#i think he's right when he says that this is the direction that OL games are moving towards

[mahikamihan]

this is literally the type of stuff that design and tech people have been talking about for years, seeing it happen in real time is inspiring, awesome, and kinda badass

(this is from John Maeda's Design in Tech report for SXSW)

[erideights]

Little pieces here and there (3)

Pairing: Buggy x Fem!Reader (One Piece Live Action)

Chapters: one, two, four, five

Word Count: around 2K again.

Warnings: minimum context of the arlong park part of the story (background), MUTUAL FLIRTING, forbiden pinning of them both, Buggy has his body back *wiggling eyebrows*, sexy times

A/N: devil works hard but i'm working harder, every 5 free min i have from work/class/practices i'm writing on my phone, i'ts actually insane and i love it (ROAD TO CHAPTER 4?? If you like this one and want the next one, please let me know!)

Oh, he was mad. He was really mad.

Maybe "sexually frustrated" was a way more accurate term given the circumstances but the feeling was so strong, so visceral, he was sure he was reaching a point where jumping to the sea to end that agony -even if a bit exaggerated, like him always, everywhere and for everything- was justified.

Somewhere in Arlong Park, Buggy could feel the boner pressing his pants, demanding to be satisfied; dirty talk was one of his true passions and when (Y/N) played that card on him, being capable of picturing himself with her on his lap, that damn woman so -actually- close to his face in that moment he was already tasting her lips, her low, smooth voice driving him insane, he could not help it, but get turned on so easily and so strong is been hours, and he's still mad, incapable of stop thinking about that.

That is, perhaps, the reason he feels relief as soon as the sun rises and Usopp is back on the helm again, asking for directions as Buggy, in fact, demands to go faster. Like instead of slicing and dicing his body, his power could control the wind that propelled the boat or the force of the waves against the hull.

(Y/N) ran away just after such a -even if brief- conversation. She may have broken his balls with that dirty trick, but she was equally a victim of her own game. She knew what to say to push Buggy and leave him so stunned -to speak- that the poor clown didn't have the chance to fight back at that moment, not without his body to help him keep her in that kitchen, lift her up on the counter, force her to back down, regret even thinking she could do that to him, and then, only then, yes, fuck her until she wakes up the rest of her little and - according to him - pathetic crew with her moans.

Or so the girl imagined, leaning against the door of her room, eyes closed, heart slightly racing, fighting the temptation to lie down on the bed and masturbate thinking about what had just happened.

Which included him. Him!! What the hell, was she actually losing her mind? All that damn flirting had really gotten into her, for fucks sake, because regardless of her finding him quite interesting when they met, this attraction was something else.

Lately everything around her was something else. Did she really think through the decision of leaving her mercenary life behind and follow those kids to the Grand Line? Did she really think through the decision of flirting back with a psychopath clown?

Because in the end it's just that, right? Flirting. Was nothing else, is nothing else, and will be nothing else. She doesn’t want it to be something more, that's for sure; there's no need for unnecessary complications and extra headaches. In the meantime, it's fun, a bit of a backfire kind of situation, a bit -sexually- frustrating, but fun.

After a good ol' resting night and already some hours into the new day, (Y/N) notices that it's been a lot, since their encounter in the kitchen to be precise, that Buggy not only doesn't flirt with her, but doesn't talk that much or even look at her as amazed as before. Of course, he is, also, way less annoying, which Zoro subtly points out clearly pleased with how calm, nice and silent this morning is.

At some point she shakes her head, knowing, or at least guessing, the reason for this behavior, so she decides to check no one's around and the rudder is locked in the right direction, and then goes to where the bag with his head is, closed probably by the sniper when he got the last indications he needed from him. She opens it, lowering it until the clown's head is free on top of that barrel.

"How are you doing, Bugs?" she starts with a funny little smile, looking intently at him as she leans her back forward to leave her face level with his. "It's been hours I don't hear your raspy voice, I'm starting to miss it."

Silence. Absolute indifference besides the sidelong glance he gives her because let's face it, Buggy is annoyingly proud, extremely, exaggeratedly, but he loves attention. He likes nothing more than receiving it, no matter where, when, and from who, and she could see it as soon as they met.

"Also your silly nicknames for me" She grants, giving in. She would also be mad as hell if someone leaves her as horny as she knew she left him, so she doesn't have any problem being the one to start the tug-war this time.

"Already tired of the shidiots?" He finally asks, almost drily, after a minute; now he is the one to play difficult, huh? "No wonder, they don't even know where to start being pirates."

"Oh, of course, because no one compares to the famous Buggy The Clown, the colorful nightmare or the East Blue." Playful, she retreats a bit, resting her hip in the barrel, arms crossed over her chest.

"Quit the sarcasm doll, you know I'm right." Well, he was, in fact, right. None of them had real experience in the whole i-wanna-become-a-pirate thing, still, they were doing pretty good to be newbies. She was quite proud of them.

"I cannot wait to have my body back" he then murmurs, adding before she could say anything else about her new friends. "To do what?" She asks, you know, like she didn't know.

"Take a guess"

"Recover your spotlight? Find a new crew and a way to enter the Grand Line to go search the One Piece and be the king of the pirates?" (Y/N) mocks, clearly enjoying being the annoying one this time.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah'' Buggy rolls his eyes, scoffing. ''All that, but not before making you regret what you did last night." To that accusation she gasps, resting her right hand over her chest "What did I do last night?"

The clown falls silent again, but his mood is completely different. Right now he's not pissed off, it's obvious that this time, instead of flirting with her in a casual and natural way, he’s thinking what to say, choosing carefully his words to return a fraction of the effect she had on him hours ago.

His eyes darken, and his voice goes octanes lower and raspier. "Sweetheart, there will be no possible escape from what I plan to do with you. At the slightest opportunity I will make you cum on me so many times you will be the one to find the One Piece without needing to go to the Grand Line, but first…'' He pauses, breathes, and lets it go calmly, like the intimidating, psychopathic calculator she saw at the circus and not that flirty cartoonish version she got to know on the ship. ''you will beg for it."

She knows she shouldn't surrender to this type of tease, but she also can't and doesn't want to avoid it. Getting heavily carried away, without thinking about it twice, one of the girl's hands slides to the back of his neck, slipping under the bandana, and tugs his hair aggressively as she leans in again to speak close to his face. He grunts in pure satisfaction, closing his eyes for a second. Of course (Y/N) is, once again, taking advantage of the fact that he cannot defend himself no being more than a head, and the fact is that he enjoys like a condemned bastard those small but intense gestures the girl has given him since they met at the circus.

He can't wait to break a woman like her. And oh, he will.

"Are you sure about that?" Hearing distant steps, someone from the crew coming out on deck and climbing the stairs, she gets some distance from him, acting naturally, closing the bag again around his head. "My expectations just skyrocketed, I hope you don't disappoint."

By the end of the day, the Konomi Islands begin to appear on the horizon, and as soon as they set foot on them, shits get really serious. The situation of the poor people who live there is heartbreaking, so for two days, no one dares to make a single joke, Luffy's usual energy and bubbly positivity is nowhere to be seen, and of course, the interactions of (Y/N) and Buggy are reduced to = 0. The clown's head is no longer of any real use to them, and it’s poor Sanji, the new recruit, who’s carrying it around just in case.

At least until they reach Arlong Park.

Again, (Y/N) is not exactly the type of mercenary expert in martial arts and although she knows how to defend herself, fighting like Zoro or Sanji is, in few words, impossible. Her only advantage is being very, very fast, and knowing how to use the scenery to her advantage, so it doesn't take long for her to hide here and there among the different tents and attractions in the area to get rid of the most straggler fishmen, with a knife she got long ago during one of her jobs, capable of cutting their tough skin easily.

Everything happens so fast and is so chaotic that apart from some screams and blows in the background and having seen Usopp running towards the forest, (Y/N) is completely unaware of what is happening in the main complex.

A strong pull on her left arm activates her flight or fight response as one last fish falls dead to the ground in front of her. Raising the knife, in a quick movement, she tries to defend herself by aiming at the stranger's neck, although in vain; a pair of lips whose red has already been worn for days impact against hers, stealing her breath, a small moan escaping her. Eyes wide open, she barely registers the blurry color of Buggy's nose when two strong hands squeeze her hips as if the life of the clown depended on it, pushing the girl against the wall of the building behind them, cornering her without any type of delicacy.

She hadn't heard from him since they reached the island. Hell, she didn't even know he had got his full body back and was already so close to it that air was unable to pass between each other.

Of course, the moment the clown's head joined the rest of himself -the feeling much better than he remembered- he fucked off his captors and decided to flee. Not before making a vital stop along the way.

The ideas about how to proceed with her once he was whole were very, very different in his wild fantasies, but when he saw the girl's back, he knew that the only thing that would -partially- calm his yearning would be to kiss her before disappearing as fast as possible. To taste her lips, to feel her warmth.

Still not recovered from the shock of the kiss, Y/N doesn't remove the knife from the clown's neck, but he couldn't care less; quite the opposite. He is so turned on and waited so much -again, exaggerated- for this he doesn't know yet how he will be able to break the kiss, take distance from her, and run away.

Passionately carried away, moved by his most primitive instincts, Buggy sneaks one of his legs between hers, pressing in between them as Y/N inhales through her nose and her free hand flies to his vest, pulling it a little.

It wasn't the time, nor the place, to think about fucking that asshole, but damn, after all the teasing and the tension and the adrenaline of the fight--

And just when she starts fully giving in to him, he retreats just enough, panting a bit, and looks at her now red, stained lips, eyes darkened and full of lust. Just like hers.

"Hate to leave you like this sweetheart but I have things to do and places to go. I don't want people relating me to Arlong, I would hate the bad press on my persona." He whispers, cracking his usual cruel, playful smirk when he finally puts some distance between each other.

‘’It's time to exit stage left.’’ Buggy adds, theatrically raising both hands in the air. ‘’I promise I’ll see you around.’’

And like this, he stars running away again. Where? She doesn't know, or even guess at this moment, too busy registering the kiss in her memory, the way his lips felt on hers, how his nose pressed her cheek the entire time, or his hands grabbed onto her for dear life.

Bastard.

''You better'', she whispers to herself.

[wormdebut]

Call Me

For @steddieholidaydrabbles prompt Day 29 'Free Space Spicy' When Mickala showed me her STELLAR Sports AU I went a little bananas. BLESS her for letting me tag along and create a slutty little part two for it.

Rated: E || Word Count: 995 || Tags: Phone Sex, football player Steve, Rockstar Eddie, slutty dudes, masturbation MINORS DO NOT LOOK. Anywhozle, @steddieas-shegoes I think you're hot. Everyone enjoy. ---

Steve is antsy. Sure, he had just gotten off in the locker room—in his damn uniform, Robin was going to have a field day with this one—but it wasn’t enough. It was never enough when it came to Eddie.

These next two weeks could not move fast enough. Steve wanted to see his boyfriend. Steve wanted to get absolutely railed by his boyfriend. 

They made it work. Seeing each other as often both of their hectic schedules allowed. They had just seen each other a few days ago, but Eddie was right. Steve was insatiable.

He made his way to his hotel room, throwing himself onto the massive bed. He huffed into the pillows before grabbing his phone.

He had a text.

‘Call me, when you get in, precious.’

Steve quickly hits the FaceTime button, thrown by his boyfriend's (hot) angry expression. 

Steve cocks his head, “Eds, What’s wrong?”

Eddie clicked his tongue behind his teeth, shaking his head. “I didn’t ask you to FaceTime me, did I?”

The confusion on Steve’s face was clear. He did…he said call him when—call him.

Oh.

Steve’s eyes went wide and Eddie smirked through the screen.

“See, there’s my smart boy. I’ll give you one more chance, baby. Call me.”

Steve’s lip barely has time to jut out before Eddie hangs up. 

Asshole.

Steve huffs to himself–calls anyway.

Eddie’s answering greeting is drenched in saccharine sweetness. Steve can practically taste it on his tongue.

“Hi baby boy.” Steve is fucked and they haven’t even done anything yet. “See? Following directions isn’t too hard.”

Steve whines. He’d like to deny it, but–he has needs. “I wanted to see you.” 

Eddies answering laugh is low. Steve would like to deny the answering shiver that runs down his spine, but again…needs. “Well, Princess, we can do that, or you can be a good boy and listen.”

Steve nods before realizing Eddie can’t fucking see him. “Yes—I can listen.” He breathes. Eddie hums over the line.

“There you are, precious. Wanna tell me what’s got you so horned up that you had to jack off in the locker room?” Eddie purrs, voice low–firm. Steve loves when he gets like this.

“Missed you.” He breathes.

 “Baby, you have a whole team that can take care of you. I know Hagan would fuck you in a heartbeat.” Eddie teases and Steve pouts. 

“Eddie.” Steve snaps. “I don’t–they aren’t–”

Eddie clicks his tongue. “They aren’t what, pet?”

“They aren’t you Eds.” Steve didn’t want to push–he’d already pissed Eddie off and he needs–he needs. 

“What do you need, baby? Tell me.”

Steve felt the blush rush his cheeks. He didn’t mean to say that out loud. “S-sorry, I just–I need you. I need your cock. I need you to fuck me until I can’t see straight, Eddie. Tonight’s game was insane. I miss my boyfriend and I need your cock in me so bad I think I might die.” 

“God, what would your teammates say if they knew you were this fucking needy, baby. Big ol’ tough jock Steve Harrington begging for cock? You just need to be taken care of don’t you baby boy.” Steve whimpers, as Eddie laughs over the line. “Take your pretty cock out for me.” Eddie commands. Steve listens, like the good boy that he is. Still in his stupid fucking uniform. He’ll wash the set twice, it’s fine, alright?

He’s hard, the tip of his dick red and leaking. Steve runs his finger along the vein on the underside just like Eddie would. “Ed–” Steve moans, “Please I–”

Eddie tsks again. “Did I say you could fucking touch? I don’t think so, I said: Take. It. Out.”

Steve is quick to let himself go, can’t help the whine that escapes his throat, breathy and needy. He pants into the speaker and Eddie growls on the other end.

“God. I love the pretty noises you make. You needy needy boy. What do you need?” Eddie huffs. Steve thinks he can hear a zipper being pulled down. Hypocrite.

“Need to come. Need you to make me come. Please.” Steve’s panting, his gaze frozen on his leaking cock, his free hand is curled up in a ball on his side. Waiting for permission. Waiting for Eddie to tell him what to do. 

Eddie doesn’t say anything. Steve is stuck, just listening to the sounds of a slick fist and Eddie’s heavy breaths. When Eddie talks, it’s breathy–strung out. “God, you looked so hot on the field princess. I can’t wait to see you, to kiss those pretty fucking lips, dig my fingers into your perfect tight little ass and make you beg for it.”

Steve is simply a whimpering mess at this point, his cock jerks in vain, he won’t touch. Eddie told him not to.

“C’mon pretty baby. Beg for it.” Eddie commands and Steve–well–

“Please, Eds, let me touch. Please let me come with you. Come for you. I need it.”

“There’s my perfect boy. Touch your pretty little cock for me, baby girl.”

Steve takes himself in hand, keening as he does. Listens to his perfect fucking boyfriend jerking himself off and god–he’s close already.

“Eds–Eddie. Please, please. Let me come, baby. Please.” Steve breathes.

“Come for me, pretty boy.”

Steve wails as he comes, white streaking his jersey. He pants through his release and can’t help the smile that breaks out across his face as Eddie comes on the other end of the line. He listens to Eddie’s deep breathing, praises offered up easily in between breaths. 

It’s only when Steve starts laughing, an uncontrollable thing, that Eddie cuts himself off.

“What baby?” He asks. “What’s so funny?”

Steve hiccups trying to slow his breathing. “Do you think they would just send me a new uniform if I asked?”

Eddie joins him in his laughter and Steve is perfect. Happy in this headspace, with his hot ass rockstar boyfriend. Two weeks would go by in a flash.

—-

[mamawasatesttube]

So i was just rotating your "Jack drake lives au" in my mind and at the same time remembered those panels of superman shaking hands with Some Fucking Guy (i think he was being a bitch to Lois or smth) and he makes direct unflinching eye contact with the tight lipped smile and his grip is a little too tight to be friendly

Anyways im not saying he hates Jack but i do think Kon off-handedly mentioned the "joke" about his nail polish and Clark went "oh really now?" And didnt forget

So rip Jack at that family dinner night bc not only is Lois waiting for an excuse to obliterate him but Clark is right there with her and if jack thinks that Good Ol Country folk Ma and Pa will back him up then hes in for a surprise lol

oh yeah absolutely!!!! the thing is. literally Nobody likes jack in this au ksjdhfkd like kon and dick absolutely have texted each other to bitch about him, ma openly shakes her head when she hears about how he treats tim (and she WILL speak her mind if he ever tries to shut that sweet boy down in front of her!), cass literally won't speak to him bc he failed the vibe check so bad, etc...

and like. no one is telling tim this. they Know it'll make him feel like he has to defend his dad bc he loves him! but sometimes tim mentions oh he can't join for games this friday night, he and his dad are going on an early morning fishing trip. and cass just meets kon's eyes across the room behind tim's back and rolls her eyes so hard.

but yeah. clark will mostly let lois handle the obliteration with ma's backup as needed bc he knows she's got this. his form of expressing his severe disapproval of jack, his views, and his parenting? supporting tim. thanking him for doing the dishes after dinner, praising his work ethic, ruffling his hair and telling him he did a great job with that case he wrapped up last week, etc. it makes tim go "!!! :D!!!" like that pic of the cat getting patted. tim has always craved approval and affirmation and affection from people around him and he gets it in spades from the kents. and jack sees his son light up and open up around these people way more than he does with him. it's not a good feeling.

it's just tough bc like, tim doesn't want anyone getting mad at jack. but the idea of anyone getting mad at jack on his behalf is also just such a shock to him. he's not used to that. he feels like he has to manage jack and be responsible for him in a lot of ways (if jack says something shitty in front of lois, tim cringes because now jack is gonna get his ass handed to him and feel humiliated, and that's his dad and he was trying to help, and also he feels like it's on him that his dad is being like that. why? oh you know.) (its the unnamed emotional abuse, thats why.)

but also clark and kon watch lois ask tim how his degree is going now that he's in engineering school, and lightly rib him and ask if she can't poach him into investigative journalism instead, because she doesn't usually take interns but she'd make an exception! and tim cocks his head like a dog and says well, maaaybe he'd be down to consider an internship if she's serious? it does sound cool. what are the details? and jack, who barely gets more than one-word answers when he talks to tim about his future, is just kinda seething. heart rate goin up bc hes mad. and kon and clark just exchange extremely amused glances across the kitchen and sip their hot chocolates.

like the tim and jack dynamic is complicated; it'd be a lot easier if the love wasn't so real but it is present. its just that jack is soooo emotionally immature and grounded in Classic American Manhood and ideas of fatherhood. and the fact that tim is growing beyond that and not fitting in the mold he's "supposed" to eats at him. its a tragedy but also we are all pointing and laughing at jack every time superfam make him grind his teeth.

[differenteagletragedy]

Your writing is wonderful and so much fun to read!!! If you’re willing, could we get some wholesome headcanons about living with each of the OL boys? Thank you, you’re amazing!

Thank you so much, that makes me so happy! So do wholesome thoughts about these boys! I could have gone on so much longer lol but here you go!

-- Baxter is a lawn guy. If you move out to the suburbs (he'll want to if you have a kid), then he's going to be SO EXCITED to pick out a good lawn mower, to get out there and trim the grass. He's got a little garden going and everything. He's trimming the bushes with glee.

-- He also cooks, both because he loves to cook and because he loves to cook for you. If he can cook with something from his garden, then he's the happiest guy on the block, at least.

-- Meanwhile, Derek is a grill guy. He has cheesy little aprons and everything, and any opportunity he has, he's out there grilling dinner.

Derek: See, what you want to do is put the charcoal in a pyramid, you get the best heat that way.

Cove: I honestly could not care less.

-- Cove doesn't like to cook, but he's got all your takeout orders memorized. He's going to stop and get something after work, he's going to know exactly what to get for you. Do you love that one sauce from that one place? He's not leaving without it. He will absolutely never bring you home the wrong thing.

-- Baxter likes blankets. There's a closet full of them, all different kinds. If anyone is ever stumped on what kind of gift to get him, they're going to learn pretty quick that a blanket is a great bet. If he's sitting down at his apartment and it's not to eat a meal, he's gonna have a blanket. He is also very happy to share :)

-- I mentioned this in another one, but Derek is really good with his hands. He can fix anything. It makes him feel really good too, to be so helpful, so be sure to tell him that he's doing a good job.

-- If you've got a garage, that is the most dad garage you've ever seen in your life. He's got a work bench, a few tool boxes, anything and everything he could possibly need to do what needs to be done around the house.

You, going out to the garage one random Monday: Derek, what are you doing?

Derek, picking up a power tool: I'm building a porch for you, babe!

-- Derek is a "babe" guy, btw. Baxter is a "darling" guy, and Derek is a "babe" guy. Cove just says your name, but we already know that.

-- If you live with Cove then you are contractually obligated to go camping on the beach at least once every summer. He doesn't actually make you sign a contract, but he would if he needed to.

-- One time you surprise him because you find a beach where you can watch baby sea turtles hatch and he loses his mind. Cries every time he thinks about it. Named a few, will ask you how you think they're doing for the rest of your life.

-- Hot beverages with Baxter! It doesn't matter if you like coffee, tea, hot chocolate, whatever, he's got a good selection and he'll make you something whenever you ask, and a lot of times even if you don't.

Baxter right when you walk in the door after texting him in the car that you'd had a rough day at work: Tea, darling?

-- Baxter also has nightmares sometimes, but it helps if you snuggle him tight. He gets sort of embarrassed by them, he doesn't want to be that sad broken boy for the rest of his life, so just pull him close and tell him to go back to sleep.

-- Derek will want to play video games -- also something we already know, but still true. Every time a new Mario Kart comes out (and no the Mario Kart 8 expansions do NOT count, Nintendo) you go to the midnight release and take the next day off work to play. You have to, it's tradition.

-- One day the GameCube is going to break and he'll try to play it off a little but he's going to be really sad about it. Hope you can find a good deal on ebay!

-- So I had this college professor who was talking to me once about directing a play, and he told me that a lot of directors make the mistake of using just kisses or hugs or sexual touches to show intimacy. He said that one time he saw a show with a scene with a husband and wife, and it was this intense scene, and the husband just slid his hand under his wife's shirt and put his hand on her stomach. Not higher or lower, there wasn't any pregnancy subtext, it was just a nice tummy touch. So now every time I like a character with a love interest I imagine that.

-- That means that Cove, Baxter and Derek all like to just rest their hand on your stomach. It's just nice and cozy there.

-- Cove is going to come home with a bouquet of poppies a lot. It's always going to be precious.

-- Baxter is going to tease you mercilessly but in the most loving way. I mention this a lot but it's because it is my truth. Did you trip coming out of the bedroom that morning? Get ready to hear about it for the rest of the day.

-- Derek is an early bird, but if he feels like he can't get out of bed without waking you up, then he's going to stay in bed as long as humanly possible.

Mr. Suarez: Son, you're late!

Derek: Yeah ... uh, traffic.

Cliff: Lol ok

-- If you're in college when you live with Cove then he is going to make sure you take your studies VERY SERIOUSLY. You ask him if he wants to watch something? Nuh uh, you've got a paper to write. He doesn't care if it's not due until the day after tomorrow, you need to work on it.

-- But if you want to binge watch anything, Baxter's your guy. Let him grab a blanket.

-- Baxter likes to give you a bath. Not in like a sexy way, he just likes to take care of you like that. He's got fancy soaps and he'll put on lotion and do your skincare after and everything.

-- You better hope you don't live near a kid, because if some child knocks on the door trying to sell something, Derek is going to spend irresponsibly.

You walking in the door to see boxes and boxes of that fundraiser chocolate: What is this?

Derek: *sheepishly* Nothing?

Cove, shoving a third candy bar in this mouth: Yeah, it's nothing.

[eclairris]

Drabbles from Re-Playing AOM

OKAY SO- woe Spoilers and speculations upon ye

I'm still reflecting on the card that's deliberately put into Alice's room underneath a picture frame of the Deross family. It's probably just cut and dry like "ohhh Alice is a sacrifice" but I can get more nitpicky with it

On the back it says "Welcome to Join the Hunting Game" which could be two things

Either A really poor translation on IDV's part, and is further saying the obvious that Alice is a sacrifice (Which would make sense given how we've pretty much gotten hunter versions of da capo excluding her, if you count Frederick being a hallucination influenced by Orpheus' exposition, and how Melly is on the near horizon).

Or it could quite literally be saying "Here pookie, stop running and succumb to the delulu" and putting hunter Alice into concretion But I think it's also probably just saying regardless that Alice is the direct sacrifice that Orpheus believes will keep the games going (clearly something went wrong) given how lambs are treated within religion and folklore.

I also did replay It and select every visit option I could for that sweet loredrop and I haven't seen anyone talk about this either.

The person literally saying that is young orph (orphan, If you will). The whole muse corridor points into details about the raid itself, which is odd because just a cutscene prior was Alice getting chased by hallucinations down that same corridor. It got me thinking about how IDV developers have considered giving Alice a hunter form.

So what do I know about this bird?? Uh the bare minimum actually but it can serve as some type of drop with how the story's going. He's not saying Alice is the Nightingale. He's saying she's better than it, which could resort to the potentiality of hunter Alice taking on the form of a "nightingale" if we go off the fact that most identity swaps with heavy lore (at least in da Capo's case) is based on either regression, repression, or insecurities.

Norton - Repression. He's not keeping up face when it comes to his identity swap. Literally chaos incarnate. Orpheus - Projection. Nightmare can quite literally be called Orpheus' Mary Sue oc. That's the post. Mary/Frederick technically isn't influenced more by Frederick himself but rather Alice's way of seeing it. Which fucks up a lot but let's not talk about it. I'd say it leans more towards Identification.

Melly could potentially have some correlation to the odd point Orph brought up

"After all, there's a price to pay for being unfaithful, isn't that right Mrs. Plinius."

Which is probably saying that Mr good ol plinius wasn't loyal and probably either had an affair or did something behind melly's back.

If the point of Alice being braver than the Nightingale is anything to go off of and whatnot then it could be safe to say her identity could be based off that if she ever gets one. It could play off of her bravery and need to look towards the future as opposed to Orpheus being stuck in the past. It could also explain why we haven't heard or seen much when it comes to Nightingale, because of two reasons

they're saving her for some big story update much like the rest of the da capo identity swaps.

Orpheus has been PROVEN to be an unreliable narrator. Surely wanting to dissect Orpheus under a microscope isn't delusional enough.

[moonbeamwritings]

the friendship bracelet bombshell

wc: 4.5k

enjoy the playlist while you read

no warnings! just some good ol’ idiots to lovers, mutual pining, and the bakusquad being good friends

It all started with a friendship bracelet. This takeout-fueled, video game-interrupting downward spiral has all been caused by weaved bits of string in Denki’s favorite colors. Every time he looks at it, stewing about its implications, he wants to hurl.

He’s had a crush on you for months now, friendship gradually morphing into something more until suddenly his recently played on Spotify is filled with friends to lovers playlists and every meme on his for you page is about being in love with your best friend. And Denki can’t help it, really he can’t. You’re so warm, so kind, that he felt drawn to you from the very beginning. Now he stares at the bracelet on his wrist, a flurry of unanswered questions and what-ifs swirling through his mind. He’s doomed.

“Sero,” Denki whines, head tipped back against the couch and body slumped into the cushions. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

As Denki’s (other) best friend, Sero has heard it all, has been with Denki through every phase of his crush on you. In the mushy stage, Denki couldn’t go two seconds without fixing you with this disgusting, starry-eyed, lovesick look (He still can’t, and Sero doesn’t hesitate to remind him of this fact), complimenting you any chance he got. The pining stage quickly followed. A non-stop thrill ride of yearning and late-night phone calls where Sero endured waxed poetic about how badly Denki wanted to date you or how you’d brushed hands on your walk to the café down the street from your apartment. The final, and most miserable, phase of them all is something Sero lovingly calls the insecurity phase. Any confidence that Sero thought Denki had has disappeared in the wake of the uncertainty and unresolved feelings that crushes often bring. The result has been catastrophic, with Denki second-guessing every smile and every text. Sero firmly believes that this damn friendship bracelet is the beginning of the end. A bomb is about to go off, and he’s sitting at the point of impact, a PlayStation controller in one hand and his phone in the other.

Denki’s in love with you, that much is nauseatingly clear, and if he knew even half the gossip that Mina has so graciously supplied over the last month, he’d know you feel the same. It’s amazing, Sero thinks as he steels his nerves to deal with more of Denki’s whining, how two people can be so utterly clueless.

“What am I supposed to do now? This is the last straw, the final nail in the coffin! I think I might just die.”

Sero stares longingly at the looping menu screen on the TV, desperately wishing they could go back to the game. How did he even end up here? “You know this doesn’t mean they don’t like you, right?”

Denki’s head snaps up from the back of the couch, betrayal setting firmly across his face. “It’s a friendship bracelet, Hanta. It’s in the name!” He emphasizes the word friendship with a flourish of the offending bracelet, waggling it in Sero’s direction.

Despite the annoyance bubbling beneath the surface, Sero knows he needs to approach this situation with the utmost delicacy, lest Denki start to spiral even further. “Denki,” he says calmly, though he can’t stop a sigh from escaping his lips. “Dude, relax. I’ve told you a million times that I think they like you back.”

Sero’s phone buzzes in his hand, and he spares a glance to check the notification.

< mina: these two are idiots 🙄 >

< sero: you’re telling me >

“Well, did they tell you that?”

The question pulls Sero away from his phone. “Huh?” Well, you told Mina and Mina told him, so…. Kind of? Sero can’t tell Denki that, though. “I mean no, but their crush on you is about as obvious as yours is on them.”

“If I mess this up by telling them when I don’t know for sure,” There’s a serious edge to Denki’s tone that makes the other man shudder, “then I can kiss our friendship goodbye.” A beat of silence, and then, “And I’m not willing to do that. I just- I’m just not.”

A train ride away, your night is going much the same way, lamenting over the grave mistake you call a friendship bracelet. The incident with the bracelet has loomed over every conversation Mina has had with you over the last week. She’s heard it all — the worries about punting Denki directly into the friend zone, the plan to give everyone a bracelet to make things less awkward (She shut that down almost as quickly as the words left your mouth). She has one of your hands in her own, trying and failing to paint your nails. You talk with your hands, especially when you’re stressed, and it’s making her job that much harder. 

“Mina, what if I just completely friendzoned him? I mean, it’s in the name.”

“Then tell him how you feel! Clear the air, ya know?”

You huff, almost offended. “Well, I can’t do that!”

When your hand comes to rest on the table, much like a tiger awaiting its prey, Mina pounces. She locks your hand in her own, nail polish brush poised in the other. She refuses to tell you the obvious, refuses to just spit out that the poor blonde is disgustingly, embarrassingly down bad for you; that’s for you to find out on your own, but this back and forth game is getting exhausting. What more coaxing could she and Sero possibly do? She wonders, briefly, if you and Denki are simply doomed to be clueless, lovesick morons for the rest of your days, pining after one another until one of you dies (or gets over it, whichever comes first). But, being the hopeless romantic she is, Mina can't resign herself to the fact that maybe it won’t work out after all. She’ll coax and prod until her throat runs dry if she has to. And, if the situation gets truly desperate, she’ll just tell you Denki’s in love with you. Plain and simple. She’d like for that to come from him, though, so for now, she’ll bite her tongue.

Mina swipes the color (a shade of yellow that looks suspiciously like a certain electrified hero’s hair) along your nail. “Why not?”

“I-, I don’t wanna fuck it up, ya know?” 

The pink-haired girl nods, listening intently.

“If I tell him, and it goes poorly, then he won’t want to be my friend anymore, and that’s, like, the worst possible outcome.”

Mina blinks at you like she’s in disbelief that someone could be so dumb. “You and Denki are friends, right? Like, good friends?”

You nod hesitantly. The two of you are good friends, best friends even, though the radio silence you’ve endured over the last few days thanks to that bracelet don’t exactly reflect that sentiment. Denki makes you feel heard, seen in ways you’re convinced you’ve never experienced before. He’s a shoulder to cry on, someone to confide in. You think about the late nights spent giggling at your phones in the darkness of your bedroom, about the photos throughout your camera roll of the two of you, smiling or pulling goofy poses or being close, emotionally and physically. Yes, you think as an ache settles in your joints. Good friends.

She stops what she’s doing to pin you beneath her signature judgmental gaze, one you’ve only seen directed at Kirishima for his taste in shoes or Denki for his impulsive decisions. The sight of it fixed on you for once sends a shiver down your spine. “So explain to me why something like this would ever make him not want to be your friend.”

“What if he thinks I’m weird? What if it makes things more awkward than they already are?”

A comment slips past her lips about Denki being the last person allowed to judge anyone else for being weird before her expression softens. “Baby, you know I love you, and I’m only saying this because I do, okay?” She waits for you to nod before adding, “But you’re dense if you think Denki would treat you any differently for that.”

Your friend watches you think over her words, like you’re examining and picking them apart in your brain. You sigh, hand going limp in her hold. “I know.” The apartment stills, silence only filled with the playlist Mina has on shuffle. You refuse to meet her gaze when you tell her, “I’m just... scared.”

Mina frowns. “It’s okay to be scared. Love is kinda scary, but I think you owe it to yourself, and Denki, to do something about it.” She rubs a thumb over your knuckles, and you feel lucky to have such supportive friends. “I hate seeing you upset.”

“Let’s just,” you deflate, focusing on the bottles of nail polish lined up in front of you, “forget about it for tonight, okay?”

She nods, and goes back to painting. When she’s done, and with your nails now dry enough that you can use your hands again, the two of you have a true, veg out sleepover night, watching videos and eating snacks to your hearts’ content. That night, you fall asleep with your head on Mina’s shoulder, some shitty comedy playing out on the TV in front of you.

< mina: we need to do something about this >

Sero’s response is immediate, a text with a photo attached of Denki morosely fiddling with the strings on his guitar.

< sero: agreed. >

“We could…” Mina taps her foot, chin resting in her hand as she thinks over a potential course of action. “lock them in a closet?”

“That’s too close to kidnapping for my taste.” Sero fires back, dunking a fry in some ketchup.

“Ooo,” Kirishima lights up, “we could set up a mistletoe!”

“Mmm, that’s good!”

“It’s not even December.” Sero adds, tone deadpan.

An annoyed groan brings the conversation to a grinding halt. “What does it matter anyway? Let the two idiots pine.”

“But Bakugou,” Mina complains petulantly, “they’re so in love it hurts.”

“That shit’s none of my business.”

“But they’re our friends, remember?”

Kirishima smirks, knowing just how to push the blond’s buttons to get him in on the action. “And if we help them get together, they won’t be annoying about the pining anymore.”

Bakugou scoffs. “Then they’ll just be an annoying couple.”

“Which is worse?”

A hush falls over the table as Bakugou considers his options. The two of you have been so goddamn annoying the past few months, stewing over your crushes and making it everyone else’s problem. But he knows if you get together, the pining will just turn to... mush, and then he’ll have to watch your honeymoon phase in full technicolor. At least, he thinks, the two of you would be happy then.

He throws his hands up, fork clattering across the table with the force of it, a scowl pulling his brows together. “Damn it. Fine, the pining is worse.”

“Okay,” Sero interjects, “so what’s the plan?”

The plan is a simple, and stupid, one. One only a group of desperate friends could come up with.

On Thursday night, the four of them light up the group chat with frantic texts about movie night and pizzas (and brownies, Kirishima adds excitedly) on Saturday. And then they wait. They wait for the two of you to agree, for Denki to offer up his apartment as the hangout spot — he’s the one with the best TV (and the comfiest couch), after all. They wait for the pieces to fall into place, for the two of you to back yourselves into hanging out with the promise of your entire friend group there as a buffer.

And then, as conspiring friends do, they each perfectly craft their excuses to back out.

< sero: oh no i totally forgot i have patrol on saturday >

That afternoon, another text comes in. 

< mina: you guyysss i told kyoka and ochako i’d see that new movie with them... i committed weeks ago 😓 >

Then on Saturday, another.

< kirishima: stuck at the agency doing paperwork 😩 >

And Bakugou, ever the wordsmith, puts the final nail in the coffin

< bakugou: I can’t make it. >

You deflate with each text as it comes in, dread seeping in and tainting the excitement that had been buzzing beneath your skin over the last few days. You text Mina, suspecting that this was her doing, that she’d pulled strings and got everyone in on the scheme to make a fool out of you. She assures you, half-heartedly, that she had nothing to do with it. It was all coincidence.

And on Saturday night as you stand in your kitchen, eyeing the freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies cooling on the counter top, you sigh.

< hey! i know everyone bailed, but do you still wanna hang? >

You so desperately want Denki to say no, so you stare at the chat until the three little dots signifying that he’s typing pop up — as if staring will force his refusal into existence. But Denki, poor, sweet, innocent Denki, can never say no to you.

< denki: i’m still down if you are! i’ve got pizza waiting on the counter :-) >

So with a sigh, you allow the cookies to cool before you plop them all in a container and make your way down to the train.

You’ve made the trek to Denki’s apartment so many times that the familiar path sends you into autopilot, allowing you to shut your brain off, if only for a moment. You walk down the street five blocks, take the train three stops, then head up a few blocks from the station and you’re there. Snapping back into reality only when your fist raises to rap against his door, you barely have time to breathe before you see him.

The moment the door opens you’re met with Denki — his hair tousled and eyes a little sleepy. It’s disarmingly cute, and you have to stop yourself from admitting as much. You notice, much to your amusement, that one pant leg sits higher than the other, exposing his mismatched socks. The sleeves of his sweatshirt hang over his fingers. God, you’re fucked.

Unbeknownst to you, Denki is thinking much the same thing. Seeing you, all cuddled up in your comfy clothes, a container of cookies in hand, unlocks something deep in the back of his brain. Something he’s been trying so hard to just ignore. Your cheeks are pink from the cold, hair a little messy from the breeze outside, and when you smile, Denki’s heart stutters in his chest. God, he’s so screwed.

It takes a second for him to find his footing, but when he does, he spits out, “C’mon in! The pizza’s getting cold.” As you toe off your shoes and shrug out of your jacket, he lingers by the door, weight shifting nervously. “It’s um- it’s nice to see you. I feel like we haven’t hung out just the two of us in forever!”

The comment disarms you, and you’re thankful your back is to him. Your heart hammers in your chest. You’ve been avoiding him, and he’s noticed. Sending that text was a mistake. Your voice is bright, airy, as you reply, “I know right!”

As you move into the kitchen, stealing a slice of pizza before collapsing on his couch, he adds, “I was honestly a little surprised you texted. I thought the whole thing was gonna be off.” He chuckles awkwardly when he sinks into the cushions beside you.

You shrug, a smile lifting your lips at the corners without thinking. “Well, I couldn’t miss an opportunity to see you.” You risk a glance in Denki’s direction to find he’s smiling too, his cheeks a pretty pink color. “And besides, who can say no to pizza?”

Around a mouthful of the food in question, he replies, “You know I can’t.”

Conversation flows easily, harmlessly, between you as you eat, and for a moment you trick yourself into thinking everything is normal, that you don’t have an annoyingly big crush on your best friend. That is, until he gingerly takes the plate from your grasp and throws it away for you. He flicks off the kitchen light and the living room falls into darkness.

“Hold on, I’ll-” he turns on the string lights that sit behind the couch. “How’s that?”

The incessant thumping of your heart travels into your ears and your face feels warm as he joins you on the couch again. You’re making it awkward, you know you are. You can feel it in the way your body stiffens when his fingers just barely brush against the outside of your thigh. You’ve been in this exact situation a million times before — on the couch in close proximity to Denki, the room bathed in the soft glow of the lights he’d so meticulously strung up — so why, now, does it all have to be so hard? So overwhelming? In a way, you wish things were different. You don’t want to tell Denki, not really, but the pressure of your unspoken feelings is starting to crush you.

“You okay?”

“Oh yeah!” You force a smile, “All good.”

Denki’s unimpressed. “You know I can tell when you’re lying, right?”

You sigh, defeated. “Yeah.”

“Sooo,” he prompts, bumping his knee into yours. “What’s on your mind?”

“Have you ever liked someone so much you feel like you can’t be normal about it? Like, at all?”

Yes. Fuck yes. About you, Denki thinks. “Yeah,” he responds casually, slinging an arm across the back of the couch. “I think I know what you mean.”

“There’s this guy…” Denki’s heart sinks, but he says nothing. “... and I feel like I really messed up, ya know?”

He hangs onto your every word, nodding along as if he’s hearing a sacred secret. In a way, to him, he is.

“Like, we’re really good friends, and I like him so much, but I just-” Your hand flops helplessly into your lap. “I don’t know what to do.”

Denki speaks before he can tell himself to zip it. “Any guy would be lucky to have you! I mean-” A hand comes up to nervously rub at the nape of his neck. His cheeks flush scarlet. “You’re just… you’re great. And he’d be an idiot if he couldn’t see that.” After a beat of silence and despite the ache in his chest, Denki smiles and forces out, “You should tell him!”

You fiddle with the friendship bracelet on your own wrist, and Denki realizes that the pattern matches his own. He feels like he’s running a marathon with the way his heart thunders against his ribcage, with how much adrenaline pumps through his veins.

“I kind of already did.”

You’re adorably sheepish, and Denki’s mind struggles to catch up. He searches your face for an answer, and when he doesn’t find one, you supply, “Denki, it’s you.”

“Oh. Oh?” His brows furrow in disbelief, and his head tilts to one side. He whispers, “Me?” A finger points at his own chest.

“You.” You tell him resolutely. “It’s been driving me crazy.”

With the sweet, sweet confirmation that Sero has been right all along (Denki does not want to hear him say I told you so), Denki splits into a grin. Firing your own words back at you, he replies, “I haven’t been normal about you in months.”

“Months?”

“The friendship bracelet did me in.” He admits. “I felt like I was making one of those detective boards with all the red strings. I’d liked you for months and then you tied the bracelet on me and all I could think was, ‘Damn, I really hope they didn’t just friend zone me.’”

You open your mouth, both to speak and to gape at him like a fish fighting for air, but he cuts you off.

“Not that being friend zoned is bad or anything. I love being your friend, like, a lot, but like-”

You facepalm. “Denki, I was so thoroughly convinced that you thought that I’d friend zoned you. You should’ve heard my rants to Mina. I thought making everyone a bracelet would’ve made it better.”

Denki shakes his head. “I think that would’ve actually killed me.”

You look at him, really look at him and despite the embarrassment of how long, how drawn out, all of this was, you can’t help but giggle. “We really are the group idiots, huh?”

He sighs, a chuckle of his own ringing through the air to match yours. “I think this proves it.”

Fiddling with the fabric of the cuff of your hoodie, Denki can’t seem to force out the one question that lingers on the tip of his tongue.

“What is it?” You ask affectionately, your hand closing over his. “You look so… pensive all of a sudden.”

“Can I kiss you?” He asks, testing the water. His tone is so unlike him, so quiet and unsure like he’s afraid, after everything, you’ll pull the rug from under him. Like you’ll deny him, even now. “Please?”

And despite the mounting nerves that settle in your lungs and the tingling feeling in the tips of your fingers, you nod. “Yeah.”

Denki’s hands are soft, tentative where they curl around your hip and settle on your jaw. Silence swirls in the air for a heartbeat, and then two, before he’s leaning in. You’re so shocked, so wrapped up in how much has changed in only a few minutes' time, that when his lips finally press to yours, it takes you a moment to react. It’s chaste, a featherlight touch of skin against skin, and when you manage to finally scramble enough brain cells together to kiss back, Denki’s head tilts, he presses closer. He smiles against your lips as the hands on your skin curl tighter, pulling you in. You’re chest to chest, your hands fisted into the plush material of his hoodie, when a moan, light and airy, unceremoniously leaves your mouth. In an instant, embarrassment floods each of your senses, and you’re left with your eyes wide and face feeling too hot. Your lungs heave as you fight the urge to hide your face in your hands.

“Oh my god.” Your heart is hammering as you look at him. “Don’t- I didn’t-” You can’t explain the sound away; you know you can’t. A sound like that can never truly be unheard. God, you want to die. “Pretend you didn’t hear that. Oh my god.”

Denki’s cheeks are pink as his gaze flickers from your eyes to your lips. “I can’t. I won’t. It’s in my brain forever.”

“Well, take it out!”

“I can’t!” He smirks, one hand mindlessly playing with the hair at the nape of your neck, as if to soothe your bruised ego. It’s not working. “Not when I’ve been practically dying to hear a sound like that from you for, like, ever now.”

Your face burns even more at the admission and you groan, shoving your face into the crook of his neck. “Just, please, stop talking. For the sake of my mental health.”

“I didn’t even really do anything,” Denki muses, facial expression dipping into something more pensive as he replays the moment in his brain. Yup, definitely never letting that sound go.

“Denki,” you plead, “cut it out.”

A hand runs down the expanse of your back and up again. Up and down. Up and down. “Fine, fine. I’ll stop.”

You can feel his lips curl against the crown of your head. You know you won’t live this down for a long time, if ever. Your eyes clench shut as you inwardly cringe at the thought. Great. A kiss to your hair distracts you enough to pull your head from his neck, forcing you to look at him fully.

Denki’s grin is boyish, like the cat that got the cream, as he examines you carefully, eyes flickering to each of your features before finally, resolutely, he kisses the tip of your nose. “Is it too early to tell you I love you? Too cheesy?”

You hum, eyes closing as his palm rests against the apple of your cheek. “We’ve been saying we love each other for years.” It’s not a lie, but it’s not the full truth either. Those I love you’s had been laden with unspoken confessions and platonic affection as of late, morphing their meanings into something different, something with more weight.

“Fine,” he relents, kissing your other cheek. “Then can I tell you I’m in love with you? Is that okay?”

You think for a moment. You think about the tender way he holds you, the way he’s always held you. You reflect on the times he’d dried your tears or led you home to safety after a night of drinking, his hand in yours. You think about the sweet, delicate way he says your name, how he looks at you as if you’re the only person in any room.

You think about Denki, everything that he is and everything he will be, and you decide, voice resolute and eyes blinking open to take in the full vision of his face. “Yes,” Your hand comes to rest over his and you squeeze his fingers, “but only if I can say it, too.”

Denki attacks your face in kisses with big, exaggerated smacking sounds, leaving wet kiss marks all over the skin of your forehead, across each of your cheeks. Your giggles fill the room, and they only seem to spur him on, smooching you even more fervently. He guides you back onto the cushions of the couch and when he pulls away, your ribs ache from how much you’ve been laughing. Your cheeks hurt from your splitting grin.

He presses one final kiss to that grin, one of his own tugging at the corners of his lips. He’s barely moved an inch when, for the first time, he mumbles, “I’m in love with you.”

You don’t hesitate to say it back.

And as you finally tuck into the couch, cuddled close together as a couple this time, Denki’s arm curls around your shoulders. When you reach up to hold his hand, you stop to inspect the friendship bracelet that started this whole mess. You trace the pad of your finger over its tiny ridges before you lace your fingers together.

“Should we tell the others?” Denki asks as the movie’s title pops on screen.

“Nah,” you tell him, squishing your cheek into his shoulder. “We can tell ‘em in the morning.”

The next morning, when you venture to the breakfast place down the street, you send a selfie in the group chat. Denki is crowding your space, pressing a wet kiss to your cheek. You’re giggling. It’s clear the air between you has changed. Something has shifted.

< denki: i beat the friend zone allegations once and for all!!!!! >:) >

And with a chorus of finally’s sounding off in the chat, Denki kisses you again, ready to devour some pancakes with his best friend.

[bringthekaos]

more and more as of recent I’ve been thinking about what direction Riot’s design team are going to take Viktor. Bridging the rift had some early stage design stuff teased, but the one coloured image looks very similar to his game design - a design that I don’t think it’s controversial to say sucks. Like there is some amazing fanart of the Machine Herald out there but they all take some liberty with it. It’s going to be a tough job for the design team, coming up with something that has void elements, potential hextech elements, fixing all the prev design problems while still having something that’s identifiable as the machine herald. I am in high hopes however. I was wondering if you had any options on the matter.

Oh you’re absolutely right, for a character that’s supposed to be a cyborg/poster boy for cyborgs, he’s pretty… plain. Kinda just looks like a suit of armor. The only thing that really sets him apart from a regular armored character is that visibly mechanical left arm (and the Hexclaw obviously, but even that and the shoulder pauldron sorta look like they’re strapped on via the bandolier across his chest.)

And as for the solution to this? I think it’s to have less armor, and have the metal be a more obvious part of him. Like, (in League) he’s a vocal proponent of function over form. He doesn’t really care for how something looks so long as it performs its function to perfection. So I think more exposed steampunk-looking bits on his chest, more moving parts. Like Sevika’s arm… gotDAMN that shit is cool, with the way her hand just Swiss Army Knifed into a freaking plasma sword?!?! Shit like that. Also, it’s highly likely that he is going to need Shimmer at some level to upkeep things, an injector tank like the one on her shoulder wouldn’t hurt (though that probably should be armored, cuz we saw via Caitlyn’s excellent shot what happens when it’s exposed).

His Hexcore-augmented parts are obviously a new addition, cuz his right hand in League (according to this splash art) was still flesh and bone.

So that’s a whole world of possibility. It could have some kind of aura around it, hell… maybe he might eventually learn to do magic with them (but like… fucked up Void magic which… big ol’ yikes). Or, there’s the other possibility, wherein he dislikes the influence it had over him (when the Hexcore used his augmented parts to hurt him after he tried to destroy it), and he might amputate them, leaving him with no flesh and bone limbs. Which could actually be another way to update his character design.

And I think a massive part of what is going to make him successful will be sound engineering—the whirs, the clicks, the ambient hum of working machinery. Also his footsteps. Dude needs to sound like an earthquake coming at you. And I think they already gave us a taste, with how that Hexcore-augmented foot sounded as it hit the ground. Overall, I trust the team. They turned the original overly-sexualized and honestly awful designs of Vi and Cait and turned it into something amazing. (I’m not talking about the Enforcer uniform, that’s still way too prissy for an officer, but the way they did it made it more a statement about Piltover and their focus on aesthetics than a comment about Caitlyn). So if they put the same kind of dedication into redesigning the Machine Herald, then I think he is going to be BADASS.

[the-dumpster-fire-of-life]

looking at #5 on your list very affectionately right now-- if you're up for it ofc!! <3

(Hi! I just finished it and am always up for it! Here ya go, enjoy! Also I think this came to mind when I saw someone post something similar to this so if yk who it was tell me so I can give credits!)

TOP OF THE TREE

It was a calm day at the firelight hideout, no missions for the day and it was cool. The breeze came in from the top of the tree as little kids ran around as the adults paid no mind, some playing with the kids.

Ekko was at the bottom of the tree, playing a game of tag to occupy the kids with Scar. 

He had promised them before he left for the latest mission and Scar decided to join in.

Ekko laughed a bit, avoiding a kid, Jamie, who was trying to tag him. He got away, Jamie laughing before going after his sister, Lena.

Ekko stood at some crates, the kids running wild as he watched with amusement as they all tackled Scar. 

The man played along, falling on the ground and on top of some kids as they all giggled.

Ekko shook his head, looking away and before he knew it his eyes wandered to the top of the tree. When he looked up he saw someone there, looking over the railing with their arms crossed.

Ekko had good eyesight, so he could see the slight way their face scrunched as they looked down the tree. He could see the breeze slightly blowing their hair, making them look amazing from where he was standing.

Ekko was never one for all that romance shit, but he couldn't deny his breath hitched a bit and his heart skipped a few beats when they made eye contact with him.

It was you, a newcomer to the community. You had been taken in a while back, Scar found you with your brother and offered you both to come back to the hideout.

He had seen you around but never had a conversation with you, he didn't know your name either. 

But he couldn't deny you were really pretty, never having seen someone with your beauty before.

You smiled at Ekko, his eyes widening as he looked around behind him. 

You couldn't be looking at him, could you? The beautiful being at the top of the tree was looking at plain ol' him?

When he saw nobody was around him he pointed to himself, tilting your head a bit as you laughed at his confused face. You nodded your head, Ekko returning the smile.

You knew who Ekko was, the Boy Savior was spoken highly of around the firelights. 

You had to thank him a lot, even if you never really had a direct conversation with him.

You both stared at each other for a minute before Ekko yelped, your eyes widening as you covered your mouth as a laugh fell out.

The kids had surprised Ekko, jumping on his back and startling him as he steadied himself.

"Stop staring at them and come and play!" Jamie whined, Ekko rolling his eyes amusedly at the kid as he looked back up at you. 

He shrugged his shoulders, a way to say sorry with a small guilty look on his face.

You shook your head, nodding over to the other kids as a means to say it was okay. 

You then turned around, hearing your brother calling your name and walking away from the railing.

Ekko watches you go, smiling and hoping he would see you around soon before letting Jamie lead him back into the game.

                                  …

Ekko walked to the door of the hideout, getting his hoverboard off his back as he walked over. There was a mission today, a simple one. Just taking out some shimmer shipments, in and out.

As he arrived at the front of the door he was about to walk up to Scar before he paused. He saw you. 

Speaking to Scar as you nodded your head, a hoverboard in your hand and a mask on your holster.

You were coming on the mission today? Hey, Ekko wasn't complaining but it was just a bit of a surprise.

Scar nodded at you, walking away as the conversation ended as he joined Ekko. "What's their name? This their first mission?" He asked, looking at Scar as the man nodded.

"That's Y/n. Thought we would need more help today, they volunteered." He explained, Ekko nodded his head as Scar waved at him over his shoulder, joining his girlfriend to say bye to her and their daughter.

Ekko looked at you, you were messing with your mask as he took a deep breath. Hey, if now wasn't the time to talk to you, he didn't know when.

He walked over to you. "Hey, you're Y/n, right?" He asked, you startled slightly, jumping a bit before turning around. "Oh, yeah." You smiled, nodding your head.

"And you're Ekko, right?" You retorted, Ekko smiling as he nodded his head for confirmation. "Sorry about the kids, they get excited sometimes." He apologized, his hand rubbing the back of his neck.

"It's okay," you waved off. "They're quite cute. Plus, it looked like fun." You shrugged, Ekko smiling at your understanding.

"Well-" he started, cut off as you both looked at Scar. "Firelights! Head out!" He yelled, getting on his hoverboard and the rest of the group following him.

Ekko sighed at the interruption, his shoulder's slumping before his eyes returned to you at your small laugh. 

"Well, see ya out there, Ekko." You patted his cheek with a small wink. Ekko looked at you surprised, he never knew his name could sound so cool until he heard you say it.

You then walked away, putting your mask on and throwing down your hoverboard and following the rest of the group.

He watched you go in a small trance, snapping out of it before smiling. He then followed after you.

With you around now, his life was bound to get more interesting.

[bcacstuff]

I think the key issue within the fandom is in the beginning it was overwhelmingly an obsession fest over Sam. That obsession became blind worship and defense primarily because of his looks and the halo effect. Does Tobias inspire that kind of wide spread devotion? Do Cree or Duncan? It wasn’t until he made too many messes, the bitter infighting became too exhausting, and people either left or what we see more now, people have taken off their rose colored glasses, that the tide started to shift. The swing in the opposite direction against him I also think is in part a natural reaction to the absurd salivating and competition by his mommies, the fact that he does make mistakes and doesn’t own up to them, and is always given a pass (see halo effect). Yang to yin.

This fandom at itself could be subject for a PHD and a doctorate to be honest 😉. You made some good observations and touched some aspects of it. I saw this obsessive blind worship and defense right from when I started to explore some accounts beginning 2020. A fan that made a gesture towards his butt while they were playing a game during Nola, was accused without any mercy and bullied straight off of Twitter. Have to mention how S stepped in later on and defended her saying nothing happened and it was all in jest. But the harm was already done and my decision to never interfere on Twitter about S or OL or anything related quickly made. (and bet I'm not the only one that was turned off by that fan behaviour)

Yes Hawaiigate was my next encounter and I know there were some more messes before that, and a fair number of people took off their rose colored glasses. But that wasn't the only reason for the infighting I think. The many fractions the fandom split into are as well cause for the infighting. Each one defending and obsessively trying to convince other opinions being wrong, leading to bullying and harassment.

Yang to Yin is a good metaphor. I just wish sometimes that people would be able to balance their view on things more. Criticism isn't hate, and why is it so bad to have some criticism? Why judge people that express their opinion and tell them what to do. Is it forbidden to say something that isn't all worshipping, is it forbidden to follow when you do not worship? Do you need approval, or have to take an exam before you can follow or write about him? And why see it all as negative? That's what keeps baffling me.

[arcplaysgames]

Yosuke, audibly tearing up: HAHA i bet chie is crying right now lmao ANYWAY I GOTTA GO IRON THE DOG, BYE

I want Chie and Yosuke to accidentally go see a sad movie together and bawl their eyes out and then make a pact to never speak of the incident again. Or, wait, Yosuke would want a pact, Chie would be like "dude have you MET me i cry at the drop of a hat! everyone has seen me cry! i'm not a baby about it like you!" and then they fight about it but Chie agrees not to tell everyone Yosuke cried.

YUKIKO BEST GIRL. man i remember back at the start of this game when i didn't dig her vibe and now i just am happy every time she shows up bc its sure to be good

anyway, everyone celebrates new years together, and I have a full body flashback to another Reverie Vantas, standing at Naganaki Shrine in Iwatodai and the beautiful music that came with the turn of the year as the end of the world was nigh.

I sure fucking hope the end of the world is not fucking nigh AGAIN.

also everyone look at naoto's winter outfit. my god the transmasc swag is off the fucking charts. look at them. that's a BOLO TIE. their pants are plaid print. impeccable. I'm applauding.

Nanako and Reverie make a Teddieman. It's adorable.

Then the game is like "hey go say happy new year to all your slinks" and i thought I'd pop in on Margaret and Marie

(also, Persona, you are a COWARD, let me have a link with Igor. COWARDS)

Marie is gone?????? The fuck.

This sounds like it's gonna kick off the bonus dungeon so good for me hitting the flag? but also what, she's GONE?

My favorite duo arrives because Yosuke has plans for a skiing trip, but also I just am thrilled to be a bystander in the Yosuke And His Annoying Younger Brother He Found In A TV Dimension show. Yosuke literally feels years older when Teddie is around because he's constantly sparking off him in that particular sibling way. It's genuinely heartwarming.

Yosuke: teddie is such a pain in the ass

Teddie: I'll stay with sensei for a few weeks

Yosuke: WHAT WAIT NO 8C

It'll be okay, Yosuke, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Maybe your parents will draw up official adoption papers. Teddrick "Teddie" Hanamura. That sounds awful but we're gonna roll with it!

also thank god teddie is here bc Dojima and Nanako are out of town for a bit so Teddie is the one there when Reverie fucking collapses. WHICH HAPPENED IN P3P TOO ODDLY ENOUGH. Persona be like "oh, ur near the end of the game? inexplicable illness time!"

Weird.

Reverie dreams of Marie standing in front of the bonus dungeon, I assume. I ACTUALLY THINK YOU'RE PRETTY NEAT MARIE SO I WILL SEE YOU LATER! WAAAAAAAIT FOR ME, I'M COMIN' etc etc.

good ol teddie

Margaret calls to inform us that she's on google maps looking for the bonus dungeon and will get back to us as soon as she has directions. the Velvet Room has terrible data reception.

WAIT NO THIS IS PRE-GOOGLE MAPS. she's gotta use MapQuest to plot a route and then find a printer to make a copy of it. That shit takes time.

JUNPEI THIS IS AN EMERGENCY, HOW DOES MY HAIR LOOK wait wrong lightning bruiser i have a terrible crush on. dammit.

[dull-c]

ck fic recs (lawrusso edition)

ok so! i have been promising my irl pal (and other favourite italian) @lionlikenick a fic rec list for uh, a really long time, and then getting easily distracted as I am wont to do. but right now it’s sunday night and I am putting off writing my own fanfic, so I’m DOING IT NOW things to note: *these are all daniel/johnny (or daniel/johnny/amanda) - i’ll probably do a separate one for my other ck ships and gen ck fic at some stage, but this post is gonna be long and unwieldy and incoherent enough as it is, best save it for later.

*my preference is the old men, so this rec list leans very heavily in that direction, but there are some tkk era recs in here too

*this is not at all an exhaustive list. I have read a fair chunk of fic in the last few months, but still barely scraped the surface of what’s on ao3, so if you look at this list and think ‘oh well X fic is a GLARING OMISSION’ its less likely that I thought it wasn't good enough and more likely I haven’t read it yet (so please rec me any glaring omissions in the notes. or just rec me your favs either way!)

*I have generally left off WIPs for obvious reasons, except for one rec, simply because i dig it and because even if it was never updated again I feel it would still be a satisfying read

ok, on with the actual recs! (in no particular order)

bruises fade to yellow by objectlesson ( @alienfuckeronmain )

summary: daniel’s getting impatient with johnny

this hurt my feelings so good!! OL has a way of writing fic that feels very real - very true to the characters even when it’s a little hard to read. this one made me literally a bit breathless from feelings, one of which was, honestly, slight fear for everyone’s wellbeing.

other favs from this author: eclairs (utterly, utterly filthy - yeah don't pretend you’re not into that - but somehow also deeply romantic? it’s more likely than you think!)

little extra fighter’s chance by indigostohelit

summary: daniel starts writing letters while he’s recovering from his leg injury

this is such a delightfully soft fic. simple concept, incredibly good execution. that last paragraph punched me in the heart but not in a bad way. in the way that i like to be punched in the heart

other favs from this author: with your car, with your best shot and the name of the game series. (both of these are dark - drastically tonally different to the above, though no less beautifully written or less of a heart punch, so yeah, heed the warnings aight?)

mexico city by @deputychairman

summary: johnny & daniel follow miguel & sam to mexico city 

this is the aforementioned WIP that I was unwilling to leave out because look, I am simply obsessed with this fic. DC is a master of tension and slow burn and her characterisation is bang on and I just -- ok there’s really no dignified way to say this but I had a full emotional meltdown reading some of the later chapters. like literally had to read and re-read the same sentences over and over because I was experiencing Every Emotion known to me, and possibly some previously undiscovered ones too. read it! (update: this fic is now complete!!)

other favs from this author: the high school reunion, class of 85 series (inhaled this. adored it. i wish the photo of them at the reunion was a real tangible thing that I could look at ;_;)

gravestone flowers by menocchio ( @nomercyonlytears )

summary: an alternate universe take that sticks close to the cobra kai canon but where J & D are messy exes

feels almost redundant to rec menocchio, as who among us is not aware of them and has not devoured their novel-length delicious fic en masse?? but still! just because someone is popular doesn't mean we should be complacent re: kudos, right? so! this was the first fic i read of theirs and oof i was so very invested in the silly, pining old men. it made me laugh and ache and cry a little bit and all the things that good fiction does. I’ve read it all the way through twice and still think about it sometimes when I hear a journey song

other favs from this author: signal studies (emotionally compromising - that ending jesus fucking christopher) and valley drop (short, sexy and funny)

you may have all you want baby [but I got something you need] by potrix ( @potrix-the-queerschlaeger )

summary: for some reason everyone keeps thinking daniel and johnny are together ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I dig this fic for the same reason I love the sharing food scene displayed reverently in my profile pic, because I am a sucker for the tough (lucille bluth wink dot gif) old karate men in soft married couple mode. also features one of my favourite things in ck fic, louie being subjected to daniel & johnny’s romantic machinations against his will.

wouldn’t it be nice by @trinityofone

summary: johnny and bobby go searching for daniel after he doesn't show at school

I love time travel stories, and this is a real neat take! I also love the way it’s initially from bobby’s pov, so you’re just as confused as he is about what exactly happened, and it being revealed is sort of it’s own delicious sweet, slow burn.

other favs from this author: the rules of the game (I firmly believe this is exactly the kind of dumb boy shit johnny and daniel would pull if they and amanda were a throuple)

pro (con) forma by @thereminwriting 

summary: johnny asks daniel to marry him

fake marriage trope my beloved!!! honestly, I was just ecstatic reading this, from start to finish. like all of theremin’s stories it’s so charming, so true to the characters, not flowery-- but with much heart. I just read it again right now and I will read it again very soon.

other favs from this author: come prima (i’m a sucker for them being still-in-love exes - refer to menocchio rec above - and this one was so tenderly done.)

negative analog by @ezlebe

summary: johnny and daniel find out something we all been knew

I love a good soulmate au! and this one is a beautifully crafted one. no spoilers, but there was something that daniel said in a later part of this fic that just broke me in half. so if you haven't read it I recommend you go do that and get broken in half too.

other favs from this author: super like (hot! sexy! made me ~actually blush~. features bottom!jlawz which I have a bit of a soft spot for.) 

adore you by comedia ( @comediakaidanovsky )

summary: johnny and daniel go on a date

this is a short, established relationship fic that is just sweet and charming and soft and funny, and feels just like a comforting cup of hot chocolate on a cold day <3

last night i had a dream by @shortcrust

summary: johnny and daniel over the years

i’m a simple lady with simple needs and my needs are the canon-divergent alternate universe in this fic. johnny and daniel having a life of love and family and joy. this one gets rec’d all the time and for good reason. just go read this lovely fic, and let it wrap you up in a warm, gentle hug.

quitters by goldstargrl

summary: johnny finally goes to therapy

there is a real dark incident at the core of this fic that i’m not sure ‘mental health issues’ is enough of a warning for, so tread carefully if you’re going in. that acknowledged, I found it really compelling, well written and I really liked that it went to emotional character depths that we’ll never see in canon.

other favs from this author: what you got (lawrusso romance AND a robby fix-it? you love to see it)

feather in the quiver by rumcherry

summary: daniel texts a stranger by mistake... or is it a stranger??

okay so, you have to suspend a little bit of disbelief regarding them not realising it’s each other after approx five seconds, but IF you can do that you should because this fic is a really sweet and endearing read and I was solidly entertained.

heartlines by @storyshark2005​

summary: something is happening with daniel and johnny

this is another soulmates au, with a very different tone and interpretation than the above one I rec’d, but I honestly couldn’t tell you which one I liked more. the writing in this one is moving and so evocative and the image from the last paragraph lives in my head rent free

[frobislive]

so you don’t have to: mermaid’s song

hey friends! today’s review will be on the movie mermaid’s song, also known as charlotte’s song, directed by nicholas humphries. it is a loose retelling of hans christian andersen’s the little mermaid.

i did not know this until the opening credits of the movie. let me give you the description of this movie that i saw when i first watched it on tubi [where it is still available at the time of writing this]:

A girl in the 1930s has a family business a gangster wants to illegally help, but he doesn’t know she’s a mermaid who controls minds with her voice.

to call this description misleading is... an understatement. but before we get into that, let me clarify a few things: i have watched this movie before, and this will be like my 4th time watching it as i write this. most reviews i have seen of this movie do NOT like it one bit, and i can see why. but for me it has a certain je ne say quaough. i will be giving a rather lengthy summary of the movie talking about a lot of aspects i really enjoy and a lot i think they could do SO MUCH BETTER, so naturally, this review will be LONG and have a lot of SPOILERS! this is your only warning [for this review]! but i hope you guys won’t mind because the reason i’m reviewing this movie in particular first is to introduce my subgenre of reviews: SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO, where i watch the random movies i find going through a hot actor’s filmography—you guessed it—so you don’t have to! all will be formatted like this: less of a professional review and more me telling you what happens in the movie and getting silly with it.

so levi, you might ask, who is the hot actor you subjected yourself to this identity crisis of a movie for?

well, let me show you the poster:

notice anyone familiar? someone from... game of thrones, perhaps?

that’s right folks, i watched this movie for mr ramsay bolton himself, iwan rheon. so let’s get into it, shall we?

the movie takes place, as stated before, in the 1930s. this wouldn’t be so strange if not for the fact that it is set in oklahoma. do you know what absolutely killed middle america in the 1930s? i’ll give you a hint: exactly what’s killing the southwest right now, only about a hundred times worse.

this is a mermaid movie in which the only water exists in a bathtub or wash basin.

our main character is charlotte, a thirteen[?] year old girl who is the youngest of six girls. i do not remember any of the sisters’ names despite seeing this movie several times, so it might get a little confusing but we’ll be okay. the movie begins with a flashback charlotte, about six years old, catching fireflies. she comes inside and we are introduced to her sisters and the girls’ mother, singing for a crowd in their bar that is also their house. her older daughters—all except charlotte—are background dancers. the patrons look pleased and their father [whose name is george] watches lovingly from the bar. as charlotte walks away from the stage, she is stopped by a man [iwan rheon] who, seemingly telepathically, tells her be careful. she looks confused, so he kneels down and says, out loud, “i said, be careful.” by the way, when he kneels down to her level, and when he gets back up, his movement is sped up. it is not clear why they do this and i believe it is the only time it happens. the mother notices him and looks concerned but does not stop the show. this opening bit is cut with shots of a classic big ol’ fairy tale book complete with many mermaid illustrations, which are fucking awesome, and narration of one such fairy tale. 

i want to take a moment to point out that the sound editing in this movie is atrocious. it is not balanced at all. at many points the music is almost too loud to hear the dialogue/singing. i watch movies with subtitles, so this does not bother me, but it seems to be a big issue for many people who have reviewed this movie. this also does not stop me from getting the songs stuck in my head for weeks after every time i watch this.

now we are introduced to charlotte’s “grandmother”, the sea witch of this retelling. we quickly learn that she is not her real grandmother and no one likes her except charlotte. she tells charlotte what is essentially the story of the little mermaid and the movie makes it obvious that this story is about her mother. the sea witch tells charlotte that “unless [the mermaid] returns to the sea, another must be found to take her place, for the balance between worlds must be preserved at all costs.” by “another” the witch means charlotte, as she immediately tries to steal her away, but the mother catches her and locks her in george’s office, after which she goes to argue with him, because the prophecy must be fulfilled and it’s her or charlotte. here is where the setting of oklahoma comes into play, as it’s revealed that they have moved as far away from water as they could in the hopes that the witch wouldn’t find them. george suggests they “pay the debt” and give up charlotte, and she responds by killing herself, with charlotte finding her body. yes. seriously. take that, sea witch, i guess?

cut to title sequence, where the title card looks an awful lot like they used a rip-off pirates of the carribean font.

now we move to present day. the dust bowl is in full effect, and the family’s business has been affected heavily by this and by the death of their mother. the sea witch still lives with them and has been subjugated to maid status. we also find out that this bar/cabaret is also a gas station now? or maybe it always was. either way, charlotte feels bad for a family that cannot pay for gas and ends up running out on their property, so she fills up a canister behind george’s back. on her way to give them the gas canister she runs into a man named tim, an old friend of the family. he offers to deliver the gas can for her and says he’ll be back in a couple days to talk to george. tim is young and cute and it is very obvious charlotte has a schoolgirl crush on him. tim obviously loves her too, but in a very familial sense.

we see the family growing stressed because of money troubles and customers becoming increasingly dissatisfied with their entertainment [can’t fuck the girls] and drinks [can’t afford real liquor to serve]. the sea witch tells charlotte she will soon have to make the choice that her mother did, and it becomes increasingly obvious that charlotte is regarded as the black sheep and the baby of the family. also, george is not a good father, and soon he’ll get worse.

so far, this movie is strange at best and a disappointment at worst. the acting is hit or miss, the sound design isn’t balanced, and the story is confusing. but now, a character returns to the fray: randall. oh randall. iwan rheon does such a wonderful job with randall. he’s the perfect combination of cheesy b-movie fruity villain and seriously scary. iwan serves cunt in this role and if you disagree i cannot help you.

anyway, who is randall? well, remember the ‘gangster’ the poor description of this movie mentioned? yeah, that’s him. he offers george a steady supply of canadian whiskey and an untold amount of money as an investment, under the condition that he has the final say in how the business is run until the loan is paid off, after which george resumes control and randall gets a cut of profits. he also tells george that he must begin prostituting his daughters, saying he needs to “utilize all the assets at [his] disposal.” george agrees, for all but charlotte [i think the next oldest is like. 16 but who is paying attention to age of consent laws in 1930s oklahoma. did they even have any back then?]. the dance show also involves stripping now. charlotte initially does not know that her sisters are being prostituted, but finds out after she sneaks into her sister’s room to put on makeup and has to hide in the closet when she comes in with a man.

cut to: it has been a couple days. what does that mean? tim is back!! when he comes in, george is... chopping chairs apart with an axe, for some reason? anyway, tim talks with george about the struggles of the world and we learn he has come back from california. george offers him a job working for him and tells him about randall. tim warns george to stay away from him, as he has worked for randall in the past and he is not a man to be trifled with. george is angry that tim is telling him his new boss sucks so he kicks him out.

now, when randall made this deal, he left a man, harold, behind to make sure things are running to his liking. harold takes a... problematic liking to charlotte and suggests that george does start prostituting her, specifically, to him. george agrees but it is obvious that he feels he needs to do it because they are so broke, as immediately after harold leaves the room he vomits. would like to see that same revulsion for what you’re doing to the rest of your daughters though, sir.

charlotte is prepared by her oldest sister for her, um, “meeting” with harold and it is clear she does not know what’s about to happen. as it turns out, neither do we. once she realizes what harold is there for, she has a panic attack which triggers HER FIRST MERMAID TRANSFORMATION!!! instead of harold getting to ruin a little girl’s life, he gets a face full of mermaid claws and runs away screaming. the sea witch appears again as charlotte passes out and she instructs charlotte’s sisters to put her in the bathtub and fill it with water.

here i want to point out that another thing i really like about this movie is the cinematography. it feels a bit lynchian, and i cannot tell if they were going for that vibe on purpose or if it’s just the result of some weird ass editing [affectionate]. either way, something about this movie feels distinctly twin peaks-ish.

charlotte wakes up in the bathtub and notices that a small patch on her leg still has scales. she picks one off. her sister brings her some water and charlotte begins singing, and it is here she realizes that her singing gives people visions of whatever they want most, a trait she inherited from her mother. her sister has a vision of her [secret] boyfriend proposing to her. it’s not 100% clear whether or not charlotte can actually see these visions she’s causing but i think she can. this is important later. george brings tim back to the house to inform him about this catastrophic clusterfuck and that charlotte is starting to get mermaid-y [apparently tim knew that the mother was a mermaid as well]. tim says he’ll talk to randall for george and try to smooth things over. charlotte speaks to tim before he leaves, and he tells her some things about her mother before she ends up kissing him. he tells her they can’t do that, obviously, to which her response is, “you won’t have to pay like the other men,” after which tim immediately gets up and physically fights george, who claims they were going to kill him if he didn’t start prostituting charlotte as well [lie]. tim still agrees to speak to randall.

we go through more family troubles, all of the daughters rightfully hating their father for the situation he’s putting them in. charlotte learns more about mermaid stuff and is able to sneak into the sea witch’s room with the ring of keys that harold dropped when she attacked him. did i mention that george had “forbidden” the sea witch from seeing charlotte, and what he means by “forbidding” is tying her to a chair and locking her in her room? because that’s what he does. charlotte releases her and the sea witch convinces her to let her take her to the water, to be home. unfortunately george catches them and just. kills the sea witch with a fire poker? if she could be killed by mortal means why didn’t they do it like 10 years ago lol. charlotte is obviously upset about this and we get some real cool shots that i’m pretty sure are supposed to symbolize the nightmares she has afterwards. one of her sisters comes to comfort her and again she sings, and again she finds that her sister has a vision, this time of their mother.

now, remember the sister with the secret boyfriend? well, apparently, she has a plan to run away with him. she agrees to take charlotte with them and sends her to steal the money that george has stashed away in his office while he is asleep. in his office. naturally charlotte fucks it up and george wakes up and chases them outside the house, where he tries to shoot the sister’s boyfriend. unfortunately, he misses and instead shoots... the sister, killing her instantly. this is never talked about again and has no effect on the story other than to make charlotte more upset with her father.

but no matter: randall is back! he informs george that harold is, in fact, alive and “won’t stop raving about the monsters.” george claims that he tried to look for him [lie] but couldn’t find anything, and randall thanks him by threatening to cut off his finger! how does george respond? by begging them to cut off his oldest daughter’s finger instead of his! fortunately, no one actually has any fingers removed, as before they can start on the oldest daughter, charlotte begins to sing to them, stopping the men as well as her sister in their tracks, daydreaming as they stare into the distance. randall seems rather unaffected by this, staring down charlotte directly. when she finishes, he tells her, “neat trick,” quite bitterly, which is a line i absolutely love. charlotte convinces randall to let them go back to the regular song and dance show with no more prostitution, i suppose because he’s becoming intrigued with this weird little girl with bigger balls than her fucking father.

charlotte begins singing in the shows, which brings a life back to their business that they have not seen since their mother died. however, george has not stopped the prostitution like he promised, but does not tell charlotte or randall, and pockets the cash himself. shortly after this change, george successfully pays off randall’s loan and does not tell his family. tim comes to visit again after charlotte begins doing the show, and this time he brings his fiancée. charlotte clearly does not appreciate this, and it only gets worse when tim tells her that they are moving away, but before he leaves she tells him that she has something to show him, which means that she sings for him and he has a vision of himself kissing her mother. now, i forgot to mention that at some point in this movie, we learn that if a mermaid and a human conceive a child, that child will only be a mermaid if it is born out of true love. so, DING! now we know why charlotte got the mermaid gene and not ANY of her FIVE other sisters: she’s tim’s kid, not george’s! aaand now it makes it even weirder that she kissed him.

charlotte is now beginning to recognize that people aren’t actually coming to see her for her voice, but rather the visions she gives them, and she quickly becomes disillusioned with her celebrity. she decides to leave, but on the night she tries to sneak out, randall is in her house for reasons we do not fully understand for the time being. he speaks to her telepathically again and we also learn he can seemingly control lights or electricity? idk he turns on a lamp by waving his hand over it. seeing him use these powers prompts charlotte to say, “you’re one of them,” and to which he responds, “them? i’m one of us.” which is also a banger line and i think about it weekly. charlotte realizes that he has been trying to push her towards realizing her powers and he tries to convince her to come with him and be a protégé of sorts, so he can teach her all the wonderful ways they can use their powers to mess with humans [and i like to imagine that this means randall sings to his gang sometimes]. she refuses and like, sure, you do you, but girl i’m different. that sounds fun as hell. imagine being mermaid loki’s sidekick. before randall leaves he tells her that george has indeed paid back his debt.

we soon see why randall is at the house/bar/cabaret stage when he confronts george, dragging a beaten and bloody tim with him. randall says tim tells him that he had spoken with george the previous day, george says he hasn’t seen him in ages, randall shoots tim in the knee. when this happens, a rather jarring synth note plays just before he takes the shot. not extremely important but another little bit of lynchian influence i love. i think about that shot all the time.

from here, everything turns to chaos. charlotte learns about the prostitution, george learns randall is a mermaid, randall tells his men to “take the girls, kill george,” everyone is struggling and fighting, another sister gets shot, and then charlotte has another mermaid transformation and starts screaming. apparently, mermaid screams work the opposite of mermaid singing, as the men all begin to have visions of themselves doing “sinful” things and end up killing themselves or each other. this also causes the oldest daughter to shoot and kill george. randall simply leaves the bar in the middle of this with a very “my work here is done” air about him.

finally, charlotte gets to leave. as she takes one last look at the house she’s spent her entire life in, randall approaches her. he tries once more to convince her to come be evil with him, and as she instead walks towards her new life, he comments, “very brave of you to go in the exact direction they’ve been trying to lure you this whole time.” she smiles and responds, “i’ll write you when i get there.”

and that’s the end of the movie! first thing, i obviously absolutely love randall’s character. he is really the only light in this dreary, underwritten cast and i so wish that either he and charlotte played off each other more or she did decide that being evil is fun actually. this movie also introduces a lot of weird mermaid powers that i’ve never really seen before? but only uses them like once. i mean, yeah, we’ve all heard of siren song, but has anyone else ever heard of telepathic mermaids, or mermaids with super speed, or mermaids that can control electricity/light?

this team obviously had a vision here, and even if it wasn’t executed very well, i appreciate the hell out of the passion i can see in this project and everyone involved. i hope that the team behind this movie learns from the mistakes they made and keep all the things that made this so beautifully strange.

if you liked this post, stay tuned! i’ve got a lot more movies to talk about.

[eldritch-spouse]

Noph'ae?👀 intersting

Honestly Pinnie, do I even need to say anything at this point?

Let's get a little angsty >:}

This is short but imagine when you were still with Santi, before you realised how awful he is, the demon told you his real name. Something that proved how much love and trust you had for one another. Before you found out the truth about his new job

So I'm not sure how it work in your world but usally when someone finds out the name of a demon, the infernal is forced to obey the person.

You command Noph'ae to leave you alone and never get close to you, ever again. Forcing him obey. If you want things to be more painful, you could send him back to hell. Putting more distance between you two.

Giving you time to run away, causing Santi to face the consequences of his actions, starve him of Lust and most painful of all

Losing you for possibly forever

(Also I really liked that name, very nice)

-angst anon

(Thank you, I have no idea where I got the idea for it from, because my memory has cheese holes. :] Ludwig's real name is already more on the nose, "Lu'Visi". Santi picked this name because it's ironic and deeply funny to him.)

You can do a whole lot with a demon's real name. Their titles are the single most important thing they hold, it is a direct way to address the very core of their existence, a demon is only an individual once they are named, and that name is never forgotten. Having access to a demon's name is like having a massive trump card. Fuck that, it's as if the demon showed you their hand before the game even started! Enslavement isn't the only threat, you can very much kill a demon like this.

Santi wouldn't give his name to someone he wasn't sure is his true mate, his kindred, the one whose aura matches his tastes perfectly. Because said person is a lot more susceptible to his temptation, naturally. They would think twice about getting rid of him, even if their moral compass is tying itself into knots, because they're going to inevitably feel fondness for Santi. Ultimately, it depends on how strong one's will is, and how long you've been with the demon. If this happens early on in the relationship or you're a person with a lot of self-control/determination, you may find it a lot easier to banish Santi. If this happens much later on or you're prone to complacency/low-effort, it'll become much harder to get rid of ole fuckboy McGee.

To make matters worse, you cannot do this within grabbing distance of Santi. The demon will lash out once he realizes what you plan to do. Imbilize him or do it at a distance. Demons often desire to have access to the surface, and when their freedom is threatened, they will do anything in their desperation to remain. Santi will hurt you if it means remaining outside Hell.

And even if you do successfully banish him, order him to stay away- There's always a chance, no matter how minute, that your resolve will falter. That you'll miss him, want him again. Because no one treated you better, no one fucked you better, and no one ever made you feel as loved, needed, wanted. You're only human, the need for validation will claw at you in your most vulnerable moments, sway you. Plus, always be careful with your wording when dealing with demons.

You may have said you wanted him far away from you, without direct interaction- But if Santi does something that just so happens to affect you in extremely negative ways, that's not really a violation of the order you gave, right? Even in Hell, he's high-ranking enough to send someone out to indirectly inconvenience you.

Noph'ae is very confident that it's only a matter of time until you summon him again, on your hands and knees like the blubbering mess of a human you ought to be without him. And in his endless generosity, the incubus will forgive you. Because you don't know better, he expected too much from you and your intellect. That's his fault, you're clearly too cute to do the thinking here.

[derekscorner]

Fiery Opinions: Engaging Dragons

One Ring to Marth them all

This is the second time since I started my Fire Emblem journey that I’ve got to use a brand new game as an entry as opposed to playing older titles. I was genuinely surprised by how refreshing this was both for that very reason and due to how decent the story was.

No joke, the story is actually good. It’s no flawless masterpiece, I’d worry if you went into a video game expecting such, but it does so much right by being so simple.

Hell, I’ll even start this by apologizing to poor ol toothpaste-chan which I’ll get to later. For now let me just ramble about how much I enjoyed the story.

Family is Key

At it’s core Fire Emblem Engage is about family. Not in the same sense as a special lineage a la Marth’s prodigious bloodline but it’s about found family. That made every story beat that would normally be cliche or what I call an “animeism” work because it’s not as simple as being there for blood ties.

Now blood relation is also certainly a factor for many characters but the story goes out of it’s way to make found family just as precious. Many characters lose someone that they thought of as family and others lose people that truly was their blood bound family.

They contrast it effectively against how the villain, Sombron, abuses his family. To him family is a tool and the story will list exactly how cruelly he’ll murder his own children a few times.

HIs actions also cause many others to lose family. Some die due to direct conflicts/schemes to aid Sombron (Morion) or you’ll have people who were good warped by his influence. (Hyacinth)

Sombron doesn’t just harm Elyos but he harms it’s people but breaking bonds. Usually in the cruelest way possible.

It’s also due to these themes of family that many character actions that would normally make no sense would. Such as the villain Zephia.

She is irredeemable. She does truly horrible things but her motivations for doing so make sense. That doesn’t excuse her actions but I at least understand why she would behave the way she does.

Namely, those moments that sharply contrast her usual cruelty. Such as when she randomly decides to help you once she’s defeated. In most modern stories they just treat this as a half-assed redemption. Zephia herself even gives that as a reason to the heroes.

Only for us to learn the real reason once the heroes leave her to die. She did it for spite. She wanted a child and Sombron promised to give her one. She doesn’t love the villain but she deeply seeks a family.

This desire manifests in her behavior toward evil Veyvle and the Hounds. She treats them like a family albeit in a warped perception of what she thinks it is. This caught my eye quickly because the story isn’t excusing her behavior but it is giving me a human motivation for that behavior.

I do not pity her but I, as the audience, understand her. Unlike Sombron, she truly wants a child but like Sombron she treats family cruelly as seen with Marni.

Sombron himself is very similar at the end of the day. He forwent any connections in Elyos because it wasn’t his world. His world had it’s own emblem war and he watched all his family die.

Being a child at the time, the victors cast him out into the Outrealms and he landed in Elyos with nothing but an Emblem Ring he managed to hide. That was his one true companion.

Everything he does is for reaching other worlds to find that emblem but the story doesn’t use this to make him tragic. The entire dialogue is called out by Alear and Veyle, Sombron’s two surviving children.

Sombron himself never tried to act sympathetic either. He merely gave his motivations when asked. The sins he’s done to get there mean nothing to him and when he says he no longer cares about their world the two siblings call him out.

Even if he says he’ll forget their faces and leave they know he’ll “just repeat the same mistake” and appear again in time. So rather than letting his evil reach other worlds they stop him.

This, to me, says that Sombron was either born evil or the war he witnessed made him so. Not once is his actions excused to downplayed. At most, his emblem leaving (which was likely it running out of power) was just the catalyst.

The excuse he needed to act on his evil nature. Something he began by slaughtering the village that had kindly took him in. He wanted to be alone and seek his own power and that’s the life he lead.

He’s not a redeemable being nor will the story act like he is.

The list only goes on from there. Family motivates this entire story in a simple but beautiful way.

The Hounds?

Mauvier swore to be Veyle’s knight. He’s the only one that has a genuine concern for her well being.

Zephia, as mentioned, wants a child.

Marni was abandoned by her mother and saw Zephia as that replacement to a sad end.

Griss also saw Zephia as the “closest thing” he’s had to a mother and chose to die fighting with her.

Princess Ivy? I found her the most intriguing royal by far. Her supports reveal that she did not like the political landscape or her mothers actions within it. However, she’s still a princess and loyal to her home.

Her forms of defiance were small as a result. She chose to worship the divine dragons instead of the fell dragon. She was loving to her sister when her mother and step-mother were in political turmoil.

She would die for her father despite knowing he’s warped. Her faith and loyalty conflict and thus her actions conflict. It’s nothing grand but that’s very believable. Especially due to her faith going form an initial defiance of authority to a legitimate belief and conflict of interest.

Thanks to this I can buy that she’d back down when confronted by the deity of her worship. You even see this in her first scenes at Brodia castle. Her odd behavior is due to that religion she holds.

The Brodian Royal Family Now these guys are endearing to watch. The playable units Diamant & Alcryst are great but the one that shocked me most was their father king Morion. In many stories you’d imagine the king of a kingdom focused on strength to be a hardass that is hard to please but no.

King Morion is a caring father. He relents to some of Diamants overbearing/worried demands and he’s more than supportive and positive to his second Alcryst. While Diamant is a more typical firstborn big brother good guy Alcryst is apologetically cowardly.

His brother and father go in guns blazing with swords but Alcryst wields the bow. A weapon of distance. He’s cautious and far too quick to knock himself down a peg. Despite that Morion is very proud of Alcryst and praises him nearly every second he’s on screen.

Diamant also thinks highly of Alcryst. They do not look down on him for his nature and I think that is because they see Alcryst for the truth hidden within his nature. Although cowardly, Alcryst will ignore his panic to be heroic. It’s not even a crippling fear, if it needs to be done he will do it.

This was most prominent to me when the corrupted Morion had to die. Alcryst hated the idea while Diamant knew it was more respectful to end his warped existence. However, Alcryst will have unique dialogue if he kills Morion. Saying that its better for him to take on such burdens over his older brother.

Morion and Diamant see Alcryst as strong and the player sees that when Alcryst will spare Diamant the pain of patricide.

The other cast aren’t quite as heavy but just as good. For example, the Firenese royalty is also very close as seen in their supports. Their family is as peaceful as the land they rule. Celine gets annoyed by her older brother and worries how Alfred will be as a king but she loves him anyway.

Alfred has some of the silliest but wholesome supports. He never takes an insult bad and will admit he’s more brawn that brain. He takes it all in stride because he’s happy to be alive due to a sickly childhood.

Then you have the retainers of the royals. Many of them have a close friendship, and at times family, closeness. Hell, even ones that do not like one another such as Ivy and Zelkov have a loyalty. They all have a simple but pure bond in my opinion. Some families are made of friends, or strangers even, rather than people with shared dna.

Of them all I rather like how lax Solm’s royal family is. That family is chill as fuck and I envy their freedom and overall disregard for decorum.

The Good & The Tragic

Now this is where I’ll say that I am absolutely sorry for any Alear slander I’ve made before. Sure, some jokes about the hair is okay, but the theme of family and the tragedy of it hit the hardest with this poor dragon child.

As silly as it appears at first, the hair color does have plot relevance. Everything from the blue hair, eye, and the somewhat-goofy white armor Alear wakes up in was actually plot relevant. It was so relevant that it’s almost sad to see upon a new file because I now have the context.

Alear, like Veyle, and so many of Sombron’s children, was an abused kid. Alear even lists, verbatim, the cause of death for many of their siblings;

“One older brother was drowned. One older sister was burned alive.”

“A little bother and a little sister -they were cute- torn apart by the corrupted.”

“Some siblings died in the war. Most were defects. Father disposed of them.”

Alear was old enough to see this, they watched them all die in these horrific ways. During the war Veyle was too young to be a soldier so in the one meeting they had Alear gave her his dragonstone (explaining why you can’t transform) with the intentions to return for her.

This did not happen. Alear was fatally wounded striking down Sombron and put to sleep to heal.

Found Family

This sad backstory and the encounter with the past Alear with their somber voice and sad face was one thing. A good one, a strong impression enough to make me like the character.

However, what fully sold the family theme was Alear & Lumera. I’m used to Fire Emblem or any RPG having parents die and other such cliches but once Alears past was revealed it hit different.

The “genshin look” let the animation of faces hit harder. I was already sad for Alear but now I was sad for Lumera.

She did not give birth to Alear. She found them. Lumera, like Alear, had lost everyone to that war and when she found them that shared sense of loss connected them.

Lumera was the parent Alear wasn’t given. She gave them love and that pure emotion made their tragic dynamic beautiful. Lumera waited one thousand years, slowly draining her life to convert Alear into a divine dragon, just in hopes of being a family once they woke.

A family is all either wanted and when they found it with each other it just hurtful to look back on her death.

Ya know Alear’s white armor? That’s there because Alear wanted to be a “good dragon” like her. One that wore shining armor and a sword.

Their blue eye and hair? That’s Lumera’s power making them divine.

Alear’s emblem ring? A present she spent centuries making.

Lumera did so many little and big things waiting for her adopted child to wake only for it to become a tragedy instead.

Veyle

This tragedy also affects Veyle because Alear was put to sleep before they could find her again. Veyle was forced to run terrified from all the enemies Sombron had made. The only people that showed her kindness for centuries was her mother and Alear and now both were gone.

She was found by some of Sombron’s worshipers eventually. They treated her nice enough but once Veyle went into her own slumber and awoke things had changed.

The poor girl only wanted to be praised by her father and was manipulated easily enough to help free him only to be treated like less than useful the entire way.

Veyle is such a kind soul that Sombron opted to have Zephia use magic to brainwash her resulting in the split personality. Even then Veyle lacks the power needed to use her dragon form nor any of the power Sombron seems to use.

Even Alear in the past seemed to have more of that power than Veyle. Although, it was this kind streak among Sombron’s children that leads me to believe that Sombron himself is the evil element.

Veyle and Alear are kind yes but seemingly most of Sombron’s children were. The “defects” he labeled useless weren’t just one or two but most of them. I’d imagine even the “useful” ones were kind but scared to act different as Alear was prior to meeting Lumera.

Veyle is easily the most pure and innocent of his children we get knowledge of but I would go as far as to say that Sombron may have been the real “defect”.

We have no context for his family in his original world but he’s the only one we see out of his children that is evil just because that is his nature. It makes me question what a “fell dragon” is within the context of Elyos.

Grima from Awakening was a science experiment gone awry. An artificial dragon made from stolen divine dragon blood.

The game does make a distinction between the power a fell dragon and divine dragon wield. There is a difference but I do wonder if “fell dragon” is the true name of their species.

Zephia claims that Veyles brainwashing brings out her draconic instincts but I find that hard to take at face value. If someone as pure as Veyle can use “fell dragon” power to raise the dead without evil in her heart then I suspect their real nature isn’t something as foul as what Sombron has made it out to be.

Either way Veyle made me question a lot about the fell dragons and her shared parentage made me grow to like her even if I saw the sibling twist a mile away. She had the post-game ending I enjoyed the most simply because she worked to be as kind as Lumera or Alear despite being a “fell dragon”.

The poor little girl deserves the world and I wish she could’ve been family with Lumera as Alear was.

Story Overall

Family themes aside I was pleasantly surprised by how tight the story could be at times. It’s a simpler story about evil dragons and heroes like older FE titles but it also does a lot of things that you’d only notice on a second playthrough.

I’ve already mentioned how the family aspect makes motivations believable, I’d even call it competent and worthy of higher praise, but there’s some things that happen that you only noticed once pointed out to you.

For example, the plot twist of Alear’s parentage. This is done by witnessing how Alear summons an emblem. Divine dragons pray to summon an emblem but fell dragons invoke them.

Alear, being now divine, mixes the two aspects but if you notice in chapter 2 Lumera summons Sigurd without uttering a word. She prays to the ring and he answers her call. That is an early hint to later plot developments and it’s so subtle.

Or the use of the corrupted as a concept to help Alear cheat death in a believable way. Something that’s fixed entirely with the “miracle” that the emblems themselves hint at half way through the story.

In essence, the story foreshadows well and keeps things tied back around in a way that I’m not used to in games today. It’s sad to say that it’s rare but it is still pleasant to see. I’m going through my second file just hoping to catch more stuff like this.

It’s not flawless mind you but it is worth noting.

Emblematic Emblems

Another thing I took notice of in the story was the emblems themselves. Even the DLC bracelets that I currently have access too. They all have an establishment personality as former heroes of the series.

Even Byleth or Corrin who were avatars have enough of a personality forged by spin-off titles to make them feel like people. Even down to mannerism such as Byleth maintaining a blank face and tone that rarely breaks.

They also have a larger story presence than I initially believed them to. All 12 have scenes to do or say something while emblems such as Sigurd, Lyn, Lucina and Marth especially have as much to say as a main cast member would.

Sigurd & Marth in particular are very talkative and present offering advice and commentary on story moments. In contrast their actual bond conversations (think of it as supports for the rings) are extremely brief compared to their lines in story chapters.

You will feel like they are characters even if it’s to varying degrees. I grew attached to Marth very fast despite never playing one of his titles. Then I was attached instantly to Lucina, Riki, and Byleth because I have played those titles.

3 Houses was my first game but Awakening is my favorite. I always had Tiki or Marth on my person at all times. I also often tried to keep their assigned units together because some emblems have unique attacks when paired with a friend.

The most famous one online right now is Byleth and the Emblem of Rivals. If you use the Emblem of Rivals special when Byleth’s emblem is nearby he’ll be added to their attack.

However my favorite was Tiki & Marth. Not only do they actually talk in the paralogue scenes, something I wished for Marth and adult Tiki in Awakening, but if you use Tiki’s special with Marth nearby he’ll boost it.

Tiki, alone, will grant you a rival stone to a unit of your choice but if Marth is next to her this is changed to “Blessings+”.

I also found myself attached to Tiki for how she engages with dragons. For everyone else Tiki turns them into a red dragon with a tail whip, claw move, and fire breath.

But when Tiki is engaged with Alear or Veyle they turn into a proper divine dragon and the fire breath is swapped for fog breath which I used often to give my units a boost to AVO.

I can say without a doubt I loved the emblems far more than I expected due to the small things like what I listed. there’s probably several others I haven’t seen because I’m biased to Marth and Tiki.

I hope they’ll add even more as the DLC releases giving us more emblems or scenes of these legacy characters.

A side note to all my praise; I found it fucking hilarious that Byleth’s special is to act as a dance unit. Byleth can be a dancer class in every game they’re in but their original one. lmao

Gameplaly

Normally I’d give a deeper look into the gameplay like I did with Echoes or others but this post is already novel length. I also have very little to complain about when it comes to the gameplay.

Some of the hardcore fans can do the math to maximize and tackle maddening mode but I suck at math. I do not want to play a game to do math. I do not find join in min-maxing.

I did enjoy the game however. It returned to a two seal system with master & second seals but don’t let that fool you. The gameplay is more complex than you’d expect due to the nature of Emblem & Bond rings.

You can max a units bond with an emblem and inherit their skills. As mentioned, some emblems bounce off each other or even have unique changes on a specific unit.

They basically blow up the game to such a complex level that I can’t properly break it down. I enjoyed what I was doing and didn’t complain once. I liked that it only had two seals and I recognize the depth that I can’t fully see.

It’s like the best part of several fire emblem games were added in. The weapon wheel is back, weapon durability is mostly gone (sorry staves), and you have some new tweaks like how monks affect the returning daggers, bows, and tomes.

I ignored some of these at first but now I keep at least one chain-blocking monk and poisoned dagger thief with me at all times.

I have been trying to use things I didn’t on the first run to properly grasp more of the gameplay such as the new break weapons. Great swords, axes, and spears that are guaranteed to stagger an enemy and prevent counter.

At the cost of you being unable to hit first nor counter of course. They won’t give you that kind of tool for free. lol

I also adore the Somniel because it’s the kind of secretly hidden paradise home in the sky I always wanted. I don’t play the mini-games much despite the stat benefits but I do love to just wander the small island, change the outfits of characters, and take in the peaceful atmosphere of the place.

It’s the type of “my base” I prefer in Fire Emblem. A cross between what Awakening, Fates, and 3 Houses have.

I hope future FE titles use a similar hub world should they choose to continue the trend. It does not have to be a sky sanctuary but I do hope they maintain the laid back nature.

A good base to wander, do a few small things, and just take an overall break from the story grind.

Resolution

I think I’m rambled out. I do sense that I had far more to say but this is long enough already. What’s important is that I enjoyed this game much more than I expected too.

The story is simple and good. I am very glad they dropped the branching routes idea they used for Fates and 3 Houses. Both of those titles had so much potential lost due to the lack of focus.

Gameplay is shockingly deep and while the look is definitely “genshin impact” it works in the games favor. The maps and scenes are beautiful and it allows characters to be animated with great effect at times like the flashback of Alear striking down the villain. The sheer terror and sadness on Lumera’s face works because of it.

Some characters do not translate well into the look (poor Edelgard) but I got used to it. I even liked it when “blue Alear” appeared on screen. God I wish their hair stayed that solid blue...

Anyway, bye now~

================================

Editors Note: This is part seven of my trip through fire emblem. You’ll find the others here: Fiery Opinions <–(link)

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

I just think it's wild how Three Hopes really did its best work on the Blue Lions and improved some major aspects of them tenfold (such as not making them single trait tropes like tsundere whine whine Felix and can't-say-anything-but-stupid-flirty-shit Sylvain). They fixed every relationship (such as Annette and Gilbert, the Gautier family, Felix and Rodrigue, Dedue and Ingrid, etc) and all of the characters feel like real people and not just lazy tropes with little to no development.

Meanwhile the Deer and and Eagles are mostly worse versions of themselves (Ferdinand is just a regular ol' Edelgard simp and every aspect of his Houses character was completely wiped regarding his views and her; Dorothea is ten times worse and is nothing but an Edelgard simp who would literally canonically rather die than not be by her waifu's side; Caspar will fight and for Thales bc uwu Fr The Empire except that the Empire he loved and fought for is dead and has been for half a year by that point; Claude forget it we all know that story; Raphael is utterly brainless and doesn't have a kind bone in his body when it comes to invading other lands and just wants to punch innocent people who did nothing to him bc it makes him feel stronkers, etc).

Some non-BL characters got improvements (Leonie isn't 100% Jeralt centric, Hilda has more to her character than being lazy and whiny, Hubert is shown not to be a 110% callous jerk outside of anyone except Edelgard and has an easier time forming relationships with other Eagles), but overall most of them were made much worse.

Even non direct BL, GD and BE characters are included in this. Nader is way worse and is a happy violent pillager, Judith is just kinda mean for ??? some reason, Sothis is a crazed bitch for ??? some reason (apparently waking up a year earlier makes you bitchier if you're a goddess??? man I thought it was 220 years earlier haha Tellius joke inserted), and meanwhile Miklan gets a redemption arc enough to the point where his father of all people wants to avenge him.

Highkey feels like they poured all their effort into the Lions and let everything else go up in flames like a dumpster fire while for some reason (but also We Know Why) marketing the game with as much Edelwaifu as they could and making sure she's happy pappy and nobody can dare harm her because that would be an outrage. She can, of course, as ever, harm as much as she wants and it's Okay and Just and The Right Thing To Do.

Hopes really is a wild ride.