#and also. a reminder of everything that actually happens in this game

[endahouselikecarpet]

Date Everything Housemates x Reader

Jealous HCs

[Hi there! This is the first thing for Date Everything that I have written. That's to say, I'm still getting a hang of these characters, so some things might be a bit off. Tone is in line with the game- nothing overtly sexual, but innuendos here and there. Nothing that should have to be tagged, just having some fun getting to know the characters :)]

Jerry- The thing that gets him jealous is seeing you talk to Cam. It’s not that there’s really a rivalry between the two of them, at least not from Cam’s view. It’s just that Jerry has seen one too many things that could have been or already in his collection head Cam’s way. He’s been able to work on the frustration and anxiety that happened when something moved along (even if it still wasn’t one his favorite ordeals), and was actually starting to be a bit more accepting of the whole thing. After all, even though there was a pretty large personality difference, the both of them still had the common hobby of collecting forgotten, discarded things; who was he to deny another person that?

Well, that was until he saw the two of you talking. While he couldn’t quite place why, seeing you both being so casual with each other sent that same anxious chill down his spine. This soured his mood, and many of the others that lived by him picked up on it. They were all torn between checking on him and letting him vent things out in his own way, and decided on the latter seeing as they didn’t know what was bothering him.

He wouldn’t totally ignore you if you talked to him soon after, however, he would only give short, mostly one word answers. It’s not that he’s really mad at you or anything, he just knows he’s in a bad mood and doesn’t want to say much so he doesn’t accidentally snap at you and make you feel like he is. After you’re able to get him to talk with you about it, he’ll apologize (even if he didn’t really do anything too bad), and feel a bit better that he wasn’t going to lose you. He also wouldn’t mind if you were getting close with some of the others around the house, but feels a lot more assured if the two of you do check-in’s with each other to make sure you were both still doing alright.

Betty- She gets more of a worried jealous than a frustrated one. It wasn’t something that she even considered herself capable of as she’s a very laid back person. What happened to set it off for her was something pretty simple too.

You had been watching a movie and fell asleep on the couch. Beth had sat there for a good bit of the night wondering where you were. That made he start to worry that you were upset with her, or that she wasn’t good enough for you. It’s more of a situation of her being jealous of an imagined, better self than any other person or time and attention you were receiving from the others. The whole thing is mostly fueled from worry.

When the morning rolls around and she found out what happened, she would feel rather silly about it. Still, she can’t help herself from overthinking the whole situation the rest of the day. All it would really take to calm her is for you to sleep next to her again. She knows you would never do anything to hurt her, and sometimes she just has to remind herself that she is good enough for anyone, including herself.

Errol- He saw you. He saw you at the other counter. Heating something to eat… not with him, but with that loud-mouth Luke! Why would you do such a thing? Why- after all you both had learned from each other? Did you like you meals half heated? Did you want the textural experience of eating a hot sponge?

Why do such a thing to yourself- to him?! Oh, what he would give to save you from this unfortunate choice! To have you here, with him, receiving hot, perfect food from him! To have you feel a rush of heated air as you firmly shook his basket! Perhaps, leave him feeling at least a bit filthy with the… grease… oh, the vile grease!

He thinks he’s being sly about the whole thing, and while Luke and yourself are too busy doing your own thing to really notice, that is not the case for the rest of the kitchen. Everyone does their best to ignore the palpable bitterness in the air, but, boy is that difficult with how intense it is. The air wasn’t just thick, it was gelatin.

Scandalabra- Oh, he would be soooo bitchy about it. Is one of those people that’s like, “You know what you did.” When there is little to no way for you know what you did.

After a bit of digging, or rather, mining through your thoughts, you arrived on a set of fake, battery powered candles that you had bought the other day. It wasn’t something you were even too focused on when you bought them. All you knew is that they were on sale for super cheap, and that you were going to use them to decorate somewhere. Seeing as they were electric powered lights, Lux was the one using them (not that it was their favorite outlet.)

While Scandalabra is usually self-assured enough that he couldn’t care what anyone else thinks about him (at least as far as personality goes), this was something that he saw as an open threat. Not, from you, oddly enough. Poor Lux is just confused at the death stares they had been getting in droves.

He sees this as the influencer trying to turn you against him. And, with a mockery of something so closely related to his person! A candle made of plastic! Oh, perish the thought!

This one can be a bit tricky to handle. There will be a decent amount of time where he will be as cold as the silver of his candlestick, however, once he finally gets convinced that he had nothing to be jealous of he would be as pliable as warm wax in your hands. It’s an action that’s a strange mix of needing reassurance and his way of non-verbally apologizing. He’s been worried about how much you care about him; play with his hair and call him pretty!

It seems that even though you two are working things out, he’s still got some major jealousy to deal with.

Sophia- Firmly believe she is one of the most emotionally mature people in the house. So, when she does see you with someone who's trying to get a bit too involved, she can at least admit that she is jealous. That's the first step to fixing things after all.

Will talk to you about it. Just talk, nothing else. Her lifestyle is all about role playing and control with consent. She would never take actual negative feelings into what you guys do. She'll make sure you're both good before doing anything.

That being said, if you are both good, then she has no problem using how she felt as inspiration for your next night together.

Luke- Lunch time! And, he knows you got pizza bagels just for the occasion! Oh, you're... getting a baking pan out? That might not fit, and he also doesn't think you're supposed to metal with him. But, what the hell! He'll try anything at least once!

You... You're going to Stefan? Wha- what do you mean!? Yeah, sure, the box might have oven instructions, but- but who ever hear of cooking pizza bagels in a not-microwave oven!

He's got very big emotions, and that goes both ways of the spectrum. When he's grouchy, that's all he feels. But, once you talk to him again he's immediately an emotional mess!

He thought you were never going to use his microwave again! Please! You and pre-cooked, frozen food are all he has!

Gets flustered when you sort things out with him. Jealous? What do you mean? He was just worried you were jealous. Yup, and that's why he acted like he was, so you could feel like you weren't alone. Totally, what happened.

Keith- Seems like you lost the key to that padlock. Perhaps he could be-

Bobby Pinn. You just opened it with the help of... Bobby Pinn.

He would try to hide it by feigning concern. Not that it's his business, but knowing how to pick a lock in such a way can mean you've been making some rather questionable choices.

Being a skeleton key, that's like the pot calling the kettle black.

Honestly, he's an odd case where he's just frustrated, but when he does let himself feel anger (in a healthy way) it helps him work it out of his system, and things are back to normal.

If you want to fast track the emotional spectrum and have him feel better more quickly, ask him if there's anything he would like to open up about.

Did you just use his own line against him?! Wait, you did you just use his own line against him? You did? That was actually pretty clever- dare he say interesting. Not many people ask a key of all things to open up. Alright then, perhaps the two of you should talk.

Kristof- Hey, there. He couldn't help but notice you have been walking aimlessly around the house. If you were wanting to take a walk and not go anywhere, there happens to be a perfectly good treadmill right here.

You know, instead of wandering around and trying to find something to do, you could be walking with him. It's not that he doubts himself or thinks you would betray his trust in anyway, but you did seem to be very popular with many people here.

True, he could rip most of them apart with his bare hands, and even the ones he couldn't he would try his damnedest, but he knows that wouldn't really fix things; even if that was difficult for him to accept.

Gets jealous easily, but also gets over it easily. If you spend even a tiny amount of time with him he's almost forgotten that he was jealous in the first place. Though, you can always tell he has been recently because those bear hugs of his are even tighter than usual- something you didn't think was possible until you experienced it.

Lux- They are basically having an existential crisis about it. They don't get jealous of other people! People get jealous of them!

Yet, here they are, looking at you hanging out with the Hanks, and it's making their blood boil. They are absolutely not above using their platform to do hit pieces on whoever they're jealous of. They know how to do it in a way that it hits their target, but they still have enough plausible deniability if questioned about it.

In this case they would sneak something into a middle of a stream like, "Ugh, someone's playing... Idk.. something nearby. I don't know what it is other than loud. Because, like, sports are cringe. Massive L. Anyways-"

Not that you want to start anything in public, but if you comment something like, "Lux..." They just go, "Hi, sweetie! Love you!" They know this is going to get them in trouble, but at the moment they're feeling a bit too spicy to care.

Once you talk about it in private they will flutter their lashes over those big, doe eyes and apologize. Don't let them get away with it. Be persistent until you both come to an understanding and you get an actual apology. That way you can both figure out ways to keep each other comfortable when you're talking with other people. Not in a controlling way, just in a boundaries setting way.

Dorian- He gets jealous of... himself. You had been talking with his Trap Dorian self the most lately. He knew- he knew- you weren't vain enough to only want to interact with people who would flirt with you. But, the worry would still be chewing at him.

When he decides the healthiest thing to do was talk to you about it, you were mortified. You explained that there was a flooding scare in the crawlspace, and you simply talked to Trap Dorian because he was one of the closest doors by where you were checking.

Well, now he's mortified too. He hates making people feel bad for not reason, and he totally misunderstood what was happening. That leads to the both of you fidgeting and stumbling over each other's sentences as you both try to cover the situation.

The rest of the house is watching with popcorn.

[boycottthetestaments]

📌 Fact Check Friday: Writer Commentary ≠ Canon

This week’s entry comes from Nina Fiore, one of the writers of The Handmaid’s Tale, who responded to a fan with the following:

“Nick had many opportunities to leave and didn’t… He loves June, not anti-Gilead… He became an Eye and a Commander so… he did a lot of bad things to maintain those positions. And be promoted.”

Let’s break down why this is not only misleading but also deeply insulting to viewers who actually paid attention to the show.

🔹 1. “Nick had many opportunities to leave and didn’t.”

False. Gilead is a theocratic dictatorship. Leaving is a death sentence unless you’re part of a covert escape — which Nick risked everything to orchestrate for June and Nichole in Season 2.

📌 As Max Minghella himself said post–Season 4:

“He can’t sacrifice his position because then he can no longer be useful. So it’s this kind of balance he’s always trying to figure out… but I believe his heart is in the right place.”

That’s not complacency. That’s strategic resistance from inside the regime.

🔹 2. “He loves June, not anti-Gilead.”

False binary. Why can’t he be both? The idea that resistance must be loud and performative erases the nuance of survival based rebellion. Nick infiltrated power, played the long game, and made choices that kept June alive, choices the writers once canonized. (See Seasons 2–5.)

🔹 3. “He did a lot of bad things to maintain those positions.”

Where? When? Show us. The show never depicted Nick committing atrocities or even enforcing Gilead’s cruelty. Writers claiming things happened off-screen does not make it canon.

🔹 4. “He chose to stay.”

This implies agency where the show repeatedly shows coercion. Gilead punishes disobedience. Staying alive isn’t the same as loyalty. Writers are retroactively assigning motive instead of owning the narrative corner they wrote themselves into.

🎯 The Real Issue?

Writers like Nina Fiore are doubling down instead of acknowledging they abandoned a six-season character arc, one rooted in resistance, sacrifice, and moral complexity. Instead, they’re gaslighting fans with post-finale commentary and retcon logic.

📣 Reminder: Fictional characters don’t have agency. Writers do.

Nick Blaine didn’t choose to “do bad things.” The writers chose to erase his arc and pin that decision on him, ike he wrote his own scenes.

We’re not confused. We’re just not buying it.

🧩 The real reason for the shift? They wanted a villain and they made one out of the wrong man.

[ryan-the-dark]

I see a common belief that Arthur wouldn't have redeemed himself without tuberculosis. I don't believe that's the case, and I'll explain why.

(Warning; keep in mind, I'm talking about HIGH HONOR Arthur, not Low Honor:)

Considering the gang's previous ideals and Arthur’s disdain to the more “dirty” criminal work I think he would redeem himself. It would just take longer.

At that time of the end of Chapter 5 and beginning of Chapter 6 (depending on gameplay), he was already planning to rescue John against Dutch's wish before he knew he had TB. He was actually going to Sadie to do something about it before he started coughing.

Arthur was losing faith in Dutch in Guarma, and when he saw him choke that old woman, he called him out. He didn't know about his tuberculosis before he noticed the red flags that Dutch was getting more and more deranged.

There are periodic prompts to talk to Mary Beth about how Arthur doesn’t feel comfortable with how many people he’s been hurting and he clearly hates what Strauss does and questions Dutch’s decision making early on in the game.

Knowing he was dying just accelerated the process of what was building up. From the moment these deaths happened and even the cracks shown before, it was spiraling downhill from there.

Arthur was more aligned with Hosea than he was with Dutch back in Horseshoe Overlook. Hosea's death would have shattered his perception of events even without TB. He missed him with a terrible agony when he died, and summed up his true feelings about the old man in his journal.

How could Chapter 6 be different?:

Concerning Chapter 6, I can see him without TB feeling bad about what he did to the Downes and helping them...

helping Charlotte Balfour...

absolving the debt on Mrs. Londonderry and helping her...

And meeting up with Sister Calderon. Helping Brother Dorkins and her happened before the diagnosis. He would still have the conversation with her at the station since the Indian Wars would have still happened. And Eagle Flies and Rains Fall also actually added a lot to Arthur's seeing how manipulative Dutch was and his hypocrisy.

Think these interactions would be somewhat different. Arthur probably still would be slightly more subscribed to the Dutch's Robin Hood mindset, but he would change slowly but surely. He always did good things even back in Chapter 2. He had a good heart under all that layer. High Honor Chapter 2 Arthur spared Jimmy Brooks, could help a man who lost his horse, helped a woman with a sprained ankle get back home, and led a man back to Strawberry.

Now, let's get on the discussion about the Indians. People have the belief that Arthur would view Rains Fall as a weak leader. I do believe he wouldn't be as close, but I do see him still helping out and getting a new perspective of life. The conversations between him and Rains Fall would be different. Arthur's TB really opened up a sensitive side that he wasn't ready to bring out beforehand. Now, while Arthur may tell him some things, he won't be ready to explain his whole life story, but I can see him still respecting Rains Fall eventually and be reminded of Hosea, who still would weigh on him.

"But why would Arthur without TB help them?" Remember, Arthur and Charles are still friends. If Arthur was going to help him with the bison situation, in this alternative situation, I feel like he would help him out of a debt and favor. They had a special brotherhood and friendship since day one.

Charles saved his life...

...and Arthur still helped him in Chapter 6...

I don't Arthur would leave Charles to dry. It would be more selfish, probably, only because he feels like he has an obligation to Charles, but it would be a start. He might not help the Native Americans on the spot but it would just take more convincing since everything still crashes around him and he was good friends with Charles.

How would the draw go down?:

Well, we are going to speed up here. Arthur would still tell folks that this was done. He would be more optimistic about life. No tuberculosis means Arthur is waiting to die so we would erase that from him have a more livelier Arthur. Would still be grumpy, probably, but despite what people say, I doubt his doubts would die on Guarma.

Dutch would still be getting more deranged, accusing John and Arthur of being traitors when he realizes his "sons" are breaking away from him. Hosea's death really weighed on any rational (or the one he tried to pretend to have), and I don't think Arthur without TB would be able to change this. I doubt Arthur would go through all that work to break John out, only to accuse him of being a traitor like Javier and Bill. I can see him being even more vocal and less meek like he was, calling Dutch out even more.

Arthur would go back for Abigail in my opinion since he wanted to help John earlier, easily overpower Milton and his cronies without Sadie, who would be the extra gun this time.

During the draw, things would go more or less the same. I could see Arthur dropping Micah, Joe, and Cleet. He would be healthy and still a sharpshooter. And he was already angry OTL at what Micah did to the gang. Quick shots. Given how Javier hesitates, and the law was closing in, I don't see healthy Arthur shooting Dutch or Javier. Maybe Bill, but it'll be a very emotional situation.

Arthur and John would run away. I don't think Dutch would want to engage a healthy and in his prime Arthur so he won't be chasing them through that mountain and probably go with Javier and Bill. Arthur, this time, would leave with John to get to Horseshoe Overlook.

From there (without RDR1 plot), what happens:

Logically, Arthur wouldn't move to Blackwater and would have convinced John they need to move far away from the Pinkertons. RDR1 just won't happen.

It would be a bittersweet ending. I believe Arthur would convince John not to back for revenge on Dutch who may be tempted to for what he did to the gang, though not as a strong degree because Arthur would still be alive. It won't be the happiest ending but it would be a nice ending where they would all be able to live.

Concerning an equivalent of RDR1, maybe the Army would hunt down Sadie if she doesn't leave and she will be in the place of John in RDR1, but that probably won't have leverage against her. If they torture her, I doubt she will tell them anything and die with that information. That's if she doesn't ride off with the Marstons and Morgan.

It's something to think about.

[justbeingbuck]

dating eddie munson headcanons

i rewatched st again (and plan on watching part 4 again) and well. i love eddie so much. he's so great (read this as if you're both 18+) (also eddie lives in this shhhh)

his love language is touch and quality time imo. so eddie loves it when you two are spending time together and especially loves it when you two are touching somehow. like you two can be sitting at a table and he'll make sure he's touching you

eddie actually loves it when you play with his hair. you can give him a scalp massage and he's essentially melting at your touch

he loves to talk about his dnd campaign. especially if you're not a player, he'll tell you everything that he has planned. his eyes light up and he adores that you listen to all his ideas. he also loves when you help flesh out ideas with him

some of the best moments spent are when you two are just laying down, in his bed, music on, and high as a kite. he'll hold your hand and interlace your fingers together

making out in his van? yes please. he loves to be on top of you, kissing you heatedly, and grinding his hips into you. this instance happens usually out parked somewhere that no one can bother you. like they call it lover's lake for a reason

people consistently tell you he's a freak and you need to leave him but you don't because you love him. after he has a spiral of agreeing with these people and confessing to you that maybe they're right, you reassure him that you love him for who he is. nothing and no one will change that

eddie has invited you to his band's practice. and he loves putting on a show for you. the other members found it annoying until eddie played really good at the bar when you showed up. he loves it when you're in the small crowd at his shows

you wanted to introduce eddie to your parents because you loved and he meant the world to you. luckily when you brought up eddie and alleged to his d&d game, your parents were really cool with it and excited to meet the guy who stole your heart

bringing this idea up to eddie made him lose his mind. even though you told him many times that your parents were excited to meet him. eddie tried to convince you that he was nothing but trouble. you proceeded to remind him that you two have had this conversation before (and you won). so, he agreed to meet your parents and they loved him. your dad and eddie both loved metallica which was a surprise to you about your dad. but it made your heart soar

it was eddie's third time repeating senior year and metallica was touring over his spring break. so you got tickets and surprised him. he then promised that he would pass his midterms so you two could go. and he loved every second of the concert

[gwinaesfer]

Thoughts on Dragon Age: Inquisition (and how they relate to my opinion of the Veilguard)

It occurred to me that I never finished this review JDIFSOAJDIOSA I'm a few months late but hey, better late than never. Some of you are aware and were excited for me to play Inquisition for the first time after playing Veilguard, sooo let me yap about it.

Important notes: I have only finished the main story, I don't think I'll play the DLCs but I'll explain this further on (in summary, I'm exhausted and the DLCs are long and hard).

This post is GIGANTIC, and also to respect people who don't like critial content I'm putting it under the cut. If you're skipping this, thanks for the company, I do want to chat more with people who have other perspectives so my ask box is open. Still, reminder that this is MY opinion on how things happened in MY experience, you are allowed to disagree with me.

Let's start on a lighter note, here's everything I absolutely adored about this game:

Straight to the top of the list, the soundtrack. What a work of art, pure emotion in song that takes you on this journey even harder than the game itself. The motifs that follow you throughout the story and remind you why you're there, that you have a world to save and people to care about, how the scores talk between each other. Just UGH, 1000000000000000000000000/10. Personal opinion it is better than VG's soundtrack, not an accident that one of my favorite musical moments of VG was the Inquisition theme building up in Blood of Arlathan.

The scenery. What a BEAUTIFUL game to look at, even with 2010's graphics and resolution, the game looks like a painting wherever you stop. Shoutout to the Dales and the Emerald Graves for making me tear up. I love both game's art style, I have nothing to complain or compare.

The companions*: It's impossible not to love all of them, building a friendship (or relationship) takes time and feels earned, I loved how realistic that felt. Yes some people disagreed with my choices and we didn't turn out friends in the end because of it, it's what happens in life and I actually liked having this sense that no, not everyone loves my Inquisitor for what she does. Romance will get its own topic but the friendships in this game, oh my god. Cassandra opening up and turning out to be really sweet and goofy, Leliana being emotional about everything that's going on, Josephine letting herself relax around you and no one else, literally every single one of the Iron Bull scenes, the Wicked Grace game. Goddamn I love these people. Also while at it, the character designs were on point, chef's kiss.

*Regarding personality, I will have a topic further on about the companion missions but it's in the bad section lmfao.

The romance. You guys saw me going through solavellan hell, and if that was an afterthought that they added later in development I can't IMAGINE what the other romances look like. It's tragic and it hurts but it fits the story so well, I do have an issue with it but I understand in this case that it was added later so it will be lacking. For me personally it was so odd and so sad seeing Solas being a normal person for once and realize that he is a person (Veilguard lays heavily on the mystic aspects of him). I think solavellan is an extraordinary match, I see why it's so popular, you all were absolutely right.

Speaking of her, the Inquisitor. WHAT a character. The responsibility of the world on one's shoulder and the yearning from being completely alone while surrounded by people. I played a Lavellan Inquisitor (duh) and it hits you just right just how hard her life is, someone who belonged to a culture that's completely separate from the rest of the world now having to face all of it, becoming a symbol of a faith she doesn't have. She was to be the Keeper of the entire clan, was taken from that path and lost it without ever being able to do anything about it. She's surrounded by people who don't understand or disregard her beliefs and still fights for all of them. When I played Veilguard I thought it was bullshit that she would leave the world behind and willingly go to the Fade, now that I know who she is I see why she needed to go. GodDAMN what a tragic character and so fun to explore in writing.

Not a Section, but what I'm gonna touch on this next topic isn't good or bad. This is neutral ground.

The Story. I have mixed feelings about the story of this game, mainly because playing it in its entirety was SO demanding, SO boring, that I could barely connect to the story at all. It felt badass in a way that I read about it and thought whoa, that's cool, but after I finished it, I felt like it could be more. Still, a protagonist that unwillingly becomes 1- a religious symbol (REGARDLESS of their faith), 2- a war general and 3- a KING/QUEEN of their own little nation was INSANE. Also loved how much culture there is on this game, Orlais looked so different from Ferelden and the rest of the world, all the bits of Dalish history we could read, talk about and even visit sacred grounds!!! I learned more about the Qunari by just chatting with Bull than playing Taash's quest in VG. Thedas looks so alive in this game, it's refreshing to see.

On another note, however. What made the story move and the conflits it brought didn't seem convincing enough for me. Corypheus is a good antagonist, sure, and his monologues were incredible. I still have no fucking idea where he came from, who he is (was?) and what led him to be there in the first place. If the game told me, I was too tired of it to listen. All I gathered was red lyrium bad, addiction worse, fake(?) archdemon big no no, I barely understood what Solas was doing there too, but only because I already knew about it before playing. If all of this is explained in Trespasser, then sorry, didn't have the patience to play it, but also, if the core of your story is explained in a DLC, that's also bad??????? Anyway, good anchor to go to the bad section of this post.

Most critical part of the post, everything I hated about this game (you're welcome to drop the reading right now XD thanks for the company if you do so, see you around <3)

Playability was my biggest issue with Inquisition. Right off the bat, the camera made it impossible for me to fare well in combat and just navigating the game in general, it took me a few tries to actually grasp it in the prologue (I walked around pressing the mouse keys to move the camera with it instead of A and D). I don't know how Inquisition was released, but it felt like a console game thrown into a PC platform without the necessary changes for it to run well for PC players. I didn't mind the ability bar (or whatever it's called), it took no time at all for me to get used to it, it was the camera that got me nauseous and didn't allow me to actually see the game. 3/10 because of how the companions will blast out their special abilities automatically instead of you having to select them (which saved my ass countless times)

I think it still counts as playability, but the quests came in second as my biggest issue, which is bad because it's.... the whole game. The main quests didn't feel very connected between each other for me because of the sheer amount of side quests available between them. I was completely drained halfway through it, I was SO bored, I was viciously following markers going "I wish I was playing literally anything else right now", I forced myself to finish this game and that shouldn't have happened. "But Gwin, you don't have to do the side quests!" True, and by not doing them I miss out on 90% of the lore in a game known for it's writing, I miss companion quests and opinions that could change my view on certain topics, and generally speaking the markers left on the map would piss me off.

I DID miss companion quests, I didn't finish Sera's and Vivienne's stories at all! I know where I went wrong with Vivienne, I refused to give her the wyvern heart because I didn't know what she was going to do with it, and I found absolutely no way of finding out later? It looked like I was completely locked out of her story (I understand the story reasons of it, the "you didn't trust me with this so fuck off" I guess, but no explanation whatsoever? No way of saying aye sorry I didn't give you this then but I want to now?). I have no idea what went wrong with Sera.

Some of the quests were also SO mundane and so... ??????. For instance why am I, the leader of a newly founded military force focused on saving the whole goddamn world, looking for a goat someone lost in the woods? Why am I looking for a wedding ring your daughter lost in the snow? Some of the early game quests made sense (looking for supplies for the refugees, finding medicine for that one woman, hell even looking for the golden halla had meaning), but the others...? In my opinion Veilguard made better choices in side quests, all of them did feel like they had stakes on the bigger problem at hand, you should help the compassion spirits because they were on the verge of turning/you will uncover an entire demon operation under Minrathous, you should look for the crows missing in Rivain because they were bringing suplies back to Treviso after the dragon attack, those missions helped the storytelling of how fucked up the world was then.

Another thing that Veilguard did WAY better and no one can argue about this, all the companions matter to the story at some point, and all of them show up in big missions where you would expect the whole team to be there. Inquisition had me facing an army of demons with 3 people. Out of TWELVE companions only about half of them were integral to the story. You can spend the entire game without talking to HALF the crew once and it doesn't change absolutely anything. Lelianna and Cassandra mattered because of the Divine, Varric mattered because he's directly tied to how the entire plot started and to Hawke, Cole sort of matters because he warned Haven about Corypheus and he's used in storytelling regarding Solas and spirits, and that's all that comes to mind right now.

It was a good game, it could've been great, even, it had everything to be, but I've said this before, I'll take an imperfect game with great playability over a perfect game that's insufferable to play. It does not push me away from loving this era of Dragon Age history though, it's just not something I'll revisit often.

Thank you for reading, I encourage you to give your opinion (respectfully, please, this is a conversation and not a debate), and I want to make more friends to talk about this.

[criticalamityz]

i don't want to die

[autisticaradiamegido]

day 169

this is it, the dynamic

[crystallizsch]

every now and then i decide to do the most inane shit (to avoid responsibilties) bc guess who just switched back yuuna's emoji from 💝 -> 🩷 and added last names to my yuu oc tags and retagged ALL of my posts with them

[claire-starsword]

Authentic Story of the Shining Force - Saint Fencer Max - Chapter 5

Translation notes:

All enemies so far were recognizable from the game, but here they seem to be original.

This might be Boken?? The only character in the game with a big backpack and hair. And he does show up in Dragonia in-game.

About the Ancient names. Mega Max is clearly alliterative in both languages. Giga Cain is almost that. K sounds in japanese become g sounds once you add a dakuten (ﾞ), so they're associated. And in english it kinda works out accidentally, because a G is basically a C with extras too. Vega Darksol though? No link. The pattern is lost. I'm kinda mad about it.

From an author's comment: "These two also appear in Tanuma-sensei's Shining Force (lol). Are they official members?" Yuichiro Tanuma is the artist for another Shining Force manga, Descent of Great Intention, whose scans I only found today (warning for a lot of ecchi/nudity/nsfw, i'm still going through but what i've seen is pretty horny already). And yes, these background characters also appear there. This manga was published before that one, though, so this is their first appearance.

"But Claire you're dodging the main topic, Cain just did exposition of the whole lore" yes yes, the similarities between it and the GBA version are what made me interested in this manga to begin with, but I've decided there's so much to compare between all versions of Max and Cain I'll make a whole huge ass post about it instead. Look forward to that.

I will mention however that Cain's bodysuit here reminds me a bit of the manual picture with Max being brought into Guardiana for the first time.

I did say we had to talk about Prompt (and then promptly forgot it in the first draft of these notes). Like Waral, Prompt is not seen anywhere in the beta map. And here, it is depicted as only ruins instead of the country it is in the final game. That in itself wouldn't mean much, however, Chapter 7, where Prompt is, has a lot more weirdness in it. It has peculiar unused content implying a whole deleted cutscene with Cain, Adam, Chaos and Darksol in Metapha, and it freezes the Debug Mode's Battle Test any time you Egress (also, Chapter Selection won't even load it from a save file of another chapter, which doesn't happen for any other chapter). Of course, I don't know the actual code of the game, but this gives me the impression that this Chapter 7 had some other Egress point that got removed later. Basically, if there's one part of the game you can expect to have changed late in development, it's Prompt and Metapha, so it could have been only ruins as the manga depicts here, and as I mentioned in the last chapter, some place or machine called Tenochtitlan could have existed.

Oh boy I keep forgetting notes this time! The goddamn chapter title. Both times the Chaos Breaker is mentioned here, it is written with the usual katakana, but also the kanji 対暗黒魔法剣 (Anti-Darkness Magic Sword) as furigana. I felt it was too clunky to mention both sword names in the dialogue, especially when Cain was already pushing the limits of a lot of speech bubbles this chapter. But anyway, yeah, it's supposed to be a bit of a title drop there.

I. forgot. yet. another. note. When Otrant recognizes the robot using an explosion spell, the manga actually says 核爆烈, a mix of 核 (nuclear) and 爆烈 (explosion). However, I couldn't find this exact wording in dictionaries, only fictional works, so it might just dramatic flavor, since nuclear explosions Don't Work Like That. I kept it ambiguous in the translation to not raise questions in the middle of the action, but it's worth noting since both the aforementioned Descent of Great Intention manga and the UK Sonic the Comic version of Shining Force bring up nuclear themes at some point.

[phagodyke]

dating an art student was so crazy I'm just thinking abt that one birthday I had where my ex got me stickers from the etsy of the person they were cheating on me with....

[deepsixsquid]

Would you fuck with Splatoon the way that you do if you didn't have anyone to play/talk about the game with? No splat social media, forums, discord, or friends. Just you, Nocchan, and the solo queue

THAT is a really good question, had to think about this one for a long time For about as long as I can remember, I've been fine with enjoying a vast majority of things by myself, still kinda do even now. BUT, while I know that I would still enjoy Splatoon if I were completely solo, as I went into this series on my own in the first place, I would definitely NOT be as into it as I am now if I were on my own the whole time. A lot would be different if I didn't have places for clips/videos, talking with people, learning from people and, most importantly, if I didn't have my team. Honestly, without them, Nocchan probably wouldn't be here, I'd probably have an entirely different, and far less intense, squid being my main OC, and I definitely wouldn't be as confident, or as much of a fighter, if I didn't have all this.

I could ramble A LOT about this one, it got me thinkin about so many things But, to sum it up, nah, I wouldn't be as into it as I am without everything else, especially my friends It'd be more like "Man, this game's fun~" instead of "This series has gone on to have a profound impact on my life and changed me, as a a person, on a fundamental level"

[ectoplasmer]

rgrhrgrhgr going insane thinking about how I have felt so much love and affection for a character from a card game anime of all things!! for over two years!!! one of the most frustrating guys ever nonetheless!!!!

[yes-no-maybe-soo]

Okay so listing the shit Sylus has gone through from memory...

He is heavily implied to have been rejected or outright abandoned by his parents as a very young dragon

He was always an outcast. Not human enough. Not dragon enough.

He cut off his scales and his horns because he hated them so much. But they grew back no matter what he did (again as a child)

The only kin he had got slaughtered right in front of him. Leaving him as the last dragon alive.

The same humans who slaughtered his kin but spared him because of his appearance turn on him the moment they see he is not in fact human and try to kill him. Again, this all happens when he is young.

He is then persecuted by humans until at some point, he ends up sealed in the Abyss, a greatsword lodged in his chest, preventing him from moving freely even down there. He stays like that for 1,600 years, surviving on Wanderer Protocores

He meets MC, who frees him. They fall in love, split half their souls with each other, and are happy. But due to the dragon's curse, Sylus is destined to kill her one day because she is his beloved... or she him, because she is his destined archnemesis.

MC is taken from him. Sylus goes berserk and loses his mind, his dragon instincts taking over fully.

He sacrifices himself for MC last second before he can kill her. Breaking their curse. Giving her a chance at a life free from being used and abused, and himself eternal rest

Only, MC has other plans and curses him to eternal life, essentially. Only she can kill him.

At some point in time, Sylus is reincarnated together with MC in the nebula. There they are both locked up in a gladiatorial cage as mere children, forced to kill for public entertainment. Think Hunger Games.

They successfully escape together, but at a later point in time they are separated by the Deepspace Tunnel or as Sylus says "You were quietly moved to another garden in a foreign land".

Sylus ends up in space-time prison. We don't know how long he spent there or what was done to him, but I doubt it was in any way pleasant or easy.

He escapes and space pirates through the cosmos for MC, who he can probably sense is still out there. He eventually pinpoints her location, but is unable to properly reunite with her... because she has regressed to a young child. He frees her, but walks off... effectively losing her a third time. He also learns of the horrific torture that Gaia put her through. He watches over her from a distance, but never approaches her, valuing her autonomy too much to insert himself. But he waits for her. Hopes – no, knows – that she will find her way to him, if only to seek answers about her past.

The next 12 years – as most of his existence – are spent almost entirely alone, with no one except Mephie for companionship. He has no friends. No family. No close associates. Things do improve with Luke and Kieran's arrival.

14 years after he left her, he meets MC again. But she doesn't remember him, and worse, actively hates him and blames him for the death of her family, of which he had no part.

He is told straight to his face that MC – his soulmate and prime reason for living – rejects him, fears him, and is disgusted by him. Which very visibly hurts him.

Sees the Deepspace Tunnel again and with it, memories of losing MC. Again, the pain on his face is very visible.

In Death and Rebirth, he gets a hurtful reminder that he still doesn't have MC's full trust. And – yet again – the distress is apparent. Because their trust in each other is everything to him.

So... in summary: Sylus has been used, abused, isolated, and locked away for most of his life. He is so unused to kindness and to being treated like a human being that he doesn't know how to react when people wish him happy birthday.

Any care he was shown for the first millennia of his life came exclusively from MC, the one person to actually see him as something other than a Monster. Said soulmate is taken from him twice, tortured and repeatedly killed, her memories of him erased. When they meet again in current timeline, she hates him, and it takes a long time for Sylus to undo the damage of their first meeting.

The man has not had it easy, nor has he gotten to feel much joy.

So it'd be understandable to become bitter. Cruel. Cold.

But he doesn't

Hell, he never even crashes out (as far as we know).

Instead he's compassionate, an animal and nature lover, attends and donates at charity events, takes in the two orphans that tried to kill him, is the King of Consent, very emotionally mature etc.

Sylus is so strong, man... he never lost himself. He never lost his innate kindness despite a life (or lives ig) where nearly none was ever shown him.

[thankskenpenders]

Thoughts on two specific areas of the writing in Sonic X Shadow Generations

The best new 3D Sonic game in over a decade (or even two, depending on who you ask) dropped late last year. And I didn't write anything about it! Sometimes life happens. Well, I've finally sat down to finish Shadow Generations, and by now everyone has already been singing its praises for three months. This is the rare instance where the entire Sonic fandom, and even mainstream reviewers, are in agreement on something. The level design is the best it's been in a long, long time and the cool factor is off the charts, embracing Sonic's peak cringe era in an incredibly confident way. It's great. If you're even reading this post, you probably don't need me to tell you that. So I won't!

No, what I'm really interested in here is the writing. Because this is me we're talking about. But I actually don't want to talk about the main narrative of Shadow Generations, which is really solid little story about Black Doom trying to mold Shadow into his perfect soldier. No, I'd like to zero in on two other aspects of the writing here: the revisions made to Sonic Generations, and Gerald Robotnik's unlockable journal.

The updated Sonic Generations script

The new package mostly presents Sonic Generations how you remember it. There are some tweaks, but it's not a major overhaul. Graphically, I don't think the game has been touched much, if at all. I certainly can't notice any difference without a side-by-side comparison, despite playing it on a PS5. The most notable update is that the game's script has been rewritten by Ian Flynn.

Naturally, this caught my attention. Generations always had a nothingburger story, so with Ian rewriting Pontac and Graff's lame dialogue there was nowhere to go but up. (I don't like to pin the blame for those games' stories entirely on them, as a ton of it was dictated to them by Sonic Team, but, well, I don't think they're very good dialogue writers.) But it's less a complete rewrite and more like Ian was brought on as a script doctor for some minor touch ups here and there. Many lines of dialogue are completely identical to how they were originally written in 2011, and many others only have slight wording changes. Ian was clearly not allowed to request additional scenes or extend the ones that already existed. He has to match the original beat for beat so that they can reuse 99% of the cutscene animations. Don't expect it to be a whole new experience compared to the original.

Still, I think the new script is an improvement, albeit a minor one. Various things have been tweaked to maintain characterization consistency. Cream calls Sonic "Mr. Sonic" instead of just "Sonic." Instead of calling Sonic "buddy," Rouge uses the pet name "Blue," like she tends to do in things like the IDW comics. Espio doesn't have to remind you in the dialogue that he's a ninja, and he no longer has a line making it sound like he has some kind of soul reading power. I also like that Modern Sonic now actually has responses to what his friends say when he rescues them, rather than being silent like Classic Sonic. They won't blow you away, but they make Sonic feel a little more engaged with everything.

In general, the altered dialogue just seems tighter to me, and some of the more childish or trite wording of Pontac and Graff's script has been altered. Here, let's actually make a direct comparison, just because this stuff is interesting to me as a writer. Here's a couple lines from after the Egg Dragoon fight late in the game, in the original script:

Modern Eggman: Ooooh... I can't believe this! I was supposed to beat you this time. Modern Sonic: Aw, I'm sorry! I didn't get that memo. I beat you every time! [Turns to Classic Sonic] No, seriously, we beat this guy every time. It's like it's our job or something!

This is a simple exchange. Eggman is mad that he lost. Sonic is unflappably confident because he always beats Eggman, and he explains this to his younger self. But the wording here isn't particularly good. Eggman's simple and direct wording makes him come off like a little kid who's mad because his older brother beat him at Mario Kart, rather than a mad scientist who just had his plans foiled. It's making light of the situation.

And I've never liked Sonic saying "It's like it's our job or something!" That doesn't feel like a thing Sonic would say, it feels like a thing an outside observer would say about Sonic. This is a frequent problem with so-called "MCU dialogue," where quips meant to echo the commentary of a casual, somewhat disinterested audience are inserted into the story itself so that the writers can be like "See? We get it. We're genre-savvy, too!" It also just reminds me of bad Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric lines like "Rings! It's like they're made for me!"

And then here's Ian's rewrite:

Modern Eggman: I recalibrated everything! This was supposed to be my time! Modern Sonic: Oh, please, keep dreamin', Egg-head. I beat you every time. [Turns to Classic Sonic] No, seriously, we beat him every time. Our score card's flawless.

Eggman's still mad about his defeat, but the line "I recalibrated everything!" makes it more specific. He put all this work into the engineering side of his latest scheme and got tunnel vision, thinking if he got his creations just right there'd be no way he could lose. "This was supposed to be my time!" also turns it into a time travel pun, which is a bonus. He's still pitching a fit over losing, but it feels more like Eggman pitching a fit, rather than sounding childish.

And then instead of saying that beating Eggman is "like his job or something," Sonic says he's got a flawless score card against Eggman. He doesn't take Eggman seriously as a threat—at least, not to his face. He acts like it's all a game. But he conveys this in a way that feels truer to the character, rather than feeling like the words of a real world observer poking fun at the tropes of the Sonic series.

Is this amazing, A+ dialogue that blows me away? No. Again, it's not a completely different scene from the one we already had. Ian had to fit the beats of what was already there. He couldn't go all out and write an all new story confirming his longstanding headcanon that the Time Eater is a remnant of Solaris or whatever. But the wording here makes the existing story land a little better and feel truer to the characters in subtle ways.

But to me, the main change is that the Sonics and Tailses seem to have a more solid understanding of what's going on with the timeline and the Time Eater, compared to how idiotic they sometimes seemed in the original game. Which is good! No more standing outside Green Hill and wondering why it seems so familiar. Thank god. As part of this, yes, there are a few more references to past games in the dialogue, like Sonic briefly being confused about the fact that they're time traveling without the Time Stones, or South Island and Westside Island being acknowledged as the normal locations of Green Hill and Chemical Plant. Yes, ha ha, insert joke about how Ian loves references here. Look, it's Sonic fucking Generations. It's a game built entirely out of nostalgic references. Just own it! And, again, in this instance Sonic and Tails come off as less stupid when they make it clear that they do, in fact, remember their adventures from presumably less than a year ago in-universe.

Eggman, too, seems to have a better understanding of the powers he's toying with. Where in the original vesion his focus was simply on going back in time to undo his previous defeats and he seemed kind of oblivious to how much the Time Eater was actually fucking up the universe, here Eggman says he wants to use the Time Eater to give himself complete control over the entire timeline. Eggman also makes way fewer references to his own failures and shortcomings. Of course he won't admit that Sonic has defeated him time and time again. To him, he's never truly lost—Sonic just keeps delaying the inevitable total victory for the Eggman Empire.

So, yes. The new Sonic Generations script is better. It won't blow anyone away, but it's better than it was. It's been elevated from "kinda lame" to "fine." No, if you really wanna see Ian flex his ability to breathe new life into old Sonic stories, look no further than...

Gerald Robotnik's Journal

Hoo boy.

The story of what happened aboard the ARK has always been... a bit confusing, to say the least. Fans with encyclopedic knowledge of the script for every route of Shadow '05 may disagree, but it's the truth. We've had all the pieces to understand the story for a long time now, but that info was given to us out of order by a pair of unreliable narrators—Gerald, who became a vengeful lunatic shortly before his death, and Shadow, who was subjected to multiple rounds of amnesia and altered memories. Some of the ambiguity left by Sonic Adventure 2 was cleared up in Shadow '05, but that game also retconned in a bunch of new elements to Shadow's backstory (aliens!) that lead to further confusion. Not to mention the fact that that game had multiple routes and only revealed the truth about Shadow if you sat on the ultimate final boss battle for WAY longer than the fight would normally last. Or the fact that Sonic X made its own tweaks in its telling of the story. Or the fact that none of these things ever had the best English translations. I can't blame anyone who hasn't played those games in two decades for not remembering the truth about these characters and getting some details mixed up.

What we needed was something to piece together all of the info we have into one coherent backstory, told in chronological order. And thanks to Shadow Generations, we have that, in the form of an official journal tying together what we knew from Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow '05, and Sonic Battle into the tragic tale of Gerald's rise and fall.

Ian Flynn was the perfect man for the job here as the guy who started his career by tidying up the mess that was the first 159 issues if Archie Sonic. This is what he excels at: taking disparate bits of weird Sonic lore from multiple different sources, boiling them down to their most interesting elements, and connecting it together in a way that will make the audience see the dramatic potential he's always known was there. Rather than feeling like a cynical exercise in franchise building, going back and explaining things that never needed explaining so that people can add more bullet points to the wiki, he puts a new spin on things that retroactively enriches those past stories. The story here means something to the characters involved and gives us a better understanding of them as people, rather than as plot devices to motivate Shadow.

(And, of course, Ian didn't do this journal alone. He wrote the story, but I also have to give a huge shout out to Evan Stanley, who made the final product. All of her handwritten journal entries, sketches, and "photos" included throughout. The physical damage done to the journal over the course of 50 tumultuous years, passing from Gerald to Eggman to a certain special someone at GUN. The way Gerald's handwriting gets less and less legible as his mental state declines. So much love was put into what could have been a mere text dump in a menu, and it really elevates it to the next level. Congrats on officially getting hired by Sega, Evan, you've sure as hell earned it!)

The main idea the journal conveys is that Gerald was under a lot of pressure from a lot of different parties—GUN, the President, his colleagues aboard the ARK, Black Doom, even his own family—and boy did it get to him. The known incidents aboard the ARK mentioned in previous games are put together here to form a story where everything slowly spirals out of control as Gerald keeps compromising his morals to further his research, thinking he'll eventually find some way out of all this because he's a genius. I won't recap that whole story here (if you haven't already played the game and read the journal entries, I would highly recommend at least reading it on the Sonic wiki), but I'd like to highlight my favorite elements of the story, as Ian tells it here.

1) The Eclipse Cannon

Here's something that never quite made sense in Sonic Adventure 2: why does the ARK have a laser that can blow up the Earth built into it? It was supposed to be a peaceful research colony. Sure, Gerald went crazy and swore revenge on the Earth, but, like... when did he have an opportunity to go back up to the ARK and modify it? Did he have someone else do it? How? The ARK was raided by GUN and shut down! And then they arrested him, held him in prison for an unclear period of time, and executed him by firing squad when he was no longer useful! It doesn't add up. Shadow 'the Hedgehog '05 would give its own answer by introducing the Black Arms and saying that the Eclipse Cannon was always supposed to be a secret trump card against the Black Comet. But, like... we know that's kind of a bullshit answer, right? You don't need enough power to blow up a whole planet just to destroy a comet.

Well, the new journal retains what we already knew, but it paints a much more complete picture.

See, long before Gerald ever made a Faustian bargain with Black Doom, he had already made one with an even greater evil: the military. GUN gave Gerald much of the funding for the ARK, Gerald's personal utopian research station in space, but it didn't take long for GUN to start pressuring him to design them weapons. Gerald tried to get GUN off his back by personally contacting the President of the United Federation, and the President gave him an alternative: how about, instead, you just use your genius brain to figure out the secret to immortality for us, so our soldiers can be immortal? Gerald was initially sickened by the notion and found it completely absurd, like chasing a shadow... but given no other option, the sarcastically named Project Shadow soon began in earnest. (Maria would later put a more positive spin on the name after Shadow's awakening, pointing out that a Shadow can show us the direction of the light, like she says in the game itself.)

Of course, this search for the ultimate life form didn't go very well, and without any results on that front GUN kept hounding him for weapons. Gerald would throw them a bone here and there to get them off his back. His research on Chaos resulted in the Artifical Chaos prototypes, which he worried would be used for warfare but could at least theoretically be used for search and rescue missions in floods, in his mind. But that wasn't enough. So he gave them Chaos Drives to power their mechs. And that still wasn't enough. He's got Emerl. He'll give them Emerl. They're not impressed by Emerl. They'll shut the whole ARK down if Gerald doesn't give them something big.

Fine! GUN wants something big? Gerald builds a huge fucking laser cannon into the ARK. However, as a middle finger to GUN, Gerald makes it so powerful that it would destroy the Earth if it was ever fired at any target on its surface. In other words, GUN now has their ultimate weapon of mass destruction, fulfilling his contract, but they can never actually use it. Oh, the delicious irony. (And also Shadow will blow up the Black Comet with it in 50 years yada yada yada.) Is this perhaps extremely shortsighted and naive of Gerald, to believe that such a weapon would never actually be used just because of the risk? Of course. But hey, that's Gerald for you. And I love this as an answer.

(Also, this, uh, kinda echoes something from real life! Remember the bit in Oppenheimer where he says all nuclear war will become unthinkable, and Edward Teller responds "until somebody builds a bigger bomb"? Yeah, Teller went on to conceptualize a superweapon codenamed Project Sundial that would have been able to kill all life on the planet, as the ultimate deterrent for war. This was never made for obvious reasons, but hey, there's a basis for this sort of thinking outside of heightened sci-fi! There's a whole Kurzgesagt video about this if you're interested.)

2) The Biolizard

The Biolizard is, of course, brought up as the initial failed prototype of the ultimate life form, from before Gerald met Black Doom. We don't really learn all that much about it that we didn't already know, but I just love the way it's framed in the story.

As you can see above, we actually get to see a picture of Maria holding up the cute little salamander that would end up mutating into the Biolizard through Gerald's experiments. (Researchers want to figure out how to replicate salamanders' regenerative abilities for humans in real life, too, so this was a natural starting point for the project.) And then, after it grows to a monstrous size and goes out of control, Gerald has to lock it away in an unused sector of the ARK. He needs to keep the poor thing alive for his research into harnessing Chaos Energy, building life support systems directly into it, but he doesn't have the heart to tell Maria what happened. So it just becomes this first dark secret weighing on his conscience. The Biolizard becomes Gerald's Tell-Tale Heart beating beneath the floorboards of the ARK. I love that.

3) Lost Impact was the breaking point for the ARK

Remember the level Lost Impact in Shadow '05? The flashback level on the hero path where Shadow is running around fighting Artificial Chaos enemies on the ARK 50 years ago? Yeah, that wasn't just a random incident. That was important, as we now know due to its placement on the timeline.

See, Emerl's rampage aboard the ARK that was chronicled in Sonic Battle and Dark Beginnings set off a domino effect. Emerl riled up the Artificial Chaos, causing Gerald to lose control of them. They became violent, and so Shadow had to stop them, as depicted in Lost Impact. The thing is, that incident sent an SOS signal to GUN telling them that shit was going down on the ARK. Gerald didsn't fully understand the trouble he was in and assumed that he'd simply be reprimanded by the higher ups, or maybe face legal action. But, well... the next time he heard from GUN, armed troopers were raiding the ARK.

So Lost Impact was the straw that broke the camel's back. I just really like that detail.

4) Maria

And, of course, there's Maria herself. Maria has often been more of a symbol than a character, this perfect embodiment of everything that's good and pure in this world who gets killed to motivate Shadow and Gerald's revenge plots. But I really like the wrinkles this journal adds to her and Gerald's story, and their relationship. This is the most fleshed out they've ever felt.

For one, the journal leans into the idea of Maria's intellectual potential. The rest of the Robotnik family is all geniuses, after all, and she was proving to be a really bright kid. She excelled in her studies on the ARK, and she even helped design Shadow's jet skates and inhibitor rings. When Maria died, the world didn't just lose a symbolic personification of purity. She genuinely could have been a hugely influential scientist who did so much good for the world. That's what Gerald wanted for her. But we'll never know, because GUN killed her.

Speaking of her family, their presence isn't just mentioned for the sake of fleshing out the Robotnik family tree. It's mentioned that as Gerald struggled to find a cure for Maria's illness through his genetic research, he faced mounting pressure from his family. They didn't want Maria to be up on the ARK forever. They wanted Gerald to hurry up and find a damn cure, or otherwise just send her back home to Earth so she could be with her family again. She'd been up on the ARK for so long that Gerald's coworkers started thinking that she had been born up there. Eventually she gains a baby sister on Earth who she's never met. A rift forms between Gerald's two sons, and he's unable to really deal with it because he's so consumed by his work. There's this sense that the family is falling apart, and that everyone is dreading the possibility that Gerald will never find a cure and that Maria will just spend her final years up in space and die far away from her family, because Gerald just couldn't let go. If that happens, it'll break the whole family. But he can't stop now. So he just keeps working. Curing Maria is the only way to win his family back, in his eyes. It can't all be for nothing.

But my favorite detail regarding Maria is this one paragraph:

Maria is growing into a lovely young woman. It breaks my heart that someone as bright and energetic as her is diminished by disease. There are no visible effects, and I've caught my fellow researchers muttering to each other, doubting her illness. It is infuriating. I find all my reason and restraint vanishes when she's slighted.

This is SUCH a great addition to the story! It's always been true that Maria doesn't really seem all that ill, just looking at her in cutscenes. With this one little comment, Ian flips that issue on its head and turns it into a story about invisible disability. She doesn't act like she's in chronic pain, so she must not be, everyone thinks. And this really, really gets to Gerald, as does the pressure from his family. He's dedicating his whole LIFE to saving her, and they think she's faking it?! It's such a small addition, never referenced elsewhere in the journal, but it adds so much flavor to the story, as does the implied family drama. It grounds Gerald and Maria and makes them feel more like real human beings, rather than being pure archetypes. It's just enough info to let my imagination run wild filling in the blanks.

You also get the feeling that Maria being such a walking ray of sunshine was the only real source of joy Gerald had left in his life before Shadow was awakened, and the only thing keeping him from snapping under pressure sooner. All this stuff just keeps piling on, everything's spiraling out of control, but at least Maria is keeping her chin up, right? It makes so much sense that losing her would make him go off the deep end when it's framed like this.

It's just... man, I never thought I'd care so much about Gerald and Maria. But that's the Ian Flynn touch. After years of less than stellar Sonic writing that seemed to be embarrassed of itself, I'm so happy to have new games coming out that fully embrace the history of the series like this, making its world feel so rich and real instead of just serving as an excuse for a string of platforming levels. I don't even like Shadow '05, but I'll be damned if Ian and the rest of Sonic Team didn't make something amazing by "yes, and"-ing Shadow's cringe past here. Sonic has truly reached levels of "we're so back" never thought possible.

[maskedbyghost]

cw: angst, johnny's death is mentioned, enjoy crying...

You know how Soap finally got you and Simon together? By dying. Yeah, you read that right. The bastard was that extra.

You always knew he was dramatic, but this? This was a whole new level. He used to say you and Simon belonged together, and you used to tell him to shove it. Simon was insufferable, and you were pretty sure he thought the same about you. Every interaction you had was an argument waiting to happen. Soap, though? He saw something else. Maybe he saw more than what was there, or maybe he just wanted to be right. Either way, he was relentless.

“You two are gonna name your firstborn after me, just you wait,” he’d say, grinning ear to ear.

“I’m gonna name my dog after you,” you’d shoot back. “And it’s gonna be the ugliest, stinkiest mutt I can find.”

Soap loved that. He loved poking the bear—which, in this case, was both you and Simon. He was your best friend, but he was also Simon’s best friend. Somehow, he got away with it. No one else could push Simon’s buttons like he did, and no one else could push yours either.

Sometimes, he’d corner Simon too. You’d hear them talking, voices low, and you just knew he was doing the same thing to him.

“I see the way you look at her,” he’d tease.

Simon would scoff. “I look at 'er like she's a bloody headache.”

“Exactly,” Soap would say, like that proved his point. “That’s love, mate.”

Simon would grunt, annoyed, but never actually deny it.

The last thing he said to you before he left for that mission was, “When I get back, we’re going to that stupid fair you love so much. I’ll even let you drag Lt along.”

You rolled your eyes, but you were smiling. “You? Let me? Johnny, you’d be the one dragging him.”

He winked. “Exactly.”

And then he left. And he never came back...

You were stuck on base, healing up from an injury, waiting for them to return. You were waiting for him, for all of them, technically, but mostly for him. You knew something was wrong when hours passed with no word. You told yourself they’d be fine. Soap had to be fine.

Then there was a knock on your door. You got up, already preparing to chew him out for being late, but when you opened it, it wasn’t Johnny standing there. It was Simon.

And he wasn’t wearing his mask.

That was the first thing you noticed. The second thing you noticed was his eyes. You had never seen them like that before.

“What are you doing here?” you asked, even though you already knew. You knew the second you saw him.

Simon swallowed. His voice was rough when he muttered, “I’m sorry... Johnny’s dead.”

You don’t really remember much after that. You remember your knees hitting the floor. You remember hands on your shoulders, keeping you from collapsing completely. You remember the sound that came out of you, something you had never heard before. It was raw, ugly. It didn’t even sound human.

You remember Simon staying. You don’t know how long. Hours, maybe. Days. He stayed while you cried, while you screamed, while you stared at the wall in silence. And when he finally did leave, he came back the next day. And the day after that. And the day after that.

At first, you hated him for it. Hated that he saw you like this, hated that he wouldn’t just leave you alone. But grief is a strange thing. One minute you want to be left alone, the next you don’t know how to be alone at all. And Simon? He understood that better than anyone. He let you rage, let you sob, let you sit in silence without ever demanding anything from you. It was the kindest thing he had ever done for you.

One night, you mentioned the fair.

“Johnny promised me we’d go,” you said. “It was stupid, but he promised.”

Simon was quiet for a long time before he finally said, “Then we’ll go.”

So you did. It was the worst fair you had ever been to. Everything reminded you of him. The stupid carnival games. The overpriced food. The Ferris wheel that he had sworn he’d make you ride. And Simon was there, standing beside you, just as lost as you were.

He even tried to win you something at one of those rigged booths, muttering curses under his breath when he kept missing. “Bloody scam,” he grumbled, handing you a consolation prize—a tiny stuffed dog.

“Soap would’ve made fun of you so much,” you said, holding the plushie close.

Simon huffed. “Yeah. Bastard.��

You didn’t talk much, but you didn’t need to. Somehow, that was the moment everything started to change between you.

And then you found Soap’s diary.

You don’t know why you hadn’t looked at it before. Maybe you had been too scared. Maybe you had just been avoiding it. But one day, you opened it, and there it was—a picture of the three of you. You, him, and Simon. And underneath it, in his stupid scrawled handwriting, he had written:

"My two best friends. I’ll love their kids so much."

You broke down all over again.

Simon found you like that, sitting on the floor, clutching the diary like it was the last piece of Johnny you had left. He didn’t say anything. He just pulled you into his arms, pressing a kiss to your forehead, holding you together the only way he knew how.

Years later, you stood in the place where you let Johnny’s ashes go. You had a baby boy in your arms, and Simon stood beside you, looking out at the horizon.

“Hi, Johnny,” he said softly. “This is Johnny Junior.”

You laughed, even as tears ran down your face. “He would’ve hated that.”

“I know,” Simon said. “That’s why it’s perfect.”

And for the first time in a long time, you let yourself believe that maybe Johnny had been right all along.

“Miss you, mate,” Simon murmured.

You looked down at your son, his tiny fingers curled around yours. “We both do.”

-------------------------------------------------

hehehehehe

@daydreamerwoah @kylies-love-letter @ghostslollipop @kittygonap @alfiestreacle @identity2212

[cheapshrimpysheep]

Pocky Game

SUMMARY: How would they react if you asked them to play Pocky with you? Do they already know the game? How do they act while playing? And who is the first to finish the biscuit stick and kiss the other?

CHARACTERS: All NRC students (except Ortho)

TAGS: Fluff; GN Reader; Bullet Points; Kissing; suggestive?

WORD COUNT: An average of 310 words per character.

COMMENTS: I had this idea for some time but only now did I write it down. I don't know what else to tell to you other than: I hope you enjoy 😘

CONTEXT: The Pocky game is a party game played with Pocky, a Japanese chocolate- or candy-coated biscuit snack. Two participants place the Pocky between them “Lady and the Tramp” style, and try to be the last to hold onto the biscuit, often resulting in a kiss.

Since it's a game similar to the famous scene from "Lady and the Tramp" where they eat spaghetti, my headcanon is that this game exists in Twisted Wonderland.

How to play:

Pick a partner that you wouldn't mind kissing.

Face your partner and put a Pocky stick between you. Each partner takes an end of the Pocky stick in their mouth.

Each partner bites their end of the Pocky stick until their mouths meet in the middle. The first person to pull away loses!

Riddle has no idea what this game is, you'll have to explain it to him. “So, if I understand correctly, you lose if you pull away and you win if you keep eating the biscuit stick. Very well. It sounds simple. But is there any purpose to the game? Is it some kind of endurance test?” You say, in a way, it can be seen like that. He smiles.“I see. Are there any other rules I should be aware of before we begin?” You say no, that you already explained everything.

You put the biscuit stick in your mouth and point the other side at him for him to bite. He does so and you begin the game. The closer he gets to your face the more he will blush. Until he starts having difficulty looking you in the eye and diverts his attention to the biscuit stick, which makes him make a cute face.

When there is only one bite left to finish the game, it is his turn and he pulls away. “W-wait!” The only times he gets redder than he already is is when he's angry, but of course this was not the case. “You never said there was a possibility that neither of us would pull away. If we both continue eating the biscuit stick until the end, what happens? Because if we had continued...” He looks away, embarrassed.

You apologize because you thought finding out during the game would have been a fun surprise. But you didn't know he wouldn't like the idea of... kissing you.

“What? No, no! It's not that I don't like the idea, I actually really wish I had done it... it's just that... I didn't know that it was the objective and I didn't want to, you know, be ill-mannered in case you...” Then he gets slightly upset with you. “You should have warned me! You lied to me when you said there were no more rules.” He smirks confidently. “If you were a student of Heartslabyul, it would have been off with your head for this. But I will allow you to play again and if I consider the end of the game satisfactory, you will have my forgiveness.”

In the second round, even though it's his turn, he will stop and hesitate, he wants you to be the one to consent. So you take the last bite and kiss him. You feel his lips relax. And If you deepen the kiss, he will reciprocate and hug you, pulling you towards him by the waist.

Ace knows this game so well that it's not you who invites him to play, it's he who invites you. “You also bought a box? Ha ha ha, we thought the same thing. That's a good sign.” He winks at you and smirks. “What box do we start with?”

While you play, he looks you in the eyes with a mischievous and provocative look, to see when you will chicken out and lose. The longer this takes, the more he will smile and the more smug his look will become. His face reminds you of a sly cat.

When there's only one bite left for your lips to meet, he stops, to let you choose whether to kiss him or give up and lose, while he looks you in the eyes defiantly.

If you finish the game and kiss him, his eyes will widen in surprise, but soon after that he will close his eyes and you will feel his lips form a triumphant smile. He place a hand on the back of your head to deepen the kiss.

He's the one who breaks the kiss with the most smug smile he's capable of. “Wow, chill out. We still have a lot of biscuit stick to play with.” There is a pause in which you reply. “What do you mean I was more excited than you?!” He blushes. “Lie! You were enjoying it as much as I was!... Wait! I mean...” He blushes even more. “You know what, let's play again to find out.” He smirks again.

The name of the game is not unfamiliar to Deuce, but you’ll have to remind him what kind of game it was. You explain the rules to him, that both players eat the biscuit stick from one side and the first one to pull away loses. “Okay, so whoever finishes the biscuit stick first wins?” He asks and you confirm.

“I see. So let's... wait! What happens if none of us pull away?” He asks innocently. You suggest that he finds it out while you play. And he trusts you, so he accepts the suggestion.

You put the biscuit stick in your mouth and point for him to bite the other side. He does so, and as your faces get closer he begins to blush.

As the two of you take bites, it seems to bring out his competitive side, causing him to pay more attention to his bites of the cookie than to the fact that he's getting so close to you.

He's the one who takes the last bite and kisses you. But he'll quickly jump away and start apologizing. “Sorry, I didn't mean to- I mean I didn't think- expected-” He stammers, unable to finish a sentence and almost as red as when his Housewarden gets angry.

If he sees you looking sad or disappointed because it looks like he didn't want to kiss you, he'll immediately tell you that's not the case! Clumsily, and stumbling over his words.

“Wait... that... that's what you wanted? T-To kiss me?” The poor boy is a little slow. But now that he's realized this, he's going to try to muster up all the confidence he can and suggest that you try it again. And if you take out another biscuit stick to play again he'll be like: "Ah, yes! Try again the game, yes. That... that's what I meant, haha”

Cater was the one who had the idea. And it was probably trending on Magicam. He will ask you to play in the cutest way that only he knows how to ask. “Oh, you know this game too? So you can play with me right? Right, [Y/N]-chan~? You're not going to tell me that you've already played this with other people and you're not going to play it with me. You're going to make Cay-kun very sad, and a little jealy~.”

If you accept, he'll ask you if he can film you two playing. He promises not to post it on Magicam if you don't want him to, but the footage will be so cute that he'll at least want to keep it as a souvenir for himself. “Pretty please~?”

He will play like it's any other game, while looking sweetly into your eyes. Yes, he is taking the opportunity to flirt with you. If you get embarrassed, even just a little bit, he'll find it super cute.

He will let you take the last bite and decide whether to kiss him or not, while he looks at you seductively as a way to convince you to kiss him.

If you do, you'll feel his lips form a smile as he deepens the kiss. One of his hands on top of one of yours and the other on your cheek.

After the kiss, he will stay very close to you, wanting to hug you and with his forehead touching yours, laughing. Like those couples on social media.

Trey recognizes the name. “It's that game where two people eat the same biscuit stick until they meet in the middle, right?” He smiles awkwardly. “Isn't it usually played between crushes?”

If you answer yes in a way that makes him understand that that is exactly why you want to play with him, he'll give you that rare smirk of his, and chuckles. “Okay. I'll be happy to play with you.”

Even though he knows how the game works, he will let you have more control over the game. You'll take the first bite and he'll follow, as if the fun part for him was seeing you having fun and not the game itself.

He will be smiling sweetly the whole game, but when only the last bite is left, his smile turns into a smug as he looks into your eyes, and he kisses you, kindly and relaxedly. Then he'll pull away with that smug still on his face and he'll even lick his lip.

“Well, I guess we both won. That's what you wanted, right? Did I play well?” His expression is a mix of his gentle side with the rare cheeky side. “Oh,you would like I hadn't pull away so soon? Sorry, I'm still getting used to the rules of the game. I don't mind playing it again if you want. It was fun. With or without the biscuit stick.”

Yes, Leona knows what game this is, and he will tease you for wanting to play it. “Isn't that a cubs's play? How cute.” he says lying in the botanical garden, as always. “And why are you asking me to play? Do I look like someone who plays these games?”

You take that as a no (or at least as a 'try to convince me') So you say that if he doesn't want to, you'll find someone else to play with. Points if you say something like: "Maybe Tsunotarou would like to play with me."

“OI! I never said no! But if you want, you'll have to play with me lying down, because I'm not going to get up to make you that favour.”

He just straightens his head, resting it against the base of a tree before you begin. He opens his mouth for you to put the biscuit stick in his mouth. The only thing he'll do is bite that whenever it's his turn.

At first, his expression is neutral, almost bored. But every time your face gets a little closer to his, a smug smile forms on his lips. In the last bite, not only is he smiling, he's looking you in the eyes like a greedy predator.

He takes the last bite, attacking you with a kiss. He's been standing still the whole game, so when he does that you almost get a jump scare. Just like felines preparing to attack.

But he doesn't just attack you with the kiss. At the same time he puts his hands on your waist and makes you lie underneath him.

He breaks the kiss for a moment and looks at you to see your reaction with the most smug smile on his face. “As if this wasn't why you asked me to play with you. Now deal with the consequences.”

Jack doesn't know what game it is, but maybe he's heard the name somewhere. You'll have to explain it to him.

“Okay, it sounds like a simple game. And... You want to play it with me?” He says rubbing his neck. You say yes and if he wants too. “I... I think I don’t mind.” He says wagging his tail.

If you insist on knowing if he is really sure he wants to play with you, he will stop beating around the bush and tell you bluntly: “Yes. Yes, I would like to play it with you.” But blushing a liiittle bit.

You are the first one to put the biscuit stick in your mouth. He will follow you. He'll be flattered the whole game. He's never played a game so... intense for him.

Whenever your eyes meet, he looks away and his ears lower.

When there's only one bite left he'll stop and let you decide whether you want your lips to meet or not.

If you kiss him, his ears will immediately stand up straight! And if you don't pull away, he will relax, his ears will go back down, and he’ll deepen the kiss.

And you might be surprised when that shy boy a minute ago, suddenly pulls you close to him by your waist and turns the kiss into a passionate one. His tail wagging like crazy, by the way.

And as suddenly as he brought you closer to him, he will pull away, embarrassed for having let himself be carried away.

He will start apologizing and if you want to keep the flame burning, the best option is to shut him up with another kiss. He will love that.

A game that involves eating? Sign Ruggie up! A game that involves sharing food? ��Hum... In that case I should have something else for the halves I let you eat.” He bargains with you.

You can try to dissuade him with something like: “But it's just a silly game. And it's just a biscuit stick.” But he will respond with: “It could even be a freshly picked dandelion, I don't play with food.” He's telling the truth, but trying to appear playful.

You suggest giving him the entire box if he plays with you once. But play the game the way it should be played, not finding a way to play around the rules just so he can keep the box. “Shye hee hee. Don't worry, I have no reason to do that.”

You're the first one to put the biscuit stick in your mouth and wait for Ruggie to start eating the other side. But he looked at you and the cookie with a mischievous look, came closer, opened his mouth and... ATE ALMOST THE ENTIRE THING IN ONE BITE! Leaving you just one bite away from placing your lips against his and ending the game. His gaze was cutely mischievous.

If you finish the game and kiss him, he will hold it for a second just to see if you don't pull away. And when he realizes that you are enjoying the kiss, he will grab you by the waist and deepen the kiss. And there is only one way to describe his kiss: Greedy

Azul doesn't recognize the name of the game, but when you explain it to him he realizes it's a land version of one that exists under the sea. And he'll ask you if he can see the box.

He glances at the front, but then turns it over to see the ingredients list on the back. He's counting the calories, isn't he? You try telling him something like, “Come on, it's just a silly game. Just a little biscuit stick.”

But to your surprise, he starts talking about how a game can be a brilliant marketing strategy, to wonder if he could incorporate those biscuit stick into a dessert on the Mostro Lounge menu and whether the students would be interested. You ask for his attention again.

“I’m deeply sorry for wandering off in thoughts while you were talking to me, but I heard everything you said, don't worry. And since you just gave me an idea for a special new item on the Mostro Lounge menu, the least I can do is accept your invitation to play. That might teach me more about this product. And... that way we’ll be even, correct?” He adjusts his glasses.

His confidence starts to slip as the game starts and he realizes how close your face is to his, and how close it will be by the end of the game. He tries his best to remain unmoved and maintain eye contact with you, but he can't stop the blush from appearing on his face.

When there's only one bite left, he stops so you can take the last one and decide whether the kiss happens or not.

If you do, you will feel the tension in his lips, but he will not break the kiss. And if you don't do it either, it will start to relax and deepen it. The tension turns into a smile and you feel his hands cupping your face.

Jade doesn't recognize the name of the game, and asks you if you could explain to him how to play and what it consists of. He recognizes the description as the land version of a game that also exists under the sea.

“Ah yes, I believe I understood how this game works.” Then he gives you that deceptive smile he does when his true intentions are suspicious but hard to tell. “And you chose me to play it with you? Well, I'm honored. I'm more than eager to partake in this land activity with you of all people.”

You are the first one to put the biscuit stick in your mouth. He follows you with a calm smile. But the eyes, they're focused on yours, intensely.

He follows the instructions you explained at the beginning, imperturbably, as if he were truly just following the rules of a simple game. But that was just what he showed. From the look in his eyes you could tell there was much more behind this behaviour.

He always shows himself so passive that it almost came as a surprise to you when he took the last bite like an attacked to kiss you. But his eyes weren't completely closed, just half closed. As if he was observing you and studying you while enjoying the kiss.

And when you start to deepen the kiss, he pulls away, with a charming and dangerous smirk on his face. “It seems that we ended the game in a draw. That is not usually a very exciting outcome, is it. Perhaps we should play another round. And perhaps... make up some new rules of our own. Wouldn't that be interesting?”

Floyd doesn't recognize the game by the name you said, but if your description makes it seem fun in some way, he'll agree to play with you. The problem is that it seems boring to him. It's just eating a cookie. What's so special about that?

You decide to reveal to him that the real reason people play it is to get a kiss from their crush at the end. This makes him smile mischievously. “Aaaah~ So that's why you want to play with me, isn't it Koebi-chan~?” The smile becomes cute. “And what is my reward if I play?”

You say if he doesn't want to kiss you he can just not play. And he sulks. “Ehh? That's not what I said. I want to know what I gain by playing.” He smirks. “Because I don't need to play to get a kiss, do I?” He pauses for a moment to appreciate your reaction. His cute smile returns. “Ah! I know, why don't you give me the box of biscuit stick as payment?” And then he says in that deep voice through the sinister smile. “You're not going to play with anyone else, are you?”

If you accept he'll be like ‘YAY. Let's play then! :3’. You are the one who puts the biscuit stick in the mouth first and he follows with a relaxed look and smile. He follows the rules like you said, but it seems like he's more focused on you than the stick, as if he was amused watching your movements and reactions.

He leaves the last bite for you, watching you with mischievous eyes and an amused smile. If you take the last bite and kiss him, he won't move, not even return the kiss, to see how long you can hold out like that.

When you break the kiss disappointed he will say with a smirk: “Aww, Why so sad? Wasn't it the win you wanted? I told you the game was boring.” He takes the box from your hand, and he wraps an arm around you to pull you close to him. “Now if you still want to make out, you should just do it you know? I'm in the mood so don't waste it.”

Kalim doesn't know what game it is but he accepts any invitation to play anything. He's like: “Of course I'll play with you! Hum... what game is that again?” And after you explain he will say with his big enthusiastic smile: “Sounds fun! I know I can't accept food from other people, but it's you, even Jamil says it's okay accepting things from you. So how do we start?”

You are the one who puts the biscuit stick in your mouth and points it to the other end for Kalim to bite. He does so with a cute, innocent smile.

He seems to be having fun playing. When there is only one bite left to finish the game, it is his turn, and he ends the game giving you an extremely loving kiss. Like a smooch.

He breaks the kiss with a huge happy smile on his face. “Ha ha! This is fun! Can we play again?”

He will make you play with him until the box is empty. And when he asks to play again and you say that the cookies are gone, he will say: “Ow, I was having so much fun. You too? That's great! We should buy more. I'll pay for all of them.”

When you go to the Mystery Shop to buy more and Kalim discovers that there are several flavours, he will buy ALL OF THEM! All of the ones that Sam has? Yes, because Sam, somehow and at that moment, has ALL OF THEM THAT EXIST!

Jamil knows the game because he's heard of it, If not from schoolmates, then from his sister or something. “Isn't that the game where two people eat a biscuit stick to kiss at the end?” He says this with a neutral face, but then he makes that smug face, with one eyebrow raised. “And you want to play it with me? *chuckle* Fine. I don't see why not. I just have one question: Will you allow me to finish the game however I want?”

You say that as long as you follow the basic rules, he can end the game however he wants. “In that case, don't forget that you were the one who allowed it.” He says.

You put the biscuit stick in your mouth, but before he bites the other side, he puts a finger on your chin to tilt it a little and only then bites the biscuit stick.

He plays the whole game with that cocky smile. This is one of those rare moments where he lets his cheeky side show.

When there's only one bite left, he lets you decide how the game ends. The moment you touch your lips to his he will grab you and pull you towards him to deepen the kiss in the blink of an eye. Like a snake biting its prey in a single moment.

And then, he breaks the kiss, licking his lips, and still with his arms around your waist. “You're the one who said I could end it however I wanted as long as I followed the rules.” He says with a smirk and brings his lips closer to your ear. “I hope you haven't regret it.”

Yes, Vil knows this game. There was a time when it became very popular and he usually keeps up with those trends. Especially because sometimes they are incorporated into teen shows. “If I ever participated in one of those scene? No. No offence to the genre but I prefer to participate in films and genres that are less... melodramatic. That and IF I were cast in one of those shows there would be little chance of me getting the love interest role. I am perfectly aware that I’m more of a ‘mean girl’ type.” He says with a certain pride in both his voice and his face.

“And you want to play it with me?” He smirks charmingly. “My dear, you and probably all my fans. I hope you know that if I accept, firstly what a privilege and honor it is, and secondly, that this must remain between us. *chuckle* Well, if you understand that, then perhaps I can give you that pleasure.”

He lets you be the first to put the biscuit stick in your mouth and extend the other side to him, inviting him to bite. He does so with elegance and as if he were following some kind of etiquette for that game that you didn't even know could exist. That and he even places his index finger and thumb on your chin to adjust your posture while playing.

When there's only one bite left, it's his turn. He closes his eyes and kisses you gently and delicately. He'll stay like that for a second before breaking the kiss, and lovely looking at you with a soft smile.

“I must admit it was more satisfying than I expected. Thank you for inviting me to play. I shall be the one inviting you next time.”

Epel's never heard of that game, mostly because he's never been interested in that kind of stuff. So you explain it to him. But he doesn't quite understand why that would be fun. “So two people eat a biscuit stick from each side until someone pull away? But what if no one pull away-... wait... Don't tell me the goal is to kiss at the end!?”

When you confirm, his surprised expression begins to turn red. “A-and you want to play it... WITH ME?! No, it's not that I don't want to. I mean...! Hum... you just caught me off guard. But... yes, I... would like to play with you too.” He ends up agreeing with a sweet smile.

He starts playing a little shyly, but as you two take bites he starts to see it as a real game and his competitive side gives him confidence. So much so that when the last bite arrives and he takes it, kissing you, he only realizes it too late.

He quickly pulls away, blushing profusely! He stumbles over his words as he apologizes, because at the same time he also remembers that that was the intention of the game.

“EH! Wait! This is what you wanted, isn't it? Why am I apologizing? Oi! Are you laughing at me? Fine! Let's play again!” He gives you that confident smirk. “And this time, I'm not pulling away! I'm warning you!”

The second time you play he is definitely more confident. And he keeps his word, as soon as you kiss again, he doesn't pull away. His lips start out tense, but they relax as he forgets about the game and enjoys the kiss.

Of course Rook knows this game! A fun excuse for two lovebirds to kiss? How would he not know something like that? “Oh, and would you like me to have the honor of being your playmate? Mais bien sûr, Trickster! It will be my greatest pleasure.” He smiles enthusiastically.

“May I have the honours?” He asks, holding out his hand for you to hand him the box. He takes one of the biscuit stick and puts it in his mouth, inviting you to bite the other side and start the game.

He plays with a big “innocent” smile on his face. But eventually, as your faces get closer, his eyes change to that hunter's gaze.

When there's only one bite left for your lips to meet, he stops and lets you decide whether to take the last bite or pull away, while he fixes his intense gaze on you, observing you. Yes, he likes to hunt, but part of hunting is also setting traps and waiting for the prey to fall into them.

If you finish the game and kiss him, you will feel the smile he already had grow and the kiss becoming sweeter and more passionate. His hands cupping your face, him bringing his body closer to yours, and then one of the hands slowly leaving your face to end at your lower back.

When he finally releases your lips, he's looking at you with desire. “Très bien Trickster. Your lips are sweeter than the chocolate in the biscuit stick.” He brings his lips closer to yours again. “And now, I so ache to taste that mixture of flavours again. Would you allow me to play this once more with you? There are some sensations I would like to introduce you to, as a token of my gratitude.”

Ooh, Idia knows very well what game you are talking about. Probably for the same reasons that you know it too. “Do you think you're in an Otome game or something?” He mocks you with that smug smile. “And even if you wanted to live that fantasy, why me?” he sulks. ”Do you think I would be the only one to fall for this ‘cause of the games I play? That's a bit mean, don't you think? Or did the association of one thing with the other make you feel pity for me? I'm sure any student with good taste would love to play this with you, you don't need to invite me just because no one would do it with me.”

You tell him, in the form of a scolding, that you want to play with HIM! Not out of pity, but because you like him. And maybe, just maybe, you expressed it quite bluntly because of the adrenaline of being upset with him at the moment.

“Y-y-you like me?! C'mon, why would you?” You two continue to argue until he says something like: “FINE! I'll play with you, but when you lose because you pull away at the first bite, don't blame me.”

He's the one who reaches into the box and takes out a biscuit stick to put in his mouth and points the other end at you with an almost annoyed look on his face. Which looks more like a pout.

You take a bite, he takes another and so on. As your faces get closer, to your surprise, he seems to become more confident. Do you really want to play? He'll show you how a game is won! The heat of competitiveness escalates because of the dangerous mix of stubbornness of the two involved.

When there's only one bite left, it's his turn, and he's already so heated up by the game that he finishes it as if he were making the final strick. Turning your kiss into a surprisingly passionate attack.

But only for a second, until he opened his eyes in disbelief and immediately pulled away with his hair bursting pink, and the paleness of his face contrasting with his blush.

“I-I-I warned you!” He sees you smiling, and his smugness strikes with full force. “Oh! So you weren't just baiting, you really wanted it. Fine then. Next round! And this time I'm not going to chicken out in victory, you hear?”

Malleus is already beaming with joy that you invited him to something. The fact that it's a game only makes him even more excited. Even though he has no idea what game that is. You just explain the rules, that two people eat the same biscuit stick until someone pulls away and that person loses.

“I see. It seems like a simple game to play. But what happens if neither player pulls away?” You decide to respond with: ‘Why don't we play to find out?’ He laughs ans smirks. “Fearless as ever, Child of Man. Are you truly not concerned about what might happen if you withhold information from me? Fu fu. Very well. We shall see how our game ends.”

You put the biscuit stick in your mouth and point the other side at him for him to bite. He does it with a loving smile, and tries to take bites the same size as yours. He doesn't want to cheat without knowing it.

When there's only one bite left to finish, he stops, not knowing what to do. So you're the one who ends the game and kisses him.

He is surprised, but doesn't break the kiss, instead he maintains it and deepens it. He carefully puts his arms around you to bring you even closer to him. And then brings one of his hands to your cheek. You can feel him controlling his strength to make sure he doesn't hurt you, even though he wants to hug you tighter.

He breaks the kiss unexpectedly. “I am not hurting you, am I?” He asks slightly concerned. “I am learning to control my strength, but I am afraid I might run the risk of burning you with my breathe.” You say you weren't feeling hot at all, or at least not that kind. “That is other of my concerns. I may not hurt you at first, but if I let myself be carried away... I am not aware if the same thing happens to you, I hope so, but I feel the need to show you through actions like this how much I'm in love with you and that could be...”

You tell him that just as he learned to control his strength, he can learn to moderate other things. And perhaps the best way to do that is to continue training with you, little by little. Maybe with another round of that game?

Silver doesn't know this game, but if you’re willing to explain it to him he will be happy to play with you. You explain the rules except the part about what happens if neither player pulls away. But Silver doesn't remember to ask either and you start the game as soon as he understands the basic rules.

You put the biscuit stick in your mouth and point to the other end for him to bite. He does so and plays as you had explained to him, taking a bite whenever it is his turn. His expression remains the same throughout the game... as always.

When there is only one bite left he stops, confused about what he should do and looks at you, or rather, into your eyes, looking for a hint or something like that. And you decide to be the one to end the game and kiss him.

He is surprised, but does not pull away. He just stays like that the whole time you do. Even though his lips are relaxed, it's as if he simply accepts it and does you the favor of staying there.

You're the one who has to break the kiss, probably disappointed that it seems like he didn't reciprocate.

“What's wrong?” He asks, with the same neutral face as always. “You look sad. Did I do something wrong while playing?” You explain to him, in your own way, that it seemed like the kiss was nothing to him, but he didn't pull away either, so you were confused.

“I failed to express myself again.” He says, now with a slightly disappointed expression. “I'm sorry. I... really enjoyed it.” He smiles for a second and then goes back to being disappointed with himself. “But I didn't know what to do, so I just... let you lead, I think. I understand now that I should have taken some kind of initiative. We could play again if you could give me a second chance? Would you be willing to tutor me in how to express myself to you through a kiss?” He smiles at you again. “I would be very grateful.”

Sebek doesn't even know what game you're talking about and he's already complaining about you wanting to play a silly game with him. But fine, he lets you at least explain the game and the rules.

“Just as I thought, a foolish human game. And it is not even productive as a sport to train the body or an intellectual one to train the brain. Why would I waste something as precious as time playing something like that with you? The game is simply two people eating a biscuit to see who can finish it the fastest. FOOLISH!”

You opened your mouth to correct him and say that that wasn't really the goal, but thinking about it, maybe it was a fun way to convince him to play. So you choose to insinuate that he is so slow at eating that he wouldn't be able to beat a mere human in such a competition.

“WHAT?! You believe you're up to my standards in any kind of physical competition? HA! That's what we're going to see, human.” He says smugly. “Pass me one of those biscuit stick, if you please.”

He's the first one to put the biscuit in his mouth, and he even crosses his arms looking at you with a defiant and cocky look.

You start playing, and quickly, without him noticing in time, he kisses you. But only for like half a second before pulling away in the blink of an eye. “AH! YOU DECEIVED ME!” He says with a serious and offended look but a blush on his face. “This is not a game, it's a trap! AND I FELL FOR IT!”

You ask if he didn't like it, and his blush only deepens. “Th-those weren't my words! Do not distort my speech!” So you ask, with a smirk, if he would play with you one more time. “Very well! We shall play again.” He smirks too. “ And this time I will not pull away! Be warned, human!”

As incredible as it may seem, Lilia doesn't know this game well, but he has heard of it. This is a recent thing for very young people, and as that phase of his life had already passed and Silver was never interested in those things, he ended up never having the opportunity to get to know the game.

You see his eyes light up with amusement and interest as you explain the game. “Khee hee hee, sounds like a simple but fun game.” Then, he smirk with a sly look. “I wonder what happens if neither of us pulls away. I assume you were inviting me to play because you are also interested in finding out? Fu fu. Let's play then. Will you do the honours?”

You put the biscuit stick in your mouth and Lilia bites the other side. He plays with a cute expression rather than a smug one, probably to make you more comfortable and confident playing. His red gaze can be too penetrating, at least for the first round of the game.

When there is only one bite left to finish, he stops, even if it’s his turn. He wants you to be the one to decide how the game ends.

You take the last bite and kiss him. And now you can feel from his lips that his cute expression has given way to smugness again. He cups your face and deepens the kiss. He is surprisingly (or not) very skilful, so much so that if the kiss were a dance he would certainly be the one guiding it.

And he's the one who breaks the kiss, gently, and gives you a cute smile. “I know I'm irresistible, but let us save some energy for the next rounds, shall we? How many biscuit stick are in the box?”

If you would like to read more from me, you can find it in my pinned post: INDEX