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#which was supposed to kill her but it fused with her body and now she gives u radiation poisoning 💕

luna-lovegreat · 4 months

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It's all "links meet aus" and "zeldas meet aus", but where's my "companions meet aus"?

I wanna see midna bash fi and navis heads together for annoying her

I mean can you imagine the sheer chaos of all the Zelda companions meeting and going on a journey together? They're all companions/guides! One of thems a talking hat for hylias sake how are they supposed to take initiative?

I think it'd be like Lu where they all just meet up, but can you imagine the chain just somehow finds out this happened (and twilight is just like guys I am so sorry about midna) (but they're also really oddly touched that all their friends met each other too)

Pretty sure midna would be the sort of leader, since the last time she was in a foreign world she just found the nearest dude and started ordering him around. By like halfway through twilight princess she was literally asking LINK to accompany her to get what she needed.

But like. 90% of the group would be fairies. Which can't heal. One is a talking hat who just needs a head? He can't go on midnas cause she throws him off with her magic hair, poor ezlo is just trying to keep up.

They also have these weird green shadows who come around? They don't talk, but there's a rock, a fish, a bird, and a lady who just appear and stab things and shoot wind water fire and lightning.

Also midnas really confused why wolf link just shows up and kills things every now and then (from botw amibo)

Fi is the one who can talk to Hylia and awaken memories and get guidance and information or whatever, but she only does this by ballerina dancing and the others are always pissed at her anyways "WE DONT KNOW WHAT BATTERIES ARE OR A WII REMOTE WILL YOU PLEASE GO BACK IN SWORD FORM ALREADY" "I detect there is a 90% chance you need a key to open this door" "wow. Your perception is unparalleled fi."

Also there's a boat. A boat. Who is also good at taking charging since he's a king, which causes some friction between him and midna, since she has to grab him by her hair to move him half the time.

And with the fairies. Again. They all offer advice mainly. And with the fairies a lot of their main role is speaking and getting attention and pitching in? They come on an intersection and there's a chorus of bells all shouting the same directions. Ezlo is trying to cover the kings ears from his place on the boats head

Also there's this ghost/spirit of Zelda that everyone just feels REALLY strong loyalty to. But she's just like this kid who wants her body back?! They try to protect her but she can turn into a purple knight and stab things so there's that. I think there's also some animal companions from ooa/oos so.

Side quests are nonexistent they don't care about a village or gathering frogs for a kid they are there to save the world on a mission linear plot it is

And it's interesting because you have so many of them who just vanish and then appear to give loud advice. All at once. And the fighting skills basically fall to those weird green shadows that shoot various elements and fight and randomly disappear. Midna and spirit Zelda can fight, and Fi can too (kind of like how she fights as a sword in hyrule warriors). Also up to you if midna is drop dead gorgeous or devilish imp.

By the end they find whatever enemy so they can go back and midna is so pissed by this point that she hears the word "batteries" from Fi and goes full on fused shadow and just obliterates the jerk

***I have not played all the games so do not know or understand all of the companions and probably got some stuff wrong

Bonus: there is a child in a village named Link who does not have the spirit of the hero. He is stalked for three days until Fi decides his vibes are off and they all stop telling him he's the chosen one

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huecycles · 1 year

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jevil & noelle friendship post

hi, i want to talk about how noelle and jevil would definitely get along well or even be friends! also how their characters contrast nicely with each other and could possibly have a dynamic as interesting and engaging as spamton does with kris. this is quite a long post, so yeah grab a seat lol. first off, take a look at noelle’s reaction to both of jevil’s items:

noelle likes horror movies, and jevil definitely fits that scary clown trope. the description for jevilstail is “a j-shaped tail that gives you devilenergy”, and it can be equipped on noelle. considering her comment, and how she compliments susie’s tail later, this could mean she thinks tails in general are cute (perhaps longer ones? susie is often headcanoned to have a lizard-esque tail while jevil has his j-shaped devil one. noelle has a deer tail which is pretty small lmao, kinda unrelated but i’m sure it could be for a silly reason like that, and in susie’s case, highlighted by her crush on her).

the fact noelle can equip jevilstail and say she likes an item that gives her “devilenergy” is very interesting too, and kinda goes along with what she said in the ferris wheel cutscene, how she wishes she could break the rules and be more like susie who isn’t afraid to do that. compare that to ralsei’s “i’m a good devil, ok?” and susie’s “figured i’d grow one someday” and you’ll see how noelle likes the idea of being “devilish” but is pretty shy about it as she mutters it.

now let’s talk about devilsknife. devilsknife is a susie weapon, it is pretty powerful and the name itself is already scary sounding. of course, noelle can’t equip it since her weapon type is supposed to be rings, but she doesn’t seem that scared when presented with the item, unlike ralsei who says it feels “too evil”. this is what she has to say:

devilsknife, as in jevil, smiles at her. now, how could she be seeing that? most people interpret this smile as the blade deforming itself to resemble jevil’s face, or his own smile being reflected in the blade. however, there’s a detail a lot of people have missed (as well as this little moment altogether which is one of few the indicators of jevil’s actual and current presence in chapter 2).

this is devilsknife’s description:

there’s a skull symbol emblazoned in the blade (which is a hybrid between a scythe and an ax, aka what lets susie equip it due to her weapons all being axes).

now, according to my own headcanons due to certain wording jevil uses in his fight, like “EVEN DEVILSKNIFE IS SMILING!” and “LET’S MAKE THE DEVILSKNIFE.”, plus how tasque manager has the exact same reaction to both of jevil’s items, meaning she knows it’s him/knows of his presence there - contradicting the common idea that jevil is not the jevilstail and thus not in the inventory due to his wording in chapter 1 - but still regarding the devilsknife with some strange familiarity which could imply she knows it is a weapon and has possibly not only met jevil but fought him before: “silly tail” vs “silly Devilsknife”, capitalized...

...make me believe devilsknife and jevil are not one in the same, and are only “fused” (metamorphosis?) in the inventory. while i know certain details are hard to portray in a tiny sprite, you can see there’s no skull symbol anywhere in the devilsknife’s blade which has more empty space, and given how it’s “emblazoned” it would mean it’s a printed/engraved symbol somewhere.

so my small tangent here is that the skull only appears once jevil and devilsknife are fused together and in your inventory. considering how scythes are often seen as a grim reaper's weapon and associated with death, having jevil become the actual devilsknife and clearly maintain his conscience would nicely translate into a skull symbol appearing. the “THIS BODY CANNOT BE KILLED!” line also gives this some more depth. given how jevil’s "mind" is chained to his "body", as he gives a lot of emphasis to his body (”THEY CRAVED TO IMPRISON MY BODY”) and the association of how his mind is “free” while his body stays locked up paints a grim picture on how he was deemed insane, yet found a loophole in that, and thus “freedom”.

scythes are also famous for beheadings. jevil has no neck, his head separated from his body. and bringing all that back to noelle, THIS is how he smiles at her. pretty morbid, right? cool as fuck too :o)

of course, these are noelle’s only direct interactions with jevil through his items, but i’d also like to bring attention to how her themes and symbolism go along so well with jevil’s, just like spamton’s go with kris’s.

kris is often likened to demonic imagery, aka their creepy red eyes, the use of the horns headband, how they have an interest in summoning demons due to their search history, and finally: king calling them "lightbringer" which is just what “lucifer” means in latin + that word itself is generally associated with lucifer, satan, what have you. noelle has obvious ties with angels: being called one by both spamton and pink addison while on a snowgrave route, her comment about growing big angel wings in the ferris wheel cutscene, the angel doll her and dess made which rudy keeps around as a good luck charm, and so on. spamton and jevil, respectively, are the opposites in that regard when compared to kris and noelle, so the contrast here is really damn fun to think about and explore.

another thing is how both noelle and jevil are incredibly powerful and involved in violent acts (though you know how snowgrave goes, of course), and how kris and spamton are in a very similar predicament as puppets who try to fight back. i believe just like how spamton and kris both managed to relate to each other’s despair and tried to help each other out (albeit in a very warped way in spamton’s case), i think noelle and jevil would have a similar thing.

lemme talk about something interesting in the snowgrave route. there is a pattern going on with noelle that is slightly overlooked, which is this:

1) a order is given by the player through kris, often “proceed”. 2) the screen goes black, the iceshock sound is heard. 3) noelle is completely confused about what just happened.

in the weird route, there are several times where noelle zones out, and while the moment people focus on is when she’s using snowgrave on berdly, the iceshock on the puzzles + the pink addison to get the freeze ring are very important. she comments later on how the battles are blurring together and how she cant remember a lot of details, she just followed "kris's" command and acted accordingly. a similar thing might have happened when she iceshocked spamton neo too, as the screen goes black again.

considering how she says “there was so much snow, i couldn’t see anything” after berdly is in the ice, i believe whenever she uses her power while aided by the player (and later, her own, as seen in the last puzzle where she does it by herself, leading to when she encounters berdly where she was just about to freeze him, completely on “automatic mode”, seemingly just waiting for the actual order) her mind goes blank, and she just acts as instructed. noelle might even look like this while the screen is black, which is a bit haunting to me:

going back to jevil, and knowing how prone to violence/chaos he is, i believe he would be able to sense her affinity for power and maybe even help her control it, likely for his own gain as he is hypocritical (strips the player of choice once you arrive with the key and refuse to open his cell), though similarly to spamton and kris, jevil could feel some kind of connection with noelle’s power and how dangerous it can be.

i believe jevil could help noelle get a hold of herself when using her magic and not just follow someone else’s commands, as well as keeping a clear head through it all. he’s pretty damn powerful himself, so he would instead help her come up with her own strategies and willpower, even if his teachings might fall flat due to his own insistence on having her cause chaos. i believe that can overruled by noelle's kindness and gentleness, and due to jevil's own influence on her (to be more bold and assertive, as she expresses she wishes she could be more like susie and break the rules like i said before), whatever "plan" he may have on turning her into this powerful killing machine backfires simply because she says no to him. lol his own strong personality boosts her shy and scared one so that itself is his own failure, i think that’s hilarious and a great character study for the both of them!

i headcanon jevil calls her "headlights" as a reference to how she's easily scared + a cruel nod to the “deer in the headlights” thing, which fits with his character who has probably a morbid sense of humor. noelle would definitely be intimidated by him at first, but i think she’d warm up to him due to her own interests in “scary” people, firstly her crush on susie and secondly her strange friend jevil who looks like a killer clown in the flesh. an easygoing, kind kid in jevil's life would also brighten it up :) he could definitely use a gentle presence in my opinion, i mean. guy’s said to be a loner, even if he had seam.

long post, but yeah! i know the susie and jevil connection is easier to make because of their brief interaction, devilsknife etc, but i feel like noelle and jevil being friends is very unique and more interesting to me personally. if kris has their scammer puppet uncle, noelle has the silly, slightly intimidating clown (also uncle coded) who helps pick out her fits for halloween and do her makeup. she also gets to wear out five hairbrushes on the wavy mess that’s under his hat, then braids his hair during the afternoon and shows him different hairdos, choosing the one jevil’s eyes dilated at. kris takes a picture of him looking handsome under noelle’s care and hits ‘send’ saying “ey uncle spamgton check out ur lover boy” while spamton tells them to “del3te THIS”.

it’s nice it’s cool!! let jevil and noelle be friends!!

#jevil #noelle holiday #kris dreemurr #spamton #tasque manager #susie deltarune #berdly #all characters that were mentioned a lot will be tagged lol #devilsknife #yes even you #weird route #deltarune #snowgrave #deltarune chapter 2 #deltarune analysis #deltarune meta #i guess?#idk how to use these tags #txt

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roseghoul26 · 1 month

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Part 1

Javier Escuella x femVirgin!Reader

Synopsis: You and Javier are to attend a party in Saint Denis, hoping to rob the owner of the establishment. Your role is to distract the man while Javier sneaks up to his room, stealing bonds rumored to be worth a good bit. The only problem is, the two of you are pretending to be husband and wife, which would be fine if you weren’t completely in love with the man. Will you be able to muster up the courage to finally confess to him, or will your personal anxieties hold you back from getting what you want?

Tags: fluff, smut, friends to lovers, fem!Reader, reader is described to have longer hair but that’s about it, reader is afraid of intimacy, but like still wants it, unwanted touch (not from javier), unwanted sexual advances (not from javier), non consensual touching (not from javier), basically any noncon stuff is not done by javier, degrading language towards women, first kiss, love confessions, virgin reader, not beta read, angst, unsafe sex

Author’s Note: i know english and german, not spanish. sorry. also i totally wasn’t projecting while writing this ahaha :D

also this was supposed to not have multiple parts but i broke it down into two just for reader digestibility

part 1 ❉ part 2

You were certain that Miss Grimshaw was trying to kill you.

If she pulled any harder at the corset currently strangling you, you’re sure your lungs would collapse. A startled cry left your lips when she tugged again, causing you to nearly topple into her. Miss Grimshaw rescinded with a disapproving nose, roughly adjusting you back upright.

The two of you were in someone's tent, Miss Grimshaw practically pulling you in a few minutes ago with a garment in her hands. You had been on guard duty, and you had seen Charles give you an almost apologetic look as she took over for you.

“You’re actin’ like this is your first time wearin’ a corset,” She reprimanded, pulling yet again at the strings.

You were no stranger to corsets, that was true, but you’ve never had to wear one this tight. Usually they were tight enough to accentuate your figure, but it still was breathable enough that you could move with ease, which was necessary in this lifestyle. This time it was pressed so snug against your body that you feared a sudden movement would pop a rib.

“Not like this!” You snapped, your discomfort causing your fuse to become short.

“Don’t take it out on me, girl. You can thank Dutch for this.”

You scoffed. “Of course. How does he expect me to move like this?”

“That’s the point. You’re not supposed to.” She emphasized her point with another tug, restricting your airflow even further.

“What?”

“He wants you to be the distraction, and the only way you’re doin’ that is if we get this corset on.”

You rolled your eyes. “You know that ain’t true. You know damn well I can distract someone without having to kill my lungs.”

“Not this time. You’re goin’ to a party, accompanying one of the men as their newlywed wife. Your story is that you used to be a working girl, but you’ve now settled down with your rich ‘husband’. You’re gonna distract the man of the house with your assets, and by implying that your new husband ain’t takin’ good care of you, if you know what I mean. Rumor has it that he’s a frequent customer of the local brothels, so it’ll be easy to get his attention.” Miss Grimshaw chuckled lightly. “While he’s taken in by you, your ‘husband’ is gonna sneak up to his rooms, looking for bonds or somethin’. You’re gonna have to ask Dutch or someone for the details. He just told me to make you look… irresistible, which is what I’m tryin’ to do, but you keep complainin’!”

“Sorry…” you grumbled. You weren’t too fond of the plan that was just presented to you. As a master conwoman, you were no stranger to using your body as a tool, using your assets to get what you wanted. But if this corset was telling you anything, it was that you were going to be quite out on display, your breasts barely contained in the garment. You knew you would probably be safe with whoever your “husband” was, but you didn’t trust the other men at the party. You were already mentally preparing yourself for the words you were going to be hearing tonight, and for the possible gropes and touches of disgusting men.

And because you had such little movement, you wouldn’t be able to protect yourself as well as you could. The thought of being so defenseless had you shuddering, which didn’t go unnoticed by Miss Grimshaw. “You’re gonna be alright. Besides, Arthur’ll be taggin’ along with the two of you as extra muscle. Lord knows he’d never let anythin’ happen to you.”

“Arthur ain’t my ‘husband’?” You were expecting the cowboy to be your other half for the night, as the two of you had played that role several times as Mr. and Mrs. Callahan. The two of you worked well together, a natural comradery making it a very convincing act. So much so that some of the gang members had even questioned yours and Arthur’s friendship, but the two of you quickly shut those thoughts down. The two of you were practically siblings, and besides, you had your eyes on someone else in camp.

“Not tonight. He said he’ll probably be recognized and wouldn’t be able to be someone else, so he asked for someone else to play the role tonight.”

“Please don’t be Micah,” you groaned.

“Dutch ain’t a fool. He knows the two of you would never be a convincing couple.” You could tell she was imagining you and Micah pretending to be sweet on each other, and she laughed boisterously. “The two of you’d kill each other before you even got to the party! That would be a sight to see, though.”

“So who’s gonna be playing my ‘husband’, then?”

Because your back was turned, you missed the mischievous look that flicked across her face. “That will be Mr. Escuella.”

“Javier?!” The remaining air in your lungs came out in a wheeze, and you started coughing. Trying to suck in as much air back in proved to be a difficult task, and you found yourself growing lightheaded for more reasons than one.

“That’s who I said, right? I recommended him myself; I know it won’t be hard for you to pretend that you’re married.”

“What do you-”

“I’ve seen the way you look at him, girl. I know you’re sweet on him.”

“Sure, say it louder so the whole goddamn camp knows!” You huffed, and you prayed that it wasn’t evident that you were blushing. Were you really that obvious?

“I apologize,” she laughed, not sounding sorry at all. “I think the ‘whole goddamn camp’ already knows, girl. Everyone but Javier, that is.” You felt her tug one final time, before tying the strings into a tight knot. Sucking in a deep breath, you tried to calm your racing heart. You were never nervous like this before jobs, but with the new knowledge of who your “husband” was, along with some more personal worries, it was hard to stay calm. Of course you got paired up with the man you’d had your eye on since the moment you joined the gang.

But it wasn’t just being paired up as Javier’s wife that worried you. You had people you could confide in for that, with or without damage to your pride. No, your other anxiety was something that you wouldn’t admit to another soul. The whole backstory that you were going to have, being a working girl, was something that was going to be hard to fabricate because you didn’t have a lot of knowledge in that area. You knew what you had to say and what to do; you were inexperienced, not innocent. You were just concerned that you weren’t going to be able to pull a convincing act, putting you and Javier into danger.

And you were partially afraid that you would have to do some things that you’d never done before, but instead of it being with someone you trusted, it would be with random gross men at a random gross party. You’d never touched someone in an intimate manner before, and the thought of doing it tonight worried you deeply. You knew that Dutch wouldn’t make you use your body in that way, but things happen, and you were always determined to get what you wanted.

You just hoped that it wouldn’t go that far.

You felt Miss Grimshaw pause a moment, smoothing down the back of your dress with her hands. “You know, he’s sweet on you too.”

Temporarily forgetting your personal worries, you stiffened under her touch. “Alright, now you’re just tryin’ to make me feel better. And you’re startin’ to sound like Mary-Beth.”

“I’m serious! You don’t see the way he stares after you, or hear the way he’s constantly askin’ me about you. Trust me when I say he’s sweet on you too.”

“Uh-huh,” you nodded.

She muttered something under her breath before she was turning you around, forcing you to face her. “I’m just sayin’, tonight would be a good night to test the waters.”

How were you supposed to tell her that you were scared to get close to him?

“Now you’re really startin’ to sound like Mary-Beth.” You felt her fiddle with the neckline of your dress, pulling it down even lower. You let out an indignant squawk, slapping her hands away. “Any further down and I’m gonna get arrested!”

Holding her hands up, she scoffed and rolled her eyes, but there was no real bite behind it. “Now, you sit right here and put these on,” she gestured to the stool behind you, and handed you a delicate pair of deep red heels. “I’ll be back in a moment.”

Complying, you tried your best to sit down, but found it quite hard to do so. The corset dug even further into your skin, so you ended up having to do a weird crouch on the stool. It was uncomfortable, but it worked, and you were able to slip off your old boots to put on the new shoes. The leather was stiff, practically brand new, and you knew that your feet would be blistering by the end of the night.

True to her word, she was back momentarily, her arms full of products that she dumped on to the nearby bed. You realized now that you were Arthur’s tent, the canvas pulled down to give you space to change. You’d have to thank him later.

Miss Grimshaw got to work, dusting your cheeks with pink blush and painting your lips with a deep red rouge, which matched the color of your dress. A thin line of black kohl was applied to your upper eye, and you tried your best to not blink as she worked. When she was satisfied with your makeup, she got to work on your hair, pinning it up into a fashionable yet simple updo. Without having your hair to hide behind, your chest felt even more exposed.

The whole process took about thirty minutes, the evening sun beginning to set when you stood. Your mind was racing the entire time, and you were grateful that Miss Grimshaw didn’t try to distract you with small talk. You needed time to prepare yourself, and she gave it to you.

She presented you with a small handheld mirror, and you were finally able to see yourself since the ordeal first began. You had to admit that Miss Grimshaw did a fantastic job at getting you dolled up, a newfound confidence calming your racing heart. The blush was placed in just the right way to emphasize your face shape, and the rouge made your lips look full and plush. Even the updo worked well with your features, drawing attention instead of hiding them.

Taking a step back until you were able to see more of your body in the mirror, and you had to stifle a gasp. Everything about you screamed lust, from the way the corset hugged your hips, to the way it pushed up your breasts, causing them to nearly spill over. The deep red of the dress, like you saw, matched perfectly with your lips, the velvety material pleasant to the touch. Thin black lace lined the sweetheart neckline, the material surprisingly soft against your skin. The black lace pattern continued down the bodice, continuing in places down the skirt, which halted right at your ankles. There weren’t any sleeves on the dress, and you felt Miss Grimshaw place something into your hands: two elbow length gloves the same color of the dress.

Quickly sliding them on, you felt her clip some ruby earring to your ears. She stepped back, a pleased smile on her face that mirrored your own. “I told Javier that it would fit!” She exclaimed, and you gave her a confused look.

“He picked it out. Although, I don't believe he thought it would be this… revealing.”

“He… He bought this for me?” Your cheeks were as dark as the dress.

“He picked out every part of that dress, had it handcrafted just for you.”

You pushed down the emotions that threatened to overwhelm you. All of this had to cost so much! Instead of facing your heart, however, you put on an air of annoyance, placing your hands on your hips. “So he knew ‘bout this job, but I didn’t?”

She didn’t respond, but the smirk on her lips told you everything you needed to know. “You found out in time, didn’t you? Now,” he clapped her hands together, and grabbed the final item off the bed. It was a small black clutch, and you watched her place the rouge in there before handing it to you. Inside, alongside the rouge you saw a small tooth comb, one you recognized to be a knife in disguise, along with a small handkerchief.

You gratefully took it, tucking it under your arm. You went to try and leave the tent, but you felt her stop you with a hand on your wrist. Before you could register what she was doing, she had sprayed a few spurts of perfume on you, the floral scent ticking your nose, nearly causing you to sneeze. She let go of you then, practically shoving you out of Arthur’s tent, your new shoes catching on the mud.

Blinking away the setting sunlight that blinded you, you were startled when a loud wolf-whistle cut through the camp, causing you to nearly drop your clutch. Sean stood a few feet away, unabashedly staring at you as you walked out of the tent. “Nice fuckin’ tits, lass!” He said it so loud, and if people hadn’t turned their heads at the whistle, they sure were looking now.

You flipped him off, a scowl crossing your features as you marched away. He didn’t get the hint, and you knew that he was trailing after you. “Hey, don’t be like that now!” He was very clearly drunk, stumbling over his steps, nearly falling face first a few times.

Standing at the center of camp, you crossed your arms, trying your best to cover your chest. “Fuck off, Sean.” You glanced around, and you found a few pairs of eyes on you. Some of the looks were kind, like from Arthur and Hosea, who regarded you without any lecherous intent behind their eyes. You heard Hosea comment on how you cleaned up nice, and Arthur, who sat next to him, nodded in agreement. Smiling warmly at them in response, you felt a tad bit less exposed.

“Well that ain’t no talk for a lady. Where's your manners?”

Fighting the urge to shove him away from you, you smiled with malice. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” you put on your best posh voice, resting your hand over your heart. “Please fuck off, Sean.” Not giving him time to respond, you stalked over to the other side of camp, where you saw Tilly, Karen, Mary-Beth, and Abigail gathered around one of the fires. Clemens Points had its advantages, the multiple fireplaces away from the men in the center of camp being one of them. You did a quick detour, stopping by your belongings and grabbing a silver ring, tucking it into the clutch, before heading over to the girls.

Wolf-whistles and cheers left the girls' lips, and you put on a little show as you made our way over. Instead of feeling degraded like you did with Sean, you felt confident. You halted in front of them, doing a little spin with an almost proud smile on your face.

“Goddamn, girl! Where’ve you been hidin’ all that?” Karen teased, and you waved her away. “You look incredible!”

“I feel incredible,” you beamed.

“Where did you get that dress? It looks so expensive!” Tilly commented, and you moved close enough so they could feel the material, letting out unanimous content noises when they felt how soft it was.

“Well…” you almost didn’t want to tell them, knowing their reactions were going to be extreme. They knew you had feelings for Javier, and this was just going to add fuel to their conspiracy that he felt the same. “Javier got it for me.”

Stunned silence was all there was, until they all erupted at the same time, questions and comments spilling from them so quickly that you couldn’t even hope to process them. Rolling your eyes, you pulled away from them, your skirts falling back around you.

”Javier bought it?” Mary-Beth was eating this whole situation up. “Does that mean… are you two…?”

“No. He was just being nice.”

The girls gave each other knowing looks, and you watched as Karen rolled her eyes, and Mary-Beth gave you a disbelieving look. “Now, I know you ain’t dumb, but you’re makin’ it really hard to say that,” Karen muttered, and you scoffed.

“I’m serious! He was just being nice, nothin’ else!”

“Sure,” Tilly laughed. “Keep tellin’ yourself that.”

You glanced over at Abigail, the one person who had yet to say anything yet. “Abi, please, tell them.”

She sighed, setting the embroidery that she was working on in her lap. “Well, it’s not a simple friendly gesture to buy someone a dress like that…”

You groaned. “You were supposed to be on my side.”

Abigail just shrugged, barely able to hide a laugh. “Did he just buy the dress, or…” she gestured to your earrings.

Whatever expression that was on your face was a sufficient enough answer for the girls, who in turn began to laugh. “So, not only did he buy you a beautiful dress, but he also bought you earrings? He’s in love.” Mary-Beth said in almost a sing-song manner.

“He is. Don’t you dare try to argue otherwise,” Karen threatened.

“I…” you trailed off, defeated. “Even if he is, nothin’ is gonna come from it! Don’t get those ideas in my head!”

“We are doing nothin’ of the sort. We’re just stating the facts.” Tilly’s eyes flicked to something behind you, and you watched her playfully smile. “But if you don’t believe us, why don’t you go ask him?” She pointed behind you, and you turned your head. Javier was indeed there, but luckily his back was turned to your group, in the middle of a conversation with Dutch and Hosea.

Even from the glimpse you got, you knew he was dressed up well, a black blazer fitting tightly to his form, accentuating his shoulders and tapering down nicely to his waist. His pants matched color wise, and were just as tight as the jacket, doing little to hide the thick swell of his thighs, and his ass-

Someone clearing their throat had you turning your head back around, finding a group of amused girls waiting for you. Karen produced a handkerchief, practically throwing it at you. “For your drool,” she smirked, and you felt your ears burn. You hadn’t meant to be that obvious with your ogling.

“Shuddup,” you threw the cloth back at her, and she laughed uproariously, the other girls joining in as well.

“Why don’t you tell him?” Abigail asked, a sincere curiosity in her question. “You’re obviously both taken with each other, and even if he wasn’t, it wouldn’t hurt to ask. Rather you get your heart broken and know then spend the rest of your life wonderin’.”

“I-I’m not quite sure. I’ve never had a relationship before, and I guess I’m just scared of them, I guess. I don’t wanna do somethin’ wrong. And besides, he’s a ladies man, suave, a charmer. And I’m just… me. I’m rather boring compared to him, and I don’t wanna make him feel, I dunno, trapped with me.” You weren’t quite sure how to explain to the girls that you feared he might find your lack of experience unappealing, how he would want someone that could keep up with him. Additionally, you felt ashamed to admit your fear of intimacy after hearing your entire life that it was something you should want. And you do want it, but you couldn’t. Not yet, anyway.

“Just do somethin’ before you can’t, alright?”

You watched again as Tilly looked behind you, nudging Mary-Beth who sat beside her, and the two of them shared a look. “What?”

“Oh, nothin’,” they smiled, yet they kept their eyes locked behind you.

“Please don’t tell me he’s comin’ over here.” Their responding giggles told you that, yes, Javier was indeed making his way toward your group.

“Do not say anythin’. Especially you,” you pointed at Karen, and she held up her hands in defense.

“Hey, I’m just sick of seein’ the two of you dance around each other.”

“We are not-” you pinched the bridge of your nose, annoyed. “Why does everything keep thinkin’ that?”

“Because we’re not blind. Now,” Karen did a spinning motion with her finger, “go greet your ‘husband’.”

Looking over your shoulder, you saw that he was only a few feet away, a warm smile gracing his features when you made eye contact. You reciprocated, trying your best to not look as nervous as you felt.

As you did a quick scan over his body, you felt your heart rate pick up. He looked good, which he always did, but even more so now. Wearing a simple white button up under the black jacket, you saw ruby cufflinks peek out, and you noticed some more details now that he was closer. The inside of the jacket was a deep red, similar to your dress, and was made of a very fine looking silk, and his usual red necktie was around his neck. A gold pocket watch hung from his vest, and you were shocked when you noticed that it looked exactly like the bodice of your own dress. Upon closer examination, you realized that it was indeed made out of the same fabric of your dress.

By this point he had reached your side, standing close enough next to you that could feel his heat, the scent of his cologne filling your senses. You were glad for the dimming light, as it made it harder to see the darkening of your cheeks. If this is what your reaction was to him simply standing next to you, then you had no idea how you were going to react when he was pretending you were his wife.

“Hello, Javier.” Was your voice shaking? You’re certain it was.

“Hello, ‘wife’,” he winked, laughing when you scoffed. Thankfully he didn’t seem to catch the way you blushed even deeper. “Good evening, ladies,” he nodded to the other girls by the campfire. They responded in unison, but you noticed that Javier didn’t pay them much mind, his eyes only on you. “You ready to go?”

When you nodded, he held a palm up for you, which you grasped gently in your gloved hand. And because of course he had to, you watched as he bowed slightly, kissing the back of your hand with soft reverence. He kept his eyes on yours the entire time, making the act feel more intimate than it was. He’s just playing the part, calm yourself. Forcing down the panic, you watched the edges of his eyes crinkle when you giggled lightly, a smile on his lips when he stood upright. You felt him keep his grip on your hand, tugging you away from the girls, who called on you to have a good night between giggles.

As Javier led you away, your hands interlocked, you felt him lean close to you. “Do you like the dress?”

You secured the clutch under your arm. “I love the dress! Thank you, Javier. For everything,”

He shrugged with an uncharacteristically bashful smile, but it was quickly replaced with his usual confident one as he leaned closer to you again. “You look beautiful, mi amor.”

You’d heard him use that last phrase with you before, its frequency increasing over the last couple of months. You had no idea what it meant, and every time you asked he would change the subject. Even when you asked the others around camp, they refused to tell you, a look on their faces that you couldn’t quite recognize.

“So do you. I mean, you always do…”

“Do I, now?” You could hear the smugness dripping from his voice.

“Oh, hush,” you shoved him with your shoulder, finding yourself barely able to move the man as you slowly walked, still getting used to your new shoes. You hadn’t meant to say that much.

“No, no, tell me more,” he laughed, and you shook your head, laughing as well.

“I ain’t inflatin’ your ego any more, Mr. Escuella. I’m sure someone else will do that for you.”

“Sure. But I want to hear it from you.”

“Nope.” You emphasized the p sound with a pop of your lips. “My lips are sealed.”

With his free hand, you watched as he placed it over his heart, feigning hurt. “You wound me. I thought you loved me.”

His comment had you panicking, but you hid it behind a laugh. Did he know? Did someone tell him? Oh God, please don’t let him know.

He continued, unaware of your current inner turmoil. “My ‘wife’, refusing to compliment me. It’s outrageous!”

Right. He was just playing into the role again. With an inaudible sigh of relief, you were able to calm your thoughts. “Well, if our backstory is to be believed, then there ain’t much to compliment you on.”

Javier barked out a laugh. “Yeah, that’s the story we’re running with, aren’t we. Rich husband and dissatisfied wife.” The mirth in his eyes dissolved into something more serious, something more… amorous. “It’ll be a hard role for me to play, because I could never leave you unsatisfied.”

“What do… oh.” You were at a loss for words, and the intensity of his gaze had you melting. It wasn’t the first time that Javier had flirted with you, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, but it was the first time he’d ever teased the idea of the two of you being intimate. It’s not that you were fully opposed to the idea, but it scared you. Actually, it terrified you. Throat suddenly dry, you cleared it, no doubt looking quite taken aback. “Well, I-”

“Oh, so he gets treated kindly, but I get told to ‘fuck off’’,” Seans loud complaining had you snapping your head to the side, the moment between the two of you shattered. You hadn’t even realized you were back in the main camp, too engrossed in your conversation with Javier.

Glaring at the red haired man, you flipped him off again, and you heard the man beside you chuckle. “And I’ll say it again. Fuck. Off.”

“Y’know what, lass, I’ve tried bein’ nice-” “Complimentin’ a woman’s tits ain’t nice, Sean.”

Anger flashed across his features, and he started making his way toward the two of you, still as drunk as he was moments ago. Stiffening your shoulders, you braced yourself for confrontation, balling your free hand into a fist. Sean’s attention was momentarily taken off you, his eyes going behind you. Whatever he saw must’ve frightened him, his normally pale face going even paler. “I- Well… have a good night then.” He quickly scurried away, leaving you very confused. Glancing back at Javier, you failed to notice him tucking his knife away, hidden under the layers of clothing.

“What was that all about?” You asked him, falling back into a casual stance. He shrugged, and you grinned. “Guess I’m just that scary, then.”

“Oh, yes. You’re terrifying,” he jested, sarcasm evident in his voice.

“Hey!” You slapped him on the shoulder, and he snickered. “I’m plenty scary. Have you seen me with a knife?”

“Honestly, I’m more scared of seeing what you’ll do to yourself than anyone else.”

You scoffed, but you were still smiling. “Well, I guess you’ll just have to teach me.” You definitely weren’t coming up with an excuse to be with him more, and you definitely weren’t coming up with an excuse to watch his dexterous fingers work their magic with a blade.

Javier had a soft look on his face. “I guess I will, then.”

The rest of your short walk to the edge of camp near the entrance was done in easy silence, and you were about to ask how exactly you were getting to the party, but it was answered when you saw a two-horse carriage pull into the camp, with a very discontent looking Bill atop it. He stopped a few feet from the two of you, annoyance evident in his body language.

“What kind of party are we goin’ to that we need a carriage? And how the hell did we get one?”

“An expensive one. And you’re asking a group of thieves how they got their hands on a carriage?”

“Fair point,” you laughed, laughing even harder when you saw how absolutely ridiculous Bill looked. He was dressed in a suit as well, but it was very clearly a size too small, the pants riding up far enough to expose what felt like half of his lower leg. A large top hat sat on his head, with a single, meager looking feather sticking out of it, bent in all the wrong directions. A scowl crossed his face when he saw you laughing, and you tried to hide it behind your hand.

“Whatcha laughin’ at?”

“I’m sorry, it’s just…” you gestured to his whole getup.

“Ain’t my fault the old driver was short. And don’t go laughin’ just yet, I’m the one gettin’ you to the damn party.”

“You’re right. My apologies,” you sighed. “How ‘bout this. To make it up to you, I’ll see if I can’t steal some whiskey. The expensive stuff.”

You saw that he pretty much immediately made up his mind, but he still took the time to think, just for the sake of it. “Fine. But I don’t wanna hear another laugh from you.”

You nodded as Javier brought you to the side of the carriage, opening the door for you. Helping you into the carriage with the hand that held yours, you quickly sat down, adjusting the skirt to rest comfortably around you. There wasn’t much you could do for the bodice, the frame of it digging into your skin, but you refrained from grimacing. You expected Javier to follow in after you, but he didn’t, simply stepping back and slowly closing the door.

“You ain’t gettin’ in?”

He shook his head. “Not just yet. I gotta go talk to Arthur before we set off.”

In all honesty, you had completely forgotten that your friend was accompanying the two of you. “Is he riding in here with us or…?” The carriage was big enough for two, and you’re sure you could squeeze a third person in if you tried hard enough.

He shook his head again. “He’ll be riding behind us on horseback. He’s security, after all.”

Nodding, you settled back into your seat, at least as best you could. “All right. Well,” you shooed him, “I won’t hold you up any longer.”

Smiling gently, he closed the door, lacking shut with a soft click. It was eerily silent within the carriage, and you were sure that you could scream, and no one outside the carriage would be able to hear you. All the sounds from outside, from the chirping of crickets to the water lapping at the shore were silenced, leaving only your labored breathing and your thudding heart.

Glancing out the window, you were able to see the receding figure of Javier, most of his form indistinguishable in the dimming light. Like every other time you interacted with Javier, you were going back over the conversation in your head, overanalyzing everything that you said and did, pinpointing moments where you should’ve said something different, or just kept your mouth shut all together.

But now you found yourself thinking over what he said. You were replaying the moment where he called you beautiful, following it up with that one phrase that, whenever he said it, had a look in his eye that almost seemed like… longing? You weren’t quite sure.

The sincerity behind his words had you temporarily questioning everything that you knew about your relationship with the man, but you quickly pushed those thoughts away. You were scared, to be honest, to imagine the two of you as anything more than friends. Because what if you were better off as friends, a romantic relationship ruining whatever connection you had. What if he found you boring, or he grew to disdain you?

Why couldn’t things be simple? Why were you so scared of getting close to him, so scared of him touching you? Why couldn’t you be more confident and straightforward with your advances? Why couldn’t you just tell him how you felt and hope it all works out?

Groaning, your head rolled back, hitting the wall of the vehicle. You still watched him, a black silhouette that had his back turned to you, deep in conversation with Arthur, who was standing next to his horse.

The click of the door had you snapping out of your thoughts, straightening up immediately. Javier greeted you with a small smile as he climbed in, stopping mid-way when he heard Arthur shout something at him, which you weren’t able to make out. Javier rolled his eyes, and you thought he was blushing for a moment, but you played it off as a trick of the light.

“What did Arthur say?” You laughed as Javier settled into his seat across from you. The carriage was large enough to fit two people, sure, but you still felt his knees brush against yours. The touch sent a jolt of electricity through you, nearly causing you to jump.

“He was just being a fool. It doesn't matter.” He clearly didn’t want to continue talking about it, so you let it drop, ignoring the curiosity nagging at you. “Are you ready?”

As I’ll ever be. “Yes.”

In response, you heard him knock loudly on the window, signaling for Bill to start moving. The carriage suddenly moving caught you off guard, causing you to fall forward. You caught yourself, your hands on his knees. You didn’t hear the light gasp that came from Javier, smiling sheepishly as you righted yourself, placing your hands back on your lap, securing your clutch there. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” His voice was breathless, and you figured that he was nervous as well.

“So, tell me about this party.”

─•~❉᯽❉~•─

It was about a twenty minute ride to Saint Denis, where the party was being held. It was one similar to the one Arthur, Dutch, and some of the others went to a few weeks prior, happening in one of the extravagant houses that lay on the edge of the town. The owner of the house, one Lee Edward Reginald III, was known to have bonds that he constantly bragged about to anyone who asked, apparently worth a fortune.

The two of you formulated your story during the drive. Your names were William and Anna Howard, and the two of you had been married for two years. Hailing from a small town east of New Austin called Fairington, the two of you had stuck it rich when you found a vast supply of oil under your homestead. The two of you had traveled all this way to hopefully establish business partners in the west, and to begin creating a name for yourselves in the more “civilized” Saint Denis.

You saw a wooden sign that marked you were close to Saint Denis, and you felt your anxiety begin to return. Trying to calm yourself, you repeated in your head that this was no different than any other con job you’ve done, and you weren’t nervous before those. This should be no exception.

“So, how did we meet?” Javier’s question halted your spiraling.

“Hm?”

“How did we meet? Someone’s bound to ask.”

“I think the story Miss Grimshaw told me is that I used to be a working girl, and we met at the bar when I tried to offer my services.”

“Not too different from how we actually met, no?”

You laughed. “The only similarities between our stories is that we met at a bar. From what I remember, you tried to rob me as I drank alone.”

“I thought you were an easy target. I was mistaken,” he rubbed the side of his face where you had punched him all that time ago. “And I didn’t realize you had robbed me until way after.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever returned that ring back to you. How many months ago was that? Seven? Eight?”

“Something like that,” he smiled, reminiscing over your less than pleasant meeting. You’d joined the gang not long after, Javier having recommended you to Dutch himself. If anyone could rob a member of the Van Der Linde gang and get away with it, they deserved a place with them.

“That reminds me…” you reached for your clasp, pulling out the ring you grabbed earlier. You almost wanted to slide the ring on his finger yourself, but instead you held it out to him in your palm. “A married man’s gotta have a ring, right?”

Gingerly taking it from your hand, you watched him examine it in the low light, shock causing him to laugh lightly. “You still had it? I would’ve thought you sold it already.”

You shrugged. “I just kept forgettin’ to sell it.” The truth was that you couldn’t bring yourself to sell it, always tucking it away whenever you’d bring your haul to the fence. Eventually, you just kept it with your small pile of belongings in the small lean-to tent you shared with some of the girls, a small token to remember him by. You’re not sure why it meant so much to you, but it brought a smile to your lips every time you saw it. “You can keep it, after we’re done.”

“No, you earned it. I’ll make sure you get it back.”

You held back a sigh of relief, having grown surprisingly sentimental toward the piece of jewelry. “So, how long did it take you to notice it was gone?”

“An embarrassingly long time,” he rescinded. You weren’t satisfied with that answer, and you raised a challenging brow at him. He sighed. “About ten minutes after you left.”

A loud bark of laughter left you. “I took it from you right as we started talking! And we talked for, what, half an hour? It took you that long?”

“In my defense, I was distracted.”

“How? If I remember, you weren’t even drunk.”

“All my attention was on the gorgeous woman in front of me. Someone could’ve held up the place, and I wouldn’t have even noticed.”

“Sure, I looked real pretty,” you rolled your eyes, fighting back a smile. “With the mud in my hair, and the scraps I was wearin’, I’m sure I was the prize woman of the town.”

“You didn’t have mud in your hair,” he laughed. “It was on your face.”

“Oh, that's much better, then.”

He laughed, his mustache following the movement of his lips as he smiled. “Even if you were covered in dirt, or if you were dolled up like you are, I’d still think you were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.” It was now that you wished he was sitting next to you, rather than in front of you, just so you didn’t have to feel his eyes on you.

“Really?” It sounded less confident than you’d like, sounding more like disbelief than anything. You knew you were pretty, but to hear it from him made you believe it with full certainty.

“Would I lie to you?” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. When you shook your head, you felt him gently grab your hand, holding it palm-up in his own. Instinctively, you pulled it away, and you immediately regretted it, even more so when you saw the hurt and confused look on his face.

“I…” you swallowed, shame burning your face. “I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry,” he laughed, but there was no humor behind it. “You confuse me. I can’t tell if you want me too, or if you’re disgusted by me. I honestly cannot tell.”

So he did feel the same. Swallowing, you mustered enough courage to set your hand back in his. “I do want you, Javier. I really do. It’s just… I’m scared.” Your voice was barely louder than a whisper, yet it sounded like you were shouting to your ears.

“What are you scared of?” His question wasn’t judgemental, simply wanting to know.

“It’s real stupid,” you sighed, no longer being able to look him in the eye.

“Mi amor, look at me. Please.” When you did, he smiled reassuringly at you. “Tell me. I want to help you.”

God, why was he so sweet? And how was he able to crash down the walls you build up in your mind, to never tell another soul about your fears? You turned your hand so that you could grasp his fingers lightly. “I’m scared of this,” you shook his hand. “I’m scared of your touch. And I’m scared of changin’ what we have.” When he started pulling his hand away, you gripped his hand tighter, keeping him there. “But I want it so badly. And I want you, so, so badly. ”

He certainly looked confused now. “I’m trying to understand, I really am, but…” he trailed off, his brow furrowing.

“It’s like, whenever I feel your hands on me, my heart is elated, but my brain freaks out, and not in a good way. And I guess I’m afraid that you ain’t gonna like what you see when you get close to me.” Both physically and personality wise. When you were met with silence, you were mentally berating yourself for practically dumping your issues on the poor man. “Look, if this just changed the way you feel, I understand.”

“I never said that. It doesn’t change anything.” His words were short, but he wasn’t angry. “But I guess I’m just curious as to why?”

“Because I-”

A loud rapping on the glass cut you off, and you jumped slightly. Bill stood on the other side of the window, looking pissed off. It finally occurred to you that you had reached your destination, the carriage long since halted. With a sigh, Javier leaned back, pulling his hand away, giving you a look that says we’ll finish this conversation later.

As he got out, your mind was reeling. He felt the same way towards you, but you didn’t know if you should feel elated or terrified. You didn’t know what was worse, having feelings for someone and them not knowing, or having feelings that were reciprocated and being too afraid to do anything about it.

Sighing, you barely noticed him holding out a hand expectantly to you. You hadn’t budged from the carriage, pretty much forgetting about the party. Sucking in a breath, you took his hand, letting him help you out.

The heels of your shoes clicked pleasantly against the cobbled street as your feet made contact with the ground. Looking around, you saw that Bill had parked the two of you a block away, giving you plenty of time to prepare yourselves.You could hear the music from the party already, a lively jig mixed with laughter and cheers. Waving goodbye to Bill, he left the two of you alone. Quickly, you took out the rouge, applying it to your lips with practiced movement, not even needing to look in a mirror. Out of the corner of your eye, you watched Javier watch you, looking away when you focused your attention on him.

Tucking the clutch in your hand, you took in a deep breath. “Arthur’s already there. Ready?” You heard the man beside you ask, and you nodded. He began to move, resting a hand on the small of your back to lead you, before almost immediately retracting it.

“Are… Is that alright?”

“It doesn’t matter right now. We’ve got a job to do.” Javier opened his mouth, ready to protest, but you cut him off. “I appreciate it, I really do, but right now we just gotta pretend that the conversation we just had didn’t happen.”

Nodding, you felt his touch return, but not where it was. Instead, you felt him link his arm through yours, and he continued to lead you toward the party. “You’re almost worse than Arthur, refusin’ to touch me anywhere else than my arm.” You joked, attempting to diffuse the tension.

“Does he know?”

You shook your head, and the two of you fell into a semi-uneasy silence. You could tell that Javier was overthinking things. “Don’t worry too much, Javier. I knew what was going to happen tonight. Do what you need to do in order to pull a convincing act.” When he didn’t respond, you glanced over at him. He smiled back at you, but it didn’t reach his eyes. You leaned in to him. “You do remember I said I did want your hands on me, right?”

He relaxed a bit. “I do.”

The two of you were growing closer to your destination, the music growing louder and louder. “I think the only reason why I’m scared is because it’s… unknown to me. You know when you’ve never done something, and it seems terrifying, and then you do it and it turns out it ain’t all that bad? That’s what it is.” You took a moment to breathe. “So, basically what I’m tryin’ to say is I’m alright with you touchin’ me tonight. Please.”

“Yeah?”

You nodded. “I trust you, Javier.”

Deep brown eyes peered into your eyes, looking for any uncertainty. When he found none, he relaxed even further, and you watched as the smile now reached his eyes. “Only tonight?”

There he was. There was the confident, flirtatious man you’d fallen for.

You laughed. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Mr. Escuella.”

He tsked, shaking his head. “I don’t know a Mr. Escuella. Are you cheating on me, my dear wife?”

You dramatically gasped in horror. “I would never, Mr. Howard! You insult me by merely suggesting the idea!”

The two of you fell into laughter, and you felt the hand around yours move back to your back, rubbing soothingly there. For the first time, you felt yourself not immediately wanting to jump away, and you instead settled against him.

As the two of you walked into the party, you ignored the eyes that immediately jumped to you, eyes racking over your body in a less than kind way, from both men and women. All that you could see right now was the soft way Javier regarded you, causing butterflies to erupt in your stomach. Pressing yourself against him so that he was holding you in a side hug, you felt him brush his lips atop your head, so lightly that you would barely call it a kiss. But the gesture had you melting, nearly turning into a puddle on the floor.

You saw Arthur out of the corner of your eye, in the middle of a conversation with some rich looking folk, and you regarded him with a small smile, and it barely even noticed by the other man. The hand on your back tugged slightly, pulling you alongside Javier as he led you toward the group with Arthur in it. Javier introduced himself, and you shook hands as well, introducing yourself with the names you’d come up with.

As Javier talked, you found yourself zoning out, too distracted by the hand on your back to join in fully on the conversation. You failed to notice the way that the other men, besides Arthur, ogled you unabashedly, and you felt his hand curl around your waist, fingers wrapping around your waist and pulling you tighter to him.

Despite what you thought, you found that you were at ease, not even a hint of feeling uncomfortable. A warm feeling settled in your chest, something that you always felt when you thought of Javier. But it was turning into an inferno, threatening to consume you, taking over every thought and feeling in your body.

You were so in love with him.

Before you could even register what you were doing, you rested your hand on his back. Javier was clearly not expecting this, based on the way he stiffened, but you felt him relax instantly. You could hear the way his tone changed as he talked, barely able to fight a smile.

But what shocked you the most is that you found yourself wanting more. And you wanted it now. Every nerve in your body craved his touch, and you were finding it harder and harder to detach yourself from him. And you were supposed to pretend that you didn’t want him?

It was going to be a long party.

#rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #javier escuella #javier escuella x reader #javier escuella rdr2 #javier escuella x you #javier escuella smut

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ihatechosingnames · 8 months

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HSR Analysis about the Xianzhou Arc

With 1.3 Hoyo give us the official end of the Xianzhou Arc and I don't think everyone is satified with the last Trailblaze Quest. I think if they gave this mission with 1.2, it will have been a bit better. Not the best, but seriously, it was just a quest on going around places. But the final cutscene… was worth it the wait.

Let's go in order. 1.2 Starts with the unlikely quartet composed by Stelle, March, Welt and Tingyun managed to go to the Alchemy Commission where we see the fruits of Fu Xuan's commanding power as an acting general.

Let's skip fast and go to the moment when Fu Xuan tasked the trio to go and help by diving into the mist and turn off the Elixir Crucibles.

A precision, she asked the "unexpected guests" cit Jing Yuan because

Never once she says that Tingyun was to help them, Tingyun's job was to bring them to places, like the Artisanship Commission or the Alchemy Commission. If you paid attention, while we walked to the crucibles there was a piece of conversation

Here she sounds actually excited, while at the beginning Tingyun wasn't that happy to be in our company, she was nervous because the situation was unstable. So, here, I suppose, is Phantylia already talking. Or let more of her own personality shine.

Now, after the battle with Dan Shu, she said two things:

So, at first, it seems like Phantylia gave the Stellaron to the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus (DoSM for short) and made a promise with them. And it wouldn't be wrong to think this way, Phantylia is a Lord Ravager, a follower of Nanook, she should be able to have a Stellaron at ready. Actually, I read a very interesting post here on Tumblr about language, and I think that while the English translation is good, it may lose some context in between the translation. Like about the subjects of a phrase. The exact content of the promise between the DoSM and Phantylia is still missing, but we know one objective: fuse the power of the Abundance with the power of the Destruction.

And it's terrifying if you think about it: Destruction has a huge attack, Abundance can cure itself... and we already saw a character who has both: Blade, a character on the path of Destruction who is also struck with Immortality. In gameplay he sacrifices a part of his HP to do more damage, only to regain later.

Let's go back to Tingyun and Phantylia. Like Welt says, mostly to reassure both March and Stelle, there is no certain hint to say that Tingyun was working willingly with Phantylia, but without the body, we don't know.

Which is a good question. But, for me, no body, no death. It basically is a rule in writing a story: if you don't find the body, that character can always appear later. So, the fact that Phantylia didn't leave a body will lead only to one thing: the body was fake. If she left the body, Fu Xuan would have realized immediately that Tingyun's body wasn't the real deed. Which it will bring us, by doing a jump, directly to the last quest, the "funeral". We met a lot of people who knew Tingyun, but the entire thing about Tingyun left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Even Yukong says some things that contradict herself

But, after some reconsideration, it has some strategy to that. Phantylia says "It would've been nice to observe a little longer" before revealing herself in her ghost-flame-like appearance. Possibly, Phantylia didn't want to reveal herself at all, let the DoSM and the Cloud Knights kill each other while she stays in the background and sees how the Xianzhou Loufu destroys itself from the inside. By declaring officially that Tingyun is dead, doing the all funeral and letting the Trio gives the news, it would destroy every other chances for Phantylia to use that face again. Meanwhile, Yukong would search for her but not in an official way. Strange that we didn't find any letter like the voiceline says, or maybe they didn't search her shop.

My considerations: they did everything to say that Tingyun is dead without saying explicitly, but I stand my ground and say Tingyun is not dead, not yet anyway.

But let's go back to the past, after this Trailblazer quest, the narrative switches its main character and we are back to Dan Heng! Like I said, he is the second main character on this arc and it was done perfectly.

Seriously, the switches between our characters, Dan Heng's parallel but different journey to his past... well done, HOYO.

Our more unlikely TRIO, Dan Heng, Sushang and Luocha, arrive in the same place, probably a few moments later our other trio left.

Sushang went back to the Cloud Knights, Luocha has one more deal to see and Dan Heng needs to leave before they ask who he is.

The past haunts Dan Heng, literally, the ghost of the past lives of the Vidyadhara appear to talk to him and Blade, the man he usually he runs from is waiting for him.

that woman, perhaps Jingliu?

The one thing I can't explain is the transformation in Imbibitor Lunae, why the change in clothes? Dan Heng wasn't fashionably enough with his regular clothes and needed a change? Anime Logic, I know.

And poor Yanqing, that tries to fight literally legends, first Jingliu and now Dan Heng and Blade together.

Luckily, to babysit everyone there is Kafka. Look at Blade! He looks like someone who is regretting his choices.

Before reuniting with his friends, Dan Heng says a few words to Jing Yuan

which is something really important. Dan Feng and Dan Heng are two different persons, even if Dan Feng didn't go through the hatching cycle. Right now, he is Dan Heng of the Astral Express and I was almost in tears in reading it, since there were many red flags about Dan Heng leaving the Astral Express Family. Even the scene that is a call back to the beginning, with March and Stelle's hands stretched out to Dan Heng was touching

DO NOT SEPARATE! My babies çç

From here, everything seems to go fast. The cutscene with the music and the CGI that was the waves was so well done (basically all the money went to the waves), they went to fight Phantylia and what a fight it was. But unfortunately, our MC didn't get the power of the Hunt. Looking at how the story went, it was kind of assumed but not granted. The Xianzhou didn't lose faith in the Aeon of the Hunt, not like Cocolia did with Qlipoth. And in this Arc the moral protagonist was Dan Heng, with his past and his quest to accept but also move on with his future, it was not a time for our MC to get a power up. Maybe in the next world, unlike Genshin who has a fixed number of places (7 Archons, 7 Elements, 7 Nations etc), Honkai Star Rail is bigger, it has a lot more of Aeons and we have seen the powers of Aeon whose Path is not playable, who says that HOYO won't introduce more playable Paths?

Phantylia is merely playing with us, she is barely amused with our performance. In terms of boss fights, Cocolia is more emotionally charged and the best for music. Phantylia is part of a bigger story, the same story that Elio scripted and Kafka is directing and, as Kafka said, we gained a powerful ally in the Xianzhou Luofu

And I'm gonna bet that during the final fight with Nanook, the Xianzhou Loufu will appear as the cavalry, just like Jing Yuan did in the Dan Heng Companion Quest.

In the end, the Xianzhou Arc was different from Belobog Arc, the ending was unsatisfying because there were still a few things missing, and it didn't feel like an ending, like it did with Belobog with the nice pictures, it was more of a "see you later", so if I can guess, there will be another arc in the Xianzhou and it will be about the post cutscene.

I'm still a firm believer that Luocha is not Void Archives, but he played a part in this. He likely brought the Stellaron to the Xianzhou, possibly smuggled Jingliu to Xianzhou, all for destroying the Abundance.

It was an incredible cliffhanger that leads to more questions than answers. We now assume that Luocha smuggled the Stellaron to the Xianzhou, Jingliu wasn't on the ship only to search for Blade, Jing Yuan needs a vacation and never comes back to his place as General.

So, final consideration: we are not over with the Xianzhou, even with our jade abacus, we will need to go back and in that time the MC will get the power of the Hunt. This arc is like a chapter 1, a chapter where we met most of its characters, it explained the conflict between Lan and Yaoshi, the problems that Yaoshi's gift left, it gave us the first glance to the bigger story with Elio and his Stellaron Hunters and their objective to kill Nanook. While Herta Space Station was a tutorial and Jarilo-VI was an opening act for the ways of trailblazing (a story that have a conclusion and we are only witness to their efforts to move on), Xianzhou is the very first big world where there wasn't a real ending. Yes, we stopped the Stellaron, but the conflict is still happening. We have more information about us, about one of our friends, we have met the Stellaron Hunters, talked to them (Silver Wolf is the more social of the group and has visiting rights!), but it's like we have gained nothing because there is still so much to do in the Xianzhou.

I'm sorry if this is too long, but for me it's important to say that the last quest we did in v1.3 wasn't the final quest for the Xianzhou, we just put a stop to Trailblaze more, but we will be back for a second chapter on that ship, after all "there is still more to explore".

#honkai star rail #honkai stelle #honkai march 7th #honkai dan heng #honkai luocha #honkai jing yuan #honkai jingliu #honkai star rail meta #give jing yuan a vacation #all of his past friends came to give him hell #honkai star rail theory #honkai welt

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victo1re · 1 month

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i'm having a bit of a think about the secondary theme i've touched on some for vic before - the dichotomy of Society tm and the wild, nurture and nature, learned behaviour and core instinct. i've described (pre-canon) her in the past as walking doctrine; personhood is a luxury she has willingly given up in exchange for meaning. she has spent three centuries learning to be the perfect extension of bhaal. as his blade, she is forever cemented into the canon of toril as something important. she has very willingly steeped herself in the twin systems of religion and politics (and the secret third of academia, which is, to her, sort of both), devouring their structure and achieving what she views as the ultimate height of each. she has shaped herself according to the society she inhabits in three of the most archetypical possible ways. she wears it with utmost pride - this ability to insinuate herself into the upper echelon and make a home there, to play the game, to understand the rules so deeply that she is winning before most others can begin to see the board. the mask has fused to her face; she is nothing absent her titles, absent archmage and duchess and priestess. she has constructed her life that way intentionally. it is service. it is worship. when she is stripped of that, all of it, she almost immediately becomes something entirely else - someone else, because victoria without her memories is a person. she does not know that she is not supposed to be, though the urge does its very best to devour her fresh. and the person that she is... is feral when contrasted against the duchess and her renowned self-control. she is sharp-edged and angry, terrified, emotional, not to mention highly physical. she spends some time feeling as though the body she woke up in is someone else's, but she changes it to fit, and then she is more at home in it than the duchess ever was, because it is hers, then, not bhaal's. she becomes something wild in the woods west of baldur's gate, something untameable, by way of the burning desire to live. the cage she constructed to house herself falls utterly apart. specifically i'm thinking tonight about how this interacts with the slayer. bhaal has been attempting to break through to her in increasingly graphic, violent, horrific ways - puppeteering her body to do things she would never generally do, not even at the height of her devotion. they had an accord when it came to her worship and how she executed it. he's pushing her so that she'll break and in so doing, become something he recognises again. her attempt on her lover's life is the latest in that grotesque line. i do not think victoria ever took the slayer form in her past. her boons from bhaal came in other ways. her methods did not agree with that sort of overt brutality. she was in the eternal process of reinventing what it meant to be bhaal's chosen, and in the way of a god endlessly bored by pattern/cycle/repetition, he allowed her to. here, in the present, you have a victoria that has already transformed into a wild thing. she does not need to kill isobel to do that; it is currently her natural state. and yet bhaal-via-scleritas offers it to her anyway - the raw power of the slayer, which she has never before accepted or desired and still does not now, for vastly different reasons. you are ready now, he says. you are ready to receive this gift of mine, that only my most holy warriors have ever earnt, and she is meant to hate it so viscerally that it shocks her out of the fugue her memories have fallen into - but she only hates it with the ferocity of an agent of life that has been offered the tools of death.

#* meta.#idk man head full or whatever.

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chaoticsoulsword · 8 months

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Ahem. This post will probably age poorly but my mind won't stop being delusional so here are some thoughts I gathered regarding the future of jjk.

*spoilers till ch. 237*

Gojo: although it pains me deeply to say this, I don't think Gojo is making a comeback. Was the fight fair? To an extent, yes. What really displeases me is the fact that Sukuna only achieved his full form AFTER Gojo's death. Like, I give 0 fucks about Kashimo, dude lost to the pachinko guy. So it doesn't sit well with me that Gojo wasn't the one who cornered Sukuna when he was considered the strongest since day 1. Outrage aside, Gojo had a certain level of closure when "meeting" his friends in the afterlife. Gege killed Nanami for way less (when he came to the conclusion that Nanami reached his peak as a character and thus wouldn't have anything else to add to the story -- which I disagree but let's not focus on this). That means that the story can't go forward with Gojo being the strongest while Yuji is the protagonist. Did he have to die? No. He could have got free from his "curse" (being the strongest) by having his powers erased or something. He'd still see his dream come true by having his students take down the conservatives of the Jujutsu system (which is actually kinda blurry now that the world knows about curses and sorcery but eh, anything can happen now, maybe a cursed technique like Pucci's Stairway to Heaven). In conclusion, I'll miss my silly blorbo but that's the end of the line for him *cries*

Nobara: BUT! Have you realized how Nobara wasn't in Gojo's afterlife? In addition, I'm still clinging to Nitta's words: "It's not a zero percent chance, okay?!" When confronted by Yuji about her status, Megumi doesn't reply, but we know he's a guy of few words when it comes to feelings. Besides, Yuji had been through a LOT (more would come, ofc, but not the point), so it's possible that Megumi was protecting him by not giving Yuji false hope. All these clues lead me to believe that Nobara is in a state of coma, still healing from Mahito's blow. She isn't done yet, she has a promise to keep and she's not one to give up so easily. Nobara has the potential to return. And speaking of which...

Megumi: Poor little guy's soul is literally trapped in the void while the demon who possessed him without any consent has reincarnated in HIS body. I see many fans discussing that only his soul can be saved BUT something has caught my attention. When Megumi asks Hana/Angel if her technique can revert possessed players to their original players, she replies that it's not impossible, but it's extremely likely they will die because the cursed object and the body fuse. "It's difficult to strip one away". Okay, so it's hard. But there's a chance, especially assuming that Megumi's soul is a state of suspension. That keeps Megumi and Sukuna "separated" to an extent, meaning that maybe Hana can rescue his soul and heal his body after Sukuna is destroyed. Not to mention her role as a "divine" figure. If she can pull a jujutsu called Jacob's Ladder, why not a Lazarus' raising?

And those are my delusions predictions. Gege is really a cruel, heartless storyteller, but it's not fair that Yuji keeps losing people he loves over and over. I still have some hope that this story isn't just deathbait for shocking value. I know everything changed after the Shibuya Incident, and still... Yuji is not supposed to die alone. It's the very motivation of his character. So let's bring some comfort back, right, Gege? 🔪 *threaning aura*

#jjk #jjk spoilers #gojo satoru #nobara kugisaki #yuji itadori #megumi fushiguro #hana kurusu #sukuna ryomen

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gamerbearmira · 2 years

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(SA)

Alma had not been this afraid in almost forty five years. Not been this afraid since the day she went into labor with the triplets and her home was burned as she fled while still sore and bleeding. Not since her Pedro was taken from her.

But...but this was somehow worse. Worse because it wasn't raiders just killing and pillaging indiscriminately. No one specific target. Because this wasn't just bad luck.

This was worse because this had been deliberate. These teenage boys, fifteen and sixteen years old and technically men in the eyes of the community, had done it on purpose.

They claimed it was supposed to be a joke. As if a joke is dunking a girl six years their junior into the river and then tying her to a wooden stake in a shed. As if a joke was putting damp straw around her feet on the stake. As if trying to burn her alive was a joke.

As if trying to burn anyone, but especially a small not even ten year old girl, alive was a joke.

Mirabel had most certainly put up a fight. The boys had scratch's and bite marks and some bruises on them that she didn't think came from Camilo and Isabela. No those marks were made by someone smaller and Mirabel had been born Early. Too early for most to live. But...

But Mirabel is a fighter and a Miracle all of her own. She had lived. She had been a miracle baby and lived. And she had always been a fighter. And Alma could see evidence of that on the guilty party. Could hear evidence of it as Luisa spoke about how Mirabels arms hadn't just been burnt and melting but how they were rubbed raw as she fought to free herself from the stake.

Mirabel is a fighter, a survivor, a Miracle. But Alma was still scared. Because she is so small. The smallest of the grandkids with ease, even without Camilo shapeshifting, and she looks even smaller now as she lay on the wet grass with her head in her Tias lap.

Rain poured on the tarp held over her, Julieta was crumbling food and putting it in Mirabels mouth to heal her without hurting her throat too much. She inhaled a lot of smoke, her voice was raspy in a way no child's should be. Julieta said it was burnt too, both outside and inside. Her mouth was burnt.

She might never recover from that. Never be able to taste food again, never be able to eat or drink anything too hot or too cold. Most of the healing seemed focused on her legs and her lower body.

The legs that were almost pitch black and had obvious signs of skin melting and now hardening and it looked like her legs had even been fused together at one point. It was a horrible sight.

It was only thanks to Mirabels sheer stubbornness that she had still been alive when Pepa and Luisa rushed into the building upon Dolores' alarm and screaming. Something Dolores never did.

It was only thanks to Julietas healing food that she was still alive now even as she spoke of having talked to the long dead Abuelo who she only saw in pictures. As a golden butterfly so like the one Alma saw when she met Pedro landed on her nose fluttering and she rasped out a not yet.

Spoke about a new primo she was getting and how she wanted to meet him. Yes they would be going into that later but...but for now...

Alma was scared. More scared than she had been in forty years. But...

She was also furious. And as the family tended to Mirabel she slowly stood up, pressing a gently kiss to the girls hair which was burnt and horrid and smelled fiercely. They'd have to cut it later and let it regrow if that's what she wanted.

But for now. Alma stood up and there was steel in her spine and ice in her viens even as fire lit her eyes. No...not fire. Even as rage lit her eyes. She very much doubted she'd ever use fire to describe her feelings again after today.

But she stood. And her rage was nearly visible as the family shrunk back a bit, the villagers shrunk back even more. The boys who had done this had tried to run while everyone was distracted.

They ran right into two brick walls. One a short wide man like a brick house who was just as furious and explosive as his wife who had their nieces head on her lap.

The other tall and thin but muscular from all he did to help out, chopping wood required muscles and he did not ask his daughter who was already so busy to help. And unlike his explosive shorter friend. His fury was frigid and unyielding and icy. He had his axe in hand and when one boy tried to run he threw the axe so hard it went to the hilt into the ground at the boys feet.

The boys did not try to escape a second time. And Alma was on them in seconds, poison spitting from her lips like a cobra and tongue sharper than the axe in the ground.

Nah cause. Tell me why them boys tried to pull a fast one 🗿 first they tried to pull that ‘ItS juST a PrANk bRO’ bs and then tried to make a run for it. Fr thought they was boutta get away with that, ain’t no way. Fèlix and Agustín pulled up and it was all over, especially with Agustín and that axe. I’d be petrified ngl 💀💀

And poor Alma, she’s been traumatized yet again, along with everyone else. She was having flash backs and everything 😭😭 but like I understand, I mean imagine seeing your granddaughter absolutely fried because she was burned on a stake like it’s was the Salem Witch trials as a prank.

Jit trippin 😦

Alma, Fèlix and Agustín to the guys that burned Mirabel:

#my asks are open #encanto #my asks #encanto au #au #encanto mirabel #encanto alma #encanto felix #encanto Agustín #burned mirabel au

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tenguucringefails · 9 months

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MY SELF INDULGENT UNDERTALE AU!!!!

THIS IS-

*checks smudged writing on hand*

THE 3RD (???) REVISION

It's...real convoluted. I don't even know how to sum up the plot simply because it's meant to be really meta.

I guess you can say Lucy is like a visitor to the Undertale Universe and is directly overseeing the narrative of the story. Like your usual self insert shenanigans except they've long since established a place into the story since before they even joined it, manipulating it to go exactly as it should. But that doesn't come without it's hiccups as Lucy finds their self deeply involved with everyone's life to the point of obsession.

Another thing to note, Lucy’s physical appearance changes a lot in and out of the story but this current look is sometime after meeting Frisk but before the fall. So don't be too alarmed if you see me drawing them differently a lot, there's lore reasons there.

Also sorry to the Undertale!Actors AU girlies that have thought of using that name because I'm stealing it from you.

Here’s more of Lucy and Frisk being goobers together and a bit more lore about them below!

Frisk communicates through their soul to Lucy and Monsters! They're still very reserved and don't speak often, though.

[Note: The fall into the underground nearly kills Frisk but Lucy fuses their souls together to keep them alive. Lucy isn't human but her soul is very human like in appearance and thanks to their soul trait, compatibility wasn't much of an issue aside from Frisk becoming more magically inclined from Lucy's residual magic. Their soul trait is Transparency and it looks like milky glass. NORMALLY, Transparency souls are supposed to be crystal clear but trauma can cloud it! :o) ]

During battles, Lucy releases her physical form and hides away in their shared soul. She usually leaves Frisk to handle things but she can control their movements and actions in this state.

When Lucy is like this, only Frisk can hear her colorful commentary and she has a LOT to say during battles lmao

Frisk's eyes are naturally red and lidded. Rarely will they fully open their eyes and with the increase of magic in their body from the soul fusion, they often keep them completely closed because they're sensitive.

They also have thick lashes lmao

Chara's here too! And Lucy hates them! She dislikes Chara and most variations of Chara and will instantly lock onto their presence, regardless of they're trying to be subtle. One notable thing about Chara is that when they're in control of Frisk, their eyes are wide open.

As the text says, Lucy is shorter than Frisk lol

Frisk being 157cm

And Lucy being 152cm

But make no mistake, Lucy is not younger! Time becomes very mute for Lucy after a while, so it's hard to really give her an exact age...so we'll just say she's around 16-17 around the time she meets Frisk (I was 16 when I first played Undertale!). She stops aging at around 24, though, which happens much later.

Frisk and Lucy are both little weirdos and share affection in odd ways. Since Lucy isn't human, she doesn't know how to love in a human way, so she ends up mimicing what she's seen and heard. She unintentionally picks up the way Frisk shows affection which happens to be similar to the way cats care for their kin.

I like to imagine Lucy and Frisk are platonic soulmates and both see their friendship as irreplaceable in each other's eyes!

Anyway, that's all it for now! Thanks for reading about my little goobies!

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shockersalvage · 1 year

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Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer Rewrite

Heyo! To those reading this, this is basically how I would have handled Killer Killer if it was kept in the same 14 chapter set-up it had. Not sure if I said it here, but to make things explicit I genuinely think of out of the Hope’s Peak Academy saga of the franchise, Killer Killer is the very worst of it in terms of how it handles it story and world. Yes, even more than Danganronpa 3 in that regards.

I love its art and Killer Killer is chalked full of great concepts, but it kind of feels as if the writing leaned too far into the ‘CrAzInEsS’ of the Danganronpa world...and kinda forgetting that as wacky as it can be, even Danganronpa’s story (especially in regards to the games) still held itself to a set of (well, I can’t say realistic) a grounded world. DR3 also has that problem, but that’s for another time.

Now, going into this, I swore to one thing: I can not outright get rid of any cast members the manga introduces. I can tweak concepts and story elements, but if the series wants a mad bomber Ultimate, I can’t get rid of the mad bomber Ultimate. Personally, I’m of the belief that it’s better to fix something wrong than just outright get rid of it

NOTE: This does not serve as a replacement ot the RE: Killer Killer I am working on. Think of this like another AU meant to serve well with the another rewrite I’m working on.

Chapter One

Honestly, no real changes to the first chapter. It serves as a pretty decent way to introduce both Misaki and Takumi, as well as the twist of Takumi being Killer Killer. Now, the one thing I will tweak is the 1st serial killer’s motivation.

Momomichi Ito…hoo boy. I feel as thought they were trying way too hard to show he’s ‘CRAZZZZZY’ and over the top, which kinda hurts when he’s the first villain of the week we’re supposed to see to get used to this new world way of doing things. So for him, I’d make it so that the people he killed were critics of his show, ranging from religious extremists to just your average music reviewer. Make him a vain narcissist that sees himself as the second coming of Maizono’s group and the music industry…and go ballistic when people think his work isn’t perfect. No need to have be some off the rocker for a motive that really doesn’t mesh well at all….

And yeah, no giant syringe of fucking blood. He does get a syringe, but its a normal one for knocking people out with sedatives.

For his murders, I also think he’d be the type to bully his backstage crew into doing the grunt work for his set-up so himself isn’t suspected too much. As for how he gets caught, I kind of like to think that the same warning message he used to send to Future Foundation, would be in the same style he uses for an autograph. On that note, this gives Takumi some legitimate detective prowess than his ‘sixth sense’ the manga keeps using to explain how he suddenly knows whose a killer or not. Because that never gets old!~ Hah…

Chapter Two:

Now, time for the real changes!~ Rei, whose in silhouette at the start, is in her hideout and she winds up receiving an envelope on her table. Inside is a photo of her misdeeds and a note saying that if she doesn’t go after Killer Killer, she will be exposed. With her hand forced, she blatantly kills her next victim at Ongo Hospital.

In this version, Rei kills her victims in her forest hideout, using them like in canon as parasite hotels. In this version, her parasites don’t fuse to become a giant monster and resemble…well actual parasites instead of those weird monsters. Takumi, and eventually, Misaki suspects her, when its found that the records for those who did the surgery/check-up on the victim was lost due to an accident with Rei. While Rei does sic her parasites on Takumi, with claims that she can’t be killed by them due to her modifying such parasites to recognize her as one, she’s ultimately killed when Takumi ends up splashing blood from one of her victims on her. The parasites devour her alive and her body is found by Future Foundation forces that eventually discover her location from their own separate investigation.

Mekuru’s introduction has her apart of a B-plot with Misaki trying to bond with her, since Takumi is in the hospital. Ultimately, its their shared desire of seeing evil stopped that allows them to work together. In this rewrite, Mekuru’s Drowsing Deduction requires information before she can give an accurate lead - with both finding out Rei’s hideout on their own. As a side nugget of info, its also revealed that Rei’s parasitolgy research was also being funded a bit by some organization.

The blackmailer of Rei is disappointed, but not really surprised that she failed. Ultimately, he surmises from such information that in order to further his plan, instead of an ordinary killer…he’ll have to hire some whose more of an Ultimate - pulling up information on a certain fireworks artist.

Chapter 3:

We see Ted Chikatilo confronting our blackmailer whose in the shadows. He wants to know why the heck an Ultimate like himself should even bother taking on Killer Killer, especially since he never ran into that serial killer before. In this Ted is the owner of the serial killing gambling and is enjoying making his profit in secret.

In response, the Villain shows him the potential extra moolah, he could gain from hosting a show featuring the elusive serial killer and the notoriety that can be gained as well. Plus, if he plays his cards right, he can both beat Killer Killer and wipe out a good portion of the Sixth Division of Future Foundation. Something that can get Ted to be favored by a certain organization. The last part is what gets Ted’s interest and he begins plotting

Concerning the plot with Eiichiro, its pretty much the same - though his corpse is used by Takumi as a fee for entering the serial killer gambling. Albeit, he’s disguised, with Takumi himself wearing a cloak and the Sparkling Justice mask from DR2 that he stole from Eiichiro. In his hands is a poster for Killer Killer as the main event in serial killing gambling.

Chapter 4:

In this chapter, Future Foundation gains knowledge of the Killing Festival being hosted at Tify Ariake Arena this time. The Foundation has heard about the event for months, but given its secrecy and how it never has a set location, they haven’t had much luck in regards to stopping them. Not wanting to give a Death Game any sort of support given the fiasco with Junko’s game, they make plans to do a raid to arrest everyone involved in the Festival.

In this case, Juzo and Takumi are to pose as Killer Killer and Juzo as a Ted Chikatilo copycat (IDK call him Ned Bikatilo or something XD). Likewise, to sell the illusion of them being legit killers they were supposed to use dummy corpses created by the Ultimate Make-up Artist…granted, Takumi sell his guise later by using Eiichiro’s corpse which he never quite discloses to his comrades.

For Misaki, given how this is her first official raid, her nerves are on her. Especially given how this Festival raid has her finally meeting Juzo. This is operations is a co-op between Juzo’s Special Forces and Special Crime Unit. She also gets to see first hand how he treats the leader of his Special Forces, Kenji Tsuruhashi…namely by yelling at him and threatening him to get on with things during their meeting. With Mekuru’s Drowsing Deduction after getting information on the arena’s layout, they plan on quietly neutralizing the Festival’s security while the audience is distracted with Juzo and Takumi’s fighting. Afterward, they would surround the audience via the arena’s entrances and quickly captured them. With the majority of the people corralled and exits blocks, any stragglers can be hunted down and taken in without too much resistance.

Given the role Takumi is playing, in addition to her prior experiences with Killer Killer, Misaki is both concerned over his safety…and partially suspicious. Though, she tries to dismiss it as being impossible. That being said, she does wish to apprehend Killer Killer for essentially ruining justice properly for their past cases.

When the plan goes off, it initially seems as if they will have a clean run through of their operations, with security going down fairly easily. A bit…too easily? During Juzo and Takumi’s match, Ted’s voice on an intercom interrupts to announce to the crowd both’s affiliation with Future Foundation…and how the the place was filled to the brim with such opposition! Before the squads knew it, metal doors shut down on the exits. Effectively sealing them in with an audience full of pissed off onlookers and criminals.

It’s then that Ted appears on television to announce this ultimatum: to the audience, they have to kill every last Future Foundation personnel in the building…or else he’ll blow up the entire building with bombs that he planted all around the arena.

Chapter 5:

Given the events of last chapter, Future Foundation is in a fight for their lives as the crowds begin fighting for their lives. It’s this chapter where we see Future Foundation’s specialized paralysis ammo they use in their firearms, as well as the fighting prowess of both Ikue Dogami and Juzo. While the cast is doing their best, they are gradually beginning to get overwhelmed and the knowledge of the time limit is clearly on their minds.

Ultimately, they decide to split off. With Mekuru’s Deduction, she, Dogami and some others will go off to look for the probably locations of the bombs. Juzo and most of his Special Forces will fight against the audience to both apprehend them and give the others time. Misaki, Takumi and Kenji are tasked with heading to the upper levels of the arena to look for Ted.

As they head up the arena’s stairs towards the rooftop, both Misaki and Takumi are discussing how bizarre it was that the enemy somehow knew they were coming, especially since this was a top secret mission that most shouldn’t be aware of outside the Future Foundation forces in play. Takumi half-jokes that their’s a traitor in their midst, something that gets Kenji and Misaki to tell him to quit playing about.

When they check into one of the rooms nearby the top, see the Republic’s of Lamieca’s Defense Secretary dead. They assume he was a backer of the Festival, but the fact such a high profile figure was dead here was going to cause problems once this was over. During the inspection of the corpse, Kenji makes an off-hand commented on the exact amount the SoD gave to the Festival…

Which gets both Misaki and Takumi to wonder how the hell does he know that. With the gig up, Kenji is forced to reveal he was the traitor that helped lure the division into this trap. In exchange for leaving with Ted prior to the explosives being set off and givine the bomber info on their plan, Kenji could finally kill Juzo for treating him like shit. When they ask about the SoD, Kenji explains it was insurance so to speak. On the offhand Juzo did survive, the loss of the SoD, ontop of losing most of his personnel in this raid, woudl no doubt earn the public’s ire and calls for him to resign.

Misaki is enraged at such a corrupt figure being on the force and tells Takumi to go on ahead whilst she deals with him. This is meant to give Misaki her own moment, as wel las strengthen her beliefs in dishing out proper justice. Being a platoon head, though, Kenji is quite strong. Yet, his arrogance and short temper leaves him wide open for Misaki to get a good shot on him, stunning him enough to be apprehended.

With Kenji defeated, the scene transitions to Ted and Takumi’s own matter which plays out similarly to how it was in chapter 5 of the manga.

Chapter 6:

This plays roughly out how it is in the manga. Misaki catches up with both Takumi and Ted, but Ted is using his mesmerizing fireworks. Only real key difference is that he reveals a tidbit on how he should thank ‘that person’ for getting him to go against Killer Killer and inspiring his new motivation. That is, to get the Remnants of Despair to rally and continue spreading chaos with a Director of Future Foundation dead. Ted himself is not an Ultimate Despair, but he does value their work and wants to ensure that chaos is the dominant force in the DR world. He had hoped that if he pulled off his plan, it would impress such an organziation to both allow him formally into the upper class of their organization (not like the unfocused Monokuma masked mob that’s piling about) and continue making more frightening shows with their backing.

Same as in the current story, Ted is killed by his own fireworks and Takumi feigns as if he was still brainwashed as Misaki to avoid her finding out about the truth of Killer Killer. However, upon learning that Killer Killer was the one to beat Ted, she vows even more to apprehend them. The corruption of her colleague just re-igniting her desire to stop evil a ‘helpful’ killer like Killer Killer. From there, we learn that the others managed to find and disarm the explosives, whilst the surviving audience were all arrested. As for Kenji, however, he had disappeared.

Still, Munakata is impressed with the Festival being effectively over. In addition, with learning Killer Killer still had no possibility of despair, he ows his Foundation won’t crumble. Kyoko also asks about Shuji, same in canon. At his hideout, Shuji happily is sitting in his locker…whilst Kenji is found, tied up and unconscious on the floor.

Chapter 7:

The plot plays out fairly similar to main storyline. Key difference is Mimiko is inspired to ‘duel’ Killer Killer after recieving an anonymous tip from the Villain, and believing that if she can beat him then she can protect her Kinari with no issue. Naturally, she fucking dies for her attempt via beheading, but it should be noted Takumi doing his whole ‘one knife slices apart the fucking building’ shtick is absent in this. Coolness is no excuse to break the world.

Like in the original, Misaki meets up with Shuji, who asks for help in stopping Takumi from being Killer Killer. Something that leaves her immensely shocked and taken aback.

Chapter 8:

I really love this chapter! Has to be one of my favorites from Killer Killer...which isn’t a super high bar to jump over XD The only notable changes I would make would be Mukuro being covered up instead of blatantly out in the open killing people (seriously, what was with both DR3 and DRG deciding that the duo that spearheaded the end of the world don’t know the meaning of ‘stealth’ and covert operations)?

Also some more clarification that such an attack happened prior to the UD girls enrollment in Hope’s Peak. Instead of both meeting outside the school like a couple of dopes, instead Mukuro is in some old building getting a radio message from her sister about how this job was just a ‘check-in’ of sorts.

Now, given how both boys at least recognize Mukuro, I would make it so that during the chaos, Mukuro’s mask is knocked away a bit. Takumi gets a good look at her…but given his psychological breakdown, his new mental state has him be appreciative of the ‘one who showed him the way’. In Shuji’s case, he barely gets a glimpse, but upon watching the Killing Game years later, he learns of her identity and reacts in horror upon who made him just one of two survivors.

In this version, Misaki is more visibly in shock and denial. Logically, Takumi being Killer Killer would make sense with the irregularities of the prior cases…but at this point she had become really attached to her partner. Tension rising as it turns out Takumi was hiding in a box behind them...and they overhear how Mukuro Ikusaba was on the loose.

Final Arc (Chapter 9 - 14):

Now the final Killer Killer arc: honestly, I don’t think it needs too much in terms of rewriting to be made solid I feel? Personally, I think this most of this last stretch just needs some more depth to make it work more…………and you all know what’s getting a major cut-out in the final chapter.

For the Ikusaba invasion, from the get-go have it be explained that these Mukuro attackers are just female Remnant of Despair cultists of her trying to imitate her. They romanticised her as a martyr and got plastic surgery from somwhere on the black market to look more like their idol, so they could continue ‘her wish’ right.

After their defeat, we get Misaki tearfully accepting the truth that Takumi is Killer Killer and she gets stabbed by Shuji. Shuji then explains his motives, with the nice handy bonus that he sent Rei, Ted, Mimiko and the Ikusaba Cultists all after Takumi in order to scare him into giving up being Killer Killer. From there, we get the scenes where he’s chased off and it transitions into the hospital with Mekuru and Misaki.

Now, Mekuru! You know how DRG said she and Takumi met before, but never went into detail why? Well, we have her finally explain her story. On how she was all alone during the Tragedy and was about to be killed by some Remnants before Takumi killed them. In addition, he even escorted her to safety...which is how he met Ikue Dogami. It’s why she holds trust in him despite being such a notorious killer. Considering the despair she’s feeling from essentially declaring herself the one to apprehend Killer Killer…only to get stabbed with the awful truth, this is something that helps get her out of her funk a deal.

Of course, we then move on to hearing about Shuji’s killing game. You know that guy Shuji killed to prove he’s Killer Killer…except when you think about it doesn’t really prove anything. He just kinda stabbed him, no real indicator of his crimes or proof. Well, Kenji takes his place, with Shuji showcasing the recording of him murdering the DF Secretary. Tears in his eyes, Kenji pleads for his life but he’s murdered. This, of course, would piss Juzo off something fierce. Now, concerning the bomb threat Shuji also made, perhaps have him detonate one in some random part of Japan. As means to show that, yes, even the bombs he stole were legitimate and real.

From there, the manga continues as usual. Takumi and Misaki try to survive against both the FF guards, panicked public and other Remnants being shits. Now, before I continue, I have to address the scene with Tengan in Chapter 11…and how he has Despairful eyes. Which is a good indicator that he likely watched the Despair Video and is brainwashed by it…

*closes old man Jenkins eyes*

Nope! Sorry! Fuck that! Someday I’ll show the other one I’m working on, but I can say that Tengan being likely kbrainwashed is not a thing here. He’s still an extremist, mind you, but he doesn’t need to watch a video to go that far. We stan wrecks that can be wrecks by themselves in this…bloghold?

Anywho, the fight between Takumi and Shuji is mostly unchanged. They get their big showdown and…okay, I can’t put this off for much longer.

The Recapitation….

What I consider to tbe the single greatest fucking sin in this series is next…the amount of hatred I have for it is immense. Everyhing wrong with Killer Killer can be summed up in the above. In Danganronpa, every other series, if a characters get their throat slashed...they die. The series has always been consistent with how fatal its injuries can be for its cast since, while most are Ultimates, they are also human. It grounds them. But here!? NOPE! Fuck how it works usually! Takumi can decapitate someone and they suffer no injuries because, for whatever reason, the writers thought it was a good idea to have their story not give a damn about the rules!! Arghhhhhhhh... But that begs the question:

What the hell can it be replaced with?

Well, I think the answer is fairly simple. As a way of admitting defeat, Shuji tosses the control switch for the collar. No bullshit neck severing/reattaching. Just a man who tried his damndest to change someone’s view, in his dying moments, fully accepting such a path in life and giving up their ambitions. No bullshit ‘it was that clean’ nonsense! Just a good way to tie up Shuji’s arc further and have it be that. Okay? Okay.

Minor notes before I continue, the panels of Munakata seeing the Remnants is getting tweaked so that he sees potentially gets glimpses of some of their features, but nothing concrete. Because both DR3 and DRG kinda forgot about the whole ‘Remnants identities aren’t supposed to be revealed to FF until after Makoto’s NWP is in motion. Well, sorta. DR3 did bring it up in the Despair Arc finale as to why they were faking their deaths…….except Future’s Arc first episode contradicts that with showing blatantly out in the open and attacking the Directors. Ugh...just, don’t think too hard on it.

Anyways, with the worst of the story out, we can safely transition into the both of Takumi and Misaki having their Super Lovers Suicide without error!~ A nice rather happy ending for these two lovebirds!~

Overall

What this aimed to fix were several things

1. Make the cast abilities be more grounded in reality/not-so bullshit and be more logical. This is a manga centered about a group of detectives, have them showcase more of said skill instead of just going by ‘intuition’ and even have the their broken side of them toned down or given a logical buffer. Such as Mekuru’s deductions needing information so she can give an accurate reading. Stuff like that helps make it feel as if the cast aren’t OP tools, but still humans like the rest.

2. Give focus to concepts/cast that lack it and help bring them in closer ot the narrative. Sorry to say, but the villain of the week idea really didn’t help the manga much for me. One too many chapters just feel like filler or wasted concepts that had a lot of intrigue to them. By having a deal more of the villains be essentially mercenaries sent after Takumi by Shuji or connecting them with others concepts to give both more depth, I felt it would have made things better narratively. For example, I love Ted’s design and the concept of a rogue Ultimate is great...but he kinda just...doesn’t really do much? Or seem to much connected with things? Doesn’t help he really doesn’t have him a motivation for what he’s doing unlike the other villains. I lvoe the idea of killer gambling...but its just kinda thrown in without much care. So, why not combine the two? Have him be a sadistic greedy showman who wants profit and eventually infamy for his handiwork, with the Festival being a way he makes his dough.

3. Crazy does not equal genius - it needs to go. Sorry to any of you who enjoyed the over to the top insanity the manga brought...but it needs to go. I already went into my loathing of the Recapitation, but from the parasite monsters weird designs and fusio to Shuji’s skills becoming more bullshit by cutting a damn roof in half just.....no. No. Its uneeded. Craziness can be allowed, but you need to be thoughtful with it and use it wisely. Why isn’t Sakura busting down the walls of the Academy? Because being the Strongest Human still doesn’t mean you can do whatever the fuck you want and the games recognize that. Which is why its baffling that the manga doesn’t and decides cutting off roofs with a small ass knife is a-okay!!? Ugh...

Anyways, hope you all enjoyed this! It was fun thinking of these fixes!~

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isobelleposts · 1 year

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A Reminder That We Are Human: ‘Human Acts’ by Han Kang Review

by Isobelle Cruz [May 21, 2023]

I’ve been hesitant to open up my laptop lately, afraid that I had lost it in me to write a really good article, not in terms of how many likes I receive, but on how much I enjoy the process of making it. My recent works, I admit, have felt passionless and forced for the sake of keeping my blog alive. But this is different. I devoured “Human Acts” by Han Kang over the course of one weekend—my eyes rarely drifting from its pages.

I’d never encountered an interest in the author’s works before, but once I stepped foot in the bookstore, I was suddenly drawn to its cover; simple and clean, silencing the world that surrounded me into muffled echoes.

“Gwangju Uprising” scene in Saedeuldo Sesangeul Teuneunguna at the Yeongwoo Theatre, 1988 [Image Source: Yeongwoo Mudae]

Her lips move, but no sound comes out. Yet Eun-sook knows exactly what she is saying. She recognizes the lines from the manuscript, where Mr. Seo had written them in with a pen. The manuscripts she’s typed up herself, and proofread three times.

Page 101 of Human Acts

The book features the perspectives of seven characters, one of them being an editor in 1985. Eun-sook’s chapter shows her struggle against censorship and how the company overcomes this, still able to deliver the crossed-out lines of the censors through chilling imagery. Han Kang’s writing is delivered almost in the same feels as the play tackled in her book; quiet, slow, but enough to tell the story.

Gym turned mortuary in May 1980. [Image Source: Robin Moyer, Korea JoongAng Daily]

Another perspective that drew my attention closer than the others was of The Boy’s Friend, Jeong-dae. The words of the dead were briefly featured in the book; faceless spirits hovering over their bodies and watching as others live on, unable to do anything but watch.

If I could escape the sight of our bodies, that festering flesh now fused into a single mass, like rotting carcass of some many-legged monster. If I could sleep, truly sleep, not this flickering haze of wakefulness. If I could plunge headlong down to the floor of my pitch-dark consciousness.

Page 56 of “Human Acts”

It was depressing, and made me conscious of the body I still have control over—a blessing that I often take for granted.

Students on the streets of Gwangju, 1980 [Image Source: Lee Chang-seong, May 18 Memorial Foundation]

Is it possible to bear witness to the fact that of a foot-long wooden ruler being repeatedly thrust into my vagina, all the way to the back wall of my uterus? To a rifle butt bludgeoning my cervix? To the fact that, when the bleeding wouldn’t stop and I had gone into shock, they had to take me to the hospital for a blood transfusion?

Page 164 of Human Acts

Human Acts is flinchingly explicit and gory. It tells the stories of victims from different angles, some of which I would forget to consider if I had not opened this book.

It disturbs me to display these photos on here, but I believe that if words are not enough to deliver chills to the blinded eyes of people, photographs will.

The kids in the photo aren’t lying side by side because their corpses were lined up like that after they were killed. It’s because they were walking in a line.

Page 133 of Human Acts

Whether you read this in the rain, or at the beach where life is supposed to be happy, a strike of pain will stay in the back of your chest, the images of agony haunting you even in bed.

Human Acts truly opened my mind much more than the other books I’ve read that spit out facts and statistics, so much so, that I am driven away from what matters most—feeling and sympathizing with the victims. Most books I’ve encountered focus solely on hating the dictator that I finish them feeling sort of empty, that I am the same person as I was when I started the book. But that is not the case with Han Kang’s third novel. It reminded me that I am human, and how much my life should be valued.

#han kang #human acts #south korean literature #korean history #asian literature #asian author #asian history #martial law #chun doo hwan #gwangju massacre #gwangju uprising #May 18

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questionablepastries · 8 months

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Armored core 6 spoiler posting ! This time for the ng+ run and the ending I did, and my thoughts on ng3 thus far:

This time the ending I got for my second run was “the fires of raven”

Pretty hardcore name for recreating the apocalypse and simply leaving the planet, but I get why Walter and Carla wanted it done. They’re the kind of people where the ends justifies the means. Eliminating all life on this planet, for the sake of containing and destroying an organic energy fuel substance that was on its way of leaking out to the space, spreading to other planets, more corporate wars fought for this fuel, and in the end leading to more fires of ibis situations on other planets

Or would it?

The game intentionally never (or at least hasn’t) explained WHY the first fires of ibis happened, and I’m just gonna go ahead and guess allmind is behind this, the group that’s been the most IN GAME but with the least story impact, and my second guess is the group that the original raven is from, killed that lil bitch twice don’t show your face around me again unless u wanna talk >:|

I doubt it’s ravens group tho. A mission I did on the side made it sound like the original raven leaked the information about coral LEADING to the corporations even knowing about rubricon. And it’s giving government leak/Edward Snowden vibes which to ME is a good guy position, now ALLMIND…..

They got some scary descriptions for the allmind arena. Yeah, AllMind exists for mercenaries (aka me) but.. the descriptions include stuff talking about fusing mech with the human mind to make some sort of link, make the body of the mech feel like the body of the pilot? Weird stuff, Also the allmind lady called me a “humanoid”, what’s that about???? Rusty seems to know my true identity since the second he met me (Walter suggests this), and Ayre suggests we’ve met before? So I’m thinking 621 was involved in the fires of ibis situation somehowwww

Then there’s all the hidden notes about these 2 scientists? And their sons that pick up that their scientist dads are losing their minds? There’s a lot im not piecing together at the moment, but there’s a lot of things that haven’t been explained fully, not that they need to, but I can feel an “aha” moment coming. I’m taking a break from the game tho I speed ran the game to get the second ending over with for this upcoming ng+ 3 run that I started (😭 I’m tired)

Back to the ending tho

SO GLAD I GOT TO KILL AYRE LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️ ayre fans im only slightly sorry

She was SOOOOO annoying the whole run. I’m so bugged by her doting girlfriend, yelling at me to survive WHILE all I’m doing IS surviving, her character is shoved on you, she hardly has offers any insight into coral other than coral is alive (you call them your brothers and sisters but can you get the mechs powered by coral to stop killing me????), ayre get a life!!! I hate mascot characters and I hate bitches (whiny girls) SHOVED ON YOU in any game, sorry!!! And u know what? she did actually get a life, I was so happy she fucked off, got in a robot herself, and started doing shit for herself even if it meant the first thing she did upon gaining autonomy was going in to kill me. Go girl!!!!! now what hurt was putting down rusty, but I killed him too fast, so fast that my monkey brain outsped the sad feeling I was supposed to associate with doing that, and I was glad they gave him two health bars.. because the first one I kinda mowed down and I felt semi bad about it and then when he got back up I (in full video game enjoying mode) went all chuuni and yelled “I LIKE THAT AMBITION OF YOURS RUSTY” and Then mowed him down again. So now I’ve gotta go to YouTube bc I didn’t save the fight to fully process what Rusty was yelling at me because when I’m under high stress I don’t hear anymore I just get the job done 😫

Gotta take a break tho, ng3 gave me a mission that wasn’t in my first 2 runs of the game and in that mission they shoved in those wheel skeletons from ds1 on me (😡😡😡) and THAT was the hardest mission I’d had in a while, so much so that it drained me of wanting to play after that (that and I had been doing nothing but play the game for the past 2 maybe 3 days) 💤

#armored core #aaaaaaaaaaa

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eccentrickleptomaniac · 1 year

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pls if you have the time, can you share your Germany headcanons?

Germany himself isn't really Germany- he's a partial-mergecon fusion of East and West Germany. "Essen what does that mean" basically their consciousnesses aren't exactly fused completely but they can't exactly unfuse either lol. The fusion lore is something for another day.

To like, everyone, he's known as a very professional person. He almost never drops the front, acting briefly and quickly with everyone from acquaintances to family. Ironically, none of his direct family is currently alive. While yes, he is, well, friendly, it's all very tolling and when he does finally let his guard down it's almost always because he's experiencing burnout, in which he won't leave his house for days at a time. Still, it doesn't deter him from being the hardest worker in the EU.

While his technical father is.. uh.. yknow who, he doesn't really consider him his parent. Due to the odd circumstances of his creation, (long story short he, along with his father, are parasites. they killed their hosts upon exiting their bodies. tr's was weimar, eg and wgs was allied occupied germany. yes i believe they're just twins and were not born as one. "essen how is tr their father if he died before they were-" tarantula hawk wasp situation.) he never actually met his father. Because of this, all people he considers parents were adopted. Those being, from EG's side, Poland and maybe the USSR, while on WG's side it was France and the UK. Nowadays, due to him being an adult at this point, he considers them more friends as opposed to adoptive parents.

I consider the Cold War more of a time where EG and WG were growing up as opposed to being full-grown adults. The two had basically no idea what was going on because of it, and were mostly just fed information by their parents that they, well, believed. I believe that until WG's attempts at repairing their relations, both sides of the wall had a mutual intense hatred for the other. There was also nothing stopping them from actually talking at any point: no physical barrier put in or any strict rules from the parents. Sure, literally neither side liked them talking to eachother: in the beginning France and especially the UK hated the idea of them fusing and the USSR, well, uh, was the USSR. But neither side was actually stopping them from talking to eachother.

I'll talk about them seperately now, starting with EG because I like her more.

EG was very, very quiet growing up. She was known among the Warsaw Pact for her ability to observe and find small details, as well as her bluntness. She would not speak up during dinner arguments unless she had something important to say. Along with this, she was a very dedicated person. Once she had her mind on something, it was very hard to get her to stop. She especially loved machinery and computers. It wasn't uncommon to see her desk cluttered with random metal parts from a contraption she'd been building earlier. She was also very athletic, but that goes for like, the entire German bloodline. However, unlike most of her ancestors, she was also a very nonviolent person. Like, extremely nonviolent. Like, if she was being physically assaulted she would not fight back nonviolent. It's led to.. a lot of things, probably the most prominent being her half blinded eye caused by shrapnel during the East Berlin riots of '53. Albiet, that wasn't really any countries fault.. A better example would be the scar right above that eye. Yeah, that one was caused by her (adopted) father. Hooray for horrible parenting! Also random trivia I suppose; She and her brother are musicians. She does work primarily that of with synthesizers and electronic instruments. Think stuff of Machine Girl's soundtrack for Neon White. She's a fan of hardcore genres. If she was still around on her own when Prodigy became popular she would've loved that shit.

WG was much more outgoing than his sister and was always pretty much always the one initiating the conversations. It wasn't that EG didn't like talking to him, it was more she just feared he didn't like her. Which wasn't the case, usually, I think. Anyways, while being more outgoing than EG, he was also very much more opinionated on things. It was very hard to get him to change his opinion on someone if he didn't want to. He was also the only one of the two who got wing privileges and it made him into a cocky bastard. Out of everything WG liked to (LIGHTHEARTEDLY) tease EG for her not being able to fly was probably the biggest subject of his poking. It also made him into an overconfident bastard who faceplanted a few too many times into the pavement for him to be all alright. While his homelife was better than EG's, it still wasn't.. great. His adopted parents often threw jabs at him about his heritage. Like out of all the audios I've heard that I've been like, "Wow, this is so West Germany!", the biggest was literally the "What would Leonard Bernstein do?" bit from a John Mulaney special. Like, yeah thats just him with his parents. Anyways, he, like his sister, is also a musician! Albiet of a very different genre than her, he does stuff more akin to "real-world rock" as he calls it, he plays bass guitar pretty damn well and is pretty decent at drumming.

Ironically, the two had a lot of mutual friends growing up. Specifically Yugoslavia's kids. He was a very lax father figure, obviously he cared about his children but due to his absolute neutrality he almost never reprimanded his kids for any interactions with any country ever. Croatia and Slovenia specifically were friends with both of them. They're still friends today, actually. The two are pretty much some of the only people he lets his guard down around due to them being friends basically since birth.

Some misc stuff: Germany the Fusion™️ is actually Aroace. EG was a lesbian and WG was gay and due to the fact that they're pretty much constantly co-conscious now that the two have been fused they'd feel really weird actually dating someone. Now that he's fused he still does music, I believe mostly industrial synthpop but he likes to experiment with other genres too. On bad days he goes home and makes harsh noise. And I mean harsh. #Coping! He's pretty good friends with Japan and Italy. I like to think they call their groupchat "The Vertex Powers" as a direct jab at their parents. Speaking of.... all three are actually musicians. They work together sometimes. With Italy he tends to make more Aphex Twin/Mayhem + Darius type stuff while with Japan he makes stuff that sounds like Renard. If ur wondering what Japan and Italy make together, it's probably something that sounds like Darius + Rotteen or Infected Mushroom. So psytrance!

I hope this suffices, sorry for the wait!

edit 08/08/23: his """"government assigned"""" username is drawnExperimentation. eg's was dresdenDeceptacon.

#essen talks #ch hcs

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alexthegamingboy · 1 year

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Toonami Weekly Recap 02/04/2023

My Hero Academia Season 6 Paranormal Liberation War Arc EP#121 (08) - League of Villains vs. U.A. Students: The Class 1-A and 1-B students led by Yaoyorozu work together to set up their trap, successfully getting Gigantomachia stuck in the ground, with the plan of forcing his mouth open and injecting a sedative into him to knock him out. They attempt to get in close to the League still on his back, but are pushed back by the villains, and literally blown away by the beast as they try to throw the sedatives inside. Dabi's fire prevents most of them from getting any closer, but using her Quirk, Mina is able to rush through to reach the beast. However, she ends up recognizing Gigantomachia from their encounter during middle school, and hesitates just long enough to miss her shot. He nearly crushes her, but is saved by Kirishima, who manages to hold onto his leg and successfully throws Mina's sedative canister into his mouth. The Pro Heroes return to battle, however everyone is stunned as Gigantomachia starts to transform his body. Meanwhile in Jaku, Shigaraki declares his conviction how heroes save people while abandoning their families, and that he is the result of them all ignoring the true problems of their society. He refuses to let up the assault, and ends up critically injuring Gran Torino, who at this time remembers back to the incident when Nana abandoned her son to save him, wondering if what they did was right. Shigaraki attempts to go after Eraser Head, but is held back by Deku and Ryukyu using all of their strength. Unbeknownst to them however, Shigaraki is in possession of a Quirk-Destroying Bullet, and uses his fingers to shoot it toward Eraser Head, hitting him in the leg.

Made in Abyss: The Golden City of the Scorching Sun EP#11 (24) - Value: Faputa knocks Reg out and then tries to attack Riko, believing her to be the reason for his amnesia. However, her companion Gaburoon intervenes, shielding Riko and taking heavy damage in the process. Nanachi and Belaf then arrive, with Belaf allowing Faputa to attack him. As she kills him, Belaf transfers his memories of Vueko and Irumyuui to her, wishing for her to find her own value. Faputa is left confused at the new memories she has received, giving the other villagers and Nanachi time to evacuate Riko. However, with the village barrier breached, monsters from the outside begin to enter and attack the villagers. Faputa tries to repel the beasts, but is quickly overwhelmed and left near death while Gaburoon sacrifices itself to protect her. As she lay dying, several villagers come and begin feeding parts of themselves to her, transferring their value to her so she can regenerate herself. Conflicted by this show of compassion by the villagers she's supposed to destroy, Faputa fully regenerates and heads back out to challenge the monsters again.

Yashahime: The Second Act EP#47 (23) - Father and Daughter: To defeat Osamu, Towa restores her ability and destroys Kirinmaru's right arm. The dying Riku vanishes from existence, leaving Kirinmaru's small horn. Towa overcomes her grief and reunites with Setsuna and Moroha. Sessh?maru and Kirinmaru continues to clash with Sessh?maru taunting Kirinmaru that he is acting more like a human. As Kirinmaru was about to land a hit on Sessh?maru, Sessh?maru easily overpowers Kirinmaru, unable to see it coming as the battle continues. Towa uses the Zanseiken for the final time to save Rion. Towa tells the others to carve their own fate as she uses the sword's power to save Rion from her regretful past and Osamu Kirin as she offers her body to her. Rion is now freed from her past and Osamu Kirin, but at the cost of Towa's mind as she collapses which worries Setsuna and Moroha that they truly will never see their warm-hearted relative again. Rion fuses into Towa's body, as it disappears with Rion herself still remains. Defeated and overwhelmed by Sessh?maru, Kirinmaru is sent up to the Grim Butterfly's interior and is reunited with Rion. He apologizes to her for everything as they bonded again. Rion requests Setsuna to cut the red thread of fate between her and her father. Kirinmaru and Rion forgive the girls. As Kirinmaru and Rion die peacefully, Zanseiken and Bakuseiken meld into a single sword of Amatsumikaboshi, and Towa returns to the real world alive. The others see the Grim Butterfly disappearing from the sky. Towa, Setsuna and Moroha are congratulated by their families, while returning to their peaceful lives.

Yashahime: The Second Act EP#48 (24) Finale - A Never-Ending Future: Per the request of a fully revitalized Riku, the Half-Demon Princess embark to the west to deal with demons of both low and high rank causing trouble, now that the balance of power has shifted with the demise of the Beast King of the Eastern Lands, by traveling to the western lands that were once dominated by their mighty grandfather.

Slightly Damned Page 1085: https://www.sdamned.com/comic/1085

#Toonami #Toonami Weekly Recap #My Hero Academia #My Hero Academia 6 #Paranormal Liberation War Arc #Made in Abyss #Made in Abyss: The Golden City of the Scorching Sun #Yashahime: Princess Half Demon #Yashahime: The Second Act #InuYasha #Final Episode #Final Season Episode #Slightly Damned

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mirrorhouse · 2 years

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Your Tarnished character is pretty neat. What their story?

ah!! ty for asking! i haven’t played / rly thought about elden ring in depth for a while but i’ve been meaning to replay it … soon…

anyway i never thought out a hugely detailed backstory for her because it fits a little more in the lore being vague

(putting this under a cut because it turns out i had a little bit more to say than i thought)

but the basics are that before coming to the lands between and becoming tarnished, mariel was some sort of scholar like the raya lucarian students, researching… space magic i guess. but she was too hungry for knowledge to be satisfied with what her college allowed her to study, so she forcibly surpassed her teachers and eventually made contact with/discovered something volatile and dangerous but immensely powerful (there’s kinda a leap between those two points because i haven’t decided how that happened lmao)

she made efforts to contain some of that power for herself, wanting to prove that pushing past the boundaries set in place reaped more rewards than risks. except she pushed it too far and one day it all came catching back up to her, resulting in an event that “killed” the teacher closest to her along with several other students in the building. it left her mostly intact, save for left sections of her body being almost melted away and completely losing sight in her left eye.

later, on trial for her crime, mariel learned what had really happened to her most beloved teacher and fellow students— they’d been fused into an amalgam of parts, left as a fully sentient writhing mass of tissue, organs, and faces that no one could ever dream of separating or saving (and later she would come into contact with something similar, in the form of the school of graven mages)

after that she was not sentenced to death per se; rather, an exile from which there’d be no hope of salvation. she was sentenced to suffering, sent into a complex maze of city sewers in order to seek out an end to her life herself, fitted with cast iron shackles and a thick iron helmet to hinder her movements. this was almost a symbol of mercy: she could not feed or protect herself, so it almost assured that her suffering would not be prolonged past its intended measure.

sooo yeah :] bad times all around for her but she ends up in the lands between after her exile (tbh. i’m still not clear on how the pc tarnished is supposed to have ended up there so i’ve handwaved that for now) and on her journey she discovers there’s an entire group of primeval sorcerers who basically did the same thing she did and were also exiled, inadvertently helps yet another teacher turn into a ball of suffering, and confronts multiple astral beings and promptly murders all of them. on the plus side she gets a sick moon wife and can summon galaxies whenever she wants now

#thank you i love my little magic mad scientist #elden ring #mariel #ask #body horror mention #<- maybe? not sure

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bookwyrminspiration · 2 years

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I think that you will be pleased to note that the lady who trained Maui in magic through herself into it so hard that she didn't allow herself time to adjust to the power she was channelling and it ended up nearly killing her and she has been left as someone who /cannot/ heal on her own and with snow white hair because her body has to conserve the pigments and her eyes are now perminantly glowing blood red. She has two personal healers next to her throne whose jobs it is to keep her alive and healthy. She is reckless and bloodthirsty and rules her kingdom with an iron fist and her name is whispered around the land in fear. She was NOT a good influence on the already traumatised and reckless Maui.

Also I'm thinking about more consequences of magic and I'm thinking about the logistics of "Healers need to focus a lot more on chenneling because it's a very intensive process and they need a lot of power, to do this they close their eyes. The most powerful and dedicated healers' eyelids have fused with their face and they can no longer see, only sense objects around them that contain the life force"

And thinking more about that sensing thing, if you are dedicated enough you can learn it, but only really shabbily if you want to keep your sight. So like, you're pushing it if you want to sense trees. If Maui knows how to do this, /theoretically/ he can get around his house. In practice, though, this means he walks straight into anything plastic/metal/rock/dirt without living matter in it. Maui does not know how to do this

-Heathen

Heathen you are incredibly right I am pleased to know this!! Not that she was nearly killed and now needs to have two personal healers dedicated to keeping her alive at all times, but that you went full in on the "magic has consequences" route for your characters!! That part is always so so satisfying to me like yes there are stakes and everything has to be measured in terms of what you're willing to give and if you're not careful it'll end up taking from you instead. It puts magic into the same category as nature as this beautiful yet harsh and unforgiving thing, if that makes sense.

Also loving this Maui lore...how does he feel about this iron-fisted feared woman ruling the land? How did he even end up under her care? Did he enjoy his time there? Was his education sufficient? Does he appreciate and use what he learned or was he being used? I have very little context except that this lady was willing to give her all to him, which indicates a pretty intense bond--positive or negative, I don't know, but it sounds intense. I suppose a lot of this also depends on what kind of ruler she is--why is she feared? Is she good to her people? Is there love within that fear or is it hatred? So many questions....

The concept for the healers sounds fascinating as well, though I'm curious about channeling. Sounds like something with specific connotations in the world you've created so I don't know the extent of what it means, but it sounds important. That'd also introduce another interesting conundrum of injuries and conditions that are assessed based on sight. Bruises and other discoloration, rashes, lacerations, cuts, marks, etc. Because those can be very important medically and yet they would be unable to assess in those ways, either needing to rely on someone less committed to look over those details or relying on some other magical component to treat injuries. There's also the matter of objects that don't contain life force. Because it will only help to an extent, but that won't guide you around inanimate objects or structures...hmm, many ways to go with this one, I like it!!

also just realized that's what you mentioned in the last paragraph (I started responding to the second to last before reading it). I do think the mental image of Maui running into things is funny but simply because I only imagine it happening at full force. There's no caution or hesitation he just goes for it and then boom wall. he goes splat. he does not learn. he does it again.

#quil's queries #heathen nonsie #other's ocs #love love love when there's a give and a take #magic just for the sake of magic is cool #but the exchange?? the sacrifice? seeing it as more of a concrete concept with impact?? oh that's the good stuff #broken bones in exchange for blasts of fire. memories for memories. blood for pain. your body for power. who you are for who you want to be #love it so so much #when a world introduces those kinds of worldbuilding elements I lose my shit #long post

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