#also i don't want this to come off as there's a right and wrong way to view something because that's not true

[munsooooon]

Steve hates very much to be called "Steven" not even as a joke, he has not talked about it with anyone but implicitly everyone senses it in some way or another and therefore they do not call him that way, it is always Steve or Harrington or some nickname. That's because when his parents called him that it was because they were incredibly angry or drunk and therefore punished him in horrible ways, when they called him Steven he usually ended up getting beaten up. When they called him Steven in public it was enough to make him freeze and make him shiver, eventually he would be silent and terrified for the rest of the evening.

Now being older if someone calls him Steven, he immediately assumes they are fighting with him or that he did something wrong and depending on the situation or the person. He will react with sadness or anger, for example, when Tommy called him Steven, it ended in a awful fist fight. It really makes him feel very bad, in recent years sadness is what he felt the most when he hears his name, because it hurts him too much to disappoint the people he loves.

Eddie doesn't know it, but he doesn't call him Steven either, it's always a nickname or Stevie, or Steve or even Harrington. Until one night, when they were in Steve's room kissing fiercely and passionately, Steve was under him doing whatever it took to feel Eddie rubbing his skin, between gasps and accelerated breaths, every little movement Eddie made or every little touch Steve felt, he reacted effusively with his whole body shuddering, he was and felt hypersensitive, he couldn't keep still.

"Steven" Eddie whispered with softness and a beautiful smile, Steve looked at him surprised. "Stay still, I need to take your clothes off, love"

Steve loved that. It was the first time someone pronounced his name with such love. He stood for a few seconds, processing what was happening. He began to shake in anticipation of what Eddie might give him. His brain was short-circuited, and all he could think of was Eddie calling him "Steven" with that authority and that beautiful softness that only he had. He felt loved.

"Are you okay? Do you want us to stop?"

Steve took a few seconds to appreciate him, ran his face gently, because the words wouldn't come out even though they were in his throat. He was always silent when he shouldn't be but he couldn't help it.

Eddie kissed the hand that was on his face, not intending to go any further, and Steve melted once again, he wanted to speak and express loudly the pleasure the other boy was making him feel but he couldn't. Instead, he took Eddie's hand and directed it to his pants to make him feel what he had provoked, to make him understand that he didn't want to stop.

"No, I don't want to stop" Steve said as he sat on Eddie's lap. "Call me Steven again, just you, just you Eddie, call me love, baby, tell me I'm your princess and never stop"

Steve was incredibly loud that night, moving his hips against Eddie's lap, trying to fuck himself harder, deeper. He spoke his name softly and lovingly, until he began to cry, begged for more as tears flooded his face. Eddie held him tight with his arms to keep him right where he wanted him but also to keep him safe to hold him as he released a weight he seemed to be carrying for years.

Eddie couldn't utter a word, it was unbelievable. Eddie was always loud and Steve was quieter, but in the dark, in the security of their love, Steve could be whatever he wanted and could act however he wanted, so he was being loud as he wished because in Eddie's arms no one could punish him.

"You're such a good boy, don't you?" Eddie says softly.

"Yeah?" Steve asks as he chases Eddie, he moans loudly as Eddie once again hits that place on his body, his mouth stays open as he moves on Eddie, soft sounds keep coming out of his mouth, he closes his eyes, because he can feel Eddie all over his body, even though he moves slowly.

"Yeah. You're so sweet, my baby boy, I can't even explain how much I love you, princess"

Steve smiles with his eyes closed. He looked precious, his cheeks were flushed, his lips red, and somehow the tears made him incredibly beautiful.

....

Steve still hates being called that, he finally confessed it to Eddie but also gave him permission to call him that on special occasions. Plus, he told him that he would love to tell his parents what he does with the traumas they caused him. Because now every time he's called Steven it's because he's loved, because he's revered and because he's being fucked incredibly well.

Steve get his name back, Steven belonged to him and Eddie.

[kittyfrisk9]

Possessive nature

Note: I'm sorry. I don't know English so I used Google Translate, I apologize if something is not understood.

**In one universe, ghosts pose no significant danger. In another, ghosts are terrifying creatures: territorial, aggressive, and in extreme cases, extremely possessive, especially when it comes to their partners.**

**Danny is desperate not to hurt his boyfriend. Jason, on the other hand, wishes his boyfriend would hurt him.**

… — One-shot (??Chapter 1??) — …

It was supposed to be just one night of fun. However, one night turned into two, then three, then four, and before he realized it, he was already in love.

It was on one of those nights when he wondered: Should he blame himself, or blame him for being so irresistibly cute? What started as a relationship based on mutual pleasure transformed into something deeper.

The affection expressed in every conversation terrified Danny. He knew that at some point he wouldn't be able to control himself and would mark Jason as his. Oh, right now he was crying in his heart.

He took a bite of his yogurt with cereal.

It's better to forget everything and focus on his breakfast. It was a normal morning for Danny: waking up next to this cute boy and then having breakfast together. Watching Jason prepare the kettle, with his back to him, offered a beautiful view of a certain part of his body. Danny's eyes darkened.

<A bite on his neck would look so pretty.>

He shook his head. Lately, he had been having these strange thoughts, like a voice in his head telling him how much he wanted to fuck Jason, and not in a good way.

"I've been thinking about us," Jason said suddenly.

Danny choked on his food.

He watched Jason, who avoided his gaze. With a cup of coffee in hand, Jason sat across from him at the table and continued to ignore Danny's nervousness. What else could this mean? It's obvious that Jason wants to end the relationship they have.

It's a good thing, Danny thought, so he wouldn't hurt him with his possessive nature. You have to let go of the people you love.

<But he's mine.>

He dismissed that voice. "I-is that so?" he asked. He stopped eating, preferring to leave the bowl along with the spoon on the table, he no longer had an appetite. Jason nodded. Wow, then this really means no more seeing Jason, it's okay, yes, it's okay, everything is okay. "I..."

He didn't have the strength to discuss this.

<I must lock him up.>

No, that's wrong.

<I'll cut off his legs so he can't escape.>

What's wrong with you?! Danny clutched his head. Of all the bizarre thoughts he's had, this is undoubtedly the worst of all, and he has a feeling it won't be the last. Sigh, Jazz didn't raise him this way.

Silence made its presence known.

Jason took a deep breath, looking at Danny with a mix of nervousness and determination. The moment had arrived. "I've been thinking about us, Danny," he began, his voice trembling slightly. "What started as... well, you know, something casual... has turned into something much more important to me."

Danny watched him in silence, his eyes reflecting a mix of surprise and hope. Could it be?

"I love you," Jason confessed, averting his gaze briefly before meeting Danny's eyes again. "I know this may sound sudden or even ridiculous, but I can't keep pretending we're just friends with benefits."

He paused, taking a sip of coffee as if to gather the courage to continue. "What I mean is... I want us to be something more. I want a real relationship with you. I know it's risky and it could go wrong, but I'd rather try than continue like this and never know what we could have been."

His eyes reflected a mix of fear and hope. "Do you... do you feel the same?"

Yes, Ancients, fuck yes!

He knew there was a possibility that his ghost side could hurt Jason. Nonetheless, he was also excited to be with the boy of his dreams, the man who made him sigh.

<Mine.>

So he jumped up and ran to Jason, despite being barely separated by a table. He reached out and pulled him close, lifting him with a radiant smile on his face, overwhelmed with happiness. This was the best day of his half-life.

<Mine, mine.>

"I love you too!" There was no room for argument; Danny's feelings were so pure that they easily reflected in his eyes, a look directed only at Jason. Jason's heart raced, and as a result, his face turned the same color as his helmet: red.

Jason let out a nervous laugh, his hands clutching Danny's shoulders for stability. "Really?" he asked, his voice trembling with emotion. "Is this real?"

Danny nodded, his smile widening. "Yes, it's real. You are real. We are real," he replied firmly, his words filled with conviction. "I want to be with you, Jason. No more doubts, no more games. Just you and me, together."

Jason let out a sigh of relief, his eyes shining with tears of happiness. "So, does this mean that... we're boyfriends now?" he asked with a shy smile.

Danny pulled him even closer, his lips brushing Jason's forehead in a tender gesture. "Yes, we're boyfriends. And I won't let anything or anyone come between us," he said with determination, sealing his words with a soft, tender kiss.

<Mine, mine, mine!>

The ecstasy of the moment prevented Danny from foreseeing the terrible fate that awaited him. Frostbite had warned him that ghosts are ridiculously possessive with their partners, to the point of committing madness for each other and going beyond established limits. In the devilish game of balance between madness and reason, thus began Danny's torment to repress his desires.

Well, it's not like Jason has problems with Danny's possessiveness. After all, he's also crazy about him. They are made for each other.

... -The end-...

Note: I'm sorry. I don't know English so I used Google Translate, I apologize if something is not understood.

[mad-scientist-enthusiast]

Yor Forger- Character Analysis

I think Yor is such a fascinating character. For one, she has a very unique relationship with femininity. Growing up, Yor had to be "the strong one" and look after her brother in the absence of their parents, and this led her to becoming an assassin so she could provide for him. But even without the Garden, Yor has always been physically strong, blunt, and brutal. Her upbringing didn't allow for the same societal socialization as most girls her age had, which also plays a role here. Despite this, Yor makes a great effort to present as formal and as feminine as possible. And to her credit, she does hit all the hallmarks there. She dresses the right way, has a formal manner of speaking, works in a stereotypically feminine occupation as her day job, and goes out with her coworkers when invited; yet her coworkers, and presumably others still seem to know there is something inherently different about her.

In any other setting, this might be okay—an odd coworker is nothing to worry about—but SPY x FAMILY takes place during the Cold War. People are willing to turn even neighbors in to the Secret Police on just mere suspicion, and that's not even including those who make false reports just because they don't like someone. Yor's survival (or at least freedom) relies on her ability to perform femininity according to the standard, but even when she does everything right, she's still alienated from her peers. A lot of this has to do with language, as she tends to only be aware of syntactic and basic semantic context of words and phrases, instead of the pragmatic context used in Ostania. This was likely also a result of her upbringing. She's not only living a double life as an assassin, but also having to perform this femininity to such an extent is another mask she has to wear. Throwing the pretend marriage into the equation, you get an unrealistic amount of masks to juggle all at once.

Although I'd like to think she's able to take a few of them off when it's just her, Loid, and Anya. Outside of Yuri, Yor has felt that her strength and brutality are things to hide and be ashamed of, so it's a pleasant surprise when her new family immediately accepts and praises her for these things. Loid doesn't think there's anything untoward about her, and typically finds Yor's strength to be quite useful (and hot). And Anya looks up to Yor, wanting to be strong like her one day. This is one of many reasons why their family works so well. So much of her life is spent feeling inadequate for things she can't control while living in fear that someone might report her to the Secret Police, and yet now, with her new family, she is treated normally and with respect. She is able to live a fantasy she never thought she would be able to have with her social difficulties. 

I mention her communication struggles as part of her separation from accepted standards of femininity because the way that women talk and their ability to be socially savvy is inherently tied to their femininity. To me this reminds me of the gender disconnect many autistic people (like myself) feel when they are unable to perform their gender roles conventionally. Even strongly masking, it can feel like theres something so deeply wrong with you that everyone else seems to pick up, but you can't for the life of you identify what. Yor wants to perform femininity, as seen by her uniform with the Garden. She very easily could've gone for something more practical or comfortable, but instead chose an outfit that is seductive and feminine. But the issue comes into play when she's presented with different social contexts. She didn't connect that wearing a seductive dress would probably be inappropriate for getting drinks with her coworkers, because she doesn't realize what is and is not appropriate in the first place. 

Overall, I think this view of her character adds so much depth to her and is way more interesting than the "female himbo dommy mommy" box that the fandom tends to stick her in, to me. (No hate btw, to each their own).

[doberbutts]

Honestly I sort of like how Astarion chafes every time Panic is nice to someone for no reason except because Panic's a nice dude. Like yes yes Irori's followers are supposed to be pretty neutral-to-lawful good anyway [and he only exists in pathfinder shhhhh dw about it] but Panic also was raised in this monastery where no one except fantasy racist visitors was terrible to him and even those visitors were asked to either behave or leave in front of him, so he's never really had to consider cruelty or spite as an option for himself.

And so it's very much a "WHY are you so nice to people" but also a "of COURSE you're nice to people you've never had a hardship in your entire life" [blatantly untrue, he was abandoned as a baby and lives an intentionally homeless lifestyle, he just never had to deal with unrelenting oppression] and a "MOST people aren't like you, I can't believe in the goodness of others based on your singular example because NO ONE ELSE is like this" [blatantly untrue, he was raised by people who are Like This] and even some "where were you and where was this sympathy when *I* needed it/you? Why do you only appear to me now, after 200 years of torture?" [unfair but common trauma response] and "hurting people is the only way I can survive and keep myself safe, how dare you challenge that when I have years of evidence" [also unfair but very very common trauma response]

Meanwhile Panic and his stupidly high insight modifier is going "oh I see. You're like a kicked dog or a stray cat. You snap and snarl and hiss and spit because you don't actually want to bite but people keep proving to you that biting is the only thing that works. A little food and a warm pillow and some low pressure offered affection will warm that frozen heart right up. I can fix him."

And it's like. Well no Panic he does actually really like watching people suffer and thinks causing pain is funny. Also you're not wrong he's literally modeled off a stray cat and with some time and patience and love he'll come around. He still likes killing things though. And causing problems on purpose. Again, much like a cat. You are a golden retriever in a tiefling's body, you're doing the thing where the dog offers every appeasement and deescalation signal possible to the cat and the cat deliberately marches up to you to swat your nose because it thinks it's funny.

[blacklegsanjiii]

Want to start by saying you are such a great writer, your creativity is amazing!!!!

Lately, I've seen some fanarts of Gear 5/Nika Luffy shipped specifically with dark-haired Stealth Black Sanji

The angst potential of this is interesting, especially if it's during/after Wano where Sanji would end up losing his emotions, hence becoming Stealth Black.

But it could also be funny, with this supposedly emotionless, serious Sanji constantly being annoyed and pestered by the silly antics of Nika/Gear 5 Luffy!

Maybe Luffy refuses to turn back into regular Luffy until Sanji goes back to being Sanji, so now the crew has to deal with a godlike Luffy being extremely clingy (well, more than usual) with a very much Vinsmoke Sanji who is kinda confused.

Feel free to add anything you want to this or incorporate other headcanons, aus, ships, etc :)

The angst is there. You're right. Good Lord alright here we go. (also thank you)

So first. Sanji still has his memories but he goes completely "dark" in Wano, before Luffy wakes up. He knows how to be tactful so when he delivers food to Luffy when he wakes up that he just tells him, without tact. Luffy is staring at him and the black hair on his boyfriend's head and his eyebrows going the wrong way. He doesn't understand because he's still Sanji. Except he's not. Not anymore.

Sanji doesn't avoid him and is very neutral in peeling the rubber kid off him when it's time. Luffy is normal for a while, he's not in gear 5 and is just clinging to his boyfriend. Despite Sanji telling him he no longer loves him because he no longer loves or feels anything, he's cold and hard and just incredibly durable now. Luffy still loves him and clings and kisses but Sanji doesn't reciprocate, he doesn't know how anymore and just lets the guy do as he pleases.

Then Luffy gets annoyed and pissed off. So he goes into gear 5 and keeps hanging out with Sanji and hanging off him despite what everyone is telling him. Gear 5 might make him die quicker and they need him to be there for the end. To become king. It goes on for a few months and Sanji might not have emotions but he's not dumb. So eventually he's staring at his captain, his boyfriend, the man he loved once with cold eyes.

"I don't think your Sanji would appreciate you expediting your death."

"You're my Sanji." Luffy argues.

"Your Sanji is gone. He can't come back." Sanji glowers at the younger.

"You're lying!" Luffy yells.

"If my brothers still haven't learned. why would I?" Sanji counters. "Your Sanji wouldn't want you wasting your life on him." Luffy doesn't give up of course, but he stops using Gear 5 as much. Makes Sanji still do things that brought him joy. It's awful for Luffy and the crew to see their Sanji gone, possibly never coming back.

[pinkeos]

A Bit of Banter || Wanderer x GN!Reader

Warning/s: Reader experiences trouble breathing caused by anxiety other than that it's just fluff

Notes: I wrote this sleep deprived from playing too much windtrace at 2am so if u see mistakes, no u don't🧍 I also don't know what to title this so

“You’re shaking.”

Your eyes lifted from the hastily scribbled words on the paper you were holding, meeting Wanderer’s indigo blue eyes. You let out a snort, shaking your head with a strained smile on your face.

“What are you even talking about? I’m not.” You chuckled, the sound so forced he could tell from miles away.

“I’m not blind. Just admit it. You’re nervous.” He added with a roll of his eyes, leaning back on his chair as he crossed his arms over his chest.

In silence, you stared into his eyes for a moment. And he stared back, as if challenging you to prove him wrong. But it was so painfully obvious you weren't coping well with the creeping anxiety, your heart dropping to your stomach as you plopped down next to him, hands clutching either side of your head.

“Okay, fine, I am! It's just! My team and I worked so hard on this, if we can't defend this research, I’m going to bawl my eyes out right there and then!” You groaned, hands messing up your already messy hair even more.

“You’re speaking as if you haven't done this before.” He pointed out, “You’ve defended countless of your research and opinions better than most other pretentious idiots out there, what's the difference with this one?”

Your eyes sparkled at his words, and you nudged his side playfully, “Oh? So you're saying I'm at least a bit better than others?”

‘You’re not just a bit better, you’re the best one this place has probably seen in years’ was what he would've said if he wasn't so in denial of his honest feelings for you.

“You’re hallucinating.” Wanderer replied, closing his eyes and looking away from you.

Your small smug smile dropped at this and you let out a ‘tsk’, “Yeah, sure, whatever.

But when you turned back to the paper you had in your hand, which contained messy notes you wanted to review before you had to meet up with your research group, the feeling of dread came back once more. You only invited him to accompany you because you wanted a distraction from the nerves, totally not because you enjoyed his presence, yeah, totally not.

“Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Do you mind listening to this again?” You asked him, flicking the paper with your other hand.

“You've already repeated that at least four times. So, yes, I do mind because I don't want you to talk my ears off.”

“Rude. But how come you were still listening then?”

His ‘hmph’ as he looked away again caused you to roll your eyes at him. However, there was a small tug at your heart at the realization that he was still listening to your yapping even though he claims he doesn't want to anymore because if he truly didn't want to listen, he'd be out the House of Daena in record speed.

You plopped your head onto the table, forehead meeting the wood with a thud as you let out a strangled noise of stress and exhaustion. You've been working tirelessly on this and if you failed, you'd have to revise it and present it again. All those sleepless nights, arguments with your group members, disagreements and draining trips to gather research materials are going to waste (not really, but your paranoia was acting up). Just the thought of it made you feel the worst.

“Hey, breathe.” You heard his voice.

You hadn't even noticed how your chest was rising up and down faster than ever yet only little air managed to make its way into your lungs for some reason. Your eyebrows furrowed as you tried to relax, fists shaking and crumpling the paper.

“Hey.” He called again, using his hand to cup your cheek and make you turn to face him. His eyebrows furrowed, and you didn't know if you were hallucinating but was there a tint of worry in his eyes?

“Breathe in.” He instructed, and you followed, gazing back into his eyes and focusing on every little feature of his pretty face with how close you were, “Breathe out.”

You breathed out, repeating the process and following his instructions while he helped lightly fan you with his anemo powers until you could feel air freely flow in and out of your lungs without anymore trouble. His eyes lingered on your face for a moment though, before he pulled away, much to your displeasure.

“You’re worrying too much. You're going to do fine, you'll just have to have faith in yourself.” Wanderer spoke, no tint of sarcasm or anything like that present in his tone, “I have faith in you, so you should too.”

A tint of red coated your cheeks at his words. If he wasn't so sincere as he looked and sounded now, you'd probably think of it as a joke but he was making you feel butterflies.

“Thank you. Were you worried for me just now?”

His nose wrinkled in faux disgust before he stood up and started towards the exit.

“H-hey, wait! Where are you going?” You stammered as you followed behind him.

“Out. There's still time, let's go for a walk.”

[richea]

Arise review

After buying the game at launch, I finally, finally finished my playthrough of Tales of Arise. Normally I would just write a few thoughts on Twitter and leave it at that, but I found I had a lot of things I wanted to touch upon with this game. With the prior two entries in the series, I kind of just rushed to finish them and then let them collect dust in my brain afterwards. However, back then I had other Tales games I wanted to try for the first time, so part of it was I was itching to get to ones I knew I would enjoy more. I got all caught up with the series before Arise was even announced, so there's no excuse this time!

With Arise, I took my time (well, maybe too much time), and let myself really process the game before I let myself finish it, in order to give myself a more solid basis for how I will feel about this game going forward. To that end, I wanted to really write down my feelings on the game in depth, touching upon all the various aspects of it and how everything made me feel.

Quick warning: if you don't accept criticism of Arise well, this isn't the review for you. I am approaching the game from the perspective of somebody who has played every other entry in the series and ruminated on all of them for years on end. I will be critical of the game in this piece. I'm not trying to tell people how to feel on the game, this is all purely my own thoughts and feelings, from the perspective of a long time Tales fan who deeply cares about the direction the series is going, and more importantly, its rich history.

I am also not looking for people to change my mind on the game, so please do not try to tell me my feelings are "wrong" or that I'm not appreciating certain things properly. I'm not looking for discourse.

That said, if you are someone who is interested in my perspective, then by all means enjoy the essay that is to come.

―――

In this post I want to dive into all the different aspects of the game and talk about each in depth, namely the story, characters and gameplay. I think it's more interesting to judge a game by balancing all these traits rather than just pinpointing one specific thing and basing my entire view of the game on that one thing (for instance, I tend to value interesting characters first and foremost when I indulge in media).

That said, for a quick TL;DR of my feelings on various things, when compared to other entries in the series:

Story: 2/10 Characters: 1/10 Character designs: 3/10 Other UI designs (such as monsters/menus/etc): 0/10 Battle gameplay: 4/10 Other gameplay: 4/10 Music: Undecided, which in its own right may not be a good indicator of how I feel about it Graphics: As a video game it's a 10, for Tales specifically it's a 9/10 for the graphics themselves and a 1/10 for the lack of anime portraits and the portraits we got just look awful (how does Ufotable only get worse with its Tales designs?)

Visual presentation

I want to start by acknowledging the graphics, as it's something that has zero relevance to how I feel on video games. Arise is a very pretty game! There is no denying this. I found myself stopping and just moving the camera around to admire all the pretty landscapes and views in the game. The character models are also very nice.

That said, like all modern Tales games, the battles are a bit overly stimulating on my eyes, because there's so much going on and lots of flashing lights. The actual effects were very pretty though.

The skits are absolutely horrible to watch. Even setting aside how I feel about the lack of skit portraits, the thin white text on top of the off-white backdrop was a horrible design choice. I think this is probably my least favorite aspect of the game. I get headaches very quickly from playing video games even just normally, and watching a ton of skits with intense eye strain did not help! There's also way too much movement with the skit... boxes? as well. Were they thinking about accessibility at all when coming up with them?

On the same topic, the subtitles for general cutscenes were also awful. The outline around the text needed to be much thicker. I could probably read 30% of the dialogue in the game. Thankfully I know a decent amount of Japanese, but still, I was interested in reading the actual translation of the text and I was having a really hard time. I feel bad for people who wanted to play with Japanese voices and don't know as much as me.

The menu UI was also very disappointing. It felt really barebones and had next to no personality to it. The big portraits drawn by Iwamoto were a nice touch (though if you're going to make such massive paintings, at least make the art itself more interesting to look at?), but it wasn't enough. They just felt like something to fill in the empty space which there was a lot of; the menu layout really did not utilize the space on the screen well, and it's double annoying when you consider how microscopic the font in the game is and how they could've used that space to make things more readable. Everything was hard to read, and again the lack of portraits was just utterly disappointing. Every time I opened the menu I just felt sad at how lifeless it felt.

Gameplay

My feelings on the gameplay are mixed. I'll start with the elephant in the room: the gald system in this game is not good. Only getting gald from chests and sub events is just a massively poor game design. Fishing helps but it's more time consuming than doing battles would be and there's really no other incentive to even doing it (at least battles would work towards EXP and getting battle proficiency things!).

The owl system was fun and was definitely a highlight of the game for me. It took me back to looking for attachments in Xillia, which is something I really enjoyed in that game as well and made the long traversing in the game more bearable. I just went from point A to point B in both Zestiria and Berseria, so this was the first game since Xillia 2 that I actually touched every corner of the map.

The battles are also a mixed bag for me. I will be completely transparent and state here that I mostly only played Shionne and Rinwell, so my feelings on the melee gameplay is very limited. My committed team was Shionne, Rinwell, Dohalim and Kisara. Between them you could hit every element weakness, on top of Kisara's high defense (and the fact that I just liked her more than Law and Alphen). From the perspective of a caster main, the battle gameplay was fine. Like other entries, you could do fun manipulation strategies to speed casting time. By the end game I was just spam casting Rinwell's highest tier spells instantly which was fun.

The healing is definitely... not great. There were a few times where I would run out of Orange Gels and then have to do a story progressing map action and it would eat the rest of my already gone CG bar. It was really infuriating. I only used First Aid the entire game, never anything else, because why would I use a better healing arte when it would just drain my gauge faster? It was a mess.

The monsters I did not enjoy. It felt really hard to stun them so it never felt satisfying fighting anything. Their movements felt WAY too grand. If every single boss is huge and epic and has moves that hit the whole map, the whole game starts to lose its impact. I also feel like they did way too much damage in a single hit, which made the healing issue even worse, and it felt more like I was trying to perfectly dodge every attack than it did managing my health in a natural way.

The skill system was just fine, no real commentary to make there. I wish there were more titles in the game however, and that they would display on the status screen (even Graces did this despite them both having the titles and skill systems merged).

Some quick other things

The campsite system was fine

I liked that the sub event indicators were really obvious, as someone who's really bad about doing sub events especially on my first playthrough (the actual sub events themselves are a different issue)

Like with fishing, I never really understood the point of the ranch

Did this game even have minigames?

I actually really liked the weapon skins system, that was super fun

Story

This is where I will start to nitpick things because I play Tales games for the story and characters first and foremost. And, having played every other game in full, my feelings on the story and writing in this game are... not very high.

To start, I do at the very least think Arise had some interesting starting concepts going on. Namely, a protagonist trying to figure out his amnesia and a girl who zaps everything she touches are pretty cool concepts! However, even from the first promotion trailer I was concerned about Shionne's story hinging too much on Alphen. The "he can't feel anything, she hurts everything she touches" plotpoints felt really, really convenient to me from the first trailer, and was a setup for having all the impact on the game being reliant on Alphen being a decent character (as well as, well, almost forcing him to be Shionne's hero, rather than him gaining that honor through actual hard work and emotion), but I was more than willing to give the game the chance to prove me wrong on that aspect.

I have too many feelings on the character writing so I will be giving them their own section below.

Anyway, sadly, I think those are the only two interesting and unique things in Arise's narrative. Everything else the game has done has been done in a prior Tales game but better. Let me go down the list (non-comprehensive as I can't remember every single theme from every single game, but I will name games that at least have these as the major theme that I can recall):

Two worlds vying for power (I could name games that don't have two worlds faster than I could name ones that do), and one world is trying to suck power out of the other one (Symphonia, Hearts)

The plotpoint about "when humans lose all their power they turn to dust" is literally exactly what happens in Hearts, while the "making people feel strong bad emotion to provoke them into our gains" is what Zestiria and Berseria's entire lore was about as well as Rebirth

Racism, oppression, slavery and colonialism (Phantasia, Destiny, Symphonia, Rebirth, Legendia, Tempest, Hearts (R removed this but there's literally an NPC who flaunts about enslaving the "lesser beings"), Berseria)

First half of the game is fighting a series of specific enemies, second half is focused on lore, especially figuring out stuff with the second planet (Destiny, Eternia, Symphonia, Vesperia, Hearts)

Do I think Tales rehashing tropes is a bad thing? No, not at all. It's something they have been doing for a long, long time. But what made it work in other games is that each game had at least something completely unique to it to balance that feeling of repetitiveness out. For instance, Hearts shows up a lot on this bullet list, but it is the only Tales game to have lore based around entering people's hearts, and the whole story is based around a fairy tale. Even the fact that it has a robot as a playable character was a first for Tales. Legendia rehashed a lot of plotpoints from Rebirth, but it had its own unique spin on things and the worldbuilding in it is completely unique with the focus on marine themes and the story structure being unique from any other game. Symphonia even keeps the same worldbuilding from Phantasia but the feels of the games are completely unique from one another due to how different the themes the stories tackle are. The issue with Arise is that I cannot think of anything unique in the game, aside from Shionne's thorns, that wasn't done in another game. And even then, all of the writing regarding her thorns is a big rehash of heroine tropes and situations in the series' past. I will go over that when I discuss her though.

Another glaring issue with the game is the skits. Normally, Tales skits have roughly 4 purposes. In order of prevalence: fun skits to show off the character's personality that the story can't showcase, the characters discussing story events to showcase the full depth of their feelings on the events as they happen, skits going over worldbuilding to explain in better detail if you didn't catch it from the story scenes (or just giving more information!), and navigational skits. Skits were always meant to be lively and engaging, even if things felt dull in the story, skits existed as a pick-me-up, and as a way to show how the characters were having fun. Skits are one of the most famous parts of Tales storytelling, specifically for this reason.

What's wrong with Arise's skits? In a franchise where the fun:dull skit ratio was 6:4 give or take, Arise changed those numbers to 2:8. Most skits were dedicated to rehashing events. Even in those rehashes, the characters were near constantly bringing up plotpoints that happened 30+ hours ago in the story. Over and over! Alphen was still talking about the first 5 hours of the game when you're on Lenegis!

Watching the skits, it genuinely felt like I was having constant deja-vu. I think I actually was worried I was going crazy at some point, because of the sheer extent of times they would have the same conversations over and over and over again. It got to a point where I would joke about Alphen and Law being on the screen together and I would say "countdown to them bringing up Zephyr" and every single time I would say that, the convo would turn to him. This was 55 hours into the game!

It's not bad for characters to reflect on the past events, but when that makes up the vast majority of their conversations, and one singular event makes up the entire personality of the character, the game feels dull very, very quickly. Skits transformed from a thing that I would usually open to find fun shenanigans between the characters and silly banter into me sighing about having to hear about Zephyr's death for the 200th time in the past 5 hours. It was very exhausting. Can we talk about something else now? My rant about this could be endless, but I genuinely want somebody to do a study on just how many times Alphen and Law bring up Zephyr throughout the game, and how many lines in the skits were dedicated to things that weren't just recapping events.

(Even then, there were cooking skits! However, I can only hear so many conversations about preparing food before I start getting bored. I know that eating and food is a BIG cultural point in Japan, but did every single "fun" skit need to be about eating? No.)

Speaking of, let me go over my feelings on the actual story and its events.

While the game did have a slow start, it wasn't that bad. The game eases you into what's going on, with the slavery and meeting Shionne. Nothing really of note to mention here. Rinwell and Law's character introductions were nothing special, but that was fine, it was still early in the game. My first major issue with the game is Zephyr's death. As it may be obvious from my above rant, the game places way too much importance on him as a character. A game mourning a character is nothing new. For instance, fractured Milla's death was a big turning point in Xillia 2. However, the entire game, as well as two entire characters, did not revolve around her death. Arise's issue is that Zephyr is barely a character, and yet the game constantly reminds you of how great and wonderful he was. We barely saw the guy, and no number of skits dedicated to Alphen and Law talking about him changes the fact that he is no more memorable than any other random NPC in the game. His death is unceremonious and was one of the most predictable deaths in the series to date.

(As an unrelated note, I am someone who loves a lot of NPCs in Tales. I love a lot of characters who have very little screentime. Two of my favorite Tales characters are Stella and Marian, who actually have a lot of similarities with Zephyr in narrative importance! The difference, however, is that you are not constantly having it drilled in that they are the epitome of nuance and the stories are not dictated by either character's morals, of which we never got to even see. Arise has Alphen claim Zephyr has the best moral views in the world and his entire life is dictated by those morals he was taught, and he pushes them on everyone else. Including the player.)

Zephyr's death aside, the other non-party characters are barely characters. I don't even remember any of their names. Especially the lords. To sum up my feelings on this instead of subjecting you to a long tangent on the lords, let me just drop these posts I made while playing:

One of Arise's lowest points however is how it handles its themes of racism and colonialism. I have a distinct memory of Alphen telling Rinwell to shut up when she brings up Renan oppression to him, Law tells Rinwell she's not allowed to want revenge due to her oppression, and there's this not-so-great scene on Lenegis where the party reflects on how... one of the lords was "only human" for wanting to enslave the Dahnans and how they can "see" his point of view? NOT GOOD! One of the comments I made while playing the game was "Alphen would stop Cless on his quest of revenge and he would also tell Velvet she's over-exaggerating is kind of my feelings on him at this point" and I still stand by it.

In general, the story is just very predictable. At no point in the game was I surprised by what was going on. Well, no matter, there's other predictable things in Tales games! ...But the difference is that other games, I at least was compelled by the characters and their reactions to those predictable events. Or, their personalities alone would carry me through plotpoints I otherwise found boring. Arise never endeared me to its cast, yet it expected me to find shock value and importance in its very predictable storytelling. I remember when the party takes on the lord who kills Rinwell's family, they said "we'll spare her life" (which is its own long rant but I digress) and I went "oh well someone DEFINITELY won't kill her one second later" and then Vholran showed up as I was saying it! Then, Alphen JUST so happens to get his feeling back in his body after Shionne walks right into Vholran's arms! This was truly the point in the game where I completely gave up on enjoying it and I started to only push myself to beat it just so I could get it over with.

The story sadly saw no improvements after that point either to remedy my soured feelings. The only two things I enjoyed after that point were the little bit with Dohalim's past and him making the speech on Lenegis, and Rinwell touching Shionne's hand in the final scene in the game.

I could go on forever about the story, but I will leave it at that.

As for the sub events, you couldn't really call them "events" when they were just one or two lines about defeating monsters. I did every sub event in the game up until before the final dungeon. I was very unimpressed by them.

Characters

This is absolutely my least favorite part about the game. As I stressed at the beginning, what I go through media for is for the characters. Good characters can salvage just about anything for me. When I watch story scenes, I'm always thinking about how it makes the characters feel. I went into Arise thinking "even if the story doesn't cater to me, at least I can fall back on enjoying the characters and their banter".

As you can already tell, I was utterly disappointed with the cast in Arise.

Alphen

He is easily the contender for my least favorite Tales protagonist, hands down. The issue with Alphen is he never has any original ideas at any point in the game. He always attributes any of his morals to Zephyr. He would go on tangents, explaining how other characters should feel about things, but when asked he got all of his ideas from Zephyr. It seriously felt as if he never thought for himself.

Making this worse is the fact that he would explain how everyone should feel. He would tell Rinwell to stop being mad about her oppression, he would tell Law to listen to his feelings on Zephyr and change his view on him based on his view of who Zephyr was, he would tell Kisara how to feel regarding her place as a woman.

Worst of all, however, was how he would talk to Shionne. Any time she would have an issue, he would make it about himself. In her most important scene in the game, where she's talking about how her thorns make her want to die, he made it about himself. She said what she wanted for herself and he said "whether you like it or not, I'm taking matters into my own hands". Yes, Tales has done this before, with the heroine wishing to die and the hero telling her he won't allow that, but it's infuriating in this case when he never lets her think or act or move or do anything without his input. There's countless scenes in the game where she would be upset and want time alone and he would force her to talk to him about her feelings. Shionne was not permitted to ever exist without Alphen forcing her to talk to him about it and expecting her to go along with what he wanted, and his feelings about her situation. Again, past Tales game have had this, but when it's so constant and so prevalent, and is the only thing the character has to them, it becomes exhausting and annoying.

Also, his only "unique, fun" trait was that he likes armor, but this dialogue only ever showed up... when you made armor?

I was really disappointed with Alphen. Which is really not good when he is the protagonist, and Shionne's entire character also hinges on him. Especially given the grand finale to the game was their wedding, when I saw no romantic tension between them, because all he ever did was explain how she should feel. He was such a mess. I have more I could rant about with him but I need to leave it at that.

Shionne

Shionne is a big bundle of wasted potential to me. That said, she is probably one of the only characters in this game who felt like a character.

Like I said above, her thorns are an interesting concept. However, the handling of it really was standard Tales heroine tied to a cursed fate. The damsel scene, the way she wants to die but the protag talks her out of it, etc. That said, I did think her trauma with never being touched in her life was interesting, and it did make me emotional at points, even if the execution was poor.

I just really, really wish she could've been a character separate from Alphen. Her writing truly was doomed from the start with him being the only person who could touch her. Again, it felt like she bonded with Alphen because he's the only person who can touch her, rather than them actually making a proper bond as people.

Rinwell

Rinwell is... fine? I honestly don't have a lot to say here. I think it was nice that she got importance as the spiritual person in the party, and her banter with Dohalim was nice. I really disliked her relationship with Law however, and again, I hated that Law and Alphen tried to talk her out of her revenge. She was in the position as a "spiteful" person who "needed to grow out of it" but... her family was massacred? Why is Law allowed to be furious about his dad dying, but she's not allowed to be mad about her family being killed? The hypocrisy in regards to Rinwell seriously infuriated me and I felt really bad for her.

Law

Hoo boy. I really do not like Law either, for many of the reasons I don't like Alphen. He does with Rinwell what Alphen does to Shionne. What is with Arise men and mansplaining everything to the girls and refusing to let them have any agency or thoughts without their input?

He was also supposed to be the "mood maker," except his only mood making scenes were Hootle pecking him in the face or him saying something dumb and Rinwell calling him an idiot. It really wasn't that funny and felt like borderline bullying.

Law falls under a Tales archtype I normally really really like (Tytree, Spada, Hisui, etc), so I was expecting to like him quite a bit, but sadly I just... do not. See my Zephyr rants above as well.

Kisara

Kisara is probably the most unfortunate character in the cast. In theory, I really like Kisara. I'm a big fan of knight ladies, and I always enjoy the older woman character in the party (even if only in her 20s). In practice however she just... completely misses the mark. All of her scenes are dedicated to one of three things: working (or not working) under Dohalim, her brother, or how she can be a proper woman. Yikes! It's not good when a female character's entire character revolves around what she can do for men! There's many skits where she asks "what can I even do if everyone cooks for themselves" and her conclusion is... to follow her brother's dream? Kisara, can't you find your OWN dream? And no, bringing up how she can help Dohalim also doesn't count here.

I don't hate Kisara for being who she is, but I really just want to have a stern talking to with whoever wrote her. A female character should not revolve around men and being in the kitchen. Seriously. This game came out in 2021, you should've known better.

Dohalim

While I didn't like his introduction scenes much, he grew on me a lot throughout the game, and he definitely felt the most like a Tales character to me. There was a lot of humanity and nuance to him, and he had the honor of actually having his backstory shown on screen. He had a lot of facets to him: the part of him that was a Renan leader, the part of him that supports the party, his own goals, his own motivations, interesting relationships with other characters, as well as (and maybe most importantly) fun things about his personality via his breaks from seriousness as well as his fondness for music and artifacts.

Overall he felt very fleshed out, and I really wish he had been put in another game. I came out of Arise quite content with the character that was Dohalim, which I cannot say for anyone else.

Closing thoughts

Overall, this is probably the most disappointed I have been with a Tales title. Of course, I don't think every game is perfect, and there are games that I will admit just don't click with me personally that others adore, and likewise there are games that I think fall flat in some regards but resonate with me for the characters.

For instance, I think Tempest is a perfectly fine and even charming game, despite it being more on the barebones side of things. I do not hold Tales games to unrealistic expectations when it's not necessary, and I always think of a lot of things when I base how I feel about the game: crunch time, what the creators had in mind when making it, what heart was put into the story, what fun I am able to find even in the game's flaws. Things to that effect.

Where Arise differs for me is that many of the decisions I dislike about the game were intentional. The lackluster, yet overbearing monsters were intentional, the lack of skit and status portraits were intentional, the story not being that compelling, but taking itself way too seriously and acting as if it's the pinnacle of Tales writing, is also what the producer of the game flaunts when he discusses it. All of these things negative attribute to the quality of the game. Arise scratches away the charm that Tales games have, yet it is flaunted as being something groundbreaking when the story never attempts a single new trope.

It's not one deviation from series staples, it's a whole cluster of them. Why was there any reason to remove post battle dialogue, when that is something everyone absolutely LOVED about the series? Why are skits, which are part of what brought Tales to fame, boiled down to recaps of story scenes and not fun moments, which is what everyone is excited for when they go to open a skit? Why are the cute and iconic monsters completely gone, when every single game used the same designs? Why does the producer for the series actively hate the things that the fans love about Tales?

Arise is essentially a long laundry list of bizarre decisions made by the producer with awful execution, and then sadly the writing does the game absolutely zero favors. I came out of playing it feeling hollow. I've been revisiting some older games after playing it, and I've been getting legitimately emotional at how the characters in these other games actually talk to each other like people, and don't just bounce recaps of events back and forth to each other. Other games know how to have fun, and they have compelling characters, which is really what has always been the thing bringing people back to this franchise.

Would I like Arise more if it wasn't labeled a Tales game? Honestly, no, given I only ever played it because it's under the Tales branding. And I shouldn't have to even ask myself that, given I play Tales to enjoy Tales, and its tropes, and all the fun little things these games provide that no other series can give me.

If and when the next Tales game comes out, I will still probably play it. But so long as it is under our current producer, I will go in incredibly cautious, given he seems adamant about hating all of the things I love most about Tales. At the very least, I hope the next game is more innovative with its writing and characters, and brings back some of the charm that even Zestiria and Berseria had.

[booboodaddysblog]

Let’s talk…

Warnings: none, just talking and healing hearts

Words: 1882

Marg was glad to be back at work. She sat down at her desk and started up her computer. She didn't know if Colin was already at work or not. She knew that they had planned to have lunch together today.... But in her mind she still had an unpleasant parting. Then she saw Colin at the bar and her heart broke into a million pieces again. He looked sad, drunk and lonely. She felt sorry for him. She wanted them to get along somehow, after all, in seven months she was due to give birth to a child that was his.

Suddenly she heard footsteps in the hallway. She looked toward the window. It was Colin. He stopped for a moment in front of her door. He looked at her and seemed to smile slightly. He walked into his office.

Colin had already been working for about an hour. He wasn't exactly feeling well. He had a hangover. His head hurt and every louder sound irritated him. But when he saw Marg and her smile. He felt better, or at least he thought he did.

He walked into his office and set his coffee mug on his desk. For a moment he wondered what he should do now. They had a lunch appointment, which he was honestly looking forward to. He looked at his watch. It was 10 a.m. The break is usually around 12.

- It would be useful to say hello - he thought aloud.

He went out into the hallway and knocked on Marg's door.

- Come in, Colin - she smiled and looked at him.

Marg looked at him in silence. Colin looked tired. His eyes were sad, she could see it from a distance, but they were shining nonetheless, he looked like he was slightly drunk. He hadn't shaved, his hair wasn't perfectly styled, as was his habit.

He also looked at her wondering what she was thinking about now. He furrowed his eyebrows, he still wasn't sure what he wanted to talk to her about. But since he had already made the effort to come to her office something had to be said...

- Hello, Marg.

- Hello, Colin.

Without taking his eyes off her, he sat down on one of the chairs.

- I... sorry to disturb you, but I just wanted to come here and talk to you a little... before we go to lunch, and… - he fell silent for a moment - is it okay?

For a while she looked at him and said nothing. She had doubts, but finally broke through.

- I thought we would only talk at lunch. But no problem, now we can too. What do you want to talk about? Have you rethought your behavior a bit?

Marg stared at him waiting for an answer.

He sighed, wondering how exactly to answer this question. He didn't want to lie to her, but he wanted to sound like someone who at least somewhat understood his mistakes.

- I thought about it a lot... and... and yes, I have come to the conclusion that I was completely wrong about all of this... about the whole situation... I really screwed everything up...

He hoped that what he just said sounded right. He had been putting it together in his head for a long time.

She nodded, listening to what he was saying.

- We both know you screwed up. You hurt me a lot, you know? Because of you, I sleep very poorly. And I think too much. It's not my style. I feel bad about all this. I really don't understand why you treated me this way.

She didn't look at him. She got up to pour herself some water. When she did she didn't sit back down at her desk, she looked out the window and slowly drank the water. She found it hard to look at Colin.

He closed his eyes. He felt bad to see her in such a state. She looked exhausted and as if she still hadn't come to terms with what he had done to her. He felt the urge to go up to her and hug her, but he knew he wasn't allowed to do that yet until things between them were fully cleared up.

- I'm really sorry, I really messed everything up and I just... I couldn't think of the right way to handle the situation... It was all a complete failure on my part and I regret everything I said...

She still did not turn to him. She only nodded her head.

- Yes, Colin... I really thought I could trust you. You promised me so much and assured me that you would take care of me... me and the baby. However, you did not keep your word. You just gave up.

Finally she turned and looked at him, she was sad.

He looked into her eyes, although with great effort. He understood that her anger and sadness were definitely justified. He had to face it, he wasn't going to lose her now.

- You're right, I didn't fulfill what I promised you... I made so many mistakes, I said things I really shouldn't have said... really...

- Answer me one question. Why are you drunk, Colin? You're at work... if the chief could found out about this... eh you're really lucky he has a week off now - she sat down at her desk again and looked at him with a disgruntled expression.

Now she saw right through him. He could not continue to deny that he was not drunk. It was obvious that he had been drinking. He felt a little ashamed, but was prepared for the consequences of what was about to happen.

- I had a drink this morning to calm myself down. I didn't even think about it, I just felt so anxious. I did it not intentionally - he lowered his gaze to his hands.

- How did you get to work? I hope you didn't go by car and someone gave you a ride?- she sighed looking at him - I'm really worried about you. Even though I’m still angry at you. You are someone important to me.

He raised his eyes to her. It seemed to him that she was sympathetic to his current state, which in turn meant that she might be more sympathetic when it came to his drinking... no rather not... it's time to stop...

- Yes... yes, I had a ride... I couldn't go here myself... I still manage to think soberly. I’m not that stupid.

- That's good. And did you have anything for breakfast, or was the only this drink… this was your meal?

- Well... I just had that drink... - he said with slight embarrassment.

He knew how awful it must have sounded to her, but he really didn't feel like eating. He was so stressed to the point that he didn't even have an appetite.

She raised her eyebrows and sighed loudly.

- And you claim that alcohol will help you be less stressed? Don't be ridiculous. Pull yourself together, please - she rolled her eyes.

He was beginning to feel terrible. Nothing was working out for him. He was definitely acting like a fool, which made everything worse and made Marg lose hope that he would be able to fix himself. He now knew that drinking really wouldn't fix any of his underlying problems. He had to think about it more deeply.

- I know I sound ridiculous now, but I just... - he covered his face with his hands.

- If you promise me that you will stop drinking, I will think about starting to work on our relationship. If you want I can sign you up for therapy. I can go with you sometimes to support you - she looked at him hopefully - do it for our child who will come into this world soon, please.

He uncovered his face and looked at her. He liked what he had just heard. But it also meant that he would have to recover, stop doing all this self-destructive behavior and focus on improving himself.

- I promise... I promise you that I will stop drinking.

It seemed to him that he said it in a confident voice, even though he wasn't quite sure of it himself. He had to keep the promise he gave her, because otherwise he would probably destroy everything between them before he could fix anything.

- Well, I hope you are telling the truth. I will look for a good therapist for you. Now go back to your office. I have some work to do. We'll go to lunch at 1pm, okay? - she got up to open the door for him.

- I understand... I'll go... I'll stop drinking...

Nodding with understanding, he got up from his chair. And with these words he left her office, heading back to his own office.

- Have a drink of water, Colin - she called out after him before closing the door.

He smiled at these words and, without turning around, waved his hand in confirmation. He decided to do it, he had to take a little more care of himself, he had to stop self-harming.

He walked into the kitchen and went over to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water. He opened it and took a sip. The cool drink sobered him slightly. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

- What’s up, Zabel?

He didn't have to turn around. He knew who had asked the question.

- Mare, oh it's so nice to see you - he turned around and smiled artfully.

- Yes, it is me. What did you screw up this time that you look so hopeless? - she squinted - were you at the meeting with the psychologist yesterday? I hope so... but somehow I don't notice any visible change.

Colin rolled his eyes and looked at the ceiling.

- Mare... hmm... I really thank you for allowing me to go to this meeting... this lady messed with my head a bit. I don't know if she brightened anything for me. Rather... she forced me to help myself.

- And isn't that what a psychologist's job is to show you how to deal with problems yourself?

- I guess so...

- What did she say? Did she inspire you with something?

He was silent for a while, not knowing if it was worth talking about.

- She suggested that I should start writing down my thoughts in a notebook. Then I'm supposed to analyze them and draw conclusions. I don't know if anything will come of it.

- This is an interesting idea. She once told me about this method. I haven't tried this. I need to talk to her about it and ask if something like this would work for me - Mare also took water from the refrigerator.

- Do you have intrusive thoughts like me? - surprised Colin.

- Sometimes - she shrugged her shoulders - It's good that I don't "drown" into my thoughts like you do - she left the kitchen and left him alone.

He sighed loudly and went back to his office.

—————

To be continued…

@robnovetre

Promise

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Phantom Grin

Fandom: DC Comics, Batfam

Summary: Bruce Wayne visits his son's grave on the night of his resurrection. Will it change Jason's fate, or is it all simply inevitable?

Chapters: 12/?

Characters: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Alfred Pennyworth, Barbara Gordon, Tim Drake, Cassandra Cain

Relationship(s): Jason Todd/Original Character

Additional Tags: Canon Divergent AU, Jason Todd Has Chronic Pain, Jason Todd is Disabled, Barbara Gordon is Oracle, Resurrected Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Communicating, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne Get Along

Chapter Twelve: Difficult Conversations

Jason sat across the street, watching the church from the rooftops. He'd been to the church almost every day for two weeks, but he avoided Sister Irene. He went to mass, but he couldn't build up the courage to confess. The thought of sitting in the confession booth made his stomach ache. He let the thought drift to the back of his mind as he slurped broth out of a styrofoam container.

The lights turned on and off in one of the little windows of the church. He wondered if he was losing his mind. Jason felt a presence on the rooftop with him, and without turning around or moving, he whispered, "What's wrong, Robin?"

"Why are you out here?" Tim questioned. Jason let Tim sit next to him before offering him some noodles. "Thanks."

"See that church?" Jason asked. Tim nodded. "I go there."

Silence fell between the two, and Jason took another sip of broth. "You date, right? Can I get some advice?" Jason asked. Tim offered Jason a pained expression. "If I—. Hypothetically speaking, of course. If I liked a girl, and that girl was a nun... And I knew she might've liked me back. What should I do about that?"

Tim ate a little bit slower while he thought about Jason's question. "Did you talk to her?" Tim asked.

"Actually, no. I've been actively avoiding her at church," Jason replied. Tim chuckled. "Listen, she's kind of terrifying... And that is coming from me, a literal zombie."

"I've gotta go, but I can stop by and hang out for a little bit later if you want," Tim offered. Jason smiled and shook his head. "I hope everything turns out alright with your hypothetical nun."

Jason went back to watching the windows as he listened to Tim leave. The lights flashed on and off again, and he scratched his head as he tried to figure out if it was purposeful. The pauses in between led him to believe it was morse code. "U-U... P? U up? You up," Jason decoded out loud. "Shit." He made his way to the church. He was startled by Irene poking her head out the window.

"I sensed you," she whispered. Jason swallowed hard and perched on the ledge outside her window. "I can also sense your discomfort right now..."

"That's because I'm uncomfortable... But I do want to talk to you. I get that you're gonna be a nun. So it's kind of pointless to even ask—."

"Are you asking me on a date?" Sister Irene questioned. Jason nodded and rubbed his arm. "Wouldn't it be selfish of me to leave? I mean, not much I could use my gifts for outside of the church."

"It'd be blasphemous if that was your only reason for being here. Sister Irene, do you even believe—?"

She climbed out the window and stumbled, only for Jason to grab her and hold her close. He held tight to his grappling line, and she laughed at him. He let the cord pull them up to the roof, and she giggled while she held onto him. Jason let go of Sister Irene once they were seated, and she lay her head on his shoulder. "I know that it helps people who believe... Nice to see a sister know what's going on with them," she paused, "But I don't know what I believe... I believe in you. I know that."

"So you're not even a Catholic?" Jason asked. Sister Irene shook her head. He would've been upset if her eyes weren't so kind. "Do you uh-. Do you want to get something to eat—?"

"Give me the night to think about it? See me in the morning?" Sister Irene interrupted. Jason nodded and moved to help her back to her room, but she grabbed his wrist. "Let's sit for a while. Talk to me. I know you want to talk."

Jason chewed his lip, and he turned to her. "I don't sleep well... I mean, sometimes I sleep, but I have nightmares. They feel so real. I assume they're memories," Jason mumbled as he lay back.

Sister Irene looked at him and frowned. Jason opened his mouth to speak again, but he couldn't say anything else. Instead, they sat in silence for what felt like forever. After two hours of sitting in silence, Jason took her back to her room and bid her goodnight.

Instead of going back to the clock tower, he wandered around the city from rooftop to rooftop. His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he answered. "Hello?" Jason whispered.

"Are you on patrol?" Bruce asked.

"No, I'm just out getting some air... And I met up with someone. I'm not gonna go behind your back," Jason whispered, "I respect you too much to do that." Jason's voice was sincere.

Bruce didn't say anything back. Not immediately. He paused to swallow Jason's words, and he managed a broken, "I really do love you. You know that, right? I just don't want to lose you again."

"I love you too, Dad... And I get it. I just want you to treat me like everyone else does. They at least give me a chance before they put limits on me," Jason took a breath, "I do understand, though. I just want—."

"We'll talk tomorrow night," Bruce interrupted, "I've been listening... And I want to see how much you've improved. It's just scary. Letting go is scary."

"You don't have to let go. You just have to trust me," Jason replied. Bruce sighed.

"You're right," Bruce whispered, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Dad," Jason whispered. Bruce hung up, and Jason went home.

Barbara was asleep at the computer, and Jason put a blanket over her. "Left you some pizza in the oven," Barbara mumbled, "You're home early..."

Jason went to get cleaned up and took the pizza box out of the oven. He turned on the tv and ate a few cold slices. He felt as if Bruce was avoiding him, but Jason wouldn't allow that much longer.

[incomingalbatross]

I have a groundbreaking concept.

A wedding episode/story where nothing unusual goes wrong (or even NEARLY goes wrong) and the audience and characters both just get to enjoy this big event without it going off the rails at any point.

[sciderman]

Sometimes i remember a comics moment i randomly came across somewhere, where Sam Wilson mentiones a musical and Steve Rodgers says he doesn't like musicals, to whitch Sam goes "Guess that means you really are straight" and even tho i don't care about Cap America or the Avengers, the moment stuck in me for that quote by Sam. And like....Sci, any ideas if straight men actually don't like musicals or is that bullshit?

actually i think i know more gay men who hate musicals than i know straight men who hate musicals. i've had a drag queen stop me point blank when i was about to sing a barbra streisand song, and i know so many gays who pointedly hate abba. so based on my experience i think the inverse is true. most of the straight men i know are kind of impartial about musicals, but gay men? hate.

my theory is that a lot of gay men don't want to fall into stereotypes, maybe. but thaaaaat's just a theory! a gay theory.

[suncaptor]

nothing will make you sympathise with conspiracy theorist ideology more than having a seemingly rare reaction to a vaccine lmao.

[pixelsjoy]

Me playing Tears of the Kingdom: As much as I miss the champions, it makes sense they're not mentioned much. It's been a hundred years since they died. Even if they survived the Calamity, most of them would probably be dead at this point. The only exception being Mipha, who would have been the only one that would still be alive if she survived the calamity due to her age. The reason they're still remembered so much in Breath of the Wild is because the Divine Beasts, one of the last remaining connections to them, are still active and looming in Hyrule. Impa also said that their spirits feel uneasy knowing their task of defeating the Calamity wasn't done. They were at peace when the Calamity was defeated and passed on. They're not brought up from that point on because them and their era are over and can be laid to rest.

Also me playing Tears of the Kingdom: - holding back tears - Damn I miss the champions

[sisterdragonwithfeathers]

I think I just read my first tragedy.

It was good.

I do want to fistfight the devil though.

[emile-hides]

I’m so obsessed with the Mario family and while I’m a very hard Uncle Tony stan I’m also insanely obsessed with Auntie Marie and her daughter. I want to know all about them.

[xxlovelynovaxx]

Ah. "Animals rights" bullshit okay. Being animals that are not obligate herbivores and eating the flesh of other animals because of it is "oppressing" non-human animals. And they called out my comparing it to anti-choicers because "murder is different than death" okay well anti-choicers think abortion is murder. I don't happen to consider a human killing an animal for food murder any more than I consider an animal killing another animal for food murder, especially when as you pointed out yourself some people can't survive without meat.

Or is it a contract killing/hit on every animal You've ever eaten to survive? Are you just not a murderer because you paid not to get your hands dirty?

Like yeah it's fucking NATURAL. Humans aren't some wondrous ascended beings that don't crawl through the dirt. We fuck and fight and survive and yes, part of that survival for many is KILLING.

And it's good that you don't think people should be forced onto veganism because that would be as bad as the people who want to force all animals to eat synthetic meat and hunt via robots or whatever but my gods can you imagine telling someone who has been a vegetarian by choice for years for animal WELFARE purposes (not rights) who is vegan for disability reasons that they are "justifying the oppression of animals" and "killing animals for food is murder" when you literally can't go vegan for health reasons yourself? Okay murderer. Guess your life matters more than those oppressed animals.

Like sorry I'm going full "you're an asshole and I despise you and I'm genuinely sorry for myself that I thought we could be friends".

Like yeah the anti-choicer metaphor wasn't perfect. But it also got you to cut right to the heart of the matter. You are so divorced from humans as part of the ecosystem and food chain you genuinely believe we have some moral duty to not kill animals (but only animals, not plants or fungi, which are also living and have some measure of sentience) and to hold ourselves separate from the biosphere to the greatest extent possible.

That's just ecofascism 101. Are we gonna do the "any form of hunting or land management, even responsibly by indigenous stewards using traditional practices is bad" next? Or are we gonna avoid that one because you hopefully know better than THAT and simply think that removing humans from ONLY one part of the consumptive chain is ✨different✨?

For reference:

Also where does "choosing to die" come in to this? I wasn't talking about euthanasia, I was talking about withdrawing the life support provided by a human body if the owner of that body stops consenting to providing it, therefore depriving a fetus dependent on that life support for survival of said survival. I'm pretty sure the fetus doesn't have a choice in the matter. (Whether or not it's "alive" doesn't have much to do with anything since it's been made pretty clear that medical autonomy in terms of mandated use of your body's parts or resources is unethical at ANY point. Even if you ARE killing it, we've determined that's the most ethical option.)

Also if we're going to make bullshit oppression claims why don't we talk about transspecies people who are obligate carnivores?