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thefirstknife · 8 months

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Getting real sick of a certain subset of Destiny players complaining that it’s a baby game and crying to Bungie to nerf exotics and abilities when their ENTIRE POINT IS TO BE STRONG in specific ways as if they are being locked into using them.

IF YOU WANT AN EXTRA CHALLENGE STOP BEING SUCH A DPS GOBLIN AND JUST EQUIP SOMETHING THATS NOT TOP TIER META AND STOP COMPLAINING JESUS FUCKING CHRIST

MOOD. Go off.

It's incredibly annoying to me. They always use the argument of "the game should FORCE me to do things, I should not SELF-IMPOSE challenges." And like. ? I'm sorry but what? It's a video game for a big audience, it's here to be playable and accessible to the widest possible playerbase. There are plenty of ways to make the game difficult for yourself, so knock yourself out if that's your thing, but don't force others into it.

Like, I enjoy hard content, I regularly at least attempt day 1 raids, I do master raids, GMs, solo and solo flawless content and all that. But only when I want to. Sometimes I don't and I don't want to suffer in a patrol zone or struggle in a seasonal activity I'm doing for the story. The majority of the players don't want that. Designing games for the professional gamers only has NEVER been a good idea and never will be. Fifty streamers can't sustain a video game. It needs casual players who will want to come back to the game instead of feeling defeated.

One of the reasons I really enjoy helping others is because I know that casual players tend to struggle in stuff that's basic activity for me. I've seen people unable to get through a strike. I've sat for 10 minutes rezing someone who couldn't do the jump in a seasonal activity. I want those people to be able to play basic content without feeling frustrated and I want them to know that there are people out there who will help them out.

And this doesn't apply just to basic content, although it should start with that. I think all dungeons and raids and everything should be things that all players can complete. Fine, doing a master raid with all challenges should be tough, but it should be achievable with time and practice, not impossible. What a lot of these "pros" want is just completely divorced from reality.

It takes days and days of practice every time a new master raid is out for me and my team (all with thousands of hours of playtime) to get comfortable to finally finish it. We're far from casual players and it still takes a lot of time to be able to finish hard content. Making it even harder is insane to me. Like, if something is so hard that my team full of people, each with 5000+ hours of playtime and a coordinated team that's been raiding together for years now can't finish it, that means it's absolutely impossible for probably 90% of the playerbase. That's wild to me. Raids and GMs should have more people playing them. If master raids are too easy for you, Mr. I-Play-Destiny-For-A-Living, that's on you buddy. Unequip the super god tier god roll meta guns and loadouts or play something else.

And ofc, another excuse they make is "if I don't use meta, I am not going to win a raid race!" Then don't. Idk. Let me play you the tiniest violin. This affects literally nobody except a grand total of 50 people. Run your meta in day 1, and play with random shit otherwise. Play raids with all white weapons. Play without mods. Play without a HUD. Do things solo only. I don't know, make up a way to spice things up for yourself. I'm not interested in that and neither are 99% of the players out there. The game is genuinely hard enough for the majority of the players. On top of that, I am here to feel like a powerful space fantasy superhero. I am NOT here to die to dregs in patrol zones. If there's ONE thing that I know for a fact that put people off from Lightfall (as in this year of Destiny), it's the difficulty changes. They're annoying, frustrating and for some a barrier to entry more than anything else.

#destiny 2 #gameplay #ask #long post #i really do love helping but i can't not feel bad because once the people i helped are out of my fireteam...#...there's no telling what other experiences they'll have #there's so many speedrunners and people who don't care and people who just aren't helping and are instead mocking others #you can only do so much for a few people you see in activities #this season's activities are super tough. every time so far I've played everyone in the team was struggling #i'm gonna have to start going into altars of summoning with my full support build warlock just to sit in there and help people #istg the 'pros' have to get their loadouts restricted. go play with non-god tier armour sets and guns #equip the same loadout that some casual player has available and let me see you then #this idea that everyone has minmaxed best equipment available at all times is bizarre. please get your head out of your ass #'i have perfectly rolled all artifice armour with perfect stat exotics for every loadout because i have infinite time to grind' okay dude #most of us aren't being paid to play destiny. lmao #'the game used to be hard' no. you got better. you mastered it #why is this so difficult to understand. everything is hard when you first start. 5000 hours later it no longer is #the game is fine. the 'health of the game' is fine. you mastered it and outgrew it #either impose challenges on yourself or find something else #like. when i first started GMs they were almost impossible for me #now i play them for fun. they're still challenging but they're not the same level of hard and I'm fine with that #i enjoy them as content and they're still entertaining #and when a new GM comes out it's a new challenge to master so it'll be hard at the start #as everything ever in the world #if that's no longer enough for you then you just outgrew the game and should probably move on #the only reason why some things used to be hard was poor quality of life that got improved over time #not being able to mantle in d1 is not difficulty. it's just not good design. it was fixed and improved #the bitching about light 3.0 as well. man. just don't use the 'OP' fragments. it's so easy to unequip them #i personally love the variety and all the options i have now as opposed to before #okay tag essay done. fhkajhakfhksjf

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ask-that-weird-dog · 2 months

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Kris. Kris. Kris. Of the two, do you prefer moss or potassium more?

* (You get the feeling this is about to be a very, very weird day.)

<< PREVIOUS || MASTERPOST ||

#deltarune ask blog #deltarune au #kris deltarune #kris dreemurr #deltarune comic #deltarune monsterswap #ask that weird dog #answered ask #AHA. IT IS DONE AT LAST.#PLOT TWIST. this isn't a standard ask blog! it's a COMIC ask blog! and who is the 'Player?' whoever sends them asks. :)#thank you SO MUCH for sending this because genuinely this was such a wacky way to start things off #this being the very first ask to come in cracked me up because that sure is a way to wake up a dog! LIKE.#this critter's first encounter with an eldritch horror beyond their comprehension is a bizarre question they have NO context for (but we do #sidenote good lord i'm sorry this took so long!! life has been kicking my butt wHEEZE. on the bright side though!#I did learn a lot from tackling this (which was my goal from the start) so the next asks should get done a LOT quicker!#i AM still experimenting a lot with paneling and placement and styles tho so stuff might change a lot over time tbh #(sidenote 2. this makes the ask i got last night SO much funnier. you might have the gift of prophecy ty so much)#my art #my comics

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witchofthemidlands · 2 months

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i am still battling through my young dracula hyper fixation so to anyone who even still thinks about young dracula have this balls to the wall unhinged thing my brain spawned that if i had the energy (& if i actually thought i could do a decent job of writing vlad) would butcher into a fanfic:

vlad goes back to the dreamworld except he gets yeeted through a dracula multiverse where he meets versions of count dracula from 1931-2023 & after being scarred for unlife & after realises just how good he's got it.

#he would see some things he would never be able to unsee #1931!dracula is so over dramatic and bizarre to him but in a familiar way #1992!dracula is interesting for him to witness #sees garyoldman!dracula gets questionable vibes and sits there facepalming and valuing his own father's escape plans #vlad gets so confused by 2004!vanhelsingdracula #vlad sees richardroxborough!dracula and just has so many questions #thinks that 2013!dracula is probably what would have happened if they lived with uncle ivan #first question vlad asks if he saw jonathanrhysmeyers!dracula as alexander grayson is why are you american 😅#probably feels bad for 2014!dracula #lukeevans!dracula is even more depressed than vlad himself he feels bad for that one #vlad gets absolutely traumatised by 2020!dracula #vlad sees claesbang!dracula in his modern clothes and think 🥹 a normal dracula for me ? 🥹 only to get traumatised and more depression #2023!renfielddracula reminds him of home in a weird way #he sees nicolascage!dracula and nicholashoult!renfield going off at each other and probs thinks this isnt that different 🤷🏻‍♂️#also he would meet so many different renfields and van helsings so many cleaner renfields and less unhinged van helsings #at least one of the other draculas want to adopt him #vlad dracula #young dracula #dracula #kat’s thoughts 🍄

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evilwickedme · 1 year

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Do you have any good Tim recs? Specifically ones that maintain his canon personality 👀

honestly this is very vague to me but I'm assuming you're mainly looking to avoid the fics that woobify him or flatten him into a coffee fueled anxiety machine. if that's what you're looking for, I gotchu

ship fics

Girl what were YOU doing at the devil's sacrament? is about timber's first date!! so cute, occurs immediately after the whole torture cult thing

Practice Makes Perfect - I know for a fact I've rec'd this one before in an ask maybe a few weeks ago?? this is a fic where tim and ace!bart practice kissing. ends in jaime/bart (I'm sure they have a ship name I just don't know it) and timkon but the timpulse content is actually a really good exploration of their characters imho

friendship as another word for love - this is tagged as minor timber but I'll still put it here. actually this might not be exactly what you're looking for cause my bookmark describes it as "red robin!tim is chaotic af", but honestly I think that's just a description of actual canon

Teenagers Scare The Living Shit Outta Me - okay this might be a crack fic HOWEVER you cannot convince me that everyone around the core four doesn't think there's something hinky going on there. also again not technically a ship fic but I'm still putting it here

Gonna Be A Better One (A Thousand Miles To Your Door) occurs during the time period where Tim quit being Robin (and y'know Steph became Robin instead, but the fic doesn't really deal with that). In this au Kon says fuck that and insists on staying in contact with Tim. great timkon and feels very true to both of them!

time flies by is very emotional for me. I described this in my bookmark as "post n52/rebirth, Tim misses Kon like a phantom limb". that's a good description honestly. I've reread this so many goddamn times actually

batfam fics

Obedience - I'm not the only one obsessed with Ella Enchated AUs, right? right??? anyway this fic is actually so concerned with what is and isn't typical behavior for Tim and also is one of my favorite type of AUs so it's near and dear to me

Exit Strategy breaks my heart - although tbf a lot of these fics do, I definitely read a lot of hurt/comfort. anyway this one is about Tim taking Damian's derision to heart and deciding to leave. The Tim & Damian stuff here is just chef's kiss

The Study of Birds - Tim & Damian bond over birding

Our Common Grave - this is not the only au I've bookmarked focusing on the time Damian cut Tim's line, but the others aren't as focused on Tim, imho, more on the consequences for Damian (or lack thereof, depending on the fic). It's not that I don't like those, I love them even, but obviously they don't fit on a Tim fic rec list. Anyway some quality Tim & Jason stuff here. Ironically even though it's probably my fav batfam dynamic I wouldn't put most of the Tim & Jason stuff I've bookmarked on here, a lot of it is woobified content. not all of it, but a lot of it.

finally, one of my favorites - break. in this au Tim never really joins the batfam and only bruce and alfred ever know his identity. and then he just... stops being a hero. hopeful ending. really good in general, another common reread for me.

hope you enjoyed and let me know if you want any more fic recs!!!

#if I wanted I probably could've made an entire list just of tim & damian fic recs but I don't think that's what you were looking for #unrelated but I have so many truly bizarre batfam fics saved like. just the batfam being unhinged fics #and while I was looking for the tim fics I was accosted by the sheer number of them cause in my mind #there's just the ratman fic and the wayne-kers verse #but no there's like ten of 'em or something at least idk I didn't count #also so hard not to turn this into a timkon fic rec like I skipped over so many good fics cause they didn't fit the prompt 😭#dc #fic recs #timkon #tim drake #timber #batfam #this made me realize I don't have almost any timsteph fics bookmarked I need to get a-reading #gail speaks #ask #anonymous

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ozzgin · 3 months

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Everytime I see you posting either about the yokai or the yakuza, I feel like a starving child being fed some crumbs (it's my way to say I love it so much)

Sometimes I do wonder if I have carefully crafted intricate stories with promises of romance and smut just as a way to con an audience into witnessing my poor humor. I’m definitely getting a little too cozy inserting my shenanigans, but I am thankful for everyone’s encouragement regardless. 😭

#jokes aside I’m equally happy to get asks about my stories #when I first posted the yakuza story I found it so bizarre to see my OCs names mentioned by other people #like…who the hell is- wait no I wrote them??#personal

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makiswirl · 4 months

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Oh boy your ask box is open? Show me a funny thumbnail you love/looks different to your final drawing

OK FUNNILY I DON'T ACTUALLY USUALLY DO THUMBNAILS... but here's some early stuff for an animatic that i haven't gotten around to yet

#-- anonymous #macchi.txt #answering machine #my art #thank u for the ask!!! :3 #art reqs are still open!!! :o)#i tend to just hop straight into sketches and finish things in one sitting so i don't have much wip stuff saved #jjba #jjba part 3 #jojo's bizarre adventure #stardust crusaders #jotaro kujo #noriaki kakyoin #jonathan joestar #enrico pucci #etc etc. u get the point #i promise the animatic is actually serious i just have to jot silly notes in margins or i go insane

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psychedelic-ink · 1 year

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I don't want to come of as rude and I do enjoy your blog but it can be a bit tiring when you reblog everything

Well okay since you said you didn't want to come off as rude I'll give the benefit of the doubt and explain myself

I come from the first generation of tumblr users (with a different blog), a time when everyone used to reblog everything, which is why I reblog the things that I like, or why I reblog my friends posts-- I want to support them and without reblogging you can't really share the works other's are putting out. It's all about keeping the circulation of content going

Also I don't understand how it's tiring? How else am I supposed to use tumblr?

Anyway thank you for saying you enjoy my blog (tho the second part is making me think you really don't) but I'm not going to stop reblogging anytime soon

#mail.💌#anonymous #why are the asks i get always so bizarre

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melrosing · 5 months

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anyway in an absolutely wild turn of events I think I’m free of my hideous job and like. substantially richer for it??? lmao 2023 you really owed me

#ok so this a lot of personal shit but I’m just gonna incredulously vent into the tags #like I don’t even know how to describe what 2023 in this job has been like lol #since April they’ve been insulting and scrutinising and scapegoating me over absolutely everything #they were really angling for just firing me outright for never measuring up to their constantly shifting and increasingly bizarre goalposts #and it got so personal man they kept insisting that it wasn’t but my god #then my dad gets sick and it suddenly becomes awkward for them to keep insulting and overworking me #so they switch to just ignoring me entirely so they don’t have to reckon w what me and my family are going through #like they never ask how he is or how things are going just every Friday they say hey do you reckon you can take more work on again?#and THEN I get a gut infection and suddenly im being guilt tripped for taking sick leave and pestered for evidence #it was giving like ‘we had to give you time off for your dad but now you’re taking the piss’#to the point I DID reach out to a third party at the company and was like ‘I’m sorry but why the fuck are they treating me like this’#and she was like ‘confidentially this is disgusting and I advise you to report it’#WHEN SUDDENLY I get back from sick leave and it’s like ‘the business is falling short so we have to make some redundancies….’#and now they’ve had to pay me a SUBSTANTIAL sum to fuck off!!! I think I win???#like I was so close to quitting but thank god I didn’t because now I’m getting a sweet deal to fuck off with no notice lmao #i leave end of the month #at first I was shocked like y’all really doing this now??? but suddenly I’m like. this is the best possible thing that could’ve happened #I spoke to that third party again and she was like ‘I am so happy for you’ like omfg it was a curveball but we’ll take it!!!#I’m fucking outta here and in due course I WILL be writing on glassdoor how fucked they are

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a-stars-art-blog · 6 months

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What if Young!Joseph was a merman?

Hmm. Yeah what if.

Bonus Caesar :]

#jjba #jojos bizarre adventure #joseph joestar #caesar zeppeli #my art #battle tendency #bonus point if you know the exact reference I used for Joseph’s pose #also his proportions are totally off #forgive me #I did draw this kinda late #also I had no idea what to do for Caesar #for some reason all I could think of was seahorse #art is gonna coming out pretty slowly #I’m slowly focusing more time and effort into my webtoon #so just fyi #I’ll still try to get to the asks y’all sent #jjba mermaid au

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jamietwat · 7 months

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Omg wait. I didn't even Think about the possibility of Roy and Trent having a discussing as fellow queer men who figured out they aren't straight later in life. I cannot WAIT for that possibility!

They’ll have more of an actual conversation about it later on when Roy specifically goes to Trent, but this is the scene that gets Roy thinking in chapter 31

And don’t worry, Roy only puts off the thinking about it for a matter of hours, but later that night he’s going to be lying awake thinking about it and the kiss and the impulse to offer a redo and the fact that Jamie is a category of his own separate from everyone else

#Trent like I will pepper in the fact that you can figure your sexuality out later in life to see if I can speed this up at all #while not directly interfering or outright telling Roy he’s not straight #and Roy’s like I see what you’re doing but we don’t have time to think about if I’m gay for #Jamie because I’m too busy chasing after him rn #And like with all future excerpts that I post pics of I have edited nothing #So there may or may not be typos or things that will get fixed or changed in minor ways before posting #huntforachievements #Ask #Mine #BLT #Bizarre Love Triangle

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mantisgodiveblog · 9 hours

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Just so you don't get too-high expectations - there's not really big branching paths or anything like that loop-to-loop. Stuff changes, but it's not like a tree of choices with huge impacts. My partner got very frustrated at the limited choices because she had previously played DBH and Life is Strange and expected something similar (way beyond the scope of an RPGmaker game with one writer). I've also seen people get frustrated at 'unfair' deaths in the story because they went into it expecting a roguelike's fair challenge and got a visual novel in the shape of an RPG instead. Also, there's a couple things early on that almost everyone misses, so I'll let you know. Firstly, there's three Loop chats that are only available when you have done something 2-3 times, 4-8 times, and 13+ times respectively. It's a once per loop thing and you haven't seen it yet. If you lock yourself out of a chat you can still get the later ones. Secondly, there's a secret room - many people find it at some point, but there's interesting dialogue in it in Act 2.

...we think that you presenting "visual novels" as something that doesn't imply that your actions will have a branching tree of consequences with huge impacts that may also include a large amount of scenes locked to obscure and strange combinations of actions that may or may not lock certain things behind them is messing with our brain a bit, sorry.

Maybe it's because of the specific visual novels we're playing, but we're fairly used to them having adjacent staples to older point-and-click games, just with less things to click - which, uhh, older point and click games are actually one of the main genres we enjoy, and probably where we picked up the foundation of our problem solving. The fact that DOSbox is on our desktop probably dates us quite a bit, though we only really remember where a handful of the games we have that work on that currently are.

We quite enjoy visual novels. We've played quite a few of them, they lend themselves well to writing in formats we quite like, and make it very easy to break down where to poke to find certain things. We are also very very used to visual novels having alternate routes and extremely elaborate unlock requirements for those routes. We also use this same sort of technique when we play text-based RPGs, or similar. We spend a lot of time exploring alternative routes for, uhh, pretty much anything - the difference between RPGs and visual novels tends to just be that in the visual novel, the secret might-lock-your-whole-game-if-not-picked-up option is an option that clearly pops up on the screen, rather than a missable pixel on the floor.

...if you can list the things that we need to do 2-3 times/4-8 times/13+ times when they turn up so that we don't accidentally lock ourselves out of conversations, it would be appreciated. We'd rather not run ourself into a wall too early - we'd like all the dialogue we can get! Also, if there's any dialogue that's locked behind stuff like staring at barrels, we've already failed the 2-3 times requirement and the 4-8 times requirement, we've checked literally every barrel in the game that we have access to. Some multiple times.

#asks #we speak #not liveblog #lukiyu #the fact that we actively enjoy old point and click adventure games probably explains a lot about us in general actually #anyways we know that VNs are the Dating Sim Genre we just play enough of them that we're very used to like #a LOT of the “you must make absolutely sure that youre at THIS POINT in THIS RELATIONSHIP to view this scene” type shit #though we sit in the specific niche that overlaps with text-based rpg so maybe thats a sign or something #a lot of the more complex visual novels are not safe for work but in our experience the especially tangled ones tend to be uhh #also made by a single guy. just a single guy on itch.io using ren'py rather than a single guy on steam using rpgmaker #something something “if you want to get really good at something then you need to find really specific perverts” effect #this thoroughness is ALSO why we're keeping multiple saves as unfortunately space quest has instilled much thoroughness in us #puzzle games. visual novels. text based rpgs. with their powers combined we are unreasonably thorough about exploring every available avenu #no matter how obscure or just fucking bizarre to explore #anyways we miss point and click adventure games we wish that they got made more often again #though if this isn't going to have roguelike apects in the climb we may have to wind up purposefully killing siffrin to get all dialogue

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rebellum · 7 months

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Gently sitting down white trans people and explaining to them that no matter their gender most white trans people can and do use the "white woman's tears" tactic

#its so like. insidious. and hard to call out.#bc if you call out someone out they just pile more on you know?#and if they arent a woman theyll be like 'are you saying by using white tears im like a white WOMAN'#and if they are a woman theyll be like 'are you insinuating that because im a WOMAN i am faking crying to get attention? ur a transmisogyni #st' and its like. no. no i just think you should maybe examine why you always say shit like 'i want her to step on me yass queen slay' when #you see a hot black person.#its also bizarre when trans fems do it bc that same example i used happens to them too so often!! and its a thing that trans fems discuss!#the masculinization of trans fems thru framing their love as aggressive. like 'step on me' kinda bs #but yeah regardless of gender i find that if a white trans person CAN use white tears in a queer space then they will #oh boohoo are the big mean poc bullying you by asking you to listen to us and not speak over us and act like we arent here?#and to not fetishize us and dually prop us up as 'the founders of the community' while spitting on us?

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clowndensation · 20 days

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WELL. I came out as trans to someone at work.

#it went well but the circumstances leading up to it were Absolutely Bizarre.#anyways he asked me if I ever planned to do anything about it vis a vis work #and when I said ‘maybe if Paul gets fired’#he went 1. that’s a good idea. 2. he’s gonna get fired soon probably #so anyways I might come out at work sometime this year. possibly.#<- scared to death but at least I know he’ll be cool about it #Jesse will also be cool about it tbh. but like in the least pc way possible.

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prismaticpichu · 9 months

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Hi, Pi! Hope you're having a good day. This is a little generic, but I love you little "Jenova shocks" that get Sephiroth sometimes and all of a sudden everyone's panicking trying to calm him down. If you have any of these scenarios, I'd appreciate the spookiness!

Hope you’re having an amazing one too!! <33 And omg, not generic at all! I live for these types of headcanons lmao! xD Always up for some good ol’ Jenova making a mess in the mental kitchen™️ shenanigans. Let’s do this! *plops on chef’s hat*

Even without puppet strings directly fettered to his mind, or even being in Mumsy’s direct line of psychological fire, Sephiroth can still act up when handled the wrong way. This fella doesn’t need to be a mesmerized, coerced-into-deadly-arson drone to be dangerous. No sir. Not at all. Certain triggers can still catalyze that celestial biology of his, and in the process, ultimately awaken millennial-old eradicative instincts laying dormant in his blood. This is what we call Sephiroth going absolutely Cujo. And it is very dangerous, and very scary.

Did you… did you not want 2K words of this? Oops.

~~~

It happened one night, at Angeal’s place, when he, Genesis, Sephiroth, and the newly-promoted Zack were all clustered on the couch watching a movie. There had been much squabbling beforehand as to what flick to watch exactly—particularly between the oil and water that is Genesis & Sephiroth—which ultimately prompted Angeal to let the pupper take the reins. It also helped that it was Zack’s first time hanging with the revered Firsts; Genesis didn’t care much for the “whelp” at all, while Sephiroth actually didn’t mind his presence. It was just a splinter of something warm, really, a slight elevation from the chilly neutrality he had with the other SOLDIERs below him. Surrendering (remote) control didn’t bother the man very much, especially when it was to someone as harmless as Zack. And especially when it meant that that control was not going to Genesis.

Surprisingly, a compromise was made pretty easily. Zack had cruised down the animation subsection in search of something wholesome and colorful—after Angeal said no to the “bloody blockbusters.” Hmph! He would NOT get nightmares. Anyways, what they ultimately stumbled across was something they could all agree upon: a nice, adorable movie with a smiling deer on the thumbnail. Zack wanted to squish the deer’s face, Angeal loved the floral scenery, Genesis appreciated its longevity, and Sephiroth had a hidden fascination with woodland creatures. Zack had picked well. Even Genesis admitted that the pupper’s taste wasn’t so “repugnant” after all.

So, they flicked on the movie and sat back. And y’know what? The four military minds did in fact enjoy it! It was so serene… so cute. Sephiroth stifled a chuckle as the titular deer learned to walk, Genesis humming along to the classical music. It was nice, really, Sephiroth thought, to just watch something so tranquil amid the tumultuous world they lived in, to fly off to a small oasis of beauty and bonding as he was bubbled in the warmth between his comrades. It was… perfect.

Y’know. Until It happened.

Bambi, as the fawn was called, was running. And running. And running. And running. Snow was billowing around him in blinding cascades of ice, the music escalating to match the racing legs of suspense. Bambi’s mother was right behind him—she was RIGHT behind him. But they were growing apart. Apart. Further and further apart.

Sephiroth raked his nails into the couch, his gaze becoming more and more fixated on the screen. On the deer. On the son. Locked. Praying. Fragmenting.

He was running. And running. And running. And—

No… no where was his mother…? Where was HIS—

Where was HIS—

The gunshot went off.

And Sephiroth felt the ringing.

Zack let out a little squeak, rattled by the sudden plunge in tone; Angeal cupped his hand over his mouth; Genesis breathed a shallow curse of surprise. Sephiroth didn’t know how long he was sitting there, simply staring, as Bambi crept his way out of the den. As he navigated back through the snow. As he called out in anguish.

Unanswered.

Angeal noticed the almost paralyzed look first, reaching over and pausing the movie.

“Sephiroth?” he ventured slowly. “Are you okay?”

Sephiroth didn’t hear him; the world still rang, serrated and knifelike in his ears. He stated at the frozen image now, at the fawn’s tormented face. One that was full of pain. Full of loss. Full of grief. Abandoned.

…Abandoned.

Abandoned.

“No…” He glared daggers at the TV screen, raking his nails deeper into leather. “Don’t leave your son. Don’t leave your son. Don’t leave your SON.”

“…Sephiroth?” Zack shrunk against the cushions.

“Do not leave your son. Do not leave your son. Do not leave your son.” He stood up, his focus honing into a snarl. “Do not leave your son. Do not leave your son. Do NOT LEAVE YOUR—“

“Sephiroth, calm down.” Angeal reached for his arm—

Sephiroth seized it.

And before a gasp of pain could be let out, as five savage nails plunged into his skin, the man was thrown into a wall. Violently. A bomb of plaster erupted with the impact, dust and paint rivering down from the human-shaped crater formed under the window.

“SEPHIROTH!” Genesis jolted up beside him. “What the HELL was that?!”

Unfortunately, the auburn was met with the same fate. Two blistering eyes snapped his way, pupils rattling, the man’s teeth bared, snarling, and he lunged for his companion—shoving him backwards into the stony ledge of the counter.

“TAKE COVER!” Zack threw himself behind the sofa, landing with a thump. Did this happen often??! What the heck was going on??! The General was acting so nice before!

Meanwhile, that General turned his seething attention back to the TV—to the son, to the loneliness, to the abandoner. ABANDONER. He threw his fist into the screen, and the lonely fawn went black.

He was alone.

Alone.

Angeal, coughing, peeled himself off from the wall. He gaped horridly at the condition of all three of his friends. “Sephiroth!“

Sephiroth’s head shot back towards him, and again he lunged.

Angeal obstructed the man this time, seizing him by his own wrists, his feet quaking and equilibrium faltering as he fought to keep those savage nails from plunging back into him.

“GENESIS! Do you have a Sleep on you?!”

Genesis collected himself from the ground, crimson drizzling from temple. He looked genuinely panicked. “No!”

“Why?!”

“Because I didn’t expect him to go APESHIT, Angeal! Why do you think?!”

“Great…” Angeal muttered, before a hiss of pain tore jaggedly through his lips. His elbows rattled against the force trying to bend them backwards.

“Sephiroth!” he futility tried again, desperate. “We’re your friends! LOOK!” He gestured with his head towards a side table, to a framed photograph of the three of them.

Sephiroth didn’t look; instead, he overpowered the other, and with a wildfire in his eyes threw his friend backwards and into the coffee table. It shattered.

“GEAL!” Zack cried, inadvertently revealing his location as he jolted up from behind the couch. Sephiroth snapped towards the boy then, the same murderous blaze now homing in on him, ready to lunge.

Genesis swooped in before he could; he wrangled Sephiroth’s arms, distracting him, grappling to keep him in place as the man clawed and snarled and balked.

“Jesus Christ what is the MATTER with you?!”

Another snarl was his response; another snarl, and joining Angeal in the bones of the coffee table as he overpowered him as well.

“Gahhhhhh!” Zack grabs fistfuls of his hair, panicking over the sight of the two incapacitated SOLDIERs. He needed to do something—quick! Sephiroth was acting like some kind of crazed Chocobo, all wild and violent. How did you quell a crazed Chocobo…? How did you quell a crazed Sephiroth…?

Zack willed his breath to steady, coming around from the sanctuary of the couch.

“Get away from his, Zack!” Angeal warned.

With no more roadblocks, there was nothing standing in the way between the rabid General and the anxious puppy. Nothing stopping him from whipping around to him. Nothing stopping him from utterly ripping him in two.

Zack stood tall though, swallowing his heart, and did the thing he knew best: charging forward and throwing his arms and legs around the older man’s neck, proceeding to ride on his shoulders like a frantic bull in a rodeo.

“Calm down! Calm down!” he shouted. “It’s okay!”

“GET OFF OF ME!” Sephiroth snarled, ramming into the wall in an attempt to shake his rider off; Zack bonked his head, letting out a yelp, but SOLDIERs skulls were pretty darn strong. He just held on tighter.

“Never!” he shouted unwaveringly. “Not until you calm down!”

“GET OFF!”

“NO!”

Sephiroth continued to snarl—why was he SNARLING?—using his nails like they were claws as he tried to scratch his face off.

“It’s just a movie, Sephiroth!” Zack let the words tumble from his mouth, a desperate solace he was reaching for. That was what had triggered this whole thing, wasn’t it? That scene! That darn, sad scene!

“It’s just a movie! You’re okay!”

“He was a ALONE!” Sephiroth roared, another bash against the wall. “ALONE.”

“Yeah! But you’re NOT!” Zack clutched him tighter. “You got your pals here, remember?! They’re right here!”

Here.

Sephiroth didn’t bash into the wall again; he stopped, huffing, like he was processing the other’s words. Like they were sticky, painfully wading through a wall of molasses in order to reach him.

“We’re right here.” Angeal echoed his student in a kind, strong assurance, his back cracking as he raised himself to a sit.

“We never left, you NUT!” Genesis joined his friend with his own plea. Whatever Zackary was doing—as insane at is was—it was working. Somehow.

And it was. Sephiroth stared at the two men on the floor, staring like he was trying to remember why he was staring and who he was staring at. But the fire was ebbing in his eyes. His breath was slowing, his heart was quelling. The Chocobo was quelling.

“See?” Zack said kindly, giving one last reassuring squeeze. “You’re just fine. You’re just fine… Please stop throwing people into furniture now.”

That seemed to push Sephiroth to the finish line; slowly, the man closed his eyes, falling to his knees as he panted long, pained bursts of oxygen. Zack dismounted off him, crouching beside his new friend in concern. His eyes were majorly strained… It looked like a migraine if the boy didn’t know any better.

The coast clear, Angeal and Genesis picked themselves up, making their own way to their friend.

“Sephiroth?” Angeal ventured again, also crouching down beside him. “Are you okay?”

“…….Yes,” Sephiroth said through his breath. “I’m fine.”

“That’s it. I’m calling Hojo right now.” Genesis stalked off towards the telephone.

As Sephiroth watched him leave, he let his gaze idly roam around, catching sight of the crater and shattered table and splotch of blood on the counter. Acute guilt flashed through his eyes, the flames smothered. Whatever happened was a blur, a nauseous smear of rage and emotion and something bursting from the trenches of his soul. But he knew what he had done.

“I’m…”

Angeal laid a hand on his younger friend’s shoulder. “It’s alright. I’m just glad Zack calmed you down.”

“He… did?” Sephiroth turned to the boy beside him, both confused and marveled as he met the young blue eyes

“…Thank you.”

Zack smiled at him in return. “Anytime.”

~~~

Movie night was relocated to Genesis’s place, as Angeal placed an order for some new furniture and paint. Needless to say the rest of the movie went much smoother; both Genesis and Angeal decided it was best if Zack sat nearby Sephiroth, which ultimately resulted in Zack falling asleep against him. And Sephiroth, for his part, didn’t mind too much. Just as he didn’t mind anything else in the movie.

He glanced between his two best friends + one, sandwiching him on the couch, and couldn’t help but let a small, warm smile form. The whole mess was a blur, yes, but one thing did manage remain clear in his mind.

The fact that he wasn’t alone.

#sephiroth #ffvii #zack fair #crisis core #asks #ty!!#genesis rhapsodos #angeal hewley #sephiroth genesis and angeal #ff7 #almost comical violence #a tad of stupidity #I know it’s such an eye-roller to do like real life movies and stuff but idk man sometimes your brain just gets fixed on ideas #next one will be fully in-world I promise lol!#i don’t know where this state of “oh let’s make him go feral!’’ came from it’s so bizarre and not Sephiroth lmao #like I don’t think that’s how one Jenova-s #but hey Cujo seph is fun!#how many iterations of ‘sephiroth’s got loving friends- the moral’ can Pichu do???#don’t test me

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