#throughout the whole part. keeps coherency | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

theemporium · 10 months

Note

golden retriever and black cat dynamic for sirius black x reader please maybe with him flirting with her and she usually never responds or reacts but one time she flirts back and he's just flustered but she walks away giving him a kiss on the lips maybe

thank you for requesting!🖤

part two

If there was one thing about Sirius Black, it was that he was utterly and undoubtedly insatiable when it came to you.

You were opposites as far as opposites could go. He was always bouncing around and happy to chat anyone’s ear off, you were happy to bask in the silence. He was a people person, you preferred spending time alone. The whole school knew Sirius Black like they were his best friends, you had a small inner circle you stuck to. He was the ever-loved Gryffindor bad boy with a reputation known by many, you were just the scary Slytherin most people avoided on a daily basis.

You were an unlikely match in anyone’s eyes and, yet, somehow you had captured the heart of one of the most beloved bachelors in Hogwarts in a way nobody could ever comprehend.

“Did I tell you that you look absolutely gorgeous in those colours today?”

“They are my house colours, Black,” you deadpanned, not even looking away from your bubbling cauldron.

“You’re right, I didn’t even notice,” he replied and before you could even stop him, he was leaning closer to you until his breath was tickling your cheek. “You’d look a lot better in red and gold though, love.”

“Over my dead body,” you grumbled and swatted him away as you concentrated on the potion you had been brewing throughout the class.

“Don’t break my heart like that, love,” Sirius responded with a cheeky smile.

To anyone else, the lacklustre responses and short replies would have been more than enough to drop any semblance of a conversation with you. But not with Sirius, never with Sirius. They were like a challenge for him and a lot of the time he enjoyed your witty responses. He liked to think he was wearing you down, starting to at least reach friendship level boundaries with you even if everyone else said he was an idiot for trying.

But it became like a nice routine for the boy, something he would complete every day and know he got to see you each day as well. It was a comfort he enjoyed.

“Good morning, darling,” he greeted you as he approached you as you made your way towards the gardens. It had been a Saturday morning tradition of yours, one that Sirius picked up on and always managed to intercept with a charmed thermo of hot coffee ready for you.

“Morning, Black,” you grumbled in response as you reached for the thermo without any arguments needed from his side.

Sirius blinked, as if processing your lack of resistance, before he quickly spun on his heel and continued to walk down the path with you.

“So, uh,” he cleared his throat, his brows furrowed together as he tried to string together a coherent sentence. “I…uh—”

You suddenly stopped and turned to face him. “Are you sick?”

Sirius frowned. “No.”

“Then why are you acting weird?” you asked him, your eyes narrowing slightly.

“You just—” but he cut himself off, just shaking head. “Nothing, love, I am completely fine.”

“Fine enough to go to the Three Broomsticks tonight?” you asked him.

Sirius only smirked. “As I do every weekend, darling. Didn’t realise you were keeping tabs on me.”

“Good,” you said with a nod of your head. “I’ll see you there at eight. It’s a date.”

Sirius’ jaw dropped as you walked away, his eyes barely blinking as he let out some pathetic noise that seemed to catch your attention as you turned back to look at him.

“You better not kiss with your mouth open like that, Black, otherwise this might be our only date,” you called out to him before you continued your walk towards the garden, leaving a slightly confused Sirius standing there with his cheeks burning a shade of red they had never seen before.

1K notes · View notes

odditycircus-2002 · 5 months

Text

Medusa!Reader and Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat 1 Part 12

Spoilers for MK 1 Story Mode: Proceed with Caution

Sooo, given how this whole ending is, just bear with me here, given there will be an alternate version of you. Still, I'll do my best to try and keep it coherent for y'all. Now onwards!

When Lui Kang recruited you to fight against your Titan self and Titan Shang Tsung, you volunteered to be part of his army to fight against the evil Titans. That is primarily because of the fact that they threaten the timeline YOU live in! Luckily, as mentioned before, you wouldn't be fighting alone; you'd be fighting with endless variants of people you know across timelines, including a version of you that appeared to be a heavenly figure.

At the top of the Temple, standing beside Titan Shang Tsung, is your Titan counterpart, who was grinning like a mad woman at the thought of the bloodshed that would take place. You hear her speaking to Lui Kang,

"Oh, but some things never change, Lui Kang. No matter how much you want to deny it. History has a way of repeating itself, such as now.

Titan Y/N claps her hands in amusement as she encourages Titan Shang Tsung as he reveals the allies they both have gathered throughout multiple timelines. Titan Y/N stood with her husband and a Titan Quan-chi as they signaled for their army to attack; in response, your allies charged up the pyramid. As the battle at the Argus's Temple commences, you feel as if everything you did and what happened didn't happen simultaneously.

You couldn't fly up the temple because the skies were packed with other flying Kombatants and projectiles. So you fought and petrified past Kung Laos, Kenshis, Shaos, Barakas, Sub-Zeros, and Rains. Although it wasn't just variant of people you know that you had to fight. The first one you had to face was Sindel, or at least a Sindel mixed with Zateran blood judging from her scaley appearance and how she vomited acid at you mixed with her banshee shriek. After defeating her, you ran off without another word.

Soon after confronting the Reptilian Empress, a Shao/Sub-Zero hybrid sends you to the ground.

"No healer will be able to fix you once I'm through."

While it was cathartic for you to fight another Shao, as you'll never tire of making the brute suffer, the ice he commanded was a bitch for your reptilian skin. Yet, you managed to prevail by slicing off that Shao's head. You had no time to revel in your victory when you had to run from a large group of Titan Shang Tsung's minions. You got a stab in on an evil Kenshi while running from them, though. Shortly after, you're then jumped by a Baraka and Scorpion hybrid.

"We'll see who's fangs are deadlier."

While you were a bit relieved to not be fighting against a Cryomancer, fighting against a Pyromancer wasn't a pleasant experience. Especially one that resembles your dear Baraka. You had no time to dwell on any regret before a blonde woman with a robotic eye that shoots devastating lasers starts to attack you with a large knife. Luckily your blade proved to be sharper as you disabled the blonde's eye by stabbing her in the eye and through the head. Shortly after, you go up against a Kenshi who seems to have mastered Hydromancy. You had to get a bit creative there because of how your petrifying gaze wouldn't work on him. So, the old-fashioned poison would do the trick.

If only the same could be said for the Goro that attacks you with a Warhammer in each arm. Yet, you're then saved by not one or two but three different versions of Johnny Cage, one of them dressed like some sort of ninja errr mime?

"Much appreciated; good health to you all!"

You say to them before you're confronted by a Reiko/Quan-chi hybrid. Like both of his components, he was overly confident in his skills. After defeating him, you climb higher up the pyramid only to be confronted with four people you've never met, all dressed in yellow and black uniforms. Fortunately, you didn't have to fight them alone before another Kitana, this one who wore two buns in her hair and was dressed in a way fitting for the divine, mowed the entire group down effortlessly.

"Oh, thank you so much, your Majesty."

Kitana then got knocked down by some random kombatant who came out of nowhere. After getting through a couple more bizarre hybrids, you were close enough to the top to see your Titan Y/N standing with the Deadly Alliance. The trio, seeing how close you are to the top, combine their magics to throw a huge ball of plasma down the pyramid in your direction. You managed to throw yourself out of the way but at the cost of a large group of people being obliterated. After tumbling down a dozen steps, you're soon confronted by three Mileenas, sais out and thirsty for your blood. While you killed two, one of them managed to pin you down and tried to stab you in the eyes like poor Kenshi. Keyword tried. This time, you took out Mileena's eyes with her own blades.

While Titan Y/N and the Titan Deadly Alliance prepare another spell, who should catch them off guard by attacking them but their far more virtuous counterparts? At first, they appeared to have the upper hand, enough so the more virtuous Shang Tsung could earnestly shout some encouragement to you. You hate how looking at him made you blush.

While Titan Shang Tsung and Titan Quan-chi devour the souls of their more heroic selves, your Titan self has a more sadistic idea in hand. She tore a hole into your virtuous counterpart before grabbing heroic Shang Tsung's spine as a hacksaw, bifurcating your other self. Titan Y/N then uses her blade to swiftly cut off your other self's head and tears off her veil to reveal the writhing head full of snakes beneath. Titan Y/N giggles before she turns her back on the war beneath her feet to toss the decapitated head over her shoulder like it were a bouquet. This turns dozens of the kombatants on either side into stone because they made the mistake of looking at your other self's eyes. These poor souls are soon shattered into pebbles by their enemies, indistinguishable from the rest of the pyramid's ruins. Luckily, you were spared this gruesome fate.

After getting through more strange opponents, you could finally reunite with Lord Lui Kang and follow him the rest of the way up the pyramid. Finally, you reached the top to fight the masterminds behind this war and the conspiracy against your timeline. Titan Y/N was less than impressed.

"I've heard your righteous spiel long enough to last ALL my lifetimes. So please, at least keep this fight interesting."

You knew Lord Lui Kang to be powerful beyond compare, but even with his Titan power restored, he was still one Titan going against three malicious ones. It didn't help that none of them, including Titan Y/N, didn't fight fairly such as when she bit into Lui Kang with her fangs. So with the Fire God currently out of commission you're forced to fight them all alone.

"Honestly, at this point in time, I've forgotten how many of you I've seen die."

Somehow, against all odds, and you nearly dying so many times and sustaining so many injuries, you were still standing among the bloodied and beaten Titans. Lui Kang couldn't help but compliment you on your impressive feat.

"Your praise is like a healing salve for all my wounds. Now, let's cut out these tumors."

Lui Kang, deciding you've done more than enough, walks over to stand over the fallen Titans. Using his own Titan power, he reduces all of them into dust and sand, hopefully making it the last time you'll see any of them specifically. However, without either Titan Shang Tsung or Titan Y/n, it became clear from how the entire realm shook that the timeline was starting to crumble and tear at the seams.

"What now?!"

Lui Kang quickly uses his power to send you back to your native timeline before the current one you're in collapses with you alongside it.

"Thank you for your aid, Y/N. I hope we meet again one day."

You're lifted into the air and surrounded by fire before a bright flash of white goes off in front of you, and you end up exactly where you need to be.

A/N: Whaaa, two posts in one day?!? How can this be??? Anyways, remember to like, reblog, and comment. And if you like, drop and ask a random thought in my inbox, as I do enjoy hearing from y'all!😁😁😁😁

Playlist while writing this

"A Good Song Never Dies" by Saint Motel

"Tot Musica" by Ado

"I Can't Decide" by Scissor Sisters

"Play With Fire" by Sam Tinnesz

"Running up that Hill" feat Meg Myers

75 notes · View notes

scramblecat · 7 months

Text

Because I'm so Normal about characters, I typed out a nearly 3k word long essay/observation on how Handler's opinion on Agent Phoenix changes over the course of all three games. It's basically just reiteration of parts of the games I found relevant, and is by no means coherent, but it was fun to write so I thought I'd post it anyway!

Big huge spoilers for all three games under the cut!

So, let's start with some background, shall we?

In the Agency (more specifically, the EOD) agents are very disposable. They die all the damn time-- we know this not only from various comments from multiple characters throughout the game, but also from the board in the debrief room to Phoenix's right-- which shows a list of agents, from which agents are constantly being shuffled out of.

And that's the whole point of the game's name-- Phoenix, being an agent, is expected to die, because there's so many little things that can go wrong. They're expected to die by not only Zoraxis operatives, but Agency personnel as well.

So it's only natural that Handler has a certain nonchalance towards agents dying. He knows how often they do die, and he's used to it. So he knows not to get attached. Hell, he doesn't even have enough time to get attached, the agents are gone so soon.

I Expect You To Die

Agent Phoenix is a brand-new agent, assigned to the Handler we know and love. And, exactly like all the other agents, he expects them to die. Maybe not immediately, but he knows they're going to die nonetheless. And he's very casual about it.

That's exactly why he seems so unbothered at the end of Operation Deep Dive, because as soon as they got into that escape pod and communications were lost, he just went ah. Whoops, another agent down. Too bad. And that's all there really was to it.

If anything, though, he's impressed with them, even if he doesn't show it. He commented on how many people die in those escape pods all the time, and from the state of the escape pod itself, it's easy to infer that it was a struggle. So perhaps he gains a little more respect for them, and starts taking them a little more seriously after that.

As he watches them perform more and more, his opinion continues to change. No matter how unconventional their methods are sometimes, Phoenix is a damn good Agent, and they pull through again and again and again. In First Class, he's actually starting to enjoy working with them. Based on his 'third favorite agent' comment before First Class, I'd imagine to start out he had multiple agents, but by the time the Death Engine rolls around, maybe he's down to only Phoenix. That, or around the start of IEYTD2, he makes the decision to take Phoenix on as his own agent, to make sure they can continue being an agent in the EOD even after they're supposed to have 'died'.

He's not exactly at the level of attachment yet, but… Even through the chaos of the Death Engine destroying the building next door to the EOD HQ, he's worried. You can hear it in his voice post-mission, when he lets Phoenix know that he and a few Agency personnel are closing in on the crash site of the Death Engine. At this point, he wouldn't be devastated if Phoenix died, but he'd probably be a little saddened and disappointed by it.

And then comes IEYTD2.

Spy and the Liar

In Jet Set, once Phoenix takes down the signal jammer, Handler comes back online, and he sounds a bit frantic as he tries to get a hold of Phoenix again. Usually, he's rather lighthearted during missions, but he puts on a no-nonsense demeanor while he's helping Phoenix re-route the plane. He's worried for them. He also praises them when they do things right, and tells them to chin up, and assures them that they're almost through this. Which is not something he's done before. Not only does he care about their safety, he also cares about their wellbeing, and he's determined to keep both intact. In IEYTD2, he's not only there with Phoenix as another presence, he is also there as moral support, and he leans into that job very much.

When he sees the missile, he becomes more urgent.

For the first time, he's scared for them.

In Eaves Drop, Handler goes with Phoenix-- albeit, not all the way into Fabricator's workshop, but he goes with them nonetheless. I don't know about anyone else, but it surprised me, at least.

Handler is comfortable enough with their skills to know that they're worth going with. They're valued highly by not only him, but the Agency, too-- they've been an outstanding agent, and are very quickly making their way up the ranks mission after mission after the Death Engine, and they are all but considered the best of the best. They're a really fucking good agent. So the Agency knows that they're worth investing in.

In Party Crasher, Handler comments on Phoenix's eye injury. While they've obviously dealt with worse before, he's still fussing over them a little bit.

And it's just little things like this. In IEYTD2 he's so much more invested in Phoenix's work and wellbeing, and it shows. He's getting really attached, and he's not supposed to, but he very much is.

One thing I want to mention before we get to the painfully obvious, though, is the end of Safe and Sound.

Do you remember when I said agents die all the time? That the Agency, and Handler, are both so nonchalant about agents going missing and dying?

Handler says he's been trying to get a hold of Phoenix for hours.

He's personally gone out to search for them. On his own.

If Phoenix was any other agent, he's supposed to let them die. He would not put hours of effort in tracking and searching to try and recover them-- especially not by himself. I have no doubts this choice of action was frowned upon at the Agency, but he was desperate. He needed them to come back alive. Phoenix is the best of the best, so that need was warranted.

And that brings us to the moment you've probably been waiting for me to mention.

Rising Phoenix.

Now, to start, his debrief. 'If anyone can do it, it's you, Agent.' And then he chuckles to himself, '…Agent Phoenix.'

He sounds amused by the name, but also very fond of it.

You know how people who are fostering like. cats and stuff don't give them names because they'll end up getting attached?

That's the final damning piece. He cares so much about Agent Phoenix-- they already weren't 'some random agent' to him after the Death Engine, but now, they're Agent Phoenix. Agent Phoenix, a completely unique person in their own right. He cares about them as both an agent and a person. And he doesn't do a very good job of hiding it.

Throughout the entirety of Rising Phoenix, Handler is at Phoenix's side, helping them along, giving moral support, telling them that it's going to be okay. He's fearing for them just as much as (or even more than, depending on your interpretation) they're fearing for themself.

When Zor is threatening Phoenix, Handler gently tells them to focus, and assures them that they can do this. He tells them to ignore them, stays by their side, reassures them and keeps them calm.

He sounds like he knows what needs to happen when he tells Phoenix they'll fall to their death, but he says it anyway. Maybe there's another way. He can't lose them now. But he knows he's about to.

And then they fall.

And Handler, who's gotten far too attached to this agent that wasn't supposed to live, cries out, yells their name as the elevator plunges.

And Phoenix dies, right before his eyes.

In Handler's report (his final report, that is, about the Juniper incident), he sounds… different. Handler stumbles on Phoenix's name the first time he says it-- his breath catches mid-word, as if he's trying to hold it together I'm not sure how intentional this was but it's THERE and i lose it EVERY TIME i listen to it and he has to pause for a second after saying it, every time he says it. He sounds like he's trying to hold it together throughout the whole report, and just barely succeeding. I personally like to imagine that this report had multiple takes where he just could not keep it together and had to restart, and that thought kills me dead to have but it's a thought.

Handler thinks Agent Phoenix-- or, in the words of Roxana Prism, his Agent-- is gone. He thinks he watched them die. And he got so attached to them that he's horrendously devastated by the loss.

Cog in the Machine (Tutorial)

So, in the beginning of CITM, the tutorial opens, for the first time in any of the games, without Handler in it. We're greeted instead by a new space, by darkness, and a note on the desk.

It says that this place has been evacuated due to the demolition of the Zoraxis base (nearby this new place), and it mentions Phoenix by name.

It's also addressed as, 'to the next Agent'.

So, we can infer a few things from here, one of which gets confirmed later in the game.

A new Agent was (or is going to be) assigned to this location.

Agent Phoenix is now famous within (and outside of) the Agency. (This is also confirmed on the newspaper on the desk, which cites them as 'one particularly skilled agent')

It's unclear how long it's been since Rising Phoenix or at least I don't know but clearly, it's been plenty of time for word to spread on what happened.

Now, bear with me here while I spout some non-canon information, but this means Handler has likely been hearing about Phoenix's death nonstop since it happened. And knowing how distraught he was over it, it can't have been good for him to be continuously reminded of it. So, this whole time, not only does he think they're dead and he watched them die (and maybe could've done something about it had he acted quicker), but word about it is everywhere.

So, turning back around to my aforementioned idea that by IEYTD2, Phoenix is his only agent, Phoenix submitting their earpiece and identification reconnects them with Reginald and Reginald alone.

When we hear him for the first time in IEYTD3, Handler sounds far different than usual-- he snaps at the person on the other end, as if he's enraged by simply being called. And knowing that he's usually rather lighthearted in demeanor, this in itself is alarming. He's not doing well if he reacts like that.

And then he recognizes who's on the other end.

His demeanor changes immediately. The disbelief and then the giddy joy in his words are also at a level that we've never heard from him before. He laughs-- a full laugh-- and the complete turnaround of his mood is staggering. From this reaction alone, it goes without saying how much he'd truly grown to care for Phoenix before their 'death'. however i am going to continue with saying because the tutorial fucked me up and i cannot emphasize it enough /silly

After finding out that Phoenix is alive, Handler goes right back to himself again, cracking a joke about how he couldn't get rid of Phoenix if he wanted to-- which he could've continued with the same tone of the joke, but an overwhelming amount of sincerity and relief and the winding down of exhilaration replaces it instead as he tells them he doesn't want that.

Throughout the rest of the tutorial, he's extremely enthusiastic, and he fusses over Phoenix ('Speaking of explosion, are… you alright?') and he makes his happiness and relief very clear through reminiscing ('Here! I'll walk you through the rest of it. [pause] …Hah. Just like old times.') ('Haha! That's the Agent Phoenix I remember!').

At one point, he even gets audibly a bit choked up ('Well, I daresay you and I are back on the job! …I… Never thought I'd be saying that again… after we lost you…')

After that, he admits that when he said 'final report' at the end of IEYTD2, he meant he genuinely was planning to leave the Agency. Phoenix's death affected him so much that he was ready to quit his job entirely-- he didn't think it was worth it anymore without them. But at Phoenix's return, he's ready to continue in a heartbeat.

By the end of Rising Phoenix, while it's not readily apparent to both Phoenix and Handler himself, Handler is long past the point of 'getting attached' in the way of 'i like this agent specifically'. After the fact, hearing him both in the briefing he gave and here at Phoenix's return, it's clear that Phoenix means so much more to him than that. Phoenix is his purpose and his reason.

Cog in the Machine

So, in CITM, Handler is overall back to his old self, as full of quips as always. The way he presents himself to Phoenix is very different than the previous two games. He doesn't even try and tone down his friendliness towards them-- he and Phoenix are companions, and there's nothing to stop that fact. To hell with the 'don't get attached' thing, they've been through hell and back together, they're allowed to be close with one another (in any interpretation of the phrase!)

But above all that, throughout the entirety of the game, Handler worries over Phoenix. That worry ranges from simple fussing to genuine, actual panic. I'm mentally ill about this game and character analysis in general so I'm going to cover it case by case.

The first notable instance is in Not A Drill, when the destabilized Kinesium explodes, and Phoenix briefly passes out. Handler is frantically trying to get ahold of them when they return to consciousness, and he is very much pushing to get them out of there fast. He even admits to worrying about them at the end-- while not directly, it's still worry. And in the debrief, he's still super concerned about the kinesium explosion interacting with Phoenix's implant, and alludes to fearing for their life because of it.

In Blind Spot, he checks in on Phoenix if they hit their head on the ceiling after activating the ejector seat, and there's a bunch of little moments like this scattered throughout the game. He cares a lot more if they hurt themself in general, but…

Hot Water.

Operation: Hot Water is the prime example of what I've been talking about in this section.

During the briefing, Handler mentions that another agent experienced a blackout similar to Phoenix's in this same area, and Phoenix is to go investigate it. This already sets the groundwork for him to be concerned about this mission, but as we know… well. Everything goes to shit.

Handler begins to sound nervous as soon as the lab rumbles. He blames it on the wind, and then it happens again, and then Zor's giant squid shows up.

And Handler begins to panic.

When I say panic, I mean panic. He's stuttering, he's audibly having trouble breathing, he's raising his voice.

I'll admit, the first time around, I thought I was just reading too much into his lines-- and then when he commented on it, I thought it was simply going to be played for laughs.

But no.

When the squid comes back, Handler shoots right back into that panic. I'll also admit that at first, I thought he was just scared of the squid, and then he yells that he's getting a wetsuit on. That he's coming to save Phoenix.

Handler, in the entirety of IEYTD3, is terrified for Phoenix's life.

He lost them once. He thought they died. He thought he watched them die. Maybe he thought he could do something.

And he knows that he can't bear to live with that. He now knows how much they mean to him. How badly it hurts when they're gone.

He can't lose them again.

And he'd do anything to keep them alive, if he can. He'd jump into the ocean by himself to seriously risk his life to save theirs. He almost did do that.

Just to make sure they're safe.

Phoenix, over the course of the past three games, has defied Agency expectation in terms of dying. Handler, over the past three games, has defied Agency expectation in terms of caring.

In the first game, he was dismissive about the idea of Phoenix dying. In the third, he's ready to sacrifice anything to save them.

Many expect Phoenix to die. Handler needs them to live.

#ieytd #ieytd3 #scrambleposting #scramble's rambles #im so normal about this game actually #shoutout to the folks on discord that got to witness this rant first and secondhand

68 notes · View notes

reikunrei · 2 months

Text

I didn't talk about this at all in my last doctor who post because there was so much else going on that I wanted to touch on, but after @mikesbasementbeets mentioned one of the closing lines of the episode in the tags, I kinda wanted to just talk about it a bit.

So, this is one of the rare episodes of dw where everyone lives at the end, including all of the victims who outright or technically died. Throughout basically the whole show, but especially the early seasons, and especially s1 with the 9th Doctor, there's an incredible emphasis on "we cannot interfere or else everything will fall apart." The episode right before these ("Father's Day") actually tackles this very idea, which I hope to explore sometime in another post. In short, the Doctor doesn't save people. Doing so often results in more harm than good (unless it wasn't meant to happen, but we don't have time to get into that here lol).

However, at the end of this episode, he does something completely different.

He says everybody lives. He sends out a mass of nanogenes, now reprogrammed, toward the gas mask soldiers surrounding the bomb site and they rewrite and "fix" their DNA, making them all normal humans again without the injuries of dead little Jamie. As I showed in the initial post, even Jamie winds up coming back to life, despite the fact that he was already dead when the nanogenes found his body and used him as a blueprint. Realistically, Jamie should still be dead because he wasn't technically "changed" by the nanogenes, simply brought back to life, which the Doctor earlier says is easy.

It's an extremely profound ending to a dw episode, and it's one that sticks with a lot of people.

Now bear with me because I'm sick with a cold as I write this so it might not be very coherent, but in conjunction with all of the other connections/similarities/parallels between these episodes and Stranger Things, this feels startlingly fitting for (at least part of) the conclusion to st.

Throughout all of st, we've seen time and again that knocking things down with violence doesn't really work. It's especially evident in st4 when Nancy, Steve, and Robin flambée Vecna, blast away a few chunks of flesh, and knock him out of the third story of a house. You'd think that would turn him into a pile of smoldering mulch, but it doesn't! Frankly, he gets up and walks away very quickly. We're shown and told time and again that killing outright does not work.

In these dw episodes, they could have tried killing any of the victims to keep them at bay (at one point the Doctor even pick-pockets Jack's sonic blaster so he won't use it on the victims). However, with the nanogenes present, they simply would have been "fixed" again and brought back to life. Much like Vecna, they would've just kept coming back.

And what winds up saving the day in dw? Love and understanding. When Nancy finally admits to Jamie that she's his mother, not his sister, and apologizes for everything that's happened and comes into contact with the nanogenes, it makes them fix their misunderstanding.

A lot of people talk about how Will said "we have to kill him" irt Vecna/One at the end of 4.09. However, again, we've seen that it literally does not work. And along with everything else surrounding the weirdness with identities in st, specifically with the distinctions between Henry/Edward, Vecna, and One (and Brenner) (check out the original post I linked at the top for links to other folk's posts about this), it's not far-fetched at all to assume that untangling the uncertainty left here will be what brings them closer to "saving the day," much closer than anymore fighting ever would.

We spend a lot of these dw episodes being scared of Jamie. Even Nancy is constantly visibly fearful of him and won't go near him, but in the end, she takes him into her arms despite the risk of her becoming infected. They don't brute force the nanogenes into understanding, they don't try to reprogram them, and they don't physically fight them off. They constantly run away, use words, or even sing them to sleep. There is very little violence in these dw episodes, and most of it comes from the victims themselves and is very tame.

Stranger Things, at its core, is about love, and that extends to the (supposed) villains. The way things have been presented thus far are very unreliable, but we have enough information from the show itself (aided by things like TFS and even bits of the VR game) to prove that there's something else going on, and maybe, just like with little Jamie, someone just needs a little bit of helpful truth.

As Joyce Maldonado once said, "Can love defeat fear?"

#st dw #i say things

19 notes · View notes

messydiabolical · 17 days

Text

@dandenbo asked me for the art asks: 🎠What is a typical 'workflow' for a piece from idea to finished? It turns out to be a long answer so here's its own post, under the cut to save your dash! How I go from screenshot to painting: (This is not intended to be a 'this is how you do it!' kind of guide. I absolutely don't do an optimal route, this is just how I go about painting and what works for me! I've done a workflow for a screenshot to painting as I do a few different things but this is one I could explain somewhat coherently. My comics tend to be created pretty chaotically lol)

1) I take an ungodly amount of screenshots while playing. Also pester friends for their screenshots or stalk the group discord for interesting shots.

2) Go through all those screenshots cursing why I took so many, looking for those great moments that I want to paint. I’m particularly looking for nice poses/captivating moments, dynamic lighting or interesting expressions, and they don’t need to have all 3 as we can fix some of that in the next step. Here’s the screenshot I chose for my Keahi x Thane piece:

It was a cute, soft moment between them and I liked the highlight at the edge of their profiles. 3) Refine the screenshot. I don’t use anything fancy for this. I game on windows PC, so I open up the screenshot with windows photo editor. I crop the image, play around with saturation, exposure, contrast, just basic editing until it looks tastier. For this piece I wanted it to be hyper colourful and vibrant, leaning towards warmer tones.

4) Decide what I will change, then gather references for those changes. In this case I was fortunate that not a lot needed changing. I knew I wanted to move Thane’s eye position to looking at Keahi rather than the way he is slightly off focus, do a more realistic ear with earrings for Keahi, make Thane a little more smiley and lower his eyelid and give Keahi nicer eyelashes. I keep a whole bunch of art guides and tutorials on my PC so I grabbed the necessary ones and sent them to my ipad ready to have on hand for the sketch stage. I have Thane’s character model in XNApose, so I can check things like his eyelid specifically in that (this is actually for a different project but shows you what I mean)

If I was going to change up the lighting/shading I would also gather references for that. For example sometimes i’ll take screenshots of lighting schemes I love from films/tv shows (think the strong teal and orange scheme in Mad Max or the neons of Blade Runner). Or for precise shadows, I can again use XNApose. I also have a little 3d printed Thane head I can shine a torch at and take photos of to get shadow ideas. For humans there’s lots of reference to be found with online searches, I find pinterest more useful than google for this. For specific expressions or body parts, i’ll just take photos of myself (hand poses, smiling from the right angle etc.) My camera roll is an interesting place. I have drawn drell frills on my neck and on my chest before to see how the lines would fold at certain angles. 5) Setting up a canvas I work in procreate. For a piece like this I try to go pretty big, say 5000 x 4000 pixels, then i’ll crop down later as needed. 300 DPI. As I work, I’ll make duplicates and continue on the copy each fresh session. When i’m finished I make a backup save of the PNG and .procreate files on an SSD. I immediately turn the background colour down to a more muted colour to not burn my retinas. If i’m using a textured background like an oil board i’ll insert it, and any overlays like canvas effects. Set up my layers from the start basically for easy toggling throughout. I try to be good and label things to make life easier, it doesn’t always happen though. I don't wear a digital glove or use paper effect screens but I do have a bottle of screen cleaner and a microfibre cloth handy at all times. 6) Sketch. I’m still very much learning to draw. I tried for a long time to do the classic ‘ball for a head, draw the planes/lines etc. It was a constant struggle and never clicked for me, the ball especially always made things much worse, turning a circle into a 3d image in my head just does not happen. I find it better to just start drawing and work things out as I go (I use procreates reference window to see my screenshot). So I’ll have my sketch in one canvas, and i’ll also have a second canvas with the photo ref on it at the same size, and if I feel like something is really wonky and off i’ll test my lines over the photo to see what’s gone wrong, then go back to the sketch and correct the areas that revealed. Sometimes I’ll use the grid feature if i’m getting stuck. Here's a few of the sketch stages:

Here I tried out the lines on the photo and noticed that Thane’s frills were a little too far to the left, and Keahi’s eyebrow needed to arch down towards the nose.In the next pass I correct these:

Also, and I know i’m gonna get side eye from some people for this but I really could not care less to be honest. On some pieces i’ll just trace the screenshot. Sometime I just want to get to painting, am not in the mood or mindspace for a learning experience, and this is a hobby. It’s my screenshot, no one is getting ripped off. My latest Javik piece was done this way 🤷‍♂️ 6) Painting. I’ll start by blocking in the background and the portrait flats, usually on separate layers. I try to have an idea of the background colour from the start as this can effect the whole piece overall, but sometimes you just gotta change it as you go so having it on a different layer makes this much easier.

The painting itself I’ll lay down wider areas of colours, then start going in and refining bit by bit, I tend to work on one area at a time, and sometimes I’ll get pretty well rendered on a small area before moving on, other times work on a wider area. It really depends on my mood and what i’m vibing with that day. Like you can see here I’ve done some general messy colouring all over Keahi, but done a lot of refinement on the eyeball:

7) Finshing the piece, uploading and testing: When I’m sick of rendering the painting and don’t think I can add anything more to it without gnawing my own wrist off, it is time to finish up! I make sure I toggle all the layers I want on, add a top signature layer (lol I lie I forget this all the damn time). Then i’ll upload the piece to my google drive and open it up on my big 4k monitor on my PC, and on my phone, and see how it looks (my ipad is a 9.7inch air). I find that once off my ipad, it often looks a little less saturated and contrasting as it does in procreate. So I might go back and change the levels if it’s too big a difference until it looks decent across devices (it’ll never look perfect on them all though, just gotta find that happy medium).

8) Posting online I really don’t have any strict steps for this. I know some people go for optimal posting times, and will make multiple copies of their pieces in different sizes to fit better on different sites (damn you instagram and your need for everything to be square). I… do not do any of this lol. I post when I’m done whatever time or day that is. I do tend to reblog/retweet etc before I go to bed, as I live in the UK and that will at least be getting into evening time in US. I reblog my own stuff a fair bit.

#md answers #art asks

15 notes · View notes

cosmica-galaxy · 6 months

Note

How would the three allience members and the mimics react to finding out that the human was once part of a team(or a pack in the mimics eyes), and the entire team survived throughout most of the war, but the human ended up as the lone survivor after all of their teammates died off one by one? The team could be a sports team from their school, a close group of friends of colleagues that managed to find eachother, but it was a team that functioned kind of closely to the allience or how a mimic pack functions? And they find this out via the human breaking down from survivor’s guilt?

sorry for the long question(s), I adore your work!

Camron would feel sorry for the human. It must've been so hard to loose your friends one after the other. He can only sit next to you and let you sob into his shoulder. He doesn't blame you for carrying around such a guilt. You did everything you could to try and keep them safe...but sometimes that's never enough. At least you're with the alliance now! Maybe they can be your new family? It's an option...until then, he'll just sit with you. DJ would feel a sense of sorrow take over the mood of the room the moment you admit everything and break down. Maybe that's why you don't like going to the medical ward...some units are too far gone to repair and parts are recycled to keep the fixable fighting. It's sad in a way...plus, they lost a lot when their titan turned on them. Lots of units went down and dozens were destroyed by their own ally. He can understand...some of those units were his older friends. He misses them a lot too. Maybe you two can miss your buddies together? Vee wouldn't be at all surprised from your breakdown and waterfall of tears after admitting what you were feeling after he confronted you about your strange behavior as of late. A human that slowly lost everything to this war...it's tragic. First, your home...then your people...and then your friends...and now your own sense of worth. It's gut wrenching to see the human so beaten down from their guilt and self-hatred that Vee will teleport them to the human's quarters and sit with them until they become coherent again. He will reassure you that it's not your fault and there was very little you could do. You're only human after all. Buddy would feel a sense of remembrance of his own past. His old clan wasn't the kindest...but they were all he had. This event reminded him of why he decided to leave in the first place. He didn't belong with them and was a loner for a long time. He was on his own for the first time and the sense of being all alone...whether or not you would manage to survive or not...it's grating. It's something he wouldn't wish on anyone. So he'll nuzzle you and lick away your tears...because he felt the same once. Pal would pick up the human and hold them close once they break down into tears. He can't imagine the pain you've experienced...he himself can't imagine losing his whole clan to an event beyond his control. It would devastate him too. Pal would enter a empathetic state of mind and would whine and whimper with the human...cause it's all his kind knew how to do. He can't change the past...but he can make sure you aren't alone. He'll cry with you. Fiend would feel sadness and pity clench his heart as his human collapses and cries about why they are still alive and why they even bother to keep fighting. It's disheartening to see the human, usually so determined and firm, beaten down and crying their eyes out. He'll sit close to the human while they sob and sniffle into their arms and he'll lean on them. Trying to think of anything he can do to help them feel better. He would project your loved ones...but he has a feeling it would just make things worse. So, instead of messing with your mind, he decides to just lean into your form and purr loudly. Trying to show support in the only way he could think of at the time.

#haxorus imp #hax speaks #cosmica galaxy #cosmica-galaxy #anonymous #anon asks #anon ask #skibidi tag #skibidi mimic #skibidi toilet mimic

20 notes · View notes

super-paper · 1 year

Text

Not "AFO being the final boss undoes all of Tomura's development," or "the body snatching plot line was a last minute decision," but a secret third fourth fifth sixth and seventh thing....

3. ("Weekly manga is an inherently flawed storytelling medium when it comes to telling cohesive stories, and authors are often required to stretch their main plot points thin over hundreds of chapters/several years. When you sit down to analyze or critique MHA, I sincerely feel you need to take the restriction of its medium/genre as well as the restrictions on the artist into consideration. One must also consider that this is a story that has been written over the course of a decade-- A certain degree of "mutation" between the story's beginning and its ending is both acceptable & anticipated within this medium.")

4. ("That being said, Hori does consistently do a much better job of telling a coherent story with consistent themes than people give him credit for, and credit should be given where it's due-- while there are some poorly/hastily implemented narrative elements and plot points where it can be argued that Hori decided to change gears, they are not the story-breaking sins that people make them out to be. And ultimately, Tomura's possession does work as a natural progression of the story Hori is attempting to tell and as something that builds off and solidifies the themes established throughout MHA.")

5. ("Tomura's arc is that of a victim trapped in the cycle of abuse told through a lens of fantasy. He was always a victim of AFO and always someone who had his identity abused out of him, and the body-snatch plotline is just a variation of telling that story in a way that leaves no room for argument. Tomura's arc and Izuku's arc also foil and build off each other, and a lot of the misunderstandings I've seen re: MHA's trajectory come from fans who either disregard Izuku's arc in favor of fixating on Tomura's arc (or vice versa) instead of reading these arcs as two parts of a whole-- both arcs grapple with "identity" and how you define yourself vs how others try to define you, the romanticization of self-destructive traits and how it's necessary to have good social support and people who are willing to step in and stop you from hurting yourself, systemic and individual dehumanization, adults failing to protect them when they need it, valid anger and an intolerance for injustice being taken advantage of a twisted into something intensely self-destructive, etc. Ignoring Izuku's arc and how it both reflects and intertwines with Tomura's (& vice versa) means missing out on understanding the core of both characters and what their respective roles in this narrative is. TL;DR Tomura being a victim in need of saving and Izuku being the one in a position to save him is something that has been cooking since Tomura's debut at USJ *more on this later*")

6. ("Hori started off not wanting to give his villains any humanizing qualities because he wanted them to remain "scary" to his readers-- but it's fairly clear that he developed a sense of appreciation and sympathy for his villains as his story progressed and his ability as a writer developed. As a direct result of this, his story eventually grew beyond treating the LOV as hollow tools to "scare" the readers. Hori grew, and so did MHA. The trajectory of the story changing to reflect Hori's growth should not be treated as a bad thing bc, again, this change/growth does not actually violate the initial premise of MHA in an unforgiveable way-- it actually services the natural progression of the story and its characters.")

7. ("Saving Tomura and the LOV is the ultimate goal of the series, and that goal is built off of literally everything Hori has established up to this point. You will never find inner peace or enjoy the manga's good qualities if you keep agonizing over what could have been. Reacting to the manga as a whole on a week-to-week basis will only skew your understanding of the story as a whole. Et cetera Et cetera Et cetera.")

#sophie.txt #this kinda turned into more of a rant abt how the fandom treats-slash-engages with hori but w/e it needed to be said #you can definitely critique problematic and tone-deaf aspects of his story. it's conductive to a healthy fandom--#-- to know why and explain why certain aspects of a story or treatments of a character need to be critiqued #but a lot of the complaints i'm seeing across reddit/tumblr/twitter are detached from reality in a bad and needlessly cruel way #like. people also have to consider that hori introduced a lot of characters and plot elements back when he was a lot /healthier/#him rushing to wrap side plots up or side fights to focus on the main stuff is also not the story breaking sin people make it out to be #tbh it really does feel like mha is a lot of people's first manga bc half the stuff they complain about is par the course for the medium #like ya'll legit won't know what true suffering is until you become a fan of yoshihiro togashi's works 😔

111 notes · View notes

ask-zerotrio · 1 year

Text

Epilogue/Author’s final note

Idk if anyone’s been paying attention to how the blog has been transforming over the course of the story, both in answers + meta blog layer, but I hope it’s been a fun ride! I wanted to thank you those who wrote really nice words again ;u; it means a lot, especially when I poured a lot into this blog (Probably more than I should lol.)

Anyway, I really wanted to do a full write up of the blog’s plot/timeline... A summary of the vision, if you will.

Arc 1: An idyllic universe

I’d be lying if I had this plot from the beginning, but the whole of it certainly came in a rush. Anyway, the beginning of this story was very much an AU where Sada and Turo did leave the crater, reuniting with Clavell and Arven before dying. It’s a universe where everything is perfect, and certainly one that Clavell of every universe dreams of, regardless of whether he’s romantically involved with anyone.

Arven gets to have his parents, Clavell gets to have his childhood friends by his side, Sada and Turo see that Paradise was never something found in the past and future.

Arc 2: A crumbling dream

Then, a desire to explore zerotrio “canon” overcame me, and I thought it might be fun to pursue a change in direction via story, as opposed to usual ask blog announcements/retcons. So... upon the mention of harm coming to the trio, Clavell assures himself that Sada and Turo are fine.

Thus begins the crumbling of this ideal world, with Clavell becoming sickly and grieving for something he doesn’t know... But Sada and Turo do. Throughout these few asks, whoever’s responsible for this dream is implied... and I think I’ll leave that for you to guess :)

Reality is rushing back at Clavell, and eventually time runs out for him. Sada and Turo know this, and I hoped I made it clear how apologetic they are (Love these complex, problematic, but fiercely loving professors lol. Their personalities are so intense, Clavell always in the crossfire)...

Arc 3: Zero Lab era

Suddenly, Clavell was no longer available to respond... as per his injury. Instead we have the Zero Lab Search queries: An opportunity for people to investigate what truly happened between the trio historically. No better certainty in happenings than real video footage, no?

An added plus was to show the trio’s early relationship together during the Tera Orb research eras... Fluffy filler between the grimness of what becomes of them.

Although the “footage” isn’t posted in chronological order, they are all still roughly dated to show a coherent-ish timeline of Sada +Turo and Clavell beginning to have different priorities for Arven’s sake. Arguments had and never truly resolved... logs of Sada and Turo’s absence in Arven’s young life... so forth.

Peppered amidst all these were little clues, as well as puzzles. I attempted to throw a red herring, wanting to keep Sada and Turo’s deaths a not so secret for longer.

Eventually however, we reach present day, with lots of footage locked or damaged. Clavell, Sada and Turo are never shown, but their impacts of their action are. (These poor poor wild Scream Tails haha.)

Arc 4: Present day

We finally arrive at the true present day... with Clavell facing off Protocol Sada and Turo on his own.

The reveal isn’t a crazy twist, nor did I really want it to. But the build up had been for a tragedy we already knew/are familiar with: that Sada and Turo died for their dreams....

But in these final moments where Clavell woke from a vision that felt too real, Protocol Sada and Turo weren’t immune to it either.

Zero Lab queries no longer function as they used to, and asking about the past hurts. Sada and Turo’s conscious speaks through the logs. (Its true workings I leave to your imagination, but I liked the thought of the AI and Protocol representing the two parts of a whole Professor.) We see the final moments of Sada and Turo in what is a death-defying retrospective.

What next... complicated/messy resolutions. Clavell saved, Sada and Turo “alive” but different. It’s more open ended than I intended, but I think it’s also alright to leave things to the imagination...

The trio have always been in search of their respective treasures, and though it takes a long and rough journey...

... lost treasure can always be found.

#//ooc #look at all this art i made for this blog #jeezus #i put a lot of heart into these stories #i hope it's fun!!!#unconventional storytelling #my jam #i adore it

79 notes · View notes

itsmyfandomandilikeit · 2 months

Text

An episode of Star Trek Prodigy that I have to assume won't exist

So I've been thinking about how the story could "end". My understanding from official announcements is that season 2 will be the end of this part of the story, and that if the series continues after that, a new arc will start.

So of course I've been trying to figure out how "this part of the story" ends, and I keep getting stuck because the way time travel works in Star Trek is really inconsistent, so it's hard to nail down what's possible. So here's a possible season 2 finale that would get chucked in the writer's room garbage and replaced with something more thematically coherent:

So since I finished season 1 I've been paranoid about what happens to Gwyn if she actually does save Solum from itself. In the 2009 movies, Spock is able to live freely in the Kelvin timeline despite being from somewhere else, but in ENT S3 "E Squared", for example, the main characters meet their grandkids who got thrown back in time to save them, and after the rescue mission is complete, the descendant ship disappears and everyone forgets this happened. It's my understanding that the second type of time travel is more common in TNG than the former.

This concerns me because it could happen to Gwyn.

I mean, she's literally going back in time to stop the thing that caused her to be born. There's two timeline branches, and in one of them, nearly everyone is dead or about to be rescued from it. As far as I can tell, they could evacuate the other timeline and if it collapses on the way out, literally the only casualty would be Gwyn. (other than Ascencia, whom I assume will not be around by the end of the story for other reasons.)

So let's say she does it. She goes to Solum and makes first contact on behalf of the Federation and influences them to make the right choices and there's no civil war!! Good job!! Solum joins the Federation, everyone is happy, and the morning after the papers are signed Dal wakes up in the hammock under the engine of Nandi's ship like nothing ever happened.

He's older than he was the last time he was here, but Nandi doesn't seem to think he ever left. Apparently he's been doing bigger and bigger jobs and has amassed an impressive pile of crap in his corner made of things he took from people some way or another. Behind a panel somewhere he even finds a hidden pile of money, presumably so he could eventually buy his own ship.

He starts to wonder if he dreamed the whole thing, but eventually is able to get to the edge of the quadrant and pick up news from the Federation. Around this time, the Protostar has returned home from its first excursion and Chakotay is about to go right back out. He says he's had all sorts of adventures, including a mention of going through a wormhole and having to find his way back, having met a Federation society from some point in the future.

So, Dal realizes that this is the world in which Solum never goes back in time to save itself because it doesn't need saving. Chakotay is fine, Nandi didn't sell Dal as an "unwanted", Dal became a better con artist and thief. With some heavy research, he's able to find the show where Rok-Tahk used to perform, and ask where she was sold if not to the Diviner. Another mining colony. He doesn't really have enough information to find anybody else, but has to assume they were sold elsewhere, slaves on other colonies throughout the Delta quadrant.

So he goes to Janeway. Explains to her that he's from a timeline where some things were different. Everyone else has forgotten, but because his brain is DNA soup, he's immune to some complicated temporal effects. He has to give Chakotay's command codes to prove he is who he says he is.

The thing is, at this point in the story, Dal knows where Solum is. Season 2 has already happened, Chakotay has been found and rescued, but the Federation hasn't made first contact with them. Dal has a choice.

He isn't trusted, but he could regain the trust he once had. Janeway believes him. He knows an awful lot about her and he's familiar with all the Starfleet regulations a cadet would have had to memorize. He knows the advice she tends to give. Dal could make contact with Solum on behalf of the Federation. He knows where it is. He's the only one.

But how he does it determines how well it goes. He could ensure everything goes over perfectly, and proceed with his life as planned - fighting to get into Starfleet Academy so he can be the captain of a starship, armed with the knowledge of a failed alternate timeline other cadets can't learn from. He might even be able to bring Rok-Tahk with him. Maybe she doesn't like science in this timeline but he can make sure she's okay.

Or, he could screw it up. On purpose. Tell them that the Federation wants them for their superior technology, and that they have to change their ways to fit in. Stoke the fires of civil war, and leave. If he does this, everything goes back to the way it was. Maybe even enter a stable time loop where Gwyn fixes things and Dal screws them up over and over.

I think this is a fun concept to think about but I am 95% sure I'm off the mark about this having anything to do with where the story is going.

See, if Gwyn gets erased from the timeline, she's basically died for her abusive slave-owning father's sins, and while I don't think it's impossible to make that work narratively, I think it would be really difficult. I think what would be most empowering as a story is if she takes up the mantle of saving Solum in a peaceful way and gets to move on with her own life.

Which is why I came across the question of how to save her. I think if given the choice she'd sacrifice herself for Solum. Needs of the many, etc. The show demonstrates that the reason she likes Dal is that he puts her first when no one else does. So it's... workable that Dal would have a hand in figuring out how to keep her from being lost conceptually to the timeline. At the same time, Dal is supposed to be getting better, not worse. Siccing him with the choice of saving his love interest's life / saving his teammates from slavery against upholding Starfleet values is, again, not impossible to make work but really hard without breaking the bounds of moral grayness Dal himself tends to be subjected to.

Finally there's the complicated case of writing about slavery overall. In this story, you would have to do some onscreen math about whether the Delta quadrant is better or worse without the influence of the Diviner. Realistically, everyone would have been sold to a different slaver, but a decrease in the number of penal operations has to mathematically be a good thing. Dal choosing between the two timelines ultimately chooses whether to give the Diviner a pass for his many, many crimes, which is, again, probably out of the scope of this series.

Still, I'm enjoying parts of it as an AU. What would an older Dal look like if he'd eventually become more successful as a protege of Nandi? What would Janeway and Chakotay do in the absence of his capture? How can the story avoid the problem of erasing Gwyn?

Ultimately I think they're going to have to go with the explanation of Spock from the 2009 movies. She exists here, she just does, matter can't be created or destroyed and her matter is standing on the bridge with us.

Still, I'm not sure.

#star trek prodigy

9 notes · View notes

otomes-and-tears · 4 months

Note

Wondering what your thoughts and opinions are on the rest of the jerk squad boys, especially Nate?

Know that asking me this was a mistake because I’m RABID for them. I’m FOAMING at the mouth and shaking just at being asked to ramble about my boys because I am plagued by thoughts of them that I’m absolutely going to unleash upon you now.

This is not going to be coherent at all. I apologise for that.

By the way— since I already talk about Shiloh way too much, he’s not going to have his little section here. If you want to see my rambles about him, please check my masterlist!

I’m probably going to talk about Jeremy separately because…. I actually haven’t finished his route. It’s the only one that’s left.

Since you asked about him first, Nate is one of my favourite boys. I have a special place in my heart for him because he kind of reminds me of my girlfriend, and I do think that his dynamic with JB is one of the most entertaining in the bunch. He’s always snapping back at her and it’s so fucking funny. Every time they’re out together I keep getting this mental image of JB being strapped in a baby leash with Nate trailing behind her like an exhausted parent.

Like Shiloh, he’s also a character that I think about a LOT, particularly about the way he handles (or does not handle) his emotions and his obsessive need to have control over everything around him.

I think it’s really telling that Nate continuously strives for perfection and frequently neglects his own emotional needs when he practically raised himself, admittedly saw the school as his home, and when we know for a fact that he was seen and treated as a mini-adult throughout his life.

Like, you cannot tell me he wasn’t praised endlessly as a child for being independent and self-sufficient and then when he grew older people were constantly exasperated that he was too independent and didn’t know when to ask for help when needed! Nate is probably endlessly confused as to why something that was touted as being such a good trait for a good portion of his life suddenly became a problem.

Anyways, I think it’s kind of tragic how he spent most of his life at that school and I legit teared up when they graduated. It’s also very sweet how despite being a perv and living to make him uncomfortable, JB is surprisingly respectful of his boundaries regarding physical touch and doesn’t push him to kiss or hug her. Yeah, she teases him about missing the perfect moment but she’s happy to let him decide when he’s ready to do all of that!

It’s also nice that she tries to support him, even if she isn’t exactly good at it. SHE’S TRYING HER BEST BC THEY LEGIT LIKE EACH OTHER EVEN IF THEY BOTH HAVE ISSUES!!

Regarding Everett… I didn’t expect to like his route as much as I did, but he has SO MUCH ANGST POTENTIAL.

Like, his whole relationship with Nate? The fact that he’s a momma’s boy?? HE WAS REJECTED BY PRAN In like, the WORST way possible??

It’s just, chef’s kiss. A whole lotta angst wrapped inside a tiny, hipster-shaped package. Pure perfection.

My only issue with his route is that the whole time, I felt like JB was getting in between him and Nate. This is my headcanon, but I feel like after high school, if JB and Everett don’t immediately have an explosive, dramatic breakup there are only two possible routes: either he leaves her for Nate or they add Nate into the mix.

I’m sorry, but no other alternatives compute for me, not after their conversation in the tunnel of love. That shit goes way past just a codependent friendship.

I think I’ve mentioned this once before but Bae is likely my second favorite jerksquad guy. I can’t really explain why his condescension is so funny to me, but it might be because my favorite parts of the game were the group meetings and Bae’s borderline paternalistic attitude towards the other characters (because he’s mAtURE and knows what’s best for them) and his sarcasm made for some really great dialogue and some of the funniest scenes in my opinion.

Just as a side note— I played xoxo blood droplets and Bae’s route made me realize how much potential he has to be a yandere in an au! And now that I’m thinking about this I NEED to write about it. Even if it’s just headcanons or something.

I love him in game. I’d probably throw hands with him three minutes into a conversation if he existed IRL. I sent my girlfriend screenshots of his sons of his scenes while I played and she said that I was a bit like him. It made me reevaluate my life LOL

Okay so, I’m going to be real with you: Pran is my least favorite of the boys. I’ll admit that when I played through his route last year I kept complaining about not having that much fun and not liking him a lot as a character. My view changed as I got to the end of the game:

Pran’s is still my least favorite route but he’s one of the most interesting guys to analyze.

In the end, even if it took me a bit to get into it, I still ended up enjoying it immensely anyway.

I think what made me dislike him at first was that, ironically, I think that Pran as a character works best in group scenes. He’s a contrarian and he’s very quiet most of the time, which makes his very occasional interjections some of the funniest moments in the meetings, but that’s also why I didn’t find his dates as fun LOL

I think that with the other characters I had a better time because how they played off JB during their dates, while with Pran it was funny to see JB trying so hard to engage with him or get a rise out of him just for him to barely react (and it makes the instances where she does manage to catch him off guard very rewarding) on the first few times, but it started to get old for me. There’s only so many times I can hear him say no, and that he doesn’t care before it gets annoying.

For me the highlight of his route was seeing Shiloh have a weird, one-sided beef with him. Shiloh pretends to like everyone but this is where he draws the line apparently 😭

Anyways, you might be wondering why I said he’s one of my favourites to analyse if I didn’t have much fun playing through his route. That’s mostly because of his backstory, which I genuinely find to be fascinating.

He’s basically a textbook example of avoidant attachment, which is due to the severe neglect he suffered as a child. Honestly, I could make a whole post about this alone if anyone is interested.

That coupled with having to adopt a mentality where nothing he ever did or said was ever right, because either his parents or grandparents would get upset, which led to him always being quiet or choosing the contrarian option, and you get a pretty fascinating character to think about. It’s interesting to examine his relationships through this lense: it makes complete sense that Pran has a difficult time engaging with JB and connecting to her emotional needs. The few relationships he has maintained exist out of necessity! And he tries so hard to push her away, in the same way he pushed everyone else away, but she just refuses to leave. Refuses to accept defeat. She’s fully determined to figure him out and make their weirdass relationship work and it’s something I admire JB for. That girl is a TROOPER.

#by the way this is going to be a take™️ but I think Shiloh and Nate are more similar than either of them would like to admit #they both need to feel in control of a situation in order to feel comfortable but they express that need in basically opposite ways #I can elaborate more on that if anyone is interested #bee rambles #xoxo droplets #shiloh fields #nate lawson #everett gray #bae pyoun #pran taylor #xod shiloh #Nate xod #everett xod #bae xod #Pran xod #xod

19 notes · View notes

harukapologist · 4 months

Note

Hewwo fellow Haruka apologist/stan :)

I wanna ask the expert themself, what do you think about the headcanon that Haruka's parents (or his mom at least) is into taxidermy? There's a shit ton of taxidermy in his second t2, but also in a translation of AKAA lyrics (a more 'accurate' one, rather than the eng sub that's provided) instead of "I will keep killing to be a good boy" it's "Rather than taking something away, it's better to give". What if Haruka was killing animals to 'help' his mother with taxidermy? In his own sick and twisted way of getting her attention. And, let's not forget the famous scene where he's standing on top of the chair surrounded by the dead animal corpses, he's says "Mommy, look, aren't I amazing?". Sick, yeah. But what if he's presenting his 'gifts' to his mother, who's into taxidermy?

And the orange/amber liquid that everyone thinks is honey in reference to Muu? Someone in the comments said it could be formaldehyde, which is used for taxidermy. Just another thing that caught my attention

I thought about this way too much, but it's a just silly lil hc of mine

Hi hello!! Thank you for sending me this ask (and so sorry I replied so late!) I'm always happy to meet & discuss with fellow Haruka enjoyers :3c

I completely agree with that headcanon (in fact I don't think the orange liquid in AKAA resembles honey at all except for the color--the consistency seems closer to that of formaldehyde, and it makes more sense with the sequence of events that it'd be formaldehyde), I think Haruka's mom was a taxidermist or at least into something biology related, hobbyist or professional, so Haruka was exposed to a lot of things involving animals and taxidermy throughout his life. I assumed this is at least part of the reason why he dislikes animals--they remind him of his mom, when he was still somewhat loved by her, I imagine she'd tell or show him some details of her work/hobby, so he learned a lot about animals & taxidermy from her.

If I'm being honest, when I first watched AKAA it didn't occur to me at all that Haruka killed the animals, I interpreted that as a metaphor or symbolism (but I won't talk about that here because it'll be too long and it involves Weakness haha), so seeing most of the fandom interpret it literally (I guess because of his VD but I didn't take the VD at face value either) surprised me and I spent a while thinking of why Haruka would do something like that, and the perspective you offered really makes sense!! In my interpretation wouldn't call it sick or twisted as much as it is Haruka "accepting" that he is what his mom painted him to be, in his mind--someone whose only talent is bringing bad things, so he took to killing the animals in an attempt to utilize his "evil self's only ability" to do something his mom would hopefully approve of. It kinda reminds me of Tendou Satori from Haikyuu, who embraced the label "guess monster" because he was so used to being treated as a monster, so he embraced that he's weird and unlikable in a way that can make him still a good player but also true to himself. (I hope I remember correctly I haven't watched Haikyuu in like 2 years but Tendou is very dear to me) Except in Haruka's case it is way more fucked up lol.

Also gotta thank whoever retranslated AKAA more accurately--I noticed this theme with the innocent prisoners being painted in a purposefully bad light in T2 so we could vote them guilty, and the other way around as well, the guilty from T1 being painted as miserable and actually not that bad, yk. There's really nothing in MILGRAM that should be taken at face value imo.

And worry not I also thought about this an unimaginable amount, it's been on my mind the whole week actually, but I'm trying to articulate my thoughts into a coherent post lfhksdsl

#YAY AN ASK!!!!!!!!!#MY FIRST ASK EVER YAYAYYAYAYYAYAYAYAYYA #this was so fun to answer thank you so much lovely moot #i hope im making sense awawawa #milgram #haruka sakurai #milgram project #sakurai haruka #also u have no idea how happy it made me being referred to as like haruka expert AAAAAA i love him sm hes so dear to me im happy my opinion #on him are expert level to u >_<

15 notes · View notes

ridestomars · 2 years

Text

─ DATING NANCY WHEELER HEADCANONS

𖥻 summary: in which i tell you my random nancy wheeler headcanons. 𖥻 pairing: nancy wheeler x reader. 𖥻 warnings: sweaty hands. possibly ooc nancy and bad/poor grammar <3 v short and not proofread. i feel like this might be too '83 nance

💭 liv's thoughts: alright! so today i had the sudden urge to write for my best girl nancy and i'm kinda nervous since i have never written about her before!! let me know what you think pls

🧸. i feel like it would take a while until she finally tells you about her feelings for you... she is a wheeler, after all. but when she does, it's the sweetest thing ever. i mean, nancy's so nervous that she's just slurring over her words, a stuttering mess, going 'round in circles 'til she blurts out: "because i like you!". and then you're the one who can't form any coherent sentences at all.

🧸. she absolutely has a big space on her wall where she puts all of your photobooth pictures and her favorite photos of you. it's full of stickers too, which makes it even more adorable. pink hearts, cute bears, small cherries, and strawberries – literally anything that she finds aesthetically pleasing and reminds her of you.

🧸. the one pic that she treasures the most is a three-slot photobooth of you two, where you're both smiling in the first one, looking a bit too flustered, and she's kissing your cheek on the second one (this is actually her favorite one!) and you're kissing her on the third. she always softens when she sees just how flushed you look on the second picture, with your eyes wide in surprise as she gives you a great, big, sloppy kiss on the cheek.

🧸. definitely makes you mixtapes full of love songs that remind her of you. elton john appears in most of them, and she even made you a "for when you miss me" tape where she put i guess that's why they call it the blues. also, duran duran and billy joel are two of her favorites.

🧸. i feel like spending time in nancy's room is so nice. not only because of its coziness (who knew that pastel pink could be so comforting?), but because it's one of the places where nancy truly lets go of everything and can truly be herself – discussing whatever topics she'd like to discuss and going on endless rants about the school's assholes or even the president.

🧸. she's one of those people that, if she trusts you, she trusts you. and i can definitely see that she'll keep you up all night to discuss your dreams and plan your future together.

🧸. talking about a future together, nancy will stick by you no matter what. she's a firm believer that if you're supposed to work out together, you will always find a way back to each other; even when you're apart. and nance always makes sure to emphasize that even though she has those big plans for herself, she wants you to be part of them (and she wants to be part of yours too!).

🧸. she loves to dance around her room, sing and whatnot. nancy might not be the greatest dancer in the world, but there's no better feeling than slow dancing with her to cyndi lauper's time after time.

🧸. and i can imagine the big smile she'll have on her face throughout the whole thing too! you can actually feel the heat radiating from her cheeks as you leave a small peck on her lips, as well as the hot air that leaves her nose as she giggles, in absolute awe of you.

🧸. she makes the best breakfasts ever! like, how can eggs suddenly taste better than they actually are? because nancy made them!! and she also put arranged the whole thing as a smiley face because she knows that'll make you laugh. and to nance, there's nothing better than to listen to your laugh in the mornings.

🧸. her palms always get kind of sweaty when you hold hands because she's just too nervous :( because she likes you so much :( but she absolutely never lets go of your hand, unless truly necessary.

🧸. and i just know that she gives the best hugs. she is kinda small, but the way that she clings to you, like she never wants to let you go (she doesn't, really), is just so comforting and warm. addicting.

🧸. nance loves to cuddle. like, lives for it, almost. she has a tough exterior but she is a big softie <3

main masterlist | navigation likes and reblogs are appreciated!

#my baby nancy <3 #i love her sm #nancy wheeler x reader #liv talks about nancy #nancy <3

188 notes · View notes

aspenwritesstuff · 1 year

Text

Part Three : Clueless

🌹prev🌹masterlist🌹next

🌹taglist: @drhsthl @propertyoftoru

You found yourself wishing you could understand how anyone with even half of a heart could look at Lee Felix and describe the sweeter-than-sugar man as anything close to offputting. Even in your jaded, pessimistic state of being, his smile was an instant surge of serotonin. This woman would be so, so lucky to be the recipient of such pure, selfless love.

🌹warnings: alcohol consumption/drinking, mention of creepy male behavior,

🌹w/c: a lil over 2k, my laptop broke and mobile won’t let me copy and paste the whole thing in one go and I do NOT wanna go paragraph by paragraph. (Translation: author is lazy.)

🌹a/n: hello, lovelies. 🌹 I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too terribly long. Thank you for sticking around and reading the newest part of Prove Me Wrong! It means a lot to have you here.

I’ve made a separate post about my intentions with writing this particular piece, but wanted to include here that I am 100% NOT abandoning this work. I love it dearly, I promise! I will, however, be working on a few of my WIPs that have been heavy in my thoughts lately, so please be patient as I work on multiple fics at a time.

I hope that as I publish more of my stories that they receive just as warm of a welcome as PMW has so far. Every time I get feedback it makes my lil author heart go BA-DUMP so hard, I nearly cry.

You’d held many titles throughout your lifetime; daughter, friend, and author to name a few. Today, however, a new skillset was going to be put to the test.

Matchmaker.

As per your agreement, Felix was to be gently guided through sparking a conversation with the object of his affections - preferably one that took place on the same side of the bar that would consist of more than a refill request.

Felix had seemed skeptical of the plan you’d sent to him after he’d gotten home from the previous night’s pottery painting. It seemed pretty straightforward to you, though you weren’t the one with the crush-induced anxiety surrounding the situation.

Step one was getting Felix to be in the same area, off the clock, in clothes other than his uniform. You figured that would exponentially up the chances that she’d actually take notice of the man desperate for a single crumb of her attention. To get her to stop seeing Lee Felix, twenty-three year old bartender rather than Lee Felix, the man with a contagious smile with a heart - one that he wanted to give to her, at that - full of the warmest sunshine.

It wasn’t that you thought Ryujin was shallow, though. It was admittedly easy, as an intoxicated bar-goer out with friends, to not even register the features of the one preparing your liquor. You of all people could relate to the hazy way they’d be remembered after the night ended. At least this gave you an advantage in knowing how to change the perception.

Thanks, post-breakup alcoholism.

Step two was coaching the well-meaning but admittedly hopeless Felix through a conversation with his crush - preferably a coherent and confident one, but you weren’t going to hold your breath. The poor guy did blush simply from saying her name, after all. You’d told Felix the three keys to a great introduction, pulling directly from the way love interests would often meet in your novels; brevity, humor, and mystery.

He shouldn’t overdo it, no matter how receptive she seems. Felix had tried to argue that he should jump on the opportunity to speak with her, especially after how long he’d waited, but you’d quickly countered. Interest is a fickle beast, easily deterred by a conversation that dragged on for a few minutes too long.

You’d rather her wish you’d said more than wish you’d stopped talking.

After your blunt explanation, he was quick to change his tune - even going as far as earnestly calling himself your humble student. Which then brought you to the second rule of introductions - humor.

You wanna be funny, not creepy. No pickup lines, no matter how clever or cute you think they are.

He’d replied quickly with near instantaneous contradiction of his self imposed title.

None? 😢 Not even if it’s really cute?

You’d smiled then, picturing the pout on his gentle face as he mourned the loss of what you assumed he’d considered treasured flirtations.

Absolutely not.

The telltale dots of what likely was an argument appeared for only a second, vanishing as soon as they’d arrived - almost like a signal of Felix’s acceptance of the rule.

You are a man whose name she doesn’t know approaching her in a bar. Save the cheesy lines until she’s comfortable.

He understood then, shamelessly admitting that you had a fantastic point that he - of course - hadn’t considered. It wasn’t anything to be criticized for. It was simply just his innate privilege as a man to not have that incessant fight-or-flight response when approached by someone of the opposite sex.

After a far-too-complicated discussion, Felix had agreed to give exchanging his cheesy, over the top humor for subtlety a shot. It was bordering on adorable, the way that he clung to each word of advice you offered. He’d thanked you at least twenty times for your wisdom, and you hadn’t even gotten to the final rule yet.

When it came to mystery, you had made it abundantly clear that there was a vast difference between dishonesty and leaving someone guessing.

Do: Be genuine and honest. Don’t: Give every single detail. Timing is everything.

A vivid image of a puppy-esque tilt of his fluffy head projected into your mind’s eye as you read his reply.

What timing? How much is too much detail?

His near-palpable panic was enough to encourage you to explain meticulously, if only just to ease his obvious nerves.

Let’s use me as an example, okay? If you asked what I did for a living, I would just say that I’m an author. Not the genre, not how many books I’ve published, not what I’m currently working on. Just that I’m an author.

As for the timing? Once the conversation is easily flowing and you can tell that she’s into it, you need to excuse yourself.

You giggled at the row of horrified-looking emojis you’d earned from your explanation, shaking your head as you read the incredulous words Felix had sent.

Isn’t that rude? Getting her invested in conversation just to leave her hanging???

You cut off the ellipses denoting he wasn’t done questioning your methods, shaking your head as your thumbs darted across the keys.

No, Felix.

Not if you give her a means to continue the conversation.

At this point, you weren’t certain why his naivety continued to shock you - but, yet, it did. You supposed it just went to show that he truly wasn’t lying when he said he was clueless when it came to love.

I don’t get it…if I walk away we won’t be talking anymore!

A deep breath in, exhaled slowly through your nose helped you maintain the polite, scholarly approach you’d taken thus far.

Your phone number, Felix.

“I really hate to cut this short, but if you’d like to continue this conversation later here’s my number,” then smile, wave, and walk away.

Then what?

You wait.

Just...wait?

Just wait.

The third and final step of the Help-Felix-Get-The-Girl plan was the simplest, but arguably the most important: being in the same place at the same time. Luckily, Felix had let you know that she typically came into the bar around 8 on Fridays. You’d decided to let his eavesdropping slide, knowing his intentions were undoubtedly pure - fueled only by his sweet, schoolboy pining after Ryujin. Besides, you didn’t want to resort to stalking her socials like some kind of love-crazed maniac, so his insight had truthfully saved you some trouble.

All that was left was to hope - even pray, to whatever deity might listen to your plea - that Felix could pull it off.

Friday evening, a quarter past six, a gentle knock came from your front door. You peered through the peephole pointlessly, knowing for close to certain that you’d be met with the nerve-wracked face of Felix on the other side. You had, after all, agreed on 6:15 to meet up before the main event.

Door now opened wide, you offered him your best cheeky smirk before stepping aside for him to enter, “Come on in, Romeo.”

He simply nodded, eyes wider than those of a deer caught in the headlights of an eighteen-wheeler as he anxiously gulped, Adam's apple bobbing noticeably above the neckline of his black v-neck tee.

“Loosen up, Felix,” you coached jokingly, shutting the door and following him to the couch. He’d already taken a seat on the edge of a cushion, elbows resting on his knees with his face in his hands, “Being scared won’t do anything for the outcome.”

“Easy for you to say,” he grumbled, shifting his weight to run both hands through his tousled tresses before looking to the side.

You met his uncertain gaze as you sat next to him, offering a reassuring pat to his shoulder as you realized this wasn’t just petty nerves over speaking to this woman. Blatantly ignoring your realization that it was much more muscular than you’d ever given any thought to, you allowed your palm to land flat on the empty space between the two of you as you sighed, “Felix, look at me.”

He mimicked your exhale, though his was much more defeated than exasperated, before turning to meet your waiting gaze. His bottom lip trembling slightly as he sucked in a deep breath made your heart ache, empathy coming far too easily for the kindhearted man before you. He swallowed hard, as he had upon his entrance, eyes swirling with what you could only describe as fear.

“What are you so worried about?” you nearly whispered. He had been much more rattled than you’d initially noticed, causing you to have to fight against the rising bile of guilt in your gut for your teasing.

He took a shuddering inhale before sighing deeply, shoulders slumping from their prior position - tensed next to his ears - as he responded softly, “I just…God, this is stupid,” he ran a hand through the ever-increasing messiness of blonde atop his head before continuing, “I don’t wanna screw this up,” he admitted, leaning his head back against the couch before continuing.

“I always say something dumb, or come on too strong,” you nodded as he explained the reason for his uncharacteristically cloudy disposition, avoiding interjection - even in the form of a hum - to provide him with your undivided attention, “Even when I’m not trying to, I somehow manage to just…put people off, y’know?” He shook his head as he leaned back into his hands, curtain of flaxen hair hiding what was undoubtedly a dejected expression as he whispered a broken, “I think there’s just something wrong with me.”

“Lix,” the nickname rolled off of your tongue without a second thought, “There’s nothing wrong with you.”

He peered at you with a slow turn of his head, cheek pressed into his palm giving his already full lips a dramatized pout, “You don’t have to say that, I know –”

“I’m not lying,” you cut him off, brows knitting together as you held his gaze firm with your own, “There really isn’t anything wrong with you,” a gentle smile that you hoped was reassuring found its way to your lips as you explained, “I think that the world is just very, very gray - and that you,” you poked his nose with the pad of your index finger, earning a noncommittal grin as you continued, “are very, very bright.”

Felix’s grinning had morphed into beaming as his freckled cheeks turned pink at the compliment. He’d released his face from his palms, turning his body more towards yours with ever-straightening posture as though each word from your mouth was filling an invisible meter of confidence.

“So, yeah…there’s nothing wrong with you. People just aren’t used to a person as unabashedly vibrant as you, Felix.”

“You’re really nice, you know that?” he said simply, prior insecurity in his voice replaced with wonder, his smile not once faltering.

“Don’t get sappy on me now, Lee,” you warned with a playful ruffling of his hair. You stood from your spot, it now being your turn to have reddened cheeks, to pour a cup of coffee in the kitchen. You weren’t even thirsty, you just hoped to hide the way his genuine compliment had affected you.

Cup in hand and cheeks back to their presently scheduled lack-of-crimson, you faced him again with a smirk, “Now, let’s get you ready. You’ve got a lady to woo.”

“Y/N, I’m not so sure about this!” Felix called, voice laced with anxiety, from the bathroom. You’d sent him in with a few outfits you’d borrowed from a less-than-willing, bribed-with-cleaning-his-place Jisung.

“I’m sure you look just fine Lix!” the reassurance you’d tried to convey in your voice was mostly drowned out by the volume at which you had to speak from the kitchen.

The stovetop clock read 7:13, reminding you that you had but a half-hour to get Felix to the bar.

“I dunno, Y/N…” he murmured, almost unheard as you made your way towards the bathroom door.

“Lemme see,” you cooed, hiding your excitement for his mini-makeover as best as you could.

Silence.

“Felix, c’mon, I still have to do your hair. Just show me!” you’d hoped the reminder that there was yet more to do would encourage him.

You were met simply with a deep sigh, and more silence.

“Lee Felix, so help me I will kick this door in!” You wouldn’t, no. But he didn’t know that.

“Fine, fine!” his words came out in a hurried slur, followed soon after by the light ‘click’ of the bathroom lock, “You just…can’t laugh, okay?”

“Why would I laugh?” you asked, suppressing a very inopportune giggle at the request. You understood the nerves, though. Meeting up with your crush? Definitely the right time for them.

“Just…promise?” Despite the depth and rasp of his voice, he sounded so small in that moment. He sounded like a child, afraid of scolding if they were truthful. You found yourself with heartstrings pulled just enough to soften your eyes - and tone.

“I promise, Lix.”

With your assurance, Felix slowly opened the bathroom door and peered his head out. Upon witnessing your genuine expression, he nodded his head and fully appeared in the doorway.

Why he’d thought you would laugh was beyond your comprehension. The fitted black button-up you’d provided him hugged him in the most flattering way, the top two buttons undone to show his unexpectedly toned neck and chest. The sleeves were rolled to just below the elbow, keeping the otherwise business-like look casual enough for a bar.

The deep blue jeans he’d brought himself, uncertain of the way Jisung’s may fit after realizing he had a tiny waist, we’re held up by a simple black belt. They, too, fit in such a way that it brought attention to just how in-shape he was. The shirt was only half tucked on one side, furthering the facade of a casual night out.

You hadn’t realized you were staring until your gaze connected with his concerned expression, “I told you I wasn’t sure…” he started, looking down as he shuffled his feet.

“You look so handsome, Felix.”

His expression morphed into one of shock as his cheeks burned under your earnest stare. He stammered for a moment, seemingly taken aback by the deadpan compliment. Even you were surprised with the ease of which it left your lips, almost before you’d even acknowledged just how good he looked.

“Th-thank you,” he whispered, shaking his head quickly as though to reset his mind.

You swallowed hard, not trusting your words as you simply nodded once and slid past him into the bathroom. He was a quick study, Felix, taking a seat on the closed toilet lid as soon as he saw you grab the comb from the countertop.

You weren’t sure why you felt nervous to reach out and touch his hair, a heavy weight dropping further into your stomach with every inch closer the comb got.

But, eventually you did manage to straighten up his unruly mane, neatening his part and tucking a few strands strategically behind his ears.

You stifled a shiver when the side of your hand grazed his cheek.

He sat silently, not uttering a single complaint while you worked. You were torn, though, between finding comfort or nerves in that silence.

“Done,” you acknowledged before setting the comb down, stepping back from Felix so he could catch a glimpse of himself in the mirror.

You’d have thought he’d gotten a completely new style by the way his eyes widened upon looking. He gingerly touched his bangs, brows furrowing - likely due to concern of messing it up - before he broke into a signature grin.

“Y/N, you gotta teach me how to do this!” he suddenly shouted, giddiness replacing any lingering doubt he’d felt throughout the preparations, “I didn’t think my hair could lay this nicely without gel! You’re a genius!” he giggled as he leaned in closer to the mirror, turning his head side to side to take in each detail.

“All I did was part it, Lix,” you said through a smirk, laughter hinting at the ends of your words, “But I’ll show you sometime.”

He grinned in reply before checking his phone, back straightening seriously before he squeaked, “We’ve gotta go! It’s time!”

You nodded your agreement, smiling warmly at the excited man before you. His excitement was contagious, warming your heart like the sun on the frostbitten grass of an October morning.

His warmth was undeniable, and everything was going so smoothly.

As you got into the passenger seat of his truck, he started the engine and turned to you - expression looking a bit guilty - before tilting his head, “Are you sure you wanna wait in the truck?”

“Lix, it’ll be fine, just remember what I told you,” you reassured him with a gentle look.

“You’ve helped me so much…” he started, pulling out into the street, “I guess…I guess I just don’t want you to have to just wait alone.”

You resisted the urge to ruffle his hair after all of your hard work, opting instead to smirk and tease him with a reminder, “You’re going there to get the girl, Lix, I don’t think you should be escorting another woman.”

“I s’pose you’re right…” he agreed, though resistantly.

“Of course I am,” you said with a poke to his freckled cheek, just as he pulled into a parking spot, “Now, go! Your love awaits.”

He gave you a grateful smile before getting out, leaving the truck running so you could have music and heat.

As he glanced back from the front entrance, you gave him a thumbs up - which he returned - before watching him disappear into the bar.

Your face fell as soon as he was out of sight. Everything was going exactly as it should, and all you needed to do now was wait.

So why, as you watched the well-dressed silhouette of Lee Felix, twenty-three year old bartender disappear as a patron into his establishment, were you so restless? Why did you sit with the weight of the world in your gut?

“Good luck, Felix,” you whispered to no one, clutching your phone in your hand as though an update from Felix were all that mattered in the world.

And, though you had meant it, the words that left your mouth only felt heavier.

#prove me wrong #lee felix #lee felix x reader #stray kids fanfiction #skz fanfic #skz fanfiction #skz fic #lee felix romance #lee Felix smut #author has been Mia but is back ok 🥹

47 notes · View notes

jump-in-my-spideypool · 8 days

Note

Sorry but I have to get this of my chest, I enjoyed "Demo Paranormal" for what it was, it was a bit a cliche but it was entertaining and got me hooked to keep reading at least but the way you treated Dahlia was fucking atrocious like Jesus, like she was left disabled because she was trying to help her fucking ex and his new boyfriend and they decided to abandon her in a hospital like Demo could at least be there for her as a friend but oh no Zak might feel jealous :(( so fuck her I guess.

Hey, this was sent to my main account, not my IF account.

Anyway, having an opinion is fine, and bringing up something you think was, as you put it, "atrocious" is fine. But I feel the need to go over a few things you brought up, if not only to clear up what happened, but to understand if my intention was clear...

They stayed with her for a few hours, making sure she was ok enough to then leave. And Zak and Demo felt extremely guilty for what happened, and stayed with her as long as they could, so I don't really understand you thinking they abandoned her? Because they weren't camping out in her hospital room? Zak lives in a completely different state, he's not exactly able to just stay with her with the rest of her life. Also, Zak was running against the clock for his life, so he also really didn't have time to hang out in a hospital for however long it takes to heal from your eyes being gouged out. I left it a little open-ended, but I assumed the reader would think that Dahlia has some friends or family that would have taken care of her after they found out what happened, especially since I stated that her, Demo, and Zak came up with a coherent story about her having a mental break.

Also, Zak wanted Demo to go be with her. Not like wanted wanted, but he knew it was the right thing to do. Demo chose to stay with Zak because 1; Dahlia told him that part of the 'payment' she wanted from helping Zak was to never see him again and 2; he knew she'd be ok. He literally says that 'she'll figure it out, she always has.' I wrote it this way so the reader can assume that she has others she can rely on, not just her demon-ex-boyfriend, and that she'll be ok despite what happened to her. Also, Demo leaves the hotel room after everything with her happened- I left it open-ended, again, so people could either assume he goes to visit Dahlia, or not. Maybe I could have put something about her in the epilogue, but considering the 1 thing she wanted from Demo for all her help was for him to leave her alone, I decided that her story would end where it ended.

Like, I'm sorry that what happened to Dahlia upset you so bad, but ultimately Dahlia was just there to advance the plot- not to be liked, not to be hated... Just to advance Zak's story. [This happens multiple times throughout the story...] What happened to her wasn't fair, but I tried to make it blatantly obvious that the demon in Zak is extremely dangerous, and that he didn't care if what he did was fair or not. I didn't mean to make it seem like they abandoned her, but her whole situation isn't exactly normal, so I'm unsure how to change it, and unsure if I want to.

I hope this didn't come off condescending or anything, I'm just rather confused about it.

3 notes · View notes

waywardsalt · 10 days

Text

on my knees gripping my head hnngggg i thought abt bellumbeck too hard

tag ramblings are fun and on brand but i have too many disorganized thoughts and tags are limiting.

anyways thinking too hard abt him is an extremely good and fun thing but i cannot draw the way i wish and can't really put my thoughts into fic form so this is very much going to be a fun ramble.

bellumbeck drives me insane we all know this. he showed up in my dream last night as of writing this sentence so he is on my mind, which is surprising bc fictional stuff doesn't usually show up coherently in my dreams but there it was.

it's so incredibly fun to think about bellumbeck. he's such a black sheep of a loz final boss, there really isnt another loz final boss like him in concept or even in 1:1 tone imo. it's so fun to take bellumbeck incredibly darkly seriously.

to be fair bellumbeck is kind of objectively a fairly dark and disturbing final boss on a conceptual level, and it's not really out of nowhere since phantom hourglass has at least a little darkness running through it even if the general tone of the game doesn't really acknowledge or take advantage of it. but if you think about it hard enough even without getting into post-game speculation in regards to what happens with linebeck, bellumbeck is kind of a dark boss and it's great. full on screen demonic possession of a major character with most of the cast incapacitated and link isolated with no escape on the ruins of the ghost ship that started everything and facing a boss that is constantly facing him and both someone he's been with the whole adventure and also the creature that's captured his friends and killed who knows how many people.

it's so oooouuuugghhhh it's so much fun to think about bellumbeck even though it's such a short encounter. it's so... the mystery around bellum, the way linebeck is built up throughout the game and saves link directly before getting possessed, the fucking on-screen vaguely violent possession (i am forever obsessed with the way bellum grabs and tugs on his arms), the way ciela is captured early into the fight, too, the first companion character you meet and, if you had her equipped, it leaves you without a fairy that follows your cursor around for the first time all game, it's very... congrats you and your friends are at rock bottom! good luck getting everyone out of there alive!!!!

of course it's not quite that because this game is geared a bit more towards younger players, but still keeps those streaks of darkness and complexity just simply because they're inevitable parts of this story and it's characters. bellumbeck. i'm talking about bellumbeck. what a soulsborne-ass final boss, huh?

there's only so much a ds game can do in terms of boss animations, but i think a lot about more complicated movements and animations for bellumbeck, so, so much character can be communicated through a boss's animations. in my mind, i enjoy bellumbeck movements with an emphasis on puppet-like flourishes and mannerisms, and an emphasis on weight with how he fights. these two go very well together, and its something i love imagining.

with the latter, an emphasis on weight, would ideally focus on the sword (and im a fan of it being this huge greatsword, reading berserk got me around to liking it because you can do that really well) and how it has to be used one-handed, with bellumbeck leveraging his own weight against it and taking advantage of momentum to use it especially effectively to turn link into a little green and red smear on the wood. attacks blending into each other as he builds up momentum, and using that weight primarily against link, who is a small opponent who relies on rolling around and can’t really stack up at all in terms of brute force.

i imagine this kind of physicality and movement would lend itself very well to bellumbeck also having more puppet-like movements, being a little too tugged-along by his attacks but still retaining his footing, his free arm being just a little too limp a little too often, and his leaning away from his sword side, likely with the intention to properly balance himself out, looks off with how his head lolls unnaturally to that side. the puppetry effect lessens as the fight wears on and bellum gets the hang of the body he’s using, but never actually goes away since he’s not looking to act properly human anyways.

just like... movement flourishes and details that could add a whole lot to the overall experience of bellumbeck that i think about often.

#bellumbeck #loz #legend of zelda #phantom hourglass #salty talks #do you see my vision. do you understand what im getting at here. i need bellumbeck to be a bit scarier #this is. EXTREMELY inspired by my recent elden ring kick. bellumbeck would fit in really well as a soulsborne boss #removing the fact that he only takes damage from one spot. i think you could really easily translate the bellumbeck boss into soulsborne #a few zelda bosses would work really well with soulsborne combat and another one is ww ganondorf #i dont think abt it often but i do love what game animations can convey and i think its like. the way elden ring works has me more #carefully watching game animations bc if i dont learn to recognize them then i die yknow #idk if ill tag linebeck or bellum but maybe not bc this is mostly just a bellumbeck post #technically in a sense theyre both tagged. whatever #‘bellumbeck’s design is a little off/silly’ cool heres how you lean into it. also read berserk. dont read berserk actually #find something else about a guy with a huge sword being taken seriously

3 notes · View notes