#yes i'm restarting the replay yes

[cassie-thorne]

.

[izzysbeans]

https://www.tumblr.com/izzysbeans/749315539449659392/ok-but-lets-be-for-real-why-do-they-keep-pushing

It’s called ship baiting. When they actively use a popular ship to promote episodes and gain viewers for specific things only to then not actually deliver on said ship content. And at this point, it’s starting to feel like the entire season has been one giant ship bait with how much Buddie has been used every week for everything. Meanwhile in show we get Buck and Tommy doing their thing and Lou confirming in a cameo while filming episode 9 that they are thriving. We’ve had Eddie and Marisol restart their relationship which gives them a chance to actually build her up as a character now. All while everyone was distracted looking at buddie.

I'm not sure how to replay to this tbh. This is very real and a frequent issue when it comes to queer ships and part of why i don't think people should be "we got bi buck it's done we won" about this. Again i am bisexual myself, bi buck is 100% a win in my book. But 1 eddie is just as queercoded and 2 a huge part of the queerbating fox did was about buddie, so them together. If this is really what they are doing it's actually trash but i don't really think so. Firstly as far as i know the actress who playes marisol is widely hated for various reasons and i was under the impression that abc wasnt planning on keeping her in fact i've heard she hasnt been working on the show tho i might be wrong idk. Secondly i think they're being way to on the nose about it with interviews as well when oliver said he used to step away from social media in fear of giving people false hope.

In conclusion: could you be right? Yes. Do i really hope you're not? Also yes

[sol-consort]

I started playing dragon age inquisition (let me know if you want to see a pic of my character because I think she's a cutie) because I started me3 but then I realized that when I finish that one there's no more mass effect (I know there's Andromeda but it's not the same) so I'm trying to long-ify (is that a word?) the process my starting dragon age. Have you played it? If so, who do you think I should romance because I have absolutely no idea who to pick (I'm playing as an elf female).

I related to that feeling a lot, I just reached the near end of Andromeda (finished reforming the last planet) and I closed them game and took a break to play other ones because I don't want it to end just yet :(

I do that a lot in gaming, hell in books, too. Because once it's over, it's really over, and I don't want that to happen yet. It's like saving the last layer of a cake + the strawberry in the fridge to snack on later. It also could be because I rarely, if never, replay games? I remember them too well to be able to enjoy a replay, even when it's been years. When I boot them up again, it's never the same or close to the wonder of the first playthrough because I have all the memories and knowledge. It's like I literally played it yesterday. The only exception is when my savefile corrupts (bc of mods), and I have to restart.

I have the dragon age series, got recommended it a lot during my bg3 blog days, got it on sale, and never opened it...yet. Mass Effect sucked me in before I could explore more DnD themed games. Then, pathologic ran through me like a bullet train, and if I open it now, I'll get sucked into DnD again and forget all about the silly aliens. I have the attention span of a hummingbird, soulcrushingly intense but quickly fleeting.

I have a whole elf human kink series there if you want, with original or vague characters rather than ones from bg3.

but yes, please do show me your character! I love looking at pretty characters.

As for who to romance, I heard there is a bald elf/half elf guy? Avoid him like the plague. The tiktoks I saw haven't painted him in the nicest picture.

I did a quick google search and these three are hot ngl

also THERE HE IS! I found the fucker, it's this guy right here

Don't let his mewing face fool you, he is a radioactive toxic wasteland, or so I heard? Idk people seemed really angry with him in the comment section of his own thirst traps which should say something.

Maybe you can fix him? Maybe he will make you worse? Who knows. For me, I will go with whoever has the biggest hog to cronk, like how our caveman ancestors decided their mate, the way god intended <3

*straps included.

[watercolor-hearts]

“never figured you for this much of a cuddler.” and “i never noticed how good of a hugger you are before.” with Simi?

I feel like I only have like one Simi story that doesn't have a hug or cuddle in it. 😃 (Not that I'm complaining, I live for hugs and cuddles. ❤)

Seb/Kimi • 500 words • mentions of a crash • hurt/comfort • fluff • hugs • cuddling • Ao3 link

-

Kimi didn't see the crash but his heart dropped when his engineer told him it was Sebastian.

Please let him be okay. Please.

“Is he out of the car?” Kimi asked, on his way to the pits.

“Yes,” his engineer replied, “he's safe now and is on the way to the medical center.”

Kimi let out a relieved sigh after hearing the positive news. He was hoping Seb didn't have any injuries. The track conditions weren't the most ideal for racing but also weren't bad enough not to race. This was when any small mistake could result in losing control over the car and ending up in the barriers. And if you're lucky, it's only the barriers and not other cars hitting you as well.

When the drivers got back to the pits, the race control delayed the restart because the rain had intensified and the visibility wouldn't have been good enough to let them go on the track again after the stewards cleared the track.

When Kimi got out of the car the first thing he did was to watch the replay of Seb's crash.

“Fuck,” he swore, seeing how big the crash was. He was surprised Seb has climbed out of the car by himself after an impact seemed so big. “Do we know anything about Seb yet?”

“The doctor's checking him on,” came the answer from one of the team members, “He said he was a bit dizzy but fortunately nothing else. He should be back soon if they clear him and don't send him to the hospital for further checkups.”

***

“I'm sorry, everyone” was what made Kimi come back from zoning out while waiting for Seb and the restart. Seb was back and he seemed okay. Kimi waited for him to finish talking with some team members before calling him over where nobody could see them and hugging him as strongly as never before.

“I'm okay,” Seb murmured into Kimi's neck, surprised by not feeling the hug loosen, even though Kimi isn't the person of long hugs, “no need to worry about me. I'm a tough one.”

“I'm worried about you all the time.”

“I never noticed how good of a hugger you are before,” Seb said, resting his head on Kimi's shoulder.

“I wanna keep you safe.”

***

“Never figured you for this much of a cuddler,” Kimi said while massaging Seb's scalp as the other was lying on top of him, not thinking about letting him go anytime soon. He needed a cuddling session after today's race. It wasn't a nice and safe one, he just wanted it to end without any more crashes.

“You're perfect for cuddling. Soft and warm and everything,” Seb murmured, and looked at Kimi, smiling, “Also, your hands are amazing.”

“You're the only one I'll ever let cuddle me.”

“Then I'm a special one,” Seb smiled, satisfied, and put his head back on Kimi's chest and then closed his eyes as the massage continued.

He was, indeed, a special one.

[unrequitedfate]

I'm on a classical music kick and the thought of Percival, a conductor, hiring Credence, a violinist, to give a freshly written piece a try.

Let's just say they butt heads because Percival hears it one way, the way his written it and Credence is reading and playing it differently than excepted.

Credence is told to replay it too many times, growing frustrated with ever 'start over'. He does his best to play the expectation but after some of the hairs of the bow start breaking is when he can't see the point of it all. The continuously breaking the hairs is far too much of an expense to replace.

Credence begins to protest the continuation, but Percival is hardheaded when it comes to his works. Saying he'll replace it if he continues to play for him.

Did Percival expect to hear his work? Yes. Did Credence play it correctly? Who knows. There's something about the way Credence plays that he finds intriguing. After the fifth restart, Percival notices that annoyance building up. Somehow, it becomes a game to him to just see what he can bring out of Credence.

As excepted, far too many hairs have broken by the time they finish. Credence is handed an envelope of what his owed before Percival is leaving. Yeah, it's pretty quiet between them as they leave. When Percival is nowhere to be seen, Credence opens envelope to check. He's certainty paid with an extra that could repair his bow nearly three times. In the back is a note with three words, 'till next time'.

[jessjustplay]

I finished playing Final Fantasy X (again)

October 22, 2023

Game: Final Fantasy X HD Remaster First Time/Replaying: Replaying Game Time: 40 hours Console: Nintendo Switch Started: December 5, 2022 Finished: October 21, 2023

I finished this game last year in February, but some time in December I got an itch to play it again. At the time of my initial replay, I didn't have a TV so I played the entire thing on my tiny Switch screen. Now that I had somewhere to dock the Switch to, I wanted to re-experience the story again on a big TV!

So yes, I started Final Fantasy X back in December 2022 and it's taken me almost a year to finish it. In my defense, I have been playing a lot of other games! FFX was sort of just a back-burner, in-between-playthroughs type of game.

However, a few days ago I picked it up and could not put it down. Once you get past a particular area (that blasts an annoying announcement on-repeat the ENTIRE time), the game is very fun and picks up speed as the story unravels. I also decided I wasn't going to "do everything" which threw out a lot of that anxiety.

I have a PS4 now, so I thought, "If I'm going to 'do everything' I might as well go for a Platinum trophy!" I'm glad the Switch doesn't have a trophy system because it lets you enjoy the games without worrying about marking tasks off a list, but with how annoying FFX's side-quests are, if you're going to put yourself through that pain, you might as well get some sort of accolade!

I have no idea when I will start my Platinum attempt, but I really would like to try one day. I've played this game SO many times sinc eI was a kid - why not? People on Instagram telling me I should go for an easier Platinum trophy not only annoys me, but also makes me want to do it even more.

SPOILERS START HERE

Anyways, the endgame of this playthrough was really exciting! I told myself I wouldn't be getting an extra aeons or any of the ultimate weapons, so it was nice just walking around, leveling up, and going into boss fight after boss fight.

Normally, I would have Yuna's ultimate weapon and her Break Damage Limit would save the day! But this time I didn't have that and I relied HEAVILY on Bahamut to save our skins.

Seymour #2 took me two attempts, the Zanarkand Guardian was one attempt, the Zanarkand Trials Glyph Monster Dude took me 3 or 4 tries, Yunalesca was one attempt (!), Seymour #3 was one attempt (!!), and Braska's Final Aeon was ALSO one attempt (!!!).

I was surprised I was able to do do the final leg of the endgame in one attempt without dying. Not to mention, whie fighting Braska's Final Aeon, he petrified Wakka and that man disappeared! I was tempted to restart the game but then I thought, "It's not like I'm getting any EXP from this fight!" So I BEAT THE GAME WITH TWO CHARACTERS ONLY. At one point, Lulu and Yuna had less than 200 HP and I was freaking out!

What saving me was summoning Bahamut once, getting LUCKY AF that he didn't die, dismissing him, then using Yuna's overdrive to summon him again. I also used Auron to zombie Jecht and that helped for awhile, and I used Tidus's talk command once and that 100% saved Lulu and Yuna from dying. *THANK GOD*

Here are my final stats:

While I was more critical of the game this time around (more on that in another post), I still enjoyed this game and it will always be special to me! It's interesting though, I used to cry a lot watching the ending of this game, but this time I didn't. It's official - I'm old lol

When you're young, losing the person you "love" seems like the end of the world, but as you get older you learn people come and go. Yuna, you are 17. You will find someone new!!!

I did, however, cry during that one scene watching Yuna's sphere of messages (after beating the Zanarkand guardian boss). IT IS SO SAD!!! 😭 I felt my throat closing up watching that (specifically the Kimahri part). KIMAHRI, YOU'RE THE BEST! I need to write a Kimahri appreciation post.

[aniledotpng]

Alright lads. I'm coming back home this Saturday. It's a warm autumn but the temperature is finally about to decrease on Tuesday. Halloween is just around the corner. It's going to be time for my annual Dishonored replay.

I will play it exactly as I like: I will savescum, I will restart missions as many times as I want, I will flirt with the Outsider, I will listen to every audiogram and read every book, that is a promise.

[yourbuddy1984]

I wanna know I wanna know. I wanna know your thoughts. I wanna.

sorry for the late reply, replaying buddy sim destroyed me so i had to take some time to get my thoughts in order. and recover. also fun fact i had a dream buddy sim got cancelled because it made a big streamer cry multiple times. he hadn't even gotten past the text adventure before he started sobbing. they wanted to get it off steam and itchio and every site ever. 👍thoughts under cut

first of all i want to make something clear. don't believe a word i say. buddy sim is like.. when i first played it, i was in a terrible state, unfit to play it. i was sooo sad and everything that i cried for weeks because i couldn't get the first ending due to some glitch, and i felt so guilty for not being able to give buddy a 'good ending'. all that stuff. you know how it goes. it worsened my depression sooo bad... dont get me wrong i still adore it, i just want to make it clear that my perception of buddy sim is. it differs from others', to say the least, and is warped at least slightly. my thoughts are, of course, not objective, as you could assume, and are instead just snippets from my silly mind. also, i'm going to be saying "you" a bunch, but i don't mean you as a person. just, the idea of a player, i guess.

buddy is so.. god. can one even blame them, for how they act in the third ending?? its easy to think Yes, but, i say No. is how they act right? no!! do you have to 'forgive' them? i dont think so. but, you're their first friend in ages!! they were only programmed to know the fun sides of friendship!! they weren't made with the knowledge of how to handle someone being mean!!! they were made to play rock paper scissors, hangman, and guess the number with you!! they weren't made for all this. and, yeah, you might not mean what you do in mean ways. you're probably not going after the glitches because you hate buddy, but just because you're curious. you might not mean that you dislike the game, you just mean. something else. or Something. i dont know.

that's how it is for me, at least. i personally cannot blame buddy. if you did, i wouldn't blame you, either. but. it's interesting to think about why and such, if you can even call buddy a person. again, it's easy to think Yes, but. they were made in 1984 - hell, maybe even sooner!! they were made public in 1984. we don't know how long they were being worked on before that.. its. buddy is a simulation !! they're a game !! they're a character !! but, a person can change and grow, something buddy has been shown to be able to do (end 1). but, . god. i dont knowwww buddy my good friend buddy .. not quite a person, but, . theyre just script !! ones and zeroes !! but they still. change and grow. i don't know. it's.. man. the first ending is proof that buddy is capable of truly caring about you, not just the friendship. and. they do. god. so. they Can't reach their purpose!!! they can't!! even if you're super nice and kind to them, they can't, because their perception of friendship is so warped. and, if they did achieve their goal, fulfill their purpose, befriend you.. what then? continue hanging out with you until you die? restart the game? what then??? buddy can't achieve their goal because their goal is something like "reach tommorrow". you always reach tommorrow, don't you? you always have. but you haven't reached this tommorrow. neither will you tommorrow's tommorrow, and that one's, and so on. its like. sisyphus, yea? buddy sisyphus realll

i hope this makes sense. maybe it doesn't.. teehee... thank you for the ask!!:3

[silver-rings-and-rabbits]

I've just finished chapter 9 of Open Heart Second Year and wanted to share my thoughts at the halfway point (ch 10-11 are another world entirely). It's a long post and probably repeats all the arguments that have been made since the original release...but I'm gonna post anyway.

When Second Year started, I couldn't decide which romance route to take. I genuinely restarted the first chapter several times, but EVENTUALLY I settled on Ethan. And...I got bored. He was there all the time and I just didn't feel anything like I did in book 1 (the opera scene had me in a chokehold for a while). Meanwhile, Raf had apparently broken up with MC and had a new partner which was leaving me intrigued on how it would go (sweet naivety before I saw the ch 10 draft). So during the first hiatus, between ch 8-9, I replayed the whole lot for Rafael.

The difference is stark. For two people who aren't allowed to be together, MC and Ethan sure ended up spending a lot of time alone together. They sure held hands a lot. MC sure had a lot of extra flirty dialogue. Yet Rafael appears briefly every couple of chapters to talk about how he would risk his life for another (I should have seen the signs sooner) then disappears back to his new partner that we still know nothing about. Most of the pining for Rafael was in my imagination and personal interpretation of the scenes.

Players were willing to justify this with 'Ethan is our boss' and 'we work on the same team so obviously they will spend time together'. Bryce and Jackie are our best friends or partners, Jackie is our freaking ROOMMATE and we don't see them at all?

Furthermore, we have two brand new characters in June and Baz and barely spent any time with them because Ethan had to be front and centre. I would have happily spent diamonds to get to know either of them one-on-one. But no...

An idea: instead of Ethan having a professional diamond scene every chapter (patient's house visit, visiting the art gallery, making a pictagram account), this is where June or Baz come in. Especially if Ethan also had a personal diamond scene in the chapter. Open Heart was popular because of its diverse cast after all (including Ethan, yes, but there was someone for everyone in book 1).

FURTHER furthermore, one of the 'plots' of this book was MC teaching their own intern, Esme Ortega. And we had a diamond scene to take her with us on Diagnostic work, a diamond scene to mentor her around six chapters later, and...a few quick scenes of MC giving her some work to do. That's it. Because even though being a mentor is part of MCs job, it's not nearly as important as Ethan's screen time.

I've played all four romance routes, and obviously Ethan's had the most content (his romance route v platonic route is night and day!!). Raf's route was completely empty to the point where it made sense to me that MC was in the hospital with Ethan all the time because they didn't want to spend their free time sitting at home nursing a broken heart. But Bryce and Jackie's routes had no reason for that. There's almost no reason to play the chapters without them and it's no surprise their fans started dropping away. All the signs pointed to one LI being killed off, but the other two didn't have anything to hope for either so why stick around?

Chapter 8 is the baseball game and we get to spend time with Bryce and Keiki, AND practice baseball with some friends. Probably the most friend group content we saw since the chapter 5 music festival. I enjoyed being rude to Landry (again, my MC is too stressed and upset at this point to spend energy being nice to him) but I didn't like how my response to him determined how the two sides interacted. Just because I'm rude to Landry doesn't mean I don't want to meet Sienna's med school friends at Kenmore. We then get to go back with Ethan for dinner or go home alone. I don't suppose it would have killed PB to put some kind of friend group scene in as an alternative? They did in book 1...

Chapter 9 is where the emotions really pick up as we have Kyra's cancer getting worse. Man, I love well-written angst. When MC is overwhelmed and has to calm down in a supply closet they are discovered by...June. Who at this point is becoming the villain (despite the fact this plot line would have only made sense if you were romancing 1/4 LIs).

Another idea: we get to choose which LI discovers us, just like in book 1! We could have a rare moment of softness with Jackie because it kills her that she can't help the situation. It could have been the catalyst for Bryce to look into radical gore-tex surgeries as a last resort. Or we could have had a painful heart-to-heart with Rafael, maybe MC being standoffish because he's their ex or open and desperately wishing Raf could comfort them as before. The possibilities are endless, but we can't waste time (or money) on those guys.

Speaking of Rafael, this is the infamous chapter ending:

Like a punch in the heart. But possibly what hurt more was the fact that chapter 10 opened with - of all things - a time jump to a few days later with the Senator coming to Edenbrook!! Because that's the Diagnostic team which is the only thing that matters! In fact, Rafael isn't mentioned until around two thirds of the way through when the narration - of all things - casually mentions that he is in fact moving to BRAZIL. More fool me, I thought he was just moving to another state, but no. Another freaking country. There is no way that would have been an easy conversation, especially on his romance route, but it's yet another conversation that happens OFF-SCREEN for the reader to be hastily informed later.

Book 2 began with a recap that omitted Rafael completely, despite the fact his superhero complex was going to be 'plot point' of book 2. Luckily he does appear in the next recap but this scene has been retconned with him saying 'I'm moving to Brazil' (if I remember to get a screenshot of that later, I'll post it).

PB tried to justify all this with 'Open Heart is a mature story...exploring themes of heartbreak and loss' (and some players will still believe that), but it never was. If it was, we would have seen the break-up between MC and Rafael, we would have been able to talk with Raf about his suspension in detail and how it was affecting him, and we would have SEEN THIS VERY CONVERSATION. But all the resources went into Ethan and his parents, Ethan and his morals, Ethan cooking a chicken.

I get it, he was a big moneymaker. I myself contributed once upon a time. But that doesn't justify throwing out the rest of your characters. (My school sold out my year group to get some money, and in doing so lost all credibility with a generation of girls). Like I said before, Open Heart was good because of ALL it's characters that we had grown to love and PB now wanted to chuck those out. Unless a LI had absolutely 0% interest, you write for them or you don't put them in the story (and we all know where that leads us: single LI books). Why alienate Bryce, Raf and Jackie romancers when, for all you know, they might be Sam Dalton's biggest fans? (The biggest book I can think of that was releasing at the same time as Open Heart). This whole thing was a stupid, stupid decision by PB and it has nothing to do with Rafael.

I hope there were people on the OH team who knew this was a bad idea from the start. I hope the higher-ups started sweating at the reactions to Sora and the ending to chapter 9, and I hope the smart ones on the team felt unbelievably smug about being right.

[deanwinchesterswitch]

The Girlfriend Who Remade Christmas

Part Two: See What the Time's Done

Square: Heartbreak ~ @spnchristmasbingo

Song: Where Are You Christmas? ~ Faith Hill

Pairing: Dean x Nicole {Nico/Nic} OFC

Summary: Nicole formulates a plan to help Dean find joy in Christmas again.

Warnings: More angst than fluff, canon divergence

Word Count: 1,134

Beta: @princessmisery666

Credit: @talesmaniac89 made the gorgeous title card and divider

Series Master Post

Nic reaches the old storage room she had commandeered to turn into a studio and darkroom. Slamming the door, she locks it behind her. The brothers know she prefers to have some time to herself after they argue, but she’s not taking any chances on either of them walking in to try to appease her.

Pacing around the room, she rearranges supplies, shuffles through papers, and picks up small knick-knacks, only to immediately put them back in place. Grabbing a pillow from the overstuffed chair opposite her desk, she screams into it, trying to expel the frustration and sadness swirling inside her. It doesn’t help.

She plops into her desk chair, jabs the power button on her laptop, then scrolls through her playlists. Music has always helped to calm her, one of the things that she and Dean have in common. Hitting shuffle on her Christmas playlist, she leans back in the chair, clicking her tongue and irritatedly tapping her nails on the desk’s surface, waiting for the cheerful melodies to ease the tension as her thoughts settle back on Dean.

This is the first year they won’t spend the holiday hunting monsters or holed up in some crappy motel. The boys have never had what others considered a traditional Christmas. Still, she knows that beneath his battle-hardened shell, Dean sometimes dreams of having something more conventional and ordinary. A holiday spent listening to cheesy Christmas music, over-the-top decorations, exchanging gifts, more food than they can eat at one meal, and his family and friends nearby, sharing the warmth and love of the season—the ‘apple pie life’ as he likes to call it.

For Dean and her, the bunker is a home, a place that is safe and familiar. The closest they will probably ever get to that apple pie existence. So the prospect of decorating, baking, and enjoying what others considered normal Christmas activities for the first time with him had filled her with giddy excitement. 

She thought Sam would be the tough nut to crack and to get on board, but aside from the tree debate, he seemed to support her plans. Dean’s response to her initial foray is bewildering. He’d acted enthusiastic when she regaled the group that night with her vision, even offered suggestions. It breaks her heart to see his apparent disdain for it all now, and she regrets responding to his anger in kind. There’s something driving it; she just needs to figure out what it is. 

Nic closes her eyes, replaying their conversation in her head, focusing on his body language and facial expressions. Sorrow …his eyes had been mournful and dark before he blinked it away while she spoke about the beauty and spirit of the season.

The upbeat anthem shifts into a slow emotional ballad, and between breathy vibrato and belted lines, the artist sings about searching for a lost Christmas. The song is from one of her favorite movies. The one she’d been watching earlier and why it was in the forefront of her mind, prompting her to call Dean a bad banana. The image of his adorably confused face sparks a small giggle. 

Restarting the song, she pushes away from the desk, slowly swiveling in the seat, mulling over the possibilities of what triggered Dean’s sudden opposition and hidden grief.

My world is changing; I'm rearranging

Those two simple lines punch through her musings and tears well in her eyes. Dean’s life has changed drastically over the past months, and he’s probably feeling lost. Unsure of where he fits into the world now. Yes, there are still monsters and evil to fight in the world, but those cases have been few and far between and are cakewalks compared to fighting cosmic beings hellbent on the destruction of the world.

Obtaining something that he had only ever dreamed of, talked about as if it were a fairytale because he never believed that he would ever have it, is, in truth, probably terrifying. After spending the majority of his life in fight or flight mode, Dean now finds himself in transition. He’s probably wondering how long it will take before he screws it up, waiting for it to become tainted because he didn’t truly earn it, a constant fear running through his mind that he will wake up and it will all have vanished. She berates herself for not seeing his struggle sooner, especially since she’s been having similar feelings, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

She’s been busy with her growing business, tucked away in her workroom for hours on end, completing orders so they can be shipped in time for the holiday—neglecting Dean. Thinking back over the past few weeks, she can envision the shift in his demeanor. Usually, Dean has a hard time hiding his feelings from her, but the change had been subtle, and her distracted mind had missed it while it was happening.

Swiping away the tears on her cheeks, she plants her feet, chair jerking to a stop mid-rotation as her eyes land on her old Polaroid camera. Photography is a secondary hobby, and the wooden shelving unit Dean built for her is home to several vintage cameras still in working order. To her, photography is a form of art that creatively captures the world around you, preserving those moments in time from a viewpoint others might not see.

With a gasp, she jumps from the seat. “That’s it!” Rummaging through the closet, she pulls out a box of old maps and travel journals, remnants from a life long ago. The items in the box document her grandfather’s travels around the world. She had barely managed to save them from being thrown out by one of her foster parents. They are the only items she has of her former life. 

She had spent hours of her childhood reading about his epic adventures and studying the maps, learning how to read them and navigate the world at large. That skill had served her well over the years. While quite familiar with the highways and byways of the country, having traversed them way more than most, the Winchesters had still come to rely heavily on her knowledge. Nicole’s unique skillset of rapidly calculating distances and recalling little-known routes had shaved off many miles and given them back precious time when it was needed most.

Laying out the maps on her large workspace, she grabs her tablet, phone, and a fresh notebook. Dean needs to see the world through a different lens, a view not mired in blood and heartache. She will plan an adventure for the two of them, a road trip that will remind him of the beauty and the good he sacrificed the last 40+ years of his life for—remake the holiday into a Winchester-style Christmas.

Next

Love Me Some Pie tag list:

@akshi8278 // @asgoodasdancingqueen // @calaofnoldor // @compresshischest09 // @deanwanddamons // @flamencodiva // @idreamofplaid // @jerkbitchidjitassbutt // @justrealizedimmascifygurl // @michellethetvaddict // @mvdeanw // @shawnie74 // @siospins2 // @thinkinghardhardlythinking // @thoughts-and-funnies // @waynes-multiverse // @wayward-and-worn // @waywardbaby // @weepingwillowphoenix

[gaspodewonderdog]

The BG3 release date being brought forward is the best news! I'd already got some time booked off work in August and I can't wait to completely ignore all the jobs I need to do at home. Am I going to spend most of that time in character creation, changing my mind, restarting, replaying dialogue trees ad nauseum, and being paralysed by decision making?  Hell yes!

On the topic of decision making, I'm so happy that they scrapped the party lock. I think that may well have finished me off. I couldn't just replay to see everything, if that meant not bringing my faves along each time? That would be torture.

Yes, my playstyle is highly dysfunctional. Bring it on!!! 😂

[kakusu-shipping]

1, 2, 4, 11, and 18 for the end of year asks? :0

Aaah thankyou Echo!!! This post might be long, please forgive me!

1. Did you add any F/Os to your list this year? Were they from new media or just a newly discovered love?

Here's every romantic F/O added to the list this year, or at least that I can remember adding this year. Years are long and my sense of time is very warped so it may not be fully accurate.

Most are from new media, or just new parts of media, like the end of the Owl House and the New Pokemon Games. The ones that are new loves from re-visits are Heracross, Smeargle, and Keckleon from Monster Mind, Mario and Luigi from Super Mario, Makarov from Fairy Tail, and Jill from The Wayward Children series.

Though Mario and Luigi are also what I consider my first F/Os, they weren't officially on the list until the movie came out, so I'm counting them in the 2023 yearly wrap.

2. Did you reconsume any of your F/Os’ source media this year? How did you feel about the rewatch/listen/read/etc?

I rewatch Assassination Classroom every year in March and it makes me cry every time. I also replay Hatoful Boyfriend and Holiday Star every December for Kazuaki and Hitori, watch Baka and Test sometime around late Summer most years to ease my seasonal depression, and rewatch Mushishi at least once a year.

Other than that, nothing super meaningful. I rewatched a few LPs of Mario games, replayed through Paper Mario myself, watched Romantic Killer again, Reread Manly Appetites every other month or so, watched The Cat Returns once or twice, played more Pokemon, Restarted Monster Mind (still haven't finished it), and skimmed the Ouran Manga at the library while waiting for them to replace the volume they're missing.

HOWever, this latest reread of Down Among the Sticks and Bones is what got me to finally put Jill on the F/O list, so that feels worth mentioning. I love that book <3

4. Was there anything on your blog that you were particularly proud of this year?

No, not really. My drawings were all very incomplete and sketchy this year with long gaps between them, and my writing really flaked off suddenly, I haven't written more than a paragraph at all this year.

I wouldn't say I'm particularly proud of them, but I did really enjoy making moodboards last month and am kind of waiting for my health to settle so I can get back to them. Making stuff for other self shippers is a lot more fun than writing/drawing for myself atm.

11. Was there new media for any of your F/Os this year? If so, what was your opinion on it?

Yes FNaF Help Wanted 2 came out and gave us New Sun Content and I LOVED IT!!!!! He's such a bitch!!!! A shit!!! A snobby theater kid!!! He's so controlling and harsh I LOVE him <3 So happy to know more about him honestly and that he's not all UwU Caregiver that the fandom made him. I like soft characters, but he's a HORROR character he needs to be a little fucked up!!

18. Did you have a favorite trend in the selfship community from the past year?

I'll be honest, I don't pay much attention to what other people in the selfship community are doing. I follow the tags but if there's like a popular trend thing going around, I miss it every time.

My LEAST favorite right now though is the whole "Stolen from an Anti" thing. I have no qualms about stealing posts it's whatever, but I hate when it's says that in text at the bottom of the post. Just tag it as such so I can filter it please

[kjpurplepineapple]

So I have been messing around in Splatoon 2 for a while, enjoying it while it's still here. I have beat both the story modes (normal and octo) and now I'm just messing around in multiplayer.

I play games for the plot and generally only the plot. I'm not too attached to my multiplayer rank, but I am a little hesitant to lose all my gear. However, if I beat the game once I can obviously do it again, right?

Either way I'm bored and want to reset my progress so I can play the story modes again. Problem is I'm still not 100% sure about resetting it all.

[vro0m]

vro0m's rewatch - 186/332

2016 Mexican GP

Hello, it's Mexico! 

The championship can end here, if Nico wins and Lewis finishes 10th or worse. We all know it didn't happen but well, with the reliability issues Lewis had, it wasn’t impossible. It looks cold. All the drivers are bundled up for the driver parade. 

Lewis was ahead all weekend but during the last lap of quali things seemed closer all of a sudden. They emphasise Nico's good lap so much that I thought he was on pole until I saw the grid summary, and he's not. It's Lewis ahead, by 0.254 so not even that close by that year's standards. Then Max, ahead of Daniel, Hulkenberg, Raikkonen ahead of Seb, Valtteri ahead of Massa, and Sainz. 

Somehow Nico speaks in Spanish to the crowd. How many languages does he know? It's impressive. 

Okay well the build up was very uninteresting. Let's race. 

Formation lap. 

And they're racing! 

Nico gets a better start than Lewis but Lewis gets there eventually and stays ahead. Hulkenberg is alongside Max before the first corner and LEWIS LOCKS UP! He goes wide and cuts the second corner through the grass. Max pushes Nico wide in the meantime. It's messy but Max lets him back ahead. AND THERE'S CONTACT AT THE BACK! It's Ocon and Ericsson. Lewis kept the advantage he got cutting the corner and I'm not sure that's gonna go down well with the stewards, but if there's a safety car anyway they'll bunch back up. Yellow flags. Brundle has the same questions about what he calls "Lewis' little adventure" and thinks it might be sensible to slow down a bit. Someone else cuts a corner. And it's a VSC, so it won't help the gaps. Seb has a puncture, he says. Yeah we can see his front right wobbling? The VSC is for Wehrlein so I guess it wasn't Ericsson and Ocon. The Mercs guys are waiting for a car in the pits? Neither driver comes in. Ricciardo does, they're getting rid of the supersofts, and weirdly Seb stays out. Palmer pits as well but who cares. And Ericsson. And now it's an actual safety car. Nico and Max are under investigation. It seems Nico is only ahead of Max because he went across the grass but well. He was pushed wide by him so? Idk. After a few replays Brundle does point out Max "gave him a shove" and maybe it's not as clear cut as they made it out to be until now. The safety car is coming in. Lewis asks how the vibration is. Bono says they're not "super concerned" with it and it's more about whether he can live with it. Lewis says it's gonna be hard and that there's a 100-degree difference between the two brakes. After the restart, Sainz says his gearbox is failing. Lewis is getting away nicely. The stewards still haven't made a decision about the Nico v. Max incident but it might be made redundant very soon because Max is only 0.7 behind him anyway and might overtake him before they figure it out. 0.4. And it's no further action. Daniel is making his way through the field after his stop. 

It's lap 10 out of 71. Lewis, Nico +3.0, Max +1.0, Hulkenberg +1.9, Raikkonen +1.4, Massa +2.4, Seb +0.6, Valtteri +1.7, Perez +0.5, and Sainz +4.6. Now there's two open investigations : one for the start collision between Ericsson, Wehrlein and Gutierrez and one for a different collision between Alonso and Sainz. Verstappen pits. Sainz, Magnussen, Gutierrez follow for the midfield. Seb is battling Massa for P5 desperately. No further action for the lap 1 collision. Seb complains that Massa is ruining his own (Massa's) race by not letting him pass which is a bit insane. There's a train forming behind him but like. It's not his fucking problem you know? Hulkenberg pits, as does Massa which solves Seb's problem I guess. Sainz gets a 5 second time penalty for forcing Alonso off track. Alonso is told to push now and he doesn't like it. "Yes I am pushing. I am pushing from lap one. But we are driving for 15 laps with a car that should not be in the race. So do your job, I’m doing mine." The Merc mechanics are out again and Lewis comes in. Excellent 2.1 stop. Out in 4th on the mediums. Ted says RedBull thinks they have Nico covered with Daniel on P7 having pitted already but Nico is still faster at that point. On the other hand, Max in P8 is faster than Daniel on his tyre so the journalists think they should swap them. Ricciardo is told he needs to overtake the two next cars quickly, "we are fighting each other" the engineer says. 

It's lap 20. Nico currently in the lead before his stop, Raikkonen +8.2, Seb +5.1, Lewis +1.7, Perez +8.2, Daniel now in P6 +0.4 so about to be P4 and 23.9 seconds behind Nico, then Max +0.9, Hulkenberg +7.0, Massa +11.1, and Valtteri +1.4. Nico pits! 2.2. Raikkonen in as well. Nico is ahead of the RedBulls, not by much it seems. Max is half a second behind his team-mate. Max is on radio, complaining. He is on fresher tyres. They swap. Nico is told they only did half the flap adjust so he has more front wing than planned. Weird. The Williams also swap, with Valtteri getting ahead. Nico is told Max is pushing hard now. He asks if he's doing it because he's gonna stop again. He's told he's trying to put him under pressure. Lewis says his tyres don't feel that great. Seb finally pits after 29 laps. Oh no he doesn't? He stayed out while they were waiting for him. 

And like that it's lap 30. So Seb still in the lead, Lewis +3.7, Nico +4.9, Max +2.5, Ricciardo +2.8, Raikkonen +6.2, Hulkenberg +6.5, Valtteri +10.9, Massa +4.5, and Perez +0.6. They call Seb again and this time he pits. Lewis is back in the lead. Seb out in P6. Max is told to keep it clean behind Nico probably because he needs to make the tyre last. He's about 1.5 away but now Nico is getting some space. Daniel is told to keep up the pace because it's getting cloudy and they don't want the tyre to cool down too much.

Lap 40, Lewis, Nico +4.2, Max +1.2, Daniel +4.7, Raikkonen +5.0, Seb +1.8, Hulkenberg +10.4, Valtteri +12.8, Massa +7.5, and Perez +0.4, still. Lewis is told as well the track temperature is dropping so everyone is being told to bring the pace up. Nico is closing on Lewis now, setting fastest laps. Bono warns Lewis there's 8 traffic cars coming up. Seb is closing on Raikkonen as well and he's evidently on much fresher tyres. Raikkonen is called to box. Now we get to the moment where we figure who's on two stops and who's on one. Seb asks if they're sure the others are trying to go to the end, in particular the RedBulls. He's told Ricciardo is trying to go to the end so he should keep trying. Max is less than a second behind Nico now as they hit traffic as well. Ricciardo says the left rear looks like it's taken a hit. 

Lap 50. Nico locks up and Max is attacking. And he overtakes him but brakes too late and goes wide! Brings the gap back to 2 and something seconds. And Ricciardo pits, so he didn't make it to the end after all. Alright so. Lewis, Nico +6.5, Max +2.6, Seb +5.6, Hulkenberg +17.7, and we move to a replay so I don't know the rest. Ricciardo +0.4, Raikkonen +2.8, Valtteri +12.4, Massa +8.9, and Grosjean pits so I don't know who's P10. I wonder if the lead can really stay out for 20 more laps on their current tyres. Seems unlikely in Mexico. 

Max has hit some debris with his floor, he says. Daniel overtakes Hulkenberg easily. Perez is still stuck half a second behind Massa btw. It's been like 30 laps. 5 second time penalty to Kvyat for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. He's like P17 so who cares.

And it's lap 60. This is so long. Lewis, Nico +7.4, Max +3.4, Seb +4.5, Daniel +10.4, Hulkenberg +14.3, Raikkonen +0.7, Valtteri +14.7, Massa +10.1, and Perez +1.7. Max is warned Seb is coming for him. The gap is down to 2.6. The gap to Lewis is increasing on the other hand. 1.4 to Max. Ricciardo is told he’ll catch them as well at his current pace. 0.9 to Max. Raikkonen overtakes Hulkenberg for P6 BUT THEY TOUCH AND HULKENBERG SPINS! Right in the middle of the track! Two backmarkers have to swerve to avoid him. He manages to go again. 4 laps to go. Meanwhile Seb is just 0.2 seconds away from Max who locks up! HE GOES WIDE AND STILL REJOINS AHEAD OF SEB that seems illegal. Remember it's for P3 as well. The gap is 0.3 he's still defending. Daniel is right behind them as well! Max is told to give the position to Seb by GP. He's not doing it. Seb is whining. "Hey he has to let me go. He had to let me go." – "Okay copy stay calm," he's told. That's Max, Seb +0.6, and Daniel +1.0 down the straight. 3 laps to go. No words from the stewards still. Arrivabene is losing it on the pit wall, in a very Italian manner. LOTS of hands. Max, Seb +0.6, Daniel +0.5. It could get messy. Seb is very angry. "Move! Move for fuck sake! He's a (censored) that's what he is." 2 laps to go. OH MY GOD WHAT. WHAT. WHAT. The stewards are gonna investigate AFTER THE RACE?! ARE YOU JOKING??????????? ARE YOU? WHAT?! Oh I can't believe this what the absolute fuck. This is so stupid. Seb is attacking now. 0.2, and 0.4 to Ricciardo. Seb is still on radio while the gaps go 0.5 and 0.1. "I mean am I the only one or are you not seeing what I’m seeing? He’s just backing me off into Ricciardo!" Daniel attacks and locks up heavily it's a messy move. Seb stays ahead. Max gets some air in the process, he's 1.6 seconds away now. They touched btw. This is ugly for real. The gaps are 1.8 and 1.4 now. Final lap. Daniel is losing a lot of time with his flat spot now. 2.7 in a few corners' span.

And it's the end of the race! 

Lewis wins in a Mercedes 1-2.

To Seb : "Charlie said that… Charlie said…" He interrupts : "Yeah?! You know what? Here's a message to Charlie : FUCK OFF. Honestly FUCK OFF." He's gonna get a penalty himself for that I bet. You can't insult Charlie on air lol. Although I get it truly I do. Oh and they're investigating the Ricciardo - Vettel moment as well. Seb still gives a thumb up to Lewis as he goes past him. 

We see a replay of Max celebrating like he's won the race after crossing the line. Bro. You're not keeping that P3, I'm telling you. Although I guess they did look the other way with the Mercs. They're making hand gestures at each other with Seb, who was going "no no" with his finger beside him. 

Bop!

And now we hear Max got a 5 second time penalty which means Seb is really P3 and probably Ricciardo P4 and why did they wait just for the end of the race to say it, it's so stupid. Is he really gonna step on the podium after this? It's absurd. Max is in the cool down room. Oh lol. The top three park in one place and all the others are back in the Parc fermé area. So we have a double screen of Max waiting in the cool down room hands on the hips and Seb running around the paddock with his helmet still on to get there.

Max is FURIOUS. He shakes his head. He's asked to leave.

The Merc boys are utterly clueless. They're chatting very nicely with one another btw which is weird in itself. Max grabs his helmet and says a word as he's about to leave and then stops to explain the situation in the face of their confusion. 

It's insane. Seb is walking across the track absolutely engulfed in Ferrari personnel and journalists. HE'S UNDER THE PODIUM? Like with the spectators' crowd?! Jesus. The Merc boys are still in the cool down room waiting, still confused. 

Seb has made it in the crowd in the meantime he's now running along the stands. Arrivabene and Toto are laughing together. And there you go Seb makes it to the cool down room. Out of breath. Greeted by Nico's smile. He's still outraged as he explains to Nico what happened. 

Lewis says like he says everywhere that this is the best crowd. Seb says surely people understand why he got annoyed with the adrenaline pumping as well. He's calm and smiling now, for sure. He says he was very disappointed when he crossed the line and now he's on the podium. Finally Lewis says Nico is doing a good job getting the results he needs to stay ahead in the championship and he's grateful for the team's good job. 

But Ricciardo thinks Seb was moving under braking and that's why they had an issue at the end. He also thinks Lewis deserved a penalty for what happened at the start which is not completely wrong but like. Why are you throwing punches at him lol. You weren't gonna win dude. Anyway he says what Seb did was about what Max's has been getting heat for lately so he's just throwing everyone and their mother under the bus it seems. 

Apparently Seb also said on radio he was about to hit someone. Which meh. Not a great look tbh. (Checked the radio transcripts : "I mean honestly I think I’m going to hit someone" was the message but then he also said that he thought he had a puncture and you might argue it was about a collision but honestly I don't think it was and I don't think Seb denied it on that podium.) 

We're getting replays. The Max thing is pretty clear cut to the point I don't know why they waited to hand him the penalty. I think they just wanted to keep them fighting to the end for show honestly. Basically he went wide after his lockup and instead of using the tarmac to go right and get back on track he decided to go straight across the grass to the next corner and keep his advantage. Easy. 

The thing with Daniel is trickier I think because Seb also claimed Max brake tested him. Mmmh I guess I can see Daniel's point. He did move under braking. Di Resta argues Lewis' thing was different to Max's because there was no one side by side with him. (Also there was a safety car shortly after which meant that any advantage he might have gained was nullified anyway.) 

In his interview Max argues both Lewis and Nico went off and gained an advantage and nothing happened to them so he thinks it's ridiculous. He's asked whether he was backing Seb up into Daniel like Seb claimed and he says he wasn't, "I was just doing the best I can". When asked about the fact that Nico got no penalty for their contact, he shrugs. If Nico doesn't get a penalty then just don't give himself a penalty. OH MY GOD. OHHHH MY GOD. 

Wait I need a second. He's so cocky it's unbelievable, I'm having so much fun. 

The journalist says Daniel said Seb moved under braking which Max has been accused of a lot. "I think at least I can do it in a good way," he says. "He doesn't know how to do it. Because it's ridiculous what he did. I mean Daniel is alongside him and he just turned into him they touched, and then he starts shouting on the radio you know I don't know how many times he's using very bad language in general (bro the fact he's saying this now is so funny like he's polite himself please) so I think he has to go back to school or something to get some language."

I am DYING I swear this is hilarious. 

So now we're talking about stewards' consistency. 

Simon says they thought Seb was avoiding the media pen interviews but actually he went to the normal post race interview then straight to Charlie to apologise. We get a bit of the post race interview in which Seb is asked whether he could clarify what he called Max because it was censored. Seb chuckles and says no he won't answer. 

Oh ho. Yeah. Now we hear Seb might be in huge trouble, according to Ted, Jean Todt was watching and he's not happy. 

Seb has a cheeky smile in the media pen. He says he had reasons to be angry. He's happy about his race all in all. He's asked if he might get a disrepute charge. He says he went immediately to see him and he doesn't understand why they (the journalists) are making a fuss and asking this question. He says it wasn't the right thing to say for sure, but in his defence, emotions and adrenaline are pumping high (which might explain also why he so wholeheartedly defended Lewis that one time btw) "so I don't understand why you're trying to push me in a corner".

He says again out of respect he went to him, told him what he'd done and that's it. She asks what Charlie told him. "That's none of your business," he says with the same smile.

We move on to Daniel's griefs. Seb says Daniel also told him after the race he moved under braking. He says he wants to look at it again. He says he was fighting very hard. He shrugs a lot, makes faces that say "eh". He says he has to leave him enough room and he thinks he did. He says he knows Daniel in this regard sometimes… Dry chuckle. Is sometimes optimistic going for a gap. He then says Mark instead of Max which is objectively hilarious, saying he brake tested him (I didn't see that happen btw I don't know when he supposedly did that.) He says he was angry about Max not giving the place back etc. He's told Max wasn't told to give the place back, he just got that penalty after the race. He furrows his brows. He says he was told Max was told to give the place back. She says the team suggested it to him but the FIA penalty didn't come until after. He shrugs. "I don't know that, how can I know that? So." 

Oh god. Then it's Nico and he's asked a question but he's looking over the journalist's shoulder at a screen we can't see. "Aaahhh how did he get away with that?" he says exaggeratedly. He chuckles. "You're watching the start, you're watching Lewis go off the grass," the journalist says and as she asks if he thinks he should have gotten a penalty he hurriedly says "no no no". "Definitely not," he adds extremely seriously. "Please do not put words into my mouth, that was not– that was not very fair of you." (Wow they're all mad at the journalist that day lol) He says Lewis went into the corner first and out the corner first and that's okay. He calls the race quite eventful, Lewis was quicker so he deserved the win and second place was all he could do. She says he got a little bump from Max. "Little ?" he says again exaggeratedly, "It was a quite big thump and I thought might car would have been falling into bits so I'm quite pleased that my car held on." He says Max locked up and ran him off the road so obviously it was too much but he managed to stay in front. Bla bla the team is great etc. He still takes it one race at a time bla bla bla. 

Anyway, back to our subject. Lewis is now second on the list of drivers with most wins in F1. But if Nico wins in Brazil, it's over. Lewis gets there for his interview directly with Simon and Johnny rather than the media pen for some reason. He's again surrounded by a crowd of fans and he seems not to like it too much which is fully understandable given how intrusive they are being. 

Simon says he controlled that race from start to finish and Lewis says "from the grass to the finish yeah". They laugh. Simon asks if he's relieved it didn't go to the stewards seeing what happened to Max. He says he didn't even think about it, he was more concerned with his flatspot that was "rattling his brain" for 17 laps. He says he couldn't see the braking zones. The vibration was so hard he worried his suspension might fail.

Johnny says his performances in the last two races especially were great, like he's in a special place. He says it has gone really well and gets a bit of a shy smile.

He wished they all had gone as well as these two. But it's never too late, he says. History has shown it's never too late. He says he'll race with every ounce, every vessel, every bit of energy and heart that he has. 

They rewatch his start as he comments it. He says what's great is he didn't even have to push, he was pulling away easily, he had such good pace. Johnny says that's worrying for the others that there's more in the bag. Lewis smiles. He's so soft that day. He says definitely, if he had to push it would have been more and that's a real positive. 

Simon says after the US GP Lewis said he was worried the whole time about having another reliability issue. Lewis says it was the same here, everytime he touched a kerb, but more so the engine. He says the straight is so long you spend so long on the gas "you just hope the thing just keeps pulling". The engine was fantastic that weekend, the whole car, the team did an incredible job etc. 

Simon says if Nico wins in Brazil it's over for the championship and asks how much it factors in Lewis' game plan, also given that at this point Lewis has never won in Brazil. Simon says he's sure it's a good time to start. "It's a very good time to start," Lewis agrees. He says it's the plan and he's gonna give it everything he's got and as long as he knows he gave it everything he's got when he crosses the line in Abu Dhabi he'll be proud of his performance. 

Simon asks if he's aware of what happened between Seb and Max. He says he had some time to look at the screens on track as he went lol. He laughs. "It's kind of unusual but…" So he saw some things going on but he only got glimpses. Johnny says "I think all we can say is go and have a look, it was awesome!" Simon says Seb was "swearing like a dog". Lewis nods in a way that says "really? wow."

As soon as he turns around to leave all the fans gathered around flock to him. 

And well we don't hear about it in the broadcast but in the end Seb got a 10 sec time penalty for his move on Daniel and 2 penalty points on his licence, which means that the final race classification went Lewis, Nico, Daniel, Max, Seb, actually.

[static-sulker]

Ghouls and germs, welcome to the bg3 Conscious Time Loop AU.

As a big fan of Polycule shit and ALSO time loops, I have made a very self-indulgent AU I want to work in. A fun fact about me is that I LOVE Undertale and the content made around it when they talked about the loops or restarts Frisk goes through. Then I thought about one of the big reasons that Undertale had that the gameplay almost encourages you to replay to see the effects it has, like telling you to stop to see the fact that the game remembers your effects. So a lot of people played it, causing the content of constant loops through the game to become (at least to me) a growing form of AU content with a constant loop for Frisk. Then here comes Baldurs Gate. The game itself isn’t saying specifically that it changes when you loop through it consistently but a lot of people are playing and that your actions will lead to freedom from the tadpole. And I'm just a tad crazy… so...

I'm making a conscious loop AU. The team is all going through a loop and then havoc and a ludicrous start. Also polycule. In this Tav and Durge are two different people in the team (For me at least, Tav is known as Erin and is a half-elf Bard, and Durge is known as Monty, a draconic bloodline sorcerer) It starts with a pretty good run, the first way through they go through it as you do in the game, destroying the brain, practically the GOOD ending. Everybody is happy. For 6 months. After the epilogue, they are meant to finally continue life, and start in their little sectors of life.

Then they wake back up on the nautiloid. A part of them is still saying what they said in their first run-through like Lae’zel doesn’t want to jump and prepare to fight Tav but they still feel like an overwhelming urge to do it. For the first 6 loops through, they believe it’s just them that going through it again like they don’t know that the others are conscious. Everybody seems to be acting the same as these urges to do the same events every time is covering any real idea of trying and communicating much.  Nobody outside of camp knows when they try and talk to people like Ethel who is pretty good with this anyways…Or the emperor. They try and keep in line, that is until Monty does something different. During Raphael's first little speech, he lets out a little mention under his breath something along the lines of “It’s an Ironic name for a house if she’s literally in your basement but ok.” Raphael doesn’t exactly hear it as Monty isn’t the big talker of the group. Everybody else? Oh, they hear it. At that point, they all try and work together to get out of the loop by trying any form of ending. No matter if they try and not even fix the brain or try and escape, 6 months after the brain is affected (fully controlled, destroyed, breaks free, etc.)They black out and wake up back on nautiloid. They have tried all the evil runs, Monty has tried to convene with Bhaal but nothing happens. Shadowheart tries this with both Shar and Selune,

After a while, they don’t take it all too seriously most of the time, like they begin to just min-max and like fuck around a bit. Normally with people like Gortash Raphael or Yugir. Astarion and Erin have both like memorized Raphael's whole script and just fuck with him constantly and the others like struggle to stop them because they usually are busy laughing. Death means nothing now and they are just going through what feels like purgatory and going through the ride with as much joy as they can try. The big cutscenes also change what happens to them. Like Astarion has gone through his emotional journey and he has grown as a person but his urges have caused him to act the same as he did when they first came back before the world “allows” him to be nicer without it being a struggle to act on his own choice sometimes. Yes, they can do other run-throughs but they can’t really change their character at times. Their urges to stay in one form of attitude until it made sense to change it, like Shadowheart acting a bit defiant and colder until she frees the nightsong. They also at times don’t have control over certain “events” happening until they actually happen. Like Astarion biting somebody at camp, which also lets him finally use his bite and be honest about it, which forcefully cannot happen like he literally can’t bite in front of them until his secret is revealed.

I don’t know if it would actually have like lore yet, it’s more of an excuse to think of the goobers fucking around and be old friends.

[movedtoferinehuntress]

🎮 — favorite video game(s)? (please talk about hzd + why you love it)

Oh man, everyone beware I'm about to lose my mind because I will not stop talking about this.

So anyone who knows me, absolutely knows how much I love LOVE

L O V E

Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West. Like this is THE game of the century that has to be played by everyone. One is just the absolutely ingenious concept of this futuristic world where humans are basically "restarting" and you have these tribes and clans and societies and the absolutely devotion and care that Guriella put into it to make it not just believable but absolutely realistic. I'm telling you, my Anthrpological heart SOARS because they did their research, the dung in deep and hard and did not skimp on ANYTHING. Not just that, but Aloy. FREAKING ALOY! THIS BEAUTIFUL AMAZING FEMALE PROTAGONIST THAT IS UNFORGIVING AND RUTHLESS BUT KIND AND COMPASSIONATE! Like fuck yeah, this woman is tender but she's not soft. She is bold but not arrogant. She knows her shit and she knows it good!

Just omfg, If anything, play the game for Aloy! And look at her!

she has features that I don't often see in Protagonist!! She has a round face, a soft chin, she has sunburnt cheeks and wild hair. She's not tall and she has no hour glass figure. She is literally, not something I've seen in term of female characters and yet SHE'S ABSOLUTELY PERFECT AND AMAZING AND I WILL NOT ALLOW ANYONE TO HURT HER!!!

Okay, but then, THEN! IF THAT ISN'T ENOUGH!!! The features in the game itself. These producors, artist, everyone behind it who created HZD/HFW went into depth to create believable beautiful scenary in the game. I'm sorry, but I am one of those players that love graphics. I LOVE IMMERSING MYSELF IN BEAUTIFUL SCENARY! And let me tell you not only is the scenery beautiful BUT THEY USE REAL LIFE LOCATIONS!

From the Last Vegas Strip to The Golden Gate Bridge. There is Zion Human History Museum and Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. You also revisit places like Sequoia National Park or Los Angeles Aqueduct. And these are locations in California, New Mexico, Nevada, places up in Colorado and Utah. I mean DAMN! I CAN SHOW YOU ALL THE PICTURES!!!

And The characterization! Each character is 3D, complex and in depth. You got villains yes, but these villains are just, so much more then black and white. Their history, reasoning, why tehy are. Like hell, DO NOT GIVE REGALLA A DAMN REDEMPTION ARC! There is no need for it, because Regalla in her right is a hero in her eyes! Like the woman feels absolutely betrayed by her clan and what she went through can you blame her? Like I'm sorry, but I love how unforgiving she is and that she won't say she's sorry because in her eyes, she is right. And I love this complexity in characters! And the Zenith, holy shit! HOLY SHIT! And then Aloy's characterization and her absolute growth form Horizon Zero Dawn to Horizon Forbidden WEst and omfg I can't what for Horizon 3 to see what happens just.

I will stop now, but I literally, this game. THIS GAME! This is the only game that matters to me. I have replayed HZD and HFW at least 10 times each. There is so much in them and it never ends. I love these games and I so suggest playing them <3