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invinciblerodent · 5 months

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About the altered animations in Astarion's first romance scene

I already knew that there's something of a precedent for large updates to change camera angles and facial animations around a little bit, so, on a lark, I loaded in my save from before the first romance scene in my current, Astarionmance playthrough, just to see and compare it to my recorded version, see if there's been any changes since then.

Well... honestly? My feeling is that the two scenes are pretty much only roughly comparable to each other at this point. Like not to be dramatic, but it's kind of almost a case study in how much body language can alter the perception and interpretation of the same dialogue.

In the version of this that I got originally in my game (on october 21st so in patch 3, through high approval, quite a bit before the party), the short conversation before leaving the main campsite has him wearing sort of a... heavy, darkly suggestive, almost predatory expression. He looks, overall, very serious: head pitched strategically forward so he's both leaning towards- and looking at the PC through his lashes (maybe crowding them a little bit, stepping into their space), his eyes are more narrow and provocative, and he's not wearing even a hint of a smile. I think it makes it very clear what the intent here is: to present Desire™, and show a façade that suggests his impending performance of the "ooh, the sexy vampire is now going to steal you away to have his wicked way with you" fantasy.

Comparing this to the latest version (as of the 4th of december, so shortly after patch 5, which from the patch notes I'm guessing is likely what brought these alterations on), it's... very strangely different.

I had not altered my settings, or the shots in any way (beyond cropping and resizing), the lighting just... seems to have been brightened. But, the most obvious change is that his entire body language is sort of... tipped more back and away from the PC now. His brows and eyes are a lot softer and more open, rounded, more like they appear later on in the confession scene, and he's smiling this.... kind of cordial, unsettlingly friendly smile, that seems (at least in retrospect) very obviously fake and plastered on. I think he's selling the illusion of the rakish debaucher, the dashing scoundrel about to rock your world, a lot less convincingly this time around.

Even though the voicelines have not been altered in a way I can detect, his face is saying something completely different, and it recontextualizes a lot of things for me.

[Also in addition, him breaking character momentarily ("I do mean sex, to be clear") now does also lose a bit of its humor for me. Just because this new way, there isn't as large a gap between the capital letter Performance, and the little side note he gives himself in the middle of it. Now it's somehow... less theatrical overall, and so the aside is less like he knows he sounds unnatural and his real self is peeking out from behind the lines, and veers a twinge more towards "in case you're dense and didn't actually notice that I'm seducing you, I'll dumb it down for you".]

Even as he's waiting for the response in that silly "ta-dah!" pose, his face is very different: instead of that sort of blank, "haughtily and hauntingly sexy", determined kind of look, he's now gazing at the PC with what (in motion at least) looks to me like it's kinda... going rapidly back and forth between almost a pained/unsure look, and... a thinly veiled disgust, maybe?

Like, that's... that's straight-up a grimace, man, I don't want anyone I'm considering sleeping with to be looking at me like that.

Within the scene itself that follows, the animation appears unchanged (or at least not changed significantly enough for me to notice without playing them literally side by side), but the following conversation in the morning is... also a bit odd, and has been edited heavily?

In my original recording, he seems to be making sure to look at the PC more, though only over his shoulder, and his features are harder, more severe again, as it is in line with the conversation before. The whole little exchange, before the arcana check and before it'd segue into talking about Cazador more directily, ends on a bit of an eyeroll and a hidden smile that can be construed as conspiratory, or just a bit sly and self-satisfied.

This kinda straddles the line between "hehe, you're caught in my web now" and "hehe, I'm SO good at sex"- the former being closer to what he's likely thinking, and the latter being one of the more obvious ways the PC can interpret that look. A+ on that, no notes.

But now, (first of all the lighting is overall much less warm, the whole scene looks cool and less afterglow-y) he doesn't really turn to face the PC, not even over his shoulder. This keeps his expressions concealed from them, but open to the player, which is an interesting choice, and his expressions are, again, a lot more in line with those from later scenes, when the relationship is well underway: it's less openly performative, and more just a... a sad, unguarded, almost forlorn, private look. My guy looks like he is speedrunning through all his emotions over the span of like 10 seconds here-

-and lands notably on this kind of unsettling shot, of this expression that's, while somewhat similar to the old one for the line "I didn't want to go too far" (that the PC can halfway see), is both more exaggerated, and kept entirely to himself:

I for one find this one a little.... creepy and cartoonish, tbh???? Which, I guess while it's in line with the whole "I'm such an evil mastermind, they've fallen right into my honeypot" way of thinking he is supposed to have in this precise moment, it, uh.

Listen, it just conjures in my mind a violently clear image of Robbie Rotten from Lazytown. Because it's just such an "I'm clearly being a villainous villain with a nefarious scheme and agendas aplenty" expression, he's all but twirling his mustache, and the fact that it's turned right to the player's face rather than being only hinted at for both person and character, makes it look... pretty heavy-handed. Which I guess is more indicative of this man having a charisma score of a whopping 10, but it takes away from the subtlety of the entire exchange, and kind of creates a rift between what the player, and what the PC can know/suspect.

Overall, these new animations look... very different, bit more like they're trying to drive the point all the way home? Now there seems to be a big neon sign that says "HE IS NOT DOING THIS FOR PLEASURE" over his head, rather than letting your figure things out for yourself later on.

Needless to say, I.... personally prefer the old version of this scene over this new one, lol.

(...... One final, mildly notable change I noticed is that they seem to have taken out the little moan they had my character make as he bit into her neck? In my old recording, there was a tiny, barely audible little "a-aah!", and that's just.... not there now. I'm not sure what that's about, if it's a bug or a feature, and I don't know if they had it for other player voices or not, but prior to now, they did go pretty hard into how getting bitten is, to many, quite pleasurable, so downplaying that now comes off as a tiny bit odd to me.)

(I do like how her tits look less squashed though. They perked my girl's girls up a little bit, which is kinda nice lol.)

Editing to say this: it seems like these animations are the same as the goblin party ones, only... in the daylight? Which, it could be a bug of some sorts. I reloaded it once and it was the same once more, but... it could be that my save is kinda weird there for some reason. Idk. Turning reblogs off because it could just be a bug.

#baldur's gate 3 #astarion #astarion ancunin #bg3 meta #bg3 animation #astarion romance #bg3 patch 5 #uh what else #i can't think of anything else #i'll add more tags if i think of any #squirrel plays bg3

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my-current-obsession · 3 months

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My Next Life as a Villainess VN - Thoughts

Considering the source material, I was surprised at how good this game was! It's unsurprisingly light-hearted and comedic, but most of the CGs are still great and the romances mostly worked. I appreciated how despite Catarina's black-hole level of denseness causing issues in basically every route, everyone tackled it differently and every relationship felt unique.

My biggest complaint is just that we were robbed of routes with the girls outside a "normal/friendship" ending, since the girls canonically ALSO love Catarina. Getting three extra routes for Mary, Sophia, and Maria would have been SO GOOD. But Alas.

While this game and story is definitely meant for fans of the light novels and/or anime, I think there's plenty of information for people new to the series to still enjoy it. I also appreciate how much content is added to the common route as you complete the routes of love interests. Expect SPOILERS below the cut, as I go into detail on my thoughts for each route.

My play order was:

Alan -> Keith -> Geordo -> Rozy -> Nicol -> Silva

Common Route: I won't linger too long on this, since the common route in this case was pretty short. It did its job, setting up the plot and introducing us to all the important characters, both new and old. But in terms of notable interactions with the love interests or MAJOR plot points, there isn't much of notice yet. All the choices that give affection for the guys pre-route split lead to very brief tangents/conversations, nothing substantial.

We do meet and immediately befriend Rozy in the common route, which is nice. Silva by comparison barely features here, but he's ALL OVER basically every route, so his absence here is honestly fine.

I do like that we learn about the sachets and their connection to Ryle Werder, since that plays an important role in several routes. The Witch's Eye, by comparison, perhaps receives TOO MUCH attention in the common route. It's only relevant in NICOL'S route and yet we learn about it when meeting ROZY, which seems odd.

Alan: Not counting the girls, when I watched the anime, Alan was my favorite love interest. Hence, I decided to start with him. And I wasn't disappointed! I like that it's pretty clear under "normal" circumstances that despite his love for Catarina, Alan would never rock the boat and confess to her. He acknowledges and respects that she's engaged to Geordo, and he's engaged to Mary.

Thus, for this love to bloom, the pair kind of NEEDS to be separated from the group and spend some quality time together, which is just what we get. Interacting one-on-one, these two have a very casual and easy relationship that appeals to me. They get along well and Alan is mostly charmed by Catarina's eccentricities. His one real problem with her is that she is reckless to the point of endangering her own life, and that's a fair criticism I think.

Since Alan wasn't planning on confessing, his struggle to "get through" to Catarina is mostly about making her understand that being reckless hurts and upsets the people that care about her, which he finally inadvertently succeeds at by... getting hurt himself while protecting her, causing HER to be upset.

It's a very sweet and subtly romantic moment, which I liked a lot. I like how this route, particularly the "memory scenario" bits, seemed to imply that deep down, subconsciously, Catarina ALWAYS has liked and favored Alan. He's the one she likes to just... hang out and spend time with, and thus when they spend a certain amount of time alone and have some (mostly accidental) romantic moments, she's quick to Catch Feelings, even if she takes a bit to acknowledge them.

The cherry on top to this route was his confession and how it was handled. When Alan accidentally confesses his feelings while saving Catarina from Frederic, due to her hangups about the whole "I'm a villainess in an otome game and all the guys should love Maria" thing she initially wants to doubt or misinterpret it - but Silva (who had earlier called out and WEAPONIZED Alan's feelings for his own gain) is quick to correct her, forcing her to acknowledge it. But the pair don't get to talk it out right away, leaving them to be noticeably awkward around each other until they do.

Only then, when it's unavoidable and necessary, does Alan fully confess. Because he knows Catarina NEEDS to hear this in order to fix their current relationship. But he immediately follows it up by telling her to forget it all - because he's genuinely content with just being friends with her and doesn't want to ruin things between her and Geordo.

I appreciate how much Alan is selfless and trying to do the right thing - and I appreciate it even more, comparing it to other routes to come. And Catarina refuses to forget because simply finding out how he feels is enough to make her recognize her own feelings, but she similarly resolves to talk things out with Geordo and Mary before confessing. The respect paid to their "official" partners and trying to properly end things before starting anything together is mature and wonderful, to the point where in Alan's happy end Geordo (reluctantly, but still entirely of his own volition, without outside pressure) gives them his blessing. It's sweet and satisfying.

Also, sidenote - I genuinely liked Liliana a lot as a side character and was disappointed she wasn't in any other route. On the other hand, that means she got to witness and support JUST Alan's romance and none of the others, so...

Keith: I won't lie, this is my least favorite route from a plot AND relationship standpoint. While basically ALL the other love interests find Catarina charming and endearing, it bothers me how Keith is always criticizing her. He loves her, but he's constantly trying to get her to act like a "proper noblewoman" instead of embracing her as she is. And from the perspective of a SIBLING, that's fine. But I HATE it when you're actively trying to mold your love interest's behavior and personality.

Across all the routes Catarina must have dreaded Keith lecturing her (explicitly acting like her mother, at that) more times than I could count. That's just NOT romantic. At all. And isn't a dynamic that can/should be TURNED romantic, IMO.

Another big turnoff for me is that Keith is one of two love interests who has... let's say a sense of entitlement to Catarina. He's actively hidden his feelings for years, AND YET he hates the idea of her with anyone else and actively tries to keep her away from her more aggressive suitors like Geordo. Unlike Alan and Nicol, who acknowledge their feelings but WILL NOT act on them in usual circumstances, Keith monopolizes Catarina's attention when he can and actively WANTS to be with her romantically... all while excusing the time and attention he gets by saying it's his right as her BROTHER.

The underhanded nature of how he gets her attention and his ulterior motives bothers me. At least Geordo is UPFRONT with his possessiveness and intentions, even if Catarina is too dense to notice.

On Catarina's end... I just struggle to buy her suddenly falling in love with him. This route makes it clear Keith is "special" in that she's quick to notice if he's not feeling well physically or emotionally; Catarina likes to TAKE CARE OF and DOTE ON Keith. That's pretty in-line with her seeing him as her brother, and honestly that same care and attention comes across in other routes where she clearly loves him PLATONICALLY, so it's hard for me to accept that not only does she quickly fall in love with him here but she confesses FIRST before Keith makes his own feelings clear.

As for the rest of this route's plot, I barely remember it. I wasn't invested in the conflict here - and that's not the case in most routes. Alan's route interested me with the relationship drama of Ryle & Liliana, Silva and Rozy had big political issues, and Nicol's was supernatural. Only Geordo's route was similarly dull in terms of non-romance content. The main thing I took away from the conflict here is I was unhappy how Keith's conflict of feeling weak and unable to protect Catarina was handled.

Rather than learning he didn't HAVE to protect her, that he was important/valuable to her without that, or something along those lines (leading to a more mutual and open dynamic, theoretically), it's resolved by... him finally being able to protect her. He had a BAD personal arc on top of a BAD romance on top of a BORING overall route/conflict.

Geordo: Like Keith, Geordo is pretty possessive and "entitled" to Catarina. Unlike Keith, I can at least somewhat understand why. He's literally engaged to her and has been for years. Beyond just his own hopes/feelings, there is an expectation that he WILL marry her eventually. I also appreciate that while he's initially not that forward, he's still open and obvious about his romantic affections. It's just that Catarina is PARTICULARLY dense with him.

She struggles to believe anyone could fall for her when Maria is Right There, but Geordo in particular she struggled to win over "in game", and despite years to get used to the idea she still doesn't seem to realize how much people and relationships have changed due to her actions. Thus she can't envision him EVER loving her romantically and finds a way to misinterpret his every action.

Whereas Keith just kind of... snapped and wasn't able to hold back his feelings in his route after spending too much time alone with Catarina, Geordo by comparison is very DELIBERATE in making more aggressive moves. And again, I think it's narratively justified albeit kinda messed up. While he is used to the usual rivals and felt relatively secure that they wouldn't/couldn't steal Catarina out from under him... suddenly Silva enters the equation and NOW he feels threatened.

As a pirate, Silva wouldn't care about Geordo's title or his claim to Catarina. If he chooses to steal her away or if Catarina just comes to like him, there's NOTHING Geordo can really do. Thus, he couldn't afford to be patient anymore and he got desperate.

He thought he had time to win her over, but now he had to progress things FAST or risk losing her. His actions make sense, and by making his feelings clear earlier on in the route, Catarina has more time to think about it and figure out her own feelings.

I think it's notable that none of the other love interests, despite their own feelings for Catarina and their frustration for how Geordo handles things (since he says some nasty things and unintentionally hurts her while revealing his feelings), actually try to PREVENT Geordo from "winning" Catarina. The girls even come around to SUPPORTING him despite loving Catarina as well.

Geordo's "entitlement" to her is reasonable. He's not guaranteed her love, but he is the most justified in expecting it and acting possessive by virtue of their engagement. While Mary may plot to run away with her, while Keith might secretly want her for himself, while Sophia tries to push Nicol to pursue her... EVERYONE acknowledges on some level that unless Catarina actively falls for someone else (which looks increasingly unlikely as time goes by), Geordo IS her endgame by default. And they respect that. They are all prepared for this marriage to eventually happen; Geordo by comparison on other routes is typically NOT prepared for Catarina to suddenly fall for someone and want to break things off.

His crime is of being complacent and then poorly handling it when he realizes just that. I personally can forgive that a lot easier than Keith's... everything, and a lot of what happens in Rozy's route, too.

On Catarina's end, the extra time she got to think about Geordo's feelings and re-contextualize a lot of their earlier interactions while also being more aware of the romantic implications of later ones served her well. While I personally imagine Alan and Nicol as the two guys she's lowkey into "by default" judging from their routes, it was easy enough to see Geordo's efforts to win her over actually paying off near the end, and her accidentally acknowledging her realization of "maybe I love Geordo" out loud, TO HIS FACE, was great. The non-romance plot of this route was fairly dull, but I found the romance very engaging so it evens out!

Rozy: I was impatient and just had to give one of the new love interests a go before doing Nicol. I have very mixed feelings about this route. On the one hand, as a new character, I found Rozy very attractive in terms of his appearance and personality. And many of his interactions with Catarina were sweet and endearing. On the other hand I have two MAJOR issues that hampered my enjoyment of specifically his relationship with Catarina, A LOT.

Problem one is that, plain and simple, Rozy was TOO devoted and obsessed with her based off ONE, BRIEF interaction 8 years ago. I understand that she inspired him and changed his life without meaning to, but he just... takes it too far. I can rationalize him looking into her immediately afterwards to learn her name. I can get behind him thinking back to that moment and hoping to meet her again one day, to thank her.

But he went as far as HIRING people to check up on her and tell him all about her, years later. That's just STALKING. Through a proxy, yes, but stalking nonetheless. Which is not okay. Ever. It doesn't help that outside of this one "flaw" - being TOO devoted, to the point of clear obsession, which is noted in story to be a flaw his entire family has - he's basically perfect in a way NONE of the other love interests are. I'm genuinely not sure if I would have preferred a literally flawless Gary Stu love interest or... this, which was gross.

Problem two was Albert's interference and the DISRESPECT to Geordo this route had. In general I'm wary of other characters in a story "shipping" anyone together - passively rooting for something like Liliana did is typically fine, but very active matchmaking is grating - but WOW was Albert a busybody about getting Rozy and Catarina together. When he was talking politics I was engaged and enjoying him, but whenever he turned his attention to playing matchmaker, I just felt frustrated.

He's MEANT to be eccentric, but this is really how a king is spending his valuable time? In particular the way he outmaneuvered Geordo so that Catarina and Rozy could fake-date For Reasons, and even PULLED RANK on him, threatening to end his and Catarina's engagement BEFORE Rozy had even confessed, was infuriating.

What gets me is that his interference was ENTIRELY unnecessary. There were plenty of moments between Rozy and Catarina to justify their mutual feelings without him poking his nose in it, and despite being clearly unhappy about it Geordo HAS proven to be reasonable about letting Catarina go when she actually falls for someone else. It's not like Albert's actions prompted Rozy to confess; he was going to do so ANYWAY. All Albert did was piss off and disrespect Geordo. In theory his actions SHOULD cause political issues between Quid and Sorcier, which he wants to prevent, and yet...

This was the one route where I liked the plot outside the romance significantly more than the romance itself. The political drama and intrigue was engaging, and I loved seeing Rozy and Silva interact. They have a genuinely sweet dynamic. It was also cute seeing Rozy's dad gush over him - a more normal, healthy (yet embarrassing) way to express the family's overly-affectionate trait.

The conflict with the premier Cet Norden was... a bit sloppily handled though. It bothers me that like 90% of his backstory and motivation was in an optional "memory scenario". Was an optional exposition dump really the best they could do? No way to incorporate any of that into the story naturally? By comparison the conflicts are much better integrated in Alan, Nicol, and Silva's routes.

I have a third minor issue with this route (and to a lesser extent, Nicol and Silva's) - it's frustrating that even AFTER finding out Rozy is associated with the pirates, he continues to hide shit and only comes clean when he can't avoid it any longer. Silva's route fully explains WHY - they're trying to secretly handle this so they don't have to work with and be indebted to Sorcier. But the politics of that choice are, in itself, kind of disgusting. Thinking rationally, Rozy chose to endanger who knows how many Sorcier nobles by keeping things secret, and even if their lives are kept safe by the "pirates", they're still under extreme emotional stress due to the situation. They even go so far as to plan for ships from Quid to "rescue" the Sorcier nobles, making them feel indebted rather than the other way around! The entire plot/conflict of this game could have been avoided if saving lives mattered more than politics.

Nicol: This route took an interesting turn into the supernatural. There is an entirely unique conflict (on top of the existing ones, which... still exist and take up nearly half the route), and I quite enjoyed it. I do think it needed more time to shine, though. The witch is only properly introduced more than halfway through the route, and that conflict is resolved surprisingly fast and easily.

As for romance, this route actually worked way better than I expected going into it. I'm not typically into aloof love interests that don't emote much, but I think it helped that we got to spend a lot of time from Nicol's perspective so I could see what he was thinking and feeling, even if it wasn't clear from his expressions and voice.

I mentioned that I think Catarina is lowkey into Alan and Nicol "by default" earlier. Alan I explained in his section - she subconsciously seeks him out and pays him special attention, to the frustration of her other love interests.

Nicol by comparison she is more OVERTLY into, but it's initially shallow. Nicol has a "mysterious allure" that exists both in-game and out, and since canonically she hasn't played his route, AND she's the most distant from him out of all her love interests (he's more "my friend's brother" than "MY friend", initially), she's intrigued by and drawn to him in a way she isn't to her other friends. She is Not Immune to his good looks, and he's able to fluster her in a way no one else can, without even meaning to.

Thus, when they actually spend time together and get to know each other, it's actually very EASY for Nicol to win her affections. Lucky for everyone else that he's a good friend and is DETERMINED to keep his feelings to himself. Much like Alan, he has no intention of confessing and attempting to steal (ostensibly) Geordo's Girl, and I respect him for that.

I was honestly really into the tension between Geordo and Nicol this route, where out of respect and friendship Nicol was trying so hard to keep his distance from Catarina but he kept accidentally letting his feelings affect his actions in ways that stepped on Geordo's toes anyway. That said I think there was a missed opportunity regarding how that conflict ended. I think there was a lot of potential for either drama or wholesome friendship if he and Geordo had actually gotten to TALK about it, but they never did.

Nicol spent the entire route not wanting to confess and get between Catarina and Geordo, but then due to the witch's interference he ultimately confessed to Catarina anyway WITHOUT talking it out with Geordo first. Either Nicol needed to find the courage to confront Geordo and at least give him a heads-up that he was going to do this, or even better, Geordo could be a good friend and tell him to shoot his shot (but obviously Geordo himself wouldn't fully give up until it's clear Catarina has fully chosen someone else); either way making it a "may the best man win" situation would have been ideal. Instead Geordo tells Nicol they need to talk AFTER Nicol has confessed and stolen his girl after spending the whole route determined not to do literally just that, and we don't even see the confrontation.

This route is leagues better than Rozy's in "dealing with" Geordo, but not as good as Alan or Silva's. While I wanted Nicol to talk things out with him first, I at least am more accepting of the witch's interference than Albert's. Albert was playing matchmaker and screwing over Geordo in the process, while the witch was personally trying to upset Geordo due to his similarity to her lover that she wanted revenge on, and Nicol and Catarina getting together was more a byproduct of that.

She forced Nicol to spend time with and confess his love to her (in Catarina's body), which made him reconsider his feelings and his passivity, and when he ultimately confessed it was because he couldn't bear for his only confession have been to the witch. It was explicitly for the sake of closure rather than expecting reciprocation, which was a happy surprise.

Ultimately I think this route was very solid all around though it could have been improved in some ways. It also brings another point AGAINST Rozy, because I can't help but feel he WAS trying to pull a last minute Mr. Steal Your Girl despite claiming his confession was just for closure. If you only wanted closure... why did you not also confess in Silva's route, where you spent MORE time with Catarina and thus should have loved her there too? It comes across in hindsight like he cares too much about Silva to come between them but he's willing to try his luck with Catarina's other love interests.

Silva: It's rare for me to love the true/favored love interest in otome, but this is definitely an exception. His route was so good! I already liked Silva a fair amount from what I'd seen in other routes - not only is his design very appealing, but his Honorable Rogue shtick was right up my alley. So I went in with fairly high hopes and honestly still got way better than I expected.

I appreciated that while he and Catarina definitely get along right from the start, he WASN'T immediately into her. It was refreshing after literally all of her other love interests being in love with her from the start of the story (including new character Rozy, who either fell in love as a child or immediately fell for her upon reuniting). Silva's "romantic" scenes in the early parts of his route definitely felt like he was flirting more just because he's USED to getting women's attention and he was testing her reactions, rather than him genuinely trying to woo her. Instead, it's her complete trust and faith in him (despite him being a "pirate" and having a somewhat shady past that he initially tries to hide) that really warms him to her.

Either intentionally or accidentally, this pair kept stealing moments alone together, and almost every one served to bring them just a bit closer together. You could really feel their relationship shifting from strangers to acquaintances to friends to ultimately lovers. They were BOTH gradually getting to know and falling for the other, rather than it being largely one party trying to win over the other.

And while Geordo has a relatively small role in this route and isn't really addressed until the ending... I think that works. As I mentioned in Geordo's route, he was complacent and assumed his "victory" was secure. He might have been initially paranoid, but he took reassurance from Silva initially saying Catarina was like a little sister and didn't consider that those feelings might change. But then unbeknownst to him, Catarina ended up spending A LOT of time with Silva (and as I said, those moments often happened to be ALONE, so no one else truly knew just HOW close they were getting), and falling for him. Basically, Geordo was caught sleeping on the job in this route and by the time he considered Silva a threat, it was too late.

One aspect of this route I really loved was Silva's interactions and dynamic with Rozy and the Lindgren family. It's so clear how much Rozy and his father truly love Silva, and Silva loves them too but is reluctant to officially join their family because doing so would cause a minor scandal. He'd rather keep a wall between them than burden them in any way because he feels indebted and unworthy, while they WANT him in the family and would happily accept any trouble he brings.

Heck, Rozy loves Silva enough that he didn't hesitate to back off when he noticed Silva getting close to Catarina, despite presumably being in love with her himself! The subtle way he gave the pair his blessing through giving Silva the notebook that had her picture - something he had in the past told Silva he "couldn't give" him, despite Silva's curiosity - was honestly sublime. One of my favorite moments in the entire game.

I also adored Silva opening up about his family and culture to Catarina, and then how he used that unique culture to woo her. Even before the reveal, the ear kisses were SO GOOD and clearly affecting her. In the end, when he revealed it was actually a sign that he was courting her? Buddy, that's too smooth!

Speaking of his confession, I loved that initially it seemed he was going to just confess his feelings and then back off, leaving the ball in her court. He wanted her to know how he felt before she left, since it would be who knows how long before they saw each other again, if ever, but he didn't intend to pressure her. It was only AFTER she instinctively stopped and clung to him - after she'd given him some small indication that she reciprocated - that he made a move. And what a move it was! The way he warned her to stop him or leave if she didn't want this before kissing her, MULTIPLE TIMES, was just... very attractive. He was probably already my favorite before this, but even if he hadn't been, this scene would have pushed him to the top anyway.

And the epilogue is also very lovely, with him having finally been officially adopted by the Lindgren family. He found a reason worth troubling them - so he could have the status and education to "properly" be with her without society putting up a fuss. It's so cute to see her so thrilled to see him again and being so happy and excited at the prospect of marrying him.

Finally, the conflict and drama in this route was once again pretty good. I don't have much to say (mainly because while I DID enjoy the conflict, the romance was just astoundingly solid and stole most of my focus), but everything regarding human experimentation and how Silva was directly linked to it and the antagonist was good. I wish the villain wasn't a brand new character not even SEEN in other routes though (he might have been MENTIONED in one or two other routes, but that's it).

One thing I think this story does REALLY well is the Butterfly Effect of Catarina changing the game's canon (something she hilariously never seems to fully grasp). Her one meeting with Rozy changed his life. And even though she NEVER met Silva as a child, her chance meeting with Rozy also rippled outward and still positively affected Silva, making him radically different than the "in-game" Silva, who most likely WASN'T a romanceable character but a true villain (I find it hard to believe the game would let you romance someone who callously kills several people in his INTRODUCTION and who is part of a pirate crew that is legitimately threatening/evil. I like to imagine Rozy was the true "secret" romance in the fandisk, since he WAS still in the game and on the ship).

Overall I thought this game was great and it far exceeded my expectations. I expected (and got) comedy, but the romances were mostly good and there was more drama and intrigue to many of the plots/conflicts than I expected. I'll definitely be returning to this game to re-experience my favorites.

In terms of my feelings on the routes as a whole, best to worst: Silva -> Alan -> Nicol -> Rozy -> Geordo -> Keith

My feelings on the romance/relationship with Catarina: Silva -> Alan -> Geordo -> Nicol -> Rozy -> Keith

#otome #my next life as a villainess #hamefura #aside from the length the hardest part of this review was consistently using 'c' instead of 'k' for catarina #bc the GAME uses c but i'm like 90% sure when i watched the anime years ago the subs used k & that's what i'm used to

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veintrry · 1 year

Text

must be another one.

wanderer x gn!reader, im/mortal reader (no difference), unrequited love, angst.

synopsis; kuni has been entranced by you for the entirety of his life but he only watched as he loved you passionately but always seeing you with others, other lovers.

an: obvi inspired by another one - mac demarco because that song gets me.

@57and13 on twt

he himself would say he had roamed all over the world, seeking purpose, but anyone who had a keen eye would realise how he seemed to follow your footsteps, walking a different path and direction at times, but his steps in sync with yours, always. yet, you never thought to look back, you always focused on what was before you, and in that same way it was made evident that he wasn't at the forefront of your mind either.

You always had much to offer the nations of Teyvat, someone as yourself could give the universe to anyone, and you did just that. You didn't call yourself a hopeless romantic despite how often he mocks you for being one, swooning over the slightest kindness shown to you and thinking of something extravagant and cheesy to do, as expected. Though, he found himself disappointed it was never for him.

He surprises himself with how he still has the capabilities to be disappointed, this has been going on for many years. Lots of things have changed, but never this. Wanderer prefers not to acknowledge this, because doing so means being aware of how long he has yearned for your attention, and honestly, to care for someone so deeply for this long... it was both passionate and humiliating, for the core reason of your dense being.

You have witnessed him evolve, seen him at his best and his worse. You were there for everything. Of course he is fond of you, he always had been.

At first he mistook it for adoration, maybe a hint of attachment, too. But he quickly realised the differences between that and... love. Archons, how he hated that word. Though it was true. He loved you. No, he liked you. He actually wanted to be around you, but most of all he wanted to be with you. He wanted to say that you were his, that no one else can come and take you. But he liked you too much to even forbid you from your stupid temporary joys.

Wanderer is used to having to take the backseat when you fall for someone once more. He might even say, you've built a routine, a dynamic of what occurs in these cases. He lets you have your fun, but he deals with things eventually.

Because, he loved you. He couldn't say that your face though. You blurted it out so easily, he questions your views on romance since they seem so messed up, but you're always so ambitious nevertheless.

He wishes he could say he would be happy just watching you from afar, but that would be a lie, one he couldn't live by. In fact, why would he make such a proclamation? Why should he move over for someone else? He was best suited for you, you two knew each other so well you could probably switch bodies and no one would realise.

There was a natural understanding between you two, so why is it that you never looked over your shoulder to him? Surely you noticed how he treats you differently than others, it doesn't take a genius to tell,

and he thinks you're beginning to realise.

You have been spending a lot of time with him lately, this wasn't unusual, you two wandered together, but he feels that you've been more focused on him, plus you haven't rambled about anyone else in a while. It was nice this way, waking up beside you, complaining to you that you hold him too tightly in your sleep as if it actually bothers him, getting up and preparing breakfast as he urges you to stop lazing around in bed already. To think he's savouring these kinds of things like some love sick moron... you've rubbed off on him too much.

He feels your touch on him as he continues to cook, though slightly startled by the feeling of your hands, slithering from his waist to his stomach, pressing his back to you as you hug him. Your breath hits his neck and it makes him straighten up, your face is stuffed into the crook of his neck and he wanted to insult you, to scold you, but he liked how you clung to him for warmth despite him lacking any. It means that if there was any felt, it was because of you. Moron.

These are what make enduring those tough times when you're with other people you like worthed; Getting you to himself at the end of the day. It's awful to be glad about having you only for a limited time, but this was what you rendered him to. To think love would be this pathetic, his heart thumping, aching at the slightest attention you give him, making him, making the both of you, feel eternal, like this could be your forever, but never is.

The moment of peaceful silence only filled with slight sounds of sizzling is interrupted by the ring of the doorbell, and he curses whoever dared to come here so early in the morning, being the cause to you ripping away from him, and he immediately craves the warmth that was lost. "They can wait outside."

He spoke, his voice still slightly raspy as his throat was dry, but you could still easily tell how annoyed he was. Turning off the stove, he glanced over to you. "No no, I think I know who it is!" Your voice is chipper. That should be a good thing. But it never is, not when it comes to this. You always used to get this joyful tone when you spoke of someone, it was really cheerful, too cheerful. The voice he'd get used to would alter slightly that your voice pitched higher out of sheer excitement like you were in immense glee that you had never experience before despite this being a common occurance. Please let him be wrong.

But he never was.

And he can hear the chatter out by the door. He reminiscences on the moment that just occurred between you two, how it only happened behind closed doors, and how you left him so quickly for someone else. You love him, he reassures himself biting the inside of his lip.

You love him. Though him standing alone, knowing you'd come back in and ask him if he could make another plate, said something different. Maybe he wasn't as important as he used to be, but what does he have other than you? I guess the reason saying 'I love you' came easily to you wasn't because you liked him that much, but it just didn't mean anything to you.

#wanderer #kunikuzushi #genshin impact #kunikuzushi x reader #wanderer x reader #scaramouche x reader #wanderer genshin #genshin kunikuzushi #genshin scara #scara x reader #scaramouche #genshin scaramouche #scaramouche x y/n #scaramouche x you #wanderer x you #wanderer x y/n #kunikuzushi x you #kunikuzushi x y/n

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azrielgreen · 1 year

Note

hi Az! I'm so happy you're feeling better now and less overwhelmed, I am a patron of yours and wanted to say how much your messages and updates meant to me, you are SO generous and I appreciate you a great deal.

i wanted to ask you about Prism if that's all right with you as i saw a TikTok where you were discussing the idea of three people all being broken and HOW they break different and I just haven't been able to stop thinking anout that ever since! i know you and honeyvenom want to keep it a secret as much as possible but honestly, i'd love to learn anything about it so long as it didn't put any pressure on you.

love MkY

Hi! Thank you so much for asking! We are happy to give a little taste of what we have in store. This project is something that we're ✨IMMENSELY✨ excited for as it's probably going to be one of, if not THE, darkest fics in the fandom.

Prism is a dense, tangled story set very much in the shadow of a world that mimics the familiar, like a skinwalker would mimic a wolf.

It’s dark, destructive romance with versions of the characters that are deeply and uniquely broken. It's like falling asleep in the heart of the woods and having a nightmare about falling in love with the creature that finds you.

We’re exploring themes of trauma, abusive relationships and toxic forms of love, obsession, control. A story where the moral compass swings deceptively wide and truth North erodes the deeper you delve.

It is, at heart, a horror story. A visceral, unflinching love letter to the most extreme versions of these characters coming from deeply painful backgrounds.

More specifically, Prism is human-condition focused, so no focus on supernatural monsters, though they do exist vaguely in this world. It's rated E, the warning tags are heavyweights. It's a Steddie fic that features Harringrove too. The CWs will be thorough as always. It will have a happy ending, but this is very much a DDDNE story so heed the warnings every step of the way.

This is an excerpt from CH1:

It’s dangerous here. Steve can feel it.

Knows the sensation of something looking at him that wants to eat him.

He doesn’t like to think about it, but his instincts respond all the same.

Rabbit. Rabbit. Stupid little rabbit.

The thrill is undeniable, but he thinks he should run.

He’s not in actual danger. Obviously not.

Steve is still all fucked up, maybe.

Definitely.

The first chapter will be up before the end of May.

Thanks again!

Az and Brooke.

💫💜💫

#prism fic #aka the How Badly Can a Fic Fuck Me essay by Brooke and Az #honeyvenom and azriel's great adventure into the woods #honeyvenom #oonionchiver

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positivelybeastly · 3 months

Note

💖 Bobby Drake

How likely they are to enter a relationship with them:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

(This is one of those things that kinda depends, waxes, and wanes, because the times when they were closest and would have been the best match for each other were also the times they were least aware of their feelings and what they meant. I think if ever there was going to be a time for it, it would have been right at the start during the O5 era, or pre-Utopia. Maybe the 90s.)

Would they…

Make the first move? Yes | No (When Hank and Bobby are friends, Hank evidently treasures that friendship with Bobby immensely, and I don't think he'd go for it - and that's assuming he's aware of his feelings! These two blockheads are so incredibly dense.)

Say “I love you” first? Yes | No (Honestly, I'm kinda surprised they never did say it to each other - as FRIENDS, yeah, right, but then again, Bobby's ability to be gay appears to be inversely related to how well Hank is written, so maybe they're just cursed.)

Cheat on them? Yes | No (Hank doesn't cheat. I refuse to believe that it's within his character.)

Be the jealous type? Yes | No (I could see it becoming a bit more of an issue with Bobby than others because Bobby was Hank's best friend before he was anyone else's, and that rigidity, that claim, could get territorial. But Hank's reasonable most of the time, so I don't think it'd be a real problem.)

Plan the dates? Yes | No (Hank has the brain cells - usually - so it's him. I could, however, see it being that Bobby's the one to push to go out more than Hank is, but Hank's the one to turn that desire into a date.)

Initiate the first kiss? Yes | No (Hank doesn't initiate. Initiation of romance is scary. This scares the Beast.)

Remember anniversaries? Yes | No (Hank will remember and he WILL tease Bobby about forgetting.)

BOLD WHAT APPLIES:

Their Relationship Is:

(They were literally roommates, by the way. Literally.)

PUBLIC Displays of Affection:

PRIVATE Displays of Affection:

Do they stay together?

(I could see this going either way, depending on Bobby's emotional maturity when they enter a relationship. Hank can be tough to handle, his brain is his worst enemy and his best asset, and that can be hard for someone to manage at the best of times.)

BONUS

What terrible pet names would they give each other?

I would like it to be noted that Hank canonically almost always calls Bobby Robert, and I write it that he drops down to Bobby if he's annoyed or feeling like he wants to put some distance - because no-one else calls Bobby Robert. That's HIS name for Bobby.

Bobby already calls Hank Hankster and Gorilla of my Dreams (gay, gay, homosexual), and I don't know what he could do to top that, tbh.

#Anonymous #less spicy shipping meme #outofmuffins #The Icebeast agenda continues!

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loosesodamarble · 10 months

Note

Hi I just have this random request on how Liebe from black clover would react to flirting from someone he likes. He game back from a mission a little beat up and the reader tends to while flirting with him

Sorry for taking so long on this request, Anon. It did originally come in the middle of another event. But still, it wasn't fair to make you wait several months for this.

It's a really cute idea and I had fun with it. I'm making my answer headcanons instead of a oneshot since my writing brain is a little tired at the moment.

...........

Liebe Getting Flirted With

When it comes to romance, Liebe is as dense as they come. He knows what romance is, in that he's heard of it, but he never developed a crush until you came along.

Something about the way you never questioned him being a devil and took an interest in him directly rather than seeing him as an extension of Asta (which most people outside of the Bulls did), were some of the first things that caught his attention.

And his fondness of you grew from there.

He never considers that you'd like him back until one day that could've been like any other.

Liebe comes back from a mission a little beat. What was supposed to be a hunt for one bandit turned into a fight with a whole gang, thus Liebe had needed to throw a few punches himself alongside Asta.

That's why Liebe needs patching up when he returns.

You volunteer to tend to his wounds. You don't have any healing spells like Nero, but you practice non-magical first-aid.

At first, the flirting you use is very subtle. So subtle that it easily comes off as basic pleasantries.

"I'm glad you made it back alive" and "I'm happy to help you out with this."

Liebe doesn't really bat an eye as you sit close, maybe closer than strictly necessary, and wear an unfaltering grin as you clean up his wounds.

He's more focused on recovering and how being in your presence soothes him.

You decide to push your flirting when you begin to apply a healing salve. When you dab some salve on a cut under Liebe's eye, you linger to brush a thumb along his cheek.

"Hm, you know, I think you'd kinda look cute with a scar." The words are more forward and catch his attention, fluster him even.

He stammers for a moment (because of your closeness and your words) but manages to explain that it might not happen since his devil physiology means he doesn't get scars.

You're just so very gentle as you rub in the healing salve. You do it in part to not agitate his wounds and in part to admire his physic. You hadn't known before that devils could train and grow more muscular like humans.

Liebe's heart is starting to race because he's feeling the shift in your attitude towards him. His tail is twitching a bit and he feels a good sort of dizzy. And he honestly can't help himself from smiling as you tend to him.

Still, he doesn't presume romantic feelings from you. He knows he likes you but that doesn't mean you feel the same, regardless of how sweet you act with him.

Before you go to get bandages, you hold one of his hands between yours and say, "I hope you realize how happy I am that you came back and that we can spend time together."

Things like "it's unfair that you can look so cute after a fight" and "so you know, I'll always take care of you" come up while you bandage Liebe and his face is practically on fire because you're becoming more and more obvious with your affection but he's still at a loss.

Finally, you say "If you're not better soon, I might just try kissing you better, okay?"

Liebe starts stuttering and blabbering over the idea of kissing you. "Why would you kiss me?!" "You don't have to kiss me!" "It's not that I don't want to kiss you-!" "Does kissing actually heal people?!"

You do your best to not laugh since you know Liebe's temper would make him lash out at you. Try as you might, a bit of chuckling escapes you.

And this does upset Liebe, but he doesn't snap at you.

He pouts, turns his head away, and grumbles "It's not fair to tease me that way when I like you, darn it."

You scoot up to Liebe and lean against him. You apologize and explain that you'd been flirting for a while, but far more subtly and so you decided to push yourself to finally make him notice your feelings.

Liebe huffs and says you should've been more straightforward. But quickly takes his words back since he danced around his own feelings instead of just saying so.

With both of your feelings now in the open, you ask Liebe if you'd like to start dating. He, of course, agrees.

#questions from the ask box #black clover #liebe #black clover headcanons #liebe headcanons #liebe x reader #x reader

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pokemonislanderprincess · 1 year

Note

You know I have read so many pokeshipping fan fictions that I find it interesting when writers give Ash’s character different arcs. Let’s be honest, Ash is a pretty two dimensionally written 10 year old kid, who mostly thinks about food and Pokémon, battles are what he is passionate about, but over the years, we haven’t seen much development in other aspects to his personality so I can understand why it’s so hard to gauge how he would be as an adult. Would he be a romantic guy, would he still be this goofy adorable munchkin that he is, how he would mature and turn out to be. I don’t know for a character as dense as Ash( though he is adorable and I love him that way) it’s hard for me to imagine him actually liking somebody. How do you perceive him as an adult?

I love reading people's interpretations of Ash as an adult because, like you said, it can really be left up for interpretation. He's pretty multifaceted, even if the writers have been less inclined to delve as deeply into that in recent years, so you can explore it in different ways.

My view of Ash as an adult is that he is still a goofball, still sugar sweet, able to make friends wherever he goes and super passionate about Pokémon. He does mature, for the most part. He never does learn how to cook and isn't the best at cleaning up after himself. But he takes excellent care of his Pokémon, is easily able to get himself to and from places on his own, and really doesn't complain about anything. I don't ever see him becoming less stubborn. Ash is going to do what he wants to do, and no one can really change his mind.

I don't imagine him having a good grasp on romance outside of Misty. If other women flirt with him, or show obvious attraction, he's oblivious to it. But for whatever reason, he's able to connect the dots with Misty. He knows he loves her, he knows her personality very well, what she likes and doesn't like. He knows how to surprise her and make her feel special. His biggest obstacle with that is his memory. He's shown to be pretty forgetful, and often allows battles or other adventures with Pokémon to distract him. I don't imagine that would change very much as an adult. I can easily see Ash forgetting a date or important anniversary because he's so distracted.

I honestly feel like I've always loved envisioning Ash as a dad because that specific role captures the different facets of his personality so beautifully. He would definitely be the "fun" parent: the one who lets the kids eat candy for breakfast, goofs around with them, and isn't really a rule enforcer. But he would also love them so fiercely and just be the most cuddly, soft hearted father you've ever met. He'd be so involved with them (changing diapers, giving them baths, feeding them, reading to them, going to their activities...whatever is it, he'd be super eager to do it and you'd never hear a negative peep out of him.) He'd also be very protective of them and not be afraid to scold them if they put themselves in danger, because he knows he'd never forgive himself if anything ever happened to them. He is also mature enough to admit that's hypocritical, because he was extremely reckless as a kid and has only improved marginally as an adult. And knowing that only makes it so much worse for him.

#Asks #Ash #Pokeshipping #Headcanon #Misty

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amy-the-fairy · 1 month

Note

Hello, can I ask from this ask game :

https://www.tumblr.com/threecheersforinking/677824836625694720/anime-ask-game?source=share

For anime/manga : Queen's Quality, Akatsuki no Yona, Orange, and Jujutsu Kaisen.

Thanks 🌻

Sorry to reply so late :

Queen Quality :

Favorite Character: Fumi of course!

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: The scene where it's revealed that the Black Queen is actually Fumi's self respect. The way she embrace her little self is adorable but also feel so healing for her. It's like healing your inner child.

Character I Think is Underrated: Oh man, everyone else?

Character I Think is Overrated: None!

Favorite Ship/Pairing: KyuFumi is the only one available but hopefully it's a good ones

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: How the story turn around mental health and even give you type to manage it. It seem little but actually cleaning your space help a lot with your mind than you expect. I love the gentle and patient approach the story have to emotions, how you shouldn't neglect them and the issues is never the emotions themselves but how you handle them. It's such a great manga!

Akatsuki no Yona :

Favorite Character: Yona!

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: Tae Jun redemption arc! I didn't expect it at all and he became a favorite character after it

Character I Think is Underrated: I'm not sure

Character I Think is Overrated: ... Hak. Like sorry but being hot and loyal isn't enough for me to like a love interest but it's also due to how people were fawning on him while insulting Yona for crying for her trauma. I know it's not his fault but he have the typical profile of the male lead who's loved so much any criticism is met with death threats

Favorite Ship/Pairing: Zeno/Kaya

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: The way Yona strenghten herself but it's not at the price of her kindness. It's something I quickly loved about Yona that made her my favorite shojo mc for a long time, before that Fumi came along. She's still very precious to me.

Orange :

Favorite Character: Kakeru! He's more than a love interest to me

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: It's my favorite but also painful : The whole flashback from the og Kakeru, about why he committed suicide. That was so heartwrenching.

Character I Think is Underrated: Naho herself. She's reduced as Suwa's trophy whos's a bitch for not choosing him. Even when people have good thing to tell about the manga, they never say anything good about her. Yeah she's dense! But she also became more and more brave throughout the story, she started to do things despite being scared and people forget how taxing it is to do things while scared.

Character I Think is Overrated: Suwa. And it's not even his fault! But people want to butcher the narrative just to offer him Naho as a trophy, Naho that they don't even like or feel like she's a good character, they just see her as an object. It's sad how most terrible take about the manga is because people love him.

Favorite Ship/Pairing: KakeNaho because they look cute

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: That it dare talk about depression and suicide with such care. For a romance it would've been easy to take the road of "I can fix him" where Naho loving Kakeru would've heal him from his depression, but he actually needed his FRIENDS and he WANT to heal because of how loved he is.

Jujutsu Kaisen :

Favorite Character: Itadori Yuuji of course!

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: Honestly anything with the plant trio doing mission together. I wish we had more of that before... you know...

Character I Think is Underrated: TODO! And I know it's only because he's not conveniently attractive : the guy love Yuuji to the point to have his on his pendant locket, he hallucinated a whole school arc with him, he supported him when he was at his lowest... Todo deserve more. Also he'sn hilarious

Character I Think is Overrated: ... Gojo. Yeah I go for the obvious but it's more... people you KNOW that there's other character? Also stop using you know who as your self insert to have someone else than Geto to ship with him, seriously

Favorite Ship/Pairing: Itafushi. AH! Young love

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: How funny pretty much everyone is. I miss the Jujusanpo. I am not good at meta for too long work but I think there's more to see, especially around curse. Meta post explain it better than me

Thanks!

#ask #ask meme

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theworldinclines · 2 years

Text

Details we know about the Vice Versa universes!

Talay and Puen's Thailand

Gay marriage: Not fully legal

Climate: It hasn't snowed in Thailand, at best, in over half a century.

Product used to write on: Standard paper made from trees

Flower of romance: (Red) rose

Go-to movie snack: Popcorn

Alcohol: Beer is cheaper than wine in most cases.

Popular street food: Mostly meat based

Popular meal: Pan grilled pork

Go-to search engine: Google

Go-to social media platform: Facebook (debatable lol)

Renowned acting agency: GGN

Number 1 filmmaking company: Behind the Film Bangkok Company

Prestigious film festival: Cannes Film Festival

Counting: Counting on your hand generally starts from the pointer finger.

Archery: The best scores are earned when the archer hits the center of the target, with less points attributed to outer rings.

Birthday traditions: They blow out the candles on a cake, the usual birthday dessert.

Who lives here: Talay, a colorist, and Puen, a well-known actor. Phuwadol is originally from here, in a man’s body. Godji exists as herself in this universe; Tay Tawan exists as himself in this universe. Talay’s friend Joe and former crush Mhok live here, while their doppelgangers happen to exist in Tess’ as Pramote and Mek respectively; Tup and Tou, while their doppelgangers happen to exist in Tess’ as Up-Pree and Aou respectively; Theory of Love and 2gether are confirmed to be series within their universe, which means the casts are actors in their world as in ours.

(Side note: This inherently means that other shows the actors have been in are also available to watch in Talay and Puen's Thailand -- and that there are more than just 2 alternate universes. For example, we see alternate versions of PranPat and InkPha in TessTun and SomPrae; and an alternate version of Wai in Puen.

It’s also worth noting that Perth Tanapon plays Mek/Mhok, i.e. Perth Tanapon the actor doesn’t exist in either universe, i.e. we ourselves live in an alternate reality to the series, confirmed by it’s very existence. The chart trying to figure this out would take up a football field, I think; so of course here I am.)

Tess and Tun's Thailand

Gay marriage: Legal!

Climate: It snows in Thailand regularly, and weather services are extremely accurate. (It also snows densely enough to make a snowcone in just a few seconds, I guess?)

Product used to write on: Transparent paper and mulberry paper. Writing can be erased and the paper can be reused.

This world's motto: Save natural resources, save the earth, and save energy.

Flower of romance: Pink lotus

Go-to movie snack: Popped rice

Alcohol: Beer is more expensive than wine.

Popular street food: Fruit on sticks or in a cone

Popular meal: Pan grilled pork isn’t well known in this universe.

Go-to search engine: Qoogle

Go-to social media platform: Headbook

Number 1 filmmaking company: 26 Pictures

Prestigious film festival: Cannes Film Festival

Counting: Counting on your hand starts from the thumb rather than the pointer. (Bar guy asks Talay how many beers he wants, and Talay holds up his pointer finger to say 1. The guy takes that to mean 2 beers, though, because it's the 2nd finger. Honestly logical.)

Archery: The best scores are earned when the archer hits the slim outer ring of the target, with less points attributed to outer rings.

Birthday traditions: 1) The ‘Happy Birthday’ tune is different from the one we know in our world. 2) They stare at the candles until they burn out rather than blowing them out. 3) Instead of cake, cotton candy is served.

Who lives here: Tess, a uni student, and Tun, a screenwriter. Tess’ friend Pramote and former peer Mek live here, while their doppelgangers happen to exist in Talay’s universe as Joe and Mhok respectively. Tun’s friends Up-Pree and Aou live here, while their doppelgangers happen to exist in Talay’s universe as Tup and Tou respectively; Phuwadol lives here in the body of a female nurse. Enchanté’s characters Akk and Theo exist here as themselves and Baker Boys was confirmed to be in the same universe as theirs = Baker Boys also exists in Tess and Tun's world. The Theory of Love characters exist as their characters (Gun is Third, Off is Kai, etc). Godji exists as a different woman; our actor Tay Tawan here exists as Tong Tawhan, a delivery man; our actor and vet-in-training Mix Sahaphap lives in this universe as just vet Dr. Mix, who runs his own little hospital.

(Side note: Remember, all this means that different characters they’ve played, including their 'real life' selves, exist in alternate realities.)

(Prigkhing acted in Theory of Love as someone else than in Vice Versa and if they’re supposed to exist in the same universe, that annoys me. Maybe they’re twins LOL

As for Enchanté, I love the AkkTheo cameo confirming that they've gotten married -- what annoys me is that Boom and Aou played characters in Enchanté, but play different people in Vice Versa. Again, if it’s the same universe, they shouldn’t be different people unless they have a twin.

Jimmy plays a character named Sun in Enchanté, so if you wanted to go really far with it, you might just say that actually, the couple that ForceBook plays in Vice Versa adds to the proof that they are completely different people, NOT AkkTheo. Yet another universe where soulmates find each other, like I mentioned with InkPha and PranPat. Because this solves my stress about multiverse/series plot holes, I’ll go with this at the expense of AkkTheo marriage LOL)

I will add to this if we learn more, and please let me know if you've noticed other things :)

#the implications are endless like............#vice versa #vice versa the series #my writing #more like a compilation but for tagging purposes hjkglk #vice versa series #vice versa details

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someinstant · 1 year

Note

16, 18, and 19 for the A03 wrap asks!

Hello, hello, sorry for being so slow to respond to your ask! I've been meaning to get to this, but it's not the sort of thing I like to do on a phone, and I've been avoiding my computer during this holiday break (except for writing and such) so that I don't do silly things like open my work email or do any lesson plannings while I'm off from school.

But! I have the time and the bandwidth this evening, so I'll go ahead and do this now!

16. What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag?

I'm really inconsistent with my Additional Tags on AO3, honestly. I tend to be one of those folks who just tags characters and pairings and big genres or tropes, and possibly things like violence or content warnings. Other than that, I don't do a lot of additional tagging? But I think my favorite additional tag I used on AO3 this year was "Rampant backstory speculation that will likely be undone in future episodes but I'm okay with that." Because that is what happens when you're writing during a season of episodic television instead of after the fact.

18. The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?

This is going to be so unsatisfactory, but-- none, really? I don't really think of it as having trouble writing a character, honestly. The trouble comes in writing something that isn't true to a character, or doesn't make sense for the character's understanding of a situation. I've definitely had trouble writing scenes before, or figuring out how to resolve a situation, but generally if I just think, "Well, what's the natural way for this person to feel about this situation? What would they say? What would they do? What are they noticing?," I find that I know the answers to those questions. So the issue it's so much having difficulties writing a character-- it's finding that the situation I've written is inconsistent with the honest portrayal of that character and their reality. And so long as I'm willing to delete the stuff that doesn't fit and move with the internal logic of the characters and their world, I can find my way out.

That said, I had such fun writing Clem and Cassian and Maarva. They're probably the easiest, most natural-feeling characters I wrote all year. I think one of my favorite bits of character-building where everything just flowed and felt right was the bit in It's the same old theme where Cass has just gotten into a fight at school. I felt like I understood a hell of a lot about those three characters in that passage, and I'm really proud of it. (And yes, I know it's a controversial take in ANDOR-fandom, but: I find Maarva fascinating, and I am going to write about her a lot, because it's so complicated and dense and I eat that shit up. YUM.)

19. What’s one pairing you want to explore next year?

Eh, I dunno! For all that I've read a ton of it, I really haven't written much in the way of direct Jyn/Cassian romance-- my only other ROGUE ONE fic previous to this year alluded to a Jyn/Cassian relationship, but it was in the past and never onscreen, as it were-- and I think I'd like to see if I can find my way into writing something that lets me dig into that in a way that feels earned and meaningful enough for me to be content. And while I am MASSIVELY uninterested in paying any attention to ship wars or any of that nonsense, I could definitely see myself writing about Cassian's relationship with Melshi, or another male character-- because he does read as bi to me, and I'm interested in how he relates to men vs. women in the show, and what that means in terms of desire and its expression.* Honestly, my feelings about pairings (or moresomes! let's not be limiting!) is: whatever, man. I like what I like, I write what I want, and y'all should do the same. This is how we build a fandom that is low drama, which is all that I want.

*Okay, I'm going to ramble a bit here about something that I've been considering wrt Cassian and desire, okay? Okay. So: has anyone really grappled with what it means that Cassian was a thirteen-year-old boy who was incarcerated for most of his mid-teens? Prisons aren't exactly known as locations with a great deal of respect for bodily autonomy, and the Empire and most of the Core worlds seems to have a strong heteronormative traditionalism to them-- so it seems to me that if you were a boy who might be discovering that you're attracted sometimes to other boys, Sipo would not have been a kind place. And if you take that into consideration with how aggressive Cassian can get when some men get into his physical space (think about Taramyn, and Cassian's sharp, "Don't touch me"), versus how willing he is to be in close physical proximity to women-- I dunno, man. Something happened there, and it wasn't good. What I'm wondering is if Cassian desires both men and women (and all the spectrums beyond, perhaps), but feels less safe with men unless he really knows them. Because the way Cass relates to that unwelcome touch doesn't seem to be an expression of performative hypermasculinity, or anything like it-- Cass is more than willing to touch men, to hug them deeply, and let himself receive physical affection from them. Brasso and Pegla and Melshi all hug him, and he lets himself be vulnerable in all of those circumstances. But I think it happens less often with men for Cassian, because he feels at far greater risk.

#ao3 wrapped #my asks #all about eve #back on my writing bullshit #cassian andor #my beloved space disaster #headcanons #rampant backstory speculation

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letstrywritingmaybe · 1 year

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Just a random thought, since I love song fics… I wonder if I could somehow make a fic using my Spotify wrapped playlist as inspiration hmm… I’m gonna think out loud under the cut

Crash my car… so a meet ugly if it’s an AU (I love these!) but also lyrics could make it canon verse

Roses, need I say more, this is so CoAi vibes already. Lyrics probs more canon?

Bang, um… yeah okay probs canon divergence from the looks of things

Way less sad, labyrinth, know it all, lost, talk too much, maroon (oooo, as if I want already dreaming of a midnights album fic), close to you, 1 last cigarette, bummerland (cause we’re only going up from here. Okay this is like all my fics though), anti-hero, miss you a little, see through, blind, snow on the beach (okay but I did use a lyric already for the December fic…), American money (ngl always wanted to use this song as inspo cause of my bias of mirroring my golden otp), daphne blue (I don’t wanna talk about it! And I think we both know why! Wish it wasn’t automatic, the way I want you every time. Ugh this song man), loneliness for love (this song has always low key reminded me of my fav), karma (cause karma is her boyfriend!?!), songs I can’t listen too (my bias of superposition being their song), isabelle (hm… eh), love somebody (this one!!!), lavender haze (again the midnights album fic really should just be a thing), I like that, hate you + love you (ah yes the low key toxic vibe of it all. Why am I like this), SAD (clap your hands) (honestly probs more of a kaishi vibe but not very shippy really, but we’ll roll with it), you’re on your own kid, 2/14 (can’t fall in love tonight, well guess what pal! It’s happening!), 3 o’clock things (insomnia my old friend but also this ship doesn’t sleep I swear), choke (basically just die, which is such a mood), bejeweled (best believe my queen is still bejeweled and she can still make the whole place shimmer. And when they ask if she has a man? She can still say she doesn’t remember~ seriously this album fic when. Does someone else wanna be in charge of this cause I’m super intrigued by how people write using the same source but it always turns out different and I love that!), never a good time (the demise of the canon ship, there’s literally no good way for them to break up. They’re way too toxic and while obviously they shouldn’t work out, it’s annoying that I even have to figure a way to make amicable. I literally don’t even bother anymore. I hate canon), palm reader (got your crystals in your pocket like a drug dealer, bars. Love this line always), all my favorite songs (see the neon trees song cause that is the tie in), mastermind (most CoAi song off the album hands down), less than I do (I hope you feel blue, less than I do… did I really write a fic if I don’t make him suffer?), ghost story (see previous note), wave of you, question…?, Greek tragedy (she hits like ecstasy~), I think I like you (geezus Christ you think buddy!!! Literally I wanna scream every time cause why the fuck is he like this!!! HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW YOURE IN LOVE WITH MY QUEEN!!! I say as if he isn’t canonly dense as fuck when it comes to romance, it’s literally why I can’t deal with him sometimes and will only write him when he fucking is aware! As a hopeless romantic, it kills me to see him be so dumb about this kinda stuff), electric love, sweet nothing (okay I honestly see this more as kaishi but it’s cause I’m soft for them but also imagining it as CoAi is very cute too), strawberry sunscreen (she tastes like sunscreen and summertime, actually lots of feels about this… like you know when a summer fling is going to end cause it can’t last and you know it but you still keep going for it even. Living in the moment and falling more and being so happy and just disregarding the fallout that’s to come. Again just my feelings with this ship, the song does not give this vibe at all), run (need I say more, this is a theme for this ship), baby blue shades (hm… again I’m thinking more of symbolism but the song is not at all the way I’m making it out to be in my head)

midnight rain (ugh okay my fav song off the album but in regards to the ship there’s so much about this song man. And I never think of him, except on midnights like this. My whole heart. I guess sometimes we all get just what we wanted. I guess sometimes we all get some kind of haunted. Listen I’m a firm firm believe that they would absolutely be each other’s the one that got away and that just pains me so much), can you handle my love??, I ain’t worried, world’s smallest violin, vigilante shit, girl(you’re gonna take me back to a time when I loved and I mean it), animal(so look me in the eyes, am I someone else?)

you are the traffic (I actually have a fic with this as the title and it is not a great one. Not as messy as devour, but not great either. A terrible toxic relationship that should definitely end, but because it’s me… yeah…)

Dear reader, automatic (god I love the way you talk the way you feel baby), higher, blu (fall into your blue, what the hell is love if you’re in complete control, fighting it is hopeless, sinking in your ocean just like you designed me to do), would’ve could’ve should’ve (the regrets aspect but also John Mayer is a piece of shit, not fic related of course but I never liked him), Thelma + Louise, coming home, boys (got hungover from your words, in New York it’s the worst, all these nights are a blur), the Great War, superposition, cemetery (def not a shippy song but we’ll roll with the title), low key (see I only lie when I love you summary), Paris, I want it all (he’s the selfish one but he’s not wrong when it’s for her), love me like a friend (fwb fic when), song about you (see me always being on the song fic train), high Infidelity, stay next to me

Cringe (honestly could go one of two ways for me. Either more fuel for no canon ship or desperation for my ship. Again I write this all the time), still not dead (honestly the theme of the series if we’re just looking at the title here), bigger than the whole sky, wish you were sober, the other side of paradise (of all glass animal songs it was this one??? I wish you could see the naked truth… I guess), sunshine, glitch, choker (self-sabotage is a sweet romance)

tangerine (okay here’s another one, hm… honestly more of a failed ship song but perhaps a dramatic thing of this is what will happen to me if I miss out on keeping you), dancing in the kitchen

state of grace (okay I never liked the idea of writing a red album fic cause it is the ultimate breakup album and in my world my ship always works out. So really this is more for the canon ship, which I low key have put a lot of thought into and may just write it one day… but I don’t really wanna cause I do not care about the canon ship. But I literally have it all mapped out in my head. All 30 songs. But anyways this is the worthwhile fight I guess would be his stance for my queen if I’m making it for my ship)

My play (basically the perfect scenario, but we all know nothing ever goes to plan in the real world), lean on me, someday, red (see note about this being a canon ship break up album and my ship is absolutely not a red ship cause to me those do not last. I say as I have a red otp), drivers license (okay this does not apply to them at all, but we can roll with it in the way that we’re tying in the crash my car song. Am I bringing back the idea of an AU?), 18

Get away (okay I can’t. This has always been a kaishi song to me and I kinda still really wanna write this fic for them one day… but I guess we can roll with this as just the title, cause the lyrics are definitely more geared towards kaishi for me)

Message in a bottle (again we don’t need to go over this again, so title it is), record player (title), strawberries & cigarettes (basic but so what), find someone, run (but this one is for the one in Run To Change The End Game. I still need to finish that and perhaps add the joker and the queen, but for this purpose we’ll continue the theme of running away or not), new religion, everybody talks (in which as per usual in my fics, everyone ships them), (skipping this one cause it’s not my song but one of my brothers that made the list)

Treacherous (okay I know I said no red songs cause breakup album but… this to me has (still is) always been the most CoAi song Tay ever wrote so… yeah)

In conclusion, this would literally be every fic I’ve ever written so yeah. Totally doable

#cynful babbles #I probably won’t write this as one fic but it’s possible #mostly because I do kinda wanna write a midnights album fic #you know I bet I could be a consistent updater if I strictly wrote song fics

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