#so this will probably be my last playthrough before DAD comes out

[an-established-butt-dent]

Dragon age Inquisition: Ellie Lavellan

I sketched my new OC as a warm up! Meet Inquisitor Ellie Lavellan. It's my first time playing as a mage and I really like it so far.

My focus for these drawings was to keep it light and dynamic. Proportions were less important than the overall flow of the lines and shapes. Pretty happy with the results!

Ink and fineliner on paper

[okase]

Thoughts on Veilguard so far, not really spoilery but still using a read more just in case:

Enjoying it so far, it feels more Mass Effect than Dragon Age, specifically Andromeda if Andromeda had more time to cook. But honestly having played both origins and inquisition lately, I don't mind it! It's just different.

The writing so far is... Fine, serviceable. It has that typical Bioware jank in places but I've yet to come across anything that's stood out to me as particularly off-putting. Despite playing for most of yesterday I'm still pretty early in the story so we'll see where it goes, but I want to see where it goes which is a good sign! And there have been moments that made me smile for sure.

I like the companions so far, the one I'm more lukewarm to is Neve so far but I get the impression she's more of a slow burn character rather than a bad one. I was worried Harding would be a bit dull and rely too much on our nostalgia but she's actually really endearing still which is nice. Bellara was the one I was most worried about initially because Bioware quirky characters tend to irritate me rather than endear me but I actually really like her and might romance her if I can resist Emmerich lmao. And the last one I've recruited so far is Lucanis who I really like and am now considering romancing in a future playthrough. He's a hot mess in a good way

I like being sassy at Solas and I like the different dad vibes I'm getting from him and particularly Varric. They didn't kill Varric immediately like I thought they would but I fully expect that he'll die later lol

I like Rook! My thoughts before launch were that if we were going to have a voiced protagonist that the ideal would be that they'd be somewhere between Hawke and the Inquisitor, which they are! More personality than the latter with more room for custom characterization than the former. Idk how much different dialogue affects how Rook acts when you aren't directly giving input but my Rook so far has been sweet and a bit silly, which is what I was going for anyway. Also the scene with the mementos was nice and it was cool to not only establish a character as trans but also you could choose how they feel about it currently. I've yet to see it come up since but I have no doubt it will.

Gameplay wise it's a bit repetitive but honestly so are all dragon age games so it's fine, the loop is satisfying, it works. I've had fun. Though I've quickly realized with my play style that I should have picked rogue like I originally intended because I suck at blocking 😭

Also it's probably because my graphics card is ancient but I have had performance issues + stuttering. It's not constant but it's noticeable and gets particularly bad in Arlathan specifically for some reason. That said someone pointed out that if you have an older graphics card you should turn off upscaling so I'm gonna do that and see how that goes!

But yeah overall it's been fun and I look forward to playing more of it!

[go-go-devil]

for the characters, give me.... siegmeyer of catarina and somsnosa!!

Quite the duo to choose here! Let's go!!

(Also I'm not going to include the "Idea for a Story" bits with them since I'm either currently writing one or have already written several for both characters)

Siegmeyer of Catarina

First impression: Right off the bat I loved him, largely due to his voice acting and the fact that his "Hmmmmmm, Mmmmmm's" instantly became a new vocal stim of mine.

Impression now: I love him even more! One of things I like about the Dark Souls npcs is how several of them are meant to relate to the player themself; Siegmeyer here being the newbie who comes in thinking they'll go on an easygoing adventure, only to realize how unprepared they actually were and end up hitting a wall at portions of the journey. He's the living embodiment of that feeling where you're stuck in one area of a video game and need to look up a guide on how to proceed, or even when your dad plays a video game that isn't the original Super Mario Bros for the 1st time in his life and you watch him constantly running into walls and dying at stuff that seems extremely basic to you before you realize just how new and out-of-his-element this whole experience actually is to him.

(Okay maybe that last parallel was a bit personal, lol)

Favorite moment: Every moment I have with him is a favorite of mine, though one I sadly haven't experienced in any of my playthroughs yet is when he finally gains the initiative to help us out by diving headfirst and screaming into a pit of Chaos Eaters and absolutely destroying them (though still with our help since there's too many for him to take on alone). Even though his quest always ends in tragedy, I like this ending since he at least gets one last hurrah and proves himself to us. The ending I got where I killed all the Chaos Eaters before finding him and he morosely reflects on how useless he is feels worse for me, since as far as I'm concerned it probably caused him to hollow before even seeing his daughter one last time...

Unpopular opinion: Not entirely sure how "unpopular" this take is per say, but I really hate it when people come to the conclusion that Siegmeyer is unintelligent due to how often he struggles throughout his quest, or even that he's somehow being manipulative in the process???

This largely came from a lore video I decided to watch one time from a popular DS Lore Ytuber. It was all just a series of very negative takes on Siegmeyer, but some of the shit he "speculates" about him was honestly quite disgusting; like how he thought the reason he falls asleep is "because he can't muster the brainpower to keep thinking" or something along those lines which is a WHOLE fucking can of ableist worms I don't feel like getting into here. Now I'm not one to rag on someone who's just speculating on the story of these games and their open-ended narratives, but I truly hope nobody takes that video too seriously because holy shit... -_-

Favorite relationship: Siegmeyer/Domhnall

Favorite headcanon: Besides the one's I've discussed with you before, I have this very self-indulgent headcanon that Siegmeyer's wife was a Carimian immigrant, and that he's one of the few outsiders who has any knowledge of (or respect for) their culture. I say it's self-indulgent because there is literally no in-game evidence of this and I'm using it for some fun character bonding moments in To The Accursed. Personally I always found the connection between the tearstone rings of Catarina and Carim to be intriguing; two rings that are opposites yet counterparts to each other. Maybe both countries aren't so different after all, and are even allied. Who knows!

Somsnosa

First impression: Immediate attraction. I mean what's not to love? She looks like the main character from Ico AND has dominion over the insects. It's like the perfect character for me!

Impression now: One of my favorite female characters of all time, even despite how light on story and characterization these games are. Really though, it seems to me that Somsnosa gets the most when it comes to a personality out of all the other characters, even Wayne. Between both games she goes through an arc of suffering from depression, then overcoming it with the help of her friends, then succeeding in running her own business (there's even more to it in Absent Moon, but I won't spoil that for you here). I also find it refreshing and hilarious how out of all the playable characters in Hylics 2, her redesign is the only one whom everyone can agree wasn't fruitified and/or sexualized in any way XD

Favorite moment: Her introduction in Hylics 1 is probably her most memorable moment for me, largely due to the absurd but sweet way we cure her depression and how cool her house is.

Unpopular opinion: Declining because "unpopular opinions" largely don't exist in this fandom.

Favorite relationship: 100% in a polycule with Wayne, Dedusmuln, and Pongorma! I will never back down on the Crescent Crew polycule, these four are soooo much more than just band mates ;-)

Favorite headcanon: Hmmmm, that's a tough one... I suppose one that I've had for the longest time was that SHE'S actually the one who kickstarted Moonage Lobotomy back when it was just her and Wayne. They found a microphone and guitar while scavenging through some trash cans and she realized right away that the two of them could totally start a band together! As far as I'm concerned she writes nearly all of the lyrics for their songs, with Wayne contributing only rarely as he's more of an instrumental being, and was also the one to suggest that Dedusmuln try their hand at percussion after their theremin was stolen/devoured due to a luggage mishap while on tour.

[undead-potatoes]

So! Tell me about Aurora! Did they have a life before the Urge came calling? How has their journey been through the game? Are they romancing anybody or do they have any other significant bonds?

I hope you don't mind, but I decided to split this into two posts. You asked about her journey through the game, and suddenly I had written 1400 words that didn't fit with the rest. So uuh yeah, here's the first and the last question at least!

I'm still a little unsure about her life before the Urge. There's the few "canon" things we're given through bits of dialogue (like murdering their parents as a child), but I honestly don't tend to get too caught up in canon if I want to do something different.

She had a lot of nightmares as a child (thanks dad), and it made her a very skittish and nervous child. In combination with minor Urges which made her say and sometimes do off-putting shit, I imagine she wasn't exactly a social butterfly. Like once she probably bit someone when the Urge overtook her, but bc they were baby urges and she was like 6-years-old it didn't really do much but alienate her.

But I think she was otherwise a good kid, doing her best and loved by her adoptive parents, even if they probably worried about her a lot.

I kinda like the idea of her being slightly older, someone who briefly escaped her heritage due to Bhaal's death before he returned in full, and the Urge became too strong to ignore. To have the Urge hovering around in the background her entire life, but always being able to repress it, until she suddenly couldn't.

Idk there's just something to the tragedy of being so close to escaping your predestined fate, when in reality it was always going to end like that, on way or another. You never truly escaped anything, you simply just delayed the inevitable.

She could still have murdered her family, still living with her adoptive parents and possible siblings, or maybe she had her own family by then. Either way, Bhaal would have wanted them out of the way.

The Urge building and building, sending her flip-flopping between moments of bloodlust and lucidity filled with fear, until the Urge took her away completely.

(Would the Urge even work like that for any of this? Who cares, just gonna do as Larian does, my city now).

TL;DR: I don't even know, it's still stewing in there.

- - -

Though I've watched like every Durge related video on YouTube, I haven't actually played very far in Aurora's playthrough, mostly bc I'm waiting for Larian to stop breaking the game with every new patch 🙈

Meaning I haven't actually had a lot of time with her interacting with the companions and gotten a good feel for where they're at.

Wyll and Shadowheart are possible candidates for some at least surface level boding. Like Wyll's whole "self sacrifice for the good of others" thing, and with Shadowheart they both have been brainwashed and forced into cruelty in service of an evil god.

And Karlach bc I love her and I said so.

Maybe some more interesting dynamics will pop up once I really get in there with her 🤔 (Larian fix your shit already, I want to plaaay)

There's also Jay who's already wrangling every other companion and their problems, so I'm sure he'll have some fingers in her pies too eventually (it's what he does, after all).

-

The only solid relationship to have formed in my head as of yet is her romance, and bc I'm as original as a pair of earbuds from AliExpress, she eventually starts a thing with Astarion.

He initially sees her as an easy target, a shy and possibly meek person quite literally removed from the others at camp (a deliberate choice on her part), but it doesn't go quite as he had planned.

I've written a whole post about it that's hanging out in my drafts, but tl;dr: he tries to bite her, but she wakes and angrily sends him away. She later comes to him one night, panicked after the Murder At Camp™, and he (begrudgingly) agrees to help her with the body. This begins this weird partnership where they keep each other's secret, and she lets him drink from her as thanks for helping her.

Their relationship is a bit rocky at first, like they don't hate each other or anything, but there's a fair share of bickering and such. She can be a bit blunt, and is too impatient and exhausted from the urge to deal with his very obvious mind games, tiredly telling him "stop trying to seduce me, you already have what you came for".

When he offers to sleep with her at the party, she thinks "why not". They're already putting each other at risk, so might as well have some fun with it. He might have tried to bed her sooner if she hadn't been so blunt and unapproachable, but it did also give him some time to rethink his strategy. Based on finds with the freecam during his party sex scene, he has set up a lil spot on a blanket, with wine and maybe some food, in an attempt to seem more genuine, which admittedly she does find a little cute.

Ultimately it's all the bits in between, the quiet moments after feeding or sex that gives them an excuse to talk, and they realize they enjoy each other's company a lot more than they first thought. She vibes with him a lot more when he's being genuine, something she sees more of when he's fed and generally less guarded.

She've kept her distance from the others bc of the urge, in fear of either harming someone, or being discovered through the tadpoles somehow. It puts her on edge constantly, but Astarion already knows, and she knows he doesn't judge her for it, so she's more at ease too.

Aurora can become ride or die pretty fast, especially in combination with other intense personality traits (hello devotion), and I think maybe Astarion picks up on that and thinks he can use that to his advantage. At least until he too accidentally catches feelings and becomes pretty ride or die himself lmao. Great job idiot.

Which is also when her more self sacrificing nature goes from something that could be to his advantage, to something that actively upsets him. Stop it! Stop sacrificing yourself for others who probably don't even deserve it! Stop putting yourself in situations that could take you away from me for no good reason.

They're note super lovey-dovey either. Like sure there's romance and tenderness there, but there's also some clash of personalities ("stop being an asshole" "stop trying to be such a bloody hero"). Nothing too bad but there's definitively something for them to work on.

This became the Aurora and Astarion post, sorry about that (not really). I hope to have some better answers to these in the future, my brain is still cooking (unfortunately it's a slowcooker).

[hyouta]

Aaaannnnddddd that's Melody of Memory and Dark Road completed!

A little bit later than I planned, but still miles ahead of the last possible date (I'm not even sure if it'll mean anything anyway, but TR remastered 4-6 is coming out next week so my dad MIGHT grab my ps4 again).

Melody of Memory

Anywho, my clear time for KHMoM is so funny because I picked it up before I did a full series playthrough, but I didn't clear the final stage because I wanted to finish the other games first (even though that never stopped me for Days or DDD).

For a simple little rythm game it's a lot of fun. I'm not perfect at it, and it took me a while to learn some tracks, but it's the only game in the series where I have played Proud mode (according to my clear stats, it was the mode I used the most?? sure).

Almost sucks to have gotten the switch version because I would have unlocked a lot of ps4 trophies...

I definitely think they could have done more for it, and it sucks that it's TECHNICALLY Kairi's game and you only play as her for ONE track and you can't even unlock her after? Ok. Justice for my daughter please??

I will also still complain about there being no Symphony of Sorcery representation in this rythm game like I know the tracks are like 10 minutes long but COME ON...

Last thing I have to say is that, prior to finishing I had seen the credits for this game, but I teared up anyway, I think knowing it's my last playable experience for a while...

Dark Road

I think this and Birth by Sleep (I guess you can throw KH1 in there) are great contained stories. Obviously they mention or lead into bigger stories but I think if they changed the format of Dark Road it'd be one of those stories you can just pick up and watch without worrying about remembering that many details from the other games. (I appreciate that it was broken into clear episodes, even though I watched it all in one sitting).

Going into this the only things I really knew was that it'd explain Xehanort's character a lot more (which is why I didn't comment on his motivation in KH3 because I was reserving judgement) and that Bragi = Luxu. I think this worked for me because asking me to watch a 4 hour graphic novel of sorts is a lot. It took me longer than 4 hours to watch... but I was hooked on the story.

It took me longer of course because I was making notes to process the information I was given (unfortunately I couldn't draw much because I had to pay attention to text, please dub this). It's a bunch of nothing but this is what my notes ended up looking like:

(I think I wrote about it in my notes but the talk about people being a light for others and losing purpose without them, Nomura I'm going to beat your ass specifically for that one!!)

Whether you read relationships in KH as strictly platonic, or something more, it's the relationships in this series that I think makes it so special...

Anyway, art I will probably never fix or finish but wanted to add

(I actually was drawing Lea and Isa clothes swapped to (most obvious thing ever considering what I was watching), stopped to make notes, tried to draw Urd, gave up trying to draw + read at the same time so drew this after - typed up this post and thought oops, my wips...)

Now that I'm done, I sort of want to do something for finishing everything but I don't know what and don't want to be too ambitious my art idea/wip list is already too long. Maybe I'll do one more post talking about everything or something hmm...

[anthropwashere]

Got tagged by @ladyyatexel last October so that should really tell y'all where I'm at on replies for like, 99% of anything you want me to see. Sorry not sorry. I'm not trying my best even remotely but boy, I'm trying.

ANYWAY.

Last song: part of a frankly enormous playlist of an FMA AU I've kind've touched on over on AO3, but that version is frankly very different compared to where the current reluctant brainworms want to take this one. Either way we have this:

We also have the entire Puscifer remix album of Money $hot Your Re-Load which I'm fucking ADDICTED to at the moment, please treat yourself to The Vibes of some fantastic fucking remixes

Currently watching: Brainworm hell means I can't commit to any proper series more than like. 3 times a year? So right now I'm splitting my viewership between rewatching literally all of Game Grumps' 10 Minute Power Hours for like, the 15th time each vid just for the giggles and random actually intelligent YT essays by people I already follow.

Look man, if their voices are nice or they make me laugh, that's about as much as I can appreciate currently. I want to rewatch Good Omens again and I'm probably going to commit to that this week if that's anything?

At this very particular moment I stopped watching Caffeinated Dad's playthrough/summary of FFXIV to make this post, and he's amusing enough to plug

(If you don't FFXIV his summary vids are an excellent newbie catchall/breakdown. He's still a newbie himself and it's very cool to see his reactions to decade-plus old content considering what I, a 90% caught up player, knows. Oh the storm coming his way! :DDDD)

Current Obsession: BOY this one is in a weird place? Gimme a minute to lay this one out.

So like, I'm literally 6 years into having New Daily Persistent Headache and Fibromyalgia/probably Sjogren's Syndrome, which basically means I've had some flavor of migraine 24/7 since Feb 27 2018. My capacity to do like, literally any kind of creativity has goddamn motherfucking shitkicking cuntscruggling TANKED over the last several years. I am, mentally speaking, not doing great!

So instead of writing I spend a lot of time thinking of Very Silly AUs of writings I might, one day, maybe, attempt to commit to. The stories I spend many hours huddled in the dark thinking about are stories so displaced from any kind of canon there's really no point in trying to write them down and share with all of y'all. They're for me as a distraction from how much pain I'm in so many hours of every single goddamn shitkicking day of my life. More specifically, migraine hell is quelled at least a little bit by very silly Time Travel AUs of Bad Times Happen To Your Faves AUs.

So this week I'm thinking about an AU where Edward Elric loses his right arm again for keepsies years post-canon, adopts a kid OC, realizes that the way he defeated Pride accidentally turned him into a homunculus comparable to Bradley, and decades later finds himself temporally flung right back into the shittiest time of his life (AKA the canon timeline).

Is this any kind of fic worth writing? Not really, not without like, at LEAST 300k worth of pretense. In my hunchbacked hating life and physical sensations day-to-day life however? Yeah, yeah, it's funny. It's silly and pointless and poignant and distracts me by thinking of ways how an older Ed could manipulate canon events (or at the very least convey them to canon versions of everyone before the canon shit can hit hit the canon fan). It's all Very Funny and Interesting to me. Will I ever write it? Absolutely not. Will it live rent-free in my brain for years to come? Oh, abso-fuckin'-lutely. Time Travel AUs of Wild AUs I'll Never Commit To Publically are the bread and butter of my brain's capacity to tolerate like, existence, at this point in my life.

[appreciatingtokrev]

hi! sorry for disappearing, i was feeling a bit down and then i 🫠 for a little while after that. yes, nfsw is a massive no but like you said there are other topics that shouldn't be discuss about. it actually is but a person will either get upset or find it rude, depending on their mindset but i suppose it's both like a double edged sword. those relationships def are treated as inferior but the friendships that turn into relationships are probably criticise most esp if the parties been friends for years but you can't force feelings to come out at an acceptable time if it ever happens 🤷‍♀️ that's true, a relationship need to be stable before progressing more.

it is a bit unfair esp if the newer users become massive fans, there are playthroughs on youtube but from what i've seen, it is a bit jumbled up and all over the place. i'm assuming you must have a lot of weapons then? oh i see, are they both mobile based? fans want a nintendo switch port for GI. it is a bit of a random topic lol. that's true and it would be super hard too, the spellings for my mum and her siblings overlaps a lot, they have double e in all their names. it's been a cool topic to talk about but it's finished now 🤣 that sound like an awkward situation to be in, i hope your teachers never thought that for like signed permissions slips for school's trips 😭 did you guys ever have problem with telling which one is your mail/posted package considering the initials thing. ah my dad and my names spelling are very similar (we have the same letters expect for one that isn't in mine) along with the initials so someone accidentally gave my option of voting to my dad because they skimmed through our names 😂 i did asked my dad if this was planned regarding our names and he said no.

also, i saw a short animated of koko accidentally confessing to inupi and it made me wonder what happened to inupi in the bonten timeline and his relationship with koko.

oh don’t worry, i’m glad that you’re back & feeling better again! <3

yup, agreed

yep. my ex & i tried to love each other romantically and force the feelings, aaand it did not work out lol. in hindsight i’m amazed we managed to go 8 months lmao. funny story too bc we’re both aroace now so it was double stupid. we also didn’t talk at all for 2 years (bc i had them blocked afhjfhg) but we started talking again last week and it’s going great now that we’ve both grown and realised that we’re way better off as friends so i’m not too upset abt our past mistakes anymore lol. anyway, lesson learnt, forcing relationships or love does NOT work out, no matter how desperately you want it to. also agreed, relationships definitely need to be stable to move on bc if they’re not it just keeps getting harder to somehow make them stable (again).

yeah, true. i mean yes.. to be fair i’ve been playing for a really long time and for most of that i’ve been playing it daily so,, hoyoverse (i think i called the company mihoyo in my last reply? they used to be called mihoyo but changed their name to hoyoverse idk a year or so ago but i keep forgetting adhjf) now releases all of their games for both mobile & pc, and i think gi, hi3rd, and hsr are for ps4 & ps5 too? honestly not sure, i play them all on pc. ah yes, the switch port... i used to be kinda excited for it but i’ve lost hope for getting one soon (if ever) bc we were promised one two and a half years ago and nothing’s been done ever since 💀

funny thing my dad is a teacher at my school so he knows some of my teachers a bit & even is friends with one lol so i never really had any problems with our signatures after explaining why they’re so similar. idk abt other places but on the post here there’s always your full name so we never had problems with that. tho i’ve had a bunch of other teachers from my school text me on teams thinking they were texting my father bc our usernames on there (bc school) are almost the same afhjgfjshd

ah lol, that seems annoying

oh i think i know which animation that was bc i think i’ve seen it too! i personally hc that they went no contact or at least barely have any contact even if they’re both not really happy with that (especially koko) but they think it’s for the best. i just think inupi wouldn’t want any associations with criminals and koko wouldn’t want inupi to have associations with criminals bc of him either, so... tho that’s pretty sad afhjggfh but imo the most realistic version of them in bonten

[protagonistheavy]

So, Life is Strange: Before the Storm... HAD to be a rushed product, right? I only just recently got around to (watching) a playthrough of it and wow, that final episode is hugely lacking. It absolutely feels like there should be at least one whole other episode to round things out and for the consequences of your actions to pan through. So many plotlines that were promising just drop dead, and almost every character gets short-shafted for the spotlight -- I can't even remember half of these characters' names because they have so few interactions.

A lot of this is in exchange for giving more time to Chloe and Rachel, but even their plot seems so rushed and quick. It's hard to find romance genuinely between these two characters when their whole history unfolds into a major drama over the course of, like, 56 hours. Rachel feels so back and forth that I was always uncomfortable with her, and the nature of LiS games make me inherently suspicious of characters and their motives, since this series knows pretty much nothing else except twist villains. Maybe if there was a bit more casual time spent between the characters, and not so much huff and drama? But after all these episodes, I'm hesitant to say I want more Rachel Amber on screen lol.

But at least she's a fine, developed character -- I just spent too long scrutinizing her. Everyone else? They just feel like ideas for characters to put into the game. Playing D&D with Mikey and Steph was one of the coolest moments and I had hoped we'd get a second session, buuut then the plot happens and we never get to just hang out with these guys again. Mikey's brother is EXTREMELY awkward, but to his credit, I think my issue with him is that he's very different depending on your choices -- I probably need to see some alternate routes to really understand who he is... but at least in this playthrough, it felt like they were writing him on the spot.

Nathan is also a really weird issue in this game. I just dont get why Dontnod is so persistent on making Nathan also a victim, forcing us to sympathize with him so much, when we KNOW he's a school shooter. Like sure, he isn't a shooter in this prologue, but we know what he becomes! And while I appreciate some concern existing for how exactly people like Nathan come to be, his inclusion here feels immature and shallow. It feels rather uncomfortable for the writers to try so hard to tell the reader, "He's not all bad! He's human!!!" considering they were already doing this in the first game. And what about the girl that follows Nathan around? What's her deal? She's a new character for this story and not a great one lol. She exists just to give Nathan a sympathizer, to guilt-trip readers that still felt friction against Nathan that they should at least feel bad for his little girlfriend. What happens to her? Nothing! She just disappears from the plot, same with Nathan.

I think what ticks me off most about this prologue is that it does nothing a prologue should be doing. Do we learn about the Prescots? Do we learn about Jefferson? Do we learn about the origin of these powers? No, but thank god we learned how Chloe got her shitty truck. For goodness sake, Frank is such a major part of this plot, and even he gets screwed over, because we never even learn what got him and Rachel together before she went missing -- a critical part of the original story!! It's so frustrating to have this chance to see how shit came together, but instead of learning more about the base game, we're treated to a melodramatic sidestory, involving a girl that just couldn't keep her shit together after finding out about her dad cheating. It's totally unrelated and not at all what I think LiS fans were wanting when given a sequel.

And one last thing about Rachel Amber, man, I really just didn't vibe with her. I think my big issue with her is something similar I have against Chloe, and that's that I don't quite understand what makes these girls "punks." They're more like... rebels, and even then, not very fascinating ones. Rachel Amber comes from a very privileged home where she had almost no problems in her life... so it's really hard to sympathize with her when the only dilemma in her life is just her dad cheating on her mom. And yeah, that sucks, but maybe I'd feel more for her if her reaction to that wasn't to recklessly cause a whole forest fire. Ugh, maybe Im thinking too much about it, but seriously, that moment put a wedge between me and Rachel for the entire game -- I just felt so bad for the forest animals lol, like wtf, they didnt deserve that and Rachel never once feels bad for destroying a whole swathe of nature + endangering the lives that have to go and fight it.

This plot really needed to be slowed down or given more space to breathe. I was agasp when I realized it was the ending of the game and everything was just getting summed up anticlimactically. The fact we can't even get a solidified fight between Frank and Damon also tells me that they had to hurry up and finish this with as little budget as possible. Such a shame considering LiS is full of mysteries with so much promise, but virtually NOTHING from any of these games is intent on actually exploring any of it -- and at this point, it's outright too late, as the greater plot of the games has just moved on.

[vinni-dragon]

Big ramble, 4am, bad formatting, etc. etc. I can get more into it with some prompting but rn I'm just gonna fuckin ramble until I lose my train of thought so PLEASE bear with me LMAO

All throughout DMC 5 it feels like Dante is just straight up not even in the same room as everyone else at any given moment. Like, Dante is an asshole. He's always been an asshole. But the way he just?? Blanks so many interactions in 5 is WILD to me.

It's hard for me to articulate in text, and is/has been waaaay easier to do it verbally when my sister and I are having our daily DMC bitch, but like? Like I guess a lot of the dialogue in DMC5 feels a little bit like nobody is listening to each other, and it probably comes off as nitpicky, but it's especially atrocious with Dante. Even moreso in the way he interacts with Nero.

Vergil appearing and Nero literally standing still, doing fuck all, and Dante getting smacked around and then turning to Nero (again, unmoving this entire time) and saying "Get out of my way Nero!" before proceeding to run past him because he already had plenty of space.

Or the way Dante knows from the beginning of 5 that Urizen is Vergil, and has known since 4 that Vergil is Nero's father, but withholds this information the entire time up until the very last possible moment. Then it's there that he crushes Nero with the reality that he's been deprived of a family for so long and now the only family he has is dead-set on destroying itself without him having any agency in the matter.

Dante chose to deprive Nero of a familial connection, and when he finally went back on that, it was to give him a reason why Nero shouldn't kill Vergil. (Which Nero didn't even express wanting to do?)

Like: "You can't kill your dad, but I can kill my brother."

As if Nero has ever been known to want to kill PEOPLE?

Even in 4, there are multiple encounters Nero has with Dante while Dante is still actively a threat to him and has his BACK to Nero, and Nero DOES NOT attack him or engage him violently. After Nero gets the Yamato, even when Dante is antagonizing him, he's more interested in just trying to avoid and get past him. Yes it's because it's more important to him to get to Kyrie, but we see the way he engages with real threats. He was only ready to fight Dante when Dante insisted on fighting him.

I'll also note I consider their first meeting where Nero goes absurdly all-out to be an outlier, because by Nero's perception, Dante just committed an act of terror by slaughtering a bunch of humans. And it's after this point that he's much more docile around Dante.

Nero is, for all intents and purposes, completely harmless unless provoked. He wouldn't even kill Agnus despite his multiple threats to do so, which almost got HIMSELF killed!

So for Dante to know this, and we know he knows this, and figure that Nero would still have his heart set on killing Vergil after learning that he was human? That they were family??? It's such a massive misstep.

I know that it COULD reasonably be Dante simply lacking the empathy to understand that Nero values family, but by expressing this principle that it would be wrong for Nero to kill his own father, it tosses that idea out the window entirely because it establishes some level of emotional intelligence that I simply refuse to believe ends at actually understanding Nero on an emotional level.

It's just something I find INCREDIBLY frustrating after a few playthroughs and really really thinking about it. Probably to the point of overthinking but, hey, that's what a hyperfixation does to a mf. I really love these characters so it makes me genuinely sad when I see such a greatly missed opportunity for them to connect.

The way Dante is able to be so cold even to Nero, it's like, heartbreaking. Which is awesome!!! But I don't think that that was the desired effect? Y'know what I mean?

AGAIN this is mostly a string of consciousness ramble, so I'm sorry if it's incomplete or makes no sense but I hope it gives some insight about how I feel ab Dante's DMC5 characterization. I don't think I did a great job explaining everything I feel since this is just one part of it, but y'know. 4am very tired blah blah blah.

I'm also definitely more than willing to talk at length about this when my hands don't hurt 😂

I completely understand why Dante comes off cold to Nico in the scene where she gives him Dr. Faust - he watched her grandmother die after growing very fond of her, and he also killed her biological father. It's awkward.

But that "you don't much look like her" comment was probably one of the biggest dick moves Dante ever pulled - and he's pulled a lot of dick moves!

[yanderecandystore]

Could you please do a fanfic for a male version of Yandere! Lady Dimitrescu (from Resident Evil Village game) with the reader.

I really like the Resident Evil franchise but I'm too lazy to know what the hell is happening in the older games XD I'm so sorry about that-

I loved watching playthroughs of Resident Evil Village (can't buy the game ;-;), but I felt like it was a bit empty, idk- I felt like the lords weren't really explored enough.

Also the Duke is the best husbando in the whole game- Fight me! >:3

TW/Tags: GN = Gender Neutral, I normally forget to properly name it when it's gender neutral, most of the time I just say "reader" // maybe ooc // lazy genderbent, I'm terrible with names // size difference // servant reader // mentions of gore/cuts/bruises/blood and deaths (and torture- I'm so sorry-) // reader gets hurt // mentions of vomiting

It's Dinner Already [Yandere!M!Dimitrescu x GN!Reader - Short Fanfiction]

It's dinner time already, unfortunately for you, of course.

It feels almost like a routine at this point- Which in a way, it is! You always take care of your tasks during the day, while dreading the inevitable time for dinner to arrive again.

Everyday, at this exact same hour, you and the other servants would prepare a meal for Lord Dimitrescu and his lovely… Sons…

As someone who has started "working" for their family only a month ago, you can positively say: Starving in the cold woods next to your village would have probably been a more merciful death than the ones you have witnessed at this place. You weren't as accustomed to such brutal executions at your village, actually you hardly even witnessed so much death, at least not so up close.

When you came here, you didn't expect to be instantly comforted and treated with respect- You were a commoner looking for an possibility to thrive in a noble's house, you were basically an easy target for any entitled selfish lord to easily belittle you and make you work for them until your hands would turn to dust. Yet nothing could have prepared you for such an odd situation.

Vampires. Monsters. Fiends if you were bold enough to insult them. You weren't exactly welcomed as much as you were snatched in and now forever trapped inside this castle. You can still hear their laughter… Their insane expressions of pure glee, the way they have bursted into maliciously laughing at your pain as you screamed for help trying to open up their door again and be free from that nightmare.

The chase didn't last even a second, they stabbed your legs with their scythes and brought you deeper inside this hellhole, as you cried your eyeballs out. The sons had brought you back inside so their father could take a look at the "intruder".

An absolute titan amongst the mortals. His height was only a sick reminder of how much power he had over the castle, over his sons, and now- Over you.

He may not have been as massive as he was threatening as you remind him to be, but at the time you were just in awe of his height considering you have never seen someone as tall and as mighty.

Then again- You have never seen vampires as well. Were they the same vampires as the books you've read as a kid? You weren't so sure of it…

You were hoping that if you begged for life and for forgiveness for having disturbed their peace, that they could spare you and let you go back to your village. Sadly enough, you commented on how you were only trying to look for a job as a servant.

You probably shouldn't have given them ideas, but it's too late to think about your mistakes now, however.

The sons begged to see your blood spilled, yet Lord Dimitrescu was merciful enough to grant you your "wish", as he said.

It has been a month ever since you were trapped inside and forced to work as a miserable little servant, and even if you didn't suffer the worst forms of punishments that they had in-store for you, you couldn't help but fantasize about just running away and never turning back.

You're so tired of this castle, of the smell of carnage, of the undeserved and over the top punishments, and especially of the people who would subjugate you to such things.

But at last, it's dinner time already, and you can't keep them waiting.

You feel your hands shaking as you walk out of the kitchen and into the dining room where the masters of the castle were so graciously waiting for you. You know what they're waiting for- But you can't let them distract you, for those that commit accidents are faced with fates worse than death.

Although you would rather do this process quickly, you can't afford mistakes to happen, so you take your time to set not only their meal in front of each one but to also pour "wine" into their glasses. You do all of this without looking directly into their eyes, only bowing down to each one and saying "excuse me"s in what they would call a "decent tone", as the smell of their disgusting beverage starts to irritate your nostrils. If you didn't know the main ingredient to Sanguis Virgins is, you probably wouldn't have this immense disgust over it, but right now just the thought of it makes you want to gag.

Only villains could so easily drink blood, and still make a living out of it.

Your internal thoughts of pure hatred against this whole situation almost completely blinded you to the fact that they were eerily, very quiet.

….

On most nights they would be talking with each other while occasionally making comments about you or your presence. Obviously they were all pretty nasty comments that they somehow expected you to back it up in some way or another, it's when they try to insert you into their conversation that makes you hate this occasion so badly, but it normally ends as quickly as it begins.

But as you are pouring wine to Lord's Dimitrescu, you notice that they haven't said a single thing while you were there. You stop what you're doing as you realize that they were silently observing you this whole time, and as you look into their expressions you come to think that maybe you have messed up-

Somehow, in some way or form, you may have messed up- And the fact this mistake could cost your head only agitates your already very worried mind.

….

A small moment of silence continues before the middle son, Cassandro, starts to chuckle in an almost innocent way- As if he was a kid who just said a bad word for the first time- And as he bursts into sudden laughter, Daniel leans towards Bello and loudly whispers:

"- I told you, they do this every time." To which Bello only replied with:

"- It's almost like hypnosis in a way."

The three sons were mesmerized by your ability to trap yourself in your own mind. They're probably aware that you do this as a defensive mechanism but they still find it comical in a weird way. You feel yourself get more tense as you look up at Lord Dimitrescu and see him staring back at you, with an unreadable expression across his face.

Before you could come up with an excuse to whatever you may have caused to disturb their dinner, the Lord himself spoke.

"- How inappropriate. As my sons, you three should know better than to laugh at our servant's airheaded mind-"

And as he said that, their smiles begin to disappear and be replaced with frowns and a bit of shame as they become stiff at their father's words.

"- And how inappropriate of you, too. To be so distracted in the presence of your masters, that's quite rude don't you think?"

But as he continued their bodies begin to relax once again as they realize he wasn't focusing on them- He was focusing on you.

Words have completely disappeared from your vocabulary as you start to think that maybe you won't be able to see another day after their meal is over. You try to mumble some possible responses before getting interrupted by him once again.

"- It's very rude, so very rude in fact that I think we deserve some answers. What were you so distracted about? What were you thinking that could have possibly taken over your small little head?"

Right now, he was sounding a bit condescending, thankfully not as angry as he would have been with the other servants right about now. Every little mistake was used as excuses for punishments- And if you were walking on thin ice before, right now you are one-step closer to breaking this entire lake and getting yourself killed by the freezing temperatures of the water below you.

Thanks to your luck (or maybe lack thereof, depending on how you see this) Daniel came to "your rescue" by coming up with an excuse for you.

"- Maybe they were hungry." He said without any indications of it being a joke or a lie- As the youngest yet craziest of the bunch, he always had that weird "naive yet dangerous" energy coming from him. He was naive enough to make that statement when it's very clear that you actually despise being near them, but he still was a son of Dimitrescu.

You know better than to underestimate any of these people.

The Lord didn't seem completely convinced as he side eyed Daniel who was blissfully eating his meal without acknowledging his dad's glance or his brother's looks of disapproval.

Without a warning you were pulled closer by your wrist and forced into sitting next to the Lord, who made a sign for another servant to bring you your food. This… Doesn't feel right at all, you're waiting for the worst to come yet you don't feel like you can ever prepare yourself enough for what they have in store.

"- M-My Lord- This isn't needed, I'm fine. I'll just continue my duties, if you can excuse me-" You plead, while trying to get up from your chair.

"- Oh but what host would I be if I didn't take better care of my guests? Poor thing, you must be starving if you can barely serve us wine-" And as his tone gets progressively more sarcastic and a bit louder, you can hear his sons snickering from the other side of the table, but you can't see them since you can't take your eyes away from him.

You're worried that if you look away for just one second, that you may not be able to see ever again.

"- It's so sad when one of our guests feels hungry- What's worse is when we are also very, very hungry."

"- Thirsty, even!"

"- Oh, I can feel my throat drying just at the thought of such misery!- Our dinner seems to be ruined."

You hear their whispers, you hear how they are clearly joking about this- How overly dramatic they're being over something so miniscule as you just- Ignoring them.

Let me remind you this is all because you refuse to look them in the eyes, that you refuse to give them any satisfaction for the heinous things they have done! You've seen so many people get hurt inside this castle only for their sick and twisted thirst and entertainment.

"- Indeed, my boys. My appetite is ruined, though dinner is not over yet-" Lord Dimitrescu spoke as he looked at his sons clearly enjoying your inevitable pain, but before he could continue he turns himself to you again, putting a hand on your arm and saying:

"- Wouldn't you agree?" Loud enough so that his sons could hear it, but soft enough to send the tiniest shivers down your spine.

"- …!"

"- No, no- Please, not again!-" He wouldn't dare do this, would he??

But before you could react he had already done it, you barely noticed how fast he had grabbed that knife to slice your wrist- His hand firmly gripping your arm as he made a deep enough cut so that your blood could be easier to access.

It somehow hurts just as badly as the first time his sons have stabbed your ankles and dragged you across the floor- At least you're not bumping into things like before, and even if it's a deep cut it's not as big as it could be if he used his claws to actually do this.

Oh, oh those claws- You almost thought he would use them on you… Those were something else. You can't remember exactly what happened, and why it happened, but you remember seeing him use those on another servant who may have crossed the line at some point.

Well "crossed the line"- More like "casually inconvenienced him". Lord Alcino may act like an incredibly high noble but he acts so childishly and in such an egotistical manner that you are surprised he can even have a castle like this in the first place! You don't remember what the servant has done to be so cruelly dismantled, but you don't doubt that it was for a stupid reason!

You miss that servant actually- Probably the only person who you actually talked with, and the first one to actually taught you how to do your job… You two could have been friends if he didn't intervene.

You briefly remember those moments before getting to experience the most weird sensation of all- Having your bloody cut be licked and sucked on. It hurts and it stings in a way that not only makes you want to cry but to also gag at the thought of you feeding this monster.

You refuse to look at him even in this scenario, you refuse to see him feeding off your blood… Sometimes you wish you were just as poisonous as some species of frogs, poisonous enough to make his mouth burn so he can experience a fraction of the pain he causes to others.

You tried fleeting away, you tried getting up and moving away but his grip on your arm only helped you in getting closer to him- You have your eyes closed as your only option is to cry and muffle your agony.

But as always, he is not satisfied with you just ignoring him. This was supposed to be a lesson, yet you're clearly avoiding your teacher as best as you can- But not today, little flower, you're not getting out of this so easily.

This is the first time he ever got to really taste your blood, as normally you would be behind the other servants while trying to learn how to please him, the only moments where he gets to see you is when it's dinner time, but oh- You're just so cruel!

Escaping inside your own little head while he has to content himself with just your image. Your presence is very much appreciated around this hour, little one-

He has noticed this before, of course, but it was only when he noticed his son's curiosity over the way you behave around them that made him organize this little trap. He didn't have everything planned actually, his plan only involved getting to this moment no matter what- And oh boy, has luck been on his side!

Your blood tastes better than expected of a commoner, your delicate and fearful whines of pain are just as delightful but what really gets him is this tough persona you try to convince everyone you have- You despise him, and it's clear to see why- But he knows his charms will probably work on you one way or the other.

He gripped your face trying to make sure you'll get to him in the eyes as he has a taste of you. Absolutely delicious, especially after you so gracefully "ruined" their dinner.

His sons were just watching as they continued to drink from their crimson glasses. They were just enjoying the show, as everything seems to easily amuse them- Their father was just showcasing how they were so much better than the common folk, and they have no other option but to take notes and to remember what they have to do if they ever feel ignored by the servants in the castle: Show who are the true masters of this place.

None of them were really interested in drinking from you, considering how all three seemed to recognize how their father has taken a liking towards you. No one would dare mess with their father's prey.

If you had enough strength in you, you would start vomiting as soon as this has started, but the more he takes from you the more you feel like you can barely stay conscious.

He wasn't supposed to take so much, at least not so soon- He wanted to just take a sip but he can't deny the fact he would rather drown himself in your blood than to let go.

He sighs, as he notices that you're slowly getting less and less aggressive, getting more and more tired as he drains you from this cut.

You're not unconscious yet, just barely stable enough to understand what's going on.

"- Sigh… Now that was a decent enough meal." He can't praise you for being tasty, can't have you being cocky around him.

"- Here, since I'm done here I'll take you to the servant's living quarters- And because I'm so kind I'll make sure that wound is safely secured and cleaned, so here- Come along now."

And as he stood up he offered you his hand so you could get up yourself, but you don't have enough energy to walk yourself to your room, thankfully you're already ready to go to bed and wish to never wake up again.

And as the nightmare never ends, he decides that if you are going to be difficult then you leave him no choice but to carry you there. How much has he taken from you?? Jesus, he should learn some self-control before doing this again- The absolute brute that he is.

Your vision may be a little screwed over because of the lack of red cells running through your body at the moment- But you have a weird feeling that you two aren't heading towards the servant's living quarters, as you feel like you two are quite literally going in the opposite direction.

Oh but it's fine- Right?

It'll be fine. Surely. After all, he already took what he wanted from you, and he doesn't seem to need more so- You probably won't have to worry about anything right now, dinner time is already over, you can finally relax now….

🍭꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖🍭

So I'm sick again- Sorry y'all, I just have a horrible immune system and I really don't understand what is wrong with me-

I'm sorry if you didn't like this boo :(

[angelkitty54]

So, I was rewatching some God of War 4 playthroughs and was suddenly hit with another rottmnt AU idea (coz I've got turtle brain right now I guess). Also inspired by all the different Separated AU art 'n' stuff floating around. So yeah, this be a separated au.

Right so! Splinter manages to escape Draxum's lab with all 4 turtles, but a couple of years later, when the boys are still toddlers, he is found and attacked (probably by the Foot? Maybe also by Big Mamas people? IDK yet) and during all the chaos the boys are lost/stolen. The only one he was able to save is Leo.

Raph somehow ends up underground, stumbling into the Hidden City where he wanders the streets homeless for a time before being found by Big Mama. Savage Raph be fighting in the Battle Nexus.

Mikey is taken by the Foot and raised to be an assassin (maybe trained under Tiger Claw?) joining their quest to resurrect the Shredder.

Donnie is swept away down a storm drain and believed to have drowned. But somehow or another (haven't fully figured it out yet) ends up as part of the Purple Dragons gang. Except they're a proper gang here and not just a small group of delinquent teens.

Thing is, during those first few years together, Splinter encountered and eventually befriended a young woman by the name of Tang Shen. Having recently lost her own baby girl, she found comfort in helping Splinter with his own children. Tho she did not know what they really were for a long time, as he kept his distance and she turned a blind eye to anything strange (New York, what a town, amiright?). Eventually she did find out tho, but by then they had gotten to be close friends despite everything.

After the attack, a badly injured Splinter went to Tang Shen for help. Realising they were still being hunted, Splinter decided to leave in order to protect his one remaining son, but Tang Shen insisted on staying with them. The three ultimately end up leaving the city altogether and moving out to a property on in the country. Which is how Leo comes to grow up in a relatively isolated cabin in the woods.

At first Splinter made many trips back to search for his lost sons, but as time passed without any sign of them, he eventually gave up hope. Focusing instead on keeping his one remaining son safe. Tang Shen however always maintained the hope that they would all be reunited one day.

Despite everything they had lost, the three did live happily together for many years. Until Leo was about 10-11 years old and Tang Shen fell sick and never recovered. Losing her was a heavy blow for father and son. Things taking a turn for the worst when their enemies finally track them down shortly thereafter. This be the part where I picture Splinter fighting off the foot soldiers all Dad of War style like: "LEAVE. MY. HOME!!!"

With their home no longer safe they are forced to gather up what they can and leave. This is when Leo discovers one last gift for him among Tang Shen's belongings. Matching scarves for him and brothers, each with their names embroidered on them, and a journal. Turns out Tang Shen had been investigating the other's whereabouts of her own, and tho she had no definitive proof, she had found some leads. The journal had all her findings as well as a message for Leo that inspires him to try and find his long lost brothers and reunite his broken family.

Convincing Splinter that the city would be the best place to hide the pair finally return to New York, making their new home hidden away in the sewers. Knowing his overprotective father would freak if he knew what he was doing, Leo begins his own investigations in secret, picking up where Tang Shen left off. During his search he encounters and befriends April who joins him on his quest. And 2 years or so later, the pair accidentally stumble across what they'll soon come to find is their biggest lead yet: a strange blue and yellow dog thingy...

[otometrashqueen]

The Last of Us Part 1 and 2 Musings *Spoilers abound*

I finished up watching playthroughs of The Last of Us Part 1 & 2 this week and holy hell! SO good. So many feels.

I totally sympathize with Joel for not wanting to lose Ellie, but I also understand that Ellie felt robbed of her purpose for not dying in order to create a cure.

But honestly, what were the odds that her death would actually result in a vaccine?? She would die and they would have a starting place for immunity maybe? or understand how Ellie developed her immunity perhaps, but I feel like it would have taken more than just Ellie's sacrifice to develop a cure. I could definitely be wrong, but those are my thoughts. SO I'm probably more in the Joel camp as far as the ending of Part 1 goes.

Part 2 was, wow, A LOT. There is so much unpack there.

I was glad that Ellie eventually found out the truth and Joel was finally honest with her.

Joel teaching Ellie to play guitar was everything.

Also, Ellie having her own place and space was really good to me. I assumed that she would stay with Joel, but I liked that she had her own independence, but Joel was always close by if needed.

I liked that Joel was finally living near Tommy, I have a special relationship with my brothers, and we live pretty separated from each other so I liked that Joel got to have his brother nearby finally.

It seemed that Joel was more at peace in Jackson, for all the terrible things he did, he's our special boi and it was nice to seem him looking a little more relaxed and play the dad role to Ellie, whether she wanted him to or not.

LOOK AT HIM, HE DESERVES EVERYTHING <33

AND THEN THEY KILLED MY BOI :((((

I honestly was so shocked, that even when the next scene happened and Tommy comes to see Ellie. I was like, "Oh ok this where he says Joel is in a coma or something." BUT NOPE. T.T

It was a great and terrible thing that they did. A really bold piece of story telling and much respect for that, but I was screaming at the screen much like Ellie here.

This beautiful, flawed man, I was so upset, like for a whole day I was mad about it. I moved onto acceptance and I was very satisfied that Ellie hunted them down one by one.

Tommy going by himself before Ellie and Dina was dumb, especially after he had tried to talk Ellie out of it. The girls were going regardless of what anyone said. Tommy should have owned up to that and they could have helped taken care of each other especially having a singulair purpose to avenge Joel's murder.

What's incredible about this game is that it made me not care about the group that came after Joel, they killed my post apocalypse father, a daddy if you will. You don't mess with my daddies >:)

I found satisfaction in each of their deaths, even when we were forced to switch perspective to Abby, which I hated BTW, I HATED IT, but that's why it was so good right?! But even then, and I'll probably get in trouble for this, but I really didn't care when Owen and Mel died, I know, I'm a terrible person, but like fuck them for real. Fuck that stupid love triangle with Abby and Mel and Owen. I didn't care. I was too invested in Ellie, even though her story mirrored Abby's a bit.

I had mixed feelings about the ending as many did. I think Ellie should have either stayed with Dina or finish her revenge journey. The fact that she settled down just to pick up Abby's trail again later seemed a little wishy washy to me well then when she found Abby, she couldn't finish the job and lost her guitar playing fingers in the process.

So she had effectively lost Dina for nothing and did not avenge Joel and lost her only means of connecting with him, the guitar.

Now I can see her returning to Jackson to look for Dina, if she's even there, effectively leaving behind Joel's guitar and her revenge. And Dina could take her back, but like they what's the point of her going back after Abby???

Just to let her go, which at that point I was ok with because she had Lev and I was more invested in the Lev than Abby and I wanted Lev to survive for real.

What I was hoping was maybe Abby and Lev convincing Ellie to go with them to the Fireflies and maybe devise a way to find a cure that DOESN'T murder Ellie, if that's even possible. She fulfills her purpose, doesn't die which also preserves what Joel did to keep her alive and Ellie breaks the cycle of revenge. It would have made her losing Dina still shitty, but make more sense.

Ah well, what the hell do I know? It was a great and terrible journey and I'm happy I made it through. It makes me even more excited for what the show is going to come up for us. :)))))

Me too Joel, me too <333

[fireemblems24]

Verdant Wind - Final

Finally! Here's my last chapter of Verdant Wind. This route has really grown on me. So now 2/4 of the 4 route playthrough are over. CF and AM coming next.

Alright, so here I go picking my lover. As promised, time to pick Claude. I really want to see the lord trios' S-Supports.

PRE BATTLE

Alright, guys, just deployed for the final mission of VW.

Wait, why didn't we meet Nemesis halfway? Isn't he rampaging and stuff? Poor civilians.

Claude - What's our plan. Byleth - We defeat Nemesis. (Masterpiece of a strategy there)

LAMO Hilda calling it like she sees it and saying Lorenz's dad is a big coward.

You know, Silver Snow didn't really get a moment where everyone sat around and said why they were going to fight. It's a shame, because to date Lukas has the most badass reason ever: A battle between god and mortal? Sounds exhilarating to me. (He's like, oh, fighting god, good exercise).

Raphael talks about . . . food. He's really kinda one-note.

Still pissed we can't play as Judith.

This really feels like a chapter in a shonen battle manga before some big fight lamo.

BATTLE

Nemesis looks fucking annoying to fight. Rhea was basically a demonic beast on steroids, but nothing new, this guy looks irritating.

It also seems like there's wayyyyy more enemies this battle.

Oh, that's cool! I just noticed some of the enemies have the relics and are the OG users.

Is it bad that I REALLY don't want to kill the Blaiddyd, Gautier, or Fraldarius or Daphnel because that's Ingrid's weapon. Guys, I think I may be a bit to attached to the Faerghus friendship group.

Is it also bad that I wish they had Blaiddyd and Fraldarius standing next to each other. It would've been a good bit of lore at least :(

Or I'm just a problematic shipper, though they didn't put Gautier next to Fraldarius either. Very Felix of him though.

It's not Felix. It's not Ingrid. It's not Sylvain. It's not Dimitri.

I feel this one's going to be so much harder than SS with all those subbosses.

Aaaaand the water is poisonous. Because of course it is.

Claude's like that massive body of water that takes up most of the map, avoid it during the fight. Thanks, Claude, thanks.

This song is pretty epic though. The SS one was really good too though.

This level feels artificially dragged out with the poison water and million sub bosses. None of them were all that hard to deal with. I imagine this is much harder in maddening though.

Nemesis is legitimately annoying to deal with though.

This or CF had my least impressive units though.

I feel kinda bad for Claude that his final boss is some mindless zombie dude he has no connection too. SS got berserk Rhea, AM will probably get monster Edelgard, CF will likely get some super version of the TWSITD leader, and Claude gets . . . Mr. Zombie. Poor dude.

It's funny that I only had to kill him once. After Rhea, that wasn't so bad to be honest. Definitely easier than the SS final chapter.

Only 22 turns, not too bad.

POST BATTLE

Cut scene time!

Claude was MVP. He deserved it. He pulled his weight big time this chapter. He never dominated like Edelgard did early game or Dimitri has for a while now, but he really started performing in those final chapters.

LAMO Claude spouting lines like a shonen lead. This really feels liks the shonen route to me. Which isn't a bad thing. I love shonen. I think VW has turned out to be my 2nd favorite. Never would've guessed that half-way through the game.

Oh, dear God, the final lines are literally power of friendship. 100% shonen vibes.

That was a badass fight though.

Byleth smiling though. And the handshake. They feel more like friends than lovers, tbh. Especially compared to Dimitri and Edelgard. Claude really doesn't give major romance vibes in general.

DO U SEE MARIANNE AND JUDITH IN THE ENDING MURAL???? My girl Marianne! Yes.

Where's Byleth though?

Claude really focused on peace between nations. I really hope in Three Hopes, if the lords get supports, he and Dimitri find common ground over that and Dimitri's beliefs about Duscur.

S-SUPPORT

Time to marry Claude. I wonder if they'll make him as sappy as Rhea was lol.

I dislike how all these endings are a "united Fodlan" like it's a good thing. With what's going on in the world right now, it feels icky to celebrate the forced merging of countries. Even if in SS and VW it only happened because they all got destroyed, this positioning of their destruction as positive is what I don't like.

Mannnn it's going to feel SOOO awkward when I get to CF in the next day or so. I know real life and fiction are different, but ugh not good timing to get to "Imperialism wins and it's a good thing" the route.

Wait, what??? Claude won't be at my coronation??? What kind of BS is that???

Wait???? I thought I was marrying Claude??? Why is he leaving me for Almarya??? That's . . . not romantic.

OMG. Claude is choosing his dream of bettering the world over marrying me?

OMG this is hilarious. If I was really into the romance part of this game, I'd be so disappointed, but my respect for him has gone up by ignoring the self-insert and going off to do better things.

I also like how Claude is acknowledging that people need support and something to cling too sometimes. Exactly what Dimitri was saying. The opposite of what Edelgard believes.

Now I need a part 2 about Claude's fight for Almyara, but it's post AM so Byleth and Dimitri can come and help him out when he needs it in some epic cut scene.

It would also maybe finally give Claude the character development he deserved.

Aww, he had a ring too. But also the gall of that guy. He's like, I'm leaving you to rule another country, but uh marry me too I guess. It feels kinda tacked on.

He and Rhea both came clean about wanting to use Byleth for something. Dimitri doesn't have to. Wonder if Edelgard will?

OMG he's really like, I'm leaving, let's marry for when I eventually come back.

His picture's not bad. It's cute, Byleth grabbing his jacket.

But this was soooo much less romantic than Rhea's support.

That has to rank up there with Mr. Darcy among the worst proposals ever.

And wow, I don't think Byleth ever showed him her ring. What a bummer.

DATA

The MVPs this time are so much more spread out than they were for SS. Basically every character I used got it at least a few times except for Cyril.

Byleth and Hilda a bit more than the others, with Claude not showing up much at all until the end.

Paired endings time -

Anna got the same solo one. But she can't support anyone if I remember right. Catherine, Alois, Manuela, Haneman, and Flayn got the same as SS.

Ah! Annette solo becomes a teacher. Good for her! I like that ending.

Dorothea got married and had a good career. Deserved.

YESSSS, Marianne married Raphael. If she can't marry Dimitri, then I like him. And so cute, they run an inn together

Oh, Sylvain and Felix, haha. Guess they wanna do gay crimes together.

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ENDING?? IS FELIX DEAD???

Dude, that's fucking brutal. They only meant once since after the war and it's only so Sylvain can hire mercenary Felix and then Felix's sword comes back, but not Felix??

Shit, that's tragic. I wonder if their paired ending being all hurt and no comfort is part of why they're so popular as a pairing?

OMG why are my Faerghus childhood babies are suffering. Dimitri dead in a pointless way. Dedue surviving alone and miserable. Felix dead later on. No mention of Sylvain being happy or married or anything. I REALLY hope Ingrid at least got a happy ending.

Why did Petra pair with Cyril?? Ok, I can accept this actually. Petra is doing her boss queen thing, and then older Cyril shows up to improve diplomatic relations and it's then where their romance starts. That's actually kind of cute. And I like the idea that all we saw was the groundwork. So much better than that last one, my GOD.

Ok, so Ingrid and Ignatz. Never in a million years would I have picked that pairing, but let's see.

Oof, so the people hated her at first, but between Ignatz and her being good at her job, they turned around and eventually the two married. At least she did better than the others.

Hilda and Seteth! OMG, talk about opposites lol.

That's actually pretty sweet and very random. They published childrens' books together. No mention of marriage, which is actually kinda nice. a M/F ending with no marriage between two completly incompatible people.

Leonie got Shamir! Haha, I liked the mini story and shoutout to the spider. So they formed a mercenary company together. That's 100% better than Leonie's solo ending.

Oh, shit, does this mean Lysithea gets Lorenz again? Like, no offense to Lorenz, but that's a shit ending. Even worse than Felix/Sylvain because at least that's got an air of tragedy that suits them and is a good story for angst and heartbreak, not Lysithea did all the work and got none of the credit.

Ugh, yes, Lysithea and Lorenz. Why? Poor Lysithea. I think I have her in CF, so she still has a chance for a decent ending.

Wow, like no one paired with a unit I was actually using. They all paired up with someone with 0 battles except for Lysithea and Lorenz and Byleth and Claude.

Byletha and Claude time, the asshole. What the fuck is that ending?? So the final battle wasn't the real final battle? We fought the Empire + TWSITD for the nth time? Why didn't we get to fight that? Feels kind of empty compared to Rhea and Byleth. Didn't say much about romance or about political changes, just there was another battle, Claude saved the day, Fodland and Almyra made friends.

Well, overall I liked VW by the end, but I gotta say, the Claude and Byleth ending stuff sucks compared to the stuff with Rhea. But I'm sure Claude has much better possible endings with someone else.

2 down, 2 to go.

CF is next. I need a Dimitri happy and alive for my final one, plus, it's not like the Russia and Ukraine stuff is going to go away anytime soon to make CF feels less eh . . . awkward.

[preemshots]

johnny + the nomads lore

alright, i know this is a screenshots blog but i'm going to go ahead and start dropping some juicy lore tidbits as i dig them up. part of what i'm doing outside of just photo diarying is shard hunting, and BOY is there a lot the game likes to hide in those little shards for idiots like me who like to read so we can write unnecessarily accurate fanfiction! 

full disclosure, i know jack shit about the TTRPG/cyberpunk 2020 rulebook except what i read in the wikis. 

so here’s my lore roundup so far of everything i know about johnny joining the nomads

we know johnny likes to narrate v’s quest objectives. here’s the first mention where he says it himself: 

during the voodoo boys quest "transmission" there's a shard in the maglev tunnels beside the ice bath, presumably from brigitte's research into johnny in the first place:

okay, so the timeline is this: johnny joins the nomads after trying and failing to rescue alt. johnny hides out in the badlands for some years. then he and rogue come back to night city and nuke arasaka tower help alt escape the arasaka subnet by uploading liberator to their network once and for all.

this ultimately makes sense. in alt’s flashback, we meet santiago, who is a nomad/connected to nomads, joins rogue and johnny when they're trying to get alt back, and eventually becomes the leader of the aldecaldos. 

part of santiago’s TTRPG lore is that he, johnny, and rogue have to lay low in the badlands with nomads after they storm arasaka headquarters (i am aware the game takes many liberties with the original lore so who knows the full accuracy of anything from the original rulebooks)

ENDING spoilers: in the rogue+johnny storming AHQ ending, it's revealed that rogue has a son while they're prepping for the job. if you eavesdrop on her calling him while you're at the afterlife, you hear her tell her son to (paraphrasing here) "pull over and look at the stars", which immediately made my brain go to: nomad, badlands, santiago = dad? maybe. (santiago also canonically has a son according to the TTRPG lore)

this immediately reminded me of another interesting shard that i believe you can find in multiple locations around night city: “"what REALLY happened in arasaka tower?“

i love this dang shard. at first i thought it was just a cute conspiracy with some juicy gossip (and i love how 99% of the shards that mention johnny in this game are reminding us that he's not a real rebel, he's a poser) but it brings some interesting shit together

one: it tells us where johnny got his hands on the nukes! he and the nomads jumped a militech convoy and jacked some bombs! 

which is never directly explained, even as saburo arasaka is interrogating him shortly before using soulkiller. very nice of johnny to protect his homies like that. 

...or maybe he didn’t. saburo emphasizes that the dead don’t lie like the living do, and we don’t know what exactly arasaka did to johnny’s construct in mikoshi. 

it also explains why the obvious media narrative is that militech nuked arasaka, a nice neat political bow to the end of the fourth corpo wars, which is an entire section of the TTRPG lore that makes my eyes cross when i read it. 

it also makes the star/nomads ending extremely interesting, because i originally believed it was the ending where V’s journey deviates the most from rewalking johnny’s path... which also has weird implications if the johnny’s nomad era is being kept from v. 

(this also leads into my belief that the star ending/the devil ending are narratively two sides of the same coin, but that’s a WHOLE ANOTHER POST for another day.)

TWO, just straight up the fact that they turned the raid where they actually obtained the nukes into an action flick BD that pretty much ANYONE could watch. who the hell was doing that?? 

well, who else other than the guy who johnny (optionally) punched the shit out of for filming alt's death: thompson, media guy, and according to rogue, “bad luck”. because you know, recording your crimes is straight up evidence that can be used against you.

during the alt flashback we meet thompson, and just after that in cyberspace before meeting alt, johnny tells v that he has no idea what happened to him and that they never worked together again. 

oh, johnny, you lying bastard man

this is blatantly untrue, and if V even had two braincells and better memory than a goldfish they'd know this--in the first flashback sequence where johnny and rogue nuke arasaka tower, thompson is on the comms as they ride the AV towards AHQ, questioning their plans and use of violence. 

which leaves me with some questions, like where the fuck is thompson, why does johnny keep lying about this, why doesn't johnny say almost anything about how you interact with the aldecaldo clan nonstop throughout the game when he himself may have been a member of the family for some time?? is he continuing to protect the nomad clan that saved his ass? we know that a lot of his flashbacks are unreliable at best, that johnny changes shit up as desired when presenting V with his memories.

in 2077, you can also find that there’s a remake of “badlands raid” in the shard “new release braindances” that is pretty much everywhere. that shard doesn’t add much, but does mention something along the lines of “many people don’t know the ending of the original” which probably means johnny punched thompson out for filming again, or something. 

my running theories: rogue ditched santiago and the aldecaldos with johnny and thompson to nuke arasaka tower, and when johnny died she was stuck looking for (heavily implied by johnny here:) corpo sellout ways to survive.

adam smasher obviously has something to do with this since johnny/rogue's vendetta against the guy isn't entirely clear beyond the smokescreen of "he killed johnny and he sucks". i have done 0 research into this though i'm tired of typing okay

i obviously cannot be certain i have found everything related to this in the game as i’m not even done with this playthrough where i’m trying to pay attention, but i hope this is fun for someone else to dig into. 

enjoy, fellow silverhand freaks

EDIT: additional findings

ALRIGHT I HAVE DONE MORE DIGGING AND I AM BACK WITH MORE NOMAD/JOHNNY FINDINGS. these ones are kind of a bummer but VERY interesting.

there’s a shard called “excerpts from a history of the nomads by bb pires” that goes into detail about how nomads came to be

there’s an interesting quote in it: It's hard to imagine a group less inclined to wandering than farmers, but in fact they were the ones who sparked the age of nomads. Natural catastrophes, crops ravaged by bioplagues, armed conflicts and martial law allowing corporations to speculate and privatize land - all this forced them into a life on the road.

when you ask johnny why he wants to take down arasaka, he begins by referencing this himself!!

it’s a little awkward to imagine a nomad V doesn’t also know what he’s referencing, but hey, V is the fool because we are as players and that’s only one life path... so sure.

johnny also has unique dialogue during this scene about a nomad origin V, telling them that he’s been trying to understand how V thinks, and came to the conclusion that “their family was a crutch” and essentially made them stupid because they always had a safety net (lmao johnny calling v privileged basically)

BUT this also may reference why johnny would find it confusing as hell that V doesn’t immediately share the views he does when nomads, in terms of values, seem to be more aligned with johnny than V is. but once again V is the fool for a reason and this is all my own speculation so YOU KNOW.

MORE IMPORTANTLY, at the end of chippin’ in, when you ask johnny what he meant by letting down his friends... santiago is named directly

i thought this was interesting since the only glimpse of their relationship that we get is seeing johnny meeting santiago via the alt flashback for the first time.

so now it’s obvious that while johnny and rogue were with the nomads their friendship developed, and johnny went on to disappoint santiago in some way by being his normal dickhead self

but HOW? how did he disappoint santiago? is santiago even still alive?? did smasher kill santiago and is this why rogue mentions during chippin’ in that she wants smasher to “settle a score” moreso than avenge johnny??

the only additional hints i have are from this shard, which you can find at the aldecaldos camp: “nomads at ground zero”

i’m just gonna transcribe here and bold for emphasis:

It was no secret that Night Corp offered generous pay and, in some cases, free cyberware and biomonitor upgrades to anyone willing to help clean up the crater of radioactive rubble at AHQ ground zero. Some firsthand accounts recall the incessant ticking of Geiger counters, like the loud buzz of cicadas in summer. In retrospect, we can only guess how many "crater cleaners" lost their lives to radiation sickness shortly thereafter. Both the city government and Night Corp have claimed casualties were kept to a minimum, while providing no official statistics to substantiate the claim. That being said, they have never been under pressure to release such figures. After all, most rescue, engineering, and rubble cleanup teams were not local Night Citizens, but nomads. Surprised you didn't know? Don't be. It is a fact many history courses tend to overlook. The city employed hundreds of nomad mercenaries, primarily from clans in Aldecaldo nation. These nomads were hungry for gainful work and the city needed experts who were not only experienced but brave enough to knowingly put their lives on the line - all so Arasaka could one day erect another tower in its place. But history is not without its sense of irony. These nomads, who so deliberately live outside our so-called "system," came to its very rescue. Not for the first time. And not for the last.

a main theme we find in this game is the idea that the system of corps and exploitation cannot be stopped by grandiose rebellious gestures--no amount of samurai songs, assassinating mayors, or even planting nukes in towers will change things. yet johnny, his friends and mercs at atlantis in the 2020s, including rogue, chose to rebel any way they could, thinking it better than not. johnny criticizes her lack of rebellious spirit CONSTANTLY in 2077.

but ultimately, johnny, trapped in mikoshi, didn’t get to see the outcome of what detonating the AHQ nukes did to night city’s fragile ecosystem. rogue, however, did--and likely watched their former allies, the aldecaldos, be forced to take dangerous work at AHQ’s ground zero (from lack of other opportunities as detailed in this shard), then die from radiation sickness throughout the following decades, all as a result of what she and johnny did to try and fight the system. and she also watched all the former mercenaries of atlantis be hunted down by arasaka.

so rogue sees firsthand what the cost of rebellion is and johnny doesn’t. and nomads, considered the most free of any of the factions we encounter in the game, are the cost.

[cluescorner]

Your Honor, I am requesting a restraining order against Dracula who I am co-parenting a child with, The Motherfucking Sun, and a fork who is also my dad

A LOT happened since I last updated y’all, so let me go step by step. (Minor CW for attempted self-die and stuff in that vein, but it’s all stuff that happens in canon).

I finished the 2nd trial in the Colosseum of Fools + finally killed Nosk. I have the Pure Nail. The Nailsmith asked for me to kill him and I chose to not do that. So he’s alive, but IDK what he’s doing. I hope he didn’t kill himself while I was away, I should probably check on him. But my Pure Nail + Unbreakable Strength are making things SO GOOD. 

I need a restraining order against Grimm. This man gives me his child, tells me to go feed it fire, and then beats the shit out of me after I do it. Apparently it’s part of his ritual, but I don’t wanna be part of that. It took me like 3 tries to beat him even with Unbreakable Strength and our child is probably traumatized. At least he paid me for my efforts via a charm notch, which is lovely. I still need to get our child out of this situation, maybe I’ll ask one of the Nailmasters to adopt them. 

Hey so the Hollow Knight fight is really sad. I’m distraught every time I attempt it. Like, their time isolated away with the Radiance (I’ll get to her) must have done some real damage to their already less-than-good mental state. Not to mention that they seem to have lost an arm and the infection has decided to shoot itself out of various orifices in its body. And then the music shifts and my sibling starts stabbing themself. Like, IDK why they’re doing it. BUT I’M SURE THE REASON IS GONNA MAKE ME VERY UPSET. Maybe they’re trying to kill the infection inside of it whenever they gain back enough control to fight back? Maybe they’re just so distraught that they’re using their brief moments of respite from the infection to attempt self-die? Maybe the infection is actually in control and they’re using my sibling’s body to taunt me in a “Oh, you want to save them? Too bad!” type of way? Or maybe it’s something entirely different? IDK, but I’m upset. At least Hornet comes in and I get to dream nail the Hollow Knight. Hornet literally tells me to “Get good” and it’s great. We have a brief family reunion where everything seems relatively calm, before I hit the “OH YOU REALLY WANNA GO?!” button. 

I need a restraining order against the MOTHERFUCKING SUN APPARENTLY?? I’m apparently fighting the sun that is the source of the infection(?) and trapped in my sibling’s mind. She’s the statue from Hallownest’s crown and seems to be a bird or moth or something. Whatever she is, she does 2 masks of damage and seems to have a lot of health. SHES ALSO A PLATFORMING BOSS SO IM KINDA STRUGGLING ON THAT END. But I’m gonna beat the sun. I have to in order to free my sibling and save Hallownest. So I’m gonna start trying to figure out her patterns. This is probably gonna be like the White Palace, where 10+ hours of my playthrough are solely dedicated to one segment, but I’m ok with that. If that’s what it takes for Hallownest, I’ll do it. 

The Pale King hasn’t done anything new. I just like to remind everyone that I hate him and that I have no regrets for committing patricide. 

[danses-with-dogmeat]

Introducing My Fallout OCs!

OMGGGG y’all, I can’t. I’ve apparently reached over 200 of you fantabulous followers and I am so ecstatic! I honestly don’t even know if this is considered a milestone or anything, but I was super psyched, so I'm doing something about it, dang it!

Also, just a heads up on me right now, I just started school again, so my posting miiiiiiight be a bit sporadic every now and then, but I’m determined to still try and get a few posts out every week, so we’ll see how that goes. I’m also pretty backed up on requests at the moment, I’m still accepting them for the time being, but I may turn off my asks if I’m finding difficulty getting to everyone.  

Anyways, I know I don’t ever really talk about my Fallout Original Characters, but I’m thinking of doing some stuff with them in the future, so this seemed like a good place to start  🤷‍♀️ So, here they are! One from each of the 3 FO games I write for. If ya’ll want to send in any asks about these folks, please feel free to do so! 

(Art for these peeps is pending potentially as well).

My Lone Wanderer: Hope

Appearance: 

- Basically like a black-haired, blue eyed Sarah Connor (y’know, from Terminator), she’s got a small frame, but is an absolute beast. She loves to change up her hair, but prefers the iron maiden, unladylike, or rude ridge styles and will often dye it bright-ass colors, cuz why not? She’s pretty pale considering the vault background and the fact she is constantly wearing full body combat or leather armor when she’s outdoors, and she has a few piercings she actually got before leaving the vault. 

What’s in a Name: 

- “Hope” was the name that her parents chose for her before she was even born, but she can’t stand it, she just tends to see it as a cruel joke in the world they live in. She instead goes by Effie (short for Ephialtes, cuz she’s edgy and dramatic and read too much in school). Hope tends not to tell anyone her real name, and if she does, you’d best not use it to refer to her, unless you like being enslaved. The only one who could ever get away with it is Jericho and a select few people from the vault (Stanley, and her father, but she’s still not happy about it.)

Sexuality: 

- Pansexual

Main Companion: 

- Jericho

Relationship(s): 

- She has a sort of “friends with benefits” type situation going with Jericho, but it ends up getting... complicated, and turning somewhat into a relationship.

Bestie(s):

- Even though he’s her boss, Hope likes to hang out with Eulogy when she’s in Paradise Falls. When she was in the vault, she spent a lot of time with Stanley, and was pretty close with Butch, Wally, and Paul as well. 

Fam Dam: 

- James and Catherine are/were her parents (obviously). But she also considered Stanley to be a sort of uncle to her. 

Karma: 

- Oh, the worst. She’s honestly awful. She steals, she murders, she enslaves, she blows up settlements, all of it. She’s got a lot of things she needs to work out...

Faction of Choice: 

- The Slavers of Paradise Falls. (Yeah... she sucks.) The Brotherhood and the Outcasts just never really struck her fancy, and her and Jericho found it was easy to make bank with the slavers. Hope also is a friend to Allistair Tenpenny and Mister Burke... and not the folks in Megaton. Cuz they’re all not really alive.

Vault Occupation: 

- Engineer

Fun Fact!:  

- Hope is really bad with empathy, and absolutely needs to experience something for herself before she can make any sort of judgement on it, or other people who have had that same experience.

My Courier Six: Sage

Appearence: 

- Sage doesn’t really consider herself very “flashy” in comparison to most folks in NV. She’s got shoulder length brown hair (blast back or clean cut style) and brownish-hazel eyes. She’s pretty damn tan (Mojave, you know) and doesn’t have many scars, but the ones on the right side of her forehead clearly indicate where she was shot in the head (thanks, Benny). She and Boone tend to twin quite a bit, with matching red berets and sunglasses.

What’s in a Name: 

- The poor girl has no clue what her real name was before she was shot, but she saw a box of labelled herbs in Doc Mitchell’s house when she was recovering from her headwounds and decided she liked the name “Sage.”

Sexuality: 

- Bisexual

Main Companion: 

- Craig Boone

Relationship: 

- Also Boone :) it’s a pretty darn slow-burn romance with lots of bumps along the way, but their love always seems to prevail. (Gross and sappy, I know)

Bestie(s): 

- Arcade, plus Rex, and ED-E. Also Victor and Doc Mitchell.

Fam Dam: 

- No clue, unfortunately. She eventually tries to find out something about her past and her family, if she has any, but she’s got a few things to deal with first (hint, one rhymes with pleaser’s fleegion).

Karma: 

- She may make mistakes along the way, but Sage really does try her best to be as good as possible. 

Faction of Choice: 

- Mr. House and the Followers of the Apocalypse. Would like to get rid of House, but can't bring herself to become responsible for everything once he's gone. She considers herself his personal empathy and tries to assist with the goings on of the Mojave even after the battle of hoover dam. Fucking wiped out everyone in the Legion. Her and Boone are a force to be reckoned with. And she never really cared much for the Brotherhood since she had such little interaction with them. She has a good relationship with Freeside and most of the settlements/other towns as well.

Previous Occupation: 

- Courier? She has no idea what else. But she’s oddly really good with medicine 🤔

Fun Fact!: 

- She supports Mr. House for a number of reasons, but one of the biggest is that she doesn't want to lose Victor. He saved her, and she considers the securitron to be her oldest friend (besides Doc Mitchell). She knows it's a little selfish, but she can't bring herself to put an end to him after he pulled her from her own grave and helped bring her back from the brink of death.

My Sole Survivor: Jolene Arvanidis-Ryan

Appearence: 

- She’s got auburn hair she usually keeps cut short (clean cut) or in a bun, green eyes, pale skin with a good amount of freckles and has exceptionally straight teeth (braces suck, but you know.) When traveling with Cait, people tend to think they’re related. Jolene tends to wear a black beret and, if she has the time and resources, she likes cat eye style eyeliner. 

What’s in a Name: 

- Her first name runs in the family... plus her dad really liked Dolly Parton, so that helped cement the first name for him. Nate’s last name was Arvanidis, and she tends to use that as her last name exclusively, she rarely reveals her maiden name (Ryan) to anyone. 

Sexuality: 

- Straight

Main Companion: 

- Paladin Danse

Relationship: 

- It takes a long time (post BB), but she ends up being with Danse. 

Bestie(s): 

- MacCready and Cait

Fam Dam:  

- Pre-war, her father was a carpenter and her mother was a major in the US military, she had no siblings and was very close with her father since her mom was often away on deployment. 

Karma: 

- Decent. Tries her best to do what’s “right,” but she sometimes has a hard time determining what that is. Is good at following orders, even if she doesn’t always agree with them (BB is the exception in this case).

Faction of Choice: 

- Brotherhood of Steel, at least until BB, then she tends to focus more on the Minutemen, but still stays by the BOS’s side when it comes to taking down the Institute. Despite her loyalty to the BOS, she always regrets what she did to the Railroad, and how she ended things with the Institute, and she holds quite a bit of resentment towards Elder Maxson for ordering her to pull the trigger that ended her son’s life, and the other lives within the Institute. 

Previous Occupation (Pre-War): 

- She was a Gunnery Sergeant in the US Military. (Trying to follow in her mother’s footsteps).

Fun Fact!: 

- She hates killing feral ghouls, but keeps it under wraps since she tends to travel with MacCready and Danse the most. After that random encounter where she found herself murdering her own neighbors, she can’t bring herself to look into the eyes of any feral ghouls she has to kill. 

Bonus! Fun Fact!:  

- She started out as my sort of "throw away" playthrough where I wanted to do a BOS run, just out of curiosity, but she ended up being my main playthrough… probably because Danse is just the best and I can't get enough of that tin can thesaur-ass.