his older sibling since you met on Campus!! He's happy someone's taking care of his Oji-tan at school and helping Ruggie out!

Falena on the other hand is a bit of a wild card. You'd be surprised, who knew the King of Sunset Savanna was so... carefree? He treats you really well as the King and as Leona's brother, and all around just really excited. Sibling-in-law soon i hope~? He'd jump around in joy upon meeting you!

Leona and Falena both had the utmost respect for the Savanna's females and Falena's wife, Leona's Sister-in-law, stood quite high in that hierarchy.. needless to say, she's a really well-respected queen within the kingdom and very responsible. But you seem to have piqued her interest, and she's warming up to you quickly! She'd hold herself back from trying to groom you like she would with Cheka, Falena, or Leona sometimes!

Leona would definitely try to swat away his family from bothering you too much just because they're interested. When else does your Prince, Younger Brother to the King himself, bring back a potential mate?

Cheka would love cuddling up to you! Leona would forcefully pull Cheka away because he also wants to cuddle up to you- but hey, you could take a nap surrounded by warm lion beastmen so you don't need to worry about getting cold!

Bucchi Family

Ruggie's grandma adores you!!! She's so happy to see that her dear Ruggie has found someone who'd look after him and feed him!! She'd prepare Ruggie's favorite donuts upon knowing he's coming back with you, and would definitely try to make you eat as much as possible. She loves her grandchildren, and even though living in poverty, she'd do anything to make you and Ruggie happy.

The kids in the neighborhood though, oh boy. At first they'd be all pouty and angry at you, sometimes sending a snarl or a growl your way. But Ruggie stepped in, and you realize that they just didn't want anyone to take away their big bro away!

It's easy enough to get them to warm up to you though! If you brought along plenty of treats for them, they'd flock around you and would be on their best behavior. Good food, good life. Even just a little candy would get them happy!

Bucchi-grandma would definitely remind you to not give them (or Ruggie) too much sugar. You don't want them to go bonkers on sugar rush.. that would destroy the entire place! Ruggie's more responsible now, but you cant help but wonder how he'd look like on a sugar rush when he was small.

Bucchi-grandma adores when you help out with the chores. She gets tired quite fast doing chores every day, but with Ruggie and you helping out, she could finally sit back and relax. And she's so grateful to you!

Howl Family

Jack's pack is definitely an active bunch. Jack's father, would definitely be on high alert. He doesn't want anybody hurting his pup, even though he's all grown up. And moreover, he doesn't want the newcomer to break apart the pack Jack's grandparents had established together in the Shaftlands.

They're definitely a teensy bit territorial, but it only extends to the area around their house. Jack's grandparents, the leaders of the pack, doesn't necessarily bother their children's affairs much but they'd want someone who could blend into the pack and form a relationship as close as family with the rest of the pack!

Jack's mom was wary too at first, but she'd be the one to warm up to you faster and start coaxing her husband to let his guard down. "Jack's brought home a good pup dear, maybe you should give them a chance. He's all grown up now, and it won't be long until he makes his own pack."

Jack's dad would warm up to you after that. He's a little awkward on showing his emotions (which his wife had laughed at) but he's trying his best!! Congrats! Howl-papa now accepts you as Jack's mate! (though Jack may have a few words to say regarding them calling you his mate already... man's just embarrassed.)

Oh Jack's younger siblings love having you around! They'd be shy and hide behind their mother at first, but when Jack called them over to meet and introduce you, you'd find that they're such sweet kids! It'll take a while for them to get fully comfortable but don't worry, with Jack by your side, they'll come around!

Mermen

Ashengrotto Family

Ashengrotto-mama loves your company! The first thing you see as you enter Azul's house was this badass lady using all 10 of her limbs to cook up a storm! She even freed a few limbs to give you a little greeting hug!

Ashengrotto-papa doesn't show his enthusiasm as much as his wife, but he greeted you properly nonetheless. While Ashengrotto-mama is the businesswoman of the family, Ashengrotto-papa was the one knowledgeable of laws. No wonder Azul made himself a successful business! (All the while avoiding crimes with his shady activities...)

Ashengrotto-mama would definitely fall for you too when you help her with cooking or compliment her dishes. Despite running a restaurant under the sea, she's very knowledgeable about cooking for humans and her dishes were stellar, you can't help but fall for her too.

At first they were surprised to hear from Azul that he had found a human partner, but after seeing how you acted lovingly around him in his octo-mer form and all in all simply loving him for who he is, his parents were glad. Azul may have had a hard time back in the days about his body, but he's been getting the confidence boost he needed from you and that's all the Ashengrottos could ever wish for!

Ashengrotto-papa would be the one holding in the emotional tears, he's so happy that his son found someone who loves him just the way Azul is. Considering this is Ashengrotto-mama's second marriage as well, and her original husband was nowhere to be found as Azul was growing up, he's simply glad Azul found someone and that his love life was far smoother than Ashengrotto-papa's or Ashengrotto-mama's. He's grown up into a fine young man with you by his side.

Ashengrotto-grandma simply watches on fondly, she loves seeing her grandchild happy <3

Leech Family

The first time you met them, oh boy, you might have mistook them for some sort of mafia family. I swear they're not!!!!! They're just a normal family!!!!!! The sharp-teethed smirk scared you at first, but hey, you've spent a while with literal twins with the same traits. You'll survive, right?

Their parents definitely bet on who's gonna find a partner first

You could find so many similarities between the pair of eel-mers with their two sons! Like how Leech-mama's as excitable as Floyd but also a worrywart like how Jade is sometimes, or how Leech-papa's calmness mirrored Jade but he can show his cocky, confident side sometimes that mirrored Floyd's. The two made for a real power couple 👉👈 but they love both twins equally!

Leech-mama would be over the moon! She'd swim up to you and hug you and your boyfriend with her entire body, exclaiming about how happy she was that her son found someone he cares for on the land. She'd make for a bone-crushing hug, but thank goodness it's not you getting crushed, it's the eel twins.

Leech-papa would be skeptical at first. Considering his placement at business and how people like to butter him up using gifts, he'd thought the humans up on land wanted to strike a deal with him or something. But once he's gotten to know you, he'd be a jolly dad and won't stop teasing his sons about the relationship! ("So have you tried doing *it* in your merform?" "DAD WHAT THE FUCK-")

Leech-mama would definitely make you promise to look out for her boys (both of them) while on the land, so that they don't get into unnecessary trouble.. kudos if you could reel in Azul as well knowing that those three were as tight-knit as ever.

(If you took Jade as your boyfriend) It's Leech-papa's win! He won't stop bragging to his wife how he won the bet. "I told you, people would go for a gentleman like our Jade!" Jade thinks it's amusing that his parents bet on them, and would proudly brag about you to his family. Even if it was her loss, Leech-mama would be cooing over you two for ages! (She definitely didn't give Jade signals to treat you like an absolute royalty... Okay, she might have, but Jade already treats you like one anyway~)

(If you took Floyd as your boyfriend) It's Leech-mama's win! She'd be swimming circles around your group and laughing at her husband while bragging. "See! Our Floyd's such a blast to be around, people would fall for him!" Floyd laughed and swam around alongside his mom, and you could even see him clinging on her side while they zoom around you. You could've sworn you felt obligated to join them on the zooming!

(additional - If you date both at once) Aww! Leech-mama and Leech-papa would have to call it quits on the betting, but they'd take a small W for whoever made the first move~ They're going to definitely pull their two boys and you for a giant family hug~! They're elated that their boys have found someone who loves the twins as much as their parents do!

[avatar-anna]

would you ever write a curious gaze type of concept ? especially for young dad!h like maybe he’s seen with one of his babies and the fan is observing him from afar

Curious Gazes

Three separate instances where the Styles family is seen out in the wild.

Young dad!Harry x Young mom!Reader universe

The School Teacher

“Thank you so much for meeting with me today, Ms. Y/l/n. Will your husband be joining us today?” Mrs. Keating said.

“No, sorry, he's away for work.”

Y/n smiled at the middle-aged woman as she sat in the seat across from Mrs. Keating's desk. She was Simone’s kindergarten teacher. She hadn’t spoken to Y/n too much outside of the initial parent’s meeting at the beginning of the school year, and she didn't participate much in the school's extracurricular activities, and she often pulled Simone from school. But Simone was excelling doing well and on top of all her schoolwork, so Mrs. Keating didn't see any red flags. Y/n was young, very young, that much was clear, but she tried not to hold it against the girl.

However, Mrs. Keating eventually had to call Y/n in for a meeting after a couple recurring incidences the last few days. It was nothing major, but Mrs. Keating thought it would be wise to get ahead of it before the situation had the potential to escalate.

“That’s okay, dear. We can go ahead and get started.” Simone's mother motioned for Mrs. Keating to continue as she folded one leg over the other in her seat. The teacher eyed Y/n's sneakers curiously before saying, "It has come to my attention that Simone has been going around telling students that her father is a famous musician."

Mrs. Keating had overheard Simone telling her fellow students that her dad was Harry Styles, someone Mrs. Keating only knew because her niece was a big fan. She didn't know much about the celebrity, but she saw a magazine headline or the occasional photograph. There was no way Harry Styles was Simone's father or Y/n's husband.

"Right, um, I'll have a talk with her when I get home," Y/n said, sounding a little surprised.

Mrs. Keating smiled warmly at the girl. "Lovely. I just wanted you to be aware of the situation. Lying is frowned upon at this school."

"She's—My daughter isn't lying," Y/n said. "My husband is a musician. He’s—"

"It's okay if that's the story you want to give to Simone," Mrs. Keating said. Perhaps Y/n didn't know who Simone's father was and she just told her daughter offhandedly that her dad was a celebrity. "But it's started quite a few arguments in the classroom and on the playground."

Y/n mumbled some kind of reply, and Mrs. Keating found herself saying, "Sorry, what was that, dear?"

"I said, I will talk to Simone about being mindful of the things we say and how we say them," Y/n said, clearer this time.

"Wonderful. Have a good day, Y/n."

"It's Mrs.—Nevermind. Have a good day, Mrs. Keating.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

A few weeks after her meeting with Simone's teacher, everything seemed to be fine. She wasn't totally fond of Mrs. Keating's condescension, but there were no more incidences, and Harry and Y/n decided to wait to talk to the school's administration about everything. They wanted as little drama as possible.

And then it was Simone's turn for her class' "All About Me" presentation. She was supposed to make a poster that was, of course, all about her—favorite foods, favorite things to do at home, and of course, her family.

Y/n didn't think much of it, but that was mostly because Harry helped Simone with the project while he was on a brief break from touring. He and Simone had a lot of fun cutting out photographs with curvy patterned scissors, gluing on large bubbly letters that spelled out her name, and writing little paragraphs under each picture. And the glitter. Y/n knew she would be finding pink glitter around the house for years to come after this project.

Harry and Simone showed the finished project to Y/n, and she was thoroughly surprised by her husband's crafting skills. There were pictures of Simone in Holmes Chapel with Anne and Gemma, Simone's stuffed animals having a tea party (real china, because of course Uncle Louis thought Simone needed real china to have a proper tea party), Y/n and Simone at Disneyland with Mickey Mouse ears, and one of the whole family in the hospital when Collette was born. Harry was in a few pictures, obviously, but Y/n didn't think anyone in Simone's classmates would recognize him. It wasn't like there were pictures of him onstage or anything like that.

So she was surprised when a week after the project was turned in, Y/n was once again called into a meeting with her daughter's teacher.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

"No husband again?" Mrs. Keating asked Y/n. Really, though, that didn't come as a surprise.

"Actually, he's just running a little late. He should be here in a few minutes."

"Well, I'd just like to speak to you about the project Simone turned in last week," the woman said. "I thought we had squashed this whole 'dad is a rockstar bit' at school, but she had a picture of Harry Styles on her poster."

"Yeah, well—"

"Yes, well," Mrs. Keating interrupted. "You see, it's not right to fill a child's head with delusions about who her father is, and honestly, I feel like a good mother wouldn't let her child get her hopes up in such a way."

It was one thing to let children to believe in Santa Claus, but for a mother to lie to her daughter about the identity of her father, especially such an outlandish lie, it was downright irresponsible in the teacher's book.

Y/n looked shocked, but Mrs. Keating didn't know why. Surely, the girl knew why she was called for another meeting today. The woman expected to have a calm, reasonable discussion about Simone, but Y/n took her by surprise and said, "You—You, know what? I'm not comfortable having this conversation with just you. I think I'd like to speak to the principal as well."

She looked affronted, Mrs. Keating thought, though she didn't know why. Nothing she said to the girl was unreasonable. It was clear Y/n needed some assistance on how she should raise her daughter. She was just trying to help the poor girl.

"Y/n, there's no need to get hostile, dear—"

"Hostile? You haven't seen anything yet. I swear to God—"

"Hey, sorry I'm late—Woah. Everything okay, darling?"

Mrs. Keating's eyes flitted to the door of her classroom, and her eyes widened in shock. That was...that was Harry Styles. In her classroom.

"No, we're leaving," Y/n said, stalking over to Harry and gripping his hand when she reached him.

Harry immediately rested a hand on Y/n's shoulder, his face filled with concern. They mumbled to each other for a few seconds, and all Mrs. Keating could do was flounder at the fact that Harry Styles had a daughter, and she was in her kindergarten class.

"Right," Mrs. Keating heard Harry say. "I think we'll continue this discussion another day."

Harry's voice was thick with emotion. Anger, Mrs. Keating realized. She scrambled to think of something to say that would smooth things over. "Mr. Styles, I'm so sorry about this, I—"

"I think it's my wife you owe an apology to, but as I said, we'll talk about it another day."

The pair left without another word, harry's arm slung around Y/n's shoulders.

The following week, Mrs. Keating was written up and was informed that Simone had transferred to a different school.

The Production Assistant

Amy didn't want to make an ass out of herself and assume anything, but she was pretty sure her boss was in love with her.

Well, Harry technically wasn't her boss, but she was a PA on the set of Don't Worry Darling, and he had a leading role, so he was basically her boss.

If Amy told anyone what she thought, they would all think she was crazy, which was why she didn't say anything. She just got this vibe from Harry. He always went out of his way to say hello to her and ask how she was doing, he gave her a kind smile whenever she passed by him, and he once brought her coffee, even though her job was to bring coffee to him!

She just had this gut feeling like there was this unspoken thing between them, but neither of them acted on it because there were so many prying eyes. It was honestly admirable how professional Harry was about the whole thing.

"Good morning Harry," Amy said as she knocked on his trailer door. "They're almost ready for you on set."

Harry stepped out of his trailer. He was in costume—a crisp suit and hair styled to perfection. He was just so dreamy, Amy thought, and when he smiled at her stomach erupted into butterflies. "Thanks, Amy. Always makin' sure I'm on time."

Amy blushed. "Just doing my job, Harry."

"Call me H. Most people do," he told her.

A nickname? Harry said "most people" called him H, but she knew that was probably him just saving face. He really did like her.

"Good luck!" Amy called to him as he walked onto the set of his 1950s-era home.

Harry gave her a thumbs-up and winked at her over his shoulder, which only solidified Amy's suspicions.

Harry Styles was definitely into her.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Amy was going to make her move today, she had to.

Between all the flirty smiles and jokes and that one time Harry called her "Ames," she couldn't take it anymore. She didn't care if they had to keep their relationship a secret, she just wanted them to address the elephant in the room.

Harry was in his trailer while production filmed a couple scenes that he wasn't in. He usually watched to give his friends moral support, but today he only left when he was called to set.

Amy approached his trailer, a coffee just the way he liked it in her hands. She was so excited, she didn’t hear two voices laughing until she opened the trailer door.

“Shove off, H!”

“Shove off? That’s rude.”

“You’re crushing me, you big baby!”

“That’s exactly what I am. You know how hard it is to get your attention these days? I’ve got a small army between me and you. And it’s just gonna get worse.”

“Well you’re the one who doesn’t know how to pull ou—Oh. Hello.”

Amy was frozen on the steps of Harry’s trailer, unsure of the sight in front of her. Harry was sitting on the sofa, but around his broad shoulders, she could see he was actually sitting on a young woman’s lap. Amy couldn’t see much, just half of a face and hair tied up into a ponytail, but alarm bells immediately rang in her head.

Having noticed his friend stopped talking, Harry craned his neck to look over at Amy. He grinned at her, but made no move to stand up from where he was perched on the young woman’s lap.

“Oh. Hey, Amy! Am I being called onto set? I thought my call time was at seven.”

All Amy could look at was the way the young woman’s hand rested so casually on Harry’s knee, like she didn’t have to think twice about touching him. It was so simple yet affectionate, exactly how Amy imagined being with Harry would be like.

Somehow, she managed to wrench her gaze away. “No. No, uh, I just thought I’d check in because you’re usually, um, usually on set with the rest of us.”

“I know. Sorry about that. I just got a surprise visit from Y/n here, and she’s just desperate for my attention.”

She could be a friend, Amy thought. Friends had friendly banter and were close like that. Amy decided to still hold out hope. All the signs were there that Harry liked her.

Said random girl pinched Harry’s arm, but he swatted her hand away. They giggled with each other and kept pushing each other around like school children, and Amy was suddenly filled with immense jealousy. Who was this girl? Didn’t she have any respect for the fact that someone else was in the trailer?

“Honestly, Amy, you can have him. He’s being a pain in the ass,” the woman, Y/n, said.

Harry immediately pouted at Y/n. “I’ll remember that,” he said, but Y/n merely rolled her eyes at him.

They began bickering again, and Amy took that as her cue to leave. As she walked back to set, Harry’s coffee still in her hands, she didn’t know what to think.

Before long, it was time for Harry to shoot his scenes, and Y/n was nowhere to be found. Harry was as friendly and good natured as ever, he even asked Amy to wish him luck before a first take!

She wanted to watch Harry film his scenes, but she was unfortunately called away to tend to other things. Amy ran around the lot, carrying messages and running things back and forth for whoever saw her walking by. It was exhausting at times, but it was a foot in the door, and that was what mattered.

Between errands, Amy found Harry at the craft services table, and without even thinking about it, she made a beeline for him.

“Hey, H,” she said, trying to sound like she ran into him by chance. “How’s the shoot going?”

“Good, I think. Thank you for asking,” he said, smiling at her. “How are you? Working hard or hardly working?”

Amy blushed and let out a laugh. He was so endearingly dorky, and he always made a point to ask how she was doing. He was just so thoughtful.

“Nothing I can’t handle,” she said.

“Good. Well, if no one told you today, I really appreciate your hard work. I’m sure this place would be in shambles if it wasn’t for you and everyone else working behind the scenes.”

Amy swore she was going to swoon any second now. Thankfully, she managed to keep it together. “O—Of course. I’m happy to help.”

“Can I trust you?” he asked her, his voice dropping so only Amy could hear him.

Gulping, she asked. “Of course.”

Harry stepped just a little bit closer, and Amy had to hold her breath as she waited for him to say what she’d been fantasizing about for weeks. “Do you mind going to my trailer and checking on Y/n?

Amy felt like the floor had been ripped out from under her feet. “Check? On—On Y/n?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Sometimes she doesn’t tell me how she’s really feeling, and I worry something’s bothering her.”

“Uh...Yes! Of—Of course,” she stuttered, willing thoughts back into her head.

Harry squeezed Amy’s shoulder affectionate. “Thank you, really. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

He was so endearing. His eyes, which were usually filled with something so warm and boyish and charming, so inherently Harry, but just then something flickered there, something softer.

But not for her, Amy realized. For Y/n.

With a couple more words shared with Harry, Amy set off for his trailer, mulling the last few weeks over in her head.

Could it all have been nothing? Did she really read into their interactions too much? Amy had never been in love before, but she was sure from that conversation with Harry that he was head over heels in love with Y/n. It sucked more than she wanted it to, though perhaps she should’ve known. Of course Harry would be in love with someone. Amy never stood a chance.

Knocking once on the trailer door, she popped her head in. Y/n was laying across the sofa, her arm draped over her eyes. When the door opened, though, she startled.

“Oh. Hey, Amy.”

She sounded kind but tired. “Hi. Harry wanted me to come by and ask if you need anything.”

She smiled, the kind of smile that said Y/n was familiar with this kind of treatment. “H is a bit of a mother hen, but I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Amy asked, stepping into the trailer. “If you need water, a glass of wine, whatever you need, I can get it for you.”

“No wine for me, but a water would be nice, now that I think about it.”

Y/n stood up from the couch, but wobbled a bit. Amy rushed over and rested a hand on the young woman’s elbow. “Should I get Harry? If you’re sick, there’s a medical tent nearby—

“I’m fine, I promise. I know the symptoms by now,” she said. Y/n looked at Amy, almost as if she was assessing her. “I’m pregnant.”

Amy wasn’t sure she could handle much more today. “You’re...”

“Yep.”

“Does Harry...?”

“Know? No, but I think he suspects. He knows me pretty well by now.”

Y/n let Amy help her sit back down on the sofa. “It probably isn’t my place to pry, but you...you don’t sound excited.”

“Oh, I am, I’m just exhausted,” Y/n explained, and the smile on her face made Amy believe that. “It’s just...the pandemic. I’m worried about having the baby in conditions like this, you know?”

Amy didn’t have much to say to that. What could she say? She was twenty, there was no way she could be of any help to Y/n’s current situation.

“Sorry, you barely even know me. I think spending most of my time with children under ten years old makes me miss adult companionship,” she said, then her eyes widened. “I wasn’t supposed to say that.”

Amy understood the implication. She guessed from how unfazed Y/n seemed to be at being pregnant. She didn’t know how Y/n and Harry managed to keep so many secrets, though his little speech about trusting her earlier now made sense.

“You’re secret’s safe with me,” Amy promised, and meant it. “But I think you should see a doctor anyway.”

“You’re probably right, but I think I just need to sleep for a little. Thank you for checking in. Harry talks about you a lot. He was so nervous about jumping into acting, but you’ve been a friend to him when I couldn’t be here physically, so thank you.”

It was quite literally impossible to harbor any bitterness or ill will towards Y/n. She was so kind and genuine. Exactly the kind of person Harry Styles would have a baby with.

Smiling, Amy said, “Just doing my job.”

The Daycare Worker

The daycare Heather worked at was known to celebrities for its discretion. Everyone who worked there was hired with the most important rule being that they were not allowed to reveal the identities of the patrons or their children. No photos, which was a given at any daycare, no talking about who dropped children off, and definitely no selling stories. The daycare wanted to provide a place for celebrities to drop off their children without worrying about their children's photo appearing in a magazine or on social media.

Heather knew all of this and abided by all the rules. After working there for two years, she'd become desensitized to the people she worked for, and it wasn't like she saw them all that much anyways, it was the children she saw the most.

The only family she couldn't get her head around was Y/n's. As far as Heather knew, Y/n wasn't a celebrity, but she dropped off her kids, a mix of six, a couple days a week. Heather never asked, of course, but she assumed that whoever Y/n had her children with was the famous person. But her kids were cute, and very sweet and well-behaved, which could not be said for all the kids Heather took care of.

The next time Y/n dropped off her kids, Heather was at the check-in desk. She walked in with a baby carrier on her chest, little Natalia tucked in it as she pushed a stroller. Maeve ran ahead while Julian clung to the pair of jeans Y/n was wearing. He was often reluctant to leave his mom's side, but once he was playing with Maeve and the other children, he was happy as a clam.

"Good afternoon!" Heather chirped. "Dropping the four of them off?"

Y/n smiled at Heather, and she thought that while Y/n technically wasn't a celebrity, she was incredibly beautiful. "Good morning. Just the twins and Geneva today."

Heather helped get everyone checked in and let Maeve inside while Y/n got Geneva out of the stroller she was in. Julian made no move to go to the preschool room with his sister, but that was to be expected. Once Geneva and Maeve were settled in their proper rooms, Heather turned her focus on the little boy who was still clinging to his mother's leg.

"Your hair is getting so long, Julian!" she said, bending down to his level.

"I want it to look like Daddy's," he said, big green eyes looking back at her.

Y/n bent down to Julian then too. "Okay, JuJu. Mommy will be back in a little bit. I have to work and run a couple errands and then I'm gonna pick you up and we're gonna go see Daddy at work. How does that sound?"

Heather's ears perked at the mention of Julian's dad, who had yet to pick up from the daycare before, but she quickly focused back on Julian. "That sounds like a lot of fun!"

After a little more coaxing, Julian eventually let go of Y/n and joined Maeve in the daycare with only a little bit of sniffling. Y/n handed over the twins' lunch boxes and some snacks and diapers for GiGi. She left quickly, not wanting Julian to see her and start crying, thanking Heather over her shoulder on her way out.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Another day, another shift at the check-in desk.

Heather was currently manning the front on her own while holding Geneva in her arms. The room where the toddlers played was close to the desk, and sometimes Heather liked to lean over and pick up a baby just because it was always nice to cuddle a cute baby, and GiGi was definitely that.

As she held the toddler in her arms, Heather thought back on Y/n dropping off the kids earlier in the afternoon.

The mom had come in around the same time as she normally did, in the early afternoon once they were out of school, only the twins came in with pink and blue hair.

"Wow," Heather had said. "You guys look so cool! Who did your hair?"

"Daddy!" Maeve said, her cotton candy blue hair bouncing as she skipped over to show Heather her new hair.

"Yep. Dad died their hair. We're not very happy with Daddy right now," Y/n said through a smile.

Heather tried to hide her laugh, though the situation was a little funny. "I'm guessing the hair was a surprise?"

"Yep!" Y/n said, still smiling, probably so she didn't upset her kids. "After I explicitly told him to wait until the summer because they go to a private school, but did he listen? No." Seeming to realize she was ranting to a daycare employee, Y/n shook her head. "Sorry, that was unnecessary, but Dad is picking up today. He's on the approved pick-up list, so everything should be fine."

"Great! Have a good day!" Heather said, a little more excited than she normally was. It wasn't like she spent all of her time wondering who the kids' famous father was, but she also couldn't help but be curious.

A couple hours later, and Heather was holding Geneva while Maeve and Julian played with toy cars and Natalia slept soundly in the nap room. It was getting to be about that time when they went home, and Heather was slowly filling with anticipation.

"Do you want to go play, GiGi?" Heather asked, pinching the toddler's cheek. Geneva shook her head and tightened her little legs around Heather's waist. "Fine by me," she said, switching the toddler to her other arm.

Heather was happy to hold Geneva and play with her at the front of the daycare. She was, for all intents and purposes, a relatively easy baby. She was calm and babbling until she noticed someone come to the front desk. "Dada!"

"Hi, GiGi! Did you have fun today?"

Now, Heather didn't live under a rock, and perhaps it was embarrassing, but she didn't have to turn around to know who had come to pick up Geneva. She gave herself two seconds to get ahold of herself and turn around to face Harry Styles, the person who was quite literally her phone background.

"H—Hi. You must be here to pick up Geneva, Natalia, and the twins," Heather said, grateful that she sounded relatively normal. She had no intentions of freaking Harry out.

Harry's grin was wide as he took Geneva from Heather's arms. "I am. My wife said to be here at four thirty, so here I am."

Wife. Harry Styles had a wife. And children. Not just one baby, but multiple children, and the rest of the world was none the wiser. It was nearly impossible to wrap her head around—she wasn’t even going to think about the fact that Simone was almost ten years old and what that might mean—but she tried her best to save her freak out for after he and his kids left.

"Right. She said you'd be coming. I'll call for them."

Heather tried her best to ignore the way Harry freaking Styles was kissing Geneva's cheeks repeatedly and using a baby voice to talk to her, otherwise she would probably melt into a puddle in front of him, which was definitely against company policy. She called for the twins and collected a sleeping Natalia from the nap room, who fussed a little but eventually settled when she was in her father's arms.

"Daddy!"

Maeve and Julian ran up to Harry excitedly, whose grin only widened as they rushed over to him. "There are my little monkeys! How are you?"

"We colored a picture for you!" Maeve said.

"Yeah, so you can give it to Mommy and she won't be mad at you anymore," Julian added.

Harry laughed and marveled at the picture his kids handed to him, Natalia still sleeping soundly despite the commotion. "I would say don't worry about that, but I think this will do the trick."

In no time, Natalia was strapped into the baby carrier that Harry put on with ease and the twins were in their jackets. Heather thought seeing Harry Styles with a baby strapped to his chest and the twins hanging off his arms was about the cutest thing she would ever see.

With a kind smile, Harry thanked Heather and went over to where Geneva's stroller was so he could get her into it, and though she knew she shouldn't have, she strained her ears to hear what he said to the twins as he left the daycare.

"She's really mad at me?"

"She did that thing where she smiles even though she's not happy," Maeve told him.

"Worse than I thought," he said solemnly, though Heather was sure he was joking. Kind of. "Well, what do you think, monkeys? Flowers? Date night? Spa day?"

"I think just saying you're sorry will work," Julian said, looking at Harry with those big eyes of his, ones that he got from his father, Heather now realized.

Harry looked down at Julian with a start. "You know what, Jules? I think you might be the smartest man I know."

He hefted Julian onto his hip and kissed his cheek until Julian erupted into a fit of giggles. And as she saw Harry's eyes crinkle with joy, she realized that was the cutest thing she'd ever seen.

They eventually left, Harry saying something about stopping by the studio before heading home, which the twins cheered about. Once they were gone, Heather let out a huge breath, finally feeling like she could breathe normally again.

She didn't know the whole story. She didn't know how Harry and Y/n met or what it might have been like to keep such a monumental secret from the world. As far as the public knew, Harry had ended a public relationship, when in reality, it seems like he'd been in a private one for a very long time. And a happy one, at that.

For a moment, Heather's fingers itched for her phone so she could call her friend and tell her what happened today, but she couldn't. And she didn't want to, she realized. Not really. Harry's family was happy living in anonymity. Heather wasn't going to ruin that for them, and she realized just how much trust and faith he and Y/n must have put in this facility to have their children come here, and she was glad to be someone that (technically) Harry Styles trusted, and that was pretty fucking cool.

[peachy-cheeks]

Kusakabe Atsuya A to Z

warnings: nsfw... and didn’t proofread… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

a/n: ovulating, rewatching season 2, and kinda fixating on maybe my favorite minor male character in jjk... idk i know there are more atsuya stans out here in hiding and i'm sad that there's more fic for like... idk... naoya... than him... like stand up yall, he's excellent, relatable, has a decent backstory, and i kinda wanna give him a kiss. anyway....

Masterlist

A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

Atsuya's disposition often reads as removed, cold, or unenthusiastic but I like to think of this in two ways: it's a defense mechanism and his job (unfortunately tied to his entire life) is conducive to him acting this way.

All of that to say he's likely the exact opposite one-on-one. Especially when he's completely disarmed by the comfort of his partner— he's the type to cradle and cuddle you, shower you in little pecks, gently move strands of hair out the way to get a better view of your face, and bury his face into your neck to breathe more of you in... You might have to kick him off of you to grab a towel before he falls asleep though.

B = Body part (Their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

For him, it’s his forearms. He’s grateful that they’re used to bearing a lot of weight and can still exert a good amount of strength. It also gives him a little endorphin rush to feel the palm of your hands grip onto his arms for leverage and support.

His favorite part of you is a 50/50 split between your breasts and the inner plush of your thighs. The sensation of rubbing against, gripping onto, pinching, and biting the delicate skin excites him, mostly because he knows that he can always get a rise out of you from those areas. Truly he's indecisive, but he knows that the soft warmth feels much better in his grasp than the stiff, weighty tsuka (the main source of the callouses on his fingertips) he's used to reaching for.

C = Cum (What it says on the tin...)

I mean there isn't anything really special about his cum (at least he thinks), but he does love seeing it streaked across your face, glistening in your mouth, running along your chin and down your neck. Guilty pleasure is seeing it in your hair, though he sympathizes with how annoying that can be to deal with so he tries to avoid it.

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

He absolutely loves when you boss him around. Not that he doesn't already listen to you or that he'd be combative, but he really can't help it if his pants feel just a little tighter every time you tell him what he "needs" to do or even get a little cross with him. Oof... and you potentially praising him for doing something right? Definitely a submissive side he has yet to unpack or even connect the behavior with, though he can totally acknowledge that you taking the reins gives him a chance to step back from the big brother/instructor role for once.

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

Decently experienced and while he wouldn't divulge his past escapades with you (unless you asked), you can definitely feel the experience in how he touches you. Attentive and confident in how his hands direct your body.

F = Favorite Position (This goes without saying.)

Indecisive on this as well but he takes deep pleasure in seeing you take control. If he had to list his favorite three, it would be cowgirl, reverse cowgirl, and missionary at the very top.

I mean, he loves seeing you on top but he's a traditionalist and, efficiency-wise, he can reach where you need him most at a faster and harder pace with you under him. Missionary is also the easiest position for him to hold your cheeks between his hand to keep your focus on him.

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)

Again, someone who seems more serious than not. But when he's comfortable and in a non-life threatening situation between the legs of his lover, a tender side of Atsuya shows. Of course, it takes a bit of time... multiple sessions and hours really... of cutting through his reserved attitude, but after a while you find that both of your kisses, moans, and deep, vulnerable sighs are bookended by smiles and giggles. Maybe someone pulled a funny face or decided to give up prematurely on a strenuous position. Maybe you both have a moment of realization that the perfect person is fucking you and you can't help but laugh at your luck.

H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

I have a personal soft-spot for this so walk with me a bit... chest, arms, legs... perfect sprinkle of hair... enough to give a very mature (ugh... dilf-esque) compliment to the toned muscles underneath. A very charming, dark happy trail dusts his lower abs and leads to a nicely trimmed yet fuller tuft of hair above his dick.

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…) 

Recurring theme here... he's a secret sweetheart. Day-to-day and outside of a dangerous situation, he's a particularly dedicated, caring, and thoughtful person. There's still a reserved quality to how romantic he is PDA-wise. Hand-holding is fine, the occasional well-timed kiss— ideally away from students— is fine, he just prefers to be more chivalrous (acts of service) than overtly affectionate (touch). He's more-so worried about giving himself the ick from being a bit too forward and all over you in public (and in-turn giving you the ick.)

But... when he is all over you, the body worship makes you feel like the only person on earth. It's like he has an innate sense of how to nonverbally rectify anything you may have misread about his feelings for you (from a mix of cultivated experience and natural chemistry). Because he's constantly in minor disbelief about how you want him as much as he wants you, in bed he's very communicative, quick to learn all of your trigger points, and loves to hand out compliments:

"Mm... I remember. That spot's really sensitive... can I kiss you there?"

"Comfortable? Feel like my hands were made for holding you here..."

"Seriously don't get how someone can be as perfect as you..."

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

Oh boy... rare now since he's not away from you too often. I think prior to shooting his shot with you he had a major moment of self-discovery where you slowly became the main subject of his spank-bank.

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)

Something about Atsuya makes me think that he's generally vanilla but would be really into subtle power-play. Not committed to the full dom/sub relationship or BDSM as a practice, but loves a little touch of friendly roughness. A hand to his (or your) throat, hair tugging, a few loving slaps, maybe even a little spit-play.

I think shibari/kinbaku would be the furthest he'd go. He respects the beauty of it, the amount of trust and patience it takes to do it right, the learning process, and how much you look like you need him by the end.

L = Location (Favorite places to do the do)

Traditionalist... nothing can beat a bedroom. Though the shower is nice... keeping you from slipping gives him a great opportunity to lift. The kitchen table is great too since it offers the perfect leverage. The couch offers the same thing too for a few different positions. Well... I guess as long as it's at home...

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

Your smile. It’s really that simple. Seeing you express any amount of joy, let alone share it with him fills him with a type of yearning that he can’t really verbalize. It just makes him want to be as close to you as possible.

N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Teacher kink... would indulge if you really enjoyed it but reminds him entirely too much of work 😭

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

He enjoys giving and isn't bad at it by any means but you swear something very repressed and primal unveils itself when he locks eyes with you on your knees, mouth open, and doe-eyed. He tries to be gentle about it at least.

P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

This can vary since he enjoys almost any pace as long as it's with you. With setting a pace he really keeps an eye out for what he thinks you'd prefer at the moment. I think there's always a point where he can't hold back but he strategizes around and prioritizes getting you off... depends on how much time you both have. But hey, if the pace happens to start out needy and desperate...

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

Not against a quickie, but as mentioned, defers to your mood on how to proceed. For him, the most likely scenario of needing a quickie (because he’d prefer to just be late or cancel whatever was cutting into your time) would be on campus; a taboo that he hates to admit actually excites him.

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

He's willing to experiment with you and anyone he's had an extended relationship with, but frankly speaking the limits of his own risk-taking imagination run fairly short (apart from speculating on what places you two could get away with hooking up.) But if you can show him something new, he's likely game (though, nothing super bloody or violent... just not his thing.)

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

He blames it on getting older but, normally, twice in one go is maybe the best he can do. Definitely exceptions to this... say someone feels particularly giving, there's a special occasion (anniversaries, birthdays, coming back from an assignment, a nice date night), or maybe you two lucked out and have a whole weekend, unbusy and unbothered, together.

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

He seems like a very simple, no-frills guy. But if you have any favorites to bring to the table, that'd likely pique his interest.

U = Unfair (How much they like to tease)

Atsuya aims to please so his teasing (just light petting, groping, and sweet whispers) is typically relegated to foreplay. Beyond this, he likes to give you very simple, sometimes curt, directions to follow while he’s fucking you. He doesn’t fully restrict you (most of the time) or prevent you from chasing your high but he likes to put small roadblocks and rules to bargain on in your way:

“Hey, look at me. Don’t touch. I’ll do it if you look at me. Mmhmm… keep your eyes here. Good... Feel good? That what you wanted?”

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

Not loud, per-say, but does have a habit of moaning into your mouth, against your ear, or just against your body in general. Maybe he’s a little too shy to moan aloud and feels safer relinquishing these rare sounds to you only.

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)

Atsuya definitely has an oral fixation. He deeply misses smoking– especially a post-sex cigarette– but he doesn’t mind if you indulge. Actually, he really looks forward to seeing you have one. Over the years he’s wisened up to the fact that smoke deteriorates the body but he still finds something enticing about the act of sucking on death itself. Especially the way you do it (of course, he does want you to live a long, prosperous life…)

You always offer him a hit but he’s principled enough to look and not touch… he also keeps a few candies in a couple of different drawers around the house, so he’s covered. On the more current end of his oral fixation, he loves sharing lollipops with you. Even better when you steal a kiss with the candy caught between both your lips.

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words)

Tanned shaft (that he loves feeling you squeeze against), darker pink tip (that he loves feeling you suck on), wonderful shape with a few prominent veins and an upward tilt. Girth-y and not unbearably long, but even when he's not hard there's a decent chub.

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

He would say he has a very unremarkably normal libido though you’d say otherwise. Again, he tries to reel back on PDA but when you’re both lounging around, cooking, doing chores around the house, getting dressed, and other regular daily activities he can get quite handsy and heart-eyed.

Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Leaves a bit of space (let's say an hour... hour and thirty tops) for a sweet and short make-out, pillow-talk, and cleanup but otherwise ready to sleep like a swaddled baby and will most likely be the big spoon.

[ct-cactus]

Demon Slayer AU where everything is the same except Yoriichi is a ghost.

He’s corporal/people can see him, he can change his appearance from when he was a kid to when he was old.

He follows Tanjiro around. They met sometime before the Hashira Training Arc for sure, but how early depends on what the writer decides. Has he been there since pre-canon? Or did he show up after the Entertainment District Arc (would honestly make most sense since Tanjiro didn’t know about Sun Breathing until after Mugen Train, but again this is an AU).

He meets Muichiro, and after it clicks that he’s Michikatsu’s descendant Yoriichi follows him around too, eager to be close with the family he could never have.

Depending on when they met, Yoriichi could help Muichiro recover is missing memories earlier than in canon.

Other things about/to include in the AU:

Kamaboko Squad centric (Tanjiro, Nezuko, Inosuke, Zenitsu, Kanao, Genya, AND Aoi and Senjuro)

each member gets a one-on-one interaction with him at some point, which will add to their own personal character growth

Whether or not Yoriichi can physically interact with others is up to the writer

making him able to fight demons seems kinda OP, so unless the writer can find a way to make it make sense about how he can maybe don’t do that

maybe he can exude enough strength to stun demons, but not fully kill them

can he pick things up, or do they just pass through him?

He helps train Tanjiro, making him more proficient in Sun Breathing

this can give Tanjiro more time to hone is Water Breathing. It always irked me that Tanjiro didn’t practice Water Breathing as much when he discovered Sun Breathing (don’t quote me on that, I get my info from TikToks and reaction videos. But why learn two breathing styles and not increase your skill in both?)

this can allow a Giyuu training session in the Hashira Training Arc that we didn’t get to see

Expanding on Yoriichi changing his age: I feel like the older he presents himself, the more power he would have. So when he’s fighting, he’s somewhere between his 20s and 80s. However, because this takes up a lot of energy, when he’s not fighting he’s typically in the form of himself as a child or in his teens

whether or not his mentality/maturity is affected when he’s at different ages is up to the writer so long as it’s not portrayed in an erotic/kinky way

Yoriichi can give tips to the Hashiras that those in the Sengoku Era used (information always has the potential to be forgotten, so maybe there were some tricks that were forgotten about?)

can provide more information about Muzan and his weaknesses, since he was the only swordsman who came close to killing the Demon King

Interactions with Lady Tamayo and Yushiro!

Fluffy moments! Slice of Life, Found Family, all the tropes! Let him be the father to the Kamaboko Squad that they never had/lost (let him have the chance to be the father he never got to be)

Lots of interactions with Genya (is my favoritism showing?)

bonding over being the younger brother

bonding over their endless love for their older brothers

bonding over their older brothers who do so much to hurt them, but they just can’t stop admiring them

Let Yoriichi give Sanemi a talking to

yes, I understand why Sanemi acted towards Genya the way he did. He wanted to protect him, keep him out of danger. However. Good intentions DO NOT give you a free pass on bad actions.

the way that Sanemi treated Genya was cruel and frankly unacceptable; he could’ve gone about it in a much more mature manner

Interactions with Giyuu and Yoriichi!!

mostly bc Giyuu is my fav Hashira, but I notice a lot of similarities between them

Maybe Yoriichi can provide information about Kokushibo/Uppermoon 1?

Yoriichi has the flute that Michikatsu gave him with him in his ghost form

Additional weaknesses up to the writer (this goes for powers too)

Kamaboko Squad showing Yoriichi present-day things

A mix of fluff, angst, etc.

rating is up to the author

ANY SHIP is welcome so long as it is:

legal

not a pro-ship

treated respectfully/with some level of understanding

^^continuing from this, it doesn’t matter if you include SaneKane, SaneGiyuu, ShinoGiyuu, ShinoMitsu, SaneMitsu, ObaGiyuu, UzuRen, or any other pairing, polyamorous included. It doesn’t matter if there’s no ships at all. Everyone has there own preferences, and it’s up to both the reader and the writer to be respectful about it

This is all I’ve come up with for now! I’ll most likely come back and add more at some point, but if you have any ideas or suggestions let me know too!

If you end up using this idea, credit me with my Tumblr, and if you want to as well my AO3 which can be found in my profile :)

[fallen-mario-bros-au]

Aight just a warning I'm pretty new to Tumblr and I'm DEFINITELY new to making AUs so I'm pretty nervous to post anything here but I figured I'd just rip the band-aid off.

FIRST POST HYPE!! :D

Anyways I love Mario and I love Undertale and I NEEDED TO COMBINE THEM LEGALLY so I decided to make an au about it! Dunno if I'm actually going to do anything serious with this, I mostly just want to imagine cute shenanigans with my favorite characters and whatnot, but who knows? Maybe I'll actually try to give this a proper plot

So here's the basic info:

- Mario and Luigi, in the midst of trying to chase down Bowser, who has just kidnapped the princess again, somehow wind up far away from the Mushroom Kingdom and on Mt. Ebott. Where, of course, they fall into the underground.

- All the monsters are pretty much their canon counterparts (at least, my best interpretation of them 💀)

- Mario ends up discovering he has the power to reset/load/save/etc, but Luigi does not. This is because Mario has the most determination to get out of here and save the princess

- Toriel isn't quite as overprotective of them as she would be if they were a literal child like Frisk, but she is still very motherly towards them because it's just kinda who she is. She would probably be concerned about them potentially attacking the monsters so she might make them promise not to hurt anyone. I still don't think she would want them to leave because Asgore would take their souls

- Honestly mostly this is just an excuse for the Mario Bros and the Skelebros to hang out XD

- the thing that is really interesting is that Mario and Luigi are not 1, but 2 humans, which means only one of their souls would be needed to break the barrier. This ends up becoming a real issue but I could see it being resolved in a few ways.

1. one of the bros self sacrifices so the underground goes free (much to the dismay of the other, and also my heart would break haha)

2. They decide to just stay in the underground instead of going home (but they would be pretty sad about it because oh no their kingdom is still in danger

3. ??? IDK tbh

- Since Mario can load saves, he's just constantly in this angsty cycle of trying to keep his bro from getting killed off ;;

- Not sure if Mario could keep the resets secret for long since Flowey would taunt them about it, but he definitely would be pretty closed off about it, especially to Luigi. He does NOT want Luigi to know about the horrible things he's seen

-ofc cut to Luigi being confused as heck as to why Mario seems to already know what's going to happen.

- they have cute sweaters because I said so

- not sure how omega fight would work, but either way Mario would have to fight to save both of them (probably all by himself :c)

- I want them to eventually do true pacifist but IDK how it would work so I'm not gonna think about it too hard rn

- Mario and Undyne having a friendly rivalry about who's the most heroic

- sans trying to convince them they could just stay in the underground and they're like "no we have to save the tiny mushroom people" and he's like "ur just like my bro fr"

- monster speculation about the purpose of mustaches

- It would be kinda funny if they had the firebrand and thunderhand since... Like... Humans aren't supposed to be able to do magic

- "are you sure you're humans? You're so small"

- *confused Italian noises*

Also here's some assorted doodles (I know the quality sucks 😭)

[mal3nko]

Some of my favorite instances that really highlights the difference between “Living World” vs “Dead World” Vinh for me is how the two versions of him react to Max telling him that she knows about his relationship with Safi.

Obviously the context behind Max bringing up this fact to “Living World” Vinh is because she’s trying to gain as much information from him as possible, and Vinh in this reality is being incredibly cagey and standoffish which leads to a lot of frustration on her part.

And of course Vinh at this point is getting pretty ticked off and irritated by Max, and utilizes his usual smug persona to not only downplay his reaction to her knowing this information, but also tries to subtlety fish for info himself on how she came to know about him and Safi in the process.

But in hindsight, we know Vinh actually cares a lot more about Max knowing this information then he’s initially letting on here considering the fact that he texts her later on in the day questioning where he and her stand after this relatively heated conversation and quietly nudges Max to not say anything about his relationship with Safi. This is also the only instance where Vinh will text Max at all in this reality.

And then we get to Max dropping this information on “Dead World” Vinh, and his reaction is obviously quite different.

The most obvious difference to me at least, is that he doesn’t even question how Max knows here. Doesn’t really seem to have the energy to, or maybe even just doesn’t think it matters if she knows since Safi is dead in this reality. I’ve wondered for a while now who Vinh in the “Living World” seems to be nervous about this info potentially bothering if it were to spread, and I know some people believe it’s Yasmin, or even Reggie (like myself initially), but looking at it from this angle I really think it’s just…Safi. The two of them hooking up was obviously a secret, most likely a mutual one, so I think Vinh fears that if this information became public knowledge it could potentially upset her, and he definitely can’t have that. Would it have actually upset her though? Maybe, maybe not, but either way he can’t be too careful. But this is just my interpretation, so I don’t want to enforce my take on this whole situation on anyone!

Another difference here is that Vinh actually laments how he should have told Max about him and Safi earlier. Obviously him and Max are much closer in this reality than in the other one, so he’s probably starting to really feel the…”wrongness” of pursuing his ex-“whatever’s” best friend, which is a feeling that is mostly bolstered by the fact that their sudden closeness is happening right after her death. It’s a lot to process, you know?

I can’t stress enough how much I really enjoy the differences in how the cast in DE behave based on which reality you’re in, and I honestly think some of the characters got really shafted in this department when it came to screentime. Loretta specifically in my opinion had so much potential as a whole, but it ultimately felt like her story just… kinda went nowhere? You interact with her “Dead World” counterpart in the first two chapters exclusively, than bump into her “Living World” version for the first time briefly in chapter 3, and then she’s just completely absent in chapter 4 for some reason??

But this is ultimately why I feel like Vinh is just…a cut above all the rest of the characters since we’re actually given a decent amount of time with both versions of him throughout chapters 1-4 to really see the differences in his behavior (even if I do still think we were robbed of actual time with his “Dead World” counterpart in Diptych, sue me).

[dreaisgrayte]

With the new Love And Deepspace trailer coming out I've been thinking about childhood best friend turned villian...

So I have a couple options for you guys to decide on. My first thought was between two contenders of a single fic with friends to semi lovers to angsty enemies to then potential lovers again. Though with more thought put into it, I could make this idea into a series of turmoil to put not only myself through... but all of you 🥰🥰 without giving too much away here's the options

Kyojuro fic: YN and Kyo grew up together, suffered together, and became Hashira together. Everyone wants them to get married, to continue the Rengoku line. Just when everything seems more perfect than what it should be, Kyojuro boards the Mugen Train. [You can guess where this is going] the title of this fic would be BLAZING HEART

Giyu fic: Giyu and YN have grown up together under the tutelage of their master, but when her year older friends are sent to the selection and reported back dead, YN spirals into a training fury, eventually ending up at the headquarters of the corps. To her surprise, and anger, there stands the very man she thought was dead. Once through the explanation these two cannot be separated, until YN is mortally wounded in combat and Giyu, crazed out of his mind...goes searching for eternal life. This will be titled WEEPING BLADE

Sanemi fic: Sanemi meets yn during the selection, taking a liking to her attitude and spirited way of talking to him. They grow closer due to their shared trauma and become lovers. On the night before their wedding Sanemi ventures out to find one of your favorite flowers. He never returns. That is, the Sanemi you once knew never returns. This fic will be titled WILTED PETALS

Obanai fic: you've had a crush on the Snake Hashira ever since you both were younger. Following him around until the ends of the earth. You gained a few skills here and there to help watch over your beloved. Even some that eventually wore him down enough to beg you to stop following him into the bathhouse. It was permittable when you both were not of age, but it's unbecoming of a fine lady such as yourself to stick to the side of what most people would call a deformed monster. Little by little you convince the one you love to love himself...and you. But you must've angered the gods because he eventually does become the monster he so desperately despised. This fic will be called EONS OF DESPAIR (honestly kind of workshopping all the titles...)

If I were to write all four they would be completed in a series, but (mostly) completely different stories. They would be posted separately on completion.

[fallstreakfeathers]

Hi hi!!! I love your headcanons so much, they're all well thought out. Even the funny ones! Do you have any headcanons for your pet au fanfics?

Oh?

Uh

Actually. I did not have any particular headcanons to be honest

But I'll throw these out for thoughts:

- demons are seen as high end pets and slaves (pretty usual for the au), but are usually shockingly affordable with the exception of 'pure' bloodlines that track directly back to Muzan (the kizuki in particular). A high end demon like Upper 6 could cost several grand to own.

- Muzan was defeated, permanently weakened, and given the option to release his demons from his will, kill them all, or be killed. He then went into hiding, hoping for a day when he's strong enough to gather his army again. He also altered the demons to give them the ability to reproduce with each other. Because many demons end up killed and can no longer be created via Muzans blood, they would go extinct otherwise and Muzan needs his demons to exist if he ever has hope of regaining power.

- demons have adapted to be able to handle a bit of sunlight, though prolonged or heavy exposure sickens them quickly, and kills them. They cannot regenerate in sunlight at all. Wisteria will still halt their regerative abilities and kill them.

- demons no longer eat human meat, unless it's given to them or they happen to be the extraordinarily rare 'wild' demon. 'Wild' demons, who have escaped human enslavement, are generally killed upon capture. 'Domesticated' demons can eat any variety of raw or lightly cooked meats, but human blood can be used for extra nutrition and is purchased from special donation markets where humans are paid quite well to give their blood

- because muzan was adamant about insuring the species survival, demons go into a 'rut' period of about a week to two weeks where they are much more likely to seek someone to mate with. Humans have figured out how to use hormone injections to stop it from happening or even to force a demon to enter their rut. This period is exclusively referred to as Rut, not heat.

Each of the clones handle it in different ways in my au.

For example. Sekido claims to be unable to go into rut, but the truth is that he is so stressed about his brothers and whether they're even alive that his hormones are imbalanced and prevent it. If he knows they're alive, or better yet, if they happen to be with him and safe, he may be able to enter this period but he's so good at hiding it that you're likely just gonna think he's particularly grumpy that week. At least until he's suddenly getting you involved with his needs.

- urogi is actually impressively in control of himself, at least until you give the ok to go further than snuggling in his nest. Then he's a beast. Lasts about a week but goes into rut the most. Please prepare to lose all the soft things in your home because he WILL steal them for his compulsory nesting. Aside from that, he seems affected the least. He's still a happy, sweet demon, and he mostly just wants to cuddle and be close to his favorite person.

- Karaku is terrified. He hasn't had a natural rut in a long time, so when he finally feels safe enough that his hormones level out and he enters one, he freaks out. He associates these feelings with horrific things thanks to his abusers, so he tends to get fearfully aggressive towards anyone who approaches him- even his own brothers. Do NOT try to touch him, he will panic and think he's right back 'THERE'. If he, by some miracle, comes to you for any physical attention, keep your hands strictly above his waist.

Eventually, he will allow Sekido close to guard him from any potential harm as he hides in his room. Bring him extra blankets. He likes being hidden in soft, warm things. The better he can hide, the less frightened he will be.

If you need to ask him something, have Sekido ask for you so that his poor brother doesn't feel like your presence is in the room.

How you treat Karaku during his rut will make or break the little trust he has in you.

- Aizetsu's previous owners always had these sessions blocked via drugs, so he's actually never gone into rut before and doesn't know how to handle it. Like Karaku, he hides. He is embarrassed easier than normal during his rut and honestly just needs a gentle hand.

[marshmallowprotection]

Mystictober Day 28

Mystictober 2024 | Day 28: JuminxMC/Elegance

"Jumin, you know the eloquent comments you post onto Elizabeth's Outstagram are public, right?"

Jumin paused, loosening his black tie, and glanced over his shoulder to meet your gaze, "Oh, they are?"

"Yes," you turned your phone over to show him the trending posts you'd noticed after checking her account for the day. "People are going wild over your comments now. It's turned into a meme since then, and people use it to talk about anything they love. It's mostly cat owners, but it's now bridged over into fandom spaces. I noticed a couple of the cat ones earlier, but Luciel just sent me examples of other ones."

"So, they're using my comments about Elizabeth and replacing her name to fit whatever they want to gush about?"

"Essentially, yes. That's exactly what they're doing. It's made your name trend on Tripter, too. People are pouring through your history to see what else you've said about Elizabeth the 3rd because they're amazed to see how much love you have for her. Honestly, she goes everywhere with you, I'm surprised people didn't know how dear she is to your heart," you shook your head with a sigh.

You let Jumin flip through your phone to read the memes people had made with his likeness. You weren't sure how he would feel about the comments, since it could get out of hand fast, but when he began to chuckle, you couldn't help but laugh yourself. It was silly, but it was a good thing. People often thought of him as no different than a robot in shut-down mode, so to see his name trending because of the love in his heart felt like...

A relief.

He didn't thrive on other people's attention, not by any means, but you knew how hard it was for him to see people call him cold and outright unfeeling when he was the kindest man you knew. He could have his moments, but his heart was pure.

"I believe I should learn more about fandom culture," he told you once he returned your phone. "It seems there's an online culture I'm not yet aware of outside of what I see on my phone from time to time. I think there's potential to reach people who are often unheard."

You cocked your head, "Oh? What brought you to that conclusion, honey?"

"Many of those comments alluded to their desire to have someone speak about them in that manner because they don't experience a single compliment in their daily life. I can presume that's what draws others to these spaces online, like-minded individuals always meet, whether they're jesting about cat photos or their favorite characters. It seems my words resonated for a reason. Not simply because they were amused by my love for Elizabeth the 3rd."

"You're always quick to think of the big picture," you cupped his cheek. "And you never forget the little details in between. That's something I love about you."

He smiled. "However, some of these edits to Elizabeth are silly. Why would one need text covered in glitter on their picture to express how cute they are? Elizabeth needs no banner. She speaks without a 'caution: cute!' label. What is there to be cautious about? Her cuteness? Is that a new OSHA regulation?"

[damned-punk]

Hello! Could you write more about Killer please😍😍😍 I've loved your first story about him😍😍😍😍

Thank you! ♡ I love Killer so much, I find myself mostly writing for either him or Kidd. Until the next story is finished, enjoy some of my Killer headcanons!

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

I feel like Killer, much like Kidd, wouldn’t have a specific preference when it comes to the physical appearance of potential romantic partners. The personality and values of the other person would have the most impact on whether or not he would become interested in them.

If he absolutely had to pick a physical component in regard to a partner, I could see him preferring a plush body as it is in stark contrast to his own but the emphasis would remain on who they are as a person.

Killer has some real issues with his own appearance and I feel that reassurance (as well as praise) during intimate moments would cause him to fall in love quickly.

While it would take some time for him to be able to unmask, you’ll know that you’ve got him wrapped around your finger when he finally allows himself to be vulnerable.

He’s so stoic when others are around but there is a side of playfulness that comes out when it’s just he, his crewmates, and Kidd.

If someone were to get along with Kidd, I could see Killer becoming interested in the person as he cares so deeply for his best friend and trusts his judgement wholeheartedly.

Killer seems like the type that would find pleasure in pleasing his partner and this absolutely manifests in the bedroom. I feel that he would be more satisfied touching his partner over his partner touching him simply because he’d maintain control and pace. It allows him to forget his insecurities for a while as he’s able to observe how good he makes you feel.

As far as music is concerned, I could see him being a complete nerd. He has t-shirts, CDs, posters, and various other memorabilia of his favorite bands. If you mentioned liking one of these bands, prepare to hear the most detailed lore that you couldn’t possibly hope to have known.

Once he’s formed a bond with someone, he’d absolutely love for them to paint his nails, do his makeup, and play with his hair. They’re such simple acts but they require he and the other person to be up-close and personal without the pressure of things being overtly romantic (which I feel would be stressful for him at times because he’d want things to be perfect and that can be hard when considering his self-image issues). It’s a moment to actually relax with someone he feels comfortable with which is limited to a very select number of people.

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[eternalchiyo]

Everlasting Spark ~MANIAC: Prologue~

A/N: Author's Note on top for once Hi I'm alive and back with the continuation of this storyyy~ It's been a hot minute, because it took me ages to find the energy for editing. As always, the general warnings of my blog apply, but I will also tag the chapters accordingly, please see the "tags in use" for more information. Thanks and have fun!

Masterpost here

The Mukami manor was different from the Sakamaki mansion.

For one, the people there seemed to actually like each other. They enjoyed their meals together and cooked together and they all did their separate chores too. To say that it made Chiyo feel uneasy was an understatement. It was so hard to believe that people could eat their lunch in perfect peace, without hating each other, the only disruption being the occasional whining from Kou that he would rather eat Vongole Bianco than whatever else the meal plan said. A meal plan! These people had a meal plan! And they followed it! Granted, most of the time it consisted of soup, and she really did not like soup that much, but the point was still standing.

Chiyo regretted stepping foot inside as soon as she found out she had to play along with all of that. She had never cleaned anything in her entire life. She also wasn’t talented at cooking, as her cooking sessions with Yui had proven previously. Having to be responsible for a house was such a pain, Chiyo wished she could just go back home to her father, and that had to mean something!

Oh, and there was also the case of Edgar walking among the living now, too. Only that his name wasn’t Edgar anymore; it was Yuma, and he was a Vampire! This had come to be yet another mystery she had to uncover if nobody else felt obligated to. She wondered how Reiji felt about it, how did he sleep at night knowing that what he had planned so meticulously all those years ago failed so miserably? Personally, Chiyo did not sleep that great, but that had been the case for a long time already. The things just kept on piling up like that.

Setting fire to that human village at the border to the demon world and killing Edgar was probably one of his prouder moments in life, being able to take away something so dear to Shuu. Something dearer to Shuu than she had ever been… or would ever be. Thinking back on it she had been a stupid child back then. Not only had she trusted Reiji with his top-secret lunatic plan, but she also had faith in him actually getting the job done, and now look where it got them! Everyone hated each other and Edgar was not even dead! She probably would have had more luck trying to assassinate the boy in his sleep herself, not that she would have ever done it. The thought of killing someone hadn’t exactly manifested itself in her mind before Reiji planted the seed for it in her brain. She hadn’t even been aware of him wanting to burn the village down until she arrived there herself and saw it with her very own eyes. Sometimes she still felt like she could smell the burned human flesh from afar. Needless to say, grilled meat was not exactly her favorite meal from that time on.

She sighed to herself as she attempted to clean some dishes. She had already broken a plate or two and had been scolded by Ruki for it. Luckily everyone agreed not to let her near a cooking pot anytime soon – for safety’s sake. Even with her semi-arsonist background she was not looking to burn a house down that had so many potential clues to the answers she was seeking. Chiyo chewed on her lip; she came here to find more information, not to play house! But Ruki did not cooperate and did not even give her an opening to dig deeper into the situation.

In general, Ruki seemed to have made a 180 in personality. He was extremely strict and demanding, and did not respect her personal space a lot. Just the other day he walked into the bathroom, not even bothering to knock, while she was getting ready for bed. Luckily, she had been mostly done by that time, so all he ended up seeing was her ugly face mask. Not to mention that he kept calling her guineapig without even offering an explanation to the weird nickname. She kept wondering whether his previous attempts at getting closer to her had been fake and only served as a means to an end. But she really had nothing of interest to offer, so either Ruki knew something about her she wasn’t aware of, or he was an idiot who liked to toy with women. At this point both options seemed valid to her. The man was an enigma and no amount of her thinking about him made it any easier to understand him.

She also was not allowed to attend school for the time being. The details were not quite clear to her, but she didn’t particularly care about going to school anyway, so she didn’t question it much. Although it did leave her quite isolated from everyone else, which on further thought was most likely the reason for it. Chiyo wondered how Yui was faring so far… and Shuu, did he miss her? Or was he glad she was finally gone? The last time she ‘spoke’ to him was back in his room, where they had kissed. She sometimes thought back on it, it was definitely better than when they ran into each other in the forest, but it still left her feeling empty and sad for the most part.

“Hey, Kitty, you’ve been rubbing that plate for a long while now, don’t you think?”

Surprised, she turned her head around, to see Kou standing next to her. Another person that did not value personal space. She did not really like the bubbly idol, because while he did bright up the place with his comments and overall personality somewhat, he still was way over the top for her. Not to mention that this shiny dazzling personality was but a persona he would put on for appearances.

“Huh? Oh…” she said, putting the plate down.

Kou let out a grumbling noise. “Seriously, when Ruki-kun brought home a stray I thought it would be more exciting. You’re so dull,” he said and eyed her critically. From the day he saw the inside of her wardrobe, he had been nothing but mean about it.

Chiyo rolled her eyes. What was it with those people always naming her after animals? And what did he mean ‘dull’? She wasn’t here as a circus attraction for him to throw peanuts at.

“In any case, I’d hurry up with this, if you don’t want him to get mad at you. But maybe you should break another plate, it’s kind of irritating that their number is uneven~”

Kou took off again and Chiyo was left alone in the kitchen. She didn’t really feel like she had a place in this house yet and it made her feel uneasy. At least back at the Sakamaki mansion she could walk around comfortably. Here she felt like a criminal for even daring to sit on a sofa, so she would spend most of her time in the room she was given upon her arrival. She liked the plant in it a lot.

She sighed when she finally put the last cup in the cupboard. Housework was dull, but at least she didn’t break anything this time. However, the plates really were at an uneven number and now that it got pointed out to her it started bothering her as well.

“Oh… Lilith… you’re still here…”

Azusa was standing in the doorway, looking a bit on edge. Chiyo would be lying if she said she wasn’t freaked out about most of his antics. She couldn’t be mean to him because he enjoyed it and asked for more. He even tried to get her to cut him with a knife once. What fun was there in bullying a person that wanted to be bullied?

“Lilith… say. Did you… see my knife laying around here… somewhere?”

Azusa for some reason had also taken a liking to calling her Lilith. This was the only hint Chiyo got that told her that these people knew more than they let on. Would she really have to seduce Ruki to find out his secrets? Would that even work? It did make her feel a little bit uneasy. At the same time, it seemed like he was the top guy in this house, calling himself master and inflicting punishment upon people if they failed to do their tasks properly, so if someone had valuable information it would be him. How utterly frustrating.

“I haven’t,” she said shaking her head slowly, focusing on the present situation again.

“If you see it… let me know...?”

“Sure…”

She watched him hurry off down the hallway. Letting out a defeated sigh she decided to exit this room as well. Just as she was about to round the corner in the opposite direction, she bumped into someone.

“Ack! Ruki—”

“Guineapig, do me a favor and do watch your step while walking,” he said. With how much she had messed up the household lately, she could hear it in his voice that he was slowly growing tired of it.

She rubbed her nose which stung a bit from where she bumped into Ruki’s chest. “Sorry…”

They stood there awkwardly for a second. She wasn’t sure how to act around him, ever since the situation on the staircase. No, actually she had never known. Only that now there was also the confusion of her own heart that made it hard for her. Who was Ruki Mukami anyway? He had called himself a snake before, but the snake tempted Eve, not Lilith, that much she gathered from her brief bible discourse. Whenever he looked at her it made her skin crawl, but for some strange reason she felt herself seeking it out more and more. Something was wrong with her for sure.

“I came to see whether you were done with the dishes, but I see that you are,” he said.

“Don’t worry, your plates are fine, I spared them my rough treatment,” she said, trying to sound casual or funny about it.

Ruki apparently did not find that very amusing since he didn’t react to the joke. And she always thought she had no sense of humor. Maybe she didn’t and that’s why he wouldn’t react to her attempt at defusing the tension. Though, Chiyo had not seen Ruki laugh genuinely even as much as once since she started living here, and that was a little bit unsettling. Shuu also wasn’t one to laugh often, but she had witnessed it in the past, at least.

“You broke enough as is, I hope this will not be a common occurrence or I will really have to punish you, until you learn your lesson,” he said.

Chiyo’s face contorted in distaste. He really was all about that master of the house thing. A little bit too intense for her taste. She wondered what a punishment from Ruki would entail, but then decided she’d rather not know. Although she was yet to find the Mukami torture chamber, if they even had one.

“You look like you are thinking up filth… or are you that disappointed you will not be getting a punishment?” he asked, slightly amused.

“W-what? No!” she protested.

Chiyo’s eyes widened in shock and her face felt like it was burning up. Being punished sounded bad enough as it was, and she wasn’t exactly into that type of play… was she? She hated how Ruki made her doubt herself in even the aspect of her life she thought she had figured out and under control!

Ruki eyed her with a curious look on his face, barely hiding his amusement. He looked as if he was thinking about something while he studied her face, though he didn’t voice any of those thoughts. As he made his way to the kitchen, Chiyo anxiously followed.

The tall Vampire investigated the cabinet that they used to store all the plates in. Then he looked back at her. Chiyo didn’t like the way this was going, and she was sure the look on her face was one of pure horror by now.

“Now that I think about it, this odd number of plates does irk me. You will be a good guineapig and make up for it.”

This man never failed to trigger the flight instinct in her. She took a step back and bumped into the kitchen counter, knocking over a box of sugar. Ruki sighed.

“Clean this up. I expect you to come straight to my room once you are done with that,” he said.

She wanted to protest, but something in the eyes of this man told her that it was best not to argue.

“Do not dawdle,” he said and left her alone with the mess she had made.

Chiyo watched him walk out of the kitchen and sighed. Just what was wrong with her? She wasn’t feeling like herself ever since she had left the Sakamaki mansion and started spending her time here.

She started to be increasingly jumpy and clumsy. That never used to happen to her before; was Ruki making her this nervous? Her heart sure was feeling as if it was going to jump out through her throat whenever she interacted with him. Or was it because she wasn’t used to doing housework? She really wanted to leave again, but she also really wanted to find out more about the mystery surrounding her, Yui and, apparently, both Vampire families. Lately she was starting to think that maybe Shuu was correct all along in saying that his father liked to spin fate however he pleased. Did he send her those dreams about Lilith? Was that even in his powers to do? How much power did the Vampire King have anyway? She never succeeded in grasping the extent of his powers.

She shook her head and sighed. What did it even matter? Maybe she should just give up and go back; she never had this strange dream again afterwards, so maybe it was just that? A simple weird dream? Pure coincidence that it was also strangely biblical and just like Yui’s dream proclaiming her as Eve?

No… these guys knew something she didn’t, and she wanted to find out what at least, since she already went through the trouble of coming here.

She tidied the counter from all the sugar and made her way to Ruki’s room reluctantly.

[thisbuildinghasfeelings]

How I Would Change 4x03

4x03 is my least favorite Lone Star episode. I struggle to enjoy any part of it because I think there were so many odd choices made, including places where, to me, Carlos seems wildly out of character. However, I don't think it's completely unsalvageable. In fact, I think the overall storyline is fine and some little adjustments would improve things immensely.

Here are the FOUR THINGS I would change about 4x03:

1.Give more context for why Carlos is upset

I think it makes a lot of sense for Carlos to be feeling intensely guilty about Iris in this episode. Presumably the main reason that Carlos went so long without contacting Iris was because he was afraid of upsetting her or setting back her progress. Then, when he finally does come back into her life, it's not for her benefit or to rekindle their friendship or to check up on her. Instead, it's because he needs something from her. Then, almost immediately, Iris goes missing again and is in danger. Carlos canonically blames himself for everything, so of course he would blame himself for this!

In that context, I can better understand why Carlos would react the way he did when he finds out that TK went to see Iris and potentially upset her enough to cause her to go missing again. But also, TK only did it because of Carlos' own failure to deal with the situation, and I think that's something Carlos would recognize. I think it makes sense for Carlos to be mostly angry with himself and feeling a lot of guilt, even though that may take the form of him lashing out a little at TK in a moment where he is very upset. Ultimately, I think it would have helped this episode out a lot if there had been a moment or two where it is made clear that Carlos is mostly angry at himself.

2. Fix Carlos in the cliff rescue scene

The cliff rescue scene, despite the hilarious moment of sex doll CPR, remains my absolute least favorite scene of the series. First, I hate the way Carlos uses his cop authority to intimidate a mentally ill man. To fix this, I would simply have the detective stop Carlos before he can really approach the man. She could tell Carlos that he's too close to the situation and to leave it to her.

Then I would also fix the way Carlos treats TK here. This is the most out of character moment to me. I understand that Carlos is very upset in this scene and thinking that Iris might be dead. It makes sense that he would be distant from TK. I'm ok with that. But when Carlos says the "can't let go of a bad relationship" line...I just hate it so much. Is Carlos supposed to be implying that his relationship with TK is a "bad relationship" here? If so, I do not for a second believe he really thinks that. Instead, he's just saying it to be a jerk to TK, which I do not like. TK is upset enough as it is! And I really don't think Carlos would act like that. Or is Carlos somehow talking about his relationship with Iris? That also doesn't make sense to me. At this moment, he thinks Iris might be dead. I don't think he'd reduce their history down to a "bad relationship." Ultimately, that line is terrible and confusing and I reject it. So what I would do with this scene would be to have Carlos just say nothing. He can be upset and anxious about Iris and distant from TK. That's enough.

3. Make the scene with Iris in the ambulance way less weird

I find this scene after Iris is rescued to be so strange. I think it's the lingering shots and the awkwardness, but I don't fully understand how I'm supposed to interpret what's going on. Is Carlos still really angry at TK? If so, why? It's clear now that someone abducted Iris and that TK wasn't the reason she went missing (and Carlos has not yet been given reason to doubt Iris's story). Is TK supposed to be jealous of Iris and Carlos? I'm not sure if that's what they're meaning to convey here, but the looks shared and the awkwardness just make it weird. Also, when Carlos tells Iris to "breathe," is that supposed to be a Tarlos Push reference? I don't think it was actually intended to be one, but I've seen many people interpret it that way.

To fix this scene, I would just remove the weird lingering awkwardness. Maybe let TK and Carlos share a worried look. Do they really need to be completely at odds here? I know they wanted to build the tension and raise the stakes for Carlos going missing in the next episode, but I truly don't feel like that was even necessary. The stakes are plenty high! And take out the "breathe" line...it's just confusing.

4. Have Carlos apologize (or at least start to apologize) during his phone call with TK

Finally, I think something that would go a long way towards improving the way I feel about this episode would be a bit of an apology to TK from Carlos. I already imagine all sorts of off-screen apologies happening in these first few season 4 episodes, but it would be so nice to actually see one! Even just a part of one! Maybe at the start of their phone conversation at the end of the episode. At this point, Carlos fully believes Iris, so he knows that TK wasn't the reason she went missing. He has absolutely no reason to still be mad at TK. He has also had enough time to reflect on his behavior and on how hurt and guilty TK is probably still feeling. Sure, Carlos has a lot of other things on his mind, including the stupid thing he's about to go do, but I think at least the beginning of an apology would fit into the phone call. Maybe TK would even cut him off and tell him he doesn't need to apologize. Ultimately, just the recognition from Carlos that he has something to apologize for here would do wonders for me.

[birdmitosis]

Voice of the Cold for the ask game, i hope I got here first D:

[ask game here]

OMG, you did! :D And I am so happy to answer about Cold.

First impression

Pretty sure my first impression was of him in the Spectre route, and I was curious, a bit positively inclined, mostly on the strengths of how well he fit how we got him and also how hot his voice was. 😔 Yeah, I'll admit it. I looked forward to seeing more from him and was intrigued by the seeming discrepancy between his "emotionless" claims and his blatant grudge against the Narrator.

Impression now

I LOVE COLD SO MUCH. Ohhh, he is as much of a trauma response as the rest of them and is both driven to keep himself safe and also experience something new (which is itself not safe) and also not care about safety... He is dismissive and deeply caring and he can't stand stagnancy and yet he feels at home when everything unravels into the Long Quiet. One of my Top 3 faves I think.

Favorite moment

There are a lot of moments I could choose here but I think I still have to give it to my bias: Cold in the Wraith chapter alongside Paranoid. Especially this sequence:

This has lived rent-free in my head since I first saw it, it just hits me so hard in a "none of them are fully wrong but none are fully right either" way and says so much about Cold in the context of other things... Especially the absolutely wild "If you can tolerate joy, you can tolerate pain" line, like UM EXCUSE ME?

(But the whole chapter is great, with Cheated as well as with Paranoid, but I have a bias for so many moments with the Paranoid version, like the "you think you are brave" line from Wraith and the fact that Cold must have helped with the efforts to toss the body into the void... Wraith is a severely underrated chapter, I feel!)

Idea for a story

Look, because of the way I fandom, all my ideas are for shipfic and ParaCold is 1000% my OTP, soooo...

That said, a specific idea I've actually had that I still kinda want to use with something, that I may have mentioned before, is Hunted making a point that they need each other (as a group) and at their best they cover each others' blind spots and shore up each others' weak points.

When Cold pulls something along the lines of his "I'm special" thing, Hunted ends up challenging him to a "play" fight (no actual wounds being left, "wounds" marked with something like chalk or berry juice or something, fake blade, etc.). And by the time Cold calls that he's "killed" Hunted (and so obviously he's right that he doesn't need help/he has no weak spots that actually matter), Hunted can point out that he's managed to land enough "minor" blows that Cold would be bleeding out by now too, because he doesn't guard himself at all.

(I also kinda want to look more into a super queer TTRPG called Moonlight on Roseville Beach because I wanna play around a bit with an AU for it where the six possible player character "origin stories" are filled by Hero, Contrarian, Cold, Paranoid, the Princess, and the Narrator... "[In] Moonlight on Roseville Beach, it's the summer of 1979 and you work in the village by day while protecting yourself, your housemates, and your neighbors from supernatural monstrosities and occult horrors by night," and it's in a queernorm setting where LGBTQIA+ characters are considered the norm, with a "focus on queer people succeeding at keeping themselves and their communities safe (at least for a time).")

Unpopular opinion

TBH I also agree that Cold isn't all that edgy. I think he's quite straightforward most of the time and definitely has some issues -- I think he likes prodding at some of the other characters more than some people realize but also less than some people act like, he really does jump to "we could stab" very quickly as a response, he seems happy to encourage potential violence against himself if he finds it interesting in some way, he has a surprisingly big ego -- but also blatantly cares despite how he often talks, is curious and wants new things, and seems to like connecting with the other voices and even, sometimes, the vessels.

I also think he isn't as hard to get along with as some people think, in the sense of, I think he has like three different "modes" when it comes to interacting with people:

He vibes with how you do things, in which case he goes along quite well, is agreeable and calm, and seems to like you. (Skeptic in the Drowned Grey chapter is a clear example, but so is Cheated in the Wraith I think; IMO Hero and Hunted would go here as well.)

There's enough push-and-pull there that he finds you interesting, in which case he can get a bit intense, prod you some just to see the push back, might sometimes go along just to see what you'll do, and it's a bit harder to tell if he likes you (but honestly he does). (IMO Paranoid would go here, and I do actually think Smitten goes here as well.)

Neither of the above apply, in which case he's just bored of you, and if forced into constant proximity with you, annoyed. (Stubborn in MOC is the most blatant example; IMO Broken would go here as well, ironically outside of if you somehow managed to get Cold alongside him in the Tower route.)

(The first two can be true simultaneously for some people; I feel like Contrarian would be in both. Weirdly, I feel like Opportunist is somehow in both #2 and #3? Stubborn could eventually go into #2, under better circumstances. And the Narrator fits a special category of "fuck you" where He doesn't quite fit #2 but there are some similarities, Cold just doesn't like Him.)

...This got a bit weird and long and out of Unpopular Opinion territory, huh. WELL, TL;DR Cold isn't edgy and actually likes a good number of the other voices.

Favorite relationship

I mean, y'all can guess this one, right? >_>

No, but honestly, as a ship it's definitely ParaCold. But in a totally platonic way, I also really love his dynamic with Hero in the Spectre route, especially if you free Her, and with Skeptic in the Drowned Grey chapter (okay, okay, I can see that one as either platonic or shippy). And his dynamic with the Narrator fascinates me but I can't ever see them getting along.

Favorite headcanon

I love the idea that Cold picks up new things all the time, and whether he sticks with them or not he gets surprisingly good at them first. Skills, hobbies, other languages. I can imagine his handwriting getting better more quickly than a lot of the other voices because of this, and him also managing to bond with the others over doing their hobbies with them.

[narrators-journal]

The investigation team's sexualities (plus a bonus)

Woot woot, I think this completes the set! Now, every persona game (except for 1, I know nothing of that game lol) has a collection of what I think their sexualities are. Which, are they strict? Not really, they’re just for fun, and easy for me to do to scratch the urge to write without blowing all my energy before the upcoming kinktober! So, just enjoy, and if you’ve got any questions, pls just be respectful when asking. These are all just based on vibes I get from the anime mostly, and the animes aren’t the besssst for thorough canonicity.

Yu Narukami

While Yu is not my personal favorite persona protagonist, meaning I don’t chew on him like I do Tatsuya, or even Akira. So, his vibes are a bit hard for me to choose. On one hand, he vibes pretty strongly as evenly bisexual. Men and women equally could get it. But, on the other hand, I also get the vibe that he’s potentially under the asexual or maybe aromantic umbrella? Bisexual aromantic maybe? I have no really strong opinions on which fits more lol.

Yukiko Amagi

Yukiko gives me pretty strong lesbian energy, or female-leaning bisexual maybe? Bi-curious at a minimum. Sadly though, I don’t have a strong enough opinion to really know for surebetween those. I just know that she undeniably likes women to some extent.

Chie Satonaka

Unlike Yukiko, I don’t need to think much more on what Chie’s into. She vibes verystrongly as a lesbian. Maybe somewhat unaware at the start, but also somewhat aware at the same time. Like, maybe she just doesn’t want to admit that she knows it isn’t super duper straight to want her female friends attention and to be relied on and seen as her knight. She’s just a bit too embarrassed to really act upon that knowledge.

Kanji Tatsumi

The clear answer would to say Kanji’s simply gay. That’s sort of what the running joke is in the game, and it is hard to argue that he’s heterosexual. However, I don’t think he’s just. Gay. I think Kanji’s bi or pansexual. Women, men, neither, it doesn’t super matter to Kanji, it all confuses him on his feelings of things. Which, sadly, only makes the questioning worse and lengthens the time it’ll take for him to really pinpoint what he is and come to grips with that.

Naoto Shirogane

We are going to avoid the whole controversy around Naoto. I’ll just say that I doubt they’re heterosexual, but I can’t really say what they might be. Which, I feel is pretty fitting for Naoto. They’ve got too much going on with gender identity issues and questions to really focus on what they like in someone else. If they like you, they like you. If they don’t, they don’t.

Yosuke Hanamura

I could joke and say Yosuke’s an in-denial homosexual, but I could also take Bisexual too, since he was into Saki Konishi at the start, and I think he’s just, very very gay for Narukami. Some part of me thinks he’s so strongly into Yu, that he’s almost comphet, and his homophobic quips are some form of denial. But if I’m just looking at the vibes alone, no jokes, I think Yosuke’s bisexual and just has an unacknowledged preference for men. Specifically men named Yu Narukami.

Sho Minazuki

Gender does not matter to this man. If you can fight him and give him a fun fight in the process, you can get it. Homie is violence-sexual lol. Simple as that.

Teddie

Teddie’s a slightly weird one. Not only because he’s not human, but because he’s just. Kind of giving me weird vibes in terms of sexuality. He seems to simply mimic what others do, and since he’s roomed with Yosuke, he’s taken on a perverted act to try and fit in. He just seems more into fitting in with his friends and clinging to any form of identity he can find than any form of actual sex. So, if I had to guess what sexuality Teddie might be, I’d say he’s asexual with some biromantic or panromantic on the side. But, uh. He needs some therapy before anything.

Rise Kujikawa

Rise gives me such strong heterosexual vibes. Like, she vibes like she’s a straight girl, but she enjoys when girls crush on her, and likes to poke at any form of crush a girl might have on her. Like, she’d kiss a girl in spin the bottle, or to teach a girl to kiss, but she wouldn’t actually sleep with a girl. Maybe she’s just questioning a bit of her own sexuality, or maybe she’s more fluid than she lets on, but I personally think she’s heterosexual.

[entering--hyperspace]

My Veilguard Thoughts (spoilers included)

I want to preface this with I am not an expert writer, and neither am I proficient in critiquing games in a way that is easy to digest or perhaps best gets my thought across. However, I care alot about dragon age and it greatly influenced be as a teenager, so I have a lot of thoughts on my first On Release Dragon Age game!

So, after finishing my playthrough and thinking about what I had experienced, I have come to the conclusion that Veilguard is a fun, whimsical if not somewhat cheesy ball of popcorn of a game with a lot of potential that it at times reached if only to stumble back. In my eyes, a solid 7/10, which is not a bad thing, but for dragon age fans might be divisive.

ROOK AS AN MC

To start, we have returned to a more solidified character backstory for Rook, an attempt to merge the gaps between origins, Da2, and Inquisition. Not as much as a fill in the gaps blank Mc as the inquisitor was, while not as much as a pre-built solid character as Hawke, or the time given to the very diverse set of Origins the Warden had. This was Mostly a positive, and at times something I kinda just looked around during. I played as an Elven mage (male) Shadow Dragon Rook, which I definitely felt satisfied given the amount of dialogue I felt included in, while at times being alienated by the game just assuming my investment in its own pre-established characters like the Viper, though no work was done in game outside of a written up quick summary to endear me to those it wanted me to feel for.

Continuing with Rook, I felt odd about them for a long time. Having a mc thrown into the chaos without the time to establish how you want to play them in a huge plot was not something I really like. In origins you have a plot itself, Da2 sets up the beginning of Hawke's story, and Dai works with the character being thrusted into the role of Herald because your character was truly someone just at the wrong place at the wrong time. None of things really apply to Rook, so it took me some time to really get into the role of them as the Protagonist.

I also think the responses weren't strong enough in their differences, and seemed to lack the more emotional responses I liked about Inquisition.

On the romance side for Rook, at least for Lucanis, I definitely feel not all the characters were given equal treatment bc man did his romance feel sorely lacking on content compared to the others. This isn't even about it being a slow burn because a slow burn has acknowledgement of what it is in how its story is told, this was just,,, a nothing burger. The almost kiss for Lucanis felt more romantic and longing than anything else his romance produced going forward, which was really just a lot of standing next to each other and talking. But anyway

Speaking of things missing! I was really disappointed that the gift giving system was so lackluster. I was hoping a short conversation about whatever was gifted, but its a simple reply. I did enjoy adding to the companions' space anyway!

THE COMPANIONS

Speaking of the Companions, I really adored each and every one of them, which is rare for me! There's at least ONE companion in Bioware game casts I usually don't like or care for, but this time around I found myself drawn to them all, some more than others, of course, but still! I felt the beginnings of their stories were all very genuine, and tangible. I particularly related To Bellara's grief over her brother, and not about accepting the death, but rather accepting her role in what happened. Or Taash, who struggles with their sense of self as a multicultural person, I am also Multiracial, and was excited to explore that. Lucanis reconnecting with family, Emmrich's respect and love for the deceased despite and because of his own fear of mortality, Davrin learning how to be a gentle caretaker to a young griffon, suddenly thrust into that role despite knowing only to protect and the sword he wields, to name my favorites. I have my own opinions i'll briefly talk about later about all of these, but for the most part I loved the companions! They were probably my favorite part of the game, which is why It frustrates me that the lighthouse is structured in a way that makes getting to them in their ambient conversations with each other inconvenient. This was a problem with Inquisition as well, to be fair, nothing but Origins' close camp-fire made it particularly easy to talk to your companions. Least of all when there's now no satisfaction in greeting them in the first place.

They chose to remove the ability to say hello and engage with your Companions at any time. to Save time, I think, but for me as a player, this limits my connection to them. It's removing the choice, the knowledge that I could go say hi just to do so, or to listen to another instance of a dialogue wheel again. Even if it's an arbitrary thing, It's the availability of that choice that makes me feel good, removing that hinders rather than improves, in my own experience.

I also just wish they felt more of a team outside of duty-Oriented group cutscenes, but more so as friends in a group than just 2 of them conversing somewhere.

THE STORY

The story of Veil-guard is definitely a mixed bag, purely taking it as it is, not even mentioning the lack of continuing with the world state. Games do this thing where they love tip-toeing in between being exploratory and linear while not giving either the attention needed to truly make this work. I thought the maps themselves were fine on a level design standpoint, big enough to not get too boring as parts of them unlock, but small enough to not seem as empty as they were in Inquisition, kind of returning to the older games’ layout. What really hindered the story was the tendency to bounce around all of these different areas, for freedom of choice, rather than focusing on an area and unlocking more as the game goes on through that progression.

It was The SIege Of Weisshaupt where I truly felt invested in other parts of the story outside of the interesting connection between Rook and Solas. It was the moment I recognized Veilguard has such potential in it’s story telling, giving us a very big, grand moment in the story that isn't afraid to take itself seriously and raise the stakes, which is perhaps why I’m not as disappointed in the story as much as I could’ve been, bc the potential was THERE. But instead of continuing the forward momentum some of these story beasts give us, they're dropped, and lose the momentum. Fire and Ice, fighting the blighted dragons felt like nothing after I had to take care of companion quests or conversations lest they disappear on me. The moments that fuck in the story, fuck HARD it’s so clear they have potential, my favorite parts of the story where genuinely where the momentum isnt afraid to keep going until it naturally needs to drop, as in The Point Of No Return Onward. God, the cutscene with Rook falling into the prison, the prison section in of itself, THE REVELATION OF VARRIC, Climbing out, getting back and choosing what the team needs to do, it was so GOOD AND COOL, but it was literally the last 3 hours of the game.

Outside of the main story before that I was really mainly invested in the companion’s stories and getting to the next conversation with Solas, or unlocking things within the maps, its a shame then, that none of these feel they were given the time to be fleshed out. I liked the Demon haunting Minrathous, but the set up is so sparse that the revelation doesn’t feel as satisfying as it would have had it been given just the tiniest bit of more attention or gravitas.

Smaller mistakes in the story happened in my mind all the time, WHat do you mean MINRATHOUS was just as affected by the blight as Treviso would be? If they had changed it to Dock town, the choice would’ve felt harder. But no, it was the Minrathous city of magisters or risking the blighted waters that run throughout the lives of a city only really “protected” by Assassins.

Why did nobody mention Varric as a clear mortal casualty? Just one mention of Solas making Rook forget mentions of him and maybe especially any mourning periods directly after his death would’ve made sense.

This is also not even mentioning lost plot-threads or dropped lore, that is better left to more knowledgeable people, but I can see how that may add to disappointment.

THE INQUISITOR, AND THE PAST (OR LACK THEREOF) CHOICES.

I actually switched my opinion on this, at first I was in the boat of I could see why the world state continuing wasn’t needed. We were in Northen Thedas, surely we wouldn’t need as much information although I still gripped about the more important decisions in Inquisition not being included like the well of sorrows or the next Divine.

For most of the game this opinion didn’t change too much, it wasn’t until the last parts of the story that it shifted. Once the game started singing the tune of how this was the BIG CULMINATION FINALE, and EVERYTHING LEAD UP TO THIS, I started to be like, now hold on a second, it doesn’t feel this way. It doesn’t feel this way because no, I didn’t have a lot of satisfaction in seeing even hints of what I had played previously being mentioned. Inquisition felt more like a culmination from the amount of lead up, references, and acknowledgements than Veilguard did. Where was Kieran in the talks or mentions of arche demons, wardens trying to find reversals of blights much like our warden, Divine justinia? Hawke in the aftermath of Varric’s death? The tiniest mention would’ve made me feel so much better, yet they were lacking.

Now, the inquisitor, well,,,,,I’ve always been in the boat that this should’ve been their story to finish, and for the most part I was fine with Rook untl I reached certain moments like everything with Mythal where I felt my inquisitor, having drank from the well, would’ve been a way more interesting person to be included, or even having them in the background fighting alongside Rook in the final boss given a choice in what class they were, you could see them offering assistance. Man, Even getting to talk more with them, maybe choosing what emotional dialogue they leaned more into like we did with Hawke so their statements didn’t feel so broad.

THAT BEING SAID, THE CRITICISMS LEAVING MY BODY AS SOON AS I HEARD THE INQUISITION LEITMOTIF, I regardless, enjoyed every second of them on screen, I literally screamed and scrumpt seeing them appear at the end to (in my canon) Help talk Solas down which felt a bit like the Hannah montanna taking off the wig when they revealed themselves I mean this in the best way possible I was eating everything up.

OTHER SMALL THINGS, MUSIC, GRAPHICS, COMBAT

Music to me was fine, what I’m grateful for since playing FFXIV is I have learned, love, accepted that I want music to be different, its COOL when genres don’t stay to the same old tune. I actually loved what I heard of Veilguard’s style, obviously some people said it sounded like Mass Effect music due to its use of more electronic sounding tunes, but considering we are dealing with ANcient Elven gods in advanced tech architecture and cities like Minrathous, I didn’t even see it as out of place. Honestly, OSTS rarely blow me out of the water on an initial playthrough, but I implore people to maybe open their minds to the idea that not every game needs to sound the same, even if theyre from the same series, I would have rathered this than the same style as inquisition, bc they are not the same game with the same story and environment. Personally, I find it boring to only contain one musical genre to one thing, Taking more leaps in creating a different sound to reinvent what we might consider “fantasy music”(for example) IS something I will always back.

GRAPHICS ARE INCREDIBLE, I love the more stylized look, I loved the lighting direction, I loved everything about the actual style of the game. I do agree about missing previous DESIGNS, but the ART STYLE itself I have no notes on, what a beautiful game.

Combat was so fun, it’s clear Bioware is taking notes from the pace of Andromeda’s gameplay, which I also enjoyed. Not a lot of thoughts here, it was fun, I was never a big fan of tactical games which made origins not very fun for me combat wise so I wasn't affected by the series continuing to evolve away from that over time was was prevalent since Da2 into Inquisition. I just wish we had more ability options ready to use.

The Tone:

I do think its silly to not acknowledge the clear tonal shift throughout dragon age, yes you could always CHOOSE to be silly, but to not see Origins as clearly tonally dark is a bit ignorant. I don't mind (I actually prefer!) Light hearted ganes, what I like most however, is sincereity and the ability to allow your story to be what it needs to. Veilguard has shown it has times where it is clear in wanting to have a serious mission, but also fails to deliver on it consistently.

I don't really have much of a problem with its dialogue as some? Gamer bros tend to? But I also want to point out one thing: sometimes, due to the fact you grow as a person, grow older, things you once saw as super cool serious and good, may not be so at your current age. Was the dialogue "millenial" or are you (talking to random gamerbros here) perhaps so unwilling to let yourself enjoy things you once did bc in your eyes they are "cringe" now? The nostalgia can be so blinding, and to ignore that the humor of the series has always been there is so incorrect. But these are also the same people who said veilguard is too woke when it was DA thay had 2 bisexual companions while bioware was getting hounded on by FOX news for its same sex romance, so....

CLOSING THOUGHTS.

It was Clear this game struggled with things cut for time, or ease of new players, if not both. I can only speculate an EA decision which hindered things, a tale as old as time, given weight since we know its production start was rocky alongside the dire state of AAA game industry. However when i am reviewing something I try not only to take account of the things that we may give marks to, like a consistent story, graphics, music, but more so one single thing: Did this game do what it set out to do? The answer, I feel, is Yes.

The game introduced us to memorable companions, it finished the set up of a previously started story, it was fun to play, it got an emotional reaction out of me, I do not regret buying it.

That perhaps, is most important. No game is perfect, certainly not ones as ambitious as Dragon Age as a serie. It is hard to implement every choice, to satisfy every player. In the end, it is not a perfect game, certainly not a perfect DA game. Especially not with 10 years of expectations and weight on its shoulders. To me, it didn’t need to be. I am allowed to be disappointed, but I am also allowed to be satisfied with the imperfect, and simply have enjoyed the ride. Video games are Art, Art is subjective. There are ways we can frame the basis of critique given the quality and what we expect from a studio, even at the whims of greedy overlords, but most importantly I think we should ask ourselves if our enjoyment matters most.

In a world where it has become easy to hate, where hate and anger and disapproval gain more clicks and reactions than those of joy, It is equally important for us to speak of our joy with as much weight as we would a critique. Joy is just as important to share, love for something is just as important to share as much as what you didn’t like.

I loved Veilguard. It wasn’t perfect, but I had fun running around, I had fun listening to my new friends, and perhaps that is what I take with me the most. If it’s any indication, I have decided to replay DaI and veilguard again right after, it scratched my DA itch.

As a side note, if you want to listen to a good video essay about the acceptance of the mid and the enjoyment still that shouldn’t be shamed in video games being ranked less than 10/10 which I recommend “In defense of the 7/10 games” by Nakey Jakey.

If you’ve reached this point I hope you enjoyed my thoughts!