I'm watching Berserk and I may or may not have hyped myself up to turn my vampire ocs into dark fantasy characters. mmaybe

listen, obviously i love astarion for multiple reasons, but ironically when i first started the game i wasnt interested in him, at all. i was fully commited to finding karlach and dating her bc of what i had seen online about her. i had barely heard or seen anything about him other than him being "the flirty vampire" and i was like eh okay

i ended up keeping him in my party cause his remarks were hilarious and i really vibed with his energy. and then he started opening up and you get to see how the whole overconfidence and flirting was an act, he starts talking about cazador and what he went through and how determinate he is to take him down. he keeps mentioning how he cannot wait to get rid of his master and how satisfied hes going to be, and hes smiling just thinking about it

then we learn about the ritual and theres this sudden spark in him, hes convinced that its the answer to his problems, he gets tunnel vision on the ritual, and if you romance him he also thinks its the only way he can assure not only his own safety, but also yours.

and when you finally win the fight, you have to save him from himself. hes desperate, completely blinded by the power he could potentially have. if he has this power, hes never going to be vulnerable, no one will abuse him ever again.

he is willing to lose himself to make sure he never gets hurt like this. even with high approval, if you dont succeed a persuasion roll or refuse to help him, he either turns against you or leaves your party. in his eyes, at this moment, you are the one who turned against him.

if you suceed the persuasion roll, he agrees that he can be better than cazador, and before stabbing him repeatedly, mentions (again) how hes going to enjoy this

only to break down right after. even though its something hes been wanting to do for centuries, all the suffering hes been through came crumbling down after it was done. cazador is dead, hes the one who killed him, he finally got his revenge, and yet he feels this emptiness.

its done, why do i not feel better?

if you saved him, he talks to you later and admits how he wasn't himself, how thankful he is that you helped him out and most of all, you believed in him. you saved him by believing he could be more than what he saw in himself.

if you talk to him after completing dame aylin's quest in act 3 (after killing cazador), he mentions how he expected her to rejoice after defeating yet another person who intended to enslave her, but shes just tired. hes comparing her reaction to his own experience after freeing himself from his abuser

and after karlach's reaction to killing gortash, he brings up the fact that theres "no justice in this world". contrary to what he believed earlier in the game, its not only him thats been wronged for several years. even though in the end they all got to get rid of the people who ruined their lives, they are still hurting.

hes realising that killing your abuser, although it seemed like the simple, satisying solution of finally having your revenge from years of trauma, might free you, but it will not fix you. they're dead, but you still have to live with what they've done to you.

he is my roman empire

Any thoughts on how Ronové would react to an MC that sees more beauty in others than themselves?

Like MC is like "You have pretty hair." for example and Ronové would compliment them too, but the MC cringes bcs they're horrible with receiving compliments.

(Also... don't know if you have an anon list but... 🐄)

Note: Oh 🐄 Anon~ I love you.

MC in this is GN.

Beauty in the eyes of the beholder (Ronove X MC)

"Pretty~" Ronove purrs as he bury his head into your hair with his arms wrap around you.

You cringed for a moment "Is not that pretty..." You thought for a second. Before worming your way out of his trap.

He giggled and let you go, then took a couple step back.

He then tilted his head playfully and admire your body. You sense his gaze and immediately laugh nervously while rubbing the back of your neck.

"Come on Ronove. There are better things to look at than me-"

Before you can finish what you were about to say, a sound of a chuckle can be heard from a far.

Ronove acted quick and pull you back towards him and wrapped his arm around you in a protective way.

An angel from above was heading towards you two.

Ronove shove you to the side as the angel tackled him, and the two start going at it, exchanging blows.

You fell on your side but quickly recovered and turn to see the two beings fight. But you heard that chuckle again... Wait... There's another-

You turn quickly and dodge a sword coming at your face.

"I'll enjoy devouring such a worthless human." The angel yelled.

You got a change to sweep her legs and manage to kick her off balance.

You scramble back on your feet and ran out of the area, Ronove will be fine he always mention that if there was an angel attack and he was the only one there. You have to run and hide.

So you did.

The angel got back on her feet and laugh in amusement, before stopping when she heard a sickly sound of bones being crushed.

You panted and lean against a tree.

You manage to run as far from the fight as you can. And just hoping that Ronove can deal with those angels... What if he can't...

You gasped and quickly cover your mouth... You were scared that the last thing that Ronove said was your hair is pretty. Which you knew that deep down it wasn't.

He was being nice, they always were. Him, the other nobles and the kings. You feel like they aren't complimenting you, but complimenting Solomon or just being nice.

"Pfft, as if I pretty or good looking-"

"Oh~ but you are~" You yelp and quickly pushed away from the tree then turned around to see Ronove, with some blood on him, and it seem to be not his blood. And his left hand was four angel wings with some of the bones sticking out.

"Ronove, are you alright-"

"Devils can't lie" You pause and gasps as he said those words. He sounded more serious than his usual self.

You looked away, and rubbed your arm. "I know, but... I have trouble believing it for myself" you turn slightly to look at the noble devil.

Ronove hums before dropping the wings and slowly walk towards you. You step back enough for your back to free the tree.

He than stop an inch in front of you, then you both stare for a moment before he reach up and held your cheek in his hands and rubbed his thumb under your eye.

"If you ever die, can I take your eyes? I want to see something as beautiful as your eyes" He smiled at you.

You felt your heart skipped a beat. He was complimenting you in his own way.

Sure it might be strange, but that's Ronove for you.

You gave him a warm smile before nodding. Before leaning your face into his touch and cupped your hand over his.

He moved close and use his other hand to hold you.

For a moment, you felt happy after being called beautiful.

Note: I had fun writing this since Ronove is one of my favorites.

Hope you like this 🐄Anon

If there’s grammar or spelling error, please let me know and don’t be shy to leave a comment or reblogging with cute tags. I just love to see you guys thoughts on this :3

actually annabeth joining luke's army as a double agent for chb but percy doesn't know this so he just thinks alright and grabs grover and hooks it over there bc annabeth does what she wants and he knows there's no convincing her otherwise bc she's a stubborn ass and also ares fucking sucks so as far as percy's concerned the gods can suck it based on that alone

grover is just ??? bc he does NOT want to be over here and percy's just like "look, we can't convince annabeth to not be part of monster army, so the only option is to be part of it ourselves" and annabeth walks in on them trying to join (or rather percy trying to join for both of them and grover looking on the verge of tears) and she's just ??? bc what the fuck percy why are you two here

whole time percy is going on a rant about ares and how he sucks and how he's pretty sure the god has abused clarisse ("maybe we should get clarisse to sign up with us") because no one believes that he wants to join luke's army and they just thinkk he wants to spy on them so he's trying to show that he thinks gods (well at least one god) is a total ass and can get obliterated and percy will be happy to do that bc he did it once before, he can totally do it again! and if they get clarisse she can deliver the final blow as an FU

someone asks why grover's there and percy is like "um. he's my best friend? he has to come with me? what, you think I'm gonna fucking fight my best friend? are you stupid?"

meanwhile grover is having the worst panic attack of his life. like why is this how he discovers percy has no morals. couldn't it be something smaller like putting french fries in a strawberry milkshake?

and annabeth is resisting the urge to start screaming and now she's gotta vouch for percy and her vouch for percy is basically "if it came to saving me and grover or a bus full of people about to plunge into the atlantic, percy would save us, no hesitation" and everyone's like "jesus christ, the hell is wrong with this kid" because like maybe they're on the side of a cannibalistic titan but they're not fucking evil

ofc once they're let into the group, annabeth drags them both to the side and wrings percy a new one for fucking up her double agent plans and they're both whisper-arguing bc it's not his fault he didn't know she didn't really shack up with the enemy, but like fuck off percy, you didn't have to follow me here! why the hell would you choose to come here, were you going to try and kidnap me and bring me back to camp by force??

and percy is just like "yes that is 100% what i was going to do, i was definitely not joining with the intent to be by your side and blow up olympus because i'd rather destroy the world than fight my friend" and grover turns to annabeth and is just "he's fucking lying" "yeah i know"

anyway grover is released as a double agent for the monster army (but actually for CHB) bc the idea is that he can help them get more demigods to their side as a searcher being sent out to grab kids and he's mentally banging his head bc NOW he has to figure out how to get unclaimed demigods safely to camp without making it look like he took them there on purpose and if it looks like he defected back to CHB, they'll probably kill annabeth and maim or imprison percy and good gods, percy i hate you so much rn

percy? idk. it's past summer so he just goes home and luke is like "bro you can't just fucking leave" "um no offense luke but if you try to stop me from going home to my mom who i love more than life itself i will legit eat you" and then he goes home

come december, grover is calling percy up like "hey i found these fucking powerful ass kids, plz help me get them to camp without making it look like i got them there on purpose" and so they gotta loop annabeth in who's just mentally banging her head and cursing percy out over this whole thing as she strategizes a way to get the army there but have them fuck up so badly it would look super suspicious if grover just shoved them over

so first she yells at percy then she makes grover call thalia up so she can help him and it'll be okay 'cause she's in the same area as him so it won't look suspicious, it'll just seem like camp sent her in with him, like they do sometimes when there's dangerous monsters that a satyr might not be able to handle by themselves.

and then she makes percy go with them as support for grover's "nefarious" deeds since thalia's there. and it's a whole fucking thing, and mentally she's just like "oh thank fuck" when artemis and the hunters show up.

they retreat back to wherever the monster army was at this time (not the boat, but like idk. atlas' post? were they all chilling there or was it just luke and some ppl being assholes and everyone else was still on the boat, i can't remember) and curse their loss of two powerful and clueless demigods, only for percy to call annabeth up a couple hours later like "hey, remember those kids from a couple hours ago with the manticore and the hunters and everything"

"percy it was two hours ago, ofc i remember it, my memory isn't as shit as yours" "right right, you're elephant" "oh my- why are you calling me!!" "oh yeah. uh. well. they're kinda in my house" "what??" "yeah they're sitting right across from me. my mom's giving them some hot chocolate."

"how the hell?"

"i have no clue. they also have no clue. they just, uh, didn't feel safe at camp, bc grover was being weird about trying to save them. which, um, yeah, makes sense. and they don't like thalia because her spear scares them 'cause they don't like lightning. and also the girl said the hunters keep trying to convince her to join them which is freaking her out, so they didn't want to stay at camp. and then suddenly they were in my house."

"..."

"what do i do?"

this time annabeth bangs her head physically on the closest wall. and somewhere in the fine forests of new york, grover is banging his head on the nearest tree, both of them unified in their feelings of "for fucks sake percy i hate you so much rn"

i've been occasionally watching critiques of totk just to hear differing opinions and a lot of them feel really nitpicky but the one that stuck out to me the most was the guy who wholeheartedly believed that the stories in these games could be improved by. removing link as the main protagonist. it should be pretty obvious that this take sucks ass but i wanted to see if you'd share your thoughts since you're good at putting your thoughts into words with this kind of stuff ^_^

ok this one is. strange to me. I'm not sure i'm equipped to critique it without getting the full argument from its source, because i assume that if the argument is that link SHOULDN'T be the protagonist, then they're arguing someone else SHOULD be instead, and not knowing who that is makes this a little harder to dissect. for the sake of this post i'm going to assume we're arguing for protag zelda, because she's the character who is the vessel for most of the story in botw/totk so i think she's the only character that makes sense. I'm also curious if they're advocating for removing link as a character from the story entirely or if they're just advocating for a change in framing from one character to another.

in any case, If i'm right about the above assumptions this seems to be another case of someone missing the central themes of the games. Because I concede that, at a glance, link kind of doesn't have that much presence in the story of either game. both games very heavily focus on zelda, with botw's primary story being about her struggle pre-calamity with her agency and her powers, and totk's primary story being about her journey in the past with sonia and rauru. arguably, the protagonist of these games in the traditional sense, i.e. the character who primarily experiences the highs and lows of the story and goes through an arc of growth, is ZELDA. link is, for all intents and purposes, the framing device through which we as players are witnessing ZELDA's story.

(full disclosure this turns into an essay on the way link is used as a character and a plot device bc i have no self control lol)

so why is link necessary, then? what is the point of the player experiencing the plot through a framing character like him instead of through zelda herself, the active protagonist? I think there are several layers to what makes link's presence in these games both necessary and irreplaceable.

the first and one of the most important reasons to have link in the active role is interactivity. I'm incredibly interested in video games as a modern art form and storytelling method, and imo the thing that sets video games apart from other methods of storytelling is their interactivity. In order to tell a story, an rpg drops the player into the middle of it. the player is an active participant in the story as it unfolds, and the player gets to experience and potentially alter the events in real time. from a consumer standpoint this may seem obvious and uncomplicated to execute--just take a prewritten story and put the player in control of one of the characters, right? but from a writing standpoint, it becomes really complicated really fast.

most stories are written linearly in a sort of cause-and-effect model, meaning events and actions will build on each other throughout the progression of the story. e.g: a monster attacks a village > because of the monster attack the villagers lose their homes > because they are now homeless, one of the villagers decides to slay the monster to take their village back > the villager slays the monster and the village is saved. each event builds upon the one before it, and if any of the events in the sequence were altered, the events after it would also be altered as well. if the villager decided to leave the village instead of fighting the monster, the event after that one would be altered and the village wouldn't be saved. What this means for interactive storytelling is that, if you want to have a single set course of events and ending (the standard model for zelda games) you can't allow the player to alter any events in that sequence. whatever character you give the player control of has to be able to experience the story WITHOUT substantially altering it. this becomes a dilemma because you as a writer need to toe the line between giving the player too much choice and altering the story/creating plot holes and giving the player too little choice and limiting the interactivity of your story. this is where the silent protagonist comes in handy.

the silent protagonist is a term for a player character which takes no action outside of what the player specifically orders them to. Link is one of the more famous silent protagonists, but other well-known ones include frisk from undertale and joker from persona 5 (worth noting that SPs don't have to be PHYSICALLY silent to be SPs, they just can't take any story-altering action without player input. joker actually has voice lines & is still considered an SP!) the silent protagonist is a popular model for RPG player characters because it basically solves the interactivity dilemma. A character with no personality is incredibly easy for players to project themselves onto, making them FEEL very in-control and immersed in the story even if they're not REALLY making any story-altering decisions. As long as your protagonist never breaks from player control and makes decisions on their own, the player feels like they ARE that character and will be much more susceptible to being thrown around by the story. A character with no personality or backstory is also conveniently lacking in outside motivations, meaning they're unlikely to need to substantially alter the story in any way that they aren't directly prompted to. for example, if we go back to that monster & villager story, if we turn our heroic villager into a silent protagonist, it puts a layer of distance between the hero and the villagers. the hero CAN choose to save the village, but they likely WON'T if the game doesn't prompt them to. this opens up several possibilities to us as writers--we can prompt the player to save the village, if that's the way we want the story to end, but we could ALSO prompt the player to side with the monster, or to ignore the village altogether, depending on what the story requires. when the hero has a backstory connecting them to the village, it's difficult to rationalize any response other than them attacking the monster, but removing that backstory gives us as writers more control AND keeps the player more engaged with the story at the same time.

so why does this matter for link? as previously mentioned, link is arguably the most famous silent protagonist of all time. this is something that's VERY important to the developers of these games--throughout the entire franchise, you will NEVER hear link say a word, and you'll also never see him take any action without the express confirmation of the player. link isn't a character through which the player is experiencing the story, link IS the player. thus, link is silent and takes no action outside of the player's control. relative to the story of botw/totk, link feels like he lacks presence in the story because HIS story takes somewhat of a backseat to zelda's. link's story in botw/totk is a relatively straightforward one--he wakes up, regains his memories, and saves the princess. that's his arc, and that's the arc that we as players are physically experiencing through him, but it's NOT the primary story arc of the games. the primary arc is ZELDA'S. at a glance, then, it almost would make more sense to make zelda the playable protagonist of the games. why are we required to witness her story as an outside observer in a medium which allows players to experience a story firsthand? why not drop us into HER body instead of link's?

because zelda isn't a silent protagonist.

Nearly all of zelda's story in both botw and totk is driven by her backstory and her internal struggle. she makes the decisions that she makes in botw because of her history having her agency denied by her father and being scorned by the goddess, and because of her passion for ancient technology and science. the plot of totk is similarly driven by choices she makes based on her emotions--most notably, her choice to become a dragon requires her to have complete faith in link and the courage to take a step that means losing herself. Because of the way these choices rely on zelda's internal emotional state and the context and backstory of her character, a player dropped into her body can't be expected to make them. We actually saw it a lot with criticisms of the way she acted in botw--people claiming that if THEY were in her shoes they wouldn't have been so emotional, they would have been nicer to link, etc. And it's true that a player who hasn't experienced the things that zelda as a character has gone through may have been able to have more rational or logical reactions to the situation she was in, but it's crucial to the plot that zelda COULDN'T set aside her emotions or the way that her past colored her perception of events. zelda is essentially the anti-silent-protagonist. she is the VOCAL protagonist, whose backstory and voice and autonomous choices are so crucial to the plot that removing them becomes nearly impossible. in order to tell her story in an interactive medium, she requires another character who CAN be controlled and whose decisions can be altered somewhat without derailing the plot entirely, hence why link becomes the vessel through which we see her story.

no less important a point is the fact that link is thematically important to these games as well. As previously mentioned, zelda's story serves as the primary narrative to both games. Link's story is still present, however, and it serves to reinforce and expand upon the themes present in zelda's.

in botw, zelda's story centers around her lack of agency. she is expected to inherit her familial power from the goddess hylia, a power which is required to stop the calamity. she spends her entire life training for this purpose despite the fact that she resents the pressure and wants no part in the war against the calamity, and when her powers don't manifest she is treated like a failure for it. she ends up believing she is worth nothing if she can't contribute by awakening her power and develops a harsh internal conflict between her desire to be accepted and needed and her desire to break free from the oppressive role she's been forced into. Initially, both she and the player believe link to be the polar opposite to her--the golden child to her black sheep. he's her age, but he's already mastered HIS power and is more than ready to take on any challenge, including the calamity. he's constantly receiving praise, he's well-known and well-liked, he's everything zelda isn't. however, as the story progresses, it's revealed to both the player and zelda that link is actually essentially in the exact same situation as zelda. He finds the role he is playing just as oppressive as zelda finds hers, despite being able to play it so well, to the point where he goes mute due to the pressure to perform. he functions in this story as a foil to zelda, the character who she plays off of. In learning about him we learn about zelda, and vice versa, and both characters undergo growth when they work off each other. much of botw's theming centers around growth, healing, and change, and link serves as a vessel to propel zelda's change by giving both her and the player a different view of their situation. He is confirmation that even if she DID perform correctly, zelda STILL wouldn't find the happiness and validation she's seeking, which in turn forces her to stop seeking validation from her father and hylia.

this same utlization of link is present in totk, though in a slightly different way. in some ways, totk link is more of his own character than a foil to zelda a la botw. Totk has two main central themes: the first being that hope is not lost due to one mistake, and the second being teamwork and community as an essential tool for survival and happiness. rather than playing off each other in totk, since link and zelda spend so much of the story so far removed from each other, they both play off these themes in their own ways, with both of their narratives coming together to reinforce the theming. zelda finds friends and community in the sages in the past, and her trust in her friends and community in the future is what allows her to send the master sword through time via draconification. In the future, link repairs communities that have been fractured by ganondorf and forges bonds with his own sages that will become his greatest assets in the final battle. Zelda works tirelessly to prevent the first rise of ganondorf, and even when she fails, link is there in the future to fix it. zelda loses her humanity in order to bring the master sword to link, but link manages to bring her back in the end. link loses his arm when he fails to save zelda under the castle, but when he DOES save her in the end, he gets his arm back, too. each of their stories play off each other and reinforce each other thematically.

I'm ngl this did get away from me the second i started talking about silent protagonists as a narrative device (i am crazy <3) but anyway. I do sincerely think that link is an irreplaceable part of these stories and I also don't think it's feasible to tell the story from any other angle. I think using him as both a framing character and as a narrative foil to the active protagonist was a really smart way to tell zelda's story while still keeping the player active within it. tldr link is the specialest amazingest most important boy in the world if you don't cheer and clap for him i'll fucking blow this whole building up

MEANWHILE. In another realm. I've revisited Alear's FB's

I FEEL LIKE. Alfonse's problem isn't so much that he's emotionally guarded, despite, you know, being extremely emotionally guarded. It's that He Isn't. Like. At the same time.

Consistently, without fail, Alfonse puts himself in situations where he's amicable and helpful. Their C support consists of Alfonse helping Alear see to her own odds and ends, having been brought to Askr with nothing but the clothes on her back. A common situation! He gets her a ring case to put all her rings in. So here, he's helping. And when Alear shows him the rings, and tells him the lore/significance of the rings, he takes an interest -- because of course he would! That sort of thing is right up his alley. And so he's not only amicable enough to be approachable, he's also showing interest in the things she's interested in, and having a spirited conversation about it.

Their B support consists of more of the same, just getting into the details of how Emblems work. HE DOESN'T REALIZE IT YET. But he's bonding with Alear. This goofy ass motherfucker doesn't realize this is literally how friendships are formed. Like I'm convinced he's thinking they're just talking lore and stuff and it's a casual conversation between casual allies and surely nothing emotionally charged will come out of this. He's just being friendly (without NECESSARILY becoming Friends) and there's nothing more to it, there Will be nothing more to it.

A support.

She voices A Problem. TWO things about Alfonse. 1) He was built in a lab to be a fixer (juries still out on his methods/solutions) and 2) He takes things SO personally when he relates to it. PVP enabled he's going to fucking get your ass about it. He is sooooooooo emotionally distant Up Until you fucking provoke him (AND THIS. ISN'T EVEN ENTIRELY TRUE. BC WHAT HE DOESN'T REALIZE IS GENUINELY BONDING OVER SHARED INTERESTS COUNTS TOWARDS BECOMING INVESTED IN THAT PERSON which is HOW he ended up in The Situation in the FIRST PLACE).

Which leads to him "helping" (POORLY.) (Because in all of this he IS still wired to help people)

Which just pisses him off even MORE, believing he has the Correct and Inevitable perspective and desperately wants to get Alear to see it the same way, doubling down.

(Bro I am going to hit image limit again before even making my point..... AUGH)

Alear's next lines, "That's true, but won't keeping my distance mean I appreciate them less while I have them?" / "Is that how you see your relationships with Heroes? With me?" / "No matter how much time we spend together, you'll always keep me at arm's length for when I have to go?"

Here, I think Alear is expressing to him she already sees him as her friend. I don't think Alfonse picks up on it though, trying again to get her to see his side of the issue -- as if, in his mind, they're just debating and not having an emotional conversation.

Alfonse's next lines: "Consider it from my perspective. If I am too attached to you, and you leave, I could lose my will to fight." (ALFONSE. ALFONSE. COME ON MAN.) (LIKE. Idk man if you're saying shit like that I think it's too late. It's so over for you.)

THIS ONE THOUGH. I THINK. PLEASE staywith me but it is the root of it all

Euden's (named Milo here lmfao Milo jumpscare) next line: "Do you not feel the same way about us?"

Alfonse's lines: "My apologies, but no. The forming of friendships is a thing I don't take lightly." / "It's true that I rely on the assistance of Heroes summoned from different worlds when fighting, but that is wholly different."

Alfonse lines (continued): "I have a duty, and can't afford such hurt. So if I grow close to someone, I do so accepting the potential consequences."

AAAAUGHHHH WHAT IS MY THESIS. WHAT THE FUCK AM I TALKING ABOUT. I HAVE MORE CONNECTIONS TO MAKE. AND FOR WHAT‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

SOMEHOW. His Book 1 (p sure they're from Book 1) lines to Kiran that go, "I suppose we don't know much about your world. And how rude of us to not ask until now!" / "What? Your world has buildings that scrape the sky? And what do you mean by 'cars'?" / "Like wagons... that run without horses... and are made out of metal? Fascinating." <- THESE LINES. Combined with his smiling sprite. TO ME are a direct parallel to his C and B Alear conversations, HOW, he's taking an interest in Kiran and without realizing he's growing a fondness for them.

Something SOMETHING about his cognitive dissonance about how he can be friendly without "being friends", how he's afraid of caring too much when it's clear he already cares at least a little ESPECIALLY SHOWN. In how, Alfonse doesn't realize he could have hurt Alear's feelings until she directly states it: "I understand. Still... it makes me sad."

ONLY THEN he gets his panicked(?) sprite, replying, "I apologize for upsetting you." It's here I think he finally realizes, OH. THIS IS. An emotional conversation and not like a debate of ideals and I feel bad for hurting you. BECAUSE!!!!!!!! HE'S COME TO CARE ABOUT ALEAR!!!!!!!!! IN ALL OF THIS!!!!!!!!! Whether he's fully aware of it or not, whether he LIKES it or not, he cares about her feelings and wants to make it right. Into, expressing (again that PVP "Well I took that personally" reaction he has): "I suppose it's just that, when you talk about the Emblems, how you worry, I feel as if I'm hearing my own voice."

Which S support, sets up for a resolution and mutual understanding peace and love all is well with the world 👍

ALSO the parallel to Euden, since this is the very start of what would be analogous to support conversations (side story content unlocked by powering up the character), Euden takes Alfonse's response to him in stride -- since, there's no real emotional stakes. Aside from, Euden wishing they could be friends (since he's just built like that), but ultimately giving Alfonse space and respecting his feelings about it. The Point: While they've been working together, Alfonse hasn't Quite developed that fondness yet I don't think (esp from what I remember from the main plot of the crossover event, which is next to nothing LMFAO). It develops later!!!!!!

If I hadn't hit image limit I would insert the What the FUCK are you two talking about meme here like. What the fuck AM I talking about. Can someone else make this post actually I don't think I'm qualified 😭😭😭😭😭😭

MAIN POINT.

I look at Alfonse and I go I think I hauve covid.

quick tactics advice (i wrote this caption before i remembered how long my paragraphs get) from someone slowly figuring out dao! this might not work for everybody but i’m doing pretty well with it

i turn off all my player character’s tactics. i don’t want her to do anything and waste stamina/mana or move out of place while i’m popping over to micromanage someone else

i set archers & mages’ behaviour to ranged and leave everyone else on default. i could probably be doing something more interesting here but this works

sword & board warriors like alistair are pretty simple to run. shield bash and shield pummel both set to enemy: nearest visible. i have him activate threaten constantly and i have taunt set to “self: health >= 75%” which makes sure he keeps enough attention off the rest. you want to place taunt below shield bash and shield pummel in his tactics bc those are the priority. and then whenever his health is below 75% i have him put on shield defence, or shield wall instead once that’s unlocked. those reduce damage but damage isn't what he’s for. sometimes i also have him set to attack any enemy attacking the weakest ranged companion, that depends on ur party setup

templar activated talents i would handle manually. berserkers absolutely must be set to berserk whenever combat starts

when it comes to healers, a trick i figured out recently is for their top tactic to be regeneration set to "ally: lowest health". it’s a fairly cheap spell, mana wise, and it means whoever’s doing bad is constantly getting a big helping hand. can't express enough how helpful this is. they do keep doing it constantly even out of combat which some people might find annoying but u can always turn it off whenever u r just walking around if it bothers u

otherwise the main things i have my healer doing are the heal spell on anyone under 50% and a glyph of warding just set to any ally being melee attacked. spirit healer spells are great but all have a bitch of a cooldown so i would handle those manually. i have my healer set to run death magic if she goes under 50% right now but no constant sustained mode, everything even offensive spells is a waste compared to keeping up constant heal and regen spells. the occasional elemental spell can work in a tight spot but you want to be sparing and do that manually. ur healer should be attracting no attention at all from enemies

for more of a damager mage, set winter's grasp or lightning as the lowest tactic so that's their standard behaviour if they have nothing else to do. i have a weapon mode sustained constantly (self: any), frost, flaming or telekinetic weapons will do, i believe morrigan comes with frost. otherwise damagers are going to attract more attention so run something defensive like mind blast on 'self: surrounded by at least two enemies', set drain life for if their health goes down, and generally remember to keep an eye on killing anything that touches them. do not set cones (cone of cold, flame blast) on tactics; it requires moving in from their ranged position and getting the right angle to avoid hitting the party, so handle that manually, but remember to do it and often because they're great. area of effect stuff you CAN do on tactics but considering there's friendly fire if you play above easy and just generally it requires an awareness of what's happening, i would handle that manually as well. the same for spells like forcefield that are adaptable and strategic (use it if you want to keep a particular enemy out of the fight until you're done with the rest, if an ally has been crushing prisoned or curse of mortalityed, if your warrior is dying and unsalvageable but could still keep attention off others if there to be pointlessly attacked, etc.)

remember to keep an eye on the resistances of whatever you're mainly fighting e.g. winter's grasp cone of cold and frost weapons are great spells cold is a great tree but if you set them for a place full of walking corpses you will die

i honestly do not find archer activated abilities that helpful at all with a party beside you especially for how fucking LONG they take. i would much rather have leliana constantly firing than trying to do what a mage could do in half the time. instead set multiple sustained modes to always run (self: any). right now i have leliana running rapid shot, song of courage and suppressing fire. you can't run rapid shot and aim simultaneously and i find rapid shot more useful. dirty fighting is too fucking good to waste so i also have that on for if she gets melee attacked or, since she should really be out of range for that nonsense, i switch to her occasionally to dart in and stun someone manually

take my two-handed warrior advice with a grain of salt bc mine die on me frankly but i think that's an attributes problem. i recommend constant indomitable and powerful swings. mighty blow and sunder arms are great generally just do whatever tactic keeps those coming. i would hold off on pommel strike and use that manually whenever u really need to interrupt what an enemy's doing or are dying and really need some breathing space

i do not know how to do dual wielding rogues yet god bless. or hexes. i can't help you

you know sayuri kinda looks like she has the dead mom hairstyle, kinda

so time to give masaru (and chika) some angst

aka sayuri dying and Masaru drops out of school to get a job and raise his sister, over working himself and having bad habits of caring more about others health than his own

Chika worries about her brother and the changed that happened to him since their mom death

Satsuma didn't know that sayuri died and when he finds that out plus masaru joining DATS he tries to be a parental figuur to him (like a dad or uncle)

I'm so glad someone finally mentioned this bc I've always thought that abt her hair LMAO Anyways I will give u my perspective w/ Sayuri's death, tho it's a LIL different from some of what you suggested, but I like the idea a lot and have thought about it before.

Firstly, I think Masaru and Chika do get financial support; Sayuri is a stay-at-home mom with two kids in the anime; I'm assuming DATS gave her money in compensation for Suguru's disappearance, especially considering Captain Satsuma and Suguru were friends, as well. So with her death (I'm just chalking it up to illness), the financial support fell to the kids- they get to keep their house and I think they both stubbornly want to so when Dad comes back, he knows where they are (bc mind u canon masaru is only 14; he's still just a kid, and is bound to have some childlike hope/logic) Masaru does drop out and start working- for two reasons. One - His temper and behavior is pretty bad in school- he struggles dealing with his grief, and eventually just can't deal with it anymore; he's getting into more serious fights and hurting other kids, and it has a negative effect on Chika so he just drops out. He was also failing because he almost never studied, just too stressed. Two - Part of him is afraid of what will happen if he doesn't provide or take care of Chika on his own; yes they've got the money, but what if it's limited? Furthermore- he wants her to have nice things. They're given enough to survive, but after losing both their parents, he wants Chika to be happy. Sure, he can't spoil her, but he likes being able to buy her nice things when he can.

He works a few odd jobs- I think the last job he really worked before he ended up meeting Agumon and getting to DATS was at his friends shop- the one there is an episode about? But when it closed he lost it, and was inbetween work. He meets Agumon and Satsuma does recognize Masaru; he is aware of his situation, as Sayuri had asked him to make sure they're taken care of, but I guess he didn't realize how bad things had gotten on Masaru. Instead of Yoshino going to seek Masaru out, the Captain does personally, and tells him a bit about his dad and his relationship with Sayuri. He outright offers a job for Masaru at DATS, and it only gets solidified after Masaru is able to get Agumon to evolve. Satsuma also does this personally to allow Masaru to keep his privacy; it's his choice if he wants the others to know his personal situation. (Masaru doesn't outright talk about it, but he doesn't keep it a secret, either. It is what it is, but he does appreciate being able to tell them on his own)

(I believe in giving Masaru different hairstyle supremacy)

Masaru ofc takes it because he's able to work, and the pay is ggood enough that he feels a bit better about spending more time at home. Satsuma gives him mornings/early afternoons off, allowing Masaru to do housework, cook, etc., Masaru is also very grateful to Agumon- and instead of being hungry af for Sayuri's fried eggs, he obsesses over Masaru's. The companionship and someone to chat with while he does stuff helps Masaru, and he doesn't get nearly as restless anymore given his fights with Digimon make him feel more fulfilled. (There is a part of him that's terrified of something happening, leading him to leave Chika behind; I think he's very much more hesitant about going to the digital world, and needs her encouragement before he goes. As much as Masaru the son wants to find his dad and have a parent, Masaru the brother doesn't want to abandon Chika. I also don't think he goes to the digital world at the end of the series; sure their dad is back, but Masaru's been Chika's main parent figure. I don't think he has it in him to leave her.) While I didn't draw her, Yoshino is definitely really sympathetic, and often buys Masaru and Chika snacks, and gives him rides to places if she's not busy. It becomes a little routine for her and Masaru to go grocery shopping together, and Lalamon often points out how much better Masaru is at housework than Yoshino- obviously to tease and fluster her. She also tries to be there when Masaru has his off and down days- but they all kinda learn pretty quick to just... let him simmer for a bit, and he comes around on his own. Masaru is probably depressed, and it manifests as quiet, slow days, or in angry bursts where he doesn't understand his sadness. Touma and Masaru of course buttheads at first, though Touma is fairly shocked and surprised when he hears Masaru say he takes care of Chika himself because his parents are gone. Masaru doesn't beat around the bush, saying Mom passed away and Dad went missing. Of course they kinda butt heads still when the ever proud and abrasive Masaru doesn't like pity, but Touma, I think, opens up a bit and explains his "pity" is empathy, because his mom died, and his little sister is sick, so he gets it. While I definitely feel thats information Touma doesn't give lightly, I think it's because Touma is rather caring towards Chika too, and at least he had others to take care of him and take care of Relena in his absence. Satsuma does enlist in Touma's help in tutoring Masaru- it's soemthing they'll do in quiet evenings, though Yoshino often has to butt in to get Touma to tone down his genius speak to something a bit less overwhelming. This will be dubbed orphan AU in tags. I will definitely come back, but please ask/prompt more as well hehehe. I definitely want to explore Masaru's relationships w/ some of the adult figures in his life- Satsuma, Yoshino. And ofc how Ikuto would be different given it was Sayuri's motherly affection that had a big effect on him.

icarus pretty pls explain as much as u can of jaidens pov (and roiers if u can) i have no time at all and i wanna feel ur emoceans

YES i am late to answer but here is the gist of what happened (under the cut because OH BOY this got long):

jaiden spent the first hour-ish of stream out with bobby trying to find onions bc she needed them to make him roast chicken and complete the task of feeding the egg a food that starts with r. because of this, she and bobby were somewhat far away from the main area when things started going to shit

when she heard what was going on, she ran back home, both to have a bunker to hunker down in, and because tilin was still in their home due to having stayed over the night prior for a sleepover

tilin's still asleep when she gets back. bad drops by and further explains some of the situation. jaiden is Extremely panicked, but is reassured by roier messaging that he'll be logging on soon

tilin wakes up as bad drops by again. bad explains that he's going to go out and try to talk some sense into charlie, leaving dapper with jaiden for his safety. jaiden is now alone with three eggs and a madman on the loose.

one of the eggs asks what's going on. she cautiously explains that there was an accident with juanaflippa, and that her father is dealing with it in a less-than-ideal way. she herds the three down into the basement (behind a locked door for safety), distracting them by giving them seeds to plant and trying to not let her anxieties show for the sake of the kids

roier logs on. jaiden instantly runs out to greet him (attempts to, at the least, as he doesn't spawn in their house), hurriedly explaining the situation and the state of things. roier nearly instantly calms most of her worries, assuring her that they'll be alright. the eggs can defend themselves. charlie is just one man desperate for love and family. he's more dangerous to himself than he is to them.

bad and fit return to the house. there are now four eggs within.

charlie arrives. he's kind of instantly taken down by everyone in the house, rendered down to half a heart as they take him outside to talk him down. he places down a landmine that jaiden accidentally steps on, luckily only killing him. they remove all mines and weapons from his body in case he returns for them

everyone somewhat disperses. tilin stays with roier, jaiden, and bobby, not fully sure where their dad is (and not fully sure if they want to get back to him). the four of them sit around the campfire as roier tells the kids stories, which eventually turns into the two adults discussing tilin's current situation.

roier and jaiden end up coming to the conclusion of adopting tilin in a sort of co-parenting way. they're not taking them away from quackity, but also naming themselves as their caretakers and welcoming them into their family

bobby does not like this. bobby is very happy with being an only child. he starts a fight with tilin, one that he ends up winning, leading to tilin's death message appearing in chat. jaiden and roier quickly revive them, calming the two eggs down. roier chides bobby, saying he's plenty loved by both of them, and them taking in tilin doesn't mean they'll love him any less. there's no reason to be jealous.

quackity reaches out to jaiden, basically announcing a war against her and roier. because of charlie messaging him earlier, he mistakenly believes that she and roier have kidnapped tilin and are torturing them (further pushed by their death message in chat). jaiden tries to explain the situation, but quackity won't hear it

they return to the group, questioning quackity's rage. charlie admits to having given q the idea while in his rage, and the group sets out to find q so charlie can explain the situation (my memory gets a bit hazy on the sequence of events from here on out, so i apologize as things may be out of order)

they find q and explain the situation. he no longer wants to kill roier and jaiden, but the tension is still there.

the group discusses the prospect of bringing juanaflippa back through a trial. jaiden breaks off at points to hang around tilin, who reveals their fears that their dad doesn't love them, and how they only want a family in the sense that bobby, roier, and jaiden have. jaiden attempts to assure them that that's not the case, that quackity does love them (he was SO worried when he thought they were kidnapped), but tilin doesn't feel fully convinced.

after asking like, everyone else and being turned down, charlie asks if jaiden will be his lawyer for the trial on wednesday. she agrees, despite having no knowledge of the law. she wants to help charlie in any way she can, and vows to do her best.

as everyone once again split up to go their separate ways, roier and jaiden talk. most importantly, jaiden questions why spreen is allowed into their basement, when she wasn't given permissions until the night prior. roier explains the full situation, from starting it as a community house to spreen killing his dog, and how he vows to get his revenge. jaiden listens intently, assuring him that she's on his side and will be there to back him up and support him when he needs it. they name themselves as the only normal family of the server.

returning to quackity, jaiden finds him and charlie drinking. quackity semi-snaps at tilin, stating that he's trying his best, he's just busy, okay? jaiden semi-snaps back, bringing up that tilin doesn't even think he loves them, and that when tilin jumped off the wall earlier, he didn't even go to revive them--she and charlie did. fit breaks the tense atmosphere by yelling "OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" in the background

jaiden walks a drunk charlie home, tucking him into bed. the two recite a bedtime story together (a decade in blue by eiffel 65) until the sun rises.

can i offer percybaster god swap au Poseidon Al and Hecate Percy 👀

or even percaethabaster

YES!!! I mean I'm now going to ramble about percybaster but this totally fits as percaethabaster too (mostly mine and phoenix's ramblings tbh)

Ok ok Al who's been at camp since he was a kid, all alone in the Poseidon cabin, not allowed to go outside the camp because of what happened to Thalia and people mostly avoiding him bc. Big Three kid.

He's lonely! He has double daddy issues from both Poseidon and Mr. Torrington! He only has a handful friends! Kronos found himself a perfect opportunity!

Insert Percy

Tlt goes mostly the same. Luke steals the bolt and the helm. Poseidon and Zeus are at eachother's throats. Al is snippy bc he's half sure Zeus wants to kill him more now. His friend Annabeth wants to know if he knows something. (He does the voice in his dreams have a finger on it but he won't tell her that!)

Percy comes to camp in the same way. Turns out being the son of a Titannes attracts a lot of monsters. Aka the Minatour. Sally instead of being taken by Hades (bc he doesn't have any reason to blame Percy) gets saved by Hecate and they're casually chilling in the Underworld during the whole time. Percy still thinks she died tho

Al takes Annabeth, Grover and Percy on his quest bc he doesn't give a single fuck about the rules.

Al leaves with Luke that summer. No scorpion scene ensures. Percy is told Al joined Kronos but he doesn't want to believe it.

Until he comes face to face with Al in SoM.

So now we have Al as the Ta's leader, Luke as his general/advisor, Silena as the spy and Ethan and Chris as his lieutenants

Al and Percy secretly meet up a lot. They're dating. Luke knows this and helps/covers up for Al (also does the threatening when they need to bc he knows Al can't threaten his bf). Ethan also knows but no one knows he does. Annabeth also also knows but Percy only learns this after The Percybaster Breakup.

Yeah, so, every time they meet they slightly argue about Kronos but also brush it off quickly. Until Al tells him he'll be Kronos's host that is. Percy is obviously upset and angry. Al tells yells him he doesn't have a choice in the matter. Cue they yell at eachother and Al storms off. The next time Percy sees him is as Kronos. :)

And Hecate Percy, right?! He's the only sibling in Chb! The rest are in Ta! He fought Lou in the labyrinth instead of Ethan! He has to fight the rest in Botl and BoM! He loves his mom and knows she loves him too but they're on opposite sides!

BoM rolls around. Alabaster inherited the Earthshaker part and Kronos uses this! It's the reason Williamsburg Bridge is destroyed. And the roads of Manhattan are in shambles.

In throne room Annabeth manages to reach out to her old friend and Percy hands Al the knife. Al dies.

Except. That's whet everyone else thinks bc Poseidon, not wanting his son to die, turned him into a fish. Al is very much not impressed.

It's OK Hecate turns him back during Hoo and he joins the Argo when Hazel visits Hecate. He's so worried/scared when he learns Percy and Annabeth are in Tartarus.

Percybaster get back together during Boo

That end scene with the gods in Boo, a summary;

Al: YOU TURNED ME INTO A FISH?!?!

Poseidon: Would you rather I let you die??

The rest of the Olympians: ...we would actually.

Also Hazel and Percy bonding on magic.

Honorable mentions: Luke getting the canon Al treatment and getting exiled, Chris and Ethan death swap, the Ta massacre still happening so Percy losing almost all of his sibs.

I almost hate how much i switched teams from 2718 to abacus, but its just bc he's new and shiny and pretty and pushy. He stifles autonomy so i know 2817 is better in the long run bc u can reason w him and he puts mcs best interests first. Abacus gives me the kind of vibe that he'd let mc get hurt so long as shes his, and tbh i feel like he might enjoy it? Like he'd like to fix her up and *accidentally* press a lil too hard into her wounds wheras 2718 would just use his abilities so that she wont feel the pain to begin w. That's just my assumption tho given what we've seen. Abacus seem the type to only use his powers thingy to subdue reader.

We know that 2718 has met readers past forms/reincarnation w.e u call it and i originally thought abacus did too. Maybe he was her affair or lover in a previous reincarnation methinks? I just felt like he knows her before. This changed a bit towards the end when they were walkin thru the streets while he was giving her the endoscopy (😮‍💨💦) and we learned just how badly mc is seen. Now im starting to wonder if aba is just greedy n wanted her as his lil disabled spouse genuinely, no past relation. Idk. I still feel like they know each other previously. Or maybe he sensed something abt her back when 2817 brought her in to that place all the way back then. Mc is key to the universe type thing. Doubt that tho.

Neyways i think aba is gnna take her home where he reveals that he not only has four arms, but also two dicks n he's gnna try to fawk her but some event will inconveniently stop him. I also think he lives in an oasis like place, their version of natural wood everywhere, running waterfalls from the cieling, tons of glass that he can mentally control and shatter at will to threaten reader while having a saccharine smile on his face, the works really.

I wnna believe translator(TA) is gnna get 2718 and theyll find mc but now im thinking maybe they might not meet up like that. 2718 might find TA n ditch her to find mc and TA has to scramble to keep up, might even meet her on the way back after 2718 saves the day. Also wondering whts gnna happen to TA bc i dont think anything criminally bad happened to her even tho we heard her screaming. Be real interesting if she were screaming bc 2817 found her and juuuust missed mc and aba. I think when 2718 finds mc and aba they're gnna be familiar w eachother but not fight bc aba is one slippery bastard. Or maybe itll be convenient where aba leaves mc unattended for a bit and someone tries to harm her and then 2718 makes him big appearance, like when mc was first dropped into the world and 2718 saved her. I have more thoughts on that but ive already wrote an essay here and in my other ask 😭

Anywhooo ty fr the chapter, hope your healing well 💕💕💕 -🐰

Damn this sure is a well written essay 😳 its either ur a really good analyst or im just a predictable writer cause it almost seems like u have access to my drafts

Cuase that... Kinda exactly whats gonna happen ngl, its still pretty rough around the edges part 15 is just still in its embryo stage with a 50 word list of whars going to hapoen, but yea it pretty similar to what you just described , havent been writing cause i regained my leg freedom finally and i spent literally every waking hour outside, driving and shit

There is going to be a fawking scene in p15 ill tell u and whoevers reading that. Similar to what you descibe with their anatomy but a little different in sequence of events

Thanks for sending in this ask bunny anon this is so cool and i had a great read ❤️❤️ lovely motivation youve given me and i really appreciatte the essay asks -- like, i appreciate if A LOT actually, thanks for reading language barrier too

The Final Crisis Core Playthrough Post!

Might end up making a video or something that kind of puts all my thoughts on the game together, but I'll leave it as this for now.

I feel like I'm always harping on the same things, but this game is always trying to get me to care about characters that it hasn't set up well before hand. I think there's something interesting about Cissnei, but there's not enough interactions with her for me to really care about her, and them trying to be like 'hey, don't you care what her read name is???' just makes me dislike her more tbh. I appreciate she's looking out for Zack, but there's just not a lot there for me. Who knows, maybe she'll end up being super cool in Rebirth.

It's also funny to me that she's like 'wow Zack, coming to Gongaga? Of course they're looking for you here' but Zack makes it sound like he kind of came here by accident.

Hollander and his dumb ass little wing. Also, in this light, Genesis is doing pretty well for himself, all things considered.

Genesis' goal is just... It's all over the place. I was sort of beginning to understand him, but this last section of the game I just stop being able to get a read on him. What I hate most is the lack of feeling like anything has changed for him. It's been four years, and sure Zack's life was at a standstill, but the rest of the world shouldn't have been. I'm glad the game let me finally kill Hollander, though, I've been wanting to do that for hours.

And I guess right now they've decided they need Cloud's S Cells? Why do they think S Cells will work? Are they just grasping at straws? I think they are.

How has nobody talked about Lazard???? I thought what happened to him was a mystery bc I've never heard anyone mention that apparently he became an Angeal copy to survive or whatever the purpose was again. It's so weird to see him with Angeal's face.

I think there's something interesting, though, with us finally getting to learn a little bit more about the connection between the copy and the original, with Lazard mentioning he's been feeling some Angeal emotions or whatever. We never get to hear what his deal was though. I know it's implied he's a Shinra bastard, but I guess I think it would have hit better as text rather than subtext.

I do think it's cool that the shelling of Banora was one of the first things to happen in the game, and now we're back here and we get to see the fallout. At least it looks pretty. I think there's only one Banora White tree left, from the looks of it? I'd love to be able to come here in Rebirth, though I have a feeling we won't.

Are you trying to tell me that Genesis was the first person to think of making apple juice??? Yeah, sorry, don't believe it. This party just feels... weird. Like, I think it's supposed to hint to something? Like, something about the juice? I was just too caught by surprise by Genesis the Apple Juice Inventor.

I realize he didn't invent apple juice but just, uh, was the first to decide to juice Banora Whites? Was there something stopping them from doing so before?

The dungeon in this section also does not have to be this long. Bull shit dungeon.

Okay, so now there's a weird statue that was under Banora. Okay. I believe it's said or implied that whatever this thing is is what gave Banora White's their special taste or whatever or special properties, I wish it was gone into before. Is that why the trees were fruiting at weird times of the year? At least Genesis seems to believe this is what he was looking for.

It's sort of interesting that Genesis looks and Zack and goes 'Ah, you have both Angeal and Sephiroth in you, and thus we are all reunited', but like, that makes it seem like Zack will then get some part of Genesis to me, but that never happens.

The armor looks cool, but it made me expect a much cooler fight than I ended up having. The fighting in this ends up being just spamming spells, which isn't all that fun tbh. I like that Genesis' face was kind of cracking as he was getting the power of the Goddess, but then he's totally rejuvenated after this which is soooo lame.

Why and how does he claim this power anyway? It's one of the more minor questions, tbh. This is going to sound weird, bc god I could not get thi guy to stop talking about loveless, but I wish there was more Loveless? Like, that we could get a better understanding of the epic to better see how it fits the story of Genesis, Angeal, and Seph.

I do kind of like that Genesis at this point is still fighting. Like, he doesn't seem to understand when to throw in the towel - it's why he's been trying to find a cure this whole time. I kind of see it as what was probably once one of his best qualities, but now has become one of his worst.

I think this is supposed to be, like, the Goddess from Loveless, right? But, is that the same as the Planet? Is she some Ancient from long ago? Something else? These aren't questions that I necessarily need answered, but if would be nice to know if, you know answers to them did exist. I do think this whole scene is very pretty at least, and you get the idea that Genesis might even be coming to some sort of revelation about like, his life and what all of this is, and I for sure thought he died here.

I also think it's sad that Zack keeps getting into this situations where people are essentially using him as a form of suicide. How mean, he's just a nice little guy! Stop being mean to him :(

Wow, reunion of the Firsts. You have Lazard as Angeal, Genesis as himself, and Cloud as Sephiroth, how touching. I just, ugh, I was so done with this story by the time I got here. Like it’s a nice picture, and you get the idea they’re going for something, but it falls flat to me. Also,  Lazard says that they were attacked, and I realize it would have been more work, but I wish they would have done something to the area to look like there had just been some sort of fight here. I could easily believe otherwise that Lazard just fell down and died bc he looks that shitty. No offense. Also damn, the dog dies too :( 

And also we all get to eat an apple? Do the apples have something special going on with them or not? I got the impression they do from what I’ve heard other people say, and maybe I’m just not picking up on it bc I’m going through the story too quickly or something, but the pieces are just not coming together for me. I’m planning to watch both the CC and CCR cutscenes after this to get some other opinions and also to try and get a better grasp on all of this, so hopefully that will help…? 

Oh my God, I do kind of like the detail that Zack had no idea it’s been four years. I mean, why would he know how long it’s been. That being said, however, why hasn’t anyone else mentioned how long it’s been? Maybe they don’t realize he wasn’t able to account for that time or something, but still. It does break my heart that Aerith has been writing letters this whole time, but just now she’s finally giving up. 

Bye bye Genesis, see you in Dirge or whatever. For some reason I thought it ended with him, like, encased in crystal? I realize that that Zack really only has room for one comatose friend, but you couldn't have put Genesis somewhere a little better? Then again, he is a little bitch, and where else would he want to be than as close to home as possible? Not that he stayed there very long, of course.

Again, we see that the Turks care at least somewhat for Zack, and not just Cissnei. Either it’s because Tseng likes Zack or because he cares about Aerith, and tbh I’d take either answer. I think it’s nice that he’s been holding on to the letters she’s tried to send to Zack, that Tseng hasn’t thrown them away but clearly has always planned to give them to Zack, should he ever turn up. I do like Tseng a little more after this game, at least. 

I know that this game expects you to have played FFVII before hand, but I wish some of the repeat cutscenes were done more justice, like this one in the back of the truck. For a game that deals with the time between Nibelheim and Midgar, I kinda was hoping for more of these moments between Zack and Cloud. 

Ugh, this moment is good though, Cloud reaching out for Zack, probably the most he’s moved in years, but Zack has his back turned and is walking away. We all know what’s coming. 

I didn’t take a lot of screenshots during the fight. I wish it had let you fight them until you couldn’t fight any longer instead of ending it earlier. The way the DMW breaks down over the course of the battle is heartbreaking! I think it’s cool to interpret it as, like, Zack losing faith in those people, his loss in hope of what they thought, they believed, or maybe losing the values that they thought were important or something. And the way that Aerith’s DMW held on so long. When I tell you I screamed the first time he’s came up, and I almost cried when the it finally disappeared. And that grueling end fight! Where it’s you against three simple infantrymen, but Zack at this point is so tired and exhausted he can barely lift the buster sword. Oh my god, at least they did this part super well. 

Okay, my switch wouldn’t let me take screenshots of the ending cutscene, boo, but here’s my thoughts on that. 

God that last scene is so brutal.

Zack bleeding out and dying, and it not shying away from showing the blood and how painful and sad this is. And Cloud, managing to crawl over. I already knew this scene, but it still hit super strongly. Like, how relieved must Zack hae been to hear Cloud talk for the first time in ages? To say his name? Confirmation that Cloud was still in there and still cared about him? And all he can offer him now is a purpose and a weapon to carry on. And the way Cloud SCREAMS at the end! And Aerith looking upward, and you know that she can feel that Zack is dead. I have just have one problem, and that’s that it becomes a music video??? Like, why the hell would you do that? 

I also like the detail that the post-credit scene is the opening to FFVII. Very nice touch in my opinion. 

In summary, I like a lot of the ideas and themes that Crisis Core says it's going to deal with, and most of the ways that it expands the FFVII universe, but i wish it was better and more thoughtfully written. Everything feels so rushed, and like it's going a million miles an hour, and I don't get the chance to get attached to people as much as I wanted to.

Seeing so many people putting Azula and Zuko against each other bothers me a lot, because that's literally what Ozai did. How can you guys not see that? It's canon

Azula and Zuko were both terrible to eachother in multiple occasions (edit: actually, Azula was terrible to Zuko, but I didn't wanna get jumped by Azula stans so I made it seem like they were both bad. Sorry about that and thanks for correcting me), but they're both traumatized children fighting a war that started before they were even born. The war made them that way. Ozai made them that way

Azula was horrible to Zuko for most of his life, and that's canon. You can't deny it. But at the same time, it MOSTLY wasn't her fault

So, we know how Ozai clearly liked Azula more than Zuko did. But why is this? Zuko may not be as good as Azula in terms of bending, but he's not a bad bender. Ozai likes Azula more (not loves; likes) because she acts the way he wants her to act. She's cold, mean, calculating, manipulative and supports the Fire Nation. Zuko is nice, he asks too many questions, struggles with his emotions and can't seem to stfu (I know I sound mean saying that but that's literally canon. That boy cannot, for the love of god, shut his fucking mouth up)

Ozai made Azula be more like him. Zuko gets his kindness from his mother

And on the topic of Ursa, she canonically loves both of her children, even if she prefers Zuko due to him being less like their abuser. We never see her calling Azula a monster, besides of the scene where she says “What is wrong with that child?” OUTSIDE OF HEARING RANGE and right after Azula did something Bad™ (forgot what it was sorry). This is why I believe that Ursa never directly told Azula she feared her: Ozai told her she did. Ozai spent a lot more time with Azula than he did with Zuko, which was very easily an opportunity to poison her mind even more. And how did he do this?

By telling her everyone hated her.

He isolated her, made her cold and unforgiving, so that she wouldn't have any “weaknesses” like Zuko did. He used her as a means to abuse Zuko. He told her Zuko and Ursa were weak and that they both feared and hated her

Zuko would be right to be angry at Azula for treating him the way she did,but he still should know (and he DOES know, it was literally the main theme of his redemption arc; realizing that his abuser was the one at fault and not him) that the one at fault was Ozai. Same with Azula; it wasn't Zuko's fault nor Ursa's, Ozai is the one that willingly chose to destroy so many people's lives because he wanted power

And I'm pretty sure Zuko and Azula don't hate eachother like many people believe them to do. No, they love eachother, but ofc Ozai fucking ruined their relationship bc he ruins EVERYTHING

Zuko is sad that their relationship turned out to be that way. Zuko wants them to be better, to do better. Zuko wants them to be happy. But Zuko has also grown up with a version of Azula that could never make mistakes and that was mean af. Zuko won't be able to have a perfectly healthy relationship with his sister ever because of how he was made to think of Azula as perfect, and because Azula was made to think of him as weak

So, please, don't pit them against eachother. Don't compare the abuse they went through (seriously. Doing that is disgusting). Don't bring one of them down to make the other look like a little angel that does nothing wrong. They already suffer because of that enough in canon. Leave my babies alone

In V7 when Ruby had her panic attack / anxiety fit when Salome mentioned Summer and we saw how her mental image of Summer was now upset / in distress and she fell to the floor. Do you think that was just. Im not sure what I’m trying to say. It was symbolic of course bc I’m sure actual Summer isn’t just standing in a field. But do you think she collapsed due to stress? Like she was so overwhelmed with grief and fear and her eyes activated as if she were trying to save Summer, like she didn’t activate them on purpose it happened as a reaction to what Salem said. How did you interpret that moment I guess is what I’m asking?

with the added context of V8, i think that scene, specifically the change of scenery and mood of summer, and ruby's reaction, is to show that the super idealized image of summer, of this perfect huntress, that ruby had gets knocked down a little... or a lot.

in V6, the image of summer that ruby has, it's straight up gorgeous. it's bright, happy, and it allows ruby to use her powers successfully. and at the time, ruby would have known already that summer's disappearance and presumed death had something to do with salem, but she would have also thought for it to be more like what happened with maria; i.e. summer was on a completely normal (if secret) mission, and salem's minions found her and that was that.

in V7, salem happens, and what ruby is saying in that moment is that they know salem can't be killed, but they don't have to kill her to stop her, and they will stop her.

...and then salem drops the bomb that summer said those same words to her, and that she was wrong too. and suddenly, it wasn't a regular mission gone wrong, it was an apparent suicide mission that summer went on alone, never telling anyone what is was really about because they would very likely try to talk her out of it, that ended exactly how you'd think it would.

and i don't think ruby's about that. like, that doesn't fit her image of what an ideal huntress is like. sure, ruby takes risks, sometimes huge ones, but they're not at "try and fight an immortal being, knowing they're immortal and that they've hunted down your kind before" level. and more importantly, i really don't think ruby would ever take those kind of risks, because she's not allowing others to do so either (penny) and she fully believes her friends need her, and she can't be there for them if she's dead.

and it's no surprise ruby thinks that way, because on top of all that, this is a child who lost their mother at a very young age. before, there was at least the comforting fact that her mom died being a regular huntress, and doing what's right—sometimes, bad things just happen, y'know, especially in this line of work—but now? her mom decided to leave her to grow up without her, to do something incredibly stupid, knowing how ridiculously risky it would be, and it ended just about how anyone could have predicted had they known beforehand.

to quote 'red like roses part ii': "you were the one i needed, and you left me as i always feared you would."

so ruby breaks down. her ideal image of summer changes to something a lot more somber and perhaps realistic, and because summer has always been The Goal for ruby, what a huntress should be like, she has to re-examine what kind of a huntress she wants to actually be now, because that Goal is not looking so good right now and is getting kinda torn down, bit by bit.

tng update of the evening. we did "the last outpost" and "where no one has gone before." verdict: watchable?

"the last outpost" is the ferengi episode. i actually had fun here; i loved data's finger trap and how it tied into the overall story (we have to band together to unstick ourselves), the ferengi were decently funny, goerdi getting stuck upside down was funny, nobody was too annoying. did sigh deeply when all the ferengi saw tasha and started gasoing because they wouldnt believe a WOMAN was allowed to wear CLOTHES. we were doing so well

oh also shoutout to when the entire spaceship was about to freeze to death. which is why children shouldnt be here. and crusher was like "i was tempted to give wesley a sedative, but..." and picard was like "you shouldn't" and she was like "but i'm his mother and i love him" and picard was like "yeah well he deserves to meet death awake" and she was like "is that a male perspective" FIRST OF ALL WHY ARE WE MAKING THIS ABOUT GENDER YET AGAIN WHY ARE ALL OF CRUSHER'S SCENES ABOUT HOW SHE'S A WOMAN. secondly they're both insane it is obviously so much kinder for him to be sedated thats why they put their kids to sleep first on the fucking titanic. when peasants from 1912 have more common sense than a starship captain lmao

anyway aside from those two fumbles i would call that episode solidly watchable. i even had fun at some points (funny fight scene, jonathan frakes asked a question). i can see that this could be a good show if they could get out of their own way

more mixed feelings about "where no one has gone before" because while it was the first time i actually liked wesley (he was just a nice kid behaving and being nice to that poor silver guy while being interested in his work!) the episode immediately invalidated all of that by going but wesley is SPECIAL we have to let him be an ENSIGN so he can STAY ON THE BRIDGE and DO WHATEVER HE WANTS and also not even ask his helicopter mom first.

it's bonkers to me because most of the time wesley seems to get away with murder but the one time he had a reasonable thing to say to an adult he got told to buzz off. and i'm sure next time he's being annoying the narrative will jump to making excuses for him again. i think i could also like wesley for being a bright and kind kid but ONCE AGAIN we cannot get out of our own way here.

i liked the concept of the episode - like shore leave but serious - but it also feels like it's way too early for this kind of ep. i wanna know what these people are like normally before i know what they're like when their thoughts are becoming reality and i still don't know. i'm barely convinced that they're friends instead of friendly coworkers and they're pulling out the deep shit. worf's pet pig and picard's mom were fine, also, but i did not like the upsetting thing with tasha's cat and YET ANOTHER mention of the rape gangs. she is the fucking janice rand of this series gene roddenberry must have had some kind of issue about blonde women. i did read somewhere that she left the show bc she wasn't happy so that bodes SUPER well i'm sure

that said i did unironically enjoy the scifi premise of the ep which is "what's at the border of the universe" because i think about that all the time to scare myself even though i know "border of the universe" doesn't work like that. i also really liked the cgi. so that was a mixed bag

except i continue to want good things or even just more meaningful screentime for characters like tasha geordi or worf bc i think they're interesting and i wanna know more about them but star trek said <3 no

💧 🌟 ☁️ Shooting back with those for any of your character >:]

I'm gonna do multiple ocs for funsies >:] (Saturn, Pip, and Void)

Under the cut bc uhhh it got long lmao

💧 random angst hc

Saturn: This bad boy has so much TRAUMA. One specific thing is that they almost always flinch if anyone moves too fast near them, mostly due to all the fights they were in when they were younger. It genuinely triggers a fight-or-flught response, that almost always ends in fight. They're working on it but also they would rather just not be near people to avoid the risks

Void: ik I've mentioned the whole "Void feel what Mk feels/gets the same injuries as him" thing but what I HAVENT mention is how it negatively affects their mental health. Like, they get hurt bc of Mk, then they have to go and tell other people that Mk is hurt, and they rush off to help him, leaving them feeling really alone and unwanted. It takes them ages to ever communicate it to someone but once they do the others make sure they aren't left alone when they're hurt like that :)

Emerald: angst hc that he gets beat to death violently wt a hammer by Saturn Gadget and Infinite /j

Pip: I've talked abt it b4 but the way they die is so tragic like. She was trying to save her friends, her family, and died believing she had; she thought her sacrifice allowed the jackal squad to live on. Except, they died too, and her death was in vain

🌟 what do they think about when they look at the night sky? is there someone they want to star gaze with?

Saturn: They like the continuity of it. After all the changes their life has been through, all the pain and joy and shifts, the night sky stays the same. If they could star gaze with anyone, they would do it with Pip. They miss sitting quietly next to one another, just taking in the beauty of the sky (and maybe Pip, too, bc they're a huge lesbian)

Void: They think about how big it all is. They named themself after it, in a way; the void of space. Space is so amazing, something idealized and loved for its beauty and mysterious nature. When you get there, though, it's mostly just void, nothingness, not nearly as amazing as what you see from earth. They thought of Mk as space from earth, and them as the void of it all (they were Not doing the best emotionally when they named themself but they stuck with the name afterwards bc they liked it :] ) If they could stargaze wt anyone, it would be Mk, so they could both talk about it (Mk likes space just as much as them, they'll spend hours ranting at each other)

Pip: Cool days and relaxation. They stargazed between missions. If they could star gaze with anyone, it would be Saturn (She has a crush, and maybe this time she'll finally confess. Or maybe not. After all, she has all the time in the world to do it. All the time in the world.)

☁️ a soft hc

Saturn: After long days, they'll often curl up on the couch with Finn and Gadget and just fall asleep together. Sometimes, after a bad nightmare, they'll go to their room and sleep with them, too

Void: Sometimes, Void and Bai He will have sleepovers together. Since Macaque is taking care of Bai He 9 times out of 10, he gets dragged into their sleepovers. They all end out having hot chocolate, binging movies, and falling asleep in a pile of blankets and pillows :]

Pip: Sometimes, when one of her squad mates are feeling down, she'll go out of her way to find the prettiest and brightest flowers she can, and braid them into a flower crown. It usually cheers the others up (also, sometimes she just braids them directly into the others' hair)