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johnsuhsposts · 2 years

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the quiet boy has a big dick?! ★top post★

parkjisung x fem!reader (e) for explicit

Park Jisung.

The quiet boy that nobody spoke to. The boy who sat alone during lunch reading the same book that he had been reading for the past few weeks now, or so you noticed. The boy who sat in the back of the classroom, looking as if he wasn't listening to anything the professor said, yet scored perfectly on every single test that he took.

Park never spoke to anyone and when someone would speak to him; on a rare occasion, he would simply nod. Jisung was simple, wearing only neutral colored clothing throughout the week and on Fridays he would wear flannels. It seemed as though you were the only one to pick up on these little details.

How he'd ruffle his hair or adjust his glasses when they'd slide too far down his nose bridge. To say the least, you thought he was kinda cute apart from the popular jocks of the school that everyone was obsessed with, (Taeyong, Jeno, Jaemin, Johnny, Jaehyun, and Haechan). Maybe you just preferred men who were more to themselves.

But what you didn't know, was that Jisung actually had the biggest secret that nobody knew about, and you were about to find out about it because he was standing outside of your dorm's door with textbooks in his hands.

- Present

"Jisung, I don't understand this." You groan, putting your head down onto the little table in the middle of your room. Jisung chuckles quietly, tapping the top of your head.

You look up at him to see his plump lips parted as if he wanted to speak, but nothing would come out. It took you a minute to see him pointing at the notes you took which clearly had the answers on it.

You smile keenly, remembering that you hadn't offered him any refreshments at all. Suddenly, you pop up off the floor, startling the poor boy. "Jisung, I'm so sorry. Would you like something to drink?" You say standing in the doorway.

Jisung nods, "Water." He simply says. Shivers fall down your spine. 'Holy shit, his voice.' You think to yourself, going to make the drinks.

Upon studying together for almost an hour, you somehow ended up laying on Jisung's lap. How? I guess we'll never know. His face is still stuffed in his book and your eyes are halfway open, listening to the soft sounds of him flipping the pages.

The quiet rain outside fills the void and you're close to falling asleep, shifting your position to lay sideways; head still on his lap. You feel Jisung tense up when you move indicating that you had startled him again.

"Sorry about that. I've really gotta stop startling you like that." You say tiredly. Jisung doesn't reply. Now that you think about it, neither of you have really spoken much since he asked for the water; yet somehow there's tension between you both.

Hesitantly, Jisung's hand comes into contact with your hair; stroking it gently. You scooted up higher on his lap, feeling him become even more tense. For a moment, you're thinking, 'Why is he so tense?' but then you realize why. You were laying directly on his crotch.

Biting your lip, you purposefully continue to move against Jisung, listening to his soft groans of pleasure. You looked up at him only to see that his eyes were closed and his head was thrown back. He's so damn hot.

You then sit up, but this time, Jisung isn't as startled as he was before. His aura is different now. Even you could tell. His eyes have become dark and his breath was labored.

He suddenly sits up, pulling his shirt over his head before knee-walking over to you. His body is a lot more toned than you thought it'd be. He sucks in a breath before speaking, "You made this a problem. Fix it."

Without anymore words from him, you dove down and pulled his pants to the floor. You could see his bulge; his grey briefs dirtied with pre come. You bit your lip, not really expecting much from a small fry like him- but as soon as you shucked his underwear down his thighs, you were taken aback.

It was huge. Thick and veiny, it had a good girth, not to mention the veins that seemed to pulse and throb with the sudden gust of cool air. You reach for it. It's soft and firm. Carefully, you begin to glide your hand up and down his shaft, looking at him while doing so. He bites his bottom lip, trying to suppress his moans.

Seeing his current state, you take this as an opportunity to go in for the kill. Your tongue makes the first move, swirling saliva all over the tip. Jisung finally moans audibly, spurring you on.

You take the whole thing into your mouth. Incredible. It was so big that you needed both hands to stroke the rest. You push further, attempting to deep throat him and he continues to occasionally jolt; making you even wetter than you were when he first showed up.

"Fuck babe.." he says, his eyes going all goo goo at you. For a second you pause. He does too. Slapping a hand over his mouth, Jisung's eyes widen. "Oh god, I'm so sorry- I didn't mean-"

You shut him up with a kiss. Jisung takes a second to register what you were doing but eventually follows your lead. He kisses back, his cock now pressed against you as you both stand on your knees making out with each other.

Carefully, you guide one of his hands down to your clothed cunt. You then pull away from him and he gently begins to rub you through your panties. "Please, Jisung," you whine. "Touch me."

He doesn't need to be told twice as he pulls your panties down, staring at the trail of slick that followed behind. "You're so wet.." he mutters. His voice is so goddamn hot.

There's no movement. For a minute, you almost think he's turned off, but what he did completely shocked you. Jisung grabbed you, threw you on the bed, and he stood over you.

He then grabbed the both of your legs and put them on his shoulders. You stare up at him, wondering what he was about to do.

Jisung's skin is warm. So warm. His strong arms secured your thighs as he rubbed the tip against your entrance. But before he could slide it inside, you stopped him.

He looked at you confused. "I was just wondering if you could.. you know.." You feel embarrassed asking him to do that, but eventually he catches on; his ears becoming red.

He grins shyly, agreeing to do it. Jisung sits down on his knees again, pulling you toward him. His head was in between your legs and you could feel his breath ghosting over your arousal. You silently wait.

Then, he licks one clean stripe from the bottom of your folds, all the way up to your clit. You gasp, trying to get used to the feeling of his lips being wrapped around the sensitive bud, licking and sucking as if it were his last meal.

Your hands interlace into his hair and you notice his glasses sliding down his face. With a small smile you reach for them, putting them on yourself. 'These aren't even prescription!' You think to yourself.

Jisung takes his thumb and rubs you off as he stands up. You then take off the glasses and when you see him for the first time without the hideous frames, you want to cream.

His eyes were so beautiful without the glasses, not to mention his nose. It was so enticing. You couldn't believe he was hiding his handsomeness like this.

"You like what you see?" He teases, pulling you close to him. You're unable to speak as he laughs at you, lining himself up with your slimy entrance. He then pushes inside and you grab his forearm.

"Does it hurt?" He asks you. You shake your head, pulling your thighs closer to your chest. Jisung smiles at you, lifting up your shirt to reveal your bra. He pulls it down, freeing your tits.

He bites his lip as he stares at them, beginning to move inside of you. He's slow from the start, gradually building speed as time goes on. It makes your back arch off the bed, your grip on his forearm tightening.

"Fuck Jisung," you say in between moans. "Yes.. give it to me.. Jisung, please..." Your neediness ignites something in him that causes him to fuck you just a bit rougher. You swear you can feel him in your gut.

His pounding is relentless, not once faltering. Your climax is slowly but surely approaching with each thrust. Jisung watches as your body slowly shakes with every swift movement from him. He holds onto your hips, throwing his head back.

"You feel so fucking good.." he moans, slowing down just a little bit. Jisung's hair has become disheveled but he still looks so hot. His thumb then suddenly comes into contact with your clit as he continues to fuck you just the way you've been wanting it. Hard and rough.

He leans down to plant kisses against your neck, still moving in and out of you with nothing but pure adrenaline. You say his name, placing a hand on his chest to get him to slow down; indicating that you were close but he just grabs your hand and says, "C'mon baby, keep going.. almost there.."

Your eyes roll back as he stands back up, going three times as hard as he had been going before. It makes your thighs tremble once you finally come, squirting all over him. He groans at the sight, still thrusting in and out of you.

Your boobs keep bouncing in front of him and your entire body feels so hot. You begin to tremble from the oversensitivity, beginning to moan and cry at the same time.

He shushes you. "I know baby, I know."

You bite your lip harshly, eyes screwing shut while listening to the squelching sounds. "I'm so fucking close.." Jisung says, causing your eyes to shoot open. You look down, seeing his cock furiously going in and out of you; covered in slick.

"Fuck, I'm gonna cum." Jisung says breathily, his hips growing weak. You whimper beneath him, covering your face with a nearby pillow.

He's going slow but hard, hitting that one spot with every precise thrust.

You then clench around him, and he stops abruptly. "J-Jisung, wait-!" You say, flipping the pillow off of yourself. You catch him off guard as he halts to a stop, beginning to pump you full of his cum. With a throaty groan of relief, his hands find comfort in gripping your hips; hissing and breathing in sharply.

He smacks your thigh, causing you to yelp.

Your heart drops. Suddenly, you feel a bit sick. There's so much of it; but it feels so good. It's so warm. You can feel your knees going weak as your eyes roll back. You accept your defeat, settling comfortably on your bed as you savor the feeling of him throbbing inside you.

As soon as he pulls out, there's a wet squelch and you can feel his cum dripping out of you. Your first cream pie. You then look up at him. He smiles lazily down at you. You smile back at him, finally being able to relax your legs.

He lays next to you, pulling your shirt down.

His arms wrap around you, pulling you toward his shirtless body. "I enjoyed that." he whispered, resting his head on your boobs. You hum, playing in his hair. "I did too, but do you know something?"

Jisung lifts his head up to furrow his eyebrows at you, curious. "Is there something that I should know?" You widen your eyes at him to try and hint as to what you were about to say.

He sits there confused and you sigh. "Condoms Jisung. We didn't use one, and you came inside."

His whole body freezes. "Holy shit."

a/n: HEYYYY, i'm so sorry for the long break. please expect more to come in the next few days. i have a bunch of drafts that i'll be posting soon! <333 mwah mwah

tags at the bottom!

(original work. please do NOT copy.)

- EXTRA CUZ I HAD ANOTHER IDEA

Jisung stands behind you, buried deep inside your cunt. He holds your chin as he fucks you deeply and you moan with greed. Your thighs tremble because you can feel yourself dripping thanks to him. He's too good.

"Look at yourself and see how pretty you are," he huffs, staring at your reflection in the mirror. You could barely stand from him being so deep inside your pussy. The thought alone had your nails raking down the dresser-top. Jisung then sighs an irritable sigh, his hand wrapping around your neck.

He then slides his hand up towards your chin, forcing you to look at yourself in the mirror. His palm was right over the lump in your throat, narrowing your oxygen. Your moans came out as broken cries.

When your eyes finally open to look in the mirror, tears begin to brim once you see how pathetic you look.

You had drool coming down your chin, some of it getting onto Jisung's hand; tears were flowing heavily from your eyes at this point as he continued to rock your world, and your body. Oh my god. Your body was so small compared to his, your back curved into a perfect C as he reached forward to rub your clit.

The knot in your stomach gets tighter as he suddenly whispers into your ear, "Look at how much of a slut you are." Unable to take it anymore, you drop your head.

You can hear Jisung chuckling behind you, massaging one of your nipples in between his fingers. You hitch in a breath.

"I'm gonna fill you up so good."

#park jisung #smut #nct smut #kpop smut #nct dream #nct #nct fanfic

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ageingfangirl2 · 29 days

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Let Me Help You Idiot! Hajime Kokonoi (Tokyo Revengers)

You met Koko when you were younger, and he took you under his wing. As an inspiring designer, you loved to make him nice clothes. As you get older, you want to be more independent, but Koko will always look out for you. Kokonoi x Reader (Bonten Timeline)

From the moment you were born, you had to fight tooth and claw to survive. Your dad left when you were three, leaving you and your mum with nothing. Your mum went back to being a hostess, meaning you were left alone in the single-room apartment you had. She was good at her job, earning lots of money and expensive gifts from suitors. But she had addictions and spent the money on drugs. From a young age, you had to fend for yourself and learn to survive, from clothing and making meals to keeping the apartment clean and ensuring mum put enough money aside for bills. Luckily, the neighbours took pity on you and helped pay for your school things, and one lady taught you how to sew, saying it would help you in the future to have a skill to pay the bills. You kept up your sewing throughout school, getting better and managing to sell some of your wares at a local market on the weekend.

This is where you met Hajime Kokonoi, and you took pride when he complimented the intricate details you embellished your clothes with. He decided you were going to be his personal designer in the future, and he was going to help you make a name for yourself.

PRESENT DAY

Koko kept his promise to help you, using his money and connections to get you into a good design school. All he asked in retum was you make all his clothes custom and free of charge, and of course you said yes because it was the least you could do. By now, he was on executive in Bonten, a criminal organisation and he liked to look nice because he had an image to maintain.

After working for a couple of designers, you saved enough to open your own shop in Tokyo, and it felt nice to pay with your our money instead of Koko's. Bonten kept Koko busy, so you didn't like bothering him unless he called you. You had one big problem, you had no real clue about money and expenses of running a business. And now you had to pay taxes on top of that, which went over your head. You chose to focus on commissions to make more money and filled in all the forms to the best of your abilities. Little did you know it would come back to bite you in the ass.

KOKO

I was busy dealing with the financial mess Sanzu had left for me after his last mission.

'I'm surrounded by idiots,' I groan, rubbing my temples.

'Err boss, I have the reports you asked for,' some lacky who's name I didn't deem important to lean stutters, standing in the doorway of my office. Even though y/n had paid for their shop and was getting quite a few comissions, I liked to keep an eye on them. They were a year younger than me and had become like a younger sibling I felt protective over. When we met up, we didn't talk about money, and I knew if they had a problem, they would come to me for help. However, my eyes widened, seeing the financial report in front of me.

'What the hell?' I gasp.

How could they be so careless when it came to finance? Firstly, they were paying way too much rent for the area, and secondly, the government wasn't happy with their taxes, which they had underpaid. They were close to losing their shop and facing a big penalty from the government who thought they were committing fraud.

I grabbed my jacket and car keys, needing to see them before the problem got out of hand. I run out of my office, ignoring Sanzu, having bigger fish to fry.

The light was still on in the shop when I pulled up outside. They liked to work late if they had a deadline. I enter the shop and the bell pings. I lock the door behind me and turn the open sign to closed.

'Hi, how can I help you - Koko, what are you doing here?' y/n stares at me, tilting their head to the side in confusion.

I walk over to the counter and put the file down in front of them, 'if you didn't understand, why didn't you ask me to explain?'

They open it, and the colour drains from their face, 'am I in big trouble? I thought I'd look dumb if I had to keep asking you to help me!'

I sigh loudly, 'yeah, well, you look pretty dumb right now, so that didn't work out for you.'

They look down at their feet and shuffle nervously, 'the last time we had coffee, you were stressed dealing with your colleagues' finances. I didn't want to give you any more stress, so I did what the internet told me to do filling out the forms. I'm sorry Koko. What do I do now?'

I walk and the counter and pull them into my arms. I didn't like to show emotion in front of the other executives, but y/n was the exception. I needed to protect them.

I kiss the top of their head, 'in the future don't take any extra comissions after you've submitted your taxes for the financial year until the new one starts or the govenment will think you're committing fraud. I'll get this sorted for you, and remember you can come to me whenever you need help.'

They squeeze me tightly, 'I'll never be able to pay you back, Koko. Sorry for being an idiot.'

I snort, you're the only idiot I can stand.'

Not wanting them to stress anymore, I'd also handle the rent problem for them, no one messed with the people close to me.

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shae-mermaid · 27 days

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Part 1 of my very FIRST fic EVER!

Part 2!! | Part 3!!! | Part 4!!!! | Part 5!!!!! | Part 6 (FINALE)!!!!!!

A/N: This doesn't even have a proper name yet, and I'm writing it on a whim, but I'm curious (and honestly hopeful) to see some possible interest in this from more than just me, before I try to post it to AO3...

Update: I've posted it on AO3, under the title "You Are A Queen". My username is shae_mermaid, if you're interested in subscribing for any other Hazbin fics I may make in the future~

Critique is encouraged, but just try to be polite about it please! <3

TW/CW: mentions of s*****e, but not in this preview, so all is well...for now. (Tell me if there's anything I should've warned about that I missed! Sorry in advance!!)

HAZBIN HOTEL ONE-SHOT

(Lucifer x plus sized fem! reader)

You had been in Hell for not even a day, waking up in a daze, and for a second, thinking you were still living. Then, realization and dread set in.. You look down to see your arms and hands, a seemingly unnatural shade of blue, in contrast to the overwhelmingly red palette of this place. And… were those scales?! Great, you thought, I’m a fuckin’ lizard or something. But then you took a closer look at your hands. You spotted fins, in between your fingers. That actually got you a tiny bit excited, honestly. Fish were something you were fascinated by in life. But, your train of thought came to a crashing halt when you heard a deafening explosion close behind you. Well, more like above you.

You were terrified, to say the least. Woken up in the middle of the street to what you only assumed was some kind of turf war, hearing lots of blood curdling screams running past you as a building started to collapse, with fire quickly eating up the building.

The person (or,rather, half-demon) who had swooped in to your rescue, was none other than Charlie Morningstar, but you didn’t know, nor care in the moment. All you knew was that the next second you’re being scooped up, white-knight style into the woman’s limo. But, after that initial rush, and looking back on it, you were glad she saved you, and to have met her as soon as you did. Otherwise, you weren’t sure how long you would’ve survived out there. But with a quick knock to the dividing window, signaling the driver to go, you all zoomed out of there just in time, before a grenade that was thrown a second before blew up near you all, too close for comfort.

Charlie was too excited to dive right in and go on and on about her newly renovated passion project to even remember to properly introduce herself and her girlfriend, Vaggie, who had to remind her to do so by placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. After that, Charlie finally slowed down just enough to shake your hand vigorously and introduce them both.

You finally introduced yourself to them, and the conversation flowed surprisingly well throughout the ride back to the hotel. You told them a little about your previous life on Earth, leaving out some embarrassing parts and dark parts, like how you came to be down here.

You mostly lived a quiet life, being the child of two avid, eternally committed churchgoers, who also happened to both be musicians. Your mother played piano, while you and your father would sing and help lead the congregations in singing hymns. At least, that’s how you lived your life in youth.

You conveniently left out a few details, like how later on in life, you started resenting your parents’ wishes a bit. They always knew that you hated performing in front of people, having one of the world’s worst cases of stage fright. Not only that, but also the fact that you were always (and, judging by your ever-present tummy, forever will be) a chubby person, which you felt only made you a target for your peers to throw all manner of cruel words at. Your mother stubbornly kept insisting though, saying “A gift like yours shouldn’t be wasted!” and “Use your talents to praise Him!”. A lot of good that did.

Thankfully, Charlie and Vaggie never seemed curious enough to ask how you died. That was a subject even you hesitated to think about. No, Charlie got so excited when she heard that you sang, asking if she could hear you sing something for everyone sometime. You had to politely and shyly decline, saying that that part of your life was over (literally), much to her dismay. You immediately felt the usual guilt-trip your mother often gave you, creep up on you, making you backtrack a little, giving her a hesitant “maybe,” if others would join you. She squealed in response, hurting yours and Vaggie’s ears a bit, saying that she’d love to, if you’re ever feeling the inspiration and confidence to.

Then she went on a tangent on maybe making another lesson plan about gaining confidence through positive thinking, to which you barely listened. Your “people-ing battery”, as you so accurately called it, was just about out at this point. So you just nodded and hummed a quiet response, while sneakily watching Pentagram City go by from the window. You also started wondering how Vaggie could still hear, from how often her partner surely made such noises.

You all finally made it to the hotel, with Charlie starting the tour off by introducing the few people that were hanging out in the lobby and bar area. First, her business partner, Alastor. He gave off the vibe of a gentleman. An old-fashioned and frankly creepy one, but a gentleman nonetheless.

“Why hello there, Y/n! Pleasure to be meeting our newest guest, quite the pleasure!” he said in his radio filtered voice, as you both shook hands. You noticed that he wiped his hand off on his coat immediately afterwards. Rude, you thought, so you subtly responded by doing the same, which he narrowed his eyes at, giving you the impression that he’s always gonna be watching. With that creepy and obviously fake smile on at all times. You made a mental note to be veeeery cautious around him…

Charlie started to sense that there was the tiniest bit of tension in the air between you two, so she gently put a hand on your shoulder and grandly gestured at the incredibly lanky spider demon sitting at the bar, and the frankly unamused and tired cat/bird demon behind the counter. “This Angel, our very first guest, and of course Husk, our Bartender!”

Husk just responded with a two fingered salute and a quick “Yo,” while Angel temporarily put his work attitude back on and playfully greeted you with a “Hey, gorgeous! Nice to meet ya!”, which honestly made your cheeks tingle a little from a small blush of embarrassment..

Charlie starts to announce “Everyone, this is Y/n. Our newest guest!”, to which you give out a shy “Hi,” using what you call your sweetheart voice, and awkwardly wave at everyone.

Suddenly, you see a blur zooming up to you and spiral up your body, until you finally see the face of a tiny cyclops lady with an adorable 1950’s style poodle skirt and apron on. Honestly, you froze like a deer in the headlights as soon as you felt the frenzied crawling, but that didn’t make you half as tense as her sharp-toothed, crazy big smile did. Hers is almost as bad as Alastor’s, you thought.

Charlie let out an awkward laugh while Alastor grabbed the little thing, basically using his claws like tweezers picking up a bug. “Oh! I almost forgot! This is our maid, Nifty!”

Almost as if Alastor had switched her crazy side off as soon as he picked Nifty up, she put on a deceivingly innocent, almost cute smile while she was dangled in the air in front of you, giving a very childlike “Hi!!,” with a small wave back before proceeding to wiggle like crazy, prompting Alastor to just drop her on the floor. You almost said something in protest as she fell face-first onto the floor, but you stopped when you immediately heard her shout “YAY! PAIN!”, then scurry off up the stairs, as if nothing had happened. You could tell she might provide some much needed entertainment when you’re bored.

“We’re about 80% sure she’s harmless,” Charlie said to you in a hushed tone, only then remembering what her little friend did to Adam in the last extermination. “Ok, maybe 75%. But that’s still good!”

You let out a small chuckle at that comment, as Charlie smiles at you and breathes out a long exhale, reassured that she was doing well and that you felt comfortable. She, Vaggie, Alastor, and you, all gave a final wave goodbye to Angel and Husk as Charlie told them “We’re going to show Y/n around a little more, then take her to her room. See you guys in a bit!”, as she grabbed you and Vaggie’s wrists to pull you both up the stairs, so incredibly eager to show her newest guest around her new home. Alastor calmly followed suit as you all disappeared up the stairs.

The rest of the tour was just a lot of repetition, to be honest. Most of the floors looked practically identical.That is, until Charlie and Vaggie guided you all to the top floor. You saw a red door slightly ajar right across from the stair landing. “This is Vaggie and I’s room!” she said, then quieting down as soon as she heard a timid little “mew!” from inside her room. “Oh! I guess she wanted to make an appearance too,” she said, slowly opening the door a little more to reveal an adorable little cyclops tuxedo cat, rubbing up against everyone’s legs. “This is Kee-kee,” she said with an awkward giggle. “My cat. I’ve had her since I was young. My dad created her.”

Your eyes lit up like fireworks were going off! You adored animals, especially cats. Your shy demeanor immediately turned to poorly-contained excitement, gasping at the site of her confidently walking towards you all. “Hi there!”, you say as you kneel down and reach out your hand, offering her an up-turned palm to sniff. She just ends up looking at you weird for a second, then cautiously head-butts your hand, with you starting to give her little scritches, exhaling a breath you didn’t realize you were holding in. “I didn’t know there were actual animal-animals down here!”

Charlie giggled a little, “You’ll be surprised by a lot of things in your time here.”

“You should see Angel’s pig sometime,” Vaggie chimed in.

Your eyes lit up once more, your head snapping in Vaggie’s direction. “THERE’S A PIG?!”

Now, that got Charlie and Vaggie laughing more naturally. “We can have a little pet show-and-tell sometime, if everyone’s up for it,” Charlie went on to say.

You eagerly nod your head in agreement, standing back up before twisting your gaze to either end of the hallway. On one end, a dark red (almost black) door, and the other, a white door with red and gold filigree along the edges.

“Oh, those are Alastor’s and my dad’s rooms,” Charlie said. “I’m surprised my dad hasn’t shown up yet.”

“Probably off doing his job, babe,” said Vaggie.

“‘Bout time,” you heard Alastor say under his breath. You give him a sideways glance, quickly looking away as soon as he looks at you. You have slightly better hearing than the average person. A blessing and a curse, really.

Charlie sighed. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Probably lots of work to catch up on from the past few years.” She sounded a little down and frustrated about it, until Vaggie gingerly took Charlie’s hand in hers. “I know you just got here, so just to let you know, my dad’s the King,”

It takes your brain a second to catch up and process. “Wait. Does that mean your dad’s literally SATAN?!”

Charlie laughs again. “No. Satan’s one of my uncles, and ruler of an entirely different ring,” she paused a second. “My dad’s name is Lucifer.”

Your eyes went wide. You couldn’t help but picture some huge, burly old man with a smile even creepier than Alastor’s, if that’s at all possible.

“I know what you’re thinking, and he’s NOT like that! At all!” Charlie said, making a sweeping X motion with her arms. “He actually is quite nice. I think you’ll like him,” she went on before escorting you down the stairs towards your new room.

Oh, how little you or anyone else knew just how much you’d “Like him”.

A/N: I hope you liked it! Please leave any/all opinions in the comments. This is pretty personal to me, so I'm SO excited to see what you all think!!!

~Shae <3

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel lucifer #lucifer morningstar #hazbin x reader #hazbin x you #y/n #fem reader #fluff #plus sized reader #hazbin lucifer x reader #songfic hazbin hotel #songfic

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starryoak · 6 months

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Thoughts on Undertale Yellow

Just wanted to write some thoughts down on this amazing game! Spoilers below, obviously.

I’m going to split my thoughts into the positive and negative, because while it is an amazing game, there were a couple pretty significant flaws that IMO brought down the experience.

THE POSITIVES

This game positively oozes creativity and passion from every pore. The fact that I’m going to be complaining about some things shouldn’t take away from the fact that this is an amazing game that took 7 years to develop, and clearly shows in how polished as a product it is. The criticisms, when they come, should be taken as just a part of life; nothing can be perfect, and I don’t think that pretending that a game is flawless does it any favors. It’s certainly better than I can do, just for releasing a finished product, lmao.

This game is visually gorgeous. Obviously it’s still a pixel art game in the style of the original game, so it keeps itself simplistic, but there are so many little animations throughout that are so smooth and charming that I really was impressed. Genuinely just very pleasing to look at, from the animation to the character designs, which fit perfectly in to Undertale’s universe, which I found very impressive.

The game’s humor is very reminiscent of Undertale, and I was really surprised by how much the incidental dialogue and setpieces felt like they would fit right in with Undertale’s humor, while still being original and clever in its own right.

The game’s worldbuilding was really impressive to me, it felt like the Dunes fit perfectly into the Underground in such a natural way, the lore of the Wild East, I really loved the underlying story of how it used to be the Meadows before the Mines uncovered a massive swelterstone, a giant heat generating gemstone that slowly turned it into the desert it is in the present. It felt very true to the melancholy nature of the Underground and how the Monsters are running out of space, wishing on gemstones in the ceiling because they’ve never seen the stars, it just really clicked.

The story is just. So good. Well, up until a point. I’ll get to that in the negatives, but like. 80-90% of the story is just full of the same infectious fun that Undertale itself had, Starlo’s antics and getting accosted into being his deputy, the rest of his gang, the Wild East in general, game just really gets you to love these characters so much. And in the Neutral Route, killing Starlo and how it leaves his family worried about his sudden disappearance, how nobody really suspects you, it’s a very good gut punch! Starlo is definitely the highlight of the game, but he’s not the only one, just one that really was plain to see.

The ending and final boss of the Neutral Route is just. Very brilliant. Yes, technically a retread of Omega Flowey from canon, but it’s just so good at it that it can really get away with it, it takes it even a little further than canon in very fun ways. The art is just fucking gorgeous in every way, I’m so impressed by what they pulled off with that. Bravo, bravo.

In general, there are so many little details that really shine in the different playthroughs, like El Bailador’s fight in Merciless reverting to the traditional bullet box gameplay instead of the Guitar Hero style it normally takes, stuff like the long final chase in the Steamworks changing from Axis chasing you to you chasing Axis in Merciless, the music in battles being unique for each area and also if you’re in Pacifist/Neutral vs Merciless, it’s incredibly impressive and really helps set the mood.

Most of all, what I found the best part of the game, and really the most interesting and amazing, was the innovation in the battles! Undertale did a lot of fun things, but I felt like this game really pushed the limits of what I was expecting from the bullet box gameplay style. Stuff like aforementioned fight with El Bailador’s Guitar Hero gameplay and the way his fight changes in Genocide, Starlo’s lasso holding you in place and how you have to snap the rope, not just the unique bosses; even the regular enemies have incredibly clever attacks, like Goosic’s attacking in the same side of the bullet box as the music is coming out of your speakers/headphones, genuinely just very interesting and clever. They clearly thought a lot on how to innovate the gameplay of Undertale, and it really worked. Incredible, really, cannot praise the gameplay enough.

THE NEGATIVES

This is most likely going to be an unpopular opinion, but I did not like Martlet, and she’s such a major character that not liking her is a problem when we spend so much of the game with her. For one, the audio clip used for her dialogue was grating, but that’s really a minor quibble. The more important reason I disliked her is that it felt like the game was constantly yelling in my face “LOOK HOW FUN AND QUIRKY THIS CHARACTER IS (: DON’T YOU FIND HER CUTE AND/OR RELATABLE?”. There were times when she was enjoyable, but the overall experience felt like they were trying to recreate Papyrus without really succeeding at making her an interesting or unique character. The fact that she’s the final boss in the Merciless Route feels very… predictable. Like, there wasn’t really a possibility that she wouldn’t be, y’know? They couldn’t avoid it, what with the decision to parallel canon, they were going to have to have someone be Undyne the Undying/Sans. The thing is, the boss itself isn’t bad, because as mentioned above, the actual mechanics of this game are brilliant, but narratively it felt very expected. Plus, I don’t really remember if they ever adequately explain why she has the serum in the first place, it feels like it raises too many questions.

As I said, like 80/90% of the story is really good!… but the thing is that the entire last bit of the Pacifist ending just completely collapses in on itself, and it’s really such a shame, because the rest of the story is dragged down by it. What’s such a shame is how it felt like it was going somewhere, I was incredibly invested right up until the reveal of the tapes, and the somewhere it was going is just. So disappointing. In some ways it was inevitable, what with Clover’s canon fate being what it is, but it felt like, just like with Martlet, they really stumbled over themselves in their desire to parallel canon’s plot beats. It feels like they wanted to copy the original Pacifist ending, with the Amalgamates and all, and it just wasn’t a good fit for the story whatsoever. Part of it, admittedly, is just that I disagree with their take on Boss Monsters not being specifically Asgore and Toriel’s species, but the thing is, it’s not just that. Chujin in general just feels like a massive tumor on the plot once he stops being a robotics engineer and suddenly for some reason is a generic mad scientist who suddenly has the knowledge and ability to be experimenting on Not!Determination and suddenly is a Boss Monster and suddenly we’re supposed to care about him and it just all becomes a muddled mess, built around living up to twists that it can’t successfully emulate because they were a one time success.

Ceroba is just not compelling as a character! The thing is, actually, I’m lying, she’s compelling and fun and interesting as a character right up until they actually reveal what her deal is, and suddenly it’s just, like. Well, suddenly I don’t like her all that much. Her husband specifically asked her not to involve their daughter, and then her daughter asks nicely and she does? Her daughter is like six or something! Why on Earth did Ceroba listen to her? I saw people say that, well, lots of Undertale characters have done bad things, but the thing is that those bad things are either not taken very seriously by the narrative, like how everyone tries to kill Frisk before they make friends and are forgiven, or make logical sense for them to do, like Asgore’s whole deal. Ceroba and Kanako’s story is in a unique cross section of ‘taken seriously by the narrative’ and ‘makes no logical sense to do’, where it completely destroyed my investment in her as a character, where suddenly she’s a woman who killed her daughter through her own stupidity against her husband’s wishes, while claiming she’s fulfilling them. And in another world, that could be compelling, but the game doesn’t seem to recognize that’s what she did, so I’m just left feeling numb to her entire deal, and given she’s the final boss with multiple cutscenes where I’m supposed to be invested in her plight, that’s not a good thing!

This is just a completely unfair nitpick, but what’s up with Ceroba’s name? The rest of her family and her last name follow Japanese style, if not specifically real names, but her first name is just. Gibberish?

This one is more nitpicky, but it ties into the final problem of the game, where felt like the 5 previous children didn’t get mentioned enough for being the entire motivation Clover has for being here. They’re mentioned in passing several times, but it feels like they could have done more with it. This is mostly a minor problem, though, it felt much more like something that needed just a little tweaking, rather than a huge flaw or anything. But the problem is that at the end, it really doesn’t feel like Clover has a compelling reason to give up their SOUL, and I wish there was something more to justify it when they just spent a huge fight to not give up their SOUL to Ceroba, y’know? It just feels like the game falls apart at the end because they couldn’t figure out how to end it while keeping to canon.

The thing is, the complaints I have don’t detract from how fun the game was or how much I loved most of the story, but I just had to share them because they were weighing heavily on my mind. My complaints are so long because it’s easier to put into words what I disliked, when going into every little thing I liked would take much longer and feel more like a liveblog of the game itself.

#undertale #undertale yellow #undertale yellow spoilers #martlet #ut yellow #ceroba ketsukane #kanako ketsukane #chujin ketsukane #ceroba #uty #thoughts both positive and negative #my posts

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jennilah · 20 days

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OKAY, OKAY FOLLOW UP, but I have to ask, based on how you rank Riggs movie and Logans movie, what do you think of Rigg and Logan in a more indepth analysis?? E.g what makes them interesting to you, or what stands out about them to you?

And somewhat off-topic, how do you think the other apprentices would interact with Logan??

how dare u ask for a detailed analysis when i love overanalyzing you just want to derail me for another two hours dont you.

Riiiiiggg <3

first of all I thought it was really cool that for Saw IV, a guy who was kind of a minor established character got to ascend to protagonist. (I guess the same thing happened with Hoffman but I straight up forgot he was in Saw III at all when I was watching IV for the first time. I remembered Rigg from II and his brief III appearance though)

in Saw II he so easily could have just been the Predator/Aliens overconfident gun guy trope with an itchy trigger finger. and yes, hes eager for the whole thing to get a move on so the victims can be saved, but hes not mindless. I love that he joins in the deliberation with Kerry and Matthews and they spend a few moments to establish how much he cares about his colleagues, his too-big heartstrings tugged by how difficult this situation must be for Matthews.

SO it was cool to see that became the major character flaw which contributed to his demise in IV. He cared too much. He lost his test because he couldn't stop caring. He almost got in trouble in the past for caring too much already, punching that guy. He ran into the crime scene without backup which could have gotten himself killed, because his emotions took over. (Also tangentially related, I'd say he has a lot of parallels with Strahm who also thinks with his heart first, and the end mirrors the beginning nicely with how Strahm also rushes into the crime scene without backup. Saw IV has a lot of really cool things going on actually)

At the start, they make it very clear he works himself sick worrying about the case and his missing friends despite it not being his job to worry about it. I'm saddened by his strained relationship with his wife because she seemed nice and normal, one of the few pairs without infidelity, and he's obviously very sweet and sensitive and caring, but too much for his own good. First time watching, the whole time I was just begging this nice man to go home to his nice wife like Jigsaw instructed, pained knowing this couldnt possibly end well for him or her.

hes an optimist. he believes, despite him being missing for 6 months, that Matthews is still out there and that he can be found. He believes he can save everyone in the traps. (well except that 1 guy you know the one) He believes he can save his friends. He tried to do it all.

😭😭😭😭😭😭 taken tf out for caring too much.

im sorry that my favorite characters are the shitheads and little bastards. Rigg is just such a good boy i care him. Im holding him in my hands

LOGAN.... gosh Logan I really wish I had any opinions on you. Its been like 8 months since I watched the movie and was never really presented with much fandom discussion around him so im afraid to say i forgor what his personality is 😭 hes like just kind of normal right?

in the fuckin sitcom Saw house of my dreams, i think Logan would be the 1 apprentice that everyone gets along with bc he just repels drama. they would finish up nearly ripping each other's throat out and one by one throughout the rest of the day kick down his door to vent about it, so he has to hear the same story from 3 different perspectives and just nods his head and goes "uh-huh"

#jennilargh #jenna answers #saw

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pep-the-artemis · 3 months

Text

Uzi the Anarcho-Communist

A literary deep dive into the themes of Murder Drones.

(note, this took way to long to write and is far from finished and I know this is self-serving but can you please if you read this reblog it)

Although the show very much is a critique of capitalism, I don't think that's its primary theme, instead I believe the primary theme of the show is Hubris which notably emerges throughout the show but this is about communism. First lets discuss the idea that the show critiques capitalism in its plot and theming.

The opening line to the show is "we are worker drones". 'Worker' is very much a common phrase used in Marxist ideas (most famously in the quote "Workers of the land, Unite!"). Worker in this context is used to refer to a member of the working class. The word 'drone' also creates this association with dull monotony mirroring the lives of the drones.

The second shot in the show is of a group of worker drones all identical in expression, height, eye colour, clothing—very much every detail. This is the first time we really see this idea that the WDs lack individuality which is another idea discussed by Karl Marx's Gattungswesen. This lack of individuality is very much an extreme example of what Marx calls Objective Alienation, the WDs have been deprived of there right to think in the name of windex maximizing profits for those who control the means of production (in this case humans).

The third shot (authors note, can't believe we're only 19 seconds into episode 1, this is going to take forever) we finally see the face of evil, a corporation in the form of its name superimposing over the scene; its happy, outdated style juxtaposes the cold, dreary reality the WDs are living through. I would go deeper into this but if you don't know how corporations tie into Marxism theory then you need to pick up a book.

The fourth shot is so full of small details I just have to give a screenshot to appreciate its subtlety.

Top left, you can see a WD working in a precarious position working environment, not much to mention because it's doing more to play as environmental story telling for the other parts of the scene. At the highest point of the shot, JCJenson logo almost like a title basically saying this is JCJenson and also the height can be viewed as a metaphor for their position in the hierarchy. To the signs right is the control room, the only area which is kept well lit, the control room is also were the highest authority present would mingle, good lighting is a luxury of the rich (the withholding of basic rights like food, shelter and [in this case] light is again a critique Marx makes against capitalism). Bottom right, a group of humans standing around doing very little standing around the destroyed body of a worker drone not stopping the ant like WDs walking ever closer or helping the WD clinging for there life in the top right of the screen. The lives and safety of the WDs is off little consequence to the humans which is the other side of Alienation, those in power stop viewing the workers as people and more as machines to be exploited; to stop production would be the greatest sin.

The fifth, sixth, seventh and eight shots, the culmination of the humans actions. In pursuit of production, the humans led to there own downfall, being blissfully unaware until it was too late and the greatest joke, the workers survived and didn't care. This very much mirrors a lot of modern criticisms of capitalism especially around the ideas of climate change. Knowing what we know after watching the show, that the core collapse was almost certainly no coincidence, instead likely a plot by WDs (specifically the Absolute Solver) then it fits into Marxist theory specifically around Proletariat Revolution which Marx states is the inevitability of capitalism.

The ninth shot, the most important which will be made incredibly evident once I show a picture.

Its a direct parallel to the fourth shot. Firstly, the orange colour has very much been lost for a cool blue which if you note has always been the colour associated with the workers throughout all of the previous scenes, its encapsulation shows the shift in power. The JCJenson logo replaced with a graffiti doodle (somewhat similar to the anarchists symbol). And the most obvious, the workers sitting in the control room, they are now in control while the humans lay dead below them. The results of this revolution though won't be made evident until the next shot so |: moving on.

(authors note. A MINUTE IN WOOO!)

The tenth shot, the WDs now are showing unique characteristics and identities! This is the emergence of Gattungswesen, remember that one word I mentioned before but didn't really talk about well here we are now. Gattungswesen refers to what Karl Marx thinks make humans human; Marx considers the idea that identity emerges from individuals is foolish instead ones identity emerges from there social relations which is exactly what we see in this opening scene.

"They themselves begin to distinguish themselves from animals as soon as they begin to produce their means of subsistence, a step which is conditioned by their physical organisation." - Karl Marx

Marx also considers the death of personal identity one of the evil components of capitalism.

At this point, I should start talking about the disassembly drones but there's too much to talk about and I'm tired because I didn't anticipate the opening minute being so jam packed with information so I'll instead continue by talking about the Worker Drone civilisation and then Uzi (author note, ughh bite me that's a lot of writing).

In the Worker Drones civilisation, two things are very notable—both neither a hierarchy nor a market seems to exist.

The only characters seen with some hierarchical power are Kahn and Teacher but even then the Teacher doesn't have governing power, instead his power comes from his title as Teacher. Kahn on the other hand is more complicated; he does hold real power as the leader of the Worker Drone Protection Corp (Author note. to tired and lazy to verify if that's correct); at the same time the nature of his power is vague, he is never shown to have any political power nor is a political system present.

The absence of a market or capitalist constructs (a market isn't strictly capitalist but for the discussion its close enough). The only example in the WD civilisation the only time we see anything similar is in episode 2 with the vending machine (which we don't see used), the sight of all the murders by Eldritch J. Without going deep into J, its hard to go deep into this but it can be very easily read as a metaphor for how capitalism weaponises consumption.

Overall, it seems most likely beyond any other alternative (not saying an alternative is possible), but with the backing of the anti-capitalist symbolism discussed earlier, the WDs very much live in a anarcho-communist Commune.

Finally, onto the subject matter of the title, Uzi. Lets go through all the different pieces of evidence that imply that Uzi is a communist.

To begin, she's anti-authoritarian. She is very rebellious in nature, not just against Teacher but also her father. The inciting incident of the entire story is when Uzi betrays her fathers authority to go and fight the Disassembly Drones (who very much represented the police and the will of the higher authority of JCJenson).

When talking to the deluded N, she tried to convince him to rebel through using the communist argument that they are living in Subjective Alienation (more commonly refered to as 'false consciousness'), they are unaware that the humans just see them as the means to an end. Later, N starts discussing other communist ideas with J, namely there is no difference between them and the WDs, instead they are very much the same.

(author note for future reference, WDs are Lumpenproletariats)

There is more to talk about, but I'm tired.

#murder drones #murder drones spoilers #uzi murder drones #communism #anarchism #anarchocommunism #glitch productions #murder drones details #marxism

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kissingrhi · 1 year

Note

the kim x reader headcanon post has my life in shambles. oh my fucking GOD. i love her so much, thank you for writing that, the well is so dry for kimreader stuff <3 <3 <3 i appreciate it more than you know. i know you seem busy with rqs (i loved the latest batch of them so much as well!!!) but could i put in one for a praise kink oriented kim x reader? reader could be her new paralegal or something, she makes you really, really flustered with all sorts of what you think are friendly, innocuous comments until she makes a bold move (and you end up fucking in her office after hours, i'm thinking like S&C era?) thank you so much again, i love all of your posts!

detailed requesters, you have my heart and soul. lovely people get me out of writers block mwah!! haven't written for bcs in a while, but this is waking my brain up! i love kimberly wexler.

cw — reader has female anatomy, some gendered-terms used (good girl mainly), many mentions of reader masturbation, so much sexual tension it is sickening, employee/employer relations, kim seems mean at the beginning but she folds, thigh riding, light dom/sub dynamics, oral sex/fingering (kim goes down on reader), tons of dirty talk, hint of overstimulation, PRAISE KINK

"hey, hey." you were snapped out of your trance. "you there?"

you noticed your shaking leg, instantly stopping and sitting right up. "yeah, yeah." you were extremely unconvincing, catching the slight eyebrow raise kim sent you. "i just had a rough night." her eyebrows rose more. "i was up late. with a- project. haha!" your tone was unconvincing, but she didn't push. you were obviously lying.

god, this was awkward.

nonetheless, she sent you a glimmering smile, her beautiful blue eyes softening. "that's okay." her voice echoed throughout her office. how she managed to sound gentle in such an empty, void space was beyond you.

you noticed a stack of papers in front of you that weren't there before. "well, these are some new forms i need put on file for mesa verde. can you have them in by tomorrow?" she asked, firmly now, switching right back into her professional tone. you took a deep, harsh breath in at the sheer amount of paperwork. she chuckled, "i know you're new and this is a lot to take in, so if you would rather me take on some that's perfectly fine. this-" she motioned to the papers " -is a lot to get used to."

"no, that's alright. i've got it." you grinned, almost giddy to take on the job. the apples of your cheeks crinkled under your eyes, a genuine smile being returned to the one she threw earlier. you noticed a twinkle in her eye, but you were sure you were imagining things. that's what you get for not getting enough sleep.

"good." was all she said, her heel now clicking over and over again on the floor. "how about brunch tomorrow?" she asked, a look on her face you couldn't quite figure out.

"sure." you replied, grabbing the papers and your bag. you started to make your way out, but not before adding a, "goodnight, kim." quickly you caught yourself, turning around, face slowly heating up. "wait- i can call you kim, right? am i being unprofessional?"

she cracked a downturned smile at that one, holding back a laugh. "no, no. you're not being unprofessional. yes, you can call me kim." her smiled remained even when she said, "we don't want any weird power dynamics." she tilted her head at you, pursing her lips before beginning to put on her jacket.

"right- okay." you smiled again. "goodnight. see you tomorrow."

"okay, brunch." was all she returned with, yet somehow it wasn't uncomfortable at all.

the next morning, you woke up extra early. jumping in the shower at a fresh 5'o clock, you made sure to look your most presentable for kim. you didn't want to fumble your new job as a paralegal on the first day. you even started to work on the forms a little bit, ignoring the grueling headache that was beginning to form from not being able to drink coffee first thing in the morning, since you'd boldly decided to wait until brunch.

when you finally arrived at said brunch, almost all of the stack was gone. maybe you got a little carried away trying to impress your new boss, but when has being a people pleaser ever done you wrong?

you were fidgeting with your watch when kim walked in, grinning at you as she sat down in front of you. "so, paperwork? i know you're loving it." her voice was still a little groggy from just waking up, and you'd be lying if you said it didn't make you feel a certain way. her makeup and hair were a little unkempt, but she seemed more relaxed than the day prior.

"oh, just having the time of my life." you returned her energy, resulting in snickers from the both of you. "actually, i just-" you pulled out the last few papers. "i need to finish these few and i'll be done."

kim was impressed. not that you could tell. "that's-" she coughed, getting herself more comfortable in her seat before crossing her hands over the edge of the table. "that's really good. good work. good job."

"thank you." you cautiously replied, unsure of why she was repeating the word 'good' so goddamn much. it was kind of making you sweat. "can we get some coffee?" you cut the silence.

"of course."

brunch went well, the two of you actually hit it off extremely well. you found out that you have a lot of the same interests, tastes in art and music, and the same favorite breakfast food. french toast, obviously. you found that working and communicating with her was a lot easier than employers you'd previously dealt with. you also found that kim was incredibly hard to read, as she loved saying off-putting things that made you unsure if you were doing something incredibly wrong or incredibly right. like when you two were discussing your work ethic, you shamelessly spouted that you're willing to do more than what's asked if you, even if there's no reward. to which she replied, "that's very satisfactory. i'll definitely keep that in mind." you tried to ignore the sudden feverish feeling that swept over your body at her prideful tone. she was just being polite, being your employer.

the next few days seemed to fly by, and you noticed it was the first occurrences of you ever being genuinely excited to come into work. you woke up earlier, paid more attention to your attire, did things for extra credit, and most of all: built a relationship with kim. this relationship was interesting: you weren't quite sure what to call it.

you weren't sure if she knew just the affect she had on you, if she knew you had an affinity for praise, so much of an affinity, however: that it made you feel weak and fuzzy inside, made you feel like you were going to spontaneously combust and melt into the ground with every lasting touch she made to your shoulder or each time she complimented you on how "talented of an employee you were." it made your blood run hot every single time, feeling waves of bashfulness run throughout your entire body, especially your suddenly twisting stomach. any sort of compliment turned you into a blubbering, sweaty mess and you absolutely hated it. you were trying to prove yourself to be a professional after all. for your employer.

you brushed it off, though, knowing that she was the most experienced lawyer you'd ever met, and not a meek employee whose knees buckle at the mere mention of how good of a job they're doing. definitely not someone who fantasized about their boss late at night.

you swallowed the lump that was suddenly building in your throat as you stepped into her office to give her some notes from interested corporations in a new pursuit, which she hadn't even asked for. you set them down gently, since she was intently typing on her computer. as you got up to leave, you were held back by a simple, "what's this?" her tone was indecipherable. as you turned, you saw her quickly finding and staring directly into your eyes.

"i- i knew you wanted to add more clients besides mesa verde, so i gathered a few." you felt like a pushover all of a sudden, humiliation starting to run deep in your veins. you stared down at your feet. "is that okay?" you internally cringed at how docile your voice sounded. you looked up to find her amused, looking at you like she knew something you didn't. it made you shudder.

"of course it's okay, thank you. just don't take on too much, okay?" she answered, looking at you sternly like her statement wasn't up for debate. "i want you to have time for yourself." she added, lips quirking slightly. you couldn't tell if she was genuine, slightly making fun of you, or both. maybe she was endeared. you didn't want to think too hard about it.

"okay." was all you answered. your mouth felt dry, and you were mindlessly fidgeting with the hem of your shirt. she noticed your coyness, adding insult to injury: "that's a pretty color on you." you paused your fidgeting, looking up at her. "i'll see you tomorrow. get some good sleep in." her timbre was assertive. without saying a word, you quietly left her office, instantly releasing a breath you didn't even know you were holding. you had to zip to a bathroom, patting your face with cold water and cursing yourself for the sinful thoughts slowly approaching your mind.

you finally arrived home that night, slinging yourself onto your bed with a frustrated sigh. you felt petulance at yourself for feeling so lustfully towards your boss, who was merely doing her job. you felt stupid. you felt like a whore.

'maybe that's what she'd call you if she knew.'

that thought instantly led to many others, and you found your body moving before your brain could stop it. when you got yourself off that night, desperately riding your fingers to gain some sort of release from the intense thoughts filling your head, you never took off the shirt that she told you you looked pretty in.

you felt insanely ashamed the next morning, waking up in the same clothes from previously, feeling mortified when you looked at your clock. you were late. you scrambled to get up, not even bothering to shower. you threw on random clothes, trying to ignore how flustered you felt. you masturbated thinking about your boss. if you could disappear, you would totally take that opportunity.

you didn't even bother checking the speed limit as you rushed to get to the office, touching yourself up in your rearview mirror before haphazardly pulling into your parking space, almost running inside the building. you mentally prepared yourself for having to deal with what you'd done the night before and with what kim had to say about your late arrival.

you twisted the doorknob as slowly as you possibly could, almost tripping over your feet as you were caught with her disappointed stare.

"you're late." she said, matter-of-factly, standing up. she was glaring so hard you thought she could see right through into the wall behind you. you knew you were fucked. you'd only been working for her for a couple weeks, and you'd already screwed up. you swore you were tearing up, just from the sheer embarrassment. "we'll talk after 5." she curtly stated, pointing to you and then your desk.

5 had never come slower. you didn't move from your desk the entire day, except to pee one time. when you did, you felt her eyes boring into your back. the silence was deafening, and the anticipation had you tingling the entire workday. when the forbidden hour finally arrived, you shakily grabbed your stuff, wobbling towards her desk, avoiding looking into her eyes.

"look at me." of course, you instantly did, your eyes wide with hesitation. "i'll let you being late slide for today. don't let it happen again." you felt like a weight had been lifted off your shoulders. "there's actually something else i wanted to talk to you about." once again, you couldn't decode what she was trying to say from her tone alone. timidly, you took a seat on the chair in front of her desk, leaning your back against it in a lame attempt at looking unbothered. anyone could tell you were a wreck. she took the opportunity to walk around the vicinity of the front end of her desk, leaning against the front, so that she was situated just in front of you.

"what'd you do when you got home last night? since you know, it was obviously a lot." she asked, a smirk plastered on her face.

you furrowed your eyebrows. you had no idea where this was going. you really hoped you were a good liar. "i, uh- i did what people normally do, you know- ate dinner, showered, got some work done, slept." she let your words seep into the tension-filled air of the room, your lies settling in the quaint atmosphere. she looked at you through her eyebrows. "no i mean, really. what did you do?" you could tell she didn't believe you. you still played dumb.

"i don't really know what else to add. i watched a movie." you were lying straight through your teeth, and it was insanely obvious. you couldn't even look her directly in the eyes. you were staring at her nose, barely blinking. barely breathing at that point. she reached forward to place your chin between her pointer finger and her thumb, lifting your head up to an embarrassingly high position, just to see if you'd swat her away or go pliant. "oh, come on, tell me more." she was being condescending, her heeled foot going to separate the two feet you had crossed on the floor.

your breath hitched, and your brain started to short circuit. you couldn't tell if this was really happening. "be good and tell me." oh, if that didn't make you feel intoxicated with her presence. the words made you tremble, a speedy pulse being shot throughout many areas of your body. you couldn't look away even if you wanted to. it was like every aspect of her being was itching for you to respond.

your voice broke when you barely whispered, "i touched myself." she saccharinely grinned, going back to sit in her chair, leaving you speechless and extremely embarrassed. you were definitely getting fired. she glanced at you, intently staring like she was debating on what to say. "you know- when i say you're one of, if not, the best employees i've had, i truly mean that." she seemed indifferent. "you're just so-" she paused again, still not breaking eye contact. "well-behaved." you felt dazed. "thanks." she laughed, a real laugh this time. "see, you're proving my point! come sit." she patted her leg, watching you connect the dots and shakily walk over.

"now i want you to be a doll for me, and tell me what you thought about." she rasped, gently grabbing your hips to straddle her clothed thigh. "should we be doing-" she shushed you instantly. you squeezed your eyes shut, hips ghosting against the firm muscle. you started talking first. "i thought about-" she pushed your body down, guiding you. a tiny gasp escaped your mouth and you wanted to bury your head in her neck. "keep going for me." your hips stuttered at her low, barely audible voice, as you began to squirm. you found your rhythm, barely panting, trying to keep your composure as you explained yourself. "i thought about you- telling me what to do." you sighed after the admittance, needily grinding your body down more, reveling in her pleased chuckle. she added on, her hands finding a spot on your ass, barely touching you. "i was telling you how good you are?" she teased, mocking the high-pitched 'uh-huh' you released right after.

she stopped you before you could do too much. "can you take your pants off for me?" she asked, but it was more of a demand than anything else. you've never moved more quickly in your life, instantly shedding your trousers, not even feeling exposed in front of the domineering woman. "there you go." she purred, lightly pushing you to sit on her desk. she took in your state, totally opposite to the professional, eager employee she knew you to be. you looked lust-struck, like you were stuck in a haze you couldn't shake. "look at you, obeying me. you have no idea how crazy you make me feel." she sunk down in front of where you were sitting, just behind her name plate. her veiny, nimble hands found their way to your supple thighs, easing them apart. you instinctually whined, feeling exposed. she groaned, hands gripping your skin.

"it's just so cute how much you're willing to do for me. you're such a good girl, hm?" her eyes glimmered, smiling at your nod and sexually frustrated stare. she wanted to reward you for your good behavior. she started to press open mouthed kisses along your thighs, still staring up at you. her eyes glistened in the low sunlight that slipped through her blinds. "can i finger you?" she was concise, giggling again at your shyness. "yeah."

"need to reward you," she mumbled against the top of your underwear band, before reaching to pull them off, but not before neatly setting them beside your trousers, which made you laugh. "what? i like it neat, ok?" she had you so smitten you just beamed at her, not even questioning that she just cleanly folded your (very wet) panties. she ran her pedicured nails just over the outside of your pussy, listening for the hushed, obedient "kim" she desperately craved to hear. she kindly placed her mouth to your clit, feeling herself grow more and more aroused at how your whining turned into pleading for her to continue. "god, you're so beautiful, you've got no idea." she sensually whispered against your tender flesh, her hands going to push your thighs closer to her face.

she licked a single stripe from your hole all the way up to your sensitive clit before sneakily sticking two fingers into your aching hole, she moaned lowly in unison with you when she did so. you bit your lip, head falling back on your shoulders as her fingers started to quicken their pace, her thumb going to rub broad circles into your clit. you cried out at the sudden pleasure, "kim- oh my- shit!" she sped up her pace, practically urging for you to shove your cunt closer to her face. "that's it, doing so good for me. sweet girl." the vibrations of her voice didn't help the coiling heat threatening to snap from inside of you.

she didn't stop speeding up until you were rutting your hips against her face like a bitch in heat. her fingers were ruthless against your desperate figure, spreading your hole apart and pushing as far as they could to make you feel stuffed. to make you go stupid. she was stretching you open, and the pressure was almost too much. "my god- kim-" you stammered, your moans escaping your mouth like a mantra. you weren't even thinking at that point, all you knew was kim and her talented fingers.

you were quaking, your submissive moans echoing throughout her empty office space, not even feeling shame anymore. all you could focus on were her fingers, how deeply she knew to reach you. your muscles were tightening when her tongue slipped in alongside her fingers, which were now toying with your g-spot. "kim, please- please let me cum." to which she replied, "only because you asked so nicely." the way that you naturally pleaded made her throb, speeding up her pace even more to push you further than you'd known before.

instantly, you came against her face, trembling with aftershocks. she pulled away from in between your legs, only to say, "you'll be good and take what all i give you, right?" before diving right back in.

#back from the dead bitches #SPRING BREAK #you thought it was over #matty b #i will never stop loving bcs #kim wexler #kim wexler x reader #better call saul #better call saul x reader #there's probably typos #idc

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bluffmotel · 6 days

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I always LOVE your character analysis', so random question!!! Would you indulge me about your thoughts on the Romeros (both paul and dante)? You can be as vague or as detailed as you want!

oh i absolutely love this question, thank you! and the timing was rather perfect, given the release of the black book, so it’s safe to say these two ( and more specifically dante ) have been haunting around the depths of my mind … and while i’m a vince & tyler fan first and foremost, i do have thoughts on everyone else and the general story! so without further ado, let’s talk about the romeros :

while as dusk falls is about two respective families ( the holts & the walkers, as we come to find out pretty quick ) i think it’s irrefutable to deny that paul and dante are tangled inside this little web themselves! they’re two figures that help bring the past and present together : paul recognizes jim, although not well, but more importantly if vince allows his father to leave for the hospital, he makes a rather pointed comment about not letting dante see or recognize him. jim also seems rather interested when asking our protagonist, “so you met the sheriff? what’s he like?” before doubling down rather hard on not trusting the law, and this opinion of dante is so intense that ( depending on dialogue choices ) if vince sides with the holts over dante, jim can potentially agree with his choice, in a way he won’t with dante. and given paul’s entanglement with sharon for decades and his bond with bear? these two are in the frying pan right there alongside our leading families! it’s rather easy to dismiss their importance, i think, but give the two enough thought and them being there while the desert dream goes down, as passive and aggressive forces respectively, really feels fated. of course it’s dante the holt boys stole from, and of course it’s paul’s place of work the walkers stumble upon, and of course it all comes to a head and leaves us with one of our final choices in book one : which of these devils are you trusting? dante or the holts? i like to imagine this echoes whatever went down all those years ago with jim, or at least serves as a continuation of whatever he refused to finish.

but that’s getting a little more into general game territory & it’s themes, so back to my thoughts on the romeros specifically, which can be summed up as … i love them! dante in particular grew on me a lot throughout the constant replays, even though i always adored his character! and paul was fantastic in his background role, casually revealing the more heavy hand he had in things ( which you don’t expect! ) with throwaway lines and oddly loaded advice. paul’s a good man, and if it’s not obvious by how protective joyce is of him, then it’s proven tenfold when he either tends to an injured vince at the very end of book one, or tries giving cpr to his dead body if tyler drowns him. like?? what a sweetheart! there’s nothing to hate about paul, but he’s a great example of a character who’s more than what he seems without taking away from the main narrative, another role joyce serves right along with him. these two did their thing as ‘random’ people in the desert dream and the devs took great care to lay out some good groundwork for them in spite of their non importance. and, in general, they act as good voices for vince to consider when it comes to the final choice! joyce trusts dante, talks about him with respect and all of her slightly biting remarks are full of affection ( sentiments that mean a lot coming from her, someone who’s shown herself to be stubborn and no nonsense ), but on the other side, paul warns vince against dante, lamenting on their family’s low opinions of him and his position as sheriff ( an important opinion because paul is dante’s family ), and so on so forth. paul and joyce balance each other well, and i always make sure paul gets his pizza. he has low blood sugar, dale! give him some food, god damn it!

and to talk more about dante, he’s an excellent character in a gaming world full of pathetic villains or straight up irredeemable monsters. the ceo of interior night has been very vocal about making sure nobody in as dusk falls felt like anything less than a human being, and dante ( as well as bear, i’d say ) proves she mostly succeeded … in the case of book one, anyway. it’s very easy to villainze him in the moment and even away from the game if you only give him a passing glance : he’s ruthless, he threatens vince, someone who could’ve been nothing but obedient this whole time, and his abuse of his badge is supposed to be as revolting as it feels. but! he perfectly encapsulates one of the main themes in this game, which is that he doesn’t want to do this, but he feels like he has to. dante is looking at what is clearly multiple crossroads and just like the holts he only sees one path forward, which just happens to be the most violent one. it’s the path where he survives and he is safe, unscathed, and he can return to what his normal is. i’ve been meaning to make a big web weave about adf and this theme in particular but to perfectly sum it up, here’s a quote that feels like it was almost made for this game :

hansel, by richard siken.

like! this is what adf is about! dante may be one of the more awful parties, yes, but he is still just a man who truly believes in his little black heart that this route is what’s best for him -- and so he’s gotta take it. it’s rather easy to not notice his humanity in the midst of this high stakes situation ( and because his counterpart is paul, of all people ), but it is there, and this is exactly why i enjoy seeing him on my screen and would love to do more with him himself someday! dante, in particular, cares about the holts … and i mean the holt boys, not just sharon. despite his spiraling mental state and the time limit he’s under, the sheriff exercises a rather immense amount of patience when it comes to the holts, like, it’s rather obvious he didn’t want them coming to harm in the way that they did. when dale comes out for the iconic sniper scene, dante attempts bargaining with him after his initial instinct to annoy and pry -- and it’s clear that he wants dale to just hand him the book, and he wants dale to surrender and give dante what he needs so everyone can make it out alive, at least. in his moment of blind need, he fails to actually notice that dale’s confusion and fear is genuine, mistakes it as dale’s usual playing around, and goes “have it your way,” before signaling his sniper. he could’ve just shot dale the second he stepped out of the door, and then looted his corpse for the book, or whatever else. but no. he takes the slightly longer way, for as long as he can, and since dante believes himself to be above the law, who is he holding back for? it’s for the holt boys, kids he probably saw grow up! and it’s for sharon. and it’s for joyce, and paul, and maybe even vince and his family, at first. dante becomes colder as the night drones on but given his immense power trip, it’s clear he had no real qualms ending things with police brutality, even at the beginning. makes his attempts at trying to end things peacefully at the start of book one a lot more interesting, in my opinion, because we quickly find out this was dante’s way of showing everyone mercy. which is scary! but again, showcases he’s more than some villain.

and his face after killing dale, if you choose not to save him, also doesn’t scream that this is someone who’s particularly enjoying this. the expressions made between the shot firing and dante looking at the kid’s body bag corpse is … grim.

like, this is not a victorious look at all! the way he just watches as dale’s body is picked up and taken away, expression never changing … he probably feels numb, this sense of : i did what i had to. but he doesn’t like it, and maybe it’d be easier if he did, and maybe he wants it that way too, you know?

i also find this scenario particularly tragic because i believe dale was probably dante’s token favorite out of the holt boys, at least before their falling out. it’s just bizarre to me the amount of hatred dale holds for him in a rather pointed manner -- it just feels personal, and it wouldn’t be personal if dale never cared for two rock’s biggest pig to begin with. how i think the juvie thing went down, in simple terms, is this : dante, who was still a close friend of sharon’s at the time and enjoyed visiting & hanging around the house here and there, someone who saw the first two holt boys through their infancy with paul, got a call about dale ( who had pushed past his usual amateur crimes to commit literal assault ), and had no choice but to actually act this time. he had probably let dale off the hook beforehand, covered up his petty theft and underage drinking and what have you, and this fostered some unhealthy opinions about dante and his generosity, so when dale landed himself in genuine hot water, hot water that even the sheriff himself couldn’t cool down, he couldn’t do anything except give him juvie. WHICH! i like to believe dale committed this crime as an eighteen year old, which could’ve landed him in jail i’m sure since his actions were so severe. so dante didn’t leave dale hanging, technically, but him not letting him off with a slap on the wrist like the holts expected ( like dale thought he would ) fostered a hatred and finally cut dante & sharon apart for good. dale’s loathed dante ever since for his betrayal and dante responds with equal amounts of vitriol back. but his fondness and favoritism remains and shows itself in tiny ways even still, like his almost palpable disappointment that dale came out of that motel instead of tyler, for example. he was like damn, i was prepared to shoot tyler, not dale … :( and i think this is so fucking funny!

( i will say that after reading the black book, none of the above paragraph is canon anymore technically. but i don’t really care at this point because what they did do with dante and dale’s assault was so baffling and borderline stupid! so, like i said when i first got it, i’m viewing the book with the same mindset one would consider a writer’s tweets of ‘canon’ facts about their favorite book on twitter … meaning i can just pick and choose what i like and dislike. there is nothing in game that contradicts the above headcanon, so it’s still canon compliant to me -- anyway! just had to add that little note, just in case )

and this goes straight into headcanon territory, but personally? dante’s the one who got dale a tombstone made, the one we see at the very end of book two. it’s certainly not bear who got it made, someone thousands of dollars in debt and someone who could also be dead at this point … and everyone else either straight up wouldn’t waste their money on such a thing ( like joyce ), or just wasn’t there long enough to make such a memorial. it’s small and it’s ballsy given the holts and their awful reputation, but it’s still something. i’ve always wanted to write a fic about this -- dante going through the process of burying dale and getting him a nice plot of land as well as an actual tombstone … i wouldn’t be shocked if he thought of it as an apology for how things went, in the end. i cannot for the life of me think of anyone else who’d have the money and the desire to give dale, and potentially bear and tyler, a tombstone in their memory. maybe he thought it’d absolve him of any wrongdoing or lingering guilt he felt? maybe he thought it was enough, when in fact giving these people a proper burial was the least he could do. it’s a fun thought of mine that makes me quite sad regardless!

okay buckle up because we’re still talking about dante and the holts kinda, however! dante strikes me as someone who really, really wanted kids, but becky was probably unable to have them for some reason ; be it because of her accident, her being infertile, or what have you. i think he always dreamed of being a father and never fully was allowed that experience! which shows in how he interacts with zoe and ash, where there’s an overt awkwardness but also this sense of eagerness, a little display of tender heart and real worry. for example, he never once threatens zoe’s life! he may endanger her if she stays in the motel, and he has no qualms trying to kill her dad, yes, but not once does he use her as leverage against vince -- despite the fact that said kid could be firmly in his grasp, if she’s the one released! and i’ll have to post the scene when i replay, but if vince tells dante about zoe while in the back office and then takes her out as the hostage, dante bends down and talks to her and is stupidly sweet about the whole thing! so it might seem ironic for him to have a line, but he does, and it’s kids … another example is that when joyce calls him about ash being missing, he sends every available officer out there to search for ash, and when he finds him, he’s nothing but cautious and gentle and worried. it’s almost odd to see from him! when he quickly sheds his cool composer to show the intense rage underneath in most situations we see him in! but he does care deeply for kids and i like that his life’s punishment is him not being able to have them, be it because of them not actually being his own or circumstances making him not being able to raise any he might have. for someone as ambitious as dante i find it sooo endearing that he just, kinda wants children the most? adds to him i think, and it’s something that somberly reminds you that even the most evil seeming people could have the most mundane desires. seriously, there’s such an empty vibe to the big romero house with a wife who hardly leaves her room and some dog in the spacious backyard … ( and spoilers for the black book : but seeing how much dante wanted a dog and a big house really gives you ‘white picket fence’ american dream! with the missing component being the, y’know, kids, and said missing componet carves out this hollow feeling the entire time you dwell on it )

and this want makes me think he was probably around for the holt boys’ upbringings! i mean, not to be crude, but he was banging their mom and seemed to genuinely have loved her at one point in time, so i can only imagine he’d hang around the house here and there. same as paul, i’m sure! and maybe some part of him enjoyed doting on the boys without actively having to be their pa, allowed to just do the fun things most wannabe parents dream of doing rather than the actual hard work and responsibility, and maybe this once there bond contributes to his reluctance to kill the holts immediately. idk! i could see him being around for tyler and dale’s childhood, only to slwply begin fading when jay was brought into the picture -- and then he didn’t help dale out when it counted, and all the bridges between him and the holts were swiftly burned with that. he definitely talks about tyler and dale like he knows them well, which isn’t as weird for dale ( who has a reputation ) but for tyler? someone who notoriously fades into the background and keeps his head down? it implies a bond, i think, where he knew them young and even after him and sharon fell through he decided to keep tabs on them. would scope out where tyler was doing his odd jobs and had officers keep an eye on dale, etc. he’d keep trying to wash his hands of the holts but he never truly puts them behind him, which can be said for everyone else in the game, honestly! they’re like an infection ( something jay even describes them as! ) to where even if you think you’ve cleaned everything off, there’s always one spot you miss, and then the growth process begins again. anyway! he is unhinged for this by the way. man said : two kids without a stable pa figure? sign me up! and then he’d go on to potentially kill one of them on purpose after antagonizing them like he’s a teenager, which he has the nerve to act sad about in the aftermath. insane!!

( also quick timeline here, that i keep in mind whenever i talk or think about the romeros : so sharon and paul definitely knew each other first, but given paul’s energy towards sharon in the desert dream and obliviousness to her and dante’s affair, i don’t think they stayed close -- not after paul married, anyway. paul probably still came around, given his bond with both sharon & bear, but while dante was probably there a lot for the them as kids, i could see paul becoming a more strong figure when they were teenagers and young adults. their behavior towards paul in the desert dream is … strange! though if i had to guess, i’d say they just didn’t want to act like they knew him as well as they did, in order to protect him from any potential danger as well as themselves. wouldn’t want the other hostages to realize they wouldn’t kill paul, you know? it’d be a weakness, which is something the holt boys try very hard to hide in the desert dream situation )

though to focus back on paul a tad, i’m always obligated to talk about him and bear! like, i love paul and bear, so so much, and they’ve grown on me tremendously once i realized they went into vietnam together as soldiers. there’s something delicious about their predicament, where paul is forced into navigating a war with someone he’s jealous of, and someone who he believes to be a pretty shitty guy. and not only did they go in together, they came out together too … went through the flames and trauma and horror as one of those rare duos that actually got to go back home, with all their limbs attached and all! it’d certainly change paul’s views on bear i think, to have seen him in action like that, and to foster what would’ve been a profound understanding, what with their bond being forged in intense warfare and all. his bond with bear is something i wish the game commented on more ( besides an offhand remark ) but oh, it’s quickly become one of my favorite things. bear is so incapable of making friends, and here’s the only one he probably has, someone so unlike him in personality and also someone who wants his wife carnally! like, jesus, the holts can never catch a break, they’re always involved in the most complicated relationships known to man as the town’s locally cursed family and as the town’s most wanted, i guess! but yeah, paul and bear <3 i view paul actually being closer with bear when they come back, electing to spend more time with him over sharon, since it’s easier and safer for him and his marriage … until that crashes anyway. and then paul decided to go sober, which is probably what destroyed their hangouts, leading to paul’s odd holtless time! would probably see the boys around town, as well as sharon and bear, but might just greet them and ask how things are ( typical small town stuff ) rather than actively making an effort to hang. that kinda thing. like he’s still present in their lives, and i think all the holts respect paul a lot more than words can say, and in their own warped ways, but he was. distant. before things went awry.

also totally unrelated to the romeros, but it’s crazy that tyler is born during the last round of american drafts for vietnam, aka 1973. just find it fascinating that bear would’ve either a.) had to have already served his time, b.) hasn’t been drafted just yet, or c.) came back after one term only to leave again for a second one. i can’t remember which one i personally went with, but it’s fun to think about regardless! that, and the fact there’s no mention of dante serving in the war … which i don’t think he did, personally, and given his extreme macho energy, that’s an absolutely fascinating aspect of his character. but i digress!

hm, some other quick thoughts on the romeros include smaller scale things! like how i usually view the rest of the romero family to be more like paul, more meek and silent, almost an entire herd of pushovers. we know the family shares paul’s point of view where it concerns dante’s title as sheriff -- and while this does paint an unsavory image of dante, i can see another picture that implies dante as the romero family’s black sheep. someone always looked at oddly and gossiped about, disapproval aimed at everything dante does because he’s dante, someone unlike the others. the rest of their blood probably doesn’t bother with him at all outside of paul, a family member dante orbits despite his jabs and vocal distaste towards paul’s peaceful nature. i mean, they share friends, a friend list which is only comprised of the holts and joyce, dante’s officers notwithstanding. two rock is a rather small world ( or, at least, it was supposed to seem that way ) but i still find it telling how tangled up in each other’s lives they are! they even liked the same girl, how crazy is that? and dante also makes a passing comment about how paul shouldn’t lock himself away ‘like grandma did’, and he says this remark with disdain … again! i can’t quite back this up with hard canon evidence, but the other romeros ( & hayes’, paul’s actual last name ) have that sort of meek vibe. this black sheep position dante fills also serves to give him and dale more ground as a narrative pair! which, if it wasn’t obvious from the tyler/vince and jay/zoe pairings in the story, this game loves it’s foils and parallels! another minor thought is that paul gives massive queer energy in ways indescribable but i’ll never forget how he can be like ‘maybe it’s mine and i wear it!’ about sharon’s bra if dante finds it in his trailer, and then can hold it up to his chest if i remember correctly?? the fact his extemely masculine cousin doesn’t even bat an eye at this only makes it more queer! he was like yes that tracks, you would wear a bra /derogatory ,,, i just rotate that scene in my mind a little bit, i will not lie.

my very quick final thought is that jim totally helped dante kill sheriff clayson, an action that would then finally put dante in power. which the black book confirms, because dante did in fact kill that guy! just not with jim, but oh well. jim was there and he helped and he hates dante for it now, trust. what they actually did with jim & dante was boring so this is still canon in my head!

ahh, i think this about sums my thoughts on them up? i probably have more lurking around in my mind and, like always, a lot of these points could suffice as posts on their own with more detail, but! it was fun to pour my general thoughts out there, so thanks so much for that opportunity! hopefully this was coherent and made sense lmfao <3 i’m tickled you love my character analysis for this niche ass game!!

#as dusk falls #answered asks.#THANK YOU FOR THIS … have a wordy ass ramble in response lmfao #i try to be cohesive with these but i wanted to lay down all i could so it’s a bit jumbled and incoherent #but … yeah … i love them … i think they are so fascinating #tbh there is not a single mf that i hate in book one i love ALL these people. this cast of characters is PERFECT #which is rare in games i think. i usually have to make myself like everybody but with book one’s main cast it comes naturally #even the more hateable characters like bear and michelle are SO stupidly well written #and you can’t remove one of the book one characters without changing literally every thing. which i also like!!!#like you can tell the devs REALLY cared about this specific group and formed the story around them and i loooove it #( this is energy they lacked in book two which is why it’s so weird tbh! but i digress let me not be a hater #and yes i hated on the black book in this my bad <3 i just didnt Like It Much even if it was a fun read #anyway anyway! ahem! )#i am shaking dante and paul around like items in a tin can tbh #also dante being like AND YOU CHOSE THEM? OVER ME??? to vince if you don’t side with him is HILARIOUS BTWW #everyone wants vince carnally in adf and dante is not exempt from this. he’s just less insane about it than tyler <3 #dante & vince are pure comedic potential all of their scenes make me laugh. i couldn’t put this in the post so surprise! find it in the tag #i didn’t talk about paul NEARLY as much as i wanted to or should’ve here but i love all his scenes!!!#and despite how jarring it is i don’t mind his moment in book two! i actually quite enjoy it. easily one of my fave moments #y’know. because we focused on someone other than jay for three seconds ADJAKDKAKSA sorry. let me reign in the hater #paul is my king he is my everything he has done nothing wrong in his life #and his friendship with joyce is EVERYTHING TO ME i love how they’re written so fucking bad #it says a lot that when my niece played adf she thought they were married. like they’re THAT close fr fr and it’s refreshing to see #they just mesh perfectly and i love their bonds with vince and michelle and jim!!’#i also ADORE him using his medical knowledge from the war to help vince if michelle is shot … such good defining character traits #as well as his compassion!!! compassion is a big theme in adf too in the sense that it doesn’t make someone weak and paul shows this well #anyway i almost don’t wanna shut up because i love them so bad but. i think i’ll hush for now #tldr : the romeros are well written characters ( even BECKY! ) and they’re a big part of the walkers & holts bullshit #like in a romero and juliet story they are both as important as friar lawrence yknow. that’s the vibe.#thanks sm again and random questions are always welcomed here!! so have an amazing day <3

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roaldseth · 9 months

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Is triangle strategy good cause I've heard mixed opinions

My biased opinion: absolutely yes.

My unbiased opinion: absolutely yes.

But, just so you don't just jaunt about your day saying "well that wasn't helpful at all!" This is a more thorough breakdown below to why I like and recommend Triangle Strategy, as well as going into some common reasons as to why people say it's bad or have mixed feelings.

First and foremost as a disclaimer: I am not an SRPG enthusiast. I don't Fire Emblem or Tactics Ogre or what have you. However, I will address things in a broad sense and not things specifically for the genre.

>>STORY: The game opens you into a rather standard medieval-esque fictional setting; its land divided into 3 major powers: the Kingdom of Glenbrook, the Grand Duchy of Aesfrost, and the Holy State of Hyzante, each conveniently color coded for easy recognition and also have their own purposes and ideals. The farther you travers through the paths, for multiple routes await, and its history, the political and martial machinations quickly unfold from easy-going times to one absolutely engulfed in harrowing accounts stemming from no right answers. Despite any preset allegiances, the player, as a young newly appointed lord of the most acclaimed High House of Glenbrook, sits in-between the 3 forces and becomes the epicenter of the continent's, Norzelia's, fate.

Triangle Strategy is a game about harsh wartimes, the impossible decisions needed to make and end them, and the many results that you have directly and indirectly caused. Recently, I had made a post on other social media in which I noted that this game took me a very long time to complete because I had, at point, become physically unable to play from choice aversion and the dangers of outcomes. This is not a flaw of Triangle Strategy. This is its purpose. In those times, the game had done exactly what it was meant to do, so that aspect or level of anxiety while playing a first run-through is not appealing, then it might be something to reconsider with entertaining. However, I will say that eventually you can get accustomed and it can become easier to make those less than desirable choices. The common consensus that I also agree with is to play through your first run as blindly as possible, moving forward with your instincts and gut and even emotions rather than a guide or walkthrough. This is greatly reinforced with the Convictions mechanic, and baby virtually everything counts towards conviction. Pet that cat. You will feel better about it, trust me.

Throughout your path(s) you are presented with a variety of situations. Thought the main story is dire after the first handful of chapters, there is reprieve with character stories that range from silly to heartwarming to melancholic and just an all around fun way of knowing a little bit more on who certain characters are and how they interact with others and the world around them. The script itself isn't difficult, not written in an unintelligible old english, but in just enough way to get the feel of antiquity without being completely lost, making things seem more colorful. There's even a differentiation between characters who'll say "aye" as opposed to a more modern "yes," which is just delightful in my opinion.

The world-building however is understood enough to serve its purpose, but the exact details of many things are left up in the air for question if you look slightly below the surface. Though I personally am left wanting more because I fancy lore, it's very "a piece of a fiction novel" about it. It owns a lot of things it doesn't explain and that's what any writer would do if they were to create a fantasy novel with complex systems and history. It knows what's important to make it move.

As a close off, I would like to note one thing that I think was very bold of Triangle Strategy and that was its endings. Though there is a coveted ending that many strive for, even then the options you are ultimately given are all the results of the ones you hold closest giving in to their lowest selves, and because they are at their worst, the endings reflect that. That one specific, coveted ending is often remarked as "ill planned" and not necessarily thought out well from attempting to neatly tie everything back up into a happy present in contrast to the others, but as someone who's delved through the trenches of the MegaTen (Shin Megami Tensei) franchise and fandom, there is something to be said about "keeping the status quo" and it is that its delaying an ultimate inevitability. "Neutral" isn't always best or superior or a "happy ending."

>>CAST: Triangle Strategy truly is a game that has a character for everyone. It is large, but it is not skimping for quality. You will see literally any flavor of war veteran old man to pretty young adult boys that could've been a boyband in a different time to strong and independent battle women, many good and bad strong battle women, to peepaw who is probably in his 80s but is everyone's grandpa and a sniper. Each character feels like there was a level of care given into them, and even some all the more revealed after they are no longer able to. The world interacts, it breaths, and so does Norzelia's inhabitants.

For playable characters, there are 30 playable units to acquaint one's self with, each with their own unique class, weapons, and aptitudes. No one unit's development tree is interchangeable, which falls more into the category below (Gameplay), but it's also important in a way to see them as individuals. You will remember everyone's names, even with units that aren't your favorites or play style.

Outside of playable units, there still is a hefty list of important NPCs that are not any less composed, orchestrated, or of variation than our playable characters. Sometimes you will be in an instance struggling to remember what the fuck Clarus had done or who Patriette is or that Tenebris is still one of the Saintly Seven, but... the magic is in the fact that Triangle Strategy is designed to be experienced more than once to get the full effect. They too have their needs and reasons.

If you as a player want to do one run-through and call it quits, you will certainly still have an impressionable experience, but it will only grow the more invested. I didn't find it that hard because I had fallen in love with everything Triangle Strategy has to offer, so I had my own compulsion to keep moving with it, but if it doesn't ultimately strike you in that way, it is a part you will miss. But that is still okay though.

>>GAMEPLAY: Triangle Strategy is accessible for any level of strategist to stumble through with its difficulty settings. There is an Easy, Normal, and Hard mode. It's common for players to even try their hands at Hard, Deathless runs (I don't know if this is a trophy on Steam. I played on Switch). Battles have a staggering variation of difficulties and difficulty spikes, but there are ways to mediate trouble battles you can't seem to get right. Besides difficulty settings, the game also offers a Quietus mechanic which act as a one-time, additional maneuver without taking a units turn up. Quietus has limits but there's many different actions that you can always implement to save your ass. Personally, 99% of the time I forgot Quietus existed and really only used them on mock battles and final battles mostly to see what they did or save me from having to do another 1+ hour of battle or whatever. But, most battles, you can absolutely pull off without Quietus. You can pull off a number of things a first run-through that many people struggle with and/or guides will tell you to use [character or ability you don't have] or certain strategy you can't get right or whatever.

I will touch upon this again below because it is a common comment, but Triangle Strategy's main course is narrative. To experience it, you need to be ready and understand that it has a story to tell. It has multiple stories to tell, and for that you will have long sections that are mainly dialogue, meaty dialogue too. The type of player that just wants to experience battle and "raw crunch gameplay" is not going to have a favorable opinion on the game format because not all mechanics are tied profitably into battle (if anything it's the other way around). You will have battles, and you can mock battle all you want at the tavern, but story battles are sparse to keep point and potency. That being said though, voting and persuasion is a major, at the heart concept of Triangle Strategy which ties into the aforementioned Convictions mechanic because we love democracy in this House until we don't and is not convenient! Play Triangle Strategy as a story and experience, the gameplay is mainly there to support and accentuate it.

If I tried to point out every little thing about Triangle Strategy this post would be miles long. The game explains and leans into everything very well so enjoy the stuff that isn't mentioned as much in their natural habitat in a relevant way for your own interests.

There is a great "divide" amongst players on wether or not Triangle Strategy is a "good" or "bad" game, and ultimately it boils down to understand who you are as a player, as a gamer. Note your interests and what you enjoy in a game and then gauge, because despite "oh it was bad," "oh it didn't do this," "oh it didn't do X thing that's better," "oh let me romance the blorbos together" the game pulled off a lot of executional aspects really well in its own ways to be its own identity. But, to comment about the common comments:

>>"The game doesn't have enough battles"

The game has an amount of battles actually. There's one battle a chapter, which is probably the hubbub on why people might think there "aren't enough." But most routes are 20 chapters, so that's 20 battles. It's just that chapters also vary in length and some can be long. Then, there's 35 mental mock battles available in the tavern of the encampment, realistically likely only seeing ~21 of them on a first play through though.

But, battling as a mechanic I consider a secondary mechanic to its main purpose: Conviction. Because there also is a certain thing that happens also in chapters, sometimes before battles, sometimes before votes, and that's exploration. This is a way to 1) gain a sense of a map that will likely be used as a battle map somewhen in your run, but also to 2) gain more conviction. Exploration is just as much of a thing in Triangle Strategy as combat.

So, in the end, I don't think the problem here is the battles, but rather the pacing the game presents. The player will be met with an interesting experience of feeling everything is dire and needs to be handled right away, while simultaneously moving rather slow and leisurely with no way to course correct because it's not side quests holding you down but the actual main event.

>>"The demo was slow and boring"

Unfortunately, I did not play early demos, because if memory serves me correct there were multiple versions. From friends, they have said that the early demos and final products are two separate games. Do not trust.

Then, the final demo which you can probably still download on the store (I haven't checked), is its final form, but much like Octopath Traveler, the demo presented is the beginning, it's the opening. If I remember correctly the demo goes to Chapter 3, which is ironic because after then is when things start spiraling downhill really, really fast. So by then you are introduced to the major components of Triangle Strategy. You experience the dialogue storytelling, you get through exploration, there's battles, there is a voting point in which you are introduced to the infamous Scales of Conviction, so it really touches upon all of the moving bits that make the game move. You get brief understanding of the state of Norzelia, its last major conflict, and the future prospects and direction it is moving in; none of which goes in any manner on how anyone wants it to move.

>>"The story is just Game of Thrones"

There's a special secret: any medieval fantasy setting is just "Game of Thrones" because Game of Thrones is the most recent rendition that is popular among the masses. Besides general, not-at-all-surprising political maneuvering and scheming, there really isn't one point in which it's overtly cumbersome as "ripping off" the award winning novel series, because a lot also stands to fact that history is just like that too. "There's powerful Houses that everyone has to watch out for and [other thing that I won't disclose because I think you'll get a better experience not knowing]" yeah and so did regular Europe back in the day, but now it's fictional and maximized to make an interesting story. Actually, Houses and clans are still a thing, I'd imagine, but have mainly been reduced to icons (but don't quote me on that).

Conquest, wars of successions, religious wars, whatever the Boston Tea Party is, power hungry individuals, people abusing power, puppet states/nations, and a lot of other things are historical events and writing tropes to be used as narrative devices. Whatever media you have consumed beforehand effecting your vision and enjoyment is unique to each individual and only influenced by that individual.

>>"The game has terrible voice acting."

Well, first off, show some pity on the voice actors. I don't know their full conditions but also note that the artbook lists that Triangle Strategy's art production was from 2018-2022, and well, a certain pandemic happened in early 2019. It was likely by at least September 2021 that they had finalized voiced lines because teasers were going out with used tracks and lines. I don't remember when the first teaser went out, I was only alerted by several people when Benedict happened because of my character brand, and that's the moment it was over for me to be honest.

But, disregarding that, I'm no expert, but I love how some voices were done. I can still distinctly hear what Erador sounds like, like Mr. Wingert's voice greatly helped define Erador. Sure, I do recall originally opening Triangle Strategy for the first time and listening to Benedict speak and he was very.... flat, but in a very specific way. However, now in hindsight, I have a great appreciation for that because now knowing Benedict, what else was he supposed to sound like? It has a different interpretation and understanding when seeing what's attached to who and how, and in early game with a lot of characters to keep track of that doesn't always click. But, damn, if I do not mimic Lionel every time I say "yes, ha ha, yes" like that's voice acting, it sticks like a tv commercial.

Even though I have thoroughly went off in a lot of directions, I just cannot cover everything. I am absolutely open for engagement if anyone would like further discussion about anything I didn't cover or did cover. Thank you for the ask, and I hope this helped in some manner.

#long post I spend like 2 hours typing this #Triangle Strategy #kimi no #please everyone looking at this PLAY TRIANGLE STRATEGY #I am not joking this is not ironic #be informed before playing #but my GOD play it #oh god anon I could've gone off for so much more #but I like physically cannot #but PLEASE DM me if you want more direction #actually anyone DM me about Triangle Strategy #I am locked in a glass cage looking out at everyone else having fun #I know this was not answered timely #so original anon is probably already gone #but I really do hope this helps someone #forgot to address how everyone hates the name 'triangle strategy' but whatever

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canmom · 1 year

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Animation Night 161: Barry JC Purves

Good evening everyone!! I have completed my pilgrimage to Animation City. The last Annecy posts should be dropping tomorrow, all being well.

But! Tonight can be something of a preview!

The very last thing I did at Annecy was to drop into a collection for stop motion animator Barry JC Purves, who received a lifetime achievement award this festival. He totally wasn't on my radar which is a huge oversight because he's been making gay old short films for longer than I've been alive! l became a fan immediately lmao

As it happened, Barry Purves was there at the screening and afterwards took the time to chat with a small group of us, to give advice on animation, talk about his work, and generally be very encouraging. Here I am next to him holding the puppet Toddie from his film No Ordinary Joe (apologies for the shit picture quality, I didn't realise how dirty my lens was)

And here's the puppet up close:

So who is this guy, what's his story? Well, the way he told it, he started out in acting, but felt there were a lot of talented actors around. Around that time he saw stop motion films, and started to think he could bring a lot more performance and emotion than people were doing at the time. This must have been around 1989, when he made his first film Next, a speedrun of the works of Shakespeare performed by a puppet of the Bard...

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Theatre would be a recurring theme throughout just about all his personal works. Screen Play (1992) depicts a kabuki play...

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while Rigoletto (1993) does opera.

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I joined the screening just in time for the end of Rigoletto; the first one I got to see in full was Achilles (1995), which depicts the story of Achilles and Patroclus from the Iliad in the style of ancient Greek theatre.

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I loved this one. The characters move in a fascinatingly theatrical way, holding extended poses, is a trademark of Purves, who disagrees with the doctrine of realism in animation and emphasises readability above all; the staging is excellent; there is a lot of gay sex. I have no idea how the puppets were made - they're startlingly flexible for all the muscle detail. Barry said when I mentioned about it that he hadn't set out to tell a 'gay story' as such, rather was mainly trying to be faithful to the original story. I admire a lot his confidence in getting this on TV when I was like 2, but he said people never gave him a lot of trouble for content, just funding...

Gilbert and Sullivan (1998) and Hamilton Mattress (2001) were not included in the session at Annecy. The first continues the biographical theme, the second is about showbiz. I hope I can track them down at some point!

Plume was the next one we saw, and this one was great, a wordless film in which a winged man falls to earth and finds himself confronted by weird little monster guys hungry for feathers. This one was really cool, but I can't find it online.

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Tchaikovsky – an Elegy presents a puppet of Tchaikovsky moving on a small set to a voiceover of various quotes from his letters over the course of his life and a medley of his music. Apparently they only had the budget for two minutes of orchestral music, the rest solo piano, but this limitation becomes a strength as those two minutes are deployed very effectively. I'll admit, I don't know a ton about Tchaikovsky, but the chosen quotes were affecting and intriguing, and there is incredible attention to detail in the animation - when Tchaikovsky plays piano in the air, the finger movements are apparently noticeably accurate to the music if you're a piano player.

Speaking of pianos, someone asked about the puppet and apparently the puppet of Tchaikovsky now sits on his piano in the house where he composed... memory fails, one of his famous pieces, maybe Swan Lake.

The last film is about a historical figure who I knew nothing about, but completely intrigued. Joe Carstairs was... in modern terms somewhere in the zone between butch lesbian and trans guy, an aristocrat's child who became a record setting motorboat racer in the 20s and also ruled a small island for a while (bc ig you could just do a colonialism back then if you were rich enough lmao). He (I'm gonna go with 'he' pronouns) had a very specific eccentricity, going around everywhere with a doll called Lord Tod Wadley or Toddie, a gift from his girlfriend Ruth Baldwin. Apparently Carstairs regarded as his closest confidante and only person he could trust. So the film is presented as a dialogue between Carstairs (played by real human being Lindsay Duncan) and Toddy (stop motion animated and composited in), as they reminisce about their life together. It was a very cool way to learn about a fascinating historical figure - apparently the inspiration was the biography The Queen of Whale Cay by Kate Summerscale, which he encouraged me to read after the screening - I'll write about it if I do!

And he's not done. Apparently he's been looking for funding for a feature length animated film that would be a murder mystery styled after the bird masks of the commedia del'arte. It sounds sick as hell and I would really love for it to get made.

Barry was incredibly fun to talk to, really encouraging to all of us and gave fascinating answers to every question. I really hope I can meet him again at the next Annecy and chat for longer. It honestly makes me really happy to know there was such a talented independent animator in the UK making such personally expressive, mature, and also gay as hell animated films before I was around. Hope I can follow in his footsteps one day.

Apologies for the late start today - I was trying to fly to join family in Portugal but my flight got cancelled at the last minute and I'm only just back from the airport, gonna have to do it all again tomorrow ><

but in the meantime, let me share a little taste of Annecy!!! Animation Night 161 will be beginning in about 15 minutes, 23:45 UK time, at twitch.tv/canmom, and I'll start the films at midnight. Would love to see you there!!

#Youtube #animation night #barry jc purves #animation #film #stop motion

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el-im · 1 year

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Do you have any journaling tips? I love the pages you posted

hi!! tips kind of relate to what you want to get out of journaling, I just took a nonfiction class this semester which has us, for a time, keep a list of things we saw, or overheard throughout the day, for our later reference in essays/narratives. I think if you’re looking for documentation, that’s a good place to start. you find yourself listening into conversations more attentively (some call this “eavesdropping”, I think of it as gathering fruit). there’s a really wonderful lesson i sometimes think about:

Just tell me what you saw this morning like in two lines. I saw a water glass on a brown tablecloth, and the light came through it in three places. No metaphor. And to resist metaphor is very difficult because you have to actually endure the thing itself, which hurts us for some reason.

Marie Howe on a writing exercise she gives to her students, as told to Krista Tippett for On Being.

If you're at all interested in nonfiction, I'd suggest something like that.

If you're more looking for personal journaling... oh boy. there's a few pedantic "tips" i feel compelled to relay: put dates at the beginning and ends of notebooks to show how long they spanned from, date every entry (and add times if you can) which will help you chronologize/make sense of things if you ever return to them in search of something in particular.

i'm not a huge proponent of writing every day, though i know a lot of people will suggest that (my friend grace writes 1,000 words a day at minimum in any medium, whether it be for a journal or a story she's working on), but i don't always have the time/energy and am not eager to make a ritual of it, carving out time to dedicate just to that (though... maybe i should). i say to write when you're moved, or when you have something important to get down, even if you may not be eager to actually write about it. (like a long dream you thought was significant, but the thought of writing down all the details you can recall seems daunting. do it. you'll appreciate the effort later).

+ anahi called this "ephemera": ticket stubs, receipts, flyers... or, if you're me, the occasional leaf/twig/thread of grass. tape shit in there.

this may just be a personal thing, but i tend to get a little obsessive about presentation/how my journal looks when i'm just flipping through it. i've taken to paperclipping pages i'm not particularly fond of the appearance of together, so they're still accessible easily (an old friend of mine used to tape some closed, which i felt made looking at them again more of an ordeal), but don't really show up that often. this has helped me a lot, i think. i can focus on the parts i'm more proud of, and not get bogged down so much when something i tried didn't work out as i'd expected it to.

thank you. the few pages i posted are from years + years ago. I think I’ve actually gotten worse at journaling since then.

#sorry for the late response to this my brain does not work #asks #also... these are not very good tips. i'm sorry lmfao idk what to say! in recent years i've become so busy that i've come to use them less #for writing about wonderful/happy things and more long and explanatory rants when i'm in a bad mood which.... awful #trying to return to them now because i've been OVERSHARING and i wish i could keep things to myself like i used to -_-

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critical-chris · 1 year

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Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Who let the title of this movie get so damn long?

Here we go again. Another post-Endgame, superhero film capping off a trilogy of movies featuring a loved lead character. If only Thor took notes and ended at a trilogy too, maybe the Marvel franchise wouldn't seem so tired and exhausting at this point. I myself am nearing the end of my rope when it comes to watching new installments in another phase of Marvel. The last notches on the belt I've been looking forward to were Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 and, due to my own love for the lead character and actor, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantamania.

I feel like I've always been a fan of Paul Rudd. I don't even remember the first movie I saw him in, but I had to have immediately loved him and kept that same energy over the years. It doesn't hurt that he never had a real drop-off either. Looking back through his acting career, he hit the ground running with Clueless three years after his first credit (I haven't seen it, but people like it and I trust he was great in the movie). Then he hits you with Wet Hot American Summer, what used to be a cult hidden classic until Netflix brainwashed everyone into thinking that it was a star-maker when it was released.

He's a key, hilarious figure in one of my favorite comedies all-time Anchorman, a long running guest star on Friends, simps his way through 40 Year Old Virgin, dips a toe in Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Role Models, I Love You Man, etc. etc. The list goes on and on. My favorite Paul Rudd moment is in one of his more mediocre films funnily enough, Wanderlust. The scene where Rudd hypes himself up to a mirror before expecting to hook up with Malin Akerman's character made me laugh harder than I ever had before. Whether it's a cameo, a guest starring role, or being a leading man, Paul Rudd has given us countless performances and years that are laugh out loud funny and memorable.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the third installment in the Ant Man story and the i-can't-keep-count-how-many movies in the Marvel saga. Scott Lang has been through a lot coming into this movie. He's been to prison, defeated his mentor's protégé and came to terms with Bobby Cannavale marrying his ex-wife, a phasing supervillain and a trip to and from the Quantum Realm (I had to look up the synopsis for Ant-Man and the Wasp because I remembered very little from it despite enjoying it), the blip from Endgame which aged his daughter to a teenager, and the threat of Thanos. The thousand plotlines of the Marvel universe are becoming tired at this point, and you really don't have to remember every little detail, but these events converge and lead us to this new, and hopefully last, adventure for Paul Rudd in the superhero multiverse.

At the start of Ant-Man and the Wast: Quantumania, Scott is living a B-list celebrity life, having meals comp'd by businesses unsure which Avenger he is, slipping in as many Baskin Robbins' plugs as he can, and relishing in his newly released book The Little Things or Don't Count Out the Little Man or whatever little pun they made. His daughter Cassie is an activist rebel for good who also has somehow caught herself up on quantum physics with the help of Hank and Janet Pym (Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer). A convenient point as Cassie has been building a device that can map out and contact the Quantum Realm. Janet Pym loses her shit when she hears of this device and, when attempting to deactivate it, ends up getting the whole clan sucked back into the Quantum Realm. Oh what sights they will see and unusual characters they will meet.

The opening moments are okay enough, there are a couple laughs delivered by Paul Rudd's narration and odd family dynamic, but there is one problem that begins to present itself and sustains throughout the whole movie: the film has no soul. I don't know what it is, these characters I personally really liked and was interested in from the first two movies and Avenger appearances fall flat and seem generic and frankly uninteresting in moments. I should care what happens to these people, but I just didn't. I guess the positive I can glean from the opening is they get to the Quantum Realm rather quickly.

Scott and Cassie (The Langs) get split up from Hope, Hank, and Janet (The Pyms) and each try to find their way back to each other for a decent chunk of the movie's midsection. The Langs battle a couple amoeba and sun monsters before being captured by a group of humanoids and creatures. The Pyms follow Janet on a quest to find someone who can lead them back to reunite with The Langs.

The biggest issue I had when our group of heroes are dropped in the Quantum Realm that lasted throughout the runtime of the movie is the fact that every background, setting, action piece, etc. is computer generated. Obviously I understand you cannot reasonably create most of these effects practically, but when every single rock and speck of dust is CGI the movie loses its texture and I find it hard to emotionally connect as much to people interacting in front of a green screen in a studio. That has always been an issue with Marvel films, but feels like ever since they dove into the multiverse pool it has grown more and more evident.

Scott is dragged into an encampment at night (is there technically a day and night in a Quantum Realm?) where all these crazy creatures circle around him giving the impression he is about to be tortured or killed. Cassie runs into the scene out of nowhere, a red liquid dripping around her mouth, and urges Scott to "drink the ooze". Alright, am I the only one that felt this scene was eerily similar to Star Wars: Episode 6 at the Ewok village? Yes? Okay then, I'll move past it. Scott drinks this red ooze the creatures give him and suddenly he's able to understand the many languages they all speak. They tell him they are rebels against this unnamed 'Conqueror' and he is definitely going to be searching for Scott and Cassie being newcomers to the realm.

The rebels are pretty generic characters. You have the female warrior with a cool staff that disintegrates foes (a lot of disintegration in this movie) but otherwise has no personality, a brute with a sun head with no other discernable personality, and an ooze creature obsessed with how many holes everyone has (I'm not joking) who I guess has a goofy personality, and then just cannon fodder all around.

Meanwhile, the Pyms barter for a manta ray looking thing that allows them to travel to what looks like a hotel rooftop bar to meet a mysterious figure from Janet's past when she was stuck in the Quantum Realm. Turns out, it's Bill Murray. I read a report that Bill Murray was really interested in joining the Marvel franchise, but you could never tell from his performance in this movie. I mean, this guy is SLEEPWALKING through his role. It felt to me that he was on set for a day, maybe two at most, and maybe had a Benadryl or two because he is snoozed out. Anyway, he reveals Janet used to be in a romantic relationship with him but instead of helping the Pyms he has sold them out to the 'Conqueror'.

The Pyms escape, and while on the way to find The Langs, Janet finally comes clean on her past in the Quantum Realm. She found a man named Kang (The Conqueror) who she thought crashed in the Quantum Realm and needed to repair his ship's core which would allow them to escape back to the real world. Janet helped him find the formula to recharge the core, but when they install it and she touches the fully powered ship, she glimpses into Kang's mind and sees that he was actually banished to the realm after going on a conquering spree where he murdered billions of people across different multiverses and timelines. She used the Ant-Man tech to explode the ship's core to a magnificent size which stranded Kang.

The rebel camp housing Scott and Cassie is found out and attacked by the Conqueror's minions and the duo are eventually captured by a flying, mechanical death machine with a golden face and miniature arms and legs. Yes, that's right, miniature arms and legs. So let's talk about MODOK...

I can't lie, the first time MODOK (Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing) pops his helmet off and reveals the stretched out face of Corey Stoll, I laughed. It is inarguably a funny sight and gag for a movie that is inherently supposed to be a comedy. Paul Rudd is at his comedic best in the moments when he talks with MODOK since he can play the 'holding back a laugh or joke' face extremely well. However, I think they go back to the gag waaaaaay too many times and it would have been better served for MODOK to have his helmet down more often than not to keep him menacing and seemingly dangerous. Instead, you never feel anyone is in real danger when he's around because of how ridiculous he looks.

Scott and Cassie are locked up when they first meet Kang the Conqueror, who details to them his master devious plan to shrink his ship's core to normal size with Scott's help, escape the Quantum Realm, and continue his conquering ways. Scott of course refuses, but upon threat of his daughter's death, he relents rather quickly and agrees to help. I do want to make a quick note that I love Jonathan Majors and think he plays a great character in Kang the Conqueror, perfectly captured in the Loki series, and if I wasn't so tired of this franchise I would be looking forward to seeing him more. Alas, I will stick to watching the upcoming second season of Loki and likely bail out from the rest.

Scott's mission is to shrink himself down to find the core of the massive ship's power core (yes, a core of a core) which creates what they call a "Probability Storm". How do I remember the term? Because they repeat it like six times in a five minute sequence. Scott beings to multiply into different versions of himself that would have existed had he made different choices in life, similar to the paradox of Schrödinger’s box and cat. However, we don't get wildly different versions of Scott, rather a million copies of the same version asking what is going on. Oh, and one in a Baskin Robbins uniform, a company that must be bankrolling these films for how much they reference it in a two hour runtime. It stopped being funny the last movie, enough already.

After enduring this sequence, Scott is able to shrink down the ship's core, but is betrayed by Kang (shocker) who steals the core without freeing Cassie and shuffles away to his grand kingdom to prepare to leave the Quantum Realm. The Langs and Pyms regroup, Hank reveals that a few of his ants were also sucked into the Quantum Realm, and prepare themselves to storm Kang's empire city. Something something something, they rouse the rebels in the realm, who cares who cares who cares, and they get to the city with Scott growing himself to a giant size and he breaks down the walls to Kang's kingdom.

Scott Lang and the gang (why hadn't I used that term before now?) face off against Kang and his millions of minions until they finally prevail when Hank Pym's ant army come to the rescue in a pretty cool ending battle. You see a glimpse of Kang's power as he disintegrates fleeing rebels, although conveniently doesn't kill the one with the cool staff as I'm sure they'll get some half-assed Disney+ show out of her, before he is overpowered by the army of ants and eventually destroyed along with his ship's power core.

And here we find two major issues I have with the ending of this movie:

Kang is defeated by ants

Kang the Conqueror is supposed to be the next baddie that will stretch the next several Marvel films in the same vein as Thanos. They spend the whole movie alluding to and then explaining that Kang has innumerable variants (clones, basically) across timelines but this version was so ruthless and awful that the others banished him down to the Quantum Realm. In my mind, he should be the one leading this multi-movie onslaught of trouble for the next generation of Avengers. And yet, he is defeated by Ant-Man, The Wasp, a teenage girl, and two older scientists with telepathic ants. How am I supposed to believe that this guy, or his clones, pose any threat to a collection of superheroes when he can't beat a couple of the lesser ones?

2. Scott's "Sacrifice" is immediately worthless

I thought the ending of this movie may actually work well and be impactful when Scott and Hope seemingly stay behind in the Quantum Realm to keep Kang from escaping despite the rest of their family jumping through a portal to the real world. However, after destroying Kang, it takes all of 20 seconds for the portal to be re-opened and Scott and Hope to escape. I don't know if they're planning on making more Ant-Man movies (I hope they don't) or keeping Paul Rudd around to pop up in future stuff as a cameo (I won't see it if he happens), but it would have been a perfect way to wrap up the character by having him live in this world with Hope. Instead, they ruin it and there is no emotional moment at the end of this after all.

Overall, I'm pretty much done with Marvel and this movie did nothing to reinvigorate my desire to stick with this universe through another dozen films, although I think the negative reviews around it are a little much and more representative of Marvel exhaustion rather than it being a terrible movie. The film is okay, but I wouldn't shit on it. The best word to describe it, and a word I've come to love in the last couple years, is Meh.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania - 6.0/10

#quantumania #antman and the wasp #antman and the wasp quantumania #antman 3 #paul rudd #evangeline lilly #michael douglas #michelle pfeiffer #marvel #phase 4 #modok #marvel mcu #avengers

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kyousystem · 1 year

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Angels (part 1)

I started working my way through the "Syntopicon" collection of essays today, beginning with the one on the concept of angels (if for no other reason than because it comes first in the alphabetical listing, heh). The essay is really only meant as an introduction to the history of thought on the idea, serving as a jumping-off point for further and more thorough readings, but I found it very interesting all the same.

Most of the ideas mentioned in the essay, especially for modern discussions on the subject, were heavily filtered through the lens of Christianity, which I suppose is to be expected. Of course, the writers took great pains to try and be objective, so they included not only pagan / polytheistic viewpoints, but some purely philosophical ones as well.

In fact, with how it was presented, there seemed to be a clear dichotomy in how angels are conceived: One from before Christianity became dominant throughout Europe (during so-called "antiquity"), and one from afterward up to the present. Again, I'm not surprised, considering the immense influence of the Catholic Church on much of Western thought... but it makes me very curious to learn more about these pre-Christian idea of angels.

It also talked a lot about angels in the sense of their being both an intermediate existence and an intermediary between God and Humanity, similar to demigods and the like in ancient poems and tales. That comparison, however, feels very hollow to me: While demigods and angels can indeed be conceived of as halfway between God and Man, depictions of demigods have their own desires and agency like any other human, whereas angels (especially Christian angels) effectively always exist strictly as an extension of God's will, machine-like in their singlemindedness of purpose.

Despite them often being used as a measuring stick for the perceived divinity or moral rectitude of a person, angels are ultimately quite inhuman...

There was another point, only tangentially related, that was mentioned as an aside but which caught my attention. Specifically, in discussing the notion of "good" and "bad" angels, there was a passage in the essay that underscored how Satan is not just inferior to God, but moreover subservient to God. Now, the notion of Satan basically being controlled opposition is very interesting in its own right, and I definitely want to explore that idea more another time, but that's not the point I meant.

The point that caught my eye was the following, paraphrased: In Christian theology, Evil must necessarily be subservient to Good, otherwise it'd risk falling into the Manichean heresy of light and darkness being warring forces of equal magnitude.

I honestly know very little about Manichaeism, but I'm intrigued and would love to learn more about it, about this notion and worldview where Evil is an equal-but-opposite force rather than controlled opposition. Hopefully it'll come up in more detail as I read further~

#syntopicon #angel #great conversation #great books of the western world #writing #essay #i doubt anyone or anything will bother reading this but I wanted to write it anyway

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lasclarts · 2 years

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Miguel Casey Nicole Pollyfan

#MIGUEL CASEY NICOLE POLLYFAN FULL#

#MIGUEL CASEY NICOLE POLLYFAN PLUS#

This case presents a world of smoke and mirrors.”Ī world of smoke and mirrors that nevertheless resolves into a pretty damning scene: Police busted Prine, carrying a pizza box, as he approached the supposed 32-year-old mother’s apartment on Nov. “It is not just officers who pose,” he told the court. Prine’s lawyer is taking the “Internet as fantasyland” defense, claiming his client was simply role-playing. hristmas”ĭetective James Morton, who posted the ad, was using the capital letters as a simple code: In pedophile circles, PTHC stands for “pre-teen hardcore.” The ad was an invitation, and Prine took Morton up on his offer. “P.hamily fun serious replies only bama won yes T.erday and kansas state lost don’t forget to H. The flurry of emails began with this message posted to the “Casual Encounters” section of Craigslist: Jurors heard opening statements yesterday in the case of Alan Preston Prine, 60, arrested last November after exchanging more than 200 emails with an undercover officer posing as a 32-year-old housewife offering up her two pre-teen kids for sex. Each passage is prefaced by detailed introductory comments on the life and thought of each theologian and the significance of his/her work.A recent undercover sting in Mobile, Ala., provides a window into the secret world of coded language pedophiles use online.

#MIGUEL CASEY NICOLE POLLYFAN PLUS#

The volume includes substantial excerpts from notable women theologians and from black and liberation perspectives, plus a new section from deceased theologians such as Thomas Merton, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Karl Rahner. KerrLanguange: enPublisher by: Abingdon PressFormat Available: PDF, ePub, MobiTotal Read: 30Total Download: 875File Size: 43,8 MbDescription: Illuminates the history and development of Christian thought by offering selections from the writings of 55 great Christian theologians. Expanded rules for social interactions, Infamy, and dark rituals help players of all alignments, and in the included adventure, the Heretics must best a Pirate Prince of the Ragged Helix! Author by: Hugh T. I will keep this a little short since people thinking about buying this book have already heard about its size and prevalence of fey.Īuthor by: Kendall ButnerLanguange: enPublisher by:Format Available: PDF, ePub, MobiTotal Read: 62Total Download: 560File Size: 42,6 MbDescription: The Tome of Excess is a sinfully indulgent supplement for Black Crusade! Devoted to the Dark God Slaanesh and his followers, this comprehensive hardcover book introduces four new Heretic Archetypes, along with cruel weapons, rules for empowering minions, new Daemon Engines, and more.

#MIGUEL CASEY NICOLE POLLYFAN FULL#

However, I would have wanted maybe one entry for a dangerous water maiden, and an ample side bar or page dedicated to the various cultural variations that comprise the numerous myths surrounding women and water (and boo for not having “la llorona”, if you are going to go full on water maiden, be all inclusive!). In all fairness, it is an artefact of Pathfinder Pathfinder probably has more of the dangerous water maidens throughout its various bestiaries. Now I know a lot of people have mentioned this, but I have to echo that the “dangerous water maidens” are pretty prevalent. There is one other book that has Lovecraft monster and I hope to do a comparison on my blog, but so far I am loving the Kobold Press take on them.Now on to the things I didn’t like. This is a good addition to the Tome of Beasts, but actually makes me wish that Kobold press would put out a book of NPCs on its own!An honorable mention goes to the various Cthulhu creatures. Not only do we get pictures (unlike in the aforementioned monster manual) for every NPC, and the statistics can easily be used for a plethora of occasions.

#Miguel Casey Nicole Pollyfan

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fluffy-deer-bunny · 2 years

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I called this picture Frozen.

This drawing turned out to be more difficult than I thought (￣▽￣*)ゞ And yet, I was sooo happy to draw it, even for so many days! (o^ ^o) It was very nice to draw every detail and, despite the fact that I didn’t know at first what kind of light I should make, I finished well. And despite the fact that I still see what could be added ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ but we know the measure ✧˖°

In general, the fact is that I decided to sketch the situation that happened in July, and now I want to explain it to you a little, because ..If it were not so important, I wouldn't draw this.

So, in the last month, a lot has happened to the Eighth. The most important thing is his change in himself. Not only did I change very much from the period of January to the present day and could influence them (the closest connection with the closest people), so also those incomprehensible or difficult situations took place in The World of Terra (one of them is about what happens if the Guardian really gets hooked on evil¹), which sometimes racked their brains. There were so many of them that, purely physically, I wouldn't be able to write them down even in the book that I'm already planning now.

Four of my cuties, who lived for some time in Belgrade (the city of the World of Terra), not remembering what happened in the White Town, have already begun to get used to the fact that they can live both there and there and generally walk through different universes, if necessary. But still, despite the fact that it was clear that they had two houses, the problems were felt in time, in the perception of the place and.. changes in them. In all respects: mentally and physically. This especially affected the Eighth, who has always been very different for me in that he, like me, sometimes thinks VERY much, which, of course, does not lead to a good state for me or him, if we go too far with the "search for meanings". But even this wasn't the main aspect, unbalancing.

The main thing was the period itself, when, after a clamped state and the subsequent acceptance of his tiger part of himself, which was temporarily suppressed in the history of The World of Terra (by the way, this is a spoiler), he began to intuitively choose how it would be easier for him. Because throughout many stories, he constantly hesitated to either be inconspicuous and quiet, or help a lot of people, and, accordingly, a lot of eyes will be directed to him. And sensuality, instability and incredible strength burned in such a way that it forced energy to burst out in jerks and at first morally torment, and then, when there was no strength and desire to endure the pressure of elections and constant raging emotions (but the worst thing is that the question "but what for?", destroying even the most common sense), the physical body himself tried to protect himself, using the Guardian Force². However, since this only made him more sensitive, it didn't help to defend himself, but rather increased the desire to be "lowered", supposedly calming this incredible power raging in him, but in the end completely destroying him.

And then one day it happened.

The drawing, like a photo, depicts the first day when they, Veles and Severina, in the house of the Eighth, remote from the White Town, “froze” at the place where he fell and crashed, not even being able to physically recover. And Severina, a few days before, tried (almost in desperation) to protect him from these bursts that split him. Having the Force to use various ores, she created for him this diamond protection, resembling armor, in some places fastened with a golden thread, which she dissolved on occasion and helped to remove the armor. Having first made a promise to herself to be more attentive to him and not to allow herself to believe so trustingly that her beloved was really all right, she, at that moment, when it became clear that he wouldn't rise and speak, fell on knees, bowing like for a king, which he was in The World of Terra for a certain period, and then she froze, too.

So they froze for a week. A week in OUR time. For them, it was a very long time, and therefore, the last days, the Eighth came to consciousness and began to think about what had happened. Watching the sky, he felt sorry for acting so cruelly towards everyone, and after some time (recently), when he saw.. my attitude towards him and everything, in principle, I think, it became crystal clear that if we treat themselves so ruinously, then all the negative thoughts, like a black spot on the water, will spread to everything and EVERYONE around, that it will become unbearable to live, especially if we realize that we LOVE.

Well, at the end of that week, Severina, because of the voice of the Eighth, who called and asked her to get up, unclenched her muscles and was able to move. It was difficult at first due to the long immobility and contraction of the body, but she recovered quickly, especially due to the fact that she saw the Eighth healthy.

We all became healthier that day.

This whole situation is incredibly illustrative of first my changes in myself between January and summer, which affected their lives, and then theirs changes. And it happened so hard in addition because I changed my attitude TO THEM this summer. Since for a long time I didn’t even meet them at all, and even longer I was tormented by thoughts that were unpleasant and killed any meanings. The meaning of doing something, the meaning of being interested in something, the meaning of loving something.

But now everything fascinates me, even this, only more and more. Because watching me and them change because of HOW I cognize the world… It's truly magical. And through their eyes to perceive the world and myself from different angles has always been very useful for me.. and nice… Until I started to doubt just because I was dependent on the opinions of others.

But we set the meaning of life for ourselves, and what anyone can be attributed to me if I am happy, and the soul radiates Light? We all live in completely different ways, with individual views of the world, but we live, Guard Love in our hearts and freely experience the wonders of this world.

Isn't that the main thing?

Everyone of us decides for themself how we relates to the world and what our world will be like. I chose for myself what I dreamed about when I wanted to become happy since 2018.

I became; I create, I live, I love, I appreciate, I run to the beat of the melody of my soul, I play the way I want it.

And life is beautiful, as always.

¹ - The situation will be described in the book and perhaps even sketched or described separately. Maybe.

² - When the body is transformed into a mirror, it is easier for the Guardian to perceive every energy movement around and use it.

#FullART #DigitalART #TheWorldOfTerra #Veles #Eighth #Severina #Ninth #Mirror

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