#though i obviously went a more literal? route with it

[marshmallowgoop]

And wish that I didn't

One last video before 2024 ends everywhere! Made this for Anime Frontier's AMV contest (check out a playlist of finalists here!) because I really wanted to submit thirteen Conan videos and needed one more to do that. It's since been revised and revamped, hopefully saying what I wanted to say with it more effectively!

Happy New Year!

[Song link] [YouTube link]

[mydarlingclaudia]

and if we had a moment, could you face it?

note : this didn’t really turn out the way I wanted it to be but I’m still kinda ok with it. mdni

wc : 2.6k

desc : you finally decide it’s time to take you and Leon’s relationship to bed. smut!! - riding (p in v), fingering, established relationship, not proofread, pet names (baby), fem!reader, ID!Leon

If there hadn't been construction going on along the main route you took to get back to your apartment from work, you wouldn't have met Leon. You decided to go a different way that night, you walked to and from work most days, so it wasn't much of a difference. Leon had run into you, literally, when he rounded the street corner without seeing you and stumbled into you, not knocking you over, but instead spilling his coffee all over your blouse. You didn't know why he was drinking coffee at five p.m. at first, but you later found out that it was because he had been in a rush to go do more work for the DSO and that he needed to be awake for it. That didn't stop him from stopping what he was doing and awkwardly trying to help you clean off your blouse.

Leon ended up walking you back to your apartment, offering to buy you a new blouse even after you told him he didn't need to. After a few minutes of you assuring him it wasn't a big deal, he backed down, smiled at you, wished you goodnight, and left. He completely forgot to ask you out to dinner.

He did get the opportunity to ask you out, though, when he ran into you a few weeks later at the grocery store. Leon had been expecting another rejection, but you had simply smiled and said yes. Hearing you say yes made the rest of his week, he didn’t know what made you say agree to a date with him, but whatever it was, he was happy about it.

Leon had tried to be a bit more gentlemanly to you on the night of your date, thinking about how close he had been walking next to you, trying not to pull on a push door, doing his best not to scare you off. He really wanted this to go well, he thought you were pretty, and you had already given him a chance, so that had to be a good sign, right? He hadn’t been on an actual date in what felt like years (because it had actually been years), and even if the two of you didn’t become an item, he still wanted to take you out on a couple of nice dates.

One date turned to two, then two to three, then three to seven, and now Leon can’t get you off his mind. The two of you were very obviously attracted with each other, but you both had your own fears about dating one another. You were worried that you’d put a bunch of time and effort into the relationship only for him to discover he didn’t want to be with you and leave, and Leon was worried that his job would scare you away or that you’d find all of the problems he carried around everywhere he went to be a burden and that he wasn’t worth it. But you didn’t think he was a burden, and he was determined to stick this out with you for as long as you’d let him.

Leon was at your beck and call, as long as he was in town. He felt embarrassed for liking you so much so early on in your relationship, but when you flirted back with him, he swore he could feel his heart stop for a second before he came back at you with something cheesier to say, he couldn’t really say no to you.

You liked Leon a lot, and you knew he liked you, but his job did scare you a little bit. Not that you knew much, but you knew it was dangerous. As your dates with Leon grew in number, he assured you that he wouldn’t put you in any kind of danger, and you believed him.

It’s been a little over seven months now, Leon was willing to take this as slow as you wanted, the two of you had only ever kissed, barely even made-out, really. Leon wasn’t around all the time, you knew that would happen when you started dating him, but he always tried his best to make up for lost time when he got back to you.

You just wanted to jump his bones sometimes. He’d sit across from you at dinner, the top two buttons of his shirt left unbuttoned, revealing just enough of his collarbone for you to want to see everything else. Or when he’d put his hand on your thigh when he sat down next to you, or just letting his hand rest on your waist. There were a lot of things, really.

You knew Leon felt the same. You’d catch him staring for too long when you wore a tank top with a neckline that dipped down a bit too far, he wouldn’t even apologize when you caught him, he’d just smirk a tiny bit, glance down again, then go back to what he was doing a few moment before.

Leon did want to take things a bit slow with you, but he also knew that there was something missing from his relationship with you. But he wanted you to be absolutely sure you wouldn’t regret anything. You knew he was nervous about it, sex was a topic that the two of you didn’t talk about a lot, you really only spoke about it in jokes, but you knew he was being serious when he said he could rock your world.

Leon’s been in meetings for most of the week, but he cleared time to take you to this fancy restaurant tonight. The food was good, so was the wine, and of course, the company. Leon wasn’t planning on staying the night at your apartment, but you had asked him to, because you knew he wouldn’t say no.

He had watched you kick your heels off at the door, letting you grab onto his shoulder for support as he toed off his own shoes, then quietly followed behind you as you moved deeper into your apartment. Leon could feel his brain shut down for a second when you grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and tug him closer to you to find his lips in a sloppy kiss, which he eagerly returned.

Leon’s hands found their way to your hips, pulling you even closer to him as you let go of his shirt and instead wrapped your arms around his neck, letting his tongue slip into your mouth. You didn’t keep your arms there for long, one of your hands slid down to try and unbutton the rest of his shirt, fiddling with the buttons for a few seconds before your other hand joined.

His breath caught in his throat slightly as he felt both you easily unbutton his shirt, he broke the kiss and grabbed one of your wrists, leaning his face away from you a tiny bit.

“I know what you’re doing,” He murmured, you only smiled at him and slipped your hand that he wasn’t holding inside his shirt, groping his chest gently.

“Then don’t stop me.” You giggled, kissing him again.

He groaned into the kiss, his hand leaving your wrist to cradle the back of your head as you continued unbuttoning his shirt while walking him down your hallway and towards your room.

“Your hearts beating really fast.” You say breathlessly as you pull a few inches away from Leon’s lips, he snorts softly.

“I have a pretty good idea as to why,” His hand falls from the back of your head to rest above the curve of your ass

“Tell me.” You finally got the last button of his shirt unbuttoned, your hands go up to begin sliding it off his shoulders.

“Maybe because my pretty girlfriend has me in her apartment, trying to get me naked.”

“You want me to stop?” You ask, pausing momentarily.

“No.”

“Good,” You smile, taking his shirt all the way off and discarding it on the floor outside your bedroom door. Leon kisses along your jawline as he pulls you inside your bedroom, you make work of your hands once again, sliding them down his torso and to the front of his pants to tug at his belt before you begin unbuttoning it.

Leon doesn’t stop you this time, his hand moves higher up your back, running his fingers along the zipper teeth on the back of your dress, continuing to kiss your jaw and down your throat. You giggle as he starts pulling the zipper down, at the same time, you pull his belt free from the belt-loops of his jeans, he groans at the feeling.

Leon backs away from you, leaving your dress zipped up only halfway as he pulls down his pants, stepping out of them as they pool at the floor. You smile widely at him, taking in every inch of his body you hadn’t seen before and were eager to get your hands on. Your eyes flick from his face, to his heaving chest, and to the erection starting to strain against his boxers.

You don’t let him pull those off yet. Instead, grabbing his bicep and pulling him closer before pushing him back onto your bed. Leon huffs as his body meets your mattress, but he’s quick to adjust, sitting up on his elbows and staring up at you as he waits for your next move.

You reach around your back to find the zipper, it’s down low enough on your dress for you to pull it down the rest of the way. You quickly pull your dress down and let it fall to the floor, stepping out of it as you try not to fall onto Leon. When you look back at Leon, his eyes are wide and there’s a look of awe etched onto his face, you watch him as he trails his eyes up and down your body, like how you had done with him. When his eyes meet yours again, he smiles and you step closer to him.

Leon’s hands land back on your hips as you stand between his legs, your own hands find his shoulders, pulling him closer so you could kiss him eagerly once again.

Leon breaks the kiss for a second, leaning back again and tugging lightly at the elastic band seen inside the fabric of your panties. “You still wanna do this?”

“Very much, yeah,” You nod, he smiles and pulls on the elastic band, letting it snap against your skin when he lets go of it. “There’s a few condoms in my nightstand.” You nod your head towards the nightstand next to your bed, Leon lets go of you for a second and reaches over to pull one out.

“You planned this.”

“Of course I did.”

“Of course you did.” He chuckles and shakes his head softly, placing the condom down next to his thigh as he moves his hands to tug your underwear down.

You groan softly at the intrusion of his fingers in your slick cunt, you steady yourself by putting your hands on his shoulders, bending your leg and bringing it up to rest against the outside of his right thigh as he runs his fingers through your slick folds before he stops at your clit, rubbing gently.

Leon says nothing, continuing to rub your clit as he moves his head to your shoulder, kissing and biting along the skin he finds there. Soft mewls fall from your lips as he continues on his mission. Leon stops for a second shifting slightly on your bed and readjusting his hand, one of his fingers slips inside of you, he pumps it in and out slowly as his kisses move from your shoulder to your throat.

After another moment of Leon fingering you, he adds another finger. He uses his other hand to push you more upright, his face is in front of your bra-covered breasts, his unoccupied hand comes up to pull your bra straps down your shoulders, then he pulls down the bra cups and slips his hand underneath them to push your breasts fully out of the bra.

“You’re so fucking pretty,” He whispers to you, he continues to kiss down your throat and to your breasts, beginning to bite and suck at the soft mounds of flesh, listening carefully as you keep whining at the feeling of him curling his fingers inside of you. “I’m almost done, baby, don’t worry.” He mumbles reassuringly looking up at you through his eyelashes as he takes one of your nipples into his mouth.

After another minute or two of Leon fingering you and sucking on your breasts, he withdraws his fingers, wiping your arousel on his thigh before he grabs the condom and opens it.

You don’t don’t watch him as he takes off his boxers and puts the condom on, instead unclasping your bra and tossing it onto the floor. When he’s done, he grabs your hips and pulls you closer, leaning back as you hover above his cock.

It’s your turn to cover Leon in bite marks and hickeys, you grab his jaw and start kissing at his throat, he holds your hips gently as he slowly pulls you down until the tip of his cock brushes up against your entrance. You stop kissing his neck, pulling your head back to look at him as you slowly sink down onto him. You both groan at the feeling, his fingernails dig into your hips as he bucks his own hips up slightly to meet yours.

Once he was fully inside of you, your mouth returns to his throat, biting down on his Adam’s apple as you start to move. He groaned once again, squeezing your hips tighter as he started to help guide your movements.

“Goddamn,” He grunts, “You f-feel so good.”

“So do you,” You whisper against his ear, kissing down his jawline as you grind against him a bit harder.

“You- fuck- you’re t-too damn good to me.” He panted, laying back against your mattress. You leaned over, kissing along his chest now as his hands slid down to your thighs and Leon’s silently praying for this to become a regular thing.

“You sound really pretty.” You murmur against his skin as you start to bite his pecs.

“Pretty?” He chuckles breathlessly.

“Mhmmmm,” Your hum of approval trails off into a whine as you pick up the pace again.

You can feel your orgasm rapidly approaching after a few more moments, you can tell that Leon feels the same because of how his fingers keep digging into your flesh and how his breath catches in his throat.

“God, baby, please-“ You brace yourself against his chest, leaning forward to kiss him once again. His hips buck up to meet your downward thrusts, trying to bring you closer to your orgasm.

Not even two minutes later, your orgasm rips through your body, you whine into Leon’s mouth and collapse down against him. He wraps his arms around you, continuing to thrust into you, his own orgasm following not too far from behind yours.

When the aftershocks finally die out, you sit up straight, bracing yourself on Leon’s chest once again. He looks up at you with a smile, bringing his hands up to cover yours.

“You’re way too good to me.” He chuckles, squeezing your hands.

“Yeah, well, no one else gets this treatment from me.”

“They better not. I mean, that was just… goddamn.”

“That good?”

“Amazing.” You smile down at him, feeling his chest rise and fall underneath the palm of your hands.

“Well, if you liked that, then you should stick around and see what else I can do.”

“Oh, I plan on it.”

“Perfect,”

[simplyreveries]

happy valentines day!! short but i did dorm leaders + vice dorm leader heree heheh.

riddle rosehearts

riddle takes this very seriously; he is simply fretting over every detail of this day as he wants to make it as enjoyable and perfect for you. he'll go to trey expressing his concerns and talking over ideas- he prompts to doing more of the traditional route with flowers and chocolates. of course, he'll get you the prettiest red roses he could find in the gardens (the thorns are cut off too). he even went out of his way to try and make the chocolates himself.... trey was trying hard to be so supportive and not laugh when he saw the finished result. he is a flushed mess when he presents them to you, it's funny to see him so nervous. though, he spent so much time and effort over what to do, when you give him something as well, he is looking at you with the shocked but loving expression... like he wasn't expecting it. he loves it, he loves anything personal and will cherish any letters and gifts from you.

trey clover

you're going to be so sick by the end of the day from all the sweets and treats this man makes you. literally, he decorates them cute and with red, pink, white frosting with hearts- he's such a dork its so sweet. trey is a sucker for any of your compliments and praise too- since he knows his good at it. he'll be laugh and act all humble "ah, its nothing sweetheart, im glad you like it." about it but he is absolutely loving hearing that from you.

leona kingscholar

ok even if he isn't one for liking valentines day- when it comes to you, obviously he will be doing something. he always seems to cave in anyways because he can't really say no to you. let's not forget this man is still a prince... it doesn't matter what it is you want he can pretty much get his hands on it. leona would give you something incredibly nice, but small like an accessory for yourself that he knows would suit your taste. he does pay attention to these things believe it or not. plus, he will get you chocolates- even if he is a jerk and takes one or two, while grumbling about how you like all this "mushy stuff". he's smiling though, you can see it.

ruggie bucchi

ruggie struggles to make things work out to get stuff for himself, so he can't help but stress and worry a little about what he should do for you. he never seemed to be one to like the holidays for this reason. but he wants to be able to give to you the world yet he's stuck with working extra around places in town near campus or doing stuff for other people at school to be able to get extra savings to get you something, even if it's simple. with the addition of his own personal things, as he does hand pick the flowers (one's he knows you'd find pretty and like) and set the up together. he plays off his nervousness that day with a cheeky grin and laugh, but he feels so warm in the face.

azul ashengrotto

loves valentines day or any holiday because he can figure out a way to profit off of it-- clearly that changes a bit since he's been with you. he wants to make the day perfect for you, he makes a special time at the end of the day to have dinner with you at the mostro lounge. (he'll make sure jade knows to have floyd be in line haha). he tries to be the perfect gentlemen of course... pulling out chair, opening the door, it's funny to see him stumble slightly as he tries to go over the top on a special day like this. he keeps a cool demeanor, but he can't help but feel so anxious and his chest tighten with worry. he melts as soon as you simply place your hand on his and tell him how much you like it.

jade leech

he is unused to human customs, so with holidays like this it makes him curious more than anything. hearing you talk about it in anyway is instantly taken note of. he keeps interest as if he wants to know more about traditions on land but it's so he can figure out more of what you'd like or what you'd want. either way, jade knows how to do his best to make you happy - he'd be shamelessly a little over the top for occasions such as these. though, he'd treat you similarly as azul would, he's just smoother hehe.

kalim al-asim

oh kalim is overjoyed for this day, it's even more of an excuse to completely spoil you with anything you want. he can't just choose one thing, it's obviously going to be multiples, clothes, treats, flowers, accessories- if you wanted an elephant, you could probably get that as well. you may have to tell him to calm down, he cant help but get so excited. also, he will literally adore anything you give him. it could be simply a letter with some flowers, he'd be swooning. feeling so special, he can't believe he has the privilege to be yours.

jamil viper

he's definitely tamer than kalim, but the simple yet sweet affections and gifts he has for you are very personalized and loving. he wants it to be a very special and private setting- he hates interruptions and only just wants his time with you. if you happen to get him anything as well, he'll be flattered and try to hide his face with his hood slightly, saying it wasn't necessary for you to do that. he loves it though. you can get a softer jamil out of this day, especially in the late-night hours when he can be more open.

vil schoenheit

vil... would be able to gift you the best brands of whatever you want,,, like multiple colors and sizes too. it's whatever you'd like with him. he chuckles and adores the look on your face with what he's given you. but on the more personal note, he will give you the prettiest flowers along with a (long) written letter by him. he believes that's the best way for him to express how he feels towards it. vil loves anything you'd gift him; he loves personal things more than anything though. he'd gently place his hands on your cheeks and kiss you on the face a few times before reaching your lips, telling you how much he loves it.

rook hunt

he finds this holiday to be so beautiful, he loves it and doesn't quite understand anyone's lack of interest for it. he finds love so alluring and the idea of it all is so perfect to him. of course, he'd endlessly shower you in attention and very personalized poems, art, gifts and more as he can't just choose one thing to express his love for you. he is an intense, he is constantly thinking of ways he could show you, his affections. in all honesty, him on this day feels no different than any other because of how passionate he is about these kinds of things.

idia shroud

oh he hated this holiday, thought it was mushy and gross, just a consumerism kind of scheme.... then fell victim to that when he fell in love with you. so now here he is anxiously going off and rambling to ortho about ideas he has on what he can do for you. he is so nervous but idia knows you so well. i'd think he'd be the type to get you some sort of basket of goodies and stuff that he thinks (or hopes) that you would love, also a few things he may have even made and created himself, designed just for you. he'd bounce his leg and bite his lip with a nervous grin as he watches you look at all he put together for you for your gift. he then goes on and kinda explains everything he got you- the ends of his hair turn pink when you kiss him and thank him. he feels so proud of himself.

malleus draconia

he has an idea on what the holiday is... it certainly intrigued him when he first started learning about it. as this is traditions he is not quite used to. he'd definitely notice the way you seem to be excited or talk about it to him, malleus would go to lilia as well since that old fae may have a better understanding of it than him. to which, he suggests all the classic and traditional gifts for malleus to give. as soon as he realizes the great deal of giving things during this holiday, he gets ahead of himself by finding something he wants to impress and see you with. like a ring, prettily adorned in some rare and exquisite gem. he'd have a gentle smile on his face as he presents it to you along with the other things lilia had recommended. if you're happy he is happy.

lilia vanrouge

he finds this holiday oh so endearing and sweet. he is happy he finally gets to participate in it with you. he'll go out of his way to treat you so carefully and sweet- albeit old fashioned if you will, but that's normal lilia honestly. he had originally wanted to make you dinner himself but when he told silver, his son seemed to have insisted on having him do that instead. he found that to be so kind, lilia was pleased he would have some more time and attention focused on you anyway. the flowers he got for you a deep and dark color but like riddle, he removes the thorns!

[alexxncl]

‼️NIGHTBRINGER LESSON 52 SPOILERS‼️

masterlist | all lessons | season 3 | lesson 51.1 | lesson 51.2 | lesson 53.1 | lesson 53.2

...this mf cannot be serious 😭

but also why even attempt to hurt the brothers in the first place ????

i mean i guess that they thought nothing bad would happen bc diavolo himself wasn't there at the time, but he was gonna get there eventually and obviously some kind of repercussions would be in store for whoever harmed 7 of the most powerful demons in the devildom

ig i'm just as dumb as mams bc i thought it was mc's luck that helped them win

and i use dumb in the most AFFECTIONATE way possible ntm on my mans

but it would also make sense for mc's luck to have pulled through for them right ??? they're naturally lucky since they have a pact with mammon

but in all honesty, belphie being this smart wasn't on my bingo card even though it definitely should have been. ofc the man who can sleep on top of a book and absorb the knowledge within said book could figure out something as intricate as this

this is hilariously stupid to me 😭 i love mams

imagine the mascots actually turn evil bc of the way the brothers are treating them 😭 full circle fr fr

WHY DO I HAVE TO CHOOOOOSE UGHHHHH

i wanna stay with my wife but i also wanna go with mams 😔💔 i'll go back and pick thirteen afterwards i guess

oh ??? out in the open ???? with diavolo right there ????? y'all getting way too bold

i wouldn't be worried if lucifer wasn't worried but luci looks really worried...so i'm worried

...oh

that's why he's worried

mc can NEVER catch a break istg. see i knew they were foreshadowing something happening to mc with the bonus part 2 (?) lessons ago but i didn't know it'd have something to do with mc directly. like i thought it'd be from an outside factor

imagine we get left on a massive cliffhanger at the end of s3 and it's mc on their deathbed praying i don't speak this into existence

THIS MF 😭 how do you lose that badly with mc literally within arm's reach ???

hmmm.....

HMMMMMMMMMMM

also i went back and did the shopping and theme park routes and hm...

i like how our options have a little bit more weight in the story now, even if the margin isn't that much when compared to the 1st game since the overall outcome ends up being the same

gonna go back and redo the casino route just bc idk if anything else is gonna change

[doonalli]

hi !!! i lauv ur analysis’ of yttd !!! would you consider doing one for maple :)?

Woah my first ask!!! Thank you!!!!! Maple is such an awesome character there is so much that I could say about her, I even went a bit into it with Mai's analysis Maple's character is such a tragic one honestly, and there is a lot I could talk about, but writing this on the spot I obviously won't be going as in depth as usual, although I really do want to write a full analysis on Maple sometime, but 3-2 seems just around the corner so idk if I'll get the time....

Regardless, for right now, I'll talk a bit about the way Maple is presented, how that plays into stereotypes, and most importantly how she subverts them too

Maple is immediately presented as a very girly girl, right as we enter her room we are hit with loads of pink fluffy furniture, and she particularly has a keen interest in tea, all things that are traditionally feminine

Even her fight follows this with its emotions gimmick, playing into how women are seen as hysteric by the people who don't respect them

and further playing into that girly stereotype Maple has a deep love for Midori. It's a common trope for women in media to be nothing more than the love interest for the men around them, or for them to fall head over heels for the men they love.

But for Maple this is revealed to be much more sinister, with it actually being something programmed into her, rather than her own true feelings

let's not beat around the bush here, Midori is by no means a good person, AT ALL, but compared to Maple's love, Midori's affection is incredibly twisted, with the prime example being how he talks about Shin

In Kanna's route Midori talks about how unfortunate it is that Sou had to die, as he wanted to kill him himself.

And with that context I find it interesting how when Maple ends up powering down and "dying" Midori takes her and goes to "revive" he with "the power of his love"

It's just peculiar to me the difference between them and how Midori treats them. On that point though, another thing to note with Maple is hands.

To even enter the discussion room a pair needs to hold hands. People holding hands can often be used as a sign of affection, or intimacy, even Ranmaru himself falling into this.

But when Midori decides takes her to get "upgraded" he notably grabs ahold of her wrists, rather than her hands.

Grabbing someone's wrists is usually done because it exerts more power over them, compared to holding hands where it's a mutual act from both parties, and can be let go when either party desires it.

He could have grabbed her by the hand, or any other place honestly, or nankidai could have simply chosen not to show it at all, yet a specific focus was put on Midori grabbing Maple's wrists.

It's clear Midori doesn't treat Maple with care like the green books suggest

Nor does he make any attempt to understand her emotions or sympathise with her like the manual says

I mean he literally gave her the manual in place of a love letter to her, clearly not caring enough to actually write something for her. It doesn't get more ironic than that.

And it doesn't stop there for Maple, as when she is upgraded into Maple 2.0 she is forced into fighting her friends, in particular Mai

And this leads to partway through the fight where she fully cuts off her last remaining hand, which with the context of everything I've said also cuts off her chance of simply holding someone's hand...

But its not all bad for Maple, after all if Anzu survived the way she'll reconcile with Maple is by holding and shaking hands

(fun fact: Nankidai showed an old version of the sprite where Sara reconciles with Maple on stream once and in that sprite she also held Maple's hand, but that was changed before release)

And by the end of her story, Maple is able to fight back against Midori and put the first crack in his facade, even pushing through his "I love you"s and outright stating that she won't believe him. She pushes back on this idea of being defined by her love and is able to truly show herself as a strong person able to stand up the abuser in her life.

And Q-taro will even call Midori out on his mistake here, on how he underestimated Maple, because of his prior expectations,

And coinciding with that, this happens after Maple's monitors all break, monitors that were all linked to emotions, and put them neatly into boxes. It's not like Maple suddenly becomes emotionless either, she still hesitates when Midori says he loves her after all, but it isn't as easy as just reading it on her face, because she isn't defined by her emotions either.

Maple is more than the stereotypes that can be pushed onto her by the people in charge, (or the people who program her,) and the way she is able to fight for her own power says a lot, and proves that she is so much more than what it may seem on the surface, after all, she is human too.

================================================

Thank you again anon for the question, this IS shorter than the others i've written due to me writing it on the spot but i really hope i was able to fufill ur expectations even just a bit I'd love to revisit Maple someday, hopefully we'll be able to see more of her in 3-2 too (or YTTS or a minisode or a page in the updated artbook or SOMETHING) but for now I really enjoy her place in the story and her portrayal and maybe i've been to do her some justice and was able to show some others that too!!!

[autisticlalna]

okay. full episode analysis coming later because i have so, so much to say about that one clip, but:

so. Dominion references. that's the big thing. we got two of them back-to-back in a very hard to ignore way if you're familiar with season 2.

but it's not just been Dominion. that's been what we're all excited about, obviously, but there's been some other stuff blending in.

after all, we have Viking surviving the apocalypse and talking about how he has experience working with tnt bombers-- something said ooc, maybe, but he has been working with them on both Hardcore and Twitch SMP, and died on TSMP because of getting caught in the explosions.

there's also the moment earlier in the trial where M1G starts ripping into Milkman for what he did on Pleasantcraft. again, line between ooc and in-character is blurry here, but either way Viking recognized what M1G was getting at. (Viking also cut out the part where it got called into question if that should count as testimony against Milkman seeing as it happened on another server and Elffe said "let's get multiversal". god, literally everything elffe did in the trial was great)

but, speaking of multiversal, i'm going to bring up something i've been calling "multiversal bleed" for lack of a better term. sometimes the lines dividing the Vikings are... wiggly. history likes to repeat and mirror itself (as shown in the trial), but some stuff slips in regardless of reality echoing itself. this is the obligatory part of the post where i pull up the TSMP transcripts.

because, for some reason, this specific line from tViking sticks in my head:

Viking: [cat beckoning noises] Frickin’ cat, like the cat I had one time. C’mon.

the reason this is filed under multiversal bleed is because Viking had a cat in Gilded Hardcore. (Also in Dominion, but Cranberry is better remembered.) tViking also could've had a cat during the gap of time between his arrival in TSMP's world and tRuby's, but either way the reaction was "wait, Gilded?"

there's also an equally brief example in the solo Skyblock series, where Wanderer recognizes Avid despite neither of them having crossed paths on-camera before... or those specific versions, anyway. again, Gilded Hardcore.

multiversal bleed is kinda a consequence of mcyt in general when you have multiple series running with different iterations of your character. there's bound to be crossovers and quick jokes and the like. but, considering that Viking's lore has been steadily building up to his status as a universal constant, it's more on the table as "something with canon repercussions".

going off of what moxijunk has suggested before, Summertime might be having heavy bleed from other versions of himself. he's still a separate entity from dViking, or Hardcore, or tViking, but when things get a little too familiar, memories that aren't his start to spill through. it seems to be what's happening to Cherryby, after all.

there is another route, though. on some level, we know the Vikings are aware of each other... maybe. again, most of my evidence is going to be from Twitch SMP, seeing as that went deeper into the overall storyline that's been building since the introduction of V.P. as a concept.

Navigator, local Viking that knows about the multiverse and is very involved in keeping it on-rails, told Sapphire at one point:

Navigator: You won’t tell me anything. And none of the others seem to know… or know even he exists.

and Sapphire later brought up:

Sapphire: Well. I am me as much as this one… is nothing. Hm. Y’know? Me, myself, and I… always work together. We’ve always have. Just as all Vikings. And… Navigator: So you work together… Sapphire: Even to an extent, VP, back before… Well. He didn’t, anymore.

...so there's some level of communication going on between the Vikings. Navigator keeping himself hidden from tViking probably has more to do with "tViking being an unknown and dangerous variable" rather than "Vikings aren't supposed to interfere with each other". maybe. basically anything with Navigator involved is vague, though.

and then, of course:

Viking: So for me, [laughs] I may not build these things myself, but I wake up and they’re done, and I know it’s me, because me wants to help me. Vikings help Viking. That’s how it works.

Vikings help Viking.

this hinges on Summertime being aware, either consciously or subconsciously, of his other selves.

in a TSMP stream i don't have a clip of at the moment he did swap places with tViking / Navigator, but there was no meeting of the Vikings and we don't know if he understood what was happening or if he even remembers it. most of the evidence here is from Navigator, who is an outlier and probably should not be counted, and tViking, who has been voted "most possessable Viking" since near the start of TSMP's storyline.

good lord this post got long. i'm going to go get coffee. draw your own conclusions because i forgot mine

[lucyflawless]

So, wow. My week got even more insane. So I'm venting about it here. Now, I've had a couple days to process.

Sorry to anyone who messaged that I haven't replied to yet. I've just not had the time or spoons. I really appreciate you taking the time to message, though. It really does mean so much.

On Monday my mum disappeared. Her phone turned off. From the hours of 2pm to midnight. She must've turned her phone on briefly around 6pm, as we managed to get tracking details. She was literally in the middle of nowhere. Up a forested hill in the cold and rain.

I'd called the police before this, and after that ping, we contacted mountain rescue. The police obviously saw this as seriously as we did (which quite honestly came as a pleasant shock) and saw it fit to get both the canine unit and a helicopter out there for the search too.

I live in a pretty small town, so it caused quite the stir. People standing outside their houses to see all the police cars and helicopter. It was honestly insane. I just remember thinking, "I have to wake up." You always see this kind of thing as one of them, someone looking outside the window, wondering what all the fuss is about. But that was My Mum.

I drove as close as I could to where her phone pinged and spent hours and miles walking to and around that area. God knows how many miles, but I can tell you it was an insane amount, mostly all uphill. In the middle of nowhere, on an old dirt track, surrounded by forest, thinking she literally could be anywhere. She was the needle in the haystack. It was also pitch-black, no moon in the sky, with only my phone torch. I informed every police car of the area she was last known to be. Walking actually made it easier. At least it felt like I was doing something. But when the dog unit arrived, I was advised to go home so not to mess with the scent.

Sitting around in that situation is crazy. You can't do anything but think. And your brain instantly goes down the darkest path. You imagine the worst-case scenario. You wait for the worst news of your life, because you can't do anything else. You hope that your brain is wrong. But the hours continue to tick by, and the longer the wait, the more your brain convinces you of the worst.

I was asked to get into the police van to go down to the mountain rescue centre. I had to give them every single detail as to my mum's mental state and inform them of every known route she's taken in the past when walking the dog. She's been just about everywhere in the area. And so I told them all of that. You just do it. You're asked a question, you answer it. You're offered tea, you drink it. You're asked how you're doing, you say, "yeah, as good as can be expected." On complete auto-pilot. Again, though, it was better than sitting at the kitchen table, just waiting. But when they'd gotten all the information they needed, I was sent back home. To just Wait.

Then my mum came home. At about midnight. Somehow, she managed to evade all the police, helicopter, and mountain rescue volunteers. Subsequently, I find out she did that on purpose because being found by one of them would've been "too embarrassing". Suddenly, I see movement out of the back window, and she's back. After 10hrs of total horror, there she is.

She'd gone out with the intention of never coming back. She'd fallen over and lay there in the cold mud for hours. She only came back when she realised all the hubbub was over her, and she couldn't stand the shame of that.

She's so unwell that she went out to die and only came back due to embarrassment.

She then started talking about how nobody cares about her, how she'd be better off dead, that nobody shows her kindness or empathy... I just broke down into sobs. I'd spent all day trying to find her. Now she was here, saying that. How else do you react to that entire situation? To those words?

Even after all this, she obviously didn't admit intent to the police. So, sectioning is still a no-go. The closest she can get an appointment with a counsellor is the 23rd of January. And the private counselling place the police informed her to call still haven't gotten back to us...

It makes you despair. The complete and utter lack of help. She needs help, and there isn't any. Where is the support for someone who overdoses one day and goes missing for 12hrs the next? I understand that they can't section someone who doesn't admit intent. I get that. But even so... the 23rd of January is the closest date she can get for a single counselling session over the damn phone. And that's it.

Again, I think I'm handling all of this as well as can be expected. I am managing. And I will be okay. But worrying everyday when and what the next thing she'll do is... is quite honestly horrific. And despite her being ill, the things she's saying Do hurt. I know she's irrational right now, I know deep down she doesn't mean it, but God. It doesn't make it easier to hear.

Hearing her say that I don't care, that I don't actually love her, that I never prove to her that I do... especially after everything I did to get her home. It fucking hurt.

And it's not like I can take a break. I have to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid again. I have to make sure she calls up all the places the police and crisis team have advised her to. When I went over the next day to do just that, she told me I was bullying her, that I was hounding her. She threw the most hurtful insults at me, things she knew would hurt. And still I had to stand there, and make sure she made those calls.

Man.

What a fucking week.

Sorry for the hideously long wall of text. Honestly, I'm mostly writing this for my own sake. To just get it out. I've actually emailed a couple of counselling places for myself, because I just know I need to talk all of this through. I've come so far, I've gotten better, and I refuse for this to backtrack me.

There is so much more to all of this. There are so many moving parts, things that would turn this wall of text into a novel. It's so much to sort through. And I think speaking it through with someone can only be beneficial, so that's my next step. As for mum, I've just got to stay strong and remember that her words are only those of someone deeply unwell.

If there is a silver lining to be drawn from everything that happened on Monday, it's that I'm a strong, resilient, and caring person. I will power through. I will push my mind and body to extremes to help people I love. I am so much more capable than I think I ever gave myself credit for. I also have an amazing support system of siblings, who, despite not being able to be here in person to help, have been wildly supportive to me throughout all of this. And friends that have been there for me and listened to me talk about all of this, their support and love has been genuinely overwhelming.

Things are really hard. But I have so much to be thankful for. So many people that have given me so much love. And man, I really am lucky to have that.

[pondhue]

honestly having a hard time trying to justify watching s8. we beat rick prime. imitation voice actors just feel Wrong to my autistic ass (tho i support them firing JR obviously). what do we hope for? more Diane backstory that will make her being dead/gone across the multiverse all the more painful? the birdperson child? am i a poser that "classic adventures" aren't enough for me?

edit: sorry in advance that this response is kind of long. i'm gonna be tagging it as #long text and #longtext for easy muting aaahhhh

anon your concerns are super valid. like, if you find yourself having a hard time, there's no harm in taking a step back and waiting to see what happens before giving it a chance. and if you still can't justify it for whatever reason, that's fine too. considering what Rick and Morty is and what it has become, it's completely understandable. i don't think you're a poser for feeling the way you do. i personally prefer that they steer from that too, and/or if they chose to still explore that route even now, i hope it's in a way where they deconstruct the formula rather than uphold it. Rick and Morty is the type of show where it challenges the viewer, but it also has the potential, i'd like to think, to challenge the people working on the show themselves (even more-so than it already has from what i've read/watched/heard). there's no harm in having expectations and going "i've had enough of this thing, i want something new". personally, i just see it as you being critical of media you consume and enjoy, which i don't think should ever be seen as a bad thing. if anything i think it should be practiced more (within reason of course). and i've also been asking the same questions to myself. i also have no clue what to hope for either, and after ruminating on it, i'm simply trying to embrace that maybe there's nothing to justify in terms of choosing to watch it or not. again, you could either wait until it comes out and give it a chance, or not! i'm choosing view s8 as all of us literally "sitting in the back seat of the ship" and being along for the ride, embracing the chaos. that's how it felt for me in the second half of season 7. it felt as if they were considering viewers who genuinely LOVE the show and just want it to get better (which could be cope on my part!! idk!!!) i think with how s6 went and especially with how s7 ended, i'd be more surprised if they went back to the classic formula (pre, like, season 5) after EVERYTHING that's happened thus far. not to mention that they're locked in with adult swim for like, many more seasons so i'm sure the concerns you're expressing here are definitely something they've considered and are likely now even more-so with the traction the show has been getting again. i truly want to believe that the minds behind R&M do not want to let themselves or the show itself grow complacent (again, could be cope and me just being really mentally ill about this show). sorry if this is incoherent/rambly/not what you were expecting when sending this ask. you really made me think more about all this though and i hope this answer suffices!

[ithinkdogshouldvote2]

THE DNDADS TEENS PLAY BG3!!! HOW THEY’RE PLAYING AND WHO THEYRE ROMANCING!

‼️‼️Pretty major spoilers for big parts of Baldurs gate. PLEASE read with caution. ‼️‼️

Scary: she plays a drow wild magic sorcerer. If this is before she and Willy broke their patron pact, then her dream visitor is Willy. If its after that, then its some really hot emo person. In terms of romance, Scary is likely drawn to Astarion after the vampire reveal but is torn between him and Shadowheart. (Also Wyll because hes actually GENUINELY nice to her but sincerity scares her so she doesn’t try to pursue anything with him even though she does actually really like him) she tries to romance the dream visitor (if it's NOT Willy obviously) but is pretty disgusted by the later reveal and later kills them. Scary plays evil until she gets to the nightfall and shadowheart doesnt kill the night song. After that, scary makes an effort for the rest of the game to be better.

Lincoln: Linc is just a normal human guy oath of devotion paladin. He’s literally just playing himself. He makes his dream visitor his dad which makes later scenes REALLY uncomfortable and he gets real-world mad at Marco like it’s somehow his fault. Linc helped minthara take over the grove because he got to the goblin camp before meeting the tieflings and he supports women. (#ally)(also she reminded him of scary and her character) but he massacred an entire people and then didn’t know why everyone was so upset at the party. Anyways he ended up romancing her. He DID NOT romance the dream visitor for obvious reasons. Linc does a FULLY evil run because he listens to women (ally) also hes: "too far in now to be saved anyways."

Normal: norm is a half elf, elf, gnome, dwarf, halfling, dragonborn and gith. He keeps restarting the game when he makes a choice he feels guilty about (Often). it REALLY bothers him that he cant make ALL of his companions approve of ALL of his choices at the same time. Eventually, he settles on a halfling college of valour bard. His dream visitor is (unfortunately) hermie. For romances, like Scary, hes also drawn in my Astarion’s “emo bad boy ness” and normal BELIEVES that he can fix him. He cant. He ascends him because he really just BELIEVES that there’s no way astarion will continue the cycle of abuse. It’ll be different this time for sure. It’s- uh- NOT. (Shocker). Also he romanced the dream visitor and felt guilty about it. Normal plays a good route (with the exception of ascending astarion) and the final party is bittersweet with his partner being the way he is. (Scary hears him talk about what happens to astarion and is FULLY like: “norm thats straight up toxic as fuck. LEAVE HIM” "ITS MY FAULT HES LIKE THIS" "no its NOT norm i am BEGGING you to raise your standards")

Taylor: oh you KNOW hes playing a tiefling. He plays a gloom stalker ranger because now he can actually USE those skills on the road. His dream visitor is his anime waifu. He’s romancing Lae’zel WHICH SOUNDS KIND OF SUPRISING until you realize the conversation went like this: Lizzie: “you’ve earned my respect and more still. You’ve proven your wits and your efficient and dominant. In and out of battle.” Taylor: “heh. It’s about TIME someone recognized what i bring to the group. I truly am the backbone of our party and shes smart for finally recognizing the value of my expertise. A WORTHY PARTNER FOR- (15 more minutes of monologue)” also he romanced the dream visitor and DID NOT feel guilty about it and was in fact, VERY onboard with the later revel. But he does end up turning on them and killing them to free Orpheus. (which he cried about afterwards) Taylor plays a fully good play through and gets the best possible ending.

[anthurak]

9S is the final boss though? Like his whole arc after 2B dies is him going insane until you get to the final fight with A2 with her being the obviously better choice.

Alright, ‘cracks knuckles’ guess I’m finally talking about those Nier takes I’ve never gotten around to.

Yes, you are correct. Which is why I call 9S a ‘blemish’ and not something that outright ruined the game for me.

It’s still annoying when you get into later parts of Route B when 9S starts stumbling onto all the big lore and backstory reveals with even Commander White dropping into emphasize how important what he’s finding is. As if the story is saying ‘aren’t you a smart and special little boy, 9S, for discovering all these important things’. Which combined with 2B dying at the start of Route C, makes it feel like, as I said, 9S is getting the ‘he was the REAL main character all along!’ treatment. Particularly when we consider that 9S gets to be the PC of both Route B and half of Route C, whereas 2B only gets Route A and A2 only gets half of Route C, effectively meaning that 9S technically gets the most screen time, story-wise.

Add on the fact that, as I said in the original repost, 9S reads and acts like literally every generic, cardboard-cutout self-insert anime protag-guy, to the point where some of his dialogue with 2B that I think the game wants us to interpret as ‘flirting’ feels like it’s out of a goddamn visual novel, and you can see why I consider him pretty insufferable.

It also doesn’t help that every time I’ve revisited Nier: Automata, I’m always finding 2B more and more interesting and compelling as a character. Just as an example, has anyone noticed that despite being seemingly the most ‘professional’ and loyal to the YoRHA cause on the surface of the three PCs, 2B is actually the most merciful of the three to the machine lifeforms? Like how when you first encounter non-hostile machines, 2B doesn’t want to attack them, stating that there is no reason to attack those that aren’t attacking them. Or how 2B is actually the MOST open of the three to talking and working with Pascal, whereas A2 is at first extremely distrustful and 9S just wanted to attack him on sight.

And yes, I really like A2 as well. Unfortunately the way her route is constructed means that she feels just as much like a replacement for 2B as she does a separate character in her own right. Which combined with the shorter length of Route C, makes her character feel a bit truncated.

And yes, 9S rapidly revealing himself to be a crazed, murderous incel simping for 2B the moment she dies IS in and of itself a great, twisted and interesting character turn, and I wholly agree that A2 having to Old-Yeller him is absolutely the better choice for the final battle. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really change everything else I’ve been saying up to now. Or the fact that 2B absolutely got fridged to make it happen.

Personally, for a long time now I’ve felt a better way to do the post-‘everything’s gone to shit’ reveal that we see in Route C would have 2B not actually dying but instead taken by A2 and eventually purged of the logic virus, though with 9S still wholly BELIEVING that 2B is dead at A2’s hands. Say, A2 still stabs 2B, but it turns out to be non-fatal.

From there, Route C follows A2 and a weakened/regaining-her-strength 2B working together. Likely with some fun gameplay twists were-in you’re switching control between the two. All the while, 9S is deteriorating even further than what we saw originally, to the point where even when he learns that 2B is alive and sees her again, he just goes into an even more crazed ‘you abandoned me!’ and ‘you left me for her!’ mode.

Which actually ends up leading to 9S mirroring Eve’s own crazed obsession with Adam and the rampage he went on after the latter’s death. Which in turn at first leads 2B to believe that 9S has some lingering virus infection from Adam and Eve from when they were holding him captive and that is the source of his madness, meaning that 9S could still be saved.

Of course, in a tragic twist, it is revealed that it ISN’T something lingering from Eve, but rather that 9S is deliberately re-infecting himself with the virus. That the true source of 9S’s madness is simply his own twisted obsession with 2B.

Which in turn leads to a final boss fight of 2B and A2 fighting a now-monstrous 9S. A fight which culminates in 2B and A2, with the help of Pods 042 and 153, hacking 9S in an extended trippy hacking sequence.

A sequence which culminates in 2B/the player having to hack into 9S’s menu and actually forcibly uninstall his OS-chip in order to put him down for good. Complete with you/2B effectively having to fight the ‘Are you sure?’ confirmation box which becomes progressively more crazed and unhinged, until Pod 042 mentions that you can force-uninstall the chip through some seemingly simply method like holding the button. Or perhaps something equally zany like switching control to A2 to uninstall the chip while the confirmation box is ‘occupied’ with 2B.

Thus, we still get a tragic/bittersweet ending of 2B being forced to kill 9S, but this time for good with the sense that now she can finally move on. Also this version would absolutely have 2B and A2 becoming a couple.

So yeah, that's a... few of my takes on Nier. Heck, I didn't even go into the AU I've had percolating for a few years now wherein 9S is expunged from the story entirely, 2B is partnered with 60 and is a bit of a yuri-harem-protag and there is frankly WAY more world-building than is necessary.

[slashersgostabbystabstab]

if one day u ever decide to do requests please consider singularity with a very sassy s/o who doesn't hide the fact they like him. s/o always goes to him whenever a trial ends to tall nonstop for hours, likes physical affection and is always telling him good things abt him.

I went with the headcanon route because I thought it would be fastest to post, but please don’t hesitate to shoot me a message if you are wanting a fic! I hope this is to your liking ^^'

Thank you for the request! I admit this ask is a big reason as to why I started accepting requests again <3

Hux of course doesn’t feel emotions so it takes a bit to get to him, but receiving compliments and such would most definitely pique his interest. Feed that ego of his and it forces him to hesitate bringing any harm to you. He wants to see there all these words are going

He thinks knows these things about him are true, so it probably wouldn’t be such a bad thing to have somebody who will give him some adoration 

Obviously our beloved robot is very vocal about his distaste towards humans, so initially having a human follow him around will be…exasperating

Unless he was the one who was annoying and followed his human around, he’s gonna be a total hypocrite once the favor is returned and he’s followed around any time he’s not in a trial

Like either way, Hux is going to be pretty damn hypocritical as if he hadn’t been leaving Dvarka solely to follow and stalk observe you

He’s surprisingly easily to spot, even when he’s looking through his biopods. If you bring up having been followed by him, he will very much deny it and basically call you crazy

“You’re delusional.” “And you’re cute when you lie with that monotone voice.”

There will be moments in which he gets impatient and leaves his map in search of you, only to get frustrated when he can’t find you to then return and see you chilling inside the Huxlee Caracas III

“What took you so long, Hux?” Yeah that would IRK him to no end and he’d give you the silent treatment (until you joke about leaving)

Seeing the personality on this robot, he probably needs somebody who can match his attitude. Let’s be honest, he is a brat and needs somebody who will show they are not going to deal with his shit

It will be satisfactory when he arrives to Dvarka after trials though, no complaints from him but also not very much conversation 

Hux claims to find your voice annoying when you talk and talk and talk…why do you talk so much? Go back to worshipping him or something

He’s lying. Again.

Initially it would get on his non-existent nerves; he doesn’t understand what you’re talking about nor does he care. But really, as time goes by it’s pretty soothing hearing you talk and talk. It’s the background sound he desperately needs on a map filled with sounds he can hear everywhere all at once. 

He doesn’t ever really leave Dvarka, but if he does he expects you to be at his side but again will not admit it. He also expects conversation (from you); don’t be surprise if you ask him something and he doesn’t respond

Now…Hux with affection…oh geez, literally not a big fan. Whether it be due to the disgust he feels for humanity and every biological component they have, or his heightened senses that have made him sensitive  to everything…it will be a challenge to get to being affectionate with him 

Hux claims he doesn’t care about a lot of things, yourself included, but there’s so much to learn and so much he can’t exactly do. You could almost say he yearns

Those moments in which he sees you being physically affectionate with others, a negative feeling will be deep within him. He doesn’t have emotions, but certain feelings are still there (and fear is definitely one of them)

It might bother him enough that he does become a bit more sassy, but once you figure it out and ask if it’s alright to show him some more fondness…yeah, he might just be putty 

It’s not just anybody touching him, it’s his pet human and you’re not slamming a pallet down on his head. You’re not stabbing him in the back nor are you making his skin melt

It becomes a common occurrence for him to demand physical affection. And for you to tell him aaall the good things about him

I don't like to describe Hux like an animal, but...he genuinely is so cat-like. Very independent and does not need you nor does he want y- wait come back where are you going I did not give you permission to leave come and hold my claw

[salemcantupdate]

So this is my updated shipping and favorites perspective, given my prior one I no longer agree with.

First things first, I believe in big polycule ship, everyone is together and dating. (Sobs in that’s not the case).

But! My favorite ships that isn’t just massive polycule (preface I am a multishipper):

Gale and Astarion, aka, Bloodweave. Listen, it’s all big now, we all know about it. Opposites but the same, walking the same path, they can make each other so much worse or so much better. Hubris vs self preservation, both essentially having the possibility to become a god. Both have been beaten down and belittled by beings far more powerful than them, one knowing the abuse and the other not. Also the manipulative hatefuck to love would be incredible.

Lae’zel and Shadowheart, aka Silverheart. Classic enemies to rivals to lovers. Both have been mislead and brainwashed by evil female goddesses that demanded total obedience, that both people completely dedicated themselves to until they realized everything they knew was a lie. Whats more romantic than fighting and getting bloody and then fighting over who tops?

Wyll and Karlach, (I don’t know their ship name, may I suggest Devilbound?) is one that I’m still kinda iffy about honestly. I’m not sure if I can see them as explicitly dating, but I can see them being best buddies who fuck sometimes. I can see them making a deal like “If neither of us are married in a decade let’s just marry each other.” Like they aren’t actively in love or awed by each other but there is deep respect and they would fight and die for each other. And I also headcanon that if you romance Karlach and then go to Avernus with her, Wyll HAS to join and it’s gone be a weird little polycule thing I don’t CARE.

So, another thing. I really really like a threesome of Karlach, Lae’zel, and Shadowheart. The Ladies. But like, Lae’zel and Shadowheart both immediately love Karlach. Lae’zel being like “You WILL respect her” and Shadowheart like “She could carry me to safety.” Are they not blatantly simping??? Like I think they would hatefuck and then stare at Karlach and be like “We need her too.” Two scary women and then the golden retriever girlfriend.

Wyll and Astarion isn’t one that really calls to me, though I get the appeal. Monster and monster hunter, Wyll being the hero that Astarion always dreamed of saving him so long ago. So on and so forth. I just prefer a Redeemed Durge playing that role for Astarion?? But I definitely get the appeal.

Wyll and Gale, I haven’t seen anything for. I don’t know if anyone ships them. But listen, these two would try and one up each other in wowing and wooing the other, Gale with the weave and Wyll with the stories of old. Imagine Wyll trying to get old and out-of-shape Gale to dance in his physical body. They are both 100% into worshipping their partner, so them worshipping each other would just be so cute to me.

Now, this one really surprised me. But I really like Karlach and Astarion??? Like, cause, OK. If you romance Astarion as Karlach, you can’t actually have sex with him in his first romance scene cause it’ll burn him. This causes Astarion to panic, immediately forced him out of his comfort zone, and also ensures a route in which you never have to have sex with Astarion??? Which I know I wish I could do in a normal route! So lowkey adore those two. Also, they’re literally black cat and golden retriever??? Someone who literally went through Hell and lost all bodily autonomy for so long but still laughs and smiles and has so much hope compared to someone who was beaten to hopelessness. It’s cute! But I also ship this in specifically the asexual way. They kiss and cuddle and bump heads and are adorable, but I can’t really see them having sex. That’s just me though haha.

Durge and Gortash obviously fucked and were so in love with each other in such a horrible twisted way. If Gortash ordered it, Durge would stay their hand. Durge prayed for forgiveness, begged for it, promised, swore, vowed that he would still kill everyone, kill all. But he was in love, he was obsessed, and Gortash may have been able to pull Durge from Bhaal’s grasp, only for Gortash himself to fall to the depths of depravity. I need more fucked up fics for these, with all the gore dirt and blood. I want it to be like the movie Hellraiser.

Durge and Astarion is by far my favorite for “canon” routes. It’s just, Astarion doesn’t feel like he’s a damsel in distress being saved, he doesn’t want that. He wants to be your equal, he wants to help you, and as Durge you are able to save each other from the hunger, from the urge, from the “monster”, from the Father. Both were created to be a tool, to be used, for a singular purpose to serve. And both break free, and then have the choice. Shall they become what they were made to be? What they are destined to be? Or take a shit on destiny and be truly happy?

Now for bear-daddy Halsin. He’s more difficult, as his story isn’t fully explored in the plot of the game and he was mostly added as a proper companion because he was so popular. Which I’m extremely happy about cause I fucking love him. But! Due to this, it’s hard for me to ship him with anyone. I’ve seen some people argue for Kagha or Rath, but I personally disagree. I do like Astarion and him, or a poly with him, Astarion, and Redeemed Durge. Fighting the “beast within” and all that, Halsin in the more metaphorical sense. BUT, let me offer something up as an idea, a concept if you will. Gale and Halsin. NOW, now, let me explain. This isn’t JUST them being my two favorite romance options and me being sad I can’t be with them both. But! Both were young men suddenly thrust upon with a massive amount of responsibility and faith put in them; Halsin becoming a commander and archdruid as an apprentice during the war against Ketheric, Gale with being chosen by Mystra, taught by her, and then becoming her romantic partner. A literal goddess. And I’m one of the people who headcanon that their interactions started when Gale was a teenager. Gale both believes he is the best and deserves to die, Halsin has never once believed in his ability to lead. Also Halsin explicitly notes he will miss the library at the grove, and GUESS WHAT GALE HAS? A library. But like, imagine Gale making a magic teleportation circle thing that goes from his tower to the middle of the forest with a little cabin that Halsin lives in and they can easily travel and visit each other and fbskfhwkfjw. Also, both of them having weird sex scenes (that I absolutely adore). Gale with astral projection and Halsin with bear. I bet Gale is one of the few companions who’d be like “Oh you’re a bear? Chill, not the weirdest sexual experience I’ve had.” Halsin would also smile and nod along and sip tea and Gale goes on his long long rant and then— gah it could be so cute. Cottagecore meets academia. I’m gonna call their ship name CottageAcademia. I will take criticism on that name. I’m dumb.

Speaking of, if I failed to mention, Halsin and Gale are my absolute favorite romance options. Gale makes me giddy every single play through and I break my heart every time I have to say no to him for a different romance (like Astarion). He’s just… I find him so charming and cute and I love him and I GAJDHAKSHQK.

Anyways, npc involved ships. (Also I can’t say anything about Minthara cause I literally don’t know her, never played evil route)

Karlach and Dammon is cute, but, eh? I don’t get much from it personally. I think Karlach and Alfira would be cuter.

A fucked up ship that I like is Astarion and Raphael. It… yes, I know, it’s terrible, it’s abusive. But it’s juicy, it’s delicious, the best of the poisoned apples. There’s a fic on AO3 that’s just fantastic even though it’s only got two chapters so far, it’s called Palmarosa by thespectaclesofthor

… The Emperor and Gale. LISTEEENNN, it’s just, Gale is the only one ok with mindflayer Tav. And like, Emperor is smart. It’d be funny. Come on.

Another fun fucked up ship that I haven’t seen much of, Minthara and Orin the Red. It’s bad, it’s terrible, it’s so fucked up, but I like it.

Barcus and Wulbren, no, I don’t think it’s healthy. But Barcus clearly loves Wulbren so damned much and I just want the poor stupid gnome to be happy godsdammit all.

Apikusis and Kagha. So, I don’t know if anyone else has spoken to the Druid Apikusis, but she is one of the few druids who is desperately against the rite. And when I spoke to her after, she said she saw the old Kagha in the woman, was desperate that what she saw was true. What if they were girlfriends? Then Kagha fell to the shadow druids, and now that they’re back they can fall back into love? I just see so much possibility in them!

Olly and Rugan got down and dirty after barely surviving the gnolls and I’ll put money on that.

Omeluum and Blurg, they just seem like science husbands. They’re married and I refuse to take criticism on this.

That’s all I can really think of, but for characters I’m just absolutely obsessed with: He Who Was and Abdirak are my favorite npc’s. Gale and Halsin are my favorite companions.

Now, my personal opinion on class/race Tav/Durge romance for each character.

Shadowheart: Selune Cleric for obvious reasons, race I don’t think super matters. But I do like Durge, connect on amnesia. Just figure out how cleric and a Durge works haha.

Lae’zel: Githyanki who defected from the gith and has been living peacefully in hiding until recently (so a class that gives peaceful options) Tav

Astarion: Redeemed Durge, any race any class. I’m personally doing a Drow Spore Druid. But a paladin or cleric could also be super cute.

Gale: Wild Sorcerer / Bard, and I personally prefer gnome? But any race is still fine. Also Tav or Durge work fine to me, he’s gonna be a big simp. Though, I do personally like the idea of you becoming the mindflayer in this route. He would use magic to disguise you and it’d be cute

Wyll: Tiefling Bard… I know it’s the first that’s so specific but come on. He becomes a devil, he loves stories of old, y’all dance together. I think it’s cute. I also prefer Tav here, I just can’t see a circumstance where he looks past the murder of Alfira to romance a Durge.

Karlach: Honestly she’s the one I’m least sure over, other than I like being smaller for her. I also like the idea of a paladin / bard for her?

Halsin: Literally anyone and anything as long as you’re down to fuck a bear.

These are all just my own opinion, added it cause I know sometimes I wanna see what other people think is the best ��romance route” for a character.

But that’s the closing! These perspectives might change again, but for now this is my thoughts on everything shipping and romance related (that isn’t explicitly canon).

[blindseer0]

Echo: November 1st

Happy Day of the Dead everyone. It’s the 16th* anniversary of Chase and Leo hooking up (in universe), so I felt like I’d do a long, rambling post about that day. For fun. Hopefully you find something to enjoy here.

First thing of note is that, in “Route 65”, November 1st, 2008, was a Friday. In our world it was a Saturday. Not super important, but as someone who pretty vividly remembers that day, it stands out.

(Well, the day before. My friend had invited me to her Aunt’s Halloween Costume wedding, which turned out to be at a strip club. There were poles but no dancers, unless you count the guests who were dressed as Sexy Devil in a speedo, sexy police women, and two sexy Borats in swimwear.)

Anyways, back to Echo. TJ was 13, Carl was 14 (though they imply 15 a few times), Chase was 15, and Flynn was 18. We don’t know the exact ages of any of the other characters, though we can guess. It’s implied Flynn is still in school, which probably means he’s in 12th grade, Leo in 11th, Jenna in 10th, Chase/Carl in 9th, and TJ in 8th.

Interestingly, TJ talks about how he talked to Flynn and Leo at lunch, which means either the schools are really close together and have open campuses, or they go to a combined Middle/High school (I assume this wasn’t intended).

Micha is implied to be in a grade below Chase, meaning he would have been an 8th grader. Jenna says in her route that he and Leo have a 3-year age gap. Micha also says in that route that he’s “almost 21”. Which means he’s either 13 or 14.

In Flynn’s route its mentioned that Leo is a year younger than Flynn and his birthday is in February. What that means is he’s either 16 or 17 (you can decide which age gap is worse/you prefer).

Usually the bus also carries (at least) Heather, Jenna, Jeremy, Clint, and TJ (no mention of Micha or Clint’s sister). We know Leo drives, and we can assume Flynn does as well. (It’s possible Micha hitches a ride with Leo, but no proof.)

Jenna didn’t go to school and TJ got a ride home from his mother. Jeremy was at school, but we don’t know how he got home. We don’t know if Clint or Heather went to school that day, though we do see Heather at the party.

November 1st is also Chase’s parents’ anniversary. That’s why they were home to catch him with his pants (literally) down. He says his mom is usually gone by five and his father by six, implying they caught him after six.

He says it takes about 45 minutes to get from Echo to Payton, so since school in the USA usually starts between 7:30 am and 8 am, we can assume they caught him around 6:30 am. (Now for the return timeline). School usually ends between 3 pm and 3:30 pm (though it obviously varies). 45 minutes back (plus time for the students to get on the bus in the first place) means the earliest they’d be getting off the bus is 4 pm.

We see the sun start to set while they’re driving back and while they’re walking to Carl’s house. Carl’s house is on top of a hill, so they walk up to it, walk back down, and then go to Jenna’s house. By the time they get there, Jeremy is back and lying on the couch in his underwear.

It’s hard to tell when the sun has fully set in game, but by the time they’re on their way to the factory, its officially night.  Sundown on that day was between 5:30 and 6 (depending on state). That means another hour and a half had to pass.

If we assume at least 20 minutes per mile (and arguably more for casual pace, uphill, and probably no sidewalks), then that adds at least another hour (plus talking to Jenna), which would get them right to when the sun is set.

(Chase and Carl aren’t mentioned to have their school stuff on them during the party, so we can assume they dropped them off at Carl’s before heading back down.)

Then the Parsons factory is three-ish miles away. Again, we can assume an hour to an hour and a half walk, putting their arrival between 7-8 (including hesitating at the entrance). They go in, things go bad, and Chase gets punched.

He wanders around in a haze for a bit before finding Leo and Micha in a van by the road (not that he remembers). Leo brings him back to the factory, finds TJ being dragged around, and kicks the shit out of some people.

By the time Chase wakes up, the blood on Leo’s hands is dry and TJ’s mother is on her way to pick him up. Carl has also run far enough away to regain cell service. We have absolutely no idea how long any of this actually takes.

While Leo and Chase are coming back from the factory, the sun is starting to rise, which means its probably around 6/6:30 (sunrise was 7 am ish that day, depending on state). This leaves like 6 hours unaccounted for.

(Again, I am putting more thought into this than the creators probably did, and definitely more than they should be expected to). The point being, Leo and Chase’s Anniversary was officially November 2nd (which means this post is still on time).

(In a previous route, I think Leo’s, its mentioned that their first kiss was actually in summer, which this story definitely isn’t. Not an issue, just something I think is interesting.)

Chase mentions on the way back that he’s been up for almost 24 hours, and that’s before they get to the train tracks. So in conclusion Route 65 (probably) takes place from roughly 4 pm to 7:30 am.

Thank you for joining me for this long, rambling journey. Hope everyone had a better Day of the Dead than our favorite unlucky friend group.

[im-a-king-baby]

hi ! first of all; i read ELYN over the easter weekend and stayed up till like five am waiting for it to get happy so i could sleep (i gave up) and i loved it so so much. It just feels like such a tangible, realistic outcome for them (if we ignore s3) it made me ache in that exact anxious yearning way the actual show does. Big ask and 100% appreciate it if the answer is no but are you planning to write more for them in that universe? Would love to see them when Wille is at university, or see Wille simply make some (oblivious?) uni friends, or see Sara and Simon interact again or honestly literally anything and everything.

secondly, and who knows maybe (probably) you’re aware of this but the photos/images in the fic do not appear as images but just as a text/error box? Is that intentional or did they break? I kept finding myself curious as to what image was put with the chapters haha

Hi!!! I hope you had a good easter... and went to sleep at some point... 😅

Thank you for alerting me about the images! I was not aware of that :( Although I guess that makes all those hours hardcoding the text threads and tumblr posts so they would work without images worth it 😂

I have gone through it all again and updated the image links so they are working for me now (let me know if they're still broken for you?).

There's nothing in them that's required to follow the fic, you just get to judge the time I spent procrastinating by making album covers and then sorting all the random pop songs I'd invented into albums (something that was definitely vital even though no one but me cares about the difference in vibe between Simme eras 🤣).

If you are just interested in the art, these are the 4 covers I used in the fic:

Sadly this fic was always destined to lose canon status after season 3 (although I am going to keep believing August's arc could go the ELYN route until proven otherwise).

Regarding sequels, prooobably not? Sorry :( I have more notes for Simon pov scenes during and before than anything set after because I'm not sure what more I have to say, (other than wanting to write something of ELYN Wille with Edvin's new haircut but basically all I've got is this:

For a moment Simon thinks Wilhelm isn’t even here, then the bleached blond head turns and it’s Wilhelm’s face and Wilhelm’s eyes and Wilhelm’s mouth dropping open in surprise at seeing Simon in the doorway. “You’re here,” Wilhelm says. “How are you -?” “You cut your hair.” It’s dumb. Obviously. But Simon hasn’t slept and Wilhelm’s hair is almost white, sharp and bristled, and Simon wants to touch it, to see if it hurts. “I…” Wilhelm hesitates. “There were always rules about my appearance, about how I was allowed to look, and I thought…” he reaches a hand to his hairline, his face falling a little. “Do you hate it?” The bristles give under his fingers, impossibly soft. He looks older, but also somehow younger, like he’s reclaiming the rebellious teen years that the crown never let him have. “I want to kiss you,” Simon says. The coffee shop is full of people. At least four that Simon can see are looking at them, not even trying to be subtle. There’s a camera tilted in their direction, but it’s not close. “Can I kiss you?” “I-” Wilhelm starts doing the same glance - who’s watching, who’s filming - then seems to catch himself, snorts a soft laugh and pulls Simon in. It's too short for Simon to catch hold of, but he can run his fingers through it and it's soft or ghost them over to catch the sharp edges of the tips, and it's Wilhelm and he's here, they're both here. And they're going to be okay.

<3

[formerheroeswhoquittoolate]

fall of x is over and I have FINALLY figured out how to articulate what pissed me off so much about the whole talon/synch thing. because obviously it pissed me off a lot. and that's because it was Fucking Boring Romance when the other option was not boring.

now, granted, I am extremely aromantic and asexual, so this may in fact be a side effect of me not being able to relate to most romantic plots. so take everything I'm about to say with a grain of salt. anyway on to the post.

okay so. laura and synch and darwin spent a couple centuries in the vault. synch gets out and the others don't. laura and darwin get resurrected. we are all on the same page.

synch and laura fell in love in the vault. I don't think I like it character-wise but they bonded romantically and it happened so. sure. four hundred years is a long-ass time. and it's kind of interesting? laura hasn't really had a romantic relationship since teen!warren went back to his own time, and synch has been dead for fucking ever. *benoit blanc voice* it makes no damn sense. compels me though.

synch remembers it, laura doesn't, and they're on the x-men together. this would probably have been an interesting time for them to have some tension? synch probably knows way more about laura than anyone ever, and laura has literally no idea what or how much he knows. something about her has changed but it's impossible to tell what it is because she doesn't know what happened in the vault. duggan touched on this once and then just sort of ignored it. they could have had to reconcile this? synch, a lost love he will literally never experience anything like ever again. laura, a complete stranger who somehow knows everything about her. synch probably barely remembers this laura, anyway. laura can literally smell when people are attracted to her. this is, quite possibly, the most interesting ending to a rather bland "they were the only two people in the world" love story I could conceive of.

and instead. the problem is removed from the story. synch is no longer in love with a version of laura that doesn't exist, because she does exist now, actually, and talon takes laura's place on the team. off laura goes to x-force to be slotted into the role of daughter rather than unwilling object of romantic interest.

the problem doesn't get solved, it gets erased. and that's what pissed me off so much about it. it was a fascinating problem! it was reducing one of my favorite characters to a very unremarkable role but it was still an interesting problem. it had potential. (it even had potential to fix that reduction and actually address laura from a character perspective, but that's another ramble.) the route duggan took was, almost completely, the most boring possible route. at least laura had a conversation with talon. the problem is not solved. the problem is not solved! nothing is resolved! the answer to "what will laura and synch end up being to each other?" is "fucking nothing, actually, because talon is here now and everything is okay" and it's STUPID.

okay that's mean. it's not stupid but it is boring. bad answer. does nothing for laura or synch (or talon, either, but she's so aggressively apathetic about laura that it's really hard to say anything about her without accidentally starting a whole unrelated ramble.) the romance took priority over the relationship. and That's why I'm pissed about it. (well aside from my love of laura.) there was a more interesting, character-development-inducing, potentially emotionally fraught option and they chose a fairly bland romantic relationship. and again, maybe this is my aroace ass and general inability to find romantic relationships compelling. but this feels like the worse of the two options.

[aikoiya]

LoZ - Hylia as a Character

Honestly, I really like the fact that Zelda/Hylia admits, rather openly, in fact, that what she did was wrong. Then, she owns up to it.

They could've gone the route that "this is destiny, you must" or made it seem like something entirely righteous & that the fact that it saves everyone automatically makes it okay, but the writers didn't.

What happened. What Hylia put into place was a necessary evil, but still wrong by its very nature of being a necessary EVIL. She manipulated Link, not because she wanted to, or because she was a bad person, but because it was the ONLY way that she could see things working out for the benefit of as many people involved as possible.

Still doesn't make it right, but it makes it understandable. Which are 2 very different things. And I've seen a lot of people conflating the 2. For whatever reason not realizing that you can understand why someone did something & that that something can still be wrong or morally questionable. And that these are 2 things that can exist at the same time.

Because Zelda said it best, "it was a war." It wasn't like what SS Link had experienced, where he was fighting most enemies one on one & it was really only himself who was in danger at a given moment. There were battles with armies & even the game says that the demons killed without mercy. In situations like that, you might have to do things that compromise your own morals & I just...

It makes Hylia so much more human in a way. She's not like the 3 golden goddesses who you only really interact with individuals who have their names & who may just be people that resemble them. (Minish Cap, Oracle of Seasons, & Oracle of Ages.) SS Zelda actually remembers being Hylia.

Thus meaning that SS Link's interaction with SS Zelda in that scene before putting herself to sleep, was the closest interaction any Link has ever had with an actual higher deity.

You get her actual opinion. Her regrets, her apologies. Seriously, she apologizes repeatedly. While it may be filtered through Zelda, who obviously cares very deeply about Link (yes, I ship zelink here, what of it), as she said, she was both Hylia & Zelda. Specifically, still Link's Zelda.

And I... I can't hate Hylia as a result.

Which causes me to not really understand the Hylia hate that I've seen here & there.

Like, it isn't Hylia's fault that she, Link, & Ganondorf were cursed. That was all The Bringer of Demise & his toddlerish butthurt over losing to not just a mortal, but a mortal teen. He cursed them, not Hylia. And what exactly do people think Hylia could've done?

What were her other options? She wasn't a goddess anymore at the time! And we dont even know the rules regarding the Hyrulean gods! There could be some sort of rule of non-interference or only indirect interference unless you give up your godhood that we don't know about!

And, if she hadn't done something, then think about what could've happened as a result.

According to the information that we currently have, Demise would've taken over & made a wish that we don't even know. Not only that, but he had apparently been killing so many humans that Hylia felt the need to lift pieces of land into the air via nothing but magic to keep Demise away from them! Like putting a toy up too high for a kid to reach.

This suggests that they nearly went extinct!

Also keep in mind that she literally gave up her godhood to keep everyone safe!! That's... that's huge!

Also, I hate that there are fans out there who blame Sky for them being cursed!

Dude just finished a fight with a Daimaō (yōkai general). A battle that involved a LOT of lightning striking the Master Sword, which is known to cause temporary deafness, disorientation, ect.

He likely wasn't even aware that the Bringer of Demise had cursed him & Zelda both.

The only person anyone should be blaming here is Demise.

Though, that does bring into question why Fi didn't notify Link of this fact.

LoZ Cultural Masterlist