#this show is so good I haven’t been this invested in such a long time and I love it

[titsthedamnseason]

abed’s uncontrollable christmas 🥲🫂

#is anyone else. sobbing #but no i’m having such a good time rewatching #i haven’t been invested in a show in so long. i should’ve known a rewatch was the cure #mine #community

[thecharacterchronicler]

Snow Lands On Top (2) || Coriolanus Snow x Reader (+18)

Outline: It’s the first round of the presidential elections and Coriolanus Snow’s results aren’t as good as he hoped. Fortunately, you’re there to give him an outlet for his frustration.

Word count: 3’081

Warnings: pregnancy (TTC), marriage of convenience, very explicit ROUGH smut.

Author’s note: I wrote this as a second part to There Will Come A Ruler, since a few people asked for it. I also wanted to thank you all for all the love I received since I started posting on this page a few days ago, it means the world to me! Still blows my mind that so many people bothered reading what I wrote! ♡

(( Part 1 - There Will Come A Ruler )) - (( Part 3 - Insatiable ))

It only was your second time stepping inside the tall skyscraper that hosted your husband’s office - and headquarters. When the elevator doors opened in front of you, you instantly felt trapped, probably because the lobby was more crowded than what you expected. Even if something inside you was screaming for you to turn around and run the other way instead of losing yourself in this den of vipers, you had no choice but to do what duty required of you. You plastered a smile on your face, the one too bright and too joyful to let how miserable you really felt show, and entered the crowd, recognizing some familiar faces and greeting strangers pretending you also knew who they were. If they had been invited today to Coriolanus’s office, it meant they were important to him so you had to consider them as important to you as well.

“Hippity hoppity, there you are, little dove.” A voice sounded behind you. You heard it as clear as day despite the ambiant noise all around you, and a cold shiver ran down your spine. You turned to face who it belonged too, smiling even brighter to conceal the uneasiness you always felt around such an eccentric character.

“Volumnia Gaul, it’s good to see you again.”

“It’s been too long. But I suppose you’ve been quite busy trying to fulfill your duties.” She said, throwing a knowing glance down to your stomach.

“Of course, there’s never a dull moment since I became Coriolanus’ wife.” You smiled, in yet another attempt to conceal your lies. You had been miserable and bored during most of the year you’ve been married, and although you were good at acting by now, the way Dr Gaul stared at you made you feel like she was seeing right through you.

“You should bring her to the front, people need to see you together.” She said, looking up to someone behind you.

You felt him before seeing him, his hand finding the small of your back and his tall frame appearing next to you, your shoulder brushing against his side. You lifted your gaze up to look at your husband, but he didn’t look down at you, focusing his attention on his mentor instead, the only thing letting you know that he had noticed you was his hand pressed against your lower back.

“Of course.” He agreed, with a nod. Dr Gaul’s eyes landed on you once more, something unsettling in the way she suddenly stared at you.

“My offer to examine her still stands, if you want me to run a few tests on her and figure out why you haven’t conceived yet.”

Your blood went cold. Everybody knew how deranged Volumnia Gaul could sometimes be, she was as cruel as she was extravagant and it only seemed to get worse the older she got. She had left her place as the head gamemaker of the Hunger Games to Coriolanus and had retired from her scientific career, but she still ran bizarre experiments in her lab, for her own enjoyment… And you definitely didn’t want to be one of them.

“It won’t be necessary.” Your husband assured her, allowing you to breathe again with relief. “It’s not her fault but mine, I’ve been too busy with the games and my campaign to properly invest time into expanding our family.”

Dr Gaul was about to reply something but was cut off by the sound of the television increasing in the speakers. Coriolanus guided you in front of the large window in his office’s lobby, as everyone seemed to step out of your path.

He was smiling, handsome as ever in his dark red suit and you smiled too, pressing yourself closer to him when you noticed the cameras filming you from across the room. It must have been a perfect picture to showcase to the entire nation, a seemingly loving couple standing in front of the nicest view of the Capitol, surrounded by all their supporters as the reporters on TV were about to announce the winner of this round of the elections.

All eyes were on the television as the results appeared on the screen. You held your breath, waiting for Coriolanus’ percentage to go up but it only did a brief jump and then stopped, largely losing to his opponents. You turned to look at him, waiting for a reaction, and so did everyone else present in the room.

True to himself, he held his head high, standing even straighter as he remained stoic, not a single change of the expression on his face to betray his disappointment. But, even if you couldn’t say that you knew your husband that well, you still knew that he must have been crushed by such a bad result. He had worked so hard for this, put up such a show for the people and so did you, his defeat felt like your own.

It startled you when you felt his fingers digging into the tender flesh of your hip. He was tense, you could feel it , but he was still smiling at the crowd, gracious in defeat. He even spoke a few words, only disturbed for a brief second when he noticed the cameras packing up instead of transmitting his speech, the viewers probably more interested in hearing what the victors of this round had to say rather than listen to your husband.

Coriolanus kept his tight grip on you, as if holding you was the only thing that could keep him from snapping. Some of his supporters came to him to offer him some words of encouragement in replacement of congratulations and he handled each conversation with polite manners.

“At least if you don’t win, we get to keep you as head gamermaker.” One lady said, trying to highlight the good in the situation but Coriolanus only gave her a tight smile in return.

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out but maybe it just shows you’re better at working on the Games, they’ve been delightful to watch ever since you took over.”

“At least if you don’t have to keep campaigning you can focus your efforts on the next Hunger Games and come up with a show even better than last year’s !”

The very reason of his bad ranking at the election kept being thrown to his face, people simply preferred him as a game maker, so that they could be sure to be entertained by Coriolanus’ genius ideas to make the show an annual event rather than see him becoming president and be bored in front of their television once a year. The other thing that didn’t work out for him, as you understood, was the fact that he didn’t seem as relatable to the people since he didn’t have a family to care for and protect while his opponent, Festus Creed, already had three kids with his wife Persephone. Maybe they loved each other…

Once people were done offering their sympathy, you felt Coriolanus’ warm hand leave you, your skin a bit sore from the intensity of his previous grip on you. He rushed through the crowd, even ignoring a man who tried to address him and went to his office, shutting the door behind him.

Nobody seemed to notice, nor care, that your husband had felt the need to isolate himself but you did for some reason. Maybe it was because you knew how hard it was to keep smiling and nodding at everyone when deep down you just wanted to scream and run away. In the crowd, you met Dr Gaul’s gaze who had also noticed, watching you with careful attention, as if she was waiting to judge the way you’d react.

So of course, you smiled. At her. At everyone.

You followed the same path as he did, stopping by the man who had attempted to speak to him so that he could speak to you instead and maybe ease off his vexation at being ignored by your husband. As hard as it may be to keep going once the facade of perfection crumpled, it was necessary - now even more than before - to make sure all his allies continued supporting him.

Once he seemed satisfied by the small talk you shared, you kept moving, trying to seem as relaxed and detached as you could, until you had the opportunity to slip inside the office, mostly unnoticed by the crowd still mingling in the lobby.

“Coriolanus, I…” You started but stopped yourself when you noticed all the files scattered on the ground. Your husband was leaning over his desk, his back turned to you and you could see him breathing deeply and rapidly, his shoulders moving up and down with tension.

Suddenly, he threw the remaining of what was on his desk down, with one long motion. More files flew up in the air before landing on the ground, a glass container of pens and pencils broke on the wooden floor and shattered to pieces, flying off in every direction like a tiny bomb explosion. His desk light also tumbled to the floor, making a noise you were sure others had heard too.

You had the instinct to take a step back, your hand finding the knob again in order to retreat far away from his wrath... But, when he buried his face in his hands, he suddenly felt a lot less threatening and a lot more vulnerable, making you decide to stay.

“You might have lost this time but maybe it’ll work out next time.” You told him, softly. You wanted to comfort him, as had everyone else already, but the way he dropped his hands and looked at you with a dark glare made you question your decision.

“Always so positive.”He stated, bitterly, as if he was disgusted by your hopefulness. It wasn’t often that you got to see him without a charming smile on his face and a confident posture, in fact, it was the very first time you had been able to read him so easily, his emotions on display exactly as he was feeling them.

“It’s just one set back, for now they think you are too young, too good at your job, but maybe you’ll be elected next time. Maybe it’ll be in ten years. Maybe in thirty. But you will be president.” He shook his head, a cynical smirk on his lips.

“What makes you so sure ?”

“… Because Snow lands on top.”

His eyes darkened and he launched himself at you, crossing the path between the two of you in rapid strides so that he could capture your lips in a ferocious kiss. It left you breathless for a moment, the way his mouth was covering yours with feverish kisses, his arms around your waist to pull your body against his.

It was your second real kiss. Only the second one since you considered that your marriage had been sealed not with a kiss but with a signature at the bottom of a contract.

You pressed your forehead to his, trying to create some distance between you so that you could catch your breath and attempt to have a coherent thought about what was happening but he didn’t let you, giving you one last consuming kiss before his fingers tangled with your ponytail and he pulled, hard enough to force you to your knees in front of him.

You kneeled, looking up with expectant eyes. It was his way of showing you what he needed. He wanted to be revered, to get rebels to bend the knee in front of him, to be worshiped and relived from the anger and frustration he always locked up inside himself, with no way of letting them out.

You reached for his pants, swiftly undoing them with your eyes never leaving his pale blue ones, staring at you with a silent wrath still setting his gaze ablaze. He tugged on your hair again, forcing your chin up so that he could touch your face with his other hand, forcing a thumb passed your lips. He attentively watched you as you opened up your mouth to take it in, gently sucking before releasing it with a soft bite.

You saw him smile at your compliance, even though it was ended by a bold gesture. You were the perfect mix of obedient and fiery to make him lose his mind, and you both knew it.

He reached down to the pants you had opened for him, pulling his already hard erection. You resisted the urge to look at it, remembering how big it had felt in your hand and inside you, worried that his size might change your mind about giving him what he wanted. Instead, you kept your eyes fixed to his as you opened your mouth wide, ready to welcoming him there.

His tip glided on your tongue, his length not even entirely filling your mouth when you felt it hit the back of your throat. He shuddered with pleasure, a soft curse leaving his lips, followed by the sound of your name.

You felt a jolt of electricity in your body, a strange pride warming you up at the thought of pleasing him. You ran your tongue over his tip, tasting the saltiness that was already dripping from him in anticipation of his release. He cursed again and his hand moved to the back of your head, holding you firmly in place as he began thrusting back and forth.

You tried to relax your jaw and breathe through your nose as his hard length slid on your tongue, but when his movements increased in speed and in strength, you felt him reaching deeper down your throat and you couldn’t help but gag, tears welling in your eyes in consequence. But, even though he was still very carefully looking at you, watching the way he was fucking your mouth without mercy, he didn’t stop or slow down, only attempting to have an even firmer grip on you.

Another curse word fell from his lips, betraying how close he was to finding relief but, instead of shooting his load on your tongue as you were expecting him to, he rapidly pulled himself out of your mouth, heavily panting in front of you.

You used this opportunity to catch your own breath and wipe the mascara stains under your eyes, feeling the soreness of your lips caused by the unforgiving friction he had created.

“Get up.” He demanded, which made you realize he had let go of your hair. You obeyed without hesitation, even taking a step closer to be in his reach again. He immediately took advantage of the proximity, roughly pulling your dress up above your hips and bringing his hand to your center, pulling your panties aside so that he could run a finger across your soaked folds. A satisfied grin appeared on his face, as he removed his hand and brought his finger to his lips, tasting you with a hungry gaze.

You felt your whole body buzzing with excitement, your eyes following the path of his tongue as he licked his lips, seemingly enjoying what he had just tasted. You were so ready for him, you would have begged if he asked you but he didn’t. In fact, he didn’t ask for anything, he just took whatever he wanted, the way he wanted… And at this very moment, you couldn’t have been more okay with it.

His hands came to your bare hips and flipped you over so that your back was turned to him. Then, he pushed on your lower back, silently instructing you to bend over for him, which you did.

“Hold on tight.” He advised, his voice low with lust. You looked for something to do so but only found a tall bookshelf in front of you. You still gripped the sides of it, knowing it wouldn’t help you that much but you could already feel him pulling your panties to the side again.

Without a warning, he shoved himself inside you and you welcomed him, your wetness allowing him to slide all the way in with his first thrust. You bite your lip to avoid letting out a moan, very aware of the noise and chatter still coming from right behind his office door.

He completely pulled out before slamming inside you again, burying himself as deep as he could and you loudly gasped. He adjusted your position with a hand on each of your hips, gripping you so hard it was almost painful but you understood why once he repeated his action, thrusting so hard you would have lost your balance if he wasn’t helping stabilize you.

“Come on, let me hear the lovely sounds you can make.” He requested, mercilessly repeating the same movement.

“I can’t… They’ll all hear us…” You panted, a strangled moan catching in your throat when he hit deep, exactly where you needed him to.

“Good, I want them to know I’m fucking my wife.” He breathed, clearly enjoying himself too. “Show them you are mine.”

You felt dizzy at his words. Or maybe it was from the intense pleasure building up at your core. A few more of his rough thrusts and you came undone, loudly expressing your bliss as he released himself deep inside you. You both stayed connected for a moment to catch your breath until he pulled out, adjusting your panties and pulling your dress back down before taking care of putting his spent erection away.

You turned around to face him, meeting his gaze and noticing how his eyes had softened, like they had been drained of all the emotions he kept hidden behind them at all times, a clean slate to endure the rest of the evening.

To your surprise, he leaned over to kiss you. Not with hunger this time but with a tenderness you didn’t expect, like he was grateful you had been there for him.

“Was I too rough with you ?” He asked you, in a whisper, almost as if he was ashamed to say it out loud.

“Yes.” You nodded, appreciating the concern that immediately appeared on his face but you reassured him with a smile. “And I absolutely loved it.”

He smiled back, looking at you like he was seeing you in a new light. You weren’t strangers anymore and, for the first time, you were both starting to think that your marriage wasn’t such a fatality after all.

Previously in this series:

Next in this series:

#coriolanus snow x you #coriolanus snow #coriolanus snow smut #tbosas smut #tbosas #coriolanus snow x female!reader #coriolanus snow x reader #coriolanus snow imagine #coriolanus x you #coriolanus x reader #coriolanus smut #coriolanus snow fanfiction #coriolanus fanfiction #smutty fanfiction #smut #coryo snow #corio snow #coriolanus imagine #spicy fanfic

[marlynnofmany]

The Little Things

“It’s the unexpected stuff that gets me,” I said, swirling my drink. “Like, I’ll expect alien food on the alien spaceship, but the first time I heard offworld music, I thought the engine was about to fail.”

“Oh, I know, right?” agreed the other human, waving her own drink around. She hadn’t spilled it on the spaceport floor yet, but her ship had heavier gravity than this, and she was still adjusting. “And have you smelled what passes for perfume among the Mesmers? It’s like someone cut an onion and rubbed it in hot peppers.”

“Wow, I haven’t come across that yet,” I said with a glance back toward the spacedocks. “We’ve got two Mesmers onboard. Maybe they haven’t felt like getting fancy.” I tried to picture either of my exoskeletoned crewmates preparing for a high-class event, and my brain shorted out. Neither of them seemed the type. Zhee would stand by the punchbowl and complain about everything, while Trrili would hide behind curtains and jump out to startle people. Probably.

“It might be a courtship perfume,” the other human was saying. “Either that or it’s really expensive. I swear, if our navigator wore that on a regular basis, I’d have to invest in one of those high-quality personal air filters. It was bad.”

“Enough to make you miss the people who overdid the perfume back home?” I asked.

She set her drink down and leaned forward. “Enough to make me miss the body odor back home. And I don’t say that lightly!”

“I’ll bet!” I said with a toast of my own drink. It was cherry soda in a champagne glass. The Frillians running this restaurant were so proud of their Earth foods, and I didn’t have the heart to tell them that was anything other than a perfectly normal combination. And the fried-chicken-on-French-toast was actually good.

“It has been a while since I was home, though,” she said, picking at the remains of her macaroni and peas. “Earlier I saw somebody wearing a scarf like my mom’s, and now I keep thinking of all the things I miss. The tree outside my bedroom window, the cat purring, the sound of rain over an old TV show.”

I had a mild epiphany. “Well,” I said, finishing my drink. “I can’t help with all of that, but if you want to make a quick visit to my ship…” I leaned with a conspiratorial grin and whispered, “I’ve got kittens.”

Her gasp made people at three different tables look at us. “Oh my god, yes! Here, I’ll pay for your food. Where did you get kittens??”

“It’s a long story,” I said as she tapped at the payment interface. “I’ll tell you while they’re busy trying to fight your shoes.”

With a happy squeal that caused more than one wince from the aliens nearby, she swept our dishes into the recycler, then we were off to the spacedocks.

~~~

The ongoing backstory of the main character from this book. More to come!

#short one today #hooray for kittens #my writing #the Token Human #humans are weird #haso #hfy #humans are space orcs #homesickness #in spaaace #cats

[trentslocss]

Mine to have - TAA

Pairing: Reader x Trent Alexander Arnold

Warnings: smut smut smut smut smut

A/N: If I do end up publishing this it means I really had the nuts to do so. Also, this is the best gif ever, thank the lords and the person who made this for bearing us with this gif.

masterlist

—————————————————————

You’ve had the same new years ritual since you started dating. Coffee in the town when you wake up, lunch at your place with your friends and then a party at Andy’s. Every year was practically the same, but every year you loved it even more.

Especially since you taught Trent, with some help from his mother, to help you with cooking. Now he was a childish man and he would sometimes make a bigger problem than help, but it was good to have you work together on it.

You made plenty of food and set it on the table as your friends started coming into your shared apartment. Jude, Andy and Virg were the first to barge inside, Jude carrying a platter from the pastry shop downtown.

By the time Gakpo, Salah and everyone’s wives/girlfriends came in, all 10 of you sat around the table and Jude cried that he could finally eat. Truth be told, they were late, and he was at the verge of exploding.

You sat next to Trent, his left arm leaned on your chair as you talked and laughed at Gakpo’s story about first moving to Liverpool. “You were a tough nut to crack, I couldn’t read your face for months. Still can’t” Salah giggled with a full mouth. “I think it’s because of his chubby cheeks, not toughness” You all laughed at Virgil’s comment, which hasn’t made Gakpo that happy, as he continued to chew with a visible pout.

You sipped your glass of champagne as you felt a hand lay on your thigh, going up and down on it. You knew what he was doing. Seeing you giggle with his friends and so invested in the conversation made him want to spice things up a little bit, he had always been a devil’s man.

The conversation in the room never stopped, but Trent stopped following a long time ago. He started whispering in your ear, touching you with his leg, “accidentally” touching you in between your legs, but you weren’t having it. You knew if you gave in he would ruin you in the room next door, and you’ve given in too many times to make that mistake again. “Baby, if you keep ignoring me I’m gonna have to take you in front of all of them. Your choice” He whispered gently in your ear as you gulped, pretending not to have heard the nasty comment that was followed by an innocent giggle and a flash of his pretty smile to your guests.

As soon as you closed the door behind your beloved guests you were swept off your feet. He took you to your room and threw you on the bed. “Take your clothes off” “No” You said as he turned his head toward you, looking at you in disbelief. “You’ve been all over me all day in front of everyone. You don’t think they saw it? You embarrassed me in front of our friends.” You said rather angrily as you stumbled past him went to get ready for tonights party at Andy’s house.

You kept ignoring him for another two hours. You washed your hair, got dressed and put your make up on, but he was still needy and you were still ignoring him. When he put his arms around your waist and you pushed his hands off of you he had had enough. He came to your petite frame, taking your chin in his hand and forcing you to look at him.

“Now, baby, I haven’t embarrassed you in front of anyone. But, since you obviously want me to, I’ll show you have well I can do that” You gulped as he devoured your lips in a sensual kiss.

Your clothes was off of you in a second, the dress you were planning to wear tonight scattered and crumbled up on the floor. Your make up semi ruined as he teased your entrance with his cock. You knew he wanted you to beg for him but you wouldn’t give in, being too stubborn for your own good. “Come on baby, I know you want it. All you have to do is ask” He said as he rubbed your clit with his hard-on. The sensation was unbearable just enough to make you shatter. You hated it, but you were absolutely loving it.

“You don’t wanna talk? Okay. We’ll do this my way” He said as he slipped inside of you, earning a loud moan from you and the filthiest groan from him.

He slid inside and almost immediately made you want to come. All the teasing and touching on the side made you squirm beneath him, but you could never admit it. From the start you knew he was up to something, you could see it in his eyes. He was having the time of his life, the devilish smirk on his mouth as he kept pulling out to the tip then forcing himself back inside.

“See baby, you take me too well for someone so stubborn” He smiled, going deeper and deeper with every thrust.

You moaned again as he put his index finger on your clit. You thought the sensation was unbearable, until he pulled you down on the bed and put your thighs around his upper waist, his full length slipped inside you, deeper than he has probably ever been.

You were so close as he kept hitting your uncovered g-spot over and over again with forceful moves of his hips. Your fingers marking his broad shoulders as your heels dug deep inside his back.

“Oh fuck I’m gonna cum” You screamed before he started licking your nipple, the finger on your clit working you faster than ever. The edge was just near you, you would swear you could see stars.

Suddenly, all of it stopped as he came inside of you. As he started pulling out he didn’t stop cumming, spilling it all over your clit and opening, smearing it around with his tip. You looked at him in pure shock as he rubbed your clit for a bit, the new wetness made you moan, your head falling back, eyes closed.

You suddenly felt the snap of your panties on your hips. His fingers in his mouth for a second as he happily smiled. “I guess we’re ready to go. Good luck with that, I hope you don’t feel embarassed in front of our friends, all night long”

#liverpool #liverpool fc #trent alexander arnold #trent alexander x you #trent alexander imagines #trent aa #taa66 #taa #lfc #football imagine #football #lfc players

[vgfm]

A Lily Gilded: A Review and Analysis of Undertale Yellow

The Short, Spoiler-Free Review (TL;DR)

Any Undertale fan who owns a PC should play Undertale Yellow, even if they previously weren’t interested or have any doubts or reservations.

No criticism that I levy at Undertale Yellow, big or small, is intended to dissuade anyone who hasn’t played it from trying it: you should play it and there is no reason not to aside from a lack of free time or not owning a PC.

Although I have some criticisms of Undertale Yellow, my overall opinion of it is still very positive. I’m glad to have experienced this game.

If you haven’t played the game yet, then I recommend starting with the neutral route. Pacifist is much harder in this game and there are story segments exclusive to the neutral route that make it worth the time investment.

My analysis from this point forward will include spoilers for all three major routes of Undertale Yellow. It will also be very long (close to 60 pages), so be warned.

My Background

I’ve completed all routes of Undertale, Deltarune (Ch 1-2), and Undertale Yellow

I primarily engage with UTDR fandom by reading and writing theories. I like to think that I’m decently knowledgeable about the series, at least

I have no professional background in game development

I’m usually a purist when it comes to games and the topic of fangames and mods. I’m a “picky eater” in particular when it comes to UT/DR fan content:

I’ve never played an Undertale fangame prior to Yellow

Most UT and DR fangames have either not appealed to me personally or have not been finished

I don’t engage with most story-driven Undertale/Deltarune Aus or fanworks if I feel they don’t capture the spirit of the original games

Saying Something Nice

Undertale Yellow is the best fangame that I’ve played in recent memory. I think it’s very likely that Undertale Yellow is not only the best Undertale fangame ever made but that it will remain the best Undertale fangame of its kind for the foreseeable future. It’s not just a good fangame but a good game in general--had Undertale Yellow been a completely original game with no ties to Undertale, it very likely would have become a cult classic in its own right.

Of the long-form fan content I’ve seen, Undertale Yellow is among those that come the closest to replicating the style and tone of the original game without feeling like it’s simply cribbing the story or jokes.

It goes without saying that Undertale Yellow’s spritework and animations far surpass those of Undertale in sheer effort, and at times they rival and surpass those of Deltarune as well. There are some stylistic differences between Yellow and the canon games, and I wouldn’t go so far as to say Yellow’s visuals are always better in every conceivable aspect, but the general quality difference is night and day.

Yellow’s music comes close to rivaling Toby’s work, though frankly I think this is a barrier that no fangame will ever overcome for me. It’s a better impression of Toby’s style than most who’ve tried, but it’s still noticeably an impression. One thing that I immensely appreciate is that Yellow has battle theme variants for each major area in the game. “Enemy Approaching” is a fine song, but I always start to get sick of it by the time I reach the end of Waterfall in the original game.

Most of all, what I respect about Undertale Yellow is when it shows restraint: the restraint to largely omit cameos and callbacks to Undertale’s characters except when it feels warranted to do so. I respect that the game doesn’t try to smuggle in characters or worldbuilding elements from Deltarune and instead sticks to its guns as an Undertale prequel. I also appreciate that, for the most part, it sidesteps the trap that most prequels fall into of trying to tell a bigger story than the original—the story of Undertale Yellow still feels impactful and meaningful, but it does not overshadow or diminish the events of Undertale.

I wanted to frontload my praises for this game because a lot of my more detailed analyses to follow will come across more negative and nitpicky. Admittedly, it’s much easier to point out something that doesn’t work in a story or game that’s otherwise good because it sticks out like a sore thumb and takes you out of the experience. Additionally, so many things are done well in this game that I’d be here all day if I listed every single thing that worked. If there’s an aspect of the game that I don’t comment on then just assume that I found it at least serviceable, if not great.

My Criteria

Since Undertale Yellow is based on the world of Undertale and borrows many gameplay elements from it, it’s virtually impossible to review or analyze the game without inviting at least some comparisons to Undertale.

Having said that, I’m going to avoid criticizing differences between Yellow and the original game if the criticism would boil down to “it’s different from Undertale, therefore it’s bad.” There are things that Yellow does differently that I find worse, but I’ll argue those on their own merit rather than pointing solely to the fact that they’re different. On the flip side, there are a few places where Yellow differs from the original game because Yellow does something better—I’ll be sure to point out these instances as well.

Overall, I’m grading Undertale Yellow on a curve because I can’t help but compare it to the original game. I don’t feel it’s unfair for me to do so, since Yellow relies on Undertale not only for its conceit but also for some of its story beats—Yellow would not make sense or feel complete as an experience if Undertale did not exist.

If Undertale Yellow had been a completely original game, with whatever tweaks or rewrites would have been necessary to make it such, my overall tone would probably be more positive, since I’d be comparing it to the average game experience rather than to one of my favorite games of all time. This is not to say that Yellow would have necessarily been better as an original game, nor am I saying that it should have been—it just would have made the comparisons to Undertale less warranted.

Lastly, I’m going to try to avoid comparing Undertale Yellow to Deltarune. I feel like this is a less fair comparison since Deltarune is not a finished game and Yellow lifts very little from Deltarune beyond a run button and the charge shot.

Bosses

Undertale Yellow’s bosses were the most contentious issue for me during my initial playthroughs. Subsequent playthroughs caused me to warm up a bit to some of the problematic ones, but most of my gameplay-related gripes are tied to its bosses.

My three biggest issues with this game’s bosses are the strategies for sparing bosses, the telegraphing of their attacks, and the attack variety that each boss has.

Sparing Strategies

To start with the simpler complaint, half the bosses and minibosses in this game have pacifist fights that consist of waiting for the boss’s dialogue and attacks to run out before you can spare them, sometimes requiring a token act only at the very end of the fight.

This is a problem because it reduces these fights to waiting games that can be brute-forced with a full supply of healing items. Annoyingly, these same fights also come with 2-3 options in the ACT menu that often do nothing and in most cases don’t even prompt any reaction or different dialogue from the boss.

By comparison, Undertale’s pacifist route only has two (and a half) bosses that require waiting out the opponent: Papyrus and Muffet, and both of these fights have alternate completion conditions that can be used to bypass the wait.

Conversely, Napstablook’s fight requires acting, Toriel requires constant sparing, the Snowdin dogs all have unique acts, Mad Dummy requires redirecting her attacks back at her, Undyne requires running away, the Royal Guards require acting, Mettaton must pass a ratings threshold tied to unique acts, Asgore and Flowey require fighting; Asriel’s fight is half waiting but the second phase requires the lost soul segments to be completed.

Every Undertale boss felt like a puzzle on pacifist and some like Undyne and Mad Dummy were genuine brain-teasers. None of Yellow’s fights ever quite scratch that itch, though a couple come close like Guardener and Axis.

It baffles me a little that this issue is even present because the common enemy encounters in Yellow don’t fall prey to this. In fact, a few enemy encounters in Yellow cleverly require using multiple different acts in a specific (and usually intuitive) order to achieve victory—something that even Undertale seldom did.

It seems that most bosses in Yellow were designed around distinguishing themselves via their attack patterns rather than their spare method, though this leads into anther major issue: how these attacks are conveyed, paced, and telegraphed to the player.

Attack Telegraphing

Undertale Yellow is meant to have harder combat than Undertale, which had me a bit wary going in. The average enemy encounter in Yellow feels harder than Undertale, and the same is certainly true of the bosses. However, I’m not sure if I’d say any of Yellow’s hardest bosses quite rival the Sans fight in terms of sheer difficulty, at least in terms of the number of attempts it took me to complete them.

This could be chalked up to me coming into Undertale Yellow with more experience than when I first played Undertale, or Yellow’s 1.1 patch toning down a few of the harder fights. For the record, I’ve beaten all fights in Yellow without the use of the game’s “easy mode” option—I used it for certain bosses in my very first pacifist and no mercy runs, but I later replayed those runs with the setting disabled in order to have a “proper” experience.

Many fights in Yellow, big and small, feel less “fair” than the fights in Undertale and even now I’m not 100% sure I can nail down why. A lot of this boils down to the “feel” of the fights, but part of this could be due to me already being familiar with Undertale’s attack patterns and not Yellow’s. OG Undertale does have a handful of battle moments that feel “unfair” or not designed as optimally for new players as they could have been, which is easy for a player like me to gloss over after I’ve become familiar with the game. One such example is the Lemon Bread amalgamate, which (imo) is one of the hardest fights in the pacifist route.

Still, I noticed many instances in Yellow where incoming attacks would give little or seemingly no warning before they were able to hurt you. Some examples off the top of my head would be Mooch’s moneybag attack, Guardener’s triple stomp attack that fills the whole box, Starlo’s horseshoe attack that blends into his head before it drops, and Ceroba’s paralyzing diamond attack.

The only consistent way I found to avoid attacks like these was either to know in advance where they were going to enter the bullet box or to already be moving before they appear. It doesn’t help that often attacks that come from outside the bullet box will spawn in immediately outside the box, minimizing the travel time where players could see them coming and act accordingly.

Another common issue I found is the frequent use of blue and orange attacks, often paired with each other and/or with regular attacks, and often without properly telegraphing which will be used until they’re already onscreen. In contrast, Undertale generally used these types of attacks one at a time or, in Asgore’s case, clearly telegraphed them before they were used in tandem.

Yellow’s approach presents a problem because dodging orange and blue attacks demands either movement or lack of movement, which can force the player to take a hit if there’s already another attack onscreen that demands the opposite. In my experience the solution was either to know in advance where the blue and orange attacks would come from (and when) to get into optimal position, or simply tank the hit and hope you make up for it later.

Speaking from my own personal experience, I struggled for a time with Ceroba’s No Mercy fight when I went in blind—she has multiple deadly attacks with little to no telegraphing as well as color attacks that can overlap each other if you’re not already in an optimal position. I was only able to complete this fight on normal after I watched a no-hit run so that I could memorize her patterns. This is something I’ve never had to do for any Undertale or Deltarune fight, including Sans, and it doesn’t really feel like it’s in the spirit of the franchise. I always try to go into each of these games blind and I don’t think it’s unreasonable that a new player, even on a harder route, should be able to intuit what is expected of them in a fight. A few attacks might be challenging or counter-intuitive at first, but having to rely on rote memorization or a guide just doesn’t feel fun or organic to me.

On that note, some of you may be nodding toward the Sans fight as an example of some of the things I’m complaining about, particularly the lack of proper telegraphing and a reliance on memorization. Well, let’s unpack that.

To start, I’ll say that the Sans fight is not my favorite fight in Undertale from a pure gameplay perspective and that I don’t fully agree with some of its design choices. One reason I don’t play fan battles in general is because many of them seem to emulate the style of the Sans fight or double down on it without understanding it.

Despite my minor issues with it, I find the “unfair” aspects of the Sans fight to be more justified and acceptable within the context of Undertale than I find the seeming “unfairness” of Yellow’s harder fights to be in the context of that game. One reason is that the Sans fight is the only fight in Undertale (or Deltarune) that works the way that it does, whereas Yellow has several, even if they’re overall less hard than the Sans fight.

More importantly, the Sans fight has proper buildup, feels appropriate for the character and story, and (most important of all) the game itself acknowledges the fact that it’s unfair and the fight is designed around that admission. Sans literally has over a dozen different dialogue variations depending on how many times you die in his fight and when.

The game is even aware of the fact that most new players won’t survive Sans’ first attack and creates multiple variants of just the dialogue before and after that attack. Undertale fully anticipates your deaths and cultivates a unique experience for you along the way as you learn Sans’ patterns.

To put it simply, the Sans fight is the exception that proves the rule: it makes you realize how much fairer the other fights in Undertale are and how easy it is to take those design principles for granted. Conversely, the attack patterns in the hardest Yellow fights didn’t feel radically different or radically “less fair” in philosophy from Yellow’s moderately difficult boss fights—both feel varying degrees of “unfair,” but the harder fights are just “more” with the occasional twist added on top.

My platonic ideal of a challenging boss fight in an Undertale game would be Undyne the Undying. Undyne the Undying is a massive difficulty spike in her respective run, at times she requires ridiculous reaction time, and it’s easy to psych yourself out and get double-tapped by her barrages and die quickly. Nonetheless, her fight feels fair—it’s a culmination of the rules you’ve been taught and it doesn’t needlessly subvert them. Even though she has her dreaded reverse-arrow attacks that trip up new players, these are still properly telegraphed and manageable. Looking at footage of it now, it’s surprising how this fight looks more honest and straightforward than many of Yellow’s later boss fights.

Attack Variety

Another contributing factor to my issues with Yellow’s boss fights is the sheer number and variety of attacks that some bosses have, particularly in the latter half of the game. To wit, most bosses in Undertale have about 4-5 unique attacks that are repeated with variations, while Undertale Yellow’s bosses can have upwards of 9-10 unique types of attacks, not including variations. Ceroba alone has ten completely different unique attack patterns in just the first phase of her pacifist fight—every single turn is a completely different attack requiring different dodging strategies and none are repeated.

Some may be asking why this is a problem. Isn’t more variety a good thing? This just shows that the Yellow team put more effort in, right? My issue here is that many of these attacks don’t seem to exist for any reason except for the sake of artificial variety and because the devs (presumably) thought they’d be a cool-looking thing to dodge. If you’re confused as to the point I’m trying to make, let’s look at how Undertale utilized its attack patterns with Mettaton EX.

The Mettaton EX fight is a favorite of fans and mine, and one reason I like it so much is for how it uses eclectic and seemingly chaotic attacks to teach the player new mechanics while offering a spare mechanic that relies on strategic thinking to optimize. The fight offers the following types of attacks: moving legs, bombs, boxes, miniature mettatons, gates, a disco ball, and Mettaton’s heart. Not counting the joke/gimmick turns like the essay or break time, this is seven main attack archetypes, each with their own variations and crossover with each other.

Note that all seven of these attack types interact with the fight’s core mechanic: the yellow soul mode. More importantly, each of these attacks teaches the player something about how the soul mode works with no need for an onscreen prompt. Boxes and bombs teach you that there are some attacks you should shoot and some that you should not. The hand gates initially teach you that some bullets are unaffected by your shots, but later you’re given gates with yellow buttons that will open them, teaching you that some targets require precision. The miniature mettatons teach you that some attacks will become a bigger problem for you if you don’t take them out right away. The moving legs teach you that shooting can stop certain attacks from moving and that the timing of your shots is important. The disco ball builds on this lesson, requiring the need to plan your next movements when shooting the ball. The heart serves as the culmination, featuring the bombs and mini-mettatons from before while also giving you a precise moving target to hit repeatedly.

All of Mettaton EX’s attacks tie into a common theme and reinforce one another—learning to dodge and utilize the mechanics of one attack will make you better-equipped to deal with the others. It’s by no means a perfect fight, nor does it teach all of its lessons perfectly—I remember it taking me several attempts to complete and some mechanics like the disco ball and legs didn’t “click” with me immediately, but there’s clear intent behind every attack and it’s remarkable how utilitarian the whole thing is structured, despite its reputation for being one of the game’s longer and more self-indulgent fights.

Let’s bring things back to Ceroba for comparison. Her first phase has 10 unique attacks, only half of which feature mechanics that appear in the later phases: her paralyzing diamonds, her spinning bullets that circle around you, her bells that create colored shockwaves, and the vortex that opens in the center of the arena.

The other attacks are only used once, have little-to-no pattern commonality with each other or with her later attacks, and teach nothing other than how to dodge each of these one-off attacks. At most, a few attacks share a flower motif but move with completely different behaviors (straight line, fanning out, circling, homing in). While this isn’t horrible design, I can’t help but find it a bit wasteful considering what other fights have done with less and how chaotic the later phases of Ceroba’s fight get—something that players could have been eased into by having her first phase present more of her later attacks in a more controlled environment.

In the end, I remember being frustrated with the Ceroba pacifist fight when I first played it. Part of this was due to my own mistake of going past the point of no return without a full stock of items, but the lack of cohesion in the first phase and its lacking relevance to the mechanics of the second phase made it hard for me to “gel” with the gameplay and, as a result of my own frustration and confusion, I had a harder time getting invested in the narrative. I’ve seen some fans label the Ceroba fight the best fight in the series, but I wouldn’t even put it in my top 25, despite the overwhelming effort on display from the developers.

To bring the comparison home, I cried the first time I saw Mettaton say goodbye to his call-in viewers, but not once did I cry during Ceroba’s fight. A flamboyant robot making a single pained expression leaves a bigger impact when his attacks are unintrusive to the experience, and a lovingly-animated grieving fox’s backstory doesn’t hit as hard when I’m distracted by a hodgepodge of visually stunning but incoherent bullet hells. Less is more.

I realize I’ve been a bit mean to Yellow during this segment. In fairness, I did replay the pacifist route and tried the Ceroba fight in a more prepared state. I enjoyed the fight more my second time around, but I still would not rank it among my favorites in the franchise. And to be clear, I don’t hate this fight at all—I just think it represents the excesses in Yellow’s battle design and how they can sour a first-time experience, which is the most important experience for a narrative-driven game. Even the weaker aspects of Yellow’s design are, by and large, serviceable by the standards of typical game design. Compared to Undertale, though, I was disappointed in the areas where it lacked or, more accurately, overstepped.

Having fewer types of attacks is not a result of less effort—it allows more room for variations on each type of attack and it can make difficult or poorly-telegraphed attacks more forgivable if the attack is used multiple times with the first instance training the player for the future variations. I feel that having too many unique attacks for each boss resulted in each attack not receiving the necessary polish and balancing that it should have, and it also made each fight feel less instructive and lacking in a clear design goal.

To close this off, I’d like to give a positive example of a boss fight from Undertale Yellow: Axis. For the most part, Axis successfully walks the tightrope of Yellow’s more complex late-game fights while still maintaining a consistent theme and introducing concepts to the player gradually. The whole fight revolves around blocking Axis’ attacks with a trashcan lid—first with a ground-based lid, then with a lid that rotates around an axis (get it?). As the fight progresses, new types of projectiles and hazards are introduced, usually first using the ground-based lid to avoid overwhelming the player.

As if that weren’t enough, the fight comes with its own unique sparing strategy where players fill a meter by blocking attacks and then attempt to reflect an orb back at Axis once the meter is full. The fight’s not perfect—there’s still the occasional one-off attack that doesn’t really teach any relevant lesson to the player, the orb reflection mechanic is finicky, and the fight is perhaps slightly more difficult than I’d prefer from a typical boss fight, but if all Yellow bosses had been of a similar caliber then I wouldn’t have needed to go on this massive detour about boss design in the first place.

Since some might ask, I might as well weigh in on Yellow’s most controversial boss: El Bailador. I initially had difficulty with this fight due to my lack of experience with rhythm games (and the lack of preparation that the game gives you). I also found the need to press a direction key and the Z key for each note to be a tad clunky. Beyond that? I actually didn’t mind the fight all that much. It introduces a simple concept and builds upon it gradually in a way that felt satisfying to me as I began to master it. The last turn maybe goes on for too long, but I can’t say that I hated it. I promise I’m not trying to piss off the Undertale Yellow fandom (who, if memes are anything to go by, seem to despise this fight), but I found the simplicity of Bailador refreshing considering how chaotic the later fights get. That said, I turned on the auto-rhythm setting in future playthroughs to make this fight less of a difficulty spike.

Themes

To start off, I’d like to acknowledge the fact that Undertale Yellow largely avoids most of the “meta” themes that Undertale and Deltarune touch upon, nor does the game try to go in its own direction in regards to metatextual concepts. Undertale Yellow generally leaves the topic untouched, aside from continuing to use in-universe mechanics established in Undertale such as saving and EXP/LV. Some fans might view this as disappointing or even a betrayal of the tones and themes previously established in Toby’s work. Me? I don’t mind at all, honestly. If anything, it’s refreshing to see an Undertale fan project that takes the setting of Undertale at face value rather than trying to outsmart it or put their own meta spin on it. Far too often have I seen fanworks that swing the pendulum in the other direction and have characters just flat out address the player and shatter the verisimilitude of the setting with no buildup.

None of this is to say that Undertale Yellow is lacking in themes. The most prominent theme I noticed, unsurprisingly, is that of justice. Undertale strongly implies that the yellow human soul is the soul that represents justice, and fanworks ever since have ran with the idea. Undertale Yellow represents the culmination of this concept by turning each of its routes into differing interpretations of what justice means.

As a refresher, Undertale Yellow has three main routes with four endings: true pacifist, “false” pacifist, neutral, and no mercy. I see each ending as its own realization of and commentary on the concept of justice.

Neutral

In Undertale Yellow, the neutral ending acts as something of a “bad ending” from classic video games. These are the kind of endings you get when you fail to 100% complete a game and you’re told to go back and do it again, complete with Flowey’s laugh imposed over the “Thank you for playing!” end credits message.

Who wore it better?

Thematically, the neutral route represents justice as subjective and personal—Clover can spare or kill whoever they wish. It’s hard to argue that any one monster in Undertale Yellow is more guilty than any other in this route, so killing monsters in neutral largely comes off as the capricious whims of Clover rather than being based on any consistent law or greater principle.

This outlook ultimately blows up in Clover’s face when they come to a head with their foil in this route: Flowey, who exercises his own form of justice, or “judgment” as he prefers. Flowey only cares about freeing himself from his current situation and will use any means to achieve this goal. In his eyes, your failure to follow his directions or be of further use of him is a slight against him that demands punishment as he sees fit.

Fitting this individualistic outlook, Flowey takes “might makes right” to its logical conclusion by trapping you in his own personal hell while he acts as a wannabe-God looking down on high. Ultimately Clover can only escape when Flowey wills it, cementing Clover’s status as a pawn subject to the whims of the powerful despite their illusions of independence. Without laws to protect them, the weak will be trampled by the powerful.

Pacifist

Pacifist presents two outlooks depending on whether Clover spares or kills Ceroba in the final battle. Of all the monsters Clover meets, Ceroba is the most culpable for a serious real-world crime other than Asgore and Axis (the latter of whom may not meet the definition of culpability or competence to stand trial).

Clover lacks the fore-knowledge that Ceroba’s daughter will likely survive thanks to Alphys’ efforts, so Clover would view Ceroba’s actions toward Kanako as manslaughter, or at least reckless endangerment. Unlike the neutral route, Clover’s choice can’t solely be chalked up to their own personal whims—actual harm has been done by Ceroba, but more harm may yet be done if she’s killed.

False Pacifist

If Clover kills Ceroba, then this choice seems to represent justice as following the law to the letter, for good or ill. Starlo, who’s most upset by Ceroba’s passing, reluctantly echoes this sentiment:

Even if Clover stands by their choice deep down, it’s reasonable to assume that hurting Starlo this way left a bitter taste in their mouth. Not long after this, Clover reaps what they’ve sewn as they come face to face with their foil for this ending: Asgore.

Initially I thought it was strange that Asgore doesn’t appear if you spare Ceroba, but this ending illustrates why Asgore’s entrance is most appropriate here. Asgore finds himself in a similar situation as Clover. Asgore is keeping his word to his people for good or ill, and a king’s word is law. In all likelihood, Clover probably hated killing Ceroba in much the same way that Asgore hates killing humans. But both are trapped within the confines of their own rigid principles.

Martlet, who acts as an onlooker, first argues on behalf of Clover’s killing of Ceroba on the basis of the law, but just as quickly turns around to plead that Asgore bend the rules of his kingdom to spare Clover. In the end, she can’t have it both ways. No one is happy with how things turn out and the only thing served is the letter of the law, rather than the spirit of justice.

True Pacifist

If Clover spares Ceroba, it might be for her own sake or because killing her will benefit no one and will only serve to harm Starlo. In much the same way, killing the monsters who harmed the five humans won’t bring any benefit to monster or human alike and will instead only fan the flames of war.

Clover came to the Underground armed in search of five humans, no doubt willing to enact justice on anyone or anything that harmed them. Instead they find a world of good-hearted people who have ample reason to distrust humans. Through acts of kindness, this distrust is cast aside and many friendships are made.

In the Wild East, Clover is presented with the classic trolley problem. Starlo emphasizes that Clover could let a large group of monsters die while incurring no personal responsibility. Clover didn’t tie those monsters to the tracks in much the same way that Clover is not personally responsible for monsters being trapped Underground. However, Clover can save them by sacrificing a single life—an anonymous other, but eventually Clover is faced with the possibility of becoming that sacrifice willingly.

Clover choosing to give up their soul is not only an ultimate act of selflessness but also interprets justice as a principle higher than any mere law or person’s whim—laws should not exist solely for their own sake because laws should be a means for the betterment of all. Any “justice” that loses sight of this higher principle has no meaning or value, so one must act in service to the greater good.

Clover doesn’t deserve to die, but sitting on the sidelines so that monsters or the next fallen human can suffer in their place would be a greater injustice in their eyes. Ultimately they decide that their own sacrifice, while tragic, will create the best outcome for everyone and act as a step towards restorative justice for monsterkind.

No Mercy

No mercy was a bit of an enigma for me initially. It starts off largely the same as Undertale’s no mercy route, only without the one-shot kills and commentary on completionism. It’s not until Steamworks when the aim of this run starts to come together. We see a role reversal where Clover chases down Axis, and Flowey of all people questions Clover’s craving for destruction.

When fighting Axis, we see him admit that he had killed a previous fallen human. Although this information can be uncovered through a hidden tape in the pacifist route, here we see this revelation enrage Clover to the point that their LV increases on the spot. Normally I’d nitpick something like this, since Undertale states that cruel intentions can make a human’s individual attacks stronger but their LV is tied to their EXP. However, I can overlook this since the rules are bent in service of a good character moment that defines the run for me.

This moment and the ending recontextualize the whole run up until now: Clover isn’t killing indiscriminately like Frisk was. On the contrary, Clover is quite discriminate with their killing: they specifically want monsters (and their creations) destroyed, but not humans. Up until now we haven’t had an Undertale protagonist who is unabashedly pro-human. Chara was very much the opposite and some lines in Deltarune imply Kris may feel similarly. Frisk seems ambivalent, but from the beginning Clover has been acting for the sake of the five missing humans.

In neutral and pacifist, Clover judges monsters on an individual basis, but in no mercy all monsters are deemed guilty. What distinguishes this run from the others, besides the brutality of Clover’s actions, is that their actions can’t solely be chalked up to dogmatic obedience of the law or their own selfish desires.

Throughout the run, Clover can choose to steal from shops, commit armed robbery against Mo, and even cheat in their “dual” with Starlo—all of these indicate some degree of underhandedness or dishonor, but Clover’s outlook is seemingly that monsters don’t deserve fair play or the benefit of the doubt.

Conversely, we see from the ending that Clover goes out of their way to free the five human souls—they don’t leave them behind or try to go on a power trip and use them for their own ends (as far as we’re aware). No mercy is a dark reflection of true pacifist, where “justice” has transcended the letter of the law as well as personal desires. Instead of “justice” being in service to the greater good of all, it’s in service to division, tribalism, and vengeance.

Even so, one can debate whether Clover’s actions are motivated more by a love of humanity or purely by a hatred of monsters. Asgore points out that Clover’s actions will only worsen the conflict between humans and monsters, and more humans will die in the future as a result.

This doesn’t seem to give Clover any pause, so one can assume they either don’t believe Asgore or they don’t care—they’re here to make monsterkind pay, and if more conflict arises then that means more opportunities for payback in the future. Make them pay and never stop making them pay.

Characters

Character writing is a crucial component of any Undertale-adjacent game and it’s often the biggest stumbling block I encounter when I’ve tried to get into fanworks. I mean that in no way as a slight against fan creators, but rather to illustrate how high the bar has been set by Toby. This is a bar that’s set just as high, if not higher than Toby’s musical abilities, imo. In all the ways that I would describe myself as a “picky eater” when it comes to Undertale content, I’d say character writing is where I’m by far the pickiest.

To give Undertale Yellow a fair and thorough analysis, I’ll be going over all of the major characters one by one to give my impressions of them as well as what I feel works and what doesn’t, starting from the top:

Clover

There isn’t a ton to say about Clover compared to the other characters, but this isn’t a bad thing. What’s apparent is that Clover has more personality and initiative on display throughout the game than Frisk did, though in some ways not as much as Kris—Clover is something of a middleground between the two canon protags. At several points we’re only given a single dialogue “choice,” meant to illustrate when Clover has made a decision on their own.

We’re told Clover’s surface-level motivation: to find the five humans who disappeared, but we’re not given any context as to what connection (if any) Clover has to these humans or what their own history is beyond one or two vague bits of flavor text.

Clover’s motivations can evolve or outright change course depending on which choices the player makes throughout the game. I already went over this in the themes section, but the fact that Yellow largely eschews the broader metatextual commentary found in Undertale means that Clover’s actions are much easier to attribute as their own in-universe decisions, rather than something imposed on them by a controlling entity.

Beyond this, we also see Clover display various quirks via their character animations, such as kicking their feet while seated, tugging on Ceroba’s sleeve, or standing on their tippy-toes when handing their hat to Martlet. We ultimately can’t say much about Clover’s overall personality or interests outside the context of game events, but these little flourishes help to make the character memorable.

By default I’d argue that Clover’s “better written” as a character than Frisk was, barring the metatextual baggage attached to the latter. Overall, not a bad start.

Dalv

I wasn’t sure what to make of Dalv initially. Confession time: Dalv was the deciding factor that led to me not checking out the Undertale Yellow demo when it first dropped. I’ve got nothing against the guy, but at the time I didn’t really “get” his character—I wasn’t sure what his motives were and I couldn’t even understand what his first lines of dialogue were meant to convey.

Even now I’m still not 100% sure whether his first line of dialogue is him rehearsing a conversation with another Ruins monster, with the monster that used to leave him corn, or with the previous human that he encountered. The fact that Dalv is known by the other monsters for talking to himself and having imaginary friends only blurs the lines further, though this doesn’t feel intentional.

This is part of a broader, though minor, issue with some of Yellow’s writing where characters will allude to events and other characters that a first-time player wouldn’t be familiar with. To be fair, Undertale does this as well early on but usually with enough context clues to help you figure things out—Papyrus namedrops Undyne and Alphys in Snowdin, but we learn from context clues within Snowdin that Undyne is a monster of authority that Papyrus knows and Alphys is a doctor and apparent inventor.

To draw a more direct comparison, we know early on that Toriel is a motherly figure and we see in her house that she has taken in other children who’ve met an unknown fate—this mystery leads to some first-timers speculating whether Toriel is the one responsible for said fate. Right before her boss fight she explains her motives more clearly--her actions, though overbearing, have been to protect Frisk. You can also infer, though not stated directly, that her actions towards Frisk may be some attempt on her part to recreate or make up for her past experiences with children that she’s lost. Later on we learn that she’s Asgore’s ex-wife and lost her two children tragically, but this is not something that needs to be spelled out in order to get a basic grasp on Toriel as a character.

Dalv, on the other hand, has an implied backstory that is never outright stated but instead needs to be pieced together from context clues given much later in the game, some of which are tied to optional secrets and randomly-generated fun events. In short, Dalv was a monster living in Snowdin who met Kanako when she and Chujin came to visit. During that visit, Dalv was attacked by a human (implied to be the one carrying the blue soul), who was later killed by Axis. It’s implied that this experience was so traumatic that Dalv retreated into the Ruins and cut off all contact with those around him. Conceptually? This is a solid backstory. No notes. It’s a shame, then, that most players don’t even seem to be aware of it after finishing the game.

Now, a character doesn’t need a tragic backstory in order to be likable or compelling. In fairness, I do enjoy the aspects of Dalv’s character that are given upfront in his house—his neatness, his social awkwardness, his creative side, and his “imaginary” friends. The problem is that we don’t see these sides of him until after his boss fight, when most players likely won’t see him again for the rest of the game.

Characters don’t need to front-load their entire personality or backstory into their first encounter, but doing the opposite isn’t helpful either. First impressions matter in fiction, and unfortunately Dalv gave very little for me to latch onto for most of his screentime. It’s really only through hindsight that I began to appreciate Dalv as a character, but even then he isn’t one of my favorites in Yellow, let alone comparable to Undertale’s core cast.

Martlet

Martlet is the most recurring character in the game aside from Flowey. Although her personality is quite different, I get the sense that her role is meant to be analogous to that of Sans and Papyrus, namely as a comic relief character that drops into your adventure regularly and presents a crucial turning point right before the game’s ending.

Martlet’s introduction gave me flashbacks of Dalv—namely that she never even interacts with Clover until the end of Snowdin, making me fear that once again a new character’s story was going to be backloaded into their final appearance before they disappear from the narrative. Thankfully this wasn’t the case. Martlet’s in it for the long haul and her boss fight is more of an introduction to her character than a conclusion.

So what do I think of Martlet? I’d say that I like her more than Dalv, or at least she’s better utilized than Dalv. Still, it took a while for Martlet to “click” with me. I think what I got hung up on was that a lot of her early gags revolve around royal guard protocol and the handbook that she keeps around. In many ways this feels at odds with what’s later established about her character, namely that she’s scatterbrained, wishy-washy, and lacks long-term goals or planning skills.

Martlet doesn’t seem like the type of person who’d follow a handbook in the first place, given how often she disregards it anyway. Perhaps the intent was for Martlet’s “arc” to be her unlearning what she’s learned from other monsters regarding humans and for her increasing disregard of the handbook to symbolize this. While I think the former is true—she says as much on the apartment rooftop at the end of the game, she seems to waffle back and forth on following her royal guard duties as the plot demands—ignoring them when it means accompanying Clover but following them when it means having to be separated from Clover.

I think this ties into a bigger issue that I have with Martlet, which is that at times she feels like she’s a character of convenience for the story rather than a character acting on a clear want or need. I think this is most blatant when viewing the various “abort” points in a no mercy run.

No matter how badly you beat Martlet in Snowdin and how resolute she is at stopping you, she’ll turn on a dime if you’ve aborted a run prior to Oasis or Hotland just so that she can play out her allotted part.

Other times it feels like she’ll show up just so that there’s someone for Clover to talk to and someone to react to what Clover sees. Now, it would be reductive of me to write off Martlet as a mere plot device—she isn’t, and any appearance otherwise is more so a flaw of the narrative than of her as a character.

You’ll notice I haven’t said much about how I feel about Martlet’s personality, her dynamic with other characters, or her overall “vibe” and honestly she’s just… fine? It’s hard for me to say anything because she feels a bit lukewarm to me—she’s not undercooked like Dalv, but she’s not as memorable as many of the other characters either. She says some funny things, but she’s not the funniest. She has some great and heartfelt lines during the pacifist ending, particularly this one:

But as a whole? She’s just fine. She's competently written, no major complaints.

I think maybe what Martlet lacks is a “larger than life” quality to her character. I’m not saying that her role within the setting should be larger than life, but rather she could use at least one exaggerated trait to help her stand out from the pack—Papyrus has his bravado, Sans has laziness and jokes, Undyne has intensity, Alphys has awkwardness, and Mettaton has his showmanship. Not every Undertale character is like this, but I feel like Martlet was intended to fit a similar mold—we catch glimpses of it, like her overly long “P.S.” messages amended to her first puzzle, but imo she doesn’t go far enough consistently enough (assuming that was the intent).

One last thing that I want to touch on is Martlet’s contingency plan for Clover that comes into play in the No Mercy run, where she injects herself and becomes “Zenith Martlet,” as fans have dubbed her. Conceptually I’m fine with the idea of Martlet having an ace up her sleeve that she’s too indecisive to actually use in most scenarios.

This feels in-character for her and I can even look past a scatterbrained character with no planning skills having a plan like this since it’s largely Martlet appropriating another character’s plan. The main thing that I find questionable about Martlet’s plan is that it relies on Alphys’ determination extraction experiments.

We the audience know what that is, but how does Martlet know about them or even what to look for? We do know that underground residents were asked to donate fallen down monsters to the lab, but seemingly nothing is revealed to the public about the nature of the experiments. Even Ceroba, who had a vested interest in learning all she could, seems to be completely in the dark. In the pacifist ending, Martlet offers to investigate the experiment for Ceroba, implying she didn’t know the full story either. I also question how Martlet would’ve been able to venture into the true lab seemingly without running into a single amalgamate, given that she never brings them up in pacifist.

Now, my issue here is not the supposed “plothole” that this creates. My main issue is that a more reasonable solution was sitting right there: Chujin’s monster serum. I legitimately wonder if earlier drafts of this game’s story had Martlet using Chujin’s serum instead of Alphys’ extract, because the former would bring everything full-circle and it would tie in more naturally with the flashback scene of Martlet with Chujin.

Now, the obvious answer is that Chujin’s serum was never completed, but I can’t help but wonder if perhaps this wasn’t always the case. During Ceroba’s flashback, we can see a case with two syringes—one full and the other seemingly empty.

This is just my own speculation, but I can’t help but wonder if it was once intended for Ceroba to use one syringe on Kanako and for Martlet to have taken the other. Obviously this doesn’t jive with the story as it’s currently written—Martlet is clearly taken aback when she learns of the experiments that Chujin conducted. Still, part of me wonders if an earlier draft had Chujin entrust Martlet with a prototype of the serum to keep her safe.

I think it’d be fitting if the no mercy route were to reveal that Martlet was a lot more privy to Chujin’s less savory actions than she let on, and that even in pacifist she kept this knowledge to herself of self-preservation or shame. This would fit with a line of hers in the no mercy fight after her flashback of Chujin:

It would be fitting for the NM run if we were to learn that there was always a seed of doubt and mistrust between Martlet and Clover, even during the best of times.

The Feisty Five

I’ll be brief, but when these guys first showed up my first thought was “great, I’ll never remember all these new characters” and I’m glad I was wrong. While they don’t have quite the depth that the main characters do, they’re all memorable in their own way. They’re also the first characters in the game to get a serious chuckle out of me and I wish we got more of them. If we’re comparing quirky miniboss squads, these guys clear the Snowdin canine unit and Sweet Cap’n Cakes. There, I said it.

Starlo

This is the coldest take ever and I won’t even try to bury the lede: Starlo is the best Undertale Yellow character. He’s funny, he’s charming, he’s flawed, he has layers, he has great moments of pathos with Ceroba, and he has a backstory that isn’t tragic yet still feels necessary to his character.

Here’s another cold take: Dunes/Wild East is the best part of the game. Dark Ruins and Snowdin, while not bad, still feel very much like typical fare for a romhack or fangame. Wild East is the first area that truly feels like Undertale, which is ironic since it’s also the first completely-original area.

By extension, Starlo is the one original character who feels most like he could be an Undertale character. It’s easy to take for granted all the little nuances that Toby injects into his characters to make them stand out, which is probably why I felt so lukewarm towards Yellow’s cast up until Starlo’s introduction.

One thing I admire about Undertale’s core cast is that each character has their own unique manner of speaking, to the point where you can identify a character’s dialogue without needing a dialogue portrait or typer sound. Starlo shares this trait, speaking in a semi-stereotypical drawl while occasionally misspelling words (FEISTYJ, dual vs duel). It’s a small touch but it goes a long way to endearing me to the characters in these games.

Although Starlo is mostly a comedic character, he still has plenty of depth. Another hallmark trait of Toby Fox characters is that they have multiple sides to them that seem contradictory at first glance but actually tell you something profound about the character (Papyrus’ bravado masking his loneliness, Sans’ joking to cope with his harsh outlook, Alphys’ awkwardness stemming from her guilt).

Starlo also fits this trend, first presented as a dashing and charismatic lawman that is nothing more than the mask of a nerdy and immature farmboy. And I would say Starlo’s fatal flaw is immaturity—not because of his interests, but because of his attitude. Starlo treats his friends like playthings, takes what he wants from Clover and Martlet when he first meets them, and he acts utterly irresponsible with his (or rather, Blackjack’s) firearms.

We learn from Starlo’s mom that he once pined after Ceroba and that he took a long time to move on.

It’s also implied that Starlo had a grudge against Chujin, which could have been due to the two having differing opinions on human culture or Starlo’s own jealousy over Ceroba.

We can also see this immaturity reach an ugly conclusion if Ceroba is killed in the so-called false or “flawed” pacifist ending. Starlo previously trained Clover to carry the weight of taking a life and also taught them the value of sacrificing one life to save many, but Starlo immediately throws this out the window as soon as Clover acts (as far as he’s aware) in self-defense.

This is a case where I’d argue that Starlo is right but for the wrong reasons. Starlo’s not so much recanting his earlier philosophy as he’s simply upset because someone he cared about was sacrificed this time—had it been a stranger or a ne’er-do-well like Vengeful Virgil then I doubt Starlo would’ve parted ways with Clover so bitterly. That’s just my interpretation, anyway.

None of this is to say that Starlo is always immature. When it comes to his interactions with Ceroba he’s often the most sensitive and emotionally-mature person in the room, which is a trait that we only see grow in him after he gets a reality check in the Wild East. When trying to talk Ceroba down we see Starlo give his respect to Chujin, despite their past differences, and he’s patient and understanding to the utmost once the fight is finally over.

This doesn’t mean that Starlo is a doormat for Ceroba either, as we earlier see him confront her and call her out when he suspects foul play involving Kanako—he clearly cares for Ceroba a lot but won’t sit idly by while she ruins her life or the lives of others.

Honestly, Starlo’s bond with Ceroba is a contender for the most wholesome relationship (platonic or otherwise) in the entire franchise—yes, I’m actually saying that there’s an aspect of this game’s writing that rivals and perhaps even surpasses Undertale and Deltarune.

I realize a lot of my analysis of Yellow’s writing has skewed negative, but as a reminder I am grading this game on a curve because it’s a companion piece to one of the best-written games of all time. To give Yellow a bit more praise, I think it might actually do a better job than Undertale at portraying characters’ moments of vulnerability and allowing them to cut to the emotional core of an issue, as seen with Starlo and Ceroba’s late-game interactions as well as Clover’s ultimate fate and its aftermath.

Unlike Undertale, there was no moment in Yellow that quite made me cry, but moments in the pacifist ending came close. I consider this quite the feat because the final outcome of Yellow’s pacifist ending is easily predicted from the start and the way that it plays out is a concept that would be difficult for any writer to sell. Yellow was backed into a corner by being a prequel, whereas Undertale had free reign to tell whatever story it wanted. In many ways I feel Yellow’s ending did just about the best job it could with the hand that it was dealt—it’s not perfect, and in one or two areas I feel it overplays its hand (which I’ll cover shortly), but the writing succeeds far more than I would’ve thought it would have with such a concept.

Axis

This’ll be another brief entry, but I wanted to include Axis since he always seems to get left out of fanworks. I enjoy Axis but I’m not sure I fully understand him. His overall arc and goals are very straightforward, but for the life of me I can’t really nail down what his personality is. He’s funny and memorable, which goes a long way for me, but I can’t really wax poetic about him beyond saying that he’s your stock quirky robot. It is a bit of a shame that, like Dalv, he’s largely isolated to one area and has little to no interaction with the rest of the cast.

I suppose one thing that bothers me is how robots in this game aren’t treated as people, which feels at odds with the broader themes of Undertale. We’re taught that amalgamates and even a soulless flower are still people, so having robots that lack free will and don’t even count as EXP kinda rubs me the wrong way. I generally don’t like when fictional works treat sentient robots as less than human or “soulless.” In my view, the true point behind sentient robot stories isn’t to debate whether robots have souls, but rather to question what a soul is and who gets to decide who has one and who doesn’t, or whether they exist at all.

Robots in fiction are meant to be a reflection of humans, and the robots in Yellow could have been presented as a reflection of video game characters as a whole—can free will exist when you’re programmed to fulfill a function? Unlike in our world, souls are a scientifically measurable quantity in Undertale’s universe, so I guess Yellow’s portrayal of “soulless” robots works on a technicality, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Ceroba

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Ceroba is the most controversial character in the game, and I find my own opinions of her (and her family) to be polarized as well. In a neutral run she’s barely noticeable but in pacifist she eventually becomes the main focus of the story. I’ve seen some people criticize Ceroba’s level of focus, but I’d liken it to Alphys and Flowey’s elevated level of focus in Undertale’s true pacifist ending. In other words, it doesn’t bother me.

Ceroba’s personality is a bit of an anomaly for me in the sense that she’s not quirky like a typical Undertale character, and yet I feel that aspect of her works for the story that Yellow tells. Previously I mentioned how Martlet didn’t really “wow” me as a character in part due to her lacking a sufficiently “larger than life” personality, but I feel Ceroba succeeds where Martlet didn’t for me because (1) Ceroba is clearly not intended to be a comic relief character and (2) Ceroba often acts as the straight man to other characters like Starlo and the Steamworks machines, whereas Martlet often feels like she has no one to work off of her besides Clover (for whatever that’s worth). In many cases, Ceroba’s understated reaction to things or her attempts to parse or explain them rationally end up making scenes funnier, such as when Starlo cuts off her piece on the ethical quandary of his trolley problem.

Having said that, I do think it’s a bit of a missed opportunity that the game doesn’t expand more on Ceroba’s own interests or quirks outside of her family. While showcasing a character’s hobbies can sometimes feel like checking an item off of a list, it helps add a bit of texture to a character that makes them that much more believable.

Not knowing this information doesn’t “ruin” Ceroba or anything, but it’s a bit disappointing that most of her “talk” dialogue in the steamworks, while interesting, pertains to her immediate surroundings or her family and friends instead of herself. The most we get is that she used to have a gym membership and (if I recall) she was once a waitress. We later get to see her room and all that’s in there is a bed, a photo, and her clothes. After seeing all the loving detail put into Papyrus and Alphys’ living areas in Undertale, it’s such a shame to see Ceroba’s opportunity squandered.

Oddly enough, if there’s one existing bit of characterization that I think could’ve been retooled sightly, it’d be Ceroba’s dynamic with Clover. Ceroba is a mother who lost a child around Clover’s age (or younger) but she’s also distrustful of humans and had a husband who hated them. You’d think that Ceroba would react strongly to Clover one way or the other, either distrusting them as a human or having a soft spot for them due to Clover being a child, or feeling conflicted between these two outlooks. Instead Ceroba seems utterly casual around Clover.

Initially her laid back attitude served as a nice contrast to the overbearing wackiness of Starlo and the Feisty Five and helped endear Ceroba to me as a character, but it begins to feel a bit out of place when she says things like "I respect the hell out of you" to a child.

Maybe I’m overthinking it, but the way Ceroba treats Clover makes sense for how she’d treat a stranger who was a monster, given what we see of her personality, but I’m just not sure it makes sense that she’d treat Clover that way specifically. I’d be fine with it if the narrative unpacked the idea—maybe she’s casual around Clover because she’s too world-weary to muster a strong reaction, or maybe she’s forcing herself to act casual to hide her true plans for Clover, or maybe she never fully agreed with Chujin’s rhetoric on humans and is acting against them out of pragmatism, or maybe she never liked kids until she had one of her own, etc.

Speaking of kids, I guess there’s no avoiding the elephant in the room: Ceroba’s backstory. If I had to guess, I’d wager this is probably the most controversial portion of Undertale Yellow’s entire narrative, and I have a lot to say about it.

To start, I’ll say that I really like the way that (most) of Ceroba’s backstory is doled out to the player piece by piece over the course of a playthrough. As early as Snowdin you hear mention of Chujin, then in Wild East you can piece together from various bits of dialogue that Ceroba had a family that she’s reluctant to speak about. Steamworks fleshes out Ceroba and Chujin’s pasts considerably, albeit mostly hidden behind optional talk dialogue.

Steamworks also has one of my favorite scenes in the game when Ceroba learns why Chujin got fired—it technically doesn’t contribute anything major to the main plot, but it helps illustrate Chujin’s flawed methods that Ceroba willfully overlooks so that she can double down on furthering his “legacy.”

Right before Hotland is when the other shoe drops and Starlo confronts Ceroba—this was the moment that had me hooked on uncovering the mystery of Ceroba’s past. This leads right into the abandoned Ketsukane estate, which is another of my favorite sequences in the game. I was always a huge fan of Undertale’s True Lab and Ceroba’s house scratches that itch for me. The two locations have a very different tone and style of gameplay (or lack of), but both are dripping with unsettling atmosphere and environmental storytelling. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always been creeped out by abandoned houses—not decrepit haunted mansions per se, but places that were abandoned so recently that you’re not sure whether someone might still be lurking inside.

Unfortunately, I start to run out of nice things to say about this storyline as soon as Clover and Martlet enter the estate’s basement. Before we descend into that chasm, I want to make one thing perfectly clear: I am not a “Cinema Sins” kind of guy. I do not go into a work of fiction looking for inconsistencies to complain about. My philosophy is that I can overlook the occasional plothole or retcon or bending of the rules if it’s done in service to a good story or memorable character moment.

If anything, I find it annoying when a story tries too hard to cover all its bases with exposition out of fear that some smartass is going to find some plot detail to complain about—this just draws more attention to potential “plotholes” that could’ve easily been ignored. I don’t care if the eagles could’ve carried the ring to Mordor and I don’t care whether the ark of the covenant would’ve killed the bad guys in Raiders if Indy wasn’t there. At the end of the day, if a story is well told then I can overlook things like that, and if it’s not well told then my mind wanders and I begin to notice those sorts of things, but those nitpicks (more often than not) are not the underlying cause of the problem—lack of a compelling story or believable characters is.

So, getting back to the basement. Here we see Chujin’s tapes and the plot begins to lose me. Chujin wants to create a serum that will strengthen monsterkind and give normal monsters the power of a boss monster. All well and good. Where I start to take issue is the convoluted method of creating this serum and what it means for the story.

As a point of comparison, I always thought that the rule in Undertale of requiring a human soul plus a monster soul to pass through the barrier felt a little convoluted and contrived, but it seems to exist for the sake of forcing a “kill or be killed” confrontation between Frisk and Asgore as well as explaining why Asriel passed through the barrier with Chara’s soul but (presumably) Chara alone couldn’t. In this way, the rule acts in service to the story and creates memorable character moments with Alphys and Asgore and gives Frisk a stronger temptation to kill Asgore during their fight. The two soul rule is a bit clunky, but I can begrudgingly accept it. Chujin’s serum fulfills a similar purpose but is clumsier in its execution.

To start, Chujin’s serum also requires a human soul and a boss monster soul—this makes sense, as the goal is to turn monsters into boss monsters and one can assume that human souls have some kind of preserving property that would keep the serum stable.

On top of that, the human soul must also be “pure of heart, uncorrupted.” I thought nothing of this line initially until it was reiterated during Ceroba’s flashback and I realized why it was in the story.

This concept bothers me for a number of reasons and it’s technically not even a plothole or inconsistency. It feels out of character for Chujin to frame things this way given how he views all humans as evil, and this purity rule seems to exist solely as a plot device to explain why Ceroba enacts her plan in pacifist but not in neutral runs. I feel like the story could’ve come up with a more organic method of explaining why Ceroba couldn’t be present or was otherwise occupied during the steamworks section in a neutral run, plus I feel like she wouldn’t let something like “purity” get in the way of attempting her plan if she was that dead-set on it, given how rarely humans appear in the Underground.

Lastly, we learn that Chujin and Kanako are both boss monsters, or at least “carry the boss monster gene,” which is an odd concept to me. You could argue that this revelation technically doesn’t contradict anything established in Undertale, but like the pure soul rule it just bugs me. Maybe it’s because it reminds me of the early days when the fandom thought that all bosses in Undertale were boss monsters instead of just the Dreemurr family. I won’t waste time rambling about the particulars of boss monster lore, but I think what bothers me with Chujin and Kanako is that it feels like yet another contrivance to explain why Ceroba’s actions had to involve Kanako specifically.

I’ve mentioned that Undertale’s two soul rule feels somewhat like a contrivance. One could argue that the Barrier requiring seven human souls to shatter is also a contrivance, but I think what makes that easier to swallow is that it’s a rule that’s established fairly early in the game. The reveals of the Barrier’s two “rules” are spaced apart from one another and each are given dramatic weight and time for the player to dwell on their implications.

The mechanics of Chujin’s serum, on the other hand, rely on multiple contrivances that are all spilled out onto the floor at once in the final stretch of the game right before they become necessary to explain Ceroba’s motivations, which only makes their narrative purpose feel all the more transparent.

Getting back to Ceroba, we’re left with her plan and what she did to Kanako. Now, I’m going to give the benefit of the doubt here and say that I don’t mind the particulars of whether Ceroba’s plan involving Clover would have worked or not—as far as I’m concerned, Chujin’s plans could have been doomed from the start even with a “pure” soul. The point wasn’t whether Chujin’s plan would’ve worked but rather how Ceroba’s grief has turned her own life (and by extension the lives of her family) into a sunk cost—she feels that she has to go through with her plan or else all her family’s suffering was for nothing.

In many ways this makes the contrived requirements for Chujin’s serum feel less necessary, since the serum’s mechanics could’ve been kept vague or it could’ve even been implied that Ceroba was simply repeating the same experiments as before hoping for different results.

I’ve put it off long enough, but it’s time to talk about that scene. You know the one: the big reveal flashback at the climax of Ceroba’s pacifist fight. Again, I’ll try to be charitable and say that I don’t absolutely hate the idea of Ceroba testing Chujin’s serum on Kanako. I mean, I would hate the act on a moral level if she were a real person, but I don’t hate the idea as a story concept. Still, my charity has its limits.

I’ll just come right out and say it: the scene where Ceroba injects Kanako is hard to watch—not because it’s tragic, but because it’s just not a good scene. My original write-up for this part was far harsher, but I’ll spare the vitriol. This scene has been memed to hell and back by people more critical of the game and… I can’t disagree with them—this is my least-favorite scene in the game.

(Image from ScottFalco's "Undertale Yellow with a side of salt" video)

The most obvious criticism I’ve seen is the fact that Chujin specifically told Ceroba not to do the exact thing that she does. That’s a fair point and honestly, yeah, I think the simplest writing fix would’ve been for that line not to have been in Chujin’s tape to begin with so that Ceroba doesn’t look willfully ignorant on top of being recklessly negligent.

Tbh, it feels a little out of character for Chujin to say something like that because I got the impression that Chujin wasn’t always the most thoughtful or attentive dad. His own tapes mention that he didn’t keep an eye on Kanako when a monster was attacked in Snowdin, and even then Chujin was more preoccupied with tracking down the human than with comforting his own daughter. He made nice things for Kanako, sure, but even that could be explained as him being more wrapped up in the work than her. It’d be wrong to say that he didn’t care about Kanako at all, but I got the impression that he had the wrong priorities and it’d be fitting if Ceroba’s own actions followed that pattern.

That being said, I can’t solely blame Chujin’s warning for why Ceroba’s flashback doesn’t work. The scene as a whole is just dreadful, even when viewed in isolation from the rest of the narrative. There’s so many issues big and small with this scene, like Kanako being able to read the word “corruption” but not “extract,” Ceroba’s immediate turnaround after the slightest prodding, or the predictable outcome of the whole thing that’s dragged out for what feels like an eternity.

You know, I’ve heard some people critical of Undertale say that the true pacifist ending to that game felt maudlin—I disagree, but in some places I could see where they were coming from. Calling the Kanako flashback maudlin would honestly feel like letting it off easy. If I wanted to be mean I’d call it manipulative, but honestly I think a more fitting term would be a comedy of errors. It feels less like tragedy and more like dark humor bordering on self-parody of what an Undertale character’s sad backstory would be.

So what should’ve been done differently? The easy and safer option I’ve seen suggested would be for Kanako to stumble across Chujin’s research and inject herself, with Ceroba feeling guilt for allowing it to happen. I would prefer this over what we got, but I said earlier that I don’t completely hate the concept of Ceroba experimenting on Kanako, so how can that idea possibly work? Besides getting rid of Chujin’s overly-specific warning, I honestly think the best fix for this scene would simply be to not show it. Don’t remove the events from the backstory, but just don’t reenact them onscreen. Normally it’s better to show than tell, but there have always been exceptions to that rule.

I’m reminded of how Undertale didn’t show us Asriel’s death or the Dreemurrs’ divorce, and only offered a glimpse of Chara’s buttercup plan. These were cases where less was more—letting the players imagine these events in their heads sidestepped any potential tastelessness and seeing the aftermath of these events and how they affected the characters involved painted a vivid enough picture. I think Ceroba would be a perfect fit for a similar approach.

If we need to see something, then either portray it via montage like Asriel’s memories or only portray Kanako finding Chujin’s basement and Ceroba stumbling upon her after she’s viewed the tapes. Ceroba could then explain to Clover that Kanako pleaded with her for months or even years to let her help with Chujin’s experiments. With time Kanako only become more stubborn and their relationship more strained. The whole time Ceroba knew that only Kanako’s soul would work for the experiment but she tried to remain in denial and hope an alternative would present itself. After countless research dead-ends used up all but one vial of the leftover human soul extract, Ceroba gave in to Kanako’s demands in a moment of weakness. And that’s all it took—one moment she was there and the next she was gone.

Not to toot my own horn, but I feel this kind of summary would’ve worked better because it leaves things up to interpretation. Was Kanako still a child when this happened or was it many years later? Did Kanako understand what she was signing up for? Is Ceroba’s recounting of the events reliable or is she merely rationalizing her actions after the fact? It’s not perfect and it’s still somewhat “safe” compared to the game’s swing for the fences. Unfortunately, a big swing means nothing if it misses, and even less if the bat goes flying and hits someone.

Despite what I just said, the Kanako scene doesn’t ruin Ceroba for me as a character. It blemishes her boss fight for me, though I have other issues with that fight besides the flashback (as I’ve mentioned). When thinking back on this game’s characters and story, I mostly just ignore the particulars of the Kanako scene unless if I need to sit through it again. I view it as the equivalent of a flubbed line read or a boom mic visible in a shot--I can see the pieces that were meant to be there underneath the lackluster execution.

Surprisingly, Ceroba’s still my 2nd favorite original character in Yellow, though a lot of this is owed to her dynamic with Star, and part of me wonders if I like her more for the character she could’ve been rather than the character we got. Still, I’ll always remember the buildup to the mystery of Ceroba’s backstory, even if the reveal failed to deliver.

Flowey

Flowey is one of my favorite Undertale characters as well as the only character from Undertale featured in a recurring lead role in Yellow, so I was curious to see how this game would handle him.

When this game was first announced, many fans debated the “canonicity” of whether Flowey would have encountered the human who fell prior to Frisk and whether Flowey would retain his save abilities in such a scenario. Often this debate overshadowed the other aspects of Flowey’s portrayal, so to avoid doing the same, I’ll just say that I don’t believe Toby ever intended for Flowey’s save abilities to function in relation to a human like how they’re portrayed in Undertale Yellow. However, I don’t take issue with this “lore contradiction” because I feel that the way Flowey is utilized in this aspect works for the story that Yellow is trying to tell. Flowey’s role is to limit Clover’s own powers and to keep their story on-track.

It’s easier to tell a prequel story where the main character is destined to die if that character doesn’t also have the ability to return from the dead at will or turn back time, so having Flowey fill that power vacuum makes sense. Despite this, Clover is still given plenty of agency. Flowey only railroads their story in two notable instances: whenever Clover is going to live with Toriel or when Martlet offers to have Clover come live with her in a neutral run. Both outcomes would be a bit of a cop-out for the game’s main conflict and would be the boring option as well (sorry fanfic authors)—Flowey agrees with this sentiment, making it feel justified that he’d intervene.

Having gotten that out of the way, what do I think of Flowey’s portrayal? Compared to Undertale, it’s interesting to think how much more screentime Flowey receives in Undertale Yellow, despite Flowey being the main antagonist and ostensible central character of Undertale. Since Flowey’s story can’t be allowed to conclude in Yellow, his character is kept in some degree of stasis—in many ways, Yellow’s portrayal can be seen as “Flowey, but more.” That might sound like a pejorative, but for the most part I think it works here. Flowey’s interactions with Clover honestly make him feel a little underutilized in Undertale by comparison.

That said, Undertale was a game intended to have moments of isolation, so having Flowey chime in at every save point likely would have diminished that effect and also made Flowey less threatening due to overexposure. I think Yellow can get away with giving more screentime to Flowey because for most of the game his mask hasn’t dropped—he has every bit of ill intent that he did in Undertale, but for the sake of his plans he has to play along at being your friend for far longer than he did in Undertale.

The result is that very little of what Flowey says in Yellow can be taken at face value once you know his aims. Until that point, however, I think the game does a good enough job at keeping you guessing as to how far gone Flowey is and at what point in his moral decline this story is meant to take place. If someone played this game without playing Undertale first, they’d probably chalk up Flowey’s mannerisms to him just having an odd and occasionally morbid sense of humor, which isn’t far from the truth.

One thing that I appreciate about Yellow’s portrayal of Flowey is his dynamic with Clover—the game manages to thread the needle of not making their relationship an also-ran of Flowey and Frisk or Flowey and “Chara” from Undertale’s No Mercy run. For most of the game you get the sense that Flowey views Clover as a means to an end that he’s forced to humor and put up with, but that deep down he likely has some small sentimentality towards them (mainly shown in the pacifist ending).

I think Flowey’s relationship with Clover in neutral and pacifist gives us a look into how he likely acted around the other monsters of the underground back when he tried to solve their problems or form bonds with them—he can’t fully relate to them but is willing to fake it ‘til he makes it, or rather until they make it to the outcome that he wants. If I were to draw a more direct comparison, I think Flowey’s bond with Clover might be the most similar to his bond with Papyrus—he’s implied to have spent a lot of time with each of them and found them each amusing in their own regard, but ultimately Flowey isn’t above using them or casting them aside.

What I find especially compelling about Flowey and Clover is the turn that their partnership takes in Yellow’s No Mercy route. Here Flowey initially seems to be cautiously optimistic about Clover’s rampage, but as his advice is ignored he grows increasingly exasperated with their actions. It’s strange to say, but it’s a refreshing dynamic to see Flowey outright grow to hate his human companion—while he voiced plenty of insults and disdain towards Frisk, it came off more as condescension or an attempt at intimidation.

In Yellow, however, you can really feel Flowey becomng absolutely fed up with Clover, not just for their pushiness and disobedience in the no mercy route but also for the hundreds of runs where Flowey has had to string them along and, in the process, be strung along himself. This development is much better-paced in Yellow than Flowey’s turn toward fearing Chara in Undertale—it’s amazing what can be done when you’re allowed to have more than four conversations with a character.

That said, I don’t think there’s any one Flowey moment in Yellow that quite lives up to Flowey’s speech in New Home or the conclusion to his story in the form of Asriel—those two moments will forever be peak Flowey to me. When comparing Undertale Flowey to Yellow Flowey, it’s a case of quantity vs quality, but in this case the “quantity” is still pretty good.

If I had to voice any complaints for Yellow Flowey beyond a broad “it’s not as good as something near-perfect”, I will say that when Flowey’s mask does drop in Yellow, he doesn’t sound quite as crass or childish as he does in Undertale—something I feel is important to him as a villain, but this is a very minor nitpick since he has plenty of lines in this game that go hard. I didn’t even notice the difference in speech styles until I went back and watched footage of Undertale and realized “oh yeah, I guess he sounds a bit more childish here.”

I suppose there’s one other thing I should discuss regarding Flowey. This is a topic that I intentionally saved for last since I find it’s a perfect capstone for Undertale Yellow and my opinions on it: Flowey’s boss fight. If ever there was a case of “Flowey, but more,” it would be this fight. For years Undertale fans have speculated and wished and wondered what a fight against plain old vanilla Flowey would be like. Countless fangames and fan battles have tried.

Yellow opts for an unorthodox approach by centering the entire fight within Flowey’s mind—this framing is used to its fullest and then some, allowing for interface-screws and psychedelic attack patterns showcasing Flowey’s twistedness, his self-loathing, and his various forms of retraumatization.

Players are attacked by phantoms of any bosses that they killed, complete with Floweytale-esque corrupted designs. This aspect of the fight dovetails perfectly with Flowey’s comment about only enjoying the moments of Clover’s run where they “gave in” to their violent urges, and clearly these moments are etched in Flowey’s memories for Clover to relive.

Afterwards we’re treated to a peek behind the curtain at Flowey’s subconscious, featuring a collage of his first runs as a flower—this whole sequence adapts my favorite Flowey moment from Undertale while not tipping its hand too much by revealing Flowey’s true identity, as it easily could have in less-skilled hands. We’re given just enough to ponder without spoiling things for the mythical gamer who tries playing Yellow before Undertale.

Next up is a brief horror fakeout where Clover “reunites” with Martlet. I don’t have much to add other than the telegraphing being a bit obvious but not in a way that majorly detracts from the moment. Overall it just makes me consider that this fight as a whole might be scarier than anything in Undertale

Finally we have the climax of the fight. I’m not quite sure what to call it. Photoshop Flowey 2.0? To be brief, the visual spectacle shown in this phase surpasses not only the visuals of any sequence (so far) in Undertale or Deltarune, but I think it’s unlikely that future chapters of Deltarune will feature anything with visual flare on the level of this finale.

That’s probably the highest praise I’ve given to Undertale Yellow so far, which is what makes this next part so difficult. I’m sure this will go down as my hottest take in this entire review, and it breaks my heart to say it given the clear effort on display from the developers, but…

I did not care for the Flowey fight.

How can I even say that? Was all of my prior praise just a lie? Not at all—I meant every word of it and then some. So how is it possible that I didn’t like this fight? You’ll notice that I broke down the Flowey fight into its individual phases and aspects, praising each in isolation. You might also notice that my praise was aimed at the spectacle and underlying concepts of the fight, which are fantastic, but I had very little to say about the actual experience of playing the fight—and that’s because I found the fight to be an utter slog to get through. In hindsight, it might actually be my least-favorite fight in the entire Undertale franchise if we’re solely talking about the gameplay. I’d rather fight a Jerry than have to fight this thing again.

I’ll admit up front that I sucked at this fight when I played it. I sucked at all of Yellow’s final bosses and initially didn’t care for their gameplay. I eventually warmed up to Ceroba and Martlet’s fights as I got better and learned to beat them without needing easy mode, but the Flowey fight never clicked for me in the same way despite arguably being the easiest of the three.

So what’s the problem? There are little things here and there—I found some of the phase 1 attacks a bit obnoxious to dodge, though nothing major. I found the collision detection in the vine chase sequences to be a bit clunky, resulting in one or two deaths that felt unearned, but none of these issues are enough to sink the fight.

No, two major missteps that come to my mind are length and repetition.

Out of curiosity, after my neutral run I looked up gameplay videos of the Yellow Flowey fight and the Omega Flowey fight from Undertale: on average, Yellow’s fight took players twice as long to complete as the Omega Flowey fight. The difference is so stark that a “no hit” speedrun of Yellow’s fight with dialogue skipped, the intro cutscene edited out, and no attacks from killed bosses is still longer than an Omega fight played normally.

I want to be clear that my criticism here is not “it’s different from the Omega fight, therefore it’s bad.” The Omega Flowey fight, in my opinion, already drags at times, and it’s probably my least-favorite final boss in Undertale despite having the most effort put into it. I already take (minor) issue with the Omega Flowey fight for overstaying its welcome, but Yellow’s fight is beyond the pale. One nice thing I can say is that Yellow’s fight at least tries to break itself up with an intermission of sorts in the middle, but the whole experience is still technically one fight, so in some ways this just feels like padding, particularly the Martlet scene.

To give a non-Undertale point of comparison, the Flowey fight reminded me (oddly enough) of Darth Vader’s hallway fight scene in the film Rogue One. For many fans this scene was considered the highlight of the entire film, but a vocal minority at the time criticized this scene for being irrelevant to the film’s central characters and unnecessary to the overall plot—it was just something thrown in for fan service that could have been cut at no detriment to the overall narrative. While I can understand the latter perspective, I have no issues with the Vader scene at all—if anything I think it enhances the third act’s feeling of desperation. but overall it’s just a cool scene and that alone makes its inclusion feel warranted.

So why do I feel different about Vader’s scene compared to Flowey’s fight? After all, both are action-heavy “scenes” featuring the main villain of the original installment doing what they do best at the end of a prequel that wasn’t centered on them. The difference is that Vader’s scene is less than 2 minutes long. It’s closer to 60-90 seconds if we only count the portion where he’s onscreen and it’s less than 1% of the film’s runtime. Conversely, there’s a no commentary neutral run of Undertale Yellow on Youtube where the Flowey fight takes up about 15% of the overall run. Had Vader’s scene been that long, even if it were expertly shot and choreographed while being broken up with bits of pathos, I would’ve been checking my watch and waiting for it to be over.

Still, I could forgive the Flowey fight’s length if it had variety and was building toward something. Surely this is true of the Yellow fight, right? Well, I would say that the Yellow Flowey fight probably has the widest variety of total attacks in the game—it has six unique photoshop phases as well as copied attacks from previous bosses in the first phase. The problem is that these are part of his total attacks but not necessarily his most common attacks—half of the ones I just listed are optional depending on who you killed and the other half are for brief one-off phases.

For the majority of the fight you’ll be dealing with Flowey’s other attacks: his standard attacks, which are recycled ad nauseam with little variation and no iteration. In phase 1 this isn’t too noticeable if you only killed one or two bosses, but if you killed most (like I did) then every unique boss attack is sandwiched between a standard Flowey attack and a vine chase sequence, which really bloats the runtime of the fight. Still, I’d argue that phase 2 is the worse culprit in this regard.

For those who’ve played, let me know if this sounds familiar to you: four vines shoot up out of the floor, four piranha plants emerge twice spitting up bullets, two hands scroll across the screen lazily scattering pellets, three guns materialize and fire at your location, a bomb with an “X” or “+” shape detonates, a small circle with spikes orbiting it homes in on your position, and two cowboys riding horses gallop by until one explodes, all while the song “Afterlife” plays from the beginning. Now tell me: which part of the fight am I referring to? If you guessed “more than half of all attacks in the 2nd phase,” then you’d be right!

Now, some of you might be questioning why I’m complaining about lack of “variety” when I just listed off seven individual attacks and earlier I complained about Yellow bosses using too many types of attacks. Well, the problem is that these same seven attacks are all used in sequence with each other over and over and over with no progression—each phase of this lasts 25-30 seconds and it’s repeated at least 7 times in the fight (more if you die).

Combined, no joke, this one sequence of attacks lasts 3 minutes, longer than an entire pacifist Toriel fight (dialogue included). Don’t believe me? Look it up on Youtube. You spend at least 10% of the Flowey fight dodging this one attack pattern. You literally spend an entire Toriel fight dodging just one prolonged attack pattern. And as the cherry on top, “Afterlife” always starts over from the beginning each time this sequence plays—just to drill into your head how repetitive this all is.

To be fair, Omega Flowey has a similar problem of repeating a ~25 second attack phase multiple times, but I find it more bearable there because:

Omega Flowey randomly uses 3-4 types of attacks from his larger arsenal per phase instead of trying to cram nearly every single one in every time like in Yellow, which (ironically) makes the Omega sequences feel less samey

Omega Flowey makes use of loading, which spices up the encounters by feeling unfair initially until you notice the save messages in the corner that telegraph them

Each of Omega’s sequences has a Fight button that, though optional, acts as a goal and motivator, as opposed to the player just impotently killing time until the phase ends, and

Omega Flowey’s music doesn’t start over from the beginning each time he attacks.

Those last two might seem minor since they don’t directly affect the overall gameplay, but I honestly think they’re the most crucial because they give the player a goal and a feeling of progression, even if it’s illusory.

Probably my biggest issue with Yellow’s Flowey fight, even more so than the length and the repetition, is that it ultimately doesn’t go anywhere. It pretty much can’t be allowed to go anywhere due to the aforementioned “stasis” of Flowey’s character arc. Flowey can’t suffer a grand defeat or learn a lesson that impacts his character in any major way, which only makes me question why this fight is here at all.

Omega Flowey, while feeling hopeless and repetitive in some places, has a clear progression, goal, and conclusion that leads to Frisk either reinforcing Flowey’s beliefs or causing Flowey to seemingly question them and offer a path to the true pacifist ending. There’s a reason why the song “Finale” is considered an underrated gem—because it shows a clear turning point and building momentum in that fight. I’m not saying Yellow’s fight needed to copy this same moment, but instead it just peters out with nothing to show for itself. I mean, do I even need to say anything when the game itself basically makes my case for me?

So what would have been better? Personally, I think the first phase of the fight is largely fine as-is. Phase 1 is by no means without its flaws, but it’s the phase that’s most relevant to Clover and the overall story on a thematic level—the boss attacks are a consequence of Clover’s actions and the vine chases (though repetitive) are meant to symbolize Clover’s endlessly repeated runs. And the thing is? The pieces are already there for the fight to end in a more natural way that respects the player’s time.

If the fight were to be given a page 1 rewrite, then I would end it at the section with Flowey’s subconscious that shows his past. Why?

It’s a great scene on its own that should be kept,

The scene would actually be relevant to the fight instead of it going unremarked on like it currently is (seriously, Flowey has nothing to say about it?),

It would fit the central conceit of the fight—Flowey is able to peer into Clover’s memories but Clover can do the same to Flowey and that scares him, and as a result...

It would be a more believable and character-driven “off ramp” for Flowey to back out of the fight.

This last point is especially important because we see throughout Undertale Yellow that Flowey is constantly hiding from other monsters—he clearly doesn’t want to entangle himself with them or have them interfere in his affairs. We can also pick up from his dialogue in Undertale and, to a lesser degree, Yellow that Flowey doesn’t want to talk about his past life as Asriel.

Having Clover intrude upon that territory would likely spur a strong reaction from Flowey, to the point where he’d rather abandon his plans, albeit temporarily, than open up that side of himself to a stranger. This would not only make the fight shorter and end it on a more emotionally resonant note, but I feel it also makes more sense for the narrative and themes of Yellow.

Flowey’s rationalization for letting Clover go could be something to the effect of needing to “tidy up” his head space before he’s ready to share it with someone else. Perhaps in the process he could drop a hint that he’s only opened himself up like this once before (with Chara) or that he had thought he had buried those old memories for good.

I also feel like this explanation would work better in the greater context of Flowey’s actions—Flowey quitting the fight out of boredom raises the question of why he’d repeat the fight on future neutral runs or why he’d be so confident that he could absorb the six souls in Undertale if one was too stubborn for him. Instead, having Flowey be emotionally unprepared for his plan but trying to find a workaround would lend itself better to him trying again in the future—to him it was just a little slip-up that he can overcome with enough attempts.

I don’t want to give the impression that my critique here is “the Flowey fight wasn’t done the way I’d have done it, therefore it’s bad.” My suggested “rewrite” to the fight is merely piggybacking off of what was already there, which are great concepts that I could never have dreamed up myself. The problem is that there’s just too much. Way too much. It feels like not enough was cut during the planning stage and what we’re left with is the epitome of “less than the sum of its parts.”

Of course, my rewrite omits the 2nd phase entirely—something that couldn’t be done with the current fight since it’s the most visually stunning segment of the entire game—like it or not, that genie is out of the bottle.

If I had to give any suggestions to improve the fight that we currently have? I’d say that I don’t think the “afterlife” portions of the 2nd phase need to be repeated so often. I think the phase would be better paced if afterlife only occurred at the very beginning and very end, and instead each mini-phase just brought you right back to Flowey’s petal roulette wheel to take you into the next mini-phase.

None of this is to say that I hated the Flowey fight overall. I still love many of the concepts that the fight brings to the table and I’ll watch moments of it on Youtube from time to time, but I just don’t care to experience it again firsthand any time soon, which is pretty much the opposite of how I felt with the Omega Flowey fight.

Looking at Yellow’s final bosses now that I’ve completed them all, I think my favorite might actually be Zenith Martlet? Which is insane to me because I hated that fight the first time I tried it—anyone who shared a Discord with me can attest that I was complaining nonstop when I attempted that fight.

Even now I’d say the Zenith fight is sloppy and the bandaid solutions for it in the 1.1 patch only illustrate how unbalanced this fight originally was. I’ve never beaten it on 1.0, nor do I intend to, yet in 1.1 I’d say I probably enjoyed myself the most with this fight. It doesn’t overstay its welcome like Flowey, nor does it have anything as egregious as the Kanako cutscene in the Ceroba fight. It respects my time, it has great music (though that’s par for all the bosses), the attacks (while chaotic) mostly stick to a consistent handful of themes, and the narrative context of the fight works (minus the bit with Alphys’ lab).

At first I found the Zenith fight unfitting for Martlet as a character. I thought “what? Martlet isn’t some hidden badass,” but that was exactly the point—this isn’t who Martlet is, and reality catches up with her. The 2nd phase is my favorite part of the fight as we see, in typical Martlet fashion, she didn’t plan ahead and can only hopelessly flail about as the “enemy retreating” motif overtakes her theme. It’s a somewhat understated and undignified ending to the character and that’s exactly what makes it work—it’s another example of the game showing restraint and being all the better for it, as opposed to overreaching.

That said, if I wanted to cheat, I’d say my real favorite final boss is the Asgore “fight” from the false pacifist ending. It’s focused on the characters and their goals and it doesn’t try to be anything too flashy. It’s an even more understated yet fitting final boss than Martlet, though the rest of the “false” ending outside of Asgore is a bit lackluster since it’s just a glorified neutral ending.

Conclusion

To wrap things up, I’m sure you’ve all noticed the throughline here: Undertale Yellow is at its best when it’s tasteful and restrained, and at its worst when its ambitions run wild. Of course, that’s easy for me to say from the outside looking in. It’s likely that many of the things I enjoyed about Yellow were ambitious in their conception but were handled carefully enough to appear restrained and effortless. I have no intention of downplaying that—the project as a whole was ambitious, given the time and effort lovingly poured into it.

As I mentioned in the beginning, my criticisms are not intended to dissuade anyone from trying this game. I would not want this game to be forgotten, but I also would not want it to be uncritically praised as some flawless masterpiece that eclipses the original game—that not only does a disservice to the people who worked on Undertale but also to the people who worked on Undertale Yellow. Both games were carefully crafted and both games have their triumphs as well as their flaws.

The last thing that I would want any fan creator to take way from Undertale Yellow OR the original game would be “this was perfect, just copy what they did.” What’s important is understanding why things worked and where they could be improved. Despite Undertale Yellow’s reverence for Undertale, it takes risks and finds places to innovate over the original game. Not all of it works, but I can respect the effort.

And that sums up my overall opinion of the game—it’s a game that I like but a game that I respect even more. The best complement that I can give is that even the parts of the game I didn’t like still had good ideas evident within them. The pieces were there.

With some tweaks, fine-tuning, and the courage to reign in a couple aspects, I honestly think this game could be made to rival the original one day. But even if that day never comes, Undertale Yellow is still a fine game as-is. It’s not a game I consider “canon” like some fans have argued, but I still plan to replay it alongside the original in the future, and I can’t think of higher praise to give than that.

#undertale yellow #undertale #starlo #ceroba #martlet

[kimi-twstheadcanons]

Falling Asleep in their Class

(Featuring Sam)

-Headcanon

Pronouns: They/them

Note: Platonic friendships here! I’m tired from all nighters for assignments and I got new classes a while ago so I thought I’d write this for fun. I literally got called out in math by my teacher for dozing off. She wasn’t mean about it tho. :)

He’s offended. Are his classes simply too boring for you? Or do you just not care about these very important lessons? Either way, he finds it very insulting that you had the audacity to show up in his classroom just to sleep and not pay attention

He’s aware that his classes are more active compared to most other classes run by Mr. Trein, so others tend to stay awake

But you? You’re usually more up and focused compared to the others. He had assumed it’s because your learning things that you wouldn’t have learned in your world. Now that you’re falling asleep, are his lessons not as exciting for you anymore?

“Hold it right there, Pup. I need to have a word with you. Ace, Deuce, Grim, you three are excused.” He’d stop you before you walk out the door

Welp, you’re dead

“Pup, you’ve been falling sleep recently. You’re notes have been sloppy and you’ve been participating less than usual.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Crewel, but the Headmaster has me running around and doing jobs for him across campus. Then Grim broke something in the Octavinelle again so I had to work to fix it because I can’t afford to pay for it and-“

“Stop!” He cuts you off. You were expecting a scolding and held your head low

“The Octavinelle incident; I can understand. But you’re telling me that Crowley has been sending you out to do his jobs? That’s ridiculous! I can’t believe he’d have you do that while you’re doing so much already!” He raged

“Oh, you simply must get more sleep, pup. If you keep doing this late night routine you’ll ruin that pretty face of yours. On top of that, it’s not good for your health. Alright, here’s what we’re going to do,” He said sympathetically

You were surprised. You thought he’d be mad at you for making excuses. But instead he immediately believed you and took your side

He ended up letting you take your time to catch up on assignments and offered to help you with anything you need that may keep you up at night. He, of course, knows you have to magic. You have him as your homeroom teacher after all

He sees how hard you work and he just wants to help as much as he can since you have so much on your shoulders already

You got your sleep schedule back and now you’re doing better in class. You’re back to your normal self and that’s all he ever wanted. From now on you ask for his help more often if you know it affects you and he puts up no fuss

He won’t tell you, but he’s only doing so more than he needs to because you’re his favorite pup- erm…student

He’s actually pretty surprised. He hadn’t expected you of all people to fall asleep to his history lessons. You had seemed so invested when you got to NRC, he thought you’d at least last until next year

But then he started to realize that you dozing off wasn’t patterned like the others. While others tended to stay awake during interesting or new topics, you fell asleep all throughout and even for your favorite topics

That’s when he realized that you would even walk into the room tired and you had eye bags under your eyes. He wondered what could possibly keep you up so long or what would stress out your mind enough to keep you up

“Halt, (L/n). I’d like to have a word with you.”

You thought for sure you were dead

“Don’t think I haven’t taken notice of you dozing off. Care to explain your reasoning as to why?”

“I’m so sorry I’ve been sleeping through class this week, Mr. Trein! Headmaster Crowley gave me jobs and errands to run. He gave me time limits with those as well. Then something happened with Grim so I had to help with that. Then I had a late study session with Kalim and Jamil. But I was working late at the Mostro Lounge for some extra cash and-“

“Enough! Enough, I’ve heard enough.”

Oh, you are definitely sure you are dead

“I cannot believe the Headmaster would put so much on your shoulders! How irresponsible of him to not take into account that you aren’t like the other students and require much more time and attention?”

Huh?

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle everything. Including the extra cash. I don’t want you hanging around those Octavinelle students more than you already do. From now on if there is any issue that will halt your ability to learn please come to me. Understood?”

…well that was an unexpected response. But you nod and quietly agree nonetheless. You didn’t have the energy to retaliate so you just agreed. He excused you for the rest of the day saying he will tell explain you situation to the other classes. He also gave you more time to finish assignments for you to get more rest

He then proceeded to send Crowley a very detailed message complaining that he should stop putting so many responsibilities on you since you’ve already got so much on your plate. He also told Crowley that is he’s going to have you run around and least pay you a decent amount of money to live off of instead of having you work for at the Mostro Lounge for extra cash. He was livid to say the least

He’s mad! But slightly impressed? Out of all the rookies he teaches, your one of the ones he actually admires. You don’t have any magic, you’re not even from that world, and you have never even seen a flying broom in person your first day there so your achievements in his class were very astonishing

Even on days we’re you were least active, you never actually fell sleep, however. That was new to him

He didn’t notice anything was wrong because he was keeping his eyes on another student. He found out you had fallen asleep when your broom had drifted off and slowly bumped into him…with you sleeping on it!

Again, he’s impressed. But so mad that you thought it was appropriate for you to be slacking off!

He was prepared to yell at you to wake you up, but a closer look on your face showed that you weren’t just sleeping from boredom; you were exhausted. Like you had dark eye bags type of exhausted

That’s when he decided to shake your shoulder to wake you up. Not hard but just enough for you to feel it. If you fell asleep mid air and began drifting off, he wasn’t sure how much you could sleep through at this point. He wouldn’t be surprised if you had slept through the whole class adrift on your broom

Luckily him shaking your shoulder did the trick. You blinked and looked around, only to jump up and fall off your broom when you realized you where in front of your teacher

“(L/N)! What’s going on with you? You know how I feel about slackers!”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Vargas. I didn’t get enough sleep the past few days because I’ve been catching up on assignments for other classes.”

“So you spend you time sleeping in my class instead?”

“NO NO! I don’t mean to, I promise. I’ve just been running around for the headmaster and doing side jobs for extra cash. That’s why I’ve been working late for assignments! I’ve been trying to catch up.” You explain as best you can.

Vargas pauses and thinks for a moment. You, in your mind, come to the conclusion that you are in big trouble

“Go to the nurses office. Take a nap, go to your next class after the bell, and email me when/if you have to make up your missing work outs.”

…what now?

You take a moment to process what he just said. That was nowhere near the reaction you thought you’d get. Nevertheless you follow it anyway

Unlike the others Vargas isn’t on Crowley’s butt about it but he does have some complaints. He’d appreciate if Crowley wouldn’t drive his students to exhaustion before their PE classes, that’s all

(You may or may not also secretly be his favorite but he doesn’t really think about it much)

He literally caught you taking a nap outside his shop. You weren’t working for him today or anything. He just needed to make a trip to the main building and saw that you had fallen asleep in front of his shop. He’s impressed at how you’re so comfortable around his Mystery Shop

He approaches you carefully and gently wakes you up by shaking your shoulder. It took a minute but he eventually got you to open your eyes

You jolt awake after realizing where you were and what you were doing. You felt embarrassed but also concerned as how you thought that was a good idea

Sam wasn’t stressing over it. In fact, he just giggled and helped you up from the ground. He couldn’t help but wonder why you fell asleep in such an odd area

“Hey there, Little Imp! How’d you end up sleeping out here? You must have been pretty exhausted for you to doze off under my tree here.”

“Sorry, Sam, I didn’t mean to cause any trouble. I guess I just dozed off thinking this was a good spot. …now I see it wasn’t.”

Sam just smiles and gently laughs it all off to show you’re not in any sort of trouble

“It’s alright, Little Imp. What made you so tired in the first place, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I’ve just been running around doing a lot recently. Working at the Mostro Lounge to get extra change, helping Ace and Deuce study late, cleaning up the whole dorm, not to mention I’ve been running errands for the Headmaster for a whole week.”

Sam paused at that last bit. Everything else made sense but that last part got him thinking

“You’ve been running around for the headmaster? He doesn’t pay you?”

“He does! …just not enough to keep food on the table for more than 3 days a week. I use what he gives me to buy Grim his tuna.”

“And that’s why you’ve been working at the Mostro Lounge? Wow, that’s dedication. Let me guess; you fell asleep while waiting for me to get back so you can continue those errands he gave you?”

You nod

“Well, come with me then. I’ll get you what you need. And I’ll give you some food for you and Grim too. On the house.”

“Oh no, Sam! I can pay don’t worry about it!”

“No no, I insist. I’ll also get my friends on the other side to talk to Crowley for you. Now come on in, before it gets cold!”

Then ever since that chat Sam has been leaving small baskets of food on your door step every time you needed it. You’re not sure how he knows each time but you’re thankful nonetheless. And if you insist he allows you to work at the shop too.

You’re not sure how he did it but whatever he did got Crowley to pay you more. You’re grateful for him being such a good friend. He also allows you to fall asleep under the tree in front of his Mystery Shop any time you want

#twst #twisted wonderland #twst disney #twisted wonderland headcanons #twisted wonderland divus crewel #twisted wonderland mozus trein #twisted wonderland ashton vargas #twisted wonderland sam #twst crewel #twst trein #twst vargas #twst sam #Divus Crewel #Mozus Trein #Ashton Vargas #Sam

[enbesbians]

hi there, haven’t been able to write all that much lately which bums me out but i wanted to share a story of mine i think some of you may be interested in.

if anyone here doesn’t know, im experienced within sex and im a very erotic person online as well as in real life. i haven’t had many sexual partners but with the partners i had been with, ive done a lot of experimenting. i wanted to share the first time i used a strap on a girl and the embarrassment that held within that.

during the springtime after my birthday, i had taken upon myself to invest in a strap on. i would always jokingly look on sites like adam and eve, window shopping at all the ones id like to get, feeling as if id never be able to, mostly cause i was scared shitless of my parents finding out that their offspring was buying a sex toy, let alone a fucking strap on. i went to spencers where they had a very limited selection, i wasn’t too picky, even though i stood in that section for god knows how long. it was a gummy purple five inch dildo, with a black harness that felt like a belt of a car— it was rough, complicated and left my skin feeling like i had rug burn. maybe it was because i didn’t know how to properly put it on or maybe the material was just that shitty… i don’t have it anymore so i can’t really test that theory.

my girlfriend at the time and i were very awkward with one another, we couldn’t even look at each other without geeking out and needing to squeal but when i had sex with her the first time (without the strap) it wasn’t as bad as i thought it would be. i was lucky enough to have a good enough tongue and a perverted mind where my hands would touch all over her like she was gold. the lead into that was funny though… i kept laughing and hesitating to do things like kiss her neck, touch her thighs… even taking her bra off, my hands were sweating and it seemed like the clip could not budge. i accidentally hit her nose (twice i might add) and i was not able to use dirty talk for the life of me… i hated my voice and saying ‘baby’ to her during a time like this made myself want to cringe knowing that i was able to hear what she could. but as we eased our way into it, the better it became and the more relaxed we started to be. by the point of me getting the strap, we had sexted two nights before, me being confident thinking i can totally ace the work of a strap on due to the numerous homemade lesbian porn videos of women straight banging their scene partners. she didn’t know i would buy one and she didn’t even mind the idea that we’d never even use one, but i got so turned on by the image of me using it on her so i worked on impulse and got it.

as the weekend approached, i believe the last day i was going to spend the night, i showed it to her. she giggled so hard, covering her face, telling me how she couldn’t believe i owned one. she was more excited than i thought she would’ve been and it only built the start of my ego to think id be any good at using it. thing was… my anxiety began to rise as things got more intimate. i felt like i couldn’t kiss her correctly and touching her body felt like my first time, shaking hands, constant deep inhales, and i would stutter, tripping over my touch as i tried talking sexy to her.

putting it on in front of her felt like i was being watched by the devil in the depths of hell… maybe even deeper— my body was so hot, i couldn’t stop trembling and i almost dropped it i think three times. she was nervous too and with the lack of communication it didn’t help much of anything.

i didn’t know how to start… i knew to prep her with my mouth and fingers and lube but as i started, it took so many times to get it inside of her… i kept saying i was sorry, asking her if she was okay and the frustration on my face was enough to almost break the mood. with her laying on her back, i finally got myself inside of her. moving my hips felt like i was pushing a bolder— they were so stiff and inconsistent. they got sore so fucking quick and i ended up stopping so many times just to ease the tension. it felt like hours and nothing was progressing and took into account that maybe using a strap was not something id ever use again. she didn’t cum from it so i just took it off, feeling embarrassed and stupid for not looking into how to use the damn thing. i just continued to do what i usually did and left it at that.

as some of you may know i value my partners pleasure and even if they’re satisfied, i strive to be better and with that night alone, i thought of the worst… i thought she was going to break up with me. i thought she wouldn’t think of me as this could person she’d always seen. i felt like i had ruined myself and there was no fixing it. i thought she was going to hate me. fortunately, all of my worries were resolved by her saying it was okay.

the next time we used it was probably a half a month later and it worked better… to put it lightly. she did cum from it and that eased me up by a million. i still didn’t think id be able to use it as much as i wanted and with her i almost didn’t. i was too worried thinking that id be worst than the first time and each time we had sex i thought she’d view me in a way that i was unable to pleasure her. as time continued and i let that worry slip, build up my strength in my hips and my stamina, it got better.

that’s pretty much it i guess… im too lazy to go too much in depth but for people saying im a sex god… i wanted people to know that i most definitely was NOT one. i was a shy, eager and anxious dude and with that girl, i felt like my sex performance was the most lackluster… if you want any more stories about my experience… you can ask, im gladly willing to share.

#fern talks🍃

[shellxrls]

okay someone asked but I can’t find the post, here’s my tips on shifting.

first of all, it’s all about belief, as long as you fully believe that you can do it then you can (this gets much easier when you’ve done it for the first time cause well, you know you can do it)

you don’t need a script or anything like that!! some people prefer it but it’s not a necessary thing! though for beginners I would recommend it because it just helps get ur thoughts in place!

always be safe when shifting!! make sure to have safe words in place!! but also know that it is not possible to get stuck in ur dr! safe words just make it easier.

use subliminals! but be careful with these, make sure to use ones you trust. some of them can have horrible messages or manifestations in them.

okay so I tend to use a method, you totally don’t have to tho. I just find it makes it easier for me.

I’ll share the method that I use because I’m not sure if I invented it or if it’s just uncommon. I thought of it anyway.

the tv show method

- get comfortable and calm. I recommend guided meditation to ground yourself!!

- put on your favourite tv show, and really concentrate on it for a while, make sure you’re fully invested in the plot and that it’s what’s taking up most of your mind.

if any other thoughts go through your head that’s fine!! just let them pass.

- when you feel ready, imagine that you’re watching the show in your dr

- visualise your dr, the things around you, the sounds. try to feel the feelings that you might be feeling. notice things.

- say affirmations if you would like to. or count to one hundred. Or just keep visualising.

- when you feel ready to shift, close your eyes

- concentrate on the sound of the tv show and say affirmations

- visualise and affirm until you feel that you’ve shifted

- open your eyes when you are certain you’re in your dr!!

good luck <3

- rafe shifter

ANON BABE THANK YOU SO MUCH. if i’m gonna be honest, all this talk of shifting is making me want to try again sooo badly. i’m so grateful that you guys are giving advice and stories as well bcuz it truly motivates me sm !! i might start creating a visual diary/moodboard for now and then when i get back from my spring break trip rlly try with the intent to shift. the tv method also sounds great so i might try that when i do intend to shift.

although i haven’t shifted yet, i’d love to give my take as well bcuz quite a few ppl have asked for advice, and i think it wld be nice just to have the perspective of someone who has been rlly into shifting, but hasn’t quite yet achieved it !!

try to do basic research initially just to get a proper framework of shifting and have enough knowledge to keep up with the main linguistic terms (e.g script, cr, dr, etc). i’m not sure what the best current resources available for that is, but i know amino used to be great for finding shifting communities, and i bet tumblr also has good resources. although don’t overload yourself, it’s good to get diff perspectives but remember shifting is largely a personal experience and so ultimately whatever you choose to do has to feel write for you. for example, as rafe shifter said not everyone has to have a script, although some do find it rlly helpful as a resource.

for new shifters, don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t happen immediately. i know a lot of ppl shift to get out of a bad situation/mental state, but i personally think a large part of the energy it takes to shift is mental, and so to achieve that you should try to take care of yourself and nurture your mental health as much as possible— the more you focus on caring for yourself and your mind, the stronger it’ll get and the easier it’ll be for you to shift <3.

now for my own experience, i personally used to use the pillow method and the raven method the most, although looking back i feel like they were limiting bcuz due to the sleepy sort of state i used to be in it wld make it difficult for me to truly visualise my dr. however, one method i’d highly recommend is the estelle method (i’ll explain it in a sec), it sounds kind of strange but honestly it was the closest i’d ever been to shifting and i truly never recovered r from that fraction of a second where i literally felt myself in my dr. i can still picture it to this day and its own of my biggest shifting motivators <3.

ok anyways, here is the estelle method explained:

Step 1: Get in position. You can lay stand/sit/lay you want as long as you're comfortable.

Step 2: Play a song. Preferably something you associate with your dr or something that lets you feel connected to it. While this song is playing you’re going to imagine slow dancing with someone from your desired reality. It can be anyone: your s/o (i recommend this one lol) best friend, enemy— anyone.

Step 3: Imagine. I recommend closing your eyes for this to truly be immersed. You don’t have to actually dance, but play out the whole scenario in your mind and rlly let your imagination loose, try to imagine the landscape and the scents, anything you can. When the song ends, imagine the person from your desired reality letting go of you and saying "Y/N, it's time to go home." After they say that, they should lead you through a ‘door’.

Step 4: Affirm. Once you are inside the door, you are going to do "I am" affirmations (I am shifting to my desk reality, I am in my desired reality, etc.) anything that’ll help cement your belief really.

Step 5: Finished. When your vision goes black, you can open your eyes. You should be in your desired reality.

i think it’s a very beginner friendly method, it’s great for visualising esp if you have a song that you strongly associate with your dr and you can even have fun with it bcuz i find it’s not as exhaustive as other methods !!

remember to be safe and take care of yourself darlings !! feel free to pop into my inbox with questions for me (or rafe shifter anon if she doesn’t mind) about shifting as well, i’d love if we could have a whole shellxrls shifting community lol.

#sorry this is so long omg i knew i’d start yapping if i got the chance 😭😭 #asks.ᐟ ⋆｡˚𖦹 #;rafe shifter #;chatting #shifting #reality shifting

[coelacanthking]

What the fuck is up with Mirage?

[[Spoilers for Rise of the Beasts under the cut.]]

I had to take a whole 24 hours to process ROTB. Damn, it was so good. I have not latched onto anything Transformers related for such a long time: so much about it highlights what we love about Transformers, and what it means to be a Transformers fan. But I’ve been hyperfixating on the star of the show–Mirage–since before I walked into the theater. He’s cocksure, carefree, and so damn loyal. And he ain’t bad to look at either. But I had to look past my infatuation to see that there is inherently something very, very strange about him that I haven’t seen anyone else talk about.

Absolutely no hate going forward, just observations.

Mirage is absolutely not your typical Cybertronian. As we all know, your average bot will have one alt-mode that they can scan new facets to as they desire, shedding them as they go. Some are even triple changers, able to go from alt to alt. In fact, I think Bumblebee qualifies as a triple changer in this movie. Perhaps something happened between his own film and this one, who knows. But as far as we know, that’s the extent of alt-mode limits.

Mirage is not a fan of limits. In the scene when he was trying to convince Noah to join the Autobots, Mirage was able to flip from alt to alt to alt (then onto another alt) absolutely effortlessly. He’s able to use his t-cog like a freaking Rolodex, spinning up a new one whenever he has a mind to. This is very unusual in of itself, since we don’t see any other bots other than he and Bumblebee taking new alts for the whole movie.

And then there’s his illusion work. I was only a little disappointed that none of his iconic invisibility was used, but the mimicry (which seems to be a page he took out of Hound’s book) is well done and seems to be something he is very comfortable and skilled using. Again, I can’t recall another instance of another Cybertronian having a skill quite like this one, in this or any other movie.

Ah, and let’s not forget the little bit of himself that he peeled off and flipped to Noah, which morphed into a great little handheld weapon. So damn strange.

And then there’s the power armor.

I don’t know if Noah’s handheld helped to integrate Mirage onto his body, but that is without a doubt NOT something we’ve seen before in a Transformers series/movie. There are the exosuits that Spike and Daniel wear in TF the Movie ('87), and Verity's armor in Last Stand of The Wreckers, but those are just fitted suits. The closest thing I can think of is the Apex Armor in TFP, and that isn’t a sentient piece of technology, just something that snaps into place as it’s engaged.

So what’s the point of all this rambling?

I think Mirage is an Outlier.

And not just any Outlier. As we know from the comics, Outliers come in so many shades, and no two individuals are ever the same. But there seems to be no limit to Mirage’s abilities. He is perhaps the most impressive Outlier in any Transformers continuity, or at least one of the very few of his kind left alive since the fall of Cybertron. And perhaps this is the reason for his attitude; after a Cybertronian lifetime of chafing under scrutiny and trying to be made sense of, my man said 'screw it' and invested in himself. Maybe these abilities of his are the reason he’s so willing to throw himself into everything he does, without hesitation or sense of self-preservation. Because he can adapt to whatever situation he finds himself in.

“There are more like you?”

“Like me? Naw.”

He’s a big deal, and he knows it.

#Transformers #Transformers: Rise of the Beasts #TF #TF ROTB #Autobots #Cybertron #Mirage #TFMIrage #ROTBMirage #Autobot Mirage #Spoilers #TF Mirage

[thebibutterflyao3]

Day 12 - Prompt: Question @wolfstarmicrofic

January Daily Series - 624 words

<<<Previous Part OR Start Here

Sirius looked over his shoulder with a smug grin and an arched eyebrow. He’d clearly caught Remus’s avid nodding at his admission. Remus smirked back at him, trying to ignore the twist in his gut every time Sirius smiled at him.

“Can I ask you a question?” he said.

Remus blinked rapidly, then nodded again. “Go on.”

“Do you like living here?”

Of all the inquiries that Sirius could aim his way, that was one that Remus wasn’t expecting. Based solely on the bloke’s tendency to stare at his scars, he was preparing for a little deflection of his own. Instead, he had to abruptly redirect his line of thought. He lived here because his parents did. It wasn’t an intentional decision on his part to be born in this specific town. Although, he supposed staying here was a choice.

“Not especially. I’ve just never had a compelling reason to leave. My parents live here, and so does Lily.”

“Not for long!” Lily interjected, pointing at him. “Only a matter of time before I leave you for London.”

Remus rolled his eyes. “Sure. You’ve been saying that for literal years, Lily. I think you’re stuck with me.”

“Nonsense! I just haven’t squirrelled away enough money yet.”

“I’ll hide in your luggage.”

Lily puffed air through her teeth. “Pfft, I’d like to see you try.”

“You have a lot of clothes to pack, I think I could manage it.”

Sirius glanced between them and laughed. “You two are as codependent as me and James.”

“Maybe more,” Lily said. “We grew up together. Remus is the brother I never needed.”

“And you’re the sister I didn’t want,” he snarked, dodging her hand swatting at him.

“Oh hush. You love me.”

Remus increased his stride and draped his forearms on her shoulders. “Now that’s true, but you can be bloody annoying.”

“Only because I’m always right.”

“Disturbingly so. You should be a fortune teller.”

Sirius watched him and Lily banter with a delighted grin on his face. His eyes flashed with an emotion Remus couldn’t quite identify at first. If he was pressed for a guess, he’d say…nostalgia. It was similar to the way that Lily watched Padfoot bound from the sand to the sea, likely thinking about her childhood dog, Rhett.

“I would rather read palms. That way, if they don’t like my predictions, I can say, ‘I’m simply reading what it says in your life line, darling,’” Lily said, adopting a deep, dramatic American accent. It reminded him a little of Judy Garland, his mum’s favourite.

“Clever. Plausible deniability.” Remus tapped her temple lightly. “You always think two steps ahead.”

Sirius’s pace slowed until he matched Remus’s stride. He ignored it. Remus didn’t want to expose how deeply he was already invested in Sirius’s every movement, facial expression, and the intonation of his voice. Not until he knew for sure that Sirius was actually interested. Otherwise, Lily said it was just a bit creepy.

I mean, I did look-up his social media last night. Maybe it’s time to embrace that I am a bit creepy.

He wasn’t sure what was worse, his creepy cyber stalking or the obsessive mental dossier he’d assembled of everything he’d learned about the man. At least he acknowledged the need to conceal it. People did tend to find his fixations strange unless they were dating. Then, it was “romantic” and “thoughtful” that he could recall their favourite childhood television show that was mentioned off-handedly two years ago.

It was an unusual skill, to be fair. Remus thought he would have been quite good on those old newlywed game shows. Even if they weren’t married, he’d get every question right.

I know who you are. I just wish you’d see me too.

Next Part>>>

#the marauders #remus lupin #sirius black #wolfstar #lily evans #wolfstar microfic

[sitron-sunni]

I watched the new episode of 9-1-1

a personal essay on queerbaiting (sorta)

I watched the new episode of 9-1-1, and immediately burst into tears as the credits started rolling.

Then I rewound the last six minutes, and watched the scene again, pausing to rewind the kiss. Again. And again. And again.

We got a kiss. I didn’t know we were getting a kiss. I sorta knew we were getting bi Buck, but I didn’t know we were getting a kiss. After last week’s episode, a lot of people were 100% convinced we were getting bi Buck. I saw their reactions before I watched that episode, too, and I was so confused once I finished it. Had we seen the same episode? That guy, Tommy, Buck’s so-called bisexual awakening-guy, was barely in there. He had about two memorable lines, and then he was in the background of a different shot, where he received a job-well-done slap on the shoulder from Buckley. That last one’s the one people were focusing on online. Look at the way this is framed, look at how he’s positioned, between Buck and Eddie. This is foreshadowing how he’s gonna get between them. Buck and Tommy is gonna be the gateway into buddie. They’re actually gonna do buddie, why else would they introduce a relationship between Buck and Tommy?

Reader, I’ll keep it straight with you. I did not believe them. After a while I gathered a lot of people already knew the name of the next episode; Buck, Bothered and Bewildered. They’d seen some stills, they knew there would be conflict and jealousy within that trio. They were putting it all together with comments and hints dropped by the actors. All those things added up, and it did paint a far more convincing picture. And I thought it was fun! I reblogged a few posts about it, I think, or at least I liked some. But the fact remains: I did not believe them. I thought, oh, imagine how cool it would be if they actually went there. I thought, yeah, realistically it would make sense to bring in a third person if they were actually gonna do it. That way they could test the waters, gauge audience response, and it could work as a catalyst for the relationship after so long. But mostly I thought Okay, so they’re gonna bring in Buck’s fear of not being enough for the people he loves again, this time through his friendship with Eddie, and we’re gonna get some sort of final resolution for that. Like, a big moment of catharsis. Or something along those lines, anyway. It just seemed to me like the most realistic thing that could happen. I mean, the idea of canon buddie was nice, of course it was! The queerbait is why I started watching the show in the first place: I wanted a good queerbait! But ultimately, a ship like that going canon was completely unrealistic. I speak from experience, after all.

Maybe it would’ve been different if I was younger. I remember being in fandoms when I was a teen. I remember reading theories, watching youtube-videos with “proof” that this or that was real, that it was gonna go canon. I remember getting my hopes up, thinking Oh my god what if they’re actually gonna do it!? for shows and pairings that, in hindsight, were completely unrealistic. Maybe that’s why I, even with fairly good evidence in front of me, didn’t actually get my hopes up this time. Because why be that stupid? Why invest emotionally like that? Why not just enjoy what we actually had instead, and then get anything extra from fanworks? Haven’t we learned by now?

I woke up this morning and opened tumblr, and I read half a sentence about how we actually have bisexual Buck confirmed canon now, before I quickly closed the app to avoid too detailed spoilers. Oh my god they were right! I can’t wait to watch the episode, I thought happily, and went on with my day. I opened the app again a few hours later, and scrolled for a few minutes, until I saw a brief glimpse of one, maybe one and a half gifs. Bucks face, Tommy’s face. Warm orange-y yellow lighting, Buck’s loft, you still owe me a beer. Close the app, move on. There were other posts throughout the day, more glimpses, all along the same lines as the first one. The last one came late in the evening, this time on twitter. Just the word in all caps; ANNOUNCEMENT, and then Bucks face and a bisexual pride flag.

And then finally, finally, after I’d brushed my teeth and gotten into bed, I was alone with my laptop, and I could watch the episode. The hype had built up, I was so excited to finally watch it. I was internally vibrating just a little bit. I was giggly, I was grinning widely, I was making comments to myself out loud, and laughing. I said oh my god, they’re really laying it on thick. I remember watching that scene for the first time and thinking how Tommy really looked so nervous at some points. That last one I found interesting. I really liked the actor’s portrayal; His facial expressions were quite subtle, and I thought he captured that nervous feeling so well. Maybe I took such notice of it because, well, I wasn’t quite expecting it.

I wasn’t expecting nervousness in an interaction between Buck and Tommy, because I still wasn’t actually expecting anything. At least I don’t think I was. Even with everything I’d seen online. Even as I was watching the show, I convinced myself. Those words, you still owe me a beer, they’ve misinterpreted them. They think it’s an invitation to a date because Buck’s jealousy in this episode is making it more plausible than ever before. Sure, the show’s leaning into it this time, but they’re gonna pull the rug out next episode. No, of course it wasn’t an invite to a date, what show were you watching, are you delusional? It’s just gonna be one week of people speculating and theorizing and building it up, and then the show’s gonna resolve it with some no-homo followed by a nice new buddie moment. The buzz will die down, and things will go back to normal.

And then the kiss happened. And then I burst into tears.

And now I think, oh my god isn’t it wild that they’re introducing a new romantic relationship for one of the main characters, and for the entire lead-up to the relationship, both Buck and Tommy are entirely focused on Eddie? Like, they’re just making everything about a third person! Imagine if they did this for anybody else! and, oh my god Tommy’s gonna break up with Buck because Buck’s basically already dating Eddie or something, isn’t he? and, oh my god it’s gonna be glorious! and, oh my god I can’t wait!

And I’m also thinking, I was wrong, and you were right. And I’m so happy I could cry.

TL;DR: If you and I share sterek, or destiel, or god knows what other similarly-shaped trauma, 9-1-1 might heal ya.

#911 abc #911 spoilers #buddie #bucktommy #911 meta #Look it's 3:45 in the morning and english isn't my first language #so this might just be a big pile of nothing #but i just had to get it down because i felt it so deeply #(also just for the record- i don't think 911 or buddie has ever ACTUALLY been queerbait #that was just my assumption before i started watching the show) #anyways. #happy bisexual buck day to all those who celebrate #goodnight<3

[rallamajoop]

Lab Photos and Documents from Resident Evils 7 & 8

Near the end of both Resis 7 and 8, the player character gets to explore a laboratory full of significant documents and interesting photos, textured and angled such that it’s very hard to get a good screencap. So here’s a huge dump of all the relevant image assets I could find to extract from both game files (plus some rambling about everything that got recycled between them, because spot-the-reused-asset is still my favourite game right now).

Photos from Lucas' lab in Resident Evil 7

The photo of Mia with Eveline in front of the tanker can be found at the end of the Mia video tape, though it also shows up again in Lucas' other lab in the Not A Hero DLC. That DLC also throws in a few new photos of Lucas' creations.

And moving on a game...

Photos from Miranda's Lab in Resident Evil 8

(Apologies for the long post above the cut, but tumblr doesn't seem to let you tile images below a 'Read more', unfortunately.)

What’s interesting is that most do seem to be legitimate photos of the characters’ real-life face models, not just renders of their 3D game models. Whether the human models themselves posed for these or whether their likeness was simply photoshopped onto scenes composed without them I haven’t been able to find out (though the latter seems more likely to me, given that most face models don't even seem to have known what character their likeness would be used for). Either way, there’s an eerie realism to these that doesn’t occur in many other parts of the game, and it’s effective in its own uncanny way.

Since both games refer to the same research at the same lab, it's probably reasonable that some of RE8 photos are just slightly-adjusted copies of those from RE7 ‒ those two shots of Eveline in the lab most obviously. And we're probably just supposed to politely ignore how obviously Miranda's just been selectively edited into that original pic of Eveline with the scientists. *cough*

In fact, if you look closely, even that big group photo of Eveline with the research team and transport operatives has actually patched in both Mia and Eveline from that earlier photo of them standing in front of the tanker. In fact, Alan (Mia's partner in RE7) isn't even from a photo at all: that's a drawing from a piece concept art (no wonder they've got him standing at the back!) As a minor role who appeared in no photos in RE7, I assume they just didn't have any good shots of his face model available.

I'm a little suspicious even Miranda's face in the group shot has been edited in from one of her other photos, but the match isn't quite perfect enough for me to be sure.

Even that photo of the needle going into the egg and the developing foetus isn't new: you can see the same needle shot in some of the RE7 documents, and even the foetus development series gets an angled scan-over in the RE7 ending sequence.

Mind you, some of those "photos of Eveline" may actually not be Eveline herself ‒ text on them in the lab itself suggests they're photos of other members of the E-series, sacrificed during necrotoxin tests. Which makes it rather odd that the figure in the second photo is an adult man who looks nothing like Eveline, so I can only assume some wires got crossed somewhere in the dev team.

(Also odd: the suggestion that there were multiple E-series subjects, some of whom were put down for experimental purposes, even though Eveline herself is labeled E-001. But let's not pretend RE lore has ever been super-consistent at the best of times.)

RE8's "lab photos" also include a couple of shots of a man in snow gear who's apparently Spencer of Umbrella-fame, presumably for all those fans who don't feel it's a proper Resident Evil game if there's not an Umbrella in it somewhere. They're both about as rough as that one piece of concept art of Alan, so I'm guessing whoever created them was about as invested in that topic as I am.

Somewhat more interesting to me are the two shots of Miranda with babies. The second obvious Eveline, but the first is presumably of Miranda with Eva, way back in 1920 or so ‒ demonstrating nothing so much much as that in a full 100 years, Miranda hasn't even slightly changed how she does her eyebrows. /s

#Resident Evil Village #Resident Evil 7 #Mia Winters #Eveline #Mother Miranda #RE assets #reused assets #RE lore #meta

[snake-cabin]

Hi!!! Just came across your blog from the tea prompt for Dabi and Shigaraki, and was hoping I could humbly request earl grey tea and coffee for Dabi? Entirely up to you and at your leisure, of course!! ^w^

hiii!! once again, i have no problem doing both :)

tw: possessiveness, mentions of 18+ content but nothing too explicit.

♡dabi♡

earl grey tea: how do they court their s/o?

The way Dabi asks you out is both unexpected and abrupt, as well as a long time coming. What started as a casual one night stand hookup turned into running into each other by chance a week or so later, both of you on your way to get coffee and deciding to tag along to the shop you frequent together, after which you exchanged contact info. You don’t expect him to text you right away, if at all, but you wouldn’t mind reaching out the next time you found yourself feeling a little bored. Much to your surprise, however, Dabi does text you first.

What are you doing later, his speech bubble reads, plain and simple.

Not much, you reply. What about you?

He’s pretty to the point when he tells you he wants to hook up with you again, and since he was so good the first time, you figure why not.

After that night, you find yourself growing attached, thinking about him when he’s not around, wondering if maybe he’s thinking about you too. Several hook ups, casual coffee dates, and text conversations later, you’re curled up to his side watching some movie neither of you are particularly invested in.

“Hey…” you begin, afraid to have the conversation that’s been on your mind for a couple weeks now. “I think we should stop doing this.”

“Yeah,” he sighs, “this movie isn’t even that good anyway…” He gives you a look that you know only ever leads to one thing, all that cerulean swimming with lust.

“No,” you clarify, putting a little distance between you and him as you sit up and settle yourself on the couch across from him. “I mean us— you and me— this. I think we should stop seeing each other.”

All that lazy charm he usually carries so well suddenly drops, flickering into fear and confusion for a moment while his mouth hangs open with words he’s not yet sure he’s ready to say.

In his moment of pause you keep talking, telling him in the most unattached, nonchalant way you can that you don’t think you and him are on the same page, that, at this rate, you’re just going to get hurt, having developed stronger feelings for him than you ever intended.

You just never could’ve guessed that he was also currently facing the same predicament.

“I haven’t been seeing anyone else,” he admits, much to your surprise. You almost don’t believe him, but there’s something in his eyes, something about the way he says it that makes you think maybe he’s telling the truth. “Not since the coffee shop. I haven’t seen anyone else but you…”

And it’s never asked or stated explicitly— that you’re his girlfriend, that he’s your boyfriend— but from then on there seems to be way less guessing on your part whether he actually likes you for more than the amazing sex you two have.

You two start learning more personal things about each other, find you have more in common than you originally thought, and find comfort in the fact that, for once, everything seems to be working out for the best.

coffee: do they get jealous easily? how do they show it?

Oh I just think Dabi is the king of jealousy. Although, like with most things, he’s pretty good at masking that emotion under a veil of indifference if other people are around. However, the moment he’s got you alone again, he’s shoving you up against the wall and kissing you until you’re breathless, until your head is spinning and only filled of thoughts of him, him, him.

“Who do you belong to?” he growls, gravely tone laced with something dangerous, something desperate. When you hesitate, staring into his eyes, still trying to recover from that unexpected whirlwind of a kiss, he repeats, more urgent this time, “Tell me who you belong to.”

“You, Dabi…” you say, slowly reaching up to cup his scarred face in your delicate little hands. “It’s always been you.”

It’s a barely detectable sound, the way his next breath catches in his throat as your words— your promise— registers to him, but then, once he catches himself slipping into something too vulnerable for him to bear, he’s leading you to your shared bed by the hand and pinning you down on it before long, making sure his kisses cover every inch of your body, branding you in bruises from his lips, the indent of his teeth, anything he can to make sure that he’s left his mark and claimed what’s his.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

♡ send me a tea prompt + a character i write for ♡

#kodi gets an ask #kodis requests #dabi mha #dabi bnha #dabi x reader #dabi x y/n #dabi x you #mha dabi #bnha dabi #bnha fanfiction #bnha #bnha x reader #bnha x you #bnha x y/n #mha #mha x reader #mha x you #mha x y/n #my hero academia #my hero academia fanfiction #boku no hero academia #boku no hero academia fanfiction

[maxverstappensflatbrim]

Show Me Yours | Matty Healy [12]

chapter twelve, act two: anobrain

masterlist

May 26th 2013

“First interview, you ready?” George asks Tommie.

She nods, arms crossed as she squeezes onto the little settee they have.

She’s a little nervous for her first interview since Matty and George have done a few before but she’s never done one.

“Hi,” The interviewer walks in, all smiles as she shakes their hands, “I’m Carly Wilford, nice to meet you.”

“Thank you.” They all say and she squeezes into the gap between Matty and George.

“So, I’ll be as quick as I can, I’m sure you guys would rather be watching all the acts that are talking back here, gonna just ask a few questions, maybe read some tweets, it’ll just be quick, no more than ten minutes.”

They all nod and she turns to the camera, introducing the three who give their usual awkward smiles and waves.

“Guys, it’s been a big year for you, there’s a lot going on, you’re absolutely everywhere, how does it feel?”

She holds the mic towards Matty who’s too busy fidgeting with the fabric of his jeans to notice, causing Tommie to nudge his arm with her elbow.

“Crazy.” He stutters quickly, hand moving to mess around with his hair, “We haven’t really been in the country for a lot of it, like when Chocolate went so mental, and now a new single. We’ve been in America and Europe, and just touring so we’ve just seen eachother everyday, it’s not really been that different for us. Yeah, but the shows are getting bigger, and people are really investing their time into us as the band, so it's amazing. Amazing time.”

She nods as he talks, “Who’s the best behaved in the band?” She asks, looking between George and Tommie. “Tommie?”

Matty and George break into a quick laugh, “Not Tommie.” They say at the same time.

“I’m well behaved.” She defends and Carly jumps in with a nod of agreement.

“Tommie’s the quiet one, she’s the baby, of course she’s the best behaved.”

“No,” George shakes his head, “I’m quite tidy on the bus, I wash up and that.”

“I’m tidy.” Tommie says quickly.

Matty shakes his head, “That’s ‘cause you're a control freak and need everything in order or you’ll spiral.”

George nods, “That’s also part of the reason I’m tidy,” Carly laughs a little and chimes in to defend Tommie telling her she’s a bit of a clean freak who needs things tidy too, “I’m afraid of her, honestly. She’s scary.”

“Tommie?” Carly reaches out to pat her shoulder gently, “My little Tommie? I don’t believe that, look at her.”

Matty shrugs, “I mean, if we’re being honest, we’re all kind of well behaved. We’ve been in the band a very long time, and this is a very kind of pursuit of music for us, so a lot of our partying doesn't happen when we’re on tour, cause we’re trying to try and keep it as this-, well, try to be as good as possible. But yeah, I suppose all of us have our moments, we’re in a rock band,” Tommie snorts at that and he moves his arm to wrap around her head, bringing her into a headlock, “You know what I mean? Got to be a bit naughty.”

“Yeah, of course.” She laughs watching Tommie struggle to fight her way out of his hold, “You just said, you’ve been on this journey for quite a long time, how long have you guys been working towards getting to where you are now?”

“We started a band when we were like… fourteen?”

George nods, “Fourteen, thirteen, yeah we started playing at school and then just after we played our first show just playing, like, really heavy punk covers, and stuff. We were just like, let's do this.”

“And, Tommie, obviously, you’re a bit younger than the rest, so how old were you?”

“Uh, I was seventeen, I didn’t really join until last year. Guess I was the push we needed.” She smiles smugly at Matty who tightens his arm and ruffles his hair causing her to elbow him harshly.

Matty smiles, leaning forward to take the mic, “She used to play guitar for us when she’d visit from home, we always tried to convince her to just join full time but she's a nerd…” She rolls her eyes at him and he smiles to himself, “Wanted to stay in school. But, yeah,” He shrugs, looking over his shoulder at her as she lounges back on the settee, “We, essentially, did need her to get the album, I guess.”

Carly smiles at them both and then moves on to her next question, “How do you keep going?”

“Alcohol.” Matty and Tommie say at the same time.

A few music related questions, and one embarrassing memory of when Tommie was thirteen and went out drinking with them for the first time (finding herself in a wheely bin), later the interview is almost to an end.

“Okay, we’re in Ireland. If you were on a desert island and you could be with one person, musically, dead or alive, who would it be?”

“Musically,” Matty says, “Michael Jackson. I don’t know, I think he’d probably get on my nerves after a couple of days. Just to go through musical ideas, yeah it would be Michael Jackson. Yeah.”

“Be like, MJ, stop grabbing your crotch and going ‘ahw’.”

“Yeah, it’s loud. It's six o’clock in the morning, there’s no need to shamon. There’s nowhere to go.”

“I reckon I’d be good with him, cause he’s like that when we’re in the studio so I can tame him down.”

“We think of ourselves a bit like Quincy Jones and Michael Jackon, that’s kind of me and George’s vibe. We’d probably clash, me and Michael, but he could reign us in.”

“Can you moonwalk?”

Matty perks up quickly and stops fiddling with his jacket, “Yes, very well.”

“Show me.”

Both Tommie and George groan in embarrassment as he gets up, he takes his sunglasses from his head, tossing them to her and she puts them on as she looks up at him.

“I actually can’t.”

He goes to sit down but Tommie has spread out to be more comfortable instead of being squished up against the arm of the chair.

He shrugs and settles for sitting on her lap, her arms go around him and he leans back against her as she starts playing with his hair.

“No,” He defends quickly gesturing to his feet and then to the floor, “It’s carpet, and I’ve got boots, and when I stood up, my whole management team just stared me in the face, and said ‘no way’, so um-”

“He’s lying,” Tommie says from behind him, “He can’t do it.”

“I can,” He turns back to Jamie and the rest of the team, “I was gonna moonwalk, aw, look, they’re approaching us.”

“Okay, Tommie? Desert island?”

“Alex Turner.” She says with no hesitation, then she quickly leans forward again, “But Humbug Alex Turner, where his hair was all nice and long and-”

“God.” Matty groans rolling his eyes.

“Shut it, Roddy.”

She pokes him in the side and he lets out a loud giggle at the ticklish feeling, “Arctic Monkeys fan?”

“Huge. Love them, love all of them.”

“You’re performing at Glastonbury this year, they’re there too, are you excited to maybe meet them?”

“Oh no,” She shakes her head quickly, face straight and smile dropped, “I couldn’t. I’d go all red and I’d stutter and start speaking in riddles. It would be really embarrassing, I’d rather stare from afar like some absolute creep.”

Carly laughs again before asking her next question, “Alright, if you could be on a desert island with somebody that you can have the most banter with in the whole entire world, who would it be?”

“Everybody from Geordie shore. Same for them.”

George shakes his head, “I was gonna say something more interesting, like Stephen Fry…”

“No, no, no,” Matty interrupts, arm waving around, “Gary… Gaz.”

“Okay, one last question, if you had to swap clothes with someone and be on a desert island with them what would it be and why.”

“Oh,” Tommie perks up, “That one Stevie Nicks outfit, you know,” She gestures to the top she’s wearing, “That denim top with the skirt.”

“The halter top?”

She nods quickly, hand running through her shaggy hair to push it back, “Yeah, yeah, that one.”

“ASAP Rocky.” Matty says.

George slaps his knee, turning away, “I was gonna say him.”

“ASAP Rocky for sure,” He gestures over to George, “We’re kind of the same person tho, so he’s gonna have the same answer as me.”

“You keep answering for him, let him answer,” She moves the mic to George who twirls his hair around his finger, “Is he bossy?”

“Versace.”

She laughs, throwing her head back, “Donatella?”

He nods, “Yeah. Maybe a few years ago, but yeah, would be exciting wouldn’t it, you wouldn’t get bored of what you’re wearing.”

Tommie starts bouncing Matty up and down on her knees causing him to grip onto her shoulder and she laughs at the face of horror he pulls.

“Even if you just had one outfit, you could like, change it around.”

Carly smiles, turning back to the camera, “Okay guys, the 1975, Derry, Londonderry radio one’s big weekend.”

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

“I want a dog.”

Adam looks up to Tommie who’s standing above him as he helps her take off her shoes, she has one hand on his head, her other holding onto Ross as they stand in the lobby of their hotel since she’s adamant she couldn’t have made it to the lift with the shoes on. As if she hadn’t walked thirty minutes from the festival.

He finally stands holding her shoes in his hand as Ross guides her to the lift, stumbling behind as he is equally as drunk.

“Why’s that?”

“I miss Millie.”

She sighs, head on Adam’s shoulder as she leans into him, “Yeah, I miss her too, sometimes.”

Adam smiles as she recalls an old memory from their childhood where their grandfather built a little box on the back of his bike for the dog so she didn’t have to miss out on bike rides as she got older.

“Can we have a sleepover tonight?”

“Don’t you want to finally sleep in your own room?”

“No,” She grumbles, eyes closed as she leans even further into him, “Want a sleepover with you.”

Adam sighs at the way she slurs her words and looks up at Ross, “You said you were having one drink.”

He shrugs, “One turned into a couple, which turned into a lot.”

“A lot? How many?”

Ross holds up both his hands, showing nine fingers. Adam sighs, “Where’s Matty? He was supposed to be with you.”

“Had an headache, he came back early, boring.”

“Boring!” Tommie echos, suddenly much more awake.

“Oh no.” She gasps looking around.

Ross is on high alert, looking into the mirrored walls as if the answer will appear while Adam grabs her shoulder, “What? What’s wrong?”

“Someone stole my shoes!”

He sighs and lifts his hand, she smiles brightly at the shoes and grips onto them, “Oh, thank you, my little hero. Did you fight the guy who stole them?”

“No one-” He sighs at the look on her face, “Yeah. Big fight, I think I broke his nose.”

She wraps her arm around his waist, head on his shoulder, “Thanks, Ads.”

“Come on, we’ll drop Ross off, get you some clothes, then have a sleepover, yeah?”

She nods, “Yeah. Ross can’t come.”

“Didn’t wanna come to your girlish sleepover anyway.” He huffs, turning away to keep pressing all the different buttons, making Adam sigh as he tries to manoeuvre himself, and Tommie who is now tightly clutched to him like a koala, to push his hand away.

“You snore too loud, instantly means you can’t be invited to sleepovers.”

“I thought I was your best friend.”

“You are,” She says, patting his head, “But rules are rules. Snorers are banned.”

When they finally get to their floor (seven minutes later than they would’ve thanks to Ross and all the unnecessary stops, Adam helps Ross to his room, tucking him up into bed and placing a glass of water beside him.

Tommie only breaks out of Adam’s hold once the entire time, to kiss Ross’ forehead and ruffle his hair as he falls asleep.

She sighs, leaning against the wall outside Adam’s room, clothes in hand from her own room that they had stopped at on the way, “Ads?”

“Hmm?”

He opens the door, holding it for her to come in as he flicks the lights on, “What happens next?”

“What?”

“With the band, us?”

She sits on the bed watching him move around as he starts preparing himself for tomorrow, “What do you mean?”

“We’ve had one good album, yeah? Got next year filled with tours and festivals again, but then it stops? There’s no creating a new album as of yet, no talks of future projects? What if Dirty Hit drops us? What if-”

“Hey,” He walks over to her, helping her pull her hoodie on and the tight plaits she’d made George do again, “None of that’s gonna happen, alright? It's been five months, we’ve got a busy schedule, we’re not a one hit wonder band.”

She sighs and falls back on the bed, pulling the blankets around her with a yawn, “Just, promise me if something goes wrong, if the band doesn’t make it we’ll all still be friends.”

Adam looks up from where he’s pulling his shoes off, “Of course we will, we’ve all known each other for years, Tommie, we’re not going to stop being friends. And plus,” He climbs into the bed beside her, “I think we’ve had all the huge arguments that could be had.”

She nods, “Like when Matty and George argued over the album name.”

“Yeah, exactly, one of us will have to do something really messed up for us to stop being friends.”

She’s silent for a few seconds then quietly whispers, “It’ll probably be Matty.”

He laughs, turning the lamp off as he quietly agrees before telling her to get some sleep.

She’s quiet for a few seconds, and when she thinks he’s fallen asleep she whispers into the room, “You guys make me a better person. I like myself when I’m with you, and if I don’t have that anymore I’m scared of who I’ll be.”

She thinks he doesn’t hear, but then he turns around and pulls her in for a hug, “You are a good person, Tom. You’re the best of us.”

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

June 3rd 2013

Tommie stares at the little ‘19’ on top of the cake as Matty sings his own (very butchered) version of the Welsh happy birthday.

He doesn’t care if it’s all wrong, she’s smiling back at him the entire time.

“Wow, getting old.”

“Shut up.”

She smiles even bigger as she leans forward to blow the candles out, eyes closed as Matty holds the cake.

They’re in her hotel room in Oklahoma, since it was her birthday the guys decided a day away from the bus would be the best present for her, she could get some alone time, sleep in a proper bed. Matty disagreed however, and got himself the hotel room right next door, waking her up at seven sharp.

She leans back a little, she’s sat on the bed, legs crossed and some old hoodie that once belonged to either George or Ross (she can tell from the length of the sleeves), being her warmth as protection against air conditioning Matty has insisted on putting on.

He’s sat opposite her, legs crossed in nothing but an old pair of joggers he uses for bed sometimes.

“What did you wish for?”

“Can’t tell you that, can I?” She asks, eating one of the icing figurines on top of the cake.

It’s Star Wars themed.

Matty moves as she takes the cake, resting his chin on his hands to stare up at her, fluttering his lashes in his best puppy dog face, “Please?”

“Nope.” She says, biting off the head of Darth Vader.

“Just a hint?”

“Won’t come true then.”

He sighs and sits up straight, “Really wish I could just like, take a hammer and crack open your head sometimes.”

“Why’s that?” She asks, fishing off Vader’s lightsaber.

He shrugs, “To see how it works. See what you’re thinking 24/7.”

She looks down at that picking at the white sheets of the hotel bed, he leans closer to catch her eye, tilting his head at her. “Don’t have to hide your thoughts from us, you know.”

She shrugs, “Maybe they’re stupid. Meant to be hidden.”

“I’ve read your work, Tommie,” He says quietly, not to break the peace they’ve created, “Seen how good you are at writing, don’t have to hide your ideas. Not from me, never from me.”

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

“Can I open my eyes now?”

Matty slowly pushes her a bit more forward and then lifts his hands from around her eyes.

She laughs as she looks up at the Cowboy and Western museum in front of them.

Something she used to do as a kid with her grandfather was watch cowboy and western movies. Every year for Halloween from the ages of six to twelve she dressed up as a cowgirl. (Except when she was eight and dressed up as Padme Amidala).

She leans back into him, another childish giggle leaving her lips, “Wait, before we go in.”

He turns her around and steps back with his phone up, “Smile. Gonna send this to your granch.”

She smiles at his phone for him, looking away when he pockets the phone and wraps an arm around her to guide her forward.

“Have the whole day planned for you again, when we’re finished here, we’re gonna go down to this tattoo shop, get new ones-”

“Is this my day or your day?”

“Shut up, you literally said last week you want a new tattoo.”

She smiles as they walk, sighing thankfully at the air conditioning inside.

“Where do you wanna go first? John Wayne Gacy?”

“Definitely not.” She says, steering him to the sign that says ‘Women in Wyoming’.

He raises a brow, “Why not? Isn’t he like cowboy legendary?” 

She laughs again, looking up at him, face suddenly serious, “John Wayne Gacy is a serial killer, Roddy. You’re thinking of John Wayne.”

“Same thing.”

“No, one is a murderous clown, the other is an actor, and also not a real cowboy.”

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

After the museum Matty had taken Tommie, and the rest of the band, out for a nice dinner in a quiet Pizza place he had found.

After a giant pizza that the five of them could barely finish alone, and about six garlic breads, the guys had headed back to the bus, Adam half asleep and practically being dragged by George at his fill of food.

Matty had made Tommie wait at her hotel room door in the middle of the hallway as he ran into his own room across from her. His door was left open, he’d put his shoe there so it wouldn’t close, and she can hear him moving about, cursing to himself. Until finally she hears a victorious little shout as he comes running back out, almost tripping on his shoe.

“Got you your present here.” He says, showing the box and she raises a brow.

“Matt…”

“Don't do the same stupid speech you do every year, just let me come in so you can open them.”

She takes the box and lets him inside. They sit in the same position as this morning.

Cross legged on the bed both facing each other, only this time it was a box in front of her and not a cake.

He pushes her hands towards the box, “Open them.”

“So impatient.” 

She slowly lifts the lid then her eyes widen when she finds a pair of dark coloured cowboy boots with skeleton hands painted on them.

Matty bites his lip at her face and his shoulders drop, “I saw them and remembered what you said a while back. About needing more emo shoes to fit in with the band. And I remembered those old boots from when you were a kid that you loved, remember those little flowery cowboy boots. You kicked George in the shin with them once, he was convinced they had steel toe caps. If you don’t like-”

She pushes them aside so she can reach him and wrap her arms around his neck, “I love them, Matty.” She smiles into his neck, “How do you always do this?”

“Do what?” He questions.

“Find a present that is just so undoubtedly me.”

He shrugs, “I know you.”

He pulls her closer and holds her there until he decides it’s time for him to head back to his room.

When they’re both at the door he places a kiss on her forehead and she pulls him into another hug. Her arms around his waist, his around her shoulders.

“Happy birthday, Baby.”

She smiles into his chest whispering her gratitude.

“And if you ever tell anyone I took you on a museum date, I will kill you.”

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

June 27th 2013

The lights dim, the familiar little AM squiggle turns up on screen and Tommie screams.

No screeches.

Ross covers his ears with his hands and George covers her mouth with his hand.

When the first few notes of ‘Do I wanna know?’ starts playing and she breaks out of George’s hold to start singing to the new tune she’s memorised since she first heard it.

“Oh my God, the Arctic Monkeys are right fucking there.”

Matty nods, “And they probably just heard you scream.”

“I don’t care, this is the best moment of my life!”

“Wow,” Adam fakes an offended gasp, “Not when the album was made?”

“Screw our album, I can’t wait for their new one. We have no chance against it. They’re getting my votes.”

Matty rolls his eyes, “Why don’t you just use the band name, get back stage and try to fuck him.”

She looks away at his harsh tone, “Maybe I will. Better shag than any of you three would be.”

Matty mumbles something about getting a drink and pushes out of the sectioned off area to head to the drink van.

George mumbles something about Tommie’s strict rule of always sticking to at least one person so you’re not alone so he and Adam take off after him as Ross stays to enjoy the music with her.

She looks up at him seriously during the ten second quiet between songs.

“I would seriously let him shag my brains out if I could. Not even kidding, I’d let him do whatever he wants to me.”

Ross grimaces, nose scrunched, brows drawn together, “Didn’t need to know that.”

“Let them all do it, all of them, together, take turns, don’t care.”

“Okay, regretting not going with them now. Please, stop.”

She nods, and turns back screaming along to Brianstorm at a speed he has never seen her sing before.

At the end of the concert, after several more sexual comments Ross has had to plug his ears for and many, many screams later, the concert has come to an end.

The pair, (the other three never returned), try to make their way over the barricade to get out, Ross completely losing his footing and eating shit in front of a crowd of people as Tommie has to tightly squeeze her thighs tighter not to piss herself in laughter… again.

They walk, arms linked, around the back end, looking for the others, or something to eat.

They que behind the one person in cue for the food truck, Tommie mumbling something about wanting a cone of chips.

As they’re writing they hear an accented, ‘excuse me’ from behind them.

Tommie’s eyes widen and she looks at Ross who’s smiling, refusing to turn around.

Ross nudges her shoulder and she turns slowly until she’s face to face with Jamie Cook.

Her biggest inspiration.

The reason she got into playing guitar.

“Hi.”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt. You’re really familiar, did you write that book? The poetry one, show me yours?”

She nods slowly and Ross butts in, “Yeah, when she was sixteen in school.”

Jamie smiles, “Really? Wow, it’s great. Al and I-” Tommie glances up at Ross at the mention of the Alex Turner, “Read it a few years ago, you’re an amazing writer.”

“Thank you, thank you. I love you- your music.”

He smiles, “Really? You guys like the show?”

“It was great.” Ross says with a nod.

He turns as his name is called to grab their food, passing Tommie her cone of chips, “You guys here for pleasure?”

“We’re performing, tomorrow.” She says quickly.

“Really? You in a band?”

Ross nods, shoving his burger into his mouth as he speaks, “The 1975.”

“Oh, you have that song, Chocolate. We heard it on the radio.”

“Really?”

He nods again, and partly turns away to order a load of food, “Chip?”

Tommie practically thrusts her chips at him and he smiles nodding as he takes one off her, “Thanks, fucking satrved after that.”

“What stage are you on tomorrow?” 

They both shrug, “No idea.” Ross admits.

“We just show up and hope someone else knows half the time.”

He laughs, “Yeah, Al’s the same. Don’t know his head from his arse half the time.”

“Tommie! Ross!”

They turn over their shoulder to see their Jamie waving them over, “Alright!” Ross shouts back.

“Nice meeting you, Mr Cook, or Jamie. Jamie Cook, sorry.”

She blushes and he smiles at her, “You too, Tommie McDuff.”

Ross turns her away as she smiles dreamily, “He knew my name.”

“Of course he did, he read your book.”

She pauses, “He read my book. Holy fuck, he nows how fucking psycho and messed up my childhood is. He thinks I’m crazy and weird and mentally ill.”

“You are all those things. But I don’t think it was the book that gave it away for him.”

“What do you mean?”

He tilts his head down, mimicking her fluttering lashes as he dreamily says, “Chip?”

taglist

@thereisaplaceintheheart

@indierockgirrl

@sofaritsalrightt

@julezs-bl0g

@eaglestar31

-let me know if you want to be added :)

#show me yours matty healy #matty healy x oc #matty healy x reader #matty healy imagine #the 1975 x reader

[tsintotwo]

Okay, so here’s the fic masterpost I’ve been meaning to make for ages. Most things I write, I don’t ever name. So I’ll make do with descriptions. The list is in chronological order of me posting these on tumblr.  

1. [The Sandman]- Dream x You HELLA NSFW (minors away!) fic. I mean it- the NSFW is the plot. One day I randomly thought ‘You know what I wanna write? A little teasing-type post about kissing Morpheus.’ Then I actually started writing it, and one thing led to another, and long story short here are the links to the three-parts, completed. You’ll see for yourself. Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. 

2.  [The Sandman]- AU!Dream x You, lil dark fantasy. Finished. 

3.  [The Sandman]- Dream x You, being with Morpheus, prompted by Midnights (Taylor Swift) tracklist. Had the idea for it when Midnights came out. It was supposed to be 13 little snippets: some fluff, some angst, and just Morpheus-love overall. Well, I got to track 5 before getting distracted by some completely different idea and abandoning this. :( In that sense, it is unfinished. But on the other hand, since each track name is its own little story, it now exists as a set of five completed snippets. Tracks 1- 4. Track 5.

4. [Sweetbitter]- 59 Hours, Jake x You. (Yep, I actually wrote Sweetbitter/Jake fanfic and yep, this one actually has a name). I have this up on ao3 and this is the summary I wrote for it there:  “When a sudden blizzard in NYC ruins havoc on everything including your plans, a stranger offers you shelter in their apartment. You don't know yet, but you two are going to be stuck there together for 59 hours- knowing and learning each other, doing things you couldn't imagine with anyone else, being something for each other in a way that feels too fast, too confusing, too reckless. How do you say goodbye to this, and yet, how do you hold onto something so fragile?” Sort of a Good Girl x Bad Boy thing. Angst, smut, feels. Six chapters. Complete. TW: Drugs, mention of s**cide. 

Two things. One: I’ve had multiple people tell me that they never actually watched Sweetbitter, but loved this. So, if you haven’t watched the show, don’t let that be the thing that stops you if you’re otherwise interested. With all its B flaws and despite me not actually being a fan of the show, this is one of my most favorite things I’ve ever written. And two: HELLA NSFW WARNING!!!!!

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5. Part 6.

5. [The Sandman]- Dream x Reader. (If you, as a regular human woman, ever were to meet Morpheus in the real world, it could go something like this...)

Finished.

6. [The Sandman]- Dream x Reader. (You are a Dream Vortex, he is the Lord of Dreams- you know. Your typical meet-cute. NOT.) 

Now, you’d think as a writer I’d have a better hold of things like potential story length, overall finish timeline, etc., but nope. Not at all, I am ashamed to say. This story became a behemoth, and really it’s way too much for tumblr. But I also can’t not write when there’s good material in my head just begging to be let out. So what I have now is some very long chapters and a promise of the last one. I will say there’s stuff in this dark story that I really, really love, so maybe it won’t disappoint you either if you’re actually willing to invest time reading it. TW: Graphic violence, sexual assault, r*pe, child abuse. 

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5.  

That is it, actually. I either write nothing or way too much- much like most everything else I do, but unlike most everything else I do, I can tell you that writing actually makes me feel like I know what I’m doing. When I write- be it original work or fanfic- I know my place in the world. That’s something, isn’t it?

***Later addition:

7. POV: Morpheus is obessed with you.

(What even is this? Well, at least it's finished. And NSFW, so there's that as well.)

#fanfic #fic #the sandman #dream of the endlless #morpheus #the sandman fanfic #dream x reader #morpheus x reader #sweetbitter #jake #jake x reader #tom sturridge

[bowiebond]

It’s not every day a trans girl shows you how to suck dick outta solidarity. Steve didn’t really expect it when they tumbled into the back alley of the club, the thrill of being outside of Hawkins still thrumming through his body, making him more drunk than the one drink he managed to get down before distracted by her. She’s fucking gorgeous; long legs, sharp red nails, matching mini skirt and latex crop top. She’s got dark pink curls - he can’t tell if it’s real or a wig, not after the elaborate wigs he saw on some of the women - men? - in there in exaggerated makeup. Her eye makeup was so dark he felt like he was staring into the abyss. It’s kind of terrifyingly hot, and apparently he’s into that.

Steve’s twenty five and very much confirmed in his transition, had been out since senior year, despite the trash talk most people weren’t going to fuck with him, not after his track record of using fists in a fight instead of words.

One thing Steve’s not confirmed in is dick. Even girl dick. So he’s a bit surprised when he feels it against his stomach as she kisses him, a good foot taller in her heels, but he’s throbbing at the difference honestly. Loves how she scraps her nails along his scalp, his eyes rolling back with a groan. He’s pretty sure he’s got most of her red lipstick in his mouth now considering it’s all he can taste along with her fruity cocktail.

“I’ve uh, I’m — I’m trans. Are you—?”

“Huh? Yeah, baby.” She laughs, low and soft. “I guess I don’t have to use my heel against you if this go sideways, hm?”

Steve melts when she takes his earlobe between her teeth.

“Y-yeah,” He groaned. “So, like, are you— fucking me or?”

“Oh honey, I’m a stone cold bottom.” She admits with a sigh.

“Oh.” His face burns a little. “I mean, I would, but like — haven’t invested yet. Unfortunately.” He gestures to his crotch and it makes her snort, giggling against his neck.

“You’re cute.” Not the word he’d use for himself, but who is he to disagree with this obscenely hot Amazon? “Hm…wanna exchange?”

“Exchange?” He blinks a few times, trying to make sense of her words in his jumbled head.

“I’ll go down on you if you go down on me.” That idea is very hot according to downstairs, and he’s totally willing to blow her if it means she’ll eat him out in return.

“I’ve uh—“ Except he’s never done that. He’s only been with girls, and one other trans guy.

“You don’t want to.” She seems a little forlorn but like she expected it as she pulls away.

“I want to!” He quickly assures, pulling her back in by her waist. She moans softly against his temple as her cock presses against his stomach. Steve’s eyes flutter at the sound, trying to keep his wits. “Don’t get me wrong, totally want to, I just…never done it.”

“Sex?”

“No, like…going down on a girl dick. Or any dick.”

“Oooooh.” She’s quiet a long moment and it makes Steve’s stomach squirm. “I can like…teach you. In solidarity, you know?”

That was not what he expected her to say, but it makes him laugh, and he’s nodding before he can even think of what his answer would be.

“Okay. Fuck, okay.” He snickered, and her nails scratch down his chest.

“Quit laughing and get on your knees then, baby.” She giggles and Steve doesn’t find the idea of kneeling in an alleyway appealing, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and Steve’s not passing it by.

Will he ever use this information again? With his luck in love, probably not. But it’ll be hell of a memory (and a story for Robin).

Honestly, Steve doesn’t expect her to be big. Like…big. He definitely felt the length when she pressed it against his stomach, but she’s genuinely thick and long and oh Steve is fucked.

That shouldn’t make him hornier. He’s fucking trembling with want and it would be embarrassing if not for her nails back against his scalp, destroying him from the outside to his core.

He can still taste her lipstick when he stretches his lips around her, sucking experimentally. Tries to keep his teeth out of the equation. Her hand guides him from the back of his neck, thumbing under his ear, and he’s not sure if he’s supposed to feel relaxed but he’s never felt so.

“Oh, you’re made for this. You’re so sweet, baby.” She moans as he bobs his head, stroking what he can’t fit in his mouth, and it’s not as bad as he imagined it could be. He’s got a sensitive gag reflex, but she’s being gentle, making his world fuzzy, and it’s nice even when tears spring in his eyes and his throat spasms in refusal.

He feels it when her grip tightens, but he doesn’t resist when she pulls him closer, fucks herself deeper into his throat, lashes soaked and cheeks crimson. He can barely swallow with her so deep, can’t breathe, but his brain is swimming in a quiet lake and it’s amazing.

He wondered if she’d take his number if he gave it. He could invest in a strap-on if she prefers to lay back. Hell, he would love to fuck her just so he could get his mouth on her again, feel her nails against his jaw, taste her lipstick.

Yeah. He never gave up that hopeless romantic streak. He’d be thinking of this for months to come no doubt. Worth it.

Totally worth it when she keens and cums down his throat, when she pets his face as she pants and calls him ‘such a good boy’.

She didn’t even have to get between his thighs, the brush of her thumb against his dick, her breath against his cunt, that was enough to finish him off and he’s pretty sure he’s not getting her number after a display like that.

(He’s wrong. He found it in his back pocket the next morning.)

#steve harrington #t4t #sub steve harrington #trans steve harrington