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throwaway-yandere · 1 year

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I Got Reincarnated As A Server NPC In An Otome Game But A Capture Target Won’t Leave Me Alone (Yandere!Diluc Ragnvindr/Reader)

a/n: fasghadsa this is my thank-you fic for @poptartsthings for supporting my fics for the past year!!! thank you for the tips huhuhuhu ;;;—;;; hence, I wrote this diluc fic for *clears throat* "mommy milkers". Enjoy this self-aware yandere otome game!duke diluc ragnvindr!!!

unreliable synopsis: what if you got isekai-d in your favorite otome game and one of the Love Interests found out they aren’t a real person? (or, ya know, whatever the title said lmao)

"Bottoms up, Duke Ragnvindr!"

"No matter how enthusiastic you are, I remain inclined to think that this is a horrible idea, (Y/n)..."

Reluctantly swirling a small amount of fire-water while wearing gloves, the duke saw how the alcohol hardly made a wave. Unsatisfied, he diverted his attention and observed the NPC pour their drink.

"In all honesty, your grape juice is worth more than this, (Y/n)–"

"Shush!" With a flamboyant and dismissive wave, the generic common mob silenced one of the Main Characters. "Don't ruin the mood, now. I had to pull a few strings to get this bad boy right here. It’s such a shame that Mister “Best Boy” Albedo can't come, so we have to make sure I get my money’s worth off of these bottles. It’d be such a waste of francs."

"Wasted like the thousand francs wine you clumsily spilled last year?"

"Don't bring that up again, please."

"Why not?" He chuckled. "If you hadn't, I wouldn't have met you."

"If I hadn't, I would've been drinking with Villager B..." They muttered as they grabbed another glass from the cupboard.

He pretended not to have heard it.

They are both aware that their destinies follow different paths. No matter how hard one of them tries to walk next to the other, this cruel fate will separate them with a penalty that is even more agonizing than the last. All because (Y/n) was a real person, and Diluc was not.

Duke Diluc Ragnvindr is this game’s easiest route: the typical childhood friend who falls for the heroine– Princess Lumine– first. In this genre, he falls into the category of those love interests who are incredibly austere with themselves that they were unable to enjoy the small things in life outside work. Ultimately, he follows the cliche of protecting the heroine from harm until she remembers that they used to play together as children in the palace gardens. Which, in itself, is quite a feat since the duke was not a man many could befriend. Unless you count Chief Justice Ajax as his greatest comrade, then perhaps he could finally add item number 11 to his list of trusted people.

The “Duke of the South” only favored audiences for those he was willing to invest in— after all, he’s famously known for having a “good signature.” It may seem like a compliment for uneducated nouveau rich men, but those with an eye for Gaciean politics knew how much power he has as the head of the Department of Military Affairs. Tales about his on-and-off disputes with the Chief Ajax circled as frequently as Teyvat Time’s popular Paimon-The-Friendly-Fae’s comic strips. Some loved his obsession with national security whilst some were quick to call him a pampered weapon hoarder, but if there’s one thing everyone can agree it’s that they fear the southern duke.

Now, after introducing a political figure with crimson locks of hair and domineering combat prowess, it’s certainly a tough sell to introduce the last person left inside: (Y/n) (L/n).

Unremarkably, they’re merely an NPC from Xiangling’s Seaside Restaurant. They’ve “reincarnated” into this world fumbling about like a newborn until the chef offered a job. Fortunately, they were not completely helpless in the kitchen. They had shown off their managerial skills from their old job since day one. Since then, Xiangling had hoped to train them as the new manager, but (Y/n) preferred to take on some responsibilities gradually. After a few days had passed, they abruptly realized that they were "Server C," an NPC with only a character sprite and a scarcely distinguishable name. The red ribbon-theme outfit from their restaurant was the only thing that distinguished them from the other faceless workers. According to what they can recall, one of their tasks is to give the princess's order of candies while she flees from her overprotective retainer, Dainsleif. It was a tense moment in that common route since all three of the princess’ potential suitors were customers from different ends of the restaurant, which were Dainsleif, Kamisato Ayato, and, of course, Duke Ragnvindr.

… Unable to snap out of their initial shock after recognizing that this was one of the game’s CGs and seeing three attractive men inside the restaurant they work at, (Y/n) accidentally broke the script by spilling the wine on Duke Ragnvindr’s coat.

Since then, (Y/n) had trailed and followed the characters whenever they could for their amusement– often helping their favorite love interest, Albedo, set up the scene so they can view his "CGs" in real life. Due to their apparent lack of stalking skills, they had another off-script encounter with the duke whilst doing so. Instead of heading straight to North Gaciea as he had done in the game, he was delayed seven hours after he weeded (Y/n)’s hair out of the bushes they were hiding in. Their first meeting was horrid, and their second almost went in a similar direction. Almost.

Since (Y/n)’s lies were as visible as their head peeking out of their hiding spot, Diluc had them drink a truth potion to uncover why they were stalking the chief alchemist, however…

… Does the phrase “the truth is stranger than fiction” apply in this case when both the earth and the sky are nothing but lies?

Diluc put on a convincing poker face when they babbled about the game they live in, demonstrating both their objectives and, more critically, their in-game omniscience. Albedo is the only love interest who changes into a feral (and subjectively "hot") monster toward the end of the novel, thus (Y/n) was adamant that he be Princess Lumine's ultimate endgame—but going any further in their explanations would be deemed a "spoiler." Additionally, Albedo’s route could only be unlocked once you finished another character’s route first… and that character happened to be Diluc Ragnvindr himself.

———

“In layman’s terms… We are living in a complex romance novel-esque system, correct? And I am the ‘book’ people often recommend to start the series with first before moving on to the sequel?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“… and I am just a stepping stone for a happier ending? A pawn? A mere puppet for someone chasing a momentary cure for loneliness?”

“Well, it felt real to me when I played your route—”

“Perhaps, but feelings do not change what is real and what isn’t.” Diluc sighed, unsheathing his dagger to break off the ropes that held the server down.

(Y/n) traced their wrists, appreciating now how gentle he had been when he could’ve gone rougher.

“Diluc…”

He bit his lip. It pained him to hear the server call his name as if they knew him.

They spoke as if they were friends the whole time right after they just revealed that his life is a self-fulfilled prophecy of unrequited romance.

And it was insulting.

———

The two have come a long way since then. He lost his faux feelings for Lumine. After gaining self-awareness, Diluc had begun avoiding what occurs in the game’s plot under the NPC’s guidance. To improve Lumine's chances of acquiring Albedo's route, (Y/n) was more than happy to assist him, so they started exchanging chats that ranged from oblique threats to routine discussions only friends could have.

Even so, (Y/n)’s attempts were futile when Albedo revealed to both of them that he knew he’s also just a character since the day he was “created”, and that “I would greatly appreciate it if you stopped attempting to produce an inorganic chemistry between the protagonist and me.”

…The chief alchemist was a smart one for sure and his confrontation had sobered (Y/n) fully. Although Albedo will never be the princess’ endgame nor will he turn into an apocalyptic dragon, (Y/n) had earned his friendship and started treating the rest of the cast as people and not just characters.

Diluc gazed out the window.

It was late into the night and rain was falling. There was not a single domestic sound emanating from nearby homes, which was a wise choice since annoying harpies would have gathered at the sound of human noises. Birds accosted the drying trees and roofs as fog swept through the streets. With the exception of this seaside restaurant, most stores were noticeably closed. The downpour buried the sound of crashing waves just a few meters outside, so no one would have known that this was close to the beach.

"Huh," (Y/n) stared in the same direction. "Didn’t expect it to rain tonight. Guess you can't escape this cheap alcohol-tasting session, huh?"

In the course of his outdoor nightly training, the head of the Department of Military Affairs grew incredibly resilient against mere storms. "I don’t need an umbrella."

"Fair," they laughed, distinctly human compared to the usual polite chuckles he would hear from leeching nobles. "But oh, dear Duke, if you don't need an umbrella then why are you still here? Is it because you wanted to see me– w-wait hold on—I'm kidding— sit down!"

…

They reached for his arm, but try as they might—

their hand only passed through.

The two stiffened.

Diluc’s breath hitched.

That was proof.

Because of this scripted fate, a commoner like them can't even grasp his hand, let alone touch it. Not when the system outright denies the friendship they have.

An NPC like (Y/n) can’t remain friends with a main character like Diluc once they have fulfilled their role in their story.

Diluc was untouchable.

He closed his eyes. Just acknowledging this pains him.

They both sat back down.

Much like how Diluc had pretended not to hear their comment earlier, (Y/n) also pretended that nothing unreal occurred seconds ago.

"S... So, is there anything else you want with that?" They pointed at his glass. "We have a crap ton of limes and cranberry juice! Oh, but I'm not sure if it would taste that good if we mix it, haha."

He could practically hear them force that laughter right out of their throat. Diluc hurriedly swallowed the fire-water they offered him since neither could stand the awkward tension. Diluc cringed.

"Oh, sorry, was it too strong?" Many nobles who detained the duke with platitudes were met with sarcastic comments, but he never hated (Y/n)’s idea of small talk.

"It's fine." He spoke huskily.

"Does it need lime or any add ons–"

"It's fine."

"... Okay."

The silence was painfully awkward... Perhaps Diluc shouldn't have threatened Albedo to sit this one out. He wanted an opportunity to be alone with (Y/n), and this is far from what he had hoped would turn out. Diluc's forehead creased as he held back what could've been a long somber sigh.

"How's work?" He asked.

"Oh, it's been alright."

That doesn't sound promising. This was a trick up his sleeves to snap them back to a cheery mood. Usually, they’d start rambling about their regulars and watch how endearingly entertaining they are. There should’ve been a quip about Itto’s TCG losing streak or how Kunikuzushi and Kazuha were arguing again over where they should place their tent for their next travels. This time, (Y/n) barely uttered a phrase.

They continued, "I don't suppose I could ask you the same, given that most of your work is confidential–"

"The Holy Kingdom’s crown prince visited North Gaciea today."

"Oh?"

Finally, he could see them smile for just a bit. Of course, they’d be interested to hear about Zhongli since he was the poster boy for the game’s sequel. Fortunately for Diluc, (Y/n) never got to play the game.

"That's wonderful! I was waiting for an English Localization of the sequel for soooo long! Was he hot? I bet he’s gorgeous as fu–"

"No."

"No...?"

"I mean." Diluc cleared his throat. It's barely even a shot of fire-water and he's already getting impulsive. "I meant that I cannot discuss the matter further. I am not like Kaeya. This is confidential, like what you had said."

"Ah..." Their eyebrows furrowed "I see…"

Why did they sound so disappointed?

Is (Y/n)… bored of him?

Diluc digressed, "how's Dainsleif?"

"Dain?" Their nose scrunched. "I haven't seen that poor guy for weeks now. He’s probably escorting Princess Lumine to Justice Ajax’s territory like in the game. Why?"

"Kamisato Ayato?"

"Ah, he ordered a crate of Dango milk yesterday," they laughed softly. "I'm amazed at how that man is barely affected by the script. I mean, I guess that’s to be expected when your route can only be unlocked by choosing three unsuspecting dialogue options. I don't think he talked to the protagonist at all these past two years. You’d think Lumine would’ve raised her wits stat high enough to attract his attention, but alas, Lord Ayato’s still lounging around East Gaciea doing Venti-knows-what."

He wasn’t paying attention to their ramblings. All their names sound bitter in Diluc's mouth. Unlike Albedo and Diluc, the rest of the Love Interests are free to interact with them as an extra. Server C had also performed their last scripted interaction with them, hence, (Y/n) can never touch Albedo and Diluc again.

Retainer Dainsleif of the West, Lord Kamisato Ayato of the East, Chief Justice “Childe” Ajax of the North, Chief Alchemist Albedo of Who-Knows-Where, and Duke Diluc Ragnvindr of the South… Princess Lumine certainly had fine options.

The Duke just wished the otome game scriptwriters would’ve let him have his own choice in the matter as well.

(Y/n) rested their elbows down on the table as they gazed into Diluc's distant eyes.

"Why did you ask?"

Diluc frowned, He admits it— (Y/n)’s eyes are nothing to write home about. When compared to an ephemeral beauty like Princess Lumine, their ordinary (e/c) eyes and visage hardly qualify as "distinctive traits." Their vibrant red ribbon is the only thing separating them from the street's grey residents. Yet he can still tell it's them no matter how big the crowd is. No matter how much they look like an “NPC”, to him at least it was a face worth seeing. Even if they mesh into a blob of slime, he can sense their essence through and through.

Although he can now barely make out the features on their face, nothing on this false earth can convince him that he wasn’t talking to the love of his life.

"I..." Diluc loosened his collar, suddenly growing hot at the intensity of their stare. "I simply wished to learn how the two other Love Interests are doing. I’ve had a chat with Ajax, and he still acts like a quote-on-quote “yandere” as you had explained before."

“Is that all?”

Diluc nodded.

"Ah," They shrugged. "Got my hopes up there– I thought there are other “Wasureta: No More” CGs I haven't seen yet."

Diluc smiled and took a drink.

"Ahh..." He exhaled, his eyelids fluttering shut in the process.

"You okay there pal?" They asked. "I know I said we shouldn't let any of this go to waste but you know I can just store them back home right? Oh, you can have some too but I don't think you'd like so–"

"I'll take a bottle."

(Y/n)’s eyes widened.

"Y-You..." They stuttered, "You sure?"

"Yeah," Diluc mumbled, lying to himself. "It tastes okay."

They grinned. The sight makes his decision all the more worth it.

"Haha, great!" They fist-bumped the air "See? Told ya cheap fire-water tastes good!"

Don’t get him wrong, he's not taking one home because of its taste. He's taking one home because it might be the last memento he'll have of (Y/n).

"Hold on, let me get a ribbon." They opened their palms to stop him from leaving. "Can't give the great Duke of the South something that looks barely presentable now would I?"

They left him with a skip in their steps. Diluc smiled.

Now that he's left alone, he silently wondered:

Just how long can he last before he tells the NPC that he wants to ruin their friendship?

———

Along with the sounds of gutted flesh reverberating through the tunnel's dark passageways, a man's hysterical laughter echoed. It was mostly silence in the caves, and there is a strong sense of loneliness upon entering the vicinity. Humans and animals alike would feel as though there is no life inside those walls, but the joyous yet hollow laughter came from the end of the tunnel.

And on the other side, you'll find a red-haired man at his wit's end.

"Tell me..." His words dragged out in a low growl as he grabbed a fistful of the bloody and tattered blonde's greasy hair. The man whimpered from his touch. "Was it fun? Laughing at my misery this entire time? Were you laughing along with them? Lumine, Dainsleif, and all the rest?! Did I put up quite the show there?!"

Crown Prince Aether trembled.

Duke Ragnvindr had everything figured out.

———

“There’s one regret I have now that I’ve isekai-d in this game.”

“What was it?”

“It’s just that,” (Y/n) sighed. “I never really got this game to a 100% completion.”

Diluc raised an eyebrow, unimpressed by their obsession with Wasureta, “and why is that important?”

“Hey! It’s pretty damn important!” (Y/n) grumbled. "Tsk, if only I finished your bad endings… The guides say once you do that, you’ll be able to unlock a secret route.”

“A secret route?”

“Yeah,” they shrugged.

“I’ve read some spoilers from Otomekitten's blog and get this— the last route reveals where Lumine’s brother had been hiding all this time.”

———

The nerves on the back of Diluc's palms were more noticeable as he pulled the poor man closer. Simply put, their faces did not resemble what mankind should look like; rather, they were an animalistic representation of a predator and prey. Hitherto it had disturbed Prince Aether in his rests, but it was too late when he finally acknowledged that something unhinged lay dormant inside the duke.

"P-please..." He coughed. Blood started drooling down the edge of his lips. He assumes that a few of his teeth are likely knocked in, and he can feel his canines prodding inside his throat. "H-have merc–"

With alarming ease, Diluc threw him in the direction of the shelves. The blonde fell and gasped violently when the splintered wood struck his shoulder. The gaping wound on his hips gushed out once more, bleeding onto his carpet and scattered notes. The duke was a monster. He intentionally missed striking his vital organs to prolong his suffering. More blood gushed from his mouth and the prince noisily wheezed out wet coughs.

His Highness has (Y/n) to blame for the hints they gave the duke.

If they hadn't had that conversation, Diluc wouldn’t have figured out that Aether created this “game” world out of grief for his dead sister.

———

“I’ve been alive here for a year or so but I can’t get used to how the harpies in this world look so tame.”

“Hmm? What else were you expecting?”

“Nothing much, it’s just that they look so different in the game’s beta.”

They shrugged. “Fun fact: did you know that “Wasureta: No More” was a fantasy-horror game before the scriptwriters decided to rewrite everything?”

———

"Tsk." Diluc spat and wiped his mouth with his last dirty palm as if there was a major difference. Both are equally soiled with oil and Aether’s blood; it wouldn’t have mattered.

The duke snarled aloud into a burst of savage laughter, "what's wrong, My Creator? Can't even muster up the courage to face your retribution?"

"F-Friend..." Aether called out, hoping to garner sympathy for the Diluc who once looked after both him and his sister at the royal gardens. Hoping to remind him that he was placed number 1 on the list of people the head of Military Affairs had trusted.

"Don't call me that," Diluc's grip on his claymore grew tighter until his knuckles paled.

"Du-Duke..." The blonde looked up. "I can't just... Rewrite this story again..."

"You can," Diluc spoke in a somewhat broken voice. His sanity may be waning, but he cannot deny that Aether was included in the list of the people the duke trusted. "We’re just characters you’ve written. You've done that before. You've done that to Lumine."

"And I r-regretted it!" He sputtered out, accidentally stronger than intended. The blonde scurried to lean against the wall as he feared Diluc would attack him for his offensive tone. "I regretted it. I thought I could revive my sister... I thought that would bring Lumine back into this new world. I thought it would bring her happiness if– if I gave her m-more options–"

"Forced options," Diluc grumbled, rightfully angry at the blonde's interferences. Based on his inference, three of the five suitors wouldn't have been whisked away by Lumine's whims if it weren't for her brother’s influence. And judging by his pained reaction, Diluc would be right.

"But she’s not my real sister.” Aether sobbed. “She never will be— she’s just an image I had of her. And I-I still ended up making this false Lumine more miserable."

"No shit." Diluc snickered with narrow eyes. "You made her miserable—"

The duke just wished he knew where Aether was from the very beginning. He would've had Prince Aether's head before this whole damn game even started.

"And you made me so fucking miserable, Crown Prince," Diluc muttered.

“I just wanted to be with (Y/n).” He breathed in shakily, “is that so much to ask for?”

"P-Please, listen to me." Aether wept. "Ch-Changing someone's fate brings more harm than good!"

THUD.

Aether shook as a claymore thrust through the concrete just a hair beside his ear. He gulped under the towering gaze of those piercing red eyes. They glowered over him, and they were far from pleased. Aether was too terrified to look away as he saw how Diluc's eyes spiraled into the abyss. The air was thick with heat emanating from Diluc’s pyro-abilities. The sound of the metal rang in the prince’s ears like a warning, thus, the strength in his shoulders weakened and his muscles have gone mushed as he cowered down.

Changing fate brings more harm than good? What a joke. By the looks of it, letting fate run its course only puts the prince in greater turmoil.

Maybe Diluc should offer his head to Her Highness. It doesn't matter whether he lived or died, does it not? If she's so desperate to find the missing prince again, it wouldn't even matter what state his casket is in.

"Di–"

Aether couldn’t breathe.

"Don't struggle."

Diluc effortlessly slid the prince's entire body up the wall after grabbing his throat. Aether's feet curled up as he struggled to steal a breath. He tried to kick and claw Diluc's arms away, but the man stood his ground. Ruby eyes continued to pursue him with an icy rage that Aether was all too familiar with.

The fact that they both placed a lot of faith in one another was a mistake.

Aether's eyes started to tear up involuntarily. Diluc spoke those words as if they weren't threatening remarks, but a merciful command. Yet it doesn't change the fact that he intended to assassinate the prince with his bare hands. Aether began balling up his fists and striking him, but it was ineffective.

"..."

Diluc coldly watched his stomach bleed out like a student dissecting a frog.

Aether's vision clouded. As he flailed his limbs like a wild animal, dark blotches started to appear in his line of sight. His fingers are unwittingly clawing at everything as the adrenaline starts to kick in. Aether never wished to harm a soul, but at that moment he was aiming for Diluc's eyes.

His survival instincts kicked in.

He can't die.

Not like this.

"Si–..."

Lumine. Sister.

Aether needed to apologize to his sister.

He still hoped to say sorry— sorry for leaving her to run a kingdom alone— sorry for not being able to save her in the original timeline—

sorry for resetting and rewriting the game just to see her alive and happy again.

Aether had so much unfinished business piled up. So many discoveries he has yet to pen down. He can't die here. He mustn’t.

He grabbed something. A fleeting crimson near his assailant's collarbone.

Was it Diluc's hair?

He pulled harder. All his strength was wasted on that sliver of red hope. Anything that would get his assailant to stop.

And Diluc did. His grip on Aether's throat loosened as the prince fell back on the floor. Aether wheezed, his vision slowly returning to him. His bated breathing echoed inside the room as his eyesight returned to him. When the prince's eyes finally focused sharply, he saw silk.

This wasn't Diluc's hair, it was–

"(Y/n)’s ribbon."

Diluc used the very same ribbon (Y/n) to decorate a bottle of fire-water with to tie up his hair.

Aether shivered.

"It seems like you wanted to choose your death."

Oh fuck, oh fuck.

Aether looked up. He shouldn't have looked up.

Duke Diluc Ragnvindr's face was red with a grin uncannily reaching his ears to a degree that shouldn't be possible. His expression was akin to a lovesick young adult twisted to its extremities. He appeared to look excited. To think that he burns up by just a mention of this person’s name makes Aether sick to his stomach.

"Allow me to heed your last wish, Your Highness."

The prince felt his whole body tense up as Diluc wrapped the ribbon around his neck.

Diluc did not give him any more room to breathe as if his body was moving automatically.

This wasn’t Diluc Ragnvindr anymore.

His eyes were empty.

This was a man possessed.

"Ch...de..." Aether forced out his last words as the ribbon quickly wrung around him.

"S..ve... my... s....ter"

———

Diluc only pulled out of his trance after he started washing the blood off his hands. Elzer subsequently informed him that the duke had entered the manor bloodied and unkempt with no recollection of how he got there and that he had strolled carelessly to the restroom like a corpse. There was a commotion across the entire Ragnvindr manor and rumors that he had lost an unpleasant duel quickly circulated. Better that than the truth, he supposed. Even his memory of what transpired in Aether's basement is hazy. Diluc only had their red ribbon and the idea of winning in his mind. He refused to let things continue as they are.

It wasn't until he started drying himself with a towel that he realized that the crown prince perished by his hands.

To think that Diluc used to be so terrified of offending royalties– of accidentally slipping a lese-majeste out of his lips– but now he let a royal's soul slip out of his wrists.

It's invigorating.

Diluc not only tied his fate with theirs, but he successfully managed to cut their ties with those disgusting vermin they call their “regulars.” They can't have them anymore, and they won't even intend to reach out. No one remembers who Server C is. They are now alone together with him. He’s the only person they can depend on. Diluc's breathing heaved lower. Just thinking about their inevitable dependence excites him.

He quietly closed the door behind him.

"Good evening, Server C." He smiled. "Or, should I say, my beloved?"

Just the two of them.

They won't look at anyone else. They can't. The whole world will now feel what he felt when he was unable to touch (Y/n). Only HE has the privilege to hold them now.

It's just the two of them in this world left. After all, there is no statute of limitations once you learn how to play Creator.

Diluc Ragnvindr had successfully rewritten this game’s script.

He no longer carries any in-game responsibilities, much like how there is no Lord Kamisato, Justice Ajax, Retainer Dainsleif, and Chief Albedo that exists in this “script.rpy” file.

It’s just him and his beloved server, alone.

Diluc wiped his mouth. He's practically dro– no, his mouth is literally watering at the thought. Diluc's heart is pounding, almost threatening to break free from his ribs.

"I’m all you have now, (Y/n)." Diluc's gaze softens. "Isn't that wonderful?"

His hands reluctantly traveled under their blanket where their hands should be, scared that when he reaches out, he'll feel nothing there.

He felt their warmth.

Diluc grinned tearfully. He can finally touch them again. He felt their fingers crossed miraculously against his own.

"You’re so warm..."

He gently rubbed their calloused hand against his cheek.

No matter how overworked or ragged these hands were from washing the dishes, for him, they were silk to touch. So soft. So vulnerable.

Diluc swallowed his saliva with great difficulty. God. They’re so vulnerable right now. So peaceful. So fragile. His breathing increased in volume. He could just take them right here–

His bottom lip started to bleed. He was doing everything in his power not to cave in but his throat was starting to get parched. He breathed in deeply.

Not now. Please, not right now. Not when they probably don’t remember who he is.

Diluc wanted to see the look on their face as he finally kisses them. What expressions will they make? It's not fair to both of them to steal such a moment when they’re asleep. That's not what he had been waiting for. Not what he's been craving.

"My beloved, you're a beauty from afar, but you're even more flawless in my arms," Diluc muttered over their ear.

"And I'll do everything in my power to let it stay that way. Fate and the entire world be damned."

-----------

A/n: want to read more of this in a visual novel form? It's here :)

Edit: HERE'S THS IMPROVED SPRITES AND OVERALL UPDATED GAME!!!

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rennybu · 3 months

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hi.... i'm just a poor boy . who does not know the loam lore. would you be willing to share.... a summary.... (so curious i am a loam enjoyer)

oh my gosh hi griff..! oh there is so much to tell... i will h ave no choice but to put this under a readmore. the shortest answer is that he is my character of 3+ years in @jawsandbones homebrew dnd campaign and he is like a son to me. but to start off with baby pictures:

LOAM was born 52 years ago in a city called TILDEN, which is blocked off overland by a CURSED* SWAMP that creeps closer every year.

*Misremembered and only Recently Re-Contextualized Major Historical event

His mom is a shy, worried, and loving woman named Bayla - she's a druid and sells medicinal mushrooms of all sorts. His dad is an unwaveringly positive (but incredibly serious) mason named Uttara who proudly works on all sorts of projects around the city, especially major infrastructure. Yay stoneworkers!

(Because fantasy lifespans are strange and somewhat silly to me I just imagine Firbolgs to be stuck in their mid-20s existential dread until they're like at least 150. The backstory part of this spans literally 51 of his 52 year s of life. he's so young)

He got equal enrichment from time spent in nature with his mom as from time spent in the city with his dad. His nickname in the Tilden Firbolg community To This Day is "Always With Questions" - a kind of affix to differentiate him from any other Loams. He may not know much but he really would like to find out, please!!!! He sees a lot of beauty in the natural world, but his idea of what's natural is skewed somewhat by the uh, Curse. He once fell through some algae into a deep body of water and had a very fun memento mori experience as a kiddo (beautiful golden sunbeam shining onto a silty skull)

He got the name Loam very young from his interest in both his parents' work, which lead to him learning about soil types and uses in gardening and construction aklfhglskg. Loam was important for both jobs so he (in guess-what-I-just-learned little kid fashion) told everyone who would listen about it. The association STUCK and he's Loam now :].

His birth name is actually Rahara! but that's secret knowledge only his bestest friends and Tzip and some scarycool important NPCs know.

He loves beasts and magic and plants so much. And on the flip side he also loves and is fascinated by architecture and engineering. He never got any like, higher academic schooling or whatever, but had many many different apprenticeship type training relationships from his parents, other tradespeople in the city, from the senior rangers etc etc.

Small break to plug @jawsandbones lore packets for the Quarter Cities (including Tilden), Scarabae, and the overall campaign setting!!!! I'm just gonna talk about stuff without adding too much context of my own because AAA WORD COUNT!!!

The hole in Loam's ear was brought about by a shit ass Tilden local trying to tear his earring off him, since he'd bought it from a foreign merchant from a city Tilden/the Quarter has historically warred with. Loam's always been open minded and deeply curious about other cities, due to how isolated the bog is. Any visiting merchants are sources of wonder!!!! Even though he only bought the one hoop earring from the Quietus merchants (Mirjam and Mihail, mother and son!), after the ice was broken he stayed by their stall the rest of the day and talked about all kinds of things, and befriended Mihail!

Loam trained as a ranger as soon as he was old enough to do so!!!! He saw it as the next logical step past what his parents would be able to show him and was incredibly eager to get hands-on experience in the wilds. He met his first ever boyfriend among his peers there!!! Bragi... he has had many lovers and situationships in Tilden since, BUT only recently feels comfortable trying monogamy again after meeting Tzipporah.

Bragi unfortunately died badly to a creature in a traumatic backstory incident that left young Loam super fucking bereft and hyper aware of how easy it is to die. (Big monster attack + group of trainee rangers accompanied by a few more senior rangers + chaos and bloodshed. Loam carried Bragi to safety and tried resuscitating him but he was already gone. The experience made him uncomfortable with the idea of being in a defined, monogamous intimate relationship for the next like. 19 years. He felt like he got ripped in half!)

After the ranger's guild recovers from THE CREATURE ATTACK, Loam meets his close friend, Reece, a fellow ranger and Kenku (she looks like a masked shrike)!!!

He gets his septum pierced by the same visiting merchants from Quietus a few years after Bragi's death. It's a very important moment for him, where it feels like he can finally start to let himself change and grow beyond that event. He also spends more and more time in the city, away from the more rural/overgrown districts, and chases a love for the arts and partying and people, where he meets Kallirhoe (human, not a even a classed bard but like. an indie musician. an eboy if high fantasy had eboys. a tattooed twinkish fellow. you know the type)! They are very good friends who also have sex. Many days spent waxing poetic about THE BIG WIDE WORLD and how they'll never get to see it. (Spoiler: He sees it)

Loam gets into tarot as a hobby, and makes his own deck in a very scribbly freehand style with ink and charcoal!!!! he's slowly replacing them with more Worldly artwork - the deck he left home with was very. Tildencore

Many good years of being a party girl who has to go work a construction job tomorrow and then go be a ranger at 6. A rich and storied life. AND THEN THE GAME TIMELINE STARTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A path Through the bog has recently finished being built by Dagda, the Southern representative to the other Quarter Cities, making more trade possible overland, and making local tensions go even crazier. Also there are strange Awful Huge Scary Monsters appearing WORLDWIDE, so the Directions and the Three Kings of Scarabae and the remote island of Geest (ADRA'S HOME!) and the mysterious magical Widow's Wood are all like "STOP WAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING RN". Trials are held in the Western city of Dina to appoint FOUR TEAMS OF FOUR to help defend against the new threat. Loam is like. Well I've gotta fucking do that. I've got to try. If I'm not chosen, at least I've set foot outside. He has a fight with his mom about this, because she is terrified she will lose him, like she lost her mother in a previous conflict when Scarabae was occupying the Quarter, before Loam was born. He stands firm and his dad has his back, and ultimately he leaves with both their blessings, but his dismissal of his mom's feelings weighs heavy on him the longer he's away from home. (He has a big cry and reconciliation about this when he is next able to come home.)

I'm clapping and cheering and skipping joyfully because now he HAS MET HIS BESTEST, DEAREST, CLOSEST FRIENDS IN THE ENTIRE WORLD: ADRA ILSA AND TALEE!!!!!!! I have to be so careful now because we have no joke hundreds of pages of notes. I cannot read that shit on google docs mobile app. We are approaching session one hundred and fifty of this game. They love each other so fucking much. THEY ARE THE INFORMATION GATHERERS!!! A PARTY OF SLEUTHS!!!

He also has his meet-cute with Tzipporah at the trials, which in hindsight is hilarious, because of the whole, "Tzipporah was sent to the trials as a spy (by the very people responsible for the giant awful monster crisis) and immediately pegged Loam for an easy mark to get information from" thing. And he was 100% correct. But a lot has to happen before that gets revealed. They took a nice night walk and write each other big long letters. And Loam tells him soooooo much <3

At one point while exploring a wizard tower he attunes to a lightly cursed ring and forgets what his parents look like, like their likenesses are Gone from past and recent memory. Which is a big thorn of homesickness that he writes to them about. He has a big cry and stares at them both for a LONG time when he next sees them.

Also they save an orphaned Kenku from some bandits and now Loam has a little shoulder-sniper named Bubby. We have a son. A perfect little crow son who is really good at killing, with arrows. He hides things in Loam's hood regularly

Other major things include ummm umm Loam's TWO deaths, one during a dungeon-rescue type scenario in a room that was Flooding and full of Phantoms and also a charmed Druid (Feyan, good friends now) wildshaped into a big scary water snake. He was hurt bad and (comedically) levitated so he wouldn't DROWN but then got Phantom Speared right through the torso. Second one was because Tzip's evil half brother Vences was like, mad at him for being a good influence on Tzipporah and interfering with the spy duties. Chill touch so no healing + dagger in the ribs! Ow. Also the reveal that Tzip was a spy was happening like, simultaneously here so we were yowling and screaming. (Well. Talee and Co had their long time hunches about this. Loam and I had turned a beautiful blind eye to all suspicious activity)

ANYWAY HIS DEATH SCARS LOOK LIKE A COMET ABOVE HIS BELLY!!!! The spear scar made a patch of his fur turn white (front and back), and the dagger scar is its crude tail!

I am skipping over so many plot revelations i. This is just the Loam Cut. and it's not even all of it.

His buzzcut was for emotional superstitious reasons!!! He cut it after Death 2 and Tzipporah getting taken against his will back into Evil Gang. Loam's mom has a lock of his hair at home now. ALL THIS TO SAY TZIP IS OKAY, NO LONGER SPYING, WE RESCUED HIM AND RIPPED A MASK OFF HIM AND SAVED HIM FROM GETTING HIS MIND EXCAVATED ! SO LOAM IS GROWING HIS HAIR OUT AGAIN!

The deaths of his close friends and their allies have also been. insane for him to process. To return someone to life in this setting u need to like. entreat a Titan. plead on the deceased's behalf and offer something up for the chance to revive them. (NO player spells like revivify. house rule) So interacting with these entities he sees as like Both forces of the natural world AND of huge religious/cultural importance regionally. And to have their requests be HEARD? He loves magic he loves Titans. And the plot is unfolding in such a way that scares me so bad. He loves his titan (The Curious Spear) SOOOO MUCH he has like the foundational belief that it can see through his eyes. Even if not true it motivates him to always seek understanding of strange new things.

Oh my god I didn't even talk about his multiclass into druid. He's a druid also. Circle of the Stars!! As a navigational point. He loves them. He loves space. He loves geography and regional interpretations of constellations. He used to just do freehand observations but truly became dedicated to charting the skies of every place the party travels to, after Tzipporah gifted him a grid-lined journal <3 <3 <3 STARRY FORM!!!!!!

His awe and inspiration and hunger for knowledge is the well he draws magical power from. My Boy is thematically bound up in the soggiest parts of this earth and also the unknowably distant stars above and I'm normal about it (lie) (There is a new and scary Third Thing rising which is the space between. I <3 Void). I know i draw him beige and green but his like, character colour theme is. Dusk to me. Gloaming. When the world is lit like a dream <3

In summary. In conclusion. He and Adra and Ilsa and Talee (and the rest of the Four of Four) are trying to prevent Global Disaster of an existential scale never before seen and are being very brave about it.

Loam wants to understand everything about Everything. Because understanding is love. Unfortunately there are hostile resentful and vengeful forces making this hard to do. Most recently by saving a city we Unmade a magically sustained centuries-old library. And we haven't had time to like fully let that sink in. Because of the horrors of war and being Four of Four means responding to emergencies and protecting cities as best we can against a foe that was forgotten by history until like, 10 months ago. Less, even. I hope this is anything. I hope u are his friend now too because he is yours

good lord how could i forget. His gender is male in such a way that he does not give a shit about it. He's one of the girls. He's genderless. Like a knight. His sense of identity is built on Living Laughing and Loving.

his personal goals are 1. to uncurse the bog in such a way that the wrongs committed by Tilden historically are brought to light and righted, 2. to get super married to Tzipporah and build a house together, and 3. to somehow, eventually, through great teamwork and effort, cure(?) the dreadful lingering soul plague on the island of demeter. HUMBLE! OH and to make a finished star chart covering the entire planet. humble.

thank u for reading here are his current stats

#titan campaign #loam #aart #theres some secret goodies under the readmore btw #IM SOOOOOO SORRY FOR THE CHAOTIC FORMATTING AND HOW MUCH I JUMP AROUND #i will happily answer more questions. and i wont take months to respond i promi #GRIFF... THANK YOU SM

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play-on-skinners-box · 8 months

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Others have already been furrying the Raincode characters and doing a phenomenal job, but when I would peruse Danganrompa fanart I really liked seeing different and wildly varying interpretations for the characters' animal choices and now it is my turn, my GOD GIVEN DUTY TO PROVIDE IN THE GENISIS OF THE RAINCODE FANDOM, FOR THE HONOR OF THOSE WHO HAVE COME BEFORE ME.

For all of them I used their pose from the artbook renders. I'll say it's to keep them recognizable but that is actually a lie I'm just lazy.

Secretary Bird Halara:

Halara I did first and they were the one I was most jazzed to do because I love them dearly. I made them a secretary bird and I think it's a PERFECT fit. Ahem allow me to rattle off. Secretary birds are birds, so doomed by the narrative to have to stay away from cats, they are predatory birds and of course Halara would be at the top of the food chain. Speaking of predetory birds, secretary birds are known for their ability TO KICK VENOUMOUS SNAKES TO DEATH, AND THATS JUST TOO GOOD A FIT. They also have plumage that I could easily shape into Halara's kinda smooth swoopy hairstyle, and face markings that could be sort of representative of their glasses! I think the drawing for them is probably the weakest out of the group just because as I went along I improved and started to translate the human designs in less one to one ways, plus the pose Halara has in the artbook doesn't fit perfectly to the really big wing hand things. I still enjoyed making it because H A L A R A N I G H T M A R E but I'm honestly kinda sad at how lackluster it is compared to Fubuki and Viva who got the most interesting details and texture work. NEVER DO YOUR FAVORITE FIRST IT'S A TRAP.

Guinea Pig Desuhiko:

With Desuhiko I was going back and fourth between a few rodents, I just think he kinda looks like one and already had those pikachu cheeks. My first scetch made him a hamster, and while it DID look like him, it felt a little too... Indistinct. Desuhiko's probably my favorite design in the cast just because he looks so distinctive and has a short stocky bodytype I really really love and makes my character designer brain happy, so I swapped hamster for guinea pig. While the guinea pig face doesn't look like him quite as much as the hamster, they are very interesting and distinctive looking which I loved a lot more even with a bit of accuracy sacrificed if that makes sense. Also there are Guinea pigs with spikey wild fur that make it so I could just kinda give him his actual hair and still have it make sense. Guinea pigs are also the perfect size and shape to be thrown like a large softball and out of all the Master Detectives Desuhiko looks like he'd be the most sadisfying to chuck across a room.

Fish Fubuki:

Fubuki was really hard just because it's difficult to anthropomorphize a fish in the same way as a mammal or a avian cause of their structure. She might look a biitttt more like a fantasy creature inspired by a fish than just a fish but she's charming enough I don't completely mind. I got some SOLID advice and looked at some Splatoon NPCs characteristics to try and make her more appealing. So why fish? I got it as a suggestion that I ended up really liking because fish are notorious for their bad memory, live in tanks their whole lives(Fubuki is the definition of sheltered), and they have fins to mimic the shape of Fubukis cloak and hair. I used beta fish for reference, they don't really fit her but just being a fish was good enough for me and at that point I was prioritizing looks. She doesn't even really look like any specific species like the other three to be honest. She's defiantly the outlier of the group but that's fine, she can be special in her own unique way like always. Got a little lazy with making the hair look all that fin-like, but it's kinda the main event of her human design so I wanted to keep it as true to that as possible but looking at it now I think its tooooo copy and paste looking. Her furry design IS my brothers favorite out of the batch so that's gotta count for something!

Flying Fox Bat Vivia:

The vampire looking man was always gonna be a bat, I am but a slave to the whims of fate. I made him specifically a flying fox because they're the largest bat species and therefore can loom ominously. Vampire bat would have been fun too, but they have more of a squished bastard energy that doesn't really fit Vivia. Bats also are known for their weird sleeping habits, ala upside. Viva isn't sleeping upside down or anything like that but he DOES snooze in some weird places so I think comparing him to a bat in multiple aspects is very apt! His drawing and animal design is probably my favorite, I really like the wings, and the bat feet are super weird I loved doing those. I did have trouble incorperating his hair, flying foxes have pretty smooth heads, but they do have sort of a mane thing going on so I tried to put some of his hair texture and shape there instead. Sorry I did not give him is edgy edgy hair cut, I too love it very much but it was simply not to be. I did try to mimic it's vibe with the patterning on his head though, an illusion of his bangs.

I'm very happy with this lineup overall, they're some neat little designs if I do say so myself! I might do more but I have the chronic problem of not being able to sit still for a long time to do a BUNTCH of guys again(though for the record I would make Seth the most delightfully storm drain gutter looking creature). I also kinda wanna do Makoto and Yuma cause someone suggested a REALLY good idea for them, but the concept for Makoto with this idea would be more of an involved design that I wouldn't be able to use all of his normal outfit for so it'd probably take longer than average.

TLDR: Furries amiright?

#rain code #raincode #halara nightmare #desuhiko thunderbolt #fubuki clockford #vivia twilight

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fyeahnix · 8 months

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okay I gotta talk about Cyberpunk 2077

I really really wanted to play this game on launch back in 2020 but it was just...not ready so I avoided it. I also know the game was criticized for some things and a bunch of people made thinkpieces about how you shouldn't play it and all that. and like...sure have your opinions about it, that's fine. I was disappointed at the launch, but content wise I wanted to play the game for myself. so I waited until it went on sale for 50% off this year and bought it on GOG (which, if you're interested, that sale happens at least like twice per month).

before I went on vacation to Europe at the end of June, I finally started it. and I was....kinda in shock????

(keep in mind this is pre-2.0 patch so some of this might be out of date when that comes out)

(major story spoilers below)

first off the character creation is......not amazing? like there's plenty of nice preset options but it's limiting. V's gender being tied to their voice is FUCKING AWFUL, and I do not agree with that direction in the slightest. tbh I think that might be the absolute worst part of the game, where it would have been much easier to just...give you an option for pronouns?? like why was that not the direction wtf. and also having your voice and body type be a prerequisite to romance options too?? I just....UGH there's work to be done here.

past that tho, I love how much personality V has and I love the acting. I went with female V with a Street Kid background. it was really nice seeing how she came back from Atlanta to start back up in Night City and how her relationship with Jackie quickly blossomed. and man these two together were so great. imagine getting close to killing someone and getting arrested and then being like "bruh that cop was a fucking asshole and I'm hungry, let's go get some food bruh" and then I saw The Montage.

man....man oh man that fucking Street Kid montage of V doing jobs with Jackie? with the music in the background? I ended up watching that like 2-3 times (because the game crashed) but i genuinely did like it a lot and it really set me up with for the overall vibe of Night City. I dunno maybe I'm easily entertained but it was...just so cool?? I think it really lends itself to the animation and acting in the game overall. while most basic NPCs are nothing special to talk about, the ones who are, who clearly have some mocap going on with their facial expressions, are a fucking treat to watch regarding body language and subtle facial changes.

I somehow avoided all spoilers of the game for nearly three years (also do not have experience in this IP) so I had no idea who Johnny Silverhand was and his significance to V. I wasn't a huge fan of him in the beginning but I quickly grew to like this asshole, especially as the game progresses and you learn more about him and his ideals and his very flawed perception of the world. I really really wanted there to be a solution where he and V live happily in the end, but ofc this genre does not allow happiness lol. It was very cool to hear his input during some jobs even if I thought they were ridiculous sometimes or he was jumping the gun a bit, and it was nice to get to know him better. I eventually came to see him as a bit of an older brother figure for my V. not perfect and offered "sage" advice when he felt warranted. obviously he has some self interest in keeping V alive because that means he stays alive, but it was very sweet to see him change over time to wanting to genuinely help V out.

by the end, I chose the route to storm Arasaka with Rogue because....why the fuck not, it's not my definitive playthrough. Aaaand I got The Sun ending. Rogue died. and I hated that. but more than that I wasn't happy with my V and her situation, but I'll get back to that in a bit. that brings me to the romance option.

again, I somehow avoided all spoilers for this game and while I vaguely remembered seeing Judy in one of the initial trailers from like...3+ years ago, I couldn't fully remember her role in the story or even what she looked like. all I can say is.....fucking love at first sight.

ok so like...I'm a bit of a simp for nerdy girls. and techy girls. and alt girls. and artsy girls. so to have her be nerdy and techy and alt and artsy and also have hobbies outside of that? man....the second I went to her apartment and learned more about her hobbies and interests, I was fucking smitten. it was super nice to be able to see regular people shit out of a romance option in a major game. and on top of that. her drive and interest in standing up to injustices is admirable. I love her, seriously. she's such a great character.

the romance. man.....I wish I had more words for it, but the way it progresses through the questline, the little hints you get about her own interest in you (Johnny mentioning the way she looks at you and you liking it), the way her texting towards you starts to change over time. I feel like it was paced extremely well within the confines of the game. and then....Pyramid Song happened.

at first, I approached this as any other romance in any other RPG. "oh yay, I can fuck the romance option yaaayyy" but nah. this quest fucking....ruined me in the best way possible. it was beautifully done. the acting, the emotional impact of the lake dive, V and Judy's minds melding into one, learning about Judy's past and hearing her memories... even writing this paragraph now I am near tears because that romance was so fucking well done. like yeah the eventual sex scene was great, but everything leading up to that was absolutely fantastic. to have seen this in a game, especially as a lesbian interacting with a character who ALSO is a lesbian, was just.....ugh it meant so much and I know there's no way a straight man wrote this lmfao.

I also love how after the relationship starts, Judy continuously texts you for A WHILE afterwards. She tells you random things, brings up her thoughts, and eventually tells you how much you mean to her. It is unbelievably cute and I couldn't stop smiling when I read every new text. I really hope they expand this in the update. And if not....well...I may consider doing this myself in a mod or something lmfao.

I also went through Panam's questline and tho it sucks that I couldn't romance her, I did develop a headcanon for V's interactions with her that I made a post about previously. like idk after seeing and meeting her in her quest, she was not at all who I thought she'd be. I was expecting some like....extremely femme prissy woman like...idk Loba from Apex Legends or something who couldn't break a nail or she'd fuss about it (remember I avoided all spoilers of this game lol). but NAH, def not her. she's more like "hey V, how many tons of dynamite do we need to wake up an entire Wraiths camp?" and you know what? I fucking love that shit.

which brings me back to the ending. I had a headcanon for my V that basically goes like this:

V is a Street Kid merc from Night City who comes back from Atlanta to restart her life. She meets Jackie and they quickly become best friends. All the shit about Arasaka happens and Jackie dies. V starts to have second questions about whether or not reaching the top of Night City and becoming the best merc is really what she wants. She's seen death plenty but Jackie's death has haunted her and now she herself dying. In the midst of doing jobs to survive and figuring out how to fix her situation with the Relic, she meets Panam and quickly becomes friends with her. She was a little interested at first but Panam was not. V respected that and did not persist, but they did become very close friends. V eventually meets Judy as well, and while they started off a little rocky, she ends up liking her and eventually they start a relationship. But having that conversation with Judy at the lake about Judy wanting to leave Night City really gets V thinking. But she carries on. Blah blah blah, story stuff, she becomes close to Johnny as well, but eventually I had it in my head that V really loves Judy as a partner and really loves Panam as her best friend so why not live out the rest of her life traveling with the Aldecaldos? She can leave her merc life in Night City and start fresh with her newfound family, best friend, and life partner.

And what do you fucking know, this is actually possible as an ending lmfao. I only just read the endings right after finishing my playthrough and this will be my ultimate goal the next time I play this V in my....prob 3 or 4 playthrough by then.

anyway, enough story. time for gameplay.

so I usually do stealth builds in these types of games. I chose to go with a stealthy throwing knife build (very fun!) after deciding pistols and bladed weapons that aren't knives weren't really for me this time around. I haven't played a ton of stealth-based games, but generally what I've noticed is that they tend to give you routes/pathways to follow if you pay enough attention. like NPCs will have predefined walking routes, the environment will have certain openings/paths available to navigate and either avoid or kill incapacitate these enemies quickly and quietly. I don't feel like I got that sense in this game here? I dunno if it was poor stealth design, but I do think it was this:

this game really REALLY wants you to utilize a cyberdeck, it feels like. interacting with the environment, whether it's creating distractions or blinding enemies or whatever, seems to be the goal with really working with stealth. I can't say that I hate it, esp since that's a part of the game world, but sometimes doing stealth feels more difficult than it should be because of this perceived expectation to...create your own routes and pathways so to speak. the last like...10-15 hours of my playthrough, I ditched the cyberdeck and went with a sandevistan but had invisibillity cloaking to make up for the lack of a deck. still fun but it did feel like I was using cloaking as a crutch to get out of LOS when spotted lol.

I have no opinions on guns and gunplay in this game as I haven't use them yet, but I'm sure I'll have thoughts for 2.0.

text messages were really cool lol. I know they are bascially just predefined messages but I still liked that and I loved how you can talk to characters on holo instead of visiting them in person. idk I'm a sucker for stuff like this.

the perk system is not great, I oftentimes felt confused on what perks to even get because a lot of them were underwhelming and felt more like Fallout 3's "numbers go up" options. the overhaul 2.0 patch will apparently give us more options to play with in terms of changing gameplay so I am hoping the changes will be reminiscent of going from Fallout 3 -> New Vegas in perk style.

Cyberware is great and this is where I feel the game really opens up in playstyle compared to the perks. I'm happy to see this is being extended and armor will be tied to cyberware instead of clothing in 2.0.

vehicles are cool. I like the variety in them but I feel like there could be more. additionally there's so many of them available for free that it almost makes no sense to buy them unless you're just doing completionist stuff. the handling is fucking awful and I hope that improves in the patch.

Night City is absolutely fucking gorgeous in a dirty and grungy kinda way. I've lived in a major city for most of my life and it def gave me that....really raw inner-city feel with people walking fucking everywhere, cars that nearly won't stop til they hit you, stores and shit everywhere, gang members hanging out on the corner or in front of stores, police stopping someone for questioning, etc. I just love it. a lot of it is window dressing. you can't go into like 99.99% of the stores and whatnot in the game. that might bother some folks, and that's understandable, but I'm completely fine that it's all for show. It helps the atmosphere.

I suppose I could talk about how well this game presents the genre as a whole but...I can't. I don't have the background history and knowledge of the IP itself or the genre to really talk about it in detail. If this game comes across as "baby's first cyberpunk experience" or doesn't go too hard in the punk direction then....fine, I guess? Whatever? I still enjoyed it lol. I would like to experience more cyberpunk as my experience so far has been limited to Shadowrun Returns and Dragonfall, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", and Blade Runner. But yeah I'm not an expert here so I mainly just wanted to talk about the gameplay and presentation.

anyway I think that's about all to talk about really. this was more just...stream of consciousness and rambling than anything lol. I had a really awesome time with the game and thought, despite the shitty launch and character creation thing about gender, that it's def worth checking out. can't wait for the DLC and 2.0 update because I will likely eventually talk about stuff that may or may not have changed. this is gonna be the game I focus on heavily for the next few months until I get sick of it. then I might start exploring with mods.

#Cyberpunk #Cyberpunk 2077 #Johnny Silverhand #V #Cyberpunk V #Panam Palmer #Judy Alvarez

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historyandmyth · 7 months

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Please get started on lightning returns lmao

[sputters and laughs] This is the funniest ask I've ever gotten, partially because I don't think you know what you're uncorking here, anon. I do try to keep negativity off this blog nowadays, but I'll oblige you this one time.

Salt beneath the cut, click at your own risk, dead dove: do not eat, etc etc.

Naturally, given how central Lightning is to this game, most of my grievances are with how she was treated and written, though I'll quickly note my other problems with the game:

The fanservice obvs. :U

The combat. Why did we do things like replace the fully functional stagger gauge with the weird audio waveform readout? Seems like a strange choice when XIII-2 had actually made noticeable improvements in terms of accessibility during combat (larger health bars, more readable text, etc).

The incredibly discordant and hard-on-the-ears soundtrack.

I don't usually harp on graphics because I don't really care about how pretty or "realistic" a game looks, but when the dev company boasts that this game is the "most complete and polished" in the Final Fantasy series (not the trilogy, the entire series), and then we get... copy-pasted trees... well, let's just say that that's objectively not the case.

The fact that all of the previous main protagonists don't play more prominent roles in this final installment of the trilogy is abysmal, and this goes twice for Sazh whose "character arc" has been recycled twice now.

The fact that we lose this wonderful world we've spent the past two games exploring and growing attached to is also abysmal! I hate stories where we lose magic at the end, separate the found family, etc etc. and LR is guilty of all of that. It's such a kick in the teeth.

Here's what I did enjoy about this game:

Masculine outfits. They all look great on her. And even better is when you run by NPCs and half the time they can't figure out her gender! (Really furthers the enby!Lightning headcanon I have for this game in particular.)

The fact that you can have Lightning take a jab at Etro during Noel's main quest lmao.

The guy in Luxerion that sings the New Bodhum theme.

You get to pal around with Fang in the Dead Dunes.

...And that's it, that's all I enjoyed.

And now, what I really hate about LR and how they wrote Lightning in general is... Lumina.

Do not get me wrong. I don't hate Lumina for superficial reasons like her personality or aesthetics. If she wasn't inherently tied to Lightning, I think I'd find her rather interesting. Her voice actor did a stellar job with her!

Instead, to me, Lumina's existence is a really hilarious admission from the writers they didn't know what to do with Lightning's character post-XIII. Lightning—who was shown in the first game to be incredibly self-aware, genre-savvy, and emotionally mature—gets reduced to a character that needs to have her "emotions" trot out in front of her as a little girl that harps on and harasses her for things like, I don't know, allegedly pushing her friends away?

Friends that never offer to help her in the first place, I might add. If they really wanted to drive home the idea that Lightning was being aloof, they had ample opportunities to do so. But instead all we ever have is Lumina telling us what Lightning's intentions supposedly are. Lazy writing at its finest!

Lumina also accuses Lightning of trying to be "as cold as the steel in [her] sword," which is a notion later tied to Lightning "locking away" her heart as a child which is just... a really funny retcon when you once again consider how emotionally mature she becomes in XIII.

We did this character arc before. And we did it to much better effect! The whole Lumina/Claire fiasco is one of the biggest walk-backs I've ever seen for a character's development, it's insane.

(I've already spoken at length about how Lightning's character is not the self-sacrificial type, either; you can search my blog for the word 'sentinel' if you want those posts.)

It's just sad, because there are ways they could've played with Lightning's character that would have made sense and been in line with the things she'd gone through up until this point. If you wanted to mess with her emotions, you could've written her as bitter, exhausted, and traumatized after her extended stint in Valhalla. This could have been a natural and compelling consequence of her time as Etro's guardian. It wouldn't have resulted in a terrible rehash of her first game's character arc either lmao.

Anyway there's a lot more I could say but I'm just gonna end it here. LR bad but could have been pretty good with a little effort, the end!

#ff critical #not my most eloquent post but it's been a long three weeks

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lollybunxiv · 1 year

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♡ LFRP - LOLLY MELODYS ♡

(my WoL carrd ♡)

Lolly was left abandoned as a baby deep in the woods of North Shroud. Luckily, Lolly was found shortly afterwards, with a note by her that read "I'm sorry I failed you", by a woman who had hoped for children but circumstances never made it so, she was taken in by this older miqo'te and raised as her daughter. Though Lolly considered this woman to be her real mother, she yearned to find out more about her past, and so she decided to become an adventurer and study the art of Summoning, hoping that during her travels in the outside world, she may come across any clues that will point her in the direction of who she is and what her background truly is.

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

THE BASICS

Name: Lolly Melodys

Age: 26-27

Race: Viera

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Bi/Ace

Marital Status: Dragonsong Reprise TL - With Haurchefant Main TL - Aymeric

Server: Aether/Cactuar

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Hair: pink long hair with white highlights

Eyes: golden

Height: 5'10"

Build: average

Distinguishing Marks: two markings on both of her cheeks

Common Accessories: always wears cute earrings~

PERSONAL

Profession: Summoner

Hobbies: Archery, baking, decorating.

Languages: common

Birthplace: North Shroud

Residence: The Lavender Beds

Religion: n/a

Fears: her friends and loved ones hurting, abandonment

RELATIONSHIPS

Spouse: not married but Dragonsong Reprise TL - With Haurchefant Main TL - Aymeric

Children: no

Parents: n/a

Siblings: she doesn't know of any

Pets: fat cat probably

TRAITS

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between / Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured / In Between / Uncultured

Loyal / In Between / Disloyal

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

HABITS

Smoking Habit: no

Drugs: no

Alcohol: on certain occasions

CHARACTER HOOKS

The Traveller: Lolly is well-known to travel, and very rarely is kept to one place. She meets many different people upon her travels throughout the realm, and is partial to talking to many different people in the places she visits, to learn more about the culture and history of different places in which she's never visited.

Birds of a Feather: Lolly very rarely meets other Viera, and she typically seems to be one of few in the many places she goes. It can lend to feeling out-of-place. If you're a Viera, she'd love to hear all about where you're from and your background.

A Fighter: Lolly is often roped into fighting alongside other adventurers who she doesn't know too well during her times in different places. Maybe she's roped into teaming up with you during one of her many battles?

Getting the Job Done: Other Summoners are a dime-a-dozen it seems, due to the old tradition that they often get led astray from fighting for "good". If you're a summoner, she'll be very interested in getting to know more about you.

Baby It's Cold Outside: Lolly, no matter the timeline, has her ties to Ishgard one way or another. If you're traveling through Ishgard, or are someone from Ishgard yourself, you'll likely cross paths with her.

OUT OF CHARACTER

I'm located in the North-East US.

Prefer to RP through Discord and not really in-game, due to being able to flesh out more details through Discord. Though, I am open to sometimes taking it to in-game.

I'm good if you want to include NSFW, but Lolly is ace, and therefore sexual situations with Lolly is off the table. However, if you want to include it for yourself and another character, maybe an NPC or something, I am fine with that, so long as you don't expect to include my WoL. But reading anything you want to include like that does not bother me.

I would like to write in one main timeline, but I'm good if the timeline is an AU like Dragonsong Reprise or such. I'm okay with steering away from canon slightly, but to base it more in the game, would like to keep it generally to the storyline.

Open to multiple RPs going with multiple RP partners!~

IMPORTANT: I am currently on the beginning of Shadowbringers right now in FFXIV. Have not reached Endwalker YET

#ff14 lfrp #ffxiv lfrp #ffxiv #final fantasy 14 #final fantasy xiv #PLEASE SOMEONE RP WITH ME AHHH #im desperate seriously please dm me if you wanna rp :(

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prpfs · 2 months

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❤️❤️ King/Assassin, regent, guard, etc. MxAny, OCxOC! Hello all, I'm an 18+ literate Rper looking for others who are 18+. I write in 3rd person and I write in Present Tense. Looking for others to do the same though I'm okay if you choose to RP in past tense (and are fine with inconsistency in tenses between us). Here are some plots I have and a short description of my character's personality.

)-My character is a 'puppet king' (not publicly known) who has made some... unpopular choices in his ruling over the past few years. The common public hire/have a decision made to have someone infiltrate the palace and take him out, making it appear to be a suicide (for fear of total governmental collapse if it's revealed that he was killed, lol). Your character would be the assassin here. Perhaps they get to know him or figure out that he's not really in charge... either way, shit goes to the fan and everyone has a terrible time.

)-My character (younger version, but almost of age) has just stepped onto the throne. A regent wants to take advantage of this and rule in their own way. I am interested in 🍪 but it is not necessary. I'd love to go in detail in terms of like. government policy and interactions between highborn npcs and whatnot.

My character seems pretty dull at first. Very much a follower, not a leader, and doesn't seem at first prepared for the position. Backstory-wise, in the first plot he was married to the princess at the time due to a traditional patriarchal monarchy, yadda yadda, she needed a man on the throne and her parents convinced her he was the guy for the job. in the second plot i'm thinking is a little more complicated... don't have a lot of ideas down on the board yet but something something terrible accident killed parents, trauma, etc etc

I'd prefer your character to be someone who either plotwise or personality wise has a reason to get involved and interested in my character. NSFW is not a requirement but if it seems to be heading that way then Hell Yeah. I use drawn FCs and prefer you do as well but i don't mind irl or w/e.

like this post, message me, or find me on discord @thinker109

Discord: thinker109

#oc roleplay #oc rp #oc x oc #dead dove

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forcedhesitation · 2 months

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After my last post I decided to sit down and rank all the possible companion pairs. here is the tierlist, should you wish to fill it out yourself.

This is a "ship" chart, but it's important to clarify that I am interested in how the dynamic works overall, not just romantically. I am very invested in how the stories of different characters overlap, and how they could mesh together to change both people involved. so the more interesting I find an individual character, the more likely they are to be higher in the chart.

How interesting I find characters also usually translates to my desire (or lack thereof) to draw them. So my likeliness to draw a pairing is the scale I used to describe each tier, rather than a nebulous "S," "B", or "F." This way, I feel it is better understood exactly why each pair is placed where it is.

Once again, sorry to those who enjoy miss SH. I do not hate her, I just do not find her to be an especially compelling character. I like the voice acting for her, but I don't care for her design, and I feel any element of her story is simply better explored in those of other characters.

*Special Exception 1: I have to split this pair off specifically, because I've thoroughly disparaged it in the past, based on erroneous judgments of halsin's character. when I first played the game, I locked myself out of a lot of Act 2 dialogue with him, which meant I missed the parts of his character that I do find interesting. I will say, it does still deeply bother me how much of his character revolves around sating the sexual desire players might have for him. I also hate that, as far as I'm aware, he can only acknowledge the player's relationship with astarion in the context of having sex. But after spending an entire campaign playing the game correctly, trying to learn as much about halsin as I could, and thus romancing him, so that I could properly judge him, I have grown attached to my rewritten version of him. so I'm not so much fond of the star/halsin pair as it is in game, as I am of that dynamic in the context of corydalis' campaign.

*Special Exception 2: after what happened with halsin, I feel it would be unfair to judge how interesting I might find minthara's relationship with most of the other companions, given that I've not yet had the opportunity to recruit her. despite this, I can safely say that I have no interest in whatever would likely play out between her any of the men, bar gale. gale is the exception because I've seen snippets of dialogue between them. I do not necessarily think they'd work together romantically, but again, it's more that the potential dynamic between them is interesting to me, regardless of the type of relationship they have. also, I do not categorise all other minthy x male companion pairs as bad because I am of the belief that she is not bisexual. I have faith that this game would make an effort to show us that she was a different identity, were she, because it already does a great job of affirming every other companion's bisexuality outside their potential relationship to the player. what I do not have faith in, however, is that minthy has as beautifully written a story as lae'zel does, where she learns to abandon the cruel and bigoted beliefs her society indoctrinated her to have. not when origin companions like wyll & karlach still lack material, and not when halsin's writing is as inconsistent as it is. I do not think that either halsin or minthy have, or will ever have, fully fleshed out narratives.

if you've interesting commentary about a particular pairing that you like, that you feel I might benefit from reading, do feel free to share it! even if I dislike a pairing, I am usually willing to read someone's thoughts about why they do find it interesting, granted it's not like...something utterly foul. I just ask you keep any commentary you choose to share to companion/companion pairs or companion/companion pairs in the context of polyamory with a tav/durge. NPC romance is another conversation.

#bg3 #thoughts about media #sorry. I know this is wordy... but I think it's fairly concise considering I am typing all of this.#I feel my commentary is still shorter than that of many streamers I've seen do tierlists for whichever subject.#overall I am still less invested in companion/companion pairs than I am in creating an engaging dynamic between a companion/tav of mine.#sure it's considerably more work to produce a compelling companion/tav pairing. but I find it infinitely more satisfying to do.#and I must clarify. because it's imperative to understanding why I enjoy it more. that I do Not do self insert tavs of any kind.#I have nothing against the practice. even though I do not understand the appeal whatsoever because my enjoyment of something doesn't-#-necessitate my complete identification with a character in the narrative. I rather enjoy different characters for different reasons.#when I make a tav. I'm creating an... “informed response” to whichever companion I am having that tav romance.#I start with a purpose and flesh them out as I go. I rework them over and over and over. sometimes I even change who they will romance!#it's a whole process. might not be what others find fun. but it's what I find fun!

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vigilskeep · 1 year

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imo Leliana’s character becomes infinitely more interesting with her inquisition appearance! i know i originally had a hard time connecting to her character despite her being my first romance, and got really put off by her banters with Morrigan, because that’s almost word-for-word shit i hear irl sometimes, but i think inquisition actually does a good job with her for the most part! i think it focused on things that should have had more focus in origins! her character arc plays with themes of devotion and how betraying yourself and morals for someone else is bad for you, and not just on her softened/inspired routes either! Leliana is a character who, imo, spends a lot of her out of game appearance being manipulated and used by other people (or, hell, depending on how you play it, that can be her origins appearance too), and i like that she can eventually break out of that!

i have played the first like 15 hours of inquisition and i did love her in that!

i just find her writing in dao... confusing? i don’t get what they’re going for. it’s contradictory but not imo in the way that makes her writing feel complex, just jarring. she’s a fighter in leather armour and accused by more than one character of having ragged boyish hair, but one of the very same characters who says that then calls her “powdered, perfumed, you ooze elegance” and literally afraid to ruin her hair (what happened to it being ragged and boyish???), and she’s also the “girly” one who picks fun at morrigan’s clothes and lack of “civilisation”. she takes the role of the innocent prudish judgemental girl in banters, easily offended and easy to tease, as if she’s never both been a killer and idolised one, as if she’s never been a seductress and spy who should be able to control conversation! she’s supposed to be a bard but she’s awkward in flirting, a bad liar and shocked at the idea of writing a song about a tragedy (???). i feel like i’m constantly told she’s a bard but never shown

i also find a lot of her writing underwhelming on a technical level—her remarks during npc dialogue are often very generic and sympathetic in a way that barely even convinces me she cares, which falls so flat compared to the more entertaining characters. and i’ve said this before but i think marjolaine’s writing is incredibly bad as well. there’s such a lack of subtlety that i would dislike for any character but especially for two supposed bards and manipulators. no leliana i do not believe you have been fundamentally influenced by the subtle serpent’s whispers of a woman who cackles and says “oh but leliana you are me” in one of the worst french accents i’ve ever heard. seriously was it so hard to find french people for this game

i don’t know, that reads like a solid block of criticism, it’s not that bad and i do like leliana i just don’t get it. it feels to me like they came up with two separate character concepts and they already had morrigan to be the bad girl love interest so they needed someone to be the contrasting nice girl and they just shoved whatever they had into that role. and i also think her story feels a bit disconnected from the main plot, which is such a waste to me because one of dao’s few big storytelling flaws to me is that it doesn’t explore the past between orlais and ferelden enough for you to understand why loghain and many others feel the way they do. you know, the driving force of half the plot. and they have a culturally orlesian companion! right there! why doesn’t she talk about this more! why isn’t this central to how people react to her! sorry that’s kind of a separate issue but it’s such strong missed potential to me

#i feel like this comes across as really negative i promise i love her im just frustrated and confused by it all #and i want to hear other takes!! a lot of the time when i struggle to get a character like this i manage to find someone #who can make it click for me a bit

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juniperberries-canisroot · 6 months

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For the ask game: Vigilant and Nightingale. I was particularly interested in hearing about Chantilly Leice and Melka, but feel free to switch around to other characters if you prefer!

WHOOO YEAH I get to talk about Melka! I like their story cause it's somethin different than what I normally write. Vigilant will be under the cut.

Also ignore why the pics are blue, it was to help me find it easier in the massive sea that is my phone album roll. The letter was to also help me and the reader see each different letter is a different conversation.

Nightingale-If the player wasn't the DB, what would they be doing?

CL would be doing what she's trying to do now, put the DragonBorn legacy behind her, focus on her family (hubby, 3 adopted kids and her 3 dogs), keeping them safe and go about her typical business like DBH contracts, being the Listener, Nightingale and Guild Master, building connections for the Theives Guild and occasional jobs for the Companions and EETC. She does it all. She is also the Arch-Mage so she does the rare jobs for them like killing the anomalies or dealing with some rogue wacko wizard (based on cut content I found on UESP). She also does the occasional odd mercanary job for the Bard's College (I expanded upon it on her story and added a new NPC/someone who had a past with her). She takes up odd jobs as well as our player does in game. Currently her goal is to explore every Nordic ruin, every dank dungeon on both Skyrim and Solstheim. She dislikes the Dwemee ruins due to how loud they are (her Lycan senses amplify sounds).

Melka would be doing what they were before they found out they were the DragonBorn, mostly work for the Companions and helping Kodlak find a cure for the Beast Blood. Melka's story is that they aren't from Skyrim, they're from some other unnamed land where humans had to live underground cause above ground had too many dangerous monsters, along with dwindling resources. They eventually leave that place and travel around until finding Skyrim. They love the cold weather and eventually found themself in the company of the Companions. Most of the other ingame guilds aren't their jam nor do they have any interest in them. When Melka finds out some of the Circle are werewolves, they refuse the Blood. In Melka's land, 'transformation magic' is an evil corruptive magic that permanently turns the human it 'infected' into a monster after some time. It's given by a being of higher power (read, NOT a god, not Aedra or even Daedra), and at first it seems good. It gives the human strength, power, all the things they need to survive. But beings of higher power have no interest in bettering humans. The 'boon' uses the humans body as a host, and eventually the 'monster that was always inside claws its way out'. At that point the human isn't human anymore, it's a monster and must be killed like one. Skyrim challenges alot of Melka's previous opinions and views on various subjects, one being transformation magic, aka the Beast Blood. When Kodlak confides in Melka that he along with Vilkas and Farkas want a cure, somethin impossible where Melka is from, they offer their help in any way they can.

Vigilant-Do your characters follow any religion, deity, do any worship?

CL is very clear in that she does not worship any being, no Aedra, Daedric Princes, beings of higher power like Sithis, ect... However that doesn't change her situation. She is still the Listener, killing souls for Sithis, she's still a werewolf that chooses to keep the blood even after knowing there's a cure, she's still done favours and has various boons from Aedra and Daedric Princes like Mara, Dibella, Kyne, Sheogorath, Sanguine, Meridia and Hermaeus Mora. She's aware doing acts for them is still doing what they want, but she does it 'out of necessity'.

She will place no offerings at alters or shrines, she will not spread the word or teachings of someone, will not bear their symbol, doesn't invoke the name of someone for power, follows no religion, does no prayers. She also doesn't like Akatosh cause she hates being the DragonBorn, so she has a bone to pick with him.

Melka is from a land where there are no gods. Gods are simply faceless beings from a child's bedtime story, they were never real and still aren't. Even coming to Skyrim Melka still doesn't believe gods are real, and, you can't really blame them. Their world was ravaged by monsters, yet these gods of Skyrim have done things to help their followers? Where were the gods in Melka's land? What have the humans done to never be allowed help from these 'so called gods' of Skyrim, or Tamriel, or anywhere? Why did no gods look upon these humans, clearly struggling to survive, their population becoming increasingly low, near extinction levels and never offer them help or made themself known? So Melka is a bit spiteful against gods. For a while they don't believe in Daedric Princes either. But here's the thing about Daedric Princes, they actively make themself known to mortals. They wander among them in disguise, they speak to their followers, they show them their domain and give them power. Sure you could argue some Aedra do the same things, but they certainly don't do it on the same level as Daedric Princes.

Even when told about the Beast Blood, Melka thinks Hircine is nothing more than a being of higher power giving mortals transformation magic and corrupting them. Fighting feral savages doesn't help, it further proves to them the Beast Blood is a curse and that everyone who has it, Kodlak, Farkas and Vilkas included will all fall victim to it. One day they won't be able to turn back, they will be a monster forever.

#Chantilly Leice #Melka #ask game #ask meme #Skyrim #Elder Scrolls #Elder Scrolls V #tes #tesv #asks #anon #whoooo love getting to blab about my OCs

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autumnslance · 11 months

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Forever in Our Hearts

OK, so Tataru's Grand Endeavor made us all deal with Werlyt stuff again. But the focus of the final leg of the chain, once the excitement of the mechs was done, was finally on the characters it should have always been on: Allie, and her siblings.

Below the cut!

So the first part is pretty rote; get to Terncliff to speak to Gaius as your contact in Werlyt's defense (my characters were not thrilled to be called his "sisters in arms" despite his turning around), and WoL finds a situation happening of course, and so what's a former legatus to do but rope the hero into the shenanigans.

I'm amused this is apparently the first time Gaius finally gets to interact with Nero since ARR, hearing the man was alive and part of the Ironworks only via rumor, and Nero seemed quite happy to leave that the case, until his mecha was the one that was stolen.

Short little rhythm game and a fast-paced mech battle cutscene later (that makes our WoL look like a damn cool pilot, though we don't get to input anything past the initial scene) and we've apprehended the culprit; a man so dedicated to Valens--and just as unhinged in his ideals--that he made himself into a face double for the dead man.

WoL never did meet or see Valens, mind. He was emphatically not our villain, we were there to handle the Weapons and the Quintet's dumb plan.

Anyway, Gaius is disgusted and unimpressed (especially given what he now knows of his once-beloved Emperor Solus) by the raving, and in his usual controlled and understated manner simply knocks the thief out and wraps matters up. Job done, let's get back to Tataru's business.

But the thief's appearance had quite the effect on Avilina and the orphaned boys the man bullied into showing him how to slip into the hanger. Seeing the face of their tormenter again was traumatizing; Gauis was able to gently talk to them, and praise their bravery in speaking up, at the start, but he doesn't want to upset them further. So asks WoL to reassure the children that Valens is truly gone for good.

And this is where the story turns into an actual epilogue for Sorrow of Werlyt.

The boys are relieved, and bring up Allie; she's been caring for them at the orphanage. They don't want her to know about these events--not because they're ashamed of their own actions made in fear, but because they know she'd been abused by Valens too, and don't want to upset her. Instead, they want to find a way to make her dream of a picture of her family come true.

The trouble is, of her family, only Gaius is left. Avilina has a plan though. Duremert, Leofard's grandfather from that leg of this chain, is the painter brought to the lookout. Gaius agrees because the boys want to do this for Allie's sake. Allie is doing it to humor them, though she looks sad standing alone by a seated Gaius.

Avilina then uses the memory core from the Diamond Weapon to create images of Alfonse, Milisandia, Ricon, and Rex standing behind/around their sister and foster father. While Gaius is also surprised, it's Allie that he and the other characters focus on, that the camera lingers on, and Allie that gets the last "Thank you" as the screen darkens out of cutscene mode.

The boys ask if they "made her dream come true." They sure did.

Another interesting aspect of Terncliff is to speak to the elderly man who acts as the town's info NPC, the one you can speak to for a little background of the town.

What can you tell me about Terncliff? Rueful Civilian: Being far to the south of Werlyt, perched atop the cliffs, there was never much reason for anyone to travel here. Being by the sea is all well and good, but we're simply too high above the water to benefit much from it. The gulls and terns don't seem to mind, though. Rueful Civilian: Most of the townsfolk are either Hyuran natives or Au Ra who found their way here over the years. They all lived side by side, peacefully enough, before the Garleans came and ruined everything. Rueful Civilian: After years of living under occupation, the youngsters banded together and kicked out those imperial bastards. But from what I hear, it was a group of orphans raised by a Garlean legatus who played a vital role in winning our independence. Alfonse, I think their leader was called… Rueful Civilian: So many young lives lost… I wish I could give my life to spare one of them, but it's too late now. The only thing any of us can do is make the most of the freedom we've been given.

The story being told is that it was the youths whose foolish but determined actions to thwart Valens's plans for the Weapons were instrumental in freeing Werlyt. We know at the end of the story their names were added to the memorial at the lookout point, but to have them be remembered as the main heroes of a story where WoL really only ever showed up to fight while all the actual story stuff happened to other people at other times and places, actually fits.

That lack of focus, and WoL's only tangential interactions with the Welryt cast--most of the custcenes weren't even Echo, they were "Meanwhiles" in places and around people the WoL never met--is a huge chunk of why Werlyt falls flat for me. Not to mention the unexamined imperialist biases in regards to the relationship of Gaius and his former officers with the people of Terncliff.

The story should have been more about them, and Gaius's part as the focus NPC meant it got mishandled, nor did WoL get to see or interact with the ways the Quintet and Gaius learned and grew and changed in that story, leaving it a bit hollow as a necessary new start. I still feel as a character his return to the cast was a bit wasted to leave him in optional side content and dropping his Shadowhunter plot entirely (he doesn't even consider Ascians when Avilina and the boys swear they saw Valens, and frankly it should have been Gaius's first guess).

But in this little coda to Werlyt's story, WoL gets to have a bit of fun piloting the G-Warrior again, and then the mecha story is followed up by giving Allie the focus that should have been on her and the others the entire time, even if all too briefly.

Returning to Terncliff afterwards, Avilina continues her work with the Ironworks, eschewing a uniform; Gaius reads on a bench at the lookout, and discusses plans for Werlyt's forces and trade with Ala Mhigo.

Allie stands at the rail looking over the water, and expresses a new wish:

Allie: One day, I hope to grow closer with the children─perhaps even become something akin to family. Do you think that could happen?

It's also perhaps worth noting, that though I waited in the daylight hours, I never did see the ghostly children that used to play and worry for their sister. It seems with these updates, they no longer haunt Terncliff.

#final fantasy xiv #Endwalker #patch 6.4 #The Dark Throne #Tataru's Grande Endeavor #Sorrow of Werlyt #Gaius Baelsar #Family #I stuck the painting on a retainer dunno that I'll ever use it #likely end up tossing it one of these days TBH #it's a quest item I can always get it back but uh #Avilina Horne #Allie Baelsar

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velvet-cupcake-games · 2 years

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Very Gay Notes for Pride

I've posted a few times about gender and sexuality in my game world, as well as about character sexual orientations. Some stuff has changed a bit as I've gotten to know our characters better, though. So here's an updated list of characters whose stories touch on non-cisgender and non-heterosexual themes directly in-game. As Avalon operates on a pre-modern concept of sexuality, I do not use modern labels in the game. Heterosexuality and homosexuality just aren't concepts yet, so characters think more in terms of sexual preferences than having the idea that they were born with a particular orientation. I use labels here for ease of understanding for modern readers.

Marion is bi/pan, she romances characters regardless of gender, which just isn't particularly important to her in terms of who she's attracted to. In our prologue, you learn that she's had liaisons with both men and women in the past.

John is bi/pan, and it's officially part of the game's plot now as his previous relationship with a man during the Nibirian War is discussed. (Poor man got dumped. Why? Stay tuned! Don't worry, he's single and ready to mingle now, he's had time to get over it.)

Meissa is non-binary (not agender - they would describe themselves as full of gender) and bi/pan with a slight preference for femme-presenting lovers. Thanks to Nibirian shapeshifting magic, they are able to be in the body that works best for them. I neither know nor care what their original body looked like. Nibirians think of both gender and sexuality as fluid, and that fact is woven into their society.

Alanna was originally conceived as bi/pan, but I later decided that she's lesbian. She has no sexual interest in men, though she'll flirt with anybody - it's part of the job.

Geoffrey is demisexual and demi- or aromantic, and it's an identity that he's still discovering during the course of the game. His sprite is not in our photo because it's in flux right now, but he is a full and important part of our LGBT+ cast!

Theo is gay, monogamous, and married to another nobleman. He is sadly unkissable (unless you are his husband).

Roan is a major NPC that y'all haven't really met yet, but they are agender. They're a changeling - a former fae who decided to forego their near-immortality and become mortal - and are a scout for Robin's rebellion. Fae do not have genders as a natural state, but some greater fae develop gender preferences as they interact with humanity. Roan has not done so and seems uninterested in doing so.

Avalon doesn't have a concept of sex as sinful, though it is generally meant to be a part of the private sphere (something done "in shadow," which does not connotate evil, merely private). Commoners in Avalon freely choose life partners regardless of gender. The nobility has a bias toward heterosexual marriage because of an obsession with continuing noble bloodlines, but nobles having same-sex lovers on the side is common and considered unremarkable.

Regardless, some nobles like Marion and Theo struggle with the expectation that they'll marry heterosexually. Theo's marriage to another nobleman caused some ripples in both families, but he put his foot down about it.

Avalon is a society built on binary concepts, and unfortunately the gender binary is one of them. Transgender people who are part of that binary are quietly accepted, but being non-binary isn't a concept in society at large. The language does have an ungendered singular pronoun (useful when you're speaking of somebody whose gender is unknown), which I approximate with they/them. That's why Marion easily adapts to Meissa and Roan with they/them pronouns.

Other societies in the world are not like that. As I mention, Nibiru considers gender and sexuality to be fluid. They don't even have gender pronouns - they use the terms "bringer" and "bearer" to denote people of reproductive age who can sire or birth children, but those terms are purely mechanical and aren't necessarily connected to male or female gender.

Sunjata is a "third-gender" society. Their deity, Amun, was originally considered male (and is sometimes referred to with male pronouns), but took on other genders upon devouring all other gods and becoming the sole deity of the land. Trans and non-binary people occupy a third gender between male and female in their society. This third gender (I haven't named it yet, need to do more research) is considered sacred to Amun and worthy of respect. In general, gender is less important than skill and ability in Sunjati culture.

#made marion #lore #english otome #amare

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emirrea · 6 months

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My ramblings on the Genshin 4.2 Archon Quest and Furina's character story (obviously spoilers!!):

- Asjdkglsjfks the archon quest was kinda epic..!! I was feeling like it was just going to be Ei & Raiden 2.0 at first, but them actually killing the hydro archon was super cool. I can't wait to see the effects of there being no hydro archon, if there will be any. Tho going through Furina's story quest... It doesn't seem like people in Fontaine care at all that they don't have an archon now lmao

- Poor Neuvillette tho, having to basically do three jobs at once, being a chief justice, a dragon sovereign and a semi-archon

- I'm rarely this harsh, but I don't like Focalors' design at all lmao. Mainly the front of her dress and how it's showing her skin. Honestly if she had bigger booba I could probably see the appeal of the front of the dress, but with the model that Furina/Focalors has? It just looks weird imo. And I don't even like big booba normally lolllll

- Also, I am so pissed off at the Traveller asjdkslsjf. Even before the quest revealed Furina's past, I felt so bad for her. Girl was literally abt to open up to the Traveller abt everything, only to be pretty much betrayed and put on the stage because she hesitated a minute too long. Not that it was necessarily just the Traveller's fault, but STILL. I felt so horrible for the whole quest, and it was just brushed off like it didn't even matter much.

- I'm a little sad we didn't get to see a dragon form for Neuvi, but I'm so hyped up abt him anyways. He has his powers!!!! It's so cool!!!

- The OST during the new boss is awesome. I have no idea what we were actually supposed to do during the fight, especially since I had my lv40 Furina in the team who almost killed everyone, but at least the music was GREAT.

- Childe getting fcking YEETED must've been the best part of the quest tho. Skirk was RUTHLESS.

- I love the little creatures Furina summons with her skill. I just have them follow me around everywhere even if I'm just running around the Court of Fontaine. They are so cute.

- Also, at least based on Furina's test run, she's going to be super strong??? And she's technically not even the archon anymore lmao. I kinda love the idea of her being pretty much the strongest human on Teyvat bc why not. She deserves it after everything. Like technically, canon-wise, there's no reason for her to be any stronger than your average vision-user, but of course gameplay wise she's still expected to fill the role of Fontaine's archon

- I don't like Furina's story quest :/ Sure the thing with Auriel and the crew was kinda interesting (Furina is literally yelling "BOOORING!!" in the background as I'm typing this lmao, girl, it was YOUR story quest), but I wish it was more abt Furina. Like, you know, they could've touched up on the whole thing of the Traveller and co dragging Furina to a trial when she was just abt to open up to the Traveller. Have her and the Traveller build up trust towards each other again for example, while Furina is trying to find her new place in Fontaine as a normal human being. But nope, let's make the story quest mostly abt NPCs, why not.

- Also, Furina getting her vision felt so anticlimactic. I guess getting a vision is rarely treated as something super significant in genshin, but the person known as the former hydro archon getting a hydro vision in front of an audience?? And the reaction is basically "oh yeah, that happened"??? (EDIT: apparently I somehow missed the info that Neuvillette is now the one giving out visions and that Furina's vision was likely the first one he gave, so now I'm crying askdlgldjd. I still have no idea when I missed that part, but it's so cute)

- ALSO HOW ARE YOU GOING TO TRY AND MAKE ME BELIEVE THAT THE PEOPLE OF FONTAINE. DO. NOT. RECOGNIZE. FURINA. YOU KNOW, THE ARCHON LOVED BY ALL OF FONTAINE AT THE START OF THIS ALL???

- Anyways, the archon quest was great, Furina's quest not so much, but my opinion on that may have been influenced by the fact that I've somehow gotten way too attached to Furina lmao

#posting #em plays genshin #spoilers #i've literally just been playing genshin for the past 10 hours lolllll oops #also i only slept for like 3 hours #i'm so tired #em devours media

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librathefangirl · 1 year

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Hey Libra! 👋

First of all I love your blog! And that icon makes me happy every time I see it :D

Second of all this is actually the THIRD time I’ve tried to type this ask. 😂😅 first time I was nervous. Then Tumblr deleted the second one seconds ago because it’s bad luck day I guess. The curse of the broken headphones is spreading. It killed my laptop charger an hour ago and is now directly deleting my writing. Is the universe trying to send me a sign? Luckily, I am not listening. Though I do tremble in fear

I am writing a SDS demon analysis essay inspired by zorria’s post that’s been circling around about Tristian and Io. I wanted to ask you if you’d like to give a special guest / character / concept mention that you'd like to see me ramble on about! I’ll research pretty much anything.

So far for writing topics we have: zeldris, cursed by light, ethics of our least favorite tryant parents and the consequences, the supreme dirty specifically making me concerned for the future of the goddess clan for 90 minutes, Elizabeth’s holy war shenanigans, and Jenna and Zaneri making me question the druids.

If you would like to submit a Thought to the “thinking about demons and what nakaba’s wild writing actually means for the worldbuilding” train please do!

None of our SDS mutuals have responded to me about this yet, so in the meantimeeee I'm writing a Pre Holy War fic because time to write my first fanfiction I guess! First two chapters are done and end on cliffhangers, inspired by your latest SDS fic which I love.

Featuring! TC Meliodas’s Questionable battle strategy, Zeldris being a literal brat (child Zel!) but a very smart one, the Ten Commandments doing their job well for once but behind the Demon King’s back, Fraudrin being forced into the role of NPC, the predecessors of the Six Knights of Black being even worse at their job than the ones the Sins best in prisoners of the sky, and the lack of goddess characters forcing me to come up with one on the spot. She has a randomly generalized name and her fate is undecided.

If you would like to submit a Thought to that as well, I'm all ears. In any case you and the mutuals can expect something interesting from me soon I guess.

Thanks for reading if you end up reading this. I have no idea now many asks you get on a daily basis.

Have a wonderful day!

Hey!! 👋 (I've been trying to answer this ask all day but I'm also helping my sister take care for my nephew who's sick at the moment and it's like I swear there were more hours in the day??)

Anyway! Glad you're enjoying my chaos ;) And the icon - that's exactly why I picked it! I just love that scene (no matter how brief it is) and always replay it so I can watch that smile again (so soft! so happy!) So I thought, hey why not make it so I get to see it everyday?

Oh no, not the Curse of the Broke Headphones! 😂 It really must be spreading tho. My standard video viewing program on my computer (that I prefer to use for my videos) just works like... 1 out of 10 times, for the past few days. No clue why. Kudos to you for being persistent! If you hadn't, I wouldn't have gotten this fun ask 😊 I feel you on the nerves though. I think I've only ever sent 1 ask. And that was to thank for hosting a whump event. And I know saying there's no need to be nervous is pretty pointless (because if you're like me you're gonna be nervous anyway) but just know you can write whatever to me. No judgement!

Okay. So, that essay sounds sooo interesting! And I... don't have anything specific in mind at the moment. (Like always, somebody asks me what's my thoughts on Topic are and I'm like... *cricket sounds*). But seriously, all those topics so far sound really good and interesting. Man, the SDS demons really are Something to think about, aren't they? Honestly, the demons, the goddesses, the first holy war are all so fascinating to think about. (And definitely something I wish had gotten explored more in canon). Like, take the goddess clan in that era for example (admittedly not something I think about as much as the demons but) and the SD's role in the war. Like obviously, as seen in Cursed by Light, she didn't want the holy war to end, wanting to keep her "game" and the balance between light and dark, but at the same time we have people like Ludociel, who is dead-set on not only ending the war but destroying all the demons. Actually, this goes for the DK and the demons too! Neither the Supreme Deity nor the Demon King wanted the holy war to end, yet had their best soldiers fighting tooth and nail to end it. It's just interesting to think about, how did their thought process work? The archangels and the Ten Commandments are their elite troops, right? And - what, they didn't actually expect them to win? Like what would have happened if one side had figured out a way to win that didn't include the disappearances of both demons and goddesses? So much to think about.

Oh! First fanfic, yay! I remember my first fanfic - or actually I don't. But I remember my first fanfic that I posted (not sure if that's the first I wrote or not). It was for Lab Rats over on FF.net back in 2016. (Oh, man, just typing that out made me feel old. Have I really been writing fanfics (on-and-off) for almost 7 years now?). To the surprise of absolutely no one it was angsty and family-centric.

And yeah, gotta write those cliffhangers ;) Happy to be of service (inspiration)! To share some excitement from my end as well, I am currently (as in as soon as I'm done typing this answer) working on chapter 2. So, hopefully I'll (finally) have that up soon!

Okay, let me tell you something: that fic sounds absolutely amazing! So many good things included. You've definitely got me intrigued already! And I feel you on the goddess character. I can't tell you how many times while writing my fics I've been like wait I need a goddess/demon character for this. And they need a name and an identity?? Not to mention the time I had to come up with a name for an entire dragon species. Thank god for name generators 😂 Usually I just generate names until I find one I like and then maybe change it a bit (like for the dragons where I swapped two letters around because I liked it better that way) or just take whatever name pops up in my head (that's sort of what I did for Mel's sister in my Dragon Meliodas AU; I took a name that popped up in my head and switched it up a bit to be more similar to Zeldris' for maximum angst). One time I even went: you know what, this goddess is a minor character, that's gonna flee the scene of the crime almost immediately and isn't really the point of the story, and then just didn't bother give her a name at all 😅 Actually! I'm in this spot right now too. I still haven't named my demon character in When the Past Comes Crashing, but it's okay so far. He's still an unknown mysterious demon to the readers, so I have time to figure it out 😂 😅

Anyway. Excited to see whatever you come up with! Also, this is like the fourth(?) ask I've gotten. Ever. So, yeah, there's always room in my inbox (or dm if you prefer) to come yell, rant or just chat with me about SDS, fics, or anything you want to 😊

Thank you for this amazing ask! And I hope you have a wonderful day as well!

#libra answers #hihopelessromantics #nanatsu no taizai #seven deadly sins #long post

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mini-kairyu · 7 months

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WHOA LOOK IT'S

My ocs! I finally got around to compiling general info about the main ones I have (there are a LOT of others but they're more like named side character/NPCs that get introduced as the story I have for these guys goes on)

Lemme list off the five I have most developed rn, which form the team .wav(E) (pronounced "dot wave"):

Cora

Bold, brash, but quite cute (her words)

A bit of a firecracker

Her curiosity is as vast as her energy and wit

Has the cutest smile

Left the underground since the Inkantation and had spent a significant time adjusting to the surface culture (long before meeting her buddy Luke)

Has a secret passion for dancing, especially pop and hip-hop (very sharp sense of rhythm)

Lives and dies by Slosher. Until she has to pick up a secondary main in Squeezer too. And Tri-slosher. And Wiper.

Does gardening on the side. There are little succulents dotted around her apartment, about 8 in total

Cooks the most often out of the team, specializes in pan-fried dishes and stews

Likes hot tea (prefers herbal over fruit teas tho)

Had a fruit tea drink one time (it was a peach tea) and didn't like it at all. Had a sourness that detracted from the warmth that she normally likes from drinking hot tea, so she avoids them now

Cass

Captain of the team

Full name 'Cassidy', people usually alternate calling her between the two

Most connections to everything

Level-headed, abundant charisma (puts the rizz in charisma haHA), rarely phased by anything

A big sister of sorts to Cora. Cora took to Cass really well when she recruited her and her friend Luke after random queuing in Salmon Run and the like

Flexes anything, but will mostly stick to Blasters. Has been interested in both Tri-Stringer and Reef-lux as of late tho

Works part time at a boba store (the one where the team gathers together fully for the first time)

The boba shop's name is called Roomba Boba, which has little Squee-G bots that roam around and sometimes deliver drinks or carry napkin holders. Naturally, they're also really good at mopping up spills

Has also had many odd jobs in the past, including being a camp counselor at Camp Triggerfish and [CLASSIFIED]

She's really good with kids, always gave me those peppy young adult/senior-in-high-school vibes that always know how to hype up a crowd

Cooks just as well as Cora, but feels more in tune with baking than cooking. She comes over to her apartment to help make meals sometimes.

Tobias

Neighbor and teammate of Cora, whom he develops a firm kinship with since their first encounter at the first team meetup

Also goes by 'Tobes' or 'Tobo'

Looks reserved, but is very easy and sociable to talk with

Did stakeout in the military, and thus has the worst sleep schedule of the team out of habit

Loves tea as well, especially herbal tea. Has a dislike for coffee though.

Favors backliners as per his role on the team, but is also killer with Octobrush and Stamper

Works part-time at Ammo Knights (weapons maintenance)

Gives the best hugs

Enjoys meticulous work such as mechanical tinkering and Gundam building

Likes to take off his glasses when he's eating or needs to decompress

Luke

Cora's Turf and Salmon Run buddy prior to forming .wav(E) with Cass

Favors Brellas

The least composed of the team, screams a lot when jumped in battle

Overall, is one the that gets meme'd on the most lmao

Favorite candy is pop rocks. This information revolts Cora and Tobes.

Likes learning and making mixed drinks in his free time

Incidentally, is the heaviest drinker of the bunch

Microwave dinner degenerate lol

Loves Clam Blitz so much, he'll even play it on his own (pain and misery)

Rooms with a bunch of other rando inklings who aren't home often

Wears nail polish the most often out of all the members (the others like to as well, but not always since they get lazy sometimes)

Hira

Joins very late to the group (about halfway through the gang's Splatoon 3 arc), but signifies a meaningful development for most of the peeps

A reflection of "sweaty try-hards" who complain and tilt over their teammates (Me that was me, for a while....a dark time....)

Sweaty dualies main, is proficient with most dualies

Has a swear and an insult for every time something goes wrong in a match, especially when random queuing

Incidentally, has the biggest potty mouth out of everyone

Has a soft spot for strawberry milk (it calms her down)

Will sit down with a book or even a manga from time to time

Is actually very down to earth outside of league battling and has an overall calm and kind personality, albeit a bit cynical at times

About her encounter with .wav(E): Cass finds her at Roomba Boba one day (the boba shop she works at) and notices her being super down

So she sits with her and listens to her problem. It was a rather personal rmoment for her.

Hira's time in .wav(E) will be crucial to her improvement as a player mentally, not just mechanically, especially considering what happened with her last team

Much of her personal growth is inspired by the time she spends bonding with Cora, who also ends up being positively influenced in various ways

Rumors among the Octarians tell of a battalion that had fallen tragically in a battle with outside factions prior to the Inkantation Inkcident; nearly all members wiped out due to poor negligence and ill preparation. The few that were skilled enough to survive the ordeal moved on to serve and be decorated with honors among their newer ilk. Their festering resentment towards incompetence and inefficiency remained even after liberation, however.

#splatoon ocs #.wav(E)#splatoon #one day I'll have good art of them #until then it's nothin but picrew frames lol #i have so many facts and lore about them by this point #they've been cookin for 5 years now wow #i have more development lore for all these characters that i can share later once I have more time showcasing these characters in my fanfic #yes i have one #not i haven't finished the next chapter #i had to revamp a lot of things now so I jave to pivot from where I left off

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