#it just means i have no interest and have no interest in being convinced | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

canmom · 3 days

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so hades 2 huh

it's fun! i am more convinced after actually playing it than i was in the runup to it. the green colour palette looked a little drab in the videos but it works better for me fullscreen in game, and I really like the second zone's design. the major aesthetic change does go a little way towards making this feel like 'new Supergiant game' instead of just a rehash of the first game.

the difficulty floor is higher than the first game. i think it's well-tuned to go into if you've beaten that one. so far i've played 6 runs, seen the first boss in 5, and and beaten her in 2 of them; yet to get more than about halfway through the second zone after that tho!

the new mana mechanic is kinda interesting, lots of tradeoffs to make. it's a bit more granular than the cast in the first game; you use it to do powered up versions of your attacks, and spending it also charges up the Call-equivalent.

i'm increasingly intrigued by the setting, and i really like some of the side characters like arachne. i think the time skip was a good decision - the story of Zagreus et al. was definitely done. the epilogue ending of the first game was way too neat.

still, starting a revenge plot in media res is curious. especially when Nemesis lampshades the lack of personal motivation. compared to Zagreus's very pressing and relatable motivation (run away from my abusive dad), Melinoë's motivation is a little more abstract - this seems to be deliberate. but it does a fair bit to sell the sort of 'desperate resistance base' setting. it definitely seems rather like they're setting up a twist down the line. but it lacks the immediate emotional hook of the overbearing patriarch in the first game. curious to see how it will work once I've seen more of the story.

as far as the new gods, I'm fascinated by the decision to make Hephaestus and Hestia both be Northern - probably Yorkshire. it's always fun hearing regional UK accents in games. they do also both feel like responses to the criticism that Jen Z never designs fat characters lmao. still, they are good designs. both have satisfying mechanics. Selene also has a really good design I think.

the other gods' mechanics have naturally been redesigned to fit the new game. still broadly the same themes, e.g. Zeus will still be lightning based, but different interpretations of what that means, so for example you have 'hitting an enemy produces a lightning blast behind them' as the primary Zeus mechanic instead of chain lightning. which definitely keeps things fresh. Melinoë's kit has a lot of directional attacks and, with the Cast now being an AOE which slows/freezes enemies, there's a lot more emphasis now on positioning enemies to set up AOE attacks which is interesting.

the witch stuff is quite fun in an admittedly slightly cheesy way. it's definitely pull on aesthetic currents which aren't at all Ancient Greek, like the pointed hats. but hey! I can get into it, it's not like the game's aesthetic has ever been all that strictly historical. even if I am still scratching my head at 'so mote it be'. apparently it's an archaic word meaning 'may', i.e. 'may it be so'.

of course the main thing is, the actual moment to moment gameplay is fun. it flows just as the first game did, and it's just as addictive with the way it spreads out story breadcrumbs. the vfx and such look great, the movement is already super tightly tuned (tbf it's basically the same as the first game with the addition of a new 'hold dash to sprint'), and there's a already good variety of enemy mechanics.

there's some obvious placeholders for some of the UI art and character portraits (notably none of the keepsakes have been drawn yet), but overall it's surprisingly polished for an early-access build. all the voice acting is already there - it's fun seeing the Supergiant voice cast return in new roles.

the meta progression element... there's some neat ideas, like an upgrade system with a limited set of slots that very much calls to mind NieR Automata's chip system. so there are some stronger tradeoffs to make; it's not as simple as 'spend resource, get better' as it was in the first game. and it's clearly possible to advance quite far even without a lot of meta resource investment. so far it definitely feels like my main limit is skill, and I'll progress further once I learn more of the enemy patterns and figure out what builds I like to play.

(though I guess the idea with this kind of game is that the power ups quietly boost you and make it feel like you're getting better a lot faster than you are just learning the game lmao)

overall, it's just really fun to have another Supergiant game to sink my teeth into haha. I still wish they'd continued their streak of coming up with new IPs each time, because they'd come up with fantastic settings, but there's plenty of interest here still.

also the more I work in game dev the more I can appreciate just what a ludicrous amount of polish there is in Supergiant's games. I can only imagine the amount of work it must have taken to tune the feel of everything this tight.

#computer games #hades 2

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crtter · 2 days

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When I was around 10 or 11 back in medieval times (2001 / 2002), I discovered online forums and thought they were so much better than chatrooms. Both because my dial-up internet was super slow and I couldn’t really keep up with a conversation in real time but also because, unlike in chatrooms, people didn’t ask you right off the bat if you were a boy or a girl in them. This was a plus to me. You see, even in the cusp of the 21th century, people still were very much on board with the whole “boys and girls are different species” thing and it just so happened that I was only interested in talking about video games, dinosaurs and TV shows about owning monsters with elemental powers and it pissed me off that whenever I identified myself as “a girl”, the conversation would steer away from these very important topics.

Incidentally, I also hated being made to wear dresses, wanted to kill whoever invented training bras and I wished that my parents had given me a less feminine name on a daily basis. Which surely didn’t mean anything. Anyway, I soon learned, to my absolute delight, that not only people in online forums didn’t think it was too weird if you didn’t immediately identify yourself as a boy or a girl, they also just assumed I was a boy because of my interests! This changed the game. I didn’t know why, but being called “he” and referred to as a boy made me feel ecstatic! But I also felt a little guilty. Sure, they didn’t ask if I was a girl, but not telling them after they assumed otherwise would be kind of like lying, right? And lying is wrong, especially if you’re lying to your friends.

But after much consideration I decided that I shouldn’t correct them. Sure, lying was bad, but correcting them would be even worse! Why, they would be SO embarrassed after making such a blunder, I would just be an asshole if I told them I was a girl! I had to think about their feelings! So I just gave myself a fake boy name and proceeded to have an online presence where I was exclusively known as a boy for like a full year until my mom caught me and made me see a therapist. In her defense, though, the cyber crossdressing wasn’t the main reason she sought professional help for me. The main reason was that I kind of believed Digimon were real and was convincing other kids of that as well.

#Reporting live

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justagalwhowrites · 2 days

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Someone New: Part of For You - A Collection of Requests Benefitting Palestine

Joel is new to Jackson and his family is eager to play matchmaker.

Event Terms: Commissioners could choose to donate between $15 and $50 via Ko-Fi for one fic of 1-2k words. Payment due after completion of the fic. Donation with a match by the author paid to PCRF upon completion. Commissioners had the option to choose to keep a fic private and all fics may not be shared here.

Pairing: Joel Miller x Female OC Ashley (NOT a reader insert)

Warnings: Smut :D Unprotected P in V sex. Daddy kink. Age gap (Joel is 56, Ashley is 40.) Light Dom!Joel and Sub!FOC. No use of Y/N. 18+ Only MINORS DNI

Length: 3.6k

For You Masterlist | Full Masterlist | AO3

A/N: Written as a request by the lovely @ashleyfilm! She requested "Jackson era Joel from the tv show, so Pedro, and me (Ashley, plus size, I’m 40, I have black hair and glasses, my eyes are blue green with some hazel, I have tattoos, I’m short. A little goth, wear all black where it’s possible in an apocalypse haha) in this scenario I have a cool exterior and I’m independent by nature, but when you get to know me I’m funny and loving, but keep to myself. Joel and I would both like each other but have no clue, while Tommy, Maria and Ellie would all know and roll their eyes at us, try and talk sense into us. Eventually we come together and I’d love some smut. Some daddy soft dom Joel, I’m sub, the only time I want to be told what to do is during sex. I like giving pussies a pronoun so like she likes it and her if you know what I mean. And some fluff would be nice too." Shared with permission. I hope you all enjoy!!

Tommy was starting to drive Joel insane.

It had taken some adjustment, coming to Jackson.

There was the adjustment of being back around other people at all, for starters. There was the adjustment to being a father again. There was the adjustment of being in a place he cared about, one where he wanted to contribute instead of forced to to keep FEDRA’s boot off his neck.

It had been a lot to swallow and, not that anyone was asking, he thought he’d done a damn good job of it. Ellie was happy, going to school every day and making friends. He had his ways to play his part in the community.

So what if he was doing it all on his own? It’s not like it’s a crime to keep to yourself, he wasn’t sure why Tommy kept trying to push him further than he wanted to go.

He doubted it was because Ashley was asking him to.

Ashley, the woman Tommy kept damn near throwing him toward at every opportunity. Ashley, who was years too young for him to even be thinking about the way he did. Ashley, whose plush curves and bright eyes had caught his attention from the moment he met her, even as she kept her distance from Joel and, it seemed, just about everyone else in Jackson.

It didn’t matter how much Joel would enjoy things being different, that the little time he’d spent with her had been some of his favorite since coming here. She wasn’t interested - couldn’t be interested - and he wasn’t about to force it.

Tommy, it seemed, had other ideas.

“I’m not sure why you won’t just see if she wants to go,” Tommy said one night as they sat in the mess hall for dinner. “What’s the harm?”

“Don’t particularly feel like gettin’ shot down,” Joel replied, taking a bite of his mashed potatoes. “Got enough goin’ on without worrying about that, too.”

“Worrying about what?” Maria asked, taking her spot next to Tommy. Joel resisted the urge to roll his eyes, knowing he was about to be outnumbered.

“Joel won’t ask Ashley to the dance on Saturday,” Tommy smirked a little. “He’s convinced she’d say no…”

“Who would say no to what?” Ellie joined them, too, sitting next to Joel.

“Ashley to Joel and the dance, apparently,” Maria said, giving Ellie a knowing look.

“Oh shit,” Ellie’s eyes went a little wide. “They’d be so cute together, Joel pretending to be a person who actually does something besides be grumpy…”

“OK you tryin’ to get yourself grounded?” Joel asked, brows raised. Ellie rolled her eyes. “Because it sure seems like it. And I don’t need y’all match making for me. I am doin’ just fine without worrying about all of that. Leave it.”

Ellie and Maria gave each other a knowing look that Joel was about to call them on when Tommy distracted him.

“You’re going to the dance Saturday anyway, right?” He asked. “Just because you’re too chicken shit to bring a date doesn’t mean you should sit it out. It’s a big party, the whole town will be there, you should at least come by for a few drinks. You’ll miss out if you don’t.”

“Yeah, I want to go!” Ellie said, turning to Joel and pouting a little. “You’re really going to make me go all by myself?”

“I’ll go to the dance,” Joel sighed before looking between the others and gesturing between them with the fork. “S’long as you three are done meddling.”

“We’ll behave,” Ellie smirked a little. “I promise.”

Joel shouldn’t have believed them. He should have known better.

But that didn’t make him any less surprised when he showed up to the dance Saturday evening and looked for Tommy and Maria, only to find them sitting with Ashley, her dark hair styled to pair with the black dress that seemed like it was made to highlight her every soft curve, curves that Joel had spent hours dreaming about exploring with his hands and mouth.

He was going to strangle Tommy.

“Joel!” His brother called, waving him over, as if Joel would have missed him. “Over here!”

“C’mon old man,” Ellie teased. “Stop being such a fucking coward.”

“We’re talking about your language later,” he muttered, letting Ellie lead him to the table, hoping that no one had put too much pressure on Ashley to put her in this position.

“Well look who decided to join the party,” Tommy smirked. Joel ground his teeth. “Ashley, you know my brother Joel.”

“I do,” she gave him a cool, tight smile and took a sip of her drink, looking back out toward the dance floor.

“Hi,” Joel said before feeling like a bit of an idiot and pulling his eyes from her to turn back to his brother. “How are you Tommy, Maria?”

“Oh, we’re good,” Maria smiled a little, looking more like Tommy than Joel thought was appropriate. He wondered if married couples started looking alike before too long.

“Just peachy,” Tommy said as a new song started. “Oh would you look at that, I need to dance with my wife. Maria?”

He offered her his hand and she smiled wider before taking it, giving Joel a meaningful look before being led onto the dance floor by her husband.

“Oh, I think I see Dina,” Ellie said before clapping Joel on the back and leaving him there, alone with Ashley, before he had the chance to argue.

Joel just stood there, awkwardly, trying not to stare at her, his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans.

“So,” he said eventually. “Um… that seat taken?”

She looked at him, brows raised.

“Just by your brother.”

“Right,” he said, taking it anyway. She looked back toward the dance floor and Joel looked her over while he had the chance, how the darkness of her clothes seemed to suit her, the sharp intelligence behind her glasses, the beauty of the tattoos he could see on her exposed skin. He wondered what each of them meant, wondered what it would be like to take his time tracing over each one.

“So,” she turned her attention back to Joel. “Liking Jackson so far? Been here… what, a few months now?”

“Yeah,” Joel nodded. “S’good. Different than where I’ve been for a while but that’s a good thing. Ellie likes it, all that really matters.”

She nodded slowly, taking another sip of her drink.

“Seems like she’s a good kid,” she said. “Sure got a mouth on her, though.”

“Yeah,” Joel laughed, leaning his elbows onto the table. “She’s somethin’ else. I tried telling her she needs to watch her language, this ain’t the QZ.”

“That’s a hell of an adjustment,” she smiled a little and damn, Joel really liked to see her smile. More than he’d liked seeing a woman smile in… he wasn’t sure how long. “Trust me, I know.”

“You spent some time in a QZ?” He asked, brows raised.

She nodded, taking a final sip of her cocktail.

“Portland,” she said. “I was there at the beginning. One night, I was sneaking liquor at industry night at my favorite club, the next it’s a war zone. Got used to it after a while, though. You were in Boston with Tommy, right?”

“I was,” Joel nodded. “Took us a while to work our way there but found it eventually.”

“And you both ended up all the way out here.”

“Suppose so,” Joel said. He nodded to her empty glass. “Can I get you another?”

“Yeah,” she smiled. “That’d be nice.”

He went to the bar and got them both a drink before rejoining her at the table.

Joel was surprised at how much he liked talking with her. For how much time he’d spent thinking about her and looking at her, he hadn’t spent much time actually talking with her. She wasn’t what he’d expected.

Where he’d always known her to be a bit distant and cool, he was starting to realize that, as soon as he was past the caution she seemed to approach the world with, she was really very warm and loving, thoughtful and kind. They talked about music, about what they missed about before, the quirks of life in Jackson after living in a QZ.

By the time Joel got her onto the dance floor, he was ready to get her home. And he was starting to think she wanted the same.

“Can I walk you home?” Joel asked as the Tipsy Bison was almost empty and he wasn’t able to come up with any more excuses to stay.

“You can,” she smiled. “But… I think I’d rather you walk me to yours.”

He smiled back.

“Think that can be arranged.”

Joel draped his arm over her shoulders and the two of them walked slowly through the dark town, the streets quiet and the stars bright.

“Well,” Joel said as they came to his front walk. “This is me. Still want to come in?”

“Yeah,” Ashley nodded. “Yeah, I really do.”

He smiled.

“Good.”

He took her hand and led her to his door.

But things shifted as they made it inside. Joel tilted her face up, finding the right angle, thumb brushing her lips, waiting for her to make a move.

But she didn’t. Her breaths got quicker, her eyes searched his and, after a moment, he felt like he couldn’t wait anymore.

“I’m gonna kiss you,” he said. “Because it’s all I’ve been thinkin’ about doing for a while.”

She just nodded quickly and he kissed her, covering her mouth with his.

It had been a while since Joel had kissed anyone, even longer since it was a first kiss. But Joel could tell this was different, something special. It was like an electric current ran over his skin, sparking at where your lips met and shooting out through the rest of him. There was a sharp, sudden pang of need deep inside him, the drive to be closer to her, as close as he could reach. More than that, he wanted to know that she was safe, cared for. That she had what she needed and what she wanted because he was giving it to her.

“Joel,” she breathed as they separated, just enough for him to look in those blue green eyes of hers. “Will you take me to bed?”

“Yeah baby,” he said, want seeping into his voice. “Yeah, I will.”

He kissed her again, his hands sliding down from her face to her arms to her waist, moving her toward the stairs as he did. He only pulled away from her when they needed to go up to his room, not wanting to stop touching her for even a few moments, his skin almost aching as he watched the round shape of her ass in her black skirt going upstairs ahead of him.

Joel pulled her back against him at the top of the stairs, the few seconds she was apart from him too much. Her arms stretched up and went around his neck and his hands roamed over her back and sides, luxuriating in just how soft she felt, how he could find places on her that seemed made for him to hold. He guided her to his room, kicking the door shut behind him. He slid his hands back up her body over her arms, his callused fingers slipping over her soft skin.

“You gonna let me make you feel good, pretty girl?” He asked, voice dark and low. “Because I want to touch every damn inch of you.”

“Please, Joel,” she whispered, her fingers tightening desperately on his curls at the nape of his neck. “Please, I want you, I need you, I…”

“Shhh,” he hushed her. “Don’t worry about a thing. Just let Daddy take care of you.”

He kissed her again and found the zipper on her dress, sliding it down, down, down, until he could slide the straps down her arms and let the fabric fall to the floor.

“Fuck,” he breathed, his eyes ranging over Ashley’s body, tracing over her curves and tattoos. “You are the most beautiful damn thing I’ve ever seen.”

He reached around and unhooked her bra, sliding the straps down her arms and dropping it to the floor before cupping her breasts, the fullness of her so soft below his touch that he couldn’t help but groan.

“You gonna let me take care of you, baby girl?” He asked, voice husky. “You need me to take care of you, don’t you?”

He wasn’t entirely sure why he said it but something inside him just knew, he could sense it in her. That she wanted someone to guide her, someone she could trust to take charge and give her what she needed.

He could tell by the way she nodded that he was right.

Joel guided her down onto the bed before pulling his shirt and casting it aside. His eyes ranged over her body as he took his jeans and underwear off, too, his cock already thick and achingly hard. He worked himself, not able to stop himself as he drank her in, memorizing her.

“Want you to touch yourself for me,” he said, stepping closer to the bed. “Spread those pretty legs, put your hand in your panties, show me how you like to touch yourself.”

She took a hesitant, shaky breath and slid her hand down her body before slipping them below the fabric, stretching it tight over her pussy for a moment before her hand dipped lower. He could see the outline of her fingers clearly, watched with his mouth watering as they stroked her pussy lips before slipping inside.

“There you go, baby girl,” he groaned, stroking his cock in time with her fingers. “You just keep on doin’ that for me.”

He moved to the bed and she frowned as he reached out, looping his fingers around the waistband of her panties to start tugging them down. His eyes moved from her face, down her body to where her pussy lay just below the fabric. Her fingers were still.

“I tell you to stop?” He asked. She groaned and he saw her fingers start to move again. “That’s my good girl. Want your pussy all nice and wet and full when I see her the first time.”

He pulled her underwear down slowly, revealing her wet slit with two of her fingers buried deep inside herself as he did.

“Oh, there she is,” he breathed, casting her panties aside. “Fuck, such a pretty little pussy ain’t she?”

Ashley just moaned, thrusting her fingers deeper. Joel licked his lips, desperate for a taste of her.

“Spread her open for me, baby,” he said, spreading her legs wide and settling between them. “Lemme see.”

Her hands trembled as she slid her fingers from her dripping entrance and delicately opened herself to him.

“Fuck me,” Joel groaned, taking a thumb and brushing it over her tight little hole before trailing it up to her swollen nub. “Gonna take a lot before she can take me. Don’t worry baby, I’ll take care of you.”

He pressed his mouth to her entrance, just a kiss at first, a taste of her musky sweetness. His thumb stayed against her clit, rubbing her in slow and gentle circles as he dipped is tongue inside of her.

Joel started slow, easing her into it. His tongue worked deeper, his thumb harder. Eventually, he added a finger, then two, starting to stretch her open as her hips canted up against his face, her legs squirming, delicious moans and gasps pouring from her lips. He looped an arm around her thigh to hold her still, pulling her leg against the side of his head and leaving his nose to work her clit as his hand splayed wide on her plush thigh.

“Fuck, I’m going to come,” her back was arched, fingers wound tight in his quilt. “I’m coming, I’m coming Daddy, I’m coming!”

He smiled against her as he ate her through her orgasm, pressing his aching cock down into the bed as he felt her pussy flutter over his tongue.

When her climax eased, he pulled himself from her tight, wet heat and rose to his knees, stroking his dripping length as she came back down to earth. He nudged her legs apart and down, leaving her fully exposed to him. He ran his fingers over her slit, gathering her wetness and bringing it to his cock as she looked at him, her eyes a little wide.

“Is…” she swallowed, hard. “Is that going to fit inside me? I don’t know if that’s going to fit…”

“It’ll fit, baby girl,” he said, working himself as he lined himself up with her entrance. “You can take it, so nice and wet for me. You just relax and let me inside you.”

He pressed his cock against her tight center, moaning and just how hot and wet and fucking soft she felt. He watched, almost obsessed, as she opened to take him, the stretch almost obscene as he saw himself start to disappear into her body.

“See baby?” He panted as he sank just the first few inches of him into her cunt. “You can take it, taking it so good for me. She stretches so fuckin’ pretty for me, so goddamn pretty.”

Her hands flew to his biceps as he leaned over her, pressing himself deeper, her fingers scrambling over his muscle as he worked her open. Joel fought to think of anything but the fact that he was almost fully inside the woman he’d been longing for for weeks now. He couldn’t come too quick, he couldn’t let this end now. He had to take his time, had to feel her come around him.

And then he was buried inside her to the root, the entirety of him in the entirety of her, her walls stretching to hold him.

“There you go,” he praised her. He splayed his hand wide over her thick, soft lower stomach, pressing into her skin as his thumb slid down to her clit and started stroking it. “Did so good, taking me so well. You ever been this stretched baby?”

“No daddy,” her nails dug into his arm. “Feels so good…”

“Good girl,” he said, working her clit a little harder. She moaned and rocked her hips against him. “Aw, does someone need to be fucked? Someone need me to make her come?”

“Yes,” she pleaded. “Please, please, please Daddy, please, I need to come, I need…”

“I’ve got you baby,” he said, leaning over her and kissing her deeply, the taste of her mouth mixing with the taste of her pussy that lingered on his tongue. “Gonna make you come so hard for me.”

He pulled back before thrusting forward, hard and fast and making her gasp, her hands flying from his arms to his back. But he stopped her, taking hold of her arms and pinning them over her head with one of his large hands.

“You can use those when I tell you,” he said. “Right now, need you focused on taking,” he pulled back and thrust back in quickly. “This.” He did it again, fucking into her hard and fast. “Cock.” He did it one last time before grinding himself deep. “Tell me when you’re about to come.”

He picked up his pace then, fucking into her deep and firm, grinding his hips down against her clit, feeling how her breasts moved against him as he forced her walls apart with each heavy stroke.

Joel didn’t let up, too lost in her and just how damn good she felt to do anything else. He wasn’t even sure how long he’d been fucking her - just that it wasn’t long enough - when her breathy, desperate voice broke through the lust-driven haze of his mind.

“I’m gonna come,” she keened, her pussy to tight around him that it almost hurt. “Gonna come, I’m gonna come Daddy, please…”

He freed her hands then and she gasped, her fingers immediately finding the broad expanse of his back. Joel took her face in his hands and looked into those eyes of hers, unlike anything else he’d ever seen as he felt how her body took his.

“Good girl,” he said, breathless and needy, too. “Come for me, come all over my cock, that’s it, so good for me…”

The chorus of praise continued until she cried out, her whole body seizing as her channel gripped him so tight he was almost afraid it would force him out. But he held himself deep inside her, kissing her as she moaned into his mouth as she throbbed around him. His orgasm took hold, amazed for the half second he was aware enough to think that he’d been able to hold off this long, emptying himself deep inside of her.

“Fuck,” she moaned, panting for breath as they both came down from their shared high. Joel had all but collapsed on top of her and he adjusted, pulling himself gently from her body and feeling their combined spend leaking from her as he did. He lay beside her and she turned to look at him. “That… I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything like that.”

He smiled a little.

“Me either.”

She smiled back.

“I think we’ll have to do that again sometime,” she said.

“Only if you let me take you out first,” Joel said. “Don’t think I can get enough of you in bed. Think I’m gonna need as much as you’ll let me have outside it, too.”

Ashley reached out and carded her fingers through his thick, shaggy curls.

“I think we can make that work.”

#fanfic #joel miller x oc #smut fic #daddy k!nk #dom!joel miller #for you

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aflamboyanceofflamingos · 1 day

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So I've been dealing with a really bad fever for the last few days, and apparently i had written something i have no recollection of writing so here it is:

~~~~~~~

Tim had dug himself into a hole.

To anyone that knew him, that fact wouldn't be too surprising. Tim had always been a very capable individual, but every now and then he became too in love with how capable he was and he would trip over his own ego. Usually the boy could get out of the messes he created, the sudden humbling giving him a clear head, but this time, he didn't think he could climb his way out on his own.

The first shovel of dirt of this metaphorical hole came over 4 years ago, lining up with the first shovel of dirt of a literal hole.

Jason Todd had died. Robin had died.

Batman was in shambles.

And 13 year old Tim Drake thought that because of the knowledge he had, it was his responsibility to fix him.

Batman needed a Robin, and despite what Nightwing had implied, Tim was nowhere near cool enough to be Robin.

So what would make Batman get his own sidekick? If his enemies had one! Batman would be forced to find someone else to deal with the sidekick while he dealt with the actual Rouge.

The Joker was obviously out. Beyond the fact that the Joker was horrible, Tim may be joining up with a villain but that didn’t mean he wanted Batman to hate him.

That meant he needed to find someone Batman didn’t enact a lot of violence on. That got rid of the Scarecrow and the various crime bosses (Black Mask, the Penguin, etc.). Bruce had been close to Harvey Dent, but a 50% chance of death was a percentage that was just a little too high for Tim (oh how that would change). Most of the lower tier Rouges (Kite Man, Mad Hatter, etc.) had gone under after the got wind of Batman's fury, not to mention that Tim really didn't want to spend his days smelling like ketchup. Poison Ivy and Killer Croc were cool, but their skills weren't exactly ones Tim could replicate.

That left Mr. Freeze, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and the Riddler.

The Mr. Freeze was more gentle with kids, their “villiainly” being based on the actions of adults, and the latter three were in it for their own interests rather than the purpose of killing or invoking fear, Catowman wanted shiny things, Harley wanted chaos and fun, and while the Riddler didn't share the same soft spot for kids, he respected intelligence.

Tim chose Catwoman; the least lethal, and the closest with Batman. The skills she could teach him would also be more helpful in other situations.

It took about a week from the day he knocked on Selina Kyle's door to convince her to train him, but soon enough, a couple days before his 14th birthday and a few more calls to 911 about petty thieves left in the wake of Batman’s grief then Tim would have liked, “Stray” entered the scene.

And his plan was working!

The first time Batman had seen the second pair of cat ears he had paused mid ass-kicking of a carjacker and followed the duo, leaving the guy with more teeth then the others.

Slowly but surely, as time went on, the punishments the Batman inflicted started to fit the crime. By the time Tim was 15, he even thought he had seen a small upturn at the corner of Bruce’s mouth as he witnessed a bit of friendly banter between the two cats!

This was when the young villain had started to become a tad bit overconfident. In his defense, he had managed to keep his identity hidden from even Oracle! Lifts in his shoes, a voice modulator, make-up to disguise his facial features, along with a set of the same goggles Catwoman had kept and physical information from being revealed, and Tim Drake never interacted with Selina Kyle so there was no reason that anyone should have suspected him.

That overconfidence is what led him to replicate his plan. If one Rouge sidekick had benefits, then two Rouge sidekicks would mean double the benefits!

Solving riddles wasn’t too hard for the young boy, being able to see double meaning and red herrings was a skill taught to him by Janet Drake, and he took to the escape-room-esque plans for his heists quite easily. The thing he couldn’t figure out was creating riddles of his own. Mother had taught him that knowledge was power, you only reveal it if there was something to be gained, so purposely revealing information about his intention, helping his opponent was not something Tim was accustomed to, not bound to the compulsion to always tell the truth.

If the boy truly wanted to replicate the Riddler, then he would have to learn from the man himself.

Convincing the enigmatic man to teach Tim was easier than it had been with Catowman, the impressive display of bypassing the puzzles that hid the location of the game-playing criminal certainly helping.

Now, 15 years old with an unexplained skill boost in his AP Lang class (the lessons on wordplay were a definite help), The Riddler’s protege, ‘The Puzzler’ became the newest addition to the Gotham Rogues. He resented that name by the way. It was supposed to be Sibyl or Sphinx, they were on theme because they spoke in riddles and though he would deny it, the use of greek figures were his own little way of mocking Oracle, who still couldn’t figure out his identity. But apparently Poison Ivy and the Riddler had brunch once a month (something about being the green Rouges?) and she had heard the Riddler refer to him as “the little puzzle piece” when he was talking about his apprentice and the puzzle theme stuck despite how uncreative the name was.

This is when things became a bit hectic. Not only did Tim have to hide his nightlife from Batman and his parents, now he had to keep his two mentors from realizing that their mentees were the same person.

He managed to convince Selina that the reason he was so busy lately was the AP classes that came with sophomore year, and while it wasn’t a lie, it certainly wasn’t the full story.

Nygma was easier to deceive. Tim had refrained from sharing his actual identity with the man (just because he would tell the truth in his puzzles for the sake of theme didn’t mean that he would be sharing personal information if it wasn’t needed. The only reason he hadn't hid it from Selina was to gain her trust, something that wasn’t needed with the Riddler) so just saying that he was busy was enough.

All the effort was worth it though. Things kept getting better.

Nightwing was seen in Gotham more often, and Spoiler (someone who Tim initially thought was trying to steal his thing by being a sidekick of the Cluemaster, only to realize she was working against him) had been seen fighting alongside the Batman one or twice.

On an unrelated note, Stephiane Brown suddenly had her tuition for Gotham Academy paid for in full by the newly created Jason Todd Foundation.

Since things were going so well, he decided to push his luck a little further.

Unfortunately for Tim, he would soon realize the reason he was known for his bad luck in the future.

It started off like other times. Tim convinced Harley Quinn to take him under her wing, and “Ace” made their debut along with Tim’s 5 in AP Psych (Thank you Dr. Quinzel).

Steph and Tim happened to share a few classes together, and went from study buddies (Tim helping her in Chem, and Steph helping him in American History) to close friends.

Spoiler officially joined the Bats, and there were rumors of another bat joining the clan as well. Well there were no actual rumors, but the newest Wayne kid, Cassandra, had started joining him and Steph at their lunch table so her becoming a new bat wouldn’t be too surprising.

Soon enough though, things went to shit.

To start off, the first time Spoiler met Ace, she threw a brick at his head.

Second, His parents had caught him sneaking out and had grounded him, meaning that he now had to wait until they did their last check on his room at 12:00 to sneak out.

The lack of sleep was starting to catch up to the highschooler. Handling 3 separate nightlife identities was hard enough, but doing so while exhausted was even harder.

After pulling an all nighter to study for a test the night before, he had gone to Selina’s apartment dressed as Ace, and had both costumes not been mostly black he would have been undoubtedly caught before he managed to fix his mistake.

Puzzler once spent a whole night sounding like Stray, and he didn’t think that his “sore throat” lie was all that believable.

Tim accidentally made a cat pun instead of a bat one when engaging in vaguely flirty banter with Spoiler as Ace and Harley had set him down to have the talk, stating that she would love him no matter who he liked and she would be happy to serve as a wingman for him and Catwoman’s protege. It would be funny if it wasn’t so embarrassing.

Third, Cassandra Wayne definitely knew something.

Tim’s “rumors” were right. 2 weeks after Cass had first joined their table Black Bat made herself known. By pinning Puzzler to the ground.

The next day Cass spent the entire lunch period staring at Tim. When he attempted to throw her off by invoking a mix of Stray and Ace’s mannerisms she stopped staring, instead choosing to freak Tim out more by smiling knowingly. At his wide eyes she mimed zipping her lips and throwing away the key only throwing Tim off further. Cass was too smart to not have known, but there was no reason she wouldn’t tell if she did know, right?

Last, but not least, and the worst of all:

Jason Todd was alive.

~~~~~~~

I have no clue where i was going with that last line, but i see a vision, so I'm hoping it will come back to me, but if not, any suggestions or constructive criticism (or a better puzzle themed name for tim) would be helpful

#If there are grammar issues i blame the fever #also i am now more concerned about my dc obsession #Cause beyond the fact that i apparently wrote this #i also kept hallucanituion Diana Prince (voiced by Grey Griffin) working through the problems on my AP CSA Exam #I might be in a little too deep #tim drake #batfam #dc #selina kyle #the riddler #catwoman #edward nygma #harley quinn #harleen quinzel #fanfic #wip

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m-says-hi · 2 days

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Hi I have more thoughts about Sampo… kinda. This is more about some weird things I found out about Mechanical Fever that might have to do with Sampo

For those of you who don’t know, Mechanical Fever is Serval’s band. Why do I think Sampo has anything to do with it? Well in his character introduction he mentions that he used to play for Serval’s band. Or more specifically, he would stand in when they were short handed.

So yesterday, I remembered this and decided to look into Mechanical Fever, not expecting to find anything. I was wrong.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me first list the members of Mechanical Fever and then explain the weird things you find out when you speak to them about the band.

Serval: Lead singer and guitarist Pela: Drummer Lynx: Keyboarder Dunn: Old keyboarder ???: Bassist

I’m going to go from least to most interesting response

Pela I don’t think we ever actually talk about Mechanical Fever to Pela in person. If we do, I didn’t find it on the wiki. However she does message us about it, asking if we were coming to a show. Other than that she doesn’t really tell us much.

Dunn Talking to Dunn is when it first gets interesting. When we talk to him about Mechanical Fever, he mentions that he remembered there were four members: Serval, Pela, him and an unknown fourth member.

The weirdest thing about this is of course the fact that Dunn doesn’t remember who this fourth member was. He doesn’t even remember the instrument they played and only remembered they played the bass after we suggested it.

Another strange thing is how Dunn calls the bass player a “he” before doubting their gender. When I first found this information and shared it with my friends, we assumed it was Sampo. Afterall, we know he played with Mechanical Fever sometimes. We also know he’s a Fool, so him messing with Dunn is believable. And Sampo’s gender seems to be questionable considering his adventures as Burghel.

But talking to the other band members made me doubtful…

Lynx When talking to Lynx in the outlying snow plains you can ask her if she’s a member of the band. She says yes and then goes on to talk about the other members… also bringing up our mysterious bass player. But not only that…..

She mentions Cocolia of all people.

Now our good pal Sampo was a well connected man. But Cocolia? I’m doubtful of that for some reason. Especially since he eventually became a part of Wildfire. Yet who else would just “disappear”?

I didn't think much of it at first. I was pretty convinced Sampo was the bass player at first. And Lynx even calls it a baseless rumor. But Lynx isn’t the only one who mentions Cocolia.

Serval Serval is the last member to talk about. We actually speak to her about Mechanical Fever twice. Once is during a quest Pom Pom sends us on called “Looking for a Disk”. Basically we’re looking for music for the express. One of the places we go is to Serval to ask if her band has any discs to give to us.

She tells us that unfortunately she can’t and lists out the reasons why… problems with their bass player being one of them.

The other time we talk to her about it is when we find her in her workshop. We ask her about the members of our band and we hear about the bass player and… Cocolia again.

Again, it’s said that the lack of a bassist has to do with Cocolia. In fact Cocolia is mentioned so often with this mysterious bassist that the wiki has named her as the former bassist of Mechanical Fever.

However, I disagree with this conclusion. Both times Cocolia was mentioned, she was never directly called the bassist. Only that the bassist’s disappearance has something to do with her. It feels odd to me that they would mention the two separately. If Cocolia was indeed the bass player then why don't they just say that?

Another possible explanation is that maybe they’re trying to hide the fact she was a member of Mechanical Fever. But that doesn’t make sense either. Both Cocolia and Mechanical Fever were very well known. I mean Dunn’s status on his messages says that he left the band and people should stop contacting him about it.

If people know Dunn was a member, then surely they would know Cocolia was. That also doesn’t explain why Dunn doesn’t even remember who the bass player was. I’m pretty sure he’d remember who Cocolia was.

So… if it’s not Cocolia, then who? Sampo? But how is Cocolia involved? A friend of mine offered the explanation that maybe Sampo got himself involved in some sort of trouble involving both Serval and Cocolia. Then using Masked Fools magic, he wiped everyone’s mind. But the question remains, what trouble did he get into? And is this bass player even sampo?

#hsr #honkai star rail #sampo koski #hsr sampo #lore #theory

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misterragny · 2 days

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I recently reread the Fairy Tail manga...

Well, what can I say, from the very beginning of this anime / manga, I liked a couple of Natsu/Lucy and I were scared of their long-term relationship for a while

My fanatical desire for their relationship lived in my heart for a long time, until I realized a simple truth

They will be 100% together, I am no longer afraid of such a long development of relations, because it is already clear and understandable that everything will be fine with them

I'll explain:

In all my long (25 years) life, I have not seen so many hints from the author about their relationship

(How do I want to see so many hints about Kogami and Akane from the Psycho Passport🥲)

How many times did Lucy calm Natsu down, how many times did Natsu rush into battle, seeing that Lucy was in danger

You can say no, he was eager to fight for the guild and for his friends, yes you are absolutely right

But look at it from the other side, Mashima supports NaLu's day, he painted NaLu's daughter, can this not be considered a wild hint at their canon?

I believe that at the end of all 100-year quests and the continuation of these 100-year quests, Natsu will finally understand that it's time to take the relationship to a new level (to the level of Edolas, otherwise, knowing Natsu, he will transfer them to a completely different, unknown level)

So why am I doing this, just recently I was in a misunderstanding and even in a panic that they are not being made a couple, but after looking at several sites and blogs, I am convinced for the first time that they are canon and will be canon

A few facts:

• The author made bold allusions to their relationship several times throughout the manga (how many screenshots do I have on my phone, God)

• The author drew his daughter NaLu and adheres to their day, celebrating it annually with fans

• NaLu is officially canon in Edolas!

(After a while I expect it in the original world)

• Plus another chapter from the 100-year quest, which shows alternative characters from the original, where Lucy and Natsu have an interesting relationship, if you understand what I mean 😏

I will also present some screenshots in addition 😁

Well, thank you all for your attention 😄

Sorry for the mistakes, I'm working with a translator 🥲

#fairy tail #fairy tail 100 years quest #fairy tail nalu #nalu #anime #anime and manga #manga #hiro mashima #lucy heartfilia #natsu dragneel #fairy tail natsu #fairy tail lusy

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dontyouworrydaddy · 2 days

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chapter 2: Lay down with me

⭒❃.✮:▹ a Simon Riley series 　　◃:✮.❃⭒

- series masterlist

Two weeks went by real fast. In those two weeks you kept thinking about this stranger. You thought about Simon and something about him made you wake up interest in him. Whatever it is, that us making you be so interested in him, it has to mean something. Because you never really were immediately interested in someone. Especially if you don’t know anything about this person.

As you‘re waiting for him to appear, you think about what to do if he comes. Some part of you is convinced that he is not actually going to appear. Maybe he just said it and laughed afterwards. What if he actu-

"Hey! You really came." you hear the so familiar voice behind you. He really did appear. But as you turn to look at him, you can see that he kind of struggles to walk. Did something happen to him?

"Hey! Well you really held onto your word." you laugh "Why are you walking so strange? Are you okay?" you ask him, the worry clear in your voice.

"Yeah. Tough mission. Got shot but nothing I can’t handle." wait… so he got shot. And instead of resting, he came to see you? This strange man just raised your standard bar.

"Then you should lay down next to me. If you‘re injured then why did you come? what if something happens? Pull your stitches open?"

Simon doesn‘t answer at first. He stands next to you and slowly lowers himself down until he is sitting on his but. "Well… I wanted to see you. And I couldn’t find your social media accounts which means I couldn’t let you know." he lays down, resting his arms behind his head.

"That‘s tough…“ you whisper just so your ears could heat it. The dense forest enveloped you both. The air was clear with the earthy scent and the symphony of rustling leaves.

Simon's voice broke the long silence. "You ever wonder what it's all for?"

You turned to him, his gaze thoughtful as he stared up at the shifting foliage. "All what?"

"Life. Our purpose in this cruel world," he murmured, his words carrying the weight of his feelings. Feelings he never got to talk about. Until he met this stranger. This stranger being you. He feels like he can finally open up a bit. It feels like the wall he built up over the years are starting to fall apart and reveal himself.

You pondered his question, your thoughts intertwining with the whispering leaves above. "Sometimes... I think we're meant to find meaning in the little moments, the ones that make us feel alive."

He nodded, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Like this. Just being here, sharing this moment."

"Aren‘t you scared that one day you’re going to get disappointed? In the process of trying to feel alive? What if you get hurt again?" he asks. But it’s not him actually asking this question. It’s the little Simon inside of him. The little curious Simon who is tired of seeing his parents fight. The little Simon that just wants life to give him a break. Isn’t he allowed to be like every other kid? happy?

"If you get disappointed again…" you start your sentence "Then you have to get up and try again. You cannot just sit down and never get up again just because you got hurt again. Life is about getting hurt and finding happiness. In order to find happiness, you need to get hurt." Simon doesn’t understand. How can you say all of that? Especially because life hasn’t treated you well either.

"This cannot be true" he tells you.

Suddenly an idea pops into your head. You rose from your spot, a sudden urge pulling you toward the nearby stream.

"Come on, Simon," you beckoned, extending your hand to him. "Let’s feel alive."

He hesitated for a moment before accepting your hand, rising gracefully to his feet. As you reached the water's edge, you kicked off your shoes, the chill of the clear water sending shivers down your spine. Simon followed close by, his presence beside you grounding and reassuring.

The stream whispered secrets as it flowed, the sun-kissed ripples casting dancing patterns on the rocky bed. You waded in deeper, the water swirling around your ankles, refreshing and invigorating.

Simon watched you with a soft smile, the lines of worry easing from his brow as he surrendered to the simple joy of the moment. With a playful gleam in your eye, you splashed him, laughter bubbling up between you like the stream's gentle current.

"This is what feeling alive feels like. It’s cold at first but as time passes, you get used to it and everything starts to feel warm again. You feel alive." you tell him as you look him deep in the eye.

There is a silence between the two of you. A long but not an awkward silence. You don’t recall how this happened but somehow both of your lips met midway. A kiss was exchanged. Not just a normal and boring kiss. This Kiss was passionate. It felt deep, as if both of your souls are talking, trying to give both of you signs. This kiss feels so alive…

"Is this what you meant? Is this how being alive feels like?" Simon asks you with curiosity filled in his voice.

"Exactly." you whisper loud enough for him to hear.

In the quiet embrace of the forest, time seemed to stand still, the world narrowing down to just the two of you and the whispered nothings that hung in the air. With a gentle tug, Simon drew you closer, his lips seeking yours once more in a tender kiss that wanted to feel the same feeling again. and again. and again.

After a long time of kissing and being so close to each other, you gave your number to Simon and demanded that he calls you after he gets home. And he did.

unknown number

>hey, Simon here. Got home.

Y/N

>puh. For a second I thought I have to come and rescue you.

Simon

>Protective much?

Y/N

>you know it.

You couldn’t help bit giggle as you guys started to talk a little bit more about stupid things.

Oh if only your dad could see him. He would be so happy for you…

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luizd3ad · 23 hours

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Music Notes | Barty Crouch Jr x Reader One Shot

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 ࣪˖⤷ .𖥔 ݁ ˖ ࣪ ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 ˖ ⤷

Pairing: Rockstar!Barty x GN!Rockstar!Reader WC: 3,471 CW: Soulmate AU, Rockstar AU, 2010's AU, use of Y/N, mentions of anxiety, swearing Author's Note: This is one of those fics where I'm my own target audience but if you read this I really hope you like it. Also I feel like Pandora get kinda out of character at the end but I just idk I felt like it was necessary. Summary: You meat your soulmate during the best summer of your life.

Volume:■■■■■■■■■■□□

Everyone is born with a symbol of something that you and your soulmate(s) will have in common along with their initials, and when you look into their eyes for the first time your soulmark is supposed to tingle.

The symbol could be literally anything, it could be related to your career, a hobie, a passion or in your case all the above. For as long as you could remember you've had a music note and the initials BCJ on your wrist.

But for the longest time you were confused by your soulmark, you weren't really interested in music. I mean you liked listening to it as much as the next person but not enough to make it your soulmark.

That was until you were twelve and you met Jade. She was just so outgoing and bubbly, she made friends easily, she'd walk into a room and demand attention without even trying and she soon started showing you all these bands and artists you'd never heard of. Jade changed everything for you, she showed you a side of music you didn't know existed. And all of a sudden, you were hooked.

You became so inthralled by the music that the initial next to the note paled in comparison, you hardly thought about your soulmate because as far as you were concerned music was your soulmate.

When you were fourteen Jade introduced you to Sammy. Sammy was a pretty shy, and quiet kid but once he was comfortable he'd talk your ear off for hours. That's how he continued to expand your love for music. Not only did he tell you about more bands and artists that ranged outside of the emo, pop punk scene, but he showed you shows, concerts.

You, Jade and Sammy would go to any show you could. House shows, backyard gigs, if there was a guitar riff and a mosh pit the three of you were there. And that's how you met Pink.

Now Pink’s real name was Floyd but he liked being called Pink. Which you always thought was funny considering he was the strong, silent type, so the name completely contradicted his personality but he liked David Bowie so who were you to judge? Pink was your tipping point. He was a beast on the drums, you and Sammy would sit there and listen to him play all day. Which somehow led to Pink convincing your little group that you guys could make a band, a killer band at that.

And surprisingly he wasnt fucking wrong thus ‘Fighting Pixies’ was born.

C. Summer of 2012

It was the first day of Warped Tour and you couldn't be more excited. You were so excited that you didn't even care that you were in some random arena parking lot sweating your ass off in Utah.

Not only was this Fighting Pixies first year playing Warped Tour but you were on a main stage you were going to be playing on the same stage as the bands you grew up listening to. To say the feeling was surreal would be an understatement. This is what you, Jade, Sammy and Pink have been working towards for years, you guys were finally playing the festival that you would go to every summer.

Walking out of the bus you started making your way to the catering tent by yourself since the rest of the band left you behind because you were apparently in Pinks’ words ‘taking too goddamn long’. You roll your eyes at his words thinking how it's bullshit that they could just leave you like that, when all the sudden you collide with someone.

“Oh shit I'm so sorry dude.”

“You alright mate?”

You and the mystery person that you just basically assaulted said at the same time. Finally after gaining your balance you look at your victim.

“Siri?” You say raising your eyebrow when he finally looks your way with a big smile on his face.

“Oh shit Y/N! How are you? I havent seen you in fucking ages!” Sirius yells while bringing you into a hug, you hug him back laughing then pulling away.

“I've been good. I haven't seen you since you, Rem and James came to one of our shows. Is he here?” You ask, looking around hoping to catch sight of Remus.

“No not yet, he's back home with Reg, Lily and Harry. But they'll be joining us for the last few shows.”

You couldn't help but let out a little laugh. “Baby's first Warped Tour? I like it, gotta start them young.”

Sirius laughed at you, the two of you then continued on your way to the catering tent. Luckily with no further incidents.

You and the rest of Fighting Pixies met Sirius a few years ago when he collabed on a song with you guys, you also had gotten to meet James a few times during the recording process. You hadn't met the rest of ‘Beyond London’ yet, but James had made it very clear that you and their bassist, Pandora, would become fast friends.

But you hadn’t heard much about their guitarist, Barty, except in passing from mutual friends. Sirius would complain about him sometimes but in typical lead singer fashion Sirius had a tendency to be dramatic so you never really took anything he said about Barty to heart.

Eventually you and Sirius got to the catering tent. You found your band, James and a girl you recognized as Pandora sitting at a table together.

“Well if it isn't the second best drummer on Warped Tour.” You say with a teasing smile sitting across from James. James just laughs and shakes his head. While pink has a small smug look on his face.

“What? So Pink’s the best drummer on tour?” James raises his eyebrow at you with a goofy smile still on his face.

You laugh and shake your head. “No, not even close, Angelo is clearly the best drummer here. Have you heard Motionless in White’s breakdowns?” Pink then glared at you while scoffing. What? Someone has to bring his ego down.

After a few hours of making fun of each other, hanging out, watching a few bands sets and getting to know Pandora (who is literally the sweetest person ever) you and the rest of your band had to go back to the bus to get ready for your set in a few hours.

You got to get into the shower after Jade so after your shower and skin routine you walked out into the common area plopping down at the table so you could start to get your hair and other things done.

“Dude when you were in the bathroom Sirius came over and brought Barty, dudes funny. You missed out.” Sammy said, sitting down next to you eating a bowl of cereal.

“Damn. Well I have a whole summer to run into him at some point.” You shrug, getting all your stuff out to get ready.

You actually really wanted to meet Barty based on what little you had heard about him over the years, the fact that he was one hell of a guitarist, and you'd never admit this to anymore but you were really attracted to him. Based purely off the pictures you've seen of him.

You had a lot of respect for him as a musician, you could recognize the emotions that he put into each riff, solo, hell just a strum and you could tell what he was feeling.

A part of you found it frustrating that after all these years of knowing Sirius and James you had always seemed to miss Barty, sometimes by literal minutes.

The rest of your band had met him in passing, never more than a ‘hi’ or ‘hey’ but still they've met him.

So you couldn't help but be a little frustrated at the fact that for one of the only times that day where you weren't around your band they actually got to hang out with him. You don't know why it bothered you so much, I mean you couldn't even be upset with anyone in particular. It's literally no one's fault. So why did it bother you so much?

Eventually you and the rest of Fighting Pixies found yourselves waiting backstage to go on when you felt a tap on your shoulder. You turned to see your new favorite blond girl.

“Hi Pandora. What's up?”

“Hi. I just came to watch the beginning of your set. I won't be able to stay long, by the time you lot get off we'll have just started our set.” Pandora explains with her signature tooth rotting smile.

“Aw thanks, I was actually planning on heading to your guys' set when we're done here.”

“Yes, you should!” Pandora stood up straighter with a sense of excitement and urgency about something you didn't understand, but you just thought that it was Pandora being Pandora.

You had heard over the years that she would do or say things that didn't make much sense to really anyone so you chose to just brush it off.

“Oh I also wanted to give you theses.” Pandora says while handing you two rocks.

You take the rocks confused with a raised eyebrow. “Thanks, but what are they?”

“The orange one is citrine and the pink one is rose quartz. They're meant to bring you good luck, just put them in your pocket and they'll do their job.” Pandora says with a knowing type of smile, that once again confused you but you just nodded and put them in your pocket choosing not to question the blond.

“Y/N come on, it's time to go.” One of the stage hands says passing you your guitar. You just nodded, putting the strap over your head.

“Well I hope you like our set and I'll see you at yours.” You chuckled a little as she just nodded.

You would think after all of these years of doing this you'd be used to it at this point. That you would be used to being on stage, that the anxiety of fucking up would be gone but it didn’t go away, lessened yeah but not gone.

You also never really get used to people singing lyrics that you wrote or helped write, especially when the words were sentimental to you at one point, but it was kind of nice to know that those words are sentimental to others now too.

You wouldn't trade this for the world. You were lucky and you knew that, so many people would kill for this chance so you didn't take it for granted.

Thirty minutes later you and your band mates were running off stage sweaty and high off adrenaline with big smiles on your faces’ your first show at your first warped tour was beyond amazing it was fucking perfect you were convinced nothing could top this feeling.

You started to make your way to Beyond London’s set. The rest of the band had other sets or people that they wanted to see so you went your separate ways for the time being.

Eventually you made it to the stage Beyond London was playing at. You had stopped a few times to talk to people and take pictures but luckily not too many people stopped you so you made it when they started to play their last song.

After all the years you had known Sirius and James you had never actually got the chance to see them play. To say they were amazing felt like the understatement of the century.

James looked like he was in his element on the drums, Pandora was so focused on her bass but that didn't stop her from swinging herself around, Sirius had basically every person either swooning because of his looks or crying because of how beautiful his voice was and then there was Barty.

Just the sight of him alone made your heart skip a beat, you had never seen such raw emotion while someone played the guitar. Once your eyes landed on him you couldn't, you wouldn't, look away. The way he moved, how he would throw his head back every so often, sometimes you could see his jaw clench, you could tell he put his all into the music. You had never seen something so amazing. So perfect.

The song ended and they all started to make their way to the side of the stage you were on, Barty sayed a little longer then his band mates throwing things like his picks and set lists into the crowd.

You were brought into a bear hug and spun around by a very sweaty Sirius. You shrieked and tried to push yourself away from him to no avail.

“Sirius Black if you don't put me down right now I'll make sure you never play another show again!” You screamed threatened while continuing your best efforts to get away from your sweaty attacker. Suddenly you hear a gasp and you're put down very quickly, almost falling while Sirius scoffs and mutters something about ‘Some people’.

Pandora came to your rescue making sure you’re okay. You were about to scold Sirius for almost making you fall, but he was already out of sight. Pandora turned you around to have you look at her.

You looked at her very surprised with your eyebrows raised. “What is up with the manhandling right now?” you laugh slightly awkwardly.

“Do you still have the crystals I gave you?” Pandora asks with a serious face completely ignoring your question.

You furrowed your brows and nodded still very confused. “Considering you gave them to me a little over an hour ago, yes. I know we don't know each other very well but have some faith in me Pandora.” You once again laughed a little trying to ease the little tension that seemed to form.

Pandora just smiled at you and hugged you and whispered. “I'm so happy for you two.”

You pulled away and looked at her once again beyond confused. “What-”

You were then interrupted by James yelling over to you. “Y/N, come meet Barty, finally.” Pandora kept smiling at you and then she just nodded at you encouragingly. For what felt like the hundredth time that day Pandora confused you and you once again just chalked it up to Pandora being Pandora.

While making your way over to the three men that stood in a little circle probably talking about the show that they just put on, you were hit with a sudden wave of anxiety.

Why were you anxious? You had been fine (other than the major confusion you went through with Pandora) so why does it feel like your heart is going a mile a minute.

Sirius and James are facing you while Barty’s back is towards you. As soon as you're in arms length Sirius wraps his arm around your shoulder pulling you close to him.

“Barty, this is Y/N. Y/N, Barty.” James says motioning between you two.

“Hi, it's nice to finally-” You cut yourself off when you looked into his eyes, feeling a tingle on your writs.

Your whole life you've heard stories about what meeting your soulmate felt like. How all of a sudden everything seemed less important. How you would only want to focus on that person. How you'd feel like you had a new meaning to life. Honestly you thought it was all bullshit.

But now you knew that, that was all an understatement.

You finally felt like you were home, like everything would be okay. It felt like breathing for the first time.

You could play a million more shows, meet your idols, win a fucking Grammy and nothing would compare to what you were feeling when you met his eyes. And based on the look on his face, Barty felt the same way.

“Hi.” You whispered still in a shocked state.

“Hi, angel.” Barty said softly with a love sick look on his face, your heart skips a beat at the nickname and you can't help but smile. He suddenly moved his eyes to Sirius and glared at him. “You'll move your arm if you know what's good for you, Black.”

Sirius moved his arm away from around you and put his hands up in surrender, you actually forgot Sirius and James were there let alone that Sirius had an arm wrapped around you.

You hadn't thought about your soulmate in years. You didn't ever think you'd meet them, and a part of you didn't really care if you did honestly. As long as you had your music and friends you were fine, that's what you thought at least. It was crazy how in one moment that whole mindset could change.

Now you couldn't imagine a life without Barty. You didn't want to imagine a life without him.

For so long music was your number one priority, you didn't care about much else but now this person that you just met became your number one. It felt insane and crazy but you couldn't help it and a big part of you loved it.

You and Barty found yourselves sitting in Beyond London's tour bus talking during the almost eight hour drive from Salt Lake City to Denver. You two just talked about your lives, childhoods, things you loved, things you hated, everything.

He told you about his Father who you now hated almost as much as Barty. Barty had the biggest smile on his face when you told him how you felt about his father in extreme detail after the stories he told you.

Eventually you both noticed the buses pulling into a new arena parking lot while the sun was rising. Both of you knew you had to go back to your bus now, you had sets and meet and greets later that day. You needed some kind of energy.

Barty with a cheeky smile insisted that you just join him in his bunk, you just responded with an eye roll and a ‘You wish’ which earned you a ‘You have no idea’.

Barty ended up walking you to your bus, you and him stood outside of the bus talking and stalling, not wanting to leave each other yet.

“Barty, I have to go. We need to get some sleep.” You were looking down at your hands together knowing one you needed to let go but not wanting to.

“I know angel, I know.” He gave you a sad smile as if he would never see you again.

Barty was often scared that all of this was just a dream. That one day he would wake up back in his fathers clutches and his life as a rockstar was just a dream, it always scared him. But now in his mind it wasn't only his life as a rockstar at stake but you and that now terrified him. He had admitted this to you while you were talking that night so you didn't blame him for being hesitant. You just hugged him trying to reassure him.

“You can come over when you wake up Barty. Don't hesitate, I don't care if I'm awake or asleep. I just know that if you stay we're not gonna get any sleep.” Barty pulls away from you with a smirk and raised eyebrows, you just hit his chest and roll your eyes. “Not like that. I just mean we'll stay up talking.”

He just laughs and kisses your forehead. “I know what you meant, angel, just like teasing you is all.” He pulls you against him resting his chin on your head. “Is it bad to say I'll miss you? Even if I know it's just a few hours.”

“It's not bad because I'll miss you too.” You whisper against him.

After a moment he pulls away again looking down at you he moves his hand to hold the side of your face, cressing you cheek with his thumb. You leaned into his touch with a small smile on your face looking up at him.

“You are now the most important thing in my life now, my angel.” He's looking deep into your eyes, not a hint of lies or regret in his words.

Barty started to lean down with a sense of hesitation, you just nodded and smiled at him letting him know it was okay. You could feel butterflies in your stomach while your heart started to race. The moment your lips touched you felt electricity run through your veins. You never experienced such an amazing feeling, you were two puzzle pieces finally coming together. You already knew Barty was your everything but that kiss solidified it. It made it real in the best way possible, you knew you couldn't ask for a better soulmate.

Volume:■■■■■■■■■■□□

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hopey-thinks · 2 days

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Knives and ASPD (antisocial personality disorder) (spoilers in post)

To preface this, I’d like to say I am not trying to demonize people who have antisocial personality disorder (sometimes also referred to as sociopathy). I am not saying that people with ASPD would do the things Knives does or are automatically bad people, nor am I saying that Knives is possibly a sociopath only because of the atrocities he commits. I am simply trying to get a better understanding of Knives’s psychology as a character.

With that out of the way, I’ve been learning a lot about personality disorders in my psychology class, and I’ve done quite a significant amount of research in and outside of class about personality disorders (including reading about it them in the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders fifth edition text revision).

This comes to my current predicament. My teacher wanted us to think of examples in media of characters that exhibit certain personality disorders. I was particularly fascinated with the nature of ASPD, so I zeroed in my research on that disorder in particular. The first characters that came to mind for me were The Joker and Ren Yamai from Komi Can’t Communicate, but in my trigun brainrot I realized that Knives would actually be a very interesting character to consider.

While he meets most of the diagnostic criteria according to the DSM-5-TR, there are some things that are making me wonder if he actually has antisocial personality disorder. Mainly his motives.

I’ve seen a lot of discourse about his motivations. And the two most common interpretations I’ve seen are the following:

he genuinely believes that he’s helping the plants and doing what he’s doing selflessly for them and the benefit of them. He also genuinely cares about Vash and the Plants and is doing what he’s doing for “the greater good.” He is only hurting humans because they are destructive towards plants, and only hates them because they are cruel. If this is the case, he likely isn’t someone with antisocial personality disorder because his entire philosophy is based off of pro social, albeit extremely immoral and flawed motivations and ideas since he doesn’t consider humans a part of his social group.

Knives has convinced himself that he is fighting for the greater good of the plants to rationalize his cognitive dissonance, but that’s not what he’s actually trying to do deep down. His true motivation (which he is not something he is consciously aware of) is simply because he wants to hurt and kill humans out of his own fear of them and because of their inferiority. Essentially, he’s actually doing it all for himself and to quell his own fears and not because he actually cares about the safety or autonomy of other plants. In this case, he would be more likely to have antisocial personality disorder because his true motives aren’t in service of anyone else’s rights or benefits, and he exhibits antisocial behaviors towards the beings he does consider a part of his social group (plants). He also doesn’t actually care about Vash as his family, but only as a means to achieve his goals and be part of his plan.

There’s a lot more nuance to it than that of course, but in my personal interpretation I’d say Knives seems to align more with the second description. Here’s why: He consistently shows disregard for the autonomy, rights, and wants of other plants, especially Vash, and will exploit them just as awfully as the humans he hates have if it means achieving what he wants for his vision. This creates cognitive dissonance because he simaltaneously believes he’s a good person who is improving the world by doing that, but the humans who do that are bad and destroying the world by doing the exact same thing. So he rationalizes it by thinking he’s different because “it’s for the greater good of all plants and those who oppose me are preventing that” which then created more cognitive dissonance because he can’t exploit and abuse the plants without a second thought while also fighting for their rights and caring for them. The rights and safety of other plants don’t matter to him if they conflict with what he wants to do. Which would make the true motivation in this case, wanting to hurt humans out of his own fear and hatred (which developed because of his trauma), make sense.

When you think about Knives’s actions, you come to find that he cares more about hurting and destroying humanity than helping plants. He is fine with hurting the plants to hurt humanity, rather than hurting humanity simply for the good of the plants. He prioritizes “cleansing” the world of humanity over the actual lives of plants.

Here’s why I made this post. I think Knives is a very complex and fascinating character, and would like to hear other people’s perspectives and interpretations of him, especially in relation to his psychology and possible disorders he may have. So if you’d like to join me in psychoanalyzing him, I would appreciate hearing your opinion in a respectful discussion under this post. I’m especially curious about what any psychologists here might think, and I hope I can learn something new and also be corrected and get a better understanding if I’m wrong.

Ik this seems really strange that I’m writing and thinking so much about the psychology of someone who isn’t even real, but I just really like character analysis and think it’s interesting to see psychological concepts in media.

#knives trigun #knives millions #trigun stampede #psychology student #trigun #character analysis #character psychology #anime and manga #vash the stampede #trigun vash #tristamp #nicholas d wolfwood #trimax #Psychoanalyzing fictional characters

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larkspurglove · 2 days

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Wow 2.2 absolutely stuck the landing for the Penacony arc. Anyway spoiler heavy thought dump below

AVENTURINE’S ALIVE YIPPEE!!! He cannot catch a fucking break though, bro has a chance of being demoted or kicked out of the stonehearts, and then Boothill breaks into his room and aims a gun at him. Get my man a vacation please.

Anyway GOD I LOVE HOW THEY DID THE TWIST. Misha manifesting in reality has irked me since I first noticed that only the trailblazer sees him, because him being a memory zone meme made 100% sense except for that one little piece of info.

While it’s a bit sad that Boothill and Black Swan aren’t actually travelling with us, the fake ending felt weirdly jarring but also convincing enough that for a second I doubted myself and thought it was the real ending.

The use of end credits gives me a heart attack each time but it’s really funny, although there are a few things I noticed in there.

1) Gallagher’s actor is listed as Penacony???

2) ‘Dreammaster’ as Sunday’s servant, then Gopher Wood as Dreammaster. Like what does that mean

This shit was terrifying. This was the moment that made me think ‘this is lowkey Sumeru all over again’ but this time instead of power hungry sages you have several OP people in one area and a sad Christian bird boy running the show.

(By the way this ALSO ALSO made me realise that Aventurine’s eyes are like Ena the Order’s one giant eye. What’s up with that)

Argenti showing up scared the shit out of me but it was kinda funny. However I don’t know if this happened to anyone else but he just didn’t have a voice when he showed up. As in there was just zero speech, just the text.

Also ACHERON’S NAME IS RAIDEN BOSENMORI MEI WAHOO!!! All we’re missing is a Kiana expy and then we have the hi3 trio in hsr.

As for Sunday and Robin doomed by the narrative siblings auahshshdhehsjshdh. When I’m more awake I’m going to write a ten page essay on Sunday’s characterisation and how his faith pulls from Christianity/Catholicism/etc. Like it’s genuinely such a good use of Christian-type belief I’m going insaneeeeee.

Boothill is so silly I adore him. Just a silly guy. Sure he is threatening to kill Aventurine but like he’s silly.

Gallagher being a History Fictionologist was unexpected but also makes so much sense. I’m still kinda concerned about how many people refer to him as a dog in a seemingly literal sense but we’ll unpack that later. Also it makes him showing up and saving Firefly from getting arrested even funnier tbh. Cause like, I thought the stowaway the Bloodhounds were looking for was Boothill, but since Gallagher’s a Fictionologist he just fucking lied and it came true. Iconic.

What interesting about Penacony and the Xianzhou is that they both deal with death, but the Xianzhou deals with the concepts of immortality and the consequences of trying to outlive your death, while Penacony’s messaging is that death and hardship is inevitable but life isn’t worth living if you’re not willing to withstand those tragedies.

By the way I’m 1000% sure that the ‘puppets’ during Sunday’s transformation into the Dominous thingy aren’t metaphorical stand ins for the hundred thousand something Oak Family members but literal stand ins. Unless proven otherwise I think Sunday killed those guys to power up the Order death machine. There’s another universe where Hoyo doesn’t have to worry about censorship and there’s just dead bodies being moved around like puppets, trust me I’m John Hoyoverse.

There’s still a lot of loose ends to wrap up and while I’m 100% certain that 2.3 is gonna be ‘oh fuck the IPC is on Penacony’ I really hope these are resolved. Off the top of my head some of them are

Sunday and Robin’s relationship

The consequences of Sunday’s actions

Where the fuck Aventurine was if he was just in the Reef place the entire time he was ‘dead’

What the IPC actually want with Penacony (it’s probably either for profit or for dead aeon remains)

How Gallagher ended up on Penacony/how he became a Fictionologist

Is Misha still around???

Whether the absence of Order followers scheming is gonna stop the dreamscape from collapsing or not

WHERE IS FIREFLY

What the consequences of summoning a bunch of Galaxy Rangers to Penacony will be

WHERE IS ACHERON

Some of these might already be answered but this quest was like six hours long and that was with me speed-reading most of the dialogue and now it’s 1 am in the morning. I do not have enough brainpower for this shit.

I can’t wait for 2.3 the ‘Sunday goes to jail and the IPC get harassed by a Cowboy’ arc

#honkai star rail #hsr #hsr spoilers #Penacony spoilers #2.2 spoilers

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infernomicia · 2 days

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I just found your blog, and you are spot on with your observations. Everything about the NY trip screamed fake and awkward - at best.

This is not how a man who is genuinely having a child behaves, especially not one who has waited this long for the right partner to have children with. It is definitely not how a gentleman who is remotely interested in a woman would treat her, let alone the mother of his child. Same with the Argylle London premiere. (Are we going to ignore the fact that she tried to draw his attention to her cleavage and asked him flat out about her boobs ON THE carpet in Korea? I mean… is he not your BF with whom you live, etc? Didn’t y’all get ready together? Why are you trying to score points with him IN PUBLIC using your boobs? Actually, aren’t you supposedly carrying his baby? Lol… why are you trying so hard sis? How desperate are you? With the forced cold af kiss you caught him off-guard with on top of it? Anyways, I digress…)

To add onto your analysis, I believe the issue with this “couple” goes deeper than the smoke and mirrors we are trying to see through. This is about to be long, please bear with me.

To me HC was acting more like someone who was trying to keep his head out of the water whilst trying to act “normal” in a hostile environment. I think that what is going on behind the scenes is deeply serious and that somehow Henry is just trying to do his best to not completely crumble under the pressure.

No man with half a brain will watch his entire life’s work crumble before his own eyes, let alone willingly contribute to it, and that’s exactly what has happened to HC ever since a certain someone entered his life.

Not only did he seem distant and stressed in NYC, he seemed very anxious too. He wore glasses whenever he could for his eyes not to show, and was seen without them only when necessary (red carpet, press, etc.). Wouldn’t he want the whole world to see his excitement for the great news? Or was he trying to hide the lack thereof? He was very distant and protective of his personal space the entire time: with the media, with the fans, and (weirdly enough, but as you pointed out) with her. In the past he always managed to remain visibly courteous and warm with others around him despite her being there and him having to act like he cares about her for a few photographs, but not this time. He seemed to be “on his guard”.

A mere 5 days before their pap walk “reveal”, there was an article of them on “date night” on DailyMail but within the article itself there was no photo of them together in the same frame AT ALL. Actually, the photos showed that they had different drivers, different cars, and were in different places all together. If you go back to look at the actual pictures inside the article, you will notice that. He didn’t even bother to pretend to be out on location for a supposed date night 5 days prior, but somehow we are expected to believe that he is happily fathering her child within less than a week between both events? What changed in 5 days? Why the kardashian-like “reveal” when you’ve spent 3 years trying to convince us that you are a “private” couple? Who orchestrated that? From the looks of Henry all through, it definitely wasn’t him.

Also, The PR stunt in NY has been followed by what feels like a smearing campaign of HC’s name in the press: the repeated articles on his failing career; James Gunn flat out lying about the fact that hd had never pretended Henry was going to continue as superman as if we didn’t all read those tweets; the Tiffany Haddish story that when you really read in detail says absolutely nothing interesting or concrete about Henry as a person but is great for bad headlines, etc. Who did Henry piss off that is trying to get back at him?

It has been a solid at least 2 years that he has not been seen in public without his body guard there, including on set, and on supposed romantic “date nights”. Is he scared of her? Certainly if it’s just the two of you going out on your own privately then you wouldn’t need a bodyguard there. It’s not like he is Micheal Jackson or they are the Carters who would need 24/7 security because of their star power. It’s almost as if he doesn’t trust the people around him, not even his own supposed GF to just be out and about in town without needing another set of eyes watching over his environment.

His brother Nik was seen with him exiting the hotel the day after the “pregnancy” pap walk, and I believe that he was there to provide emotional support and be one of the only ones he could rely upon in his direct environment because his family hardly ever travels with him for premieres outside of the UK.

I think that he is/was under some kind of threat and that would be the only reason why he would watch a nobody like that woman come into his life and ruin his name, career and twenty years of hard work and getting along with it.

Hollywiod usually does not bully its own “people” despite how horrible they have been legally proven to be (insert a certain actor who played The Flash). So I think he has gone against the wave in some way or another and is paying the price for it, but somehow cannot really “fight it” publicly because of the repercussions it would have privately on his life and that of his family.

With the things that are coming to light about this industry (insert the recent Diddy revelations, Cassie’s lawsuit claims, the lawsuit against his son too, etc.), I believe the truth will eventually be revealed in time but this is where I stand right now. Something is way off than just a PR relationship.

Sharing this so people see I’m not alone in my beleifs.

#henry cavill #natalie viscuso #hollywood #opinion #relationship #the witcher #celebrity #celebrity gossip #actor #superman

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