#The scene is definitely subject to rewriting

[niveussol]

Chapter like, 50 in a Persona 5 fanfic that doesn't exist yet (but it's a scene I really liked, so I yearned to Post It)

A Past Forgotten; Fates Ungotten

Chapter (Like) 50:

Airi gathers the Phantom Thieves and tells them everything-- and brings Akechi down to see the rest of the team. Makoto is immediately suspicious, as is Joker, Ryuji, and Morgana. Airi bows deeply in front of the group, and asks them: “I know what I did wasn’t right. We never intended to damage him, or change his heart, or any of it-- but we learned too much, and now he’s going to do something terrible sooner than we can act--- unless we act now.” Futaba is the first, surprisingly, to agree. She says that “we can’t wait for some guy to learn nuclear launch codes and deploy them before we do anything. Or.. something.” Yusuke takes her side right away, saying, “it is better to act with Surety and good intent, than to falter and allow injustice and devastation to occur. Furthermore, I trust Airi with my life. She’s already saved it.”

Airi becomes emotional-- hearing it means a lot to her-- but she hides it. Instead, she asks to speak with Akira-- alone. They go upstairs. She makes sure to whisper so any potential ‘Futaba bugs’ don’t overhear. Morgana sneaks up and listens at the threshold, out of sight, of course, so he hears the full conversation go as follows:

“I’m going to attempt to change his heart, no matter what. I know the Phantom Thieves have to agree on their target. I understand that will make me an enemy of the Phantom Thieves. I know it’s wrong of me to decide that my path is right, and follow my ideals blindly, even if the team decides against my judgment-- but i cannot look away from what this man is capable of. He could end the world. I think he might. I won’t run from him. And… I know that it will be hard defeating him on my own. Akechi is powerful, but he’s still recovering from his time comatose, even today. He’s still relearning his strength. He may never be as strong, again. He’s a different man now. The two of us will probably fail, on our own.”

“However….. I cannot tell the rest of the team my plans. I don’t want them to feel pressured to enter the metaverse blindly just to keep me alive, to keep me safe. It would not be right of me to hold my life over their heads. And I’m not holding my life over your head either. It’s not your job to convince your team what’s right-- they already know. But you have a right to know what I’m planning. You’ve kept me alive, and safe, thus far. I owe you… I owe you so much. You, at least, deserve to know the truth.”

Akira doesn’t say much back-- he never really does. But he does say: “So… this is the path you’re choosing?”

Airi just nods and says… “yeah. This is my purpose. I’m the only one that can do what I do. I have to do this, even if it spells my end. Even if I’m. Even if I’m…. scared. Of dying in vain, and failing. I’ll still do it.”

“Well.” he says. “Looks like I know my path, too.”

One by one, the phantom thieves come to agree, all except for Makoto. “What if this is a trap, and we never knew Airi, really? What if her plan was this all along, to bait us into doing exactly the wrong thing?”

Akechi speaks up after that. “You’ve spent all this time with her, and yet you still don’t know her? I don’t know if you know who I am, but I am a murderer, a criminal, a liar, a traitor, even. I’m supposed to be a cold, heartless killer, according to this world. I thought I was. Despite everything though, I was shown that even a monster like me has a heart-- and she’s the one who made me see it.” he says it, and Airi can’t see him through her closed-tight eyes, but she knows he’s pointing to her. “SHE made me realize that I’m capable of doing good, by my own merit-- that I don’t have to have a reason. That I will never make up for my sins, but that I can still atone and right some wrongs in this world. She’s good as good gets-- Don’t distrust her because I made her swear to keep my operations a secret.”

“You can say whatever you want,” Makoto says. “But the truth is, none of us know who Airi truly is. And she has no problem doing things behind our backs-- like she did with pulling Akane into the metaverse. Like she did with her foray into Officer Mashime’s Hallowed Grounds-- like she did, every time she consorted with the wanted criminal known as Goro Akechi.”

“Makoto-- p-please… it’s okay,” Airi says, nearly squeaking the words out. “I understand. You’re right. I’ve done little to justify the trust I’ve gotten from the Phantom Thieves. I’ve kept secrets, even since our first meeting, where I pretended not to understand Morgana. You’re probably right to distrust me. If I were you, I don’t know if I could trust me, either. So… just. Say what must be said.”

Makoto takes a breath. “I reject the notion that we should change Aoi Konuta’s heart.”

“But, Mako-chan…” Haru states. “W-we have to be unanimous… if you don’t agree, then… we’ll lose our opportunity. We might allow something horrible to happen.”

“We’ve saved the world from gods three times,” Makoto states. “If something happens, we can fix it, like we always have. But I’m not walking into a trap with my friends without knowing half of what we can expect. I’m not going to let my friends get killed in a vague attempt to do ‘what’s right’. There’s a reason we have a code-- and it’s to keep us from faltering, from making a big mistake. We follow it, lest we lose our way. And I’m not losing my way or my friends, because I trusted someone that I should not have.”

Airi feels her heart nearly stop-- she realizes that she’s about to Waver, and stops it-- it’s painful to reverse that process, she finds. But, through her heart pain, through the pain of being spoken to like… like a villain. Airi just bows and says: “Thank you for being the voice of reason, Makoto. The Phantom Thieves are lucky to have you-- and, that’s not. That’s not sarcastic. I mean it from the bottom of my heart.”

And, just like that, she takes off her apron, and walks to the door. She thinks there’s not much she can say, but figured it’d be rude to just leave without saying: “I’ll catch you guys later.”

She knows she can’t just enter the Hallowed Grounds today-- she still has to construct a calling card. She has to find a way to get it to him. She’ll figure it out. As long as it keeps her from thinking too much about the inevitability of her fate: she’ll do it.

She sidles out the door quickly.

Akira speaks up-- it’s not something he does often, but he does it: “Akechi. I’ve never heard you say something so sincere before. About anyone. You respect her more than anything, don’t you?”

Akechi scoffs. “She’s the strongest Phantom Thief of all of you. I’ve seen you all win every battle, despite less-than-stellar odds-- I’ve even seen you--” he points at Akira “--reign victorious, all on your own-- you all don’t lose.

“But the moment that she awakened for the first time, she was already dying. She’d been stabbed through the heart. She was alone. Anyone, ANYONE else would have died. But her? She was furious at the world. I saw a fury that could rend the world in two, if she saw fit-- she’d been betrayed by the forces that be-- she’d nearly been killed, killed by a demon. She could have awakened, killed him, and continued down a bitter path, filled with anger and strife-- she should have.

“But she didn’t. She didn’t because she was strong enough to fight for JUSTICE. TRUE JUSTICE. She was strong enough to be kind, even after suffering like she did. She was strong enough to win on her own. Alone. Without help, or aid. I could have helped her. I could have saved her before she was stabbed, had I bothered to-- but I didn’t, and she never held it against me, even though she should have. She’s strong enough to see reason, even when she’s hurting, even when her allies-- her friends--” he spits the word with venom, clearly pointing it to Makoto-- “are hurting, or even outright don’t believe in her. When her friends betray her unbreaking trust in them.

“She’s strong enough to face Konuta alone and kill him-- but she won’t take the easy way. She believes in living for what’s right more than she believes in her right to live. She’s better than all of you. Of course I respect her.”

The room is a little quiet-- Makoto’s face goes red, clearly emotional, conflicted, but trying to hold her ground.

Yusuke stands up.

“She had ample opportunity to sit down and live a quiet life in peace. She could have done it all this time-- but she sees the beauty in the world-- she knows she must preserve it at any cost.

“For some time, I had forgotten how it felt to defend the precious and delicate harmony of this world. I’d forgotten how to hold a brush-- what making a decision felt like. I grew cold. She assured me that I’d known all along-- that I could find that power again, even when my inaction had caused her to come to harm. I couldn’t see it, until I was confronted with two worlds: a world where I did not act, and lost everything; or a world in which I risked it all to stand for that which I believe in. To protect that which was most dear to me. I succeeded, and it’s only because she believed that I could. I came away with a perspective I never understood before-- and I will never forget it again.

“I must, therefore, ask that you reconsider your stance, Makoto. Reconsider throwing aside your inhibitions, and seek to protect that which is dear to you.”

Makoto avoids his powerful gaze.

Futaba speaks up.

“Airi… when Inari got really, really hurt in the Hallowed Grounds in Sapporo, I thought my heart was going to break in half. Inari threw himself in harm’s way, just so that I could be safe-- and then Airi stood between him and that mob boss, barely hanging on. She gave me the opportunity to pull him out of danger.

“When we got out of there, I felt all twisted up inside-- I felt so guilty that I’d allowed my.. my best friend to get hurt like that-- and still, she pulled me aside. And you know what she did? SHE apologized. SHE, the woman who had just saved us said sorry-- that if she had been stronger on the beach, had stood up to that creep, Inari would not have been confronted with such strong feelings of doubt.

“I cried that night-- I cried for hours and hours, I couldn’t stop crying. She held me and told me that everything would be okay-- that he would be awake, bright and early the next day. And she was right. He was awake before the sun came up, back to his old self again-- I wanted to cry again, but all I could do was smile. She helped me g-get rid of all my tears, so that I could show him, show everyone a brave smile. I trust her with everything I have in me.”

Makoto shuts her eyes-- she can’t take that gaze.

Surprising everyone, Shiho chimes in.

“When I met her, I was surprised she’d… she’d been assaulted by a man. Her demeanor was demure, and kind, and she didn’t look at men with fear. After what I went through at Shujin, it shocked me-- she took her pain in stride, everyday. It’s been years, and I still hurt. It’s hard to be brave in the face of that pain-- but seeing her thrive was inspiring to me. She reminded me of Ann. Her heart is strong.”

“Shiho…” Ann says.

“When the shooting happened in Sapporo, and we were caught in the middle of it, I saw her face-- I saw fear-- no, terror. But I saw it-- I saw her expression change. She buried that fear in calculations, looking at all of us. She calmed herself and told us to get under the table. Her hands were over her heart-- I almost thought she was having a heart attack, she looked so in pain. And then… time slowed down. We heard Morgana’s voice for the first time, as he leapt in to stop a cognition from attacking us. She’d saved us.

“If she hadn’t considered us, she could have slipped into the Hallowed Grounds by herself. She could have left us to die-- but she didn’t. And when she and Morgana were beaten by shadows, she told us to run. She was afraid. But she clearly cared about our safety and our lives above her own.

“Makoto-chan… I know we don’t know each other very well. And maybe we don’t know her very well, either. But, even with everything we don’t know about her, I do know this: She saved my life; Hifumi-chan’s life, and Akane-chan’s life that day. I know that I’m not obligated to trust her-- but I want to trust the woman who sacrificed her safety-- her life so that we might live.”

Akane speaks next. “Makoto… I don’t understand why you can’t trust her on this. You all hid Phantom Thief activity from the world-- my own dad hid it from me! My… big sisters kept the truth from me. To me, you were all doing things behind my back, but I didn’t mind it-- I know you all had good reasons for doing what you did. She’s a Phantom Thief-- she’s done so much good with you. So why… why can’t you trust her?”

“Akane-chan…” Makoto says. She opens her eyes, unfallen tears obscuring her view of everyone. “I didn’t want to tell everyone this, since these cases were unconfirmed.” She takes a deep breath, and exhales. “Sae’s been working on an investigation-- in fact, the catalyst for it was Airi, herself. Sae probably wanted to learn more about Airi’s interaction with Akechi, rather than anything else. She didn’t find many answers at first. But… a week later, another patient wound up at the same hospital Airi went to-- his skin, hair, and eyes had turned stark-white.”

Everybody looks surprised, and even Akechi’s dour look softens.

“He was comatose,” she continued. “But, Sae was able to speak with the patient’s wife. The wife couldn’t explain what had happened, just that, one morning, she woke up to find her husband had lost all his color, and couldn’t wake up.” Makoto pauses, trying to calm her heart. Speak a little slower. Take your time, she tells herself.

“Two months later, another man-- and a wealthy one, at that-- was sent to a hospital in Kabukicho with the same symptoms.”

“Where we changed the Hacker’s heart?!” Ryuji asks.

“Yes,” Makoto says. “Right after we changed his heart, in fact. His sister explained to Sae a story much like the first patient’s wife. But it doesn’t stop there-- two months after that, a man fell into the same pallor in Sumida-- the police officer who murdered Chiaki’s parents. Right after he’d been arrested.”

“M-Mako-chan…” Haru muttered. “You’re not suggesting that you think Airi-chan is responsible, are you?”

Futaba butts in, stammering, “Y-yeah, there’s no way that Airi did anything to those guys-- if anything, they’re just afflicted with the same thing!”

“But it’s strange how the events seemed to follow the changes of heart she took part in,” Akechi posited. “First in February, then April and June. Even so, it would be completely out of character for her to ruin anyone’s lives.”

“That’s how I saw it, too--” Makoto continued. “--when Sae explained all this to me. I thought to myself, ‘there’s no way that Airi was capable of doing this to people.’ But… in late-August, another person went pallid. In Sapporo. A previous mayor lost consciousness and fell into the same sort of coma the other patients experienced.”

Haru’s eyes go wide. “Y-you don’t mean--!”

“I do mean,” Makoto replied. “Headlines read, ‘Disgraced Ex-Mayor Mariko Hyodo Falls Into Mysterious Coma.’”

Haru’s eyes gloss over, and she looks at her phone, tapping away here and there on it. “No… no wonder Mari-san never answered my calls or texts after our vacation. She… she’s…”

Makoto places her hand on Haru’s shoulder, crouching down to hug her from the side. She knows how much Mariko Hyodo meant to Haru.

“I’m sorry Haru. I promise, if it turns out these events are connected to the metaverse-- like I think they are-- then we’ll figure out a way to restore them to their previous selves.”

“I’m sorry to cut in,” Yusuke cuts-in. “But is that all? Or is there something more to these cases you haven’t yet shared with us? So far, I remain unconvinced of Airi’s involvement.”

Makoto sighs, and releases her hold on Haru. “Two more patients cropped up. One in October, at Shujin Academy-- a student, in fact.” Everyone gasps, and Akane nearly shrieks. “And the most recent one was three days ago.”

“But, wait,” Ryuji says. “We haven’t changed any hearts this month.”

“Which begs the question-- who did?” Makoto asks, pointedly. Her gaze lands on Akechi, distrust mounting as her heart begins to beat faster. “Airi has been especially busy this month-- I hear she’s missed a lot of work, as well.”

Akechi doesn’t even blink at the attack-- he sighs, resisting the urge to ‘tut tut tut’ her logic, but settles on: “Correlation isn’t causation, Niijima-san. Simply because a Change of Heart preceded the other comatose incidents doesn’t mean they’re caused by them.”

Makoto decides she really, really does hate this man. “I know that. But it would be foolish to ignore the quantity of coincidences in all these cases. Furthermore, I know that you and Airi have been keeping in touch-- using pagers-- since at least August. Probably before that, too. If the two of you have kept in contact this long, then it’s highly possible you arranged times to carry out these plans.”

“And to what end?” Akechi asks. “What would Airi-san or I have against a husband, a brother, a child, and a disgraced mayor?” Haru trembles and chokes a sob at the insult. “The cop, I understand your suspicion, at least. He was a terrible person. And.. ah, my apologies. Who was the last comatose patient? You neglected to tell us, Niijima-san,” Akechi says, using his sickly-innocent detective prince demeanor.

She doesn’t answer right away.

In fact, tens of seconds go by, with all eyes on her.

Then, she realizes she can’t contain the emotions no matter what techniques she tries.

“It’s Sae. She’s turned bone-white and hasn’t woken up,” Makoto rasps.

Haru lets out another sob, then covers her face with a tissue, weeping softly into it. Futaba’s and Yusuke’s eyes go wide and they become extremely still. Akira looks at everyone else-- Ann, Shiho, Sophia, and Hifumi, looking at each other; Ryuji, Shinya, Atsuki and Zenkichi sit with their mouths agape, stares unwavering from Makoto. He notices the shock in Akechi’s face-- completely stunned silence.

It’s Akane that breaks it.

“WHY didn’t you tell me that Sae was in the hospital?!” Akane shouts. “My oldest sister was targeted and you didn’t bother to tell me that THAT is why she wasn’t home during Christmas?! NOW who’s keeping secrets from who?!”

“I wanted to tell you-- I wanted to tell you all. But Sae made me swear all of this information to secrecy while she was awake. I wanted to pick up the case where she left off. I wanted to have faith in Airi, believe that she would never do something like this to anyone-- but Sae shared all of this with me two months ago, when the Shujin student went comatose. She said, ‘If even one more person falls into a coma, I’m going to confront Airi about what she knows.’” Makoto huffs, trying to dispel the bitterness in her throat. “And then this happens.” Tears sneak past the corner of her eyes, and fall down her cheeks. She pulls Haru back into that side-hug embrace, trying to find any sort of comfort.

“Dude…” Ryuji says.

“Sae-san…” Akechi says. “Was she close to some sort of breakthrough, Niijima-san? Perhaps she made a powerful enemy.” Makoto opens her mouth to speak, but is cut off abruptly. “Someone besides Airi-san.”

“I… I don’t know,” Makoto rasps out. “The timing is alarming. It’s almost as if…”

“...as if it was planned,” Akira finishes. (as if it was a rush job/as if the culprit couldn’t wait for a better time)

Futaba shakes her head. “No, that can’t be right… no, no it’s not right at all!” she says. “The timing would be perfect, had we changed a heart already this month-- It’s December 27th. This is later than any change of heart we’ve done in a month.. this year, anyway. There could be multiple reasons why this time is different, but a definite possibility is that the culprit expected us to follow our pattern of changing hearts-- one change every two months, somewhere in the middle-- in fact, besides the target Airi told us about today, we haven’t planned any changes of hearts! A potential culprit would have had to choose someone without being able to find a perfect candidate in a perfect place to… albinize! Comatize? Comatize!”

“You’re right, Sakura-san,” Akechi says, a little surprised at her sound logic. “Whoever is responsible for these victims’ conditions-- if a person is indeed responsible-- chose the one person who cared about this case. There was no viable target. They chose a target of convenience, in lieu of a target that correlates with the others. It seems as though someone is rather intent on framing the Phantom Thieves, or at least Airi-san, in these attacks. Perhaps they wanted to sow distrust between her, and the other Phantom Thieves… but anyone doing something like that would have to know who the players are…”

Everyone looks at Akechi. “I appreciate the suspicion, but I meant it when I said I respect Airi more than anyone else in this shit reality. But… regardless, I actually have a suspect in mind. Or, at least, a connecting thread to all of this. But you’re not going to like it, Niijima-san.”

Makoto leers at Akechi through tear-swollen eyes. “You had better not conveniently pin it on your current target--”

“Ugh. Obviously that’s what he’s going to say,” Ann interrupts.

“For certain,” Sophia agrees.

“100%,” Futaba adds.

“No more interjections?” Akechi spits.

“Rule of three’s--” Futaba clarifies. “I’d say you’re good to go, Detective.”

He takes a breath in, then out. “I will explain, but it might take some time. To start: yes, it is our target, Aoi Konuta. But there’s a reason he’s our target. I asked her to take me into his Hallowed Ground, because my investigation halted when I hit upon his connection to the case.”

“Question,” Futaba asks. “What exactly were you investigating? I was joking about the whole ‘detective’ thing.”

“My survival, to be frank with you. When we confronted Doctor Maruki, I had already believed myself to be dead-- Doctor Maruki had even all-but-confirmed it. I’ve been searching for answers since I woke up-- and thanks to Airi-san, I finally found them. Most of the mystery has been cleared up for me.”

“So what happened, then? How did you survive our encounter in Shido’s Palace?” Akira asks softly.

Akechi turns so he can see Akira more directly. “In Konuta’s Hallowed Grounds, we stumbled across a memory of his. On the day that I should have died, Konuta heard a scream come from the Diet building’s boiler room.” He paused, unsure if the Phantom Thieves deserved to know-- but seeing Akira’s soft expression, all doubt melted away. “He opened the door to find me, bleeding profusely on the floor-- and beside me, a young woman clutching her heart. It appeared to be a heart attack. He arranged for us to be carried off, and taken somewhere he knew we would be off the grid. He told his secretary in that moment, that ‘he could learn everything he could about us, medically-- and perhaps he’d be able to mimic the power of metaverse traversal.’ He was in-the-know, after all,” Akechi clarified. “He was a strong supporter and ally to Shido, so he knew about me, specifically. But it was odd he mentioned the woman could travel between, as well.”

Akira’s eyes go wide, a reaction normally out-of-character for him. “You’re saying the woman in the memory was Airi,” he blurted. “He sent you two to that shady hospital. She was studied. The doctor learned something and forwarded that information to Konuta. And now Konuta’s abusing that power to frame her, now that she’s loose-- and Sae got too close to learning the truth of it all, so he had her eliminated from the game.”

Akechi smiles. “Finally, someone with common sense. That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“Hold on,” Makoto says. It’s not a request. Everyone turns and listens. “There’s one more piece of information I have for you, regarding the comatose patients. The final nail in the coffin. It’s what made me consider her to be… using us. Lying to us.

“...The first patient woke up four days ago,” she said. “Sis-- Sae-- was still awake. She questioned him right away, but the patient had no memory to speak of. The ONLY thing he could tell Sae was that the very last thing he remembered was seeing a woman dressed in white, with white hair and pale white skin. He told Sae that the woman pulled his heart out of his chest.”

“He remembers a woman pulling his heart out of his chest?” Zenkichi asks. “You kids don’t think that sounds awfully Jail-like-- like how Desires were taken-- do you?”

“It certainly sounds dire,” Yusuke replies.

“A woman who is entirely white? It does match her description.” Hifumi adds.

“--but I don’t think that means it’s her,” Futaba continues.

“Because this guy’s just setting her up…” Ryuji added. “...right?”

“I hope you mean Konuta and not the patient who just woke up from a nine-month coma,” Makoto warned.

Ryuji sputtered. “Bwuhh-- of COURSE I meant Konuta! He saw what Airi looked like in that boiler room several years ago, so he knows just how to fake her appearance and confuse the victims!” he says, proudly.

“Unfortunately, when Konuta saw Airi-san in the boiler room, she wasn’t painted white-- her skin took on a somewhat healthier, tanner-hue; her eyes were dark; and her hair was black as night. The only consistency in her appearance from then and now lies in her facial structure, her shape, and her ridiculously-long hair. I hate to say it, but he might have no idea what she looks like, today. The witness protection seems to have done her some good-- we didn’t find any sign he’d detected her current existence, while we were at his Hallowed Grounds.”

“He doesn’t know about her?” Ann asked. “But… if he knows about the metaverse, then he’s totally been keeping tabs on the changes of heart.. right? So how can he not suspect she’s a part of this?”

Akechi responds, “If I were to guess, it’s because he had never been made aware of the meta-nav. Without knowing about it, he’d have to assume the entry to the metaverse required a different sort of method. Perhaps he believed the Phantom Thieves were operating under their previous capabilities all this time. Maybe he wrote off the existence of the comatose girl once she was no-longer of any use to him. It’d make sense, considering he cut off Doctor Hashiba’s funding entirely right before he snapped.”

“Wait, I just realized something,” Sumire suddenly muttered. “We’re disproving the existence of a ‘culprit’ besides Airi-chan. That simply won’t do,” she finishes, plopping her cheek onto her fist, letting it support her head.

Akechi places his elbows on the table and props his chin on his hands. He expounds, “Konuta may or may not know about Airi, but that memory we saw of someone receiving heart surgery might suggest that he has someone working in the metaverse, now. That procedure to augment a heart with the power to Waver between was finalized by an associate of Konuta’s. It’s likely that he has at least one agent doing sinister work in the metaverse.”

“That’s a convenient fact Akechi, but I’d say the specificity of the recently-recovered coma patient is much better proof than your correlation,” says Makoto.

“Really?” Akechi asked. “A man with no other memory than the one that conveniently points the finger at Airi-san is hardly proof-- it’s unsubstantiated hearsay, and little else. The description is hardly specific, I’ll add-- it mentions white hair, clothes, and skin-- but if he’s talking about our Dove, he missed the most prominent detail.”

Makoto’s eyebrows shoot up. She responds: “Her mask.”

“Furthermore,” Akechi continues, smiling now, “there’s now an array of people turning pallid-- apparently, they’re waking up, as well. Who’s to say a previous patient isn’t infecting healthy people for their own benefit? Since we’re accusing Airi-san, anyway.”

Makoto closes her fists-- she doesn’t know if Airi can be trusted, but now there’s a reason for the Phantom Thieves to enter this politician’s Hallowed Grounds. Makoto breathes in and out. She speaks: “...You’re right. Sae would never have accepted such weak proof. She might have gone along with his story to learn more, but she doesn’t accept a statement as truth just because it fits the facts as she knows them-- she scrutinizes every detail. It appears the only way I’m going to learn more about this, and continue Sae’s investigation, is by gleaning whatever info we can from Konuta.”

Haru gasps, as does Futaba, Yusuke, Shiho, and Akane.

“Does this mean…?” Haru asks.

“Yes,” Makoto replies. “If everyone else is in: then I’m in, too.”

[graciereadshannigram]

hey fam, welcome to the April 2024 roundup of the best hannigram fics i've read this past month! i read over 100 fics total, and these were the cream of the crop.

as a reminder: the ingredients for a five star rating typically (but not always!!) include some combination of a.) believable characterizations of both Hannibal and Will, b.) compelling plot and/or character arcs, and c.) high quality smut.

that being said, my judgment of the aforementioned ingredients is powered almost exclusively by vibes and as such, is incredibly subjective.

you can find past recs below:

February March

and if you have any recs of your own for me, PLEASE SHARE.

anyway, in no particular order, let's go!

~

A place you can never go by det395

Word Count: 84,596 Summary: When things don’t go according to plan, Hannibal makes a wish. He finds himself a year-and-a-half in the past and seemingly given another chance with Will. His feelings about the situation only get more complicated when he realizes he may not have completely lost access to his old timeline after all. A Digestivo canon divergence.

If you follow me, you probably saw me already raving about this fic. This was so fucking good, holy fucking shit. And also heartbreaking. Made me think a lot about the nature of reality and what does it mean for something to be "real." Plus, I really love fics that explore their shared mind palace because I genuinely think that is one of the more underexplored aspects of their relationship. Definitely heavy on the angst, but there is a happy ending!

even though our love is doomed by bleakmidwinter

Word Count: 82,427 Summary: Hannibal solves the mystery of time travel and he and Will decide to go into the past and take opportunities previously missed along with rewriting the regrets they each hold. Changing the past does not effect the future and they have free reign to play as the please.

GIVE ME MORE THAN FIVE STARS PLEASE. I am obsessed with this fic. I've mostly stayed clear of time travel fics (aside from, you know, the one right above this) because the execution can be hit or miss, but let me fucking tell you. This was a god damn home run. There's a little bit of angst, but then there's also a chapter where Will challenges Hannibal that he wouldn't have been able to seduce him while Will was still working in Louisiana fixing boat motors. And obviously Hannibal decides to take that challenge.

Railroad Romance by OneWhoSitsWithTurtles

Word Count: 12,400 Summary: Hannibal is still Hannibal, and Will is still Will. Except Will is not part of the FBI and they meet on a two day train trip from New Orleans to Baltimore.

Dirty. Talk. In. FRENCH. Holy shit. Okay this was excellent. EXCELLENT. Perfect characterizations, and wonderful dialogue. Wow. Also, I love trains. Who doesn't love trains?

patroclus in furs by bleakmidwinter

Word Count: 130,185 Summary: If Will and Hannibal hadn't gone into their respective careers, they would have become porn stars.

I had my doubts about a pornstar AU, but I've really enjoyed everything else by this author and it was over 100k, so I gave it a shot! And WOW. The characterizations of both Will and Hannibal were spot on and believable. A good mix of fluff and angst, and the author clearly put a lot of thought into the porn scenes. Tbh I'm probably going to reread this shortly.

Pavlova by nbcravenstag

Word Count: 33,369 Summary: It’s not like Hannibal didn’t know that Will was hiding something. It was after the third body drop a week ago that it became clear that Will had a secret that somehow involved the case, one he wasn’t willing to share yet, not even with Hannibal. At 6:43 AM, Will had texted Hannibal that a fourth body had been found and that he was on his way to the scene with Jack. At 8:06 PM, Will had stepped into Hannibal’s office, thirty-six minutes past his appointment time, and practically shouted “I used to be a stripper!” as loudly as his hoarse voice would allow him to. Hannibal Lecter, though not phased by much in life, has never been entirely able to predict Will Graham, but this is just… getting out of control. Alternatively, the FBI is hunting a serial killer targeting male strippers, and Will decides to throw himself into the fray. Hannibal is beyond pleased.

An AU where Will was a stripper in college and now he's working a case where he can be live bait as a stripper? Shut the fuck up. Mostly told from Hannibal's perspective, and it's just *chefs kiss*. Who knew Will giving Hannibal a lap dance would be so HOT. (I could have guessed.)

Lessons In Submission by wyldefire

Word Count: 5,173 Summary: Hannibal was stubborn, independent, and Will had always loved that about him, but there were times, times like these, in the midst of heat, in the midst of such a thorough breeding, when lessons in submission were necessary.

My only thought at the end of this was, "Shut the whole fuck up" in the best way possible. Smut. Just all smut.

A Very Special Guest by LesBeanBurrito

Word Count: 56,660 Summary: Season 1 AU in which Will stays for Hannibal’s dinner party after bringing the bottle of wine at the end of 1X07 Sorbet. Embarrassed and Sassy Will Graham meets Smitten Hannibal Lecter.

I LOVE a good season 1 AU and this was checking all of the boxes for me! There's a secret relationship, Hannibal actually gets Will treated for his encephalitis, Will finds out about Hannibal, etc. Very much loved the plot, and the characterizations were spot on.

lover to your nightmare (look what you made of me) by merrythoughts and ReallyMissCoffee

Word Count: 123,367 Summary: Driving back home, it’s then he reflects on Hannibal asking him to run away that night. To forgo their plans altogether, to slip away. [Canon divergent. Will confesses his betrayal and asks Hannibal to run away with him, but Will has a plan of his own...]

You want dark!Will mixed in with some incredibly jealous and possessive Hannigram? Hooo boy do I have a fic for you! The ending was a little abrupt, but it was the perfect mix of gut-wrenching angst and toxicity + smoking hot smut. I genuinely had to stop and focus on my breathing more than once.

On the Lam by shotgun_sinner

Word Count: 63,992 Summary: Post-Fall (Hannibal)season 4Crack Treated SeriouslyOn the RunWill Graham Discovers FanfictionExplicit Sexual Contentsexual identity crisisThat's Not Really A CrisisWill Graham is HannisexualMurder HusbandsHomophobiaMurder of a HomophobeHannibal Lecter Loves Will GrahamWill Graham Loves Hannibal LecterPower Bottom Will Grahamthey love each other your honorvery meta

This was such a fun read – I love the implication that hannigram fanfiction exists and it's all there for Will to accidentally discover. I adore this author and just thoroughly enjoyed how Will learned a thing or two about himself by reading smutty fics (same dude).

Golden Promises by shotgun_sinner

Word Count: 68,488 Summary: Hannibal (TV) Season/Series 01Alternate Universe - Canon DivergenceEpisode: s01e07 SorbetHallucinations?Will Hopes SoLELOplugSexuality CrisisThat Ends Up Not Being A CrisisWill Graham Has EncephalitisHannibal Gets Will TreatmentDeveloping RelationshipWill Graham's Dogs - FreeformBonding over fooddoting hannibalEventual SmutHannibal Lecter Loves Will GrahamWill Graham Loves Hannibal LecterAlana DisapprovesRimmingOral SexBottom Hannibal LecterTop Will GrahamBottom Will GrahamTop Hannibal LecterWill Graham KnowsNon-Consensual Drug UseWill Gives Him Shit For ItMurder HusbandsCannibalismis that tag even necessary?Hannibal Lecter Loves Max

This was fluffier than I typically read, but I told y'all I love this author. Pretty much no angst, and the smut, as always, was next level. Also, the idea that Hannibal would wear a solid gold butt plug to his dinner parties had me laughing before I even started reading.

What Hatches by HotMolasses (@snazzymolasses here on tumblr)

Word Count: 107,847 Summary: There is a village, nestled on the edge of an ancient forest where it is always winter. Few of the townsfolk ever venture into it, except for one lonely hunter named Will Graham. A loner who makes his living selling stag meat and spends more time with dogs than people, he finds his life changing when he comes face-to-face with a magical beast, one that he cannot get away from, and isn’t even sure he really wants to.

What started out as a curiosity about the monsterfucking tag on AO3 brought me to one of the most unique and interesting hannigram AUs I've read??? I'm as surprised as you are, if not more. I adored this fic and I loved how both Will and Hannibal were characterized and the plot and the smut (oh my god, the smut) and the ending? Phew. Go read this.

lay like a flood spills away by bleakmidwinter

Word Count: 35,733 Summary: Will starts going to a nude beach that happens to be for gay men, even though he considers himself straight.

This was highly enjoyable. I LOVE AUs that manage to keep the characters true to canon. Also nude beaches. Hannigram and nude beaches. Eating ass and public sex with some actual plot sprinkled in. Say LESS.

Now, What Should We Do Next? by HigherMagic

Word Count: 51,116 Summary: Kinktober 2018

Smut. All smut. I showed this fic to a friend who has literally never read fanfiction, let alone Hannigram, before and she is now hooked. So. Do with that what you will. And it's so clear that this author has actual, real-life experience with kink and it comes across so well! Bonus point: there is also an equally good sequel.

To Mend With Gold by beforethedawn, ConstructFairytales, Destinyawakened

Word Count: 98,863 Summary: Will and Hannibal have been living as a gay married couple for three years, but they haven't slept in the same room let alone the same bed. Will Graham has a reckoning, one way or another.

THIS WAS TENDER. Fluffy, angsty, smutty, I loved it. Molly showed up with Will's dogs and decided she wasn't going to turn them in, which was a little weird, but I really loved this fic. Just them learning how to be with each other. Also EXCELLENT marathon smut scenes. Like yesssss, of course they can each cum like three times in a row.

A Clutch at Balance by Deverauxs_Disease

Word Count: 25,466 Summary: When Will Graham storms into Hannibal's house muttering about kissing Alana Bloom, the good doctor makes Will an offer: Pretend to date Hannibal in order to prove to Alana that Will is not only stable but capable of being in a relationship. When Alana is convinced Will is the man of her dreams, Hannibal will step aside and Will can get his girl.

Y'all know I love fake dating that all of a sudden, whoops! Isn't so fake anymore! Sprinkle in some jealous and possessive Hanni and Will? I'm sold. Say less.

~

And that's a wrap on this month! See ya next time!!!

[mysteryanimator]

I love your animations, but I'm still struggling to view them without thinking about their last canon interaction. Can you tell me what you envision their makeup would be like?

(Lol I’m so sorry to all the ppl who work on Nocturne reading this 💀 and just generally everyone)

Thank you so much that means a lot! But now, you’ve unveiled my trap card and given me an excuse to write my thoughts on Mizrak and Olrox, so this will get pretty long. Also, this may end up being very subjective/personal taste in some parts so I hope everyone doesn’t mind (and hope you don't mind the funky grammar!) This is an open discussion too, I’d like to hear everyone’s thoughts! 

Now with that out of the way here we go!

(This is old unfinished storyboards for a previous iteration of their makeup scene I did back in jan, never finished them due to uni/another project, I'd like to someday tho because guh the themes.)

Now first of all, I’d like to think that a proper makeup/conversation wouldn’t happen for a bit and would be drawn out because they’re both still hurt, angry, sad, and confused at not only each other but themselves. They’re not the type to get into loud verbal arguments for this, definitely some verbal jabs at each other though. Mean petty comments, oh absolutely. I’d like to personally believe they’d still yearn for each other, perhaps even more so after Olrox indirectly confessed and Mizrak practically turned it down. 

Now, there are soooo many different ways that they’d even see each other again, many different ways it could come to that initial point where they’ve made up. Though I’ll go with one of my personal idea (which people keep egging me on to animate WHICH… I dunno I don’t have free time rn so I’m just blurting it out into written format while I can 😭 I want to though, maybe later in the year for fun if season 2 doesn’t beat me to it). 

Have to establish my vision, but I’d think that Richter, Maria, Annette, Alucard and Mizrak are hopping from abandoned town to abandoned town due to the inability to return to Macheoul for the time being. While Olrox has been on his own (doing what, I’m not even sure my personal headcanon for this.) I think Alucard and Mizrak have a conversation about Alucard’s past in a group setting and it strikes a chord with the monk- since after all, Alucard’s dad is THE Dracula, and his mother (bless her, I miss her) is human. You know how that whole backstory goes, and it parallels Olrox a lot. Also Mizrak and Annette will absolutely have a deep conversation too. Just solely from the comment that was made: 

“We’re all descended from gods, we just have to learn how to draw their power.” Nocturne s1 ep 2

Annette clearly having powers from Haitian gods, absolutely challenging how Mizrak was only certain of one God. Yes, Mizrak is extremely stubborn and it will take him a bit, but he’s different from the Abott in the sense that he will not let religion blind his path to good. He ‘uses his head’ as said before, not god, not the church- his head. Mizrak’s idea of the church and his faith is now a mess and it’s up to him on how he interprets it and rewrites it knowing what he knows now (this is important I swear when it comes to the makeup scene).

Now we’re at the actual scene at hand: Olrox and Mizrak making up.

Side note: oh god I’m practically writing this whole thing as if its going to be played out for an episode, but that’s how it works in my brain LOL but you asked so you shall receive. I am so sorry HAHA

There’s been a lot of build up from this point where they have been meeting up here and there by themselves, but you can clearly tell whenever they do they both hurt and yearn- which would lead to their proper makeup scene. I’m just inserting this for fun, but I’d imagine this would take place in an abandoned church in the town they’re camping in for the night. For a lot of symbolic reasons; devotion, sacrifice, forgiveness, gathering. This along with the simple fact, Mizrak’s relationship to the church has changed completely from here. I’d like to think that even when he’s trying to rekindle that connection with God, it leaves that icky overcoat on his skin. 

“Faith is a company in the hardest of times, when the world abandons you.” Nocturne ep 3

The church indeed had saved him from whatever terrible horrific thing happened to him in the past, however whatever saved him can still be horrible and terrible too. It is infallible.  It is cruel in an attempt to gather community and peace. So, yes- faith can be company when the world abandoned him, but his faith is no longer with the church. He’s taking it back and finding some place else to rest it. (Olrox, it’s Olrox, probably ooc but I’m making it Olrox). 

In this church, the conversation between them will initially start as a discussion about religion, faith and that whole sort of deal. It’ll open up about Mizrak exact struggles from his mouth and how he particularly feels about it, then we get more insight onto Olrox’s thoughts, his perception of the church and perhaps even a deep dive into Aztec history again. Maybe even talk about Olrox’s Quetzalcoatl form, though really this is self indulgent. It’s an aspect I’d absolutely love to be explored and I think it being discussed in revere in a Catholic Church,  with Mizrak actually being open to it due to his new perspective? Oh my god, sign me up. Regardless, it would hold similar energy to episode 6: Gulity Men to be Judged. There’s a weight to it. 

Then it gets heavier when the conversation pivots.  

Mizrak’s attachment in the church was due to him caring about people and, hypothetically, to save him from whatever detriment came for him in the past. The last canon interaction, their falling out they had in season 1 was because he cared about others. To a fault. Now, here he is, standing in front of someone he cares about. It’s going to open a conversation between what’s happening between them and finally properly discuss what happened from their last canon interaction in nocturne season 1. 

A lot of finger and hand brushing from Olrox, which at first I’d think gets no reaction as an attempt for restraint before Mizrak warms up to it and even reciprocates by doing the same thing. All of this is very gentle in my opinion. It’s slow, tender, and most importantly vulnerable. It has the physical contact reminiscent of their first fast rough and tug in the courtyard and piggybacks off the vulnerability they both have when they both stand next to the window in episode 6. They probably also just physically get closer to each other at the moment. Just gradually though. The distance gets closer and closer until their foreheads are practically touching without them realizing it. They’re comfortable though, they don’t want to leave. 

They absolutely get to a point where they both admit to saying “I love you” without straight up saying “I love you” because that’s just a very them thing. Or maybe they do straight up state because Olrox does admit he was in love (with his partner) and doesn’t shy from that fact. It’s a nice conversion of the trope and great to hear from a mlm couple to say I love you… but man do I do love when characters get all poetic-y when their profess their devotion to each other by literally talking in prose, so maybe with good writing both can be done and still be quite powerful but still be gentle. 

In my interpretation YEAH I’LL MAKE THEM KISS AFTER THIS, this is my vision after all. Also, yeah they’re gonna fuck. In the church? Perhaps. Is it a tad OOC, maybe. HOWEVER, consider imagery and symbolism. I just think the image of it would be great, even if it was censored to hell and back, it can be so artistically done. Just imagine the implication alone with me for a second. I think the whole concept of doing it in a church is an interesting build upon the quotes from the show;

“God is not here. This church is an empty box.” From the first Castlevania series.

“House of God? This place is just a heap of bricks and stone.” From Nocturne said by Maria. 

The church is a husk, especially having it abandoned- it’s rather what you do with that box that makes all the difference. The people inside are the driving force, so I think it’s both poetic and funny to have Mizrak and Olrox fucking in an abandoned church. Surface level: fuck you god I’m fucking my hot vampire boyfriend in your house. Deeper level: I could write a whole thing on this but I’ll refrain. You can get the gist of breaking free of restraint, and devotion and letting himself be human, rather than a soldier (which he already slowly does). 

Though also this sex scene isn’t necessary, I just like exploring explicit content in artistic ways, especially if I can throw in religious symbols and heighten that hunger/devotion to a person- but the “I love you” in the church is pretty powerful already.  

Then after all of this they take it at their own pace. However, they only live life once and continue together like that- they both know this concept very well because of the very nature of who they are, so they spend it in each other’s company. 

Now you also get the squad’s reactions, well namely because I do not think this would be an easily hidden thing. Like absolutely could get away with it in season 1, but everyone will know something is up for sure in my iteration. The 'hypothetical' Mystery Animator season 2 iteration. As subtle as their longing stares and quiet hand touches may be reserved for just them- those little interactions are loud.

Richter would absolutely be in shambles over Olrox, the killer of his mother, and Mizrak being a thing. Both in a “this is the most horrible thing that’s happened in my life” and also a he’s going to be an absolute shithead to Mizrak and make fun of him, lightheartedly of course. Alucard would absolutely have an interesting perspective because again, his parents. Maria already has disdain for the church plus the “vampires are evil… and evil has to be fought.” However, in the presence of Alucard, I think a lot will change because he’s half-vampire. Annette, I’m unsure of what her reaction would be, because I’m very sure she’d be receptive to Alucard being a vampire and then would appreciate Olrox’s mindset and values. However, gonna keep hammering, Olrox killed Julia Belmont which I feel will be comedically hammered in if Olrox decides to hang around the squad occasionally. 

And with that, we’re done! (I think)

Thank you for reading 🫶 this probably will not happen in cv s2 but it’s fun blurting out my hc. I’m really excited to see what they do, and even perhaps even go in the opposite direction due to episode limitations… maybe a season 3 👀 who knows.

[diabolikpersonals]

sorry for such a broad question but in your opinion is laito a well written character relative to everyone in diabolik? i really Want to learn more about him but i also dont want to subject myself to All That and i just want to know if he's worth reading about or just a pile of interesting plot threads thrown together for shock factor and unfulfilled thematically.

like my current personal opinion (may be wrong) is that i dont feel satisfied with the idea of yui's love or proactiveness fixing laito in any way because it doesn't mesh well with the actual ideas surrounding his character and unpacking that love is not poison goes beyond romantic love or a singular place of understanding. additionally it doesn't feel earned it feels like a chore for the player to trudge though for the sake of reading. i dont want to read laito's story that bad if it's the case yet im intrigued by the things offered by his character like the processing of the deeply visceral way csa shatters who you are

I wanted to wait till I finished his CL to answer so I'd be fully caught up with laito's routes, but that'll take too long so.....!! I might change my answer later!! lmao

[tw laito stuff, csa and suicide, yeah]

I do think Laito's a well-written character but his stuff is really difficult to get through if you have certain triggers, so it's tough to recommend. Even beyond the csa stuff, Laito is in a real hurry to die and he makes several attempts throughout the series. There's a certain unique sort of awfulness, at least for me, involving scenes where a character fails a suicide attempt and then get even more upset and desperate about it. So I understand what you mean when you say you're not excited about putting yourself through it. They were the hardest routes for me to get through too :')

A lot of earlier games suffer from endings that are like "And the two lived happily ever after, and we're not gonna unpack all that stuff!" and Laito's routes are no exception, but if you can look past that and make it to LE, I wouldn't say that Laito gets fixed. He has an ending similar to Ayato's that's like, it feels like we fixed everything but in reality we couldn't overcome the core issue! They really seem to believe that Laito absolutely can't be happy or live a normal life the way he is now. He has to die and/or rewrite his memories to be comfortable loving someone. It's up to your tastes if that's satisfying or not, but I kind of love the bittersweetness of LE endings, and the way they feel like a happy ending until you think about them a little too hard.

What's interesting is that Yui's purehearted love often hurts Laito more than it helps him. He responds to love, from Yui or from his family members, with revulsion. There's jealousy when he interacts with straightforward characters like Yui or Ayato, like "If only I could be as simple and pure as you, but nope, I can't." He's very self-aware for a diaboy, which only makes it hurt more when he keeps arriving at the conclusion that he's rotten. He definitely makes progress, which is really satisfying to see, like how he gradually allows Ayato back in his life emotionally. But as of right now, the end of his arc is so, like, "I tried, really I did! But my perspective on love is fucked and I need a hard reset! Maybe I'll be normal in the next life but definitely not this one!! Bye!"

...So, it's hard to say if you'll be happy with it. I see a lot of mixed opinions concerning the LE endings. They often give the diaboy what he wants but not what he needs, so you're left going, "Wait, I don't know about this...!" A lot of people really hate these endings, but they actually get more interesting to me the more conflicted they make me feel...and oh boy, was I conflicted about this one! :'D

If it sounds interesting to you, too, and you don't mind some pretty brutal scenes along the way, give Laito's routes a try. His HDB will definitely make you mad though lol

[bluecatwriter]

⭐️ for the director’s cut game!

Since you wrote one of my favorite Jack/Arthur fics ever, I give you my very first Jack/Arthur fic: "Words and Voice Fail Me"! "When Jack Seward has a breakdown trying to record on his phonograph on October 11th, Arthur comes to comfort him."

(CW for discussion of period-typical homophobia) 

-This was *checks notes* my third fanfiction I ever posted, and reading back over it, I can really tell— not so much by the overall writing, which has stayed pretty similar over the past two years, but by the way I handle the details, especially logistical details of who's doing what when. I just wasn't used to writing with such precision, and as a result a lot of the writing comes off as a little awkward. Would definitely streamline if I were to rewrite it now.

-This starts out with Jack's canon narration from the book, interspersed with description. This is one of my favorite ways to write because it feels very much like directing a play— the lines are there, but I'm "directing" (writing) the stage directions, as it were, to show how the character is saying the lines.

-I liked the idea of Jack breaking down here as sort of the culmination of all the past trauma that he hasn't been able to process yet, thinking of the way that Mina's "funeral" reminded him of Lucy's death and everything around it. 

-Like most of my fics, I just started with the premise and let the character voices lead me. (It's very similar to playing an improv scene, just with me playing both characters rather than bouncing ideas off another person.) I originally intended for it to be a pretty straightforward emotional hurt/comfort, but as I kept writing and the scene kept unfolding, I realized that Jack was going to lose it and ask Arthur to kiss him— and when that happened, it opened up a whole different plot than I was expecting.

-I am still pretty happy with the line, ""Well," he said, straightening his cuffs just for something to do with his hands, "I suppose I shall—" He wanted to follow the phrase with an excuse, but his mind blanked out on anything he had ever done in his life. "—go."" This is a good example of me 1000% projecting my nervous habits onto Jack. 

-This was the first time I realized that characters could have erotic tie-pulling and talk about emotionally-charged subjects while their lips barely brushed. It was the beginning of an Era for me. ;)

-There's some kinda interesting gender stuff here, with Jack escaping into a fantasy about him being a woman so that his feelings for the men in his life would be "natural." I feel like there's more I could've explored there, but the fic was long enough as it was.

-In this fic, I very intentionally wrote Arthur as demisexual, and have projected it onto him ever since. 

-Jack has curly hair in this fic! This was before I realized that I'd given all three suitors curly hair, and decided one had to go. The casualty was Jack, so nowadays I describe his hair as "fine."

-I'm a sucker for "one character says 'I love you' and the other returns it but they're not sure they mean the same thing" trope, and I use it here. (This may be the only time I've written Jack saying "I love you" to Arthur— in my more recent fics, I often have Jack express his sentiment in different ways, rather than just saying the words.) 

-It was fun to write a little scene with Jack pouring his heart out about all his crushes, and Arthur very logically analyzing them to explain why they make sense (except for Van Helsing— he just can't grasp that one). It was also a good excuse to throw in the phrase "virile manhood."

-Originally I wasn't gonna have them kiss again, but then the dialogue just made sense for Jack to beg for another kiss, and… well. There they go!

-"You can trust me, I'm a lord" is probably the best line-before-a-fade-to-black I've ever written. ;)

-Of course there's some angsty aftermath in this one, since Jack is still struggling with a lot of self-loathing. I feel like some of the writing here is a bit rough, but I'm still happy with the overall emotions that come across.

-I originally had this end on a pretty melancholy note, but reworked it to make it more hopeful that, regardless of whether or not they sleep together in the future, their friendship is still solid.

Thanks again for sending the ask! :D

(Ask game here)

[anonymous-tals]

I wrote some of this in another post but I just wanted to expand on it since I think it’s an interesting subject.

(Also, just putting this upfront, I feel the necessity of clarifying, obviously, bisexual is it’s own identity, it isn’t just a pit stop on the way to someone realizing they’re gay, I’m just talking about trying to figure out who you like or perhaps don’t like being a part of figuring out your sexuality)

The Buster saying Gob might be bisexual moment has been commonly viewed as definitive but personally, I don’t think it was meant to be an answer to the question of Gob’s sexuality. I think it was answering a different question by being one half of an entirely new question. Before, it was “Is he gay or straight?”, the straight option ruling out Gob loving Tony in a gay-umbrella-term way. Just friends. Besties, even. Just a couple of dudes…But we know that’s not true. They are not just a couple of dudes. They are dudes who want to be a couple. So by rewriting it to make it “Is he gay or bisexual?”, that answers “Is Gob’s love for Tony real and very gay-umbrella-term?” with a yes, yes it is. But now, there is a new question that’s been proposed: is he attracted to men and women or just men?

I’m inclined to believe it’s just men.

(I’m not gonna go super in depth cause this has already been discussed so much and I don’t want to be redundant but there are certain elements I haven’t seen discussed that I’ve personally thought about so that’s what this is for)

Gob really does not come across like a bisexual character to me. If he was written as bisexual, I feel like that would’ve been shown more, ya know(for those who know the character, I’m thinking of how they wrote Daryl in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend)? It would’ve a question of “Why do I find both groups attractive?” rather than “Why can’t I find one of these groups attractive?” I mean, the writers know the term bisexual and if that was the intention, why would they include how he hasn’t slept with a women since Tony and all the scenarios in which he’s uncomfortable with and avoiding being with women? And it’s not just that Joni is older and has weird fake boobs or that Kitty is repulsive to him. The woman at the conversion therapy place is very conventionally attractive and still, even though he genuinely tries to be all charming and flirt, he can’t get himself to commit and promptly walks away, very uncomfortable and disinterested(but that ‘t’ necklace she’s wearing does remind him of a certain someone he is attracted to). And it’s not like it’s a being dedicated to Tony so much that he can’t make comments about other people or find others attractive, either. He calls one of the closet guys cute, someone pointed out how he checks out Adhir at one point. The guy foxes thing, even. But again, when it comes to women, whenever he tries anything, he gets uncomfortable and/or leaves or tries to leave the situation. I mean, he can at times hardly even lie about sleeping with and being attracted to women. And it’s not just season five: when you look at all his relationships with women throughout the whole show, it’s night and day compared to how he acts with Tony. And Tony’s not the first partner he’s had that believes in him and is supportive of and nice to him. The difference is that he’s a man.

Another thing, I’ve seen the closet scene, the fact that they were gonna be going in and out of closets, viewed as, like, a metaphor for Gob being bi but the thing is, we literally see that Gob gets out of the gay closet and can’t get back into the straight closet no matter how much he tries, which echoes his arc in the show and is emblematic of what I’ve already mentioned throughout this. Ever since Gob developed feelings for Tony and they had sex and he had this realization, he’s been trying desperately to force himself to be straight or, hell, just like women at all, but it never works because he is gay.

*And frankly, I interpreted Buster saying that Gob might be bisexual as him just coming to the conclusion that Gob is bi based on what Gob told him. I have to believe that Buster knew to some extent that Gob liked guys. I mean, he saw him around Tony during the Sword of Destiny stuff. He saw how Gob talked to Tony and about Tony. Plus, Buster's the only one who ever truly payed attention to him, like, actually listened, so I'm sure he noticed other things too and Michael literally shouted, "I knew it!" so I feel like it's realistic to believe this wasn't exactly a well kept secret. And in season five, when Gob is talking to Buster about how he's gonna turn himself back to being straight because he's not to gay but, ya know, it's obvious to Buster that Gob is definitely not straight, in Buster’s mind, perhaps what's confusing his older brother, who seems to be identifying with both straight and gay, is that he likes both men and women. I mean, from Buster's perspective, that would make sense, especially given the lifetime of bragging about sleeping with women that Gob has done. But we have information and insight that he doesn’t and when you look at the show as a whole, the situation doesn’t read as Gob being confused because he likes both men and women and thinks he has to choose, it reads as Gob in a last ditch effort to convince himself he’s not gay and likes women.

I’m pretty sure at the time, there was a possibility of another season or a movie or something and I’m sure this would’ve been delved into more there. Because of the whole “the feeling was friendship” thing, a lot of people did not get that they were actually in love(including me, I’m very oblivious and gullible) and I think a lot of this season was spent making sure that was clear, that they did really love each other and not as just friends. They even in their ending scene together, say that they can’t be friends, which someone else(I can’t remember who but credit to whoever it was) pointed out that it seemed like a subtle way for the writers to show that they aren’t just friends, they’re doing gay stuff together cause they like dudes. But even without a following season or movie, I think we already have sufficient information spanning the entirety of the show that answers whether Gob is gay or bisexual and in my opinion, Gob is gay.

And of course, if you think he’s bi, hell yeah, that’s cool, you do you. This isn’t meant to stomp all over your hc. These are just my thoughts on this subject.

Edit:

*Just thought I should add this since my interpretation of this specific scene has changed after @theflannelwizard pointed this out(this was a bit ago now but I hadn’t thought to add it until now). My conclusion is still the same, I just feel the need to amend this specific part:

Really, I don’t know how I didn’t, like, think about this until it was pointed out to me, it’s so obvious now that that was the joke.

Also just another addition, cause I somehow completely forgot about this when I wrote this, there were the, like, two weeks(? whatever the span of time was) where him and his dad went all across Mexico with the specific intention of getting with women and Gob couldn’t get himself to do anything with a single woman and was struggling to even feign interest.

And then another thing with Gob finding other dudes attractive, on top of the other stuff I mentioned, he also calls up the Hot Cops at one point to schedule them to come over. So again, it’s not like he’s so dedicated to Tony that it’s impossible for him to find others attractive and express that. With men, he’s comfortable doing that, but with women, he is not.

[lemotmo]

https://www.tumblr.com/lemotmo/756002374630408192/i-hate-that-the-sperm-donor-thing-is-canon-but-i

This anon is not alone in their dislike of the storyline and for it being because it was given to Buck of all people. But it was yet another storyline casualty at the hands of Kristen herself. The main reason it was essentially dropped into never mentioned again until the literal end of the season and then never again beyond that was because the GA did not respond well to it. And that’s why if you notice the writing suddenly felt very janky with Buck after the Christmas hiatus because that was when it was scraped and they had to rewrite things. But how she ever thought The fact that Buck, Mr poster boy for abandonment issues and everyone just wanted me for spare part would be happy as a clam to just offer himself up essentially for spare parts and then willingly give the baby away with out a second thought and the people who have watched the show from the start would ever not go “This makes no sense and seems so out of character for him” not to mention the fact they never once had Buck discuss it was Eddie (because she refused to ever let them even breath the same air unless forced too) Maddie or even Bobby. These three are the most important adults in his life and none of them even after finding out had a moment to sit with him and talk it through at all. (And don’t get me wrong, I love Hen and I love Hen and Bucks friendship and scenes together) this storyline just missed every beat from start to finish.

Okay, so I'm combining these two asks because they fit so well together. :)

I agree wholeheartedly Nonny. That storyline was bad from beginning to finish. But alas it is now a part of Buck's character arc. It is canon. Whether we like it or not.

The part I fear the most is that they'll decide to bring this storyline back at the worst of times. I can see it happening that they'll have something horrible happen to Connor and Kameron and that suddenly Buck will have to take care of a toddler. Because of course, both Connor and Kameron's parents won't want the child for some stupid reason or they'll be dead. Many fics have been written about this subject. I have ignored most of them. That is definitely not a scenario I'm waiting for.

Yes, I would love for Buck to have kids of his own some day (preferably with Eddie), but not like this. Let it be a happy joyous occassion when he becomes a father, not a lame story arc they bring back for the sake of drama.

So I get it Nonny. I get it.

[fantasiacafecat]

THe Feminine urge to make a fanfic but it has main plot ideas that you got from reading other fanfics on the same subject.

Like maybe I do want to make Andrew Lewis a villain, like in "Fire in the Monster" made by AvaJune. .

Or maybe I am infatuated with the extra scenes and Lore that BeccaofthePen uses for her fanfic "A World of Enough Time". Like seriously the beauty, talent, and creativity Becca putted into that story that's on hiatus needs to be studied. Its so good that I'm heartbroken because I don't think it's getting an ending.

Like I wanna use the idea of Heart Bonding in my story. Or add a part in the fanfic where they go to a demon district after the battle with Malix. Their Ideas are so good that it's become Canon to me!!

If I rewrite the first game. It's probably gonna be a little different in each route you can choose. I might make Mika/Mc have an arranged marriage in one story, and probably make Mika a Cambion in another.

The one that'll probably stay closest with the Canon would be where Mika is in love with all the brothers, because I can.

In a seducemeask tag I remember seeing our precious Empress Michaela Laws answering a question on things that she wanted to put in the game, but couldn't due to time and space. I remember 3 main scenes we didn't get to see: Malix attempting to burn down the mansion, Diana VS Mika, and just more one on one seems with the incubi and humans in general. So those particular scenes will definitely be in the rewrite.

And for some reason I've been obsessed with making Mika/Mc's father more 'desperate?' for trying to get Mika as the Ceo. He's probably gonna try and have more events and parties for Mika to plan before she graduates and is in college. I also wanted to open more on how other company members would probably treat her. Maybe there's one guy who's obsessed with her and the idea of getting the company himself, maybe some members don't like the idea of a woman being CEO, maybe there's a particular woman character I plan on making (that could be a love interest) who's like your own passionate and caring secretary who's like Margaery Tyrell.

Speaking on that. There's also this sick idea in my head where I want to add more love interests and treat my fanfic like its a game.

And there's also this deep sinister voice in the back of my head that wants to make Mika have 4 extra siblings, each of them having different lives and different love interests in general.

I definitely have an issue when it comes to making so many characters for a story. I generally can't help the urges though.

[demonologue]

I come bearing bloodweave

This fits the week 3 prompt: Sugar, but it doesn't fit Tavuary. Tav's just an observer here... I guess it could fit day 27 of the Faerunian 29 Days Writing Challenge: Choose any scene in the game and rewrite it with your headcanon (but that's going to be literally 99% of my fics)

Characters: Astarion, Tav, Gale, Lae'zel, Shadowheart

Pairings: part 1 of the set-up, really

Rating: G

A/N: Literally the first time I added Gale to my party, Astarion ran up and asked him this. It made me…very suspicious of his motives. I hadn’t really thought of Bloodweave before that. Some ships sail themselves... Blush

It had been less than a day since they’d found the wizard’s arm grasping for help through an arcane waypoint. Since then, Tav had been keeping quiet to let Gale show his personality and begin to get used to the group. 

But someone else in the party seemed eager for the wizard’s attention. And it was a surprise, as this certain someone had been acting as though he’d been doing them a great favor by joining the party at all, offering nothing but complaints and smart remarks at every turn. If Tav didn’t know better, he’d say Astarion was almost…giddy. Every few minutes, he would dance forward in the marching order to attempt to engage Gale in conversation. And perhaps to his credit, the wizard didn’t seem particularly interested.

But Astarion was tenacious. Tav watched as he tried yet again. “So, do you have loves waiting for you once this is all over?” 

Shadowheart made a face. “You mean just waiting, like a lovesick puppy? Short term amusements are much less hassle.” 

Tav nearly tripped and fell face-first into the dirt. He had not thought…well. Shadowheart was a grown woman. He just…didn’t think of her…as having those experiences. But, wait, there was something else. 

Why in the hells would Astarion ask such an intimate question of a complete stranger? Well, apart from the fact he was Astarion. But still. Why had he been acting so peculiar today? If Tav didn’t know better, he would say… “Wait, do you two know each other?” 

“We do not,” Gale said, clearly put off by the question, but doing his best to stay amicable. 

“What?” Astarion offered breathless laughter and clutched his pearls. “I don’t have to know a man to know of him. Wait.” He fixed Tav with his judgmental stare. “Do you mean you actually don’t know who this is?” 

Now Tav felt bad. Should he know who this man was? “I–’m, sorry, I–”

“Pay no attention to him,” the vampire cut him off, leaning close to Gale as if they were already fast friends. “I think he was literally raised by wolves.” 

“Nothing wrong with that,” Gale said, squashing Astarion’s attempt to bond with him as an elitist. “Some great figures in history were raised by wolves.”

“Well, tell us, shka’keth,” Lae’zel growled. “Since you seem so eager to do so.”

“Darlings, this is Gale Dekarios. The Gale of Waterdeep.” Astarion looked around as if that was supposed to mean something to the rest of them. Now Tav remembered Gale introducing himself that way. But at the time, he’d just assumed it was a standard style of introduction. The way a druid would mention his enclave. 

When no one showed recognition of Gale’s name, Astarion sighed and turned back to apologize to the wizard. “You’ll have to forgive them. I’m honestly not sure any of them can even read.” 

Lae’zel drew her longsword to give him a good thrashing, but Gale held up one hand for her to refrain and gently placed the other hand on Astarion’s shoulder to keep him from making things worse. “I think what this young man is hinting at–”

As Gale spoke, Tav kept his eyes on Astarion. Because he could have sworn there was suddenly more color in his cheeks than there had been a moment ago. 

“Young!?” Astarion protested, but he sounded quite flattered. And there was a definite living hue to his cheeks now.

“--is that I was once the subject of several dozen bardic tales, and the odd chapter of arcane lore, but I fear those days are long behind me now.” 

“Nonsense!” Astarion protested. “He’s one of the most famous wizards in the history of Faerun!” 

“He’s being kind,” Gale protested. 

“Kind!? How dare you accuse me of such a thing!” 

Tav couldn’t stifle a laugh. The vampire looked so genuinely offended. “Astarion aspires to be a great villain someday,” Tav explained. “So we try not to draw attention to it when he does something good.” 

Tav could tell from the look on Astarion’s face, he was about to tell him to go take a flying leap. Fortunately, Gale cut in before he could. “But a good villain has layers. A history of the man he was before he rose to villainy, what traumatic life events drove him to desperate ends. Not to mention there’s nothing like a little genuine kindness to throw a hero off your track.” His warm, amused smile put Tav at ease. It looked like they’d found their group dynamic with the new guy.

“Et tu, Gale?!” Astarion accused, hurt, and ran off to scout ahead–or perhaps hide his feelings. 

Tav and Shadowheart exchanged a look. “I’ve genuinely never seen him that way. He’s usually…just…”

“Summarily unpleasant,” Shadowheart finished. 

“A complete shka'keth,” Lae’zel agreed. 

“I think it’s charming,” Gale said, smiling pleasantly and leaning on his staff as they continued to walk down the path. “It’s usually only children who react to me that way.” 

“So you are famous,” Tav said. “I’m sorry for not recognizing your name.” 

“Honestly, I prefer it that way.” He was still smiling when his eyes met Tav’s gaze, but there was a sadness within. “Things being what they are now…I would rather be judged for the man I am, not the legend I used to be.” 

“I think I can do that,” Tav offered a hesitant smile. 

“I will judge you by your deeds, and your deeds only,” Lae’zel announced. 

“And I’m going to tease Astarion about this until he dies a second time,” Shadowheart said. 

“No, don’t,” Gale said. “Let’s leave him a little dignity, at least. We wouldn’t want to become part of his villain origin story, after all.” 

But Shadowheart seemed to have her own agenda. “Astarion!” she called, running ahead. “Gale is telling us all about his many lovers! Don’t you want to hear?” 

The wizard just chuckled and shook his head. 

“I fear I may already be part of his villain origin story,” Tav said with a grimace. 

“I think you’re a fine leader,” Gale said, smiling kindly. “You’re doing your best, and that may be all we can do at this point.” He walked on, and Tav caught Lae’zel’s eye. There seemed more to the wizard’s story. Hopefully they would find out what it was before it came back to bite them all in the arse.

[1800titz]

Hi! I’ve read everything you’ve posted and I’m on patreon and your stuff is very *chefs kiss* and such creative story lines! I had one thought the other day and I mean this as like. Helpful critique one writer to another. Like in the way that you don’t have to take this advice but I mean to help not hurt. You’re really fantastic at using creative imagery and unique words and you write very poetically. And most of the time it’s so good. But every once in a while it feels like a bit much - like I just want to know where he’s actually touching her or what they are actually doing. Like sometimes it takes a while to get to the actual action or narrative. Other times it’s really beautiful and flows so nicely and you create a really wonderful rhythm with it as well. You use it as a great narrative tool. But yeah in a *critique* way not a *complain/mean* way, you might want to consider pulling back and occasionally putting in some simpler more direct language. Especially at like the climax of a scene when I’m thinking “hurry up I want to know what happens next!” Bc you’ve told such a good story and I want to know! In the same way that the poetic language is a wonderful tool for some things, I think the simpler more direct language can be a great tool for other things. And by incorporating both it might make it more interesting to read. I had a professor talk about how when you change the style of language the reader doesn’t always notice that, but they do notice that the mood is different.

Again I LOVE your work and I intend this to be helpful not hurtful and you know yourself and your work best so if you don’t want to do anything with these thoughts that’s so valid!!

Hi! This is totally valid and I want to thank you for the support and for writing this in such a polite, friendly manner, because other times people don't do it so nicely.

I think I can understand where you're coming from. That being said, I also definitely make purposeful, lyrical prose choices. I'll probably never be able to understand why when you google "purple prose," the first thing to come up is "how to avoid purple prose," because to me, most literature that I enjoy borders on purple prose, if it already isn't. Like, genuinely, the kind of prose that other people hate and actively try to avoid, I will actively look for. It's just a preference thing. It's what I enjoy reading from others, it's what I enjoy writing. I think writing and reading stylistic decisions/preferences are entirely subjective, and I can also agree with you that a line of "he smiles" or "he holds her hand," as opposed to a chunk of flowery narrative, can add a delicate touch of simplicity here and there that I can appreciate. I think, as writers, we're always evolving and experimenting with our stylistic choices. I also am totally down with re-writes, and going back months later to edit things, and add new things, and take whole chunks out altogether, because I feel like that is the essence of writing, and I've done it before for sure! I go back, and I rewrite, and I put things in, and remove things, even if they're already uploaded. I've noticed a lack of ~simplicity~ in the earlier patreon posts for sure, which is why I go through, and edit here and there, and add things, and take things out. That being said, I purposefully avoid depicting actions a lot of the time, unless it's in a passage of smut (where it's mostly touch and movement and it makes sense to spell things out), because those things kind of unfold on their own in my opinion, if that makes sense. You can illustrate the movement occurring in a scene in three or four words if you wanted to, but you can't sense the depth of an emotion/turmoil/context in the same way, which is why that is a massive, massive part of my passages. I absolutely do not claim to be a pro in anything by any means, in any shape or form. I'm well aware that there are people out there who don't like my writing style at all. I just write things the way that I would enjoy to read them, and the way that make my brain happy. The fact there are people out there who enjoy it enough to subscribe and support me is unfathomably flattering, and I am really grateful for that.

But yeah! I totally get what you're saying, and I am no stranger to changing things and trying new things and growing out of/into new things. I agree that direct, simple language here and there can add a nice touch, and I'm totally open to incorporating a "he smiles" or "he holds her hand" here and there. The flowery metaphors and imagery along scenes are just a purposeful stylistic choice that I couldn't ever bear to part with.

Thank you again for supporting me and sending this in a really kindly worded way! <3

[helluvabossrewrite45]

heya

so I've seen your scene rewrites and I really like them, they're a lot better than the show, and its been giving me ideas of trying to rewrite the show myself

but I've seen the records of all the horrible stuff vivziepop's done, and my mutuals say not to interact with any of her media, including the show itself

and I wanted to get your opinion on the subject

you can ignore this if you don't want to answer it

Oh that's okay, thank you, im glad that you enjoy my rewrites.

I'm vaguely aware of what vivziepop has done (not fully and definitely not specific but i have heard about them) and while i do understand your mutuals, you can still watch the show though i would recommend not to watch it on youtube (since thats where she makes her revenue from and if you dont want to support the person, that would be what you would avoid) and instead use hooktube (just replace the 'you' of youtube and type in 'hook' and it should work just fine). Personally, I just use youtube because screenshots are much more easier there than hooktube but that would be my go to reccomendation if you just want to watch helluva boss without giving vivziepop support. You dont have to avoid media that has problematic creators, yes thats an option (and a valid one at that) but you can still interact with the media (whether thats rewriting it or acknowledging that its wrong or express disappointment for the creator) like when i stumble upon problematic media, particularly in books, I'd just take their concept and rework it to my own vision, removing the problematic elements and instead replace it with certain themes/ideas like a toxic 'romance' book is instead replaced with a book that talks about the ananormativity in society that they view 'love' as superior than any other, an ironic spin of the book and its creator. Or a book that has gross relationships between family regardless whether their blood related or not, i would rewrite them into being stories that revolve around famililal love and the strength family can bring. This is all up to you though, whether you decide to interact with the media or not. Its fine if you dont and its also fine if you do.

[hauntinghyrule]

This is something that's been on my mind for a while, but the recent discussions have brought it to the forefront:

There's definitely a blurry gray area between friendship and romance and QPRs, and this stuff can be subjective and up to interpretation. I'm sure some of my Vio/Shadow fics could be read as platonic or as a QPR. I don't think I can conclusively give an answer on whether a given fic falls into that category or not (since, see above: subjective) but if anyone ever has more concrete questions about the content of a particular fic — like "is there kissing?" or "is the relationship referred to as romantic in-text?" — that is always something I am up for answering!

(This applies to other things people might want pre-warning for, too, not just relationship stuff. I try to tag for triggers and such when relevant but I can't anticipate everything, and I've got no problem answering questions!)

And for the record:

Fics where there is kissing:

Lantern (only on the cheek, though)

Ribbon Day

Potential First Kisses (it's... it's in the title...)

There is no kissing but the feelings are referred to as romantic in-text:

Archery Practice

Like Flying (kind of an edge case - Shadow doesn't use the word romance, but his one-sided conversation with Skirrsa heavily implies that that's how she interprets it, and the summary / author's note agree with her)

Spilled Wine and Sunsets

There is no kissing and the relationship is not specifically defined as romantic in-text (there is still a high likelihood of Big Emotions and sappy descriptions because I remain myself):

Cinnamon Sugar (this one is kinda borderline? the word "romance" is not used but man Vio sure is feeling a lot of warm fluttery things in the vicinity of his heart)

[a note written on a piece of scrap paper, tucked between the pages of a large book on the theory of dark magic] (extremely sappy though)

Vio Alone (it's a rewrite of a canon scene; interpret how you will)

The fic mostly focuses on something other than the Vio/Shadow relationship. The fact that Vio and Shadow are close is alluded to, but the nature of that relationship is not defined:

The Last Laugh

Kintsukuroi

Nerf War

[maddy-ferguson]

can u expand on the byler vol2 problems

i said ask me to expand and i will and you delivered thank you for that!!! i didn't say byler vol2 problems though i said byler fandom problems post-volume 2!

i think the main thing is overcorrection. i said every major problem but i only meant the things i think of as byler tumblr trends that annoy me personally. tbh🙏 it's subjective. kind of.

i've been rereading posts from after volume 2 recently and yeah it's the "will only ever gets to be sad" to "will deserves a villain arc" kind of pipelines that you saw after volume 2 that i think are still very much happening i'm gonna talk about even though the will villain arc one died down pretty quickly. on this side of the internet anyway. some of these actually aren't volume 2 related sorry i lied i was mostly thinking about the mike stuff when i said that.

mike says i love you to el: everything always ends up being about mike somehow. i think this is the biggest one. people like the mystery and the way mike's sexuality isn't confirmed like will's is and so they analyze him more which leads to people literally rewriting history with takes like mike is more queercoded than will?😭 i get that everyone knows will is gay now but the mike focus has people thinking that will has no subtext when literally his entire storyline is full of the saddest subtext ever!!! but it's not subtext that you can choose to only read as "this boy is gay" so it's not as fun i guess😔 and it really isn't as fun. because it's mostly heartbreaking and awful lmao but yeah. just wanted to give a thumbs down to the mike is more queercoded than will take again.

mlvns say will is a whiny crybaby, bylers say going through what he's had to go through would make anyone cry just as often so will isn't even that sensitive even though he is it's literally one of the first things we learn about him lol. people imply that being sensitive is bad so often and act like will has sensitive gay kid allegations to beat when he literally doesn't like he is a sensitive gay kid😭 why do you think that's bad exactly...🎤

mike says i love you to el: 90% of people think they read everything wrong for 72-96 hours and then everyone's like oh no i get it now. byler's still endgame. overuse of the term media literacy and everyone who doesn't think or simply doesn't believe that the duffers would make byler endgame is stupid and has no media literacy. which actually comes off as very INSECURE!!!! and is frankly annoying. and obnoxious. the term media literacy needs to be taken away from byler tumblr i'm so serious.

will is not a baby just because he's gay look at these two scenes he's actually so mean and most importantly not sensitive (and then he's not even mean in the scene) and he can load a gun could a sensitive baby do that (and then he's literally 12 in the scene so like. i'm sorry but that's a baby to me😕). how dare you imply that he's sensitive, gay, and a kid. i'm kidding about the gay one because no one in this day and age is defending will by saying he's not gay but some of them might as well be because it's the qualities that made people assume he's gay that people try to say he doesn't have. the how dare you infantilize him he can load a gun one is just nonsensical because regardless of how you feel about will with a gun you're definitely meant to be like oh no this poor little kid has to defend himself all alone :( in the moment like him being a kid isn't a bad thing (??/!??,/) it makes you feel for him and is part of what makes what happens to him so awful.

mlvns accuse bylers of hating el and of being raging misogynists: elmike is born. bylers start saying that el will actually be thrilled by the match and might actually set up the guy she spent the first two and a half years of her life out of the lab fixated on who's been her boyfriend for over a year and her newfound brother. because she's so mature and over the petty drama that's a teenage love triangle. which is crazy because i DON'T believe that most bylers are as misogynistic as mlvns make us out to be like i've seen way worse which might be because...the show is actually pointing to mike being gay so it's not made up and no one needs to give el a thousand flaws to justify anything? even though people do blame her for things that i don't know if she should be blamed for but whatever that's a different discussion. i was saying: it's crazy because while i don't think bylers are all awful misogynistic el haters...the girl being so happy and out of the way and not being given the space to feel anything about her (gay) boyfriend not being in love with her is sooo new age 2010s mlm fandom sexism. let el have emotions about her breakup with her gay boyfriend who was the first person she bonded with (who didn't die immediately) after escaping the lab who lied to her about falling in love with her at first sight 2k25‼️

everything about babygirl mike and buff byers? let's not get into the whole buff byers debate i hate it with a passion. but it's like. people want mike to be taken down a peg. mike says i love you to el with will's sad little face in the background and people want mike to have to beg for forgiveness. which i get because as i was saying the other day, "i feel like my life started 24 hours after you were taken to the upside down and were traumatized forever because i met this girl who's replaced you in every way that matters, will" is hard to get over. but idk. people are so weird about mike being lame and loving will and about will barely caring about him in return and about the loserification of mike wheeler because yes mike is a loser but only in the sense that the whole party is!!! and that's something that gets lost when he's made to be below them and below will specifically because people feel like he has all the power in the relationship right now and will's at his mercy. which is something they don't like. like it's okay they're both miserable actually. rejoice! post-volume 2 mike needs to have fallen first and he needs to have fallen harder because if the only thing will gets at the end of everything is a boyfriend who loves him only as much as will loves him it's not good enough even though that's all he's not letting himself hope he'll ever have.

[p-receh]

Hiiii im the anon that complained about gurlatan-as-bm3 a loooong time ago. Life happened and so i just returned to tumblr today.

.... SUPRAAAAAAA....

Skip. Ehem.

Objectively, i agree with you. Gurlatan arc is the most intense arc of bbb so far and it follows traditional rhythm of a movie. It has new characters and a lot of old characters (maripos, hangkasa, roktaroka's grandpa whose name i forgot). The dark storyline. The BETRAYAL. The kokotaim's power upgrade. When someone said that maybe monsta decided to separate the arc as a whole movie because of the darker theme that wont fit with the rest of the season? yeah i agree.

And with bigger budgets ooooh it will be fireeee. Oh and here's hoping that the style will be in bm2's style.

But subjectively, looking back, each eps of sori is roughly 20 mins and from eps 3-6 follows 1 eps = 1 chapter. Windara arc comic is 5 chapter and will be 6 episodes, so it has space for a longer animation-only scenes like the amnesia scene in sori. SO THEY DECIDED TO GIVE US SUPRA BAAAACKK AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA XDD And TTM is in 1st tier XD So this will be the first time an arc will have 1-3 tier plus fusion 😆😆

Okay okay im distracted. Back to my point. Gurlatan arc in comic covers 6 chapters, so roughly translated to 120 mins animation. BM2 is 119mins so it will be a tight screentime. I want more 🤣🤣

Do you know that some people call the movie 3 is a halilintar's movie?? THATS LIKE SAYING MOVIE 2 WAS SOLARS MOVIE 🤣🤣🤣🤣 (cahaya/solar's time is galaxy s1 because in the elementals' ost in monsta channel, cahaya's is the 1st and solar's the last. And solar's ost is basically dunia baru aka the opening song)

All of season 2 is an elaborate ori trio angst in my mind. (Im also the onesided-hangkasaxratna-anon).

By the way, i LOVE season 2's ost, especially the beliung, gurlatan, and rimba's ost. I really want to see how they will include them in the animation. Are they gonna be in the animation at all or are they exclusively for teaser and comics? Oh and are they gonna post all of the ost later when the season's done or is the 3 will be all we get *shrugs*

This is a long rant hope you dont mind 😂

YOU ALREADY INDULGE ME WITH INTERESTING TED TALK AGAIN AND I.

WILL.

ANSWER IT🤣

Ehem.

Yes I know about the Supra thing. I blame myself since I forgot to mute the following news regarding the upcoming release of Boboiboy Windara.

Which made me mad because I absolutely in frantic when Boboiboy account post this:

And Supra is one of my personal fav fusion.

But then the second after that, my reaction was:

"Why so random? Aren't we going to have a new fusion arc in the upcoming DWIFUSION? In what urgency Monsta decided to do a fusion for this arc?"

(cool title btw, much better than the previous one :33)

So it brings me a question back to topic I already done before:

1. Will there any new rewrites?

From what they reveal so far? Definitely.

2. Will they cut or make a new scene for TV ver?

I could guarantee it with how they did with Sori.

Maybe they wanted to do the same scenario where Boboiboy must need to use fusion technique to fight Ki'rana in Gur'latan arc before he learn to use his 3rd tier Elemental?

... I guess?

I dunno, we'll see about that soon.

[shai-manahan]

Hi, I just wanted to let you know that I adored the update! Definitely the highlight of my week. The flashback was heartrending in the best way. Also very intrigued by the nightmare. Minor subjective thing: there are a couple times the narration used "male" or "female" when "man" or "woman" might've felt more natural?

LMFAO shit this is so embarrassing 😭I saw this and immediately changed those I'm so sorry jdsakljdklasj I didn't realize I was still using the old variables for that. Part of Wesley's scenes were already done before I did the rewrites and I somehow forgot to change them 😅Anyway, I've never updated something faster than this lmaoo

Thank you, by the way, for pointing that out! I'm glad the update made your week better :))))) The nightmare scenes are some of my favorite parts to write as well; there'll be more of that!

[home-halone]

Disclaimer: Assume All BG3 Spoilers. VERY LONG Rambling. I'm just a rando with a blog, these are my personal frustrations and I'm not trashing the characters, writers, or other people's enjoyment of things.

You know, after seeing all the companion word count + runtime statistics of all the BG3 Origin Companions, I really wanna acknowledge the fact that Astarion did get a disproportionate amount of attention and care. It sounded like his arc has been mostly consistent since EA and wasn't subjected to extensive rewrites (iirc? from an interview with Stephen Rooney, his writer) so it wouldn't be out of the question that Astarion's storyline & romance got more time in the oven than the others did, so to speak.

So yeah, even if length/run-time isn't strictly the only metric for a good & satisfying storyline, the amount of content definitely contributed to how well-received Astarion's romance is. He had a lot more screentime than anyone else. In fact, from what I understand, they were short on time during production and one of the reasons for his additional Dark Urge-specific content was because the Companion design lead had been writing the Dark Urge storyline while writing for Astarion, and they managed to squeeze content for both in. That's not a bad thing in itself. A lot of love and care went into Astarion, and it's evident because so many people resonated with him. The bad thing is that the others didn't get the same treatment.

Especially in comparison to the runtime of Wyll's romance. And it's so tragic. His romance is so heartfelt, earnest and sweet, and I wish I had MORE of that? The length of his scenes are a fraction of Astarion's. It's truly unfair, because there's so much of this tender dynamic with Tav left unexplored.

I have to admit I haven't seen all the other romances, but I have seen Astarion's, Shadowheart's, Wyll's, Gale's, and part of Karlach's.

Rant Start

Gale's in particular frustrates me so much. I went into BG3 figuring he was my type of love interest. The sort of masculine guy with facial hair, he's a little bit goofy with a dark secret. Totally my type. I thought it was very compelling and prime for angst. But even though the others' romances left me wanting more and wishing there'd been more content, Gale made me feel like... it was so unsatisfying?

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed him. I took him with me as a permanent party member to the very end. I romanced him all the way to late Act 3. Tim Downie's performance sold the charming and dweeby wizard-boyfriend so well. Gale’s quips and dialogue could be silly, but very profoundly romantic when a scene called for it.

But even with all the things I enjoyed, I found his content to be lacking in a different way. It felt disjointed. Like there were two sides of him written:

The opportunistic power-hungry wizard struggling with his past with Mystra, his role as the idk 'vessel' I guess, for the Netherese Orb. Him having to decide between detonating himself or not.

The conceited ☝️🤓 (affectionate) wizard in your party who is also quite endearing and romantic.

I can't seem to reconcile these two sides of him as being the same person. Yes, I know people are multifaceted, and that he can be both these things. I just feel like the game failed to present these sides of him in a way that meshed well enough to demonstrate his ability to slide between these two sides of himself.

ok but who is he?

It was really hard for me to believe that he was power-hungry for some reason. He didn't really behave in a way that demonstrated this trait, when the text wasn't spelling it out for me, like whacking me over the head with "he is being obsessed with being more powerful rn". I guess I wanted to see that outside of major story points, that he's prone to this behavior.

Instead, he struck me more as invested in learning more magic in a standard wizard fashion, who... somehow ended up crossing a literal god's boundaries in the past I guess??? I know that's not the full extent of what he is, but that's the vibe he's giving off, because he's fairly benign and seemingly levelheaded outside of world-ending events.

I think part of the reason for my difficulty in believing this part of him is the... I guess lack of a driving force behind this behavior? The text explicitly ties his self-worth into his prowess as a wizard, but... why. I wanna know why and dig right into it. Gale Dekarios I want to put you under a microscope. Why is he hoarding power to the point of self-destruction and sabotaging what good standing he had with a goddess he worshipped and adored? He seems to have a good relationship with his mother and he has Tara at his side, so it’s probably not because of things at home. Is there just a wizardy slippery slope from "I wanna know more than I should" to "I wanna kill god and take her place"???

Like, who are you? Why is this so important to you to the point of obsession?

"Gale's Ex"

I know there are different takes on it, like when Minsc mentions that the Rashemen hide away "weave-touched boys" and he posits that perhaps it was "...done to hide them from Mystra, and the snares she sets for young and prideful boys."

I think, if the text weren't so neutral in its depiction of Gale and Mystra's relationship it would have made for a really compelling facet of his character. Instead, it's repeatedly framed like Gale and Mystra had a pretty pleasant relationship and that there was only a falling out because of the incident with the Orb.

Like, yes, what Minsc says was in the text, but with it being said by Minsc, a character you don’t get until the third act, and with this dialogue being so out of the way, it feels like this info is entirely optional to the narrative. When. It feels like. It shouldn't be.

If this were baked into his storyline better, it would give Gale more depth. Instead, I have to sit here and headcanon it.

I imagined Gale as a fairly unremarkable kid except for his apparent calling for magic that leads to him earning the attention of a goddess. Finally, he has a sense of worth. He's exceptional. He works harder, learns more and more and more. He enjoys the renown and respect it brings. Here's the goddess of magic who mentors him, but then basically grooms him, and betrays his trust (whether by abusing the authority she has over him or some other way).

Headcanon aside, I'm surprised she didn't break his trust in some way. With the way Gale talks about Mystra in the later part of the game, you'd think his desire to USURP GOD AND NEVER BE BEHOLDEN TO THEIR WHIMS AGAIN was a wholly personal endeavor. That feels way too personal to just be a vendetta against your ex. I know Mystra's supposed to be a Lawful Neutral deity, but I'm sure they could have written something that objectively upholds the integrity of magic while being super fucked up of her to compel Gale to do.

I also feel like his constant desire to be more would also be because of the perceived (emotional) security his abilities as a wizard had brought him. Becoming more powerful led to more fulfillment. This one is a little more apparent in the text, but it also feels like, if you want to go against this, you're being punished for trying to tell Gale he's enough.

"ur enough to me gale"

In the romance scene in Act 2 with the stars, you get opportunities to indulge in magic with Gale. It leads to more intimate moments, and there are multiple points where you can flat out tell him that you don't have to be impressed to love him for who he is without all the grandstanding. And if you take that option, you actually miss out on some genuinely beautiful and romantic scenes. INSTEAD, you get a really brief scene where you're plopped on a magic bed and he just agrees to do it your way. No elaboration or validating your choice.

Like yes the 1080° Space Sex scene was a little comical, but it's also a thousand times way more intimate than the other outcome. Narration makes a point to highlight the intensity of the act. I know magic is Gale's thing, but if the whole point of this is trying to convince someone they are appreciated just as they are, why is this the more rewarding option? I don't mean this as a complaint that the magic bed scene should have been a "more explicit, hotter" version. Like, yeah, it could have, but that's not the point. My point is, it doesn't really give a satisfying outcome. Spawn!Astarion's Act 3 sex scene is tame as hell (everyone's clothed) compared to the Ascended!Astarion one, but the emotional payoff was really good. Astarion opens up to Tav and it establishes a feeling of intimacy without being explicit. And that could have been a possibility here!

But it wasn't.

I read accusation on some reddit comment once (I know this isn't representative of people who enjoy his character regardless) that anyone who feels put off by these sides of him are because people can't stand a love interest having an ex. But I don't care that he had a past entanglement with someone who isn't my Tav. I care that so much of the dialogue revolves around it. I know it can't be helped because he's a wizard who was Mystra's lover and Chosen. Plus from the narrative POV, he's also tied to the Crown of Karsus.

Maybe I am not remembering it correctly, but it felt like Gale was still very much in awe of Mystra, while trying to romance you. Like you're on a first date with someone who can't stop sighing about their mindblowing but toxic ex and you're there awkwardly trying to comfort them, knowing you're just the less-bad option.

It starts off quite forlorn (when he's staring at her likeness formed from the Weave) and turns into a petty ploy to get back at Mystra as an ex who happened to be a goddess. I felt like I should step back and give Gale some time to get over it or end up in an unhealthy relationship myself lmao. It's not even framed that way in-game (I would've eaten it up) because it's supposed to be sweet and romantic when he asks you to marry him.

But there's also a disconnect. Because while the scenes focus so much on Gale and his poorly processed feelings on Mystra, he also just goes right into saying he’s feeling seen and loved and found someone worth living for because Tav reassures him. The jump feels so abrupt. It doesn't feel like any of the scenes or interactions really support that? The sudden sweeping ride-or-die declarations that he can't live without me?? It doesn't feel earned. Not in the way I felt like I earned Shadowheart's trust, or even when I glimpsed into Astarion slowlyyyy lowering his guard for example.

Even if his reputation is that he is quick to romance, I actually found his route really difficult. The slow start, getting no affection other than a somewhat flattered reaction to your interest until mid-Act 2 under the stars... That huge gap of nothingness in-between because most of his plot was concentrated in Act 3... It honestly didn't feel like he was interested in my Tav outside of being supportive towards him. I didn't feel like I was a friend or companion to Gale, the way I felt like Shadowheart or Lae'zel were truly endeared to my Tav. Gale's role vs the Netherbrain is so pivotal, that's where his arc truly lies. Until then, his growth feels minimal. So I almost feel like a Tav romancing him is a cardboard cutout character, instead of someone supporting his journey. Maybe because of how little you actually get to be by his side. Even when he finally confronts Mystra, he does that entirely on his own.

And it's sad because!!! He is interesting to me!! He says some really beautiful and touching things as standalone lines. But even then, the game makes me feel like the feeling is not truly mutual LMAO.

Anyway just to recap, the source of my frustrations with Gale's romance:

Perceived disconnect between 2 aspects of himself

Larger focus on his role in the main quest even in romantic scenes

Lack of a deeper motivation for seeking power on the level of godhood, or even just more insight to his behavior

Pacing issues with his romance, mostly slow in actual progress but makes abrupt, unbelievable leaps in affection.