#i can’t choose between nature is healing and the world is ending

[idontbelonganywhereanymore]

#I love her #rest in peace #vivenne westwood #this and #Andrew tate #??? #i can’t choose between nature is healing and the world is ending

[alijuan]

Ascended Astarion is true unlike Spawn Astarion who pretends to be good for Tav

If i see that opinion again i will explode🫠

It's funny because Astarion will only approves if you persuade him not to perform the ritual.

A lot of people don't understand the concept of grey morality and it shows. Many people justify him but this type of AA fan thinks worse of him than he really is. He needs the ritual not because he's a power-hungry villain, but because he needs safety for himself and his lover. Depending on Tav/Durge's actions, he either stays with the feeling of fear (AA is still afraid deep inside, the game files confirm this) or he fights against it and becomes truly free of Cazador and fear (spawn ending). The dialogue with Durge about not being afraid is wonderful and shows difference between SA and AA.

Astarion: This little adventure of ours has taught me that we can't let our lives be ruled by fear. Or else we never really live. Astarion: I'm not afraid. Not of you, not of your darkness, and not of our future.

The point of the spawn ending is that Tav/Durge saw him as more than just an outward image of a power-hungry killer incapable of becoming a better person. But if you can't see beyond that image, he will think that he has no choice but to continue living in the world that Cazador has built for him. If you think that AA is his best ending because he is evil then you have failed to understand his whole personality.

I feel safe with you. Seen.

Despite of his love of killing (he is a vampire after all), he repeatedly showed compassion and guilt for luring people. Before the ritual, he literally convinced himself that he should kill spawn for power. Astarion rationalises this to protect his psyche, because he’s clearly not the type of guy who can sacrifice thousands of people to the devil and not feel anything about it.

Durge/Tav: This isn’t you, Astarion. Not really. Astarion: It should be.

I really like that the player technically makes the insight check and that there’s an advantage when they're romancing Astarion. Tav/Durge could see through the image Astarion was trying to create. They saw an elf whose fear prevented him from seeing all the possibilities.

Astarion: When I look at my future, anything and everything feels possible now.

Just as Astarion saw Durge not just as serial killer, but as someone who could defeat Urge and become a better person.

Durge: I am myself at last. You don't need to fear anything from me ever again. Astarion: I knew you had that sweat heart all along. I was alarmed by you sometimes, scandalised even, but somehow by your side, I still only ever saw you.

AA fans also often ignore the fact that the game has good and bad endings in the companion stories. And it's not about morality. All companion quests are literally about how the desired and obvious path leads to a bad ending. And Astarion is no exception. In a good ending, he gets the chance to heal and finally acceptes himself and his vampire nature, in a bad ending, he gives up and regresses as a person.

Spawn Astarion knows what he wants and says it. SA is ready for a relationship and sex. Ascended Astarion can’t answer the question of what he wants, so he acts as a vampire lord should. AA is literally back to the state of the first act and has started manipulating Tav/Durge through sex again (even repeating the same phrases). This is why he doesn’t really want sex (he approves if you choose the no sex option and he definitely dissociated during the sex scene) unlike Spawn Astarion who initiated it.

Spawn Astarion is the same Astarion who enjoys “murder and terror” and you can see that clearly in his “hero” ending (more like “antihero”). And this is the ending without romance, he chose it himself. And the whole idea of him pretending to be good for Tav is actually meaningless without romance.

Ascended Astarion is the same Astarion, but stuck in a black and white world of fear and domination.

SA scene ends with hope music (instrumental version of I want to live) AA scene ends with chains.

And there’s so much more. Larian specifically showed the difference between good and bad endings in the dialogues, scenes after ritual, recent updates and even the interview so people would definitely understand, but they didn't🙃 Some AA fans (especially on youtube and larian forum) are on a new level of delusion.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #astarion #Narrative comprehension is dead #durgestarion #astarion x durge #astarion x tav #spawn astarion #ascended astarion #такого непонимания очевидного я не видела даже в геншин фандоме

[raisengen]

While fighting Malenia in Elden Ring, I got to thinking about different the progression in different stats is, particularly in damage vs. levelling HP/stamina.

In RPGs, damage is always important, you need it to end fights, but… increasing damage just ends the fight sooner, and doesn’t change what happens during the fight itself (unless you need to nuke a guy so hard that he can’t respond).

In contrast, upgrading Souls/ER stamina changes how you actually fight. You can do longer attack combos, and chain attacks and dodges for longer without needing to pause. You can also block more dangerous attacks; tanking a supermove like Waterfowl Dance with 0 damage taken feels great and makes the fight much easier.

Boosting HP also changes how you fight; it’s not just “alive/dead”. More HP means you can take more hits before dying, which also means you can take more hits before worrying about dying. You can accept trades and risky moves, or keep on the offensive when damaged, without worrying that you’re going to evaporate to the next hit. And not being constantly on the edge lets you wait until you have a natural opening to heal, rather than trying to force one and risk getting punished.

Stereotypically, RPGs have you choose between passive and active upgrades, a useful-but-boring numerical boost or a shiny new ability. The latter is more exciting, but sometimes it’s “wasted” because you need to remember to use it, or you’ve got enough abilities to use already.

It’s nice how Souls stamina/HP gives you the best of both worlds; they’re always-active passive boosts that naturally unlock new options and change how you fight as you progress.

(It’s also interesting to note how Souls/ER tie weapon and spell access to your offensive stats, which stops them just being number-goes-up as you unlock new movesets and attacks too.)

#Elden Ring #posting about design #of course there's a bit more nuance to the effect of DPS #but it's still mostly a logistics thing

[rimarkka]

DT17 x Encanto AU

I already see some Ducktales x Encanto AUs and they were really good

But I want to present my version of this AU

I want to bring dt17 characters into the Encanto’s world. It’s still a family concept with magical gifts in a magical house.

Could Duckworth move into the house and revive it?

Speaking of assigning roles

♪ Wait, who’s a sister and who’s a cousin? There’s so many people How do you keep them all straight? ♪

Scrooge as Abuela 

Have you noticed that the Miracle Candle and the Number One Dime play a similar role in the plot?

♪ We swear to always Help those around us And earn the miracle That somehow found us The town keeps growing The world keeps turning But work and dedication will keep the miracle burning And each new generation must keep the miracle burning ♪

I think he’s more concerned with the Number One Dime the Miracle Candle by helping the townspeople through deeds and adventures than by helping people itself

Donald as Pepa

Pepa is emotional and with her mood changes nature. Donald is no less emotional

♪ My tía Pepa My tío Donald

Her mood affects the weather When she’s unhappy Well, the temperature gets weird ♪

Daisy as Félix

She has no gift, she became part of the family by marrying Donald

♪ She fell in love with Family Madrigal McDuck And now she’s part of the Family Madrigal McDuck ♪

June and May as Dolores and Antonio

The biological daughters of Daisy and Donald

♪ Cousin Dolores can hear a pin drop <…> Antonio gets his gift today ♪

Huey as Luisa

They both take greater responsibility for the well-being of their family

♪ I’m the strong one, I’m not nervous I’m as tough as the crust of the Earth is I move mountains, I move churches And I glow ’cause I know what my worth is ♪

But for both of them, this responsibility is a cause for concern. Their gift weighs heavily on them. Luisa has it as a nervous tick and a song

♪ Give it to your sister, your sister’s older Give her all the heavy things we can’t shoulder Who am I if I can’t run with the ball? If I fold to ♪

And Huey has the Duke of Making a Mess

Dewey as Isabela

They both focus more on image than on gift.

♪ My older sisters brothers <…> one graceful Perfect in every way ♪

He acts like he’s good at everything, but he’s really worried that his gift isn’t enough

♪ I’ve been stuck being perfect my whole life ♪

Louie as Camilo

Louis in the series is shown as a skilled manipulator, actually (not in a bad way). He knows what to say when to smile and so on

♪ Camilo shapeshifts ♪

I believe it’s his gift

Della as Bruno

♪ We don’t talk about Bruno Della! ♪

I want to see this song in the context of «don’t talk about her so as not to piss off Scrooge», and not «don’t talk about her so as not to cause trouble from her»

♪ They say she saw the future, one day she disappeared ♪

It’s all canon. Della is gone. They don’t talk about her. The end.

Just kidding, I’ll tell you about her fate later

Beakley as Julieta or Agustín

Beakley is not bound to this family by blood, she entered it like Agustín, but not by marriage, but as an approximation.

I couldn’t choose one character, as I found it interesting that even without the gift Beakley would have the skills of cooking and «magic» to even be able to prepare healing food

Webby as Mirabel

Mirabel has no gift, and Webby is not tied to the McDuck family in blood, so she has no gift either. In fact, nobody even allowed such a thought, so they even didn’t try. I’d like to end the story with Webby’s becoming the new the Number One Dime the Miracle Candle’s keeper. 

As far as their family ties are concerned, everything here remains like the cartoon, and does not change under the state of affairs in Encanto. Beakley is still Webby’s grandmother. Scrooge has just become the father of Della and Donald. Donald and Daisy are the parents of May and June. Dell is the mother of triplets.

It’s not that the relationship between Webby and Scrooge is that important. I love this storyline twist in dt17 and it can be in this au too, but I can’t say that it is absolutely necessary, it seems to be superfluous

The main character will be Webby. On the day of receiving gifts, May and June, born on the same day, were afraid to go alone and refused to do it without Webby.

Ugh, going all the way up to two doors knowing that she would never be a part of the family and get any gift... it must hurt

It was Webby who noticed how the house began to collapse, because there was discord in the family. With their quarrels, the gifts weaken. So she intended to help everyone.

Their main conflict was Della, or rather her disappearance. So the Webby began to reveal this secret.

She found a prophecy by which Della flew away and suffered a plane crash. Unlike Bruno, whose poor predictions were not believed, Della herself did not believe her predictions. She believed she had the right to change her fate with her gift.

I don’t really want to take a flight into space because a rocket crash is too much

Why did Scrooge cover it up and get angry at every mention of his daughter? Because he kept Della’s faith in the ability to change her destiny. But after the crash, he changed his mind. For this reason, he ignored Webby’s words about the destruction of the house because he had seen the prophecy about it, and he was convinced that fate cannot be changed.

Scrooge broke it. But Webby collected it and saw herself in the end against the background of the destruction of the house.

Webby loved her family so much, so she decided to go out on emotion to prevent it. But during the escape, Della caught her. She was quite alive, ha

Della had indeed crashed the plane, but she had survived with the loss of her leg. She lived inside the walls of the house, unwilling to return.

She gave an answer to Webby’s questions. It was not only Scrooge who looked at the prediction incomplete. Della dropped the memory first, splintered from it a small piece that did not allow one to look beyond the image of Webby. There was Della too. And just like Webby, she loves her family too, but she thought it’s better without her

Kinda similar, right?

It’s only then Webby realized how stupid and wrong they both are when they run away

They rerun Della’s gift and watch the entire memory to learn how to prevent it.

Della looked at the girl condescendingly, seeing herself in her, but allowed her to. Because if the outcome is predetermined, her efforts will not make it worse.

Webby really saw how she helped her family, in particular, the triplets who first quarrelled when they began to slowly discover the secret of Della.

At this time, Gosalyn as Mariano came to court with Dewey.

I don’t mind them as a couple, but I just want them to feel like friends in that au

Later, Webby extorted the confession that Dewey did not want to marry, he did not know if he loves Gosalyn in that way

So… Webby was trying to make up with everyone and she’s even doing it well until Scrooge told her that he didn’t see the good in her actions

How do those words of Abuela resemble those of Scrooge "you are not part of the family!"

And the house collapsed…

Webby escaped. Scrooge talked to her heart-in-heart. They found an understanding. Della jumped on the donkey, said it’s her fault, she had predicted it. Tearful reunion of father and daughter. Repair of the house. Webby is a new keeper.

The end :з

SORRY IS IT TOO MUCH, HUH?

#dt17 x encanto au #ducktales 2017 #dt17 #ducktales #ducktales reboot #duckverse #della duck #webby vanderquack #encanto #au #i just can’t stop talking

[pridepages]

Purpose: Red, White, and Royal Blue

I just finished Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. I have thoughts...

Here there be spoilers!

There’s very little that I could add to any conversation about Red, White, and Royal Blue. It’s beloved around the world. It was a Good Reads award winner. It’s about to get a movie adaptation. People just dipping their toes into queer lit are going to easily find it.

So I won’t gush to you about the zany plot of a First Son of the United States falling into an international love affair/sex scandal with a Prince of England. I won’t praise the lifelike characters you want to be friends with. I won’t delve into the dialogue that crackles off the page. I won’t even sell you on the happily ever after. (Even though all those things are present and healing for any queer reader in search of romcom bliss.)

Instead, I want to talk about just one line: “I love him on purpose.”

It’s such a strange idea--and one that bucks every tradition in romantic stories. We’re used to the idea of two people looking across the room, their eyes meet or perhaps their hands touch, and a spark ignites that will grow to an all-consuming fire. Lost to their passions, the lovers will have no choice but to follow the demands of their hearts even as it leads to the destruction of the life they once knew. We can only stand by and hope that, in the end, we’ll leave them somewhere safe and happy once wildfire passes.

It’s not that the passion between Henry and Alex isn’t smoking hot. On the contrary, there are scenes between them that could cause the pages to smolder! It’s just that there isn’t a sense of powerlessness. There are hands deliberately tending to the flame.

At first, Alex tries to convince himself that his connection with Henry is purely physical. But if so, he didn’t have to go through the effort of writing Henry page upon page of--let’s face it--love letters. That requires intent. That demands purpose.

As their relationship proceeds, Alex and Henry are forced to make choices: whether or not to live honestly and openly, even though they will bear the consequences. But every time they are portrayed as active agents. They could choose to deny themselves and each other. But they choose not to. And that is real power.

For a long time, one of the slogans associated with the LGBTQIA+ community was: ‘born this way.’ The idea was to fight homophobia by arguing that we can’t help who we are--no one chooses to be gay. But human identity is more complicated than can be contained in a soundbite. And I worry that this line of argument reduces us to impulses, which can be a way to disempower us.

No one can choose their sexuality or gender identity, but painting us as helpless ‘victims’ of our natures is dehumanizing. The best, the truest kinds of love are ones that we nurture and we grow--ones that we choose. That’s how we create our circles of found family. That’s how we figure out who we are and how we want to present to the world. In a lot of ways, flying under the rainbow flag is all about making choices. 

Not everyone can make the choice to live out loudly and proudly like Alex and Henry. But every one of us is out here making choices: today, I will come out. Today, I need to go stealth. Today, I will celebrate living my best gay life in my friendly community. Today, I will hang on another day in the closet in hope for a better tomorrow. All of those choices--and all the many more in between--are brave. And all of them belong to you.

Whether you are in, out, or navigating the in-betweens that most of us face at some point or another, know that the choice is yours to make. Your safety, your happiness, your life ultimately belong to you. Don’t let the world make you feel helpless. Find ways, be they small or large, to claim your agency.

Here’s to everyone out there who is learning every day how to love yourself, love others, love your life--and love it all on purpose.

#red white and royal blue #rwrb #casey mcquiston #mlm #gay #bisexual #lgbt reads #queer lit

[dailyadventureprompts]

Random Encounter: Rift Events

The thinking DM’s alternative to “rocks fall, everyone dies”

Sometimes a the heroes fuck up catastrophically. They fail to stop the dark ritual in time, they sever one of the anchors of reality in the midst of a battle, they drop the doomsday artifact down a very long flight of stairs and it ends up breaking. You could end the campaign right there, improvising a hasty epilogue and send your party home for a couple weeks while you prepare to start from scratch.  Alternatively, you could use the narrative stakes you set up for yourself and do something interesting. 

One of the most important writing lessons I’ve learned as a DM is to ask myself “what happens if the party fails” as a means of giving my writing richer dramatic stakes, because unlike most forms of fiction a d&d campaign can’t have an ending predetermined by the author. To that end it’s a good idea to have some options in your back pocket for when your party goes so far off the map that you couldn’t have possibly prepared for this eventuality. Taking inspiration from the “Doomscars” of Kaldheim, a rift event represents a breach in the fabric of reality accompanied by a natural disaster, the result of either a catastrophic release of magical energy, the fracturing of fate, or planes smashing into eachother with the force of sizemic shifts. 

To quote Jason from The Good Place: “I'm telling you, Molotov cocktails work. Anytime I had a problem and I threw a Molotov cocktail, boom! Right away, I had a different problem.“ And that’s exactly the ethos we’re looking to bring to the table with a rift event. Whatever stakes your campaign had at the moment, whatever crisis your heroes were gearing up to face, they suddenly have a VERY different crisis which you can eat up the rest of the session ( or the session after a cliffhanger) with to buy yourself more time to figure out the long term implications of what your heroes have done.

Consider some options below:

Your party, every one, and everything are suddenly sucked into a different plane as the world is overturned around them, giving you time to move the plot forward back in the material plane while they play out a short “ get back home” arc. The Astral Sea is a great place to dump them out, as it’s not only a shocking contrast to your mundane campaign world but can also provide novel means of transport home.

The area your party is standing is now having an earthquake, which they desperately need to escape through skillchallenges and cooperation. When they finally get clear and survey the damage, they realize that not only did they put a dent in the world, they went and created a portal to some other reality, which is now bleeding mosnters and weird magic into the material plane. Bonus points if the villain/loved ones/the mcguffin is now on the other side of the rift, forcing the party to choose between dealing with the newly emerged threat or go perusing their original goal.

Awaken a Kaiju. No really, having your mid to high level heroes inadvertently release the tarrasque or some other giant beast is a great way for them to get back to the monsterhunting days of the early campaign, AND a convenient way to not have to explain why no one mentioned the campaign ending threat lurking in the wilderness before now.

Consider Divine intervention. There’s no better moment for the gods to make themselves known then when all seems lost. This interference can be as direct or subtle as you’d like, either coming as a devil’s bargain or an act of otherworldly compassion. My advice is to reward the character who’s the most pious (even if they’re not the cleric) or the most in need of saving, and have the intervention take the form most apt for the particular divinity. A god of healing may give the lost one more desperate breath of life, enough for the heroes and bystanders to pull them from the rubble, while a god of knowledge might reveal that the past 24 hours have all been a vision, forewarning of what WOULD happen if the party makes the unwise chose. Also feel free to throw a fiendish or eldritch twist to this, with faustian pacts being made to pull the world from the fire.

#writing advice #DM tools #DM advice #dm tips #dm toolbox #random encounter #high level #rift event #disaster

[sylkishagsuperiority]

So I was recently accused of wanting Sylvie to become a housewife simply because I said I think a domestic lifestyle where she has a stable environment to heal would be beneficial for her. You know, because she’s an abuse victim and a refugee who’s spent her entire life on the run without meaningful connections.

It’s actually kind of hilarious that someone read that and went “oh, so you want her to be a 1950s housewife”. Because obviously those two statements are completely synonymous and there’s no room for any kind of nuance.

But the argument it turned into made me realize that some people see the Sylvie in s1 as someone who’s already finished their character development and therefore shouldn’t change in any significant way.

Which is not how storytelling works?

Sylvie’s personality in s1 is completely and wholly a product of HWR’s manipulation. He literally says “I paved the road, you two just walked down it.” He manipulated Sylvie’s entire existence just the same as he manipulated the fate of everyone on the Sacred Timeline to follow a certain fixed version of events. He needed her to get to the Citadel to fulfill his agenda - and yes, that agenda involved her killing him, even if we’re not yet sure why. The fact that he spent the whole episode 6 goading her, sowing distrust between her and Loki and trying to get a rise out of her is proof of that. Her entire life she had her strings pulled by him. He needed her alone. He needed her angry. He needed her focused on a singular thing, getting to whoever was behind the TVA. She had no freedom, no choice, no say in the matter.

Just like Loki on the Sacred Timeline, who was taken by the TVA the moment he diverged from the path, Sylvie would’ve been pruned if she’d tried doing anything other than living in apocalypses, and finally all that pain resulted in her drive to get revenge on the people who took everything from her. HWR was pulling her strings the entire time.

And now, for the first time in her life, she’s free.

There’s no one chasing her, no one making the choices for her. She can go wherever she wants. She can choose who she wants to become the way Loki was allowed to change once he was taken out of the Sacred Timeline. At the end of s1, she’s in the same place that he was at the beginning. Her glorious purpose ultimately unfulfilling (as evidenced by her tears after killing HWR), her identity in shambles, and for the first time, a world of limitless opportunity at her disposal.

Who she becomes now is anyone’s guess. But one way or another, she will be changing at least to some extent, because that’s the nature of character growth in tv shows. Whatever she chooses to be and do, it will be, for the first time, up to her.

And I’m excited to see what it is, no matter what. I don’t expect her to choose a domestic lifestyle at this point in the story (this is Marvel, after all, and there’s a multiversal war coming), but I don’t think it would be out of character to want that for herself at all. Judging by the McSylki pics, she’s already giving it a try, but with how things went down at the Citadel, she��s obviously still got stuff to work through. I can’t wait to see where she goes from there.

And meanwhile, in fics, I will continue to explore how a safe and loving environment would help her overcome the millennium of solitude and pain she had to go through. And if someone doesn’t agree with those headcanons, that’s perfectly valid. They can simply read other works or (a bold idea, I know) write their own.

#sylki #pro sylki #sylvie (marvel) #loki (marvel) #loki series #pro loki series

[strawhatsoraya]

hiii can i request law with like a reader who has known him since childhood??? it can be romantic or platonic, u choose!

Hello! I know it took a little bit, but I have your request. YAY! I love Law. I have an affinity for characters for sad and tragic backstories. I don't know why. I do actually but I want to pretend I don't so please turn a blind eye to my own possible traumas lol. Anyway, I didn't write that much angst and I left an open ending. I hope you enjoy.

Between Death && Memories

LAW X READER | NO PRONOUNS, GENDER NEUTRAL | SFW |WORD COUNT: 812 words

CONTENT WARNING: If you're anti angst, then sure that's a warning, and a little bit fluffy. Nothing to worry about!

A (BADLY WRITTEN) SUMMARY: Law likes to stand in the middle of roads i guess, he isn't verbose at all, friends meeting maybe moooore who knows!

To this day, whenever he’d see the color white, he couldn’t help the mixed emotions.

Memories of a life once lived, in a city that seemed to be made of snow. He recalled the iron-wrought gates with a bitter sweetness, as the scent of used textbooks floods his senses. At the time, his biggest desire was learning; to maybe one day become as useful as his father. He met you at the academy inside the hospital, your curious eyes constantly distracting him from the books he had been reading. 

At first it annoyed him. He explicitly would go to the hospital to learn, not to make friends. Later, it dawned on him that the best course of action would be to recruit you into his plans. If he had you as a studying partner, an ally, then all will be well. It surprised him how quickly you had agreed to it. 

Friendship bloomed naturally, as you both poured over medical textbooks. Your dream was similar to his. You wished to be someone who could help others heal, someone people could rely on.You had promised each other to follow through, to seize these dreams by the throats.

Neither of you had accounted for the tragedy that would befall Flevance. Amber Lead had led Flevance to its affluence. It had also led it to its downfall.

The illness spread quickly, and Law had been so busy trying to survive, so busy trying to find a way to save Lami that he had forgotten about you. He barely remembered you when he escaped buried in corpses, barely thought of you as he ambled around the world. 

Now you were standing in front of him, in a seafaring town far from home, and it was as if he never forgot you at all. Your hair was shorter than he remembered. You had grown tall, long legs hiding behind a white coat. Your skin darker, your eyes a little bit more tired. The sparkling sheen had been dulled slightly, but you were still you; his friend.

“You became a pirate instead?” you ask him, and your mouth twists in a crooked smile. He blinks, trying to remember if this was your voice. He can’t recall the details, but it feels right when your laugh reaches him. “What are the odds?”

He smiles, surprised at how easy that was. Smiling wasn’t something he often did. It almost made him feel guilty, as if he had no right to a miniscule ounce of happiness. He had been so hellbent in his quest for justice; a little piece of revenge. That seemed idiotic in your presence.

He takes in the sight of you once more, allowing himself a moment of reprieve. “I see you’re a doctor.” He is curious. He wants to know how you made it out alive. Has your mom made it out too? What about your little brother? If he remembered correctly, you had a dog named Red. Was Red alive?

He can’t bring himself to ask. He feels his own wounds tearing at the seams, blood seeping through his clothes. The burning pain, constantly in the back of his eyes; prickling. He didn’t have the heart to dig his inked fingers into your sutured battle wounds.

If he was honest, and logical, he should let this encounter go; let it die here in the middle of the paved road. It would be easier for you and him. He blinks, and turns his head, begins to think up an excuse to leave but you move towards him. You capture his hand with ease and he is embarrassed at his lack of awareness. What kind of pirate was he to let someone get so close? And he wanted to call himself Captain?

You turn his palm in your hands, brush your thumbs over his tattooed knuckles. He holds his breath when you laugh at him again. “Death?” you ask him with raised brows, mirth dancing behind your eyes. “Isn’t this a bit much? I never pictured you to be into theatrics.”

He considers this, and is too distracted by childhood memories to notice the way you still cling to his hand. You pull on it gently, bringing him back to your presence.

“Well, Mr. Death,” you say, tilting your head. Your hair moves, a breeze blows, and it takes his breath away. “Why don’t you join me for a drink? For old time’s sake.”

Time was unforgiving. Time, allegedly, healed all wounds. Law couldn’t tell if that was true for himself, at least not for certain. But he also knew time to be kind to others, perhaps it had been gentle and compassionate with you. He nods, blaming it on curiosity.

“Sure. We’re still friends, right?” He asks, a lump in his throat. You smile back, a small flush taking over your cheeks and nods.

“Of course.”

#law x y/n #law x you #law x reader #fic request #one piece law #one piece fanfiction #one piece fic #one piece fluff #one piece angst #law fluff

[noahsresources]

rupi kaur quotes.

feel free to change pronouns, descriptors, & play around with context if so desired ♡

❝ what is stronger than the human heart, which shatters over and over and still lives? ❞ ❝ if you were born with the weakness to fall, you were born with the strength to rise. ❞ ❝ loneliness is a sign you are in desperate need of yourself. ❞ ❝ your body is a museum of natural disasters.  can you grasp how stunning that is? ❞ ❝ the universe took its time on you, crafted you precisely so you could offer the world something distinct from everyone else.  so when you doubt how you were created, you doubt an energy greater than us both. ❞ ❝ you are the faint line between faith and blindly waiting. ❞ ❝ for you to see beauty here does not mean there is beauty in me.  it means there is beauty rooted so deep within you, you can’t help but see it everywhere. ❞ ❝ i didn’t leave because i stopped loving you.  i left because the longer i stayed the less i loved myself. ❞ ❝ you left and i wanted you still, yet i deserved someone who was willing to stay. ❞ ❝ i will no longer compare my path to others.  i refuse to do a disservice to my life. ❞ ❝ love does not look like a person.  love is our actions.  love is giving all we can. ❞ ❝ people go, but how they left always stays. ❞ ❝ a lot of times, we are angry at other people for not doing what we should have done ourselves. ❞ ❝ yes, it is possible to hate and love someone at the same time.  i do it to myself every day. ❞ ❝ we began with honesty.  let us end in it too. ❞ ❝ the thing worth holding onto would not have let go. ❞ ❝ i could be anything in the world but i wanted to be his. ❞ ❝ our backs tell stories no books have the spine to carry. ❞ ❝ how do you redefine love when your idea of love is something that’s so violent?  when your idea of passion is anger, how do you fix that? ❞ ❝ the world gives you so much pain, and here you are making gold out of it. ❞ ❝ i notice everything i do not have and decide it is beautiful. ❞ ❝ if i am the longest relationship of my life, isn’t it time to nurture intimacy and love with the person i lie in bed with each night? ❞ ❝ how you love yourself is how you teach others to love you. ❞ ❝ why is it that when the story ends, we begin to feel all of it? ❞ ❝ you might not have been my first love, but you were the love that made all other loves seem irrelevant. ❞ ❝ you have sadness living in places sadness shouldn’t live. ❞ ❝ do not bother holding onto that thing that does not want you.  you cannot make it stay. ❞ ❝ to heal, you have to get to the root of the wound and kiss it all the way up. ❞ ❝ i am a museum full of art, but you had your eyes shut. ❞ ❝ the right one does not stand in your way.  they make space for you to step forward. ❞ ❝ you were not wrong for leaving, you were wrong for coming back and thinking you could have me when it was convenient and leave me when it was not. ❞ ❝ despite knowing they won’t be here for long, they still choose to live their brightest lives. ❞ ❝ there is a difference between someone telling you they love you and them actually loving you. ❞ ❝ i am hopelessly a lover and a dreamer, and that will be the death of me. ❞ ❝ do not look for healing at the feet of those who broke you. ❞ ❝ stay strong through your pain, grow flowers from it.  you have helped me grow flowers out of mine, so bloom beautifully, dangerously, loudly, bloom softly, however you need.  just bloom. ❞ ❝ if i’m not the love of your life, i’ll be the greatest loss instead. ❞ ❝ fall in love with your solitude. ❞ ❝ like the rainbow after the rain, joy will reveal itself after sorrow. ❞ ❝ the thing about writing is i can’t tell if it’s healing or destroying. ❞ ❝ we have been dying since we got here and forgot to enjoy the view. ❞

#rp ask memes #rp ask meme #rp memes #rp starters #rp starter #quotes prompts #quotes #angst prompts #romance prompts #angst #romance #drama #memes #mine

[do-i-look-like-a-doctor]

AU: Chris from Until Dawn is also Chris Hackett in The Quarry

Let’s deep dive into this:

~~~~~~~~

So basically this au would include a lot of depth into things and would make the relationships between Chris and the counselors a tad different.

Chris, when he was younger, went through the events of Until Dawn with the wendigos, nearly got slaughtered in front of Ashley, and he also witnessed his best friend’s mental health decline into mass hysteria/mania. Not to mention on one occasions he was tricked into believing he killed his best friend and later on had to choose between himself or Ashley. These events alone affected him as a whole and gave him a new perspective of life.

Chris becomes even more protective in the end of Until Dawn. To him there is no safe-place and with his family being rather… strict with things he felt trapped. Ashley helped him through and that’s when he realizes that his escape was her and her escape was him. He gets away from the Lodge with his surviving friends and finds himself staying with his family within the forest. His interest in things plummets as the trauma is to much for him to handle. Let’s not forget that he is, once again, within the deep woods so that alone makes him on edge. Granted they have transportation and ways out but he can’t get over it. The summer camp, in this au, would have already existed and he was next in line to run it and didn’t have time for his mental health.

Let’s be real the Hackett family didn’t seem so keen on anything other then loyalty and strange morals. Pushing Chris into the front lines of work once he was healed made more sense then sending him to therapy.

All of a sudden you have this young, just escaped a vicious beast that used to be his friend, very traumatized, fresh out of police interrogation, anxious Chris running a summer camp for years to come. He is a mess during the beginning. He hated the loudness of the forest, it brought back memories of Alberta that he never wants to remember such as the frozen land and the Flamethrower Guy. Thankfully he had his friends on his side, especially Ashley, so he strung through most of it. The challenging part was managing kids who tended to get hurt a lot.

Chris was already known for being protective so add in a near death experience and some little kids? Yeah he’s panicking every step of the way.

It took him a long time to truly understand the anxiety he felt when a child got injured and it took even longer for him to realize that he can’t control accidents. If a child were to fall down during, let’s say, a hike Chris would usually fret around to the point of isolation. Feeling like he failed protecting these kids was a common occurrence so when the nurse got ahold of the injuries he would lock himself away. Ashley, who became a councilor along with the rest of his friends, coaxed him out and it took a long talk with Mike and Sam for him to sit down and realize that things happen and accidents are part of life. He learned to cope in the end but by then he was in his early 20’s. Kaylee and Caleb enter the equation.

Caleb and Kaylee, in this au, are not Chris’s children. Who wants kids after messing with wendigo’s in Alberta? Instead, they’re younger extended family that was adopted by the Hackett’s. Chris treats them like little siblings and teaches them all the ways of the world but this led to them being very curious about everything. It doesn’t help that Ashley is also an extremely curious person by nature so she often encouraged them to figure things out and go explore. This goes on for a while, they get in trouble sometimes but it’s nothing big bro Chris can’t fix. Around 30 is when Ashley and Chris finally marry and all seems well in life. He’s still a little fucked up and misses his best friend but hey, what can you do? He reaches his early 40’s with no trouble and things look fine, he’s happy at his job and adores his wife. It’s a summer camp though which means new faces pop up every year along with a million personalities.

Around this time I think Ryan would come in. Chris sees him and questions some things. A young kid with poor communication skills and a somewhat goofy aloof side mixed with complexity? Sounds a lot like someone Chris used to know.

We all know that Ryan and Josh are completely different people and Chris knows this but sometimes he would look at Ryan’s antics and see his old friend. Ryan would be the kid to follow him around and ask questions, normally excited about horror podcasts and the wildlife, and Chris would listen and think about Josh who was also a horror movie fan who grew up in the mountains. Chris didn’t despise Ryan for reminding him of Josh, he helped him out instead.

Personally I headcanon that Ryan has autism, this is based off my gameplay and also he reminds me of the children I used to work with (I used to be a part-time special needs aid during my highschool life) and in this au Ryan’s autism does get to him the first few days of camp when he was younger.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed, all the new faces and things being moved, but Chris felt prepared. He used to help Josh when he was having moments so he applied the same idea with Ryan. Use earbuds with a calm podcast to block out the extra noise and try to give Ryan his own bunk so he can organize how he likes and not worry about others touching his stuff. If it’s not that it’s communication and teaching him ways to talk that doesn’t need many words or harsh action. Use crayons on paper to talk instead of tears is what he taught Ryan.

This is one of the things that brought him and Ryan closer and when the kid got older is when Chris started to feel a sense of longing for the past.

Then the freak show rolls in, things take a turn for the worst, and suddenly Chris and his younger adopted siblings are infected with this curse.

The feeling of terror is sickeningly familiar and Chris hated every second of it. He can’t get over it and he refuses to. Shifting was painful and gruesome, it actually terrified every one of his friends into quitting, but Ashley stuck by his side. It’s not like his friends quit and left for good, they’re still around, but they weren’t up for messing with curses after what happened years ago. Chris doesn’t blame them one bit because he would feel the same. His dear wife was very adamant that she could handle being around Chris and he does appreciate her for it but trusting himself during the full moon was a no-go. When the time came around he begged her to stay somewhere else and she would begrudgingly agree.

Things are… rough for Chris. He isn’t over the whole lodge incident, his friends (while they still talk) quit their jobs as counselors out of fear, he has to be separated from Ashley for her own safety as he becomes a vicious monster, and now his favorite camper is becoming too old for summer camps. His heart hurts because it feels as if this curse not only took away his humanity but also the people he loves. When Ryan turns 18 is when Chris is full-on sobbing sad because this teen, who he saw a son, couldn’t come around anymore. He was too old. That is, until his job application came in along with 8 others.

Chris was overjoyed. He could hire these new younger councilors instead of the old farts he had around before and the kids would love it! They have people who could keep up with them and mess with… but he is still cursed as a wolf.

When he accepts some applications and brings the entire Quarry crew in is when Chris’s heart aches even more. He learned things about these young adults that make him feel old and he gets some deja vu. Emma likes to make people smile, she has a perfect mix of spunky snakiness combined with a known beauty. It makes him think of Jess. Meanwhile Kaitlyn is tough as nails, a shorter woman who knows how to take down any one and tries to think before taking any action and her intelligence is unmatched… she’s a lot like Emily.

Jacob? God he acts like a high-school version of Mike. Kind of a dick with not much going on in his head until someone knocks sense into him. It’s all surreal in a way how history is literally repeating itself but Chris just ignores it.

His bond with the counselor crew is rather strong and with Ryan by his side things went smoothly. Chris hated seeing them get hurt as well, same still goes for the kids, but unlike his younger self he actually helped them out this time. When Nick got burns from cooking Chris would show him how to fix it and when Abi slipped outside Chris either helped her up or guide Nick to go to her rescue (often he teases the crushes amongst the counselor group but it’s all fun) or the times Jacob messed up in front of Emma it was Chris who handled it. Not to mention he was an emotional support shoulder for these teens because while they may not know the full story of the Washington Lodge they understand that Chris has seen some stuff and has their backs.

Then the van breaks. Suddenly he feels trapped again. Something similar happened a few years ago, he and his friends got stuck in a remote area and no help was available until the next morning. There’s a threat in the woods that is inhuman and no one knew who she was until the last second. That was the lodge though, this is a summer camp, but Chris knows that there’s a inhuman threat out here.

He’s one of them, afterall, and he could hurt the counselors. He freaks out a little but it’s not anger directed at anyone it’s rooted to panic and anxiety but it comes across as aggression. He didn’t intend to startle anyone with an outburst but what else could he do? His councilors, all 9 of these teens he swore to keep safe, have their necks on the line and they don’t even know it. The people in the past to put their lives out in the open like this didn’t turn out well. Flamethrower Guy, Sam and Mike… Josh. Only two made it out alive.

So what does Chris do with no transportation? He asks Ryan to convince everyone that the basement is the safest place and hopes for the best. Last time Chris tried to hide in a basement ended with him, Sam and Ashley leaving and trying to find Mike but… Chris knows that Ryan and his fellow friends are smart. He trusts the teens to keep their heads and make it out alive. They have to, Chris will be damned if any of them get hurt.

Would Chris tell them about the curse? No, it’ll just freak them out even more and they would probably think he’s crazy. Who would believe that he, a 47 year old man with a limp in his step and an irrational fear of sawblades, was a werewolf capable of killing?

Instead Chris will put his trust in everyone and no matter how much he wishes to stay with them he can’t. He needs to leave before the full moon so no one can get hurt. They need to all make it out alive and Chris will make sure of that in the end. He watched Flamethrower Guy sacrifice his life and Chris didn’t understand it back then but he does now. He’s ready to put his neck on the line.

He saw what Wendigo’s can do, he knows what werewolves can do, and he’s not about to stick around a find out what he himself can do.

~~~~~~~~

So… yeah this is my deep dive into my au about Until Dawn Chris Hackett. I need to come up with a better name but for now we shall call it UDCH. There’s more depth to the relationships between Chris and the counselors as well as the rest of the Until Dawn gang but this is my overall gist. Feel free to add onto this or even use the au!! All I need is credited. Have fun with this one gang I might turn it into more later on.

#the quarry #the quarry chris #the quarry ryan #the quarry au #chris until dawn #until dawn #chris hackett #i thought of this a lot

[emese-of-void]

I came to the Silmarillion through RoP, so my understanding of what Valinor was was shaky at best. In meta people referred to it as elf heaven, or therapy, or the elf homeland. From what I read I got the sense that it was more like returning home from war, to an unchanged world that can't possibly understand what you've been through. Now I think Valinor isn't quite any of those things.

The Valar clearly care a lot about the elves, but they don't always have a good grasp on what they need. Offering them protection in Valinor seemed unambiguously good, but it came at the price of self-determination. The elves of that generation were completely unequipped for a life of independence, meaningful choices, and loss, and having to face those things completely broke them.

I feel like all of the options for a life after returning to Valinor are deeply sad and kind of unsettling. Either the hundreds of years they spent at war - the only time in their lives with true stakes because they believed there was no return - become as if a strange weekend, in between ages spent in low stakes familial conflict and craft. Living forever with the kin they have murdered and been murdered by, hosting parties and contemplating trees, while in Middle Earth the world keeps changing, civilisations rise and fall, crabs become sentient and so on. Or, with perfect memories they carry the time of war with them until the end of the world, and their old lives never again fit them quite right.

It seems so violating for them to be given a new body - best of intentions of course, and also a practical necessity some of the time. But it's returning the elves to the state they were in before the left Valinor, erasing the history of their lives and choices. As for the restoration of the fëa - thinking about your life alone in the dark is considered very antithetical to healing amongst humans in our world, and I don't see how that would be different for elves.

And giving the elves sea longing, having them fade away if they stay, is surely taking their freedom of choice away.

The closest analogue I can think of is what it would be like for humans to live under benevolent AI. Safe in a lot of ways, but also all of our achievements from that point would be utterly irrelevant. And perhaps the Valar make better choices for the elves than they could for themselves - they are vastly more powerful and wise - but they would not get it right. Because there is no way to get it right. Because if loss and tragedy and a capacity for violence are inherent to the elves' nature, there are no options for how to have them live that don't harm some of them in some way.

I don't think it's simply pride for the elves to choose not to live under the Valar.

#valinor #silmarillion #tolkien

[razs-archetype]

aiden. tell the world about him

THANKYOU BIRDIE.

Oh my god this turned out super long too . Oops!! Putting this under read more as well

Favorite thing about him?

Oh what to choose

-I enjoy picking apart antagonistic characters, and this one was a fun one.

-I like how he acts in episode 5. He’s a pretty decent villain! I enjoyed putting together barely existing pieces and blaming his shift of. Slightly normal to dominating and controlling his little group on jealousy and guilt from kicking lukas out. And his need to regain control over not only Maya and Gill but himself which causes him to put up wall after wall of anger

-only for it to finally crack and crash during the fight scene in chapter 5. Have I talked about the fight scene? It’s so incredibly good. How Aiden projects his problems onto Jesse. How he still manages to hold his own, only for a bit. How he looks at you like the most pathetic wet dog just showed up on your doorstep. How he forgets how to swim if you kick him off.

-he’s great Lmao.

Least favorite thing about him?

Upsettingly, I will admit he’s rather annoying in episode one. And in general, typically if you cannot find something to relate with him he can just sort of feel like an annoying, single sided, reoccurring antagonist.

And I mean, in theory and practice that’s what he is. But where’s the fun in taking canon as just that. What’s exactly stated in the game. Reading between the lines is half the fun of mcsm I think.

Coming up with your own varied perspectives on characters depending on how you play and respond to the world presented to you is a part of the charm in playing most games

Tl;dr aiden s pretty annoying in episode 1 and I don’t think episode one properly delves into his character. But also like. I honestly don’t think they expected to bring him back ever at this point past the end of chapter 4 cameo so I don’t blame him for being that way.

Favorite line?

Anything from th fight

Also most of his dialogue in episode 1 is just . Extremely funny to me.

BrOTP

Said it for lukas and I’ll say it again. I think anything including the old ocelots bonding together again. Slowly healing, maybe not ever becoming as close knit as before. But closing that gap some

It’s wonderful.

OTP

Twirls hair. I am an Aiden/Cassie shipper. There are reasons for this but i don’t want this post to be like. 2000 words (/j)

nOTP

Also stated on the lukas one I did.

Lukas/Aiden.

While I think it’s highly possible Aiden had a small crush on lukas, I don’t think it’s ever going anywhere. And I think he effectively crushed it (hah) when he kicked Lukas out of the old ocelots (and then turned it into the blaze rods)

Not only that but I think they work better as rivals/friends if anything. They play off each other nicely, yes. But I don’t think any serious relationship would even be possible until Aiden gets his shit together and his problems ironed out.

I can genuinely only see it spiral into a constant fight for control over the relationship, where Aiden slowly withdraws and withdraws until he starts a fight that properly ends it. Whether he’s fighting with words or fists. Who knows.

And postgame, I think even a new friendship between the two starts rocky at best. They’re both used to having some control over the other, and now neither is willing to give any.

Aiden was preventing Lukas from growing as a character. And now that he [Lukas] left. They can both grow and change, for better or for worse.

This is kinda why I like Cassie/Aiden. Theyre both struggling with strikingly similar problems, albeit handled in different ways and spawned from far different things. They push each other in a better direction just by playing off each other naturally. They also make each other worse but! Gotta get worse before you get better.

Random headcanon.

He likes to embroider. And sew. And write. Things that keep his hands (and mind) busy are good. When he can’t do any of that he’ll train.

And he’ll craft obsessively too. Part of those new blaze rod patterns was spawned from spite, the emotions that fueled it was anger. Anger created from guilt and fear shoved away and bottled up.

Unpopular opinion.

I think Aiden could be redeemable. Forgiven for his actions? I think it depends on your views.

But I think he’s redeemable.

SongS I associate him with.

Dam, Damn

“Eight”

(If you agree with my aiden thoughts at all. PLEASE listen to Eight - sleeping at last. Please it’s an incredible aiden song. Especially if u pair it w/ aiden/anyone or aiden & anyone.

Favorite picture of him.

This bit

#mcsm #aiden mcsm #mcsm aiden #clover talks #ask game

[h-worksrambles]

All the main relationships in The Smoke Room are really well written, but there’s something that especially gets me about Samuel and Nikolai.

Sam is an incredibly guarded and world weary person. The very nature of his job means he can’t allow anyone to get too close. The one time he does, with Jack, it ends horribly, resulting in a trauma that he’s still trying to heal from. And while he’s making steps to do that in every route, I think Nik’s warrants special mention.

What Nik gives Sam, more than any character, is sheer tenderness, the kind that I don’t think Sam has been given by anyone in a long, long time. If Sam is slowly healing from his trauma, a big part of Nik’s arc is learning to express himself in an environment where he still kind of feels like an outsider. He develops a sense of solidarity with his co-workers in the mine, as they unite against their deplorable treatment by their employers (plus, several of the other miner guys are either explicitly, or implied to be, queer which is yet another thing he can relate to them on).

And just as he opens up platonically to his co-workers, so too he opens up romantically to Sam. Nik is a very quiet, introverted character, but he becomes more comfortable being honest about his attraction to Sam, his desire to protect him, and ultimately, about loving him. His protectiveness doesn’t cross over into controlling or manipulative. He just genuinely wants to make Sam, someone he can see is hurting, feel safe. And Sam visibly responds to that. Being treated with this kind of gentle yet fierce affection is so new to him, but also pleasant, way more than he expected.

That doesn’t mean I see no danger or conflict for them. I don’t think Nik’s protectiveness is harmful, but I can definitely see a possible situation where if Nik was forced to choose between Sam, or his co-workers when things in the town inevitably escalate, I don’t know what choice he’d make. Likewise, with any of the routes, there’s some ambiguity about how much Sam reciprocates the feelings of the various love interests. Again, his profession demands that he mustn’t get too attached to any of the men he deals with (though given the fact that the game allows you the option to say ‘yes’ to Nik’s proposal, I don’t think it’s presumption to say that at least some part of Sam returns Nik’s feelings.

Again, it’s complicated, and I don’t expect the happiness to last. This is a horror game after all. But for now, I’m genuinely appreciating the relationship between these two, and hoping there’s still a chance for a happy outcome for them.

#nik is one of the most precious characters in the game #while i find his route’s exploration of unionisation to be fascinating #the relationship between him and sam is definitely a huge draw. #wait for this to age terribly as georgesquares rips all out hearts out #nikolai krol #samuel ayers #nikolai x samuel #the smoke room vn #echo project

[causalitylinked]

Spoilers abound for Monark, so if you plan on playing it blind at some point, feel free to skip past this post! As a disclaimer, bolded terms/names will have their own glossary at the end of this post, so people will know what they actually mean even with no prior knowledge of Monark.

Honestly, this is by no means canon, but I like to think that a side effect from being the Pactbearer of Greed is that you can’t exactly die from old age anymore, so those who were previously bound to Avaritia (the Monark of Greed) either die from grievous injuries, poison, or suicide... so in a way, Kakeru is pretty much immortal, as long as someone doesn’t stab him or he himself doesn’t take extreme measures to end his own life.

Still, him choosing to commit suicide is hardly likely, so if anything, he’s far likelier to die from being murdered than, say... overdosing on pills. Due to this, it’s very possible that had Yoru not severely injured him or his Ideals weren’t shattered, Kakeru could live long past the age of 100 years old.

Naturally, he can still physically age, but because he’s granted the ability to rewind time and teleport anywhere he pleases as the Pactbearer of Greed, he could theoretically alter his appearance too by using his Authority on himself, especially since it’s canonically established he could easily manipulate time and space itself to heal any injury he gets by making it so it never happened to begin with. Kakeru just chooses not to make himself look younger because he thinks he’s already handsome the way he is.

Modern verse wise, though, I made it so he never ended up forging a Pact with Avaritia... meaning there is no angst-y plot elements to his story and he never gets to experience multiple time loops/timelines like how he did in Monark.

GLOSSARY.

Monark: Ruler class entity among the Daemons who are responsible for the spawning of lower ranked Daemons called Nobles and Legion. They are drawn to strong Egos and wishes, forming pacts with humans and granting them special abilities called Authorities. The Monarks are associated with the seven sins or desires.

Avaritia: Daemon of Greed who canonically takes on this form and this form. Those who make a pact with them end up getting Chronokinesis, the ability to manipulate space and time.

Authority: Powers that go against the laws of the universe. Only Daemons, residents of the Otherworld, and Pactbearers are capable of wielding them. Because these powers adhere to the laws of the Otherworld, their usage creates distortions in the world, giving rise to distortions such as Mist.

Ideals: Manifestation of a pact between a Daemon and a human. They appear as physical crystals within the Otherworld. There are three Ideals formed for each pact. The areas of the Otherworld containing these pacts can be accessed from areas of the Mist receiving a call from that part of the Otherworld. These spots in the Mist can be identified by a messy stack of smartphones in the vicinity of where the calls are received. Ideals are usually left defended by Daemons.

#monark spoilers #monark spoilers tw #█ ▓『 ✦ ⸂ •• QUEUED — ⧼ because livi is a busy adult irl. ⧽ 』 #┕━ ❛ ⚕. muse »» 𝐊𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐔 𝐇𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐖𝐀〡i take my problems one step at a time. if i do something i’m gonna do it right. #┕━ ❛ ⚕. headcanons »» 𝐊𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐔〡change your mind about me? i’m the kinda guy who knows how to pick a time and place. #┕━ ❛ ⚕. about »» 𝐊𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐔〡i’m a doctor with rugged good looks. what more could a lady ask for? #[ though suicide is mentioned it's not extremely graphic and is just mentioned to be a way pactbearers of greed can die ] #[ but YEAH... i hesitate to really toss monark kakeru specifically at other peeps ] #[ because unless they have special powers they will automatically be stuck inside a school with a very unsettling atmosphere ] #[ that borders on nightmarish AND INTERACTIONS WITH KAKERU WOULD BE ANGSTY BY DEFAULT ] #[ because he's part of the reason why they're trapped there ]

[seventhdoctor]

Reincarnation and Promises

ITP a lot of thoughts related to Soulshipping as I work on this fic, as yelled to my tabletop group who basically know nothing but what I’ve told them about GX but a lot about my love for reincarnation junk.

Just how does Judai relate to his past life? How does that affect his relationship with Yubel?

In their original lives Judai promised Yubel he'd only love them, after Yubel had already voluntarily become a monster dedicated to protecting him. In the present Judai remembers their past lives while Yubel is trying to destroy the universe, tortured into insanity by a combination of his mistake and the Light of Destruction’s corruption, and he instantly flips from "you're evil and deluded and I will stop you at any cost" to "I accept your love (by choosing Super Fusion), you need healing and I will risk my entire existence to help you."

What is he thinking at that moment when he flips? The decision to fuse with Yubel is about taking responsibility, growing up, and redemption as well as - or even more than - a matter of love. But also, there's so many angles to what he’s feeling about those two things, and how much of each factors into exactly why he chooses to metaphorically return Yubel’s love and fuse their souls.

The flashback to their past lives is brief, less than three minutes of episode most of which is exposition, and you don't really get a full sense of just how much Judai connects with his past life beyond the line "I remember... They're me and Yubel in our past lives" before he watches his past self make that defining promise.

How much does he remember? Does he feel like a continuation of his past life in that moment, or like the next version of the young prince? I feel the answer to that question changes the meaning of his decision to fuse their souls together, in essence ensuring they can't be separated again as a gesture of love and/or to take responsibility for how they’ve hurt Yubel. If he feels a sense of continuity with his past self then that decision is a continuation of that promise to love Yubel, and an as-it-should-be reunion between guardian and guarded. If he views his past self as someone connected to but separate from himself, then continuing that promise is more of a decision he takes upon himself to stay connected to someone he still feels tied to - or maybe not. Maybe it’s simply a sense of duty to someone he’s hurt, someone he promised to love in another life and feels obligated to love in the present.

How much responsibility does he feel to uphold the vows of his past self? How much responsibility does he feel to heal someone who's been hurt badly because of his mistakes (which were made because Yubel was attacking his neighbors to begin with)? Is loving Yubel his obligation, his nature, or his choice? Can it be multiple of these things, or even all three?

And on the other end Yubel made their choice long ago, without all those questions about their relation to a past life because their past is their present in ways Judai's is not. If Judai really wanted, he could probably reject everything about his past life and destroy Yubel to save the world. That's the least likely choice (and again, one he implicitly rejects when he chooses Super Fusion immediately after remembering), but he could probably do it. Yubel doesn't have that choice to reject the past or they barely have it, because they were remade entirely for him and both their existence and sense of self still kinda revolve around him.

The exact feelings Judai has about Yubel and the fusion are a matter of interpretation and/or headcanon, and trying to figure out what I think for fic purposes has brought up a lot of fascinating questions about how their past bears upon the present and the unevenness of Judai’s reincarnation combined with Yubel’s more constant nature. It’s definitely making some scenes both really fun, and also hard to finish before I settle my own thoughts here.

#soulshipping #yubel #judai yuki #yugioh gx #yugioh series #text #man is anyone even gonna see this #i don't get how tumblr tag visibility works anymore #feels like it works different from when i was emilposting in 2010 #oh well i just wanna yell #sorry to the one person on my tumblr who's also in my tabletop group who's gonna see this twice #oops #anyway i love how complicated this relationship can be if you look at it from certain angles #i love them being cute #but also i love them being two trashfires turned into one bigger more mature trashfire #with messy feelings and half faults #and they still choose to love each other #i've fallen deep into this hole again...

[anaabaalistic]

OCTOBER 31, 2022

4:21PM

It’s been almost 3 months since we last spoke , we’ve reached out to the people closest to us to give each other closure well you did , I sent flowers and you never said anything so I didn’t try again but closure was never actually given between us , I took it though you told my best-friend you were happy and that you put your feelings for me in a box and that’s where they’ll stay . I wish it was that easy for me to do the same instead it’s a constant ache that won’t leave me alone . Some days have gotten better than most , some days I find myself wanting to remember your features , your scent , the way you said “ gooooomorning baby “ I find myself saying it outloud in your voice some days I do anything I can to hold on to you and other days I find myself cursing the universe for having sent you to me and taking you away from me . I don’t ever regret us but I am so angry at the world for introducing me to a love so beautiful and real then having it ripped away from me it’s not like I wasn’t expecting it , I was I knew there’d be a bitter end but the more I fell in love the more I convinced myself you’d choose me the more I believed that we were worth putting our lives in shambles because in the end it’d be us , and we’d have everything we wanted we’d rejoice in the life we built together we’d look back and say it was worth it why did I believe that so deeply ? It’s because it’s what we agreed on it’s what we talked about but , I was a fool for believing that so deeply because now here I am , my heart in shambles while you continue to live your façade , that’s what I tell myself it’s a façade but in reality I’ve heard your happy and I know that’s what I want for you but the hurt part of me still wants to believe that you miss me , that’s theres still some sort of feeling that can’t just be put in a box because there isn’t a box big enough in this lifetime to contain the love we felt for each other , the way a simple hand stroke was enough to re center us , our morning daily phone calls just to start our days on the right note , the calls in between the day to remind each other that we love each other , meeting just for a second any chance we got , sitting together always intertwined in the most natural way , I love my memories with you I love that they’re not tainted with a sour taste of regret instead a soft taste of nostalgia , of love . Some days I understand the phrase it’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all and other days I wish we could’ve kept our perfect bubble of love . We were great together , when it was just you and me we flowed so divinely . We deserved more time to fall in love , we deserved the life we talked about . I’m constantly asked how I’m doing since you , truth be told I walk around feeling hollow , better than before but still hollow , empty . I had never felt that way after loosing someone I claimed to love but I guess you can’t miss what you didn’t know you were even missing to begin with but after you I found my soul mate so how am I suppose to feel whole again when now I know what I’ve been missing , it’s as if I was found for the first time and then lost , now anything after you seems so bleak , I hate thinking that way and I know it’ll pass with more time and healing but how ? When ? When will the sky feel blue again ? I can sit here and reminisce on the memories of us but for what ? You made your choice , you chose what was best for you . In reality you don’t have a right to this hurt you’ve caused me because we’re both adults and you had every opportunity to choose me and you didn’t. That right there is the only reality that matters yet I still can’t be angry at you I still wish you’d reach out tell me you loved me and that you were ready because the moment you do , I’ll be ready too .