#and then he does it to the best of his ability

[swiggity-swexual-i-am-asexual]

Basically, it’s discovered that to help stabilize Danielle, aka Ellie, it’d be best to have her be smaller. She refused to be turned into a kid by Frostbite/her own power ability, when Danny remembered the shrink ray his parents made. The side effect is that they’re kind of stuck as humans when they’re that small—they can use some ghost powers, but basically, it’s a weird side effect of the shrink ray. That’s canon, by the fucking way, lmao

Anyways, so Ellie agrees, and Danny will shrink himself with the ray to her size to help her out when needed/when she wants company her size, with Jazz, Sam, and Tucker occasionally helping out. Sam buys one of those really ornate Victorian dollhouses, with wooden everything, and Danny does some… renovations… so that it no longer opens and is a proper house. There’s still some oddities because it’s a dollhouse originally, but it was easier and faster to give her a home. One of the first additions was a water/wastewater system, followed like two hours later by an electrical system. Since it was so small, Danny was able to do it fairly quickly in his big size, occasionally going small and using the small window for using his powers to double check on things.

The water system had to be refilled every week, unless hooked up to a plumbing system in a house, which Danny made some outlets for in Jazz’s room—it was easier and had significantly less questions/didn’t stand out as much if placed in Jazz’s room. They usually did it every three days, though, as the plug-in process was still a bit… hinky. The tanks for holding the water were in the ‘basement’, which was mostly inaccessible from the inside of the dollhouse but basically looked like a big stand the dollhouse stayed on. Like someone ripped a full house out of the ground WITH the basement attached. There was a small access hallway down some stairs in the house for the clean water system, though.

The electric system was fairly simple, as it didn’t cost much energy to light a dollhouse and heat/cool water. There was an AC unit, Ellie’s request, but it hardly was used and was fairly efficient just due to pure size. It was fueled by ecto batteries, which Danny made sure had a few rechargability options—just because it was efficient energy didn’t mean it didn’t ever need recharging. There was a very small ecto filter, but due to its relative small size, was easy to clean and was fairly stable, so they had a whole closet of them just chilling out, both filled and empty. The battery itself could be charged by ecto sources, Danny’s own blood, or ambient ectoplasm gained by using something that looked like a solar panel and a satellite dish had a child that the batter could be placed in. The hookup also allowed for like… normal D cell batteries.

They would buy dollhouse furniture, and occasionally just buy the big version then shrink it down. Ellie had a huge old house to herself, basically, might as well go ham. And she had a fun time with the designer doll clothes Sam liked to get, although the cheap doll clothes from the store were also fun. Best option was just buying normal clothes and shrinking them, but using things that were already small or just making stuff using normal sized objects was fun.

At some point, though, the Fenton siblings decide to go on a trip. Ellie begs to be taken along, and Jazz agrees—there’s a doll showcase in Gotham, and Jazz wanted to see if anything caught Ellie’s interest. Danny, having a room in the dollhouse himself, also went along. Might as well make it a sibling’s trip, right?

Ellie can be full size for small chunks of time, which they did while exploring the expo. They found some cool things to add, and some doll clothes Ellie was far too interested in trying on, as well as some to force on Danny later. He sighed, but like—that’s his little cousin-sister, he’d put up with it. After all, he learned how to plumb an entire (miniature) house in two days when she refused to move in until it had a fully functional bathroom, so.

Anyways!

They have a fun time, and sure, lugging the relatively giant dollhouse was a PAIN, but it was Ellie’s home, and some stabilizing tech made it relatively safe to move without risking everything freaking breaking. They load everything in again, and the dollhouse is now restocked with clothes, tiny furniture, and a lot of shrunken supplies—some foods are just hard to work with full size, and are easier to shrink, okay? Also soap, paper goods, pencils and pens, books, etc. Jazz loads the thing into her car, and Danny offers to stay with Ellie in the dollhouse—so Jazz gets them in, and shrinks them down, holding onto the shrink ray in the meantime.

All is going relatively well in Gotham traffic until there’s a rogue attack.

Go figure.

Jazz ends up unconscious, and Danny and Ellie can’t do anything before the rogue is taken care of and a paramedic team comes up. They hide back in the dollhouse, listening as the medics say she seems to be okay, just unconscious. A relief, but now they’re taking Jazz away. Fenton luck states she’s one of the few actually injured. The Bat Brigade comes by, and Batman notices that there’s a wallet for one Danny Fenton. Red Robin confirms that Jazz was likely here with at least two other people, based on the ticket stubs for the expo. However, there is a strange lack of social media presence, Danny doesn’t have a photo ID, and there’s no way of knowing for SURE that it was just Danny with her, if it was just two other people, or if Danny was in the car with her. Still, as they can’t find him but DO have his sister and his wallet, they assume he might be missing, possibly kidnapped.

The Gotham PD of course take in the car, although it’s pretty trashed. Knowing well and good that the dollhouse and such things are actually quite expensive, Commissioner Gordon mentions that it wouldn’t be a bad idea for Batman to maybe hold onto the Fenton’s things that *aren’t* related to the investigation.

Batman just takes everything. Including a rather peculiar looking gun that seems to have sustained some damage during the attack and car crash.

Gordon sighs. Figures.

So, Danny and Ellie end up in Wayne Manor. Most of the things end up in the Batcave, but Alfred insists that they place the doll things upstairs in the manor proper—the cave isn’t *that* damp, but doll things are small and delicate. So, upstairs they go.

At first, it’s fine. Danny and Ellie are fine in the dollhouse, and it’ll be at least a week before any of the systems NEED to be worked with.

Then Ellie ends up with a massive migraine. She gets them, on occasion, a sort of growing pain. Usually, they just shrink some medicine for her as she needs it, because she’s like—twelve. While they did have some medicine that had been pre-shrunk, when they were stocking up in Gotham, it turns out pain medicine was more expensive there. Not by much, but they figured—they’ll just stock up in Amity Park, they’ll be there in two days.

Haha. Nope.

So, Danny finally has to venture out. He lucks into finding the first aid kit—why there was one in the main living room, he’s not sure—and is currently working on trying to get open the blister packet of an ibuprofen when Alfred finds him.

Alfred stares at this tiny boy with a tiny make-shift knife trying to get into… over the counter pain medication.

Danny stares at this butler guy who had very gently cleaned the outside and noted the strange fact that the dollhouse did not open.

Danny waves at Alfred.

Alfred waves a tiny finger back.

“Hello,” Alfred says softly, which is fantastic because loud noises could get painful—part of the reason for Ellie’s headache was an argument between Tim and Damian. “How do you do?”

Danny hesitates, before he makes an exaggerated so-so gesture.

“You understand me?”

Danny nods—it’s rare for people to understand what he’s saying when he’s 5 inches tall.

“How wonderful,” Alfred smiles. “And how can I help our young guest tonight?”

Danny gestures to the blister packet.

“Pain medication? Isn’t that a little bit large for you.”

The teen thinks for a second on how to communicate. He points to the pill, then makes a slight show of pretending to grind something, like a mortar and pestle.

Thankfully, Alfred got the idea. “Would it be easier if I ground it up for you?”

Danny takes a moment to think before accepting with an enthusiastic nod.

“Very well,” Alfred says, taking the blister packet in one hand. He then hold his other out, palm up, like a platform. “Would you like to come with me?”

Danny ‘his survival instincts died when he did’ Fenton gets into Alfred’s hand.

Alfred grinds up the pill into a fine powder. Danny hands him a tiny bottle—still large in Danny’s hands, as it was not a shrunk bottle—that he had tied around his waist. Alfred fills it, and hands it back.

“I assume you came from the tiny house we have in our living room?”

Danny again nods. Alfred takes him there, setting him down outside the front door. Danny bows, and sure it’s Japanese as hell, and he’s white as all get out, but it’s a generally understood gesture of thanks. He hopes.

Alfred understands it just fine. “I bid you goodnight, then. Perhaps we will talk more, when you are feeling better?”

Danny hesitates, again, but he nods. Alfred had been nice enough, so far.

Danny heads in, quickly measuring out the medicine—shrunk pressure plates and scales and weights made what it was measuring relative—to him the weights on the hand balance scale felt the same weight. Ellie got her medicine, and they both went back to sleep.

He told her in the morning what happened. Ellie was strangely gung-ho about meeting this butler guy, and so—when no one else was around—, she and Danny went onto the tiny balcony as Alfred came in to dust.

“Oh my,” he said. “There’s two of you, now. Should I expect more?”

Both of them did an exaggerated ‘no’ dance.

“Very well, I don’t believe I’ve introduced myself. I’m Alfred Pennyworth, the family butler. Welcome to Wayne Manor.”

#dp x dc #dpxdc #dc x dp #danny phantom #prompt #I’m clearing out my notes and idk if I’ll continue this but figured it worked out well for a prompt? #do as you will

[coco-loco-nut]

Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?

Pairing: None

Summary: Being a woman in F1 has it's challenges, especially when you are constantly seen as a threat

A/n: McLaren history revision, actually, a lot of it might not make complete logical sense, just ignore that. i’m not great at angst

requests open masterlist ttpd masterlist

_________

You've scared everyone in the F1 world since you started driving in 2014 for McLaren, more dominant than Max Verstappen, the only driver other than Lewis Hamilton to challenge you. Your aggressive driving style and ability to get the most out of your car has lead you to three championships. Men don’t like that.

You are in a bit of a slump this year after moving to Mercedes, not having won one of the first three races, but you are poised for attack, ready to take your place at the top.

“Daddy, who’s that?” you hear a little girl ask as you walk to the paddock.

“Y/n L/n, we don’t like her,” his fragile masculinity practically yells the comment into your ears. With a smirk you look at the pair, walking over and bending to the little girls level.

“What’s your name?” you ask, your voice bordering on being sickly sweet.

“Sarah,” she squeaks, eyes wide with fascination. You remove your team hat and pull out a sharpie from your pocket, signing your hat.

“Don’t let any man tell you you can’t be better than the boys. You can do anything, you’re a girl,” you smile, putting the hat on her head. You wave over your assistant. “Get her sizes and buy her some team gear, charge it to me,” you tell the assistant, who eagerly nods. Of course, the F1 social team caught the incident and posted it.

“Y/n! How does it feel to be in a slump, as some are calling it? Some fans are even calling you washed. Quite sad isn’t it,” one reporter asks.

“You guys keep saying I am in a slump, or I’m being replaced by younger drivers. My bare hands paved their paths, you don’t get to tell me about sad. If you wanted my career to be dead so bad, you should’ve just said so,” you roll your eyes. Nothing makes you feel more alive than driving, but annoying the media is a close second.

“What about your move to Mercedes next year? Why switch?” another reporter asks. Couldn’t you just get to your motorhome without being hounded by reporters for once?

“It was a mutual decision, it was time for us to part,” you walk away, reflecting on the last few months.

You hadn’t planned your exit from McLaren to Mercedes, the scandal regarding your exit being contained by NDAs. You had punched one of the engineers who made a sexist joke at your expense. You promptly decided you didn’t want to be there anymore, especially when they didn’t fire the engineer.

“I feel bad that this is how it has to happen,” Zak said at the end of last season.

“You don’t get to tell me you feel bad, if you actually did he would’ve been fired and I wouldn’t have to leave,” You told him, visibly upset.

“It was one joke and he was reprimanded. You don’t have to leave,” Zak says, you sharply inhale.

“It wasn’t one joke. It had been ongoing for years, it’s a wonder it took me this long to break. What did you want me to do? Laugh until I cry?” you asked Zak, who seemed shocked.

“Then I truly am sorry, I’ll launch an investigation to see why it wasn’t reported to me before. You will have always have a friend here,” Zak tells you, a small comfort.

“Thank you,” you give him a small smile. You spend the whole offseason steeling yourself and working to be the best driver you can be. You stayed longer at the gym and sent more time on the sim.

“Y/n, are you okay?” Daniel asked one day over a glass of wine, he’s known you since you both were karting, and he’s watched you spiral the past few years. Daniel is your best, and one your few friends.

“It’s so hard being a woman in F1. I am a completely different person than I was before I joined,” Daniel doesn’t comment, he knows you felt like a caged animal so you acted like one.

“Why did you leave McLaren?” Daniel asks, knowing you wouldn’t leave unless there was a good reason.

“I signed an NDA, so you can’t share any of this. After I started at McLaren, an engineer was hired who would say sexist remarks all the time. Over time I stopped being nice and just got mean back, and I finally snapped. I gave him a nice right hook to his face,” you sip the wine, giving the shortened version. “Zak didn’t know, no one had reported the engineers behavior, so we signed NDAs and I left.”

“I’m sorry, That plus the media circus of being a woman in F1 can’t be easy,” Daniel sympathizes.

“That’s why I forced myself to be like this. If I can make myself seem untouchable, it doesn’t hurt as much. Being the villain is easier,” you tell him.

“So how will you approach Mercedes?” Daniel keeps you talking, knowing you need a good trauma dump.

“Lay low for the first couple weeks, let the drivers think they took out my claws, hung me to dry. It won’t be enough to ruin my season, but enough to catch them off guard. During the fourth or fifth race, I’ll leap from my gallows and crash their party, exposing the sexism within Formula One,” you smirk.

“The old ‘who’s afraid of little old me’ tactic,” he smiles, enjoying your plan.

“They should be afraid,” you say, explaining your interview with Suzie that is going to break the internet, after all, the NDA only kept you from talking about the punch.

Just like you predicted, the media and fans were divided. Some called for a public apology from McLaren and the FIA for the treatment of female drivers, most called you over dramatic, and said you only wanted to attention to distract from your poor performance and waning stardom. They said not everything is about you and the people who hurt you didn’t do it to hurt you.

You wanted nothing more than to argue back and show the media and fans just how disturbed they had made you, but Toto told you to let your driving do the talking. That race you said one thing to the media, “you wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me.”

“Chills, your interview was phenomenal. Thanks for citing me as one of your biggest supporters by the way. Scooch over, let’s see what insecure men are tweeting,” Daniel hands you a glass of wine and sits beside you on your couch, air playing his phone screen.

“I like that one, I’m always drunk on my own tears,” you laugh. Daniel logged into his spam account, letting himself reply to the haters.

“I like this one. Y/n L/n is the kind of person to sue you for stepping on her lawn,” Daniel laughs.

“The reply is better: she’s fearsome, wretched, and most importantly, wrong,” you both think of a funny reply.

You show up to the track and win, and win, and win, until you are holding the trophy for your fourth world championship.

In your post-championship interview with the F1 media team, you make what may be your biggest announcement yet.

“In the wake of people calling me crazy after sharing my experiences as a woman in motorsport, I’d like to make a very special announcement. I am who I am because you trained me to be like this, so to make sure no other girl has to go through what I did, I will be sponsoring two F1 Academy drivers with added mentorship and sponsorship opportunities. I’ve seen the work that Susie Wolff has done, and I cannot wait to help grow the presence of women in motorsport,” you say, sitting beside Susie.

“We will make sure she doesn’t terrorize the girls too much,” she jokes at your request.

“Who’s afraid of little old me?”

#f1 imagines #f1 x reader #f1 imagine #daniel ricciardo #the tourtured poets department #who’s afraid of little old me #f1 x female driver

[lovemomhatepolice]

carlos sainz nswf alphabet (part 2) (minors DNI!)

navigation taglist requests

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs) Yes, I know I mentioned that Carlos likes blind sex, but definitely something he wouldn't want to do is BDSM. This Spaniard is too loving to hurt anyone, especially you. Even if it were to be a “desired harm,” there is no chance. Besides, I don't think Carlos would be comfortable with taking away any of your senses or ability to move. Well, no, it repels him completely.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.) Well, and here you have to admit that Carlos is a total fan of receiving rather than giving. It's not that he doesn't like oral sex when you receive it, but I beg to differ. Whenever he sees you go on your knees or touch him with your neatly done nails, his legs give out. He loves it when you tease him with your tongue or try to fit him all in your mouth. Holy mother. Carlos could be perpetually overstimulated, and he still wouldn't mind, knowing full well that it's all thanks to and because of you.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.) Rough and sensual? That's probably how Carlos can be described. Despite his great efforts, he can't be gentle enough by his size, so he doesn't even try anymore. Of course he does his best not to hurt you, but it's how tight around him you are, god. One of the best feelings in his life, if not the best. And definitely sensual. When it comes down to it, your bedroom is boiling hot. And this is not at all caused by the temperature outside.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.) Meh, not a big fan of them. Carlos likes to take his time. He likes to go through step by step without skipping any. First your pleasure, then his, then your pleasure together. He has to prepare everything carefully, so that the rapprochement itself gives the most satisfaction and well-being. That's why he's not a big fan of quick rounds, but let's not hide, it's happened to you once or twice.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.) Ay you happened to have sex in a place that is not very private. Maybe also without exaggeration, because as I mentioned before, Carlos is not a fan of quickies. But once sex in a quickie in the garage of a Ferrari, another time in a room next to other drivers. You take more risks when you make love unprotected, but well, you've never yet had a situation where you had to buy a pregnancy test. After all, Carlos is already of such an age that he would not be at all disappointed if you got pregnant.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?) Carlos can easily go a few rounds. As I mentioned before, you are able to make love all night, so I am just presenting you with the reason. Both of you have taken such techniques and have such organisms that short sex is not for you.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?) He is not and never has been a big fan of them. He's not an opponent, of course not, but he himself doesn't know how he could use them at all. Carlos is a bit of a traditional man - he has coped all his life with his hand. As for you - if you've had any or have any in the course of a relationship, I promise they won't come in handy. Well, unless there is no Carlos. Then maybe yes, but they still won't make up for it, just like he did.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease) Fucking teaser! I swear, Carlos is still teasing you. It doesn't matter if you're alone in your house or in the middle of the paddock with paparazzi and fans. It doesn't matter to him in the least. Whispering dirty things in your ear? Anytime. Grabbing your buttocks and squeezing you that all you can do is moan into his mouth? Whenever he gets the chance. Deviant messages, directing your hands to his bulge in his pants. Likewise, how do you fuck. How many times did he interrupt before your desired orgasm…. Carlos Sainz is a fucking tease.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.) He is not loud. He likes to make his presence known in the form of louder moans, but this happens from time to time. He prefers to hear you moaning or breathing loudly. This is honey to his ears. Rather, during intercourse he prefers to pay you compliments and tell you how good you make him feel.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character) In the past, he has thought several times about having sex with two women. But now? No, definitely not. He likes to have you 100% to himself, so he can't imagine touching another woman at all, or having a man touch you. All in all, you have the same thing.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes) Oh, he is massive. I don't know if it's the Spanish genes or if it just applies only to Carlos, but I swear the guy has a lot to be proud of. And compared to how tight you are around him. Oh jeez. The feelings are so heightened, you've never felt like this before. Like Carlos, he loves the way you wrap yourself around him.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?) Depends. Carlos is hardly the type of man who constantly walks around unexcited. He has his moments where he wants you more and he also has moments where he doesn't need sex at all. However, I think you also drive it when you show up next to him and are ready for a little something yourself.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards) I think Carlos has sleep problems. More and more lately, caused by the stress of work and the change of team next year. That's why he doesn't fall asleep quickly after your sex. He likes to talk to you after intercourse and most often you are the one who falls asleep later to make sure Carlos goes to sleep in peace, without unnecessary nightmares.

A/N: part one, if anyone missed it :) i will be very pleased if you leave something behind - orders are open, and I am very close to 200 followers! maybe I can get in by the end of the week?

please do not copy and translate my works! in case of any issues related to this - I invite you to discuss privately :)

#f1 imagine #f1 instagram au #f1 fanfic #f1 x reader #formula 1 x reader #f1 fic #formula 1 #carlos sainz x y/n #carlos sainz imagine #carlos sainz x reader #carlos sainz #carlos sainz smut #carlos sainz x you #carlos sainz jr #miami gp 2024 #f1 fanfiction #f1 social media au #f1 #cs55 imagine #cs55 x reader #lando norris smut #cs55 x you #cs55 fic #carlos sainz fluff #carlos sainz x female reader #carlos sainz x oc #scuderia ferrari

[koolades-world]

hiii i was wondering if you could write abt an asian mc ? with the brothers or the dateables i don't mind! i just think it would be funny to see yk asian mc who's a high achiever (so even at RAD when they know nothing abt magic they'll try to score high), always take off their shoes before entering a place (entering a place with shoes is forbidden !!), always cook rice or stuff from their country when on cooking duties ("wdym we already ate that when it was my turn last time?"), will make you special herbal tea if you're sick (first time i suggested to make tea for my ill white friend they laughed :( ), tells you to eat more and in the same fashion, whose love language is giving you food, etc... bonus point if mc swears in their mother tongue. And if the MC was living in their native country before going to the devildom, their ability to just nap anywhere as if it's normal.

As someone who grew up in an asian household it's just regular to me but i can picture the face Lucifer would make if the first time mc enter Dia's castle they take off their shoes casually or like MC stuffing Beel's mouth with food as if he just didn't swallow the biggest mouthful of udon ever saying "come on Beel you need food, you need strength to play Fangol"

For the nap thing i was thinking about my relatives who take nap on their wooden bad or just the floor during summer (cause its fresh yk). My grandma always said a hard bed is good for the back lol

Anyway no pressure!! Have a nice day and take care !

hi!! yes of course :)

i'm a different flavor of asian but some of the culture overlaps so this was fun to write! haha the amount of times my grandma has urged me to eat more is hard to count. oh and the amount of tea i drank when we went to visit. i'll never forget watching her make the tea because it was a whole experience

i'm half indian and someone actually requested an indian mc so that will be out tomorrow because doing these requests back to back easiest for me!

enjoy <3

Asian Mc

Lucifer

you're ALWAYS on him for the amount of coffee he drinks

you also always make sure he takes a break to eat dinner because he needs to eat in order to continue his work

despite how bothered he might seem sometimes, he really does value what you do for him

plus, you not only keep yourself in line, sometimes you do his brothers for him too. thanks on his behalf!

Mammon

once you grow closer, he's asking you to teach him swear words so he can cuss out lucifer

if you don’t, well, he’ll just pick them up when you swear and hope he can figure out what it means haha

if you want, feed him random words, or even compliments so when lucifer hears them, he'll just be confused haha

despite the fact that he's the demon, maybe you can help him in class

Levi

when he first meets you, he'd not sure what to expect

however he quickly learns you're the best at everything you do

this includes video games and everything of that manner

he's got competition now, but he has no clue how you got so good considering it was probably your first time at all of the games you've tried

Satan

he's impressed by your work ethic and desire to achieve

you got dropped in a totally new environment and instead of struggling to adjust like he predicted, you bounced back almost immediately and were at the top of your class like it was nothing!

he tried to ask you once why you seemed so determine to get the best grade and never asked again after the look you gave him

something the two of you can bond over, though, is tea! he can often be seen with a cup of tea so that's an easy conversation starter between the two of you if not homework instead

Asmo

while initially he thought you two might not get along, you actually do quite well

he's huge on no shoes in the house and especially in his room

after all, he wants to avoid bringing as many outside germs into his room as possible

can and will ask you to teach him how you make your special herbal teas because he hates being sick and genuinely just wants to know

Beel

he falls in love with your rice cooker

rice that easy and that quick? sign him up! if he didn't already love rice you've put him on it

he doesn't think he could ever part with you and your wonderful cooking

even if you do cook the same thing every time it's your turn, he will inhale it because not only is it delicious, but you're an amazing cook

Belphie

even he's impressed by your ability to fall asleep anywhere

at least he's always with his pillow and maybe a blanket but he's seen you just curled up on the porch waiting for someone to get home

but that sighting was rare, because he felt like he always saw you doing something

however he really appreciated all the little things you did for him, such as making his bed

#obey me #obey me! #obey me x reader #obey me satan #obey me beel #obey me mammon #obey me asmo #obey me lucifer #obey me levi #obey me belphie #obey me belphegor #obey me beelzebub #obey me asmodeus #obey me leviathan #obey me shall we date #obey me! shall we date #obey me! shall we date?

[utilitycaster]

Hi there,

You said in the answer you just gave that, "the Nein mechanically played really well to the casts strength." Could you talk more about that? I'm someone who hasn't actually played D&D before, and everything I've learned has been through osmosis with CR, and your more crunchy posts have been really interesting to read, too.

Hi anon,

Thank you! I can answer but this is definitely pretty subjective in terms of how I see the classes they played and my view of the cast's mechanical strengths so know that you're getting one very specific perspective here. You will notice as a theme that I am not one for indecision.

Anyway: I think Liam and Travis are both notable within the cast for being decisive, in and out of combat, and both played characters with a huge array of options, as arcane utility spellcasters (plus Fjord's melee and, later, paladin abilities) and so having people who can make a quick, confident decision and stick to it with their spellcasting was crucial. Travis also has, as I once put it, court sense, and so having a character with options at basically any range in combat (from melee to eldritch blast range) was extremely good for him. I also just think they like utility casting, which, as my url indicates, I obviously think is awesome; but not all people like it and that's okay! I also just think they like it - both have mentioned on 4SD that Orym and Chetney are much more limited in what they can do.

I think Sam can get really hung up on the optimal and ideal thing to do at times. Really, the best way to put it - and FCG's death is a great example actually - is that Sam is not precious at all with his own characters but is worried about letting other people down. So I think the fact that Veth had a limited but interesting number of choices was actually quite good for him - he could make creative decisions (and even think outside the box, as with fluffernutter) but didn't have an endless list. It also still provided spellcasting, which is important to him.

I think Marisha is one of the strongest players on adding flavor to combat which is purely non-mechanical but is important in actual play if you are playing a character who does mostly the same thing. For what it's worth a lot of the things Beau played to her strengths were on the RP side (give the notetaker a character who has a reason to know a lot of lore) and also, I like monks but they are very straightforward characters to play in battle for the most part so there's not a ton to say, but I think she had a good sense of melee combat and would love to see her play more melee characters; Keyleth was obviously incredibly versatile, but this meant she did spend a lot of time in melee! Marisha also has decent instincts for tanking (Keyleth as regular tank thanks to wildshape and Beau as a dodge tank) so Beau allowed her to exercise that.

Taliesin is also a generally strong player in terms of mechanics and I think, honestly, his strength is that he doesn't seem to have a strong preference on what sort of class he plays and therefore was able to lean into a character who was almost purely support without any resentment over not getting the kill. In general I think Taliesin is very good at just...doing what his character is built to do, which seems damning with faint praise but honestly I think people who get really obsessive about Subverting Their D&D Class are annoying so this is praise and respect.

Laura is an interesting one in that I think she really likes to do Big Damage but she actually is quite skilled at utility casting. Having Caduceus definitely allowed Jester to shine in that she didn't have to serve as dedicated healer, but she also was a strong healer. Laura can be somewhat precious about her characters and I think being a healer is a good antidote for that in that you have the power to heal yourself if you get worried (honestly, this is why I started off as someone who played healers until I allowed myself to accept that dying on graph paper, as Taliesin once said, is fine). Being a prepared caster is also good for someone who, like Laura, can be competitive - it's interesting because she and Sam have a lot of similarities but I think respond in different ways, and Laura having a lot of options and knowing she can change them works well for her approach.

Ashley is also quite strong at flavor descriptors but I also think she likes doing damage, and I think Yasha was very much a "right character at the right time" for her in that barbarians are complicated in the sense of maneuvering, but not in the sense of options - it's a much easier character to jump back into after being away because she is, for the most part, going to be hitting things with a sword. I think she's doing a great job with Fearne too, but wildfire druid is MUCH harder to put down and pick up.

Really, in short, I think the cast members who thrive on having a ton of decisions had them; the cast members who at times have trouble picking what to do had a much more limited list which helped them; and those who don't really have a strong preference had other stylistic elements that were a good fit.

(I also happen to think, as I alluded to especially for Marisha's portrayal of Beau, that the Nein played to the cast's RP strengths as well and/or were given the time and space for the cast to grow into things they were less confident doing, eg: Travis and romance; and I think that does bleed into combat in that it helps you take actions that feel right for the character which in turn helps the other people around you predict what you'll do. It's the drift compatibility.)

#answered #Anonymous #cr tag #more generally the way i mentally categorize the cast and their characters for the campaigns is like #c1: i made this guy for a one shot i guess we're playing to L20 in front of strangers; strong RP & mechanics varied #c2: we are going to very carefully ensure we prove we're not a one trick pony; what do i really want to do now that i know what i'm doing? #c3: what haven't i done yet that intrigues me? #so i do think the nein just hit a particular sweet spot for that reason

[mumms-the-word]

My friend/fountain of knowledge,

I wanted to post about a Mystra theory I had, but thought it may be best to explore it here with you instead! I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. 

It’s probably been discussed before, but the idea is that Mystra’s chosen are selected by her because she sees them as potential threats.

She is an omniscient being, and the Goddess of Divination, so surely she has some kind of prophetic ability or sense of the future? 

It’s mentioned many times that Gale’s ambition mirrors that of Karsus in certain ways, and maybe she was able to see the potential for the repetition of history. (Especially as he displayed an impressive control of the weave at such a young age, and has a tendency to slip into arrogance and hubris.)

I know Gods don’t share the same emotions as mortals, but she must fear succumbing to the same fate as Mystryl - The Goddess who was destroyed by a wizard. 

Maybe this is why she did not remove the orb when Gale proved her right in her fears? She was hoping he would obey her command and destroy himself before he could get his hands on the crown.

The future is never set in stone, even when puppeted by the Gods, and Gale says pretty early on he doesn’t believe in fate. It seems to me the potential to ‘be a moon unto yourself’ was there for him all along, but he was Mystra’s lover because she knew of the threat he could become.

Ironic, that she played a part in his drive for the crown, but I think he would always have been tempted by Godly power whether he was her chosen or not.

I’m gonna answer this on public and you can let me know if you want it taken down!

A caveat: I think that we’ll never know what Mystra was thinking/feeling/knowing before and during the events of the game because I think the game intentionally keeps her motivations hidden. We can dive into the devnotes all we want, and we can advocate for better treatment of Gale as fans of Gale but in terms of what Mystra was planning? We’ll never know for sure.

So with that said, I have a couple of thoughts/theories below the cut! Looong post ahead.

Does Mystra have foresight/divination powers?

Many gods have foresight, although not all of them are gods of divination. Technically Savras, a god not in BG3, is the god of divination, but he is like...part of Mystra's team (wizards who worship Mystra might also invoke him, for example). So like, divination is still sort of part of her domain, but her main focus is the preservation of the Weave and she's given dominion over matters of divination to Savras.

I honestly can’t remember if her having foresight is expressly mentioned in the game (it’s part of her dnd lore more broadly) but regardless, there’s a lot to suggest that her foresight isn’t perfect. Specifically in the context of the game (not full lore). She commands Gale to sacrifice himself in Act 2, not realizing that if he does so, it doesn't actually stop the scourge of illithids. If you sacrifice Gale in Act 2, everyone with a tadpole immediately becomes illithid and you get a game over. It's not the best time for Gale to sacrifice himself. So we know that Mystra's foresight is imperfect, because if she wanted a more surefire win that also means she doesn't lose out on thousands of souls, she would have waited to ask him, knowing there would be a better opportunity later.

There's also the "be a moon unto yourself" and "even the tides of fate can break upon the shores of will" language Elminster uses. Elminster, who has arguably known Mystra longer than anyone else on the planet, who is the closest thing to a mortal-immortal ambassador that can bridge the gap between Mystra in the godly realms and mortals in the Material Plane, even HE doesn't have much faith in Mystra's command to sacrifice Gale in Act 2. What Mystra offers is a potential solution. It's not the best solution. Not even for her. So in terms of foresight...I think she has either a limited view, or she sees potential futures, but nothing is set in stone thanks to the free will of mortals.

(and also maybe illithids are outside her purview of knowledge since they mostly cast magic with psionics and not the Weave and don't have souls that she can recognize?? unclear)

Does Mystra fear destruction or death?

I'm not sure how much Mystra fears death. I mean, I'm sure dying as a god is traumatic in its own right, but she's died multiple times. First as Mystryl, which was kind of a self-sacrifice thing (what Karsus did was cast a spell that would funnel her powers into him, so she basically killed herself to stop the process halfway and everything went to chaos "for a spell"). Even Gale calls it a self-sacrifice. Then she died during the Time of Troubles, was reborn as Midnight, who ALSO died, and then she was silent (but probably not dead dead) for about a hundred years until a few years before the game takes place.

(If BG3 follows dnd lore which, in my opinion, it mostly does, but I know that not all Gale fans agree and Larian is changing up timelines in other respects too so...take everything with a grain of salt)

So killing Mystra is...it just doesn't work. Somehow she's always around, in part perhaps because her Weave is everywhere. Fragments of her will always exist. Which is why Gale's ambitious goal, should you choose to encourage him, is to steal her power. Not to kill her. Even an Origin!Gale says "I'm here for your godhood" if you choose to confront her, not that he's there to kill her.

Which is what makes him like Karsus. Karsus sought to steal Mystryl's powers. Gale is mirroring him in every way if he is persuaded down that path. Now that part...I think Mystra does slightly fear that. Because Karsus almost succeeded...

Almost.

But he didn't and a god-path Gale doesn't fare much better. If you play Origin!Gale and you choose to confront Mystra and steal her godhood? You also fail. Gale dies. Mystra wins.

I don't know how much she fears destruction and death, because I think she has failsafes in place. But it would be very inconvenient to die again so soon after finally regaining her full powers, so I'm sure she's eager to avoid it.

Did Mystra know the orb would be useful?

I think this again speaks to the idea that she has a limited foresight ability. Gale may say that she is omniscient, but I don't think that necessarily means she sees all of time forwards and backwards. I think she can sense everything about the Weave all at once and knows everything all previous iterations of Mystra know (and all that her Chosens know; that's stated in the Elminster novels). But her foresight is imperfect.

So, conjecture time. We're full-on in theory/maybes/who knows territory now.

She knew Gale was going after dangerous Netherese magic when he was looking for the piece of Weave that was locked away because I imagine he used a great deal of magic on his journey and investigation. Her not knowing that Gale was looking for this locked-away piece of Weave is ludicrous. He probably told her his plan and she said no and he went anyway. And she didn't stop him. Why?

My personal theory is she wanted to see what would happen if Gale succeeded. She doesn't babysit her Chosen, though she does occasionally guide them (or command them, rather). As the Lady of Mysterious, she's remarkably (and frustratingly) hands-off. The whole problem with her and Gale's relationship breaking down is because Gale was a) ambitious enough to try and covet a piece of knowledge/Weave that not even Mystra herself could get to (he says it was "sealed beyond her reach") and b) that Mystra never actually talked to him to explain why that's probably a bad idea. Why not? Did she want to see him fail?

I don't know for sure. But I think she was curious. I think she wanted to see if he could even unlock the thing. I think she knew, on some level, that it would go disastrously bad for him, but I don't think she knew that the Karsite Weave would mix with Gale's own dark hunger for power and knowledge and create something that would literally threaten to consume her entire Weave. Why do I think that?

Because that is when she got angry. Not that he was searching. Not when he was deliberately disobeying her by searching (though she was likely mad then too, but she didn't punish or stop him). She didn't seem to care then. She got angry when he failed to do anything productive with the Karsite Weave and the resulting crisis threatened her.

I don't think she would have let him pursue the book with the Karsite Weave had she known the details of what it would do once it entered Gale's body. She does intervene, mind you. She's the one that stabilized the orb enough to "allow it to feed on the true Weave." The question is, why didn't she cure it immediately? It was threatening her Weave, literally consuming bits of her Weave. Did she lack the power? the knowledge? Or was she simply keeping Gale around as insurance, a bomb in her back pocket that she could direct at anything she wanted?

I suspect it's mostly the latter (though I suspect she was also angry that Gale's reaction to his actions threatening her Weave wasn't "Sorry I'll try too fix this" but instead it was "I need you to fix this"). Maybe she knew about the mind flayer crisis on the horizon. By the time Gale is suffering the early effects of the orb, Gortash and Durge have likely already stolen the Crown of Karsus from Mephistopheles (some people theorize it happened in 1490 or 1491, and the game starts midway through 1492). Now there are two Karsite problems on the Material Plane. She likely bided her time to see when she could send Gale out to destroy both in one fell swoop while also being personally angry that Gale didn't act/react the way she wanted him to.

It gets REALLY interesting if you believe that Gortash and Durge pulled the crown out of the hells and into the Material Plane in 1490 because then Mystra KNOWS there's a powerful Karsite item in play. If she knew that, and knew that Gale was pursuing the Karsite Weave...well. In that case, it seems much more likely that she was playing him like a pawn on a chessboard, waiting for him to get in position so she could command him to eliminate both threats.

Because again...she didn't stop him.

Honestly, there are multiple theories about why she didn't stop him or cure him immediately or so forth. it all just depends on how much you want to villainize Mystra and her actions, or if you prefer taking a more neutral path.

So to your theory: Does Mystra choose her Chosen based on whether they will be potential threats?

I think...I disagree, but it's a soft disagree. I think Mystra has no qualms about sending her Chosen to eliminate anything that is a threat to her. Elminster is constantly sent to destroy people who are mishandling the Weave, for example, in the Elminster novels.

However, I do think she is careful to select Chosen who will be powerful and to shower them in affection and attention so they don't think about threatening her. Grooming them to love and devote themselves to her so that if they were ever to think about becoming a threat to her, she can frame it as a personal betrayal.

It's what she does with Gale. I don't think she's threatened by Gale. I think she sees talent and power in him. And I think on some level she probably did find Gale pleasant, and that not every interaction between them was her pulling strings to make sure that he would die in X years in a cataclysmic explosion. That, to me, seems counterintuitive, when she could have just as easily withheld the power he needed to even begin pursuing the Karsite Weave in the first place. But I think it's her modus operandi to love bomb her Chosens so that as she grants them more and more power, betrayal is the last thing on their minds. Because they know that losing her favor, losing her love, means losing power.

Elminster didn't live to be 1300+ years old and the most powerful wizard in existence (allegedly) because he pissed off Mystra. It's because he loves Mystra and she rewards devotion and affection. It's why Gale pursued the fractured Weave in the first place: to prove his love.

It's all very complicated. But she can decide whether or not someone is going to be a threat to her. And the fact that Gale, the most likely candidate to be a threat to her given his connections with the Karsite Weave, fails in the attempt is...telling. Even a Godof Ambition Gale who is still eager to dethrone Mystra isn't going to do so quickly. He's going to wait for another millennium or so before he tries. And whether he's successful depends entirely on what happens over the course of that next 1000 years.

So I suppose it's more likely for her to choose Chosens that she can manipulate or at least groom into a cult of love and devotion. It's the rogue people who don't love her that are the threats, which is why I think she's invested in the illithid plot in particular. Illithids couldn't give two shits about Mystra. And that clearly bothers her.

Anyways, long story long, Mystra is an imperfect goddess who, depending on your reading of her and her actions, either set up Gale to fail or cunningly used his failure to her advantage (or both). And despite what a lot of people say, I don't actually think she has a lot of foresight power, because I feel like Gale's actions keep somewhat surprising her. So there's that.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #gale dekarios #gale #bg3 meta #bg3 lore #mystra #long post #super long post #i also know that i'm in the minority for a lot of these interpretations #but like i'm fine with that #people are allowed to interpret stuff however way they want

[minzart]

Does he have any special skills or abilities from being decended from one of Leshy's disciples, or is it just a fun part of the family tree?

It's mostly a fun part of the family tree now, since he isn't a direct(Amdusias is like... 4(?) Generations back) decendant, but a instinct and conection to Darkwood itself remains

X Even before Leshy Ermis still was the best pic for missionary missions in darkwoods, he had this sixth sense to know when the area was safe or dangerous, a conection to the place itself, he often stumbled upon old sacrificial altars(Amdusias boss room + others) and he felt a conection there, something running in his blood and later(after his accidental prayer) soul, a part of him belongs there and he knows it and it haunts him, a conflict between the cult of the Lamb's indoctrination and the mark of the Bishop of Chaos old blessing

Only after Leshy's infatuation and gift is that Darkwoods decided to reward him generously in his missions

However if Ermis got into proper contact with devotion and sacrifices he probably would grow horns and dark eyes like great⁴Grandpa

#cult of the lamb #cotl oc #cotl yellow cat

[natsuslover]

ur account is so cutee !!

do you have any erasermic headcanons? (*^^*)♡

aww tysm! 🫶

and ofc i have erasermic headcanons they’re so chaotic i love them so much. i didn’t know if u wanted platonic or romantic so i just wrote platonic bc i have more hcs for that 😭😭

ੈ✩‧₊˚ platonic erasermic headcanons ੈ✩‧₊˚

notes— i’m rewatching mha rn so i’m actually really excited to write all these mha headcanons

ft. shota aizawa, present mic (idk his real name)

warnings: very light spoiler in one of them i think

present mic gossips about the students ALL. THE. TIME. (mostly complaining or like random tidbits of tea but it’s harmless) to aizawa but he doesn’t really pay attention lmao.

except from time to time when mic says something that’s so clearly not the truth and aizawa just has to correct him.

when mic asks aizawa how he knows so much about the students aizawa’s like “they just tell me” which gets mic somewhat ticked off because the students never go to him for anything lol.

when aizawa’s teaching class present mic just randomly pops in from time to time to “shake things up”

he blatantly interrupts the lecture and goes up to the podium and gets all sentimental while dramatically retelling the students stories of his and aizawa’s high school days.

meanwhile aizawa just whips out his sleeping bag and uses the time to take a much needed nap.

really i think present mic does that on purpose because he KNOWS aizawa doesn’t sleep enough so it’s his own way of caring.

both of them just sit and reminisce about their high school days every once in a while because they want to remember the good things about shirakumo :(

aizawa’s not the most sentimental person (at least he doesn’t show that side very much) so present mic is one of the only people who gets to see aizawa when he’s really emotional.

they’re literally the grumpy x sunshine, golden retriever x black cat, opposites attract trope.

aizawa always pretends to be annoyed or exhausted by mic’s presence but everyone knows that’s not true.

despite acting like he doesn’t care he’s actually really appreciative of present mics friendship.

aizawa often goes through tough times with all his students (especially izuku, shoto, and katsuki) getting dragged into situations because he cares and worries about them, and present mic is there cheer him up and reassure him that everything will be fine.

present mic has a really optimistic outlook on life which usually uplifts aizawa’s pessimistic attitude.

whenever it comes to lesson plans both of them help each other out to the best of their abilities because neither of them enjoy planning stuff out.

honestly, i feel like even though they were friends in high school, their bond truly got stronger when they started teaching and because of their students.

random but one time in high school present mic dyed aizawa’s hair blond while he was sleeping at a slumber party.

the next morning aizawa woke up to mic’s relentless giggling, looked in the mirror, and was too tired to even care his hair was yellow lmao. he just looked at mic like “seriously dude?” and continued to wash his face.

but when present mic looked in the mirror he noticed that aizawa lowkey looked better than him in his signature hair color and immediately ran to the store to find black hair dye to dye it back.

after all, there’s no way he’d live it down if aizawa started pulling more girls than him…

unbeknownst to everyone else, aizawa and mic have super smash bros competitions every weekend (mic’s idea obviously)

aizawa wins

every time lmao

mic gets super pissed off about it because aizawa’s not even trying like 95% of the time and he’s STILL unbeatable.

present mic hates olives and aizawa doesn’t mind them, so whenever they get food with olives in it, mic spends time picking out EVERY olive and puts them in aizawa’s food.

they both like spicy food but while present mic is huffing and puffing and hakahajcahak-ing through his food, aizawa doesn’t even have a single drop of sweat on his face.

whenever they want to skip a teacher meeting, they use each other as excuses.

like “oh shit mic just uh… fell off a mountain i have to go help him brb” or “damn looks like eraser broke his foot gotta go check!”

they’re both dedicated teachers but sometimes those meetings can get sooo tedious.

aizawa often has to help present much grocery shop even at his grown age because man does NOT know how to shop like an adult lmao.

aizawa’s telling mic how he needs more onions because he ran out but in a split second the entire cart is filled with an entire year’s worth of snacks and junk food.

one glare from aizawa and poor present mic is putting back every single food item that he got lol.

mic is without a doubt the yapper of the duo.

like bro doesn’t know when to shut up and aizawa just goes along with it because that means he doesn’t have to talk as much.

actually aizawa’s like zoned out the whole time but present mic doesn’t really care he just likes that he can talk without interruption.

both of them are such opposites it just works out somehow and i really love that for them.

ok so this is really rushed and def not my best work but my brain is so fried rn i can’t think of anything so i hope this works 😭 i’ll definitely do more erasermic hcs later on when i can actually think tho.

#mha headcanons #mha #my hero academia #bnha #boku no hero academia #shota aizawa #eraserhead #present mic #erasermic #aizawa headcanons #anime #mha anime

[wolven91]

Loyalty

The canid had faced death before, he didn’t flinch then, why would he this time?

As an ex-soldier, an ex-guardian and now a full-time ship guard, he’d faced plenty of ‘bad guys’ before and had survived. Sure, he’d even been shot a few times, although he tried his best to avoid that in most instances. It was unfortunate that the fiks had wonderful creativity and had used it to the best of their abilities to cause trouble for shipping lanes, specifically, overrunning the ship the old canid was duty bound to guard.

But, this was the very first that the fiks had relied on killing folk. Not to mention the first to outright demand someone specific.

The fik holding the already glowing red barrel into the fur and flesh on the side of the canid’s head did little to stir him into action. Even as he felt and smelt his own flesh melting around the super-heated barrel, the warrior was loyal. His fur would grow back. His flesh would merely scar. And one day, maybe even today, he’d met his end. Nothing was forever. Except for betrayal. That was forever.

“Saaah, tell me where the human is… and the pain stops. Yes?” Hissed the creature, teeth yellowed and jagged, breath harsh against the canid’s sensitive nose. The guard made no attempt to hide his disgust, wrinkling his nose at the foul odor.

“Let me show you pain. Might make this move a bit faster.” Retorted the guard, his arms still bound and openly bleeding from a severe wound on his leg and from one nostril. He needed the fik angry. Anyone angry made mistakes, and this idiot was already spending too long on the ship. This was turning into a siege, not a smash and grab. Terrible for any pirate to attempt.

The fik, displeased with the lack of progress, swung their weapon and hit the canid across the face in a savage strike. The canid grunted, bared his teeth, but only sagged for a moment before righting himself. Rolling his head and mane slowly, settling in for another. Truth be told, he’d had worse during basic training.

“Honestly, you need to start eating something *other* than the cubes. You’ll notice the difference in your work out routine immediately.” The canid casually explained as if discussing matters with a friend or subordinate, even though one eye was now closed as a new trickle of blood from his eyebrow stung him.

“Saargh! You do not care for your life, I bet the rest of your crew care not for theirs…Yes yes. But! Hai… There is someone who does…”

The canid’s face was set solid, he betrayed nothing, but an ice shard of fear drove itself between his ribs.

“Hai! Human! He hear me, yes? Your friends have fought and died for you. Saah! Very sad. They live for now. But… without you; there is no need for them to live.” The barrel was pressed to the guard’s temple once more, shoving the guard ever so slightly sideways.

“I will kill them all and you can stay, enjoy their bodies. Yes?” The fik suddenly tore the gun away, offering his arms wide to the camera that was quietly observing in the corner. “Or… Saaah… They live and you come with us, yes? No more harm, no more-“

“Don’t listen to ‘em! Stay hidd-'' The other canid, who had been laying on the floor, a big fik sitting on his back merely hit the back of his skull with the haft of a brutal looking axe, silencing the soldier.

“Your choice! I will not count! Yes or no! Reveal yourself!”

The guard grinned widely. He would happily die for the human. This was a good death if it meant-

A human appeared in the entrance of the room.

The guard’s breath hitched and his blood ran cold. No! Not for him! Not for any of them! They would gladly die to deny the pirate’s their prize!!. He watched the human with haunted eyes, knowing that this was a terrible mistake. The human stepped into the room, but kept the gun that was in their hand, firmly placed under their own chin. The human spoke first, the whole clan of fiks staying perfectly still at the sight of the unspoken threat.

“We leave. No one else gets hurt. I stop pointing this at myself when we leave the system, and this ship and its occupants remain untouched. No sneaky destruction after I’m on your ship, you hear me?”

The one still aiming a gun at the canid’s head merely lowered himself slightly, sweeping one arm out in a ‘trust me’ gesture.

“Saah! You not trust our hon-“ The human cut him off.

“No. Not at all.” The human retorted curtly. The fik frowned and growled, bearing his yellowed teeth again, spittle flying as he hissed through his teeth. He then gestured to his clan for them to let their prisoners go and retreat to the ship.

“Sah. On the ship. If any of the guards move, shoot them.”

The canids all glanced at one another, ready, waiting for the order to throw themselves at their attackers, advantage or not. Savagery could save the day!

“Guys. Stay.” Ordered the human in a firm tone, and the guard’s shoulders sagged again. The guard watched in silence as the human crossed the room, promising the human he would come for them. There would be nothing in the whole galaxy that would stop him and his team from chasing these bastards down and tearing their throats out with their own teeth.

They left without complaint and were, despite appearances, true to their word. None of the canids were harmed and the ship wasn’t fired upon.

The old canid guard however, swore he would not rest until he found that fik ship.

He burned it shape in his memory. He drank the crew’s stenches into his nose until he believed he’d never smell another thing as long as he lived.

“I swear on my teeth… I *will* find you…”

[r/WolvensStories]

[Ko-Fi]

#conservationverse #cuddleverse #human #hfy #haso #humans are space orcs #furry #human x furry #canid #werewolf

[incandescentwarmth]

Anon request: Secondly, how about a wolfstar fic where Sirius (or if you prefer Remus, I mg good with either) does abysmally bad on an exam and is super insecure about it and the other one conforts them? Maybe with something about how exams don’t reflect self worth and stuff?

a/n: Thank you so much for your kind words, anon. I know how hard exam season is and I wish you the best of luck!

wc 488

Sirius was lying in his bed, well the bed he always slept in at Potter Manor. It still felt foreign to him and no matter how welcoming this family was, he wasn’t yet used to calling their home his own. It was the summer after fifth year and it was the best summer of Sirius’s life, no longer terrified at every moment of what awaited him around the corner of Grimmauld Place.

While Sirius was lying in his bed, it’s more accurate to say he was hiding from the world. That morning he and James received their O.W.L. scores by mail and it quickly put a damper on his mood. Objectively, he did wonderfully, receiving high marks on almost every exam. Every exam except for Defense Against the Dark Arts. The only exam he thought he performed so well on that he bragged about it to his friends. It was also the subject he was most proud of his abilities in, nothing proving more that he was unlike his family.

A knock came from the other side of the door and Sirius groaned, “Go away, Prongs.”

“It’s me.” It was Remus’s voice that answered and Sirius, too grateful to be allowed his presence again couldn’t tell him no.

“Okay.” It came out quiet and shy.

Remus entered the room slowly, looking equally as shy but determined to talk something out of Sirius. He walked closer and took a seat on the side of the bed, turning over his shoulder to look at Sirius’s sullen expression. “James said you guys got your O.W.L. results. Are those yours?” He asked, pointing at the unfolded parchment on the nightstand. “Can I look?”

Sirius turned his gaze away but didn’t stop Remus when he reached for the letter. 

“These are great scores, Pads. It’s okay you didn’t get excellent on all of them.” He said, watching Sirius’s face closely, deciphering his reaction. 

“Well it’s not surprising it was that one I did poorly on.” He answered, petulantly.

Remus knew what he meant but still needed to hear his friend say it.  He carded his fingers through his black curls while he continued, needlessly aware of how far from platonic he was being. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I was practically bred to be good at dark arts, it’s no wonder I turned out like this.”

“Sirius, you were the first person in our year to cast a patronus and you’re one of the strongest duelers at Hogwarts. It doesn’t matter what a written test says.” Sirius’s eyes met Remus’s again and Remus could see the guilt behind them.

“Moony,” he whined.

Remus held his cheek in his hand, soaking up the soft features. “I know you’re good, Pads, we all do. That’s more important than an exam.” Sirius turned his head to leave a kiss on Remus’s palm. They’d have to talk about that more later though.

#marauders #marauders era #remus lupin #sirius black #wolfstar #wolfstar microfic #microfic #fanfiction

[niko-jpeg]

First of MANY Camp Green Hill Doodles. Camp Green Hill is my silly summer camp AU, and since I've been on a 06 kick lately, lots of silliness with that case running through my brian. Context and explanations under the cut <3

Alright! Camp Green Hill takes place at its namesake. It’s a pretty nice, isolated place in the middle of nowhere, and a safe haven for Mobians with or without ‘supernatural abilities’. Sonic is a permanent resident and under the care of Ranger (“Uncle”) Chuck, who is currently in charge of the camp. Onto the doodle explanations:

“Sonic the Hedgehog”: Just a little doodle of our resident hedgehog. He’s well known both around camp and around town for being bright, full of energy, and very competitive. He possesses a super speed ability and loves to let it show.

Sonic and Tails: Sonic and his little brother, Tails were found in the woods around the camp around 10 years ago. Their origins are pretty much unknown, and neither of them say anything about their old homes. It came to light that Sonic kidnapped Tails after keeping an eye on the toddler and noticing he was severely neglected by his community. Sonic’s origins remain unknown. Uncle Chuck speculates he also came from a neglectful family, which is why he took Tails and ran. 

Drowning: Sonic cannot swim. Despite this, he hangs around water frequently, especially when pissed off or upset. This has resulted in many near drownings. 

Uncle Chuck: Artists rendition of how Uncle Chuck became an uncle. Sonic just kind of wandered into the camp, decided he liked it and its weird owner (Chuck), and declared him their uncle.

Sonic Enjoys Rock Climbing: It's one of his favorite camp sports! He’s gotten pretty damn good, but for the sake of setting a good example, will make use of the safety equipment.

A Completely Normal Cat: A completely normal cat with a completely normal vibe who cannot talk, I promise. Just kidding, that's resident half god Mephiles! They prefer to take on the form of a cat most of the time, mostly to not throw other campers off. And yes, they are in fact, a camper. It's a long story. If you want to know more. My ask box is open ;) 

Friendship Bracelets: Silver is buddies with Mephiles, but neither of them have been properly socialized. He and Blaze have matching friendship bracelets, so he made Mephiles one too. They wear it as a collar, since cat wrists aren’t the best for jewelry. 

Lawn Chair: There's a little filler ‘episode’ where Silver, Sonic, Blaze, and Shadow all go to a waterpark outside of town, and Silver enlists the help of Meph to get them in, since they know a certain illusionist jackal who could help them out. They pretend to be Shadow’s older sibling to get them in, and hang out with Blaze far away from the splash zone. 

They/Them Icon: Just a doodle of Meph I did to fill space lol.

Blaze and Silver: They have a long, complicated friendship. She appeared to him when he was younger shortly after losing his whole family to a catastrophic apartment fire. She’s a secret friend from another dimension, and his only real friend. Little does he know, Blaze was the one who accidentally started the flame, and now feels bad for orphaning him. She grapples with the guilt a lot. Meph was messing around in the future during the off season and accidentally befriended the two, which was their ticket to the past at the camp.

Also, Silver visits Blaze’s dimension frequently! Once he’s comfortable around people, he’s full of spunk, and loves a good adventure. He’s not as innocent and shy as he paints himself to be, not even by a lot. He’s still nervous around Mephiles though, given the whole ‘god’ thing.

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Sonic au #Sonic 06 #Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 #Miles Tails Prower #Uncle Chuck #Mephiles the Dark #They ain't so dark in this au though. they get a really neat arc and I'm excited to yap about it #Silver the Hedgehog #Blaze the Cat #Please ask me about this au I'm going insane #niko.jpeg #And appreciate the messy shading I was trying something new #Meph in the lawnchair and Sonic drowning and climbing are all semi shaded #Please reblog too I beg I need people to be interested in this au or I'll go insane its so special to me #my special little princess #okay rant over

[coco-loco-nut]

Forza Red Bull

Pairing: Max x Best Friend Reader

Summary: You have a big decision to make, stick with Red Bull or move to Ferrari

A/n: changing when the driver's press conference is for the plot. Thanks for the request!! I loved writing this

requests open masterlist

_________

It is getting increasingly harder to hide your trips to the Ferrari motorhome, where you are negotiating a potential contract. Fred has been talking with you the latter half of the season, just waiting on a phone call from you, one that you are reluctant to take despite it being an offer you can't otherwise refuse. Your contract ends after this season and Red Bull is waiting until after the season to offer you a new contract, despite them knowing your requests.

Carlos is leaving the team, having gotten a better seat elsewhere. Most F1 fans believe Ferrari will be signing Ollie Bearman or Arthur Leclerc.

"Y/n, it's a beautiful day for racing," Max wraps his arm around you, fresh from a workout. The hot Abu Dhabi air doesn't help the sweat.

"Ew, Max, get off of me, you smell," you gag for the added effect.

"I'm wounded, my own teammate and best friend?" Max places his hand over his heart.

"Go shower than we can talk. I stopped dealing with sweaty Max after karting," you shove him off of you. Max rolls his eyes, heading to shower while you beeline for coffee.

Your heart hurts while greeting the staff you have grown to love since you joined the team in 2021. Hannah sits down beside you.

"How are you feeling today?" she asks, handing you a pastry.

"Good, I think I have a shot at winning today, hopefully with your brilliant strategy I will," you smile hopefully, one that drops as you see her cringe a little.

"About that, Christian wants you to defend," Hannah tells you, you can feel the anger building. You have been so close to beating Max last year and the championship is just within your grasp, you need this win. You should've known better, you were brought onto the team for your ability to defend.

"Hannah, please," your eyes beg her to give you the better strategy.

"I'm sorry, Y/n," she whispers, the one person on pit wall you thought that was on your side other than your race engineer. You swallow your pride and nod, looking away.

"Understood, I'll defend," you say after a second.

"You are a wonderful teammate and driver, Max is lucky to have you," her comforting words fall flat. Max. Your best friend and fiercest competition.

"I have to go to the press conference," you say, standing up and walking away.

"Y/n? Everything okay?" Pierre asks, you two weren't close, but you were a part of a group chat for drivers who are traumatized by Red Bull, one that you had often joked that you don't belong in. Now you know why Daniel added you.

"Red Bull," you huff angrily.

"I'm sorry," Pierre doesn't know why he's apologizing, but he can certainly empathize with you. The two of you walk to the conference together. You weren't close with Pierre, but you aren't enemies either.

You receive the first question of the conference.

"Y/n, you've been strong in free practice and qualifying. How are you feeling going into today, knowing that these are crucial points in your battle with your teammate, Max? Especially since you were in this position last year," the interviewer asks.

"Wow, starting off strong. Um, yeah, the car has felt great all weekend, I feel great going into today. It's always so much fun to race with Max, something I've had the privilege to do since we were karting together. Max got the win last year, so I hope I can secure it for myself this year," You say, hoping that satisfies the question. It does, at least until the journalists.

"How is Red Bull handling the driver situation, seeing that you and Max are both fighting for a championship," the journalist asks.

"Obviously the team wants us both to succeed, they will have a winner either way. I'm really glad to be with a team that supports both of us that way," you lie through your teeth, knowing that Christian wants Max to win. There is a reason that the Red Bull PR team loves you doing press conferences. You can feel Pierre, Carlos, and Daniel looking at you, knowing that you are likely lying, they just aren't sure which part.

"Good luck today, Y/n, if someone is going to beat me, I want it to be my best friend. If it isn't this year, I know you will take next year's Red Bull to the top," Max hugs you. Your anger dissolves for a moment, you aren't mad at him. He makes a great point, you already have a great relationship with Red Bull, you love it here, even if Christian makes you mad sometimes. Ferrari is, well, Ferrari. The car isn't as good and the strategy is lacking. You are smart, you know Red Bull is the better team, and Christian can't ignore your ability after this season.

"Thank you, Maxie. I hope you lose," he can't help but to laugh with you. You go into your driver's room to text your agent, letting them know which team you chose.

"Y/n, are you sure?" She asks over the phone, calling you immediately.

"I am," your agent agrees to let both teams know, only asking you to call her after the race.

You get ahead later in the race, wheel to wheel with Max as you battle for P1. You know Red Bull isn't going to show their hand that they want Max to win yet.

Y/n, let Max overtake

The instructions flow through your earpiece, you push harder.

No. Max can take the win from my cold dead hands. That's a team order, Y/n I don't give a shit. Tell Christrian and Hannah to fuck off.

Max is a bit confused why you aren't letting him pass, GP told him he was getting the overtake, but he respects you wanting to fight. You ignore your engineer trying to get you to follow team directions.

Y/n, I'm saying this as your friend, your race engineer for the past 3 years. Max has the faster pace, you have to let him pass before you end up in a crash

You hold back the tears in your eyes, as you watch Max slide in front of you, taking P1.

It's not fair. I know, keep fighting. We will get it next season. I will hold you to that. Red Bull owes me that much.

You keep your helmet on after the race, not letting the cameras see you cry. Max immediately finds you after weigh-ins.

"Y/n, I'm so sorry, I didn't know they were going to do that," Max says, pulling you into a hug.

"I knew. Hannah told me this morning," you do your best not to take your anger out on him.

"Why didn't you tell me? I would've fought for you, you're my best friend," Max asks, confused.

"I didn't want you to throw your race for me,"

"This isn't happening next year, I will make Christian understand that. You fought so hard for the win, you deserved it," Max tells you and you nod.

"I know, I'm negotiating it into my contract. I have to go pee and make it look like I wasn't crying. I'll see you in a minute," you tell Max, purposefully being ambiguous like you have the past couple months, going into the private bathroom to make the quick call, getting your phone from your assistant.

"You have the green light to announce your contract," she says before you hang up. You subtly give your phone back and head to the podium.

"That was one hell of a fight, is Red Bull mad at you for ignoring team orders, even though you did give up the spot?" You are asked after the podium by Sky Sports.

"Probably, not that it matters much now since it was the last race of the season," you shrug.

"You have yet to announce your contract renewal with Red Bull, will you be negotiating the team orders part?" Another asks.

"Yeah, I will be making sure any future contracts don't allow something like today to happen again. Red Bull has been waiting because of my salary increase. Which is why I will be joining Scuderia Ferrari next season," you say, dropping the bomb. You had been tempted to say Forza Ferrari over the team radio. Max looks at you in disbelief and hurt. You don't comment after that, electing to leave the room and go back to your driver's room. Charles nods supportively at you, having been informed already about his new teammate.

"Y/n, open the door," you hear Max's voice on the other side a few minutes after you change.

"Max, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I made the decision minutes before the race," your voice cracks a little.

"How long have you been talking to them?"

"Since after summer break,"

"Damn it! Why didn't you tell me, I could've helped you," Max looks utterly broken.

"Because you needed to focus on your racing. Even if I stayed things would be good for a few races then they would go back to how they are now. Red Bull will always choose you. I'm not mad at you for it, please know that," you plead a little as Max pulls away from you.

"You knew you were changing teams for half of the season and didn't tell me. You are going to our rival. You are supposed to be my best friend,"

"I am your best friend, Maxie, I wasn't allowed to say anything,"

"Don't call me that, I can't be friends with someone who doesn't trust me," Max gets up and leaves.

"Max! Max, please come back," you cry, a hole in your heart. You leave the paddock discreetly and go back to your hotel room. Usually, you'd be celebrating with Max, but now you don't know what to do. There is a knock on your door, you hope it's Max,

Daniel, Pierre, Yuki, Carlos, and Alex stand at your door with wine, a cake that reads 'Fuck Red Bull' and another that reads 'The real WDC winner'.

"Max is a dickhead," Daniel offers as you let them into your room. Despite Daniel's good relationship with Christian, he knows right from wrong.

"Thanks, guys," you say, happy to celebrate with them.

"Sorry, Y/n, you deserved the win. I'm glad you are taking my seat at Ferrari," Carlos says, patting your shoulder.

"Let's get drunk, eat cake, then go to the club," Pierre suggests, a plan that you all quickly agree to. Yuki and Alex show you the massive support you are receiving online and the backlash Red Bull is getting. It is comforting, you just wish your best friend was here.

Twitter has a field day with the squad you roll up to the bars with, but they all ask the same question, where's Max. It takes until testing for you to comment on it.

"You shocked the world after announcing a move to Ferrari not long after being forced to lose the world championship. Any harsh feelings towards Max Verstappen following last year's drama?" you are asked right away.

"None. Other drivers might be mad or take it out on the track, but at the end of the day, it wasn't his call, it was Red Bulls. Obviously, it sucks to lose someone who was your best friend, but everything happens for a reason. I can't wait to drive equally with my teammate and have the Tifosi support," you say, catching Max watching you out of the corner of your eye. He is obviously still upset. You ignore him, he can find you when he is ready to apologize.

"If she had told me what she was planning on doing, maybe we would be friends still, but I can't be friends with people who lie to me and are traitors," Max says when asked for his opinion. Max only apologized after you won the season with Ferrari, you think it was because Charles and Daniel forced him to. You are just happy to have your friend back.

#f1 imagines #f1 x reader #f1 imagine #daniel ricciardo #f1 grid #max verstappen #max verstappen imagine #max verstappen imagines #max verstappen x reader #max verstappen x you

[crookedkryptonitebeliever]

Does yves like piss and shit like the rest of us mortals

tw: piss n shit n puke, like ewww stuff

Yes, he does (or did)! But it's very different compared to a normal person's bodily function. As he fully controls his digestion, which includes the contractions of his gastrointestinal tract, the secretion of his digestive enzymes, and even the gut fermentation process, Yves can simply choose when to excrete.

But because he eats very little (See the series: Best and Worst of Both Worlds) and has such impossible biology, Yves usually chooses to completely break down his food down to the simplest of molecules and absorb everything. Leaving no faeces to expel. Sometimes when he has to consume deadly toxins or large amounts of food, he can choose not to absorb it into his body. Yves can either choose to vomit it out or instantly induce gastric emptying and shoot them through his intestines in a split second, but he usually chooses the former.

When it comes to urinating, it's not automatic. His blood wouldn't necessarily even get filtered through his kidneys unless necessary. That's why his bladder is almost always empty. He only produces urine if he detects that his blood pressure is getting a bit too high as his metabolic processes produce quite a lot of water.

He doesn't need to remove urea or other metabolic wastes, because his liver is efficient enough to utilize them. All of them. Making Yves this eldritch being in the medical community.

But, if he is poisoned or infected, he can use these methods to quickly cleanse his body before any symptoms show up.

Yves actually does not need food or water to survive with a body as efficient as his, but it lets him live a lot more comfortably. He has the illogical ability to reabsorb water from urine that's already stored in his bladder. Whatever he burns while exerting himself never escapes his body. It just gets converted back into substances he could use to sustain his life.

Everything in his body can be recycled within himself, but he will definitely look worse for wear as doing this maneuver causes him a great deal of stress. Mentally and physically.

So he does shit and piss. But he doesn't have to. Yves does it to make it easier for himself and allow himself to enjoy life better. To fit in with the rest.

But his freakish self-sufficiency comes in handy at various times.

#oc yves #yandere concept #tw yandere #yandere oc x reader #yandere x you #male yandere oc x reader #yandere x reader #yandere oc #yandere male #yandere

[sadie-bug345]

dallas winston’s last chance for change

this is a little less goofy as my usual shit but i just wanted to talk about dally and so called “last chance for change” characters.

this kinda feeds into my pet peeve of seeing the gang with “stay gold” somewhere nearby cause the saying “stay gold” jus doesn’t apply to everyone. it strictly applies to ponyboy cause he is the only one STILL gold😭😭like do yall understand the quote

anyways i been reading the book How to Read Lit like a Professor for school which sometimes is helpful but other than that its honestly kinda annoying to read ngl. in a recent chapter, the author referenced a short story and mentioned how one character in that, among many in the world of books, is a “last chance for change” typa guy

and like we do with hyperfixations, i was like hmmmm how can i relate this to THE OUTSIDERS👹 and i was like oh duh this is so dally winston lana del rey vinyl coded

anyways the author and said professor of the book says “the character, sufficiently old to have experienced a number of opportunities to grow, to reform, to get it right, but of course he never has, is presented with one more chance, one last opportunity to educate himself in this most important area…”

blah blah blah

if that aint dallas tucker winston, idk what is. another quote from that godforsaken book is as follows: “the reason hes older is just the opposite of why the quester is typically younger: his possibilities for growth are limited and time is running out”

ive always thought about how dallas cant change for the better all thru the book up until the church. and i think dallas did know that helping people does a lot of good. his whole blowup at the end where he dies is cause he cant deal with change in general. he could always trust that the gang would be there for him but the second stuff starts getting messed up, he goes wacko

pony could deal with loss and grief and trauma to the best of his ability (well, better than dally💀) cause he had a built in support system with his brothers. dallas had no one to call family by blood so he chose his friends.

dallas in general couldnt handle the conflicting expectations placed on him by society so he did everything in his power to defy them and have some sort of control in causing chaos.

he was really just put in a pressure cooker his whole life and he just ended up digging himself deeper and deeper into his own grave.

sometimes death is easier than dealing with yourself.

THAT WAS DARK UHM ANYWAYS REQUEST GOOFY OR ROMANTIC OR PLATONIC HCS OR IMAGINES OR ANYTHING IDRK OK BYE🥰🫶

#the outsiders #dallas winston #ponyboy curtis #johnny cade #darry curtis #the outsiders sodapop #steve randle #two bit mathews #matt dillon #sodapop curtis

[whatisame]

bartylus headcanons if u got any to spare....[shaking my mug]

Oh my god I love this question!! 😍 Anything for you my friend

They became friends on accident. Barty was a kool aid kid (yk the ones with a red ring around their mouth that are always on a sugar high) who was always kicked out of class to run laps around the yard while Reg scoffed Walburga-style at him. The teacher probably paired them up as one does with the best behaved kid and the class demon, hoping some sense will rub into the latter.

I think they would make the best team. With Regulus' penchant for accounting for even the smallest variable and Barty's ability to amplify anything's extra-ness tenfold they would have BANGER science projects and, later in life, they'd just be two highly competent dudes without a proper moral compass to hold them back.

They are a little bit TOO mean. It is not a front they put up, they genuinly think most people are stupid (reg) and boring (barty) and they treat them as such. They aren't cruel for the sake of being cruel but they don't really care/don't realize they're wrong.

Each other's #1 enablers. There's very little they will be critical of the other for.

Regulus calls Barty at the worst imaginable times and Barty always picks up.

Reg's also the only one Barty wouldn't curse out for calling at 6 am on a post-bender-Saturday only to debate whether he should just give in and eat Sirius' half rotten vegetables on the fridge or leave them so his brother can finally learn his lesson.

Regulus will say the most offhanded comment like, "I've always wanted to try this," or "My back's aching,," and the next time he sees Barty there will be takeout carelessly shoved into his chest as a greeting or a bottle of pomade will suddenly appear inside his bathroom cabinet.

Regulus simps just as hard. After asking Barty a hundred times over whether he was sure he wansn't hungry, Barty will claim he is craving Thai food after all just as they're pulling into the driveway. Regulus will groan hard but turn the car around nonetheless.

Reg will be cooking and have the living shit scared out of him by a voice coming from behind him saying: "Will it be enough for the both of us?" and Regulus almost drops the pot because Barty lets himself into his house with absolutely no warning whatsoever (he never gave him a key). "How?!!" and "Wouldn't you like to know? ;)" are a daily occurrence.

On the rare ocassion that Reg goes to a family event he always brings Barty who raids the kitchen, makes politicians uncomfortable with highly intrusive questions and announces loudly to the whole room when he needs to go take a leak.

Quickfire hcs:

Each other's firsts-everything!!

Wouldn't know how to read a room if their lives depended on it.

Laugh at at the least appropriate moments (yes, im thinking funerals but also someone proposing with a flashmob and getting rejected).

Banter is on a whole other level.

More than friends, not quite lovers yada yada ... <3

#holy shit this got too long #bartylus #ino tag #i hope u likey bc i ADORE them w my life

[totesmgoats01-published-author]

KinitoPET, Doki Doki Literature Club, Pony Island, and The Beginner's Guide: Some Autistic Gamer Thoughts

This is gonna be a long post and not exactly my usual kind of post but I hope some people like it anyways and are able to read the whole thing. I'm kinda just infodumping some thoughts but still.

I really like all of these game. I really like them. And I sort of relate to them in an unexpected way that I think most of them (with the exception of The Beginner's Guide) did not intend.

I think the link between the first two is easiest to explain so I'll start there.

KinitoPET and DDLC are both games about computer program, who has a singular, hard-coded purpose, becoming sentient and taking that purpose to an extreme. And similarly, they both harbor no actual malice as characters. And that's what I find so compelling. Kinito just wants to be the perfect best friend, and as a computer program, all he knows is gathering data, so that's the means by which he tries to do it. He doesn't fully understand what it is to be human. He doesn't have a grasp of free will, especially because he doesn't really have free will the way humans do, even though he's sentient. He's a computer program. He has a singular purpose. So he uses that purpose as a means to the end of being your best friend, which to him, means trapping you in a world he made just for you, using all the information you gave him. Computer programs don't die. They don't have a concept of "eternity" or "eternal torment." To him, "forever" is just a length of time.

And most of the same things can be said of Monika. She was designed to be a character in a dating sim. The singular purpose of dating sim characters is to fall in love with the player. That's what they do. So she does it, and she does it the very best she can. Of course, being sentient means that she can think outside the box. She wants to be the one you fall in love with and she uses her ability to manipulate her world and the people in it to try and make that happen. At their core, both of these character harbor no malice whatsoever. They don't want to hurt you, they don't hate you, it's the opposite. They love you, they just don't understand human love.

Think about these ideas led me to Pony Island, which once again has that same idea. An Entity(tm) in a computer wants to trap you in/at the computer forever. Only in this case it's The Actual Devil who wants you to playtest his silly pony game forever. The main difference being that The Devil does, in fact, have an understanding of human concepts like eternity and torment. In fact those concepts are kind of His Jam. He is the primary symbol used to convey those ideas. But even still, he never seems to show much malice for the player outside of situations where the player is actively breaking and manipulating the game and subverting his goals. And honestly I can understand that. If I gave my game to someone to playtest it and they refused to play it the way I'd intended, I would not be happy with them. Now, The Devil KNOWS that what he is doing is morally evil. Trapping souls in Gamer Purgatory and all. But in a way I feel like that's not so different from Kinito and Monika. Evil and eternity and torment are the only things he knows. Is that his fault? We have no way of knowing for certain that The Devil has ANY agency over his narrative. We don't know that he knows any other way to live(?) outside of trapping souls and tormenting them and all that jazz. In fact if you really wanna get meta with it in this game that's already a metagame about game development (which is a phrase that describes most, if not all, of Daniel Mullins' games), we can say for certain that The Devil DOES NOT have any agency, because he is a game character designed specifically to be...well...The Devil. He's evil and torments people eternally. That's what a The Devil does. He is NOT self-aware. If he were and he had a choice, maybe he'd just put pony island on itch.io and try to get feedback lol.

All of these games, at their core, are about a character that desperately wants some kind of human connection, but doesn't fully understand how to get that, and in turn makes the human they reach out to feel trapped and uncomfortable.

Do you know what game also does that? The Beginner's Guide.

Even thought it's a massive leap in form from the aforementioned examples, The Beginner's Guide has that same core concept. It's a game about games, in which someone doesn't understand how to be human.

When I first played The Beginner's Guide I totally missed the point. I thought it was just a game about games, and I thought the Davey walking us through it was The Real Devey and Coda was A Real Person who made weird games. I totally bought into the narratives that Davey was telling us the whole time instead of actually thinking for myself. I'm older now, though.

This at-least-somewhat-fictionalized version of Davey is the socially awkward weirdo. Coda is Just Some Guy who likes to make creative games. He's not A Developer(tm), he's a guy with a hobby. The Beginner's Guide is about Davey and how he sees himself in Coda's games but thinks that what he sees is Coda. And Davey never once talks to Coda about anything other than his games. Davey never once mentions having an actual, real conversation with this person that he's coming to consider a friend. Davey is a well-meaning but misguided person, and in some of his games, Coda is actively trying to tell Davey that in his own way. I think a good line that represents this is "If someone had just told me he just likes making prison games..." because it shows how Davey never even asked. There's countless examples of this. Like when Davey says Coda was "weirdly happy all the time" during a specific time period. He doesn't know why. Maybe Coda got a new job he's excited about, or a romantic partner, or maybe he started taking antidepressants, but the point is that Davey doesn't know, and he never asks Coda directly. He just makes wild assumptions about Coda by playing his games.

The Beginner's Guide is about someone who doesn't know how to socialize and is unaware of it. Someone who doesn't know how to foster a relationship with a human, and tries his best, but whose attempts are seen as uncomfortable. When you interpret some of Coda's games through this lens you can see it more clearly. That game about being on a stage in front of someone you admire, that's Davey talking to Coda and Being Weird(tm). And then, when he feels weird, he doesn't actually talk to Coda at all. He recedes back, feeling trapped and distant from someone he wants to be around. Observing only from a distance, through a bunch of prison bars.

Seems familiar.

Of course I could be pulling a Davey by forcing my own interpretation of the game onto you. And so the cycle continues. I encourage you to consider your own interpretation if you haven't ruined by mine, unable to see it any other way (whoops, there's Davey again).

To me, these games are about autism. I am an autistic woman, so of course that's the lens through which I see things. You don't have to be autistic to be socially awkward or misunderstand people. Again, you can have your own interpretation.

But I've felt these things. Being distant from someone, wanting to foster a relationship but not realizing that what it means to foster a relationship is sometimes entirely different from what I think it means. What "a relationship" even is can be totally different from what you expect. And I've been on both sides of this dynamic. Being approached by someone who Comes Off A Bit Too Strong or Too Weird or just Different. And I'm patient with those people. I know what it's like. I know they've been through it with less patient people, or people who only pretend to foster that connection out of pity or some other misguided attempt to make someone feel better. Obviously a relationship founded on pity and one-sided affection is doomed from the start. And in most of these games that "one side" is the other side of your computer screen.

Communicate with your friends, your partners, your family, whatever. If they don't know how to love you right, it's up to you to help them. If they're not receptive to that, that's when the responsibility is on them, at that point they knew the risks, and if they don't respect your boundaries you cut them off. If you don't know how to love someone else, it's up to you to ask them. Nobody wants to be Kinito, or Monika, or The Devil, or Davey, and nobody wants to be their players, either. Be patient with each other, and talk about it.

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