#which probably doesn't matter to anyone but me

[deathbxnny]

Arcane characters when someone flirts with you. | Viktor, Jayce, Vi, Caitlyn, Jinx, Sevika x Gn!Reader

I am the brain rot. The brain rot is me.✨️

Content: pre season 2 Viktor/Jayce!, Jealousy, pitfighter Vi, established romantic relationships, angst, threats of violence/death threats, sfw

Reader has no set pronouns.

((Not proofread))

》VIKTOR

He always struggled with self-esteem issues, mainly due to his sickness and disability that made it difficult for him to do much. A part of him forever will believe that you could easily do better than him, yet that doesn't stop him from getting terribly jealous anytime someone gets too friendly with you. Especially when they can see him standing next to you clearly being your partner as well.

But despite his insecurities, he doesn't allow anyone to harass you either on his watch. He lets you defend yourself for the most part until he has enough and lets his more sassy side handle the flirtatious person for you. He may not be able to do anything in a physical way, something he very much would rather avoid. But his tongue is sharp, and it takes little to make them quickly scurry away with a nervous apology for the disturbance.

He'll never admit to being jealous, however, and denies any teasing accusations you send his way. But he'll secretly ask for reassurance as he starts feeling embarrassed over his insecurities rather quickly after. A couple of hugs and kisses from your side will fix that right up, though.

》JAYCE

He has a reputation to keep up. And so, technically, he should always handle things professionally no matter what. People are watching him after all, and his public image can not be tarnished under any circumstance... or so he says. Things change in his mind when they are about you. In general, people know who you are and who you belong to since he rarely shuts up about it.

But every now and then, someone who is somehow unfamiliar with this concept will come up to you and attempt to woo you right in front of his very eyes. Now, Jayce tries to let you handle yourself, but doesn't hesitate to step in either if the person doesn't get the hint. His rather intimidating frame and position as a councilor help him out Immensely with this. He chases them away with a tight smile and a kiss to your head, as he casually asks how he can oh so graciously help them.

Once they leave, he'll pretend not to hear you, of you teasingly asking him if he was jealous. Him? Jealous? Hah! Impossible... okay, maybe a little. But don't tell anyone that.

》VI

As a pitfighter, Vi doesn't hesitate to get violent with anyone who comes close to the only good thing she has left in her life, which happens to be you. She's extremely protective and makes sure everyone gets the hint regarding who you belong to. But alas, there are always the couple strays that refuse to comprehend that fact and therefore attempt to "steal" you away from her. Something that never ends well for anyone.

Her temper is shorter than it used to be, and that becomes quite clear when she's quick to loom over the person that was pestering you. She knows that you can handle yourself just fine, too. But that doesn't stop her from grabbing their shoulder and asking them if she can help them out instead. Or maybe they want to talk it out in the pit? All the same to her, but the message is clear. She'll win if it comes to you every time, and that's enough to make the person scurry away in terror.

You'll definitely have to calm her down and reassure that you had everything handled. She's just looking out for you, though, and doesn't want you to get hurt, too, like everyone else in her life. The last thing she wants is to mess up again, so her overprotective tendencies will probably never lessen. Not that you kind anyways.

》CAITLYN

Your role as her partner is crystal clear to absolutely everyone in Piltover, especially after she takes over the troops as their new ruler. She's much more cutthroat and cold than she used to be before her mothers death, which made her extremely overprotective of you and your safety. She may even be suffocating at times with her security measures, but she finds it absolutely necessary. This also means, however, that those who try becoming a bit too friendly with you are always at risk of facing her wrath.

She doesn't hold back with her dismay and is quick to stand before you with a dark, stern glare directed at whoever was flirting with you beforehand. Caitlyn doesn't care if you can take care of yourself or not either. She'll take full advantage of her new position and power too, not hesitating to give the person that was pestering you a professionally worded threat that leaves them as pale as a ghost.

Admittedly, it's hard to tell if she's jealous or just worried in her own way. Before her mother's death, it may very well just be her being a bit jealous... but with her current position, she may also just be afraid to lose you too deep down. And she couldn't handle that.

》JINX

After Silco's death, Jinx's temper is milder than before due to her deteriorating mental health (if there was anything left of it to begin with). She's a lot calmer when handling situations and seeming more calculated than before, but that certainly doesn't quell the extreme abandonment issues in her at any rate. If anything, they've become much worse than before. This means that she'll cling to you and snap at anyone who nears you. No one is allowed to steal your attention away from her. No one can take you away from her. She just won't allow it when you're all she has left.

And so, she won't hesitate to use her gun on anyone who is pestering you. A death threat or two usually gets the point across anyway. Jinx will also let you handle yourself first, however though, knowing you can easily do that. But if things do get out of hand, she will step right to scare them away at best. She'd never kill anyone infront of you after all. She doesn't want to scare you away.

You'll have to reassure her of your loyalty a lot afterward, however, as her insecurities and issues can make her spiral fairly easily. Giving her a lot of attention and love makes everything go away, though, luckily.

》SEVIKA

She's very secure in your relationship and trusts you perfectly fine, which is why she rarely ever gets jealous. Why should she, anyway, when you'll always come back to her at the end of the day? Besides, people in the lanes know who you are and who you belong to, and most importantly, what will happen to their faces once she bashes them in if they ever harass you too much.

With that said, though, she typically lets you do your own thing and chase the person away yourself first before bothering to step in. If things get out of hand, then she'll suddenly be right behind you and tower over whoever it is that's not getting the hint. Blowing smoke right into their faces, she'll ask them if they have a problem, and if yes, then they should take it up with her outside. Although everyone knows she's the only one back afterwards. This usually does the trick.

Don't expect her to ever say that she is jealous, though, and hopes you know better, too. She knows you're loyal, as she certainly is for life and therefore doesn't worry about a thing regarding the strength of your relationship.

No one is better than her anyway.

[mixupmycota]

also just gonna chime in as someone with some narrative dev experience and who has studied their games for a long time

three games in an rpg franchise with continuous rolling forward decisions is barely sustainable as it is, and we can see that in the reception to the mass effect 3 original ending.

i would like everyone to imagine for me if every choice you can make in these games generates a new timeline. if you've ever written fanfiction i want you to think about this really hard.

consider this. character A asks character B what they should do in a tense situation. Character B selections option 1 of 3. In this version of the chapter.

You also need to write Character B selecting options 2 and 3. From there you need to adjust the trajectory of the rest of their character arc, and you're writing a new timeline for every major choice made.

I need people to understand that branching RPG's are multiverse experiences. I'm not joking. This is why we won't get anything like Origins exactly from the series again unless they swept the board COMPLETELY clean and started building from scratch. Save importing was breathtaking. Taking into account variables from prior games is a herculean exercise. It's hard enough to write one branching game, but players want their choices to Matter:tm:, and that often means three things:

big worldstate alterations that appear to meaningfully impact the overall plot of a given game

cameos

callbacks

It can seem so easy to do up a quick fix it fic for things we don't like about a given title. Comparatively, it is. Because we aren't needing to generate dozens of alternate and valid timelines for every variation that can be made.

This is why RPG's will often have narrative chokepoints, where big choices are made that pull all the different timelines in together and trim down the number of potential branches.

There are a lot of tricks to create the illusion of greater depth than there is when writing a nonlinear narrative, and they're all really neat!

But also like. Veilguard's script is estimated to be around 140k lines long. About 60k of those are Rook's lines, 15k per voice from an interview i read - and this is another reason we're probably not going to get design like Origins again. Players expect AAA games to have voiced protagonists. Since Bioware cares deeply about trying to make their games accessible for as wide an audience as possible, they set aside resources for this game to have multiple voice actors available to select from. That's an immense use of resources.

I see a lot of comparisons made to BG3 and I cannot overstate how deeply, utterly unfair that is. Multiple dev friends of mine held their heads in despair after that game out, because they knew that exactly that would happen to any big RPG that was released afterwards.

Larian's dev process was wildly atypical, and not sustainable under different models. You will note that they did NOT have voiced protagonists, which allowed them a great deal more freedom, but it is also worth remembering that when that game launched the upper city was barely playable because storing so many variables was causing save files to balloon and slow down computers.

Game development is really, really hard. The fact that any game gets released is a marvel. The credits for Veilguard are atypical in that they made an effort to credit as far as I can tell anyone who had worked on any version of the game. A lot of the Quick Fixes I've seen proposed for things pointed at are situations that would add at least 20-30k to the script.

That doesn't mean it's beyond rebuke or critique at all, but I really want people to understand that "choices must matter" style complaints over the years have led to exactly this point. This is where that goes. The demand for increasing escalation, for the faves to come back always and they must matter but must not suffer too much or that's bad writing that needs a window to be undone in the future, for higher fidelity graphics and more intricate animations - all of that leads to the situation of the beancounters putting the devs in a hydraulic press.

Veilguard pushes for a narrative structure that's a blend of everything that came before and pulls heavily from DA2 in particular. It's an incredible achievement, I genuinely never expected it to actually release. Valid to not enjoy it, everyone can feel how they feel, but I hope like.

Additional information about the difficulty of making these kinds of games helps a little bit because genuinely it is a completely different skillset to writing linear prose. They used a program called Twine to check the script from end to end - bless them for that, most RPG studios have bespoke narrative software and Bioware are using the equiv of a physical corkboard and string here.

They chose to prioritize their greatest strength of companion writing and interaction, and also really tighten up and work on the greatest *weakness*: overall plot and stakes. They left as much undefined about the overall worldstate as possible and moved us to the opposite side of the world, where genuinely, many of our previous choices WOULDN'T matter. Thedas is really big, and Veilguard has a sense of scale there. If faves don't come back and their fate is not confirmed, that means they can be alive and maybe pulled back into different titles.

But they also expressly wanted to avoid making the world feel very small by ensuring that like the same 30 people are always at the middle of everything going on.

We all miss our characters but we can just think about what they would be doing in this situation. If we bring in the hero of ferelden to fight - what about those who have decided their HoF is dead, or retired? Those choices also deserve to be respected, if they're going to invoke that character again.

Genuinely I hope that if they do make additional Dragon Age games - which I do not expect, especially after the pre-release layoffs and how those let go had to fight to get their severance - they are smaller scale titles without ties to any returning characters, all over the world. Veilguard has the scent of a setup for another trilogy, but I hope they are not pushed into doing that, because with escalating story stakes being demanded and increased spectacle and threats called for they'll end up having to reveal ALL the secrets of the setting.

Just, basically. Veilguard IS that thicker tome. If the choices from the last games were all pulled in, we'd be looking at a script that's around two million words at least, I would ballpark it at, and would have taken all ten years to develop with a supportive publisher in a single product. The variable cinematics required with bespoke animations and character models, the endless hours of voice acting on top of that, it just.

If we want that, we need too as players push for better working conditions for developers, and for a push away from infinite growth models. Because this problem isn't unique to bioware, and the games industry is actively collapsing at this time under its own weight. There's a reason Larian skipped away from the BG license and have ruled out doing an expansion or a sequel.

[chasedeys]

wait what’s the context of the “that’s my qb not theirs” quote 😭

hiiiii okay so first of all i got so pissed i couldn't find the post here like at all. like i was imagining shit but i WASN'T 😭😭 but here you go this is a link to the actual full interview that was surprisingly easy to find mostly because the headline was literally ja'marr's insane ass quote lmaoooo 'Ja'Marr Chase: "He's My Quarterback"' okayyy bengals i see what you did there.

That's not their quarterback, that's my quarterback. I could tell him what I wanna tell him.

so basically for context joe got injured right before the 2023 season and of course ja'marr said he told his ass not to play until week 5 (he played from the start sigh) and he didn't want him back until he's ready and fully healthy. the reporter asked him about this quote (rightfully so lmao) because joe is the franchise QB and how would their season go without him etc and. this is what he said. in response. he said that this guy is his and he can say whatever the fuck he wanted to him for a good reason and it's all for the better for the both of them and for the team. yeah i know he's insane.

you should totally watch the full interview through!! because there's a whole lot more insane shit like he says about him and joe like not really liking asking joe about his condition because joe always says he's good even if he isn't and ja'marr would like him to be more straight up about his health. like. okay married couple shit trying to keep the other from being worried only to make them even more worried okayyyyyyy god they need to stfu. the reporter straight up asked if he liked that about joe and he said 'nah' 😭 like what is this couples therapy?? god you gotta love it when reporters ask out of pocket shit and then ja'marr answers with equally out of pocket shit and like exactly how one would answer if one was in love with their best friend idk. (also i think he mentioned about when he was injured in the previous seasons and how he didn't say it to joe but in his mind he said 'im gonna be back when you want me to be there and be ready' and that joe got it????? and that this time with joe it's the same thing lol what is the matter with them jesus)

there's actually so much more insane quotes from other interviews on this entire injury thing like he repeatedly says that he doesn't want anyone talking to joe about forcing himself to play and how he wants joe 100% healthy when he's back. of course joe played through anyway and started from week 1 and apparently it went......not good........but on week 3 they beat the rams (yay) and week 5 (hilariously the week ja'marr gave joe to come back. which could mean nothing. soulmate precognition anyone?) it was absolutely beautifullllllll peak burrow to chase connection joe threw 3 touchdowns and ja'marr was literally all of them and also broke a franchise reception record (?). 2023 week 5 vs cardinals highlights!! god i loved watching that shit.

anyway if i could just blabber a bit on how much ja'marr prioritizes health especially other people's especiallyyyyyyy joe's and it's probably because joe is.....very injury prone and also has a tendency to play through them anyway so yeah i can see how ja'marr has to constantly nag him about it and stress how no one should press on joe to keep playing sigh.

on another note that injured article brought forth a new (for me) joemarr insane ass mention about their 'looks' and 'nods' bullshit it's like i search for one thing only to be bulldozed over by another thing jesus

[pebsterino]

Im a fan of Da since 2019, I've cherished all 3 games, my favorite one is DA2. I will not be persuaded by anyone that DA4 is a good DA game.

They have damned everything I loved about Dragon Age for... this???

This is no longer the dark fantasy I fell in love with; it's a game that feels more like a Disney movie, complete with writing intended for children. The way they treat YOU as a player suggests that you aren't capable of solving the easiest riddle in this world. The direction of the writing is baffling. The constant explanations for everything make my blood boil because I'm not a child, and I can think for myself. They claim this is an RPG, yet it lacks any meaningful RPG elements. You have no choice whatsoever; your character is scripted the way the developers wanted them to be. (By the way, I had no idea that no matter which option you choose, your character will always try to be funny in an unfunny way.)

As for the gameplay, I've never cared for the gameplay in any Dragon Age games, so I won’t dwell on it, but I’ll share my opinion nonetheless. I think it’s still an improvement from Inquisition, but that’s not hard to achieve. The game was designed to be played online, which is another insane thing to consider. Is a Dragon Age game supposed to be online??? It’s so ridiculous, and I have no idea how BioWare thought it would work when nobody showed any interest in the multiplayer mode in Inquisition.

The lack of choice and the absence of consequences for your actions are glaring issues. Not a single companion cares if you try to be "rude" to them because you simply can’t be. The fact that you cannot make any of your companions leave your party is ridiculous. You are forced to harden one of your companions (which happens in almost every title), and the only consequences of them being hardened are that they will refuse to heal you and their approval rating is slightly lowered. You can literally romance both of them as if nothing happened.

I'm tired of my companions constantly reminding me that they have issues and need to work through their trauma with my character. As someone who goes to therapy every week, I find this portrayal insulting and ridiculous. Therapy is neither fun nor pleasant. It isn’t something you resolve by completing two quests and reassuring a character that “it’s fine, we have each other, and I care about you; your feelings are valid.” It’s the most absurd echo chamber I’ve ever been in. The fact that none of my companions can stop making everything about themselves and get their shit together while a blight is swallowing the world is beyond me. Therapy takes months, even years, and it’s a deeply personal journey that friends cannot, and shouldn't, interfere with. The whole idea that my protagonist can choose what’s best for the companions is equally absurd. My companions should be making choices based on how I treated them throughout the game; it shouldn't be up to me to decide that. And the best part is that, in the end, it doesn't matter, because no choice in this game has any real weight. Honestly, it’s narcissistic of anyone to expect others to fix their mental health issues. This was a reality check for me when I was younger; it hurts, but it is what it is.

The writing of the characters is something I never thought possible, but here we are. Most characters are written as if they're afraid to offend anyone. My wise friend once said, "If you live your life trying to avoid offending everyone, you might as well not live at all," and that’s true. It’s probably another reason why I can’t take anything seriously in this game—because nothing is serious. Nobody talks like this ever. So much of this is self-indulgent writing, which is fine and valid if you do it for yourself, not for the masses who will play this game.

This is easily illustrated by the Commander of the Grey Wardens, who tries so hard to be the bad guy. He won’t listen to logic or reason; he’s just a children’s movie villain who is evil for the sake of being evil. Honestly, the dialogue speaks for itself.

[swiftiefirefighters]

i do think there's a reason buck hasn't said the word bisexual yet, btw, and that's that he *hasn't* sorted through all of his feelings. i think he liked tommy and, to him, that's all that mattered. i think the idea that queer people need to experiment a lot IS problematic when speaking on the whole but also queer people, like anyone else, aren't all the same and sometimes you do need more time to reflect and think about who you are and how you define yourself. especially a character like buck, who has always struggled with his sense of self (defining himself by his job and how useful he is, changing himself to suit romantic partners, etc).

buck hasn't really sat in his feelings about his sexuality yet because at the time and all this time, all that mattered was that he's into tommy. he saw a future with tommy, and so thinking about it further probably didn't really (and likely still doesn't) matter a lot to him. he just knew, hey, all this time i thought i was straight, but actually i guess i'm not!

but i think we might get there, and i think it's really strange that so many people have just...decided they know where the story is going. we still have all of 8b and a couple of episodes of 8a to go, and the story is definitely still coming into itself. saying that it's bad representation of bisexuality to me is premature because we just don't know where it's going.

we just don't know. could it end up being really awful? sure. but it also could end up being a great story of someone who has always been searching to find themselves and learning to define themselves in their own terms. which may not end up being on your terms, or my terms, but it will be on buck's terms.

and i think that's what's ultimately going to be important. i still think, regardless of some of the things he's said that may not have been perfectly well thought out, oliver cares about telling this story. i think he's wanted to do this for a long time, and i think he really enjoys getting to play this version of buck, and he doesn't know what's going to happen anymore than we do.

maybe i'm being naive and maybe i'm being a little too hopeful but i've loved this show since i watched the first episode, even though that wasn't only about 6 months ago. I've loved Evan Buckley since the moment I saw him. I think it just needs time.

[thejadearia]

on chronic illness and being An Artist with Goals

I had wanted to use this blog more frequently and keep up with posting my art or whatever other creative things I was up to, but this past year was a lot. I started the long process of getting all kinds of tests and scans done to figure out why I have chronic migraine, as well as some other chronic health issues. It's been very frustrating because so far we haven't found any solid answers or solutions.

Despite my colossal lack of spoons, I did manage to make a lot and try a lot of new things this year! My original goal was to complete one art piece per month, so at the end of the year I could have a nice 3x4 grid of thumbnails like all the other cool artists and feel accomplished. But pushing through migraines to try to race to finish something for an arbitrary deadline just so I can have a Content makes migraine worse, actually. So this year was also a year to learn how to balance my goals with my health. No self-imposed deadline is worth making myself sicker!

Having the goal really did help me to accomplish more and keep me more focused in where I was putting my energy. At the same time, it gave me the opportunity to learn to be gentle with myself when it became clear I needed to step back and rest. It's a balancing act, and I will be learning and re-learning it probably for the rest of my life, so I may as well do so in a way that isn't so harmful to myself. There's no sense in berating myself for not working on a project when I'm literally in so much pain I can't open my eyes. That's just silly and unrealistic.

It was a fun year even with all the medical stress! I think I will tweak last year's goal a bit for this year: I want to work on something new or try something new each month, and I'd like to have a finished piece each month, but my health takes priority. And I'd like to post here more, but I think I need to let go of the overwhelm of thinking everything I post has to be finished polished Content.

[makiswirl]

can i just say. and this is probably a niche hill to die on. that i am so gobsmacked every time someone vaguely hints at the idea that jotaro doesn't care meaningfully for the other crusaders, usually particularly kakyoin and joseph, when those two actually tend to be the ones he reacts to being hurt the hardest

like he cares for his loved ones!!!! that literally plays into his character motives in every single part he shows up in!!! stop lying to me!!!!!!!

[cr1mson5returns]

Sort of obsessing over the concept of Tim, having been acknowledged canonically as a talented photographer, using these skills for morally gray reasons. This kid doesn't intend to use his fists to win every battle, or even most battles, actually. He's well-connected, fits into unconventional hiding spaces due to being lean and slender and 5'6", and he has a very nice camera. So really, Senator, it's a shame you thought you'd get away with so much. Think of what the Times could do with this evidence. High-definition doesn't lie. So you'll vote to expand funding for public education and Medicaid in the state, is that correct? Of course, you're an upstanding politician, after all. Couldn't have all this getting in the way of your career.

[b-blushes]

thursday quest - no physical therapy today - make and eat lunch sooooo early but i can do it!!!!! - get ready for wedding - attend wedding! yay! (: - decompress well when i get home <3

[fluffle-writes]

I wanna. Pick them up in my mouth and shake 'em around like a dog obliterating a squeaky toy

[seaofreverie]

Anyway how is everyone doing

[tardis--dreams]

Me panicking because i have 9 missed calls and 5 emails talking about my absence and how "a colleague could take over for me" vs. Me knowing it's really not that important no matter how pushy a client is and that on top of it I'm underpaid and have way to much overtime so i shouldn't even care

[a-gaime]

Every time I see bull red son an angel (me) loses it's wings (gets mildly annoyed)

[martyrbat]

“did i ever tell you about rose wilson?” | the titans (1999) #33

[ID: four panels focusing on Rose Wilson as she works out. She's sweating as she punches and kicks a suspended punching bag and listens to Argent talk. She's wearing a white sports bra with a red band, the Titan's logo displayed in the center of her chest. The logo is a giant yellow circle that's enclosed with a red outline and has a red outline of the letter T in the center. She's wearing grey sweatpants and has fingerless black gloves on and has her long, white hair down. END ID]

[netherdevil]

will literally throw up if anyone calls me feminine honorifics but if sanji does it i'm 100% okay with it for some reaso

[gendzl]

oooh, movement. things are starting to look promising!