#or is it just set up for the next game
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also how tf do i get ortega/step/chen together in retribution, is there a scene for that ?
#or is it just set up for the next game#fallen hero retribution#steelstep#chargestep#op#what is the ship name for these three#chargesteelstep
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Origins: the world is ending and you and your one remaining coworker are the only option left to save it.
II: the unavoidable tragedy of a queer friend group/polycule trying and failing to save their fucked up city
Inquisition: you went to a conference and accidentally ended up in charge of saving the entire world (again) with a team of colleagues who are (mostly) professionals and outstanding in their fields.
**
Veilguard:
Rook: hey, I suffered from “sudden field promotion” after “fucking everything up worse than it already was.” I’m putting a team together to kill at least one, maybe three, Gods
Seven of the most unwell people in Thedas: say no more, I’m in
#dragon age#I have to just live here for the next [checks notes] four years so#they did a really good job giving Rook my favourite aspects of the HoF and Hawke’s set ups#I mean. it is probably too soon to state this officially#but it miiiiiiiiiiight be my favourite da game???????
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Kingdom Hearts - Halloween Town
#kingdom hearts#kh1#halloween town#scenery#my gif#not sure if i ever really registered that the sky is red when you're in the town#as well as all of the background noises that constantly play. from snarling dogs to weird scurrying and strange laughter#i had to talk myself out of the idea of doing a quick replay of this game so that i could include oogie boogie's manor#because it's such an intricately designed location. they really went all out on it but it disappears after you defeat him#i felt so unsatisfied leaving it out of this set#so i elected to just use shots from some cutscenes and painted out any characters in the way#saved me so much time and it worked out quite well#i have a couple of other gifs from this world that i'll save for halloween since that's coming up next month :]
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Siffrin plays Disco Elysium AU: Featuring backseat gamer Loop.
#in stars and time#ISAT#Siffrin#Loop#disco elysium#digital art#When I first thought of a crossover I went from 1) 'ISAT Disco AU but Loop is all of the skills'#To: 2) 'Loop is in the mindspace alongside the skills#To my magnum opus: 3)'Loop is sitting next to Siffrin backseat gaming him the whole time.'#Loop beat Disco Elysium ages ago and repeated it to the point they know all the vision quests and dialogue variables.#Siffrin just started playing and Loop keeps ruining the fun by using their meta-game knowledge to try and help.#Also let's be real. Siffrin's stats are 100% completely focused into motorics and nothing else.#If we can't Savoir Faire ourselves of this situation - we will explode. Endurance? Call my insurance instead.#Thinking skills? None. Emotional intelligence and morale? A failed social interaction canonically feels like death to them.#I might have bumped Phys up but...Siffrin's Electrochem stat is like -10. And Pain Threshold is emotional durability too.#Unused part of this joke is that I set their signature skill to Drama.#Both these games made my brain melt so now I get to combine them! I have that power!#This joke made me laugh the entire 3 hours I sat down and drew it and that is what creation should be about.
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my favorite lumax detail is lucas wearing a karate kid shirt because max thinks ralph macchio is cute. i can just imagine lucas with the boys in mike’s basement and they're all trying to figure out how to karate chop a board in half because lucas wants to show off to max
#lucas sinclair#lumax#max mayfield#he’d figure it out and show it to max and any connection to karate kid would go completely over her head#she’d just be like “🤯 show ME how to do that”#still a win#s3 lumax is just so precious they were so carefree#i bet they were so excited for the fair to set up next to starcourt cuz they wanted to win each other prizes at all the games :(
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for writing game, iwaizumi + assistance <3
hope this sparks some inspo and thank you in advancee
hi there!! thanks for sending in a prompt 🫶
contains: friends to lovers (ish), halloween parties, reader is dressed as catwoman, expletives, iwaizumi is thiiiiis 🤏 close to murdering seijoh4 (jk)
iwaizumi + assistance
this is a set-up.
iwaizumi knows he shouldn't have fucking believed anything the boys "promised" him back when they assigned him this costume.
the suit is fucking tight, spandex digging into his groins and all other crevices that definitely should be aired out after after a few hours. he's had to constantly readjust his stance almost every few minutes, the black fabric compressing his thighs and torso, significantly constricting the range of motion his shoulders and arms are typically used to. if anything else, it could double up as a back brace from how rigidly straight it's kept his posture all night.
he'll give it to makki though; he did outdo himself sourcing this year's costumes―this batman set looks pretty damn legit.
except for one tiny problem.
there's no fucking pee hole. it's a zip-up, zip-down one-piece situation. and that normally wouldn't be a problem, except that oikawa "accidentally" knocked over a cocktail straight into his pants, the sickeningly sweet liquid now seeping straight into the fabric and past his boxers―cold and sticky as it touches his skin.
and so, the problem: his pants are wet, it makes him want to fucking pee, and coincidentally, the only vacant bathroom is across the hall, at your apartment.
this is why he believes this is a set up. that, and the fact that you're dressed in an outfit strikingly similar―just with cat ears.
he's been asked five times in this party if you're in matching couple outfits.
it catches him off guard, flusters him because of how badly he wants to say yes. but, you're just friends, and he doesn't even think you like him that way (despite mattsun and oikawa practically begging him to confess. makki tells him he thinks you're going to do it first).
so he politely smiles and says no, but you look good, your costume clinging to you in all the right places. thank fucking god he has a cape because he's pretty sure he spent the first 30 minutes in the party hiding his boner.
"hajime, it's fine, i swear," you stand beside him in front of the conveniently locked bathroom in oikawa's apartment. from the other side of the door, he's pretty sure he hears mattsun and his girlfriend mumbling. maybe fucking? who knows. "you can just use the bathroom in my apartment."
he glances at you before closing his eyes, contemplating, before finally agreeing to you.
"okay."
if he's being honest with himself, friends is definitely an incomplete label to what you are. as oikawa's neighbor, you are conveniently around all the time; and oikawa being oikawa, the ever-social butterfly, he's somehow managed to carve a space for you in the friend group.
(never mind the fact that oikawa's sniffed him out from the moment he first introduced you.)
you were a crush, then a friend, and now you're someone he picks up from work and drives back home three times a week, because he "has to train oikawa." you don't question it, even when you both know he stays over for dinner way past the gym's open hours.
"you know where it is," you open your apartment and urge him in.
"sorry again," he turns to face you.
"yeah, yeah, just pee!" you laugh, shoving him towards the bathroom door.
getting out of the suit is manageable, and he's able to wipe off a bit of the cocktail that's leaked to the suit and his boxers just to make sure it isn't gross and sticky when he gets home later. peeing is a big relief once he gets it over with, but it's when he has to suit up again that things become difficult.
stretching out the spandex one body part at a time is a workout in itself―the hardest task being when he has to pull it over his shoulders, adjusting it to fit properly over his arms and chest.
but then the zipper breaks.
and he truly thinks makki has fucked him over.
iwaizumi contemplates what to do next for a good, good while. he tries calling oikawa, only to no success every time; no way in hell is he calling mattsun in the middle of having sex. and calling makki isn't even an option; he'd never hear the end of it.
then you knock on the door, your voice soft and concerned as you ask, "hajime? you good in there?" you hit it spot on, too, "do you need help with your suit?"
iwaizumi presses his palms to his eyes. he's a rational man, straightforward and logical in thinking. there is literally no other option for him right now but to ask help from you. again.
fuck.
.
it's 30 minutes later when oikawa barges in your door, and the sight that greets him is iwaizumi in nothing but a hoodie (the hoodie you borrowed some time ago) and his boxers, with his hands on your waist as you hover your hairdryer over the crotch of his batman costume―cat headpiece off and all.
"you finally got together?!"
#iwaizumi x reader#hq!! x reader#shotorus.workbook#omg i hope u enjoyed this!! i had fun thinking it up ehehe and writing it#in my mind this is set in the same universe as the halloween one i did for mattsun―actually its the same party HABFHBSF#some stuff about the fic: iwaizumi is hot in that costume i spared the details bc i was going to combust MYSELF#but it clings to his muscles REAAAAAAL good and there's really not a lot of padding in the costume itself#bc makki believes in iwaizumi's anatomy enough to deliver#what happened in between iwaizumi asking for help and oikawa barging in??? we may never know 🤷♀️ kidding !#i just didnt write it in bc it would be too long but#if anyone is curious maybe i'll write it as a separate thing!#other stuff abt the fic: reader became good friends with oikawa first bc neighbors but then oikawa admittedly wanted to play matchmaker#so he invited reader a ton to their group things so he could introduce em to iwaizumi HAHA and iwaizumi crushed hard#they become close pretty quickly too hence why reader calls him hajime HAHAH and they hang out even outside of the group#theres definitely something like they text a lot and stuff but neither of them are sure of how the other feels so they arent admitting#reader has borrowed a hoodie from him tho#(aka the one he's wearing in the blurb bc it's the only article of clothing that fits him in reader's apt)#also they figured they'd just kill time by drying iwaizumi's costume bc for sure they couldn't chuck it in the dryer so the next best thing#was to just use a dryer and spot dry it#makki did source most of the costumes! except mattsun's and his gf's#uhhh they go back to the party afterwards but reader literally had to makeshift lock iwaizumi's costume with safety pins HAHA#i guess his muscles just be too popping 🤷♀️#fvntybomb#ask#rep#ask game answered
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me: finally im able to cope with how much i hate totk and can fuel that energy into other things :)
nintendy: the shiekah tech just dissappeared and no one knows why or cares enough to investigate it lol. lmao. its gone bc the calamity is gone or something even tho it literally isnt bc ganondorf is right there haha lol, stop asking, why do you care. just forget it existed and look at that sexy goatman and glue instead!! glue! isnt that wild?? also its totally a direct, 100% same universe and exact same characters, despite them act totally out of character, sequel to botw-
#ganondoodles talks#ganondoodles rants#zelda#totk#im just fucking!!!! at my limit!!!!#what the fuck do you mean#the calamity is the equivalent of ganondorfs farts trying to wake himself up and you say lololo is gone so the techs gone#then why do some parts still exist huh???????#fuyking clowns#all the threads leading organically into another game WOOOP NOPE CUT THEM ALL WE DIDNT MEAN TO GIVE IT MEANING LOL#what is ancient energy and whys there a big concetration under these regions including hyrule castle? oh my god is it bc gan is there an-#NOPE forget we ever said that haha lol lmao even#can you really blame me for feeling like im being laughed at#like totk is mocking me bc i care about botw and thought theyd take up the interesting things they set up in it to expand upon???#and no instead they backpedal like oh no we accidentally made it seem interesting quick get the iron out we need to FLATTEN this bitch#and they keep making it WORSE by insisting that its totally 1000% a direct sequel#just fucking say its some alternative bullshit again#i am begging them to let soemone else direct the next game#bc when the guy makes accidentally good lore he needs to immedaitely flatten all the good stuff when it comes to a sequel apparently
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Okay I think that one thing we're really not talking about is how Telemachus adds something to the end of each song, the exact moment we think it's over.
"If I fight those monsters, is it you I'll find? or "Tell me Athena why you came to my aid"
He's setting up for the next song, telling us that there's still more to it. In the Wisdom Saga, he figuratively acts as a reprise to Odysseus, through his relationship with Athena and the riffs Jay pointed out in We'll Be Fine.
That's why I think it's especially important that in We'll Be Fine, Athena is the one adding to the end of the song.
"You're a good kid."
Though Telemachus technically has the last line there too, it's not one that provokes action. Instead Athena adds a line, which in theory didn't need to be there. In all technicality, the song had ended. The next song, she takes action.
She's giving herself a reprise. A second chance.
#sirjoing#epic the musical#epic the wisdom saga#telemachus#athena#jorge rivera herrans#i have a lot of thoughts about this#the way telemachus is just constantly setting up for the next scene#the way he's *adding* so much to the narrative#i know im using the word reprise very loosely btw#also like#the way in the following songs athena is doing the same thing#she ends love in paradise#she ends god games#now its her who is telling us *there is more*#her who says *the story does not end here*#really important because odysseus is#infinitely stuck on calypso's island
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i will never be tired of playing dress up
#anyway finished the set#they’re just doodles#but she’s so important to me#ofmd#our flag means death#stede bonnet#rule 63#ofmd genderbent au#ofmd au#i refer to this as my lesbian au#izzy and ed are my next victims of my dress up game#fem!stede#my art#ofmd lesbain au
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*Minor spoilers*
The ending was so shit and rushed and anti climatic like it ALWAYS is, be fucking for real.
BUTTTTTT Adler is gonna be in the next black ops hahahahahah, im really gonna reach 30 years old at this point and still be simping for that man huh💀 so be it
I’m gonna post a full review soon once I’ve gathered my thoughts
#russell adler#black ops Cold War 6#call of duty black ops 6#I can’t lie overall I’m very underwhelmed :(#but I enjoyed it nonetheless#nothing really happened in this campaign#I was almost positive adler was going to die#he was very much side character#but look#of course I’m happy he’s alive#it’s all good and well just make him the main character in the next one thanks#don’t give us an ending that’s basically just a set up for the next game when you’re gonna make us wait like 4 years you know?
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reddit:
literally every other WOT viewer in the world:
#they've been saying this ever since the finale aired and it drives me CRAZY#have your personal opinions all you want but to say that 2x08 was objectively a weak episode is simply not correct#cinematography acting vfx choreography music EVERYTHING was at the absolute top of its game#and despite being an Exciting Battle Episode it was completely anchored in character moments & emotional resonance which is no easy feat#so much going on yet there was time for every major character to get a huge developmental/emotional beat#(yes even those like nynaeve whose beat was a loss rather than a victory)#every season arc was either wrapped up in an immensely satisfying way or was set up for a deeper examination next season#and 90% of the general audience absolutely loved it#and yet reddit acts like it's an Accepted Fact that it was poor quality#just bc the book-to-show changes in that episode weren't to THEIR PERSONAL taste#touch grass#wot#seeing as season finales will always have the biggest moments it's kinda inevitable that hardcore book fans#will always be the most sensitive to any changes made in those particular episodes#not to mention that the changes made in eps 1-7 will snowball and culminate in the finale#so i feel like finales are always gonna be judged the most harshly by readers#like if dumai's wells isn't an exact 1:1 recreation of the book version#readers are 1000000% going to flip their shit no matter how objectively good the show's version actually is#wot book spoilers#for the replies
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qpr jean and neil. that's all i'm gonna say.
do you see my vision?
#i might add onto this later but right now I'm too busy crying#“misplaced forever partner” ARE YOU KIDDING ME THAT DESTROYED ME#neil ordering a hit to keep jean safe changed my brain chemistry#i need them to be friends#i need them to call each other and gossip and send each other stupid memes that only they understand#i need them to slowly grow closer as they heal until one day they can finish each other's sentences#and they ocassionally make super dark jokes about their trauma out of the blue (they bet on how people will react competitively)#i need them to call each other derogatory names but get Super Upset whenever anyone else talks shit about the other and offer to kill them#and i would love them to reclaim the spots next to each other that riko set#and make them their own#they're not partners on the court but they sure as hell are partners in life#the mcs ever#at one point andrew and jeremy are just looking at each other across a table at a restaurant as these two bicker#and realize they have somehow both become the Third Wheel despite the fact that 1) there's four of them and 2) jean and neil aren't dating#the amount of queer platonic pining i could fit in these traumatized people#the: “i'm lowkey obsessed with you but I Really don't like you romantically and I don't know what to do with it”#and the: “oh thank hell me too i thought i was even weirder than i already am. wanna go harass the fbi with me?"#jeremy and andrew watch this trainwreck both exasperatedly and proudly you can't convince me otherwise#cannot convince me that these four won't somehow end up living in each others pockets even if they live 1000 miles away#kevin pops in frequently as his usual wonderful diva self#anyway i'm going insane how yall doing#neil josten#jean moreau#all for the game#the sunshine court
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the unwinnable game
[~2.7k words. Read it here or on Ao3]
Zugzwang (from German 'compulsion to move'; pronounced [ˈtsuːktsvaŋ]) is a situation found in chess and other turn-based games wherein one player is put at a disadvantage because of their obligation to make a move.
Centuries after their battle atop Mt Coronet, Rei confronts Volo in a nondescript forest, somewhere on Pasio. But the answers he's seeking aren't so easily given.
aka. a continuation of that one dialogue cliffhanger in the Mysterious Stones chapter because I'm extremely normal about these two
///
“There's something you'd like to say, isn't there… Rei?”
Volo turns around and Rei musters up the bravest expression he can.
Now that he's here, he doesn't know what to say first; all his planned questions bounce around his head, clamouring for dominance. Why are you here? How? Since when? You have a Togepi and a Togekiss? Why a tournament? What do you know about the mysterious stones?
Were we ever really friends?
That is, it takes an embarrassingly long time for Rei to respond. In the end, what he says isn’t a question at all. “That Togepi in the ruins was yours.”
Volo only shrugs. He's got a languid smile on his face. “It might've been. She likes running around.”
Internally, Rei is relieved. So he hasn't been seeing things. But he doesn't let it show on his face, and crosses his arms. “Why’d you hide from everyone for months, and only show yourself now?”
“Now, I wouldn't call it hiding,” Volo replies, waving his finger. “This is a big island, and I've made a good few acquaintances here on Pasio already! Perhaps our paths simply didn't cross.”
With the number of times Rei has visited the ruins for mysterious stone research, the odds of that are vanishingly unlikely. “But why didn't you even try? It's not like I've been keeping a low profile.” Of course, the reason is probably something like I tried to end the world and it would be awkward. And that's what Rei needs Volo to say.
The Arc Phone sits heavily in his belt satchel, recording every word.
“Oh, I was just preoccupied. The ruins here are simply fascinating! Even though they're replicas, teasing apart all the ancient cultures used in their construction is such a fruitful area of study. You know me.”
Yeah, I know you. “Find anything interesting about Arceus?” Rei snarks.
“Not particularly!” Volo shakes his head, looking disappointed. Then he perks up, and continues, “Now, Dialga and Giratina however…”
“Oh?” Rei seethes quietly. Of course he had been watching. Why hadn't Giratina said anything?
“It’s curious, isn’t it, how they have seen fit to partner themselves with new wielders?” Volo smiles. “And Palkia too, I’ve heard.”
“It is interesting,” Rei forces out, adjusting his scarf. He recalls Volo's last parting line about Arceus, all those months ago. “Nice to know that they've bonded willingly with people in this time,” he says pointedly.
Ignoring Rei's tone, Volo continues, “That man, Cyrus, who controls Palkia. What a character, wouldn't you say?”
Rei has a lot of thoughts about the Sinnohans’ decision to allow Cyrus - a man who has literally tried to remake the world and not disavowed said goal - to keep the embodiment of Space with him. He'd thought Adaman and Irida had to be joking, at first. What would the Captain think if she saw what her descendant had turned the Galaxy Team into…
“I suppose you see yourself in him.” Rei says flatly.
It's only the two of them here, in the middle of a forest, in the dead of night, so Volo should have no reason to be evasive. And yet -
“Hardly,” Volo laughs off. “Intellectual curiosity, nothing more.”
This is going nowhere. Does Volo seriously think he can fool him again? Probably not - every remark is undoubtedly purposeful, but with just enough plausible deniability to appear innocent. So maybe he just wants to mess with him. Great.
A different strategy, maybe. He’ll surely make a mistake at some point if Rei keeps pushing. “This… tournament that you proposed,” Rei says. “I suppose you're participating?”
“Naturally!” Volo says cheerfully. “Battles on Pasio are done in teams, are they not? Perhaps you'd like to-”
“No.” Rei glares at him. Oh, now, that was going too far. Going to shut that line of conversation immediately.
“So hostile,” Volo sighs. “A united Hisuian contingent would've been a sight to see. Well, the clan leaders should be more receptive, at least.”
“Not if I can help it,” Rei says, crossing his arms. He’s well aware of how childish it sounds, but the thought of his friends falling for Volo’s innocent merchant act, again, is too horrible to consider. Mentally, he rapidly revises his priorities - he has to meet with Adaman and Irida as soon as possible and explain everything. Tomorrow, ideally. Does he have the energy for that? It’s something like one in the morning, right now. He's dead on his feet. But he’ll make it happen. He has to, before Volo does.
But what if he’s already too late? When had Rei last spoken to them? The dance competition, that wasn’t that long ago, right? At least a week, maybe more, his mind supplies. He'd just been so busy… and surely they would have told him if they'd met Volo.
This little anxious spiral must be evident on Rei’s face somehow, because Volo chuckles, stepping closer. “The world doesn't revolve around you, Rei. Not here.”
“You don’t get to act all high and mighty,” Rei snaps. “Not when you’re pulling everyone along on your own strings. I suppose you think you make the world go ‘round.”
But Volo has a point, no matter how much he hates to admit it. Rei’s been assuming he was someone significant to this whole saga. The appearance of the mysterious stones coincided with his and Akari’s arrival to Pasio, after all, so was he really wrong for thinking that?
And Arceus spoke to him first. That had to mean something.
“On the contrary, I simply meant that we’re all on equal ground,” Volo says. For the first time, goes unspoken.
“I’ll still beat you,” Rei vows. He’d done it before, he could do it again. No matter if he was still favoured by Arceus or not. “Because my bonds with my Pokemon, and my friends, are real. And you don’t know what that feels like.” Though intended to be a sharp jab at Volo, instead, a deep bitterness colours those final words.
Volo’s expression twists into something briefly unreadable before it settles into a polite half-smile. “You’re quick to assume the worst of me.”
“Quick?” Rei barks out a harsh laugh. “No, it was exactly the opposite.” He’d been strung along so thoroughly, accepting every strange behaviour as simply one of Volo’s little oddities. Only up at the Celestica Ruins did those allowances start to crumble – and by then, it was too late.
Volo’s look at Rei is one of intrigue. The way Rei's seen him examining ancient ruins, like he's something Volo wants to observe, or study.
And Rei has had it. Enough dancing around the subject, trying to draw it out of Volo; clearly it’s never going to happen. “Is this all just a game to you? You tried to destroy the world! You want me to think you care about anyone?”
Volo raises an eyebrow. “That's a bold claim. Surely if that had happened, it would've ended up in the history books, somewhere.”
Well – okay. The only person who knew what happened was the Professor, sort of. And Cogita. Arceus knows how she found out. But Professor Laventon didn't know half of it, even, Rei had just incoherently vented everything emotional and hurting at him, swore him to secrecy, and then hoped that he'd never have to unpack that again.
Clearly Arceus had other designs.
“We were friends.” Rei’s voice cracks a bit, there; he hates how true it is. “I thought we were friends. But you were going to kill me for standing in your way!”
Volo frowns. “Now, why would I do that?” He takes a few paces towards Rei and smiles, purposefully, grin stretching tight across his face. “I wouldn't want to lose my favourite customer, after all!”
Stumbling backwards to regain the distance, Rei exclaims, “I’ve bought maybe one thing from you. Stop calling me that!”
“Recipient of free samples, semantics,” Volo shrugs, entirely unaffected, and Rei wars with the competing urges to punch him or bolt into the treeline.
“Play dumb all you want,” Rei hisses, “but you’ve already shown your hand. I could tell them everything. You won’t be able to fool anyone ever again.” Least of all me.
Volo tilts his head with a smirk. “Well then, why are you here?” he asks, calling Rei’s bluff.
And though he can’t know that the Arc Phone is listening in Rei’s satchel, Rei realises that his motivations must be laughably transparent. Maybe Volo thinks Akari, or Cynthia, is watching the whole thing from the treeline. The specifics of it don’t matter, really. Rei’s been outplayed from the very beginning.
Volo makes a little movement with his hand. There's a sudden rustle of movement behind Rei, and he whips around, hand on Decidueye's Pokeball -
But it's just Volo's Togepi, who warbles in alarm and quickly toddles past him.
“What would people rather believe in?” Volo says lightly. “The accusations of a boy who jumps at shadows?” He bends down to pick up Togepi. “Or in the innocence of their friend?”
In Volo's arms, Togepi lets out an adorable squeak.
Over the Pokeball on his belt, Rei’s hand is trembling with misfired adrenaline. He carefully drops his hand to his side and raises his head up high. “Cynthia trusts me. I’ve been here for months, and we’ve worked together on the mysterious stones since they were first found.”
“And so?” Volo shrugs. “A working relationship is hardly worth much. I thought you would've known better, with what Kamado did…”
Rei flinches.
The worst part about it all was that no matter what ulterior motives Volo might have had, back then, when he’d been thrown out into the wild with barely a few days’ worth of supplies – Volo had been there for him when nobody else was.
Volo had seen Rei fall apart and put himself back together with forced cheer. And so, he knew exactly where the cracks were, where to strike with his words to disassemble Rei all over again.
Of course Rei knows Cynthia is responsible, and smart, and has been nothing but friendly to him – but he doesn't really know her, does he? And Volo is her ancestor. Which is pretty obvious, honestly. She’d probably like him immediately.
Just like everyone else did. Including Rei.
“Besides, you're not the only one who's been making friends in high places,” Volo adds smoothly. “I’ve heard that Bettie’s word is quite well regarded.”
So now that Rei had wised up to Volo's true nature, he'd gone and found himself new people to use. “You’ve always been like this, then,” Rei huffs. None of it had been real; their entire ‘friendship’ had been predicated on Rei's usefulness. “They deserve to know the truth about you.”
“Truth? Or your own opinion?” Volo scoffs. “You think so highly of yourself, Rei, but you're not the beloved Hero of Hisui here. No…” he smiles. “You're entirely ordinary. Do remember, it was everyone in that stadium who heard Arceus' voice.”
Admittedly, that stings. He'd thought - maybe - that Arceus was finally telling him why He'd brought Rei here. What he was supposed to do in this strange new land. But he'd failed, unable to clearly hear Arceus’ voice.
Rei spares a thought for the Arc Phone, once a vessel for divine inspiration, now reduced to recording mortals’ petty feuds. His messages to Arceus have been left on read for months. He's probably allowed to be a bit petty, at this point.
Volo continues, “Imagine! Any one of us could become Arceus’ champion.” Togepi makes a little noise. “Yes, even you,” he says indulgently, lifting her up to face him, and she goes cross-eyed following his waving finger.
It's horribly cute, the sort of thing Rei would've been charmed by before. And it's clear Volo is no longer taking Rei seriously at all.
What starts out as a wavering thought suddenly asserts itself with startling clarity. “I don't need anything from you,” Rei realises. He'd told himself he was here for evidence, something concrete he could hold against Volo, and that was true. But beyond that, he'd been after something entirely more personal.
He can walk away.
“I don't need anything from you,” he repeats, with force this time.
Volo turns his attention away from Togepi, and this of all things is what finally seems to make him genuinely confused. “Leaving so soon, Rei?”
Rei doesn't elaborate. He turns on his heel to stalk through the forest back to civilisation. Now, because if he says anything more he doesn't know if he'll ever bring himself to stop. Because he's asking for something he'll never get.
Volo's saying something. He doesn't care to catch all the words, though some of it filters through - “challenge”, “tournament”, and “rivals” among them. The general shape of the message is clear. They'll meet again; Rei's powerless to stop that. But as best he can, he'll shake off whatever lingering grip Volo still has on him.
He doesn't stop walking as the trodden earth turns to paved cobbles under his feet, and he makes it all the way up his building's winding stairs to the little studio apartment that he's been given. Home, for now. Collapsing onto the lone armchair, he takes the Arc Phone out of his satchel and turns off the recording. Thank Arceus for divinely bestowed infinite storage, he supposes.
Rei knows that if he were to listen to it, there'd be nothing of use. Only hidden barbs and Rei’s own ugly, wounded anger. It feels fitting to delete it, to banish the whole encounter to memory, and perhaps eventually, less than that.
He doesn't, and instead tucks it away in a folder several layers deep.
Maybe Professor Laventon wrote about the whole disaster in his private diaries. Rei knows he has them, bless the man. He'd once stumbled into the Professor's office late at night, after an exhausting, terrifying escape from an Alpha, ready to tell Laventon off for sending him there – and startled the Professor fiercely, who quickly shut the manuscript he was writing with a blush. So even if Rei had sworn him to secrecy, he might have confided in the written word.
That's something he can set Cynthia on digging up, then. Even just the suggestion that Laventon, the First Pokemon Professor, had such personal writings, would probably send her into an unstoppable research frenzy. That much about her, at least, he knows. If it still existed in this era, Cynthia would almost certainly find it.
And maybe he doesn't need evidence. Not for the people who matter, anyway.
Akari’s only a few doors away, their apartments close neighbours just like back in Jubilife Village. If he wanted, he could wander over there once the sun rose, have her fantastic tamago rice, and tell her everything.
Is he ready to take that step into thin air? To trust that he'll be believed, in something that's infinitely more convoluted and improbable than the simple plea – “I don't know why the sky is red, it's not my fault, I only ever did what you told me to” –
Well. Volo might've been the last one to break his trust, but he was in no way the first.
Can he make good on those words that he’d levelled so confidently against Volo? That his bonds with his friends are real?
Akari had never doubted. And Adaman and Irida had gone against Kamado's will, risking the standing of their people, just to help him. He would be doing them a disservice if he didn't at least try.
And in this dangerous game, it might be the only winning move.
Even as he makes this decision, he feels the pull of sleep. It's offensively late, or early, in the morning now, depending on perspective, and all of this is Tomorrow Rei’s problem.
There's no energy left to even stumble to bed. Rei falls asleep right there in the lumpy armchair, hand loosely gripped around the Arc Phone, Adaman and Irida’s Poryphone numbers on the screen, ready and waiting.
And, though Rei will certainly wake up sore with a crick in his neck come the morning…
For the first time in a long while, his dreams are not restless.
#trainer rei#rei pokemon#volo#volo pokemon#pokemas#pokemon#rei#fanfiction#// tikposting#// fanfic#so. pokemas has been gripping me so hard the past couple of months#that it's even tempted me into writing fic again after three years#yes i know this is about to be rendered non canon in just a few days when the next chapter drops#but i had to get it all out beforehand because gosh there's so much story potential#rei tries to play the game volo's way and fails miserably: the fic#he's out here trying to set up a trap not realising it's extremely obvious#when he does realise it's ten moves into the actual game and he's in the middle of a trap himself. fun#rei pov is very fun he has many many thoughts about things#thanks for reading!!#// tikart#backstrikeduo#(rei & volo)
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as someone who isnt super excited for sotm for certain reasons I am really glad that like. it's clear that since ruin theyve been setting up for carnival and sotm IS carnival. so now that carnival is finally coming out, afterwards theyll be moving on to other plotlines since the main villain stuff is sorted out
I'm just rlly happy to finally see a clear direction for how the story is gonna be playing out with like "okay these games were leading up to this so after this will be open possibilites" instead of like. absolutely no info about each upcoming game and being left guessing before it releases and just having to wait and see what's in it and if anything you're looking forward to will be in it
it feels like they have a plan and a solid direction for what they're trying to do and after carnival releases thatll be all that buildup coming to fruition. & we already know from the Scott interview that theres another release 'beyond sotm' that's 'super exciting' so maybe thatll be focusing on another big currently untouched (which is basically all of them) plotline, or even the big campaign game that dawko has been calling security breach 2
#even if i dislike how theyve been handling this whole mimic cassies dad factory mapbot bonnie bully stuff#the past like 2 releases 3 after sotm#after watching johns theory video it really does feel like stuff was more purposeful with thought put into it when u plug in cassies dad#even if the plot of him being behind mxes and trapping mimic is pushing other more important characters aside#its probably what happened and accepting that makes the story at least seem more thought out#it did make me feel better about it bc like. it at least feels like theyre cooking#like what theyre working on DOES have a direction and a plan and it isnt just random stuff like how it felt when hw2 came out#i might still think that the stuff theyve been doing the past few releases is boring af and uninteresting#compared to earlier concepts like focusing on vanny and the possession aspects and sentient glamrocks#(we could see more of it with freddy if theyd let him come back ever)#but like. at least it has thought put into it and feels like theyre actually trying to set shit up for something#like sotm is an ORIGIN#the tagline was 'sometimes you have to understand the past to see the future'#at the end of the day sotm is a setup for a campaign thatll take place in present day anf#even if its taking ten thousand years to get there im excited for it#aka its taken a long time to tell this story setup of cassies dad and mimic and shit and it might be boring for some people#(me)#but at the end of the day its meant to be setup explaining the past of why mimic exists (even if that's already in tbe books)#so after we 'understand' it we can get back to present day#and focus on its current victims vanessa gregory cassie etc#cassies dad is 100% dead if hw2s protag is him so he woukdnt be relevant anymore. just another character thing to serve cassie#im just saying like after sotm its wide open for getting back to the plot#and i think its actually right to say that bc like all of this has been setup. if hw2 protag is cassies dad its a prequel to ruin#so rn ruin is the most recent game in the timeline. meaning the next game that takes place in current tjme will focus on the current mains#Gregory cassie vanessa#sorry for fnaf plot posting again ive been thinking about it a lot the past few days#thought id balance some negative ive posted with a positive since im feeling better about it myself :)#one day we're gonna be so back and its gonna be great#its just gonna be a long annoying wait lmao#thoughts
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Something I really like about Deltarune's Snowgrave run vs Undertale's genocide run is the fact that the Snowgrave run has a more psychological aspect, while I think Toby's mentioned he deliberately made Undertale's genocide run boring so it'd be less appealing. Like Undertale's genocide run is absolutely eerie, but it's also not really interesting.
Deltarune's Snowgrave run isn't just eerie, I genuinely think an argument could be made for it being psychological horror. Remember, Kris isn't the one giving Noelle orders. The player is. This is evidenced by multiple bits of dialogue from Noelle in the game, as well as Kris's behavior frankly.
I decided to play a Snowgrave run and as someone who's been manipulated and abused, playing a Snowgrave run myself instead of just watching someone else play it is one of the worst gaming experiences I've ever had (not necessarily in a bad way though, the fact that Toby managed to achieve that is astonishing). Through dialogue and visuals, it's made clear in both chapters that Kris isn't in control of their actions, the player is. It's why playing a Snowgrave run is one of the worst gaming experiences I've ever had. Because we're controlling Kris's actions, we're also the ones technically manipulating Noelle, but using Kris as a vessel for it.
Undertale doesn't make a distinction like this, which doesn't just make it not as much of a mindfuck but also means it's not as horrifying unless you overanalyze Undertale. On a surface level, Undertale's genocide run is basically just a regular, less interesting game that includes murder. You don't know these characters (unless of course you've played Undertale before) and killing all of them means that while they are living in fear, it's not for an extended period of time. In Deltarune, you're using Kris as a vessel to tell Kris's friend to freeze people, then kill one of her friends (whether Berdly is permanently dead or not is something we likely won't know until chapter 3, but in the Dark World at least, he's definitely dead, as Snowgrave is fatal).
It's not even that I hate that the Snowgrave run exists; it's great analysis material and adds a great alternate storyline. But dear lord, as someone who's been on the receiving end of abuse and manipulation, it's horrific.
Noelle is ABSOLUTELY traumatized from the entire ordeal
It's very possible that Kris is also traumatized from the Snowgrave route; it's (no so subtly) implied that Kris's soul is what allows us to control them and they rip it out of their chest at the end of both chapters. Kris knows they're not in control of their actions when they have their soul. Can you imagine how traumatizing it was for them to be controlled into doing something they probably didn't want to do? (It's also worth noting that the "Kris is just a vessel for the player" thing was clear as early as the character creation stage of chapter 1, as the character you're told to create is referred to as a "vessel")
Susie's probably traumatized. Seeing Noelle as upset as she is? Hearing her recount everything like it's implied (and who knows if Noelle mentioned Kris or the "terrifying voice" to her)? Hell, she even says "Somehow, it doesn't feel like we just saved the world..." at the end of a Snowgrave run.
Queen being sad that nobody's around is heartbreaking frankly.
You can't tell me Ralsei doesn't know something happened because of a severe lack of recruits. Similarly, you can't convince me that wouldn't be traumatizing for him.
There's definitely more but I'm tired
Conclusion: Deltarune's Snowgrave route is a psychological horror game and nothing will change my mind
#deltarune#deltarune analysis#deltarune snowgrave#toby fox is too good at making games. hes too powerful someone stop him#ALSO AN ARGUMENT COULD BE MADE FOR KRIS HIDING BERDLY IN THE CLOSET OF THE LIBRARY'S COMPUTER LAB???????????#when you inspect the closet it says 'A large person could easily fit inside' and kris cleans everything up before leaving the lab#i know it could just be something toby decided to add#but also i wouldn't be surprised if its setting up for the next chapter#tw abuse#tw manipulation
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Tagged for fuck it Friday by @lover-of-mine @wildlife4life @thewolvesof1998 and @daffi-990! Was organizing my fic folder and found a several month old doc labeled ? that had this in it. I’m not sure what it is? I think it’s Buck invited Philip to a barbecue at Bobby’s and it was going to be Eddie and Bobby being like boo we hate that man but privately to each other until Philip is an asshole to Buck and they jump in to defend him? Eddie and Buck are together I’m pretty sure because it seems like I’m heavily implying Philip just called him a slur asdfg sorry Buck…. Anyway I haven’t written much else since the last tag game so here you go
Eddie and Bobby’s heads both turn like it’s an automated movement when there are gasps across the yard. Buck is leaning against the patio wall, not facing his father, eyes bright and a stunned grimace-smile splitting his face in half.
“Oh,” he says. “This was a mistake.” A horrible little laugh. “Sorry- sorry everyone.”
“Oh, come on, Evan,” Philip says, looking half embarrassed and half annoyed. “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”
Buck looks at him in disbelief. “How could you have possibly meant it?”
"You always liked girls! A bit too much, I'd even say. You were on the football team for Christ's sake."
Buck laughs, still humorless, and shakes his head, and Eddie sees this up close because he'd started moving without really realizing it, and now he's at Buck's side and Bobby is at his back. "What does that- how does that have anything to do with-"
Tagging @forthewolves @buckactuallys @shitouttabuck @jeeyuns @watchyourbuck @bigfootsmom
#tag games#fuck it friday#got an ask about buck joins the team younger au and did start actually writing something for it#but so far its just set up and not anything particularly juicy and I have to go do other things#so maybe I’ll get that sharable by next week
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