#the hulkenberg and strohl one is so real to me

[arrghigiveup]

So it might be kind of obvious from my last string of reblogs (and the upcoming queued posts), but I've fallen down the rabbit hole that is Metaphor: ReFantazio. 60 hours in and still not done, but still utterly obsessed. Some notes:

I can't even really describe the plotline without making it sound really tired and cliched and preachy, but I promise it's all very well handled. They manage to explore themes of prejudice and inequality and draw the parallels to our world (the "Metaphor" is basically the whole game lol) without beating you over the head with a fixed message of "this is what we must do to make our world better." There are many very serious moments that hit real hard

And there are moments that are absolutely hilarious

The characters available as party members are all remarkably likeable, and this is the first game in a long time where I've found it hard to have a favourite "main" party. Heismay is adorable

The Follower questlines, including the ones for non-party NPCs, are also generally good. I may or may not have gotten attached to a certain minor character pretty dude that absolutely no one is talking about. Also Maria is a darling and I will protect that child with my life

Seriously you guys everyone is rightly raving over Hulkenberg and Strohl and here I am irrationally attached to Alonzo Crotalus

As a whole the OST is not the strongest I have heard, but some tracks are absolute bangers

On that note, the Esperanto chanting on several tracks was done by an actual Buddhist monk, and there's something delightful about the artist for a JRPG bgm track being listed as "Keisuke Honryo (Chief priest of Myojoji temple)

Also for the FFXIV fans, the English VA for Lady Junah was also the English VA for Ryne, Emma Ballantine. She sings a couple of songs in game, and boy does she have a hell of a voice.

Combat system is very Persona/SMT, and actually pretty hard, at least for me. MP conservation is a bitch (and yes I know all the tricks with the passives). I have shamelessly dropped to easy mode for my playthrough. Also, bless the fight rewind button

Why is the main story dungeon for the 4th city so unnecessarily, soul-crushingly long????

You can pet the cat

[scarletwritesshit]

Louis Guiabern x Will🐍One Last Dance

🐍III. Show me your ways, Count, teach me your paths.

The scrunched-up expression on Strohl’s face made him seem like he was asking, "What the hell kind of greeting is THAT?" without actually saying it. But he knew better than to get off of on the wrong foot. He so very badly wanted to chuck his sword directly at that pompous count’s face, but for the sake of the plan in the long run, he swallowed his words and bit his tongue. It was probably much better to let Hulkenberg do the talking.

...If she wasn’t silently captivated by the fact she was standing within a few feet of her favorite songstress Junah.

Neuras was no better. He was a little less graceful with hiding his enthusiasm, and Will was quite frankly concerned that he would leap for his prey any moment now.

With all of his friends being equally unhelpful, Will was left to deal with the elephant in the room. Not the ideal situation for stumbling out of his own gauntlet runner to lead up to.

This was far worse than being face to face with the painting. This Louis was real, and if looks could kill, Will would be dead on the ground before their eyes could even meet. Forcing his thoughts away, he stared down Louis attempting to assert some sort of dominance, but his cool stare in return only made Will want to get on his knees.

"Does my presence somehow offend you? It would truly a shame if so," Louis said.

Please don’t say yes, pleaaase don’t say yes, Will thought, in regards to Strohl.

He could just imagine the veins popping out of his forehead, but dared not break eye contact with Louis to check.

"Why are you here?" Will asked, completely ignoring his inquiry.

"I asked you first. Perhaps I should interpret your lack of acknowledgement as yes for an answer?"

"I didn’t say that. I just want to know why you’ve stopped us here.”

"Weve already been jumped once," Strohl interjected, "Please forgive our leader for being so on edge."

Thank the gods Strohl managed to say something smart.

Louis reached out his hand and gestured for Will’s group to stand down. In front of perhaps one of history’s most diabolical leaders, it would be foolish to put themselves in such a vulnerable position, and so Will responded by gripping the handle of his blade harder. Louis, however, shot the two tense paripus beside him a commanding glare, ordering them both to stand down as well.

Could he truthfully have no intention to kill?

That wouldn’t make any sense if he was as ruthless as he appeared to be.

Confused and still on edge, Will was the first to slowly lower his weapon, looking back at Strohl and Hulkenberg as he did so. Hulkenberg shortly followed his lead, but Strohl was quite apprehensive. After a few moments of prolonged silence and a pleading gaze from Will, he begrudgingly lowered his weapon as well.

As for Neuras…never mind him. He had long since ran off to personally investigate Louis’s gauntlet runner (and not Junah like Will had initially suspected).

"Now that our little misunderstanding has been cleared up-" Louis started.

"Clear up? You didn’t clear up shit!" Strohl interjected.

"You came after us first. An explanation would be appreciated..." Will said, attempting to ease the tension between the groups.

"Bold."

"Huh?"

"Awfully bold of the one who stopped first to think that he can do the questioning," Louis said as he approached Will.

Will braced himself for Louis to draw his blade, but he simply lifted up his chin effortlessly with his finger as he was frozen in place, and stared down Will as if he were a cat most satisfied with cornering its prey. Hulkenberg and Strohl tensed up and readied their weapons once more, but backed down after realizing that they had no feasible way of landing a strike on the count. The only thing they would ultimately accomplish was further enraging the two paripus and more than likely Junah as well.

"Do yourself a favor and watch your tone, darling. But I’m feeling generous today, and I’ll let you off unscathed."

Watch his tone? Wasn’t Strohl the one backtalking?

"A pity it would be for such a lovely elda to be defiled by my hands," he said, gently running his hand up the side of Will’s face and brushing aside his hair.

So much for needing a plan to win the count over.

His words and gestures sent Will’s body into a nervous shock. He certainly wasn’t prepared to side with Louis this early on, let alone be this physically close to him. Gallica tugged at Will’s shirt, seeing that he had become quite nervous, but he pushed her away in an attempt to assure her that he would be fine.

"W-What do you want from me?" Will asked, attempting to keep his cool.

"I have a proposition," Louis said, "that I believe could be mutually beneficial for us.”

"Don’t try anything silly!" Strohl snapped.

"An elda like you has absolutely no chance of gaining favor with the masses. Though, I believe we could strike a little deal to rectify this if you were so willing."

This was Will’s chance. Surprisingly soon, but a chance nonetheless.

"A-absolutely! I mean...what do you want me to do?"

"Haha, eager aren’t we? Calm yourself, dear, for I haven’t even explained my terms yet."

Will was setting himself up for a potential deal with the devil, a contract he was doomed to from the beginning. It mattered not if he sealed the deal now or later, as he would find himself at the mercy of the demon pulling the strings just so he had even the slightest chance of seeing the sun rise over the last morning star.

"They are most simple. I need you to lend me your sword."

"That’s it?" Will asked, bewildered.

"There are some tasks that I cannot be bothered to dirty my hands with. An inconspicuous traveler like you is far better suited to them than I am. Carry them out with great efficiency, and my blessing shall be yours."

"But...why help me? Don’t you want to eliminate the competition?"

Louis leaned in close to whisper into his ear.

"That is precisely why I am recruiting you."

Will knew instinctively that there had to be some sort of dastardly catch in return for the count’s favor. It wasn’t a shock that Louis was more than willing to resort to directly assassinating others to keep the competition thin, but he wasn’t expecting to be the one recruited for the job. Will turned around to his group with a look of shock and desperation, none of them able to hear the conversation but catching onto the sense of urgency nonetheless.

"I’m...gonna need to discuss this with my group first," Will said, slowly inching away.

"A smart leader, I see," Louis said with a smirk. "So be it. Discuss my proposal amongst yourselves, and I pray you return with good news."

Will gestured for Strohl and Hulkenberg (Neuras was still a lost cause) to follow him back to their gauntlet runner to hopefully discuss out of earshot of Louis and his goons. The three of them huddled around in a circle while Gallica sat on Will’s shoulder and leaned in.

"From your face alone, things don’t look too good," Strohl said.

"Well, he did offer for me to join him, at least" Will said.

"What? You’re kidding me right now."

"I’m serious. But he wants me to uh…do some work for him."

“…What kind of work? If it’s from that weasel, it can’t be anything good.”

“All he really said is that he wants me to…eliminate the competition.”

"No way. Absolutely not. Don’t take his offer."

"But it gives me a head start on getting close to him. Who knows if a chance like this will come for me again?"

"It could be, no, it absolutely is a trap!"

"Then I’ll just have to outsmart him," Will said.

"Will does make a good point," Hulkenberg said. "Who knows when such an opportunity will arise again, if at all?"

"If you’re really planning on going through with some stupid crap, you’d better let me tag along so that someone at least has their head screwed on right!" Gallica said.

"I already planned on doing that. It’s a matter of if Louis will let you come or not," Will said.

“He can kiss my ass.”

"Don’t tell me that you’re actually going through with this," Strohl said.

"It’s the best chance we’ll probably get," Gallica said, "and I’m small enough to slip away and trade messages between us when needed. It’s not like we’re going to be completely cut off from each other.”

"I can’t tell if you’re incredibly brave or incredibly stupid," Strohl said.

"Well... we have to take whatever opportunities befall us," Will said.

Hulkenberg and Gallica nodded their heads in agreement and separated from the huddle. Strohl was not fully convinced, but he was outnumbered three to one, so it mattered not if he agreed or disagreed. Reluctantly, he agreed in silence and walked back with the rest of the group to Louis with their consensus. His arms were crossed as he was waiting patiently, with his two paripus companions standing around looking rather lost.

"I suppose you have come baring good news? Louis asked with a smile.

"I... I’ve decided to come with you," Will said," but on one condition."

Louis tilted his head, perplexed. "Go on."

"I want Gallica to accompany me."

Louis was understandably apprehensive about his request. A fairy that practically have free range of movement meant that if she so desired, she could slip through the cracks and expose Louis's plans to those from Will’s group that have been left behind. Even worse, she could expose all of his secrets to the church, rendering his internal takeover a failure in the span of an evening.

He narrowed his eyes and tapped his foot as he debated his response to Will’s demands. After a few brief moments of silent thought, he gestured for his three companions to turn away and beckoned for them to come closer. Silently, and out of earshot of Will’s group, he sternly whispered his orders.

"Keep that fairy in your sights at all times."

They nodded diligently.

"I suppose I could be bothered to accommodate your companion," Louis said, once more facing Will.

Will and his friends exchanged silent acknowledgement of Louis’s agreement. With Gallica on his shoulder, he stood tall and walked towards Louis, much to the count’s pleasure.

"...Be careful out there," Strohl called.

"Come back in one piece," Hulkenberg said.

Will didn’t even spare one final wave for his now former teammates as he walked away. From this moment forward, he was under Louis's command, and he would have to maintain a façade of undying loyalty for this plan to actually work. As he guided him back to his gauntlet runner, Louis appeared to be in absolutely no hurry to return. In fact, Will had his suspicions that he was purposefully trailing behind to separate the two of them from their accompanying soldiers. He slowed to a stop, but Louis simply put his hand on Will’s back to nudge him forward.

The entire time, nobody seemed to have bothered to question the apparent absence of their leader. It was quite likely that his accomplices were rather used to his strange and erratic ways, hence why none bothered to look back. With assurance that none would question them, Will took this brief moment of opportunity to closely observe Louis as they walked together in the embrace of the afternoon sun.

Strangely enough, Louis was both a horribly imposing yet terribly comforting presence to Will. He could knock him out of the race at any moment with one fell slash of the dagger, immune to Will’s futile attempts at retaliation. Louis, however, showed no signs of aiming for the kill as he kept his hands distanced from his blades and Will held even closer.

With such little distance now between them, Will could see that there was a certain air of grace to the count. His long blond hair shone like a morning star, glowing with a radiance only seen at the first breath of sunrise. Louis's eyes had an ice-cold cruelty to them, focused on the prey standing in the way of his throne and apathetic to the blood spilt at his feet.

For someone who was supposedly a twisted, cold-blooded murderer, he appeared awfully refined and proper. Or perhaps, that was one of many keys to his masterful deception.

Regardless of the reasoning for such, Louis was quite the sight to take in from afar, and even more grand up close.

So grand, that Will had failed to realize that he had been staring at him the entire time. Gallica was not willing to let his absentmindedness go unpunished, and flicked him on the side of the head to snap him out of his daydream.

"Helloooo? What’s got you all enamored like that?" Gallica said.

"Oh uh...nothing. It’s nothing," Will said, blatantly lying.

"Sure. I believe you. Absolutely believe you."

Louis took notice of their back and forth and curiously looked down at Will.

"Is something the matter?" Louis asked.

"It’s nothing. At all. I swear it’s nothing," Will said.

"He was eyeing you up, all right. It’s almost embarrassing to watch," Gallica teased, rolling her eyes.

The slow turn and wide-eyed stare of utter shock from Will failed to phase Gallica, as she was more than pleased with such an adverse reaction to a seemingly improbable case.

She still probably hasn’t forgiven Will for the painting incident, that bastard.

"Eyeing me up? When we walk together as nothing less than equals?"

"E-equals?" Will asked, shocked, "But I just joined you only a few moments ago..."

"We are walking side by side, are we not? I invited you for cooperation, not degradation."

Will opted to remain silent, figuring that he would be better off not arguing against receiving a blessing of such high praise. Questioning the count further could lead to his patience snapping, and Will would experience firsthand just how "alleged" those murders are.

There was no denying the possibility that the sudden and unexpected kindness from Louis was all part of a grander scheme. It was certainly an unconventional way of dissolving his competition, but why not serenade a more worthy participant into joining his cause? Why an elda no-name? Why hasn’t Will been killed on the spot?

Was there an ounce of truth behind Louis’s sweet words after all?