#that cover is also very much on loop since release

[godofthestupid]

finally done! YEAH WOOH YEAH

[kquil]

PERFECT MATCH PART 2

PAIR. : poly!marauders x female slytherin reader

SUM. : despite being from Slytherin, as a fellow prankster, you give the marauders a helping hand

LENGTH : 1.2k

PART 1 | NAVI.

NOT PROOFREAD OR EDITED

Peter had blown their cover, and now the boys were running from Slughorn, who had caught them red-handed, switching the necessary ingredients for the next potion class. They should have known that Peter wasn’t the best choice for a lookout, considering he was the first to get caught and promptly given detention with Filch. As they were running away, however, their camaraderie lingered when Peter called out to them, hoping they wouldn’t be caught. 

The remaining three marauders make a valiant effort to run away as fast as possible. Remus stays a good few metres ahead of James and Sirius, his hidden athleticism sparking in only the most dire straits. Despite the potential threat of detention, the three grin widely through the chase; Sirius has the gall to laugh at the sheer amount of fun he’s experiencing. The freedom to break the rules and run freely from the consequences – only light penalisation in his eyes – was invigorating. None of them believe they would ever willingly stop their practical jokes, even Remus, no matter how much he denies it.

Racing through the halls with their youth pumping through their veins, Remus, James and Sirius make it so that Slughorn is considerably far behind them before slowing down. Between laboured breaths, they try to sort out their next move but quickly run out of time. Slughorn was quickly approaching according to their map and they resorted to hiding in a darkened hallway they don’t normally walk down. Consumed by the rush, they had managed to make it down to the dungeons just as you stepped out of the hallway they had barely hidden in.

They weren’t very good hiders but it was amusing so you kept your lips sealed despite your mischievous nature urging you to press them with questions. Your answer came swiftly in the form of Professor Slughorn, out of breath and keeling over with sweat drenching his brows. 

So that’s what’s happening~ 

Immediately understanding the situation, you step out of the hallway to face your gasping head of house and restrain a devious giggle at the sight of the marauders’ widened eyes. They’ve seen you, see them hiding. They’re also familiar with your artfully scheming ways likened to their marauder group’s mischief; the fact that you’re a Slytherin, however, doesn’t bode well. Fuck…were you gonna out them? 

You don’t need any prompting, already directing the professor before he’s managed to catch his breath, “Oh Professor~ by the way, if you’d really like to know…” Slughorn eyes you after finally catching his breath. Through the fog of his exhausted mind, he finds himself eagerly awaiting your direction, almost having forgotten why he was in his current state in the first place, “they went that way,” you point to the right, the opposite direction of the three tricksters. James, Remus and Sirius release a collective breath of relief but remain eager to see how the interaction may unfold further. 

“Who did?” Slughorn asks, trying to navigate the smog of fatigue clogging up his brain. 

“The marauders,”

“They did?” your potions professor brightens at the revelation. You guess he’s finally rediscovered his initial intentions. But woe is me~ can he trust you so easily? 

“They did what?” you tilt your head innocently, casually continuing the conversation as if you hadn’t just thrown him for a loop with that curveball of a question. 

“Went that way?” he points right, perplexed at your sudden change. It seems Professor Slughorn was still foggy in the head from his sapped stamina and the boys had to bite their lips from bursting out laughing – you’re a menace. 

“Who did?” you ask, pulling the most innocuous expression the boys have ever seen a Slytherin muster. Have you grown more beautiful since their last interaction? They can’t help but keep staring at your sweet face and pretty, pouty lips…

“The marauders!” Slughorn insists but you continue your oblivious stance. 

“What marauder?”

“But didn’t you just say?-- Oh never mind,” Slughorn gives up the chase and turns with a dull swish of his robes. For now, he’s satisfied that he, at least, managed to get Pettigrew. As soon as Slughorn was far enough away, you turn back to the crouching marauders and give them a wink, signalling that the coast was clear. 

“My fair lady!” Sirius dramatically bows down and kisses your knuckles, “How may I ever repay your kind gesture?”

“Hmmm…” you seem to seriously contemplate his playful words for a moment, though Sirius doesn’t mind, he’s more than eager to pay you back for saving his hide. “Let’s see…” You press your hand flat against his chest and slowly move down. The sultry overtones of your gesture make Sirius’ heart pound as he, Remus and James stare wide-eyed and gaping at your soft hands fondling their close friend’s chest. Suddenly your hand becomes a blur as you pull back his robe and steal a licorice wand from his inner breast pocket. “This’ll do~” you chirp innocently and begin to nibble on your newly acquired snack. “I can always count on you to be generous, Siri,” your wink sends a dangerous heat crawling up Sirius’ neck and exploding across his pale cheeks. This has never happened to him with a girl before! He’s supposed to make you flustered! 

Turning to Remus, you make a gesture with your hand as if to say ‘pay up’. However, when the tall brunette merely stares at you in wonder with a small, amused quirk on his lips, you raise a brow, “I know you’re loaded, Lupin. Gimme the goods,” and just like that, you also have Remus turning bright pink. How can you be so nonchalant and not realise the embarrassingly sexual innuendos underpinning your words?! Remus surrenders a peppermint toad. 

James was the last one of the three you turn to as you pocket Remus’ liberal offer. “You don’t have to ask me, for anything,” James chuckles and easily provides you with a handful of Fizzing Whizzbees. With a victorious smile, like a cute little squirrel who’s happy with her hoard, you pocket James’ addition and lean forward to brush a kiss along his sharp jaw. 

“I knew I could count on you, Potter,” 

James was floored. Sirius had to lean against the wall and Remus was limp against the large window sill. All three stare with a mix of surging admiration and boyish wonder as you walk away with a skip in your step. You’re so happy, you even begin to hum a soft little tune to yourself. 

“...wait… how come only James gets a kiss?” Remus asks, bringing Sirius back from his dazed state. James merely smirks in triumph – he’ll remember the softness of your pretty lips against his skin forever~

“Dearest!” Sirius calls, already jogging after you. “I think you’ve forgotten something!” 

“Yeah,” Remus adds with a cheeky grin, leisurely making his way over with James at his side, drawling in his Welsh accent, “gives us a cusan,” 

“What’s that?” you’ve stopped, curious as to what he may mean. From his tall height, Remus leans forward, bending at his hips and whispers in your ear. 

“That’s a kiss, sweetheart,” he steals one anyway at the base of your ear, where your neck and jaw meet. The high sensitivity of the area makes you squeal in surprise, only to be kissed by Sirius too, who aims innocently for your cheek. 

NAVI.

A/N : because of @urmomw4ntsme 's recent ask of wanting to see a Slytherin reader, it got me thinking about this request that i wrote last year for my 1k milestone. I couldn’t sleep until i finished writing this so it may not have the best grammar so please excuse me for that. this was also inspired by this interaction between Alice and the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland.

[mikavlcs]

Start a Fire

Pairing: Gwen Stacy x gn!reader

Summary: Gwen saves you and you help her out in return.

Warnings: nothing besides some probable medical inaccuracies and my writing lmao (no atsv spoilers btw)

Word count: 2k

Notes: idk why everything i write is kinda unserious. this also may not entirely make sense, sorry about that...

Masterlist

Firsts were a special thing.

Everyone, for better or worse, remembered things like their first kiss, and their first date, and their first heartbreak. Because of the novelty of these events, their importance is inescapable, even to the most unsentimental of people.

This same principle applied to superhero activities—or, at least, it did for Gwen.

She would never forget her first high-speed car chase, or her first armed bank robbery, or her first (incredibly embarrassing) criminal interrogation. So, of course, she was excited when her police radio picked up reports of a burning apartment building over on the west side.

Okay, maybe excited wasn’t the right word since people were in danger and Gwen would never be excited about that, but she was looking forward to checking off another box on the list of ‘classic crime tropes’ she kept in her journal. Burning buildings were a staple in superhero comics, and after nearly nine months on the job, it was about time for her to experience it firsthand.

She zipped in and, after a quick chat with the outside firefighters, began extracting civies from the upper floors while they covered the lower floors. Thankfully, the fire wasn’t terrible. They caught it pretty early and since the apartment building was three blocks away from a fire station, there were firefighters on the scene within ten minutes.

Since the fire started on the first floor, the worst of it was easily at the bottom floors, which the firefighters elected to cover since Gwen had more verticality and speed, but there was still smoke. A lot of it.

Now, Gwen knew a lot about fire safety thanks to her elementary school’s yearly presentations on the subject, but by the ten-minute mark, she was beginning to see that she had vastly underestimated the effects of smoke inhalation.

She didn’t have the respirators that they wore, her only protection against the smoke was the cloth of her mask. And at first, that was enough, but it was starting to get to her now. Luckily, she only had one more person to grab—someone on the top floor, frantically waving out one of the windows.

Hastily, Gwen crawled up toward the window you were leaning out of. The smoke was much thinner up here since the fire was only just spreading a few floors down, and she was very grateful for that. She crept to the side of the window, offering a grin you couldn’t see and a wave.

“Hey!” she greeted, securing an arm around your waist. “Hold on tight. This will be quick, just, uh, close your eyes if you’re afraid of heights.”

Once your arms were looped behind her neck, she webbed a nearby building and swung toward a nearby alley.

She deposited you down first, making sure you were steady on your feet before releasing the web and stumbling toward the nearest wall. A series of hacking coughs forced themselves from her throat, making her lean most of her weight against the wall.

“You okay, Spider-Woman?” The question came from her left and she looked over to see you resting against the same wall as her, staring with a mixture of confusion and concern. Gwen flashed a shaky thumbs-up in an attempt to both placate you and preserve her image.

“Perfectly fine. This is actually my first burning building rescue, so this—” She cut herself off with a particularly painful wheeze then finished with, “This is actually a pretty big moment for me.”

“Uh-huh, well maybe you should sit down for a minute,” you suggested, but her mind was already on her next destination, wherever that may be.

She shook her head at the idea, fighting the nausea that came with the motion. “No, no, I’m good. Feeling great. I’ll, uh, I’ll see you around.”

There was an attempt to raise her arm and shoot a web, but it failed rather miserably. She didn’t think the limb even moved, but the sudden, heavy wave of drowsiness that washed over her made that really hard to care about. A sigh slipped from her mouth, eyes drooping.

“Okay, yeah, maybe I’ll just take a little nap first.” The admission came out mumbled, but Gwen didn’t really notice. Nor did she feel herself pitch forward and slip off the wall entirely as her eyes were already slipping closed.

The world went dark before she could even hit the ground.

—

When Gwen woke again, the first of two major things she noticed was that she wasn’t in the alley she collapsed in.

In fact, she wasn’t outside at all. Her eyes cracked open and instead of staring into the cloudy afternoon sky, she was looking intently at a ceiling. And instead of laying on hard asphalt, she was resting on something soft—a couch, maybe.

She was in someone’s house, she belatedly realized, and that was when the second thing registered all at once.

Her mask was still on.

And it wasn’t just on, it was still tucked snugly into the neckline of her suit, the way she always kept it to ensure it never rode up. That meant that either someone went to great lengths to put it back in the exact position she liked it, or it was never taken off in the first place. When she saw you sitting in the chaise lounge across from the couch, her suspicions leaned toward the latter.

You hadn’t noticed her wake, eyes glued on the tv to her right, so she took the initiative to speak. It was harder than she expected since her throat was so dry, but after a few swallows, she managed to rasp her question out.

“Uh, where am I, exactly?”

Your eyes flicked to her instantly, and you sat up straighter, leaning forward a bit. “My house. Well, my mom’s house actually. She’s at work, won’t be back for a while. Good thing, too, because she would lose her shit if she saw you passed out on her couch.”

“Not a big fan of vigilantes?” she asked dryly. You chuckled.

“No, she’s not a big fan of her furniture getting dirty.”

“Oh,” Gwen muttered, pushing herself up to sit, “sorry, I can—”

Her sentence was cut short by you standing and gently shoving her to lie back down. “It’s fine, I’ll clean it later. Stay there.”

You watched her and, once you knew she would obey, walked out of her sightline. Gwen listened to your footsteps, noting the way you stopped around fifteen feet away. Then, she tilted her head back to glance at the windows and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the light shining through the thin, drawn curtains. She couldn’t have been out for more than an hour.

Now that her initial question had been answered, she moved on to her secondary. “Did you drag me all the way here by yourself?”

“Well, I was visiting a friend’s apartment earlier, so we were only a few blocks away,” you called from somewhere on the other side of the couch, the faint sound of a refrigerator being opened and closed compounding the statement. “But yes, I did drag you here myself. You’re heavier than you look, by the way.”

Gwen’s eyes narrowed beneath her mask, but she chose to take it as a compliment to her forming musculature.

You returned a few minutes later with a glass of water and a pitcher filled nearly to the brim, setting them both down on the coffee table in front of her. Immediately, she pushed herself to sit up, hiking her mask over her nose and downing the entire glass in a few gulps. In her peripheral, she saw you sit back down and look at the tv again, letting the room lapse into quiet.

Gwen let the silence sit for a bit, then asked, “So, why didn’t you take off my mask? Most people would jump at the chance to figure out my identity.”

“I’m not into invading other people’s privacy,” you said plainly with a light shrug. “Plus, you saved my life. Taking the mask off after that would’ve been a dick move.”

She stayed quiet for a minute, absorbing what you said, then, with genuine sincerity, said, “Thank you.”

You waved it off. “Consider us even. I wouldn’t have made it out without your help, this was the least I could do.”

A nod was the only response she gave. She knew she should probably leave now; she was in a stranger’s house, after all. But you didn’t seem to mind, so she poured herself another glass and settled back on the couch.

Despite the unorthodox situation, the atmosphere remained calm and quiet with occasional thought-provoking questions from you such as “What’s it like being wanted for murder?” and “Why do you wear ballet shoes instead of shoes that will protect your feet in fights?” neither of which she had solid answers for but had fun with anyway.

It was nice. Weird, undoubtedly, but a nice change of pace from the more turbulent and fast-paced interactions she was used to having with people as Spider-Woman. You seemed to be enjoying it too, if the fact that you didn’t kick her out an hour ago was anything to go by.

Time continued to pass, the darkening sky outside the window escaping both of your notice. Her phone buzzed in her pocket a few times while you were talking, but she elected to ignore it. That is until the tranquil air was eventually broken by her phone ringing, the Spider-Woman theme song echoing throughout the room.

“Sorry,” Gwen mumbled, pulling her phone out of her suit pocket. She scanned the screen and her eyes widened. It was her dad. She squinted slightly, confused as to why he was calling already, but then she looked at the time, and her eyes widened. Her dad had been expecting her home over an hour ago.

Panicked, she shot to her feet, narrowly avoiding slamming her shin into the coffee table by the couch. She took one step, then another, testing. Her limbs still felt a bit heavier than usual, but it wasn’t as bad as earlier, and she’d be able to swing home with minimal issues.

“Gotta go?” you asked, eyeing her from your seat.

She sighed, nodded. “Yeah, sorry, just remembered I have somewhere to be.”

You gave an understanding hum and she ventured to the door. Her hands were about to twist the doorknob when an idea suddenly popped into her head. It was a stupid idea, which made it all the more pervasive to her waning self-control. She debated back and forth with herself for all of seven seconds before she spun on her heels.

Gwen cleared her throat and put on a casual tone, praying her voice didn’t crack. “Hey, do you wanna get coffee,” she paused briefly, combing over her schedule in her head, “this Saturday? Y’know, as thanks for all this.”

“I thought we established that we were even,” you said, eyes narrowed.

“Well, I’m unestablishing it. So, coffee?” She rocked back on her heels, watching you ruminate on the offer. 

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, you shrugged. “Who could say no to coffee with a wanted vigilante?”

Remembering that her mask was still pulled up halfway, she restrained the large smile threatening to creep onto her face to a small smirk. “Great, I’ll see you then…" Her sentence came to an abrupt end when she searched for a name and realized you had never given her one. “Uh, I didn’t catch your name?”

You raised a brow. “Are you gonna give me yours?”

She paused, then cocked her head to the side. “Fair enough. Then I’ll see you Saturday, stranger.”

“See you, spidey,” you said with a smile and a two-finger salute, both of which Gwen returned before pulling her mask down and jetting out the door.

She swung across the city with a speed that impressed even her, weaving through buildings and traffic with a racing heart and an immovable smile the whole way to her apartment.

In the end, Gwen wound up being grounded for a month since she was a little too distracted on her swing home to come up with a plausible excuse for her dad, but it wasn’t a problem. She would just sneak out Saturday during her dad’s shift for your coffee (maybe) date, and if she got caught and her punishment got extended, then so be it.

It would totally be worth it.

—

hi, if you made it this far, thanks for reading and i hope you have a good day 🥳🫶

[victimcentral]

John's second victim

This is written super quickly and might be kind of long but bare with me! I think I found something regarding Mikoto's case! Theory under cut :D

Ever since the trial 2 ending video I been thinking non stop about the fact that seemingly it confirmed the theory that John was a serial killer, for context ever since Double released I was in the belief that John only killed one person (the blonde guy we see in MeMe) and that his memories were just fragmented (since he was still forming during the events of the murder) leaving him to believe he killed multiple people (especially considering how dismissive and well how he doesn't seem to recall much about it, only remembering the fact that he wanted to protect Mikoto). Of course now we know that Milgram basically told us Mikoto is one of the people in Milgram with one of the most kills (idk why they translated to “the most kills” when Shidou is right there, but in jp it’s more like “one of the most”). 

This led me to question, how and who. For John’s blonde victim who for now I will call Blondie, I had a pretty good idea on how the murder and everything happened, I won't get into detail since it would take a lot of time to cover, my oomfie made a post that I agree with. Tldr Annoying coworker Mikoto was not very fond of, pent up rage for this person led to John killing him to get rid of this “stress” that was causing Mikoto (maybe someday I will go more in depth with this idea). But then there was the problem that, ever since the trial end video, I started to notice that MeMe in fact does show two victims, Blondie (the train murder), and… another person. 

From the framing of everything, John wearing the same clothes during both murders, and that it’s shown that it happened on the same night, I concluded John killed two people in the same event, but… my main question was, who was this second victim, I had a pretty solid theory on who Blondie guy, but this second person was a complete mystery to me, I reread everything to try and see if there were other clues but really I had nothing, we don’t even have a design for this person, but we know it exists because of the Undercover crime location, it matches up pretty well with where we see John kill this second person.

(Especially the wires)  Meanwhile we know Blondie died by the train, so no doubt about it. (I mean he died in a sort of tunnel place, where we can see here clearly they are more in the open, we can see the sky..!)

While talking to my friends about it this night, rewatching MeMe on loop to try and see something, I spotted something interesting: In the scene that we see Blondie crawling away, the screen has like the same effect on the edges as when we see a person walking towards Kayano at the start of MeMe, this effect is supposed to resemble the inside of an eye, as if we are seeing from the point of view of a person.

In both of these scenes we can see that the “screen” blinks, making it obvious we are seeing from the perspective of a person. 

And it’s not just some visual effect of the scene, as we can see when the scene zooms in, the effect is nowhere to be found.

But look, during the murder, this eye like effect is on full display

This person is no other than the second victim. And this shows that victim two witnessed the murder of Blondie, they saw John kill, and once John noticed he killed them to keep away from anyone knowing. Basically victim two is just a witness who saw the first murder, ran away, and got killed. We can tell they ran away since the crime location in MeMe is noticeably somewhat close to where the train station is. (Credits to Doctor Bunny, I wouldn't have been able to notice this haha)

in here I will lay out how I think the events happened, because my wording probably doesn’t make any sense lolll

also this could explain all the imagery of Mikoto feeling “observed” in both MeMe and Double images here

(in fact, we even see the same effect on the edges as the victim two pov in here lol)

(All the eyes… he is being observed)

And to add last, it would make sense of John’s statement of “killing whoever was passing by”, because truth be told, that second victim truly was just a random person that was passing by, who just happened to witness the murder. 

Thx for reading! This probably makes no sense since I literally just noticed this and wanted to talk about it! In the future I may rewrite this honestly… this is prolly written like shit LMAOO, just wanted to spread the idea around :D! And if someone came up with it before and I never noticed it, let it be known :o !! Sorry if that’s the case haha ^^’ And if I explained somth awfully and want me to elaborate let me know pls!! I love rambling bout Milgram haha

[bluestarlett]

Mmmm I don't fucking know,,

What were your thoughts while making the cosmic character designs??

HELLO OMG HI HI HI hELLO OMG so

their designs are over a year old and frankly have changed a LOT since their earliest designs HOWEVER i will talk about their current designs :]

I suppose I'll talk about Seraph's first so... Everythng from this point forward will be under the cut so I don't bore everyone <3

So first of all hi this is Seraph he's my beloved beautiful fat angel man

ANYWAY:

there are a lot of small details in all of the Starcatchers' designs which reflect their personalities! Seraph, for one, does not like being constricted or held in place. Hence why he always wears pretty loose-fitting clothing! His belt is meant to represent Selene (his mom) as well as Gaea. (the symbol in the middle is the star of gaea, which is a symbol that shows up repeatedly in every cosmic design. The only ones who do not have a star of Gaea in their designs are Saturn and Scylla! [given that saturn holds no respect for the gods, and scylla is not a god.])

SECONDLY!

The reason his heart is exposed is based off of the phrases, "Home is where the heart is" as well as "heart in the wrong place". In a very early loop, he attempted to take his heart out of his chest, given that he never necessarily felt 'at home', and told himself that was his own fault.

He has scars practically all over him (to symbolize his endurance and perseverance), especially on his hands. Originally, the reason for this was based off of my FRIEND Heart (@apollodoesnotpost ) because his hands are very rough and calloused but have always been very warm and comforting to me, which is very similar to Seraph's character. Additionally, this gained some extra symbolism with the release of RIProducer's Language of the Lost, specifically with the lyric "These fingers and these palms, full of love despite the scars".

Also! The eyes on his halos are meant to look like moons! Black scleras, white irises, and the shapes of his irises change along with the moon phases! It's really the only way for the Stars to keep track of the state of the moon, given it's kind of... crashed into the ocean? (result of the Juno Incident.)

NEXT UP saturn

Hi hi!! so uhh hehe... saturn is kind of just self-indulgent, really. at face value there isn't a bunch hidden in their design however there's still a few things I can talk about :3

first of all, their shapes! Seraph is a very round and relaxed character whilst Saturn is much stiffer and sharper. Their coat, for one, is meant to make their shoulders appear much broader and stiffer than they normally would be. Funnily enough, in contrast to their appearance, Saturn is a very languid and slinky character. (For reference; I have a few rules I have to follow when I write the Starcatchers, specifically when they move. Seraph is often described as 'waltzing' or 'dancing' when he walks given he is very musical and upbeat, saturn is described as 'slithering' or 'slinking' given that they move the way an actual octopus does, and aster 'creeps' and 'trudges' because she is very stiff and rigid due to how anxious she usually is.)

As you might notice, NONE of the clocks in their design read the same time. I promise you this is intentional, i am NOT stupid. The only clock on their body that reads the correct time is the one in their eye! However, they tend to keep that one covered, since when they look at people through it, they kinda are subject to. severely traumatic prophetic visions (aka, they watch Seraph and Aster die over and again in future loops and can do nothing to stop it because they cannot stop the passage of time.)

Also! It's not in their reference, but in almost all of my drawings of them, Saturn's clock eye reads as 3:33! :]

Another little neat detail! The tubes on Saturn's arm are NOT A BOMB. The blue liquid running through them is the blood of Scylla! Modern technology doesn't work all that well on Tycho, and while gears and switches can be helpful with some things, magic tends to be more efficient. Also, you can't see it in this ref, but Saturn's arms are osseointegration prosthetics! (aka, they are prosthetics attached directly to their bones as opposed to socket prosthetics.)

The little snake pin on their collar is a reference to their earliest concept design! In BETA beta, Saturn was meant to be a snake! They had medusa hair :] unfortunately, I can't find any of my concept sketches from this time though.

Next is Aster!

So first of all.

Her similarities to Rapunzel were in NO WAY intentional, however they absolutely make sense given that she is very princess-trapped-in-tower coded.

First of all, her earrings! You cannot see it in this reference because I accidentally messed up </3 however her earrings are supposed to be Stars of Gaea. Right now they are just normal stars because I FORGOT.

Secondly, the star mesh fabric actually plays an extremely important role in her design! All of the gods (and ONLY the gods) have that mesh fabric incorporated into their designs. (For example, Gaea has his sash, Charon's cloak, Selene's sleeves, etc etc.) This is meant to hint at the fact that she is connected to the gods in some way and that she was one at some point.

Another thing! All of the characters in Cosmic have their shoulder markings, usually connecting to Gaea or the other gods in some way. (Example; All sirens have teardrop markings which bear resemblance to Scylla's marks, all seraphim have moons which are Selene's markings. Gaea has 4 pointed stars with one point facing directly up whilst Charon has hourglasses like that of a black widow!) All of these markings glow white, however, you might notice that Aster's do not! This is because her markings are meant to resemble scars to represent the way in which her divinity was ripped from her. Have fun with that ^_^

She also has the most grey hairs out of the Starcatchers (both because she's the oldest- or, well, second oldest- as well as a way to symbolize her emotional exhaustion. The more absolutely fucking broken the stars are, the more aged they look in some ways lol)

This isn't relevant whatsoever, but her lashes are Not based off of Furina? I actually know nothing about genshin impact. her lashes are based off of the Jellylashes item on Gaiaonline!

(these!)

ok that's it im not talkign about gaea because he doesnt deserve it

[lunarleonardo]

PRESSURE YESS!! Oh I'd *love* to see that!! Kaede would totally own a wall dweller! I can imagine Shuichi reading all the documents and starting a chart like "WHAT DOES IT MEAN?? WHAT HAPPENED"

Him figuring out what happened at Urbanshade BEFORE buying Sebastian's document^^^

And PLEASE talk about your OCS!!! I love hearing about them- the lore is always so fun to hear about :D tell me tell meee/nf

So I actually have two drv3 x Pressure AUs !! One is the oneshot AU, which I plan to write, and the other is the Pressure Time Loop. Shuichi takes Sebastian's place as Kokichi goes through every run over...and over...and over... But I could totally see Shuichi getting crazy invested in all the documents XD He's off to the side going "hmm..." while Kokichi is flashbanging Sebastian and Eyefestation every chance he gets. Kaede is having a silent panic attack the whole time and trying to make sure the boys don't get themselves killed. She was also 100% the first one to walk into a locker full of POVM (⁠个⁠_⁠个⁠) LOL

and oh I WILL talk about them!! LUNARLEONARDO ART REVEAL LETS GO BABY

Keep in mind before proceeding that some sensitive subjects might be covered here :{

Since their stories are so extensive and Tumblr might legitimately explode if I go into as much detail as I would've, I'll keep their stories as brief as I can. Starting with my favorite,

MONTSERRAT!!

(a lot of these are drawn on flipaclip so forgive me)

Mont, as you can probably assume, is an Undertale OC. They originally came from my avid Handplates AU obsession, so they were a Handplates OC (⁠个⁠_⁠个⁠) BUT! I have since deviated from that AU and now their AU has their own thing going on, even if there are still some similarities QwQ

The three were born as brothers, Sans and Mont being created as twins (hence why they look very similar. also papyrus i just hard to draw but shh) Of course, Gaster is their dad, except he is just.. straight up evil. There's no redeeming this guy sorry Gaster fans (me. I am the Gaster fan. :( funney void guy). Sans and Papyrus were often kept separate from Mont, mostly since they were a menace even while they were being experimented on lol. And because of this and the need to keep Mont in heavier security, the funny skeleton guys we know and love both escaped the lab together. These kids didnt think twice about taking Mont with them, mostly since they just assumed that they could find someone strong enough to defeat Gaster to save them afterwards. :")

Those two's escape scared the SHIT out of Gaster. Now all these people were gonna know that he was experimenting on children to try and make super soldiers to blow up the barrier with void power and wipe out humanity !! And he couldn't have that happen!! He tried his best to do damage control, but Snowdin (where the skelebros showed up after escaping the lab), kind of.. rioted?? Like imagine an angry mob with pitchforks and fire. That kind of riot. That drove Gaster all the way to the CORE, and down down down he went. With Gaster being erased from existence, so was his lab and his followers.

...of course, since you cannot truly erase anything-- not as a monster, at least-- Gaster and that lab were cast into the void. And thus... So was Mont.

Mont, of course, was confused. They were like 11 years old when this happened, and the only knowledge they had on anything was what they had learned from the books they snuck behind Gaster's back. They wandered the lab over and over, eventually coming to realize that wow, they really were alone. Everybody left. There was no way out for them. These negative emotions were too much for them to bear as the years went by, those feelings continued to grow and grow. And eventually, the void releases them from those emotions. At a price, of course. Mont called it the "Voidserpent"; a long, snake-like creature made of pure negativity (yes i was deep into the sans auverse) that kind of wanted to kill Mont ?? I mean when you have suicidal thoughts and all of your negative thoughts and stuff manifest as a Creature. It still wants itself dead. And itself is you, so um. mont spent a loooong long time running for their life in that lab (⁠´⁠；⁠ω⁠；⁠｀⁠) just running in circles

There is Kind Of a happy ending though! This brings us to my sweetheart Cleudo! :D

(i dont have much art of her ;_; cluedo im sorry)

Cleudo works as an assistant scientist under Alphys, researching primarily the void. Eventually, their research led them to find some of the weaker spots in their world, where essence of the void could be found and studied. One of those spots is deep within the forest of Snowdin, which is where she'd often be. One day, she decided to try and access the void. Probably not the wisest decision on Cleudo's part, but she's a liiittle impulsive xD

It was because of this decision though that she gave Mont the gateway they needed. They pretty much noclipped out of the floor, scaring the everloving shit out of themself AND Cleudo. By now they're 22, so they've spent a reeeally long time in that lab. Cleudo, who has NO idea what she just witnessed, decides to do the one thing she can do: Take this skeleton to Alphys' lab and make sure they're not radioactive or something. And also call Sans and Papyrus, the only skeletons in the underground.

Overtime Mont becomes ..kind of... accustomed to life. I'm not going to get into their AUs or Everything Stays (a roleplay between me and my gf with Mont and her oc) since we'd be here forever, but as for Mont in their "canon" timeline, they avoid the human like wildfire. In the True Pacifist route, I'd imagine you have the option to fight them if you go way out of your way. It'd just be something for fun, because Mont is very fun! They're very fun and silly and doesn't take much very seriously. They looove floating, they do it a LOT, and they do have a good handle on blue magic and teleportation. However their experience with physical attacks is.. lacking, and they're very much a "one hit kill" kind of monster. They can take a pretty hard punch, but if their HP drops any amount, they're screwed. They make up for this in evasiveness though, and they make use of their surroundings to use as a weapon. They are very much the kind of person to hit somebody with a table in a fight.

The last thing I wanna mention is that pink hat. The first ever story they appeared in was a roleplay called Fallen Deep, where they wore that hat. In Fallen Deep, they did some veerrry bad things, collapsing half the multiverse to try to wipe out every AU with a Gaster variant (they were, and are still kind of, very op LOL). That hat represents Fallen Deep Mont, and thus, what they did. While the hat is a building brick of their design, it's not something Mont often has in different AUs due to what it's connected to. rest in peace fallen deep mont you would've loved commentary youtubers

QUINN

Quinn is a funky little guy. His story is a lot simpler, so hopefully this section will be shorter XD

Quinn is the eldest son to Riley Anne, a popular seamstress. She and Quinn's father divorced when they agreed that they had different goals in life-- one wanted to persue parenthood while the other just wanted to stay on that workforce grind. Quinn's father would financially assist Riley Anne as she raised their children, since she couldn't do as much work as she used to being a single mom.

When Yu was very little, she was diagnosed with an incurable illness. Dont ask me what illness because i dont know💕 but the point is that there is a very, very small chance that Yu will make it beyond double digits. Both Riley Anne and Quinn loved Yu very very much, but unfortunately, when she was 8 and Quinn was 11, Yu passed away. Quinn was right next to her in the hospital when she went, so she at least went feeling as safe and loved as possible. When this happened, Riley Anne was out getting food, unaware of her daughter's rapidly declining condition. And when she got back, she found Quinn holding Yu's hand, kind of just... frozen. It's not every day you watch someone die before your very eyes, especially not when you're as young as Quinn was. Seeing this, something in Riley Anne just... snapped. Her daughter couldn't be gone yet, the doctors said they had at least a few more years together. What happened? She was only gone for no less than a few hours.

And it hit her in that moment. Quinn must have murdered her daughter.

Of course, Quinn never did such a thing. But Riley Anne needed some reason to explain why she wasn't there with her daughter when she passed. And so Riley Anne took Quinn home. And things got... bad.

For two weeks, it was an extremely unstable household. I won't go into detail, but it was to a point that Quinn was too afraid to leave his room. He took to his father's religion for comfort, praying every day to the moon to protect his sister, wherever she was, and to bring his mother down from whatever delusional break she was having. (Note: this is not based on any real life religion, god or faith ^^")

One day, a particularly bad fight broke out. It was the usual "you killed your sister"/"what are you even talking about" argument, when things got violent. Riley Anne grabbed a knife, and Quinn, knowing perfectly well he was in danger, booked it for the front door. The neighbors intervened when they heard screaming in the front lawn, and although they stopped Riley Anne from murdering her son, he was in really bad shape. He had been stabbed over like, what, ten times ? I forget the exact number, but he almost died. And as the ambulance and police arrived, the moon god stayed true to her word-- her promise to protect those who dedicated their faith to her-- and Quinn survived. However, because of the severity of the wounds, Quinn was left with the inability to express or even feel most of his emotions. That's why is his eyes are white like that, and why he has such a flat expression. He physically cannot express anything else ｡⁠:ﾟ⁠(⁠;⁠´⁠∩⁠`⁠;⁠)ﾟRiley Anne was carted off to a psych ward, so shes getting the help she needs.

Little 11 year old Quinn, was now all alone. This ones gonna be hard to explain it youve been thinking about this from a standard sociental standpoint, but basically Quinn's father buys Quinn a mansion for him to live in, which is fairly deep in the woods. It is connected to a local town though, where a lot of the adults there help Quinn out. They give him some easy jobs around town and sometimes they stop by his house to make sure he isnt like. Yknow. Starving to death. Quinn also has a lot of domesticated animals that keep him company and also make sure he is not Starving To Death. Now might be a good time to mention that I created Quinn as a Rise of the TMNT OC and he is friends with Leo who makes fun of him for being an orphan and yeah im gonna stop there

WORLD ENDER

oh boy okay this one

So this is World Ender, once known as Zelyx (the one in the tv). Zelyx was always powerful, even in their home universe. And one day, they simply just... got bored. Their home universe was an awful place to be, unjust to those who were not already at the top of the societal ladder. So Zelyx's solution? BLOW IT UP!!!

After destroying their home world, Zelyx travelled from universe to universe, looking for something that would entertain them. And eventually, they came to realize that it was ending these worlds that brought them the most joy. So they took on the name and form of "World Ender". Their whole thing is basically just going from universe to universe and ending worlds with life on them >_> they're kind of an asshole

Now as you might have noticed, Shuichi is in that second picture. Well! That is from an AU called, wouldn't you know it, World Ender/Alternative. However I won't be getting into that here, since it's not directly part of World Ender's story. It's more of a Shuichi AU tbh :p

SOMBRE

It'd be a crime not to mention my DAUGHTER. This is Sombre! It'd take FOREVER to explain what's up with her so I'll keep it simple. Sombre is a creature called a sokochou, which is something a funky little lab deep in the woods nearby realllly wants. This is "GreenFirest Lab", who further science via unethical experimentation. basically it's because of them that legit furries exist in this universe so you can imagine how humanity reacted to that. Anyhow, Sombre, also called "GFLS-53", took on the role as the "Hound", totally robbing this one guy of his job. sorry 27 xd

The Hound is a role in the lab created to prevent containment breaches and mostly to stop the less stable and/or pissed off ones from starting a massacre. Whenever a subject escapes their cell, it's Sombre's job to take them back and/or fight them into submission. yeah so you'll never guess what sombre does after some scientists fuck up their experiment with her LMAO

Sombre is taken over by what we call "Voltage", and it does the exact massacre it was her job to stop. Many subjects die, almost all the scientists die as other subjects break out and kill them. There's a lot of death on this fateful night :( And Sombre's friends, Cybro, Stargazer, 27, and arguably Ender and VD, are rightfully confused and afraid of her actions. They take to helping subjects evacuate, escaping into the forest. 27 tries his best to bring her down, and hes almost killed. He wouldve been killed if not for his bf VD. Ender and Stargazer are helping people evacuate. It's only when Cybro, a robot dog with the soul of the lab's founder's son, asks Sombre to kill him; to finally relieve him from his duty. Sombre only comes back to herself after killing Cybro, which she is Extremely Devastated about. also 27 set the entire building on fire so it's probably time to run lol. anyways Sombre goes home a changed woman and she reunites with her sister and girlfriend and yay!! everyone is happy! except for 27 who will forever be mad at sombre for taking his job

HAKURA SAINOU & KUROKA KASHIN

Okay so these are my two Danganronpa OCs!! This is Hakura and Kuroka :3 the girlfriends ever

Hakura is the Ultimate Profiler. I watched a little too much Criminal Minds and the brain worms got me xD. meanwhile Kuroka is the Ultimate Investigator! Sadly Kuroka doesnt have much to her yet :( actually neither of them have that much. But they do work together to solve crimes and stuff and they are sooo in love . The reason they don't have that much is because I've been so focused on my fics I haven't though much about my OCs ;_; BUUUT they are in my heart trust

Those are pretty much all the main ones I could think of :p If you've read this far. Why and how . But also thank you !!! I hope my funky little guys entertained you at least a little bit :3 I had to pull out my computer to finish this post and let me tell you my wrist huurrrtts. This took me like 3 hours to do LMFAO

I am nervous to be posting this QwQ I could say a LOT more about them, like Mont's AU business, the other characters within Sombre's story, World Alternative... but this post is getting rlly long and I need to cook dinner xD Thank you for giving me the opportunity to go absolutely insane for a bit!! I really appreciate it I love talking about the funney little guys in my brain :3

[stilespeters]

law abiding citizens (preview)

a/n: a little preview of a request i got that was absolutely brilliant. The creativity is honestly insane with everyone who requests stories. The enemies to lovers arc? im in love (you know who you are)

also im getting through requests very slow but I try to make them about 10k+ words😭.

summary: when the infamous Bloodyface enters the doors of Briarcliff Manor, a mysterious girl becomes infatuated with the idea of making the institution a living hell for him.

warnings: none in the preview

There was something about the fall weather that made you forget time. You would sit by the big window in the corner of the common room that shielded you from the restless eyes, and you would listen as the rain tapped softly against the window. Your hand would cling to the thick bars that covered the invisible wall, and the sounds of the water clashing against the glass drowned out every sound around you. Except for the song that continuously played on a loop in the background. God, if it was possible to shoot a song, you’d shoot Dominique.

In the earlier days when your mind wasn't fogged, you’d question what the song was really about, since you couldn't speak French. However after the third time of hearing it you lost all interest. Dominique could kiss a rat's ass for all you care.

Speaking of rats, Spivey was released from solitary and was now sitting in the chair next to the piano. He was one piece of trash that actually deserved to be here. The first day you arrived and settled in, he kept staring at you. He had been really interested in you and he kept repeating that you were young and pretty. When you revealed to him that you were 18 though, he seemed uninterested and left you alone.

Your knees were pressed against your chest and you held a cigarette between your fingers delicately as you brought it up to your lips. The smoke you inhaled actually cleared up a lot in your head.

Sometimes when Doris or Pepper would cause a scene in the common room you’d turn around and watch as everything unfolded. But after years, you already knew their every move. The people in here never knew what you were up to as you were a wild card, yet you knew everything about everyone. You had always been a watcher, just analyzing people and watching everything unfold, only stepping in when necessary.

You heard the door of the common room open and your gaze moved from the window to a man who stood cluelessly in the center. He looked bewildered around him and tried to take everything in, and you looked him up and down. He was a young man you’d seen in the newspapers ever since the shit he got exposed for; Bloodyface. For days you’d seen his face and for weeks you’ve heard his name slip from other patients. Hell, even orderlies seemed to fawn over him and his crimes. You were sure even James Dean wouldn't be talked about this much.

Shelly was the first person to introduce herself to him in a way only Shelly could. She would walk up to a new patient and try to seduce them with her long blonde hair and pretty face. Today, however, was the day sister Jude cut off her hair and her magic didn't work. You didn’t know if it didn't work because of her hair or if it was the patient who just wasn’t interested.

Bloodyface shoved her off him and scowled at her before sauntering further into the room.

Shelly roamed the room while chanting ‘he’s mine’ like she had done a couple of times before and you couldn't help but roll your eyes. Luckily she didn't bother you since you were still out of sight.

You took a glance at Bloodyface again and squinted your eyes. After reading about him for so long, you had grown a distaste for him, however as you saw him in real life, you didn’t know what you felt. He was a handsome man who looked to be in his mid to late twenties and his lost puppy dog gaze seemed to cast a spell on you. However you knew from experience to never judge based on faces.

You remembered judging your neighbor Jimmy when he first moved in. He was looking rough and very angry all the time. He had scars on his face and a frown 24/7 that made him look intimidating. However at a neighbor convention he told you he had been a war veteran in world war 1 being 19 and he fought in world war 2, being 47 years of age. He didn’t have to sign up for war the second time, but he did it because he wanted to make the world better. He had seen the true horrors of the world and it was evident in his face to this day that he never truly recovered from that. He only wanted to serve his country and do what was right. He wouldn’t hurt a fly, yet all the kids were afraid of him. That was when you truly realized to never judge a book by its cover.

The moment Bloodyface spun in circles like a lost puppy you decided to leave your hiding spot and walk a bit closer to the center. You weren’t sure what your plan was, but you couldn’t stand watching him be confused any longer.

When he placed his hands on his ears to drown out the song, he moved towards the record player to turn it off and you intervened.

“Wouldn't do that if I were you.” You spoke as you leaned against the wall while placing the cigarette between your lips. The man turned to look at you and you gave him a grin, “It’s a rule here. As long as the common room is open the song plays.” he stared blankly at you and you sighed.

“Any one of them would rat you out if they had the chance, they get a piece of candy and you get your ass beat,” he still looked at you as if you were speaking a different language, “Trust me, I learned the hard way when I first arrived here.”

He finally spoke up. “Why should I trust you?”

“You shouldn’t trust me. You shouldn’t trust anyone. I’m just looking out for you.”

The silence except for the chanting of Denise in the corner and the song still on a loop, was deafening and so the conversation between you and Bloodyface made a lot of people turn heads. One of those people was Spivey, the little shit.

“Hey Bloodyface,” Both Bloodyface’s head and yours looked for the source of sound and you saw Spivey walk towards you. “You’re him right? You must be the most dangerous person here. I heard you skinned them alive, the last one being a colored girl. I guess you didn't like her color.” He taunted and you saw Bloodyface’s face contort into pure anger. Before you knew it, they were at each other's throats like animals and all the attention from the other patients were now fully focussed on the two wrestlers on the ground.

Pepper stood next to you as your arms were crossed and she had a worried look on her face. You knew what would happen if a fight were to break out in the common room. Jude would barge in, welts would be given, yada yada yada. Your eyes were downcast while you took another puff of your cigarette and when a whistle was heard, everyone ran to their previous spots to show they weren't involved.

You walked back to your hiding spot as well and saw sister Jude strut into the room with two orderlies behind her. They were Owen and Dennis. You almost missed the way Owen scanned the room until his eyes met Shelly. Your eyes squinted the tiniest bit in suspicion.

Bloodyface had a bloody face and pointed at Spivey. “He started it.”

Owen and Dennis ignored it and Owen smacked Bloodyface with his baton. You winced just slightly and saw how his body was dragged out of the common room.

An hour later, Kit Walker was put in a straitjacket and he felt uncomfortable as suddenly everything itched. His eyes were burning, his head was pounding due to the whack from one of the orderlies and his mind was fogged as everything felt surreal.

Sister Jude let him off with a warning since it was his first day but said that the next time she wouldn't go easy on him. A gentle gesture at best.

The only source of light went dark as it indicated someone stood in front of his cell, and as he looked up he saw you standing there. “Hey, I got something for you.”

He stood up and squinted his eyes as he walked over to the door. “How did you get back here?”

He saw you pause. “Doesn’t matter.”

Kit didn't question it and he saw you duck and slide something under the door. Although he couldn’t grab it with his hands, he saw it was a newspaper. “Boredom is your only friend in these cells they call ‘chambers’. Figured I’d get you something to read to kill time.”

Kit looked at your features and tried to spot any sign of falseness since he wasn’t used to people actually talking to him like he was a normal human being. He tried to find out whether your intentions were true or if you had ulterior motives. He couldn't remember the last time someone did something nice for him let alone have a decent conversation. “Why are you being so kind to me?”

He saw your eyes soften yet harden at the same time. “What you put out into the world comes back to you.”

“So what did you put out into the world to get locked up in a place like this?”

“A lot of questions…” Your eyebrows raised and you indicated that you didn't know his name.

“Kit.” He saw you hum.

“That’s a question that will be answered with time, Kit. It doesn't concern you for now.” Kit nodded understandingly and realized it might have been an inappropriate question.

“So, you want to tell me how you got in here? Spivey said something about you being the infamous Bloody face.”

“Why should I give you an answer when you won’t give me one?” It came out harsher than he wanted and he wanted to apologize.

“Careful now, Kit. I’m not someone you like to have as an enemy here.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not insane. I don’t belong here.”

“Yet you’re here for a reason.” Kit leaned in a bit closer, “Why?”

You clenched your jaw shut and looked down at your feet. He sure was dedicated on finding answers. You weren’t gonna tell him the truth, however you were gonna simplify it.

“Bad people pulled on strings and convinced everyone I was crazy. All I could do was tell them the truth but I didn’t stand a chance against socialites. I was taken from my home involuntarily and I’m most likely set to spend the rest of my life here, only because I made a stupid mistake.”

Kit nodded quietly and scraped his throat. He noticed the silence after you answered and he wanted to let you know you weren’t alone.

Now that you have answered it was his turn. “To answer your question, they think I’m him. They think I’m Bloodyface.” He couldn't read your emotions due to the lighting and because he was too tired and drained to focus. “Ah, the celebrity. I’m almost jealous of your fame. You’ve become a household name here. I didn’t recognize who you were when I saw you.” you lied. You knew who he was the second he stepped foot in this place. “So, are you? Did you?”

“What?”

“Are you actually bloody face? Did you kill those women, your wife?”

“No. And I’m not crazy.” He was quick to answer and your head cocked to the side.

“Hmm.” you kissed the back of your teeth, again. Kit didn’t know what was going through your mind. “Interesting.”

A voice was heard in the distance and your head snapped to the side. “Well I should go before they notice I’m missing.”

“Thanks for the paper, I really appreciate it.” He gave you a genuine smile.

“No problem.”

Before Kit could blink, you were gone and he got closer to the barns to whisper-shout.

“Hey, what’s your name?” His ear was pressed against the hard and cold metal, and he could faintly hear a voice whisper back.

“Y/n.”

Kit felt a shiver of warmth over his body by the newspaper you’ve given him. He really appreciated that you were nice to him since he was terrified of this place. He had nightmares in his cell about it and when he was finally handed out to the institution he knew he would never see his garden again or the lake next to it. Just the thought of someone doing something kind to him like he was normal and the thought he wasn’t alone made him feel a bit more relaxed.

However what he didn’t know was that you indeed had ulterior motives. You were gonna make this place live up to the reputation Briarcliff had;hell on earth. Starting with a newspaper.

The next day you were all in the common room again. It was still raining and you decided to sit on something soft this time. Although your hiding spot was very comfortable, you did feel the hardness of the stone having an effect on your ass and back posture. You found a place on the sofa next to Otis who was picking his nose and you tried your best to ignore it. You cringed and looked the other way until he stood up to dance with Doris. Pepper wanted to dance too but they rebuffed her. You felt bad for her.

Footsteps were heard as the door opened and Kit walked into the room. From a distance you could tell he had a bruise on his hand, a black eye and a bandage on his cheek from the brawl yesterday. His eyes scanned everyone until they landed on you and he made his way to you and sat down on the spot where Otis was sitting.

“Hey,” he started and you gave him a nod in return. “Jude go easy on you?”

“Yeah,” you noticed how he winced when he sat down. “She says that the next time I mess up she’s not gonna be nice.”

“Typical Jude.” you replied and both of you watched how Pepper kept chanting “Pepper dance” to the odd couple in the center. You looked to your right to see Kit’s mouth slightly opened as he gawked at the trio. You could practically hear his thoughts and sighed.

“Yes.”

Kit looked up at you and scrunched his eyebrows. “The answer is yes. They’re always like that, better get used to it.”

“How did you know I was thinking that?”

“It’s not hard to read people.”

It was like his eyes bore a hole into your side profile. “Anyway, most of the people here are harmless. They’re kinda weird, but harmless. There are a few people you need to watch out for.”

“Like Spivey?”

“Yeah Spivey is an example, always tryna look for trouble and sticking his nose in the business of other people. He is the definition of a scumbag.”

“Who else do I need to look out for?” His eyebrows were still scrunched like he was confused all the time and you scanned the room and pointed at a woman in the corner. “That’s Harriet. She’s been here the longest. No one gets a word out of her. Rumor goes that she stared down the barrel of a gun more times than she ever spoke.”

The woman looked like she was in her mid sixties and she looked mummified as she stared into the void. As if she knew her name was called out even in the softest tone of your voice, she suddenly looked at the two of you and you both immediately diverted your gaze elsewhere.

“Oops, better not to say her name here.” You stared at the table in front of you.

“What about you? Where do you stand in all of these people.”

You were baffled how Kit never backed down on asking questions. “You Kit,” you placed your hand on his thigh for a split second, Kit almost missed it but the feeling made his eyebrows frown. You retracted your hand quickly and pretended nothing happened. “You just remember to never cross with me. Most of these people leave me alone because they have that printed in their system.”

There had to be a reason why people respected you here. Kit didn’t know why exactly.

He nodded at that and didn’t question it further. You stared at his legs and sighed. “Sister Jude really did go easy on you, huh?”

“What?”

“Well it’s either that or you have a very high pain tolerance. The first time I wreaked havoc in this place, I couldn’t sit for a week. She said she went easy on me but even talking about it now I still feel the welts engraved.” You chuckled and Kit didn’t know whether to chuckle too or keep quiet. Instead he decided to ask another question.

“Is sister Jude always so…” He tried to find the right word.

“On edge? No. She’s always strutting around the place like she owns it,” you paused. “Well technically she does kinda own it with the Monsignor. Anyway, she’s only upset when someone has broken the rules. Why ask?”

“She looked very distressed this morning when we spoke during kitchen detail.” You kissed the back of your teeth.

“Seems like your arrival has caused quite a bit of trouble, Kit. If it’s the second day Jude is frantic, it’s not a good sign.”

There was silence between you two and if it weren’t for the known fact he was a malicious serial killer, you would have actually thought he was a decent man. Very humble and not very present in the best way possible. You liked quiet people. They made your chaotic mind at ease. It made you feel calm and that was something you craved. Being in an asylum, one of the worst places was the common room because of the filth and chaotic people. You actually quite liked solitary in your own small room because at least there no one was chanting. Oh and the walls were thick enough to keep anything out, like the song Dominique.

Kit broke the silence after a few minutes. “Hey Y/n.”

“Hmm?”

“The paper you gave me, it’s not from recent dates. It’s from 1949. The front page is about a missing girl.” You didn’t look him in the eye and instead continued staring at the table.

You tried to find a quick lie. Luckily you were used to it and you were sharp as always. “Oh… yeah that’s because we don’t really get the news often and because of that, we have very limited papers. I stole it for you from the archives.”

Kit frowned but seemed satisfied with that answer nevertheless.

Heels were heard and Doris and Otis stopped dancing as the noise was a clear sign Jude was coming. They hurried to the side where the dusty piano was standing and stared everywhere and nowhere. Jude walked in from around the corner and locked the door behind her, causing her to get the attention of everyone. Everything became quiet except for the dramatic taps of sister Jude’s boots.

“When I was given the task of running this institution, the Monsignor and I had great plans. We would not only house and feed the people who had nowhere else to go, thrown on the streets like trash, we’d heal them from the horrors this world could give. Even if they were the horror itself.” She slowly walked further and scanned everyone. “I have had faith and patience for everyone. And how do you repay me? With disappointment. Somebody had the audacity to break into my office and steal… something valuable. Now I demand the person who did this to confess this instant.”

No one said anything out of fear, and because no one knew what she was talking about.

“Confess!” Her voice sounded shrill as the sound bounced off the walls.

Kit slowly raised his hand and you quirked an eyebrow. “What was stolen, sister Jude?”

Jude’s jaw was clenched as the question was asked and she turned to look at Kit. “That doesn’t concern you Mr Walker. The person who did it knows what I’m referring to.”

Kit became quiet and you almost admired him for speaking while Jude was angry.

Her eyes diverted from Kit to you and she almost shot fireballs out of her eyes from how angry they stood. She pointed an accusing finger at you.

“Don’t think I’m not onto you, miss Y/n. Always slithering around, playing games with people. You think you’re so clever. I know that look you’re giving me. You know more than you let on…”

You didn’t answer her and had a stoic look on your face. When she realized she wasn’t getting anything from you, she walked further to accuse other people. When Jude was at the end of the room, Kit leaned in and whispered in your ear.

“You’re tellin me she’s really not always like that?”

“Most of the time not. I haven't seen her this upset in a while.”

He nodded at that and his eyes wandered cluelessly back to sister Jude. Your eyes diverted from Jude in the distance to Kit’s side profile. You watched as his nose flared for a second before coughing and you looked down. You had to remind yourself that he was a bad person. That he killed women who had a bright future ahead of them. That any of those women in their position could have been you. You could have been one of the women who was locked in his basement after being skinned and assaulted. That thought made your blood boil and you decided then and there it was all worth it what you had planned.

Kit got startled the moment you stood up from your place and coughed loudly to announce something. Jude turned around and saw it was you.

“When I came back from kitchen detail, I came across Kit,” you didn’t look at him and instead, you made puppy eyes as you sobbed. “He had some sort of news paper in his hand and in his other hand was a key. We made eye contact and I told him that I didn’t see anything and ran off. Just thinking back about the cold and harsh look he gave me makes me shiver,” You could feel Kit’s burning eyes on you as you continued to speak yet you paid no attention to it. Jude walked closer as she digested your words.

“I wonder what he could have done if I didn't run away. Just now he threatened that if I told on him he would tell on me. He said that no one would believe me.” Jude looked at one of the orderlies at the side and pointed a finger at him.

“Owen, did you not lock his chamber after he was in my office? This is the third time you forgot to lock someone's room.”

Before Owen could say anything, she looked back at Kit. “Look at you. if Y/n’s right you’re not only a murderer. You’re a murderous pickpocket. I knew you were trouble when you walked in.”

Kit tried to protest. “I- I- she’s lying,” he looked at you not in anger but in betrayal. The only person who spoke to him like a normal human being turned out to be a rat. You were the person he had to look out for. Beatings from an honorless man like Spivey was nothing compared to the knife in his back from you. Maybe he grew attached too quickly but it still hurt.

He should have known better than to digest the kind words and actions of a woman, after he was accused of being a malicious serial killer.

“Search him.” Jude commanded and Kit wanted to stand up to try and run away out of instinct, but he then realized the doors were locked. There was nowhere to go.

“Thinking of running away now, are ya? A man with a clean conscience has no desire to flee.”

One of the orderlies with the name tag Dennis held him and the other one called Owen searched his pockets. “I didn’t steal anythi-”

Before he could finish his sentence, Owen fisted a small object out of his pocket and Kit was flabbergasted to say the least. He figured you must have planted them there when you had touched his thigh. You were quick with it but he had felt it. He already had a weird feeling as to why you did that but now he realized why.

In Owen’s fingers was a ring with a key dangling from it. If Kit seemed flabbergasted before then now he looked as if he witnessed an exorcism.

This was the first time you looked at Kit and didn’t feel remorse. If he is upset by the betrayal of a person he met not even 24 hours ago, then he doesn't know what those poor women went through. What he did to them is a thousand fold worse than what you just did. You wanted him to suffer here, because he gets a chance at life and not the girls he killed.

“Search his chamber.” Jude ordered and Owen held him locked in his grip as the other orderly walked out of the room to presumably Kit’s room.

Jude eyed Kit viciously and you knew Jude was angry once she found the newspaper. You knew what Jude was looking for, hence why you stole it, you just didn’t know why it upset her that much.

Ever since sister Mary Eunice had acted strangely out of nowhere, papers kept showing up about one subject. It was always the same, always the same date and always the same news. A paper from 1949 about a missing girl on the front. Every time you caught Jude throwing it in the trash, you reckoned it was something important. Something that was bothering her immensely. However you truly realized how much it bothered her when you saw Jude burn it in one of the ovens.

You had fisted one of the papers out of the trash and put it in your pillow. It wasn’t like your bed got cleaned so no one would blink an eye. It helped that the pillow was as hard as rocks.

Like you said, you were a watcher. Always analyzing everyone to see their weaknesses and use it against them if need be. Knowledge was power to you.

Jude came back with nothing yet her angry look was even more angry yet stoic at the same time, and you knew she found the paper you had given Kit. It was obvious she wasn’t gonna take it with her to the common room for everyone to see her little secret.

She looked at you as she stood in front of Kit. “You keep surprising me, miss Y/n.”

She then looked at Kit and curled her finger to motion him forward. “Kit Walker, come with me.”

Kit looked defenseless as he gave in. He realized he couldn't protest because of the strong grip of the orderly and so everyone in the common room watched as he was taken away. It wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling to him, as he felt the same eyes and the feeling of dread the day he was arrested in his home. His neighbors had heard the commotion of the cops and saw how Kit had been handcuffed and taken into custody in the middle of the night after he himself called the police. It didn’t matter whether he pleaded or tried to convince everyone it wasn’t him, because no one listened. No one wanted to listen and no one believed him.

This time it was nothing different. The only thing that was different was the backstabbing feeling and the handcuffs.

You were right when you had told him not to trust anyone, yet he did. And now he was paying the price.

He turned his head one more time as the orderlies grip were too tight, and he locked eyes with you. You had a stoic look on your face, no ounce of remorse or happiness. You just looked satisfied. His head turned back in defeat and he turned the corner.

After the punishment he was given, he truly realized why people were afraid of sister Jude. He truly digested the gravity of the situation and he now knew to never mess with you.

You were right when you said he wouldn’t want you as an enemy.

end of preview

[huellitaa]

bee's record player, may edition 🎀𓂃 ࣪˖

──★ ˙ ̟🎀 INTRO

and here is the long awaited, albeit delayed arrival of bee's record player: may issue! ♡ (went for a slightly different theme this month, how do we feel about it?

this month there was not in fact many music releases or much going on in the music world, but we do still have a few things to discuss for this month's issue:

──★ ˙ ̟🎀 NEW ARRIVALS

risk, gracie abrahams

♡ released may 1st, 2024

♡ pre release single

♡ running time: 3 minutes 12 seconds

take a bite, beabadoobee

♡ released may 9th, 2024

♡ pre release single

♡ running time: 2 minutes 39 seconds

you had me at hello, zerobaseone

♡ released may 13th, 2024

♡ extended play / EP

♡ best songs: have not yet listened! ♡

♡ running time: 20 minutes 48 seconds

dark moon "memorabilia", enhypen

♡ released may 13th, 2024

♡ EP / extended play

♡ best songs: have not yet listened! ♡

♡ running time: 19 minutes 48 seconds

hit me hard and soft, billie eillish

♡ released may 17th, 2024

♡ full length album / LP

♡ best songs: birds of a feather, lunch, chihiro, bittersuite, blue

♡ running time: 43 minutes 49 seconds

turn it up, pinkpantheress

♡ released may 24th, 2024

♡ single

♡ running time: 2 minutes 27 seconds

how sweet, newjeans

♡ released may 24th, 2024

♡ single

♡ running time: 6 minutes 59 seconds

sixth sense, kiss of life

♡ released may 25th, 2024

♡ single

♡ running time: 3 minutes 11 seconds

armaggedon: the 1st album, aespa

♡ released may 27th, 2024

♡ full length album / LP

♡ best songs: supernova, armaggedon, bahama, long chat, melody

♡ running time: 30 minutes 58 seconds

loop, yves

♡ released may 29th, 2024

♡ extended play / EP

♡ best songs: diorama , loop ft. lil cherry (♡)

♡ running time: 12 minutes 6 seconds

──★ ˙ ̟🎀BEE'S TRACKS: TOP 10

♡ 10. red wine supernova, chappell roan

CHAPPELL ROAN CHAPPELL ROAN CHAPPELL ROAN CHAPPELL ROAN LETS GO LESBIANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i've been SO obsessed w chappell roan this month and this song is. oh my gosh. the red wine sueprnova bridge changed lives idc everybody go listen to chappell roan right now !!!!!!!!!!! <3

♡ 9. midas touch, kiss of life

i love this song!!!! oh my gosh!!!!!!! i've been so into kiss of life the past month or so and i love love love this song so much, it's such a vibe u don't get it. i didn't like it at first but it's so cunty so that makes it all good in my books <3 also kiof vocals are no joke see 5th gen kpop this is what happens when you debut actual adults !! <3

♡ 8. telepatia, kali uchis

i don't know if it's just the pretty summer girl vibes this song has or the immense love i have for latina women in music but like oh my gosh this song?????? i'm so????????? i can't do this?????? definitely wasn't lured in by the pink on the cover nope nope nope but like i seriously need to get into her more u don't get it

♡ 7. turn it up, pinkpantheress

i do not often listen to pinkpantheress but she came up on my spotify and i'd heard good things about her and liked the pink on the song cover so i gave it a listen and u don't understand the chokehold she's had on me this month i'm so obsessed. her vibes r EVERYTHING

♡ 6. bahama, aespa

AGAIN. THE PRETTY SUMMER GIRL VIBES ARE IMMACULATE. alcohol free was THE summer kpop song for me before but aespa has overtaken this title i fear! their voices are so pretty and the whole summery beachy vibes are absolutely PERFECT <3 aespa u ate so hard w this one !!!!! <3

♡ 5. birds of a feather, billie eillish

i am so in love with this song and have been since it came out oh my gosh. the vibes are immaculate, her voice is literally angelic, the lyrics are everything to me and i want this song at my wedding. i do not take criticism case closed thank u very much

♡ 4. how sweet, newjeans

AHHHHHHH OH MY GOSH i just know this song would have been higher if it hadn't only come out a few days before the end of may but the energy is everything, and the prechorus?????????? hello??????? obsessed??????????? my girls still going strong despite whatever the heck is going on at hybe at the moment idk but ate as usual !! <3

♡ 3. take a bite, beabadoobee

OH MY GOSH I LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH,,, I'VE BEEN SO HYPED FOR IT SINCE IT WAS FIRST TEASED ON SPOTIFY AND I ACTUALLY . I. IM SO OBSESSED U DONT UNDERSTNAD IT S= NOT EVEN FUNNY I'M SO EXCITED FOR AUGUST 16TH

♡ 2. good luck, babe!, chappell roan

I CANNOT. I HAVE BEEN SO OBSESSED W CHAPPELL ROANB THIS MRONTH SHE ISW MY EVERYTHNIG. HER VOCALS IN THIS SONG I FEEL LIKE I'M ASCENDING TO HEAVEN EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE I'VE SPENT WITHOUT CHAPPELL ROAN FEELS LIKE EVERY DAY WASTED CHAPPELL ROAN IS LOVE LIFE CHAPPELL R

♡ 1. bubble gum, newjeans

alright anyway anddd onto number one,, the song that has been on loop since release, bubble gum by my favourite girlies newjeans!!! <3 my best friend has been BEGGING me to listen to this for weeks now and oh my gosh i felt so stupid when she finally made me listen to it because it is a literal work of art. maybe i'm a sucker for summery songs at the moment, maybe it's the fact the music video makes me violently sob from how sweet it is and danielle's curly hair and hanni's short hair makes my eyes turn into hearts but like i adore this song. i think one of my favourite compliments i've ever gotten is that i look like this song 😭<33

──★ ˙ ̟🎀ALBUMS

♡ 1. rise and fall of a midwest princess, chappell roan

woahhhh this is sooo surprisinggggg ahahahahaaaa!!! this album is everything to me u DONT get it i LOVE chappell roan i LOVE cunty lesbians i LOVE music i EUAHHRRRRRRRR

♡ 2. super real me, illit

i am still not over this debut i fear......... midnight fiction was #11 on my top tracks of this month and the chokehold these girls had and still have on me since march is ridiculous. best kpop debut quite possibly ever i rest my case

♡ 3. beatopia, beabadoobee

BEABADOOBEE I LOVE YOU so basically i've been listening to bea a lot more since i got my bsf into her too and the amount of times i've relistened to beatopia and our extended play in this month alone is absolutely ridiculous. i adore her so much oh my gosh what i would GIVE to hear 10:36 live !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3

♡ 4. hit me hard and soft, billie eillish

i've listened to this album so many times since it came out oh my gosh. i'm obsessed. i am not a big billie eillish listener, i liked her when she was super popular but since then i haven't really listened to her, but i love love love this album oh my gosh she ate so bad

♡ 5. armageddon, aespa

i was so excited for this album !!! especially as it's their first full length one after four years of being one of THE most iconic kpop girl groups in my honest and humble (and completely correct) opinion, and though it was not as amazing and perfect and fantastic as i hoped it's a pretty solid album and the more i listened the more i liked and it's really grown on me honestly !!!!

──★ ˙ ̟🎀ARTISTS

♡ CHAPPELL ROAN (the fact she even overtook tubatu in this column just tells u how obsessed i am. it's not even funny anymore.)

♡ TOMORROW X TOGETHER (everybody act surprised again !!! )

♡ BEABADOOBEE (bea ily forever)

♡ ARIANA GRANDE (yes i'm still on my ari shit!!!!)

♡ AVRIL LAVIGNE (quick guys pretend you can't tell i'm emo)

──★ ˙ ̟🎀SPECIAL MENTIONS

♡ bea announced her new album,, "this is how tomorrow moves"!! everybody go presave her new album IMMEDIATELY <3 releases august 16th !!!!!! <333333

──★ ˙ ̟🎀 EDITOR'S NOTE

aaaaaand that wraps up this month's issue of bee's record player! once again i'd like to apologise for making u whole month to actually get this month's edition but you're getting a double edition to make up for it so we're all good. thank you all for your patience and i look forward to seeing you again very soon! ♡

all my love, and until next month! 💘🫶🏻🎀

[fayesdiary]

Faye's Fòdlan Journey: Season 1 - Opening Thoughts

Introduction

Masterpost Next->

As a reminder, we're starting with Azure Moon first, followed by Verdant Wind, Crimson Flower and lastly Silver Snow.

This was a route order I decided when I asked around for advice on which order to play them (mainly if there was an intended route order like in Fates) and they basically told me "play Azure Moon first, don't play Verdant Wind and Silver Snow next to each other since they're incredibly similar" and something else that made me decide to place Crimson Flower in the third slot. We'll see how well it turns out.

Before starting, I want to make a small note on my past experiences with Fòdlan.

I was there when Three Houses was first announced and I watched all the trailers as well as some Youtubers breaking them down.

But once it got released, I decided to go on hiding to avoid spoilers, which among other things meant unsubscribing to the very bad, not good r/fireemblem subreddit. One thing led to another, I eventually realized Reddit did me more harm than good because at that point I logged in there deliberately to get angry, so I decided to delete it.

Which means, in a way, I have to thank Three Houses to get me out of there, years before Reddit crashed and burned on top of that.

The following years were spent dodging most (but not all, sadly) spoilers, witnessing third-hand reports of flame wars with morbid curiosity (basically it's as if there was a huge wildfire outside and I was in my garden ignoring it while grilling) and being increasingly annoyed that almost every new content felt like it was about Fòdlan. At least before Engage was announced.

So I my feelings coming onto this game are a mix of awe, curiosity, fear and annoyance. I wonder if that makes sense.

Speaking of annoyances, I have to talk about a small pet peeve I have with the cover art.

While I definitely wouldn't call it bad, something about it felt off to me from the moment they revealed it.

It's clear what they were going for, with the house leaders dividing the art into three spaces, but the end results ends up looking a bit goofy, especially with the infamous upside-down Claude (which became a meme from the very beginning) and the Byleths just slapped onto the background of a building even if it doesn't make much sense.

But this is mainly a subjective thing. What isn't subjective, though, is the art error where Claude's bow is misaligned. If you look closely at the center, you'll notice the end of the bow isn't actually ligned up with the rest of it, and now you won't be able to unsee it, bothering you as much as it bothers me. You're welcome, by the way.

But we've delayed the main event for long enough. Let's start the game, shall we?

The first thing you see when starting the game is an empty throne on the left, followed by a quiet rendition on the organ of the Fire Emblem theme. Already it's starting to become clear the tone this game is going for.

Waiting around a bit, the opening of the game starts playing.

First of all- wow, that theme. Edge of Dawn is one of the best vocal tracks of Fire Emblem by far. I remember listening to it on loop when it first got released!

Also I gotta say, I missed the anime-style cutscenes.

While I like the 3D ones these give the game plenty of charm, even if I wish they were a bit more fluid. Honestly, they make a solid argument for a Fire Emblem anime to be released. no the cancelled OVA doesn't count shut up

If this is anything like Echoes, this opening is made of spliced-up future cutscenes. And given a good portion of it shows up again in the intro cutscene, I'd say I'm right.

Returning to the game, we start creating our file and- ooh, boy.

Ignoring the difficulty options for a second, which are the same as every modern Fire Emblem save for Echoes (only difference being that "Lunatic" is now named "Maddening"), it's time for my first big criticism of this game.

Which is ironic, given that it's about all of the text being too. Freaking. ˢᵐᵃˡˡ.

Maybe it's just an impression I have, but back when Three Houses first released, it felt like every AAA company was in a competition to put the tiniest text possible due to the larger screens, with the result that most of the time you have trouble reading it unless you get closer.

This is a huge blunder on accessibility for people with visibility problems, and while it luckily got better especially now that accessibility is a larger focus for most mainstream developers (except, of course, Nintendo), here it still shows its tiny, hugly head.

And remember, the Switch is also a portable console, so there are people who had to read this tiny font on a small screen, so I'd say this is pretty bad. I doubt I'll play Three Houses on portable because of this.

In fact, I feel this is such a problem I will be including alt text on all the screens with dialogue.

Going back to the difficulty options, I will be playing on Normal Classic.

Normal because I'm an impatient scrub, Classic because I like having some form of consequences. Besides, I have Divine Pulse covering my ass.

Hey, I said I was a long-time Fire Emblem player, I never said I was good at it.

With that said, the screen fades to black, and the first proper cutscene begins.

We open on a large, rainy battlefield, in what I assume is the distant past.

Two armies clash against each other, until a human(?) named Nemesis descends from the skies in a burst of flame. Immediately he turns his attention towards his foe, the goddess Seiros.

The two soon begin a duel to the death. Seiros uses a sword and shield which couple with her general design makes me think she might be slightly inspired from Greek culture? Big if true, because from what I know Fire Emblem never took inspiration from Greece.

Nemesis, meanwhile, fights with... the Sword of the Creator?

Huh. Will need to keep a closer eye on that one.

Eventually, Seiros prevails, and in a fit of rage, stabs Nemesis to death over and over, yelling that he took everything she loved.

After felling her *heh* Nemesis, Seiros grabs the Sword of the Creator, lovingly caressing it calling her Mother.

We see the Divine Pulse activate, and all of a sudden we're brought at Best Goddess Sothis' Mind Space, where she notices her new visitor.

So. This intro.

Besides already setting the tone Fòdlan is going for (grand with a lot of death and tragedy and murder), it's interesting how if you're at least a bit savvy with how Fire Emblem stories go, you can already put two and two together with that's happening.

Granted, future games and loose spoilers are kind of helping me, but still. Let me explain.

First of all, Seiros is a goddess. If it wasn't clear from the fact there's a Church named literally after her. And given what most goddesses are in Fire Emblem are and her particular shade of green hair (the same Naga and Tiki and also Mila share), it's clear she's Fòdlan's equivalent of Divine Dragons.

Nemesis, meanwhile, is using a sword made of bones, which are what all of Fòdlan's legendary weapons are made of. And given they are all effective against dragons as Heroes and Engage show...

Well, it doesn't take a genius to realize where those bones come from.

Remember, Falchion is made from a dragon's bone too.

And given what Seiros says, it's likely Nemesis or someone else affiliated with him murdered all of Seiros' loved ones to make legendary weapons of unfathomable power out of them.

The Sword of the Creator seems to be made out of the bones of her mother, on top. No wonder she's pissed.

I am curious about the Divine Pulse transition. Is it just cosmetic to signify a fast-forward, or is there some time fuckery already going on? I guess there's only a way to find out.

Sothis greets us in her own, sassy way, prompting the Avatar creation screen.

And lo and behold, we went from Awakening and Fates' somewhat limited but still extensive customization options to... Just getting to choose the Avatar's gender.

*sigh* Listen. I went on a tangent about this multiple times, so I'll just keep it brief and say that given how restrictive Fire Emblem's dialogue options are, if you're not going to make the Avatar at least visually properly customizable then there's no reason to have an Avatar and all.

Okay. With that tangent aside, let's talk about Byleth's designs.

Male Byleth is my favorite. The outfit looks good and practical for a mercenary, I'm a big fan of the loose sleeves of his jacket (?) and his face looks neutral but serious.

Meanwhile, Female Byleth... well.

I'm sure I'm far from the only one who mentioned this, but between the random holes in her armor just to show more bare skin, her strangely ornate thights and her somewhat younger face with larger eyes... Yeah, it's clear what the designers' priorities were for her.

Also her expression makes her look like a doll. A doll having flashbacks.

I like her hair more, though. So that's that at least.

As a reminder, male Byleth will be used for the first two routes while female Byleth for the last two. But regardless, I will be talking about Byleth in a gender neutral way, safe for cases where I mention a specific gender. Because again, besides romance options, the Avatar's gender really Does Not Matter.

Here we have the first dialogue option, something this game loves to use. I guess it's why Byleth's a silent protagonist, although I doubt it will be worth it.

As a general rule of thumb I like to immerse myself in who I'm playing as, so I will be picking the dialogue options I think Byleth would choose, which will be the highlighted ones in the screenshots.

I know Byleth is nicknamed the Ashen Demon but I don't know how they feel about that moniker yet, so I choose to have them call themselves a mortal.

Sothis then asks Byleth for their name, which for every route will be... Well, Byleth. Not that it's ever said out loud anyway.

Lastly, she asks them about their birthday.

It's interesting to note how here, instead of using our real life Calendar, every month has its Fòdlan counterpart. While this is really neat, I hope they will keep the number along with it because I know I will forget about them otherwise.

And I share their day of birth as well! What a peculiar coincidence!

With a last phrase that feels like it's leaning on the fourth wall, Sothis bids Byleth farewell for now.

donotmakeaSkyrimjokedonotmakeaSkyrimjokeDONOTMAKEASKYRIMJOKE

Byleth's father and soon-to-be corpse, Jeralt, wakes Byleth from their strange dream.

Apparently, Byleth dreamt about Sothis multiple times, but this is apparently the first time she actually noticed them.

Guess she was asleep for the other nights, that must have been pretty awkward for them. I hope she doesn't snore at least.

The father-and-child duo prepars for another mercenary mission, when they're approached by three inconspicious teenagers who definitely haven't set the Internet on fire for years to come, asking for help.

The problem is of course, bandits. The universal evil of all of Fire Emblem. With a whole group of them on their tail and about to attack a village, the five prepare their counterattack.

Which we will see next time, since this post is getting incredibly long and more importantly, I've hit the image cap!

Introduction

Masterpost Next->

[zhouxiangs]

my top albums of 2023

(but i'm cheating, probably, because of course i am)

tagged by @theelast-straw <3

in no particular order except for roughly release date/order in which i got obsessed with each album, i present you: the albums i've had on loop for most of 2023

i like to listen to albums from start to finish, i think for the same reason that i tend to rewatch the same movies when i can't sleep (the sense of familiarity) but i'm picking a favourite from each because all of them had that one (1) song i got obsessed with and/or made it into one of my very specific playlists... some even more than one, if i'm honest lol

my world, aespa (2023)

what can i say about my favourite gg except that i love them so much? their title tracks are always a 10/10 for me but so are most of the sides, and for my world we got some amazing track videos (my favourite was of course i'm unhappy). plus there's the added layer of collecting pcs and the friends i cry about pieces of cardboard with, and while i admit i went a bit overboard during my world and that may be one of the reasons i got overwhelmed and eventually bored so now i'm stepping back from collecting, i still had lots of fun and this was my soundtrack for most of it.

perfume, nct dojaejung (2023)

my sons and jungwoo, do i really need to say anything else... i was lowkey scared i wouldn't like the mini for some reason and yeah that wasn't a problem, i am still obsessed with perfume lol i think this came out right after i decided i wouldn't buy more physical albums except the ones that i really loved the design of, and then i loved the songs so much that i ended up getting doyoung's box... and eventually two pbs from ktwt because i wanted to make covers out of them, and then never did lol

golden age, nct (2023)

pado and baggy jeans are my most played songs of the year; wish i could say i've gotten over the brain worms baggy jeans caused but nope, it's still on loop in my mind months later and i fear it's not going anywhere 👖

nil, the gazette (2006)

so this one is not new... but for some reason in the first half of the year, i think? i got back into the gazette; i've been listening to nil now and then throughout the years but now i also listen to their whole discography regularly. it's like being 16 again but with back pain lol happy to announce nil is still my favourite album of all time, and that i somehow remember all the lyrics! for this one i'm picking cassis because it has been one of my favourite songs since it came out and then cemented its place forever in my heart when i saw them play it live, which is something i'll never forget.

fact check, nct 127 (2023)

ICONIC MOVE, MY MOTION. i adore fact check, 127 never miss with their title tracks and i always go through at least a few days where i need to play them on loop because they won't leave my mind otherwise... but this time, if i could only pick one song from the album, it'd have to be angel eyes. i don't know if it's the happy 90s boyband energy or what but it's so special to me, makes me happy every time i listen to it <3

ร็อก เล็ก เล็ก, micro (1986)

we all know when and where this came from, don't we? one thing i'll always be grateful to only friends for (other than sandray both as characters and as a ship) is the music; i discovered so many wonderful songs and artists by listening to the playlists, and of course my favourite was micro, particularly this album which i started to listen to because both อย่าดีกว่า and อยากจะบอกใครสักคน are in it, and while they're still my favourites i really like the rest of the album too.

the land is inhospitable and so are we, mitski (2023)

i think i discovered mitski back in 2018 when be the cowboy came out, but for some reason i never listened to her music a lot? i had a pearl in my playlists, but it wasn't until laurel hell came out in 2022 that i started to listen to more... and then this year we got this amazing album and she's now one of my most listened artists of all time. my favourite is my love all mine because, like for most of twitter, that was (one of) my sandray song(s).

something to give to each other, troye sivan (2023)

this album came out right when i was itching for new music and to make more playlists because i was bored of always listening to the same songs. it was kind of a break? not because it's super different from other things i listen to, i don't think, but idk it was exactly what i needed right when i needed it. there's something about can't go back, baby that has always made it stand out to me, but don't ask me what.

to. x, taeyeon (2023)

mother! taeyeon has been in my life continuously for the longest time; her voice is such a comfort, it doesn't matter if i stop listening to kpop for years (which i've done a couple times in my life because i am that dramatic) i don't think i could ever quit her. honestly the whole album is perfect, no notes, and we even got a live clip for all for nothing. best way to end the year!

not tagging anyone but if you see this and want to do it you can consider yourself tagged <3

[beevean]

I finally unboxed the Sega Genesis Mini I’ve had for a while, and had the chance to try out Sonic the Hedgehog! It turns out there’s also Mega Man: The Wily Wars, which is essentially a compilation remake of Mega Man 1, 2, and 3, so I’ll try that out later, along with Castlevania: Bloodlines.

Also, the Genesis controller is beefier than I anticipated. It’s not bad, though! It’s nice to hold, and pressing the buttons feels nice. The d-pad is also very sensitive, and if I ever get around to playing any of the fighting games, I imagine the round shape will help with fighting games!

So far, Sonic the Hedgehog, along with what I’ve played of Mega Man and the Classicvanias, strikes me as a platformer that requires lots of precision. Except unlike Mega Man and Castlevania, you’re going at super fast speeds, so obstacles can be hard to anticipate if you don’t know the lay of the land. (I can only imagine how much tougher the Game Gear version is, what with the screen crunch I’ve heard about.)

The alternate pathways are really nice, though! It helps vary the gameplay experience, I imagine!

Also, why is Sonic 3 not on there? There’s a plastic Sonic and Knuckles cartridge, but Sonic 3 isn’t even there? That would have been cool. Oh well. That’s what hacking is for.

That's great!

I never held a real Genesis controller, but they look pretty solid lol.

The Classic games are not quite the other platformers of the time, especially not MM and CV. They are more momentum-based, most noticeably Sonic 1, which didn't have things like the Spin Dash yet so you had to earn all of your speed. The games are generally easier to beat, but you're encouraged to experiment with the level design to find shortcuts. But yes, the Genesis games were criticized for centering the camera on Sonic, causing some visibility issues. If you've played Sonic 2 and got to Chemical Plant, you must have experienced Sonic outrunning the camera :P (as for the Game Gear games, yes they can get very bad :') but they're ports of the games for Master System, so very different games! They're simpler and cute)

As for Sonic 3... oh boy. Let me carry you through a fascinating rabbit hole.

It's widely believed that S3&K could not be re-released for the longest time because of its music. Now, it was re-released in the 2000s, I personally played it on Sonic Mega Collection Plus for PS2, but in the 2010s it was no longer included. But let me explain with one example.

This is the theme of Ice Cap Zone in the Genesis version:

In 1997, the game was ported on PC under the name of Sonic & Knuckles Collection. It used MIDI music, but most importantly, some tracks were replaced. These are Ice Cap's themes in the Collection:

Pretty different, huh?

Since 1997, it was believed that the new tunes were hastly composed replacements either because the PCs of the time could not handle the vocal clips of certain tracks, or because, turns out, Michael Jackson and Brad Buxer composed some of the tracks. No, really.

This is Hard Times, composed by The Jetzons, of which Brad Buxer was a member of:

I hear a couple of similarities with Ice Cap :) but yeah, this song became popular in the Sonic fandom... 7 years ago, I'd say? Not too long ago. It pretty much confirmed that some of the tracks in S3 were not composed by people at SEGA, and this is why they lost their copyrights on it.

Another shocking discovery was made in 2019. A beta of Sonic 3 was unearthed, one dated 4 months before the release of the game. It was still very rough, but again, what matters here is that it too had different tracks...

The S&K Collection tracks were the originals??????

So... they composed these tracks... then they hired Michael Jackson and Brad Buxer to replace them... then they covered their involvement? Now, tbf, if you remember what scandals Jackson was involved in 1994 you can understand SEGA's decision to cut contacts with him, but still, what a loop.

(side note, Carnival Night Act 1 Beta is one of my favorite tracks in general lol. The official one can't compare)

During the 2010s, mobile ports of Sonic 1, 2 and CD were made by Christian Whitehead, the man who would eventually become the head of the team that made Sonic Mania. But even though he was more than ready to give the same treatment to 3&K, SEGA never gave the okay... until 2022.

That year, Sonic Origins was released, a compilation that is meant to be the definitive way to play the Classic games. In reality, they're mostly ports of the mobile ports. And guess which tracks they put in the shiny new remaster of S3&K.

Fans were not happy, to say the least.

And this is the story of how Michael Jackson made porting S3&K nearly impossible without resorting to controversial beta themes :'D

[afangirlsmanicextraveganza]

(Kumadori story posting time! Link for the rest is in my page history)

Chapter One: A Blade in the Storm

Water, the element humans need most to sustain our very existence. It makes up more than seventy percent of the human body, nourishes our food, washes away the filth from our flesh and clothing, and gifts us its bounty of fish and breathtaking underwater landscapes. Still, that very same element also holds the power of death, to so easily and violently take away what it has bestowed.

Creatures without gills could drown in it, fragile bodies could be dashed against the rocks by the relentless waves of the sea or cast over sheer cliffs carried on the currents of the rivers. Currently, a small child wrapped in rags and huddled against the trunk of an ancient tree was being subjected to another possibility. Being exposed to the rain for too long with no cover, soaked to the bone, one could easily freeze to death...

The young girl's cries were muffled by the damp bark she clung to with her feet pulled to her chest, trying desperately to hide from the storm under the thickest clump of branches she could find. Her blue eyes were red and swollen, and squeezed tight as she whispered silent prayers to the gods. Over the crashing din of the liquid sheets slamming down onto the earth, angry shouting and heavy footsteps could be heard.

"That little bitch! Where'd she go?"

Her narrow shoulders shook as she flinched away from the sound, doing her utmost to not move or make a sound. Not that it mattered much, since it was impossible to see more than a few feet in any direction and between the sound of the rain and the occasional rumble of thunder, she was well hidden.

"Check over there, and split up! The captain will have our necks if we don't find her."

The footsteps and arguing grew more distant and she let out a sigh of relief. Her luck must have truly been cursed, however, as a shot rang out and wood splinters scattered in her hair. A bullet had pierced the tree just inches from her head, and she jerked her head back to see an enraged and very soaked pirate looming over her. It was one of her captors.

'No!'

"There you are! You're in a lot of trouble, missy. Thought you could swim to shore and give us the slip, did you?"

He grabbed her thin arm in a vice-like grip, squeezing so hard that she yelped, knowing that when he released her there would be a bruise. Yanking her roughly away from her tree shelter, he began dragging her kicking and screaming along the ground.

"No!" She cried. "I won't go back! Get off of me! Where's my mommy?! I wanna go home!"

He cuffed her across the cheek, snapping her head to the side, growling

"Your whole family's dead, you dumb brat. You ain't got a home to go back to except the ship so step fuckin' lively will ya? I'm itchin' to get outta this weather!"

When she didn't move and instead dug her hands into the ground, fisting the grass to keep herself from being tugged, gripping until her fingernails bled, he raised a massive hand once again to strike.

Unseen by both, a pair of sharp eyes flashed in the nearby branches, and as his hand descended, something shiny sprouted from his throat, catching in the sporadic flashes of light. He gurgled and clutched at it, then crumpled to the ground, causing a muddy splash.

When a bolt of lightning shrieked across the sky and lit the forest like a firework show, she saw it was a small knife with a loop on the end of the handle, where a purple scrap of cloth was tied, and was eagerly drinking up the blood leaking down the blade in crimson rivulets.

She scrambled to her feet and backed away with shaky, uneven steps. Her back hit something hard, and she stumbled forward, landing with a splash. Another of her captors had happened upon them, and he screamed his rage at her for killing his friend.

"I-it wasn't me, I swear!" She pleaded.

"Oh yeah?"

He kicked her, sending her rolling into the corpse of his comrade, where she lay coughing, curled in on herself and clutching her side.

"Well then where'd that knife come from, huh? Who else would be out in this shit?"

"Ohooo, you'd be surprised, pirate! Yoyoi!"

The little girl couldn't see much from her angle on the ground. The rain kept getting in her eyes and blurring her vision. But, she still made out a blur of white, pale pink and black that seemed to drop from the sky onto her attacker and land on his shoulders, pressing another of those strange knives to the man's throat. It was peculiar to her, but she could have sworn the next clap of thunder that sounded off resembled a drum strike. A singsongy, young boy's voice followed, tauntingly reciting with drawn out syllables and a dramatic tone

"We're all bound to die

And when our moment comes

It's time to complyyy!"

"What kinda fruity-GAHH!"

She blinked and her vision cleared precisely in time to see a fountain of blood gush forth and the sheen of the knife as it plunged forward, tearing through flesh as though it were butter. The figure perched on the bleeding pirate's shoulders became clear to her as well. It was a rather large boy, who looked still a child but definitely a few years her senior. His hair billowed out in waves and was a shocking light shade of pink! He had a thin black coat draped loosely over his shoulders, opening to his bare chest and loose-fitting black pants as well. But his face was the strange part. Twisted into a snarl, it was white as the moon with dramatic purple lines surrounding and winging from his eyes and his lips, and even running in a line up the bow of his lips to frame the bottom half of his nose. It was something of a feline and a devil combined.

That was all she could process before the other man hit the ground with a hard thump, and the boy rolled forward on the impact, landing gracefully in a crouch before her. The rain had let up ever so slightly, and she saw a pale hand reach for her. She pulled away instinctively. She'd been grabbed enough in the last three months to make her extremely wary of any outstretched limbs. The hand fell to his side while his other arm rested on his knees. He picked up his blade and wiped it clean on the wet grass before pocketing it, then met her eyes.

His left eye was shut, she did not know why, but the one that was open and staring at her was blacker than a moonless night, and held a predatory energy that could be clearly seen, even now in the dark. When she lifted her head to get a better look, brushing light red locks away from her face, his expression shifted. He looked almost dazed, eye wide and mouth agape.

She supposed she couldn't blame him. She must look horrible. The pirates that had been keeping her captive had barely fed her enough to keep her alive, and she could feel her bones jutting out in odd places. She shifted to hide herself, embarrassed, then yelped, hand shooting to her side where the dead man had kicked her.

Seeing this, the boy snapped out of whatever trance had taken him, and he reached out again, smiling gently.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Hmm. Flowers need water to bloom, but too much and you'll end up as dead as those two, and what a tragedy that would be! Yoyoi! An affront to the heavens! So, come! Come home with me, my mother can treat your wounds and you can warm yourself by our fire."

Something told her to trust him, despite his strange appearance and weird speech patterns. She nodded slowly, grasping his hand and letting him pull her up. She could hardly stand, and when he saw this he reached down and scooped her up easily, cradling her to his chest. For all the youth of his appearance, he was so much taller than her!

"Yoyoyoi! Foolish! What was I thinking, expecting you to walk when you've already run so far, and with broken ribs! I shall have to commit seppuku for I cannot bear the shame!"

"W-what's seppuku?" She asked shyly, burrowing into his warmth despite herself. It was so much more preferable to the bone-chilling cold, even with the lighter rainfall.

"I shall take a blade and drive it into my belly for dishonoring myself and my beloved mother in such a careless manner!"

He declared this proudly, holding his head up high and frowning deeply, the expression exaggerated to an almost comical proportion by his face paint.

She started in his arms, wincing when it aggravated the ribs he claimed she'd broken.

"What?! Please no! Don't kill yourself over something like that! You saved my life!"

He gazed down at her as they made their way up a path, one that he knew by heart along with the rest of this island, that would lead them back to his mother's cottage.

"Warmth blooms in my chest

Joy laughs, skipping through my heart

Mystery angel"

he murmured, flicking his eyes back up, brow furrowed as he continued.

"Rose in threadbare rags

I no longer feel the cold

Frail petals shield me"

She cocked her head to the side.

"Is that some kind of poem?"

"It's called a haiku. Mother taught me. Very well, by the way. As you say, I will stay my hand."

She peeked up at him meekly.

"No seppuku?"

He grinned widely down at her, one eye sparkling with mirth as he chuckled.

"No seppuku."

A sigh of relief reached his ears and she settled back against his chest. They were almost to his home. He could see a thin column of smoke spiraling up from the chimney.

[muutosarchive]

It is easy to get swept up in the thrumming energy of a crowd, to feel the presence of a body behind him and react without really thinking. They want it, the congregation, and Papa Emeritus the Fourth reacts as any good Papa should. He turns on his heel with elegance, almost gliding, like a figure skater, mid-lyric, and grins to find Swiss there. Their usual set-up required too much space this venue could not accommodate; the multi-tasking ghoul could not be banished to his normal pedestal dais because it simply did not exist for this ritual.

All the better.

They want it. They want it. They yearn for things to turn into bite-sized tiktoks and reels, spreading from one show across the internet like a virus.

And he has given it to them, in small doses. Tiny little tidbits of dances, of leaning against Dewdrop, of caressing Aether's thighs as he drops to his knees next to him like a damsel on the cover of an old fantasy romance novel.

Copia pulls Swiss to him like they are magnets, colliding their bodies together in a way that isn't elegant or dance-like, cradling the back of the Ghoul's head before dipping him low and pressing their lips together before releasing him. It is all one fluid motion, gone and done in half a heart beat. Blink and you miss it. And Copia sings on.

swiss is presently absent -- oh so blissful, during the majority of rituals. feet planted as hips gyrate. spinning, with human hands pressing microphone stand & leaning his weight upon it. pendulum swinging his body more rhythmically -- more shapely, & with much more finesse. round, wide movements entrance more-so than apologetic ones, & swiss was never one to hold back. especially when it concerns papa. papa emeritus the fourth, & the only papa he's ever known. sprung to this mortal coil, with the sole purpose of multi-purpose functionality. not specially created, but selected nonetheless. & he takes his role very seriously. loving & caring for the honorary emeritus, with almost awe-like qualities.

the reason for his being here, swiss is enamored with the glittering glamour & the pleasures of modern living.

both hands on the mic, swiss flashes quick teeth with a bashful yet playfully teasing demeanor. longs for papa's attention, since he doesn't receive it as often as the ghouls centre stage. often jealous of aether & dewdrop, for suckling the best of papa's flirtatious interactions. those swiss clings to, like they're the most sincerest & heartfelt of praise. the proverbial good boy -- attention making him feel worthy. & he encourages it. cocking his head, whilst he does a salacious little roaming of hand along chest. just as his hips begin to wind side to side. opposite fingers wiggling in a tame greeting, beckoning papa closer.

hands make it into belt loops, hooking thumbs to pull his hips with a haul. lolling his head about in the papa's sweeping towards him. he feels all the more a part of things, down here. enjoying his ability to move around... anticipating.

& when papa comes forth to replace his hands, hips collide...

giggling, they knock together. veiny hands pressing into papa's shoulders, whilst gloved fingers touch the base of his neck... hairs made to stand on end... the surprise is enough to almost crack swiss' gums open... or for his tail to spring forth, & beat against the floor in delight. but luckily, it doesn't. fangs just protruding when he smiles, & copia extends him downward.

fingers clutch fabric, whilst copia presses their lips together. & swiss scrambles to reciprocate with fervor, before papa flips him upright. leaving swiss hanging onto the microphone, when papa turns to leave. eventually falling to hang by his side.

he grins, & looks down at his boots with an innocent swing of the hips. hand raising to his mouth, in tiny little giggles. for the fans.. for those same reels...

but also, for himself.

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 04/03/2023 (Freya Ridings, Superstar Pride, Caity Baser)

“Flowers” by Miley Cyrus is at #1 for a 7th consecutive week, and I don’t see it facing much competition. For now, welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

It’s a pretty standard week, and I’m pretty busy this week, kind of exhausted, so let’s be as quick as possible and start as always with the notable dropouts, songs exiting the UK Top 75 – which is what I cover – after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. Sure, it’s expected that “Lost” by Linkin Park and “Voices” by KSI and Oliver Tree have left the chart, but we also say farewell to four big ones: “Out of Nowhere” by Bugzy Malone and TeeDee, “Music for a Sushi Restaurant” by Harry Styles, “PSYCHO” by Anne-Marie and Aitch and... “STAY” by The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber... again.

As for what’s filling in the blanks, we actually see a decent few returning entries. Two of them are long-term hits briefly coming back, those being “Save Your Tears” by The Weeknd at #72 and “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi at #63, and the other two are recent instrumental TikTok hits picking up a new peak, those being “METAMORPHOSIS” by INTERWORLD at #68 and “Snowfall” by Oneheart and reidenshi at #61. Elsewhere, we have our notable gains, including “Until I Found You” by Stephen Sanchez at #53, “Under the Influence” by Chris Brown at #51, “Shut up My Moms Calling” by HOTEL UGLY at #47, “Whistle” by Jax Jones featuring Calum Scott at #46, “Another Love” by Tom Odell at #44, “Snooze” by SZA at #40, “Here with Me” by d4vd at #34, “Rush” by Ayra Starr at #29 and finally, apart from a gain in the top five, “Hide & Seek” by Stormzy at #21.

This week, the top five of the UK Singles Chart is pretty familiar, with one twist. We see “Sure Thing” by Miguel at #5, sure, but then thanks to a seven-years-too-late remix with Ariana Grande, The Weeknd sees “Die for You” surge up to #4. Otherwise, we have “Kill Bill” by SZA at #3, “Boy’s a liar” by PinkPantheress at #2 and of course, “Flowers” at #1. Now we move onto our smaller batch of new arrivals.

NEW ARRIVALS

#69 – “Watch This” – Lil Uzi Vert and ARIZONATEARS

Produced by Forza and Kado or ARIZONATEARS

This is technically another case wherein the song credited by the Official Charts Company doesn’t really exist. As the story goes, Forza produced the original track which was previewed in 2019, but later, he was called out by Uzi for leaking music they’d worked on together, putting the song in limbo and leading Forza to get kicked from his band, the Working on Dying trap production collective. Eventually, in April of last year, the song and its video were leaked in full, leading to amateur producers making remixes. One particularly remix, listed as the “ARIZONATEARS Pluggnb Remix”, became particularly popular on SoundCloud, and eventually Uzi’s label Atlantic, in the tradition of screwing Uzi over, picked it up under the bizarre subsidiary – and artist credit for no reason – “sped up nightcore”. Today, we have this new version gaining much of the traction, with the original still not officially released. Issues with Forza must be the only reason why, because the original is honestly pretty fire, with a great, playful introductory verse from Uzi and a hard-hitting tread beat that has a plummeting bass placed onto ethereal keys and vocal samples that make for a pretty samey yet effectively atmospheric cloud rap track. I would prefer a shorter version, since Uzi may have a lot of flows but a lot less to say, since they’re just flexing for the most part, even if the hook is incredibly infectious. Regardless, I must prefer it to the version we got on streaming, pitching down the vocals and adding a cheap sounding synth that whilst has a cool melodic idea, just continues to mind-numbingly loop with very little variation for pretty much the entire song. The remix, whilst sounding vaguely on beat, doesn’t fit the vocals too well, with ARIZONATEARS placing some needlessly soulful plugg chords within a song that is so unabashed in its flexing that it really doesn’t seem like a good fit, especially if half of Uzi’s energy is taken away through the vocals being isolated by an AI stem splitter. It’s just an awkward fit that takes a good song and kind of butchers much of the appeal. I get why the sound has captured people, yet I can’t help but think there’s better ways to introduce people to pluggnb.

#67 – “22” – JayO

Produced by JayO

UK singer JayO, mostly known for contributing to songs by people such as Drake and YNW Melly, has his breakout solo hit with this self-produced song that... barely really exists, but it’s pleasant enough. My main issue is JayO himself, whose nasal voice takes quite a while to get used to, as the production isn’t bad at all, taking a groovy and cloudy approach to typical Afrobeats percussion that takes a really reverbed and echoed approach in its synthetic claps that I find pretty interesting, especially when placed against the solid bass and hypnotic keys. Again, JayO has pretty much nothing to say, as it’s a mostly sex-focused love song with a repetitious chorus and second verse that just repeats itself instead of bringing any new lines in. The production, whilst decent, doesn’t change enough to accommodate the utter lack of a finished song here, so the end product ends up as just okay. I wouldn’t be surprised if this ends up being really big though.

#64 – “REACT” – Switch Disco featuring Ella Henderson and Robert Miles

Produced by Switch Disco and Punctual

Switch Disco are the UK’s self-proclaimed “no. 1 mashup DJs”, and this song features a very prominent sample of “Children”, the dreamy trance classic released in 1995 by the late Italian producer Robert Miles, so prominent that he was granted a posthumous feature credit. The original song peaked at #2 behind “Don’t Look Back in Anger” by Oasis, and this reinvention features Ella Henderson on a lead vocal line that seems like it really does give credence to them being mashup DJs, since it seems completely separated from the sample, with her decent enough vocals comparing love to a chemical reaction not even remotely fitting on the disgustingly-placed sample of the now-iconic piano line. At some point, they bring in hilariously dated acoustic guitars and it almost becomes funny if it weren’t for the fact that the sample is barely implemented outside of the hook so it just becomes a copy-and-paste job. I have nothing against mashups, in fact I’m all for them, but when people who predominantly make mashups resort to just writing a song and pasting it over an existing sample, without making any real concessions to either the sample or the original song they wrote, maybe they should stick to just letting the songs be written for them, because this is pretty damn bad.

#35 – “Pretty Boys” – Caity Baser

Produced by LiTek, Matt Rad and WhYJay

The main reason that this is a unique set of new arrivals is how unfamiliar a lot of the names and faces are, or at least how they’re only slightly familiar, with some vague connections we’re familiar with, like how Caity Baser has her breakout single here, but it’s produced by Aitch’s go-to guys for whatever reason. We’ll see more of both that trend among the new arrivals as well as this one: the songs just aren’t interesting. This one is about how she continuously ends up with men who are attractive but completely boring. She has a lot of spark in her delivery, reminding me of a less volatile Lily Allen and less explicit GFOTY, and it can be quite infectious charisma-wise but the personality that drips off of this ends up becoming both its best and worst element, as whilst she’s never annoying herself, the production is so blank and upbeat with its recurring whistle and awkward trap percussion amidst the otherwise chirpy track that she ends up with barely any space to express that personality, which means this ends up pretty claustrophobic. I really do like the bridge with the acoustic guitars but it’s also just an idea that kind of comes out of nowhere because the production wasn’t fine-tuned for someone who, you know, actually has a personality – it’s almost like it was made to overshadow a performer’s lack of it, so when Baser comes on with her bratty attitude, it feels very overwhelming and for not much good reason, as the song has little edge. As it is, it’s pretty much a comedy song, and it’s chintzy fun in that regard, but it’s not something I’ll ever return to.

#33 – “PAINTING PICTURES” – Superstar Pride

Produced by GlobalKnockz

Superstar Pride is also new to the scene, having this song from his 2022 tape 5LBS OF PRESSURE blow up essentially out of nowhere, and man, it’s been a while since we had a rapper with an unusually clunky name. I almost got used to A Boogie wit da Hoodie and YoungBoy Never Broke Again but they seem to be on their way out so Superstar Pride is here to fill that spot, except with a song that is less of a mouthful and more just a weird play on his surname. Regardless, is the song any good? Well, I love the Faith Evans sample, which I recognise from when Lil Yachty sampled it on “Forever World” with Trippie Redd, but it’s arguably flipped a lot more cleverly here as while he harmonises with the original melody in the intro, he’s soon rapping over a hardcore chop and flip of the sample, buried under a minimal intense trap beat. He reminds me of Moneybagg Yo, with clunky writing definitely a part of that, as well as his gruffer delivery that works when balanced against the melody in the chorus but is pretty gross-sounding in the bassy verse. I like the detail about his family and upbringing, but I’d prefer if it was more fleshed out, given that there’s clearly more he wants to say, but resorts to rapping about thots and how it’s “no love” for these women, which is disappointing when he could go into that relationship he had with his mother that involves both loyalty and cocaine in more detail. Sure, artists don’t need to reveal more about their personal lives if we don’t want them to, but the hints we have here are compelling and I wish they went further, especially because I honestly think that chorus would work as an incredibly solid first verse for a song about that. I think that the song will still last quite a while, mostly because a star-studded remix seems very possible for a song like this going viral, maybe with someone like Lil Durk whom this beat seems tailor-made for, and I’ll be waiting for that remix so that I can fully endorse this.

#31 – “Weekends” – Freya Ridings

Produced by Steve Mac

Freya Ridings? Well, damn, this feels like reuniting with an old friend! Ridings first broke onto the UK pop scene when I was in my first year of reviewing the charts with her top 10 hit “Lost Without You”, which I still don’t like but hey, how’s it been, girl? Thanks to COVID, it honestly feels like it’s been forever. Are you making good music finally? Wait, you actually are? Well, colour me surprised: Ridings released a disco song about alienation which aside from some mix clipping and vocals that I feel should be even more processed instead of drenched in reverb and echo, I think is pretty decent. Given her throaty voice combined with the melodramatic rising pianos, it allows for comparisons to Florence + the Machine, and it definitely isn’t a unique track, but the chorus is insanely catchy and powerful, throwing itself into the strings and percussion that I wish was a bit more organic just to channel the disco even more. The second verse bringing in those distant keys, triumphant horns and Ridings’ gruff vocal riffing makes the dissonant disco frustration feel even more poignant, and the bridge with the trap percussion for once uses it to make a pretty killer slow down that I honestly wish was longer. The build up into the final chorus does feel rushed, but I feel like the chaos caused by the sheer amount of production that is thrown into this very much fits the content and really the thesis of the song. Good job, guys, though maybe I have to be worried now that the people who were charting back in 2018 can come back and surprise me with a genre shift that is of genuine quality. I’m going to prepare for Swarmz to make an industrial rock song featuring Not3s and ZieZie produced by CamelPhat and Loud Luxury. If you’re asking who those people are, trust me: you’re not alone.

Conclusion

Well, it wasn’t a particularly notable week in terms of either extreme of quality, so I suppose Freya Ridings takes the Best of the Week for “Weekends”. Come on, it’s like a high school reunion, I felt obliged to! Funnily enough, the Honourable Mention actually goes to Lil Uzi Vert for “Watch This” as not only is the original actually very good, the ARIZONATEARS remix at least has some more unique sound going for it, and much of the original’s qualities such as the rapping from Uzi is still vaguely there. I can’t sincerely give a Dishonourable Mention though, so I may as well tie Uzi with JayO for “22” as once again, it’s got a more unique interesting sound that I hope to see done better. As for Worst of the Week, Switch Disco takes that easily for “REACT” featuring Ella Henderson and the late Robert Miles, neither of which I blame for its quality. As for what’s beyond the horizon, like always, I have no idea – but Mimi Webb’s album could have some impact so I don’t think next week will be any more interesting than the last. Thank you for reading and I’ll see you next week!

[thrythlind]

This seems a bit reductive. Cyberpunk and traditional fantasy aren't my main jam, but more and more often I see D&D adapt things like Sending Stones into a feel more akin to the 90s and early 00s where cell phones are still uncommon but no longer unusual. And cyberpunk is absorbing a lot of things like augmented reality and such that only started to appear in the last 15 years or so.

Urban fantasy I can speak more towards. as reducing it to the 90s is a bit meh. For one thing there was a glut of 00s era urban fantasy series that substantially feed the the nostalgia of the genre today. For example, Supernatural was very much appealing to a 70s - 90s nostalgia it incorporated the internet frequently in ways that are uniquely 00s.

When we look at the RPG releases.

Chill 3rd edition revamped the entire structure of SAVE, the heroic monster-hunter organization all players belong to, to use a more decentralized cell-based organization that keeps in touch via hidden websites and private forums hidden in the dark corners of the internet in a way that is distinctly a feature of the 2010s.

iHunt is an urban fantasy that is built on the idea of the hunters as people working a gig-economy where they get paid to remove monsters. And the gig-economy is not something that was a major aspect of society until the mid 10s.

Monster of the Week harkens back to the 90s, but is much more heavily influenced by Supernatural and other franchises that were stamped in the early days of common cell-phones and internet usage. Enough so that setting a game in the 90s requires some mild adjustment to some moves and setting a game in the 80s or 70s requires significant adjustments. (That said, MotW now encompasses settings that hit the 18th and 19th centuries in the nature of Dracula, Portrait of Dorian Grey, or Frankenstein as well as Witcher-esque dark fantasy). And a recent sample threat hinges on a hub of conspiracy theories that propagates via the internet, again in ways we've only seen in the late 10s and early 20s.

Also, urban fantasy has been swept up in the sweeping trend of retro 80s nostalgia with games like Tales of the Loop, Kids on Bikes, Bubble GUMSHOE, and the like. Heck it even hits the 70s with games like Spirit of '77 which has a fair amount of urban fantasy elements available to add in.

I am also told that Hunter the Vigil in Chronicles of Darkness is heavily dependent on the idea of a 10s era internet. For that matter the techno-occult espionage of Demon the Descent is definitely a product of the 2010s appreciation of the world we live in.

Going back to fiction, I've recently been introduced to Jujutsu Kaisen which is a 2018 manga and 2020 anime (first issue and first season respectively) that has elements that feel heavily influenced by Pokemon Go and other augmented reality games out of the mid 2010s.

Urban Fantasy as a genre is as nostalgia driven as anything but it covers a much vaster range of eras. The most common being the 90s and 00s, certainly, but 80s and 10s make heavy appearances and the 20s are already making their presence known in the genre.

EDIT: I have since been told by someone that all the characteristically 90s era games they've seen are older editions of games and all of the more recent games they've seen are more in the neighborhood of the 00s and 10s.

It's actually kind of striking how tightly wedded most major genres of tabletop RPGs are to the decades when they were popularised.

Trad fantasy tabletop RPGs – even those that aren't positioned as revivalist – are so intent on emulating the sword and sorcery literature of the 1970s that the only reason they don't come off as quaintly nostalgic is because nobody reads sword and sorcery anymore.

Cyberpunk tabletop RPGs are, at this point, essentially an exercise in retrofuturism, endlessly polishing a vision of what people in the 1980s thought the year 2015 would look like.

Urban fantasy tabletop RPGs might include smartphones and electric cars in their equipment tables and mention 9/11 in their lore chapters, but culturally and aesthetically, most of them are taking place in a world where the 1990s never ended.

I don't mean this as a criticism – I'm just fascinated with how this tendency is so strong that, for example, a brand new urban fantasy RPG written in the year 2024 is liable to end up being a 1990s period piece at heart even when that was 100% not the author's intention, simply through the inertia of the medium's well-established tropes.

I'm mostly curious what the characteristic tabletop RPG genre of the 2020s is going to end up being thirty or forty years from now, and I hope I live long enough to find out!