#or idk they may be forever doomed

[crystallizsch]

The First Kiss (?)

yuusha tala x jamil viper (oc x canon) word count: 800+ cw: pure angst

(awajkjfsdkjl omg some writing reveal about their relationship dynamic? 😳 ALSO THIS ENDED UP BEING LONGER THAN INTENDED AAHH and there are bound to be typos in here but uhhh anyways—)

At last, they found themselves alone, wrapped in each other's arms, savoring the calm evening air.

Yuu smiled and raised her bare hands to cup Jamil’s cheeks gently. It was rare for the prefect to have her gloves off. So Jamil’s face heated up at the touch.

“Haha. Your face is warm, Jamil.”

“Whose fault is that I wonder?”

“Couldn’t be me.”

They joked, feeling their breathy giggles against one another and realizing their lips were almost touching.

Was this… Was this finally the moment?

Sure, she was already incredibly lax with him before — being affectionately touchy with him and constantly giving him quick and casual kisses on the cheek (as she does with basically her closest friends). But they seemed to have become close in a way that was more than Yuu’s “overly friendly” nature.

So what about a kiss on the lips?

A sudden wave of uncertainty hit the magicless prefect. Her hands dejectedly slid back down Jamil’s chest as they curled into fists.

The implications of a first kiss on the lips felt a lot heavier on her than she thought.

They have both been dancing around their feelings about one another. They both knew what they felt about one another and even made a show of teasing each other for it. But neither explicitly stated what those feelings even were.

Yuu felt much more guilty in that regard, considering her more than a flagrant expression of that affection toward him. One would think she was leading him on, but that was never the case.

And she really, truly liked him but—

Jamil tightened his arms around her waist when he felt the hesitation in her body. This subtle move caused Yuu to look deep into Jamil’s eyes again. Her heart squeezed at the sight of a soft and gentle look as she looked back with a distinctly sorry expression on her face.

It was bizarre that these were once the dangerous eyes that brought her pure hatred toward him. Now that they looked so kind and genuine, they admittedly felt more dangerous. How unfair.

“…..We don’t have to, you know,” Jamil said in a low voice. It sounded vague enough that even he did not know if he was only referring to them sharing a kiss or having a relationship overall. He also tried to be reassuring, but he was aware of the slightly sad and disappointed tone he let slip in his voice.

Yuu gulped and then felt her breath hitch in her throat. It was as if Jamil had read her mind.

Damn you, she wanted to say to him. At this point, she did not know what to say. Yuu felt like she was caught in a lie and wanted to prove him wrong. But she can’t. It wasn’t that she felt anything less for him; she simply felt conflicted about finally sealing her feelings with a kiss. The prefect just wasn’t ready. She doesn’t know when she will be. And she did not want to admit that.

Meanwhile, Jamil was relatively ready to receive that kiss. Of course, he would not say that out loud. From his perspective, Yuu would have to act first if there was truly something more to their relationship. But it seems like today was still not that day.

“I’m sorry…” Yuu whispered under her breath.

Jamil did not answer. Instead, he gave a quick peck on the prefect’s nose, which caused her face to flush. She quickly buried her face on his shoulder with a shaky sigh, her hands gripping his clothing. The vice housewarden half-heartedly laughed at her reaction as he snaked his hands higher around Yuu’s back, giving her a gentle hug instead.

There were no words exchanged between them for a period of time. They simply rested in each other’s embrace.

Still, this indeterminate name to their relationship weighed heavily on both of them.

Jamil couldn’t even say that he would wait for her. Because that would be a lie. As painful as that realization may be, he knows he wouldn’t. Why would he? Yuu repeatedly expressed her homesickness anyway.

Besides, Jamil was used to it. All good things were never permanent. That was what he was telling himself at least... Somehow this time, it was getting harder and harder to convince himself that he could simply accept losing something — her specifically.

And for Yuu’s part, she was also aware of this — that she knows she’ll be leaving all of this behind one day. The prefect had her own plans for the future, and she assumed that the vice housewarden would have his own.

There was no point in committing to anything. Because if they dare even act upon their true feelings, or heavens forbid say it out loud, it will make the inevitable separation even harder.

this was the vibe when i was writing this btw hgffjhklj

[kenzan-kiwami]

to be completely frank i think most of the people i've seen with major complaints regarding RGG 8's story are forgetting that 99% of what they're saying can be applied across the whole series

[bueris]

okay maybe I should seriously reconsider my path in life and sell my soul to marketing or journalism instead

[arolesbianism]

Thinking abt the goobers again (oni pmd au)

[annabelle--cane]

do you think there are any flaws with interpreting jon’s statement dependence as an addiction metaphor, i.e. it’s closer to food and not something he could ever realistically stop or recover from? wondering because while i find the similarities to addiction with his need for statements interesting, it doesn’t quite seem fully comparable when it’s closer to his lifeblood. it’s like the type of vampires that’ll die without blood- that dependence isn’t something they can ever break. stopping would be a for-the-greater-good starvation suicide requiring the viewer to weigh the death of one person against the suffering of multiple people. which is interesting, but as withdrawal is horrific but survivable, and addiction doesn’t automatically have inflicting suffering on others as a prerequisite, i feel the metaphor falters a little bit there. idk i’d be interested in any thoughts you have on the subject

sniles so sneetly. I do have Thoughts about the subject.

(first, as a quick aside, this isn't super relevant to this ask, but: some types of withdrawal absolutely can be fatal, namely alcohol and benzodiazepine withdrawal. be super careful if you or someone you know wants to go off these substances after a period of frequent/regular use and do not quit cold turkey without medical supervision.)

you are correct that it is not a 1:1 direct allegory, but I think the thing to keep in mind is that the fairytale logic of tma runs exclusively on fear, distress, and worst-case-scenarios. for an example, depression also doesn't automatically have inflicting suffering on others as a prerequisite, but that is how martin's relationship to the lonely works; he cuts himself off and passively feeds his patron with the pain his loved ones feel as a result of not having him around. while that's not actually how depression works irl, hurting the people around you with your distance is both a fear that is likely to eat at you and a selfish impulse that you may have to actively resist when in the The Pits of an episode, and the lonely is a manifestation of that.

I think jon's dependence on statements works the same way, as a funhouse mirror reflection of all the fears and worst-case-scenarios one commonly experiences during addiction, namely that it's completely inescapable and that it turns you into a monster who is unrecognizable in comparison to your usual self. withdrawal won't actually kill you (most of the time!!! sometimes it can!!!), relapse isn't a forgone inevitable conclusion (and even if/when it happens that doesn't actually mean you're Doomed Forever), and using is not an inherent evil and it doesn't turn anyone into a soul-sucking monster, but those are all extremely common fears that addicts often have.

[omg-im-such-a-masochist]

Anywhere

Summary: Let’s thank Hozier for whatever this is because I can only think of it as brainrot. I had a part of this written for almost a year in my docs and couldn’t find inspiration to finish it but thanks to the incarnated Irish god I did.

Pairing: Hook x F!Reader (aka Tiger)

Warnings: Angst, mention of uncontrolled feelings, toxic relationship, self doubt, worthlessness, possible happy ending? idk

Tags: @theworldofotps , @writtingrose , @daddyhausen , @melissahausen , @unoficialy-married-to-ace-austin , @sophiewolfheart-blog , @sultryfandoms , @new-zealand-chic , @crowleysqueenofhell , @thealliasylum , @legit9thlunaticwarrior , @mjfass , @josiewrites , @seeingstarks , @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch , @whenimakeitshine1234 , @moxkindagirl , @sunshinevirus , @im-just-a-mississippi-girl , @ripleyswhore , @wickedval

It's the sound of it that brings me there

This city locked into the song of prayer

That finds no melody

Every moment of the working day

The twitching muscles in each step I take

The prayer is all of me

The Black & Mild hung from his lips and sent a white smoke up to the night sky, the burning tobacco somewhat was helping him soothe his instincts but Tyler asked himself for how long the warm smoke inside his mouth was going to be enough to keep his mind distant from the one place it didn’t want to stay away from.

Tyler chose to be absent from work for yet another week, and the backstage gossip was starting to build up to the point of annoyance. Even Tyler’s father had given him one of his famous earfuls earlier that night when he texted to say he wasn’t coming to work that week, and even though hours had passed by, Tyler could still hear his dad’s screams through the FaceTime call.

Another wave of warm smoke filled up his mouth before traveling down to his throat and lungs, all along carrying within itself the one word his father repeatedly had so vehemently: “obsession”.

“You’re obsessed with her, Tyler! Obsessed with a relationship you can’t stop fucking it up, snap out of it, son! Move the fuck on! Leave that poor girl alone, Tyler. You’ve done too much damage to get her back now, so put on your big boy pants, accept the results of your damn mistakes, stop destroying everything around you, stop destroying your fucking career, let her move on, get over this unhealthy obsession, and grow.the.fuck.up!”

This wasn’t obsession though, it was love in its raw, ugly, perverse, and deepest form. “Love doesn’t have to hurt”, they say. Yeah, sure, tell that to someone so desperate to make a relationship work that they commit every single possible mistake one can make. Perhaps this was what had doomed Tyler, he loved her too much.

That I'd be

Anywhere that you are, that you are

That I'd be

Anywhere that you are, that you are

When Tyler was 15 years old, his father took him to Joe’s barber shop two blocks down their house to have his first proper ‘man’ shave. As the older man began to spread the shaving cream on Tyler’s face, his father began “See, son, a man may like many women, we may grow fond of several females and keep them in our heart but if there’s one thing you should know is that a man only loves once. Real love will only be found once, in one single woman, and it doesn’t matter whether your relationship ends up working or not, you will forever love that woman until the day you die.”

“No matter how many girls you know afterward, no one will be able to replace the one woman who owns your heart. So once you find that girl, son, make sure you love, respect, and care for her. Do everything in your power to treat her like a queen, because that will be the woman who’ll forever live in your heart”.

Tyler did his best to treat her like a queen, but some things escaped his ability of self-control. Tiger is gorgeous, she is breathtaking, has the most wonderful personality, she’s incredibly smart, the most beautiful smile Tyler has ever seen, whenever she smiles it’s like the world has been put underneath a bright spotlight. She’s funny, caring, loving, she’s the best friend anyone could ever have, and the most addicting lover, sex with Tiger is out of this world, an out-of-body experience. There’s something special about sex with her, every touch is meaningful, every kiss is a silent promise of eternal love, and with every thrust, Tyler always felt their souls connecting.

He’s aware of how this sounds like some sort of hippie talk, but there was something incredibly spiritual and powerful about Tiger that only seemed to grow during sex. Although he wasn’t one to brag, Tyler has fucked a fair share of girls ever since he was 15 years old, and until he met Tiger, he was sure no woman would ever be able to handle him properly.

But even though sex was important to Tyler - and had been the base of every relationship he had until Tiggy came up - it shockingly wasn’t the sole reason why he loved her.

Tyler caught himself craving for her in more than sexual ways, he craved her affection, her touch, her capacity to begin a conversation about anything from something she saw on the news to curiosities about religions worldwide. He craved to see her smile, to hear her loud awkward laugh, to watch her cooking while using the wooden spoon as her own personal microphone. Tyler craved her advice on life, friendships, and work. He craved to hear her voice after a nightmare, to listen to her whisper-singing as a way to help him go back to sleep. He craved her, just having her there with him, craved the knowledge of having her waiting for him somewhere. Above anything else, Tyler missed how Tiger could bring peace to his soul just by existing.

And such peace seemed to be so distant to achieve now, that the world resembled a dark pit of miserableness, emptiness, and death. A limbo Tyler was certain he would never be able to leave.

Maybe I have yet to venture out

See the places that I hear about

Planes and trains and cars

Carve their lines into a curve like blades

All I get to are mistakes half-made

Leave the door ajar

Her wet footprints were unnoticeable against the damp concrete. Her eyes wandered around the streets, searching, wondering, pretending…She tried to make it work, but trying became tiring once it turned into a routine.

It was all too much, the arguing, the outbursts of jealousy, the lack of communication, the distrust, the assumptions..those killed her the most.

‘Where were you?’, ‘Why was he looking at you like that’, ‘Why didn’t you answer your phone if you were really with your mom?’, ‘Why do you smell like aftershave?’, ‘Why are you lying to me, Tiger?! Just tell me the fucking truth!’

Jealousy is not as glamorous as the books make it seem, it’s quite the opposite actually, it kills your mind along with your feelings until there comes a day when you realize that you don’t feel anything at all, and that’s when sadness takes over.

Mourning over something that once brought you so much happiness is a strange feeling. Looking at someone who used to be so dear to you and slowly watching them become the most despicable monster before your eyes is the most brutal thing one can go through. Love is such a delicate feeling, it’s alarming to see how quickly it can die when it stops being nourished. Tiger never believed it would be possible to stop loving Tyler, but life and its cruel - yet valuable - lessons showed her otherwise, it showed her how fairly easy it is to stop loving someone.

She never saw it coming, the day that she would leave the small one-bedroom apartment in New York behind, yet she did. Otherwise, how could she still be living? Even more so, how could Tyler still be alive if she hadn’t left that place for good?

Tiger loved freedom, while Tyler didn’t understand its meaning. Tiger wanted to be free with Tyler, as for Tyler, there was no freedom if he was with Tiger.

But I'd be

Anywhere that you are, that you are

That I'd be

Anywhere that you are, you are

She was the air that filled his lungs, so how could anyone live without air? Tyler tried to explain that to her over and over, but all he heard back was ‘You’re killing me, Ty! You’re suffocating me so much that I feel like I’m dying’. She said other fumbled words in between but that phrase was the only thing that sank into Tyler’s ears. He went deaf after that.

Tiger tried to find a middle ground, she thought therapy could help but how do you talk to someone who doesn’t want to utter a word? It’s pointless to try to fix a relationship when for it to work is a double-sided sword. Tiger couldn’t fix something that didn’t depend only on her, but Tyler was the king of perfection, Mr. There’s Nothing Wrong. So she just gave up, she couldn’t play tug-war anymore, she just wanted to leave and never go back to the Hell she was living in.

Love is not enough, it would never be enough, not if it was all it takes for a relationship to work. And both Tiger and Tyler learned that the hard way.

His eyes found her across the street, holding her small notepad and iconic glittery pen. She never came to this part of town, which made Tyler frown with worry. But her features seemed relaxed, serene even, as she observed the tall trees and how the thin rain droplets splattered the green leaves. ‘This is such a weird hobby’ Tyler thought to himself when they first met ‘Watching the leaves on a tree and scrambling down how it makes you feel’.

Tiger categorized it as ‘therapeutic’, and once she explained how it helped her ease her racing mind Tyler began admiring her for it.

Ironically enough, that was how they met back then, and now is how he meets her again after 6 months of their break up.

Watching her now, after everything Tyler knew and went through with her had him contemplating Tiger under a new light. ‘Perhaps she is happier like this, without you’ Tyler caught himself thinking, noticing how the lightheartedness that once was Tiger’s biggest quality seemed to have returned to her eyes now that she didn’t have him in her life anymore.

It’s sad to notice how the only person that you love so dearly seems to be better without you than when they were with you. Only now Tyler notices how he had killed Tiger during their time together. He killed her lightness, her freedom, her carefree nature. He transformed her into this sad caged bird that didn’t find happiness in singing anymore.

‘If you could go back in time, would you be different? Act differently? Approach things from another perspective?’ Tyler’s conscience asked him.

“Yes” Was his answer out loud, his eyes fixed on the wet pavement, without being able to keep looking at her.

‘Why? Because of your selfish reasons? Because you knew that you’d lose her if you didn’t?’ It asked him back.

But prayer

Is all of me, all of me

The prayer

Is all of me, all of me

“No” Tyler answered sincerely “Because I now know that she deserves better, way better than I ever was…way better than I could ever be”.

Tyler’s eyes tentatively looked up again, in the hopes of imprinting her true self into his mind one last time, until his orbs stopped at her caramel-colored coat standing right before him.

Tiger’s eyes wandered his face, focusing on his eye patch for a couple of seconds before asking “Are you a pirate now?”

For the first time in 6 months, Tyler let out a chuckle, “Maybe…If you like pirates then sure, I’m a pirate. But if you don’t, then I’m just a loser. The biggest asshole to ever walk the earth”.

“Yeah, that you are” She smiled sadly “Have you learned anything from it though?”

“Yeah, I did” Tyler’s fingers twitched to touch her, but he would never allow himself that, he didn’t deserve it. “Are you really here, Tiggy? I’m afraid I’m dreaming…but I don’t to be dreaming, I want this to be real”

“It could be real, Ty” She caressed his smooth cheek before smiling and sitting down beside him on the damp concrete “Wanna tell me what you’ve learned in life so far?”

But I'd be

Anywhere that you are, that you are

That I'd be

Anywhere that you are, you are

[firesnap]

i have a genuine question. i promise i am not at all trying to defend him. ive dropped him entirely, literally deleted everything i had of him and unliked his songs.

ive just been wondering like considering that he has been in therapy, and also considering how if he does take a year off and then comes back, why cant it be redeemable? like cant people change? cant we give them second chances? he is 27. is he just doomed to be an abuser forever?

its just scary and im asking as like a younger person who is in my very early 20s. i know ive made mistakes. i know ive not been a good partner or friend sometimes. (and yes i was also abusive to a past partner...im not proud of it and ive learned from it. i have never ever touched anyone in that way after that. it took awhile but my current relationship isnt toxic and i would never hurt anyone or hit them again yknow?) and it scares me that people keep insinuating that he is irredeemable. like cant abusers change and become better? dont they get second chances? if shelby has grown and healed in 10 months wouldn't it be fair to say the same for wilbur?

im just genuinely asking because based on everything i believe you are older than me and im looking for guidance and just...idk im scared. growing up on the internet has made me so scared of making mistakes and doing anything wrong because when it happens to others i look up to, its always treated as something they'll never be able to change or improve. makes me feel like imma just be a horrible person forever because i made mistakes in the past.

This is a really complicated question that multiple answers can validly fit.

I don't think, personally, that anyone is irredeemable. I think everyone is on a journey of forgiveness and some of us may need more grace than others.

This is tw// abuse even more than the current topic, but my mom was incredibly abusive. We lived in a very rural area and she had a lot of undiagnosed problems and trauma of her own that created a pressure pot of issues. After I was born, she suffered through full on post-partum psychosis that nearly ended about as well as that sentence implies it could have. She was incredibly violent, controlling, and cruel for years. My sister went no-contact with her the second she turned 18. A significant event occurred that eventually spurned her into seeking real treatment that lasted for years. It's still ongoing.

My sister is also still no contact and I support her decision 100%. Those are her wounds and what she needed to do to get peace should be respected. I decided I wanted a relationship with the person who came out of all that work and, even then, it's been hard. I don't know if she's redeemed herself, and my god do we still have bumps in the road, but I support her for trying.

With Wilbur, how he responds to this is going to really impact a lot of things. I mean, I know no matter how he responds I won't be going on whatever journey of redemption and healing he has to go through. I'm tired and I feel hurt enough. I would think, if he wanted to show he was sincere, admitting what happened would be a great sense of closure for a lot of people who put time and energy and faith into this guy for years.

Not every person that causes harm is inherently evil, but there has to be some kind of knowledge that you're aware of the harm you've caused. No one is stuck as anything forever, life is constantly moving, and most people aren't saying his life is just over. You can work on yourself. You can change. And I'm saying that specifically to you, anonymous.

(Saying this, actually, there ARE people who would argue once you've done x you're beyond redemption based entirely on their life experiences as a victim, personal histories and many other factors. Kinda like my sister, that's their choice. And you have to accept that sometimes you fuck up so badly that you will permanently lose some people from your life. But your life isn't over.)

But I do think, regardless of what he says or does about this, his time of controlling a large platform is at an end. He can still do a lot of things in his life after he works on himself -- editing, song producing, directing, writing or whatever -- but being in charge of a large impressionable audience that could enable more destructive behaviors is just not it.

[instantpansies]

star trek s3e19 requiem for methuselah really had bones give spock some big speech about love and his incapability to experience it. and spock really looked over at jim and decided to spare him the despair of a doomed love and making him forget he'd ever fallen for someone who couldn't reciprocate.

this is such a scene to me bc it confirms a number of things: the deep love bones holds for jim, the respect and trust spock holds for bones' judgement, and spock's constant willingness to put jim's safety, happiness, comfort over his own.

you can see in bones' monologue, he's so deeply pained. he knows the pain jim is going through, he can't bear to see him in that pain, and the fact (or perception) that spock cannot understand that pain sparks both jealousy (that spock won't be in pain, that jim still loves spock despite that, that bones himself can't help but love spock anyway) and protectiveness over jim (spock, who cannot love, will only inevitably break jim's heart).

and spock takes it. of course the king of repression believes himself incapable of feeling that illogical despair, but he isn't incapable of love. in another moment, he surely would have snapped back at bones, reminded him that vulcans mate in bonds that kill if broken, that their emotions run deeper than humans', that though bones may not understand his culture there is so much love to be found on vulcan. but he doesn't say any of that. he just listens to bones, who has tears in his eyes as he gestures to their captain in the depths of depression, and lets him get it all out. and when bones expresses that it's better to forget to have loved at all than to remember and be in pain forever - spock just nods, and waits for him to leave, and lets jim forget.

spock isn't doing some small thing here - he's taking on all those emotions jim's going through (btw, disproving bones' earlier point that he could never experience those feelings). and, despite ample potential consequences (carrying alone the weight of seeing jim in such pure, dark despair, breaking probably several vulcan codes of conduct, breaking the captain's trust, etc), he trusts that bones is right in wishing jim's forgetting, and takes that emotion upon himself, and lets jim forget he was ever in love with someone who could never love him in the past and now would never love him again. forget he ever fell for an android and taught her the depths of love and killed her. spock just takes it away, and the only one who's still there for jim is spock.

it's quite a scene. the fact that spock goes "oh the captain is still in love with this person who can never love him adequately (or at all anymore). okay, i'll make him forget she ever existed. and who will be left to remember?" (spock will remember. i wonder if he ever regretted it. i wonder if every time he makes the captain smile he thinks of rayna. how he loved her and it's like it never happened. i wonder if he will ever be certain the captain loves him like that.)

idk.

[rairai-raven]

Theory Time Theory Time!

So with the newest trailer for Sonic X Shadow Generations, I feel like I can confidently say who all of the bosses will be.

To start, the base version of Sonic Generations had 7 boss battles, 3 big bosses (being the Death Egg Robot, Perfect Chaos, and the Egg Dragoon), 3 rival battles (being Classic Metal Sonic, Shadow, and Silver), and the final boss (the Time Eater). For the sake of this theory we're going to assume that Shadow Generations will follow this formula too.

Adding on, all of the bosses that will be presented in this theory will have some form of connection to Shadow, meaning that any bosses that Shadow has not interacted with, even if the boss is popular, will not appear.

And lastly, each of the bosses must have appeared within the game where the stage has originated. Here are all of the stages that have been confirmed as of the Doom Powers trailer.

Radical Highway (Sonic Adventure 2)

Final Chase/Rush (Sonic Adventure 2)

Bullet Station (Sonic Heroes)

Westopolis (Shadow the Hedgehog)

Kingdom Valley (Sonic 06)

Sunset Heights/Park Avenue/Ghost Town/Enemy Territory/City/idk pick a name (Sonic Forces)

Chaos Island (Sonic Frontiers)

Getting the obvious out of the way, we have our 2 confirmed bosses, being the Biolizard and Metal Overlord.

The connection between the Biolizard and Shadow is a no brainer so I won't talk about it, however Metal Overlord is interesting and may be deeper than what most people think.

Bullet Station being the featured stage of Sonic Heroes, and what happens in at the end of Bullet Station?

We find a Shadow Android (followed by Neo Metal Sonic copying Shadow's data). Seeing that Android leads to a currently amnesiac Shadow to question his identity and if he is a clone. And who pray tell was the first one to propagate the misinformation?

Neo Metal Sonic. Even if Eggman himself kept the charade going, Neo Metal Sonic (and by extension Metal Overlord) was the one who started the doubt. By fighting Metal Overlord, Shadow can confidently say that he was wrong about who Shadow is, and the only robotic copy around is the one in front of him.

Deciding who the last big boss has been a toughie, and while there is the obvious, I'll be saving that one for the end. Who do I believe is the best candidate then?

The Knight from Sonic Frontiers. Admittedly this one is more of a stretch, however with the given stages we are shown our pool of potential bosses is slim, but that doesn't mean there isn't a connection. In Sonic Frontiers, the Ancients have fled their home planet and landed on Earth with the Chaos Emeralds. With Shadow being both part alien and having chaos abilites, it's not so far fetched. But here's the kicker.

Gerald has visited Angel Island in the past, along with actually seeing the Master Emerald. And what are heavily connected to the Master Emerald that our Ancient friends have brought? Now everything's coming together. So why the Knight in particular? Mainly because it's on Chaos Island where the fight originally took place. But really any of Sonic Frontiers' main bosses would fit.

Now onto the rival battles! Starting with an easy pick, MEMPHIS TENNESSEE Mephilies.

Despite being erased from existence, Mephiles has played a huge role with helping Shadow assert his identity, choosing to forever protect the world even if it turns against him. And with the Time Eater's shenanigans bringing back Crisis City bringing back the erased God wouldn't be impossible.

Not to mention Kingdom Valley is actually where Shadow first met Mephiles in his campaign, the God using Shadow's shadow as a base for the we all know him as.

The second rival battle I believe will happen is everyone's favorite weakling, Infinite.

Given that Sonic Forces is being represented, the character whose whole identity and image have been shattered by the hedgehog makes sense showing up. Although this leads me to ask, why is Sunset Heights in particular the one that's being represented?

Well, that's where the Shadow Clone appears of course.

This is where we learn that Shadow wasn't a bad guy again and was merely being copied by the Phantom Ruby. Perhaps as an intro cutscene to the fight we could have Shadow see his clone doing bad things, with Black Doom taunting him about his inevitable fate of a creature of destruction, before revealing that it was one of Infinite's clones. Shadow would then fight the creator of the clones as an affirmation of who he is.

Now for the final rival battle, I have two options. The one that will most likely happen, and the one I want to happen. The first option is Emerl the Gizoid.

The Dark Beginnings prologue features Emerl, an ancient robot of destruction who Gerald later rediscovers and creates a soul for it based off of Maria. As the prologue shows, Shadow was there during Emerl's rehabilitation and fights him in Sonic Battle. If what shown in the prologue actually happened on the Ark and is not some sort of hallucination, then this rival battle will show the beginnings of Shadow's good hearted nature as he protects Gerald on behalf of Maria.

Despite there being no Sonic battle stages, the fight itself will most likely be apart of the Space Coloney Arc as shown in the prologue.

However, there is one rival battle I really want to happen. Sonic The Hedgehog.

In Sonic Generations we fought Shadow, so how about we fight Sonic in Shadow Generations? However this time it won't be on the Ark, nonono. Instead, it will be on Prison Island.

Faker rematch time! Bonus points if they redub the beginning cutscene to that fight. Plus, with Shadow Generations taking advantage of the fact the fights can take place in a 3D place (as shown in the Biolizard fight), we could be fighting Sonic in an arena instead of the race in Sonic Generations. Now why do I want the Prison Island fight in particular?

Prison Island is where Shadow does his first truly good thing after reawakening from status. Saving Rouge. While claiming it's for the emeralds, deep down he's a good person at heart, he's just so blinded by rage at this point.

With all the possible bosses listened, there's an interesting theme going on, that being Shadow's identity. With Emerl, Shadow wants to save those he cares for. With Sonic, Shadow proves that he is a good person suffering through grief. With the Biolizard, Shadow recognizes what Maria's wish truly was and defies his creator to see it through. With Metal Overlord, Shadow has seeds planted in his mind wondering if he's an Android. With Mephiles, Shadow asserts that he will always fight even if others don't believe in him. With Infinite, Shadow sees that his future self will never turn to villainy again. With the Knight, Shadow will learn more about his origins.

All of these bosses are connected to Shadow's identity, and who pray tell wants to mess with's Shadow's identity the most?

THE DEVIL FROM THE BIBLE

Black Doom.

All throughout Shadow the Hedgehog he's been gaslighting Shadow into joining his side for his own gain, manipulating the hedgehog with promises of showing him his past that he cannot remember, trying to make Shadow something he's not.

It is my firm belief that we will not be fighting the Time Eater as the final boss, Sonic's got that covered. Instead the final boss will be Devil Doom.

It's the final boss of the hit game Shadow the Hedgehog TM, how can you NOT including him as the final boss of essentially Shadow the Hedgehog 2?

After so long since defeating Black Doom, Shadow has grown and reaffirmed who he, and he's not gonna let dear old dad dictate his life again.

Well that got a bit fanficy at the end! Jokes aside, I hope you enjoy my speculation on who the bosses are and what the potential story could be!

[manettheeternalelir]

A Practical Guide to Evil

So I've sat with it for most of the day, and while I think I'll be ruminating on it for much longer than that, here are my thoughts.

Obviously, spoilers.

First, Akua Sahelian. Even going in knowing that she was going to get a redemption arc, I was thinking that maybe I misremembered the name, that it was another character that was going to be redeemed. Especially after the demon at Marchford and of course the Doom of Liesse. I will admit to literally squealing when Catherine broke her fucking bones after 1st Liesse. As the story went on, I began to forgive and forget, and to be honest by the middle of Vol. 7 I was like get over it and kiss her, Cat. I guess I just never felt that bad about the Doom after the Everdark, despite the narrative's insistence on reminding me of it. Maybe that's good writing, that I liked Akua so much, maybe not, idk I'm just a little guy.

Hakram was a great character, with a perfect pivot from in Cat's shadow to becoming a man of his own. He was the button that EE could press to ignore all of the logistical issues when the army got big, so that was kind of annoying, but whatever.

Indrani. Around the time that she and Cat finally fucked I was screaming in my head for them to fuck, so that feels right. Really liked her characterization towards the end with the other Refuge refugees, especially the line where Concocter tells her it didn't have to always be a fight. Good shit.

Vivienne was hit or miss for me, she was her own character, but never really felt that important to me, despite obvious narrative importance. Never the same level of emotional connection to me.

Masego, my darling beloved. My sweet perfect boy. My autistic wizard son. I love him. There may be flaws in his character, maybe, but I will never see them. He is the platonic ideal of a wizard to me.

And then Catherine. She went though so many forms of anime magic. Guide truly cemented itself as a shonen to me, just by virtue of never quite knowing what she could actually do. Her characterizations were relatively constant, enough to ground her as a character anyway, but the way that she always had a hidden plan did get a little annoying. It wasn't quite Sherlock Holmes level unrevealed scheming, but there were definitely moments where I groaned out of annoyance, namely when she was take prisoner in Wolof. I'm probably overstating how much wasn't foreshadowed, and I'd guess that for a lot of people the excitement of guessing "how would Cat get out of this one" was fun, but by the end I was rolling my eyes half the time.

Overall I loved it, and I'm definitely going to reread it at some point. It will provide inspiration for my dnd campaign for years to come, and I will be shamelessly stealing characters forever. Kairos Theodosian was incredible, and probably my second favorite character.

My single biggest critique was that there were stretches of like 5 or 6 interludes in a row, which inevitably lead to me saying "Cordelia FUCKING Hasenbach" under my breath

[chestersbraincell]

Some really quick notes of an AU idea that popped into my head

DISCLAIMER DEAR GOD DISCLAIMER PLEASE LISTEN. I am in no way trying to diminish the serious themes that Mouthwashing covers, I am simply taking vague plot points and working off of that for an interesting “what if” scenario. I am in no way saying that ow character=mouthwashing character in any way other than some tangential surface level similarities

That being said!! The ship has to crash somehow, right? And since I feel in no way capable of tackling the same themes as Mouthwashing nor do I want to put ow chars in a very serious story about SA, I’ll just take the very base repeated theme of “I’ll fix this” and make Iggy the one who crashes the ship. How did he become captain? Idk!!! Computer programming experience or something!!!! He crashes the ship in an (entirely illogical mind you, in this AU Iggy isn’t doing too well mentally as I am stretching the “I just want to make my friends this happy forever” character motivation to it’s extremes-In this AU, Iggy is secretly obsessed with bringing back what once was, ie the cast being close friends. ) attempt to bring the cast together and to make them get along under a pressured situation; this, of course, backfires spectacularly

That being said, that is mostly the extent to which my ideas have currently thought about this. That and the dilemma whether to draw a parallel between Swansea and Bucks(Axe) or Swansea and Genzou(vibes+only plus size character in a cast of 5), or both, or not at all. I’ll probably build on this, or maybe I won’t. Maybe if I like, feel especially inspired I might try my hand at writing a small fic of this on AO3 if the very idea doesn’t get me publically executed/exhaggeration

don’t count on it though

Actually is there like ANYONE in the ow fandom who would be interested in this(I would ask the Mouthwashing fandom but like, to be quite honest, aside from the main plot of being stranded on a space ship and the very few character parallels that may crop up, there isn’t going to be all that much Mouthwashing in this)

Additional notes:

Character personalities somewhat flip: Genzou closes off due to his insecurities/oh shit fuck I’m gonna die I can’t afford to be a dick in my last days I might aswell not interact with anyone at all->Orlam gets a bit of peace from Genzou and the enchroaching doom of the situation actually makes him kinder then he would usually be(though I’m also thinking of a possible parallel to arc 3 somewhere along the line maybe)->it’s actually Gidget who looses their temper most, actually being around the same people all the time causes their little miss perfect facade to crumble under the pressure

Idfk what to do with Bucks yet, but I think I wanna like, make her reason for going on the ship in the first place an allegory to her running away from unwanted motherhood like pre-wonderland drinking was like for her. This would then have to take place slightly later than wonderland would take place, as Saydie would have to be independent from her enough to be left alone for that half a year. I’m thinking like atleast 1 year old Saydie, then. Idk might move it even further and make it like toddler Saydie if plot needs her idk

[mooniety]

I know I already commented asking this so I'm sorry, but about that post of Susie's death wish to shorten her life and be with her father again, isn't it not going to work? Weren't Haltmann and his soul completely deleted from existence by Star Dream? Because if she reaches the afterlife and finds out that her death wish was doomed to fail and her dad doesn't exist anymore, then that would just make it even sadder :(

That or maybe Susie knows that and yet just doesn't have an afterlife? idk

sup man, it's cool --i tend to be quite shy when i get comments so i end up usually never replying, it's a pretty unfortunate cycle, apologies for that ^^;

however, i will let you know that i did in fact read your comment & wanted to make a follow up regarding it, so thank you for the comment & ask as well!

in summary, yes, susie's idea of a death wish isn't going to work & wasn't meant to work - however, rather than haltmann's soul being deleted from existence, i instead went with the approach that what star dream did was "corrupt" haltmann's soul - encrypting the "data" of his soul in a foreign, complex encryption algorithm closely related to the ancients' own high class encryption methods, its decryption key only known to star dream (who is now gone, so it cannot be decrypted.)

in addition, with star dream basically EXPLODING after its defeat to kirby, not only is haltmann's soul forever stuck in an impenetrable encrypted state, this encrypted data is literally spread in pieces of variable amounts all across the galaxy-- the location of each piece unknown, especially with some of the broken pieces of star dream most likely still drifting across space & maybe even other dimensions

i imagine this is how haltmann supposedly "lost" his memories of susie over time - rather than truly losing his memories, star dream was sealing them away via encryption as a monkey's paw deal for attempting to wish susie back to life

& in a way, haltmann's wish IS met - susie would manage to survive for a decade before returning from the another dimension, thus star dream, although disgustingly, rightfully took away haltmann's memories of her (i have further headcanons regarding susie being stuck in the another dimension, but i believe that is for another time)

focusing back on susie however, she indeed has knowledge of her father's current state, finding out about his encrypted memories through attempts to decrypt them herself while working under him at hwc & later finding about the state of his soul when attempting to recover hwc after star dream's destruction

her entire mentality from this awareness is a depressing form of nihilism constantly hanging over her, all in which she desperately attempts to hide behind a facade: "if the person i love the most in this world no longer exists, i no longer have any point for existing"

(un)fortunately for her, i like happy endings & even more, torturing her!™️ thus over time she regains the will to live with her newfound loved ones/found family during her time with kirby & co as well as live a longer lifespan than the one she initially hoped for (expecting to only live up to her late 60s at the very most without any robotic implants but instead living over a century)

when she finally reaches the afterlife, it's likely that haltmann may not be there, especially with his soul being the equivalent of a destroyed hard drive containing high official confidential government data, but ideas change over time & for now, i'd like the exact answer of that to be vague, as for me, susie's story is a story of hope, even in the most desolate of situations

BUT YEAH MAN'S GONE LOL

[ghostsontelevision]

curious to know your take on da spirits 👀

okay. hi. i have a lot of thoughts.

so my big spicy controversial take is i think the way that dragon age handles spirits is maybe the most boring way they could handle spirits.

from my understanding, dragon age spirits form for unknown reasons and then latch on to the first thing that interests them from the mortal world. so far so good. something that i personally find interesting is how easily the demons of dragon age slot onto the seven deadly sins (with some alterations - desire vs lust, rage vs wrath, etc). this is funny to me, because Christianity Is Not Dragon Age Canon. i'm not That mad at this, writers live in a society and the seven deadly sins have shown up in fantasy for forever. but then i read this bit on the spirits wiki page -

and okay! the chantry has an entire backstory for spirits! THAT tracks, and makes sense why the spirits vs demons dichotomy is so rigid, right? it's chantry propaganda. the chantry labels some ideas as virtuous and some ideas as evil.

like, speaking of the seven deadly sins in fantasy media, let's talk about greed from fullmetal alchemist. greed is the embodiment of, you know, greed, and is, in the story, used to interrogate the idea of want.

dragon age specifically doesn't have lust demons, it has *desire* demons, but that leads us to the same point greed makes in this monologue - wanting something is human. desiring something is super normal. this tracks, if we think of the spirit/demon dichotomy as chantry propaganda, because irl the church loves to make people feel guilty for normal human emotions.

ANOTHER thing i find interesting is this first point on the "how a spirit becomes a demon" checklist:

"the spirit can already embody something mortals would perceive as a vice or an ambiguous concept". this is transformation not based on the SPIRIT'S perception, but on HUMAN (et al)'s perception. that's really interesting to me! that implies that spirits can become demons because we expect them to, which recontextualizes say, the fact that mages who commit blood magic under duress (like. basically half the mages we meet in kirkwall lol) may actually be in more danger of being exposed to demons *because they expect demons*. this also implies that anders was doomed from the start, because regardless of how good or how moral he was in his cause, people who perceive him as vengeful instead of just will inevitably corrupt justice.

this is all cool, and makes spirits and demons more complicated, and vibes with my personal belief that there's no such thing as an inherently good or evil concept - and i don't think any of it is dragon age canon.

let's look at that last one. spirits become demons when denied their original purpose.

okay. well, from what we can tell, spirits latch on to the first thing they see in the mortal world that compels them. how does that work for like, a spirit of wisdom? idk. how does a spirit of wisdom differ from a spirit of curiosity? idk. like, i ran a dragon age ttrpg campaign that featured a spirit of curiosity as an npc, and i played her as being incredibly invested in learning new things, and seeing how manfred works in dav, i don't think i was inaccurate in doing so, but do spirits of curiosity want to learn, and spirits of wisdom already know? curiosity wants to learn and wisdom wants to teach? who knows. regardless - they hyperfixate on the first thing, and according to solas, our spirit expert, if they ever stop hyperfixating on that thing, they become evil. how do they become evil? well they embody evil ideas. how do we know those ideas are evil? well you can find ideas in nature, and some of those ideas are good and some are evil. and also the ambiguous ones get sorted into evil.

my wish, is instead of taking the good/evil dichotomy at face value, is that every idea a spirit embodied contained both good and evil inside of it. like, cole. cole's status as compassion spirit is used as proof he's chill, and he's only in danger of not being chill if he strays from compassion (or, point 3 on the list, if he's compassion but in the wrong way, which, jesus, it kind of seems like it's really fucking hard to not turn into a demon). but can we think about compassion in different ways than just... being good? like, can't compassion also be enabling? can't compassion lead to squishy, both sides centrism? it's good to be compassionate, but it's not always appropriate. i wish cole was used to interrogate all the different ways compassion could manifest, but instead it's just like "he's compassion and compassion is good" even tho he was a serial killer for selfish reasons and now he fights every day, which i guess didn't corrupt him like it corrupted that wisdom spirit in solas' quest.

(ftr i am five chapters into asunder so like, i'll report back if my cole analysis changes afterwards, but if i treat the games as a source of truth - as the devs have repeatedly encouraged me to do - i don't think "cole is good because compassion is good" is an inaccurate read.)

tl;dr: i think it's megaboring to make it canon that some ideas are inherently good and inherently evil, i think the rules as written means spirits can't do anything without going demon mode, and i think there were crumbs of interesting lore that they could've easily ran with but instead they didn't and the games are worse for it.

[the-crimson]

With @_@ taking over Forever I’m seeing lots of people reminiscing about the elections and reveling the events that have occurred since. It does feel like destiny to some degree. Some were wondering if it was the audience who doomed Forever down this path but ironically, I think it was Forever.

People did the math after the elections and found if one person had moved their vote from Forever to bbh then bbh would have won and I remember Forever admitting he voted for himself twice.

The irony. Bbh and Forever agreed to vote for each other once and bbh was the only one to uphold that promise. If Forever had kept his promise and voted once for bbh… then maybe none of this would have happened, or maybe he inadvertently saved bbh from the same cruel fate.

Or maybe it never mattered and Forever was always destined to be forced into the Happy Pills and he would always have been infected by @_@

Maybe Forever brought this on himself by choosing the Presidency over everything else. He wanted it so desperately, he wanted to do good so bad, and his choice to vote for himself twice may have been the deciding factor between all of the suffering he’s experienced for being President and living a happy life with his family.

Idk. Something to think about

(This is all conjecture. I remember Forever saying he voted for himself twice but I might be wrong. Let me know if I’m misremembering XD)

[lunarwintyr]

Don't Touch Me (Or I'll Break) Rating: M Pairing: Wednesday Addams/Enid Sinclair Content Warnings: Mild Sexual Content, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms

------Summary-----

What happens if Wednesday can't accept her feelings at Nevermore and it leads to the fracturing, and eventual ruin, of her and Enid's friendship, along with every other friend at Nevermore Wednesday might have had? What happens when an Addams is so determined to defy the Curse that they self-destruct every chance given to them? ============================================== Wednesday ruins it all. Six years later, she runs into Enid at a club in New York City and gets a second chance. Will she do it right this time? Will she be honest about her innermost feelings, not only with Enid, but with herself? Or will she fall back into old habits? Will she resort to denial and lies? Can Wednesday ever break free of her self-inflicted misery and self-destructive patterns or is she doomed to them forever?

Author ramblings under the readmore.

I was possessed by a demon to write this around 11 pm and finished around 3 in the morning. I don't really know what else to say.

A lot of Wenclair fanfics follow the trope/trend/idea of Wednesday kind of going a little insane at Nevermore and, through her antics, her feelings about Enid come out, everything is okay and they get together and it's lovely.

I wanted to know, what does that look like if that doesn't happen?

And not only that, what if Wednesday's antics stop being endearing after a while, and get to the point where it completely shatters her friendships, including with Enid?

What happens next?

This fic is me exploring that idea. Wednesday becoming an even-more-dead-inside womanizer because she likes the feeling of power it gives her and it helps her pave over the hurt underneath it all backfires when she's on the prowl at a club and meets Enid by total chance, who doesn't recognize her (sort of).

Idk, I really don't have much more to say. I think the story speaks for itself. I definitely pulled from personal experience for a lot of it (having a lot of mindless sex over a couple years can really do a number on you if you're doing it for the wrong reasons) so I hope the story resonates with some other people as well.

I will say I fucking hate the ending. I had no idea how to properly end it after the final "proper" scene. I may flesh it out further in a second chapter or just an additional one-shot.

I have some ideas on an E-rated sequel that shows Wednesday recovering with Enid from self-inflicted sexual trauma, but we'll see.

Thanks for paying attention to my nonsense, I hope you enjoy the fic <3

[seefare]

when ena sings with THEIR creations, will a memetic entity not be part of the choir?

aka: reasonings for how misha can be seen by others

hello! forgive me for starting the blog off with a long ass ooc post but this is something i feel i need to make clear since it concerns majority of the people misha will be interacting with.

as you all know, in canon, not everyone can see misha. only the nameless and those who work closely with memoria (i.e. black swan, gallagher) are able to see and speak with him. however, i'm afraid something like that is just not gonna fly in an rp group. i mean, it would be unfair to limit my interactions to just those people, right?

hence why i've come up with all this to try and explain why it's different this time around.

couldn't you have just suspend the disbelief? assumed that misha can be seen because of some vague yet understood worldbuilding point? i mean... maybe. but i like doing this a lot lot more :3

so! let's start off with the reason why misha cannot be seen by others in canon.

misha is a creation of mikhail char legwork, the watchmaker, who is the founder of penacony and also a nameless. we all know this idk why i had to explain it. but anyways! misha's purpose was to essentially guide the nameless through mikhail's hopes and dreams. he is the watchmaker's legacy. hence why he can only be seen by those on the path of trailblaze—because he is born of a nameless' memory. it also explains why black swan and gallagher know him—they're both individuals who have close ties to memes and memoria.

to summarize: misha can only be seen by the nameless because those are the only people that mikhail left his legacy for. he never intended for anyone else to meet or know misha because, well. they don't really need to.

so what's different this time? why can misha be seen by others now?

here's how i'm choosing to go about it: ena's sweet dream has overridden mikhail's.

HEAR ME OUT HEAR ME OUT

in the cutscene for 'then wake to weep,' we hear the trailblazer say this: "the penacony in mikhail's dreams does not belong to order." we can assume from this (and the slew of other dialogue from mikhail) that the watchmaker's aspirations for penacony are directly at odds with the order's. hence why he felt it so important to preserve this hope, that it may let the future nameless free penacony from ena's influence.

but in here... well, let's just say that we aren't entirely free from that influence yet. we are well within penacony's shadow. and what does that mean for us?

the light doesn't shine through. mikhail's dream gets drowned out once more.

this is why i'm opting to wipe misha's memories of everything that's happened. he doesn't remember his identity or his purpose, he thinks mikhail is still his grandfather, and he's still working at the reverie. his quest has been stripped from him—in the sweet dream, he is no longer tasked with passing on mikhail's legacy to the nameless because, well. mikhail's dream for penacony doesn't belong to the order. and what isn't in order will be removed.

and so there's no reason for his existence to be exclusive anymore. when he got brought back, he was no longer the watchmaker's legacy. he's just a memetic entity whose memories got messed with.

does that make sense? god god god

now... is this to say that misha will forever be this weird amnesiac kid, eternally doomed to a life of bellboyery and daydreams? no, i have a feeling mikhail's hopes are not yet fully extinguished. for now though, considering the nature of this group... this is where we're at.

come say hi to the reverie's weird bellboy!