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autismprotocol · 2 months

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TMAGP Theory Board (S1 EP 7)

Dang that episode was a RIDE Hope everyone had a relaxing week because after the newest protocol episode I am screaming!! so lets get right to it

What Happened in Episode 7: Give and Take

Celia seems to know something about the powers with her references to the buried and the flesh in the opening conversation with Alice

Celia recognizes Chester's voice!! since the introduction of Celia's last episode, I wanted to see how she would react to hearing Chester and Norris and we got that in this episode. It's safe to say that Celia recognized Chester's voice as Jon. This piece of evidence makes me almost 100% sure that this Celia is the same Celia/Lynne from Archives

Jon is Back!!! after Chester's statement (more on that later) we learn that Sam has been getting emails from someone named Jon. He also mentions it in an internal email. This helps support the theory that Jon and Chester/FR3-d1 are fused somehow which is what I (and a lot of the fandom) have been thinking. This leaves me with a lot of questions how else can Jon communicate through FR3-d1 with the outside world? Are Martin and Jonah sentient as well? Also, my big question is if this is the first time Jon has been able to signal to the OIAR Staff or if he has been trying to get them to listen since he manifested in the world and Sam was the first one to notice him or is this his first attempt to make contact. I'm interested to learn more about how Jon will continue to influence Sam. I think he's either trying to warn Sam about the OIAR's true intention or is he looking for some way to escape FR3-d1 and needs Sam's help.

This week's statement involved a place called Hilltop Centre branch of the Oxford people's trust. if you were like me and my roommate all your lore alert bells started ringing the moment Hilltop was mentioned. for people who are new to the Magnus Universe Hilltop Road is a major location for avatars (usually web-aligned ones) and also was the childhood home to the desolation avatar Agnes Montague. Hilltop is a big deal in TMA. Hilltop Centre being located in Oxford also lines up nicely with where we know Hilltop Road is located. I'm interested to know if we will hear anything about the house at 105 Hilltop Road being student housing because if that is true then we can connect the statement giver Anya Villette From MAG 114 to being from protocol's world. if that's true there could be a way to get to the Archive Universe through the gap in reality (a wormhole that exists where the house was built) Anyways definitely will have to listen for any more mention of a place called Hilltop in Oxford

Gwen was promoted by Lena to external liaison and is officially "In" It's time to learn the OIAR's secrets! after doing some research into the job title of external liaison it seems that Gwen is almost gonna be acting as a messenger between the OIAR and another party which is unclear at this time. my guess is it has something to do with Starkwell which was the private military contractor that was mentioned in Episode 4 but that's just a guess and me trying to fit in pieces that have not found a snug place in the lore yet. could be someone else (I'd love to hear your thoughts)

Remember our Buddy Klaus from Episode 4 who we thought was killed by Lena? turns out Klaus is still alive we learn through Gwen and Lena's conversation, that Lena was paid by someone to kill Klaus but failed.

Colin is more paranoid than ever! could be because of the eye or the institute but he does not want to be near technology right now.

Ooh boy that was a lot I'm still reeling from this episode so I'll leave it there for now. honesty I'm most stoked to hear Jon's back in the story and excited to see what role he'll play in Protocol.

Hope you guys have a wonderful week ask box and comments are always open and I'll be back next week for the episode 8 debrief/theory crafting

-Echo

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cordeliawhohung · 5 months

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If you’re still doing requests can I get some Simon/Spook fluff? Like sitting on the tub together him just there with knees bent, her between them laid back against him, maybe dozing, and his personal thoughts about it (it being the entire relationship/feelings) I’d LOVE if it was post Everything You Touch (like if she survives and is healed) and his thoughts on that situation. But doesn’t have to be canon to the actual fic as I’m sure you don’t want spoil it. Listen I’d write this FOR you, but I don’t have the courage to ask you for permission to.

okay so, apologies this took awhile to get out. you sent in this request as i writing a very similar scene for the actual story and i was like welp al;sdkjf but now that i'm extremely sick i got the time to sit down and write :3 so in this non-canon little drabble, spook was never seriously injured and is in a bit better head space than canon story just because i wanted to try and keep this as soft and fluffy as possible for you <3 also because y'all deserve some fluff after all the hurt. (also i am like SICK sick and i did my best to edit but apologies if this is a jumbled mess)

wc: 1k

Warm water enveloped his body as best as it could in the small tub Simon found himself shoved into. Legs bent and knees several inches above water, he was honestly a bit cold, especially with the icy surface of the tile against his back. But he would face the freezing cold and more if it meant he got to hold you like that forever. With you nestled between his legs, your back pressed right up against his chest as you leaned your weight into him, trusting him enough to not let you slide down into the water. Not that you really had much room to do so, anyway, with how you had to keep your own legs bent to accommodate all the room he took up.

How long had it been since he was last able to hold you like that? A time that wasn’t in some taunting dream that haunted him over the countless sleepless nights he had suffered over the last month? When was the last time he could let his fingertips wander over your body, feeling the goosebumps as they stood up along your skin in his wake? He had spent so much time trying to remember the sound your heart made when it thudded in your chest that he almost didn’t think about how he might not ever get to hear it again.

Simon leaned forward some, arms wrapping around your center as he pulled you closer to him. It was like he wouldn’t be satisfied until you were nestled in the strict confines of his ribcage, and even then he wasn’t too sure. Melting into him, your hands reached up to rest on his arms, almost as if giving him permission to devour you. But he would never do such a thing, and instead, he pressed his lips gently against the back of your head before allowing himself to settle down once more.

“You’re so comfy,” you spoke up, quiet voice echoing off of the smooth bathroom walls.

“Not gonna fall asleep on me are ya, sweetheart?” he teased softly.

“I might.”

And that would be fine, he thought. He hadn’t been blind to the difficulties you had sleeping those nights. You were lucky if you were able to fall asleep before two in the morning, and even luckier if you didn’t wake up a few hours later in a cold sweat. Sometimes he was afraid to touch you in those moments, fearing he’d wake you; break you. But then? With the water washing away the stench and the filth of everything the two of you had endured, it was like being reborn. There was something to be said about being made anew while holding you in his arms. Maybe in time he’d find the words.

“Sure you don’t want to wash up first?” he prompted, though he didn’t dare move an inch.

“Yeah,” you said softly, eyes long since closed.

“The water’ll get cold.”

“You’ll keep me warm.”

He would. He’d set himself on fire if it kept your fingers from going stiff. And though flames were nice, nothing was quite as warm as flesh blood, and he’d pour every drop out of himself if you asked him to. How maddening it was, knowing he’d destroy himself for you.

Simon continued to hold you as he listened to your breaths slow and body go limp. If you weren’t already asleep, you were damn close to it. It was as his skin started to prune that he realized he wanted to grow old with you; if a man like him would ever have the opportunity to, anyway. There was something that was healing about your presence, something he couldn’t place for the longest time. Eventually he realized it was purpose.

You gave him a purpose that wasn’t bloody. One that didn’t involve guns or knives and skinning humans as if they were livestock. All you required of him was the softest touch he could muster, and the press of his lips against your skin. You were the first thing in his life that didn’t demand his violence, and yet also the first thing he’d glady turn into a monster for if it meant keeping you safe.

Suddenly, your body jerked, and the bathwater splashed around with your movement. His arms tightened around you as you let out a sharp sigh before quickly relaxing again.

“I fell,” you said simply.

“Fell?” he repeated.

“Yeah, like… you know when you’re falling asleep, and it feels like you’re falling through the bed?” you asked, to which he hummed in response. “I fell.”

“Good thing I was here to catch you.”

He could feel you roll your eyes in response to him, but even if he couldn’t see your face he knew you smiled. Before you could say anything snarky in response, he leaned down and kissed your shoulder.

“C’mon,” he urged, “starting to prune.”

Before you knew it, he had dried you off and gotten you dressed in the most comfortable pajamas he could find before wrapping you in as many blankets as your body could handle. It didn’t take you long to fall back asleep, face relaxed as your shoulders moved with your soft breathing.

He couldn’t help but stand at the foot of the bed and watch you for a moment. His eyes traced the features of your face, how your eyelids intermittently fluttered, how your lips slightly parted. You were all his. His to cherish, love, protect. Every time he looked at you there was this feeling that blossomed in his stomach, a question that bubbled in the back of his throat, something that he wasn’t sure he should entertain quite yet.

For the time being, he settled for sliding into bed next to you. His warmth enveloped you better than any blanket could, and the security of his body was more comforting than anything else you could ever imagine. As the two of you laid there, minds slowly beginning to wander into a fuzzy world, Simon promised himself he wasn’t ever going to let go of you again.

#simon riley x reader #ghost x reader #simon riley x you #simon ghost riley x you #soft spot

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inaconstantstateofchange · 4 months

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don't come crying - a young!Raphael fic

An incredible rendition of young!Raphael by @shahs1221, here: please go check her out and give her some well-deserved adoration for it!

A/N: I'm gonna be so honest, I have no idea how to tag this in a comprehensible way, relationship-wise. Suffice to say, the Mephisto-lovers are... probably going to appreciate this more than I wish you would, and if you too are fifty leagues down the Niche Forgotten Realms Characters™ rabbit hole, you may also be enticed by the Baalphegor inclusion. 18+, please and thank you.

Summary:

Raphael blinks, attempting to reason past the howling fury within him. He has never before felt so truly attuned to his more fiendish instincts, working in concert with his mortal ones in a truly dangerous storm. He swore when he first came to this wretched plane that he would be its master one day, and he’ll be damned – well and truly – if he fails here. Or: Centuries prior to the events of the game, Raphael's return from a routine fetch quest on Mephistopheles's orders is interrupted by a summons to the throne room. His father has a lesson to impart to him, and he's going to ensure it sticks.

This is part of an ongoing story I've had in the back of my mind for several weeks now. Rather than another WIP longfic, I'll be posting additional segments from this 'verse in a series if/when I add more. If @sky-kiss has any say in it, I'm sure I will.

The only background info you really need is:

All characters are drawn from actual Forgotten Realms lore.

Raphael has recently been plucked from the Material Plane to join his father's court on Cania, in the Nine Hells.

Due to Raphael's stunted development, and an unwillingness to be shamed by his spawn's weakness, Mephistopheles has placed Raphael under the purview of his consort, Baalphegor.

Baalphegor's body is able to produce an empowering draught, too weak to hold much significance to true fiends, but sufficient to bolster Raphael's growth.

Finally, it is a pet headcanon I've incorporated into this 'verse that Baalphegor is the same individual later know as Haarlep, but you are welcome to use your own interpretation.

Raphael stumbles through the extravagant entrance doors to Mephistar, the flesh-shearing winds of Cania grabbing after him as he ducks behind the solid, enchanted stone. He’s done his best to cover all exposed skin, but there is always some that escapes his notice, leaving him bleeding out strength he can ill afford to lose. He loathes these “errands” his father sends him on, tasks purported to test his skill, devotion, and cunning. In reality, it feels more like busywork designed to keep him weak and subservient, reminding him of his contentious existence in the hierarchy and reinforcing his dependence on his father’s dubious goodwill.

The desiccated parchment that proved the focus of this most recent quest crinkles slightly, as he shifts his gaze up, the slight sound echoing across the cavernous hall as he looks with certainty for the being he knows to be waiting for his return, just as always. But — they’re not there.

He furrows his brow, an agitated and disquieting anger growing within his gut. He strides across the marble floor on frostbitten feet he can barely feel, shoving the parchment at the lone figure of Mephistopheles’s chamberlain Barbas, standing at attention at his post, and wearing his habitual sneer as he looks down at Raphael. Raphael ignores it for now, as ever, but files the snub away with all the other insults he will one day be strong enough to return tenfold.

“Where is m—the Lady Baalphegor?” He demands imperiously. They are almost always waiting for him upon his return to bestow his reward. That is the deal, the entire reason he engages in these banal fetch quests even though they are entirely beneath his rank and status. He pushes sharply at the errant thought of the pretty fiction it makes, knowing all the while that his true choice is to bow to his father’s whims or perish. True or not, it does no good to dwell on such matters, not when he will be changing them just as soon as he can manage.

Barbas’s sneer gouges even deeper into his face, growing a biting and nearly gleeful edge as he answers Raphael, “Well, young lord, as your august presence must surely have ascertained, the Lady is certainly not here.”

Raphael can feel his face going blotchy and red, and curses his mortal heritage once again for its constant betrayals. The ice-blue crystals in the eye sockets of the chamberlain harden and glint with glee at the sight. Raphael spins on his heel, marching furiously away, the parchment crumpling further within his fist. Barbas’s mocking voice rings out behind him, “Don’t forget to report to His Grace, little lord! He insisted it be done immediately upon your return.”

Raphael almost turns again to berate him, but manages to stop himself at the last moment, lest he lose even more face from the encounter. He’ll make his report as quickly as possible, then hunt down his wayward… Baalphegor, and claim his rightful recompense. The brilliant halls of Mephistar blur around him as he storms through them, focusing only on making his way to his father’s great hall with haste.

He doesn’t wait to be announced, merely pushes firmly on the doors, both with his physical form and, in a manner only recently attained, with the lashings of his own metaphysical aspect. They creak open, the sound like distant screams even on the well-kept mechanisms, and he steps through without hesitation, words of complaint already springing to his lips, when he stops dead in his tracks.

He’s found Baalphegor.

The succubus – and they are in full succubus form in this moment – is perched indolently on his father’s lap, where he sits on his ostentatious throne. But not just perched, no — impaled, as he finds when, with stricken eyes, he watches them move their body in a smooth, undulating motion up, degree by degree, before dropping back down, brilliant hair falling around them and catching the flickering hellfire-light as it glints off their red-brown skin. Soft, melodious moans are driven from their throat with each movement, as if pushed out by the — by the member within them. Their round breasts shift with the motion, the revitalizing milk within them welling up and dripping down their chest, squandered and disregarded.

He swallows, throat dry, his eyes and chest burning in stark opposition with one another.

His father casts an apathetic glance across the hall, and his eyes alight on Raphael, a cruel smirk curling at his lips. “Ah, the returning triumphant! What have you brought me this time?” His voice is nothing but mocking, no attempt made to couch his disregard for his unwanted and unloved spawn.

Raphael blinks, attempting to reason past the howling fury within him. He has never before felt so truly attuned to his more fiendish instincts, working in concert with his mortal ones in a truly dangerous storm. Everything within him is raging at the broken contract, even as it boils with jealousy at the manhandling of something that is his, and it is only the barest dregs of his staunch self-preservation that manage to keep him from attempting something truly foolish. He swore when he first came to this wretched plane that he would be its master one day, and he’ll be damned – well and truly – if he fails here.

He holds the parchment, now looking rather worse for wear, out before him on a finely trembling hand. He searches for the words he needs in a mind nearly whited out by rage.

“I… your cult in Waterdeep sends their obeisance, y–your Grace.” He curses his tongue for its fumbling, driving home further how well his father’s ploy is working to discomfit him.

“Oh,” Mephistopheles waves a careless hand. “That collection of rabble. You will leave it with my steward.”

Raphael ducks his head a bare inch, keeping his eyes away from Baalphegor as much as he can, and turns to leave.

His father’s voice rings out after him before he has completed even half his turn, sharpening with the first warning edges of his infamous temper. “Where do you think you are going, whelp? You have not yet been dismissed.”

Raphael turns back to face him, slow and careful, as the true danger of the situation sets in. He has rarely found himself in the presence of his father when these moods strike, and never without at least the tenuous support of Baalphegor behind him. And yet… he meets their gaze now, searching, and the barest fraction desperate, but there is nothing. Their red eyes meet his without flinching, cold as Cania’s glaciers. Trickles of the subtly shimmering draught spilling from their breasts have reached down to their hips now, soaking into the thatch of hair between their legs.

He tears his eyes away and forces his attention back to the far greater threat, scrambling for an answer that will satisfy his father.

“My apologies, your Grace.” The epithet comes easier this time, its passage eased by his awareness of his own precarious position. “I misunderstood your direction, and wished only to carry out your will with utmost alacrity.”

Mephistopheles rests his chin insouciantly on his hand, elbow propped against the arm of his throne. His voice, when he speaks, is sardonic and shows no signs of the ongoing actions of the succubus on his lap. “Oh very nicely salvaged, whelp. My wishes, however, are for you to remain just where you are, and appreciate the lesson I’ve prepared for you.”

Raphael swallows, the boiling heat within him growing fiercer, rage intertwined with other, less-savory feelings.

With little warning, Mephistopheles moves his hand to entangle within Baalphegor’s tresses, pulling the succubus fiercely down onto him as he wrenches their head back against his shoulder. A tremulous cry breaks from their throat, and Raphael only barely keeps himself from starting forward at the sound.

Mephistopheles brings his free hand forward and toys with Baalphegor’s breasts, pushed forward into the air from their current position. He twists pitilessly at them, prompting yet more cries as the liquid inside spills out in greater quantities, splashing, wasted, against the smooth skin of Baalphegor’s stomach. It runs in rivulets onto the throne, and down, to collect into puddles on the floor of the grand hall.

Raphael feels his stomach turn even as his mouth, well-trained by association, waters, unhindered by every other horrible aspect of this waking nightmare.

Mephistopheles wipes his hand dismissively on Baalphegor’s hair, leaving behind silvery streaks, then draws them up by their hair and hip, beginning to move within them in earnest as he continues his reproach. Raphael wants to close his eyes, his ears, every one of his senses, but knows such an admission of weakness would be worse than his undoing.

“You’ve prevailed enough upon my largess, and I am no longer willing to indulge your weakness.” Mephistopheles sneers. “You’ve proven more fortunate than any other cambion within the Hells, but from now on you will make your own way, or fail. Such is the way of Baator.”

The fires around the hall burn fiercer in alignment with their lord as he looks down at his unloved progeny. “Should you find yourself desperate for one last taste to stay your appetites, however, you may lap it from the floor like the whelp you are, and thank me for the concession.”

Raphael feels like he is become hellfire himself, the hatred he knew within him for his progenitor stoked to dizzyingly fierce new heights. Jaw aching with the effort of withholding the flood of vitriol within him, he grits out, “My thanks for your… beneficence. I would not dream of prevailing upon it further.”

Mephistopheles snorts, dismissive, then turns his attentions back to Baalphegor, by all accounts having forgotten Raphael’s entire existence.

Raphael stands, Baalphegor’s unfeeling eyes burning into his, until he is finally – finally – dismissed. All the while, the ambitions within him, already cast in carbon, are pressurized further and further, until they are as fearsome diamond, reflecting the blood and fire around him.

He will not remain his father’s lesser for long. He will see him deposed, and make him suffer for these indignities heaped upon his person.

By Asmodeus, he swears it.

#voidling speaks #my writing #my fic #bg3 #bg3 fanfiction #bg3 fic #bg3 raphael #baldur's gate 3 #raphael x haarlep #haarlep #young!raphael #raphael #mephistopheles #baalphegor #merry cursed-mas y'all #vflu compliant #forgotten realms #cfmi

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canmom · 3 months

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Last season's anime: Frieren episode 7-10

Shit I guess I'm full on liveblogging this one now.

This time we have episode 7 dir. Naoto Uchida (known for work on Mob Psycho 100), episode 8 dir. Tomoya Kitagawa (who also directed ep. 2), episode 9 dir. Kōki Fujimoto (key animator on a whole buncha stuff, this is his debut as an episode director), and episode 10 dir. Nobihide Kariya (who debuted not so long before as an episode director on Bocchi).

So at the end of the last post about Frieren, I commented that I found the demons underwhelming as antagonists, and hoped they would have their motivations fleshed out some more beyond 'ontologically evil baddies'. Well.

lmao.

So Frieren and the gang are travelling. We get a lot more on the Great Mage Flamme, who is Frieren's mentor figure. At this rate... she's probably gonna turn out to still be alive or some shit.

They roll up in another ridiculously picturesque town. The backgrounds in this show are apparently based heavily on the concept art paintings of Seiko Yoshioka, who gets credited under various roles including 'layout designer' and even 'worldview illustrator'. She did a crazy amount of work to design all the different settings, giving them distinctive cultural motifs and architectures and colour palettes and so on.

Since this town covers a whole four-episode arc, we get a number of different views of it. There's definitely a reasonable amount of historical care put into the design of those city walls - even sketchy and in the distance you can spot the hoardings and appropriately narrow crenellations, as well as the machicolations on the tops of the towers. (Though unfortunatelly some of those details seem to get forgotten in the later episodes.)

The streets in the town seem kinda wide and clean but it fits the austere vibe. The main thing I'm wondering is what exactly they eat in this town - it's triple-walled in hostile territory without much in the way of farmland in sight, or indeed roads that aren't tiny.

I'm pretty sure they built a model of at least parts of this town in 3D, because as well as certain 3D tracking shots (unfortunately hampered by the lack of any parallax mapping on the floor)...

...we also get shots like this one, which feature a crazy 3-point perspective:

I wouldn't say it's impossible to draw this, but it would be a hell of a lot easier to block it out roughly in 3D and then paint in the details.

Mind you, that's not even the wildest perspective we get in this episode. Check this out:

Absolutely bananas. I love it.

But tbh the praise I have for this arc is pretty limited to this kind of technical stuff. Let's get into the story. (Though you can be sure I'll have more to say about the animation!)

At this point the story shifts gears from this fairly low-key exploration of grief and the passing of time, into more standard action anime territory.

Shortly after arriving in this town, our heroes discover that it has been infiltrated by demons in the guise of peace emissaries. Frieren attempts to attack immediately, but she allows herself to be subdued rather than harm the guards, so off she goes to jail.

Luckily, wizard jail still has pretty generous visiting hours, so she's able to explain the deal with demons to the gang. Frieren declares that demons always lie to gain an advantage over humans, illustrated through a flashback in which a young girl demon begged for mercy, only to betray the townspeople a bit later. Having been proven right, Frieren summarily executes the girl.

I think it's worth comparing this storyline to a couple of other similar storylines in other works of fiction.

First of all, in NieR Replicant/Gestalt, there is the story 'The Little Mermaid', which was adapted into a segment in the game in the remake. A postman takes pity on a girl on a shipwreck, not realising that she is a terribly powerful monster who is struggling to maintain her human appearance. The girl starts killing people to try to maintain her connection with the postman. Eventually, the player shows up and discovers what's been going on. Their intervention provokes the girl to revert to monster state and there's a big boss fight. However, at stake in the fight is the girl's identity. Depending on how you play the boss fight, there are two possible endings, and both of them make overt parallels between the monster girl and your party member Kainé, and one portrays the grief of the postman who cannot let go of his affection for the monster.

Secondly, the second episode of last year's Tengoku Daimakyou features a woman who is trying to protect a monster which she believed to have taken on the consciousness of her son after it ate him. The monster has been curiously non-hostile to the woman - she persuades our protagonists to back off, and they agree. Then it abruptly kills her! Oh shit. Fight scene, they kill the monster, etc.

But as they depart, the protagonists are left discussing whether the monster could really have had the son affecting its actions, whether it was just drawn to prey etc. The monster's motivations are left distinctly unclear, and the protagonists conclude there's no way to know the truth. Throughout the rest of the season, the exact nature of the monsters remains an open question.

In both cases, we either know or it is strongly implied that the monsters are fundamentally human, or derived from humans somehow. A certain amount of effort is spared to try and at least raise the question of the monster's subjectivity, and even if a monster has to die, they play it for tragedy.

So, let's return to Frieren. We're introduced to the demon girl. She ate a kid, but she staves off execution by pleading for her mother.

The villagers decide to give her a chance to atone. Before long, she kills the village chief who took pity on her. Frieren's party show up and she does small Shaft head tilt...

She's no longer pretending and talks in a much more level voice. She explains that she wanted to give a replacement daughter to the family of the girl she ate, by removing the village chief, for the sake of living in peace. This goes down about how you'd expect. Frieren goes ahead and kills her. As she's dying, Frieren asks why she called for her mother when demons don't raise kids. The answer she gets:

She is surprisingly forthcoming on this front, and honestly, self-preservation is something like an understandable motivation. The impression you get from this flashback sequence is a being that is amoral, and encountering humans as something alien and, honestly, kinda threatening. Why she killed the girl in the first place is an open question - they explicitly say that the demons don't have to eat humans. Even if she kinda felt like it, you'd think she'd be able to figure out it would be an unwise move.

But as far as the show is concerned, the point of this flashback is to establish one thing: demons are lying liars who lie. Frieren is the only one who knows the truth, which is that you must shoot them on sight.

You might think the show would leave some doubt about whether Frieren is justified in having such a severe attitude towards the demons - is she just prejudiced? But nah we go pretty much straight into the demons saying 'Frieren is right about everything, now let'ss discuss our evil plan'.

Props to this guy (he has some longish German name I can't remember) for making this random bench feel like a throne though. Like on some level he's just soft-voiced evil anime aristocrat guy but he does pull it off.

Anyway, one thing definitely doesn't seem to add up. Frieren says that demons are solitary creatures who speak in a human voice only to deceive, but the demons seem to be pretty happy to natter away to each other when no humans are around and express all sorts of thoughts and even express (fairly reserved) emotions. The boy is arrogant, the girl is protective of her boss, etc. The guy is a smooth liar and manages to wriggle out of being killed by the earl by playing the 'we're the same, let's put an end to this' card. But we're constantly reminded it's fake, he's a lying liar who's ontologically evil.

I think the super-deceptive adversary with no qualms about telling any lie is something that can be done well to create an incredibly paranoid scenario. I can't believe I'm mentioning ratfic again in the space of two posts, but this is something Worth The Candle performed very effectively. Though honestly the fantasy of the perfect manipulator who plays everyone like a fiddle is a recurring device in fantasy.

Here... the acting is strong on our main sussy demon dude. But as a worthy adversary, he's not super convincing. He lets his underling run off and get killed, and his response when the jig is up is to reveal that he's super OP and kill everyone nearby, except the governor, who he tortures. So the manipulation angle seems questionably motivated, like he wants the earl to lower the barrier so the demon army can come in... but you're kind of left wondering why he didn't already just go and kill everyone in the city since nobody who isn't Fern or Frieren can touch him. I guess he's trying to get that low chaos route.

I won't continue the beat-by-beat summary. There is a cool fight scene in Frieren's jail cell though, which has some well-integrated 3D. Frieren totally no-sells the boy's attack and cuts his arms off. Lotta dismemberment in these episodes! The main demon guy has some tasty blood-based powers, lots of monofilament whip slicing imagery (also a thing in Tengoku Daimakyou oddly enough). In general the action scenes in this show continue to be super tight. There is a pretty cute bit where Stark is trying to free the earl and can't cut through the rope holding him to a chair, the earl is going 'leave me', and I was sitting there going like 'why not destroy the chair', and then Stark does. So props for that.

Towards the end of ep 8, we learn that Frieren is actually a suuuuper scary battle mage. She was the one who researched the demon killing spell. OOooooohhh.

Seems our demon guy hasn't changed his style in 80 years lol.

And she did not think it too many.

So we already knew that Frieren was part of the party that killed the demon king, the last living person who knew Flamme, etc. etc., so it's not exactly surprising to see once again that she's kind of a big deal. What we seem to be setting up here - or at least maybe I'm just hoping for something more than 'only our hero is wise enough to know coexistence is impossible and a war of annihilation is the only option' - is to suggest a parallel between Frieren and the demons. They're incredibly long-lived, they love to obsessively study magic, they both have a very cold affect, they're calm under fire. If it turned out that Frieren is a demon that would be a fun angle, but I don't think it really tracks. Rather, the framing is suggesting that, when confronted with demons, Frieren is not so different...

We get a title drop in any case - turns out the anime title is an in-story title for its main character. In Japanese: 葬送のフリーレン Sousou no Frieren. 葬送 is translated by jisho.org as

attending a funeral procession; seeing off the deceased; burial of someone's remains; observing a burial

The fansub I'm watching translate it (when used for the character) as 'Frieren the Elegy', which has about the right vibe! In the context for the show title, they translate the same phrase as Frieren: An Ageless Elegy which involves a little more interpolation, but I think it works. The official English title is Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, which is very direct but not a bad subtitle at all. Then again, maybe the bar is in the floor since 'Delicious in Dungeon'.

Anyway, after all that setup, we finally get the big fight episode. Because you see, in contrast to the earlier story which skipped over decades in a montage, this arc spans a whole four episodes. It's not badly done, but it's definitely feeling much more like a standard fight-driven show at this point.

We also meet Aura, one of the demon generals. She looks like a youngish girl and has a habit of doing the sanpaku eye smirk.

Her schtick is that she has magic scales that let her dominate people. Then she cuts their heads off and walks their corpses around. This is represented by a big army of suits of armour, mostly rendered in CG. They've done some kind of filter to make the linework less even, but the difference in shading style is quite noticeable.

From there it's a lot of 'my gambit vs your gambit' and 'who has more mana'. The fights are, without doubt very nicely animated, although the CG castle set used for the big camera moves feels a bit... lacking in detail compared to the gorgeous painted backgrounds. Anyway, Stark wins his fight by the power of GUTS and DETERMINATION, and Fern wins her fight by being a fast analytical type who can stay cool under fire and also knows Frieren's special demonbuster spell. Though a lot of Fern's fight is just kind of both participants standing still with impassive expressions shooting either blood or big laser beams at each other or zipping all around the castle.

Of course, the major turning points in the fight hinge on flashbacks to moments with mentor figures. This is an anime, and more specifically, it's Frieren.

One thing that is interesting is that the 'point of view' indicated by internal monologue often moves from Fern to the demon guy. We get to see him try to think through how to beat her, unsuccessfully. By contrast Stark's fight takes Stark's POV. I don't think we're expected to sympathise with the demon exactly, it's a way of underlining just how badass Fern has now become thanks to Frieren's levelling up regime.

I admit Frieren has lost me a bit by this point. It's not that it's bad at being a fight anime, it hits us with a whole series of stylishly composed and strongly animated cuts. Not novel necessarily, but absolutely well-executed. But it's not a very interesting direction to take the story! I don't care about this town, we'll be leaving it in an episode or two anyway, and the only named character in it is the earl. I wanna know more about the demons but what we get is kinda just a succession of Guys With Powers. He can make his blood fly around and stab people. She can copy anyone's moveset. He has a monofilament wire. She has a magic scale that mind controls you if she has more mana.

So how does Frieren beat the magic scales? ez. It's kind of spelled out as soon as they introduce the scales, but they spend a whole episode explaining how she's been using a relentless mana retention regimen for the last thousand years to hide her power level so that demons underestimate her. It kinda belabours the point lol. Like it kinda has to because if it doesn't try to make a big deal out of the mana hiding thing, you're just left with 'Frieren wins because her number is bigger'. But... Frieren wins because her number is bigger.

I don't hate fight-driven anime. They can be a ton of fun. But honestly, after the emotional impact of the first few episodes, taking it this way seems like it's wasting the early show's strengths. But, I hear episode 11 sees the return of Keiichirō Saitō as enshutsu, and it's said to be one of the best episodes in the show, so I'm not gonna drop it! It's certainly more than pretty enough to be worth watching through to the end.

There is a good amount of nice stuff in this last episode. The pseudo-Roman town is a cool depiction of a different material culture a thousand years prior to the main story. The 'field of flowers' magic is called back as a specific invention of Flamme - Frieren's whole deal is to kind of go around doing things to commemorate dead people and it turns out the flowers thing lets her do it twice over! We get to set up some parallels - Frieren could intuit that Flamme was a super OP mage, and Himmel could do the same for her.

We also get some worldbuilding stuff about the demons: they have to constantly display their power level to determine their place in the demon pecking order bc they're soooo individualistic. This seems a little dubious to me - like are the demons really so dumb? Is 'hide your power level' such an incomprehensible concept? It seems like it would lead to some kind of Diplomacy-like situation where other demons would team up to take you down.

Honestly, I think what bothers me about all this is like... I don't like the concept of an ontologically evil monster at the best of times, but the demons are obviously not mindlessly malevolent with no inner lives. They talk and scheme and feel things (such as 'proud of their magic'). They have an honour system. But the narrative doesn't quite seem to be able to acknowledge that this is what it's doing. Besides levelling up their magic, we have no idea what the demons want, still, except that it seems to involve killing humans sometimes.

Anyway! kvin has an article about this section, so if you'd like to read about who did which bit and how they worked together resourcefully and where the storyboard creates imagery of separation and so on, there ya go! It sounds from this article like the manga gets a better handle on what it's trying to do with the demons later on, so I'll hold out hope.

#anime #sousou no frieren

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hamster-writes · 1 month

Text

The cold winds nip at Cheyenne's cheeks as she stands down by the docks. “I see a ship in the distance! I’m gonna make sure we have a fire going and some nice warm drinks!” she yells as she goes running up the hill.

The inn door shuts behind her, “What's with the rush?” asks her coworker. “I gotta prepare some food for the incoming ship. I assume they will be hungry. It is quite the journey to our island.” cheyenne says.

Continuing with the cooking and cleaning, and setting up for what will most likely be a large pirate crew, she hears someone at the docks yell, “Ship is docking!” Cheyenne puts on her coat, mittens, scarf, and goes out to greet them. The docks aren't too far from her job so it takes no time at all. This might be the biggest ship she has ever seen come to their island, but no one else seems to be too shocked. The crew don some heavy winter clothes, it's kind of hard to tell what they look like underneath it all. One thing she knows for certain is it's one big crew, with some of the tallest people she has ever seen in her adventures.

Someone, who she assumes is the captain, begins to speak, “ Hello, you wouldn't happen to have somewhere nice and warm where we can stay, would you?” says a crisp but clear deep voice muffled by a scarf. In fact she can barely see his face at all, nothing but eyes peek out from behind it all.

“Welcome! I think we have just what you are looking for! I have already started on food and drink’s at the inn. I can lead the way.” Cheyenne says with a smile.

“Thank you. Lead the way then.” Tracking up the hill to the inn with what looks like a skip in her step, the man chuckles to himself with a hidden smirk.

“Here we are, we've got tons to eat and drink, so please make yourselves at home!” says Cheyenne. “Much appreciated.” says the man. The crew begin to shed the layers of clothing including the captain. Cheyenne suddenly finds herself staring at the man. She knows him. That's Shanks.

How could she not know…didn't she look at the ship…? “I guess I didn't,” she says out loud.

“Didn't what? ” says Shanks with a sly smirk. She must have gone bright red, because his smirk became a wide grin. “Come and sit. Have a drink and loosen up a bit.” he says, patting the seat next to him.

Cheyenne walks over with a suspicious look on her face that makes him chuckle, “I'm supposed to be working…” she says.

“I'm sure your boss wouldn't mind if you sat down for a while.” Shanks replies, looking at the boss giving him a thumbs up. “See” his grin getting bigger.

“Then I definitely can't say no to that.” She laughs awkwardly. Shanks orders a round of beer for the entire inn. Swirling the drink in her hand ,“So, captain of the red haired pirates huh?” she asks.

“In the flesh” as he downs another drink.

“I'm sure your stories are more interesting than mine. I’ve traveled some but just for work.” She lightly laughs taking another swig of her drink.

“Don't be to sure of that. I'm sure yours are just as interesting, if not more.” he says.

“Well I have found some interesting things recently! Do you wanna see?” she says brightly, almost beaming.

“I can't say no to that kind of expression now can I.” he says, but she's already down the hall, and into a room. She comes back out a couple of minutes later with something in her arms.

“A dog and a hamster?” he asks, confused.

“Not just any dog and hamster! The hamster is Fish and the dog is Otter.” she says, holding out Fish in her hand, and Otter by her legs. “You guys can say hi, you know. It's the polite thing to do.” she says to Fish and Otter. Fish scurried over in front of shanks, let out some squeaks and bowed. Otter just excitedly did some circles around shanks, wagging his tail.

“Mighty kind of you all! They really understand you real well. You have them well trained.” Shanks says. “Yep, it just takes time and communication, that's all!” she laughs.

“What brings you guys to our island?” Cheyenne asks.

“Well we needed some supplies. We are running quite low on food and supplies for our doctors.” Shanks replies.

“Well you stopped by the right place! We have tons of meat, not too much on the crop front though. That's probably obvious because of the cold and snow. We also have a couple of medicine shops around here.” she says. “I can show you all around too!” she beams.

“That anxious to be back out in that weather?” he jokes.

“Absolutely! I know it's not everyone's cup of tea. But it's just the way I like it. Snowy and cold” she says, rubbing her hands together.

Shanks lets out a loud laugh “An offer I can't refuse. Alright in the morning you can show us around. Sound good?” he says.

“Yes absolutely! Thank you!, I mean, of course I'd love to.” She says.

“Then it's settled. See you in the morning.” Shanks says, takes the last swig of his drink, gets up, and pat's her shoulder.

“Goodnight.” he says.

“Sleep well.” she replies, looking at him as he walks down the hall, with her hands on her face bright red. “Tomorrow is going to be a long day.” she says before she walks away for bed.

#red haired shanks #shanks one piece #one piece #my writing #my oc Cheyenne #my first long fic #this is only chapter one!💖#hope you enjoyed💖

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14muffinz · 4 days

Note

Asking some writers/artists I follow:

Is there anything in your fic/comic that you as the author know about, but won't end up in the actual story?

oh for sure

i'll start with the TMNT stuff first because of your PFP, but we gonna be here a while.

[lab rats stuff at the bottom]

warning: fic spoilers galore

In WIBE, one of the characters we meet is Yuichi Usagi, who works at the human ROTM. He also works in the original ROTM. He was robbed while on a trip to the Hidden City, and is originally from a different city entirely. Hueso is doing his best to help him out, but it'll likely be a long time before Yuichi gets to go home.

Some other WIBE background characters in WIBE include: MM!Kendra, MM!Robyn O'Neil, MM!Irma, & MM!Casey Jones. I don't have a lot to say abt Kendra and Irma, since it's been a long time since I wrote any of it down, but I can give it my best shot with Robyn and Casey.

Robyn has been diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety disorder for a few years pre-fic. She's in her first year of college which is out-of-state, and does her best to check up on her family via phone call at least every other week. She's also sort of invested in all of April's new drama, but she won't admit it.

Casey's been playing hockey for as long as he can remember, and intends to keep at it for as long as he's physically able. He's also got a knack for engineering, and I'd gamble that sometime not long after the ending of WIBE, he'd start up the Casey Jones vigilante batshittery. His parents are divorced, but he spends most of his time with his Jewish mother, and while he's never been actually taught much about his religion he accepts it as a part of his identity, and if people don't like that then they shouldn't be around him in the first place. He finds the existence of the turtles to be one of the coolest things ever, but after actually getting to know Raph and the others, it doesn't impress him as much as it used to. (If I had time, I'd add in a tiny crush on Raph, but I'm an aro with WAY too many ideas for this tiny fic)

Then there's experienced fighters, where the main thing is me ALWAYS knowing what song is playing in the background. I really love how much music is in MM, and I love being able to say hey! here's the musical vibes of the environment!

sort of on that topic, i've got a hc that any song with even small references to space are songs that rise, 2k12, and MM leo are more likely to enjoy. they don't realize these patterns, but they sure are there.

and to end off the music rant, one of these days i'm gonna make a playlist of songs that I think the rise crew all collectively agree are good enough (this is what space feels like, goodie bag, punk tactics, etc. etc.)

there's also two in one, which is based off an au by @blackfire-fanfiction. I have to be real cautious abt what I put in there, because a lot of people are looking at it instead of the extended context of the real thing, not to mention how many Thoughts that aren't really canon I have about it. For instance: today I had a good 30 minute daydreaming session abt the concept of rise!Donnie reading leonardo's notebook while he's comatose post-rise movie and finding out about the switching

in dimension desync, I poke a bit at my head canons about peni parker's movie universe and her mental health at home, and have expanded on this even further in an abandoned draft. this is going to be LONG, so here we go: Gwen Stacy and Richard Parker were around in Peni's universe before she herself was, each piloting a mech of their own [Ven#m and Sp//DR]. A few months after Peni's mother is pregnant with her, Richard dies in action, and a few months later, Ven#m sort of devours Gwen (go read the comics because it's really fucked up but idk how to describe it) So then the role of SP//DR is forcefully thrust upon Peni at the age of eleven, and her connection with SP//DR isn't exactly... perfect.

in my team blue universe, I'm fleshing the hell out of Sam-13 and Shadowcat (both from earth 65). Sam was created by corrupt parts of SHIELD (that have yet to have been identified as corrupt) but now is just a regular agent. Cap returned to their dimension when he was 14 and has been in charge of training him ever since. Cap is stubborn to a fault and is def being manipulated by the corrupt agents, but none of the kids have gotten close to that bigger picture yet. Meanwhile, Kitty was inducted into the weapon x program (or 65's equivalent of it, I don't remember much of the wolverine origin story) at the age of 8, and despite odds survived. Wolverine took her in, and she's been helping him bounty hunt since about 13, even though he's trying to stop her.

team blue is also starting to extend to universes that the spider-verse movies don't really deal with through plants that have yet to be explained. but miguel's spite at e-199999 has definitely transferred, which means that, if they were ever to interact, not many of the main team would like the mcu-vengers

in my very obscure mech-x4 series, Olivia (who is only referenced by name once in the show) is veracity's little sister, who is 7 years old. This series is more of a set of vaguely connected oneshots, but still.

i could go ON AND ON about Oliver in all of my mighty med/lab rats fics, but in short: arcturion made his hair start growing in blonde, which he hates. Horace is his adopted dad and so it sucks ass when he dies. Oliver also comes with built in hypothermia! This is also definitely a headcanon, but I think that in EF once the rats have the upgraded chips, Chase's laser bō is green instead of blue, and his super senses are togglerable (to a degree) I also like to imagine Kaz's lil bro Kyle is his number one fan and nobody in his family listens to him when he claims that Kaz is one of the bionic guys on the news.

... yeah I think that's enough for now

#asks #wibe #wouldn't it be easier #z rambles #headcanons #rottmnt headcanons #TMNT headcanons #lab rats #mighty med #elite force

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aanoia · 8 months

Note

Hi, i like your writing!

I've got 2 song request ideas, if you want...

The first one, for Alphaville's 'Forever Young', maybe with James? Y/n doesn't want to grow old and is insecure, but James is really sweet about it.

And the second one for 'Love from the other side' from Fall Out Boy. Maybe that one of the Marauders is in love with someone who is forced on the other side of the war.

Only if you want to ofcourse, and you can also change the interpretation or story. No pressure! <3

I'm doing the second one for now, as I cannot figure out how to write you're first idea without repeating the same thing over and over iykwim. I am gonna write it I just need a bit. Anyway, I hope you like it as I did get a little carried away. No shame though.

Love From The Other Side

Sirius Black x reader words; 2,581 song; Love From the Other Side by Fallout Boy warnings; blood, death, death eaters, voldemort in the flesh, yk, not good ending my masterlist yall i got CARRIED away, i lowkey had sm fun writing it though like i've never really written an 'evil' character and it was amazing. i'll defo be doing it more anyway, if you love a song, the marauders, and my writing, request a song fic and your wish shall be my command. HAVE FUN!

Model house like meltdowns

Still a modern dream let down, it kills me

Sirius knew the risks of dating a Slytherin. But despite everything inside him telling him not to trust the girl, he couldn’t stop himself from doing so. She drew him in like a moth to flame. Unfortunately for Sirius, flames burn.

You know I'm dying out here

What would you trade the pain for?

I'm not sure

“Pads, where is she?” James asked quickly as he shot a spell at a Death Eater.

Sirius did the same, knocking the Death Eater backwards, “I don’t know, James. I’ve got no clue at fucking all.” He said angrily as a soft spell hit his chest and pushed him back. He stared straight at the Death Eater, who simply cocked their head and flew away as black smoke. “What the fuck.” He mumbled, questioning why he was spared.

We were a hammer to the statue of David

We were a painting you could never frame and

“Sirius, I’m so sorry I wasn’t there. Are you all right?” Y/n asked as she burst through the doors of the Potter manor.

Sirius smiled gently at her, “I’m okay.” he said and Y/n let out a relieved sigh, biting back the guilt that was creeping up on her.

You were the sunshine of my lifetime

What would you trade the pain for?

“I need to go.” Y/n said quietly, letting go of Sirius’ hand.

“Again?” He asked. “You keep disappearing. Where are you going?”

Y/n pressed a kiss to her boyfriend's lips, “Not important. I’ll see you later.” She said and apparated away. Sirius furrowed his brow at the small amount of black smoke left behind.

This city always hangs a little bit lonely on me, loose

Like a kid playing pretend in his father's suit

“No, we need to be smarter than that.” A voice said and Sirius ducked behind a bush, keeping in a gasp as he saw a group of Death Eaters in a circle.

“You don’t know anything, girl.”

“I know how much stronger I am than you, Malfoy.” The same voice said and Sirius couldn’t help but recognize it. But how? “How much more worth I have to the Dark Lord. Back off.”

I'll never go, I just want to be invited, oh

Got to give up, get the feeling

Get the feeling, don't fight it, fight it

“Sirius, you’ve been zoning out. What’s going on?” Remus asked as the Order, minus Y/n who had left for personal business again, sat around a wooden table.

Sirius looked up, fighting back the tears, “I think Y/n’s a Death Eater.”

Sending my love from the other side of the apocalypse

And I just about snapped

Don't look back

Sirius stared at the Death Eater he was sure was his girlfriend, raising his wand with his chin held up high as he ignored the chaos ensuing around them. The Death Eater did the same and he scoffed.

“I know it’s you, Y/n. I know you’ve betrayed us.” The Death Eater didn’t respond, instead shooting a spell at Sirius, who quickly created a shield. “Just admit it. You’re one of them.” Spell, shield. “I fucking know it’s you! All your secret outings.” Spell, shield. Sirius took a few steps closer. “Don’t be a coward.” Spell, shield, step. “Show me your face.” Spell, shield, pounce.

Every lover's got a little dagger in their hand

Love from the other side of the apocalypse

Sirius jumped onto the Death Eater, not thinking about the consequences as he ripped the mask from their head. Although he already knew, her face confirming his suspicions made his heart clench and throat tighten.

“You fucking traitor.” He seethed, apparating away before the tears could fall.

And I just about snapped

Don't look back

Every lover's got a little dagger in their hand

Y/n froze on the ground, staring at the spot the love of her life was before he disappeared. Her head snapped to the side when she heard a strangled gasp and watched as her best friend gasped in horror, James pulling her away from the girl as he looked at her sadly before disappearing with his sobbing wife. Remus shook his head at her, tears in his eyes as well as his figure vanished.

Y/n laid down on the ground, completely emotionless. The only indicator of her feelings was the lone tear that slid down her cheek and soaked into her hair.

Generation sleep

I'm falling in and out of love

I'm getting that tilted feeling out here

“You let them figure you out?” Malfoy sneered at Y/n who rolled her eyes.

“Now, now, Lucius. Let poor Y/n have a moment to mourn, she did just lose the love of her life.” Voldemort jeered. It was as if she had been stabbed in the heart as she shook her head.

“I don’t care.” She said, her voice steady.

Voldemort nodded, a nasty smile coming across his face, “Delightful.”

What would you trade the pain for?

I'm not sure

“No.” Frank Longbottom said, refusing to believe the news.

“Y/n?” His wife, Alice, asked quietly.

Nowhere left for us to go but heaven

A summer falling through our fingers again and

James nodded, “Yes. Y/n has unfortunately joined the Death Eaters, actually, we believe she was a Death Eater before she was a member of the Order. So that means any plans we already had, will need to change-”

“Any plans they already had, will change.” Y/n repeated to the group.

“We need to change where we meet.”

“They’ll change where they meet.”

“We need new members.”

“They’ll recruit new members.”

“Anything to stay one step ahead of them.”

“They’ll do anything to stay a step ahead of us, without knowing we’re already three steps ahead.”

You were the sunshine of my lifetime

What would you trade the pain for?

Y/n sighed as she racked her brain, parchment in front of her and quill in hand. Where would they go next? Slowly, other thoughts crept in. Do I know what I’m even doing? Am I making the right choice, or fucking up royally? What about Sirius? When did my act become real life with him? When did I actually start loving him?

I shook the thoughts away as a lightbulb went off. The abandoned Black Manor. Bingo. That had to be where they’d meet next. I wrote down the address on the parchment and stood to bring it to everyone but froze at the door. Should I really do this?

We're told we gotta get ahead, yeah, no matter what it takes

But there's no way off the hamster wheel on this rat race

Sirius held his breath as he waited to ambush the Death Eaters. They had figured out about the mini meeting being held, and brought the better part of the Order to out number them and attack. He only hoped Y/n wouldn’t be there, because he didn’t know what would happen. He didn’t know if he would kill her or kiss her and beg her to come back to the light.

James gave Sirius the signal and he immediately shot a spell down, alerting the Death Eaters of their presence. Frank jumped down from where he was hiding and shot a spell at a Death Eater, knocking them backwards. As the big fight began, one of the Death Eaters whistled loudly and black smoke filled the area. What? They knew? How?

He spotted Y/n taking down one of the members of the Order and it clicked. They might have completely changed their plans, but their strategy stayed the same, and she knew it by heart. Because she created it.

I'll never go, I just want to be invited, oh

Got to give up, get the feeling

Get the feeling, don't fight it, fight it

“James, are you alright?” Lily asked, looking over her husband as he smiled and placed his hand on her baby bump, pressing a small kiss to her cheek.

“I’m okay. They knew about the ambush, and just ambushed us back.” He explained and she nodded sadly, knowing exactly who the culprit of their knowledge was.

Sirius shook in anger and grabbed a glass that rested on the table. He threw it hard at the wall, refraining from screaming his head off for no apparent reason. Lily gasped and James stepped in front of her protectively.

“No matter what we do, with her on their side, we will never win.”

Sending my love from the other side of the apocalypse

And I just about snapped

Don't look back

“What happened?” Y/n seethed, her wand pointed threateningly to a random Death Eater.

“The boy, he couldn’t be killed.” The Death Eater explained, his voice shaking.

“And the parents?”

“Dead.” Y/n shuddered, refraining from breaking down knowing people who used to be so important to her ceased to exist.

“The Dark Lord?”

“Not dead, but almost.”

Y/n nodded, “We’ll heal him, until then I’ll keep an eye on the boy as he grows up. And when the time comes, the Dark Lord will seek out his revenge.”

Every lover's got a little dagger in their hand

Love from the other side of the apocalypse

“Sirius Black escaped, did you hear?” Lucius asked, coming into the dining room.

Y/n nodded, “I did. And?”

Lucius growled, “Well, I thought you’d like to know your boyfriend escaped from the inescapable.”

Y/n shrugged, “I’m not at all surprised. In fact, I thought he would’ve been out as soon as he was in. Not almost thirteen years later. However, it does give us a swell chance of breaking out some fellow Death Eaters, yes?”

Lucius briefly nodded, “Yes.”

Y/n’s eyes darkened as she smirked, “Yes, what, Lucius? Remember what our Lord demanded my name be, you should.”

Lucius refrained from rolling his eyes, “Yes, My Lady.”

And I just about snapped

Don't look back

Every lover's got a little dagger in their hand

Y/n smiled as the Dark Lord was reborn, ignoring the clench in her heart at the strangled cries of Harry. He had grown into a handsome young man, that’s no doubt. He had the face of his father, and the eyes of his mother.

“My Lady, my most loyal follower. Almost my equal, come.” The Dark Lord muttered and she obeyed. He whispered in her ear and her eyes fell onto the dead boy by a broken headstone. She nodded and stood back where she was.

Y/n glanced at Harry with a sinister grin, “Pleasure to see you again, Harry. Tell your parents I said hi when you see them again, yeah? We left off on the rather wrong foot, if you ask me.”

I saw you in a bright clear field

Hurricane heat in my head

Y/n stood quietly in the shadows as Lucius took the prophecy from Harry’s hand and turned around, only to be met with Sirius Black.

“Get away from my godson.” Sirius sneered and punched Lucius hard in the face. A small smile came across my face as I remembered our days in Hogwarts. His punch was exactly the same.

The kinda pain you feel to get good in the end, good in the end

Inscribed like stone and faded by the rain

"Give up what you love

Give up what you love before it does you in"

Sirius fought silently with Lucius, Harry standing behind with a winning grin. Y/n’s head flew to the side as she heard the familiar woosh of someone landing and shock coursed through her body as the words met her ears.

“Avada Keda-”

“Expelliarmus!” Y/n muttered quickly, making Bellatrix’ wand fly from her hand. Everyone looked around in shock, not knowing where the spell came from. “Unfortunately, Bellatrix, killing Sirius Black is of no use to us. And it makes things much less exciting, don’t you think, sweetheart?” She asked as she stepped out from the shadows, not missing Sirius’ gasp.

Y/n walked up to Sirius and he held his wand up threateningly. She held up her hands in defense and took a step closer.

“What do you want?” He asked, a hand protectively going to Harry.

Y/n’s eyes softened, “I know you will never forgive me, I doubt you’ll even believe me, but I am so sorry, Sirius. For everything. I love you so, so much., don’t forget to reread my letter.” She whispered and disappeared, leaving smoke in her spot as Bellatrix and Lucius followed suit.

“What was that?” Harry asked as Sirius locked eyes with Remus.

Sending my love from the other side of the apocalypse

And I just about snapped

Don't look back

“The diary, the ring, the gauntlet-” Harry repeated to Remus and Sirius, studying the letter.

“She told us everything and we were too daft to notice.” Sirius finished, shaking his head.

“Wait, so is she evil or not?” Ron asked and the room stayed silent, genuinely lost. Ron turned to the smartest person he knew, “Hermione?”

Hermione shook her head, a defeated look in her eyes, “I have no idea.”

Every lover's got a little dagger in their hand

Love from the other side of the apocalypse

“The boy who lived has come to die.” Voldemort said, a wicked smile on his lips. Y/n stood by his side, zoning out as everything happened. She stared at Sirius, who stared right back. They eye contest was broken when Voldemort called Draco to his side. Y/n shook her head slightly at the boy who looked to her for instruction, but with the encouragement of his father he unwillingly walked over, only to receive an awkward hug from Voldemort. Y/n glanced at Sirius one last time, but he was gone.

And I just about snapped

Don't look back

Every lover's got a little dagger in their hand

“An entire war is going on and you’re here?” Y/n asked, leaning against the doorway of the main bedroom in the shrieking shack.

“I knew you’d follow me.” He said simply, gazing out of the window. “But you knew that already.”

Y/n nodded, “I did.”

“And you know why I want you here?” He asked, finally looking Y/n in the eyes.

She grinned, “I do. You want answers.”

Sirius nodded, “Bingo.”

Y/n sighed and stood up straight, walked over to Sirius who stood from his spot on the bed.

“Sirius, the last thing you want is answers.” She said quietly, her lips impossibly close to his.

He shook his head, “I do, you can’t tell me what I want and don’t.”

Y/n let out a breathy laugh, “I know you want this.” She said and leaned in, kissing him gently. He hesitated but reciprocated the kiss, letting his hand snake around her neck and into her hair. “I’m sorry.” She mumbled against his lips and pain bloomed in his abdomen.

He closed his eyes, the cool metal of the dagger quickly warming with his blood. Y/n helped him down to the floor gently, keeping her hand behind his head so he didn’t hit it on the way down.

“Why?” He whispered.

Y/n smiled and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead before whispering in his ear.

Sending my love

“Long live, Lord Voldemort.”

Sending my love

taglist (if u wanna be added js comment :));

@loving-and-dreaming @1lellykins @poetrypirate

#aanoia #romance #marauders era #remus lupin #the marauders #james & peter & remus & sirius #sirius black #harry potter #sirius black x reader #sirius being sirius #james potter #sirius orion black #prisoner of azkaban

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frauleinandry · 1 month

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a persona 3 reload review

uuuuuuh so i was meant to post this like... two weeks ago, but then real life hit me in the head like a frying pan. now that i've had the time to edit this though, here are my thoughts on p3re! this is also a minato route review, as i played kotone's in P3P (i know it's not his canon name, but i don't want to use makoto due to P5 confusion).

on the whole, reload is a fantastic game. the gameplay easily rivals P5R, and surpasses it in some aspects. the new content is typically great. i also enjoyed minato as a character (well, as much of a character as persona protagonists are anyway), though that leads me to the main gripe i had with reload...

... and that's the lack of kotone's social links. to be precise, two of her social links, the absence of which greatly hurts the overall story.

don't get me wrong, i'd still rank reload a solid 8/10, but it could have been a 10/10 with the addition of those two links (plus one other spoiler thing), and I think that's a shame.

my in depth analysis is under the cut - note, it's very much not spoiler free.

okay, so, i'm gonna split this into 3.5 segments - the good, the mixed, and the bad (you'll find out what the 0.5 is later).

1. the good:

minato - while i'm still a kotone girlie at heart, he's not a bad protagonist at all! his dialogue options have a very distinct personality to them unlike joker and yu, and his character arc is one of the best of all of the persona main leads. an aloof, apathetic boy who learns to love the world/his friends so much he's willing to die for them... it's good!

koromaru - minor, but worth mentioning. you can pat him, and it's so cute. in fact, everything about him is perfect. from his all-out attack screen, to his animations, to... well, everything. no joke, if I needed to sell this game to a non-persona fan, i'd use him as the main draw.

hangout events - while I think being able to chat to everyone in the dorm already made SEES one of the more developed casts, having additional scenes really helped flesh out the party members who are less prominent in the plot (fuuka, pre-january aigis, ken). more things to do at night is also great, given there was nothing to do in the evening after maxing your social stats in the older versions. the perks they give you are great too, but i'll talk about that more later.

voice acting - not gonna lie, i generally don't like the persona dubs, and normally always play with the JP audio. given reload features some of my favourite voice actors though and was basically fully voiced, i decided to give it a chance this time. and i don't regret it! while some actors are definitely stronger than others, none of them were actively jarring, and quite frankly, they hard carried a lot of the social links. kudos to the cast!

strega - while they could have gone a bit further with it (jin needed a linked episode for sure), takaya finally got the development he sorely needed, and his and jin's final battles were actually interesting, instead of being annoying distractions from nyx. in fact, i'd say takaya's new content is easily the best of the new reload exclusive material. in portable, he made no impression on me whatsoever, but now, he finally gets to be the anti!minato he deserves to be.

1.5. the tartarus (aka good part 2, electric boogaloo):

i have so many things to gush about in terms of the new combat/exploration system, i decided it needed its own section! the glow-up tartarus got was massive. i was pretty disappointed when i heard they were keeping it randomly generated, but somehow, atlus pulled it off! i'll talk about individual things below.

collectables/monad doors - one issue with OG tartarus is that it's monotonous. breakable collectables make it much more entertaining to romp through though, as smashing things is Fun. the monad doors interspersed throughout are another good addition - if you want a break from roaming, you can challenge them, but if not, that's fine!

floor layout - another thing that makes tartatus more fresh to explore is that the HD graphics really make the differences between the blocks pop out. the generally smaller floors with more unique layouts really helps too.

shifting - it's baton pass, though without the ridiculous power/sp bonuses that made baton pass a little bit too gamebreaking in persona 5. in other words, perfect!

theurgy - out of all the battle-specific improvements, theurgy and the personality traits have got to be my favourites. showtimes were fun, but too random/gimmicky to be that useful, and ultimate skills tended to fluctuate between being absolutely gamebreaking or too SP intensive to be worth using. blending them into one feature with a content-specific gauge fixes all the problems with them while keeping everything that made showtimes/ultimate skills good.

ambush mechanics - this was one of the things i was most worried about before playing reload. ambushing in P5 is fun, but ambushing in the other persona games...? not so much. reload manages to fix this though by making the shadows less sensitive, which makes the early game a lot better, and but introducing dash-ambushes once the floors get bigger. if the persona 6 ambush system works like this, i'll be happy.

navigator skills - fuuka being retooled to work more like a playable character was an A+++ decision. making her skills player-activated but with an SP cost is so much more immersive than randomly getting a stat boost/enemy info.

unfortunately, while i think most of the tartarus additions were great, there were a few new mechanics which weren't... dreadful, per say, but could have been implemented better.

great clocks - they're better than nothing, but quite frankly, i would have preferred it if benched units got 50% exp instead. they incentivise you to drop two units for a period of time, which is annoying, given i want to use everyone on my first playthrough. late game, great clocks are also a pain to summon, for reasons i'll talk about below.

twilight fragments - i think they're a neat idea in theory, but they need to be easier/more reliable to farm. once you finish off the bulk of your social links/elizabeth's requests, replenishing them becomes a nightmare, which is annoying because you need them for great clocks.

2. the mixed:

while reload did a lot of things right, as per above, there were some things that didn't quite hit the mark.

linked episodes - i'm gonna be blunt. anyone who thinks these are better than social links is smoking something. one thing i like about party member social links is that it gives them a subplot outside of the main story, focusing more on their mundane struggles as opposed to their supernatural ones. half of the linked episodes just develop the main plot more though (and really should have just been included in it), meaning the linked episode exclusive subplots are underbaked.

another problem is that some of the linked episodes are just... kinda badly written. ryoji's completely lacks his existential dread, akihiko's comes off as a poor attempt to make his arena behaviour less OOC, while shinjiro's... it feels like persona 5 writing, in the worst way possible. it's like atlus completely forgot that subtext is a thing that's Good, actually.

while I have been fairly critical of them so far though, there are a couple of linked episodes i liked. koromaru's actually worked with the format, given he's a dog, but the real winner here was takaya. i loved all of his. if linked episodes appear again, i'd rather they be locked to antagonists like him.

art direction- i'll say right now - the UI is fabulous, the model shaders are great, and tartarus looks fantastic. the environmental design on the whole though is a bit iffy - a lot of the environments didn't translate to the super HD very well, and the lighting sucks in general. i needed to turn down the brightness it was so eye-searing. the animation of the 2D cutscenes is also pretty mediocre, and while the 3D cutscenes tend to look better, they're held back by some of the character models looking a bit goofy (mitsuru's is probably the biggest offender). i also think they were too scared of making the sprites 'ugly', and therefore on the whole they're slightly less emotive than the ones in the older versions of the game, which is a pity.

3. the bad:

minato's social links - the vast majority of the minato-exclusive social links are just flat-out not great. serious props to the voice actors here, since they hard carried them. quite frankly, they're just... bland, except for maya's and suemitsu's, which. uh. have problems. on the topic of social links, while i'm happy the romance isn't mandatory anymore, i don't like how half the girls explicitly confess to you. i much prefer the more subtle vibes of the P5/P4 romantic options, as yeah, most of them can lead naturally into romance, but they don't make the MC feel like a harem anime protagonist (derogatory). it kinda brings to mind this twitter post; sometimes, subtlety is simply better.

the absence of shinji and ryoji's social links - i can live without saori, rio, and most of the new and improved SEES member social links, but this is where i draw the line. while shinji dying is better storytelling, just like with chidori, having the option to save him is also important. lock it behind new game plus, yes... but keep it. also, him priming kotone to support akihiko one he's gone is far better than him just flat-out telling minato that he's dying. ryoji's missing social link though is infinitely worse. where is his slowly mounting horror as he starts poking holes in his backstory? his desperation to validate that he's actually real? that he exists?! like yeah, it's nice that the linked episode doubled down on his bisexuality, but i'd rather keep the psychological breakdown aspects of it, y'know?

the difficulty - i started playing reload normal - the level i'd typically use for a blind run of a persona game - aaaaand swapped to hard the second i unlocked theurgy. even then though, the game was a cakewalk until january hit. while i love theurgy, the game is absolutely not scaled around it, especially since you can charge/concentrate them. doing that, you can easily rack up thousands of damage without even going ham with fusion. unfortunately, reload is just... really easy.

the plot's too faithful to the original - while reload added new content, it pretty much left the story untouched outside of the beach scene. that's... not good, as persona 3's narrative had some pretty big problems. the biggest issue is the unchanged pacing - the strega storyline really needed to start a month earlier, and ryoji needed an extra month to integrate with the characters due to his lack of social link. this is one of the things i'm explicitly docking a point for - reload still doesn't kick off until the yakushima arc, which is well over a third into the game.

despite my criticisms, i do want to note that my experience with reload was predominately positive. it's (extremely) sad that you still need to play portable to experience the full persona 3 story, but p3re is still a fantastic game, and has a lot of gameplay features i'd be delighted to see in persona 6.

that's all i've got to say for now - until next time!

#persona 3 #persona 3 reload #p3re #p3 reload #review tag

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frost-felon · 5 months

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221 was mostly fine, and 222 was a valley of highs and lows for me. 222 is perhaps one of the chapters that suffers the most from Gege's hardcuts. I would go from, "Are we actually gonna get a better understanding of Kenny's relationship to Tengen?" to 'I love Ino, I hope he has at least a single line of dialogue.' to "'Regulations'. Are these 'higher-ups' or this 'Jujutsu Headquarters' in the room with us right now?" to bemoaning the timeskip, etc, etc.

I'm glad we got some character moments, but knowing that moments like these can't properly stand on their own weight stings. That is, the depth of each character is often held back. I noticed it particularly hard with Maki, whose actions are hard to discern (in comparison to, say, how she acted at her introduction, months prior in the story's timeframe) based on what we're given. The panel I'm discussing, for reference:

As told to some of my friends: "Is she making a light-hearted comment because she's grown fonder of Gojo? Because she's uneasy? Because she wants to lighten the mood? Is she conscious that she's still giving Gojo more credit than she did months ago?

"It's a change from how Maki acted earlier in the story, sure, but not one I can point to with analysis to her character or how her relationship to Gojo has (or hasn't) changed. It's just there."

I am factoring in how Perfect Preparation changed her, her discussions with Noritoshi, and the sumo self-discovery (which was less about Maki, in my opinion, and more about Toji haunting the narrative), but I can't really land on an interpretation for this moment, with evidence provided by earlier chapters. With the ~month-long timeskip, it is impossible for me to know if any of the character interactions I can presume happened with Maki and Gojo led to this. Simply because I can't know what those interactions were, or even how many they had.

So this ends up just being nothing. The bare minimum, and maximum, it does is tell me that Maki has returned to a state of mind where she can 'threaten' some good old-fashioned roughhousing, maybe. There are some bits just a little later that could potentially give me more to go on, but she's largely played as having the same role as at least two other people in the following scenes. There are differences in expression for the "Go get 'em, tiger." scene with Gojo, but Maki doesn't affect anything through her action or inaction, and ends up replaceable, as a result. Though not nearly to the extent of Miwa, who might as well be named "Missing", for all her lack of relevance to...anything.

This is fairly light analysis, damn near a vent post with extra steps, but I do think the short supply of character-building moments throughout the manga cheapens both its characters and its pacing. Culling Games, while having FAR more pressing issues than needing more time to flesh out characters, did suffer from the time-jumps that the first half of the manga was prone to, and I hate to see this story convention return so abruptly and damningly.

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rabbiteclair · 1 year

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okay let's try this again, this time with my brain plugged in

overall, story-wise I admire the devs' efficiency of storytelling in introducing new groups of characters, giving you a peek at the relationship dynamics between them and what makes them interesting, and then immediately proceeding to 'and now it's time for you to kill them, because you are running an RPG dungeon for hapless adventurers to dive into.' Several groups here feel like they could be the protagonists of a shorter game in their own right. sorry I killed you guys but you know how it is.

Mechanically... not gonna get too deep into the game's overall systems at this point, but I think they did a pretty solid job of making each new story encounter an interesting challenge with something new to deal with. Once I sorted out the whole 'you don't have enough good key pages to outfit the entire library, you've gotta shuffle them around a lot or you're playing on hard mode' thing, nothing has felt ridiculously hard when I first unlocked it, but very few fights have felt all that easy either. (The 'nothing has felt ridiculously hard' part may change soon though, because somebody thought it was a good idea to fight the Red Mist again. goddamn it Angela, I just did that last game. At least dig up the Backward Clock for me to fall back on if you're gonna pull this shit.)

I'm not gonna go into every single reception, but hitting some of the highlights...

Streetlight: Probably the first group I felt really bad about murdering? Sorry Lulu. (Okay these early ones are gonna be kind of short, lbr they have a lot less going on than later stuff.)

Zwei: Whoops felt bad again. This time it was ameliorated by getting Walter's key page and going 'wait you're gonna just... let me do that? Is this actually okay?'

Carnival: is the point that made me stop and go 'oh man these devs know how to do some weird transhumanism stuff,' and that basically doesn't let up for the rest of the game. On the other hand this is also the point where I kinda sighed and started finding all the endless industrial uses for dead humans a bit on-the-nose.

Dawn: well I can see no way that killing these guys could go poorly, not like one of them will have a days/weeks-long breakdown and turn into a swarm of flaming cherubs that kill tens of thousands of people or something haha. Yuna deserved more/cooler mechanics. Solo Fixer who carries her gear around in a guitar case or something and shows up like 'hey I just beat up some crazy stuff by myself.' make Yuna cooler you cowards.

Gaze: Gaze Office is cool as hell. I love them. Love their fucking C memory management joke names. (Which are apparently also Korean puns or something.) Love their weird rainbow camera heads. Too bad that they're kinda mechanically trash. They were one of the easiest fights for me, and I've never found much use for... anything they do, really.

Kurokumo: thus begins the era of Slashing Builds. this era has not yet actually ended for me.

Bremen: I actually felt a bit bad for these guys too. I mean sure they're murderers but they seem so earnest about it, and they did get their heads messed with by supernatural forces. But also why didn't you losers give me blunt power abilities. You should really take after Sayo more. I'm sure she's a fine role model.

Love Town: [banging pots and pans together] LOVE TOWN LOVE TOWN LOVE TOWN. listen the entire story here is so absurdly horrible and over the top that it's almost funny, but I feel like if you're gonna get invested in these games you've gotta be capable of looking at 'so they all spent millennia locked in a train and unable to die until the few who still retained some of their sanity sewed their bodies together into Flesh Amalgam Creatures to fight off their zombified comrades' and pumping your fist instead of pointing out that that all seems like a bit much. Tomerry was an interesting fight but at the same time, never wanna do that again. Some of my well-meaning friends warned me to gird my stomach for this section, unaware of just how much body horror media I've consumed over the years.

Sweepers: On one hand? I kinda came out of this liking the Sweepers themselves, despite everything. Aw, they're just a big happy family, makin' their way in the world. just, Their Way just happens to involve a lot of meathooks and, uh, liquefying people to make special goo or something? On the other hand fuck this fight. Even now that I've beaten it several times, I still hate it. This begins the pattern of 'nothing that is happening here, mechanically, is moral or just.'

Shi: okay look I don't have much to say about Shi itself. this is a basically-unrelated sidebar. You know how Yujin's key page gives you that broken speed die? I am cursed so that every single big attack targets it, and always with a really high speed so I can't intercept. A boss has some once-per-fight attack that's like '8-21 damage, on hit: stagger the target, apply 5 Fragile next round'? it's gonna target Yujin's broken die, with a speed of like 6-7, every single time. My friends assure me that this isn't intentional and I'm just very unlucky, but I'm this close to retiring the page and ripping the good parts off to use elsewhere. I've seriously lost four or five big fights over Yujin suddenly getting ripped in half three rounds in, or getting smacked with a 'if this hits anybody you automatically lose the fight' attack, with no ability to defend.

8 o'clock Circus: fuck this fight. Oswald isn't in it, but I appreciate his whole deal though. Like, he's not a good guy. I'm not even sure I like him. But it takes some skill to be an interesting fucked up clown in 2023, and he manages it.

Smiling Faces: I love how even after you read their books, there's no real explanation of what their deal is. at this point the game's just like 'look, they're weird old folks who chop people up or something and like to take fat bong rips, you can probably name a dozen explanations for all of this at this point.' The fight itself is an absolute pain thanks to Deep Drag, but your reward is... being able to hit enemies with Deep Drag. I don't like smoke builds as much as most people, it seems, but I'll concede that when they do work they're great. And, I mean, I still put a smoker on most teams up until fairly recently.

Crying Children: sometimes a fight is just too fucking long. I'm sorry Phil "the big sad baby" McFixer, but if you want me to get invested in your personal character arc you've gotta limit your boss fight to like five phases tops. (Angela is exempt from this of course.)

WARP Crew: see the Love Town bullet above, but also I felt pretty bad about killing these guys too. Sorry Lesti. Also I find it very funny that part of the reason behind the VIP seats is to make sure that anybody with really expensive combat augs is not waiting for them inside the train after spending about two millennia losing their goddamn mind.

Blue Reverb/Church of Gears: I really expected this fight to be harder but let's be real I haven't seen the last of this asshole.

Cane: I'm just here for Nemo, babey.

R Corp: hhhhh. For one thing, this fight is a fucking slog, and it opens up with possibly the hardest act of its three. For another, you're gonna make me kill Myo? Really? On the upside: Rabbit-based titles for everyone. I haven't beaten this reception yet since I only tried it once so far and went in unprepared for some of the tomfoolery, but I still got within about two hits of winning, so I'm confident I'll get it next time.

Night Awls/Udjat/Kim/Dong-hwan: yesssss give me your stuff. I could've gone without having to fight the Udjat though.

#library of ruina

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headspacedad · 8 months

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One Piece: Ep.2 - spoilers

so I'm not going to play by play this, just gonna summarize each episode as I go. Under a cut of course because its going to naturally have spoilers

Second episode wasn't as much fun as the first but it was still a really great story with good set up and building. The world fleshed out a bit as well in a 'well, THAT;S very Mad Max kind of way which honestly? I appreciate. Pirates are so popular in media right now that its nice to see the 'no, no - they're horrible' and this episode managed to do that in a way that was creepy, brutal, desperate and yet totally manga so not as bad as you know it would have been in a different type of media. All the elements were there, enough to give you plenty to think about if you wanted to look at what was circling under the water but the story only needed to hint to get to its point so it didn't deep dive and I can respect that. That's what fanfiction would be for.

Anyway, pirate clown showed up earlier in the show than I expected him to given the bump in the end of the first episode and the fact Netflix was making him a selling point. I'm going to assume he shows up later? or they just didn't want to spoil and so chose an early minor boss for their spread. I'm going to vote for a later revival and showing but we'll see.

As far as the pirate clown went he was a lot scarier than I expected him to be but that was all on the actor and the delivery. Scary pirate clown is pretty one note and flat but the actor made his facial expressions and body language much more threatening than it should have been and I appreciate that. Plus he tries to play psychological games and that was a nice touch. He really did feel like a Bad Guy, especially the way he used the villagers and the way those actors responded to him. Really all the acting on here so far is pretty top notch even from extras and its making this show.

I'd be more concerned about Luffy's connection to his hat but I seem to remember seeing manga covers for years where he still had it so unless he loses it in the final episode of this first season I think we're pretty safe. It's like a comfort stuffed animal and a promise ring all rolled into one for him and I also worry about people that let a vulnerable part of their heart be something so easy to have taken away. It's hard enough to invest that into a pet, much less an inanimate object no one else is going to value enough.

Nami is being set up for double trouble but that was pretty clear from the start and I'm looking forward to how it plays out. She's very sneaky and self-saving but not enough to make her stupid or making her give away what's working for her just to have the story make a point or be dramatic. Which also brings up how utterly bizarre some of the 'tech' elements of the show are to me. I'm totally digging it! It just adds another layer to the 'not the world you know' world building but so much of it seems sensible and then they whip out the snail phone and it throws me back to the 'ooooooh, riiiiight. NOT fantasy Earth'.

The cravat to the 'superpower' from the devil fruit is interesting. I like how its called the 'devil' because it takes away the sea's blessing, which is enough to make everyone consider it evil. As they should.

The flashbacks were well done and I really enjoyed Shanks crew. I think we can all see the 'ultimate end boss' he's going to be coming from nautical miles away but that's not a bad thing. There's enough emotional investment going on that its going to be deliciously terrible when it comes.

Also I'm enjoying the High muckety muck Marine. The pirate at the beginning 'cursing' the world with pirates looking for his treasure was genius and I love that this guy was there to see it/have it happen on his watch and is now in charge of the entire kit. He makes a much more threatening villain than Tiger-pants because he's so obviously clever. He's also got a great voice to listen to.

Zoro's quote about Luffy believing in himself was a very cool line. I'm really enjoying the dialogue. It's a little lyrical and it doesn't rely on trite banter. The banter that does show up doesn't feel forced.

All in all, the second episode gets a thumbs up from me. Well told contained story that also advanced the overall plot and showed up more of the world as well as set up plenty for later story.

#one piece #spoilers #review

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yonemurishiroku · 1 year

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i know you said you haven’t figured out it out yet but i’d like to hear any thoughts or random ideas you might have abt nezha & nico, either in general or in the time travel verse 👩‍🏫

Wow I didn't expect someone would actually be interested in this... Well, all the more motivation to be enthusiastic, then. xD

You're right that I've yet to figure out their connection, however, I can tell a little about that that drew me to the idea of them in the same picture.

The first would probably be their characterization.

Both are painted in black and white, of kindness and the flaws within. Afaik, the whole thing about Nezha is that he's a naughty, carefree, uncontrollable menace yet also kind in his own ways. He did so many wrongs and he tried to do just as many rights to make up for it. It's similar to Nico, in the way that they are kind at heart, yet can appear evil in others' eyes for some reason. And yes, they both have committed conventional horrible. Hell, Nezha peeled off Ao Bing's spine or st. Would you look at that, Bryce?

Grudge-holding. Now, I'm not saying I fancy what Rick did to Nico's fatal flaw, but talking in canon here, Nico held his sister's death against Percy (and himself) for quite a while; whereas Nezha, having died and was reborn again, literally came fighting his father because the man ruined his temple, where his soul resided. Like. If that isn't one hell of a grudge then I don't know what is.

Their spirits, their willpower, the prowess they possess despite their young ages. They are both so fierce, unstoppable, and resilient. Nezha is portrayed as a literal child in Chinese mythology, but his story is one hell of a ride (ya know, with all the slaying dragons, carving up his own flesh...). Idk about you but it gives me an impression of how intense Nezha might be, which is quite a reflection of Nico's story and characterization. Because Nico is... extreme, too, and you can't possibly tell me Nico's life story, with all that Tartarus and torture in the jar, isn't a grand tale in its own way. Alas, against all odds, they both emerge victorious. I love them.

They're both freaking powerful too, btw. But again, I guess every mythological figure is powerful in its own way.

Idk about you but I think Nico and Nezha should be allowed to sit down together and trade gory, creepy, bloody stories about themselves just to scare everyone else.

2. Their backgrounds, their stories.

They both have daddy issues omfg. Nezha literally fought his father, who ruined Nezha's temple, to the point of interference from other deities. And while I love Nico and Hades's love with everything in me, they did have a strained relationship throughout PJO. Hades told Nico he would prefer Bianca over him, and later nearly fired a ball at him. If that isn't parallel I don't know what is.

Their mothers love them so much I'm crying. Nezha's mother, Lady Yin, carried him in her womb for years and built him a temple when he asked her in a dream. And I suppose we don't need to talk about Maria anymore.

They are both, technically, 'prince's LMAO. Nezha is known as the Third Crowned Prince (or whatever that is bc Chinese is so hard to translate into English omg) and Nico is well, Nico. Their fathers are both technically kings, as well. Hades because obviously, Li Jing is known as one of the Heavenly Kings. And if you really look into it, Nezha is a commander of Heaven's army, directly under his father, whilst Nico is the Ambassador of Hades. Wow.

They are viewed as awful in people's eyes but still took efforts to help. I'm gonna admit my viewpoint might be altered by the Nezha (2019) movie. Nonetheless, I find it quite interesting that Nezha and Nico, though being scorned and ostracized by their kind, ended up being their saviors. Nezha killed himself when the Dragon King threatened to flood his hometown, and Nico went such lengths to aid the Seven with their world-saving quests. This is also proof of their kindness, which I adore so much, btw.

Feud with the sea. Well maybe not feud in Percy and Nico's case. A sensitive topic. History, maybe? Lol. Anyway, the fact remains that both Nico and Nezha share an unpleasant history with a son of the seas. If you take Nezha (2019) into consideration though, they both make peace with said animosity too! xD

They both befriend their old enemies. I'm talking about Wukong and Bob. It's fascinating, in a way lol.

These are everything I can come up with so far... Huh. I didn't expect them to share so similarities... I'm serious about Nezha and Nico having a bonding session now. These two are deemed to be besties.

It doesn't need to be in the Time Travel AU. Nico crash-landed in China before, didn't he? Maybe, Idk, Nezha was sent to investigate, and they ended up friends because Nico is as social as a capybara and Nezha has all the purity and generosity of a carefree child who fears nothing.

...I'm so deep in this omg...

Anw, if you want to share your Nico and Nezha content, I'm all ears!! xD

#nico di angelo #pjo #hoo #toa #yone rambling #percy jackson and the olympians #heroes of olympus #trials of apollo #nezha #nezha chinese mythology #time travel au #time travel #nico and nezha

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sageandred · 1 month

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* jotting down some thoughts from old wtFock, seasons 1-3 .... (part 1)

1. Jana

Pros- Jana + Robbe (Belgium Eva + Isak); Girlsquad minus Amber; Zoe + Jana/Zoe + Yasmina/Luca + Yasmina; the first appearance of Senne/Senne + Zoe scenes

Cons- Jana + Jens (Belgium Eva + Jonas), lol

*couldn't remember anything from this og season and the first few eps were fun, then I got annoyed at how the main couple story seemed to drag on; overall it was average-i don't think they changed much and the story was fine, but nothing really blew me away

2. Zoe

*I don't remember much from this og season (gonna be honest, before this, I don't think I finished Noora's season ever, because I can't stand William, lol, and I didn't realize until now).

Pros- Senne feels like a more likeable version of William to me [basing even off of the earlier episodes before both Senne/William's development]. (+ Senne at the beginning of wtFOCK is even still better than William at the end of Skam OG).

Cons- I LOVE Zoe + Senne, but the early ep conflict of her going on a date with him and being in denial is honestly so stupid. It seems like such a simple issue in the world of Skam in comparison to the other seasons for every reimagination. (But I know the later conflicts are gonna break me).

More in depth appreciation of Senne and Zoe

Senne: There were only a few moments in season 1 + early season 2 where I questioned him, but there's just charm and development to Senne that fleshes him out and actually made me love this couple by the end. They don't water down parts of "Senne" that are truly important to his whole "bad boy" personality-like later on (s3) his instinctual crutch of violence towards his brother or his smart-ass comments in season 1, but they also don't make him just a terrible boyfriend like og.

Zoe: could throw water in someone's face for no reason and I would still love her (I'm watching s4 rn although she doesn't do that, so this is kind of in line). She's not perfect and a lot of her push-back with Senne (mainly) can be really unreasonable, but that's what makes her her. I feel like she comes off as more stubborn than og Noora, but I honestly love it and there's subtle changes to her characterization that back it up. She's one of the most headstrong Nooras (obv all of them have this trait), and she's someone that is gonna move in a way that seems proactive to her (ex: her taking the plan B pill before even knowing what happened to her). The only minor thing I thought at one point is that we didn't get enough of Zoe's perspective on things (there are a lot of characters and it's great to see them, but sometimes certain interactions felt it took away in some way, idk). She was just a character I knew I would love immediately in season 1 [& she's great, but as I go on, I do think the writers kind of diminish her potential in some way (even certain choices in s2), but idk how to explain it-although it doesn't ruin her character at all for me, there's just minor minor differences than how she seemed].

Zoenne: I love how they are so different in their points of view; they each are strong in their opinions and it's not resolved too quickly. I honestly see both povs, which is how it should be. And in season 3, I wasn't even mad at the break up (even though it didn't last long)-they are the only Noorhelm imo to address the problem between them (with them being so young + why love's not enough), not make it the end of the world, and still get back together at a later time.

wtFOCK likes to dramatize a lot of their scenes, but for me it works in Zoe's season.

Examples: 1) the text from Senne's brother at the end of the episode revealing the pictures he took per the glass drop; 2) the Senne finds out scene I felt was better directed and acted than the og scene, giving a more emotional feel and lead up to the hallway confrontation in ep 10

other things: Amber is one of the worst Vildes in terms of ignorance, however they've done well with her development and not resolving her problems too quickly [I just know I'll eat my words come season 4/5]. Her seemingly heightened naivety against the other "Vildes" makes so much sense in this scenario.

2 is definitely my fav wtFock season

...not sure I'll watch Season 4, cause I know it's gonna piss me off more than Imane's, but maybe I'll continue for Yasmina only

^ update-started it; I hate it

#personal #wtfock #zoenne #zoë loockx #senne de smet #skam remakes

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iconuk01 · 1 year

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Icon_UK listens to "Batman the Audio Adventures" Season 2

I'm rationing this for myself becuse it SO good.

The latest episode I've been listenint to is Episode 4 where, amongst other things, Robin investigates an attempted illegal auction of animals where this is the intro from the auctioneer, which gives a fascinating insight into Gotham's rather bizarre criminal underbelly.

Spoilers under the cut

Ladies and gentlemen of the underworld, this [800lb silverback gorilla] stands a full 7 feet tall.

He has been trained in the use of American Sign Language and small firearms. He can roll his own cigars, and he answers to the name Knuckles.

Now, everyone knows the right exotic pet can be the lynchpin to a memorable criminal identity, and whether you're fleshing out a safari-themed gang or just looking to add a little surreal flare to your illicit escapades, Knuckles the Pistol-Slinging Gorilla is the last word in making your gimmick pop.

Later, despite Robin's best efforts, it all goes to hell when Catwoman, who was also staking the auction out because she wanted to steal both the accumulated cash AND a lion that was amongst the lots... figured the best way to cover her escape was to give Knuckles... well, let's leave that to this news bulletin from Jack Ryder.

Good evening.This is Jack Ryder.

I have just arrived on the scene of a report that there is an army of escaped circus animals rampaging through downtown.

Their leader is said to be… what does that say, Mickey? A gorilla with a flamethrower? That can't be right.

Oh, okay. Nope. That IS what I'm looking at. Apologies, Mickey.

All right, you know what, though? Let's stand back a minute here, Mickey. You got the shot, you really want to die on this hill? For what, a local news award?

The city is advising owners of downtown businesses to board up their windows if at all possible.

Robin the Boy Wonder is on the scene and is doing a miraculous job of herding the beasts to safety. But many animals have broken into storefronts, and they're causing considerable property damage.

I'm told there's literally a bull in a china shop on Front Street. That's obviously gonna be the headline, but we've also spotted an ostrich in a ceiling fan store and a giant Pacific octopus in an adult novelty shop, so maybe put the little ones to bed if you're gonna stay with our coverage. Neither of those situations is gonna get more family-friendly.

We're with this story as it develops on Gotham City One.

#batman: the audio adventures #robin #catwoman

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gummybugg · 9 months

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Incorrect Quotes Tag!🚫

I think I was tagged by @mysticstarlightduck here and @rickie-the-storyteller here oh so long ago!

Here's the link to the quote generator:

I’m using my Crater City characters for this one! You can find out a bit more about them here!

By the looks of it, some of these could plausibly be canon ehehehe

Warnings in the tags!

…

*talking on the phone* Blair: Remember how I said that Elijah and I were gonna have a calm night out for once? Rose: Yeah… Blair: Well, we’re in jail. Rose: hangs up

-ˋˏ🚗- - - - -

Blair: Guess what? Rose: What? Blair: No, you have to guess. Rose, thinking: I don’t know. Blair: Elijah is in the hospital. Rose: Why would you make me guess that?! Rose: What happened?!

(Coincidentally, Elijah really does get rushed to the hospital in the story😔).

-ˋˏ🚗- - - - -

Rose: So, Blair and Elijah. Rose: According to this, you two are being accused of: Armed Robbery, Vandalism, Drug Abuse, Grand Theft Auto… Blair: We had a bad day. Rose: And… MURDER?! Elijah: It was a pretty bad day…

(The only crime either of them haven't committed on this list is technically drug abuse, but even then that's sketch. Yes, I have a doc dedicated to their numerous crimes)

-ˋˏ🚗- - - - -

Blair: Do you care if I take the skin off this Furby? Blair: I want to make him a god. Once he is free of his sinful flesh, he can begin a path towards enlightenment. He will take care of us. Blair: I also want to softhack his circuits. Elijah: I literally could not care less but never say anything as frightening as that ever again.

(They stole the furby from Rose, an avid collector of antiques. Elijah ends up helping Blair hack his furby because they're both computer nerds and think it'd be funny to prank her)

-ˋˏ🚗- - - - -

Rose: Goddamn it, the printer broke while printing out Blair's birthday invitations. Elijah: Well, what are they supposed to say? Rose: "Blair's birthday" Elijah: So, what do they say instead? Rose: "Blair's bi" Elijah: Works out either way.

-ˋˏ🚗- - - - -

Rose, to Blair: If you see Elijah, give him this message *makes a neutral face* Rose: He'll know what it means. *later* Blair: oh, and Rose said to give you a message. Blair: *makes a neutral face* Elijah: Oh no. The neutral face of displeasure.

-ˋˏ🚗- - - - -

Frasier: I keep a picture of all of us in my wallet. Whenever I face difficulties, I take it out and stare at the picture. Blair, Elijah, and Rose: Awwww- Frasier: And I tell myself "If I can deal with these idiots, then I can deal with anything." Blair, Elijah, and Rose: Oh.

(Frasier got that father/older brother bond with his sister Rose + her friends :')

-ˋˏ🚗- - - - -

Rose: Pose as a team because SHIT JUST GOT REAL!

-ˋˏ🚗- - - - -

Darcy: I could kill you if I wanted. Blair: Yeah? So could any other human being. So could a dog. So could a dedicated duck. You aren't special.

(Ranked #1 on Top 10 Best Moments Before Tragic Anime Death)

-ˋˏ🚗- - - - -

Darcy: Go big or go home! Frasier: Please, for once in your life just go home. I'm begging you. Go. Home. Darcy: I'm going big!

(He did not go home. In fact, Darcy went on to lead one of the most notorious cities in Neo-civilization)

-ˋˏ🚗- - - - -

Darcy: How are we supposed to put a tracker the size of a penny on Blair without him noticing? Melony: Hey, Blair, I bet you 5 bucks that you can't swallow this penny. Blair: takes and swallows tracker Pay up, loser. Darcy: ...

-ˋˏ🚗- - - - -

Frasier: Darcy gave me a get better soon card. Melony: That's sweet! Frasier: I wasn't sick, he just thinks I can do better.

-ˋˏ🚗- - - - -

Darcy: Look, I know you think my judgement's clouded because I like Frasier a little bit. Melony, holding Darcy's notepad: You doodled your wedding invitation. Darcy: No, that's our joint tombstone. Melony: My mistake.

(Let's just say Darcy and Frasier have their hypothetical facebook status set to "complicated")

-ˋˏ🚗- - - - -

Bonus-ish Content: an AU where everyone gets along

Blair: We can bake these cookies at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or 4,000 degrees for 1 minute. Darcy: No, that's not how you make cookies. Elijah: FLOOR IT!! Blair: How about 4,000,000 degrees for 1 second?!? Darcy: yOU'RE GONNA BURN THE HOUSE DOWN- Blair: I'M GONNA HARNESS THE POWER OF THE FUCKING SUN TO MAKE COOKIES! Frasier: DO IT! Darcy: NO-

…

Tagging: @charlesjosephwrites @cwritesfiction @comicgoblinart @crowandmoonwriting @writeouswriter @acertainmoshke @abalonetea & anyone who wants to try this tag out. Very fun :')

...

🚗Want to rot your brain with each sporadic Crater City post? Join the taglist! Maybe I'll finish this wip someday, who knows! (ask to be added/removed): @writeouswriter @lyra-brie @digitalsatyr23

#thanks for the tag!#mention of murder #mention of drugs #mention of hospital #crater city wip #my wip #my ocs #incorrect quotes tag #writing tag #writeblr #i tried so hard to get everyone in here #but alas there are more characters on the way #*laughs maniacally*#im sorry reading this over 50 times still makes me laugh

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