#im not done with the game yet. all i can say so far is that aiba is neat and i want to [redacted] date

[benveydraws]

shrimp 🦐✨

[hereissomething]

puppet combo when there is woman

[megalony]

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This is a new Eddie Diaz imagine, requested by anon. I loved this request and love the trope or Eddie or Buck with a lot of kids. I hope you will all like it, let me know what you think.

Taglist: @lunaticspoem@sj-thefanthefan@hellsdragon@im-an-adult-ish@crazylittlethingg@allauraleigh@onceuponadetectivedemigod@ceres27@avyannadawn@sleepylunarwolf@coverupps@justagirlthatlovedtoread @musicistheway @avada-kedavra-bitch-187 @luula @missdreamofendless @bradleybeachbabe @woderfulkawaii  @amberpanda99 @daggersquadphantom @marvel-and-chicago-fan @angryknightstatesmantrash @minjix @lyjen @kmc1989 @itsmytimetoodream @noonenuts @hiireadstuff @ashie-babie @classyunknownlover @jayyeahthatsme @sp1ritssz @dumb-fawkin-bitch @oliverstarksbae @gimatida @heart-35 @supernaturalstilinski @stefansalvatoresgf @kyky9103 @wutheringhearts2275 @gay4hotmilfs @itshamleth @gillybear17 @chaoticnosleepinfluencer @gs29 @wh0reforsmutstuff @mel-vaz

Eddie Diaz Masterlist

Summary: Eddie and (Y/n) are enjoying a day off with their kids, until their youngest starts to have an allergic reaction.

Enjoy.

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(Y/n) danced her eyes around the garden and a smile pulled at her lips when her sights set on Eddie. She made a beeline across the garden towards him and reached out to her right to turn the radio up as she passed.

At the far right side of the garden, Evan was playing football with Isaac and James. Her brother had been entertaining the boys in a game for nearly an hour now. Then on the left near the flower beds, (Y/n) could see Chris and Bella and it looked as if the pair of them were building some Lego creations. They were perched on the grass, lots of building blocks and mini cars surrounding them, and a large puddle of water sinking them into the grass.

They had been in the pool all morning, which was exactly where (Y/n) found Eddie and Rosie.

Eddie was stretched out, sat in the paddling pool in his black trunks and a thin black vest and matching sunglasses perched on his nose. His eyes were fixed on Rosie who was heading back up the slide to skid down into the pool.

Reaching the pool, (Y/n) crouched down and looped her arms around Eddie's neck, taking him by surprise. She pressed her lips against his neck and meshed her chest up against his back, feeling the water on his skin soaking into her clothes. Not that she minded at all. (Y/n) was only wearing a tank top and some shorts, the heat this last week had been sweltering.

Eddie didn't usually wear shorts very often but he had been living in them this week and this was the first time (Y/n) had seen him wear a vest or shirt rather than just walking round the house without one.

"Hi babe," He murmured softly while he turned his head to the left to peck her temple.

"Hi, having fun?"

"I will be if you're joining." Eddie leaned his head back on (Y/n)'s shoulder as a smile lit up his face. Neither of them had been able to say no this morning when all the kids asked if they could have the pool out. The heat was too sweltering to say no. And when Evan came round to spend the day with them, it was clear they would all be in the garden until sun down.

All the kids had been in the pool this morning, Evan included. But he and the boys had decided to play a game and when Bella started to cry because she was getting splashed in the pool, (Y/n) took her out and made her have a break. She was perfectly content playing games with her eldest sibling now.

That just left Rosie in the pool so Eddie decided to join her so she wasn't sat playing alone.

"Hmm, not yet. You can watch me beat the boys in a game." (Y/n) had only just dried off from spending most of the morning sat by the pool where all the kids decided to splash her. She wasn't ready for another dip yet. She wanted to show the boys how the game was done and beat her big brother in a game.

Eddie leaned a little further so he could attach his lips to (Y/n)'s neck while he reached his hands up to hold her wrists that were loosely draped around his neck. His thumbs brushed up and down her skin and he grinned when she moved so she could capture his lips in a kiss instead.

"Go show 'em how it's done. But no injuries this time please, mi amor." Edie spoke quietly against her lips, kissing her again and again until (Y/n) was going lightheaded.

She smiled and nudged her nose against his with a knowing look in her eyes. She knew what he was referring to.

"I wasn't the one who broke Isaac's finger, now was I?"

"I seem to recall you almost knocking yourself out though. Be careful."

Eddie had already warned Evan about playing football or basketball or any similar game with the boys. Evan had been playing basketball out on the front with Chris, Isaac and James a few months ago and they all had a collision which broke Isaac's index finger. They didn't want another trip down to the emergency room with broken bones.

And the last time (Y/n) joined in and beat the boys in a game, she fell and whacked her head against the car, almost passing out. At least here in the back garden, it was safer with the grass rather than any concrete, it would be a softer landing for any accidents. The back garden was more private and secluded as well which was a bonus.

"I will, I promise." With a lasting kiss to his lips, (Y/n) pushed his glasses higher up on his nose before she unravelled from him and headed over to the rest of her boys.

"Mum, are you playing?" Isaac looked to the right when (Y/n) walked over to the three of them.

She grinned when Evan planted his hands down on his hips and looked at her with that wide smirk that showed he was going to up the anti if she was joining in.

"Will you be on my team?" James reached out and took (Y/n)'s hand, looking up at her with those doe eyes that made her heart melt. James was the twin that always clung to (Y/n), whereas Rosie would attach herself to Eddie. He was only six and he wasn't as good at playing as Isaac was, who was eight and was taking football classes at school. But James knew if their mum played and he was on her team, he had a good chance of winning.

"Course I will."

"Daddy, look."

Eddie slouched down against the edge of the pool and tilted his head to the left to look across at Bella. The toddler was holding out a rather odd shaped Lego piece that he couldn't work out or guess what it was supposed to be. But the way she smiled at him softened his heart and made him nod.

"Clever girl," His approval made her giggle and she set down her masterpiece so she could make something else.

Being in the pool was the perfect place for Eddie, it allowed him to look all around the garden and keep an eye on his troop. Two were with (Y/n) and Evan, two were building random creations and one was now sat between his legs splashing some cups and rubber ducks around.

He could see Chris had started to build a tower that was almost the same height as him and he looked proud. Eddie just prayed Bella wouldn't decide to knock it down or else Chris would have a meltdown, but he was sure she wouldn't. Bella seemed to listen to Chris. She might try and wind up the boys or mess and play with Rosie, but she was rather attached to her eldest sibling.

Tilting his head down, Eddie looked down at Rosie in curiosity when she roughly carded her fingers through her long hair. He had started to call her Rapunzel with how long she wanted to grow her hair.

When she tossed her curls back over her shoulder, he straightened up and slowly started to gather up her hair and move it behind her ears.

"Plat?" She mumbled softly, tilting her head back to look up at Eddie who smiled and nodded.

He had grown very good at styling and platting Rosie's hair over the years. He never had to think about hairstyles before Rosie. When Eddie was with Shannon, they only had Chris who just needed his curls cutting and brushing a lot. Then when he and (Y/n) got together, they had Isaac so Eddie didn't have to consider hairstyles.

Finally, when the twins were born, they had James and Rosie and Eddie finally had a little girl. If Rosie wanted her hair styling for something special, she always went to (Y/n). But for school or simple days out or just when she wanted some attention from Eddie, Rosie always got him to do her hair.

And now they had Bella, Eddie could start styling her hair soon. She was only two so the most he would do was gather her hair up into a bobble in the middle of her head so it looked like an antenna sticking up. Eddie thought it was cute, Bella always reminded him of Cindy-Lou from The Grinch with her hair stuck up in a ponytail like she had today.

Rosie smiled and closed her eyes, staying patiently still while Eddie wet his hands and started to drag them through her hair to make it easier. Once he was finished, he kissed her temple and wrapped his arms around her middle, keeping her cuddled into his chest.

"Beautiful," He whispered against her hair while he looked ahead and watched (Y/n) land another goal past Isaac.

Rosie giggled when Eddie started to sway them from side to side and she planted her hands down in the water, splashing the water up at them. When Eddie kissed her cheek, she wriggled around in his arms so she was facing him and pushed up. She deadlocked her arms around his neck and leaned onto his chest with her cheek on his shoulder.

Reaching across from him, Chris put down the piece in his hand and gently flopped his hand onto Bella's just as she went to put a small piece of Lego in her mouth.

"Don't eat it, tinkerbell." He shook his head and looked across at his dad just to make sure he hadn't seen that. He knew Eddie would tell Bella to get back in the pool and stop playing if she was going to do that.

Chris remembered when Isaac had been little, he had been playing with some toy cars and choked on a broken piece of one he had been chewing. He could still see the panic on his mum's face and he remembered his dad having to do the hymelic on Isaac.

He watched Bella stand up and paddle across the damp grass until she could flop down next to Chris. Her head slumped on his arm and she started to mess around with the Lego again.

"Mummy winning," She muttered as she glanced around the garden.

"Uncle Buck will win." Chris looked back down at her with a smile, she looked like she was getting bored, and he was tired of playing too. He wanted to go back in the pool and he knew Bella might too since Eddie was in there at the moment. If she looked up and saw him cuddling Rosie, she might get jealous and run over to join in.

Bella began swaying from side to side, not doing much in particular with any of the building blocks in front of her that she was tired with. But her doe eyes widened and she leaned onto Chris's lap when she saw something land on his Lego tower.

"Bumble bee," Chris mused while he gently shook his tower to make the bee move. He didn't particularly like them after being stung quite a few times over the years.

They both watched it flutter around in front of them but Chris felt Bella jump beside him when it landed on her arm. The touch was so quick, so sudden that neither of them had time to move or react before it stung Bella's arm and swept off into the sky and disappeared.

Bella didn't seem to know how to react.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry out for Eddie and flap her arms and throw a fit because it hurt. Her arm felt like it had been stabbed and she didn't understand what had happened or what it had done to her.

But all she could do was gasp. Her arms began to wave and flap at her sides like she was pretending to be a bird taking flight. Her eyes started to water and go red like she had scratched them to ribbons. But her throat was the worst; it was starting to swell up. She couldn't breathe properly, she could barely scream, all she could do was make horrid gasping sounds that caught Chris's attention.

"Dad! Mum, Bella can't breathe!"

(Y/n) stumbled over the football and looked across at Chris with a frown, but as soon as she looked at Bella, her breath got caught in her throat. She hurried behind Evan who reached out to hold the boys and she went down on her knees next to Chris. Her arms reached out for Bella and she picked her up, settling the toddler down on her lap.

Was she choking? Had she tried to eat or chew on the Lego pieces? She didn't have a drink or any food nearby that she would have been eating.

But when her eyes landed on Bella's right arm, she went rigid. It was swelling up. Just up from her wrist, her arm was starting to swell and felt hard to the touch like it was a tyre being overfilled with air. "Eddie!"

Eddie leaned forwards and settled Rosie down in the middle of the pool when he realised something was happening on the other side of the garden. He bolted up to his feet and clambered out of the pool, dripping wet as he jogged barefoot across the grass.

The moment he slumped down to his knees, (Y/n) turned Bella on her lap to face him just as the toddler made a horrible, wheezing scream.

"What happened?"

"A bee stung her."

"A bee? Definitely a bee?" Eddie looked at Chris with a frown before he looked back down at his youngest. The only one who had ever been stung by a bee was Chris and he only ever got a small rash from it. He was the only kid with severe allergies, Isaac and Rosie had mild hayfever but that was it. "Baby, baby look at me, it's alright, stay still."

He reached over and pressed his fingertips beneath her chin, tilting her head back so he could feel her throat and see it she was breathing. Her airways were closing up. Her throat was tightening, the muscles were swelling and clamping together.

Bella continued to flap her arms and wriggled around on (Y/n)'s lap until she was almost laid out on the floor in her panic. Tears streamed freely down her face, her legs kicked out at Eddie, catching him in the abdomen as she tried to pull her knees up to her tummy to make her feel better somehow.

Her arms hit out at (Y/n) and brushed her face as her lips parted and her jaw trembled. She was trying to scream but she couldn't. She couldn't cry or make a sound or catch a proper breath and her efforts were futile and turning her inner lips blue.

"Isaac go grab Chris's EpiPen from the medicine cupboard. Now!" Eddie clicked his fingers and pointed towards the house until the eight year old bolted from the garden.

Eddie ripped the glasses from his nose and launched them somewhere behind him before he reached out and held Bella's swelling arm. He kept tight hold of her hand, clenching it in his fist to try and keep her arm steady while he moved his right hand over her swollen arm. His lips pressed together firmly and he waited for (Y/n) to hold Bella still before he moved.

"I'm sorry baby, stay still, please." He hushed while he squeezed her arm which made Bella thrash out horrible and smash her tiny feet into his stomach. Eddie squeezed harder, as much as he could until the broken sting from the bee came out of her arm.

He couldn't leave it in because she was clearly allergic and her body was going to keep reacting to the sting if it stayed in her arm. Once it was out, Eddie tossed it on the grass and moved to sit Bella up on his lap instead with his hands rubbing up and down her chest and back.

Her eyes screwed shut tight and she tried to flop forward onto Eddie's arm when she couldn't breathe at all.

"Baby go to Buck for me please," (Y/n) gave Chris's hand a squeeze and pointed behind her. He didn't need to sit and watch this, she could see the panic in his eyes and the way he was stimming his hand against his thigh said he was worried. He bashed his hand down on the grass but did as he was asked and scrambled over to Evan.

Both Chris and James stood on either side of Evan while Rosie scrambled from the pool and joined them where Evan picked her up when he noticed she was crying.

"I- I got it! Dad I got it!" Isaac panted and gasped as he bolted as fast as he could across the grass, skidding barefoot in the wet mud until he could slump down against (Y/n) and thrust the pen at his dad.

Eddie grabbed the EpiPen with haste and held it up, praying it was full and in date. His eyes briefly looked across at (Y/n) who was close to tears. None of the kids ever had reactions apart from Chris and they were always quick to treat him and know what was wrong. Bella was only two, she'd never had any reaction to anything before and now she wasn't breathing.

He tightly bound his left arm around Bella's waist, pulling her back into his chest so he could lean over her. He took off the cap and jabbed the needle into Bella's right leg, pushing the button firmly until all the adrenaline was administered.

They both hated the way Bella jumped and squirmed. Her face scrunched up and her lips curled and parted into a silent howling look that made tears fall down (Y/n)'s face.

Reaching over, (Y/n) gently cupped Bella's face and tilted her head back so she could look down at her. She was gasping. She was trying to breathe again, but (Y/n) could feel her throat was swollen and her lips were starting to turn a very worrying shade of blue on her inner lips.

"Eddie her throat's swelling up."

He dropped the EpiPen and pressed his palm flat on Bella's chest, trying to feel how deeply she was breathing, but it wasn't good.

She couldn't hold her head up. Her body seemed to turn to jelly and when she crumpled over onto Eddie's lap, (Y/n) saw the fire burning deep within his eyes.

"She's going to hospital, now. Buck, can you watch the kids?"

"Yeah, yeah go." Evan nodded rapidly while he swayed Rosie from left to right and rubbed his hand up and down her back. He could stay here with the rest of the kids and look after them while (Y/n) and Eddie took Bella to the hospital.

"Go get my phone and the car keys." Eddie turned Bella around in his arms and leaned her on his chest, securing her with one arm while he reached his other hand out for (Y/n). He held her elbow and helped her up before he nudged her towards the house and watched her bolt inside. "Stay with uncle Buck and be good."

"No, we wanna come-"

"Chris, you can't come with us, she's gonna be fine just… stay here, please." Leaning over, Eddie kissed Chris's temple and looked between Isaac and James before he turned and headed inside. He couldn't bring them all the kids down to the emergency room. It wouldn't be safe or fair and they had to go and focus on Bella. It was better for the kids to stay home with Evan and wait for them to come back.

Once he got inside, Eddie hastily grabbed the closest pair of shoes he had and slipped them on, regardless of how wet and bare his feet were. He didn't have time to change.

He found Bella's bag in the hall that they used when they were going out and he slung it on his shoulder as he bolted out the front door and over to the jeep. The back door was already open, (Y/n) was inside with her arms out ready.

"You got her?" He eased Bella down into her carseat and let (Y/n) strap her in while he climbed in the driver's seat.

His lips curled in distaste and he growled and shimmied around. He was sopping wet. His vest was sticking to his chest, his trunks were baggy and weighed down and sticking to his thighs and now the seat was damp. Not to mention his feet were slipping around in his shoes that were squelching. But he didn't care. He had to drive down to the hospital now or risk delaying Bella and making her worse.

"Bella, baby come on… wake up baby." (Y/n) kissed Bella's temple and brushed her fingers through her thin hair that was falling out of her ponytail.

She was slumped in her seat, arms limp at her sides and her head leant up against the side of the seat. Her throat and lips were still swollen just like her arm that was oozing and bleeding from the sting wound and she was breathing fast and shallow.

(Y/n) wrapped her arm around Bella's front and kept her lips against the top of her head.

The moment Eddie pulled up, (Y/n) unclipped Bella and swaddled her up against her chest. She felt Bella's head slump into the crook of her neck so she could feel each shallow, wheezing breath she took which made her throat croaky and her nose started to run.

The toddler stayed limp in her arms and (Y/n) ran her hand up and down the lilac swim suit she was wearing that was dotted with pink and blue flowers.

"Alright mi amor, off we go."

When Eddie opened the back door, (Y/n) shuffled over to get out while Eddie's hands found her arms and he helped her out. He curved an arm around her waist, tucking (Y/n) into his chest while he reached inside the back and found one of Rosie's blankets on the floor and a towel.

He wrapped the blanket around Bella and over (Y/n)'s arms and shoulders and started dragging the towel up and down his legs as they hurried inside. He was leaving a trail from the jeep down to the emergency room doors and he knew he looked a sight. Dripping wet wearing trunks and a vest and sopping wet trainers.

(Y/n) gently bounced her arms up and down, moving Bella around like she was trying to get her to sleep instead of trying to wake her up. She pressed her lips to the top of Bella's head and stayed leaning into Eddie. She didn't care how damp he was, (Y/n) just wanted comfort.

"Who have we got?"

"Bella Diaz, she's had a severe reaction to a bee sting. I gave her an adrenaline auto-injector but she's gone unconscious. She's only two." Eddie kept his left hand on (Y/n)'s hip and moved his other hand to her shoulder so he could lean over and look at Bella.

"Take a seat."

It was a relief when the receptionist got up and promptly disappeared. Eddie knew what that meant. It meant she was going to fetch the doctor herself and they shouldn't have to wait long for someone to see to them.

(Y/n) leaned her head on Eddie's shoulder when they sat down and she watched him brush his thumb across Bella's cheek. She was still wheezing and gasping, but when she murmured, (Y/n) felt a spark of relief.

"Bella Diaz." They were waved across to a doctor in the corridor, they had barely been sat down for a minute. "Bring her through."

(Y/n) felt Eddie's hands on her hips and his lips pressed against the back of her head as they wandered down the corridor and through into a small cubicle on the left. They headed over to the bed and gently laid Bella down, propping her up against (Y/n)'s chest as the doctor stood on the opposite side of the bed.

"Has she had reactions before?" The doctor found a stethoscope and listened to her heart before he listened to her breathing and gently started to feel her throat and peer into her mouth.

"No, never."

"I gave her an auto-injector and she started breathing again, but she passed out five or six minutes ago. I got the bee sting out too, it came out in one."

When the doctor gave Eddie a pointed look, (Y/n) softly added "He's a medic." Eddie knew what he was doing, he wasn't clueless or trying to play the hero, this was his daily life when he was at work. He just didn't think he would have to do this sort of thing at home with any of the kids.

"Let's get some oxygen into her system first."

(Y/n) smoothed her hand up and down Bella's arm while the doctor placed an oxygen mask over her nose and lips to boost her system.

"I'm going to put her on a drip and add some adrenaline into it to help keep her throat from closing up again." When they nodded, the doctor headed out the room to go and grab what he needed.

Eddie moved round and leaned his arm down on the end of the bed in front of Bella when she started to murmur and turn her head. He carefully took the oxygen mask off for her when she started to move and bat her hands about. He could of cried in relief that she was now starting to wake up but he rolled his lips together when she flopped her head forward and threw up.

"Oh, baby." He sighed, cupping the back of her neck so he could kiss the top of her head.

They were going to be here a while.

***

"They're home!"

(Y/n) held her breath when Isaac and Chris bolted over to the door and practically took it from her hand and swung it open. She let the pair of them barrell into her and wrap around her like vines. She looped an arm around each of them and walked further into the hall, stooped over to be level with the boys.

"Where's Bella?" Isaac leaned around to look behind (Y/n) and he and Chris watched impatiently as Eddie followed them inside and closed the door behind him.

He had finally dried off, his trunks were dried and crinkling around his thighs, his vest was glued to his chest and his hair was now askew and spiked up at odd angles. But in his arms, Eddie had his youngest cuddled into his chest.

Bella wasn't in heer swim costume anymore, she was wearing a teddybear onesie that (Y/n) had found in her backpack Eddie brought with them. Her hair was out of the bobble and framed near her cheeks that were puffy. Her head was curled up on Eddie's shoulder, her arms were around his neck and her knees were pulled up and resting on the centre of his chest.

"Let's go sit down." (Y/n) looked behind her at Eddie who looked as washed out as she felt. He was rubbing his eyes with his free hand and looked as if he could drop down and sleep right here and now.

She guided the boys into the living room but her lips quirked into a surprised smile when she saw who was here.

"Hi," Leaning over, (Y/n) wrapped her arms around her big sister and gave her a hug.

"Hi. Buck rang and told me what happened, thought I'd come over and help with the team." Maddie knew Evan would be able to cope with the kids on his own, but she thought it might he helpful to come round anyway. And all four kids were anxious without their parents here and after seeing Bella go unconscious, they were very panicked.

(Y/n) slumped down on the sofa and smiled tiredly when the twins moved over so one of them was tucked under each arm. She kissed the top of their heads and watched her husband trail into the room, bouncing Bella up and down on his chest.

"Hey little lady… how'd it go?" Maddie stood up from the armchair and moved in front of Eddie. She brushed Bella's slightly puffy cheek and smiled sadly at her. None of the kids had ever had a bad reaction like that before. Even Chris with his EpiPen never had such a horrid reaction to anything.

It was a good job Chris did have his allergies, none of them wanted to speculate what would of happened if they didn't have the adrenaline on standby and would have to wait for an ambulance.

Bella tiredly opened her eyes and managed a smile when she noticed who it was stood in front of her. She moved her hand to hold Maddie's outstretched hand, but she didn't move away from Eddie. She had been attached to him since she woke up and wouldn't let him put her down.

"Three hours of Hell. Adrenaline and fluids on a drip that she took out- twice. An inhaler she hated, to get her chest open. Antihistamines, meds for the swelling and now we have two EpiPens just for her."

The way Eddie's upper lip curled in distaste told all.

They had to stay in observation to make sure she didn't have another reaction and ensure she was actually alright. The drip got fluids back into her system and the extra adrenaline got her breathing normally, as did the steroids in the inhaler that opened her airways again. Her throat dulled back down, the meds set her body back in order. And now they had two EpiPens especially for Bella in case this happened again.

They also had an appointment at the doctors next week to do some tests and check there wasn't anything else Bella might be severely allergic to.

"Oh dear, poor baby, do you wanna cuddle?" Maddie held her hands out and Eddie bent down at the knees to try and ease Bella over to her.

She was usually very happy to be around her auntie and cling to Maddie, especially if Maddie took the kids out anywhere. Bella would insist on being carried around and Maddie and Evan always obliged. But today, she wasn't happy.

As soon as Maddie's hands found her waist and Eddie let go, she screamed. It ended in a cough as her throat was still dry and sore and her chest ached, but she screamed until her eyes were watering and her body was starting to shake.

Eddie's shoulders dropped and he sighed, quickly scooping her back up so she could burrow into his neck and sniff and gulp for air.

"Buck, do me a favour and sit there, I've needed the toilet for two hours." Eddie pointed across to the sofa and Evan knew what he was going to do.

He sat down and stretched his arms out while Eddie sat on the edge of the sofa next to him and leaned back, wedging himself between James and Evan. Eddie swayed from side to side and shifted Bella around while she kept her eyes closed and tried to stay snuggled into him.

Her lips quirked into a smile when Eddie lifted her up in the air, then brought her down and kissed her cheek. And when he lifted her again, Evan quickly took her and settled her down on his chest. She kept her eyes closed and snuggled into Evan who ran his hand up and down her back.

It wouldn't matter very much if Bella realised she was now with her uncle, not her dad. She was attached to both of them and she would settle for Evan almost as quickly as she would for her dad.

As soon as she was out of his arms, Eddie hopped up and made his way to the bathroom. For the last two hours in observation he needed to go but Bella wouldn't let him out of her sight. Even when (Y/n) tried to go get a drink, Bella screamed. She wanted both parents to stay and give her their attention so that's what they had done.

"What does it mean, to have an allergy?" Rosie looked up at (Y/n) before she wiggled from under her arm and moved to sit with Maddie. She had stayed with her aunt for the last two hours since she had arrived.

Maddie smiled and let her niece hop up on the chair with her and she bound her arms around Rosie's middle, letting her lean back into her chest.

And Chris went and took Rosie's space next to (Y/n) so she had him and James snuggled down into her sides. And Isaac sat on the floor in between Evan's legs, looking up at him with a tired smile and he reached his hand up to gently wiggle Bella's foot.

"It's when your body panics because of certain things, like a bee or certain foods. It can give you a rash or make it hard to breathe, like with Bella."

"What was in the injection dad gave her?" James snuggled his head into (Y/n)'s stomach and closed his eyes, he was tired but he was still paying attention.

After their parents left, he had tried to pick up the EpiPen and take it into the kitchen but Evan told him not to. He didn't want him touching the needle, it needed to go in the bin.

"Adrenaline, it helps with shock. Dad will show you how to use it later, for emergencies." (Y/n) began carding her fingers through James's hair while she felt Chris latch his arms around her upper chest and lean on her shoulder.

Now this had happened, they were going to have to show the kids how to use the EpiPen in case this happened again. Chris already knew and Isaac vaguely knew what to do, but he had to be shown again and the twins needed to know. Bella would now have to get used to having it in her backpack whenever they took her out for emergencies.

Bella snuggled her face more into Evan's neck who grinned and kissed the top of her head and began rubbing his hand up and down her back. He slouched further down into the sofa until he was barely sitting up and his knees cocooned around Isaac and bumped into the coffee table.

When she lifted her right arm and started to whimper and murmur, Evan gently held her wrist and rolled up her sleeve. Her arm was still swollen and it had been bandaged after the doctor applied some cream.

"Ooh, poor tinkerbell." He cooed quietly and kissed her bandage but he raised a brow and looked between his sisters when Bella suddenly realised the voice change. She tilted her head back and tiredly looked up at Evan with a frown. He wasn't the one she was expecting. Her lips curved down and she started to whimper but when Evan just smiled brightly down at her and kissed her temple, she stopped and flopped her head back down on his chest.

"Here you go, baby." Eddie wandered back into the living room and leaned over the back of the sofa to hand down Bella's pacifier. They hadn't given her the one in her back pack earlier because she still hadn't been breathing well and she was gasping. But now her breathing was back to normal again and she wasn't wheezing. It would help her sleep too.

She tiredly took it from him and just like Eddie expected, she shuffled up Evan's chest and clambered over his shoulder to reach up for her dad. Evan leaned his head to the side, supressing a groan as his hand stayed on Bella's back to keep her steady until Eddie scooped her up.

Eddie flopped down into the other armchair opposite Maddie and settled Bella on his chest. He leaned his head on his free hand while his other arm curved around her back and he pressed his lips to the top of her head.

"Dad?"

"Hm?" He tried to keep his eyes open and looked over at James who was now laid out on (Y/n)'s lap. She had Chris practically laying on her chest, Evan now had Isaac sat on his knees and Maddie was cuddled up with Rosie. The kids were all attached to someone.

"Are we allergic too, like Chris and Bella?" Now they had seen Bella have a reaction, and they all knew the few things like nuts and certain cleaning products and soaps that Chris was allergic to. It made them wonder if Isaac, James or Rosie were also allergic to anything.

"I bloody hope not."

[jolapeno]

iii - just say that you need me

javier peña x f!reader | chapter three of late night texts

summary: It's the year 2000. Javi is minding his own business on the porch of his pop's ranch when a text from an unknown number vibrates his phone. The only problem is, no one knows he has a phone and no one has his number.

chapter warnings: fluff. flirting. continuous romcom vibes. an: the amount of people who look forward to tuesday's makes me grin. for those who are new, i don't have a tag list. wordcount: 2.6k.

text key: bold is you/reader | italics is javi

You should say yes more. 

to you or to my pop 

To your pop. I know you wouldn’t say no to me. 

you sure about that 

I’d bet my next paycheck on it. 

for you I’ll say yes to him once

Good. Now we have that out the way answer what the worst date you’ve ever been on was

shit. going with the hard hitting questions today

Just getting you to share, open up

probably when I first came back from colombia someone from my town where I live

They a bad host, bad dinner guest? Gimme more Javi cmon. You said you’d entertain me.

baby, im trying to entertain you but you told me to stop

I said stop flirting while I’m eating and answer the question

she wouldn’t stop asking me for details on escobar

Ah. Yeah I can see how discussing that would be a mood killer.

yeah didn’t wanna go in the first place either

So if we ever meet, do not ask about your Colombian experience. Got it. 

you can ask, doesn’t mean I’d tell you 

Ha! Good to know. I wouldn’t though. If you wanna tell me, I think you will. 

thanks, what’s yours?

Well I was stood up when we first began texting. Think that’s pretty bad, enough.  

he’s an idiot because only an idiot would stand you up 

You haven’t seen me, remember 

statement still stands 

Stop being so charming.

you still eating

No.

then I can flirt

Most of the time, he ignores the mail. 

Lets it pile up on the entryway dresser until his pop makes another reference to it. Unlike his pop, he is never in a rush to open them, knowing no good comes from the contents inside.

The same people contact him. The bureau being one. Sipping his coffee as he glares at the usual federal sign on the envelope, wondering how many more times they’ll try asking him to come in for a chat.

This afternoon, though, the envelope isn’t brilliant white, but rather off-cream. 

Peeling a bit, thumb digging in as he drags it across, the ripping sound filling the small space. It’s only as he opens it does he realise who it’s from. 

His eyes stare at the letter, taking in the number—the one in triple digits with his phone provider logo in the top corner. The number which is making him feel sick, the more he stares at it over and over again. 

“Fuck.” 

Folding it, he swallows. 

Shit.

Motherfucker.

He stuffs it away, tucks it under magazines and other leaflets, as though by keeping it out of sight, it’ll go away.

But it's there.

The edge of it sticking out. He even blinks, and the number is there, tattooed on the back of his eyes. Taunting him—the price of speaking to you. 

It's not that Javi can't afford it. He’s had a chunk of money sitting, gaining dust, in his account since he came home. Only able to force portions on his pop as and when he felt he could get away with it. 

But this was a lot. More than he’d bargained on, more than he even knew he could spend simply by replying to someone. 

There's a chance your day won't be done just yet—his day beginning far earlier than yours even began—but he pulls his phone out, fingers pressing into the keys.

so apparently talking to you is costly  Oh, you've had your bill. I feel I should ask whether I'm worth it? 

It’s instant—the way you make the nauseous feeling vanish. How you force it to slide back to where it came from, and in its place, warmth spreads. All accompanied by a smile on his lips. 

He doesn’t want to show his hand too much. Better at concealing, playing the long game when standing face to face.

This requires a skill he hasn't yet gained. Simply focusing on not sounding ridiculous, or over the top. Unnecessary. Like some of the desperate men, he's happened to arrest over the years.

Even if his chest flutters and his mind screams, of course. Wants to ask, isn't it obvious? But he chooses something easier, uncomplicated.  

yes just didn’t expect it  I had my phone bill the other day. I get it.  did your heart fall out your ass No. But I will be eating ramen for the next month.  We can stop texting so much though, if it’s costing too much.  would rather my bill be double than stop talking to you  You’re such a flirt. 

He drains the rest of his mug, leaning back in the chair—hearing the sound of approaching boots from his Pop’s side of the house. Fingers typing, all hurried and determined 

Don’t forget I’m out for drinks and a movie.  I remember don’t worry 

He remembers as soon as you remind him.

Realising it's the reason you're able to reply right now. You’d been telling him almost every night for the past week. All worried, as though hating the idea of breaking the nightly tradition the two of you have concocted. 

In a way, Javi should have assumed the bill would be high with the number of texts the two of you have been sending. How frequent it’s been—how nice it’s been. 

Nice things do usually come with a tag. 

you decided on sweet or salty  Verdict is still out. You sure about waiting to do the crossword?  if we don’t do it tonight, we’ll do two the next day  You sure? more than sure have a great time 

“Y’sure you don’t fancy coming with me, Jav?”

He thinks of it, tapping his phone against his palm as he thinks of your text the other night. The one about him trying to say yes—something curling in his chest as he realises he’ll be alone, alone if he doesn’t. 

A sentiment he didn’t mind on paper, but now confronted with, rather despised. 

 “Alright, yeah. Can—can I get changed?” 

Mid-grabbing his own jacket, his Pop turns, surprise knitted into his wiry brows. “Y-yeah, sure, I’ll….”

“I’ll meet you at the truck?” 

And he does. All without complaint. Plaid shirt on, a smile being forced as soon as the truck pulls off the drive. He doesn't even complain about the radio choice or the fact his Pop always takes the main roads when he could cut down the dusty roads. 

When he arrives, he doesn’t mind how many hands he shakes, one after the next. He tries not to grit his teeth as each person says the usual things, they’re proud, he’s grown, when is he settling down? Each time he laughs it off. Spanish rolling from his tongue as he smiles and winks. 

It’s performative. 

The old version of him coming out from a hidden place. 

Always there, ready, as his hand shakes another person's hand—one he’s already forgotten the name of. Someone he’s sure he’s met before, too. 

It always happens. The small-town boy who took down drug cartels has become somewhat of a celebrity tale. A thing to gawk at when he visits the store. Chucho's boy who ran away to Colombia and now hides away on the ranch.

For the amount of time it's been, he'd foolishly expected it to die down—but it hasn't. Not enough, anyway. 

After enough time, he excuses himself, sneaking down the corridor near the bathroom. Leaning against the wall, fingers trying to rub out a knot that hasn’t yet appeared in his skull. The one pulsing, threatening to build behind his eye.

He’s unsure what he wants to do, what he needs. Retrieving his phone, just clicking around, before finding himself on your texts—feeling better for it.

Reading them back, smirking at some, smiling wide at others. A shape forming in his head, little details he’d amassed to make up you. A person he was pretty sure meant more to him than evening company, but it seemed tricky to delve too far into it. 

That is until his phone vibrated. 

Just wanted to tell you I miss you. Even if that’s weird. 

His fingers hover over the keys, a retort quick—there in his touch.

Slowly he presses it out, hearing the click even over the bar’s music as he double and triple taps each button he wants, until it forms what it is he thought:

not weird, you drunk I’m tipsy, not drunk. Still mean it. good cause i miss you too

you never said how the movie was

As someone who flies a lot, I shouldn’t have watched it.

that bad

Will probably have to hold the hand of my seat mate the next time work makes me fly. 

I’m sure they won’t mind 

Depends on the length of my nails I guess. 

some people don’t mind nails clawing in certain situations

You trying to tell me you like nails down your back, Javi? 

if the situation is right, yes 

What about in your hair?

now who’s being a tease 

I’m learning so much tonight. 

and your putting images in my head 

I’d love to know what I look like in it, since you haven’t seen me.

beautiful, you look beautiful 

My face is burning. 

your day been ok

Yeah, was fine. Work has been rough. 

you want to talk about it

Not really, it’s stupid anyway. Plus, would rather do the crosswords and hang with you.

you do have two to make up to me

Best get giving me the clues then, Javi. 

four letters, begins with f 

Is this a Javi crossword or a real crossword 

baby, cmon 

Fuck?

fork 

someone’s in a dirty mood

You’re such a dick. Give me a real clue. 

There's not a point in time where he can track how his thoughts went from nothing to you. But, he thinks about you all the time.

Has been doing so constantly for the last two days, at least—the occasional vibrations from his phone making his lips twitch and his mind wander. Javi’s brain exploding with wonder at what your reply could say. 

Sometimes, he tries not to check immediately. Test—see—how long he can go before he does. It’s not been going well.

An excitement dashing through his veins that fills his chest, warms his neck and makes a ridiculous grin appear (one he’s caught accidentally in the mirror).

The back and forth has been quicker—for as costly as it was—outside of routines and work. His fingers have even improved in the speed of tapping the same key to get one single letter.

Each text makes him feel like he learns a new nugget about you, gathering a new piece of the puzzle—an idea of you forming in front of his eyes. One he likes—craves more of—wishing for other tidbits similar to how you like coffee after breakfast, not before. 

That you don’t care for birthday cake, but love cookies. 

morning hermosa hope you managed to grab the coffee

He doesn’t expect to hear from you.

Remembering that your time management in the morning isn’t to be admired. You are someone who is either awake too early or too late—never in the middle.

But, when he finishes. Sweat clinging to every muscle, he’s surprised to find nothing.

Even a little disappointed.

finished up for the day, unsure whether to lounge around on the porch or push the boat out and lounge in the barn

You’ve become such a part of his day, his shoulders sink when he steps out of the shower to see nothing.

His heart slips down inside his chest, resting unsteadily on his ribs as he checks and checks. His fingers fluff his hair as he runs his fingers through it before finding a strand, twisting, and twisting.

I’m probably worrying about nothing but just let me know you’re ok

A part of him had worried this would happen.

That he would allow the attachment to grow—ropes and threads wrapping around him—and it would be taken from under his feet.

He has a history of becoming hooked—usually combining itself with his need to help, to make someone’s day better, easier.

And on paper, he knew it was odd. To care for someone he hadn’t ever even met. But he cares all the same.

Copious amounts, in fact.

Far past an, ‘I miss you’—something else entirely, not that he’d admit as much.

hermosa I’m really getting worried now

He doesn’t want to call.

Doesn’t want to invade your privacy, your space. But it’s knotting inside of him. The things he’s seen, rushing to the surface, pecking away, making him overthink.

His mind conjures ideas that you’re hurt, wounded. That you’re crying, alone. Each flash of his past has the curated blob-of-a-face he’s created for you, written over it.

His fingers twitch, hand moving to his pocket before remembering there are no cigarettes to be found there. He quit. Ages ago. Felt better for it—for the most part—until now.

Now when all he wants is to focus on the taste, the way smoke swirls with the warm Texas air—

Hey, I'm so sorry, I had a bad day. Just didn’t check my phone.  shit hermosa, you scared me.  almost called you.  Really? yeah  Would you? what call you Yeah?

[Dialing number…]

you declined  I did

His heart sinks, crashes, and plummets. 

Then a new vibration, one that travels down his fingers to his wrist, suddenly staring at an instruction: Give me your landline number, be cheaper. For both of us. 

Glancing into the living room, he taps the number in for you. Hating each precious second he wastes by having to delete a letter that should be a number.

Pushing the chair back, hearing it screech as he hovers. Nervousness thumps through him, making him shake, vibrate. 

Staring, willing the phone to ring.

Even as he tries to collect himself, his mind has already begun running away from him. Hearing his pulse thump in his ear, thump, thump—

And then it’s ringing—you’re ringing. 

His voice shouts out he’ll get it as he picks up the phone from the hook. 

“Javi… that you?”

Grinning, he laughs, light and airy. “Hi. Yeah, it’s me.” 

Silence blankets his ears and the air, thumb circling a knot in his forehead. 

Smiling, he changes the phone to his other ear. “Knew you’d sound pretty. You have a nice voice.” 

“Shut up, Javi. I’ve said three words.”

“And a few more.”

He hears you suck in a breath as heat rushes to his ears, feeling the edges of his lips curl into a smile.

“You wanna talk about it or talk about something else?” 

He hears you take a breath another breath. Different this time, all accompanied by a shuffling sound from your end.

“Something else. If that… that’s okay?”

“Yeah, sure. Alright, lemme… lemme think for a second—“

You clear your throat, “You have a nice voice, too, by the way.”

Pausing, he bites the inside of his cheek. “Like you imagined?”

“Better, honestly.”

“I could have called you. I have this additional thing on our plan—so my Pop could call. When I was away.” 

“From when you were in Colombia?”

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he nodded. “Yeah…” 

“Well, if this conversation goes well, you may get a new number to add to your phone book.” 

“That so? Who’s flirting now.”

You laugh, sweet—fluttering its gorgeous wings down the phone to his ear as he readjusts the phone.

Dropping his voice, he turns more to the walls. “So, what you wearing, baby?”

“Oh my god, Javi.”

He doesn’t even mute his laughter, just lets it flow from him—rushing through the house. Not even caring if his Pop can hear him in the next room.

"I'm wearing nothing."

"Hermosa, you tease."

You laugh, and it's different. It's rich, and makes the room glow around him, without you even being here.

"I'm not really, I'm in a baggy t-shirt."

"Not as sexy, but I'm sure I can work with it."

You snort, "Javi, stop."

He wonders if your cheeks are warm. He hopes they are.

Leaning against the wall, he smirks, if only to himself. "I like how you say my name, Hermosa."

an: thank you so much for all being wonderful, i heart you

[ganondoodle]

still thinking about how even just the decision to basically act like the shiekah tech never existed is just ... so baffling to me

bc again you could have done all the sonau tech does with shiekah instead, and they were perfect to be explored more in a sequel, why wouldnt you grasp that potential, the literal building blocks for more??

if you are that tired of shiekah tech .. dont make it a fuckign sequel to the game prominently featuring it???? totk doesnt take place generations after botw in which things could have changed drastically, its just a few years afterwards??

you want to reuse the map and get rid of shiekah tech? ok fine take LINK into the past then and the focus is for you to find a way to return; do some neat twist where its revealed that link was the one who sealed gan bc he couldnt defeat him without zelda or something if you dare (they wouldnt)

want less work than that and still reuse the map and get rid of shiekah tech AND reuse characters? ok then make it some alternate universe thingy like majoras mask in which everythign is the same but also isnt, its weird and creepy how characters you thoguht you knew suddendly dont act like themselves, shiekah tech doesnt exist, malice is now miasma, etc, it would give reason to why you feel so much like something about this world is familiar yet also very wrong

as far as im aware every "sequel" we have had so far were either generations apart from the first one, some alternate universe or a different location altogether- in all of which its plausible that things are different, things seem weirdly familiar but also wrong, or that another continent just works different from hyrule

but totk does none of that, its supposedly just a few years after the first game, same world same character, but its BUILT like some strange jumbled mess of stuff from botw and new stuff out of nowhere that just .. doesnt fit, but feeling a strange sense of otherness, a déja vu of something you know but it acts off, like an imposter, thats NOT intentional and it shows, its a mess of botw stuff, from stuff that people missed from the old games and entirely new stuff; i dont doubt it CAN work but the way it turned out is like a mix of 3 different puzzles forced together and being told 'see it fits!' even tho you can clearly see the pieces dont look right in these places

again it feels like a sequel that desperately wants you to forget the first game happened, that anythign from it mattered at all

and that isnt really ... the sense of a sequel? why insist on it being one when it only creates problems? is it marketing?? just like it was marketing to call age of calamity a telling of what happened before botw but then it wasnt that at all and that is still the sole reason why i dislike it? bc i was lied to? totk is like 10000 times worse than that, its a main title and doesnt even have the excuse of yeah its basically an excuse to play all your fav characters in fun ways and the game beign well aware that being its main appeal; what is totk appeal? a toybox with botw aestethic and none of the flavor?

(on a sidenote; the sonau tech doesnt even .. matter? in botw at least calamity ganon was made of shiekah tech parts and him overtaking other tech is a big point, the sonau tech doesnt serve anything but .. idk minerus useless mech? gan doesnt even aknowledge it, he doesnt care, all it is is toys for the player, not link, but the player. the monsters mining the tech materials? what for? gan doesnt give a damn and they dont work for the yiga either??)

i said it before but it gives me the feeling that the way botw invited you to theorize, to look beneath the surface, the way it intrigued you and laid the groundwork for so many interesting things without denying anything.. was accidental? or perhaps put in the game without the directors noticing? i cant stop thinking about them saying sth like "after botw zelda wondered if the kingdom of hyrule needed to keep existing the way it had been before the calamity, but then totk happens" bc it just feels like they realized too late that botw naturally led into questioning the status quo and they scrambled to fit it back into a flat and boring road we have seen so many times before (or even worse really) with totk

zeldas character naturally leads into her questioning and reexamine their history and set of rules? we gotta teach her a lesson of why she is importante god given monarchy girl that has to keep it bc what if evil brown man shows up again for no reason

maybe im grasping at straws here but looking at it this way the sonau .. make more "sense"; the shiekah were a group that was under the rule of the royal family, and misstreated before (oh no look soemthing interesting) so they dont lend themselves well to be used for teaching zelda that lesson- the sonau however are tailored really to be just that; they are a supposedly godly race from the literal sky that founded this version of hyrule, that had tech even more advanced and better than the shiekah, she gets put in the past to meet the perfect god king of goodness personally, also his very fridgy wifey that zelda later replaces in a way, shes put there and treated like family and then gets to see just how evil that evil big man from the desert is, sonia is falcon-punched to death solely so zelda can feel obligated to take over her role, have her new, better 'family' hurt by gan; similarly so raurus sacrifice, look what a noble and good king he is, he payed the ultimate price to lock that evil man away, now zelda you cannot let their sacrifice go to waste, rebuild that divinely good kingdom like it was!!

and even though they go so much out of their way to put the cart back onto the rails of black and white-good and evil in an even flatter way than the old games, it still doesnt feel right, at least to me, it still feels like zelda shouldnt have gone along with all of that, it feels like even her character from botw was walked back entirely, except for the intro, it made her feel like a stranger to me-

because this is a sequel, i know this zelda, she wouldnt act like that after all that shes been through, this feels ... off

and it all just insulting to anyone who cared about botw more than surface level, or the zelda lore in general, i dont even care much about the timeline, but theres alot of lore and themes beyond it that felt ignored, especially so given that .. its a damn sequel, non AU, not generations apart, directly part 2-

but its not.

it even feels very "corporate", put zelda in a dress again, people liked that, put crazy abilities in the game to flashbang people with how insane it is even if its not the best for the gameplay or the story, put a new asthetic into it out of nowhere bc its 'new' and act like its been there the whole time, put gan in there bc people miss him and find him sexy even if his role is just as flat as that of an evil cloud monster-

*sigh*

you know, i saw a post that said aoc was like a bad fanfic (affectionate) and totk was like a bad fanfic (derogatory) and tbh thats like one of the best comparisons/summaries i have seen ..

[sticks-stones-sonic-insanity]

I JUST FINISHED SONK ADVENTURE 2 IM NOT OKAY OMG

The scene with Shadow falling to earth was funny at first and it all happened so fast i was still trying to wrap my head around it. Ppl talk about that scene a lot which theyre so right for, but i need to talk about the scenes after because oh my god they broke me!?!??!

Sonic, coming back onto the ark, completely silent. Everyone asking if Shadow made it back and he just slowly shakes his head without a word.

The scene where Sonic gives Rouge Shadow's inhibitior ring hold so much more weight to me after actually playing the game: In the short time they knew each other, Shadow saved Rouge's life. Twice. This is the only possession she has to remember him by. Knuckles asks her what shes going to do now and she actually stops to reflect and remarks how shes thinking of changing jobs, something else on her mind now(What exactly shes referring to in this moment isnt stated but theres a fair few connections to draw there). After almost getting killed during a heist and never getting a chance to thank the guy who saved her from it, that's a pretty good and strangely mature call to make from a writing standpoint. This whole scene has a similar feeling like that, like the jokes and the extravagance thats typical of the cutscenes have really been toned down with intention.

This one genuinely shocked me, and im really surprised i havent come across anything about it yet because the scene between Eggman and Tails was actually super deep?? There are a lot of different Sonic medias as far as I im aware that have touched on the paralells between Eggman and Tails: their small similarities and how well they work together when they have to, but the scene here really stuck out to me. Eggman is talking about how much he admired his grandfather as a child, how much his work inspired him to learn and create and strive to be great like him, drifting off to question whether or not he really wanted to see them all fall. Tail's response is very chipper and optimistic, but i really like the idea of Eggman having almost this turning point here, having to face something so saddening as watching someone you love curse the world and everyone on it(including you). After arguably some of the most dangerous and threatening feats have been accomplished by Eggman in this game as the story's primary antagonist, is this moment a nod to him maybe stopping to think about what he's done? Im amazed by how much meaning can be taken from these few seconds of dialogue!!

Finally, the last two moments. Amy, despite having had her own short heart to heart with Shadow before the final battle and ultimately being the one to spurr Shadow on to fight alongside Sonic and the others, doesn't seem as upset by Shadows death as Sonic is. This is genuinely, in my limited knowledge of Sonic media, one of the only instances i have seen Sonic be thoroughly shaken up by something and brushed it off when someone asks him whats wrong. In most cases, he's just relatively unfazed from an emotional standpoint like that, so theres nothing to brush off in the first place. But here, the ever-yapping blue blur remains silent for a while, just staring at Earth in a similar paralell to how Shadow used to. It isn't until Amy comes by that he looks away. Its the really subtle details here that get me: Sonic doesn't look or respond to her right away. There's a prominent pause of silence before he turns to her and says its nothing, switching the topic immediately to rush her along. Sonic, typically impatient and eager to move to the next adventure, slows down and is the last to leave the deck, delivers the farewell line to end the game. Again, the contrast in how slowly and soft he speaks here in comparison to literally anything else he says in the game is insane. The pause between "Shadow" and "the Hedgehog" is still very funny to me and im not lost on how the delivery does end up being chopped up quite goofy like that, but if that isnt an absolutely insane way to end off the game with such a somber, emotional moment...

Sonadow or no sonadow, take it as you will, its undeniable how impactful this adventure in particular is to Sonic. How much Shadow meant to him by the end of the game. How much his sacrifice meant. I really see his discussion with Rouge as both a way to comfort her, and to comfort himself. To say out loud how heroic and brave he'd seen Shadow to be, regardless of the intention that came from his creation. Sonic is big on freedom and giving people the opportunity to live how they want to, and Shadow's sacrifice in that regard means even more to him. He had just come to understand what he had truly promised Maria he'd do, joined Sonic whole-heartedly to help save the planet, and never got to experience anything beyond that. Given Eggmans continuous antangonistic streak at that point (I'm not fully aware of the other villain's Sonic had faced up until that point), it's rare that Sonic actually gets to see someone who opposed him change for the better!! And not only was Shadow one of the first to do so, but he was a speedy teen hedgehog!!! Just like Sonic himself!!! Its like Shadow said, there was so much more to them that they never got to find out about each other!! The fact that Shadow gave up all of that possibility, all of his own personal freedom to help Sonic save the planet and the freedom of all the people on it? That hits. HARD.

Im not familiar with the full canon of how Sonic actually managed to get one of Shadow's inhibitior rings to give to Rouge, as he's actually not shown in any scene taking them off during the final battle(i actually dont even think their mechanics are properly explained which is more confusing but yk), but getting into more headcanony, sonadow adjacent space for a second? I like to think Shadow actually took two of his rings off/had two break off before he fell. Sonic gave one to Rouge, and secretly kept the other for himself. He obviously didn't want his friends to ask him more questions about how he was feeling, so he hid it in his quills before he greeted them back on the ark. Shadow ended up meaning a lot to Sonic, and it's really interesting to think about what was running through Sonic's mind when all was said and done.

Uhhh anyways good game very very infuriating at times but very good game i have a true taste for the appeal of Sonic games now and i want to play them all. If you actually made it this far, thank you for reading my silly sonk rant! If you have any information you know of to patch the spaces where I'm lacking or just want to discuss your own thoughts on the ending feel free!! Have a good day or night wherever you are :]

[harmoniouseclipse]

Woe fankids be upon ye

Doing a little series where I took some ship requests on my instagram to make them fankids, this one is for me tho (jeanlisa to kick it off whoo 🙌🏻) The lineup so far is Cytham, Kavetham, Lionfish (aka Freminet x Gaming aged up probably idk how old they are canonically), Cynonari, Jealuc, and Beiguang, and feel free to send me some other pairings you wanna see (as long as they are legal pls otherwise I will ignore it 👎)

I'm gonna ramble about some headcanons and lore for them under the cut, continue with caution bc I'm insane

These two are my brainrot rn, don't even joke lad. And I wanna tell yall their name meanings too bc I like them a lot 🥹 Zephra's means "west wind" derived from Greek, and it's the feminine version of Zephyr. Tyrian was a type of purple dye used by the Ancient Phoenicians, huge huge HUGE thanks to my pookie bear @miothefish for helping me out with his name!!! Also he has Lisa's butterfly earring and you can't see bc of the angle but Zephra has the rose that went in her hair holding her ponytail <3

I'm also making a massive family tree for the characters as a go along, and just the jeanlisa tree is taking up half of the canvas bc of the KoF and Sumeru characters since Cyno is their uncle and the rest of the gang are their honorary uncles 😭 I'll be posting that once the series is done/all the requests are finished/I run out of ships and otps I enjoy

Here's an alternative version with some more info on most of the characters I wanted to briefly mention in their relation to them; Tyrian likes calling Eula his aunt too even though she was never really considered one for them so it's kind of like her unofficial title she pretends to dislike but she loves it and dotes on Tyrian 🤭 She and Diluc also helped train Zephra with a claymore and Diluc kind of became a parental figure to her in her teen years after Lisa's passing 🥺 She also feels like she's outshined by Jean and that she's not smart or powerful enough to follow in Lisa's footsteps (something that Lisa wouldn't want anyways bc it led her to her death 😔) rip zephra she's just like me fr

And yeah some Kaeya angst bc he's still going thru it I fear, and Jean is single mombossing but she's worried for zephra which me too dawg, im afraid to say she might be cooked 😦 Zephra is also kind of like a weird mix of Lisa when she was her age and Jean, where overall she's well-mannered and kind but she can be competitive and feel the need to push herself too much and pull a few strings to get what she wants from time to time. Tyrian is a ray of sunshine tho, he has not yet witnessed the horrors 💔 I do think that Jean is also a lot easier on him than her mom was with her so that also helps. He's very shy tho and wants to stick with Zephra or Razor most of the time, and they both have some nasty tan lines from going out with Razor and Klee and Fischl a lot 😔 Cyno also freaking loves them and dotes on them and Tyrian is getting a TCG addiction because of it smh, Cyno is also one of Zephra's favorite people and when she's in Sumeru she stays with him and Alhaitham (bc in my universe they are married ough I love cytham)

And (I think?) Klee physically and mentally ages slower than humans so I think she'd be technically 9 or 10, and Zephra is left with babysitting duty most of the time if she's home on break or smth 😭 Klee really looks up to her tho

Also, I wrote Tyrian's last bullet point like he was super young when Lisa died, but I think he was around 7 so he actually remembers Lisa better than I intended it to sound, he was just younger than Zephra (who was 11 at the time) and just didn't have as much time with her as Zeph did, but his most fond memory of Lisa was reading with her and she probably taught them some potion-making skills too.

I think there will be some abyss angst in here too at some point, since I hc Lisa to be probably an Abyss Lector/Harold (I forget which is which) um so thinking that Zeph and Tyrian experiencing some not normal things happening and Jean doesn't know what to do since Lisa also didn't really know what that dog in her was until it was too late 😔 That's what Kaeya's for tho since he's like the heir of the abyss???? Go off king. Also some touchy ragbros angst bc Kaeya is scared for Zeph knowing how close she is with Luc and he doesn't want him to push her away because of her being from the abyss or smth (they mostly made up but it's still a fear in Kaeya's mind both for him and Jean's kids)

I think that's all I wanted to touch on for now?? Mainly just thinking about domestic fluff and angst all the time now 🥺 Zeph not being able to be open with Jean bc she feels like a disappointment but Jean would literally actually die for her and shes proud of her no matter what ough im going to lose my freak dawg guess who my favorite fankid is it's super hard ik

Send me asks or dms or whatever for more ship requests!!! I'm having so much fun with this dawg 🫶🏻

[ca-suffit]

im sorry your takes are generally pretty great and i appreciate the space you make in fandom but i find the dismissal around lestat's queerness to be diminishing.

louis is a fantastic gay character and u r right about how he represents his queerness which is fabulously. he is mother he is fashion he is wife, a lot, and lestat is a lot more masc in aspects of their dynamic. louis also struggles with it, had internalized homophobia, and his relationship to his sexuality is fraught. now you can have that complexity and still be a "gay icon" sure but what i see here is a gay man existing. not every gay man existing has to be ~iconic~. louis is working on himself.

lestat is a different person and is going out there to make a mark on culture actively, regardless of why. he's not putting on a dress for five seconds (which btw was still pretty impactful in context but ok), he is being meaningfully gnc and making art. this is what queer culture is. it's frustrating to see this element diminished like it's just a meme or a bunch of people being thirsty.

im all for critiquing fandom being weirdos about it but i think the showrunners are doing something spectacular and pretending like fans are making lestat into something he is not just isn't the vibe.

reading this made me realize that I left out a sentence in this ask, so it did come off differently than I intended. I'd meant to say there's already been a lot of exploration of characters / ppl like lestat, but there's never been a character like louis before. I wasn't rly ever talking about lestat's queerness itself, I was talking about how he's prioritized bcuz he's white.

if u personally identity with him in this then that's ur right to, obviously. no group is a monolith and I was never trying to say one way is more "right" than the other. I rly do apologize if it came across like that, cuz I can see why it did.

"he's not putting on a dress for five seconds (which btw was still pretty impactful in context but ok)"

I don't rly know what u mean here bcuz within the show, nobody comments on the dress. ppl react to the baby but everything we know of the dress otherwise was only revealed by carol cutshall bts. I don't know what impact ur meaning here. to the tv audience, sure, but the NOLA audience?? or is it the fact he designed it in the first place.

tbh the thing I most noticed was that once again a white, european immigrant got to be center stage in an event that louis, as a black, louisiana native, isn't (like the card game lestat already had a place at more favored than louis earlier in S1). he also was able to wear that dress in public without public scorn (being european prbly helped here too, he's "other'd" but not the same way as louis is "other'd" for being black), which is something louis could never have done and actually survived at all. it's not that lestat doesn't experience homophobia otherwise, but he's still got a lot more room to confront it than louis, claudia, or armand would have, as ppl who would be confronting homophobia *and* racism with no access to white privilege (claudia literally dies in the same hour we see lestat confront a homophobe otherwise on his and louis' behalf and "win").

idk what they're going to explore for S3 yet, but what we've seen so far is....not that deep tbh. it's not even especially "queer." we're aware he is so we know it is, but straight men have worn makeup and flashy outfits and done homoerotic shit as musicians before too. very often. nothing we've seen from lestat so far has been pushing any boundary as a queer artist or making any kind of statement. I'm not trying to sound like a total bitch here, but a lot of what ur saying is pushing this white fandom agenda of the "importance" of so much that any white, queer character does that....just isn't. lestat's image and sound is taking a lot from other ppl in real music history who *were* doing groundbreaking things at the time, straight or not, but what he's doing is just wearing it as a costume rn. his lyrics even say "I'm an actor / in my makeup." like I said, S3 in full will bring more to the table, obviously, but for what we've seen so far....this hasn't said anything in any objective way that's "deep." u can still like it and identity with it, but idk how u'd argue that it's doing anything tbh. ur welcome to do it tho, I'm not trying to shut down the conversation here. I'm just giving my perspective. I *do* actually think this is stuff we should talk about exactly *bcuz* fandom rides so hard for it all the time. it should be explored why that is, what's the logic behind it. I rly am interested.

edit: wanted to add too that p much everyone we see in this show is queer and creative so literally why is nobody ever saying all this about louis' photography, claudia's acting and interest in fashion (or her general observations on the world thru so many diaries that are referenced in multiple ways as she's not around anymore to speak otherwise), armand's theatre work, madeleine's dressmaking. that's usually why ppl comment on lestat, bcuz he's the most noticed and praised but he's literally not the only one doing it at all.

[avocado-writing]

Your wrintings are so yum!!!!! How are you able to write them so good!!! I read and feel, easily visualizing everything you describe!!! (if you're up for it, I'd love to read about Aziraphale being smothered with love, pampered, adored, worshipped by reader(or both of his lovers!)(sfw or nsfw, whatever you're inspired to do!) Thanks for sharing your works!

notes: this is absolute filth. i'm so sorry (no im not).

pairing: aziraphale x reader x crowley

rating: E, minors dni

tags: TLTDATSIB-verse; cum play; light praise-kink; dirty talk

There are many things to love about Aziraphale.

His soft body. His pretty eyes. His little breaths of ecstasy as you pleasure him. No wonder you and Crowley have committed every part of him to memory. After all, why wouldn’t you want to remember a perfect thing down to its finest detail?

The three of you are in bed. It’s a rainy Friday evening, and at the moment the two of you are playing one of your favourite games with him: who can get the angel to blush the hardest? You’re pretty equal at the moment, and with your hands all over him, Aziraphale is utterly at your mercy.

“I love his hair,” you mutter, carding your fingers through his soft blond curls. You make sure to snag them a little, pull them in that way he loves. Aziraphale moans and keens into your touch, his cheeks a rosy pink.

“I love his chest,” Crowley counters. The demon dips down to snare one of Aziraphale’s pretty pink nipples between his teeth, half biting, half sucking, and in turn you reach to take a handful of soft pectoral and squeeze. He goes from blushing to a bright red.

“Oh… oh my…”

You and Crowley look at each other and grin. Individually you can get Aziraphale hot and bothered, but together? You’re a force majeure on your poor husband.

“You know what else I love, Crowley?”

“Go on, nightingale.”

“I love the sounds he makes when he wants to come.”

“Oh, me too.”

Aziraphale whimpers, actually whimpers, and as Crowley snares his lips in a kiss you bend over to take his cock in your mouth. You swallow him down until you feel him hit the back of your throat, making him languish there for a moment as Crowley steals the sounds of lust straight from the source. Going further, you press your nose against the fair curls at the base of his shaft before pulling back all the way to the tip to tongue his slit, letting the taste of his angelic precome flood you. Your eyes roll back in your head.

You’d fuck these two forever if you could. Really. You’ve never become bored of each other’s bodies, in fact to know them as intimately as the three of you do only means you know the ways to drive each other wild. Crowley buries his hand in your hair, knowing Aziraphale is far too polite to do it, and begins to help you move up and down his length, smearing him with spit as you keep trying to take him deeper. 

“Go on, nightingale. That’s it. Fuck, you look good doing that.”

“I’m… I’m going to…” Aziraphale breathes, breaking Crowley’s kisses just long enough to stammer out a warning.

“Come, angel,” Crowley says with a grin, encouraging you to go faster, “we want you to.”

With a moan that you’re sure is loud enough for the whole street to hear, Aziraphale orgasms in your mouth. Usually you’d swallow him straight down but you don’t have a chance, because when his hips stop their little ruts upwards while he spends, Crowley takes your face in his hands and guides you up to kiss him. 

You unhurriedly entwine your tongue with your husband’s, making sure he knows he’s just as appreciated, and the two of you hum in pleasure as you share the taste of Aziraphale’s come. 

“Oh,” Aziraphale manages, because it’s all he’s capable of at this sight of abject lust. To be adored is a wonderful thing, and by the two of you? It floods him with a pride he isn’t accustomed to.

You and Crowley both swallow before turning to look at him.

“Not done yet, are you angel? We’re just getting started.”

Aziraphale moans.

-

taglist: @angiestopit @dazed-soul  @foolishprincipalitee @smile-eywa @staygoldsquatchling02 @underratedboogeyman @specter-soltare @candlewitch-cryptic @cool-ontherun-world @emilynissangtr @willbedecided @bdffkierenwalker @cool-iguana @ilyatan @civil-groupie @willyoubethepookietomypookster @lxsm2 @clarina04 @wtfhasmy-lifecometo @mrgatotortuga @wereallbrokenangels @night-affiliate @silcosmoke @kimqueenofhell @chewbrry

[sergeifyodorov]

would u do a little analysis of how each team has done so far this season … i trust ur opinions so much

EACH team okay... under the cut bc i am not subjecting the masses to 32 nasty little thots cody edition

Bruins: RIP patrice of course but the bruins are steamrolling as ever... i think that if there is any evidence of the universe simply not caring abt good things it is that the bruins slip and stumble and have some of their best players retired and still manage to put up a 50 win season every year. <- salty leafs fan but ANYHWAY the bruins are easily a Playoff Team. simply "there" 5v5, strong power play, they make their money off finishing (pastrnak you filthy animal) and goaltending (swaymark you filthy animals). they have been trending downwards of late so i'm not entirely sure of like their final standings place but with this kind of head start they're staying up.

Sabres: currently in what we the people call a "decade of darkness." might be a "two decades of darkness" if we're going to be honest. the active player with the most playoff points with the sabres is tyler myers. 7 points. yeah the tall one most famous for having a subreddit that posts the gamescore card every time he's on the bottom of the gamescore card. sabres are really hard to fix because their first real step to contention is "hoping devon levi turns out really good." not promising. bad enough that by selling a piece or two celebrini is in sight. maybe that'll help? a third 1OA?

Red Wings: presenting the mid-season Season Ruining Unforced Error Award early by saying: not that they were going to be as good as their first few games of sniping suggested, but signing patrick kane tanked any realistic hope they have of playoffs. is patrick kane good? he's actually alright. maybe this time the surgery worked. is the team made better by having him on it? it surely isn't! a few REALLY BADLY TIMED dylan larkin based misfortunes have made it go from bad to worse. they were in A2 like a month ago and now they're Out. strengths: finishing. weaknesses: everything else, including morale.

Panthers: okay you've probably clocked this by now but ive been Generally Salty so far and that is bc a) im easily tempted to haterhood and b) currently discussing each team in the atlantic which does nothing to make me less Tempted To Haterhood. that being said the panthers are Good and For Real About It. they can do everything except finish chances, which is fine when the other team has way fewer chances than you and your goalie doesn't let any of them in. fuck ALLL the way off. place your bets on these guys having a deep playoff run. cross your fingers for them not having a deep playoff run i can't stand chuckyposting again it's RAN ITS COURSE. (also: machuk is probably still injured and absolutely Not doing as well as he did the last few seasons. maybe because he's just not that kind of guy but it's probably at least mostly the broken chest thing)

Canadiens: they are bad EXCEPT when it comes to overtime + the shootout. also much like the sabres they're going nowhere fast. i expect at least one of their goalies to be gone at the deadline... furthermore i think ppl who are ragging on slaf's slow development are simply expecting all 1OAs to be like an auston or a connor type (pick your connor) where they come in and immediately adapt -- slaf rings very reminiscent of quinton byfield to me, who was picked 2OA in 2020 and is only now starting to break out. give him time he's a baby...

Senators: despite how much literally everyone talks up all their players constantly, they are not good either. like the sabres or the habs... atlantic is 4 teams in the genuine hunt, 3 teams who suck and have sucked forever and will suck forevermore, and the red wings who haven't made up their minds yet. the sens actually Do have a singular Biggest Problem though and that's goaltending, but they're not a good enough team otherwise that getting a quality goaltender is going to make them playoffs worthy, especially not in the very short (this-season) run.

Lightning: the lightning are weird to me because like i think they're still making up their mind as A People what they want to do. kucherov is the best player in the league rn, this is stamkos' ufa season and he hasn't been offered an extension, vasilevskiy is back and vasying his levskiy... i fully believe they have the capability of getting a playoff spot, maybe even A3 if they want. we've all seen them in the playoffs, we know how they can turn ~It~ on at will. as always they're a deeply mid 5v5 team powered by very strong special teams... the goaltending numbers say goaltending is shit but they've been playing in front of the genuinely unplayable jonas johansson most of the season so i think it'll be fine.

Maple Leafs: as the team ive watched the moast i can talk about these guys for evar so for all of our sanities i will be brief: Auston Matthews, Baby, Look At Him, That's Auston, Auston Motherfucking "Sexy Mustached Bitch" Matthews!!!!!!! powered by an extremely strong power play and very good offence, and defence and goaltending that is held together by Morgan Rielly and a dream. possibly the only reason they're in a playoff spot is the fact that martin jones didn't get claimed on waivers three months ago and i am being dead serious about that. for some reason they're at their best when they're down by two. they do really need both their #1 goalie to come back from injury and to make a splash for a genuine nhl-calibre defenceman, but they're stubbornly determined to win games even through nasty flu.

Hurricanes: their usual selves -- analytics darlings, can't buy a goal. this year they can't buy a save either -- Freddie is out with a medical condition, Raanta is straight up not good, and Kochetkov is... well, he's Kochetkov. they're not far out of a spot but they'll need a hot hand if they want to get comfy... which i don't expect, frankly. they're good enough to make the playoffs, but they're not really a team that goes on heaters, so they'll be bubble until the end.

Blue Jackets: genuinely not sure they know what they're doing like... okay. from an outside pov they are obviously Tanking. they're bad in every way that matters except for finishing and the standings show it. but also like... they're at the point in their development cycle where they shouldn't be tanking... or at least are on the verge of Shouldn't Be Tanking. and again, because they don't know what they're doing, they hired mike babcock for this... if they know what they're doing they'll toss kekalainen as soon as they can and, following this year's draft, start Fighting. but let's be real i doubt that. adam fantilli it's your time to shine... sorry sweetheart!

Devils: see Hurricanes. Great on paper, can't buy a save. They've obviously been stunted by Timo, J'accuse, and Nico all being injured at various points, but goaltending is their biggest and most solvable problem. Unlike the Hurricanes, though, the Devils are fully capable of going on a heater, so the gap between them and WC2 isn't as big as it looks (probably.) Luke Hughes is going to be something special.

Rangers: Looks like Lafreniere is finally getting his feet under him -- but the Rangers have always been far more about getting old, known players to get a second wind with them than they've been about prospect development, and Quick and Wheeler are both showing this pretty definitively. Another one of those teams that's run by special teams and finishing/goaltending. Easy playoff spot, likely solid run. Nothing too interesting here.

Islanders: On the other hand, the Isles are interesting because... like... how did they get There? They have a negative goal differential, for heaven's sake! Their special teams are godawful, their defence is a sieve, they blow leads like that's what actually gets you points in this league, and they're somehow second in the Metropolitan??????? Is it Horvat? Barzal? Sorokin? (It's probably Sorokin.) They'll make the playoffs but i doubt they'll succeed in them.

Flyers: This one's also weird. They have the power play and offence of a peewee team in the big leagues, but have become defensively Actually Super Competent and are somehow good because of this? I'm going to theorize -- because you've asked me to but also because I really want to -- that this is due, at least in part, to somewhat of an inverse Kane-on-the-Red-Wings effect from their offseason removal of Provorov and DeAngelo; without them, the team is now not only better defensively on paper but also better as a team in the locker room. They're [uncle voice] playing with heart now! I doubt they're a real contender, but I think they might actually make playoffs.

Penguins: ...this one's also weird. They're good on paper. Like, really good on paper? Defensively "just okay" but offensively great, goaltending is fantastic, special teams are shutdown. They just can't buy a goal and they can't buy a good sequence.

Capitals: This one's weird, too, but in the opposite way -- aside from the power-play, the Caps are actually godawful on paper, especially when it comes to finishing (because when Ovechkin takes such a high percentage of your shots but he isn't scoring, your team REALLY suffers) but somehow they've managed to pinpoint sequencing luck (win close, lose ugly) and are somehow in WC1. Do I think they'll make the playoffs? Absolutely not -- if either the Devils or Canes step up, the Caps are the odd man out -- but it might be fun to see them try. Or hell, I hope they win-close-lose-ugly their way to a goddamn Cup final. Would be funny as fuck for Ovi's second-longest ever playoff run to come at the fresh young age of thirty-eight. Dude looks ragged out there. I'm going to shut up now before I start talking about finding him sexy

Coyotes: Simple on paper: bad at running play, good goaltending and finishing. Essentially what the Canucks are doing at a smaller scale. The Leafs should never have let Kerfoot walk and I mean that unironically. Okay, anyway, the Yotes are a bubble team and won't make higher than WC1 because of the logjam at the top of the Central, but holy fuck do I want them to make WC1 (or a playoff spot in general.) People ask "how can we grow the game" a lot, and when it comes to what the NHL can do directly, the number one biggest thing is win in small markets. Arizona has already created one of the sports' biggest stars -- Auston! -- and it's an absolutely massive TV market and a potential hotbed of new fans and new, great players. Arizona making a playoff spot -- or even better, going on a run -- would be amazing for the NHL. And it would be funny. And I would like that.

Blackhawks: shoutout to dave !!! dave who works for the hawks!!! anyway the hawks are very obviously tanking and good at it. Their only real point of interest is their Sacred Child, and holy fuck is their Sacred Child going to absolutely fucking smash it when he's given a team that's not entirely made up of scrubs. i think his analytics, especially his defensive numbers, are, like, fine? but accounting for his leverage (all situations, especially the difficult ones), his teammates (his best linemate is Anthony Beauvillier, and tito... is a third liner), and the fact that he's all of eighteen, he's definitely on track to be a Real Force. i kinda love him... okay moving on.

Avalanche: All-over good: finishing their biggest obvious strength, but hockeywise they don't have any real weaknesses... although there is some serious Drama brewing in that locker room and i think it might just be getting started. with landeskog gone for at least until the end of this year (and possibly forever) and ej a sabre, there is absolutely no one in there capable of actually emotionally running a team: makar lacking in a leader's magnetism, rantanen an idiot, toews and mackinnon far too high-strung and competitive, and no one else with seniority. they're a good enough team that it's not really affecting them right now, but ... i don't know, i can kind of feel it coming. They'll make the playoffs, but when the pressure is on they'll either step up or completely fall apart.

Stars: See above: all-over good, but saving their biggest obvious weakness. I think most of this is spurred by Otter being out -- Wedgewood is a serviceable backup goaltender, but obviously not capable of being a real starter, and the team is stuttering because of it. I doubt it'll be for long or too much difficulty (they're a good defensive team, so it's not going to affect them a lot, but they might lose a game or two they might have won with Otter, especially if he's out for a while), but it's going to keep them from taking a step on top of the Central. Easy playoff team, probable contender.

Wild: They are bad! Penalty kill is their worst weakness, but they're not great in goal either and the combination is kicking their ass. As much as I respect how well they've done with that giant cap-space penalty from the Parise/Suter buyouts all those years ago, it's... kind of time to throw in the towel. Get Flower those final few wins, because by god are they devoid of much other success. Right at the tail of a competitive arc. RIP. Tank incoming.

Predators: Weirdly good, even though Saros hasn't been his usual self? O'Reilly esp has been an absolutely fantastic addition for the team over the offseason. No huge strengths, no significant weaknesses. Not an amazing offensive team, but it's Nashville so they were never going to be -- the place practically breeds defensive forwards and all-around dmen. I don't expect they'll seriously contend, but they'll make the playoffs (unless someone offers the farm for Saros).

Blues: I genuinely think so little about the Blues .... that whole thing with Jordan Kyrou has been the most I've thought about them for a bit. That and the fact that only three of their games haven't been decided by the first goal? They're not good and they're really boring. Yeehaw.

Jets: THE JETS let's get JUICY. Jets' biggest strengths by far are a) 5v5 defence and b) finishing/goaltending. Even with Kyle Connor out they're sniping and Hellebuyck and Brossoit are both absolutely on it. The Jets have always seemed to have this problem where on paper (take a shot every time I've written "on paper" in this post if you want to die of alcohol poisoning) they seem fantastic, then January onwards they absolutely plummet. And it's not January yet, so that might still happen, but that kind of thing tends to happen because of a dramatic morale shift, and now that Lowry's captain and Wheeler's left for New York... that might not happen? They've banked enough points that unless they're historically bad from here on out they're still a playoff team. If they keep up what they have going so far, they're a contender, but if it's the same Winnipeg with the same problems, then they're not.

Ducks: Taking a step in the right direction with Carlsson and Mintyukov, but still bad! I really hope Carlsson recovers well, he seems like a sweet boy. Also: what on Earth are they doing with Zegras. Is he a defenceman now? Are they making him play defence? Are he and Dixie D'Amelio still dating? I have many questions. I just hope whichever high draft pick they get is an idiot. I feel like they need another dumbass baby on the team.

Flames: The Flames also appear to have no idea what's going on. And frankly, neither do I! They're too good to be obviously tanking, but not near good enough to be a bubble team. They're definitely reluctant to sell, but their best hope to win soon absolutely should be selling. They have one of the worst contracts in the league on their payroll (wow... I hope the guy in charge of my favourite team didn't sign that!) and a bunch of really solid late-round picks and prospects cutting their teeth on the NHL. In short: they aren't going to make the playoffs and should be leaning into that, but they don't seem to have realized this yet.

Oilers: For the sake of not gloating, I'm going to sum this one up with a Marek quote: If you have a goalie, it's 70% of your team. If you don't, it's 100%. They've had finishing trouble, but considering they absolutely run the show at 5v5 AND special teams (they put nearly SIXTY SHOTS on Vasilevskiy the other day) a little finishing shouldn't be quite so dangerous if they didn't have two sieves minding the net. McDavid might hit 150 again and the Oil might still miss the playoffs. If they get in, they're going far, but at this point it'll be tough as fuck to make it in.

Kings: Average penalty kill. No other weaknesses. Kopitar 4 Selke.

Sharks: This is an absolutely glorious tankjob. No other way to put it. This is the pinnacle of tank design. This is the Wayne Gretzky of tankjobs. This is the Casablanca of tankjobs. This is the Saturn V of tankjobs. Nothing has been so beautifully engineered to suck since Sir James Dyson patented his vacuum or Nancy Reagan walked the earth. It's beautiful. It's gorgeous. I am in awe. They deserve Celebrini purely because of how flawless the tank is. I don't care if he has a warm undertone and would look pink in that fantastic teal. The boy needs San Jose.

Kraken: Good defensively at 5v5, bad pretty much everywhere else. I'm going to be honest with you all, last year was kind of a flash in the pan -- Seattle isn't great and they're neither headed upwards nor downwards. Not a bubble team, probably won't pick top ten. They haven't decided whether or not to build up or tank. Beyond the fantastic aesthetics and four-unranked-lines shtick, they don't really have a whole lot of competitive mojo: no star forwards, no goaltending. Wholeheartedly mid.

Canucks: oH BABY!!!!! The 23-24 Canucks made us all learn what PDO is. The 23-24 Canucks are first in the motherfucking league after being one spot out of being in the Bedard lottery. The 23-24 Canucks are on track to have the best shooting and saving percentage in league history. The 23-24 Canucks' leading goalscorer is Brock Boeser, the guy they've almost traded practically every year since they drafted him. The 23-24 Canucks started the season by naming the Wettest Little Man On The Planet captain and they haven't looked back since. I think they're an easy lock for a playoff spot -- but within the playoffs, do I know what they're going to do? I absolutely do not. They could PDO their way to a Cup or they could bow out in four games flat. Either is equally likely. They have thoroughly embraced Good Chaos. Quinn Hughes might win the Hart. Everything's coming up Vancouver.

Golden Knights: Not as good as they were last year. Ultimately still pretty good. Easy playoff spot. Definite contender. Jack Eichel is better than ever and I love him for it, the dickhead.

[oceanwithouthermoon]

Talking about Saiki and SA here a bit, btw, just a warning~

Thinking about how you said Saiki was a victim of SA and you’re literally so right. I feel like people sometimes just blow right past the fact that Kusuke is like that with his brother, but I think it can add a lot to interpretations of his character. But even if it only goes as far as what is shown in canon — which I almost doubt — it still remains the fact that Kusuke is doing all of that knowing fully well that his brother can hear him. It’s literally sexual harassment.

People point it out more often with Teruhashi and her brother (back to the reasons you said, people think it’s more serious if it happens to women). But the things he does, that’s all sexual harassment. And yet when Kusuke does similar things, it’s often brushed aside. Just,,, a bit crazy to me.

(And that’s not even mentioning when people completely disregard this part of Teruhashi’s story and act like she’s one-dimensional,,, but that’s another story)

But all this to say you’re literally so right. Anyways love you mwah =^•w•^=

THANK YOU SO MUCH. I NEEDD PEOPLE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THIS MORE.

(heed the sa warning + abuse and incest warning before opening, i talk a LOT here.. im mostly just reiterating what happens directly in the manga though.. ALSO EXTREMELY LONG POST WARNING..)

I always viewed kokomi and makoto + kusuo and kusuke as like.. paralleling each other ? not sure if thats the right word, but IMMEDIATELY when i saw both of these dynamics i made the connection.. i guess since it was so clear to me, i assumed that it was so obvious and on purpose that everyone else knew too, but so many people just.. ignore it..

i think most people that read/watch saiki k have recognized the fact that most main characters are meant to parallel or relate to saiki in at least some way, (if anyone who doesnt know what im talking about is reading this, im sure at least someone on here has done a better breakdown on that, i just.. dont know where to find that..) but this particular connection is one i dont see often and i genuinely believe that its almost entirely because of the whole "sexual assault/harassment isnt as serious when it happens to men as when it happens to women" thing.. most of the fandom acknowledge that what makoto does is awful and kokomi is a victim, so why is it different when its kusuke and kusuo ??

its EXACTLY the same.. what we see on screen with the saikis is WORSE, actually.. and what WE see from these two relationships isnt the full extent of what the two victims experience off screen, and i strongly believe that its heavily implied that both kokomi and kusuo have been through much worse with their brothers than whats shown..

we have no idea what kusuke couldve done BEFORE moving away and creating the telepathy canceler (and dont say that he couldnt have done anything cuz they were kids, cocsa [child on child sa] is still a thing and still valid, ESPECIALLY since they were both kid geniuses and kusuke definitely KNEW better.. but yea, kusuo implies that hes been like that for a long time, way before we ever saw them, sooo..) and its highly likely that whatever happened that we didnt see, before or after the move, was WORSE than what he does ON screen (i honestly dont want to think about what a guy with an incestual obsession with his brother does with cameras everywhere in his brothers home..) and what we see him do is already insane..

literally using his brother to get off, manipulating him and forcing him to play the games that give him sexual pleasure.. actually, speaking of, ive seen some people say that what kusuke does isnt really incest because the only reason he uses kusuo is because hes a masochist and kusuo is the only person that can overpower him.. this is a total misfire LOL, his upbringing alongside kusuo and his relationship with him is the REASON that hes a masochist, the ENTIRE REASON why thats what he gets off to.. its not just CONVENIENT that kusuo is there to get him off, he SPECIFICALLY seeks kusuo out and forces him to do things that give him sexual pleasure.. he believes that kusuo is the only person in the world that can ever give him sexual pleasure, what about that doesnt sound incestuous?

and one of the worst parts of it is, kusuo BARELY acknowledges how weird it is.. in fact, he's COMPLACENT in a lot of the games, obedient even, being bribed into them the same way he does with simple things like bringing kuniharu to work.. this is the biggest reason why i believe the off-screen stuff is probably worse, because kusuo is obviously conditioned to think that letting your brother get off to you is just.. fine.. we hardly see him try to get away from this situation beyond simply calling him gross.. theres one moment during the cat tank situation where kusuke tries to get him to grab the limiter off of his crotch specifically so that he can see him in that position and kusuo looks terrified and cant do it, BUT its unclear whether the expression of fear was entirely his concentration because he didnt wanna break the limiter or because he didnt want to let his brother get off to that, and i think its mostly the former ? idk, i dont remember this part that well but im preeeetty sure..

he does acknowledge that MAKOTOS behavior is bad when he sees it, but he never thinks its a big enough deal that he needs to help her or anything, (except for maybe the okinawa situation) which i know is probably just for the sake of not letting the gag manga get too serious, BUT it can also be explained pretty easily by this whole thing.. the way kokomi is treated is literally the same way kusuo lives his life, even down to their incestuous brother being possessive to the point of berating their potential love interests.. (which in this case happened to be each other, kusuo and kokomi..)

so yeah, kusuo just. doesnt really know how bad it actually is ? or maybe he does, but doesnt acknowledge it because he doesnt WANT to.. him barely acknowledging it and being complacent is part of why some people dont really get that its sa and incest, but his complacency obviously plays a big part in how its effected him too, like thats purposeful.. like i said, hes been CONDITIONED not to acknowledge it..

to me, it looks like a classic situation in which kusuo doesn't acknowledge his trauma because he knows that if he did, it would change his outlook on his life, his family, and his childhood FOREVER. he would never be willing to tell anyone or ask for help on his own accord, and accepting that there was anything wrong in the first place means, to him, dealing with that issue by himself for the rest of his life.

why would he ever admit that anything was wrong if nothing would change either way? the only thing that WOULD change is HIM, and why would he want that? isnt it better to be blissfully unaware than to knowingly suffer in silence?

plus, he genuinely does love his brother and knows in the back of his mind that kusukes feelings toward him comes from their unhealthy upbringing and relationship and its more complex than just "hes an evil guy blah blah.." because he isnt really evil and kusuo KNOWS that.. actually, he might be the only person in the world who COULD understand..

so yeahhhh.. kokomi and kusuo are both CANONICALLY victims of sexual harassment.. (and incestual abuse at that..) and, by my interpretation, implied victims of sa as well !! (im not really sure where the line can be when it comes to this sometimes, like when your brother sniffs your bedsheets and rubs himself on them or gets off to you right in front of your face or tries to get you to grab something positioned over his crotch so he can see you in.. THAT position.. but i already said that its pretty likely that both brothers have gone farther than that off-screen..)

anywayyyy.. this is so important to me and i wish people would talk and write about it more instead of pretending it never happened and mischaracterizing every one of these characters, especially for the sake of a ship like i was talking about in my other post.. it sucks that people so often just cast kusuos canon issues aside..

[emmyrosee]

IM GOING TO SAY THIS 😘 AND THEN IM GOING TO RUN. 🏃🏻‍♀️VERY FAR AWAY, 💃DO NOT LOOK AT ME, DO NOT PERCEIVE ME OKAY??? AVERT YOUR EYES AND FORGET THIS EVER HAPPENED. I’m exposing myself here again 🤩

…so I would like to be chased… by one of our boys… yes I said OUR. 🤧 BY KUROO. THE FIRST BOY IN HAIKYUU I FELL IN LOVE WITH.

but. I want him(.) to just give you a look?? randomly??? that screams “run” EITHER when he’s in a playful mood (maybe he’ll work you up a bit first, get you into the same playful mood he’s in with some teasing. bc we all know HE’D BE SO GOOD AT THAT. SLY MF.) OR bc you’re in a super high energy mood and need to be dealt with. and you get chased around after, adrenaline SO high. what happens when you eventually get caught? who knows 🤷🏻‍♀️ (he knows)

and and and he might just make it fun, if you manage to hide from him, he’d turn it into a game somehow. Literally do not look at me please. stop it, look away. I’m embarrassed for some reason. But if I’m gonna expose myself I’m at least gonna do it where I feel SAFE (your ask box). And Ik I won’t be JUDGED (bc we are of similar mind when it comes to our boys I feel like). (and maybe after the makeshift hide and go seek game there’s cuddles on the bed and super sweet kisses and just lots of softness from your big baby of a bf who just wants to have childish fun with you :((( cause he loves having fun w the love of his life ☹️) this was a mess bc for some reason when I’m sappy like this I cannot articulate what I want to say properly :(

THIS IS LONG WOW!!! and once again, NO RUSH AT ALL!!!! PUT IT ON THE BACK-BURNER ITS TOTALLY OKAY!!!! it’s just a funky little thought after all 😋

anon <3

GOD I LOVE OUR BOYFRIEND!!!!

So here’s the thing right? Here’s what’s cool about Kuroo- arguably, the only thing cool about Kuroo bc he’s a dweeb.

Basically, his entire life, he spent messing with people, but his real practice and the reason he’s so good, is because of Kenma. His first victim, but also the one who he learned the art of body language and subtleties about communication. It’s something Kenma warned you about when you first started dating, but judging by the immediate ruffle Kuroo have his hair, you know Kenma wasn’t being too serious.

So, because of the pudding head I adore so much, Kuroo knows exactly how you’re feeling regarding certain play fighting tactics, or if you’re not in the mood when he can then go gentle and just have you in his arms.

He’s cool like that.

For example, just four days ago, you clearly needed a small jostle of playful affection, some playful attention, but you were so busy to ask and just let it go. But tetsuro knew better; he could see the way your breath would hitch when he’d make you laugh, or bring you food and gently rub your back. His touch seemed to jostle you; you just wouldn’t give in.

He’s fed up, and he’s gonna make you give in, he’s made that clear.

“Hey booger,” he hums, strolling in and hooking his chin over your typing shoulder. His eyes flick to the glass of water he poured you hours ago, seemingly untouched and sweating onto the coaster. “Have you taken a break yet?”

“Don’t need one.”

“Liar.”

“Do not start with me, Tetsuro,” you mumble, putting pressure on your temples. “I just need to bang this out and be done with it. I’ll be done in a few hours.”

He goes silent. And you pause your fingers before looking over your shoulder at him.

He’s not happy.

“Did you just sass me?”

He can practically hear your heartbeat pause in your little chest. Still looking at him, you shake your head. "Are you sure? Because, like, it feels like you sassed me."

He sees the cogs in your head turning. He sees the way you're trying to fight back your smirk.

"So you can figure out when I'm sick of you."

"Gonna make you real sick of me," he snarls, and just as he makes a threatening dart towards you, you shriek and dash away, abandoning your work and searching for a place to save yourself.

Because you know Kuroo is going to save your work. And tidy up the space, and book mark your page, all before making true on his promise and sprinting after you.

And like... you're never hard to find, and that's indicator #2 that you want this more than anything.

When he finds you on the opposite side of the bed (like, seriously? you have so much better than that in the arsenal), he just manhandles you onto the bed, your smacking palms and kicking feet doing little to deter him.

“Tetsu!” You squeal, writhing uselessly under his heavy grip. His hands only tighten as he shakes you playfully, back hitting against the pillows and mattress.

“You! Are! The best! Thing! In! My life!” He chants between words, ignoring your giggles and squirming. “Stop! Sabotaging! Yourself!”

"I can't help it!" You titter, trying to bat him away as best as you can given your pinned position. "I-I-I just want things done!"

"They'll get done!" He growls playfully. then, like an absolute asshole, he buries his face in your neck and fingers into your ribs, "fucks sake, when was the last time you peed, dawg? Huh? Maybe I should just make you do it now."

"NNNAAAAOOO!" You howl, so loud his own ears hurt, but he doesn't stop his fingers, nor the nibbling of your neck and ears that're light enough to tickle but some will definitely stain your skin.

OOF BUT THEN????BU-BUT-BUT T H E N???

He lets you get away.

For one second, he pretends that the knee to his gut hurts, and he's out of commission for the next three seconds, and it always gives you enough time to scurry away to another room.

He knows you're not going back to your work set up. You're at your own mercy when it comes to needing his playful side, and he hears you down the hall, giggling in anticipation as you try to hide.

"Gettin' too old for this shit," he chuckles to himself, then strutting down the hall to look for you.

he just. i just. i he. just he i.

KERNFWIDNBWIEFBQ

[to-my-emil]

luca's 2024 letter

so i did a whole analysis/explanation/infodump about luca's newest letter on my discord server and. figured i may as well post it here! theres a lot of fun tasty things in here and some confirmation of things that have been implied in previous letters which is fun to look at. please keep in mind i dont have the entirety of every character and manor game's lore memorized so while i did double check some things i mightve missed some stuff. anyway its all below the cut since its Long have fun :)

(also feel free to chime in with any thoughts/feelings/opinions/ideas!)

so theres three sections to this letter! im gonna go section by section, but some parts of the last section are mentioned earlier so uh. sorry if you havent read it yet (id recommend u do read it first)

so part 1 is pretty fun. luca is confirmed to have survived game 10 (which also features tracy, charles, and bonbon though we dont currently know who the fourth survivor participant is) And its implied that hes the only survivor of the game (according to the "fleeting victory" thats the assumption at least). his traits w being able to connect the ciphers is also officially tied into the lore here; there are in fact wires running underneath each arena (or at the very least whichever arena lucas game was in which we dont know yet iirc) so its canon that he can do what he does in matches and its not something that the detective incorrectly deduced lorewise (idk if any of the survivor abilities are Actually incorrect deductions/not actually things that theyre doing (like for example priestess's portals, etc that seem more far-fetched) but since we know hes done other things incorrectly (like "prisoner" and "psychologist" titles being in quotes/technically wrong) i figure he mightve gotten some of those wrong too). luca is also Super Fucked Up w an unusuable left arm (and his previous injuries which we know includes at Least severe brain trauma but likely physical trauma too considering his time in prison + the leg braces) so uhhhhhhhhhhh. my money is NOT on him for the next game.

which is the fun next thing to talk about: baron deross is making him do another game!! this confirms whats implied in emmas 2022 letter (she writes "I've won the previous round, for now" which implies a second round if not more), and probably means that helena and galatea would also go through another round even though its not confirmed yet. so far we dont have a record of what happens in any second manor game for a player who has won (as far as i remember); usually what happens is entire groups are eliminated before the game and the only survivor goes on to the next round to try again by default rather than having won the game (like murro and luchino). so far luca's second game is the only one we have ANY info about for a survivor whos won their first game; we know that alva is in it and its heavily implied ann is in it (we'll get to this later) so we'll likely find out what happens once we get either of their experiment letters. its also interesting that the baron seems to reveal more information about the experiments to luca after luca won his game, but its hard to know whether thats because luca is also a scientist or if he reveals that to everyone who wins. my guess is maybe the former bc u Know luca would have questions and theres also no mention of baron deross saying anything like that in emmas, galateas, or helenas letters.

on to section 2!!! (there was a slur against disabled people in the last line of this section so. thats whats blocked out)

OKAY SO. definitely confirmed that hes in a second manor game, its not even subtext its just right there. assuming the "mechanisms" refer to the same mechanisms that are running under the arena and connecting the cipher machines my guess is that this is what he used to shock other participants?? rather than just being to conduct electricity through himself like he does in the game?? idk thats just spaghetti at the wall its not clear here how he actually got shocked and why. it Is clear that he passed the fuck out at some point or another/his memory issues have gotten worse and the wiki points to that guy in his dream being hermann, so that's. interesting. theres an implication here that luca and hermann used to be closer, but once luca started w physics hermann went mmmm time to stop being a father. which. checks out knowing hermann. whats even more interesting is that luca calls hermanns ideas "ludicrous fantasies" that are neither idealistic nor realistic, because like luca you went and did THE EXACT SAME THING. BRO HE WORKED ON PERPETUAL MOTION. YOURE WORKING ON PERPETUAL MOTION. IM SORRY YOU CANT CLOWN ON UR DAD FOR RUINING HIS LIFE OVER PERPETUAL MOTION WHEN U DID LITERALLY THE EXACT SAME THING

anyway.

i do wonder if this is meant to imply that hermann was in fact actually working on a More ridiculous version of perpetual motion or if luca is just biased as hell against hermann. im banking on the latter there is no way in hell that luca is a reliable narrator considering all his memory issues + his general tendency to outright grab people hes mad at by the throat (<- fun fact we see this at least twice once in alvas backstory video and again in gattos backstory video. luca is the same across all timelines). also implications that hermann became an alcoholic. im guessing as a kid luca was told it was medicine and he hasnt put the pieces together?? or its ironic. idk could be either with him. i highly doubt its actually medicine. ALTHOUGH. theres an alternate explanation here; when luca says "swallow them down" i initially thought he was referring to hiding his "final feelings", since sometimes swallowing down feelings is a phrase used for that kind of thing. but potentially this could be implying that hermann had luca take some kind of medicine potentially to get rid of those feelings in some way?? personally i think its the former because we already know hermann was wasting his life and money so becoming an alcoholic would be an easy answer, but this is probably just because i dont have any answers if it were the latter. something to think about

now the third part, which gives us info about the next manor game!

so first the "gaunt old man" is (according to the wiki which i agree with in this case) mad eyes, which makes sense because mad eyes was involved in game 8/9 right before this and game 10 was filled with inventors + bonbon so it only makes sense he was there. no idea where he went though. whats more fun is that luca is now In The Fucking basement Walls where mad eyes used to be bc luca doesnt trust the rest of the participants. considering the "abnormal eyes" and that alva is here we know for sure that this is those related to the eye of darkness cult, which means ann is also definitely there. whats even more interesting is that this implies the existence of at least one more member of the eye of darkness cult whos going to be in this game; luca says "new participants" and "these people", and considering how specific the letters usually are with other things i would guess hed say "those two" if it were only ann and alva (of course its possible that theyre the only two have arrived at the writing of this journal, but considering he refers to a ritual coming up soon my money is on all the participants being of the cat cult except luca). luca makes a good note that this new game is likely the opposite of the previous and more focused on religion/spirituality which checks out w the participants, but DAMN hes an asshole about their writing style LMAO. sorry luca not everyone can have the same notes u do

the "brother in faith" guy here is alva, and i personally believe that he can in fact believe see through walls just bc thats funny as hell. just kidding its likely because luca is not as subtle he thinks he is because alva Literally Knows Him. other people might not be able to know hes there but like. that guys also a scientist. hed be able to figure out that theres someone in the walls AND he does in fact know luca. its difficult to tell bc of lucas memory issues but this probably also implies that alva looks very different from how he did in life (i doubt its as tall/etc as in his hunter form since thats what they all see when drugged not what he Actually looks like but im sure theres some stuff like his shorter hair/grayish skin/etc that carries across). i for one am fucking thrilled that theyre in a game together bc oh my god this is a time bomb and im just waiting to watch it explode (again).

as for the last line about a ritual... teehee. im very excited for whatever this is going to be and its killing me that this is the Only Information we have on it so far. likely we're going to have to wait for more alva and ann letters on this one, as well as whoever the third eye of darkness cult member is going to be, but i have no doubt that we'll have some more info eventually. if i had to take a guess its going to heavily affect how game 10-2/11 turns out; i highly doubt any ritual goes on without a sacrifice, and, well... theres only one guy here whos not already part of the cult. things are not looking great for lucas future.

[b1adie]

With everything going on with Niosi, I'm having trouble reconciling my feelings of the situation with HSR. I'm a relatively new player and while I'm enjoying it, this whole situation makes the experience a bitter and sour one, especially since I'm finishing up the Trailblazer Xianzhou quest.

I was so hyped for Penacony and beyond, to the extent that I was willing to spoil myself because I really enjoy the characters and was looking forward to the story.

I'm really hoping that Mihoyo addresses the issue with a fix soon so that I can enjoy the story. But if it's not fixed, I'm not comfortable supporting or playing a game that allows these kinds of people. I'll probably end up weaning myself off of it and uninstall.

(I don't have enough memory on my device to download an alternate language.)

the backlash on twt is still pretty strong even today. the last time this happened with a va (in genshin) it apparently took 10 days for them to make a post addressing it and saying they were changing actors and as far as i remember it was. im not sure how to phrase this, i guess it was “less of a big deal” than with chris (BY WHICH i dont mean that eliot gindi’s actions were any more acceptable, i just mean that i saw less people overall talking about it) but it DID get done. i’m still confident that they’re doing something, and that like last time, they’re getting things sorted out behind the scenes before publicly saying anything.

but yk, this is also different bc with the previous case i mentioned, all the stuff that came out about the actor was new. with chris, this stuff has been known for years now, so….?

and ofc, do whatever makes you most comfortable. the character chris voices is not even in the game yet, he’s supposed to appear in the quest next update and be available to pull the update after that, and if you’re excited about penacony you can play the whole thing without even having to see that character. but i don’t blame you at all for feeling soured about it.

like i said, i’m still hopeful they’ll do something, but if they DO end up never addressing it and just releasing the character… i’m not really sure i’ll be able to look past that, either. its more about the principle of playing a game by a company that allows people like this to work for them. if they really, really have the nerve to not say anything before the update drops, that’s kind of the nail in the coffin.

[localcryptidsteg]

So my initial thoughts on Black Myth Wukong are that it's VERY fun. The movement is snappy, the combat is satisfying, its a perfect blend of challenging and rewarding, and while Im not very far into it yet, the skill tree seems well thought out. I havent seen an option on it yet that I look at and go "but how often would I really use that?"

Moreover, your magic skills are all incredibly strong, and learning how and when to use them can make or break your stride. This game is OP done right; even if you lose a fight at first, its usually a simple matter of "oh I just need to do x next time" and bada bing bada boom, its joever. I have yet to come to a fight where Im frustrated over stupid mistakes or getting stuck on geometry or the camera. Every death so far has been fully deserved because I was being impatient.

HOWEVER

After beating the second miniboss (which is a delightful little sneaky tutorial on timing) I notice that the power you get from beating him (red tide) is a little....

Well...

Lets just say Ive beaten every boss up to the Whiteclad Noble by immobilizing them, spamming red tide, and then strafing/dodging until I could repeat, and every single boss goes down in two cycles of that. Its not that their mechanics arent different from eachother or anything, its just that its SO much stronger than base form, AND it applies burn, and that kinda chews through half of the boss's health bar or better in seconds.

The only reason Whiteclad Noble is different is that hes in water the entire fight, so burn doesnt work. But its still a case of just running circles around him waiting for your cooldown to finish up because if youre not right on top of him, he wont really engage until hes under half health. And even then, if you just switch to the poison form of almost exactly the same power (shorter duration but it creates what are essentially turrets), which you can unlock shortly before the fight.... its still just that easy.

Hopefully this wont last the whole game as I build out my mystery monkey more, but for now, I can safely say that overall the game is a riot. Id love to see a multiplayer mode someday.

[egophiliac]

hi, just wanted to say I've just started to get into Twisted Wonderland and binge read your comics and content for it, it was really fun to read! i love how you draw the different characters' expressions! im still super new to it (haven't played the game yet but i got kinda hooked on reading the main story after looking it up by chance) but id love to play it eventually! do you have any suggestions on what to look up/read next as far as character backstories/interactions go? ive really enjoyed the parts from the birthday events (? i think?) that you have done comics from, they sound really fun! thanks for your time!

oh boy, GET READY because the personal stories/vignettes are where the real meat lies. like, the main story is the main draw, of course, and for good reason -- I am champing as the start of episode 7 grows nearer -- but Twst's strength is definitely in its enjoyable characters and their slice-of-life interactions in Zany Magic School. and fortunately, there's a lot of them!

(sorry this got so long, I have many feelings about anime characters)

most of the stories and events don't have a specific chronology aside from taking place sometime after episode 2 of the main story, so once you've gotten that far you're good to jump in almost anywhere! (the more recent events, starting with Fairy Gala IF, are explicitly set after episode 6 -- though if you're going off of the English version then I don't think any of them have been released yet.) event cards also assume that you've gone through the event story first and usually have spoilers or references for it. otherwise there's no real order, so you can just pick a character you like or event you think looks interesting and go from there!

one of the things I really like about Twst is that interactions aren't limited to defined groups -- everyone has inter-dorm friendships and clubs and sub-friend groups and opinions on everyone else that range from "well, I don't know if we're exactly friends, but we study together sometimes" to "I would literally die and/or murder for him" (and sometimes "I would literally die and/or murder for him but he won't let me >:("). characters pop up in each other's stories all the time, and pretty much everyone gets some extra depth or development to them that doesn't come out in the main story, so I do think it's worth it to read through at least a few for every character.

like, if you just go through the main story, you only really get to see Nice Mom Friend Trey, and not that he's actually kind of a petty asshole who is weirdly obsessed with dentistry and goes around sticking his hands in people's mouths. everybody has things like that! Jade is super into mushrooms! Leona is a feminist! Malleus has an intense emotional attachment to his tamagotchi! Cater participates in shallow consumerism because nothing in life has any meaning and actually his friends are pretty worried about him!

tl;dr read everything because this game knows what it's about and that's ✨Characters✨