#which is also fascinating and i wanna watch it again at some point but i have no TIME

[lilydvoratrelundar]

the thing about loki 2021 is that its really fuckin good but not in any of the ways that the loki comics are really fuckin good. and the loki comics are better. go read the loki comics.

[freedomfireflies]

The One Where 404 Harry Gets Jealous:

Harry is mad.

No, Harry is past mad. He’s furious. Irate. Enraged and incensed and staring a hole right through Levi’s head.

You work to bite back your smug smile as you nod along to your date's story. And you pretend to be fascinated, even though you’re more fascinated by the furious man a few feet away. 

He’s been watching you since the moment you and Levi walked through the door. And he’s been fighting his own urge to come over and interrupt, that much you’re sure of. But he doesn’t have any right. And he knows it.

And you can’t help but make things just a bit harder for him. You grin brightly at Levi’s comments. You laugh loudly at his attempts at jokes. You touch his arm and lean into him as you listen to the live band.

And it’s driving Harry up the wall.

He’s moments away from snapping. Subtly but angrily scooting closer with every passing minute. And you don’t need him to snap. Or cause a scene. But if he’s gonna act like a big fucking baby just because you’re on a date, well…

“Which was fine,” Levi is saying. “I didn’t really care for it anyway, but…I sent it back and we’ll see if they can do better this next time.”

“Sure, sure,” you agree half-heartedly, eyes drifting toward the tall, surly man in glasses now somehow even closer than before. “And, uh…you said you were hoping to stick around for a while before heading back east?”

“Yeah, that’s my plan,” he says. He points to the stage. “I like these guys. They’re good. It’s so funny, I’ve never really thought about—”

“What the fuck is this?”

You and Levi both turn as an unexpected voice loudly intrudes on your conversation.

You find Harry, unsurprisingly, looming over you as he glares down at your poor date.

“Uh, this…is Levi,” you introduce slowly, biting the inside of your cheek to suppress another smirk. “And this is also none of your business.”

Harry frowns. “Bullshit. You said you weren’t going out tonight.”

“No, I said I couldn’t go out tonight,” you correct. “Because I already had plans. With Levi.”

Levi blinks.

Harry snorts. “Right. And how the fuck did you even meet this Levi in the first place?”

“Okay, well, one...you don’t have to talk about him like he’s not here,” you scold. “Don’t be rude—”

“I’m not being rude. You’re being rude.”

“I—” You huff. “How am I being rude when you’re interrupting my date?”

“Because this isn’t a fucking date and you know it.”

You cross your arms. Stubborn. “And how would you know what a date looks like? Much less a date with me?”

“Because you’ve spent half the fucking night staring at me,” he says smugly and you feel your skin warm. “So, I’ll ask you again. What the fuck is this?”

You turn to Levi—poor, innocent Levi—and offer a sheepish smile. “I’m…so sorry. I just need to work this out with him for one second—”

“No, don’t worry about it,” he says kindly and you’ve never felt worse. “I get it. I’ll get us some drinks.”

“Thank you, really,” you sigh and he nods before disappearing into the bar. And once he’s gone, you turn back to the outrageously annoying man in question. “Okay, seriously, you need to leave.”

“Why?” Harry crosses his arms now, too, and nudges his glasses back up. “You don’t actually wanna be alone with him.”

“Says who? You?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t know what I want. Because I want nothing more than to be alone with him. In fact, I want to be anywhere you aren’t.”

“Bullshit, Princess. You knew I was gonna be here so you brought him just to piss me off.”

“And why would I do that?”

“Cause you’re fucking annoying.”

“Is that so?”

“It is.”

“And what would bringing him here accomplish, huh? It’s not like you’re jealous or anything, right?”

He leans back and you’ve got him. “Oh, real fucking mature, Tink. Very nice.”

“What? You’re not,” you argue, shrugging one shoulder up. “Why would you be? We’re not exclusive or anything. I mean, maybe if we were, I wouldn’t have to go home with him tonight, but…good thing we’re not.”

He scowls at you. “So that’s why you brought him here? Cause you wanted to play your little fucking game and try to make me jealous?”

“Of course not. That would never work.”

He snorts and looks away and you finally grin.

“Anyway, you should let me get back to it,” you say, beginning to slip past him. “But this was fun—”

He grabs your arm and yanks you back to your spot. “Where the fuck are you going?”

“Back to my date,” you repeat pointedly, slipping his fingers from your skin. “Do you mind?”

“Yes.” He dips down and he doesn’t let you go. “I don’t like games. And I don’t like tricks. You don’t get to fucking play me just cause you’re bored.”

“I’m not bored, I’m single,” you retort. “And I have every right to date him if I want—”

“No.”

You blink. “No?”

“No.” He holds you tighter and he’s resolute in the way he speaks. “I don’t want you going out with him.”

“Yeah? And why do you think I care what you want?”

“Because I know you,” he says calmly, and you can hear the devious undertone even beneath the loud music in the bar. “You brought him here because you don’t want to fuck him. You don’t want to waste your time on a man that talks about the fucking stock market and how much he spent at Erewhon. And you wanted me…to remind you of that.”

He’s right. You know he’s right. He knows he’s right. But you’ll be damned if you ever admit it. 

“The only thing you remind me of is disappointment,” you huff. You take your arm back. “Levi is everything you can never be. And maybe it’s time you realize that.”

You attempt to brush past him again but he stops you once more. He tugs you into his body until your chest is brought to his and everything grows quiet inside your head. Your only focus is him, and his mouth, and his familiar smell, and the way he holds you in his arms.

He’s leering at you—pissed beyond belief—and yet you feel so incredibly warm and safe. Pleased.

“Do not go back to him,” he says and a chill rushes down your spine.

“What?”

“Don’t go back to him,” he says again and you want to smile. “Because you aren’t leaving with him. You’re leaving with me. And tomorrow, you aren’t gonna fucking call him and apologize and set up the next date. You’re gonna lose his fucking number. Is that understood?”

You narrow your eyes. “You’re really fucking annoying—”

He yanks you closer until you can almost taste the lips hovering near yours. “I said, is that fucking understood, Princess?”

You’ve never felt this kind of need before. This kind of yearning for another person and this kind of pain radiating between your thighs. But you’re desperate to fix it—desperate to ride this wave of his anger until it washes you both away. 

"Why?" you whisper and you want to kiss him. God, you want to kiss him, but you resist.

"Because," he says. He breathes you in and then he reaches up to brush his thumb along your lip. "Because how can I let you leave when I know you'll be so unsatisfied?"

Your insides feel like they've been set on fire.

"How can I go home when I know he won't take care of you the way I do?" He brushes his nose against yours. "How can I let my pretty, little Tinkerbell spend the night faking her orgasms when I know how perfect she cums when she cums for me?"

Fuck.

"You can hate me all you want," he murmurs. "But I'm good to you. And you fucking know it."

You can't seem to find a response. Can't seem to make your feet work or your lungs work or any part of your brain actually work.

Instead, you simply exhale, "Okay."

And he smiles.

“Good girl,” he mumbles. He leans back and takes his kiss way. "Then let's go."

He leads you out of the bar and toward his bike in the parking lot and you go without question. He hands you the extra helmet—which he also has to help you put on—then pulls you onto the back and secures your arms around his middle. Just like last time.

“Where are we going?” you yell as the engine comes to life.

There’s something cunning in his eye. “Figured it was about time I took you home.”

“Oh…well, my apartment’s all the way on the other side of town,” you tell him. “It’s kind of a long drive.”

He shakes his head. “Not your home,” he says and your heart instantly lodges in your throat.

Shit, shit, shit.

He smiles. “I want to take you to my home.”

DEDICATED TO MY SWEET BIRTHDAY ANON!!! I HOPE IT'S SOMEWHAT OKAY AND WHAT YOU WERE EXPECTING! I KNOW THERE'S NO SMUT BUT........WE CAN WRITE THAT LATER HEHE

~ Full 404 Masterlist

~ Main Masterlist

~ Blurb Masterlist

Taglist: @walkingintheheartbreaksatellite @keepdrivingkisses @swiftmendeshoran @tiredinwinter @straightontilmornin @justlemmeadoreyou @harrysdaydreams @tiaamberxx @peterparker1sgf @myfavfanficsever @littlenatilda @vamprry @fdl305 @tchalametishot @ssaama @indierockgirrl @likeapplejuicenpeach @vane28282 @lukesaprince @closureesny @lc-fics @0nlythrowharrybeaux @hannahdressedasabanana @iguessyourejustwhatineeded @dylanobandposts21 @butdaddyilovehim-hs @floral-recs @itjustkindahappenedreally @samanddeaninatrenchcoat @daphnesutton @love-letters-to-uranus @kirstiea05 @lovrave @nuggetdean

[trans-luis-serra-navarro]

okay i'm asking this because you're the friendliest ever, but I wanted to ask: what do you think the scene was like between Leon and Luis when Leon got off the elevator (after almost collapsing/passing out/whatever the hell was going on with him and Las Plagas) and from the point in which Leon was sitting there at the start of the next chapter squeezing is hand and saying he felt better???? Because it must have been a little while (both because of the seemingly time cut between chapters, but also later when Leon gives Ashley the suppressant and he clearly settles down to wait which implies it took Leon a while to respond and he is anticipating the same thing with Ashley) and surely they talked? Luis I'm-not-that-kind-of-doctor-but-wow-you-look-bad Serra and Leon I'll-rest-when-I'm-dead Kennedy must have talked, right???? I just wanna talk about themmmmmmmmm

Okokok I left this ask unanswered for SO LONG cuz the SECOND I started reading it I just KNEW I was gonna be lead down a rabbit hole that I wanted to do justice because like,,,, what WOULD they have talked about?!?!

Edit: this got a L O T longer than I intended I’m so sorry HDNEHENDJ so everything’s gonna be under the cut!!!! Give me the opportunity and I’ll talk about Luis for hours (also obligatory This Is All My Personal Opinion/Reading You Don’t Have To Agree If You Dont Wanna please don’t kill me HCHDNEDJ)

Like you said there seems to be a fair bit of time inbetween chapter breaks we just don’t see for the sake of pacing that REALLY fascinates me, ESPECIALLY because we’re at a pretty interesting point in Leon (and subsequently the player) and Luis’ relationship. It’s right after Luis has fluked us twice on call, and it’s right before the massive mine section you fight together in- it’s a pretty pivotal point in their relationship where Luis needs to up his game and prove to Leon that he CAN trust him. Yet he’s still gotta maintain some sort of mysterious and/or suave persona that I think throws a lot of people off when talking about how his and Leon’s relationship develop

Now of course this is all just MYYYYYY personal opinion/reading of his character cuz I am very very very invested in it BCNENEJD and you’re free to disagree!!! But I think that scene is a pretty perfect example of just how DESPERATE Luis is for companionship and trust. I think a lot of people are of the assumption that Luis only started ‘changing for the better’ AFTER he met Ashley and Leon- which personally I don’t think is the case!! We meet Luis after he’s clearly hit a moral rock-bottom. He’s been trapped under Los Illuminados’ reign for however long for whatever reason and has been COMPLETELY isolated from any human contact aside from his own coworkers for at the VERY LEAST five years. And in those five years, he’s watched the people who were most likely once individuals he grew up with become infected and loose all sense of humanity. RIGHT AFTER he escaped Umbrella too, most likely cuz he found out that all the hard work he poured into that company was being used for malicious reasons. One horrible thing on top of the other.

His life is a cycle of trying and failing over and over again- he watches his Grandfather pass away from something entirely out of his control as a young boy, and takes that trauma and grief and pours it into his research with Umbrella possibly in the hopes of preventing something like that to ever happen again- only for that to backfire. Whether it’s because he had no idea or because he purposefully let that anger consume him and let apathy fester and grow to the point where he just didn’t care, either way, he’s lost everything he loved once again. And when he returns to the only place he knows he can find solace in companionship, his childhood home, it all comes crumbling down on him too. Every attempt he’s made at righting his last wrongs, proving himself to the people he loves- it fails every single time. Obviously we don’t know WHY exactly Luis joined Los Illuminados, but if you were asking ME PERSONALLY based off of the beginning of Seperate Ways I think he didn’t have a choice but I DIGRESS!!!! Luis is at a point where he’s hit a rock-bottom he’s unsure he can come back from. Every attempt at doing good has been squashed, and no matter how hard he tries, the cycle just keeps on repeating. He’s desperate not just to escape Valdelobos, but to prove to SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, that he CAN do good. That he CAN right his wrongs. And I think the first place we physically SEE that need and desperation is in his relationship with Ada during Seperate Ways

(But I’m gonna save that for another post cuz this one’s already getting too long and rambly BCNEJSNJX but the tl;dr is that Ada and Luis are two sides of the same coin. Ada is in a similar situation as Luis where her hands are tied and she has no other option BUT to do what she’s told, despite not wanting to, and I think Luis can tell that. He trusts her and puts so much faith in her cuz he KNOWS that when the time comes, she’ll do the right thing)

But getting back on track- at the point where we first meet Luis he’s hit a rock-bottom. All attempts to help people, to prove that he can do good things- ie joining Umbrella under the guise of medical research, creating the Plagas removal machine etc- have been squashed. Every. Single. Time. He’s living a cycle of trying to do good, trying to live up to the people he’s lost and is desperate to prove that to ANYONE. The guilt of his actions is consuming and in my humble opinion it’s genuinely so admirable that he STILL KEPT GOING despite it all!!!! but anyways!!!!!!! When Leon and Ashley roll into his life, two people who are completely innocent in everything happening around him, it’s the perfect chance for Luis to genuinely help somebody and prove that he can do good. They don’t know about his past! They don’t know about all the blood on his hands!!! He can FINALLY prove to somebody that he’s a good person!!!! They’re probably some of the first people he’s been able to have a proper conversation with aside from Ada in YEARS- he’s been beaten to the ground so many times that he’s willing to do ANYTHING to gain not just their trust, but their friendship and appreciation too.

I think a pretty subtly overlooked fact about Luis is that deep down, no matter how much bad he does, no matter how much he throws himself into his work, he craves companionship and human company. He keeps the photo of the Umbrella Dream Team and his lighter with him, the first place he runs to when things turn south is his childhood home- no matter how badly he tries to resist it, he craves human contact and a sense of familiarity over anything. He wants friends, people who see him as more than just his mistakes, as more than all the wrong he’s caused- he wants people to see him for who he is in the now, in the moment. Even when he feels as though he doesn’t deserve forgiveness or friendship. And yet Leon and Ashley and Ada give that to him before they even know his full story, before they even know what his motives are and why he cares so much. The last time Ashley met him, she put her faith in his work- the last time Ada saw him before his death, she equally put her faith into his work, too. And he gives that faith back tenfold, which I think is what makes his friendship with them all so compelling among other things.

But then there’s Leon. Leon, who by all means from Luis’ point of view, is the complete opposite of him. No matter how much life throws his way, no matter how much danger he’s in- Leon is seemingly incapable of doing the wrong thing. He’s EFFORTLESSLY a hero, his actions never backfire on him… something Luis craves so, so badly. He’s everything Luis wishes he could be, even when he has to uphold that uncaring suave persona, which going back to the original point of this ask (this got extremely rambly very quickly im so sorry GDNEHENCUDN) I think that cutscene where Luis gives Leon the medicine is where we can see that trust between characters fully cementing. Leon already KNOWS Luis worked with Umbrella, and I think at that point he’s already hazarded a guess at his involvement with Los Illuminados- by all means, he’s got zero reason to trust Luis. Yet he still does. He’s the person Luis has been craving for so long; somebody who can see straight past all his flaws and his past self and see Luis for LUIS (And once again, that blind trust is S O COMPELLING in my humble opinion) But obviously, Luis doesn’t know this at this point. He’s still trying to hesitantly form a friendship with Leon and prove to him that he’s a decent person whose deserving of love, even when he doesn’t feel that way about himself, and I think that’s probably what their conversation inbetween cutscenes would’ve been about.

Like you said, I think Luis probably would’ve been pretty concerned to say the least about the state Leon’s in HXNSHENDI we can see that he prioritises the safety of his friends (ie refusing to leave when Ada was showing symptoms, dropping his persona to comfort Ashley when she started coughing etc etc) so there definitely would’ve been some level of, ‘oh my god you dunce how tf did you get so bad here lemme did you up’, but also,,, I think Luis probably would’ve tried to make conversation with Leon. About literally anything- his love for Don Quixote, what he was getting up to while sexily waiting for Leon to get off the elevator etc etc- anything to strengthen that fragile yet ever growing bond between them. Again, just looking for companionship and somebody to see past the skeletons in his closet. And I’m SURE Leon probably would’ve done the most Leon thing ever and just respond with a bunch of ‘yeah’s or ‘ok’s WHENDHDNJXJX but whatever it was they talked about, if they talked at all, it clearly strengthened their bond. Or at the very least, if they didn’t say anything to each other, the pretty intimate act of administering medicine to another person probably would’ve been enough to more or less solidify Leon’s growing trust. I think also it would’ve given Luis an insight into how Leon works- ESPECIALLY with the way Leon’s insistent on prioritising Ashley immediately after. Then of course right after that cutscene is the first time we see Luis’ love for Don Quixote be said OUT LOUD but again I’ll save that for another post BCNSHENDJXNXN

Again I really really really really hope you don’t mind how LONG this turned out to be!!!!!!! I just LOVE talking about Luis’ character and his effect on the story and motivations etc and I love to ramble BCNEHENDJDJ there’s SO MANY OTHER fade to black cutscenes with Luis I’d love to dig my teeth into (cough cough THE HAND HOLD) so!!!!!!! Maybe someday soon idk!!!!!!!!!

[venus-haze]

Girls on Film (Mickey Altieri x Reader)

Summary: As a film studies major at Windsor College, your junior year is proving to be an eventful one as the eponymous Ghostface begins targeting fellow students, some who you consider friends. You try to focus on your classes, mainly the short film project you’re working on with Mickey Altieri, who your professor inexplicably paired you up with despite the two of you having almost polar opposite views on the medium. 

Note: Female reader, but no other descriptors are used. You’re also into gross out movies because I wanted a strong contrast to Mickey’s “blame the movies” thing and also irony…as you’ll see. This is an extremely dark fic, so look at the warnings before deciding whether to read this. Also, you know and I know that Mickey didn’t kill Randy, but in the context of the fic, the reader-character doesn’t know that. Do not interact if you are under 18 or post thinspo/ED content.

Word count: 4k

Warnings: One-sided rivalry (Mickey hates your guts). Discussions of “gross” movies and themes. Descriptions of violence. Major character deaths. Sexually explicit content which involves non/dubcon, knifeplay, bloodplay, sadism (slight masochism). Do not interact if you are under 18.

Film Theory went from okay to off the walls when Mickey Altieri decided to make the argument that movies could be responsible for people’s actions. Using the brutal murders at the early Stab screening in town as an example was in poor taste when it had just happened the night before. It wasn’t even that you disliked Mickey, having met him in your Introduction to Film History course. He was pretty funny, and the two of you had a lot of the same classes together, moved in the same social circles. 

He’d expressed similar views before, but never so egregiously. You couldn’t believe a fellow film student would have such a regressive view of cinema. It was asinine to even entertain the idea, but you couldn’t let the conversation go on without giving your two-cents to your peers. 

“CiCi’s right. That exact thinking is what led to the Hays Code.”

“Bonnie and Clyde was one of the first post-Code movies to make it big. It showed there’s profit in glorifying crime and violence,” Mickey said. “The decade after it came out was the golden age of serial killers.”

“Oh sure, I watched one too many John Waters movies, and now I’m having sex in confession booths,” you said, earning snickers from your classmates. 

“Thank you,” Randy said. “I don’t think anyone was eating dog shit after watching Pink Flamingos.”

“Maybe Ghostface got the idea for the phone calls from Serial Mom,” one of your classmates quipped.

“Kathleen Turner’s character in that was inspired by serial killers. She read true crime books and collected paraphernalia,” Mickey argued.

“I’ll do you one better and raise you John Waters himself,” you said. “The guy has a morbid fascination with the Manson Family to the point where he incorporates references to them in almost all of his movies. He hasn’t committed any mass murders.”

“No, he just makes movies that make people wanna puke,” another classmate said.

Mickey opened his mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by Sidney and Hallie rushing to the classroom door, looking for Randy. Unable to keep the class’s attention after that, your professor dismissed everyone. 

CiCi made her way over to you, giving you an exasperated look. “Reagan-era politics have really poisoned some of these people’s critical thinking skills.”

“Tell me about it,” you agreed.

CiCi had been in a lot of the same classes as you your freshman year, and the two of you became fast friends over your similar taste in movies and distaste for closed-minded people. She was a big Lee Grant fan, wanting to make candid documentaries about tough social issues too.

You had some time to kill before your next class, so the two of you made your way to one of the empty picnic tables outside and continued the discussion, which had quickly turned into mutual ranting. Her point about the Slumber Party Massacre movies being directed by women was cut short when you realized you’d have to book it across campus to make it to Film Production II in time.

It was one of the higher level courses for film students who were looking to make feature films rather than focus on screenwriting or making documentaries. Among the prerequisites for Film Production II were Screenwriting I and II. In theory, everyone in the class would have two or three short film scripts ready to be adapted for an advanced Film Studies class. Few films were ever solo projects, so you weren’t surprised when your professor told everyone on the first day of class to prepare to be partnered up for the project, which would count for most of the course’s grade.

When you walked into the classroom, your professor handed you a slip of paper with two names on it. Yours and–of course. You almost had to laugh at the irony. Mickey. His attitude toward you could be unpredictable. Some days would be fine, and others it was like the two of you were about to bite each other’s heads off. 

Speak of the devil. You watched his reaction to the slip of paper when he walked in. Unreadable, even when his attention turned to you.

“Is Sidney okay?” you asked when Mickey sat next to you.

“As okay as anyone can be in this situation. That cop from Woodsboro’s here—Dewey, he’s keeping an eye on her.”

“That’s good.”

“So, let’s get started on this thing I guess. Any ideas?”

“Okay cool. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and my strongest script is ‘The Tongue Remembers’.”

He scoffed. “The one about the cannibal girl who gets lobotomized?”

“Well, we could take the easy route and make a porno,” you snapped. “Not that it’d be very long.”

“Knowing you it’d be snuff.”

“Whatever. We’ll do one of yours, but I get to do casting and set design.”

“Easy enough, ‘Stakeout’ has four characters,” he said, digging through his backpack for a copy of the script.

You flipped through the script, scanning the first few pages to jog your memory. An action-comedy about a group of criminals who knew that they were being staked-out by undercover cops, unaware that one was within their midst. Mickey’s comedy writing was fast-paced and genuinely funny. You’d told him so in your peer review of his script in Screenwriting II. The reviews were anonymous, but the effort was still there.

Most of the reviews for ‘The Tongue Remembers’ were positive, with criticisms of some minor plot points that helped you make the whole script stronger in the long run. The review you appreciated most tore the damn thing apart, but gave detailed explanations for the suggestions given, all of which were so good you almost wanted to seek out who the source was. A handful of people didn’t care for your script at all, objecting to the plot altogether. You quietly suspected Mickey was one of them. 

You tried to shake the tension that had settled over you and Mickey following the exchange just a few moments prior. At least it’d be good experience for dealing with inevitable assholes as you worked your way up in the film industry. It was tough to make it without connections, and even tougher for women.

By the end of class, the two of you agreed to meet in the library the next day and start planning casting and a general production schedule. Mickey had more editing experience than you did, but you wanted to sit in on the process after initial production of the short film was over. He begrudgingly agreed, and you left the classroom for the dining hall in a sour mood. 

When you walked into the crowded dining hall for dinner, you spotted Randy and rushed over to join him. More often than you’d like, he’d have to be the mediator when you and Mickey would really get into it. At least he seemed to find it amusing.

“Hey, is everything alright?” you asked.

He handed you a plate that already had two slices of pizza on it and grabbed one for himself. “Besides the whole ‘Ghostface is back and people are being murdered’ thing? Can’t complain. How about you? Get your partner for Production II yet?”

“Yeah. Mickey.”

Randy laughed. “Nice. I’m sure that won’t be a disaster.”

“I don’t want it to be! I even said we could do one of his scripts.”

“Which one?”

“That action-comedy he wrote, ‘Stakeout’,” you said as the two of you sat at an empty table. “It’s a good script. He’s a great comedy writer. I’m just pissed he wouldn’t even consider ‘The Tongue Remembers’.”

Randy nodded in acknowledgement. “I liked that one. You did a good job of making the cannibals sympathetic. Strong ending too. I’m not so sure it’d go over well at Windsor’s student film fest. Lotta weak stomachs.”

“Last year’s winner was a fucking romcom.”

“So you give the cannibal a love interest. Go a little further than Texas Chainsaw 2.”

“I’m not trying to win awards. I wanna make art.”

“You gotta sell out before you can make art. That’s the industry, kid,” he said, patting your shoulder sympathetically. “Are you gonna be at the Delta Zeta whatever party tonight?”

“Delta Lambda Zeta? I don’t think so,” you said. “I gotta find people to be in this movie.”

It turned out to be one of the best decisions you could have made, because you ended up with a list of people interested in a role in ‘Stakeout’. More pressing, however, was the news that Ghostface had made an appearance at the party, after killing CiCi in the Omega Beta Zeta house. Your stomach dropped at the news. Just a few hours before her death you’d been talking to her. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t connected to anyone from the original Woodsboro killings, the students who were killed at the Stab premiere hadn’t been either.

In a small college like Windsor, news traveled fast, and by the time you finished eating breakfast, you’d heard that Sidney, Randy, Hallie, Derek, and Mickey had all spent the night at the police station following the attack. 

You didn’t want to ask Randy if you were a suspect. Your film taste alone would put you at the top of the list by default. As much as you understood the reasoning considering the last Ghostface duo’s obsession with horror movies, it didn’t mean everyone who watched them would be inclined to commit murder, despite what Mickey thought. Besides, who would your accomplice even be? Derek or Hallie would be too obvious. Gale Weathers was cutthroat, but not in the literal sense. Randy or Dewey would be a devastating twist if the goal was to mess with Sidney that much more. You felt bad. This type of thing was fun in the movies. You couldn’t imagine it being your life. 

Making your way to the library, you weren’t sure whether or not Mickey would actually show up after spending all night in a police station, but it didn’t hurt to go anyway and get other work done.

To your surprise, he sat down across from you a few minutes after you’d agreed to meet. He was wearing the same clothes as the day before, dark circles under his eyes.

“Jesus have you even slept? We can do this another day.”

“Spare me your concern.”

“Look, I don’t want this project to be miserable for either of us,” you said. “Between Film Theory and Production, I was kind of being a bitch yesterday.”

“It was really that porno comment that hit me deep. I’m no two-pump chump,” he said with a smile.

“Alright, alright. I’m sorry,” you laughed. “Oh, I have some people interested in three of the four roles for ‘Stakeout’.”

“Already?”

“I wanted to make it up to you.”

He was silent for a moment, placing a hand on your arm and squeezing gently. “I’m sorry about CiCi. I know she was your friend.”

“Thanks,” you whispered, trying to keep it together. The last thing you wanted was to break down in the middle of the library.

The two of you planned to do a test shoot in one of the theater’s empty practice auditoriums over the weekend. The main stage was being used for the theater department’s annual play, but Mickey pointed out that ‘Stakeout’ mostly took place in one room anyway. You went ahead and booked the auditorium on the library computer for about three hours, just to give enough time to work out any kinks and not worry about being interrupted.

While Mickey was going to spend the following couple of days getting props together and making any last minute changes to the script, you would finalize the cast since he approved of your choices, surprisingly. At least, you were going to, until Randy ended up dead not long after CiCi. 

You spent a day locked in your dorm room, partially out of paranoia and also in the depression of losing two of your close friends within days of each other. It was getting serious. Randy had survived Woodsboro. If he wasn’t off limits to Ghostface, no one was. 

By Saturday, you’d debated bailing on Mickey and not bothering to show up for the test shoot. You decided against it. Moping wouldn’t do you any good.

He looked shocked to see you when you walked into the auditorium. You felt bad your progress on casting stalled. His friend had died too, but he had his shit together enough to bring a box of props and the camera.

“Are you sure you’re good to shoot today?” Mickey asked from behind the camera, set a few feet from the stage.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” you said, your voice cracking a bit. “Really, it’s all good.” 

“We don’t have to–”

You shook your head. “Let’s do this.”

“Alright,” he said, though he didn’t sound convinced. “You mind locking the door?”

“Okay.” You walked back to the door, locking it. “I got two of the leads for ‘Stakeout’ down, Frank and Alex. I know Frank wasn’t our first choice, but Greg backed out.”

“No problem–shit, I forgot something in the props box over there,” he said, adjusting the settings on the camera. “Could you get it while I finish setting this up? You can’t miss it.”

“Sure,” you said, making your way over to the cardboard box Mickey had brought with him. It took a lot to rattle you, but as soon as you looked in the box, your skin crawled. The Ghostface mask stared back at you, eyes empty black holes. The same ones your friends saw before they died. “Mickey? This better be some kind of stupid joke.”

You turned around to find him less than a foot behind you. Camera set to record. Knife in his hand. Dangerous gleam in his eye as he took a step toward you.

“Last minute change—unprofessional, I know—but I decided to go in a different direction for our short film,” he said, a sadistic grin spread across his face. “You’re gonna be the star. Too bad you won’t be able to see it.”

Just as you began to scream, he put his hand over your mouth, holding the knife to your throat. “Don’t be a diva on me now. You just say what I tell you, okay?”

You nodded frantically, vision blurred by the tears that flowed freely from your eyes. In your desperation, you accidentally nicked your own skin against the knife, whimpering at the small cut you’d self-induced. Mickey snickered, his gaze shifting from you to the camera lens.

He moved his hand from your mouth, though his thumb rested on your lower lip. Slowly, he pushed it between your lips. Fuck this. Fuck him. You bit down until you tasted copper, earning a sloppy slash across your chest that made you cry out in pain, releasing his thumb. 

He looked at his hand in disbelief and then at you, a grin spreading across his face. “You’re gonna fight back, huh? You wanna play that game?” he said, an unnerving laugh escaping his lips.

Feeling bold, you spit his own blood in his face. In his moment of distraction you grabbed the knife, managing to pull it from his hand. You stumbled back, holding out the knife with a shaky hand. 

Despite you having the weapon, he still seemed smug, amusement in his eyes as he lunged toward you. You wildly swung the knife, cutting his abdomen as you crashed to the ground. He climbed on you, grabbing at your flailing arms as you tried to keep him away with the threat of being cut again.

“I’ll kill you! Fucking bastard!” you screamed. “You killed my fucking friends!”

“Do it!” he taunted. “C’mon, I wanna see you try.”

In your struggle to stab him, you lost your grip on the knife, and it slid across the stage. The both of you froze. You used this moment to push him off of you, scrambling to retrieve it. He threw a punch to your back. The wind knocked out of you, violent coughs clawing their way out of your lungs. He took the opportunity to stand up as you lay on the ground in pain.

Still, with the adrenaline pumping through your veins, you grabbed for the knife, hissing as your fingers wrapped around the blade and cut deep into your skin. It didn’t matter. You had to do the most with it while you had it in your grasp.

You held the knife up in a weak defense as he kicked your stomach. When he moved to kick you again, you slashed his leg, pulling the blade from his flesh and watching as blood quickly stained his pants. 

The wild look in his eye intensified, and he dropped down, his hips straddling yours. You could feel his hard cock press against your core as he shifted. And he said you got off to fucked up shit. 

With one hand, he applied pressure to your throat as the other held down the arm you were holding the knife with. You released your grip on the knife as black spots clouded your vision. You could vaguely hear it fall to the ground when his hand released your throat, and you sucked in a much-needed breath. He picked up the weapon, a triumphant grin on his face. You were fucked.

He sat up, lazily dragging the knife down from your chest to your hips. “You probably should’ve killed me.”

“You think I wasn’t trying?” you wheezed.

“You put up a good fight. I’ll give you that.”

“Don’t act like you don’t love it.”

“And you don’t? I saw the thrill in your eyes every time you raised this at me.”

“It’s self-defense!”

“You tell yourself that, babe,” he said, leaning down to kiss you, only for him to stop to whisper, “Try something, and I swear to god I’ll knock your teeth out.”

You were having trouble breathing. He probably crushed part of your trachea. At least you put up a good fight. You lay still as he kissed you, not making an effort to kiss him back until he pressed the blade against your throat. Even then, you let him take the lead, your lips passively responding to his as he deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue into your mouth. He wasn’t a bad kisser. Shame he was a serial killer. It took everything in you not to bite down on it like you had his thumb. You didn’t have the energy to fight back. Knew he wasn’t bluffing about your teeth either.

He pulled away from you, a string of bloody saliva hanging from your lips that he swiped with his injured thumb. Bringing the digit to his mouth, he licked it. You grimaced at the sight.

“C’mon, babe, I thought you were into this kinda thing,” he teased.

“That’s all pretend. It’s not real,” you argued softly.

You gasped as he cut through your top and bra, digging the blade into your abdomen. He traced the tip of the knife around your breasts, watching in amusement as you began to cry. The cool air in the room and metal brushing your nipples made them hard. He used his free hand to pinch and pull at one, eliciting pained whines from you. Your teary gaze was fixed on the knife, though.

“Why don’t you give me a big smile for the camera and tell me how bad you want me to fuck you?”

“Screw you!” you shouted hoarsely.

He scoffed, pulling the knife away from your breasts and holding the blunt side between his teeth as he unzipped your jeans. You squeezed your eyes shut as he pulled the denim down your limp legs, leaving you in only your panties. His index and middle finger pressed against the cotton, rubbing a bit at the wet spot in the fabric.

A pleased noise came from his throat. “So you are into this kinda thing.”

He snapped the elastic waistband against your hips. You moaned. Your eyes shot open, face heating up in embarrassment. 

The knife was back in his hand, though the gleam of the blade lowered, down, down, until you felt it pressed against your inner thigh. He dragged the blade across your sensitive skin until the only thing between it and your pussy was the thin fabric of your panties. You felt like your heart was going to explode from your chest.

“Stop. Mickey, please don’t—oh my god—“ you babbled. “Please—Mickey, I’m sorry—“

“You gonna do what I say?”

“Please fuck me, Mickey. I want you to fuck me so bad.”

“That’s better, baby,” he cooed mockingly.

You heaved a sob of relief as you felt him pull the knife from your panties. Closing your eyes again, you reckoned your impending doom with yourself, trying to ignore the sound of his zipper. The rustling of fabric. The air on your bare pussy.

“Time for the real show.”

Mickey played with your clit while he leaned down to kiss you again, devouring your involuntary moans with a triumphant smugness. 

“The rest of them were messy and painful, just like in the movies,” he said softly, confusing you for a moment before you realized he was talking about his other victims. “I didn’t hate them, though, so I’ll blame this one on violent porn.”

“Mickey, I won’t tell anyone,” you tried. “This can be our secret. I—I like it, really.”

He groaned, pushing his hard cock between your folds. A pained cry escaped your lips as his length filled you. He hardly gave you any time to get used to him inside you as he began thrusting at a brutal pace.

“Keep going,” he hissed through gritted teeth.

“You feel so good, Mickey. Your cock is so—fuck—I don’t want anyone else.” You struggled to get words out, your brain overrun by the pain and pleasure that competed to cloud your senses. 

“You’re not getting anyone else.”

Your eyes drifted to the knife in his hand as he pounded into you, nervous about what he was going to do with it next.

“Look at me, baby,” he ordered. 

Your fearful gaze snapped to his, cruel and unforgiving. He kept rubbing circles on your clit, so fast it was almost too painful. That’s what he wanted, though. For you to hurt. Made him feel better, get off quicker if you hurt. It was almost too easy for him, the way your body betrayed you so quickly, wet with slick so he hardly had to do a thing before claiming your cunt. 

Your pussy squeezed his cock, a silent encouragement with each thrust against your will. His breathing was heavy, sweat dripping from his forehead, yet he showed no signs of letting up on you. Bleeding, aching, you weren’t sure how much longer you could take the abuse. 

“I want you to ruin me, Mickey.” You meant it. If this was how you were going to meet your end, it might as well be as brutal as the dark scenarios your mind sometimes wandered to after watching a particularly bloody film. Maybe he was right. Maybe the movies were to blame. “Fucking wreck me.”

He shuddered, his thrusts getting sloppy. “Fuck–Jesus fucking–”

His grip around the knife handle tightened as he came, knuckles white as he stabbed it into the floor, mere inches away from your face. You jolted, fear and adrenaline sending you over the edge. Your orgasm wracked through your body, muscles tensing, the sensation pulsing through your wounds, making them feel like they were on fire.

You nearly blacked out, but you held on long enough to feel him bottom out inside you. His head hung over yours as he caught his breath. Tilting your head up a bit, you kissed him. Softer, more intimate, hopefully enough to throw him off.

You reached for the knife next to you, but he pulled it out of the floor before you could.

“Nice try,” he said, breaking the kiss.

He stood up and walked away. For a moment, you thought he was going to just leave you there. You weren’t so lucky. He returned with Ghostface regalia in hand, looking down at your bloody body beneath him with a grin.

Mickey brought the voice modifier to his mouth. “Now, who wants to die for art?”

[mineral-vulture]

The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions

You know, for Go Rush (and Sevens) being the lighter and sillier Yugioh series in tone it really does have moments of sorrow.

OKAY I wanna talk about Sevens and Go Rush and how both series have this weird underlying of tragedy in it. So uh spoilers for both series below. Oh and it will be long.

My boyfriend @siromany and I watched Go Rush first because we were fascinated that one out of the three protags (I will die on the hill that Yuamu and Yuhi are protags along with Yudias) is an alien. We were watching it and wondering the series' connection to Sevens especially when we would see shots of Yuga. We did eventually figure out it was in the past. After we watched the episode where Yuga, Yuamu, and Yuhi go to the future as cats seeing the time period where Yuga came from we discussed the possible turmoil that Yuga feels. At this point what we knew about him was that he made rush duels in his time, somehow ended up on the past, and had to make rush duels to help prevent the valgerian's war. Seeing one of his friends inform him that the game he created, rush duels, also went through the same thing like in the real yugioh meta. Overly complicated, unfriendly to new players, and pushing out children who are the main demographic from the game. We both felt sadden for him finding this info out but it seemed like he was able to take it in a "Well that just means someone else has to come by and fix it again" sort of positive view. Not long after watching that episode I suggested we watch Sevens since this series is going to have more references and connections to it. That and there is context we are missing. So we did just that and I will say I am glad we watched it the way we did because it gave a unique perspective on both series. Watching Sevens we were able to see how the Go Rush counterparts are inversions to how each dynamic was different which was super cool. When we were getting to the ending of Sevens both of us felt the pain of knowing what was going to happen to Yuga. We kept thinking back to the Go Rush episode where he returns to his time and now that episode is more painful with full context.

Returning to Go Rush and watching Yuga's journey it truly sunk in that him going back to the present for a bit only to be told that what he did in the past did not change the present but in fact CAUSED what all happened was NOT good for Yuga to find out. Yugioh in 7 out of 8 series has always had the theme of going against destiny and being able to fight against it, Vrains being the exception, and how the main characters can prove the antagonists wrong in some way. Sevens and Go Rush seem to have more of the theme of "You can fight against destiny but there is a consequence to it and you may not like what that is". I vaguely know there are people who don't really sympathize with what Yuga did in the later half of Go Rush which like I can kind of get. However lets put ourselves in Yuga's position, shall we?

You are a 10 year old child who has been thrust into the past after trying to protect your creation from a man who wanted it destroyed. A creation that was made from joy and love of duel monsters. Trying to bring the game back to the demographic it was made for, children. Making rush duels simple to understand but also fun to play. You a stranded in a place that is both familiar and unfamiliar and you need to find a way back home. But you are stopped by a man and his crew who are demanding you to create rush duels. You don't want to do this, you know this could affect the past. But you overhear that his man's species have been fighting in a big war for a long time and that the conflict has not ceased. Dueling from your experience has brought people closer and you can communicate through to people's hearts to make them understand (a common yugioh staple about dueling) and while you may not know why this guy wants rush duels to exist or how he knows of them, you have hope that maybe this could help stop strife. Maybe making them this early wouldn't be so bad? That and maybe making it early that could mean you could change the past of dueling and therefore the future of it for the better. You not just do such but along the way meet the ancestors of people who look similar to your friends. But they aren't the same people which logically makes sense but doesn't hurt any less. They remind you of home, a place that now you have kind of given up going back to. But hey, chin up! Rush Duels ending up saving the Velgearian and ending their war! That's great, you DID have a positive impact! Making Rush duels in the past was for the better.

Wait, now these two random guys have created Maximums by turning people into cards? Uh, that is a lot worse than how they were originally made. You get turned into card and two whole years pass while you are in that state. But no worries, you know you can trust you ancestors and their Velgearian friend to solve this. It'll all be fine. You then get sent back to the present just for a bit to observe your friends. But going back you are told by one of them that Dueling became complicated and out of the reach of kids. What you did in the past didn't change it. In fact, YOU caused the same cycle to happen. You try to ignore that thought and tell yourself that it can be fixed, you can change this. You head back to the past promising you will return home...hopefully. unbeknownst to you, your presence is creating a rift between two best friends because of their feelings for you. Feelings you are unaware of because at this point you are a 12 year old boy. One of them is the ancestor of the six ceos of Goha company, a company that in the future creates duel monsters, while the other is the ancestor of the Mutsuba company that deals with construction and is of now the owner of the city. Where you came from the town was called Goha city, not Mutsuba, the descendant of Mutsuba talked about how her family lost power and how Goha took over everything. In the past both companies were super close but then everything fell...and that falling is happening before you but you aren't even aware of it. But well at least the Maximum situation has been sol-oh a prototype of the Velgearian species is causing issues? Great, okay that can be solved. While it does get solved...you find out that the Velgearian are dying and fast. They are being wiped out, but why? You thought they were immortal, what could possibly be causing their extinction? They are using their energy while rush dueling which is shortening their lifespan. The thing you created to help them is what is going to end them. You are responsible for their demise. But then you find out that proto-Velgearian was trying to find a way to stop this. That he was looking into a way to revive the Velgearian but that research stopped. Your friends are trying to complete his goal but you begin to put the pieces together and realize what is being made, Monster Reborn.

The card that began the domino effect of the destruction of Rush Duels in your time. A card that alters the memories of others. The card that caused strife between siblings where they decided to destroy rush duels along with each other. It is now sinking in how everything is repeating itself and how this could be your fault. You have to, no, you NEED to stop this. Even if it means hurting those you care about. Even if they see you as their enemy and you are alone, you have to do this. You have to destroy what you love, you have to become the person you tried stopping before coming here. You now understand why he was trying to stop you those years ago. What other option is there? You can't tell them why making this card would be bad because your Velgearian friend wants his comrades back. He won't listen. No one will listen. The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few as they say. You fight your ancestors tooth and nail only for the card to be used and now all three of you can see each other's memories. Your ancestors now know what all will happen. You loose against them and the card is now unleashed. You couldn't stopped it. Your duel caused a rift in reality to open where now you can go home but you are leaving behind a road of the damage you have caused. Made worse with the fact that Monster Reborn can't even revive the Velgearian which is why the proto-Velgearian stopped his research. Making the card was pointless, and trying to stop it was utterly pointless. Your fighting to change the future only caused it to happen. You have to live with that. But not just you, but your ancestors too.

I know this is the goofy card game show but what the fuck. I didn't expect Yuga to become one of the most tragic yugioh protags. Watching his desperation of trying to stop the pain that is going to happen in his time and in turn having to destroy the very thing he loves was just heartbreaking. Anyway, I hope whoever reads this enjoyed my ramblings on Sevens and Go Rush. That and I hope people who weren't sympathetic to Yuga try to at least understand my perspective and such. Though I tend to like tragic characters a lot so maybe that is why I am sympathetic to him.

[apoptoses]

JESS i’m having louis/armand/daniel brain rot again, i wanna know your thoughts 🥺 specifically like, are there any things that armand and daniel enjoyed during their DM years that you think they might pick back up with louis at trinity gate? i feel like in my head, daniel is always kind of the third wheel (at trinity gate, at least), but i’m really fascinated by the idea of LOUIS being the one to step into their world for a change

oh man oh man, I LOVE this question!! and i have so many thoughts!!

Movies: we know Louis watches movies from how he kept showing up at Lestat's in body thief to stare at his tv lol But I think Armand and Daniel have so many inside jokes from all of the weirdo movies they used to watch, or quotes that they repeat and Louis doesn't get it. So I think they'd really enjoy sitting him down and subjecting him to the Worst Hits of Armand's Movie Phase.

And Daniel especially would enjoy the validation that some of these are fuckin terrible films LOL They could mind gift back and forth about how insipid Louis finds the plot until Daniel is sitting there choking back laughter because finally, someone who agrees Time Bandits isn't that funny.

Video Games: I don't mean modern console games, I mean like classic arcade games and pinball machines. Which Armand probably has a whole room of them in the basement somewhere, lovingly restored and in perfect condition. And I think Louis would be a little hesitant- he seems like the type who acts 'above' certain things just because if he tries it and sucks at it he'll feel humiliated. But even he can't resist the siren call of PacMan and eventually he's knocked them both down on the scoreboard and taken the top spot.

(Also they like to go out a lot so sometimes they end up at like, Dave n Busters LOL Which is far more contentious because ugh, it's noisy and tacky and smells like that radioactive 'cheese' mortals cover their nachos with. But your jock!Louis headcanons have bewitched me and I think they could soothe him by getting him to shoot hoops on the basketball game)

Going Out-Out: Louis is such a homebody when left to his own devices and now that they've got Trinity Gate, home to whatever vampires want to stop by, what's the point in spending time among mortals?

So they'd ease him in with some random one-off classes ("Come, Louis, we've an appointment to learn to make fresh pasta tonight" "Yeah, I know, what's the point when we don't eat, just don't argue with him, it'll be fun" And you know what? It is). And then they'd take him to random stuff from the meetup app (or not so random, because both of them know Louis wouldn't be able to resist debating strangers at a weekly book club).

And then they're back to running around strange apartment buildings to meet up and coming artists, and accepting invites to follow their classmates down to a local bar, and crashing the sets of night shoots around New York. It goes better when it's the three of them because when someone is over it and ready to go home there's no obligation to stay and keep their partner company. No pressure to do anything but enjoy existing together out in the world for a few hours.

Special mentions:

board games (the more obscure the better)

travel (this time Louis and Daniel are more mentally present lol)

letting armand play sugar daddy and picking their outfits for the ballet (which leads to some altercations that have armand feeling like that post about 'help my subs have unionized')

weird 70s/80s craft nights (louis ends up gifting his tie dye shirt to lestat, armand and daniel send theirs to marius)

'treasure hunting' aka scamming the wealthy out of their art collections (louis doesn't care about the value, he does however feel some righteous indignation over important historical pieces being kept in vaults as some tech bro's 'investment'; daniel is just happy to finally understand how armand does it, and take part in it himself)

abusing kitchen gadgets (doesn't matter who you are, playing 'will it blend' can catch the fascination of even the most arrogant, erudite vampires)

[the-bitter-ocean]

oceaaaannn hiii! let's go with 3, 5, and 15 for the isat ask game c:

(MAJOR A6SE / 2HATS SPOILERS + FULL GAME SPOILERS AHOY) Thank you for the questions @dekupalace ! Since I’m going to be talking more in depth about the game for one of these questions I’m going to put my responses under a read more:

3- favorite soundtrack?

Oh god that’s such a hard question the whole game has certified bangers. The musicians at Studio Thumpy Puppy were not messing around or pulling any punches. The soundtrack of the game elevates literally every emotional beat. If I was forced to choose only one song out of the soundtrack my favorite track in the whole game has to be “How Can You Help Me, Stardust?” aka the theme that plays when you fight Loop at the Favor tree during act six. Hearing that for the first time while getting the full context of loop’s backstory made me go crazy. It was so fucking emotional and well done. That and it’s just objectively a super intense high energy song that makes me wanna dance around. If anyone deserves the coolest fight theme in the game, it’s Loop.

5- favorite optional event?

Ooh this is also a hard one! I adore a lot of the optional story events because each of them really shed light on Siffrin’s mental state /characterization, as well as gives depth to other aspects like the other character of the world building as a whole which strengthens the themes of the story. Aside from the obvious choice (2Hats Ending/ Act six loop encounter) I think my favorite optional event would have to be the “Who Was Phone” achievement (Change God event). There’s something so fascinating about learning about the Change God. Someone who clearly adores their certified little guy (Mirabelle) and is willing to offer words of kindness and assurance in her identity even if it knows she won’t remember in one instance..and then in the very same breath tell Siffrin that they enjoy watching Siffrin in the timeloop torment nexus because they’re curious to see how they change in a situation where everything is forced to stagnate. It was so genuinely fucked. I will think about it always forever.

15- anything you’d change about the game? be it game mechanics, a new feature, a change in plot, etc

Overall I’m pretty satisfied with the game both in story and gameplay actually. I think Adrienne did a good job writing and expanding on the characters and story that was set up in the prologue. The quality of life in terms of gameplay got improved since the previous game as well ( those who played the prologue can attest to this) . The fact that it was a in universe story reason as to why makes it all the more satisfying (if you want to know what I mean by that please read my mutuals @felikatze analysis about it here.)

I just am happy that Siffrin got to be happy in the end and stay with their family, to be able to talk things out and escape the loops. I know some people didn’t like that or expected a more darker/sadder ending or wanted the gameplay to be more challenging … my response to that is Literally Just Play Start Again: A Prologue. To me it would be extremely reductive to have Siffrin just suffer with no reprieve or escape from the loops (because that’s just a repeat of what happened in its predecessor) or have the group just split off from each other immediately after everything happened. It would have been extremely unsatisfying and ultimately missing the point of the themes of the game as a whole gonna be real lol.

The only things I’d maybe change or add is like it would’ve been cute to see Euphrasie and Claude be together/ reunite on screen in act 6. They should kiss. Lol. (That and just I would’ve personally loved to see Euphrasie in canon expanded on a little more but that’s not necessarily needed she serves her purpose in the narrative. I just like analyzing her and giving her more depth and I like when others do too, but that’s what fanart/ fics and aus are for so I’m not fussed.) 

I don’t mind that the game is sort of open ended and doesn’t answer all the questions. I think that gives artists, fanfic writers, Au makers and people who like to analyze the game more freedom to come up with their own interpretations for things that happened in pre canon and post canon which to me is more interesting. I know Loop disappearing at the end of the game in both endings is sad/ bittersweet but I wouldn’t necessarily change the way that was structured either. I like that their fate was ambiguous because it leads the viewer to come up with their own theories as to where they went. ( personally I love seeing stuff where loop gets to travel on their own and form a new life and identity outside of the loops and learn to heal, as well as post game getting to meet back up with the party and learn to navigate this new life/ change one step at a time. )

[thenukacolachallenge]

some fun facts about Luis and André Peña(his VA) Part Two: Electric Boogaloo

okay so i did one of these that was just from the Nick Apostolides streams(minus the Separate Ways DLC stream(s), THOUGH I DO WANNA WATCH THAT), but now i'm going through other videos of streams and finding out even more stuff that i wanna talk about lol sooooo... PART TWO BABEY

this all is from Twitch Streamer Peralt's charity stream for JDRF UK, in which André is a guest on! it's a fun watch, i recommend the whole video tbh, André gives out a lot of useful life and acting advice and the vibe is just lots of fun. but, these posts are primarily for stuff related to Luis, which is what i'll be cataloguing!

NOW WITH TIMESTAMPS BY REQUEST!

-André considers the role of Luis to be more than just voice acting, more of just full-on acting, since he also did his motion capture, which i find very interesting. i always love hearing the BTS processes of things i enjoy and that's such a cool fact. i'm sure most people know that he did mocap for Luis already, but I like that André doesn't consider his performance as Luis very different from a regular acting role. (timestamp)

-André took the more cheerful aspects of Luis from his own personality. He mentions that he's a relatively happy person himself, but that happiness comes from knowing darkness, and that was just something that he kind of naturally transferred over to Luis, considering Luis's backstory itself is so dark. One of the first things that drew me to Luis in this game was his goofy behavior in a terrifying situation, so i'm thankful for it! (timestamp)

-André also gives a lot of interesting BTS with pointing out the differences in acting mocap vs stage vs onscreen acting. it's not related to Luis per se outside of his relation to André, but it is SUPER fascinating, and you can tell André is really passionate about acting and it makes me appreciate his performance all the more. I can't wait to see him in new roles! (timestamp)

-When asked if there was anything from OG Luis that André took with him as character inspiration/canonicity/whatever else, he mentioned that he tried to take mostly the essence of Rino Romano's voice and mannerisms, and tried to emulate all of that without it being in "bad taste"(in reference to OG Luis being kind of gross toward women), and kind of added more quirkiness as more of his own spin on it. personally i think he did a great job; Luis is still very much a flirt, but he comes across as less of a creep and more just a harmless flirty goofball, which i think threads the needle really well for him as a character! (timestamp)

-(not related to Luis, but André is very adamant that the S in Leon S. Kennedy stands for Sancho, not Scott, which makes me giggle) (timestamp)

-André picked up smoking(again) for the role of Luis! it was also how he practiced Luis's lighter trick(which he clarifies is referred to as 'lighter juggling'); every time he'd have a cig, he made it so he had to do the tricks before he could light it. One of the tricks is called "the Infinity", where you flip the lighter through your fingers in a continuous motion, and there's one where you toss the lighter in the air, and close it as you catch it. He was a smoker growing up, he had stopped, he picked up the habit again for Luis, and then threw his cigs out the second he finished his final scene as Luis. He also clarifies NOT to smoke; he is able to start and stop smoking fairly easily, but that is not the case for most people. As a former smoker myself, i agree: if you dont already smoke, don't pick it up! don't pick up vaping either please!!! (timestamp)

-not related to Luis, but André talks a bit with Peralt(the streamer) about self-defense, martial arts, and alcohol. He tells a story about how he got jumped in a bar by a drunk guy and how his background in self-defense helped there, and talks about the effects of excess alcohol consumption. i keep repeating this, but the stream is a really good one, and i highly recommend watching it yourself! (timestamp)

-Someone asked what André thinks about the Luis and Leon shipping, and I really like his answer. He starts off by clarifying that everyone is allowed to have their headcanons, and there's nothing wrong with shipping in general, and to ship whatever you like. However, for André himself, he used the model of how he and his brother interact for how Luis interacts with Leon. He likes to goad his brother, who he describes as "a hothead" and "like Leon", and so he transferred a lot of that energy into Luis goading and teasing Leon. He played Luis as realizing that he and Leon are stuck together, and he knows Leon won't do anything to really harm Luis, so he put a lot of energy into basically razzing him like one would a sibling. He also finished by once again clarifying that people are allowed to do whatever they want in their own headcanon lol. (some people do get really upset about that stuff!) (timestamp)

-as a quick aside to the above conversation, André mentions that Luis cares SO MUCH about Ashley. When it comes to Leon, Luis is, in André's own words, "a dick to him". Ashley, to Luis, is "pure" - the one thing in the entire scenario that has no business being in this place. With Leon, Luis knows from his uptight demeanor, that he's been through hell before - this guy is stuck with him, in hell, for better or worse. But Ashley is innocent, dragged into this to be a pawn of Saddler's. So he's most concerned with Ashley's safety overall, and André tried to really push that concern and care in his performance. i think it really shows, especially in the scene after the cabin standoff, where Ashley coughs up blood and Luis immediately realizes that she's been infected, and he has to save her. (timestamp)

-During Luis' scene in the vanilla game with Ada(not Separate Ways scenes, although i think this scene is in the dlc too?), André confirms that Luis telling Ada "you should be telling me what a good job i did" is just him trying to make up an excuse of sorts for not having the Amber on him. Small detail, but one i like! (timestamp)

-André once more affirms that Luis is a cat person! He also specifically states, again, that he'd probably start off as not a pet person, but he'd probably get adopted by a stray cat, who he'd leave out food for but eventually let into his home, and that'd begin his love for cats. He also mentions that actors have to think about things like this, to flesh out their characters, which makes me wonder what other headcanons he has for Luis! (tbf tho, i've been wondering this since i watched André's unboxing of the Luis jacket he got commissioned for cosplay, and he mentioned that Luis loves spice) (timestamp)

-in the end, the stream raised a bit shy of 1k for the charity JDRF, which is super awesome!!!! i am several months late but congrats to Peralt's community for making that happen!!!

that was all i managed to find out about Luis specifically, but if i missed anything, feel free to add on in a comment! sometimes it's hard to hear with so many people talking and so much going on, but i'm enjoying learning about Luis outside of the game itself like this :D i'm planning on watching André's streams, the rest of Nick's streams, Nicole Tompkins'(Jill Valentine's VA) streams with André as a guest, and anymore i can find, so if i mind out more stuff about Luis from these vids, yall can expect more of these hahaha!

[vro0m]

2016 season summary

Alright let’s get the general stuff out the way first because we all know this is mainly gonna be about brocedes anyway.

General stuff :

First of all F1 really fucked up with trying to change quali and with the incredibly stupid radio ban. Also they’ve been sold to Liberty media so you know things are gonna change.

At the start of the season Ferrari looks pretty good but they’re not winning the development war. For RedBull : there’s the controversial swap with Max making it into the A-Team after just 4 races. The relationship between Daniel and Max is interesting. There’s a clear time when you can tell Ricciardo starts feeling threatened by the kid. They’re getting closer and closer to Mercedes as well. And of course there’s literally a whole rule added by Charlie because of how Max drives, i.e. dangerously.

Okay now let’s get to the main topic, brocedes :

Look. It’s gonna be difficult to write this because what hasn’t been written about it already? I’m not gonna have a smarter or original thing to say, so I guess all I can do is give my own outlook on things.

First of all, I do agree Nico probably would not have won a title if it wasn’t for Lewis’ bad luck. But it doesn’t actually matter. Luck is part of the sport. In 2015, Nico was the unlucky one out of the two. That’s just how it is : you need a good driver in a good car with a good strategy but if your driver is unlucky none of it counts.

Reliability is also not the only problem Lewis faces that season. Because of it and because of the mechanics swap (which imo was a very poor managerial decision btw, way too radical), he gets very very deep in his head. Adaptability is truly not his best trait, to this day. He’s very unhappy about the swap, and then he gets paranoid with the reliability issues, even suggesting some conspiracy theory at some point (Malaysia - and yeah I absolutely do not believe the official Merc version that he was alluding to a higher power rather than someone sabotaging him). He just can’t get over himself, not that it would have changed much of anything to his engine repeatedly failing.

Thus, Lewis’ self-narration progressively goes from “I’m heroically battling the odds and not giving up” to “he’s only winning because I had reliability issues” when it becomes clear he’s only gonna beat Nico through actual divine intervention. He’s absolutely unable to recognize Nico’s work. Even after Nico has won, he keeps saying “I don’t wanna take anything away from him, he did everything he had to this year BUT”. And he just can’t let go of that “but”. He says it every single time. He can’t accept that he lost, or maybe he can’t accept that Nico won. I know I keep saying it but once again : Nico won against someone he saw as better than him, and Lewis lost to someone who he saw as not as good as he is. And he can’t accept it. And that’s why to this day, Nico is able to talk freely about their rivalry and about Lewis, and Lewis can’t. 

And – sorry for this personal vendetta but yes, I’m gonna mention it – the funny thing about this is, Lewis early on in the season (Bahrain GP) said in an interview that the issue with racing now is that drivers get coaches when psychologists just mess with your mind and they don’t need all that. Meanwhile Nico credited part of what allowed him to win that year to working “extremely intensely” with a sport psychologist. So. Yeah. Just saying. Maybe if he worked with a psychologist he wouldn’t have gotten that paranoid but who knows. Anyway, moving on. This really isn’t Lewis’ best year. That’s probably the least likeable I’ve seen him. And I understand why some people saw him as arrogant. Because he fucking is. (Doesn’t matter btw, I love a cocky asshole, but it’s honest to mention it I think.)

I’m absolutely fascinated with Nico’s departure as well. We’ve talked about it a bit in the last review but of course I’m gonna talk about it again. Right when I started watching the brocedes era for this rewatch (which, again, up to this point isn’t really a rewatch but a watch), I mentioned that being in this fandom without actually having seen it with my own two eyes gave me the very wrong picture of what it was like. Nico has been demonised a lot by Lewis’ fans, and I don’t think most of it was justified. I also think a lot of newer fans interpret the story with the current Lewis in mind (i.e. generally extremely clean racer, very good at media com, very good at portraying himself as good and above petty disputes – whether he truly is above them remains to be proven) but Lewis was an asshole much more outwardly at the time it happened, and he still had a lot of maturing to do, and his com was pretty bad (think of the Japanese GP snapchat scandal stupidity, I mean… the whole thing was ridiculous to being with, but he unfortunately handled it very poorly as well – if such a thing happened today he would react very differently). Anyway, I will forever wonder whether it could have been possible for them to have such a rivalry in a mature way later on, or if the fact that it’s THEM makes it impossible for them to be mature about it, in the way siblings can never fight without all the weight of their childhood on their backs.

Similarly, I feel like when you don’t know the actual story, like I mentioned in the Abu Dhabi review, it seems like Lewis won the war as Nico gave up on F1. But that’s not true. And look. You know I don’t really do fanfiction but I want to say that the first person who opened my eyes to it even before I got to the end of the season and saw it for myself was Akira (@effervescentdragon) in this ficlet. Credit where it’s due, what she wrote really stayed with me while watching the end of this season. Anyway, forgive me for quoting myself from the last race review, but there’s no use paraphrasing something I already wrote :

And I think it’s an important thing to finish on. Because a lot of people have said (I mean I’ve just read it in one of the articles I’ve read for this conclusion) that Nico won the battle but Lewis won the war because Nico basically gave up. I myself have alluded to this in the “Lewis breaks his teammates essay”. Lewis did break Nico. I mean Nico said pretty plainly that he was unable (but maybe more importantly unwilling) to keep putting so much effort into beating Lewis. But Lewis didn’t win the war, Nico did. Because Lewis never got to beat him again. [...] And Nico robbed him of a chance to set things right in his mind. In the story of their rivalry, the last thing that happened is, and will forever be : Nico won. And that’s Nico’s everlasting victory.

Let’s talk numbers : so far, I’ve completed 56.6% of my rewatch. In total, I’ve made 1,862 GIFs to illustrate it.

Here’s a list of the 2016 GPs with a quick summary and the link to the actual recap if you wanna read it or take a look at the GIFs I made :

Australian GP : season context, quali fiasco, Lewis pole, interviews, bad start, horrible crash with a redflag, slight Toro Rosso drama, Lewis P2

Bahrain GP : quali fiasco still being revised, Lewis pole, Alonso is NOT back, another interview, Angela, got overtaken by nico then contact with val, pretty good racing but not at the front, Lewis P3

Chinese GP : absolute disaster of a weekend, first PU failure, chaotic start, three pit stops in the first ten laps???, lots of overtakes, Lewis p7

Russian GP : abysmally stupid halo conversation, second PU failure + issues during the race, messy messy start, mechanics swap, lewis P2, bonus

Spanish GP : lewis pole, Max promoted to RedBull, obviously well. Double DNF.

Monaco GP : not on pole, mixed conditions, but still 44th win!

Canadian GP : controversial start incident, battle with Seb, nice podium, the seagull incident, Ted being very partial, Lewis wins!

European GP : bad quali and another engine problem, stupid radio ban, Lewis P5

Austrian GP : pole!, complicated race, shocking plot twist, lots of post race debrief, Lewis wins

British GP : Lewis pole, karting interview, wet start, loads of cars losing it, radio ban issue for Nico, Lewis wins

Hungarian GP : huge quali controversy, the radio ban gets even stupider, possibly some shady backing up and brake issues?, Lewis wins, championship lead! Raikkonen doesn’t like Max’s driving

German GP : Nico interview, strategy group meeting, pretty boring race, Lewis wins

Belgian GP : engine penalty, terrible Brundle opinions on the halo, incredibly chaotic race, Lewis P3 after an extreme recovery

Italian GP : extremely boring race, nothing to say, Lewis P2

Singapore GP : chaotic start, very very weird strategy calls, Lewis P3

Malaysian GP : fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck (but more seriously : turning point moment?, tragic ending, hurt no comfort, conspiracy theories, etc.)

Japanese GP : Snapchat controversy, another bad start, many overtakes early on, suspenseful ending, WCC decider

US GP : Lewis interview, Lewis pole, but more reliability problems, Lewis’ 50th win! Adorable podium.

Mexican GP : Lewis pole Lewis win, but nobody cares because there’s incredible drama between Max and Seb, none of your business

Brazilian GP : very very chaotic wet race, Massa’s last home race, lovely radio, baby Charles is in love, Lewis win

Abu Dhabi GP : obvious title decider, some stuff about Nico’s decision to leave F1

[halliescomut]

Our Dining Table: Costuming Analysis

Alright…week 3..4?? of me begging you to watch Our Dining Table. No spoilers in this one, I actually wanna talk about one of my favorite underrated things in TV shows…wardrobe and costuming.

I’m going to be focused on the wardrobe of Minoru and Yutaka, but I’ll also touch on Tane and Koji (who I may also call Papa).

Wardrobe is one of the most fascinating things to me about film and television, but it is especially important in television (I think) because TV shows more often show a day-to-day story.  There may be time jumps, but in general you’re following these characters through daily life.  Character costuming is intended to not stand out unless that’s the point (see Tankhun) but instead add additional dimension to each character and enhance the information being presented by the script, actors, and director.

Looking at Yutaka first, what we know about Yutaka is that he is fairly simple, not very gregarious, quite kind, and from a monetarily privileged upbringing. He works a steady job, I would imagine likely has a college degree, and while he may be a mid-level employee, he’s probably making a decent salary. His clothing you see throughout the show is often simple, we don’t see loud patterns or a lot of color, he generally sticks with neutrals across the board, which makes it simpler for him to build perfectly fine outfits. His clothing is generally very neat, seems to most often be natural fibers, making it comfortable to an extent.  It also appears to be more on the expensive end, not designer, but not Walmart.

So, what does this tell us about Yutaka? He’s not really interested in appearing fashionable, his clothing allows him to blend in, not be noticed, which we’ve seen is kind of his preference. He takes pride in looking well put together but doesn’t necessarily want to put in a large amount of effort. The natural fibers tell us that comfort matters a bit more than style, but also that he’s not going out of his way to buy something markedly expensive. Touching back on the expense, with his history and being from a fairly privileged family, my interpretation (which is based on experience with friends) is that he’s not seeking out buying expensive clothing for prestige, but more just shopping at the stores he’s used to going to, the stores his parents would have taken him to.  A secondary benefit is that he’s buying higher quality clothing that with care is going to last him a fairly long time, which means less having to shop for replacements.

Moving to Minoru, but also the Ueda family as a whole. They’re clearly a working-class family, but may not be financially struggling, but more just coasting to a certain extent. The family as a whole wears some brighter colors, mostly Tane by the simple fact that he’s a child and children’s clothing is often colorful. I’m not going to say their clothing is unfashionable, because that’s too much of a subjective term, but more I’ll say that it’s serviceable, especially the adults. Papa and Minoru both wear comfortable basic clothing items, rarely anything ‘fancy’. We don’t see slacks, or neatly pressed clothing, just comfortable basics. Minoru tends to stick with cargo pants, jeans and sweats, with cotton t-shirts and hoodies.  Any of these items could be looked at and seen as well used, or possibly even purchased secondhand. In Minoru’s case specifically, it’s likely that much of the clothing is pieces he’s had for several years, as he’s a young adult and isn’t having to purchase new items to accommodate for regular growth spurts.

So, what does this say about Minoru? Comfort is high on his level of importance with his clothing. While his clothing is always clean, not in need of repair, or clearly mended, which indicates that he takes care of his clothes, but also doesn’t feel pressed to make a single item last as long as possible. Again, with the natural fibers, which promotes the individual comfort of the wearer, but also conveys a sense of comfort and softness to the viewer. We’re far more likely to think of someone as comforting wearing a soft, worn sweatshirt versus an itchy wool sweater. By their ages, which are fairly similar, we do also see Minoru looking slightly more juvenile, which could be indicative of him continuing to wear clothing from his teen years because it’s still in perfectly good condition for wear. What look to be the newest items he wears are his coats and jackets and his uniform at the ramen shop, which you can attribute to a combination of outerwear generally being worn less often, meaning less wear and tear, and the likelihood that his uniform is provided by his employer, and therefore replaced whenever it’s worn to a point where they deem it unwearable.

Looking at Tane, his style matches that of his father and brother in that he’s seen wearing very comfortable clothes. There’s occasionally some mismatching going on, which for his age (I’m guessing around 6) could be just because he’s dressing himself or because Minoru and Papa don’t care if he’s mismatched…or both honestly. His clothes, noticeably to me, look to be slightly better quality than what we see on Minoru. They also obviously look newer, but Tane is likely only just getting to the stage where his growth has plateaued to the point that he might wear out an item of clothing before he grows out of it. I also don’t see much cohesion in the styles or themes of his clothes, which to me implies that they’re letting Tane pick a lot of his clothing in the store, versus them picking it out. Generally, when parents purchase clothing for their kids, they stick to the colors and styles that they themselves feel comfortable in. Going off Minoru that would mean Tane in sportswear like sweatshirts, track pants, etc.; maybe jeans but with limited funds, items with more give, would be preferable. Tane also has some ‘nicer’ clothing as well, not necessarily formal, but whatever the child equivalent of business casual would be (I would call them church clothes).

So, what can we read from Tane’s clothing? It’s in good condition, fits well, contains a few what I would call department store pieces, which are slightly more expensive than what we see on Minoru and Papa. This indicates he’s well cared for and that new good quality clothing for him is prioritized over other members of the household. The mismatching, and not so cohesiveness of the wardrobe overall indicates that he’s probably allowed to pick his own clothing and outfits regularly. In some cases, combined with other things, this could indicate lack of adult involvement, but here it’s mostly likely meant to imply that Minoru and Koji are encouraging Tane’s independence, and helping him learn to be self-sufficient (which is in line with general cultural norms of Japan).

Papa, or Koji, now we get to a little more fun. Of all the characters, Koji’s wardrobe and costuming is the most interesting to me and generally the most interesting to look at. His wardrobe, like the rest of the Ueda family is comfortable, well-worn, but also includes far more traditional Japanese cultural pieces than Minoru and Tane, who wear majority 'western’ styles. His clothing is often mismatched outside of the occasions where we see him wearing a full outfit. The styles we see of western clothing is along more classical lines, as opposed to ‘trendy’ pieces.

Looking at what this information is meant to impart, we see some repetition of course, the desire for comfort over being fashionable, serviceable clothing that shows wear as well as care. The inclusion of traditional Japanese clothing pieces emphasizes the generational divide, but also I think serves as an intentional counterpoint to Papa’s clearly accepting nature. As this is a queer story, the audience would have some concern over the possibility of him not accepting Minoru and Yutaka’s relationship. The mismatching outside of full outfits that don’t require decision-making to match, tells us that Koji doesn’t particularly care about looking ‘good’ especially while at home, as we actually only see him in the Ueda house. The classic styles of his western clothing I think serve a two-fold purpose.  The most important is I think an indication of how he is able to be both traditional and modern in his mindset. He can respect and appreciate the traditions and styles of his culture and want to keep those alive without perpetuating outdated discrimination. A common phrase you see in the western vintage clothing community is “Vintage clothing not vintage values”, which I think gets my point across a little better and definitely more succinctly.  The second purpose is that it makes it difficult to determine when a piece would have been bought. Take the polo shirt he’s wearing- the viewer would have no way of knowing if it was purchased in 1984, 2006, or 2019 outside of physically inspecting it (and having a remarkably in-depth knowledge of polo shirts).  We also wouldn’t know if it was purchased new, at a discount shop, or second-hand.

I’m going to make a brief stopover to talk about Yutaka’s adoptive family, just to give some context. All dress very similarly to Yutaka, expensive, higher-end clothing, but not ostentatious. They follow a similar muted color palette of mostly neutrals as well. I would note that Yuki’s clothing is more well-fitted than Yutaka’s perhaps not tailored, or not always tailored, but probably actively tried on in stores where Yutaka would likely just buy the size he knows usually fits and if it’s a little loose who cares. Bottom line is Yuki is a man who strikes me as someone who knows what his inseam length is while Yutaka may not even know what an inseam is.

The Evolution of Yutaka’s clothing through the series

Yutaka’s sense of fashion doesn’t necessarily change, but you can see a progression in him through his clothing. We get a sense of two Yutaka’s in the beginning: work Yutaka and off-duty Yutaka. His work attire is as expected, your standard salaryman suit with an assortment of bland ties. Occasionally he wears a sweater as well, which makes sense as it’s winter. Off duty Yutaka wears jeans, though nice ones, not worn, no decorative rips, with sweaters and occasionally a button-up as well. We only see him in ‘comfortable’ clothing at home. The first time Minoru sees him in ‘comfortable’ clothing is episode 5, when Tane spills something on his shirt and Minoru gives him a sweatshirt to wear. Seeing Yutaka in that style of clothing is him becoming more comfortable with Minoru. He’s okay with Minoru seeing him at ‘less than his best’. We see it again in the next episode with Minoru coming to take care of a sick Yutaka at his home.

The ‘comfy’ clothes indicate Yutaka’s willingness to be vulnerable in Minoru’s presence. We also see a progression from mostly blacks, whites, and greys to more colors. We start with blue, which makes sense to me, as it’s not outside of Yutaka’s comfort zone, but it’s also a color we see a lot of in the Ueda house. This is a visual indication that Yutaka is not only welcome there, but fits in. He can belong there. I feel it also shows Yutaka becoming a bit braver over the course of the show as well.  In our most recent episode, we see our biggest leap-- THE YELLOW SWEATER. 

Interestingly he wears this sweater to his parent’s house. Seeing him in that space…he doesn’t fit in there anymore. That house is all cool-tone neutrals, but that’s not Yutaka anymore. He’s come to life. And do we even need to talk about the metaphor of him taking off the neutral greige jacket and showing that sunshine yellow underneath? Right before he reveals to his brother that he’s found his place, that he’s found himself??? He’s not going through the motions of trying to fit in, he’s not attempting to blend into the background. Oh! It’s beautiful!!  Not to mention we see Tane in yellow throughout the show, which I believe makes the yellow sweater a little bit of a nod to Tane’s youthful kind spirit helping bring life to Yutaka.

In a final wrap up I want to discuss what is one of my favorite things to see in serialized television and that is outfit repeating…or at least clothing pieces repeating. It’s not something you see a lot of in television, though you see it more in long running or serialized television in the west, because wardrobe and costuming can be expensive.  But I specifically appreciate it when you’re dealing with working-class characters. It’s impractical for a character who supposedly depends on their job to live to have an entire new outfit every single day.  Having limited wardrobes for characters and showing items worn repeatedly adds to the realism of a show. It also enables you to add personality. As in real life a character would wear their favorite items of clothing a bit more often. We see Yutaka repeat whole outfits, which probably means that he’s not really thinking about making unique fashion choices, but instead just knows what goes together to look presentable. With Minoru you see different items of clothing repeated but never a whole outfit (outside of his work uniform). But you also don’t see anything that looks contrived or like an attempt at a fashionable or cohesive outfit, which indicates a lack of concern about fashion, but also a lack of concern of other’s perception. He doesn’t care what other people think about the way he dresses; it just isn’t something that has occurred to him at all.

Well, I hope you enjoyed. I don’t know if this will have encouraged you to watch the show, but I certainly hope you will.

NOTE: Many pics were pulled from various posts here, and I wanted to give credit. Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, Link 4, Link 5, Link 6, Link 7, Link 8, Link 9, Link 10, Link 11, Link 12, Link 13, Link 14

[omophagic-beast]

for the tarot rpg ask game! The Fool, The Empress, The Hierophant, The Chariot, The Hanged Man, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Sun!

!!! wowow hi!! thank you for all the questions, im gonna put them under a read more as to not clog up peoples dashes

from this ask game

The Fool – What do the earliest stages of work on a game look like for you? OR How did you get into game design?

i have a notes discord server! and a channel in there specifically for game ideas. previously i had a big word document titled "game ideas", but its easier to access discord from my phone lol

usually i have an idea and i stick it in there first

heres the start of the pillars of creation :3

and then ill noodle around with it, just brainstorm and slap spaghetti around. this is another reason why i like discord for this at the moment, its informal and easy, much less daunting than a word doc

i didnt end up using most of the bits here lol

and then ill move it into a word doc once its clear that ive got an actual project / game starting to form!

the one problem with this is sometimes ill keep an idea in there for much longer than i should and it becomes a mess of me replying to myself, terrible to follow. this is the current problem with moonlight whaling, sigh

The Empress — Where do your ideas come from? OR Do you seek out or avoid inspiration while working on an idea?

a lot of places!! tumblr being one of them, sometimes ill see a post where im like "huh that could be a game in some way" and ill stick it in my notes discord for later. but really anything, books, movies, songs, other games. im not the first to say this but u gotta read / watch / experience new things to make new things

The Hierophant — Who is a fellow game designer you’ve learned a lot from? OR What is a piece of popular wisdom about games you think is nonsense?

i answered the second one here so ill answer the first!

ive learned a lot from any designer whos game ive played or read, to start. but i wanna shout out @thydungeongal on here, her posts abt game design and rollmaster / d&d are highly highly fascinating and helpful to me, as a guy who hasnt even played d&d let alone any old school stuff and just kinda jumped into the indie scene from the start.

kinda makes me wanna play rollmaster, ngl. whats it doin with all those mechanics and tables =w=

The Chariot — What is the next project you’re planning to start OR What is the next project you’re excited to finish?

this has been my big question to myself recently, what game to really focus in on next. i have games that just need to be finished, but i think my next one* is gonna be this time travel game ive been thinking of

working title is Hooked, and the reason i think im going to start (and finish) it next is cause ive already got the main mechanic figured out, where when you fail a roll you can choose to create a hook, and in doing so succeed the roll

but that hook is a place where a future you has traveled back to that point in time and given you what you needed to succeed, which means at some point youre going to have to come back and close the loop, or else risk creating a paradox

too many paradoxes and the universe explodes so like. be careful :3!

it is going to be a lot of work, i want the general aesthetic to be the journal of a time traveler, with notes from all their future and past selves scrawled in the margins in different colors. and theres the question of if its a solo game or multiplayer, or both. solo-friendly is my current thought, but encouraged for more than one person. but we'll see how it actually plays.

The Hanged Man — What other creative pursuits do you have? OR What current trends in game design are you most interested in?

someone should ask me this again cause i wanna answer the other one also :3c

but! i have a crochet project on the mind so i wanna talk abt other stuff im into also :3

im currently considering ADHD and how it could possibly relate to myself, so just keep that in mind when i say ive dipped my paws into a whoooole lot of different creative hobbies. sewing, knitting, pottery, bookbinding, needle felting, jewelry making, and yea, crochet, are all stuff ive been into at one point or another

but my favorites are crochet and cooking / baking. for most of my life i thought my career was gonna be in food service! ive been a baker, cake decorator, and diner cook before, and loved all three of those jobs.

and crochet is great mainly cause you can make stuffed animals / amigurimis >:33 i loooove little guys and being able to choose what soft yarn im gonna make em out of, though its been a minute since ive made one. but!! like i mentioned ive got a project on the mind, as im gonna try and make the "something strange and indescribable" from the Before the Flood backerkit campaign and im very excited abt it :3 stay tuned for posts abt my success or failure on this front

The Devil — What motifs or mechanics do you just keep coming back to? OR What is a game you’ve enjoyed playing in the last year?

NIGHTHAWKS by @titanrpg is really really good. it has a heart in it, one that beats at an all too-familiar rhythm. when i played it we told a story that was perhaps a touch too close to home as well, disparate sad people sitting several stools apart at a dive bar in a small town.

i have a tendency towards comedy when i play ttrpgs, but my favorite moments are all when ive been deeply serious and sad, and thats what i got from NIGHTHAWKS

The Tower — Talk about about a game you tried to make that crashed and burned.

center of the known universe was an anthology of games i wanted to make a while back, all inspired by the part of the nevadan desert i live in. i dont think its crashed and burned necessarily but i certainly never finished it and im not sure i ever will, though i still like the ideas for some of the games and may release them individually

The Star — Talk about a game you’re working on and what excites you about it.

a game ive been working on for a looong time that i dont think ive really talked abt on here is The Lady, The Tiger, and The Accused. its a descended from the queen game based on The Lady or The Tiger? short story, where (to put it very briefly) a king has created a new form of justice where the accused is put in an arena with two identical doors in front of them.

behind one door, a lady of an appropriate social standing for them to marry, behind the other a very hungry tiger. this leaves the verdict up to fate, for if the accused is innocent they will surely pick the door with the lady, and if they are guilty they will choose the door with the tiger.

but the accused in the story is also the lover of the lands princess, and when they look back at her for the last time she raises a hand and points towards one of the doors.

the question in the story is one of love. would the princess rather see her lover dead, or married to someone else?

what comes through the door, the lady or the tiger?

but! there are other characters in this story, with agency and lives of their own.

The Lady, The Tiger, and The Accused instead asks a question of trust. when The Accused looks back towards their princess, and she raises her hand, do they trust her? do they open the door that she points towards?

its a game for three players, with each person playing one of the titular characters. it uses the descended from the queen format to create the character of the princess throughout play, along with the characters of The Lady, The Tiger, and The Accused.

its a good game!! ive got a bit more work to do on it, mainly on the tiger role. not everyone is comfortable being an actual tiger and role playing scenes that involve communicating with humans or attending parties and such, it turns out.

but im really excited abt it overall :3 its good and fun and i think it uses the descended from the queen format really well and hopefully one day ill do a crowdfunding project for it and get enough money to hire a bunch of different artists to make princess illustrations for it >:333

The Sun — Talk about a game you’ve made that you’re proud of.

im proud of all of my games, in one way or another. but, with an obligatory Before the Flood mention (crowdfunding now!), im really and truly proud of my body is your body is our body is

it was my first kinda big game that i published, and there was a lot of stuff with the first edition i really wasnt super happy with. im really, really proud of myself for finally going back in this year and fixing it. its so much better now! in a lot of ways.

and i mean it was good to start with also, most of my problems were with the programming side of it. when i was making the second edition reading back through the game made me cry a bit lol. theres a lot of banger lines in there and a lot of feelings.

[aachria]

idk if anyone has asked this yet, but how did you come up with the idea of ed ?? they're so fascinating to me, and their entire character/everything you've done with them is so amazing & cool !!!

Deep author lore coming at you. You brought this upon yourself.

Alright Ed was first conceived because I previously had another OP OC who was not an isekai character (it’s just kinda something I do when I do a first watch of an anime, I create a character and take notes about the plot. I’m fucking weird don’t look at me) but then I was like “alright I wanna write a fic.” And basically spun a wheel in my head and it landed on isekai.

(I would have written about the original OC but they didn’t change much with the plot at all because again, they were basically just the lense through which I watched OP the first time.)

Literally just started writing shit for the first chapter without a single iota of plan- wrote it in one night then the next day I was like “goddamn I forgot I knew how to write I could make a hobby outta this.” And I did.

That was back when I was working full time so I’d just have a pad of sticky notes with me and whenever I had an idea of how Ed would fit into the plot it would be written down. (I still have all of these sticky notes!!!)

The goal was to write ten chapters before I published anything- just to make sure I always had something to fall back on and post if something happened. So once I had those ten chapters done: BAM BITCH SSSBMTY.

(Fun fact the name came from a translation of satires V.51) The full quote is “I know not which, but surely some star binds me to you.” (Or at least something close.)

So I’ve basically had everything for pre timeskip planned since before I started schooling again and Ed was birthed from many hours of labour, paper cutting, and me sticking my hands in an industrial oven. It shows.

Also that one time I dreamed up a plot point but we’re not going to talk about that. Actually now that I think about it Ed’s name might have come to me in a dream. Wonder what that means.

[its-all-or-nothing94]

Ravenblade - Part 2 // Ivar Lothbrok x OC

Summary: As Björn would like to keep an eye on his mysterious sister, she has her sights set on someone completely different, to the surprise of her brother and his.

Warnings: Language, Description of violence, light smut (implied but not fully described)

Pairing: Ivar x OC

A/N: Here is the second chapter :) Still, let me know if you wanna be on the tag list ;)

Masterlist

That evening the great sacrifice takes place, which is supposed to bring victory to the Vikings over the Saxons. Some Earl has decided to sacrifice himself for the cause, and Liv now stands beside her big brother and his brothers before the ceremony.

"You still owe me an answer," Bjorn whispers to her as they wait for Lagertha.

"I don't owe you anything," she says, continuing to look straight ahead.

"I still want to know why you're doing this and whose side you're on."

Now Liv looks at her big brother. "I am on Ragnar's side. I am doing this to avenge his death. Nothing more, nothing less."

"But why?"

"Have you seen him in the last ten years? No? Well, I have. And I have my reasons. But let my reasons be mine."

Then, as Lagertha begins to speak in the old language up front, Liv notices Björn slinking away. She doesn't care, but now she is standing next to Ivar. She looks at him briefly, and her eyes meet his. She grins briefly before turning her attention back to the front.

Lagertha is now sacrificing the Earl. Liv watches closely. It somehow fascinates her how her mother pushes the sword further and further into the man's chest.

Liv looks enthusiastically at Sven, who looks at her with a slight smirk. She feels Ivar's eyes on her. Liv likes it when a man is interested in her. It makes it all the easier to manipulate him. But with Ivar, it is something else. Somehow she feels drawn to him.

Once again, her gaze wanders to him, who is also looking at her with his deep blue eyes. A smile creeps onto her face.

When the ritual ends, Liv sees Ivar in front of the large bowl of blood. She walks up to him and stands next to him.

"May I?" she then asks, pointing to the blood. Ivar looks at her in surprise and then nods hesitantly.

Painting blood on someone is a sign of affection. Liv taps two fingers each into the blood and then looks Ivar in the eye before wiping her fingers across his face. Ivar closes his eyes briefly and then looks at her again. They maintain eye contact for a moment before Ivar dips his fingers in the blood and then does the same to Liv.

From a distance, they are watched by Björn and Ubbe. "I don't like this," murmurs Ubbe. He is not comfortable with the young warrior and does not trust her.

Björn shakes his head with his arms crossed. "She's manipulating him. That's what she's good at."

"Normally, I wouldn't have thought of Ivar as someone women so easily manipulate, but with her... I'm not so sure," the younger of the two concludes.

When everyone has retired to sleep before leaving, Liv sneaks out of the hut she and the Ravenblade have been assigned. She walks through the deserted town and creeps towards one particular hut.

Carefully she listens at the door and hears nothing. Then she opens it quietly and squeezes through a small crack. In front of her on a chair lies Hvitserk, snoring heartily. The position can't be comfortable, Liv thinks to herself and tiptoes past him. Then she stands in front of two doors. She briefly points her finger at both and then decides on the first one.

Silently she opens it, and to her luck, it is the room she was looking for. But to her surprise, he is sitting, still awake, with his back to her, and seems bent over something. Still silent, Liv closes the door again and takes a few steps toward her.

"You're quiet, but I know you're here," Ivar says suddenly, then turns to her.

She looks at him with raised eyebrows, a smug smile on her face. "But only because I wanted you to," she says, winking at him.

"What are you doing here?" he asks then.

Liv takes a few steps across the room, looking at what he owns. "Oh, I felt like company..."

Ivar follows her closely with his gaze. He can't figure her out. Liv walks up to him and stops in front of him. She leans down to him and looks him in the eye.

"Don't you want my company?" she asks directly.

"I... Uh..." he stammers briefly, which throws him off.

"I can leave as well," she says, standing up again and walking towards the door.

"No!" he says quickly. "No. Please stay."

Liv smiles at him and then walks back towards him. She pulls a chair towards her and sits in front of Ivar, so they are at eye level. She is so close to him that her knees touch his, and she has placed them to the left and right of his legs.

"Tell me something about yourself, Ivar the Boneless. That's what they call you, isn't it?"

Ivar nods, slightly befuddled, then looks away. "They do..."

"You don't like the name? I think it's a great one. Not as boring as 'the feared' or 'the cruel'.  Most of the time, they don't live up to their names anyway, but you... You're different."

Ivar looks her in the eye again and notices that Liv is getting closer to him. Suddenly she puts her lips to his, and he enjoys it briefly before pulling away from her again.

Slightly ashamed, he looks to the floor and bites his lips. "I can't..." he says, turning away from her. "If you're looking for that kind of company, I'm the wrong guy..." he continues seriously, and Liv looks at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What are you trying to say? If I want to spend time with you, I want to spend it with you, not with someone else."

Ivar looks at her again, and Liv can tell he is incredibly uncomfortable. "I can't... I can't do this. It."

Liv continues to look at him without making a face. Ivar would have expected something else. Either she would laugh at him or feel sorry for him, but nothing of the sort comes from Liv.

"Have you also been told that a deaf person cannot communicate?" she asks, and Ivar does not know what she is getting at. She takes a deep breath and then moves closer to him again. "How many times have you tried? With how many women?"

"Only with one, and it didn't work," Ivar says quietly.

Now Liv begins to laugh softly. But it's not that she's laughing at him, but rather at his pathetic attempt.

"And that already tells you it can't be done?" she asks, kneeling before him.

She starts to undo his trousers, and Ivar grabs her wrists. "What are you doing?" he asks, irritated, but she grins at him.

"I'm trying to prove you wrong." Hesitantly, Ivar lets go of Liv's wrists, and she expertly undoes his trousers.

Ivar feels the lust rising in him and his body changing. She looks him in the eyes and then begins to massage him slowly. Her movements become faster and her grip tighter, but Ivar doesn't mind. Then she winks at him and lowers her head.

It is not long before Ivar can no longer hold on. His body tenses, and he opens his mouth. He tries to stifle a moan and then looks down at Liv, who is just breaking away from him.

She straightens up again, grabs a piece of cloth lying on the table, and wipes her mouth and hands before looking at him triumphantly.

"What did I say? I guess it all comes down to technique."

With those words, she tosses the rag back on the table, winks at Ivar one last time, and then leaves the hut. Ivar looks after her in disbelief. How is he supposed to keep his hands off her now?

The following day the time has come. The enormous army leaves for England. All along the docks, people are saying goodbye to their loved ones.

Liv walks towards the dock where her boat is moored and stops as she passes her brother's ship. It is right opposite hers. Lagertha is standing there with Björn, saying goodbye to him.

"Oh, how sentimental," she says with amusement, and Lagertha looks at her. As always, Liv has uncovered her sarcastic smile.

"I just wish him good luck on his journey, and may the gods watch over him," Lagertha justifies herself. "Wouldn't you like someone to say that to you?"

"I don't need that... I know the gods are with me. I don't need someone like you to tell me that. And luck is for beginners." Liv walks over to her ship and then looks at Ivar momentarily. "Hello, Ivar," she says, winks at him, and then hops onto her boat.

"Well, folks? Are you ready?" she asks the crowd, where her people are already busy making final arrangements for departure.

"Here you are," Sven says, coming up to Liv. "Where were you tonight?" he asks more quietly, looking at her.

"Oh, here and there," she replies, and her gaze briefly wanders to Ivar, who keeps looking at her.

Sven follows her gaze and glares at Ragnar's son. "Were you with him?" he asks, following Liv across the boat.

"Even if I was, it's none of your business Sven, understand?" she says more seriously now.

She is always very relaxed with her people, but if someone tries to undermine her authority or gets too nosy, she is good at putting a stop to it. Now Liv turns to her whole troop.

"It's finally time!" she shouts, then climbs a mast. "We are travelling to England, and we will avenge the death of Ragnar Lothbrok! Until now, you have followed me, and I hope you will continue to follow me! We are the Ravenblade! Du bekar! Du bekar!" shouts Liv, and her men and women cheer.

From the other boat, Ivar watches her closely. She is a true leader, and one day, she will be his.

With anticipation, Liv waits for her cue. It is a grandiose plan; she has to admit. The first troops of the great army get ready and line up. Then it's their turn. She stands up and leads her Ravenblade up the hill as well.

The shieldmaiden lines up not far from the sons of Ragnar and grins. She loves fighting and slaughter. She turns her sword once in her hand and draws the shield closer as Ivar stops beside her in his chariot.

He looks at her briefly but then directs his gaze forward. And then Björn gives the signal. Together they run off into battle.

After the battle, Liv climbs onto the chariot with Ivar. Behind him, they have tied King Aelle, and he is now being pulled through the mud by Ivar. Liv smiles triumphantly at Ivar and then looks ahead again.

As Ivar comes to a stop, the other sons of Ragnar lift Aelle out of the mud. Ivar also turns on his buck and watches while Liv jumps from the chariot. The Boneless One watches her movements closely.

She seems to be examining where they are when Björn asks Aelle about the location of Ragnar's death. The anxious king looks at a place where Liv is already standing, and she then points to the ground with a nod. She steps on the floor with her foot and notices wood under her feet. She pushes the leaves back and forth and then looks at the king.

"Is this the place?" she asks in English. Liv has learned many different languages on her travels. The king looks at her and then nods hesitantly. "This is it," she says to Björn, and he asks his men to open the hatch.

Together they look inside. Ivar has now joined them as well.

"This is the place where our father was killed," he says, looking at his brothers.

The brothers exchange a look, and then Aelle looks at Björn. "How much gold and silver do you want to spare my life?" he asks tremblingly. "Name a price! Anything, anything you want!"

Liv laughs out loud. She bites her lip and waits anxiously for her big brother's answer. But then Ivar interferes.

"You are mistaken! Our father was worth much more than gold and silver." Then he looks to the king. "That is not the price you must pay."

The king knows fully that he is done for and begins to weep. Liv, meanwhile, looks at Ivar, who returns her gaze. Again, a nasty smile creeps onto her lips.

Then Floki grabs the king by the collar and forces him to his feet.

"I was told that your god was a builder. And you don't believe it, but so am I!"

A little later, Floki nails the king by the hands to posts so that Björn has a clear path to his back. Liv knows precisely what is coming now. She stands in front of the king and looks at him disparagingly.

Then Björn tears the king's tunic off and cuts his back open. He cries out in pain, and Liv looks briefly at her brother. When he looks at her, she raises an eyebrow, then turns around and sits down on a tree stump.

Liv watches tensely, and suddenly she notices how Ivar is next to her and creeps closer and closer to the king. Blood splatters around with every blow of Björn's axe, but Liv doesn't care. She is covered in blood anyway. She sees the fascination in Ivar's gaze and watches him momentarily.

With each successive blow, the life drains more from Aelle until the king is dead.

"I didn't think he'd last this long," Liv whispers to Ivar as she leans down to him.

Ivar looks at her briefly, and enthusiasm is reflected in his eyes. He is probably more like Liv than she thought.

The following day, the lifeless body with its open back hangs over their heads, finally wiping the blood from its face with a scrap of cloth. Ivar sits with Floki on his back, and they all look at the pathetic king.

"Come on...  Another king is waiting for us," Björn says and trudges off.

Liv looks at Sven, who is eyeing her critically. She walks towards him.

"If you have something to say, say it," she demands.

The big man looks at her momentarily but then shakes his head.

"Thought so," she says, then follows her brother.

It's beginning to get on her nerves that Sven always looks at her with that reproving look.

[lykaios2]

can we get a mm tmnt (all of them or just Donnie if you don’t wanna write all of them) with a super trad goth reader, like with super teased out hair, blatformes, lots of eyeliner. And maybe she has a weird hobby like taxidermy or bone collecting.    I love you’re work btw💗💗💗

this request was interesting because the way you described the reader is like really similar to a friend I have except she's not exactly goth it's more like alt/indie rock aesthetic but she literally collects so many bones (I love her sm fr she is just a fragile little creature)

also I appreciate the compliments!! I almost always have a problem with my works, so it's nice to know people still like it

anyways hope you enjoy! 🧡

Leo:

Leo likes your outfits, but he’s more impressed with how well you pull it off. All that black, yet you still wear it so well. He’s curious about how you do your makeup, so if he gets the chance, he’ll sit next to you and watch you do it.

One time he asked if you dressed like this to make you feel better about yourself. You simply replied no, just saying that you liked the style for how it looked. He was confused for a second, but he took that to heart.

Although he wasn’t the biggest fan of what you collected, he sure loved hearing you tell him all about your collections. Showing him different bones, which animals they came from, all the stories behind it. It was just so interesting to hear you talk about it.

Raph:

Raph loves your style. He can’t get enough of it. You just look so cool and careless, and he’s absolutely here for it. He insisted that you take him shopping at all the stores that you go to, because he really wants to try this style out. But, his final selling point was when he found out that people put spikes on clothes. From that day onward, he never went out looking the same ever again.

However, as much as he may have admired your taste in fashion, he didn’t have the same fondness for your hobbies. Okay, collecting is one thing. It’s cool to see all the different things people collect…but come on, does it really have to be dead things? Like…what about comic books? Or video games? Even rocks! But you choose to collect dead animals. Gross.

Mikey:

Mikey likes your outfits, but he thinks they lack a bit of…color. And variation. And…okay, maybe he’s not the biggest fan of your style. He doesn’t hate it, but he could never see himself in your clothes. Inversely to Raph, he’s the one to take you shopping to try out some new clothes. You always go with him, but every time, you end up picking your style over anything Mikey suggests. No offense to Mikey.

When Mikey heard about your collecting hobby, he was very intrigued. But once he learned what it was…he was less intrigued. It was certainly an interesting selection of items to collect, but not so much for him. But living in the sewers, you kinda find a lot of that stuff lying around, so sometimes he picks up a few things to give to you the next time he sees you.

Donnie:

Donnie absolutely adores your style. One of the main reasons why is that one of his favorite bands in the world dresses very similarly to how you do, so he pretty much just becomes a fangirl for your outfits.

Oftentimes he will send you pictures of celebrities or fictional characters he likes, asking if you can dress up like them. He gets very happy and excited when you respond with a picture of yourself in the outfit that he asked for.

But he wouldn’t just ask you to do that without giving anything back. So in return, he helps you expand your collection of weird dead things. He looked online for how to taxidermize at home, and started helping you make your own taxidermied animals. He didn’t have too much interest in things like that, but the process of taxidermying the animal was super fascinating to him, so it was cool for the both of you.

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

OKOKOKOKOK NEVERHOOD PROPAGANDA the neverhood is a point and click game from 1996, made entirely out of clay! every single setting, character, item, even text is made out of clay. the animation has SO much personality its unbelievably, its just pouring with so much love and dedication. ALSO the lore is Fucking Gigantic, at the beginning of the game it just throws this giant hallway at you containing the entirety of the game’s bible, which takes 5 minutes to just walk to the end of the hallway (warning bertbert’s sections is Very gross and also has the r slur so if you plan on reading the hall of records you should skip that part, but other than that the whole thing is extremely interesting and fascinating) ALSO the music is fucking FANTASTIC and so unique. it was made by terry scott taylor, and can be described as some man mumbling nonsense in your ear while strumming his banjo in the most charming way possible. the songs that dont fit that description just go hard as fuck.

ok now anti-propaganda the gameplay itself is, Eh. puzzles in it were bad and frustrating even for 1996, which is why it didnt get that popular in the first place. if u wanna play it you ABSOLUTELY need a walkthrough or just watch someone else play it, it’ll save a ton of frustration. the game itself sometimes just purposefully wants to fuck with the player, shown by how it gives them a 5 minute long hallway theyre Forced to walk through to progress, and how some puzzles are just so confusing and insufferable. also the creator, doug tennapel, fucking sucks so much its unbelievable (hardcore bigoted christian is the shortest explanation). when looking at neverhood’s lore it’s obvious how much inspiration it takes from stories from the bible and just overall religious shit, which is upsetting once you know what the creator is like

there was also a sequel made of it in 1998, skullmonkeys! it follows the story directly after the neverhood, but instead of being point n click, its a platformer! the game again imo wasnt too great, the devs forgot to add music to the final and most climactic fight of the game and the gameplay was ehhhh, but it had the exact charm of the neverhood - being the charming animation and music. there was also a game called “klaymen gun hockey” released in japan bc NH was extremely popular there, and though it doesnt follow with the story at all and wasnt even made by the og devs, its Technically canon bc iirc dreamworks licensed the game? which i think is just a funny little fact. heres klaymen and fin fin :o)

^

[springonmytraptillicomeback]

dumping random info/headcannons abt FNAF characters while I work on their designs pt 2: Henry Emily

Basic info:

Name: Henry Joseph Emily

Birth: July 13, 1947

Height: 6’2

Again, not gonna go super in depth in his life, maybe another day

Henry was born and raised in Utah to a family of 3, consisting of; James Emily (father), Grace Emily (mother), Beatrice Emily (younger sister, middle child), and Charles Emily (younger brother, youngest child). His childhood was average and pretty normal, parents were a bit neglectful but other than that they were kind and occasionally loving. His family wasn’t super well off, but they were stable. His father was a car mechanic and the reason Henry first got into engineering. He’d spend hours just watching his father work. He was a pretty introverted and quiet kid, didn’t make friends easily, but was unbothered by that fact. His teachers loved him for being a quiet, respectful, and incredibly smart student while other students were either weirded out just a bit or intimidated. And that intimidation grows once he gets into highschool, he’s one of those kids who had a full beard by the time they were 16, plus he was 6’2 and in general pretty big. In 1965 he gets into Dixie Technical College (Again, like my last one, I think the name might’ve been changed to Utah Tech in around 2022, but I’m not sure) and meets William during his Sophomore year. They almost immediately click, which is a weird feeling for Henry, considering he’s usually not been close to many people. Fredbear’s Family Diner in 1972. He gets married to Susan in 1972 also, who he actually loves (and who William absolutely despises). In 1973 Susan passes during childbirth to Charlie, which leaves him in a pretty depressed state for a while, but he was able to heal a bit. After William and Claire’s Divorce, Henry and William just kinda helped each other with each other’s kids, like one big family, and not gay at all.

Random shit abt personality:

Henry is extremely stoic and cold when you first meet him, but turns into an extremely kind and warm person once you get to know him (he’s also like that around kids). He doesn’t even talk that much with people he knows, mostly a listener, but that ends up working out perfectly since he spends most of his time with William who will rant about anything he wants at any given opportunity. As much as he wouldn’t admit it, he’s a bit obsessive and overprotective. While he isn’t as charming or over the top as William is, he still really enjoyed preforming as Fredbear.

General random shit:

He finds William absolutely fascinating, because, at first, he met William and saw just some guy, kinda charming and a bit energetic but other than that pretty normal, but the closer they got (aka, the closer William pushed himself towards Henry), the more Henry started to learn about Will and notice that things were just… off. The way he acts when he’s in a situation he’s comfortable, the way he’ll just look at you as he processes something you say, the way he either never makes eye contact or stares into your soul, the way he seems to pick up on other’s personalities, the way he can ramble without a single stutter. While a lot of this stuff is William just being autistic, neither Henry or Will know that, so Henry thinks William is just weird and he finds that so fascinating and slightly endearing. He LOVES fishing, not more than engineering, but it comes close. His parents both have pretty thick southern accents, having previously lived in Texas. His accent isn’t very prominent, but shows through a lot more if he’s around others with southern accents. When Henry realized he was in love with William his mind immediately shot into homophobia territory, trying to “keep those thoughts down”, he ends up coming to terms to it at some point.

yaaayyyy we done

again, if u wanna ask shit or something abt him/anything u can, I’m still bored