#what I mean is that. the original games are still good. and most importantly they still look good

[mcu-binge]

Unspoken || Clark Kent x Reader ||

Pairing : Clark Kent x Reader Word count : ~2835

Summary : secret situationship clark kent x reader. you flirt back with someone new, clark short-circuits. cue petty office games

Tags/warnings : jealous!Clark, fluff, light smut (?)

A/N : Hellloooo I rewatched Twisters last night and I may or may not have written something inspired by David’s character Scott. Let me know if you would like to read it! Requests are still open feel free to send me one Clark Kent related or not!

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

Daily Planet, 11:44 a.m.

You feel her before you hear her.

The intern. Madison. Or Madeline. Something with lip gloss and a fake laugh.

She floats past your desk again, third time this morning, armed with a stack of files she definitely doesn’t need help carrying.

You keep your eyes on your monitor. You’ve gotten good at pretending. Good at pretending a lot of things.

But you don’t miss the way her heels click to a stop at Clark’s desk.

“Oh my gosh, you’re seriously working through lunch again?” she coos, like it’s an original observation.

You can practically hear Clark smile. “I like to get ahead on edits. Makes Perry slightly less terrifying.”

She laughs way too loudly.

You tap your pen against your notepad. One, two, three. Breathe.

“You know,” she says, “I read that piece you did on the fires last month? The way you described the scene… it was like I was there.”

“Thanks,” Clark replies, gracious as ever. “It was a tough one to write.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt it. You’re so good with words.”

You look up then. Clark is smiling. Polite. Friendly. Maybe not flirting, but… not shutting it down either.

Your stomach knots not necessarily from insecurity, but from the quiet ache of knowing you don’t get to say anything. Not here. Not where people would ask questions.

Not where you’d have to admit that you snuck into his apartment last weekend and fell asleep wearing his flannel shirt. So you turn back to your screen. Focus. Breathe.

Until you hear her say “I don’t know how anyone expects me to get anything done with you sitting over there being all—” She lowers her voice. “Clark-y.”

You blink. Clark-y? What the hell does that even mean?

And that’s when you hear him laugh. Really laugh.

That’s it. That’s the crack. A fine, hairline fracture in whatever unspoken arrangement the two of you have been delicately well stupidly balancing.

You stand, a little too fast.

“I’m going to grab coffee,” you say, mostly to the air.

Clark looks up. “Want me to come with?”

“Nope.” You’re already walking away.

Behind you, the intern giggles again.

You’re back from the coffee run, to-go cup in hand and pride barely intact, when a voice stops you cold.

“Sorry—hold it right there. Light’s hitting you just right.”

You blink, turning toward the source.

He’s standing by the east-facing window, DSLR slung across his chest, a lopsided smile pulling at his lips. Tousled hair, scruff like it’s grown in defiance, and the posture of someone who doesn’t know how not to be confident.

“I’m the new photographer,” he says, as if reading your mind. “Caleb.” He adds extending a polite hand to you

You raise an eyebrow suspiciously before shaking it. “And you just take candids of coworkers without asking?”

“Only when they look that good holding caffeine.”

It should make you roll your eyes. It should. But something inside you, the same something that had to endure Miss Clark-y 20 minutes ago nudges you to tilt your head, just a little and let him snap some photos.

You smirk just a little. It’s harmless. It’s fun. And most importantly, you know exactly who’s watching from the corner of the bullpen, hand halfway to his glasses like he’s pretending to clean them.

Clark.

He’s facing his screen, but his ears are pink. You know that pink.

“Anyway,” Caleb says, stepping back, “if I’m ever assigned to your stories, we should, uh, coordinate. Lunch maybe. Talk shop.”

You nod. “I’ll think about it.”

And just like that, he walks away. No lingering, no pushiness. Just a lingering impression and a very obvious audience.

You don’t even have to look to feel Clark’s gaze. Not just watching. Tracking.

You take one slow sip from your coffee and return to your desk like nothing happened. The rest of the work day drags on with you avoiding Clark's glances and heading straight home after.

--

Your phone buzzes just as you’re about to put it on Do Not Disturb.

Clark Kent

You hesitate. One beat. Two. Three. Then answer.

“Didn’t peg you as a night owl Mr. Kent,” you say, voice soft in the dark.

Clark chuckles. You can hear the faint rustle of his sheets. He’s in bed.

“Couldn’t sleep,” he says. “Thought I’d call my favorite insomniac.”

“Oh? And here I thought I was just your coworker.”

“You know better than that.”

There’s a pause a thick and warm and familiar one.

You let it hang a moment longer. “Hmmm… what’s on your mind?”

“I don’t know,” he says casually. “Just wondering how your day went. You were… smiley.”

You blink at the ceiling. “Am I not allowed to smile?”

“You are. It’s just…” He trails off. “New guy got you grinning like that on day one?”

You smirk, biting your bottom lip. “You mean Caleb?”

“Is that his name? I didn’t know; he didn’t come by and take my picture.”

You laugh. “You’re not even pretending to be subtle.”

“I’m just curious,” he says, too quickly. “Didn’t realize you liked… confident guys with man buns and vintage cameras.”

“He doesn’t wear a man bun, Clark. Is that jealousy I hear?”

“Nope.” He’s quiet for a second too long. “Just trying to figure out what your type is.”

You let that hang in the air.

“I don’t think I have a type,” you murmur. “But I do like when a guy makes an effort.”

He exhales. “I make an effort.”

“Do you?”

“Hey, I brought you soup when you were sick.”

“And I never said thank you properly.” Your voice softens, slow and warm. “You’re sweet, Clark.”

Another silence. Then “I don’t want to just be sweet.”

That does something to you.

You shift under your blankets, suddenly too aware of the sound of his voice through the line.

“So you’re calling me for a bedtime confession?”

He huffs a quiet laugh. “Maybe. Or maybe I just… didn’t like seeing someone else flirt with you.”

“Why?”

“Because…” His voice dips lower. “I prefer being the reason you blush.”

You’re quiet.

Clark clears his throat like he said too much. “Anyway. Sorry. Didn’t mean to make this weird.”

“It’s not weird.”

Another pause.

“You make me act weird, you know that?” he says.

You smile into your pillow. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

Clark laughs, soft and wrecked. “Goodnight.”

“Night.”

“Sweet dreams.” He adds.

“Dream sweet and of me,” You add with a smile before hanging up.

—

You don’t expect anything when you walk in.

No follow-up to the flirt-heavy, “I don’t want to just be sweet” phone call. Just normal Clark behavior: polished, polite, maybe a little sheepish for opening up the way he did.

You definitely don’t expect your exact coffee order, oat milk, half pump vanilla, cinnamon on top sitting on your desk like it manifested from a dream.

You stop. Stare.

There’s a sticky note stuck to the lid:

Figured I owed you caffeine after that late call. – C

Your stomach flutters.

You barely have time to recover before Kat waltzes past, side-eyeing your cup.

“Oof. Is that from who I think it’s from?”

You shrug, playing dumb. “No idea.”

“Sure,” she snorts.

9:05 a.m.

You’ve just settled back at your desk when Clark appears. Not his usual notebook-in-hand work mode. He strolls in like he owns the place. His sleeves rolled to the elbows. Glasses on dangerously close to heartthrob-who-reads-poetry territory.

And he’s beaming. Like nothing in the world is wrong.

He leans against your desk, tilts his head. “Morning.”

You glance up. “Little late, aren’t you?”

He taps your empty coffee cup. “Thought I’d give you time to enjoy that first.”

You deadpan. “That’s suspiciously thoughtful.”

He lowers his voice. “Just making sure I stay your favorite.”

You roll your eyes, but your cheeks betray you.

“Anyway,” he adds, dropping a paper bag in front of you, “they were out of your favorite muffin, so I brought you the second favorite. Blueberry and don’t pretend it’s not.”

That makes you smile. “You remembered that?”

“I remember a lot of things,” he says, voice dipping.

Before you can form a snappy comeback, he’s already walked off.

Kat peers around the divider again, mouthing: WHAT IS HAPPENING

You don’t answer. Mostly because you don’t know anymore.

1:12 p.m.

Caleb returns from an assignment and spots you in the copy room.

“Hey, smiley,” he says, stopping just short of the door. “You free for lunch?”

You open your mouth to respond friendly, casual, not flirty when a shadow moves behind you.

Clark appears out of nowhere, holding a takeout bag in one hand and a smug smile in the other.

“Ooof she’s booked. I grabbed lunch for us,” he says, breezy and bold. “Hope you’re still on your wings kick.”

You turn, confused. “You… ordered lunch?”

Clark nods. “Figured I’d beat the rush.”

He sets the bag down and for the first time in office history brushes his hand against the small of your back. Not obviously. Not possessively. Just enough.

“Sorry,” he says to Caleb. “Didn’t mean to step on your plans.”

Caleb blinks. “Oh. No worries. You guys enjoy.”

Clark just smiles and hands you a box of fries like a man very pleased with himself.

At 3:27 p.m. Flowers arrive.

It’s a small bouquet of wildflowers and peonies soft and subtle. There’s no note. Just a tiny card in the bottom of the vase with your initials. But the handwriting? You’d know it anywhere.

Kat is losing her mind.

“Girl. What is going on. Is this your boyfriend or a PR stunt?”

You laugh, half-exasperated, half-flushed. “It’s complicated.”

Clark walks past your desk with a mug of tea, glances at the flowers.

Then, audible enough to be overheard, he mutters, “Wonder who the lucky guy is.”

Kat actually squeals.

End of the day. The office is mostly empty. You go into the copy room to grab some print outs when Clark appears in the doorway. It’s quiet maybe a little too quiet. Like the building is holding its breath.

“I need to talk to you,” he says, low, almost careful.

You don’t look up. “Now’s not great.”

“Tough.” His voice drops. “I’ve been patient. That’s done.”

You freeze.

He walks in, not fast, but with purpose. Like every step is a choice. He doesn’t stop until he’s close.

“You smiled at him like he made your whole damn day.”

You scoff. “You mean the same way I’ve smiled at you for weeks?”

“That’s different.”

“Is it?”

“I’m the one who knows how you take your coffee. I’m the one you call when you can’t sleep. I’m the one you wear flannel shirts from like we’re already—” He cuts himself off, jaw clenched, chest rising and falling.

You turn slowly, heart pounding, voice quieter. “Like we’re already what Clark?”

He stares at you. And it hurts. Because his eyes aren’t soft right now they’re hungry. Sharp. Bruised.

“I don’t know,” he admits. “But I do know I wanted to tear that camera out of his hands.”

You take a shaky breath. “You didn’t say anything.”

He exhales through his nose. “Because if I said anything, I was gonna say everything.”

You blink. “Then say it.”

He moves. One step. Then another. Until you’re backed up against the copy machine, the hum of it echoing your pulse.

“I want you,” he murmurs. “Not just late at night. Not just when no one’s looking.”

His hand grazes your wrist barely, but it sets your whole body on fire.

“I want to touch you whenever I want,” he says. “I want to sit in meetings and watch you try not to look at me. I want to take you to lunch and not pretend it’s platonic.”

You exhale shakily. “Then why haven’t you?”

His jaw ticks. His eyes flicker down to your mouth, then back up like it physically hurts him to look at you.

“Because…” he starts, voice low, tight, “I won’t be pretending. And if people know—if they connect us—then you’re not just some coworker anymore. You’re a target.”

You blink, a little thrown. “What?”

He swallows hard. “I interview Superman. People already watch me too closely. There’ve been threats before anonymous calls, notes, people trying to leverage my contacts. And if anyone figures out what you are to me—” His voice catches. “I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt because of me.”

The air between you thickens. Not with fear, but with feeling. Sharp and aching and all-consuming.

“Clark,” you whisper, stepping into him, hand curling around his forearm. “I don’t care.”

“You should.”

“But I don’t.” You shake your head. “I care about you. I’ve been waiting for you to say something—anything—but all I’ve ever wanted was for you to want me out loud.”

He looks down at your lips then your eyes and suddenly he starts leaning into your like gravity, hands finding your waist, your hips, hauling you into him like he needs to feel every word he can’t say. It’s clumsy, frantic, desperate.

You stumble backwards hitting the copy machine. He palms blindly resting his hands on it, never breaking the kiss, never loosening his grip.

“You drive me crazy,” he breathes against your mouth.

“Ditto” you gasp, already tugging at his tie, his shirt, anything to get closer.

He lifts you with a groan, setting you down on the copy machine like you belong there, like he’s dreamed of this a thousand times. His kisses trail down your neck, hot and open-mouthed, like he’s memorizing you with lips and tongue.

“This is reckless,” he mutters, voice hoarse.

You curl your fingers into his hair. “You started it.”

He huffs a shaky laugh, then bites back a moan when you tug him in tighter. “I want you.”

“Then take me.”

His lips press against yours tongue begging to be let in, and there’s no more talking. Just moaning. Gasping. Your skirt is hiked up bunched at your thighs. You hastily unbutton his pants desperate to feel him. Desperate friction. You stroke his cock hungrily. His hand comes down moving your panties to the side. His name gasped against his shoulder as he moves inside you, forehead pressed to yours like prayer, like apology, like finally.

There’s nothing gentle about it just months of buried tension erupting into something real and raw and undeniable. His hands move your hips holding you tightly as he relentlessly thrusts into you. You lean back against the copy machine unable to keep yourself up anymore. He takes the chance and lets his hands explore every part of you.

And when it’s over when you’re clinging to him, lips swollen, heartbeat skittering against his chest. He presses a kiss to your temple.

“No more pretending” he whispers against your forehead

You smile, “No more.” You whisper back breathlessly

—

The next morning the morning air is crisp. City traffic hums in the background. You round the corner, distractedly tugging your scarf tighter, and nearly walk past him.

Clark. Leaning casually against the brick column like he’s in a cologne ad. Two coffees in hand. Hair a little windswept. Tie crooked in a way that makes your stomach flutter.

You stop short. He lifts your coffee and gives you that smile. The private one. The I didn’t sleep much thinking about you one.

“Good Morning,” he says, voice soft. “Brought reinforcements.”

You take the cup and stare at him for a beat. “You waited for me?”

He shrugs like it’s nothing. “Didn’t want to walk in alone.”

You glance at the Planet’s doors, then back at him. “You okay?”

“I’m great.” He bumps your shoulder. “Last night was… clarifying.”

You laugh under your breath, cheeks warm. “You mean wildly overdue?”

He grins. “That too.”

You sip your coffee, then glance sideways at him. “You sure about this?”

Clark’s eyes drop to your mouth, then back to your eyes. “More sure than I’ve been about anything in a long time.”

He opens the door for you, lets you step inside first, hand gently pressed to your lower back like it’s second nature. It sends a chill up your spine, but not in a bad way.

You walk toward your desk side by side, your steps synced, conversation light. And then, right there, in full view of Kat, Perry, Jimmy, and every nosy intern with a crush, Clark does something unthinkable. He leans in.

Not dramatic. Not flashy. Just casual, confident, and real. He presses a soft, slow kiss to your lips like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

“I’ll see you at lunch,” he murmurs, like it’s been your routine for years.

Then he walks off. Calm. Collected. Definitely smirking.

You’re frozen.

The bullpen? Silent.

Kat’s jaw is on the floor. The intern drops her pen. Perry mutters something about “finally.”

You sit down slowly, heart hammering in your chest, still holding your coffee like it’s the only solid thing in the world.

Kat leans in, eyes wide. “What the actual hell just happened.”

You take a breath. Smile.

“Clark Kent just hard-launched me to the entire newsroom.”

[taonpest]

So what do we think about the remaster my fellow lok mutuals

[laser-tripwires]

what is your read on the scene in the pilot where eliot and nate are playing pool? do you think eliot was being genuinely empathetic or just making small talk? was eliot genuinely hurt by nate?

neither, and both. he wasn't making small talk, he wasn't genuinely hurt, but it's more complicated than that. that scene exists for a wide number of reasons, and very few of those reasons actually have anything to do with eliot. nate is the protagonist, and that scene is arguably the most important character exposition we get on him in the entirety of the nigerian job - BUT there's still a lot you can read about eliot and the team dynamics as a whole, as well as foreshadowing for the wider show.

the scene actually opens not with the pool game, but with hardison pulling nate over to tell him he got dubenich's financials. i call this out because - in the original pilot script? this got cut off from the pool scene by a dubenich interlude which didn't make it into the final show.

now, that's probably information management - much, much easier to focus on nate and eliot's convo if we're not thinking about what dubenich is doing, and the exposition from the dubenich mini-scene wasn't very important. but there's another reason, too -

nate smiles and claps a hand on hardison's shoulder before heading back over to the pool game. it's a fatherly moment! a lot of the nigerian job is dedicated to setting up nate's relationships with the trio (the fact that parker gets mentorship instead of fatherliness in this ep is kinda long goodbye job foreshadowing, even if likely unintentional), and this reiterates that he's gonna be a father to hardison. it's placement just before this conversation with eliot is also telling us that this relationship with the team is going to be the thing that heals nate, which eliot all but says aloud a minute or so later (i'll get there).

right, so the next beat of the scene is eliot offering nate a beer and nate refusing. which is... interesting, given as nate was practically drinking himself to death at the beginning of this episode and will spend the rest of the season doing just that. he clearly has an issue with alcohol and that's clearly being set up to be a large part of his arc. so refusing a drink is significant, and we cut from a wide shot (featuring some truly adorable parker lockpicking, parker picks locks like other people knit) into eliot and nate's game because like eliot, we're curious about this.

nate takes his pool shot - eliot looks to nate, to the beer bottle, and back to nate. he's not paying attention to the pool game because eliot is very smart and has just picked up on the thing i pointed out to all of you a second ago - that refusal of the beer is weird and significant. nate's doing better - which eliot says.

nate almost looks up at eliot but takes his shot instead, and eliot continues. nate mutters a "yeah," without looking at eliot. which eliot again notices, and points out that it bothers nate.

eliot's turned around and sat on the pool table now. his focus isn't on the game anymore, it's on nate. it's really hard to critique this scene from eliot's perspective because the whole point of the scene is to get us as the audience inside nate's head, and eliot's needling is the vehicle through which we do that - he's asking the questions and making the assumptions that we as the audience are doing here. nate's a prickly bastard.

nate does, however, admit that it bothers him. with another of those despondant yeahs. he moves away from the pool and towards eliot, but still isn't looking eliot in the eye. "I mean, this isn't supposed to feel-"

"Good?"

camera change on eliot's line there so we get a better look at eliot's face, and nate's finally looking at him. "good" is likely not the descriptor that nate would have stammered out if his sentence had been allowed to continue, but eliot's a blunt person and more importantly eliot's not wrong. he then smiles, which catches nate off-guard, and after a beat eliot continues.

"It's not hard to figure out. Dubenich screwed ya. He cheated by stealing from that other company and your good guy brain sees him as the bad guy. Your conscience is clear."

midway through that speech, we cut to nate's reaction so we're watching him instead of eliot. he's stony. everything eliot's saying is correct, and most of it is explaining subtext that the audience should already have picked up on. but, y'know. nate is a prickly bastard.

(side note on the script again - the change from "ripped you off" to "screwed ya" is a great example of the kind of edits that get made on the fly after you cast actors with certain affects. not relevant here but i think it's cool - WISH we had the scripts for the rest of the show, because the amount to which this one is useful for analysis and insight cannot be overstated.)

now's when it gets interesting. without a change in facial expression, nate asks eliot if he wants to take his shot - he's not quite interrupting, but he's also clearly trying to cut the conversation short. there's two possible meanings to that line - one, nate's meaning, of shut the fuck up and keep playing. two, the subtextual meaning and what eliot takes it as, which is; get to the point.

eliot takes another swig of beer, nods, and we cut to a close up of him as he pauses and reconsiders the tack of the conversation. i very very much read this as eliot trying to figure nate out here - he had a hypothesis about the state of things, and nate's response let him know he was on the right tack. it's worth remembering that (despite what people tend to percieve him as) eliot is an extremely emotionally intelligent character, and that's being established here as well as everything else.

so he starts out another speech, looking nate in the eye - it's the most intimate moment of the conversation so far, and that's important. "Listen, I'm sorry about your kid."

to me, it's abundantly clear that eliot could have kept talking from there, made whatever point he was about to. but he leaves the space open for nate to respond. small talk is the wrong word for this, and eliot's not exactly feeling out an emotional connection; but he is clearly and deliberately giving nate the opportunity to open up and respond, both out of genuine empathy and (as we already saw) a desire to unpick a little more of what makes nate tick. that's part of eliot's job, after all. he is being a nice person here.

and nate... well, nate's expression doesn't change. the sensible and expected thing to do here would be to say, y'know, thanks, and then move on with the game. but, as i've already said, nathan ford is a prickly bastard. worth pulling up the script again here:

because yeah, he shuts down. we're two thirds of the way through the pilot episode and once again this is serving as exposition for the viewer - nate is in a lot of emotional pain, and he doesn't exactly do touchy-feely feelings. he'd much rather hide at the bottom of a bottle than sort out his issues. anger, and grief, and anger.

now, eliot says that "everybody knows." he half whispers that line, which i think is a really great touch - it's a lot more tender in tone than the response could have been, and i don't think nate picks up on that. my reservations on them as people aside, christian kane and timothy hutton's acting throughout this scene is superb. it's hard to explain, but eliot's affect changes for the next line - "Guy like you goes off the street, a lot of people notice." he's still almost whispering, but he's trying to tug the conversation a little bit towards levity. the emphasis on "a lot" is almost jokey - people smarter than me have pointed out that eliot in early season one has a soft sarcastic vibe that isn't present for a lot of the rest of the show. it's a continuation of what we saw earlier in the episode in the hospital scene.

but once that's said, he halts, and we see his eyes soften a little - he stops quite meeting nate in the eye.

it's a soft little moment of comprehension. eliot has lost a lot of people close to him, and has witnessed the deaths of many innocent children. he absolutely does know what nate is feeling. arguably, bereavement destroyed eliot's life infinitely more than it did nate's. so we get a genuine flash of empathy here. he's thought about this, after hearing of it, maybe before even taking the job for dubenich. "And it was a bad story, too."

we cut back to nate for a second there. he's lost - trapped in a hospital in los angeles rather than a penthouse in chicago. as a first time viewer, though, we don't quite know what he's thinking.

so eliot asks. "How'd they justify that, huh? The insurance company, just... not paying for his treatment?"

and the thing is, coming from someone who's watched seven seasons of eliot being unfailingly protective of every child and vulnerable party who's crossed his path... i genuinely think eliot meant that. yeah, not as an actual question, but as comiseration and sympathy for what he can tell is an awful situation.

but this is nate's show. and we're in nate's head. so we follow nate, across three years of anger and pain and into that hospital room. we see for the first time where nate's standing here, the depths of that sorrow in the moments before it manifested.

worth noting that it's not the full scene - nate running in to grab sam's body was filmed with the pilot but cut back to be saved for the finale, which was a damn good choice. but even what we see here is enough to fully ground us in nate's backstory - we've been watching him dance around in chaos for most of an episode, clearly greiving his son, and now we see the cause of all that hurt. once again, this exchange makes much more sense from the perspective of the writers trying to establish and expand on crucial emotional beats.

when we flash back to nate and eliot, the camera angle has changed. noteable, because we were on a solid back-and-forth talking shot for a minute or so there, and this fully segments the scene instead of plopping us back where we just were.

we've just experienced first-hand the spiral that nate's thoughts have gone down. he answers eliot, still lost in thought - "They claimed it was experimental."

from eliot's perspective, that's a response to his question and an accepting of his empathy. from our perspective, it's an anguished statement of pondering, the re-rotation of a thought that's been trapped in nate's head for three fucking years. they claimed. he is, as we will see in the david episodes, so, so, so angry.

eliot smirks, then drinks. we cut back to his face and the original camera angles. his is where the pilot rewrite between scripting and shooting is the most obvious - in the original script, nate picks up the beer, and that's what prompts eliot's next line.

in the filmed episode, we stick instead on nate's face and let eliot continue. the emotional beat is identical, but it places a greater emphasis on nate's pain and eliot's powers of perception. it's an unimportant script edit, but an interesting one.

what happens next... "Should have kept one of those Monets you found, hm? You fence that -" and it's only at this point nate actually interjects.

i don't think eliot here is deliberately being insensitive nor do i think he's directly trying to just raise nate's spirits. you gotta remember that we as the viewers in nate's head for this scene, not eliot's, and from eliot's perspective the tone has just gotten less gut-wrenching, not more - but eliot's also, as i previously noted, an extremely emotionally intelligent person. it's why i've gone through the whole scene instead of jumping directly to this bit you asked me about, because i really do think the full context is needed to understand.

so, nate interrupts. "Eliot, you and I are not friends."

this is again where context is so important. it's not that he cares about what eliot's actually saying (though i could write a very different essay about how that line of eliot's is lampshading a pretty obvious plothole) but that he's just had to forcibly pull himself back to the present day and he thinks eliot's being annoying and would like him to shut up now, please. not all that different from him asking eliot to take his shot earlier, really, though i think eliot picks up on the curtness.

nate raises his eyebrows. it's a nice attempted reversal of power dynamics - yes he has just interrupted and been rude, but he also immediately attempts to swing the conversation's psycoanalysis onto eliot and why are you talking to me about this i don't know you. of course, we as the viewer can tell nate's in deflective mode, but we'd expect eliot to take it at face value -

which. he doesn't. we get this super interesting little "oh... right." face, and i think it's less eliot realising he's struck a nerve (though it also is that) as it is eliot properly clicking in to what nate's thinking here. i stress again that eliot really is a tremendously emotionally intelligent character, definitely moreso than nate is, and that's reflected in this scene. both of them bounce off one another here a little bit differently to how you'd expect them to just looking at archetypes, and it's this kind of thing that makes the leverage pilot so good.

because eliot picks up on the messaging nate's putting down, the prickly i'm-not-having-an-emotional-conversation-with-a-criminal-i-just-met facade, but he also kinda sees right through it. "...Right. 'Cause you have so many of them."

and it's again this softly sarcastic vibe that's pretty unique to early season one eliot, but it really works here in reestablishing that A) eliot's more observant than nate is giving him credit for, B) he's not going to let nate get away with being tacitly kind of a dick, C) he's really not easily rattled and D) eliot is as much of a chaos gremlin as the rest of the team. this is not the affect of a man actually hurt by what nate said.

all in all, good stuff. but now for the reason i dug the script out to begin with - the ending. it's a well-known piece of trivia that they shot the pilot without a defined ending for the next nate/sophie beat only for aldis to improv the world's best "oooooooh," but what's really fun is if you know that this is because the nate/sophie beat here was actually a late addition. in the script, eliot and nate's conversation finishes like this:

and end scene. eliot still gets the final word, so as to speak, but nate gets a lot more quiet reflection and a much more overt point that nate and eliot are at least peers if not friends right now. but here, instead, sophie presumably starts walking towards nate off-camera and eliot steps back - "Incoming."

and then we're on to nate and sophie, and the scene continues with a new focus as nate is left reeling.

but i really, really like the ending we get because it's that same establishment of peership, of eliot calling out nate's crap, but also of the fact that the power dynamics here aren't as they'd first seem. nate's greiving too much. eliot understands but isn't gonna let it get to him or impact the team. this... is all crucial as far as character establishment is concerned.

this answer got long. i think that this scene is just so, so important for establishing both nate and eliot's characters - and i think people miss an infinite amount of nuance when they take the surface-level reading that eliot said something which annoyed nate and nate was mean. that's very much not what happened, but it also kinda is, and it's what makes this so fun to pick apart. eliot and nate have a fascinating relationship, and it's one that's all too often overlooked. here's john rogers's take on it:

and... yeah!!! you can see all that really clearly in this scene. they respect one another, but that doesn't mean they have to like one another, at least not yet. it's good stuff.

[fixyourwritinghabits]

I don't know if you possibly have any advice/encouragement for this but...I feel like I'm only any good at fanfiction/character studies, and absolutely garbage at plot. I'm an extensive outliner and I've read all the how-to books, but it just doesn't come to me. Antagonists, motivation, pinch points, magic systems...I struggle so much with anything that isn't character interactions and dialogue, but I want so badly to make well-structured, plot-heavy original fiction.

Help?

Right, I'm going to break the emergency glass of all writing advice and tell it to you frank:

If you can't figure out how to plot, steal.

Let's say you really like Sherlock Holmes and really want to write a Sherlock Holmes story, but you think no one will want a story where Sherlock Holmes was a modern doctor (House), or a superhero (multiple takes on Batman), or as a sci-fi/fantasy augmented woman reliant on her assistant (Robert Jackson Bennet's The Tainted Cup), etc etc. What I'm saying is that this is not only common, but an acceptable form of writing. It's not about boiling a character down to tropes and going with that - it's about taking what you like from fiction and making it your own.

The second question is how. I'm not telling you to rewrite The Hunger Games and set it in space (partly because arguably that already exists), but what I do recommend is:

Take your favorite media and break down why you like it. If you're writing a novel, I recommend sticking to novels, but there's no harm in taking a look at your favorite movies or comics either. What appeals the most to you about the plot? Which parts of your favorite media hit the hardest? Do you gravitate toward space operas or heists? Can you connect some consistent themes or character moments they share?

Pick your top favorite and break down the plot in an outline. The Save the Cat Beat sheet works really well for this (click here for examples of how to use it!), but if you prefer a different method or have your own, use that. Try to nail down as much of the plot into an outline view that you can. Note the big moments (the Inciting Event, the Middle, the Climax, etc) as much as you can, as well as when they happen.

Boil that specific outline down to a generic outline that could apply to any story. Here I want you to strip out the identifying information until you have an outline that follows the plot of your favorite movie without directly referencing it. Here's an example:

The Hunger Games Inciting Event: Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her sister's place in a death game. Generic Summary: Main character takes a loved one's place in a nearly unsurvivable situation.

Most importantly, I do want you to do this for the entire piece of media. Not because I want you to write a Hunger Games rip-off, but because I want you to distill down what really appeals to you about this story in a format where you can see how the plot comes together. If you have the time, I recommend doing this to a few different favorite stories, just so you can build your library of plot points and how to connect them.

Second step, and this is the hard part, take those outlined plot points and try to put your characters in them. You don't have to follow one outline - if you have a couple, mix and match to see what fits together. If this still feels too hard to do with your original characters, try fanfiction! Fanfiction can really help you shake off the fear of being too derivative and allows you to experiment.

Now, even if you end up with a draft that reads like "The Hunger Games in 18th century France and Also There's Dragons For Some Reason," do not panic! The first draft is your private little experiment to get a working plot. If you do have a working plot, you now are in a way better position then you were before. Take a break from your book (I mean it, this step is important), and when you come back, look at it from a distance.

What parts of it do you like? Would it flow better if you plucked a subplot from another media you like and tried it out? Maybe you've realized you want a heist instead of a death game, but still want to keep the dragons. The first draft does not have to resemble the second, or even the third. But you will have a plot to build upon and rework, and the next time you take a crack at plotting, you will feel more confident. Even if you don't, feel free to use this format again to rework a concept you really like into something you feel is your own.

[michanvalentine]

Here I go again, venting about the whole "I can fix him" thing that all spawn Astarion fans get accused of. But seriously—what the hell are we even talking about?

First of all, having a moral compass is not a flaw. It’s a good thing. Let’s stop promoting the idea that being a piece of shit is somehow okay—because in real life, it’s not. In the game, sure, do whatever you like and enjoy it—but that doesn’t mean it’s justifiable in the real world.

Secondly, Astarion is not some one-dimensional monster whose sole purpose is to gain wealth and power at any cost. His goal is to be safe. Period. If you didn’t get that, then you missed the entire point of the game and the character. And safety doesn’t come in just one form.

Most importantly: Astarion contains both light and darkness. It’s up to the player to bring out one or the other. This isn’t about fixing him. It’s about recognizing and valuing the qualities that are already in him, for fuck’s sake. There’s no way you could talk him out of the Ascension if he weren’t already having doubts about it! He’s meant to be ambivalent—designed that way to let different players make different choices and enjoy the journey.

And let me say this again, because it’s a hard myth to kill: rolling the dice to convince Astarion not to ascend isn’t making the decision for him. It’s cutting through the bloodlust and fear clouding his mind and saying, “Hey, babe, have you considered this, this, and that?” Nothing more, nothing less.

The person who convinces him not to ascend doesn’t change him—they reassure him. They show him a different possibility.

So no, it’s not “I can fix him.” It’s I see you.

And for the record, if you choose the spawn ending, Astarion stays exactly who he was—just with a new perspective on the world and the people in it. So what the hell was “fixed”? Nothing. He has to fix himself from that point on, using the tools he’s chosen to reclaim: connection, friendship, and—yes—some level of morality (he’s still an antihero and a vampire with needs, after all).

The Ascension literally changes him—turns him into something he’s not, into a type of unnatural vampire that didn’t even exist before. And it’s in that exact moment that he becomes a true monster with no chance of redemption—because he chooses to go from victim to predator. Once again, something he wasn’t before.

And who pays the price? Not enemies—mostly innocent people, including children who will be damned to hell for all eternity.

And for what? The gain (which, honestly, is highly questionable—and for me, not worth it) of one person. A person who, again, gains things he didn’t originally have—wealth, power, sunlight, no more hunger, etc.

So isn’t that what trying to “change” or “fix” him really looks like? Making him different? The excuse that “he was always just a piece of shit with no hope” doesn’t hold up—even if it helps someone sleep at night.

And let me be clear—I don’t give a fuck what people prefer or how they play the game. I ascend Astarion too, in some of my runs, when and how I feel like it. But seriously, this whole “fixing him” narrative? It needs to die—especially when tied to morality.

Shocking news: everyone should have a moral compass and use it. It’s not about “conforming.” It’s about the fact that without it, the world—which is already falling apart—would be completely doomed.

And by the way: the only reason some people get to ignore morality is because most of the idiots on this planet do follow it. Otherwise, it’d be absolute chaos.

[bobur-the-berry-guy]

hi!!!! headcanons for mogari was good, it's so yummy ty <33 do you have any thoughts about confession headcanons for main four + ichimiya (if you don't mind ofc!!)? ty anyway! :3

•OHMYGOD IF I TELL U I WAS ALREADY MAKING IT IN THE DRAFTS WHEN U ASKED AHHHH I LOVE REQUESTS

ᕙ⁠(͡⁠°⁠‿⁠ ͡⁠°⁠)⁠ᕗAlso I'm playing around w the formatting do we fw it

Anyway we're on the same wavelength anon, i hope you and whoever is reading enjoys these 😼

Phantom busters confessions!

•Ft. Mogari, Eugene, Kaoru, Tamon, Ichimiya

‧₊˚ ⋅* ‧₊✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧⋆.˚✮•🌺•✮˚.⋆✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧‧₊˚ ⋅* ‧₊

Moragi

ᯓ★୭˚ Poor dude just got out of his prison of a household and went head first in the real world with zero actual experience, how do you think he'd deal with a crush?!

ᯓ★୭˚ In all honesty, it would take him a while to realize. He would just think you're a great friend and-- wait, what do you mean it isn't normal for your friends to give you heart palpitations or for your throat to dry up when they give you a hug.. sure, none of his other friends make him feel like that but that doesn't mean there's anything too different about you, right?

ᯓ★୭˚ Yeah, he'd take his time. Let him be. He's still figuring it out. Most likely someone from the phantom busters club would point it out to him to try and make fun of him but Mogari is surprisingly chill with it. Yeah, he has a crush, so what?

ᯓ★୭˚ Truth be told, you could probably catch on it but then again Moragi is.. Moragi. You can't tell uf he's into you or he's being his weird self.

ᯓ★୭˚ They can try to tease him all they want, but he doesn't feel shame. What he feels is mild confusion - how is he supposed to go about this? What do people do when they have their crush figured out? How do they tell their crush likes them back? There are specific ways to confess?? What???

ᯓ★୭˚ He's coached by his friends on how to do it - all in vastly different ways. Eugene is the most practical but.. Moragi doesn't think he absolutely has to have it all planned out and everything, right? Tamon is a great listener, but he has.. zero experience. He has seen what other people have done and tell so, but then again that's just hwat he's seen. And Kaoru gives full romance manga scenarios. The rain and only one umbrella, the sick episode, confession under a cherry tree - the woks. And Moragi, bless his soul, takes everything all they say to heart. And he thinks he's got it all figured out - practical, romantic, what he thinks would be a good confession in your eyes and most importantly tweaked with his own things to feel more him, you know?

ᯓ★୭˚ He's got this! He's hyped, he's the man, he's the boss— and it goes all but the way he planned. But really, what else do we expect?

──★°`🌙.*♪!! Moragi's got it all planned. He's not sure why exactly he needs the plan, but his friends said it would make you happy so who is he to not believe them?

This whole day you've been together. Originally it should've been the whole friend group hanging out, but everyone other than Moragi mysteriously bailed so it was just the two of you.

It was definitely not a boring day. Its just that everything he planned pretty much got obliterated in front of his eyes. He slipped and fell in the cute little cafe and got his drink all over him, which you had to help him wash out after. He got confused on the directions and had you both lost for a good half an hour. Went to the arcade to show off only to have you eat him with thr rags at the games there. What else could go wrong?!

At least you seem to be having fun.

Right now you're at the beach - just sitting, staring at the waves and chatting away. This whole day you've been walking around and going places and he hopes he's doing it right. It feel so foreign to him - since when does he feel nervous??

According to what the boys helped him plan, he should confess when he's walking you home. The smartest move, they said. But how should he do it?? What exactly should he say? What—

"hey, Moragi.."

Suddenly your voice takes him out of his deep thought. You're staring back at him quietly as if you're trying to gauge something.. Were you saying something important before that?

"... You've been so weird the whole day. You can tell me what's up, you know?"

He's staring at you stupidly. His mouth acts before his thoughts do.

"I like you. Like, like like you."

Silence.

"For a while now. I can't stop thinking about you. It's like you're just.. always there. The boys helped me make a plan up on.. y'know, how to tell you. That's why i took you so many places today. Maybe that's why I'm acting like a dumbass too. I was supposed to tell you that while walking you home but... yeah...."

More silence.

He's staring at your bewildered face, trying to read your what's happening in your head. Did he fuck up? Did he do something wrong?? Why are you just staring—

"Pffff.. you made a whole plan??"

That silence is filled with laughter now. Your laughter. You're cackling as if this is the funniest thing to ever happen to you. Trying to compose yourself and catch your breath, you speak trough the laughing fit.

"You know, Moragi.. you could've just, i don't know, told me? Without this whole thing?? I like you back anyway. Still thanks though. It's cute to see you put so much effort into it."

Despite the fact he's trying to play it cool or as cool as he can anyway, you can see he's clenching his fist in victory. What a dork.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧☄. *. ⋆✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩

Eugene

ᯓ★୭˚ May the gods be with his because they know he needs it.

ᯓ★୭˚ You've captured his heart and he only catches on after it's already too late to rationalize his brain out of being horribly down bad. He won't deny havign a crush on you but it makes his brain turn into a pudding and his thought process derails.

ᯓ★୭˚ His realization would be gradual - first he'd see you as intriguing, then you're a dear friend.. and suddenly he's having real funny thoughts. He could write off the way your eyes reflect the sunlight like a suncatcher as just an observation or the sudden image of him kissing you like you're the air he breathes as an impulse thought.. but really, how long would it take until he seen that these thoughts aren't just a one-off thing? That's when he knows he's got it real bad.

ᯓ★୭˚ He'd wait. He's paying attention and making sure you probably like him back before he does anything. After all, why would he do something if he isn't sure there's at least some chance it would be worth it? So he waits ans observes how you act, what you do and what you do and don't tell him. And once he believes you could like him back he's cooking up a plan.

ᯓ★୭˚ He might drop some hints he could be into you, but he'd let the game of plausible deniability do it's work.

ᯓ★୭˚ He wants to do it face to face. If he wants it to work he needs to have the balls to do it. Still he keeps most of it simple - he doesn't want you to catch on. Maybe. I mean, it wouldn't be too bad for you to have an inkling of something about to happen between you two, but he plans on keeping it under covers. He'd invite you to hang out and go to the cafe you both always visit, treat you a drink and something to eat, and when you leave the cafe and sit on a good spot outside he's telling you everything clear and simple.

──★°`🌙.*♪!! The cafe's chill atmosphere makes it seem like time has stopped despite the clock ticking quietly in the corner. You've been in there for the whole afternoon at that point but it still feels like you haven't been sitting for more than an hour.

And still with so much time passed there haven't been even a few minutes that minutes that aren't filled with the still ongoing conversation between you and Eugene. Topic after topic braided together, not following a particular pattern but the trains of thought going one after another.

Right now you're chatting away about a long since passed situation. Despite him already knowing the whole thing by heart, he still listens and responds. And he'd do it all over again too, if it means seeing you so up close and hearing your voice.

The only thing that stops you from going further with your talk is the lovesick look he's giving you from the other side of the table. His head is leaning on his hand for support, cheek squished against his palm and a stray gingers strand of hair falling across his forehead for his otherwise neat hairstyle. There's a content little smile across his face, his cheeks flushed with a soft peachy color. His eyes reflect the setting sun, shattering the light across them with the most gentle spark in them. Just for you.

He knows it's the moment to speak his truth, given you've finally noticed the way he's staring and the little window of silence giving him the perfect opportunity to do so.

"Hey, can i tell you something?"

You nod, not trusting your voice enough to speak properly.

"I, ah.. lately I've noticed, uh.."

Really? Right now he'll trip over his words??

Clearing his troath, he continues, his evergrowing blush becoming more and more apparent.

"I.. I love being around you. Just seeing you makes me happy. I look forward to being with you and— i just really enjoy spending time with you, and you've become someone very special to me..

I hope you feel the same way towards me too."

He's struggling to even look at you, the sudden nervousness getting the better of him. The silence on your end only makes him more nervous too.

Suddenly he feels you hands around his, just as jittery and sweaty. You're nodding vigorously when he finally looks at you and he breathes a sigh of relief, exhaling the tension.

Thank god. He wouldn't know what he'd do if you didn't like him back.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧☄. *. ⋆✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩

Kaoru

ᯓ★୭˚ The second he realizes he's gripping his shirt over the spot his heart is and kneeling on the ground as if he's gonna have a heart attack.

ᯓ★୭˚ He'd be so oblivious to his own feelings, given he's used to burying everything down until it volcanoes back up. So when he finally realizes, he's exploding internally. And right back into denial. He's gonna be in a limbo between being sure he likes you and denying it vehemently for a bit before finally accepting it.

ᯓ★୭˚ Not gonna lie, he's gonna be so obvious. I'd assume you're his friend already so you know the way he is - he's acting all done and sassy but it's sp clear he cares and goes out of his way to do things for you and the rest of his friends. And suddenly, he's getting all red when you're close. He's huffing and puffing when you ask someone for a favour and acts all smug when he does it before them. He watches your favourite anime and lends you your favourite manga since he just so happens to have it - but he hadn't heard of it before you introduced him to it??

ᯓ★୭˚ And, let's be real, he'd so try to have a good old school shoujo anime confession. And he plans everything out - he has picked a good cherry tree near the school, he knows what time the sun hits best, he already has the anonymous love letter asking you to meet him there.. and he chickens out of it every morning. It takes him a while until he actually goes trough with it. Waiting for the best time, he says... Oh, and the club helps him out too. Good luck.

──★°`🌙.*♪!! Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He really did it.

After all this time, he finally got the balls to go trough with his plan. He wrote the letter and rewrote it for good measure, packaged it well and pretty and slid it in your locker. And the reality of the situation dawned on his just as he slipped it in. No turning back now.

All that's left is.. the whole day before school ends.

And he spends that day acting weird and finding every possible reason to avoid you as the cool-headed genius he is. He's too busy to sweat over it to pay attention to anything and anyone else anyway.

How could he face you now when he knows he has to confess to you later today?!

And sadly for him and much for the joy of everyone else, the end of the day comes much sooner than he would've liked.

Right now, he's stading stiff under the cherry tree he picked out. While waiting for you he's going over what he could possibly say when you finally arrive. The words seem to run away from him - no matter how much he's imagined and trained in the mirror, the real deal is completely different. What should he say? Where to start? What if you react badly? What exactly should—

"Oh my god, Kaoru??"

Fuck. You're here.

He turns around, still doing his best to seem cool despite the burning red color his cheeks have taken.

"Hey, uh, you're probably wondering why i called you here. Fuck— no?? I mean, obviously, you know why but— just— just let me speak, ok?

After a few seconds of silence he continues.

"I like you. I like you a lot. I've liked you for a while now. Please, go out with me.. please."

After he spent all day thinking over what to say so he can give you the most heartfelt genuine confession, all that came out of his mouth is this. Just end him now.. please.

"You're too cute, Kaoru, you know that?"

Peeling his eyes from the ground, he looks up to see you smiling brightly at him, as if his confession made your whole day.

"Of course I'll go out with you. I like you, you know? I thought it was obvious."

He's speechless. Voice left, thoughts ran away, brain short-circuited. Still, he couldn't be more grateful for the outcome.

It wasn't the cool and emotional shoujo-esque romantic confession he wanted it to be, but if you're happy with it he wouldn't have it any other way.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧☄. *. ⋆✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩

Tamon

ᯓ★୭˚ You know that meme with the dog?

Yup, that's him. Shhh, he just realized how down bad he is, let him process it.

ᯓ★୭˚ Another case of horrid obliviousness to his own emotions. With him, though, i think he does have a few moments where the light bulb flickers before it turns on so bright it burns his eyes. He can feel his heart flutter around you and suddenly he's sweating more than usual and he wants to hold your hand and he feels like the only person on the planet when you tell him he's dependable.. and sure, he has a few moments of thinking "they're awesome, i don't know how i even found them" and "they'd make a great boyfriend/girlfriend" and such... but when he actually, like actually, realizes he's into you? It all makes sense. He can't tell if he wants to bang his head into the wall or run to you and spill everything, but at least he has an explanation for the thoughts he's been having.

ᯓ★୭˚ I feel like you won't really notice a big difference with him even when he realizes his feelings. Not most of the time anyway. He's the same dependable and considerate Tamon you've always known - he's just gonna go out of his way to be around you a bit more. He'd walk you from home to school and from school to home even if he lives in the opposite direction, he's hanging out with you whenever he can, he just wants to be there. And every now and then he's weirdly red or suddenly flustered.. and don't tell him if you do, but you might catch him staring at you. Just observing, looking at you like you pull the sun into the sky every morning and hang the stars in the sky every night. Let him be.

ᯓ★୭˚ He doesn't plan on confessing. Ever. He'd rather die than possibly risk the great friendship between you so far. You're just too good for him to do anything stupid, you know? And then he spill the beans on accident. He will remember the embarrassment and terror he felt in the few seconds of silence for life.

──★°`🌙.*♪!! It's the dead of night, a calm atmosphere taken over the quiet hours. The sky is clear and the moon gleams bright across the sky, the stars making way for it across the midnight blue sky. It's so silent the only thing other than the gentle wind you'll hear are the squeaks of the bats and the occasional birds cooing softly. That, and the hushed whispers of you and Tamon on the phone.

You've been on the phone with him for hours. You won't stay up late tonight, you said. Just for a bit, you said. And there you are, still trying to keep your giggles quiet and voice down.

By now you've played countless games and talked about anything and everything that comes to mind, the late time bringing out the honesty in both of you. Right now you're laying comfortably on your bed, a cool gust of wind swishing from your window into your room, bringing a soft fresh scent along with it.

"— oh my god, do you know what i heard recently? This guy from the other class might have a crush on you!"

How it got to that topic, neither you not he knows.

"Shut up, Tamon. Are you for real?"

"I said i heard about it, can't promise you it's the truth. He really seems like it, though. It's not like i can't blame him anyway."

.. huh?

"Dude, what? What do you mean??"

"I mean, like, i can't blame him for liking you. I can see why."

"Sure thing, Casanova."

"No, I mean it. Genuinely. You're probably one of the kindest people on earth. Sure, you're kind of a dick sometimes, but i don't think I've ever met someone as genuinely kind and considerate. And you're so talented too. And you're passionate. You've seen what you can do when you put work into things. Also it's so easy to talk to you. I can talk to you for the whole day and the whole night and not even notice. And i can look at you without my stomach churning too. Sure, the fact that you're gorgeous helps, but my point stands. I can't blame him for liking you. Its not like I'm any better anyway."

Oh my god.

He did not just fucking spill that.

"Say it to my face then."

Why is everyone saying things without thinking??

Silence.

Peep. He closed the call.

Fuck.

He's not responding. He's not picking up your calls. He's not texting back either. Hell, he's not even looking at them.

Did you scare him away? Does he hate you now?

No matter what questions swirl in your mind, you can't have the answers when he's not responding. In the end, it seems better to leave it for the morning rather than stress over it right now.

Turning and tossing around over your soft covers, exhaustion seems to finally lead you into sleep after sweating and shedding a few panicked tears over your current situation.

Exhaling quietly, burning anxiety makes way for the quiet rest you desperately need, after 15 minutes of panic.

Thunk.

Or maybe not.

Ponk. Tink.

What the hell? Are those— are those pebbles?? What's throwing fucking pebbles into your room at this hour?!

"Pssst. Hey! Hey!"

You stick your head out of your window so fast you almost fall over from the sheer force of the movement.

And there he is - Tamon. He's breathing hard, burning red and sweaty, still in pajamas, his bike tossed to the side. His voice is a hushed yell, but you still hear him.

Darting out your bedroom door, you practically fly down the stairs to open the door and face him directly.

Now actually face to face with him, all and any words vanish from your mind, leaving you to stare at him stupidly.

"I meant it."

He seems panicked, but it's clear he's genuine. Up close, the redness of his face is even more obvious, along with the sheen of sweat across his forehead. He must've really gone fast on the bike if he's that out of breath.

"I really meant it. Please don't stop talking with me."

"Tamon, you idiot! You gave me a heart attack! I like you back, you—"

Tamon learnt two things that night. First thing is, he should think not twice but three times before talking after midnight. Second thing - he should've told you he likes you a long time ago. He couldn't be happier anyway.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧☄. *. ⋆✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩

Ichimiya

ᯓ★୭˚ My king in DENIAL.

ᯓ★୭˚ He'd rather go and tell everyone he's into that ghost geek shit before he confesses his love for you. And believe me, he's got it BAD. He knows just how bad it it. He's fully aware of how much space you take up in his mind and how much you fill his heart. Every smile, every look, every conversation, every simple act of kindness makes his heart soar. Everything about you makes him jolt in his seat like he's been electrocuted and melt like a sugar cube simultaneously. And the fact he's always a shade of pinkish red around you doesn't help either.

ᯓ★୭˚ Everyone around him knows. The student council is well aware that he wants you, despite the fact he vehemently denies it. Thing is, they don't know if you know it too. And they don't wanna meddle. If you know it and they bring it up could make everything weird, and if you don't know they could still mess it all up. Also, they'd have to deal with the wrath of their enraged student council president - and who is crazy enough to deal with that?

ᯓ★୭˚ Ichimiya likes to think the confession would be heartfelt and very well planned. He imagines something special just for you, with him going out of his way to do a truly memorable thing. He falls asleep to his own far-fetched dreams of being with you, and they always start with a cheesy confession. In reality, it's nothing like that for two reasons. He'd confess impulsively if something pushes him to that point - to act before thinking. Also he wouldn't have the balls to go through with his original plans anyway. Maybe it's better something's pushed him enough..

──★°`🌙.*♪!! This whole day has been like Ichimiya's personal purgatory reincarnated.

First, turns out some documents that should've been handled by the student council got messed up, meaning he'd have to fix everything personally. After that he was given a surprise test, and he didn't have enough time to finish the last -and most important - question. After that the fanboys his friends from the council decided it would be a good idea to try to make plans for the weekend, which he absolutely did not want to attend to. And then they decided to bring you up. You, and how close you seem to some nobody from the other class.

Thats when everything soured even further.

What do they mean you're that close with someone he hasn't even heard of? Wasn't he your closest friend? What does that random have that he doesn't? Are you tired of him? Do you like that guy better than Ichimiya?

All these thoughts spiral down in his head, internally making him panic and sweat over a thing he hasn't even seen personally. Outside, though, it seems like he's trying to poison the rest of the council just trough a venomous, burning stare - their cue to shut up.

And from then his whole mood for the rest of the week is spoiled. And for the next one too.

By now, he's been weird with you for about two weeks. He'd avoid you like the plague and ignore you until you just decide to leave, and then cling to you like you're the only person on earth for a bit before returning to his previous treatment.

In the beginning it seemed like it was just something stressing him out about the council, but it's gone on for too long to really believe that assumption.

Finally having had enough when he bailed on you on lunch without a word, you storm into the student council room to find him.

And there is he - sitting to the side, Sunao and Yoshiki animatedly talking about something before abruptly going silent when you enter the room.

Giving a scorching look to Ichimiya, internally he feels like crying despite returning the mean look. You turn around to look at the two other boys, asking them to excuse themselves and leave you alone with Ichimiya for a bit.

Normally they would've said something, but the tension is too thick for them to even try to protest, so they leave quietly.

Ichimiya can feel his features twitch worriedly, mouth pressed into anxious thin line, biting the inside of his mouth. He can feel his intimidating mask slip by habit, the distress seeping trough his cold expression.

"Ichimiya, what the fuck is up with you?!"

Man, he fucked up.

"You've been so weird for two weeks. Two weeks! You bail on me, ignore me, send me away and basically run away at just the sight of me, but then you come around and you're so clingly, and then you start avoiding me again! What is your problem?!"

He really fucked up.

And despite that, he can't bring himself to be honest with you. The anxiety and the impulse to still try and uphold his image gets the better of him.

"It's nothing. You can hang around someone else anyway. Don't you have that other friend to go bother?"

"I don't want to hang around someone else, i want to hang around you. What does he have to do with that anyway?"

".. forget it."

A tense silence creeps up after that, but it's short-lived.

"... please, Ichimiya. Just talk to me. Please."

He doesn't dare to look at you, just the quiet pain and desperation are enough to erode his mask almost completely. The guilt of not telling you the truth us eating him alive, but he just can't get the words out.

"Listen, i.. just— i can't say it. Please don't make me say it."

You continue to stare silently in disbelief at him, trying to gauge exactly what he refuses to say. His expression is a scorned pout, him biting the inside of his cheeks and looking down.. in shame? He looks... embarrassed. And guilty, and awkward.

What does he have to be embarrassed about anyway? High and mighty intimidating school council president, looking shamefully at the ground after acoiding you and all but blaming some other student for that. What could even that guy have to do with—

Oh.

Oh.

A spark flashes across your face, a small grin of amusement at the absurd situation breaking out.

"Oh my god, are you—"

"Don't say it.. please, don't."

"You're jealous!"

Now he's looking at the ground not in guilt but in absolute burning embarrassment. His arms are clasped in front of his chest, but he keeps quiet.

"Why are you so jealous anyway? What's the big deal about this guy—"

Nevermind. His head shoots up and he's staring directly at you in disbelief, mouth slightly agape in shock at the question.

"Are you serious? Is it not obvious enough?! I like you, damn it! How can you not notice that??"

Another moment if silence comes upon the room, but this time he isn't really sure if he messed up or did the right thing.

"... Really? You like me, for real??"

The hope in your voice tell him he did the right thing, thank god.

And despite that, he'll never live down the shame of having his confession brought upon by petty jealousy and pouting. He doesn't regret it though, not if that means he finally has you.

‧₊˚ ⋅* ‧₊✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧⋆.˚✮•🌺•✮˚.⋆✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧‧₊˚ ⋅* ‧₊

it's kinda obvious who my favourites are ngl,,

ฅ⁠^⁠•⁠ﻌ⁠•⁠^⁠ฅ as always, request are open n welcome!

[idrellegames]

so im (relatively) new to your whole wayfarer IF and after reading Aeran for the little bit of access I have to him, what inspired his character? you don't have to say anything that'll spoil things obv, I'm just curious. He's clearly a character that has made an impression, I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about him but I've seen some people say they're getting on the clown bus for Aeran so idk what you put in his character soup but apparently it's got people putting clown shoes on. Either way, regardless of *how* I'll end up feeling about him, I'm very curious as to what inspired his whole schtick and while I know different choices lead to different dynamics and I suppose, therefore different readings, he's definitely leaving an impression on everyone who's played with/interacted with his character

Hello and welcome! 💕

If you squint, Aeran is maybe, possibly, slightly inspired by Tamlen from Dragon Age: Origins. Less so in terms of personality, more so in terms of story role in that he was supposed to be a temporary companion (and yes he was intended to be killed off early).

However, over the course of development, Aeran's role has shifted significantly. The roots are still there, but what I intended to do with him in 2019 is very different from what he is doing now. There's no specific inspiration for his current version; he is the result of finding answers to a chain of character questions that started with "why this?" -> "then that".

There are some things that have manifested with him as I wrote, as there usually is with every character I make. While his main arc has been solid since 2020/2021, every so often he surprises me with new information (for example, he and Rhodarth weren't intended to have had a former relationship, but then I started writing their dialogue during their first encounter and realized they had weird flirty undertones and oops now they have history).

I think Aeran makes an impression because he's several popular tropes rolled into one. You can play the very long friends-to-lovers game, you can play the very long friends-to-enemies game, or land somewhere in the middle. By giving him history with the MC, there's a lot of room for exploration of what that actually means--especially because you know from the start of Episode 1 that he has something going on, and he doesn't want to tell you, and you don't know why. It's at odds with the set-up of him being the MC's closest friend and someone they trust.

Players reactions to him are going to vary, and that is the intention. Aeran is an exercise in how a player's first impressions can shape how they feel about a character longterm. There are two different ways adult!Aeran can be introduced in Episode 1, and that is going to colour your initial impression of him. How he engages with the MC is going to differ based on what your starting relationship is, which will colour it further.

He's also an example of how you might not be able to get what you want out of NPCs just by virtue of being the player character. He has reasons for not telling the MC everything which puts him in conflict with them regardless of approval or romance status, and that brings out very different reactions depending on how you play and what content you see. And--most importantly--how much your MC pushes him. Even when he's being an ass to the MC, the MC can be an ass right back to him. They can instigate just as much conflict as he does.

There's no right answer when it comes to Aeran. For the people who love him and love his romance content, there's very good reasons for it. For the people who love to hate him, there's very good reason for that, too.

I'm very honoured and very flattered that he has made a mark, regardless of what that mark is. And that he continues to give players a lot to talk about!

[stalkyarsen-ebook]

dang already? i guess i'll have to brainstorm then

first and foremost, i must say that i didn't read FSYY. i plan to read it someday but i know some bits about the story and the general idea for nezha's background. I still don't get some details too because i don't have the cultural understanding either (i have a european vision in case you wanna know.) that being said...

I think it is not a surprise for anyone who knows me that I'm really interested in psychological horror. And I want to lean in that direction. And so, if I were to adapt Nezha's story, I would want to talk about cultural and philosophical clash between each characters, and most importantly how everyone sees Nezha.

Because you mean to tell me a child with herculian forces, that can bend the elements to his will, that kills extremely powerful creatures isn't a scary thing, and no one is even terrified by this monster of a child ??? Li Jing is terrified as fuck for sure but you know what I mean.

I want Nezha's mentor Taiyi that decides to take him as his pupil because he wants him under his control, I want Li Jing to have a paternal crisis because his third son is someone he can't understand unlike his other children. I want Yin Shi to be horrified at every atrocities her son made and still love him which terrifies her even more. I even want Nezha questions his own actions.

You may think that I want it to be an edgy story with blood and gore. But I assure you, these kind of things happens in real life with real children. I know that because I work with children. I know how they are and they can be super scary sometimes. And that's normal, they are in a phase where they learn morality and social norms, we can't despise them for being clueless.

Nezha is exactly that case times 10. He is a kid that learns about the world with the adults around him. But the adults in question are scared of what he is capable of. And he doesn't understand because of their apprehensions.

One thing I also want to talk about, the elephant in the room, is also his relationships with Ao Bing (and possibly more.)

Ao Bing should be the exact opposite of Nezha, a well educated child and an honourable dragon. Big emphasis on the dragon part, he lacks human social norms and morality. He is still a good person but why ask a dragon to treat a human as an equal? Humans are pets to them.

With this way of thinking, Ao Bing is able to connect with a misunderstood Nezha while still disagree with him, and vice-versa. And like the children they are, they can play and fight each other. Speaking of it...

Ao Bing's death is relatively the same as in the original story, Nezha made chaos while playing causing the destruction of the dragon palace. Ao Bing is seriously mad at him this time and they both fight. What differs here is the fact that Nezha doesn't control his emotions and force, he always fights with Ao Bing so it doesn't change from what he is used to. He is still in the playing games mindset and his impulses and emotions overwhelms him. So when he rips Ao Bing's spine, it is both intentional and accidental. Once he calms down and realizes what he's done, he panics and doesn't know what to do.

I mentioned Taiyi trying to control Nezha. It exactly what it sounds like. Not that he is power hungry but he does have a certain ego. Controlling a calamity like Nezha would be extremely gratifying. It sure is difficult but Taiyi would think it's all worth it. He would even manipulate him if he deems he needs to.

I think so far I've covered what I wanted to do with the original story.

I also would like to explore their story once Nezha grew up after FSYY events. How he feels about himself about what he has done in his childhood and how war affected him.

I'm also thinking about an Adult Ao Bing, I know that Jiang Ziya gives him a divine title of a constellation, and so I guess that he became a constellation just like some greek heroes ? (according to wikipedia, he is assigned the constellation Cassiopea? Or maybe a star of this specific constellation.)

Can someone more specialized than me clear that up? I' not sure of myself.

Back to the topic, if I were to bring back Ao Bing as a star deity, I would still him being paralyzed and hating Nezha for what he had done to him.

(i sometime want Nezha to feel so guilty for what he has done that he decided to stay by Ao Bing's side to take care of him and support his constant burst of anger against him. It can have angst, fluff and even fucked up things. it's just perfect.)

but yeah that's all i have right now. if i have more ideas, i'll share them. if you have any questions or suggestions, i'm all ears.

[zahri-melitor]

So, question i’ve toiled in my brain for a while now. Steph and Bruce’s relationship Pre-52, was generally pretty rocky, honestly Bruce from that era suffered due to how outright mean he was written at times.

It is hard for me to think of a bruce-steph dynamic that feels faithful, that wouldn’t have her realistically want nothing to do with him, due to all that’s happened. I can think of one-two nicer moments with them, that’s about it.

I don’t think that every batfam member should be on good terms with Bruce, I suppose the reason why I think Steph’s is so striking is due to how antagonistic Bruce is, how even when he lets her be Robin—it’s cut down so fast and so quickly. I can’t even think of a working relationship between them that wouldn’t be awkward, due to all that’s happened.

Apologizing for the tangent, you’re one of the most reliable voices I can think of for batman canon related things. My questions are this, how would you perceive a more positive dynamic between Steph and Bruce? Would you do retconning and rewriting if able to make that work?

There’s a few aspects in this:

One of Steph’s main character traits is how desperate she is for approval and recognition (this isn’t an uncommon dynamic for characters with Bruce. I’d have a hard time naming characters in Gotham who don’t fall into this dynamic on occasion). If she actually didn’t want anything to do with Bruce she would have stopped trying years earlier.

For a multitude of reasons, mostly ones outside the internal logic of comics, War Games probably no longer occurred exactly how War Games and particularly War Crimes is written, especially in respect of the details around Steph. It’s pretty much been trimmed down to “Tim stopped being Robin, Steph became Robin for a short period, then was fired for not following orders” in terms of what gets referenced. We do know that Scarab as a villain is still in continuity for Steph (thanks to Robins, so only probably not definitely main canon), but nobody has really been willing to address ‘did War Games still happen, and to what extent’. Basically, nobody has dug into ‘did Steph still cause a gang war’ because for the combination of both Doylist and Watsonian reasons it’s just easier not to address that question and skate over needing to answer, because as soon as you do it makes Steph a lot less sympathetic in terms of the rehab job various writers have been attempting for years; because Steph, in-universe, has never actually acknowledged any sorrow, guilt or belief in wrongdoing towards what happened to other characters during that period that was not expressed in the original story itself. Basically: either we have to acknowledge that Steph started a gang war AND that her ‘death’ is at least partly Bruce’s fault/blamed on him; OR if we absolve Steph from having any guilt here, we also lose anything people want to pin on Bruce out of this other than ‘fired her from being Robin’.

Now. If you remove War Games as the centrepiece of the Bruce-Steph conflict, what do you replace it with? And my argument is that The Victim Syndicate extended story arc is a compelling replacement that fits both Bruce and Steph’s personality traits well, and gives them a point of contention in their relationship that, importantly, shows both of them holding valid points.

I know. I know a bunch of Steph fans don’t like Tynion’s run because it uses Tim (and their loss of him) as the centrepoint around which Bruce and Steph define their relationship. But it’s also one of the few extended storylines Steph has had since Rebirth, and it’s the only one that has any serious dynamics between Bruce and Steph in it (Realistically, since Rebirth Steph has Tynion’s run, her appearances in Young Justice 2019, Mariko Tamaki’s Shadows of the Bat: The Tower, Batgirls, and then a handful of appearances here and there of varying quality like her Death Metal appearances to explain the costume flip).

Plus. The thing about Tynion’s run is that Steph’s arc through the entire story is about Steph questioning what it means to be a hero, and whether she wants to be one, particularly in circumstances where she feels Bruce has caused both her and other people’s problems. Steph doesn’t feel comfortable being a hero, because she blames Bruce for the harm that comes from his actions and from his vigilante work, and explores what other solutions there are to vigilante work: trying to help victims of crime via vengeance (the Victim Syndicate); Lonnie’s position that radical anarchist collectives are the was to build a better future; etc. She reflects her own origin of spoiling Arthur’s plans by spoiling and revealing Bruce’s plans.

Bruce and Steph fight over Tim, and which of them knew Tim better, and which of them understood his future plans better. And it’s a proxy for the fight they don’t want to have with each other, over what ‘following orders’ means and whether Bruce has the right to dictate them to Steph.

And then Tim comes back and Steph finds herself fighting with Tim himself because her answer and his answer to ‘what is the purpose of being a vigilante’ no longer match what she originally believed his answer to be. Because they’ve both grown and changed.

I find it a really compelling basis for Bruce and Steph’s modern relationship. Because they care about each other (Bruce going to find Steph after Tim dies is rooted in my brain) but also they both had to learn to give each other space and that they really do rely on having another person (Tim; Cass; Babs) as a buffer between them.

And while there are definitely Doylist reasons why we haven’t seen another story showcasing Bruce and Steph working together since then (Steph primarily appearing in stories full of other female characters because someone is ‘writing the girls’), I think it also offers the current and future direction of the Bruce and Steph relationship: they both know they don’t work as a partnership, but they can work as part of a team.

And that acknowledgement, to me, has a resemblance to the way that Bruce and Barbara have marked out territory between themselves: Babs doesn’t take Bruce’s nonsense anymore and hasn’t for years and WILL leave if he’s pushed her too far, but they came to an adult collegial relationship with each other and they work together smoothly the rest of the time.

Now, Bruce and Steph's working relationship is not as well grounded as Bruce and Barbara's. But that's where I put them. They don't so much focus on their relationship as on the fact there are a number of people simultaneously important in both their lives. And because of that, they need to be able to get along.

[just-b-wilde]

When a Story Tries to Please Everyone, It Ends Up Saying Nothing

This is probably going to be another controversial take that’ll get me judged by some people, but I’ll say it anyway: I don’t think The Handmaid’s Tale was ever meant to be made for a mainstream audience, or to try to “please everyone”—because in the end, I feel like it ended up pleasing no one at all.

Honestly, I believe there are stories that should be hard. Complex. Exhausting. Stories that make the viewer think long and hard, read between the lines, struggle with the meaning and the interpretation—and most importantly, be allowed to form their own understanding without having a specific (and often biased) message shoved in their face by the creators.

The Handmaid’s Tale was never supposed to be a story that relies on cheap drama, epic explosions, and characters running around like it’s some Hollywood action flick where you sit back with popcorn and a Coke and turn your brain off.

And that’s how the story used to be—at the very beginning! It really wasn’t the kind of show you’d put on in the background while folding laundry.

But as the seasons went on, the show started trying harder and harder to draw in more viewers, to expand its audience—and alongside those lingering, thought-provoking moments, they started adding in hollow crutches that just don’t work when mixed together.

And that’s honestly one of the reasons why I suffered through this latest season. Because underneath it all, there’s still so much depth, but on the surface, it’s buried beneath cheap, overly literal lines that are just enough for the average viewer. And my brain couldn’t take it.

No, I seriously don’t want to watch a story where I spend most of the time noticing clever narrative choices and subtle moral dilemmas—only to have someone suddenly throw it all away and say, “Hey, this character’s bad now and this one’s good,” and then expect me to just nod, accept it, and move on. Like, really?

And you know what frustrates me the most? I fell for it too. I let myself get dragged into that silly game. Not like most people, who started trashing Nick right along with the writers… but I started to hate June without even trying to understand her perspective. My first reaction was shock, anger, and disgust. But with time, I see more now… and still, I can’t defend her. Because I don’t understand her reasoning, and I honestly can’t come up with any truly logical resolution for what she chose to do.

All that said, I truly think The Handmaid’s Tale aimed for the wrong audience. Because the people who are cheering for Nick’s death, who laugh at us, the ones who sigh blissfully over June and Serena’s scenes—this story was never really meant for them. And I’d almost bet that most of those people would say: “Wait, it’s based on a book? Whatever, I don’t care about the book…”

Like I said—this story was never meant to be for viewers who blindly accept the creators’ game: “What I tell you literally is canon, even if it contradicts 98% of the original story.”

It was never built up on screen — it just happened off-screen, thrown at you for the sake of surprise. This story was never meant to be (with apologies) for the simpler viewers who are content with that.

[sage-nebula]

This is probably me reading too much into things, and I really hope I am, but . . . part of me wonders if Toby . . . feels embarrassed, a little, of Undertale.

Again, I think this is probably me just reading way too much into things. But in Deltarune's fourth chapter, you can play various songs on a giant organ in the dark world. For most of the themes that originated in Undertale, the commentary is positive; Ralsei likes both "His Theme (Memory)" and "Your Best Friend", and Susie likes "Spear of Justice" and "Heartache."

And that makes sense, right? Ralsei's positive reactions to Asriel's / Flowey's themes respectively are a nod to how Ralsei looks similar to but not the same as Asriel. Susie reacting positively to Undyne's (which was remixed into Gerson's in Deltarune) and Toriel's themes makes sense because of how many similarities she has with Undyne / how Gerson mentors her, and how Toriel was the first adult we know of who ever acknowledged her positively. Of course they'd have positive reactions to those themes.

But then . . . if you play "Once Upon a Time" . . . the only reaction from either of them is Susie saying, "Sounds like crap" with an awkward expression on her face.

The thing is, "Once Upon a Time" is the main theme of Undertale. It's the leitmotif that is remixed into so many of the other themes in the game (including "Home" and most importantly, "Hopes and Dreams / SAVE the World"). "Once Upon a Time" is to Undertale what "Don't Forget" is to Deltarune. It is the theme, the one that represents the game more than anything else.

And the comment on it, from the main hero of the story (prophecy or no prophecy) is that it . . . sounds like crap.

And then of course there's the bit with "Megalovania", where if you play the first four notes Toby hits you with the fischer price car. Which, yeah, that's a reference to how many people used the first four seconds as a meme, effectively turning the song itself into a meme despite how it is (in my opinion) still one of the best boss themes ever created.

And that's what got me thinking about all this.

Because in a lot of ways, in the ten years (!!) since its creation, Undertale . . . I mean, it's still regarded as one of the best games ever made from an objective standpoint, I think. Certainly one of the most influential, if not one of the best. There is a reason that it blew up the way it did, that it garnered the fame that it did, that it took Toby from being an indie developer who needed a kickstarter and turned him into a millionaire able to fund his own team to make his dream game come to life. But as with all things that are popular, no matter how good it was, there were still who saw that it was receiving so much hype and responded to it with backlash. Reasons for this ranged from:

"It's popular, and I can't be so banal as to like something popular!"

"Isn't this a game for furries? I can't like a game for furries!"

"Undertale has a lot of meme references and silly jokes, and I, an esteemed intellectual, couldn't possibly like a game like that."

"It's a game where you're not supposed to kill? That means it's for BABIES!!"

"They may not be furries but they want to fuck a skeleton and that's weird!! This game is for weirdo losers!!!"

It didn't help that the Undertale fandom could be . . . intense . . . when it came to what decisions you personally made in the game and what interpretation you had of its story. There were people who would send you death threats and hate for doing the genocide route. There were people who were fine with you doing the genocide route, but would send you death threats and hate because you used the word genocide to describe it (even though that's literally what you do in the game on that route). And don't even get me started on the Characourse; I once had someone make a whole hate post about me because I said I like the creepy / evil child trope in fiction. Apparently this equated to me believing children could be evil in real life somehow. The wonders of fandom will never cease.

Anyway, all of this is to say that, with both the hype backlash and Undertale fandom sometimes being Like That, it makes me wonder if perhaps Toby is a little . . . embarrassed of it. On some level it makes sense; not necessarily because of the fans (or haters), but because Toby is an artist, and who among us doesn't look back at our past works with a little bit of cringe? Who among us doesn't look back at what we created before we improved like, "Yeesh, I'd do that so much better now?"

But while that's an understandable feeling to have, I just . . . I don't know . . . again, I'm sure I'm reading way too deep into this, that I'm projecting too much, but it just made me . . . sad . . . to see "Once Upon a Time" referred to as "crap" by the main protagonist of Deltarune. It makes me sad when I see that people are already saying that Deltarune is soooo much better than Undertale, even though Deltarune isn't even finished yet.

Don't misunderstand, I do think that Deltarune is telling a more complex story than Undertale, for sure. And Deltarune definitely has some QoL improvements over Undertale (I just replayed Undertale and the fact that you can't run . . . my laud . . . it's torture).

But Deltarune wouldn't exist without Undertale, something Toby himself has said. And I think that Undertale, while it may not be as complex narratively as Deltarune, is still such a tightly woven, expertly told story. The way that it blends the metanarrative with the actual narrative, even if you don't go into the genocide route or Sans' bedroom or any of that, is fantastically done. The characters are interesting and well designed, the music is peak, the battles are excellent and challenging without ever feeling punishing. (Well, perhaps Sans' battle is punishing . . . but it's supposed to be, on a narrative level, so it works.) Undertale is a genuinely fantastic game, and "Once Upon a Time" (and all the times it crops up in other songs on the soundtrack) still makes me feel things, the same way that, "Despite everything, it's still you" does.

I don't know. Like I said, I'm sure that I'm reading way, way, way too much into this. I'm just being way too sensitive over one of my all-time favorite games. But that easter egg just made me feel sad, rather than amused. I love Undertale's main leitmotif. I love Undertale. And as fantastic as Deltarune already is, even if it ends up being the objectively better game (and even though I said while replaying the first two chapters that I think it could be, thinking about it now I think that both Undertale and Deltarune are trying to be two very different things and so comparing them side by side doesn't really work) . . . I don't think we need to put Undertale down, even then. And especially not in Deltarune itself.

But I don't know. I think I'm just being hypersensitive, lol.

[alevolpe]

Hi, I hope you’ve been doing well!

I love your art and interpretations of the characters, especially in regard to your ideas about each senshi’s fuku design. I was wondering if you had any particular opinions on the official Classic, Super, and Eternal forms? Anything like design elements of the fuku to even the colors for each senshi? Apologies if you’ve been asked something like this, I just really enjoy your thoughtful responses you give in your asks.

Thank you so much! Means a lot.

I don’t have a lot of opinions on the forms past the Classic forms, I don’t hate them, but I just feel a bit.. indifferent. I know people like them, but I don’t tend to think about power-up forms very often, I just love the base forms too much.

Regarding if I have any problems with them, yeah. They do tend to fall a bit under the redesign upgrade problem a lot of shows and even games characters have. When trying to freshen up a design, a lot of them tend to trip over themselves and just take “redesign” as “over design” aka add more shit or overcomplicate shit.

Now Sailor moon does NOT have too much of that, overall the upgraded designs are not too bad. Not my favs, but not bad.

Let’s take a look at them shall we. (For the sake of brevity I’ll just keep this discussion on Sailor Moon’s design and not the other senshi. Mostly cause she gets changes the most and secondly cause their changes are not as prominent)

I LOOOVE Sailor Moon’s original design, her classic fuku is Classic for a reason. The deep navy blue and magenta red fit her so well and they help make the blonde of her hair, tiara and smalldecorative moons pop.

Her silhouette is very simple, it has a very nice flow with her hair being the only long element, allowing for fluidity but most importantly clarity. Her nice soft hair buns, bangs and lack of sharp angles in her uniform work amazingly through shape language (made a post about it here) to make a comforting and friendly appearance.

Also small note but I adore how her bangs and tiara come together to form a quite subtle but present heart shape. (She’s so cute)

Now her Super form is honestly.. pretty good! Doesn’t beat the original, but I like the direction. The stronger incorporation of white ties nicely to the element of her becoming queen in the future, adorning a white gown. The splashes of color on the skirt are also a nice touch, reminds on of bleeding soft watercolor runnning down a blank page, fits with her butterfly theme too (this part makes sense in my head, hopefully u get it).

Now to the not so good part, the shape.. she’s so sharp. It’s NOT a dealbreaker, I think it could work with the theme of her growing more into her role as Sailor Moon, gaining confidence and thus allowing herself to appear a lil more dangerous, but still soft. It’s important that the sharp angles present in her uniform do not interfere with the hair shape, the buns are still there, as soft as ever.

And now to her Eternal form. I don’t hate it, but I don’t like it either. Weirdly enough my main problem with it is not what seems to bother everyone else, the bubble sleeves, but the colors. I don’t like the colors. The blonde of her hair is now mixed in her skirt, the classic soft magenta red is turned into sharp deep red, the color of her bubble sleeves is really distracting cause it’s the only pink element present and the skirt triple layer ending up of the darkest color does not allow the eye to slide off it to the shoes easily (unlike say if it was darkest color to lightest from top to bottom, instead of the opposite).

The color reversal on the shoes is not a deal breaker either, again that “white taking over” theme is nice, but it’s like.. broken. Her skirt is back to being colored more than before so the thematic washing of the colors is undone in this form, instead taken over by a various assortment of bold colors.

I also think that the angel theme was slightly overdone, the 2 pairs wings on her back pair with the wings on her broach are just a bit too much for me and overcomplicate the simplicity of her broach. It’s like, do you get she’s an angel yet?! Here, have another pair of wings!

Lastly, it rlly bums me to see her nice simple silhouette being muddled by the wings, even though I don’t hate the wings themselves. Just what they do to her silhouette.

Overall I think I tend to have more problems with the uniforms than most people cause they do follow a theme that most people LIKE in sailor moon, which is a regular average girl becoming something larger than life, but idk.. the original uniform just gives off that vibe of the friendly down to earth girl who everyone knows in town. It brings a sense of unity and space in a way, cause it feels more urban, while the other uniforms start incorporating more and more abstract themes which, to me, take a bit away from the flawed but relatable comfort of this messy, imperfect, but trying her best Usagi Tsukino who’s wearing a uniform to help the people she loves around her.

[horrorvale]

HorrorVale Development Blog: End of Year

Hello, citizens of HorrorVale!

As the year draws to a close, we (or more specifically me, Dustin) wanted to put together a little blog to talk about HorrorVale! How launch went, what our current and future plans are, and more!

(Note that this blog post does not receive audio, so if you respond I cannot hear it.)

Dream Colosseum

First, before I start talking about HorrorVale's Launch, I want to discuss an upcoming patch.

Currently, we're working on a massive patch for HorrorVale that will include the following:

Even MORE bug fixes

Brand new optional dialogue for every single party member in the game for main story cutscenes

More skill re-balancing

Other minor things and scenes I still wish to include

But most importantly... The DREAM COLOSSEUM!

I originally didn't think many people would bother with the "Secret Bosses" in HorrorVale, but since so many of you enjoyed them and also desired to get more opportunities to mess with party combinations, I decided to punish you horribly!

The Dream Colosseum is a brand new feature that will allow you to fight Bosses you fought previously, now all scaled up to End game stats, with new moves and quirks, and all very difficult.

If you've fought the "Last Secret Boss", now you get to imagine what a Dream Colosseum version might be like.

It will require you to 100% the game to access, but won't give any unique rewards outside of a cosmetic change to Alice's bedroom so people don't feel compelled to torture themselves for completionists sake. Naturally, there won't be any new trophies either.

Right now we're working steadily on this update, and hope to have it out very early next year.

Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about how launch actually went for HorrorVale...

HorrorVale Launch

After 8 years in development and 5 years since announced, HorrorVale finally released on October 1st, 2024.

This reception has been tremendous.

Leading up to release, I was anxious but overall feeling pretty good about launch. There were minor things I wish I had included or changed, but knew that delaying what was otherwise a feature complete game would be extremely silly.

I actually intended on releasing these things as a patch in the first week of launch, in the hopes of catching most people before they get too deep in the game.

...What I did not expect however, was the unfortunate discovery of several bugs, some of which were game breaking.

What made these bugs especially frustrating is that most of them were NEW bugs, created from me adding things right before launch, or fixing other unrelated bugs.

Due to these bugs and the massive influx of new fans, comments, reviews, and more I found myself extremely overwhelmed, and it ended up being probably one of the most stressful 2 weeks of my life after launch.

In the end, everything worked out and I was quick to patch the game...

...Multiple times.

Still, despite these issues the reception was overwhelmingly positive. Certainly some critiques here and there, but the general response was that the game was so enjoyable that even the most egregious critiques could be brushed aside. All of the wonderful things I've read by people who had fun in the world I created... It truly means the world to me. The... Underworld you might say.

I'm sure some people are also interested in how the game actually DID. Good reviews and positive reception are one thing, but this is also a product being sold, so how did it DO!? Did it SMASH RECORDS and become bigger than UNDERTALE? Did it FLOP???

Well, to be honest I'm not entirely sure!

Which is a strange thing to say, but it's difficult to gauge "Success" when so many factors can change what that means. For a AAA game, success means something very different to a small indie game with a publisher, which also means something very different to a ragtag team of people with no real budget, no publisher, no marketing, and especially no notoriety whatsoever. Not to mention as first time developers we have little to compare it to...

But that being said...

As of right now, HorrorVale has sold...

1,000 COPIES!

That's an INSANE amount of people. If all of you were in a big room crowded around me, I would be very scared.

That's 1,000 new citizens to HorrorVale that have entered its gates.

If we gauge success purely based off "did it make back what you invested in it?", then HorrorVale was absolutely a success!

However, unfortunately it did not necessarily meet the expectations we had.

Going into the launch of HorrorVale, I had 3 goals in mind.

To make back what I invested in it (out of pocket, not including Patreon earnings)

To pay Matt, the composer full royalties for the HorrorVale OST (since he created the entire 170 track monster soundtrack for FREE.)

To be able to devote myself full time to Game Development

Of these three... Only 1 has been achieved so far.

While I generally try to avoid discussing topics like these, I feel like it's important context for the next piece of discussion. The future of HorrorVale.

HorrorVale: Act M

HorrorVale: Act M is a small side story featuring none other than Mothman himself! This spinoff game was greenlit thanks to HorrorVale fans reaching our Wishlist goal for the main game. This game will tell the story of HorrorVale from Mothman's perspective, giving you new insight into his side of the story, as well as elaborate on events leading up to and following that story.

I think there's something really special waiting for you in Act M, and I want to use it as an opportunity to experiment with the HorrorVale formula based off of feedback from the main game.

No matter what, this project will begin development and it will be in your hands....

...At some point.

Which is where the previous topic comes into play, because naturally how long Act M takes to make is dependent on the time I have free to work on it. HorrorVale sales could certainly pick up, and I might one day be able to devote myself fully to game dev, but for now Act M will have to follow the same development process as "HorrorVale", which means it's difficult to give an estimate of how long it'll take to make!

What I can say for sure, is that Act: M will be much, much shorter than HorrorVale. Don't expect a 50 hour experience! I'm aiming for something more like 8.

And yet, you might be asking yourself dear reader...

"How can we help?"

Indeed, you asked yourself that exact sentence and in the voice of the King from Zelda CD-I no doubt.

Which brings us to the next topic!

Patreon Revival

My original plan after HorrorVale launched was to completely retire the HorrorVale Patreon as it seemed unnecessary at that point, but since:

We did not reach our expectations of sales so far

Several fans expressed a desire to support the game in some way because of the Steam Early Access debacle

I thought it made sense to keep it up and give it a little makeover.

Now fully dedicated to "Act: M", you can expect Monthly Progress Reports here, just like the main game!

Not only that, but we've added a brand new "Cryptid" Tier, that will allow you... Yes YOU! The ability to design a Creepy, Scary, or Starry for Mothman to fight in Act: M! We don't want Mothman to just fight all the same enemies as Alice! He'd naturally encounter foes she never even knew existed. This is your opportunity to help the game out and get to be a part of it as well.

(Please note that in order to participate in this reward, you must be 18 years or older and willing to give all rights of your design to Batworks Software.)

(Also please note that Mothman will kill your beautiful creation with a crossbow and it will hurt very badly.)

Since as of now I can't "live" off of HorrorVale sales, instead my plan is to put it and Act: M Patreon earnings towards Act: M itself and Mystery Future Project. This will help ensure a smooth development cycle as possible. If you're interested in helping out the HorrorVale universe, now's your chance!

Of course, forking over your hard earned candy isn't the only way to help though!

Just enjoying the game and telling your friends about it is a MASSIVE help. Without a marketing team, word of mouth is a tremendous help to us, and it's thanks to that that we're here at all!

Closing

In closing, I just want to say thank you to all of the HorrorVale fans that have supported us over all these years. The love that HorrorVale has been shown has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. As long as I'm able to, I'd like to read every comment and message I can, but I fear that if the game does get bigger one day I won't be able to see them all. Just know that the love you've given Alice and her friends mean the world to me.

Wait Stop Right There What Do You MEAN "Mystery Future Project"???

That's all for now goodbye!!!!!!

*The device he was speaking from explodes spontaneously*

[ndrv3expert1]

It’s my one year anniversary of being ndrv3expert1 and a lot of things have happened in a year if you told me a year ago that I could rant about a game that came out eight years ago and people would actually listen I would tell you no that’s insane why would people care what I have to say cause I know some of my opinions are not the most popular in the fandom but yeah.

I just- wow it’s crazy how much my blog has grown.

My first rant post I don’t really get the if Tenko was a man everyone would hate him because he would hate women argument was posted January 25. Since then I’ve talked about everything from the ethics of killing someone in the killing game to the moral issues of ultimate talents to post game to double standards and a whole lot of Tenko.

When I posted the poll that asked if I should actually post Dr rants I didn’t think I would get any answers let alone positive ones I have low self esteem especially of things that I make I tend to put them at a way lower pedestal then others works I also just do this thing where I just think the absolute worst like every body is going to hate me (idk what go call it pessimism anxiety) so I thought I was just going to scream in an empty void but you guys kept showing up.

And because of that

I’ve grown more confident

I started drawing more

I got to interact with creators I thought were so cool

Some of my posts got liked and liked reblogged by creators I just thought were so cool and their art or other content was just so good ask of my friends they’ll tell you I freaked out. And I’m still freaking out till this day.

I got to do so many things I could only dream of doing.

And in just one year:

I started making a game

I had a post of mine get to 100+ notes

And I started thinking that maybe I’m not as cis as I originally thought and me headcanoning Tenko a trans woman was a projection after all (Demi-girl???)

But most importantly I found a community.

And that means more than I can explain. A few years ago I was struggling with self harm and Danganronpa became my escape just projecting onto the characters (Tenko) and just getting lost in the world.

And now years later I’m here writing rants starting a game connecting with people I never thought would notice me and realizing that maybe there is value in what I have to say.

(And I don’t want any of this to come off wrong)

Without Danganronpa I wouldn’t be the same person I am now.

This is strange for me cause I don’t really open up too much I tend to hide behind well timed humor.

But I just want to thank everyone who’s been on this journey with me and who's supported me and told me that something was actually good when I thought it was trash.

Here’s to more years more rants and more Tenko. 🎉🎉🎉

[themadlu]

Astarion's Star Elf Background Headcanons

In collaboration with the lovely @spacebarbarianweird!

A bit of a less popular take on Astarion’s background headcanons—I know it is generally accepted that he is originally a moon elf from the Faerunian upper class, but, between in-game trivia and developing my own stories, a different idea came up. 

I’ll outline why I think the Star Elf headcanon fits the sassy elf, and how it plays into his storyline.

Obviously, this is all done for the shits and giggles, so every headcanon is valid, and I’d love to hear about different takes on Astarion’s origins!

Race: Star Elves

Star Elves, or Ruar-tel-quessir, have only recently returned to Faerun due to repeated attacks by an extra-planar entity on their home-realm of Sildëyuir. 

Because of their prolonged absence and reclusive communities, Star Elves are not familiar with most of Toril’s customs and history. In Sildëyuir, they had no contact with most other species (such as humans, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, etc.), and they prefer to keep to themselves once in Faerun too. 

They are particularly wary of humans, as their misuse of magic and warmongering tendencies were what caused Star Elves to flee Toril in the first place. 

They consider themselves better than most other races, only getting along with other elves. They fear for Moon Elves and half-elves who mix with other species, and they consider them overly-generous and too naive. 

As such, Star Elves tend to come across as aloof and cautious. (I know this may not sound like Astarion at all, but bear with me).

Their moral alignment is purely chaotic, with a majority of them being in the chaotic good or neutral categories. 

Physically, Star Elves share some traits with their fellow Moon Elves: light skin (check) and gold, red or silver (check) hair. 

However, Star Elves have grey or violet-coloured eyes with gold flecks in them (imagine an Astarion with violet eyes!).

Star Elves are also taller than other elves, standing between 5½ to 6 ft tall, with a slender build.

They are also considered extremely beautiful by human standards, much more so than any other type of elf. 

Astarion’s Background as a Star Elf:

Right, let’s talk about objective things first: physicality. 

Astarion fits the Star Elf type quite well: 

He has silver hair, light skin (given he is still the palest of the bunch even after he is well fed).

He fits the height range at 5 ft 9.

He has a slender body (a bit too built for an elf, but that is likely Larian knowing what sells),

Most importantly, he is strikingly handsome. Exceedingly so, more than most other elves in the game. 

As there is no confirmation about pre-vampirism eye colour, in my head he used to have violet eyes. I think that would have made him stand out in Baldurian society even more. 

Which gets me to the more subjective part of personality and backstory. 

Aloof and cautious may not be the first qualities that come to mind thinking of Mr Sass, but work with me. 

Someone aloof is not overly friendly, being cool and distant instead. Is Astarion friendly? I mean, genuinely friendly to people, and not forcing himself to look eager because he is forced to do so by Cazador or by circumstances? 

He threatens Tav as soon as they meet, is snarky with everyone else for a good portion of Act 1 (and with some even during Act 2 and 3), and at the end of game party he keeps mostly to himself.

Ultimately, Tav is the only one he seems comfortable enough to be open and friendly with, and that requires a lot of trust, care and work (especially for good-aligned Tavs). 

As for the cautious side, he is a bloodthirsty little shit who loves a good fight, but he doesn’t strike me as someone who would throw himself into desperate situations (without proper compensation at least). 

He disapproves of Tav doing things for free or forcing him into situations where the risks are too great, often stating that ignoring those needing help is the easiest thing, they just need to ‘look away and keep walking’. 

His inherent racism towards other races (ehem, gnomes) can be a result of spending his early years in a very secluded environment.

He presents himself as someone loving life luxuries, but I think that's his Baldur's Gate, more constructed persona. He seems just as happy to fondle about in the dirt TWICE, despite claiming he is not used to it. Maybe he's not as upper class as he wants to appear.

Granted, these traits may be a result of him being a glorified sex slave subject to unimaginable torture for 200 years, but I think his need to be have the upper hand in power dynamics existed before his undeath too.

The chaotic nature is evident, and I headcanon he starts off as chaotic neutral, starts leaning into the evil side as he gets corrupted by power first and by abuse after, then he can either get back to chaotic neutral with a good-aligned companion or become fully chaotic evil as the Ascendant. 

And this leads me to the actual backstory.

Astarion’s Backstory:

Larian originally set Astarion out to be a noble, then changed his background to charlatan and, in some lost character sheet, courtesan (fancy type of prostitute). I’ll stick with the final charlatan/courtesan version. 

Astarion was born somewhere in Faerun in a community of Star Elves. 

His family was of poor background, having fallen out with the leaders of the enclave.

That, paired with the isolation of the community, prompted Astarion to leave his home in his early 20s, slightly earlier than usual for elves. 

He wanted more from life than being stuck in a reclusive society and being looked down upon from others. He wanted to live a comfortable existence, be wealthy, be admired, and to achieve that he needed one thing: power. 

He headed to Baldur’s Gate (convincing fellow travellers to let him on their carts, horses, etc.) with nothing more than the clothes on his person, attracted by its reputation as a multicultural hub brimming with opportunities. He did forge some documents proving he already had some basic qualification to enter law school (not sure reclusive elves issue any), completed his studies and started a career as magistrate. 

During this time, he quickly realised how his looks were one of his biggest strengths in forging alliances. He had been complimented before, but most Star Elves are beautiful, so he was not as universally admired as he was in Baldur’s Gate. He used and abused this knowledge, flirting with individuals from many other races (gnomes aside, he has standards) and genders, enjoying the perks his smooth persona got him (money, status, promotions) and revelling in the adulation of his admirers.

He became even more power hungry, signing laws because they would benefit him or his upper class acquaintances rather than the general population. He was ready to do anything to achieve his goals. 

It was in one of the many soirees he attended that he came across Cazador (or rather, Cazador noticed him). The Vampire Lord saw an astonishingly handsome, young and inexperienced elf who could work most people around his manicured slim fingers and immediately singled him out. Studied him. I don’t think he introduced himself before turning him; rather, he gathered information about him via his connections and learned he was an up and coming magistrate, an outsider, conveniently with no family or stable relationships who would miss him or go look for him should he disappear. 

We know Cazador is a machiavellian villain, so he probably found a way to convince Astarion (through a bribe and pulling at his dislike of lower class vagrants) into signing a law forcibly evicting the Gur from the land they settled on, on the basis of it belonging to some patriar or noble and therefore their permanence being illegal. Cazador knew retaliation would be swift, and I bet he probably even had someone tell the Gur which magistrate had them kicked out. 

Cazador waited nearby while Astarion was being brutally assaulted, chasing off the Gur thugs to claim his prized future spawn. He didn’t need permission to bite Astarion and turn him, but he asked likely because he knew he would never turn down a chance at eternal life and because it would be another way to torment him later (‘Remember boy, I gave you the grace of my gift, you begged for it!’). Probably, Astarion’s last words as a living elf were, ‘Do…any…thing…please’. 

After becoming a spawn and suffering centuries of abuse, Astarion forgot about his past, himself and his family. He doesn’t even remember what type of elf he is (Moon or Star). His parents may still be alive, but with their life being secluded from the outside world, it is unlikely he will come across them in their lifetime.

[subzeroparade]

*chant* New fic! New fic! New fic!

So excited you’ve posted a new ER fic, and with a teaser for more to come! 🎉🎉🎉

Since it’s been awhile, maybe I poke your brain on what your thoughts on the DLC are (game play, lord, sceneries, anything you’d like to share with us really)? Has it changed your headcanon on any of the characters, or did you find ways to incorporate the new lores into your interpretations? Most importantly, did you have fun?

*tagged for spoilers but just in case - spoilers •‿•*

Did I enjoy it? YES. Did I have qualms with some gameplay bits? YES but I’m a filthy casual on NG+2 or something and generally Not Good at Game. But I beat it. 

As for lore, it’s really a mixed bag. There’s a ton of stuff I’m delighted to have new or expanded lore for - Marika’s origins, Belurat and the entirety of Hornsent culture, Godwyn’s Death Knights, BAYLE???? VILE BAYLE!!!! etc etc (sometimes I listen to Igon’s voice lines just to psych myself up for real life). There are things I need to adjust my headcanon for a little, as well - St Trina, for example, has always been a facet of Miquella himself to me, a sort of alter ego he willingly takes on, which is how I enjoyed writing her in fic. To have her elaborated here as a separate person means taking that a little further if I write him/her/them again, but I think the parallel it draws between Marika/Radagon is hugely interesting as well.  

iirc there are a couple of instances in the base game where lore almost contradicts itself, but I think in some cases the DLC got a little sloppy. The timeline is also way foggier to me now than it was previously. I was a big fan of the idea that Messmer was entirely unknown to his siblings, written out of history after the Crusade (predating Marika ushering in the Golden Age of the Erdtree), but that contradicts the lore we get on Gaius and Radahn as they’re both personally acquainted with Messmer, and makes me wonder which of the other demigods might’ve been aware of him, and under what pretences might they have met. It makes for a lot of fic ideation, but I’m of the opinion that if you’re writing fic, sticking too closely to (the sometimes unhelpful) lore will stultify the work; so I’m trying to pluck little instances of new lore that interest me to bolster the story I want to tell.  

Like most of the fandom I have a huge beef with Promised Consort Radahn, and I’m still struggling with how to work that into my headcanon. To me, there is simply no reason for it. There are no indications of it in the base game, and you have to tie yourself into continuity knots for it to make any sense - and that’s just bad writing. I’m not against retconning things if they serve a purpose, but this was neither useful nor necessary (nor well done), and that’s fundamentally disappointing for a Fromsoft game. The more people aggressively try and justify it, the more I feel like the potential explanations unravel. If we’re going along with the assumption that Miquella *needs* a lord to ascend, we’ve had Candidate #1 since the base game: Godwyn. Half of what we know about base-game Miquella is that he spent time and resources trying to grant Godwyn some form of peace, while his hideous fate hangs over the narrative in perpetuity. And we give Radahn closure literally in the first act of the game. I’m a firm believer in Miquella knowing 100% what he’s about, but in this singular instance blinded by love for Godwyn and an all-consuming desire to *fix this* by resurrecting some nightmarish, malformed version of him. There’s so much juicy story to be told in Miquella refusing to acknowledge the thing he brought back is not his brother, and for all that godhood and remaking the world into utter passivity can do, it can’t retrieve Godwyn’s irretrievable soul. All that to say, I’d even take Malenia as his promised consort - it would made more sense than Radahn, too.

Anyway tldr I don’t have to think about how disappointing that is now, because the fic I’m working on is around Marika’s ascension, and more specifically Messmer and Melina’s upbringing. There’s another on the backburner but I’m on the fence about it since it hasn’t reached an outline stage yet, and I don’t start anything unless I am 100% sure I know how to finish it, and finish it well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Ty for the ask! As is the case with me, the rest of my musings on the lore come through in fic writing, because those are the texts dumps I’m good at. Here’s a little (young) Melina and Messmer wip as thanks.