#liiiiittle bit more for 3

[themeeplord]

Got episode 25, 26 and then End of Eva to rewatch, that's gonna be a fun day~

[king-tower]

HUGE thank you to @buglaur for letting me try out her new dathuil skinblend!! it's so versatile and i'm a huge fan of the eyebags and wrinkle options :')

(other skin details layered on top of dathuil here include: obscurus's nose overlays, faeeish's face light + pores, and simandy's body blush)

[gilliontidestriderchampionoftheu]

good news guys i made another new gillion design ^_^

[yamujiburo]

God I've been so on board with the hanamusa train despite coming in late that I just never questioned how Delia decided "this person tried stealing my son's pokemon but its OK bc really all she wanted at the end of the day was someone to validate her existence and I love her and will always let her know her existence is valid" so i went to go read the origin story and... omg its exactly that pretty much. She's sus at the beginning and like, who can blame her!! But the Rocket Trio are genuinely Good People who do Bad Things but ultimately just want to Love and Be Loved and will do anything for that, even if it means sacrificing themselves (thinks back to the episode where they gave up Weezing and Arbok even though it meant losing their long term friends AND getting so beat up in the process... that episode makes me cry)

Your honor, i love them (adds hanamusa to the "ships ill gladly write fic for no questions asked" pile)

YES YOU GET IT!!! Her backstory is sooooo sad but soooo good! And not only are Team Rocket good people but later on in the series, they definitely show that they really care for Ash a bit more

BUT ALSO it cannot be understated that Delia is a liiiiittle dumb. If not dumb then naive and trusting (she's still very young herself). I think about this clip A LOT

Could also speak to how she knows Team Rocket aren't really an actual threat or that she knows they're not BAD bad people.

And if you write that fic PLEASE let me know!!! <3

[charlottan]

What are your best book recommendations? Fiction and nonfiction both welcome

THANKS FOR ASKING 😁!!!!!!!!!! i have no clue what sort of reader you are so here are just a few of my favorites

first off i simply Must tell you about billy summers by stephen king. its a thriller about an assassin whose last job is a setup. classic premise. but hes also a writer and has War Trauma 😲 i read this book faster than anything in recent memory or maybe ever at all- like half of its ~600 pages in a week which is an INSANE pace for me. cannot recommend this enough on the offchance that its your thing even nearly as much as it was mine. it feels weird calling it my favorite stephen king over Everything Else ive read from him but but it kind of earned the title i guess LOL

then i need need need to recommend house of leaves. not much to say about this one its just really good especially towards the end, and not just because thats when the Gimmick of the fucked up text gets more intense lol

then of course slaughterhouse five by kurt vonnegut<3 or breakfast of champions or sirens of titan!!! you have so many good vonneguts to choose from you can hardly go wrong (just dont start with player piano)

then a book thats kinda weird but Really Interesting is dhalgren. by Samuel R. Delaney. its a speculative fiction sci fi from 1975 that touches on topics of race, sexuality, and gender, in an Evil City where some mysterious apocalypse happened (it is never explained What Happened) and a bisexual half native american man called Kidd must have as much sex as possible. its really really cool. plus the last chapter has fucked up text kinda like house of leaves lol

another great book is hitchhikers guide to the galaxy! again not much to say, this is just a classic for a reason

then theres piranesi by susanna clarke!! its about a House (castle) with many many rooms that one mentally ill Special Boy must uncover the Secrets of. really dreamy sort of book i wish i could smoke weed with Piranesi

another book i love is the name of the wind! fantasy book by patrick rothfuss about a boy who loses his whole acting troupe family and decides to pursue magic. its a liiiiittle bit male chauvinist and purple prosey in an annoying way but the magic system is really interesting and the characters are great

speaking of fantasy theres also discworld<3 just pick a book u cant go wrong

so there you go:) hope you find something you like among these, or even anywhere else, because reading is a beautiful adventure!!!

[rainba]

I'm marking Kairos everywhere. Every inch of his body will be filled with either a bruise, a hickey, or a bite mark. AND NO, he will never be able to walk 2 steps away from me, ever. If I have to leash him, then i'd do it. Tell him i'd kill anyone for him with zero hesitation. :3

He will never be able to walk 2 steps away from his darling?? Why would he ever want to!?! (´ ω `♡) You can leash him if you’d like– give him a collar with your name on it too– he’d thank you and wear both of them happily. (─‿‿─)♡ Oh– and really, you don’t have to kill anyone for him!! He’s loyal to you always and forever!! (Although, the fact that you say that really makes him feel all warm and fuzzy inside..) Besides, if you go to prison, how is he supposed to be by your side 24/7??? Prison might make it a liiiiittle bit harder. ^^;;;;;

((Also, the marks all over his body? He'll wear them like trophies. When they start to fade away, he'll beg for more. (≧◡≦) ))

[hostilemuppet]

new tdau tomorrow???? hell yeah, i'm clearing my schedule and making a feast.

LMFAOOOOOOO i think from that point well try to be a little more frequent. currently 9-11 (unfortunate numbers i know) are basically fully completed. 12 could also be considered complete but id like to add at least one more segment. weve STARTED thirteen but only really have a liiiiittle bit there. 14 is complete (that probably says a lot about how important chap14 is) and 15 is like... 1/3 done id say. id have to talk to alex about it but i think one update a week is like, the minimum id like to go to for an update schedule. im also not even sure if alex cares about there being a schedule to begin with but i like routine, you know how it is

[tokkias]

Do you have any headcanons about the people around natsu and Lucy and how they see the two in their not quite lovers state? Not really a fan fic ask but something fun!

hi anon! thank you for the ask, i had a lot of fun with this one. i actually got a liiiiittle bit carried away and sort of ended up writing how they percieve their relationship as a whole, so theres a little bit of when they’re in their more-than-friends-but-less-than-lovers stage, and a little bit of when they’re dating too, so i hope thats okay! i just did some of the characters i thought would have the most to say about their relationship, but if you’d like to see other specific characters i wouldn’t mind doing another writeup :)

Happy

happy is the one person (cat?) that natsu would ever talk about his feelings for lucy with, but not even in like a serious way, in a very casual “hey i think i might be in love with lucy” way, and happy is like “yeah i know”

even though he loves to tease lucy and make fun of her and be a general pain in her ass, she’s his favourite person (aside from natsu), and he wants to have her stay in their lives forever

as much of a little shit he is, he never tells anyone what natsu told him, because he knows that he needs to go at his own pace, even if that pace is slow as shit

on one hand, he knows that natsu and lucy dating/getting married means that lucy is in fact stuck with them for the rest of her life, but on the other hand there’s a tiny insecure voice in the back of his head that’s scared that he’s gonna lose his best friend to her

obviously no that won’t happen because they both love happy, and them wanting to be alone sometimes have sex doesn’t mean that he’s going to be any less of a priority in their lives

natsu lucy and happy are just a little family and they’re going to be a family regardless of their relationship status, the two of them dating and moving in together is just a fun little bonus

Gray

gray was probably one of the first people to really pick up on the fact that natsu and lucy might be heading in the direction of more than friends

because of their forced close proximity growing up, and then again by being on the same team, he begrudgingly knows natsu really well, so he’s quick to pick up on how natsu treats lucy different from how he treats everyone else

in terms of him figuring out how lucy feels about natsu, it’s really more of and educated guess at first because he obviously doesn’t know her as well as he knows natsu, and the way she changes once she figures out she’s in love with natsu comes off as a lot more subtle

gray is not invested in anything that is going on in natsu’s life, so he doesn’t give their relationship any thought until it becomes super obvious to him that lucy is in love with natsu

he recognises that lucy makes natsu a better, and more tolerable person

but he also absolutely thinks that lucy can do way better than him

it takes him a while to get past his “what the fuck does she even see in him” phase, but he does inevitably realise that somehow, natsu makes her really happy

will absolutely remind natsu at any given opportunity that lucy is waaaayyy out of his league

Erza

if gray was the first to figure it out, then erza was the last

not because she’s dumb or anything, it’s just that most of the time she spends with natsu and lucy involves mass amounts of property damage

also maybe autism, but thats a whole different post

once she is informed that natsu and lucy have a more than friends thing going on, she starts to see it constantly

she begins to interpret literally any of their interactions as possibly having romantic intent (she’s just like us <3)

she can’t look either of them in the eye for like two weeks while she tries to figure out if they’re having sex (they’re not, they just have an insane amount of sexual tension)

natsu is basically her baby brother and she feels a lot of pride watching him grow up and fall in love, and become a more mature person in the process

she’s just rooting for them so hard because! that’s her family! she wants them both to be happy!

she drops the most obvious hints that she wants to see them in a relationship, thinking that she is being so subtle, but she is NOT 

has to physically hold herself back from planning their wedding as soon as they become official

Wendy

natsu, lucy and wendy, as a trio are giving very much “girl who hangs out with her older brother and his much cooler girlfriend” vibes

for a little bit wendy thought that maybe they were actually dating, but she didn’t want to overstep or embarrass them by asking

she’s witness to a lot of gossip about the two in the girls dorm, but she’s never one to contribute to it

very quietly she does think they would make a cute couple because they already act like one anyway

natsu and lucy are also like, her primary reference for what a good, healthy romantic relationship looks like, and secretly she really hopes that she gets to experience what they have one day

Levy

if lucy is confiding in anyone about her feelings, it’s going to be levy

so she is the only one that is watching them knowing for 100% sure how lucy feels

she wants to see lucy in a happy relationship so bad because she wants the best for lucy, but she’s also tired of her going on shitty dates with boring guys who they both know aren’t right for her

levy definitely isn’t close to natsu, but they still did grow up in the guild together and she’s watched him go from a lone wolf to needing to be around lucy at all times

so yeah, she has an inkling that maybe natsu likes her back, and she lets lucy know what she thinks every time he’s bought up

she definitely gossips about them to gajeel, who pretends he doesn’t care but he secretly does because even though he pretends to be all big and tough, those two are still part of his dumb stupid found family

[aithusar]

I'm trying to understand gwen more? What do you think her flaws are?

Early on, she often says or does things without thinking them through and also sometimes lacks confidence or is easily self conscious. You can see this in a lot of her early interactions with Merlin, and a little with Arthur and Lancelot. She outgrows this over the season, which does make sense for what she goes through with nearly being hanged for witchcraft then her father being executed for it. It makes her more reserved, but at the same time I think her friendships make her more confident in herself. This continues a liiiiittle bit in seasons 2 and 3 as well where she becomes less afraid to speak up and to fight for what she believes in.

Later on she doesn't really have flaws. She's smart, kind, honest, never puts a foot wrong with advice or leadership, and any stories that involve her are either intended to only explore Arthur's faults or character, or involve her being kidnapped and/or enchanted. She never fails in anything or ends up in or creates a bad situation through a fault of her own, unlike Merlin, Arthur and Morgana (e.g. the crystal cave, his father's son, the witch's quickening).

It's annoying, because the opportunity was there to make her kindness a flaw as well as a strength! Arthur trusts people around him which is a good thing, but he does it to a fault. He's blind to the treachery of the people closest to him (such as Agravaine) because he places too much trust in them. Gwen's kindness could have easily been treated the same, but it never causes her to misjudge. She is the epitome of wisdom. A better leader than any other character with none of the effort, mistakes or doubt Arthur displays in the same role as a monarch.

Gwen is my favourite character in season 1 but she bores me by the end of the show. And it's because they had been slowly undermining her character for seasons: from season 2-4 nearly all of Gwen's stories are actually about Arthur. Once they're together and there's no conflict from their relationship anymore, it's revealed how little they'd invested in her as an individual character.

Sorry for the essay, I care about this a lot 😅 if I could change one thing about the show, it would be either this or a better negative arc for Morgana - but probably Gwen.

[inchidentally]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZTu8bMp_Z4&t=1s

This entire video is Prema's Oscar. I need more of this in the upcoming season.

it so is !! Lola @twinkodium was my gateway to his Prema videos early on and I couldn't believe how much he hid his personality and went so quiet once he got to F1 !! like I fully get why bc of the drama and also prob a liiiiittle bit of awe at physically being around his fanboy crush all the time. but I'm so glad that's coming back out <3

[aziraphales-library]

Oh glorious mods and esteemed readers, any recs for fics in which our fav man-shaped beings have to really negotiate how to have a relationship? Human aus welcomed.

Like, who buys flowers? Someone has to do thing with the government to be listed as married, no? If they have sex someone has to start the 'in what way' talk, etc.

I'm basically looking for the pure queer experience of there are no rules, just what we want. Mild, reasonable angst as they figure it out is loved as who doesn't want to see people struggle a bit and succeed.

Hope wherever you are you've had a good beverage recently. :3

So this is apparently one of my favourite types of fic, because I have a lot for you. Cue developing relationships and communication...

On Metaphorical Butterflies by cyankelpie (G)

Did Crowley love Aziraphale? With all his shriveled, black heart. Would he follow Aziraphale to the end of the world? He’d already done that, and he’d do it again in a heartbeat. Was he in love with Aziraphale?

It would probably help if he understood what that meant.

It’s Nice to Have a Friend by AnonymousDandelion (G)

As many human acts and emotions as he’d adopted over the centuries, certain things still held no appeal for Aziraphale. Romance was one of those things.

Perhaps it came of being an ethereal entity, an extension of the way that physically engaging in carnal activities never seemed worth the effort; perhaps it was merely because he was himself, just as some humans felt no desire for such activities. He’d never been completely sure of the reason, or if there was a reason. Either way, it didn’t really make a difference.

But as Aziraphale reclined on his friend’s lap one day, feeling tender, careful fingers combing through his curls as he slowly turned pages in his current novel — another tale, like so many, driven in large part by a romantic subplot — a new worry took hold.

~ ~ ~

A tale of softness, communication, and queerplatonic love.

An Ineffable Feeling by IneffableDoll (T)

“What’s the difference between romantic and platonic, anyway?” Crowley asked suddenly. Aziraphale blinked at him over his glass. “Romantic and platonic what?” “Relationships, angel. Relationships.” “Ah, yes, those old chestnuts,” Aziraphale said, nodding.

***

Aziraphale and Crowley discuss the differences between platonic and romantic relationships, and then it gets a liiiiittle more personal than they expected, and your author is very very ace about it all.

Everybody Loves A Little Different by teatales (T)

Armagedidn't helps Aziraphale come to a realisation. Crowley does his best to be brave.

AKA Aromantic!Crowley because obviously.

hot toddy by blackeyedblonde (E)

Crowley gapes at him. “Dates,” he says, unable to restrain himself. “Is that what we really go on now, you and I? Dates?”

Aziraphale’s expression splinters apart just a little at the edges. “Whatever else would we be inclined to call them?”

They watch each other in the dimly lit sitting room. There’s not even the ticking of a clock to break into the silence, and Crowley’s partway afraid that if he listened hard enough he could hear the ancient beat of both their immortal hearts.

“You kissed me,” he croaks, slumped there, swallowing thickly before he can find a reason to make himself stop. “The other day, when I dropped you off at the shop. You leaned in, and you, you just, planted one on me, like it wasn’t anything—out of the blazing ordinary at all.”

Aziraphale’s hand comes up to faintly brace around his own chin. “Did I upset you when I did?” he asks, sounding slightly stricken.

Their eyes meet for a flash, and Crowley quickly looks away, at the prettily twinkling lights on his formerly derelict mantle. “No,” he says. “No. I didn’t say that."

From Almost to Always by fractalgeometry (T)

They stopped Armageddon. They survived their trials. They were, Crowley was pretty sure, as close to free as they would ever get.

And yet nothing seemed to change.

~

After Armageddon, Aziraphale and Crowley can objectively do anything they want. It turns out to be harder than that. How do you change centuries of habit built to protect you and the one you love most? The answer it seems, is “slowly and cautiously”.

Five Times They Weren't Very Sexy and One Time They Aced It by ZehWulf (E)

“Have you ever wondered what it feels like?” Crowley asks while contemplating the dregs at the bottom of his wine glass. He’s aiming for philosophical but fears the faint wheeze at the end of the question might have given him away.

“Have I ever wondered what ‘what’ feels like,” Aziraphale asks finally.

“Sex,” he says, much louder than intended or reasonable. They both wince.

“Oh, have you never…?” Aziraphale asks with polite disbelief.

“You have?” Crowley demands.

Look, when you're largely inexperienced sex-favorable asexual ineffables, it takes a bit of practice, a lot of communication, and some bull-headed persistence to get your sex life in commendable working order. Or, five times things got (hilariously) awkward during sex, and one time after they've got it mostly figured out. A companion fic to "Scratching That Itch." (Sex acts, such as they are, tagged per chapter in chapter notes!)

Effortless Intimacy by Quefish (M)

Aziraphale and Crowley, learning each other. There is more to intimacy than sex, thank Somebody.

- Mod D

[mysteryshoptls]

R Floyd Leech Port Wear Voice Lines

Summon Line: There's a ton of stuff for sale, and so many strange attractions. Fests are so fun! Can't we have this every day?

Groooovy!!: Next time, you should go up on stage, Koebi-chan. I'll be expectin' a fun show.

Home: If it's for music, then sure, I'll put a little bit of effort into it.

Home Idle 1: If I try to slack off on performance practice, Uni-chan sniffs me out and drags me back. Sooo annoying...

Home Idle 2: Kobanzame-chan was using the prep time for the Port Fest to fish in the ocean. He caught a ton of fish and brought 'em all back to his dorm.

Home Idle 3: During our meet-up, Umineko-kun started reciting a poem. It was crazy exhausting to listen to, cause I didn't get it, and it was waaay too long.

Home Idle - Login: Fests are super lively and fun～ And since it's so busy, I don't think anyone'll notice if I go a liiiiittle bit wild.

Home Tap 1: The dishes they make on land sure are weird. Like, the first time I ate takoyaki, I was super surprised at how they were super melty on the inside and so scalding hot.

Home Tap 2: A ship's engine noises're waaaaay too loud under the ocean too. Most of the folks living underwater don't like the sound, but I kinda like itー

Home Tap 3: I've seen tons of sailors pretty much since I was a kid, so I've kinda always wanted to wear this sort of outfit～

Home Tap 4: This one guy was complaining about how small the dish portions were, but then I took him out back, and he shut up super fast. AHAHAH!

Home Tap 5: Ugh, I'm almost out of change. It'd be a pain to hafta go exchange the money I got for smaller amounts anyway... I guess it'll be fine if I just give the customers back more as change.

[danveration]

a liiiiittle tiny bit self indulgent suggestion but Vox should totally use his mind control on the reader to make them more "trusting" of him, like in his debut ep, he could do it both in person and through the laptop he just gave them in the next part. if you wanna write another part, that is!! :3

oh dear, anon. i was thinking the exact same thing 😼😼😼😼

[nix-moon]

GOOD OMENS SEASON 2 SPOILER AND ME TRYING TO COPE WITH IT

Long text, don't bother reading, I just literally have NO FRIENDS to talk to right now, bc mine are still watching...

Analyzing the S2 finale:

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You know, I love both Aziraphale and Crowley, ofc sometimes I tend to go a liiiiittle bit more to Azi, but I can't like, "pick" one of them. And I'll tell you what, I think it's completely possible to keep loving a character and not agreeing with everything they do.

But when it comes to the end of season 2, I swear to you guys, I really got deep down hurt by Azi's decision, at first, and thought that he was marked forever in my heart negatively. Buuuut I knew what was going to happen BEFORE properly watching it, so I could like, process it and see it from another perspective, which I'll explain now.

I like the modified coffee theory, but as much as it BREAKS ME to say this, I believe more that yes, Aziraphale wanted to do what he did by his own, uninfluenced choice. Why? Because we can see - multiple times - that he has never actually left Heaven behind. It's a very central part of his construction as a being, I would say, specially his personality. He can acknowledge how Heaven's decisions are not always, in his judgment, alright, but he firmly believes this is something "ineffable". He is oblivious, and, as Crowley himself say, "pure of heart", and considering Crowley never actually told him how Heaven treated him when they switched bodies, I find it very hard to believe he could see any harm in them, or anyone actually, specially Crowley for all this years, even though he is a demon.

And he is extremely positive. I don't think this is bad, I just think that his optimistic point of view doesn't allow him to see that he is not a savior, that kindness doesn't always change things, that Heaven isn't this good and that Crowley isn't willing to be good, or bad, he just wants to be himself and mind his own business. Azi saw Crowley pre-fall so brightly, passionate and excited that he believes he can't be completely happy as a demon, because this shows a contradiction that is not easy to deal with if you believe everything is "fixable" and will be fine in the end (what does this even mean?). He takes actions believing in it, plus the fact that, like Maggie and Nina said, they don't communicate, at all, like in a proper way, exposing their beliefs and not just supposing what the other one is feeling, or thinking.

That is why I believe this finale brought a very necessary emotional impact, which, IF GOD ALLOWS A SEASON 3 (amen) could lead to a very interesting explore of this plot, character growth, and the acknowledge from both parts that they have a past, and a personality constitution that goes way beyond just their relationship. They have feelings, beliefs, and just the awesome love they feel for each other isn't enough to make things work, just like any relationship, you've got to deal with hard contradictions. I think both of them will suffer to understand that, and so will all of us, but I also believe that, even if love itself isn't enough to make everything okay, it's also a compass that leads you to remember that, if you love somemody so much, you also have to know how to let go of some things that are yours, and make it work.

Sorry about all that long talk, I feel better now. Maybe I should've written it in a diary only for my own personal suffering and coping, and it probably would be easier in my NATIVE LANGUAGE, but anyway, if you read it 'till here, may God bless you.

[zarvasace]

Vidow Animatic Thoughts (pt 2)

(continued) Still long, so under cut.

part 1 // part 2 // part 3

Chorus 2

Last part mentioned the tears, so I won't go over that again (other than the fact that I like how they move! I think that turned out well.)

We also see Shadow as a whole figure again here, perhaps indicating that Vio's reality is collapsing, that he's entered a sort of dreamlike state. He gets up from kneeling (I like how that flow ended up, by the way) and stands there for a second.

We've been right there with Vio this whole time, but now we face some uncertainty as to what his next move will be: continue to brood and try to move forward (or in the past, he is still facing left...), or do something about it? Is "doing something about it" even a good idea?

We see Shadow again, and this time when he touches real!Vio, Vio touches him back to hold his hand. The white circle is meant to show the moment Vio decides. Vio also smiles for the first time, and we see him from the front, facing right nor left.

And then he stands dramatically with what might be magic or just representations of his emotions coming into play. Really, this shot is just meant to say that hey, Vio's decided something, and he seems happy about it. He's confident in his next step.

The final time we see his face until the end, and it's a liiiiittle ominous. What he's decided may not be good. That's the next narrative question. There's also more white here, showing that change and that he's still really sad despite his manic smile. We don't know his mental state anymore.

Interlude

I love this part. I love that the music picks up a little. These shots are also fun environment shots. Things are really getting more detailed in my art now, which wasn't really intentional but serves to amp up the intensity a bit, I think. We see several items that come into play later: candles, herbs, a dagger, a book, most with little flashes of white. I think this is probably the prettiest sequence in the whole thing.

It's not clear if the candles and herbs are in Vio's room or not, but the book definitely is. That's the post of his bed. He's been studying this, but hasn't actually done it for some unknown reason.

Vio's intentions are pretty obvious at this point to people familiar with fandom interpretation, but it hasn't been outright stated, so it's still a little unclear. I could be trying to fake you out again, who knows? There's still uncertainty as to what he's doing, and definitely uncertainty as to if it's even a good idea. Things are ominous and dark right now. Vio does not look like he's doing well, and a mentally unwell Vio is not uh. Not good.

People familiar with canon and fanon may be even more concerned, because some of you have seen the directions this has gone before: Vio exchanging his life or well-being for Shadow's, Vio burning things down, Vio becoming a villain in his own right... lots of possibilities. We aren't sure exactly what'll happen, even if we might have a good idea (and a hope.)

The music picks up again, and we get some repeated shots, intensity heightened. Vio is walking again, but not for as long. He's in front of the (not bright) window again (with smoke clinging to him.) Notably, he's facing right, this time. He's leaving his room and going elsewhere. He's leaving safety and entering the unknown.

The key sort of parallels him opening his bedroom door earlier but also signifies that he's going somewhere private. The bag falling to the floor means that he's arrived, and is a callback to the bow and quiver falling to the floor early in the video. He's ready.

Bridge

And then the guitar solo picks up!! When I came up with this part, on song listen like five in the car, I laughed out loud because it was glorious. I hope I captured some of that drama here. I'm not perfectly satisfied with the timing of the "drawing the circle" part, I think it went too quickly, but by then I'd already synced up the candles to the music, and I didn't want to take the time to mess with it. You can really tell that I started getting fancier in here, almost every individual frame in this part is edited somehow.

The words in the magic circle are Latin: "obumbratio die bris" means "shadows die twice," which is apparently the name of a video game? I dunno, I just saw it as a suggestion on Google Translate and ran with it, it sounds appropriately fancy. There is also "reduces eum" which is Google Translate Latin for "bring him back." Which gives it away, if you can read Latin that fast. XD

The magic circle is white, and some of the last white period, potentially signifying that the magic circle is the cumulative product of everything trying to get Vio to change, to notice something different, to move on. (I don't think this is moving on, exactly, but it is him taking action to change his circumstances.)

The candle flames are black, mostly for contrast, but also because this whole thing is "lit" by Shadow. He's everything here, not physically but definitely spiritually. Also I really like the way the candles and flames appear on cue with the music. :)

And here we get some payoff with the interlude stuff earlier: there's the book, a candle, some of the herbs and jars we saw. It's just various magic stuff. The book has a visible S and R, though the rest of the title is obscured. It might say "shadow revival" or "shadow resurrection" or "shadow recall" or something like that.

I like the way that plant burns, it looks cool. And all the stuff falling into the bowl took forever, that's probably the most complex sequence of the entire video. But the flowing liquids and shaking powder certainly look quite good! It's very clear now that Vio is doing something complicated and magical, and maybe dangerous (black-burning candles might be some kind of dark magic, right?) The more complicated magic is, the more risk it poses, or maybe the more problems can arise. It's not clear exactly, yet, what this is meant to do, but it's implied. And we still don't know if it's a good thing or not.

At least Vio is determined, and no longer constantly distracted.

I don't really like the way that mortar and pestle bit moves, but I also didn't know how to do it better without rearranging everything, so I decided to just leave it. Gets the point across: he mixed the stuff.

And here's the dagger back, too! At least it's just his hand. (: (also if you haven't noticed, Vio is consistently left-handed! I use my own hands for reference so I did have to flip a couple drawings. oops.) He closes his fingers around the blade, but I faded that out pretty quickly so the viewer knew that I wouldn't show the actual wound. Also I think these hands look pretty good.

The first (and one of only two) appearance of red! It's blood! Dramatic! If you didn't know this was potentially dangerous to begin with, now you do! Blood is involved! Oh no! I made sure to leave the blood until the last shot before the lyrics started up again, since it's the most ominous thing so far, and that red has Consequences.

(continued in part 3!)

[honshew]

thoughts on bg3

overall, i had a lot of fun and would recommend to anyone interested! very ambitious game, and i'm amazed it exists tbh. there are so many really, really great aspects of it. however, i'm also glad to be done with it, bc i started to have less and less fun with it at the last part. which is an unfortunate place to have the worst part of the game. i really wish it wrapped up in a more satisfying way, because i became really attached to the characters and the incredibly detailed world. a shame it had to be rushed toward the end of development. it's incredible, though could have been more still.

i'm spending some time trying to figure out what i liked about the game, so this may or may not be updated as thoughts come to me. there will be spoilers all the way thru the end of the game so here's your spoiler warning

i think while people unfamiliar with dnd can play and still have a good time, it probably will feel overwhelming and there will likely be things you won't understand unless someone explains it to you. i can't even really call the tutorial a bad one as much as it's barely there. but i do know plenty of people with zero dnd experience still having fun and simply enjoying learning on the go!

on the other hand, being someone who plays dnd, once you figure out the interface it's a pretty smooth experience. there are some things that are a little different to accommodate how the game works (e.g. second-story work reduces your fall dmg rather than increasing your climbing speed, since the game doesn't really count climbing as distance), but those are pretty quick to learn. seems to me that the devs thought people who didn't play dnd wouldn't be all that intersted in bg3, but a ci'd be curious to see how many bg3 players will look for a dnd group to join from here.

act 1 was solid and was paced well. i really liked how many characters ended up showing up later in the game, as opposed to characters you save once and never see again. i think what was most fun was getting to know what i could get away with LOL not just an exploration of the world, but an exploration of the game itself. i have video of me talking to auntie ethel while my friends set up and set off a circle of flame barrels, so i got a front row seat of her being blown to smithereens.

act 2, also solid. i really enjoy quests that involve impacting a place in a really tangible way, like in okami, so the shadow-cursed lands were pretty cool. unfortunately, the game doesn't really show you this happening except a liiiiittle bit at the end, so it doesn't feel as good as it could. still, i liked exploring the area a lot. all of the mini-bosses of the area were unsettling, but we got past literally all of them via high charisma rolls. actually aside from the exploring, a lot of the fun was seeing how we could cheese boss fights, which carried into act 3

act 3 felt way more all over the place and buggy, which significantly lowered my enjoyment. ofc a game this massive will have issues, but i'm still sad that the last part of the game where everything crescendos is where i enjoyed the game the least. small things not working the way they're supposed to (e.g. certain npcs not running or climbing up a ladder when they are fleeing I'M TALKING TO YOU ZUMBO PUMBO AND FEATHERWEIGHT FALSON, astarion falling sleep to a spell even tho he's an elf during his end-of-quest fight). what sucks about things being so frustrating too was that the main quests had really great setups or concepts, but the execution was messy. still, we had a lot of fun messing with bosses. cazador couldn't do anything bc he was forced to dance while we killed him, orin was disintegrated, gortash turned to stone. kinda wild having a bard with 100% spell hit rate....!

i do wish we got to explore baldur's gate more. i totally get that would be a huge undertaking tho. i had a thought that maybe act 3 should've been its own game, but then i guess you couldn't call it baldur's gate 3 if you never get to baldur's gate. i didn't play the previous bg games, but i liked how they wove in the story from the previous installments and ttrpg modules without leaving newcomers to the series out of the loop too much.

i liked shadowheart's, astarion's, and wyll's quests a lot. the ansur part of wyll's was really cool. i adore trials to test character as a setup, especially ones administrated by some major figure. but also? fuck balduran for what he did to ansur and later to me. he's the city's hero, but he only really looks out for himself. which is cool for me as a viewer, not cool for the character i play as LOL

i have more thoughts but i will type them up here later maybe this has gotten long enoguh