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dalishious · 2 years ago

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A BioWare Guide on How to Murder a Fanbase

I have been a Dragon Age super-fan for almost fourteen years, now. I have played every game, with every DLC. I have read every novel, lore book, and every comic — yes, even the terrible ones that are better off forgotten. I have seen the anime film, the animated series, and the web mini-series. I have enjoyed all of these pieces of the franchise over and over, more times than I can count. So, make no mistake: the negativity you’re about to hear comes from a place of love for this fantasy world, developed by many creative people over the years. I would love nothing more than to see the resurrection of passion in the Dragon Age fandom again. But the unfortunate truth is, that resurrection is only needed because BioWare took the fandom out back and shot it in the first place.

In December 2018, three years after the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition’s Trespasser epilogue DLC, BioWare first announced the then-untitled next Dragon Age game with a teaser trailer. At this point, most fans were anticipating this would mean within the next couple years, we would see the game. This assumption was based on the fact that Dragon Age: Inquisition was first announced in 2012, and released in 2014, with an extra year of development added last minute.

There have been dribbles of extra content since then, adding to the franchise. This was enough to keep some fans still breathing and interested. 2020’s Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights was a lovely anthology. 2020’s Dragon Age: Blue Wraith and 2021’s Dark Fortress were wonderful comics tying up the story started in Knight Errant. And 2022’s Dragon Age: Absolution was a well-animated series with an interesting cast of characters and story. But all these still left the fandom with a major question: What was going on with the next game? It was untypical of BioWare to be so secretive, in comparison to how they handled sharing information of the past games in the franchise. The only form of updates fans still have to go on is mostly just concept art and short stories, hinting that something must be in production. But why was the wait so long?

In 2015, the first version of the next Dragon Age began with a clear vision, clear scope of practice, and a reportedly happy developer team. Most gloriously in my book, there was no multi-player… but this did not align with the Electronic Arts typical money-mad schemes. EA’s push for “games as a service” meant they wanted to monetize all their games as much as possible, and therefore, they wanted them to be a live service — as Anthem demonstrated, that meant sacrificing things that are staples of good RPGs, like narrative and character choice. So in 2017, version one of the next Dragon Age was scrapped and replaced. This new version would have, in total or to at least some degree, an online portion of play.

There is one part of Schreier’s article, “The Past and Present of Dragon Age 4,” that really sticks out to me, regarding this:

“One person close to the game told me this week that Morrison’s critical path, or main story, would be designed for single-player and that goal of the multiplayer elements would be to keep people engaged so that they would actually stick with post-launch content.”

The idea of splitting up components of a game into single-player and multi-player is a terrible idea, because it means that there would be a large bulk of content only accessible through online gaming; something many fans, like myself, are repulsed by. Even if I did enjoy it, I spent most of my life growing up with either no internet or shoddy internet incapable of playing online games. I know many rural people who are still in that position, losing more and more of their favourite gaming pastimes because they are locked out of the ability to play them. It is a disservice to hide content behind a wall like this, especially in a world that is so lore-heavy like Dragon Age. The news of multi-player in Dragon Age understandably upset many, and this is when I first noticed a large drop off in excitement over the next game.

However, in 2021, the failure of Anthem (multi-player) and success of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (single-player) led the executives at EA to bend to the wishes of BioWare leadership and allow them to go back to the drawing board yet again on the next Dragon Age. This meant removing all multi-player content!

While I am very happy that there will reportedly be no multi-player in Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, I can’t help but feel bitter and a little disgusted over the ridiculous development time spent on something no one but EA wanted in the first place. If it weren’t for this foolishness, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf would be in our hands right now. Instead, it’s been in development hell for nearly nine years and counting. Nine years is a long time to expect fans to carry a torch for you through radio silence, but it’s no wonder BioWare has shared barely anything about the next game; it’s been in flux for so long, they likely haven’t had anything concrete to show.

BioWare hurt its reputation even more when the news broke that the studio very suddenly laid off 50 people who were working on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. This is pretty damning on its own, but BioWare took it a step further. Former developer Jon Renish shared a statement revealing that the studio was only willing to offer laid-off employees two weeks of severance per year of service, and denied health benefits. The denial of health benefits in particular is a pretty wild move for a studio with a reputation for “stress casualties”. The latest news on this is that BioWare has still so far refused to negotiate better severance packages, leading to a lawsuit. The lawsuit originally had 15 former employees, but this dropped due to the fear of not being able to afford to pay their bills. So now, while EA sits on $400 million net income, the laid-off employees are struggling to buy holiday presents for their children. These horrid business practices are not to be ignored when accounting for a lack of faith in a studio. What kind of monsters reward workers who make your games special with vaguely reasoned lay-offs?

The latest news on the Dragon Age: Dreadwolf front from BioWare came early this month, December 2023, with a trailer… announcing a trailer that will come next summer… that will announce the release of the game. Supposedly. Maybe. We’ll see. But by this time, BioWare is something of a laughing stock of their own fandom. Reactions to the video released with a pretty map graphic and a few rendered locations were, from what I personally observed, mostly sardonic in nature. People have commented on the vapourware nature of the game, and like all vapourware, that leads to disintegrating trust.

Despite all this, people like Mary Kirby, (one of the veteran Dragon Age writers who was a victim of the layoffs,) said, “it’s bittersweet that Dreadwolf is my last DA game, but I still hope you all love it as much as I do,” encouraging fans to still support the game when it eventually is released. But after every misstep BioWare has taken, that’s a tough sell now. Fans are finicky, RPG fans more so than others, one could argue. We have our favourites, and many of us stick to those favourites for life over our appreciation for the artistry — but that relationship between studio and fan should go both ways. EA and BioWare has betrayed that relationship, and it will take a hell of a lot to build it back up again, now.

[This piece is also available on Medium!]

#dragon age #datv #dragon age dreadwolf #bioware #game development #meta #releasing this into the wild and running away

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venusinthesun · 3 months ago

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ok who are the women that you personally think are loser yearners within the fandoms you have currently written for. Like they just strike the vibe of yearning for you while stalking watching you from afar, dreaming of the day they tell you how they really feel

Obey me, genshin, wuwa

Cw: implied yandere and mentions of 18+ topics

This was so fun to write! Also if anybody else is reading this, my asks are open for these fandoms :) I may not respond to all though!

Fem! Obey me:

Leviathan takes number one, no question. She just thinks so lowly of herself, locking herself away in her room and playing anime games all day. She can’t possibly imagine coming up to you—the most perfect, gorgeous person she’s ever seen in her life! She’ll absolutely watch you from afar, looking up from her Nintendo switch at the dinner table to sneak a glance. She’s obsessed. When she shamefully opens up her more 18+ tabs at night, she looks for characters that look like you.

Mammon is a close second, but less…greasy. As your number one, she will practically follow you around everywhere. Around the house, around the school, around the everywhere. Unlike her sister, she actually talks to you! She’s fun and charming, and you have no idea how much she wants you. She likes to imagine little fantasies during class about you two together, and she wants the perfect day to come by when she can finally make you hers.

Hear me out on Simeon doing something like this. She’s such a perfect angel, proud of her wings and celestia…and she absolutely yearns for you. She wants you so badly as you two talk, her eyes capturing every detail about you and to save it for later. She knows it’s wrong, to watch over you like this, but she needs you. She can’t let demons ruin what’s hers.

Fem! Genshin:

Kaveh anon this is for you

Kaveh. She tries her best to play it cool, being the calm and collected person she knows she can be—but you make it so hard. She’s watching you from across the room, scanning over everything about the way you look today, the way you smile. She has so much work to do, and so little sleep, talking to you is basically out of the question. But that doesnt mean she can’t get a little close while throwing away her trash, getting to see your face just a little bit closer this time (it’s her new favorite memory).

Xiao, definitely. She’s too nervous to do anything that watch you from treetops or while you sleep. She makes her way inside your hotel room while you visit the Inn, looking over (she likes to call it protecting) while you sleep. Sometimes you see her, staring at you while standing on a tree branch. It’s a bit scary, but it doesn’t stop you from coming over to say hi! Unfortunately, it also doesn’t stop her from vanishing and trying to rationalize why she didn’t just go for it.

The original “I’m scared of people”, shenhe. She doesn’t come into the harbor often, choosing to stay in the abode with her master more than having to control herself around large groups of people; but it is a treat when she sees you around the city. Shenhe chooses to stay more in the back, the shadows between alleyways as she follows you. Shenhe doesn’t even quite know it’s creepy, just that she wants to know more. She goes back to cloud retainer with a new thing to think about, dreaming of you.

Wuthering waves

Shorekeeper. Mostly in part to the fact for a long time she couldn’t really…move without using her hologram. She likes seeing your around the blackshores, making sure to keep extra tabs on you and where your going. She wants you badly, and when it gets so bad, she sometimes sends a little blue butterfly your way. Shorekeeper is also prone to using any information saved about you in the system to learn more.

#yandere #yandere lesbian #yandere genshin impact #cw yandere #yancore #yandere genshin #yandere woman #genshin x you #genshin x reader #genshin impact x you #genshin impact x reader #yandere obey me #obey me x reader #obey me x you #fem obey me #fem genshin #yandere wuthering waves #wuthering waves x you #wuthering waves x reader

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caligvlasaqvarivm · 1 year ago

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what do you think is the line between friends and moirails for trolls? I was never sure how to feel about it, it seems so nebulous. also any idea what's with feferi trying to invite kanaya and karkat into the horn pile with her and sollux? like based on the description of moirallegiance that sounds like... infidelity. but it didn't seem like the trolls reacted that way.

What it ultimately comes down to is the fact that Homestuck is a story, and furthermore, one pervaded by things like fate and destiny, which are real and exist within its universe, and therefore, the moirails for each of our trolls has already been decided by destiny (the author).

But also, in a less meta way, the confusion you're feeling likely stems from the fandom misconception that a moirallegiance is just an extra best-friendship, which it is NOT. The stated function of a moirallegiance is to calm each other the fuck down, in order to prevent them from hurting themselves or others. It's this pacifying effect, and not whether or not they hop into piles and talk about feelings, that defines a moirallegiance.

Trolls are a very angry and violent race. Some are more hot-tempered and dangerous than others, to the extent that if left to their own devices, they would present a serious threat to society, or even to themselves. Such trolls will have an instinctive pale attraction to a more even-tempered troll, who may become their MOIRAIL. The moirail is obliged to pacify the other, to function as the better half. The two partners in a strong pale relationship will serve to balance and complement each other's emotional profiles, and thus allow their other relationships to be more successful.

Piles of stuff and feelings jams in them are associated with moirallegiance, but are not "something you only do with your moirail" - like getting coffee or holding hands are associated with dating your matesprit/human romance partner, but not exclusive to them, and, in many cases, not a form of infidelity (although they can be). For what it's worth, Eridan does call Gamzee's horn pile in the middle of the room a "vvulgar display," like Gamzee's chucked porno mags everywhere:

ERIDAN: wwhat a fuckin vvulgar display this is ERIDAN: airin out all his dirty laundry like that puttin a big fuckin pile a horns in the middle of the room ERIDAN: at least i got the upright basic decency to hide my shitty wand pile somewwhere in the lab you wwont find it dont evven bother lookin KARKAT: WHY DO YOU ASSHOLES HAVE PILES OF THINGS, JUST STOP.

So what Feferi's doing with Sollux is less "hey, come cheat with me on Sollux," and more "hey, wanna third wheel our date?"

Moirallegiance is about the "instinctive pull" and the pacification of both partners. Also, moirallegiance is very much romantic. The comic uses the word "platonic," but I think what it means is "chaste" - moirallegiance is not involved in reproduction, so there is no requirement or social expectation for physical intimacy; however, if it weren't a form of romance, it wouldn't exactly be a type of troll romance, would it?

Failed moirallegiances do not have this calming effect: Kanaya doesn't stop (or even really attempt to stop) Vriska from doing her Vriska bullshit at all, and in fact Vriska gets MORE agitated when talking to her:

AG: Ok, so you're spying on me. Kind of creepy! Man, m8y8e you should get a l8fe. AG: Or you know, if you're so h8gh 8nd might8 an8 th8nk you're so gr8at, m8y88 you c8uld oh I d8n't kn8w........ AG: TRY AND ST8P ME FROM DO8NG B8D THINGS????????

The same can be seen with Feferi and Eridan:

CC: Is t)(ere a lucky lady you are waxing scarlet for? CC: OR LUCKY F-ELLOW??? 38O CA: uh CC: Tell me! CC: Don't pretend you're all -EMBARRASS-ED SUDD-ENLY!!! CA: ok fef CA: this is NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS

And with Karkat and Gamzee:

KARKAT: DON'T YOU START WITH ME KARKAT: DO. NOT. START WITH ME. KARKAT: I WILL GET YOU IN A HEADLOCK SO TIGHT IT WILL BE A MIRACLE IF PEOPLE DON'T MISTAKE OUR TUSSLE FOR AN ILL CONCEIVED VENTRILOQUIST ACT. KARKAT: I WILL SHOOSH YOU AGAIN, SO HELP ME GOD. I WILL SHOOSH YOUR CLOWN ASS TO SHANGRI-BULLSHIT-LA AND BACK, AND FILL YOUR EAR WITH MY WHITE HOT PALEBRO SPITTLE. KARKAT: I AM FULL AND FUCKING WELL PREPARED TO GET CONCILIATORY WITH YOU AGAIN IF YOU SO MUCH AS PASS GAS MURDEROUSLY, DO YOU UNDERSTAND? KARKAT: IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT??? DO I NEED TO CALM YOUR FAYGO-STICKY TENTSQUATTING SHIT DOWN AGAIN???? GAMZEE: naw brother, i was just about to all say for you to try and get your settle down on, maybe. GAMZEE: :o(

And what makes Equius and Nepeta so successful is that Nepeta keeps Equius's tendency towards fury in check, while Equius keeps Nepeta out of harmful situations (although he's maybe doing a bit too much of that and could afford to step back):

EQUIUS: D --> As such, he is prone to being more violent and unpredictable than any of us EQUIUS: D --> Not everyone has been as lucky as I in the domain of moirallegiance

AT: iT'S PROBABLY FOR THE BEST, AT: tHAT YOU LISTEN TO HIM, AC: :33 < i dont know AC: :33 < you think so? AT: wELL, AT: iF YOU DIDN'T LISTEN TO HIM BEFORE, AT: yOU MIGHT HAVE PLAYED GAMES WITH US BEFORE, AT: aND SOMETHING BAD MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED TO YOU,

And Feferi and Sollux work because Sollux is prone to excessive self-loathing, which, mixed with his mage powers of prophesying/invoking the future, make for a cocktail of potential harm to himself and others. Talking with her keeps his head above the water (heh) and forcibly prevents him from wallowing in self-loathing:

SOLLUX: anyway, yeah, now that aa ii2 gone forever ii feel more depre22ed and u2ele22 than u2ual, and ii wa2 already pretty cod damn u2ele22 two begiin wiith, let'2 face iit. FEFERI: But I )(ave it on good aut)(ority t)(at s)(e is fine! FEFERI: Everyt)(ing is going to go swimmingly, YOU'LL S-E-E. 38) SOLLUX: you are 2o riidiiculou2ly optiimii2tiic iit'2 kiind of 2iickeniing, why do you even put up wiith me? SOLLUX: iif you weren't 2o great ii would thiink you were a fuckiing iidiiot for liikiing me. SOLLUX: 2o, ii gue22 thank2 for liikiing me?

But even though these moirallegiances are ultimately doomed, there is some amount of pacification going on, making it difficult for the trolls to tell in the moment whether or not their pale relationship is true (Karkat does manage to stop Gamzee from murdering people, for example, but fails to address his religious beliefs and underlying trauma, whereas Gamzee can't calm Karkat down at all, so they end up drifting apart after the initial Major Problem has been settled).

The fact that it's a blurry line even for trolls is explicitly stated:

It's often ambiguous especially among young trolls whether a bond formed between an acquaintance is true moirallegence, or the usual variety of platonic involvement. Furthermore, romantic intentions of a more flushed nature can often be mistaken for paler leanings, much to the frustration of the suitor.

So this is kind of by design - part of adolescence, keeping in line with Homestuck's coming-of-age themes, is the messy romance. If it were easy to piece together, it wouldn't be true to life.

HOWEVER, that all being said, special notice does have to be taken of the way moirallegiance - moreso than even the other three quadrants - has an air of DESTINY about it. Trolls believe that every troll has one destined partner for every quadrant:

But if there was one theme to be hammered through his thick skull, it would be the trolls' cultural preoccupation with romantic destiny. Yes, the romantic landscape is rife with false starts and miscues and infidelities, red and black. But every troll believes strongly that each quadrant holds one and only one true pairing for them, and it is just a matter of time before the grid is filled with auspicious matchups through the mysterious channels of TROLL SERENDIPITY. In short, their belief is that for each quadrant there exists a pair or triad of trolls somewhere in the cosmos that were…

MADE FOR EACH OTHER.

So there's already a setup in this comic, which is so rife with prophecy and foreshadowing, that every troll is eventually going to end up with their true love/true hate - but even out of the four quadrants, moirallegiance is given special weight: first of all, it is the only quadrant that is literally translated as "soul mates":

This quadrant presides over MOIRALLEGIENCE, the other conciliatory relationship. A reasonable human translation would be the concept of a soul mate, but in a more platonic sense, and with a more specific social purpose.

And second, it's called "mysterious" or "magical," even in direct comparison to black/red:

CG: AND ALL THE NUANCES OF PITY MANIFEST AS VARIOUS OTHER KINDS OF FEELINGS LIKE WHATEVER CHEMICAL REACTIONS TRIGGER MATING FONDESS OR THE MYSTERIOUS FORCES THAT ARE BEHIND MOIRALLEGIANCE.

You then proceed to have the rest of this conversation we already read, bugging and fussing and meddling through the special and magical union one can only describe as being in moirallegiance with another. At least, you guess that's how you would describe it. Maybe. Troll romance sure is confusing!

And we can't forget:

Such trolls will have an instinctive pale attraction to a more even-tempered troll

Which lends to the idea that there's a biological compulsion towards needing a moirail, same as how there's a biological draw towards finding reproductive partner(s).

But this is why I always tend to use "destined for" when discussing moirail pairs, and also why I focus specifically on which individuals calm other individuals the fuck down - like how Gamzee says he "feel[s] so at chill with" Tavros, or how Karkat goes from completely losing his shit to "yeah, so that's it i guess" after talking to Eridan.

#homestuck #moirallegiance #gamtav #erikar #solfef

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amber-laughs · 4 months ago

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this might not be fair but can i say i’m not really a fan of the “victors found family” trope bc they don’t really seem to all like each other.

in fics, and it’s no hate bc everybody should play around with canon however they want i’m just venting because i've only been in the fandom like a week and a half, people seem to really enjoy the idea that the victors who’ve been sex trafficked are really close and look out for each other, usually Cashmere, Gloss and Finnick. but those three specifically are trying to kill each other pretty quick in the Quell and Finnick specifically tells Katniss not to trust them and i personally think that makes a lot more sense if we realistically look at their situation. groomers and predators will always try to isolate their victims and Snow especially uses this tactic with his Victors.

he takes out their families and makes them live in isolated neighborhoods. It wouldn’t shock me if there was a lot of drama, grudges and bad blood within the victors/mentors circle because that’s how Snow operates. It’s pretty implied that Johanna was supposed to be trafficked but wouldn’t comply and that’s how her family died, that also perfectly coincides with she and Finnick maintaining a close relationship. If the sex trafficking ring is purposefully being pit against each other, say Gloss is getting extra work and Snow lies and says it’s bc Finnick has to be home to take care of Annie or Enobaria is getting easier jobs than Cashmere and Snow lies and says it’s bc Enobaria specifically asked to switch some with Cash now he’s purposefully and very easily (bc they’re legit teenagers at first) creating bad blood and distrust between them just like Katniss says he does with people living in districts (ie Gale blaming Madge for not having her name in extra times bc she doesn’t need tesserae) it would be almost impossible for a healthy friendship to develop and evolve while still in the middle of it.

“Gale knows his anger at Madge is misdirected. On other days, deep in the woods, I’ve listened to him rant about how the tesserae are just another tool to cause misery in our district. A way to plant hatred between the starving workers of the Seam and those who can generally count on supper and thereby ensure we will never trust one another. “It’s to the Capitol’s advantage to have us divided among ourselves,” he might say if there were no ears to hear but mine.” Hunger Games - Chapter 1

I sent an obnoxiously long ask to someone's inbox about the Capitol specifically grooming Careers to be government prostitutes (shout out to them for putting up with it and having a great answer) and I think that its something that once again points to purposefully causing descent within the Victor's circle. if you're twelve years old and you live in one of the nicer districts (One, Two and Four) and you're hearing horror stories about Ten, Eleven, Twelve it would make a lot of sense if an adult authority figure came up to you and said you're not like them, you're better. thats why we let you guys train and teach you to survive in the games because we want you to win. you're gonna win, you have nothing to fear you should sign up. thats really easy to then flip to hey so that fancy academy you trained in, those fancy clothes you wore in the parade, the makeup we put on you for the interview, the sponsor gifts you got in the arena, that was us. we did that for you. now you have to do something for us. and because they've spent their whole lives being groomed to fight to the death in an arena all in the name of money, power, glory why should this be any different? You're the Victor, the Capitol loves you, they wanna meet you, they wanna be with you and like everything Snow should benefit so he's gonna get the money and these kids think it's an honor to be loved by the Capitol but then once they realize what's actually happening and try to back out its hey so you're actually gonna do this or i'm gonna kill your whole family and so

"Don't trust One and Two" Finnick says Catching Fire - Chapter 19

it's probably not that they oh so enjoy being sex trafficked, or so love life under the Capitol but more probably that they just don't trust the rebels. and the rebels don't trust them. they've been forced give their bodies away for over a decade to keep their families alive while (in their eyes) Haymitch is an alcoholic who can't keep it together. he's not their lovable drunk uncle who holds their hand after a rough night. why should they have any faith in him to put together a winning plan?

“Oh, no. I was the example. The person to hold up to the young Finnicks and Johannas and Cashmeres. Of what could happen to a victor who caused problems,” says Haymitch Mockingjay - Chapter 12

Snow knows Haymitch is trouble so he makes sure all the victors know he already lost. his family is dead, his lover is dead and now he wastes his days drinking himself to death. he's a loser and not to be allied with. they're all still playing the game and the capitol is the career pack. everybody wants to keep themselves and their families alive and Snow has the most resources, the better plan and the odds are in his favor.

#hunger games pilled rn before the new book so everyone has to hear my two cents #this might not be coherent lmao #and this is ME PERSONALLY! if in your head finnick and cahsmere are best friends i stand with you #tw grooming #tw csa mention #hunger games #finnick odair #thg

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el-loy · 16 days ago

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Along with the latest pic I've always wanted to share why ch12 is my favourite AK chapter, because... I've never actually talked about it, I guess? I know quite a lot of people regard this chapter as boring, slow-paced, overall skippable and uninteresting. But it is as “boring” as Remarque, as Hemingway, as any of the authors who wrote about the reality of war are. “All quiet on the western front” is literally in its title yet perhaps people expected something else from it, thus were left disappointed. Though blaming anyone would be weird because we all seek different things from the media we engage with. Ch12 matched my personal preferences and what I usually seek.

By default I am somewhat detached when reading fictional stories, while I'm able to appreciate a good plot, well-written dialogues and interactions, ideas etc. I can't always immerse in them in such a way that I can feel the moment. I often struggle with sympathizing with fictional characters, and when it's a piece of media like arknights I am completely unable to sympathize with the main characters who'll make it no matter what (the reason why Kal's “death” in ch15 didn't affect me). I have a hard time “feeling” the stories where everything is so grandiose, so pretentious and extra – I can't connect with that pretentiousness, it makes me laugh.

But there are things that never fail to touch me deeply – it's the stories that essentially boil down to the topic of loneliness and insignificance of a person in the eyes of history and Universe. And also I like finding something real and genuine in a media where I don't quite expect it. (Everyone liked ch14 for example, and it was good indeed, but to me it was something I expected: action-wise, emotion-wise, atmosphere-wise, that's why it failed to impress me and resonate with me on the same level ch12 did). Ch12 stood out to me for the exact reasons other ppl dislike it. It is slow-paced, heavy, hopeless, introspective. I think a lot about death and I seek media that explore this topic. I enjoy long monologues and I love existential themes, because it is what concerns me personally. I love authenticity. I need to feel what I'm reading/watching is real regardless of whether it's sci-fi, fantasy or, well, realism. And I am enjoying a story way more when it has the room to “think along”(?). Because of all this – I got to “feel” this chapter. And on the deepest level I felt it within the Damazti&Golding subplot. “Goodnight Golding” scene is legit one of my favourite ones in the whole AK, it was peak to me, it resonated with me, it touched me. Not because of the fact that Golding died, but because of the solemn atmosphere surrounding that moment, the melancholy, the crushing emptiness. Not because it was “heartbreaking”, but because it was hauntingly beautiful, how the Damazti shared that moment with her and how lonely it felt in relation to both characters. This is what sold them both to me, 'cause when a story explores such loneliness I can't help but love it and the characters involved. “I'm just so tired” lands heavier than any tragic deathbed speech and to me feels much more genuine. From what I've seen so far (maybe I'm just so unlucky) Golding is mostly being either overlooked in the fandom or actively disliked. People fail to remember her name and comprehend the meaning of her character. But this is exactly what she is about. She's essentially a “little man”, hers – is a perspective of an ordinary person without any superpowers, caught in the war, struggling, questioning the meaning of her work. When speaking about literature she also mentioned “I wasn't very attached to the protagonists, but I was indeed obsessed with those deaths.” And by “those deaths” she refers to heroic sacrifices for the sake of the protagonist which mesmerized her in the past. She used to imagine herself making a similar sacrifice, but she's not a hero. She's just a person, so very human, who made a very human mistake. Just a number in the statistics, but ch12 is all about such people. Fiction like that draws attention to them and lets us experience their fates too. Now, I didn't particularly care about the Damazti's character before ch12, but it's specifically their interactions with Golding that allowed me to rediscover them. Just how the writers draw our attention to the less fortunate and less heroic fates, the Damazti's attention, too, is not on the grand goals and personalities, they're searching for meaning and they don't shy away from doing it among the ordinary people, experiencing their lives and feelings. In that relation, to me Golding and Damazti are kind of like “a war fiction character” (/a typical ordinary ch12 char) and “the reader” who focuses on the said character. Just for comparison how they brush Eblana off with “you're too shallow, there's nothing to talk about with you” and their curiosity towards a simple teacher. Like, you read it and you get what kind of character they are. And it's my favourite kind.

As much as I enjoyed the Damazti's interactions with Logos, as much as I love their friendly dynamic, it's utterly unfair that all the credits regarding the former's char development usually go to him. Logos listened to them and suggested a solution to which the Damazti agreed precisely because of how Golding had influenced them. It's through her they could somewhat touch that feeling of “being human”. To them Golding is not just some name to get lost in their thousand-year-old memory, not a number in the statistics, but a person, a friend. And I can't help but be captivated by this. That's why I really wish Golding was appreciated more, (honestly along with the Damazti and ch12 in general) but I understand it's unrealistic, so I guess I'll just keep drawing stuff and providing on that front👍🏻👍🏻🤓

#arknights

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timeagainreviews · 1 month ago

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Spinning Yarns at Omo's Palace

It’s rare to finish a Doctor Who story and you think, “That felt personal.” Not in that it was aimed at you, but rather that the story meant something to its writer. This isn’t to say that Doctor Who doesn’t utilise morals or messaging. Russell T Davies has given us a healthy dose of messaging in both of his eras. What’s less common, however, is when the story feels like a personal expression from an individual’s lived experience. It’s rare to find such individualistic stories which also work. Robert Holmes delivered a muddled take on paying taxes with “The Sunmakers.” Chris Chibnall explored his own experience with adoption with the self-insert Timeless Child storyline. But here, with “The Story and the Engine,” writer Inua Ellams satisfies both the desire to tell a personal story and the need to deliver some solid Doctor Who. And deliver he did.

The story of Inua Ellams’ hiring as a writer is like one of those old Hollywood stories. He contacted Davies only to discover that both Davies and Gatwa had previously expressed an interest in working with the poet and playwright. It was as if he were fated to write for Doctor Who. Perhaps it felt too good to be true, because Ellams wrote this story like it was his one chance to leave his mark. Because of this, we see a lot of elements from Ellams’ work within the episode. His play “Barber Shop Chronicles” explores the home-away-from-home aspect of barber shops in African cities. He even uses the same anecdote about Yo-Yo Ma’s trip through Botswana. Because of this, Ellams’ DNA is woven throughout the story, and yet it never loses its identity as a Doctor Who story.

Following the theme of season two, much of “The Story and the Engine,” is dedicated to exploring the nature of storytelling. In this case it explores the communal and cultural significance of having a place where one feels safe to share. When we join the Doctor and Belinda, they’re in the middle of a well-trodden topic- the Doctor needs to get Belinda home. This is when the Doctor gets the bright idea to take the vindicator to Lagos, Nigeria. The Doctor doesn’t use this as an opportunity to go ghost hunting, instead, he’s respecting Belinda’s boundaries by calibrating the vindicator only. It’s Belinda who pushes the narrative further when she asks the Doctor about Lagos. This is when the Doctor confides in Belinda that its a place where he feels safe to be himself. Belinda understands this from her own perspective and encourages the Doctor to go see his friends at his favourite barbershop, Omo’s Palace.

Before we continue, I would just like to cheekily celebrate the fact that I called it about the TARDIS doing the Doctor’s hair. I’m not saying I’m a genius, but it is kinda wild that just two weeks ago, I mentioned it, and now here it is in an episode. Should I play the lottery this week? I kid, but what this speaks to is that there is a clarity this season between the show and the audience. Clearly the crew want us to think about Doctor Who in creative ways. The show gets that the hair and costumes mean something to a wide portion of the fandom. There are whole theories about how the longer Capaldi or Pertwee are in the TARDIS, the crazier their hair gets. So believe me when I say, it’s not far off for the show to do an episode about the importance of hair.

The Doctor beams as he greets the people selling their wares in the Lagos open-air market. He calls people “Auntie” and “Uncle.” They have special handshakes and inside jokes. I understand the people at Bad Wolf Studios looked into actually filming in Africa, but it wasn’t feasible for the budget. Instead, they brought in consultants to bring authenticity to their fake Lagos set. It’s a really lovely attention to detail. When the set is full of extras, it really works. It feels like a set, but in that classic Doctor Who way. Though when the set is deserted, it does look a bit like the marbles room from Squid Game. Having just sold us on the idea that space is a premium in the marketplace, it’s automatically suspicious just how empty the street is outside Omo’s Palace. Combine that with missing persons posters and a keep out sign, and you’re going to need twelve deadlocks and a panther to keep the Doctor out.

The Doctor enters Omo’s and immediately the vibes are off. For starters, all of the shop’s clients are the men from the missing posters- Omo, Rashid, Tunde, and Obioma. And strangely, while the sign outside says Omo’s Palace, a stranger stands ready to cut people’s hair. Omo has been telling the men about the Doctor, the greatest story he has to tell. When Omo was a boy, the Doctor stopped his village from burning to the ground. Since then, Omo’s shop has become a safe place for the Doctor to come and relax. He trusts Omo, so when Omo encourages the Doctor to sit in the Barber’s chair and share a story, the Doctor trusts that it would be safe to do so. Instead, the Doctor can feel the wrongness of the ritual as the Barber’s cape holds him down as if extracting the story.

The Doctor tells a simple story about Belinda to such a vivid degree that the paintings that manifest on the wall from people’s stories look photo-realistic. The story goes that Belinda was finishing a long shift and was headed home to celebrate her nan’s birthday. However, she catches something in a patient’s symptoms that saves the patient’s life and also costs her her evening with her gran. It’s a very modern Doctor Who story for the Doctor to tell. The Doctor is always going on about the nobility of living a normal life. It’s also a cheeky way for them to throw a brief little Mrs Flood cameo in there. It is a little interesting that the Doctor’s story contained Mrs Flood. It’s almost as if Mrs Flood orchestrated her involvement. What does it mean for her to appear in his story in that moment? And why hasn’t the Doctor recognised her yet? You would think he would notice after Susan Twist. Maybe that’s part of Mrs Flood’s plan. An old lady hiding in plain sight? They’d never do it twice! That’s like robbing the same bank!

One downside about having ADHD is that our minds wander even when we’re engaged. I’ve had conversations with people where I stop listening to them because they were so interesting that my mind wandered. I kept thinking about their point and they kept talking. I do this with books as well. And I did it with this episode. There were so many profound and interesting moments that I had to rewatch this episode because I kept getting caught up in its concepts. And I do mean caught up and not lost. Never once does the episode lose its central thread, though it does keep some aspects a bit vague. I mean all of this as a compliment. I like that it’s an episode that’s actually about something. And I like that it leaves an air of mystery. I’ve said it often in the past that I love it when stories maintain a bit of mystery at the end. I’m reminded of “The Magnus Archives” or the first season of “American Horror Story.” Two different stories, which I enjoyed thoroughly until they gave away too much information. Sometimes an enduring mystery allows us to keep thinking. Solving a mystery can put too fine a point on things. The imagination has nowhere to go.

Perhaps one of the more enduring mysteries at the end of the episode is why the missing men’s hair grows back after telling a story. I’m in two minds about this. I can imagine a few reasons why their hair grows back, but it’s never fully explained. But part of me wonders if this wasn’t either a muddled explanation or perhaps a missed opportunity. We know from reading the missing posters that the men have been gone for about five years. The youngest of the men, Tunde, was only 19 years old when he was taken by the Barber. Tunde is also a footballer, which puts a bit of a ticking clock on his absence. Every day he’s stuck in the barbershop is a day further from his prime. If the growing of the hair was because sharing their stories aged the men, then it would add to that tension. Perhaps the others take his place to keep him from ageing out of his future as an athlete. It would add an even greater sense of urgency and an element of self-sacrifice. That being said, we understand enough about the hair growth to follow the story. People tell stories, the stories power the big spider vehicle, which causes their hair to grow.

Meanwhile, every time someone enters the shop or powers the spider, the TARDIS lights up all red and klaxxony. I found myself laughing at the way Belinda speaks to the TARDIS. She has no sense of wonder for any of it, and I find that hilarious. I half expected this to be a “The Lodger” situation, where the episode is a companion-lite story by having the companion get tossed about on the very cheap to film on TARDIS set. And if it was one of those episodes, they did a great job utilising Varada Sethu’s screentime because it hardly feels like it. Belinda’s method of tapping the TARDIS console and speaking directly to it surprisingly yields results. I like that the TARDIS listens to Belinda and shows her Omo’s Palace on the viewer. I like those times when the TARDIS relents to the companion’s pathetic attempt at interfacing. She may not talk, but she listens.

Belinda struggles her way through the marketplace. It's a sharp contrast to the way the Doctor weaves through the crowd. In a brief cameo, Inua Ellams plays a stallholder who gets into a brief altercation with Belinda over what appears to be spilled yams. Speaking of cameos in this scene, was that a Space Baby standing outside the babershop? Initially I took her to be a young Abby. I expected it to be a glimpse into how she knows the Doctor. Then I get online and everyone is like "ThAt WaS pOpPy FrOm SpAcE bAbIeS!" Does it mean anything more? The Doctor seemed to shrug it off as his story leaking out of the Nexus. But considering the emphasis on storytelling at the moment, that could still have deeper implications. Kinda cool.

The introduction of Abby with her abundance of food is your classic save the cat moment. She feeds the lads so we know she’s got some good in her. However, Abby kisses her teeth at the Doctor as if unimpressed, but it’s not until later that the Doctor learns Abby and he have a history, though maybe not so much with this incarnation of the Doctor. After learning that Abby is short for Abena, the daughter of the spider god Anansi, the Doctor remembers how they met each other. In classic Fugitive Doctor style, Jo Martin makes a brief cameo where she stands in place of the current Doctor and delivers a single line of dialogue. It’s sort of her main thing. Standing and talking. One day, we might even get to see her do something. This isn’t to say I wasn’t wildly excited to see her. Honestly, the further we get from Chibnall, the happier I am to see her. I was excited by the prospect of seeing what a writer of Ellams’ calibre could do with her. I get why it was just a cameo, but damn, let a girl run down a corridor or something.

Long ago, the Doctor left Abena with her father, where he was free to continue using her as a betting chip against strange men and women. Abena learned to distrust her father and the Doctor, leaving her vulnerable to the Barber’s controlling nature. Having spent the majority of his long life feeling unappreciated as the keeper of the Gods’ stories, the Barber plans to pilot the spider to the centre of the story Nexus, where he will unravel the stories of the Gods, thus negating their existence. If you’ve read Terry Pratchett’s “Small Gods,” then you’ll have a good understanding of the way the Barber operates. The Gods grow strong through our stories about them. People’s faith in the Gods feeds them. Cut that off, and you cut off the life force of the Gods. Cut off the Gods and you cut off people’s capacity to think, to imagine, and to hope. Though considering the Gods we’ve met in the last two seasons of Doctor Who, I’m yet to see evidence of a benevolent God, until Abena.

The Doctor’s honesty toward Abena and the men’s prostrations bring out the true Goddess within Abena. Now it is her time to tell a story. She sets the Doctor in front of her while she weaves cornrows into his hair. She tells a story about how enslaved people once fooled their enslavers by mapping the road to freedom within their hair. They would pass these maps on to others through their hair, and nobody was ever the wiser. Neither my boyfriend nor I knew this, and we both sat there, mouths agape at the brilliance of such a concept. When Doctor Who was initially developed, there was always a plan to use the time-travel aspect of the story to give history lessons. This might be one of the finest examples Doctor Who teaching history. Not only was it fascinating to learn, but it also plays into the story. I can’t stress how much I loved this. Incredible.

The Doctor and Belinda follow the Doctor’s hair through a labyrinth in the back of the shop to make their way to the engine of the spider vehicle. The engine looked like a cross between a baobab tree and something Delia Deetz would have sculpted. It also reminded me of the TARDIS’ architectural reconfiguration system from “Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS.” I find it interesting that there is so much machinery and tech surrounding the Gods in this episode. As Gods go, this use of technology evokes the Thor movies over fire and brimstone, and not just because the Doctor namedrops the Thor movies. It makes me wonder if perhaps none of these “Gods,” are as magical as “The Wild Blue Yonder” would imply. Instead, it feels more like Arthur C Clarke’s idea that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

The engine sits surrounded by relics of every world religion. There are books and televisions feeding stories to the story engine. The Doctor lights up the machine with the six-word story of his life- “I live. I die. I live.” The life cycle of a Time Lord. It is now apparent why the Doctor told such a pedestrian story with Belinda’s life-saving moment at work. The totality of the Doctor’s lives flickers across the screens in the typical montage of past Doctors. The Barber is excited by this surge of power to his engine, but it’s too much power for the vehicle to withstand. Oddly, it was Belinda who delivered this information. I was left scratching my head as to how she would know the engine was about to blow. That felt like more of a line for the Doctor. I guess they realised Belinda hadn’t spoken in some time. With things about to blow, the Barber’s only option is to evacuate Omo’s Palace with haste. I found the destruction of the vehicle a bit strange. The spider never comes off as a menacing creature, but as it explodes and tries in vain to claw its way out of the shop, it feels like more of a villain than a vehicle. Appropriately, the clip the engine room played of the Ninth Doctor from “The Doctor Dances,” was precisely the one this final escape brought to mind. “Just this once, everybody lives.”

When I watched this episode with my sister, she expressed surprise at the mercy shown to the Barber. But when you think of it, the last time someone kidnapped a person for a five-year journey was “Gridlock,” and Milo and Cheen weren’t evil, just desperate. The Doctor forgives Omo, who also forgives the Barber. Omo even gifts him the barbershop and his father’s name, Adétòkunbo. Omo has more important things than cutting hair, like meeting up with the girl in the blue earrings from his photo. It’s an uplifting ending that I hadn’t expected. But it’s heartening to see that not only is Doctor Who becoming more of a space for diverse voices, but one that allows for those voices to express joy. I don’t want to watch trans stories where trans people overcome death and oppression. I can read the news for that. I want to see trans people befriend the Meep. Black fans deserve these moments in Doctor Who without also having to give a pound of flesh.

I spoke last week about the importance of Doctor Who as a bit of escapism. But where do we escape to if not our safe space? This episode feels huge in that respect. A black Doctor, hell, two black Doctors, a mostly black cast, and a black director have come together to bring us what is possibly one of the most heartfelt and joyous episodes in the show’s history. The show has a lot to atone for. It took the show 20 years to hire its first woman writer and 55 years to hire its first writers of colour. But this feels like a step toward making the fandom a safe space for people of colour. It feels monumental, no matter how long it took them to get to this point. This may end up being one of my favourite episodes of modern Doctor Who. The only people this stands to alienate are those who thought Doctor Who was a safe space to be a bigot. Because that was delightful.

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cas-readsandwrites · 7 months ago

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Lavender: Interludes

Set in Jackson post TLOU S1 in the Lavender universe by @justagalwhowrites, a few little scenes of Joel, Doc, and the fam in Jackson. Listen I am not pregnant, I have no desire to be pregnant, so I don't know WHERE this came from, but I love soft Joel healing from his trauma and finding love and joy in his family! Content: Reader is described as pregnant. There is smut. And fluff. And love. Grab some ice cream and your heating pads if you're in the same time of the month as me. Minors DNI. 3.6k words

I am not quiet about the fact that Lavender is one of my favorite fanfics, in my two decades popping in and out of various fandoms. Doc and Joel are my distraction and angst and comfort when I need it. Sometimes my imagination runs a little wild.... many many thanks to Kit for creating these characters and being totally cool with the fact that I wrote a little fanfic of her fanfic :D So here we go!

~~~

Joel had walked into the house late one evening, after patrol had gone long and he had to wait to give report to the next crew going out. He was extra antsy and wanted to get home, now more than ever. This was his last patrol for the next several months, as he would not need to leave the walls of the town during the last month of your pregnancy and hopefully not for a month or two afterwards. He would be put on extra shifts on guard duty or with the carpenter crew, but as long as he was within a quick run down the street or an ear-shot of someone yelling for him with news of you, he was fine with that.

Anyway, when he had come home, you had been standing in the middle of the living room, seemingly all the sheets and blankets from the house around you and stacked in a laundry basket at the bottom of the stairs. All of the glasses and mugs were sitting out drying on the counter, as well as the few baby bottles you had brought home from the clinic (just in case you had said, hopeful that you would be able to breastfeed). All of the lights were still on upstairs.

“Baby,” he said, matter-of-factly, “what the hell are you doin’?”

You spun around, holding a fitted sheet in your hands, fresh from the laundry line outside. The town was encouraged to use the communal laundry whenever possible, to limit wear and tear on the machines in the houses, but understandably many families had middle-of-the-night unexpected messes or heavy loads that they would do at home if the mechanicals still worked. The dryer in their house was still inconsistent, as much as Joel took it apart and banged on it and put it back together, it gave them a few good spins before shuddering to a halt again. Thankfully Tommy and Maria’s across the street was still functional, adding to the growing list of ways that he felt like he was in… well, a commune, with his brother as their lives and households continually overlapped, something he suspected would only increase after the baby was born.

“I think I’m nesting,” you answered back, looking around at the piles of fabric and wiggling your fingers in the sheets. “It seemed like a good idea to have all the linens clean, and then I was hand-washing some things in the kitchen, so it seemed like a good idea to clean off some of the dishes and things we haven’t really used, they were kind of dusty and I didn’t want it getting in the bottles…” you trailed off and sighed. “Ok, it looks ridiculous, but trust me, it needed to be done!”

Joel wasn’t about to fight you on that, as much as he worried about your health and safety in what he viewed as an extra-fragile state, it seemed like you had come even more alive with an extra vivacity throughout your pregnancy. Even when you were throwing up, or cranky with hormones, you were even more feisty. Which was saying something, considering all the times you had verbally sparred back in Boston, along the road to Jackson, even back when you were taking care of yourself and your grandmother all alone. “Ok, well… can I help you?” he asked. “Seems like you got it in hand, but please don’t tell me you’ve been carrying laundry around all day.”

You waved your hands again, corners of the sheet scrunching around your fingers. “Ellie put up with me for a while and did the heavy lifting with the wet things. She wanted to go out for the evening, though, so it’s just been me and the folded piles tonight.” You looked around as you tucked the corners across and into each other, neatly snapping the sheet and folding the edges in. “I guess if you can take these all back up into the closet upstairs, then it will be mostly done.”

You looked around at the folded pile in the basket, mentally cataloguing your task, before seeming to snap out of it and look back at him. “But you just got home! I’m so sorry, blame my brain for being wired towards this.” You waded through the piles and threw yourself into his arms, even with your stomach grown with his baby, still fitting in just right where he could wrap around your shoulders and your back and you could lean into that space against his chest. Joel ran his hand up and down your back, around your side, warm palm against the place where your child grew. You hummed as he kissed the top of your head, centering himself as he always did when coming home on your scent and the warm gravity of you in his arms.

“Why don’t you go up to bed?” he murmured against your temple. “I’ll get the rest of this. You’ve been on your feet a lot. Please go lay down? I’d love to just… be with you tonight.” You nodded, tipping your head back to kiss him. He anchored himself to you, the press of your lips against his.

“I’m glad you’re home,” you said, squeezing him again before stepping away and looking around at the living room before walking upstairs.

They had been in this house for several months, well-established in Jackson, but he couldn’t shake the nighttime routines yet, circling the first floor of the house, checking that the exits were clear, locked, lights off, locking his rifle in the downstairs closet, keeping his sidearm in the nightstand next to his side of the bed. He heard you moving around the bathroom and treading the hallway into the bedroom. Thankfully, Ellie came home not too soon after as he was finished folding. She shrugged and tilted her head with an eyebrow raised in a nonverbal I don’t know, man, it wasn’t my idea. He handed her the basket and wordlessly gestured up the stairs. She just as silently tilted her forehead against his arm as she passed in a greeting and good-night, and they trooped up the stairs together. “Good night, Ellie!” he heard you call across the hall.

He showered, washing off the road and sweat, before climbing in bed behind you, already nested in your structure of pillows. “Mmmf,” you murmured, nestling back into his chest. He traced the line of the back of your neck with one hand and looped his arm around your front, resting on your stomach. You traced the back of his hand with your fingers in the dark. It didn’t seem to take much, even at this stage in your pregnancy, and soon you were bringing his hand below the slope of your stomach to that place between your legs that seemed so much more sensitive nowadays.

“Baby,” he murmured in your ear, “you gonna be ok? Don’t want to hurt you…”

You moaned quietly as his fingertips traced your clit, leading down to your center, tracing your entrance and just dipping inside. You gasped and tilted your hips, moving your leg to open that space for him. “Please, Joel,” you breathed, trying to be quiet, mindful of Ellie down the hall. “I trust you, I know you won’t hurt me, I want to feel you, please…”

He kissed the space below your ear, the scratch of his beard tickling the back of your shoulder. “Don’t gotta beg for me, sweetheart, always gonna give you what you need.”

Urged by your own hand, he felt the wetness from your entrance already, dipping his fingers in to coat them, coming back to your clit, warm and aching. It didn’t take long for the pressure from his fingers, alternating between circling and lightly pressing on your sensitive areas, before he felt you throbbing, heard your tiny gasps as you tugged on the corner of your pillow, thrusting your hips back into his as he brought you to your edge. Even after months of your reassurance that you knew he wouldn’t hurt you, had never done so, and you still obviously wanted him, he waited for your cues. He tried to ignore his hardening cock, but your thrust backwards had nestled him into the soft flesh of your ass, so warm and delightfully more from pregnancy, and he couldn't help as he rocked against you. Even as you came down, you pushed his hand back towards your center, hitching your top leg up to rest on his, reaching behind for his hip, holding him close.

He ran his hand down your leg, gripping your thigh against him as he moved to push himself against you, the heat and wetness from your center drawing him in. He lined the tip of him with your center, your body grasping to pull him in, as if promises over decades and the proof of your love growing inside you weren’t enough. He stopped only long enough to ask, “this ok, baby? You feel alright?”

You whimpered, tilting your head back towards him, and he ran his nose along what he could reach of your jaw, kissing the side of your neck, breathing against the edge of your ear. “Feels so good, please, don’t stop,” you whispered, rocking just so the tip of him slid in. He closed his eyes, focusing on the feel of you around him, pressed against him, as he slid inside you from behind. You bit your lip to stop from crying out, rocking back into him with abandon. He had to focus to stop from coming immediately - how could he not, the softness of the most round, plush parts of you pressed against his body and in his hands, your warmth even more enveloping. He focused instead on the lines of your body, kissing your shoulder, gripping your hip as he thrust in and out, syncing with the rocking of your hips. His hand slipped around your front to the top of your legs again, circling and rubbing against your clit. You were so lost in your pleasure, grasping at the blanket in front of you, and he wanted this to last as long as you needed. Unable to see your face or kiss you, giving himself into your body wherever you would take him, he used his words instead, punctuated by his own groans and pleasure. Words of praise and promise, your beauty, the sensation of your body, goddess that you were, holding both himself and your child together deep inside yourself.

-finally, “oh, fuck, there you go baby, I can feel you, so ready, come on-” and you turned your face down into your pillow, breathing heavily, as your body fairly shook with your orgasm, clenching and rippling around him, and he held on tight and rode it out with you, thrusting up once, twice, one more time until he felt himself come apart deeply and at home in your body.

The two of you lay together in the tangle of blankets and blankets, now kicked down around your legs and askew around you, his chest heaving with deep breaths against yours. He felt you melt into the mattress. After a moment he checked himself, not wanting you to need to move, and cautiously lifted an arm to brace himself against the mattress. You made a little noise and tilted your head back against him again. He reach in front of you and sat partway up, leaning over you to kiss you at an angle, reassuring you, and himself that you were still alright, that he hadn’t hurt you or pushed you too much in some way that he would have no way of knowing about, his memories of the only other pregnant woman in his life so far distant and embroiled in its own tinge of sadness and self-doubt that none of it was to be trusted. Only you, here, your daughter for all intents and purposes down the hall, the solidity of this house, was what he could count on.

He kissed you again and nuzzled against your forehead. “Lay down, baby, I got you. Need anything?” he felt you shake your head and settled against your pillow. He smiled. You often had a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep as you advanced in your pregnancy, but something about the release of sex would turn you into goo and put you to sleep afterwards almost right away.

He carefully sat all the way up, leaning over you to reset your pillows where you liked them, against the pressure of your knees, hips and belly supported against the mattress, under your arm, one against the small of your back. When you were tucked in and covered, he quietly stepped down the hall to fill your glass of water and set it down next to you, checking again the lights outside and the door to Ellie’s room, before sliding carefully back in behind you. Not able to get as close through your fortress of pillows, he rested an arm along your hip, breathing in the scent of your hair that always seemed to end up draped across his pillow.

He heard you sigh and shuffle, and was about to ask what else you needed, before you spoke quietly, through the cloud of sleep he knew was almost ready to carry you off. “I love you,” you murmured into the soft darkness of the bedroom. He leaned his head forward, resting his forehead on the space between your shoulderblades, just behind your heart. “Love you so much, baby,” he whispered, squeezing your hip, before sleep claimed you both.

~~~

Joel and Tommy watched as you and Maria talked in the living room of Tommy and Maria’s house after dinner, while they stood in the doorway of the kitchen drinking whiskey, judiciously keeping the scent of alcohol away from your pregnant self and Maria’s breastfeeding. Well, Tommy was watching Joel as Joel watched you shuffle on the couch, gently positioning yourself to rest your lower back. “She doin’ ok?” Tommy asked, trying to catch Joel’s eye.

Joel glanced over at his brother like he was unaware they were even in a conversation together. “Oh- yeah. She said her legs and back are starting to get real tired. Tried telling her to rest more, but you know her, says moving is actually better and she doesn’t want to leave the clinic yet.”

Tommy nodded, knowing this brand of his sister-in-law’s stubbornness and resilient streak. “You ever try doin’ the thing where you stand behind her and lift up her stomach?”

Now Joel was really looking at his brother. “What?” he asked. They didn’t really… talk girls. Joel did his best when Tommy was growing up to have The Talk (that went pretty well, living embodiment of the consequences of Joel’s actions usually screaming in her high chair in the background of those conversations when Tommy would be headed out the door to pick up yet another date) as well as trying to make sure his brother was generally a respectful and polite person to a partner, but other than that, they didn’t really talk about the ins and outs of each other’s relationships. Until you. Even way back when, yours and Joel’s relationship had been more real, more recognized, tangible, than most other things in his life.

“Yeah,” Tommy said, “you know, like you’re gonna hug her from behind or somethin?” He demonstrated in the air in front of him. “Get your arms around her and under her stomach, towards the bottom, where Maria always said was the most sore because it was heavy, stretching out some muscles, and just-” he linked his fingers together, glass carefully balanced in one bear-paw of a hand- “hup.” He demonstrated gently lifting a beach ball in front of him.

Joel watched his brother looking like he was trying to hula hoop in the middle of his kitchen. “Sure it doesn’t hurt her?” Tommy laughed and patted his brother on his arm. “Be gentle, man. Naw, Maria loved it. Would have walked around behind her for the whole last month for her if I could’ve.” Joel nodded, regretting already the time he missed in his brother’s life, refusing to accept his new marriage to Maria, blocking out the thoughts of his brother becoming a father, when all his brother had done for him was to step into Joel’s own life and take on Joel’s burdens as his own. By the time Joel and his girls had made it back to Jackson, several months had passed and Maria had already given birth.

Tommy patted his arm again. “She knows you’d do anything for her. Maria and I will, too. Need a babysitter or an extra hand when it’s time, just holler.” He gestured with his glass towards their window that overlooked the street, across which your home with Joel was softly illuminated by the front door light, waiting for you to come home. You caught Tommy’s movement out of the corner of your eye, looking up and smiling at your husband and your brother-in-law together again, as they should be.

The next day, you were walking slowly around the house while getting ready for a shift at the clinic. You were still the only doctor in town, though they had gained a few additional staff that, while not quite trained as well as you’d hoped nurses would be, were improving as medical assistants and able to triage and take histories and help with physical exams. One of the more senior nurses who had been in town for a while had taken on the heavier medical work before you had arrived. She had taken to your education and you had recently “graduated” her from your unofficial training and dubbed her a nurse practitioner, only needing to sign off with you on certain types of cases. The extra help meant that at least you could sit more and slow your pace to see a few less patients, but for now you said your brain and your energy were fine, and you weren’t going to let a few bodyaches get in the way of being present for the people who needed the knowledge that only you had.

Joel watched as you stood in front of your dresser, choosing which top to go over your precious few pairs of pants they had found to be modified with a maternity band. You sighed and rested your hands on the small of your back, leaning just so, trying to stretch - well, everything.

Joel begrudgingly remembered his brother’s words, knowing he was going to be eating shit for a while, Tommy being more of an expert in the “pregnancy and infancy caregiver in the apocalypse” duties. Joel still had him beat in the teenager department at least. For now, though, he walked up behind you to kiss your temple, slipping his arms around you as he often did to trace the contours of your body, holding your hips or placing a palm to feel the baby.

“Wish you would call it at the clinic, baby, I really do,” he murmured.

“I know,” you sighed, “not yet, though. My mind feels fine. I’m taking it as easy as I can there, I promise, and you know I’m in the right place if I need anything.” You looked down at his hands gently circling your stomach. “I know by now it’s useless to ask you to not worry, but please, take it easy on yourself, too,” you said, placing your hand on his.

Joel wanted to bury his face in your hair, carry you to bed, hold on to you and rub your feet and bring you tea for the next four weeks. He didn’t deserve you, mindful as you were towards his worries and the health of the entire town. “You’re askin’ for the impossible, babe, you know that.”

You laughed lightly. “I know. I can try. At least I didn’t leverage doctor’s orders this time.” You tilted your head back, resting on his chest. “I’ll take a few more days, keep making some plans with the staff, and see how I feel later this week. ‘kay?”

“ ‘kay,” he echoed. You moved to step forward and reach for a dresser drawer again, but Joel followed and gently tugged you back against him. You opened your mouth to softly protest - you did need to get moving, after all - but Joel slid his hands firmly under your stomach, warm and sturdy, and without even realizing what was happening, you felt the pressure in his hands increase and a blessed lightness spread across the top of your hips and your pelvic muscles.

Joel leaned back just slightly, the weight of your belly in his hands, and he heard you make a noise he had never even heard you make in bed. “Oh God,” you groaned, drawing it out in a soft sigh. “I didn't even realize how much that- please don't move, I just want to stay-” you let your arms drop, thoughts of a shirt vanishing as you let yourself be cradled in this temporary, bodily gravity defying relief.

Joel wanted to chuckle at your words, but the deep instinct to simultaneously protect you while bringing you so close, around him, be inside you, kicked up again. He could only rest his forehead on the crown of your head, remind himself that you were here and whole and healthy, and marvel at your innate strength and abundant spirit to allow your body to be changed for him and for your family. He would always strive to be worthy of you, he knew that now. For now, that meant standing quietly in your home together, swaying gently, holding you and your child, your whole universe in his hands.

#cas reads #tlou fanfiction #lavender #joel miller x reader #pedro pascal characters #the last of us #the last of us fanfiction

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gloomwitchwrites · 1 year ago

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Hey!

I want take a request for the 1k event :)

Hobbit fandom, Thorin

How he react if fall in love with a single mother/ he became a step dad

Okay, but like, that is such a cute idea. Thorin is already a father figure to his nephews, and stepping into the role likely wouldn’t be too difficult for him. Thank you for sending this in. I hope you enjoy it.

Word Count: 628

ao3 // 1k event masterlist // main masterlist

Thorin does not have any children of his own, but he has acted as a father figure to his nephews. So, when he falls in love with a single mother, it feels completely natural for him to slip into the role. The thing is, when Thorin first meets her, he has no idea she’s a single mom until much later, and yet that doesn’t change the way he feels about her. It’s not a deal breaker.

If Thorin meets her before the fall of Erebor, I can see him meeting her at the market in Dale, the two of them bumping into each other, lots of quick apologies, perhaps Thorin is helping her pick up the things he knocked out of her hands. A meet-cute moment that quickly blooms into something more.

If Thorin meets her after the fall of Erebor and during exile, I can see their love being a slow burn. Perhaps he is staying in a small town or village, working as a blacksmith temporarily for extra money to support himself. Their paths cross over and over again, their interactions brief before becoming something like friendship and then eventually something more.

If Thorin meets her after Erebor is reclaims and he’s king (and he doesn’t die), the dynamic would certainly be different. I think it would be super cute if she doesn’t have any idea about who he is, and therefore treats Thorin like anyone else. This is how they interact so when she finally makes a move on him, Thorin accepts, and it isn’t until later that he reveals who is he.

In terms of headcanons:

Thorin wouldn’t care if you’re a single mother or not. He sees it as a bonus that he gets to be a father right away instead of having to wait.

He is respectful of your role as the primary caregiver and understands that he’s coming in as a secondary individual. Sometimes this frustrates him because Thorin can struggle with figuring out how to act appropriately with a child that isn’t his blood relation. He wants to build a good relationship with them, but he doesn’t want to end up pushing you or the child away because he messed up.

Thorin will not take any negativity about this dynamic from outside voices. If someone expresses their opinions and it puts you and/or your child in a bad light, Thorin won’t listen to it. He is open to listening, but he won’t listen to negativity about you or your child. If you’re his, there isn’t any reason for anyone else to shove themselves in to have a say.

He is protective of the two of you, and the people who care about him the most feel the same way.

Thorin will do his best to make your life easier even if it makes life a bit harder for him. You know he does this, and absolutely hate that he puts your above himself.

Thorin always takes time to look after the kid so that you can have alone time and just because he wants to. His relationship with your child is just as important to him, and he wants this to feel like a family unit.

Thorin encourages your child to be whatever they want to be while also preparing them to take on greater roles within Erebor (if this comes after its reclaiming). Just because your child isn’t a blood relation doesn’t mean he doesn’t see that child as a son or daughter.

He won’t get it right all the time. Thorin will mess up…a lot. He is stubborn. He can be arrogant. This will certainly get in the way of things. But Thorin will always try to have some patience even when there is none to be had.

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1moreff-creator · 9 months ago

Text

Extra DRDT CH2 Episode 12 Thoughts

Heya! After making my last post where I just live-blogged my immediate reaction to the episode, I had a few more thoughts that I figured I should write down somewhere. They’re all too small for their own posts, but I still think they’re worth sharing.

Spoilers for CH2 EP12

CW: Murder, hanging, suicide.

The Water Thing

This episode brought up two interesting points which had rarely, if ever, been discussed within the fandom: Arei’s body swinging, and her body temperature and its connection to water. And while I’m relatively sure I saw one or two people mention the swinging at some point, the temperature issue is certainly a new one.

The swinging was explained in the trial: Arei’s body was hung shortly before it was found. But J says something interesting; the corpse should have been warm, unless it was drenched in water and dried. Paraphrasing a bit, but you get the point.

However, I actually don’t think this is a big deal, just adds a slight addendum to previous murder theories. We know the killer dumped the fish in the playground to confuse time of death, so I believe the killer likely splashed Arei with the water to cool her down. This is assuming they even thought about the body temperature, but I don’t think this is a large assumption to make.

I have seen people claim that Arei’s hair looks somewhat wet in the BDA, which… maybe? Anyways, this idea would explain that as well.

This might even give us Possible Explanation Number I Lost Count for the damn missing glove. Maybe it got particularly wet and the culprit worried it wouldn’t dry quickly enough? If people discovered a dripping wet bowling glove, the whole “using fish to confuse the time of death” thing would kinda go straight out the window. I have no idea if that makes any amount of sense, I don’t see why the glove would dry any slower than the rest of her clothes, but oh well.

Arturo’s Talent, and his Recap Foil: Levi

(Here’s the link to the original Recap Foil Theory post by gleamingtempest, in case you don’t know what I’m talking about).

Kinda forgot this was a thing when first watching the episode, but now looking back on it, there’s some neat foiling going on. Levi and Arturo’s backstory already were somewhat opposites in some aspects: Arturo got away from home himself while Levi was disowned, though Levi seems to hold a higher degree of respect for his family in comparison to Arturo. Levi is (now confirmed!) a murderer with no remorse, while Arturo accidentally caused Felicity’s death to some extent and clearly feels guilty about it. Etcetera.

Well, we can add a new detail to this foil! Arturo’s been training his talent since he was twelve, while Levi has admitted since introduction that he’s “a novice to fashion.” Neat detail, and certainly adds to this theory.

Terumin VS Xanvid

Thanks to Haru for pointing this out, but Teruko’s “I’ll fix my mistake” echoes Min’s “I’ll fix your mistake” from her Argument Armament. As I mentioned in the linked post, it’s cool that Teruko is taking a sort of Min-like attitude to her mistakes while calling Xander out, while David is taking Xander’s side in the same trial he calls Min pathetic. Foils and all that.

(Doomed Yuri V Doomed Yaoi, fight!)

This makes me hopeful that Min will still have some importance later. But I’m probably just coping.

What Was David Cooking?

I am kinda sick of talking about this man, frankly. I blame the almost three hour video I made on his MV. But oh well, he’ll stop being center focus soon enough. For now, His Deal is still one of the most central aspects of the episodes, so discuss him I will.

There are two big points of contention with what he said this trial. First, what does he remember about Xander? Second, what was he actually trying to do by pretending to be Arei’s murderer?

The first is pretty simple to assume, I think. David remembers whatever Xander did to become the Ultimate Rebel, and respects him as a result. Especially since Xander’s numeral I in LGI, the Footnote 14 code solved by y-prime, is “I have always looked up to you.”

I don’t think David has Hope’s Peak memories, despite his weird wording with “even if you all lost a year of memories.” He specifically says he and Xander had never met in his Prologue introduction, before they had any real reason to believe they’d lost memories. The LGI video also doesn’t add anything, because… well, it’s not a Milgram MV. It doesn’t come from his memories, it exists purely in meta. This is evident from the comments referencing Byakuya, Nagito and Kokichi, characters these people should have no knowledge of as Veronika claims not to remember anything like the DRDT killing game happening before; certain references to conversations and details David shouldn’t be aware of (mainly in numeral placement), etc.

(While I was writing that, the dev seemingly clarified that David does not have Hope’s Peak memories, then deleted the tweet, so. Just in case, there’s the full reasoning)

The second one is trickier. David is following Xander’s ideals, but that’s all we know. We don’t have a concrete idea of what Xander’s ideals really were, and it’s even harder to know what David thinks Xander’s ideals were.

David: I’m sure he had a good reason. I believe that he did. Xander is not the kind of person to do anything for frivolous purposes.

He believes Xander had a good reason for trying to kill Teruko, he says he’s sure of it, but he never implies to know exactly what the reason was. And if he doesn’t know the exact reason, he can’t for sure say what ideal Xander was upholding by doing what he did.

But, he knows what Xander was trying to do; kill everyone. Because if it was just Teruko, he wouldn’t have tried to mislead people with the CD thing. Although, Xander was following that one note that said to “kill Teruko Tawaki,” so it could potentially be targeted.

So, taking credit for Arei’s murder to try and kill everyone is because Xander tried to do something similar. But the deeper reason he gave, about the nature of the killing game, is it true?

(Apologies in advance for the particularly horrible collage. I am without a reliable computer atm)

David [Annoyed]: Ugh, fucking fine. You want an answer so badly? Any answer?

[Face covered] …

I…

[Sweating] Ah… We’re… in a television show, after all. That’s… what MonoTV said, right?

“Entertainment” is an ongoing show.

If Min successfully got away with the very first murder and escaped while we all died, isn’t that way less interesting for a TV show?

What’s the point of roping 14 other people into one murder, only to kill them all off immediately?

The killer is supposed to fail and get executed. We’re all supposed to catch the killer, again and again, and participate in trial after trail. You’re *supposed* to try to survive.

All of you, who are trying to slice these class trials to continue living on are playing straight into MonoTV’s hands.

[Confident] As if I’ll accept that.

I don’t care how low I’ll sink, or how despicable I’ll have to become. I’ll do anything to carry on Xander’s ideals by ending this killing game, even if it means that I have to dirty my hands.

Oh, this man is lying out his ass.

This is not an answer you hesitate over if it’s true. The words David is saying are neutral; the show is meant for entertainment, and it’s not entertaining if people die early. There’s no controversy there, no reason to be nervous. Especially since Eden’s already come to the same conclusion.

Veronika: You know, Eden once thought of an interesting plan to end the killing game. Based on everything we know, it could theoretically work.

[…]

To make a television show so boring they have no choice but to shut it down.

All we have to do is nothing.

You’re not supposed to be sweating when you’re effectively repeating something Eden said, even if under a different context.

First, David says he’ll give “any answer”, already making anything he says shady. Then, he seems to deliberate on what to say, which is already suspicious.

The most notable thing is that when he starts talking about the TV show, and what it means for it to be entertaining, he still hesitates. If his plan really was to make the TV show boring, once he decides to spill the beans, there’s nothing to hesitate about.

He only regains his confidence at the end, ironically when he’s saying the actually insane stuff. He finally finds the character he was trying to play and actually says something true; he wants to uphold Xander’s ideals and end the killing game. But I really don’t think it’s because he wants to make it boring.

In other words, he’s not lying about wanting to follow Xander and end the killing game, but his explanation about the entertainment has nothing to do with that. It’s way too simple of an explanation for the amount he hesitates. At least, that’s what I think, I may be wrong.

That brings us to the question; if he didn’t take the blame to make the game boring, why did he do it?

Well, currently and without too much confidence, I believe it has to do with Xander’s secondary goal; killing Teruko Tawaki.

One of the most well-accepted theories in the community is that David’s secret, “everything in your life is worth killing over [and] the killing game is all your fault,” isn’t Xander’s, but Teruko’s.

(In fact, side theory: I’m betting (on little evidence) that by the end of the trial, it will be David with his fanboy knowledge to point out that the “survivor’s guilt” secret that Min “received” was actually Xander’s, and reveal by process of elimination (since it’s likely going to be revealed in the trial that Hu has Veronika’s secret and Veronika has Hu’s, assuming those theories are true) that Min has the poison secret. It’s a bit of a wild prediction, but I think it’s a reasonable possibility to how the series would go about confirming the secrets of the dead)

That, combined with the fact that Xander followed a note that told him to kill Teruko, would certainly be enough for David to decide that Teruko’s gotta die. And killing everyone in the class trial is probably the best way to ensure that happens, since David probably doesn’t hunk attacking her directly is a good idea. If Xander, physically the strongest student in the cast, couldn’t get past Teruko’s luck, what the hell is David supposed to do? Especially now that she carries a knife, though I’m not sure David knows that.

It’s not even that out of nowhere; in the LGI video, Teruko’s numeral XIII appears next to a quote regarding the child of Omelas among other things. Very long story (skip to 1:22:22 in this video for the full explanation), but the child of Omelas is someone who must suffer so everyone else can live in a perfect world. It’s possible David thinks of Teruko, for one reason or another, as the Omelas child; she’s gotta die so everyone can be happy. She is someone “deeply unloved” after all.

Now, is this a stretch? Certainly. But I don’t think David’s telling the truth about his motivations, and I think this is one of the more likely options as to what exactly he was cooking here. I’m sure there’s better explanations out there, I just haven’t seen them :v

David VS Whit

I kinda skipped over the “Red Herring pun to David Freakout” line at first, but I think it’s pretty interesting that David gets so mad at Whit’s behavior. They are Recap Foils, so it makes sense they’d have strong emotions towards each other.

In particular, I’d like to point out how David gets mad at Whit for something similar to what he does as a motivational speaker.

I mentioned it in the previously mentioned section of my LGI analysis, but I believe part of the reason David hates Teruko is that he sees himself in her (pessimistic, thinks the world won’t change, etc), and this would be the other side of that. David constantly says things he doesn’t believe to make people happy, and he considers that to be pretty stupid, so it makes sense for him to get frustrated when seeing Whit doing something similar, trying to raise spirits by telling jokes. Looking at Whit is sorta like looking in a mirror, and David hates that. The mirror in LGI is labeled “reflection is due” for a reason.

I’m not fully sure this works 100%, but I think it’s at least worth considering.

Updates on Eden!Culprit Levi!Accomplice

In case you’re new here, here’s a link to my post detailing the Eden!Culprit Levi!Accomplice theory, which I came up with alongside some other theorists, and is what I currently believe the murder to be. My thoughts on possible character motivation and the such have shifted a bit since then, but the important part is the physical evidence. In particular, the combination of Lockdown Logic to determine Eden most likely took the tape from the gym and the Fish Timeline to determine someone else must have helped her get the fish, combined with the overly complicated murder method which I describe in detail, leads me to believe Eden is the blackened, and Levi helped her kill Arei.

I’m not going to talk about other theories, I’ll let the dedicated theorists perfect them with the new evidence in their own time. But, how does this theory change?

On the surface, uh, not much. We haven’t talked method much, after all.

(Side note, I know some people are bothered by how long that’s taking, and while I kinda get it, I’m not bothered by it. We’re in no rush; I prefer it if all the character conflict is addressed at some point, even if it delays talking about the actual method. Better than it going unaddressed, after all)

The only change is adding that they splashed Arei with water to hide her body temperature, but as discussed, that’s a minor change.

The big wrench thrown into this theory is the end, because… I’ll be honest, dear audience, I have no clue what Levi’s cooking here. Like, at all. Zero read on why he’s revealing his secret. I could try to speculate, but I can’t find any fully satisfactory answer even outside the Levi!Accomplice theory. Nothing makes sense to me, so I’ll just wait for the next episode before trying to read into it.

There is one unrelated thing I want to bring up, though, and it’s related to Levi’s possible motivation. I know this is one of the biggest sticking points in the theory (obviously), so I’d like to talk about it.

As a refresher: although alternate ideas have been offered, my current guess is that it has to do with his desire to be a good person, and the fact he considers Eden a good person. Cue the whole “A Good Person” hidden title behind “All That Glitters.”

Levi: Perhaps I messed up yesterday. But I want to move on. I want to keep trying to become ‘a good person,’ like you, Eden.

The idea goes like this. Levi thinks Eden is good, and so he wants to do good by her. Based on the secret quote in the code of his character page, we can tell he prefers to speak through actions. He’s a bold action man, and that can cause him to come off as heartless.

Levi: I always believed that a person is defined by their actions alone. But maybe that’s just a poor excuse for my heartlessness.

My personal theory (again, other Levi motives are possible) assumes that Levi believes someone will win the killing game eventually (and this is an assumption, I won’t deny it), and if only one persona can escape, he’d rather it be Eden than anyone else. Again, “good person.” Levi will die, sure, but unless he becomes a blackened himself, he’s going to die regardless whenever someone gets away with murder.

Now, this isn’t anything drastically different than what I said in the theory post, so why am I bringing it up?

Well, the thing is… Doing something horrible, throwing away your own life and those of most of your peers, all for the sake of the one you’ve deemed to be “a good person”…

Now where have I heard that before?

David: But doing “good” things requires sacrifice. Sometimes that sacrifice is being seen as a good person.

Even if doing something makes you hated, if that action is for a greater good, then it’s an action you have to take.

Xander is a good person. He’s the only good person I’ve ever known. I swear, I’ll follow in his footsteps and—

Huh. Funny how that works.

My point is that not only is “doing good by the only good person here” now a pre-established line of reasoning these characters can have, Levi doing such a thing for Eden would be a very interesting parallel to what David tried to do for Xander.

This isn’t evidence, to be clear. Just because one guy does it, doesn’t mean a completely unrelated dude is gonna do it too. But I’m calling it now as a potentially interesting parallel to explore, either in canon if I’m right or, like, an AU if I’m wrong :v

That said, I will point out that Hu’s capital G Girlboss Moment is directly after this, the one where she chews David out for deciding what’s best for all of them without consultation. And a little bit afterwards, Levi starts acting weird, apologizing for being useless, revealing his secret, etc. These two things could be connected, if Levi is, like, having second thoughts after that.

I could see a world where Levi’s trying to bring the conversation towards the right answer without fully committing to it, only for something or someone to somehow convince him back to accomplice-hood middway through it. I find that immensely unlikely, to be clear, but again, I genuinely have no idea what Levi’s trying to do right now, so.

All in all, a pretty neutral episode for this theory. Next one could completely break it, though, so I’m excited. I might have to come up with new theories! >:D

God I missed DRDT. And the only drawback of coming back is re-opening LGI trauma :D /silly

Anyways, thanks for reading! See you on the flipside!

#drdt #danganronpa despair time #drdt theory #levi fontana #drdt spoilers #david chiem

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utdrmv-confession-box · 5 months ago

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Hot take, I don't like the Xtale Frisk X Muffet ship because it's basically Fran's but less popular.

So a while back Jakie released a post (https://jakei95.tumblr.com/post/753964540646014976/this-will-be-the-last-update-about-the-accusations) apologizing and explaining a bunch of drama and problems that occurred within the fandom that included her. One of those things she addresed was the Frisk X Muffet ship, and I have to say her explanation of this doesn't cut it. Her reasoning for this is that we don't really know if Muffet is an actual adult in Canon undertale and the relationship between XFrisk and XMuffet are both consenting adults in an AU so it's okay. But… it’s not. After looking into it, I can say is that most likely Muffet is not a child and it’s not okay to ship her Xtale counterpart with Xtale Frisk.

Starting off with what we know about Muffet is that she wasn't a character made by Toby Fox nor Temmy Chang but rather the OC of a person who contributed enough money to undertale kickstarter to have it put into the game as a fight. Muffet runs a full blown business, wearing snazzy clothing with outrageous prices on her food and also hates anyone who she deems doesn't like spiders, going so as to imply that she would have killed alphys for annoying her by warning her to evacuate during the neutral going on genocide run. All in all she's a pretty interesting character and her song’s an absolute banger.

What does this have to do with the Frisk X Muffet ship? Well what we do know about monster culture is that all children wear striped shirts, a call back to Earthbound (In which undertale was inspired by). In the pacific and some neutral runs you can get a dialogue from monster kid within Snowdin where they talk to Frisk and say that they must be a kid like them because they’re wearing a striped shirt. This supports the idea that in Monster culture, all children wear striped shirts. This is further supported by the fact that all the child characters that we see with the underground are wearing striped shirts. Monster kid and Asriel have striped shirts and Chara who is adopted by monsterkind is wearing a striped shirt, heck they were wearing one when they fell into the underground and so was Frisk so maybe it’s a universal thing.

Muffet, on the other hand, is never shown wearing a striped shirt. Now, you could chalk this up to Muffet being an OC that wasn't created by Toby so she would be an exception to this, but you'd think that since she’s believed to be a child by some that she would have some sort of dialogue implying that she was a kid. Fox never skips out on details, so I would expect that if Muffet was a child character she would say something like “oh ho ho ho, I use to have a striped shirt like you, but I got rid of it because it blended to well with my spiders and I was afraid they might get squashed because of it.” but instead she acts like Mr Krabs without the two extra legs and is willing to cannibalize monsters & has with her spiders.

Others also try to use the excuse that she's short therefore she must be a child, but there are two other characters that are adults who are also around the same size as Frisk, those being Sans and Alphys. They both, just like Muffet, have jobs like an adult would. Sans has three- doing stand-up comedy at the MTT Hotel, running multiple food stands throughout the underground, and of course being a sentry. Alphys on the other hand is the Royal scientist. It’s obvious both of them are adults despite there short stature. I mean alphy’s is dating undyne for goodness sake and Toriel tells her when she's about to kiss undyne at the end of true pacifist run that there are children present, not that Alphys is a child. It's also implied that Sans & Alphys know each other through being scientists, so neither of them can be children. We know that Papyrus is obvious adult and Sans is his older brother so of course Sans is an adult too ( and it generally freaks me out that some people try and rationalize saying Sans isn't an adult because of his short stature just so they can ship him with Frisk)

Muffet has a job just like these guys (which no other child does) and never in her dialogue does it imply that she’s a child nor does it ever within canon. Just because it’s never outright stated in the game doesn’t mean that it’s not canon. It’s like how people try to rationalize that sans is a child (cuz he's short) despite all the signs saying he isn’t within the game.

Now, some people like Jakie may say that since Xtale is an Alternate universe that has both Muffet and Frisk the same age, it’s chill to ship them.

They are w r o n g

Take the ship frans (frisk x sans). Some people try to get around its pedophilic nature by aging frisk up (example sooner or later you'll be mine). This is still really really gross because at the core- it’s a pedophilic ship. You are taking a canon child character and matching them with an adult, then aging the child up like it’s a loophole that “doges” how it’s pedophilic. Lemme repeat that. YOU. yes YOU are taking a canon CHILD and making them be ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED with an ADULT which is a PEDOPHILIC RELATIONSHIP, and you trying and remove its roots by aging them up STILL MAKES IT GROSS. If you are so desperate to ship sans or an adult with someone- MAKE AN OC.

This reminds me of the ship Xvial which is xgaster X ink (ignoring the fact that both are aroace) with people trying to rationalize that since ink doesn’t have a bio dad that’s a gaster and technically Xgaster isn’t cross and XPapyrus’s bio dad it’s okay to ship them. NO NO IT'S NO GUYS PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS I'M BEGGING YOU. Ink had TWO dads that are gaster’s and although they aren’t bio related to him THEY’RE STILL HIS PARENTS and cross + XPapyrus see XGaster as a parent. That’s not even mentioning the fact that Xgaster was also emotionally and physically (implied) abusive to them so SHIPPING XVIALS IS GROSS. It’s like incest but with extra steps, and why would Ink date someone they know to have been heavily abusive and manipulative to his friend and their family? The people who ship this are waving a major red flag, one filled with the hole of loophole’s they try to exploit to make this ship normal.

Back on topic, It’s the same principle with Xtale Frisk and Muffet. Frisk in canon undertale is a child while Muffet is an Adult. Although their Xtale counterpart’s may not know this nor do they show it, the creator of xtale (Jakei) DOES.

THAT MAKES IT NASTY.

The only reason why there isn't a big uproar in the fandom about this is because Muffet isn’t as popular as Sans. But if Jakei had shipped sans with frisk when she began writing Xtale/underverse- most people by today would have had absolutely no tolerance for that crap and she’d be shunned by a larger part of the fandom.

The fact that Jakei tries to defend this leaves a sour taste in my mouth because you'd have to be either blind or doing mental gymnastics in order to defend it. Like dude it is OBVIOUS. I’m not sure if Jakei is aware that Muffet was an OC which might explain why she thought she was a child, but everything about Muffet points towards her being an adult, just being a less popular character. A pedophilic ship is still a pedophilic ship if you have to age up a character so it wouldn’t be called that.

Needless to say- unless toby fox himself descends down from his chair and says that Muffet is a child or some canon info disproves my conclusion- the ship is gross and I don’t want to deal with anyone who ships it (the same goes for xVials). -Cheesey thoughts anon

Respectfully, this is so much text. I would lose my mind, patience, and marbles trying to effectively copy and paste this all.

#utdrmv confession #confession #cw proship #proship cw #proship tw #tw proship

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12thdimensionalart · 27 days ago

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Rp search!

Heya! I'm searching for someone who's down for roleplaying the canon characters from The Amazing Digital Circus with me! I'm kind of only really looking for canon character only plotlines and AUs for now. Details under the cut! (18+ ONLY, NO NSFW!!)

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About Me

Name: Dimension

Age: 26

Pronouns: He/They

Literacy: Casual to Literate (I will match what you use/prefer, and I don't mind if sometimes your responses are small)

Styles: Script, Paragraph, Headcanons | 3rd person only, past and present tense okay

Location: Discord pleeeease

Timezone: CST (Chicago Time)

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Characters

The characters I love using are Jax, Caine, and Zooble!

I am okay at RPing as Kinger, Pomni(though not preferred), and Ragatha.

I don't think I'm very good at roleplaying as Gangle or Gummigoo ;w;

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Alternate Universes

I don't mind doing AU character meets canon version or other AU version! (I.e. Canon ragatha meeting your AU Ragatha) I come from the Undertale fandom and I LOVE AUs and seeing each of them kind of become their own thing!

I will NOT roleplay as or with an AU version of the cast that is not owned by you or myself! (i.e. asking me to play as Digital Mafia Pomni, you want to play as Fight Club Ragatha, etc.) I understand that AUs are precious to their creators and not all of them are okay with using their AUs for roleplays.

I'm open to dynamic/major changes AUs (complete change of time era, backstory, species changes etc.) and also small AUs (insert characters into short story/OTP prompt here)

Do you have an AU you've made and love and want someone to RP in it? I would LOVE to do something like that

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Ships

Ships I love and will 100% do:

FunnyBunny (Jax x Pomni)

FunnyBunnyDoll (Jax x Pomni x Ragatha)

ButtonBlossom (Pomni x Ragatha)

Abstragedy (Zooble x Gangle)

Ships I like!

Checkmates (Kinger x Queenie)

Royalteeth (Kinger x Caine)

Caine x Kinger x Queenie

If it's not listed I probably won't do it but feel free to ask!

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Genres

I am typically open to all genres but these are my FAVORITES:

Angst!!!

Tragedy

Hurt/Comfort

Romance

Queer Platonic Relationship/Aroace spec stuff

Horror

These are a few genres that I typically won't do but I am open to considering after being given an idea:

Western

Fantasy (Medieval specifically, burnt out on it)

Crack RPs

Sci-fi but it heavily depends on the story bc I'm warming up to it!!

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Extra

My DMs are open, I don't bite!! If I turn you down however, please know it's nothing personal and I'm just a VERY anxious person c':

I forget things, A LOT, so if I haven't responded to you within a day please poke me again!

Please inform me of what you WON'T rp! For examples here's what I will NOT roleplay: ERP of any kind, harm to cats or cat-like creatures, canon x oc (for now at least) This is not a full list I am just losing my ability to think rn but I'm sure I'll remember later.

I am a HUGE psychology nerd! This means:

I am more than willing to have an RP where the characters have trauma ranging from mild to severe, and exploring the symptoms, behaviors, consequences, etc from it! i.e. A character has C-PTSD from their childhood and exhibits the symptoms as they would in the real world, such as mood swings, flashbacks, dark feelings about their existence, etc.

I am also open to characters having realistic addictions and harmful coping mechanisms. (i.e. drug use, alcoholism, gambling) These can be discussed and shown in the roleplays, as long as it's respectful and not overdone, of course.

I do not and will not support romanticizing or condoning drug-use, alcoholism, trauma, abuse, etc. What I enjoy in writing is being realistic and respectful about these deeper topics and exploring them in an environment with mutual respect.

Go ahead! Project like hell onto your fav! Writing is one of my biggest coping mechanisms, and if it's yours too then I'm all for it!!

If these topics do bother you, please let me know and I will avoid them!

There's a lot more to me but I don't want to make a super long post. I love chatting with my RP partners, and I socialize best through talking about shared hyperfixations and discussing RPs. Send me a DM if you're interested. (Again, 18+ ONLY and NO NSFW)

#the amazing digital circus #amazing digital circus #digital circus #tadc #tadc jax #jax #roleplay #rp #fandom rp #canon rp #au rp #funnybunny #please god i need jax and pomni to hold hands ;w;#tadc caine #caine #pomni #tadc pomni #tadc zooble #zooble

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cydrafinity-tadc · 4 months ago

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Masterlist of my fanfiction

Will of course keep this updated. Presented in reverse chronological order so you get the newest work first.

Both characters and ships will be listed from most to least prevalence in the story.

If chapters are not listed, then it is a oneshot.

Currently, the only fandom is The Amazing Digital Circus.

By The Blood Moon's Light

Rating: Mature

Characters: Pomni, Ragatha

Ships: Pomni/Ragatha

The blood moon hangs high over Syrcus Castle, as Pomni Van Helsing prepares to confront its most dreaded master. But between the stories, the strangers in town, and the castle's servants, something about the whole situation feels... off. Self-contained Vampire Hunter Pomni x Vampire Ragatha AU, no knowledge of other AU material needed (nor does any exist outside this fic).

Heartfelt Happenings at Honeymoon Harbor

Rating: General

Characters: Ragatha, Pomni, Caine, Zooble, Gangle, Jax, Kinger

Ships: Pomni/Ragatha, Gangle/Zooble

Chapters: 1, 2

Caine has a special Valentine's Day adventure cooked up for the Circus crew, where they will each be paired up and sent on a scavenger hunt. Pomni and Ragatha have been getting close, but they may have to get even closer for this escapade. Ragapom focus with background Abstragedy. Was intended to be a oneshot, but it looks like it will be 2-3 chapters now.

New Couple's First Fight

Rating: General

Characters: Pomni, Ragatha

Ships: Pomni/Ragatha

Pomni and Ragatha just concluded their first fight as a couple, and sit down in the devastating aftermath to talk it out.

We Can Take Things Slow

Rating: Explicit

Characters: Pomni, Ragatha

Ships: Pomni/Ragatha

Pomni and Ragatha have only been dating for a week, and Pomni still isn't used to physical intimacy. When she and Ragatha share a bed for the first time, however, she gets a bit more excited than she thought she'd be. Cuddly fluffy sex, with canon-accurate restrictions. So no genitals, no taking off clothes.

It Always Plays Out This Way

Rating: Explicit

Characters: Gangle, Jax

Ships: Jax/Gangle

They hate each other, they love each other, repeat. Angsty, sexy Ribbun from Gangle's POV.

Whatever the Future Holds

Rating: Mature

Characters: Pomni, Ragatha

Ships: Pomni/Ragatha

Pomni and Ragatha stay up talking in bed, and Pomni brings up a heavy subject when she poses the question: What do they want to do when they escape?

An Endless Conga Line of HR Violations

Rating: Explicit

Characters: Gangle, Jax, Ragatha, Zooble, Pomni, Gummigoo

Ships: Jax/Gangle, Pomni/Ragatha

Gangle has been having a rough day as shift manager of Spudsy's. First, Ragatha, who has been completely out of it for some reason, can't stop talking about Pomni. And then Jax comes in from his "re-evaluation" with a surprise... Comedy smut, mainly Ribbun but with some Buttonblossom thrown in, along with other ships that you'll have to read to find out about.

Why Does This Car Smell Like Japanese Cherry Blossoms

Rating: Explicit

Characters: Jax, Gangle

Ships: Jax/Gangle

Jax won't put up with further punishment from Caine after Gangle's "extra training," and demands a promotion. Gangle has an idea on how he can earn it. (She pegs him in the back of his car.) Takes place within the events of episode 4, though doesn't quite fit into canon. Loosely based on an animatic by vvickydisc on Tumblr.

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cranbrees-hyperfixation-central · 6 months ago

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~My liege the coffers are low, I fear that we will not last until the next payment. Prithee spare us a coin or two?~

Examples of my writing can be found here, here and here.

Above is a summary of what I offer, please see below the cut for further information:

It costs £2.50 for a short prompt which may be up to 500 words.

After that £5.50 for every 500 words. For example, it’s £5.50 for 500 words, £11.00 for 1000 words, £16.50 for 1,500 words, £22.50 for 2,000 words and so on.

This rate will continue up until 10,000 words which is my limit. If you want anything over that then you will have to pay a doubled rate of £11.00 per 500 words, e.g. it’s £110.00 for 10,000 words, if you want an extra 1000 words then your final total will be £132.00.

Additionally, if you requested, for example, 500 words for £5.50 but decided that you would like an extra 200 words then it’s £1.50 per 100 words, bringing your final total to £8.50 for 700 words.

I’m not overly comfortable writing NSFW pieces, if what you request is only mildly sexual/ suggestive then you can pay the normal rate and I will write it. However, if you insist on an NSFW piece then you will pay a doubled rate right from the get-go, e.g. £11.00 per 500 words. The word limit for NSFW pieces is capped at 1,500 words.

Additionally, aside from my hard NOs, I have the right to refuse an NSFW piece if the request contains things that make me very uncomfortable. However, some things can be discussed. I'm generally against something like non-con/ dub-con but may write a scenario containing specific circumstances.

I also reserve the right to refuse a standard commission if the request contains situations, fandoms, etc, that I am unwilling or uncomfortable writing about.

Furthermore, if I accept a commission and you pay me, only for me to lose inspiration/ motivation and I generally just don’t think I would be able to complete it within an acceptable time frame then I will contact you with my apologies and you will be refunded immediately.

If you would like a commission then please send me an ask (with your username, not anon) with what you want e.g. what price category as well as a summary of what characters/ themes/ plot points you would like included. I will slide into your DMs (or contact you in some other way) to let you know whether I’m expressing interest or denying your request. If the former then you can message me with more details. You can be as in-depth or as vague as you like but if it’s the latter then expect some artistic licence.

Some examples of what you could request might be:

. ‘How would (character/s) react to (thing)’ for £2.50 (works best for stuff I’m familiar with)

. I have a huge list of raw quotes I could use as prompts, you could choose a quote and have me write Reader/ Y/N spit some mad facts.

. Do you want 1000 words of Reader jerking off your favourite transformer for £11.00? Mate I’ve got you covered.

. Perhaps you’re very kind and love me very much so you’ll pay me to write a 5K word chapter for one of the many fic ideas I haven’t started yet. Or pay me to rant about the fictional continent that exists only in my head. One can certainly dream.

Anyhoo, once all the details are down pat and I’m ready to start, you can send me the payment via paypal. For anything that is 1000 words and over I will send you an update when I’m halfway through. The longer the commission, the more updates I’ll send. Any NSFW or original work will not be posted to Tumblr and will be sent to you as a PDF via Gmail. Anything fandom related will be posted (though it will state that it was a commission and your username will be included) unless you specifically state otherwise. Minor edits are free but larger ones start at £1.50 depending on how much you want me to change.

I DO NOT CONSENT IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM TO HAVING ANYTHING I WRITE BE FED TO AI.

ANYTHING I WRITE IS MINE, I WROTE IT

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griffonsgrove · 1 year ago

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Haiii!! These headcanons have been amazing!!! Could I perhaps ask for a Dr.Flug X Reader where they're a famous popstar, please?? tysm!! <3

Dr. Flug X Popstar!Reader

a/n: eeee of course I can write this!! This is a really cute idea, I hope you enjoy!! Im working my way through a few of your guy's requests so bare with me! I plan on maybe doing a few drabbles or headcanons for some other fandoms within the following days so keep a look out for that!

fandom: Villainous/Villainos words: 1026 cw: none! just super cute fluff!

(PLATONIC):

Now that you were starting to gain more and more popularity amongst people, you had been wanting to expand your musical talent to all reaches of life, whether it be good or bad.

Being a famous popstar made it easy to get connections, thankfully, and a little birdie had told you about the infamous ‘Hat Island” that was rumored to be crawling with villains, owned by none other ‘Lord Black Hat’ himself.

You were by no means a saint, let alone a hero, and thought that everyone deserved to have the joy of music, even those of lower status. So what do you do? Schedule a meeting with the most feared villain known to man!

Imagine Flug's surprise when he opens the door to see you standing there.

The man about damn near faints on the spot. A famous super-star, standing right in front of him? AND they're cute?? Oh boy.

He had heard of you when Demencia would loudly blast her music from her boombox, Obnoxious yes, but he would absentmindedly find himself humming your tunes or tapping his foot to the beat while he worked in the lab, much to his dismay.

Eventually that led to him listening to you in his (very little) free time, and he, actually?? Enjoyed?? It??

Now, the tricky part was going to be trying to convince Black Hat to let you hold a concert on his island, This old man intimidated tf out of you, if looks could kill you’d be dead before you even stepped into his office. But, you tried to remain confident.

You offer to pay him for compensation, and give him a small percentage of the profits from your show. How can he refuse that offer? It’s money! He reluctantly agrees to your proposition, and you sign a temporary contract.

For extra gratitude you offer him and his henchman VIP tickets for your show, Black Hat scowls, saying something along the lines of “that frivolous techno music gives me a headache..” But! He doesn't deny his henchmen going!

Of course you don't leave without the eldritch putting the fear of god into you.

Demencia vigorously shakes Flug in excitement, when she finds out they have VIP tickets to your performance, for once the doctor’s eyes light up.

The night of your performance happened to be one of his best memories, he was absolutely enthralled by your singing, and he got to witness all up close!

When he comes backstage to meet you after the show he nearly faints again. You thought he was kind of cute for that really.

You excitedly greet him and his group and chat for a while. Answering questions and sharing stories, you actually find out the two of you have a lot in common! As the evening wraps up you pull him aside privately to give him your number, if he ever wanted to chat. HE NEARLY FAINTS AGAIN.

(ROMANTIC):

That’s how you two began talking. You texted frequently, excitedly sharing each other's interests. Sometimes you’d snap a photo before or after a performance, and he’d send you pictures of his latest invention, or his model airplane collection.

It’s actually you, that ends up asking him out on a date. Through a video call, his reaction was adorable, he looked almost in disbelief but dumbly nodded his head to your confession.

The both of you lead busy lives, so you carefully plan out when you can visit and when he can get the time off. (He sucks up to Black Hat for an entire week).

You settle on something quiet and not far away, you didn’t want to be bombarded by fans or paparazzi during your small visit. It’s at a small cafe, Flug claimed it made the best coffee he’s ever had.

He watches all of your shows btw. Man’s is committed. Whether that be streaming the concert on his phone while he works or going to your shows/events in person whenever you visit the island again. It’s also a plus that he enjoys your music!

You singing to him, ouGHHHH. He’s starstruck every time, entranced by your voice. He really thinks of you as an angel, maybe a siren.

Love songs!! You write several dedicated to him while your dating, he nearly cries when you reveal this to him. Who am I kidding? He totally cried.

He makes you cute little gadgets to make your life a little easier. Like a custom-made microphone for your shows, you use it every time <3.

You SPOIL him. You get that bag (pun intended) and you think he deserves to be treated with everything he could possibly want.

If you ever meet 5.0.5 you best believe you’re treating that bear like your own son. He’s such a sweetie, how could you not? And if you sing him little lullabies to help him fall asleep?? Flug’s heart almost bursts out of his chest. How did he get so lucky??

He often wonders how he bagged you (pun intended). He's pretty insecure of himself already, it really is a mystery to him. He almost feels like he doesn't deserve any of it at all. But of course, you see right through his act, and reassure him endlessly.

You both keep the relationship on the downlow, mainly for your sake. He didn't want your reputation to be ruined if the press found out you were dating a notorious supervillain. You had told him you didn't care what the public thought, but he insisted.

There are numerous photos of you on his phone, not in a creepy way though. Most of them are selfies of two of you, or from photoshoots/concerts. He def has you as his screensaver.

You loooove peppering his bagged face with kisses. He gets so flustered it's adorable!! He secretly loves them. If you wear lipstick, you love seeing the aftermath of your kiss attack, his face painted in a lovely shade of red.

Overall, being in a long-distance relationship definitely has its ups and downs, but Flug thinks it’s all worth it, especially for you, he’s willing to give it a try. How romantic.

#black hat organization #villainous #dr flug #x reader #dr flug x reader #headcanons #villainos #dating headcanons #black hat villainous #blackhat #drflug #drflugxreader #plsprotecthimatallcostoHMYGOD #gender neutral reader #popstar!reader

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