#the second half of the game is still great tho

[smilesrobotlover]

Gosh I LOVE how soft Linebeck gets towards the end he’s so sweet

[rubys-domain]

i'm so glad there's a weekly boss i can use him to fight, as underbuilt as he is rn

[waywardsalt]

before i actually go through the phantom hourglass manga to critique it i’m going to quickly just toss out a bullet point list of things i actually liked in the ph manga

- i like how the stuff w/ tetra in the first chapter not only sets her up but serves to contrast how she is as a captain vs. how linebeck initially is as a captain. the line ‘as captain, nothing is more important than the lives of my crew’ specifically

- link’s cute. hes just a little guy

- i’m a big fan of the added detail that linebeck tends to stick out his bottom lip. it fits really well with his character. as a smaller side note i like the way his nose is drawn. i just like the shape they went with lol

- the bit with the point card for eddo’s garage that is specifically noted to be Not In The Video Game is good

- for all intents and purposes what is done with the bellumbeck fight is really good

thats it everything else i either feel neutral about or hate/feel frustrated with

[pocket-watcher]

I saw you were doing requests and I was thinking of a scenario with covert hypnosis but the reader catches on quickly and does their best to resist/escape. I want to fight for my will against the inevitable. If not tho that's cool :)

Hi anon! Here’s something just for all you who love a good struggle…

“Excuse me, do you have a moment?”

The crowded sidewalk didn’t leave much room for you to figure out who had called out, until someone approached you with a clipboard.

You registered they were petitioning or raising money or something and your social anxiety took over.

“Sorry, I’m in a rush.” You said, avoiding eye contact.

“This will only take a second.” They added, as they always do, but you faltered as you noticed no one had signed whatever sheet they had.

And it was three on a Saturday. The heat bore down from the afternoon sun.

Pity.

So, reluctantly, you turned to them, nodding for them to continue.

A surprised smile was on their face.

“R-right. I’m going to read you a passage of a book, and by the end of it could you answer some questions?”

“Okay.”

“Great!” They flipped over their paper and began reading in a much lower tone than they’d previously been speaking in.

“The cave was dark. Deep. Never-ending. She stared and stared but could never find the bottom, no matter how far she looked. But that wouldn’t stop her. She wanted to. Needed to look deeper…”

The slow, winding tone of their voice clued you in. How the voices began to fade away from the busy street around you.

You shook yourself.

Ah.

So that was the game, hmm?

You fiddled with your nails to show your disinterest. How unfazed you were.

Ignoring the growing warmth within you.

They continued.

“She unknowingly was walking into a nest. A creature was watching, waiting. Calling to its prey. She felt compelled to continue. Walking in an almost dream.”

“Are you done yet?” You said, batting your eyelids innocently. They felt heavier, but nothing to worry about.

They licked their teeth and put on a false smile.

“I guess you really are in a hurry, aren’t you? Don’t worry. It’ll be over soon…”

They found their place on the page once more.

“How long had the creature been trapped in that cage with no one to gaze upon its mesmerising features? 10 years? No, 9. 8? 7…” they paused, looking up at you.

Feeling slightly fuzzy from the counting, you picked this moment to start walking away.

Better luck next time.

“H-hey! Wait up!”

Your movements were clumsier than usual, but freedom was just a few steps away if you could lose them…

They followed you through the weaving crowd, still reading to you.

“She was helpless. Walking in circles. Resistance was futile. Her feet felt like lead. The floor of the cave grew muddy. Sticky. Weighing her movements down. She was slowing. Her mind. Her thoughts, slowing.”

You ignored them, pushing through, mumbling half apologies to those you moved past.

They felt faster than you. Lighter than you.

Get out of my head, you thought.

“That’s it, the creature cooed to her. Stay with me. Go on. Give up your fight and stay here forever. Listen to my words. Let them seep into your mind.”

You half faltered, turning and seeing them smile at you.

“N-no. No she didn’t. She made it out of the cave…” you said looking deep into their eyes.

You couldn’t see the sun. You were no longer outside. You were in the deepest, darkest, cave.

The creature stared back from the darkness and spoke.

“Perhaps. But, even if she did, would she ever really stop thinking about what she could’ve had with the creature…?”

You dropped.

[meowsgirldrawing]

Obey Me Next Generation Idea(aka-My au)

What about poly Au with the bros? I assume with demon culture, MC having kids and the bros all being the dad wouldn't be too surprising as I think monogamous relationships are seen just the same as polyamorous. Like neither really matter honestly in a "oh this is a big deal/drama!" Sense.

Plus its the 7 lords, they can do whatever the fuck they want

I know MC is mostly human but I think having kids is still possible as they got magic plus their pacts with the bros might make them stronger. Plus, historically, woman have been able to have multiple pregnancies, like more than 4 at least, so still- not impossible.

Just let me have my next gen shenanigans

ONTO THE KIDS PLEASE AND THANK YOU

Varya (1st Born) (she/her)-25

Daughter of Mammon

Is more demon than human, possibly the most demon out of the kids.

Holds a very smiley but deadly aura around her.

Seems the opposite of Mammon in behavior but you can tell by her subtle acts towards her family, shes his kid alright.

Is the type of person to shake a person's hand but hold a knife in the other.

"Looks like a cinnamon roll, can kill you"

Lights up at the mentions of crocheting, dogs, and weird but oddly alluring creatures around Devildom.

She does have a small habit of gambling when out with Mammon, but is actually able to keep her wins because no one expects it through her gold-winning smile.

Mess with her family and its on sight.

Lilith the 2nd (3rd born-1st triplet) (she/her)-21

I headcannon Lucifer to at least be the only one to name their daughter after their sister. Not to replace, never, but to honor her.

Is in a strange middle between Half demon-mostly demon

Sweetheart by default

That big sister you can always talk to and she wont judge.

Will make passive agressive remarks when peeved off.

Definitely denies acting like Lucifer yet can do the stance-arms crossed and glare- exactly like him.

Even does the whole hand chest like him too. Shocked look and all.

Calls all the brothers papa but Lucifer father, not as a distance way but thats just how she's always been.

Theatre kid- almost always lead.

Anna from Frozen vibes at times.

Hopeless romantic too.

Basically Lucifer if he actually showed more emotions.

Daddy's girl 100%

May or may not be in a secret relationship with Diavolo's heir👀

Rhomb(2nd Born) (he/him)-23

Son of Leviathan

Named after the Loch ness Monster

A nice balance between human and demon

But has "mutations" that make him have scaly patches on his body, his tail out almost 24/7, and bad eyesight.

Stern attitude most of the time.

Big bro protector

Tallest of all the kids

Softer on the younger kids but will smack a bitch if they act up.

Cant play video games much cause eyes so turns to more physical games that include puzzles.

Likes games with strategy to follow like War tanks, or chess. Is the type to make a DnD game the best cause he makes amazing stories too despite not reading much.

Likes mystery shows too and tries to figure it out before the answer is revealed, could go on rants about why. Gets it right 11/10 times.

If Leviathan wasnt his biological dad, people would believe he was Satan's kid.

Doesnt like cats tho.

Quinn (4th Born- 2nd Triplet) (He/they/doesnt care) (21)

Asmo just thought Quinn was a pretty name so picked it lol.

Also a nice balance between human/demon. Tho his wings stay out constantly.

Very much vibes from that yellow bird in Rio.

Laid back personality but is an outgoing dude.

Also very protective of their siblings, and will not hesitate to cut a bitch.

Isnt as flamboyant as Asmo but does have a just as great fashion sense.

Has a hard time dating as people automatically assume hes just like Asmo so will try to date him for that reason only.

Love his dad but hates the reputation he gets because of being said son.

So he resorts to just sticking to his siblings or the few friends he trusts.

Besides MC, is the second most popular face to pop up on Asmo's Devilgram

Fucking adores axolotls for no particular reason, just loves them to no end which Asmo makes sure to get many axolotl themed plushes, shirts, etc. for him.

Libbey(Liberty) (5th Born- 3rd triplet)(she/her)-21

Another balance between human/demon, maybe a tad more on the demon side.

Tho, also has "mutations" like very enhanced hearing.

Bookworm to the max

Loves reading dramas and fantasies, but seems to enjoy multiseries more than stand alone.

Very quiet and shy kid of the group.

Sometimes cant even talk so signs instead because earaches or headaches.

Likes cats but perfers reptiles more.

Has a small turtle in her room from the human realm, set it up beside her bed and everything. Their name is Casey after one of her favorite human novels she read.

But despite all this, isnt called the daughter of wrath just for nothing beside biology reasons.

Is like Satan 2.0 when pissed, she wont yell or scream but you can just tell from the drop of room temperature and the subtle tilt of her head.

Her eyes glow an electric green when shes pissed.

Had more anger issues when younger, but cause Satan knew how to handle his better now, taught her how to aswell.

Satan is probably the main one to understand her issues with such a problem, despite being more mellowed out now that shes older.

Is definitely a cryer when really angry tho.

Ryder(6th Born) (1st twin)- 19

Ngl, everyone was surprised that they had twins. Including Belphie himself.

But then again, they did have triplets before them so....eh?

Ryder is a tad more human than demon, but still powerful enough to have his own demon form like his older siblings.

His tail is seen smaller than Belphie's, and a bit thinner too.

The sloth genes affact him only so much, making him more likely just want to procrastinate then outright not do anything.

He honestly enjoys the human world more than Devildom, mainly cause everything is less..hectic per say.

Hes the type of brother/older friend that will cover for ya if you have to hide something but will subtly suggest how to fix whatever their doing.

Like one time Quinn came home slightly tipsy and past curfew, and he snuck them into his room. Though he scolded them in the morning, he covered for Quinn at breakfast, saying they ate too much sugar last night, thats why hes queasy and has a headache.

Quinn did fix that habit up quick after Ryder threatened to leave him on his own next time it happened.

Calls everyone bro or dude, no matter their gender.

Gen z vibes too in most areas.

Has a fixation with cow bells for some reason, likes the noise is all he can say.

If he were told what Belphie did to their mom/human parent way before they were born, he says "Cowabummer" while screaming inside.

River(7th born-2nd twin)(they/them)-19

How is this Belphie's kid?

Too hyper, tad crazy

Probably has ADHD, who knows.

While Ryder is the slightly responsible twin, their the reason why Ryder needs to be said twin.

Their just about the same range of human/demon as Ryder, can have a demon form, but only uses it to fuck with people than to actually be scary with it.

They may have alot of power, but their personality alone can kill people.

Is the type of kid to crawl on the ceiling when they were 2.

Is also the type to hop outta window to get to the lower floor faster. Thank Belphie for their demon powers otherwise we'd have another Lillith situation.

Has scared even Lucifer at one point, has made him yelp out of surprise. Will not go on how, no matter how much Papa Satan and Belphie ask them. Just has a toothy grin when they ask.

When calm, is actually a pretty chill dude. They like odd patterns and get fixated on the most random things.

MC gave them one of those sand timers that you flip to restart and when she came down to tell them food was done about 2 hours later, she found them sitting on the table, holding it while watching the sand go down. They use it now to relax and focus on when overstimultated or just having too much of a fuzzy head.

Has spent nearly a how week with Leviathan because they got hooked on one anime with him. Now has frequent solo movie nights with him cause.

"They're tad confused, but got the spirit"

Literally had to have someone (Rhomb) explain to them what the LGBTQ+ letters meant. Legit thought it was just new alphabet pattern, was still happy to find out what it all means.

If you told them what Belphie did to their mom before they were born, they'd think it as a joke. Dont tell them otherwise or they will cry.

Frankie(8th Born)(She/her)-16

Everyone thought that she would be the biggest child when MC was pregnant with her, since y'know, it was confirmed Beel's kid.

Yeah, she came out small. Like scary small for a baby.

It was then everyone knew she would be the most human. Has a little demon in her, but clearly not enough to have a demon form nor mark.

Lucifer's wallet cried in relief.

She does eat a good bit more than the average human but overall, nothing compared to Beel.

She does adore sweets to the max, especially gummies. Give her some and she'll love you forever.

Sweetest little sunshine in the world, everyone adores her. If they dont, then they will soon.

Shes like Mirabel in encanto, kinda wishes she had more demon powers but is still overall happy with who she is.

When her a Beel are with each other- OH MY DIAVOLO, THE CAVITIES PEOPLE GET- TOO DAMN SWEET AND PURE

Like big papa Beel and his sweet little girl all smiley and pure. Best father-daughter relationship out of all the siblings and fathers.

Shes kinda like pinkie pie from MLP but like more hyper as fuck. Can and will speak so fast when excited that it just comes out as squeaks at that point.

Since her more human side, shes more likely to stay in human world when their mom is on Buisness there, so she has alot of human friends.

Shes in gymnastics, which definitely helps keep her figure more smaller despite all the sweets she eats. Does work out with Beel too.

Mess with her and you have a whole army on yer ass.

"Bounce to the beat of my own drum!"

You can just tell how much I love this dear. HA

[omegalomania]

FIRST NIGHT OF TOURDUST AT WRIGLEY

im writing down all the stuff that i remember so i dont forget!! obviously the big ones were GINASFS LIVE?? HELLO??? i was very unspoiled for the setlist so every song was a huge shock

tai as openers got a hUGE response. and it was great!!! im thrilled to report that bilvy is still a whore <3 he was playing submission games with mike and sisky the whole set, did snakes on a plane, doing high kicks and draping himself all over his bandmates as god intended

i mean it probably goes without saying but i need to shoutout the set design for this tour. oh my god it was SO beautiful. there were no big screens behind them, instead there was a big round screen mounted over the stage and it would play funky videos during all the songs. one half of the stage was this gorgeous blue wrought-iron looking thing with stars and monsters and a clock. the other side was glowing gold, so it was like a night/day dichotomy

there were big red curtains behind the guys and they would sweep shut for a few songs and when they opened again there'd be a new setpiece behind them. like a physical setpiece!! the first one was an anchor, the second was A MOVING DOGGIE HEAD, the third was a huge tree with owl eyes. they were fucking gorgeous

the pink seashell monologue played w/o any instrumentals before love from the other side kicked in

joe has a new guitar! it's like...green and super detailed, it's seriously so fucking fancy i need hq pictures of that thing stat

joe vocals were SUPER LOUD AND PROMINENT my god it was a blessing

patrick was KILLING it the whole concert. i was floored. fob songs are NOT EASY TO SING esp love from the other side but he was impeccable pretty much the whole night

he did fumble the lyrics to centuries tho dlfdjkjf looked like something was up with his soundboard around that time

they hit us with a triple-punch of chicago is so two years ago, calm before the storm, and then where is your boy, all in a row. patrick talked a little bit before where is your boy to be like "yeah so this was forever ago...i was jogging..." and pete chimes in "imagine us jogging"

patrick also talked a bit before they rolled the piano out. he was like "hi guys!! :)" and talked about how the set design was all pete's idea and it was super fucking fancy and he was floored by it. he said that pete suggested he play piano and then was like "ugh i dunno im not GREAT at that" (you fucking liar) and then that led up to the medley that closed with don't stop believing and the rest of the band joined in and AGHHH

i was not prepared to hear headfirst slide and disloyal order in the same night.

i was not prepared to hear HEAVEN IOWA that night. of all the stardust songs i did NOT EXPECT THAT ONE

for those who were involved in the stardust project, it went off really well the first night! i got my pink seashell and during fake out i looked behind me and the whole stadium was lit up pink! after it was over, pete was like "wow that looked amazing guys" so the band definitely noticed!

pete did the baby annihilation monologue live! he seemed kind of nervous he had his hoodie pulled up and everything but he delivered it very different from the studio version and when it was over he pulled a big black curtain over himself and then disappeared when it fell

save rock and roll live is always a treat but my god when the camera pulled back and i saw that all four members of fall out boy were smiling while they sang OH NOOO WE WON'T GO. my god. my heart.

they did not do a proper encore because they didnt want to tread into curfew, so we did not get a picture with them

OKAY THATS ALL I CAN REMEMBER FOR NOW. ILL ADD TO THIS IF I REMEMBER ANYTHING ELSE <3 THIS WAS A STELLAR START THANK YOU FALL OUT BOY I LOVE YOU FALL OUT BOY

[ganondoodle]

i know i said i wouldnt be ranting about totk anymore, but i realized i didnt really count the sage dungeons as story (dont ask me why) so i thought im gonna write a better summarized version of my opinion about totk (i have around 60% of the game, all lightroots, not yet all shrines (missing like .. 20 or so, know the reward), not all krogs (dont know the reward), not all mayoi (half know the reward?) )

(in no particular order)

good stuff (in my opinion)

the. MUSIC! god the music is good, it was good in botw too but now with much more different bosses it really is probably one of my fav soundtracks of all time (most fav are all three phases of the end fight, the pre-fight to that, the build up one before all of those, Frosgeira (wind tempel boss) the glorious mASTER KOGA and more tbh)

the build up and end boss fight(s) are fantastic, i dont think im ever not gonna have my heart racing when approaching it (despite now skipping almost the entire way bc i set a teleport thing right before it) just bc the build up is so well made and the music(again) is such a banger and the fight(s) itself is so fun too, tbh i keep wanting to play it just bc its so fun

i LOVE how many themes play into the music (endfight alone had so many layers, fav probably is ganondorfs classic theme and calamity ganons both in the same piece among much more, and daruks theme in the fire temple)

(edit) YOU. CAN. TOUCH. DA. DRAGONS!!!!

ganondorf

ganondorfs design (x3)

ganondorfs weapon designs

ganondorfs voice (japanese)

everyone elses voice (japanese)

all voices (german)

thE YIGA!!! i love everythign about them and am so happy they got to be more than just some mini mission

(edit) also the fact that they get zonau tech to work without any special ghost powers is so ????

(edit) koga can summon and use zonau tech unlimited?? hes so cool

NO stealth mission!! (as far as im aware)

bosses are very different from each other

main dungeons are not too short and not too long and mostly fun (mostly bc i personally didnt like the gerudo one), i love that you can still somewhat cheese them and do them your way

sages felt like they got a bit more involved

(edit) you gotta do more stuff before getting to the actual dungeons and i really like that, feels less like a fetch quest but that you are actually helping

(edit) each sage is actually there in the dungeon and is required for it, which is great!

each settlement saw a much bigger danger/change (tho that has more impact if you have played botw) and its problems felt much more real

shrines are well varied tho i think overall a little easy (only got stuck on two so far and later solved them easily bc when i first started them i was tired and exhausted, no brain left lol)

NPCs felt less flat + more bigger sidequests that felt like they had more impact

cool new monsters + designs

the underground was pretty appropiately creepy

the sages abilities are neat

you can refight bosses!!

stable points system is a neat way to encourage you using them

weapon fusing is neat

(edit) the forest of the krogs being corrupted like that is both creepy and a neat nod to oot

(edit) the vai gerudo outfit being gone!! (one) evil has been defeated

(edit) the health bar going so far off the middle in ganondorfs second phase is honestly just funny hnjdfdjk unfortunate that you only need the master sword and with a few perfect dodges his health melts like butter in the summer

(edit) the music when dragondorf transforms sounds so sad .. its probably meant as a oh no world is actually ending sad but i like to think of it as a oh god what did he do to himself sad

the scene where rauru seals ganondorf kinda fruity

(graphic, animations and the overall world is still fantastic)

bad stuff (in my opinion)

everything zonau they feel forced into every bit of the world and its history (i know them being somewhat alien is intentional but not like that) it feels crammed into places they werent before and shouldnt be and it makes it all feel very artificial

the glyphs/dragon tears/memories really ruined alot for me, while it gave you insight as to what happened, it felt like it showed you too much and too little at the same time and i think it would have worked better if it was all in text for once if even at all, so the past stil stayed a mystery and youd be left wondering

timetravel .. really wasnt necessary and felt more like an excuse to get rid of zelda + make her the poor little sacrificial girl again + and to make her turning into a dragon as tragic as possible, like nothing but a stepping stone to the big reveal tm

shiekah tech being not just fully irrelevant but practically erased, wiped off the world (i know about the literally last guardian parts in hateno, it feels more like an oversight tbh, purah technically using it ... tho i dont think she ever calls it that, the purah pad is jsut the sheikah stone but worse), there being no good explanation, no remains, nothing as to why it would suddendly stop working and why even the titans and ESPEICALLY the shrine of life would be destroyed, if anything why wouldnt you enshrine it as a memento to history it was such a focus in botw and so well integrated into the world that it being fully gone, not even old overgrown, or visibly reused to build homes etc., or remains of how they built the og shrines in the underground feels like a HUGE missed opportunity (seriously it would have been so easy to make the ancient shiekah base their tech on old zonau tech, without stealign the gocus but buildign a connection)

all of the continuity problems, totk feels like botw didnt happen and the excuse of 'they didnt want to confuse new players' doesnt make a lick of sense in my eyes bc; its supposed to be a sequel, if you want it to be a standalone game then dont call it a sequel- if you start to play a game with the sequel instead of the first part its your own damn fault if you get confused; if anything, it would have been a good opportuntiy to make people interested in botw so theyd buy and play that one too

ganondorfs character is very flat, you basically get to know nothing about him (yuno even calls that out midgame but its never elaborated upon nhgfrdfhkk)

the zonau and their kingdom of hyrule is presented as this so perfectly good thing to such a degree it turns creepy, the end cutscene with mineru going poof was kinda uncomfy to watch tbh

the reward for all shrines being essentially a reveal as to who the hero in the tapestry was and it being, of course, some weird half zonau is the lamest answer to a mystery i didnt want an anwser too, it doesnt feel like it came naturally either (again my point of the zonau being forced into everything)

the shrines (zonau) feel so much more unnatural than the shiekah shrines, alien in a bad way and not in a good way + really are like a bad reskin of them, their sudden appearance and use is so much less logical

back in botw i was doubtful of if the shiekah tech wasnt going to far too modern tech and cause it all to feel like a bad mix of modern tech and medival fantasy, but they balanced it perfectly (tho the eponator zero was very much the limit imo) but the zonau tech .... oversteps that line i think, it really does feel, more than anything else, that it was just bc they wanted the stuff to be in there bc it might be fun to play around with, im not against that kind of stuff mind you im all for fun, but it feels a little like they thought of a box with endless stuff to play with first and a zelda game second (if you get what i mean)

quite a few quests or things in the game seem like they are more and then end in a dead end (the worst of all is impa saying she wants to go research what could help zelda turn back, and i was excited and convinced that shed give me a quest to find some mcguffin that would do that after i beat ganon but there wasnt anything you could actually do; less bad one but disappointing nonetheless the dongos were mentioned and treated like this big awesome thing from alot of NPCs all around the map and then when you find them they are bascially just gem vending maschines)

the way zelda turns back and link gets his arm back is incredibly unsatisfying, none of them even have something like a scar, or mark from it all, zelda spent thousands of years as a dragon (a transformation that was said to cost your soul but i guess that wasnt true) and link had his arm bascially eaten by miasma and he gets it back like it was never lost, zelda returns all intact as if nothing happened, getting blasted by some magic tm by two ghosts that were supposed to be long gone is the solution to all problems!!

(edit) link losing an arm wouldnt just be super intersting but also lend itself well to lead up into the next game where his prothesis is the focus and source of abilities

(edit) zelda got done so dirty, instead of her actual interests and character to shine she just gets shoved into yet another crisis surrounded by strangers in a world that looks like hers but isnt, and all she does is beg the ancient sages to swear to help link and sacrifice herself again (can you call that fridging? bc she sure feels like she got fridged) i like zelda and i dont like how much i didnt care about her and tbh im angry at the game for that

(edit) both link and zelda not even slightly changing in the years btween botw and totk kinda boring, like a haircut can only do so much

(edit) sonia really is the wife that dies to make husband sad thing isnt she? i get that gan had to get his hands on an enigma stone but i feel like there had been better ways to do that, the fact that she dies that easily is almost funny honestly, why does ganondorf even have weapons when he can just one punch people to death (tho i find it funny to imagine he can literally just kill people in one punch but hes too prideful to do it most of the time so he always uses weapons to look more cool)

(edit) so many new characters that you barely get to see or interact with, i really ... couldnt get myself to care much

(edit) zonau tech being so irrelevant to the games story while its also the focus is .. weird, its really just play doh for the players and nothing else honestly

(edit) monsters mining sonanium feels strange bc ... they dont do anything with it? the best thing i can think of is that they were told to do that so link cant .. upgrade his battery thignies? but then again you could just destroy the mines and remaining constructs to stop it .... also you really dont need anything zonau tech related to beat gan?

(edit) ganondorf beign so utterly uninterested in their tech is weird considering how he dealt with shiekah tech (and we KNOW it can get corrupted) he should be a tech nerd tbh

my twitch VoD of the first time beating the game getting muted at the credits despite me talking over it

nitpicks (in my opninion)

(edit) ganondorf should have a bit more of a boar inspired design, as treat, i think

(edit) the enigma stone wandering back to ganondorfs forehead even after transforming is? weird? i guess an excuse for da epic last stabby but still? (how cool would it have been to have to plunge into his mouth and break it there or something)

(edit) the underground gets a lil old after a while, the fact that its pretty much the same everywhere aside from some .. very strange flowing magma is a lil boring

(edit) ganondorf could have gone way more crazy with abilities and all that, imagine hed spwan multiple miasma arms on himself when you get him to a certain level of health

(edit) i miss unique weapons, there arent even normal axes around anymore, everything is about fusing really, i miss the cool shiekah tech weapons

(edit) the forest of the krogs being largely irrelevant is kinda weird

(edit) mineru being the sage of spirit still is kinda meh, the robot is neat but i thought tauro or purah would be the surprise sage tbh

(edit) the bosses were a little easy (i did boldo gohma rather early and did it without even getting hit)

you cant talk to koga normally :(

you cant find koga again after the last fight :(

you cant refight him (to my knowledge) :(

i find it very strange that yuno seemingly lost daruk shield, despite him having inhereted it in botw

the sage powers are not .. very great integrated, while its fun to haven them run around and help you fight, to actually use their powers you have to chase after them, something that in the heat of a battle is very annoying to do, constantly activating the wrong on or them losing their charge up when they get knocked over is like trying to herd a wild pack of geese while a three headed dragon is shotting laserbeams at you

some widlife just disappearing all of the sudden is very strange (like the rhino in hebra)

some new houses or settlements would have been cool, that the material things at the sides of roads are really only for you to play around with and not to build anything that lasts

you cant fight ganondorf (non dragon, even the dragon is locked to that evening sky) in the sunlight, night or rain, i would have loved to fight him at various times of day

their refusal to show any kind of blood is honestly turnign serious scenes into very awkward ones, sonia just getting punched and she dies with not even like, losing some spit from the force or something, or the fact when you defeat ganondorfs second phase he acts mortally wounded but doesnt even look scratched is just :/

amiibo stuff while neat being included its really mostly just bloating your inventory, if i wanted 5 vaguely different link outfits then i would have gotten the amiibo for it

why hide the -now-totally-not-phantom-ganon-armor- behind such a long questline and then .. have that NOT be upgradable

they put in a house building thingy and then not let you have a roof or a tree or something :(

at some point stable points jsut get you more and more of those free staying over night tickets that i maybe used .. once at the very start and now its just accumulating in my inventory

only one new horse coat pattern :(

satori now only being a thingy that shows you caves is kinda boring, i loved the mystery around it in botw (additionally, that it shows you caves you have completed already kinda sucks)

the end of the shrines isnt that cool anymore, speaking to a mummified monk that gives you essentially his last remains of life energy is so much cooler than a statue of the oh so awesome god king and his wife

the many references and reuse of old names is neat but together with timetravel etc. it easily leads to confusing and fighting among fans for who is more 'right' and its just .. tiring

(edit) considering how much of the advertising was about the sky islands i wished there were more and bigger ones, the underground (that was a little one sided after a while, it all looking the same rly) could have been alot smaller if the sky was bigger instead

(edit) i wished there was more of a sense of .. lost life in the ruins you find, from all races, the ancient ruins are jsut some bridged and ceremonial stuff and i wished there were more like .. houses, like people actually lived there and it not being all around beign a platform for you

(edit) the fact that the half zonau hero exists mean either rauru and sonia had kids but those were clearly not important enough to ever show nor mention, or there were other mixing of them before they all mysteriously died out the fact that the ancient hero was half zonau means their genes survided till then but somehow it never came up? the tapestry still exists and impa and purah say like its a well known fact that the hero looked like that (not at all close to any modern species) when you talk to them while wearing it (the fact that the hero armor thingy is very reminiscemt of ganondorf is like some backtreading bc we were theorizing about the hero having been ganondorf once and they wanted to stop that .. but the more funny thing is the HC of its a descdendet of rauru and ganondorf nhjdfknhdgkfnhkfd) (edit to add to the HC; the game being a big battle about child support is funnier than it should be idk if nintendo knew what they were doing adding details like that)

all in all it just feels like missed opportunities, lost potential, and more a game build around some game mechanics they really wanted to get into than telling a neat story, espeically so bc they called it a sequel, most of my complaints wouldnt be there if it was some alternate thing instead

i probably forgot stuff but if i think of more i will add them later with a little note that it was added in an edit (sidenote, i find it funny how much more nuance that whole conflict would get if rauru and ganondorf were bitter exes bfdrjfbdfndk)

[canirove]

My neighbour Rúben | Chapter 6

Previous chapter | Next chapter

Masterlist

"Can I have a cookie?"

"Julia, those are for the half-time."

"But I'm hungry now... And look, they are coming!" she said, pointing at the pitch. "Where is Rúben?"

"Wait until they get a bit closer.”

"Oh, I see him! Rúben!" she screamed, waving both her hands while jumping. We were sitting in the same place I was at the Emirates, close to the tunnel and the bench, and it was impossible for most players to not see the crazy kid screaming and waving. One of Rúben's teammates noticed her, turning to tell him something while nodding towards where she was. When he looked up and saw Julia, he waved back, a big smile on his face. And when he saw me... When he same me he winked. He winked at me. What?

"He saw us!" Julia said, jumping in front of me and not letting me see if he did anything else. Though it probably was for the best, because I'm sure I was looking at him with my mouth wide open.

"He saw us, yes" I replied, trying to look like a normal person again.

"Do you think he will score a goal?"

"Scoring isn't his job, he is a defender."

"I think he will score" Julia said, sitting down while humming something. 

The first half was a bit boring, but Julia's constant comments and questions kept me entertained. Me, and the people around us. 

The second half was more of the same until minute 85. City had a corner, there was a bit of chaos on the area, and goal. 

"Oh my god, Julia!" I said, getting up. "Rúben scored!"

"He did!" the man sitting next to us said, picking up Julia so she was able to see what was going on on the pitch.

"I knew it!" she said, clapping like crazy.

As City players moved to their side of the pitch, Rúben came closer to where we were, Guardiola giving him orders while he just smiled at us. And as he was leaving...

"Look, he sent us a kiss!" Julia laughed. 

"Lucky you" the man said as he put her down, his eyes fixed on me. Great. Now this man believed Rúben was sending me a kiss. But was he? Nah. It was for Julia.

After the game we waited for him to drive us home. He had texted me the day before offering to do it and I hadn't been able to say no. He had even come over to pick Julia's car seat. 

"Rúben!" she screamed when she saw him, jumping into his arms. "I knew you would score today!"

"You were my lucky charm" he said picking her up and throwing her in the air, making her giggle.

"I wouldn't shake her too much if I were you. She ate a lot during half-time."

"But I'm still hungry" she said once she was on Rúben's arms again. Lucky her. 

"Where do you want to go for dinner to celebrate?" he asked.

"McDonald's!"

"Julia, I don't think he is allowed to eat there."

"Why not?" she asked with a confused look.

"It's just one day, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" I asked him.

"I am. You can put that eyebrow down" he replied with a teasing smile. 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"I told you she would be dead by the moment we got home" Rúben said after we put Julia to bed. She had fallen asleep in his car and he had to carry her in his arms, all while I tried to make sure she didn’t drool all over his jacket. I didn’t blame her, tho.

"She now wants to play football too."

"City has a girls’ team."

"And so does United."

"Again, that eyebrow..." he said, pointing at my face.

"It just happens, I have no control over it.” Which was the truth. And today it was even more free than usual for some reason. "Anyway, you probably want to go home and rest."

"I was actually hoping we could spend some time alone and chat… Get to know each other a bit more. You know a lot about me and I barely know anything about you.”

“I just know about your career.”

“That already is a lot more than what I know about you.”

"But are you sure you don't prefer going home and rest?" I asked.

"It takes me hours to fall sleep after a game. I'll be fine."

"Ok then... Beer? Or is that too much sinning today?" I knew I was lifting my eyebrow again. His smile was saying it all. What was happening to me?

"I can sin a bit more if you are the one asking."

And I giggled. That was my answer. A stupid giggle before I hid myself behind the fridge's door, all the confidence I had found throughout the day, gone.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Can you sin a third time?" I said, showing him my empty bottle. "I'm asking very nicely." And I was a bit tipsy, that too. I usually only drink one, but we started talking, having a good time, and…

"Just because it's you."

"To your goal" I said when I made it back with our beers.

"To my goal. Again" he said, taking the bottle and drinking. He had said he didn’t drink either, but he looked more sober than me. Though I guess that with his size, he needed more alcohol to start feeling something. 

"What are you thinking about?" he asked after a few minutes in silence.

"You don't want to know" I said, taking another sip. 

"Were you thinking about me?"

"I was. But it wasn't anything like that.”

"Like what?"

"Naughty."

"Naughty" he snorts. 

"What?"

"Naughty" he repeated, trying to sound as British as he could and laughing again. Maybe he was a bit tipsy after all. 

"It is just a word" I said, also laughing.

"One that you use with kids, not adults."

"I work with a kid, I must be careful with my language."

"But I am not a kid."

"Are you not?" I said, this time being fully aware of my eyebrow lifting.

"Do you want me to show you?" Rúben said, suddenly getting too serious, slowly leaning towards me. 

"I..." But before I could add anything else, we heard a scream.

"Julia" we said at the same time, running towards her room. 

"What is it? What happened?" 

"Tuve... una... pesadilla” she said between sobs when I sat next to her on the bed. She had had a nightmare.

"Do you want some water?"

"Sí."

"I'll go get it" Rúben said from the door.

"Do you want to tell me about the nightmare?" I asked her while we waited. She just said no with her head, hugging me tighter.

"Feeling better?" Rúben asked her after she drank some water.

"Yes." If her English was back, that definitely meant she was feeling better. "But can you stay with me? I don't want to sleep alone. Rúben can stay too."

"I don't think the three of us can fit on your bed, Julia" he chuckled.

"But if we squeeze a little bit..."

"Rúben has to rest after today's game and he can't do it in such a small bed."

"Yeah... He needs a big bed like yours."

"For example." I didn't look at him, but I was certain he was smirking when he said that. 

"Can I get a good night kiss before you leave?" Julia asked him.

"Anything for you, Queen Elsa" he smiled.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Thank you for today" I said as I walked Rúben to the door, Julia waiting for me in her room.

"Did you have fun?"

"I did, yes."

"So did I” he replied.

And then, the awkward silence came. 

"I better go, Julia is waiting for me.”

“Yes, of course. Good night, princess Anna" he said, leaning forward and kissing my cheek.

"Good night” I muttered, feeling my face burning where his lips had been.

[tagthescullion]

Do you have any headcanons about Octavian (still can't believe we got Luke's entire tragic multifaceted backstory but we never even got Octavian's last name)?

I'll admit my idea of octavian comes from those politicians who want greatness by staying traditional so:

(yes this is long)

his family is one of the oldest in CJ/NR, he's a descendant of apollo but also of a bunch of other gods

as with any other community, secret, mythological, or plain common, the second half of the 20th century brought the need to become strong and powerful which means octavian's parents, grandparents, etc did everything in their power to solidify their family's hold on NR's power

then the 21st century brought the idea of opening society to the different (speaking ideally and etc etc), of being less strict, less controlled, less severe with rules

octavian's family hated this, I mean, they were powerful bc their roots were tied to the legion from long before the gods were even in the US! who tf were these upstarts like jason grace or reyna r. arellano who had no demigod ancestors?? no parents living in the city to show them how everything was done!!

octavian himself was probably less worried about how demigodish or not these kids were but he was fond of their heritage and he was used to his name meaning something, jason's liberal and radical ideas about un-roman-ising discipline and traditions.. well, I don't think the english for "le vino por las pelotas" exists, but go translate that

and, don't get me wrong, ofc excessive nationalism (or whatever that for smaller communities is) leads to bad places, but at first, nobody thought it was so strange. the guy was proud of who he was, of his family, he was secluded from mortals from a young age, what was wrong with him defending his culture from demigods who popped up and imposed their own ways to camp's?? (we all know how hard defending one's culture can be in the US)

in canon it's implied octavian blackmails and bribes his way into power, but with figures like jason and reyna having the 'official' power, that's not quite likely, he'd have been exiled long before, so it's more likely he played a sort-of-luke but instead of offering comfort and emotional affection, he offered a symbolic place in NR's society

"my family extends an offering for lunch this weekend" from octavian means a shitload to people who want power but have no connections of their own

and octavian wasn't probably too bad as a person if one wasn't conflictive (as long as one doesn't openly speak of politics, football, and religion, conversations can remain civil)

his dislike towards jason comes in part from jason being way too chill for a traditional roman despite being the son of the king of the gods, and from jealousy. jason seems to be a nice, popular, powerful kid who was given respect for the sake of existing, not so much for his merits at first

but that dislike was his own doom bc jason had his own friends, so there was probably a sort of division between "I like this one/I like the other"

at first it was probably just a jokey thing, like "ooh losers, we won the war games this time!" but shit like that can hit the fan fast if the times get conflictive

and conflictive is an understatement, two wars in two years?? (officially, the first one lasted two years most likely, but y'know) that's putting everybody in a bad and wary mood, everybody's paranoid, everyone's tense, that can only end in massive disaster

specially bc octavian's clever and he'd have badmouthed jason to make him less powerful. with his future seeing superpower, he probably saw jason enjoying "the enemy's" company and assumed it was kronos' side rather than the greeks (tho ofc to him the greeks would also have been the enemy)

anyway, jason becoming praetor was a punch in the gut for a guy who wanted traditions to prevail, and who failed to convince people even through a whole war!

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hello Steph!!! I was wondering if you or your wonderful followers have recs for me. I'm looking for fanfics with a deep study of Sherlock character. His past, his behaviour etc. Maybe without ships? But I'm ok with johnlock tho. Thanks ❤️

Hey Nonny!! *HUGS*

OOOF Most of my fic recs are Johnlock stories, so I do apologize for that... I DO have a list I put together for "Introspection" type fics, which are essentially character studies or either character so I can use your ask for that list, but I think you'll also find some stuff you'll like on these lists:

POV Sherlock 1st & 2nd Person

POV Sherlock 3rd Person Pt. 1: Fluff

POV Sherlock 3rd Person Pt 2: Hurt/Comfort & Whump

POV Sherlock 3rd Person Pt 3: Angst/Angsty Fluff or BAMF Fics

Fics in “Sherlock’s Voice”

If anyone has something more catering to Nonny's request, please do, but for now, let's see these Introspection fics!

INTROSPECTION / CHARACTER STUDIES

The Moment When by drekadair (K, 509 w., 1 Ch. || TGG Fic, Friendship, First Person POV Sherlock, Introspection, Worried Sherlock) – Sherlock sees John in the pool, and doubts. Set during the end of "The Great Game." (FFNet)

The Hollow Man by HHarris (G, 639 w., 1 Ch. || John’s Chair, Introspection, Sherlock’s Big Feelings™, Post TRF, Angst, Emotional Turmoil, POV Sherlock, Pining / Sad Sherlock) – Still reeling from the apparent loss of his one and only friend, Sherlock returns to 221B for the first time after the events of The Reichenbach Fall.

Five Seconds by xXLadyLovelaceXx (K+, 658 w., 1 Ch. || TGG Pool Scene, Friendship, Introspection) – In the half-second before Sherlock shoots the jacket, John notices something. (FFNet)

Back in the Saddle by grannysknitting (M, 1,577 w., 1 Ch. || Post TGG AU, Donovan POV, Observation / Introspection, Protective Sherlock, Injured John, Case-ish Fic) – Their first return to solving crime after the pool and the explosion. (FFNet)

Upon This Throne by ifonlynotnever (T, 1,773 w., 1 Ch. || Pre-TRF, Angst, Romance, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Introspection, Imagery, Pining Sherlock, Drug Use, Passage of Time) – Inside Sherlock's mind is a Palace. Inside the Palace are many rooms. Within the largest room is the Throne. Upon the Throne sits the King. (FFNet)

Love and Bombs by Spark Writer (T, 1,780 w., 1 Ch. || Post S3, Romance, Angst, Pining Sherlock, 1st Person POV Sherlock, Introspection, Ambiguous Ending) – Love and bombs aren't all that different, John. In the end, they're almost indistinguishable. (FFNet)

You Can Imagine The Christmas Dinners by johnsarmylady (T, 1,780 w., 1 Ch. || Friendship, Family, Introspection, Fluff, Post-ASIP) – Set the morning after a Study in Pink, John sits and contemplates Mycroft's words. (FFNet)

Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil by PipMer (T, 1,895 w., 1 Ch. || Alternate Universe || Deaf John, Mute Sherlock, Friends to Lovers, Romance, Fluff and Angst, Character Study, Morse Code, Love Confessions) – John is deaf. Sherlock is mute. There are no two people more suited for each other.

Spectrum of Mourning at the Funeral of a Solitary Man by TheBookshelfDweller (T, 1,956 w., 1 Ch. || Angst, Grief, Friendship, Sherlock First Person POV, Introspection) – Because each kind of love produces its own kind of grief, a long-ignored voice tells the story of five mourners of Sherlock Holmes, a man who in the end, was all but solitary. (FFNet)

The Lie-In by KendylGirl (M, 2,000 w., 1 Ch. || POV Sherlock 1st Person,  Bed Sharing, Fluff, True Love, Introspection) – Five months after his return, John and Sherlock spend a day in bed. Part 2 of When to Let Go

Study in John by chappysmom (K+, 2,158 w., 1 Ch. || Post-ASiP, POV John, Introspection, Friendship, Nightmares, Caring Sherlock, John’s Limp) – After the events of "A Study in Pink," John lies on the couch in Baker Street and thinks about the whirlwind events of the day. What is he getting himself into? (FFNet)

Coming Full Circle by KCS (K+, 2,358 w., 1 Ch. || Alternate TGG, Friendship, Drama, Violence/Death References, Drugging/Poisoning, Kidnapping, BAMF John, Moriarty POV, Introspection) – Moriarty had John for almost six hours between his abduction and the showdown at the pool - more than enough time to implement a Plan B for his escape should Sherlock call his bluff with the fake bomb vest. (FFNet)

It's All Fine by AkoyaMizuno (T, 2,459 w., 3 Ch. || Post-TGG, Introspection, Mild Angst, Friendship) – Sherlock never asked what happened in the hours between John being kidnapped and the events at the pool. It occurs to him, days after the fact, that he probably should have. (FFNet)

Overture by Kate_Lear (M, 4,435 w., 1 Ch. || First Kiss / Time, Friends to Lovers, Angry John, Introspection, Developing Relationship, Embarrassed / Insecure Sherlock, Morning After, Bed Sharing, Cuddles / Limpet Sherlock) – A short snippet on how John and Sherlock might have got together.

Days Go By by Hummingbird1759(T, 4,454 w., 6 Ch. || Angst, Friendship, Post-TRF, Introspection) – The characters' lives go on after the Fall... sort of. (FFNet)

When Your Belly's in the Trench by Morgan_Stuart (T, 4,743 w., 1 Ch. || PTSD, Character Study, Rescue, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Torture, Trauma, Danger, Drama, Kidnapping/Captivity) – The next time that door opens, John Watson will kill the person on the other side.

Applied Linguistics by what_alchemy (M, 4,837 w., 1 Ch. || Possessive / Anxious Sherlock, Introspection, Bed Sharing, Past John Whump, Est. Rel., Marriage Proposal, Sherlock Loves John So Much, Word Play) – “He wants to shake John by the shoulders, wants to open his mouth and swallow John whole. Wants to marry him.” Sherlock searches for the right words.

Bound Into the Fire by Tara Laurel (T, 6,672 w., 5 Ch. || TEH, Suspense, Hurt/Comfort, Introspection, Bonfire Scene, John Whump, Mary is Nice) – "John sometimes compared Sherlock Holmes to the flaming beast in his mind...Not such a bad way to go, John mused. Being consumed by Sherlock. Dying in his fire. No. This was different. He was burning alive. Not figuratively. Not some flowery metaphor. Burning." There was no two minute stay of execution. "Amazing how fire exposes our priorities." (FFNet)

Victim, Bait, Hero, Friend by KimberlyTheOwl (T, 7,887 w., 1 Ch. || Post-TGG Epilogue, Angst, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Introspection, Past Kidnapping / Torture / Implied Rape, Panic Attacks, Worried / Possessive Sherlock, Lestrade is a Good Friend) – Some insights into why John was perfectly willing to throw everything away for a chance to kill Moriarty at the pool. Trauma, ugliness, and finally healing. Some nice supporting work by Lestrade as well. (FFNet)

A Friend Indeed by Sanru (K+, 8,190 w., 1 Ch. || Missing John, Friendship, Drama, Introspection, Possessive Sherlock, Worried Sherlock) – Something has gone terribly wrong with a supposedly simple case. John Watson is missing. While the search for him is proving to be fruitless, it has made Sherlock realize that having an emotional attachment to someone may have its disadvantages but he liked being able to call John his friend. Now if only he could find out what happened to him... (FFNet)

The Skin Over My Heart by standbygo (E, 8,849 w., 1 Ch. || Post-Hiatus, Fake Relationship, Case Fic, Dog Tags, Military, Homophobia, Gay Bashing, POV First Person Sherlock, Friends to Lovers, First Kiss / Time, Declarations of Love, Undercover, Haircuts, Flashbacks, Touching, Pining Sherlock, Hospitalization, Metaphors, Introspection, Hand Jobs, On the Couch, John’s Past, Angst with Happy Ending) – Sherlock and John are still trying to adjust to Sherlock's return from his hiatus when John's friend Bill Murray brings them a case. Someone is targeting the LGBTQA+ members of Bill's unit. John and Sherlock go undercover at the unit, but when they end up having to flirt to flush out the suspect, Sherlock realizes he's in over his head.

Illogical, even. by magikspell (E, 9,119 w., 1 Ch. || Grey-Ace Sherlock, Character Study, Growing Up, Victor Trevor, Romance, First Time/Kiss, Sherlock-centric) – Five reasons Sherlock never believed in love and one reason he does now.

A Is For Aftermath by ElvendorkInfinity (T, 10,567 w., 1 Ch. || Injury / Whump, Hurt/Comfort, Friendship/Pre-Slash/Bromance/Platonics, Hallucinations, Introspection, Insecure / Worried John, Big Brother Mycroft, Alternating POV, Anxious Sherlock, Self-Deprecating, Mildly Possessive Sherlock, 3G Moment) – John is still hallucinating, Sherlock cannot sleep, and Lestrade has a new case for them. But will life at 221B ever be able to return to normal? Epilogue to M is for Moriarty. (FFNet)

Always the sun by Rose de Sharon (K+, 12,377 w., 3 Ch. || Song Fic, Alternate Post-TGG, Friendship/Bromance, Hurt/Comfort, Introspection / Reflection, Injury Recovery, Obsessive / Protective Sherlock, Nightmares, John’s Past, Bed Sharing / Cuddles) – Sherlock ponders about how much his life has changed since John has become his flatmate. (FFNet)

To be loved by Strange_johnlock (E, 12,436 w., 8 Ch. || Post S3, Established Relationship, First Person POV Sherlock, Pet Names, Soft Sherlock, Mild ADHD, Protective John, Captain Watson, Body Appreciation, Bottomlock, Rough Sex, Travelling for Holidays, Introspection, Sherlock Loves John So Much It Hurts) – John is so deeply integrated into the work, both as my conductor of light, and as a great shot with a vicious right hook who tackles men -and women- no matter their size all in my defense. He protects me with all he can without question, and this loyalty is surely more than I deserve. Or: Sherlock is counting his blessings.

holding steady by darcylindbergh (E, 12,724 w., 4 Ch. || Post S4, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Growing Old, Gone Fishing, Mood without Plot, Soft Sherlock, Caring Sherlock, POV John Third Person, Anxious Sherlock, First Kiss / Time, Touching, Feeling Old, Sherlock Worship, Crying Sherlock, Cuddles, Comforting, Introspection, Retirement, Hand Holding, Forehead Kisses, Caring John, Bed Sharing, Emotional Love Making) – Sitting on a thick wool blanket at the end of a rickety dock side-by-side, legs dangling over the edge, a styrofoam container of wet, dark dirt between them, they’re fishing. John knows what this is about. This is about finally figuring it out.

The Velveteen Doctor by Lantean_Drift (M, 12,815 w., 1 Ch. || Angst, Dev. Rel., Introspection, Mild Whump, Taking Care of Each Other) – A series of events that show John just how real he has become to Sherlock – like a bright, brilliant flash of colour in an otherwise greyscale world.

Pattern Behaviour by SilentAuror (E, 14,835 w., 1 Ch. || POV First Person Sherlock, Jealous Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Introspection, Stroppy Sherlock, Light Humour, Friendship, John Takes Care of Sherlock, First Kiss/Time, Wall Kisses, Fluffy Angst, Happy Ending) – Sherlock doesn't even know why he resents John's dates so much. Until the day he does know. Slight angst, unrequited feelings (but don't let that scare you off!)

Hope for Heroes by Richefic (K+, 16,887 w., 5 Ch. || Post-TGG Fic, Introspection / Flashbacks, Friendship/Epic Bromance, Hurt/Comfort, Worried/Anxious Sherlock, Sherlock Admires John, BAMF John, John Deduces, Fancy Party, John’s Self Esteem, Domestics) – In the final moments of "The Great Game" Holmes hopes he will have the chance to tell his flatmate that he was wrong. Heroes do exist after all and the one in front of him is called Dr John Watson. (FFNet)

And A Doctor by stillwaters01(T, 24,962 w., 6 Ch. || Five and One, BAMF John, Hurt/Comfort, Doctor John, Friendship, Character Study) – It was only when people actually saw John working as a physician that they began to understand: that it wasn’t just about bullets and IEDs and trauma care under fire. That “doctor” actually covered a pretty wide field. And that John was bloody good at covering ground. 5 times Dr. Watson treated others and 1 time he treated himself.

A Quiet Life by DiscordantWords (M, 25,176 w., 6 Ch. || Post S4, Retirement, POV Sherlock, Awkwardness, Established Relationship, Family Dynamics, Minor Character Death, Questionable Parenting Choices, Non-Linear Narrative, 20 Year Old Rosie, Meddling Mycroft, Pining Sherlock, First Kiss, Love Confessions, Angst, Sherlock Whump) – There had been three days of silence and a funeral. Sherlock had the terrible feeling that whatever happened next would depend, entirely, on him.

How To Unfold a Heart by elwinglyre (E, 25,477 w., 7 Ch. || Post S4 Fix It, BAMF John, Mentioned Eurus, POV First Person Sherlock, Case Fic, Fluff, Slow Burn, Topping from the Bottom, 3 Yr Old Rosie, Introspection, Sexual Fantasies, John Worship, Ogling, Hand Holding, Kidnapping, Domesticity, Sherlock Whump, First Kiss/Time, Doctor John, Caring John, Soft Sherlock, Sensuality, Touching, Crying, Love Confessions, Anxious Sherlock, Rimming, Toplock, Fingering, Bossy Bottom John) – To Sherlock’s dismay, John’s return to Baker Street with Rosie is only temporary. Sherlock’s daily visits to Regent Park with John and Rosie illuminate his lost childhood memories and missed opportunities. But with each trip to the park, Sherlock also feels a growing sense of hope. That is until the past horrors return unexpectedly in a cryptic note folded in the shape of a heart. To decipher the message, Sherlock must uncover the nature of the hearts around him, including his own.

To Mend Icarus by AlessNox (T, 28,347 w., 14 Ch. || Post-TRF / Pre-S3 Divergence, BAMF John, Anger, Fighting, Sex, Bed Sharing, Stalking, Case Fic, John’s Past, Introspection, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Crime, Mythology, Darkness) – After a case lands John Watson in court, he tells Sherlock that he is leaving. Not understanding why, Sherlock decides that the only way to learn the truth is to investigate his flatmate, Dr. John Watson. Sherlock finds that coming back is not enough to fix all of the damage that he caused by leaving. A post Reichenbach, post reunion re-discovery fic.

Another Auld Lang Syne by DiscordantWords (M, 30,234 w., 31 Ch. || Post S4, Mutual Pining, Alternating POV, Introspection, Parentlock, Christmas, New Year’s, First Kiss, Past Drug Use, Angst with Happy Ending, Drinking, Sherlock Whump) – There had been years of missed chances.

Lucifer's Gardens by ampersand_ch (E, 32,679 w., 12 Ch. || GERMAN VERSION|| Romance, Friendship, Friends to Lovers, Murder, Poison / Drugging, Mystery, John Undercover, Academic Club, Therapy, Rituals, Jungian Archetypes, Doctors & Physicians, Grief/Mourning, Esotericism, Hospitals, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, John Falls In Love With Another Man, Jealous Sherlock, Crying, Doctor John, Hand Holding, First Kiss/Time, Mysticism, Hugging, Touching) – John goes undercover for an investigation as a favour to Lestrade in a village in Suffolk. The events surrounding the case awaken deep-seated fears in Sherlock. While John begins to come to a realisation of what he needs in Lucifer's Gardens, Sherlock tries to find a way to reach John – in more ways than one.

There's Someone On Your Shoulder by halloa_what_is_this (NR, 41,215 w., 6 Ch. || Pining Sherlock, Introspection, Daydreams, Sherlock Loves John So Much it Hurts) – Sherlock trips and falls head over heels in love, makes a lot of lists and stares, stares, stares.

Triage by scullyseviltwin (E, 51,612 w., 14 Ch. || Character Injury, Introspection, Pining Sherlock, Falling in Love, Slow Burn, Sherlock POV, Toplock) – Sherlock’s mind goes exceedingly, devastatingly quiet and gray-blank. When he speaks it’s through a thick haze, it’s through molasses, he’s so disconnected from the words that it may as well be the unconscious shooter speaking.

Spare Parts by Raina_at (E, 63,497 w., 10 Ch. || 24th Century / Futurism AU || Post TRF, Pre-TRF Relationship, Case Fic, Mutual Pining, Estrangement, Reconciliation, Science Fiction, Reunion, Nightmares, Angry John, Cybernetic John, Emotional Discussions / Heart to Heart, POV John, Scars, Past Drug Use, Forehead Touching, Emotional Lovemaking, Kissing, Apologies, Kidnapping, Rescue Mission, BAMF John, Bed Sharing, Top Sherlock) – Two years ago, Sherlock Holmes jumped off the roof of New London Hospital. Two months ago, he walked into John's clinic as if no time had passed at all. John hasn't seen him since. But then Sherlock knocks on John's door with a case he can't say no to, and while figuring out why the biggest manufacturer or synthetic limbs in the System is going after veterans, they also need to find out whether there's a way to fix what's broken between them. Part 1 of Realigning Gravity

Drawn to Stars by Silvergirl (E, 109,272 w., 60 Ch. || S4 Compliant to TLD / TFP Doesn’t Exist, Sherlock’s Italian Adventure, Sherlock/OC and Johnlock, Jealous John, Mutual Pining, Misunderstandings, First Kiss/Time, Idiots in Love, 3 Part Story, Slow Burn, Inexperienced Sherlock, Bottom Sherlock, Introspection, Multiple Alternating First and Third Person POV, Separation and Reconciliation, Emotional Love Making, Love Confessions via Letters, Angst with Happy Ending) – After the Culverton Smith case Sherlock is clean, working, and looking for a romantic partner—since John has told him that’s what he needs. Shame John didn’t mention he was interested in that role himself, before Sherlock went off to Rome with a gorgeous Italian copper to try to fall in love and become a complete human being.  Part 1 of the Drawn to Stars series

Against the Rest of the World by SilentAuror (E, 151,714 w., 20 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post-TRF, Hiatus Fic, POV First Person Sherlock, Present Tense, First Kiss/Time, Big Brother Mycroft, Escaping from Capture, Soft Sherlock, Toplock, Insecurity, Infidelity, Travelling, Introspection, Pining Sherlock, Depression, Fantasies, Yearning for the Past, PTSD Sherlock, Suicidal Ideation) – Sherlock has been away from London for nine hundred and twelve days and counting, and has no idea what sort of reception to expect when he finally returns. 

[ckret2]

As someone with a shakey grasp on what “the truth” means, would the Truth Teeth work on Bill, if they had survived the bottomless pit?

Would he agree to wear them if it meant ford was willing to have a conversation

They'd work on Bill. The truth teeth seem to get people to say things that even they themselves might not realize. So anything Bill "knows on some level" but refuses to consciously acknowledge is fair game for the truth teeth. And most of the time, Bill doesn't actually forget the truth, he just buries it so deep he never has to think about it again—but it's still there.

In cases where he's denied something for so long he has lost track of the truth, if he's asked about it with the teeth in, 9 times out of 10 he'd say "I don't know." He has an easier time forgetting the truth than believing the lie.

In situations where he's convinced himself a lie is true, he'd share the lie. The truth teeth don't magically know the truth, they can only make the wearer share what they think is true.

So asking him a question might not get you the truth—but you'd learn what Bill himself genuinely believes is the truth.

Due to who he is as a person I think the truth teeth would have an odd effect on him. It might take several seconds for him to answer questions—he's made his own memories so convoluted that it takes some digging to disentangle the truth from the stories and justifications.

Some of his answers would scare him. Most truths he buries are things he doesn't want to be true, and he believes saying something out loud makes it a little more true, so being forced to state the truth reinforces and strengthens the shitty reality he's trying to alter. He takes the idea of self-fulfilling prophecies to a mind-boggling extreme.

And with great effort, he might temporarily dodge telling the truth by avoiding answering a question correctly. For instance, if somebody asked Bill right now whether he'd really intended to kill Mabel, he'd say "lmao no, of course not, it was a big ruse!" With the truth teeth in, he'd say "I want to believe I wouldn't have killed her. I wouldn't now." True, but doesn't answer the question. Prod again and he'll have to say "Yes, I meant to."

You could barely convince Bill to put in the truth teeth to save his own damn life, much less to have a conversation with fucking Ford. Bill's got plenty of friends on Earth who are much nicer to him and wouldn't make such a cruel demand! (He's got three friends on Earth.) (Two, two friends.) (Okay, fine, one and a half friends.) What could possibly come of a conversation with Ford that's worth such a high cost as the unadulterated truth?

Anyway, the mere demand shows SUCH a lack of trust (Bill's sliding right past the fact that Bill's the one who lost Ford's trust), and Ford really needs to learn to trust more! (Aaand sliding past the fact that Bill is the reason Ford has trust issues.) Hey, you want to get truth teeth involved, how about Ford wear them, huh? Bill wants to hear all the nice things Ford's thinking about him but refuses to share while he pretends to hate him. (If Ford wore truth teeth, he would not share nice things.)

There is gonna be a plot where, due to The Usual Gravity Falls Nonsense, Bill is put in a position where he has to be honest. It won't be truth teeth tho.

[low-budget-korra]

Comments on House of the Dragon S02E08

-DAENERYS TARGARYEN she is the prince that was promised!!!!! OMG. Watch them using one of the upcoming animated shows to remake that awful Game of Thrones finale.

Haelena and Daemon seeing each other was cool af, but she shouldn't have been given spoilers like c'mon.

- Well, know that Aemond was aggressive towards Haelena, their shippers can't say a word about Daemyra 🤷 (ps: I'm not Daemyra)

Also, Aemond burning and killing innocents just cuz his ego was crushed , and some of the team green said the Black's are the evil ones.. btw, he is a sexist asshole. Hate him. A good villain tho

- I'm really curious to know what they would do with Hugh. He will still betray the Black's? If he does, how this will happen? Cuz so far he is being such a great guy honestly.

Now, Ulf is actually the worst. He is def gonna betray the Black's but it would be a nice twist if that asshole actually turned out to be loyal and died battling against Vermithor and Hugh.

-The Gullet will happen right in the first or second episode of s3. I dislike those people cuz they will...u know...anyways, but that lady? Damn she is something else and she is a LESBIAN. I can't be against her I'm sorry

And Tyland is probably the honorable and nice Lannister ever.

-Gotta love/hate how Alicent. When she is winning, she is all a bit cocky but when she is losing , she comes to with her 🥺 eyes. Rhaenyra owes her nothing. I only feel bad for Haelena

She was actually willing to sacrifice Aegon , a son for a son. When Rhaenyra takes KL, after losing Jace, and don't find Aegon, she will think Alicent lied.

I know there's a lot of haters for Rhaenyra x Alicent, but there scenes are gold. And not Alicent asking Rhaenyra to runaway with her 😭

-Its so satisfying to learn that Aegon doesn't have pepe anymore. I bet the maids are partying rn. Larys was a real one tho, he saved Aegon's life by taking him out of KL

-Alyn gagged Corlys so bad. Damn

-I bet sir Alfred shit his pants when he saw that Daemon isn't a traitor or a usurper. If he is so eager to go to battle, why don't he go to KL and challenge Aemond for a duel.

-Not Crispin Cole trying to pep talk about honor. Bruh if you are so afraid and depressed after seeing the dragons dance, just to to Essos sell your oranges

-This season is a slow burn, people complained about it but honestly? For things to have the impact they should have, it is necessary to have a built up to it and that's what they did.

A lot of people talk shit about s1 being too rushed, and now are talking shit that this one is too slow. I've read people complaining that this season was just "old men talking around the table" 😭 and I immediately thought "did yall see Game of Thrones?"

S3 is gonna be wild. With Gullet and Rhaenyra taking KL probably in the first half episodes. The Winter Wolfs coming(maybe the Lads too), Tumbleton happening.

[genericpuff]

welp, i finished the Dawntrial MSQ last night

it was

uh.

i actually enjoyed a lot of the things people were complaining about in the beginning, because while i could understand their criticisms, to me its flaws felt like something it would grow past as it was establishing a new foundation for a new story, which was what was promised to us, and obviously that's gonna require slowing down the pacing and lowering the stakes, which is fine!

but then the second half of the MSQ hit and i just-

on paper it should have been amazing

on paper i should have fucking loved it

but in execution, i stg trying to finish the lvl 98-100 MSQ took years off my life, even tho the majority of them took me a single night to beat, it still felt like it both overstayed its welcome and also did way too little with what it was trying to present us with

i know this is vagueposting because i don't wanna spoil, but man. "divisive" is definitely a word to describe the Dawntrail MSQ with, especially considering how many people were telling me "it gets better in the second half!" and again, I thought the first half of it wasn't as bad as people were saying, so I was HYPED for the second half, and instead I was brutally disappointed by what I got instead u.u

that said, the dungeon and trial gameplay mechanics are great, when the expansion remembers that it is in fact a video game it does it really well, it's just unfortunately not often enough for it to make up for the sloggy pacing of the story

the music is a bop, there are a couple tracks that i was a little eeeh on because they just felt really saccharine in a way that just clashed entirely with the tone of XIV and made me want to throw my headphones in the garbage, but the majority of the soundtrack was otherwise really well done, soken was really channelling his inner david wise here with the donkey kong vibes LOL but there are some somber tracks that are great too, there's a lot of range here in the soundtrack that should be appreciated despite the odd cringe track

environment design was solid, there were some zones that were questionable in their design because some of them felt pitifully empty despite promising bustling populations (looking at you, Tuliyollal and Solution Nine >:x)

but man , the last zone was brutal and that sucks because again, on paper, the concept SHOULD have been awesome, but ultimately it's still relying on the exact same plot devices in the past (insert lost civilization whose previous inhabitants/rulers are hellbent on keeping it alive even at the expense of current civilizations here) and the gameplay itself deadass forgot it's a game because there isn't a SINGLE instance of necessary combat or gameplay during all of it and so when the final quest (as per tradition, named "Dawntrail") finally pops up, it's like wait what ? that's it?? thankfully the last quest has both a dungeon and trial in it but it feels less like thought out design and more like the game devs remembering they had to actually include some gaming in their video game at the last minute LOL

i think the extra burden of directing FF XVI definitely caught up to Yoshi-P on this one, as well as the budgeting problems that still exist from COVID, and the fact that much of that budget clearly went to overall QOL changes like the graphics engine getting an almost complete rehaul (even in the previous expansions which is. a lot of work. like they want to re-texture ALL of the gear in this game and THAT'S A LOT, literally thousands of items!). where this expansion wins, it wins big, but those wins aren't enough to carry an overall lackluster experience that drags itself out way too fucking long for its own good. the story could have absolutely used a few more rounds in the writing room, if they couldn't afford more voice acted scenes then they should have simply just cut down on the amount of cutscenes, and i think the devs need to seriously ask themselves if the Trust system is worth dragging the Scions back into every adventure even when they have nothing to do (and it shows). like idk, just spitballing here, but the Trust system might be a good chance to re-introduce the GC squadrons, no? maybe go back to the roots a little bit and buff up the stuff that could still have a lot more life if given a chance?

anyways my experience with DT has been about a 6/10 and that score in the end will depend on how the patch quests go over the next couple years, I still prefer it over Stormblood (fr fuck SB lol) but it definitely feels like it's trying too hard to be like EW and ShB while missing what made EW and ShB so good in the first place (or acknowledging why its flaws were forgivable within the context of their respective designs, like yeah EW's pacing was iffy too but it at least had a lot more going on in it to justify it, DT is just grasping at straws by comparison). and in that sense it winds up being a lot more like ARR, where it's just kind of lost in what it's trying to do and creates a worse experience by the end. hopefully like with ARR back in the day the devs will figure out it's time to shake things up and try something new without using the old as a crutch.

[aimwigs]

hey I've been listening to the yard for about a year and a half and I want to get more into it ifywim do I just start watching old vods to catch up or is there any content u can recommend as a baseline must-watch

this is by no means a comprehensive list because i've only really been watching the yard since dec 2022 and my 2021 stint in lud viewing was brief and casual (didn't know what i had) but it is a fucking long list so i'll keep it under the cut. included stuff that maybe i wouldn't classify as a must watch but i wanted to include it so you can pick and choose what interests you

PODCASTS - I know for a fact there are other podcast appearances out there that I don't know of but here are a few:

the yard x wine about it - it's just the four of them and qt which means good times! this is an essential imo

there are a few eps of fear& that they appear on! specifically rec the ep with nick and aiden and the ep with ludwig and aiden. there are also a few eps with ludwig and slime (not at the same time) if you're interested in those

i've watched aiden on three different interview podcasts all are worth a watch to me: karat interview, across the bar, and good griefed (audio a little scuffed on this one but it's cute)

fucking loved nick's ep of across the bar because his outlook on creativity is super relatable to me. he also did something with safety third that i've been meaning to watch but haven't yet!

VIDEOS AND STREAMS - there's a lot here but i'll try to describe what's what

mogul money ft the yard - this is the full vod, there's also a cut down video. extremely fun watch

nick was also on mogul money live (first game specifically) and he and aiden appear in the bts video a little bit

qt posted vlogs from italy! they're all fun watches and there's some good moments. one, two, three, four

qt and aiden halloween gingerbread house video. ludwig and aiden kiss in this one. i think the full vod is in god's hands unfortunately

qt and aiden make shit in an ezbake oven and make the guys eat it. fun little video. idk if the vod is out there somewhere or not

there's a cut down version of this too but the full stream of qt having all the guys do a gingerbread house competition is very peak

lud did a shit load of taste test videos with the guys for a slim jim sponsor. this might not be all of them but here are the ones i cold find off rip (fruit, cheese, chocolate, water, steak)

ludwig has done a shitload of ylyl streams with slime that you can find and honestly i have a horrible mediashare allergy so i haven't watched a lot of them but i have watched the one they did with aiden and the one with everyone but idk where the full vod is for the latter

from ludwig's fortnite mondays, there was a week where slime and nick played with jerma and sapnap. idk if any of the others posted the vod but here's sapnap's

the subathon has a shitload of stuff that i can't even begin to link but if you want the experience of the dcom series without subbing to tier 2 they watched the truman show starting about an hour thirty into this vod, tho it takes a hot minute to get everything lined up with the time stamps

halloween po unboxing where them + qt dress up as characters from scooby doo. nick looks frankly obscene as velma this is a great vod

how many flashlights does it take to cook an egg is exactly what it sounds like. it's lud slime and nick ft a little bit of yingo

they play the family feud game together in these two vods: just them and against miz/otk (can't stand miz but it was still good)

RECENT STUFF - aka stuff you probably know about or have seen because you've been around a year and a half but i figured i'd include them anyway since they happened off the pod

two months ago they all played fortnite on lud's stream and it was awesome

both the show matches of the ludwig tarik invitationals are worth watching if you're into valo! the first one is team mogul v otv and they're split up in the second. if the timestamps are broken it's 2h30 in both vods

the rivals 2 tournament is fun! i don't understand shit about fighting games but i love to see the boys play

cdawgva ski vod with lud and aiden from the japan trip! there's also a cut down version of youtube but i found it a fun watch

recency bias alert: they all played in creator dodgeball

the qt and aiden winter cocktail tierlist stream was so good like genuinely a stream of all time to me. ludwig hangs around for parts of it

the yard doing the dougdoug fast food challenge is a MUST WATCH! they celebrate and they suffer what could be more beautiful

otv's fear pong video with them is so fucking good. SO GOOD!

and finally i guess i should mention beerio because it just happened LOL

[vechter]

Oh i hope your still doing the lbia ask thing? (Turns out rereading 40k of words takes a little time (dont regret the decicion at all tho your writing is so nice to read :D).

Anyhow! First of ough its so good i love how its all written and how you wrote dick and everyone else (donna💖💖💖💖💖) and theres so so many good lines i couldnt write them all down and ask you about them but if i couldve i wouldve! But so is it ok if i just throw up some stuff i really like and you can pick what to answer? So ok might as well start at the beggining, im really curious what made you decide to (kinda) start with deathstroke as the like first domino in the fic? I mean deathsrokes great but what made you decide to kick it of with him? Whats slade doing there? Oh and speaking of slade hes the first person to mention the concept of "home" in the fic (he says it) and at least to me it seems like home and coming home is a big theme in the fic? Like theres this contrast between dick being asked again and again (not by donna and the titans tho) to come home or when he will come home, meanwhile a repeated motive is that dick will always come back (both a blessing and a curse) and well my question is really if it was intentionall to make the concept of home (as in the manor) so so claustrophobic? Like while i was reading everytime i saw the word it felt more and more restrictive? (Except for when he says it about donna and roy) was that intentional or like???

Also on a similar note i just wanna say donna saying "i know how you bats play the blame game" (or something) lives in my brain and then also all conversations between dick and batfam members basicly being him saying sorry was an insane choise actully especially as the titans are all like "if you dont stop saying sorry im gonna snap and murder batman" while basicly rattling the bars to dicks brain going "let us help pls pls pls let us help holy shit" (while dick is going oh im always owing them so much.../most unreliable narrator ever)) is just its really good and their all justefied to some degrees and ough (also would anyone knowing about what happened between and bruce and dick in the cave actully change anything?)

Anyhow last thing! Sorry this got long i tried to keep it short but theres so many good bits ough, anyhow my only actual question! So when dick and bruce talk about why bruce didnt have a second person as a safety net, dick says "if you didnt trust her (babs) to be objective, there was always tim and alfred" and it just made me very curious about your thoughts on bruces and babs relationship? Just very intresting to me!!!

Ok ok so sorry for talking so long hope you have a lovely day!!!!! And thank you so much for writing your great :))

omg anon i can't believe you reread it ily. thank you!!! also yes, i'm going to do my best to answer everything you've mentioned here

So ok might as well start at the beggining, im really curious what made you decide to (kinda) start with deathstroke as the like first domino in the fic? I mean deathsrokes great but what made you decide to kick it of with him? Whats slade doing there?

okay, so when i initially had the brainworms for LBIA, i envisioned slade having a much bigger role— not in a consequence heavy way (like he wasn't going to do much but just be a general nuisance), but definitely in a way where he would be one of the first few people to see through dick's crumbling defences and try to exploit them. i wanted dick to have a real breakdown about how often people keep trying to take his agency away & make him into who they want him to be... so for that, slade would've been pivotal. there was a portion i wanted to write about the court of owls but honestly... i didn't want to reread the corresponding comics so i scrapped it.

as for slade being the first domino— here's my messages with @/blackbatcass when i was writing the fic:

okay but fr... so the fact that dick went back to blüdhaven— which is still half-quarantined, half-rebuilt— that was really important to me (it also ties in a little bit to your next set of questions about dick's concept of home). my premise for it was that he went there as a form of self-inflicted punishment, but also as a very fucked up form of comfort.

you see mentions of atonement and penance a lot throughout the fic... dick has a very, very interesting relationship with both. there's a very physical component to penance (consider people who fast as a form of penance). there was a really interesting article that i read once, which i sadly don't have access to anymore but it dissects the differences/similarities between the two very well.

so, the physicality of actually contributing to the rebuilding of blüdhaven— a city he failed— his city— was a means to perform penance. it's why it's only right that slade shows up. because he was the other architect for what happened to blüd. and neither of them will forget it; so, in a way, the city ties them to each other forever (much like joey).

it's also why once slade remembers dick grayson, he knows exactly where he will be. he doesn't understand dick fully (who does lol?), but dick's guilt complex is something slade has personally witnessed and they both are very keenly aware of how much blüdhaven haunts dick. it's where he should've died as nightwing! he almost did (if you discount the conflicting comics where he's somehow both in new york and blüdhaven when chemo drops)...

Oh and speaking of slade hes the first person to mention the concept of "home" in the fic (he says it) and at least to me it seems like home and coming home is a big theme in the fic? Like theres this contrast between dick being asked again and again (not by donna and the titans tho) to come home or when he will come home, meanwhile a repeated motive is that dick will always come back (both a blessing and a curse) and well my question is really if it was intentionall to make the concept of home (as in the manor) so so claustrophobic? Like while i was reading everytime i saw the word it felt more and more restrictive? (Except for when he says it about donna and roy) was that intentional or like???

as for the concepts of 'home' and 'coming home'... yes, it was an intentional choice to portray them differently. when slade first mentions home, he makes it a point to distinguish between home and gotham. the manor and gotham... there's too much of bruce in there. sometimes that's a relief but a lot of the time, it's a curse. dick can never neatly divorce gotham and bruce or the manor and bruce.

like, look at this deleted scene that almost made it to the fic (which might still have a place in this world if i ever decide to write the jason & dick confrontation in the LBIA verse):

the manor is a sentient presence in the fic. it's almost alive. the very first time dick sees it, it casts shadows... much like bruce. it's a time capsule for the good old days, especially when it was just dick and bruce. it's haunted by the ghosts of martha and thomas, by bruce's staunch way of keeping them alive through it. but it can also be a place where he can belong again and that's largely because there's a sentience in the manor and the cave that recognizes how good dick has been for bruce... how dick was the trigger for the family and legacy that bruce has built. it protects its own:

but it has been corrupted, a fact dick is somewhat aware of:

dick's home has never been a physical thing... it has always been the people and bruce is so largely connected to wayne manor and gotham that it's why dick has felt at home there. which is why there's no going home in a real sense— not after what he and bruce have done to each other.

Also on a similar note i just wanna say donna saying "i know how you bats play the blame game" (or something) lives in my brain and then also all conversations between dick and batfam members basicly being him saying sorry was an insane choise actully especially as the titans are all like "if you dont stop saying sorry im gonna snap and murder batman" while basicly rattling the bars to dicks brain going "let us help pls pls pls let us help holy shit" (while dick is going oh im always owing them so much.../most unreliable narrator ever)) is just its really good and their all justefied to some degrees and ough (also would anyone knowing about what happened between and bruce and dick in the cave actully change anything?)

if you notice, a lot of the apologies that dick does with the bats... he does say sorry but he doesn't linger or keep apologizing. it's with everything else that he conveys how truly apologetic he is for hurting them. a lot of it is the fact that dick believes that he doesn't deserve their forgiveness, not when the hurt he has caused will always be there, not when he cannot take it back. you know that one rivecca quote?

also, you bring up a really interesting point about how people would react to knowing the true details of the events in the cave.

there's a reason why i intentionally skip over that particular section of the re-telling each time. a lot of it is to do with dick's own shame over it. the sheer intensity of bruce's grief at watching him die, the way he failed himself and bruce by dying... he can't talk about it. not in a real way. also, with the titans, they've always insisted on dick having firmer boundaries with bruce, so for them to ever know— it would mean they were right. and dick can't have that. because no one else in the world knows what it was like in those robin years, when it was just him and bruce (and alfred). they don't know the depth of comfort or solace that bruce offered him. it was good! it was so good. it's why it hurts so much now.

there's also an element of dick selling a performance. he gives away different tidbits to different people and in a way, they're all true. but it's about what he isn't saying. that's a whole other can of worms. so, in his head, he's being truthful even when he's lying by omission. but there's a part of him that believes that the fight in the cave is just for him and bruce. he's already had to share his own death. he shares batman with all the robins who came after him and they even wear his name while they're doing it. maybe this one portion can be just for him and bruce, only.

so, in a way, it's a doomed story. even people knowing what really happened— i don't think it would change anything, not in any substantial way. the centre-point is bruce's magnetism + batman's inescapable orbit. there is a part of him that is resigned to that.

Anyhow last thing! Sorry this got long i tried to keep it short but theres so many good bits ough, anyhow my only actual question! So when dick and bruce talk about why bruce didnt have a second person as a safety net, dick says "if you didnt trust her (babs) to be objective, there was always tim and alfred" and it just made me very curious about your thoughts on bruces and babs relationship? Just very intresting to me!!!

ok this one is slightly head-canony.

but basically, because i don't take the whole mother/orphan arc into account, it means cass has been around since NML. and the friction between bruce and babs comes from that. bruce relegating her to hong kong before he died is a sore issue between them because babs cannot think of anything worse than cass mourning bruce all alone, in a strange city, with no one to really rely on, not even wearing the mantle she essentially bequeathed upon cass. like you already see how bad it can get between bruce and babs in batgirl 2000.

plus, when dick meets cass near wayne tower... a very strategic and symbolic location btw... cass mentions how she was not here. it probably wouldn't have changed anything if she was but it's that bat-brand of absolutism that makes her think that if she was just here, she could have changed something. and i think there's a part of babs that believes that, too.

and dick and bruce both recognize that... they're like that, too. so dick knows bruce wouldn't have been able to trust babs with something like spyral after all the tension between them, especially during all the times they've co-mentored cass, or war games & steph, or how they both sort of blame each other for dick's renegade era.

there's also the added element of bruce thinking that babs and dick are romantically entangled, even though they've been broken up for a very long time, which makes him think that babs would have pulled him out if it got too hairy (which is decidedly untrue but bruce is operating from a place of blind grief during nightwing #30 so rationality isn't that easy for him right then).

geez, this got soooo long. anyway, i hope this answers some of your questions. i really enjoyed doing this actually... so thank you anon <3

come ask me for a director’s cut on my fics!

[terrence-silver]

What if beloved went up to terry (all eras) and was like “good job soldier” because he was doing a task and he finished it perfectly and beloved wanted to praise him for it tho they hoped that didn’t trigger terry military days and was saying it to be sweet and humorous

---

― What if Twig just didn't catch it instantly? What if what beloved said just flies right over his head? What if he treated it like a second name because it is so deeply ingrained in him and the habit is yet to start fading --- will it ever actually fade, though? Can such things ever really fade? Like, lets say the war is still near and fresh in his mind, and he just rotated back to the world, so to be referred to as a 'soldier' almost comes instinctual for a brief blip and he might respond to it with a no nonsense 'thanks' without any further reactions right before it hits him that he's at home. With you. He's not in fact, in the army anymore, which leads to a little bit of unassuming confusion --- maybe him being flustered or awkward about it because he fell for that one. Walked right into it. What's next? He'll start responding to the name 'Twig' too? Maybe he tries to smile it off, brush it off as nothing, maybe he's visibly taken aback. Maybe he blushes. Maybe he blinks rapidly. Maybe he looks away. Perhaps he's fidgety in his own skin in that brief nanosecond it takes him to understand it's a joke and he just took it extremely literally. Maybe a combination of all of those variables. Whatever the case, he's not really offended at beloved necessarily and more so at himself for failing to seamlessly socialize back into society, and by extension, the way he'd see it, he has a weakness, right there, on display, gaping, bleeding and still raw and as a result, a young Terry might overcompensate. Hides a barrage of personal triggers under a whole lot of humor, a whole lot of rictus grin smiling, a faux-cool attitude, a great many facades and he pitches ever deeper into learning the art of social convection so well, he almost comes off as 'too much' and extravagant sometimes. Too aminated. Too excitable. Too energized. Too slick. Until it becomes genuine and more him than he ever was. But, everything's better than people perceiving you with a vulnerability, right? Especially if it is someone you love, seeing as how he desperately wants you to admire him as strong, reliable and desirable, so next time beloved you calls him soldier he'll show them just why he absolutely lives up to that title, maybe in ways to conceal the fact that the last time beloved called him that he had a quietly visceral reaction that made him want to reinvent himself whole.

― 80's Terry gets horny and dangerous. There's no two ways about it. It is as blunt as that. It's like something in his brain clicks off the minute he hears 'Good Job, soldier.' fall from beloved's lips and he gets that look in his eyes and there it is, a lizard-like, primal mindset takes over. That killer instinct. It's re-awoken. He very well could be in their space and in their face within in an instant, goading them, looming over them, sauntering over to them like a predator, demanding clarification. Taunting and teasing. Cornering them. Asking them to say that again. Daring them. He wants them intimidated. He wants that jokey, carefree sweetness of theirs mingled with the potent cocktail of fear. He wants them squashed. He's halfway between being murderously serious, unblinking eyes, and on the verge of bursting out laughing because not even he is taking this bit of beloved's humor as severely as he makes it seem; he's just playing it up really as a reverse-joke that comes off as genuinely frightening --- but that's the point. He wants beloved jumpy almost in ways as retaliation for catching him unawares with what they've uttered. In any regard, he's hard as a rock. Oh, so you wanna play these war games, huh? You sure about that? There's no half-assed answers in this dojo. Because so many ideas are running through this mind in that moment. So many things he could do to beloved, inspired by their words. Should he let them loose in a patch of wilderness and give chase to them? Show them some real bit of field soldiery? Should he tackle them to the ground? Put them in a headlock? Wrestle them? Grab them by the throat? Discipline them? Step on them? Spit on them? Maybe beloved should get down on their knees and be very literal with what a fine soldier they think he is and pay some homage, huh? Either ways, beloved isn't leaving that room unfucked, seeing how Terry in this era of his life is tripping on way too much power, coke, self satisfaction and self assurance to be triggered in the classical sense, but perhaps, the excess sexual energy he displays just off of being called soldier is a trigger reaction all on its own because screwing beloved's brain out into next week is just about how he copes. Probably smiles and cackles throughout the whole thing too.

― Old man Terry? Well, he might be most affected out of the bunch if beloved hits him with a well intentioned 'Good job, Soldier!' after a task finely done. Why, you may ask? Well, because he probably wasn't referred to as a soldier for over --- what --- forty years now? Maybe more? And when he gets referred to as such...it's almost like a bit of a shock for him, reasonably speaking. Excuse the weird analogy, but it is almost like utilizing a dead name he'd rather have tucked away somewhere in the recess of his mind; he's by no means forgotten who he is, but you have to understand...it's been a long, long, long ass time. This is the one time in his life he could very well, for lack of a better word, be triggered by the moniker even though the war has never been further away from him than it is at this very point in time. He's in fact possibly more triggered now, at his old age, than he would've been freshly back from Vietnam as a young man. Impressions had time to settle in. Traumas had a whole lifetime to ripen and take root deep, deep inside, becoming a part of him. He had actual decades to contemplate and live with what happened to him there, either through therapy, introspection, suppression, repression, reinvention or denial; what he lived through, witnessed, what he did, what was done to him. You know how victims of abuse often don't even realize they've been abused in the first place as it happens, or even afterwards and it takes years for it to hit them? Such is the case with Terry here. That whole 'soldier' thing takes him right back to the time where all that nonsense happened and while he might not exactly have a clearly defined reaction even as beloved says it (man is astounding at maintaining a poker face when he wants to) in the days to follow, he will quench all of it by drinking. Not that he wasn't turned on. Not that he didn't catch beloved's attempt at sweettalking and a completement. It resurfaced hurt and more complicated memories and feelings than can ever be explained to a civilian and it is just necessarily to drown all that baggage he has in some liquor. He knows he will be okay. He knows they meant well. He'll join beloved in bed later and give them some taste of soldiery if they're keen --- but for now, he needs a drink and he needs to let his thoughts sit for a while and it is as simple as that. He'll laugh about this later...just not now.