#so its oberon i guess???

[renrenkaaa]

OctOberon day 3 - Oberon?

Basically a friend once told me to redraw the Ancient Magus Bride's Oberon and Titania and it gave me the idea for this one. I don't know anything about the series tho

[takitori67]

Forgetting that I did make digital drawings, and these are all from last years.

[asksythe]

FGO Fes 2024 "CHALDEA Treasure Hunting" Oberon Edition Experience Video (Earphones recommended / Low volume recommended) Original Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dElTAHf0m0

Disclaimer: the translation is rushed, so there's probably room for improvement. I'm just posting this here for personal keeping since similar videos have been taken down from Youtube in the past.

Note: The context for this part of the event storyline is that Ritsuka is sent on a treasure hunt for a lost Holy Grail (as it goes) by Goredorf. She gets to choose one among several servants (Aesclepius, Takasugi, Tiamat, etc...) to go with her. Only one though. This video is the Oberon choice. Yes, it is very otome game-esque. 😁

--TRANSLATION--

Come on an unforgettable adventure with me, the Fairy King Oberon!

“It’s a steam town!”

You…you’re a 20th-century kid, aren’t you?

You should be used to this kinda thing, shouldn’t you?

Ah, well, I get how it can be so exciting. It’s just as consumeristic as your era, but this atmosphere does have a certain romance to it.

It’s an era focused on industrial design that exposes its mechanical insides.

It really is the strength of humanity to imagine such a contradictory world.

Ritsuka Choice 1: “Thanks for taking me here.”

Ritsuka Choice 2: “You really are a dependable partner!”

What are you on about? Of course, I am! With such an invitation as yours, I, Oberon the Fairy King, will spread my wings and come flying your way!

Ah, my time really has flown though. Would you be able to bend the rules a bit? What shall we do on this chance adventure! Gotta look your best though, eh! 😉 Now then, according to this steam clock, there happens to a Blessed Holy Grail located underground! If we find it, we’re bound to get a bunch of QP, am I right? Let me repay my debt to you!

However, for this city looking so mechanical, there really are a lot of stairs…Not a single elevator to be seen! Well, let’s just get over with and go down. If only we could fly, but as you know my wings are a mere decoration. Perhaps I should ask DaVinci to make me some, then? Ah no, [rest of question to self not very audible]

Ritsuka Choice 1: “Oberon…! Wait!”

Ritsuka Choice 2: “I can’t see anything!”

Uh…did you say something? Sorry sorry, my attention must’ve drifted elsewhere.

Oh…our faces must be close, aren’t they?

Are you alright?

Man, you should look at your face! It’s a shame it’s so dark. If I had a camera, I would’ve taken a picture. Oh no, I meant nothing by that. Really though, it’s just I’ve never seen your face like that. It’s not your nerves in battle, nor the fear of death! Don’t look at me like a child there…ah, never mind. Putting it into words just takes the fun out of it.

More important than that, it’s that the two of us are alone down here. No fearsome enemies to be seen. Just us two enjoying a trip on this road together. The path seems to get narrower from here. Grab my hand and let’s head in! Don’t get too far from me, okay? Come on, give me your hand.

It’s really dark now. This must be the lowest level. Just one way to go now. I think it should be quite simple now!

Mm? Hmm? That’s what? From the back? Oh no, something unexpected happened again! Quick, Master!

This is a stubborn one! And it’s gaining on us to boot!

Ah the light’s starting to come through! Keep going!!!

There’s no way forward!

Get down, Master! Your hand!

Master and Oberon hold onto each other as they fell down.

To the bottom of the deep, deep darkness they went.

Sigh…the artist drowns in his art. Good grief. Who would’ve thought the road would be destroyed. Well, guess I’m just used to falling. It’s just a little [something] more than usual now.

O-----www.. Ah Master, are you alright?

After all that, there are an unbelievable amount of flowers here, aren’t there? More than enough for a lifetime! Flowers are always blooming somewhere you know? Water. Sun. Flowers. Bugs… Green. It’s all a cycle.

Yep, that was me who set the grail there. Let me know when you go an adventure, okay? Ah, the request itself was true! It’s just…you weren’t as calm as I thought you’d be so it didn’t go exactly as planned. Today is a very blessed day for you. That’s import-

Marine Nemo: Captain! I found Oberon! [We found him!]

Prof. Nemo: I believe Oberon is continuing to reject our transmissions~

Capt. Nemo: Ah, we finally connected! Oberon, is Master alright? When you went down, our signal got cut off.

Oberon: Oh my, I didn’t know about any of that! Master is alright and has even taken a Holy Grail! It’s no problem at all!

Eng. Nemo: ‘n that case, get yer ass back ‘ere already! After that, spill yer guts! Nurse Nemo: If either are injured, I can attend to you, so please feel free to ask.

Capt. Nemo: Everyone! Be quiet for a moment. Oberon, Master, above all else, I’m glad you’re safe. I really do want you to take your time to enjoy the town. If you would be so kind, could you take some photos for future reference? There must be so many vehicles in the Steam Town, certainly.

Oberon: Yep! We’re happy to bring souvenirs to you, Captain! After all, we gotta lift the engineer’s spirits too eh!

Eng. Nemo: I-It’s not like I’d want a motorbike or anything! Well…I have been thinkin’ ‘bout some extra parts for my Penguin Potter, so…

Oberon: Okay then! I’ll be right on the lookout for it! Well then, see you at Chaldea then.

Bakery Nemo: I’ll be baking a warm basket (of bread) for you then!

Oberon: Well right then. Let’s go back to the surface and let’s stroll around the town til the sun goes down! So messy and covered in grease and full of all kinds of shady shops it may be though. They’ll all become beautiful memories though. After all, as long as there are unknown worlds about, that means there are wonderful adventures to be had, right?

[paranoid-rhythm]

「Chaldea Treasure Hunting!」 Oberon Edition (Translation)

Oberon: Time to embark on an unforgettable adventure with this fairy king Oberon!

.....................

Guda: It's a city of steam!

Oberon: Hey, you're a youngster from the 21st century, aren't you? Aren't you supposed to be used to this kind of city? Well then again, I can understand your excitement. 

Even though it's the same consumer civilization as yours, I guess you find that there is a certain allure in this scenery. It's a city that retains its medieval charm while being dominated by a primarily industrial design, I guess being able to imagine such a contradictory world is one of humanity's strengths.

Guda: You're a reliable companion!

Oberon: Well, of course! If it's a request from you, this Fairy King Oberon will fly over to you with all his might! Though well, it did take me a quite a while to change into these clothes, but I hope you forgive me for that. After all, we're going to an adventure! So I have to be stylishly dressed, right? 

Now then, according to this steam observation clock, it seems that the Holy Grail of blessings is somewhere underground. If we find it, we'll gain a lot of QP, right? Time to go all out to repay my debts!

.....................

Oberon: Honestly, stairs of all things? In a city of clockwork? Not even a single transport mechanism?! I guess we'll just have to accept this fact and take the long way down. It'd be much easier if only I could fly, but as you know, my wings are just ornamental. Maybe I should go to Da Vinci and ask her to make a mechanical glider for me. No, maybe a jet pack is saferー...

Guda: Oberon...! Wait!

Oberon: Hmm? Did you say anything? Whoa there! Sorry, sorry, I got distracted. Wait, is our faces kind of close right now? Are you okay? Pfft... Haha... Hahahahaha! Just what kind of expression are you making! Too bad it's dark in here, if I had a camera, I would've taken a snapshot of it! 

Guda: Are you telling me my face looks weird?

Oberon: Whoa, sorry about that. I don't mean anything bad by that. I'm telling the truth. It's just that, it's an expression I've never seen you make before. It’s not the nervousness in battle, it's not the fear of death, it's something child-likeー... no, it's nothing. Saying it out loud just cheapens it. 

Anyway, forget that! Right now, there's only the two of us, alone in this underground passage. It's not like there's a terrifying enemy waiting for us ahead, so let's take it easy and enjoy this uncharted journey together!

The path ahead looks like it's going to get even narrower, so hold my hand, and let's keep moving forward. It's so you won't stray far from me, come on now, give me your hand.

.....................

Oberon: Looks like we've descended quite a bit. Oh! This seems to be the lowest level. All that's left is a straight path from here. Everything’s going smoothly! Hm? 

Huh? What is it? Is it coming from behind us? 

What in the world? This is unexpected! Let's run, Master! 

Just how persistent are these guys! And to top it off, I think there's even more of them now! 

Ah, I see light shining up ahead! Let's keep going!

Huh?! There's no road?! We're gonna fall, Master! Give me your hand!

Guda: Oberon!!!

- The Master and Oberon clung to each other as they fell. -

Oberon: Is this what they call "drowning in schemes and strategies," huh? I didn’t expect the path would collapse. Oh well, I’m used to falling. It’s just that this time, I'm a bit more entangled into something.

.....................

Oberon: Oww... Ah, Master, are you okay? 

It's hard to believe there's so many flowers blooming down here, right? As long as there is life, there will always be flowers blooming somewhere. Water, sunlight, flowers, insects, and greenery, they're all part of the cycle after all.

That's right. I'm the one who left the Holy Grail there. Because I heard that you were going to go on an adventure.

It's all true that I was asked to do this. However, it wasn't as calm as I expected it to be for the Master. Things didn't go as expected, but today is a day of celebration for you, right? What's important isー

Nemo Marine: Captain! I've found Oberon! 

Nemo Marines: We've found him!

Nemo Professor: It's all a farce! Oberon-shi has been persistently rejecting all communication attempts.

Captain Nemo: We've finally connected to you. Oberon, is the Master alright? The communications suddenly cut off when you went underground though. 

Oberon: Oh my, I didn't know about that~! The Master is fine and has successfully retrieved the Holy Grail. It's no problem over here. 

Nemo Engine: Then hurry up and return already! Your scolding will come after that!

Nemo Nurse: Fufu, if you have any injuries, I'll take care of them, so please feel free to come to me.

Captain: Everyone, shut up for a moment! Oberon, Master, it's great that you two are safe. I'd like for you both to take your time and explore the city. And if possible, I'd like for the both of you to take a lot of photos of the scenery for future reference. There's a lot of vehicles in a clockwork city, right? 

Oberon: Of course! Please look forward to the souvenirs we'll get you, Captain! We have to keep Engine happy after all. 

Nemo Engine: I-it's not like I'm interested in motorcycles or anything! W-well, I'll use it as reference for the Penguin Porter's external parts...

Oberon: Okay, then let's focus on that, huh? Well then, see you later in Chaldea!

Nemo Bakery: I’ll bake a warm baguette while waiting for you, okay?

Oberon: Alright, let's go back to the surface and explore the town until the sun sets. Even though it's a town that's messy, oily, and full of shady shops, I'm sure it'll become a wonderful memory. 

After all, exploring an unknown world is an adventure in its own right.

[obbystars]

A Walk with Angels

Synopsis: An angel who bound itself to this hellish place, and a man-made angel.

Notes: A gift for @kulfyraz! love ya dad! / OC-insert x2 / No romance, just friends being silly / Sebastian is briefly mentioned (red buzzer) / Near-death experience / shockingly a lot of bickering / someone save Sebastian from these idiots / just a bunch of encounters, wanted to write some entities

Credits: dividers by @cafekitsune

(I love Corky guys, I love his OC sm. He’s so cute and silly I wanna squish his little face even though he’d bite me but idc. Also different layout for different character teehee. btw I plan to have the Oberon x Reader out next, so if you’re waiting for that, you’re in luck)

There was something glowing in the rubble and he wanted it. He’s been digging through it for the past few minutes until he finally gets it unstuck. Once it was finally free, its light had already faded. He shook it once and it turned on, but only for a second. He shook it even more and watched the light shine brighter. It even made a rather obnoxious sound. He grinned, knowing exactly who to annoy with this little light.

With that in mind, he stores it on his belt and continued on. He was careful to not run into the expendable prisoners that were being sent down here, but there was always a few that catches them off guard. It was nothing an angler couldn’t handle while he escapes elsewhere, and the angler didn’t even have to kill them either. As long as it slowed them down and allowed him to escape.

Corky eventually finds the open vent in the wall and crawls through, only to find the room empty. Everything was moved. His fins lowered as he scowled. Sebastian moved shop again. If anything, it was probably because those Urbanshade guardsmen did a sweep of the area or got a little too close for comfort. He groaned at the thought and crawled back out. With how large the facility was, it was anyone’s guess where he could be now.

Back to more exploring then, was his only thought as he looks for a new route to explore.

Along the way, he chased off a wall dweller that tried to sneak up on him and yelled at the bull shark out the window for scaring him, but she couldn’t hear him. That’s when he spotted a certain item sitting on the desk, so he quickly picked it up and flashed the shark with the beacon before running off. He doesn’t bother taking it with him.

Once the shark was finally off his tail, he slows down and continues to explore and search through the drawers. He eventually opens a door and pauses at what he sees on the other side. A hotel lobby?

He steps back, closing the door. He took the green flashlight off his belt and shook it to process what he just saw and to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. He opens the door again and the room remains the way he found it. A hotel lobby, one that looks oddly taken care of but no one has been here for a very long time. There’s the sound of rain just outside too, but how is it raining? Everything is made out of wood too which wouldn’t be possible to keep out all of that water from outside, right?

He stomps his foot on the wooden boards, and it did make the kind of sound you would hear. He listens for that familiar muffled sound of the water outside, but it’s only rain. Thunder too. It was like he was suddenly brought to the surface. It couldn’t have been that easy.

“Oookayy…” He sighs, “Totally not weird at all,”

He goes to open the next door, and the hotel continues. He continues to shake the green flashlight as he continued on. The numbers on the doors kept going up as well. Sometimes there were plus shaped rooms, and other times there were T-shaped rooms. Nothing seemed to be hiding in the walls, the anglers were nowhere to be found, and there’s no way the bull shark can find him here.

As he opens the next door, the lights suddenly flickered.

“Huh? An anger?”

His fins stand up as he hears an unfamiliar sound. A loud, distant yet quickly approaching sound. He turns towards the door he just stepped through and sees something glowing a bright green approaching. That’s not Chainsmoker. It’s moving too fast.

As the face of the incoming monster becomes clear, Corky yelps and immediately darts inside the nearest closet. The creature remains in the room for a moment before it retreats. He opens the closet door slightly to peak through, only to feel something crawl up his tail. Almost instantly he jumps out of the closet with his tail in his hands.

“H-Hey!! Hands off!”

But there’s no one in the closet. His fin twitches as he hears the creature coming back.

“Seriously?!” He goes back into the closet and holds it shut, “That’s not Froger either! What the hell?!”

The creature leaves again and he steps out once its screams had faded. He remained close to the closet in case it came back.

“Corky?”

His fins perked up. He recognized that voice, “Hey, Oberon! Is that you?”

“Oh dear… I’m so sorry, you’re in one of the rooms I dragged here,”

“So this is your doing. Wow. Pretty impressive there, but how do I get out?”

There was a brief silence before a padlock fell from one of the closed doors, “Enter through that door. You will return to the blacksite,”

“Really? Just like that?” Corky walks up to the door and turns the handle.

The door is suddenly pulled open which causes Corky to stumble forward and bump into someone.

“Yes. Just like that,”

Corky looks up at the masked angel and smiles. He quickly stands up and hugs the angel tightly.

“Oberonnn!!”

“Hello Corky,” he hugs back.

Corky pulls away and shows him the green flashlight, “Look what I found,”

“Oh?” He leans down to look at it, “Well now, that’s not something you see down here often. Where did you find such a thing?”

“It was stuck under some rubble and I dug it out. Oh, by the way, Sebastian moved shop again. You seen him anywhere?”

Oberon nods as he stands up straight, “Why yes. I was just there a moment ago before I eventually sensed you wandering through those rooms,”

“Perfect! Take me to him!” He demands, “I wanna annoy him with it!”

“I believe it is called a “gummylight,” Oberon laughs, “What a funny name,”

“Ah, who cares what it’s called! It makes this ANNOYING sound when I shake it!”

Corky starts shaking it rapidly and the flashlight lets out a clicking sound. It would keep going for as long as he shook it, so Oberon gently catches his hand and stopping him from shaking the flashlight.

“Alright, alright. I was going to head back anyway once everything in those rooms were done, but seeing as it was only you, I suppose I’ll entertain you on the way,”

Corky laughs, “You came all the way here for lil’ ol’ me? Wowww, I wouldn’t for you,”

“Not even for your favorite angel buddy? Corky, I’m hurt. And after all we’ve been through…”

“Ughh!! Jeez, don’t be such a drama queen! Now c’mon,” he claps his hands, “It’s only a matter of time before that guy moves shop again,”

“Unfortunately, it may take longer than you’d like. I may have gotten here rather quickly through my abilities, but we’ll have to walk,”

“Aw, really?” Corky slumped, “Why?”

“Remember last time? The force had knocked you out cold for half a day,”

“Man…can’t believe this whole angel stuff is so difficult. My body has to get used to that? But I’ve been like this for years!”

Oberon sighs, “I understand, but you are not purely an angel. You were not created as I was,”

Corky rolled his eyes at that and huffed. He really had no other option, so walking is exactly what they’d have to do. The situation itself wasn’t that bad, however. All it meant was that Corky gets to spend quality time with Oberon as they talk. Oberon can also lead the expendables away should their paths cross at some point, so it was perfect. He wouldn’t need to call an angler to chase them off.

One of the rooms they’d come across would have pipes sitting on a wall. There’s an electrical hazard near the bridge as well. Oberon narrows his eyes as he looks to the pipes on the wall, then up to the camera sitting in the corner. He tilts his head, only using his finger to knock it off its stand then returns his attention to the pipes. He curls his fingers to form a fist and the pipes are snapped clean off. Water begins to rush through and soon begin to flood the bridge that connects the platforms.

“What was that?” Corky turns around. He was already in the next room.

“Oh, nothing. I’m just giving the prisoners a new problem to solve on their way to the crystal,”

The water should be electrified by now. Anyone stupid enough would walk through it, and part of him hoped that didn’t happen any time soon. It’s only meant to slow them down anyway. Hopefully he can also make sure knocking out some cameras can cause the sinners to lose track of their prisoners, but he doubts it’d be that easy. He hopes they’d find some way to escape from their clutches, but alas, the reward seems to be way too enticing. He’s learned quickly anyone would do anything for money.

They’d soon come across the server farm, and right now, Oberon’s only concern is the Good People. He hopes Painter sees it’s only them and leads the Good People away. As Oberon walked down the stairs, Corky had other plans. Instead, he jumped onto the support beams and balanced his way across the room.

Hearing the lack of footsteps behind him, Oberon turns and looks up, “Corky. How did you get up there?”

There was no bitterness in his tone, he wasn’t annoyed or angry but seemed to be playing along. He knew how he got up there, but he asked anyway.

Corky laughs and points to the stairs, “Take a good look. Perfect angle, and a nice little spot to lay on,”

Oberon tilts his head as he puts his hands on his hips, “Really? Is that so?”

Corky sat on the beams and tested the comfort by lying down. It didn’t take long for him to sit up, “Yeah, never mind,”

“Alright, come on down,” he walks up to him with his hands up, ready to catch him.

Corky smiled and pushed himself off. The other angel caught him without problem, and he jumps out of his arms and runs ahead. There was a code breacher sitting on the table beside the door he just ran through, and Oberon decides to take it along with him. He doesn’t often take the items with him as he leaves them for the expendables to pick up, but he makes a few exceptions.

Upon entering the next room, Corky seemed to have started looking through the drawers. There was a side room as well, but it was locked. Luckily for Oberon, he has a key to open it.

“Ah, hold on a moment,”

“Hm? What’s up?” Corky stops and turns to Oberon as he puts the strange sealed envelope down.

“Sebastian may like to have some of those loose assets inside,”

“Those are for those expendable guys, just leave ‘em!”

“Yes, but then those same guys will likely get eaten and swallowed up by a wall dweller, pandemonium, or even possibly fall into a hole. Or perhaps into lava, which means the data is lost and chances of leaving are further reduced,”

Corky scoffs, crossing his arms, “I hate it when you’re right…”

The door slides open after Oberon presses a few more buttons and heads inside. There were quite a few stacks of documents and a few flash drives inside. Corky decides to take a look as well and finds another code breacher in a locker.

“I’m guessing you want to take this along?”

“Yes. I have been seeing quite a few rooms with these locked sections,” Oberon holds out his hand and Corky gives it to him, “Besides, should the expendables be unlucky enough to not have one on them either, then that means less data,”

“Yeah yeah, I get it,” he groans, “Less data, no escape for us. No need to repeat yourself, jeez…”

Oberon skims through some documents before stacking them into a neat pile. He turns to Corky and holds a few flash drives to him, “May you hold onto these for me?”

“Fine,”

Corky stuffs the flash drives into the small pouches strapped over his chest. Oberon stands up with the documents in his arm and Corky follows him out into the next room.

“By the way Corky, the Eyefestation has been rather feisty. You didn’t do something to her, did you?”

“Huhh? Me? Nooooo, never!!” He smiled.

“Corky. You know I hate it when you start lying,”

“Ugh, alright fine! She scared me, so of course I had to do it!”

He lets out a faint chuckle and adjusts the documents in his arms, “My, she didn’t deserve that Corky,”

He huffs and turns away. Oberon stops walking as he closes the door behind them, knowing what room is up ahead. The path leads directly to the DiVine.

“Oh come on… I can’t stand going through their rooms…” Corky shivered.

“As long as you stay off the grass, they’ll leave you alone,”

“I know, but man some of them like to crowd around the door! It scares me every time!”

Oberon gently ruffled Corky’s hair before continuing on, “We’re almost there. Sebastian set up shop in their rooms,”

“Of course he did…”

The moment Oberon opens the door, Corky lets out a yelp as they see the humanoid vines surrounding the entrance.

“Ah, they think they’re being funny,” he laughs.

“They are so not!! I hate it whenever they do that!”

“No more fussing, let’s go,”

Corky pulls up his hood and stays behind Oberon in the mean time. Some rooms had their lights knocked out, so Oberon would make a small ball of light in his hand to light the way. It wasn’t too bright to actually bother the squiddles, but if they did stand too close for too long then they may react.

A distant scream is soon heard which makes Corky rather quick to defend himself, “I didn’t do that. She found her way here on her own,”

“I know,” he smiles, “Here, this room should keep is safe,”

The DiVine was in there as well, but didn’t seem to be doing much. The floor trembles as the pink angler passes by which does cause the DiVine to react, but they only turned towards the noise the angler had made.

“Ugh, does she have to be so loud? It hurts my ears…”

“Well, at least the lights don’t break whenever she’s here,”

In one of the rooms, the bull shark finds them again and seems pretty upset to see Corky. So he just makes sure he’s out of sight by using Oberon as a wall between him and her. Oberon did give her a wave before they entered the next room. He suddenly stopped walking which made Corky bump into him.

“Hey, why’d you stop?”

Corky leans to the side to see why Oberon stopped walking, but he quickly got his answer. Upon seeing the vent in the wall, Corky points at it with a huge grin on his face as he looked to Oberon. He didn’t need to say it as the angel already knew what he was going to ask, so he just nods. He watches Corky practically dive into the vent.

Oberon looks to some of the DiVine who were surrounding the light. One seemed a bit curious and was reaching towards it. He decides to turn it so it was directed away from the vent which causes a reaction. The DiVine moves away. With that, Oberon goes to join the other two.

“Hey Sebastiaaaaan!!” Corky then yells, “Guess what I found!”

The taller fish groaned, sitting up from the desk with piles of documents and vials and flash drives scattered about, “Ughh… What-?”

The moment Corky came out and held up the green flashlight, his ear fins lowered.

“Oh, no…”

Oberon stands up and dusts himself off, stifling a laugh, “I did not take him to the A-0001 containment room. He found it all on his own,”

“And you didn’t think it was necessary to take it from him? It’s so obnoxious!!”

“I’m not one to take someone else’s toys, my friend. Although, I find it quite amusing,”

“Oh, my suffering is amusing, huh?” Sebastian retorts, towering over the angel, “But look what I have here! A Necrobloxicon. Would be a shame if I opened it, huh?”

“I’d advise not to do that,”

“Yeah, exactly,”

[machine-elf-writes]

Baldurian Psycho

Happy Gortoween! @gortash-week

You are Patrick Durge - average human noble, and a serial killer hiding in plain sight. He has a hatred for all, but none so much as the young upstart Enver Gortash.

A very silly fic for Gortoween, category: horror movie crossover. This is a crossover of American Psycho. Canon-typical violence ahead. You can also read on AO3 if you would like to.

Your rancid blood is calm for now.

You sit at the long table in Baldur’s Gate’s High Hall while the other noblemen of the city mill about before the meeting. Your mind is distant as you ponder the last look on the beggar's face before you plunged your knife into his guts last night. How you mangled that corpse into a piece of art, the bone and sinew a beautiful tapestry. The Flaming Fists were still on the hunt for a serial killer as these macabre acts were mounting in the slums of Rivington, but they would never get far, not until people who mattered were harmed. For now, it was a nice indulgence for your deepest desires, your darkest urge.

“Oh, that’s a beautiful doublet,” the man next to you says. You don’t notice Claxer is sitting next to you until he speaks up. The dragonborn is an odd one out within the melange of human men, and he frequently disgusts you, but you smile and nod at his compliment.

“Thank you,” you say politely.

“Let me guess,” he infuriatingly continues, “Face Maker’s new autumn collection?”

You nod, again, politely. The doublet is deep green, made of the finest velvet and silk.

“I just want to touch it…”

You slap Claxer’s hand before he lays a scaly finger on you. He recoils, eyes wide as he realizes he’s offended you. “Your compliment was sufficient, Claxer.”

Suddenly, a new presence is at your other side. To your surprise, it’s Enver Gortash, the greasy suckup of rising politician. Unlike you, inheriting your birthright from your family that’s traded arms for centuries, he has become competition for your business. He does not sit next to you in a chair, but casually on the table as he looks down at you.

“Hello, Oberon,” he drawls, grinning with a forced smile. His hair is an artful mess atop his head, stubble grown in already from this morning’s shave. “How in the Hells are you?”

Gortash has mistaken you for this dickhead Miller Oberon, who you can see across the table in conversation with Baxter and Bryce. Though it is understandable. Miller is a shareholder in your family’s business and does the exact same thing you do. He has the same taste in Face Maker’s doublets, and he even goes to the same barber, although you have a slightly better haircut. Certainly a better one than this fraud. You simply smile and nod, and do not correct him.

“So how is that is that big shipment with Cormyr going?”

“Oh, it’s going well.” You know it isn’t.

“Really?” Gortash asks, with an eyebrow raised. You want to peel his skin off his skull. “I’ve heard it’s not.”

Before you can correct him, his attention is called elsewhere by another noble who looks identical to you. Your blood is running hot after the exchange, but cools once Gortash leaves you alone. He is talking to the real Oberon now about dinner reservations - Dorsia at 8. That lucky bastard. You catch something, however, when he takes out a small case and produces a paper name card and hands it to Oberon. Then he walks off to the other end of the room to schmooze some more.

You just had your own redone. Perhaps it’s time to impress upon your fellow nobles.

You open your own case and produce a card. You attract the attention of Baxter and Bryce as you slide the thick paper across the desk. “New card,” you announce. “Just picked it up from the printers. What do you think?”

The two men coo over the card, admiring its tastefulness.

“The colouring is bone ,” you say, the word feeling good on your tongue. You miss sawing through them while you decorate your kills. “And the typeface is called Evereska Bold.”

“That’s very nice, Durge,” Oberon says. “But you haven’t seen anything yet.” As he slides his own card across the table, he places it next to yours. Your face falls. The card is nearly identical to yours, but in all ways better. Sweat begins to form at your brow. “What do you think?”

You swallow the bile coming up in your throat. Your vision tints red. “It’s nice. Gods, that’s nice.”

Oberon smiles, genuinely, but with a hint of pride that he’s stood you up.

“Look at that,” Bryce says with a grin. “How did you get so tasteful?”

You cannot believe that Bryce prefers Oberon’s card over yours. Bryce then withdraws his own case and proudly presents his card. Once again, it is very similar, but perfected over the other two.

“Impressive, very nice,” you say as the tension builds in your body. You want to leap across this table and throttle the man. You want to stick your thumbs in his eyes and crush his skull. But you take a shuddering breath in before you say to Oberon, “let’s see Enver Gortash’s card.”

Oberon’s face darkens, as if he knows the defeat is immanent. Your heart races, sweat now rolls down your face as Oberon takes out the card Gortash just handed to him. He holds it up to you to show you. Your body burns with rage.

The off-white colouring is so subtle. The thickness so tasteful. Gods, it even has a watermark. How did he do that?

The group falls deadly silent as the men all look at you and your piercing gaze, as if they can sense the murderous urge within. In the distance, Gortash’s hearty false laugh cuts through the silence. You know what you must do. Gortash cannot tell you apart from the real Oberon who he is due to dine with tonight. You could easily take his place, lull him into sense of security – preferably with whisky – and dispose of him once and for all. He mocks you, mocks your status with his arrogant charm. He has ambitions beyond this court and you will dash them.

Your rancid blood blazes with hatred.

Oberon is easy to remove from the equation when you send one of your family members to kidnap him. You show up late, and Gortash is already at the table drinking and arguing with the waiter. You need to keep that glass refilling tonight if you are to do what you must do. You sit down and order your drink, while Gortash orders the waiter to bring him another double. Excellent.

“Service is awful, but the drinks are strong,” Gortash says, taking a sip of whisky. He frowns at you from across the table. “You’re late.”

“I’m a child of divorce, Enver, give me a break!” He laughs emptily at your joke, and you smile. You are technically the child of Ulis and Harette Oberon, and they have separated, but what people don’t know is your real lineage. The child of a god too foul to mention. It’s where you get this urge to kill, this need for bloodshed. And your night is only beginning. “So, you’ve been handling the crossbow sales to the Flaming Fists! How did you manage to swing that one? Heard Durge was pretty upset with that one.”

Gortash smiles slyly and leans in. “Well, I could tell you that, Oberon, but then I’d have to kill you!”

You both laugh at his joke, an added layer of irony for you. You cannot wait to see his blood tonight.

The evening stretches on and you make sure to talk at length to keep him drinking. He does not listen to a single word you say, only to occasionally cut you off to talk about himself. You allow it, so long as the waiter comes over to fill his glass.

“Where is Fiorella anyway?” Gortash asks, in reference to the real Oberon’s wife.

“Oh, Fiorella, you know,” you reply, looking for a response. You are betrothed yourself, though you feel nothing for the woman you’ve been arranged by your father to wed. You decide to incorporate her into your alibi. “She’s having dinner with Voletta Jhasso.”

“Voletta!” Gortash exclaims. “Bit of an airhead.”

You smile and nod in agreement.

“Engaged to that imbecile Patrick Durge, right?”

You smile wider and laugh. “Another whisky, Enver?”

Your rancid blood calls out for you to kill.

When Gortash is hardly able to stand, you offer to take him back to yours to sober up. You’ve prepared your main hall for such an occasion – the furniture is covered in sheets, the fine floors covered in the Baldur’s Mouth Gazette. You don’t like to make a mess in your own home, but this is the safest place for a murder like this one. You and Gortash laugh as you let him fall into a plush armchair. His crumpled posture is undignified for a man of his position, but he is right where you want him.

You catch yourself humming a tune while you prepare yourself. Gortash doesn’t notice, but it gives you an idea to distract him. You once attempted to become a bard, but your stories and songs were always a touch too violent for the college. You were expelled within your first year.

“Do you like Volo tunes, Enver?”

He shrugs. “They’re alright.”

“His early work was a little esoteric for my tastes. But when Swordsong made its way around the Bard’s College, that’s when I think he came into his own. Commercially and artistically.” You pause, but Gortash doesn’t react, and takes another sip from his glass. You are making this up completely, and then walk off to the other room where your weapon awaits. Gortash is still within earshot as you don your raincloak, a must to protect the fine doublet you are dressed in.

Before you return to Gortash, you grab the handaxe leaning against the doorframe. This is one of his, one of the illegal ones he used to trade. You wonder if he will recognize it before it splits his skull. You rush back out to the room where Gortash now sits somewhat straight in his chair. He hasn’t noticed you were gone, but you deftly hide the axe while you make the final preparations. He turns around to give you a glance with bloodshot eyes.

“Oberon?” he asks.

“Yes, Enver,” you answer. For a moment, he looks ready to finally question the situation. Instead he gestures to the floor.

“Why are there copies of Baldur’s Mouth all over the floor? Do you have a dog?”

“No, Enver,” you answer. This stupid bleating will be all over soon. He then turns to look at you, and frowns at your attire.

You walk past him and examine the room before you, to make sure everything is in order. The newspapers are laid out to protect the floor from his splattering blood, your precious furniture safe from his brain juices. You walk behind him towards your axe.

“I had a brief stint at the bard’s college. Starstrum was rising, Volothamp was popular as ever, who didn’t want to be a bard in that time?” You grab your axe and turn back to Gortash. He still faces away from you as you complete your manifesto. “In fact, why would anyone want to be trading arms when they could be singing the sweet, sweet sounds of Old Time Battles?”

You grasp your axe, ready to plunge it into Gortash’s head. But you want to enjoy this moment. You want him to witness it.

“HEY ENVER!” you shout.

He turns around in his seat and his eyes go wide. You swing the axe over your head, screeching like a madman as you slam it into the middle of his forehead with a satisfying crack. Blood flies onto your raincloak and your face. You yank the blade from his head and blood streams down his face. You strike again, again, and again into his body until he crumples to the floor.

“Try closing that sale to the Flaming Fists now you fucking stupid bastard!” you scream, laughing maniacally as you strike over and over. Your arms tire quickly while Enver Gortash is made mincemeat at your feet. When he is well and truly dead, you finally stop.

The ecstasy of the kill washes over you and you feel whole. The bloody pulp in the middle of your floor fills you with such joy you cannot speak. You collapse on the couch opposite to where Gortash sat and breathe deeply. This kill will not go unnoticed, but you care not as you’ve finally put this bastard down.

Your rancid blood is calm for now.

[orionsangel86]

Who do you think is better suited for dating Morpheus: Johanna or Hob?

Lol controversial ask! Jokes. I am guessing this came off the back of my response to the Calliope post the other week where I mentioned that I am loosely a Dreamling shipper but lean more towards Morphanna currently. I guess I need to specify that it very much depends on my mood because I am a Sandman multishipper at heart but feel different ships serve different purposes regarding Dream. I struggle to stretch them beyond the purposes I have set aside for them. Also it's Dreamling week and so one look at my blog would definitely give the assumption that I am a huge Dreamling shipper but that isn't actually the case. What I am is a Morpheus stan and everything else is peripheral to my focus on him and his story.

But sure lets dig into this. Honest answer? Neither because Morpheus is terrible and his track record alone is enough proof that he should never date anyone ever.

(jokes)

If we want to be sticklers for comic canon here, neither is suited because there are particular blockers in place for both ships.

For Morphanna the blocker is the rule that states that an Endless can not love a mortal. We have the Nada situation to show us what happens when they do. (Sun gets big mad and throws fireballs at the Earth)

For Dreamling the blocker is less carved into stone but its still gonna be a biggy for certain readers/audiences, being that Morpheus is not gay/bi/pan/queer whatever you wanna call him. For all intents and purposes in comic canon he's as straight as a ruler. However whilst we only ever see Morpheus's lovers as powerful, confident, beautiful female presenting immortal beings, we can throw in the tried and true argument we can apply to all of Neil Gaiman's non human beings which is that since he is not a human cis male, he technically can't be straight and since he has multiple forms and is as old as the universe itself, attraction is probably a very different thing to Morpheus than it is to any of us. It's entirely plausible that he could fall in love with a man shaped being (I actually have a meta in progress about Morpheus' potential queerness - sure it may ruffle some feathers but since I do this for fun and not to please anyone but myself I don't give a damn and will post it one day).

Anyway, that said the show could easily do away with both these blockers. We haven't had Nada's tale yet so whats to say the Endless are forbidden from loving mortals in the show universe? Nothing. The show could also easily confirm Dream has had past male presenting lovers (my money would be on Oberon in a threeway situation with Titania - or Pharamond if he shows up.)

So putting those elements aside, who is better suited to Morpheus?

In Johanna's corner we have the following;

She generally fits the archetype of past lovers and therefore could be considered Morpheus's "type" - beautiful, confident, argumentative, not phased by his status, not submissive to him, puts him in his place (listen we all know Morpheus has a submissive kink its practically carved into comic text lol).

Well versed with his "world" and supernatural creatures and can hold her own against them - being a Constantine has its benefits.

She cares - underneath her tough exterior its clear she has a good heart. She was able to bring him down to Earth, to give a human perspective that he needed at that point.

Flawed characters - Johanna considers herself a bad person and compares herself to Roderick Burgess. But Dream is quick to dismiss this. The truth is that Johanna may be messy and a bit of a disaster, but she is very selfless and good at her core. This could be a good thing as it could help Dream to see the good in humanity that he has been missing. Its clear she already helped with this in the show, but going forward, a relationship between them could help even further accelerate his change and make him a better being.

She encouraged the development of his relationship with Matthew. Something else he needed which she saw before he did. Basically she's smart enough to figure out what he needs, and when to press the issue or not. (she dropped the topic of his imprisonment as soon as he deflected to her photo).

She understands heartbreak and messy relationships - I think Johanna would be well suited to Morpheus because she is just as broken as he is, with almost as messy a relationship history. They have common ground there.

"It never ends well does it?" "What? Love?" She's realistic about relationships, which Morpheus - being Dream - needs. She can ground him, at least for a little while.

Johanna is also a powerful ally to have on side, it makes for excellent storytelling to bring her into the narrative regarding Lucifer and the stories revolving around Hell. She's competent, highly skilled, and I think he finds her impressive.

For Hob consider the following:

Friends first - for someone with such a terrible track record of past lovers, finding love in a friend is something Morpheus doesn't appear to have tried before, and this could be exactly what he needs. Dream and Hob have a shared history over 6 centuries, and those are strong foundations to build a relationship on, especially since they've already basically been through the big break up fight and heartbreak and are already in the rekindling phase.

Stories for the storyteller - the beauty of Hob's role is that he is Dream's respite from his world. The visits with Hob are the one time the Prince of Stories gets to sit and listen to stories himself. There must be peace in that, and we all know Dream desperately seeks peace.

Blind Devotion - Hob is patient, and he will wait for Dream. One thing that I think a lot of Morpheus's past lovers had in common is that they struggled to stick out the periods of time when he would throw himself into his work and basically forget about them. The relationships fizzled out after the honeymoon phase because Dream couldn't sustain that, even though once you have his love you have it forever. With Hob that wouldn't be an issue. He is the man who waited. Who never gave up hope that Dream would return even after he was stood up, and when he did return, Hob smiled and joked. It was all okay. Morpheus needs a relationship with that level of chill.

Flawed characters - Unlike Johanna, I think its safe to say that Hob is a very flawed character. He is selfish, greedy, self centered and ignorant to a lot of what takes place around him. Whilst he does grow and improve over time, his flaws are still a huge part of his character. Morpheus is also very far from perfect and it is this that makes them so well suited. There is almost an equal footing there. Hob could potentially see Morpheus's POV when it comes to the grander schemes, but at the same time, it is clear from their journey together in the show that they have a tendency to make each other better.

Grieving fathers - now this is an important one and its something I feel the comic failed to see the potential of. A huge part of the Sandman story is Morpheus struggling to come to terms with his grief over his son. Grief is a central theme. Of all the characters in the comic who Morpheus comes to meet, Hob is one of maybe two that share that experience - being a father whose son died too soon. I think the other character in comic who suffers this same grief is Shakespeare, which is an interesting parallel and one worth exploring. The show adds Roderick Burgess into the equation - making a fathers grief for his dead son the trigger for Dream's own imprisonment. The show emphasises the theme of grief far beyond the comic, which is definitely worth further exploration in a separate meta. The point is that Hob sits in this very small circle of characters who have shared Dream's experience. Hob is therefore in a prime position to help Dream where they can grow and learn to heal together.

Whilst he doesn't fit the archetype for Dream's past lovers, the differences Hob provides could prove to be just what Dream needs. He is still a handsome man (and God knows Dream gave him bedroom eyes in 1789) and he still ticks certain boxes regarding dominance, confidence, and an ability to hold his own in a fight. "You need not have come to my defence" suuuuure Dream but you did enjoy it nevertheless! Therefore attraction isn't an issue.

Conclusion?

Both Johanna and Hob tick certain boxes to meet the requirements for "love interest" and could easily be positioned that way for Dream. When I really dig down into it I think it depends on what fans are looking for in a Dream ship as to which character is best suited.

I love Morphanna for how messy it is. Yes, Johanna cares and has a good moral centre, but placing her into a certain role within the bounds of the canon story could actually be bad for Dream going forward. I see it as a dramatic relationship. It would be passionate, fiery, dramatic, chaotic, and will end in heartbreak.

I say this because ultimately Johanna doesn't do commitment. This is a clearly defined character trait in the show. Commitment is something she struggles with. Whereas Morpheus is all about commitment. He doesn't appear to do anything BUT commit to people and comes on extremely strong. I love exploring this dynamic between them. I think it would work brilliantly as a canon ship and I am still resolutely behind the idea that Johanna should replace Thessaly in canon and be the trigger for the rainsoaked Dreaming and the Brief Lives disaster trip.

So whilst I 100% ship Morphanna, I think I only ship it on a temporary basis. I struggle to imagine a future where they can have a happy ending and be together long term. Instead I see an ending where after all is said and done, Johanna stands and tells her story at the Wake, and mourns the creature she loved, and has to go on struggling to understand her role in his downfall. If we are seeking an alternative ending where Morpheus lives, I still struggle to see him settling down with Johanna as she is a mortal and I cannot imagine her ever choosing immortality or giving up her job as someone who saves people from the supernatural. She will never be Morpheus's queen. It just doesn't suit her character.

When it comes to Hob, as much as it sometimes irks me to admit it, he is very well suited for Morpheus even in an endgame/alternative happy ending way. Foundations based in centuries of growing friendship, his patience and ability to wait for Morpheus to get his head out of his ass, his being unphased at practically all the weirdness and oddities that Dream's world brings with it. The fact is, Hob is Dream's best friend. This is something that Dream needs so much more than a lover. Not only that but he is a friend who has shared history, shared grief, shared pain, blind devotion, and he is immortal. Hob will stay by Dream's side forever if he has the chance. So long as he still gets to live. Whether you see it as purely platonic, queer platonic, non sexual romantic, or fully romantic and sexual, they are in it for the long term.

Whereas Morphanna for me is a quick burning fiery passionate love affair that ends in tears and A LOT of rain, Dreamling is a very slow burn. I struggle with canon based fics that have them falling into bed shortly after the 2022 reunion because it feels out of character to me. If Dreamling were to happen, it would need to take practically the entire comic run story to get to that point. Hob's devotion to Dream is clear, but his awareness of its romantic potential is not yet there. I always return to Hob's dream in Sunday Mourning when I think of Dreamling, because for me, that is where a relationship between them would actually start, rather than end. Because I think it would take a huge event like Morpheus's actual death for them to pull their heads out of their asses and get together. Because you see even with all the arguments and debates and highly emotional opinions thrown around, I still feel deep down like Sunday Mourning is telling us that Morpheus escaped. He got out the narrative and is free from his cage, and now he's set for his own adventure off in the stars. The only person I can realistically imagine him taking with him is Hob Gadling.

At the end of the day these are my opinions. I want canon Morphanna, I just want it to end with a horrible messy break up because I want that drama. I am unsure if I want Dreamling in canon, but I do hope that if the show ends similarly to the comic, that we will get those scenes in Sunday Mourning and have them be extremely emotionally charged - if ever there is a Dreamling love confession, that is where it belongs. I can only really analyse my opinions on these ships based on canon but I am aware that fandom is a big sandbox and people can do what they want always with these characters. Please don't ever let my opinions deter you from shipping them to your hearts content in any way you feel like.

So I guess the TL:DR is that they are both suited in different ways. Morphanna is a mid story passionate love affair that I adore and want to end in disaster. Dreamling is an endgame slow burn friends to lovers that has the potential to go long term.

I love them both for their specific purposes, believe they both are suited for those purposes, but never the other way around. I hope this satisfies your question! :)

[sailtomarina]

The Artist's Daughter

She was here again.

Draco Lucius Malfoy, First and Only Prince to the kingdom, stayed hidden in the stacks next to a row of tomes dictating the genealogies of the royal families dating back hundreds of years. He had his private tutor to thank for the tiresome task of locating the volume listing the exact ancestor Draco had failed to name correctly in his latest exam. The other day, he’d been here searching for a text that would answer which crops their kingdom specialized in for exports. Ridiculous, really. As if he wouldn’t some day have advisors to do all this research for him.

Then, just like today, he’d seen a girl wandering through the shelves. She hadn’t noticed him, of course. Draco was far too sneaky to be detected by some muggle, which she had to be given her unaware musings as she walked around with her nose buried in a book.

The first time, he’d remained hidden, even going so far as to cast a disillusionment spell on himself. As surprised as he was to see a stranger, he supposed that if they were to wander any of the handful of libraries in the castle, this was the most appropriate one. It was situated on the ground floor not too far from the entrance and ballroom. This is where most of the muggle texts were organized, along with an unfortunate number of historical texts currently pertinent to Draco’s education.

She’d struck him as pretty, albeit in a muggle sort of way. She’d worn a simple lady’s gown in a pale yellow that contrasted with the rich dark curls tumbling down her back. Freckles sprinkled generously across her pale skin, markings his cousins would have glamoured over from birth. If he guessed correctly, they weren’t too far apart in age, perhaps fourteen or fifteen. That was another indicator of her humble breeding—he didn’t recognize her, not from school or from the countless balls and feasts he’d attended growing up. She couldn’t be a noble.

Today, she wore a dress in a lovely sage green with tiny white flowers embroidered along the scoop neckline. Draco imagined her eyes to match the green, or to perhaps blink at him in a hazel hue. He needed to know.

“Who are you?” His voice came out much harsher than intended. 

He’d stepped out in front of her just as she was about to pass, causing her to come to an abrupt stop before crashing into him. Startled eyes, irises dark brown and glinting with a hint of gold, gazed up at him. He’d been wrong about the colors.

“Oh! I didn’t see you there. I’m Hermione Granger. And you are?” She stepped back to an appropriate distance from him, hugging a few books to her chest like armor.

“I’m Draco,” he said simply.

“The prince?” She didn’t sound too surprised, and eyed his unmistakable platinum hair.

“The very same. Why are you here in the library?” He’d finally tempered his tone to a more congenial one. 

“I was told I could read whatever I liked in here. My father is painting your Grand Ballroom.”

Ah. She was the daughter of the painter.

His mother made it a point to elect a new project as soon as the previous one was complete. Previous years had resulted in a reworked Imperial Garden, which boasted rose gardens with every imaginable variety, both magical and non-magical. A formidable greenhouse was added shortly after, and the caretaker they’d employed soon obtained and cultivated the rarest of specimens for use in medicine and potions. 

This year, Queen Narcissa turned her attention to the Grand Ballroom. She and his father adored hosting balls at every opportunity. What better way to display their love for art and beauty than to paint the entire ceiling and all its walls with depictions of magical beasts and figures from history. Circe. Merlin. Rasputin. Titania and Oberon.

Draco had assumed they’d hire a wizard, but he should have known that when it came to art, the king and queen saw no difference between magic or not. They simply wanted the best, and if that happened to be stationary art, then so be it.

“Find anything interesting?” He feigned interest, intent on keeping her talking. She was far more entertaining than pouring over volumes of ancestors alone.

She perked up at his question, and Draco could have sworn sections of her hair floated for just a brief moment.

Certainly not.

“I did! Did you know your castle is situated on top of the most powerful spot in the kingdom? All of the most prominent ley lines converge here underneath our feet!” She stomped one foot in emphasis. He wouldn’t be surprised if she went through several slippers a season if she always beat on them in that manner.

Wait.

Did she say “ley lines”?

“Are you a witch?” he blurted out, once again wincing at the gracelessness of his question. His mother would be mortified if she could hear him.

Hermione looked at him as if he was stupid. “Yes. Why else would your family let me wander around here by myself?”

“I don’t know, maybe because this is the one library of many where muggles are allowed? They do come here occasionally, muggle nobles, to garner favor with us,” he sputtered. He still couldn’t quite believe it. She was a witch. She was an unknown witch of his age. “Why don’t I know you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before.”

“My parents are muggles. I might have a squib ancestor somewhere, but as far as we know, I’m the only magic user in the Granger family. They sent me abroad for schooling since Hogwarts doesn’t currently accept muggle-borns.” She raised her eyebrows as if challenging him, but Draco couldn’t find it within himself to care about her background.

Hermione didn’t fawn on him like the other girls who had paraded themselves around him at school. She didn’t bat her eyelashes or titter behind a gloved hand. She didn’t wear gloves at all, her slender fingers wrapping around ancient texts as if relishing the touch of the worn covers. She probably thumbed the pages like his instructors told him never to do.

He would have thought that would annoy him, but he instead found himself intrigued in this muggle-born witch who liked reading, wore slippers instead of heels, and forewent glamours.

“Do you want to see the other libraries?”

His words were like a spell, as effective at getting her to brighten as a cheering draught.

“Oh, can I? The king and queen won’t mind?” She nearly vibrated in her excitement.

Her hair was definitely twice the size it was before.

“Not if you’re with me,” Draco said with a smirk, though that was partially a lie. If they’d wanted her in the other libraries, they would have explicitly told her. 

“Well, in that case, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” She made to dash away, but he caught her shoulder before she could do so.

“Allow me,” he said with a gesture towards the books still clutched to her chest.

“Oh, I can carry these.”

“Please, I insist.” It wouldn’t do if either of his parents not only caught him skiving off lessons with the girl, but allowing her to carry around books like some commoner. When she finally let go of her findings, he cast a featherweight charm and looked at her knowingly. She flushed an adorable shade of pink.

“They really weren’t very heavy, but thank you anyways.”

They spent the remainder of the afternoon exploring, only making it to two additional libraries. Hermione had only added to the pile of books floating behind Draco. He had to refresh the charm multiple times due to the sheer weight.

“You do realize you can’t remove these from the castle, don’t you?” He hoped this wouldn’t be the last time he’d see her, that she’d continue to visit along with her father for as long as there was work. “How long will it take your father to finish the ballroom?”

“To answer your first question, yes, I do understand that I’ll need to reserve these books to read later. I was hoping you could help with that.” He nodded his agreement, even as he inwardly danced with joy at the thought that he now had a reason to continue seeing the girl. “And to answer your second, it could take my father years.”

“Years?” Draco was aghast at the approximation.

“Years,” she repeated. “If you go take a look, you’ll see why. He’s not even working alone—he has an entire team helping with the moldings and scenery.”

Trust his mother to pick a project of such staggering proportions that it required multiple artists. On the bright side, that meant he’d have a long time to get to know Hermione, even if it was only during the holidays.

“It’s a shame you can’t attend Hogwarts.” It wasn’t until she tutted in agreement that he realized he’d said the words aloud. If she’d been like any other girl, she would have pounced on any hint of attachment on his part. She, however, did not.

“Well, if the king’s word is true, then I may soon. In exchange for my father’s work, yours agreed to update Hogwarts’ policies. I love Beauxbatons, but I can’t disagree that staying closer to home would make everything a lot easier on my family.”

“If you do,” Draco said the words slowly, hardly believing they were coming out of his mouth but needing her to know before it was too late, “then you should ask to be sorted into Slytherin.”

His heart sank at the way her nose wrinkled and lips turned downward in a grimace. “Isn’t that house renowned for pureblood ideology? I was leaning more towards Ravenclaw, myself.”

He nodded somewhat agreeably. “Books and cleverness…you could certainly do worse. They’re not a bad lot, if you ignore their tendency to disappear into their studies. Though…” he trailed off, reluctant to give away his feelings again without assistance.

“Though it might mean we don’t see each other? I wouldn’t let that happen outside of exams,” she said offhandedly. “I’ll keep in mind what you said. Snakes can be quite clever, in a sneaky kind of way.” The pointed look she sent Draco reminded him of how he’d approached her in the first place.

“Quite.”

A gentle melody played in the air, noting the top of the hour and finishing with eight long chimes.

“And that’s my cue. Hold on to those for me, would you?” Hermione leaned up onto her toes, laid the palms of her hands atop his shoulders, and pressed a kiss onto one cheek, then the other.

Draco could do nothing but stand still in shock at her forwardness. Then he remembered where she went to school and the strange habits the people of that land practiced. He cleared his throat to cover his awkward silence, but the crooked smirk she wore proved the attempt useless.

“When will I see you next?” He realized how needy that sounded as it came out, and hastily continued,“Just so I know when to have them ready?”

She flitted to the doors and didn’t respond until she was nearly through them, “I’m sure you’ll find me!”

And just like that, she was gone, leaving behind her stack of books, the echoes of her soft lips on his face, and the sweet scent of apple blossoms in the air. Draco wondered if she had perhaps cast some sort of love spell on him. How else could he explain his complete lack of reservation around her, or why her humble origins didn’t matter to him like he thought they should?

Queen Narcissa found him still in contemplation shortly after, and was impressed at the amount of reading material gathered around him.

“My dragon, there you are! Wilfred said he’d sent you to recover texts on our family history ages ago.”

“Mother, did you know the painter has a daughter?”

Narcissa blinked as she processed the odd question. “Master Granger? Of course. Hermione is a lovely, bright little thing. I told her she could read whatever she liked in our First Library. Why do you ask?”

Her son continued to stare at the wall, and she had half a mind to cast a homenum revelio.

“Draco?”

He came to with a shake and gave her one of his rare, full smiles. “No reason. I think we’ll be wonderful friends. You should make sure Hogwarts changes their acceptance rules before school starts again.”

Bewildered and bemused, she stroked a hand over his hair, so like his father’s. “I take it the two of you met?”

“We did. These are all hers.” He gestured towards the books once more.

“And here I thought you’d finally taken an interest in your studies.”

He snorted and she nearly pinched him on the arm for his cheek. She made do instead with a tickle to his side. He ducked away from her with a laugh, holding up his hands in surrender. “Mother, please! That isn’t fair! You know all my weak spots.”

She desisted in her attack with another indulgent smile. “And don’t you forget it. Just be careful with Hermione, dear.”

“What do you mean?” He tilted his head in confusion and she nearly sighed at his naivety. The young could be so oblivious, but she envied them their freedom.

She thought back on her own upbringing. The Blacks were more ancient and arrogant than even the royal family; her marriage to Lucius had been agreed upon at birth and as expected as the fact that clouds brought rain and Blacks were as pure as pure could be. She knew she was his from the beginning, and no amount of pining after others or imagining life in another place with a different name would change her fate.

Narcissa looked at her son, a near perfect replica of her husband aside from the softer grey eyes she’d bestowed upon him and his smile. He’d been so much like her at the start, but over the years he’d become more and more like his father. Now, today, he was like his younger self again.

She didn’t care what Lucius intended for his heir. She just wanted him to find happiness.

“True friends are difficult to come by, particularly for people of our station. I have a feeling that, if you nurture your relationship with Hermione, she’ll be someone worth keeping at your side.”

“What would father say?” he asked, caution and desire battling for domination on his face.

“He prizes power above all else.” This much was true. Lucius just happened to have a bit of a blind spot outside of magical families. “Apply yourself to your studies, help one another, and I’ll take care of Hogwarts and your father.”

Listening to his mother, Draco started to relax and let a bit of his earlier hope trickle back in. He wasn’t sure how Hermione had secured her approval, but she had. Greater deeds had been turned into ballads.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re a bit terrifying sometimes?”

Narcissa smirked, immediately reminding Draco of wild curls and a smattering of freckles. The two women looked wildly different, yet they gave off a similar air of confident capability.

“I have been told. Once or twice.”

He made a note to tread carefully around Hermione in the future. If she turned out anything like his mother, he never wanted to be on the opposite end of her ire.

Oh, the feats they would accomplish together.

WC 2606

DHRMonth Prompt: Week 4 - Alternate Universe, September 22 - Royal AU

Cross-posted to AO3

I have half a mind to write a full story in this setting, since it spiraled into something I want to know more about. I didn’t think I used to have a thing for royal AUs, but maybe I do???

[mako-neexu]

i love this chapter sooooooooo much but it didnt really... solve guda's mental illness?😂 i mean they beat cagliostro's malignant ass inside their head... but it didnt really address guda's trauma. like. i was expecting a therapy session but instead we just physically destroyed the remnants and "hard to scrub off" lingering regrets and stuff.

so like... the waste pit is still there and it will still continue to accumulate malignant information even as the avenger team did one last clean up before they cut themself off from chaldea with guda having discarded their flames to move forward. so its like... the trashcan is basically new now, but the HOLE IS STILL THERE which wouldnt help in the long run or in the future!!!!

like... i guess abigail, merlin, kama, oberon (maybe douman?? nnn??) and other dream servants could take dantes' place? but SECOM team was successful because of dantes' flames being able to burn it!!! dantes'!!!! flames!!!!!! and

now, how are they going to dispose of the malignant information? hacking at it away is... doesnt seem to work i guess? dantes did say that his flames were able to burn them until its nothing. it requires his flames specifically!!!!

hm. i guess we could get an event about oberon taking the lead role? but thats going to be a nasu event hmmm this is literally guda's wellbeing but man i really wish oberon was included but it would turn into a nasu chapter.... there were literally so many references to oberon helping abigail and dantes to clear guda's waste pit so like... this would have been a great opportunity to address that too considering DREAMS and all..... but if you consider oberon's attachment to them (VD and servafes 2.0) then that probably wouldnt bode well? perhaps? wwww ah i just realized its still the white day event... and guda did say oberon hid himself from everyone bc they would WANT to enact plays with him www but hmmm [dies from anxiety]

[thornswoggled]

because im really stuck on this line, instead of sleeping heres me looking further into this 東風 (ひがしかぜ) being brought up again from chapter 99 (read as: i cant let my theories go without kicking and screaming)

it seems a pretty faithful translation of what we already heard from oberon. 長城 refers to the great wall of china. (ive written before that it didnt match what the great wall is called in japanese. WHAT did i mean by that? we will never know) but this specific phrase or phrasing doesnt yield much result

i think the "east wind" yamazaki is pulling from is the biblical east wind associated with the plagues of egypt, which is in line with how fond she is of mixing biblical material with other myths. so, i guess what we are to gather from this is... instead of calling it an "east wind" ... oberon... alluded to japan instead. which... seems in character! both to tease chise and engage in a bit of confusing fae wordplay. and i got duped too. like an idiot

(interpreted by who now? lol)

the first use of this phrase came right after fu- i mean yoris proper introduction, though, so im still reaching. desperately. clawing and scratching. is anyone out there. its so dark and cold. etc

"why are you so hung up on this" because i am tired and because i am obsessed with understanding the nuances of a material originally written in a language i dont speak. next question

[starrbee]

That one scene in season 4 but with oberon! Its just a sketch so its subject to change! At the beginning of season 4 Oberon uses their EP to hide their horn, giving themselves cat ears to make themselves less threatening. (After this, they never could of guessed that Skylor and Oberon would become such good friends!- I feel really bad that I've made skylor so mean :[ )

Transcript:

Kai: Sorry can we see your back please?

Skylor: How could you not trust me? I brought you that fortune cookie...

Skylor:Its a low blow, especially as Oberon has been lying to us all... Isn't that that right...Oni?

Skylor: When were you going to tell us- *ACK!*

(Oberon punches Skylor)

Oberon: Don't you DARE call me that-

Oberon:I wouldv'e willingly told you- Hell, I was going to, But I don't see how my heritage effects you?

Oberon: Infact, One would wonder how you even knew?

Lloyd: Where's Shadow?!?

[vicky82gargoylesfan]

Still waiting for my Gargoyles Quest issue 4, was hoping I would get my physical copy by now, looks like it's been delayed.

I realised I hadn't done my thoughts on the issue 2 and 3 yet so here some quick thoughts.

Issue 2 Quo Vadis Cum Hoc?

Goliath agrees this deal with Vinnie but does Goliath know who his boss is.

Angela hugging Turquesa is cute.

Prospero makes his first appearance. Caliban and Ariel are mentioned but are at the Gathering on Avalon. Monsieur Le Maire appears for the 2nd time, his first appearance was in Bad Guys,

I guess Shari is a double agent.

Broadway gives the Mayan Sun Amulet back to Jade and Turquesa.

Thailog and Brentwood steal the Hand of Valmont from Prospero. At first I thought this was one of the new keys to power.

Exo- Frames attack the Gargoyles but its all a distraction so Demona can get something from Owen or Puck.

Issue 3 Acquisitions

Lex wants to find out who's controlling the Exo frames but Coldstone completely destroys them but obviously he's done it deliberately so they can't be be tracked.

Turquesa sees Demona fly off and recognises her from Argentina, so that's why Avalon sent them to New York.

Owen tells Goliath that Demona has stolen Puck's flute, which he admitted stole it back from Oberon. He also says that he was the Pied Piper.

Coldstone tells Demona that Angela wants to find her and tell her about her commitment ceremony to Broadway.

Thailog and Shari deliver the Hand of Valmont to the illuminati at Eastcheap, so we see the return of Falstaff.

Was surprised to find that Wyvern the Dragon is an Illuminati member!!!!!! and is number 3 When did that happen????? Also back in Bad Guys comics the Redemption Squad could of seen him.

Lol at the Dragon telling Thailog he smells differently, obviously it's because he's a clone.

So the Hand of Valmont is used to get the 2nd part of the Lance stick and Thailog has to do it so the Dragon doesn't suspect it's been stolen.

Now Demona has 2 Keys of Power,

Cut to September and Elisa's suspension is lifted and back on the force. Love that they are still meeting at the Clocktower.

The next page happens over a few weeks starting from October 16th, Katana and Coldfire together possibly looking for Demona. October 31st which is the Halloween Special. November 11th Brooklyn, Broadway and Lex together at near Nightstone.

Then November 17th, with a beautiful shot of Angela in front of the moon. Even though Angela doesn't have any dialogue in this issue she certainly didn't need it as you could tell what's bothering her. She wants reconciliation with her Mother and attend her commitment ceremony but Demona's latest Quest for domination is not helping things.

The next page is November 18th and Antoinette is at an auction in Geneva getting Cleopatra's necklace, which is the 3rd key to power.

[toskarin]

every single time I come back to Warframe I remember my Kuva Lich is max level, extremely angry and able to wipe entire parties (the only way I can defeat him now is using a hypertanky Oberon and slapping his nuts for ten minutes until he drops), how the fuck do I get rid of him?

I know there's some stupid symbols I have to collect by cracking relics (yuck), but is there any quicker way to making him submit/die so I can be fucking FREE

also whats ur fav frame

there's no quicker way. the requiems are basically a deduction puzzle where you try to guess which combination of 3 symbols (non-repeating) forms the code for your lich, and each threshold confirms one symbol without telling you its place, allowing you to get it down

also my favourite frame is harrow! I converted to being a harrow main a bit back. his kit is so fun for how it's also nearly always in demand

[asksythe]

I want to write an LB6 Oberon x Gudako x PHH Vortigern story.

The other day, I told @erimies that I wanted to try my hand at writing a dark romance story.

I don't often write romance, and even when I do, I view it less as shipping and romance and more as the continuation of characterization. So, if I feel this is how this character would behave or potentially change in a certain direction, I would follow that logic to its conclusion no matter how I personally feel about it.

But the thing is... despite how Oberon Vortigern would like to portray himself, I don't personally think of him as a truly evil kind of character. You see it in the way he conducts himself in canon LB6. There was a lot of things he didn't have to do, but he did (like teaching young Castoria and giving her a short time of respite from her loneliness and ostracization).

There were also a lot of things he could have done were he truly evil, but he never did. I'm talking about his relationship with Riri during the early part of the Lostbelt. Almost every night in the early part of the story, they were alone with each other. Almost every night. Whether it was him climbing in through the window of her room in Mike's tavern, or when he sent Castoria away to gather woods or create a bounded field, leaving him to sit alone with Riri by the fireside. They didn't do anything. They just talked.

I don't think it's possible to overstate how emotionally vulnerable Riri was at that time before she met Mash again in Norwich. Someone as smart and socially savvy as Oberon should have been able to twist Riri's heart and mind like a pretzel in that situation. He might not have been able to pull the wools over her eyes for long, but he absolutely could have done devastating damage or primed her in a way that would benefit him more. I'm fairly sure there are some kinky hentai doujins out there that explored this very scenario. But the fact that Oberon never even tried spoke volume.

Then there's his wet sock of a fight at the end of LB6. Like, sir, can you be more half-assed in your big villain speech and fight?

Summer 2023 on JP server more or less cinched the deal. Oberon is just... a wet cat... and really really really (embarrassingly) down bad for Riri.

Hah!

My point is, I don't think regular Oberon cuts it for a truly dark romance kind of story. Not against someone whose heart is so resilient like Riri. So I thought of exploring the Vortigern side.

As it so happened, I acquired the novella Garden of Avalon, in which PHH Vortigern is featured as the villain.

Having read it, I... have thoughts. PHH Vortigern seems to exhibit the same kind of put-upon, enforced evil as LB Oberon. Again, his actions gave him away. He usurped his brother Uther's throne via violence... and yet let Uther go with his life and limbs fully in tact. And that's how we arrived at the canon Artoria, who is a dragon in human form... because Uther took one look at Vortigern's dragon aspect and thought. I would like me a big freakin gun just like that and he went on to do really skeevy-sounding human experimentation (via way of Merlin), resulting in Arotia....

...Bruh...

And people wonder why Artoria felt so inhuman as king... Well, if her purpose of existence was only to defeat Vortigern and never to succeed Uther as King, then it kinda makes sense, doesn't it?

Even when he was defeated, Vortigern still worried about the fate of the world and his own niece (in the usual tsundere snarky way).

Well, I guess Oberon really is an alternate version of PHH Vortigern. There's a good bit of similarities between them. Implied and not. In any case, that's where the PHH Vortigern x Riri comes in. Because I thought, there are things worth exploring here.

....

Nineveh 2461

... is the name I gave this story idea.

...

On the eve when the two brothers, splintered now in blood and heart, part from one another, the aggrieved people of Albion proclaim. 

We do not want to be fought over by either dragons or wyrms, for whichever one prevails, the little men will lose regardless. 

And so a plan is hatched alongside Uther’s dream to birth a dragon in human form. Is it not customary to proffer a greedy dragon with a virgin? A tribute shall be gifted to Vile King Vortigern, so that he would be sufficiently distracted and thus turn the worst of his evils from them. This shall be no ordinary virgin. Nothing that the Vile King himself could clutch from the populace. 

No. 

This one shall be crafted to specifications. A vessel shall be made. A ritual shall be enacted to call forth that which he desires but may not touch. 

One who can withstand his savagery. One whose burning hurt will endure even the Vile King’s frozen embrace. 

...

Ritsuka is summoned into a ‘vessel’ during the Arthurian cycle in PHH, singularity style!

Core story is a flip on the classical wicked dragon and imprisoned princess tale. 

An exploration of what book Vortigern means by a ‘dark paradise where humans cannot step foot on.’

It’s less that Ritsuka is imprisoned and more that she’s enjoying domestic life, taking care of cantankerous dragon man Vortigern.

This tragic, weirdly domestic romance is doomed because, regardless of how she feels, she has to resolve this singularity and return to Chaldea.

The climax is Ritsuka’s servants aiding the local Artoria and coming to her rescue. 

Oberon Vortigern is among the rescue team, spearheading it. 

Final battle involves Oberon Vortigern against himself. PHH Vortigern against a version of himself. 

[you-cant-fuck-megaman]

megaman AI box art

there’s a pretty big discussion around AI art, it seems i’m not super-familiar with The Discourse but if my programming experience has taught me anything it’s that random generation has to springboard off of something (usually called a seed), and you have to feed stuff in to an AI to get material to build off of that springboard so i’ve got several big goddamn questions as to where t f these guys would get their seeds and material from

but me being me, the first thing on my mind is “can you draw megaman with it?” so i decided to insert in "megaman box art" to a handful of different ones, see what happens

first off is a place called Nightcafe Studio, which allows you to pick one of three styles to make art in: cosmic, matte, and cyberpunk. nacho cheese and cool ranch were out, sorry.

this is "megaman box art" as done in its cosmic style and it certainly looks cosmic megaman got a nose guard to defend against space pollen, i guess and either his arm got detached and is floating down there or he's got a vacuum cleaner attached to his shins but it sure is cosmic

6/10, pretty colors but not very megaman

next style was matte, and

this actually looks pretty fucking cool! you've got a rad cityscape in the background, lighting’s really neat, and background to the MGA AIN MGATAN logo as sponsored by pepsi is cool

i guess that's kind of sort of Model ZX aile if you squint and tilt your head, but she’s the main part that turns the entire thing sinister. did you know that when you’re dealing with the fae shapeshifted as a human, you should count the features to make sure everything’s accurate? count the knuckles, count the fingers, count the shadows... oops, six fingers hah hah hah hah hhhhhhhhhhhh this is not Model ZX aile, this is not your friend.

7/10 you’re not stealing my goddamn teeth today, oberon

last to go is cyberpunk style and

holy shit this is a fucking WWE poster roman reigns dressed in pink and got a fucking beam tonfa??? or something a very distorted vince mcmahon puts on a power glove while brock lesnar looks disappointed to the side, and fiery font tells us that the meemen meeaiiaininaihiniahin is gonna happen at 2 / F' / 20 i could imagine you could probably print this out, put it through photoshop for edits, and then try to pass it off as an official poster for a synthwave megaman reboot. if you were a moron who wanted to get fired, i mean. fantastic way to commit career suicide.

1/10 coolest shit i've ever seen but very bad megaman art tbh

still, i'll give cyberpunk another shot. maybe it was confused, thinking it was going to have men that were mega, rather than megaman

HOLY SHIT

fuckin AXE DADY megaman over here this has it all it's got the dictator cam, looking up like it's hitler it's got the stance, holding a black vylon slinky to the side while he contemplates shooting above it it's got the logo sleekness, i've never seen MEEMN AXE DADY rendered so well it's got the color contrast, bright blue city in the left while a goddamn laser rips through time and space on the right and it's got a cool robot that actually kind of has a buster arm, though the computer is clearly confused as to what megaman’s buster actually looks like maybe should’ve let an artist handle that?

10/10, great megaman art, fucking amazing, would play, would watch, would let axe dady shoot things

next up is deepai's Machine Learning Model doesn’t seem to have any parameters, just put in a text box and go, so i did

thanks i've been wondering how it would be possible to turn megaman into a horror icon i didn't think hollowing his face out and replacing it with a fucking skull would be the answer but this is a pretty handy way to ensure my insomnia persists through the night

0/10 i

fucking

hate it

hastily getting the fuck away from that abomination unto both god and man, next up is dream.ai it seems to be a service mostly for developing and providing NFTs, but it's actually completely free with a little finagling so i don’t get where the value is supposed to come from

anyway, there's a lot of different options to provide a customized art style for the prompt, and you can even see it with different things it's got a lot of options too many to safely delve into, in fact, so i'm going to do the game journalist thing and generate maybe a handful of things and judge it entirely off that

first off is a comic art style generated without a seed

and at first glance this looks partially like the megaman 1 box art characters decided to pvp with each other at second glance as you look closer, though, you can clearly tell it's an i don't know what the fuck

4/10 colors look cool at least

maybe weird shit is the best part of it, though maybe weird shit is what it specializes in so let's try psychadelic

well, that's psychadelic all right i guess the dude in the middle is kind of sort of vaguely megaman but i don't know what the fuck else there is, there's actually less sensible shit going on here

2/10 i like listening to shpongle too, dude

but it's safe to say this system needs a bit of help let's go back to comic style and feed in some nice art from existing megaman

in my opinion, this poster is the peak megaman experience. it’s the quintessential representation. this pretty clearly dictates what megaman's about guy in blue shooting things robots getting shot at ominous shitbag in the background castlevania for some reason

favorite promo art, hands down. so let’s see how the AI works with this.

all right, finally, we're getting somewhere. guess this AI just needed to copy from someone else’s homework first. wow, that brings up a lot of questions about the nature of the materials AI art generators use to build their random images. well, that’s goddamn horrifying to contemplate. am i a monster unwittingly contributing to a system of artistic exploitation for the sake of making a shitpost on a megaman shitpost blog? fucked up.

anyway, we got a robot dude, he's got a gun, he's even got a little strut i like this guy a lot, he's got moxie and a rad face-visor thing

all right, i'm feeling generous 6/10 you fucked up but now you're getting better

let's go once more for comic style and

all right, holy shit, you're learning fast yeah this is undeniably megaman he's even got the weird helmet and weird boots and everything

there's a cool cityscape, a sci-fi sky, and he's trying to give the underside of a ship the highest of fives he doesn't look like he's standing very well on his taco bowl of destiny, though but i can't fault him with his dildo leg, must be difficult to stand on and judging by his pants, he's got trouble with testicles the size of texas growing in after kicking wily's ass 69 times understandable problem, really, after you go through 10 games that’s when you turn from a mega boy to a real mega man

9/10, good box art

you know, i'm feeling confident, i think dream's got a good idea as to what's going on with megaman let's take a risk and go for a different art style synthwave looks good, it's all about that retro shit and megaman's a retro series

this doesn't look like a new picture that just looks like you took the original picture and put a shitty smear on it

god fucking damn it

0/10, apply yourself, pick up a goddamn pencil and then see me after class

getting away from that, next up is stable diffusion, apparently a state-of-the-art AI generator hosted by Hugging Face, which i hope is a legitimate company and not a front for xenomorphs

and HOLY SHIT

on the first go we have some actual fucking box art good background, very clear, we've got a skyline with a forcefield pyramid in the background i guess wily's a space egyptian now? rad.

napalm bomb megaman's doing some fucking pelvic thrusts ready to spread war crimes all about bit distressing for our sweet friendly superhero boy but i'll admit i'd react the same way after getting a fucking napalm gun for an arm.

we've even got a rating on the bottom right, indicating that it's suitable for ages Video Game and up got a clearly-defined line for letting the publishers rub their dick all over, filling it with logos or titles or other corporate information

i feel confident about this, i like our MEAAN game, shit's looking pretty good

10/10, good box art. real good box art. little timmy would probably be confused seeing it on the shelf but this strikes me as something Bob Capcom would reasonably okay after five lagers and an existential crisis.

getting a little concerned here, looks like crisis on infinite megamans

i don’t want to imagine how many official variants of rock there are, especially if you count all the fangame/indie game knockoffs, but having them all collide together into a single Enter the Megaverse sounds like it'd be effectively impossible to handle do you want to play megaman, megaman x, megaman volnutt, megaman.exe, star force, zx, x over flavored? dos-flavored? bad box art flavored? captain n flavored? pachinko-flavored?

NGL though if rockman taisen ends up being some sort of dumb megaman battle royale then i would actually punch a cactus out to be able to play as ruby spears megaman frankly, huge missed opportunity that they're not even in X Dive the tagline even writes itself, "I knew you'd pull for Mr. Lincoln!"

oh yeah i was rating the cover uhhhhhhhh i dunno, there's dudes i don't know, they're doing poses, ominous guy in the background i guess it's serviceable? this doesn’t really tell me anything about the game, there’s just guys.

6/10 i'd pass it over and look at something else

holy shit are you okay? either he's (she's? they're?) taking a dump and all their lower intestines got caught in it, or something is burning out in the thinkpan and won’t be coming back

that dead-eyed glare is actually legitimately haunting this is the expression someone makes in anime after they realize you stabbed them and you were never their friend i've only seen that gaze in my life twice before and let me tell you, you remember things

1/10 someone call the police

all right, i’m moving away from that before i bring up more questionable ground our final contestant for the night is hotpot.ai, a website for general purpose game asset AI generation. they’ve got AI-handled copywrite, too, which strikes me as risky ground. if i can’t trust a machine with megaman, can i trust a machine to legally cover my ass? i would never trust a machine with my pants, ass or no. we’ve already firmly established that robot masters are always a pants-on debacle.

anyway, let’s give this a shot

aaaaaand hit “Generate”, and

EXCU

NOPE

FUCK THIS

I’M DONE

[monterraverde]

@earth-master | X

This was admittedly a bit embarrassing. She takes the harness from him and lifts and twists it a few times as she looked it over, opting to dress down so she could put it on under her clothes. “You just carry this with you everywhere? How’d you even think to bring this?” She hums, taking the wristbands from him and slipping them on, tightening them until they were snug while he worked on fastening it to her body…

And the second it clicks on, she gasps, a hand coming up to her throat, like the wind had just gotten knocked out of her.

That fervent presence of something at the back of her mind was gone…

And its distressing in the worst way.

He asks how she feels, and she cups her hand over her face, breath shuddering. “Feel… Naked, and not because I’m shirtless.”

Any glamours she had up vanished, and reaching out for her pokemon in their balls to sync saw her appearance not changing for once.

Oberon tilts his head from his seat against the wall, she sync’d with him, he can feel it, but he can’t tell why.

“…I thought going without it wouldn’t change much since I wasn’t even aware of it until now, but… Guess I was, kind of…”