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agent-calivide · 9 months

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IEYTD 3 Theory

I fully plan on making a full blown theory video compiling all of my evidence, HOWEVER, I am also an impatient bitch who wants to be able to say "I called it" in case this ends up taking a month to make or something like that- so enjoy a new textwall :)

MAJOR IEYTD 3 SPOILERS

In the latest game, you can find seven coins known as phantom coins that are left by a mysterious person known only as the Phantom. Six of them are hidden in each level and then one additional one you find in your main hub that you unlock after beating the game. Getting all the coins reveals a note left by the phantom that reads: “It seems you’re as good as they say, Phoenix. They used to say I was good, too. But I made a choice. And before they get you killed, I hope you realize you have the same choice: to die or to live.”

At the bottom there's a code that reads “I Expect You To Live” when deciphered. There's also notably a line from the Handler where he comments on how the person who gets those coins where they need to be has to be even stealthier than Phoenix, which is impressive since Phoenix is the top agent currently.

But it wasn’t always that way. Phoenix has only recently risen to Agency Fame, there was an agent that was number one before them, and we know who it is. At the end of every level in IEYTD 3, we open in a board room of sorts, looking down at our office in the Babadag EOD base, and to the side of us there’s a wall of portraits, all of various important figureheads of the EOD. The director, the our handler, doctor Prism, etcetera, but one of them is missing. Snoop around, and you find a portrait of a young, brunette woman, V. Vitti, reveled to be Valeri Vitti if you play with subtitles on, and she is labeled as the lead field agent. The previous number one.

Between the fact that she was taken off the wall and hidden, it didn’t take long to conclude that VV was the Phantom, supported by the fact that the star icon that’s associated with the phantom looks like two interlocking V’s. Valeri Vitti.

Now we know who the phantom is, but that doesn’t really do much for us story wise other than maybe the promise of facing our predecessor in a future game, how does a character that’s never been mentioned even in passing until now really pack a narrative punch? Except, the phantom has been there, even if she was never mentioned.

In the first game, in operation Winter Break, we see a portrait of a young brunette woman in Zor’s office. The very same woman who’s in a group photo with all of the other figureheads, V. Vitti. I’ve seen a lot of people conclude that this means that either Vitti is Zor, or she’s working with Zor, but I don’t personally buy it.

When it comes to her being Zor, it doesn’t really make sense. Zor is shown to be very protective of their identity, not only using voice modulators any time they talk to Phoenix, but also using the neutral terms “they/them” according to the devs in the official discord. As far as I know, this has not changed, even if Schell uses “he” on occasion while talking about the game in interviews. Functionally, when talking about the context of the games and what we’ve been presented, we aren’t supposed to know anything about Zor. Race, gender, age, it’s all up in the air, a nebulous void of information. And we’re supposed to think this person? Who has hidden their identity to the point of having a completely blank file with nothing but “confidential” slapped all over it also has a massive portrait of themselves in their office? Not only that, but in their office that’s primed to go off with traps in case an agent gets in? It seems reckless at best, and honestly really out of character to me.

Zor having an egotistical display of themselves in their office is more like something Juniper would do. Zor isn’t one to lavish themselves in attention and make themselves the focus of anything. They only come out of the shadows when things get serious. Phoenix interrupting the peacekeeper, finding their hidden lab where they ran the kinesium experiments that could foil their entire plot, getting to Operation K-Boom and working with Prism to thwart their other major scheme. They wouldn’t just have their whole identity on display and risk losing their anonymity. But you know what it does look like? A photo of a loved one on your desk. It’s quite common in offices, be it corporate or cubical, to have photos of your loved ones to get you through the day, to remember what you’re doing it for while you’re making a thousand spreadsheets and wanting to bash your head into your desk. It’s a way to have a piece of yourself and what you care about at work.

So Zor knows the Phantom but isn’t her, why would they not be working together in that case? After all, the Phantom seems just on keen on getting Phoenix off the field as Zor, isn’t that a good sign that they have the same goals?

Not exactly.

Zor shows such contempt for Phoenix, they want that agent dead, and they want it to be as soon as possible. They don’t want Phoenix off the field by any means necessary, even if that’s a comfy retirement, they want them gone. Out of the picture, they celebrate when Phoenix dies. If you look at the coroner report, there’s a note in the corner from Zor that says they understand if people want to take time to celebrate. Zor, the person who has crummy escape pods for their workers that frequently lead to their Operatives getting killed, has little qualms about dropping their scientists into fiery infernos over who knows how minor of an infraction, has their workers in the mines do inhumanly long shifts and simply won’t let them leave, and in some cases outright lies to their workers and leaves them abandoned at work sites like Ollie in the underwater lab, gives permission for their workers to party, if for a short while, in the event of the death of the Phoenix.

That goes beyond some minor or even major inconvenience, Zor puts their basic fundamentals aside to allow everyone a window of celebration in the even of Phoenix’s death. There is no way they’d leave a note saying they expect Phoenix to put themselves first and take care of themselves, to put themselves before the EOD. Nor would any of their top operatives or moles, everyone at Zoraxis despises Phoenix, and it’s Phoenix in specific. None of these people want Phoenix to go have a peaceful life in the country side, they want to mount the agents head on a wall like a trophy.

But someone who would?

A former agent who was in Phoenix’s exact shoes.

Throughout IEYTD 3, you can flip between Public Radio and Agency Radio. The public radio is mostly just the game soundtrack with a few little advertisements that tell you more about the world, but the Agency radio is much more interesting. Through it, we get updates on the EOD’s world, we hear a handler give run-downs to all of the agents about what’s going on with the Kinesium experiments, what’s going on with Prism, rules about staying a football field away from other agents, things like that. But one of the first things we hear from this agency broadcast is that Agent Phoenix is not just a secret agent. They’re a famous secret agent. One so big that the amount of agents joining the EOD is staggering, and they’ll run out of kinesium for their TK chips at this rate.

A funny little side tangent for sure, but consider: What’s keeping former agents off of those radio waves? Nothing, in fact, we see that the station is compromised in a note left BY the Phantom, and the last phantom coin you get is by entering a code left on your desk by them with said note. So who’s to say Vitti didn’t have access to an agency radio, heard everything that was going on with the Phoenix, and chose to step in. To let them know that there is another option. That Phoenix doesn’t have to keep risking their life for an agency that treats them like a number and a trophy rather than a person. But she didn't want her identity potentially outed, so she quickly took her photo off the wall and tucked it into a hiding space in hopes of Phoenix not finding it.

But Zor does know Vitti. After all, her portrait is in their office. Which leads to my next point, we hear in Operation: Squeaky Clean from the first game that Zor’s not doing these things because they’re just a bad person who wants to watch the world burn. They specifically want vengeance on the agency, but vengeance for what? Sure, it could just be the agency constantly getting in the way of their plans, but what made them start in the first place? What drove them to decide that they wanted to go down this route of villainy? Surely there’s gotta be something other than just “they want to rule the world”, Zor basically already ruled it at the beginning of the series. They’re a corporate billionaire that was able to get away with filling popsicles with enough lead to kill a person instantly, and they didn’t get anything more than a slap on the wrist? They could have done anything they wanted at that point, why make a giant death laser in outer space, they coulda spent that money doing literally anything else?

But who do they aim it at? Not the heads of state. Not a symbol of peace. Not even a test run in the ocean. Their first ever laser strike is aimed at an EOD base. An EOD base with the man that at some point was the lead support agent, someone who knew Vitti personally, Reginald Crane. Our Handler. That wasn’t a random shot, nor was it a scheme to take over the world. It was a personal attack on the Enhanced Operatives Division.

So, jump a few pet sharks with me as I spin a story for you. The EOD is established and has dozens, hundreds of competent agents even, and they’re able to stop international global crisis and villainous organizations by working underground. As time goes on, one agent stands out from the rest, Valari Vitti, an agent so good at sneaking in without a trace, she quickly climbs the ranks and becomes the lead field agent at the EOD.

But people are more than just their work, as is Vitti. She could be a friend, a sister, or, and this is my personal theory, someone’s lover. Their wife. Sure, working at the EOD is dangerous, but that’s just part of it, and if her partner knew, say they too worked at the EOD or Vitti was simply able to open up about her work, then there’d be no secrets. A needed relief from the stress of agency things. No need for a double life, she’d be able to be herself around them.

But as she keeps progressing up the ranks, she realizes things can’t go on like this forever. She can’t keep going to this dangerous job, there are risks! How long until she was hurt? Maimed? Killed!? She can’t keep doing this. It’s not viable, she likely will die if she doesn’t make this decision for herself and leave.

So. She does. She doesn’t resign, doesn’t go through the process of making an official exit, she just disappears. If she simply resigned, her photo wouldn’t still be up, and it sure as heck wouldn’t be tucked away in the pot of a random snake plant. The EOD could have found her a replacement, some sort of backup, anyone who’s worked in business has watched a coworker die and get replaced in chillingly short time, something the EOD doesn’t seem to be above. They can’t afford to be above it, agents die every day.

So there’s no reason for Vitti’s portrait to still be in that frame if she died. But if she simply vanished, then that could explain why she’s still up there on that wall. The EOD didn’t replace her, because they may have still been looking for her. We know that when an agent vanishes, the EOD sends people to try and recover them. The site of the PeaceKeeper is checked for Phoenix’s body, we know it is thanks to Reginald’s recording at the end of IEYTD 2. The EOD always will try to find an agent or what remains of them.

Over time, perhaps they gave up. Went to close the case but never got around to it because the EOD is always busy.

But Vitti’s spouse never forgot. They sure as hell never forgave either. Their wife was gone without a trace, and they had nothing left of her but her photos and an EOD lighter that they keep in a safe in their office. They knew they had to get revenge, they had to make the people that took their loved one suffer. So, they went to work. They established a business and gave themselves the fake name Zor and called the business Zoraxis.

They hunker down, and simply plot and scheme for a while. They claw their way up the social and economic ladder. They cut every corner, take every shortcut, and they hoard as much money as they possibly can and establish themselves as a cruel, immoral person that doesn’t care about the health or safety of their workers on the way up. As time goes on, they start their second half of their plan: Creating an entire establishment with the main goal of taking down the EOD.

They take in anyone who will help with their goals, the more deranged the better. A scientist who loves to burn things and wants to create a super laser? Give her the money and tell her to fire her first shot at the building their late wife used to work at. An unhinged fashion designer obsessed with maiming and death? Wonderful, you can deal with all the pains in my side that get in the way. Anything to finally bring down the people who cost them everything.

But the Death Engine didn’t work. Not only did some random pest destroy it, it didn’t even take down one of the people they wanted dead the most, the lead Support Agent. Maybe Zor particularly hates the man who was supposed to be watching Vitti, keeping her safe. And now?

Not only is he alive, but he’s taken on a new agent who’s taking Vitti’s place? Some random nobody who’s been a pest, who should have died ages ago, not only was getting in their way, but was also apparently good enough to replace their lost loved one without so much as a passing glance? No. They were going to take down the EOD one way or another. The EOD’s a secret organization from even the government, maybe if they take hostile control then they’ll be able to take them down. Sure, the EOD survived a laser, but there’s no way they’ll survive nukes, right? Surely, surely that will get them their revenge-

But no. That agent comes back. They come back and ruin everything. By the time Operation K-Boom happens, not only has the Phoenix ruined several of their most complicated plans that were years in the making, but they had solidly taken the position of their late wife. They took the only thing she had left. A legacy. How dare that pesky Phoenix think they can just step in and replace the one they hold dearly so carelessly? So thoughtlessly? They. Had. To. Die.

Of course, it doesn’t work. Phoenix wins, and Zor is back to the drawing board. The only major thing that gets in the way of this is why wouldn’t Vitti tell her partner that she was leaving the EOD? Going into hiding? Well, the IEYTD franchise isn’t a stranger to having agents split off. In Operation Fifth Class, we see Phoenix try to rescue a woman known as Anna Ulanova. Anna says a few things to the agent, but the last thing we hear is her saying she’d try to come find them, but she had a suspicion that they wouldn’t leave their life. They wouldn’t quit fieldwork.

So we’ve seen cases where there’s an agent and someone who’s not quite in the circle but is aware of what’s going on splitting off because the agent can’t stop putting work first. In the same vein, we’ve seen other relationships fall apart due to someone being unable to stop putting work first.

Leading up to the third game, Schell games released a bunch of ciphers and puzzles that lead to minor lore drops. One of them was shawnsdesk, a collection of files made by Shawn in HR about various characters from the franchise. Most of them were important characters. Solaris, Fabricator, Juniper, Zor, but there were two that were notable.

Shawn in HR, and Sam in accounting. Shawn’s is, of course, mostly just him inflating his own ego and talking about how good he is at making files on all of the people at the EOD, but Sam is where it gets interesting.

We have heard nothing about Sam at this point, and looking over the file, it’s messy. Full of snide insults, catty remarks, Shawn filling this report with resentment, but over what? A bad breakup. Sam telling Shawn that he can’t be with him because Shawn won’t stop putting work first. Why would Schell show us this now, during this window of time where everyone's clawing for more lore and content of the third game? Why show a random lover's quarrel in the middle of all of this story relevant content? I suspect that it's because Shawn and Sam's story is lore relevant, it's just not their lore we're meant to be focused on.

This series has a running theme of two people getting along, maybe even being in love or romantically inclined, and then it falling apart because someone can’t stop putting work first. Phoenix and Anna, Sam and Shawn, and now, or rather long in the past, Vitti and Zor. Maybe, the two were in a rough patch, or had gotten into arguments about Vitti's dangerous work. Maybe she was sick of feeling this upset resentment for her partner and decided she didn’t just want to quit the EOD and try to fix things with Zor. She wanted out. She wanted to start over. Completely over. She wanted to live.

#i expect you to die #ieytd2 #ieytd #ieytd fandom #i expect you to die 2 #agent phoenix #i expect you to die 3 #ieytd 3 #ieytd spoilers #ieytd 3 spoilers #ieytd theory

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theres-a-body-here · 10 months

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Male survivors with Jezebel!Reader

Its not everyday a notable figure is snatched by the entity. You clawed your way to the top before. Surly it won't be hard to do it again here. Right?

(The idea for this came to me in a cough syrup dream)

Dwight Fairfield

He's wary of you at first

Who wouldn't be?

He was expecting another Yun-Jin Lee

Someone cold and selfish

Surprisingly, you were neither

You actively helped others in trials

However, your language was......colorful

Dwight doesn't think he's heard someone swear as much as you do

"Fuck, medkit's empty. Fucking great. What kind of pussy ass bitch killer brings overwhelming presence?"

Complete sailor's mouth

You seemed to take a liking to him

Dwight doesn't know if that's a bad or a good thing

You always tend to his wounds gently and softly

Your words are a different story

"Fucking moron, running into the killer like that"

"But he had dark dev-"

"Might as well put your glasses back into your purse if you're not gonna fucking use 'em"

"Ah, there we go, all patched up," you grumbled, a sense of accomplishment in your voice as you rose from your crouched position.

Dwight blinked, his lips parting in an attempt to express his gratitude, but before he could gather his thoughts, a gentle press of your lips against the bandaged wound on his hand stole his breath.

His heart raced, caught off guard by the unexpected gesture."Um, I, uh..." Dwight's voice cracked, his cheeks flushing a deep shade of red. He fumbled for words, his mind a jumbled mess of surprise and flustered emotions.

Dwight's gaze trailed after you as you simply began to walk over to the next generator as if nothing happened. His heart was racing from the kiss.

"Right, work," he muttered to himself, his fingers subconsciously tracing the spot where your lips had made contact.

Ace Visconti

And you thought you were the lech?

This man is relentless

Slides up on you with finger guns.

"Hey baby, heard you were devoured by dogs. I wish I was one of them. I would've loved to eat you ou-"

It took 4 other survivors to pull you off him as you started to throttle him.

Homer Simpson style

You thought that would've deterred him

It did the opposite

Man has issues

He always tries to convince you to play strip poker with him

You always say no

Always tries to be the first person to unhook you

"You're knight is here, princess. Hehehehe"

"Leave me here dammit"

He always gives the best items he finds in chests

Ace gets the biggest shit-eating grin when you thank him

You pried open a chest, but your excitement dimmed as you laid eyes on the item inside – a broken key. A disappointed sigh slipped from your lips, momentarily quashing your hopes. Before you could fully immerse yourself in disappointment, a gentle tap on your shoulder startled you.

Turning, you found Ace standing there, a mischievous glint in his eyes as he held out a flashlight towards you. There was an unmistakable smugness in his expression.

You couldn't help but roll your eyes at his antics, accepting the offered flashlight with a quiet, "Thanks."

Ace's smirk widened into a self-satisfied grin, his response dripping with playful arrogance. "Anytime, babe," he chimed, punctuating his words with a playful finger gun gesture.

Suppressing the urge to growl at his audacity, you managed to keep your response to a subdued nod, appreciating his gesture despite his playful teasing.

Felix Richter

He's pretty nervous around you

Mostly because you flirt with him all the damn time

"Oh, you were an architect? Well, I'd let you study the curves of my temple anytime"

Instant blushing mess

"I-I.....uh......"

Moral dilemma time

He's technically still married

You know this

But you flirt with everyone else

(Except Ace)

So he doesn't take it seriously

Hates being alone with you

He's afraid to look stupid

Definitely blows up gens more often if you're working on them with him

You found yourself enjoying the calm silence as you worked with Felix on repairing a generator. The rhythmic clanking of tools and the atmosphere of the trial filled the air.

Despite his proficiency, Felix had inadvertently blown out the generator twice, a fact that he couldn't seem to hide.

You noticed his nervous glances in your direction whenever he thought you weren't looking.

Amused by his flustered behavior, you decided to play with the architect a bit.

Leaning in, you quirked an eyebrow and teased, "Felix, if you keep trying to sabotage the generator, I might start thinking you're trying to get my attention."

Felix's face flushed, his gaze dropping to his feet momentarily. He stammered, "N-No, that's not... I mean, I'm not trying to sabotage anything. It's just... this fog, it's making things a bit more complicated than usual."

You simply started at him. A small smile tugging at your lips. Felix's cheeks reddened even further.

Grinning, you decided to take pity on him. "Alright, I'll cut you some slack. Let's finish this generator together, and maybe later, we can find a way to make the trials a bit more... intriguing."

Felix's reaction is immediate; his cheeks flush into a deep shade of red, and his words stumble over each other as he tries to form a coherent response.

"Uh, well, I, um... I never... I didn't..... Oh, darn it," he stammers, his embarrassment all too evident.

You can't help but chuckle at his adorable reaction, finding his discomfiture endearing. "Got you there, didn't I?" you tease, enjoying the sight of his flustered state.

Masterlist Here

#dbd x reader #dead by daylight x reader #dead by daylight #Jezebel!reader #dbd #felix richter #felix richter x reader #ace visconti #ace visconti x reader #dwight fairfield x reader #dwight fairfield

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rae-raewrites · 10 months

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Idk if its just me but I love the idea of the riddlers having a pet dog that is there best friend and one weakness sorta like Holt and cheddar from Brooklyn 99 but what do you think how would the riddlers be with a pet dog?

Hello yes as a frequent watcher of Brooklyn 99 this is the best ask ever like omg yes

Also don’t worry anon you’re ask didn’t get eaten by the rumble beast!

The riddlers with dogs

Arkham

He’s not sure where the mutt chihuahua mix came from but Einstein just kinda showed up one day

He was originally trying to get rid of the stray, he had work to do!

But then the sweet pup starts waiting for him outside of one of his puzzles clearly waiting for him

Clearly the poor thing understands that Edward is his superior and wishes to be taken under his wing!

He taught him basic tricks to start off with but then Einstein started bringing him bottled water

Edward frequently scratches the pooch’s head while he’s at his computer

They have a working relationship of Mr nigma providing food and Einstein agreeing with his genius plans

“And then the death trap will be promptly followed by another ingenious riddle!” “BARK!” “exactly! See you get it!”

Btas

Such a dog dad

Francine is probably the most spoiled poodle in the entirety of Gotham

He had her back during his game dev days and even then she was taken care of like a princess

She’s absolutely a daddies girl

But don’t think she’s all pretty hair and looks!

She’s a quick learner for sure

Jonathan and jervis are in charge of her when he’s been placed back into Arkham

“Now Francine daddy might get into some trouble but uncle Jervis will be by around 7 to make sure your well fed”

They take wonderful little walks in the park

BTAA

Normally he’s not one to have pets around but lupa is an exception

The corgi is just the right amount of energy for her dad but also keeps him on his toes

They have matching hats,uniformity matters after all!

Lupa has been a accomplice in 20 crimes at least

At least

And yes the name is Roman

He picked it out himself thank you!

She helps with his creative process believe it or not

Tuesday made an account to share photos of lupa,a good part of Gotham follows

“Miss Tuesday why is lupa in a beret?”

“What? She has like 1 million followers?”

Zero year

Man has a whole Shiba Inu that can be just as dramatic as he is

Helios is constantly giving him sass

Eddie called him a bitch once and woke up to half the house destroyed

Edward was not amused and spent a whole hour lecturing him with said dog just not giving crap about it

He has to give the pooch one thing,he’s not dumb

Their relationship boils down to two different species roommates except one is an evil genius and one is a dog trying to get attention from the evil genius

#batman #batman rouges #asks #headcanon #the riddler #edward nigma #arkhamverse #arkham riddler #batman arkham series #batman the animated series #btas riddler #batman the audio adventures #zero year riddler

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war-causing-interrobang · 4 months

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I’ve come to make an announcement.

Statalus is a Bitch-Ass Motherfucker who fucking killed me. That’s right. He took his Dev Console & fucking killed me. And he said his powers were SOOOO great and I said that’s stupid.

So I’m making a call out post on my tumblr dot com!!! Statalus you’re WEAK AS HELL and you can talk to my FUCKING GUN.

THATS RIGHT BABY.

MY. FUCKING. GUN.

HE KILLED ME SO GUESS WHAT I’M GONNA KILL HIM.

THATS RIGHT THIS IS WHAT HE GETS.

MY UPGRADED INTERRO-BANGS.

EXCEPT IM NOT JUST GONNA KILL STATALUS. I’M GONNA LOWER MY STANDARDS & KILL TYRIA RIGHT AFTERWARDS.

HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT, EXCLAMANIA?

I’M KILLING THAT IDIOT STATALUS FOR REVENGE.

#((ooc: I don’t think Terro is over being dead that one time but that might be a stretch))#Statalus arc TWO????#epprbcu #exclamation point pfp rpg blog cinematic universe #punctuationverse #!cu

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silver-wield · 4 months

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lol someone said on twitter that they spoke with their jp friend and A was only telling cloud off? For Tifa? Because he should be careful of re-gifting stuff like that so easily? This bitch man..she acts like she knows him. She literally tells cloud that he's dense in her gsd. Like wtf? Dense? He literally kisses tifa. PERIOD. Tifa barely did anything and he pounced on her. The simp knows what's up. I really don't understand why anybody believes a word this dead chick says. Oh but because she's all pitiful and cutesy uwu (i don't think so, it's an insult!) That people would rather ignore her negative traits than go be bothered while playing the game. Even if she taunted cloud because she misses zack and she's pissed at those two hitting it off and her's is dead. That isn't a fucking reason to steal said guy nor to deliberately hurt your "friends" just for your gain you dumbass. Even this jp interpretation is shit too. IT'S NONE OF HER BUSINESS! ugh. Then you see all these articles about kitase saying they wanted to convey the feeling of "when loosing someone you love, you wish you treated them better" ...........UM , first of all a lot are deliberately misinterpreting the word love here, second this could be said ABOUT THE WHOLE PARTY, third this bitch should be the one to treat them better! Kind people who did their best while you wanted to fck them and ruin their chances with the girl he wants & guy she wants don't need to be kind to you! This is a manipulative tactic! This is toxic as fck!

You know what? At first I thought the devs understood she had a flaw, but now I'm not so sure anymore. Im glad cloud called her WEIRD A LOT! Tifa might tell him and he'll feel bad but that doesn't change the fact that, that is what he thinks of her and her cringy ass confession. This man is not as oblivious as people think he is. Sigh. I'm glad some in TLS are catching up but where we are with the majority, I fear we will still hear the "there's no way he didn't feel anything for the blah blah" because the eng localization isn't COMRADE. Wtf change Comrade for "why not?" So RETARDED I WANT TO CRY.

For the last time, why should the kind people feel bad for treating her "badly" wtvr that means when she's the one who never respected nor cares foe their space and right at all? If I was there I would have slapped that hoe. Like no joke. She's 22 and people keep forgetting that. It's CREEPY. Ugh I personally would not deliberately hurt my friends just because I'm jealous of their happiness and now try to steal it for myself. Just because you have a reason/ sadness, doesn't mean you should act on it. Your last decision and action makes you who you are and I'm sorry. Aerith is a bad friend to both tifa , cloud, to the whole party, and ti her mother. Neither to zack as well.

Zack deserves better.

Btw she's been like this since OG for anybody thinking she's inconsistent. I'd say her remake version was the inconsistent one.

Except the R word cause that's not okay 😬

Tbh given what she says about how the whispers took everything from her I think in remake she was fully aware of everything and then it all went away and she went back to being her default OG bitch self, so she's not inconsistent before that point, it's that she knew things she no longer does and forgot what she knew so she's just a selfish bitch at heart and any character development she started off with went bye bye.

#FF7Rebirth spoilers

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linka-from-captain-planet · 4 months

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I wanted to do something for Femslash February but don't have enough brain cells to commit to much, so I will now be day drinking and explaining The L Word: Faerûn as well as The Chart.

Part 1: What Even Is This

the tl;dr I created an elaborate mental AU to write my own ideal BG3 storyline and also shoehorned in a bunch of women kissing bc that's what I'm into

Mandatory disclaimer: I obviously love BG3 as I wouldn't spend 500 hours playing a game and countless more drawing/writing/thinking about it if I didn't

Overall, I conceptualized The L Word: Faerun as a hodge podge mad libs "if you could REALLY do whatever you want" fantasy playthrough that combines my own headcanons/preferences for how the story should go with F/F rareships and my beloved female background characters, and ignores and/or antagonizes almost every male, except Wyll because he's my son.

At the time I started this mental story, I was already hundreds of hours into the game and the veneer of "you have so many choices!" was starting to wear really thin. You don't really have that many options if you're roleplaying as any sort of reasonable character, and you're further limited because you can't even do things in the order you like because you might shut down other quests.

For example, the Tav main character of TLW:F is a drow named Alekto and Lae'zel is the only bitch in this house she respects early on, and is thus the only one whose opinion on what to do about the tadpole matters. If I could really play however I wanted, we'd make a beeline directly to the creche... but we can't. Going to the Mountain Pass shuts down the grove/goblins conflict, and it's too difficult an area, so you don't really have a choice but to play basically all 10+ hours of Act 1 first, even if it's definitely not what your character would do. (This is especially grating in a Lae'zel origin run btw, nothing shatters my immersion like having to fart around for hours when the creche is RIGHT THERE).

Act 1 also presents the most annoying story beat in the entire game, which is that the goblin-tiefling-grove conflict (in my opinion) makes no sense and has no satisfying resolutions. Being essentially forced to side with the asshat druids or lose literally half the game (pretending it's as "consequence" for being "evil" when really it's transparent that they just decided to prioritize other things) sucks, losing Minthara sucks (I do not acknowledge the knockout option, it's like the game dev equivalent of a "shut up ring"), being strong-armed into a decision based on what content I'm willing to miss and not the story I want to tell sucks.

So, when I'm playing, I fire up my imagination and mentally write my own ideal storyline, psychically rearranging the order of events, ignoring what I don't like, and inserting content I wish existed or that the game forces me to miss based on choices.

Of course I have my own plot holes and weak spots, but again like 50% of the point is making women kiss so it's not actually that serious.

Next Part: Tav Lore (aka why Counsellor Florrick is actually the main character)

#the l word: faerun

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arcplaysgames · 1 year

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slurps tea loudly

okay as I recap this I am gonna try to navigate my emotions

Oh its the Fortune Arcana boss from Persona 3 but not as good! But the whole point is Sae's cheating anyway so it's not supposed to be fair or fun, that's fine. After proving she's cheating, she turns into her monster form.

She looks like if the SAW movies were a person, jesus christ.

Anyway, lets get to the meat of the situation; the big escape.

Even though Sae's treasure was stolen and the Palace Ruler has been defeated, the casino is not coming apart like normal. (Which is because the treasure they're taking is a decoy, but more on that later.)

And finally we return to the cold open, which admittedly: I fucking loved this. I love that nothing is changed at all, it's just the same sequence again, but now you have context for what the fuck is happening. Now the face the player can use their persona makes sense, now the presence of shadows in a 'real' location makes sense, everything comes together.

No matter how I fall on my opinion on this game, I have been convinced that Joker is the best protagonist of any of these games. With the unfortunate exception to the lack of Gay Options he gets, he is an enormous improvement from P4MC in every metric. I know who this character is, even absent my own input, and he's weird and funny and kind of a huge bitch and salty as the Dead Sea.

Huge fan.

This sequence becomes such a victory lap. Like, I'm still figuring out how I feel about the Whole Thing, but this moment of handing the player control and going "Hey, remember this?" and letting them fucking RACE to the end in the hopes of finally figuring out what the fuck is going on, it's a pretty clever trick. /slow claps for the devs

It's still fucking weird that Kasumi is here tho.

Also: Kasumi has the worst mask of everyone in this game by far. Every time i see it I wanna give her literally anything else.

I do wonder if its a Bebop reference. Oh well.

In the present, Sae offers Reverie a plea deal if he gives her the other Thieves. No go.

His beat-up face is so soft and sad, I just wanna hug him close. He needs a bag of peas against his cheek and a hug from dad so bad.

holy shit the fucking pancakes. Morgana was the one demanding pancakes when the team was talking in the hallway before the studio recording and Akechi walked in saying he heard something about pancakes. He couldn't have heard that unless he'd been to the Metaverse before. He's always known what Morgana's saying from the moment everyone met.

HOW DID I NOT NOTICE THAT

That's really fucking smart honestly. Like, I sussed out Akechi because I'm the audience and I know tropes and story structure so it absolutely had to be Akechi. (Also there were a lot of other hints.) But I'm happy there was a hard piece of evidence for the characters that was more concrete than "have you MET him, he's a murderer."

As everyone and their dog guessed, when Futaba grabbed Akechi's phone, she slapped one of her wiretaps on there. That part's easy.

After that is where things get tricky.

The last thing Reverie does as Sae leaves the room is convince her to take his phone with her and to show it to Akechi.

I am completely convinced that no one in this game has met the real Goro Akechi. Not Sae, not Shido, not anyone. That facade is made of four layers of reinforced cement and the windows are all mirrored glass. He's kind of the inversion of Adachi, who looked like there wasn't a since thought bouncing around in his vacant gaze. Akechi is nothing but loud thoughts, but the container is soundproofed.

Also, it occurs to me right here that someone is directing Akechi, someone has a hand on that leash, and I wanna know what the hell keeps Akechi from spinning around and killing that guy.

Anyway, Sae shows Akechi the phone, he's like ?????? whatever? and they part ways.

Akechi waltzes in, deep-sixes the guard with his own gun, and shoots Reverie in the head.

Your hair has never looked worst, Beige Boy.

"A TRULY SHOCKING TURN OF EVENTS," MEMBER OF LEOPARDS EATING PEOPLE'S FACES PARTY SAYS AFTER LEOPARD SHOCKINGLY EATS HIS FACE.

Out of images.

#p5 #persona liveblog

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garbage--account · 1 year

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Random dream I had where I played a Inazuma eleven DLC that never existed #4 :

>opening the dlc

>revolves around Hakuren team in the ares timeline (i don't even need to explain), trying to get qualified in FF (so takes place near outer code ep 1 probably)

>gameplay has 4 parts, where we play : Shirou, to train and manage the team (a "classic" IE gameplay almost), Someoka for strategies and spying on rival teams, Atsuya on a quest to get stuff from people in school and the doggo in charge of lost items (ex : hissatsus 'cause dormitory students can't go downtown buying shit, heals 'cause there is no magical portal/light to restore tp, items that give us upgrades/additional competences, etc.) (Sidenote : also useful where you wanna run away from random challenges and when bears are blocking the way to the cafetaria in Shirou's gameplay), Nae for recruitment and sponsor (same as Atsuya, but with upgraded upgrades)

>except dev accidentally made Atsuya's part a bully simulator, Nae's a floptoker on her way to become an Onlyfan content creator, Shirou is pratically unplayable since he spends all of his time dealing with these 2 bullshits, and Someoka is now living for dramas

>i played most of the time on Atsuya's part (don't judge me) : all the introduction/hello/howdy/hi bitch reply options are glitched so he starts a convo with npc with "gimme 200 bucks", slapping them, "what the meaning of life", "you look like a [insert insult] : i (don't) like you", vomits seeing them 'cause he doesn't like them, "hey stoopid", etc... To the doggo of lost items in school, he claims everything to be his ("oh, this first rescue manual from the 30's, it's mine. Yeah, the wired hangers too, i use them to scare people away by whipping them with it. This Barbie school bag : mine, mom was in her floptok era. This handspinner? Let me think... it's definitly mine but idk if i want it back anymore.... Yes, the vibrator is Shirou's and it is classed scp but he needs it and can't come claim it back, Sherlock." Etc). Sometimes, he goes to location he isn't allowed to, like the town, the rooftop, the rooms in the dormitory that isn't his, kitchen, the lost items warehouse, the backrooms...

>got a game over because of him : while playing Shirou, i got a notication team's disqualified : when i wasn't looking, Atsuya got out of his room at night to rodeo on a highway on a stolen motorbike, and stabbed a truck tire at full speed with a katana. Because he felt like to. And now, he is in jail.

That's all folks!

#Inazuma Eleven #The impossible dlc #fubuki shirou #shawn froste #(Him again!)#fubuki atsuya #aiden frost #someoka ryuugo #Kevin dragonfly #Shiratoya nae #Bunny cottontail #Fun fact : i never played inazuma eleven :(#Tumblr is my dream diary #Inazuma eleven ares #Also very ooc #And it's midnight but wtv #Moral of the story : Atsuya likes robbery and fraud

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gilly-moon · 1 year

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[5 Characters & 5 Tags]

Tagged by @harleyshahas (thank you ♡!!!!)

Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts) - KH is the game that got me into video games, and inspired me all the way to getting my current job in game dev, and Riku is at the heart of why I love the games so much. But I had to put Sora too, because one without the other just doesn't work. Without Riku, Sora couldn't have his arc of "I want to be better than Riku" to "I want to be better with Riku". And for Riku, his transition from dark & edgy to chosen keyblade weilder all ties back to how he looked down on Sora, then tried to make up for his mistakes, and finally trusted and loved Sora completely. They complete each other and challenge each other to grow and become better at every turn. Also their reunion in 2 absolutely ruins me every time. Sora crying on his knees will be burned in my brain forever.

Zack Fair (FFVII) - Crisis Core was at one point the only game that would work on my PSP lol. But I didn't need any other games because Zack the puppy was everything to me. Watching him struggle with the morality of being a SOLDIER, all while desperately trying to protect his friends and failing at every turn...that shit hurts, and yet he keeps his smile and honor right up til the end. He is THE sunshine boy of sunshine boys and I could gush about him all day long. His scenes in Advent Children destroy me.

Oikawa Tooru (Haikyuu) - the real blorbo of my heart, the bitch I latched onto and will love to the end of my days. His ability to take even a team of strangers and lead them flawlessly within just a few minutes is so admirable. He knows exactly how to bring out the best in everyone on the court. It hurts me to this day that he never got to wreck Shiratorizawa before he graduated (also that moment where he falls and slips in season 2 uggghhhhh) but jokes on them because he's the one who got an honorable position on an irl team!! I get some people call him an insufferable asshole but thats exactly why I like him! Let characters be insufferable!!!!! Its fun!!!!! And besides, when it comes down to it, he's genuinely a good person who wants everyone on his team to be involved and be their best. Love of my life. No Oikawa haters allowed on my blog.

Pitch Black/Kozmotis Pitchiner (RoTG) - basically since the movie came out I have been ready with a "Pitch did nothing wrong" speech at all times. I feel like I don't even really have to explain this one, I mean....yall get it. You know why we're all still here, loving him and the Guardians to the end of our days. I will say, though - idc if it's book version or movie version, my love for this asshole remains the same.

Nico di Angelo (Percy Jackson) - ah, the original blorbo. The queer awakening for so many people even before he was out in the books. This is another "I love him because he's kinda rude" character. His hatred towards other characters is always warranted tbh, because they ostracize him for?? No good reason at all???? No one wants to or tries to be his friend in heros of olympus for the first four books (except Hazel, who practically has to force others to talk to him) and it pisses me off to no end. Percy spent battle of the labyrinth hunting him down, but would he have been so dedicated if he wasn't getting the iris messages??? Doubt it. Anyway. I adore Nico, he deserved better, and I'm so glad he's got a wonderful bf and his own book now. I will never get tired of him and I really hope the tv series goes well so he can finally come to life in live action ♡

Honorable Mentions: Ronan Lynch, Cloud Strife, Roxas, Hiccup Haddock, Sasuke Uchiha, Portgas D. Ace, Killua Zoldyck, Allen Walker, Vlad Masters

I don't rlly talk to many people on here so...if one of my picks was also yours, consider yourself tagged!

#i could write full essays on all of these characters #including the honorable mentions #thnx again for tagging me!!!!

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wrenthemoralfander · 1 year

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Fanfics I wanna read:

Romantic:

Snow Mountain Beast King Thorin x Struggling Blogger Bilbo

Thief Soap x Assassin Ghost

Protector Revali x Autistic Link (because I said so?)

Runaway Cole Cassidy x Cursed Archer Hanzo

Modern Bodyguard Din x Luke

(Fantasy Au) Unaware Vex’alhia x Possessed Percival De Rolo III (yes, this does have your favorite bird demon in it.)

(Victorian Au) Rebel Without A Cause Nea X Victorian Painter Carmina

Rouge Luis x Paladin Leon (it’s really just the two of them playing D&D)

Blind Luigi x Dragon Koopa King Bowser

Pop Star Jaskier x Wraith Geralt

Modern Hacker Karl x Software Dev Ethan

Kas/Eddie x Steve but Steve has ADHD and has separation anxiety (look what you’ve done Mr. And Ms. Harrington, you’ve gone and fucked up a perfectly good boy. Don’t worry, Eddie/Kas will fix him)

Gavin x Nines except Gavin passes out randomly and no one fucking knows why

Modern Librarian Percy x Siren Vex (because I fucking said so)

Platonic/Family:

Claudette and Quentin getting adopted by killers.

Feng Min meeting Bunko Tatsumi.

Ethan Winters gets to see Rose grow up.

Arnetta Larkin and Sergei hanging out.

Jason Todd meeting Whistle and approving of her (I have wrote a fanfiction like this and I want to see more of it)

Din meeting child Rey, and befriending her. (Completely unaware that’s Luke’s kid)

Gwendolyn runs away and Tired Worried Percy or Vex or Both rushes to find her.

Kili finds Baby Frodo among a destroyed house. He brings him to Bilbo, calamity ensues.

Takato and Guilmon eating Guilmon bread together.

Tulin and Revali bond

Julia gets Shadowsan’s blessing to Marry Carmen. A.k.a., Jules becomes Shadowsan’s daughter-in-law.

Child Zelda steals from Gerudo Town and has to answer to Urbosa.

Other fics:

Whistle meeting the other versions of Riddler.

Shan Yu meeting Frollo -> calling Frollo a hypocrite

Angela getting beaten the fuck up by Steve (because I fucking said so, she was a bitch, fuck her, she insulted someone’s dead father, she deserved what she got. But I feel like she deserves more…)

Carrie meeting Pamela Voorhees, and Carrie’s mom dying.

Donna running away from The Village before the events of Village, and getting captured by either Heisenberg or Chris or she just escapes and Miranda is short one Lord. (and a baby possibly…) <- But that’s entirely up to the person writing it.

Soap and Ghost are the traitors. (I love them, I do, but one of them is the traitor and the other is helping the traitor/Lets say, one of them, Ghost is the traitor and kills mostly everyone except the other and makes them, Soap an accomplice)

Miles’s mom finds out her son is Spider-Man, because of Noir.

Malak reminding Doug that he had it coming (cell block tango, but it’s just the monsters mocking Doug in a way, and Malak reminds him that he deserves eternal suffering, not the sweet release of death)

(Modern Au) Ace is always running from debt, however, even he knows that The Deathslinger will find him. It’s only a matter of when.

Eddie and Venom adopt a kitten. That’s it.

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lancecorporalderby · 1 year

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My Parable plane AU's Curator!! I haven't introduced much info about the universe and how it works but basically the Stanley parable is limbo and each person has their own version of Limbo

Narrators limbo is him devving and creating TSP but no power over the endings (except the primary ending, The Freedom ending)

I don't have anything for Stanley yet other than his Limbo is the game but here he's more emotionless? There's a right word for it I just dk what it is but yeah he's more blank since it's the players that controls his body.

Curators role here is that she is also in a Limbo! Though she has more control of hers. Her limbo is that she's forever keeping and taking information of all Limbos across the plane and her outfit is made from her hair! She's basically a moving statue but in this drawing this is more of a natural look than statue-ey

Her eyes are always closed because if she opens them all info of the universe blinds her. She's not as powerful as you think she is but she's still a boss ass bitch ily queen

#tsp #the stanley parable #the stanley parable ultra deluxe #tsp narrator #tsp stanley #tsp curator #The parable plane AU

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lacontroller1991 · 2 years

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Spoilers for For All Mankind

Episode 1 took my breath away, but episode 2 down right ripped my lungs out of my chest. As if this season couldn't get any better it got 50 times better. So down below the cut, are some initial thoughts

Initial thought before I get into the rest: hfiewhioejpoddwjkfjsaofhdwkjd;skhdadncjkewjfiehwlAIFHEWUTW9PEOHGWAOSJHCVGNMSDALDJCBWRGUYTUQOWaljenuvfhjkeo;mkejthselnbrwa *Screaming intensifies*

First of all, Ed in the boot is literally the cutest thing ever. Lemme hug and cherish him and heal him, he's a precious baby. "God Damn Boot" sir, you are very precious.

Also, Karen being a boss ass bitch????? We stan. And I'd never thought I'd say that. We love boss lady.

Molly giving the command to Ed only for Margo to fire Molly and Ed to loose command (which is then given to Dani) made me pissed the fuck off. Like fr??? Margo, you literally made me detest your guts... like..... I wanna throw you out the air lock.

Also, Danny..... You were redeemed in the first episode, and then you squashed that. You're meaning to tell me that you weren't thinking about your NEW wife when you were hanging there, you were thinking about Karen??? LIke???? Also, how dare you talk shit about Ed you ungrateful brat? Sure Gordo and Tracey are your parents, but I guarantee you Ed had something to do with you becoming an astronaut too. So for you to say all that shit about him, I wanna punch you so bad.

Ed confronting Margo and yelling at her is so hot. Like holy fuck. He's so goddamn sexy when yelling. Also Ed, I get you're mad (and I'm pissed for you) but how dare you say that shit to Dani???? Like??? Bad Ed.

Ed drunk driving to Karen's house (which holy fuck is very very nice, glad she's thriving. Makes me wonder where Ed is living) and having a heart to heart lowkey made my heart soar. I know we don't stan Karen for cheating on baby boy, but MAN am I glad Ed is leaving Yvonne. She just isn't right for him. So maybe Ed and Karen could be happy again??? Idk they just seem to be mature now and I think they could make each other happy again???? Not completely sure.

AND THEN Danny stalking Karen's house???? WTF????? Danny, get over it. Guess he has serious Mommy Issues.

AND THEN Karen going to Dev and recommending Ed for command of the Helios mission???? Fucking iconic. Except for that one bitch saying to get somebody new (which would mean unexperienced), shut up... just... shut up.

AND THEN THEN DEV ANNOUNCING ED AS COMMANDER OF THE HELIOS MISSION TO MARS HOLY FUCK ED JFIHGIOPWQOHFWIQPFNWJJPONIOFOIEREIONEWINIEWNOFWIOFHFEHWIO AND MOLLY LAUGHING IT UP SAYING "STICK IT TO THE BASTARDS" IS LITERALLY MY FAVORITE.

So far, all of my predictions have been right. Ed and Karen divorcing, Ed and Yvonne divorcing. Ed leading Helios. They're all correct so far.

ALL THIS TO SAY..... THIS SHOW IS LITERALLY MY FAVORITE TO HAVE EVER BEEN CREATED I SWEAR TO GOD. WALKING DEAD, ALTERED CARBON, GREYS ANATOMY, ANYTHING ELSE CAN SUCK IT COMPARED TO FOR ALL MANKIND. and I don't know how I'm gonna wait til next week.

Tagging Ed's new wife @edwardbaldwin

#for all mankind #for all mankind spoilers #for all mankind season 3 #ed baldwin #karen baldwin #joel kinnaman #shantel vansanten #dani poole #danielle poole #krys marshall #danny stevens #casey w johnson #margo madison #wrenn schmidt #hannah.exe has stopped working #lacontroller1991 #unedited

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menstits · 9 months

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is this a safe place to hate k4veh and k4vetham. Its so funny that his fans act like hes the most well written character in the game when hes just a guy with imposter syndrome and mommy issues that got scammed. funny of them also to act like nilou didnt do anything in the story like i think nilou is boring as fuck but at least she paid an important role on the first and last arcs, all kaveh did was argue with alhaitham at the end for 2 minutes for #fujopoints and thats it. also congrats to hkv for being the first gay ship to be implied but they feel sooooo forced bc u can tell hoyoverse is only good at writting yuri bc of past experience

I didn't even know that people were trying to argue about nilou too, you're bringing me discourse the likes of which i cannot even imagine. Like i cannot bring myself to get invested in nilou just because she's boring but objectively she's far more plot relevant than kaveh like bro we were trapped in her dream world for like an entire arc.

In all seriousness though, i don't want to be too much of a bitch because i do have mutuals who like kaveh/kavetham in a normal people manner so this is all about a specific chunk of the fanbase, i'm not making blanket statements like mewchies if you're reading this it's not about you i literally just have seen Things against my will on twitter and want to bitch about it + i'm adding a readmore cause this is becoming long

I don't even think it's like. An issue that's specific to the characters or the pairing. In a vacuum i would have probably felt entirely neutral about kaveh because he's not even an unlikeable character. If i lived in a cave and played the game without knowing what anyone else is doing in another lifetime maybe i would have even liked him. I don't harbor negative feelings towards the people who can be normal about liking a character but the thing is that he is literally just some guy. Like his Thing is that he's just some dude who's in his 30s and is kind hearted to a fault cause then he always gets scammed which in itself is like. A pretty funny/endearing character concept in itself. And i know that him being Just Some Guy makes him relatable to all manner of tormented young adults who are also Just Some Guy as well which is FINE. I get it. We are all some guy deep down. But what bothers me is that . A certain side of the fanbase wants him to be kaeya so fucking bad and will project conflicts onto kaveh that are literally just kaeya's and it's like. I will kill you with a rock. They have very similar conflicts except for the fact that kaveh's are repackaged to be about more mundane things compared to kaeya's and it's so... Kaeya has been there doing all that 3 years before kaveh was even a twinkle in the hoyoverse devs' eye . If you're a kaveh fan you better only ever say nice things about kaeya or i will strangle you.

My OTHER grievance with kaveh fujos which are really NOT even always the same category as the fans doing what i just mentioned is that . They draw him and write him like a cishet woman on the verge of a divorce i don't know how else to explain like i feel like people brought back the insane super masc muscled seme x skinny malnourished frail and womanly uke with an inexplicably fat ass trend from older yaoi full force for these two in a way that i hadn't seen since like 2012 it's so sickening not even in a funny way not even just redesigning him to have different body proportions from the standard twink model like that's good end encouraged but NO they're just literally making him as frail and womanly and vitamins deficient looking as possible and then giving him a scary waist to hips ratio like ENOUGH. ENOUGJ that man has no ass HE HAS NO ASS HE'S SHAPED LIKE A BOOKMARK❗❗

#asks #anonymous

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flydotnet · 1 year

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Bad Things Happen Bingo! The event where you send me requests according to this marvelous card! (Red cross is the completed prompt, character headshots are prompts I’ve already filled).

Stairs, a taser, Yuto's fist, and more stairs. What do they all have in common?

Oh look, this is my yearly Arc-V fanfic where I'm ignoring most of canon because who gives a fuck about the Arc-V canon past, like, the Synchro arc (YMMV) lol. Anyway, this is a catharsis fic where I combine all of my other vague changes to the canon so that stupid ship only me still cares about in 2023 A.D. and also where the stupid parasites are easily removable by a good dash of Raidraptor magic. This fic can also be called "the floor is actually writing the Duel" because I didn't want to burden myself with how godawful the Parasite archetype is, especially since I can't just copy-paste a Duel from canon. The one I'd have to plagiarize really... isn't that good too, we're just all biased because Yuto is badass.

The title is a bilingual pun between the English "volatine", which is a synonym of "explosive" or "unstable", and the French "volatile", which is a term used for birds. Y'know, like Shun. He's the two meanings of the word "volatile". The word was, in fact, invented to trip my foot over during translation classes and also for Shun Kurosaki from hit "lowest ratings on Nico Nico Douga" anime Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V.

Speaking of my favourite bird-wielding edgelord, post-Xyz Shun is always kind of weird to write too. He's not the same abrasive bastard I keep remembering as, but then I'm afraid I'm writing him too soft. I kind of tend to forget he's that angry, that destructive in huge part because of his bonds to other people. I don't want a Draco in Leather Pants situation, God knows I've bitched about when it was happening with Revolver VRAINS. Just... think that in this timeline I'm never describing Serena and he stuck around for much longer, like at least through Synchro, character dev' happened, or something, idk

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Volatile

Summary: Serena snaps back to reality in the middle of a Duel, only to quickly realize her spirit is fighting herself(?) and her body is fighting a rib-clutching Kurosaki. Nothing about this adds up, yet there she is, not even in control of her own body anymore.

Or: Shun came across a possessed Serena before his sister after losing her track back in the Xyz Dimension, this is the consequences of that forced encounter.

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V Characters: Serena, Shun Ship: Peregrineshipping (pre-rel)

Wordcount: 3K words

Event hosted by @badthingshappenbingo

AO3 version.

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Serena wakes up on both her feet to the smell of gunpowder and the heat of a reactor.

Recent wartime experiences as a well-groomed doll turned soldier turned renegade have shaped her in a way that she doesn’t question how she got there, let alone why, and only on what’s in front of her.

She’s in harm’s way, so she sidesteps to avoid a chunk of shrapnel.

She’s near fire, so she steps backwards to avoid getting burned, or worse, outright set ablaze.

She’s in the middle of a Duel, which means she’s in the middle of battle, and needs to focus. Alas, no experience has prepared her for what she sees on the blade of her trusty Disk – and decidedly feels like a stranger to her own deck.

She doesn’t recognize most of the cards she’s playing. Most of them are bearing garish bugs clad in colours that only push her eyes far away, which she don’t quite pay a mind to. They’re mostly Monster cards, with the exception of a set Trap card and a Spell one that’s still active. It seems to affect an archetype known as “Parasite”, which she’s never played nor even heard of. Why the hell did she play that, before seemingly going to sleep? How did this even happen to begin with?

It only dawns on her then to look up, only to see a semi-familiar face that, if it had organic eyes, would have absolutely been staring daggers right into hers. Mechanic wings, reactors, the smell of ruin and gunpowder. No, there’s no mistaking it, she’s watched it ravage through opposite fields before, in person, on a screen… No doubt about it, it’s –

“Rise Falcon,” an even more familiar voice tells in a hoarse but firm tone, “reduce those bugs to—”

“Wait!”

Arm already risen in front of him, the individual on the other side of the field stops with a frustrated frown.

“What is it? Afraid of defeat?”

Her head hurts.

“What’re you doing, Kurosaki?! We’re on the same side!”

He tilts his head backwards just a little, one of his eyes twitches. He’s almost showing teeth now.

“I asked you that before you forced my hand into this bullshit.” He sounds so hurt, in a way that she hasn’t heard in so long, and her chest starts choking her too. “Don’t take me for stupid, asshole.”

It’s a downright migraine that she’s now stuck trying to shove back.

“What do you mean? I just… Why would I do that?”

His expression immediately softens.

“You were under the control of that… thing,” he points to the Parasite Queen in front of her, “and almost pushed me off that tower. Then you challenged me to a Duel.”

This sounds like an utter fantasy; but if there’s one thing Kurosaki doesn’t do, it’s lying, even to those he doesn’t trust, so there must be a rational explanation for this.

“What para—”

Don’t resist, Serena. Be a good girl.

She clutches her head now. What’s this voice? How did they get inside her head?!

“Serena?”

You’re my slave, now. Be a good girl and fight the Xyz remnant in front of you.

“Shit, Serena, snap out of it!”

And just like this, she loses contact with her own body.

It’s an awful feeling of dissociation, drowsiness and loss of control. Her foot don’t touch the ground anymore, leaving her floating inside her own consciousness. Her eyes don’t look where she wants them to go, more fixated on the cards than on the guy in front of her, for worse and no shade of better – because even through the haze of her controlled mind, Serena hears it, the wheeze and the rasp of his voice.

“You little pest,” her voice groans once even her cords have given back into the parasite’s clutches. “Back to you it is, bird boy.”

Kurosaki remains silent, the deep-set frown on his face enough to speak for him. Only now does she see, through the haze of glazed eyes, how battered he truly is, an arm wrapped around his chest and a trinkle of blood going down his cheek.

“I’m not leaving you in this state, not again, so don’t go thinking you’re out of the woods.” He clenches his teeth, spits back venom, “I’m not letting any of this fly by.”

He makes it sound like he’s here to save her – which doesn’t make sense. Kurosaki wanted to save Ruri, his other friend and his homeland. She wasn’t on the list. (Although Serena would’ve given her all to save him would have their places been the opposite, because she seeks redemption, because she wants to be a heroine, because she cares for Kurosaki less like a brother and more like a—)

“Oh, charming knight in armour, here to save the damsel in distress!” It chuckles. “You sound so full of yourself, for a miserable bug! You’re not the big bird of prey you think you are! Or did you abandon me back there? Didn’t just you faint from some small debris?”

“Tch.” He settles back into a deadpan. “I detach one Overlay Unit from Rise Falcon…”

It wasn’t small debris – it was a lot more than that. She watched him run to save a girl he knew from her trauma and whatever her own homeland was trying to pull off in the middle of a Tag Duel, and only thanks to Kaito’s help was she able to finish them off before it was too late. She was scared beyond her mind’s comprehension, back there, but unable to realize until much late how much that had been; because there was no time.

No wonder why Kurosaki was so volatile. He hadn’t processed much of anything. Even now, she doubts he has.

What’s also no wonder to her is why she got so scared back then and a part of what’s grounding her to her body despite the phantom pain. She wants to do the right thing and stop this Duel from continuing any further. She doesn’t want to continue being a puppet for whomever infected her in Academia, her first and alleged only home for so long. She can’t hurt Kurosaki. She’s supposed to reunite with him and help him.

And yet the Duel continues on without her, card after card sent to the Graveyard, Life Point after Life Point lost. Her “other self” has resorted to continuously bringing Monsters back from the dead to slap parasites on them, despite being unable to actually get a let up on Kurosaki despite having the upper hand in terms of cards on the field. He’s using all of his tools, constantly switching gears.

“You cheat,” that voice says. “You can’t beat me all on your own, can you!”

Kurosaki doesn’t reply, doesn’t even look like he’s hearing her.

“Action Magic: Miracle.” He smirks. “You could use them too, if you weren’t a coward.”

“You’re the coward, using you Lancers’ precious cards. You’re only delaying your oh so pathetic demise, Xyz remnant.”

To her surprise, even if it feels like it shouldn’t be anymore, Kurosaki chuckles at that.

“Oh, yeah, you’re definitely not there. The Serena I know wouldn’t say crap like this.”

“You don’t know me.”

“Obviously.”

The other her destroys Kurosaki’s field with Magic, builds its side with more parasites, all summoned in various ways her dizzied mind can’t keep up with. The Queen squirms, ever so content with the suffering on the field, and she has to watch the one person she’s gotten attached to pay the price for what’s absolutely, by now and without question, her own rash decision making. She was made prisoner and now tortures other people.

She wouldn’t have wanted to put anyone through this to begin with, let alone him. No, of course Kurosaki isn’t the only friend she’s made along the way (that’d erase Yuzu, and Tsukikage, and Yugo…), but she’d lie if she said they hadn’t gotten strangely close to each other, the Xyz renegade and the former golden child of Academia turned against them. The groomed soldier and the one who had to become one to survive. It’s awful, it makes all too much sense.

Another turn ended and he’s back to kneeling on the ground, hanging on by a thin thread of 200 LP.

“Oh-oh, having trouble standing up now, are we?”

“Shut it.”

“Hmph, I see you’re as unpleasant to talk to as always. You build yourself up so much yet struggle to do anything of substance once confronted. How does it feel, to be so useless, in the end? To be so powerless in the face of adversity?”

Kurosaki doesn’t respond, once more, only getting back to his feet.

“Tch. I set one face-down card and end my turn.”

Serena’s heart skips a beat when she sees what card it is, as brief as it is. The name is blurry, so is the picture, but the chuckle of self-satisfaction that escapes her is enough to be weary of what’s about to happen; and if that wasn’t enough, then knowing it’ll absolutely decimate both of their fields but at the cost of his LP first would do more than the job.

She has one turn to get control of her body back, if not less. It’s a Magic card, so it has less chance to be activated on Kurosaki’s turn, but it’s not enough reassurance in this game of minds and prediction. If she doesn’t do something before it’s too late, he’ll suffer the consequences; and that she simply cannot let happen. He’s already struggling to breathe as is.

“I activate from my hand Rank-Up Magic, Absorbing Soul Force. I pay half my Life Points to Special Summon Rise Falcon back to my field.”

“Then I’ll just destroy it again! You can’t win!”

“Shut up, I’m not finished. I Overlay Rise Raptor as Xyz material to summon two Ranks above its four.”

“Oh, of course, you Xyz users can’t get enough of your stupid Ranks. Come at me, I’ll just bury it six feet underground if need be!”

“Prideful falcon, spread your wings dyed in the blood of heroes, advance through the path of revolution! Xyz Summon, come forth! Rank Six, Raidraptor Revolution Falcon!”

“What’s the difference between that and the previous one? None, they’re all scum! Low filth of the Earth!”

Oh, a lot, but she’d rather let Kurosaki explain – who remains unfazed, if silently furious.

“I activate Revolution Falcon’s effect. By using one Overlay Unit, it can attack all of my opponents’ Monsters, once each.”

“Its Attack is inferior to Parasite Queen’s! Are you birdbrained?!”

Is he going to pull off the same thing he did back then?

“When this monster battles one that was Specially Summoned, that monster’s Attack and Defence become zero!”

But it scoffs and laughs, oh so amused by what’s in front of it, and she won’t have it let have its way. She’s putting an end to this battle that wasn’t meant to be now, no matter what. She’ll get back in control, at long last.

“Too bad for you, I’m ready! I activate—”

If she doesn’t do anything, this is going to be the bitter end—

No, I won’t let you!

“It’s over!” Serena screams with her own voice, finally, back in her body. All she has to do now is to…

Give it back to me!!

The pain is searing and it’s hard to think clearly, but one though is strong enough to pierce through it all.

“I’m not going to let you take over!”

“Serena?!”

She rises her hear to see an obviously concerned Kurosaki.

“Do it!” She yells at him, about to throw her own cards to the ground. “Finish this off!”

The voice screeches and burns inside his mind, claws its way out of a bottomless pit, everything burns burns burns.

He nods, takes a breath, and screams, “Revolution Air Raid!”

And like it did the first time they saw each other, exchanged what could barely qualify as words, bombs explode to destroy their common enemy. Every single parasite on her field disappears in a blaze, the sky turns white. She almost loses consciousness, doesn’t withstand the knockback of the wind; but gets up soon enough, ignoring tremors in her legs, to at least realize something has moved inside her head.

She can’t quite worry over that yet however, because as soon as Cross-Over disappears, he falls to his knees.

As if she hadn’t spent so long in her own pain, she rushes to his side, legs lighter than a feather. She doesn’t catch him per say, but decides to support him, concern tainting her every thought. From up close and through her own eyes, it’s evident that he’s taken quite the beating, a bruise already blossoming on the side of his neck and leftover hints of half-healed injuries speckle the few parts of his skin he leaves visible.

“Are you okay?” She asks, frantic, afraid she’ll lose him again.

Kurosaki doesn’t reply, exacerbating her pulse, but she soon feels something getting pulled from her ear. To her shock and disgust alike, through another dizzy spell, she watches him splatter an enormous bug under the sole of his shoe.

“You’re back, Serena?” He asks, his voice even raspier than it was before.

“Y-yeah. I was… controlled by that thing, wasn’t I…?”

“I think so, yeah. Scared the shit outta me.”

She too has trouble getting her breath back, but before she loses all strength, she drags the both of them to lean against the nearby wall. Exhaustion is sitting heavy on her limbs, despite an urge to keep on – and she can only guess Kurosaki, because he’s struggling to get up yet trying so hard to, is feeling the same.

It’s always been difficult to know what he thinks, because he’s so quiet, so closed-off and so off-limits to everyone but two people he hasn’t found again yet. What is even going through his mind, right now?

Wait, did he just say he was scared?

“You didn’t seem like it, though… Scared, I mean.”

“Only when you pushed me off the edge. After that, I was just focused on getting you back.”

His voice is gravely, his head is lulling on his shoulder, and it’s all too close to her, too warm, too welcoming. They’re soldiers in the jaw of the enemy, goddammit, is she this tired—

“Why didn’t you give up on me? I almost killed you, Kurosaki.”

He gives her one long, tired stare.

“You weren’t yourself.” He looks to the side next. “I wasn’t going to lose someone else again.”

“Am I really this important to you…?”

“What do you think the answer to that is?”

Dumb question… but it’s such a hard thing to believe. God, he surely sees her as his sister, or as a placeholder for her until Ruri is safe and sound again, that’s got to be it. She isn’t naïve enough not to know that now, that the world has never revolved around her and especially not his. (If only it didn’t hurt to think about).

“It’s hard to know, with you. I was your enemy at some point. You hate Fusion.”

“You’re not responsible for my homeland’s destruction, nor for Ruri’s disappearance. That doesn’t matter anymore.” He smiles a little, sends her back to flutter. “Plus, you did save me before. I was only paying you back so I don’t owe a debt.”

“We’ve talked about that, didn’t we? I was only seeking you for my own selfish gain. I said awful things to you, parading them as truth. I wasn’t exactly doing you a favour.”

He frows so, so deeply.

“Can’t you accept that I give a shit about you, or do I need to break a rib again?”

Her blood immediately ices over, adrenaline replacing it shortly thereafter.

“Did I break something?!”

“I don’t know,” he says with an undignified uncertainty that doesn’t sound like him and stabs her as a result. “It’s not like I was in that good of a shape before coming here.”

Right, the debris, the rushed recovery process, the turmoil of questions never answered… No rest, all stress. It’s taken its toll on all of them.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault if you’re in that state.”

“Skip the apology. I don’t want to hear it.”

“If I had been stronger, I wouldn’t have been infected by that… parasite.”

Vague memories she wants to ignore of a crazed man inserting something inside her mind, shivers that follow. It only ends when she feels pulled to him.

“I’m just glad you’re not gone.”

She nuzzles closer, for a moment uncaring of the dimensions, the Professor, the Lancers – all that matters is that they now breath together, that she doesn’t hurt him anymore, that they’re companions once more. It’s selfish. It’s insane. It’s easy.

“I’m relieved to see you again,” is all she replies. “We should… get going, though, shouldn’t we?”

“We should, yeah.”

She gets up, still dizzy and dazed, but nonetheless stable enough to give him her hand with a smile of her own. To her relief and joy alike, he gives it back to her as he takes it, gets to his own feet… and tilts forward just enough for her to catch him in her arms. If their worlds weren’t at stake, at the moment, she’d have relished in it, or let herself get overwhelmed by so much touch, so much closeness.

“I’ll support you,” she says, unsure of the extent to which she means it.

“I guess it’s fine, if it’s you.”

She doesn’t comment on it, yet in silence can barely contain all of the thoughts that dance through her mind. Instead, like the level-headed companion she wants to be, she pushes that aside and focuses on the way his arm sits on her shoulder, of the one she has wrapped around his wrist, and not to aggravate his breathing. She can decide what to do with her feelings once everyone is safe and back home, when she won’t have to feel bad after a moment of reprieve. For now, they have a world to save.

And there’s nobody she wants to do it with more than the guy who’s just saved her.

#bad things happen bingo #arc v #ygo #arc v serena #shun kurosaki #peregrineshipping #raspy breathing #bthb #you'll never get shusere out of my cold dead hands #i'm stuck with them since 2019 and that's just how it is #emotional support ship that's been accused of pseudoincest at least once!#otp: blood moon #happy early march 22nd

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asmoonlightthroughthepines · 10 months

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8 Shows To Know Me

Thank you @maplefiasco for tagging me *months* ago 🙈 Do check her post for excellent shows recommendations!

If you see this post on your dash, please consider yourself (no-pressure) tagged, whether we’re in a follower, mutual or complete strangers situation :)

Coming up with "shows to know me" was more challenging that I thought? In the end I chose shows I have often rewatched and that never fail to cheer me up. In no particular order:

Remington Steele

This show is a delight and a half. For years growing up it was on channel 3 in France every summer, and every rewatch makes me feel like the happiest teenager. Expect RayBans and vintage cars, because this is 80s LA with an Old Hollywood, Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn inspiration. Unfortunately it's become impossible to find in Europe/France, and my entire family laments this fact on a monthly basis.

The Newsroom

If you get one thing out of this post, it’s to give The Newsroom a try. Not everyone loves Sorkin, in fact several of my friends hate this show, but I LOVE it. It’s chaotic. It’s fast. It’s idealistic. Everyone is a genius at their job and an idiot in their personal life. And the cast! Emily Mortimer, Jeff Daniels and Sam Waterston are superb! Olivia Munn and Thomas Sadoski are spectacular! Dev Patel and David Harbour are delightful! And the supporting cast - Jane Fonda! Chris Messina! Terry Crews! BJ Novak! Only this show would make me use so many adjectives and exclamation marks.

Hart of Dixie

This is my guilty pleasure, “won’t tell people about it because they’ll think I’m a basic bitch" show. It’s super cozy, the clothes are great, the dudes are hot, there’s a pet alligator called Burt Reynolds, the folksy-country soundtrack is fun, everyone is nice and walks around the WBros PLL and Gilmore Girls lot fake southern town with a pastry and home-baked pie in hand, and nothing really bad ever happens. Truly the happiest of basic bitch shows.

The Marvelous Mrs Maisel

I ignored Mrs Maisel for years because I’m not a big stand up or 50s style person, but it turned out to be one of the shows that’s made me laugh the most in the history of shows. It’s funny, it’s warm and it does more for Jewish humour than most pieces of media (The Nanny is the exception) since Annie Hall’s Easter lunch scene. I didn’t care much for s4 (style really took over content for me) and s5 is.. well I just don’t know how they explain a lot of those choices there. But man, s1-2 is something I would (and will) happily rewatch on a regular basis.

Friends It’s not original, it's "90s diverse" but sue me. I’m old enough to have watched it with my siblings when it first came out (VHS, baby!) and it’ll never not feel cozy and fun. I won’t catch it on tv because ad breaks will reduce it to unfunny, memeable catchphrases, but every few years I’ll pop a couple of seasons in the dvd player (DVDs, baby!) and it’ll still make me laugh like it’s my first time watching it.

Arrested Development

Do I need to explain? Yes s4 was half good/half bad when it was released (and somehow made mostly bad when it was re-edited) and I pretend s5 doesn’t exist. But seasons 1-3 are the definition of perfect tv! And in case you didn’t know, Jason Bateman and Will Arnett host a podcast (along with Sean Hayes of Will and Grace) called Smartless; the episode with Tony Hale (Buster) as the guest had me in literal tears.

Chuck

There’s a scene where Chuck’s best friend Morgan says that he’s spent years devising a work system that allows him to do as little as possible at his job, and he’s not about to ruin that by accepting a promotion. My entire family quotes this on a regular basis. I have watched s1-3 at least half a dozen times and just typing that makes me want to watch it again. Love the music, the ridiculous spy adventures and the unhinged background characters. Also Chuck looks exactly like one of my high school best friends which makes it even funnier.

LOOK. I did not expect this show to take over my life the way it did, and tbh I don’t really have an 8th show that hits both “will rewatch this many times” and “makes me feel warm and happy”. So I went for the one that currently has 12 drafts sitting in my fic folder. It’s violent and ridiculous and is equally funny (see ridiculous) and angsty. It got me through the 2nd lockdown, on the edge of my seat while live texting all nearly ten seasons of it to friends. But watch s1-4 and tell me you’re normal about Tony x Michelle. I dare you.

#tumblr games #what almost made the list: alias/cougar town (it was my safe place for a few years! despite ccox’s botox)/the persuaders (the 70s show)

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