#I'm trying to 100% the game so I'm trying to over level because I'm gonna have to play through the last two battles in game so many times

[drizztdohurtin]

Gale Headcanons: pining, dating, marriage & domesticity

pairing: Gale x gn!Reader

[ masterlist ] [ wip list ]

this one's gonna be a doozy <3

I did change it slightly from the original description on the poll (which was dating, romance, and domesticity) because I felt like marriage would be a simple add-on.. who doesn't want more Gale content, anyways?

This post will be organized into 4 parts: pining, dating, domesticity, and marriage - so only read the parts you're interested in!

some nsfw in the 'dating' & 'marriage' sections, but nothing explicitly described

Pining:

i mean.... we all played the game, right

in the game, act 1 only includes light courting with Gale, versus the far more intimate moments Tav can have with companions like Lae'zel and Astarion

Tav's relationship with Gale goes from 0 to 100 in the game once you get to act 2, and I'm not a big fan of that

he's just like "hey remember that one time we shared a blink of a moment in the weave and then we never talked or hinted at anything ever again? Great, now let's have sex and also I love you <3333"

Realistically, that's not how Gale would be, so let's rewrite history

Gale's courting tactics involve a lot of info-dumping and complimenting, as we know, and he does this without even realizing it at first

up until the party at camp, that is his only strategy

he realizes he likes you fairly early on, but he actually battles those feelings for a long time - he tries very hard to shove them down and forget about them

but he can't!! everything you do seems to draw him in more and more

at the party when he offers to have a magical moment with you, he does not think you reciprocate any feelings for him

he just wanted to give you a little glimpse into the thing that he loved so much, the thing that he'd spent his whole life learning

it's not something he would do with just anyone, even if it just seemed like a friendly gesture

once he perceives your feelings for him, or at the very least the fact that you want to kiss him, he's elated - hoping to the Gods that the impression on his chest doesn't start glowing at his excitement

it was too risky to do anything with you that night, but it was all he could think about once he was in the privacy of his tent

he thought about what it meant - did you just want to kiss him (was it lust?) or did you mean something deeper? did you want him the way he wanted you? did you admire him the way he admired you?

but then he thought of the danger, and how it was pointless to get close to you or to allow you to get close to him

pointless only because he could literally level a city at any moment

but you just kept being you, and so he kept falling harder and harder - eventually, he just had to confess

upon his confession, he didn't sugarcoat anything, he was brutally honest about his worries

but he was also brutally honest about his feelings for you

the fact that you reciprocated any feelings towards him, the man with the ticking time bomb in his chest, was astonishing

he was so happy... and yet he felt so guilty

Dating:

you two start dating before the orb is stabilized by Elminster

it's very nerve-wracking for him, but he can't deny how wonderful it feels to be yours

upon your suggestion, he would agree to slowly try to take things further and further, up to a certain point

each night in his tent, you'd experiment with him - starting with just holding him, or sleeping next to him, or kissing his face

Gale made a whole big deal about your guys' first kiss, and you realized that the build-up could actually increase the chances of any unwanted orb activity

so one day you just walk up to him and kiss him

nothing long, nothing deep - just a quick kiss, stepping away right after (the look on his face was priceless btw)

and you were right, all of Gale's inner build-up to it was the issue (poor guy), so once it was over with it was very easy to work up to the point where you could come to his tent and kiss him for hours

one night you start exploring each other's bodies and you're surprised with how well of a hold he seems to have on not allowing his excitement to reach his orb, as you're able to go much further than you thought you would on the first night

but once you get to a point where your hands start exploring lower, under certain pieces of clothing, that's when it is time to stop

Gale would apologize profusely, telling you he'd give anything to be able to please you, but it was too dangerous at that moment - you'd have to keep working up to it (plz reassure him that that's not why you're with him, and you'll wait as long as you need to, even if you're never able to do anything with him PLEASE)

you and the group come across Elminster about a tenday after that, and *poof* the orb is stabilized

that night you and Gale go to "test out" the newfound stability of the orb

Gale's pretty nervous about it at first, but his anxiety is proven to not be needed pretty quickly

he ends up going down on you that night, wanting to save anything further for a more private, intimate setting

your first time together happens once you get to the shadow-cursed lands (the canon in-game scene, whichever you prefer)

after that, you guys have a few more encounters up until the Absolute is defeated - not being allotted much time for private intimacy

the 500 words describing the progression of your guys' physical intimacy aside - Gale is such a wonderful partner

Gale is such a considerate boyfriend, and he's funny!!

He'd 100% brag about you and he'd do it when he infodumps on people

Gale "erm actually ☝🤓, my partner..." Dekarios

He really likes when you sleep in his tent with him, or when you lay with him and let him read to you

He doesn't talk about the future with you - as much as he hopes for a future with you, he tries not to think about it too much because you both very well could die trying to defeat the Absolute

But if he's going to die, he wants to die loving you <3333

but to be honest, he does think about it a lot, he just tells himself it's all hypothetical

his thoughts are like this: "I really want to take Tav back home and introduce them to Tara and mother... THEORETICALLY ☝️☝️"

"HYPOTHETICALLY ☝️!☝️!.... i wonder if Tav would want a ring when I propose"

he just thinks that on the off-chance that you guys survive, maybe he should be prepared

Gale's the type to be like "my love, it's been exactly 93 days since you first agreed to be mine <333"

when you guys get to the city he WILL celebrate your 100th day of being together by taking you somewhere nice :))

Marriage:

okay this is going to be controversial..... but I like the way Gale proposes in-game

it very much feels like an accident, because he probably didn't mean to propose when he said "as a new member of the Dekarios clan" but it just kind of slipped out when he was asking you want to settle down with him

He considers you to be his family, and his asking you that question might've just been to see if you felt the same way

it does seem very Gale for something like that to just kind of happen, so despite the haters, I think it's very cute and very endearing, and I'm kEEPING IT

whether you return to Waterdeep with him or relocate somewhere else together, you get married within 6 months after defeating the Absolute

despite him saying "the Dekarios clan" (and despite popular headcanon), his family is very small - consisting of himself, his mother, and Tara

I'm a subscriber to the headcanon saying that Gale is an only child who grew up without a father and that any other family is spread all throughout Faerun, so he's not particularly close with any of them

so when you agree to marry him, he's so beyond happy at the thought of you joining his family

and perhaps the idea of growing it with you ("Gale as a dad headcanons" coming soon if that's something you're interested in)

he LOVES referring to you as his wife/husband/spouse, and before you guys get married he LOVES introducing you as his fiance!!!

it literally makes his heart jump

"my wife/husband/spouse" this, "my wife/husband/spouse" that

just like when you two were dating, he'd talk about you constantly

no one, not even his students are safe from him rambling about his spouse

taking last names isn't much of a thing in D&D and Forgotten Realms lore unless you're dealing with nobility (most common people don't even have surnames)

BUT THIS IS MY HOUSE (I'm literally a DM irl and I'm about to say fuck canon)

so if taking his last name is something you want to do, do it and he'll have a fucking heart attack

honestly, he'll even take yours if you want him to

he thinks it's romantic okay !!!!!! anyways

Gale organizes something every single year to celebrate your anniversary, and he'll never stop

on your anniversaries, he'll dedicate as much of his day to you as he can (lowkey he might take off of work)

he'll wake you up with breakfast (and maybe other things...), take you out for an activity or two during the day, and then some years he'll take you to dinner, and other years he'll make dinner for you (unless you have a strong preference for one or the other)

and then end the night with a romantic, candlelit bath, more intimacy, and really good sleep

I love the idea of married sex with Gale, guys - it's like just being married gets him off

Gale brings a sort of 'missionary sex with the lights on' vibe to the marriage that some readers don't really like

unless you're happy with that (and how could you not be), you'll definitely have to be the driving force in changing things up in the bedroom once you guys are married

Domesticity:

OKOKOK the meat and potatoes of this fucking post

Gale REEKS of domesticity

he does not need the Crown of Karsus when he is already the King of Acts of Service

(nsfw content implied) this headcanon of mine still keeps me up at night

during the events of the game, he will do literally anything he can to make your life easier

the reason he started cooking for the group every night is just because he wanted to take that burden off of you.... and quite frankly he knows he's good at it.... but MOSTLY because he wanted to take the burden off of you!

when you start regularly sleeping in his tent with him, he will start keeping an extra pair of camp clothes in there for you, and an extra bed roll

he takes on the role of alchemist, making healing potions for you and anything else that you might need

when you're in pain, he finds a way to modify Burning Hands or Cone of Cold so that he can direct small amounts of it to his hands and then places them on any aches and pains you have (menstruators! rejoice!!)

After the events of the game, once you two are home (wherever that may be), he takes care of most of the household chores unless you beat him to it

He does the grocery shopping, he cooks all of the meals, he does all of the repairs and maintenance, makes the bed every morning, does your laundry (or sends it out to be done), does yard work or gardening, ALL OF IT

you're like how tf does this man have time to beat me to all of the chores AND work a JOB !?

he has to remind you that he's a wizard and can just cast spells that do things like that, including mage hand

but the fact he even takes any care in doing such tasks for you is just the sweetest shit on the planet

he also loves to run soothing baths for you, and will always join you if you ask him to

if he doesn't have to be up early he will bring you breakfast in bed

he leaves little notes around for you to find, some of them have puns on them but most of them say how much he loves you

*1.6k words later* SEND POST !!

[obeyme-and-myfics]

Hi!can I ask a general hc about the bros w/ a really short MC?thx(Idk if your requests are still open if not ignore this)!

Of course! I'm on the shorter side of 5'5 and I get bullied(/pos /Playful) all the time for being on the shorter side I feel bad for people who are undeniably short lmfao Thank you for the request I hope you enjoy this <3

most of this isn't necessarily romantic but I simp for them so I am gonna add a few of them

Part 1(Here)| Part 2

Prompt: Y/N is short

Characters: Lucifer, Mammon, Leviathan, Satan, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Belphegor

🖤🤍Headcanon list🤍🖤

CW: Teasing, slight NSFW stuff in Mammon's(It's really just a dick joke)

Lucifer

Nicer than most of his other brothers about your height

Makes sly comments about your height

"I'm unsure a human of their... stature, would be able to accomplish such a task," or something like that

He doesn't make these comments often though

Leans down to your level

That's mostly so he doesn't hurt his neck looking down at you and so you don't break your neck looking up at him

Will physically pick you up and move you if you refuse to leave a restricted area(Like the stairs to the attic)

Purposely asks you to get things off higher shelves that are just barely within reach to watch you struggle

He wouldn't readily admit that, that's what he's doing tho

On a more wholesome note he happily gets things off the top shelf for you

He's extra protective over you since he worries other demons may take advantage of how small you are

He doesn't doubt your capabilities its just that these are DEMONS they're a lot stronger than humans despite your or their height

The height thing 100% makes him more concerned however

He does make jokes about carrying you around in his pocket

He's a very private person but when you two are alone he very much enjoys holding you in his arms.

He thinks its cute and funny that your feet don't touch the ground when he hugs you

Mammon

This was the first thing he pointed out about you

“Woah you couldn’t have picked one that wasn’t so tiny”

It was all fun and games(Short jokes) until you had his ass in a pact by the end of day 1

He definitely respected you 100% more after that

He's never gonna admit it tho so he still says dumb shit

Stuff like "How am I supposed to take ya seriously when you're that close to the ground?"

and "Ya know maybe you ended up here BECAUSE you're short. Short people are closer to hell ya know."

Whoop his ass

He'd also joke that you're dick sucking height(even if you're not) if your relationship progresses to something more serious

Uses you as an arm rest

Holds stuff above you and just out of your reach

Puts your belongings on the top shelf when he gets mad at you

Crouches/leans down to your level in a demeaning kind of way

Most importantly he loves to kiss your forehead since its the easiest part of your face to smooch

If you ask him to lift you up to see something better he'd do it no hesitations or questions asked

He is however going to try to play it off like he was just trying to shut you up and not actually being a sweet and loving partner

"It's not like I actually cared if you could see the damn show or anything... Don't look at me like that! I just wanted ya to shut up is all..."

Leviathan

He is staring so hard lmfao

Not in judgmental way but more of a "could I convince you to cosplay with me" type of way

He's making you cosplay every short ass character he can think of

He's definitely more careful with you than he would be if you were taller

If you bitch at him to stop he will tho

Doesn't really care that you're short he just wants to be a nerd(/Affectionate) with you

Will still make short jokes at your expense to a slightly lesser extent than Mammon

Likes it when you sit in his lap while he's playing games so he can rest his chin on the top of your head

Encourages you to climb shit cuz he's not willing to grab stuff that's too high for you to grab

I'm getting my chancla and yeeting it at him for you

He's a little too preoccupied with his games/shows to help

If he's really excited to tell you about something and you're doing something he just grabs you and carries you off

He's not gonna potato sack you tho, no, he's holding you in some weird ass position.

Asmo 100% got a picture of it at least once and sent it to the group chat

He also enjoys holding you close while watching shows

He's red in the face the whole time tho ngl

Satan

Another one of the nicer brothers about you being short

He's happy to help with most things your height prevents you from doing with ease

He doesn't make shorts jokes to your face but he's definitely thinking that shit

Scolds/threatens Mammon when he makes excessive short jokes

Doesn't bend/crouch down to your level

He respects you as a person enough not to demean you like that

He might make comments on your height but he's not trying to be an asshole

If you tell him he's being rude he'd apologize and try to rephrase his statement

"Oh. Sorry I meant..."

He'd be more curious on why Diavolo and Lucifer brought such a small human to devildom

He wouldn't dwell on it for long though

He's more concerned about whether or not you'd be interested in indulging his latest book obsession

Definitely enjoys teasing you by making you look up at him

He likes sitting down or picking you up for kisses

Its mostly sitting down cuz he's a book nerd and reads on his bed/couch a lot

Also he doesn't wanna make you hurt you neck or hurt his own back

Asmodeus

Unintentionally the worst about your height

Comments about it constantly

He just thinks its cute how much shorter you are than him

It doesn't happen often that he has to look so far down at someone I apologize for my transgressions since he's one of the shorter brothers(5'9)

He's 100% taking full advantage of this to try everything to fluster you.

Gently grabbing your chin to make you look up at him, hugging you in the most sensual way possible, shoving you into his mitties(Man titties), etc

Calls you pet names related to being small (i.e. little sugar plum or some shit like that idk)

Has the audacity to mention your height any chance he gets

God forbid he catches you climbing/getting a step ladder or something to grab something higher up

Has commented on the height difference between you and Diavolo VERY loudly before

If you confront him about it he's not gonna stop because he doesn't mean anything by it so why should you care

That's how he thinks about it anyway

If he finds out its an insecurity (if it is) he's gonna do everything in his power to make you love your height

Cuz he loves it why shouldn't you???

Beelzebub

The best brother about your height

He doesn't care

Like he literally could not give less of a fuck

He's the tallest brother and is used to most people being tiny compared to him

He definitely just carries you around sometimes cuz he wants to hang out

Man is carrying you like an American football

That or you're being potato sacked

If you need help getting stuff from high places he's either gonna lift you up or grab it for you

The worst he's ever said to you about your height is asking if you wanna bulk up a little with him to make up for your lack thereof

If you tell him that was fucked up he'll immediately apologize and be careful not to say anything like that again

He is a bit more careful than he would be with you if you weren't short

Will either sit down or lift you up to talk to you eye to eye

He just does wanna hurt his or your neck

How else are y'all gonna lift together??? Can't lift if you hurt yourselves!

He likes hugging you the most

There's just something about it that makes him feel peaceful

Belphegor

He's a bitch about it

Or at least he was at first

Compared you to an ant, shrimp or krill many MANY times

When he was insulting you in the attic he definitely called you puny

After all of that mess was over and done with he lightened up

He's still making fun of your height but to a lesser degree

Drags you away to skip school and take naps

Too lazy to get shit off higher places but will definitely help you down if you get stuck on the counter

Will then make fun of you for having to climb on top of shit to get what you're looking for

Pats your head and uses it as an arm rest

If he falls asleep next to you he's using you as a body pillow and a head rest

He's one of those "I can bully you but if anyone else bullies you I'm whooping their asses" type of person

So if any lower demons or his brothers(Mammon) are being too harsh about it he's gonna do something about it

If you tell him to ease up on the teasing he'll try but no promises

He actually really enjoys watching you stand up for yourself

There's a sense of pride there when you really give someone a piece of your mind

He's NOT more careful with you because of your height

[kimetsu-no-yaiba-writings]

Lol headcanons for Douma and Akaza pregnant demon wives being besties? Like Akaza hated Douma but the wives are like best friends and often go get tea? Like headcanons

The idea of Akaza sat (absolutely fuming) watching his wife having fun with Doma's - both of you laughing and drinking tea like no ones business - all the while, Doma's sat next to him yapping away, genuinely makes me giggle.

Akaza sat there with a face of thunder while Doma's all smiles (≧▽≦) and the wives sat enjoying themselves

Also for those who haven't read the headcanons about the pregnant S/O's both can be found on my masterlist but for ease I've linked them HERE (akaza) and HERE (doma) and while you don't have to technically read them to read this set of headcanons, please give them a read if you want!

I'll be starting with Akaza's reaction first and end on Doma's (^ω^.)

P.S I will be adding more stuff to this later but where i am is currently going through a heat wave and its causing me to melt (T^T) so i'm not running at full capacity

Doma and Akaza's pregnant S/O's being friends - Headcanons:

While Akaza's happy for you (his wife) to have a friend - especially someone who understands on a physical and mental level what its' like being pregnant and is going through the same experiences you are (even if they do differ slightly) - he's just not happy that it's doma he has to hang around with on occasion...

Now, Doma's wife is lovely so Akaza has no problem with her - always respectable towards her (as usually) and she's always a delight to talk too

Plus she's your best friend so it's safe to say that Akaza's always welcoming with her

It's just Doma he has a problem with....

More so than usual..

Always having to tag along when his wife comes over for one of your daily catch-ups especially the further along the both of you are with the pregnancy...

And while akaza understands the need and want to be near his spouse, it had to be fucking doma that was your friends spouse

Your best friend (absolutely lovely) and Doma (her husband) is a combo he hates

Genuinely when its one of your tea "party" meet-ups, Akaza wants to pull his hair out and break Doma's face because he just doesn't shut up - like, at all - once he starts talking

You'd have thought he'd have built up a tolerance for Doma earlier - especially with upper moon meetings and all - but surprisingly he hadn't until now

75/100 Akaza's in protective husband mode

Greatly amused and very happy!

Happy that you - his pregnant wife - have a friend who's going through the same labor of growing a life form inside of you AND it being Akaza's kind wife

Honestly Doma didn't really care who your friends (and their spouses) were until hearing its your bestie and her husband Akaza

The it became a whole other ball game

A game which he absolutely makes the most out of it

Did try to butter-up your bestie to get info on Akaza (for blackmail) but all that happened was they became friends too - Now those two are the one's with all the gossip.... A scarily large amount of gossip...

You see his eyes light up with glee whenever a friend date's been organised cause he knows that Akaza's gonna be there with your friend - at least he's out of your hair for an hour or two even if poor Akaza's the one he's now annoying

God forbid you start making plans in front of him with your bestie

Much like an excited puppy he sits there patiently, listening, waiting for the time to strike to slip in a simple, "Oh why don't you just stay for dinner? Possibly even the night?" - you'd be surprised how many times he's suggested this

There's a 50/50 that he goes off to bother Akaza, ends up in a fight and gets being brought home by your bestie (and akaza) just because you haven't seen her in awhile (and he wanted to bother akaza..)

[shuttershocky]

When do you want to use crusher guards?

I'm going to be lying to you if I said I know.

Right now, Crushers fit into a very awkward niche among all the Guard classes. They have the high health and very high DPH that are the trademark of Dreadnoughts but with even higher numbers, the AOE attacks of Centurions with LOWER numbers (they can hit up to 2 enemies at once, Centurions can hit 3 at E2), have incredibly slow attack speed (they have an attack interval of 2.5 seconds, which means it takes them 2.5 seconds to do one attack) which means they have much lower DPS than Dreadnoughts and Centurions while having a similar DP cost to Centurions, and have 0 DEF. At all. None whatsoever.

The 0 DEF is maybe their greatest drawback. it means that any kind of physical damage against them acts as True damage, which turns even minor trash like slugs and dogs into legitimate threats, even with their fuckmassive (5k+ on Quartz) HP pool.

I'm going to be honest here: I do not know how to make Quartz work at all. Her incredibly high HP pool still isn't high enough to make up for her 0 DEF making it impossible for her to be buffed by Aak (who would otherwise be licking his lips at those swole stats), and that 0 DEF also means Shining cannot save them with her S3 to make it possible, since her S3 gives allies +100% DEF, and 100% of 0.... is 0.

Just like Melantha casted a shadow over the whole Dreadnought class until modules came out, another Dreadnought kind of screws Crushers over despite being their obvious inspiration: Matoimaru.

Matoimaru at max level and max module (which is quite cheap to do if you like her as she's a 4 star) hits a gargantuan 5k HP while having the same 0 DEF drawback that Crushers do... but she attacks a whole second faster (1.5 vs 2.5), giving her better DPS while closely matching their stats. If you also wish to use Matoimaru as an HP tank such as vs Arts damage, she has a self-heal skill with S1 that scales off her max HP, something that Quartz doesn't have either, and a second life granted by her module in case you need more because Dreadnought modules lol.

Quartz's best utility vs Matoimaru is hitting 2 units instead of 1, but since she's incredibly squishy and shouldn't be BLOCKING 2 units in the first place (she will die to dogs and slugs), you're almost certainly going to use a Centurion for your crowd control needs.

The best idea I have right now is waiting for Silence the Paradigmatic (who is free in the upcoming Lonetrail event!) whose S3 can provide allied immortality. Activate that while Aak buffs Quartz, and Quartz with S2 should actually deal decent numbers with her S2. She's going to be 1 HP the entire time though, and it's still not going to be that great.

I don't know. I think right now Crushers are competing with Splash Casters and Abjurers as the worst class in the game, and they're winning since modules gave heavy buffs to both Mostima and Dusk, while Silence the Paradigmatic is legitimately trying to challenge Gladiia's title for strongest welfare by having the most hilariously busted defensive support S3 I've ever seen.

I think Crushers are gonna need a really good module. And a completely different approach to how they work. I think that's why Siege Alter isn't out yet despite it being so obvious—they wanted to make her a Crusher guard, then saw what happened to Quartz and Wind Chime and realized this class needs extra help.

[lapetiteseductress]

My Glow Up Game

Lately I haven't been feeling really inspired about my journey to becoming her so I decided to revisit and rework it. I chose several different areas that I want to work on and I only listed goals that I could achieve now or within the next month (or 2 at the most).

The areas I will be focusing on:

Skin Care - my target area will be my ENTIRE BODY 😂 but mainly focusing on hyperpigmentation, fine lines under the eyes (thank you ordinary eye serum 😒), textured skin and smaller pores. My goals will include buying products from Ulta/Sephora, doing my skincare routine 2x a day and implementing a few DIY treatments like a turmeric mask.

Grooming - major focus will be on hair removal and nails. for hair removal i will be switching to waxing and sugaring. the goal is to start visiting a sugaring salon for certain areas of my body that's more difficult for me to wax (like underarms). for everything else, i will be doing waxing at home.

for nails, i was doing polygel but i'm over it lol. i'm tempted to start going to the salon for this as well but all the salons i've found in my city are those cookie cutter type salons (ya'll know what i'm talking about) that charge $100+ for thick nails (that's apparently still trending here) and the quality of the work - i can almost match it so i don't find it worth the price. instead i'm going to go all in with gel-x (i've played around with it and brought a few things on amazon to try it out) but i'm gonna level up and get some items from NKK and Erica's ATA drill bits.

Natural Hair/Extensions - focusing on growing out my natural hair (and making it healthier) to prepare it for either micro weft or i-link extensions. the goal here is simple: buy products and create a hair care routine.

Wardrobe - i'm splitting my wardrobe goals into several parts because i have to build an entire wardrobe. but i'm going to start with sleepwear, lingerie and loungewear, plus a few casual summertime pieces.

Bedroom Decor - if you've read my recent posts, you already know that i'm not happy with the state of my bedroom but i've decided not to do too much to it because it's not worth the investment. i do plan on buying a few bedding sets and a few inexpensive furniture pieces (like a nightstand). i also will start buying (or being gifted) flowers to place in my bedroom as well.

Beauty - purchasing basic makeup and essentials along with mini perfumes until i discover my staple fragrances.

Healthy Food - starting off simple with buying juices (especially green juices), fruits and veggies, eating salads, and healthy frozen meals.

Exercise - focusing on lower body workouts, improving flexibility, continuing pilates, buying cute workout fits.

Courtesan/Hypergamy - i didn't quite know what to call this area of focus but it will consist of listening to affirmations that fit the theme of being spoiled, attracting high value men, etc. also reading books on seduction, bdsm, etc and of course, practicing these techniques on men [online]- specifically receiving gifts and money from them.

Intellect - reading 1 book or 1 workbook (like the vocabulary book i'm currently going through). i already listen to the news so i'm pretty much on top of current events.

And last but certainly not least, keeping God first throughout all of this. 🙏🏾

and if sounds as if i'm basically rebuilding my life, that's because i am.

[32bitterra]

Kirby & The Amazing Mirror turns 20 today. I drew a little something to commemorate it.

Sentimental old person rambling under the cut.

Amazing Mirror is my favorite video game, and it is one of my earliest video game memories. I played it before my sister was born, and before I could even READ. I distinctly remember calling it "Rock Hat Game" (referring to the stone ability) before my mother corrected me. For those unaware, the unique thing about this Kirby game is that the game lets you explore the Mirror World and beat the bosses in whichever order you want. This game was full of mystery to me as a child. This was before I had internet so I couldn't just look anything up. I was always wondering what I would find next. I spent HOURS trying to find rooms I hadn't been in yet, believing they held the most incredible secrets (a child's imagination is very powerful.) I believe I got my first glimpses of the final boss when I was around five or six years old. I remember Dark Meta Knight frightened me because of how fast he moved, but I loved the music that played when you fought him, so I'd leave the game paused just to hear it (too frightened to unpause it or else Dark Meta Knight would whoop my ass lol. Does anyone else remember holding the GBA speaker up to your ear to hear the music? I remember listening to the Candy Constellation theme like this.) Something this game is infamous for are the NUMEROUS times you have to beat the final boss, Dark Mind. I managed to get to his second-to-last phase, the giant eye, when I was six or seven or so. If I had to beat his first form four times, I wondered just how far it would go. I distinctly remember having a dream that some sort of mouse boss emerged from the eye (funnily enough, I got Squeak Squad for Christmas when I was nine.) I beat Amazing Mirror when I was eight years old. It was a Friday afternoon, and I was so excited to finally beat the game that my legs went numb lol. Fast forward a little to when I was twelve or so, I started trying to get 100% completion. This involves entering every room and getting every treasure. I know this game like the back of my hand now. When I was thirteen, I wanted to see how quickly I could beat it after watching speedruns. I can beat it 100% pretty quickly now. It's a game I like to play for my friends because I can beat it quickly and without dying.

The drawing above hardly begins to fully encapsulate how much I love the game, and I struggled trying to think of a drawing that could truly show my appreciation. In the end, I went for something rather simple. Emerald is my favorite spray paint color, but if you asked younger-me, I would have answered "Ocean." I was totally obsessed with finding all the spray paint colors, and I remember turning the game off and on to switch the colors to see how they'd look with the UFO ability. If anyone has read this far, tell me what your favorite spray paint color in Amazing Mirror is in the tags if you'd like! Also, the level backgrounds are absolutely beautiful in this game. They look like paintings, and I wonder if any high quality, non-GBA-compressed versions exist. The light blue Peppermint Palace background is my favorite (it's also my header.) Let me know what your favorite level and/or level background is as well. I'm gonna wrap this up because I've went on for too long blurting my guts out over a GBA game. I still feel like I've barely scratched the surface about all I love about this game. I will not be making this kind of long-winded rambling a habit though lol.

[cyvonix]

Cyv Reads Homestuck - Act 5 Act 2 Wrapup

It's that time again.

Another act under my belt, another wrapup post. Like the last one, I'm gonna try to keep this relatively brief and condense it down to the main shit. For this act in particular, that's especially needed, since if I went fully in depth, this post would presumably take on the length of a considerably hefty novella. Seriously, this act is BEEFY. Over double the length of any of the previous acts, and with the content to show for it.

Apparently this was the act that got everyone hyped in Homestuck's initial run, and I can absolutely see why. Everything here is raised to an astronomical level, (literally and metaphorically) as we get not only greater stakes and more action than ever before, but more intrigue, more questions, more lore, more character depth, more fun interactions, literally just more of everything. I think this act is extremely interesting, because it capitalizes on what Act 5-1 teed it up for; that is to say, Act 5 Act 1 queued us into the fact that this story was going to get more complex and darker than before, and went places that never could've been expected in the first 4 acts of the comic. Meanwhile, this act is essentially an entirely new thing. It puts 100% into the new identity that Act 5-1 created for Homestuck, and imo, hits it out of the park.

The first major contributor to this is the shift is the character interactions, which have noticeably taken a much more nuanced approach than anything before. Many scenes or lines that would have been purely jokes were now seen as opportunities to genuinely explore these characters and their relationships with each other. As far as returning characters, Dave in particular stands out as someone who has been completely opened up to new layers that, if they were there before, were heavily obscured by his place in the narrative. The trolls are undoubtedly responsible for this element making its way further into the dialogue, as they give the kids so much more to bounce off of than they used to have, and with these many new dynamics that are formed, new avenues of exploration and analysis are opened.

And speaking of the trolls, their story also escalates far beyond anything possibly imaginable when we first met these angry goofballs several acts ago. They stand as the latest in a generationally traumatized race, one so beaten into their societal roles that anything short of bloodlust is considered weakness. A bloodlust that, as we later learn, was maticulously crafted by our darling villain, Doc Scratch. This layer of their collective characterization, though, makes it all the more potent when they manage to let part of themselves slip past this torturous conditioning and reveal the sympathetic souls that lie underneath. Even Vriska, cartoonishly evil as she's been, comes out the other end of this act seeming much more three dimensional than before. Also, Gamzee's murder arc happened. Honk honk. That's really all there is to say on the matter.

With the mention of Doc Scratch, I would be remiss to leave out his role in all this, and how it encompasses another aspect of this act that left me impressed and overjoyed, which is the multitude of ways in which the conventions of Homestuck and its medium are expanded and broken, over and over. The games begin to feature much more story-relevant information than before. The animations become longer, denser, more daring with their content (Cascade is a whole fucking cartoon episode!!); the easter eggs of games past are folded into the narrative itself, as well as other meta elements brought from simple gags into genuinely intriguing plot points. Even the way the comic allows itself to be interacted with twists and changes as it needs. The banner on top of the website becomes its own entire canvas for storytelling, the borders of the panels are less restrained than ever, the command system is contorted in various ways that make for a more interactive experience even just on the web page. I could go on. Even in the final moments of the act, when the curtains close, we see them tattered, fire surrounding them, and a shattered fourth wall behind. To me, it acts as a declaration that the confines of this work are no longer relevant. That this is truly a multimedia project which will take any shape it sees fit to convey what it desires, and which will blend realities and rulesets to create a strange, new entity. I've watched this piece of fiction grow and mold itself over the course of these various acts in ways I truly never anticipated when I'd begun, and this moment feels like a symbol of that mentality becoming its mantra. I highly doubt these experiments with form will stop any time soon, and I truly do look forward to whatever is waiting for me next.

And finally, for my own sake I kinda want to decompartmentalize into a list all the currently unanswered things leaving me either curious or interested as I move forward:

Not really a question but I just couldn't find another place to write that I fucking love all the god tier stuff. Just really fun and satisfying magical fantasy shit with very cool aesthetics and also thematic elements that tie extremely well into a lot of what the story seems to be getting at.

LORD ENGLISH HAS ENTERED THE PICTURE. Clearly, as we all already knew "He is already here." So the question is, where? Where has he been? What will be that decisive moment that he will propel himself into this story?

Regarding resurrection, what actually classifies as "heroic" or "just" seeing as these are largely subjective concepts? Is is simply a mystic "Paradox Space will decide" type thing? Will the comic address this quandry at some point?

On this point, Doc Scratch's clock. It shows the results of this query. Does it actually decide the result, or similar to the meteor timers, simply show the result that was already going to happen? If it decides the result, this implies that by manipulating the clock, the outcome of the resurrection can also be manipulated.

On timelines: What actually consitutes the Alpha Timeline? Who decides that? Who's to say that one particular timeline is more canonical or holds more importance than the rest, other than the author themselves I suppose.

Who's fedorafreak? Is this actually gonna be important?

What actually are the denizens? John implies they aren't as threatening as they initially appear. What does this say about their function in the game and in this world?

Who is the mother of all monsters? I don't think this is a term we've ever heard before unless I'm just forgetting

Why does the emblem of "Her Condescention" look somewhat like the Betty Crocker logo. Don't tell me I'm looking too deep into this. This fucking story has done me dirty before. That thing fucking looks like the other things and I don't trust that one bit especially after hearing about the whole Betty Crocker isn't human thing. hrmmm...

WHAT THE FUCK DOES IT MEAN THAT THE KIDS ARE IN ANDREW HUSSIE WORLD. WHAT. I CAN'T GET OVER THAT. I LITERALLY DON'T KNOW WHERE THAT COULD EVEN GO.

As for any predictions or expectations? Basically none. At least as far as predictions go. I've learned to surf Homestuck like a big ass wave and let it take me where it takes me. If I pick something up along the way that I feel I can properly theorize about, I will, but I'm no longer trying to pick everything apart and estimate what it could mean for the overall story, because quite frankly, there's simply too much shit going on and too little of it has any intention of appeasing my base instincts about the movements of the narrative. Now, I'm not going to lie and say I know NOTHING about what's next in Homestuck. I know next to nothing, but that's still not nothing. In fact, I'll break down literally everything that I know so you know exactly what expectations I'm going in with. So obviously if you're also reading for the first time, maybe tune out here in case you wanna be completely blind!!!

I know there are still more characters to come. Specifically, I know that there are at least four other kids to be introduced to, just from fan art and cosplay and such. I know two of their names are Dirk and Roxy, but I do not know the other two. I know ZERO about their actual roles in the story or like, who they are as people. Based solely on their appearances, my only real guess is that maybe, similarly to how we learned of the troll ancestors creating a new world and becoming ancestors to the true successors, the kids will do something similar now that they're essentially exiting the reset world, and become the guardians of a new group of children who are supposed to be like "the real heroes" and those will be those characters? I'm not sure if the logistics on that actually work out but it's all I got rn. Also, I know there are weird green people. Now, call me psychic, but now that I've seen Lord English, something tells me they have something to do with him. Again, I'm cluelesss as to how they actually connect or what role they'll have in the story or literally anything at all, I just know that they exist and are green. The third and final thing that I know is that trickster mode has like, a greater role in the story? I'm grasping at straws here but I've definitely heard talk about trickster mode in later Homestuck as if it becomes more than just an easter egg in games. No fuckin clue how. So again, I'll make a guess that, since the characters are continuously getting closer to the meta layer of the story, perhaps they find out about the "easter eggs" in the games and how to activate trickster mode, as characters and not just as us playing them, and then maybe they can use that to gain new information or traverse places in a different way, almost like Twilight Princess type shit. But yeah. That's all I got. I don't feel spoiled at all because that's all such minimal information that it doesn't really tell me anything of significance, but it does at least give me some breadcrumbs to look for as I keep reading, so that's pretty neat.

Anyway, yeah! This is what I call relatively brief now I guess! Either way tho, if you read thru this I wanna thank you, I know there have been some people sticking with me through this journey and seeming to enjoy my posts, so if I've provided some entertainment or interesting commentary that makes me very happy. Always feel free to chime in and discuss with me or even just correct me on stupid shit I say lol. But I'm gonna go start ACT 6 NOW I GUESS??? GOD DAMN WE'RE HALF WAY THERE BABY WOOOOOOO I'M REALLY DOIN THIS

[tacky-optic]

OK so i've been in this fandom for well over a year now (since the end of october, ew) and zenigata is still my favorite. so after all this time, i'm finally slapping down some of my thoughts about the version of the loud angry rectangle that runs around in my brain and this nightmare of a franchise in general. as a new year treat.

most of these have actually been in my notes since february or march, made as semi-sporadic thoughts while i trudged through the series. i wonder if it's obvious what installment i was watching/had in mind for each of these, lol. anyway i found these at the bottom of my lupin notes folder back in october, plopped them here, then forgot about them again, oops.

but they're here now! at the very end of 2023! under the cut! you can even read them, if you want!

zenigata is selfish. there is a genuine drive to help people and do what's right, but pursuing lupin specifically? 100% an ego thing. zenigata pursues lupin (the world's greatest criminal) because he feels like he's obligated to (as the greatest cop (and not that he necessarily thinks this about himself presently, but subconsciously)). it stopped purely being 'the right thing to do' after the amount of chases hit double digits -- probably even earlier than that.

so what does he really want to achieve here? who knows, because he sure as hell doesn't lololol.

but seriously tho. it's probably simple human connection. or acknowledgement. he's always operated on a different level from everyone else, likely to the point of boredom and/or unfulfillment, so once he comes across someone that might operate on a level higher than him, of course he gets obsessed. game recognizes game and it's liberating.

he's most likely used to "it's only a matter of time" and not much else, so i bet the realization that "it's gonna be tough to catch this guy, isn't it?" was exhilarating because he NEVER had to think that before. and honestly, good for him. he seemed to have been a different sort of miserable before, but at least this new version allows for some bouts of genuine enjoyment.

he had to have said "because i'm the only one who can" at LEAST once, right? which is true! he is the only one who can. that's why lupin keeps him around. zenigata is the single legitimate threat that lupin hadn't managed to get rid of/ sway to his side and that amuses him to no end. he really likes that stubborn old man. he's great.

it's obvious that his skills would be far more useful and impactful on literally any other criminal case, yet he ACTIVELY CHOOSES to allocate his time to chasing after someone who simply can't be caught. and what's even worse is that he IS the only person who can catch him, maybe even end it all for good, but it's reached a point where he simply doesn't WANT to, solely because the chase is THAT entertaining/enriching/compelling to him. calling it a compulsion is great, actually. he's obsessed, doomed by the narrative, consumed by his ideals, etc. etc, and he's completely trapped by cartoon logic. i doubt he knows anything else.

the dark infatuation is great and all, don't get me wrong, but i really enjoy those bouts where he kinda just exists. he's living his best life, candidly enjoying what's going on around him or the (comparatively) simpler aspects of his job, and all that stuff up top becomes irrelevant, at least for a little while. i don't think he's wholly doomed, per se, just that we won't be seeing an "after" for him in any official capacity. because again, cartoon logic. he's got a role to fill, even if it's an objectively shit one -- but he makes do, and the fact that he is allowed to do other things is enough for me.

y'know, in hindsight, i think the live-action show impacted how i view this guy the most. i really do believe he doesn't have to be defined by his role in lupin's story. at heart he's a chaser, a dreamer. he keeps trying, over and over, and despite everything, he hopes. if he was none of those things he wouldn't even be after lupin in the first place, or lupin would never recognize him as his true rival.

....maybe i'll actually manage to finish some of the wips i have about all that stuff one of these days, lol.

as far as other media goes: parts 1, 2 and 4, tokyo crisis, ep 0: first contact, g vs r, and fuma are all pretty high up there, too. maybe a smidge of koike if i'm feeling particularly angsty, but until zeni's title movie comes out i wouldn't put too much weight on that one.

i'd be remiss to talk about the guy's most popular pairing, right? i mean, i gotta. it's lowkey kinda wild how luzeni never fascinated me to a point where i'd feel compelled to write or draw much of anything for them. they're like, all the worst aspects of fujilup/jiglup smashed together lmao. THAT'S INSANE, THEY'RE INSANE TOGETHER AND IT'S SO GOOD. but nah, jigzeni. we'll, uh.... we'll leave that for later.

my guess is it's because the fandom satiated any itch for luzeni that would've been there otherwise, like, right off the bat. the fics alone are so incredible to me and have greatly impacted how i see zeni in their own right. i should really re-read some of them. and maybe you should too, so--

LIST JUMPSCARE!! i read all of these (and more!!) this year!! and yes, they all involve zenigata!! i don't half-ass this obsession, just like zeni lmao. just be mindful of ratings and tags, ofc. explicits are red but the rest is reader's discretion. and if by the incredibly slim chance any of the writers of these see this, thank you for sharing your works, they're really friggin cool B)

Knave of Diamonds/Thoughts May Dim/Under Your Hat

In The Margins Of Another Life

Sunrise, Sunset

Judo in the Schwarzwald

unsaid/lucky strike/cold hands

The Language of Flowers

With Enemies Like These/All Along The Watchtower/Fair Game

Friends Don't Let Friends Diss The Chef

Fates Entwined

The Many Deaths of Kōichi Zenigata

mean luzeni series/Secondhand Vanity

Disreputable Company

Smother Your Sorrow

Kintsugi/how to hit on Zenigata and not actually hit him

pour déplacer un autre/My Dear Icarus

Fifty-Two, No Longer Counting

Smoke and Moonlight/Off the Record

this doesn't even scratch the surface, hah. i think i might like to read but i can't be entirely sure.

my favorite part of this fandom is probably how moldable all of the characters are; you can pick and choose from so many different types of media and sculpt the finer details however you want, but at their cores the character's fundamentals still shine through. it's how we get those fics and fanarts and even text posts like these going on about headcanons. this cast feels like people that've taken on lives of their own outside of their (frankly problematic) source material and that's super neat.

so at the end of the day, there really is no definitive version of zenigata, or any of the others for that matter; just a handful of constants. all of those bits and pieces from up top are a part of my zeni, in one way or another -- but i like a dozen other zenigatas too, even ones that might go against those points. he's definitely been my favorite for a straight year for a reason. maybe one of these days i'll figure out how to actually finish a story all on my lonesome and you'll be able to see my version of him in action ;)

so that's that, i guess. here's to another year.... and hopefully more lupin content, lol. i might not trust tms but i trust the fandom. it's a small but strong and good one and i'm glad to be part of it, even if it isn't in the most active capacity.

anyway pls keep drawing zeni like twice the size of everyone else lmao. tms are cowards for giving him stick arms like lupin >:((

[keplercryptids]

i'm not gonna reblog the replied-to version of this post because i am not actually trying to debate this with anyone lol but. while i 100% agree that people should prioritize their health/well-being over playing a ttrpg, i also think that ttrpgs can often be a time and energy commitment, and not every gaming group can accommodate every need.

please by all means, adapt your game however best works for everyone. if what works for your group is an episodic game where nobody levels up and there isn't a strong overarching plot so it never matters which players show up or when, and people can dip in and out whenever, that's great. im honestly glad that works for you. but i can also recognize such a game is not something i would ever want to run. that setup just wouldn't for me at all, and that's okay!

some ttrpg groups are as casual as can be and some require a degree of commitment and consistency, more like a team sport or band or whatever. and yes, in a capitalist society, we all need to actively embrace a culture of resting and not overextending ourselves, the ttrpg community included. but also, finding/building a gaming group that works for you is kind of the key component to all of this. if you're not able or willing to consistently play, find a group where that's the expectation.

[silenzahra]

SUPER MARIO BROS. WONDER SPOILERS!!! ⚠⚠⚠

Avoid this post if you haven't 100%ed the game yet! ⚠⚠⚠

Felt like sharing my frustration real quick before going to bed. Spoilers below! ⚠⚠⚠

THAT. DAMN. LAST. WALL. JUMP.

I always fail at the same point. I swear I DO press the button. But apparently I'm not fast enough 😩

My thumbs hurt so much OMG, guess I'll just go to bed and continue trying tomorrow. Or the weekend. OR NEVER.

If it weren't for this damn level I'd have 100%ed the game already 🥲 Been trying for a month already but I just. Can't. Get. It. RIGHT.

Ugh, sorry about that, but I really needed to vent a little bit 😩 Sorry for the bad quality as well, I recorded the video accidentally on the console (I don't even remember pressing the rec button), but I can't take it directly from the console because I'd have to turn it off, and then I'd lose the three purple coins, and I'm just focusing on reaching the end, so I used my phone to record the video from the console. If I have to start all over and get the coins again I'm gonna cry 🥲

I've lost over 40 lives so far, but I'm pretty sure I'll lose 40 more before I can get this over with. Or rather: if I can get this over with.

Anyways, see you all tomorrow 💖

[fangedkate]

long ass post teehee

I'm gonna be super blunt here and say that Ultrakill, a game I picked up like 20 hours ago has really made me remember what made me fall so deeply in love with gaming to begin with. The game has been an absolute blast, joy the entire way through. It made me spend an hour cleaning and I was giggling through every second of it. Quite literally everything the game does makes me smile, or go "OH FUCK YEAH" and I really think the point is: the game is so very full of soul. There is so much heart to it. People made this and they love it. It's not even finished and I am happier with it than most "finished" games that come out nowadays. I finished what is out, and realized more was coming and was absolutely thrilled. It was like someone handing me a slice of cake, and I am in bliss. Only to look over and they are coming with a second plate. I genuinely cannot put into words how angry it makes me that an experience like this is so uncommon now. Like I'm fucking absorbed. I wake up, and I am excited to play it. I dreamt about it last night. I spent 13 hours getting a level down to a sub second completion time and I loved. every. second. Most games nowadays kinda feel like I have to commit to them. I have to make an effort to finish them. I find myself thinking "Oh I have to play [game] today or I wont make any progress" and that's my motivator. To finish the game, or to 100% a game I like. But nothing recently has made me wake up and think "I need to do the dishes now so I can play Ultrakill for the rest of the day." or "I need to eat so I don't have a headache when I play Ultrakill." I like a lot of games. Several come to mind, but it's been a long time since I have been able to say I love a game like this. I have always been kinda.. iffy about trying new games because of it. Because I go through the effort, or spend the money, or someone else spends the money to get a game I was mildly interested in only to turn it over in my mouth, and kinda... keep it there for a while. Suck on it and let it melt a bit and then I'm like "eh this is taking too long." and I spit it into a paper towel and almost never think about it again like the bag of mints I have. Ultrakill is like when I bought a pound and a half of cinnamon pecans and then ate them all in one sitting and it made the roof of my mouth hurt and my tongue sore and I didn't regret it in the slightest.

[graphicabyss]

DOS2: A Tale of Frustration

So BG3 doesn't run on my old PC so I turned to DOS2 to fill the void and I finished it out of pure spite. I'm sorry to all the fans but... omg why is it so frustrating? So I'm putting some of the things that were driving me crazy to get it off my chest.

the skill icons on the panel keep disappearing when I try to click them like 30% of the time

the 98 damage types and every enemy has a resistance to each of these

the undead heal from poison damage for some fucking reason

the fucking clouds. poison clouds can be extinguished by fire? makes total sense. Electric clouds? You're fucked unless you know a specific spell.

in half the fights everything ends up on fire, often cursed or necrofire. good luck!

Don't you just love the fights where you start of fighting 3 enemies and end up fighting 12? Not my idea of subverting the expectations.

crafting makes no sense, there are 6834673 items to be crafted and half of them are only useful in early game

how are you supposed to learn the recipes? you get some from dozens of crafting books but it's still only like 30%. How am I supposed to know hammer to a potato makes fries?

I was googleing up quests, crafting, combat and everything else every 5 minutes because I'm tired of going into shit blind but honestly it wasn't enough.

you are free to go anywhere except the areas all have specific levels so you struggle through enemies that are 2 levels higher and then find areas that are 3 levels lower you missed

And what's up with Arx? You expect a chill city phase and end up slaughtered wherever you go. And good luck finding those source points!

Half the quests only work if you have a specific character, specific race or trait and you don't know which. Better prepare for a fight.

Persuasion checks make no sense and you only know the requirements once you fail. Have a fun fight!

Finishing a really tough fight, being really proud of yourself... Looting the dead enemies only to fight... Sir Lora. That little bitch has a deathwish and shall run through necrofire and deathfog like its full of nuts. I redid almost every late-game battle more than once. Goddammit.

I appreciate the immersion but could the NPCs stop pacing for 5 seconds? I need to talk to them! I was running after Hannag for 5 solid minutes and only managed to speak to her after I froze the water making her fall.

The inventory drove me crazy... It's not just gear and potions. You have a pyromancer and the enemies are immune to fire? You better get those scrolls. 97 ingredients half of which you're never gonna use. And I just love putting all my keys into my bag of keys manually.

The armour, man. The armour has physical/magic protection stats, skill points, ability points and sometimes spells. So you wanna swap those gloves? LOL now you can't use 3 spells and are also overburdened.

Faithful Item Set. Just that alone. The set has like 9 items and they're all dispersed all over the map, with the most important parts found on random NPCs! Like, there's no quest relating to it, there are no clues. Just... look in every crate and trade with every single character, bro. Good luck! I got all the items using a very detailed guide... except not. Turns out I got the boots first and sold them off at some point. Woo!

Right-clicking doesn't work half the time. Wanna identify shit or disarm a trap? Nope. Wanna look up that boss that you're about to fight? Don't be a pussy, just hit them and see if it works.

I am using a reasonable number of giftbag perks. I'd probably quit without them by now.

Spent about 260 hours on this game and about 100 of it was just inventory sorting.

The final battle... where do I even start? You get all the spells, all the scrolls, all the potions... only to get one-shot by the fucking Kraken. I expected something epic and received an utter clusterfuck. I only managed to win after about 6 tries and only by drinking invisibility potions, waiting for everyone to murder each other and then finishing Rex.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. Sorry for your time.

[the-abyss-gazes-into-you]

So recently I had a realisation that improved my worldview by like 150%. It's just one point of view and I don't have a patent on wisdom so feel free to disagree.

If anyone is telling you they have their life together, it's a lie. And they're likely trying to sell you something.

Everyone is struggling. Constantly. Even if they feel fine or even good, they're still struggling, just choosing to put it on a shelf and deal with it a bit later. I rewatched Wreck-It Ralph recently and couldn't stop thinking about the similarities between videogames in the film and life. A rollercoaster, the weather, you could find a metaphor for life in a laundry basket if you wanted. So I'll give you one with videogames. Whack A Mole, SugarRush, Tapper, Fix-It Felix... all of them are about struggling to finish something, then celebrating your win and moving on to a new goal. Everyone struggles with them. And the ones who have mastered Whack A Mole usually get bored and move on to a different game, for example I got bored of skiing on small slopes and since I live in a country where I don't exactly have access to the Alps, I decided to start learning snowboarding on the small slopes. Just for the process.

The image of an ideal worker, an ideal home, an ideal opportunity, an ideal relationship, ideal productivity, an ideal day, month, year, life... it's like ideal gas, exactly what it is - ideal. An idea, unachievable. It makes me think of something my (very, very wise) friend told me a week ago - "Aspiration should give you a sense of direction, not a goal." This vision of your absolutely perfect and productive new year is a great source of inspiration, but if you actually expect it from yourself, you're bound to eventually be disappointed, frustrated, demotivated and beating yourself up over what a failure you are.

My mum is the classic "Everything has to be my way and if you're not doing it this way, we're gonna have a problem." type of person (she's an unhealthy ESTJ, would you guess...? 😅) and I can with 100% certainty say she's struggling as well. A lot. All the time. Suppressed trauma, standards the level of Mont Blanc and soaked up all the societal expectations like a sponge. So every time my AuDHD ass gets out of line, her radar goes off and she struggles with getting me in order on top of everything else she thinks she has to perfectly manage.

I have my point of view, she has her point of view and we piss each other off because we're looking at this one stupid thing from completely different corners of the room. And that's one person. We all struggle with each other. And expecting yourself to work like a clockwork orange on top of that isn't exactly helpful. Not to mention that even machines malfunction from time to time but that's another convoluted metaphor.

My point is, in the next year let's just stop expecting the best of ourselves and accept okay. Maybe if I had the ideal morning, I would've gotten up at 5, worked out with the abs of Dwayne Johnson, had breakfast, immediately washed the dishes and then studied until lunch with zero distractions. But guess what? I'm not a robot. I got out of bed after 6, it took me an hour to wash the dishes and I didn't work out or study at all because I'm sick (again) even though I had so many plans for this week that aren't going as I envisioned. Is that something to be proud of? Sure it's not. Should I beat myself up for it? Hell no, I didn't murder anyone while watching that youtube video. It's okay. And I think it could help us a lot to get comfortable with that for now.

So in my next year, I think I'll just try to be doing okay.

[xxemosceneacidscumxx]

Dark Link x FEM! Reader

~Puzzling~ part five

(Song: Yeah Boy and Doll Face, by pierce the veil)

I lifted up my head from my hands and decided that I need to leave kakariko. I go back to pearls house and get what was 'mine' which isn't much, but I decided I'm leaving tomorrow. I get my sleep and I wake up early in the morning and exit the village before anyone wakes. I look around and try to decide what direction to go. I know for a fact that the forest is a big NO. I know that castletown is a bad idea too. I remember the doctor by the lake and decide either that, or gerudo fortress. I shook my head remembering that the 'evil king' is literally a gerudo. I take a Deep breath and run as fast as I can in the direction of lake hylia. It took my ALL DAY to get there. It was nearly nightfall when I got here and I'm happy I don't see any stahchildren. I Found the house and I opened the door, peeping my head in. "Hello?" I walk in and look around. Nothing. I know there's no bed in the 'game' and it's just a room with water, but on the other side oof the water there's a ladder and it goes all the way up. I Jump over, and climb it to find that there's a big king sized bed, and another room. I look around. I don't see the old man in the bed, so I look in the other room, knocking on the door. No answer. Out of curiosity I check the closet. I stepped back. All girls clothes?? I stared in confusion, but I didn't complain as I lied down in that bed and rested.

I woke up In this place, however there's nothing here. Just.... Black. I can see my hands and the rest of my body, and all the black around me had a Smokey mist to it. I look around but I don't see anything. I sat down, not knowing what to do. My body jolted and my head whipped around when I heard a horse whinny. I looked to my hard left to see none other than Dark Link, riding his stallion into a full gallop. Without much time to react I ran the other direction; even though I know I most definitely 100% can NOT outrun a HORSE. But still. I push my legs as fast as they'll go, but the horse is catching up to me faster than I can comprehend. I peek behind me again and the horse is.. GONE??? I stood there for a second not knowing what to do. I blink, and now.. I'm in the Kokiri forest, just like the first weird dream I had.. only this time all the bodies were in circles around me, beheaded, and sat upright. I Breathe in and immediately bend over to puke almost all my guts out, because it smells so bad here. I hold my breath, dodge some bodies, and run out of the forest to the best of my ability. I made it to the tunnel that leads out and I was almost to the exit before I ran full force into someone. It kinda knocked the wind out of me. I get my stuff together for a quick second holding my breath because I have a hunch on who it is. I open my eyes to see the young man wearing armor, completely covered in BLOOD. I froze as I looked into his fully red eyes. I'm trying to turn back around, but I can't move. It's like I'm paralyzed. The more I try to move the more it hurts, it feels like I have a Charlie horse in my whole body. I cant even move my head. I look up at dark, not knowing what to do. I can feel the hot tears run down my face in multitudes, as I think about this predicament I'm in. He seems to look me up and down, but it's hard to tell, because his eyes are all the same color. I started to shake and breathe heavier, thinking about what pain I'm probably gonna go through. He slowly bent his head down to make his face level with mine. My heart feels like it's going to beat out of my chest, my entire body hurts from being stuck like this, and my eyes nose, and cheeks hurt from crying. He moves my head up by my chin, guiding my face so that our eyes met. I start to gasp for air, getting more and more scared by the second. He put his finger up to my eye and acted like he was gonna poke it out, but all he did was wipe the tears from it, put his finger in his mouth and smile like he enjoyed the flavor, like my fear was funny or something.. now he grabbed my face again, chuckled and licked up my other cheek, laughing.

I jolt up out of bed trying to get away from him, but I realized that it was only a dream??? I'm hella confused. I breathe heavily- and my heart is beating so fast that it kinda hurts. Ok, just breathe. I slowly got up and put my feet onto the cold wooden floor, and peeled out the window at lake hylia. It is very dark out there. I closed my eyes and sighed, walking over to my bed. I sat down and with lack of better thought I tried to under stand what the hell is going on with these weird dreams. I don't understand why this I'm here in the first place. Or why this bootleg link look alike is harassing me. I roll my eyes and lie back down and I try to go back to sleep, but every time I close my eyes all I see is that evil grin, I ignored it, but the longer I lay here the more I feel as if I'm being... watched. Fed up with this paranoia I remove the covers from over my head and decided that I'm going to stay up for as long as I can.

What feels like an hour or two has passed and I keep dozing off and jolting myself back awake, because I don't want to see what horrors plastic surgery shrek's elf might have for me. I Look over to the window and see that it's getting light outside, I stare at the pink, purpley, yellow sunrise and focus on the ombré affect it has. Focusing on how pretty it is. Maybe I'll close my eyes for just a second. And then I felt myself slipping, but out of laziness I let it happen this time.

[clotpolesonly]

Give me a Headcanon about Stiles working somewhere and his boss being an absolute dick (think a la The Devil Wears Prada), but it’s such a good move for his career, he doesn’t quite know what to do. How does he deal with it? How does Derek deal with it? (ofc this is sterek, I’m nothing but predictable).

It's his supervising agent or whomstever when he's entry level at the FBI (i do not know how the FBI is structured lmao, just go with it). he's trying to be on his best behavior, cuz he is NEVER gonna get a chance like this again, and if he blows it here he's gonna have to go back to Beacon Hills and be a deputy and work under his dad and he will literally just straight up die if he has to do that.

but his boss is the wooooorst. he's condescending and dismissive, passive aggressive as fuck, never takes anything Stiles says seriously, treats him like a fucking intern, still hasn't even gotten around to learning Stiles' goddamn NAME. he's about to snap.

he's honestly not sure when Derek got into town. by the time he reveals himself to Stiles, he's already like.....got an apartment downtown and stuff. like, he is settled in. he never really says why he came to town, but Stiles thinks it might be so that the pack human isn't completely on his on this side of the continent (Jackson and Danny both ended up settling near enough to MIT that Lydia could call them in an emergency, but no one else ended up on the east coast with Stiles). he tried to be mad about it for a minute, but honestly he was getting kinda lonely and homesick so having Derek around is nice and he's decided to let himself embrace Derek as his new (local) best friend.

ANYWAY, so he unloads on Derek about what an absolute dick his supervising agent is and how he can't DO anything about it because the guy is absolutely 100% petty enough to tank his career prospects in retaliation if he does.

Derek's advice? go over his head. make friends with his boss's boss. play the long game, make sure that guy absolutely LOVES HIM, and then casually make mention of The Asshole's behavior, in one of those self-effacing "oh don't worry, it's fine, i'm being so brave about it" kind of ways, and then let the big boss take care of it on his behalf uwu

Stiles is......frankly stunned 😂 he's really used to Derek solving problems with his fists, he was expecting Derek to offer to beat the guy up for him or something. aaaaand that's when he remembers that Talia Hale was a politician. Derek may not like political maneuvering, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know how to utilize it when necessary.

it's genius, and it works like a charm. Derek lends his super-hearing so they can eavesdrop on the big boss and find out his interests, which Stiles just so happens to adopt as his own new interests, and his super-sniffer, so they can track the guy's movements and just so happen to bump into him in a few random places.

it's all very cloak and dagger and it turns out to be great fun, scheming with Derek to screw over his supervisor.

on the day the supervisor gets transferred to another office (the big boss did not like the way he spoke to his nice young friend, who is both a very promising rookie agent and a fellow avid birdwatcher who helped him find a prothonotary warbler to photograph), Stiles kisses Derek. he kisses him SO GOOD.

happily ever after, the end

-takes a bow-

.

sleepover weekend!! ask me things!!

[claristhegirl]

Finished Path of Radiance Hard Mode last night, with less than an hour to spare before the year ended!

This was my second playthrough of the game, with the first being well over a decade ago. Was pretty fun to play it again! Various thoughts:

Wow, the game was easy. I wasn't expecting just how easy the game would be overall even on Hard Mode. Of course, this isn't the actual highest difficulty, and I do plan on playing Maniac at some point, despite the... not great things I've heard about Maniac.

Planning for Radiant Dawn transfers was an interesting twist, necessitating that I try to use everyone more equally instead of favoriting specific units too much (characters who reach max level get bonuses in RD for each capped stat in PoR). It felt kinda awkward being unable to use my best units much near the end, though. (Congrats Ike on getting Ragnell! Time for you to barely face combat anymore.)

I played on Fixed Growths mode. It was a cool thing to try out once, and was nice how it made planning my RD Transfers easier, but I definitely feel like I prefer Random Growths for casual play. It's just not the same without the randomness, lol. Also wasn't the biggest fan of how overly complicated "fixed" growths is in this game, with the equipped weapon and enemy classes having an effect, and how it's possible to abuse the "growth points" system with tiny exp increments.

The bonus experience system is pretty cool, giving meaningful reason to finish chapters quickly for once.

...On the other hand, the game is so easy that I barely actually used all that bonus experience I was getting, instead saving most of it until the very end to help get everyone to Level 20 for RD Transfers.

...Same with statboosters. I used my Angelic Robes early on on my Flier Girls, but otherwise saved them all for the end to cap stats for RD transfers.

...Same with Skills. Most Skill Scrolls ended up unused by the end, thanks to them never really being necessary. Notable exception for Aether and endgame Wrath/Resolve on Ike, of course.

Biorhythm is annoying.

Overall really enjoyed it despite the lack of difficulty. Gonna be starting Radiant Dawn Hard with transfers from this PoR save tomorrow! It's definitely not at all awkward how the difficulty names in the localizations between PoR and RD don't actually line up with each other.

Character and chapter info:

Only including characters I got to level 20/20 for RD transfers.

Jill (120 Wins) Transfers: HP, Strength, Skill, Speed, Defense, S Axes, A Lances, Mist A Statboosters: 2 Angelic Robe, 1 Speedwing, 2 Dracoshield Congrats Jill on being #1 Girl! The top 3 units were all surprising close in general actually. Jill definitely got some transfer favoritism here lol, totally worth it.

Marcia (117 Wins) Transfers: Strength, Skill, Speed, S Lances, Tanith A Statboosters: 1 Angelic Robe Girl!

Ike (115 Wins) Transfers: Strength, Skill, Speed, Defense, S Swords, Soren A Statboosters: Some unneeded extras I had at the end …I did have to cheat a bit to get him to cap Defense, by doing some fixed growth bonus exp manip (giving him 1 exp at a time). He would've come super close but not quite there otherwise.

Mia (100 Wins) Transfers: Strength, Skill, Speed, S Swords, Ilyana A Mia's a character I stuck with just because I really like her, even though her damage output was consistently disappointing for the entire game.

Nephenee (95 Wins) Transfers: Strength, Skill, Speed, S Lances, Calill A Statboosters: 1 Energy Drop I gave her Vantage/Wrath because lol. Given I avoided actually letting her get below half HP as much as I could I didn't get much use out of it, but it was cool when it did go off.

Soren (84 Wins) Transfers: Magic, Skill, Resistance, A Wind, B Staves, Ike A I'm surprised his Win count is so high, given his usual lack of an Enemy Phase, and that he stuck almost exclusively to Staves near the end to avoid stealing experience from others.

Astrid (72 Wins) Transfers: Skill, Speed, A Bows She suffered from being too good near the end; I outright stopped deploying her, since she was already close to the level cap so all she would do is steal experience. :(

Ilyana (55 Wins) Transfers: Magic, Skill, Resistance, A Thunder, B Staves, Mia A Statboosters: 2x Spirit Dust I wasted a couple levels of Bonus Exp on her, because I severely underestimated just how much staff experience she would get. Fortunately didn't matter in the end.

Tanith (41 Wins) Transfers: Strength, Skill, Speed, S Lances, A Swords, Marcia A Statboosters: 1x Energy Drop, 1x Secret Book I deployed her almost every chapter since she joined, but she starts at such a high level that she barely actually did anything until the final 3 chapters. Never used her Reinforcement skill either, for the same "not stealing experience" reason.

Geoffrey (8 Wins) Transfers: Speed, Skill, A Lances, C Bows Statboosters: 2x Secret Book, 1x Speedwing I barely used him, but he got to join the Transfer Squad thanks to Paragon making that easy for him, and the needed statboosters not being helpful for anyone else.

Mist (7 Wins) Transfers: Magic, Speed, S Staves, Jill A Statboosters: 1x Speedwing Girl. She came 1 point short of maxing Resistance with 2x Talismans that I wasn't using for anything else… Kinda disappointing but oh well. Was pretty fun to spam the Ashera Staff (repaired with Hammerne) near the end for a full level each time!

Giffca (0 Wins) Transfers: Strength lol

Turn counts and chapter info:

Prologue Mercenaries (4 Turns / 0:06:08) Ch01 The Battle Begins (7 Turns / 0:20:37) Ch02 Rescue (7 Turns / 0:19:37) Ch03 Pirates Aground (6 Turns / 0:18:44) Ch04 Roadside Battle (9 Turns / 0:48:02) Ch05 Flight! (6 Turns / 0:44:28) Ch06 A Brief Diversion (9 Turns / 0:56:57) Ch07 Shades of Evil (11 Turns / 1:12:38) Ch08 Despair and Hope (8 Turns / 0:56:57) Ch09 Gallia (17 Turns / 1:33:19) Ch10 Prisoner Release (62 Turns / 2:10:45) As shown by the turn count, I went for the Stealth mission here. Did it full Maniac Mode style, having Brom/Keiran/Nephenee all escape as well. Was definitely a bit stressful, being afraid the whole time that I would make a stupid mistake that would cost me stealth lol.

Ch11 Blood Runs Red (8 Turns / 1:38:47) Ch12 A Strange Land (16 Turns / 1:44:14) Ch13 A Guiding Wind (10 Turns / 2:01:02) Ch14 Training (8 Turns / 1:19:29) Failed this once thanks to guessing that Makalov wouldn't move until you get in his range. I guessed wrong, and so he died.

Ch15 The Feral Frontier (13 Turns / 1:24:33) Trying to go Pacifist for the Bonus Exp AND getting all the hidden treasure just, didn't seem fun to bother with, so I gave up on the Pacifist mission here.

Ch16 The Atonement (17 Turns / 1:53:25) Shoutouts to Jill for double missing a 90% displayed/98.1% actual at one point! It didn't really matter as I had other units to attack with instead, but, lol 1/2770 chance.

Ch17 Day Breaks (34 Turns / 3:13:12) Ch18 Crimea Marches (17 Turns / 2:13:30) Failed this once due to not paying enough attention to a Siege tome and leaving Rolf in range of one, oops.

Ch19 Entrusted (7 Turns / 1:47:30) Ch20 Defending Talrega (7 Turns / 1:13:16) Ch21 Without a King (17 Turns / 2:09:33) Ch22 Solo (10 Turns / 1:45:41) Ch23 The Great Bridge (11 Turns / 2:28:15) Ch24 Battle Reunion (7 Turns / 1:26:12) Ch25 Strange Lands (5 Turns / 1:33:06) This was basically the only map to give me any trouble (i.e. take 3 or 4 tries), thanks to the boulders actually being able to kill/ballista I underestimated the range of/the boss having Resolve that I learned the fun way changes who can double mid-combat.

Ch26 Clash! (12 Turns / 2:17:40) Ch27 Moment of Fate (21 Turns / 4:20:09) Very bloated time here, partly thanks to spending a while in base casually planning out what to do for RD transfers. Fortunately managed to finish this chapter and beat the Black Knight first try! (Turn 5 Player Phase, only 1 Aether proc)

Ch28 Twisted Tower (17 Turns / 2:16:24) Endgame Repatriation (11 Turns / 1:51:39) lol Wrath/Resolve against Ashnard. Only real challenge this map was making sure everyone actually reached 20/20.