#not to be an edgelord but i truly did not think this far

[chaifootsteps]

Okay, so jumping here. I've been thinking and imo the 'Lilith' is Eve in disguise and Rosie is Lilith theory still holds true. This is brought to you by me going "We know Viv is a shitty writer, so from the writing already available, where would she lead the plot NOW?" and by my tinfoil hat.

We know Lilith is somewhere in Heaven (maybe even in Eden itself). Unless she pulls the weirdest explanation out of her hat for why she took a small vacay for 7 YEARS abandoning her daughter (with whom we know she had a good relationship with, IF that part of the pilot is still true. She never stopped to explain what parts of the pilot are still true, ffs.), Lilith would never. I don't even think she:

1) Would be allowed in Heaven, even by making a deal with Adam.

2) Adam's pride is too big for him to simply accept such a deal and Lilith's pride would be equally big imo. This interaction would never work.

So that has to be Eve. And Adam *has* to know that that's Eve. Or he doesn't, idc. Point is, it's far more likely by normal logic for that to be Eve. By Viv logic...? Not so much.

Which brings me to my second point! Rosie and her character. I did kind of feel the Mary Poppins vibes a bit, ngl. Horrible redesign, but oh well... The way she reacted to Charlie, her going "yeah, singing totes works here, in the *cannibal* colony!" and her giving that love advice + "we all did things we aren't proud of" + the fact that she's a "hellborn"? She has to be Lilith, sorry. Also also I feel like cannibalism isn't even such a big deal??? In the show I mean. It's literally so cartoonish it simply becomes a hellish quirk for some inhabitants. Sure Alastor, you're a cannibal, boo-hoo. I don't feel threatened by any of them, is what I mean. And even irl, I feel like yeah, it's gross and most likely getting yourself sick, but what makes cannibalism truly bad is the act of *killing* that person, ye know? In Viv's Hell that can't even happen, they'll just respawn, no problem.

And my final reason issss: Viv just ran so fast past 4 seasons worth of plot that imo she backed herself info a corner. The only things keeping the plot going are...Alastor's deal and who he made it with. It's probably Roo or Eve (or Lilith if Rosie is just Rosie), but I have a feeling like it can't be so simple with her, she has to pull a super complicated sayan explanation to make it seem like she just had us all guessing the wrong things, she's suuuuch a literary genius. And she loves musicals a bit too much (Adam is literally just Beetlejuice minus everything interesting about him), so pulling a Sweeney Todd sounds very in-character for her.

Now, speaking of Alastor....I haaaate how she destroyed his character with all the swearing and the petty edgelord-ness. She's not smart enough to write a smart chaotic presence/maybe potential villain. There, I said it. She should open a psychology book or some shit (she should've hired psychologists to coach her about writing about topics such as SA, addiction, sadistic/criminal personalities and so on, but we know she never put such thought into her work). Or at least a sensibility reader for her plot, smh. The overall tone of the show is jumping around faster than a bunny on electrolytes.

And as always, Alastor and Rosie have more chemistry than Charlie and Vaggie literally the "main" couple. They seem like a 30s married couple, tbh.

Also also super confused about Alastor's microphone and how she can hand it over to Charlie??? Why would he do that??? Are we supposed to understand he now cares about her? Handling his (presumably from the Adam fight) source of power to her just like that?? TWICE?!?

I understand his final lyrics are supposed to be "holy shit, I almost died for these people, what is wrong with me???" in a nutshell (+ that part about the contract), but we were never SHOWN how he became more attached to them??? We just have to believe him based on the talks with Rosie and Niffty respectively. What a joke. (Niffty got partially restored in my brain, at least).

-idk, Broadcast🎭 anon- (I know I DMed u, but yea)

Honestly? Even if this leak never comes true the way Viv planned it back then, I for one am having a great time speculating.

[jewishbarbies]

"but you told lucy you’d kill yourself if i ever leave / and i had said that to jack about you so i felt seen / everyone we know understands why it’s meant to be / cause we’re crazy" "tattooed golden retriever" something about how he put a ring on her ring finger (when Joe didn't). her calling her fans "vipers" in "but daddy I love him" I'M LOSING IT. they'll still stand by her after this even though she literally hates them and thinks they ruined her chance at happiness with a racist edgelord. someone said she finally had the guts to go mask off because she's fully spiraled out of control and has no fucks left to give about pretending to be a good person (which she really WAS doing for Joe 😭). it's the funniest thing. she's like, I lost such a good man and a grounding love because he has depression and didn't want to get married and I couldn't give him space or grace through that, and then y'all destroyed my life because you wouldn't let me have the greaseball. helppppp

wouldn’t surprise me if he saw how she wrote about him and his struggle with mental illness, which is like the only time she’s honest with herself, and realized it was never going to actually work between them. she would always view him as just some wannabe emo sad boy and not a human being with struggles that just needs support. as someone suffering from clinical depression for 2/3 of my life, that would be crushing to realize about someone you’ve just spent a good few years loving.

everything I’ve read so far from the new album just compounds what I already assumed. her confirming she truly did not care what kind of man ratty was and slamming fans that were upset with her is just the nail in the coffin.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: The Thousand

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Spider-Man has had many unique and colorful villains over the year, enough to rival even the likes of Batman in terms of the greatest rogue gallery in all of comics. You’ve got the classics like Doc Ock and Green Goblin, you have ones who were good for one story like Kraven, and you have the greatest villains ever like Big Wheel and The Wall. And this level of memorability even extends to his one-shot foes, like The Thousand.

Once one of Peter Parker’s biggest bullies, Carl King saw the accident that gave Peter his powers. Watching as he became a beloved hero, his envy grew to the point he broke into the lab where the spider that bit Peter was being held and ate it. He soon had his body undergo a transformation into a colony of murderous spiders that can take over and liquefy a person’s insides and then wear their skin like a suit, something he openly admits he frequently does to children and the homeless.

Jesus, that’s fucking dark. What sort of sick, twisted mind could conceive of such a villain?

Ugh. Well, let’s see if we’re working with Preacher-level Ennis or The Boys-level Ennis here.

Motivation/Goals: Carl King is another villain who is just a hater, but he takes it to the next level by being utterly narcissistic in his hate. He was a schoolyard bully as a kid, picking on poor, pitiful Peter Parker, until fate decided to give Pete spider powers. From there, King became incredibly envious of Peter getting the love, fame, and adoration he felt he was owed. Over years and years he waited, gathering strength so he could eventually get close to Peter and take over his body. It’s a simple motivation, but it works, and the ultimate goal is as unnerving as anything.

Final Fate: During his fight with Spidey, he gets tricked into punching an electrical box and is zapped like the bug he is, careening off the edge of a building to what I’m sure Peter presumes is his death.

But wait! Oh no, King survived!

His narration shows he’s as vengeful as ever, surely this is the beginning of a horrific and bitter feud betw-

Oh. He’s just fucking dead, huh?

We get a mere three issues with this grotesque, disturbing concept and then it’s all taken away by some dude’s shoe.

Most Fucked Up Scene: Hey Garth, I don’t think we’re sure that King is a truly irredeemable monster yet. Think you could maybe throw in some fucked up sex and also maybe demonize homosexuality a little bit?

Yeah, thanks for that.

Final Thoughts & Score: I don’t like The Thousand, and boy is that a fucking shame because this entire concept is genuinely really cool. Like, an evil spider colony that wears people like skin suits and dissolves their insides, kind of like Edgar the Bug from Men In Black? It’s gnarly and creepy, and The Thousand does have a pretty cool design to boot. But… it just doesn’t sit right with me. Like, we have a villain here who eats people from the inside out, hollows out their skin, did this to their mom, fucked their dad and then did it to him, and just in general acts like a creepy asshole… and he’s fighting Spider-Man. It’s just so… edgy. But I should’ve expected this from Ennis, huh?

Honestly, it is interesting how King seems to be something of a stand in for Ennis. He’s a sad, miserable edgelord who revels in being depraved and edgy, and is extremely bitter that there’s a cool and well-loved superhero who is getting attention he feels he’s owed. This kind of mirrors how Ennis hates superheroes because he feels they hijacked and overtook a once-diverse medium like comics and turned it into something far more uniform and lacking in variety. I doubt this was an intentional thing at all, I don’t think Ennis is that self-aware, but I did find this read of King to make him a bit more interesting.

I kind of want to be clear here: I don’t think The Thousand is bad. I have very mixed feelings and don’t personally like it, but I don’t think it’s a bad villain by any means. As far as a one shot villain goes, it’s pretty hard to forget. I genuinely can’t pinpoint what my problem is. I don’t necessarily think anything he did is wildly out of place in a Spidey story, and it’s not how edgy The Thousand is as a concept and in practice, because Carnage exists and nothing can out-edge him and I have zero issues with his existence as a Spidey foe. I think maybe the issue here is that we’re thrown this new character who has beef with Peter and we only get three issues of development before he’s unceremoniously killed, putting the kibosh on any future storylines (theoretically; you know how comics are with bringing people back). Maybe I’m just frustrated that an interesting concept was wasted, though I don’t know how you could keep this guy around realistically.

If I’m being completely honest here, I think it really comes down to the guy who created him. Ennis is at his best when he’s playing in a world of his own creation like Preacher, or messing around with Frank Castle in an isolated setting. Him touching other heroes… Eh. Even when he’s not openly disdainful, you can kind of feel something off. The art isn’t helping here, because the humans in this comic look almost as nasty as the mutant evil spider creature. Ultimately I think a very generous 6.5/10 is what I’ll give him. I think the Ennis-isms of the comic itself kind of hold him back, as does his premature death, but as a villain The Thousand is a very interesting idea relegated to a mere one-shot. They can’t all be winners, I guess.

[demonsfate]

as much as i love shipping hwoarang x steve, as a jin main i can't help but feel like a loud minority of them seem to really hate jin. i remember someone on this site said like "they clearly get along better than Hwoarang ever did with Jin". like they think jin is a rude bitch who constantly trash talks hwoarang. when jin has shown throughout the series (especially tekken 3-5) he actually gives a fuck about hwoarang. unlike other "edgelord" characters like say sasuke or vergil (especially the former, who is such a jerk bastard that constantly calls naruto and sakura "annoying" and tries to kill them multiple times on his own volition), jin never intentionally hurt hwoarang's feelings or downplay his strength in any way. jin straight up apologizes to hwoarang for breaking a promise in tekken 5, and also says he's busy with family issues at the time. if jin really was a rude person, he would've called hwoarang "an annoying weak nuisance who is nothing compared to him". jin also saved hwoarang's ass in tekken 4 when he was about to get arrested by the military, jin could've easily just left hwoarang behind but he decided to help instead. in his non-canon tag 2 ending, jin clearly enjoys going on a motor bike race with hwoarang. jin also actually smiles when he is around hwoarang too, which means he is happy around him and actually appreciates his friendship with him. the only time jin "tried to kill him" was in tekken 5, when he lost control of his powers and hwoarang got hospitalized. jin is only distant towards hwoarang because of his fucked up family starting shit and his devil gene which he couldn't control at the time. he doesn't want hwoarang to get into the cross fires. it's thanks to tekken 6's existence where jin kazama was OOC as fuck in that game we get takes like this in the community.

like i said earlier i LOVE hwoarang x steve, i enjoy looking at fanart of the two being shipped together and i have so many bookmarks of them as a gay couple on ao3. i wish hwoarang and steve got to interact more often in canon outside of tekken 5 intro, tekken 8, and street fighter x tekken. i love watching hwoarang's character relationship with steve fox. but i get so angry when they hate on jin for "being a stupid kazama/mishima getting in the way" of their ship just like how so many damn SNS/SasuNaru shippers hate on literally every female character in Naruto (I hate both SNS and Sasuke with a burning passion). I enjoy reading HwoSteve fanfic, I just hate seeing my main being basically a victim of yaoi sometimes lol. (T＿T) hope you have a good day, been enjoying your blog so far.

surprisingly i don't care much for the steve x hwoarang ship. i dunno why! maybe due to their lack of interactions outside the stuff you mentioned? (not that that's ever stopped me before haha!) but i do see the potential in it. and well, jin, hwoa, & steve are my brot3.

the funny thing is, outside of tk6 and awful crossovers that were affected by tk6's virus, jin is usually nicer to hwoarang than hwoarang is to jin. usually hwoa tries to instigate jin, much to hwoa's failure. actually, it's not like jin is any "meaner" to hwoa than steve is. in all their official interactions, they tend to fight or insult each other lol.

i find it funny that there's a big belief that kazuya was influenced by the devil gene and is truly a Fine Guy, but when jin was genuinely not in control (devil nearly killing hwoa in tk5) -- everyone still blames jin and uses that as ammo as to why he's truly a Bad Guy lmao.

really and sadly, many shippers tend to hate any one that "potentially gets in the way." i know i used to argue with jinxiao shippers who would go as far as to deny jin & hwoa even being friends just because they can't stand the idea of the "hwoajin" ship getting in the way. even though i'd only say they're friends not lovers -- which is true! they are CANONICALLY friends, it's so silly to deny that.

LOL, can't say i share your hatred of sasuke tho just 'cos i've never watched / read naruto! i probs won't ever just 'cos it's too long for me to hold interest in lol. but thank you! i hope you're having a good day, too.

[tsuki-sennin]

Geats 45! This show's been going on for 45 weeks, where the hell did all that time go? ...wonder when I'm gonna see that summer movie? Better yet, who is this mysterious zoomer Rider who we're gonna be getting to know far too much about next season?

Spoilers, I guess...

-At least Neon got something nice out of all this.

-I wonder... has Beroba been wandering aimlessly all this time?

-"Da-Paan~! How's my new favorite edgelord of all time doing~?"

-Ace needs a lot of people on his side.

-OHHHHHH

-Gonna finally transform, Jitto?

-VIPs, eh?

-Hello, Irumi-san. Oh, Neon-chan's here too~!

-Here comes Kanato.

-Oh I see, the panda's new sponsors enjoy a good masquerade.

-"I do it for the fans~! And just like any gamer encountering a woman live on stream, I'm gonna make some goddamn content~!"

-Hey, you get your paws off that Beat, mister! That's Na-Go's!

-Man, I want to see Fantasy Beat so badly. She deserves to be a music wizard.

-I can't complain about how much ass she's kicking at all though, this is great.

-Oh that's sick.

-I can't believe they remembered that feature.

-"Oh man, you're almost cool now~! Fallen to Despair like that..."

-Can't believe Da-Paan of all Riders is accurately describing Keiwa's headspace.

-I think it's pretty genius how we were so close with Keiwa before and saw so much of the DGP through his eyes, and yet now he

-Kram Park.

-"This game sucks."

-Never give the people what they want. Unless, of course, it's Fantasy Beat Na-Go, I think that's an objectively good idea.

-Hi, Daichi.

-You put those vines away, mister.

-"You fucked up big time, Nadge-Sparrow. I'm putting you to work."

-Come forth, my son.

-Hello, GM.

-PunkJack sneaks. ...this is quite a miraculous feat for somebody like him, you'll know.

-C'mon, Keiwa.

-"Wow. For once, you're the crowd favorite."

-Don't you know, Tycoon? Jesus is like ten feet away from you.

-At long last, our confrontation has come.

-Nothing like a swordfight in an empty park.

-Hi, movie villains!

-Oh, yippee~! Free buckles for everybody~!

-Reality TV makes the most annoying commentators, huh?

-The cape almost makes the Monster look scary?

-"Geats is gonna die, sweetheart. And you're gonna watch."

-Hot damn, Win.

-Run, girly!

-BOOST BUJIN SWORD

-Gotta love this cinematography.

-"Tycoon :<"

-That's our Ace for ya.

-"I can't change you."

-ough

-That stings.

-"Tsumuri! ...why are you white?"

-Belief needs no basis!

-"Change the world then, God! Show me your power!"

-Oh!

-Tsumuri-neesan's back.

-"Ace! ...why are you white?"

-"Very well. A simple matter."

-Da-Paan truly did nothing today aside from put an unarmed woman in the hospital.

-Bye bye, Movie Villains, see you in a few months.

-"Believe in me, Tycoon. Believe in that world."

-Aw man, Michinaga's gonna die next episode?

-Oh, things are really heatin' up next week, huh?

-Join me next week, when all hell breaks loose once more.

[mephicchi]

((I can agree with your taste in twinks men. I have an evil warlock I want to rail gently caress Astarion with, provided I can remain ic and play a bastard for more than 2 minutes without chickening out and playing nice instead. Now that you mention it I don't think I've had a chance to play a full spellcaster either.

Blows kiss. Folds into the void.))

Delightful barkeep.

You need not be concerned, your knights are not involved in my deliveries. In fact, they have been increasingly more difficult to slip by. No doubt this is your doing. But I'll simply have to be more creative in my endeavours. I must commend you on the tight ship you run, and how organised your office. But could use a little more light. I'll leave this candle lit to let you know when I pass through.

The address is a simple drop off point. You won't find any home or business at that address. How efficient the moogle delivery system is, hm?

But enough about me. Tell me about yourself? What kind of music you listen to? I thought I heard some through the walls but it was too far to make out. You have a favourite colour? Beast? Plant? A preferred drink perhaps? Your friends must mean a lot to you. Very noble of a knight to put his friends before himself. What about enemies? You must have some.

All the best wishes,

Your humble patron.

// I see we both have great taste, I actually wanted to play a Warlock for real for some time now, everytime I played one in the ttrpg, the Campaigns took an end because of out of game reasons, but I'll see what class I choose. For the race though, although I have a love for all kinds of Elves, Tiefling are my favorite DnD race by far, I suppose it is the little queer edgelord in my head taking control, so if I choose to play a custom character and not one of the origin characters in my first playthrough, it will definitely be a Tiefling. If I may say, you are cool. // Greetings to my peculiar pen pal, sneaking past my guards and into my office without permission is not something many people would admit to, yet I have a feeling you bare no ill intent, so I shall allow it, but not encourage it, therefore my knights shall continue their frequent patrols, though I cannot keep this up for long, they have other duties to attend to. You must joke with your mention of an organized office, I know my strenghts and keeping my office clean and organized is certainly not one of them, keeping it dim lit is both a personal preference and a way of hiding how truly horrendously organized it is.

I entertained the idea of it being a drop off point, for I myself have used such methods in the past, though it makes me wonder if your usual line of work requires such methods too, I somehow doubt you went through the effort to get a drop off point simply to write and receive letters from me.

Your quick-fire of questions shall be answered, but with a request, I would appreciate if you were to answer them too.

The music I listen to is quite varied, though I have a fond love for pieces played on the Violin, you might have heard some of it through the wall, whatever that might mean, for I pay a personal bard to come by while I work on paperwork every now and then. My favourite color is most definitely wine red, or bordeaux if you feel especially cultured, my favorite beast would most definitely be the Griffin, I would love to be able to tame and ride one someday, my favorite plant, or specifically flower in this case, would be the simple but efficient rose, thought the hyacinth is a close second since I wear one in my hair quite often, for the drink I will have to choose Hot Chocolate, I drink it quite often, though if we go for alcoholic beverages it has to be red wine.

For the question of my enemies, well, I wouldn't say I have any enemies per se, though perhaps there is people walking this world that think otherwise, but I do have rivals of sorts, in my many years of knighthood there has been quite a few fellow knights who claimed I did not deserve the praise I received, many of those knights have continued these claims up to today. With wishes of best luck that you do not get caught by my knights, Mephiston Godefroy

[empath-from-azarath]

Raven raised an eyebrow at being called human before rolling her eyes at everything else he'd just said. "Sure..." she drawled sarcastically, "and I'm a sparkly fairy princess."

This obviously false statement was accentuated with what might've been the weakest display off jazz hands the world had ever seen, and then, pulling her pale gray digits back under her cloak, she asked in an even more annoyed tone of voice, "Can you try to not antagonize the guy pointing a gun at you? Thanks."

"No! No! You don't understand!" came the cries of the preacher. "He'll kill us all! It's the beginning of the end! We have to drive him back before he sets the world ablaze!"

'Been there, done that,' is what Raven said in her mind, but externally, she remained silent for a moment, her lips tightening slightly in discomfort. "Listen, sir," she finally said aloud, "I'm not sure what Mr. Edgelord over here did to upset you, but right now, you're the one attacking him. Think you can put the gun down for a second and talk this out like a grown up, or do I need to take it from you?"

Despite the clear threat in her words, Raven's tone sounded utterly exhausted. She was tired of needing to be the mature one in every aspect of her life. She'd never truly been allowed to be a child, to experience a full range of emotions and let loose, and she was fine with that. She was. It just sometimes got on her nerves a bit that she was in a world full of people who couldn't seem to control themselves. If she was constantly expected to keep herself from being affected by her own emotions and the emotions radiating from everyone around her, why couldn't everyone else do the bare minimum of respecting others and not causing drama?

Whatever. Dwelling on hypotheticals never did her any good, so instead Raven stood there. A teenager who'd grown up far too fast trying to stop an altercation between two men, both adults, one of whom thought his suspicions could justify an act of violence, and the other some rich-looking idiot who seemed to be treating this like a joke. Who ever said life was fair, right?

@triumviratelost

Vacations were supposed to be a time for relaxation and self-fulfillment, but the few trips Raven had been on with the Titans never seemed to provide her that. The team had been invited to a West Coast superhero convention in Los Angeles, and every single one of them seemed to be living it up and enjoying themselves except for her. It was loud and cramped, and there were far too many people, the sheer mass of their excited energy more than the sheltered young empath could bear for such an extended period of time.

Slipping out of the convention center as soon as possible, Raven took to the streets of the city and found they weren't much better. The emotional energy wasn't quite as intense, but it was still chaotic and cluttered, and every other minute, she found herself having to cover her nose to escape the awful stench of recently smoked weed. So, exhausted and on the verge of sensory overload, she found a seemingly quiet and stench-free corner and teleported up to the rooftop of a building nearby, where she began to meditate and recenter herself.

Unfortunately, about half an hour into Raven's attempt at escaping the outside world, it once again became too obnoxious to ignore. A doomsday preacher passed by the building, but instead of continuing on his way, he'd apparently decided to set up his things on this very corner. Raven was just about to leave when she heard the screech of the man's megaphone as it clattered to the ground, and he exclaimed, "You! Go back to hell, and take your cult with you! Leave this mortal plane, you wretched beast!"

Looking down from the roof, Raven glanced at the person these comments had been targeted at, and he seemed fairly normal. Human. The preacher seemed determined that he was evil incarnate, though, pulling out a gun and yelling, "Y-You stay away from me now! Leave, or I'll send you back myself." She quickly teleported down below once more, rising from a circle of darkness just below the crazed false prophet. The last thing she needed was to spook an angry religious man with a gun.

"Stand down," she stated firmly. "Put the gun away, and let's talk this out like civilized people." She had her cloak closed with the hood up, hiding most of her unusual features, knowing people like this man never reacted well to her appearance. While his attention was on her, though, she discreetly signaled for the other man to run off, a littered soda can covered in black energy tapping the back of his shoes before floating over to a trash can on the other side of the crosswalk and quietly dropping inside it.

[s4pphoiduser]

the pain of really loving college/uni aus but knowing you're at that time in your life where you Should be in uni but aren't for various reasons. and also the pain of wondering what the hell you'd even do at uni. i have no idea what im going to do with my life

[watevermelon]

Just Enough | Diluc (Genshin) x Traveler!Reader

✧ Summary: Between freeing Dvalin and pursuing the Geo Archon, you were constantly moving forward to find your brother with hardly a second to look back. You were in a rush to find your lost sibling, not realizing how your heart had stopped in Mondstadt. Visiting the city while waiting for things to die down after Rex Lapis’ death, you return to a… jealous Diluc?

➳ Spoilers for the Dark Knight Hero quest and some of the manga background ➳ Notes: lots of fluff, slight angst and jealousy, character development, mutual pining at one point, a long one-shot that covers the (1.0) beginning of the Liyue story  ➳ Navigation

---xXxXxXxXxXx---

If he had only asked you to stay.

To say that these past few weeks were a blur would be a severe understatement. For months you were simply a lost wanderer, traveling from world to world for any sort of clue that could lead you to your brother.

And in just a matter of weeks you were suddenly Mondstadt’s hero.

From bringing peace to Dvalin’s heart to meeting Mondstadt’s infamous Dark-knight hero, you were familiarizing yourself with a people and a place for a world you knew you did not belong to. Learning of the history of the Seven Archons, the Gods’ of contracts or of freedoms, suddenly you were being thrust into it all at once.

You shared the burden of knowledge with a few of Mondstadt’s elite, the true God of Freedom walking in plain sight to the citizens of his nation. And with him, were the quick allies you found side-by-side when fighting a dragon. 

It was all happening so suddenly and Lord Barbatos himself was giving you directions to the next country over, to continue on your journey in meeting all seven Archons to Liyue. 

To this day, you could fondly recall your final celebration in Mondstadt.

“To think that despite his small stature he can drink so much.” Kaeya commented from his seat at the table, eyes slid in the direction of Venti at the bar next to you. You could see the impatient stare behind Diluc’s eyes, not at all happy that their God was indulging himself so freely.

“Honorary Knight, Mondstadt thanks you for your service.” Jean formally stated, for the nth time since Dvalin had been freed.

“I’m just glad I was at the right place at the right time.” You answered back, offering a placating smile in return.

“Humility doesn’t pay for dinner!” Paimon hmphed next to you.

“But aren’t we at a feast now?” You countered, gesturing to the table. 

She sighed again before moving to get a taste of some of the honey roasted ham. “Fine, don’t blame me when we have to settle into that poor excuse of a tent!”

“Please, do not feel you are in any rush to leave.” Jean offered, “You are welcome lodgings at our Favonius Headquarters.”

“With the other Knights of Favonius?” Diluc asked, face completely blank if not for the small upward tilt of his left brow.

Kaeya flirted with you from across the room, uncaring of the other partygoers, “You could always stay with me.”

You laughed lightly and responded, “That’s a hard pass.”

The Cavalry Captain simply shrugged, offering it to you again if you changed your mind before grabbing another glass of wine and walking with Jean toward the busy table.

Barbara was trying different dishes and offering some to her older sister, spouting descriptions with medicinal purposes and flavors that compliment one another. Lisa was no better as Amber egged both of them on, completely sober as she continued to feast on the food laid before her. Other Knights of Favonius that you recognized were scattered about, enjoying the first truly peaceful night in the past few weeks.

“You are welcome to stay at the Dawn Winery, while you look for your brother.”

He relished in the sight of your smile.

“Thank you, Diluc.”

That was three months ago.

And since then you had been thrown into more of not your business but suddenly IS your business, business.

You remembered your last day before setting off from Mondstadt. The Knights of Favonius would surely call on you again and so you had quick goodbyes with Jean and Kaeya the day before. Venti was saved for last, a somewhat light-hearted and yet somber goodbye as he was the first and last person for you to see in Mondstadt. 

But Diluc… How could you even start that conversation?

He was the lone wolf with a prickly reputation and an even worse sense of patience. You remembered the first time you even spoke to him, clipped words meant to get straight to the point. Not to mention that he was the first person to antagonize Kaeya, who was one of the few people you kinda trusted in the beginning.

It was not until the side adventures, the little quests you did one-on-one that you realized how much more there was to the edgelord that was Diluc. 

Of course, he was still the strict type to focus solely on the mission. 

But you realized more about why Diluc had come to be this way. 

‘The uncrowned king of Mondstadt.’

As you worked together against the possible abyss invasion of Mondstadt, you poured over strategies and testing of his slime potion. And while slimes were not the hardest enemies to fight, he still complimented you on your form and appreciated your quick style with the sword.

You had a unique style, unlike Kaeya or anyone else of this world.

“Elegant, but deadly.”

You took that as a compliment.

And little by little Diluc opened up to you, cluing you into his personal history. 

He and Kaeya were step-brothers, growing up together at the Dawn Winery. How he knew Jean since he was child and once served as her superior in the very organization he now despised. How he still has things to protect, to avenge. And while his description about what happened to his father was nothing more than a quiet stare, you were still grateful that he was entrusting you into his world.

You remembered Kaeya’s words as he discovered Diluc’s nighttime secret:

“I’m glad you’re working with an assistant.”

Kaeya’s tone may have come out scathing, but you knew better. Kaeya and Diluc used to be close, close enough to entrust their lives with one another. There was no doubt that Kaeya still cared about his brother, but with Diluc pushing everyone away….

Again, you were so appreciative that he chose to let you in.

When Kaeya finally left the bar, you turned to Diluc with a smile. “I think my work tonight earned me at least one glass of wine?”

That broke a small smile on his face, not the slight tilt on the sides or the wistful, far off look he got when he recalled something beyond your knowledge.

“Alright.” He waved over a nearby waitress, all of the customers tonight employees of the Dawn Winery. “Let’s take this up to the balcony, I’m going to close up anyway.”

“Oh?” Paimon’s squeaky tone somehow went up another octave in curiosity, “I just remembered I have to ask Venti something! Why don’t you two enjoy your date alone.”

She flew away before you could swat at her for her teasing words, blush apparent on your face. Diluc kept his flat face as he maneuvered things behind the bar, wiping at something before putting something in the below cabinet. 

To your surprise, he handed you a bottle and two glasses, motioning with his head toward the second floor. Charles was among some of the ‘customers’ tonight, taking his usual spot behind the bar as Diluc stepped out.

You followed him wordlessly, walking up the steps and out the second-floor door closely behind him. He pulled out a wooden chair next to the table outside, you taking the seat underneath the stars as he plopped down alongside you.

“I thought the stars here in the city would get overcrowded by the lights.” You admitted, “But they’re beautiful even here.”

“Yeah, they are.” Diluc agreed, making you smile before turning to him.

“You’re not even looking at the stars.”

The pyro-user simply smirked, before looking up at the starry sky with you. You relished in the moment, glad to have some time alone with Diluc. Many had commented that the winery owner was so elusive, missing from the bar weeks at a time and unseen within the city walls. And yet here he was, enjoying the crisp air and a glass of wine with you.

“Thank you.” You started.

“Shouldn’t you be demanding thanks from me?” Diluc asked.

You laughed lightly, “Yeah, cause I’m sure that the abyss mage would have totally kicked your ass without me.”

Diluc had that slightly amused expression on, looking a bit more light-hearted as he turned to you with a slight tilt at the corner of his lips.

You continued, “I mean, thanks for entrusting me with your secret.”

Diluc paused, looking you straight in the eyes, probably to gauge your honesty. And he would concede that there was nothing else there. You wanted to be his friend, the first in a long time to have approached him without your own agenda regarding either the winery or his fortune.

In return, he poured you a glass of wine and replied, “You’ve long earned it.”

“Thank you, Diluc.” You took the glass and felt your heart flutter at the brush of his fingers. “I’m glad I got to know you.”

“I’m glad you’re in my life too.”

He shot you another one of his genuine, millisecond smiles before pouring some from the bottle for himself. 

“Wine and not grape juice today?”

But he did not answer, instead eyes latching onto the rise of goosebumps on your arms. You could not help it against the crisp Mondstadt air, naturally feeling a chill at this time of night. Without a word, he shrugged off his outer coat, the thick black one he wore at almost all times of day, and rested it casually on your shoulders.

You muttered a small thanks as you snuggled into it. Diluc’s iconic dark coat, a complete contrast to yourself. While you wore a white dress with open sleeves and plenty of skin, Diluc wore black covering most of his body with the exception of his neck and face. Seeing it on your shoulders only reminded you of that fact.

“Don’t need you getting sick anytime soon.” Diluc stated plainly, as he returned to his seat.

You huddled into it more and replied, “Aw, Diluc cares.” Again, you were rewarded with another flat expression. “Or rather, if the events of today are to show anything, you’ve always cared. Just in your own, protective way.”

He slung an arm across the back of your seat, leaning closer before stating in a low voice. “Don’t forget that.”

Your eyes snapped to his, the both of you basically sharing the same breath in your close proximity. His scarlet eyes, usually a searing color when on the battlefield, looked surprisingly tender only inches from yours.

“You mean so much to me, Diluc.” You whispered back, afraid that anything above a whisper would punctuate this amorous atmosphere.

He slowly dragged his face alongside yours, stopping beside your ear and continuing in his low voice. “So do you.”

There was no stopping the shiver of anticipation that crawled up your spine.

You could feel the small smirk grow against your skin before he pulled off and grazed his lips against your forehead.

The expression on your face was practically begging him to kiss you. From the small lean in your side against his arm slung around you to the way your eyes slowly fluttered closed, it took all of his self-control to stop himself before he pulled you closer. He wanted nothing more than to grasp you by the back of your neck, relish in the way you melt against him. To kiss you now and tomorrow and maybe even the morning after at the winery.

Diluc had to remind himself that in less than a week you were going to be long gone.

He did not want to ruin this memory a week from now, asking what if and why. And so he settled on a simple kiss above your brow before leaning back in his seat, enjoying the moment he had with you tonight.

You were disappointed, but actually not surprised. It was a feat in itself that you were so close to Diluc in this short amount of time, it would do no good in pressuring him into anything else. But also, another more rational part of you, had to remind yourself that getting attached to the people of this world would only make it hurt more when you had to return home.

This was for the better.

But no matter how much rational thought Diluc used to push you away, you were sure that you had already fallen for him. From the small interactions with Diluc, you could barely recognize the moment that you were completely enamored with him. It was not during the first time you saw him fight or even the night he leant you his jacket. No, you feared it was much before then.

To think you had gotten attached to Diluc in such a short amount of time.

But then you had to say goodbye.

“Safe travels.” Diluc stated from behind the bar when he saw you enter on your last day.

You were not sure what you expected, a drawn out goodbye or a fore longed hug, but Diluc was still, well. He was still Diluc. And to see him re-erecting his walls before you left for your journey was a sad thought, but needed while the two of you were hundreds of miles away from one another.

But you would regret it if you didn’t say anything.

Instead you settled on, “I’ll miss you.”

The hopeful look in your eyes spelled out exactly what you wanted to hear back.

Diluc instead replied, “You fight good.”

“Oh. Um.” The hesitation was clear in your voice.

Was this really how you were going to leave things?

But with Diluc turning his attention back to the wine glass he was previously wiping, yes. It seemed that this was exactly how he wanted to leave it. Paimon scoffed, but said her own goodbyes before flying away.

“Goodbye, Diluc.”

Outside the tavern, you let your frown grow at that interaction. After everything you had been through together, Diluc complimented you on your fighting? Then said peace out?

“That was really lame.” Paimon commented aloud as she floated alongside you. You could not help but internally agree, but you had a whole journey ahead of you. At least the busyness of Liyue would keep you busy from dwelling on that conversation.

But as you said goodbye to Venti, the both of you stood in silence under the giant tree staring at the city. You thought about going back three times, to get a proper goodbye out of Diluc. But doing so would do neither of you any good, since it would only open more issues.

“No more questions about the other Archons?” Venti asked, voice surprisingly serious.

“Can’t think of anything.”

“None even of a certain… winery owner?” You could almost hear the smile in his voice.

You rolled your eyes and responded, “You’re such a little shit.”

“Hehe.”

You both continued to stare at the city, the marvels of its people and history within its high walls. To think Barbatos and Dvalin were finally free, because of your otherworldly intervention. Venti was truly thankful for you, and while he knew his words were on the more mischievous side, he knew that you understood.

Venti’s voice permeated the air. “Be safe in Liyue.”

You smiled back and offered him a tight hug, replying. “As always.”

To think that the same day that you stepped into Liyue, Rex Lapis was murdered before your very eyes. It was like the Gods actually hated you, having to rely on a Fatui to run away from the government officials hot on your trail.

Since then you had been working with Zhongli to prepare for a parting ceremony. From running around for certain types of Jade materials to singing to flowers, you were happy to take a second to yourself at all. You were afraid that trouncing around Liyue with a bounty on your head would do you no good and often stayed in the wild areas. Visits to the city were for necessities only, which often left you relying on the ever so truthful Childe or the mora-averse Zhongli.

More than three months after your initial departure to Liyue, you stepped back into the walls of Mondstadt’s bustling city, a commission nearby and you figured you were safe simply due to your reputation under the Knights of Favonius.

Venti was the last face you saw and the first face that greeted you, beckoning to join him for lunch. With your final commission of the day finished, you joined him with a smile and ordered some honey roasted ham.

You recounted some of the news to Venti, meeting many of the adeptus and how out of touch they seemed with the region. You described Zhongli from the funeral parlor who always felt like he knew more and played a higher part in Liyue (and you inwardly noted how Venti’s eyes lit up in recognition at the name). And also, Childe the Fatui Harbinger that had you on edge. 

“You’re hanging out with a harbinger?” Venti asked.

“Uh oh.” Paimon reacted.

“Well.” You remembered your last encounter with Signora. “It’s complicated.”

Venti paused before sighing, “Is he cute?”

“That’s not why!” You huffed back instantly.

“So he is cute!”

“And rich!” Paimon added, joining in on the teasing.

“Not the issue here.” You stated, “He saved me from the Millelith and helped me get into contact with the adepti.”

Venti’s mischievous smile from the earlier teasing turned blank, as if he was fully ingesting your words. “... Why would he do that?”

“Huh?”

But Venti quickly recovered, waving away the question and urging you to move past it. “Just thinking out loud, continue. What happened after?”

And so you recalled everything from then. How the soldiers followed you all the way up the mountain and how you had to defend yourself from people that were supposed to be on the same side as you. 

How there was someone out there with the strength to take down a God.

Venti laughed at you for like, twenty minutes.

After his laughter subsided, he held a hand over his stomach and asked. “They think you killed Rex Lapis?”

He took another look at your pouting face and laughed again.

It only made you scowl further. “I’m glad you think my supposed war crimes are so funny.”

“I think I’m missing the punchline again.” Paimon added.

“Hehe. You’ll be fine.” Venti shot back his mischievous smile, “Besides, I’m sure you’re looking forward to laying low here with a certain… someone here.”

You paused and put your fork back down, “What are you trying to say?”

“Well, the Dawn Winery is throwing a festival tonight.” Venti stated clearly, “Isn’t that why you’re here?”

“Wait, really?”

The mischievous light was back in Venti’s eyes, “I’m sure the winds of fate have brought you here purely on coincidence.”

You sighed and turned to him fully. “You trying to fight, old man?”

“Hehe.” His signature giggle, one you found almost endearing, was undoubtedly mocking you. “We should go together later.”

And true to his word, somehow you found yourself with the Anemo Archon heading over to the bar. To think that it was Venti who introduced you here and now he was bringing you along again.

That is, if you even had a chance to make it inside at this rate.

The area was packed to the brim, all the seats outside in front and on the side of the building already taken. There was a line out the door, many hopeful young women with gleaming eyes trying to get a one-on-one conversation with the current barkeep and owner.

You peered into the open door and saw Diluc and Charles behind the bar, the red-head adorned with his usual flat-expression. It was the first time in months since you had seen him, but he looked exactly as the day you had left. Still the same colored wardrobe and prickly atmosphere, Diluc was still, Diluc.

What did not help was the ever growing line of flirty men and women trying to vye for his attention.

It only seemed to further nail the pit in your stomach.

Was this… jealousy?

You didn’t dwell on the thought for long.

Instead, you considered for a single-second if you should just turn tail now, but Venti must have seen your hesitation and grabbed you by the arm to walk inside. Dozens of eyes followed you on the way in, many people recognizing you as the young hero of Mondstadt and honorary knight of Favonius.

The crowd was surprisingly less inside, but knowing Diluc he probably would have tried to corral everyone to the outdoor areas. Venti continued to lead you towards a table in the back and you saw a familiar red-bowed Outrider.

“I didn’t even know you were going to be here today!” She greeted you excitedly. 

“Tone-Deaf Bard here convinced us to stay the night.” Paimon replied.

“Oh?” Her voice lifted in a tone that only spelled trouble, “No matter, I’m glad to see you in one piece.”

“I’m assuming you’ve heard.”

Amber stretched in her seat and lowered her voice, smile turning to a smirk. “Well, I won’t confirm anything. But my suspicions are that the blonde person the Knights were pursuing for stealing the Holy Lyre may be the same blonde person running from the Millelith.”

“What a crazy theory.” Paimon responded as she cleared her throat.

“At least it’s just a theory, right?” Amber replied. “Anyway, we’ll hold the seats. Do you mind going up to the bar to order?”

Paimon chimed up as she floated down into the wooden seat, “Yeah, you should go.”

You barely had a second to object before Venti agreed and was motioning for you to go back to the bar. If not for their eager stares at you, you would have rolled your eyes at how obvious they were being.

“Fine, fine. I’m going.” You stated aloud, getting up from the seat you inhabited for at most ten minutes. 

Turning towards the bar, you took in a deep breath to collect your thoughts. To think you fought the Wolf of the North and Oceanid with more courage - it was just Diluc.

“Long time no see.” You greeted, trying to sound extremely casual. “Bottle of wine for one of your favorite people?”

Diluc looked at you for a quick second, then back down to the bar, then rapidly snapping back up to you in surprise. “Hey. Of course.”

Unsure what to say, you responded back with a simple, “Thank you.”

“Didn’t know you’d be in town today.”

“It was all coincidence. Venti told me about your event tonight.” You mentioned, motioning behind you to the table where the three of them were waiting. Amber waggled her eyebrows in response and you turned back to Diluc in embarrassment.

But he was looking at you the entire time. “For a war criminal, you look well.”

“Ugh, not you too.”

“Ironic how you delinquents always return here while hiding it out.” Diluc did not answer, instead openly teasing you.

Honestly, it was a little ironic that you and Venti ran here after stealing the Holy Lyre, just to end up back here while the Millelith were on the hunt for you.

Instead you replied, “They didn’t release any names.”

“Right, it’s probably some other sword-wielding blonde with white clothes and access to the Anemo vision.”

“Obviously.”

To think you were so involved in Teyvat's politics. An otherworldly being with no prior connections to the people or nations was somehow involved with the highest ranking people of every country you’ve stumbled into.

Everyone from the Dvalin team knew about your primary objectives: to find your brother and regain your full power through the seven Archons. And when news of Rex Lapis’ death reached Mondstadt, Diluc could almost physically feel the dread in his heart that something had happened to you. And when the Millelith released their man-hunt of your exact profile, there was no doubt that you were involved. 

To see you standing before him, in association with an Archon of all people, it was like a breath of fresh air on his heart. You were here in the tavern, fine and even enjoying the night. 

A large part of him wanted to ask about your journey, what was it that had you on the run again? But with the growing line out the door, he knew he barely had time to keep this conversation going.

So instead, Diluc grabbed glasses and a bottle of wine from beneath the bar and asked, “Spare a few minutes for me later?”

You nodded quietly, handing him the necessary Mora before returning back to the table.

Amber did not pull her punches, “So, you guys dating yet?”

You almost dropped the bottle, but Venti was quick even through his laughter.

“Yeah and I’m the Archon of Snezhnaya.” Paimon replied sarcastically.

“Shut up.” You pouted, “It was just nice to see each other after all this time.”

“Oh so you had a good conversation? Did he ask you to stay after? Are you going to stay the night? Did he offer for you to stay at the Dawn Winery?” Amber spit out question after question, not a sense of patience or tact in her words.

Venti was still laughing like the Archon of assholes he was.

While they prodded through their multiple questions, you tried to wave them away to another conversation topic. If Amber was prodding you like this, you could only imagine that the other Knights, such as Kaeya and Jean, were also aware of your strange relationship.

Amber tried to push it a bit more, but you were able to spin the conversation to ask what the others were up to. It was interesting to hear about the little tasks in Mondstadt, small commissions that the Knights take care of in the city as well as guarding the areas further out into the country.

And while you hated to drift off with them sitting right in front of you, your mind often wandered toward the red-head behind the bar. Diluc had personally asked you to stay back later, undoubtedly to speak to you about something one-on-one. Would it be cowardly if you left early? Would the others notice if you tried to make a break for it at one point?

Again, it seemed as if Venti was capable of reading your mind, lightly calling you to attention and putting a casual hand on the back of your chair.

He was not letting you get away from this.

Venti even shifted the conversation to you, asking about Liyue and the local adventures you had while in the city. Unable to ignore the direct questions, you told them about the stories of the people you met so far and the strange events you seemed to be dragged into.

“Wait, start over.” Amber cut into your most recent story about a ship just outside of the Liyue city. ”You just glided down onto the Pearl Galley?”

You paused then replied, “Well. I mean the ship was just sitting there outside the harbor and I was curious.”

“And so you boarded a luxury ship without an invitation?”

“Yeah, so?” Paimon answered with a question, genuinely confused.

“And yet you wonder how you keep getting involved in all these crazy schemes.” Amber answered ambiguously.

“Well, eventually I did get an invitation.”

“But after you were already on the ship.” Amber pointed out. “How did you even glide that far out?”

“I climbed to the top of the nearby mountain and then just dropped down.”

“Wow.”

“Is it really a surprise?” Venti commented, “She doesn’t even follow the proper stairs here in the city. Don’t think we don’t see you climbing over every wall here in Mondstadt.”

“You’re such a weirdo.” Amber sighed with a smile, “You’re lucky we love you so much.”

You continued on with your stories, some in the city and others within hidden temples deep in the wilderness, puzzles and timed traps masking treasures you sought to find. Amber and Venti listened on in rapt attention, asking questions here and there and even teasing you about your constant climbing.

You hadn’t even noticed how the bar patrons were starting to slowly thin out.

The night with Venti and Amber was such a refreshing feeling compared to the nights you spent staring up silently at the night sky, only Paimon at your side. It was nice to hear and speak to other people, to not be on the run and always looking over your shoulder.

Feeling a light tap on the side, you turned to see Diluc standing at attention.

“Hey.” He greeted you again.

“We were just on our way out!” Amber exclaimed, standing instantly with Venti not far behind her. “Mondstadt’s star Outrider has to be up bright and early tomorrow.”

“Which is why you’re both leaving…?” You asked.

“It’s my duty to ensure the safety of the city and we said we were going to discuss something.” Venti answered ambiguously.

You crossed your arms, “Discuss what?”

“The— !” Amber paused, “The thing. You know, with the stuff at the Seven Winds Temple.”

“Right! Let’s get going.” Venti turned to Paimon at the last second, “I think this will interest you.”

Paimon winked at you before turning to Diluc, ”Right, the stuff!”

Diluc motioned you to follow him and so, once again, you found yourself following behind the Pyro-user out the second-floor balcony. However, instead of sitting at the table, you learned against the railing while Diluc stood to the side.

“Wasn't expecting you to be gone for so long.” Diluc started with a flat voice.

You turned to him with a slight grimace. “I’m sorry, I ended up getting caught in something important back in Liyue.”

More important than him.

The implication was quiet in the back of Diluc’s mind.

But that would always be the case. To think that the first person in years to open up his shell was someone who could only be in his life temporarily. You intrigued him to the high heavens - the strange mix of both pride and humility as you fought and carried yourself. You were strong, but merciful. Kind, but a purveyor of your own brand of justice.

It had been a while since he met someone with such genuine reservations as you.

But your time together was already ticking down, from your time in Mondstadt to your time in his world. You were looking for your brother and who knew if he was even in Tyvat currently? It would be unfair to be bitter towards you. And so he resolved long ago to simply cherish the moments you had together.

So instead of snapping back, Diluc teased you.

“I’m sure. I’ve heard of your extensive… wanted days.”

You sighed aloud, “How did the news travel here so fast?”

Diluc smirked, “First Barbatos and now Rex Lapis? What kind of luck do you have?”

“The worst kind.”

Of course, there was something he wanted to learn more about. After he had caught wind from Katheryn in Liyue, Diluc still wanted to be informed about your current situation. To think that you were in close association with one of the high Fatui Harbingers after Signora personally attacked you, it was almost like you were openly inviting trouble.

It also did not help that many of the gossip mills included how attractive this particular Fatui was.

He goes by the alias of ‘Childe.’ Young, but deadly!

A Fatui, but doesn’t wear his mask - for good reason! He’s quite the looker.

I wouldn’t mind if he impaled me somewhere. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Needless to say, his sources did not alleviate his worries.

Of all people? A Fatui was one of your close associates in Liyue? A party of him wanted to snarl, the thought a worse downgrade from the Knights of Favonius. At least he knew Kaeya would do you no harm; he doubted the same could be said about Childe.

Archons, why did he care so much?

Diluc told himself multiple times that your abrupt parting was necessary to keep himself from getting too attached to you. But it hardly mattered when he was worrying this much anyway in spite of that.

Fuck, why did he just let you walk away like that?

Diluc was not going to make the same mistake.

He turned to you and asked, “Like the Fatui kind?”

You sighed, “Believe me, I don’t like it either.”

“And yet somehow here we are.”

“It’s complicated, okay?”

“When is it not with you?” Diluc asked, more hypothetically. And while from anyone else, it may have felt offensive, you could tell from his tone that it was just a tired sigh.

“Tell me about your journey.” He continued.

“What?” You answered with a question, genuinely surprised. “It’s a long story, not all that interesting.”

Diluc took a step forward, taking the spot next to you against the rail as your shoulders touched. “I want to hear it from you.”

You couldn’t help but smile, “Okay.”

And so you recounted your journey to find the Geo Archon, how the adepti set up strange puzzles and at some point you swore you were pulled into a teacup that somehow contained a full domain.

There were also other missions on the side, other things you would do to collect Mora or materials if you were going to get any stronger. Some of them made sense — doing deliveries, clearing abyss camps, and other mercenary like duties. Other instances, not so much.

“Only you would accept a commission from a ghost.” Diluc teased as you recounted the treasure in the mines.

“In my defense, I didn’t think he was a ghost at first.”

“Right. Nothing suspicious at all about a transparent old man in the middle of an abandoned village.”

“I was reading the poster he was showing!”

“And when did you realize he was a ghost?”

“... After I met three other ghosts.”

Diluc cracked a smile at that, only making you pout more. You had adjusted your postures overtime, standing against with rails to your backs as you faced the tavern.

“He paid me good Mora!” 

“How…?” Diluc thought about it before waving it off, “Forget it. I don’t want to know.”

You laughed back before you saw the lights inside the tavern switch off, complete darkness in the windows as the remaining employees packed up and went home. 

“Oh wow, I hadn’t even realized how long we were out here.” You admitted, “I’m sorry I took up so much of your time.”

“Don’t apologize. I wanted to spend this time with you.”

“Still, it’s already late.”

“You’re right. Where were you and Paimon going to spend the night?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.” You admitted, “Venti convinced us to stay, but I don’t even know where he is.”

Diluc pushed off the railing to stand facing you, “You could stay the night at the winery. We can retrieve Paimon tomorrow.”

What game was he playing? Your disappointing departure with Diluc cutting you off and now he was asking for your time and space back into his life? You hated that he pushed you away just to pull you back in at his convenience. And while you understood his personality tended to keep people at a distance, you had your own limits as to what you could withstand. 

“... Diluc, what are you doing?”

“You’ll have to be more clear.”

You closed your eyes, trying to gather your thoughts and hamper down on your rising temper. “Come on, why are you being so nice to me?”

He stared at you expectedly, blank eyes urging you to continue.

It only served to make you more angry.

“Diluc, when I left you hardly blinked. And now that I’m here, after months of us not talking, you want me to spend the night?”

“I told you before how much you meant to Mondstadt.”

To Mondstadt? Not even to himself personally? 

You decided it was better to confront him cleanly asking, “Why didn’t you kiss me that night we were drinking here?”

Diluc paused, not a single hint of surprise on his face as you addressed the situation head-on. “Why should I have?”

“Don’t act like you didn’t feel it. There was something between us.” You scoffed.

He noticed your use of past tense.

“Does it honestly matter? You would’ve left anyway, I saved us both the trouble.”

You visibly recoiled in response. “Is that what this is about? I have to go to Liyue and the other counties, Diluc. I have to find my brother.”

“I know that.” Diluc cut in, before you got the wrong idea. “You don’t think I’m acutely aware of that fact? The fact that this is my home and not yours. That one day you’ll find your brother and I’ll never see you again?”

“Wait.”

“Believe me, I know better than anyone that you’re off to find your brother. And I’ll help you in any way that I can.” Diluc continued, not heeding your confused attempts to stop him. “But let’s not pretend like I was anything more than a stepping stone in your journey.”

“That’s not true!”

“Oh?” Diluc’s tone was almost challenging,  “It’s not? So once the dust is settled, if I asked you to stay here with me, would I be enough?”

You stuttered over your words, “I --”

“I don’t want to hear your excuse because we both know the answer.” He cut you off, “I was trying to save myself from that before it happened.”

“Will you let me speak, you idiot!?” Your voice cut through the silent evening air.

Diluc paused, standing a good ten feet away from you and looking angrier than you’d ever seen. But he did, thankfully, stop talking.

“Is it crazy to think that I feel the same way about you?”

“What?”

“Diluc, I’m just me!” You answered, “I have nothing to my name but an objective to find my brother — if he’s even alive at this point. I need to try and I need to continue on this path…”

He crossed his arms, but stayed quiet as he listened. 

“But just because I have so much ahead of me, that doesn’t I don’t care about where I’ve already seen.” You took a few steps toward Diluc as you spoke, “You mean so much to me and I wouldn’t ever want to throw that away.”

“You won’t have a choice if you have to leave this world.”

“If!” You pointed out, “Diluc you’re so worried about the future, about me walking away from you forever, but it doesn’t have to be this way.”

“And suddenly there’s an alternative?”

“There’s always been one, you idiot! You just never bothered to actually talk to me.” You put your hands on his chest, the light material of his dark clothes underneath your palms. “I would’ve tried. If you asked me to make this work, to come back to you at the winery back then, I would’ve done it.”

Diluc closed his eyes, taking in your words as his hands snaked down to your wrists.

“Don’t give me empty promises.”

“I mean it!” You defended, “You aren’t just another person, Diluc. I—“

He opened his eyes then, reflecting back to you as hopeful and curious. “You…?”

“I care about you more than you know.” You settled on, still unsure about the extent of your feelings. “Why are you giving up on us before even starting?”

You stared right back at Diluc, his silence paramount to the inner turmoil you were sure he was going through. From his late father to the betrayal from the Knights, there were plenty of reasons why Diluc was so hesitant to connect with other people.

But you’d be damned if you didn’t try.

Your hands felt heavy against his chest. Despite your small demeanor and even smaller palms, the weight of your hands seemed to play seesaw between his heart and mind. He had logical reasons to keep you at a distance, but here you were trying to carve your way through back to him.

It had been a long time since he cared about anyone like this. And Diluc could not even recall the last time he wanted to sorely kiss someone at all. But how could he not want to now? You stared up at him, eyes blazing with determination as you tried to convey your feelings.

“You mean so much to me.” Diluc stated after a few silent minutes, “Let’s make this work.”

The smile you shot him was wide and radiant, a private blessing that only he was gifted tonight. He wrapped his arms around your waist, eager to feel more of you — to envelop you in his arms and keep you within them tonight. 

One hand strayed upward, carding itself in your hair and pulling you closer until both your eyes fluttered closed. The soft skin of your lips slotted against his, an endearing frenzy to give one another tender pecks. You could not help the happy mewl that escaped your lips as Diluc licked against the crease of your skin.

Moaning aloud to his tender touch, Diluc was eager to explore every inch of your wet cavern. There was no battle of tongues, simply moving in tandem as Diluc dominated the kiss. You tried to maneuver to give him more access, but with your height difference it was the best you could do.

Diluc lifted one of your legs, wrapping it around his waist and lightly tapping the other to do the same. Eyes clouded with lust, you did as instructed and quickly felt the soft thump behind you, the wall of the tavern helping hold you upright.

You fell more and more into the passionate lip lock, pushing to match his intensity as Diluc connected you in one of the most intimate ways possible. One hand was still in your hair while the other continued its scandalized trail downward.

You prayed to Barbatos that nobody heard you outside the tavern.

The both of you would later attribute this impassioned frenzy due to the prolonged time apart and mutual pining (culminating in a mistake outside on the balcony, twice inside the bar, and the rest of the night back at the winery).

For the first time, you enjoyed the morning sun streaming in through the windows, a lazy arm strung across your waist as you snuggled in the chest of the man you were growing to love.

Diluc woke long before you, hand threading through your hair silently as he resolved to remember this moment. You kissed at the naked skin of his chest twice before nuzzling him, feeling the light arm pull you closer.

“Good morning.” You started, voice muffled against his skin.

But you would have never expected Diluc to be so affectionate.

He kissed the top of your head, murmuring in a low tone. “Good morning, my love.”

Nothing about your relationship was perfect. You still fought and cried like every other couple. But you both knew that what you had was real, willing to fight for it no matter the obstacles that came with the future.

It did not matter that Tyvat was not your home.

Wherever Diluc was, that was where you’d return.

---xXxXxXxXxXx---

Extra: “What if they end up fighting?” Amber asked the other two as they walked down a side-street of the city.

“Then we’ll find out the moment it breaks out. Trust me.” Paimon replied. After all, your Anemo power would only serve to make any fire larger.

“They’ve both been in that pining puppy phase for so long, I doubt it’ll come down to that.” Venti added.

“500 Mora says they’ll be dating by the end of this week.” Amber bet.

“1,000 that they’ll be together by tonight!” Paimon countered.

“10,000 that they’ll be joined in every way by tonight.” Venti added, the mischievous tone not missed by either woman.

“You tone-deaf bard!” Paimon exclaimed as she slapped her hands over her red cheeks. “The traveler is more dignified than that!”

Amber had a hand on her chin, “Dating? Probably. But more than that…?”

Venti held out a hand to both, vying for both to shake one and accept the bet.

Nothing, but a couple of suckers. 

Amber grumbled once when she heard the news, but otherwise excitedly congratulated you two on finally accepting your feelings. Paimon’s whine could probably be heard in a fifteen mile radius and Venti’s proud smile didn’t help either — accepting the easiest twenty thousand Mora he ever made. 

And, just to gode the tiny guide a little more, Venti turned to Paimon in the middle of her complaining rant. 

“Hehe.”

---xXxXxXxXxXx---

A/N:

The festival idea comes from Diluc’s story 1: “The winery holds festivities from time to time. These events are routinely attended by enthusiastic fathers, eager to introduce their wonderful daughters to the young and single winery master.”

[dungeonaspects]

Human College of Spirits Bard

"Stories are but ghosts of the past, why not let the ghosts tell it themselves?"

Growing up around the dead was fascinating and filled with so many souls trying to tell their stories it was difficult to catch up on sleep. This young man was the son of an undertaker, stoic and stern, his father would treat the bodies with clinical disinterest, fulfilling his obligation and nothing more. Yet the boy could hear the whispers of the dead, just faint noises during the day, but at night they came alive (so to speak).

The boy would sleep in the mortuary, much to the fathers distaste, but it made sure the boy was never late to work so what did he care? By day the boy would help embalm the dead, treating each one with the same methodical process as his father, but at night he would let the spirits reach out to him filling him with the wisdom of long lives and use him as an outlet for their sorrow.

On days where a grand funeral took place the boy would walk the funeral march with his father, playing the viol in a lament that touched the hearts of those they passed. Unknown to them however within the viol, tucked within the body, was a single crimson bloodstone, dipped in the blood of the one they guided to the cemetery. The boy would let the feelings of the dead out, projecting the true sense of loss the dead felt over the procession and their loved ones.

As the boy grew older his connection to the dead intensified, some souls even choosing to stay with him as years went by, wishing to help the boy that brought them peace just after their end. His father however had become a drunk, often leaving the work to the boy alone, other times doing such a poor job in his stupor that the boy had to stay up all night to correct it.

This continued for years, the boy finding solace in the stories of the dead, using the bloodstone to channel the spirits through his battered viol. The father growing more distant and cruel until he began beating the young man in his care.

One day the young man challenged his father, sick of the abuse at his hand, this enraged the old man who went to club the boy with the bottle in his hand, the boy clutched at the bloodstone in his pocket. A spirit intervened, it possessed the boy, guiding his body in quick motions to protect the child they cared for so much. The spectral strength combined with the sudden burst of vitality the spirit drove the boys hand through his fathers chest.

Once the spirit left his body the boy collapsed, dazed and confused. He wept over his father and cursed at the spirit who had killed his dad, with that the spirit, hurt, shocked, and most terribly cursed, began to shift. The kindly spirit that had told the boy fond stories warped under his words, his power over the dead changing the ghost into something far more malicious.

So the boy ran, he ran into the town like an imp out of hell, pursued by the spirit he cursed. As the spectre closed in, its clawed hands reaching for the back of the young mans neck it screamed, the sun struck it, casting it back into the darkness.

The boy had no time to stop, no time to think, he ran off into the world with nothing but the clothes on his back and the bloodstone in his pocket. Now the boy has become a man, he scraped by those early years, starving in gutters, begging on street corners. He travels now, telling tales and doing odd jobs.

He still listens to spirits, talking to them to help them in their most dour moments, but truly he speaks to them for news and warning. They can see the darkness that follows him, still so many many miles away, it follows in the darkest of nights. He waits for the day he must face the spectre of his own creation, but he is not ready yet, the sense of dread only intensifying over the years.

Some Ideas

I feel like this character can be played in so many ways, he checks a lot of edgelord boxes, but also has potential to be fun. He could be the life of a party, telling tall tales, playing his viol, even dancing a jig from ages past.

I would love to see him as this ray of sunshine, playing off as a regular bard beguiling and charming all around him, but in dark moments he can see the remnants of the living. Maybe an Addams family setup? How he's a swashbuckling fun loving (if morbid) man who values family and friends because he has dwelt with the dead.

However you play him is right, just make sure you're having fun too :)

Art by Yrno-Yrno

The character is beautiful, his face is very handsome but also the lighting and background is fantastic. The dark and foreboding setting, the magic light emanating from him, but he has a kind face. I really love it, thank you.

https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/014/710/910/large/yrno-yrno-05.jpg?1545129202=

[chemicalbrew]

Simon Blackquill >:)

oh god this got so long so fast. under the cut it goes

First impression

Why are they letting a prisoner serve in the court. Bro, wait, he's kinda hot. Those bags under his eyes, holy shit...

And then he goes like

……………Hmph. ……Enough jabbering. Get on with it, already. ……Must we continue to fritter away time like this? An opening statement… would be pointless.

Look at those sweet, sweet ellipses. Truly, he is the edgelord of Ace Attorney 🖤 I think what I remember the most was just being really excited to hear his speech bubbles. And then WOAH, he has a completely unique one of his own in addition to the objection!! Damn...

Not to mention, he calls the judge His Baldness and it's still funny to me. King shit 👑

Bravo, Your Baldness. Your years of experience shine bright like your head.

Impression now

Is he the best prosecutor in the series? No. It's factually impossible to top Edgeworth, who literally has two spinoffs to himself that I consider to be better than most mainline games (aside from aa3, because that game is a banger). And of course, Miles has some of the most remarkable character development in the main games, too. You can't not at least appreciate the guy, and Simon just can't top that.

The change in writing teams (and the stupid no-spoiler policy that supposedly exists when it really should not) was pretty damn harmful to aa5-6 as a whole, and is obviously part of the reason for my answer as well (even if it in part led to Simon's existence, since he is almost completely disconnected from og trilogy events)... not only did it make the whole air of the games feel off, it also led to huge disconnects between 5 and 6 on their own.

As a very recent (to me) example, a common criticism against my latest favorite case (6-4, that I just finished a few days ago and then my friend did a celebratory art spam for me, heheeh) is that it ends up ignoring the obvious development Athena went through (both on her own and in relation to Simon) in aa5. And, like. Even though I did just say I love the case (enough to consider it ~top 2-3 cases in the series), and Simon+Athena (more on them later, I guess) are my favorite parts of it... I have nothing to really say against this criticism.

I understand that Athena's newfound power and confidence from the end of aa5 needed to be sacrificed in some way to show the delicious mentor \ student+found family dynamics (after all, what is there to teach someone who's already found her footing?), but I also can't deny that the erasure of the character's past accomplishments and developments was quite extreme. The funny thing is, I think reverting Athena's knowledge\confidence levels could serve as a great way to show the kind of threat the new prosecutor (Nahyuta. The ourple one.) presents, but... by now he's been around for three whole cases (counting 6-4) already, and even then, Yuty's writing, imo, is much weaker than Simon's ever was in the 5th game (because they didn't overtly rely on catchphrases while writing Simon, smhhh).

As for the point of this whole ramble... Simon physically can't be the best prosecutor, because, unfortunately, neither games he stars in had writers that could get their shit 100% together. There we go.

But... is he my favorite prosecutor in the series? yes, unless whoever stars in Great Ace Attorney manages to impress me even more. I know a lot of it is recency bias (I'm pretty sure I beat the original trilogy sometime in 2019-20, then I beat aa4 last year, but I only just met Simon in aa5-6 this year), but I'm going to be honest. You can't not appreciate Edgeworth, as I said, but for me, I think, most of the time appreciation is as far as it went with him. Now that I think about it, it might be part of how I prefer latching onto characters with clear gaps and flaws (flashes neon arrow signs at Simon and Nahyuta) more than well-written obvious fan favorites?? But yeah, either way, Edgeworth is cool and all, but not even while playing his games did I feel anything blorbo-esque towards him.

Meanwhile Simon, the motherfucker that he is, wormed his way into my blorbo storage room entirely too fast. There's something about his design, based entirely around black and white while still having just enough intricate details, that just stuck with me (it even serves Taka well, cause his brown feathers stand out even more in such an arrangement!). And then there's his theme (that bass, dude...) and voice (still mad we apparently don't know who did the work. Whoever it was, they did so well...) Not to mention, the way he words things... simultaneously somewhat flowery and most of the time efficient and straightforward... yeah, maybe there's a reason he had me that quickly, ngl.

Favorite moment

Ohhh, time to break into my phone's screenshot folder!!

^ just general one-off noteworthy stuff I managed to dig up. I dunno, his particular flavor of Jerkish Prosecution is so enjoyable to me, like I said🖤 Especially combined with the voice impression his speech bubbles give off... 'I relish the chance to cut down a great man' like, SIR???

^ actual three favorite moments. The first is important foreshadowing (knowing it's himself he talks about is so 🥺... Of course, he's not going to make it easy, because he convinced himself the suffering was deserved...).

The second is simultaneously ridiculously funny and a memorable power move (he really said 'Just walk out! You can leave! Even if you're convicted!'), while also being very much justified, since what he's responding to is almost useless testimony from an arrogant kid who thinks he's a genius because he gets straight As. You really can't fault Simon for having had it with all that shit 🖤

And the third... well, it's honestly nothing much, but it's memorable to me anyway, because a) HE HAS A POINT and b) it reminds me of Robin... one of blorbos ever... also every chance I can take to see a forward-facing sprite of him is A+

And these are just my favorite shots of him from the games themselves. It was always funny to me seeing the bright confetti from the not guilty verdicts over his plain ass grumpy face, and that last shot from 6-4 had no right to make him look so good, smh.

Idea for a story

I think basically everything pertaining to him could make for a nice story in the right hands.

Were all these stories he was telling about his fellow inmates real? How much more ridiculous could you make them, given this is AA we are talking about? Did he get to meet characters that were given guilty verdicts and imprisoned in previous games?

Literally everything with him and Athena. I don't know, just plop them into a room together and study them like bugs! Mentor+student? Parental figure+a young girl finding her place in the world? Exploring a feedback loop from her mom trying to help her with psychology and science and Simon being inspired to pick it all up for similar reasons? Stubborn emotionally scarred man who operates by tough love+equally determined ball of sunshine? Boomer+zoomer? Flowery persuasiveness+honest and straight-to-the-point assistance? Yeah, they got all that going for them and more. It's fucking wonderful. Let me into the alternative universe that lets them have their own game PLEASE...

What\who exactly convinced him to adopt the ridiculous samurai\swordplay aesthetic? I mean, it works, but... what if he is secretly also a Steel Samurai fan or something? :p

In general, how did being told by Miles fucking Edgeworth that you're allowed and basically have to get back to work again to have a chance at basically anything in life feel? Must have been quite a day, huh?

And then, of course, how did he end up adjusting to having freedom again, having all but convinced himself that cold prison cells were his lot in life? At least his job didn't actually change, so... maybe he would plunge himself into work?

What kind of shenanigans did he let Taka get up to, and what misadventures did they have together when they first bonded? What about him having an interest in birds in general? Would he be... jealous of ornithologists?

Food - be it soba or something else. Is he a fancy connoisseur at heart or would he just take whatever he's given? How would he react to having to try something new - like, say, a burger from Nahyuta? lol

This is the obligatory 'ugh I love blackmadhi' bullet point, except I don't actually have anything coherent to say, I just think they work well when you rotate them in your mind together. Two souls from opposing cultures being equally fucked by law and yet working hard in their own ways for the sake for returning to the ideals of pursuing the truth, in the exact same position, but with wildly different and not fully compatible methods... YEAH...

What could be said about his relationship with Aura? And what exactly did he think of his sister's connection to Metis, with her being a mentor and just a presence in his life in general? At first glance, they're just siblings with their bond taken to the extreme and tested by unfortunate circumstances, but exploring that tragedy and what they had before then is what makes this dynamic interesting to me. I just like sad shit, I guess... And then there's this off-handed quip from Phoenix about them that's just way too funny:

(Robot abuse, hawk attacks... Blackquill family life must sure be interesting.)

Unpopular opinion

Unfortunately, since this is not Nahyuta we are talking about, I can't just 'haha, the unpopular opinion is that I actually like him' out of this one... I probably could, given that Simon's still getting called an edgelord (derogatory) straight out of deviantart in 2022, but that's cheap anyway...

Um... I guess I'll just restate what I was saying about 6-4 earlier: him having to be there to support Athena by itself is not a bad thing, it was just handled poorly in part because of the weaker writing and in part because of the baffling decision to try and focus this game on like five characters at the same time... they spread themselves too thin :(

The whole point of having characters go through games-long journeys in the series is that they never truly stop learning, not even when they're actually considered accomplished. This case was a great opportunity to show this again, but it wasn't used to its fullest potential.

Favorite relationship

As per the 'idea for a story' bullet: him and Athena as found family and naturally opposing personalities still being tightly united across time and space :D You just can't go wrong with what's basically chomp lite with a huge deal of devotion and perseverance (that cannot help but show itself through the rough words and treatment) on the side

^ literally the essence of what I love so much about their writing together. Just seeing 'yup!' and 'ye gods' next to each other is taking me out 🖤🧡

And him and Nahyuta just like. In general. Do you think two prosecutors can on purpose kiss... maybe...

Favorite headcanon

He was going to cut his hair again after being released, and the only reason he didn't was because Athena has too much fun playing with it\burying herself in his hair. She would also counter his propositions with 'but Siiimon it's so fluffy... 😭' every single time, and it was too powerful for him to handle. So, long hair it is.

[undertalethingems]

Hiya! Love the comic so far, Paps cleaning blasters is surprisingly fun to read.

Just wondering, what's your take on the relationship between Paps and Flowey?

Heheh, I think Papyrus can make just about anything fun just by virtue of being himself--but it also helps I didn't painstakingly draw every moment of him scrubbing soot and dirt out of the blasters' bones. But, stories need slow moments too--action all the time gets tiring for readers and artist alike, so it's good to break it up, and the bros need some time to relax before things pick back up again :>

anyway, as for your other point--it's interesting that papyrus and flowey are friends, isn't it? Flowey says it took him a long time to get bored of papyrus, and knowing flowey i feel like that really says something, you know? what's so unusual about papyrus that it could keep the resident jaded edgelord intrigued? was it that he did everything he could to break him, as portrayed in the infamous "Flowey is Not a Good Life Coach", or did he hang on to Papyrus' belief in him, hoping maybe he wasn't truly soulless? Does it reflect how odd Papyrus is compared to the other characters? And Flowey pretends to not like him, but he clearly does if the Winter alarm clock dialogue is anything to go by. So as much as Flowey may like to pretend not to, he clearly holds some kind of soft spot for Papyrus.

And as far as Papyrus' feelings about Flowey goes, well, it pretty much goes without saying that Papyrus is happy to make friends, and be a good friend for, anyone. I don't think he's unaware that Flowey can be... less than nice, but when has that ever stopped him from encouraging anyone from making the right choices?

There's a lot of ways you could take it, that's for sure; I tend to write it that Flowey finds Papyrus interesting at least partly because even he could never figure him all the way out, but there is a bit of actual fondness there too, even if Flowey won't admit it. At the very least, Flowey doesn't hate him--and maybe that's the best anyone can hope for. XD

[bungee-gum-b1tch]

Not sure how far you're into the lessons, but you know how there's that one story where the brothers kept 'discreetly' asking MC what they like so they can buy a present for the Diavolo's birthday/ MC's welcome party? How'd you think the brothers react if they answered "I wish for world peace... but I know that's impossible so I'm okay with just ice cream instead, or new art supplies could be good too!"

omg this is my first askkkk tysm!! i love this idea lmao and this was super fun to write. im still new to this so hope you like it! also sorry if the formatting is a bit weird, i’m still getting used to posting things like this so it might take a bit for me to figure out a good layout

Note: satan’s is more nerdy than i intended and beel’s is almost entirely about ice cream… hope u don’t mind😅

– – –

Warnings: none

– – –

Lucifer

congrats! you’ve officially managed to catch Lucifer off guard

it’s brief, but still

definitely has an “istg this human” moment

would probably seem like indifferent to your response at first since he would likely just shake his head but when you turn away there’s a hint of a fond smile on his lips

i’d be lying if i said it didn’t cross his mind to ask diavolo how his laws for maintaining peace in the devildom were holding up

when he gives you your gift the cocky little shit would be like “unfortunately i couldn’t find world peace when i was out shopping. i hope this suffices”

Mammon

“oi, human! i’m serious!” 

“so am i! i said ice cream would be a good alternative, didn’t i?”

ruffles your hair and just scoffs “what’d i do to get stuck with a smartass human like you, huh?”

like half an hour later lucifer catches him trying to sneak off to the human world cuz “it’s for mc i swear!!!!! they wanted human world ice cream!!!!!”

only avoided getting fed to cerberus cuz because he mentioned your name and that it was for you

accompanied to the human world by lucifer himself

probably asks lucifer “how hard do you think it would be to bring world peace to the human world”

at which point he is promptly dragged back to the devildom

Leviathan

are you trying to kill him?

shakes his head after a second and mutters to himself “stupid normie making normie jokes…” as if your “normie jokes” don’t have him blushing cuz omg mc is so cute and funny

babe knows he can’t actually get you world peace, so what’s the next best thing?

a manga about saving the world and establishing peace, obviously 

hands it to you blushing like crazy and 

the other one to go “i couldn’t get you world peace, so i hope this will make up for it…”

if ur a mha fan he’d probably get u something All Might related cuz symbol of peace and stuff 

i hc levi as a really good artist and i feel like he’s definitely made fanart of his favorite shows/manga so he’d latch onto that mention of art supplies and just run with it

Satan

ok listen

i don’t know how or why this occurred to me, but i’m going with it

for some reason i feel like this book nerd would mishear world peace as war and peace, so he’d immediately get a special human world copy

probably thought to himself “wow, i didn’t think mc would be interested in reading such a long book!”

when you finally explain the joke to him as you laugh, he’d definitely be blushing and would probably apologize profusely

would make it up to you by getting some books on art tho

if he did happen to hear you right, he’d shake his head and smile

finds some way to sneak to the human world and get you your fav ice cream cuz “screw lucifer it’s mc’s birthday and risking making lucifer angry is worth making mc happy”

spends a shit ton of money on akuzon buying books about art history and techniques to the point where, upon seeing the massive amount of money missing from his bank account, lucifer thinks mammon is responsible and satan has to physically stop him from feeding mammon to cerberus

Asmodeus

“if only i could be everywhere at once, seeing my beautiful face all the time is bound to bring peace to the world!”

*proceeds to go on a ten minute long tangent about how beautiful he is, debating whether his beauty would bring peace to the world or be too much for everyone to bear and cause chaos*

truly a tough decision

shockingly enough, he does in fact remember what you said about ice cream and art supplies even when he’s done with his rant

best he can do is ice cream scented bath bombs and some art supplies

...on the condition that you’ll use them to paint him

Beelzebub

did someone say ice cream?

would probably do a double take at first, but the mention of food would quickly push that to the side

istg it takes every ounce of lucifer’s power to stop him from stealing an entire ice cream truck from the human world for the party

lucifer finally caves and lets him go to the human world to get your favorite ice cream

expect a lot of barbatos’s finest ice cream at the party cuz if beel can’t get you world peace and ice cream is the next best thing, he’s gonna get you the best damn ice cream in the entire devildom

Belphegor

"really, human?”

this pessimistic little shit would probably just roll his eyes and shake his head

you’d probably hear a quiet snicker if you listen hard enough

but knowing him he’d refuse to admit a human made him laugh

ANYWAY

moving on from edgelord belphie he would def go to beel to ask where he could get the best ice cream in the devildom

if you ask beel where he got the ice cream beel would probably let slip that it was from belphie lmao

if he’s feeling snarky he’d probably give you your gift and joke like “i’d get you world peace but that isn’t really my thing. hope this works instead”

otherwise he’s just like “here take this ice cream thats definitely from beel and not at all from me. i absolutely did not sneak to the human world just to get this for you, what are you talking about human?”

babe likes to act like he doesn’t laugh at your jokes and like he doesn’t give a shit but he’s just as much of a simp as the others

[zv5x]

Please bestie.... could we get a yan!Nene x fem!reader for the nene simps in the da back like me 🥺

I sure can! Always happy to feed the simps >:3

Hope you enjoy this! And remember, requests are always open! Remember to take care of yourself today, anon! You're loved!

( :̲̅:̲̅:̲̅[̲̅:♡:]̲̅:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅)

The aching pain in your legs ate at your body and mind, and the sound of echoing giggles bouncing off each of the walls around you tormented you to no end. However, even with the relentless agony you were enduring, you knew just one thing - that to survive, you had to escape first. There was no way you could stay in an environment with such insanity, such madness, and still be able to consider yourself a living, functioning organism by the end of it. Your former schoolmate has already established herself as a vicious animal with murders under her belt that you have unfortunately seen with your very two eyes, and you promised yourself that you would do absolutely everything in your power to not be immortalized as the latest victim of her slasher-like, sporadic violence.

Since her earliest days of conscious life, Nene always considered herself a fan of things most individuals would consider "chaotic", and she expressed that interest with pride, both by non-verbal cues and the much more obvious ones, and this was all despite the slight jabs her closest friends would make on her for such an "edgy" way of looking at life and existence as a whole. Of course, she never minded the cracks at her character, and they didn't bother her in the slightest. She knew her friends didn't mean it, and the high of having complete control of a seemingly out of control situation just made her just as happy as her friends were telling those "edgelord" jokes they always loved telling. Situations like these without a single doubt made up for anything that anyone could ever say to her, and the sound of your heavy breathing and your loud footsteps as you ran across the hallways was enough to make her giddy with excitement.

It was almost like a game of sorts. To her, at the very least. It was undeniably intense, sure, but the reward would make up for the grandiosity of the effort the nature of this game expected her and you both to put forth. The way she imagined herself being able to hold your soft body in hers, taking in your sent and telling you everything she couldn't tell you in the love letters she scattered around every inch of flooring your feet touched, it made her walk even faster, and the physical path you were taking to try and escape her even clearer.

You were a fool. Truly. You just couldn't understand how vulnerable you were in a cutthroat world like this one. You didn't know how to properly navigate the world around you, as you hopelessly trusted practically everyone you came across, partaking in meaningless small talk or standing far too close to them as you pointed them in a certain direction upon their request for instructions. No matter what Nene said or did, you seemed to just not be able to grasp the amount of danger you were putting yourself in.

You were so ignorant. So ignorant in fact, that you didn't even realize Nene was right behind you until she slammed her blade into the wall that you were huddled against, which provoked an immediate response. She immediately took it back out and laughed as she watched you instantly jump up, removing your head from in between your knees, only to be met with those crazed eyes she looked at you so lovingly with. She smirked, tapping her foot comically and shaking her head at you. How could you be so utterly stupid to think she'd ever let you crawl away from her, especially in these circumstances. Nene, though she hated your stupidity right down to her very core, was most definitely dependant on it. How else could you fall right into the correct places every single time, which made her plans so easily work? How else could you have led her right to every individual she found herself as needing to vanquish from the world? If you were on an even remotely similar level to her in the intelligence department, she might have found it much easier to ask from her two good friends some much needed assistance. Assistance, something Nene absolutely despised admitting she needed.

"You all done, sweetie?" She sang her words in such a sickening tone, and you shivered as the sounds hit your ears. Her shining optimism and happy overview of the situation spelled out nothing more or less than pure insanity to you, and Nene seemed more like a modern media stereotype of an asylum patient to you than the loving girlfriend she wished to be seen as in your eyes.

As your response remained silent and nonexistent, Nene decided that now would be the time to take that freedom of even being able to respond in the first place away from you. All by removing you from public society and setting in stone your role as a blank slate of a girlfriend, only existing to be a projection of everything Nene so delusionally sees as perfection. Holding out her hand and giving you a child-like smile, she spoke:

"How about you make this easier for the both of us and just come with me, alright?"

Though you knew Nene was insane, you also knew she was a grand threat. You knew you didn't have a choice in the situation at this point.

Hesitant and traumatized, you reached out right back.

[shihalyfie]

02′s themes in relation to its finale

By “finale” I don’t mean “epilogue”, but rather the final battle and confrontation that make up 02 episodes 48-50. Generally speaking, 02 is a series that is much less about progression of plot events as much as it’s about theme and message, and my feeling is that this becomes increasingly so the deeper you get into its second half and approach its ending. Narratively speaking, we need a big, bad enemy to beat up in a fight, but if we shift our perspective a bit, what does this finale say as a close to 02′s themes and concepts?

The thin boundary between good and evil

Our major enemy for the first half of the series was the Digimon Kaiser, who was later established to be the very naturally kind Ichijouji Ken -- which is a pretty massive swerve, considering that most series with “reformed villains” would usually make them a bit of an edgelord who happens to be a little nicer. But instead, the series goes very deep into the psyche of what could make such a kind child be tipped over the edge, and, even though it’s all revealed to be accelerated by supernatural interference, it’s made very clear that his own trauma and insecurity was most of what did it.

So, anyway, it’s revealed in the end that the “final mastermind” behind it all was none other than Vamdemon, an effective midboss from Adventure. Vamdemon’s popularity aside, this initially seems like a very strange choice. But looking at some statements about 02′s initial planning is somewhat revealing: the original planned concept for the final boss was a Digimon that would ultimately be reduced to only “an idea” (and was rejected on the grounds of being too gory for the Sunday morning kids’ timeslot). When you think about this original concept of “a Digimon that had been reduced to only an idea,” that explains the initially odd-seeming combo of defeating a Digimon with the combined power of idealistic positivity, because it’s a plot point that would certainly make more sense if said Digimon had been reduced to a spirit of malice.

However, the interesting part about this is that the replacement for this original final boss was not Vamdemon but Oikawa and his lackeys, which means that, substantially, the real “final enemy” of this story is actually Oikawa, and the ideological questions he poses for the Chosen Children and those around them. Vamdemon may be the “mastermind” from a plot perspective, but, ironically, his important role is actually to define Oikawa’s narrative -- and, as if to drive this in further, he’s not even voiced by his original voice actor from Adventure (Ohtomo Ryuuzaburou), but Oikawa’s own, Morikawa Toshiyuki (and this voice change is actually pointed out in the series proper, too).

So why Vamdemon and not just a random spirit of malice? Well...

Vamdemon’s presence specifically establishes the precise moment in time Oikawa lost complete control of himself -- and, more widely, establishes the connection between himself as a “Chosen Child who could never become one”. Prior to this episode, we knew that Hida Hiroki’s death and their shared childhood had some relevance to Oikawa’s downfall, but the August 3 “Odaiba fog” incident in 1999 is the exact moment where everything could completely crash down in front of Oikawa’s eyes, with Hida Hiroki having just died, and Oikawa personally witnessing Digimon, the Digital World, and the Chosen Children (and boy, the way this scene is framed with him right next to the waterfront, you might even wonder what he might have done with himself had Vamdemon not interfered...). The Digital World didn’t have a huge amount of contact with the world before then -- in fact, Oikawa not being able to make much contact is a huge part of his character arc -- which basically leaves this as one of the only moments you can have this exact moment of Oikawa being ready to go over the deep end in this way. All of his regrets, of never being able to make proper contact with the Digital World, of Hiroki having died and left him alone, are ready for him in this exact moment -- as his own lackey Archnemon had said earlier, “human weaknesses are easy to manipulate.”

Moreover, of all of the “entities of malice” that made up Adventure’s villains, Vamdemon’s the only one who brought it all the way over to the real world (where the majority of 02′s conflict is set). This brief moment of contact with the real world was established in 02 episode 14 to be the defining moment of “contact” that would lead to Daisuke and Iori becoming Chosen Children. Particularly in the case of Iori, you can see the parallel -- Hiroki’s death and the resulting incident here would shape Iori’s strive to become a model citizen and a hero as a Chosen Child, whereas the exact same incidents shaped Oikawa’s descent into villainy.

Oikawa’s “sacrifice” in the end is not really a sacrifice in terms of sacrificing his life -- it’s said outright that his body is deteriorating, and so he would have died either way. What Oikawa does sacrifice is the ability to take one more step and make proper contact with Pipimon -- it is explicitly stated that he has to use the power of the dream world to grant his wish, meaning that he would never be able to take a proper step into the Digital World as a human, and therefore would never truly be able to have his initial wish granted in the way he originally wanted.

Thus, Oikawa leaves off with one last “regret” -- that, perhaps, if things had been different, he could have been just like the Chosen Children, going on “adventures” like them. But Iori points out right after that he did achieve his dream in some sense -- he got to reunite with the Digital World, and he did get to meet his partner, and so: it’s all about mentality. All of what happened to Oikawa was because of his own closed-in way of seeing himself and his place in the world, instead of being able to move on productively from his perception of what he “could and couldn’t do”.

In the end, Iori, the one who had once been so cold towards the idea of anything remotely associated with evil, is the one to guide him to that answer, and the other Chosen Children, who had previously not been very sympathetic towards him, still grieve over his death because they understand what it means to have a partner, and the sense of loss it would entail to be separated from one. It’s the one commonality they all can understand, and in the end, none of them were really all that different; it was just what they chose to do with what they had.

This is especially because we see extensive flashbacks of Oikawa in 02 episode 47, and his design is that of a completely average adult in 02, nothing like the “look at this instant villain!” design he had during the course of the series. Oikawa was, for all intents and purposes, a completely average person who had dreams that he shared with his friend, dreams that they carried into adulthood -- it took this little to push Oikawa over the edge, and yet the things that did it were the exact same things that, in a different context, Iori took to become a Chosen Child who fought him on the other side.

False happiness and pointless fixations

Tying into Oikawa’s fixation with “regrets” and an unhealthy mentality about his own position, Oikawa blames his inability to go to the Digital World in 02 episode 48 on himself being a “tainted adult”, not recognizing that it’s his own having fallen off the deep end that’s the likely reason he’s being rejected. Oikawa is, effectively, maintaining a fixation on “regrets” and a past he can’t get back; he’s still stuck on the image of his happy childhood playing with Hiroki, and all of the things he “couldn’t do” as a child after having his initial contact with the Digital World cut off. The ending reveals that he had met Pipimon before, and so you can interpret everything he’d done beforehand -- including creating two Digimon that are ultimately his “minions” more than they’re his actual “partners” (and were ultimately ripped away from him by the very same malicious spirit that represents his nihilism) -- as an attempt to reconnect with that partner, even if it resulted in him forgetting his actual purpose.

Beyond that, the Chosen Children themselves are momentarily sidetracked by a “fixation” of sorts --

02 is a series about “accepting things and moving forward”, so each of the illusions presented by BelialVamdemon have to do with a fixation that’s holding each respective kid back:

Takeru’s idea of seeing his family together again might not be completely impossible, but it’s probably not happening anytime soon -- and, as far as 02 episode 17 and 47 showed us, relations are at least improving and everyone else is doing a much better job of actually moving on and accepting the current state of affairs than he is.

Iori’s fixated on the idea of being able to please and be with a father who’s long dead (again, his issue is technically the same one Oikawa’s fixating over).

Hikari’s fixated on a future idea and dream that she wants to see pass, which won’t happen unless she can proactively work towards it now (and the 02 epilogue itself establishes that getting there won’t be all sunshine and roses).

Miyako’s fixated on her surface mood of stress and a desire to escape it, only to be confronted with the fact that it doesn’t actually make her all that happy either.

Ken’s fixated on ideas of “punishment” and “forgiveness” that ultimately won’t get him anywhere.

In the end, the one to avoid it is the most “forward-thinking” of all of them, Daisuke, who’s least likely to get caught up in such fixations. But even he has this to say:

Daisuke understands that not everyone is as simple-minded as him, and that’s not inherently a bad thing -- it’s just that when you need to go forward, you need to go forward (and people who exploit others’ weaknesses against them are still unforgivable jerks). You need to accept that things are the way they are at current, and use the information you get from it to keep moving forward and do something productive with it rather than clinging onto things you can’t have to the point you can’t do anything. Nobody was giving anyone shame for having those internal worries that BelialVamdemon plagued them with -- it’s just that staying in there forever, instead of moving on with important things they had to do, wouldn’t be good for them either.

Hence, that’s what Oikawa actually sacrificed -- he had a choice to use his final moments to spend his remaining short time with his partner that he’d spent so long unconsciously chasing after, but he instead decides to do something to help the Digital World and reverse some of the damage he’d personally caused instead of continuing to fixate on that regret. At the very least, he can continue to be with Pipimon in some other sense, even if it’s not what he originally wanted.

The pressure to be a “perfect person” as imposed by society; the conflict between that and pursuing one’s own happiness

In the last section, I mentioned that Oikawa was the kind of person who fixated on regrets about what he “couldn’t do” during his childhood. You can identify a bit of what was leading up to this in the prior episodes:

We learn in 02 episode 47 that Iori’s grandfather Chikara made the mistake of barring Hiroki and Oikawa from getting too deep into their connection with the Digital World, considering it “nonsense”, which led to the two of them becoming disconnected from it and continuing to wistfully chase after it -- which also led to Oikawa being driven further over the deep end when Hiroki, the only person who understood that, died.

Moreover, Oikawa ended up developing a complex not entirely unlike the Kaiser’s fixation with being a “perfect” person in the first half -- and, just like how he blames his inability to enter the Digital World on being a “tainted adult”, he fails to have the self-awareness that it’s this exact nihilism keeping him out of it, taking even further offense at the idea of him being a “tainted existence” (because of what he’s embracing) and deciding that his reaction needs to be sinking even deeper into it. And while he implants the Dark Seeds into the children with the intent of exploiting their power, he also indicates that he thinks he’s doing them a favor by enabling that ideology of “becoming a perfect person” within them.

Remembering that the final battle in this series is not necessarily about the physical fight as much as it’s about the ideology that Oikawa espoused, in the end, what Oikawa really “implanted” in these kids along with the Dark Seeds was the pressure that they should sacrifice their happiness to be “perfect” people. The Chosen Children reach out to them by asking about their dreams, and the children list off careers that have certainly gotten their parents scorning them for not being “good enough” for them, or gotten them mocked by other people (Hiroshi says that he gave up on his manga artist dreams because people laughed at him for it). In the end, “the pressure to be ambitious” is pressure in itself -- what if what you really want isn’t ambitious as much as it’s something that makes you and others happy (like, for instance, ramen making)? And especially when you’re a child -- shouldn’t this be the time when you enjoy yourself to the fullest?

This is even alluded to in Ken’s Spring 2003 track, in terms of how he and Osamu weren’t able to enjoy their childhood because of that pressure:

You were demanded to grow up fast, weren’t you, Brother? Because we were always being evaluated and compared by someone, we didn’t get a chance to have more freedom. We didn’t have any chances to run down an alley because we felt like it, or pull up weeds, or tumble around… meaningless things, things that didn’t bring any value to us at all. Just like the cat napping on the roof… we weren’t able to fully enjoy any everlasting freedom.

Like Ken and Osamu, the Dark Seed children accepted the Seeds because they decided that it would be better to trade in their happiness in exchange for getting closer to that ideal of “perfection”, only to destroy their own selves in the process. Which is accentuated when acknowledging their own selves is what leads to them meeting their own Digimon partners.

Takeru had said, earlier, that the Digimon will appear if you wish them to -- and given that a Digimon partner is a metaphor for the inner self, it says a lot that the point here is “the key to connecting with your partner is to connect with your actual self”. Like how Ken managed to reunite with Wormmon in 02 episode 23 by accepting everything about himself and resolving to live with it, and how Oikawa will later meet Pipimon after having come to terms with what he was actually looking for the entire time.

And in the end, what we see of Vamdemon isn’t really all that different from the original “reduced to an idea” concept we got from the original 02 final boss concept -- remember that BelialVamdemon has effectively become the incarnation of Oikawa’s own nihilistic ideology; perhaps he took on a lot more than just a voice actor! Actually, the whole sequence in 02 episode 50 with everyone listing off their dreams and destroying BelialVamdemon part by part is relatively similar in substance to the original proposal (the staff must have been really attached to that idea). And, hence, why what destroys him for good is the combined feelings of everyone together, resolving to move forward instead of chasing after meaningless things.

Oikawa ultimately recognizes that what was holding him back was his own mentality -- everyone here, Ken, the Dark Seed children, and Oikawa himself, all thought they were becoming “strong” and “perfect” people by ignoring them, but instead ended up as pawns for others, and all of these people could have found better ways to cope with their problems through embracing themselves and finding support, and would have come closer to those “dreams” while they were at it. Instead, Oikawa exploited others and clung onto shallow symbols because he thought that kind of straightforward idealism was an impossible route for him, and locked himself out of all of it. But in the end, he’s able to do something -- he’s able to use his “dreams” to have the Digital World healed -- and with that, is able to have his last moments in happiness.

Incidentally, back in 02 episode 49, Daisuke had even outright said that there’s no inherent issue in striving for self-improvement (after all, both Adventure and 02 were about people slowly getting past their insecurities and becoming better people). Daisuke himself is a person who’s improved a lot over the course of this series! But that’s something you need to do on your own terms and in a way you’re comfortable with -- not forcing yourself into the mold of an “ideal person” at the expense of losing everything about yourself, like Ken, the Dark Seed children, and Oikawa all did at some point.

[woodaba]

Divinity: Original Sin 2 Review

Note: This review was written in The Past. The opinions within do not necessarily reflect how I feel right now.

Ever since it's release, Divinity Original Sin 2 has been hailed as one of the best western RPGs in recent memory, the highlight of the CRPG resurgence, and is subject to such widespread fondness that it's developers got handed the keys to make an actual Baldur's Gate 3. Which has always flummoxed me, because I played this game at launch and fucking hated it.

A degree of this is that me and the game simply have different priorities. When it comes to a game like this, I want to create a character, a person to embody, rather than being handed one of the DMs shitty edgy OCs to play as, but DOS2 disagrees, and will in fact offer a fairly substantially lesser experience (losing access to multiple sidequests and altering a number of key scenes for the worse) if you don't pick one of it's stable of interminable snarky edgelords. I know that for a lot of people, not having to make a character is actually a plus (i remember all those thinkpieces positing Geralt as proof that player-created characters should be a thing of the past) so you may not find this as immediately distasteful as I did, but I'd expect more people to agree that this game is terribly written.

Every single character in this game feels like someone's edgy OC, but not in an endearing way. There's zero earnestness here, no honest investment in this world or belief that what is happening matters, just a bunch of archly smug edgelords quipping at each other, like a cut of Drakengard directed by Joss Whedon. Lohse was the only character I had any fondness for, and even she has a bizarre edgy streak that feels totally incongruous. These eminently hateable assholes will bring up a theme, float an idea, and then stick their tongue firmly in their cheek and laugh at you for wanting to engage the idea in any meaningful way.

The thing about this game that made me angry was how it brought up incredibly heavy source material on a whim (the first act of the game is you escaping what is essentially a concentration camp and genocide is a major part of the backstory) but utterly refused to engage with it on any level beyond a Redditor smugly correcting the grammar of a post detailing the very real atrocities that exist in our world. It leverages these things purely aesthetically, draping itself in a cloak of the most rancid vibes imaginable. If you're the kind of person who writes entries on TV Tropes about "deconstruction" you probably think it's genius.

CRPGs like this have been described as digital dungeon masters, creating a virtual tabletop space that reveals it's character through what aspect of the experience it chooses to focus on. Icewind Dale focused on pure combat and dungeon delving, Baldur's Gate on the charmingly amateurish emulation of epic fantasy, and Divinity Original Sin 2 focuses on all the ugliest, most cynical, and rotten tropes and expectations that players of fantasy RPGs have come to expect. If it's a dungeon master, it's the kind of guy who describes a field of brutally massacred gnomes while lighting up a blunt.

Oh, but what about dat combat though? Yeah, it's ok. There's fun to be had in throwing a barrel of oil to set on fire, or throwing a barrel of water to electrocute, or teleporting someone far away from you, but thanks to inflated health pools and interminable turn times, all the "creative solutions" that this game's passionate fanbase eulogise about eventually yield to much more standard and predictable turn-based combat with a truly obscene level curve that drags out every single fight to absurd lengths. And even this is being generous, as after the (admittedly, genuinely good) first act the quality of encounters begins to tumble down a cliff before practically giving up entirely by Act Three. I'll fully admit that I turned the game down to easy by that point because I just wanted this obscenely drawn-out overlong game done with already. These people were going to make a tactics game??? Thank god we were spared that reality.

Oh, but it's got co-op! That's fun, that's unique! Yeah, it is, but if you think I'm going to play a story-driven Role Playing Game where only the person who clicked on a character first is allowed to have any input in the story whatsoever, you must have confused me for someone who thinks Travis McElroy's Adventure Zone is good. Co-op was definitely the most fun I had playing this, but at the same time, it did make a game that was already long, slow, and drawn-out even longer, slower, and more drawn-out, a bit like this review.

The version of this game I played was the pre-definitive edition version, so this may not be reflective of the game as it is now, but the game was already receiving comically overblown praise even before that update, so clearly I'm missing something greater than was added there. Still, my impression of the game was certainly not helped by a final act so unfinished it verged on parody, which culminated in endings that would have grated enough for their abruptness, adolescent nihilism and fascist apologia if they actually Worked. Instead every time I picked an option it gave me a different one and I had to go through each one until it actually gave me the one I wanted, at which point the game called me a fucking idiot for not comitting genocide. 93 on Metacritic.

Most of the time when I don't line up with the wider consensus on a game, I at least understand why people thought that way. I cannot understand why anyone who finished this game left with positive feelings. By the time I finished it, any positive feelings I had about this game were an easy 60 hours behind me. A complete trainwreck on every conceivable level.

This is what y'all played instead of Tyranny? shake my damn head

all that being said the sex scene is so hilariously terrible that it's maybe worth playing just for that so five stars best CRPG of the renaissance