#based purely on titles and dialogue | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

madame-fear · 5 months

Note

My lovely lady wife,

I think we know what I’m about to request for. A little Aemond fic on what I told you because Aemond being possessive..🤭

Arguing over reader having a dance with Lucerys or Aegon, but then turns sweet after reader snaps at him, telling him that she’s devoted to him?

Pretty please? (I love you!!❤️)

*ೃ༄ 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐄 .ೃ࿐

★ amira speaks! : My sweet darling Vinca, an honour to receive your requests as always! ❤ Please enjoy this and hope it was what you expected. I was inspired by the dialogue you sent me on some of the dialogues in here 🤭 Ily sm honey !! 💕 — summary : [ — ✧ request ] — word count : 1.6k ꒰ა ✧ additional note ; title is based on the song “come to me” by björk. 💗

— pairing : jealous/possesive!aemond targaryen x reader — genre : a bit of arguing, but then turns into fluff.

“It was just one dance, Aemond!” your shouting echoed through the dimly lit halls, going after Aemond, behind of him.

Patience was a virtue that lately began to heavily hang from a thin string for the One Eyed Prince; and the arrival of his bastard nephews, the Velaryon boys, back again to King’s Landing wasn’t making things any easier for him... And mostly, for his usual possesiveness around you.

Not that the presence of both boys itself bothered him. Quite the contrary, his natural self around them was to tease and make them upset on purpose, constantly reminding them how everyone knew they were merely bastard sons; “Strong” boys, as he would refer to them. But the problem was, when the betrothal dinner had arrived.

While Helaena took the hand of the eldest Velaryon, Jacaerys, for a dance after she made a subtle remark on how her brother-husband Aegon ignored her, Lucerys stood up from his seat, and offered his own hand to you for a dance. Such act was merely out of the usual polite and gentleness that identified the future Lord of Driftmark, but Aemond couldn’t help but silently seethe with overwhelming jealousy at the sight of you giggling and dancing with Lucerys Velaryon.

Lucerys. His bastard nephew. The one that had made fun of him with a pig as a young boy when Aemond had not yet claimed Vhagar, and the same nephew that had taken out his eye. How could someone as himself so pridefully offer his hand out to you, out of all the people, right in front of his face? And what was worse, was that YOU had taken it, only to notoriously have fun with the young Velaryon bastard.

And that could only lead to you having to chase after him through the large halls of King’s Landing, shouting out his name for him to listen to what you had to say. His usual stoic face now shouted an expression of pure grimace, feeling as if he were to lose himself to a burdening sensation of posessiveness towards you.

Aemond couldn’t even bare when his brother Aegon was too drunk to the point he started flirting with you, or using sexual innuendos — but seeing you dance so gracefully with Lucerys, the nephew he despised wholeheartedly, was the least of things Aemond could possibly tolerate.

“Aemond!” you kept shouting, “Seven Hells, would you even care to listen to me?!” his steps had turned nearly into harsh stomping, feeling your own legs get tired from the heavy rushing towards him.

As you were nearly reaching him, trying to place your hand on his arm to catch his attention, the One Eyed prince abruptly stopped on his steps and turned around to face you. Out of surprise at his sudden actions, you made a few steps backwards.

“I don’t need to listen to anything.” he retorted, with a monotone, yet cold voice tone. The stare on his blue eye hinted a fiery jealousy that abruptly ignited on him, you crossed your arms tightly against your chest. “And most certainly, I don’t need to hear you talking about how you accepted the hand of my bastard nephew to dance with him right in front of me!” his voice raised its tone, notoriously sounding angrier by the minute.

You had to admit, you were both frustrated and surprised by his sudden outburst. While you knew Aemond could be rather overprotective of you — especially ever since you had taken care of him after the incident with his eye —, you had never seen him acting in such... A possesive manner. “To which, I remind you: he owes me his eye.”

Your lips were partly open, about to protest against his sayings, as your brows knitted in confusion at the way Aemond behaved towards the situation. “I was only being polite to him, Aemond!” you snapped at him, shouting louder. “What was supposed to do, turn him down right in front of everyone?!”

You understood that Lucerys was certainly trying to be as polite and gentle as his brother Jacaerys was with women, and you saw no issue with that. But apparently Aemond did.

“You should have, yes!” your hands both went to your face, immediatly letting your head fall against your palms, releasing a muffled frustrated huff at his answer. You then fluttered your eyes open, going back to face him. Your heart loudly pounded against your chest from the adrenaline of the situation, loudly arguing with one another; being loud enough as for your voices to echo around the halls.

“I can’t believe you,” you said, with your eyes furrowed. “That was literally the most attention I have ever paid to any of the Velaryon boys!” pointing your index finger at him, you continued. “And you are making such a fuss over that?” while his lips opened to speak against you, you rapidly interrupted him, feeling bold enough to confront him. How could Aemond be so oblivious to the way you were entirely devoted to him, and only him?

“It was one dance.” you remarked, lowering your quivering voice. “And while you may have lost an eye, Aemond, that does not mean you are blind.” hearing your words made his grimly jealous expressions turn into an intrigued one. You sighed, allowing the hand that was pointing at him with your finger to fall by your side in a swift manner.

“I only accepted the dance out of politeness, but did I kiss Lucerys, or anyone else? No, I have not.” you began remarking, feeling relieved that Aemond seemed to attentively listen to you without making too much of a fuss. “Did I fuck him, or anyone else? Yet again, I have not.” a soft huff spurred from your nose, looking at him in disbelief.

“Do I ever stroll with anyone else in the gardens, spending hours talking with one another, like I do with you? No, I don’t.” leisurely, his face softened, hearing how the tense atmosphere seemed to switch into a more tranquil one. “I have never read to anyone else in the gardens, except with you. I have never cheered for anyone else in their swordtraining, except with you.” you continued, trying to discreetly build the point to him.

“I could never spend hours comforting anyone else, like I comforted you when you lost your eye. I have never cared for anyone else like I genuinely care for you. I never even cared to fix my gaze on someone that isn’t you, Aemond.” the initial angry frustration softly washed away from you, even if you could still feel the thrill of it pumping through your veins.

Perhaps it was true. He could have overreacted just a little bit — more than extremely, actually — to the situation. But how could he not be possesive over you, when you had such remarking, exceptional qualities that any man could possibly long for in a woman?

It had always been you the one braiding his hair playfully, it was you the one who comforted him whenever he felt angry, or outraged... It was you the one who always cheered and clapped for him when his skills in swordtraining became better each time; occasionally tossing Ser Criston’s own sword to the ground merely to impress you, and hear you root for him proudly.

Walking a few steps towards him, you lifted your sight to his eye, staring profoundly at him. A soft, quivering sigh escaped from him. Faintly, a rosy tint crept on his pale skin gently. “How can you not realise, it is you the one I truly adore? The one I am most devoted to?” the sound of your voice nearly made him melt, especially when you raised your hand to his cheek, and tenderly stroked it with the tip of your thumb.

A scoff spurred from his rosy lips, with a little sheepish grin tuggig at the corner of his lips. He was used to being possesive and jealous over you, but those feelings of adoration — now mutually felt — were always kept to himself. The One Eyed Prince was absolutely clueless on how to express his feelings towards you, to which, he preferred that saying nothing at all would be much better.

“I should have known it sooner.” he muttered, sounding a slight tone of disbelief at himself. It was just too obvious for someone such as himself to not realise. You scoffed, smiling at him as you shook your head lightly. A certain pride filled you, as your skin could feel his own heated cheek from the fluster under your touch.

Without hesitating, you tiptoed as his presence towered your own, and your free hand went to cup his other cheek. Awkwardly — yet a bit needily — his arms went around your waist sweetly, pulling you closer to his body. Fluttering your eyes shut, your lips locked against his own. And Gods, your lips were as sweet-tasting as he had always imagined they would be.

You kept your lips pressed against his own for what seemed an eternity, despite it being a minute, almost. His way of kissing you was soft, yet, it became a bit more deep and intense as the time progressed. Reluctantly, you had to pull away from him, despite him trying to inconsciously encourage you to keep going.

As you pulled apart, with your hands on his cheeks, a prideful grin was seen on his lips. Perhaps being jealous and possesive had its own perks, after all. A soft chuckle spurred from your lips gracefully, moving your hand lower to caress his jaw with the tip of your finger. There was something sweet in seeing how he could act just like a fiery, possesive dragon, but turn into an endearing puppy that melted at your touch. At that touch of yours he so longed.

“But now you know,” you whispered, caressing his skin delicately. “And I don’t care if I have to spell it out for you.”

♡ taglist : ♡

@keiratonks @kyuupidwrites @tchatso zzz000eee @bellarkeselection @visenya-reigned @maria699669 @hopelesswritergall @mariaelizabeth21-blog1 @dragon430 @sweethoneyblossom1 @jamiemydeer @snowprincesa1

#aemond targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen imagine #aemond x reader #prince aemond x reader #aemond one eye x reader #aemond the kinslayer x reader #hotd x reader #aemond targaryen x you

310 notes · View notes

snapscube · 2 months

Note

i am curious, with infinite wealth, do you think some of the more emotional things with kiryu had a different effect than if you'd been more familiar with his games? asking because i saw some people say IW is a great introduction to him as a character, but i've played all of them up to that point.

oh almost certainly!!! i will say, basically the entire first half of the game is almost purely focused on ichiban in a way i found extremely comforting as a newcomer. so knowledge of kiryu's full journey is not at ALL required for a very large portion of playtime, HOWEVER there is a threshold point where suddenly they start to really give his history the spotlight and at that point i could tell that there was a lot that would Hit Different if i had played games prior. HOWEVER, in defense of playing this game without that context and with credit where it's due, RGG does a really consistently good job not only filling in necessary exposition when required JUST enough to get you over the finish line if you don't have everything committed to memory or you're just new... but ALSO a lot of the emotional beats were just kinda universally recognizable for me? there's a lot i was able to put together either through bits and pieces of pre-7 titles i HAD seen, or even just through context clues based on the dialogue i was presently hearing/reading and general familiarity with character archetypes. i can NOT say that i experience Infinite Wealth with the FULL WEIGHT that it can potentially have, but i CAN say that i don't feel like my experience was COMPROMISED. i still cried like 6 times in the whole second half of its runtime haha, it's really emotionally powerful and a lot of its themes stand alone just fine.

119 notes · View notes

sareisnot · 3 months

Text

Lord Gwyn: The Perfect Anticlimax

"Dark Souls is a hard game"

To anyone who's even a little bit familiar with the franchise, this is an obnoxiously obvious statement. The game has held the title of THE "hard game" for so long, that not only has the statement "X is the Dark Souls of Y" become a cliche, but so has every subsequent mocking subversion of that comparison. To even acknowledge its obviousness, as I did, is territory so well-worn, that I'm at risk of falling through, into the hackneyed void. But it's still worth mentioning. It's a well-earned reputation. Not only is Dark Souls, on a purely technical level, difficult to beat, but its entire identity is based around its difficulty, if the name of the "Prepare to Die" edition is any indication. Its world is a punishing one, seeking to beat the player character down at every single opportunity, until they can't stand to move another step forward, lest they get thwacked by a swinging axe, skewered by a demon, swept off a cliff, or obliterated by a dragon with teeth where its torso should be. It's a game that crushes you down, intending to make very clear just how easy your character can die, and, importantly, just how unimportant your death will be. To these bosses, these titans, these near-gods, you are nothing but an annoyance. Many of these fights feel like climactic struggles against an ancient, near-unbeatable foe, who existed long before you were born, and has a pretty solid chance of existing after you've expired. When you enter the arena of Ornstein and Smough, the music swells, and the two knights flex the skills that they're going to use to kill you over and over again. Many of the game's bosses, try to tap into that sense of scale, of importance, of grandiosity, each of their respective battles feeling like they could easily be the final one.

Then, after a long struggle, you make it to the end.

The game's final boss is Gwyn, a towering figure who's been hinted at throughout the game, through dialogue and item descriptions. Even if you didn't pay much attention to the little pieces of lore that the game hands you, you're able to put together that he's a pretty important guy: the mighty Lord of Cinder. The buildup to his fight hints at an even larger presence than the other bosses. You travel beneath Firelink Shrine, your home base for most of the game, where you find a massive expanse of land, cold and dark, a mysterious coliseum-like structure looming in the distance, which is impossibly large, even so far away. As you get closer, ghosts of old knights appear to attack you. They are easily dispatched, but still a shock. The structure towers over you, emphasizing just how much space is needed to house this mythologically strong figure, and the power that he holds. You enter, and find…….a hollowed old man. He's slightly taller than you, dressed in robes, and wielding a flaming greatsword, but he's nowhere near the scale of other bosses. However, he rushes at you all the same. When you begin the duel, it feels different from the others. There is no dramatic, sweeping music. All you get is a somber piano, like something that would play during a funeral, rather than a climactic duel. It feels like Gwyn's theme is actively pitying him. Granted, it's appropriate for the fight. All Gwyn can do is swing is flaming blade, which you can avoid with ease. There's been some easier bosses, but at least they didn't feel like they WANTED to die. Besides, this isn't the fragile Moonlight Butterfly, or the starting Asylum Demon, this is the final boss! He should be challenging you! Putting all the skills you've learned to the test! He's a fucking King! Why isn't he stronger? Fighting Gwyn after you've fought everyone else feels like walking into the home of an old, dilapidated hoarder, and kicking him while he's down. If you've been practicing your parrying, its like doing the same, except with cleats. He just seems………tired. As pathetically destitute as you were at the start. He might as well just keel over when you walk in the door. You beat him, naturally, and then the game just kinda….ends. If you got the ending I did, you just exit the area, look at all the nice snake friends you just made, and then roll credits. For all the work you've put into getting here, and all the struggles you've had to overcome, it feels like a severe anticlimax, like the game is playing a prank on you.

But if you know anything about the setting of Dark Souls, you'd know that there's really no other way this could end.

"The world of Dark Souls is dying"

This is a phrase that, while not as oft repeated as the above, is also pretty common knowledge at this point. Lodran, the game's setting, is a desolate place, long past its glory years. Once a powerful kingdom, teeming with life and magic, it is now in ruin, every citizen either dead, hollowed, or left to survive amongst the numerous deadly creatures that now roam the land. Everyone who's still around at the start of the game is either destined for misery, or already there (Unless you're Andre. He seems to be doing pretty well, all things considered). Somewhere around the time Lordran has reached the end of its life cycle, is when the player character enters the story, albeit with a rather unenviable role. Your job is to essentially be the world's janitor, cleaning out the world's former main characters, most of whom are insane, and all of whom are well past their useful days (or, if you have the DLC, you get to see Artorias right as he passes this point). Unfortunately, most of them would like to keep being alive, so they're going to make that difficult for you, by turning you into red mist until you stop trying to kill them. Even the grandiose presentation some of them have can't entirely hide the fact that this is a rather sad state of affairs for everyone, especially for those who haven't really done anything wrong (I nearly cried at having to kill Sif, and I will never fight Priscilla). Fortunately, some of these bastards contributed to the world's current bleakness, so killing them provides at least a twinge of catharsis, albeit one that will certainly be gone by the time you move onto the next bastard. The goal of this whole clean-up process, is to prepare the world to either continue with the age of fire with you as the catalyst, hopefully without those brutes who were clogging the power vacuums, or plunge the world into a new age of darkness, now that it has been cleansed of its polluting influences.

The only mean to either of these ends, is to kill Gwyn, the Lord of Cinder, former ruler of Lordran, and one of the primary reasons that this world is such a goddamn mess. To sum up his actions without getting too deep into the lore's intricacies; Gwyn knew that his kingdom was destined to fall, due to the world's oncoming transition from the age of fire into the age of shadow. This transition was represented by the dwindling light of the first flame, the lifeblood of the kingdom. After utterly failing to rekindle it, Gwyn entered a final gambit to prolong the life of his empire, linking himself with the first flame, but burning himself, and many of his knights, away in the process. This left him as a hollow, doomed to languish in his kiln, until another unfortunate soul took his place, linking the flame to further prolong the changeover. In doing this, Gwyn went against the natural laws of his world, which didn't react well to having its transitionary cycle interrupted. The world fell into a sharp decline, becoming a desolate, unhappy place, festering with demons and monsters (many of whom were the result of the last time someone tried to rekindle the first flame), making life hell for anyone unlucky enough to still be around afterwards. Gwyn wanted to prolong the inevitable, prevent the death of his kingdom, and continue its prosperity, so he sacrificed everything. His realm has persisted, but in a state of undeath, having stuck around long past its natural expiration date, just like him. Gwyn's story can be properly summarized as what happens when someone is psychotically obsessed with preserving their power, even when that preservation only serves to make the world a substantially worse place. Gwyn, in his hollow state, is a symbol of Lordran's persistent deterioration.

None of this information is directly handed to the player. Some bits are alluded to through snippets of dialogue and item descriptions, and the opening cutscene depicts one of the major inciting events of the narrative, but for the most part, it's a sprawling, multi-phased story, that is dolled out non-linearly, and piecemeal.

Now, with that context, let's cast a new lens on that fight…

After delving underneath Firelink Shrine for the final time, you come upon a desolate landscape, the Kiln of the First Flame looming in the distance. It's clearly well past its glory days, looking decrepit and sad. It is home of the world's lifeblood, but in name only. Now, it holds the last remnant of an age long past. As you approach, the spirits of old knights come to attack you, but they aren't much of a challenge, being just shadows of their former selves. They're victims, really; their loyalty has bound them to a sorry task, but they're in the way, and they weren't really living much of a life anyway. When you get closer to the kiln, it feels impossibly large, but also cold, and surprisingly dark, for something that's supposed to house an eternal flame. When you can see more details, it becomes clear just how long it's been falling into ruin. It feels abandoned, but you know its not. After all, you're here to end the life of its only resident. You enter, and find…. Lord Gwyn, a king who destroyed himself and cast the world into ruin, just to hold on to a formerly prosperous time. Lord Gwyn, whose refusal to let the fire die is the reason why you had to struggle through this entire journey. Lord Gwyn, whose death will mark the end of a era, no matter what you do afterwards. He charges at you, barely even conscious anymore, having been locked in this tomb for unknowable amounts of time. But he can't really fight you, at least not well. His strength isn't nearly what it used to be, now that he's a hollow, tired and worn-down, just like you were at the start. He's a pitiable figure, and the music knows. That sorrowful piano fades in, almost like something that would play at a funeral. But this isn't a funeral. This is a mercy killing. Spiritually, Gwyn died a long time ago. You're just putting his body to rest. When he's finally dispatched, it feels like an anticlimax. But of course it is. Gwyn is the embodiment of the world you've spent so much time exploring. Lordran has been denied a proper climax for so long, because he extended the story long past where it should have ended. He's been waiting to be killed for ages now. It feels only right that Gwyn be an easy, anticlimactic boss, because how could such a destitute figure be anything else?

"Dark Souls is a hard game for a reason"

The above statement is a simplified summation of why Dark Souls is one of my favorite games that I’ve ever played. It's set in a dying, hostile world, that's been brought to ruin by the violation of its natural laws. Thus, the game is insistent on making the player struggle at every turn, to make them feel just as downtrodden as the world they explore. Lord Gwyn is a example of just how thoroughly holding onto power can corrupt someone, leaving them as a husk, the scraps of their former glory existing only the in the memory of the people who are still forced to cope with the consequences of their selfish actions. Thus, his boss fight is an intentionally easy anticlimax, to emphasize just how far he's fallen, to the point that he can't even put up a good point. It's the themes of his character, perfectly melding with the gameplay. It's a perfect encapsulation of the game's best quality, how the experience of playing the game, reflects the themes and tone of its story. The reasons why the fight with Gwyn is the perfect anticlimax, and why Dark Souls is a near-perfect game, are one and the same.

#video games #gaming #dark souls #dark souls 1 #fromsoftware #fromsoft games #Gwyn #game writing #game analysis #boss fight #videogame #game #long post

106 notes · View notes

ihopeinevergetsoberr · 2 months

Text

the counterpart

chapter 3 — and there’s affection to rent

rating: explicit. i’m sensing a smut chapter approaching.

word count: 2,5k

pairing: viktor x fem!reader (no use of y/n)

cw: 90s au. they’re still playing chess, drinking, smoking, cussing, fucking (not yet, but eventually) and doing all the things you’re not allowed to read about if you’re not old enough. this chapter is just… pure dialogue and (not so subtle anymore) sexual tension, and i finally revealed their majors (took me long enough). consider this part a teaser. yeah.

ao3 link

part 4

—

What’s the most important thing one learns in college if their major is painfully tasteless? Especially if said one is a lost girl — all ambitions, but no actual possibilities, kidneys so done with your rebellious acts of liquor consumption they might fail you much earlier than they did Bobby Fisher?*

Your professors taught you how to come up with an intriguing title. How to make sure your column is the most eye-catching on the whole page. How to journal properly, and how to not be a pussy when you’re interviewing someone hard-talk style — taught you how to bend over people and for people.

Those were petty things. Undoubtedly crucial for your education, yet still petty. They didn’t teach you how to live. They just made you sleazy and more sleep-deprived. The first trait could still be put to a good use, though.

But college? Oh, college taught you how to live. Not the beautiful concept of being a part of it, but the campus itself, specifically the dorms — your self-proclaimed, crude lectors. They showed you everything you needed to know: from friendly faces coated in thick smoke on the tiny balcony, to sweaty ones, all rolled out tongues and glassy eyes — the disgusting art of bathroom quickies.

But most importantly?

College taught you there are five types of men you have to stay away from: bishops, knights, rooks, cowards (kings) and pawns (your favorite ones to devour).

Bishops are mouthy. They’re harsh — vile, even. Greedy heartbreakers, easily irritable when something refuses to get out of their oblique, grabby path. Mediocre in bed: unnecessary rough, redundantly rude in dirty talk. Terrified of any feeling that doesn’t involve hatred or malice. Smartasses (in a bad way). Pass.

Knights are immature. They have potential — a contentious one, to be frank, yet it’s still there, slightly palpable in their endless promises and occasional gentlemanly habits. They’re deeply insecure — self-conscious, even, always underestimating their power. A good base for raising the perfect partner — if only you have the patience to spare, that is. Not as unbearable in bed as the previous category. Sometimes they cook great breakfast the morning after.

Rooks are superior. Straightforward, yet humorless; good listeners, yet awful comforters — oh that constant lack of the golden mean, the complete inability to lie. They’re reliable, but not fun to sleep with. Not fun to date either — it’s almost like these men paired for life, invariably with someone as insufferably stable as their stoic demeanor. You still liked them though; but only as a rare, handsome dainty — an audience perfectly suited for your drunken monologues.

Kings and pawns are not worthy of being elaborated on. Skittish and obedient, former ones too selfish in bed, ladder ones too pathetically down bad. Finita la commedia.

In conclusion: one should play with those pieces, yet strictly avoid committing to them — to save the tears when you make an invariable sacrifice.

That thought spun inside your head — doomed and stupidly petulant, recycling itself slowly to a flavourless overchewed gum on the convex surface of your tongue, persistently threatening to jump out of your mean mouth any second. You wondered — shamefully, with an almost shy tredipation, — how would Viktor react to this incredible wisdom of your creation, how comical — or plausible, perhaps? would he find this metaphorical conclusion to be?

But you refrained from revealing it to him just now. No, you couldn’t care less about invoking a potential little discussion — not when he’d just returned to the still equipped with a chess board desk, and certainly not when your hand was settled so perfectly into the tender grasp of his. A set of longer, paler fingers twined oh so cautiously around your wrist, securely preventing it from any occasional twitches. Tending to your wound with special gentleness — as if he was constructing a fragile weapon, a thing dangerous enough to explode all over the place if he treats it with something bolder than a ghost of a touch. So concentrated: he pressed the tiny piece of cotton to the bloody mess under what once used to be your nail; shushing you softly when you flinched, feeling the saline lance right through the weak digit.

“Stay still for me, would you?” Viktor frowned, carving an angry little stroke into the back of your palm — a firm affection just for you to giggle about. The ambience around him didn’t resemble the one libraries usually possess anymore. It was an appointment now, and you adored the way he turned the place into a makeshift clinic with just a few quickly grabbed from the pharmacy trinkets.

“For you?” you pulled a taunt — an innocent one, yet utterly unsubtle in its intentions.

“Well, I’m your doctor,” he wreaked vengeance with a playful protest, elegantly twisting your implication. A reciprocation, of sort; a playful thing returning every single one of your tortuous undertones. “It’s only natural that you listen to the professional’s recommendations.”

He wasn’t clueless anymore. He wanted to proceed. He begged to proceed, actually; grazed your forearm approbatory and dull, then dared to crawl into the sleeve of your shirt. Just the briefest presence of fingertips under the cloth — peak intimacy only a library could provide.

“But I’m not quite deceased yet, and last time I checked — you were a mortician,” — a shot back, witty and precise. Had him chuckling warmly as you raised your head, allowing the copper to meet your irises with a playful tingle.

“Believe me, I can be versatile,” Viktor assured, only giving you half a tease to work with, to unravel. Submitting his gentle touch and returning to the medical one instead, carefully pulling out a patch out of his pocket after a short session of rummaging around.

“Oh, I already figured that much,” you allowed him to lead — both literally and figuratively, careless about the way he victoriously pointed out the flush on your face — barely as crimson as the disaster he cleaned up for you, yet still pleasantly noticeable.

That boy was no usual rook, knight or bishop of yours. Needless to mention something as fearful as a pathetic king.

There was something slightly pawn-like about him though — but you didn’t hate it like you normally would. You didn’t mind a little submission. You adored it. You wanted him at your mercy. Erotically so, to be precise. As if him wrapping a patch around your swollen finger isn’t erotic enough already.

Although it wasn’t mercy that made him care for you.

It was tenderness. A thing all the five-types-one-should-avoid were not capable of on their own.

Viktor broke the silence with a strangled little cough.

“It might ruin your nail-polish,” he warned, eyes flickered between you and already tinted with a humble red spot patch.

“As if there’s any nail left to apply the polish to,” you hissed, wincing at the sharp sensation stinging that sensitive piece of skin — no doubt staining the fresh little rag even more. Viktor tried to ease your suffering with an almost friendly pat on your shoulder.

What a way to ruin the eroticism.

“A tragedy, if you ask me,” he whispered, short and sweet, with a contrite little sigh, “you messed up a perfectly nimble hand.”

“You don’t know the first thing about compliments, do you, Viktor?” you pricked back, harmless and waggish; a careless, erratic thing, — already too far gone to stop those lively amber eyes from scanning you with terrified unease: had he said something stupid? Had he failed in humoring you?

You pulled him firmly straight out of the paralysis of his distress, fingers yanked gently at his to put them — now skittish and a little tense — back into an intertwinement with yours, demanding they linger there, safe and tender.

“I’m getting there,” he budged, slowly growing less fidgety against your touch, “Forgive me, I’m yet to master the art of courting.”

“I’m fucking with you,” you reminded handily. Watched him form a theatrical little scoff, but his teeth betrayed him, leaping out in an impish smile.

“Of course you are. You journalists love to torment people,” Viktor nodded, slightly tickling the underside of your palm with a relaxed swipe of a thick-skinned thumb.

You didn’t take it personally. You didn’t fancy your major enough to get defensive.

You didn’t question how exactly he found out about it either. His answer — tanned, handsome and talkative — was most likely rotting in bed right now, still half-alive from his birthday black-out even though it’s been literal days. Besides: if Viktor were to ask how did you find out that he’s an exceptional future engineer or that he’s a winner of multiple open chess championships — you’d send him straight back to Jayce too. The source was obvious.

“You know what I’m majoring in? Did you make a dossier of my poor persona?” you chose that torment instead. At his service, you gave the man precisely what he’d requested.

A thoughtful one, a pretty disgrace at his whim.

He should’ve been more careful with his desires.

“You’re not a project of mine to keep a dossier for you,” he reproached smoothly. “Unless…” his tongue clicked in thick suspense, “you’d allow me to make one. For collecting kompromat, of course — a procedure every opponent should adhere to.”

“Kompromat?”

“Yes, kompromat,” Viktor confirmed, unaltered.

“But I’m innocent,” — a cheeky lie, blatantly obvious. Had him squeezing your hand to prevent you from sliding out of his grasp, all too tight for a man that shrinked into a handsome flustered mess at your first attempt to crawl under his pale skin. Perhaps he simply took his sweet time in comprehending that he’s allowed to be vengeful.

“A cruel woman, mercilessly flirting with her opponents to bribe them into resignation?” he deadpanned, evidently pleased with a newly established privilege of savoring your touch for however long he pleased. “What’s innocent about that?”

“I’m not trying to bribe you into resignation!” you sneered, now defensive. Pulling away to watch him sigh at the loss of you in his palm — but he didn’t chase after you. Viktor backed off, bitter and respectful, leaving you with just the aftermath of his touch and a blood-stained patch tightly wrapped around your phalanx.

“You‘re not?” he whispered, suddenly reminded of the library’s policies.

You soothed him with a nod, following the trajectory of his wandering eyes. Pushing the amused hum back into your mouth as Viktor forced his sleeve to roll up, exposing a worn down watch. Apparently also reminded that he does not, in fact, belong just to you this Friday.

“I would use more… radical methods if I aimed to bribe you into anything at all,” you laughed out a raspy sound, no doubt feasting upon the way he stirred, wrapping that food for thought with him to go.

“How reassuring,” he murmured back, brushing his upper lip in a pensive, fleeting lick, eyes darting to your still full of unfinished business board.

“You’re leaving?” you mumbled rhetorically, hating just how desperate that came out.

“I’m afraid so, yes,” Viktor mused, reluctantly grabbing the clocks he brought with him, “but I still have to show you the draw. If only we could arrange another meeting.”

“But we weren’t recording our moves,” you groaned at the silly oversight, watching him rise heavily to his lanky legs, stretching above you into a tall pretty sight. “I don’t trust my memory to that extent.”

“Well, I do,” he objected, nestling his hand into the arched hilt of his cane, preparing to leave you — lonesome and terribly lacking his calming presence — in the legendary place of your duel. Making a bitter, sad-eyed mess out of you — a devastated subject abandoned in the filled with the smell of yellow pages air.

But you weren’t exactly known for your unlimited patience. If anything, it was the other way around — you wanted him to indulge you now, to turn on those heels of his and sink back down in his squeaky chair, letting you devour his genius as fervently as you pleased — oh the price you’d pay to dive into his mind, to watch him think, and defeat, and conquer.

“How does your schedule look on Sundays?” you uttered before your restless brain got the chance to turn it into an overthinked burden. A brave one — you had your eye on him and were determined to make it abundantly clear.

And Viktor, albeit still discreet, was determined to reciprocate.

“Normally — not eventful,” he laughed, delaying his departure to spare you one more sweet glance, “but this Sunday I’m playing chess with a remarkably persistent lady. As long as she’ll have me, of course.”

He gawked at you with the repartee of a complete wiseacre, and you flinched with a giddy giggle, secretly hoping he’d emphasized that last part — or somehow specified it to prevent your mind from spiraling into all the different ways you could have him in. Oh the bitter consequences of being a smartass: sass is contagious and you poisoned him with it, dooming whatever boundaries and clarity this man had possessed before making your acquaintance.

But it also meant the world was now your oyster. And you took the opportunity by its slender, practically paper-white neck — so far only figuratively, but you wouldn’t be opposed to turning it into something gentle and tangible: if only he consented to it, of course.

“Sunday it is, then. My room, if you’re comfortable?” you suggested, pushing it half-cowardly.

“I’m not allowed in that part of the dorm,” he marveled at the bold offer, yet his response didn’t imply any objections.

“And you intend to stick to that?”

“Of course not.”

“Then it wasn’t even worth mentioning. Room 505, it’s the one on the second floor…”

“What if I get lost?”

“Say my name to any freshman-looking girl and they’ll walk you straight to my very door.”

“Do you have a reputation I should worry about?”

“Do you ever stop asking irrelevant questions?” you finally snapped, two steps away from turning a gentle neck-grip you fantasized about earlier into a cold-blooded murder in the middle of a college library. “I write essays to earn extra-cash, if you’re that curious. People around the campus know me. Now, back to more urgent matters: please, don’t show up before ten in the morning. No, scratch that — eleven is even better. I like to sleep in on Sundays.”

Viktor listened to you carefully — with the perception of a responsible server, almost ready to scribble down your every complex instruction, only lacking a salute and a devoted ‘yes, ma’am’ to complete the procedure.

“It’s been a while since I looked forward to play someone,” he’ll confess to you on his way out of the building, failing to hold that shy thing in the unreliable prison of his gritted teeth, leaning on that thin cane with the whole heavy essence of his trembling audacity. A test he dared to run only before slipping away from that wide-eyed state of yours, escorted by a row of now painfully familiar to you clacks of metal against the concrete.

And later, when that hot summer day will slowly melt into a hot summer night; when you’ll abandon the comforter of your bed to stick out of the window, half-naked and positively enraged; when you’ll smoke your third cigarette of the hour to tame the riot of aroused nerves — you’ll think about him, and about chess, and about the things chess made you want to do to him.

—

notes:

*Bobby Fisher — a grandmaster, the only American chess player to defeat soviet players at the time. Died of kidney failure at the age of 64.

tags: @zaunitearchives @blissfulip @thehistoriangirl @queen-of-elves @vyshnevska

#viktor arcane #viktor x reader #viktor fanfic #viktor smut #no beta we die like men #viktor x reader smut #viktor x f!reader #fic writer curse #the cunterpart

37 notes · View notes

miyakuli · 2 months

Text

PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo

Game of Stones

Paranormasight is a half-horrific, half-thriller visual novel (I'll come back to this later) in which we follow several characters who find themselves involved in paranormal events caused by curse stones that are said to be able to bring dead people back to life. I really enjoyed the game as a whole, but I have to say that I found it very inconsistent in the way it unfolded.

❤ The game is very pretty. The chara-design is really well done and perfectly matches the characters' personalities, the semi-realistic backgrounds (based on real locations and redrawn on top of them) are superb and have a vintage feel to remind us that we're in the 80s, and the animations are quite often effective at giving you chills. ❤ The characters are the game's greatest strength. None of them are smooth, they all have their dark side and convincing motivations, some are certainly more complex than others, but each has an interesting evolution. And as much as they work well individually, their interactions with each other are also nice. You become attached to this group and find yourself excited when their paths merge (at least, I was rejoicing a little xD) ❤ As soon as you enter the game's menu, you realize that the soundtrack is going to be amazing. The themes are varied in style and mood, and contribute effectively to the dynamics of the scenes. ❤ There's a non-linear aspect to the plot, since we'll be following several character paths at the same time (represented by a flowchart), which will often overlap. As a result, you won't be able to unlock certain scenes without having fulfilled specific conditions in other routes. This gives the game a pleasant and original puzzle aspect.

+/- In fact, we often have to glance at the menu files containing all the historical information as well as the character profiles to help us move forward and understand the underlying plot, which makes the player an active part of the investigation. The story evolves in a coherent manner, buuuuuuuuut is a bit predictable when it comes to big revelations... +/- Some very good directional ideas, for example using the 360-degree rotation of the mouse to create some very scary moments (with jumpscares that really got me) or even playing on a rather surprising meta aspect…….but it all runs out of steam very quickly. Indeed, all these mechanics are concentrated mainly in the prologue (which is rather long, it has to be said), after which we find ourselves in a more conventional thriller with more "banal" scenes with no real gameplay apart from the choice of dialogues and exploration. This gives an impression of inconsistency in the evolution of the game, and makes the loss of that initial momentum almost bland. However, there are still a few good ideas here and there (such as an escape game phase), but I don't think they live up to this introduction. +/- The game asks the player to adjust the volume of the voices at the start….but the game is not dubbed xD actually, the option has its importance later in the story but I swear it gave me false hope at the time x')

✖ No skip option for dialogues already read, which quickly becomes annoying when you want to unlock the various endings. ✖ It's amazing how rushed the true end is! It's to the point where it didn't make any impression on me at all, and the final revelations fall flat. And I still come back to this feeling of inconsistency; we have an intro that is terrific for an ending that is anticlimactic (and it rhymes). ✖ Some of the characters sometimes make rather humorous faces that don't really fit in with the drama of the sequences at times; I didn't understand this choice…

If you're looking for a visual novel with a solid storyline and a charismatic cast of characters, you certainly won't get bored with this title. However, don't expect a purely horrific game, given the rather blatant change of tone and the more basic mechanics after the introduction. Why this choice? That's the real mystery of this game…

youtube

➡ My personal VN ranking (in french) ➡ My Steam page

#paranormasight #also Harue is best girl <333 if I could I would have followed her route only #personal #Lola plays games

17 notes · View notes

rosainta · 5 months

Text

Day 2 of Rosain Quivan’s Daily Logs

Started December 7, 2023 at 10:00PM, Home

Finished December 8, 2023 at 10:42PM, Home

Log #2

Author's Notes:

I started this yesterday from a sudden shower inspiration thought. Who would’ve known that the most bizarre of ideas could be generated while cleansing yourself?

Anyway, this idea is just pure dialogue between Sniper and Scout from Team Fortress 2. No romance implied, but you could interpret it that way. I'll be completely honest with you- I'm very adamant when it comes to accurately representing their relationship, whether it be in a canon-compliant friendship / coworker way or in a romantic setting (specifically the latter, since I have to admit that I am an intense Speeding Bullet fan, though of course I love any other old depiction of the two, as well as other ships as long as they are respectfully expressed). Though this adamant demeanor towards accuracy helps me find out what I like to see in works including these two goofballs, I'm not entirely sure if I can transform those standards into my own writing... since I've never tried it yet! So, take this as another practice round, this time more centred on character depiction and dialogue (that, hopefully, doesn't sound like a cringey 15-year-old's WattPad fanfiction...)

Warning: a few colourful words here and there.

If you want a part 2 for this, let me know down below! I'll be happy to write anything, though. And also, if you have any feedback, please let me know! I strongly appreciate it :-)

Title: Intention. Fandom: Team Fortress 2 Third-person objective New Mexico, Badlands, Badwater Basin, (fixed the order; that was bugging me last time), RED Sniper's Campervan Around 3:15AM, sometime during the Gravel War

“Snipes... Snipes, you awake?”

A long pause. Then, the sound of dog chains jingling. A bed creaks violently.

“Sniper, get up, you gotta help me here!”

A low grunt, a shift in the covers.

“Ngh… can’t this wait? It's..."

A shift in the sheets, someone leaning to squint towards a clock.

"Crikey, half past three?! What in God's name do you think you're doing?"

"Trying to wake your sleepy ass up, stupid!"

A loud groan. Possibly the sound someone rubbing their temples together.

"Did you know that the average human being needs shut-eye to survive? Ain't that wild? Or perhaps you didn't come along to learnin' that at kindie yet?"

"Oh, just... just shut up and help me out, will ya? Look, I'm sorry it's so late, but this is really, really urgent, okay? And this concerns more than just the both of us, but you were the closest person I could find, so I need you here. I promise, I'll be outta your hair after all this."

A sigh.

"... if this is an emergency with the sheila again, go ask Spy. I'm sure he'll be 'appy to see your squirmy little arse again."

"Hah! Yeah, as if. He's probably out screwin' the Eiffel tower or somethin'; wouldn't wanna see, much less hear that, though I can only imagine the snorting sound he'll make when he- argh, anyway, that's besides the point! Point is, it's not about Miss P, it's about..."

A pause.

"...it's about what? Who?"

"Well, it's about Engie..."

Another pause.

"...and? Come on, Scout, get to the point, or I'm going back to sleep."

"Okay, okay! Well, I don't exactly know how to put this, but I think- or at least I have a feelin'- that he might, maybe, possibly, be workin' ... for BLU."

The bed creaks again.

"What, you think we got an enemy Spy in the base?"

"No, it's not that. He passed the security check earlier, because I was on rounds for that today. I think that our Engie, like the real one, well, I think he's double-crossin' us or somethin'."

"And why do ya' think?"

"Well, this afternoon, near the intel room, I was sorting my comics out when I saw him doin' this thing, where he would be all suspicious lookin' and shifty-eyed, then he'd pull out one of those 'computah' things, or whatever they're called, and start typin' really fast, like he was in a rush or something. Then, whenever someone passed him, he'd shut the screen down really quickly like this-"

A clap.

"- and would look at the person with a goofy little grin, as if he wasn't just sendin' some, I don't know, ransom photos of someone's wife a few seconds ago. He even had the audacity to wave to Pyro when it walked by, and I think even it found it a bit weird 'cuz it made this strange garbly noise I've never heard it make before. But anyway, he'd open it again and do the same thing over and over again until it was lights out. It was so suspicious. I didn't say anything then, 'cuz, you know, I didn't want him to know I was staring at him like a creep or somethin-"

"Which you are."

"Whatever, now, get this-"

A dramatic pause. Two hands are slapped on someone's shoulders.

"I go back to my room, and you know how his is right next to mine?Well, I wait outside the door, and I'm about to say 'good night' or something like that and maybe sneak in a question about his secret porn addiction, but... he doesn't go to his room. No, he turns the corner, goes out... and starts headin' in the direction of BLU's base."

Silence for a moment.

"You sure he wasn't just, you know, heading out for a hookup or somethin'? I hear a lot of people south-east go troppo for one-night-stands."

A slight shaking movement from the hands to someone's shoulders, dog chains jingling.

"Argh, Snipes, freakin' please?! I'm bein' serious here. He doesn't usually do that, I'd know because every night he plays those cheesy old cowboy country songs on his radio and goes to sleep, which keeps me up all night because I can hear it through the freakin' wall. And don't you think it's a bit strange how he was reacting when he was on the 'puter? No one would do that, even if it's for a hot night out."

A hand grips one of the latter's on someone's shoulder, as if to push it off.

"Well, maybe for bogans like you, who don't have the slightest bit of public decency when it comes to flirtin' with any skirt you see. And what right do you have stickin' your nose in his business? He could have as well been headin' back to Teufort to buy some quick supplies for his sentries, or hell, maybe even just going to see The Admin."

"Well, actually..."

The hands slide off the shoulders.

"I may have trailed him a bit. You know, just outta curiosity."

"You- you followed him? In the middle of the night?"

"Look, man, I had to do what I had to do to make sure that I wasn't going to have my head end up in someone's refrigerator the next day."

"But you do realize that you were being just as suspicious, more so really, as he was by trailing him?"

"Well, yeah, but- okay, look, that don't matter now, alright? What matters now, is that I found out where he was going. And it was the BLU base, I saw him sneaking in without gettin' shot by a sentry or a look-out, but I couldn't stay for long since they woulda caught me instead. But luckily, his little visit wasn't without a little proof. Check what I found-"

Knuckles slide against firm wood as someone picks up a small metallic object from a nearby dresser, holding it in front of them.

"This."

Someone snatches the object, clicks on a lamp, and observes it intently. A sleepy yawn.

"What is it?"

"I think it's called a U.S. Bee, or something? I don't remember what he called it, but he told me it's like a little key you put inside the compooter and it stores, like, info and crap. I don't know, something nerdy that only he and Medic would understand."

"Hm.... An' how do you know it's his?"

An impatient whine.

"I don't know why you're being so skeptic and shit about this, Snipes, I literally told you the story and brought a goddamn piece of useful evidence! Do you still not trust me? What more do you want from me here? A picture of his ass in blue?! Wait a sec- hold on- are you freakin' workin' with him?!"

A quiet sigh, someone shaking their head.

"Alright, mate, I'm sorry, okay? Veg out, now. No, I'm not workin' with 'im, and I do trust you, I really do. It's just that... I find it hard to believe that Engineer of all people, a man with whom we've been working with for 4 years now, would all of a sudden head up and go against his entire team like that, especially in such a dangerous manner when he knows that someone else could be, you know, spyin' on him."

"I wasn't spyin' on him, I was just-"

"You said yourself it don't matter, so it don't. What I'm saying here is that we don't know his intentions here. For all we know, he could be using his little device of his to gather intel on the other team, or he could be, I don't know, doing a secret contract or something. I just feel that it's unfair that we rush to conclusions like that, especially for one of our coworkers who may really be doing us a service, mate."

Quiet for a bit.

"You alright there?"

"No, I- I get it... I just, I just really feel like I found out something critical, you know? Like, it's not everyday you see one of the team be so secretive like that, well, except I guess Spy."

"Well, we all have our own secrets, don't we?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

Quiet. A few gentle pats on the back.

"But... wouldn't it be a good idea to try and find out what that thing, like, has? I mean, you know, just to prove that Engie really didn't have any bad intentions?"

"Yes, but that would be quite a breach, no? He'll most likely be looking for it in the mornin' and if he finds out you were givin' his equipment an unauthorised burl, well, say g'day to your dispenser privileges for the month."

"Well, what if I did it now, while he's still away?"

A pause.

"That's risky."

"I'll be fine."

"Alright, you do you. But how would you know where to start? And if you did get it to work, understanding what you're seeing is another question entirely."

"Hmm..."

Someone rubs their finger over their chin, pondering.

"Oh, I know! Medic, he'll know. Those two dweebs spend so much time doin' those experiments together, I don't doubt he'll know what the heck to do with this. Plus, man probably never sleeps, so it's basically 24/7 with him."

"Okay. Well, chookas with that, mate. I'm heading back to nap. G'night now."

The sheets shift for a moment, before an arm reaches out to stop them.

"Ah, um- thanks, pally. For listenin' and all. I know you don't really believe me or anythin' but, uh, I'm glad you didn't doze off halfway through."

"No worries."

"Yeah."

A pause.

"So, ehm, I'm gonna do that now."

"Oh, yeah, right, I'll head out now. Night, Snipes."

"G'night."

The light clicks out, and a figure scurries away into the night. Then, a sudden shift.

"Wait a minute, how did you get inside?"

Credits: Team Fortress 2 by Valve Image source: Team Fortress 2 Written by Rosain Quivan Cross posted on Amino ( Rosain Quivan )

#tf2 sniper #tf2 scout #scout #sniper #sniperscout #sniper and scout are friends here but you can interpret it as whatever you wish #tf2 #team fortress 2 #writing #writing practice #rosain quivan's daily logs #tf2 engineer #tf2 engineer mentioned #red scout #red sniper #red engineer #tf2 pyro

22 notes · View notes

eazy-peazy54 · 16 days

Text

• CAPTAIN LASERHAWK MUSICAL UPDATE #5: OH MY GOD

Laserhawk musical nation, I come to you with TREMENDOUS news. The amount of pure COOKING done in this fine April 13th evening has been MONUMENTAL.

To recap what has been consuming the thoughts of my brain recently in the past few hours:

WILL WOOD. I am so fixated on his music it is genuinely insane, and it its also insane....ly good for my CLH fixation, and inspo for the musical!

so immediately, fuck yeah.

Secondly: I have created a base for a song during the mirror confrontation scene!! 🙏 Once again channeling Will Wood energy for this, (mostly Self-Ish and Everything is a Lot,) along with a wee bit of inspo from Falsettos and Heathers, and a whole lot of DRAMA. (because Rayman was DEFINITELY a theater kid.)

It's more of a speaking-with-music-in-the-back type of song, but the lyrics that are sung are very theatrical, (or so I think)

I also added some more dialogue between Mirror Rayman (no clue what else to call him, so you're gonna have to deal with this. sorry.) and Rayman. Mostly to smoothen things out and make the transitions from singing to speaking more clear. :3

• Due to my internal, slightly rational, fear of people stealing my lyrics, I will not be posting any lyrics until the song(s) are finished. Sorry for the inconvenience. I have anxiety shhhhh

Anyways THIRDLY: I figured out a (one) song title!! I'm gonna call the song at the end of act 1 "Was it worth it?"

The song basically details the end of Episode 6 of the first season.

Or, at least, I want it to, since I haven't even written the damn song yet.

Either way, huge progress!! Yay!!!!

#captain laserhawk: the musical #captain laserhawk #rayman #ramon #bullfrog #music #musical #musicals #musical theater #musical theatre #theater #theatre #will wood #will wood and the tapeworms #falsettos #heathers

11 notes · View notes

blackstarchanx3new · 9 months

Text

FSR Rambles 9, i have no funny title

Just two dudes being gay

This is more goofy dialogue based on the VIZ English translation. (I have never read the fan translation and don't have a ton of drive too lmao I'd rather just read the Japanese one when I'm big brained enough deadass.) Where it's weirdly specific death mountain is for Vio specifically.

Like huh. I just find that interesting.

This is especially interesting to me because of how Shadow words "You're truly one of us" AFTER Vio pretends to kill Green.

Either way, Shadow's having a grand ol time showing Vio around.

Shadow Link's in love. Let him be in love, I'm sure it won't bite him in the ass-

Vio- you don't need to be flirting back-

VIO

VIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOO-

Shadow plays Vio's flirting off by showing him how the arena works:

Because I always wondered how Vio knew that was even there and FSR is just me adding context where it's not necessary and gay scenes because I enjoy that kind of thing.

Like I get we don't NEED to know how Vio knows this info but like...By golly i'm a weirdo for those kinds of things and I'd LIKE to know...

I just like, that he keeps sitting on Vio's lap while explaining this shit. It's funny. He's so unsubtle about his crush on Vio.

Vio either doesn't care or is into it too lmao whichever you decide it's funny.

Vio continues to uh, say things he REALLY doesn't need too for the plan.

Vio's crippling loneliness is biting HIM in the ass now.

For some reason recounting what his home town looks like sends Shadow into a fit of laughter.

So Shadow's weird fit here was mainly caused by Vio just being nice to him. Shadow is used to being treated like shit and Vio's just talking to him like a person, he isn't pushing him away or making demands.

It's not as much what Vio IS doing, but what he ISN'T doing. He doesn't push him away when he hugs him or gets too close, He isn't overly critical of anything Shadow really does.

The lack of expectations, punishments ex.

And cause Vio's his friend-

TWO OF US, TWO OF US-

More in the realm of what Vio DOES: He seems pretty happy, which is something Shadow himself noticed Vio was kinda miserable and lonely before. There's a certain aspect of pride there lol

"I can make you happy when they couldn't." as later pages show he's extremally jealous of Link and by proxy the four Link's relationship with each other.

Because Vio is just, there being generally nice it sows the seeds of doubt and betrayal towards Vaati in Shadow Link's mind.

Vaati isn't someone Shadow can trust or rely on, Vio IS at least he seems to be.

He doesn't have to TRY to get Vio's approval or minimal affection. He can hug Vio and get the physical affection he craves without seemingly strings being attached, as well as vent his feelings.

OF COURSE we know Vio's being two faced here but we're talking from Shadow's perspective in these moments. X'D

Of course on Vio's end: He's doing shit he really doesn't need to lmao which as we know in present day Vio does care for Shadow Link.

I'll say it again, the weird as heck exposition scene where Shadow reminds Vaati vio's on their team purely for the audience is weird and I'm not a fan of that kind of storytelling. X'D

But I worked with it rather than against it. I'm trying to stick to the source material buuuut diverged somewhere later down the line which will become apparent WHERE very soon.

Vaati is just being a whinny brat who wants stuff done "Now now now" hah.

So like, Big poe HAD to coordinate with these two right????

Big Poe KNEW Vio's name and Green's name so it's only logical he TALKED to Vio/Shadow Link right? More "Fill in the blanks" stuff lol.

Like we can imagine that's what happened without being told but like...I really like the idea of those scenes so I drew them hah.

Big Poe has no faith in Vio, because he's NEW and also a HERO.

Despite Vio wanting to work alone, he HAS to put some level of trust into Blue and Red here, which he is OBVIOUSLY hesitant to do.

Seriously we were robbed of SO much of Vio's inner turmoil and struggles with the mole plan.

He really just wishes they weren't even a factor here which shows how little he wants to engage with them. He's kinda running away from the other 3 in being with Shadow Link.

Evil plan party. We see this attempt on Blue and Red's lives in the manga so, I don't need to elaborate much.

Shadow making the fake stone sword was just smth I thought would be fun. He'd know what those swords look like well considering he stole Red's.

Vio's discomfort is understandable. I hate that shit too bud-

He can't really tell anyone anything considering if he's sus he is DEAD.

VIO TRUELY WAS THE IMPOSTER-

I'm sorry. I can't stop with the fucking Four Swords among us memes.

Not that he talks about how he feels much outside of NEEDING to be quiet anyway hah.

I like to think Shadow is the one that teleported Vio out of there. He's the only one we know of who's implied to have teleportation powers lol and we KNOW that was the real Vio and not Shadow in disguise...

More of Vio's mental struggles with the infiltration plan. He is stressed out to the MAX right now and only starts coping better overtime with smothering those feelings, realizing Shadow NOTICES and KEEPS noticing them he has to adapt.

Vio already struggles with the idea he's a bad person just for considering joining Shadow, he doesn't want the other 3's blood on his hands lmfao.

Shadow Link casually throws a temper tantrum after that shit goes bad.

Vio's hero instincts wants to make him feel better.

Vaati blaming his mistakes on Shadow Link wouldn't be out of character would it. X'D

He's just ranting his frustrations with this.

Vio's emotional detachment from everything helping him see things objectively.

You might also read this as Vio talking to himself.

Shadow's grateful for the comfort at least hah.

Vio not so subtly thinking he's always right lmao.

Vio...You don't need to hold his hands to have this talk-

More seed sowing of Shadow Link's distrust and betrayal of Vaati we see in the manga.

Vio perks up at the mention of Zelda because they don't really know how she's doing rn...

Shadow's vague threat of "If she behaves I won't mistreat her" doesn't leave a lot of confidence in her safety, WE know she's okay but like...the four dinguses don't.

Shadow instantly gets pissed off from Vio getting distracted by his "I just need YOU to live" rant when Zelda's brought up.

Mans wants Vio's attention purely on him so much it's embarrassing.

Side note: he was gripping Vio's face pretty hard if Vio feels the need to like, touch it after. Shadow needs to learn what "Gentle" is-

Idk if this is truely a retcon or like, just the manga being goofy but the timeline of the Dark temple and Shadow going to harass Zelda is lowkey vague so I just went with it being before for this scene to work the way it does. Every fan story fucks with the goofy timeline in the manga, so am I lol. Gives us interesting shit at the expense of cannon which is what I care way more about blah blah blah i don't think anyone really cares that much lmfao.

Anyways, Shadow's jealous. Extremally jealous.

Since I've stated before Shadow has a crush on Zelda this should come to no surprise, but he's pissy at how close Link and her were.

And now he's upsetti spaghetti about Vio being attached to her.

You know: Cause he's the hero, loyal doggy good boy by design, forced by fate AND the gods to continue saving Hylia's OP human OC self insert lmfao.

(I love Zelda, the character and the series as a whole, but JEEZ is the lore confusing, convoluted and really REALLY silly when you spell it out how it is lmfao.)

Suffice to say: Vio cares about Zelda.

HAHA. IT'S WHAT LITERALLY HAPPENED TO HIM FOR 7 YEARS BECAUSE I'M CRUEL AS HELL.

*Loses Vio *Has to watch Link (By proxy Vio) be close to Zelda without him. Literally forced to watch because he's a SHADOW. *LOSES HIS FUCKING BODY/ABILITY TO SPEAK OR DO ANYTHING REALLY

Shadow Link suffers so much in this comic.

Shadow Link's jealousy continues.

He just wants what Link had.

His dad stand ins (Gannon and Vaati) abuse him, he has no princess with loving childhood memories attached, no team nobody he can trust, nothing.

In his perspective: Link had everything and lost it or threw it away via his own stupidity.

Of course that ticks him off.

Vio stop, you're getting emotionally invested-

Okay real talk about Vio for a moment:

I put forth the idea he doesn't really understand WHY he wants to help Shadow, he just DOES. And Vio goes off on impulse a lot because he can't fully trust his own feelings. (He just doesn't HAVE a lot of feelings so the ones he does have he tries to go with)

And then he'll justify whatever he ends up doing with logic and reason later.

Like, he could make up a LOT of excuses as to why he's being nice and comforting rn that don't loop back to "I like Shadow Link":

"I'm a hero I help people"

"For my own safety it's best for him to not be going ape shit"

but like...

those aren't the reasons lmao. Vio's actions speak louder than his words. The fact he's bothering at ALL shows how he really feels.

The fact he KEEPS doing unnecessary shit that shows he's starting to grow attached to Shadow Link shows how he really feels whether he knows it or not.

This mainly pertains to FSR only.

Hehe.

So Shadow calms down when he realizes that shit IS going well for him at least it appears to be and he IS getting everything he wants.

The hesitant hand hold is one of my favorite sets of panels rn. Agh.

Like he starts off just curling his finger around Vio's then full blown grabs his hand with more confidence.

I have a hard time articulating this but like:

Shadow Link WANTS to be close to Link. That's like, something this man wants SO BAD. But on some level he knows that isn't gonna happen so when VIO is accessible to him, he clings to that shit. Because Vio IS Link.

It's not only a victory over someone he simultaneously wants to be like and cannot stand, but is a sign Link in some way is FINALLY acknowledging him, which is smth we KNOW he wanted from the actual manga.

These points are expanded upon in pages I'm currently working on but agh. The reasons WHY he feels this way just made me grin like the grinch lmfao.

Lemmie translate Shadow's 1st line for ya: "I stalked you so I know your interests"

Lmao.

The Gerudo is meant to say "Ur gay if you can read this haha"

Obviously not what it'd say if this was a real book but what it says from an audience perspective doesn't matter since 99% of yall can't read it lmao.

Anyways, Shadow can read Hylian and Gerduo. Because, he's Gerudo lmao.

I'm only digging my heels in about that more and more cause of that text in Hyrule Historia. (EVERYONE USES THAT BOOK FOR WHAT THEY BELIVE AND IGNROE THE REST, I'LL DO THE SAME THING LMFAO)

The implication Shadow Link just...IS Gannondorf???? (His emotions anyway) just, utterly baffles me as a manga only reader lmfao. Like that's a layer of this queer kid I didn't expect. I always thought Gannon MADE Shadow Link but like didn't expect this bitch to LITERALLY make him out of himself.

Honesly that shit just makes a lot of sense considering Gannon puts Shadow Link on the same level as Vaati, but that just makes Shadow's gay ass feelings towards Vio and his betrayal of Gannon and Vaati just...HMMMMMMM??????

GANNON BRO WHAT'S WITH THE EMOTIONS YOU PUT INTO LINK'S SHADOW LMFAO??????

It's something I'll keep in mind while writing FSR going forward. (Edit: I certainly did and I COOKED)

I kinda on the path of "He's Link's Shadow + Dark magic from Gannon"

But with the book text it's making me consider making FSR Shadow:

"Link's Shadow + Gannon's emotions + Dark magic"

(I did. And I COOKED)

The ramifications of Shadow BEING a piece of Ganondorf just MMMMMMM that shit would be so fun to explore.

(Edit once again: YOUR BOY. COOKED WITH THIS INFO I LOVE THE PAGES ABOUT THIS SO MUCH I AGH-)

Shadow, personal space my dude Vio just wants to read the gay Gerudo book-

Shadow showing interest in Link's life before this is kinda weird (Intentionally so)

Bro is jealous of Link as we've previously touched on and he kinda let's that slip here. He WANTS to know more about Vio and by proxy Link too.

There's SO MANY things I wish we got expanded on in the manga:

HOW DO THE FOUR PEICES OF LINK FEEL????

What do they REMEMBER?

Green seems to remember EVERYTHING from Link's childhood at least, but what about the others??? Are their memories warped in some way?

Because here's smth to consider: WHY DO THEY ACT SO DIFFRENT IF THEY ALL HAVE THE EXACT SAME MEMORIES?

Like from a funny haha character dynamic angle: Yeah it's more fun to have 4 different personalities than 4 clones I understand that. But as I've stated: We don't like "Because writing that's why" as an answer here lmfao. Like yeah, that's THE REASON but it doesn't have to be the IN UNIVERSE one.

But from the actual like, lore perspective why did the sword rip Link in 4 pieces instead of just, making clones?

I discussed this with a pal but like if we look at it in terms of metaphor:

Link's a piece of paper that got ripped in 4 pieces.

Green got the most but he still isn't the full piece of paper.

Blue and Red got pretty even smaller pieces than Green

and Vio got the smallest peice.

Hense why he's so distinct from them. Honestly what Makes Vio so Unique as a Link to me is his LACK of Link traits or his ODD ways of showing off traits we associate with Link.

I want Vio to describe exactly how he remembers Link's memories later but he doesn't remember them like their HIS memories, it's like a third person perspective, he knows who he is, He's LINK but the more he thinks the more he realizes he's NOT Link.

It's a surreal experience that he doesn't like to think about much.

I feel like Shadow's never been faced with this kind of topic before, so he's just sitting there like "...WHAT?"

Like Vio dumped a LOT on him identity crisis wise.

Vio doesn't talk to the other 3 about these insecurities cause like:

Would that really be a productive conversation at this point? X'D All they've done is argue at this point in the manga. Blue and Red are the most on the same page at this point and Vio's been unable to really get back to them or discuss his mole plan Vio only knows Green Blue and Red are ALIVE cause of Shadow Link's tantrum earlier, on top of that: He is currently struggling on if he should even BOTHER regrouping with his team mates or if he should just do this entire thing by himself because he can't trust the others to do their part in defeating Vaati and "The darkness behind Vaati"

Vio's going THROUGH IT at the moment and cause of that just kinda dumps on Shadow Link a fraction of his problems. Which he quickly regrets doing in the next page.

He's literally stunned with himself at his own honesty for once. This wasn't something he planned to do.

This was the first time since he has become VIO that he opened up about his feelings and he quickly gets embarrassed about doing it.

Also not Shadow blatantly staring right at Vio's lips. I thought that was so funny while drawing it.

LOL.

The kiss is so hilarious because like, Shadow my dude wtf.

It's so out of left field.

I was debating on if I wanted Shadow Link and Vio to kiss before present day or not, but I think it was the right decision.

If you read their interactions at the start of FSR, they're a bit TOO comfortable with each other if we ONLY take their cannon manga interactions into account.

Also, this is my fan comic, I do what I want lmfao.

Art wise: didn't wanna make it extremally saucy or anything lmfao, just a quick confusing ass kiss.

It does it's job of completely blanking Vio's brain to the point the only thing he can really focus on is his own heart trying to rip it's way out of his chest hah.

Shadow you broke him-

Shadow's question of "Are you having second thoughts" can be read a few ways, a few I didn't intend to but they're all interesting.

Like, wtf is Shadow truly asking there is pretty vague XD

The intended one was that he was asking Vio if he regrets joining him because he's still attached to his teammates.

Which Vio gives his response for, while utterly panicking.

I do think it'd be funny if Link's first kiss was with Shadow lmfao, so that's a fun detail. Vio, who did you expect it to be with? X'D

He has realized at this point: Oh shit I might have taken a wrong turn here at some point.

And you might argue: Well okay if Vio has an "i fucked up" moment here it makes the one he has later in the OG manga not mean anything"

to that I say "HAH! NO U DUMBASS????" Vio's LOGICAL you see not emotional. Shadow VERBALLY stating he trusts Vio is a very different action to just, kissing him like this lmfao.

As Vio can't even really comprehend wtf Shadow was trying to DO in that moment.

And onto Shadow's emotions here: Bro kissed Vio no hesitation. (Bitch didn't even ask permission, jerk.)

Like, Vio "Sad" (More complex than that but let's roll with that for now)

Shadow: Ah yes, lemmie kiss him to make him feel better

Like. Shadow-

He's confused but he's got the spirit??? XD

He likes Vio, Vio tolerates him. Shadow's been getting bolder and bolder with how he shows affection towards Vio up until this point.

Vio hasn't told him off for any of it, so he just assumes it's fine lmao. Keep in mind, Vaati and Gannon make it DAMN WELL CLEAR when they're pissed off at something he does, so Shadow's perspective of boundaries and appropriate behavior is FUCKED.

Vio continues to wonder wtf he got himself into as Shadow continues to lack the sacred knowledge of personal space.

I always thought it was curious Vio continued his mole plan even AFTER the other 3 showed up. Bro felt he didn't do enough clearly.

Or ya know he just wanted to hang with Shadow longer idk who knows-

Since I reached the image limit i'll pick this up later. Lol.

#FSR Rambles #four swords returns #four swords #four swords manga #four swords adventures #four swords returns au #loz fsr au

27 notes · View notes

majorpepperidge · 5 months

Note

Hiii, it's me. The writing anon. Come to ramble about more Pen. Heeho.

SO-

As one can guess based on my self-imposed title, I like to write and in turn means I like to very normally (okay not really) delve into characters and how they tick. So Pen has been a fun case of reading his dialogue and not knowing if I wanna punch him or like the fact there are cracks of being genuine. That said, I wanna like discuses two of Pen's piece of dialogue that make me scream at pathea for not doing more with this.

Dining, asked about his favorite things: "We're supposed to use teachings of the Light to solve issues, not weapons, so I prefer not to own anything that could hurt anyone. Although, not everyone in the local Church agrees with my stance..."

Rejected, but the player is married: "You are teasing me, no? Do you not already have a family? Protect your loved ones, do not dare break that trust!"

I'm screaming internally because something about these just adds so much to Pen? The fact that Pen, the guy who claims he has many lovers, who gets giddy when the player divorces their spouse and asks how good it felt and more, point blank goes "Do not break your family's trust". Something about that just gets the gears a whirling. It makes me wonder if Pen comes from a broken family and or something similar. I know people have given their own headcanons, saying Pen is the emperor of Duvos's son for example. So that just gets the gears turning but also that dining dialogue. Pen, tthe man who CANONICALL OWNS A RELIC OF DESCTRUCTION SAYS HE PREFERS NOT TO OWN ANYTHING THAT COULD HURT HIM-I???

It honestly makes me wonder if Pen, prior to the player coming to Sandrock, was already cracking. Maybe playing the role of enforcer for the church and seeing what the church taught made him start questioning stuff or he being outside of Duvos's toxic mindset and more started making him question everything, only shoved deeper into what he was taught as a child in Duvos by Matilda.

Anyway! Food for thought.

Sidenote: Love how Pen offers to just deck Yan for the player, that's sweet of him fhdjkf

I've never heard the 'son of Duvos Emperor' headcanon, that seems a bit...well, it ain't for me. Personally I think he was purely a genetic experiment/test-tube baby and was treated as such; lacking in a lot of love growing up and essentially told to 'fight for Duvos or be left to rot' (I'm not entirely privy to Duvos' setting/lifestyle, but I'd imagine it's p close to the Garlean Empire of FFXIV, so that's kinda what I'm basing a lot of this on lmao).

Everything abt his life up to Sandrock has been fighting, learning a very skewed history of the world, being trained in deception, etc etc. But then coming to Sandrock and having a lot of those preconceptions shattered slowly but surely and making him second-guess some things. To me, it feels like there's no love lost between Pen and the Empire as a whole; but he doesn't know anything but being loyal to it. All it takes is someone treating him genuinely and not being put-off by his loud persona for those cracks in belief to quicken. But he can't take back what he's done, ofc. So there's the main crisis, for him it'd be 'What's the point? I may want this but I can't escape Duvos' but snap him out of that and you're gonna have The Most Loyal Man Ever cuz now you're his entire world, oops!

#Asks for Cheri #My Time at Sandrock #Pen #MTAS Pen #writing anon i appreciate you very much #there's a lot of hypocritical dialogue with pen and b/c of these wild inconsistencies #it's hard to tell when he's just trying to mislead the player or when he's being truthful #i will pick and choose and make this man better than you did pathea thank you

12 notes · View notes

laylajeffany · 5 months

Note

Hi! As you can probably guess, I completely love Chaos, and I have a few more questions. Thanks for the playlist by the way, it’s been all I’ve listened to since you linked it. Sorry for all the questions, I’m just curious.

1) In the Spotify playlist, the first song is “Sea, swallow me”. Is that song referenced somewhere in the fic, or does it just give off a general Chaos vibe? I’ve been trying to remember if it was mentioned somewhere but cant recall. As an additional Note, it is my new favourite song, so thanks!

2) You mentioned that all the OCs appearances are physically based on real people. Who are Dr Zypher, Emiliana and Holly-Jane based on? Is Emiliana based off of Eva Green, because thats how I imagine her. You’ve done an excellent job with the OCs, they’re just so perfect.

3) When you describe clothing, do you make them up in your mind or doe they actually exist? I get that some, like the custom ordered dresses in the latest chapter, must be made up, but are some of them real? Do you have some Pinterest board with all of their clothes just to keep track? 😂

4) How do you find time to write? I write 1000 words for my fic every day, and it takes me about an hour. 50K chapters in 2 weeks is a miracle. Do you sleep?

I’ve probably forgotten a question or two, so I hope you don’t mind if I ask more in the future😅

Thank you for all you do, I’ve never been so invested in a fic before. Just remember to relax and take breaks when you need it, don’t force yourself to write on 2 hours sleep!

I am happy to answer questions about Chaos for the Fly, the writing process, and other fic/writing related things. Thank you for your interest! 1. I think I referenced near the beginning somewhere that Wednesday had discovered some music on her own outside of classical when she accepted an algorithm to suggest songs for her. It had been 80s imports of some kind - and that was probably the one that I had in mind, even if it wasn’t mentioned specifically. There’s probably a few songs that weren’t actually mentioned by name but were alluded to in the fic - meaning I didn’t say the title in dialogue, but had something playing in the background for myself, and there you have it. 2. You have opened a VERY DANGEROUS can of worms with this question, lmfao.

You are a dead ringer for Emiliana! That’s Eva Green, 100%, the ONLY person who could play the role. It would be like a touch of Penny Dreadful for the out-of-her-damn-mind demon possession vibes, but mostly, just as herself (she’s cray and I love how socially awkward and accidentally funny she is in interviews) not so much Vanessa Ives. Eva Green has worked with Tim Burton a ton of times and wouldn’t even need a single line of direction in this role. Emi is SO easy to write because she is pure chaos both in physicality, mentally, her linguistics, her magic, and personality. I honestly think she’s one of the characters I’m saddest isn’t real because she’d fit in to drive Wednesday absolutely MAD as her big bird. I have a feeling we’re not going to explore Raven lore in S2 and the two of them trying to figure out their powers together, after Emiliana spent half her life suffering alone, has been some of my favorite parts of the fic to write. I always write scenes with Emiliana the fastest. Her love of Beanie Babies and bad influence is entirely, too much fun. Her voice is so easy and she will never truly understand American idioms.

Dr. Zypher is AMY ADAMS, because GAY-ME, for Amy Adams. She’d absolutely crush the role, the fact that she doesn’t have a closet full of Oscars is just despicable (6 time nominee bro). SHE HAS THE VOICE OF AN ANGEL and I don’t think anyone ever lets her sing enough in movies. Put this woman in some broadway revival of an old musical and you’ll catch me personally saving the economy from collapse by taking the train up to see her every weekend. She's so adaptable and different in any role, and I just feel like she’d volley SO WELL with JO’s Wednesday. She's a professional who understands character layers that sweet and angsty Josie requires.

Dr. Holly is Emily Blunt plucked right from the Jungle Cruise movie in terms of how she’s styled but a far cry from her character there with her boldness - even if they would likely have competing career ambitions. ALSO HAVE YOU SEEN EMILY BLUNT IN ALL THE SUITS IN THE NEW NETFLIX PAIN HUSTLER MOVIE? I’m deceased. This is a ghost writing. Holly is really in the story 1) because I needed a plot line for Larissa, post-transformation, that didn’t involve Wednesday and was TRAGIC but beautiful and could GO SOMEWHERE, and2) we REALLY do need something to stabilize the molecular structure of shifting-type Outcasts, and 3) it helped give some context as to how desperate Larissa was to hire Normie "Thornhill" and why she took that chance against her usually better judgement- so there she was! Emily Blunt is a CLASS. ACT. In everything she does and I imagine her in a scene with Gwendoline COULD NEVER exist because it would be too powerful, solve all the world’s problems, and capitalism would break, societies would collapse. It could never happen. It wouldn’t be safe. Here’s her glow up, from fresh-out-of-the jungle, to letting Larissa buy her some new clothes and maybe letting her hair down every now and then, to nerdy botanist bombshell, at the New Nevermore Network, helping her girl rebuild things to be a more fair society for Outcasts. GORGE.

ARE THESE ALL JUST WOMEN IN THEIR MID 40s THAT I HAVE A BIG LESBIAN CRUSH ON? YEAH, YEAH THEY ARE. There’s obviously more for staff at Nevermore and the Network but I have a solid 5k to get to writing still this evening. The rest of my OCs are pretty minor (well villain aside), and I don’t really care enough about any man to spend the time looking for pictures of /boys/. These are the 3 OCs that are featured the most, anyway. Some day I’ll find enough energy to do the rest. I have extreme face-blindness when I read, and the ONLY WAY I can thusly write an OC is if my beta makes a powerpoint presentation for me with an actor/ress in mind for me to visualize in the role. When I tell ya, she hit the nail on the head with those three above? Unbelievable. Another favorite not-OC, but someone I HARDCORE RECASTED FOR THIS would be Granny Frump. We went from Margaret Hamilton (OG Wicked Witch of the West from Wizard of Oz) in the 1960s Addams Family, which is EXCELLENT CASTING, but to fit the more modern-era Wednesday 2022 adaptation, and to give a flair of the drama as to perhaps where Morticia “gets it from,” I decided to cast someone only two years older than Catherine Zeta-Jones to give that “Frump Homespun Magic” storyline some weight of ‘the potions and beauty charms work’ and went with a non-actress, for the aesthetics (though she could KILL IT her appearances are small), and that is the one and only, What Not To Wear’s Stacy London.

Like IMAGINE that matching vibe with CZJ’s Morticia? Stacy has similar build/some features in common, and with the all black hair BUT WITH HER SIGNATURE gray stripe? Iconic. (And that was also Grandpa “Clint’s” backstory last chapter, as in Stacy and Clinton’s dramatic saga. HEY - IF YOU DONT HAVE INSIDE JOKES WITH YOUR BETA in your writing, what’s the point??) Stacy’s voice and CZJ’s Morticia voice together would be SO GRATING and Wednesday would just be so in-her-element between them, I LIVE. 3. I usually just visualize what I’d want the characters to wear! I don’t often have picture inspiration - though sometimes I am writing and it says in bold highlight DESCRIBE THE DRESS - TRACEY FIND ME A DRESS, and she sends me some pictures to go through so I can just describe a garment without having to make it up. I don’t have a Pinterest I’d be willing to share. It’s just a binder full of women in a way that would probably unsettle most.

4. I usually write about 2-2.5k an hour if that is all I’m focused on. I probably average 4-9k on a work day without a second job or social obligation after work, and the most I’ve ever written on a single day that I had no work, other ‘sponserbilities, or social plans was 21k. On an average weekend with like one thing to do during the day and some chores and relaxation time not writing, I probably go around 14-16k per day. At the same time I started this fic, I set a new year resolution to myself to only work my contracted hours, so with the exception of a few crazy times in the school year - like conferences - I work from 8:00-15:30 M-F, and I live a three minute walk from my school, so I don’t even lose time commuting. I also stopped working on weekday evenings on the side in August, and starting in 2024 will not be doing any extra side work at all. I don’t sleep great but I do try! :) Thanks for the questions! I've been meaning to give some faces to those 3 OCs. I strongly encourage you to print out pictures of them and post them on your fridge, you will be 100% happier if you do.

#chaos for the fly #layla answers fic questions

19 notes · View notes

girlfromthecrypt · 9 months

Text

My first Writeblr tag game!!

Thanks so much for the tag @mthollowell-writes! This is one of my first ever tag-games, so I'm pumped. Also, this made me realize I rly need to do a WIP intro for my main project. It's a dark fantasy/horror with some romance, too. The working title is Fucked Up Fairytale. That aside, let's goooooo

1) What motivates you to write?

Anything and everything! Writing is my coping mechanism, for good times and bad. It helps me keep hold of happy feelings and release negative ones.

2) A line/short snippet of your writing that you are most proud/happy of. If not maybe share a line of someone else's work you love (just please credit them)

I have multiple WIPs, but I'm going to refer to the one I plan on actually turning into a book. The working title is Fucked Up Fairytale. That may undergo revisions. Anyhow, I'll share two lines/snippets, if I may! Mainly because the first one is very short indeed. Here it is:

I braced myself for stupidity, and he didn’t let me down. —This is in the main character's (Margot's) narrative inner voice during a conversation with her little brother.

And here's the other one, same chapter, same conversation! I feel like I may have gone a little overboard with Margot's world-weariness, but I kinda like it:

“The world I dream of has me making six figures at a job where my boss doesn’t need me to show him my tits,” I said, a chill creeping into my tone. “It has me going home at a reasonable hour so I can watch TV and fall asleep with a bag of spicy chips, preferably next to a spouse who doesn’t mind that they make me gassy.”

Neither of us spoke for a couple beats. Then, softly, my brother asked, "And where's the magic in that?"

"Nowhere, Callie. That's kind of the point."

3) Which OC makes you smile every time you think/talk about them and what are they like?

That would apply to Margot's love interest from Fucked Up Fairytale. He's, um… special. To me, and in general. Seeing as he's one of the Folk, it would be unwise to share his name, especially since not even Margot knows it as of right now. He calls himself the Huntsman, so that'll work for now.

He's this rather delicate-looking youngish man; slender, short and long-haired—he's quite pretty, really. And he's the smuggest, most self-satisfied dork you've ever met, but in a sweet, non-threatening way. I just love his and Margot's more wholesome exchanges. They clash a lot; she's a recent university graduate, has been a skeptic all her life and didn't mean to get roped up into any supernatural stuff, and he's this forest-dwelling fairy-like entity. But they end up being really good for each other, despite (or perhaps because of) their differences. Even though their dynamic starts off based purely on physical attraction, it grows into something more and their interactions really feel cathartic at times.

4) What process of writing do you enjoy the most?

I love what happens shortly after getting the idea for something. It's like a little twitch in the brain that grows and grows and it's just… awesome. And I'm not actually doing anything at that stage, so it's also the easiest step. Also, I just love writing dialogue.

5) What part of writing do you think you are the best at? (Yes stroke your own ego it's okay)

I think that's also writing dialogue! Not much else to say there. Oh, and nature descriptions sometimes. I've been told my nature descriptions are beautiful.

6) What is something in the writeblr community is most enjoyable?

How passionate everyone is! We all do the same thing, we write, and we all love doing it. And there's such an undertone of positivity to it all, of openness. That's really nice.

7) A writing tool/device you use that helps you with writing? (It could be speech to text, a writing program etc)

Oof. This one's too hard for me. I'm honestly struggling with a lot of writing software so… I don't have a good answer to that.

8) A piece of worldbuilding that you like in your own story? (It could be the magic system, a particular place in the story, a law etc)

The majority of Fucked Up Fairytale takes place in a single location. It's a magical forest that is its own entity, almost deity-adjacent. Certain characters worship it to gain its protection and power, but it can also be dangerous, trapping humans and turning them into so something they're… not.

I just really like that forest! I enjoy describing it, I enjoy creating new creatures it may be harboring, I enjoy lending this seemingly inanimate idyllic environment a personality that kind of shines through in a lot of scenes. I almost wish it were real. Almost.

9) What piece of advice would you say to encourage others to write if they are having a rough patch?

I'm with you.

That's all I, or anyone, can really offer, I believe. I've dealt with month-long dry spells, really horrible ones. I know it's shitty, I know it sucks. My advice, if I had any, would be to force yourself to write anyways. It's the only way to get back into it, and you should never ever give up writing. Writing is worth it.

10) Tag some people whose works you love/have been your biggest supporters

Well, obviously I'm gonna have to mention @prismatic-bell who once wrote a wonderful thirty-part fanfic to one of my stories and is, in fact, amazing. Xe has contributed greatly to a lot of my stories and I will be forever grateful for that. Also @rehnwriter who helped me set up my blog because I'm bad at internet stuff and need constant surveillance.

I'm tagging… uh… anyone who sees this and wants to participate! I'm really eager to get to know more folks from this community.

23 notes · View notes

hvwks · 4 months

Text

like i understand that a lot of people really think that mha is going to end with izuku having his quirks taken away completely and that by the completion of the story, he's going to be quirkless again, but i just don't... agree. or at the very least, i'll be really disappointed if that's the case. now hear me out! [cut for spoilers]

i understand that with danger sense taken, it's being speculated that each of izuku's quirks will be stripped away one by one. it makes sense from a predictive perspective--as in, it makes sense if you're solely looking at the deku vs shigaraki fight from a purely action-based standpoint. but narrative-wise? i just don't understand what having izuku becoming quirkless again would achieve for the story.

mha, as a narrative, is focused around themes of what it means to 'save' others, whether certain people who commit acts of evil are worth redeeming or not, and a slightly on-the-nose discussion about the commodification of good deeds (IE: pro-heroes who pursue the career for the fame and the glory of it, saturating the market with people who lack the 'true' spirit of what it means to be a hero.)

we see a lot of this in bakugou's characterization, for example.

we see him go from selfish and destructive to becoming cooperative and a strong team-player. he goes from being the kind of kid who wants to be a hero for the title of being 'the best' to being an aspiring hero who understands that working for the greater good requires sacrifices.

i also think with bakugou in mind, if we even look at the dynamic between him and izuku (whether you want to take it as romantic or platonic idk i'm not the boss of u) we see that he feels guilty for treating him poorly. while he did bully izuku for being quirkless, it was the fact that izuku was always trying to help him that pissed bakugo off even more. their relationship developed for the positive not because bakugou magically decided that quirkless individuals are on the same level as him (NOT to say he still holds discriminatory feelings towards quirkless people still) but because he sees that izuku is powerful now, almost more powerful than him, and the fact that he's being driven to become better and better to help people now that he has one for all show's bakugou that he still has a lot to learn about what it means to be a hero.

it's hard to articulate the exact nuance i am trying to clarify, but... basically, it's not that izuku's quirklessness is a major thematic element for the character arcs that occur throughout the show. the story isn't about how a quirkless teenager can become a hero. it's a story about how a quirkless teenager inherited the strongest quirk in the world and how he takes it and uses it to save the world.

the relevance of izuku's quirklessness mainly comes up when discussing whether he's suitable for OFA or not. the only other times it comes up is when he's reflecting on how he managed to stumble his way into being an OFA holder.

however, we don't really get any dialogue on how even the quirkless can become heroes without having a quirk or acquiring one by other means. even if izuku was to lose all his quirks, what is that intended to symbolize? izuku leaving the war a winner is one thing, but him being quirkless while holding that win doesn't add depth to the victory. all it does is reduce izuku's entire character development throughout the entirety of the series to him being nothing but a vessel for OFA and the key to victory, nothing more and nothing less.

that feels like shoddy storytelling to me and would be a huge L for izuku who, for the most part, has shown so much growth and maturity over time through the series. giving him a quirk when he wsa at his most hopeless, allowing him to win, then taking it away feels both cruel and counterintuitive.

while some people may argue that it's just another take on the "doomed from the start" type of narrative, i just think that this kind of move is... almost a cop-out. i feel like the story would be so much more impactful if izuku came out of this fight victorious with at least the core of OFA still intact (do we remember how the vestiges refused to be taken? both canonically during the paranormal liberation war arc AND in the movie where he attempted to transfer OFA to bakugou? i like to think that at the very least, the core power of OFA without the ability to pass itself on via Yoichi) would be a great way to show how the obsession with quirks and strengths is detrimental to hero society.

if he also completes his objective of saving shigaraki over killing him (which i really hope for!!!) then we now have the perfect way to tie up the narrative of MHA, where we see the question of "can everyone be saved?" get answered while also exposing the cracks in hero society. it would be the perfect jumping point for hero society as a whole to break down and rebuild into something better than what it was before.

i think those are important themes that would just lose its impact if izuku was made permanently quirkless all over again. after all, izuku midoriya shouldn't have to just be the vessel, he should get to come out of this war as the very EMBODIMENT of what OFA stands for.

#my hero academia #izuku midoriya #mha #bnha #boku no hero academia #mha theory #anyway #* tv : my hero academia.

12 notes · View notes

banannabethchase · 5 months

Text

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @aidaronan <3 <3 thanks deary!

Putting this monster under a cut

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

As of this very second, 298. Which is absurd.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,342,926 (I'm well over a million words even taking out my Quintis baby fic holy applesauce)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Wrestlefic, mostly AEW. But I will always have a soft spot for Quintis, Pipeyna, Stucky, and my everlove Percabeth.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Oh this is gonna be weird for reasons you'll see: Plus One [Criminal Minds], Back to the Future [PJO/Marvel], The Pros and Cons of Avengers Tower (It's Mostly Cons) [Marvel], Forever After You Will Be My Home [CBS Scorpion], The Rumor of Us [Heroes of Olympus]. Wrestlefandom is just so flippin tiny not a single fic made it in here kudos wise or even came close. It will always baffle me that my highest kudos'd fic is a Criminal Minds story.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to! I make it a point to try and make sure most if not all comments are responded to, but I think that's a compulsive thing on my end.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Ooh. Good question. I have a fair bit of angst, but the only one I can think of with a truly hopeless and angsty ending is Aftermath of the End, which is a concept of what would happen if Percy had died in Blood of Olympus and Annabeth went mad with grief. It is...very dark, very angsty, and very different from most things I've written.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

You ask the fluff monster what is the happiest ending? This is a hard question. I think Set the World Alight is the overall happiest ending, since everyone gets their best possible outcome, especially after all the tough stuff they worked through in the rest of the fic.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have, but it's usually built from a misunderstanding, I'd like to think.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

*gestures to the 95 explicit and 58 mature rated fics on my AO3 account* I mean. Very much yes. And what kind? All kinds, at this point. Too many kinds, truly. See the most recent thing I posted. Yoinks.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I have! Craziest one is the one I'm making for my 300th AO3 posting which is AEW based but brings in two of my other college AUs from completely different fandoms. It's pure self indulgent shenanigans.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Oh yes. Multiple people have specifically stolen The Rumor of Us which like. Why???

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes a handful.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I don't think so.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Oh I hate this. I think all time is Percabeth, because come the fuck on, but Quintis, HangMatt, HangMox, Pipeyna, and Stucky challenge constantly for the title.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I would love to finish that massive undertaking of writing Heroes of Olympus where Reyna and Annabeth were switched instead of Percy and Jason, but it'll never happen.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, fluff, and porn with feelings.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Angst. Writing without stupid puns. Keeping things serious. Editing to make sure I didn't make the same joke/use the same word/repeat phrasing across a fic or all my writing.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I think the only languages I'd be comfortable even attempting are French and Spanish since I'm relatively conversational in Spanish and I took 9 years of French, but I would be very hesitant and would consult a native speaker to help me.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

...when I was 6 I wrote a self-insert based on Berenstain Bears and when I was around 10 or 11 I wrote a self-insert where a girl named Mallory met Puddleglum's brother whose name escapes me (because I made it up in 2002) and they had to save Narnia together.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Oh goodness. I think my novel-length ones are my favorites. Set the World Alight, The Rumor of Us, and Forever After You Will Be My Home were labors of love and dedication that proved to me I can write a single story narrative. I also accidentally imprinted on all of those character designs for these fics, so they are intrinsically related to my interpretation of characters when I'm initially playing around with ideas. Forever After specifically I worked my ass off on with 15 or so hours of research on pregnancy, early childhood, and giving birth which I think shows in the detail.

Should they like to do so, I tag @perseannabeth, @sarahcakes613, @booboo-eyedbambi, and @scissormedaddyass! No pressure though <3

#Tag games #about Sara #in which sara writes

9 notes · View notes

princesssarisa · 1 year

Text

Sleeping Beauty Spring: "Dornröschen" ("Briar Rose") (1902 German opera by Engelbert Humperdinck)

Engelbert Humperdinck is usually known as a "one-hit wonder," famous only for composing the quintessential children's opera, Hänsel & Gretel. But this German Romantic composer had a career that spanned several decades, and not only did he compose other operas, but other fairy tale operas too. They include this 1902 version of Sleeping Beauty, based on the Brothers Grimm version and using their title of Dornröschen, with a libretto by Elisabeth Ebeling, Bertha Lehrmann-Filhés, and Ralf Eger.

Unlike the fully sung Hänsel & Gretel, this opera is more of a Singspiel, with spoken dialogue as well as singing. In fact the prominent role of Dämonia, the evil fairy, is entirely spoken, as are the roles of the heroine's parents, King Ringold and Queen Armgart. The libretto follows the outline of the Grimms' tale, but with many creative embellishments too. Princess Röschen ("little rose") has twelve fairy godmothers: Rosa, Bella, Sophia, Viola, Poësis, Mab, Piëtas, Flora, Hulda, Veritas, Blanca, and Morphina. When the villainous Dämonia curses the princess to prick her finger and die by her fifteenth birthday, Morphina softens the curse from death to sleep, and the fairy queen Rosa, the princess's namesake, proclaims that a virtuous hero will wake her. But if that hero fails to come before a hundred years pass, Röschen will indeed die. Fifteen years later, the court prepares a feast to celebrate Röschen's birthday, the presumed end of the curse, and her betrothal to one Prince Reinhold. But the overconfident King Ringold makes the mistake of allowing Röschen a moment alone in the garden, and in relishing her new freedom, she wanders to the top of an old tower. There, of course, a disguised Dämonia waits with a spinning wheel.

A hundred years later, the grandson of Röschen's former betrothed, also named Prince Reinhold, discovers a portrait of Röschen in his family's gallery, and learns her story from the steward. By now there are just three days left to save Röschen, her parents, and their court from death. But just a kiss won't do: Reinhold must also bring the engagement rings that Röschen and his grandfather would have exchanged, which were lost long ago. So Reinhold sets out on a journey that takes him into the sky to ask the sun, moon, and stars where to find the rings, then down into an underground realm where he finds them, before he arrives at the thorn-covered castle. A lively soprano-voiced being named Quicksilver serves as his guide. Meanwhile, Dämonia follows the prince and tries to seduce him with her beauty and magic. She nearly succeeds, until the memory of Röschen's portrait saves Reinhold from "sinful love." At last, outside the sleeping castle, Reinhold battles Dämonia and kills her with his sword, and the hedge of thorns disappears. Thus the prince kisses the princess, the court awakens, and all ends happily.

So, does this opera live up to the standard of its more famous predecessor, Hänsel & Gretel? Personally, I don't think so. Hänsel features more memorable melodies, and it strikes an engaging balance between the lush beauty of German Romanticism and sprightly folk-inspired music. Dornröschen is pure Romanticism, which makes it a less lively work. But the score most certainly is beautiful, with its sweet, luxuriant sound world clearly influenced by the opera of Richard Wagner, especially Parsifal. The libretto arguably shows influence from Parsifal too, with its emphasis on the pure-hearted Prince Reinhold's journey, and with Dämonia's expanded role as a temptress mirroring Parsifal's Kundry. Another likely source of inspiration is Mozart's The Magic Flute, with its similar Singspiel structure and with the shared plot device of the prince falling in love with the princess's portrait.

While it can't replace or equal The Magic Flute or Hänsel & Gretel among the great examples of fairy tale opera, Humperdinck's Dornröschen is still an appealing journey into a lush German Romantic fairyland. I would gladly advocate for opera companies to stage it more often!

@ariel-seagull-wings, @thealmightyemprex, @reds-revenge, @the-blue-fairie, @faintingheroine, @paexgo-rosa, @autistic-prince-cinderella, @comma-after-dearest, @thatscarletflycatcher

#sleeping beauty spring #sleeping beauty #fairy tale #opera #dornröschen #engelbert humperdinck #1902 #germany

44 notes · View notes