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hellfirenacht · 8 months

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Wingman Part 2

No beta, we die like men and edit in post.

Summary: Steve ‘the Hair’ Harrington is your best friend, and is constantly striking out. Sick of this, you two make a deal; you’ll wing man for each other. Hooking Steve up with dates is easy, but he finds himself struggling to find you a date. At least, until Dustin starts talking about his new cool friend Eddie.

Part 1

Steve learned more in the next half hour about Eddie Munson than he ever wanted to know. Eddie had been in a band since middle school, and he played guitar. Eddie hadn’t started the Hellfire Club, but had taken it over three years ago and had been the designated DM ever since. Eddie probably sold drugs, but wouldn’t sell to freshmen. Eddie had picked out Dustin and Mike in the lunchroom after they had been banished from every other table. Eddie knew everything about metal music and sometimes skipped class to sleep in his van. Eddie lived in a trailer with his uncle Wayne and was probably going to graduate this year. Eddie was just so cool and Dustin clearly looked up to him.

Eddie also had long hair. Well, at least that was something you had been specific about.

“Do you think he’d be interested in going on a date with her?” Steve asked after Dustin had finished gushing about Eddie.

“Maybe?” Dustin said. “He doesn’t talk about his dating life much. We mostly just talk about music and D&D.”

Steve could have strangled him. “Dustin, you just spent the past half hour talking about him, knowing that this was to help her get a date. What do you mean ‘maybe’?”

“Look, I’m just giving you the information I have.” Dustin said. “If you want you could come to a Hellfire meeting and bring her along to meet him.” Once again he had a shit-eating grin that Steve was quickly losing tolerance for.

“We don’t go there anymore, we’re not gonna be allowed on campus.” Steve said. “Can’t you just, I don’t know, help set up some sort of meeting outside of school?”

Dustin thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers. “Sidequest day!” he said.

“Side- what?”

“Sidequest day! Sometimes Hellfire Club will meet up at the arcade to play games. Eddie will sometimes give buffs or inspiration for the game if we win tickets or get a high score.” Dustin explained.

“You’re speaking an alien language, Henderson.” Steve sighed.

“Just come to the arcade next Saturday and bring her.” Dustin instructed. “We can introduce them, and you can try and play matchmaker.”

It was as good a plan as any, and more importantly it was convenient. It would probably mean skipping out on a potential date but you’d already done so much for him that he’d be willing to give up a Saturday night to help you. He just needed to get you one date, and if that happened to be with Eddie Munson of all people then so be it.

“Fine, we’ll be there.” Steve agreed.

“Good!” Dustin smiled. “Now, about the campaign he’s running-”

Steve would let Dustin ramble for the rest of the shift about the campaign until you came out to politely kick Dustin out when you and Steve closed.

Going out on a Saturday night proved to be more tricky than expected. You were the only one who could reliably work on Saturday nights, being the only one willing to do so. It had taken a lot of pushing and some bribery to have Keith agree to take your shift for the night. He owed you anyway for all the times you had covered for him.

Steve hadn’t told you the full truth about what the plan was. He had only said that since you were a weirdo, he’d take you to the arcade where other weirdos might be. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to you since you’d been to the arcade plenty of times and it was mostly kids there. It didn’t seem like the ideal spot to flirt with guys, but he knew more about this stuff than you did.

He told you to meet him outside the arcade at 6:30, and to look good. You had insisted that you always looked good, but you at least made sure to wear something that made you feel confident and followed up the same with your hair and make up. When was the last time you had an excuse to really put in effort? You looked presentable at work, but this was different. Your reflection in the mirror after you had put yourself together made you feel good. Even if tonight was a total bust on the flirting front, at least you knew you looked good.

It was 6:20 when you showed up at the arcade, and Steve showed up at 6:35. The past fifteen minutes had you watching excited kids and tired parents and disgruntled older siblings enter the building. If you were going to be completely honest, this didn’t seem very promising.

“So, I’m going to be frank with you, everyone here looks either way too young or too old for me.” you said as you both made your way inside. “The only person I’ve seen close to my age hanging around here is Keith and, Harrington, I swear if your end of the bargain is making me go on a date with him, I am firing you on the spot.”

“You can’t fire me.” Steve snorted.

“I can set you on fire.”

“I’m not setting you up with Keith!” he promised, holding his hands up. “I just think that this is a place where a lot of weirdos could hang out. And hey, if there’s no one here that’s interesting we could at least play some games or something.”

“Steve, I have a very serious question for you.” You turned to look him dead in the eyes. “This isn’t you trying to be my date, right? I know you’ve been overloading on romcoms with all the dates you’ve been going on. Please tell me this isn’t some sort of half-ass way to take me on an arcade date so you can say you got me a date.”

“What? No. You’re the one watching too many romcoms here.” Steve accused. “You turned me down, I get it, you have terrible taste. I accept this about you- ow!”

Steve winced as you smacked the back of his head. “Okay, good. I just wanted to make sure. Let’s just play some games for now, I’m really not seeing anyone our age around here.”

As the two of you made your way around the arcade, Steve kept an eye on the time. Dustin had told Steve that ‘Sidequest Day’ (whatever that meant) would be starting at 7:00. He just needed to keep you entertained for a half hour and then the club would show up.

Lucky for him, you were actually very easy to keep entertained. You bounced around from game to game, with eager enthusiasm often getting distracted by the many blinking lights and sounds from all the machines. You didn’t even notice it when a group of guys walked in all wearing the same shirt.

Steve noticed though.

“Henderson!” He called out, casually.

“Steve!” Dustin walked up to him. “What a surprise, I did not expect to see you at the arcade tonight!”

You looked up from a cabinet that you were considering playing, that was a weird tone of voice Dustin had used. One that seemed- no it was suspicious. Steve and Dustin had definitely planned on meeting here tonight. They really were not as smooth as they thought they were. But who were you to spoil a plan? You decided to roll with it.

“Hey, Dustin!” You said walking over to the pair. “Good to see you again.”

“They let you leave the Family Video?” Dustin asked. “The way Steve talked, you’d think they kept you chained to the front desk.”

“Union rules say that they have to let me leave at least once a week for mandatory enrichment time.” you joked. “Somehow I got lucky and got a Saturday off.”

You looked over Dustin, and his bright open button up on top of his Hellfire Club shirt. You had vague memories about that club in high school.

“Hellfire Club... I remember that from when I was in school.” you said after a moment. “Yeah, wasn’t it Chris Morrison that ran it?” You turned towards Steve.

“How would I know? I was popular.” Steve said.

“Yeah, I think he was the leader until he graduated and then Eddie took over.” Dustin said, looking down at his shirt. “I think he said that the club was a lot smaller back then.”

“Yeah well Chris was a dick who didn’t actually want anyone joining his super secret club.” you huffed, rolling your eyes.

“Wait, you knew him?” Dustin’s eyes widened.

“That’s a strong word, but we were in the same grade. I tried to ask him about the club once but he blew me off and told me I wasn’t smart enough to understand the game. So I got a copy of the rule book and spent the next few weeks memorizing it out of spite.” you snorted.

Steve looked at you like you had lost your mind (fair), and Dustin looked like he couldn’t believe what you’d just said (impressed).

“...Anyway, I see a lot of the same shirt running around now. I take it that Hellfire isn’t as closed off now?” you asked.

“Uh, yeah!” Dustin said. “The new leader- Eddie- he’s a lot more open to people joining. He’s the one who invited me and Mike to join.”

You looked over at where Mike was leaning over a cabinet in concentration. He didn’t come into Family Video as often as Dustin did to bother Steve, but he had come in enough for you to witness the kid shoot up about a foot in the past few months.

“It’s alarming how fast he’s growing.” you said. “Well, I’m glad that it’s more open now and that you’re having fun with it.”

“Yeah, Eddie’s great, you should meet him!” Dustin said.

You stared at him, and slowly looked over to Steve whos’ face had met his palm.

“Steve.” you said slowly. “Did you bring me to the arcade to meet a highschooler?”

“He’s twenty!” Both Dustin and Steve said in unison. You weren’t sure if that was better or worse.

You knew that the dating pool would be limited for you, but you didn’t think it would be that narrow. Still, beggars couldn’t be choosers, and if Dustin and Steve both vouched for this guy it couldn’t be that bad, right?

“Oh boy.” you sighed. “Alright, I’ll play along. Does this guy know I’m supposed to be meeting him?”

“Nope!” Dustin said. “He doesn’t have a clue.”

“Wait, did you tell Dustin about our deal, Steve?” you asked.

“I needed help and he happened to have a new older male friend that happens to be a freak.” Steve said nonchalantly. Well, this was going to be a very interesting night.

“He’s more than just a freak, you know.” frowned Dustin.

You racked your brain trying to think back to your time in high school, trying to remember if you knew any Eddie’s. In all honesty, you never were good at noticing people outside of your own circle of friends. How some people seemed to know everyone's full name and popularity rank was beyond you. Hawkins High had 2000 students, like how did people even know that much? Who had the time? Who cared?

While Dustin and Steve continued their odd squabble, you looked around the arcade for this mystery person. Nope, still nothing but not-age-appropriate high schoolers. Oh well, the Q*bert cabinet was free, and playing a round was better than standing around nervously to meet someone who had no idea they were being set up to meet you.

Damn, poor guy had no idea what he was getting himself into tonight. You felt a little bad that you were potentially crashing his club’s night out. If this went bad, you were putting Steve on backroom duty for a month.

“Where are you going?” Dustin asked as you walked off.

“I’m gonna play a game,” you said, putting your quarter in the machine. “Let me know when this guy shows up because I cannot take the suspense.”

“You know, this is why it’s hard to get you a date. You keep saying you’re interested and then the second you have a chance to meet someone you change the subject.” Steve sighs, leaning against the machine.

“Who are you, my therapist?” You asked, focusing on the game. “I know you’re right. If I’m going to be completely honest with you I am actually nervous about meeting someone. I’m sure that it’ll be fine and I have no real expectations but it’s still hard to put yourself out there.”

“I’ve been putting myself out there for months and had a two month dry streak.” he pointed out as Dustin stepped behind you and watched you play.

“You’re King Steve. People will like you no matter if they date you or not. You’re popular, as you love to keep reminding me.” You didn’t take your eyes from the screen.

“Yeah, well I was also a total dick in high school.” Steve admitted. “I fucked up a lot and pissed a lot of people off because I thought I was hot shit. If you want the honest truth, I’d probably be a better person if I hadn’t tried so hard to be popular. It took getting my ass kicked for me to realize that.”

“It’s true, he got his ass beat a lot this summer.” Dustin piped up which earned a glare from Steve.

You thought this over, the movement of the character on screen helping you think. “If I wasn’t enough for anyone in Hellfire when I was a junior, if I wasn’t enough for the freaks when I was a weirdo in school, why would I be now?”

“Because Chris Morrison was a dick!” Dustin yelled out, far louder than he really should have.

“Jesus, Dustin we are right here!” you said, shaking your head.

“Henderson is right.” a new voice said from behind you. “Morrison was the biggest asshole that Hellfire has ever seen. Worst DM too.”

The voice was lower in tone than Steve’s, and there was an energy to it that made everything else background noise. This new person was very sure of themselves, and you had a very bad feeling of who was going to be standing behind you as soon as you turned around.

You focused even harder on the game.

“I had one conversation with him in Junior year and promised myself to never talk to him again.” you said, trying to calm yourself. He definitely did not sound like a high schooler, which was a good sign. You risked a glance at Steve who looked like he didn’t know what to make of the newcomer. That was a bad sign. Maybe.

“Yeah well I wouldn’t have kept talking to him if I could have helped it.” This voice- you were going to just assume it was Eddie, said. “I didn’t think you were the type to hang out at the arcade, Harrington.”

“I’m not.” Steve said. “I am only here for a friend.” Steve gestured to you, smacking your hand on ‘accident’ and making you die. “Whoops.”

It was clear he had done that completely on purpose. Backroom duty for a week.

“Thanks, Steve.” you said and turned around slowly to face this new person.

Oh, you were going to murder Steve Harrington into the ground dead. The man before you- and he was definitely a man- was unfortunately for you, completely your type. Long wavy brown hair fell just past his shoulders onto a denim vest covered in buttons and patches over a leader jacket. He was also wearing a Hellfire Club t-shirt and you glanced a quick look at his ripped jeans and wallet chain.

You wished that you would have warned Steve that you were never your types’ type. This was doomed before it even started. But that was a freeing thought in a way, you weren’t going to be this guy's type so that meant you didn’t have to try. If Steve could hear your thoughts, he’d probably get pissed at you for already giving up, but that was fine.

“Oh uh, Eddie, this is Steve and his co-worker.” Dustin said, introducing you by your name and title. “They both went to Hawkins High.”

“Nice to meet you.” you reached out and offered your hand, and he took it. Eddie’s hand was warm and you got a glance at chunky silver rings on his fingers. There was an expression on his face that you couldn’t quite read; he was smiling but also seemed to be studying you.

“I know who King Steve is.” Eddie said in a way that made Steve roll his eyes. “When did you go to school?” he asked.

“I graduated in ‘83.” you said, looking at him. His eyes were very round and expressive, and he was still studying you. There was something familiar about him that you couldn’t place your finger on. Then again, he was only a little younger than you so you probably saw him in school.

That was good enough for Eddie as he dropped your hand and turned back to Dustin. “So, Henderson. Are you going to keep standing there talking, or are you going to earn that magic dice roll you’ve been talking about all week?”

You’d never seen Henderson look nervous around Steve, but there was tension in Dustin’s shoulders as Eddie talked to him. But you didn’t get the sense that it was a bad thing, Eddie seemed... intense. With Steve, Dustin was always ready to bicker with and defy. With Eddie, he was ready to hop to it, whatever it was.

Geeze, no wonder Steve was jealous.

“Yup!” Dustin said quickly. “I’m just gonna go, go over there and find something to play.” He glanced at you pointedly before hurrying off in Mike’s direction.

“So, my friend here actually had an interest in Hellfire Club back in the day.” Steve said before Eddie could turn and leave. Eddie looked at you in surprise.

No one would find Steve’s body after you were done with it.

“Really?” Eddie said. “And what about our little club was so interesting to you?”

You didn’t miss the way Eddie’s eyes glanced at Steve. That was a look you understood all too well, it was one you’d given many a popular kid back in the day. Eddie thought Steve was being a dick, and for good reason. That was the look you’d given when someone came up to you and said ‘my friend thinks you’re cute’. Except now you were the friend.

There was no going back now, you couldn’t let that tension be his first impression of you. Steve had set you up to be honest and vulnerable right off the bat. Great.

“Yeah, I asked Chris about joining back then.” you said honestly. “I’d had an interest in D&D, but never had a chance to play. But he shot me down pretty hard, so I... didn’t.”

Eddie’s shoulders relaxed as he looked down at you. “That doesn’t surprise me.” he said. “He was a bigger cynic than I am, and wouldn’t give anyone outside Hellfire the time of day. He didn’t even talk to anyone after he graduated.”

His gaze didn’t leave yours and it almost felt like there was a spotlight on you. Or maybe one of those lamps that you’d see in movies when someone was being interrogated. Eddie might have relaxed but you had a feeling that Steve being here wasn’t exactly winning you points. But Steve was also your friend, which made things a bit complicated.

Damn, why did you always have to be the one to bend over backwards to impress a guy? This is why you stopped dating in high school. Oh wait, this guy didn’t even know he was supposed to be making an impression. Looks like you were going to have to be the one to take the lead on this one.

Not that it mattered, because as previously stated, this was already dead on arrival.

The conversation immediately stagnated, as anything interesting you could have possibly said died in your throat. You could feel Steve’s gaze boring into your skull now, willing you to say something.

“Yeah, he wasn’t really social.” you managed to force out.

The sound of a game machine and hyped yelling suddenly echoed through the arcade and the three of you looked up to see the whole club huddled around a basketball game, cheering one of their friends on.

Eddie took that as his sign to remove himself from the conversation and made his way towards the game without so much as a goodbye.

“Seriously?” Steve asked when Eddie was out of earshot. “I hand you a conversation topic on a plate and you fumble it that badly?”

“I couldn’t think of anything to say!” you groaned. “Gossiping about Chris Morrison isn’t exactly the juicy conversation topic you think it is.”

“You were supposed to talk about your nerd shit, not about Chris!” he shot back.

“He thought we were making fun of him, Steve.” you said, watching as Eddie stood with his arms crossed as his club cheered over the game they were playing. Two members flanked him on each side, and even if you didn’t know that he was in charge, it was clear that he held power over these kids.

“Making fun of him? How the hell did you get that idea?” Steve was gawking at you. “I told him you were interested in his weird club!”

“Steve, I get that you were popular in high school. But you know that popular kids are dicks right? That popular kids will say things that sound nice, but are clearly making fun of whatever it is they’re talking about? That’s what he thought was happening.” You sighed.

“That’s not- I didn’t-” He was at a loss for words for a moment. “Shit. Did it really sound like that?”

“With the way he looked at me? Yeah, he thought so.”

The two of you were quiet for a moment, and you leaned against the arcade cabinet again as you contemplated what the next move would be. Maybe you’d just adopt a cat or twelve instead.

“I knew people did that.” Steve admitted after a while. “I hated it, but I went along with that shit because my shit friends told me it was fine and cool.”

“Steve, while I always appreciate that you are always learning and growing, let’s save the character development for later.” you said, cracking your knuckles. “Now, are you gonna help me talk to this guy or what?”

That snapped him out of his pity party. “You’re right, tonight isn’t about me. I’m sorry.” He looked at the club who was moving away from the hoops game and was spreading out again. You noticed that it was Lucas who they had been cheering for, Mike and Dustin were clapping him on the shoulder in congratulations. It was nice seeing the three hanging out together again.

“So you are interested in him” Steve said suddenly, looking at you with wide eyes. “That conversation was so dry I thought you weren’t actually interested.”

You glanced down at the obnoxiously colored carpet with mild embarrassment. “Steve, I’ll be frank with you-”

“Hi, Frank.”

That cut the tension and the two of you found yourself laughing- it wasn’t even funny but it was an inside joke that you two had shared over the past four months. It reminded you that despite how different you two were, he was still your friend.

“Shut the actual fuck up, Harrington.” you laughed. “I’m serious.”

“I thought you were Frank.”

“Shut up.” you gasped out. It really was not funny and yet the two of you couldn’t stop laughing. You two must have looked like idiots to anyone who was passing by you, and you were. You were both idiots.

When the laughter finally subsided, you looked over at Steve. “Steve, I think he’s attractive.”

“I do not see the appeal, but I still accept you have weird taste- don’t hit me again!” He lifted his hands as you raised your own.

You lowered your arm and looked around the arcade until your gaze fell on Eddie again.

"It's pissing me off because I swear I should know him, but I can't put my finger on it." You said as he put a quarter in a machine to play. "I mean, yeah we went to the same school but I feel like there's something else."

"I'm surprised you two didn't know each other." Steve said. "He's the freak of Hawkins and you're weird. Shouldn't you two have crossed paths before?"

"Maybe?" You shrugged. "I was oblivious in school. I only knew your name because being called 'the hair' is objectively funny."

"Ha ha. Super funny."

You kept Steve talking as you tried to figure out your next move. Him and Dustin had gone out of their way to try and introduce you to someone, and you didn't want to have those efforts wasted.

"That'll work" you said, interrupting whatever Steve was saying. You grabbed his hand and dragging him over to the air hockey table where Mike and Dustin were in the middle of an intense game.

You put two quarters down on the edge of the table as the puck whizzed by your fingers, hurdling towards Mike's goal. There was a loud and satisfying clack as Mike pushed it towards Dustin.

"I'm playing the winner." You said firmly.

Another satisfying clack echoed as Dustin pushed the puck back.

"I'll be more than happy to play you when I kick Mike's ass." Dustin said, not looking up.

"You're two points down, there's no way you're beating me!" Mike shot back with his words and puck.

"You've never beat me at air hockey before and I'm not letting you start now!"

You pulled your hands back from the edge of the table as the two friends trash talked each other. Steve moved to Dustin's side while you drifted closer to Mike, an unspoken rivalry brewing between the four of you.

Well, unspoken til you opened your mouth.

"Kick his ass, Mike." You said, watching as the puck shot back and forth between the boys.

"That's what I'm doing!" The gangly teen responded as the clack of the game echoed through the arcade.

Steve, shook his head. "I thought you said you had a plan?"

"My idea was I wanted to play air hockey." You said. "I never said it had anything to do with anything else."

Dustin looked up from the table as the puck shot through the goal on Mike's side, with a triumphant grin.

"See? I was going easy on you, Mike!" He said.

Mike groaned "You're still a point behind and I need a point to win." He said, setting the puck back out.

"I've beat you under worse conditions. Plus El isn't here to help you." Dustin shot back.

"She doesn't help!" Mike said defensively.

"Oh, and I am supposed to believe that the pink was just sent flying like that because you're so strong last time?"

"Yes! Exactly! Now shut up!" Mike said, giving Dustin a glare that clearly told him to shut up. You looked at Steve for clarification, but he was decidedly not looking at you.

Weird.

The game continued between the two boys, with you and Steve each cheering on your respective freshmen. Mike had the reach, but Dustin had the brain.

"Just give it up, Henderson- I'm gonna win and get that advantage in the next session." Whatever this rivalry was, you were now living for it. You had spent so long in a work-home-work rut, and this was way more entertaining than hearing about Steve's love life.

"Yeah? What are you gonna use it for? Another failed summoning spell?" Dustin laughed.

"It would have worked if it wasn't for Eddie's stupid rule about-"

"Stupid? Oh, I'm sure he'd love to hear more about your idea of how he should have let you cheat. HEY, EDDIE! MIKE WANTS TO TALK TO YOU."

Both you and Mike visibly tensed as Dustin yelled out for the whole arcade to hear. You gave Steve a panicked look that mirrored Mike's so perfectly that Steve had to laugh.

Backroom duty for a month.

Eddie appeared again, standing on the opposite side of the table of you and Steve, looking at his freshmen.

"Oh really? And what could Mike Wheeler want to speak to me about?" He asked.

You didn't miss the way his eyes glanced over to you and Steve for a split second. There was an air about him that you were trying to put your finger on. The best way would be to say that he was 'on'. Right now, he was in charge of his club, and he didn't seem excited that a former popular basketball player and a background character were crashing what was supposed to be his night out.

You were starting to regret this meetcute.

“Nothing!” Mike said, his voice cracking as he barely managed to block the puck from going into the goal. It was a tense game now, and it was clear that Dustin had put Mike into a disadvantage by bringing Eddie into this.

Steve made eye contact with you and gave you a shit eating grin. Oh no, no he wasn’t going to-

“I’m going to go to the bathroom.” Steve waved and quickly made an exit.

Two months in the backrooms.Plus bathroom duty.

It was clear why he ditched you with the way Eddie’s eyes darted as he left. There was a hint of distrust, one that you couldn’t blame him for. The only way you could possibly get an in with this guy would be if Steve wasn’t there waving his popularity flag.

Eddie glanced back over to you for just a split second before turning back to Mike.

“You sure about that, Wheeler?” He asked, an amused edge in his voice. “Because Henderson over here seems to think you have something you wanna say to me.”

“I don’t have anything to say!” The panic in Mike’s voice was evident, and Dustin just barely missed getting into the goal. “Nothing! We’re all good here- shit”

The puck, which had been flying between the two teens so fast now you could hardly keep up, had been caught on Mike’s- Clacker? Paddle? (Did that thing even have a word?). It had been caught between that and the corner, sending the puck flying upwards and flying straight towards your face. By some miracle, you managed to catch it, clapping it between your hands before it made contact with your nose. It probably wouldn’t have hurt, but you still weren’t interested in finding out.

“Holy shit.” you said with a laugh as the three guys looked at you in surprise. Mike looked embarrassed, and Dustin looked impressed.

“Nice reflexes!” he laughed.

“Damn, Mike you almost killed me! I know you’re still pissed I wouldn’t let you rent an R rated movie, but assassination is a bit overkill, don’t you think?” you asked.

“Shit, sorry.” Mike said, reaching for the puck again. You pulled it back and shook your head.

“Final round, sudden death.” you said.

“Seriously?! He’s still a point behind me!” Mike protested.

“Nu-uh. Almost killing me loses you a point.”

“I think that’s gotta be up to Eddie.” Dustin pointed out. “I mean, he’s the one in charge tonight.”

Oh, right. Oops. For a second you had actually forgotten that you were the one crashing the party here and that you didn’t have the same sway over the kids when not at work or when Steve wasn’t here.

You looked up at the man in front of you, pushing away any nerves and bottling them up to deal with later or never. What the hell did you have to prove to him anyway? Nothing. God, you were so bad at this, Steve was going to have an aneurysm trying to help you kick start a love life.

“What say you, Eddie of Hellfire?” you asked, offering him the puck as an act of goodwill.

His hand reached out, taking it as he considered you. You held your ground and met his eyes, not daring to give him any reason you had anything against him.

Eddie’s eyes moved between Mike’s panicked face and Dustin’s eager one. It was so funny how the two had zero problems bullying Steve but they made damn sure not to piss Eddie off. Well, at least too much if Dustin’s shit-eating grin was anything to go by.

A large grim broke out on Eddie’s face as he held the puck over the center of the table.

“Sudden death it is.” He said, staring directly at you as the puck dropped on the table.

Next Chapter

Dividers by @strangergraphics

Tag list: @ali-r3n , @mxchese, @josephquinncore , @gagasbee, @peaches-roses-sins , @witchwolflea , @vintagehellfire , @royale1803 , @cumslutforaemond ,@prestinalove , @browneyedgirly93 , @hellfiredarling @crocwork-clockodile

#nacht fic #wing man #eddie munson x reader

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thevideogameshutterbug · 6 months

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Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (PS5) Thoughts - Beginning At The End

No photos this time (I might add a few later). But I've got a lot of thoughts (and photos) about this game now that I'm finishing it up, but I just got finished my last sidequest in the postgame and I wanted to gush about it.

Spoilers, by the by. Quite a few of them.

----

The Mysteriums were a lopsided a pain the ass but man am I glad I saved this quest for last.

I've been thinking a lot about how much this game seeks to embody why Peter's beliefs in having empathy for the people he fights and getting to know who these villains are as people matters, and this quest - as well as Quentin Beck's final words to cap off the story - are such a perfect capper to that.

Nothing is as it seems, especially when you look at heroes and villains. Anything can change for anybody faster than you could ever realize it. When you take the masks off, it's all people making decisions. A good person can go down a dark path, a bad person can decide they no longer want to be that person any more. Not everyone is going to, but it's important to know that such a thing is always possible.

Heck, this game has an almost ''unprecedented'' number of reformed villains for a superhero franchise: Sandman, Mysterio, Tombstone, Mr. Negative, Prowler technically Lizard, all people who understand they did wrong and whose only motivation now is trying to make their way in the world going forward.

Jonah has a podcast early in the game where he insists that people never really change (about either Sandman or Lizard, iirc), advocating for criminals to be just kept in prison in perpetuity (which, I like this version of Jonah, but goddamn is he hard to like sometimes). Wraith advocates just killing these guys because naturally they're never going to change and they might as well be removed from the equation. And naturally, Symbiote Peter eventually starts considering the idea that maybe the best way forward is just to kill everybody who could be a threat.

But this game doesn't just counterpoint that by having its ultimate evolution be monstrous like most superhero works: instead, this game makes a strong point of why that mentality doesn't work - this is a fantasy story, but it's also a good point for real life.

Coming from a law family where I had a lot of interaction with formerly incarcerated people, and living in an inner city relationship where - again - anything can happen to skew a person's life in ways nobody thought they would go, it's not just a more realistic point - it's an essential point: people always change, and any belief otherwise is just an excuse not to examine the world around oneself. They can change for the worse, they can change for the better, or just kind of laterally shift, but they always change. A failure to recognize it is a failure of the self, not the other.

There's a strong trend of former villains in this game being taken advantage of by other villains, with the new villains doing so with the expectation that nobody will come to the former villains' aid, trust them, or aid them in any way (Mysterio's partners try to frame him, Tombstone and Negative get abducted by people who were sure no one would come for them, Sandman gets driven mad and dumped onto the city to be tossed into prison). And it's absolutely amazing to be Spider-Man in this game and be the one who fights tirelessly for everybody, even the people who have spurned their chances before, because that's who Spider-Man is.

Even if their stories still don't always end positively. Because it's still the right thing to do it, and it's a worse crime to stop.

Man, I love Spider-Man.

As a final note, I especially like that none of the former villains really expect to be forgiven and several never are. This might be the philosopher in me talking, but it's not in forgiveness that one finds redemption, but in the capacity of change in and of itself.

#the video game shutterbug #spider man ps5 #marvels spider man 2 #playstation 5 #insomniac games #heroes and villains #mysterio #sandman #tombstone #prowler #the lizard #mister negative #people always change #rehabilitative justice #philosophical thoughts #heroism #no photos in a photo focused blog #lots of spoilers though

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via-the-cryptid · 6 months

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Ok but consider this: It would be incredibly funny if one night Magic Simon stays up working on something when suddenly a beam out of nowhere comes directly into Snow Betty's head and when he asks she just says its her mysterious co-author just delivering the latest update of Fionna and Cake.

Also consuder: After the Elements incident, Fionnaworld goes from Fantast setting to an Urban-Fantasy, a combination of Betty's old world memories with Snow Queen's life on Ooo. Prismo is confused because he lost access to his A03 account and has to ask Finn & Jake to help him discover what happen.

dude that is so fucking funny. Simon is pulling an all nighter to help his supercursed wizard wife be a little less cursed and he walks into the bedroom and all of a sudden it’s just BEAM straight into her forehead. Simon panics, Snow Queen wakes up and goes ‘o ya that was my coauthor. don’t worry about it :)’ and Simon then remembers that his supercursed wizard wife is also crazy as hell.

YES THAT IS ABSOLUTELY WHAT HAPPENS!! Urban fantasy is the word for the setting I was thinking of, I just couldn’t remember it! it’s definitely got a lot of magic and adventure, but there’s also real cities with real job and like. a government and stuff. Fionna and Cake’s jobs are literally ‘professional adventuring duo’ and they sorta do sidequests for a living? and there are still dungeons, but sometimes the dungeons are in your great grandmother’s basement, and that’s when you call some adventurers to sort that shit out for you, because no way in hell are you going down there yourself forget eaten by basement dungeon rats.

also: Prismo calling up Jake to be like ‘hey did something happen to Snow Queen? because I think my save file in her head got corrupted and now I can’t access it :(‘ and THAT is how Simon finds out that Jake is besties with the Wishmaster he’s been looking for, because he was having lunch at the treehouse when Jake got his cosmic pickle call.

#adventure time #snow queen au #simon petrikov #betty grof #petrigrof #petrigrof role swap #prismo the wishmaster #prismo #jake the dog #fionna and cake #fionna campbell #cake the cat #answered asks

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cburambles · 1 month

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Lil' analysis of the Rufus/ Elena scene crumbs in Rebirth

I'm doing this for fun but organize my thoughts and keep tracks of things I've noticed about them while also giving some food for thoughts if there's people interested in that ship.

Here's i'm gonna analyze the scenes.

I will later write about design & symbolism , their arcs, their personnalities, relationship & how they perceive each other ,what Rebirth add to the rest of the compilation as well what road can we can potentially expect for the story of Rufus & the Turks in part 3 in general.

The Mythril Mines scene:

Here, we get get a great way to establish her character. Elena is the one who is curious and asks questions while the others try to not think about their orders much. As someone new, she also has an unique POV as the mysteries unfold in front of her.

It's also a great way to show that her superiors don't tell her everything, which may cause problem in the future as Elena is a self-righteous & rather independant person who sometime disobey orders.

They also did a great job showcasing her ruthless side & also sublty hint what drives her.

The helicopter scene en-route for the Gold Saucer with Palmer:

Here, Elena is shown being not scared to use Rufus' authority to shut up a member of the Board. Despite the space program being shut down, we still have to remember that Elena is a new employee & that Palmer is her senior by decades & used to be a friend of Rufus' father. Despite the hierarchical difference, Elena's is pretty assertive for a new employee & doesn't hesitate to borrow Rufus' authority to have Palmer stop complaining & contesting Rufus' decision to send him there in a sassy manner.

The Gongaga proto-relic sidequest:

After you're done with one of the Gongaga VR mission in the Turks facility, Elena is shown without hesitation ushering Rufus & him acknowledging her. We see that she's not scared of him & both of seem to have a respectful & cordial relationship.

I noted the interesting composition of the shot tho.

First, they didn't have to animate this. They could just had have Rufus says his line about the player performance & then leave. But they still wanted to showcase that little moment between the two of them for some reason.

Second, the way the camera zoom-in on them while putting Rude on the foreground but almost push him out of the frame as he's watching them, as if the devs really want you to pay attention to that interaction.

Third, Elena is the rookie. Thus the one who should address Rufus directly should be her seniors. However, Rufus & Elena address each other directly, with the latter talking to him confidently.

This also happens right after we see Rufus complaining about Tseng wanting to assign him bodyguards & saying he didn't need any so you would expect he would be annoyed that the babiest Turk would try to usher him away or have him ignore her. We saw how he can get with Heidegger in Remake not calling him "Mr.President". But he doesn't.

Fourth, it's clear here there was a whole switcheroos between roles due to Reno's jpn VA passing away.

In this mission, Rude & Elena address you as if you were Reno (Rude call you partner & Elena reffer to you as "senpaï" .

Reno however, already has a lot of experiences after all this years working for the Turks. My guess is that originally, those VR missions were destined to Elena.

It makes more sense, to prepare her to what the Turks' life is. VR Rufus is also already president too. If you do well during that mission, Rufus is willing to offer you whatever you want. Would that mean he made such proposition to Elena at one point? (is this how she got her pink gun which has strangely a white belt on & black buttons & is studed with diamonds?)

The flight to the Gold Saucer with Rufus:

During that scene, we're shown that Elena is curious & independant, making her a great intelligence officer material. The second she learns about the Promised Land, she decide to study the subject in the hopes to understand it better & the significance for Shinra. She then admit that it was actually a good idea to let Aerith run around so they can follow her.

It immediately switch from her to Darkstar waking up & curiously looking at Rufus. People who played the game in english however may have missed out an interesting audio detail: In the japanese dub, you can understand the reason why Darkstar woke up as you can hear Rufus do his signature (satisfied) "hmph" and him chuckling to himself while looking at window. It's even more audible in the french version as well.

D waking up & looking at Rufus curiously make it feel like it's an unusual occurence. Maybe he's just thinking about something & laugh to himself but it's also likely the game is implying Rufus was silently listening to her.

It's interesting because he is rarely framed that way. Most of the time he's the center of the room & the conversation, leading it. He addresses his employees & doesn't give more info than what's necessary. Even with Tseng, he often has his back to him & only turn around when he needs to make a point or when something intrigue him.

Added to that, letting Aerith go to follow her was Rufus' plan. Elena basically indirectly complimented him, which could be the reason why he's chuckling to himself. We never got to see him reacting this way to someone until now. For comparison, Heidegger compliment him when he decide to fire Sister Ray during chapter 4 & he didn't get any reaction from Rufus. But he's seemingly happy to get Elena's approval?

The chapter 12 tussle & rumble with Elena, Rude & Rufus.

For a start, we have to talk about how stupid this plan is as the Turks & Rufus could have just stolen the keystone, either by using Rufus'authority or burglarize the place while Dio & Avalanche were looking away. Rufus didn't also have to be there. Shinra is on the brink of a war but he instead decide to go on a trip ( it probably took a least 1 or 2 days for them to go from Midgar & reach the GS) I may have my speculations on why he's acting this way tho.

Rude, Elena & Rufus have beef with Avalanche so we can assume they went with that plan to settle their grudge by beating the shit of each other. However, the plan at first seemed to be for only Rude & Elena to fight, not Rufus. During the battle, you can hear Rufus calling Dio. It's a scripted event that only happen when you stagger Rude or Elena during the second phase of the combat (and there's chances it is Elena due to her weaker constitution). Did Rufus get protective of the Turks, which is what pushed him to suddenly participate?

Then there's the scene where he appears in the arena. While the duel between Cloud & Rufus is the main event, it's interesting to note we just have a quick zoom out on Cloud's face to show his reaction while it lingers more on the Turks & in particular Elena. There's a quick scene where Tseng calm down an excited & likely worried for his master, D. Then it switch to Elena asking what he's doing. Rufus notice her as his head turns toward her.

Elena is the most on focus while Rude in the background is blurred.

And we get this kind of smile from Rufus who's still looking at her while waving to the public. He looks softer than usual.

Then his face immediately switch to this when he turns to Cloud.

He answering her by making a show of himself. And then it's switch again to an annoyed & worried Elena. Once again, she's the point of focus while Rude is blurred.

Rufus then tell them to go join Tseng. And here we can see that he's addressing Elena (when he should address Rude) directly as his eyes are turned toward her & then turns back to Cloud while Elena can't help herself but emit a defeated sigh.

Here we're seeing that she stays herself around Rufus, trying to contest his decisions & everything. Not scared of him & not scared to show her annoyance at her boss' dumbass behavior.

Added to that, Cloud is seen asking the two party members who fought with him until now to leave him for that 1 on 1 fight. One of these two party members always turns out to be one of his love interests.

Once again, we're shown he actually pays attention to Elena, thought Rebirth is actually not the only time this happens. That whole exchange remind me of that moment between Reno & Rude in TKAA:

Which could explain as well Rude's reaction to Cloud being like "oh, poor you!" when Rufus is revealed to be alive in Advent Children. The game weigh even more on the idea that Rufus is emotionnally immature and insecure. Like Evan.

And Rufus' attitude is pretty Evan like in the way he takes risks while Elena is often compared to Kyrie by the fandom. Elena & Kyrie are fierce, morally ambiguous women who cause trouble to their group but also can be shown to be level-headed at times. Kyrie also chide & tries to confront Evan about his reckless side. Both of them could almost be considered as darker versions of these two characters. If the brothers have similar tastes in term of potential partners, well…

I think it's also interesting to note that Rufus is far more pissed about losing than during the first duel in Remake, added with Cloud poking at his insecurities.

The departure to the temple of the ancients:

This is a really interesting scene as it's a great way to show the group dynamic & Elena's potential importance after the company's crumble post- Meteorfall. Here, Elena is shown openly critisizing Rufus' decision to send them & a nice chunk of the army to the Temple of the Ancients, knowing the risks.

Rude, Reno & Tseng are shown being fine going along with whatever orders Rufus give them while Elena has her doubts & interrogations and rightfully so. Sending so many people there is a reckless move & she ended up being proven right. ( I could go on a tangent on how Elena could be a great partner to him due to the way she questions things. There's a difference between loyalty & sycophanty. And from the first scene with the Board or even Sister ray, what he needs is loyal people with enough backbone to challenge & give him the right advices. Which is what Elena represents)

However this were my beef with the english localization is coming in & how people who rely on it may have missed some nuances to the whole exchange:

In the eng version, she goes on how Rufus accompagnying the expedition is a bad idea but on brand with his character.

However in the jpn & french localization when Rude tells her Rufus is coming with them, Elena ask what he means & Reno says it's expected of him/it's not surprising. Elena says it's dangerous but that also that she doesn't dislike Rufus' decision to come with them, which is peak tsundere attitude.

While I think her eng VA did a great job overall, the direction also constantly make her sounds aggressive, even during moments when she's not.

So yeah the first version is just a statement on Rufus' behavior.

The second version give nuance on how Elena perceive Rufus. Yes, it's dangerous for him to do that but it also help her settle down a bit. She likes the fact he is participating in this.

It's also a great way to show why he has so much sway with the Turks, as Reno, Rude & Elena enjoy some of thrills that come with the job and Rufus is the same.

The compilation always frustrated me with the way their relationship has interesting tidbits but was often glossed over. I was surprised with the way Rebirth depicted these two as I considered myself lucky if we actually got them together in the same frame but we instead got a few interactions & them reacting to each other in a way that is pretty informative about their own characters but also how their dynamic would work.

It's pretty close of the interpretation I had always had for Ruiri/Rulena/Rufena: the type of ship that belong in the power couple category, similar opposites who challenge each other in a way that support them due to their strong personnalities & position while navigating thru their professional & personnal life with a fun dynamic to boot.

#cb's rambling #rufus shinra #elena ff7 #elena #elena of the turks #ff7 rebirth #ff7 rebirth spoilers #ff7r spoilers #ruiri #rufena #rulena

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omegothic · 5 days

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opinion on ffxv after 75 hours of playing (and one hour of running in circles to level gladio's skill up) (still haven't played any of the dlcs but i'm gonna take a break or something for a few days because i severely neglected my university stuff and spent most of the last week obsessively playing this game)

i love this game. am i tired? hell yeah. would i want all these hours back? hell no.

the game is a mystery to me.

the sidequests are genshin impact open world quests level (which means that if i hear anyone talking, i'm pressing the skip button because i don't give a fuck). you listen to someone yapping about unimportant stuff and they make you collect the same shit over and over again. peak game design.

the main quests are good but the ending made me age 10 years in a week. there's NO NEED for these tragedies. boy you literally have the power of gods on your side and they tell you the only way to get rid of the big bad villain is to kill yourself? sounds like bullshit to me. also why even bother if there's only a few thousands people left in the world. you already lost, all this stuff had to be done 10 years ago to have any meaning. and there's no way the world didn't just implode or something when the sun stopped rising. the true ending is noctis getting spat out of the crystal and realising everyone is long gone because there's no sunlight.

the mentally ill hobo could have been more cooperative too geez. i'll be honest i like him much more than the six. and everyone's like "oh gods are helping you" no they hate me and want me to die for no reason. i'd rather join forces with ardyn and try to take them down. even if he did a lot of questionable stuff (cough- killed my bride -cough-cough- and her brother -cough- also kidnapped my friend and tortured him-)

the hunts are kinda fun when it's a big monster but when it's a bunch of goblins i'm like,,, why did you call me here? ngl i thought all hunts would be like the first one, it was truly cool. there was some kind of plot, some interactions with my friends, some stealth, the monster seemed really tough (meanwhile me, fighting the lvl 99 adamantoise 65 hours later: the ring of lucii go brrr-)

the dungeons are ass. i thought nothing could be as disorienting as daggerfall's randomly generated dungeons but they really managed to do a miracle with ffxv. although the dungeons in ffxv are not scary at all, that's the difference.

the open world is okay. there're some interesting places (when you first see the big mysterious creature in the lake you're like do i have to fight it?? can i get closer to it?? what is this??) and the nature is beautiful. altissia looks majestic but sadly there's not much to do. i appreciate the hard work tho.

using regalia was a delight. when you want to take a break and just look at the landscape you can just sit still with a controller in your hands and enjoy the ride. really therapeutic. don't drive at night when you're low level though... listen to ignis. ignis is always right.

the camp life is by far the best out of all games i've had an experience with. there's so many little details everywhere that you cannot help but adore your companions. it's the way every time you make camp you get a bunch of photos prompto took since the last break. it's the way your companions talk to you almost all the time and you truly feel like you are on a road trip with your friends. it's the way gladio calls you out on your bullshit and afterwards you want to bite his head off each time you talk to him. it's the way ignis cooks for the entire party and makes you help him sometimes. i just love the way friendship is portrayed here.

what was not as good is luna and noct's relationship. there was not enough of luna. yes she loves noct but why? yes noct loves luna but why? luna literally appeared in the plot for two minutes and then tragically died. i think it's really bad. also imagine not seeing your bride for 12 years, when you finally meet her again she immediately dies, then you spend 10 years trapped in a crystal, fucking die and then get to marry your bride. honey it's been 22 years since i last talked to you in person. i'm NOT marrying a random woman in the afterlife (no hate for luna, just this love story didn't seem convincing enough). hopefully i'm gonna see what they wrote in the dawn of the future soon (please pray so that my amazon package doesn't get lost 🙏)

the music is incredible. the woman who wrote the soundtrack is my goddess and i am a devout worshipper 🙏🙏🙏

so, why is the game a mystery to me? because no other game could make me endure 75 hours of boring side quests. i managed to play hogwarts legacy for 44 hours and i despised that game when i finished it. i despised it long before i finished it. but not ffxv. they could make me do all this boring stuff again and i would do it (not for free tho because i've got better things to do with my time 🤣)

i enjoyed ffxv a lot. it also made me depressed for a week because ending a game like that should be a crime. i think i'm gonna do a few last quests after that but there's not much left (and i'm not looking for more because if i think i am done then i am done). not sure how long episodes gladiolus, prompto and ignis are gonna take, but they're also in my plans (no ardyn tho, gotta go watch some playthrough). there's also anime and a film so plenty of content for me. and i am waiting for the arrival of my book 🫡

(noticed that there's nothing about the combat. well it's because i don't care. i don't like combat. i don't like it in any game. i prefer to flee)

#ffxv #final fantasy #final fantasy 15 #final fantasy xv

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fourgods-nobrakes · 1 month

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So I've been playing Rogue Trader finally; I was unsure for a long time and then finally got the one spoiler that made me want to try it. Currently I'm exploring the first world in chapter 2, and boy have I had a lot of feelings all over the place, many of them uncomfortable. I do appreciate how much Owlcat have worked to bring out the grinding dystopian horror of ordinary life in the imperium, even though it gets exhausting sometimes -- and I've hit one sidequest so far whose resolution leaned in hard to a specific element that's pure nightmare fuel for me. It's well done! Some nights it's emotionally exhausting though.

I also feel like I'm reacting incorrectly to parts of the story that are supposed to be Bad for my character, getting excited to see a Chaos Spawn in motion or being thrilled when a daemon does its signature move. Or like the whole ending sequence to chapter 1! Look at all that cool stuff aaah! I want to be more heretical earlier on than the game anticipates.

Thus far I am not interested in romancing anyone. Cassia is a sheltered noble kid, and I hope she meets someone who's decent and patient enough to help her discover the galaxy and also learn that commoners are people, but I don't want to be that guy. Heinrix tortures people like me to death, which is not my jam at all in a self-insert-type scenario like video game romance (and I realize this would not come up at all if I were playing the kind of character he'd have a romance with, which I'm not, but his introduction sure left an impression). I've just recruited Jae and honestly hope she bangs half my retinue but I feel like I'd fight her constantly if we got too close. Haven't met Yrliet or Marazhai yet, so we'll see how they go.

But really I'm only here for one character, who isn't romanceable except in my heart. I'll be doing my best to impress him anyway though.

#rogue trader #four gods no good video game opinions

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super-cosmic-library · 7 months

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your hands are like magic

STWG daily drabble 10/5/23--quiet

Eddie’s brain never turned off. His mind was a pinball machine with ten too many pinballs pinging around at once. Sometimes, the noise was great. One could never truly be alone if one’s brain never shut the hell up. Besides, the constant barrage of thoughts aided his dming like no carefully planned-out notebook ever could. He could think up a dozen different scenarios on the fly for just about every move his players made, and not once had anyone caught on to the fact that he barely prepped before a session.

But most of the time, the constant pinging was a real pain in the ass. It made paying attention nearly impossible. His bedroom stayed in a state of disarray because every time he set out to tidy it, he’d keep stumbling on sidequests that needed his immediate attention. The noise was also probably the reason why he’d failed senior year so many times. It wasn’t his fault! He could barely hear the dull-ass lecture over the rapidly switching radio stations in his head.

Some days, Eddie didn’t know how he had survived twenty-one years with a surely busted brain. He should have gotten used to the noise at some point. At least enough to ignore it when something extra important that needed him entirely focused on occurred. But he could only ever quiet it down for a few seconds before he went back to mentally picking out the chords for new Metallica songs or mapping out a sewing pattern for the Dracula cape he kept telling himself he’d get around to creating. Eventually.

So, yeah, Eddie could never shut off his brain.

Steve, however . . .

Eddie had long considered the man an anomaly. He was raised to follow in the footsteps of his rich asshole parents, he looked like he could be the boyfriend of an Italian Renaissance artist, and he had been a massive womanizer all throughout high school. Yet, his best friends were a bunch of nerdy sophomores (and Robin Buckley, of all people), whom he adored and had risked his life for countless times. And he was a really caring and respectful guy.

And he was bisexual.

And he was actually into Eddie.

Felt like a switched-at-birth scenario, only King Steve had been switched out with his doppelganger after reaching puberty. Honestly, after everything he’d seen in the past few months, Eddie wouldn’t be surprised if the Irish were right about changelings. Maybe being part-fae would explain the man that was Steve Harrington. Because that man was magic, and not just with his mouth or his dick or in any of the other ways that made Eddie really glad that the Harringtons were never in their massive, secluded house.

No, he was also magic in the simpler ways. The mundane ways.

For after long, grueling days filled with noise, as the two, exhausted from their respective shifts at their dead-end jobs, vegged out on the couch, Steve would guide Eddie’s head into his lap and sink his fingers into his curls.

And Eddie’s brain would finally shut off.

#eddie munson #steve harrington #stranger things #steddie #stwgdailyprompt

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snackbyte · 25 days

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let's talk abt video games - dark souls

(aka snack's messy thoughts abt Dark Souls: on persistence, purpose, and perpetuality)

happy easter! today is a day where a dude flipped tables, came back to life, and was suddenly missing in a cave, so naturally we're thinking about the cyclical nature of death and rebirth and pain and suffering and absolution

- spoilers for dark souls, bloodborne, and dark souls 3 -

dark souls, along with its predecessor, demon's souls, the dark souls of dark souls games, is notorious for making you die over and over again with its punishing core loop, where if you die, you are sent back to your last checkpoint, and you need to make all the way back to where you were again… which actually sounds like any video game that came out in the 90s

but really, what makes the Dark Souls series so different from any other video game? it's nowhere near as hard or brutal as the original super mario bros, and it shares a lot of combat DNA with its ancestor game, Monster Hunter, with extremely tight animation control, even more so by Bloodborne where the focus shifts from the original Dark Souls' less linear map design and moves towards boss and enemy mechanics.

I think the key difference lies in is its commitment to their core themes in all of its aspects, ranging from design to narrative, etc.

The first Dark Souls game flips what we usually see of medieval fantasy end-of-the-world stories from “everybody is dead” to “btw nobody can die anymore?” anyone that can't die no matter what eventually loses their mind because life is meaningless and existence is suffering and pain is eternal. given infinite chances and immortality, and faced with the sheer dauntingness/impossibleness of a task, people break and give up and become Hollow, essentially mindless zombies. i really like the idea that “zombies” in dark souls happen because your sanity the first to go, eroded over an infinite amount of time.

The only thing that makes you different from all of the random schmuck hollows you fight is that, lost as you are, even if you don’t know the plot or what the heck is going on, you move forward because you, the player, know there is an end. Whether in the narrative sense of “yes i will link the flame and end undying apathy and insanity” or in the “there’s gonna be a final boss eventually and i will kick his butt” mechanics sense.

This is reflected heavily in its core loop. You will die. You will come back. You will learn the enemies, you will try different things. But the most important thing is that you will push forward even if you’re a wrinkly ugly zombie. “Don’t go hollow” is a recurring theme in the game. Because the only way a player will truly go hollow is if they’ve given up on the game and lost their resolve.

The sidequests of many characters revolve around this same optimism in the face of adversity, that only holding on to our humanity keeps us sane and gives us the resolve to keep going. Solaire, Siegmeyer, and many of the characters in the game believe in a better world no matter how meaningless it seems. Even Patches finds the fun in being a dick. And that sometimes we just need a little bit of joly cooperation!

Dark Souls talks about that persistence for a goal in the face of an unending task. Similarly, in its sequel, Bloodborne, Hunters must perpetually hunt the beasts that plague Yharnam. When they die, they simply wake up to return to the hunt, as if in an unending dream. Hunters are born with that purpose, and you, the player, must commit to that purpose. Fear the old blood.

Bloodborne adds to the themes of the DS1’s original argument: That goal must be yours and yours alone. Your purpose is the reason why you keep going and must come from you. Unlike when someone in DS1 becomes Hollow when they go insane, in Bloodborne, it’s the opposite. Hunters go insane when they are consumed by bloodlust and ambition, blindly slaughtering the beasts of the night or becoming monsters themselves by consuming their blood.

(this is my only photo of my bloodborne playthrough as innsmouth skadi arknights)

And the game doesn’t just tell you this, it lets you experience this (and question your own sanity) through gaining powerful insight as you progress. This is where Bloodborne’s linearity and railroadedness actually aids its storytelling in contrast with Dark Souls’s openness! I won’t get too into it here, but I think anyone that’s played Bloodborne knows what mechanic I’m talking about HAHA.

The other Hunters you see in the game are generally already driven insane and will try to kill you on sight. Some retain their human form, and some have become monsters. You even get to see one other “good” NPC in the game succumb, as he beats down a “monster” into nothing but a pile of blood and mush. Before he dies.

In contrast, a (retired) Hunter named Djura will shoot you on sight, not because he’s insane, but because he found new purpose in protecting the people of Old Yharnam, who are pretty much zombies and beasts at this point. He refuses to let them die or give up on them so long as there’s a chance that they might have retained their humanity or may regain it. Another hunter, Eileen the Crow, is a Hunter of Hunters, who kills those who have gone mad.

I think my favorite example of this theme in action is through the character of Ludwig. A lot of the item descriptions in the game talk about Ludwig, one of the Healing Church’s greatest hunters and its leader. He’s described as a truly good hunter who simply wanted to stop the spread of evil using holy weapons and Being Good.

When we get to the Old Hunters DLC, we finally see Ludwig himself. Like many hunters, he was pushed beyond the brink and all we see left of him is a horselike beast. But fascinates me most about his boss battle, is that in the middle, he remembers his true purpose, not the one given to him by the Church, not the violence and blooodlust and rage stemming from his underlings that fell to beastlike tendencies, but his true mentor, his guiding moonlight that allowed him to retain his humanity: Hope and goodness, never falling to the temptation of bloodlust and insanity. It is then that Ludwig gets up from his monstrous self and fights like a human one last time, wielding his old greatsword.

Bloodborne is filled with many brilliant, subtle storytelling bits about the same persistence in Dark Souls but argues the necessity of finding our own meaning in our struggle. These themes/stories-in-mechanics work in Bloodborne because you already know what you are from the start. You’re given the purpose of eradicating monsters. You want to end the night. You will gain powerful insight. You will have eyes on the inside. Killing is extremely visceral and satisfying. Violence is the best way to stay alive in a battle. A hunter must hunt, and by progressing you are fulfilling this purpose. And by fulfilling this given purpose, we are driven mad.

Dark Souls 3 takes those themes of purpose and brings us to all the places we went through in DS1, both literally and figuratively, changed through the incomprehensible flow of time. Every location you’ve seen in the first game is now a completely different place. Or not. Same same, but different. We have to link the first flame again, and end the cycle of people not dying and going insane (again). And this works to its advantage!

DS3 tackles the (even more meta) cyclical nature of this persistence and purpose. Not in the cycles of “we die, we respawn, we persist”, but the very idea that this will happen again, even if it’s not within our lifetime. The idea of revisiting DS1 fits exactly with what it’s trying to say.

One of my favorite things in DS3 is that most, if not all, the questlines end with the death and absolution of its related character, breaking their own cycles having found their purpose. It’s a marriage and contrast with the main themes of DS1 and BB, where they “live” in their final moments, ultimately choosing the way they die.

This all comes together in the game’s final boss and endings. In DS3’s last battle, you face the literal personification of everyone has that finished Dark Souls before. Everyone who, in the past, has linked the first flame. Everyone whose struggle we know and have experienced. When you defeat them, you can continue the cycle and maintain the status quo. Or, you can attempt to break the cycle with the Firekeeper, and change the world! Or you can take the first flame for yourself.

DS1, BB, and DS3 all build on their predecessor’s themes to reflect on maintaining our purpose in the midst of never ending and changing hardship. But despite their glum, dreary worlds, there is always hope. And people will always fight. Because our humanity and persistence will always be our greatest weapons against struggle, no matter where, when, or how it manifests.

---

note: i dont include ds2 bec i think its direction is so different it doesn’t really fit with what these games try to discuss. the overarching design is more of cheap “difficulty” jabs than the level and narrative design we get from the miyazaki-directed games. kinda like if you draw a line in both game design and themes from ds1 to ds3, bb fits more than ds2 does

#snack eats #dark souls #dark souls 3 #bloodborne #game design

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themolldollincident · 8 months

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Queer tormented by ocd plays disco elysium absolutely zooted on edibles, a tragically short story in only seven snapchats

Not my typical content but i had to post it.

I LOVE video games but my OCD makes them very distressing to play sometimes. My playthrough HAS to be perfect or i get extremely distressed - not like i have to do a good job and win, but more like every single playthrough has to be a beautiful work of art from beginning to end, no decisions or time wasted on things that dont serve the STORY and the CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, and CERTAINLY no sidequests left uninvestigated and no bonus content left undiscovered. This has gotten harder in recent years as video games have become more complex and more beautiful, so oftentimes you CANT uncover every single thing AND play a consistent character, because huge swaths of content are often locked behind certain decisions that you CANT MAKE if you're committing to a specific character arc or story. So anyway a while ago I played through Disco Elysium. I LOVED IT. It was FANTASTIC. It was difficult to get through at times because of the ocd but it was so so worth it and helped me practice not engaging in compulsions.

HOWEVER.

I recently decided to play it through AGAIN while absolutely fucking ZOOTED on some edibles i've discovered that make it to where i basically dont fucking have my extremely severe case of ocd for just a few hours. (They are heavenly and i love them). I thought it would be really fun to play the whole game again, but this time i ONLY open up this save when im zooted, and i ONLY have fun, with NO pressure to make the playthrough any kind of art. JUST have FUN playing a VIDEO GAME for the first time in my life. I decided i would ONLY pick the dialogue options i found the most amusing, without doing my typical 20 minutes of overthinking for each dialogue box. I was going goofy mode and i was so excited. It didnt exactly go the way i thought it would though LMAO

This is the result of that tragically short but hilarious playthrough that had me SCREAMING in my living room, told in 7 snapchats

1. Opening the game and noticing something i somehow never noticed during the whole first playthrough around 5:35 pm

2. Creating a character build, 5:38 pm

3. Deciding to have a 1 in all stats except psyche and pour all points into psyche so that i can be psychic cop, failing to realize (because edibles) that there is a low attribute cap at the beginning, so i just accidentally chose to hamstring my attributes and just NOT USE my three points to build my character, 5:40 pm

4. Choosing ONLY Inland Empire for my skill increase, once again failing to realize that i wasnt maxxing out inland empire, i was just failing to use two skill points. Also i was enjoying the music in the skill screen, which is beautiful, but since i was high i thought the 5 minutes i spent just vibing to the music was like 30 minutes so i thought i wasted a bunch of time, 5:48pm. (Ive decided to call this method of accidentally using only one skill/attribute point at the beginning of the game because youre too zooted to play video games well "Harry-Maxxing".)

5. Going through the "trying to wake up" beginning of the game choosing only the funniest dialogue options and seeing dialogue i had never seen before! Fun! But also before i took this pic i referenced the nina chimera FMA meme and my partner hadnt heard of it so i explained it for only like 10 minutes, but again, since i was high, i thought i wasted like 2 hours on that. But it was only 6:16 pm.

6. and 7. A glorious 3 minutes later, i decide turning the light on is a great first move (its been a bit since my first playthrough). Again, i am only choosing the funniest dialogue options and not thinking super well, so i just kept saying shit like "BRING IT ON" and "Let it all go" because i thought it was typical harry being overdramatic and weird, and i thought it was hilarious. Turns out i had a heart attack from turning the light on and immediately died. Literally like 5 minutes of actual playtime. Incredible. I love this game.

It wasnt the full playthrough i was hoping for but it was awesome. Rip harry number 2. I definitely recommend harry-maxxing

#disco elysium #harry disco elysium #harry du bois #harry maxxing #edibles

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barramundi · 10 months

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my twilight princess journey: enemies to lovers apparently

A few days ago I beat the legend of zelda: twilight princess for the first time ever!! and man...... i am not okay (positive)

I've always been a HUGE zelda fan, ever since I was a little kid. i literally can't remember a time I didn't have zelda in my life. so much i used to spend all day long playing majora's mask with my older sibling and i remember how i knew there were other zelda games but i thought all of them would look like oot/mm... and then twilight princess was announced. and i thought that was the most beautiful game I had ever seen. i fell in love with midna and i thought link was just so handsome and cool... unfortunately i never owned a gamecube and apparently my sibling was not really interested in twilight princess, so... time went by and i never had the chance to play it.

and then, back in 2012, 10 years late, 14 year old me heard of the wind waker for the first time. i immediately fell in love with the art and i HAD to play that game. i owned a Wii at the time and i remember feeling disappointed realizing WW was for the gamecube but then FEELING EXCITED REALIZING THE WII COULD PLAY GAMECUBE GAMES. i fought really hard to be able to play the wind waker. and i did!!! i played it way too much probably. i always say it's at least my top 2 zelda. sometimes even top 1, only losing to majora's mask.

and twilight princess remained unnoticed........ until I noticed it... negatively

back in the day people used to hate a lot on the wind waker because of the graphics and art style. and what they would compare it to to say the graphics sucked?? twilight princess. "TP good dark mature awesome!!! WW bad stupid kiddy game!!" UGH i was outraged. i had to stand up for my favorite game!!! before i even noticed, i already hated twilight princess.

i had some (bad) reasons like being under the impression that TP was trying way too hard to be dark and gritty and realistic and that it took itself so seriously it made it look stupid. and i would compare it to majora's mask's effortlessness in creating a depressing but beautiful atmosphere without having to be visually dark. "TP wants to be MM soooo bad it's embarrassing hihihi!!!" oh shut up you never played it, weirdo!!!!

anyways, fast forward to may 2023. nintendo releases tears of the kingdom and with it apparently the end of the old zelda format. i was so devastated and sad... ever since botw, i was hoping for a new old-fashioned zelda game; and now it would never come... but still i was longing to play a zelda game. i wanted to GET THROUGH DUNGEONS, SOLVE PUZZLES, DO COOL SIDEQUESTS FOR FUNNY CHARACTERS!!! but i didn't want to play the ones I had already played again... i wanted something new... but what!!!

i looked at twilight princess, twilight princess looked at me.... i thought "welp... i guess I wouldn't be able to run from you forever". and off i went to hyrule... or rather, to ordon village

at first I was sincerely shocked by how much TP felt like the wind waker. same engine, similar combat (but greatly improved), same sound effects, the yellow rupee... i was jokingly saying it was the wind waker's evil twin lmao

when i got to the first dungeon, it finally hit me: through all these years, what the FUCK did I think twilight princess was gonna be other than... *SHOCK*... A NORMAL ZELDA GAME?????

A VERY GOOD ZELDA GAME???? T-THE BEST ONE????

remember all that talk about trying way too hard to be dark and gritty?? dude. what the fuck. this game is fucking adorable. midna is SO cool in a sweet way, the songs are great and honestly this is my favorite link ever. i always looked at him being marketed as a MANLY MAN THE MOST AGGRESSIVE REALISTIC LINK GGRRRR LOOK AT HOW DEEP HIS VOICE IS!!!! reality: he is the cutest link. literally the cutest most adorable link. bless him forever. i want to hug him so bad............. i am going to pass out (positive)

also midna and zelda. they are dating.

so yeah, there i was having an absolute blast with this game. it has the best dungeons I've ever seen. (except for lakebed temple. i hate lakebed temple. good thing arbiter's grounds is the best dungeon in the entire franchise.)

anyways I got to temple of time and then my PC fucking gave up and i had to go get it fixed; i lost all my progress and cried myself to sleep but then i pulled myself together and went through it all over again. and i would do it again. because i love this game. i finally beat it 5 days ago and i can't stop thinking about it. might just as well start another run honestly

twilight princess has now surpassed most zelda games I've played and is comfortably sitting under majora's mask and the wind waker as my 3rd favorite zelda game. but there is a twist: i haven't played MM and WW in years and i kinda needed to play them again just to confirm or change my ranking. the problem is that i just don't feel like playing them. 'cause i just want to play twilight princess!!!

so yeah, with a new personal record of 17 years of delay, it still feels kinda weird to say that twilight princess might just be my favorite zelda game ever. 🙏

that's it bye

#the legend of zelda #tloz #twilight princess #zelda #zelda tp #zelda twilight princess #long post #video games #legend of zelda midna #midna #midna x zelda #link

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chemzee · 1 month

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Just a small ramble about Cass, Wallpaper and my personal rewriting of hpma story so don't mind me. Might delete later. It's all my personal opinion tho so feel free to disagree with me.

As much as I defend Cassandra a lot (I'm afraid people from the server can confirm that) I would be lying if I said I can defend her bullying. Nothing against bully characters, I have a tendency to enjoy them (which is kinda weird given how I was bullied myself literally all my life and everywhere I go 💀) I genuinely don't like that part of Cassandra's character, I like her so much more outside the main story, like, don't get me started on how much I believe Y3 did her absolutely dirty and somewhat mischaracterized her (in my opinion that is) for sake of antagonizing her. And especially as someone who, unfortunately, happens to enjoy DanCass a lot, I do feel pretty iffy about that part of their canon dynamic.

I feel like Cass, as a bully, specifically in Y3, feels a bit overpowered. I understand why she wasn't punished in Y1, bc like, she almost got killed, but in Y3? I genuinely believe she'd work a lot better as a rival character, someone on equal grounds with the main cast, who just messes with us rather than bully, because her being a bully who gets away with pretty much everything creates a very unhealthy power dynamic and I'm not really a fan of that, especially given how it's clear our mc and Cassandra are friends or just enjoy each other's company enough, somewhat.

Which is kinda how I personally rewrote her dynamic with the cast and specifically Daniel: a rival character, who sometimes gets along with the main cast but often messes with them because she sees them as competition (which is how I feel they're portrayed in sidequests, Cass rarely, if ever, bullies the main gang, she's just mean to them or sometimes even actually kinda nice, in her own way, these sidequests being the main reason I love her sm). Yet because of her arrogance, she still judges people based on their family background, because for her, it's safe to assume you're going to be similar to those who raises you. And she just kinda takes things a bit too far in Y3 and the moment Daniel attacks her and McGonagall gives her a speech she's like "... Oh shit." and the realization that she really crossed the line for some petty rivalry hits her like a truck, which would initiate the whole redemption arc of hers.

But it's just my rewrite ig hehe

#chemzee rambles lmao #hpma

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faorism · 6 months

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niche crossover of the day that im too lazy rn to clean up and post to ao3 but may in the future: alec hardison (leverage) plays bg3

hardison balances playtime with hacker hours well, which means he moves through hyperfixations but has learned through working with the crew how to prioritize when there's a friend's life on the line. (there will be no more repeats of his crew sitting on a bomb without him right next to them.) sometimes though his partners lose him for a week after a new release, but now that they live together at least parker can drag him to bed for cuddles (and to sleep) and eliot will kept him fed.

it should go without saying that hardison loves baulder's gate 3. he heard such good things about it during early access from his dnd buddies, but hardison refuses to play EA because he will end up encountering bugs and basically writing the code that the devs will end up doing anyway, so why waste his time.

he plays without any prior knowledge, doesn't even know the characters really except from glimpses at their promo pics. but he's excited. he downloads the game, kisses his partners """goodbye""" for the foreseeable future (as long as a job doesnt spring up, but even then it would be a quick one because eliot sprained his ankle and needed to rest it no matter how much he complained he was good).

he decides to play his chaotic good halfling wizard mendula from two campaigns back - fresh enough in his mind to remember the character, but not too recent so that he wont feel conflicted if the tav storyline doesnt allow for precise oc characterizations. hardison gets super into it, but he doesnt linger on side quests, not yet: he wants to get a feel of the game without mods and follow its arc. hardison doesnt usually romance on a first playthrough, but wyll!!!!! wyll was right there being perfect and beautiful and righteous and black and bi and yeah, hardison had to fan himself off during the dance sequence

his party is wizard tav, shadowheart, wyll, and lae'zel, and barely switches them out. when astarion drains him dry and kills him, hardison is so annoyed he kills astarion. he feels very proud of himself when he sniped wyll's devil karlach without much fuss. then he skips a lot of the companion sidequests because he just wants to rush to the end. he gets married to wyll, then starts right over and plays wyll origin, now able to take his time and understanding the mechanics of the game. he also downloads QOL mods that have already come out for EA, and he has notes about ones he will make if no one else does when he's ready for playthrough #3. he purposefully avoids any major ones (so no Polyam Mod for him, though he does eye it, but he wants to see how multiple romances play himself).

he plays will as accurately as possible, which means engaging heavily with the very companions hardison spent ignoring because wyll? wyll cares (and fuck, hardison loves him for that because yes yes, that's him too!). and......

ah. okay so. maybe hardison shouldn't have ignored the companions so much since they do add a lot to the game! and..... maybe, just maybe, hardison was too hasty killing astarion and karlach the first go around. maybe a lot. he thought they would be companions for evil tavs/origins only! he played kotor and [insert game references here, i dont play games like this usually...], so he thought he knew what was up.

anyway, he is drawn so much to these two out of the novelty of them that he puts them into his party (the fourth spot he switches around, thought once hardison gets him, halsin is a fun mainstay because BEAR. hardison gets up romancing both astarion and karlach (and a little halsin, HALSIN IS SO EASY TO FLIRT WITH, larian WANTS you to fuck him)

and....... okay. okay. maybe romancing them both at the same time was a mistake because. because he loves them both. so much. for very different reasons. hardison feels so deeply and then he's forced to make a decision, and hardison crumples a bit. considers downloading the polyam mod but opts out of it to suffer vanilla game logic to its very end.

when he breaks up with astarion, who plays it so damn cool, hardison had to walk away from the computer to mourn by burying himself in his nearest partner's arms (eliot, this time).

he finishes the game, makes wyll go to avernus with karlach (as he made them do during this tav playthrough) and... thinks about astarion.

hardison had carried over the breakup scene save this whole time, and he decides fuck it, and goes back and tries it the other way this time.

he didnt know karlach will just... die on the pier. wtf. wtf. or wyll will go and there wont be any interaction with astarion?? hardison is Distraught. he downloads the polyam mod and while it doesnt force the issue, he can just feel at the edges that nope, this isnt authentic

finds partner's arms again. parker this time. she asks whats wrong with his make believe people, and he pauses for so long that parker thinks he fell asleep or didnt hear her, and then he quietly says that wyll has a heart big enough for two, a romance can be fairytale when made for three, dont they know there's nothing more beautiful than being held between by both the people you love?

parker kisses his temple as tears legit well in his eyes (and he feels embarrassed) and she yells for eliot for emergency group hugs.

eliot, with hardison squished between his two partners, usually doesnt get involved with hardison's gaming but this time he's just like, okay what is it about these characters that's getting to you like this? and why them together? who are they?

and hardison had already talked about wyll a little because disney prince. so he reiterates some of that with a major case of projection. and then when he turns to talk about the companions, hardison stops. and just.

oh.

a black man who was forced to make impossible desperate choices when he was still a teen, which got him into trouble as a consequence, and then being alone and wandering for years until he ran into a pack of different people come together for a common purpose. trying to be good, the best he could be, and hiding behind a flashy name to hide some of the more raw parts underneath. ravenguard and nana have strikingly similar cheekbones.

then theres a rogue with a deeply traumatic past who can be selfish and kinda insensitive and likes shiny things. a pale thief who likes a little bit of chaos even when running good alignment, and who can't help sticky fingers reaching for unsuspecting belts and also... well, also is a top, through and through. a top who likes to bite. vicious when upset. also... also touch adverse and who at first laughs at sincerity and then basks in it but only once your commitment is fully and well established. the only bit of code hardison wrote as he played his wyll origin was to remove astarion saying dont touch me when you switch to him; hardison flinched every time, hearing the cadence of parker's voice scratching at him when she's triggered.

then, a barbarian who handed from one handler (who ended up being a totalitarian dick) down the road until being owned by the literal devil. body put through hell, scars littering a body that spells strength at a distance. once escaped from the nightmare, only wanted their own perseverance. their own life. wanting so desperately for a touch, to be loved, to be held in a way that didn't spell murder. "heartless" after years of working for, again, literal devils, but so full of life and kindness and (also eliot is more coy about it) a deep sense of joy for the world. kind to children. protective of children. wary of deals too good to be true. willing to die than return to a life they once lived. death feels imminent, despite the protestations of everyone around them. really good bedroom eyes.

so.

yeah.

maybe... maybe

hardison couldnt get the words out to say all of that. all he says is, they're a lot like us. (like with astarion, if hardison spelled out the exact overlaps of the characters.)

the games dumb then, parker says. or at least broken. if the game isnt right, just go fix it?

and hardison has protests about the limits of what is possible within someone else's game and...

parker is like, you made a guy hold up a bank in like, 10 min? on a laptop with spotty internet and without a mouse or any preparation?

and this takes some time between other projects he really has to get to, but.... he does it. codes like a motherfucker and bribes eliot & parker into mocap and also genuinely pays the VAs to voice lines for him. shit hardison does for the love of his ot3:

script out unique banter for karlach and astarion in your party that hints of their attraction to one another

code in an extra option when astarion or karlach confront you for to prompt them to consider their own feelings for the other (different from the current but i want to be with you both! line)

a short nighttime cutscene that with dialogue that implies the three have just finished talking and have agreed to be together. they are all holding hands

include astarion and karlach in each other's act iii scenes (they arent the most chatty, admittedly, but they are there and integrated)

outside of camp, if you three are standing near each other, you can cast a spell that cuts to astarion and karlach kissing either of wyll's checks (this is admittedly somewhat buggy but!

edits out astarion cowering on the pier from the sun, just rushes the three to avernus which hardison doesnt have to edit; just uses astarion origin version for wyll.

nexusmods community begs desperately for him to do this for some other ot3s and he is willing to hear them out for shadowheart/lae'zel/tav, he absolutely refuses to break up karwyllstarion and only offers wyll pov. will not even allow for edits being made for a tav/karlach/astarion mod. he deeply pisses off some people, but overall this mod is downloaded a fuckton as the only truly viable polyam romance option in the game. people start writing fanfic specifically for this one mod and eventually it is just integrated into canon lore that karwyllstarion exists as an option

#wyll ravengard #alec hardison #astarion bg3 #leverage #karlach bg3 #wyllstarion #wyllach #karwyllstarion #parker leverage #eliot spencer #faorism meta #faorism work #faorism headcanons #bg3

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sapphim · 1 year

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Sibling Rivalry - DA2

I'm probably not the only person to wonder the degree to which Bethany and Carver's approval score affects their disposition toward Hawke in the game. So I got it into my head to search the game files to see every instance in which the game checks their approval score and... it's not much!

A couple things.

There's always a small chance that there's some other line of dialogue in the game that's been coded in some fuckstupid nonstandard way that my search didn't catch, but this should be everything.

Unlike the game's full companions, which have major milestones at 50 and 100 approval points and can sometimes behave accordingly, Bethany and Carver are always at a flat check to determine if their approval is either above or below zero. There's no further benefit to changing their approval more than +-1 point from neutral.

Approval scores for Bethany and Carver really only ever come into play in Acts 2 and 3. There are basically no approval checks in Act 1, and none in the base game.

There's not a lot of approval-related dialogue in the base game, and it's all for warden siblings -- in the Act 2 climax and in the optional Act 3 sidequest Finding Nathaniel. Templar Carver and circle mage Bethany do not have any approval-specific dialogue in the base game... and the majority of approval-specific dialogue in the DLC still goes to their warden counterparts.

I'll be posting additional posts with the dialogue from MotA and Legacy in separate posts, to keep the length manageable, which will be found under the #sibling rivalry tag. Here's the base game dialogue:

Act 2 - Demands of the Qun (Warden Bethany)

Blue Hawke: [Are you all right?] Are you injured? Are there more of you?

[friendly]

Bethany: This is everyone. Thank you.

[rival]

Bethany: We're fine. Everyone's here.

---

Purple Hawke: [I live here.] Last time I checked, you'd moved on from Kirkwall.

[friendly]

Bethany: I'm a Warden now. We go where we're needed.

[rival]

Bethany: We're here on Grey Warden business.

---

Red Hawke: [You're welcome.] A "thank you" might be in order, don't you think?

[friendly]

Bethany: I must say, it's less painful than the last time you saved my life.

[rival]

Bethany: I knew you didn't go to so much trouble to save me, just to throw it away now.

---

Hawke: [You're leaving, Bethany?] But you just got here.

[friendly]

Bethany: You gave me this life… I'm just doing the best I can to live it.

[rival]

Bethany: I've been here for six days.

---

Hawke: [Bethany, Mother's gone.] Wait—I need to tell you about Mother.

[friendly]

Bethany: I know. When we got the news, the Wardens helped me hold a wake. I'm… glad you were with her. In her final moments.

[rival]

Bethany: I know what happened. I waited and waited for you to tell me yourself. Did you hold a funeral, or was there not enough left?

Act 2 - Demands of the Qun (Warden Carver)

Blue Hawke: [Are you all right?] Are you injured? Are there more of you?

[friendly]

Carver: I'm good, but we're not the help you need.

[rival]

Carver: I'm fine. We're fine. And no, this is all of us.

---

Purple Hawke: [I live here.] Last time I checked, you'd moved on from Kirkwall.

[friendly]

Carver: Things change. But… I can't stay.

[rival]

Carver: We're here on Grey Warden business.

---

Red Hawke: [You're welcome.] A "thank you" might be in order, don't you think?

[friendly]

Carver: Sorry. A bit distracted by all the friends you've made since I left.

[rival]

Carver: Pardon my manners. You save me so often I sometimes forget.

---

Hawke: [You're leaving, Carver?] But you just got here.

[friendly]

Carver: Another time, perhaps.

[rival]

Carver: I've been here for six days.

---

Hawke: [Carver, Mother's gone.] Wait—I need to tell you about Mother.

[any]

Carver: I already know what happened. I'm sure you did your best.

Act 3 - Finding Nathaniel (Warden Bethany)

Hawke: Bethany? Is that really you?

[friendly]

Bethany: Why would you come back here if you didn't have to?

[rival]

Bethany: Are you here to "save" me again?

---

Blue Hawke: [Are you all right?] You don't look well, Bethany. Are you injured?

Bethany: Injured? I have the darkspawn taint forever in my veins, barely held in check by the Wardens' rituals.

[friendly]

Bethany : I'm sorry. You did the best you could.

Hawke: I wish there'd been a better way.

[rival]

Bethany: I will never be well again.

Hawke: Where there's life, there's hope.

---

Purple Hawke: [Cheer up, Sis.] A little smile for me, Sister? It's been years. I've missed you.

[friendly]

Bethany: If I let myself miss you… and Carver… and Mother… I couldn't go on.

Bethany: It's better not to feel.

Hawke: I, ah, won't try to cheer you up, then.

[rival]

Bethany: I have kept track of your doings. I'm glad you've done well for yourself, though perhaps too late for Mother.

Bethany: But I am a Warden now. We have no families.

Hawke: They say it's always darkest before the dawn.

---

Red Hawke: [Pull yourself together.] You're not dead yet. Shake it off! There's work to be done.

[friendly]

Bethany: You never change, do you?

Hawke: Enough, Bethany. We need your help here or we'll all die.

[rival]

Bethany: You sound just like Ser Fenley—before the Children devoured him.

Hawke: Enough, Bethany. We need your help here or we'll all die.

Act 3 - Finding Nathaniel (Warden Carver)

Hawke: Carver?

[friendly]

Carver: Well, just like old times.

Carver: Still coming to the rescue after all these years? I have it under control, but thanks.

[rival]

Carver: What are you doing here?

Carver: Just like always, no cause is too small for you to stick your nose in. I have this under control.

---

[friendly]

Blue Hawke: [I'm glad you're doing well.] It's good to see you. I hope the years have been kind.

Carver: I can't say that. The Blight is long over, but the threat never really goes away.

Carver: I don't know if you can understand that. Maybe someday.

[rival]

Blue Hawke: [I'm glad you're doing well.] It's been years, Carver. We can't be civil?

Carver: I almost died in your shadow. I don't appreciate you showing up to take my thunder.

Hawke: If my shadow made it down here, you brought it.

---

[friendly]

Purple Hawke: [Why are you down here?] Don't you have Archdemons to hunt or something?

Carver: There's a considerable gap between Blights, you know. Apparently, just long enough for people to forget.

Carver: We Wardens don't have that luxury, though.

[rival]

Purple Hawke: [A little thanks, maybe?] You know, the average person saves a life, they might expect some gratitude.

Carver: I've seen too much of the world to be impressed by this.

Carver: It's just kind of sad.

Hawke: What is?

Carver: That your world has stayed so small.

---

[friendly]

Red Hawke: [Still hold a grudge?] So, do you still blame all of this on me?

Carver: Do you still expect me to? I'd like to think we've both changed.

Carver: I guess we'll have to wait and see, won't we?

[rival]

Red Hawke: [Still angry, Carver?] Nothing's changed between us after all these years?

Carver: I've seen a lot, Brother. Our little squabble, it doesn't matter.

Hawke: Your tone says otherwise, Warden.

#da2 #dragon age 2 #bethany hawke #carver hawke #sibling rivalry #canonical texts

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