#this is one of those dialogue choices where I was dying to know what the percentages were on what players picked

[asleepinawell]

if you did the omega: beyond the rift quests (the alpha quest chain you can do post endwalker in patch 6.15) how did you answer omega's question about which of the ancients was most justified in their actions?

[shigayokagayama]

What are the biggest losses between the manga and anime? I just finished watching mp100 and I'm curious what the manga has!

ok biggest losses are kind of hard to define because like. anime and manga are two inherently different mediums and there are a good amount of cuts that improve pacing and then a good amount of cuts that people sort of argue over the merit of so im just going to go for biggest differences. i would also highly recommend reading the manga just because it is a pretty different experience tonally along with the minor plot differences and cut scenes + theres a bunch of omakes that both flesh out characters that dont get too much focus and have some really good bits in them. putting the rest of this post under a cut bc i ramble

mogami arc

this one is kind of inescapable i feel like but the anime version of the mogami arc had a LOT of things trimmed for a couple different reasons. season 2 already got an extra episode in order to do the fire scene as a cliffhanger so with the way things shook out the director had to choose between a. cutting a bunch of stuff out of separation arc to make it one episode so mogami arc couid stay three episode or b. cutting a bunch of stuff out of mogami arc so separation arc could stay two episodes. imo they made the right choice, whats even the point of adapting mob psycho if you dont get confession arc right, but some of the cuts to mogami arc will be dearly missed and others will be fought over to the end of time. cuts include:

minori being established as a brat in a video everyones shown and the video being part of how reigen deduces shes possessed (reigen deducing her possession in the manga is generally just a lot better done and after you read the manga the scene in the anime feels so awkward because you know whats missing

the psychics deciding to band together to beat this little girl to death to save themselves and shinra stepping between them to protect her and getting utterly thrashed, not by mogami, but his fellow psychics

reigen trying to convince mob to leave without him and call for help while he distracts him which leads to this

the general mogamiland section lasting a lot longer and being more brutal (notably the stray cat mob feeds getting killed in front of him)

mob getting fucking torn to pieces by spirits during the fight instead of ambiguously dying offscreen

generally would recommend if nothing else reading the manga version of this arc and confession arc because i feel like these are the only two where you lose like. a significant amount of the story and themes from the cuts. speaking of....

2. WHY THE FUCK DID THEY CUT THIS I WILL BE MAD UNTIL I DIE

maybe its just because i reread this arc on its own probably 50 times before the anime came out but this is the only arc where the cuts actively piss me off because there is absolutely no reason they had to do it. they cut a bunch of important shit, left in things that didnt need to be there, and added scenes that contribute literally nothing to the overall point. if they just did any one of those things or combo of two of those things i wouldnt be as mad but it feels like they put a bunch of filler in then speedran the actual story

cut #1 that pisses me off: HOMOPHOBIA?????

THERE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A HEART IN HIS EYE. WHY DID THEY NOT INCLUDE THIS. THIS IS THE CULMINATION OF TERUS ARC. THIS IS HIM SEEING THE PERSON HE HAS IDOLIZED AND DEIFIED IN HIS HEAD AT THEIR LOWEST AND STILL CHOOSING TO LOVE HIM, AND THROUGH THIS HE IS CAPABLE OF BEING LOVED EVEN THOUGH HES NOT PERFECT BECAUSE NO ONE IS. WHY WOULD YOU CUT THIS?

cut #2 I NEED WHOEVER CUT THE DIALOGUE FROM THE FIRST PANEL IN PRISON

the lack of inclusion of the first panels dialogue along with the cuts to the mob and shigeo conversation (WHICH WE WILL GET TO) make me think the person who adapted this arc fundamentally misunderstood what was happening. this line. is. THE POINT. THIS ISNT SOME SEPARATE SCARY THING. THIS IS MOB. HE IS CHOOSING TO DO THIS BECAUSE HE IS SCARED AND ANGRY AND HURT BUT HE IS IN CONTROL OF HIS ACTIONS AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN.

cut #3 HE DOESNT WANT TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR HIS ACTIONS

this entire conversation is so good and i was looking forward to watching it voice acted for so long and its just. gone. for me the "i am shigeo kageyama who are you" reveal felt like a gut punch because the opening being "i knew i would be needed" made me go "oh hes like possessed or his powers are sentient or something" and this conversation was the slow unraveling of my view of these as two separate people and instead as a scared, traumatized teenager who has convinced himself that the parts of himself he hates are something else outside of his control instead of an intrinsic part of who he is because if he's convinced that the parts of him that are able to feel desire and frustration and anger and malice are him then he'll lose all these relationships he's worked so hard to cultivate as his perfect, non confrontational self. and of course that isnt true. all his friends and loved ones are making their way to the center of a damn hurricane because they see he's in distress and want to help him. but he cant see that so he pushes them away. ugh. mob. protagonist of all time.

cut #4 WHY WOULD YOU CHANGE THE COMPOSITION OF THIS I CAN LITERALLY SEE HOW THIS WOULD BE ANIMATED IN MY MINDS EYE W

can you imagine how beautiful this would be in motion. just. god.

cut #5 HE WAS TALKING OUT LOUD. REIGEN HEARD ALL THIS

:(

cut #6 the bowling arc

so the scene where reigen takes his shoes off is supposed to be a lot more solemn bc like. taking your shoes off before killing yourself is a trope in japanese media (ive heard it started in media and bled over into real life but i might have it backwards?). reigen knew he was probably going to die. anyway i cant take this scene seriously because of this edit

the bowling arc.

cut #7 WAAAAAAAAAAAA

WAAAAAAAAAAAA *sniff* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

cut #8 homophobia again

rip pensive fruity tea sip

cut #9 mob threw the cake directly in reigens face on purpose

i literally experienced every stage of grief realizing this got changed. why. its so perfect. why would you change this.

3. World Domination arc

so WD arc is in a very interesting place where it had a lot of scenes cut but unlike the other two most of the cut content youre like. yea probably best not to include that. ill start with the good content that got cut then go into the weird content

serizawa got his power drained by toichiro. i am quite sad this scene didnt make it in because its sorta heartbreaking

teru fighting off the claw assassin is shown and we see that teru can both make shadow clones AND hold a barrier while attacking, he seems to be the only esper with this ability!

the reason dimple could tell mob's family was alive is that there was no sense of grudge at the house which would have been left behind by people passing in a violent manner

mob briefly goes unconscious during the start of the toichiro fight and dimple possesses him and says "shit"

dimple possessing mob shoots shibata with a gun

we get mukai lore.

it doesnt make any sense and just raises more questions but we get it.

toichiro has a team of telepaths to recap where everyone is because this arc took an entire calender year to update

literally everyone shows up to fight shimazaki. i cannot stress enough how many people show up to fight shimazaki. it would be faster to list espers who dont show up to fight shimazaki

the middle school delinquents show up and start fighting the claw grunts literally completely out of no where and this is never brought up or referenced ever again

when mob and ritsu get home ritsu says all their stuff is in boxes and they need to hurry and redecorate the house before their parents get home which implies that shou packed the entire households worth of belongings into boxes and hid it somewhere before lighting their house on fire which is such a funny mental image that i cant even be mad at it. loony toons ass plot point.

4. other random interesting cut things

takenaka is just generally more of a bitch during alien arc. "ah i think they took him" remains one of the funniest goddamn panels in the manga

peak

alien arc overall is a lot funnier in the manga, i have a slight preference for the manga version just bc theres a lot of really good bits that didnt make it to anime but the anime version is so heartfelt and nostalgic it makes me happy

between omakes and small things that got cut or changed for the anime teru just feels way more fleshed out in the manga. like. anime teru is a completely different person. its hard to explain if youve never read it.

the all girls school part originally went right before the ghost family stuff and was the beginning of mob's existential crisis about why spirits and people get different treatment but tbh it works well where it is i just wish it werent. like that.

the scene where ritsu and teru shake hands was teru draining ritsus power which he seems to have learned to do from encountering ???%

teru.

ow

thats all i can think of off the top of my head, im sure ill realize i forgot something some time after posting this but. yeah. read the manga its good

[noxiatoxia]

I don't know if this is common knowledge, but Komaeda's talent in Japanese is not "Ultimate Lucky Student". It is "Ultimate Good Fortune" (or good luck).

I know the word "lucky" has connotations with being good luck, but "luck" itself seems neutral to me at least.

I think the fact Komaeda is praised for, and has his talent be centered on, his good fortune is a very important nuance. People only see the good that happens to him. People keep telling him what happens to him is "good luck". His parents dying and getting kidnapped end up being called "good luck" in the end. I think this reinforces his pattern of thought more than people just saying he has extraordinary luck (good and bad). It's a minor difference, but it adds a lot. I have been thinking about this for a little bit now.

Because of the fact it is good luck specifically, I wanted to find parts where Komaeda specifically talks about bad luck. Lines such as "my awful luck/dreadful luck..." doesn't make much sense in the context of his Japanese talent. It made me wonder if those English lines even existed or if it was a "Luke, I am your father" situation. I don't have either the English or Japanese script memorized.

I checked the Freetime Events because of this, and found an interesting thing. There's a number of mistranslations, or simply translation choices I don't really agree with.

The freetime events heavily misrepresent how often Komaeda uses the word "luck". He uses both 不幸 and 不運 an equal amount I'd say. Maybe the former more. The former means "misery" "sorrow" or "misfortune". The latter means "bad luck" or "ill-fortune".

Likewise, 幸運 means good luck, but it also means good fortune. It's the word used in his talent as I described above.

Now, that's not to say I think Komaeda's "talent" should not be referred to as luck, nor am I saying he should never use the word luck. I think good and bad luck is a perfectly apt English word to describe his experiences. I just think the English translation overuses it. It wouldn't have killed them to make him say "isn't that just awful" or "what a tragedy, right?" instead of "isn't that such bad luck?" every conceivable moment. Maybe I'm just nit picky.

Now, onto the free time events. I want to talk about them.

I'll be talking about them in order as they appear. Also, I am only going to talk about the 3rd event onward, after Komaeda's chapter 1 reveal.

Freetime event 3

A minor nitpick, but "friends" is not the word I'd use here. It's true you can translate it that way, but considering everything else about Komaeda, at this point in the game, he wouldn't readily call Hinata his friend. Especially considering the connotations that holds for him.

That's precisely likely why he, in fact, doesn't say "friend" in the Japanese text. He uses 仲間 which like I said, while can and does translate as friend when used in that way, it just means people of a common thread. Like, a group, I guess.

My TL:

Because we both share the common goal of seeking out hope!

Freetime event 4

This is a really bad translation IMO. Hope is never said once in the original dialogue. I don't know why they put it there.

My TL:

Hinata: It's pretty ironic that you got wrapped up in this shitshow considering your "Ultimate Good Luck". Komaeda: It's not ironic at all! This is no doubt just the beginning of the good things to come my way! Komaeda: Um, let's just say the "good luck" I was born with is a little less straightforward [than the name would suggest]... Komaeda: once this is all over, I'll be rewarded with good fortune of the highest caliber.

And though this next one isn't much of a "mistranslation", I want to offer an alternative translation that highlights my criticism of "overusing the words good/bad luck".

My TL:

Komaeda: The greater the misfortune I experience before hand...the greater the good that comes my way afterwards! It completely cancels out everything before it!

Freetime event 5

I sadly cannot find in-game pictures of this since it's one of the wrong dialogue choices, so here's the script file text for it instead (sorry)

I remembered this line in English specifically because I always thought it sounded weird for Komaeda to say - "It's rare to hear you give such a half-assed answer".

While not a mistranslation totally, I think the tone is a bit off.

I would write it more as, "Ah ha ha! That's quite the answer, Hinata-kun!"

It literally translates as "for Hinata-kun, that is a very suitable answer!" but it's clearly supposed to be teasing/sarcastic. So he means to say "oh, wow, Hinata-kun, you're answering with that?" but in a lighthearted tone.

Freetime event 6

Almost didn't include this because it's the mistranslation we all know and hate, but it's worth mentioning in case people don't know.

My TL:

Please, just one last thing...don't ever forget...that from the bottom of my heart, I love y...I love your hope that sleep dormant inside you.

Though he does just say "please, don't forget", he uses どうか which is a pretty polite turn of phrase for Komaeda. It also is a way to emphasize a request, as in please do this to the benefit of me.

He backtracks pretty heavily. The verb comes at the end in Japanese sentences, so giving an exact one-to-one would be hard, but I'll try to explain it.

ボクはキミを... キミの中に眠る希望を心から愛していると。

Boku wa Kimi wo... Kimi no naka ni nemuru kibou wo koko kara aishiteiru to.

の/no = possessive. Such as, "Lucy's cat" "David's car".

を/wo = verb particle. There's no real English equivalent but you use it to signify some verb is being done onto something. Such as, "I kicked the ball" ("ball wo kick") or "I pet the cat" ("cat wo pet").

は/wa = topic particle. Commonly translates as "is/am" but that is NOT what it means. It just signifies everything that comes after it relates back to what comes before it. It's most accurate to think it as "as for the topic of..." Such as, "my damaged car wa had to go into the repair shop." After wa, "had to go into the repair shop", you ask, "what had to go into the repair shop?" you can find the answer in the topic, which is before wa: my damaged car. (or... me no damaged car.)

So, with this knowledge, let's break down the sentence.

Boku = I/me.

Kimi = you.

So this would make Boku wa Kimi wo in it's most literal form: as for the topic of me (aka, speaking for me), I, onto you...

Then he trails off. wo becomes no.

I, onto your hope sleeping inside of you...

and then we return to wo:

from the bottom of (one's) heart, love [the hope sleeping inside of you].

One could easily see it as Komaeda quickly changing the wo to no to add extra steps to not make the confession so head-on. Because if we remove everything after no and just continue where the wo leaves off, we get:

Boku wa Kimi wo koko kara aishiteiru to.

As for me, I, from the bottom of my heart, love you.

Now...one could also read it as him not backtracking, but adding. Saying I love you and the hope that lies dormant within you. Both are equally plausible. Listening to the audio it can go either way, but the way he quickly and softly drops off when he gets to the first wo makes me feel like it's a backtrack. Or maybe the background music is just too loud haha.

Well, that's all I got for now.

[halowishes]

my fav fics of 2024!!

i wanted to share my other recs that i read before i started my lists and ones that just deserve MORE recognition/ changed me/ inspire me to live my life.

fandoms: mostly haikyuu & some demon slayer

(skts if the ship is unspecified)

red dahlia

e. 103k+. ongoing. handmaiden au.

guys. this was probably the fic that made me fall in love with sakuatsu. fairycake always does impeccable world building and splendid writing. this fic has such flair and style— it’s in both povs so you can feel all the nuance. and the PLOT. the DIALOGUE. the IMAGERY. god this is really such a wonderful fic and i’m dying to find out what happens next!!

play among the stars

e. 105k. sci-fi/ rom-com/ drama?

ok so there’s a jail on the moon. kiyoomi is a guard and atsumu is a prisoner! i had so much fun reading this. i’ve never read anything like it. it was intense but well-paced, dramatic yet comedic, serious and silly! kiyoomi had some really beautiful development, and atsumu’s character was a treasure. every chapter was gorgeous but i ESPECIALLY love the last few.

in transit — kageyama x hinata

t. 4.7k. canon universe.

one of the first hq fics i read. so sweet and felt very loyal to the anime. i also just thought the image of kageyama playing basketball was so funny. this fic introduced me to the world of hq fanfic so i’ll always be thankful for it.

in another life — bokuto x akashi

t. 23k. mcd/ hospital au.

honestly? heartbreaking. soul crushing. i’ll randomly remember parts of it and just sit in silence for a bit. this fic is probably why i actually haven’t really sought out any other bokuaka… i just end up thinking about this😭 AND ITS SO WELL WRITTEN. the storyline is so precise and clean, but it packs a punch (that ends in tears). i wondered how the hell it had so many hits but i get it. i really do. and i’m a changed person because of it.

three sheets to the wind

m. 117k. pirate au.

i am actually very obsessed with atsumu teaching kiyoomi how to let loose and feel the sun on your skin and be honest and real. also such a fan of atsumu’s casual poetry because when you’re obsessed with someone, words can just roll off the tongue. very big believer of love inspiring courage and bravery.

insert coin to play

e. 178k. cyberpunk au.

we all know how much i love this but what does it for me is how it understands kiyoomi’s characteristics: he’s blunt, strong, determined, and a bit irrational. i love loud and proud fighter atsumu, but kiyoomi is no less weaker just because he’s quiet. and i will always always always remember that scene in the club where they talked about a world if they were ordinary. anyways i can always talk about this fic.

heirs

e. 237k. corporate & soulmate au.

this was the slow burn of the year. yes the fic was about love and choice and agency, but also duty, piety, and power. it was provoking and thoughtful and dramatic (in a good way). i actually felt the anger, betrayal, and shame of those characters because the plot is just that intense.

again, like this

e. 55k. mid time skip.

this really is my comfort fic. i’ve read it so often i can probably tell you verbatim every plot point. but i can’t help it because they are so tender. so innocent and raw and real. they make each other better and it’s such a pleasure to read. and (you got me) the smut was really really good ok?😭😭

the tide will turn

e. 80.8k. titanic au.

there’s not much i can say because of spoilers but GOD. this fic is so luxurious and unreal. i was obsessed with the characters and finding out what came next. it was a thrilling and emotional read (definitely cried). the fic was so immersive and the last few chapters stuck with me.

afflictions for below-average asian-americans

t. 7.5k. american suburbia au.

genuine, embarrassing, overwhelming, inexplicable. the character development is so special and subtle, yet inspiring. although the premise comes off as niche, i think anyone can relate to feelings of envy and insecurity. this seriously made me appreciate 17 year-old halo more <3.

do i dare disturb the universe?

t. 14.9k. parallel timeline.

*screams*. i need more second chance fics. (vulnerable lore moment) i have a deep rooted aversion to failure and making mistakes so stories like these help me unlearn that. generally, there’s no right or wrong in how to live your life so why aren’t we just doing what we can to be fulfilled and loved? very important fic in the “listen to your heart!!” folder.

it drives you crazy getting old

m. 45.9k. 13 going on 30-ish au.

there is something so comforting about reading a young skts in their 32 year old selves. the fic is about learning how to be patient, to be vulnerable, to love. growing up can be so scary but this fic is a gentle reminder that everything will work itself out and you never have to do it alone. you may not end up where you thought, and that’s okay.

bound

e. 68.1k. actors au.

what i admire about this fic is how generous it is. the characters make mistakes, they say and do things they don’t mean, they can be unhealthy and miscommunicate. but at the end of the day, they’re so patient and loving that the stars align for them because they deserved that happy ending. (and that speech at the end was just too good not to include. it makes me cry every time.)

rain on your wedding day

g. 4.6k. skts wedding.

the joys of celebrating love. the joys of having a community who supports you and will do anything to see you happy. the joys of spending the rest of your life with Your Person. i don’t care if it’s a fanfic, it’s canon TO ME.

how to NOT fall in love with your flatmate’s twin

m. 46.7k. mid-time skip.

while atsumu and kiyoomi’s budding relationship is delightful and the twins’ characters are superb, i will always remember this fic for the side plot of kiyoomi learning to reconnect with his mother. it’s simple yet so powerful. this fic makes me appreciate my parents, siblings, and everything university gave me :’).

burden of blame

e. 91.2k. yakuza au.

if there’s anything to know about me it is that i LOVE a thriller. the plot of this fic is so buzzing with life and mystery. also i’m a SUCKER for bossy ass kiyoomi x nonstop yapper atsumu. it just amplifies the banter and tension by a mile. and selfless, impulsive atsumu will always have a place in my heart <3.

constellations we called home

e. 53.5k. end of the world au.

i read this fic over a month ago but i still can’t be normal about it. it’s extravagant, emotional, and honestly punched a hole through my heart that i might never recover from (like all apocalypse aus). this fic reminds me of the “would you rather have a good thing and or never have it at all” debate. i love love.

sketches of a firefly

e. 88.7k. magic realism/ returning to a small town au.

recently featured in my monthly recs but i don’t care! this fic made me want to be a kid again. it’s literally and figuratively magical. the storytelling amazed me and the tension was soooo vivid. this is a very worthy read but READ THE TAGS.

stockholm syndrome isn’t real

e. 50.2k. heist au.

also mentioned in my dec recs! i just love how this fic read like an action comedy movie. the punchy humor and the well paced scenes made it go by like my dream sakuatsu film. i’m still wrapping my head around how intricate the dynamics and plot of this fic are!

terminal curiosity

e. 9 works, each 10k+. canon universe.

we all read it, we all know it’s good. there’s nothing new i can say about it but i do go back and read it every couple months.

demon slayer

blue — giyuu x sabito

t. 17.2k. canon divergence.

giyuu wakes up in an au where sabito lives. the fic was so gentle and loving and careful. giyuu’s disbelief and the absurdity of it all— you feel all of that with this fic. the story was just so wholesome and made me love giyuu.

uh huh, honey — giyuu x sanemi

e. 151k. pornstar au😭😭

ok i realize the premise is bonkers but the plot is actually pretty deep😭 this fic was prime “opposites attract” in that the characters complement each other perfectly. really beautiful imagery, hilarious dialogue, and such a silly premise but full of admiration and thought.

and that’s my year of fanfic! i almost called this my top 24 fics of 2024 but then i thought “there’s no way i have 24 favs” and here i am… only two short.

but yeah! i’m glad to be back in fandom culture because it really is what got me through tough times. i hope you give these fics a chance or (most likely) if you’ve already read them, let me know what you thought about them!! (if you want more recs check my halo reads tag).

i’m not sure how long these monthly recs will last as i move onto a new part of my life, but i do hope you all find some community in these posts <3

lots of love ALWAYS,

halo <3

[sparklingcid3r]

the amount of mental gymnastics darry had to do in high school. the way the socs ruined his rep w the greasers and then disposed of his friendship anyways. also how he is still seen as the least emotional of the greasers but still too in touch w emotions for socs

I don’t think Darry even justified the Soc’s disdain towards the greasers, which you could take as being worse than if he did. But yeah, Darry had such drastically opposite roles to play in both worlds, I kind of doubt he ever got to figure out who exactly he is when he’s by himself. Especially when the Curtis parents die, Darry puts his own wellbeing last in favor of getting his brothers through their days, through their childhoods, and once the day comes that Pony leaves for college and doesn’t exactly need him anymore, Darry will finally be forced to come to terms with how detrimental the constant switch-ups were in high school.

It’s so crazy to think about how his parents dying was the last straw for the Socs. It probably reinforced the belief that no matter how intelligent and put-together an East sider is, the grease will always have a hold on them (ha) and drag them right back to where they started.

You know I was listening to the cut song “Cut that Hair” from the La Jolla production and there’s a piece of dialogue between Johnny and Bob that pretty much goes along the lines of Johnny saying (about Pony), “He’s Darrel Curtis’s little brother, so I’d watch it if I were you!” and then Bob just mocks, “Darrel Curtis, the famous dropout!” And then just a crazy line about “Dropouts galore in that family—” “Orphans galore!”

And I was just like ??? Ayo CHILL first of all✋let him get up, damn. Second of all, they know exactly what happened to the Curtis family and cut Darry off anyway for something that wasn’t even his fault?? His plans were doomed from the start if that’s reason enough to kick someone to the curb.

YESS U GET IT🙏🙏Darry’s reputation among the East side is that of the impenetrable “Superman” who probably needs five Socs just to keep him down. He’s got cold blue eyes and never smiles anymore. He’s perceived as unemotional when he’s so clearly one of the most emotional characters in the story, he’s just not the best at expressing those emotions. And I always thought that his history with the Socs had something to do with it (his parents dying and him having to be the rock his brothers depend on is the bigger, more obvious reason, but cmonnn lemme hc).

Keeping his feelings in check was the best course of action around the Socs, one: because the whole point was keeping his status as greaser as far out of their minds as possible, and two: because Cherry says (in the musical) that Socs keep their feelings to themselves. So: Darry has spent the better of four years keeping his problems and emotions under lock and key, and he needs to do it again if he’s going to be responsible enough to take care of his younger brothers by himself. It’s always been the one thing that’s an asset in both worlds, but it completely ices him out from both worlds as well, a double-edged sword that he has no choice but to use now.

Can you tell Darry’s my fav character yet😭 Ty for the ask!! i can yap forever about this guy

[illumiera]

OC in Fifteen

I saw some of my mutuals (💖) posting fifteen lines of dialogue that showcased the personalities of their OCs, so I thought I'd try my hand at doing this for my Elentari in i fear no fate! 🌟

“I have slain the World-Eater, crossed into Sovngarde a living woman, and returned alive. Surely I am beyond fate by now.”

“Devious? You ought to have expected the Arch-Mage to have some tricks up her sleeves.”

"I think we are each the sum of our choices, and mine is to know myself, shadows and all, and to strive each day to be better.”

“Where I grew up, every plant had a meaning, and highborn daughters were expected to know them by rote. Snowdrops are the first flowers to bloom at the end of winter, so they symbolise hope and rebirth. There’s also a myth where a king trapped in a curse sought the aid of the flower-goddess Druagaa, who had him pick a snowdrop at midnight and keep it close to his heart for three days and three nights until the spell broke. There you are: hope, alleged magical properties, or just a nice thing to have. I’m sure you can find some use for it.”

"Thinking of you? I have better things to think about before bed than the latest person out to kill me for one reason or another.”

“In that case, I am glad to be a fool. You should be glad for it, too. If I didn’t keep faith in the face of impossible things, I would be dead—and the world you’re so desperate to return to would have died with me.”

“If you’re planning on waxing poetic about how you’ll have all of that and more when you finally take my life, you may as well save your breath. As unenviable as your situation is, I still have no intention of dying to you.”

“I already told you that you can offer me whatever you like, and none of it—none of it—will be worth the cost of my soul.”

“You want freedom and to be remembered, but how would you go about it, if you had the chance? Would you storm into Solitude or Windhelm and name yourself High King? Seize the Ruby Throne and rule all Tamriel as Emperor? Come up with some scheme or another to become a god? You don’t know, do you? You say you’ve had nothing but your want for thousands of years? I believe you, and I also don’t believe you know who you are without it.”

“What are we if not living bearers of memory? The people you spared won’t last forever unchanged like stalhrim, that’s true, but they’ll learn, and grow, and love, and create. Even if they live the simplest of lives, their children, their friends, those whose hearts they touched over the years—they’ll all go on as a testament to who they were, so that in a century, in a millennium, there’ll be a tiny piece of them left on Nirn still.”

“The winged shape of your soul is a mirror of mine, and the name Stormcrown belongs to me as much as it does to you. Maybe destiny stained you—that much I will not deny. But has it not left the same mark on me, too?”

“I have met many terrible men, men who knew they had fallen and thought only of falling farther. Your actions were not the actions of one of those men."

“I don’t think any of the gods ever forsook you. I once thought the same, a long time ago, and then they showed me just how wrong I was.”

“The food is owed to you as it is to any guest in my home, and if it will assuage you, we’ll call the clothes a gift. You need not repay me other than by putting them on so I can see if they fit. As for your life, Diist Dovahkiin, all I ask is that you live it well.”

"It's all right. I'm a healer. You're safe now."

this was fun! I tag @bostoniangirl21 and @kiir-do-faal-rahhe to do it for their OCs, too! 💖

[thora-sniper]

Crosscember Day 8: Crosshair in coat

This was very hard morning before the ball. Crosshair said "yes" to this invitation but he never thought that he will be nervous like that. Two days ago he met Thora in office, they have very strange private dialogue and she didn't even allow him to say "happy birthday" to her. There is a high probability that they can meet again today and he can't understand - should he look his best at the same time, or should he dress up the way he usually dressed for such events.

The phone call beat him out of his mind. Hunter. Yes, of course, his brother came with his advises at the right time.

-What's going on, Cross? - he was little worried. - You didn't say me, that you going on to this ball. It's not in your style.

-Times changes, - answered Crosshair, looking to two suits in front him. - Brown, or black?

-Those suits? - Hunter clarified.

-Uhu.

-Black. If you think about girls it suits you better. Your ass... you know.

-If I think about one girl...

-It's still black. Did she see you in your uniform?

-Of course, yes. It's only for department workers, and if you want to know, we even worked together, talk each other not so long ago and I still don't understand her completely. She's dying of guilt because I got shot.

-Easy, boy, - calming voice from phone tube trying to purr this words. - Never hear you talking about girls this way.

-I never ever meet such girls as she. Even if she think that she screwed up, I don't want her blame herself until the end of the world. I am clearly not worthy of such an honor.

-As always, - Hunter sighed. - You fit each other, if you want my opinion.

-No. But ok, I'll take black one.

-Have fun.

-Thanks.

*******

Party, ball, fourchette were not that type of event where he can fill himself comfortable. Crosshair put his own sarcastic face to shield himself from different attacks. His scowl and the most inconspicuous position in the corner of the hall helped to keep the brand.

Some ladies tried to push him out of his place, but he was unmoved. He spent two hours and haven't catch any hint of the presence of the Torah in the hall. Sighing heavily, he got up from his seat and went to the cloakroom. He was trying to put his injured arm in the sleeve when felt that someone trying to help him.

-Not necessary... - he said turning over.

-Think so? - she asked. - Looks like you're little drunk and this coat is not your usual cloths choice, and I sure that your arm isn't so well yet.

-Ahhh, you could be little shitty if nobody watching you, yes? But so kind.

Thora nodded with wide smirk.

-It's neutral place, we are not on duty, and I think it is unfair hiding anymore. I wasn't sure that you will go here, and decided to late. I fill very sorry, - she sobbed, changing in her face. Crosshair knew this type of inner struggle, it was his own every day battle, but he never ever seen this in others.

-You can break through the line of raiders but you don't know what to say if you fill something different, - the voice was sharp but his speech was full of empathy. - We don't have to go there, if we don't want, - he nodded to the hall. - I know that all this costumes and dresses looks good and respectful, but sometimes we don't fit them. And today is one of those days.

-Crosshair, - it was the first time she called him by his first name, and this sounds like a light gust of wind. - I can't just disappear, and I can't ask you to stay, but...

She pulled him out of cloakroom, guided to the distant corner and without any other words kissed. She took her time, clinging to him with her whole body, holding his face with her fingertips under his chin. It wasn't one of those tentative kisses, hastily concocted out of insecurity and embarrassment. She knew what she wanted.

-You are incredible, - he grinned when the woman pulled back to straighten her clothes and put her hair in the right condition before going to the hall. - But I really don't want to stay, it's not the place for both of us. If I had been braver, I would have invited you for the weekend. But you would have refused anyway.

He sighed and headed for the exit. Thora called out to him:

-And if I agreed...

He turned over, looked at her hopeful face and answered:

-I'll send you address.

[spacedlexi]

Of all the difficult choices in each season of TWDG, What would say are the ones that you struggled with the most for each season?

HMM good question. there are some choices i feel conflicted about when i get to them but these are for the most part the ones that i actively dread having to make (which i like 😏 those are the best choices). there are other choices throughout the series that i feel Bad about, but not necessarily conflicted. like. i Know what my choice is, but i still feel bad about the consequences 😔 these are the ones that i actually mentally find myself battling. i just love the kinds of choices that make me sit on a pause screen for too long when its really Not That Serious

S1: help lilly/help kenny - the circumstances of this choice are what make it hard. literally a ticking time bomb. do you try to save lillys father? even tho hes been nothing but a complete jackass to you AND the group this entire time and put himself in this situation? or do you try to save the group by destroying his brain before its too late? clem being there watching doesnt help because now theres the added layer of "do i brutally murder this man in front of this child even if it means saving her life?" i usually end up trying to help lilly just because i know kenny is gonna do it regardless (and i dont want her to feel completely ostracized by the group). the idea of puling this woman back from her dying father so we can brutally murder him in front of her is.... a lot. like.. you can TRY to save him you know?? even if he turns hed still have to get off the ground first just hold the salt lick ready kenny 💀 plus you still have to actually Die first before turning. theyd have a second to feel his pulse stop. but its a very hectic scene where youre forced to act first think later. and either way clem is forced to see it. the worst part about it is knowing kenny is gonna be on my ass about it even tho i side with him on LITERALLY EVERYTHING ELSE 😐😑

shoot lee/leave lee - its just 😭 telling this little girl to kill the one person she has left, moments after seeing her dead parents. its time for her to start doing the hard things. but to tell her to do THIS?? you are fucking that child up beyond belief. but also the guilt she'll carry if she DOESNT do it, knowing hes still in that jewelry store, possibly chained to it, forever (which the narrative impact of lee starting and ending the game in handcuffs (possibly a prisoner in his own body??) makes me SCREAM AND CRY LEEEEEEEEEEE THATS GOOD NARRATIVE BAYBEE).

S2: shoot kenny/look away - another "is clem ready to do this?" kind of moment. its time for her to start making her own choices. what does SHE want?? i think even a clem who shoots kenny is gonna be conflicted about it on some level. recently i played a clem who let kenny kill jane then shot him anyway. that was cool :) and the moment is way more dark than shooting him outright. no heartfelt goodbyes. just a tired "do it". oof. the set up for the kenny/jane fight is Not Good like we ALLLLLL KNOOWWW it shouldve been luke ok. but the choice itself is still a HUGE character moment for clem, and its one of my favorite and most dreaded choices in the series. how is clem feeling about kenny at this point? is shooting him something she can do?? before its too late?? or will she be paralyzed by choice? this is a choice she Never shouldve had to make, but here she is, and she has to. before time runs out. i like my clems alone so usually i either wait out the clock (no choice is still a choice. clem just cant do it but cant look away either) and stay at wellington (good alone ending), or i shoot him 1 of 2 ways (clem Can do it)(bad alone ending). shooting him after he kills jane is just like 2 birds one stone to me SHDHSJKDS 💀 and it hits that middle ground of being paralyzed by choice but still ultimately Making A Choice, just too late for it to matter to anyone but herself. and her line of dialogue finding aj alone "we're gonna be ok, we're gonna be ok" like shes trying to reassure herself more than anything WAAAHH i kinda liked it a Lot actually 👀

S3: ??? romancing kate or not i guess?? - its the only one that really made me feel conflicted (aside from maybe the conrad thing?? sorry clem but im gonna force you to stick around actually i like it for the Narrative and it makes gabe less annoying later. also conrads alright). do you respect your brother or do you get with his wife who hates him LOL. because its not one choice you make, not really. its one the game is constantly asking of you, putting you in situations where the choice needs to be made again and again until finally you make the Ultimate choice about it. people who complain about the game being so pushy about it are kinda funny to me because like, ya.. thats the whole point.... (ive pushed back defiantly Literally just because of how pushy the game is about it tho so like i get it) she is a temptation the game is intentionally dangling in front of javi. she is the Final source of conflict between the brothers. will he remain loyal or give into it? i say give in 😏 give david something to actually be mad about. ive both romanced her and not, and the game kinda feels stunted if you dont? like... i Get It. thats your brothers wife who is still wearing her ring after YEARS of him being gone. theres 😬 feelings there. but even if you dont romance her the game still punishes you by having her be weird about it in the garage in front of david anyway. i say do it even tho its messy. it makes the story more sound imo which S3 desperately needs at that point. javi can still feel bad about it. what DID david expect?? i love mess :)

S4: kill couple/send aj inside - i love a choice that gives me a lot to think about. even if the actual in game consequences are flimsy to none. with this choice specifically, what makes it hard is the fact that the couple asked to be left alone. if they were just two walkers it wouldve been a no brainer. but with their final request, it becomes a matter of respecting the dying wish of this sad couple (which becomes narratively relevant at the end of the game OUGH WHEN IT COMES BACK). and will you teach aj that respecting those wishes is important? he needs to learn to become self sufficient anyway. clem crawled through her own number of dangerous holes in her youth. but thats the other side of it. that clem, knowing personally how dangerous crawling into those spaces where no one could follow was, i dont know how comfortable she would be letting aj do the same. but also, she doesnt want him to grow up too hardened. if she kills this couple, its pushing him further into that hardened mindset. to do whatever you have to to survive, no matter the cost to others. its a choice i find myself sitting with the longest even tho its consequences are pretty much just 2 lines of dialogue ("that couple clem tried to Guilt me about" LMAO YEAH ITS TRUE AJ THIS IS A LEARNING MOMENT FOR YOU). but yeah this is a choice i have a 50/50 chance with going either way on. every time i kill the couple i feel so bad about it 😭 (and so does clem 🥺). it being more of a philosophical question instead of an actual gameplay decision is what i like about it

not sure/take things slow/girlfriends/kiss - NOT JOKING ABOUT THIS ONE its actually so hard for me HSDHSDJKSJKDJK i dont have a paragraph of reasons why tho i just love them all differently. the first two feel the most realistic. i do like the idea of taking things slow and the dialogue for it is really sweet. but also. they might die or be taken tonight. so one kiss before everything could come crashing down on them is nice. but also hearing them call each other girlfriends???? adds years to my life. vi in ep 3 being like "um so you said you wanted to be girlfriends 🥺?" and clem like "😏 ya" i just love hearing them say it 😭 Out Loud 👁👁. and then either way clem gets another chance to kiss her in the woods in ep 3 so it works out. and 2 more kisses in ep 4 from vi this time!! thank you devs for my life 🙏 what a wonderful choice

i love choice games so much just because of the questions they ask of you. i honestly LOVE looking through the player choice stats i find them SO INTERERSTING ESPECIALLY the ones that are split perfectly 50/50. i would literally look at the stats for every single choice im not joking. where are the stats

[jacky-rubou]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

thank you @septic-dr-schneep for the tag!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

44 public works, 48 if you count anonymous

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

486,495

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Gravity Falls, which is the only one I really write for. Any other fandoms I have are either from previous fandoms or crossovers with Gravity Falls lmao

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. A Hug For Those Who Need It with 205 kudos (first fic to hit 200, woot woot) 2. The Trouble With Sweaters with 190 kudos 3. Sometimes All It Takes Is A Sleepover with 132 kudos 4. He Signs I Love You with 125 kudos 5. In The Dark with 112 kudos

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I always try to at least give them a single sentence of gratitude, if not an author's cut of why I did what they liked. Sometimes just a heart if their comment doesn't have much to respond to. or a winky face if I'm being coy lol. I just like to let my readers know that I appreciate the comments and that they're not commenting into a void lol.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

that is so hard because almost all my fics are angsty in some way haha. but i guess there are some with bittersweet endings that aren't as crushing as others, so I'll go with Sacrifices Must Be Made (major gore warning), The Things You Can't Live Without, The Twist of the Knife That is Fate, and Lost in Loving Memory (suicide and self harm warning) all with major character death.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

define 'Happiest'. i got some hopeful endings after soul crushing angst like Not So Different (And We're Dying For It) (suicide attempt warning) and Barely Living (And All It Takes Are Some Pills but idk.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

occasionally. mostly just peeps upset at pacing or my weird choices. i haven't gotten a lot. if i do, i delete it right away usually.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

haha no. (no shame on anyone who does but... that's not my style)

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I've written a fair bunch. I think the wildest one was a Courage The Cowardly Dog and Undertale fic I abandoned on ffnet.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

no idea if I have and hopefully i haven't. anyone who notices someone stealing a fic of mine please let me know.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

if i have, they haven't asked or told me about it.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

nope and the idea terrifies me. though if helping with ideas counts, i have had someone help me with one of my fics in a more 'major' way but i don't want to talk about them further for personal reasons.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

right now, i like fiddauthor.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

there's a wip i made a few months ago inspired by a small angsty comic about ford's ptsd being triggered by water guns and almost shooting his family with a real gun i saw but i lost interest pretty quick when i didn't know where the hell to go with it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

emotions. i have made many a reader cry and i love that about my writing. and I think I have a good grasp on world-building.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

probably my bias towards specific characters blinding me to implications. specifically Ford.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I think it's fine. I don't do it because I fear writing something wrong. Also I don't really write with characters that would know other languages (except for Stan I guess but I don't get very much opportunity to add it where it makes sense haha)

19. First fandom you wrote for?

regrettably, the transphobic wizard franchise mixed with Sonic the Hedgehog for some godforsaken reason. never posted it anywhere though, thank god. just something i handwrote as a kid. for first ones I've actually posted, see the courage the cowardly dog and undertale fic on ffnet i mentioned earlier.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

ARRRGGGGHHHH SO HARD TO CHOOOSE!!!

A few I love from myself are my suicide!ford duology (soon to be trilogy, shhhh), my paralysis!ford trilogy, my blind!ford duology, and Dead On Arrival

anyway, tagging @ferretwhomst and @thereareeyesinsidethetrees

[el-bellanaris]

I was thinking about this scene again and as Rook you get to be like

a) Solas isn't going to help or b) Solas, try a cure

If you pick A Rook will say: He’s too afraid of the blight to do anything but end her pain. And if you pick B Rook will instead say: "Come on, be the God she needs".

Both options are so odd to me, you either have Rook acting like we should have the moral high ground for whatever reason which ignores the fact that the blight is terrifying regardless of your attachment to how it exists. Solas being scared of the blight should be normal, not a reaction to his history. We should all be terrified of it, a normal character in this world would be instinctually wary of it because of it's destruction. And then option B makes us look stupid for expecting Solas to just be able to clap his hands summon some magic and boom blight is gone. He is literally just a mage with a deep understanding of magic and a lot of magical output, he cannot fundamentally change the rules of reality. Why would he have some secret cure all this time to the blight of all things

It's again one of those moments where the writers seemingly would rather us be blinded by hatred for Solas then have a very normal realistic thought.

And then I was reading the transcripts posted by @/datvtranscripts and the comments from the companions make no sense either.

Bellara: He wasn’t just her leader, he was her god. And this is her reward? Harding: He was so ready to burn it all. Friends included. Not much has changed. Lucanis: Not every death is kind. But to betray loyalty… a man like that must be watched closely. Neve: I’m sure he sees some greater good. The people in his way to get there—not as much. Taash: Don’t know if he could’ve helped her. But he didn’t even try.

For context Emmrich and Davrin will mention something else

Emmrich: One of the first times Ghilan'nain experimented with the blight, perhaps, but not the last. Davrin: If I really thought I could stop the blight for good… wonder what I would’ve done.

We are a team of adults and the blight isn't new. It's been around since almost the start of time and even since before the creation of the Veil and before the humans even stepped foot on Thedas. For the most part I'd assume the companions lived through the 5th blight, at least enough to hear about it and likely fear it. So why is this the companions reactions to the blight, to Solas giving a mercy kill instead of letting his team mate literally live through their body rotting.

In all of these dialogues I can see their reactions being fully related to their character arc, they're all focusing in on their own personal problem and using that to shape their opinion here but the outcome just makes so many of them sound ignorant of a very basic concept of what the blight is.

Harding is replying like this because she is blinded by her own anger, which I find really interesting. She cannot see this situation realistically cos of her own bias but then Harding is a very down to earth person. She has seen war and destruction and fought what she believes is right but now the grief is taking over. Bellara is also blinded by worship, she thinks that the gods can change reality to their will. The Veiljumpers are "self-aware" of the actions of their own gods but she is still so wrapped up in her own beliefs that she can't react here to what is really happening.

But then Neve I straight up don't understand her thinking here? It's not about the greater good, it's literally about not forcing someone he knows to die a slow and painful death. The person who got blighted is not a pawn in his way, they're real and dying. Lucanis also straight up understands the calling and how so many wardens would rather a mercy kill over waiting it out so why wouldn't he react to that information here. You would think both of them understand this was a hard and necessary choice to make and be able to deduce why he reacts this way when one of them is a literal detective and the other is an assassin.

Taash actually has my favourite response here and I really wish I as Rook could have replied to them. To say something along the lines that Solas must already know the blight cannot be stopped, he must have already seen its destruction and knows this is a sacrifice he chooses to make as a leader.

The other two give different comments and I wonder if it was more so a way to show that they understand the blight and its nature so why not have Emmrich and Davrin actively mention that. Have Davrin mention how hard it must have been before the Wardens existed to handle the blight and Emmrich comment on the way it destroys the body. You would think someone who handles corpses for a living would have enquired about it at one point and would have been taught about it.

It really just feels like the minute Solas is involved everyone has to give a very subjective pov which is fine for Bellara and Harding but I would assume Neve and Lucanis should have different less directly personal thoughts here. I wish as Rook I was allowed to reply differently here too and say something that was less just to confirm that Solas sucks.

It's also one of the times I wish that the Inquisitor and Morrigan could give more advice, to tell Rook about their own journeys and hardships and show Rook that the world can never be black and white. To have the Inquisitor tell Rook about the Mayor of Crestwood and talk about how that situation was horrible but also an evil done out of want to help others. That being a leader means sacrifice and sometimes sacrificing your own beliefs to help. Because the Inquisitor, especially if they're handling so much in the South, would have had to do the exact same thing as Solas. How many people would rather be killed by the Herad's blade in some holy kind of release then die a slow death? How many villages did they have to leave behind because they cannot help? How many funeral pyres did the Inquisitor have to light as apart of their holy duty as a herald?

[soartfullydone]

Did you ever read ACOSF? What did you think of the twilight baby plot?

Everything I know about ACOSF I've learned against my will lol. One of my best friends kept a play-by-play of each chapter in a Google Doc, so she could spare me the reading experience but also so we could make fun of it mercilessly.

In all seriousness, I knew I was never going to subject my eyes to it directly because I hate Nessian with a burning passion. I one-hundred percent believe that Nesta deserves better than everything she got, and she should've been meaner actually. Even when I somewhat liked ACOMAF, I felt utterly indifferent to Cassian. Who is this bland rice cake taking up the space where Lucien should be? No good dialogue or anything out of that guy. And then SJM wrote Nessian into MAF with all the subtlety of a clown show, and it was over. Nesta hates him! Keep him away from her! If she doesn't kill him, I will!

Most baby plots are horrendous in fiction, and I hate them deeply also. They often reduce women to being pure idiots (why do I have morning sickness after unprotected sex? a mystery!) or they reinforce this false idea that women can only achieve ultimate happiness by having their One True Love's baby. Ah, the number of women I know who are stuck in unhappy marriages, their sense of self completely lost because being a Wife and Mother comes first! Can those things be fulfilling? Absolutely. But a lot of folks are selling a romanticized idea of both, and SJM is no exception here.

Because look at what the Twilight baby plot does. It takes away all of Nesta's power, asserts her feelings of worthlessness, and encourages her to be a breeder for Cassian, who never even told her he loved her in their romance book. It puts her firmly and forever under Rhysand's and the Night Court's boot. It confirms that Feyre has also lost all her agency, that the High Lady title is meaningless, that her found family and Court do not respect her, that Rhysand will lie to her and trap her if it serves him to do so. That, ultimately, her body does not belong to her and she doesn't have a choice.

What really gets to me, too, is that these two women have to change their bodies to accommodate their love interests, their supposed fated mates. Methinks if it was fated, if they really were perfect for each other, this kind of change wouldn’t have been necessary 🤔. But also if this really were a fantasy story with all-powerful magical beings, there’s no reason why Feyre’s pregnancy should’ve been so risky to begin with. Barring that, there’s no reason why a C-section couldn’t have been an option. It was drama for the sake of drama, pain for the sake of pain. All filler, no substance.

Everything surrounding the baby plot and Nesta's forced captivity prove ACOMAF for the lie it is, a romanticized idea about overwritten trauma and choosing the Perfect Guy because he can read your mind and tell you the things you want to hear. I mean, how else do we go from Feyre earnestly believing she wants time with her new love, that a child can wait, to a Feyre who can't think of a single gift to give Rhys besides the news of her pregnancy? (Cue him cumming to the sight of their unborn child. I will never forget, and neither will you, dear anon, I'm sorry. But I didn't write it!)

And idk, given how much pregnancy in general squicks me out despite being a woman myself, how much medical care for women generally sucks, how many people are going through such pain with miscarriages, unviable pregnancies, and unclear yet strict abortion laws... This ain't it, fam! If SJM wants to talk real-life application with her trauma bullshit, then let's talk real-life application! Because no one, not a single person, has an I Am Become Death magic sister who can pull a dying mother and their dying baby back from the brink where medicine and the law have failed them. No one can have their premie who can't survive on its own suddenly turned into a healthy six-month-old. Who does this plot serve? Neither the reader nor the characters benefited.

I genuinely can't understand how SJM, as a mother herself, could write something so tone deaf, without even being brave enough to explore this kind of fear and pain with any care whatsoever. If she wanted Feyre and Nesta to actually bond over something... Feyre's pregnancy and what that means as a human-turned-fae and a mother could have been it. That could have been something the sisters discussed and helped each other with, where they could have learned more about each other and their deeper fears as young women in a society that does not truly respect them. Both of them share in family trauma, for fuck's sake! Now here Feyre is starting a new family at great risk while Nesta is still guiltily mourning the one she lost! The dots are there!

But no. Instead, not even Feyre is allowed to learn the truth about her pregnancy until Nesta tells her, and then Nesta is painted as a villain for doing so. Feyre isn't allowed to have any real opinion or lingering fears or doubts about her fate whatsoever. Because none of this stuff really matters, especially not the trauma. It's about the fucking, rutting, animal sex. It's about the smirking males, their dripping seed, and their inability to be anything besides horny at any given moment. It's about the washboard abs. Hey, a sexy story would be just fine with me! I just wish SJM would fully embrace that (and also write it better lmao) and get off her "I'm God's gift to feminism" soap box. Maybe take off the girlboss shades, too, because ain't none of her female characters even living up to the shallowness of a girlboss. The narrative undermines and undervalues them too much.

Actually, I have to clap my hands to SJM for this baby plot. I've never seen one that destroys two main female characters in a single stroke before. That's how powerful Rhysand's dick is.

[halliescomut]

My Personal Weatherman EP. 8- No subs watch

It's the last one!!!! (sobbing) But I shall carry on and provide you with the best (unlikely) post you've ever seen on MPW. Again, if you've never seen this before this is me watching a sneaky link to the new ep of MPW, but my friend speaks Japanese and I don"t so there's no subtitles so I must go off of poorly remember Japanese based on badly subbed 90's anime.

-I mean, I knew we were starting where we left off but....ooooh- and the straight to the opening credits?!? Bold

-I swear this is the most we've ever heard Mizuki talk at once and also the strength of tone!!! Oh it's making my heart beat fast.

-Say it out loud Yoh!!! Whatever it is say it fucking out LOUD!!!

-Not gomen!!!! I know that word!!!(sobbing)

-This camera choice of only seeing Mizuki's back is very affecting and also really making this difficult.

-Such soft kisses!!!! (I am using so many exclamation points, sorry)

-Shy Yoh...so cute. But also thank you Mizuki for not letting him hide.

-I'm dying!!! Poor Yoh. The rain made him sick and now no D for him....so sad.

-I don't know what his argument was but Mizuki sure folded fast on that. haha

-Is he telling him about the manga??????

-Poor Man-san didn't get her Meterologist Mizuki fix.

-Aww...we love caregiver Mizuki, he's just so gentle.

-Man-san's reaction to Segasaki....oh I love her so much.

-I wonder if we have those cooling patches in the US. They seem refreshing.

-Is he reading the manga??? Awwww!!!!!! (I'm pretty sure for part of this he's reading the dialogue in the manga, so I'm fully lost. That's an interesting reaction to whatever Yoh said though. I think Yoh accidentally ruined the moment.)

-Man-san!!! God I still love her styling.

-So he texted what he wanted for dinner maybe? And something else, because a meal request I don't think would get that smile from Yoh.

-Daddy's home!!! I really do mean it that way, I don't know why I ever pretend I don't.

-"My name's Mizuki and I love warm hugs." (Tell me I'm wrong!)

-Sneaky hands sir, very sneaky.

-These motherfuckers only being honest when they're not looking at each other is killing me!!!

-Yoh is a fully grown man and also so smol. I love him

-So based on my keen observation skills, he made the curry again. And it's not crunchy this time. Yay!

-I'm pretty sure that last second is just Atsuki and Kouhei.

Ohhhhhhh, this was so good!!! It was so cute, and sweet, and so MUCH TALKING which was SO NECESSARY!!!!!! I can't wait to watch it all over again this weekend!!!

But also Season Two when?!?!?! I need a solid 3 hours of them in domestic bliss! Please!!!!

[crows-of-buckets]

Minor dav gripe but like

I really do wish there were a handful more things added in the worldstate menu. As of right now the two things I personally would add would be "does the hof live" and "did the Inquisitor drink from the well of sorrows"

The first one is so odd bc like. Davrin talks about being willing to die to the arch demon and how it's his duty and is inevitable and it felt. Very odd. That I couldn't say "but what about the hero of fereldan?" Like the dialogue could have even taken the same route as the regular conversation with davrin going "yeah but the hof isnt here and no one else knows how they did it". It feels. Odd. Because it is definitely something well known, even outside fereldan. Even more so if your rook is also a warden. Idk that really bugged me

The second one is literally just a minor minor annoyance but Emmrich has a dialogue about morrigan "possibly having turned into a dragon" and like. Again. It's a minor dialogue but if you're not gonna include the option for the well of sorrows why include the dialogue at all.

The lack of world state choices isn't really noticable in a lot of things, but I do feel it's stood out most with the wardens because of how influential the hero of fereldan is. Like c'mon there was a blight only 20 years ago and the guy who stopped it could possibly still be alive, why didn't they even cross our minds to look for? Also that guy stopped a blight in a YEAR with like six people why wouldn't we go talk to them?? Like yeah the south has got its own thing going on but cmon Morrigan definitely knows where they are

I have another thing (unrelated to worldstate choices) that I want to complain about, but its much more spoilery than above so its going under a cut

Spoilers for the end of the solas memory quest that I can't remember the name of (the one where you collect the wolf statues and experience solas's past)

Honestly, I liked most of the quest. The memories themselves were interesting and I do like the setup of how they played out. The fights were (mostly) fun (I did the level 25 one under leveled and had to restart like four times but it's fine I'm just a stubborn ass)

What I do NOT like is Flemeth's abuse being written down. This is another place where the lack of choice felt odd bc whether or not Morrigan has Kieran would change a lot I think. Bc Morrigan flat out says that she would never treat her child the way she was treated. And idk it felt like Flemeth got a "get out of abuser jail free" card bc she's mythal.

I dont even mind Morrigan taking in Mythal's memories tbh. It's a very in character thing for her to do.

Idk like. On one hand yeah Morrigan would probably have mixed feelings about her mother dying even if she was her abuser it just. Didn't feel like those emotions were mixed. Idk it just kinda annoyed me. I had a feeling Flemeth wasnt going to be portrayed as harshly and I hate to be right sigh

Other than that I did like this quest. I enjoyed talking to a different side of mythal and gaining her favor lmao. If I had a nickel for every dragon age protagonist that had an odd connection to mythal...

The flashbacks made me much more interested in the Titans, and I'm excited to see where Hardings story goes.

Ultimately, so far nothing that annoys me is anything that will make me hate the game. I have things I dislike about every dragon age game, its just a thing that happens lmao.

[edelgarfield]

every post cherry picking in-game dialogue to "prove" and "defend" the position that Astarion Wants Sex, as if there are vast swathes of people arguing otherwise and not like, a handful of people on a dying microblogging site, is so fucking out of touch because I'm gonna be real here: there is no fucking world where a romanceable character in an M rated game is canonically sex-repulsed at the end of their good route. Astarion is already a one in a million character for tackling sex-repulsion & sexual trauma with respect and nuance, but there was never any shot that he WOULDN'T become sex-favorable by the end of the game. Players would have lost their fucking minds if Sex With Astarion wasn't their reward for treating him nicely.

Larian fucking lives in the trenches of their online community, they know damn well how important fandom is to their game's success, they would be actively shooting themselves in the foot if they created a character as popular as Astarion & then told people they COULDN'T be horny about him.

And even if they made the bonkers choice to have Astarion end the game happily sex-repulsed, look me dead in the eye and tell me fandom would have respected that. People famously insist on creating sexual and romantic content of fucking Alastor from Hazbin Hotel, one of the only canonically aroace characters EVER. If you think people wouldn't be making the same damn Astarion Totally Wants Sex posts and grasping at straws as to why making sexual content of him ISN'T disrespectful and harmful to sex-repulsed people, you are fucking kidding yourself.

don't twist what I'm saying, I'm not saying a canonically sex-repulsed Astarion would have been better or that making horny content of him is bad. It isn't, be as horny as you like, write him having as much sex as you want.

What I AM saying is the incessant need to "prove" that Astarion isn't sex-repulsed to the few people that headcanon him as such is downright nasty and cruel considering he is fictional character and every "decision" he makes is designed to create a narrative that will sell Baldur's Gate 3 and sex-repulsed characters simply don't sell and don't drive fan engagement. His narrative is important, and well-written, and there is absolutely a ton of love & care that went into his creation but he is also a marketing tool. Every piece of smut made about Astarion is literally free advertising for BG3, the only way Larian ever would have cut that off at the knees is if someone held them at gunpoint, and even then, considering the amount of money Astarion has made them they might have still taken their chances. Why in the hell would they have him end the game sex-repulsed and alienate MOST of their audience when they can have the best of both worlds by appealing to sex-repulsed AND sex-favorable people?

Of course you can find a hundred instances of dialogue proving he "wants" (wants in quotes, because he is a fictional character that doesn't want anything) to have sex with the player, the writers literally put those lines in there so that people who want to imagine themselves or their OCs having sex with them could do so without feeling conflicted. There's nothing wrong with that, there's nothing wrong with wanting to have sex with Astarion or finding him attractive. But it's super cruel to then turn around and use that as proof that people who headcanon him as sex-repulsed as wrong.

Like yeah, we know that no adult game with BG3's popularity is ever going to have a happily sex-repulsed character! We know that we're not "marketable" or appealing to other people! We know that the world wasn't made for us and we have to get by on table scraps! Thanks for the fucking reminder!

Sex-repulsed people never get to see themselves in media, ESPECIALLY not in romanceable characters, so Astarion is a fucking dream to them. It's most likely going to be a LONG fucking time before we ever get a sex-repulsed character whose sex repulsion isn't treated as something to be fixed, IF we ever do. so for the love of God, just let sex-repulsed people have their headcanons. If it threatens you so much then just block them and move on. there's no need to make a dozen posts defending Astarion's sexual attraction, like the vast majority of the fandom already agrees with you and all you're doing is making sex-repulsed people feel bad for relating to one of the ONLY characters that's ever shown some of our struggles.

[blackjackkent]

15 Lines Tag Meme

Tagged by @morganaseren

Tagging: @istibaethoriel @thedarkstrategist @astreamofstars @bardic-inspo (also retagging @morganaseren and @writer86 bc I did this slightly differently than y'all did and maybe you wanna try it this way too :D )

(Want me to tag you in work-sharing memes like this in the future? Toss a like on this post over here! Would love a bigger list of folks to tag. :) )

Rules: Share 15 or fewer lines of dialogue from an OC, ideally lines that capture the character/personality/vibe of the OC. Bonus points for just using the dialogue without other details about the scene, but you’re free to include those as well!

I just realized that I don't actually have a WIP currently running that involves an OC, which is a bit wild. (Two WIP Jaheira longfics and a bunch of one-shot ideas I haven't started yet. XD ) So I'm going to do this as not a WIP fic quote but instead fifteen different quotes from Hector across several different existing fics that are representative of his personality. (I'm not sure which the originator of the meme intended and I know prev (Lee) did it the other way XD but I'm gonna reinterpret the instructions bc this is where my brain is taking it instead.)

-----

“Where your Lady looks for emptiness, mine looks for…self-reliance,” he finally says slowly. “Which is itself…not conducive to…” He trails off. “I have not ever felt this way before.” (Happy For You)

Hector hesitates. “I think perhaps I ought to ask you to forgive me,” he says quietly. “There were– and still are– many steps along this path that I have not handled as I should have. I was…very confused for quite some time, and very afraid, and perhaps my actions betrayed too much.” (Happy For You)

“It was one of the mantras of grounding I was taught from when I was a very young boy,” he says. “To…calm myself when I was upset or angry, to stop crying or raging, take control of the feelings and quiet them.” (The Center Cannot Hold)

“I love it,” he murmurs. “And I will keep it close to me going forward, you can be sure of that.” He turns the small talisman in his fingertips, watching it catch the light. “I've seen many of these,” he adds reverently. “But never one of such fine make. And old, too. Some monk carried this through hell before it made its way to you. I suppose I will add to that tradition...” (The Mystery of the Night)

“I don’t think I can go back,” he finally says quietly. “Not after all of this. I’ve… changed too much.” (Riverbed)

“I don’t know how to do what they want me to do,” he says softly. “How to… be what they think I am.” (Riverbed)

“It is only through meditation and strength of will that we master our emotions,” he says. “So I was taught.” (What Good, This Heart of Stone?)

“Discipline,” he mutters. “To control one's body is to control one's mind.” (What Good, This Heart of Stone?)

“SHUT UP!” The roar bursts from him and cracks apart into a sob. Tears flood his eyes, blurring his vision. “Gods… please… just leave me alone. I can’t… I can’t… she is dying and she is in so much pain, and I can’t help her, I can’t stop it. If you were anything less than a monster, you would grieve with me, you would want to help her… you would give a single, solitary damn… but you don’t. All you care about is your fucking worm, and it’s all falling apart… it’s all gone… it’s all gone…” The tears are coming heavier now, choking him, blinding him. “What the hell am I going to do?” he whispers. “I won’t… I won’t do it, I won’t do what you want… I won’t become an… an abomination just to save my heart… I won’t take her choice from her… but how will I bear it…? ” ("Because of What You Are" - drabble)

He swallows the lump that forms in his throat at hearing these words. “There is so much… so much more to the world than I ever imagined…” (vision of selune - drabble)

He flinches, not meeting her eyes. “I was thinking about how I’m scared because I could die. And then I thought about how perhaps there is a certain level on which that would be the simplest outcome.” (night before the brain - drabble)

“You’re perfect,” he repeats softly, and to his shame he hears his voice tremble. “I just…have no idea what I’m doing, and you surprised me.” (Prayers and Hellfire)

“You make me smile,” he goes on when the kiss finally breaks. The words come slowly, carefully - he considers himself no orator, but there is an ocean of feeling inside him waiting to be spoken of. “So many terrible things we see out here, and yet you make me laugh. You see the good in everything, even when it looks so dark to me. You've suffered so much and you're still kind, still want the best for everyone.” He pauses, then adds with fervent sincerity, “And you are so… so beautiful…” (Prayers and Hellfire)

[stellariders]

I know you might not agree with me but After reading the latest tvline article, I hope Merinda or Taylor leave the show or something happens and the characters break up for good. I used to like this relationship, but after catching up with the last 5 seasons, I hated how Severide turned to a screwup so a woman could fix him. I always loathed this kind of plot. One chicago the the three shows, don't know how to write a character development away from romance.

This whole promotion thing and Severide career don't depend solely on his relationship or how his beliefs were 7 years ago. The constant comparison between him and his father is frustrating. He always has been his been his own person even in relationships. I cringe everytime Stella's dialogues bring Benny like the writers can't come up with any other conflicts other than he is benny's son.

And supposedly they made Stella realise her mistakes from first marriage was her hope she can change her husband and fix him yet with Kelly they making her repeating the cycle the same trying to make him the man she wants a worthy man.

If we are in season 12 and she still thinks he is like Benny and staying with with wouldn't that being the same with Garrett and his addiction minus the abuse but I wouldn’t be surprise if the writers made her accuse him of that too later or made that her argument for not wanting kids after all they revealed in the final Benny was to Damon and they love writing lines making her compare how kelly and Benny are the same.

This relationship started beautifully with Severide questioning his life choices and Stella was looking for a fresh start and a good build-up. Both successful ambitious people wanting more. Then it turned to screw up kelly and strong fixer Stella. I get it with Merinda being the only longest WOC after Monica left and the need to the strong independent female representation most show doing in the last few years in not too good way. They failed what made this relationship interesting, became unhealthy in many occasions. While Stella character may be thriving, Severide character lost what made it interesting himself and his ambitious.

this is going to be so long and my thoughts are probably very unorganized so sorry about that!

yeah, i’m going to have to respectfully disagree with you on this. and i really don’t think there’s any chance of them breaking up. one of them dying? yeah i could see that. but i really don’t think the writers would divorce them. and i don’t think kelly has “turned into screwup so a woman could fix him”. kelly has always said that he wants to be the opposite of benny and this was before he even got into a relationship with stella. parts of those qualities that benny possessed was ghosting and lack of communication. yes kelly has always been his own person but he’s always had that fear of becoming benny. and he’s always had those feelings. he told stella before they started dating that he looked in the mirror and thought he started to look more and more like benny and he didn’t like that. if i’m remembering correctly he also told someone that he’s spent his entire life trying to be the oppsotie of benny. so it’s not like once stellaride got together kelly randomly had a fear of becoming benny. he’s always had this fear of his.

i honestly don’t recall any conversation between stellaride specifically where stella randomly brought up benny just so she could compare to kelly. i remember in early season 10 kelly told stella he talked to his mom about them getting married and she said something along the lines of severide men being doomed for marriage. but stella told kelly that he’s no benny. in the season 11 finale i remember stella comparing kelly and benny. that felt so out of character btw. i’m still shocked about that. but writers really fucked up either how they handled taylor’s leave of absence by writing kelly so out of character. but yeah kelly fucked up big time by ghosting her (as did stella in season 10). he made a huge mistake then and he made amends with stella and now they’re completely fine.

and i know it might be wrong but it’s genuinely hard for me to stay mad at stella and kelly for going mia when the circumstances behind the scenes with miranda and taylor were what they were. the writers truly fucked that up by making them both do out of character things.

grant was a completely different situation. that was an abusive marriage and leaving abusive marriage isn’t as easy as just walking away. especially when there a history between grant and stella where she has said she wouldn’t have survived without him. she wasn’t trying to help grant just so he could be worthy of her. she helped him because he saved her and and she wanted to be able to do the same for him. but she just couldn’t. with kelly, all she wanted was communication from him. she’s not changing his entire personality to make him a “worthy man” for her. that’s just the basics of a relationship.

stella staying with kelly after he messed up is very different then from when stella stayed with grant. i won’t repeat myself about the grant stuff but i will add that grant was entirely dependent on stella. he was literally living off her. and no i’m not exaggerating about that. stella told brett that grant doesn’t have a job and he’s been living off her (i’m paraphrasing). i think kelly’s actions of ghosting stella in season 11 clouds up the fact that his communication has actually come a long way. before he went mia in season 11, the last time he didn’t properly communicate with stella was in very early season 9. and again this mia storyline wouldn’t exist if writers knew how to properly write taylor out.

stella would literally never accuse kelly of abuse. that’s kind of a wild assumption to make. she defended him when tyler tried to compare him to grant. she went through hell and back with grant and kelly is not grant. i’m honestly not understanding your point of bringing the damon/ benny stuff up. are you saying that stella would accuse kelly of abuse since damon implied benny was abusive and she likes to compare them? maybe i’m just not remembering but stella doesn’t compare benny and kelly. i only remember it happening in the season 11 finale. every other time benny is mentioned it’s been stella saying kelly isn’t him.

i still think their relationship is beautiful. they’re just a victim of being the only main couple right now so they get all the drama thrown their way. i still don’t think it’s become “screw up kelly and strong fixer stella”. wanting good communication is the only thing that stella has wanted since the beginning and they have tremendously improved on that front. stella still had made mistakes so it’s not like she’s portrayed as perfect either. having problems within a relationship doesn’t make it “unhealthy” it just means there’s room to make improvements and that’s what stellaride have done.