#this word choice did not do any of that imo

[annabelle--cane]

there's a lot going on in the mag 58 supplemental, this one little scene does a lot of heavy lifting to set up martin and tim's arcs for the rest of the show, but I want to focus on these lines particularly because of how therapy comes back as a symbol in s4/s5.

broadly, in the context of the meta plot and not the individual statements, seeking therapy in tma is representative of trying to improve oneself and get out of a bad situation. later, when taking melanie to therapy, georgie suggests that jon should get some as well but, when asked, says she wouldn't be willing to escort him like she does with melanie, showing how she does wish the best for jon in theory but doesn't think he actually wants to get better, or at least that she's not sure enough to involve herself with him.

that view of jon doesn't come from nowhere, because here we have an instance of him rejecting that same offer, symbolically rejecting help in favor of digging himself deeper on his own (obligatory disclaimer that irl therapy is a very personal thing and says nothing about one's overall character, this is just an examination of a motif in fiction). the word choice of "he just says no" imo implies that martin has suggested this multiple times and jon keeps giving the same answer, continually reaffirming that he does not want outside assistance to pull him out of this spiral.

the fact that martin's the one advocating to go soft on jon despite repeated refusals for more sympathetic help is interesting to me, because I would guess that this conversation was instigated by jon aggressively confronting martin about trevor herbert two episodes earlier. we know he was stalking all three of his assistants, but that is the biggest and most threatening outburst we get from jon in this period, and in this conversation it is still martin being defensive and apologetic vs tim being frustrated and pissed off.

I've said recently that I'm pretty sure martin believed jon was self harming and/or suicidal at this point, so I can see why he would be particularly willing to give jon slack and try to prevent any big conflicts, but that still contributes to his current narrative role of "guy who is treated the worst but ignores it because he's also the guy who cares the most." in that way, he's a foil for georgie; she cares, sure, but not enough to ignore (perceived) risks. martin pushes for jon to get therapy even as he lashes out and rejects help, and georgie won't involve herself when jon asks if she'd be willing to help him see a therapist.

this motif comes back around for a final complication in s5, when laverne, melanie's therapist, winds up as part of her cult. melanie's effort to get better and get out did have lasting effects, she is separated from the watcher/watched system and is coping a whole lot better than she would have before, but those personal efforts still weren't enough to fully get her out of the whole mess. no amount of individual action could remove her from this structural problem, her therapist helped her a lot but also now thinks she's a prophet.

which also comes back to the above scene. tim and martin both write off elias as useless in this situation, so they start sniping at each other and talking about how to stop jon from doing what he's doing without even really lingering on how the guy who is actually in charge and has power over them all is making it worse by neglecting his managerial duties. I'm sure jon could have done with some therapy at this point, but that would have only dealt with, like, 10% of the archive gang's current problems.

[digitalagepulao]

My sincere Black Myth: Wukong review

Full disclosure! This is from a recent but earnest fan of JTTW as the original novel, as well as all the social, cultural and religious layers of it. I've seen my fair share of adaptations and derivative media, from shlocky to silly to grimdark to cutesy. I'm a bachelor in visual arts, with an interest in the field of game development since high school. I am also, white and brazillian, and have talked with other jttw fans, both Chinese and not, on this game. If any of these are for some reason motive to not read further, then fair enough. Hope you have fun and continue to enjoy the game, do not let me or my opinion stop you!

Now to the review proper <3

First things first, let the obvious not remain unsaid. This game, is supremely gorgeous. In every sense of the word, and I mean this fully, it's a work of art. The sound design, the character concepts and execution, the animations, the voice acting, the visual effects, the UI design, the cinematography, the 3D scanning of actual historical artofacts and heritage sites throughout China, and everything beyond and between, are phenomenal, full stop.

This was never a debate, I'm sure, but I don't think I can in good conscience not praise them for their work. It's no news that Asian talent, not just in China either, have been often hired to supplement projects on the West, and we can all agree it's about time they got to shine in their own AAA project. My issues with the international game industry notwithstanding, I hope this brings some much needed acknowledgment and appreciation for Chinese culture and arts, both traditional and modern!

Now, from this point on, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS, so proceed with caution!

(word count: +1.8k)

I also deeply enjoy their choices in arcs to revisit. Some like the Flaming Mountain arc are classic picks to adapt but still a very good match to the whole Six Senses throughline. I don't think you can do a JTTW 2 electric bogaloo without bringing up Niumowang and his family in some way (um, put a pin on that), but the other arcs like Yellowbrow or Black Wind Mountain aren't as explored imo, so it's nice to see them being given a bit of a spotlight.

(speaking of the Yellow Ridge arc, whoever made the executive decision of Lingji Bodhisattva being a Xaanxi singer is, genius!!)

I'm also kind of in love?? with Bajie's design and role in the story overall?? Gameplay wise he sticks around just enough to not feel lonely, but not too long to be a nuisance or overstay his welcome. He's no Atreus (GoW) or Ellie (TLoU) of course, but he doesn't need to be, and most importantly, he isn't trying to be, which I feel is admirable of the devs. Given the visible inspirations from the recent God of War games, it would have been easy to lean a bit too hard on it, but I'm glad they didn't overreach.

Him having a more complex love life is also a nice touch imo. It explores more his womanizer ways in an interesting way, and I appreciate it. I love when people complicate the pig! Also, the way he treats Xiaosheng (Destined One) like a nephew?? The scene on the Huaguoshan throne??? I'M GONNA CRY!!!

I think, I've run out of positive things to say.... time for the spicy takes.

I, kind of detest the premise by default. I'm not a big fan of "Superman is Dead" plots, cus it's usually either done for shock value, or taken so lightly that the weight is totally lost. I have such a love-hate situationship with the introduction cutscene because of this. On one hand, it's phenomenal cinema, and seeing Wukong stand up to the Heavenly armies in glorious 4K high fidelity graphics is delicious. On the other hand, the whole debate they are having has me going "?????", not because I don't get it but just, why?? Why did this have to be the premise?? (put another pin on that)

Also the set up and call to adventure is kind of blergh.

Now is as good a time as any to talk about the gameplay. It's, okay. If you enjoy trying to figure out the most stylish combos, or to mash buttons, then you'll definitely have fun. I was sorely disappointed that I pretty much have been going through the bosses rather easily. Chapter 1 it was mostly the struggle of learning the controls, but I never stuck to a boss for longer than seven tries (Whiteclad Noble, the snakeman that you are). Chapter 2 I only struggled on Tiger Vanguard, because I was sorely underleveled and had missed a pathway to explore before him. After that I second tried him. Chapter 3, I have and I'm not joking, gotten halfway through first or second trying every boss.

Mind you, this is not being some godtier gamer or whatever, I'm pretty average and only a recent player of soulslike games too (maybe playing Lies of P made too OP, but I sincerely doubt it lol). No, this is me saying that if you do explore the game and not rush through it, you won't struggle nearly as much as some people have and still are. Most of the final chapter bosses can be trivialized with the chapter's Obsession Realm gimmick artifact, which isn't in itself a bad thing, just feels like an odd choice personally.

Which leads me to, the level design. So far? Preeeeetty lame! It's very pretty and fancy, but so chockful of invisible walls that it feels stiffling and discourages exploration. I can never tell what is meant to be a path or just fancy scenery, and I never know when a jump will get walled or send me to my death by fall damage. When it's not being confusing, the level design is either a bunch of looping circles, or straight lines. And so far, besides a few interactables and loot, there is not much else to look at. That is, bad level design, plain and simple.

Also, the animations are glorious, but what is the point if I can't see the enemy?? That camera is my true nemesis, and I mean that. the fact that a boss can be beyond my field of vision at ANY POINT when I'm locked on and it strifes sideways, is dreadful. GameScience, FIX IT. It is also, very hard to tell what parts of a boss will damage me if I collide with them or not. The Kang-Jin Long fight was baffling on a design point of view, same for Captain Lotus-Vision. Some clearer hitboxes would be swell.

This is the point where I say my main issue with the game lies: it's very pretty, and adoringly crafted, but it lacks substance design wise. I feel like it needed to cook more, the level design polished more so I wouldn't get lost every five minutes, and clearer.... well, everything. Mechanic explanations, level progression, gimmicks, etc. It all needed to be less murky and convoluted to understand.

It also needed more meat in between bosses. I have yet to run into common enemies that give me actual trouble, so it ends up being just a jolly waltz from boss to boss. Boss rushes are fun and great, but not as the base game experience (for me at least). I had to stop one boss away from completing Chapter 1 cus I was just so exhausted. And I had been playing for like, an hour and a half?? That left a sour taste in my mouth, I'll be honest.

Okay, I'm gonna pick open those pins now.

#1 the Flaming Mountain Arc. I'm gonna be very real here chat, that was so cringe. What do you MEAN, Red Son wasn't Demon Bull King's biological son, and Princess Iron Fan was forced to drink from the Childbearing River??? And Red Son hates him????When I watched that cutscene, I had to pause and walk away for a moment, legitimately. This plotbeat is SO WILD to me, I got nothing to say. Just, why??Soooo bizarre. And that the Flaming Mountain Keeper has such a presence in Iron Fan's life is also, weird?? Not bad weird, just Weird, but that's like a nitpick more than an actual criticism. Ping Ping is fine though, I like that Bull has a daughter with Princess Fair Fox, that's cute and interesting. Wish she was in a better plot and adaptation but lol

And #2, the premise. Now we are getting to the meat of it all.

The underlying premise of the whole plot, including the true ending, is flawed by default. The premise runs on what is sometimes called as a "conspiracy theory plot", as in, "what if the gods were bad actually??". It's reddit movie theory content in very short terms, and while it had a place during the 00s grimdark years pre-Marvel, it's become quite a jaded and boring take nowadays. Now you may say that it comes from a genuine desire to show distrust and critique to insitutions and the powers than be, and I can see that.

There is a hiccup in that though.

In JTTW, Wukong is the Mind Monkey because of the religious text and subtext of the stories. Its interwoven in the whole thing, and makes it cohesive. It still offer critique and mockery to institutions, without entirely invalidating their foundations. Not only for genuine fear of prosecution, but because, shockingly, religion and belief is a major component of human society in general. But going back to my point, JTTW is *already* a critique of institutions and the power that be. Adding further layers into it feel like angst and edginess just for the sake of it, and that feels hollow to me.

To go further, this intent also clashes with their own plot. See, they bring up that Wukong's Mind, his Sixth Sense, died. Thus they need another Mind to guide his other senses and reform him, so that he may be reborn.

For one, that is such a convoluted way to do a reincarnation plot, it feels complicated just for novelty sake. Secondly, Wukong being the Mind Monkey, as I said, implies a tie to the underlying themes of the Journey as a person's path to enlightenment. If enlightenment itself is flawed because the gods are flawed/evil, then both themes are clashing. By making a "what if the gods were evil all along" plot while also going by the laws and order of said gods, then what are we even fighting against? What is the point of this whole rebellion between Erlang and Wukong??

my friend @ryin-silverfish said it best a while back, and I'm paraphrasing here (do pitch in or correct me if needed! <3), but the issue with these conspiracy narratives is the inherent anti-religion of them. They don't believe in anything, and thus they cannot properly retell the story of JTTW through a postmodern lense, because they refuse to engage with the religiosity that runs throughout the story.

It also leaves a sour taste in my mouth, because this game will likely be many people's first genuine experience with the JTTW mythos and story, and I tend to be concerned for how much this will "sour the pot" in the conversation. The novels are sadly innacessible enough as it is; the sheer size of them scare many people away, not even to mention the amount of underlying cultural context you'll miss out without proper footnotes and commentary. Most people will not engage with them directly, and certainly not most gamers.

While the narrative of someone embodying Wukong's spirit is not new in itself, I do find that it coexisting with such a poor premise and spin on it will be a sore first experience for new fans, and I can only hope that them meeting fans of the OG novels won't cause much friction in the fandom (we have enough as it is imo).

It also concerns me that, sadly, people and gamers in particular, get too swept up in the ooh-aah beauty of flashy sfx and highly detailed graphics, and fail to notice some of the underlying issues in game design. As I said, this game is a work of art, but it has flaws, and I don't think people are speaking of them enough. No, the issue is not "lack of diversity" or whatever the hell.

It runs deeper than that, and it's an issue I've come to see in recent movies as well. I'm aware it might just be different cultural expectations of the pacing and span of a story, and it may as well be! But I think if there was more care given to the bones of a media, it would bring much needed longevity and weight to these wonderful artworks.

All this said, I wanna see what acolades this game gets and see what the devs are cooking up with the DLCs (they said at one point the game was supposed to have 12 chapters and my god, that game would be TOO LONG. So glad it didn't get like that!), and further more see how this ripples in the eastern game dev scene. While this is a flawed game with a flawed story, it can be the first on a genuinely wonderful wave of new creations, not just by GameScience, and overall I'm hopeful for what might come next!

[bobbile-blog]

Not sure if anyone’s said this yet but now that we have Laterano events plural I’m fascinated by their (imo) very deliberate choice of protagonists, and there are almost a couple of layers of narrative going on there. I struggle a little figuring out how to get this into words but specifically I think they’re chosen to be people who can carry a narrative without contradicting the orthodox morals of the church. There’s a LOT of vaguely anti-authoritarian rambling below the cut so please kindly bear with me and my English major brain.

I can’t really start there though. One of the reasons this is so brain hurty is how deeply it’s woven into the storyline, so to start, I have to verbalize how Laterano and Arknights writing more generally is different from other, similar settings. Because like, I hear the words “morally negative church in a grimdark setting” and my brain immediately shuts off. Come on, that’s so far beyond low-hanging fruit, if you’ve seen any grimdark setting ever you know exactly what that looks like. And sure, it was fine the first two or three times you saw it, depending on your tolerance for that kinda thing, but it gets boring quick and even when it was new it was kinda uninteresting story-wise. “Religion is always fake because it inspires hope which means everyone who takes meaning from it is either a corrupt grifter or naive and misled” isn’t just edgy nonsense, it’s also basically useless as an actual critique. It tells you absolutely nothing except how to tune out a particular kind of story, and a story that tries to get you to hear less is doing its job wrong.

So, Arknights does something different. Instead of denying the premise of the church entirely, it actually takes it at its word. Laterano is, in almost every definition of the word, a paradise. It is basically unmatched in terms of actual quality of life, with its only competitors being the Durin cities and maybe Aegir, and is worlds apart from now much the rest of Terra sucks. More than that, though, the paradise is specifically tailored to the worldview of a religion with a strong central authority - when I say it takes it at its word, I mean the authoritarian bits too. Laterano is a city that lives in perfect order and peace because everyone follows the law perfectly and they all understand each other and never fight. Empathy is really important for this, as it allows for a believable amount of superhuman societal order. Laterano has very little crime, political drama, or quarrels in general. It’s the promises of a strict higher authority actually taken at face value: everyone follows the rules and that means they have effectively unfettered freedom, because they don’t want to break the rules and therefore they can do anything they want.

Laterano is specifically written to be a believable paradise in a setting that has none, so that when the story then turns around and criticizes that setting, it has significantly more weight. Even when the promises of paradise are taken at face value, there are still issues that cannot be addressed because the system is inherently flawed even in the imaginary scenario where it works. Even worse, the problems that poke holes in the imaginary perfect scenario are the same problems that they face in the real world, like “how do you deal with the interpretation of scriptures” and “hey there’s this racism thing I keep hearing about should we be worried about that or what”. Because of the way this imaginary perfect system works, we then look back on our real world in a new light and understand it a little better. It’s good critique.

Okay so how did we get here and what does this have to do with the protagonists? Well, this starts with Fiametta in Guide Ahead, because she’s a really weird protagonist. This is a cold take at this point but despite being the character on the front of the box, she has very little to actually do with the central conflict of the event. Most of the conflict is handled by Ezell first and Andoain second, and Fiametta mostly putters around putting holes in people until the finale where Andoain receives the answer he’s been looking for, he turns to explain it to the world, and he runs into the only person in the whole of Laterano who does not care about his motivations or his revelation. Her role, in other words, is to replace the climax of Andoain’s story with her own, and in doing so she makes it much harder to actually get a resolution and a meaning out of the story (this should not be taken as a criticism of her character, let me cook). Guide Ahead’s ending is hazy, with only small piecemeal resolutions to its conflicts, and for the longest time that was just the way the event was written and it stood on its own.

But now, Hortus de Escapismo is out and the monkey brain see patterns. Specifically, with the choice of protagonists. Because Executor is definitely different from Fiametta as a protagonist, but there’s one particularly important connection between the two, and that’s that as I mentioned in the beginning, they allow for stories don’t contradict orthodox morality. Fiametta we went over, as she’s uninterested in any of Andoain’s morality and just wants him dead. Executor, though, is purely focused on his mission and views the world through that lens. He only wants to achieve his objective, and while helping the needy is in line with the stated objectives of the church and he does do so when able, it’s secondary to his assigned task. He does change as he gets further into the story, and we’re not gonna ignore that, but we’ll be back to it later. What I mean is more that he is designed as a person who is able to lead a story that doesn’t contradict with the morals of Laterano. He sees the injustice and suffering around him, but that’s not his job, so he doesn’t need to solve it to have a complete story with a happy ending.

This is where it really gets complicated, so I apologize if I don’t explain this very well. I see this as us dealing with multiple layers of fiction: the events of the story, the perspective of the church, and our perspective as readers. Back to the first point - authoritarian institutions almost always use stories to sell people on their brand of order. Simple stories, simple enough that even calling them myths seems like overselling it a little, your “Saint George slays a dragon” kinda thing. This is the point of the second layer, the perspective of the church. I don’t really have an in-world justification for this layer - maybe you could make the argument that it has to do with Law’s perspective on things, but I don’t totally buy that - I think it’s more in a weird narrative transition space for people who don’t read very carefully. Regardless, Fiametta and Executor’s shared indifference to the questionable circumstances surrounding them is designed to let them tell a story to prop up the existing order. Their protagonist status and their missions are specifically constructed to allow them to ignore the suffering around them, and as such ignore the larger questions that might poke holes in the larger order. They’re both playing out the story of Saint George, where they go and find a bad guy and kill them and that’s all there is to it. The story is designed and told specifically for that “that’s all there is to it”.

But, as we said earlier, this is a good critique, and as such it intentionally undercuts this story with the third layer: what we actually see as readers. We are shown the suffering and the injustice, and then get to see our protagonists ignoring that to pursue their goals. This is what gives Guide Ahead’s ending its unique texture, which sets it apart from every other event with a vaguely unresolved ending. We have seen the actual issues with Laterano, and also watched our protagonist explicitly ignore them in favor of her own story. It’s unsatisfying in a way that only really makes sense to me if we as the readers have an understanding of intentional authorship. Whether it be Yvangelista XI or Law or The Actual Real Life Pope, there are issues here that we want to see a resolution to but people are choosing not to address them. Again, it’s good critique. Not only does it push the reader to unpack and understand the actual real-world technique, but it also helps blunt it. You have just seen a plot and protagonist ring uncharacteristically hollow. You then look around to see why that is, and you realize there are many things that should have been resolved that weren’t. The next time you see a story resolve with that same hollow-ness, you know where to look. Surprise! Harry Potter was propaganda the whole time. It’s okay, it was never good, you were just twelve.

I guess the last thing is where we go from here, because Executor’s story breaks this mold somewhat. In Hortus de Escapismo, he has to deal with a mission that isn’t actually bounded by his normal rules, and because of that he actually does have leeway to help the people around him. He starts as someone who is totally mission-focused, but by the end of the event he’s done a total 180 and is blocking Oren’s attack, which makes the mission harder but helps the non-mission-critical civilians of the monastery. He breaks from the rigid thinking of “kill the bad guy and that’s all there is do it”, and gives his attention to the people he isn’t supposed to see. I think this is an indication of the direction we’re going to be headed in the future with Laterano events. The events aren’t going to get better - they’re going to keep being just as morally murky and complicated as in the past - but the characters are going to get better at handling it, and when they do, they’re going to actually start to change things for the better.

Goddamn that was a lot of writing for 1 AM. I still have a. Lot of thoughts on this event with stuff like empathy and Lemuen and Federico being an autistic icon(my beloved) but I’m going to leave things there, I think, because if I write for any longer my phone is going to crash when I try to post this. Anyway if you actually made it to the end thanks for listening to me rambling and I hope that made sense. Cheers.

[dr-zeddy]

Miquella is a deeply tragic character and saying he's a villain just because he used someone, who was probably way worse than him to create an order lead by kindness, makes you come off as pretty short-sighted imo Miq was as much of a victim as Mohg. He had good intentions, he truly believed he could make the he could make the world a better place.

*exhales deeply* Are you the person, I think you are? nonetheless....

I'm going to shed my opinion on Miquella now because I seriously can not tell if this is bait or not from things we see and know in the base game and DLC and want to clarify my thoughts on him and why I believe rendering him as a victim is extremely problematic, also outside of the entire Mohg situation.

Is it so hard to internalize that the things Miquella did were actually highly morally questionable? I got to admit, he is a way more interesting character to me after the DLC because of the things he did (and I enjoy villains, so yeah.) I guess the »villain« term is as much accurate as some of you folks justify brainwashing to be ethical , when it is done with good intentions and keeps the peace, with which I personally do not agree with at all.

I don't see Miquella as tragic because honestly we have nothing to suggest that this guy suffered in any way before he decided to rip himself off of his personality. And that is the point, he decided to do that himself. No one forced him to this. Miquella had a choice, unlike Mohg. Yeah sure, you could argue that he suffered through his immense »empathy« but honestly, Miquella's empathy for the weak and shunned always came off as superficial. Why does he not care for the Albinaurics being tortured in Castle Sol, which is clearly allied with him? Where are the Misbegotten and other creatures in Elphael? Where are the Albinaurics? And the Omens? The Nomads?? Miquella claims to want to create a perfect world where everyone is equal but honestly except for words we hear, we do not see any fucking action or effort to truly include them in his world order.

And that's the thing, Miquella reeks for me at best of naivity and at worst of white saviour complex. He grew up as a fucking empyrean, he had a good relationship with at least one of his parents, he was a golden child. From the things we see and hear in the base game, and now the DLC, it feels like Miquella does not seem to grasp the complexity of the situation when it comes to subjugation. If that is due to his child-like thinking, infused by his curse or actually just his personality, is up for debate. Can you truly care for the subjugated as someone more privileged? Absolutely. But only if you truly educate yourself on the matter and actually listen to the needs of the excluded and shunned.

What does Miquella do instead? He rips everyone off of their autonomy to make decisions themselves if they refuse or challenge his beliefs. That is textbook tyranny. You can not save someone, who refuses to be saved by someone like you. Doing so anyway is extremely ignorant. In the end, Miquella actually puts his needs & beliefs before that of those he claims to desire to save. He is so convinced of his own agenda that he loses track of the moral dilemma, his approach to worldpeace poses. That is not tragic. These are the thoughts of a megalomaniac. If Miquella's selflessness was truly genuine there would be no need of compelling affection. However, he bewitches people. Over and over.

Of course, there are his efforts of curing Malenia still. But even that is, in the big sight of things, not really a selfless act because Malenia is a.) close family and b.) he gets and actual use out of Malenia's talent as a skilled swordswoman. I do not think Miquella bewitched her, I truly believe Malenia followed him by his own will and I also do believe he really did want to help her! However true kindness lays in how you treat those who can do nothing for you. Bewitching those who can do nothing for you and refuse to follow you, is not exactly a very pretty picture of his character.

And in comes Mohg to this occasion. The game is so fucking obvious about the fact that Mohg was the exploited one and I seriously do not understand why people still insist he isn't and exploited Miquella?? He is the only demigod we know for certain of, who was brainwashed. With Radahn and Malenia we do not know for sure but with Mohg we do. The fact that Mohg was bewitched implies that Miquella could not be sure that Mohg would have agreed to a deal and that would have been a way safer route than to bewitch him and his closest consult. I mean, Miquella almost DIED because he underestimated Ansbach's knowledge on how Mohg behaves. Why the fuck risk that if you could have just openly made a deal with Mohg, if he was as power hungry and crazy as the game implied?

In contrast to Miquella, Mohg is actually one of the most tragic characters in the game. This motherfucker was told his mere existence is a crime, grew up in the sewers locked away for years, he had no one except this one Outer God who seemed to care for him and showed him maternal love, something he was deprived off his entire life. Not getting into the speculation on how the cult operated before Miquella took over but it's very clear that he ruined Mohg's life. Mohg just wanted to get away from the toxicity he grew up with and created his own haven, from which he too thought, was the right thing to do. However he never forced anyone to join him. He never mind controlled people. People followed him by their own accounts.

The cult in itself is probably morally questionable too but we also have no idea how the Mohgwyn Dynasty worked before Miquella essentially took over. But by that standard, everyone is in the Lands Between is a twisted bastard with their different agendas ….

The point is that Ansbach is still right though when he says that »Mohg deserved better«. NO ONE who is genuinely interested in helping the shunned and subjugated, would chose one of the most excluded and tormented souls as their pawn. NOBODY deserves to be treated like this but the fact that Mohg is a product of extreme racism and social exclusion makes it so much worse and makes Miquella look so much more hypocritical. It suits the stuff we see in Castle Sol and the Haligtree … Miquella wants to be seen as the world's saviour so badly but seems to have no understanding on what suffering actually means. Because he never experienced it. His empathy is superficial and short sighted. The fact he is convinced he is doing everyone a favour in bewitching them, and does everything in his power to achieve his dream, makes him a truly terrifying villain. And that is something I like Miquella for. Is that really so hard to accept for people like you?

Sure, you can still live out the fantasy in your head that the mindcontrolling intermitted in Mohg to "grape" Miquella (even tho the game also never confirmed this????) if that pleases you, but for the love of God stop acting like it is a fact that Miquella was used by Mohg because he wasn't. I guess a lot of personal feelings from my side bubble up regarding this topic and I'm sorry of if I come off as passive aggressive but as a survivor of abuse as a minor by someone "popular", and nobody believed me, and Mohg being one of my comfort characters, that shit hits different. Just not a fan of turning victim-abuser dynamics upside down, sorry.

[yurislilygarden]

ʚїɞ Self Aware! Hazbin Hotel

ʚїɞ Their reaction after becoming self-aware and first thoughts about reader!

ʚїɞ Charlie Morningstar and Vaggie / Part 3!

ʚїɞ Keep in mind English is not my first language, so you may find mistakes!

ʚїɞ Word count: just below 1.2k

ʚїɞ Part 1! (Lucifer and Alastor) Part 2 (Angel Dust and Husk)

ʚїɞ Not me casually posting like it hasn't been months since the 2nd part... ANYWAY... This took WAY too long but it's here!!!! This is shorter than I wanted, but I already knew it would be short as I don't grasp these two too well imo, so I didn't have too much to say here. Probably will rewrite it one day if I ever decide I got better with their characters as I would love for this to be longer <3

Very few characters would notice something wrong on the first watch of the show, but wouldn't realize, nor become self-aware until the 2nd or further watch.

While everyone's reaction would be different with different amounts of stages before total acceptance of the situation, they all would share the first emotion, simple disbelief. They would first need to even process the fact that they're not real, that they were created solely for the purpose of entertaining… something? Someone? In a completely different Universe. That everything that they thought had happened to them before they died didn't actually happen, they were never alive in the first place. Only after that did the emotions and reactions differ. The very first emotion or actual personal reaction would be:

Charlie

Fright, confusion, frustration

Charlie didn't know what to think at first. On one side, she, and everyone else, are 2D characters on a show for fucks sake, but on the other side, you didn't do anything to them. She would be the only one (in hell) to not be outright negative about you, she started out at the neutral zone.

Whether the others were already aware or not, they could notice a change in her behavior for a few days after the situation hits her. To think that the 200+ years that she thought that she was alive was actually a lie, fake, would be a hard fact to swallow. Her being rightfully confused about the situation, many questions filled her head and she had no answers. Like father, like daughter, if you will.

What exactly do you want from them? Can you do something else besides watching them? Do you want to do something more? Would you talk to them directly if you could? Do you-

Yeah, she's like her father in that aspect.

She was curious on just how much would change if they weren't in a show, no, if they had a choice in anything, since they wouldn't exist without the show. The thought may give her nightmares. Could her relationship with her dad be better than what it is? Could she do more for hell? Would her mother still be here and not missing? 

Some frustration could come in early on, as she was already stressed about the hotel, but also trying to keep everyone from being negative about you. While they didn't know much, you didn't show any malicious intent, which in her books was enough to not outright dislike you. She would be pretty close to the negative zone in the first few days, but it would quickly turn to neutral upon knowing she wasn't the only one to know, and being told what little they knew.

She didn't even look for the signs of everything around them being just wrong, she didn't need to. She would just sit there and realize how quiet everything was outside, how many memories that she previously thought she had, seemed to be actually lacking in existence.

As for whether she would be disappointed in herself for not noticing earlier or not, I see two options.

One, she wouldn't be necessarily really disappointed in herself for not noticing, at least not as much as some of the others upon finding out and processing the fact that there were people who noticed before her, but also that there were people who didn't realize after her.

Then there's the second option where I can imagine her being immensely disappointed in herself for not noticing much, much sooner. She’s the princess of hell, she should’ve noticed it! She would be overthinking that if something happened before she became self-aware, she wouldn't have been able to help in any way. She wouldn't be aware of it.

She may have not been the first to notice your presence, but she wasn't the last, which gave her a little bit of comfort either way.

She would be in the “can only watch” team with not much hesitation about it, and in the neutral zone from pretty much the start.

Vaggie

Anger, frustration and hatred

One of the few who would hate you the moment they processed everything. At first, her thoughts weren't the most rational, going off of negative feelings in panic and in general, but what she thought about you didn't change much even after she calmed down. She despised the thought of her, them all, being some bullshit made-up characters for someone to enjoy. She started out in the negative zone with no hesitation. She really tried not to think about the fact that she, none of them, were ever truly alive, that her whole life, existence, was fake to her very core.

After she became self-aware, she tried to find signs she missed before and it pained her when she realized how obvious everything was. She couldn't remember most of the things besides what was showed on the screen for you, the outside of the hotel wasn't filled with screaming 24/7 a day like she thought it was, there wasn't even anyone outside when she looked outside. It was painfully obvious and yet she, none of them, realized it fast enough for her liking.

She would be pissed and assume you like seeing them suffer, because why would you just watch as another character got rid of her eye? Why would you just watch bad things happen and do nothing? It’s frustrating as hell to her that she can’t do shit to you/your form and the only thing she can really do is sit back, observe, and watch as things happen, unable to do anything… ironic, isn’t it?

Unlike Charlie, she would for sure be heavily frustrated and disappointed in herself for not noticing anything earlier, the fact that she wasn't in the first 3 to notice after being told everything didn't help her inner thoughts, especially with how protective she can be.

If she became self-aware before Charlie, she would be unexplainably more protective of her (and others but she would try to not make it as obvious), until her girlfriend became self-aware herself and understood the reason (Charlie would still think its a little bit too much since she would think you were completely harmless to them). She would act in a similar fashion to finding out before Charlie if she were the latter to find out, but her actions wouldn't be as concealed due to the reasons already being known.

Would make her hatred clear whenever they were on the topic of you, or when your butterfly form was around them. Vaggie would throw you a glare the moment she knows you couldn't see her without hesitation. Tried to stab you through your small body or wing with her spear to see if she could (do some damage back) hurt you, only to be disappointed when it just phased right through you.

Vaggie would be on the “only watches but can do more” team, and start out heavily in the negative zone, before, Charlie would get her to the neutral zone with some time.

Notes, comments, and reblogs are greatly appreciated

｡⋆｡˚ ʚ Taglist ɞ ˚｡⋆｡

@laundrybear413 @leathesimp

[firstkanaphans]

I heartily concur with your interpretation of the Ray/Mew no-sex scene - it absolutely wasn't about sex, it was about Ray pleading with Mew to just give him a sign that he's actually genuine about this 'relationship' - at this point I think Ray wants to be with Sand, but as long as there's a chance Mew is being sincere about this, Ray feels bound to stay with him, not because he's in love with him, but because a) he begged for this (even though I still maintain he wouldn't have had Mew not brought it up again) and b) I don't think he has it in him to actively reject Mew (which in itself is part of the reason they don't work), so imo in this scene he's thinking 'show me something, anything, that allows me to convince myself I did the right thing playing it safe/not going after Sand' and THAT'S why he's so angry - it's not about sex, it's not about Top, it's not even about Mew not being able to love him. And it's not about him just being mad at not getting what he wants. It's about Ray realising that he's thrown away the possibility of real love for the lie that is this 'romance'. And like you said, Mew as good as confirms as much in the final convo. I appreciated Mew's maturity and honesty so much in that scene - it made me do a complete u-turn on his character. Mew realises that Ray wants out of this non-relationship just as much as he does, but he also knows that Ray will never be able to be the one to say it because of the power imbalance between them, so he does it for the both of them, which is a true act of love and friendship. I think for some ppl Ray 'choosing' Sand had to be an A or B scenario, aka Ray could have Mew but chooses Sand instead. But because Ray is a messed up raw wound seeping trauma and addiction and self-loathing and confusion it was never going to be that simple. What we get is more complicated but just as valid - Sand isn't his second option, Sand is who he WANTS to be with, Sand is who he loves, and who he WOULD be with if a) he was better equipped to recognise and understand his own feelings ('when I'm with you I'm so damn happy') and b) he didn't have such a longstanding and complicated (and unhealthily co-dependent) history with Mew. He doesn't drive off hoping to hook up with Sand because Mew turned him down. He seeks Sand out because, if we agree the Ray/Mew fight is the moment they both accept on some level their relationship is fake, then that's the moment Ray allows himself the chance to go after what his heart really wants, which is Sand. Ray doesn't have the emotional toolkit necessary to be able to articulate all this to himself, let alone to anyone else, which is why Mew very gently does it for him. But Mew being the one to break this to Ray doesn't mean Ray's feelings are any less his own. I think of it more this way: Sand is Ray's first choice, but Ray's own happiness is Ray's last choice, because on some level he doesn't believe he deserves it, and so without intervention - from Mew, from Sand - Ray would always continue to self-sabotage (as talked about in the tweet Jojo reposted a few days ago). And slightly but not entirely off topic: I also think nuance is often lost in translation - I might be wrong but I wonder if his words ('why won't you let me have it') are less...yeesh in Thai. Just part of a general thought I've been thunking about deep analysis of foreign language shows when you're reading so much into everything and yet relying on what are often serviceable at best subtitles (for which I'm still eternally grateful!) - SO MUCH can be misinterpreted by just a single word choice, and I sometimes find myself having to choose between taking subs at face value vs retranslating them in my head to what I think better suits the acting/story/characterisation. Apologies for the indecent length of this - I got carried away! Long story short: I agree with you!

Honestly, I agree with all of this and couldn't have said it better myself. I don't have much to add, but I will pull out some of my favorite lines for a TL;DR:

"At this point I think Ray wants to be with Sand, but as long as there's a chance Mew is being sincere about [their relationship], Ray feels bound to stay with him, not because he's in love with him, but because a) he begged for this...and b) I don't think he has it in him to actively reject Mew."

"So imo in this scene he's thinking 'show me something, anything, that allows me to convince myself I did the right thing playing it safe/not going after Sand' and THAT'S why he's so angry - it's not about sex, it's not about Top, it's not even about Mew not being able to love him....It's about Ray realising that he's thrown away the possibility of real love for the lie that is this 'romance.'"

"I think of it more this way: Sand is Ray's first choice, but Ray's own happiness is Ray's last choice, because on some level he doesn't believe he deserves it, and so without intervention - from Mew, from Sand - Ray would always continue to self-sabotage."

As for the question of translation accuracy, I actually did a little digging into this. The line that was translated as "Why won't you let me have it?" was literally บอกกูมาได้ป่ะว่าทำไมมึงถึงไม่ยอมให้กูเอาสักทีอ่ะ (bòk goo maa dâai bpà wâa tam-mai meung tĕung mâi yom hâi goo ao sàk tee à), which can more accurately be translated as "Can you tell me why you won't let me have it?" I know that's not a huge difference, but it turns an accusatory statement into a legitimate question. Ray's not just stomping his foot because Mew won't give him sex. He's asking for an explanation. [Insert disclaimer about me not being a native Thai speaker here.]

[stevesnightmares]

I don't understand how some people can watch BBC Merlin and, when they are done, complain that it didn't make sense because Merlin didn't fulfil the prophecy. You are the one who doesn't understand the story that is being told. This is not like in Percy Jackson, where we get prophecies and, by the end, we see them come true, even if in unexpected ways. Merlin created his own path with every choice that he made, with every action he took. He could've fulfilled his destiny, he could've saved Arthur and brought on the golden age of Albion, but by making certain choices he wasn't able to fulfil that destiny. He had the ability to do so, but didn't.

In season 1 episode 8, "The Beginning of the End" we are immediately told that Merlin will not fulfill his destiny, he will not protect Arthur and see him bring about the golden age of Albion.

KILGHARRAH If the boy lives, you cannot fulfil your destiny. MERLIN What's he got to do with my destiny? You said it's my destiny to protect Arthur. KILGHARRAH Then you have the answer you seek. MERLIN You're telling me that little boy is going to kill Arthur? KILGHARRAH It seems that is up to you. MERLIN No. You can't know that for certain. KILGHARRAH You have it in your power to prevent a great evil. MERLIN There must be another way! The future isn't set in stone! KILGHARRAH You must let the boy die.

By saving Mordred, Merlin sealed Arthur's fate and signed his death. He made a choice and that choice had its consequences.

Another clear example of Merlin's choices affecting, well, everything, is in season 2 episode 8, "Sins of the Father".

Merlin's goal is to make Arthur see that magic isn't all bad, to make the genocide of magic wielders stop, to bring magic back to Camelot so that he and every other magic person can live freely as themselves.

When meeting with Morgouse, Arthur begins to go towards the right path.

ARTHUR What if my father's attitude to magic is wrong? MERLIN You really think that?

ARTHUR Perhaps it's not as simple as he would have us believe. Morgause is a sorcerer, she has caused us no harm. Surely not everyone who practices magic can be evil.

He's starting to see that maybe not everyone who uses magic uses it for evil, that magic users can be good.

ARTHUR You speak of hunted her kind like animals! How many hundreds have you condemned to death to ease your guilt?

He's also seeing that Uther hates magic because of personal reasons and not because all magic is really bad.

This was the perfect opportunity, the perfect opening to bring Arthur on the right side. But what does Merlin do?

MERLIN Morgause is lying! She's an enchantress. She tricked you. That was not your mother you saw. That was an illusion. Everything...everything your mother said to you...those were Morgause's words. This has been her plan all along! To turn you against your father. And if you kill him, the kingdom will be destroyed! This is what she wants!

He tells Arthur that it's all a lie and that the sorcerer is evil, that once again those who use magic only want to see Camelot fall.

ARTHUR I am indebted to you, Merlin. I had become...confused. It is once again clear to me that those who practice magic are evil and dangerous. And that is thanks to you.

He solidified Arthur's belief that magic is evil and bad.

My point isn't to decide whether Merlin's choices were good or bad, right or wrong, we follow him, we see why he does what he does, how much he cares for Arthur and for others, we see his flaws and his shortcomings and we can't blame him for any of his choices because all of them, even the most misguided ones, were all done in good faith.

The point is that that's what the show is about: a young warlock in his quest to save Arthur and how his choices bring him to his failure. From season 1 he was doomed to fail because of his choices. At least that's how I see it. People were expecting to see Merlin fulfil the prophecy and some claim that he did, but imo the whole show is about how his choices doomed him and made him not fulfil his destiny.

UTHER You [Merlin] have proven yourself to be a trusted ally in the fight against magic.

[etoiile]

"BE BRAVE"

starring chigiri hyoma!

synopsis: after being your roommate for a little over half a year, chigiri can say without a doubt that he's never met someone like you. you're sweet, funny, and just a great friend. but what happens when he wants to be more than that?

warning(s): not proofread but im p sure i didnt grammar correctly, mild swearing, gender neutral reader

notes: i want him your honor

"im back.." you mumbled, kicking off your shoes and practically throwing yourself onto the couch.

"well, dont you sound energetic." he joked as he turned off his phone and sat down next to you. "rough day?"

"ugh you cant even begin to imagine." you grumbled. "shit day. start talking. distract me."

"hmm..." he thought. "my day was pretty uneventful. i got let out early and just caught up on some stuff."

"who were you texting earlier? got any tea?" you questioned sleepily with a yawn. gossip sessions with chigiri were your absolute favorite. whenever he texted someone, there was usually some sort of news. plus, he gossiped like a girl and you were here for it. (sorry but chi is just so freaking canonically girlypop)

"nah. i wish, though. just talking to my older sister about some... stuff." he trailed off, racking his brain for a new subject.

"you hungry?" he asked, motioning towards the kitchen.

"yeah. will you carry me?" you asked tiredly, giving him your best puppy dog eyes. you were too tired to move on your own.

chigiri rolled his eyes at you, but still let you climb onto his back regardless.

as he carried you to the kitchen, he couldn't help the way his heart would leap out of his chest every time you left out a sleepy groan or would shift a little in his hold before nuzzling into his back. he couldn't help but imagine being here with you, in this apartment, though not as roommates or even friends, but lovers. he couldn't help how he could never be mad at you, despite what he'd say. he couldn't help how every time you did literally anything, he could feel himself falling deeper in love with you.

"well, think about it this way, chi." his sister had texted. "you've got two choices before you. confess or dont. correct?"

"yeah"

"WRONG. there's only one choice. by doing nothing, youre doing nothing but self torture. you'll always be thinking about how much you want to hold her but cant, and you'll have to watch her go on dates and even get ready for them. obvi, thats no fun. imo, just go for it, honestly. gotta be brave, yk?"

at the time, chigiri said something along the lines of, "maybe i will, maybe i wont. we'll see." before turning off his phone to greet you.

now, as he thinks about his feelings, he's never been more sure. he's never felt this way about anybody else before. its not like his past relationship where it was thrilling and exciting but exhausting. the way he feels with you is different. you feel safe. warm. comforting. you feel like a warm, sunny breeze after a cold rain. you feel like home. you feel like warmth. you feel like love.

he gently set you down at the kitchen counter before heading to the fridge.

"we dont have much food because SOMEBODY forgot to buy groceries." he teased. "we have fruit, eggs, bread, tobiko roe, rice, and instant ramen."

"yeah, yeah. anyways.." you then started batting your lashes at him like a maniac. "would you mind making me some ramen, my dear, sweet chichi?"

chigiri's heart leapt at the use of the word "my." he could feel his cheeks start to heat up and he quickly turned around.

"yeah, yeah, as you command." he rolled his eyes (for the 349348th time) and got to work.

"dont forget the eggs!"

"just be brave," his sister had said.

pfft. "just be brave?" give him a break! it just wasn't that simple. he couldn't risk the friendship most beloved to him. he just couldn't!

he watched as the seasoning gently bubbled with the noodles as he gently stirred the pot with a pair of wooden chopsticks, humming along to a tune he'd heard on your playlist absentmindedly.

"CHIGIRI?!" you suddenly yelped, clearly taken aback.

"what? is something wrong?" he asked calmly but concerned, praying that you weren't hurt as he set down the chopsticks and ran to you.

his cheeks were met by your palms as you squished his face together. "you're humming "cruel summer" by taylor swift! ive done it! youre a swiftie!" you let go as you squealed and leaped for joy, jumping about.

"chigiri's a swiftie! chichi is a swiftie!"

he chuckled as he watched your antics when suddenly, you crashed into him as you jumped.

you looked up from his chest and were met with his gorgeous pink orbs. it stunned you for a moment. they were so captivating, like they were gently chorusing a beautiful melody. you felt yourself sinking into them when suddenly, you realized the position you were in.

there was maybe an inch or two separating your lips from his. flustered, you quickly drew back, though you didnt exactly want to.

"sorry! um, my bad. i was just thinking! about how your eyes? uh... about how taylor swift has... uh... actually, what am i saying I WAS ACTUALLY-" you stammered as you tried to find an excuse for lingering much too long in his arms. staring into his beautiful eyes. on his chest. his muscular, toned, delicious... STOP.

suddenly, chigiri felt something. it wasn't embarrassment, it wasn't anxiety, it was... bravery.

gently gliding over to your flustered and still stammering figure, chigiri took your hands and looked you in the eye, freezing you.

"y/n, youre my one of my best friends." he said, his melodic voice gently wafting through the air. he then gently leaned down to your ear and in a low whisper, said:

"the thing is though, i dont want you like a best friend."

you were left frozen.

"a lyric from "dress." not bad, am i right?" he asked with a sly grin.

as the great taylor swift said, (in "its time to go") when the words of a sister come back in whisper, he realized that his sister was, as much as he hated to admit it, right. all he needed was to be brave.

𝐄𝐓𝐎𝐈𝐈𝐋𝐄 ©𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 please do not copy or repost my work on any other site. interactions appreciated! 🤍

[snek-eyes]

Do you think Crowley is mean to Muriel? My gf says he is a little mean but tbh I don't see it. He wants everyone gone so he can have alone time with Aziraphale, and Muriel is not a friend. They're sweet and all, but they were happy to spy on Crowley and Aziraphale and rat them out to Heaven, and they adore the Metatron quite obviously. Muriel isn't evil, just incredibly naive and as caught in the manipulative system just like Aziraphale is, in a way, but they work for that system and they seem to do it happily. They did help Crowley in Heaven, but that doesn't make them friends especially since as I said Muriel is clearly pro Metatron or too naive to be against him. If I were Crowley, I'd want them gone as fast as possible, too 😅 And they don't get the hint the first time with Crowley talking about "us time" so he just gets a little more direct, but that's about as direct as he can get with Aziraphale, too, and as he is with Maggie and Nina, and it's never mean or rude, yk? Just grumpy, in his lovable way. That's how I always read it. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it 😁

* fogot to add: it's nothing personal, Muriel's just doing their job and Crowley knows it, they even helped him (more or less willingly) but they're still working for Heaven.

Hey there, really interesting question! or I'd say two questions: A) Is Crowley mean to Muriel, and B) is that justified?

imo, Crowley & Muriel can basically be summed up by this moment:

"Yay, bully for you." *turns away to go back to cursing heaven*

Crowley, well... he is mean to Muriel. But it's in the way you are when you recognize it's not the person's fault you personally find them annoying, and you don't want to actually make them feel bad. He knows! He knows it's not their fault they're such a neon sign of everything he hates about heaven, that they're so brainwashed and ignorant, and cheerful about it.

But the fact is, Crowley manipulates the heck out of Muriel! And he's downright disrespectful about it, doesn't ever bother to give them a good story, he just says confident nonsense, knowing Muriel has no choice but to take his word for it. He takes advantage of their naivete and uses them for his own ends. That's not exactly nice!

^ tell me that's not condescending as hell lmao

But on the other hand... Yeah, Muriel is a spy for heaven! Not only that, but they've been sent here knowing absolutely nothing about earth. Their very presence is an insult! Crowley and Aziraphale have been here for 6000 years, and heaven still thinks that just the baseline of 'being an angel' makes someone good enough to outmaneuver them? Rude af. So, it's not all that out of line for Crowley to give heaven the same level of respect they showed his side.

But that still leaves Muriel stuck in the middle, getting used by both sides.

I think Crowley is intentionally only seeing Muriel as a tool—one of Heaven, but one that he can use to their advantage. He doesn't want to be sympathetic to them—they are a danger, and Crowley's also got his personal issues around how he seems to have only let himself get attached to one other being.

Yet, there's this moment where he seems to sympathize with them, despite himself:

and another one, when Saraqael shows up and it seems like he's gotten Muriel in trouble, he starts to jump in to defend them. That seems kind.

"shh, don't say anything without a lawyer present."

That final bookshop scene is what you seem to be focusing on though, so let's get there.

Crowley has been hyped up on manic energy all night, all week really, and finally all of this is almost but not quite over, he just wants so badly to finally be alone with Aziraphale and re-establish their status quo. He barely has the patience to even be fake-polite to Muriel (especially now they're being bubbly about the Metatron, who's already on Crowley's shit list and just you wait buddy), he wants them to go away. Maybe it also isn't any fun to manipulate them anymore now he's sympathized with them that little bit.

The pretense is paper thin, but Muriel doesn't get it until he drops it entirely:

This is the first time Muriel's fully cottoned on to the fact that Crowley isn't being Nice anymore. And it's possible Crowley feels bad about it, because when Muriel still tries to stay in the bookshop, he gets dramatic about it, but still reigns himself back in for his next attempt.

The really interesting moment comes when Muriel actually asks for something. Asks to take an earth thing with them, asks to learn. That finally gets Crowley's attention, it's the first time he looks away from the window (Aziraphale) for a reason that isn't telling Muriel to shoo. Long enough to not only look at them properly, but give them enough personal thought that he recommends them a book.

Listen, I love Crowley, but he's kind of an asshole! He's impatient and condescending and manipulative... and yet, when it comes down to it, he cares. All of that can be true.

[haru-dipthong]

I'm a big fan of localisation. I believe the goal of a translation should be to keep as much meaning and nuance as possible from the original. Localisation is key to this. Language and culture are inextricably linked, which means you must engage in cultural education and/or localisation to successfully translate. Cultural education is preferable, but in many cases it is not appropriate (not great having to pause every few seconds to read a translator note when you want to turn your brain off and watch a show). However, I think sometimes, translators take the wrong approach to localisation, and I want to talk about that here.

There was an example of "bad" localisation given by a twitter user in this Sarah Moon video: the example was anime characters subbed to use zoomer slang like "sus" and "cringe". I actually think that is an example of good localisation. I am not talking about that kind of thing.

This scene from 深夜食堂 (Midnight Diner) made me want to write this post. パチンコ has been translated as "pinball". I'm sure there are people reading that translation and cringing, just like I did! I tried to put my finger on what irked me so much about it and I realised: this localisation is localising the wrong part of the meaning of パチンコ.

Part of localising is choosing the closest cultural equivalent of a concept. This inevitably means losing some of the specific details of the original word, but usually those details aren't important (if the whole cultural concept is important, you should probably just use a translator's note IMO). For example, the word パチンコ has lots of bits of meaning in it: "gambling" "played on a machine", "time killer", "uses small metal balls", "generally played by older men", "big flashy lights", "money sink", and so on. In this context, the character is talking about "winning money" from パチンコ, so you'd expect at the very least that the localised word would preserve the "gambling" and "money sink" bits of meaning. However, instead they chose to preserve the "small metal balls" and "big flashy lights" bits of meaning (まさかの！). This is a very silly choice because those bits of meaning don't have a shred of relevance to this scene, or any other scene in this story at all. I can see a context in which "pinball" is the best possible localisation for パチンコ. But this was not it, and not even close. I've never heard of anyone winning money from pinball.

I think if I were a translator, my process for localisation would be to break down the word into those bits of meaning, then rank the bits of meaning in terms of relevance to the line/scene/story, then pick a localised word that hits as many of the higher ranked meanings as possible. In this case, there are many better localisations (read: localisations with meanings more relevant to the scene). If I were localising it, I would probably do this: "He took all the money I won from the pokies." but I am aware that pokies is an Australianism. Assuming I was localising for a global english speaking audience: "He took all the money I won from a slot machine".

(TBH though, I don't think パチンコ needs to be localised because the english equivalent loanword, pachinko, is already well known enough to be used in english subtitles imo)

[probablyalittletoosilly]

Stress Relief

Warnings: smut written by a minor, kind of rushed ending (imo), sub afab reader, dirty talk, degrading (slut, whore), praise, cunnilingus, fingering, kind of rough sex? they bicker a bit, but it's because this is intended to be before they became close, might be ooc, marking, multiple orgasms, overstimulation, you're almost caught lmao, hasn't been proofread so there might be a few mistakes

You never intended to somehow get between the heir of the Supreme Guardian and one of the best fighters of Wildfire, but here you were.

You didn't know how this began – maybe trying to be polite with them both despite their rivalry was the wrong choice. Or perhaps it was just bad timing when they were in a heated argument while the trailblazers were asleep, and you just so happened to be in the middle of it.

“See? Look at how they're falling apart for me,” Seele goads, lifting her head from between your thighs for the first time in nearly half an hour, fluid dripping down her mouth and chin as she shoots an arrogant smirk at Bronya.

You could feel Bronya's annoyance from behind you as her hands continued to gently rub circles on your hips, sighing against your neck before replying, “You're being too rough with them, Seele.”

“They like it,” as if to prove this she brought her fingers between your legs, causing a breathy moan to escape you at the slight contact when she scoops the fluid leaking from you to show to Bronya.

Your eyes widened at the sight, trying to look anywhere other than that which Seele notices and muses, “What? Can't handle how much of a slut you look like right now?” You swore your throat went dry at her words, forcing yourself to look at the sight causing your cheeks to warm. Did you really look that pathetic in front of both of them? Seele's smirk seemed to broaden as she saw how flustered you were getting and the silence she caused.

The silence was interrupted by Bronya who was mesmerized by the liquid coating Seele's fingers – although she hid that as she attempted to speak in her regular composed tone, “Can you not be vulgar for one minute, Seele?”

It seemed you were trapped in between one of their arguments once again, but this seemed to only serve as something to make Seele more competitive. “Can you not criticize everything I do? Don't act like you have any dignity right now either, princess,” she huffs, roughly moving the fingers she was holding out for the two of you to see back inside you without warning, causing a loud gasp to escape your lips.

“Fuck, you're so tight,” Seele remarked, not giving you time to adjust as her fingers moved in and out of you at a fast pace, seemingly just as mesmerized as Bronya was earlier.

You were a mess, your hands attempting to grip at the sheets for some sort of leverage until Bronya interlaced her left hand with yours, squeezing it gently in contrast to how roughly Seele was fingering you currently.

Her breath was warm on your neck as she sucked another dark mark on it, only stopping to whisper in a soft tone, “You're doing so good, just stay like this for us, love.” The pet name rolled off her tongue as her other hand moved to cup your breast, a warm sigh escaping her before she murmured, “You're so beautiful like this…”

Seele didn't seem to like how your attention went to Bronya with how she did particularly hard thrust of her fingers, curling them just right leading for you to whine loudly. She seemed to enjoy the noise coming from your lips, while Bronya had the opposite reaction, “You need to be quiet. You wouldn't want the rest of the residents in this hotel to hear you, hm?”

Seele was quick to snap, eyebrows furrowing at Bronya's words, “Let them be as loud as they want. Are you that afraid that your mom's gonna find out her sweet, innocent daughter is with two underworlders and is fuckin’ one of them?” Bronya stayed silent for a moment, the only sign of her annoyance that you could tell from her being behind you is how she squeezed your hand a bit tighter.

Seele seemed to know she hit a nerve with the heir, so she continued, her annoyed expression now changing to an amused one, “I'm sure your reputation would take quite the hit, huh?”

“..Be quiet,” Bronya grumbled, her once composed tone breaking slightly as her other hand continued to play with your breast – her movements a bit harsher causing the stimulation to become more overwhelming.

“P-please..” You sputter, now fully aware of how pathetic you must sound, your hips desperately trying to meet when Seele's fingers pump inside of you as your eyes flutter shut at the sensation. She notices your expression and how you're tightening on her fingers.

Her smirk turns smug as if her ego couldn't be any higher, “You're already close? I've hardly even done anything.”

You took in a sharp breath, eyes instantly snapping open when Seele somehow fastened the pace – hypocritical to her previous words as her voice softened just slightly as she curled her fingers inside you, “Come on then, cum on my fingers.”

Curses fell from your lips as you felt yourself obey Seele's wishes. She helped you ride out your orgasm, slowly pumping her fingers inside of you before it began to die down. Seele seemed to savor the feeling for a moment before she pulled her fingers out, an accomplished look on her face as she saw her fingers covered in your essence.

“Damn..” You hear Seele mumble to herself, a grin on her face before she puts her fingers in her mouth – not only making you flustered but tasting you. She hummed at the taste before suddenly you're reminded that Bronya is still very much present.

Her body suddenly shifted from behind you, making you fall back slightly onto the cheap wooden headboard of the bed. “Bronya?” You ask, voice still a bit hoarse from Seele's ministrations. A glare was sent your way by the heir, and instead of her normal expression it was replaced with a darker one, her dilated pupils full of lust. Bronya moved to where Seele was, her voice firm as if she was commanding her guards, “Move.”

Seele seemed annoyed with the girl's command, but she moved with a scoff and grumbles about how even she has better manners. Bronya ignored Seele's grumbles – as if her mind was on the singular mission that was fucking you. It was almost scary to have practically royalty who was so gentle earlier now be staring at you with that darkened look for hers, which surely was having an effect on you.

“Fuck,” Bronya whispers to herself, hands tightly pulling apart your thighs as far as they can go – seeing your pussy oozing onto your thighs and dirtying the sheets below. Her grip on your thighs almost became bruising before she immediately dived in, sloppily licking your slit. The stimulation was so sudden you didn't notice Seele sneak behind you, only noticing when she bites your neck, sucking in a dark mark that makes you whimper softly.

“And she said I was vulgar,” Seele mumbles in an annoyed tone after pulling away from the mark you could only imagine was a deep purple. She pressed a gentle kiss on the mark, slightly apprehensive about the simple affection.

Bronya's inexperience showed with how she had little technique while eating you out, but her vigor was quick to make up for it. Slurping noises filled the hotel room, and you were certain you'd feel embarrassed if you weren't so focused on how good it felt.

"M-more... please," You plead to Bronya, tears of pleasure falling down your cheeks. The heiress groaned against your pussy, her surprisingly strong hands tightly holding your thighs apart as she quickened her pace causing your eyes to roll back.

Seele wiped away your tears, an amused chuckle leaving her throat before she spoke, "You're moaning like a bitch in heat." She emphasized this with a bite to your shoulder, a pained groan escaping you. You could feel yourself on the brink once more, your back arching as you tightly grasped the sheets while the two took notice and seemed to double their efforts.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and a muffled gravelly male voice spoke, "Seele? Are you in there? Sampo told me he saw you go in here. Anyways, that's not the point. There's monsters around town and I need you to help out if you have the time."

You instantly recognized the voice – Oleg – and Seele seemed to as well as she cursed Sampo. Bronya ignored the fact that someone was at the door, eating you out like it was her last meal as if to get back at Seele for earlier. Bronya only pulled away slightly to shove two fingers into your wet enterance, groaning as she felt you immediately tighten around her fingers. You couldn't contain your moans, causing Seele to stuff two fingers in your mouth in an attempt to quiet you down.

Seele glared at Bronya, who looked up at her and smirked against you, relishing your now muffled moans as she continued to lick your slit and pump her fingers inside you. You decided to tease Seele the best you could while her fingers were in your mouth, sucking on them while running your tounge up and down her fingers. You could hear her breath hitch before she cursed the two of you and Sampo under her breath, "Y-yeah, I can help! Just give me a few minutes."

"Be quick with it," Oleg responded, his tone hard to distinguish before his heavy footsteps slowly faded in the distance. Seele let out a breath of relief, keeping her fingers inside your mouth before roughly pushing them further into your mouth causing you to gag.

"You're such a fuckin' whore," Seele punctuated, making you gag before she let her fingers pop out of your mouth, wiping the saliva onto the side of your neck. Her right hand gripped on your throat, louder moans escaping your lips before you peaked – your vision going blurry for a few moments before you slowly became aware of your surroundings. Bronya pulled her fingers out of you, both her hands now holding your thighs apart once more as she licked the cum oozing from you.

After a few moments Bronya finally pulled way when a pained whimper escaped your lips. She pressed kisses on your inner thighs while Seele shifted from behind you, pulling herself away as she sighed, "I better get ready." You weakly nodded, trying to act not completely out of it to give her a smile. Seele raised an eyebrow at first, but smiled back, moving beside you before her hand was at the back of your head, pulling you in closer before she kissed the corner of your lips almost shyly and pulling back.

Silently, you wondered how she could be so confident one moment and shy in the next, but you don't question it as she stood from the bed, which emitted a creaking noise. Seele changed and spared a glance to the two of you, holding her scythe and giving a slight wave before leaving. Bronya looked towards you once Seele left, pressing a kiss against your clit before laying beside you. "You know... I could see myself wanting to do this again," you joke, earning a small snort from the heiress as she pulled your body close to hers.

"It was quite the nice experience, wasn't it?" Bronya murmurs against your ear, a soft blush on her cheeks while her hands moved up and down your back in a relaxing manner as she allowed you some rest.

You instantly relax in her embrace, tiredly nodding as you buried your head onto the place between her neck and shoulder. Bronya's eyes closed before she pulled you impossibly closer as you slowly fell asleep. The heiress smiled softly at the sight before she whispered in your ear, "Get rest now. Tomorrow morning, I can't promise I'll be as gentle as I was tonight before I need to leave."

[theondnonly]

it's only been 3-4 days and I still am in a break but holy moly bro, the Zerum with Sebastian situation is mad crazy.

usually I avoid drama in fandom, but I think I should give a piece of opinion this time. Why are y'all so mad that Sebastian is canonly married? Or is that even what y'all are mad with at this point? I get it, Zerum made a lot of "irritated" choices, but Sebastian is still rightfully HERS and still is HER character, if she wants him to be taken, then so be it, the fact that she have to deal with many hate and d3@th thr3@t over wanting HER character to be taken/not single,it is insane.

I do not want to sugarcoated or take sides either, what she did is unprofessional and immature, but I still don't think she deserves to be treated so badly by the fandom. "But Zerum doesn't want us to self-ship with her character!!!! She doesn't want us to have fun!!!" Last time I checked, Zerum doesn't want to have selfship IN THE DISCORD SERVER, and if you're on the server, follow the rules or just simply leave? You can still post it freely on any platform (take this as a grain of salt tho since my memory isn't the best, feel free to tell me if I'm talking stupid)

and who cares if he's married, bro y'all can literally make an AU where he is still single and a silly fish guy who sells items for the expandable like I did, it's not that difficult, use your brain come on. I see people make AUs, change a character's design/personality, and ship them with someone from a different fandom, nobody will bait an eyes

last thing, I'm sick and tired of people seeing one small misinformation about Zerum, and immediately agree on it just to hate on her, friendly reminder she's still human, she has feelings too, and maybe a lot of irl problem, can we please be a decent human and leave her alone? She is gatekeeping HER character, not murdering someone.

I do not agree with Zerum's choices, but I still wish her the best after everything, she doesn't deserve to be ridiculed imo, I know this isn't gonna change much, but a tiny voice is better than being silent forever.

I apologize if this is a long rant/post and the wording is hard to read btw, I'm not good with writing or make a lot of sense out of it, but I hope you get what I'm trying to say

TLDR : Zerum's action is immature, sure, but the way the fandom treats her over a fictional character is stupid.

[chihoshisai]

A Healing Fire

Fandom : One piece / Pairing : You x Ace / Genre : angst, hurt comfort, mild smut / Other : this one shot is 8K words and imo too long to post here, so I'm only posting 1575 words as a preview. The full fic is up on ao3 (click for the link). Feel free to start reading here to see if it intrigues you or directly read it all on ao3. Enjoy !

Summary : Working as a geisha in Wano can be quite an ordeal. Especially when one of Orochi's men demands you get fired due to your mistakes, going as far as to injure you. Luckily, Ace stumbles upon you, and takes it upon himself to see that you're well throughout your recovery. Which causes you to become (quite badly) attached to him as you discover parts of yourself through rash actions.

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“I’m begging you, please stop!” 

You shot a look of terror towards the glittering sword of the samurai standing before you. The other geishas, too frightened to speak up, recoiled in a corner of the room as they watched the silver blade in action. Your hands, raised to shield your face, felt an icy sensation followed by stinging and finally the feeling of warm liquid falling down your right arm. The shock of the impact made you lose balance and fall on the ground. You glanced up at the face of the furious man, tears blurring your vision. 

“You useless woman!” he bellowed, “That should teach you a lesson. Now get out and never come back!” He pointed his sword towards your face, glaring as he did so, giving anyone in your position no choice in the matter whatsoever.  

“But sir, you can’t possibly ask for one of our own to be fired?” A geisha intervened with a shaking voice.

Feeling a sense of superiority, he chuckled before replying, “I am one of Orochi’s samurai, that should be enough of a reason. I can decide who can and cannot stay in this pleasure house according to my taste.” He scanned the frightened geishas, who shrieked in response. “If anyone has any objection, please do come forward, I’ll ensure you meet the same fate as your friend over there.” His eyes returned to you, “If I ever see or hear that you still frequent this place or others, I’ll kill you.”

You looked over towards your friends and coworkers — who could no longer look you in the eyes as they shook their heads in accordance with the samurai’s wishes. Suppressing a sob, you grabbed your precious shamisen and fled the room. You ignored the few questionables eyes and inquiries, as you proceeded to the building’s exit.

The lively and bustling streets of the flower capital made you feel a sense of panic. Unless you found another brothel to work at – which you couldn’t – you would no longer be allowed to live here. In fact, without a place to stay you would go hungry, tired, weak and vulnerable. The anxiety of the current situation caused you to be lost in thoughts – not knowing where to go, you stood immobile and aghast on the street, as the blood from your wound stained your kimono. 

“Are you alright?”

You looked up from the pair of feet that appeared in your field of vision. A man wearing nothing but a pair of shorts, an orange hat, with black hair and freckles looked at you with worry. He was without a doubt a foreigner. How he got in and what he was doing there, you preferred not to know, as he probably was involved with Kaido, even though he wasn’t wearing the usual uniform.

“Yes, thank you,” you gave him a curt bow, avoiding all eye contact whilst hoping he would drop it and let you go despite your disturbed expression. 

“I can’t believe that when you’re bleeding quite heavily!”

Unwilling to get involved with a stranger, you kept your gaze to the ground, clutching your arm, as if to hide the wound. However, he, who refused to heed your body language, grabbed your uninjured arm and started leading the way. 

You looked up at him bewildered, “What are you—?”

“You should come and meet our ship’s doctor! He’s really amazing and will take care of your wound in no time!”

Ship doctor? He wasn’t one of Kaido’s men then? Your panic increased tenfold, as this man – seemingly unwilling to let go of you – strutted the streets of Wano while continuously praising his ship’s doctor’s skills, unaffected by the stares and whispers of the locals. 

“Who are you?” you puffed, at his quick walking pace.

“I’m Ace! A pirate.” He gave you a contagious smile, which you returned with a fearful one. Having your life spared, yet shamed, by a samurai, if word got out to Orochi that you were also involved with a foreign pirate who must’ve illegally entered the country, your head would roll for sure this time. 

Ace led you to Kuri where you saw a sight that caused a knot to your stomach. Being confronted to poverty for the first time, you couldn’t help but lower your gaze, too ashamed to face the locals. Your chest started to feel heavy at the thought that this could possibly be your life from now on. 

“We're here!” Ace gave you a glance before waving towards his crew. “Guys, I'm back!” 

Multiple pirates wearing clothes you never laid eyes on simultaneously welcomed Ace back. The doctor was called quickly, and before you knew it you found yourself sitting on an uncomfortable rock with bandages subsiding the pain, and ointment to apply in upcoming days. 

“So, tell us now how did a lady like you get injured?” Ace sat by your side, the other members of his crew looked at you in anticipation.

“Well,” You gave a quick glance towards your shamisen before telling the foreigners the full story. You were touched by their angry and upset faces, as they listened to your tale, feeling a sincere sense of compassion. A few of them muttered blasphemies about the Samurai and the Shogun's actions. Their fury somewhat felt personnal ; you never imagined strangers to care so much about someone such as yourself. 

“This is quite a horrible thing you've been through today,” Ace said at the end of your explanations. 

You gave him a polite smile, “Stuff like this is a daily occurrence in this country, I'm simply one of the unlucky ones.” You gave the crew a curt smile before avoiding their gaze. 

“This country is in a worse state than we thought, Ace,” said Deuce

“Yeah,” Ace stared darkly towards the ground. The atmosphere, now silent, took a sour, heavy turn, where the pirates did nothing but arbor anger and frustration on their faces. The mood did nothing but reinforce your personal lament of your situation. 

A cheery voice made itself heard despite the miasma surrounding everyone, as a child with purple hair and a green Kimono came into view. “Ace!” She waved towards the black haired man, “You're back!” 

“Tama!” Ace stood up and went to welcome the little child. They seemed surprisingly close, and as he interacted with her, you couldn't help but notice how kindhearted he's been all this time – to you, to her, and probably to this village too. Your wary opinion of him changed, as you stared at his broad back, defining the lines of his exposed muscles and getting lost in the smile he gave the young girl. If it wasn't for him, you would've been at a loss ; the citizens of the Flower Capital did nothing but pretend they didn't notice but Ace, he was the only one who saw you, and extended a helping hand – though forcefully. The thought that you hadn't thanked him yet or even paid back the favor started bothering you . 

You felt an intent gaze coming from one of the crew members, and quickly turned your head away, blushing in embarrassment. You hadn't realized that you were staring for a long time – and quite intensely too. 

Clearing your throat, you stood up, cheeks still red, “I should probably get going.”

“What?” Ace finally looked in your direction. 

Tama stared at you inquisitively, smiling, as she asked Ace who you were. He promptly answered her before returning his attention to you. “You're leaving?” 

You were secretly pleased to see him somewhat surprised by your sudden leave. “I'm not from this village, I don't think I should overstay my welcome.” Plus they probably don't want an additional mouth to feed, you thought. 

“Yeah, that makes sense, but where would you go?” Ace asked.

“Ringo,” you replied confidently – a safe place to hide from any prying eyes and Orochi's men along with the best way to put some distance between you and the samurai. 

“Ringo huh…” Ace said.

“You've no idea where it is don't you?” Deuce said.

You chuckled, before grabbing your shamisen. “Thank you for your help today, I’ll get going now before it gets dark.” You gave the crowd a curt bow before placing your shamisen on your back and quickly walking in the opposite direction of the village.

“Wait, will you be alright on your own?” Ace loudly added, Tama had kept his attention away from you again, as she explained where and what Ringo consisted of.

Once again, you gave a bow as an answer and proceeded to disappear in the greenlife of nature. This is for the best, you thought. Even if they were good company, they were still foreigners – getting attached to them wouldn’t be any good. You promptly made your way to Ringo, thankful that no additional harm came your way. You arrived at night, feeling the cold of the region making its way to your bones, making you regret your decision. With poor vision, you wandered around until you found an abandoned cabin, which you reluctantly decided to call your new home, and settled down for the day. Now settled, you thought back on today’s peripeties : the loss of a job, a wounded limb, and the warm help Ace extended your way. You felt a fuzzy feeling in your stomach at the thought of the latter and decided to reminisce no more, letting the chime of the wind serve as your lullaby. 

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Continue reading on ao3

[blackstarchanx3new]

FSR Rambles 21

Hah. Green seeing through Vio's eyes his past mistakes haha.

"Now, onto the human towns! We'll burn them all! Spread darkness to the horizons!"

True to his word that's what he did.

Vio is uh. Rather sickened by this.

Yeah blame it on altitude sickness Vio.

Riding on Shadow's lack of knowledge of humans was a good play though.

It's been awhile since we touched on Vio masking around Shadow to save his own ass. But dude had to have been going through it during these events. And I feel like if FS had a longer run time and a T rating we could have actually seen the affects of playing evil had on him.

It couldn't have been easy.

I just like the idea he struggled a LOT more than the og manga gives us any hints towards.

Like he said to Green in the previous flashback he had to watch Shadow no doubt MURDER people and stand by and do nothing.

That'd fuck with his head.

Yeah Vio's thoughts became consumed by how little he wanted to die.

I've always had the personal head cannon that he decided to shatter the mirror after the dragon ride SPECIFIFCALLY because he'd reached his limit on how much he could allow Shadow to do and just, stand by and watch.

He'd been complicate in almost killing Red and Blue, which would fuck with somebody enough.

Had to presumably face vaati in cannon (And in FSR actually did)

Like I've brought up a few times: Why would he even BOTHER making a plan with Shadow to free Zelda if he didn't intend to act on it? Literally outside of giving Shadow hope it served no real purpose...

UnLESS that was his plan but he couldn't follow through.

Which is what I personally go with here.

Vio just fully cracked. Being so stressed out he stress vomits oomf.

Poor guy. Still being consumed by the thought he needs to act normal after EVERYTHING he's been through.

Paralyzed with fear regret and self loathing Vio just crumbles to the floor.

His main thought here is that he doesn't HAVE to kill shadow if he can just hold onto the plan he made.

But as we'll see, his resolve is crumbling faster and faster.

Vio placed so much burden on his own shoulders he crumbled. Trying to do this mission entirely by himself utterly destroyed him.

Vio's been COMPLETLY ALONE here. As much as Shadow thought they were buddy buddy Vio could NEVER fully confide in him and has been ALONE since the forest. Perhaps things would be different if he had someone by his side who also knew of his plans. But he hasn't been able to be honest or had an outlet for all his feelings for DAYS now at least. Possibly longer.

I think I've ranted before about how HIS arc was about learning to lean on his team mates and I wanted to feed into that.

Except Vio doesn't really come to that conclusion now but rather decides he just needs to get out of this scenario right the fuck now.

Which is why since I'm trying to build off the manga: he acts VERY RASH.

Because imo that scene where he gets pissed is just, so badly written due to the manga's context and shit but I digress... (I don't like Tingle's inclusion much at all tbh he doesn't add literally anything to the story and instead fucks up Vio's arc. Bla bla I've went on this rant many times.)

It finally just hit him.

He's unable to keep this up.

As he steels his resolve to do what he's about to do.

Vio's monologue here really dips into how I think he'd end up in a LOT of denial.

He's just telling himself lie after lie to justify the situation he ended up in and his new choices he'll make.

And it all culminates to.

And we know the events of the manga haha.

I liked portraying just how desperate Vio was in these circumstances since again: I don't think the manga portrayed it at maximum capacity cause of the A rating and left most of it up to interpretation.

I like adding Vio's thoughts where we otherwise have no real clue what he was thinking at the time. It's a lot of fun. XD

"What's sitting on me"

More like WHO Green. XD

Apparently showing others things takes a bigger toll on Dark compared to just viewing it by himself.

He's very unenthusiastic even when saying "Yay Dark Link" XD

Green just, stares in utter horror soaking in everything he just witnessed through Vio's perspective.

Oh boy someone cracked like an egg.

Funny how your eye glitched there Green.

Dark Link's "Wtf is wrong with YOU?" Face never ceases to make me smile. Dude's so weirded out by Green just breaking here.

Green's self hating outburst is so jarring to Dark he tries to interrupt him.

Though Dark's nervousness could be for a LOT OF reasons:

He could just be genuinely shocked and worried for Green. Which I think is valid since Dark hasn't really seen someone act this way before.

But also, whenever anybody is angry (Vaati and Shadow): They tend to take it out on him physically.

Dark's reactions is straight up like "Fuck did I break him???" X'D

It's funny how much Dark's perspective on making them suffer has changed.

From delighting in Vio's terror to being disturbed at Green's mental breakdown.

Green's rant is pretty self evidently aimed at his own actions. Thinking he couldn't ever relate to what Vio went through, and considering himself worthless garbage which. oomf ouch buddy.

Dark does quite frankly the funniest things he could do by just, aggressively rubbing his face against Green's like a cat.

Mmm. Darkgreen.

Okay but seriously I just love these two's dynamic. XD

Green's practically BEGGING this "evil dude" to reprimand him and tell him he's an awful leader and horrible at everything he's tried to do and he's just NOT getting that energy from Dark at ALL.

Dark's made his thoughts on Green pretty clear, he thinks Green's a good hero even with his mistakes.

Specifically the fourth panel where he's got the star eyes you can really tell the dude has admiration for Green. XD

I just love Dark's face after Green blurts out that he doesn't do enough too.

It's like he had to really think about what he was going to say in response to that.

Usually when Dark thinks someone is wrong he'll call them stupid in some capacity, but here he takes a different route.

Dark's response is really, simple.

A genuine question.

"...When will it be enough Green?"

Dark's standards for what a hero are and what he deems a good hero or person are rather...tilted but he's accurately called out Vaati and Shadow for shit and he's not afraid to be brutally honest.

I think the brutal honesty of this statement is showing just how vacuous and large the shit Green has put on his own shoulders that he nor Dark know the end of what he's truly signed up for.

And that realization makes Green just break further.

Apologizing that he shouldn't even be able to confide in Dark someone who thus far hasn't even really complained about Green's breakdown at all.

Green's dialogue in the last panel is telling about how he's facing a lot of guilt in breaking down in front of Dark because technically: He should be protecting everyone FROM HIM.

He's breaking down in front of someone who's for all intensive purposes their ENEMY and their current biggest issue.

The guy Green has to decide whether or not to KILL.

And Dark's the one giving in his own way comfort to HIM.

This scenario from Green's perspective at least is all sorts of screwed up.

Poor baby's so stressed he reverts to his manga design

Green further goes onto say that telling Dark his insecurities was a mistake.

Which, is a fair thing to say lol. Dude essentially trauma dumped on Dark XDDD

Literally when I was drawing this scene I thought of this meme lmfao.

Which is awful but I have shitposter brain.

Smth I like about panel 3 & 4 is how Dark goes to wipe away Green's tears. Which is something Green did for him earlier.

Dark can and will reflect positivity if it's given to him.

People keep only feeding him negativity but Green showed him unconditional kindness and he gave it back.

I like how they have a positive effect on each other despite everything haha.

Again peeking into Dark's twisted idea of pain and pleasure.

He's just happy to be suffering WITH someone for a change. Misery loves company.

Green kinda asks a kinda dumb question here. But him asking if Dark feels "hurt" isn't a completely weird question...Like. This thing is a monstrous curse wearing your face it isn't far off to try to clarify some stuff. XD

Dark's response is just, kinda sad.

He's always suffering and always in pain.

Green's quick to try and play off his avoidance of an answer to Zelda and SHadow as Dark keeping him in the head space but ahhh...

Green buddy...You're choosing to stay here with Dark. XD

Dark's quick to point that out too lmfao.

I especially love how he immediately gets disapointed Green is saying smth stupid by asking if he "got hit with the same stupid" which just is a hilarious way to word saying something dumb.

I just like that he can flip from cute to intimidating evil guy in a blink of an eye. XDDD

So Dark's monologue here I got stuff to say haha.

Dark immediately isn't a fan of the idea of being by himself, by his continuous emphasis of being LEFT alone, "By MYSELF...ALONE" The idea Green would be abandoning him in some way if he left.

Also him just aggressively gripping green's face like he's trying to hold onto him in some capacity to keep him there. Oomf.

Often times Dark's "Evil villain" mannerisms like grabbing people isn't him being purposely space invading and sinister but his desperate subconscious pleas for SOMEONE to stay close to him. He's not going out of his way to make people uncomfortable.

He's so unintentionally stereotypically evil and I like that about him haha. He knows to an extent he's intimidating but isn't TRYING to be.

I think that's a fun contrast with Shadow who goes out of his way to invade people's space to MAKE them uncomfortable (like Vio in the woods hah)

Back to his dialogue. He points out Green doesn't want to leave either.

Which is true.

"Cause if you leave...you'll have to return to responsibility. Pretending the sorce of your problems is in the hands of some horrible demon that ensnared you... Instead of a product of your own misgivings and foolishness"

This is in reference to the here and now but ALSO when Green was hunted in the pyramid. He got himself into that situation too haha.

Dark referring to himself as a "horrible demon" shows that he's HIGHLY aware of how Green is perceiving him to a degree.

Green in a way wants to believe Dark Link is pure evil. Which would make the choice he has to make whether or not to spare him easier. Like Shadow said. if he was mindless this would be MUCH EASIER. It'd a a no brainer. But he's NOT and that results in a lot of pain over what to do about him.

A lot of Dark's questions have been rhetorical. He KNOWS Green is pretty much USING him right now to avoid responsibility and is KINDA fine with that?

He makes a light hearted (At least in his opinion) jab that Green's being selfish and taking up his time when he "promised" Blue earlier he'd spend time with him. (Which is funny considering time doesn't really exist here) Being visibly embarrassed Green in a round about way WANTS to spend time with him.

On the HORRIFYING realization about what Dark confessed to planning Green PANICS.

Reasonably he knows what Dark considers "Fun" even if he's not being outright malicious.

Also not so fun visual fact: Dark flinches when Green grabs him.

Which is just sad how he's just used to getting the crap kicked out of him that he fully expected Green to hit him.

Okay I'd be totally skimping out on dumb FSR facts if I didn't tell ya "Love like mine" wasn't a song I listened to on repeat while drawing this scene.

Very strong DarkGreen vibes XDDD "I'll make ya scream and I'll make you want it! You can be my ride or die" mmm delicious. Give more more. Finally some good fucking food.

Anyway page lol.

Dark realizing Green is holding his hand is just kinda cute. Like of course that's what he'd care about lmfao.

Meanwhile Green's full panicking about Dark confessing he was gonna go mentally fuck with Blue later. XDDD

Like dude's on his knees begging Dark not to, even offering to trade places.

I mean, what'd really be the difference after all?

He's gotta bear all the burdens...Doesn't he?

Link's put that pressure on him at least.

It kinda just shows how self punishing Green is at this point. Thinking he fucked up so bad he needs Dark to take it out on him.

Which isn't the POINT of what Dark does. Dark only really haunts them as a means to an end to keep them split and Vaati safe, but also as his own selfish desire to connect with them. Like how he spoke to Vio after Blue ran off.

Green seeking someone to hold him accountable for SOMETHING is just, oomf.

I think it's fun to dive into the idea Green REALLY doesn't know if Dark is faking being kind to him.

I mean, their biggest adversaries lied to them via transforming and using their loved ones MUTLIPLE TIMES. (Vaati shifting into Zelda, using their dad against them, even Vio 'turning' on them, trust would be something VERY HARD TO DO at that point I think.) Deception on the enemy's side isn't unexpected at all.

That he's hinging on the slightest chance Dark IS being genuine with him that he'll listen and not hurt the people he cares about. Whether or not Dark has Free will AT ALL.

He is a curse, it's not far fetched to think he just... CAN'T NOT do what he's designed to do.

Dark for his part is at first, contemplative.

Green's really showing just how AWFUL what he does to people is in a lot of ways. Dark has a certain cognitive disconnect in the sense he struggles to accept in a lot of ways how he truly affects Link.

Though reading Green's mind he distracts himself with "Lol wtf are you doing and what does it prove?" When Green makes the assumption that if he can change Dark's mind than he really is a person who can be reasoned with.

People can be reasoned with, mindless program following curses can not. UwU

Turns out begging is smth Dark's into lmfao so Green's pleading tickled a nerve.

I fucking love Dark's wrong word usage to describe things.

The idea Green WANTS HIM for him to STAY with Green just fills the guy with joy. Even if it's just because Green's being self hating and desperate to save his team mates.

Dark Link likes being wanted.

Green is WANTED by people, and being wanted by GREEN specifically just makes the guy just so happy.

And Dark struggles to really fully describe what he's feeling in the moment because genuine JOY isn't something this guy is getting very often.

Baby is so happy he cries.

Dark's just such a sad dude.

Expressing he's just happy Green cares about him. Mentioning Blue here too but Green is showing compassion for Dark in the sense he doesn't WANT to hurt him.

By HOPING for Dark to be able to be reasoned with, by wanting Dark to be someone he could talk to he IS caring about Dark's safety which isn't smth the dude has gotten from ANYONE ELSE so far.

he even confides he wishes he could stay with Green forever and just be happy with him which is just all sorts of sad.

Ooomf these pages fuck me up man.

Dark LOVES the idea of being with Green. Someone he not only idolizes but the ONLY person so far who has given a single solitary shit about him.

He's so lonely and SO sick of being a conduit for sadness that this sounds infinitely more appealing to him. (Who could blame him lmfao)

Smth to note is how Green is kinda hesitant to fully wrap his arms around Dark Link until it truely sets in for him that Dark truly is just a sad lonely individual who's in a lot of ways a fellow victim as well.

Dark being the one to push Green away, to reject the idea they'd just stay together is pretty telling.

He HAS to "Work"...If he doesn't...

The thought of Vaati dying is just, too distressing for Dark to even fully consider abandoning his mission to do something he'd personally like better.

I just, LOVE the dialogue in panel 3 here.

It's so blatantly ignorant in it's childishness but honest.

It's the kind of thing a child would say about their divorced parents or something lmfao.

Just a simple want without thinking of the greater picture that goes with things and WHY things are the way they are.

Dark Link just can't fathom why the people he loves have to hate each other so much. Why they can't just "get along".

Why he has to work at all.

It's just Dark being bluntly honest about how he feels about this entire situation.

Unlike Green, in the final panel Dark finally steels what little resolve he has and states "I don't wanna do anything either...but I have to"

Both are EXAUSTED and at their wits ends and that's smth I like to this dynamic.

If either were more set in fighting each other they'd both BE fighting. For all intensive purposes THEY SHOULD BE.

But because they're both so exhausted they're actually able to talk about how they feel.

Dark once again compares Zelda to Vaati.

In how his devotion is similar to Link's devotion to Zelda.

Protecting Vaati IS what is most important to him.

And he knows he's doing something wrong on SOME level because he apologizes to Green. His hat curled against him defensively.

Green is once again in panic mode since what little leverage he had is slipping through his grasp as Dark steels himself against Green's attempts at persuading him.

Also Green lmao Dark has big dick back pain disorder watch were you grab him-

But he does make a good point in his frantic pleads.

Protecting Vaati doesn't necessarily mean hurting them...

That was Dark's approach as a mindless curse...but now that he is a person with a sense of morality, a sense of heroics. Will he still abide by that strategy?

Green's frantic ramblings are just funny as hell but also his diplomacy should get a sticker or smth. Dude's fighting for his life rn. XD

Dark starts to crack under Green's onslaught of LOGIC.

Smth I like to add to that is how Dark's hair faded out of being green while he talked about his feelings before but switches BACK to being green as Green talks.

And then he rejects it to think for himself for a second to really ponder Green's words.

My favorite bit of his "STFU" dialogue is just to tell Green to "STOP MAKING SENSE!!!" which is so funny to me.

SO much about Dark's original purpose has been thrown out of whack due to the progression of things. Vaati's demands are rather nonsensical.

He comes to the realization that things HAVE changed and he needs to adapt accordingly.

To some extent: Dark is just COMPELLED to act heroic and he even considers himself failing in the regard that he's been NOT acting heroic lately.

The more Dark becomes sentient. The more he feels the need to act heroic. Which is curious.

Green's diplomacy worked Yippieeeee!

Also Dark's hair continues to be grey here which imo was always just to show these really were his own thoughts and he wasn't just mimicking Green.

Dark's willing to "Try" things Green's way.

Smth I like is his act of making a pinky promise with Green. Smth just so blatantly childish in it's innocence.

But Green's compelled to believe him due to just how dang excited the dude is to give it a try.

Lmfao. Him acknowledging up front he's not sure how well things will go is just extra "Dark trying to be honest" flare. Which I find fun. He's willing to try his best but won't lie and pretend it'll go perfectly. XD

Green framing Dark going to get Blue as "A mission" was simultaneously stupid as fuck but also smart idea. XD

He doesn't know where Blue ran off to...but DARK LINK DOES.

And Since Dark was going to speak to Blue anyway, might as well tell him to bring him home. XDD

On the other hand: Trusting Dark Link is probably a bad idea. XDDD

Green's gambling hard but doesn't have much of a choice.

Green adding on "I'm trusting you" while looking Dark in the eye is just the cherry on top.

MMMGH I wanna continue ranting but we reached the image limit.

[venomous-qwille]

Hellooooo! Saw the last ask about tarot cards and while you don't have to answer this, I'd like to give the meanings of the cards that we've seen in the chapter titles, which I'll let others make the connections cause this is already gonna be pretty long if you choose to answer this ask lol

Please note all of these are the general information and meanings about the cards (upright) I could find and the meanings can slightly vary depending on the kind of reading being done and the paired cards <3

Chapter 1: Death. Generally this actually refers to new beginnings and change! It's also a good reference to the talk of sight and death in the first chapter imo, very clever play on your part!

Chapter 2: Seven of Cups. This generally is interpreted as having many options or multiple possibilities, which can either be a comfort due to having options but also could inform you of a sense of being overwhelmed due to too many choices.

Chapter 3: Page of Wands. Often this means good news that should be coming to you soon (often represented by mail or a phone call wink wonk) though for the particular chapter I feel it's relevant to point out some other interpretations, including but not limited to: being inspired or creative, making new exciting plans, finding something you are passionate about, and having a tendency to rush into new things without thinking them through.

Chapter 4: Two of Pentacles. Oft a representation of trying to find or maintain the balance of various aspects of ones life! It can also be a warning to those trying to juggle too many things at once.

Chapter 5: Trochomancy. Not sure if this is a tarot card, I've never heard of it and I can't find anything about it in any of my sources so. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ though I did find a definition of the word from a simple Google search: "Trochomancy is a divination by interpreting the wheel tracks." Which plays in well with our little bike trip.

Chapter 6: The Moon. The simplest interpretation for this card generally is that everything is not as it seems, be it a person or a situation in your life.

Chapter 7: Three of Pentacles. This generally is seen as a good card in a reading, often representing things like learning and/or apprenticeship, hard work, dedication, and building on success or foundations!

Chapter 8: Seven of Pentacles. Generally, this card tells you that you've been working very hard and soon your hard work will pay off. A wonderful successor to a card like the Three of Pentacles! You've used these very cleverly, it makes me so happy to see these pair so well with each other and the chapters!!! New thing to be insane about your fic!

Chapter 9: Clamomancy. ALAS! Stuck again with one I've not heard of as a card or can find in my sources, my apologies. But, again, I could find a definition from the ever reliable yet not so reliable Google! "Fortune-telling from the random shouts and cries heard in crowds, at night, etc." I. AM. STARING. 👁️👁️

Chapter 10: Two of Cups. A little ironic considering it's general upright reading interpretation and how the chapter starts out lol. Two of Cups often means things should be going well for you and your life should be very harmonious. It can also mean harmony and mutual respect friendships/partnerships, and all in all has a lot to do with balance regarding life and relations.

Chapter 11: Six of Swords. At the time of writing all this out I actually haven't read this one yet so I'm very excited to see how the cards meanings apply to this chapter! This card generally means moving on or making progress (love that idea), but can also be interpreted as escaping/running away (👁️👁️) or travel! But most often means things like the calm after the storm (👁️👁️) I'm excited to find out how these apply!

I need you to know I actually love you (platonically) for being this amazingly creative and playing these so well!

Thankyou for going to all the effort of writing these! <3 Some of the chapter titles do play into the reversed readings of the cards too, which is something that's worth considering if you want to deep dive!

I anticipate GITM being 100+ chapters so while I intend to use the entire major and minor arcana Tarot as titles, I will also be including some Astral Houses, Lenormand Cards, divinatory practices and philosophical ideas to fill the gaps!

[bimrsadler]

For something nasty? Low Honor!Arthur with an F!reader in a scenario that leads to either dub-con or con-nonconsent (your choice) because she's physically ill somehow? Maybe vulnerable to Arthur due to a bad showdown/gunshot or just wrong place wrong time? Sounds weird I bet dfjblg but if you do do this, ty!!

In A Bind

Pairing: Arthur Morgan x female reader

Word count: 3,000

Warnings/tags: nsft, con-noncon, lots of dirty talk, d/s themes with bratty reader, rough oral (m receiving), rough sex, unprotected piv, creampie, light degradation, LH Arthur, established relationship/consent

Summary: after a failed robbery lands you in a Rhodes jail cell, Arthur comes to spring you but finds he can kill two birds with one stone in the process

Notes: this is just 3k words of smut basically lol, also my first time writing cnc so I kept it on the lighter side (plus even LH Arthur would never go further than that imo) but that being said if cnc of any kind is an ick for you - don’t read

Twiddling your thumbs in the quiet jail cell, you watched shadows from the trees outside as they danced on the wall — wishing desperately you hadn’t gotten yourself into this mess.

Arthur would no doubt be unbearable about it, with his sarcastic tsk tsks and I told ya so’s as he stood tall with his hands on his gunbelt, shit-eating grin wide and proud on his face. But dear God, as much as he could drive you crazy, he charmed you to death as he did.

It had been some time now since Sheriff Gray stumbled outside on “business,” clearly drunk on the moonshine the boys had recently recovered.

Unfortunately he had been sober enough to chase you down after a stagecoach robbery gone south the day before.

The bullet he fired grazed your leg and spooked your horse, stirrup catching around your ankle and twisting it as you hit the ground hard enough to knock the air from your lungs.

You were given cloth to tie around it and you’d seen worse, but it would put you out of commission for a few days.

Eventually the heavy footfall of boots on the wood floor broke the silence as Arthur came into view. Sauntering over with that stupid grin and familiar stance — he stopped in front of your cell and laughed.

“Well, well…quite a predicament you got yerself in missy,” after a pause and lazy scratch of his short beard he continued condescendingly. “I told ya not to go pokin’ ‘round where ya ain’t ‘sposed to.”

“I’ll poke around wherever I goddamn please, Mr. Morgan,” you stated unabashedly.

He raised his eyebrows and scoffed (smug taunt), “and look where that’s got ya.”

“I saw an opening and I took it. Care to tell me how many times Hosea and Dutch have rescued you over the years?”

“Lotta tough talk from a little lady stuck in a jail cell, don’tcha think?”

Arthur leaned closer to the bars and lowered his voice, “way I see it, you oughta choose yer next words carefully seein’ as I’m the only one who can help.”

Ignoring his vague threat you gestured towards his chest, “I think that silly little badge you’ve been wearing is going to your head. I can take care of myself.”

“That so? You ain’t foolin’ me. I could see that little shiver when I walked in, and yer still breathin’ fast. From where I’m standin’?”

Arthur reached through the bars to caress your cheek, a gesture in stark contrast to his deep and rough drawl. “Ya look like a rabbit caught in a trap.”

He slowly moved his hand along the growing length in his jeans, palming languidly at the sight of you sweating. “Now…what’re ya gonna do fer me if I let ya out? Seems fair don’t it?”

Astounded with his audacity you scoffed, “my leg’s hurt, the hell do you expect me to be able to do?”

Arthur responded without missing a beat, “ya can kneel right? Yer mouth ain’t hurt is it?”

“Pig,” you sneered as you crossed your arms in protest.

He chuckled darkly at your insult, rubbing himself harder. “Ya can lie down and open them pretty legs for me can’tcha?”

“I think you’re all talk, tough guy. Why don’t you come in here and make me?”

Arthurs eyes studied your face as you tried not to break your showing of defiance. You were going to make him fight for it as long as you could.

He was surprisingly agile for such a large man, giving you no time to react before your wrist was trapped in his much larger, much more powerful hand.

“C’mon asshole, knock it off.” Swearing under your breath and trying to pull away did nothing as he tied your wrists around the cool metal bars with his bandana.

“Quit squirmin’ and get on yer knees.”

You leaned in as close to the outlaws face as you could against the bars and spoke in a daring whisper, “ya deaf? I said, you’re gonna have to make me.”

Arthur placed a powerful hand on the shoulder opposite of your hurt leg and pushed. Even at his gentlest he was exceptionally strong, barely needing to use any of his strength to urge you down.

Freeing himself from the confines of his pants, he stroked his twitching cock inches from your face and thumbed your lower lip with his other hand.

You turned your head away from him defiantly, contempt clear on your face.

“Ah ah, what’s the matter princess? Too good for this? You’ll be cryin’ my name in no time, that’s a promise.”

“You wish.”

“Quit stallin’ now or you’ll be stuck in here even longer.”

Placing his forefinger and thumb on your chin he moved you to face him, broad figure towering above you as he waited for your warm mouth.

Positioning himself between the bars in front of you, he prodded your lips apart with the head, urging his hips forward as you took him further.

Arthur let out a long, groaning sigh. “That’s it, take it darlin’.”

He was slow at first, pushing to the back of your throat gently as you adjusted your lips to his girth; twirling your tongue around the tip and hollowing your cheeks along the shaft.

Glancing up you saw Arthur’s arms extended above him, hands white-knuckling the bars and eyes sealed shut it bliss. Every light thrust he made was accompanied by a sharp breath or husky groan.

Feeling ashamed, you realized the sight and sensation made your pussy absolutely throb — it was already becoming difficult to pretend you didn’t want this.

Small moans traveled up your throat and vibrated around his cock as you bobbed your head eagerly; shifting on the floor and squeezing your knees together to accommodate the uncomfortable arousal.

Always keen on your body and its responses to him, Arthur grinned and sucked the air through his teeth. “See? I knew you wanted this, I bet yer soaking through to the floor just from suckin’ on me. That right?”

You were dangerously close to giving into your lust drunk stupor, to rambling and moaning with spit hanging off your chin; though you couldn’t give him the satisfaction without a fight just yet.

You pulled your head back and away to remove him from your mouth, looking up at him with raised eyebrows. “Lotta talk for someone who was about to come in ten more seconds.”

“We’ll see if yer still sassin’ me like this when ya can’t walk tomorrow. Now, I asked you a question woman.”

You batted your lashes and smirked, “that’s funny, I don’t recall hearing a question. All I could hear was you whimpering.”

Gathering a fistful of your hair Arthur pushed into your mouth and to the back of your throat, causing a gag as your nose met his chestnut curls. The thrusts were rough and sloppy now, his soft whines turning into primal, teeth gritting grunts.

“Tired a hearin’ you talk girl, yer mouth’s better at this anyway,” you looked up at his crooked smile, drool gathering at the corners of your mouth.

“Now…fuck — let’s try this again. I bet yer soaked just from havin’ my cock in yer mouth, ain’t that right?”

Arthur pulled out quickly to let you respond — and to catch your breath.

“Yes,” you mewled and panted, unable to stifle your dizzying lust. “I’m so goddamn wet right now.”

Arthur laughed smugly as he fished for something in his pocket, “that’s what I thought.” Revealing the cell keys he let himself in and closed the door behind him.

Still tied to the bars, Arthur circled around you slowly as his eyes traveled along every inch of you. For the first time you truly did feel like a rabbit caught in a trap.

“Can ya stand?”

Your replied nervously, “I think so…”

“Then do it…” His snarl was dark and harsh and sent a shockwave straight to your core.

He felt dangerous and you felt cornered.

Gently pulling yourself upright Arthur allowed you to test the waters. Putting pressure on your ankle, you found that the pain was a quiet whisper compared to the aching arousal between your legs.

He approached slowly, boots thudding next to you as the scent of leather and tobacco was carried with it. He opened the front of your dress forcefully to slip a hand inside, squeezing and massaging your breast with his cock twitching at your side.

“Can’t let an opportunity like this pass me up can I?” His pulling and pinching of the pert peak made your hips roll at the air.

Moving behind you, Arthur placed his hands on your hips and rutted his hardness against the soft fabric over your backside with shallow breaths.

You spoke in a breathy plead, “haven’t I given you enough yet Morgan?”

“Hardly. You think that pretty little mouth a yers was all I wanted?”

Pressing himself tight against you he dragged the flat of his hand along your mound possessively. “I deserve this tight cunt too don’t I?”

He tilted your head backward against his chest to look up at him, his other fingers tightening along your slit — pressing into the soaked undergarments. “Don’t I?”

You nodded with a lick of your lips, not wanting to say it out loud but left helpless to his appetite.

The outlaw brought his lips close enough to your ear that you felt the scratch of his stubble as he spoke, “good girl.”

Bending you forward, Arthur made your lower half bare to him, wetness glistening invitingly. Without warning he entered you with three of his sizable fingers, immediately motioning inside of you.

“So fuckin’ wet for me girl, thought you didn’t want this huh?”

All you could muster was a weak moan, focusing instead on the ebb and flow already increasing in your abdomen, the lewd sound of Arthur working your walls, the absolute debauchery and how good it made you feel.

“Got nothin’ to say now do ya? If you wanna come I better hear it.”

Arthur suddenly removed his fingers, leaving you desperate at the sudden hollowness.

The digits instead roughly penetrated your mouth, making you suck them clean of your juices. “Taste that? That’s what I do to ya girl, may as well jus’ admit it.”

“Now…beg for it.” he asserted harshly as you whined around his fingers. The palm of his other hand collided with your ass, leaving a hot sting. “Ain’t playin’ girl. Beg. Or I’ll take what’s mine and go.”

And this is what you wanted. For Arthur to tell you off and take you, to make you beg and turn you into jelly. The shame was merely an afterthought now that your carnal body had taken over.

“Please Arthur,” you swayed your ass and rolled your hips. “Please — let me come.”

Another playful slap landed on your backside as he stuffed his fingers inside of you once more, “yer lucky yer so goddamn gorgeous.”

You felt his other hand move to your sensitive bud, rolling in circles as he fingered you. “C’mon now, lemme feel how bad you want it.”

Obscene noise and filthy words filled the cell and ushered in your peak, waves of fluttering giving way to squeezing pulses around Arthur’s fingers.

Crying out your body fell forward, shaking and spent.

Giving you no time to recover, Arthur spread your swollen and sensitive lips as he entered you, flush with your ass and twitching in your core, a relieved groan escaped his lungs.

“Fuck…Arthur!”

“You can take it sweetheart…you can take it.”

As wet as you were — and as wet as he always made you; there was still a sweet sting as you adjusted to his girth. But Arthur was not patient today.

His iron grip on your waist was the only thing keeping you from collapsing as he pistoned in and out of you, pushing the air from your lungs with each thrust.

“Someone,” you fought through the stuttered breaths, “stop — someone could come in!”

“Oh but you’d like that wouldn’t you?” Arthur pulled your hair and rode harder. “You’d like the whole town to see what a little whore y’are, ain’t that right?”

Arthur slowed his pace to a long, languid grinding. “Let ’em watch, then they’ll know yer all mine.”

His substantial hand travelled slow down your spine, almost lovingly. You had a feeling this wasn’t part of the act.

“No one else gets to touch you like this — take you like this.”

Your breath hitched in your chest at Arthur’s words, injured ankle faltering slightly. Taking notice he untied you from the cell bars and laid you face down, flat on the cot.

Now that you were more comfortable, his demeanor snapped back to dominance.

Arthur’s hands pawed roughly at your ass, fingernails digging in as he rutted against your dripping slit.

You couldn’t help but grind your mound against the thin mattress and ass along the bottom of his shaft, the time for feigning disinterest long gone.

“Give it to me,” you pleaded against the thin pillow, losing all composure.

Keeping your legs together Arthur once again entered you, the sting no lesser in this tight position. “Look atcha, ain’t even hidin’ that ya want it anymore.”

Arthur’s broad torso encompassed you as he hovered above your back, repeatedly slamming into your heat with hot, wanton breaths against your ear.

Pressed into the mattress you listened to Arthur’s breathing become ragged and felt his body stiffen, all signs that he was close.

In one swift movement he pulled out to flip you on your back, pinning your wrists above your head as he plunged back into you.

“Wanna look at that pretty face while I fill you up. You want it?”

You turned your head to the side, feeling your body flush with heat from the intimacy of his words — of his future actions.

“Yeah you do,” Arthur leaned into your neck, sucking and biting at the tender flesh above your collarbone.

You couldn’t help but grind against him as he bucked into you, much to his delight. “Such a dirty girl, knew you wanted it. Coulda just enjoyed it sooner if ya weren’t such a goddamn brat.”

Lacing your fingers through the honey locks pressed against his forehead in sweat, you tugged gently while dragging the nails of your other hand down his back.

Arthur winced with a proud smile, “gonna empty myself inside ya.” He paused with a bite of his lip and groan, “I’ll be drippin’ down yer thighs and all over that nice dress…”

You could feel his cock flexing inside your heat, talking himself into a frenzy with each passing second.

Falling on top of you as his climax took over, Arthur moved in for a heated kiss; the first since he walked through the door.

Pressing deep inside you his hips moved in shallow jerks while painting your walls. A single, honest groan released from his mouth into yours, turning into whimpering shudders as his tongue roamed.

Arthur laid his forehead on the pillow beside you with a quiet expletive as you both took a moment to catch your breath.

Stirring slowly you felt his calloused hands running down your calf and toward your ankle. “Y’okay?” He gently ran his thumb over the swollen skin, “I can go take care of that bastard, don’t give a damn if he’s the Sheriff.”

“I’m okay, handsome.”

“Good. Ya know, ya didn’t need to get yerself arrested to get me to uh,” he grinned with a chuckle, “well…fuck ya like this.”

Playfully slapping his chest you exclaimed, “you know I didn’t do this on purpose!”

“I dunno, yer a pretty wild woman. I wouldn’t put it past ya.”

“Shut up,” you teased.

Arthur was rough around the edges but you trusted him. After many mornings of trying to keep quiet in the tent, humid nights shared at the Flat Iron lakeside, sweating and entwined with praises and whispers; you couldn’t help your lust drunk confessions. Wanting excitement and thrill, to do things the other hadn’t done with anyone else.

“So was it…thrillin’ enough for ya then?”

“That and then some, cowboy.” You ran your hand across his bulky chest. “What’d you think?”

“That it’s the hottest — and craziest thing I ever done,” he laughed and squeezed your ass playfully. “And on that note we should get goin’ ’fore anyone comes back.”

As the two of you began making sure you were decent, you inquired, “won’t Sheriff Gray put it together that it was you who broke me out?”

“He’s drunk as Uncle on a Saturday night sweetheart, he won’t even remember I was here.”

Arthur paused as his tone grew stern, “really though, what were you thinkin’? You gotta be more careful.”

He was right, but his pension for being overprotective and pushy in these situations felt unnecessary after an injury and arrest. “Most of the gang’s been in jail or tights spots at least once, comes with the territory.”

He taunted, “maybe, but what if I ain’t around to rescue ya next time?”

“I could’ve broken out myself. Wouldn’t be hard to seduce a nervous old deputy anyway,” you winked.

“Ain’t funny.”

“Well quit givin’ me a hard time then.”

“Alright alright, let’s get ya outta here.” Arthur wrapped his arm around your waist as he ushered you through the back of the jail, supporting you through your slight limp.

Before he helped you up on his horse you planted a quick kiss to his cheek, “thank you, Arthur.”

He shrugged dismissively in response but the rosey tint forming on his face didn’t go unnoticed. “C’mon now, let’s get you home and get that leg better.”