#this is truly SO bad. tells me NOTHING about the story except for the fact that i would only read it with a gun to my head

[nedlittle]

[id: "This is the first book in the Shadow Bound Queen series, and is inspired by Norse mythology and Vikings. Sexy fae Vikings. It has Hades and Persephone, Beauty and the Beast vibes, and is slow-burn enemies to lovers fantasy romance with a burn-the-world-down-for-her-hero. The series builds in steam and is filled with magic, myth, and delicious tension." /end]

this is the worst book description I’ve ever read like I’m actually having a stroke

[xetlynn]

Can I ask for claggor x a piltover reader? She was raised in piltover and is very smart but was never ignorant to the condition of zaun and always tried her best to advocate and help the suffering people. I can imagine she would have a strong sense of guilt for loving claggor because she doesn't really understand the struggles he went through but will always try to help. <33 thank youuuu

Of course, I think I made this a little more dramatic than I meant to😭 but I hope this is good!

Arcane Imagines- Claggor

Mysterious

[arcane] [main page]

Prompt: In which reader is from Piltover and makes a friend in Zaun. Feeling guilty for liking him since she doesn't understand his struggles.

My feet achingly moved seemingly before me. My back hurt as I carried a box full of stuff from Piltover to give to a friend in the undercity.

When I was younger I was so fascinated by the people of Zaun. About the difficulties they’ve been through. My mother was always bitter about them. Going on tangents about how the people from the undercity should be more grateful since everything is better now. And whenever she does that I have to remind her of their struggles to get to this wonderful position they’ve been creating for themselves. Supporting them only pisses her off further than before. She asks what about Piltover’s struggles which is never the point of my argument. 

We’re privileged enough to never know what it’s like going without food, running water and a roof being over our heads. Most of Zaun could or still to this day can not say the same. It’s something I’ve written about in school essays, joining groups to learn more about the undercity. 

As a younger teen I snuck into Zaun, wanting to understand them better, know them rather than read about their history. Hear it from the people themselves. I won’t truly ever know their struggles but I still wish to help them. Advocate for their history and their growth as a community. Help them be one with Piltover eventually without there being discourse of if they deserve it. 

Everyone deserves happiness, love, and a life without ridiculous danger. They deserve peace as much as the next person.

I was reckless when going to Zaun. Sneaking out of my house as a teen and somehow to the undercity without being caught will forever blow my mind. The reason I kept doing it though was after I sat down in this bar. It’s called The Last Drop. I just needed a place to rest after walking for miles. 

Talking with the people there. Not really a scene a young teenager should be in but I didn’t care. I just wanted to listen to their stories. And they always enjoyed having me around. Seeing me as a niece of some sort.  Hearing the first one made me want to hear more. Hence why I kept coming back. And more recently there's a new reason.

I met a new friend. His name I still don’t know. He never properly introduced himself to me. Not by his birth given name but by the first letter. He wanted me to guess. 

It’s been 3 months and he has yet to tell me what it is. Or in his words I didn't guess good enough.

I guess his father was the owner, Vander is his name. I’ve met him a few times but I never sat up at the actual bar. Just in a corner keeping to myself before I went to adventure out into Zaun after hearing random stories.

When I met C he had started working more hours at the bar to help out since it was getting busier and busier after some time with people from the Uppercity decided the place was a hit. I guess he worked earlier shifts so that’s why we never crossed paths when I first started going there. 

C and I hit it off slowly in the beginning.  

It was a rough start since we both had different upcomings. I didn’t know what it was like to have to get my hands dirty and work for things I want or need. I’ve always just… had it. 

Talking about C’s childhood and things he went through as I had nothing bad to say except for the fact that my mother is a witch of a woman. It made me realize how weird I am for being so interested in others' lives. It made me realize I don’t have a life of my own. I want to fix people who don’t need to be fixed. They’re perfect the way they are, no matter what they went through. They don’t need me to stick up for them. I also figured out that I’m falling for a friend, who again… I don’t know the name of and we will never share a similar story. He deserves someone who understands the same livelihood he knows. Someone who can appreciate things more than I ever could.

“[Name]!” A voice shouts, shaking me from my thoughts. “C!” I grin, shimmying the box in my hands. “Is this everything?” He takes it from me with furrowed eyebrows, looking it over. “Mhm, every single thing you asked for.” I place my hands on the back of my hips, stretching to crack my back. Letting out a small sigh of relief afterwards. 

“You alright?” He asks with a chuckle, leading me into his apartment that he and his brother share. “Yeah, I definitely got my exercise in for the day.” I half-heartedly joke, shutting the door behind us and he places the box down on the counter. “What is the food for, exactly?”

When he first requested the stuff from me, he told me it was for an experiment. Not really saying much after that. A few foods and then things you can really only get in Topside. 

“To eat.” He grabs an apple and bites into it. My shoulders fall, not expecting that answer. For some reason I thought it was going to be something cooler. “Oh.” I let out a breathy laugh. “I was hungry when I was putting in that request.” He rubs his stomach sadly. 

I shake my head with a smile. “It’s okay. So can I know what this project is now?” I hop up on the barstool in his kitchen. “It’s a secret.” He says briefly, putting the food away in his counters. I frown. ���Dang, keeping another thing from me, C?” I tilt my head. 

“Gotta keep you on your toes, by being a mysterious, interesting man. Don’t want you getting sick of me.” He quipped, now giving me his full attention after placing the box on the ground. I glanced down at it then back to him. “I’ll always find you interesting. Maybe even more if you just tell me your name.” I pout.

Have I mentioned that I don’t know his name? No? Yeah, don’t know it. 

“Soon.” He reaches over and messes up my hair. I smack his hand away. Attempting to fix what he did. “I hope so.” I cross my arms. 

“I wish you could guess it. You didn’t even try hard enough.” He exclaims, my jaw drops at his words. “I can’t think of anything else! It has to be some sort of crazy unique name!” I utter, throwing my hands in the air. He lets out a belly laugh, “It’s not super unique.” He shrugs his shoulders. 

“Whatever.” I roll my eyes, jokingly annoyed. “I told you my name.” I murmur. “That’s because you’re not mysterious like me.” He purses out his lips, doing a little peace sign. “I know almost everything else about you. You are not mysterious.” I point a finger at his chest. “Really? What’s my favorite color?” 

“You tell people it’s blue but it’s actually yellow. Like dandelion yellow.” I raise my brows, making a face that expresses that he should try me. “Okay, pssh, lucky guess. Favorite food?” 

“Halibut, but only when it’s fried because you’re weird.” I tease, his eyes seem to widen at my words. “See, not so mysterious, huh?” I cross my arms. “Two things. That’s all you answered.” He walks away over to the living room. Plopping down on the couch. I stand up, rushing over to him. Bouncing on the cushion beside him. My hands holding his shoulder as I shake him. “Then ask more questions. I have the answers~” I sang out, leaning back. 

“Fine, how old am I?” He raises a brow. I put a finger on my chin, pretending like I was thinking. “21.” I simply say. “Okay, I never told you that. How’d you get that?” He scrunches his nose in confusement. I laugh. “Honestly I truly guessed that time. I’m 21 and I always figured we were the same age.” I snicker. 

“Wow, okay. Next question, how many siblings do I have?” I think back to conversations we’ve had or the time I bumped into his brother Mylo. He always talks about a girl named Powder. I want to say there’s one more though. I just can’t remember…

“... three?” I estimate. “Or two.” I perk up my posture. “Hm, it’s three. You really do listen.” He hums out. “Yeah, it’s Mylo, Powder and I’m sorry but I don’t think I ever got the last one’s name.” I press my lips together, trying to rack it in my head. “Violet. She passed away when we were younger.” He sighs, I look at him through my eyelashes not wanting to make full eye contact as my heart drops.. 

“I’m sorry.” I whisper. “It’s alright, [Name]. You didn’t know.” He gives me a smile. It goes silent between the both of us. “Um… can I ask how? If not I totally understand. I don’t want to push that topic.” I shake my hands at the thought of forcing him to say something he wasn’t comfortable with.

“We were doing a stupid thing in Piltover. Sneaking into someone’s house. Just trying to get a few things for our dad. Extra money in his pocket. Something exploded. The impact unfortunately killed Vi.” He seems spaced out as he tells the story. I reach out and grab his hand.

I remember when that incident happened. It was all anyone talked about for a while. An undercity child passes away in an explosion after breaking into a scientist’s home. My mom… was an ass about the situation. 

“Any more questions?” I make an effort to switch the conversation so he doesn’t get upset due to my questioning of his sister's death like the dumb idiot that I am.

He looks down at my hand that was on top of his. “Claggor.” He suddenly says. I scrunch my eyebrows together. “Claggor?” I question, was that something I had to answer? “My name.” He mutters out. 

My mouth goes into the shape of an 'o.' Claggor... An interesting name for an interesting man like him.

“Hm… cute. It fits you.” I squeeze his hand before letting go. I didn’t even notice the dusty rose color across his cheeks. He mutters out a small thanks before we continue the conversation of me knowing certain things about him.

The entire time I think back to his sister, my chest aching. They were only kids trying to help their father. Not knowing that one of them wasn’t going to make it back home. How devastating. 

“You okay, [Name]?” He sits up, turning his body to face me. I fake a smile, waving him off. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Just thinking. Sorry.” How am I supposed to be his friend if I carry guilt that has nothing to do with me? How can I like him and not be able to understand him? It’s idiotic looking. It makes me look selfish, turning other people's problems into my own. “Thinking about?” 

“Your name. How I never guessed it.” I force out a chuckle that sounds like a high pitched animal making me wince in embarrassment afterwards. “Are you sure you’re okay?” He asks me again. 

“I’m fine, Claggor.” His name rolls off my tongue easily. Like it was meant to be said from my lips.

“I remembered I have somewhere I need to be. My mom will kill me if I’m late. See you later?” I ask him, blinking tears away as I abruptly get up. “Um, yeah. Tomorrow?” He gets up with me, rubbing the back of his neck. “Ah, I can’t. Family thing.” I lied. “Oh, maybe the next night? Mylo wants me to go to this party where his crush is djing. I do not want to go.” He laughs, walking me to his front door. My stomach flips, not knowing how to respond. “Maybe, I’ll let you know the day of.” I swallow down the lump in my throat. “Okay, okay. I don’t mean to cling. I just like spending time with you.” He smiles softly. I avoid eye contact. “Me too, Claggor.” I whisper before pulling him into an embrace. 

He lets out a small yelp of surprise before his hands slowly snake around my waist. “You’re a good friend, [Name].” He mumbles into my shoulder. Tears begin to threaten my eyes once again. “You’re a better one.” I pat his back before letting go. “See you.” I curtly wave before leaving. 

Man, I’m an idiot. 

It’s the day of the party, I haven’t left my bed since I came home after leaving Claggor’s house. My head racing with a million thoughts about how selfish and ridiculous I am. Cringing at all the conversations I’ve had with my friends about the Undercity. How incredibly obnoxious it always sounded. 

How strange I look just being this upset about everything. I wonder if Claggor thought the same about me. How strange it was that a girl was so wrapped up into his struggles. I would never want to tell him that either because I’m overthinking. I know I am. 

He’s my friend. He would tell me if I was being over the top.

Right? 

Right.

Stop it brain. 

A knock at my door echoes in my room. “Yes?” I call out, not bothering to get up. The door creaks open. “[Name] there’s someone here to see you.” A house worker tells me. I sit up, tilting my head confused on who would be here. “Um, tell them I’ll be right down.” I say, climbing out of bed. “Yes, ma’am.”

I grab my robe from my vanity, throwing it on over my pajamas. I slip my feet into my house slippers. I look like a mess but I don't care. It’s probably just a school mate to ask about some homework we have. 

I exit my room, heading down the stairs. I see Claggor and my body freezes in place. Staring down at him. Shit. I look like a mess! And that is not a school mate. 

He was looking around my home before his eyes locked with mine. His face erupts into a smile. “Just wake up or something?” He teases and my face flushes in response. “Uh- yeah, slept in.” I awkwardly chuckle, walking towards him. “How’d you know my address?” I asked him. “Also, why are you here?” 

“Well, first I bumped into one of your friends I met before. She told me you lived here. Second ouch, I can just leave if you want me to.” He points to the front door and I roll my eyes. “Sorry, sorry. I was just wondering, I was gonna come to you.” I cross my arms, and when I do his eyes flicker down to what I’m wearing.

Suddenly I’m extremely aware of how I look. My hair a mess, face puffy, and wearing a fancy robe with slippers. Weird combination. 

“I felt like when you left yesterday it was a bit… off? You seemed like you were about to cry so I thought I’d come here and maybe talk to you about that.” He fidgets with his hands, I observe his demeanor. He seemed extremely anxious. “Oh, I told you I was fine. Might’ve had something in my eye.” I shrug lying straight out of my teeth. 

“You know how I said you are not mysterious like me?” He asks. “Vaguely.” I smile but not understanding why he’s saying that. “It’s because you aren’t a mystery at all. Maybe I’m not either since you seem to know quite a bit about me. Anyways, not the point.” He lets out a heavy breath. “You don’t hide your emotions well. You’re an open book just by looking at you.” He chuckles and I tense up, feeling a little offended. He notices and sighs.

“What I mean is, when I first met you I knew you were a very empathetic person. Your emotions are what drives you to be who you are. I really enjoy that about you. I never thought someone could cry over a bug they killed until I met you.” He laughs at the memory of when we were hanging out one day at the bar and a bug was on the floor by my foot. I stomped on it and immediately felt bad. Thinking about the fact that it could’ve had a family. 

“You care so deeply for people you’ve never met. Wanting them to succeed even if it means you are risking your own happiness to do so.” He says softer than all his other words. “I hope you know that you have never upset me by asking your questions.” His eyes find mine and I open my mouth to say something but nothing comes out. He read me like a book. He practically studied me. I don’t even know how to respond. 

“I know that’s why you got upset. My sister passing away. I don’t mind that you asked. It happened as unfortunate as it is. You didn’t know and you wanted to. Because you care.” He places a hand on my shoulder. I look down at his arm then back to his face. “Please don’t feel bad for caring.” 

My eyes begin to water and I pull him into a hug. “I don’t deserve your friendship.” I mumble into his chest. “I think you do.” He disagrees. 

“I like you, Claggor.” I told him. “Like a lot. I care for you more than anyone else I’ve ever met. I’m scared that I can’t be what you need. I want to be. Everything and more.” I confess, pulling away from him. “Did you know that? Was I not hiding that emotion well either?” I try to uplift the mood. 

“I didn’t have a clue actually.” He grins. “I like you as well. Like a lot. You are everything I need and more. I promise you that.” He pulls me back into his arms, looking down at me as I look up at him. 

He closes the distance between us, his lips landing on mine. It was a short, soft kiss but it was something I never felt before. Shivers sent down my spine. I flutter my eyelids open, both of us smiling ear to ear like giddy little kids. Taking in the moment for a few seconds.

“Does that mean you’re going to join me at this party that I’m soooo excited about?” He sarcastically asks and I giggle in response. “I guess so. I definitely need to clean myself up first though.” I motion to my hot mess of a state that I’m in. “I think you look beautiful in this. Don’t even need to worry about changing.” He jokes and I lightly hit his arm. 

“What a liar.” I fold my arms. “Hm, maybe a little. Want me to come back to pick you up?” 

“You could hang out in my room while I get ready. Maybe choose my outfit?” I propose and his eyes light up. “Yeah, let’s go.” He happily responds. 

[christmasjade]

My thoughts on Married in Red+ My general thoughts on Studio Investigrave !

So I really like this game

It was fun to be able to play it on my own with no help from Youtubers and stuff ^^

The game has 1 ending, though you can have 2 different kinds of game overs lol (I'll get to that later)

The mc (Bok-su) and her relationship with the bride (Da-Jeong) is sad , but not shocking lol. You can kind of tell from the promotional art (and the theme of atonement said in the itch.io description) that Da-Jeong and Bok-Su are not on good terms.

I like that Bok-su was able to get her revenge on Da-Jeong. Obviously her way of doing it is horrible, and the groom (Myeong-hoon) being a main part of her revenge is sad, because he had nothing to do with this.

However, I dont feel that bad for Da-Jeong at all. Yeah, two wrongs dont make a right, and people panic, but she essentially ruined Bok-Su's life and reputation to save her own ass, so I really can't bring myself to feel too bad for her.

Sure you can argue that the situations are different, with Bok-Su purposefully killing Myeong-Hoon meanwhile what Da-Jeong did was a mistake, but I personally am a firm believer of getting your lick back, so 🤗..

I also like how the deaths and reactions are the exact same lmao.

The patient Da-Jeong killed was a man, and his mother said something along the lines of like.. "You killed my son" (I dont exactly remember, depsite me literally just playing LMAOO) and Myeong-Hoons mom literally says the same thing/something adjacting to that too Da-Jeong.

Da-Jeong runs off and during her break down says "I didn't do it-", which is what Bok-Su says when shes retelling the story of what Da-Jeong did to her.

Bok-Su had to goal of getting her payback to make Da-Jeong atone and she accomplished it. And the crazy thing is, despite everything that happened, Da-Jeong never said sorry.

She never said sorry. Not when Bok-Su showed up to the wedding, not when the two of them where alone in the garden, and damn sure not when Da-Jeong had "enough" of Bok-Su being there.

She never said sorry, not even when she pointed the blame onto Bok-Su. In fact, Bok-Su repeats a line that Da-Jeong said to her when (I'm assuming so anyway) the incident happened. Da-Jeong told her that she didnt have anything to worry/be mad about.

The ending of the game, obviously, isnt really a happy ending. Bok-Su gets her revenge and makes Da-Jeong go through what she did but 10× worst. So sure its happy for her,but its still horrific lol

Which is why I love endings for the games that Studio Investigrave makes. With the exception of Cold Front, all of the endings across all the games arent truly happy ever after kind of endings.

With Dead Plate, Rody either has to kill Vincent after finding out his ex was killed and turned into food by him AND after he tried to do the same to Rody.

Yeah Rody makes it out alive, but theres still a horrible and traumatic incident that happened. He knows why Vince did it, and was able to get rid of him, but it doesn't erase the fact that Manon is still dead. (Or with the other ending he leaves the restaurant and never find Manon, because shes in the fridge "missing".)

With Elevator Hitch, the cycle repeats for Protag. When he finally gets the chance to leave the Elevator and the building, hes stopped by some..guy ?? (Who looks like an alternate lmao) and is convinced that he needs the job. The exit doors then open up into the elevator again. He never leaves that building, and is probably stuck in a time loop.

With Eloquent Countenance, Angelica either gets the ritual redone on her by the cult, or is stuck in the cult with the knowledge that shes not the only one in her body. But that she shares it with an angel pretending to be the dead wife of the cults pastor.

Yeah, she lives, but she has to wait until Forcas can fully save her from her possession by said angel. The ending, like Dead Plate and Married in Red, is horrific.

And then with the other ending of Cold Front , if you push Winnie off the stairs, he dies in the crash and Auggie takes his place. It's a happy ending for Auggie, sure, but he never gets the closure or the realization that Winnie was never the wicked and mean person he made him out to be in his head. Its disturbing how content he is with it, with the fact that his former best friend is dead and how he replaces him.

But yeah, erm... the game was fun, 10/10 ^^

[anxiousnerdwritings]

Hiya Sugar,

You’re the newest goodey-goodey in town, aren’t ya? What am I sayin’, of course ya are! I already knew that! In fact I know a lot about’cha, you’d be real surprised.

At first, I didn’t think too much about there being another vigilante running amuck. To me it was the usual same ol’, same ol’ in Gotham. It wasn’t until we had our very first run in that had me wanting to take a real good look into ya. I had been with my former crappy Puddin’ at the time and we were planning to cause some havoc for B-man, but you showed up first. That didn’t stop us from causin’ you some trouble too but you were really somethin’. A good kinda somethin’! You surpassed both mine and my ex-Puddin’s expectations by a long shot, putting us in our place real quick before B-man even made an appearance. But when he did finally roll around, my shitty ex had the audacity to use me as a distraction so he could getaway, puttin’ me in peril.

I’ll be honest I was worried there for a bit. Sure I was all laughs about it until it set in that my Puddin wasn’t gonna save me then the panic came. I mean hanging off a 70 story building by the tippy tips of ya fingers will do that to ya, ya’know? (To be honest, I don’t even know if it really was 70 stories but it sure as hell felt like it.) But then the most marvelous thing happened! My grip gave way and I was startin’ to fall only for an arm to shoot out and catch me!

Now, I was fully expecting B-man or one of his little birdies being the one who got to me but imagine my surprise when I was met with a new face. A really nice lookin’ face too! (At least from what I could tell.) Your grip on me was real strong and firm but it felt gentle all the same. Ya pulled me up and looked me all over for any serious damage, askin’ if I was alright. You didn’t manhandle or be too rough with me whatsoever. In fact you were real gingerly in checking me over. You also weren’t yellin’ or shoutin’ at me either, instead you were speaking slow and soft to me. I remember your voice bein’ real nice to listen to too. In that moment I realized you truly were somethin’ different, a breath of fresh air compared to the rest of the heroes coming out of the woodworks in Gotham.

You were just so nice to me, even though we tried to kill ya and cause some psychological damage along the way (sort bout that by the way😅), but you were still worried about little ol’ me. I don’t even think B-man has ever been really genuinely concerned about my well-being before, at least not like you were, when my Puddin’s used me like a meat shield. If it weren’t for his no killing hangup he probably would have let me die plenty of times before. But you actually cared! I don’t know what exactly it was but somethin’ about ya that night made me feel all tingly and warm inside and I liked it. Then the next thing I knew you were gone chasing after B-man and my ex-Puddin’ leavin’ me feelin’ cold and alone. Ever since then I’ve been keepin’ a close eye on ya. Hell, I even dumped my Puddin’ right after that incident. Ya should have seen his face, thinkin’ I wasn’t serious only for him to come mopin’ around wantin’ me back. But I stood my ground. Besides, I already had my eye on somethin’ better. Or rather someone better.

Like I said before, I’ve been keepin’ my eye on ya since then and I’m so glad I did. Sure some people would call it “stalking” but I prefer to call it “closely admiring from a reasonable and legal distance”. Except those few times I did let myself into your place and took a peek around. I didn’t take anything though, at least nothing you’d notice but that’s not what’s important. What is important though is how much you’ve opened my eyes to new horizons beyond just stupid ol’ Joker and everything that has to do with him. I still do the odd crime here and there but they’re no way near the same extremes like they used to be. I only really do somethin’ bad when I know you’re on patrol and will for sure be the one to stop my shenanigans. Honestly, I just want the chance to see and talk to ya again. Don’t even get me started about all the times when I have caused mischief only for B-man or one of his birdies to be the one to show up instead of you. I’ve never felt so disappointed and upset before. All that time and effort only for some other big baddie or even a small petty criminal to take up your attention away from me. It really gets under my skin. Would I say I’m jealous though? Not really. Okay maybe a little but can ya blame me? After all this time I finally have somethin’ good in my life that’s gettin’ me to change perspective only to have to share it with others who have no intention on changin’ for anybody! They’re a waste of your time but I get that you gotta stick to your goodey-goodey schtick, that’s who ya are after all. But still it gets me feelin’ some type of way, and not in a good way either.

I can’t help that you’ve become something so prominent to me in such a short amount of time, although I know ya don’t know just how much ya truly mean to me. I’ve even started focusing on doing more good than bad, little by little ya’ know? Baby steps. You’re a good part of why I started leaning more towards being good but it was also due to another incident I got in. I won’t go into it but let’s just say it involved a lower criminal who just wouldn’t stop runnin’ his mouth about ya and I wasn’t havin’ any of it. I admit I may have gone a little overboard with getting my a point across but he deserved it. He had no right talkin’ about ya like that! Sure, he’ll probably never wake up from his coma and is in a permanent vegetative state but you can’t say he isn’t technically still alive. So at least I didn’t kill him kill him, right? Hey, what can I say this goodey stuff is still pretty new to me. At least I’m tryin’ my best. There was also some other stuff involved besides him bad mouthin’ ya but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was but I’m sure it also was well deserving of an ass kickin’.

Oh goodness gracious, look at me ramblin’ away as usual! Ya got that kind of affect on me, ya’know? But anyhoo, I should really end this letter before I start spillin’ all my beans. I need to keep some secrets to myself after all. But maybe I’ll get around to tellin’ ya those ones too when we’re much more acquainted. But don’t worry ya little ol’ head though, sugar, everythin’ will come to fruition in due time and the two of us will be together! I just gotta get a few of my duckies in a row before we take the plunge but it’ll all be worth it in the end and you’ll finally be all mine!

See ya soon, sugar! Don’t miss me too much though~ Before ya know it we’ll be makin’ up for all our lost time and really gettin’ to know each other! But until then I’ll leave ya with this and a few gifts I left behind for ya too!

Lots of lovin’,

Harley<3<3<3

P.s

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxooxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxooxoxoxoxooxoxoxxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxxxoxox~~~~

[fairdale]

to william herondale, with love

you have two options when it comes about will.

you can choose to stay in the surface, to think of him as a sassy, sarcastic, superficial and selfish man who doesn't give a shit about anything nor anyone except for jem, who makes insensitive jokes and doesn't care if he hurts people.

or you can choose to know him. the little parts of him that make him wonderful, sweet, delicate and caring. and, oh, how much love will fill your heart when you realise how much he deserves to be loved.

and how much he craves it.

will is sarcastic, yes. he's funny, he pulls off jokes like it's nothing, he makes people laugh, he sings the demon pox song and makes everyone think he's a little crazy.

but he's also the kid who left his family too young because he thought he was cursed and he loved them too much.

he's also the kid who thought no one could ever love him anymore.

he's also the kid who felt terribly lonely after leaving his family.

he's also the kid who wanted jem to be his parabatai so badly he didn't care he was sick and that he would leave him too soon.

he's also the kid who didn't want people too close to him because he loved them and didn't want anything bad to happen to them. jem was different. it wasn't just because he was sick, it's because he was jem. because jem saw who he truly was when no one else did. his heart beat because jem's did as well.

he's also the man who loved to read. the man whose name will still be dancing in the walls of the library centuries later. the man who found a safe place between books.

he's also the man who was so in love with tessa he tried to break the curse after years of living like that, because his love was so pure, so deep, so real, he had to do something.

he's also the man who put his hands into the fire to save jem's yin fen, because he couldn't imagine a life without him. because he didn't want a life without him.

he's also the man who was desperately in love with tessa, but made himself scarce because he couldn't put his own happiness over tessa and jem's. because he saw how good they were to each other.

he's also the man who held jessamine in his arms when she died too young.

he's also the man who let jem go when he told him he didn't want to live like that anymore even though it would forever break him and he would take a part of his soul with him.

he's also the man who went to save tessa even when he felt his heart getting carved out of his chest when jem died.

he's also the man who learned how to have his sister next to him again, the man who went back to his parents even if he were terrified.

he's also the man who made sure tessa never doubted for a second that he was devoted to her.

he's also the man who travelled the world with her and wrote her letters to show his love.

he's also the man who made sure to love his children loudly, to tell them he was proud of them and that they weren't monsters.

he's also the man who fought against injustices in the clave.

he was also the man who died surrounded by his loved ones (because he was, in fact, so loved).

he was also the man watching jem and tessa's wedding dream since the other side of the river, being happy for them.

will was the man with a heart so big he didn't know what to do with all the love he held in it.

when someone asks me, but why do you love him so much? well, how can you not? how, when he tried to love so quietly but he was screaming, when he was trying not to care but he cared more than anyone.

will herondale was, is and forever will be the character i hold closest to my heart, the character who made me laugh, cry and love the most.

"he lies consistently. he always invents the story that will make him look the worst."

"but it was there, in the touch of his hand on her cheek, in the softness of his voice, in his eyes when he looked at her. it was the way she had always dreamed a boy would look at her. but she never dreamed up someone as beautiful as will, not in all her imaginings."

"all my life, since i came to the institute, you were the mirror of my soul. i saw the good in me in you. in your eyes alone i found grace. when you are gone from me, who will see me like that?"

"against his own will, almost, will felt himself understanding; he would have done anything, he thought, told any lie, taken any risk, to make tessa love him. he would have done— almost anything. he would not betray jem for it. that was the one thing he would not do."

"don’t you see, will? you’re a person like me. you are like me. you say the things i think but never say out loud. you read the books i read. you love the poetry i love. you make me laugh with your ridiculous songs and the way you see the truth of everything. "

"when she tilted her head up and brushed his lips with hers, he cupped her face in his hands. so many years, he thought, and each kiss was new as the break of day."

"wo men shi sheng si ji jiao," said will, and he saw jem’s eyes widen, fractionally, and the spark of amusement inside them. "go in peace, james carstairs."

"and in the shadows they’d whispered, reminding each other of the stories only they knew. of the girl who had hit over the head with a water jug the boy who had come to rescue her, and how he had fallen in love with her in that instant."

"she remembered when will had died, her agony, the long nights alone, reaching across the bed every morning when she woke up, for years expecting to find him there, and only slowly growing accustomed to the fact that side of the bed would always be empty."

"i don’t know how to live in the world as a shadowhunter without will. i don’t think I even want to. i am still a parabatai, but my other half is gone. if I were to go to some Institute and ask them to take me in, i would never forget that. i would never feel whole."

"i miss you. we miss you. someday, we'll all be together. not too soon, my angel tessa. i can wait."

...

"my name is herondale," the boy said cheerfully. "william herondale, but everyone calls me will."

[atlantis-just-drowned]

Guess who just read chapter 18 of Love, Death and Rollerskates and have a new theory to share

Beware: major spoilers under the cut

Okay, so, remember when I said Sun could maybe find his way out of Afton's psychological hold and save the reader along with Moon?

Yeah yeah yeah, and now new elements have been added and they're rather big ones. So, does this theory still stand?

Well, the answer is: it could. We did see that Sun is also badly affected by his actions, and shows regrets from killing his friends, to the point of lying to himself and rewriting his files, feeding the vicious circle of hopes, despair and frustration.

But there's a stain to the picture: Moon and Sun haven't been built by the same person.

Now, let me voice out the obvious: as long as we believed that Moon was also a creation of Afton, we could easily imagine Sun somehow following his counterpart's path to freedom, which placed the solar bot as a desperate soul needing to be saved just as much as his lunar coworker. Moon could be held as a proof that Afton's conditioning was flawed. He was the testimony of a past occurrence.

Except he isn't anymore.

Moon isn't Afton's creation. His main directive isn't the same as Sun. Which means him defying Afton's authority means nothing in regards to Sun's situation. He's not a "past occurrence". There is no past occurrence. No proof.

We no longer have the certainty that Sun can break out of his mental prison.

Of course, we could argue that Sun's feeling for the reader are also a "first occurrence", that the mechanism at work is slightly different than what it was the previous times, and that sentience is a tricky thing that makes disobedience possible. But the fact that Moon doesn't have the same main directive as Sun also raises another concern: we're not sure anymore that being sentient is a strong enough thing to make them able to mess with their code.

We could think otherwise before because we were taking for a fact that Moon has the same main directive as Sun and that he was therefore able to break the rules, or at least bend them enough to stop being as loyal to Afton as he should. But he doesn't have the same directives. Which means we might have never seen him disobey or twist his main directive. Which means he might not be able to do so either.

I feel like this fact might be important in the future. The way this problem will be addressed might be crucial to the story and I can't wait to see it developed, and to discover how Sun, Moon and y/n will deal with it in the future.

But wait, I'm not done.

You know, while we're on the subject of sentience...

What if Sun and Moon were not the only sentient bots?

Yeah, you got it, I'm talking about Space Cadet.

I won't lie, I really feel like an idiot voicing out the most obvious thing here but listen. I need to fucking say it out loud. So let's say the obvious.

The way Spadillelicious phrased the latest interaction with the little guy literally pushes us to question his sentience, and I strongly believe it's not because of some weird type of habit the reader might be starting to develop, to consider any vaguely humanoid bot as sentient.

Space Cadet is sentient. He has been since the beginning: when he tried to warn the reader with a cautionary tale of a woodsman (the reader, but who truly killed them? I'd say the hunter, but are we really sure about that?), a wolf (Moon, stalking y/n in the shadows? But what did Space Cadet mean when he said the wolf would feed on the corpse out of hunger? Is Moon more of an opportunist than we'd think?) and a hunter (Sun, preying for new hires every time the precedent employee gets killed, pulling the trigger when commended to do so?), just before the reader discovers Afton's shady business.

And now, as y/n desperately tries to hide from Moon, Space Cadet wakes up without an invitation to tell them that Moon wasn't designed to be bad, he used to work for a good guy, and found himself in those desperate circumstances against his will, but he's still good.

Space Cadet is sentient. He just cannot show it too much for some reasons. Probably because Afton would get rid of him if he learnt about it. So the little bot tries and tries and tries to warn people that something is very wrong.

Of course, he doesn't portray the two other animatronics greatly either. But we have to admit: both Sun and Moon aren't exactly good people. And if Cadet is sentient, it means he has his own opinion on both of them: two bots he's seen partaking more or less actively in Afton's activities, while he was a simple, miserable, passive witness of the horrors William committed behind closed curtains.

So of course, he isn't very fond of either of them. But he's also very much aware that out of the two, Moon might be the best pick that the reader could make.

[roxasthatisastick]

So, wasn't there something weird about Player?

So, its been almost two years since KHUX wrapped up, and there's something I'm still thinking about.

Isn't it odd, how Player didn't speak for such a long time in Kingdom Hearts χ? It took almost fifteen months for them to speak their first words during Ephemera's introduction.

But, while its easy to say its because Player is supposed to be a silent protagonist, that gets less and less true as the game went on.

Player has quite the speech during Quest 555, or Quest 979, for example. Player certainly has things to say, and certainly makes choices beyond what we, the audience, would choose for ourselves.

So then, why is Player so quiet, especially at first?

Well, Kingdom Hearts has an example of this before.

Xion.

I don't think Player had a heart, before Quest 362. More than that, I don't think they were a nobody, since the timeline on that makes no sense.

I think Player is a replica.

Puppet Without a Heart:

First off though, lets break down why I believe Player doesn't have a heart for a second.

The first time Player speaks, its to Ephemera. But what I haven't mentioned is that Player has interacted with keyblade wielders before that.

Right before that, in fact, by the standard of KHUX. In Quest 231, Player has a short interaction with another set of wielders, where they don't talk at all.

The quest goes about standard with Player hunting some new heartless along with some other wielders. They all promise to meet up, afterwards.

But, unfortunately, they don't make it back.

(They certainly have a bad history with 'promises.')

I think this, along with all of their other adventures (Olympus in particular we'll be getting back to), was the inciting incident for their heart coming into life.

As Ansem the Wise said, "The heart has always been quick to grow. Each exposure to light, to the natural world, to other people, shapes this most malleable part inside of us." This is true of nobodies, but its even faster in replicas.

So if Player's a replica, why are they a replica? Who made them?

Easy.

If you are going to tell me Master of Master's wouldn't make replicas, I don't know what to say.

And he clearly he has some capabilities. looking at Chirithy.

But then, wouldn't every wielder be a replica then? Well, I don't know about that. For one thing, we clearly have some families in the wielders, looking Laurium and Strelitzia.

No, I think Master of Masters made only the one replica.

Player... and in doing so, sowed the seeds for the Nightmare Chirithy.

I Said We'd Get Back to Olympus

So, Master of Masters, when it comes to gaslighting and manipulating his students, truly leaves nothing to chance. He leaves lots of other things to chance, but not that.

So when he told everyone there was a ~nightmare Chirithy~, surely he'd already set that into motion.

But, as far as we can tell, when wielders go dark, most of them don't get a Nightmare, they fall. And, disappear immediately after.

So there's only the one Nightmare Chirithy: ours.

And they have a connection to the Foretellers, that never really got expanded upon.

But then, how did Master of Masters guarentee that we'd gain a Nightmare?

Well, Player explored the worlds, was exposed to people, light... and darkness. Olympus, and its darkness, also happens before we meet Ephemera, and we develop our heart.

Darkness is as much a part of our heart as any modern character. And thus, we have Nightmares.

....that said, I think that's the extent of his manipulations on Player.

The Book of Prophecies, very clearly, doesn't write down everything, and I'm not sure Luxu ever really heard about Player in detail.

For Luxu, our story is that of a background NPC. Player's choices, and their refusal of fate, goes unwritten.

The way the story ends for Player is different than the Book, because Master of Master's never foresaw their bonds.

So everything changed.

Except that, well, Player is still a replica.

I have no idea what effect this will have on the future of the games, but the subtext and foreshadowing is so clear I'm not sure why I've never read this theory from others before!

Anyways, replica!player forever! Have a good day!

[sly-s-n0nfusion]

Hello octopathers I woke up in the mood to share opinions online so today it's the time to talk about

💫 Erhardt's War Crimes 💫

as well as explaining why I don't, never did, and will never like him as a character

/!\ Disclaimer: I'm not here to judge anyone who likes Erhardt, truly. I'm 100% okay with liking morally gray characters in fiction (and I do myself, as a fan of characters such as Ogen, Oshka, Kaldena and Ceraphina, which are pretty bad/terrible people as well, some of them are much worse than erhardt lol) so if he's your favorite character and your little sopping wet meow meow, that's great (you're also part of like 98% of the octopath fandom so if someone has to be the weird one here that'd be me lol) so this post is completely judgement-free 🙏 /gen

I just felt the need to address the full extent of his actions in game as some sort of reminder because I feel like the actual consequences of those are often overlooked or straight up not acknowledged, also because we see a lot of that in CoTC and many people who played OT1 did not play that one, and because I have seen quite the number of fans out there being like "Erhardt did nothing wrong" or "I'm an Erhardt apologist" or "regicide ain't that bad" when I think what he did was actually pretty bad and here's why!

TW children death, spoilers for Olberic’s story and CoTC Bestower of All

Okay so we can all agree with the fact that what happened to him was horrible. Man had to watch his hometown (and family, too) perish in a fire while Hornburg did nothing to help and he's been indoctrinated since he was just a child by Werner, who we know as being great at manipulating and inducing fear in people. Like no wonder he wanted revenge.

In Ot1 we only see him killing King Alfred and thus causing the fall of the whole kingdom of Hornburg as stated by Olberic at the beginning of his story, and then his "redemption" speech during Olberic's chapters 3 and 4, and that's pretty much it. We aren't exactly told what happened to the people of Hornburg after that.

Well, Champions of The Continent tells us as the fourth chapter of the Bestower of All storyline is set in Hell, where Hornburg and its ghosts still stand. And I say ghosts because those are all that's left of its population, with the exception of a few other NPCs we encounter in game who were lucky enough to flee in time.

Now the part of map we can walk on is quite big but it’s still a small fraction of the Hornburg capital (as we can see from the huge amount of buildings around the castle) and there are approximately 30+ npcs’ souls wandering around the streets, inside the castle and outside the capital (again, they’re just the ones we’re allowed to see)

(Don’t let this image fool you, he’s dead. All of them are dead, he didn’t make it out alive)

The most tragic part of all of this are obviously the souls of two children that can be found in a house, discussing which one of the Twin Blades is stronger. And honestly this piece of dialogue broke my heart

I’m afraid to inform this poor kid’s soul that Erhardt actually played a major role in the events that caused them to get killed.

And this brings me to the conclusion of this saying that no matter how strong Erhardt’s desire for vengeance was, and how manipulated he was, it still doesn’t excuse what he did. “Regicide ain’t that big of a deal” well no it isn’t, but the consequences of it are. I refuse to believe Erhardt didn’t foresee what would happen to all the inhabitants of Hornburg, children included, after he’d killed king Alfred and gave complete access to Werner’s army. Of course the ones who couldn’t flee in time would get killed. Of course he knew, but that wasn’t enough to make him think about stopping his rage.

He’s not a war criminal because he killed a guy with a crown, he’s a war criminal because he sentenced to death the whole population of a capital city and if we had doubt at first, cotc gives us undeniable proof.

Yes he lives hating himself. Yes he does regret all of it. But he had a choice. And yes, being afraid of Werner hunting him down is a solvable problem when you’re at the apex of one of the biggest kingdoms’ military force, he could’ve asked for help if only he spoke. Causing the death of so many innocent people isn’t going to bring his family and hometown back and he knew it.

That’s why I think what he did was, in no way, excusable.

“Erhardt isn’t a villain” doesn’t stick with my view of things.

Now, on to the personal reasons why I don’t like him in particular as a morally gray character lol

And that can be summed up as “Olberic’s first two chapters made a pretty damn good job at making me hate him”

But no for real it has to do with me valuing trust more than anything else in life and having the habit of self-projecting a lot on every character I play. I tend to ask myself “what would I do in this situation, how would I feel” etc, so it came natural to me to wanting to punt Erhardt into the sun instantly as soon as I saw Olberic (the guy that was my main character in his ch1) literally start his story having nightmares and being depressed because of this guy.

Of course it was instant, deep hatred from me I swear I’ve rarely wanted to kill some guy in a jrpg as much as I wanted to make him pay for what he did (even if I knew well that Olberic’s main goal was just to seek answers).

Now imagine my utter disappointment when the game didn’t let me kill him lol (just kidding, of course after his backstory traumadump I ended up sympathizing a bit with him).

Also no, Olberic never forgave him for what he did, as precisely stated by him in his chapter 3, but he does give him another chance to redeem himself because Olberic is a much better person than I am.

I… have been wanting to write this long post for a while now. I hope I didn’t upset anyone with it as that was not my intention. I get why erhardt has so many fans, with the whole emotional trauma he has and his pretty face and fabulous hair, I really do and I don’t think you’re weird for liking him. I just like to ramble about fictional characters from time to time lol

Peace ✌️

[666writingcafe]

Pride (Part Five)

MC

Where am I?

I mean, I know I'm in Cocytus, but the fact that I'm looking at my unconscious body...

I don't think I'm floating in the air. I can still see everyone's faces clearly.

And then I catch something black fluttering in my periphery.

Fuck. Not again.

Forgive me, MC, but what exactly do you mean by "not again"?

SHIT.

It's a long story, one that we don't exactly have time to get into at the moment.

Cut the bullshit. I broke through one of your mental blocks. I saw enough to know that you've lied to me.

Lucifer, I--

"QUIET!" I feel Lucifer flying upwards, flapping his wings so aggressively that the wind they produce knocks everyone down.

Except for one who's just arrived.

"What in the three worlds is going on here?!" Diavolo's voice calls up as he angrily looks up. Lucifer merely screeches in response, causing everyone else to cover their ears. I've never heard such an inhuman noise come out of him before. The closest thing I can compare it to is a pterodactyl, and that's only an approximation compiled by years of human-made movies and documentaries.

"Lucifer Morningstar, you need to calm down!"

"Fuck you!" The next thing I know, a blue ball of light gets hurled from Lucifer's hands and hits Diavolo directly on his chest, causing him to join the others on the ground.

Are you trying to kill the future Demon King?!

Oh, like your morals are any better. Besides, he can take it. We've sparred before.

Look, once this is all said and done, I'll tell you everything you want to know, but I need you to listen to me. The strength of your powers may be equivalent to Diavolo's, but when they're combined with mine, they end up overtaking him.

Silence. At least Lucifer's allowing me to speak.

You wanna know how I thought to launch myself at Beel when he was attacking everyone at the colosseum? It's because I once did it to Diavolo a few years ago, when you possessed me the first time.

In your other life.

I can tell he's still upset at me, but his voice is a lot calmer than it was.

"So, you're completely blinded by rage, then." Diavolo gets up and dusts the dirt off him. "You're better than this, Lucifer."

Something about Diavolo's tone irritates me. Granted, some of it is Lucifer's influence for sure, but that doesn't explain all of it.

There's no Diavolo here in this world. I can do whatever I want without worrying about being a disgrace to him.

I gave Diavolo my life. If I fight against him, he will most certainly kill me.

Stay away from my brothers!

"It's all the same. The Devildom, the Celestial Realm...nothing's changed."

"What are you talking about?" That's it. He's dismissing Lucifer's feelings. Treating him like a mere child.

There's a part of him that sees me as a really shiny toy, one that he's quite territorial over. If I were to leave his side, he'd throw a massive fit.

"You're just as bad as everyone else! You only want the seven of us here because we make rare and novel additions to your collection! You don't actually care about us!"

"Lucifer--"

"If we're going to be played for fools, if we're going to have everyone walk all over us no matter where we are, then I'll destroy this world and everything in it!"

Do me a favor and make sure there's enough of my body for my loved ones to have a proper funeral.

A pause, followed by a long sigh.

You wanna know the messed up thing about all of this?

What?

Even with you lying about your identity, you've still been more honest to me than anyone else here has.

"Well, I thought we could talk this over in a calm, civilized manner, but it seems I'm going to force you to settle down first." Diavolo cracks his knuckles, morphing into his demon form. "It's time I show you what I'm truly capable of." The air around him crackles with electricity as he joins us up in the sky.

He's going to kill us!

No. That'd be too kind of him. He enjoys playing with his food.

Diavolo shoots lightning our way, but Lucifer quickly darts out of its way, causing it to hit a nearby tree.

I need you to make a decision, and quickly: whose side are you on?

What?!

I can protect you, but you can't impede my attempts at fighting back. As of now, any friend of Diavolo's is an enemy of mine, and if I feel you try to stop me in any way, you'll experience the full extent of my fury, and there won't be any trace of your body remaining when I'm done.

Wait, so having me in here with you is serving as your last ounce of self-control?

Don't question me, MC. This is your best and only chance of survival. So, who's it going to be: me or Diavolo?

The Young Master isn’t one to consider someone’s feelings if they interfere with his vision.

He's such a self-centered ass. The way he makes decision on a whim with no regard for others is quite annoying. He always finds a way to make life harder for the rest of us.

I am so sick and tired of you getting everything you want.

You.

~~~

I don't know how long the fight lasts. Each second feels like an eternity. If we were up against anyone other than Diavolo, they'd be dead by now. The fight that I'm literally inside Lucifer's mind helps, I'm sure, but even if we were merely fighting side by side, I think we'd still be able to communicate with each other with few to no words. We're that much in sync right now.

But with Diavolo as our opponent, the only thing we're succeeding in is remaining alive. While he's taken a few hits, they've only left scratches on his body. It's certainly nothing compared to the damage the land around us has taken. The only other person I've been able to see during all this is Solomon, who's hunching over my unconscious body as he's maintaining a protective force field around him. I suspect the others are doing their best to hide from all the destruction we're causing.

Lucifer's definitely losing strength the longer this drags on. At first, he's only releasing blue bursts of energy, but as his strength weakens, he begins drawing on my energy, causing specks of white to appear that quickly grow in size and threaten to overtake the sparks of blue.

It's then that Diavolo realizes that he's not merely fighting Lucifer, but me as well. He visibly falters, allowing us to deliver a couple spells without them getting blocked by his magic. Soon, however, he musters a giant ball of black energy and sends it flying our way.

I have to protect Lucifer.

My vision once again becomes blinded with white light. When it returns to normal, everything's gone eerily still. Those who were hiding have come out, and all of them are completely stunned.

What's going on? Why's everyone staring?

I know as much as you do, Lucifer.

"No way!" someone gasps.

"You gotta be kiddin' me..."

"You've...you've changed."

"What are you talking about?" Lucifer angrily demands.

"Is this..." Satan nervously swallows. "Is this what you looked like as an angel?"

Shit.

What the hell did you do, MC? Why did you turn me back into an angel?!

I...I don't know. I was just trying to protect you. I didn't think it would cause THIS to happen.

"My goodness, Lucifer," Diavolo whispers, his feet softly touching the ground again. "You truly are magnificent. Never did I think I'd get the chance to behold the Morning Star again..." The next thing I know, he's kneeling before Lucifer, looking up with awe and admiration. Everyone else quickly follows his lead.

This is making me very uncomfortable right now.

I know.

How do I get them to stop?

MC has to return to their body.

Standing behind the group is a man I've never seen before. And yet his voice sounds all too familiar.

Michael? What are you doing here?

Setting you free.

But Father--

--made a vow to not harm our heirs. The universe has deemed MC to be yours, Lucifer. To protect them means ensuring they return to their proper home, and that can't happen if you're trapped here.

Does He know you're doing this?

I'll ask for forgiveness later.

A brief pause.

MC?

Yes?

It truly is a shame that you don't get to see Lucifer like this. He's perhaps the most beautiful creature Father ever produced.

I think there are some things best left to the past.

Michael softly smiles.

I'd expect nothing less from Lucifer's heir. Go forth, MC. Spread light wherever you go.

He quickly disappears in thin air. Lucifer carefully walks over to Solomon and crouches down next to him, allowing me to see just how closely he's holding me in his arms. Wordlessly, Solomon hands my body off to Lucifer, who envelops the two of us with his wings as he brings me up to his chest.

Taglist: @lost-in-time-wanderer, @fuzztacular, @dianedancer18, @sweetbrier2908, @flare-love, @completelyshatteredbrokenmschf, @thunderlightning351, @l3v1chan, @anxious-chick, @5mary5, @expressionless-fr, @tenkobitch, @budbuddnbuddy

[dragongirltail]

Finally finished elden ring, not the dlc just base game cause I am not about to give the bastards more money for something I dislike, but:

All of what I've held in beliefs from just the playtime I've had accumulated from repeated attempts before is unchanged, and only some small changes to the positive have arisen. It's an okay game. It's a terrible fromsoft game, but if you set this in front of me and told me it was made by ubisoft to cash in on the souls hype I'd believe that instantly.

Copypasted bosses and enemies out the oiseaux, repeating gameplay patterns and loops that make you grind your teeth and truly hurt the strongest things about fromsoft's game design. Can't say I find any of the bosses memorable except maybe elden beast (good theme) and radagon (fun to parry sometimes), but nothing of the experience stayed with me after the fact! The themes aren't memorable, the bosses and enemies become a slurry of rehashes of bloodborne and dark souls 3 animations sped up by 150%, and the power scaling goes so far up that having an attack rating of 1200 at the end of the game is barely passable.

You run around for 2 hours picking up shit to get strong enough to have a decent time with the first few bosses, then spend another hour running around collecting shit to fight a few bosses, then another 2 hours and then you can plow through the rest of the game cause the open world absolutely destroys what made fromsoft games so excellent.

And with elden ring being the most popular game they've made yet it means waves of new players who haven't played any of the other games and have no reference of what a fromsoft game should feel like! Which obviously isn't said to gatekeep this genre, but rather because elden ring is still a good game from the perspective of anyone who hasn't experienced better.

And I wouldn't even be so harsh on this game if it wasn't trying SO HARD to just be dark souls again They ended on DS3 because they said the story was told and wanted to go other places and do other things but then elden ring is just dark souls' world again but slightly different so the teacher doesn't notice. Sekiro isn't for me but I can acknowledge how it still does cool things and make it's own path, I don't own a PS4 so bloodborne has been out of reach but everything it has done to differentiate itself is amazing. Elden ring is just king big sad guy finds a powerful thing then age of prosperity happens then bad thing happens now you are shitty lame guy and must go on a world tour to kill all powerful guys to perpetuate a cycle. Dark souls with a new coat of paint, and this time it's got RR Martin's fingerprints allegedly all over it but I cannot in the slightest tell where the guy did anything, aside maybe more of the weird shit that miyazaki isn't known to be into.

If bethesda released a game that was this much reused assets, animations, audio files, weapons, and gameplay mechanics then there'd be a riot for how they could repackage the same game for 60 bucks again. But fromsoft does it and it's a game of the year and miyazaki does it again and it's so good and if you don't like it you simply don't get it and should get good instead or whatever. There's been so many moments with this accursed game where I went "oh hey this is just the animations from x enemy from ds3 but faster", lothric knights, outrider knights, pontiff knights, sulyvahn's beast, just to name a few.

I've tried so hard to like this game, I've given it so many chances and accrued 47 hours in a game I still don't like. At this point I cannot in good conscience say that I just don't 'get' this game, it's got flaws out front and back and yet nobody seems to see them, I don't get it, I just don't.

If you wanna say something about this feel free to comment or reblog, I'll have a wrassle with you if you do

[actualbird]

Luke Pearce and Conditional Faith: When Does A Skeptic Believe (or When Does He Want To)?

wc: 1.4k

obligatory disclaimer that these are just my own thoughts and interpretations. spoilers ahead for: SSR Shape Of You (the summer breeze card), SSR Overflowing Thoughts (the sott card), SSR Twinkling Eyes (the skadi card), and Main Story 9. 

Luke is a skeptic. 

I feel like anyone who is familiar with his stories knows and fully accepts this fact. While he’s a very emotional and warm guy, when it comes to like, his general view of Reality, he is the type of person to believe more in facts, science, evidence, tangible proof, and empirical explanations. A lighthearted example of this is in Luke’s Sweet Chapter Personal Story 3, where he and MC were investigating that abandoned school that everybody said was haunted by spirits and Luke calmly proved that it was nothing more than faulty circuitry. And in the same scene, MC fondly remembers how in their childhood, when other kids were telling ghost stories, Luke would just exclaim “THAT DOESNT MAKE SENSE” and spoil the fun of the spook. He’s such a STEM guy, it drives me nuts. 

And his skepticism doesn’t just happen there. It pops up over and over across a lot of his stories, and not just in terms of the supernatural. In general, Luke is a skeptic of anything that can’t be empirically proved, including: folk beliefs, spiritual things, the divine/gods.

(sidenote 1: which is REALLY interesting given what I brought up in a previous analysis I did about Luke and Catholic Guilt. Like, so much of his mental framework and morality is something very familiar to the kinds of ways-of-thinking you’d see in this religion. And yet he’s not religious. god gives the biggest ironies to his most skeptical soldiers, or something).

So he’s a skeptic, that’s clear. 

Except it isn’t, because there are times when he does believe in faith. Or wants to believe in it. And these moments are made so striking because of Luke’s general disposition towards skepticism, which is why I’d like to do a deep dive of When Luke “Skeptic Extraordinaire” Pearce Decides Or Desires To Believe.

(sidenote 2: just a disclaimer, all folk beliefs, spiritual things, the different kinds of divine/gods are all obviously very different from each other and I’m not saying that they’re conflate-able, DEFINITELY NOT, but just that in Luke’s stories specifically, they Do serve the same purpose to him; they're something he doesn't believe in)

But before I go into when he Decides Or Desires To Believe, I wanna first tackle why he Doesn’t.

The first reason for why Luke is a skeptic is just his general inclination towards empiricism (things are proven via experience and experimentation) and rationalism (things are proven through logic and reason). Like how it happened in the abandoned school scene I mentioned before. And it makes sense for Luke. He’s a STEM guy, but he’s also a detective. Proof matters, and proof creates reality. 

But another reason is more personal. Sometimes Luke doesn’t believe because of a sense of Betrayal mixed in with a “Fuck It, I’ll Do It Myself” mentality. 

In SSR Overflowing Thoughts, the AU shows Luke originally being trained to be a temple priest while MC was originally trained to be an assassin. But after seeing the sheer suffering MC had to withstand day after day even after praying to the for a peaceful life, Luke took her place and then later remarks “If gods truly exist, then why didn’t they help you despite all your prayers?” and in the flashback, he says “If she dies one day during training [...] then I’ll stop believing in the gods.” 

Here, Luke’s non-belief is due to what he expects higher powers to have responsibility over; taking care of good people. While this card is an AU card, I think it still carries over to regular-Luke because of Luke’s very strong sense of morality, of good and bad. If higher powers are good, but they allow bad to happen, then they can’t be good, or they must not exist in the first place.

So someone else has to do it. In SSR Overflowing Thoughts, it was Luke who saved MC, not the gods. And in SSR Shape of You, during their childhood, Luke had gone missing during the festival to seek the Land God to make a wish to erase himself from existence because Luke believed he was a burden and was robbing MC of the love of her parents buuuuut in the present, Luke remarks that he himself will be the one to repay all the love he had robbed her of.

In a way this is an honestly pretty noble kind of non-belief. There’s a cynical aspect to it, but Luke doesn’t just go “gods aren’t real, cowabummer”. Instead, it’s more like “there are no gods to do the good we want to see in this world, so we have to do that good ourselves.” 

So those are what leads to his non-belief, which is 99.9% of the time. But the few times he does the opposite were interesting because Luke only tends to do it under two circumstances.

1) I Want To Believe In This Because I Love You

Two cards I wanna talk about here: SSR Twinkling Eyes and SSR Shape Of You (again, not sorry, this card is so important to this post and also to mE PERSONALLY AHVKHS). 

In SSR Twinkling Eyes, Luke was his usual skeptical self at the whole local faerie folk beliefs up until Peanut’s messing up that faerie house meant that under the belief system, misfortune might fall upon MC. 

In SSR Shape Of You, at the very end of the story, he releases lanterns that are all wishes for MC’s benefit.

In both these cases, whether or not he truly believes or simply Wants To is up to debate, but it is clear that he does ascribe to actions under something that requires faith due to his love for MC. 

What happened to Luke the skeptic? He’s still very much there but there’s caveats now. He’ll ascribe to a degree of belief if it means keeping MC safe, if it means ensuring her safety and happiness in the future. Which is so fucking sweet and tender, fucking hell, Luke “I’ll give the divine a chance if only for you” Pearce, OOOAAAUUUGGHH.

But where there’s light, there’s also dark. Because sometimes his reason is…

2) I Want To Believe In This Because I Hate Me

Two stories I wanna talk about here: SSR Shape Of You (this card is a legend, mentioned 3 times in this post alone…) and Main Story 9

In SSR Shape Of You, the entire reason Luke even looks for the Land God (thus implying that, if even for one night, he did believe in the god) was due to self-loathing. He saw himself as a burden, he wanted to wish he never existed and that nobody would remember him because he was convinced his mere presence caused bad.

In Main Story 9…..hoo boy, Main Story 9, HAHA. At the very end of the chapter, we see a flashback where Luke—a little bit after the mission where he was the only survivor—has this exchange with Aaron

Now, it could be argued that this is more psychological than it is spiritual (this whole thing smacks of unaddressed PTSD, after all) and while that Definitely is a factor, it’s key to note the language used here being specific: spirits, gods, believe. 

And why does Luke want to believe? Why does he wish it was real even if his usual inclination is skepticism? 

Because he’s guilty. He’s so guilty. And you only ever feel guilty when you think you’re in the wrong. You only ever apologize when you think you’re responsible for wrong.

He wants to believe because he thinks himself a sinner and that only afterlife can grant him a chance at absolution.

That’s the flipside of his belief. Either he loves another so much or hates himself too much. 

So like, now that we’re here, what does it all “Mean” then? Ehhhh nothing much tbh jHVKJ. It just Struck Me. It’s just something I really liked seeing because it’s such a genuine and human kind of ‘hypocrisy’; no matter how rooted in reality we are, when we’re driven by intense emotion (positive OR negative), we’ll grasp for more.

More what? More Anything. More answers, more possibilities, just…More. Sometimes intense emotion makes Just Reality feel like it isn’t enough to explain or address whatever we’re feeling. 

When Luke is pushed by his devoted love or by his intense self-loathing, the limits of tangible empirical reality just don’t cut it. He’ll believe or want to believe in something more.

[autumn-foxfire]

I'm finally at the school trip.

I'll be frank, I find these episodes incredibly stupid and contrived.

I know why they exist as he reached 1000 chapter and he wanted Shinichi to reappear and for him to finally have his terrible romance, but as he is an incredibly stupid writer, he managed to do so in the worst way possible <3 Let's just have Shinichi appear in a very public place! And Ai, the incredibly paranoid girl, just LETS HIM!

Sonoko: I want to get a romantic shot of you.

Ran: I'd rather you didn't.

And then the romantic shot in question:

And Shinichi is pushing her away too (he "confessed" first). And of course Sonoko's the one who is truly invest in the romance.

One thing I am looking forward to in these episodes is the Sonoko and Sera interaction. Yes Sera, grill him!

Oh and this is the rando who joins them.

Okay but that's not a nice thing to do. Or cute. Sonoko had no right to tell everyone something private like that. These episodes are really going to test my nerves aren't they.

And here is Ai being OOC to allow the travesty that is these episodes to exist.

Awww, Gosho thinks Shonichi actually had friends outside of Ran or Sonoko (and now Sera).

They're having pictures taken of Shinichi. He's been spotted without any disguise. That totally isn't going to have no consquences at all.

Can. We. Not. They are just talking. I forgot people aren't allowed to speak to the opposite sex, are they.

And of course Sonoko is jealous for Ran- Nevermind. This is so bad already T-T Someone save me.

Sera being cute and immediately looking at Ran to show how cute she is.

Lesbians.

Shinichi and Sera working together <3 Practising for their future as detectives in an agency together!

I will say it again. They really don't play with the fact that it is agony for them to go through the transformation enough.

What a nice way to speak to your "girlfriend" Shinichi.

Oh the room number matched the episode number.

Can we not lie about things like this? I know it was Heiji who did so but still. Telling lies about things you've done with girls is NOT a very good look and can be very insulting to the girl your lying about.

You know, to avoid the roommate situation, you could just tell the teachers you've been pretty ill and or have reasons why you need a seperate room and that if it's an issue your very rich parents could be the ones who buy the room.

But that would be smart and there is nothing smart in these episodes except how the criminal committed the crime.

...Well it is also a Heiji episode so they might as well bring back the demons.

Ran should be so much more pissed off about this but then again, girls aren't allowed to be angry at their love interests, just feigning it.

I don't think Mary should exist. I think Sera should be allowed to have figured out Shinichi's secret and be fucking furious on Ran's behalf, and doing everything in her power to tell her about it. Sorry, I'm just projecting onto the characters but then again, Gosho does that too so can you blame me <3

I have a feeling Gosho is also telling this story not because it relates to the case but also to "mimic" Ran and Shinichi but there is a big difference: Ran isn't respected by Shinichi whatsoever and he plans to NEVER tell her anything. He is actually happy being to continue to gaslight and manipulate her in order to "protect" her.

I will say it's not often I see the women fantasize about a man's lips.

AND Gosho can't resist being gross.

"HEY WANT TO SEXUALLY ASSAULT WOMEN?!"

Rando: You hesitated because you've seen them before.

Me: Actually it just looked like he wasn't really interested.

It's sad that Heiji is more concerned about Shinichi's secret than he is- Nevermind he actually cares more about the school trip. Do they not realise that HIS LIFE WILL BE IN DANGER IF HE'S FOUND OUT?!

I'm mad that Momoji's breasts were brought up but damn is Sera such a lesbian.

And we can't have an episode focused on the romance between Ran and Shinichi without him being disgustingly jealous because how dare Ran be friends with another man doesn't she know she's Shinichi's property!

OKAY SHINICHI PRETENDING TO BE CHILDISH WAS VERY FUNNY THOUGH.

Shinichi probably just heard that Kazuha can see Heiji on TV and he is NOT CONCERNED?! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS PLOT.

And here comes Okita definitely not here to make Shinichi jealous and Sonoko think Ran is "cheating" on a boy she's not even dating.

Yukiko and Yuusaku are that pajamas meme.

Rolling my eyes because here's the jealousy. Sonoko is usually a good friend but I guess she doesn't mind causing issues in relationships for her own amusement.

Shinichi. It's called having a friend. I know you don't know what that is because you're not even friends with Ran but you better fucking learn and stop being an abusive and controlling.

Here's a good idea? WHY DON'T YOU JUST ASK HER WHAT IT WAS ABOUT. OR AN EVEN BETTER IDEA, WHY DON'T YOU JUST TRUST HER?!

...How did Shinichi push off the transformation?

Oh, surprise Kaito!

It's nice to see Shinichi's husband.

And these deaths were caused by miscommunication.

I feel absolutely nothing. Because this moment is not deserved in the absolute slightest.

Shinichi, have you considered that she wasn't ready for a kiss yet? But no, you had to get what YOU wanted. How fucking gross.

I've never been more thankful for the poison. And it's funny how he was able to starve off the transformation for a case but not for Ran. How interesting.

Gosho: how do I make it so Shinichi's presense won't be leaked.

Gosho: I know, I'll ask a bunch of teenagers not to post online

Get with the times, old man.

Ran, always more invested in other relationships over her own. That's not a sign at all.

LMAO I love the men asking how it's like to kiss Shinichi. Seems like they have a crush on him, not Ran.

Gosho, can you at least pretend to respect women.

The Sera and Mary plot are actually the first interesting thing to happen in this episode.

And of course Shinichi insults Ran. I don't have any issue with playful insults in relationships but it's very clear that Shinichi actually thinks of Ran as an idiot who he doesn't trust. But he's okay manipulating her this way because Ran is his possession and he gets what he wants.

I'm so glad I got through these episodes.

[serial-serializednovelreader]

Nova’s Notes - DD - May 24

It’s officially Suitor Squad time!!!!!!!!!! Truly a beloved letter from our dear Lucy.

So we now know our girl has a September birthday and that she’s currently 19! I’m not a Zodiac girlie, but I’d love to see the discourse on whether she fits the type of a Virgo or Libra more (I have my guess, but I won’t say).

“Here am I, who shall be twenty in September, and yet I never had a proposal till to-day, not a real proposal, and to-day I have had three. Just fancy! THREE proposals in one day! Isn't it awful! I feel sorry, really and truly sorry, for two of the poor fellows. Oh, Mina, I am so happy that I don't know what to do with myself.”

I love the way she writes in this letter, because it feels like the way she probably talks — very enthusiastic and just saying the first thing that comes to mind. Not in a bad way, just impulsive! Also, notice how she says “not a real proposal” — I wonder what that means. The fanfic potential is endless…

I love the modernity coming through with the “THREE proposals in one day!” and then saying she feels awful for two of the men (already implying she accepted one suit), as well as saying in the next sentence saying how perfectly happy she is. How very Lucy of her!!!! /pos

“But, for goodness' sake, don't tell any of the girls, or they would be getting all sorts of extravagant ideas and imagining themselves injured and slighted if in their very first day at home they did not get six at least. Some girls are so vain! You and I, Mina dear, who are engaged and are going to settle down soon soberly into old married women, can despise vanity. Well, I must tell you about the three, but you must keep it a secret, dear, from every one, except, of course, Jonathan. You will tell him, because I would, if I were in your place, certainly tell Arthur.”

A lot to take in here! So, of course by the “girls”, she must mean their former classmates and friends they keep in contact with. I know it sounds kind of pick-me-girl-ish of Lucy, but we all know that one person who wants to one-up you, so I get the need for secrecy. Plus, Lucy’s reputation with her mom will be dampened by this and might be led to think she ENCOURAGED three men to propose to her all on the same day (oh, what’s that? Hollywood producers have been portraying her as doing just that for years? My case stands.). Of course, she understands the need for Mina to tell Jonathan about this — who she likely assumes is already home with Mina since it’s been more than a week since Mina’s last letter :’(((( — and then she drops who’s proposal she accepted — to no one’s surprise, it’s Arthur!

I don’t know why, but the first time I read this part of the story, I guess I just skimmed over that part? Because I genuinely didn’t think she mentioned Arthur until the last possible second.

But rereading it here, she writes as if she can’t contain herself, like yes she wants to tell Mina about the three proposals — because why wouldn’t you tell your bestie about the THREE PROPOSALS IN ONE DAY — but she can’t help and drop the fact that yes, she’s engaged to Arthur, and yes, she’s as excited as Mina to be “old married women” who “despise vanity”. At least, that’s what I’m picking up. I think it’s another one of those things where the Dracula Daily memes gave me a Mandela effect of Lucy talking endlessly about everyone except Arthur, which she kind of does, but she doesn’t neglect him entirely.

On to the first proposal!!

“I told you of him, Dr. John Seward, the lunatic-asylum man, with the strong jaw and the good forehead.”

This sentence lives rent-free in my head. I absolutely love it. “Yes Mina, dear, the lunatic-asylum man with the good facial features, I would’ve set you up with him if you weren’t engaged already!” Strong start to this rollercoaster.

Previously she had described him as “imperturbable”, but she seems to have heavily amended that statement. Here, she describes him as nothing but nervous, almost sitting on his hat and…playing with a knife?!?!?! Seward, that’s not…how you….ok….she said he was “playing with it in a way that nearly made [her] scream” and I don’t blame her one bit — I would too!

What’s interesting about John’s proposal is that he doesn’t mince words here. He simply tells her she makes him happy and is dear to him, so marry him maybe? It does lean to this side of guilt-trippy when he starts to tell her that if she doesn’t care for him, he’ll be unhappy, until she *actually starts crying* because that’s the kind of empathetic person Lucy is!!!

That’s when John’s caring side comes out. He immediately chastises himself and promises not to add to her troubles. I wonder if, perhaps, he asked a colleague for advice on proposals and they gave him some ill-informed idea on how to “lightly encourage” (read: guilt-trip) a woman into accepting your suit.

It could have very well been his own idea (those who have read Dracula Daily before will know Seward is not as naturally empathetic as, say, Lucy); the only reason I think this is because he’s also socially awkward (if fidgeting with a knife didn’t give it away) and I could very well see him going to a colleague asking for advice on how to ask for a lady’s hand in marriage from someone who’s done it before.

This is when I think if he has been taking advice from someone, he stops and starts speaking from the heart.

“Then he broke off and asked if I could love him in time; and when I shook my head his hands trembled, and then with some hesitation he asked me if I cared already for any one else. He put it very nicely, saying that he did not want to wring my confidence from me, but only to know, because if a woman's heart was free a man might have hope.”

Awwwwwww his hands trembled?? 🥺 I’m so sorry Seward…this genuinely hurts to read. Although, just because someone doesn’t have another person they’re interested in doesn’t mean they’ll automatically grow to like you back — “might” being the operative word here, I suppose.

What I do love here is how well he takes it once she informs him she does love someone else. He simply takes her hands, looks into her eyes and asks her to count him as one of her best friends. This is still sad for Lucy, however, because while he has done this, she still feels like she’s “lost” him in a way and he still walks away with a broken heart, causing her to cry all over again, and defer finishing the letter. :(

Again, it just shows what a kind person Lucy is that even while she feels happy, she still can feel so upset on behalf of another person. That’s one of the things I love the most about her!!!

On to the next proposal!

Happy (belated) Quincey P. Morris Day!!!! Everyone get out your cowboy hats and get ready to lasso yourself into a world of fun with this cowboy. <3

Quick note: It looks like Arthur visited her and that’s what caused her to be able to finish her letter by lifting her spirits. So he must’ve visited her twice in one day, since she already knew about the proposal when she first started the letter? Ugh, love that for her!

“I know now what I would do if I were a man and wanted to make a girl love me. No, I don't, for there was Mr. Morris telling us his stories, and Arthur never told any, and yet—— My dear, I am somewhat previous.”

Hehehehe oh, Lucy!!! Even when talking about this dear cowboy and his stories you can’t help but bring up Arthur.

Quincey exaggerates/makes up his American slang just for her!!! That’s adorable.

“'Miss Lucy, I know I ain't good enough to regulate the fixin's of your little shoes, but I guess if you wait till you find a man that is you will go join them seven young women with the lamps when you quit. Won't you just hitch up alongside of me and let us go down the long road together, driving in double harness?'”

If I’m not proposed to in this goofy — yet sincere — way I 👏 don’t 👏 want 👏 it. But I do love that once he sees that Lucy doesn’t *seem* to understand this approach, he becomes more serious and earnestly asks for her hand with a series of beautiful words.

Of course, Quincey can perceive this isn’t going the way he would hope and asks if she is otherwise engaged of the heart to which — poor Lucy!!! — she cries once more.

“Why can't they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble?”

And so the polycula is formed!!! Hehe, but to be fair, I do read this in the camp of Lucy being a chronic people-pleaser who wants to make everyone happy and hates refusing Seward and Quincey. As someone who is also a people-pleaser, I can relate — I too often have things I wish I could do to just “save me the trouble” of having difficult conversations with people. But also, polycula, I’m excited to see what all of the fanfics and fanart that y’all come up with this year lol!

“‘Yes, there is some one I love, though he has not told me yet that he even loves me.’”

“‘If that other fellow doesn't know his happiness, well, he'd better look for it soon, or he'll have to deal with me…’”

“‘Won't you give me one kiss? It'll be something to keep off the darkness now and then. You can, you know, if you like, for that other good fellow—he must be a good fellow, my dear, and a fine fellow, or you could not love him—hasn't spoken yet.'”

I love this so much. I love that Lucy feels comfortable enough to confide in Quincey that she’s worried about Arthur’s reciprocation of feelings and he reassures her that a) she will make Arthur’s happiness and if he doesn’t get that, Quincey will intervene (in more ways than one, I’ll wager ;)) and b) he’s not jealous of Arthur and thinks of him as a good man, why else would Lucy love him?

I honestly think him asking for a kiss — and Lucy giving him one — is adorable because it’s done in a way where it doesn’t feel forced or that Lucy is uncomfortable. I think of it as a kiss goodbye or a kiss of what could have been, or, as Quincey himself puts it, a kiss sealing their friendship! No matter what way you read it, it’s sweet and I love this moment.

“Oh, about number Three—I needn't tell you of number Three, need I? Besides, it was all so confused; it seemed only a moment from his coming into the room till both his arms were round me, and he was kissing me. I am very, very happy, and I don't know what I have done to deserve it.”

I know we all make memes about this passage — and for good reason, but the way I interpret her not wanting to talk about Arthur’s proposal is that it’s too intimate to her. Do you know those moments where something so wonderful has happened that you just want to keep it all to yourself? Even though you know you need to tell the loved ones in your life the good news and they’ll want to know everything? I know I do! I think this is part of what Lucy is feeling here, but she doesn’t want to tell Mina that per se; after all, she just wrote to her about longing to be back together and sharing their deepest secrets. So, I think she chooses to lightheartedly brush this moment off with a “oh yes and btw Arthur proposed, you don’t need the details, right? I don’t remember half of them myself!”

I think that’s why she makes so much of describing Quincey and John’s proposals — both to make up for her lack of detail when it comes to Arthur’s proposal, and, perhaps, to distract from it as well. That’s just my interpretation, though, I’d love to hear what you think!

[yellowocaballero]

definitely no pressure or anything and u can ignore this entirely but i would love to hear more abt any of ur ideas for atsv fic (ur multiversal mistake peter parker fic appealed to me greatly) ...... i loved how atsv tied so explicitly into metanarratives by just calling them 'canon events' instead of smth else and the whole movie felt like it was justifying miles as spiderman and that his story is just as much a spiderman story as the others. and i love how you engage with canon in similar ways ? like u engage with the text of canon on a level that i find really interesting frex like i loved ur stephanie fic extra just bc stephanie is a character done so dirty by canon in all these awful misogynist ways that ur fic felt like like such an amazing contradiction.... this ask has kind of gotten away from me, but i hope ur doing well on the whole !

Thank you! All of the Spidey crossover fic ideas I have are tepid, so none are good enough to share. Bad crossovers are easy, good crossovers are so hard. And there's nothing more obnoxious than a bad crossover. MK/Avengers fics, you were awful.

I typed out this whole dissection on how modern Spider-Man writers have completely lost the thread of Peter as an 'everyman', and how he wasn't an 'everyman' because he was relatable in terms of personality, identity, or actions, but because he was relatable in terms of problems, and how once Spider-Man stories started being about how difficult it is to be Spider-Man Masked Hero instead of being about how difficult it is to survive in this world and be a good person when you never know if you're doing the right thing or not, then they stopped being actually engaging as everyman stories. and when you simplify Spider-Man down to 'he's just like you except with a cooler life!' then you miss WHY it's important that Peter's life is marked by tragedy and defined by his sadness, which is the fact that if his life was easy then it would indicate that it was easy to be a good person, and what the story tries to say is that being a good person is the hardest thing in the fucking world But Baby We Do It Anyway, and THAT'S what Spider-Man is about, and -

Then I realized that was fucking dumb and also not what you asked and deleted it. ATSV is peak fanfiction because it engages in conversation with the text, and while it has a lot to say about Spidey stories itself it is not a Spidey story. I think end of the day 'what classic spidey is about' just can't be what Miles is about, because Miles is about his relationship to Peter & Spider-Man. They're mutually exclusive. Miles CAN'T have Peter's story at all, because ATSV is telling a story about telling a story. Superhero stories really can't exist unobserved anymore huh. This is so common - Spidey stories since the 2010 have honestly been about being Spidey stories - that at this rate it is also a Spidey story and so it is valid on the grounds of how ubiqutous this story is. I sound like a dipshit.

So I'm still trying to formulate a good story. Miguel vexes me, I've been trying to lock down a good story idea for him for ages and it just hasn't happened. What I liked about the SM2099 comic was the fact that it was about Miguel, who was dealing with a problem that a lot of adults deal with: having your sense of self and identity disrupted, having your understanding of the world disrupted, and trying to sort out how to build yourself into somebody you can live with. I don't think he ever truly figures that out. So it's hard to write a story asking that question, because man I'll let you know when I figure it out too.

And I'm glad you liked New Wave - that was also heavily in conversation with the text, because the text hated women. Steph is an everyman to me - not because she's remotely similar to any human being in real life, but because she wants what any human being would want. And does the weirdest possible thing to get it.

[nicolesainz]

Pretty cute, if you ask me (LN 4)

Lando Norris x reader

Warnings: extreme fluff

Special dedication @freedaxf1 !! I hope you like it. This one’s for ya! If you have any other requests lmk. Love you!

Summary: Hints everywhere. Cheeks flushed and heart beating. Everyone has picked up on your feelings towards Lando, but do they know the truth yet?

“I sometimes regret having you around. I enjoy my peace and quiet during the weekends” I let out a defeated sigh as I remove my headsets.

“You only enjoy it because you get to be alone with mister McLaren” Fertwell comments as he nudges me playfully.

“Truly wrong judgement here, Max. Try again maybe” i roll my eyes

“Oh no she’s lying. They are both attached to each other, I still don’t understand how he managed to even do a few proper laps during free practices” the former McLaren driver, Daniel Ricciardo, adds, fueling the interest of my other friends.

“We should definitely attend the races more often. We are being excluded from the best moments” Ria smirks lustily at me, making my cheeks flush

“It’s the first time I’ve head a driver sing so much during free practices on the radio to his friend. He’s the only one who’s done it and probably will continue to be” the Australian drops another hint, sparks amongst the group being lighten.

“Since Y/N, refuses to tell us the truth, please Daniel, give us more details. What is my adorable baby sis doing around Norris, when we aren’t in sight” my older sister almost begs ex McLaren driver to be a inside source.

“There’s nothing to say for the love of god!” I shout at the same time as the mechanics work on Oscar’s car, getting it ready for another session.

“It will be the first time I’ll believe anyone else but you sis, sorry!”

“How do you explain the multiple pictures and stories then? Your gallery has more pictures of Lando than anyone else!” Daniel keeps pushing my buttons as if he’s doing it on purpose, which he is

“That’s not true! I just like to share things.” I shrug my shoulders as Max scrolls through his phone and shoves it on my face

“It’s the 5th story you’ve posted with Lando this week. I’m not buying it, Y/N”

“I don’t get why I have to alert you about anything that happens in my life”

that’s wrong! I tell them everything that happens in my life. Everything except one thing.

“Fine! Don’t tell us. I’ll ask Oscar. Rookie will be too much under pressure not to blurt anything.” My sister is almost threatening me to the point it scares

“And what if he doesn’t? You’ll go to Zak? Or his race engineer? They say curiosity killed the cat!”

I’m trying to hide the fact that nervousness runs through my entire body. Oscar is easily persuaded and knowing my sister, he’ll tell her whatever she desires to find.

“Hey Y/N, have you seen that Ma-“ I grab Oscar’s arm and move us somewhere farther away from my friends who were now occupied talking to Daniel.

“No need to be aggressive. Are you alright?” The new Aussie asked me, worried about my anxious presence.

“If my sister asks you anything about Lando, I beg you to not say anything. Even if she bribes you.”

“I wasn’t planning on saying anything but sure! I won’t tell a soul.”

“Thank you! You’re the best” I give him a quick hug before letting him go and running off to the group I left behind

As I was approaching them, I saw Lando moving towards them as well. Oh fuck.

“Hey guys, hey baby” he welcomes everyone and lands a soft kiss on my cheek, while wrapping his arm around my waist. I could feel my whole face turning red

“I KNEW IT!” My sister exclaims loudly

“You’re a very bad liar Y/N” Max continues

“Hey, leave my girlfriend alone. She’s a shy one” Lando bites back playfully and gives me the sweetest look of comfort.

“Now you know why I post about Lando regularly. And why I want my peace.”

“Yeah, I will agree to the second one. Someone had forgotten their mic on and I could hear the whole conversation. Try to be more discreet next time” Lando tries to hold back a laugh, as a look of horror covers my whole face to the idea that everyone could have heard this

“Aww, don’t worry love. I only heard it. No one else. Our little secret is safe. Also I found it pretty cute if you ask me”

[cardentist]

ena proseka frustrates me, because I very much so love her Personality and I enjoy her character After the base nightcord story

But She Very Much So Did Tells A Suicidal Person That They're Selfish For Being Suicidal To Their Face Because She Has An Inferiority Complex.

and that's like !

it's really out of pocket, but that wouldn't inherently make her character Bad or anything. except the Narrative doesn't treat her doing this as a bad thing. in fact, the other characters poke fun at her for Really Caring After All while she's forcing the suicidal person to apologize To Her.

and it's such a Bizarre writing decision. because I truly would not mind a messy character who is mean sometimes because of her own trauma, that's Literally also what mafuyu has going on.

but it truly does not work if the Narrative doesn't engage with it that way, and if the other characters don't recognize it.

and see, I Thought that the fandom was just pretending that this didn't happen, since it wasn't properly addressed in the source material and gets brushed off.

but then. Sometimes I see people call out This Exactly as like, Relatable and Good Writing. and then I look for criticism of the character writing and all I get is people hating her for being an instagram girlie (which, not a reason to hate a character).

so I just feel a little bit like I'm losing my mind every time I engage with anything that involves nightcord. because I Like This Character but her role in the base story and how it was handled was so bad that I had to stop playing the game for a while. And Nobody Else In The Entire Fandom Seems To Have Noticed?

people still hate tsukasa for yelling at nene once, but the same fandom spaces has nothing bad to say about someone telling a suicidal person that they're selfish for wanting to commit suicide. and I can Only Assume that it's because the narrative took what tsukasa did seriously while the narrative seems to trip over itself to pretend that what ena did was like, normal. not even justify it but pretend that it's just like. Fine.

I don't even have a stake in project sekai discourse, but this has well and truly haunted me

"don't kill yourself, aha, I hate you and you're selfish and you owe everyone more music because you're popular"

I understand that I'm Supposed to know that ena really does care for mafuyu and doesn't want her to die, but I'd be killing myself after this one