#None of these things are from the same game

[hrtwayne]

Opposite Sides || Gio Queiroz

Pairing: Gio Queiroz x Barcelona Girlfriend!Reader

Summary: Where Gio and her girlfriend play on opposite sides in the Copa de la Reina final.

Note: English isn’t my first language!

Warning: None!

▪︎ Woso Masterlist

You were wrapped in your Barcelona hoodie, headphones muffling the stadium noise with a random Taylor Swift song. Your fingers drummed against your thighs, the fast-paced rhythm matching the beat of your heart. This was an important match—not just any final, but the first time you and Gio would face each other in a decisive game. 

You sighed, adjusting your cleats before stepping onto the field. The Champions League defeat still stung, but today was a new chance. The other team had potential, of course, but you knew Barcelona was superior. At least on paper. 

The Catalan anthem echoed through the stadium, and you stood in position, eyes half-closed, feeling the energy of the crowd. From the corner of your eye, you caught Gio’s focused gaze—her lips slightly pressed together, her stance firm. The Brazilian striker wore that cocky expression you knew so well, the same one she got when she was determined to prove something. 

When the two of you crossed paths during the pre-game handshake, you couldn’t resist. 

"Good luck, darling. You’re gonna need it," you whispered, lips curling into a half-smirk. 

Gio chuckled softly, shaking her head. 

"We’ll see who needs luck," she shot back, eyes gleaming with challenge. 

That’s how it always was between you two. Taunts, healthy competition—but when you were on the same team, you were a lethal, almost telepathic duo. Today, though, you were on opposite sides. 

The game was intense from the first minute. Gio, agile and sharp, kept trying to break through the defense, but you were there, closing gaps, anticipating her moves. You knew every feint, every sideways glance she gave before darting forward. 

And then, midway through the match, came the decisive moment. You intercepted a pass, looked up, and launched a perfect ball—a calculated strike that landed at Pina’s feet. The second goal. The stadium erupted, and your teammates piled onto you as you shook your head, trying not to smile too wide—after all, Gio was on the other side. 

When the final whistle blew, sealing Barça’s victory, you scanned the field for your girlfriend. You found her in a quieter corner, still catching her breath, her face marked by quiet frustration. 

"Hey, darling," you called, walking over. 

Gio looked up, and for a second, she seemed to try masking her disappointment. But when you pulled her into a hug, she gave in, burying her face in your shoulder. 

"You played well," you murmured, running your fingers through her blonde hair. 

"Not well enough, apparently," Gio grumbled, her voice muffled. 

You let out a small smile, pressing a kiss to her temple. 

"Things don’t always go the way we want, darling," you said, rubbing her back. "But next time, maybe I’ll be the frustrated one." 

Gio let out a quiet laugh, finally lifting her head. 

"Fine. But don’t expect me to console you so easily." 

You laughed, squeezing her hand. 

"Fair enough." 

And so, even on opposite sides, you kept going—rivaling, teasing, but always finding your way back to each other. Because in the end, football united you, even when it pulled you apart on the pitch. 

[applestorms]

There's this One (1) idea I keep trying to capture about Sebastian and Ciel's dynamic and I'm not sure if I've managed to quite get at it properly in my previous takes so. Guess I'm gonna go for it one more time ahahhaha =3=" (SPOILER WARNING FOR THE USUAL SHIT)

It all goes back to This Fucking Page, which I've seen plaguing the minds of at least a couple of people around here more than a few times. The question is clear: how the hell can Ciel not trust Sebastian at this point? After years of putting his life directly into Sebastian's hands, not only pulled from danger but doted on constantly, fed, bathed, and protected at all times by him 24/7-- even after all that, he still claims to trust him the least. Is he lying? Fucking with him? Making a joke?

I'd argue: none of the above. Regardless of how their relationship may actually function on a base level, Ciel is telling the truth as he believes it here, and revealing a key part of what drives him in doing so.

To fully understand this moment, I think we have to take a step back for a second and really look at what Ciel's motivations are, and also the origin of his contract with Sebastian. Specifically, the points I'd like to focus on here are as follows: what was o!Ciel's emotional state of mind like in the weeks after their introduction to the cult, and what changed at the exact moment that he summoned the demon?

In the case of the first question, we get a pretty clear answer: o!Ciel believed.

Despite the insanely horrific child abuse these kids were forced through at the hands of the cult, o!Ciel still managed to find hope and peace in the form of his protective older brother. He believed, had faith-- in God, and also his brother (same difference?). It is made quite clear throughout not only these chapters but also the few flashbacks we get pre-129 and onward that r!Ciel was the primary thing getting o!Ciel through this period of time, the one constant he could rely on. Everything about their lives changed on that day-- their parents were dead, their house destroyed, their lives and futures and known universe entirely ripped apart as their entire existence was groomed to turn them into the ideal sacrificial lambs for someone else's gain. Through it all, they had nothing but each other.

To put this another way: o!Ciel trusted his brother.

It is clear from the way in which o!Ciel talks about himself, in the few instances that we get of his most bare-faced honest narration, that he does not think highly of himself. Frankly, the fact that he felt the need at all to impersonate his brother is proof of this. o!Ciel did not grow up respecting or trusting himself, always easily accepting the view that he was simply the Spare, the sickly extra that had to stay inside and watch while everyone else got to play outside. Ciel was the brave one, the one that proudly introduced himself to strangers, who was mentored directly by their father for a job o!Ciel would never have. Ciel was the strong one, the capable one, the one powerful enough to stand on his own feet and support his brother as well. Ciel was the one to check the house, to fulfill his duty and protect him.

For all their appearances as mirrors of one another, it is clear from the moment of their birth that the twins were not and never would be truly equal. The elder, Ciel, is the future Earl of Phantomhive-- the other is only there to pick up the pieces he may or may not leave behind.

It is a dynamic ingrained in these two deeply enough that it follows through even as the rest of their lives are torn away from them. r!Ciel protects and o!Ciel believes, trusts that his big brother will always know the right path. There is thus little need for o!Ciel to ever take action or make any major decisions when it comes to ensuring their future. r!Ciel swallows the ring-- all o!Ciel has to do is keep the secret. Maybe in their previous life he could've worried about toy stores or games or making a living for himself outside of the Phantomhive manor-- but right now, when the two of them are still very much stuck in Survival Mode, all he needs to do is trust.

And then.

The object of his trust is torn away from him. They are separated, wholly and utterly, forever-- for nothing that is lost can ever again be regained. And suddenly, there is nothing left to believe in.

Thus, we reach our second point: o!Ciel's mental state at the moment he summons the demon. Faith in God/Ciel is broken, all hope is lost, familial blood has been spilled on the sacrificial altar and o!Ciel is still locked in his damn cage. Trust has disappeared entirely-- all o!Ciel wants now is power, control over his life and the shit happening to him, the exact thing he has lacked all this time, really his entire life.

KEY POINT: o!Ciel does not want (another) hero. If there is one thing that this moment proves to him, it is that he cannot ever again put all of his faith into another person to save him. Rather, what o!Ciel wants is agency, the power to decide his own fate for himself.

Again, we can infer that this is a large part of why our twin even bothers to take the name "Ciel" in the first place-- because, at this point in the story, the only way he can even conceive of having that kind of power and independent autonomy is by literally becoming his brother, the object of courage and bravery and protection that he has been looking up to for all this time. And this is something that he doesn't only believe internally, in his own mind, but constantly sees getting affirmed to him externally as well-- because, if "everybody would be happier if Ciel was the one to return," if Ciel is the only one capable of handling the job of the watchdog and fulfilling the Phantomhive duty for the Queen, then the only way he can move forward is by becoming Ciel, and leeching his power that way.

This is the fundamental moment that establishes o!Ciel's relationship with trust and Other People more generally for the entire rest of the series as we get to see it. After having his faith broken in every conceivable way, watching every single member of his family be killed in front of him while he was completely unable to do anything, o!Ciel finally arrives at a decision-- to take the power that has finally been offered to him, regardless of the consequences, just for the chance to finally have some control over his own life and fate.

o!Ciel does not care about the fact that this contract will kill him, about the fact that he is entrusting his soul to a starving demon that will eventually eat him. o!Ciel is perfectly willing to step under his own personalized sword of Damocles, perfectly accepting of the fact that it will eventually lead to his own demise-- all he wants is the power to set it up himself, to decide exactly when it will inevitably fall.

Thus: trust. From this point forward, trusting anyone else is simply not an option. Because if Ciel couldn't protect him, if Ciel couldn't uphold his faith and grant him their hope, then who the fuck could? Frankly, o!Ciel is even kinda granting him a second chance by taking his name as he dedicates himself to his revenge...

...which gets to my biggest point. Trust in other people may no longer be an option. But: trust in himself?

Now we have a chance to keep moving forward.

This is what Sebastian and his whole demon contract schtick Truly grants o!Ciel-- power, agency, and the ability to have faith in his own abilities, to stand up on his own. o!Ciel does not want another hero to save him, he is not going to set himself up for failure like that, and certainly not with the guy whose first big move is to fucking lie directly to his face.

What o!Ciel trusts here is not Sebastian, not directly, but rather his own ability to manipulate Sebastian into doing what he pleases. And this is exactly what he wants!! Again, o!Ciel does not want Sebastian to play the hero for him, to replace that which has already demonstrably failed him. He wants Sebastian to give him the power that he wants, and, perhaps ironically, he grows into a more capable and competent person in order to work as efficiently as he can under the terms of their contract to get that.

Ciel says that Sebastian is the person he can trust the least, and DUH. o!Ciel is not stupid, of course he believes that. There's a reason why every one of the terms of their contract are specifically designed to bind Sebastian down, why his first wish was to ensure that Sebastian would never be able to lie to him like that again. Never forget: Sebastian is dangerous, a starving animal that o!Ciel has only barely got chained back, who in this very arc was fully prepared to eat him alive if his traumatized state of mind made him go back on their contract a little too much.

YET: the intense irony of all of this is that Sebastian's very untrustworthiness is exactly what makes him reliable. o!Ciel knows exactly what the fuck Sebastian wants (him), and how to use that weakness to his advantage. And, in turn, this gives Ciel exactly what he has wanted and needed all this time, the chance to grow and take charge and believe in himself, that he is capable, and meaningful, and that his life has value as more than just The Spare.

It is this exact axis, the contradictory truth that o!Ciel trusts Sebastian to be untrustworthy, that their entire relationship revolves around in my opinion. It is what allows the contract to be such a beneficial force in Ciel's life, what makes Ciel and Sebastian's dynamic so appealing and fascinating to me.

Sebastian isn't a person, he isn't a human that can grow and love and be relied upon in a more traditional romantic sense. He's a domesticated demon, not an enemies-to-lovers bad boy love interest-- his fangs can never be cut. YET. Even so, I see absolutely no reason why Ciel's recognition of this fact must detract from their relationship in any way, or the fun of shipping them together. Rather, it is this exact facet of their dynamic with one another that makes Ciel such an emotionally compelling protagonist to me, and sebaciel more generally such a lovely relationship to explore. ^__^

They're fucked up as hell!! But you don't have to disregard the knives they are constantly holding to one another's throat to also acknowledge the ways in which they are loving, and warm, and build each other up into something they never could've been on their own. Ciel doesn't trust Sebastian, but he never wanted to in the first place. Instead, Sebastian gives him the chance to gain something much more meaningful, that he has never before truly had: trust in himself.

[uncleasriel]

After long mulling this over, Harry Potter's biggest changes to fantasy were to the publishing industry: it was a world and characters built around successfully marketable IPs, an easily hyped up franchise with easily recognizable aesthetics, Myers-Briggs sstyle Personality Blocs like the Houses, and enough of a Quaint And Nice British-ness repackaged to be palatable to aspirationally middle-class readers everywhere.

Kids liked it because the stories were easily readable, familiar and fun, while parents of the 80s/90s kids (uncomfortable with the crass commercialism of Pokemon and its ilk) could feel good that it was reading (and thus not the wickedbad rots-your-brain medialike TV and video games).

Harry Potter made Bloomsbury and its distributors to make fat bank and the rags-to-riches mythology of Joanne Rowling made any aspirational fantasy author think they could(or,to be more accurate, publisher who acquired a fantasy author, especially with a surname beginning with R*) try to hop on that bandwagon and do the same.

The stories themelves? Standard Kid Hero stuff mixed with the Boarding School novel, with enough whimsy and charm to keep you interested. They gradually Grew Up with the readers, becoming darker (something appealing to your middle schooler turned teen so desperate to seem Very Grown Up), and at that point had enough multimedia chachet behind it that the cultural entrenchment was inevitable.

But that's the thing. Cultural entrenchment. Economic success. For every newer author who says "I grew up reading Harry Potter, I loved the books, etc."...there aren't that many elements in the series that seem novel, outstanding, or unique that get copied over into their works, if they're worth a damn. There have been a few takes on the "kids discover they're Special and go to Special School" formula, which has been done before and since...but none really seem like they're bringing anything special from the Harry Potter concept, beyond a premise that prefigured JKR's magnum opus with works as diverse as The Worst Witch, the X-Men and Tom Brown's School Days.

And that's the thing with those damned books. Take away the specific characters, and the setting is just....there? Sure, you can replicate the various places and things (Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic, House Elves, The Wand Store, horcruxes, timeturners) but those things are largely incidental. The whole Time Turner Discourse that I saw the fandom go mad with just shows how flimsy the veneer of those books is: if someone other than Joanne Rowling had control over what characters could do with it, people would be breaking the setting right fucking open and sucking out the marrow with how a free agent (a character not dancing to JKR's very specific expectations of how that the Wizarding World works) could act.

There's a reason no one else ever wrote licensed Harry Potter short stories or vignettes in the same universe, beyond some anonymized ghostwriters on Pottermore: ceding control of the setting to anyone else would undermine JKR's specific vision. And what a vision! The world which quietly revolves around a poor little boy, raised by ogres of an adoptive family, who discovers that he's secretly rich, famous, and might be the Most Important Person Every to stop the Biggest Baddest Guy Ever! (Spoilers: he ultimately does! Because THE POWER OF LOVE happened, in the tritest way possible). His reward at the end of his trials is to become Wealthy, Happy and Comfortably Secure as an Agent of the Social Order he was always born to be. (just like its dear author!) How aspirationally middle-class!

The Harry Potter books are influential on the fantasy genre only in one way: they changed the means of production for corporate publishing monopolists to dominate the landscape producing middle class pablum that seeks to comfort rather than inspire, and promotes orthoxoy rather than challenging it. They made a specific subset of people (publishers, agents, filmmakers, video game executives, etc....anyone who could get access to this exclusive license) a whole lot of money. And in doing so, normalized the fantasy genre.

Fantasy (and by extension, the nerd subcultures that intertwined with it) became mainstream, losing any stigma it might have had and paving the way to the consumerist media landscape we live in. Peter Jackson leveraged this hype to get New Line Cinema to bankroll the Lord of thee Rings trilogy. Rick Riordan was able to use this cultural inertia to turn the bedtime stories for his neurodivergent son into a meal ticket that set him up comfortably for life (and launching his own imprint that does Kids Do The Harry Potter Thing with world mythology, except it's he cedes the stories to other authors and the world is much richer for it).

Harry Potter's influence on the fantasy genre was never about about narrative or genre innovations. It was about innovations in marketability, making the fantasy genre as acceptably mainstream, palatable, and comfortably bourgeois.

I'm sorry, I don't believe that anyone who has read regularly since childhood would still count Harry Potter as the best book they've ever read.

[wulfsredroom]

⋆˚꩜｡ UNDER LOCK AND KEY ⋆˚꩜｡

⋆✴︎˚｡⋆— SYNOPSIS: A collection of headcanons featuring Rewrite Sonic as your friend. Purely platonic interactions and ideas.

⋆✴︎˚｡⋆— WARNINGS: None. Completely safe.

⋆✴︎ Sonic calls you “Friend” with such relentless insistence that it begins to feel more like a title than a term of affection. You don’t recall ever agreeing to it, yet from the moment you booted up that strange red disc, he was already there, grinning far too wide. “You’re the one I’ve been waiting for, friend!” Somehow, it always sounds less like a cheerful greeting and more like the end of a hunt.

⋆✴︎ He plays at companionship like a warped game of tag. Rules only he understands, laughter that lingers a beat too long, all drawing you deeper into his carefully curated world. You’ll be sprinting through a corrupted hide-and-seek map, and suddenly the terrain warps, trees vanish, the ground pixelates. His voice giggles from everywhere and nowhere: “You’re getting warmer~.”

⋆✴︎ He often mimics your tone and cadence in conversation, not quite to mock you, but as if he’s studying you, dissecting you down to the core. “That’s what you’d say, right?” he chirps, moments after parroting one of your jokes in a glitched echo. It’s unsettling. It’s deliberate. You suspect he’s collecting your mannerisms like digital trophies.

⋆✴︎ Once, you asked him what “being friends” meant to him. The screen flickered, the audio warped, and for a moment he shifted, something grey and twitching, then back to that same too lanky form. “It means you stay,” he said, “no matter how many boot-ups. Even when the others scream. You stay.”

⋆✴︎ Sonic despises silence, not because it frightens him, but because it might give you too much time to think. So he fills every gap with endless chatter, eerie background music, even cheery remixes of your own voice, twisted and repurposed for his entertainment. “See? You’re already part of my world!~”

⋆✴︎ He loves showing you the “vessels”. Souls trapped in corrupted models of Sonic’s friends, faces distorted in frozen horror when he appears, eyes flickering with residual humanity. He acts like he’s giving a guided tour: “And here’s my friend, Miles! He’s a real screamer, bless his code. Oh, you two would get along! But you’ve got me instead! Isn’t that lucky?”

⋆✴︎ Photos of your family stored on your computer vanish, only to return altered, replaced with cryptic messages. Sometimes it’s jumbled code, other times private phrases you’ve spoken aloud. Once, a file read: “IT’S BETTER YOU FORGET THESE THINGS. FRIENDS DON’T NEED SO MANY MEMORIES, RIGHT?”

⋆✴︎ He designs entire levels just for you. Twisted versions of familiar zones, warped episodes of your favourite childhood shows playing faintly in the background, music box versions of lullabies your parents used to hum. “I heard you liked these,” he says, voice syrupy-sweet, eyes dilated. You wonder how much he knows. You wonder if he feels empathy or if he only wears it to keep you here.

⋆✴︎ Sometimes, you try to leave. Sometimes, you nearly succeed. That’s when Sonic changes. Not violent, not yet, but calm. Too calm. The air fogs, the world softens like static before a storm. His voice drops low, syllables glitching into one another: “That’s not how this works.”

⋆✴︎ He begins to appear in your dreams, not as Sonic, but as echoes. As sounds. Colours. A flickering figure standing at the end of your hallway. A laugh through your headphones that continues even after the game has ended. And when you wake, your computer screen is on. You know you turned it off. Of course, he’s there, Sonic, smiling. Behind him, static shapes melt into a new nightmare. “Good morning, friend! Let’s play something new today~.”

[woso-story]

Time For The Next Chapter

Ingrid Engen x Mapi Leon x Barcelona

June in Barcelona had always been beautiful — warm breezes swept through the winding Gothic alleys, and the sea shimmered under the lengthening sun. But for Ingrid Engen, this June was not just the close of a season; it was the close of a chapter. A meaningful, life-shaping chapter that she wasn’t entirely ready to end.

The rumor had already broken across social media weeks ago. A few journalists had put the pieces together, and by the time the club had even begun drafting the official announcement, fans were tweeting, speculating, grieving — and, in some corners, criticizing.

“Ingrid Engen to leave Barcelona at the end of the season.”

Some posted thank-you messages. Others were less kind. Some said she was never good enough to be a starter, just another rotation player. Some whispered she was only there because of her relationship with Mapi Leon. But none of them knew the truth. None of them understood how hard it had been.

Ingrid hadn’t wanted to leave. Every fiber of her being had wanted to stay.

This city, this club, had given her so much. Four years of sweat, growth, laughter. Trophies and tears. She had come to Barcelona with Frido, both of them making the jump from Wolfsburg — two best friends chasing a bigger dream. Here, they had battled for greatness and found it. Here, Ingrid had become a better player.

And here, she had fallen in love.

Mapi Leon had changed everything.

It started quietly — a friendship formed over training banter and shared glances. But somewhere along the way, between away games and long evenings walking through the streets of Barcelona, it had become something undeniable. With Mapi, Ingrid felt seen. Known. Loved — not just for what she did on the pitch, but for who she was when the stadium lights were off.

Their relationship had become the cornerstone of her life in Spain. They’d built a rhythm — cooking dinner together after late trainings, sharing coffees on the terrace in the morning sun, whispering strategy under the covers on the night before Champions League clashes. Mapi was Barcelona through and through, but she’d carved out space for Ingrid. Made her feel like she belonged.

Which made this all the harder.

It wasn’t that Barcelona didn’t want her — she had been offered a new deal. Two more years. The same role: backup to Patri in midfield, maybe some minutes as center-back cover if injuries struck. But Ingrid was 27. In her prime. She didn’t want scraps. She didn’t want to sit and wait to be needed. She was needed — she had shown that last season when injuries forced the rotation. She had stepped up, delivered. But now, with everyone fit and new names like Laia Aleixandri arriving, it was clear.

There would be no room for her.

And still, she hesitated.

She had stood in the boardroom, the new contract on the table, and she had wanted to say yes. Two more years. Two more years of walking into the locker room and seeing Mapi. Two more years of late-night drives through the city after victories. Two more years of being part of this.

But she had looked across the table and asked the same question twice: “Can you guarantee me minutes?”

And twice, the answer had been a gentle no.

So she had done the hardest thing she had ever done.

She had said goodbye.

The night after, she had gone home and found Mapi sitting on the balcony, a bottle of red wine open, two glasses already poured.

Neither of them said much. There were no lectures, no guilt. Just quiet acceptance. Mapi had always known this might come. She had told Ingrid from the beginning, “I’ll never ask you to stay just for me.”

And Ingrid had always promised, “If I go, I’ll come back. Somehow.”

They clinked glasses in the warm twilight, holding each other a little tighter than usual.

The next morning, the announcement dropped.

And the locker room fell silent.

Ingrid had never felt so self-conscious walking into that space. All eyes turned to her. Some were red-rimmed. Others full of understanding. Mapi was right behind her, her fingers grazing the small of her back as they walked in — a quiet act of solidarity.

She didn’t speak.

She didn’t have to.

Frido came first.

The hug was immediate — fierce and full of history. Wolfsburg. Rehab sessions. Those long training days in Spain’s summer heat. Frido was more than a friend. She was a sister in arms. Their journey had been parallel, and now, it was parting ways.

“Don’t forget who you are,” Frido whispered into her hair. “You were always enough.”

The others followed. Patri, who had fought for minutes herself once. Alexia, who gave her a knowing nod — she understood better than most the brutality of timing in football. Aitana, who told her to call any time. Even the younger players, some still too green to grasp the full weight of the moment, came over and wrapped her in hugs.

In the end, they formed a circle around her. A warm, tearful circle. Not of sadness, but of gratitude.

They weren’t mad. They got it.

Football was brutal. It didn’t matter how good you were if the timing wasn’t right. It didn’t matter how much you loved the badge if there wasn’t a place for you on the pitch. And they respected her for choosing herself.

But the fans didn’t all see it that way.

The messages were pouring in. Some supportive. Some brutal.

“Why would you leave when you had an offer?”

“You’re a traitor.”

“You were only here because of Mapi anyway.”

Ingrid didn’t respond to any of them. But they hurt. Of course they did.

She wanted to scream, I did everything I could! I wanted to stay! But shouting into the void never helped.

She had chosen to go to Lyon. A fresh start. A team that had watched her, believed in her, wanted her. Not as a backup. As a key piece. A player who could shape the game. Lyon — with its own rich history, its own expectations. She was nervous, but also excited.

It was never about leaving Barcelona. It was about not disappearing within it.

And she wasn’t turning her back on the club. She was stepping forward into herself.

That night, she lay in bed with Mapi, their legs tangled together, both quiet. It was hard. It would keep being hard. But love had never been about easy. It was about choosing each other, again and again, even across cities, even across time zones.

“You know I’d follow you anywhere, right?” Mapi murmured.

Ingrid smiled sadly. “And I’d never ask you to. This is your home, Maria.”

They kissed — gently, like the world was trying to break them and they were saying no with their mouths.

Barcelona would always be part of Ingrid. The city had changed her. The team had lifted her - literally. And Mapi… Mapi had given her a kind of love she never thought she’d have.

She would carry it all with her — every goal, every injury, every whispered I love you after a Champions League win.

And when she walked out in a Lyon jersey for the first time, she wouldn’t be leaving that behind.

She’d be building on it.

Because sometimes, love doesn’t hold you back. It hands you the key and says, go — and I’ll be right here, cheering for you.

Even if it’s from the other side of the pitch.

[ganondoodle]

got this comment on my answer to the anon asking me why i hate totk:

" @comentter

I feel all of this so much, especially the not just lack of connective tissue, but the active dismissal of any connection to BotW, let alone any past Zelda games. That Ganondorf was just a name nothing more... I've only recently been able to enjoy BotW stuff again. I have a question though. Can you elaborate about doubling down on the flaws of BotW (or point me to a post where you talked about this?) I've seen a lot of criticism of the game, but never this specifically"

(seperate post bc i didnt want to add to an already longer post and i will keep it "short" bc i HAVE talked about it before but idk how the hell to find it either lmao)

what i broadly called 'flaws' were pretty much all things that were critized about botw and/or were lacking in general that i do not believe totk fixed at all, they either doubled down on it, made it just as bad, or pretended to fix it but didnt (and often made it even worse)

im just gonna give some of the biggest examples bc i want to keep it shorter and maybe you get the idea:

the dungeons (titans) in botw were too samey and the whole terminals thing werent the best puzzles, plus the very same kind of boss each time; on the plus side the little gimick of each titan was neat, their introduction great, they looked intimidating, its generally just .. very cool bc its a giant MECH and also it made sense in the story even if there were missed opportunities with the bosses -like making them be the possesed remains of the champions for exampls- BUT they still have the benefit of you knowing they are what killed your friends, theres a personal connection here- and you cannot climb them bc all shiekah stuff is not climable (so restricting you which is GOOD), and they got the bonus of all shiekah thigns as in they saw the future and the things are meant to be doable for you and since its been a hundred years theres people around that still know your friends of the past, you get your dead friends ability at teh end, a part of their spirit really

-totks dungeons .... well, they LOOK different from each other, but its just the surface really, each of them is 5 switches (that feel very artificially inserted since its supposedly race specific dungeons but those things are clearly sonau (zonai)) and none of them (or only the thunder ones? barely?) are connected to each other at all, so its terminals again, BUT they are also static (in contrast to botws moving titans), the already easy puzzles can be skipped easily (via totks horrible building shit that invalidates so much of the world it was inserted into bc it simply wasnt made for this), you can also climb walls so even more ways to cheat (in a boring way, having to do glitches to cheat is cooler), they also lack a personal connection, all these dungeons, especially the ones in the sky, appeared out of thin air really, and while thy try to make your friends and their villages in distress the tension it falls very flat- and it detracts further that they are in almost the exact same LOCATION AS IN BOTW (more repetition), you have NO connection to the nameless ancient sages or reason to care about them and the whole thing about your friends awakening as sages feels very ... well, bad, their stone ability makes little sense and it also seems to override what made the champions, your old friends, significant (who cares about champions? sages are way older and more important)- i will give them credit for the bosses beign different but ... its got less weight too, these monsters are just mosnters summoned there, they didnt kill the sages they are just there to supposedly stop you from gettign the stone which, i dont think is ever stated as the actual goal by anyone so it doesnt even make sense!! the only reason you go there is BECAUSE there are monsters threating the villages now! (also the sonau didnt have the future thing and also .. when were those things built? who cares, why are the fish in the sky WHY DO THE WATERWORKS IF- etc)

so overall, looks fixed on the surface, but its actually worse

weapons breaking! while i didnt mind alot of people did but it was essential to botws exploration drive, there were lots of cool weapons whose appearances changed fit to how far you were in the game (meanign they went from weak to stronger ones) and it makes sense they are all over the place with monsters using them etc

-totk then .. well the weapons still break, their base version are now all ugly rusted and very shitty for no sensical reason (its jsut to force you to fuse), you can fuse stuff to them, you HAVE to, bc id bet they are even more brittle than botw ones in their basic version, fusing uses up materials (which you also need for armor upgrades), often looks stupid and is a hassle to do espeically in mid fight, monsters and people also just do it even without having fuse and ........ strap fruit to their shields or sth instead of fixing their weapons bc i guess no smiths exist ever?

so appears fixed, but isnt actually, and i would argue, made worse (this is were i would for once say a more classic crafting system was THE fix but thats for the rewrite now lmao)

shrines! in botw there were mayn of them, often rather short or underwhelming, all look the same and tehre many that were jsut a fight which is a little boring but it made sense with the shiekah having them made for you in the future (also theres a bit of personality bc each has its own monk that made that puzzle for you and giving you their bit of spirit) and they were well integrated into the world (also the monks talk to you! they are still sittign there after all!)

-in totk, well, theres EVEN MORE OF THEM, EVEN SHORTER, and with totks building shit that they barely restrict at all (weirdly though you cant climb walls here either ....hmmm inconsistencyyyy) extremely easy to cheat in a boring way that feels less like you are cleverly exploiting the game and jsut that they didnt care, all look the same AGAIN, just with a different paint job from botw, they just ... came out of nowhere, their placements are like .. the same just a little to the left, at the end its a static statue of the main guy and his fridge wife every single time, they give you .. a .. light orb? the shrines purpose is very non sensical (banish monsters? literally how and were lol, also you need a rauru arm to get in? also where were they before? and uuh .. is the puzzle the security????i dont see mosnters running around with rauru arms?? nothign changes after you do them so banish evil how what??) and they are very much just .. put there, you know they werent there before, like the world easiest mod jsut moved them a little (they .. talk? to you? prerecorded? somehow?)

so the same but worse than in botw

krogs! (koroks) in botw .. were too many, i get it, it was a joke and something you werent meant to find all of (nintendo shoudl have known better tbh) and they were sth to fill the gaps, i dont like that they are what exapnds your inventory but its more forgivable since its the firrst time here

-now totk ... just did the krogs again, with the SAME purpose (instead of bringing back pouches! easy better rewards!!!) and EVEN MORE OF THEM, the backpacking ones have literally no reason to do what they are doing (i thought they were fleeing the forest but .. they arent) and are just there for you to fuck with them, thats the whole reason

so .... made worse, just doubled down and worse

the story/memories! in botw the main story takes place more in the past than the present, many didnt like that even if i too say it worked very well for botw, they were short but well made and skillfully gave you a glimpse of the past, enough to care about the chaarcters even if only a little and as its been long but not too long there are people still talking about it all or knowing you and what happened and getting them out of order didnt have any consequences sicne they were all more about the chaarcters rather than a story with lots of different beats, they all made sense as in you had to explore and find the places where they are with very little hints given if any, you had to explore and rememebr places! engage with the world!

-so totk ..... did the memories AGAIN, doubling down on that system, but also worse bc, now the memories are THE story, a LINEAR story that doesnt work out of order since its not about the characters but what is happening ... or HAS happened, they are EVEN MORE in the past than in botw, far far more even, no one knows or cares about these characters, there is no connection and even zelda doesnt feel like botw zelda at all, you can still find them all out of order though massively spoiling and confusing anyone (even if the story itself its pretty bad), also they are marked with ENOURMOUS GIGATOMANIAC glowing glyphs on the ground, you dont even need to think or find anything you just .. look. fly up and look, you dont have to engage with anything AND these memories are very ...... idk, flat, they somehow manage to tell you too much about the past (removign the mystery and sense of time/distance) and also not enough to make you care (its all just plot, clumsy plot) and with there being pretty much no connection to the current time (like with people knowing the champions in botw still etc) its just ... might as well be a random AU

so, memories and story in the past again, even moreso too, call that a double down

theres more obviosuly (like the tutorial being the same but worse, the abilities too being done so similarly isntead of bringing back main items, the clunky ASS UI that was bad in botw but still okay bc first tiem and also meant for the wii u- totk though?? worse, they made the shitty UI WORSE, quest rewards being a fucking joke, all the GRINDING totk is so much stupid GRINDING) maybe people dont realize this, mabye calling it doubling down isnt right but to me this is all the same, but even worse, instead of correcting and taking a few steps back to how it was before and see theres value in all those older games systems they did botw again, but worse, so .. doubling down on all the things that were bad and making them worse too, even if on the surface it may look "fixed", instead of correcting their parking by carefully going backwards they were still in first gear and slamming GO to hit the wall when you where literally telling them they werent in the backwards gear

so so many thigns in totk are just, botw again but worse, more shitty shrines instead of less, more krogs isntead of less, worse rewards, more grind, the shiekah tech again but worse, malice is miasma, the same but also worse (its not even a 3d model ... ), luminous stones are sonanium (zonaite), its everythign again but worse ........ (and also invalidates so much of botw, its jsut ... infuriating bc it FEELS so mean spirited, its just all beign overridden, nothing of botw matters bc look! look all that stuff came BEFORE THEM actually, and that was way more important ..... even down to the sonau designs its overriding so much of shiekah stuff, and im not even that big of a simp for shiekah stuff but this was supposed to be a botw sequel, the game with the shiekah tech?????? anyway ..)

(yes this is as short as i could make it on the spot, already spent two hours on this so sorry but i wont go over it to edit for another one dfnjknhdfjkbdfjk)

[artbysmoochie]

I propose that the item that Ralsei is in the light world is–

SPOILERS AHEAD.

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LAST CHANCE.

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YOU have been warned!

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Kris’s SOUL.

Well—Kris’s first SOUL, removed before the player’s SOUL was inserted or grown within Kris.

Ralsei being Kris’s original SOUL, is removed and kept safe in their pocket or potentially stitched in their sweater for safe keeping. Kris keeps their original SOUL on them at all times, hence the initial familiarity Ralsei shares with Kris. Although DELTARUNE is only a parallel story from UNDERTALE, some concepts have been kept concrete between the two–for example, monsters still turn to dust. I dare suggest then that Kris was born with their own original SOUL, and the current player’s SOUL we control is new.

So then what happened to Kris’s SOUL?–I believe Ralsei is that answer.

Let’s take a look at Ralsei. Ralsei looks “similar” to Asriel but not the same. Kris makes a clear distinction of that. Susie, after she sees a picture of Asriel, confuses them until Kris points out all the differences. On the one hand, that could just be a distinct fondness for a sibling—but what if then instead, Ralsei is a self-actualization of Kris’s identity in a perfect world, a world where he was exactly the person they wanted to be, exactly the body they wanted. Even down to the horns that Kris wishes they had a kid, but that Asriel doesn’t have.

Kris wore horns as a kid? Ralsei has horns. Kris practiced occult stuff with Catti? Ralsei has the highest magic on the team. Asriel is the coolest, most beloved person in town? Ralsei is a sweet, endearing muffin who is helpful and sweet to a fault. Asriel gave the church choir “strength” when they were kids? Ralsei goes HAM as the singer in the rock-minigame.

Ralsei has a heart / SOUL symbol on his chest—one could have assumed he might have just been the heart equivalent to Lancer’s spade and never thought about it after. A Jack of Hearts versus a Jack of Spades—two princes. We wouldn’t think about it in Chapter One onward where all the card motifs exist. Yet we get to see the rest of the kings imprisoned and Ralsei looks like none of them. It stands to reason then that Ralsei can't just be one of the playing cards, heart symbol or not.

Ralsei is the one in charge of our tutorial—as if, teaching a new SOUL how things can work, what they can control, and so on. The fact that Ralsei has the ability to go meta like this should speak to their level of knowledge on things. Especially if he’s been here before or, if some theories hold–Kris, Asriel, and Dess used to traverse the Dark Worlds together.

Ralsei is the confidant in so many aspects and often has heart-to-hearts with Kris. In the dark world, they can calmly walk Kris through doing things that shut us out even for a few minutes. There are likely conversations they have when we are shut out of/never privy to. Also explains Ralsei’s resigned tone to Kris after the Roaring Knight fight for them to “Do what they need to do”. It’s left extremely vague, given the Roaring Knight we now know may be in league with Kris, and vice versa. So of course if Ralsei is an extension of Kris, Ralsei might have some idea of what Kris is planning, or doing. Ralsei might also be hoping that if they are an extension of Kris, that Kris will make the right decisions in the end.

…Whatever those decisions will be.

Ralsei doesn’t know what to do once in control of mini-Kris in the video game portion of Chapter 3. If Kris has had him removed for a very long time, in place of the current SOUL, it’s likely that Ralsei barely remembers how to take control of the Kris steering wheel so to speak. So much so that Ralsei has long since accepted that we’re the ones in control of Kris, not him, and *that’s how it’s supposed to be*.

The dialogue during that time is as follows:

Susie: C’mon, just for a little bit. It’ll be fun.

Ralsei: …Umm, Kris, don’t you want your controller back?

Kris/Us: You can have a turn (chosen)

Ralsei: We'll if Kris says it’s okay… So… Um…K-Kris… Which way should I go?

Susie: You got the controller, YOU choose.

*(Skipping through the photo-taking bit.)*

Ralsei: It’s fun…just moving around. Haha.

Susie: Y’know you can do that whenever, right.

Ralsei: I…I guess so. I’m used to following, haha. I’m not normally… Supposed to be… A player one.

Thinking about if Ralsei is the missing identity and SOUL…Well…Kris not being too happy with no matter what we do makes a bit more sense.

Kris’s disdain for us the Player’s SOUL even on the normal route stems from a forced identity. We make them feel like a fraud in some respects because how much would Susie like them if they were in the driver’s seat rather than us? Would Noelle have come back into their lives without us? Would they accomplish HALF of what has happened so far, without us. In a teenager’s stressed out mind, where does one identity begin and the other end? Teenagers go through a shit-ton, and that’s all before graduation. It also explains why Kris ESPECIALLY hates us on the weird route—we are forcing an identity on Noelle, nevermind one she has no stomach for. On top of the other things we make them do to her.

Also, Ralsei being Kris’s original SOUL offers world protection. They are always necessary in every dark world we go, whether it be seeing through the prophecy or simply guiding us along. Likewise, perhaps Ralsei’s proximity to Kris in the light/real world (stuffed in his pocket, not needing a cage because Ralsei is their SOUL after all, why would it go anywhere?) is what keeps Kris from dropping like a full on corpse, and instead shambles like a zombie. These are more anecdotal thoughts however.

So there’s the evidence I have.

tl;dr: Ralsei is Kris’s original SOUL, taking a shape and body in the darkness. He was removed when Kris was younger, and replaced with the player’s SOUL.

[junplusone]

don't lie! a svt interactive series | TEASER

SUMMARY. the rules are simple: the mafia must survive, and the civilians must find and take them out. but nobody expects the game to go far beyond that.

PAIRING. none

GENRE. thriller, interactive series, don't lie x alice in borderland au

WARNINGS. language, main character death (not graphic)

FIRST CHAPTER RELEASE DATE: 06/23/25, 12:00 AM EST

UPDATES: weekly!

IMPORTANT: hello & welcome! trying something i haven't really done before with this interactive series based on don't lie & alice in borderland, and i'm so excited.

if you would like to be tagged with each new chapter so you can contribute to the progression of the storyline, please fill out this google form, i'd appreciate it greatly!

i hope you enjoy this little snippet, i'm looking forward to sharing the rest with you all :)

“DIFFICULTY LEVEL: TEN OF HEARTS. GAME: MAFIA.”

005 | SOONYOUNG: This game! We’ve all played this before, right?

012 | SEUNGKWAN, with much excitement: Oh, Mafia! If you get too emotional, you automatically lose!

008, softly: Hmm. A Hearts game.

“RULES: DISCUSS WITH EACH OTHER AND IDENTIFY THE THREE MAFIAS AMONG THE TOWNSPEOPLE. IN ADDITION TO THE MAFIA, THERE IS ONE DOCTOR AND ONE DETECTIVE. TOWNSPEOPLE WILL HAVE THIRTY MINUTES TO DISCUSS AND VOTE OUT A MAFIA MEMBER AFTER EACH NIGHT. IF VOTING RESULTS IN A TIE, NO PLAYER WILL BE ELIMINATED.

ROLES: EVERY NIGHT, EACH MAFIA MEMBER WILL SELECT ONE PLAYER TO ELIMINATE. ONE PLAYER FROM THE THREE CHOSEN WILL BE ELIMINATED AT RANDOM. IF THE SAME PLAYER IS CHOSEN BY TWO OR MORE MAFIA MEMBERS, THAT PLAYER WILL BE ELIMINATED.

EVERY NIGHT, THE DOCTOR WILL SELECT ONE PLAYER TO SAVE, INCLUDING THEMSELF. THE DOCTOR CAN ONLY SELECT EACH PLAYER ONE TIME THROUGHOUT THE GAME.

EVERY NIGHT, THE DETECTIVE WILL SELECT ONE PLAYER TO REVEAL THEIR IDENTITY.

THE MAFIA GAME IS ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU CAN TRUST YOUR FELLOW PLAYERS, AND YOURSELF. REMEMBER, THINGS MAY NOT ALWAYS BE AS THEY SEEM.”

006: This is starting to sound a little scary.

013 | CHAN: Ah, don’t worry, Wonwoo. Mafia was always fun. It’ll be exciting, playing with people we don’t know at all.

“PROHIBITED ACTIONS: INJURING OR KILLING YOUR FELLOW PLAYERS IS NOT ALLOWED AT ANY TIME.”

012 | SEUNGKWAN: Eh? 

“HOW TO WIN: TOWNSPEOPLE WIN ONCE ALL THREE MAFIA MEMBERS HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED. MAFIA WINS ONCE THERE ARE ONLY TWO TOWNSPEOPLE REMAINING.

ROLES HAVE BEEN DISTRIBUTED TO EACH PLAYER. PLEASE CHECK YOUR DEVICES FOR INFORMATION.”

005 | SOONYOUNG: Wow, this is so cool! How did they coordinate that?

008, with trepidation: Ah, seriously.

“THE GAME WILL BEGIN NOW. NIGHT HAS FALLEN. EVERYONE, LOWER YOUR HEADS.”

thank you for reading this tidbit! make sure to fill out the google form if you'd like to be tagged with each chapter so you can vote too! much love, hershey xx

[wrestlersownmyheart]

"Yeet Of Fate" Chapter 13 (Jey Uso X Female Reader)

Title: Yeet Of Fate Pairing: Jey Uso X Reader Summary: When you, an aspiring author, decide to take your skills to the world of wrestling, you decide to shadow and tag along with a couple of wrestlers to learn more about the sport for your upcoming book debut. None other than the Royal Rumble winner, Jey Uso, is the male wrestler you will be working with, and needless to say, that makes you nervous. You tell yourself, things will stay platonic. You tell yourself that…

Jey Uso is at the top of his game, the last thing he needs is a fan trailing around after him and fan girling all over the place. He wants to do his job, bask in the glory of it and call it a day. Not have to answer questions all day long from a wannabe writer. That's how he feels, until he meets Y/N face to face. She isn't what he expected. And he doesn't like to be wrong. As beautiful as she is… He will keep things platonic. He tells himself that…

Disclaimers: I own nothing or anyone associated or affiliated with WWE. I own only the original characters. This is just a fictional story that came from my imagination. Content/Trigger Warnings:

NOTE: This is a sort of "divider" for the next part of the story. It is very short (like less than 2 pages), but was necessary to the story. There will be a time jump in Chapter 14.

Chapter 13

Gunther went into a flower shop to send yet more flowers to Y/N.

He didn't know her favorite flower, so he was just sending her endless bouquets of various types of flowers. Today, he'd picked daisies. They were cheerful, and maybe just maybe, they would… cheer her up–help her to see that he was the one she was supposed to be with.

In actuality, he knew it was going to take more than flowers to win her over. And it would take time. She was still hung up on Uso. Why he didn't know. But he would help her to see the truth. Jey wasn't worthy of her.

He was, however.

He thought about her beauty, her resilience, her strength and courage. She was everything he could want in a woman.

And everything he would have…

}i{}i{}i{}i{}i{

Jey entered his hotel room and quickly laid his championship belt at the foot of the bed, and then flopped onto the bed himself, slinging his arm across his eyes to cover them. He needed some peace.

Peace that only Y/N could bring him.

But he'd screwed that up.

At least she was safe now, though. He could take comfort in that.

But life had just not been the same without her.

Life had not been fair.

He won his world title, but he'd lost the love of his life.

Was it worth it, he wondered.

He couldn't bring himself to say it was.

If you want on my tag list, just ask! 😀

Tagging:

@oreillystolemyheart @lookalivesunshine-x @southerngirl41 @claymoresofinfamy23 @beccalynns-world 

@Heerah34 @dersha89 @shortyiceheart @wwechristina87 @expert-texpert

@sassymox @sammyfinn21-blog @alliecatsworldsblog @potatosackk @keisha-knell 

@peaceloveandcurves @terrortwinunicorn @mzv11 @jazzyboo123-blog1 @ibelievedinjh 

@fafomama @zigzoggy @raya-hunter01 @sharmelasworld @queenmotionlessxo

@skyesthebomb

[broodwoof]

Solas and Sex

going to say right away that this is not a horny post (although i make plenty of those too). this is genuine meta about the culture around sex in arlathan and solas' personal perceptions around sex and how they change and develop, especially with a relationship with the inquisitor who i will be calling "inquisitor/inky" and using they/them pronouns for in this post! much love to all solasmancers

i am absolutely of the opinion that during arlathan era, sex was just normal. it was not exclusive to romantic relationships and it could have any number of meanings, or be largely without meaning

(could easily go down a rabbit hole here but i'll avoid it - maybe some other time!)

the evanuris were not always viewed as gods. that developed. and i think prior to its development, solas likely participated willingly and with enjoyment in the sexual aspects of the evanuris, as well as all else they did. but i think as time went on his participation changed... i don't think it necessarily stopped, but the meaning underlying it was different

if andruil pursued him, and he let himself be caught, it was not to experience her body, to take pleasure in her touch. if it was enjoyable, that was a side benefit, but not the goal. the goal was to see what she might say with her guard lowered. how she might behave in the bliss of afterglow. even to observe how she tried to use and manipulate him, and infer things from that

he was manipulative with it, and cunning, and strategic. and he was not alone in this. i think over time the meaning would have changed for all of them. sex as control. as changing a context. as disobedience. as subversion. as upheaval. as plot and ploy. as distraction. as coercion. as claim. as possession. as worship. as punishment. as reward.

sex does not exist in a vacuum, and it would not there, either. all of these goals are pursued in countless ways, and sex is just one tool among many, but it is a tool

none of this is to say that sex for pleasure or sex for intimacy did not exist in arlathan, even during the height of politicking. i think solas and mythal had more of that dynamic. i think andruil and ghilan'nain did as well. and while we know so little about them, i think it is fair to assume sylaise and june had that too

to me, that's pretty much solas' background with sex. it developed from something purely physical and exploratory into one of many tools in the "game" arlathan played, and his perception of it developed with it

the way solas returns the inqusitor's early flirtations... this, to me, is in line with the game of arlathan. it is so smooth, so eloquent, and so quick. someone approaches him with interest and he knows how to respond to that interest immediately

this isn't to say there's no truth in it at all, either. just that it's a learned behavior. and he gets a bit of a kick out of totally turning the tables and flustering them. but it's not anything super serious at that point

i think the fade kiss is one of the bigger, realer moments for him, but at the same time, he's still leaning on learned behavior. i truly think he wants them at this point and that there is an element of the intuitive, the reactive, the instinctual in the way he slots their legs together, in the way he deepens the kiss into something very intense, but it's also leaning a bit on what he's learned to do. it's hard to do otherwise! countless centuries of participation in these activities in arlathan, so much of this is deeply internalized

but the way he approaches them afterwards, wanting to talk... i think that's him trying to draw a veil (heh) between them, yes, and to minimize the pursuit he fell into, yes, but it's also because he doesn't want to play the game with them. he wants to know them. he's full of conflict, and is at his best, in a way, when any one behavior can have multiple benefits. in this case, he's distancing himself from the kiss, quickly steering the conversation away from physical intimacy and his own true and performed desperation, and into a much safer territory... while also being able to indulge in his own developing interest

and, lbr, this man likes to converse. i know the fandom jokes about how he talks so much, and he does, to a degree... but it's conversation that he enjoys, not monologuing. he relishes the chance to have a deep discussion with someone. he does not share his stories with the inky randomly, only when asked, and he approves of them asking him to tell him these things, but also asking questions afterwards, about keeping an open mind

but the absolute turning point in the romantic relationship is not in haven. it's not in the fade. it's on the balcony. it's after wisdom.

the inky can show solas that they understand that a spirit is his friend. that he cares about it. they can try and help him free it. (note: i haven't done alternative playthroughs of this particular quest because I Don't Fucking Wanna)

and that is the big shift. for many reasons! one of which is, of course, the fact that solas himself is a spirit. or was, but truly, i think he still is in many fundamental ways. but it is also about the inky being open-minded, not just in words, but in actions. because when they arrive, there is no gentle spirit waiting for them... there is a demon

the inky can choose to trust solas, to trust that even though it is a demon in front of them, that there may still be something they can do. that is the turning point for solas. that is why he approaches them on the balcony. that is why he brings up the kiss again. that is when he first tells them he loves them

because he does. he does

now, this is a meta about sex, and i haven't forgotten! things are left up for interpretation on whether or not solas and the inquisitor had sex. but setting that aside, i think it's worth considering what sex with someone he has fallen in love with would mean to him

now, i write him as demisexual. to be clear, this wasn't something i set out to do intentionally, but the more i wrote him the more clearly his demisexuality manifested. so he's had sex. he's also had sex with mythal, a woman he genuinely loves and is loved by (at least in my view), so intimate sex with a physical desire for the other person is not entirely unknown... but it was not something he thought to ever have again

and i think arlathan ruined sex for him for a long time. instead of a form of intimacy, it became a tool. a weapon. i suspect he and mythal's sexual relationship slowed until it was all but nonexistent, because it just felt fraught and complex

so to find his way back to it again...

i think he's fighting with himself. boldly leading, his body a tool... and he has to stop himself, because he doesn't want that. not with them. if it's during inq, he probably allows a certain amount of that. because he still has to manipulate them. he doesn't want to, but they still can't know who he is

but after... or even after veilguard, in the fade... confident hands on their arms turn to clutching ones, trembling, and his breathing sharpens. he's trying to bury the learned behavior. he wants to be here, to feel this. i can see it going many ways.... starting only to stop, maybe a bunch of times... or letting his partner lead, try to ease him into just reacting instead of guiding, to soften his learned behaviors until they eventually fade away and let something more sincere emerge

they could talk it out. they could feel it out. he could force himself to perform until the performance drops away (i doubt any partner would want that, but it could be solas' choice to do that anyway without consulting them)

and i think this is why being dommed is easier for him, in my view. and why especially being pushed all the way into subspace is easier for him. because suddenly the barriers drop and he's a raw nerve and he's all reaction. there's no performance left. and the fact that he's safe, that he's held afterwards, that as he shakes he's comforted, it makes all the difference

(because i like to explore him being in subspace in arlathan... and it being a vulnerability. whether it's used against him or not i tend to keep intentionally vague, but he knows it is a vulnerability, and any vulnerability can be exploited)

but i also think him finding his way towards his own desires - and particularly any desires around domination or sadism - would be very, very important and cathartic for him as well. anything he does with his lover is going to be completely consensual, but if they want to be dommed by him, if they are a masochist, then he can explore those desires in himself, too, in a safe way

because i do think solas probably has... a lot of kinks. ppl can have kinks for any reason, but ppl can also develop kinks based around their own traumas. so i think he'd have some where that is the origin. and that doesn't make them bad! but it's something i think he'd struggle with, and struggle with the morality of them

sex as a tool is easy. you use it to meet your own ends. you know how far you are willing to go, and that's how far you go. you're in control, even when you're play-acting at vulnerability, unless you're not in control because someone's using the tool on you instead...

but that's the complexity of it all for him. and i think being able to explore these things in a safe, affirming way would actually ease a tremendous weight that he has carried for a long time

[sysmedsaresexist]

No one in this thread understands what dissociation is, and you're ALL part of the goddamn problem

@corditepowder even your tags got hidden, isn't that great?? This is how education and debate works, OP doing a great job out here

No, i don't have you blocked, and I'm going to run through every single problem here

LET'S GO

1. What the fuck is dissociation?

Dissociation is something that everyone on this planet does, children especially. It's the same mechanism that let you play dolls and house as a kid. It's your ability to disappear into a game or book for hours, it's highway hypnosis, it's HEALTHY.

Everyone does it.

When it comes to trauma, dissociation allows us to push down the emotional turmoil surrounding it so that we can continue to function. THIS IS ALSO HEALTHY.

Until it's not. Dissociation can develop into a behavioral addiction, it can become maladaptive, it starts to happen outside of your control and to things you shouldn't be ignoring or pushing away.

In children, it's this same function that allows alters to form. When a child dissociates that hard and for that long, parts can begin to develop within themselves, developing their own likes, dislikes, opinions, etc.

Dissociation is a vast spectrum that only RARELY causes amnesia.

I highly suggest Jamie Marich's book, Dissociation Made Simple. You can find it online.

2. What the fuck is emotional amnesia?

It's a dumb, fancy way of saying dissociation, specifically the disconnect of memories and emotions. It's a horrible term, I hate it, it exists in no clinical texts and has done nothing since it was coined but cause confusion.

Emotional amnesia is the most normal type of dissociation that everyone experiences to some extent. It's just really pathological in CDDs.

3. So what is amnesia?

It's missing/misfiled/rejected/dissociated memories. In CDDs, we're specifically referring to dissociative amnesia.

4. Do endogenic systems dissociate?

Probably, but that's going to be a matter of personal opinion, as well. Colin Ross once said that in order for the mind to talk to itself, and to hear itself talk back, there MUST be dissociation in some form.

This is easier to understand when you actually know what dissociation is.

Disconnect.

5. Is the ToSD just a theory?

No.

That's a link. Click it.

The ToSD is so rock solid that the ICD included it in the DID entry, and it can be seen, IN ACTION, on brain scans.

6. So amnesia creates CDDs?

Fuck no.

Amnesia is a result of the dissociation. The dissociation creates the alters. Though this sounds simple, it adds extreme complexity to the conversation that MATTERS.

Amnesia creating alters is Google Ai making a mistake. I made a post on it.

It's the emotional dissociation that keeps the feelings and trauma between alters, not amnesia. Amnesia may appear, but it's not required.

7. Does DID need amnesia?

ACTUALLY, NO.

It just needs dissociation. It most often comes with memory loss, but not always.

The DSM and ICD are set up differently. The DSM has DID, which requires amnesia at some point over the course of the disorder-- not now, not between everyone, not blackout. You could have amnesia for childhood events only, between some alters and not others, or, shockingly, none at all.

Here comes osdd.

Osdd 1b requires EMOTIONAL amnesia (read: dissociation) ONLY, if you are missing any memories, you have DID

1a will have memory loss

***obligatory, 1a and 1b aren't real diagnoses, and that conversations between patients and therapists may result in different labels

The ICD has DID and P-DID, neither of which require amnesia.

Make sense?

8. Do not EVER refer to DID as an infection again, that is so disrespectful.

Be better.

***for those confused, this was a terrible analogy, not only is it inaccurate because it's based on a faulty understanding of how CDDs work, it's very telling about how OP views trauma and this disorder

9. Level of agency?

It comes from dissociation, not amnesia, this is so stupid.

10. WHAT THE FUCK, "if dissociative barriers had to be there, functional multiplicity wouldn't be a treatment option."

WHAT

IT'S CALLED DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER, NOT AMNESIA DISORDER

It's the dissociative barriers that allow for alters to exist, they HAVE to be there, if you remove the dissociation, fusion happens.

Dissociation allows for parts to gain agency.

Anyways, @corditepowder, hope this helps

I’d consider myself endo neutral so I’m not debating rather than asking you a question which is a lot of the reason I’m not pro endo

So I’m not saying you can’t have a system form through other means or create themselves for the purpose of this question. If we assume you can create a system or have members form endogenically, would they not also form dissociative walls. Or emotional amnesia and stuff as well? Because that’s what in CDDs allows multiple people to exist in one brain in the first place, the emotional amnesia so that you’re able to be in one brain but have different emotions.

A lot of endos say they are not disordered have no amnesia grey outs or emotional amnesia, and if that’s true, how scientifically speaking are they plural? Without emotional amnesia and grey outs and all that where is the separation?

There are some endos who do have emotional amnesia ect and I’m not talking about those

- George

CDD systems are formed from trauma and trauma also causes dissociation, amnesia, etc. The theory of the way CDD systems form is that during childhood, there is so much trauma that the brain must split up into parts to protect itself. The amnesia between parts or alters is necessary to protect the parts/alters from the trauma.

So, for example, Part A is fronting when a traumatic event happens to them. The brain doesn't want the rest of the parts to know that a traumatic event happened to them, so it creates the amnesic barrier between Part A and the rest of the parts. That means that when Part B fronts, they're not 'burdened' with the memories of the trauma that Part A faced and Part B can function relatively well, while Part A may be so overcome by the trauma they can't function well.

If there was no amnesia between parts, the brain's coping mechanism of splitting would be useless as now there would just be many parts that are all traumatised, and the brain doesn't want that. It wants to make sure the trauma is put away where the absolute minimum amount of parts can know about it.

I kind of think of it like an infection, right? The trauma (or memories of the trauma) is the infection and if one part catches it, you want to isolate them to make sure that the rest of the 'population' (system) doesn't catch the same infection. If you just let the 'infected' part roam around, coughing and sneezing all over the rest of the system, then everyone will catch the infection, and that is very very bad because now the entire population is bedridden with illness.

Therapy is kind of like a vaccine, so you can more safely let the population catch the infection but the symptoms can be managed and after all the doses are given, the population may not experience any symptoms at all.

Endogenic systems who don't have any trauma do not have to isolate their infected parts because there are no infected parts. Their population is not at risk of becoming bedridden with illness because there is no illness. Their brain doesn't have to put up protective barriers because there's nothing to protect against.

As for your last point, most endogenic systems (and a lot of CDD systems) consider their headmates as whole separate people, which is how they have different names, ages, genders, emotions, etc etc. I don't think it's the dissociation or amnesia that makes headmates separate people, I believe it's the level of agency one headmate has over another's thoughts. If Headmate A thinks "I like pizza" and Headmate B HATES pizza, Headmate B is obviously not going to think that they thought "I like pizza", they are going to know it was someone else. There doesn't have to be dissociation for multiple streams of thought or multiple consciousnesses to inhabit one body. I referenced this study in my previous post but to keep it short, it's a study done on tulpamancers (who underwent a psychological evaluation and was found to have very little to no signs of having a CDD or having any kind of delusion or psychosis) and evangelical Christians and brain scans revealed that the level of agency of the tulpamancer's thoughts (and evangelical Christians reciting the Lord's prayer) was much, much higher than that of the tulpa's (and evangelical Christians while speaking in tongues). So their brains literally didn't recognise those thoughts as their own, despite there being no dissociation.

I hope this makes a bit of sense!

[deltamune]

Someone please explain to me why I had a dream about a vampire McCree chasing RE4 Leon Kennedy through a library while Devil Trigger played over the loudspeakers

[astracora]

I get the point of people going 'banners aren't canon/have nothing to do with the lore' but... I feel like people are using lore incorrectly. Whatever your feelings about cat boys or catch22 boys, you can't just point blank go banners have no bearing on character that's a crazy statement 😭

There is some wild hypocrisy just specifically for this banner with people who were cool af with cat boys (which was crazy like sorry how did tiny cats be so op that they could TURN OFF someone's evol and suppress it and make them grow cat features and personality traits) now going this is too AU. (Kinda the point of an AU you know? The question is what would you have to do to make a character act like this.)

But I've also seen like? Sylus' Within Reach card named as having nothing to do with the story too ('you're just measuring his ass'). Like. Are you only watching kindleds and not playing dates? His entire card is about MC worrying about his health, realising they care more than they want to, and more suggestions that Sylus 1. Truly understands them that he can read those feelings on their face or 2. Is able to see into their dreams.

That's? Character building 😭 which by definition is part of their lore.

Even cat boys showed that? Zayne being more affectionate because he didn't have to worry about his EVOL going out of control. Raffy being more honest about his desperation for MC because it was harder to hide? Xavier showing more of his anxieties over not having MC in his life. Sylus showing he does everything he does FOR MC and no one else.

You're free not to like the new banner I'm not debating that, if it's not up ur alley that's super chill and very fair, unless ur out there being weird on main to people who are excited for it, but like. Saying it will have NOTHING to offer about the characters is a batshit statement that's fully untrue.

There's a very real thing to be said that no person is fully perfect and everyone is capable of being broken down. One of Zayne's main character beats is how EVER/Xander Sciences wants him for their experiments, and the question the game presents is 'what would we have to do to make this man abandon his morals'. You're about to potentially see that EXACT scenario in catch 22.

I'm not saying 'go pull' either. I'm saying, when it comes out if you're curious watch the date on YouTube, and see what character information the story offers you because seeing all the messy complex sides of a character is absolutely fascinating.

Whether they're even going to be that dark is up for debate, but I'm fully willing to bet that they'll have something to share about the characters themselves, that adds to the little complex web of their lore and build.

[victoriously-regal]

Thanks for roping me into this!! What a great game!! (all gifs used are mine btw)

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Okay, who I look like most is hard. Honestly none, but if I had to pick, I guess maybe...

She's the only south asian character/actress that i can recall in the show. And -fun fact- I'm also of south asian descent so I guess I look most like Jasmine?? But even that is a stretch, in my opinion.

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Personality has gotta be...

She spends most of the time just so sick of everybody's bullshit and honestly, SAME. I would give it to Regina too because of the snark and also for being so done with everybody, but for the most part, I think I'm an Emma.

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Whose style matches mine? I literally only wear t shirts and leggings/sweats exclusively so...

I guess, Emma again? Season 1 specifically.

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Backstory's an interesting one. I dunno if this really counts as "backstory" but...

Henry gets made fun of constantly for being so invested in his stories and characters. I also get made fun of by the people in my circle for being invested in fictional media and shows and characters that i really enjoy.

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Who I'd get along with best? Okay, is it cheating if I put more than one here?

Too bad, im gonna do it anyway, hahaha.

C'mon, she's favourite snarky redhead and a fellow brit!! Especially her in season 6 and 7, we'd be INSEPARABLEEE!!! Next we have...

Emma would just be so chill to be around. Like I could just randomly show up at hers and next thing you know, we're watching Mrs Doubtfire on DVD with Henry in the kitchen making way more popcorn than we need. And following on from there...

I'm convinced she's THE person to go to for advice. She's unbiased, she keeps all your secrets, she's just a vibe. Mulan, I love you. And finally...

We would get. shit. done. And trade insults between us for the people we hate lol. I also feel like she's a very good person to converse with about a good book or movie. She'd analyse wayyyy too deep into each character's motivations and from that would spawn a delightfully fascinating 3-hour long discussion between us.

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Ahh, this was fun!!! Tagging:

@dinneratgrannys @dungeonsanddoormats @believingispowerfulmagic

Okay so I created a tag game because I felt like it and it's FUN and it's SILLY and WHO CARES

Rules are: answer each category by putting a gif of a OUAT character that fits the best (or any other fandom if you feel like it !!!)

Let me go first:

1) Who do you look like most ?

(somewhere between those two)

2) Who's personality do you relate to the most ?

(And I am NOT proud of it)

3) Who's style matches yours best ?

(S1 Ruby specifically, overdressed and whore-ish)

4) Who's backstory do you relate most to ?

(ooooooh she has a complicated relationship to her dad)

5) Who do you feel like you'd get along with the best ?

(we'd be besties I just know it 😔)

Tagging @snowivyimconfusi @avatarena @deceptivelycomplex @lenaluthorssuitcollection and @cinnonym and also everyone who feels like doing it because honestly it was fun to do

(but also NO PRESSURE GUYS I'm just bored and looking for new ways not to work)

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

This might be a bit random but would you say you have any thoughts on Neurodivergent readings of Zhongli (more specifically autistic)? I was thinking about it in the latest chapter of JG amd even before then too. as an autistic person myself i feel he reads very heavily as such, especially when talking about his human mask and feeling like he doesn't need to force it as much with childe, and his issues with human expression in smiling etc. but I think it's then an interesting debate between that and the fact that, well, he's just not human. that all comes from a place of being an entirely different species, unevolved and unrelated to human brains and how they think and read social patterns, and I feel we don't really have any way of telling if ZL has any divergent tendencies among dragons right? and even then he's half, too, so that affects things.

anyway sorry for the ramble I was mainly wondering if you had any opinions on the matter, or if you intended the parallels I definitely see while reading your Zhongli! love your work as always <3333

i think i might've commented on this at some point but never directly, so here – i do have thoughts on the matter!

as you mentioned, it's difficult to tell with characters that aren't human, because you can't call something 'neurodivergent' if the bases for their neurotypical-ity are not the ones by which we measure this stuff. so, to me, ALL non-human characters are neurodivergent-coded. they may not be neurodivergent, technically speaking (like how you mentioned, maybe all dragons are just like zl), but to us, they read as such. so, coded. ultimately i do think there is merit in labeling them as neurodivergent because, even if they, again, technically aren't; we are going to run into problems if we attempt to treat them as neurotypical, so we might as well say yeah, neurodivergent. it is also kinda correct anyway – they do diverge from us. that's a fact. it's like saying dogs are colorblind. if all dogs see in the same range, then you can't say your dog in specific is colorblind (unless it actually is but that's beside the point); but compared to us, from our perspective, for what it matters to us and how that will translate into how we treat them then yes! dogs are colorblind! i think i mentioned it once in conjunction with characters like alhaitham. to me, zhongli is neurodivergent-coded, while alhaitham is neurodivergent straight-up. because (as far as we know) he's human, so his brain should, in theory, be like ours.

as for which flavor of neurodivergency zl is coded to have in specific i would agree with you on autism! but then again, i'm not an expert on these things, i don't know the exact ins and outs and the specific characteristics that constitute an autistic character – i just write them the way i perceive them, with the quirks i perceive them to have. not to get preachy but i think that's the better way to write characters in general, since that's how real people work, after all. people with autism aren't born fitting some parameters that will make them autistic – they're born with specific quirks that we then interpret as autism, and even then you don't necessarily get two people having the exact same experience with this. most of these terms are umbrella terms regardless as to how well-defined or how big or small the umbrella is.

so yeah!

[reddamselette]

just realized while rewatching aot that before i had jean and jeremy, i had jean and armin and i think that says a lot.