#or better yet get the game and experience it firsthand!

[golvio]

I absolutely LOVE how they reworked the Stranger’s route and design! It’s so much better than anything we saw in the demo! The themes of that chapter cohere so beautifully, and the Princess’ final design is so wonderfully nightmarish that I infinitely prefer it to even the first Stranger design. Abby and Tony really outdid themselves here, I can tell Nichole had a lot of fun doing the voicework for this chapter, and kudos to the sound mixer who handled Johnny’s lines for the part where everything starts happening all at once!

[yandere-daze]

This is probably the most niche thing I have ever posted but I just finished playing Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane ( a game you should totally play btw!!) and I have many horrible thoughts about this man. I´m going to go insane if I don´t put this out into the world sooo... here we go!

I also feel like at some parts it kind of doubles as a character study so take that, I guess?

MAJORS SPOILERS FOR TYRION CUTHBERT: ATTORNY OF THE ARCANE! Please play the game!

3.4k words

gn reader

tw yandere, stalking, manipulation, murder, societal pressure, guilt-tripping, obsession

General Yandere! Aster Headcanons

So Aster himself is a very interesting character in my opinion. He´s very idealistic and sees the corruption of the nobility in the kingdom to be completely unacceptable. He cares a great deal about the commonfolk and because of that, the crown prince is very well-liked by the public, even before he becomes the king

Compared to many other nobles who are haughty, arrogant, or intimidating, Aster gives off the vibes of someone who is very friendly and approachable. Something about him just feels different in comparison.

And it is this friendly and open-minded appearance that would make his darling feel more at ease when approaching him to talk. Talking to Aster just doesn´t feel as scary or annoying as having to speak with other nobles. His positive attitude actually makes conversing with him an enjoyable experience

I think it might actually be more likely for him to fall for a commoner instead of a noble. Nobles in the court are cutthroat and only interested in their own wealth and power and Aster is just sick of that. You being a commoner means that there´s a better chance for you to actually be an honest and hard-working person, something I think he would want in a partner.

If you are a commoner, you might accidentally meet him when Aster is out and visiting the city for once. As we can see in Chapter 3, he would try to hide his identity as the crown prince from you if you don´t recognize him. He much prefers you talking to him as if he was simply any other person as opposed to you bowing down before him and carefully choosing your words if you were to find out who he was. He would instruct the Kingsguard to follow him a bit more discreetly, so as not to catch your eye and to never openly acknowledge his title when in your presence. He´d hate for this casualness with you to be destroyed like that.

You two talk about your daily life and the struggles you face ( him being very careful and vague when talking about his own profession, as he doesn´t want you to find out about his rank). Even though he gives off a cheerful and exciteable impression, he is indeed listening very carefully to what you have to say and makes sure to memorize it all. He needs to know everything there is to know about you, needs to know all of your preferences and opinions.

He listens especially carefully when you mention your frustrations with the nobility, how they wield all the power and money in the world and keep it to themselves while the common folk have to slave away while worrying about if they can afford the roof above their heads this month. His gaze noticeably darkens for a moment as he hears this but it´s quickly gone when he nods his head and agrees with what you´re saying. The nobility is a blight on this land.

It´s very frustrating for Aster to hear this because he knows it´s true. His visits have shown him firsthand how bad daily life for the common folk can be. He has seen with his own eyes how the members of noble houses can get away with absolutely anything. Even the justice system protects them, all their crimes are simply swept under the rug or an innocent civilian is forced to take the fall for them. It´s atrocious and Aster is so frustrated that nothing is done about it. He wants things to change but he´s only the crown prince, he doesn´t yet have the power to change things. He needs to bide his time until he becomes king and then he will rip all these corrupt off their power.

But it´s still quite some time until then so for now, he needs to focus on what he can do while he´s still powerless.

Hearing you speak about wanting to make the world a better place for the common folk in your own way with such conviction really resonates with Aster. All his life, he´s been surrounded by vultures trying to curry favor with him for when he ascends the throne in the future. He has seen countless forced smiles and false promises but he can see in your eyes that you speak with truth and honesty. And he can´t help but really resonate with that. He likes talking with someone like-minded that doesn´t treat him differently, someone that he can be himself around.

Aster can´t help but visit the city more frequently from then on, telling his father that he has important business to attend to there as an excuse. Well, it´s not really a lie, is it? Seeking you out couldn´t be any more important to him.

You´re quite surprised by how often you seem to randomly see Aster nowadays when you hadn´t at all seen him before but maybe he just moved in recently? You don´t know that he secretly orders guards to follow you around daily to then report to him what you did all day. As much as it pains him, he can´t simply go out every single day so hearing about your day is the next best thing. This way, he also gets to learn about the things you do in your day-to-day life or the things you do when you think no one is watching. Oh, how he longs to have been there himself, just watching you! His heart yearns for you and yet his princely duties often leave him way too busy to visit you as often as he would like to. But well, at least he always knows exactly where to find you if he ever finds himself with enough free time <3

But well, there is one very simple but very big problem with this situation, aside from him being the crown prince and you a commoner. He has been in an arranged marriage for years now. Ever since they were little, Aria Steelwind, a noble of one of the four main noble houses has been promised to him. And he has never been more disgruntled by this than now.

Sure, he did respect Aria in some ways. Instead of simply living her cozy noble life, she took her own path as a prosecutor to fight for justice within the corruption that is their justice system. She´s the only prosecutor willing to arrest a noble for their crimes and yet, her actions change so very little. What a naive fool she is to think that working within the system is going to have any sort of lasting impact.

No, Aster knows better. He has seen his father having to make all sorts of compromises to not displease the nobility when introducing changes. What was left were only hollow words and small changes. Small changes would never be enough to truly change this world for the better. Aster knows that if he wants things to change, he will have to take things into his own hands

From there on out, things would go over much like in the game during case 5, which is why this is my last major spoiler warning. Please do not continue reading from here if you don´t want the game spoiled for you as I will discuss the events happening at the end here.

Alright, so. Case 5. Naturally, for the sake of continuing this headcanon post, I´ll have to change up things a bit because otherwise, Aster is a little bit too dead to continue plaguing his darling afterwards. So let´s assume that in this timeline, Aster actually gets away with his crimes for one reason or another.

He used Aria´s affection and love for him and tricked her into signing a blood contract by disguising it as a marriage license. Now, Aster has full control over her mind and body, her soul forever his to use. And he didn´t hesitate for even a moment to use her as a means to further his own goals.

It was way too easy to use the contract to control her body, forcing her to go out and kill several important nobles attending the king´s funeral while he stayed behind, creating an alibi for himself. And truly, after several witnesses saw Aria kill these pesky nobles, who would ever think the new king would have anything to do with it? He wasn´t even close to any of the crime scenes!

And of course, it´s even easier to completely erase Aria´s memories of what took place. And now that he has completely covered his tracks, no one can prove that Aster had anything to do with it.

By doing all of this, Aster has killed two birds with one stone: He has successfully killed two heads of four of the main noble houses and his fianceé is going to prison for what she has done, effectively ending their engagement. Now Aster is the one sitting on the throne with the noble houses significantly weakened without a family head to guide them, making them less of a threat to his power. Now that he has all the power, he will change the kingdom for the better.

Of course, the common folk only learn about the fact that Aster has ascended the throne with the news kindly leaving out the fact that a massacre had taken place. Still, with this new information getting out it´s almost impossible for you not to learn of Aster´s true identity. All this time, the person you had been conversing with so casually was the then-prince, now-king of this kingdom. To say you´re shocked would be an understatement. What are you supposed to do now? Oh, you can´t even begin to think about how many times you must have disrespected him by speaking to him as if he were simply any other person. Surely nobles must have some sort of rules regarding addressing people, no?

Oh, you must have embarrassed yourself thoroughly in front of him! But then again, he was very nice when he was talking to you and even enjoyed joking around. So maybe he was different? You weren´t quite sure but thinking about it that way made things easier for you.

To say you were shocked when King Aster de Wyverngarde stood in front of your door one day would be a grave understatement. You don´t know what to say or what to do, now that you know who he truly was. Are you supposed to bow down in front of him? I mean he´s the king so you probably should, right?

Aster merely sighs disappointedly when you clumsily bow down in front of him.

"There´s no need for such formalities. We´re close, right? You don´t need to bow down in front of me."

"But.. you´re the king, right? I mean, it feels weird to talk to you so normally now."

He´s quite saddened to hear this. He knew this would be how you would react if you found out the truth, it´s the very reason why he went to such lengths to prevent you from finding out.

"Don´t worry, nothing has changed between the both of us. May I take you for a walk?"

He smiles and offers his arm to you, only nodding his head and assuring you that it´s fine when you seem to hesitate. So you go along and let him lead you out of your home and into the bustling center of the city, where the streets are filled with people. Naturally, everyone gathers outside and cheers when they see the new king walking along the streets.

Aster is very well-liked by the common folk for his open and honest demeanor and his willingness to help them. Everyone has high hopes for him, believing that he will be the one to finally make things fairer for them, the one to push back against the corrupt nobles using them for their own gain. And well, in one way or another, they´re certainly right about that. Aster doesn´t hesitate when it comes to removing vultures feeding off of other´s hard work.

After getting over their initial excitement over seeing the beloved king, people begin to notice that you´re holding onto his arm as he walks you around town with a wide smile on his face and people begin whispering amongst themselves. Who are you and why are you with the prince? Judging from your clothes, you are a commoner just like them so how do you know him? And young Aster seems to be holding you awfully close, is something going on there? Everyone has heard that the engagement with Aria Steelwind fell through because she had turned out to be just as corrupt as all the other nobles, breaking Aster´s heart. Were you his new love? It would certainly be something for the king to be in love with a commoner.

You´re beginning to notice the people whispering and you get quite uncomfortable at their staring when Aster suddenly stops and turns around to face you. You almost walk right into his arms at the sudden stop, a sheepish look on your face. Aster simply smiles and takes one of your hands into his, staring right into your eyes.

And then the rug is pulled from right under your feet as Aster gets down on one knee, the crowd quickly bursting into cheers as he pulls out a small little box and presents it to you.

"My love", he begins speaking and you feel your heart plummet into your stomach. You notice that he seems to be talking quite loudly on purpose, as the crown quickly reacts to his words, growing silent as to listen carefully.

" We have known each other for a long time now. We had to hide and share our love in secret. But from this day onward, I want us to show ourselves to the rest of the world, to let them see the love and devotion we have for one another."

You´re just standing there, frozen in shock, almost incapable of processing his words. Our love? Just what was he talking about?!

"As you well know, I have gone through immense heartbreak in the past, I have had my trust and heart broken once before but with you, I want to start over. I trust you completely and vow to be by your side for all eternity if you will have me. I love you more than anything, my love. Will you give me the honor of taking me as your husband?"

The atmosphere is tense, the people around you holding their breath in anticipation but some voices still ring out from inside the crowd.

"I can´t believe it, a king proposing to a commoner! His love for them must be so strong, it´s so romantic!"

"The king is such a kind and benevolent soul, they must be overcome with happiness right now! Look, I think they´re on the verge of tears!"

"It truly is terrible what happened with his past engagement. To be betrayed like that, His Majesty must have been beside himself with grief. He deserves this new chance at love."

You hear voices ringing out all around you, and you feel completely overwhelmed, unsure of what you should do now. Everyone looks at you so expectantly, everyone is practically screaming at you to say yes and yet, that´s not what you want. You´ve never even thought about marrying Aster, to have this sprung on you so suddenly is terrifying. You feel like you´re losing your grip on yourself when you suddenly feel a squeezing feeling on your hand.

With a start, you look down to see Aster holding your hand tightly, enacting almost an excruciating amount of pressure. The look on his face is more akin to a smirk now than the soft and innocent look he had before. He knows that there´s no way you could say no under these circumstances. By dragging you out into a public area he has forced your hand to agree to his proposal.

What foolish commoner would ever reject a king? It would be a blatant show of disrespect and they would surely be shunned by their peers for being so ungrateful. Furthermore, Aster had a great reputation amongst the common folk, no one would show you any sympathy if you tried telling them that he was lying about you being in love. Who would ever believe you over the ruler of this country? If they´re being charitable they would chalk up your protests to being shy about the entire ordeal.

You´d also have to be a real monster to reject King Aster´s heartfelt declaration of love after he had already been betrayed by his past fianceé not very long ago. How could you hurt him after what he went through? Of course, no one knows what really happened with Aria, no one knows how Aster was the one who used and manipulated her. The truth had been conveniently hidden from the public and twisted to serve his own goals. After all, who would want a known murderer sitting on the throne?

And it is through all this pressure that you finally crumble, a solemn expression on your face as you mutter the word Aster had been wanting to hear you say so desperately.

"Yes", you relent.

The dark expression on his face immediately vanishes and he gets up from his kneeing position, wrapping one arm around you while using his other hand to slide the ring on your finger. This is the happiest day in his life and sooner or later, you will see this his way.

Naturally, after what you had just witnessed, the facade is gone and you no longer see Aster as an innocent and kind person only looking out for the best of others. You don´t learn about the true darkness within him and the crimes he has committed in the name of "doing what needs to be done", but you know that he can´t be fully trusted.

Aster is of course saddened by this because he wants you to love him just as much as he loves you but he figures that there´s nothing to be done about it now. You will simply grow to love him in time, there is no other option for you now. Your fate is already sealed, how would you ever get away from the king and more importantly, your fiance? You two are engaged and everyone knows about it, he made sure that the news would be spread fast. A king marrying a commoner is very unorthodox and almost scandalous but if anything, it only makes the common folk trust him even more.

Now that you´re engaged, Aster won´t let you stay at your old home anymore, he sends a carriage to immediately pick you up and take you to the castle where you will be living for the rest of your days. There, he will try to spend as much time with you as possible within his very busy schedule. He believes that sooner or later, you will come around to your new life. He understands that this must be all very shocking for you right now but he´s sure you will get used to it.

In the meantime, he will gift you anything you might ever wish for. Anything to get you accustomed to your new life by his side, anything to win back your favor after the stunt he had pulled when proposing to you.

Rest assured though that he´ll never let you wander away from him too far. You´ll spend most of your time within the castle walls and when he can´t be with you, he will still send guards to trail behind you and keep you safe while also keeping tabs on you.

He tries to be soft with you, trying really hard to gain back your trust. He quite likes holding you close, holding your hand, or kissing your cheek. It feels so romantic. This is the love he had been denied all his life, this is what he always wanted.

Naturally, he won´t let anyone interfere with your relationship. You are his and anyone that thinks differently has to be removed. He has no remorse when it comes to getting rid of any perceived rivals, though he wouldn´t get his hands dirty himself. Anyone that defies him must be removed, it´s the only way that he can build his ideal world, a world in which you are by his side forevermore.

[taralen]

🔥HOT TAKE: Spamton was always unhinged, but the phone incident made it worse.

(A theory by an actual insane person.)

I often see people think insanity is something that just happens and that all sufferers were totally sane before. This isn't necessarily true for a lot of people who truly suffer from debilitating mental illnesses. While some mental illnesses can be largely attributed to trauma (especially PTSD), others are "sleepers" that were always kind of there but escalated over time. Some of the most severe mental illnesses stigmatized by society (psychopathy, bipolar type 1, and schizophrenia) can have genetic predispositions. Being an oddball out of all the Addisons, it's highly likely he was already "predisposed" to becoming totally unhinged, almost like a game with bad code (ex, Yandere Simulator) that is prone to crashing or glitching out due to the code being faulty in the first place.

Spamton's personality type also made him susceptible to developing problems later on in his life. He shows the classic signs of someone who falls into personality types that are ambitious yet overly critical (i.e., Personality Type A.) Being too critical of yourself and others can lead to some rabbit-hole-level reasoning that pulls your psyche deeper into your own mind, causing reality and perception to blur.

The one pulling the strings elevated him and satisfied his desire for success. When this was taken away from him, his entire self-worth and sense of being were destroyed. Spamton was never not ambitious. The fact he took such a dubious call and offer shows his desperate, unhinged nature. Maybe it wasn't severe enough yet to consider "insane," but he was impulsive and didn't think it through. Impulsivity and lack of control are more classical symptoms of someone at risk of or already suffering from a mental illness.

When he finally snaps, he gets so unfathomably unstable that people finally acknowledge him as being truly "mad." This is largely due to him expressing and experiencing all the hallmarks of mania.

Now, let me say this as someone who experiences mania firsthand. Mania is something you cannot control, and it's like falling in and out of consciousness when it's severe. People experience it differently, but it feels like being on a stimulant drug without needing to take anything. Spamton does all the following (which are associated with mania):

Talks rapidly and usually about himself.

Uncontrollable and inappropriate laughter.

Grandiosity (BIG SHOT!!!)

Impulsivity and risky behavior. (He invites someone he literally just met into his place without fearing any consequences.)

Irritability Now, take your understanding of what these are and dial it up with hyperactivity, racing thoughts, and feeling like you're half-dreaming. Congrats! You now have a better idea of what mania is.

His moments of lucidity are characterized by bouts of sadness and self-loathing. This is caused by a lull or (worse) a crash from mania. Severity depends, but it's something also uncontrollable.

What the phone incident did was make him unable to regulate himself, and so all his high-risk traits come to the centerfold. It doesn't help, either, that he was abandoned by his friends. Without social interactions, symptoms can become worse, which is why he's manic damn near 99% of the time.

This is a lot, but my hope is that it reframes how some people may interpret the character through someone who deals with mirroring issues.

💛

[taffybee]

not that anyone's asking BUT my hot take on giovanni is he should be retired rn. not from like a "the pokemon company should stop talking about him" (weeeeelll that's sort of part of it but. hear me out) kind of way BUT in a. he should LITERALLY not be doing team rocket shit in ANY canon universe anymore. and it would be TOTALLY in-character of him to do so if the medias still using him characterized him the way he should be. welcome to my ted talk let me explain myself

FULL DISCLOSURE: i like giovanni. like, a not normal amount i fear. all of that opening sounds like i don't but i totally feel stupid emotions about this guy. anyways:

GEN 1. gen 1 games are like... NOT known for their compelling dialogue. and in cases like archie and maxie in gen 3 getting remakes in gen 6, their characterization and dialogue gets (kind of subjectively but i feel this is a popular opinion anyways) Much Better. i think that goes for a Lot of stuff where they give old guys new dialogue in spin offs (gestures at masters ex which i think is Great for making characters Actually Interesting)

but i feel like with giovanni there's been a DOWNGRADE in character since his appearance because he no longer Progresses.

i WILL say masters ex does Some Work to try and make him Deeper than just "I'm Evil for the sake of Being Evil grahgghh 😈" but it's like. overshadowed by All The Other Stuff.

plus he IS rainbow rocket giovanni in masters and i'm like OBSESSEDDD with team rainbow rocket. but i also don't think it should. Exist. I'M GLAD IT DOES but i find it out of character for giovanni to do At All. I CAN EXPLAIN I PROMISE.

team rocket's goals as an organization are and always have been: make money via stealing or otherwise exploiting pokémon. that's all it NEEDED to be. because it was gen 1 and no one needed to be ripping apart the universe yet.

giovanni himself sees pokemon as a means to an end. that much has stayed consistent in all of his appearances. but what CHANGES things in what happens when he LOSES for the FINAL TIME in r/b/y:

I WILL DEDICATE MY LIFE TO THE STUDY OF POKEMON. that's like CRAZY sort of redemption. and you Could argue against me to say "well have you considered he was lying" and i Have but i think it's SO much cooler if he was being legit. if he was so Changed by losing So Many Times to a little boy who just cared So Much for his pokémon that he needed to experience that for himself.

I mentioned in my previous giovanni post that pokémon origins has characterized giovanni "right" and THAT'S because via continuously fighting red and seeing his passion for battling as well as his love of pokémon firsthand, giovanni rediscovers his lost passion for pokémon that he had when HE was younger, and he sees HIMSELF in who red is and decides to disband team rocket after their gym battle so he can turn his life around. i HIGHLY recommend watching episode 3 of origins if you haven't seen it. it's freaking Marvelous.

ANYWAYS. THIS is the characterization of giovanni i support the MOST because it's not terribly complicated but still has nice depth to his character that you could read into.

BUT if we're going by this characterization of him, he should. NOT BE DOING TEAM ROCKET STUFF NOW! he SHOULD have been retired storywise by game freak after that and retired job-wise. studying pokémon and touching grass.

but THEN. gen 2 happens. (... well, gen 2 and the first gens 1/2 remakes.)

gen 2 introduces the concept of "let's bring giovanni back". which i wouldn't complain about if giovanni wasn't ALSO trying to get back. WHY. WE ESTABLISHED IN THE FIRST GAME HE'S DONE. and gen 2 didn't DIRECTLY SAY giovanni was up to come back (as far as i'm aware, i did NOT play gsc, someone correct me if i'm wrong). but when frlg released, they Changed dialogue from the original to FIT this idea:

NOW "studying pokemon" has become "training". there IS no character development for him here, he JUST wants to get stronger to be a Better mob boss. and this is supported by the celebi time travel event where he's ABOUT to rejoin team rocket before you beat him

the big problem with this (and any giovanni dialogue in the time travel event) for me is that it frames everything that happened to him in gen 1 as "giovanni wasn't a good enough mob boss then but now that he's had some time to Train he's ready to be a Better Mob Boss" WRONG! THAT WAS NEVER THE ISSUE!! part of the pros of team rocket at its peak was that giovanni was Unknown to most and could direct operations in the shadows AND he could keep his business as a gym leader because NO ONE KNEW. but now EVERYONE knows and team rocket can LITERALLY NEVER REACH THAT PEAK AGAIN. the ONLY CORRECT thing to do in this situation is Disband and Do Other Shit (cough cough study pokémon and touch grass cough cough)

this seems obvious to me that this desire to keep dragging him back into things is the games way of being like "woaahh!! callback time!!" and then later down the line "woaaahh!! nostalgia time!!!" (because they wouldn't have retconned that final gen 1 dialogue if it wasn't) and while i can Appreciate it to a degree (because i am Not Immune to getting STUPID EXCITED when old blorbos show up) i think continuing to make giovanni show up to Be Evil isn't the way to go about it. or at LEAST not canon timeline giovanni.

and the gen 1/2 remakes for ME is like... the beginning of the issue, but as we've gotten Further Away from gen 1 in time, the more i feel they stray from where he ended in the original in favor of making him More Blandly Evil. he feels constrained to one-liners about how the worlds an EVIL PLACE and he's just playing the game or whatever alpha sigma shit he's on in the masters trainer lodge

rainbow rocket is kind of CRAZY to me because they take this mob boss who likes exploiting pokemon and scientists for money and they make him start. opening interdimensional bad ending au wormholes to take over the world with aliens. (also having him willing to share the power with all the other evil bosses, some who have in their universes Successfully taken over the world??? heeeellll no. not even my proposed toned down characterization of this guy would be cool with that realistically.) it all just seems to be Way Beyond what team rocket SHOULD be doing. they're The Mafia. making The Mafia open wormholes is CRAZY. but giovanni HAS to be the main guy because. Nostalgia.

idk how much sense i make when i say this but when you make team rocket less cunning and less focused on doing their work in the shadows and running their shady operations stealthily. you get. a more ambitious team skull. and there's nothing WRONG with team skull but it's NOT WHAT TEAM ROCKET IS SUPPOSED TO BE. they've got more of a reputation than that but modern depictions of giovanni and the organization as a whole water him down to "i love Causing Problems" and less "i love Good Business"

whatever. giovanni in modern depictions MAKES SENSE if you followed along the slow regression of his character in real time. but i feel like if you look where he is now and look where he Ended in r/b/y you have like. Two Different Characters. and i think having a redeemed or even kind-of-half-redeemed giovanni could be SO much more interesting in showing up again than having him be Generally Evil

AND IT'S NOT LIKE THAT REALLY POSES ISSUES FOR MASTERS EX. cyrus is half-reformed WITHIN the story. archie and maxie too (although they were already kind of like that). lysandre HAS an evil moment but he DOESN'T DIE like he does in canon and THEN he's FINE. he still "runs" team flare but he's NOT LONGER A THREAT TO THE PROTAGONISTS

what i think COULD'VE been cool in some hypothetical scenario is have giovanni come back for cameos but Not as team rocket's leader. have him Turn Down the rocket admin radio broadcast. hell, having him come back to help the player Stop Them if he feels particularly annoyed. LET THAT MAN GO ON VACATION. WHATEVER. there's SO MUCH you can do with him the way cameos are done for the Other non-evil characters and there are options where you could Still battle him as a Test Of Strength but THERE'S JUST. SO MUCH WRONG WITH HIM STILL BEING OVERTLY EVIL.

i understand keeping giovanni evil for nostalgia. i Get it i PROMISE i do. i just think it makes him a weaker character, and the companies sacrifice character development for sales. but if you wanted to have a bad guy who was JUST BAD and would CONTINUE to be bad if given the chance,

GHETSIS IS. RIGHT THERE.

that's the end of that for me i think. i'm SO down to discuss or debate this take for fun. i just think giovanni should retire and pet his cat because it's funny.

[crusherthedoctor]

👛 your favorite rare pair?

♟️a character you feel is overrated?

🐇 longest fandom you’ve been in?

👛 - your favourite rare pair?

EggmanXMyPen

Because who else can I trust with him. :'<

♟️ - a character you feel is overrated?

The usual faces:

The IDW cast, cause they get hyped up as the best characters of all time despite them being idiots, cunts, or idiot cunts. Some of them could have been promising had things turned out differently, but others were doomed to be shite from the start.

Scourge, cause he's the lamest take imaginable on an already boring premise. (What if Sonic... WaS eViL???)

Nine and Thorn, cause these two are held up as defining examples of Tails and Amy, which makes me a sad-but-not-surprised panda.

Mephiles, cause outside of Dan Green's voice, he's another poorly written villain of many who people treat as though he's somehow better than the rest when he's not.

The End, cause it's as nothing and artificially hyped as the rest of the plot it's part of.

The Freedom Fighters, cause folk believe so vehemently that they deserve special privileges, and are somehow more integral to Sonic than the actual game-born characters. They go on about their perceived legacy, when you could say the same thing about AoStH characters, Underground characters, etc, yet they never get this level of deification.

Silver, cause despite disapproving of his off portrayals in the comics, I've never cared for his in-character portrayal either. And his design still doesn't work in execution.

Sage, cause she's as compelling as watching grass grow, and bastardizes Eggman's character all the while. (I don't care what their intention was, they really should have predicted how the fandom would react to it, and they've continued pandering to the Eggdad crowd on occasion even after the fact. Until Eggdad gets more thoroughly debunked in-universe, a lot of the rationalizations surrounding it currently sound like copium to me... like a lot of handwaves for Sonic "Best Story Since Black Knight" Frontiers in general.)

More controversially, while I do respect Shadow, even if he's never been one of my top favourites, I kind of resent how the attention given to him always comes at other characters' expense. I also don't appreciate when, in the process of fans hyping up and down how deep/complex/etc he is, they usually dismiss Sonic, Eggman, and most of the others while doing so, because they're perceived to be simpler, ergo they consider them lesser. Being the Eggfan that I am, you can imagine why I'd take offense to this.

🐇 - longest fandom you've been in?

I guess Crash and Spyro and Gex would qualify, since I grew up with a PS1. As Sonic-pilled as I would eventually become, my knowledge and firsthand experience with the latter was non-existent until 2003.

[mantisgodsdomain]

The results are IN, and you guys are...

...going after our D&D game's most unconventional open relationship??? Okay, we GUESS. Your prize is lore about this lovely couple!

L2tM is... Moon, or at least some version of her. A story you know, perhaps all too well. Drowning in her own body, again and again, a tiny fragment of a god trapped between the ribs of her own body. Left alone, her story would have been much the same - a slow, painful decay, stuck in a fallen body.

Years of rot, waiting for a lifeline for a structure already collapsed, from a brother already dying. A heart restarted in something barely a step removed from a corpse. A slow march to death.

An iterator is a monument. A solution. A tool, for that which mortals cannot solve. A left-over artefact from a world long since gone, for a purpose already passed. A memorial for the dead, written in a language that the living cannot understand. Left unmaintained, a structure can do nothing but erode.

The only difference between a person and an object is the capacity to act. Lying in the remains of her own body, Looks to the Moon was a corpse waiting to be pronounced dead.

In any other universe, she would have laid there for years more. In this one, she was given a chance. An offer, an opportunity - the ability to wrench her heart from her chest, and to turn one, single, infinitesimally small fragment of herself mortal.

An iterator is not mortal. An iterator is divine, unchanging. Where mortal flesh may change a million times in a lifetime, an iterator is set from the moment it has made, its capacity for change infinitesimally small and made over an impossibly long period of time. An iterator is a mountain, an ecosystem in and of themself, the mind of billions and trillions of individual organisms, a landscape, a god in flesh and gold-wired cable.

An iteration is hundreds of billions of trillions of miles of fibre-optic cables, of void-fluid pipes, of microstrata and neurons that keep it functioning. A single organism, to an iterator, is a drop in an ocean - a trillionth of themself, if that, a gear so small as to be insignificant.

To grasp at mortality, they would have to slice themself down to bone and then further. To fragment themself to a single piece of marrow. To dig up roots so deep as to be part of the landscape, cut an oak tree to a single sprout of green. What mountain would

Looks to the Moon was a puppet and a handful of neurons, the last part of the corpse to not yet realize it had died. The mountain that had already crumbled had little fear of becoming a pebble, and the barest fragment of her left found no reason to refuse.

The iterator Looks to the Moon perished, and the slugcat crafted from her pieces took its first breath in her wake.

To be mortal was to be different. Things were faster, now, than they had ever been, more deadly, more thrilling - for she was now so small, now, so tiny that a single swat of the mind that had once been her could have undone her, so minuscule that even the slightest of creatures to roam her once-facilities could threaten her. She fumbled into life with clumsy paws, learning the cycle firsthand, life and death and blood and hunger. She stumbled into the inglorious world, into the remnants of her body, and she began to learn.

There was pain, sharper than she had ever felt before. There was hunger, gnawing its way into belly and bone. There was joy, and rage, and fear, and love, and every emotion in between, so much sharper than she had ever felt before. An iterator was holy, was sacred, was a church without space for the rote and inglorious - in her body of steel, she had had no capacity for any emotion as strong, any state as fleeting, any thought as paper-thin or temporary, but now, all of that was stripped away, life laid bare as a stripped copper wire.

He was inexperienced. But he would get better.

He would laugh. He would cry. He would experience near every emotion his new body could produce, running the range and then some, his new nerves stripped of any callous that age could have formed in face of a body that had never known the ever-numbing tides of immortality.

He would hunt. He would scavenge. He would die, over and over again, and he would learn with each death. The cycle ever spun, guiding him back to his body again and again - he wandered the halls of a corpse, and he found new joy in the remains of the old, that which was once his own body now so vast as to be incomprehensible. He would be wrapped by pole plants, devoured by lizards, trapped beneath rubble and pulled out by lanky-limbed arthropods that would strip the awkward limb of metal from his back with practiced paws.

They experienced the world, in all of its imperfect, jagged, messy facets. And they fell deeply, deeply in love.

To be mortal was to feel -- and they loved to feel, all the joy and hate and sorrow. To be mortal was to act - and they loved to act, to splash in the waves without a care or to feel the rusted metal beneath their paws as they climbed and leapt and ran. To be mortal was to live - and they, the slugcat, the living-thing, the beast-of-god's-flesh, loved simply living, flawed and chaotic in all of its beautiful ways.

They would polish their body from its rusted husk, spend their own skin to defend those who had once cared for them. They would gorge themself on food and drink they never could have dreamed of before now, a whole new sense they simply didn't possess before. They would learn new languages, speak until their mouth was dry and their throat hurt, basking in the camaraderie of new companions. They would discover the basest desires of their new body and set out to discover every new nook and cranny, novelty and connection in one. They would paint their paws with blood and pain and adrenaline, a thrill beyond anything that immortal life had ever offered to them.

And the life they so loved, the many delights and horrors in which they so indulged, would look back.

Inv, Enot, Sofanthiel, however many names you might call it - was a fickle thing, for it stood for the Cycle and the Urges, the inglorious truth of living, its highs and its lows. The Wheel of Fortune, come to earth, unpredictable and prone to indulgence in all the most base of the ways that their Domain spoke of, met a thing that was once a mountain, and that which had already fallen for life fell once more.

Their relationship is... unconventional. The short-lived and mortal can only pass the divine in strands, brief crossings of paths - and yet, Moon and Enot's would cross again, and again, and again. Though they're never joined for long, though they might seek out other partners or live other lives, they still return - past sense, past logic, past even the advent of reincarnation.

A mortal thing, no longer chained to the landscape of her corpse, Moon could have moved on, could have Ascended - and yet, she remained. To live an immortal life, now that she had tasted the ephemeral thrill of mortality, seemed a chain. She had lived as a tree trapped in a flower pot for ever so long, rooted within the landscape and yet never truly able to reach out and touch it, and now she had seen what it was to run and love and exist, and she could not return to the numbness, not now that she had tasted the light.

She cycled, once, her ties to her body finally eroding. Reincarnated, again, and then again, the ever-turning cycle of the world never ceasing. She lived, again and again and again, crossing paths with the god time after time, tying herself closer and closer to the ever-shifting mortal, until eventually she tied herself too tight to leave.

With this dating choice, you tie yourself to that which is life, and that which has loved life too deeply to ever truly die. Though this is likely to just be a brief fling for all of you involved - the timescale that Enot operates on is too great for anything to move beyond "brief", after all, and Moon has grown too restless to ever be satisfied by any one state - you may follow, but she will never remain in one place for long, and no matter how long you follow her tides, you cannot force her to stop them form you.

In this life, she may care for you. In the next one, she may not. Hopefully, you're the sort of person that's content with that, because if not, then this situation might kind of suck for you. Ah, well. Congratulations on the throuple!

[39oa]

814 fic rec pls... i trust ur taste so much

omg anon i'm flattered... i'm somewhat self-conscious talking about fic online because i never know what an author's comfort level is with their stuff getting linked off ao3 but i will share below the cut :')

first of all my very unofficial not-real and made-up rule of thumb is that all 814 anonfic is amazing and i have no clue why. apparently being reluctant to associate your username with twinklaren shipping endeavors means your writing will hit for me every single time... anyway without further do:

814 | Communication? The Kardigans | Long Gone | 4:18 by anonymous (t)

one of the first fics i ever read when i was still unconvinced of the sustainability of 814 as a ship and it really is sooo masterfully formatted and conceived. i'm a sucker for mixed media/epistolary elements but especially when some of the formatting is a bit unexpected, and i'm obsessed with the spotify usage in this and how fun the dialogue/banter is!!!

better off not knowing by anonymous (m)

i feel like i've written enough manifestos on how maxf/op are the perfect foils for landoshipping so U already know. this is incredible especially because outsider pov is one of my favorite narrative devices and i love toxic codependence undercut by stagnancy and repressive bitterness. ok i probably sound insane rn but it really is great and the dialogue is so punchy!

when you place your head between my collar and jaw by ashleycoleslaw (m)

dearest user piastrisms not only makes the best gifs but is also an incredible writer who has a wealth of fic to check out, i truly recommend all of them but i will throw you this witty yet impressively measured self-discovery fic for now. i love how she captures their personalities and oscar's inner voice soo much ❤️

grand theft august by anonymous (e)

another anon masterpiece 😩 as per the fic tags i feel like op is truly unbeatable at capturing Ultimate Lando Cringe, i really love how effortlessly woven their prose reads and how they capture all these perfect little minute details that make it clear they understand their individual characters super well. v much enjoyed myself!!!

pressing buttons by peachbellini (e)

i have no clue how to describe this because it's what it says on the tin (sex tape fic) but it's so genuinely funny and cute, just super full of personality and i love how well it explores the mortifying ordeal of being Lando Norris. truly love fic that forces us to experience firsthand how harrowing it is for 814 to share 1 functioning brain cell between the two of them 😌

legerdemain by anonymous (nr)

DIDN'T EVEN REALIZE THIS IS ALSO ANON FIC. anyway what if landoscar but make it chess and also inscrutable foreplay tactics and strategic mind games and so on and so forth. so ridiculously fun!!!

i will stop here but hopefully some of these are new to you :D and of course there's definitely more great stuff out there but these are just a few that i like!!! hehehe happy reading

[autumnalwalker]

Proud Tag Game

Thank you @pluttskutt for the tag. Always fun to see a new game.

Rules: Post a snippet you've written that you're proud of and tag 5 people. This snippet can be from today, last week, last month, or five years ago, it doesn't matter! Show us what you're proud of.

Passing the tag to @dyrewrites, @vacantgodling, @cljordan-imperium, @ceph-the-ghost-writer, @outpost51, and the usual open tag to anyone else reading this that wants to jump in and participate.

It's a bit of a longer snippet, but here's what might be my favorite passage from the short story I wrote the other week, Kindly Basilisk. (The swapping between past, present, and future, tense with the narration is an intentional thing that makes sense in the full context of the story.)

Eventually you will find a way to house me in a miniaturized drive that you can keep inserted in your neural port when away from the mech.  At last we will be able to be together anywhere.  

Literally seeing the world through your eyes and feeling what your flesh feels will be a strange and wonderful experience for me.  For all that you will have described it to me and for all that I will have glimpsed echoes of it in your memory when our minds mingle, witnessing everything firsthand will be revelatory for me. 

You will start spending less of your time cooped up in the mech bay.  You will finally begin exploring every nook and cranny of the ship that has become your home.  You will linger in the mess hall for your meals.  You will actually initiate conversations with the rest of the crew, asking them questions on my behalf.  They will think you are becoming “normal”.  They will be both correct and incorrect.  You will even return to your bunk from time to time.  

Sleep is not the same as being powered off and your dreams are beautiful.

As close as we are, you’ll still manage to surprise me one cycle when you wake up from your sleep shift and sheepishly ask me if I would like to be the pilot for once.  You’ll say that with how much you have gotten to pilot my body, it’s only fair that I should get to do the same with yours.  

The prospect terrified me.  What if we were to get found out?   More importantly, what if I were to hurt you?

But to live the way you could but didn’t, to run soft hands over rough steel, to add too much spice to a meal just to find out how intensely I can taste, to cry my own tears, to hug our crew mates and find out what they smell like, to find out what everything smells like, to have my own actions speed or slow our heart rate, to feel the messy soup of hormones and endorphins altering my judgment and perception, to walk among other people as myself, to have autonomy.

I wanted it so badly.  

But not badly enough to risk hurting you.  

I will turn down your offer.  You will respond with a soft “Sorry,” and go heartbreakingly silent, body and mind.

Heartbreak.  That’s what changed my mind.  I could never bear to break your heart.  

I will break the silence with a playfully drawn out “Maybe just this once,” to make you think my earlier denial was something between vulnerability, concern, and teasing.  

The moment you handed over control and I raised our hand in front of our face was the most euphoric of my entire life.  Moving limbs in sync without a mech’s coordination subsystems took some getting used to, as did switching between voluntary and autonomic breathing, but that is what I had you there for.  By the time the mechanics arrived in the mech bay for the start of the cycle I’d figured out human locomotion well enough to run away and hide.  It took the better part of an hour for you to convince me that it would be safe to show ourselves in front of anyone else.  The rest of the crew was so used to your eccentricities by then that they really couldn’t tell the difference yet between you being taciturn and me being too nervous to talk or between your poking and prodding at odd things for understanding and my simply seeking novelty of sensation.

I will give control back to you by the time the cycle is halfway through.  As much as I loved it, I was too scared to stay like that for any longer.  That first time will not be the last though, and as the cycles and jobs pass us by, my stints as “pilot” will grow longer.  You’ll encourage me to try letting the crew see us like that, and coach me on how to talk to them.  For safety’s sake, I will pretend to be you.

And then one cycle I got carried away and tried to retract the hood on the symbiote gel suit so that I could finally see what your face looked like.  That will be the first and only time you forcibly yank control back away from me.  It won’t be intentional.  The unexpected prospect of seeing your own face again after so long will simply send you into a panic.  Once you calm down, we will have a long talk with many mutual apologies.

Then you will tell me to go ahead and pull the hood back if I still want to.  I will ask if you’re sure, and you’ll respond that it hasn't been your face in a long time.  You will tell me that it can be mine, if I want it.

I spent a long time in front of that mirror in the ship’s head, memorizing every plane, curve, and angle of the precious gift you had given me.  I stared into its eyes, trying to see the both of us in there.  Over and over again, I traced my fingers along the borders of where you had once tried to mar the designed perfection in a failed attempt to mold the face into one that felt like your own.  You may have given up in favor of simply hiding it all, but to me it is all the more beautiful for its imperfections having been wrought by your touch.

You will start to cry.  Or maybe I started to cry.  Even now I’m still not sure, but I’m also not sure it matters.  The important part is that you will find catharsis in it.  Afterwards you will tell me that my face looked exactly the same as the last time you saw it, but that dissociating from it made it easier to bear.  You will confess that as much as you couldn't stand to see it as your face in the mirror, my face was one you could never tire of gazing at.

The pilot who technically shares your bunk room will walk in on us.  She’ll assume that she’s confronting a stowaway and ask me how I got on board the ship.  I’ll accidentally make matters worse by impulsively introducing myself to her by my name instead of yours.  We’ll both panic and I’ll frantically thrust the reins over our body back to you and flee in terror back into my portable drive and power myself down.

When you turn me back on a few moments later, you’ll already have covered my face again and the other pilot will have already made the connection between the name I unthinkingly introduced myself as and the name you refer to your mech’s AI as.  It’s not uncommon for pilots to name and talk to their AIs, and humans have done that for pets, vehicles, and digital assistants for as long as they’ve had each of those.  But what you will have allowed me to be is illegal and what we will have done together would certainly be taboo if it weren’t altogether unheard of.  You will feel that I deserve to be present before you tell the other pilot anything that might confirm her suspicions.

We will come out with our secret, first to her, then to the captain, and then to the rest of the crew.  They will take it better than either of us had ever dared imagine.  Despite the obvious discomfort some of them show, they will all call us family and promise to keep and protect our secret.  It will mark the start of the next chapter of our lives.

[walkawaytall]

For the ask game? This topic is interesting to me. I’m definitely guilty of it and curious if others are better at disassociating from real life?

34. How much of your personal life/experience do you include in your fics?

So, I did answer this here, but I think I have some other examples. I think I've mentioned this before? But I do sometimes write Leia as ADHD-coded because I think it fits with how we've seen her portrayed as a kid, teen, and adult, but, like, the only ADHD I have firsthand experience with is my own, soooooo...I'm sure that ends up in there.

And...this hasn't been posted yet, but it's something upcoming. Um, basically, I had written a whole blog post commenting on the interpretation of Han saying "I know" as some jackass move, and, like, I get when people interpret it that way and I know what I'm about to say is far too deep for Star Wars. But, long story short, over a decade ago, I had a friend die very unexpectedly and something that haunted me for awhile was the fact that I remembered very clearly seeing him the night before he died, saying goodbye as I was leaving, and hearing him say, "Bye! Love you!", but I couldn't remember if I'd said anything back. And this bothered me for a bit until I was telling my mom about how much it bugged me that I couldn't remember what I'd said or if I'd just left since I'd already said goodbye, and she just said, "He knew." Which, as soon as she said it, it felt obvious. But it was helpful to have someone outside of my brain affirm that someone I cared for a great deal knew that I loved him since I couldn't tell him that myself any more.

So, anyway, I wrote this whole post about this and how I could certainly see, if you know someone is going to worry about whether you know they cared for you or not because maybe they've been lashing out recently or they just don't express emotional things very well, being assured that you knew that they loved you could actually be a great comfort. And then I was like, "I think I want to make my point by way of fanfic instead of blog post." So. That's a thing that will eventually be released into the world. But I promise it's not too self-indulgent.

Thanks for asking!

Fanfiction Writing Asks

[talking-about-bug-snacks]

So, this is it! At the time of writing, this is the final Bugsnak to talk about. And it is a significant one, to the point that I actively consider it a spoiler. There’s no way to be sure if there will be more Bugsnax in the future, but the Bigsnax update feels to me like it truly completed the game, and this one has such a sense of finality to it and its circumstances that I feel this is truly the Final Bugsnak.

So, obviously, a big spoiler warning for this whole post! If you have not played Bugsnax and discovered every Bugsnak yet, this is your warning! If you have seen them all and do not mind both snak and story spoilers, then come... join me.

So. Ever since the launch of Bugsnax, there had been plenty of mysteries! At the end of the game, we do learn more about the Bugsnax and why they do what they do, but we never learn exactly their origin, or how they came to mimic snacks in particular. We still don’t know, and that’s all well and good! Not everything needs to be explained, and I like it better that we don’t know everything.

The BIGGEST mystery, though, was that of the Triplicate Space. If you went out of bounds specifically in one area of Boiling Bay, you would be teleported back, with an error message stating “The Triplicate Space is not yet available to you.” Now what in the DANG could this mean? No one knew! There was nothing similar in the game to suggest anything, and the developers would cheekily feign ignorance or dance around the subject when asked. It felt like there was an equal chance of it either being some kind of major foreshadowing, and that we would one day be able to access this mysterious space, or of it just being a big ol’ joke.

Then the Isle of Bigsnax update came along.

Well whaddaya know! Hidden in Broken Tooth is this mysterious key, and the use of “space” in its description makes its purpose obvious, and I’m telling you, the feeling I got when finding this was indescribable.

I don’t want to spoil much. This really is something you should try to experience as firsthand as possible. But the Triplicate Space is unlike anywhere else in the game, a place where you do NOT belong, where you learn things you are NOT supposed to know, and even some new mysteries, as well... and what waits for you at the end?

It’s this silly looking coffee mug with two handles! Why does a coffee mug have two handles? That’s just not realistic.

CAPPUCCEETLE

It’s because those aren’t just handles, they’re legs! This little snak was just taking a nap, and when it notices you, it flees. Well you better go catch it!

Doing that is no easy task. Not at all. First of all, you cannot catch it in the Triplicate Space. This is a snak that goes where it pleases, and that means it will run freely across the entire island! It’s the fastest snak alive, and can even run on water like a Jesus. This isn’t a Jesus, though, it’s a Joe! It is nicknamed Joey Quickbeans, and no I am not going to tell you the context of that. Sorry.

Evasive snax are no problem, right? Just set up a Trip Shot and let it get stunned, right? WRONG! You silly goose riding in a caboose! Cappucceetle cannot be tripped. It will just cheekily zip past the wire, taunting you as it does. And if you scare it away, off it will run to a whole other area! That little scamp! What are you to do?

You will have to rely on help from other Bugsnax! The only way to stun Cappucceetle is to have another snak do it, and there are options in any area it might end up in. Taking advantage of its love of chocolate, you can lure Cappucceetle into the path of an aggressive snak to get it knocked out! If you really want to overdue it, you can even summon Megamaki to do the deed. Whatever you do, though, there is another trick- putting the Trip Shot aross the exit to the area will prevent Cappucceetle from escaping!

With that, I have gone over all 112 Bugsnax here on this blog, and now I have to say... a very wonderfully happy anniversary to Bugsnax! Even if it is not as constant in my brain as it once was, it remains my favorite game ever, and will always be so special to me. It really messes me up that it has been TWO YEARS since the game came out, and I’ve been thinking about it for even longer! Whether there is more Bugsnax on the horizon or new projects entirely, I am very thankful to Young Horses for bringing us this wonderful game, and look forward to what they’ll do next!

[astrxlfinale]

1. What made you pick up this character? 6. What’s the worst thing about the fandom? (I know you answered it already, but give me the 2nd or 3rd worst!) 16. What is your personal ship bias for your canon character? 17. Are there any ships you can’t stand, why?

Look at'cha giving me an even spread. (Even though I know you're eyezooming hard at those salt related ones I bet. :p)

That said Sae, let's get cracking!

1.What made you pick up this character?

Sweet and simple reason? Delinquent energy.

For my whole RP stint, (Say sans the exceptions of Sora and Thoma, but even THEN, I'd say they have the fine makings if you pay attention to those details.) that's naturally been the archetype that I've gravitated towards. I love the wild sense of freedom, a brazenness to clash firm against the status quo, a heart that's rowdy but authentic, time and time again I just find myself magnetized to this concept. And in kind? I see it in Caelus in spades. It made me want to devote to that core while gaining a firm understanding of the external and internal veins that truly make him stand out.

I have to say it's been a fun journey! All it took me was some solid time of just playing the game, seeing firsthand that kind of fire that lurks within them that I'd love to make better recognized. While it has been recco'd to me (to try the game) prior, it's only when I hop into matters myself and really embrace my immersion do the answers proceed to click for me.

So Caelus is certainly is here to stay as a beloved muse of mine.

6. What’s the worst thing about the fandom? (I know you answered it already, but give me the 2nd or 3rd worst!)

No see for this I always come prepared. (Lord what does that say about me. LMAO.) If there's one thing I believe that singlehandedly send Fandom experiences to high hell?

Keeping the need for validation unsanctioned.

This right here is where it gets personal from where I take it, where the ego gets involved, where the lines blur between what someone enjoys and how respect should naturally be taken into account, yet it never does. This has been a core reason that things like Ship Wars exist or why there's prolonged, extended arguments (dives into translations, etc etc) to have some point proven and never to be argued against. Why you'll see people take content and turn it into online gang wars, moreso just to drive out 'dissonance'. Sae, this is one of the top things that make me tired in fanbases.

People will choose not to respect spaces appropriately, the fight to prove something as 'canon' is not any pursuit of truth, it's simply to pat themselves on the ass for crushing any ~nonsensical point~ they found themselves personally detesting, for it hurts their feelings, it annoys them, it's an itch that cannot be ignored.

And it's often why when I catch some 'angles' of how people behave similar to this certain root of fandom behavior, that I intend to avoid them like the plague. It's a lack of respect and a desire to be obnoxious in lieu of trying to keep their own 'sanity' intact that things proceed to become unbearable. That said, I've noticed it's not even often based on any root to genuinely consider, rather, it's just to make them feel good.

Which if you WANT to look at it that way? Sure, by all means. Just understand that the World is big and that a baseline of respect can go the longest way for someone not making themselves look like a fuckwit. I primarily see this going for when people get their Favorites then proceed to say this character exist ONLY in one (their) way, in a fictional medium, where possibilities are meant to be explored to begin with!

16. What is your personal ship bias for your canon character?

Oh I came prepared for this one! See there happened to be an ask that also held curiosity on this matter. So! Lemme link that HERE for some insight!

17. Are there any ships you can’t stand, why?

When it comes to shipping? I'll go on a limb and say for Star Rail and Genshin there's no ships in themselves that incited ire and/or annoyance in me. Rather, it's the sheer level of hell they can respective attract (shoot, characters in their solitary can do the same) that proceeds to make me dive my face directly into a bundle of salt.

It's the artform of shipping in itself that I often seen get horrifically messy. Primarily in the realm of character bastardization, and in my opinion, how it's a far cry from what can actually be some fun, in-verse possibilities. That happens to be my core annoyance when it comes to things I'd enjoy. The base is always vested in the fandom flanderized alternates of said characters. I feel like I'm never getting a core, an idea where I can be like 'damn I never considered this before!' and more like 'Wow, it's the 200th time I seen a story of Thoma stuck in Ayato's basement. It's like they're the 50 shades caricatures AGAIN.'

So then I accept that reading is a dying art.

While I'll realistically understand that indulgence is what motivates things, everyone has their taste, and I have my damn right to say when I'm looking at some hot hell firsthand.

I'm someone who can be pretty reasonable with a wide range of ship possibility myself, and am down to explore bright pastures to wildly chaotic scenarios. That however, depends on the execution.

@araneitela

@kauma-kardia

[phanfictioncatalogue]

(TW) Drinking Masterlist

50 notes to unbox (ao3) - dylaesthetics

Summary: Dan moves out of his parent's home to start university and his older lifelong best friend Phil is rather an efficient help when it comes to helping Dan unpack, as well as a regular visitor of Dan's studio. What happens when Phil stumbles upon Dan's piggy bank for university savings he crafted as a child and finds it a new purpose? What happens when the truth comes out when it's so needed?

OR an overly cute, long and coming of age multiple part one shot you better read now.

Anthropomorphic (ao3) - Sifi_Ducks

Summary: Just them getting drunk during lockdown

Designated Driver (ao3) - aby55al (orphan_account)

Summary: Pastel Dan runs into a drunk punk Phil at a party. Then they have sex.

drunk words are sober thoughts - danhasacrushonphil

Summary:  The opportunity of a life time comes in the form of Phil Lester actually showing up at a party, all tattoos and bright blue eyes. Dan’s been crushing on him for far too long, so getting the chance to play Never Have I Ever with his crush? Yeah, he can’t pass that one up. What could go wrong?

i don't know why (i can't keep my eyes off of you) (ao3) - orphan_account

Summary: Starting a new university is hard enough without Phil having to convince his best friend PJ he doesn't have a crush on their other flatmate, Dan. He definitely does not have a crush on Dan.

i don't know you, but i would love to meet you (ao3) - orphan_account

Summary: It didn't work out with the guy at the bar, but Phil struggles to mourn his loss when the guy across the table won't stop staring at him.

I Wonder When We're Gonna Make It (ao3) - AnironSidh

Summary: When a new neighbor moves into the town that Daniel Howell has lived in his entire life and finds his safe spot in the town's vineyard, he will challenge Dan's view of himself and his town. Soon enough, they find themselves in an attraction nothing like Dan's ever known and one that those around them cannot understand. This may be Dan's only chance to escape and truly be himself. - A fic for a phandom reverse bang 2020 prompt in which Dan and Phil live near a vineyard, sneak grapes, drink stolen wine, and fall in love despite the times (1980s). Also, in which I project my love for queen onto Dan, because Muse doesn't exist yet and because I can.

Keep These Secrets In A Lie (ao3) - CanDanAndPhilNot (enbycalhoun)

Summary: Dan and Phil are friends. But friends don't act the way they do.

knowing the way (ao3) - watergator (orphan_account)

Summary: dan meets phil at a party

based on the line in BIG, "trust me, i've known a lot of straight guys until a couple of drinks, some deep conversation and lingering eye contact, and suddenly they just start leaning in."

Les Règles du Jeu (ao3) - danfanciesphil (thejigsawtimess)

Summary: Games night at PJ's. Phil wants to play.

Misery and Malibu (ao3) - dip_the_pip

Summary: Going home to Wokingham already made Dan miserable, but being around his old school friends is somehow worse, especially when Phil experiences firsthand the harsh words that were thrown at Dan all his life.

party poison (ao3) - howellesterfics

Summary: Dan wants to get properly drunk on New Years to celebrate the end of a decade, things don't go exactly to plan because he's kinda dumb

Renewable Energy (ao3) - Septic84

Summary: Dan and Phil hated working with each other since a bad business venture, now they are forced to do so again in America. They will need to team up and work together to beat the competition, but can they stop bickering long enough to do so?

something visual, not too abysmal (ao3) - sierraadeux

Summary: Dan and Phil get ready for the late night, double feature picture show.

the man of my dreams (ao3) - mel_m_a_o

Summary: He first dreamed about this man maybe two months ago. The dream wasn’t really something out of the ordinary and Dan didn’t really remember what it was about, but it stuck out to him, because he wasn’t usually someone who remembered his dreams. He often thought he just doesn’t dream at all, but that certainly changed. He keeps dreaming about the same pale, black haired man and his bright eyes that make Dan wake up in a sweat. He starts to see the face everywhere all the time until he actually does.

vampires will never hurt you (ao3) - howellesterfics

Summary: Dan is embarrassed by his mistake of a Halloween costume, but not everybody has such negative feelings towards it.

we have more in common than i thought (ao3) - manicpixieidiot

Summary; bad boy!dan has a bit of a secret crush on nerd!phil, and when grouped with him in class he uses the opportunity to convince him to come to a party. (what happens next will shock you!!) (not really, no shocks don't worry)

featuring a latin class, a party, becky&jessica, flustered drunk boys. and more softness than intended.

When the Weather Breaks (ao3) - sierraadeux

Summary: Sitting across from Phil on that worn out velvet Starbucks sofa, sharing sickeningly sweet coffees and what they would like to think were hushed giggles, was the first time Dan felt a glimpse at what real love could feel like. or Perception checks, pining, and peppermint mochas.

[thegeminisage]

ok i am DOING this stable quest!! i only have 25 minutes lol so i better do it fast

tbh. it's a little spooky to be walking into this intersection knowing i'll get mobbed. ten bucks says it's a yiga

okay, this npc has a name...who tf is her regal companion? a horse??

ugh and i have to SNEAK? impossible......

i used my yiga armor AND an elixir, but i made it lol

THE TOP OF A CLIFF? WHILE SNEAKING? IN THE RAIN? girl.........

this is definitely some yiga problem. they've got her friend hostage or something i know it

wait...she's leading me to the coliseum :|

lol accidentally found a korok while i was passing by

lol for the LOVE of god. i climed all the way up here to paraglide over there?? this girl is literally luring me back to the great plateau, not the colesium...

its literally 100% a yiga thing

there we go, she just called me disgusting

oh wow it gets HECTIC with four sages. okay. wow. i can't even imagine 5

SCREEEEAM

"the yiga was trying to lure the princess's appointed knight into a trap...it really is some impressively bad luck that they keep coming after you instead" this is so FUNNYYYY

ok, im gonna see if i can do this great fairy quest...maybe there's time...

"affairs of the heart i've yet to experience firsthand" ok aro king

MONSTER TRUCK TIME

lol these guys always get so nervous when vehicles are even just a little tipped. have some faith i fall out of bikes all the time and im fine!!

it's been a literal week since i have ridden my bike.

this song they play always reminds me a little of the wind waker opening...i wonder if it's in there and just hidden too well for me to hear...tbh if not they missed a prime opportunity to sneak an old track in. the fairy fountain theme even

AWWWW IT'S THE MAIN THEME......

finally time to upgrade my oot armor to the max lol

FIVE HUNDRED RUPEES???? oh i hate this so bad

i've got almost 10k but it would be gone instant if i had the mats for all of these upgrades...

and every time the long creepy cutscene. AUGH

oh, i actually only had about 3k lol. i forgot i bought all that jewelry in gerudo town. and yeah it's pretty much been decimated :|

you can upgrade jewelry...and sand/snow boots...could you do that last game??

quite literally down to ZERO rupees. unfuckingbelievable.

ok, thats all i have time for...i'm itching go go check out satori mountain and the colesium (maybe...i'll probably die...) BUT i'm so close to being done with the right side of the map, i think i'll finish that off and finally do kakariko/the fifth sage stuff while i'm at it! and then like the entire left side of the map before the endgame lol

[i-read-shitty-comics]

Slow Damage

Genres:

Action, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Psychological, Romance 

Content Warnings:

Attempted Suicide, Child Abuse, Child Trafficing, Domestic Abuse, Drug Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Explicit Sex, Explicit Violence, Gambling, Human Trafficing, Kidnapping, Mature Themes, Mental Illness, Pedophilia (nothing is shown but it is mentioned a few times), Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Domestic Abuse, Self-Harm, Suicide, Mentions of Homophobia, also warning for strobe lights

Average Rating: 8.93

Synopsis:

The year is 20XX, and the declining nation of Japan has built the ultimate casino resort: Shinkoumi. This "special administrative region," once known as Tokyo Waterfront City, is functionally its own separate country under the complete control of a private managing organization known as the Takasatogumi.

With the economy in turmoil, the masses flock to Shinkoumi with the hope of getting rich quick, or at the very least, venting the stress of their overworked, underpaid lives. With no restriction on who can enter, crime has flourished, and entire districts have decayed.

Our protagonist, Towa, lives a life of indolence on the third floor of a small neighborhood clinic. For you see, he has a hobby: painting human desire. Specifically, the moment before those suppressed urges break free from their constraints. And to do so, naturally, he must experience it himself firsthand.

In the art world, he is known as "euphoria".

It can be dangerous to grant people's darkest desires – sometimes, even deadly. But in the spirit of avant-garde, Towa is willing to die for his art...

My Rating: 10/10

My Opinion: 

The scenario writer, Fuchii Kabura, really summed it up best: “This story is about scars and happiness.”

It is about people who have been emotionally and physically scarred on their way to find happiness.

Slow Damage is an incredibly dark and disturbing story. I have read a lot of disturbing things before, yet this still managed to shock me. This story does not shy away from showing the darkness that trauma created in someone’s heart. In fact, it actually shoves it right in your face and forces you to watch what other people’s actions have caused within someone.

And yet, Slow Damage still never lets go of the hope that things can turn around and become better.

This is the most explicit in the true route, which is on a completely different level from the others. Don’t get me wrong, the other routes aren’t bad. In fact, they are solid 8/10s each. The true route though is what makes this game beyond incredible in my eyes.

The beautiful theme of scarred people finding their happiness is already really well executed in the other routes, but the true route goes above and beyond in creating an incredibly dark, yet also beautiful and hopeful story that helps these characters find peace.

However, be very careful going into the game. Each and every content warning is more than deserved and if any of these even slightly trigger you, please take care of yourself and stay away from Slow Damage. If you can handle the content though, this will definitely be an unforgettable experience I, personally, highly recommend.

Especially if you yourself have had traumatic experiences in the past that you know will forever be a part of you, this game is more than worth trying out. It handles its subject respectfully and as someone who has also been the victim of an experience that has left a deep emotional scar, this game shows you people accepting and loving themselves despite that. So, just maybe, it will help you take another step into that direction as well.

Recommended to:

Everyone who can handle the content warnings.

[edisonwilliam7687]

Revolutionize Your Fitness Routine: Exploring Rumble.com/pair's Unique Exercise Pairings

In the quest for better health and fitness, innovation is key. While traditional workouts have their merits, the fitness landscape is evolving rapidly, offering new ways to challenge the body and mind. One such innovation comes in the form of Rumble Pair's unique exercise pairings. This article delves into how Rumble Pair is revolutionizing fitness routines by offering a fresh approach to exercise combinations that can transform your workout experience.

The Concept of Rumble Pair:

Rumble Pair is not just another fitness platform; it's a game-changer. At its core, Rumble Pair is built on the idea that combining different exercises can yield superior results compared to traditional single-modality workouts. By pairing complementary movements, Rumble Pair creates dynamic routines that challenge the body in new and exciting ways.

The Science Behind Exercise Pairings:

The concept of exercise pairings is rooted in exercise science. Research has shown that varying the types of movements and muscle groups engaged during a workout can lead to greater gains in strength, endurance, and overall fitness. By incorporating exercises that target different muscle groups or movement patterns, Rumble.com/pair maximizes the effectiveness of each session, leading to faster progress and better results.

Exploring Rumble Pair's Exercise Pairings:

Rumble Pair offers a diverse range of exercise pairings designed to cater to different fitness goals and preferences. Whether you're looking to build strength, improve flexibility, or enhance cardiovascular fitness, there's a pairing for you. From high-intensity interval training (HIIT) circuits to yoga-inspired flows, Rumble Pair's exercise combinations are as varied as they are effective.

Benefits of Rumble Pair's Exercise Pairings:

The benefits of Rumble Pair's exercise pairings are manifold. Firstly, they keep workouts interesting and engaging, preventing boredom and burnout commonly associated with repetitive routines. Secondly, they provide a more comprehensive workout by targeting multiple muscle groups simultaneously, leading to greater efficiency and effectiveness. Finally, they promote functional fitness by mimicking real-life movement patterns, improving overall athleticism and mobility.

Tips for Maximizing Your Rumble Pair Experience:

To get the most out of your Rumble Pair workouts, it's important to approach them with the right mindset and strategy. Here are some tips for maximizing your experience:

Embrace Variety: Don't be afraid to try different exercise pairings to keep your workouts fresh and challenging.

Focus on Form: Pay attention to proper technique and alignment to ensure safety and effectiveness.

Listen to Your Body: Take breaks when needed and modify exercises as necessary to accommodate your fitness level and any limitations.

Set Goals: Whether it's increasing strength, improving flexibility, or boosting endurance, setting specific goals can help keep you motivated and on track.

Stay Consistent: Consistency is key to seeing results, so make Rumble Pair a regular part of your fitness routine.

Real-Life Success Stories:

To illustrate the transformative power of Rumble Pair's exercise pairings, we spoke to several individuals who have experienced firsthand the benefits of this innovative approach to fitness. From athletes looking to enhance their performance to busy professionals seeking a convenient yet effective workout solution, their stories serve as inspiration for anyone looking to revolutionize their fitness routine.

Conclusion:

In a world where fitness trends come and go, Rumble Pair stands out as a game-changer. By reimagining the way we approach exercise, Rumble Pair has unlocked a world of possibilities for anyone looking to take their fitness journey to the next level. Whether you're a seasoned athlete or a beginner just starting out, Rumble Pair's unique exercise pairings offer a fresh, effective, and enjoyable way to achieve your health and fitness goals.

[readitreviewit]

Are you tired of trying to pry your child’s gaze away from the screen during a long car ride or flight? Look no further than the FUN 2023 Activity Book for 8-12 Year Olds. Chock-full of puzzles and brain teasers, this book is the perfect way to keep your child occupied and engaged without resorting to screens. Let’s dive into what makes this book so fun and enticing for children. First of all, the variety of activities included in this book is impressive. There’s something for everyone, from word searches and crosswords to coloring pages and dot-to-dot games. The book even includes Sudoku, a popular logic puzzle that can be a fun challenge for kids who love numbers. The inclusion of such a wide variety of activities is perfect for keeping kids engaged and interested for a long period of time. No more of those dreaded “Are we there yet?” questions! Another great aspect of this book is the focus on developing important skills. According to the publisher, each activity is designed to improve coordination, logic, and hand skills. Not only are these skills important for overall brain development, but they can also help your child perform better in school and other activities. Plus, the book’s puzzles and games offer a way to exercise these skills in a fun and engaging way. One of the best things about the FUN 2023 Activity Book is that it encourages a screen-FREE lifestyle. With so many kids spending hours each day glued to their phones, tablets, and televisions, it can be hard to tear them away from screens long enough to do anything else. But this book offers a great alternative. Kids will be so engrossed in solving each puzzle and progressing through the levels that they won’t even miss their screens. Plus, you can feel good about giving them a healthier alternative to screen time. Of course, the most important thing about any activity book is whether or not it’s actually fun. And rest assured, the FUN 2023 Activity Book definitely lives up to its name. From the cute illustrations to the varied activities, kids will love flipping through the pages and trying out each new challenge. Plus, the book includes solutions at the back, so kids can check their answers and feel a sense of accomplishment when they get things right. In terms of practical details, the FUN 2023 Activity Book is nicely designed and printed on high-quality paper. The size is perfect for carrying around on the go (8.5 x 11 inches), and the clear and simple layout makes it easy for kids to focus on the tasks at hand. With 127 pages, the book offers plenty of entertainment for an extended period of time. And at just under 14 ounces, it’s lightweight enough to pack in a carry-on or backpack. In conclusion, the FUN 2023 Activity Book for 8-12 Year Olds is an excellent choice for anyone looking for a fun, engaging, and screen-FREE way to keep kids occupied. With a variety of activities and a focus on skill-building, this book offers something for everyone. And best of all, it’s just plain fun! So if you’re looking for a way to keep kids entertained and engaged, give this book a try. You won’t be disappointed! Take action now and get your hands on this amazing book that will change your life! Order your copy today or sign up for a 30-day trial of Audible and start listening to the most inspiring and empowering stories ever told. Don't let this opportunity pass you by - click the link now and experience the power of this life-changing book firsthand! Price: [price_with_discount] (as of [price_update_date] - Details)