#so good i actually stopped playing for a bit and haven't even done the main quest

[eurydia]

no grave can hold my body down I'll crawl home to her once again thinking about the first time my soul left my body: hearing Hozier sing "Work Song" live in a cemetery. the second time was when I finished Emmrich's quests 💚💀 commission slots available. I also offer Inquisition tarot art or the Veilguard card art. email: eurydia.art@gmail.com Sybil is my Watcher Rook 🦋 spoiler ver.

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

why are people so against oliver and ryan talking about buddie, don't we want this, don't we want buddie to be canon? i'm sorry are we rooting for buck to end up with tommy or something, like I don't understand why so many people are saying stop asking them about buddie?

If we want Buddie then shouldn't we be asking buddie questions? I mean I'm so sorry but I'm just very confused, shouldn't we be happy that buddie is getting this much press and love? Why are we against it?

Okay, this is going to be a long one.

There are a few reasons why people are concerned about publications teasing Buddie happening and using the ship name and asking Oliver and Ryan about the ship. I'll try to be as concise as possible.

I would like to note, I'm not going to answer a bunch of questions about this. Other people have answered similar questions plenty of times, if you take a bit to look around 911blr. I'm sure @catdadeddie has gone into this a few times.

However, I understand that we are getting a lot of new fans this season, and so I want to try and explain comprehensively for those who haven't been around. I hope this covers everything.

Whenever a ship is between two people of the same gender as opposed to two people of the opposite gender (I know, I know, but we can't get into the gender spectrum right now just play along with me), everyone involved has to be very, very careful when it comes to talking about that ship ahead of said ship going canon.

It is very easy to slip into something called "queerbaiting." I'm assuming that you and most people online and in fandom by now have heard of this term but just in case: queerbaiting is when a show acts like a queer ship might happen in marketing and promotion in order to draw in a queer audience.

Historically, this was done by having a main character played by a woman have a romantic thing with another woman (flirting, even kissing!) who was a guest star, hinting at the main character's bisexuality/queerness, only for that guest star to never come back and for the show to act like it had never happened. This was done during something called, IIRC, "sweeps week" which was basically an important week for TV viewer ratings in the 90s. It was a way to boost your numbers by drawing in queer viewers with the promise of actual queer rep that then wasn't realized. It's a marketing tactic.

Nowadays the nature of queerbaiting has changed a bit. It's an overused term that frankly people love to (mis)use whenever a ship of theirs doesn't go canon and a show dares to do things like having two people (like say Ryan and Oliver) who play the two halves of the ship do an interview together (whether you ship Buddie or not, they are close friends, and it makes sense that they'd do a few interviews together - that is not queerbaiting). A good example of real queerbaiting is Rizzoli & Isles which, among other things, took out billboards and magazine spreads showing the characters (two women) in suggestively sexual and romantic positions and with slogans hinting that the two had more than just friendship together, then never, ever delivered on it and in fact laughed at the idea of the characters being gay for each other.

(I WAS THERE, GANDALF!!!)

Because of this unfortunate treatment of queer audiences and the (historic) dearth of actual queer characters and queer ships going canon (it's getting better but still), networks, showrunners, and so on have to be very careful when, say, they want to make a queer ship canon.

Look at how ABC handled Chenford, a popular ship in their show The Rookie. Chenford was not a planned ship - the fans adored the chemistry between the two characters (Lucy Chen and Tim Bradford), the writers liked the idea and decided to lean into it, ABC gave the go-ahead, and the ship officially got together and went canon last season. ABC heavily promoted Chenford and the ship and made a lot of jokes about it in the last couple of seasons leading into the ship going canon, using the ship heavily in their marketing.

ABC cannot necessarily do that with Buddie, because even if Buddie is going canon, until that happens, they could get accused of queerbaiting. There's a much bigger minefield to navigate because of this historic misuse of queer audiences and queer characters.

So whenever journalists and publications use a popular non-canonical queer ship name for clicks and fandom interest, if that ship doesn't immediately go canon or if the network/showrunner/etc doesn't say "yeah they're totally gonna kiss! with tongue!" people accuse the show of queerbaiting. This is unfair to the show for two reasons: one, the network is not going to bother sending "shut the fuck up" letters to every single damn publication out there for using a ship name in their headline and talking about a ship - they'll be accused of homophobia and it draws even MORE attention to the issue re: the Barbra Streisand effect (look it up); and two, the people involved in the show are NOT going to spoil the anticipation and surprise by admitting ANY ship is going to go canon before it does.

This is simple marketing - the movie trailer doesn't (or shouldn't, anyway) show you the ending of the movie or everything that happens in it. TV shows want you to tune in every week and speculate and guess. They're not gonna spoil a ship ahead of time.

This means that when journalists and articles pull this shit, they're putting the showrunner, the writers, the actors doing interviews, and the network in a bad situation that they can't really do anything about. Not without causing more mess.

So that's reason number one why a lot of us are annoyed: by yelling about Buddie, these articles and journalists are setting the cast and crew we love up to get yelled at for queerbaiting if Buddie doesn't immediately happen, and there's nothing the cast and crew can do about it, and it's all so the journalists and articles can use us, the fandom, for clicks. So we're also kinda getting used here, and it doesn't feel great.

The second reason we're annoyed about Buddie questions is that it's being asked of the actors who, nine times out of ten, have ZERO CONTROL OVER THE STORYLINES.

Now, there are exceptions. Jennifer Love Hewitt, who plays Maddie, has pushed back on a couple storylines that were given to her and has therefore had a strong hand in shaping Maddie's character. One infamous (in a positive way) example is that Maddie and Eddie were supposed to be an endgame couple. JLH, however, immediately loved the character of Chimney and clicked with Chim's actor Kenneth Choi, so she asked if Maddie could get with Chim instead, feeling he'd be a better fit for her character. And lo, both the beautiful ship Madney and the insanity that is Buddie shipping was born because Buck ended up stepping into that co-parenting-Chris role that Maddie obviously would've originally filled.

However, it should be noted that JLH was an established star before coming onto 9-1-1, and her husband is friends with Tim the showrunner. I would argue that the only other two actors who have any power on their storylines are Peter and Angela, the latter because she can do whatever she wants forever, and the former because (like Angela) he is an executive producer on the show.

It's not that actors never ever get to have a say ever, but the writers, showrunner, and network have much more power. They create the storylines, they make the decisions. Not actors. So when the actors are repeatedly asked about a ship, they're put in an awkward position where they might not even know the full storyline for their character that season and now they need to answer in a way that doesn't reveal any information they do know, but also doesn't insult shippers or dash their hopes. This is a double minefield for queer ships because, again: historic insults to queer fans and characters, nobody wants to be offensive.

The third reason is that this fandom has, historically, treated Tim, Oliver, and others like absolute dogshit over Buddie not going canon. Oliver's left Twitter and taken big social media breaks because of how he was yelled at online. It's not cool, guys. Vent all you want but directing it at the cast and crew isn't okay and maybe if it was just you talking sternly that would be fine (maybe) but when it's dozens of people? It's bullying. Full stop.

Every single time Buddie has not gone canon instantly, the actors and others have gotten verbally abused on social media. Every time the actors have been asked about Buddie and not said "ohmygod yes I want it to happen so bad" (they are not allowed to say this because it might create false hope because again: historical queerbaiting) they've gotten yelled at. We are tired of the actors getting yelled at over something over which they have no control.

The fourth reason is that Oliver, especially, has gotten asked about Buddie a LOT. A lot. The poor man is very tired. He's been cornered about Buddie and asked about it aggressively by certain journalists (one journalist, Max Gao, actually tried to corner Gavin who plays Chris over Buddie - this was a few years ago so Gavin was even younger than he is now and I personally think that is an incredibly unfairly loaded question to give to a child).

If I may dive into speculation for a moment, given how the actors have been SO gleeful about the move to ABC, the fact that they've admitted ABC is letting them do storylines and little moments that FOX wouldn't, and a few other things I won't get into here because this damn thing is long enough already... I suspect FOX would not let Buddie happen. If this is the case, then actors being asked about Buddie is even more loaded because they are being asked questions about it and they can't say "yeah we want to but the network won't let us." THEY WILL GET FIRED FOR THIS.

But, whether or not my speculation is true, the fact remains that when you are repeatedly, over and over, aggressively asked if this fan ship is going to happen or not, you get tired. There's only so many times that someone can give a diplomatic answer before you just want to snap "stop fucking asking me!" Journalists love to take advantage of fandom and social media chatter to get attention for their articles so asking over and over again about Buddie isn't because they genuinely care or think it'll happen, it's to get shippers reading their article, and so bombarding the actors and writers with this question when they've already kinda said their peace a lot about it is frustrating. Just! Leave them alone!

And AGAIN: if this was a M/F ship there could maybe be room for teasing the will-they-won't-they but because of historically bad treatment of queer characters and fans, THEY CANNOT DO THAT. So the only option open to them is to KEEP THEIR MOUTHS SHUT. And keeping one's mouth shut and threading that diplomatic needle for years is EXHAUSTING.

We do want Buddie to be canon, nonny, and in my opinion we are going to get it. All this recent PR supports that, (again: in my opinion).

However, we have seen Oliver get bombarded with what he thinks about Buddie until the cows come home, and he deserves a break. There's nothing new he can say, there's nothing new he's allowed to say. We have seen other parts of the fandom scream that we're being queerbaited because Buddie didn't instantly go canon, without any consideration for the fact that a) queerbaiting is a marketing tactic and b) there might be other factors at play preventing it going canon. We have seen journalists take advantage of us, the shippers, in order to get attention, and we have seen them create an awkward and embarrassing atmosphere in interviews by repeatedly asking about the ship. We have seen shippers make us look bad by hounding the cast and crew on social media about Buddie, treating every woman actress who plays a Buck/Eddie love interest like shit (yes, I know about Edy, but she could be a saint and parts of the fandom would still go onto Instagram to call her names), and generally being absolute pills that would tempt any showrunner, actor, or writer to say "y'know what fuck 'em let's not make Buddie canon I'm not rewarding this shitty behavior."

"If we want Buddie then shouldn't we be asking Buddie questions?" No. Not like journalists and fans have been. It's something to bring up - in my opinion - sparingly and with an awareness of how queer storylines and ships and fandom have been mocked, ignored, baited, and so on over the years. They don't ask about Buddie because they give a shit. They ask because they want our clicks for their ad revenue and they want our retweets and likes and comments. And it's certainly not something to bombard the actors with on social media and bitch at them if it doesn't happen. It just makes the rest of fandom look bad and makes us look like children.

Additionally: These are not new questions! They're not only asking these questions now that it looks like Buddie will go canon, with serious hope and consideration based on the marketing and storylines. They've been asking this since season fucking two, when Buddie was clearly not planned, just to get fangirl (gn) clicks. They wanted to get attention and teehee over how Oliver/Ryan/whoever reacted to people thinking Buck and Eddie should touch dicks. 'Kay?

We know the pattern. So when every piece of media is screaming BUDDIE!!! we are not seeing it as "OMG could we go canon?" We see it as another round of being taken advantage of for article attention, another round of parts of the fandom being bullies and yelling about being baited, and another round of the actors being backed into uncomfortable corners.

That's why we're concerned, worried, and annoyed.

*collapses* I hope this covered everything and explained it all.

[muffinrecord]

Current Plans + Musings

I don't plan on playing Exedra to the degree I did for Magia Record, or playing it at all. Because of that, I won't be taking an active role in the community and archiving anything for it. Of course, if Exedra has like amazing gameplay and stories then this is all subject to change, but for now I think I'm done with phone games.

The two youtube channels will stay up and I'll check em periodically to make sure there aren't copyright strikes against the content. I've saved all my raw files, especially for the battle animations, so I can remake them in the future if the music ever becomes a problem for some reason.

Google Drive will stay up until Google rots away. I haven't recorded footage in a long time (as in stories, I do for the character doppels and such), but I'll upload things if they're sent to me.

Magia Union Translations still plans on translating things and making videos, especially leading up to the end, but also for after the game is over for whatever wasn't made in time. I'm not sure what form this will take in the future-- if it'll be manual captions added to the videos or not, but I know it WILL happen.

As for this blog, I'm not going to delete it or anything. However I'm going to be taking a step back. I'd like to say that I'll do liveblogs but I mean... *gestures at blog* I've been saying that for years and the only one I really did successfully was the Oriko one lmao. Ahhh oh well.

I'll have more words later, but it was really fun to be part of a fandom experience like this. I'm excited to work on my own original story projects though and quiet down a bit.

...

When I started this blog, I never expected it to have people actually read it. Or look at it. I just wanted a place to gush about how much fun I was having. I didn't even want to tag the posts with "Magia Record" at first because I was terrified people would be mean at me, haha.

But I'm glad I did. I made so many good friends through this game. I'm glad it existed. And it made me happy to have a place where people cared about what I had to say. Some folks actually got their news from here, can you imagine that? They had notifications turned on for this blog. My god.

Anyways, I'm going to be here for the next two months, and tomorrow I'll start reblogging fan projects and initiatives, plus general news. Maybe this blog will turn into a dumping site for art and fanfic reblogs, who knows. I might watch the remaining stuff and add various thoughts here and there.

Otherwise, you can find me on my main blog @malignmuffin, which only reblogs stuff (I don't talk much if at all there). I have another tumblr blog for my comic, but I think I'll reshare the name once I actually have content you can look at on it. It's pretty bare bones for the moment.

Actually it'll be funny if the end of this game is what makes me finally work on it again. I was in the process of working on it when NA came out, and it totally derailed me. Stopped writing, drawing, just focused on this silly little phone game. Now it's like those five years have gone by and I'm going back to where I started, except I think my lil comic is going to be a bit better than it was before. If I actually make it, that is.

If I ever do actually make my comic and start posting it, I'll be sure to update y'all here. hah

Anyways, thanks for being on this wild ride with me. The memories have been great, and I'm glad I had this experience, even if it had to end.

[jamorbital]

Mailbag III ✉️

Wow, there were a bunch this time. Thanks everyone!

@theloramir:

Me! 😷

If that doesn't count… Hmm. Cynthia from Pokémon? Or maybe Tifa?

@scout90-again:

I've been interested in it for as long as I can remember. Even when I was really little, I liked to tie up dolls with string and put pieces of tape on their mouths. A bit more on that in an earlier ask here.

(MORE UNDER THE CUT)

@noteverysaurisadinosaur:

Uhhh... I'm gonna say... Golden Toad. I like Dodos too, but I'm guessing that's the "everything but country and rap" of this question.

@directivexero:

Aw thanks!

Lately I've been slowly making my way through The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles! I play it in bed each night to settle in before I go to sleep. It's like a good book. The fickleness of the jurors always makes me laugh.

Another recent one I liked: Thank Goodness You're Here! It's basically a little interactive animated movie. Matt Berry is in it. I once saw it described as "Untitled Twat Game"

Deadly Premonition is the worst game I've ever played by conventional standards, but I'd still recommend it because it's bad in really fun ways. Bring some friends and a case of beer.

I like games that provoke a strong reaction. I'd rather play something like DP than a "good" big-budget game that's smooth and pleasing but not all that memorable.

Also on the topic of weird games: This is the secret best channel on YouTube. The more you watch, the better it gets. I mean idk, maybe other people don't see it and I'm just deranged. Still though. I've cried laughing at some of these.

@patientbard:

Summer! Lots of happy memories from childhood. I like to swim.

@nixalegos:

I don't often try to go for a specific texture, but when I do it can be tricky. In real life I love soft jersey knit fabric. Despite my best efforts, I haven't been able to nail it in 2D in a way that really scratches that kinky itch.

In general, my drawings rarely come out the way I pictured them in my head. (I think that's how it is for most artists?) If it's looking really off then I might redraw a character or body part from scratch, but for the most part I just go with the flow.

@accretion-disk-anxiety:

To eat, crab; to not eat, turtle.

@damianblack:

I'm not really into furries, but I like furries as people. They seem like fun and I admire how welcoming and liberated their community is.

For a while I've had "draw an anthro character" on my bucket list. I think it'd be a fun challenge and drawing a gag for an anthro snout could be hot tbh.

@onidrills:

What was that thing from Jurassic Park with the big neck thing and the venom? Dilophosaurus?

Aw man...

@goodboynijian:

Thank you!

For proudest: Maybe animation loops?

They're not as elaborate as some other stuff I've done, but seeing an animation come together just feels so satisfying.

For hottest: I gravitate toward a certain weirder type of piece where I draw myself (or "myself") with super-exaggerated proportions and/or humiliating captions:

It feels exciting to just go totally off the wall. I get turned on not just by drawing these, but also posting them. I guess it's kind of a public humiliation/exhibitionism thing. (Actually, that's exactly what it is.)

I used to put them up on Twitter, but it got a little too weird and embarrassing. Now I keep them behind the safety of the paywall.

@t-oppenheimer:

Smash if that counts! I used to attend locals weekly and was decently competitive at my peak. I stopped going in 2020 due to covid and never got back into it after that. I still play with friends here and there though. I'm a Wolf main. 🐺

I've also done a little SF6, but I'm still in The Cursed Zone on that one.

@microfoamgaglover:

Yes

(old pic!)

Thanks again to everyone who sent in questions! I'm feeling better now than I was this morning. If I didn't respond to you, it just means I couldn't think of anything interesting to say. I appreciate it all the same.

[thirteenis-myluckynumber]

Wedding vows

Man, choosing a gif is harder than I thought *cries*

Pairing: Nie Huaisang x f!reader

Word Count: 4856 words

Warnings/tags: fluff, just love all around, Chinese wedding ensues, suggestive content, smut, this one is nsfw minors dni

Notes: (C/N)-your clan's name, (Y/N)-your name

A/N: This is the 2nd part of Proposal. You can read this is as a stand-alone, but some context might be lost. I can't believe its done, have a feast, dears!

Special thanks to this post, for providing information about Chinese weddings. I did take some liberties, but at least I did it knowingly.

It's been almost a month now that you were living in the Unclean Realm. Your brother agreed, begrudgingly at first, to let you go before the wedding because he saw how painful it was for you to stay away from your soon-to-be husband. In the end, he saw it was the right decision to let you get used to your new home beforehand.

Just one week before the wedding basically everything was turned upside down in the Unclean Realm. Both you and Nie Huaisang took part in the planning as there were no close relative of his who could take on the task. He, of course, had an exceptionally good eye for decoration, and while he was busy with clan leader's stuff, you coordinated the disciples and servants when needed.

You quickly got used to the almost colourless picture of the Unclean Realm and appreciated the calmly elegant black-grey-silver colours of your new home. The vivid red and gold decorations of the upcoming wedding, hinted with a little bit of silver, almost felt weirdly out of place now. As you entered the main hall to check on the servants' progress before retiring for the night, you stopped in awe at the entrance. Almost everything was in place now, only some adjustments were needed here and there. A huge smile spread across your face, as you couldn't help but imagine yourself entering the hall on Huaisang's arm, dressed in beautiful red and every guest's attention on you.

Speaking of Huaisang, you wondered what he was doing, as you haven't seen him all day. You decided to check on him before returning to your chambers. As you passed down the hallways, the servants were busy lighting some lanterns for the night. The sky already started to darken, and they politely greeted you as you passed them by. The guards also haven't paid attention to you, you were allowed to move freely, and they quickly got used to your presence after you moved in.

When you approached Huaisang's door, you knocked lightly to let him know of your presence but didn't actually wait for him to open the door himself. With guards present, his door was unlocked so you figured he hasn't retired for the night yet. You entered and instantly noticed his sitting form by the desk. He seemed to be completely engrossed in something, which you assumed was official documents. A light, calming incense could be smelled in the air of the warmly lit room. As you stepped closer, you noticed the not-so-neatly scattered papers on the table and some even around it on the ground. You also noticed a brush and ink, probably for writing letters. His usual fan also sat discarded on the edge of the table. Yes, he was definitely working all day, you concluded.

You stepped next to the table on his left side and shot a quick glance at the paper in front of him. It was clearly clan business. He only became aware of your presence in that moment, and he looked up at you with a tired but happy smile playing on the edge of his lips.

"Miss (C/N), it's so good to see you! Only you can make this miserable day better!"

"Oh, Huaisang, I'm sorry you had to work all day! I stopped by the main hall, and everything is almost completely ready now. You should check it out tomorrow. What's all this anyway?" You asked gesturing at the scattered papers all around his desk.

"You wouldn't believe it! Almost all of this are letters offering support, inquiring about accommodation, or asking for details about the banquet. There are also official papers about finances and clan politics. And I have to sort these out before the wedding! Why does everybody want a piece of me?"

"Hmm, I think," you pretended to think hard while you sat down next to him on the ground, "you are quite a catch."

He let out a disbelieving sound, but you continued, counting on your fingers.

"You are wealthy, the leader of one of the four big clans, a clever and intelligent man, you are a very talented artist, you have great taste in clothing, you do what you need to but don't meddle in other's business, you are funny and kind. Oh, and have I mentioned exceptionally handsome?"

"Ahh, stop, stop, stop, stop!" He protested, nose scrunched up and hands held out in front of his chest.

You let out a short laugh because of his adorably childish attitude and turned your body so you were sitting face to face now. You reached out and grabbed his hands. So warm and soft, they fit perfectly into yours.

"I'm serious," you said looking into his eyes.

And he believed you. His face straightened out, his eyes searching yours, lips parted only a tiny bit in awe, but you couldn't help but notice. He also noticed where you were looking, his eyes wandering down to your lips in turn. When your eyes met again, you could see the question in his eyes and you leaned closer to him, a barely noticeable movement. But that's all he needed. The next moment he leaned in, and his lips were on yours, hands moving around your waist to pull you closer. You gasped, one hand touching his chest for purchase, the other reaching up to cradle his cheek. His kisses were slow and sensual.

"I don't think you should praise me this much. I might become overly confident," he whispered into your lips between kisses.

"Well, surely we don't need another peacock."

You let go of each other's lips and burst out laughing, your foreheads touching the whole time.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

The day of the wedding arrived quickly. As you were getting ready with help of your maids, you listened to the commotion outside as guests continued to arrive. Everyone had to settle in their temporary rooms and led to the main hall where the wedding will take place. Once everyone was here the ceremony started while food and drinks were being prepared by the servants for the following banquet.

You were quite nervous because basically the whole cultivation world will witness your union. At least the other three big clans, the Lanling Jin, the Gusu Lan and the Yunmeng Jiang were obviously invited, and some of the smaller clans too thanks to your side. Jiang Wanyin was Huaisang's old friend, while Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao were Nie Mingjue's sworn brothers so you were sure they will be attending. Lan Wangji apparently made up some excuse, so he didn't need to come and if you were honest, you liked it this way. His achievements certainly deserved respect, but he was famously uninterested in, even disgusted by celebrations which involved lively music and drinking.

Putting on the wedding dress was the quickest part of the whole procedure as braiding your hair in the Nie style and preparing your make-up took a few hours. Finally, your head was covered with a red veil to complete the look. Soon you were being led out to meet your husband the entrance of the main hall. Nervousness rose in your chest, but it subsided somewhat when you arrived. You were signaled to stop, and you felt warm hands gently wrapping around yours.

"Huaisang?" Your words came out as barely a whisper because somehow you felt like the wedding atmosphere shouldn't be bothered by talking.

"I'm here," he answered in kind and squeezed your hand a little as reassurance before wrapping a soft red silk ribbon around your wrist. It was to ensure you won't trip as you could barely see anything through your veil, and it also symbolised your union.

You only noticed the soft music and light chatter in the background when you started to walk up the few stairs leading to the main hall. But the hushed voices completely stopped when you stepped into the hall. Thankfully you knew how the room was prepared, so you remembered that you only had to take a few steps before you reached the pillows placed on the ground for you to perform your bows. Huaisang also made sure to make measured movements and helped you the best he could in signalling when you needed to stop walking and kneel down.

Being led by Huaisang while you almost couldn't see anything felt strangely romantic to you, like he was the only person in the whole world you could trust and to whom you could give complete control over yourself. This vulnerability felt frightening at first as you could feel every guest's eyes on your back, like realizing a dangerous predator is stalking you in the forest. But soon your senses focused completely on Huaisang. You could almost feel his warmth radiating through the cloth that bound your hands together.

You bowed in sync, first to pay respect to Heaven and Earth, second to Huaisang's parents, and finally to each other. You stood up and felt your legs shaking from relief and happiness. You were married! You still couldn't believe it. Soon you heard the commotion as your guests stood up and drank a cup of liquor to your marriage. One by one they approached you to congratulate you and wish you health and happiness. Huaisang held your hand in his and you could feel his palm was sweaty from nerves, but you didn't mind. You thanked the guests for their well-wishes and also said farewell. You recognized some of the voices and you were glad that your husband will be taken care of by people like Lan Xichen and Jiang Wanyin during the banquet.

The few hours you spent alone, sitting in silence on your now shared bed in Nie Huaisang's room felt like a relief after the ceremony. So far everything went well, you completed the wedding without any mishaps, and you hoped that everything goes smoothly at the banquet too. Time flew by surprisingly quickly while you meditated. Your focus was disturbed by muffled voices coming through the closed door. When it slid open, you could hear the finishing sentences of the two people's conversation outside.

"Don't be nervous. Everything will be fine," you recognized the soft and calm voice of Jin Guangyao.

"Thank you, San-ge," replied Huaisang, and closed the door behind him as he stepped into the room.

He didn't move for a few seconds and the anticipation in you grew stronger and stronger. You were patient the whole day, but now you just wanted to finally see him, see him in his wedding robes. He walked closer, ever so slow, hesitation palpable. In the dim light of the candles, you could see his silhouette when he stepped in front of you. You felt it when he finally grabbed your veil at the sides and with a quick motion, he lifted it up, letting it float down to the floor.

You were not one of those old traditional couples in the sense that you already knew each other before the wedding. Yet now, when both of you finally looked at each other, it felt like seeing a heavenly being for the first time. Wide eyes, lips parted you marvelled at each other's beauty. He has seen you in your dress during the ceremony, but your face adorned with tasteful make-up and your hair decorated with jewelry, braided specially to signify you were now the wife of a Nie took his breath away. You, on the other hand, had to take in his full visage. His red robes, with gold and black woven in, were of a thinner material than his usual attire, so it perfectly accentuated his snatched waist and wide shoulders. The guan in his hair were gold and it had a bolder style than his usual silver ones, just like the braids. When your gaze stopped at his face your breath hitched in your throat because of the open love and desire you saw in his eyes.

"You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen," he finally spoke, his voice low.

"I...," you had to clear your throat after not speaking for such a long time, "we should drink the alcohol," you managed to say, standing up and walking to the table nervously.

You poured the fine liquor into two small cups and handed one to Huaisang. He took it gently and waited for you with his arm held out. You joined him, holding your own cup, and you intertwined your arms as you drank the alcohol with one gulp. When you finished you looked at each other, arms still linked and smiled, feeling the tension of the day leaving your body. You almost knocked your heads together as you wanted to put the cups down back on the table at the same time.

"We should sit down," he suggested, but the suggestion sounded like a tentative question.

You nodded your head. He must be tired after entertaining your guests, you thought. Luckily, he was not drunk so his friends must have kept a close eye on him. He could also direct some of his qi to get rid of the alcohol, but that also exhausted him after a while. You knew what was expected of you on your wedding night, but you didn't want to pressure him if he felt too tired after such a long day.

So, you sat on the edge of your bed in silence for a few moments before you felt his hand reaching out for yours. You flicked your gaze over where your hand rested on the bed between your bodies. His hand was not much bigger than yours but still big enough to cradle yours, and you always marveled at how soft and warm they felt. You noticed how his other hand were playing with the jade pendant hanging from his belt and you moved your free hand to gently lay on his thigh. You intended to soothe his nerves, but the moment your hand connected with his leg, you felt his muscles twitch. You looked up into his eyes and what you saw made your breath quicken. His dark brown eyes looked almost completely black now as his pupils widened. For a split second his gaze moved down to your mouth, and you did the same in return. You noticed how his lips relaxed, opening only the slightest amount and you found yourself wanting to kiss him so bad. When your gazes met again, he leaned towards you slowly, still holding your gaze, gauging your reaction.

And your lips connected.

It felt like fireworks exploded between you. You felt how his hand pushed yours into the mattress as he leaned in closer, his body weight shifting to his arm between you. His other arm sneaked around your waist to pull you closer, as he always did when you were kissing, only this time the kiss was different. It was much more forceful, brave, and charged with desire.

When you let go of each other's lips for a moment, both of you were breathing hard.

"I love you so much. You are the best thing in my life," he breathed into your lips, and you swore you saw his eyes shining.

"I love you too, I love you-," you said in return, the last syllable muffled as he captured your lips again.

Sitting with your feet on the ground while your body turned towards him started to feel uncomfortable, so you moved to sit on his lap, not letting go of his lips or hand for a second. When you settled your weight on his thighs, he moved his hands to your cheeks at first, then moved them down to your neck, tracing your collar bones with his fingers. You grabbed onto his robes and let go of his lips with a sigh. His hands moved away immediately, thinking his touch were unwelcome.

"Don't stop. It... felt good," you said nervously and smiled shyly at him.

This time he moved his hands to your waist, where the sash held your garments together.

"May I?" He asked seriously, his voice trembling a little.

You gulped and nodded your head rapidly. His touch was featherlight, you almost couldn't feel it when he reached for the opening of your sash and carefully removed it. The material of your robe loosened, and he moved to remove your outer garment entirely. You realized you were sitting on the skirt, so you needed to stand back up if you wanted to remove the whole thing.

"I need to get up to get this out of the way," you said to him when he freed your arms and only your undershirt remained on the upper half of your body.

You quickly realized that part of his nervousness came from the fact that he didn't want to scare you away, so you warned him of your intentions beforehand. He nodded and reluctantly let go of you as you stood up from his lap.

The room was warm, but you still felt a slight chill as your outer robe descended to the floor. The coldness faded when you looked into Huaisang's fiery gaze and the air suddenly felt impossibly hot as he stepped closer to you. His hands moved to your shoulders, gently caressing them and slowly moving towards your chest. Your breath quickened, his light touches searing hot through your thin undergarment. A shiver ran through your whole body as his hands gently cradled your soft breasts and he sucked in a sharp breath when your nipples hardened under his thumbs.

"Please, Huaisang, I want to feel your touch on my skin!" You felt a little embarrassed about how whiny your voice sounded, but you wanted to show him how much you wanted his touch.

He leaned in to kiss at your jawline and neck while his hands deftly removed your undergarments. As your clothes pooled around your ankles, he took a step back to admire your naked body. You suddenly felt self-conscious, and your hands instinctively moved to cover yourself up. Huaisang noticed it and took your hands into his to stop you.

"Don't be shy. I still can't believe I've managed to get myself such a beautiful and intelligent wife" he said, looking into your eyes the whole time.

You wanted to say something witty and clever, but the moment felt too sincere for it, so instead you answered:

"Don't forget that I wanted to be yours."

He stepped closer to you again, his mouth finding yours. He kissed you like a drowning man, never wanting to let go of you. His hands roamed over every part of your body he could reach and you wanted to finally touch his skin too. Your hands tugged on the lapels of his dress, signalling you wanted it off. He broke the kiss when he felt a more insistent tug.

"Take it off!" You managed to breath out and he chuckled at your insistence.

"You want more of me, huh?" He asked with that cocky self-assurance he only used with his closest friends back at Cloud Recesses.

You crossed your arms across your chest with a defiant look and you must have looked funny standing like that while being stark naked. But it worked, and Huaisang looked at you as if he were saying "Fine, fine," and reached for his belt. The strength gradually left your arms as you watched him undress, and by the time he only had his white underrobe on, your arms were hanging by your side.

When he moved to remove it too, you couldn't just stand there anymore and stepped in front of him, grabbing onto his hands. Your sudden movement startled him a little as his focus were completely on his clothes. You reached for the cloth that bound his underrobe together and undid it slowly, looking into his eyes the whole time. He moved his hands out of the way and followed the path of yours with his eyes as you reached up to his shoulders, pushing the light fabric down.

And he stood there only in a pair of white trousers, chest bare, skin like pristine jade, accentuated by his dark hair cascading down his back. You couldn't help but marvel at his beauty. As a healer you saw many men and women in various stages of undress, mostly injured soldiers. At those times your interest was not particularly focused on their looks, but you remembered how strong and muscular they were. Now, as you were looking at your husband's bare upper body, you realised that you never really found them attractive. Compared to them Huaisang had a soft body, but his chest was nicely toned and you could see the lean muscles of his arms.

You reached up and traced his collar bones with your fingers then moved downwards and stopped on his chest. You could feel how strong and fast his heart was beating under your right palm. His skin was so soft, smooth and warm, you couldn't help but tenderly caress the shape of his pecs, noticing how his small nipples stood at attention from your touch, much like yours before. You slowly slid your hands down to his stomach, following the made-up path of the cute little moles that were scattered everywhere on his skin. You felt the muscles tensing under the skin of his stomach as you went even lower, stopping where a soft patch of dark hair disappeared under the band of his underpants. As you ran your fingers over his happy trail, loving how the soft hairs tickled your fingertips, you heard Huaisang biting back a whiny moan. Your eyes moved back to his face and oh, what you saw took your breath away. He bit down on his lower lip, eyebrows furrowed, as he watched with half-lidded eyes where your hands were going.

You moved your hands out of your line of sight and your gaze lowered past the waist of his pants. He was already hard enough to form a nicely visible tent in his pants. You realised there was no turning back if you took the next step and it scared you a little, but also made you incredibly excited. You wanted it and you wanted him, but it still surprised you how boldly you reached down and caressed him lightly through his pants. This time his moan was deeper, more guttural, and he almost literally fell on you as he rested his forehead on your shoulder. Your knowledge was mostly medical about how the male body worked, so the late-night conversations with your already married friends came in handy. You felt proud about how much your touch affected Huaisang. Your next caress was a little firmer and you felt him twitch under your palm. Gathering his every strength, Huaisang stepped back and pulled you towards the bed.

"(Y/N), please, it's been too long, and I fear I won't last long if you keep this up. I want all of you tonight. Can I show you how much?"

"Okay," your voice was barely a whisper, and you let yourself being laid down on the bed.

Huaisang quickly got rid of his remaining garments and carefully removed the intricate guan, now only a black silk ribbon keeping his hair together. As he climbed on top of you, you instinctively opened your legs to make room for him as he rested his weight on his elbows next to your shoulders. This way he was the only thing you could see, but there was nothing else you wished to see at this moment. A large amount of his long hair fell over his shoulders and caressed your cheeks. He was so beautiful as a soft smile played on his lips and you reached up to kiss him. It quickly turned heated and Huaisang soon left your lips in order to kiss all over your face and neck. Then he moved lower and grabbed one of your breasts with his hand while he occupied his mouth with sucking on the other nipple. Your sighs of pleasure encouraged him to move his hand lower while his mouth kept playing with your nipples.

At first your hips shied away from his touch but when his deft fingers found the most pleasurable spot between your legs you couldn't bite back a moan. His mouth left your breasts as he moved to carefully watch your reaction while his other hand kept your legs in place.

"You are doing amazing, you are so wet already," he praised and slowly pushed his index finger inside you.

"Huaisang...," you moaned his name as you watched his finger disappear inside you.

This was something you already tried yourself on lonely nights but the fact that it was his finger made the experience completely different and so much better. He moved his finger slowly in and out of you and when you felt like you couldn't take it anymore, he removed his hand. You whined at the sudden loss of contact, but he moved back on top of you and kissed the complaints off of your lips.

"Are you ready?" He asked, and you were never this sure about anything in your life.

"Yes, I want you, please."

He reached down and guided his cock to your entrance, rubbing it over your wetness, using your combined arousal as a lubricant. Even this little delay and the feeling of his hot member so close to where you wanted it made you squirm. He was looking into your eyes the whole time and you saw how he had to fight he urge to close them when he started to finally push inside you. He was slow and careful, and when he was fully seated inside both of you stopped to catch your breaths. The stretch was unfamiliar but not unpleasant. You moaned when you felt his cock twitching and your insides tightened around him in response. Now it was his turn to let out a shaky breath as he let his forehead rest against yours. He simply couldn't hold his composure anymore, so he slowly started to pull out and push back again. At first you felt a tiny prick of pain, but it soon faded and was replaced by pure pleasure. And he was quick to react to your signs, so when you reached up and grabbed onto his hair to find support, he knew he found that special spot. Soon you were a moaning mess, being so close to your release and he was no different, his skin shining from sweat and strands of his hair sticking to his cheeks and neck.

"a-Sang!" You repeated over and over, and finally hearing you calling him that, it was enough to push him through the edge.

He sealed your lips in a desperate kiss, one of his hands reaching down to rub your clit, his other arm shaking from the effort of keeping his body from fully collapsing on top of you. The feeling of his desperate thrusts, his hand on your most sensitive spot and his shaky moans calling your name finally triggered your orgasm. You felt your inner walls clenching impossibly tight around him and you desperately clawed at his back, not really caring at that moment if you were leaving marks on his skin.

He collapsed on top you, the last of his strength leaving his body as both of you tried to catch your breath. Your vision slowly cleared, and the ringing disappeared from your eyes as you subconsciously caressed his head and shoulders. He burrowed his head into the crook of your neck, and you swore you could hear him practically purring like a cat.

The air in the room slowly started to dry off the sweat from your bodies and it soon made you both shiver. Huaisang rolled off of you with a series of unintelligible whines and went to fetch a cloth to clean yourselves up. He wetted it with the prepared warm water and carefully cleaned your most sensitive spots. He couldn't help but leave some lazy kisses around your hips and thighs in the process and the feeling of his gentle touches were almost enough to lull you into sleep.

He quickly cleaned himself up too and climbed back into the bed next to you, pulling the luxurious covers over your naked bodies. You moved to lay your head on his chest, positioning your ear over his heart, its steady beating made you feel completely safe. He sneaked his arms around you, pulling you even closer. You looked up at him and you smiled at how his hair was a complete mess now, yet he looked so handsome in the faint glow of the candlelight, his eyes shining with so much love you thought your chest will explode because of it.

"Thank you, tonight was incredible," you said as you drew small patterns on his chest with your fingers.

You swore you could see his ears redden even in the faint light, and you planted a soft kiss on his pecs before you fully relaxed in his arms.

"I love you a-(Y/N), get some sleep now," you heard him say before you fell into a blissful sleep.

THE END

ps. I have a half written morning-after snippet, let me know if you are interested and I'll finish it.

[thevoidscreams]

Something with Russ.

Here's the setting (pre heresy): A female serf that usually tends to the general inhabitants of the main council fortress on ultramar, now accidentally becomes a play thing for a drunken Russ. Today was a special occasion as for seven of the primarchs had gathered for an important meeting with Guilliman, afterwards, a large banquet was held with many of the Primarch's serfs seemingly all working together to satisfy their Lords. Russ, having brought his own drink, had over done it as usual and eyes one serf. She's working hard yet trying harder to tend many of the somewhat distracted patrons of the imperium. The tipsy wolf king seems to be entertained enough by her efforts, picks her up to disappear with her for the afternoon. The whole experience is completely unheard of yet exciting for the serf, however there is one thing she didn't expect from Russ, his more feral yet playful side.

Day 18

Pairing: Leman Russ x reader

Warnings: possible power imbalance, abduction (lightly), knotting, biting

Russ's tongue ran over his lips, licking away the mjord that'd been left behind after his last sip.

Such a spry little thing you were. The wolf king had seen you all day, since before the meeting even. Working. 

Haven't you heard of a break? Probably not if you were the tax man's serf.

You were pretty, maybe a bit small but for Russ. Unless he wanted an ogryn he'd have to make do with his woman being a bit smaller. Besides, little women were quicker and ran so prettily. Like little rabbits running away from the big bad wolf. The hunt was always so much fun and the reward when he caught them was so very sweet.

He downed the rest of his drink, coming to his feet and belching. It made his warriors roar with laughter and he smiled at them, showing his teeth.

You hadn’t noticed still working away, filling glasses, bringing plates, mopping spills, the works.

“My wolves. I have eaten my fill of meat with you. I have drunk my fill of Mjord with you. And I've had my fill of stories with you. Unfortunately this next appetite is not one I can satisfy with your company.” His smile broadened and he snatched you up by the waist as you tried to skitter past.

His astartes hooted and hollered, raising mugs or thudding them on tables as they laughed and egged their primarch on.

“New pups for the pack eh!?” One shouted and his brothers slapped his back.

Some of them howled, like actual wolves.

You were dumbfounded as Russ carried you off to the room that his brother had prepared for him.

He was already hot under the collar and wanted to satisfy this burning need with a woman who he found enjoyable to look at.

“Be gentle brother.” Vulkan called after him and the other primarchs looked worried.

‘Should I be worried?’ 

Was the first cohesive thought you'd had since the primarch scooped you up into his arms.

“Do not worry little rabbit. I only bite for fun.”

Well, that answered that. But your heart did beat with fear at being grabbed up by the handsome wolf king. In fact you were rather excited, having stolen glances at him all day, thinking about how nice those big arms must feel wrapped around me.

The room prepared for him had fur pelts on the bed. And a fire crackled in the fireplace, chasing off the chill of the evening.

He set you down. His eyes were drinking in every part of you.

“Disrobe.”

You sprang to obey his command.

“Eager? That's good. I've been watching you all day. I'd hate to have to go and find another rabbit to satisfy my needs.”

Your brain ran that information and you felt a sudden bit of comfort. He wouldn't have forced you? 

No he may be a wolf, but he was also a man. And an honorable one from what you knew.

His own hands began to peel away the firs covering him, revealing light armor that he pulled off as easily as cloth.

His upper body was marred with scars from many battles.

Gingerly your fingers reached for one.

He stopped your hand before you could, looking at you.

He seemed to understand without asking as soon as he followed the line of your sight.

He guided your hand to a set of three parallel scars along his chest. 

“A bear got a lucky swipe on me here.” He explained, then moved your fingers to touch another. “A sword, during a spar with my brother.” And then another. “I took an orks bolt here.”

“You have so many.”

“I am a warrior, I fight and I win. Every one of these scars is a victory, proof that I survived.”

You felt oddly jealous. Such a grand and noble life, Russ was truly something to be admired.

He began to remove his pants and I dropped my dress.

He stooped and looked at me in only my undergarments.

“I see I indeed picked well.” His hands pulled you close, resting on your hips as he knelt and pressed his lips to your tender neck.

You moaned softly as he nibbled at your skin, hard enough to leave a mark gently enough that he didn't break skin.

You felt compelled by the action, leaning forward you sank her own teeth into the spot where his neck met his shoulder.

His hands tightened on your hips and he let out a sound somewhat between a snarl and a moan.

And suddenly you were on your back underneath him.

His cock was hard and his eyes shone above you in the fire light.

His lips caressed the shell of your ear. “You'd better run, little rabbit.”

He growled.

Your body responded in your stead, shooting out from under him with speed you didn't know you possessed. Running blindingly as you darted away from him in the big room.

His bulk came barreling down on you capturing you in his massive clawed hands, you back pressed to his and your front pressed to the floor.

You expected something but it wasn't him, letting you go. You body doing its old trick of shooting off as he ran you down.

Your heart beat so fast in his chest.

He took you by the hips, grinding his cock against your wet hole through the thin fabric protecting between you.

His hands slackened, you ran.

It was a game, but it got so real as Russ shot after you again with an excited growl.

He gave you a nip on your thigh, causing you to cry out in shock and pain. He immediately reeled back and took you gently into his arms.

Looking over the mark he’d left behind. “My apologies little rabbit. I got ahead of myself. I am sorry.” He kissed the spot. It left a warm feeling in your belly as he kissed me there, even warmed then you had already been.

He continued to kiss until he got to the apex of you. His tongue lapped over the damp spot between your legs.

“So very ready for me. Like a good rabbit.” His teeth sunk into the fabric, pulling it away from your body.

He inhaled deeply, his cock twitching. “Such a beautiful thing, a woman who desires my cock and is as eager as you.”

The heat of his tongue collecting your juices was otherworldly. ��Lord Russ.” You groaned and he chuckled.

“I am going to put my cock in you little rabbit. You might as well call me Leman. It is easier to scream than Lord Russ.”

He buried his face between your legs, eating like a man starved, his tongue delving to depts you didn’t know were there. And this was all to prepare you for the mass of throbbing flesh between his legs.

Your fingers locked in his hair and held him close, at some point your head had fallen back to the floor and your voice echoed in the expansive room.

Russ chuckled and slipped a finger into you as he worked your clit with his tongue.

That was all you could take, cumming all over his hand and mouth.

“That’s a good girl, what a good rabbit.” He licked his hand clean and kissed his way up your body.

His cock nudged your lower lips, catching as he pushed the head in, stretching you further.

“Does my rabbit want some more? Does she want to be devoured by her wolf?”

“Yes~!”

Leman growled and forced several inches in, your back arched under him and your hands flew to his tough skin. Nails leaving little crescents in his skin.

“Marking me for yourself, little rabbit?” 

Russ grunted as he felt the pressure.

“Well…” you began, cheeks read and eyes half lidded, “if you're going to be as good a lay as I believe you'll be, then I might just have to start fighting other ladies to keep you.”

It was meant as a jest but something about it very much stuck with Russ and he wasn't sure why.

Outwardly he laughed, but inside he was intrigued.

“That would be quite the sight. Perhaps I should take you away as my own and train you.”

His cock filled you completely and Russ wasted no time in taking his pleasure, which subsequently gave you just as much if not more.

You writhed under him, his weight pinning you down as he rutted into your inviting heat.

“So good.” He growled, his fangs gleamed in the light of the fire as he grinned. “And what does my rabbit have to say for herself?”

Your brain felt as if he’d fucked every bit of sense from it. Your mouth worked but hardly an intelligible sound came out.

“Nothing to say little rabbit?” he panted “Or is your mind too full of pleasure from my cock for your mouth to form words?”

You stopped trying to reply and simply nodded.

It gave him no end of amusement.

The heat building in your body was about ready to boil over. Leman noticed and kept his pace content to drive you to the edge as many times as he could before he himself came. He took your hands and nibbled the soft skin of your wrist. 

It was sure to leave marks as well. The thought drove you over the edge and you came, crying out for him.  He quietly hummed his words of approval in your ear before leaving down to kiss and bite your neck. 

He'd steadily begun leaving the evidence of his claim on you the bruises and bite marks the proof that he'd been there. 

And whether he took you or not there would be no denying what had transpired between the both of you. 

“Leman~♡” You whined as you grew more sensitive, his ceaseless rutting giving you another climax.

It had driven him over as well and he pushed into you fully with a growl. His knot swelling to keep the seed he was spilling into you from escaping.

Leman huffed in satisfaction,holding you close as he felt your body expand slightly to accommodate the sheer amount. 

“Such a good rabbit, taking her wolf's cum so eagerly.”

You nodded against his shoulder, fingers grazing over scars, touching them lovingly. 

“Th-thank you.”

Moving gave you a shock. 

“Huh?”

“Oh, I did not tell you, I should have. We will be together like this for a while.”

“What happened?” You asked confused.

“I have knotted you. It is.. one of my strange abilities as a son of the emperor.”

His fingers played over your hair soothing you. 

As Leman lifted you and carried you to the bed he was sure that he would indeed take you. His brother wouldn't miss just one serf.

Laying on the bed he held you close as his cock settled and his knot began to decrease in size slowly. 

As his hand ran over your hips he found it a pleasant sensation. 

His hearts beat with a strange quickness and he found himself excited.

He held you, fingers brushing through your hair till you were fast asleep.

After an hour he slipped out of your warm clutch and slipped from the bed with surprising grace.

He laid a blanket over your form and pulled his pants on. 

Roboute hadn't been expecting his brother but welcomed him nonetheless. 

“I am almost done with these reports, did you have a good time?”

“Yes brother, I did.”

“Then what draws you away from your sons at this hour?”

“I wish to take the serf with me.”

Roboute sighed as he steepled his fingers and looked at Russ.

“I assume you mean the one you've been scoping out since your arrival several days ago?”

“Yes, her. My rune priest had assured me that it is a good match. That she will carry my sons and daughters well.”

Roboute looked at his brother, leaving forward on his desk. 

“Has she consented to this?”

“Oh,” Russ chuckled and grinned wide, “she had consented to many things this night. You should have seen her taking my-”

Guilliman stopped him with a hand. 

“Once the papers are filed and her consent given in front of a witness, you may have her.”

Russ whooped and left the office, Guilliman knew there was little point fighting him over it. 

Leman pulled you into his chest, keeping you close in his arms. Soon, he assured himself. Soon, you'd be all his. He kissed the top of your sleeping head and fell into a deep slumber himself.

[i-like-media]

S3 - E5 - The High School Reunion

Nahhh you see, I'm not buying the episode's ending narrative of Dan always having been liked. Not with both Chris and Dan talking about them getting bullied/ridiculed. As someone who grew up with undiagnosed ADHD/Autism, my ignorance has always been exploited to be the butt of the joke. And I don't think the ending is any different from that. (strap in, it's a long one)

In this episode we learn Dan bullied Chris back then too, but we ALL know Dan is a very reactionary guy who acts largely on "setting things straight". It's not that outlandish to think Dan either acted his frustrations from getting bullied out on Chris OR Chris being caught in the crossfires of Dan getting back on someone.

And Chris honestly had it Terrible... Just look at how much he's been with his class and done for them, and how little they remember him.

Elise wants Chris to have a good time and reunite with old friends (to get rid of Dan), so when Dan shows up she locks him in a locker... And he responds like this:

He's BEEN in those lockers before. His classmates PUT him there.

And he desperately wants Chris to see nothing's changed.

But Chris only remembers High School positively on his end... (even though he got wedgied too) So what gives?

It's because Chris stayed ignorant, but Dan didn't. Dan likely used to be just as ignorant as Chris, trusted people, and got hurt because of it. He learned not to trust people and to assume everyone's out to get him, because it's easier than getting humiliated or tricked, again. Chris never did! He always assumed it was just his friends goofing off, even though he got hurt in the process. And we can feel that in a later scene too.

Yes, Dan could be saying this because he genuinely thinks the costume is dumb, but if they both were getting bullied, Chris would very likely have been ridiculed for wearing it! So in his messed up Dan way, he DID try to save Chris, because HE'S learned to not trust any smiling faces.

Which is very apparent in the next scene, where he's strung up from the ceiling after he'd fallen.

If you watch the episode, "BACK OFF" doesn't sound like his usual overly confident and aggressive tone. For a second, he sounds a bit frightened. He's constantly struggling to get out and doesn't say anything besides threatening people to leave him alone. People start listing all the ways he's taken revenge on them..... and then start cheering. Now, usually in a show like this, the main character would stop struggling and be baffled by the positive reception of his appearance.... but not Dan. He keeps warning people to stay away and keeps struggling.

People are laughing and cheering as they try to get him down, and he starts panicking. some tense music picks up as he flails, music usually used (in other cartoons too) when a character is in a scary situation.

He falls to the ground, looks up at everyone laughing

And runs. He doesn't try to fight anyone, he just runs.

And Elise and Chris respond with this:

"So your classmates actually LIKED Dan?"

"High school was somehow not as I remembered..."

So what happened here? Well, that's how they got bullied. That's how it started. And that's often how autistic people get bullied, too. They pretend to be nice to gain your trust, and then exploit that trust to belittle you, bully you and put you into humiliating situations. All while keeping up the "nice" act to make said autistic person doubt themself about whether or not the hurt they feel is warranted or not.

Chris isn't remembering High School wrong... Dan was right. They haven't changed. Even though they remember Dan fondly, he was never their friend. He was their play thing. Their personal jester to poke at and make fun of BECAUSE he reacted and lashed out. Chris never did, which is why he was never deemed "interesting" enough by his peers to be remembered.

Dan even says it himself in the scene after, trying to explain to Chris why it's all fake, but after all these years, Chris is still too ignorant to see it.

Dan is explaining to Chris as clearly as he can, how these people used and bullied them. They took advantage of their struggle to read social cues and used them both for entertainment.

At the end of the day, they exploit Dan's struggles with social cues again to convince him they all genuinely liked him for who he is (conveniently leaving out all the times they pushed him in lockers)... While in reality, he was only ever good for bringing entertainment. What's even sadder, is that Chris envies him. He still can't see the full picture and wishes he could be in that spotlight.

Showing that ultimately it's not JUST the classmates that haven't changed, but Dan and Chris haven't either.

And it's another reason as to why they're still together after all these years. The only real friends they HAD were each other.

[tiredassmage]

veilguard thoughts!

rook + solas parallels edition

spoilery ofc because my head's not full of cotton balls today and i haven't stopped chewing on it all since i finished the game! so! this is a little endgame heavy; you've been warned for what's below the cut <3

the final first playthrough counter has come in just over 67 hours and i am all but physically holding myself back from launching right into another one with another rook because i had a blast. i'll concede it was a bit heavy on the exposition in the first several hours, but what followed has certainly won my heart, and i think the game is visually beautiful.

but i'm not even looking to do a full review here, but i think one of the most fascinating things this game did was set up rook and solas. so, two parts of preface then: one, i was a little determined to love this game and hoped it would at least perform decent. that's my spite about it, lol, but that's not the point, so we're not here about that. two, one of my admitted concerns when they had first announced this game having its own protagonist was... that i wasn't sure there was another person to finish solas's story other than the inquisitor, and this isn't a solavellan thing for me, though my beloved canon inquisitor is a lavellan. solas's friendship wasn't the biggest hitch in inquisition for me, but it was important to my inquisitor. he wanted to prove his friend wrong.

i don't believe hallaren had a plan at the time for how to achieve that. he wasn't sure it was actually possible to convince solas the dalish were not as lost a cause as he seemed to believe, but he had to try.

and when i started veilguard, i wouldn't say i'd have anticipated the parallels of solas and rook, nor how well they ended up working for me. i admit: they got me. i didn't see that twist coming. and the hindsight of losing varric from the beginning makes a lot hurt (i say that as a compliment). i think it's easy enough to explain why i didn't see it, why (my, at least) rook didn't puzzle it out, but i also readily admit i'm historically bad at seeing these kinds of things, so you're free to be amused on your own time, lol.

anyway. regret. not becoming what you hate, what you claim to fight against. not being beholden to what you were or what you've lost. the game hits these beats several times, and i think its a real beautiful repeating thing they've done if you hammer all the companion's stories with the main deal, and i did the memories of the dread wolf as well. rook and the inquisitor have a conversation about it that about touches on all of it way more eloquently than i could summarize.

and, of course, part of the reveal is solas did dabble with blood magic on the matter of varric's death, did set rook up for the level of regret and grief they must settle with to trap them in the fade - a prison fit for gods, a prison fit for a god's regrets.

and this is where i transition into blorbo-specific thoughts. because i think part of what fascinates and delights me so much about the rook and solas, potentially two sides of the same coin deal is how tyr's relationship with solas starts and then develops.

tyr does not trust solas from the outset. which i think is where a very interesting presentation of similar (at their roots) choices begins, as varric says: in a bar, as all good stories. one of the first story notifications we get is how rook chooses to handle the bar owner: charm your way out, or a more direct approach, and we're told varric takes note of this.

varric's own plan is an appeal to solas's nature. to talk his way out. as is varric's way.

normally, i'd call tyr the kind of character (having played with him as an oc in various medias for oh... going on 2 years, is it? maybe 3? time's fake, different post) to also prefer talking his way out. but he doesn't believe solas will listen. so he rebukes varric's plan of just waltzing up and charming him with his babygirl eyes.

then at d'meta's crossing, he spares the mayor. not because he doesn't hear the concern that the greedy bastard will fall to said greed again, and not out of an entirely conscious mandate for live with the consequences of your actions, but... in hindsight with other choices, i'd argue it's... from at least a little of that kind of place.

he tries and fails to reason with the first warden. several times. in the heat of weisshaupt, and with the recent conversation with solas about whatever it takes on his mind, he ends up decking the man. the stakes are too high for risking the first warden staying on his high horse again if another attempt at reason fails, is the driver of the decision.

i'd chewed for a while on how that would seem to make tyr's commitment to "talking things through" indicated by that first choice in the bar inconsistent. it all seems justifiable at the time, and he didn't get to the place with the first warden he was out of intentional malice, but he still wound up there.

much of that is natural by the circumstances he was presented. by making calls with the information and under the conditions that were present at the time, as anyone, not just rook, would have to do under such circumstances, if they traded places. sure, some of it is also by solas's engineering of his conversations with rook. by setting them up to be a leader asked to make those hard calls. maybe even for arguably goading them a bit into a situation where whatever it takes was their only feasible option. which neve has a great comment on:

this is, i think, most directly about varric's death, but also, personally, i have to say is applicable for solas's intervention during blood of arlathan.

so, back to blorbo for a moment. tyr begins from a place that mistrusts solas's motives. the I'm quoting you here, "lies, treachery, and rebellion" kind of mistrust. and then, as things progress, as the team unveils more about solas's past in the crossroads and through the murals, it circles back to what I think motivated much of his comment to varric that talking with solas wouldn't work: that even if solas has any regret for what's happened, he's too stubborn to concede, too trapped by the mistakes of that past to ever admit fault, to hear himself sound like the 'gods' he claims to despise. tyr continues to take solas's advice into consideration the whole time, true, because it's... hard to discount the only potentially close to the problem kind of advice and knowledge they don't... exactly otherwise have themselves. he's not sure what the other shoe dropping in that equation is going to look like, but he's more convinced it'll happen than he is entirely happy with the situation.

the murals create... a hunch. or develop it. that rather than just being too prideful about the harm he'll cause by tearing down the veil, that solas is trapped in this plan by his regrets and guilt for actions of the past. at that point, tyr... has a better understanding about how they got to this point, but it kind of only solidifies his reservations that solas might actually be reasoned with.

the one moment this is changed, then, is during blood of arlathan. because frankly i think that was one of the worst experiences tyr has in the entire game. elgar'nan's influence in their minds, and an incident where they're trapped with no conceivable way out and potentially facing down an archdemon again, not so long after weisshaupt that the losses have stopped aching.

whatever his reasons or motivations and whatever else happens, solas saves their lives. tyr can't find a way around that one, and he's not even certain he wants to. because it's one of the definitive moments where he didn't have a plan, and he was terrified the tables had finally turned against them, and they'd fail.

it's not... trust. but tyr's also spent all this time working with his team on this concept that change shouldn't exactly be beyond anyone if there's a little effort put in. and whatever his own feelings are, varric wanted to believe in his old friend, and so does the inquisitor - both people he respects greatly, and he's constantly calculating their desire for a better outcome into the rubix cube that is trying to figure out how to stop the gods.

the problem then, is that solas all but instantly takes advantage of this... lapse. this faint relaxation of tyr's guard against his manipulations. that whole little incident with the fade after ghilan'nain's fall is all but immediately after, and its a betrayal nearly thrice or so over in rapid succession: that varric's been dead this whole time, that solas has manipulated him and how he feels responsibility for the team and the regrets that arise out of having to make hard choices, especially in times like these, and then on the other side of the fade, that solas has gone to minrathous, solas is playing "hero" about it all in tyr's and the shadow dragons' backyard. and to add salt to the wound, in minrathous, it's been blood magic all along.

and, y'know. solas says sorry, says he won't tear down the veil by his own hand, but hands rook the weapon to do it for him. sets them up again. so maybe that's more like... four or five times, depending on your count and categorization of it all.

and rook has a choice about all of this to make, a certain level of peace they have to make with it all to even get out of the fade. and how much to follow varric's advice about don't become what you hate - what you were fighting all along, or trapped by what you lost.

here's tyr's opinion that solas has more than likely been beyond reason because he's too far gone on his own path to even see that he's done exactly that: that he talks like elgar'nan's control, he's just dressing it up in a different way. that he's trapped by what he's lost and sacrificed and admitting that will be too much.

and here's tyr's inescapable bitterness of having been betrayed, of having spent so long trying to be careful with the god of trickery only to have danced right to his tune the whole time. a fiery emotional response for a threat to his home, to minrathous that he's tried very hard to protect and leave a smidgen better than he found it in this whole fight.

by circumstance... and by a little of solas's own design then, rook and solas confront the same trouble of what sacrifice being a leader demands. what cost is too high? how much is too much?

i had the pieces at that point for the ending with mythal, but now i had tyr bitter and a bit more resentful about solas - in a kind of pain about betrayal that was still asking why? about it rather than worried about if regret was present or meaningful. which is where this came from in my head akdfnas;dfnsadf

you're both thinking it. and the endings directly focus on whether or not solas succeeds in tearing down the veil, but the thematic part of it, to me, was... do rook and solas recognize where they might be held back? does tyr act on the pain and resentment of betrayal and swing blindly at solas as repayment? or is it bigger than both of them? is it about posing the question to solas about regret? how much is it like what drove solas to this point to act on that resentment? is it just retaliation? or did either of them learn anything from that prison in the fade?

and that's what makes the parallel, and it's what sets them apart.

and that's how, still, in the end, i have tyr who is willing to choose trying to reason one last time. for the sake of the advice of an old friend. for the people that brought them this far, the ones who chose to believe against the odds. and maybe, even, a little bit for himself. a choice against letting regret and resentment rule.

for the sake of it and because i couldn't get this game out of my head, i checked out the other endings, just to see, and i... think i like sticking with convincing him the best for both of them.

the trick with the dagger swap i think is the only other fitting course of action tyr might've taken from that point, and i think some of its elements reflect similar beats here about... learning from the past, if you will.

the accusation of likeness to the gods is still there. the banter about wits. i am a fool who finally met his match. one might argue that's for underestimating rook, which... fair enough, but i think... it also falls in line with solas's regrets, the appeal to be made to his nature, the... want, in the end, to be proven wrong. to find a 'better' way, as once he suggested to the inquisitor, and as mythal's release from debt and rook and the inquisitor's forgiveness, if you will, finally allows.

and that is... very satisfying to have said between them, when it's been on tyr's mind the whole time. and... they can both be proven wrong this way: for tyr, that solas wasn't beyond listening, and for solas, that there was another way.

for both of them that they could move on from what these trials have made of them, what they have done, and what they endured.

and man... man that was good. and so, so satisfying. it worked, veilguard. you sold me on these two as parallels to each other.

and that's just... one of many things in this game that gave me a lot of emotions, but this has already been. a helluva ramble, so if you've made it this far, congratulations and i salute you, lol.

i'm sure i'll do it all over again and have even more thoughts about even more rooks to throw around and chew on with this and what it'll reflect about each of them and that's. MMM. that's delicious. i loved this game. if my brain and time cooperates, i'm sure i'll have more thoughts and maybe even some writings for it in the future, we'll see where the blorbos take me. xD

[lych33dragoncookie]

alright so the main reason i wanted to make this blog; those new Wind Archer trailers.

I already had a lot to say about the first one, for... One big reason.

The fact we're going to the laboratorium is pretty exciting, but I did not expect for us to already catch a glimpse of the Ultimate Cookie. In fact, I had almost forgotten about that; I thought Matcha making MyCookie was more of a byproduct of the Beast cookies needing bodies to inhabit, but...

Well, I guess Dark Enchantress's original ambitions haven't left her. And she's really, really close to realizing her dreams; the dreams she carries on from White Lily Cookie.

It really makes me wonder how White Lily would react to these developments. To see her dreams realized, every bit as horrifying as she most likely knew they'd be, carried on by a part of herself. I really, really wanna see where they go with this.

On another note...

sorry, i just much prefer his Japanese VA HE'S BAAAAAAAACKKKKK~

You have... No idea how frustrated I was to see that the first Beast cookie to release was Mystic Flour and not him. And while it's not guaranteed we'll get him this time, either (even if i really hope we do)... Come on, it's just nice to have him back. He's a really, really fun antagonist. Sometimes, when all your antagonists have complex motives, believing that despite everything they've done, ultimately they're the ones in the right (with even Dark Enchantress only committing as much harm as she has as a response to the revelation that the world, on a fundamental level, was seemingly much more cruel, uncaring and pointless than she had ever thought; a desperate need to make a difference, no matter how many lives and pain it takes), it's incredibly nice to have that one villain, that one villain who doesn't try to find an excuse for what they do, having fun, not believing that they're doing everything that they do for some greater motive, but just to have fun, to make the entire world one big, brightly burning play area for them to toy with as long as they want, however they want. I love Shadow Milk, because he perfectly offsets the usual monologuing, self-righteous villainy we tend to see (And often enjoy, don't get me wrong, both Dark Enchantress and Mystic Flour have grown one me) with just pure, uncaring, show-stopping villainy for the sake of villainy.

He's manipulative, playful, silly, over the top, more concerned with putting on a show first and foremost than actually accomplishing his objectives; because you and I both know that he knows that he could probably just brute force his way into getting his soul jam back, into taking down the heroes without any opportunity for them to do anything about it. If he wanted to, he could very, very easily create an unwinnable scenario. But he doesn't. Because that's no fun.

And I absolutely adore him for it. Every single scene he's in is an absolute delight.

... Right, uh. Wind Archer.

I'm excited for him! It's been a while since we've gotten any Ovenbreak legendaries, and with Wind Archer in the game, it means we're likely very close to seeing Fire Spirit and Millennial Tree (Both pretty big faves for me, though Millie is the one that does unholy things to my brain just from looking at him). And honestly, this feels like a really, really good use for him! No beating around the bush, no overcomplicating anything, just going straight to the point and trying to stop the current threat at its root. He's going to fail, obviously. Even if he takes out the ultimate cookie, chances are it can just be rebuilt, and the beasts on an individual level would be way too much for him to handle. And with Shadow Milk having awoken... Yeah, he stands just about no chance. But, it will be very fun to see, methinks. It's also just a pretty natural fit; a protector of nature that hunts down anything that may disturb or corrupt said nature being sent to strike down what's pretty much a threat that's entirely artificial, unnatural, bodies made through forbidden, arcane magic and ethically dubious means, stumbling upon the culmination of someone's ambitions to create perfect life by artificial means. It works out really, really well, methinks.

But yeah that's my thoughts so far on the 2 Wind Archer update trailers, I'm actually really excited for where they're gonna take this, we've actually got some good plot progression going on and a lot of interesting writing ideas that while I don't fully trust the devs to execute perfectly, I do still really like and feel pretty hopeful for!

... Now just give me Shadow Milk and Millennial Tree and my life is yours. And Lychee, maybe. That one might take a bit. how are they even gonna do Longan in Kingdom. that's... quite a lot to try to adapt without either rehashing content or completely hijacking the plot. god i hope this doesn't mean they'll just stop at Lotus. I miss my dragons. Except not really because OB has been doing some good stuff with them.

Sorry for the really long post, but I wanted to dump some thoughts and have a sort of primer for the kinda stuff I wanna make for this blog.

Oh, and expect some shitposts along the way, too.

[laurasbailey]

hey, sorry to come out of nowhere with this, feel free to ignore! just wanted to get a bit of perspective on the c3 negativity i've been seeing for so long, which i've tried and failed to avoid and has been bumming me out more than i would like. this is my first campaign, it has brought me so much joy and company, but every time i end up reading a deeply negative take i can't really shake off the feeling that they're actually right, cause some of it makes sense to me and i can't unsee that. i know i'm being paranoid about it and truly setting myself up to be miserable and ruin the whole thing, which at this point i might've already done, but i just get sad wishing i could've had experienced the things everyone raves about (like different pacing and a lot of RP) for this campaign, which i'm so close to. do you think c3 is actually, objectively, worse or shallower than the previous ones? is there truth to the criticism (about it being too plot-driven, about the characters making each other worse and not being a good fit for this story, about the cast not being as into it and so on) or is the internet being the internet, and i should basically touch grass? it's not like i would drop it, honestly, i'm just sad thinking about how this story and these characters could've worked out if the "quality" was the one i keep seeing everyone talk about in regards to c1/c2. i know it's not that deep and it shouldn't matter in the long run, i'm just struggling a bit to not give in to the negativity and wanted to get your take on it, as someone's who's navigated this fandom longer! and again, truly sorry for the unprompted rant and thanks in general for being cool and taking the time to make gifs and recaps :)

you said it's brought you joy and company and it's seeing the negativity that's starting to ruin it, which is, honestly and sadly, a common thing that happens in online fandoms. negativity will bring the mood down regardless, because it just spirals into further misery. personally i stopped looking at fandom opinions and i've been a lot happier ever since! half the stuff you've said in here i've never heard before, that's how off the grid i am now lmao.

to answer your question, no, i don't think c3 is necessarily "worse" because, while people are entitled to their opinion, i think that's such a lazy, basic ass way of looking at it. also i just don't think a dnd game with people who are storytellers for a living can be shallow unless that's their goal, quite frankly. are there aspects of c3 i dislike? of course! but the same is true for all campaigns. there were parts of c2 i thought were very weak, despite the entire internet praising it like the second coming of jesus. there are things i think c3 does better than c2, even. and there are things c1 does better than both c2 and c3, and so on.

do i like that most of the campaign has been bells hells vs. a ticking clock? not really, it does mean certain sacrifices are made. do certain characters get on my last nerve? absolutely (but that's not exclusive to c3 lmao). at the same time though, i get the three women front and centre of the main plot, which has never happened before. i get a laura/marisha character romance after watching them have great chemistry for years. i get c1-level stakes and fantastic female npcs/villains, which c2 was mostly lacking. i get ashley full time (!!!) coming out of her shell and being her best and most chaotic self. and i get SO MUCH of the c1 characters? i'm fucking spoiled if you ask me.

maybe some of the criticism is very real and warranted (again, haven't seen it and don't plan to) but at the end of the day, this isn't my game of dnd or yours or any of the viewers'. we are literally watching other people play an improv game where they're crying one minute and making dick jokes the next, you just have to be along for the ride. going into the campaign with certain expectations is really silly and critiquing it the way you would a tv show just doesn't work. also unless these people are friends with the cast and speaking to them irl, how could they possibly know they aren't enjoying it as much like be serious 💀

i'm gonna be so honest here: idk if the people who are constantly spouting negativity are just miserable, but they sure look it! also stupid! why? because normal people who hate something simply ✨ stop watching and move on ✨. sure, hatewatching can be fun if you and your friends are in someone's living room or discord call shooting the shit, but doing it online day after day after day? honestly i just feel sorry for those people. happy people do not spend their time throwing essays worth of negativity up for the big wide world to see! how do i know this? because i was that person in my teens and i was severely unlikeable!

if you've enjoyed something without the bias of someone else's opinion, then you've enjoyed it! but your opinion can also change as the campaign goes, that can also be true! i would be interested to hear the reasons you loved it initially, because i think you'll find that most of that core stuff is present in all three campaigns.

the recent plot of c3 has been more stressful than any plot in previous campaigns, so understandably people have big feelings. my advice: the block button is your friend but so is the follow button! criticism is healthy, find people who deliver it in a way that's not some whiny entitled baby. letting someone else's opinion influence yours will never make you happy.

[time2commitbastardlyactions]

My thoughts on HEARTSTEEL (even though no one asked):

I should start off by saying that my expectations going into this were very low. I know that Riot's music team never disappoints, but the leaked splash art was a bit of a let down in my opinion so I tried not to get my hopes up and I was hoping some things would be changed before the skins' release.

Regardless, I watched the music video as soon as it premiered... and I haven't been able to stop listening to it since. The song is SO GOOD!! It took me a couple of listens before I really got into it, but to say it's grown on me is an understatement. Sure, it's not better than POP/STARS (that's a given), but I can honestly say I like it better than GIANTS.

The song might be a banger, but my grievances come from pretty much everything else.

First of all, I think the casting could have been better. Baekhyun as Ezreal was great, but everyone else just felt... Off?? I got whiplash when Kayn started rapping because his voice just caught me so off-guard (though I suppose it was Rhaast rapping, so that makes more sense). Sett and K'Sante were a bit better, but I still think it was iffy casting overall. There's just such a stark contrast between their singing/rapping voices and their normal talking voices that doesn't sound quite right to me.

Second, the music video was pretty decent. As I stated before, my expectations weren't very high, so considering how low the bar was I wasn't disappointed. There were a lot of good moments in it that I really enjoyed, but overall I felt that it didn't flow as well as it could have. I thought it was very flashy, fast-paced, and chaotic. This is all subjective, but I think the video could have been better. For what it was, though, it was decent.

Lastly, I wanted to talk about the skin designs. I said before that I was disappointed when the splash art was leaked, and the same holds true now. What I liked about K/DA and True Damage is that the skins provided a new, modern spin on the characters while still holding true to who they are. The HEARTSTEEL designs were disappointing for me because it kind of feels like they tried to change too much. Some of them work, but some of them don't. Ezreal and Yone both look amazing and I'm considering picking up Yone just so I can play the skin when it comes out. I'm still on the fence about K'Sante, Sett, and Aphelios. Kayn just looks mid, which is upsetting for me because I literally started maining him just for the skin. Sett looks like a car mechanic. These skins could have been so good, and I think what they should have done instead is gone for a more edgy/punky vibe all around. There are a lot of bright colours in some of these designs, and I think that's what's throwing me off. Kayn is the literal edgelord of Runeterra, and you CANNOT convince me that he would actually dress like that. The pink hair is fine, but the brightness of the pink should be balanced out with darker clothing (PLEASE just get rid of the yellow pants, Riot, I'm begging you. The design would immediately go from a 6/10 to 9/10 if you just made the pants black instead of piss yellow). The same goes for Aphelios, who is often characterized by dark, emo aesthetics. His design doesn't look bad, but again, it could have been significantly improved by incorporating some darker elements. This is kind of a gripe that I've had with HEARTSTEEL in general. Riot went with the same pop vibes instead of innovating and coming up with something new. The band in general should have been more punk-rock oriented than what we got. I saw someone online saying that Kayn should have been a screamo rapper, and I can't agree more. Overall I don't dislike the designs, but they could have been done better.

So that's the end of my spiel. I love the song, but there are a lot of things about the band that left me wishing. I just hope that Kayn gets a black chroma or something, and I hope that when they get a comeback after 5 years or so (if Riot doesn't forget about them before then), Riot listens to fan feedback and we get something even better. I think the group has a lot of potential and I've really been enjoying the Discord chats on Twitter. If you have opinions about the group, feel free to add on to this, as these are all just my opinions.

[odukora-lore]

I find it hard to assume stuff on your stories since there aren't many gaps to fill, so uhhh

* POE's climax is very different from TEF, not being as much of a Big Final Battle

* speaking of TEF's final fight, like. Atch has got to be a main player there, right? He is for sure the strongest character that's going to go against Cygnus so I feel like he's definitely going to play a major role lmao

* CS at one point involves social media scandals because someone took a picture of Angie holding Hydrangea's hand or something

* TSIAS has a Big Climactic Moment involving Skyble figuring out how stars work (aka finishing their theses) and another one when they actually present their hypothesis together

* one of the magical girls in TOI uses a gun (<- lowkey this is just due to G&G and Madoka lmao)

LMAOOO these are such good ones

Actually yeah POE finale reeks more of a peaceful closure instead of the final face down of the big bad ngl, at least that's the vibes in my head, esp considering Thorn is someone that actually gets redeemed (though he never ends up being forgiven by the cast understandably lmao mf has done enough atrocities, he basically ends up in the empyrean and is collectively "adopted/tamed" by the guardians in a way lol but that's a whole other thing for another day, even this plot point alone is very bare bones and not as thought out as the TEF finale that's been in my mind for at least two years now (the og vibes of TEF finale has been a thing since at least 2020 though a lot has been tweaked since then), cuz POE wasn't rlly my story before winning the custody war lmaoooo and I've only changed shit around last year so there rlly isn't much going, one thing that I do know is that the true finale takes place at the tree graves through, but that's more so the resolution instead of the true climax lol, but beforeeeee the climax there is the coolest scene ever™ in the empyrean that I can't wait to draw someday

YES ATCH IS A MAIN PLAYER SINCE THE 2020 VER LMAO that's the shit, I've talked abt this somewhatttt before but there's a reason that while he was banished for millenia everyone in Cloud Cliffs eventually has to go *oh the shitty guy that ruined everything saved the world somehow so we kinda have to respect him now that's lame but tolerable ig* lol, a lot of it has to do w him being a wielder of the soul crystal rlly, post Jingle drown is when he started rlly questioning his motifs seeing how far Cygnus is willing to go w this entire ordeal and around S5 he starts somewhat helping out the main gang by guiding them to the portal to Cloud Cliffs to stop Cygnus basically lol, it's sorta a set up for his supposed redemption arc, though ofc not everyone forgives him immediately lmao, Homecoming becomes a great excuse to explore the follow up aftermath in detail

Her name is Azalea lmaoooooo dw though I never talk abt them much, but yeah LMAOOO one of the fun points of CS is def the social media aspect, one of my main reasons for developing it is literally to have an excuse to explore allll the Naru social media equivalents that never rlly get utilized in the other adventure heavy stories, there's gonna be Quacker drama™, there's also a new char (or two??? Three???) that I haven't ever spilled for CS anywhere that's gonna add some spice to the existing blorbo dynamics, tldr lesbian gay solidarity you'll see

You see it's interesting cuz before I settled on constellations being a POE lore it was actually gonna be explored via TSIAS, so the climatic scene in TSIAS looks very similar in POE in my head though there's def some differences having tweaked it a bit, but yeah it's def the relevation of them figuring out how stars work lol and again it looks cool as fuck™ and is something I also rlly wanna draw someday, presenting their hypothesis together is literally something I've never thought of in my head even if it's the obvious conclusion lmaoo I'm stealing that

Ngl I haven't rlly planned all the glowlin weapons but Lune def reeks of a gun user so it's very likely that she actually does use a gun lmaooooo, she basically blasts all the horrors out of her way and calls it a day

[darkenforcer]

DANCE or WEARY ( make it fair and give you options too )

COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF SCENARIOS || not accepting !

DANCE :  for one muse to ask the other to dance at a party.

"i've been thinking..." yuri pipes up from his cushy spot against the wall (his main haunt aside from the snack table), tilting so the teasing gaze upon his features appears crooked. it adds to the slurred, prodding nature, in a way. "all this 'dancing' talk and i haven't actually seen you dance. not even once. what's up with that?"

"...ya haven't?" the miqo'te's head droops to the side -- ears to match -- for only a moment before he bounces to attention (geez, all he's missing is a lightbulb above his head), "well, i'm not gonna pass up a chance to show off, 'specially in front of an audience. gonna need a partner, though… 'n lucky me-- got the perfect one right here!"

incredulous, yuri falters. a blink, then a careful, "you mean...?"

the answer is a warm hand wrapping around his, lifting it as another rests against the curve of his waist. the shock from the touch surging through his lagging, unsure form. the song's slow, but this isn't how people usually do this at parties.

after a too-long beat of silence, dar fills it. he leans forward, sly and fanged and smelling vaguely of alcohol, "aye, to dance. what else?"

ah, right. he's drunk. cringeworthy tendencies dialed wayyy up.

so after a pointedly unimpressed glare, he allows dar to take the lead, because, well, yuri's drunk, too. besides, he's not the one with something to prove, here. the pushes and pulls of the miqo'te's actions are simple enough to respond in kind, at least; their familiarity with one another's presence and subtleties likely playing a role in the ease.

in fact, it quickly becomes less of him being led and more the two of them... going with the flow, following an aimless series of steps together that come naturally despite the inebriation causing stumbles along the way. it's almost... fun!

while it lasts. the number's over in a flash after they'd wasted the first bit, yet it feels like they've swung around for an entire symphony within their bubble. a twirl every so often, yuri's eyes rolling despite the laugh he can't stifle; another whirl ending with his back pressed flush against dar for a lingering pause before the inevitable unfurling.

it's during the lull between songs when yuri's lucid enough to remember how silly this is and breaks the spell before the heat can reach his cheeks. the room's too dim to give a shit about the guests paying attention to them, but still...

"alright, very swoon-worthy. swept me off my feet, even. i'd give you my number if you weren't already my boyfriend... we done?" hand shifting from dar's shoulder to his chest, ready to shove him away, when a squeeze at his waist stalls him.

"no fun," a wagging tail suggesting the warrior's more than pleased already, but sure! "one last trick and i'll let ya go back to leanin' against a wall all cool 'n mysterious-like, promise."

ignoring the blatant dig... what sort of trick would that be? yuri shrugs, reconnecting their hold in a wordless 'go for it' that leads to another round of box steps, a spin, then -- balance askew -- returning to the other man's arms and guided… backwards?

backwards. right. the secure hand at his waist gliding up his spine as he's bent lower, lower -- disoriented, yet trusting -- it's at the point where gravity would surely drag him down when dar stops. holds. holds yuri's questioning gaze.

and with his favorite self-satisfied grin beaming from above like that, how's he to stop a pout from forming upon his pinked face (pink from the alcohol); this really is one of the most cliche things he's ever been talked into. worst part is: his partner isn't even getting to the good part!

"uh, spirale to dar'khol? aren't you missing a step?"

"mm? s'pose i could bring ya back up, but i kinda like havin' ya in my--"

rebuttal promptly knocked to the wayside as dar's tugged down in yuri's move to close the distance, lips crashing clumsily in the middle (now that's a finale!).

"...not what i meant, but finish that thought and i'm pulling you down here with me."

[duckduckhjonk]

*very loud clap of my hands*

RIGHT

*very loud cracking of my knuckles*

so tonight marks a special occasion, I finished season one of Inanimate Insanity as part of my tumblr live reactions. Very important day indeed. Now its time for my season review.

I guess if you haven't seen season 1 spoilers?? also its long so it goes under the read more. Also please note I'm just some random critter on the internet, I might not have gods greatest reading comprehension. If I say something wrong, please be respectful but do correct me!

I think the show started off very rocky to say the least. I think it was originally like "We're bfdi but edgy" with all the censored swearing and jabs at what would probably be 'dark' humour. Not really a fan of that bit, like- at all. I think most of what they tried to do early on landed very poorly. I think the way they originally tackled Paint Brush being non-binary was done awfully. I know in the later seasons it is properly discussed, but this is just going through the first season.

But, I think they recovered decently. I think that this season managed to turn that around and make it into genuinely an interesting show. I felt myself getting closer to the screen in anticipation and excitement during some of the later episodes. They ditched the dark/edgy humour and made a good show. I think that was smart and really good.

The characters are very fun. I definitely have some favourites. Those being Paper, Paint Brush, Bow, Balloon, Taco, and Marshmallow, but of them all I absolutely adore Paper. But I also think Bomb stood out a lot. He's a very solid character to me. I don't see a lot of characters with a stutter a lot, and originally I don't think it was done in a goodhearted way, but I didn't see a lot of it being used as the butt of the joke very often. Of course there were times it was, but it wasn't as common as I was expecting I suppose. I also think I'd like to talk about Apple a bit? I thought she was a very decent character, being a little stupid, but iconic I suppose. Although my biggest complaint with her was she was very much written off towards the end with her elimination. While the rest of the eliminated contestants came back and did things, she only got snippets???

Talking more about my faves for a moment. Paper, god I love him. From the bottom of the barrel to the top of the game with him. He became evil, he stopped being evil, he survived isolation, he's a soggy wet cat to me. I love him. I think both him and Bomb were fucked over by OJ. Segway into talking about that guy. OJ, our winner. I have very mixed feelings about him. On one hand, he absolutely is a prick, he's a little dramatic, but on the other hand, he absolutely does feel like Main Guy. He suffers a lot from that Protagonist Syndrome that I think some of these cartoon survivor shows have. Although I don't entirely hate him. He turned out well.

As for everyone's favourite food, I feel a little bad for Taco. She played the game and played it well. Feigning ignorance is not something easily done. If it wasn't for me being a spoiler-seeker and having seen it already, she very easily could have fooled me. She was very much for the most part what Rocky is/was but honestly, 20 times better. I loved her shouting, her auurrrr noise, the lemon spitting. I think that while she's back she should spit a lemon at someone. Please if the movie cares about its fans-

With all of this, I'm actually really looking forward to starting season 2. I'm hoping to be caught up by the time the movie/finale for season 2 comes out so I can possibly add this to my list of object shows to live review. I'm cutting this here because 1) my joints are starting to hurt and 2) if anyone wants more in depth reviews of each character feel free to hop into my inbox and ask, I would love to go more in depth, even with the ones I mentioned here individually. and also 3) its midnight. I'm an eepy guy.

thank you all who are here for accompanying me on this journey :3

[alelelesimz]

totk 100% progress ramble :D a bit long

oki so for context i finished totk last july. by then i wasn't using any guides (other than some help in certain puzzles here and there :p) and by the time i beat ganondorf i was at 66.97%! sadly i didn't take any screenshots of how many koroks i had by then but what i know is that i had already maxed out my inventory so it was around 450 or something, not too bad i think.

after this i stopped playing for a few months and this month i got back to it. i started roaming around but then decided it was time to tackle the interactive map. of course i had already finished a big chunk of the game and i didn't really want to go korok by korok checking stuff on the map, so mind you it is not very accurate lol.

here's what i have right now

completion: 84.14%

main quests: 23/23 ✔

side adventures: 60/60 ✔

shrine quests: 31/31 ✔

side quests: 128/139

memories: 18/18 ✔

hyrule compedium: 449/509

recipes: 87/228 (i haven't even started with this, it's just what i randomly have lol)

energy cells: 8/8 batteries ✔

paraglider fabrics: 24/29

koroks: 717 (including the ones i've used for inventory)

wells: 56/58

locations, armor, other stuff like that i'll add later i can't be bothered rn. here's how my interactive map is going (not the one in-game, this is stuff that i have yet to check)

NOW LISTEN

the sky is basically done, i need to check a couple of islands bc i'm not entirely sure i have those chests or not, i still have to do the hebra labyrinth and i havent fought any of the three king gleeoks bc im a coward

the surface is where i'm going the hardest. like i said, there is actually much more stuff that i have already done but i haven't checked yet bc i have to go in game and see if i've done it or not, so keep that in mind.

as you can see i already tackled the entire east of the map. i need to go back to check on a couple of hinox and talus, some gleeok that i havent been brave enough to fight (even tho i literally know how to, they're not that bad really) and yes. i'm not fucking touching lynels or gloom hands unless i absolutely have to lmao.

i'm kinda going region by region, i started at akkala and went all the way down to faron. i'm thinking of going to hebra next since that's the area i've been ignoring the most for some reason, and the few shrines i have left are all in there! so yeah.

and as for the depths, lets just say i have barely touched this map, i have explored a lot but it is still the area i have done the least. idk i just dont like being completely lost and always scared lol. but i do have to go there cause im running low on zonaite from building hover bikes to help koroks lol. i'd also like some good weapons too that'd be nice

anyways that's it thanks for reading my rant 👍 here's a funny pic

[solomonish]

Ok, it's about time I talk about this blog for a little bit.

Don't look so scared! There's good news ahead!

Alright, so it's obvious by now that I've kind of fallen out of the Obey Me! fandom. Before Nightbringer came out, I just burned out with the constant events and the difficulty in progressing through the main story and levelling up cards. Plus, I had gotten pretty invested in Twisted Wonderland and Genshin Impact, so my attention just never stuck with Obey Me. Eventually I drifted away to other blogs for other fandoms, leaving this one in the dust. I may have said that I wasn't leaving for good, but inspiration never struck me, so it was kind of like I had given up anyway.

I've been playing Nightbringer casually since it came out, and I'll be honest...it has the same problems as OG Obey Me. However, I am still kind of interested in the main story, and my love for Solomon has been reinvigorated <3 (Not that I ever stopped, of course.) I was hoping I'd get at least a few ideas to toss into the void, but alas...that didn't happen either, and I'm not the kind of person who can or wants to force myself to write.

So, where's the good news?

Well, I'm not ready to say I'm done with Obey Me for good. I'll be honest with you right now: any Obey Me fics will probably be few and far between. This is due to a variety of factors, including but not limited to a general decrease in fixation and the simple fact that I'm older and have a lot more to focus on in my life. But I do still have a soft spot for these boys (mostly Solomon. It's like 99% Solomon.), and I miss you guys! I still get notifs every day and I'm honored and astounded that people still like my works. Even though I have a LONG list of complaints with Obey Me at this point, being in this fandom has never been boring or negative for me. I've genuinely missed the experiences and connections I made here that I lost with my dwindling presence in the fandom.

So, FINALLY, here's where the good news is: I don't think I'm finished with Obey Me. I will still be pretty absent on this blog for a while, but I've decided on a plan that will help me feel less stressed to write whatever I want.

Sometime in the future - so, not right now (and in fact it will probably be a while) - I plan on remaking my blogs. I'm going to start an all-new x reader blog, much like this one, but multifandom. That way, when I feel like writing for a fandom I'm not all that present in anymore, I won't feel guilty for resurrecting a dead account and potentially giving you all false hope.

When this time comes, I'll be a little annoying with the promo to ensure that you won't miss it. There's no guarantee, but I'm really hoping that this blog will be permanent for my reader insert writing, rather than my trend of making a new blog per fandom.

I don't expect you to follow it or even really care, of course. Even though I have built a healthy separation between myself and my online presence, I did still feel a little bad about leaving you all hanging. I'm sure it gets annoying when I'm constantly promoing blogs and changing my URLs, but......well, I apologize for the inconvenience ^u^

Before you leave, let me tell you two more things!

1.) My old NSFW blog, solomonish-afterdark, is no longer a NSFW-only blog. I haven't removed any of my fics, but I reblogged a lot of my old fics on various blogs to that account. It's now sort of a fanfic archive! I was originally planning to use that as my catch-all fandom writing acc, but I just didn't like the organization of that. I can't explain it lol but it was just STRESSING ME OUT. So I changed the url (it's now @/sampologist) and it'll probably stay as an archive forever. Sorry :(

2.) I've gotten a lot of notes and asks about Love Disconnection. Thank you so much for reading it, enjoying it and talking to me!! I do actually really want to continue it, but if/when I do, I'm going to warn you that I'm probably going to rewrite the first part before I add any more. Don't worry, it'll keep the same plot, premise and vibe! I just think I've improved a little bit since I wrote it - and, TBH, there was already a big plot hole I wrote myself into that I was dreading explaining my way around. I'm making no promises! But it does still occupy a slice of my brain, even after all this time.

That's it for now, I think. Sorry if this wasn't as good as I may have gotten your hopes up to be, but I'm looking forward to this change! I'm going to wait until my interest in my current fandoms fades a little bit before I start the arduous transition, so if I get that divine inspiration for these boys in the meantime I'll be sure to post it here! Until then, I hope you understand why I've left and why I've been so reluctant to leave permanently. And I hope you can stick with me through one more move, if that interests you when it's time.

Thank you for reading this far, and thank you so so so much for all of your support! My time on this blog has been endlessly fun, and I really do hope I can add to the Solomon pool once more. You've all been so incredible, supportive, fun, and so much more. I've thoroughly enjoyed my time in this fandom, from drunkenly posting about catboy Solomon a few days after my 21st birthday to the day we finally got to call him our boyfriend in canon. You're always welcome to drop by my ask box and chat if you want! Until then, thank you all for everything.

(and if you're interested in keeping up with me now, but somehow missed these announcements: my main is @/kusemai, my twst blog is @/ridhearts, and i have a touchstarved blog @/kurasthetic. you can also find me on twitter @/KARANO1A if the site doesn't crumble into a thousand pieces.)