#thank you much this was so fun to type out!!!!!!!!

[brainoutofstock]

The accidental sugar baby for retired Simon...

It all began in a pub.

Most of your friends were already making their way home, but you decided to wait for your brother to pick you up as he was hanging out with his own friends nearby. But half an hour passed and he still wasn't there. It was only when you ordered another drink that he called you to say his car broke down and you should take a cab home.

With a groan, you took a sip of your cocktail and browsed your phone to see if you could call anyone. Being alone at home didn't sound like fun, but no one seemed to be available. Your ex, maybe, but he was trying too hard to get you back despite the terrible things he had done to you.

This guy who was tall and muscular, almost comically huge, sat on the bar stool next to you and watched you with a small smile, studying your every move as if you were under a microscope. You bit the inside of your cheek, suddenly unsure of what you should do now, because a part of you wanted to get away from this scary man, but there was another part, a much weaker and curious part that wanted to find out what he wanted.

“So you need a ride home?” he asked casually while he pointed at his empty glass and asked for another round of beer.

Was he listening to your conversation? What a creep. “I'll manage, thank you.”

He let out a deep laugh. “I wasn't offering to take you home. I drank a few beers so I don't drive tonight,” he informed you.

A responsible man. What a nice change. Some of your friends would hop in a car without hesitation. But if he wasn't offering a ride, what did he want from you? Before you could ask him, he typed something into his phone and put it in front of you.

“They specialize in taking women home at night. Female drivers only,” he told you, then took a big sip of his drink.

So he was trying to help you? “Thanks,” you said slowly as you opened the website on your phone. “Why are you helping me?”

“Can't risk a pretty thing like you getting in trouble on the way home.” He kept a pause, watching your surprised expression with an amused smile. “My friend's sister uses this method in Scotland. They can be found in all major cities in the UK.”

Only now did you notice those charming amber eyes of his, surrounded by long blond lashes. There was a scar on his chin, his nose looked like it had been broken at least once in his life, but these flaws made him strangely handsome. You felt a strong need to pry for information about him, to find out what he did for a living or if he had anyone waiting for him at home.

He finished the rest of his beer then stood up, not leaving you time to start a conversation now that you considered him trustworthy. “I'd better get going. Stay safe.”

The next time you met him was in the gym.

When you entered, there he was, having a chat with a guy at the reception, not noticing you until he heard you speak to the receptionist next to them. You asked for a monthly pass, but only then realized you left your bag in the car, the only thing you had was your duffel bag on your shoulder.

“I’m sorry, give me a few minutes, I'll go grab my stuff from the car,” you told the young woman with an apologetic smile.

“Lizzie, let me take care of it,” the man from the bar spoke up, pulling out his phone from the pocket of his jeans to pay.

You quickly shook your head and reached out to push his hand away. “No need, I park right outside, I will be–”

But he interrupted you with a smile. “Don't worry about it, love.”

It was clear that arguing would be pointless, so you nodded and quietly thanked him. Once he paid and you finished the registration, he said goodbye to his friend, then began to walk to the locker rooms with you on his side.

“First time here?” he asked as he looked down at you. You nodded. “Need someone to work out with? I have fun helping newbies.”

“I went to another gym until now, but the new owner ruined the place,” you explained.

He let out a thoughtful hum. “Then why did you ask for the personal training option?”

“Having someone to push me helps.”

“Like I said, I'll gladly help. Cheaper than a personal trainer,” he added when he stopped in front of your destination with his arms crossed. “Come on, let's change then meet here. If you don't like it, you can ask for a personal trainer.”

You agreed with a defeated sigh. When you saw him a few minutes later in a pair of basketball shorts and a tank top, you couldn't help but gulp. You knew he was in a good shape, but those muscles made you weak. He looked like an ancient Greek god, a sight that burned into your brain and you knew you would have some dirty dreams at night.

As it turned out in the following hour, he was right. Working out with him was good, he was truly patient and doing rounds together helped you focus on your goal. So you agreed to meet again in a few days, and you found out his name was Simon.

After a week or two, he asked if you wanted to have a drink with him in the pub where you met. He paid for everything. Then the drink turned into dinner. Once again, he paid for the meal. Then he bought you smart watch since you didn't have one, saying you needed one to track your workout. Then he got you new earbuds. “The ones you have are a piece of crap, this is way better,” he explained the purchase.

But if you put these gifts aside, you had to realize he was a truly nice guy. A little rough around the edges, sure, but once he warmed up to you, he acted like a real guard dog. Some guy tried to flirt with you despite you already saying you weren't interested? He would be by your side in a second and ask, “Is everything all right, love?” Whoever tried to bother you left right away.

You began to fall for him, but you didn't want to ruin whatever you had going on. Maybe with time he would make a move on you. Maybe he would show any sign of his interest in you.

But when he rented you an apartment after your landlord broke your lease, keeping a set of keys to make sure you could ask for them in the event of losing your own, you realized this was something you would have never expected to happen. You became a sugar baby.

[kenntolog]

how about sukuna meets loser! gf’s friends?, maybe like maki, yuta, & toge. (ps i love ur work sm<3)

𝝑𝝔 an: hope u like this baby!! thank u so much <33

lmao sukuna finds out you have friends when he sees a story you posted with them. he’s staring at it in confusion before typing out a question,

who tf r they loser

a couple of minutes later you reply,

my friends!! i told u id be with em today :<

ah. so those are your friends. you’ve talked about them a few times before, mentioning them whenever you go out or when you’re telling him a story, but he never really remembered them. not. their faces, not their names — okay, maybe he’s just too inattentive when it comes to things that are not you physically, or maybe he was just distracted by your pretty face when you were talking.

anyways, sukuna finds your friends just fine besides the fact that they are very protective over you. he doesn’t even know what came over them when you first introduced him to them; the death glares from the panda looking dude and the green-haired girl, the annoyed looks from the guy with a collar that is set too high to not be considered weird. and the black haired-guy who looked more intimidated than anything.

they don’t really spend much time together, it feels more like an interrogation than anything.

he senses that maki doesn’t like him the most. she gives him distasteful looks, side-eyes him whenever he says something to you and clicks her tongue whenever he appears by your side. and honestly, sukuna does the same to her because what the fuck, but after that both him and maki try not to show their dislikes around you since you seem to be upset whenever you notice. it’s like a silent agreement between them.

sukuna knows that you look up to her more than anyone, which is not that surprising; maki is quite the woman. she is strong, confident in herself and domineering, which is why you find her so amazing and want to be more like her, but honestly, sukuna wouldn’t change you for anything. he also starts making fun of her for not being able to get any guy because she scares them off, earning himself a middle finger from her and a disapproving glances from yuta.

inumaki and yuta are more relaxed than maki; inumaki is quiet and mostly just on his phone and likes to agree with whatever the tall, chubby guy who all of you for some reason call “panda” says, and yuta seems to be more similar to you. sukuna also notices that yuta is a maki fanboy. that’s his whole personality in sukuna’s eyes. and the panda guy is just chill. sukuna likes him.

but if you suggest to hang out, all of your friends and him, together?

fuck no. he can barely stand his teammates😭😭

[pomefioredove]

Hiya! Hope you're doing okay, and take it easy if you haven't been!

For the flirty prompts starters list, could you maybe do: "Stop saying things that make me want to kiss the hell out of you." with Vil? I think it'd be a good one

Thanks!

(I hope you have fun writing this if you do! No biggie if you don't or if someone else already asked!)

GIGGLING SO MUCH

summary: "stop saying things that make me want to kiss the hell out of you" type of post: short fic characters: vil additional info: romantic, reader is gender neutral, reader is yuu, Vil experiencing cuteness aggression.jpg, not proofread a part of this event

Vil considers himself to be an eloquent man.

After all, how one speaks is just as important as how one carries themselves, and every last inch of him, from his looks to his body language to his words, have been refined to perfection. Each a golden thread in the dazzling tapestry that is Vil Schoenheit.

And yet, despite that, he still can't seem to find a way to describe you.

Frustrating is not quite right. Epel is frustrating. Those first years you insist on spending your precious time with are frustrating. But you...

You are not annoying, nor are you incompetent. His usual vocabulary for the students of NRC is useless when it comes to you.

...And different is too vague.

Vil just seems to forget what to do with his hands when you're around.

You look so soft in the golden afternoon light of the lounge, which is distracting enough as it is. Now you're giggling in the way you do, and he can't concentrate, and... what was he doing, again?

"Stop that," he says, plainly, not looking up from the textbook he'd been reading. Or trying to, anyway. He'd lost his place some time ago.

You make this... sound, this confused little hum, and he pictures you tilting your head to the side like a puppy. Sevens, you're just so...

He huffs. "I said, stop,"

"Stop what?"

Clueless little thing. Vil sighs, finding it within himself to make eye contact. He'd given up on finishing this assignment early, anyway.

"You know what,"

You stare back, unblinking. Are you really so oblivious? No, there's no way you aren't doing this on purpose, whatever it is, just to get on his nerves. Did those friends of yours put you up to this?

He should scold you. He invited you to study with him, a luxury which many would pay millions for, and here you are, being...

Ugh. He still can't think of the right word.

"Am I being too loud?" you ask, a confused lilt in your voice.

Sevens, you are so dense, he wants to just grab you and squeeze you like a stress ball until a thought comes out of that empty head.

The thought of that is no help. If anything, it just bothers him more.

He pinches the bridge of his nose. Are you really not doing this on purpose? "No. You're distracting me,"

"Oh... sorry,"

...In such a soft, meek little tone, like you really feel bad about it, looking up at him with those eyes of yours... ugh. He wants to bite you, squeeze you in his arms until this overwhelming, restless feeling passes. You're so...

"It's... fine," Vil relents. "I don't think I would've gotten much done today, anyway."

You actually tilt your head to the side this time, worsening his condition. "Something on your mind?"

Sevens, what are you doing to him? He can't sit still. He pictures himself reaching across the table to pinch your cheeks, to kiss that sweet, worried expression off your face. The effect you have...

And you're not even doing anything!

"No," he says, his voice strained with the weight of the lie. "Just burnout. It's a busy time of year for me."

You seem to take that as a cue, standing from your seat with wide eyes and holding out a hand, much to his chagrin.

"You should be resting, then. Overworking yourself will only make things worse. Come on, let's go back,"

Such a determined expression on that pretty face of yours. There's just something about how you respond so innocently, so intent on caring for him, you're...

You're so...

Vil feels his heart drop. Oh, Sevens. That's the word.

You're so cute.

"Stop that," he snaps. He can feel his face warming. "This is the last time I'll ask."

A little flash of annoyance crosses your face at his dismissal. How adorable...

"Stop what?" You repeat.

Even your scoff is cute. His face feels hot. He can handle beautiful. Gorgeous, pretty, sexy, even, But not cute. And now he's getting himself all worked up over it, and you're being so sweet, and...

"Stop saying things that make me want to kiss the hell out of you!"

Nothing has ever had such an effect on him before.

After all, it would take something incredible to fluster Vil- and here he is, blurting out every thought he has, blushing like a schoolgirl as he realizes what just came out of his mouth.

Vil Schoenheit, suddenly terrified of being rejected. It was as if he'd woken up in a parallel universe.

Or died, and went to his own personal Hell.

The shock slowly wears off your face, and you... laugh.

You laugh.

"You're very forward,"

"I'll take that as a compliment, and not the way you meant it," he mumbles, crossing his arms over his chest. "Though I'm failing to find what's so amusing."

You move around the table to sit next to him, eyes gleaming. "How would you like me to react, then?"

Vil stares back. Was that... flirtation? Perhaps you're not so oblivious, after all...

But still cute.

Still very cute.

He sighs, though there's a smile playing at his lips now. "Save me the embarrassment of being rejected,"

"Hmm... I suppose that can be arranged,"

And with that, he cups your face in his hands and draws you in for that kiss.

[somanyratsinthewalls]

Congratulations Mo 🥹🩷

Ordering Crimson with Kitten and a sprinkle of stork thank you

I LOVE YOUR FICS TOO OMG🩷

OMG HI THANK YOU SWEET BABY FOR REQUESTING! I like totally went overboard with this one and I think it made me realize that I have to write a Kid slow burn. I keep writing waaaaaay too much for Kid One Shots.

Pairing: Eustass Kid x Fem!Reader

Prompt: Hurt/Comfort to Smut x Breeding

WC: 2400 lmao fuck

Warnings: KINDA HEAVY- potential assault of some sort but it doesn’t happen (don’t worry we’re cool!), comfort, protective Kid, Kid with feelings, Killer is also here for reasons, p in v sex, cream pies and breeding yay, unprotected sex, fingering, good girl type shit.

I'll Protect You (+18)

— — 

It was a whirlwind of blood, cannon fire, and flying metal. 

Cuffs were tight behind your back and you weren’t sure how you got into this position. You receive a hard kick to the ribs. You spit blood. 

“Aww, little Kid Pirate girl isn’t so tough now, huh?” Your captors laughed down at you. 

You had been a part of Kid’s crew for awhile now but this was your first confrontation with other pirates in which you had found yourself bested. You were overtaken by several powerful enemy pirates and swiftly hauled off to a secluded closet area away from the fray and away from the safety of your captain and his crew. 

“She’ll make a fun little play thing for us I think… heh heh…” One of the brutish pirates chuckles down at you, nudging your cheek with the bottom of his boot as you lay bound on your side. The moist wood of the ship was splintering your cheek and one of your eyes was swollen to the point of obstructing your vision. 

“T-they’ll kill you, fucking bastards..” You spit out with all of your might, but it came out quiet since there was very little air left in your lungs. 

“Hah! You think they’d come for you? See how easily we were able to take you away? They don’t give a shit about you.” Another of the men sneered at you. 

“Come on, let’s get her out of those ugly punk clothes. She belongs to us now.” A taller, thinner man said as he reached for the buckle of your pants. 

“Get the fuck off me!” You choked out. 

“Stop playing hard to get, sweetie, I thought you liked red heads?” Another enemy pirate chuckled as he used his sweaty hand to rip your tank top, exposing your breasts. 

You had almost given up and resigned yourself for whatever you were about to endure when the door of the closet was blown clear off its hinges. The men around you straightened up and turned around immediately taking their hands off you. 

In flash of long blonde hair and blue and white, the men around you had fallen to the floor in pools of blood, sliced to pieces. 

“Kil-“ You try to speak but your mouth was full of blood again and you cough. 

In an instant you were scooped up in Killer’s huge arms, tucked into his chest to cover your now exposed body from any other prying eyes. You were fading in and out of consciousness while Killer carried you across the deck of the Victoria Punk. As your head lolled back you could see Kid facing away from you out of the corner of your eye, no doubt destroying what was left of the enemy pirate crew. 

“Captain! Y/n’s hurt! Bringing her inside!” Killer shouted at your captain. 

You were able to catch Kid’s eyes as he turned around. His expression changed so fast in that brief moment of eye contact it was almost as if Killer was carrying you in slow motion. You saw shock turn to blind rage as Kid noticed how damaged your body was. He no doubt saw your torn clothing… so god help those pirates if he assumed the worst had happened to you… 

You lose consciousness before you make it to the first aid quarters.

— — 

Your vision is too blurry and your head too fuzzy to make sense of your surroundings. All you could hear was a far-away, muffled yelling… a voice you could just barely recognize. 

“LET ME IN THERE NOW, HEAT! THAT’S AN ORDER FROM YOUR CAPTAIN!” It sounded like Kid was underwater, miles away, but you could still make out the words being exchanged. 

“Captain! I-I’m sorry but she’s been sedated! Waking her up now would only put her in more pain!”  You could just hear Heat outside the room pleading with your irate captain. 

“I DON’T CARE IF SHE’S AWAKE! SHE NEEDS HER CAPTAIN!” Kid clearly was not in the mood for reason. 

“Captain… The threat is eliminated. You need to rest, and so does she. We all do. Heat has assured us that y/n will be fine in a few days. If you trust your crew, you’d back off.” Your ears perk up further as you hear the logical and clear voice of reason, Killer speak to his captain. 

Several moments of silence go by and you felt yourself passing out again… 

“FINE!” *SLAM* Kid must have grabbed Heat and pushed him against the wooden wall of the ship. “But if anything, and I mean ANYTHING changes in her condition… I’m in there. Got it?” You hear kid spit at his crew. 

“A-aye captain.” You can nearly hear Heat choke out at Kid. 

You black out again. 

— — 

You hear whispers and see a faint light behind your eyelids. 

“Hey…. Hey y/n…” 

Your eyes flutter open completely for the first time in several days and you’re met with a mane of blue hair and a Glasgow smile. 

“AH!” You shriek and jolt up. 

“AH!!!” Heat pulls back and screams louder. 

“Gods on fucking bikes, Heat! You can’t wake people up like that!” You breath heavily, leaning up on your elbow, hospital sheet clutched to your chest in your other arm. 

“Like what? I literally just look like that!” Heat snips back at you, comfortable now seeing you’re alive and well. 

“Maybe a surgical mask or something, geez… Nearly shit myself…” You sigh out. 

“Are you body shaming me?” Heat brings his hands to his scarred, grey cheeks in fake offense. You smile weakly. 

A few moments of silence go by. 

“Do you… do you remember what happened?” Heat asks you. 

“Yes.” You respond instinctively. You don’t elaborate. “Can you get Kid? He asked if anything changed to come get him.” You ask without looking up from your feet at the end of the hospital bed. 

“How did-? Yes, y/n… I-I’ll get him.” Heat stutters as he swiftly exists the Victoria Punk’s makeshift medical bay. 

Without having the energy to thank your crew mate, you just sat on the hospital bed and pulled your knees up to your chest. You hugged them close into your body and stared out the porthole on the opposite wall. It could have been seconds, minutes, or an hour… but you found yourself lost in the point where the ocean met the sky, rocking back and forth in the window before you were startled by a gentle knock. 

Too gentle from what you’re used to on this ship. 

“Yes-“ you try to call out but your voice was hoarse. 

You hear the door behind you creek open and a heavy body thumps in with large boots. The door shuts. You don’t turn around.

Nothing is said. You can hear Kid’s heavy breathing. He was upset. You were sure you knew why. He was angry that a member of his crew had been so easily captured and needed to be rescued and put on a week of bed rest. You were pathetic.  He was here to tell you that you weren’t worthy to be a Kid Pirate anymore. Tears formed in your eyes and your throat felt tight. You clutched your knees harder before you finally spoke. 

“Captain-“

“I killed them.” Kid interrupted you immediately. 

“Y-you.. what-“ You turn your neck and wince, muscles still sore. 

“Every single fucking one of them. Killed them and threw their bodies in the sea. Set their ship on fire.” Kid paces across the room slowly, his jackboots creaking on the wooden floorboards. 

You tried to swallow down the lump in your throat. 

“I-I apologize c-captain. I-I was w-weak-“ You try to square your shoulders as you turn to face your imposing captain, but your voice trails off. “But I.. I… I… ” Your voice falters and squeaks. 

“You what, y/n?” Kid stops pacing and takes a step towards you. 

“I.. I was so fucking scared, Kid.” You spit out and succumb to violent sobs that wracked your whole body. “So fucking scared…” You cry and whimper into your knees as you pulled them impossibly closer to your shaking body. 

You were so engulfed in your own emotions that you were startled when you were scooped up entirely and pulled into Kid’s huge chest. 

You didn’t know why he was holding you, but you couldn’t help but let it comfort you nonetheless. You cried into Kid’s leather clad chest for awhile until he finally speaks. 

“I don’t want to ever hear you apologize to me again. Not for that shit. You fought hard. It was my fault.” Kid pulls your head out from between his pecs so you could look up at him. He gently uses his flesh hand to push your damp hair from your eyes while he cradles your body in his giant metal arm. Your wet eyes bat up at him and he can’t help but melt. “It was my fault that I couldn’t protect you. I’m never letting that happen again, you hear me?”

“But Kid, I-“ You try to protest, knowing you were too weak to be a part of his crew.

“You hear me?!” Kid pulls you closer to him by the back of your neck now. You inhale sharply. “I’m never letting anyone else touch you again. If they do, I’ll fucking slaughter them just like I did those bastards. You’re mine.” Kid becomes heated as he moves his face even closer to yours. “You hear me?” He repeats, but this time in a soft whisper against your lips. 

“A-Aye Captain..” You barely breath out through your trembling lips. 

“Aye, Captain what-“ Kid starts to run his hands up and down your torso, still not kissing you fully.

“I’m yours.” You finally get out. 

Kid hums in satisfaction just before pressing his painted red lips into yours. 

You sigh into the kiss, releasing so much anxiety and stress from yourself, knowing that Kid want you to stay, and wanted you in this capacity. 

Kid ripped the hospital sheet off your body and kisses down your neck to your breasts, quickly attaching his hungry mouth to your pert nipple. Small pants leave your parted, swollen lips. Kid pulls back from your breast to admire your naked, quivering body beneath him. 

Kid stands at full height, he then hunches slightly to drop a large ball of spit from his lips to land right on your bare pussy. You gasp slightly at the lewdness. 

Kid then leans down and presses his forehead against yours while undoing the buckle on his belt. 

“Tell me this is okay… tell me if you don’t want this, we can stop… tell me you want me…” He whispers softly to you as he strokes himself above you. 

“Yes. Touch me.” You meet Kid’s gaze and cup his jaw in your hand, truly magnifying his size against yours. 

Kid wordlessly moves his hand to your sex as he smears his own saliva across your clit. You throw your head back and sigh. 

“Have to get you ready for me…” Kid says tenderly as he pushes two large fingers inside of you. “I don’t want to hurt you…” Such softness you had never seen from your captain before was only adding to your arousal. He stroked your g-spot gently as he whispered sweet praises to you in assurance. “Such pretty sounds, baby… You’re doing so good getting so wet for me… you ready to take my cock?

“I-I need you… Kid… please…” You plead, wanting him inside of you so badly that you could swear your slit was dribbling out onto the bed beneath you. 

Kid nods his head against your forehead and takes his fingers from your clenching hole. You groan in frustration, but only for a moment as Kid returns and slides his massive member into you. You squirm at first, so unused to such a massive stretch. It didn’t hurt, but it was going to take a little work to get it all in…

Kid hears you whimper and tries tor assure you. 

“I know baby, it’s a little big… we’ll make it fit… you’re gonna feel so good…” Kid coos at your boneless form on the hospital bed as he gingerly thrusts the first half of his cock in and out of you. 

With each few thrusts, Kid sinks his cock a bit deeper inside you and with each additional centimeter you squealed. You moaned but you never protested, as your gushing slick coated him further, he was eventually able to sink himself balls deep inside of you. 

“See, pretty? I told you it’d fit.” Kid smirks and presses his flesh hand on your lower tummy while his metal arm holds your legs apart. 

“Ahh, Kid don’t do that I’ll-“ You protest and try to push his wrist. 

“You’ll what? Cum? Squirt? That’s the point, love.” Kid chuckles and rips your hand off his wrist. He pins your wrists together above your head in one hand as he presses on your belly with the other all while he relentlessly fucked into you. 

You shriek. Your vision turned starry for a moment and you feel liquid gush from your lower half.  Your eyes roll back in your head and your thighs twitch from the stretch to accommodate such a large man between them for so long. 

“That’s my girl… my fucking girl…” Kid grips your face with his hand and forces you to look at him. “Let me make you mine.” Ge growls at you. 

“Y-yes, Captain.” You make out through your post orgasm haze. 

“Mine…” Kid grunts and slams his hips so far into yours that it made you cry out. He came hard and heavy deep inside your cunt. 

Kid’s feet shuffle against the wooden floor as he tries to pull himself off of you. He pulls back and lifts your chin to face him. You were cock drunk and exhausted, still recovering from your wounds. 

“Come finish the rest of your treatment in my quarters. You’re not staying in this shithole anymore.” Kid says as he nuzzles his nose against yours. 

“You’ll have to take it up with the doctor, but I have a feeling you’ll be very convincing.” You place a gentle kiss against Kid’s lips. 

— — 

**A/N** This was too much plot with not enough porn? I can admit that but IDK I HAD FUN WRITING IT? I hope y’all like it!

[astarion-dekarios]

I did a live transcription of the Dragon Age: the Veilguard dev Q&A session today.

UPDATE/EDIT: I made a second pass of this and cleaned it up into a full/complete transcript.

Q: If you could belong to any of the main factions, which would you choose? 

Corinne: Listen Katie, you say softball but this is hard. I'm gonna cheat and I’m gonna give you two. So for fashion, the Antivan Crows all day long. their threads, you're gonna love it. For vibes though, the ones that capture my vibe, Mournwatch. Gimme those necromancers.

John: Those are good answers. I have one for fashion and for just general faction that I’d like to be a part of. Veil jumpers - who doesn't like a nice walk in the forest, you know, even if that forest is filled with horrifying monsters and terrifying anomalies, but uh, yeah.

Matt: For me it’s definitely the Lords of Fortune. I’ve had a chance to try out a bunch of them, and I think I’ve finally settled on them, and I think it’s just because pirate barbarian is just such a great combination of elements. Treasure hunting, plus beaches and palm trees and all that stuff, it’s a really good mix, so that’s kind of my default.

Q: I’ve seen a lot of talk about only having two companions in your party instead of three for this game. What is the reasoning this and will we get the same companion conversations and banter as seen in the previous Dragon Age Games?? 

Corinne: Such a good question. Thank you to whoever submitted this one. I'll start and then turn it over to John Epler. As you saw in the gameplay reveal, this is a much more intimate experience. We pulled the camera in. For those that aren't aware, the reason why is we want you to feel like you actually are in this world, like you’re walking these the city streets of Minrathous, you’re looking up at the buildings all around you. You're a part of this place. It's much more intimate, and we believe as the narrative unfolds that this creates a lot more immersion. Now how this relates to the companions is in doing this, we went back and forth on it a lot, but we actually found that having two companions allows them more visibility and presence. We've talked about the incredible depth and focus we’ve put on fleshing out these companions, they're very fully realized, so here you really get to see them more clearly, you get to see them shine. When you see Lace Harding jump into the air and release a volley of arrows, you can only get that because of this more intimate view. So I love the spotlight that’s been put on them. But I think in addition to the banter, one of the things people are wondering about is, ok but what about gameplay. Again, this has come about from our testing, working with the internal team and also our lovely our council of players. We just found that in the combat system, when you're planning your strategies, two felt like the right number to manage. Keep in mind, Rook has a lot of different types of actions: abilities, individual attacks that are more fleshed out than ever before. Timing and positioning matter a lot, so this really felt like the right balance. The number of inputs and actions we’re asking you as a player to take, including directing your companions, is higher than ever before. And I will also say that I engage with the companions, I actively control what they're doing more than I ever have before in any of the other three games. But John, I’ll toss it over to you for the banter.

John: So banter, honestly I don't think you could stop the writers from writing banters. I will say for myself, it's one of the more light but fun things to do. You get to write little stories, little arcs between the characters, and Veilguard is no different. Banter is still absolutely a core part of it. We've got global banter, you know the general stuff that you get in all spaces, as well as mission specific stuff. But yeah. It's definitely still a big thing, if anything it's the most we've ever done for pairings of companions. Beyond that, we’ve also made sure—and I mean, I’ve been on Dragon Age for a while, and I know there’s been an issue, you know, things like, “well, I don’t wanna miss this banter.” So we've even added stuff like interruptable and resumable banter as well, just to make sure that—because again, it’s a core part of the experience. Everyone loves hearing these companions talk to each other. Everyone loves hearing these little stories and relationships develop over the course of the game, and as mentioned before, companions are the heart of this experience. So we still have it, if anything like I said, you could not stop the writers from doing it, even if you tried.

Corinne: Well John, listening to you speak, one thing that comes to mind, maybe people are wondering, with two companions in the field, do I get less interaction? Like do I get a scene with my companions interacting with a broader group more often? And the way you'll gather them around the kitchen table, there's just so many of those moments where they're all interacting with each other. Those are some of my favorite parts.

John: Yeah, and that’s a good callout, because I think the other side of it is, we aren’t talking too much about your home, but we also wanna make sure that they feel like they have relationships and a life outside of just the times you take a certain pair of companions out on the field, so we made sure that they have interactions there as well.

Q: How customizable is the backstory of Rook? Will we get to determine their past in the character creator?

John: Absolutely. So Rook has six different backgrounds that you can choose from. Each  one is tied to one of the major factions in the Veilguard, and each one sets out who Rook was before they were recruited by Varric. While that sets up the broad events, as you go through the game and have conversations either with members of your faction, other characters, you can define not just what those events were but what they meant to you – what was your motivation, what was the kind of person you are as you build up Rook, because again, we wanna make sure that roleplaying is at the heart of this experience, and taking Rook, giving them a background in the world but letting you decide what that means and what that says about you is also a big part of it. And again, there are six different factions in this game. Two which anyone who’s played Dragon Age for a while would remember, you’ve got the Gray Wardens and Antivan Crows. We also have, in addition to them, four new ones because we’re in Northern Thedas. We’ve got the Veil Jumpers, Mournwatch, Shadow Dragons, and Lords of Fortune. A lot of different options, a lot of different backgrounds, and a lot of opportunities to define who your Rook was and who they are now.

Q: Will crafting return and has it been improved since Inquisition?

Corinne: Will crafting return? You can absolutely improve and customize your gear, yes. That is a big part of RPG progression, so yes you can improve and customize it. I will say though, it's different this time around, and it does get into spoiler territory so I'm gonna be a little cagey about it, but there might be a mysterious entity that assists you with that that will be an important part of the narrative.

Q: Can we kiss or romance Manfred the skeleton? 

John: I would say, not that skeleton, but we're not saying no skeletons.

Q: What were some of the development considerations that you had to take into account to ensure this game flows & functions with prior games & dragon age keep, if keep is being utilized? 

Corinne: We did an interview with IGN that goes into some of the details there. To summarize, we have taken a different approach on how you import your decisions this time around. It's now fully integrated into the character creator and serves a dual purpose, to be honest. It’s not called this in game, but I playfully think of it as "last time on dragon age". When I talk about its dual purpose, it's been 10 years since the last dragon age game release, so it serves as a refresher on critical events as well as allowing you to remake those decisions that are critical to you. The thing I love about it is it's very highly visual, it uses the familiar tarot card aesthetic, so it's actually a very visual and playful experience as you go through it. It is very much important to us that it's built into the client, though. You can play this game entirely offline, no connection, you don’t have to link to your EA accounts. That's been a really big request, so the refresher plus make those decisions in client, I think we're all pretty happy about that. I don't wanna spoil anything by revealing what decisions you can import. Y'all don't want the spoilers. But it's been a really interesting creative intersection for us. Because on the one hand, this is a whole new adventure. You're in northern thedas, these locations you've literally never been to before, so that affects what will matter and what we’re not using this time around as far as decisions. But obviously there’s some very very clear connections to existing characters. It’s no secret that the Inquisitor, our dear Inky, is gonna show up, so that's a factor.

Q: Will this next game be an open world game or is it just confined to Tevinter? 

John: Yeah, so you are in northern Thedas, but the game only begins in Minrathous. It doesn't stay there. I think one of the most exciting things for me, and again, I don’t wanna get into too much spoiler detail, but getting to go to and work with the art team, the narrative, the design team to build out these locations we've talked about, places that character have referred to as where they’ve come from, places that characters obviously in previous games have hailed from, has been absolutely exciting. So you do start in Tevinter, you do start in Minrathous, but again that’s not the entire game by any stretch.

Corinne: And the first half of it is, is it an open world game? We've gone back to what we believe delivers the best, most curated, intense narratives. So this is a hand crafted experience, it's mission based. Now these locations can open up, you can go back, solve mysteries, do some really great side content - not fetch quests, not grind quests, some really great side content. But I wanna be clear, it's a really curated, hand crafted experience.

John: Just to bounce off of that very quickly, the most important thing for us and what Corinne was saying about hand crafted, obviously we’ve talked about how characters, story, narrative are critical to us, and this has allowed us to build those experiences in a way that emphasized that really well while still tying it into the story threads and story beats.

Q: Will the companions have unique specializations like DA2 or the same as player?

Corinne: I think the best way for me to describe this is that yes, our companions will have abilities that are truly unique to them, but also the companions do fall into the archetypes of mage, rogue, and warrior. For instance, you might be surprised to hear, because she has a bow, but Bellara is in fact a mage, and I love that. Some of the abilities, the bulk of the abilities of the companions, are based on their own unique personalities. Neve is the only mage that is an ice mage, so you get distinct abilities for her. But because she's a mage, she does have access to abilities that all mages share, like Time Slow. We really like the balance there. It’s a good mix of representing their archetype, their class, and also their distinct specialization or personality or whatever you wanna call it.

John: Yeah actually, I would say the word personality is a great one, because all of these characters exist, have a story, have a history of how they became who they were, and part of that was finding that intersection between narrative and gameplay and making sure that again, we serve the needs of gameplay, but also allow these characters to exist as their own people, not just in conversation but out of conversations as well.

Corinne: I would also say that as part of that core mage kit, healing spells are there. So if your mages, you wanna make ‘em a healer, yeah.

Q: Will the Veilguard have tactical combat still? 

Corinne: Yes. Combat gets quite tactical. Obviously this is an evolution of the combat system. I talked about immersion, wanting to put you in the world like you’re actually living and existing in it, but it is very tactical and I will say we have a robust difficulty system. The tactics are increasingly important the higher difficulty that you go. So if you’re showing up for a highly tactical experience, I would crank that difficulty in particular. But I wanna make sure I’m super clear in my answer. You saw the gameplay reveal. Our pause time tactical mode is not overhead. It stays close to Rook. It does allow you to cycle between targets in and out of combat, there’s a reason for that. As the game progresses, you didn’t see this in that opening hour of the game, but it will display strategic information on the enemies, so what are their vulnerabilities, what are their elemental weaknesses, their enhancements, what are they resistant to, so your type of abilities, leaning into elemental gameplay matters a lot.

I would also say, this is a long answer because it’s such a great question, tactical decision making also takes the form, I would say this is front and center, of coordinating your ability usage between Rook and your companions to create synergies and or really devastating, we call them detonation combos. So let me give you a couple of examples, because it can be really hard to visualize, so hopefully this helps. One of the tactics that I personally enjoy in my own builds, I just recently played as a veil ranger, I love it, it’s one of my favorites. if I'm fighting fade touched enemies in Artlathan, I like to use Bellara's galvanized tear to pull enemies together, it’s like a gravity well. You then Slow Time with Neve – Slow Time affects the world around you, but it does not affect you, so you clump them up, you slow time -- and then with Rook I come in and do a devastating AOE or damage over time spell or ability. And it’s even better if it's a lightning based ability, because the fade touched in Arlathan are vulnerable to that. So there’s so many layers of coordination and strategies and tactics. We did talk about the devastating detonation combos, that's one of my favorite features, because that’s when you’re really leaning into explicit teamwork between your companions and Rook or the companions together. When I build out my team and I'm going into a mission, I try to ensure that I have at least a couple possible synergies, detonation combo synergies, between my team. It might be between Harding and Neve, Neve and me, or both. So here, I'd go into battle, pause time, open the ability wheel, get information on the enemy – and the wheel will actually tell you that there is a synergy combo, you  might have seen a screenshot that says “combo available” – it will remind you of synergies between companions, you can queue both of those abilities up at the same time, close out of the pause time menu, they’ll both execute, both abilities will happen. Then the detonation AOE happens, applies debuffs to all the enemies in a radius of it. It's so satisfying. I can’t wait for yall to see it, but the interesting thing is that too is a tactical choice. I’m choosing to use my companions to do that, and that means I’m not using them to heal me, or to give me that defense bonus, or to knock an enemy off a ledge, so it’s about the opportunity costs. I could spend the rest of the session talking about this, apologies for being long winded, but this is one of my favorite parts of the game.

Q: Can you choose rook's pronouns? If yes, is being non-binary an option? How detailed is the character creator?

Corinne: Well yeah you can select your pronouns. Absolutely. You can actually select your pronouns and your gender, because those are related concepts, but they’re not actually the exact same thing. Yeah, you can be non-binary, we have he/him, she/her, they/them. Yes. Emphatic yes. How detailed is the character creator? Oh my goodness, yall. Very. I don't wanna give away too much just yet but it's very very deep. It has been revealed, it’s out there in a couple articles about the focus on hair, the focus on skin tones that are done respectfully, full body customization, hell yeah, we love to see it. But we’re gonna come back, we’re gonna show you a lot more on character creator, but we wanna make sure we have the time and space to do that.

Q: Will there be a photo mode in game? 

Corinne: That is something we’re actively looking into, we know there’s a ton of interest, so stay tuned on that one, but we are very much looking into it.

John: I can add too, that is a feature that we like, we like the idea of, and it’s not just player facing, but internally it’s a really helpful thing to have that as we’re building things out, so we’ll let you know.

Corinne: Yes, yeah, absolutely. We are as geeked on that possibility as you all are.

Q: A lot of people were asking about abilities. Are we going to be limited in how many abilities we can pick from the wheel?

Corinne: Ability wheel does have a capacity. You have to choose which three abilities you wanna bring for Rook, which three for  a companion, and which three for another companion. What I like about this is there is kind of an emergent gameplay depending on who you and your companions are coming into a mission with. Now the reason for that is it actually creates a really interesting balance between strategizing, having to do that strategy about your combat kit before the mission, and then the tactical decisions once you're in the field deciding what to do. I want to clear one thing up, while there are three ability slots for Rook, there's so much more than that - other actions that you can perform directly from the wheel like you’ll have an ultimate ability associated with your class or your specialization, so there’s variants there. There’s a type of items you can get that function like abilities, they’re typically like buffs and enhancements, in the form of runes, so you’ll control that for Rook and/or the team from the wheel. You may have also seen that you can direct which targets your companions can focus on, but what you might not know is that a lot of the companion gear really synergizes with that directing with your companions. When you issue those commands, that too will proc depending on the gear they have equipped, really interesting and strategic effects. They can be more ability like, more like proc’d effects, there’s just so much from the wheel that once you get in and see everything working together, becomes more and more apparent.

Q: Will fireball and cone of cold be back as spells in Dragon Age: the Veilguard? 

Corinne: All these combat questions, really good. Fireball and Cone of Cold aren't specifically back, however their successors are, frost nova and meteor. These serve the exact same combat role and function as those other abilities. I would also say it gives them quite the glow up. Meteor in particular, so satisfying nuking a group of darkspawn with a well placed meteor. It’s wonderful

Q: What accessibility features are available? Arachnophobia mode? Mod support? 

Corinne: Oh my goodness, arachnophobia. I am wicked afraid of spiders too. My partner always laughs at me, I’m just terrified of them. That said, that's one we're going to save for a little bit closer to launch before we’ll go into full details about accessibility features. But I do wanna assure you we have spent a lot of time thinking about this topic, so that you can play the game in a way that really works for you. I'm excited to share that with you when the time is right.

Q: How long is the time skip from Inquisition to the Veilguard? 

John: Anyone who's paid attention to Dragon Age, and I can say as somebody who’s been on Dragon Age since Origins, timelines are always a little iffy. They change and they morph over development as we see how longs things are taking, but for Veilguard we were actually pretty consistent from the start that it's been about 10 years since trespasser, as you may or may not have noticed, Varric's become a bit of a silver fox. I’ve seen a lot of comments about that on social media. Yeah, 10 years. Solas's ritual has taken time to set up and you’re kinda coming in at the end of that hunt.

Q: Is Solas still bald? 

Matt: Yeah. I mean if you’ve watched the gameplay thing, we can all confirm that Solas is still bald, Solas is still Solas. I really like how Solas has turned out this time around. I will say, here’s a comment on this specific question that’s gonna sound like a non-sequitor, but once you get a chance to play a little bit more, maybe you’ll – In Thedas, ancient elves go bald when they are millenia old, so Solas wasn't always bald. So if you end up seeing what Solas looked like in the past, things might be a little different. Now that said, I’m sure some of you are wondering what happened to Solas’s wig from Tevinter Nights. I’m sure he still has it somewhere, so… It’s his most important possession.

Corinne: Some pride there, huh.

Q: Will we be able to change companions appearances and outfits or are they fixed, similar to Dragon Age 2? 

Matt: Dragon Age 2 was, we loved how the followers turned out in that, but it was sad given our constraints that we had to keep them with just one basic outfit. We really tried to make some space for them this time around. They have iconic color palettes and things like that, but they do have a wider range of appearances that you can find for them, some are just cool but then there are some  that are tied to directly to their narrative and just kind of what’s happening in their life.

Q: Will we be seeing or visiting Kal’Sharok? 

Matt: What’s been really cool, so in previous games, we’ve kind of alluded to this before, it was a lot of fun to hint at the locations that were off the map, the mysterious places you were not going, and so you could just bring in some props, some characters, a piece of art, things like that. Even Tevinter was only vaguely hinted at and we’d just add drips and bits and pieces, so that stuff was really fun. In the Veilguard we’re actually getting to visit a whole lot of those locations that had only been hinted at for real, so you do actually run around Tevinter and a bunch of the other locations that we’ve revealed. But this also means that we're not completely filling out the map, and that there are new things we can start hinting at and we can start drip feeding. It’s kinda fun, I’d say for what we can show of Kal’Sharok and other locations, there’s more to do.

Q: Will the dialogue wheel/options be similar to Inquisition and Andromeda in the sense that it's more tone based?

John: We have a number of different types of wheels in our game. All the dialogue wheels are based off the same principle, anyone who’s played a dragon age game and remembers what they look like. In Dragon Age: the Veilguard, we have tone wheels which are roleplaying your character picking consistent tone. We also have emotion wheels where you can pick specific emotional reactions, and choice wheels which are, I don’t have a strong emotional or tone tie here, but I do want to make a choice based on what I do. Investigate’s obviously return as well. We want players to understand as much as possible what it is they are going to be picking, we want the choice to be clear even if one of the best things about consequence is making sure that’s not entirely clear.

Q: How extensive are Rook’s dialogue decision trees? 

John: Huge. Again, it’s a Dragon Age game. We wanna make sure you have choices, we wanna make sure you can choose your roleplaying, but also choose outcomes of conversations, choose how events unfold. Again it’s a Dragon Age game, we wanna make sure we also react to decisions you’ve made. So for example, you may be talking to a follower who is an elf, and if you yourself are an elf, obviously you'll have a different perspective on events than someone who’s not an elf. Sometimes that means different conversation options, sometimes that’s going to be entirely new dialogue trees, as well as based off decisions you’ve made throughout the game, so again, making sure the game feels like it notices what you’re doing is a huge part of how we’ve written out the dialogue wheel and dialogue trees in this game.

Q: All companions romanceable by all player characters regardless of race and gender? 

Corinne: Yeah, yeah. We have talked about this in some of the interviews, I’ve seen a few articles about it, so I'd recommend everyone check out those articles, but let me just give you a quick interview. Each of the seven companions has full romance arcs and they are romanceable by all genders. Absolutely. But something that’s really important to us on the team, and so I just wanna make sure and double down on, that doesn't mean playersexual. If anyone’s unaware of what we mean by that, it doesn’t mean they conform or twist their identities to who you the player are. They won’t suddenly have a preference for men or women based on what you’re playing. Instead they have their own fully fleshed out identities. They are true and authentic to that. So in this game they are all pansexuals, they all have histories and romances, sometimes you’ll hear about preferences and things of that nature. And what I really love is if you don’t pursue a romance with them, they’ll actually build their own romances with each other. So in one of the interviews I talked about Lace Harding and Taash getting together. I give that example because it’s one of my favorites. I’m gonna put a question back to the community though. I’ve heard we’re going with Laash for that ship name? You tell me what is that ship name?

Q: What are the markings on the faces of the elven warden and veil hopper?

John: So there’s quite a few, I think more than we’ve done before, tattoos from various cultures. We're bringing the vallaslin back of course but there's a ton of different options, especially when we’re going into these new regions. Each area has its own kind of visual language for that. We are bringing the vallaslin back and a couple characters have them, but we've customized them a bit. They’re a bit more specific to their personality.

Q: What are you as a developer most proud of and excited for players to experience? 

Corinne: I suspect for most of us, myself included, it's the depths and authenticity of the companions journey along with on their arcs, learning about their hardships, what they care about, being by their side. That authenticity is just so good, they all feel like my dear friends. But I have to say, the closest runner up for me has to be the character creator. Has to be. That character creator, the makeup options, the range of sliders... I'm a Qunari fan, so even just the way you customize the horns and combine that with the really great looking hair. Character creator has to be my very close runner up.

Matt: As far as what I can say I’m most proud of on this one, I can speak for the art team, we worked incredible hard to make the story more visible than ever. Games are a visual medium, but sometimes it's easier to do things in text format or written in a codex somewhere or alluded to off screen, but we really leaned into trying to make sure that every design, prop, character, environment, that the effects we’re choosing, all these choices were putting the story on screen so you can see it unfold, and I think having worked on all the dragon age games, I'd say Veilguard represents one of the best attempts at that we’ve made yet.

John: I’m gonna cheat and kind of combine both Corinne’s and Matt’s answers. Honestly the companions for me are the absolute highlight. Just being able to work across all the disciplines, building characters who look and sound and behave in very specific and characterful ways. These are the deepest companion arcs we've ever done, not just on Dragon Age but in BioWare in general. Each companion has their own story arc you can go through, decisions you can make. They really do take center stage. As you play through them, you see the care and love that the team has put into each and every one. I mean, there’s moments in each arc that make you cry, make you angry, make you excited, and the way they integrate into the story as a whole for me is something that’s been really fun. Finding ways to bring these characters together, ways to bring this story, this narrative, of you know, you need to put together a team and stop the end of the world, has been absolutely exciting and thrilling. And again, you see the team's love in every single piece of it. As for what I’m most excited, Dragon Age has been part of my career and part of my life for literally the last decade and a half, I’ve worked on it since Origins, and there's something about the Veilguard that feels an amazing mix of novelty and familiarity, it’s like coming home in a way that I feel is going to be very exciting for people who are existing Dragon Age players, but there’s also so much here that’s just new and exciting for people, new players and old players alike. Going to parts of the world, seeing things we’ve never seen before, and just getting to take this amazing world and series and expand on it and build on it in ways that I’ve just been, honestly an absolute thrill, the best part of my career, and I’ve been in games for 17 years now and this has been the absolute highlight for me, so that’s what I’m excited about.

Corinne: I just wanna yes and that. I so completely agree with you. There’ve been times in companion arcs where even knowing what's going to happen, we work on the game, with some of these decisions, I've had to set down the controller, let out a heavy sigh, and go “oh my god, what am I gonna do here?” The depth of them is wonderful. I do wanna put this out there, when we talk about as a developer what we are most proud of, can we just give a big shout out to the dev team? I am so proud of them. This team has poured their hearts into this. Anyone from BioWare who’s listening in, thank you so much. Y’all are just the best.

Q: Why does Varric have dark hair now? 

Matt: He's been adventuring for a while now. His hair is more gray, but he's been in very dark scenes so far, so we’ll see him in some more contexts.

Q: Will the Inquisitor be appearing in the flesh or are we just choosing their major DAI decisions?

Corinne: Yes they will. The Inky does appear. We've know how attached y’all are to the Inquisitor, we’ve seen the love for your OC. Yes, the Inquisitor shows up. We'd already confirmed that a few places, so let me just say you can also customize them and it includes some of our new customization options. Yeah they’re gonna show up and they’re gonna be your Inquisitor.

John: And I think beyond that, the story of Solas and the story of the Inquisitor obviously are tied together as much as any story, so it would have been strange for us not to bring them in for this one. They’re gonna be a part of this story.

Q: Will there be any planned DLCs and transmog armor? 

Corinne: Right now our focus is entirely on the quality of the game, it's so important at this stage for us to be all in, all attention on finishing this game and delivering on the quality and the promise of it. So that's all I can really say on it, we're 100% focused on this being the most complete game we can make it. I wanna emphasize, there's not gonna be any microtransactions or battle passes, you don't have to connect online. Our focus is making this the most complete single player we possibly can. Now this was kind of a twofer question. Will there be transmog? Hell yeah. I’m the kind of player that believes fashion is the real endgames. Yeah there’s a transmog system, absolutely. It’s sick.

Q: Will any of the characters be asexual? 

Corinne: Such a good question. So, look I'm gonna be really forthcoming with yall and a little bit vulnerable, I'm ace. I'm a gray ace, I don't mind sharing that, I’m kind of public with it. I will say though that none of our companions this time around are explicitly ace. We look at the characters, their motivations, who they are, we always assess is this the right time. This time it wasn't. What I will say for everyone on the ace spectrum on there, I would love to represent an ace relationship sometime in the future when it feels like the most authentic fit for a companion, when we can do it best. And I do see some questions, what do we mean by ace? Asexuality. We often refer to it as the ace spectrum.

Q: Can mage Rook do blood magic? Will blood magic be a skill tree separate from regular magic?

Corinne: OK, this gets a bit spoilery, so let me just say, Rook has some pretty good reasons to avoid blood magic. Rook is not gonna wanna be interested in that. But I will say, the mage skill tree is packed with all kinds of spells, traits, and perks to give you a ton of flexibility in your magic. Gonna go off script just a little bit because I’ve seen “just tell us about the specializations”. I’m not gonna tell you the deets, but there is a necromancer one. There is an elemental one, and there is one that’s actually more of like a combat mage. It’s my favorite.

Q: Can we name the griffon? We also have a griffon emoji in this Discord server.

John: Excellent. So, someone in your party, again, spoilers, may have already named the baby griffon, but don’t worry, Assan is a very good boy.

Corinne: All these griffon emojis, y’all are killing me.

Q: Will we have a camp/home/headquarters that we’ll be able to customize?

Matt: Well this time around, in Inquisition you had Skyhold. In this case you have a headquarters called the Lighthouse. More to be seen on that, but narratively it serves kind of a different purpose, but also the same purpose. As far as customization goes, there are elements of it that change over time and some things you can adjust. I don’t know how much we’re really going into that at the moment. One thing I like about it is that it definitely does start to feel very much like home over time.

Q: We need to know, does pasta and noodles exist in Thedas? 

Matt: I’ll take it as a chance just to geek out about worldbuilding. Again, the Veilguard for us is a really kind of dream opportunity to go to places we've only ever heard reference to or we’ve seen in set. In going through the world building process, and trying to build these things out not just as neat things from the IP, but also as, if you’ve read about this stuff, you've got your own version in your head, you’ve imagined what it might be like and you're probably hoping for something spectacular, and our brains are always far better at creating this stuff than any game developer or any artist can really do justice to, so you really have to swing for the fences to make something very satisfying and exciting. That can be everything as big as architecture and landscape and biomes and ecosystems, but it does get into things like art and culture and costume design, and also food. This time around that was one of the many things we did look into to try to catch the character and feel of a place to make it feel believable and lived in. So that’s my really long answer for yeah, I'm sure at least one place does have pasta.

Q: Are we getting a mabari?

Matt: Ooh, that’s a good question. I will say you’re spending most of the game in the north of Thedas. Mabari are not nearly as big of a thing up there, so in this particular instance, no, you will not get a mabari, sadly.

Q: Can we pet the griffon? 

John: You, I’m really sorry to have to be the one to tell you—Nah, I’m kidding, yes you can. It's not even just petting the griffon, I've actually hugged the griffon, so that feels like even there a step up.

Matt: There’s lots of opportunities to interact with the griffon.

Corinne: Can we see Assan in chat if we wanna see him in the Lighthouse hanging out? And hey, y’all, this was so important to the team, too. Like this is the team’s like, just huge support for this feature, so props to them.

Q: Will we get to see any of the character creator before the game releases?

Corinne: Yes. Yes you will. You've probably seen we are laying out a roadmap for what we're gonna show and when we’re gonna talk about it. You will see it  as we get a little closer to launch.

Q: Will we be able to play as a qunari dwarf elf or human? 

Corinne: hell yeah you will. All 4. And all 4 have that full body customization. I already talked a little bit about, I’ve always loved the qunari, I will say in Dragon Age: Inquisition it was hard to get a good looking qunari hairstyle. So yes you can play as them, you can customize them, the horn options are rad, the hair options are rad. And also related to this, your lineage gives you a lot of really unique dialogue options. So that’s really one aspect of choosing your lineage as well.

John: So actually just to bounce off that, earlier questions about backgrouds. Each lineage, depending on the lineage you choose and the background you choose, there are some specific callouts to, for example, if it’s a Mournwatch, Mournwatch being from Nevarra and mages, if you play as a dwarf, obviously your experiences in that faction is going to be different from, say, a human or an elf, so there are also specific callouts tailored to those combinations and, with the intention of giving each lineage a little flavor as to how they fit into that faction as a whole.

Q: Where is barkspawn and is he ok?

John: Barkspawn is safely gnawing on a bone next to a fireplace somewhere in Ferelden. Don’t worry, he’s fine. You may ask yourself, “but John, it’s been so long.” To which I say, Mabari live exactly as long as they need to.

Q: Will Rook have a set of default name?

John: Yeah, so Rook’s last name is defined based on their faction, again we wanted to tie that into your backstory, but also there's a name generator that can give you a selection of first names, obviously if you wanted to make your own first name, that’s definitely something we support as well. If you’re somebody who maybe has a little more difficulty coming up with a name, so for example you name every single character Bob because that’s the only name you can think of, we also give that opportunity for that generation.

Q: When will the voice acting cast be announced? 

John: We worked with a lot of very talented actors on this one. I am super excited to talk about the voice acting cast, we’ll be talking about it more over the summer, we’re not quite ready to announce names yet.

Same answer for collectors editions and preorders, and required PC specs.

Q: Any special musical guests? Tavern songs? 

Corinne: Yeah there are tavern songs and a huge credit to the audio team and performance teams, because they’re pretty great. There’s one at a little tavern in Minrathous called the Swan, and the song you hear there might just be my favorite of the tavern songs.

Q: DA2's main theme brought back motifs from DAO main theme. Can we expect DAV to recall more or less of that original thematic material than inquisition? 

John: We are not quite ready to talk about music yet in specifics. But in broad strokes I can say that the process for us is always the same. Working with the composer, figuring out themes, figuring out what kinds of elements we want to keep, tying specific elements to maybe specific characters, it's very in depth process and a very collaborative process. We have some fantastic audio people on our team that have done some fantastic work, that have done an amazing job working with composers and with the team as a whole to make sure that again, we said earlier about cohesiveness, making sure that the music feels like a cohesive part of the experience.

Q: When writing the overall story of this game, what themes did you want to have as the prominent focus? 

John: Again, it’s interesting. When writing these games, and this has been true on every Dragon Age I’ve been a part of, what you start with and where you end up aren't always necessarily the same. Sometimes you start writing a theme, you realize actually it’s more interesting if you attack it from this angle, or maybe it ends up twisted a little bit. I will say for Dragon Age: the Veilguard, from the beginning one of the biggest themes has been regret. How regret shapes people’s lives, how they deal with their regrets, how maybe people move past regrets. Each of the characters and the story as a whole have elements of these. We wanted to have that thematic, that cohesiveness to the game’s story and the game’s writing.

Q: Can you play a dwarf and does the world react to your race and backstory?

John: Yes, you can play as a dwarf. Yes, the world does react to your race and backstory. And again you’ll have unique dialogues or unique conversations based on that backstory as well as that race.

Corinne: And to give you a little nugget here because I saw it scrolling through real quickly, you have beards. So when I think of dwarves, I think about glorious, fantastic beards. Hell yeah we do.

John: Yeah I can say, as somebody who plays a lot of games, the character creator—I don’t know what magic they did, but the beards, they feel like a beard should feel like, it’s great, they look awesome.

Q: Will our heroes and companions leave us if we go against their wishes? 

Corinne: Do y’all just love pain? Do you want us to make you cry? Um... if you go against their wishes and make decisions they don't like, I will tell you, you can piss them off, they might not agree with you, and they will take some time away. That said this is the biggest threat to Thedas we've ever seen, so they will always be willing to defend Thedas, but yeah you can piss them off and they’ll leave for a minute. As it relates to them showing up to defend Thedas, well yeah they will, UNLESS…

John: No spoilers, Corinne. No spoilers.

Corinne: Alright, alright. But they want it!

Q: Did any songs, books, movies, or anything inspire character writing? 

John: Art is always a synthesis of your own experiences both in the real world but also the art you consume, the art you pay attention. I don't think that any characters have a direct reference or inspiration, but yeah, they're all inspired by the things we do both in the real world and in the media we consume. And you’re gonna see elements of characters that yeah. The things that we’ve enjoyed show up in these characters. For me it comes down to, writing can be a deeply personal experience, so even if you don't intend for it to be the case, parts of you will show up in the characters. I think that’s true for all the characters in the Veilguard. Sometimes it's exploring things about yourself that you may like or may not like, and sometimes exploring things about characters you like or don't like. So that’s my longwinded way of saying yes, it’s impossible to not have that happen when you’re creating art, but I don’t think there’s one where you can say, “oh this is this character, this is this character.”

Q: What was the thinking process behind making Harding a companion this time around? 

John: When we released Inquisition, it was impossible not to see the love that people had for our murderous girl next door dwarf. She has always been a fan favorite obviously. But I think beyond that, it's something that Harding's writer wanted to explore, there was more of a story to tell there and more perspective. And beyond that Harding also has a strong connection to Solas, to Varric, and the events of the last 10 years. So I wouldn’t say it’s always been but I’d say Harding’s probably one of the first ones we settled on as like yes, this is a character we want, and the writer had a story that they wanted to tell with her, so it just made sense.

Matt: You know, actually, to piggy back on that, that’s something I hadn’t even thought about that much and it’s not a huge part of her character, but she tends to be one of the people that have the most insight into who he was.

John: Yeah that’s exactly—that’s a great way of looking at it, too, it also provides you with a little bit of perspective, for players who’ve been around for previous Dragon Age games, but also for new ones, who was Solas? What kind of character was he? Yeah it’s a great, using characters to provide windows into the world is honestly one of my favorite things.

Matt: And when I say was, I just mean in Inquisition.

John: Yes, that’s exactly, yes. Thank you for correcting that.

Q: What approach are you taking to quest and world design in the Veilguard?

John: I think for us it just comes down to relevance and narrative heft. We wanna make sure that each quest provides either a perspective on the world, a perspective on the characters, or it feels immediately and obviously relevant to what you’re doing here. You’re here to save the world. At the end of the day, one of the things that we heard loud and clear was the feedback about how relevant, or in our case not relevant, previous quests have felt, so for Veilguard, we really wanted all quests to feel like something somebody faced with the end of the world would believe was necessary and important. So again, there’s quests of all sorts and sizes, but all of them share that same feeling of, this is the kind of thing that the Veilguard would do. This is the kind of thing that my hero would do. Especially faced with the end of the world.

Corinne: That’s really good, John. That’s so right. I would just again double down on how hand crafted all the quests are. Whether you’re doing the main story or you’re journeying with your companions or you’re out exploring and you encounter a mystery, everything's hand crafted, intentional, we spend a lot of time listening to what yall said, and of course everyone has slightly different tastes, but you're not gonna be gathering shards in the Hinterlands. Everything is built with intention and they’re lovingly handcrafting the experience.

Q: Are there any locations in the game that can only be accessed by making specific story choices? 

John: So I don’t wanna get too much into spoilers here, but I will say that locations can fundamentally change based on decisions you make. Some of the parts of the world that you go to, you can have, the choices you make have an impact on how these spaces exist and develop.

Q: Will we be able to control companions in combat?

Corinne: If Rook gets KO'd, the player character gets knocked out, this time around it is time to reload your save, or better yet, the companions have really interesting progression. You can spec them out to be able to revive you, but that’s if you’ve invested in their progression and what they can do. And that said, I mentioned this earlier but I personally spend more time in the nature of this combat system when everything comes together, interacting and directing the companions than I have in any of the other games. So like that’s interactivity between them. Once you play it you’ll see just how engaged the scene is.

Q: Will Solas still occasionally or dramatically speak in iambic pentameter? 

John: I actually spent a little bit of time trying to figure out if I wanted to answer this question in iambic pentameter, and then I very quickly gave up. Massive kudos to Patrick who always writes Solas so well. Again, Solas is a returning character. It's the same Solas you know and love or hate depending on who you are. The same writer. So I think this is, the answer is yeah, it's Solas.

Q: Will our decision of who was left in the fade be important? 

John: While that decision does not show up—not for the Veilguard, now that said, that doesn’t mean that’s not a decision that won’t ever be important in the future. Not for this one.

Matt: I’m glad to hear you say that, John, because one of my favorite stories was Bob getting stuck in the web in Reboot.

John: That’s a deep cut! The sound of my childhood.

Q: Will we have mounts again? 

Matt: No, mounts were, they addressed a need in Inquisition that we don't have in Veilguard, and you’ll see why when you get to play.

Q: How is the side quest design? Will they be mostly story based or will there be a lot of radiant and quests for power like in Inquisition? 

John: We talked about this a bit earlier, but they are all hand crafted and story focused. The narrative, the companions, not just the companions but the characters and the world as a whole, are so much at the core of the Veilguard that anything other than handcrafting quests just felt like it would be a disservice to the game we were building.

Corinne: And maybe we can clarify as well, because with power was such a devisive mechanic in Inquisition, there’s no mechanic like that that blocks your progression until you fill a bar. That’s just not a thing in this. You have the autonomy to engage in these quests as you like, there’s no grind out gates before you can progress.

John: That’s right. Again we want to make sure that doing this content feels as natural and part of the logical flow of the story as possible.

Q: Will there be a similar system to war table? 

Corinne: We haven't talked much about the player's base, the Lighthouse, and we're gonna save that, but what I will say is that the Lighthouse, your headquarters so to speak, it has its own unique purposes and functions this time. So that's an area that we'll leave for you when we talk more about the Lighthouse and when you have a chance to hop in, you’ll be able to see what those unique purposes are.

Q: If there is dual wield for warriors, is it dex or str? 

Corinne: So we did wanna bring dual wielding back. It is part of the rogue kit this time, warriors are really focused on mighty two handed weapons, I can’t wait until you see, when you swing those weapons there's a real heft to it, and then of course sword and shield. So we’re leaving the dual wielding to the rogues, but you can see, the amount of hits you can get in in rapid succession dual wielding as a rogue is really satisfying.  

Q: What have been some of the challenges and advantages of working on a single game for so many years? 

John: That is a fantastic question. I have often joked, and I don’t know how much of a joke it is, that when this game is out and I suddenly don't have to keep all these pieces of game and lore and story and everything straight in my head, I'm suddenly gonna be able to speak Latin or something because there’s gonna be a ton of brain power freed up. But for me it’s just, the thing that keeps me sustained is just knowing the game we're building is the right one. Knowing that the pieces are coming together, and knowing just how much people care about this franchise, care about these games, and how excited people are going to be when they get to see the fantastic work the team has been doing. I’ve been on this project since the start, and even today I see things on a daily basis that I’m like holy smokes I can't believe what the team is doing, I can’t believe how good this looks. It's a huge game and I don't see every piece every day, so I get pleasantly surprised on a daily basis. Sometimes if I’m having a particularly long day, I'll spend about an hour late at night just watching cutscenes come in, watching the work coming together, and just sitting back and being like, holy smokes, I can’t wait for someone who hasn’t seen this every day as I have, to see this and just be blown away by the work.

Corinne: It's been very real, hasn’t it? I will just say speaking on behalf of the dev team, everyone's working so hard and putting so much passion, so much of themselves into it. This is a franchise they truly love and seeing your support cheering us on has meant a lot to them. So let me just say thank you to all of you.

[merbear25]

Can you do Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy x single mother S/O? Would they treat their S/O’s son/ daughter as their own?

Hey, hey! This was so heartwarming for me to think about, so thank you for sending in your request! Personally, I can’t see them being anything other than accepting towards the child. Generally speaking, they’d see them as an extension of you, so there’d be no reason for them not to care for them like their own. I hope you like what I’ve written for you 💜💜

CW: fluff, fem!reader (single mom), headcanons/scenario, written with them dating the reader and not married to her.

One of their own (Monster trio)

Zoro

Upon first meeting your child, he was unintentionally intimidating to them. Being the large scarred man that he was, it took awhile for the kid to warm up to him. With small yet thoughtful interactions, trust was built on a solid foundation. He became someone your child could turn to when they felt unsure about something, knowing that Zoro would come at the issue with a level head.

Playtime would always leave the child worn out. It’d be perfect if they were younger, so you could lay them down to sleep much more easily. Sometimes they passed out on the couch, so Zoro would be the one putting them to sleep, seeing as their dead weight would be easy for him to haul off to bed.

He’d be stern yet caring, not giving the kid room to run a muck because he’d always be respectful of the rules you’d set in place. The child learned quickly that they couldn’t try to get their own way if you told them no. “Can I have some candy?” types of questions were always followed by, “What did your mother say?”

Sanji

When you first introduced him to your child, he was very warm and open towards them. Your child took to Sanji almost instantly. With a smile that was inviting and comforting like an embrace, he easily became one of your child’s favorite people. They felt at ease around him; he was caring and gentle but wasn’t a pushover (unless your daughter gave him puppy dog eyes).

One of their favorite activities would be cooking and/or baking together. He’d adore being able to share his passion with them. They’d be put in charge of certain aspects of the meal, so that they felt like they were contributing to whatever delicious food was being prepared. When it was time to lay them down to sleep, Sanji would read them a bedtime story, wanting to show them the affection that his father never gave him.

He’d never cross the line when it came to how you ran your household, treating the boundaries you’d set in place with the utmost respect. Even if your child tried to pull on his heartstrings with an adorable look, he’d honor your rules—despite it being extremely difficult sometimes. Sanji would want to spoil them, so just be sure to keep an eye on him.

Luffy 

The first time you introduced Luffy to your child, he was warm and friendly. However, there was just something about him that made your child feel like they needed to scope him out before they could feel comfortable around him; he was, after all, a very unusual person. The more time they spent around him, the easier it got to come around. They then would ask you all the time when Luffy was coming over.

Being the imaginative man that he was, Luffy would create games seemingly out of thin air. Since he was more of the ‘do now think later’ type, your house became subjected to much of their wacky fun. With a few broken items here and there, he apologized profusely for the recklessness and promised to take their fun outside from then on.

Even though he was playful and light-hearted, he still had moments when he was serious. When you or your child needed him to be that, he’d step up and do what had to be done. With that in mind, you and your child’s bond with him would strengthen and whenever you had down time to relax and watch something, more often than not you’d fall asleep on the couch together.

[agirlwithglam]

how to stop being so obsessed with them.

heyyy bestieees! heres a few tips to stop you from being so obsessed with them cus honeyyy its just not worth it. it doesn't just have to be romantically btw!

"she's literally perfect.. like how??" <- affirmations! More resources:

༄ ✬ move on! ༄ ✬

numero uno. move on. okay hear me out! there are 8 billion people in the world. (8 billion freeky deeking people). do yk how much that it? a lot of 0s. and i know for a fact that SO MANY of them would be thrilled to know you, to spend time with you, to love and respect you! if that 1 person out of 8 billion people doesn't seem to recognise your worth, so what?!

"oh but they're perfect and i just love them so much!" ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... sorry, what do you love again? the fact that they don't care enough to return a text, treat you right, make you feel loved?

"i just want them to love me back and treat me the way they treat others because they are so funny and always seem to make me and other people laugh!" oh ma lawd. ur not serious r u? you are?! okokok i won't make fun of you. i can relate to how that feels. but sweetheart, 8 billion. trust me, you'll find a lot more people who are twice as funnier and caring who will love you to the moon and back and make you feel like the most specialist person ever and massage ur crusty musty toes. jk about the last one- unless u want that?

༄ ✬ not everyone will know your worth. ༄ ✬

so asking questions like "but why can't they realise how great i am? or how funny i am? or how loving i am? i would do anything for them, why can't they realise that and treat me the same way back?" im sorry honey but the world doesn't work that way. if someone doesn't feel or treat you as if you're the most glamorous girl in the world, then you need to stop giving them sm energy and importance.

heres an analogy that i got from simonesquared on youtube: in gilmore girls, Rory has this super rich boyfriend Logan right? (who has the most cutest smile ever i might add) and he buys Rory a birkin bag. now to Rory, she doesn't realise the value of a bag like that! to her, its just another bag. she's grateful of course, but she doesn't fully realise the immense value this type of bag has.

༄ ✬ have a life outside of them.༄ ✬

lemme repeat that. have. a. fleeping. life. outside. of. them. they should NOT be the center of your life or the cause of all your actions NUH UH ABSOLUTELY NOT! its okay to do SOME things with the thought of them, but that part is separate from the rest of your life. your life is your life, not theirs!!

this can mean going to the gym, working out, finding new hobbies, educating yourself, self care, etc etc! but don't go about your life, thinking about them. you go about your life thinking about YOU.

༄ ✬ stop chasing them. ༄ ✬

"gee, thanks vanilla. thats so helpful! how did i not think about that earlier?" im assuming thats sarcasm, but whateverr. okay so if they know that you're chasing them, that you're obsessed with them, yk what they'll think? they'll think that 'oh! this person is chasing me, so she really wants me. so she'll stick around. i dont really need to try too hard to keep her cus i know she'll stay. i'll explore my options in the meantime :)'

GIRL do not so available like this! BE BUSY (which relates to the point before). once you glow up, work on your life, not taking it so seriously, and just being happy and enjoying this beautiful gift of life, they will start to think: 'oh! this person (you) is actually quite fabulous. i better try to make her feel happy/ be friends with her before i miss this awesome opportunity!'

cus girl, cmon, you've got things to do, places to be, and people to talk to. i've got goals and dreams and my bucket list. you don't have the time to sit here and be crazy obsessed. so like, if they just leave, um okay and? "yes, and?" what about it? am i meant to be bothered? likerrr okay, byee? i mean, i've got a lot of things to do so i could try to fit in a "help i need you" session between my pilates class and my cooking class? jk <3

༄ ✬ give yourself the damn love. ༄ ✬

why are you obsessed with them? why are you head over heels for somebody who literally couldn't care less? its because they have something that you feel like you're lacking.

is it the fact that they always seem so happy and laughing-y with people around them? that they get super high marks on their test? they are attractive? they have a high status? money? what is it?? often, we can actually give these things to ourselves. some, easier than others. but not impossible. if you really wanted to, you would get up, dust yourself up, and give yourself the love you crave. What you want in others, give to yourself first.

More resources:

How to stop comparing yourself & feel fulfilled without needing external validation.

Thewizardliz: becoming selfish was the best thing i did

Lumma Aziz’s videos

[johnslittlespoon]

accidentally just created my own buckbucky college au oops (i love college aus tho, this was far overdue tbh) so here's like ~2k words of (semi–nsfw) drabble that i wanna turn into a oneshot/series :-)

thinking about modern au pre–established relationship buckbucky who meet in their first year of college because they apply to an ad to rent a two bedroom apartment near campus, complete strangers save for a few texts back and forth until move in day.

they become fast friends despite how opposite they are, john being a cliche frat boy type (but subverting expectations by majoring in something english–related? waxing secret poetry about his 'obvious as the sun to everyone but gale' crush on his roommate lol) and gale being a studious math/science major, no interest in parties or campus culture. pining aside, everything's just fine until:

john does something stupid a few months into the school year and ends up spraining/breaking his dominant arm– probably wipes out trying to ride his bike home to his and gale's apartment while drunk after a party. gale gets a call at midnight from a sheepish john asking if he can come drive him to the hospital, and of course he does, though after his initial concern when he picks john up at the side of some random street, he's fuming at john's idiocy.

"you could've rode into traffic, john. jesus, you're gonna give me a stroke one of these days, you gotta start using your brain more." and john's drenched in cold–sweat from pain as he cradles his arm to his chest, head tilted back against the headrest and trying not to curse out every red light as his head spins, but he still cracks a weak smile and says "c'mon buck, you'd be bored if i started using my brain." gale glances over and the stern look is enough to shut john up.

this injury leads to gale having to help him with certain tasks for a bit, like shaving his face, brushing his teeth, doing his hair, tying shoes, etc. john's stubborn the day after, independent to a fault, refusing to ask for help, and gale watches with mild amusement/hidden winces, not wanting to push because he knows by now it'll only make john dig his heels in. gale only decides that enough is enough when he's walking past the half–open bathroom door the next afternoon and suddenly hears a sharp inhale and a stream of profanities and pokes his head in to find john's cut his jaw trying to shave with his left hand.

the intimacy and domesticity of it all– john pretends he's inconvenienced, but once he realizes this means he gets to stare at gale's focussed face up close as he sits on the bathroom counter and gale stands between his legs carefully shaving away his stubble, he's a lot less reluctant to accept help. but being that close to gale's face and being able to unabashedly study his long lashes and the curve of his lips is dangerous for john's lack of impulse control, barely keeping his pining under wraps from the moment they'd met, let alone with this newfound proximity they have to fall into the routine of.

so john has fun being a shithead on purpose during these moments, both to distract his yearning brain and for his own entertainment, just yapping away while gale's frustratedly trying to grab him by his jaw and hold him still for five seconds. biting down on the toothbrush when gale's trying to do a proper job of brushing his teeth so gale has to wrestle it away like he's playing tug of war with a dog, being an asshole and jerking his shoe to the side while gale's doing up his laces for him, heart leaping at the thrill he gets from gale's touches getting firmer when he's fed up, or from being pinned by irritated blue eyes.

he has no idea gale's pining just as hard, because gale's a master of concealing emotions in thanks to a very different upbringing than john's, and because while gale doesn't hide his queerness, he's not as open with it as john is. but gale's losing his mind just as much each time john needs his help, and the way he feels his self control slipping scares him.

this little dance around each other probably comes to a peak when john's being extra difficult one day while gale's trying to tame his wild curls for him. gale's got john pressed back against the bathroom counter with a scowl, working his gelled fingers through thick dark hair, and john can barely think straight because oh, has he ever spent an ungodly amount of time thinking about gale's hands in his hair under very different circumstances.

john's got a grin so big it near splits his face in half as he purposefully leans out of gale's reach, pulling every annoying thing he can think of because if he focuses too hard on gale's motions, he's gonna pop a very inconvenient boner with no hope of concealing it from gale with the way he's pressed up against him.

but gale's got twenty minutes until his next class and it's a ten minute walk from their apartment, and he's at the end of his rope, so he finally snaps and without giving it a second thought he closes the last bit of distance between them to grab at the back of john's hair, and he pulls, hard.

the smile slides off john's face as his mouth falls open and his hips reflexively jerk forward and whatever scolding gale was about to give him dies in his throat because holy shit. there's a few seconds where both of them just stare at each other wide eyed with their hearts pounding, john internally spiralling because he thinks he's just fucked everything up, gale internally spiralling because oh my god, he hasn't been misreading john's behaviour around him.

gale whispers a "fuck" and, more impulsive than he's ever allowed himself to be, goes in for the kiss, hand still tight in john's hair, and john whines into his mouth and his hands fly to gale's waist and everything gets heated really quick– until gale pulls away with a gasp for breath, both of them panting, cheeks flushed and eyes heavy. and then gale's ducking out of the bathroom and grabbing his backpack from the entry way and all but sprinting out of the apartment.

john's left standing there harder than he's ever been in his life but also panicking because he's not sure whether he's fucked up or whether gale's just overwhelmed, because he knows gale well enough to know he likes his space when big things happen.

but gale also knows john well enough to know how big of an overthinker he is; they've probably had to work through some incidents where their communication styles have clashed over the few months they've been roomies. so after his hands stop shaking enough while he's walking to campus, he types out a message to john letting him know 'I'm all good. Sorry for running, was gonna be late for class and panicked. Talk later, yeah?'

and john sighs in relief, texts back a 'np. sounds good :)' and then promptly shoves a hand down his pants and comes embarrassingly quick with the sting of gale's hands in his hair still fresh in his mind.

they talk things out somewhat, blahblahblah plotting problem for future me, but they're both shy and awkward around each other for a bit, which is so out of character for john and how obnoxiously flirty and loud mouthed he normally is.

so maybe what finally breaks them out of this tiptoeing around each other after a few days is something stupid– specifically, john ends up pent up and frustrated because trying to get off with his left hand just isn't doing it for him. and he's one of those 'once a day minimum' guys, so this isn't something he can just ignore; finds his temper is shorter, and he can't focus as well, etc. drama queen.

either gale comments on it lightheartedly and john blurts out his problem unthinkingly, or john makes an offhand joke about it, and gale thinks john's lack of impulse control is starting to rub off on him, because after a beat of silence, he gets out an "i can help."

john's head snaps over to look at him so fast he feels like he gives himself whiplash, eyes comically rounded, wondering if he's heard gale wrong or if gale's making a rare flirtatious joke. gale blinks back at him, looking just as surprised, tips of his ears going a little pink, but he doesn't laugh or throw in a 'only kidding!'

mumbles a "y'know, if you want," second guessing himself as if what happened in the bathroom a few days before isn't in john's top three best things that have ever happened to him list. john gets out a "yeah– yeah, i want," uncharacteristically nervous, and gale nods, turning his attention back to his laptop. and john just stands there in the kitchen, flabbergasted, shifting uncertainly.

works up the courage to shyly ask, "like. now? or." and he feels like he's never fumbled the bag so hard in his life, unable to remember the last time he's felt shy when talking about sex–related stuff, realizes just how bad his crush on gale's gotten. beyond a crush, at this point. and it makes it worse that gale's so nonchalant now, humming to himself as if in deep thought before saying "later. i've gotta get this assignment done."

john loses his mind over those next few hours, trying to be patient and give gale space to focus, but he's half hard the whole time and can't think about anything other than what gale means by 'helping'. gale can sense his impatience from the other side of their apartment, and he can't help the way it makes him smile to himself, having fun teasing john without even needing to do anything, and without john knowing it's fully intentional.

unfortunately this arrangement, however it plays out, probably leads to a lotta miscommunication and repression of feelings, because they're both dumb boys who suck at communicating, neither one of them wanting to ruin a good thing (aka an inevitable friends with benefits situation) by bringing up their feelings for the other. but there's plenty of hot sex and light kink exploration in the meantime, and eventually they sort their shit out, likely by accident like every other situation they've stumbled into together.

and not to cliffhang pre–smut, but i'll leave it there because this is way too long and if i do turn it into a oneshot i don't wanna write it all out of my system into this drabble before it makes it into a fic loll <3

[seramilla]

So fluffy idea Carmilla after a bad divorce decides she needs some time away so she books a long vacation for herself and the girls at a beach resort. While there she meets the manager of the resort Sera and they hit it off.

Carmilla had never wanted to put her girls through this. At one point in time, she had genuinely loved their father. But after years of neglect of his family, and finding solace at the bottom of a bottle, instead of the women in his life who loved him most, Carmilla had ultimately decided to divorce her husband.

It was long, and dirty, and brutal, and at the end of the process, Carmilla had given up more than she'd intended when all was said and done. She had kept the house, but half of her self-made fortune had gone to her husband; it had been the only way to get him to agree to give her full custody of Odette and Clara.

He'd made it clear he didn't want to have anything to do with them anymore. It was worth it to get him out of their hair. And after all that, she thinks she and the girls deserve a vacation.

Much to her surprise and delight, the first person to greet the Carmines at the beachside resort they'll be staying at, is a beautiful woman with hair like clouds and eyes like twin stars. She's...almost ethereal, in the way she looks at Carmilla. The woman is breathtaking.

She's also the owner of the resort, and is probably only being nice to Carmilla because she has to. Still...god-damn. Carmilla is patting herself on the back for making this absolutely correct choice of hotels for their vacation.

"Good afternoon, ma'am," the owner says, typing away at her computer all the while. "My name is Sera. I'll be your host during your stay. How can I help you today?"

"Umm...Carmine. Carmilla Carmine. I have a reservation for three."

Sera looks past Carmilla, seemingly noticing the two younger women behind her on their phones. Sera smiles, beaming at the oblivious teenagers as she pulls up Carmilla's reservation to confirm.

"Those are some lovely girls you have there. I have a younger sister about that age. Children are so wonderful. It's simply amazing to watch them grow!"

A pang of something soft and mushy pulls at Carmilla's heart at Sera's words. There's nothing that Carmilla loves more than her daughters...they are her prides and joy. The only good thing to come out of a marriage that was frankly doomed from the start. To hear this woman speak so highly of her sister...it tugs at Carmilla's maternal side like nothing ever has before.

"Yes," Carmilla says, a great deal of admiration coming through in her voice. "My girls mean everything to me. Even if they can be grumpy now and then."

Odette and Clara groan behind their mother, clearly done with her little comments about their demeanor. Carmilla and Sera laugh in unison. It's a little fun to get the girls riled up, now and then. It's only in good fun as their mother.

Sera takes the credit card from Carmilla that she'd used to make her reservation, and activates the little key cards they need to enter their suite for the next week of their stay. As she's giving the little envelope with the key cards to Carmilla, Sera's hand lingers against the other woman's for just a moment. It's a soft, barely-there touch, but there is a sense of intent and sincerity behind it.

Carmilla looks up at Sera, and the woman is blushing slightly. Carmilla is, too, if she's honest. Both women clear their throats awkwardly, and Sera smiles at her again, beaming.

Sera writes something on a piece of hotel stationary, and hands it to Carmilla directly. Carmilla looks down at the paper. It's a phone number.

"If there is anything I can do to make your stay more comfortable, please do not hesitate to let me know," Sera says. "That's my direct number. I will take care of anything you need personally."

Carmilla stares, maybe a bit too long...this woman had just given her a personal phone number. Not the one for the front desk. But her cell phone.

"Um...thank you, Sera! I most certainly will."

Carmilla hadn't exactly signed up for meeting a gorgeous, self-made woman who is so transparently into her while on this vacation. But it is not an unwelcome turn of events. Not in the least. She walks with the girls to the elevator in the lobby, with just a subtle skip to her step the entire way.

"That was so gross, Mom," Clara says, making a gagging motion with her finger in her mouth.

"Shut up, Clara," Odette says, coming to her mother's defense. "I think it's sweet! Mom was actually twitterpated!"

As the elevator dings upon the arrival to their floor, Carmilla ruffles both of her daughters' hair with her hands before stepping out. Once again, their ensuing double groan is adorable.

"I love you girls," Carmilla says. "But if either one of you ruins this for me, I will make the next week of your lives absolutely miserable."

[the-moon-files]

Wait, quick idea! Twilight looks like the only hylian in his village because everyone else has round ears, so what if he wasn’t as surprised as the others to see their human companion so resilient, but still fairly impressed because of the fact that most if not all people in his village don’t put themselves in as drastic situations as the reader? Or is this just humans from our world?

get out of my head lmao /lh - you, me, and wayfayrr are actually the same person on diff accounts LMAO

im of the belief that (blame @wayfayrr, my beloved) that he knows of humans bc of some in his village but yeah, just not the type of human in drastic situations

(ALSO they wrote me a fun, long, glorious, male reader human space orc au fic for winning their raffle a bit ago, and it brings up their headcanon abt this and i Adore It actually, check it out here pls if u wanna know🤲)

(also if u see this wayfayrr, sorry for the ping, also should i be calling u moss? or wayfayrr?? idk which, i hope thats even ok to ask 😭 i assumed u would call my ass Moon)

Moon: Male-Masc Reader (he/him)

Orbit: short headcanons-ish, rambling mostly

Stars: Twilight Princess Link (Twi/Twilight), mentions of other Links

Comets & Meteors: CWs: none known, & TWs: none known.

Please comment if I missed any. /gen

to reiterate what i said up there, in case u skipped it for the bullet points,

i like the headcanon he knows humans, knows some of their quirks, and how they were the first ppl the other hylian villagers called on to help stuck cows or downed wagons, lots of heavy lifting stuff

but he really hasnt seen the extent of real humans, bc the humans who were in Ordon, well, they lived in hylian society,

why would they need the adrenaline to lift a car when hylians have set up whole tools and systems in all their towns to help lift just a full bucket of water out of the well??

not to mention, i think all the humans in his village were older adults? like at least not the age theyd be doing things like parkour or going to any trampoline parks type of age,

id imagine its more like stories talked about amongst hylians how hard humans can go, and even the humans themselves talked abt things like,

“well compared to u hylians, we have stomachs made of molten lava to you guys really, but we never have to use it, bc u know hylian food works just fine”

when Twi asked they would say stuff like that, but as soon as he saw ur human ass just picking wildflowers and berries off the side of the road to snack on? even random grasses/vines at some point (kudzu)?? easily eating Wild’s Dubious Food that's DEFINITELY got monster parts in it???! gnawing on the bone of a cucco and it just breaks??!!! and you look surprised too, thank fuck finally a normal reaction from u- oh my goddesses u were just curious (damn the elders were right abt human curiosity too) **and are now sucking out the marrow and eating the bone-!!!!!!!!!!!!

Twilight’s perspective of you is actually the equivalent of like, reading stories about vampires all ur life, then this new friend you made starts to get allergic to garlic, crave blood, has crazy strength and advanced senses, etc

and he’s just watching those honest-to-Hylia human mythological feats play out in real time in front of him, like he’s the only self-aware character in the story that immediately clocks the really obvious vampire as a vampire lmao

is the first to either 1. start choking on his laugh as he theoretically knows ur about to jump on the back of a lynel/hinox to ride it around and watch as the others come to the same conclusion OR 2. try to Stop you from jumping on said big monster in an attempt to ride it around bc he gets used to ur human BS quicker than the others and can see it coming a mile away now lol

very much so this meme:

(ur welcome i made it myself <3)

anyway id love to rant abt this dynamic

abt both Twi’s shock at you eating peppers like a god has come down from the sky to prove their immortality,

but also poor rancher esstientally humansitting you too lmao

the Chain/Time/Wars absolutely put him down as the resident human expert like: “ok he just drank like, 5? No- Four stop him from drinking more at least- (dual sighs). okay, 6 stamina potions, will that kill him??”

Twilight, saviour of Hyrule, of the Twili, Link from Twilight Princess himself,

has to keep a record book of all the new shit he’s heard/learned about humans in Ordon, what he has actively learned abt ur ass just fucking around and finding out, and the few bread crumbs of information u give him abt ur species

(that rlly just come off as kind of cryptid statements abt u/humanity, or don't apply in this scenario bc ur only comparison is Earth Rules, which honestly scare every single fucking one of them in the same way as walking on Ganon’s lawn or something, like straight up view ur home planet as enemy territory, the Amazon jungle, the Hyrule wilds if you will-)

Twilight also gets involuntarily volunteered for human-sitting duty too

tbh the only person Not allowed on human-sitting duty, when u guys go new areas esp, is Wild/Hyrule

you’d tell him you wanna get inside the guardian robot to operate it and ride it around and he’d probably be in shock you even fathomed something like that, yet also now EXTREMELY intrigued to watch it play out

(they’re both more of a “u wanna jump off a cliff?? that's actually crazy, wait for me please.” he seems to think he can somehow protect you if he joins you? its worked sometimes to be fair to him ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ just not really conveniently when the rest of the Chain are around lmao)

☆

i live btw, ive been writing/updating fics along with life updates (moving states/new job/online class) so a few asks will hopefully be answered over here in the next 2ish weeks

no promises, my life is kinda girlbossing at the moment too close to the sun and i am Nervous abt disappointing u guys

i already feel like im disappointing my other blog bc i haven't posted in forever bc im writing a fic instead of asks during any free time i dedicate to writing for it so :/

pls excuse my super slowness like a package ur waiting for in the mail or smth type of slow

AGAIN thanks for the ask!! i hope this was at least entertaining to read as some addon to what u said, you guys have gotta check out some of wayfayrr’s stuff if ur into this, bc they're the only other place i can think of that's talked abt humans not just being the same as hylians

have a great week!!

Peace out hugs and chaos,

🌙

[rikeijo]

Yuri!!! on stage pamphlet, Kubo Mitsurou - Character comments

Katsuki Yuuri

The character of Katsuki Yuuri, previously still vague, solidified in the scene in episode 4 when he touches Victor's hair whorl. That scene is also one, where I managed to express an idea I've had in my head for a very long time - I wanted to show something like a moment not connected to the main story, when their relationship changes, but not in a logical way. The same thing can be said about the scene in the last episode when, even though Victor is crying, Yuuri pushes aside his fringe and says "So you cry too!" - Yuuri has this very primal (原始的) characteristic of putting his own curiosity first before feelings of the other person, that's a desire he can't suppress. I think it was our intention to use this characteristic to make the viewers expect that he is surely going to act in a way they cannot predict. Throughout the series, Yuuri's character was shaped by misleading the audience to think they know Yuuri's personality and then showing them in each episode that they were not right about him. That's why the character turned out to be much more complex that we thought he would be in the first episode and I think the viewers can sense that the creators had a lot of fun writing him. We sometimes say that the characters are acting on their own, but in this case I think we were writing the character while being bossed around by him.

Victor Nikiforov

Just as it was with Yuuri, I couldn't fully grasp Victor's personality in episode 1, and so his character also solidified over time as I was writing the show. Beginning with the scene in episode 4 when he told Yuuri "I'm not going to hold back" during their conversation on the beach, and then when he was "really hurt" after Yuuri touched his hair whorl, little by little the underlying kindness Victor possesses started to show up more, as even though he had no idea what Yuuri was really thinking, he wanted to get to know Yuuri better and Yuuri to get to know him better too. Actually, I also thought the fact that even staff members couldn't fully comprehend Victor's actions made him all the more charming. Because his actions were impossible to comprehend, the audience too has been watching the show without being able to form any strong assumptions about him and the sense of insecurity you've been getting while watching him was probably also a sign that you started to like the character... I've created Victor by trying my best to draw a cool and beautiful human being. I don't think however, that he could ever be mine. Yuuri also feels this way, but in Yuuri's case he was able to form a very strong connection with Victor thanks to skating. I was writing the show while thinking that I'd like the audience to enjoy the feeling that in every episode, together with Yuuri, they too get to meet Victor they've never seen before, as the relationship between Yuuri and Victor is forming - relationship that was only possible because Yuuri had skating as an excuse [免罪符, it means something like "get-out-of-jail-free card" - funny word choice, but Mitsurou really pushes here the idea that Victor was way out of Yuuri's league. ]

Yuri Plisetsky

In case of Yurio, his character as well as character design were very clear from the very beginning. He was very easy to write. He is my favorite type of character and based on my experience I was sure he's going to be popular. He is the type of a side character, who can outshine even the main character in terms of popularity, so I was careful not to make him "angsty" by e.g. giving him a tragic past or making him have a difficult family situation. With Yurio I didn't want his character to be someone who gets popular because people feel sorry for him, so I gave him family and coaches, as well as new friends, and wanted to show his strength by making him achieve even greater success while being in a relatively good place emotionally. I think I've managed to use the basic manga trope of writing about a strength of found family instead of real family without focusing on the tragic aspects of this trope.

Christophe Giacometti

Chris was born as an ultra sexy character, a character who is very aware of his "eros" and at the same time has the strength to not care when other people stare at him. I decided on the visual side of the character first - I gave him those curled and long, stunningly beautiful eyelashes because I wanted the audience to think: "How grateful we are that such a beautiful skater exists in this world at the same time as Victor!". I also wanted to show the gap between his super cute look with curly hair when he was a child and his present look and suggest that a lot of growing up happened there. While I was writing him, or I should say it was more thanks to the choreography and music we created, the charm that was radiating from him was neither masculine nor feminine, but simply Chris' charm. I personally wanted to make him a "skater who looks good naked" and was having great fun writing him.

Phichit Chulanont

With Phichit, I was aiming to create a pure and energetic person. I've actually heard Thai artists active abroad saying that they want to show everyone the new face of Thailand and also that there are certain aspects of Thailand they were only able to see after they went abroad. So, I felt that young Thai people right now are really making a lot of effort to reconstruct themselves, so I wanted to make Phichit a person who has the spirit to create new things. With the fashion he wears, I was aiming for something Harajuku-like.

Ji Guang-Hong

I've come up with this idea of a Chinese competitor, young but with good skills, as a counterbalance to the great number of overwhelmingly strong competitors who appear in the show. I wanted to make him a character who shows all the signs of becoming terribly good in the future if he continues to gain more self-confidence and experience. When it comes to his personality I was imagining him following the latest trends, like all the modern kids do, or maybe traveling to the USA off-season to train at the same rink with Leo, for example. I intentionally didn't make him really stand-out, because I think he is still at a stage before he can bring out his individual personality.

Jean-Jacques Leroy

Before we even started to think about the story, I effortlessly came up with lines like "JJ won't give up! He can't give up!", so JJ is the character who has already been well-defined even before he was created. We placed a very rough order for his song: a song which feels like it was written by somebody who could win a Grammy. The request we've made for the lyrics too wasn't all that specific but the finished lyrics were well... absolutely amazing! I wanted to make JJ into a character who would make the spectators sing that song while he skates his short program. He is too egoistic, so other competitors who can't get along well with him, simply can't get along well with him, period. He isn't the type who can become friends with everyone. However, he doesn't really care. I wouldn't say that he for sure isn't hurt at all by this though, if you look deep inside, but one of the incredible things about him is that he doesn't let it show on the outside.

Georgi Popovich

We aimed to express different kinds of love and here is the type of competitor who puts all the emotions he's experiencing after he broke up with his lover into his performance. I was thinking that maybe in a country like Russia nobody would have a problem with him doing something like that and so I gave him this kind of artistry, different than the artistry Victor has. And again, also compared to Leo, he's a different type of artist. Georgi is very serious about practice and listens to what his coach says too diligently. But I think he loves himself the most, more than anyone else. He is a narcissist, so he loves his lovers very much too, because they love him. I think that's why he reacts with this "I am the one who can protect you!" thing after he gets dumped. The ability to transform all these feelings into a performance is his strong point.

Nishigori Takeshi

Nishigori was created because I wanted to introduce a point of view of somebody who has gave up on skating. He is also a childhood friend of Yuuri and somebody, who has been watching him from a very close distance - so he's a character with a quite complex setting. He is the only married man [in the show] so I wanted him to be masculine and not somebody who fret over things a lot. I also was thinking that the reason why Yuuri didn't want to go back to his home town for such a very long time, is because of Nishigori and Yuuko. When it comes to Nishigori and Yuuko's relationship, I think Yuuko is the one who started it. She didn't confess her feelings directly but I think it was probably very clear that she likes Nishigori. Because men from Kyushu don't go after a girl who they know they don't have a chance with. They never try to reach a "flower that grows high on a mountain top [an idiom representing a unattainable goal] (laugh).

Leo de la Iglesia

Leo, who was looking up to Victor, is the only competitor who choreographs his programs by himself. He wants to leave no doubt that he is self-producing his programs - he wants to skate his own choreography to the songs he likes to truly bring out his own charm. When it comes to figure skating in the USA, there is a lot of strong competitors in different parts of the country and so there are also skaters of different races. I think there is that conviction that to be able to show your own strengths in these conditions, the most important thing is to express the "I'll be saved by the things I love" core part of you. Leo can't for example jump quadruple jumps yet, but instead he wants to find his other strong points and show them - I wanted him to be a strong person in this way.

Minami Kenjiro

A skater who just made his senior debut, Minami-kun, was created because, just like Yuuri looks up to Victor, I wanted other Japanese skater to look up to Yuuri and Yuuri to be aware that there is somebody who looks up to him. Yuuri had a very bad start at Nationals, so Minami has already won with him once, but I thought I wanted another active competitor to tell Yuuri that he wants Yuuri to continue skating. And so I gave him this pure personality, the kind that Yuuri doesn't possess, so he can yell "I will definitely win with you!". Because of that, he became a character like a classic shonen manga protagonist. And because he has the vibe of anime protagonist I also gave him a matching haircut. I created him feeling that "If Yuri!!! was a shonen manga Minami would definitely be the protagonist".

Otabek Altin

He is a stoic, rugged and serious skater. A type of man who doesn't go to gatherings with other skaters. He left his family and was moving from country to country throughout the course of his training, so he had to wait a long time for a breakthrough. While training, separately from skating, he was also making friends among local musicians, so he has a lot of companions, who are important to him not only in Kazakhstan. He is the type of person who you can trust. He doesn't talk much and doesn't use social media much. But somehow you feel that he can for sure make a lot of progress. He also has this idea to do things that other people don't do. That's why I think that [since he started till the moment we meet him in the show] he's been treating skating very seriously. Otabek is more of a warrior or a soldier than an artist. I see him as this kind of person, who respects competitors who aren't on a level playing field with him and he treats them like comrades-in-arms. That's why, after he met with Yurio at a summer camp and saw his strength, he decided to find his own style of fighting, other than ballet, and he never forgot Yurio, who also had a soldier-like dream.

Michele Crispino

I think Michele loves his sister too much and that's why he doesn't really want to change. He has the skills and skates very good. That's why he managed to get to the GPF and is a very strong competitor, but there's also something missing there and he can't really break through. I wanted to show that his love is of a different kind than the rest of the cast's. I think the kind of love he has for Sara is a little bit different than familial love, but well I think that in his mind Sara is the only person he can trust. But Sara herself thinks she needs to change. I wanted to highlight this change by making Michele a tough/traditionally masculine guy. I was thinking that I want him to use the emotions he has because of his sister to have the break through even if these emotions are not necessarily positive. It was fun writing him.

Lee Seung Gil

SeungGil says pretty harsh things and has the most athlete-like mind of all the skaters. The pressure he is under is huge so, as the real athlete he is, to protect himself from being influenced by this pressure, he doesn't do any fan-service. I think that he is simply a stoic competitor, but because during interviews he says things like: "Is it really necessary for me to answer questions like that?", people misunderstand him and tease him for being cold. The story that I was thinking about for him is that he competes with this stoic attitude, but he knows that if he doesn't become more expressive, he can't win, so he chose a song and costume with an element of surprise. I think this gap is where his charm is. I think he, in his everyday life, isn't interested in things other than skating and usually wears clothes his mum bought for him, or jersey.

Emil Nekola

There are a lot of characters who stand out, so I wanted to design one, who doesn't, and instead simply has a sunny disposition and is like a younger brother or the kid in a group. Skaters from Czech Republic are popular so I thought that it will be a good match to his personality if I make him Czech. The image I have for him is that he is friends with Michele and is the kindest person among European skaters. I was thinking to make him "a big guy who you can depend on". He is very good at physical activities, so I think if, in addition to skating, if he decided to do snowboarding or extreme sports he would be pretty good at them too. He himself isn't really fixated on skating and has a lot of other things he likes to do. But right know he is focusing on skating. That's why, unlike Michele who is like: "Skating is the only thing I have in my life", Emil has a very good way of dealing with the pressure - he is a clever guy.

Closing comments

The things to enjoy while binge watching all episodes

At the end of ep 10, it was revealed that Yuuri at the banquet actually asked Victor to be his coach. If you re-watch the show from ep 1, while having this in mind, the relationship between Yuuri and Victor will surely appear very different. In the beginning of ep 1, when Victor ask Yuuri "Do you want a commemorative photo?", to him Yuuri wasn't someone who really stood out from the crowd. But then, he watched the video of Yuuri skating a perfect copy of his "Stammi Vicino" program, while having some prior knowledge of Yuuri from the "be my coach accident" at the banquet. And as the story goes, because of that Victor's got certain ideas and decided to travel to Japan. If we look at the events from Victor's perspective, it must have been very weird for him, because Yuuri himself asked him to come, but after he came Yuuri met him with this "Why are you here…?" reaction. I think you should be able to enjoy the story even more, if you change the perceptive you watch the show from when you re-watch all 12 episodes at once.

To fans…

I think without both the fans who were supporting us and the staff members who participated in production, we wouldn't be here today. I can't thank you all in person, but we are thinking of doing something, so you can enjoy the world of Yuri!!! even more, as a thank-you gift. I'm looking forward to your continuous support of Yuri!!! on ice.

[pumpkinlass]

@beepoven

Thank you so much ???? This is crazy kind to say !! 😭😭 I read all my tags btw!! ; w ; Even the pieces that get into the 1000's, even when I'm not active or feel up to typing/being social.

I originally created Mahariel solely because I'd never romanced Morrigan on a save before and was blind-sided by just how engaging and meaningful their story ended up playing out. I actually fell so head over heels, that Mahariel is now the canon warden of my main playthrough 😂

BUT YOU ARE JUST SO RIGHT !!! The ties to all the other aspects of canon are just SUCH fun.

Dad!Mahariel + Morrigan raising an elf-blooded Kieran while traveling between worlds as a little family ?? Just the three of them all alone (for a time) in the crossroads, engaging with the Eluvian's and the ancient Elven world that's all around them. The years they spent there ?? Translating, dreaming, meditating, living.

I think about Merrill fixing the mirror that infected Mahariel in the first place, and how he would have recognized it in the crossroads. Or Kieran, with his old god soul, recognizing his father's blood (and Tamlen and Merrill's) all wrapped up in that Eluvian.

I have a tons of thoughts about them, but this post would get so long LMAO. I'm just so excited to see your excitement about all the different implications as well !!!

[orange-demons-deactivated2024]

Can you please write some jealousy hcs for sf6 Luke, Ed, Jamie and Bosch? If you want to do different characters that's ok or if they are too many you can just do some. Thank you !!!

fun fact: this was originally supposed to be released 2 days ago but guess who accidentally deleted half of it. :| soo it had to be rewritten again. so sad. also I think you can tell who i like based on the length of the hcs, oops

Luke

For the most part, Luke's a pretty chill guy so things don't bother him as much as they used to.

He's glad to see you expand your horizons and meet new people along the way, especially when finding new masters to train under.

He wants to see how far you've come from the last time he saw you, so he asks for a quick sparring match.

And for the most part, you've exceeded his expectations!

He's happy to see you develop your own style and dominate the streets.

"Woah, you’ve really stepped up your game," he said, genuinely impressed.

One thing though...why do you fight like a certain drunken boxer he knows?

Oh, You're learning under Jamie too? Cool. Cool.

He's smiling but you can feel the tension behind it.

Luke is the type of jealous that tries to play it off in a joking manner.

"Let's just say, I've had a couple of run-ins with the guy." he forced a chuckle. "He’s...something."

“Sounds like there’s more to the story,” You said, giving him a knowing look.

“Maybe there is, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re growing into an incredible fighter, and I’m proud of you for that.” He pulled you in to press a kiss on your temple.

"Thanks, Luke. That means a lot coming from you."

"Anytime," he replied, reaching out to ruffle your hair playfully. "And hey, if Jamie gives you any trouble, you let me know, okay?"

"Of course." you laughed, swatting his hands away.

“Come on, let’s grab something to eat. I’m starving, and I bet you could use a bite after all that.”

“You’re on. But you’re buying.”

You're your own person and you get to decide who you want to train under, but it still nags at him from somewhere deep in his chest.

It sounds selfish of him, but he would rather you come to him for your concerns than anyone else. In part as your Coach and boyfriend.

So when other people try to make moves on you, he's internally sizing them up as he gives them a once-over. Even though he had a smile on his face, it never reached his eyes.

But he won't bring it up this time since you held Jamie in a high regard.

He's not going to hold your hand for every decision you make but he trusts you enough not to do anything behind his back.

But it does tick Luke off knowing that Jamie would rub it in his face in their next encounter, it’s inevitable.

So he has a couple of not-so-nice words for the guy the next time he sees him.

Ed

Ed watched you near the gym entrance as he leaned against the heavy sliding doors. 

You were running late to your nightly meet-ups and you weren’t responding to any of his messages leading up to now. 

He wouldn’t have cared if something came up and you had to cancel your date with him, but you mentioned how excited you were about seeing him today that he didn’t think you would’ve just dipped the last second. 

So he went on a whim and decided to pay the gym down the street a visit. 

And surprise, surprise, here you were. 

You were chatting with, what he could assume was your coach, in the middle of the room. 

Ed’s eyes flickered at the way Luke lightly squeezed your shoulder with a certain fondness in his eyes. Bastard. 

He didn’t know if you were oblivious or dumb for not noticing, so he made himself known by stepping on the mats in your direction. 

As he made his way over, his presence immediately drew your attention.

You smiled brightly when you saw him, stepping back from Luke to greet your partner. “Ed! What are you doing here?”

“You’re late. We had plans, remember?”

“Oh, crap, I’m so sorry! I lost track of time and…” You sputtered an apology and some excuses that fell deaf on his ears but his attention was more focused on your chummy coach.

Ed's glare could paralyze most people with fear, but Luke observed the exchange with a curious expression.

Realizing you may be having a one-sided conversation you introduced the pair to each other.

Luke extended a hand with a friendly smile. "The name's Luke, I'm one of the coaches in Buckler's.

"Yeah, I've heard about you." He said, not acknowledging Luke’s hand, which made the former pull back.

"Ed’s been teaching me a little bit of boxing on the side.” You chimed in, wrapping your arms around him. 

Actually, it was a bit odd that he didn’t immediately try to shake you off. But that meant his mind was somewhere else.

"You’ve taught them well, They're lucky to have you as a teacher." Luke replied, adressing Ed again.

“Right…” 

He shrugged the arm you were hanging onto.“You ready to head out?”

“Yeah, just let me grab my stuff real quick then we could go,” you said, giving him a small peck on his cheek before heading toward the locker room, leaving the pair alone.

“Look I don’t know what you’re trying to play at and frankly I don’t care, but it ends now.” 

"Hey, man, I'm not trying to play at anything. I’m just their coach. We keep things professional here." Luke raised his hands in a placating gesture.

"Yeah? Well, you seem pretty damn friendly for just a coach." Ed scoffed, not buying it.

Luke sighed, dropping his hands. "I get it, man. You’re protective of them, and that’s fine. But you need to trust that I’m not crossing any lines."

"Trust ain’t something I give out easily. And right now, There nothing to tell me you deserve even a lick of it.”

"Fair enough," Luke said, crossing his arms. "But you should know that Y/n’s here because they want to get stronger. And I’m not gonna stop coaching them because you’re feeling insecure."

“Insecure? Now you’re just spouting shit.” Ed narrowed his eyes.

“I think I do.” Luke hummed.

You quickly reappeared from the locker room with a bag slung over your shoulder. 

“Ready!” You said cheerfully, grabbing Ed’s hand. “Alright, I’ll see you later, Luke!” You called over your shoulder as you dragged the boxer towards the exit.

“Take care. And keep on practicing your footwork,” he gave you a small wave. 

“Oh, and Ed,” Luke said with a slight edge to his tone, making Ed turn to face him, “Take your shoes off the next time you step on my mats, won’t you?”

Ed scoffed, with a smirk tugging on his lips. At least, he ain’t no pushover.

You glanced between the two, sensing the underlying tension but not quite catching the full meaning of Luke's remark.

"What was that about?"

Ed chuckled lowly, "Nothing, Just gym etiquette."

Jamie

With Jamie, he doesn't get jealous as easily as other people on this list. But he definitely has his gripes from time to time.

Woah, Pulling punches during a dance battle? Didn't see that one coming.

You told him you've been learning boxing from a guy who's been hanging around the beat square subway station, at least three times a week.

He was wondering what you’ve been up to.

Wait, Did you say three times a week? That's more than you see him.

Hey, what's up with that?

He didn’t mind you picking up new skills, especially something as badass as boxing, but he missed your late-night talks.

And now they were basically cut in half, thanks to this Ed guy.

So he thinks it’s time to give this Ed a little visit from the infamous Jamie Siu, himself.

"Ah, now I get it." Jamie playfully circled him. "You got the whole bad boy get up and everything, huh?"

Ed looked up from his phone with an unreadable expression, “You gotta problem wit' me or something?” 

"Not at all buddy. I'm just trying to see who Mooncake’s been hanging out with.”

You sighed, telling him that Ed is just your Boxing coach and he’s teaching you how to wield Psycho Power.

Nothing more, nothing less.

After adverting the crisis that was about to break out at the station, you would give Ed a quick apology before leaving with Jamie. 

Ed shrugged, saying ‘whatever’ and went back to his phone. 

You would have to confront him about his attitude later on.

Even if he felt jealous of where your focus was at, you’re still learning how to street fight. And he has no right to interfere with your training with your other Coaches. 

He shrugged at your concerns before asking if you wanted to try this new concoction he put together, offering the lip of his gourd to you. 

“Jamie, I'm being serious.” You pushed the bottle back to him. 

“So am I.”

You hardly picked up the way his eyes bore into your soul before he broke into a grin, taking a swig of his drink.  “Nothing like a good drink to ease the nerves.”

When you tell him you’re still upset with him about today, he’ll lean up against the rails and cross his arms. 

Most of his jealousy stems from the fact that you're spending more time with other people than him. And he feels a tad bit neglected.

He’s used to being isolated so the feeling isn’t new to him. But he found himself staring at the space beside him where he expected to find your presence.

The times when you don’t visit him, his mind wanders to the silly little adventures you’d tell him about and the places you get to see around the world.

But you have a track record of being gone for long periods of time and he just waits here, until you came back.

It’s not your fault. He was just being a hard-ass, so he would be the one to apologize. 

"Look, I know you’re still starting out and learning new stuff, which is cool n’ all but I miss our nights together. And if it’s that important to you, I'll back off. Just make sure to stop by from time to-time. ‘Kay?"

“I will…And thanks, Jamie. I really appreciate it.” 

After a beat of silence, you gestured to the gourd resting beside you two. "Now, about that concoction of yours.”

Jamie broke out in a grin, handing it to you. "Prepare to be amazed. The new and improved recipe is made from the ingredients you brought from Tian Hong Yuan. It’s got a kick to it, just like you.”

You both would’ve retired for the night in a drunken stupor, entangled in each other's arms.

He snuggled his face in the crook of your neck with a dumb smile, mumbling how much he loved you.

But next time you visit Ed, Jamie gives you a couple of ‘souvenirs’ to show off to your friend to show who you belong to. 

Bosch

You know, when you decided to stroll through town, Bosch didn’t expect you to pick up another Master.

If anything, he guessed it was your eagerness that made people naturally gravitate to you.

He could tell how much you admired Rashid’s wind abilities and charming personality, but it irked him more than he cared to admit.

You would spend the majority of your days training and chatting with him, eventually kicking Bosch to the curb.

He knew it was nothing more than a student-teacher relationship, especially since Rashid's wind techniques were something you wanted to master.

The thing is, Rashid wasn't a bad guy. Even going out of his way to invite Bosch to your daily hangouts and training,

But he still couldn't shake the pang of jealousy that gnawed at his soul.

With every new move that clicked, you glanced at Bosch to see if he noticed.

And he’s a little glad you still sought him out, despite your attention being elsewhere.

Maybe that’s why he let it go on for so long.

He’ll sit on his emotions and let the feeling bubble in his stomach before he would ever confront you about it. 

Probably even let out a few snippy remarks if you keep pushing him.

He doesn’t mean it, but he’s never been in a relationship before, so he doesn’t know how to handle himself when he feels jealous. 

Bosch sat by the window sill and let the cool midnight breeze brush against his face.

He should've been relaxing, but his mind was anything but calm.

He heard the soft creak of the floorboards and turned to see you approaching. 

You sat next to him by the window, offering some food you got from the markets. 

Your presence instantly eased his nerves as you both sat in the dark, listening to the distant sounds of the city.

Sensing Bosch’s off demeanor, you asked what was on his mind.

“I’m just thinking.” He said, sipping his drink.

“About what?”

“You.” His eyes met yours, “…and Rashid.”

You blinked in surprise. “Rashid? What about him?”

“It’s just… you’ve been spending so much time with him. I get that he’s your new master and he’s teaching you a lot, but it feels like there’s no time for us anymore.”

"I didn't know you felt that way, but I'm sorry for not noticing." You said aimlessly playing with his hands before tangling them together.

Bosch sighed, looking down at your intertwined hands. "You don’t owe me an apology. I know I’m being hard-headed. I just… I wish I could open up to you more."

"You can always talk to me, Bosch."

He looked up, meeting your eyes again. “I know. It’s just hard sometimes. And seeing you with Rashid, makes me feel...”

“Jealous?”

He nodded reluctantly. “It’s stupid, I know.”

"I don't think it's stupid, it's a very human emotion. But I want you to know that no matter what, I'll always want to be here with you."

He hummed, still not taking your words to heart and opting to stare off into the night.

“How about this?" You scooted closer, resting your head on his shoulder, "I’ll set aside more time for us, and you tell me when something’s bothering you instead of bottling it up...Deal?”

A smile tugged on Bosch's face as he drew your intertwined hands closer, brushing his lips against your knuckles.

“Deal.”

[surreal-duck]

master artist and his number one fan

guy who is being so normal about the new additions to their profiles. i think abt midoris initial infatuation with his art slowly developing into appreciating yuzuru himself as a person and idol to the point he worries about how he sees him (ex: a bit of home party and in workplace survival rules) sometimes thats a lie i think about it a lot. and yuzuru learning to enjoy art just for the sake of drawing!! seeing the lets try diy story where he doesnt even refute drawing on midoris desk and was only worried that his doodles might cover up the mascot design compared to how discouraged he usually would be in earlier ! stories. everything to me i adore their dynamic if that wasnt obvious by *gestures to basically everything*

and happy pride month 🏳‍🌈

[whaliiwatching]

Hey hello. Consider. Hobie reading over and suggesting edits to drafts of Peter's writing and then going home visually with clippings and quotes from said writing as a part of him. Alternately, Peter takes inspiration from quotes visible on Hobie

heart on your sleeve…..

[somakaigo]

My #FFXIVSwap Gift for @theworldwalkerswols !!! (camera template by pillowboat on twt!!!) i had loads of fun reading the lore for your wols/oc's!!!