#like i would argue that neither of them are any more evil- and likely are even less evil- than a lot of the men in the same game that | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

let-us-cultivate-our-garden · 1 month

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I had a long argument with someone on whether or not stomping Belos before he dies was better than letting him die pathetically, and I asked myself if that is what fans really believe in... or if they would hail any Belos' death as the perfect one if Dana choose a different one?

They also justify the stomping as being part of horror-comedy genre and that Belos should not have any dignity what so ever because apparently letting him die in despair with no stomping is running the risk of making the audience feel "sorry" for him.

Honestly, these justifications make The Owl House feel more shallow. Like, why shouldn't the audience be allowed to feel sorry for Belos? What is the danger? That people would agree with Belos' views?

Or are we supposed to develop a black and white view of the world akin to a conservative view but inverted? And then hide behind the horror comedy genre to justify less drama? I hate to say it, but Nostalgia Critic is right about Belos being this strange outlier. The show seems to be afraid of actually doing a complex, tragic and yet irredeemable villain.

It doesn't make any sense to argue that Belos' death fits because of toh's genre as a horror comedy because the scene was neither played for horror nor laughs. At best, you have the image of Philip slowly being dissolved by the rain and then Raine's smug "that was satisfying" line. The overall tone of the scene is one of contempt as Philip tries one last plea to Luz only to be snuffed out (and weirdly validated) by the heroes. Its intent is to be cathartic for both audience (though as you know doubt know, YMMV) and the characters.

Frankly, despite its marketing, I don't see toh as either a horror or a comedy because it spends more time on slice of life stuff and high school teen drama and romance. And even when it does go for the horror and comedy, both are rather tepid. You want a real example of a horror-comedy for kids, then go watch Courage the Cowardly Dog or Invader Zim.

The reason why I argue the heroes validated Belos is because in the moment of his death, he clings to the idea that as humans, "we're better than this!" It's a moment of pathetic delusion that is appropriately met with silence but then it's ruined with Eda and Co. barging in with "Well, we ain't!" only to then prove his point by mercilessly stomping an already dying man to death. There's a reason why kid shows usually end with either the villain being imprisoned or not outright being murdered by the heroes. Evil has to die by its own hubris, not get killed by the heroes after the Big Battle when they're no longer a threat. I made a post about the importance of defeating a major antagonist twice.

Belos' death also doesn't work with a "Kill your oppressors" theme because the show isn't about that. The show barely spends any time showing why the EC is bad for the Boiling Isles and Eda is the only named wild witch we see getting harassed by them and even then, it's mostly played for laughs given how inept the coven scouts are (seriously, they're able to quit without fear of repercussions).

I think a reason fans are split on Belos' death is because of differing expectations; the fans who paid attention to Belos and the implication of his backstory and waited for every lie to come crashing down on him since that's what the show seemed to be building up to only to be unceremoniously ignored in the end were no doubt disappointed. Then you have the other fans who hated the character to the point that any gruesome death will do, regardless whether it made narrative or thematic sense or not.

Ultimately, I think the biggest reason his death doesn't work is because Belos fails as a villain.

Belos' status as a colonial puritan only works on a meta-level; it serves a cathartic release for marginialized people to see a representative of real world oppression beaten by queer characters as it fulfills the fantasy of finally overthrowing an oppressive system. The fatal flaw though is that none of this works on a narrative level because the coven system is either treated as a joke or simply a career path one must choose and we never see the disenfranchisement of wild witches. People largely get off scot-free opposing Belos, which undermines his credibility as both a dictator and a villain because no one cares about him until the plot needs them to. Luz doesn't even care about proving he's evil until Hollow Mind, which is halfway through season 2.

Belos as a villain only works if you project your own feelings and desires in wanting to see the Evil Christian/Evil Parent destroyed. While this is extremely satisfying emotionally, it does not make a sound story.

All the reasons why people like his death ("it's great the evil colonizer died so pathetically!" "omg, the white christian colonizer was killed by two queer people and their adopted son!" etc) are all meta reasons. And to be clear, it's totally fine if you thought his death was satisfying. But for many people, it did not work for a variety of reasons, including narrative ones. And that differing opinion should be respected instead of arguing some nonsense like "we have to make our villain as stupid/evil as possible or run the risk of people liking/sympathizing with him."

Belos should have died in a manner that connected back to his original sin: the murder of his brother. All of his lies and delusions and fear of being wrong should have played a part in the finale. He should have not died thinking he was right. He should have died realizing that all he did was for nothing. And that he is to blame. And that there is no one waiting for him back home.

#the owl house #toh critical #toh criticism #emperor belos #philip wittebane #long post #asks

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theheirofthesharingan · 4 months

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What do you think about mikoto and fugaku as parents to Itachi & Sasuke? Fugaku gets a bad rep as a parent, but what about mikoto?

Wow, I've been thinking about this a lot lately.

Yeah, Fugaku gets a bad rep as a father and it's rightly so. Mikoto is seen as a loving mother, and while some part of that love is valid, and I like her for being a good mom to Sasuke, my admiration for her was dented upon the realization that she was a neglectful mother towards Itachi. And as much of a hot take as it might seem, both Fugaku and Mikoto were better parents to Sasuke than they were ever to Itachi.

So, I have mixed feelings about them both. And when I include Fugaku with Mikoto as a 'better parent' to Sasuke, please know the bar is in absolute hell.

I like the fact that Mikoto was at least invested in Sasuke's life.

She was present in his life, albeit for a short while, and involved in it. She provided him, offered him the love he deserved and needed as a baby. She saw Sasuke was suffering and struggling to get his father's attention, and provided her moral support to him. There's not a single instance, however, she was present there for Itachi. Itachi, too, would have needed his mother's support sometime, that too when he was being sucked into the politics, but we don't see him getting any of that. One could argue it was because Sasuke never witnessed.. Yeah, but how was it after learning the truth not a single memory clicked in his mind that would give away Itachi's sufferings in front of his mom? It's probably because it never happened.

Fugaku was outright neglectful towards Sasuke. Not just that he repeatedly compared Sasuke with Itachi, refusing to see him as his own person and saw him as only a shadow of the 'perfect' Itachi. If Sasuke wasn't as good as Itachi in all the things, he wasn't worth paying attention to, right?

The reason Sasuke was Sasuke and Itachi was Itachi was because of Mikoto. I strongly feel that children need a powerful feminine presence in their lives, which comes from their mothers or sisters. Sasuke was gentle and remained so after everything he went through. I believe it was because in his formative years Mikoto had been there for him.

There's a lot more to explore on Fugaku and Itachi than his parents with Sasuke. When I say Fugaku was a better father to Sasuke, what I mean is that despite being neglectful, he didn't drag Sasuke in the political mess that Itachi was. Sasuke was kept in complete darkness (probably like other kids of the clan) but Itachi wasn't shown this much kindness.

Fugaku and Itachi's conversations are mostly one sided with Mikoto being a silent spectator.

This conversation in particular pains me the most in regards to Itachi. It's like he's only allowed to say yes and no, and any other disagreement with his father on the subject will not be taken positively. He seems unhappy and is suffering and his feelings as a child are not taken into account at all. I say no one treated him like a human. But his own parents never even saw him a child.

Itachi had been acting strange ever since joined Anbu and Fugaku wonders what's wrong with him.

Shisui was spying on Itachi. Did he agree to go out spy on his BFF because some random Uchiha said this to him? Or was he ordered to do so by the chief of the police force? Fugaku, most likely, consented to Shisui spying on Itachi.

Some people say this is an instance of Itachi being evil. LMAO. imagine your best friend committed suicide in front of you and some people come to your house to accuse you of his murder along with many other things? Right. He must behave very angelic.

My man's worried what's wrong with his son who's being subjected to some burden he's dealing with all alone. And neither him not his wife want to reach out to him like normal parents should.

Eventually, when Sasuke asks whats wrong with Itachi and why he doesn't pay much attention to him, Fugaku has an even-I-don't-know response.

In the anime Fugaku says 'Your brother had a hard time dropping his guard'. All of it is an indicator of how terribly Itachi was treated. It wasn't just neglect but also an additional burden of the clan and the village. And all of this is being said about a child that isn't even thirteen yet.

Honestly, I give a lot of benefit of doubt to all the characters in Naruto, Fugaku and Mikoto included. And this opinion on Sasuke and Itachi's parents is because how much Itachi is hated when, it's obvious how every single grown up, especially his parents, in his life failed him. He wasn't treated as a child.

Although, I don't like to hate on their parents either. Fugaku and Mikoto were nothing but kind to Itachi in the end. He'd have cherished those last moments forever until his last breath. Sasuke spoke openly to his father the day he lost him. He'd have hoped he'd continue to be like this with his family but that was the only time in his life he received genuine acknowledgement from his dad.

No, Fugaku and Mikoto were worse parents to Itachi than they were to Sasuke. I like Mikoto because she loved sasuke and showed him genuine love. But i can't like her more because Itachi needed support from his family, which he never got.

Yet they both lost so much and loss of their parents was the worst thing that happened to them both.

#i hope this answer is making some sense because i'm travelling so..#itachi #uchiha brothers #itachi uchiha #uchiha itachi #sasuke #sasuke uchiha #uchiha sasuke #ask #anon #fugaku uchiha #mikoto #mikoto uchiha #uchiha family

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ticklishraspberries · 9 months

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Study Strategy (Simon/Wilhelm)

Summary: Living in a dormitory requires a level of quiet that neither Simon nor Wilhelm can accomplish. (This show gets angsty literally right off the bat and I couldn’t handle it anymore, I had to stop and write some fluff to cope. Thank you to my evil friends, @signinandgetkinky and @nhasablogg for telling me to watch this show, you’ve ruined my life. Hope y’all enjoy the fic!!)

“You are allowed to take a break from studying, you know,” Wilhelm says, smirking.

Simon can’t help the fond chuckle he gives in response. “That’s easy for you to say. You’re good at maths.”

“So are you! You just overthink the questions.”

Wilhelm snatches the notebook away before Simon can protest, pushing him back against the bed and laying across his chest, effectively finding a way to both pin him down and cuddle him close.

Simon would be lying if he said he didn’t like it. “Well, if I fail this next test, it will be your fault.”

“Good thing you won’t fail, then.”

He opens his mouth to argue, but Wilhelm is kissing him before he can form any words, and he can’t help but kiss back. It’s risky, kissing at school like this, but they can’t seem to resist the temptation.

After their lips pull apart, Wilhelm doesn’t stop there. He presses kisses to Simon’s cheek, his jaw, his nose. His face flushes, and he’s certain that the prince can feel the heat radiating off of his skin. Normally, he’d be teased about it, but his mouth is rather occupied.

Simon lets out a content hum, hands wrapping around Wilhelm’s waist and holding him even closer. He loves when his boyfriend gets into these touchy-feely moods, wanting to be so near they’re practically joined at the hip. It makes him feel special, wanted.

When the kisses travel down towards his neck, though, he can’t help but squirm, a breathy laugh slipping out.

“Does this tickle?” Wilhelm asks, mischief glinting in his eyes.

Even his breath tickles. How is that even fair? Simon huffs. “You know it does.”

“I know. I just wanted to hear you say it.”

Simon never expected Wilhelm to be so playful, so affectionate. He assumed that royals grew up so stiff and strict, but it seems as though the prince’s relationship with Erik was just as playful as he and Sara’s own sibling bond. It’s heart-warming, actually, to imagine Wilhelm as a child, shrieking with joy while being carried on his big brother’s back, not worrying about the family’s legacy or public appearance or one day taking the crown. He certainly hadn’t been worried about a world where his older brother was no longer there to bring a smile to his freckled face.

The sad thought isn’t able to linger, as Wilhelm has taken Simon’s half-assed confirmation as an invitation to continue, each peck of his lips more deliberate, more purposefully ticklish, and Simon can’t help but giggle, heels digging into the mattress.

It’s a soft, steady sound until Wilhelm experimentally nips at the shell of his ear, which makes Simon shriek in the high-pitched way he finds so embarrassing, and it makes them both laugh harder with how ridiculous it is.

“Shhh,” Wilhelm murmurs, nose pressed into the crook of his neck. “You’re going to get us caught.”

“Then it’ll be entirely your fault,” Simon replies, scrunching his shoulders, trying and failing to protect himself.

And because that simply won’t do, Wilhelm switches tactics and scratches at his belly, making him thrash wildly, burying his face in the other boy’s hair as some attempt at volume control. It doesn’t do much, and reality sets in and reminds them both that while this is all fun and games, the idea of being caught is a very real, very scary thing.

“You’re the worst,” Simon breathes when Wilhelm finally rolls off of him, curling up by his side instead.

Wilhelm grins. “You love it.”

Simon rolls his eyes and sits up to resume studying, and Wilhelm doesn’t snatch his book away again. He just lays next to him, occasionally helping him with equations, but mostly just watching him.

When he does well on the test, Wilhelm whispers that maybe tickles should be his new studying strategy. It makes him blush like mad, but he doesn’t protest the idea.

#wilhelm x simon #wilmon #young royals #young royals fic #young royals ticklefic #young royals tickle fic #ticklefic #tickle fic #raspberry writes

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whxre-bxby · 11 months

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Idk if this is considered a request BUT GIRL WOULD YOU WRITE A HATE-FUCKING IMAGINE WITH PRAGER? my fav recom barely gets attention 😔🤞 also you write so well keep up the amazing work

nah cuz that's an amazing fuckin idea, HELL YEAH

Hate-Fucking with Prager

Recom Prager x Recom f. Y/N

Masterlist

(This is a bit shorter than usual and also not as rough as the others ones because Prager is too babygirl for mean hate sex. Turns into sweet fluff in the end)

Summary: Prager and Y/N have a silent rivalry and always annoy each other. Things take a turn when they are paired together during a mission and secrets are unvealed...

WARNINGS: SMUT, fighting, arguing, swearing, mentions of firearms, penetration, praise-kink, fluff

Word Count: 4749

It was never meant to get out of control. But I guess destiny wanted us to hate each other...

Things started during a harmless mission with the recom squad out in the forest. Quaritch had us search the area for clues of our past selves or of Sully’s presence. We were never alone when outside so he had us in groups of three. I was with Brown and Lopez.

We had returned from about an hour's search and gathered back at the aircraft.

“How much ground did you cover?” Quaritch had asked us. The other groups answered with low numbers because everyone either reached a dead end or got stuck in one area.

Prager’s group which consisted of him, Walker, and Ja had a higher number.

“Almost a quarter.” he said, speaking for his group. Quaritch had nodded, seeming pleased that they moved on faster than the others. Then he turned to us and I spoke up.

“We actually managed that one quarter.” I replied, my voice feigning innocence.

Quaritch seemed even more impressed and nodded as he wrote it down on the tablet.

I looked over to the other team and locked eyes with Prager who was already looking at me. My sentence replayed in my head and I quickly regretted my choice of words. They demeaned his answer even though I said them without any attitude. I should have just said ‘one quarter’.

I watched him process my words while I did the same but for some odd reason, neither of us broke the eye contact.

“Ha, eat shit.” Lopez joked with an evil cackle, looking at Ja who rolled his eyes. They just made it seem competitive.

Prager and I were still looking at each other and Lopez’s sentence created the idea of a competition. One that I seemingly beat Prager in.

It was just natural from that point on to try and win against the other person. And just like that, a silent rivalry was birthed.

From then on, everything we did we tried to do it better than the other. We rarely spoke. Prager and I always got along well but never to the point where we would have a friendly and joking conversation. We also never had a reason to dislike each other but all that changed now.

During training, our small competition would be the most visible.

‘Oh, Prager did 50 push-ups? I’ll do more.’

At the time I wasn’t even sure he knew about it. I thought that this clash was one-sided from me because it was never talked about or properly acknowledged by us.

…It definitely wasn’t.

Today, we were back in the forest again. We had searched the entire mission area from last time so today’s environment was new. But the mission objective stayed the same: search the area for clues or old equipment.

Quaritch didn’t care about mixing up groups like schoolteachers would. He always paired two people when they stood together.

We were leaving the helicopter and walking deeper into the woods before we would stop and split up.

My mind was focusing on completely the wrong things. Prager was right behind me and we were going uphill so I was silently listening to see how heavy he was breathing, just to make sure I wasn’t worse off than him. The rivalry was still on. He was distracted too.

That’s why when we came to a stop, it didn’t even cross my mind that Quaritch would pair us up. I was too busy forcing my breath to sound normal and not heavy.

Then the inevitable happened and Quaritch started counting through, eventually pointing the two of us together.

I stood there in shock for a full minute, just processing the consequences of my stupid behaviour. Prager didn’t move either but we refused to look at each other. Eventually, I walked away first and he had to follow me, so we left just like the others did.

It’s quiet now. The forest is loud but the sound of machines and talking is gone.

I’m walking forwards with a tracker and compass in my hands, trying to find the marked area we are supposed to cover. I can hear Prager’s heavy footsteps behind me and I definitely feel his eyes burning into the back of my head and body. However, I refuse to turn around. Because that would mean I’m reacting to him. And reactions cause more reactions which then lead to a social exchange of words. A conversation I don’t want to have. Mainly because I don’t know what I would say or how I would explain my behaviour. Perhaps he is completely oblivious to the challenge in my mind but I highly doubt it. The atmosphere that moves with us as we go is too thick for that. Something about it is making me nervous.

“Do you know where we’re going?” I hear Prager call from somewhere behind me. My ears instantly perk up and my heartbeat speed up.

“Yeah.” I reply, slightly turning my head over my shoulder to make it obvious I’m giving him an answer in case he can’t hear but still not an interaction enough to encourage further conversation.

“We’ve walked past this tree already.” He said and almost immediately, his deep voice irritated me.

Oh no he did not.

“No, we haven’t.” I reply, speaking the words slowly and giving them some attitude.

“Yeah, we have.”

I roll my eyes. ‘He’s acting like a fucking child.’ I think.

“Are you doubting my tracking skills?” I say, turning around to him and walking a few steps backwards while awaiting his reply. My eyebrow is raised as I rest my unimpressed gaze on him.

“No, I’m just saying. We’re going the wrong way.” he answers, meeting my challenging eyes.

“All the trees look the fucking same. I know where I’m going.” I answer, motioning to the hundreds of trees surrounding us before turning back to the front.

“Give me the tools. I can get us there.” he says, lightly jogging up next to me. I turn away from him, holding the equipment tightly against my body and stopping in my tracks.

“No.” I reply while his hands try to grab the stuff away from me. I face away from him to protect the tools and his hands find my shoulder and waist to try and turn me around.

“Really?” he asks, questioning my behaviour and I glare up at him. I knew if I’d give it to him he would never give it back.

“Cut it out, I know what I’m doing.” I say, really feeling pissed off now. His hands remain on me for whatever reason and I shrug them off, flinching away from his touch.

“If you get us lost you better tell the Colonel it’s your fault.” he says, moving his hands away and crossing them over his chest.

I frown, not bothering to react to that. We have a mission to do and I take these things seriously, so I walk past him and push him out of my way by nudging my hand against his chest.

Prager takes a step back and lets you lead the way again. A smile appears on his face out of amusement at your attitude, but you don’t see it. He was trying to piss you off because he liked seeing you riled up and angry. Maybe it was the height difference you too had. He was calmer and you were this little devil he had to put up with. Seeing you mad was cute to him because he just towered over you and was unaffected by whatever you wanted to do.

I stomp away, repeating his words in a mocking whisper to myself. Those comments were completely unnecessary. If anyone will mess up this mission it will be him. Never me.

He’s silently following me again, needing to walk a little faster because my anger is making me walk speedier.

After about 15 minutes, I notice one of the devices showing a new light. It meant we were close. I continued following the marked area on the GPS and within minutes we were there.

I stop, staring down at the device. Prager comes to a halt next to me.

I chuckle. “Suck it, look who got us here on time.”

He’s scanning over the device and realises I did successfully find the area. Prager just huffed out a breath before glancing at me and then looking away. I roll my eyes again. It’s not like he’s going to congratulate me.

We both look around and in the next second, I hear a whinny followed by grunts. Our heads shoot to where the noises came from and we quietly sneak closer. As we emerge from the trees we spot a herd of Direhorses resting and grazing on a tiny field of grass and flowers. There was a fallen over tree behind us which went almost up to our waist and I crouched down behind it while watching the animals. They were two foals in the herd.

Prager joined me on the ground while both of us watched the Direhorses.

“Apologise for doubting me.” I tell him.

“I wasn’t doubting you.” he replied and I straighten my posture while I act out fake surprise.

“Oh, you weren’t? What was all that shit about then before?” I say sarcastically. He was obviously lying.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” he said, not looking at me.

“Stop being such an ass. If anything, you’re the reason it took us longer to get here.”

He lightly chuckled. Your attitude did amuse him. “I’d say I’m the reason we made it here because I got you out of your daydreaming.”

“What daydreaming?” I snap back at him, shouting my words in a whisper.

“You were distracted. If I wouldn’t have said anything we wouldn’t be here right now.”

“Pfft, yeah right.” I scoff.

“I saw you tripping on those roots. You lost balance even when the path was clear.”

“I didn’t trip on shit.” I say, facing him while I snarl my words at his unbothered figure.

He doesn’t reply and when you look away, he grins to himself in a small victory of getting you even more mad.

“Log it into the tablet.” he said, his voice a lot quieter now. I turn to look at him again.

“Why? They’re harmless. We don’t need to warn the others.”

“Just do it.” Prager sighed, sounding like he was losing his patience.

“Fine.” I say, letting out an annoyed sigh as I start clicking away on the half-transparent screen.

For a few seconds, there is just silence. But suddenly, before I can even comprehend what is happening, a loud creak erupts from above us, followed by a crash and in the next second two shots are fired.

Before I can even look up to see what is happening, Prager reacts and in an instant, he pushes me down. The air is knocked from my lungs as I lay on the ground, wide-eyed. Prager is above me, using his arms to lock me in place. He tucks his head in and swiftly moves up so that my head is protected.

The loud noises come to an end and a piece of metal falls from the tree above and lands on Prager, making him flinch but he doesn’t move away.

It was small so he wasn’t hurt.

My hands are over my chest and I’m holding onto my queue for comfort.

I open my wincing eyes and we hear animals again. I see monkey-like creatures scatter from the tree with the old and abandoned equipment and realise that they are Prolemuris’s. They are non-aggressive, but they must have grown curious and messed around with the old parts of what once used to be a helicopter.

A gun lands on the ground right next to us and the thud makes me flinch. Prager’s head shoots towards it and we see that it’s open and old. It must be an assault rifle from the first battle and it only had two bullets left. Now it was empty.

Prager sighs in relief and I let my head drop down onto the ground while I clutch my face. The herd of horses would have definitely fled after that amount of noise.

I laugh. Mainly because it helped me deal with crisis situations. Prager looks down at me, the two strands of his bandana hanging over his shoulder.

“You’re kidding, right? It’s just the Promlemuris.” I snort, nudging his firm shoulder.

“Yeah, well I didn’t know that.” he answers, seeming a little embarrassed about his actions.

“You should have seen your face.” I laugh, giggling beneath him while he watches me turn and roll.

“Shut up, I saved you.” he replied and I am quiet for a second while I look for the small piece of material that fell from the tree.

“Yeah, from this big and deadly bad boy.” I wheeze, pointing to the metal scrap.

“How about a thank you?” he asks, clearly not amused by my mockery.

“For being a living shield to the amazing Y/N?” I reply, looking into his eyes and biting my lip to suppress further laughter.

Prager just frowns with a light scoff and looks away.

“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.” I start to talk again. My hand grabs onto his shoulder as I start to try and move away from beneath him.

Prager glances back at me, just quietly listening and watching me insult and provoke him.

“You’re too fond of yourself, just because you’re bigger and stronger than me doesn’t mean I need you up my ass all day.”

He raises an eyebrow at my words. Bigger and Stronger? That makes a smirk form on his lips.

I stop struggling beneath him and scan over his expression.

He’s just staring at me. In a way, he’s never looked at me before. It seemed different.

I could tell he was annoyed by me to a certain extent, but even overlooking his cheeky smirk and irritated self, his eyes seemed soft.

He wasn’t glaring you down, he was admiring you.

“Stop smiling like an idiot.” I say, growing nervous from the eye contact so I quickly look away, hoping he won’t notice how my cheeks begin to flush.

Oh, but Prager notices.

“We weren’t in danger anyway.” I start rambling again, moving my arm to pull me away from beneath him.

“You need to-” I say, struggling to move away. I manage to inch a little upwards but then Prager just moves up with me and remains hovering above me.

“What the fuck?” I ask but he doesn’t answer. His silence is making me feel uneasy. His eyes are just fixated on mine.

“Prager this is so stupid. Stop acting like a fucking moron and-”

I’m cut off again but this time by something unexpected.

Prager wanted to shut you up, so he did.

He leaned down and closer to me and before I could protest or object, he captured my lips in a kiss. It was exactly between soft and rough.

He tried to not escalate it but it was difficult with the way you writhed under him. It was impossible to gently find your lips.

My eyes stay open in shock for a second until I surrender to the inexplicably warming feeling and kiss him back. Neither of us wanted to pull away but we did, not sure where things would go from here.

We stared into each other's eyes and for a few seconds, the familiar silence returned. My heavy breathing caught his attention. He seemed unsure whether to continue because he didn’t want to overstep anything.

I was so pissed at him the whole day it frustrated me and having him so close now made my stomach twist in excitement. His body was effortlessly lifted above mine and his biceps strained as he held himself up.

“Don’t stop now you idiot.” I breathlessly say, landing my hand on the back of his head and pulling him back down to me.

His heart flutters at the words and he would grin if he weren’t kissing you. Prager secretly loved getting you angry and he loved how bratty and mean you could be.

The kiss is more heated this time. He gently tugs at my bottom lip with his teeth, making sure not to nip me with his fangs. I open my mouth and he uses the opportunity to slip his tongue past my lips.

I pull him closer to me and Prager lowers his body down a little further, making it brush up against mine so that our chests were pressed together.

I wrap my arms around his neck before they grow curious about his body and I let one roam his broad shoulders. It moves down to his chest and Prager hums appreciatively into the make-out.

I want to feel closer to him so both my hands go to his chest and I push him up, breaking the kiss.

For a few seconds, Prager seems stunned and wonders whether he did something wrong. He sees you start to hastily take off your vest and he smiles. Another secret he kept from you was that he liked the way you treated him. He knew you didn’t mean it in a bad way. But the way you would harshly push him around and tell him off whenever you felt like it was such a turn-on for him. He was obviously bigger and could easily overpower you but he adored the way you would ignore all that and boss him around.

“Quit staring and take your stuff off.” I breathe out and Prager chuckles before listening to you. He moves off of you and on his knees above your own, undoing his vest while I discard mine close to the log.

My hands move to my belt once my tank top and equipment is gone. Prager peeled his tight shirt off and watched me undo my belt.

“You want me?” he asked, looking at my face now. He seemed unsure of himself. I stop my movements and my eyes meet his.

“Yeah.” I simply reply as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Otherwise I wouldn’t be doing this.”

My hands manage to unfasten the leather belt and my words are all the confirmation he needs.

“I still hate you though.” I say while pulling my cammies down my legs. Prager helps me tug them off and a grin paints his face.

God, he loves your attitude.

“Yeah, yeah.” he mumbles, moving down to me again and pressing our lips together. He holds himself up with one hand while the free one roams over my bare skin. I was laying down in only my brown military sports bra and underwear as I felt his large rough hand rub up and down my leg.

Both our hands feel all over the other’s body because there is no time to sit back and stare. I hook my leg around his waist and pull it down flush against me.

His abdomen is pressed up against mine with his cold belt buckle making my skin erupt in goosebumps as it digs into the flesh of my stomach. I move my other leg to the side and open them for him so that he can rest his hips in between.

He groans into the kiss when I shift against him and I can feel his growing erection form in his pants.

I don’t have the patience to wait anymore. He’s stripped me of all my patience during this mission while irritating me.

I pull away breathlessly. “Take them off.”

His own stomach tightens with excitement at my words but he doesn’t hesitate to listen to me. His one hand easily opens his belt and I use my legs to push them down his waist to his mid-thigh.

His boxer shorts went down with the cammies.

The next time he looked at me, his eyes were so lust-filled I knew we both needed this. His lips were parted as he stared at me.

I adjust my position on the ground to keep myself comfortable and open my legs further. He rests his head on my shoulder while looking between us to see what I’m doing. Prager’s chest is heaving with excitement as he watches me push my panties to the side and let my legs fall open.

I rest a leg on his waist again and gently encourage him to move closer.

Prager listens and lowers his hips down until we’re once again pressed against each other. I let out a sigh and grasp his strong shoulders for support while he lets out an uneven breath.

To boost his confidence and help this situation evolve, I lift my hips up and grind against him. His throbbing dick is resting right between my folds he grunts in response before getting the message and taking over.

He slowly grinds down into me, covering his length in my slick while he curls his hips to create small thrust-like motions.

“Fuck-” I whisper, letting my eyes flutter closed. Prager needs reactions like those to feel better about what he’s doing.

His dick was sliding between my lips and gently pressing against my clit. It made me needier for him. But that’s what I needed because I could feel how big he was.

“Prager…” I whisper, cupping his cheek with my hand. His furrowed eyebrows in pleasure relaxed as he opened his eyes and looked at me.

“Please- fuck me already.”

The words made him feel like he was floating in the clouds. He couldn’t believe he could get to have you now. For Prager, even during your little contest, he thought you were out of his league. The fact that you said ‘please’ made him smile to himself.

He nodded, moving back a little and reaching down in between us. His hand lined himself up with my entrance and he felt how coated he was from you. It made him shiver in anticipation of what you would feel like around him.

Prager gently applied pressure with the tip of his dick against your entrance and then steadied himself above you. He wanted to be close to you so he pressed his cheek against yours so that you could hear and feel each other's breath.

Slowly, he pushed his hips forward and he felt himself start to sink into you. He took his time, relishing in the feeling of how tightly you were squeezing him. His hips really needed to thrust forward a little every few seconds to keep him in.

I tightened my grip on his shoulder and inhaled sharply. Luckily Prager stopped moving once most of him was inside and he felt how tense I was, so he stayed still. My walls adjusted to his size and now engulfed him.

I knew it would feel better in a few seconds for me so I nodded, tapping his shoulder and he understood. Steadily, he withdrew his hips and pulled out until only his tip was still inside me. This time, he thrust forward with slightly more power.

My eyes were closed while I focused on the being completely filled to the brim by him but they shot open when Prager whimpered.

I smiled, holding his head in a comforting manner while he continued his gentle penetrating strokes.

“You’re doing so good.” I coo into his ear. Prager shivers, his ears perk and his tail swishes in excitement. He needs his praise, alright.

“Keep going.” I whisper and he nods.

Prager does as I say while I let my arms embrace him. I kiss his cheek while he pants against my neck.

He’s brushing against every place I need him to inside me and my back starts to arch off the ground as pleasure soars through me. His thrusts are mixed with grinds and his abdomen presses against my clit every time he bottoms out.

“Faster.” I breathlessly whisper. My legs tense around his waist as Prager speeds his thrusts up and I start to pull him in more every time.

“You feel so good.” he whines and I smile, pressing myself closer to him.

“You too, don’t stop.” I end my words with a whimper when his hips unexpectedly snap forward and slap against my skin.

Prager takes one of my hands and intertwines our fingers before pressing it down on the ground next to my head. His loosely hung open mouth finds the bare skin of my neck and he begins to kiss and suck on the skin, making me throw my head back.

“Fuck, Prager.” I moan and he starts losing himself in the feeling of us. He’s occasionally biting down on my skin, making sure to leave a mark while my nails leave crescent-shaped marks on the skin of his shoulders.

“Y/N, I’m gonna-” he starts to whisper, knowing he can’t last much longer.

“Please. Don’t stop.” I whine, holding him tighter.

His face is now buried in the crook of my neck and his thrusts get sloppy as his high approaches. Prager’s arms tremble and his entire body tenses in preparation for his orgasm.

I’m so close I’ll be gone in a few thrusts. My pussy clenches around him as I force my legs open even more.

Prager moans my name into my ear and his hips stutter and start to rut into me without rhythm.

I gasp in pleasure and the next time he bottoms out and his skin hits my clit, I throw my head back and feel my orgasm wash over me.

Your pussy clenches around Prager to the point where the suction feels like it doesn’t want to let him out. His eyes clench closed and he tightens his fingers around your connected hands as his hips mindlessly buck forward.

“F-fuckkk-” he groans, clenching his teeth together.

In seconds, he’s cumming inside you and spilling his entire load deep into your pussy. It feels like you’re milking him for his cum and he’s more than fucking happy to give it to you.

He rides out your orgasms, stuffing his cum further into you if even possible.

My legs go limp after being tensed for so long and they fall from his sides. His thrusts slow down until he stills inside me and we take a few minutes to regain our breaths.

“Holy shit.” he breathes out. I lightly chuckle and wrap my arms around his neck to pull him down. He carefully lowers himself onto me and just lays on top of me while we kill time.

“You did so well.” I praise him, running a hand through his hair. He smiled against my skin. I knew this big boy needed to be comforted and babied.

We were comfortably laying in silence, enjoying each other’s presence until the intercom attached to our vests which worked just as well as the one on our throats went off.

“Prager? Y/N? Do you copy?” the voice buzzed and it was Lyle. I let out an annoyed huff.

“Prager, Y/N, do you read? All recoms return.”

Prager raises his head and we look at each other, not wanting to go.

“Come on, we have to.” I say and he nods before gently getting off me. He pulls out and admires how some of his cum dribbles out of me.

I get up and we get dressed. We needed to quickly head back and report to the Colonel. My mind was focused on the mission while Prager couldn’t stop thinking about other things.

For example how your panties would be stained with his cum now and how you would have to keep it in you for the rest of the day while you’re out here.

The best-case scenario for him would be if one of the others would smell him on you. He knew Ja and Brown would tease him for things like not being good at talking to women. This would blow their minds.

He also just wanted them to know that he was the only guy that had a chance with you here.

We gathered our things and returned back. This time with much less bickering and arguing. For the first time, Prager and I were having a genuine conversation as we walked. It was nice. Who knows where this will lead us…

Tag List: @numarusworld @jatwow @number1gal @ikranwings @drinking-tea-and-be-obsessed

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theminecraftbee · 1 year

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as I think more about jimmy solidarity, awful little cringefail creature (affectionate), I also think about an au that I want to write at some point after this month ends. it is in which jimmy, downtrodden guy, finds a mysterious cursed amulet and puts it on (like a rube). this amulet contains the wicked spirit grian, a demonic entity that was sealed away in the amulet and now is capable of possessing jimmy to go cause the end of the world and wreck havoc upon the land.

they immediately have… a time.

important features of this au:

jimmy technically doesn’t want to cause the apocalypse but he’s embarrassingly easy to convince

in fact jimmy is on a bit of a power trip due to the Fell Powers grian is capable of using through jimmy’s body

grian has literally never had any vessel to attempt to do his evil deeds through that isn’t already like an evil cultist or something and was unprepared for all of this arguing

grian makes “make timmy miserable” immediately a national sport. unfortunately he is also being made miserable by having to share a body with THIS PATHETIC MESS OF A PERSON,

there is at least one guy who like, tries to get rid of the amulet for jimmy. Jimmy is upset by this because that’s His Amulet

“you know what? this is my amulet. by transitive property grian—that makes you also mine, so you should listen to me.” “tim I want you to run that statement back one more time. just think about it.” “I think it’s a great idea STOP LAUGHING”

there is at least one arc where a villain tries to get grian a more suitable vessel and grian is sad and upset about it the whole time. he complains immediately about having had a competent vessel the moment jimmy gets him back despite this.

neither of them have qualms about the apocalypse for “ending the world” reasons by the end but more for “wait what would we do THEN” reasons they just keep on pushing each other so they won’t back down

I think someone is mildly rude to jimmy in the grocery store and he stops fighting grian on the apocalypse deal for like a week kind of thing. like he’s in principle opposed but not actually all that strongly opposed and WILL go through with it out of spite

basically they both torment each other but the moment anyone tries to suggest they do… literally anything else… both of them make excuses

I don’t have this au fully fleshed out or anything but I need everyone to know the THOUGHT is there,

#anyway the bit is at least a little ygo but it’s not that because g is actually evil here #ygo but Bakura is the lead basically #anyway it’s in the big list of aus I’m rotating

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stargirlie25 · 4 months

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Talking about Elriel and this light/darkness nonsense

Btw if you see blue highlighted stuff, thats just information i wanted to say that does not really align with the text but is true!

canon:

What does the word abhorrent mean?

Well, inspiring disgust and loathing; repugnant

Meaning Elain finds even the Night courts Black disgusting. When she was in a horrible state she needed sunshine. Not even the beautiful NC black could ease her. Many can argue that it is because of her state she chases away darkness. That she was in a horrible place but could not embrace it or what not. Although in the spring court in ACOMAF feyre would throw up every night waking in a cold sweat due to nightmares. In the night court, none of that happened. She found solace in darkness. She always had. Although this same darkness does not do the same for Elain. It was a sunny day although Elain still wanted to chase away the darkness during DAYTIME. She finds solace in Sunshine. Darkness does not describe or align with Elain in any day.

Neither does she embrace the darkness. Her light dulls when she wears dark clothes (NC black) and she does indeed chase away darkness actually. With a certain males darkness. I know readers who look at the words and declare a conclusion will say this is a good thing. Although Night courts black is supposed to be beautiful and peaceful. Including this certain males darkness. We also know that feyre embraces ALL of Rhysands darkness/shadows/mist and Cassian embraces ALL of nestas darkness/flame/anger. Even if you extract the mates part, embracement and being 100% open with your partner is a key to a happy relationship REGARDLESS of a fantasy novel or the term mates.Not embracing and understanding your partner is a downfall to any realtionship. Tamlin lacked so much understanding of feyres needs and did not embrace who she FULLY was and there we go, the downfall of feylin! Ima leave that there Anyways a certain priestess smiles at his darkness and the darkness dances and sings and calmly rests on his shoulder to simply just watch.

Suffice to say, Elain chases away the darkness because the darkness simply takes away the light from her. She is a light. She helps nature grow and she´d always been the lightest in the family wanting to help her peers grow as well. I think Elain is as beautiful as a flower and that is why mcs refer to her as one. Although i think she truly embodies light. She has been referred to light, being the most full of light and needing light at a time of despair.

I saw someone say that when Azriel was a child and he was trapped and was tortured he needed sunshine and the answer to that was Elain. If im being honest, baby Azriel needed EVERYTHING after his trauma. Not just sunshine! Also we have to acknowledge this, Elain is a light. True. So she can heal on darkness? No. She herself is light and needs light to stay healthy. Light is not something Az could grant her.

People will say Azriel needs light. To me more like Azriel WANTS light. It is not what he needs. IMO from analyzing the bonus chapter, I believe he needs his darkness to be embraced. As in, Its a part of himself so its better to let it out. because he himself said that his shadows (his darkness) would always stay with him. It sounded like he had not come to terms with it. NO ONE is evil if his shadows vanish in their presence lets get that clear.

I just truly believe Azriel is not his entire self with anybody in the IC although he could be with Gwyn. Sure he can love the ic of course. He can laugh and buy them gifts but not even Rhysand or cassian bothers with him. Really sad imo. Although someone said that he is happy when his shadows are gone. Sometimes true and false. His shadows are a part of his job as a shadowsinger but they also resemble ´´people nature´´ eg,curiosity,sleeping,quietness,calmness etc. Again, they are a part of him and are connected to his feelings. Someone also mentioned that when his shadows vanish,he feels ´´normal´´ or ´´human´´. It does make sense for him to be insecure about his shadows considering no one else has them because he has showed feeling unworthy of touching things (Nyx and Elain) because of his hands. Basically because of his trauma. I know people will tell me Elain said his hands were beautiful. Yes i know and my heart melted when i read the scene. Don´t get excited though my heart melts for gwyn/emerie/nesta and feycien moments. So yeah Elain said his hands were beautiful although we see in his BC he seems to be against it. He is most insecure about it with Elain.He might have blushed but looks like he sure as hell did not believe it one bit. Although we see him the BC with Gwyn. Not once does he acknowledge his hands. He is rather trying to make her feel better. He worries if his words were polite enough something he would not bother to do naturally.Shadows are out and about. Is he stressed? Is he worried? Is he angry? No he isnt. He is chuckling,laughing,smiling and he is calm. Its important to note how his shadows were equally as calm. We know mates are equals right? So with Gwyn, Azriel and his shadows are equal. Not to mention Gwyn is the first one to smile at his shadows and that just happens to be a scene were he is calm. That to me is embracement and growth.

Whatever happens in the next ACOTAR book is in the future something only SJM herself can confirm. My one hope is that Elain never loses her light and embraces them instead of trying to fit in with the court (something cassian and rhysand said) as for Azriel, whoever he ends up with i don´t know but i hope he learns to embrace his shadows because that one BC scene was a wonderful change. It was beautiful to see ALL of Azriel calm and happy. I hope it continues.

In all honesty this is just another anti Elriel post JAJAJAJAJAJ

#pro gwynriel #anti elriel #gwynriel #elucien #pro elain #pro elucien #pro gwyn #acotar #anti e/riel #pro lucien #acowar #acosf

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ofbreathandflame · 9 months

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Personally, I dnt see Nesta abusing Feyre because of how vague their history in their past home was like. They seemed on v equal ground wit the way they argued and fought. Feyre calls Nesta a burden then Nesta retaliates. Nesta warns Feyre about the old hag and Feyre brings up their past fight from the other night. Nesta tries to save Feyre and Feyre realizes there is more to her sister than she thought.

They always were at odds with each other but their never seemed to be any serious power dynamic between them. Neither was afraid of the other and both saw themselves in the other. I honestly think they both have stuff to answer for from their days in the cottage.

In SF, the book even says that Feyre wasn’t perfect and that she made mistakes but their past doesn’t have to define their future. Again, we dnt know what those mistakes could have been since there is such vague exploration of their dynamic back then. But passages in the books like these make me see that it wasn’t abuse between them. It certainly wasn’t healthy but definetly not so one-sided as many antis make it out to be.

hi anon!!

my response is loooooong 😭

i do really want to talk about this. i think the set up in the cabin is very important to the foundation of the sisters' relationship, and because its left as this gaping hole that lacks nuance and logic, it muddles the characterization going forward. a court of silver flames runs into trouble for this reasons, hence why is said it employs the use of 'placeholder' plotlines. to start, as many have stated before me, the set-up in the cabin makes no sense. none. not even a little. that matters for a lot of reasons but specifically because we can't really argue the validity of any of the sister's actions when the worldbuilding around them has none to begin.

its very hard to apply a real system of continual power, abuse, and neglect, when the circumstances around such dynamic is vague and uncommitted. the story doesn't want to commit to the consequences, but it also doesn't want to establish a relationship between the sisters without placing feyre as the permanent victim. so - it created an absurd scenario that doesn't make any sense. what i am saying is - the story has to go wayyyy out of its way to make elain and nesta 'villains' - to the point that the plot can't even support it. like for example, the girls live together in the cabin without feyre hunting for about a good 3-4 years. that means: someone clothed them, someone fed them, someone cleaned, someone took care of them. someone picked up the slack and its wasn't feyre. we know that mama archeron dies when the girls are 8, 10, and 11 - and the shortly after that, they lose their wealth. so - the girls are maybe 11, 13, and 14. literal children. and again - someone had to be taking care of them, a dynamic existed before feyre went hunting, but somehow never gets brought up. if the story is committed to this story, why doesn't it highlight nesta/feyre/elain's relationship in the moments where feyre isn't hunting? what was their relationship like? what was feyre like? these are perfect moments to establish the relationship. even if the sisters were lazy - what would they be doing all day? how would they even sustain themselves on meat all year long? even if the sisters were evil sisters there's little motivation for them to even be like this. the sisters are only three years apart. literally. when feyre was 8, elain was 10, and nesta was 11. thats not a big enough age-gap to even sustain partially of what the story argues about why the sisters have a disconnect. nesta would have been a BABY when feyre and elain were born - where is the motivation? how do elain and nesta develop a faction when they would have been mere toddlers when feyre came into the picture???

either papa archeron isn't a deadbeat or some mysterious force clothed, bathed, fed, and took care of them. like even the circumstances behind papa archeron being a deadbeat make no sense??/

and then there's the added layer of the suppose abuse the grandmother and mother were doling out to nesta, elain, and feyre. nesta was physically abused, and feyre was neglected to hell and high water - there's a plot pont to exploit right there. if the story wants to commit to nesta being abusive, but also wants her to be sympathetic, validating where her anger comes from, while acknowledging how it negatively affected her relationships with her sisters would be the perfect way to go. playing into the mirror sacrifices these sisters (youngest and oldest) made towards one another would have been *chefs kiss*. but again - the story leaned way too moral to even attempt a conversation like this. its willing to forgive the tamlins, rhys's and cassians, but not the women in the story. the thing is - the story doesn't commit to real faults with feyre - and it doesn't do that with nesta or elain either. they are only a standard to compare feyre against. and that's why the story cannot commit to a basic conversation between the sisters - there's nothing that exists between the except the drama. nesta has to atone for mystery reasons bc the story has rewrote their dynamic too many times. sjm acknowledges that the sisters are caricatures at this point of the story, but she doesn't rewrite the first book to accommodate her switch is plot direction.

nesta can't really tell feyre 'why she treated her x way ' bc the story doesn't know why either. a reason doesn't exist. elains book will probably have the same issue, on an even broader scale bc it doesn't actually have a reason these sisters chose to stare at a wall for 24 hours out of the day. the reason elain 'chooses not to help' is even more flimsy than the reason it gave nesta. esp bc the story later establishes that elain isn't even supposed to be a bad person, she can actually be caring. shes also a gardener so it also makes no sense that she would...cringe away from feyre bc of dirt???? that part makes no sense. she literally refused gloves at some point bc she liked to use her hands. she does so in the same book. and i don't even like this character but its the truth, and its why i cannot adequately take what the story argues about the sister seriously. nothing about what it argues makes any logical sense. it for this story...yeah that matters.

so....its valid that people don't take those chapters seriously. they are actually written with unserious intent. like how can i be angry at the sisters when the story argues they were essentially staring into space for eight years??? argues that papa archeron with 10000000 connections couldn't just....use those connections like he literally did near the end of tar and war? that the sisters could live off wild meat for years and still be alive? that toddler nesta and baby elain annexed toddler feyre??? its an unserious situation here. like feyre would rather -- @ 11, 14 or whatever age the story chooses to argue -- would immediately turn to the deadly woods and not yknow...an actual job??? mmkay.

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jellyfishinc · 10 months

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Mario & Luigi: Yin and Yang

(Yes yes, I know. Alphadream went belly up, no more games, blah blah blah. Don't care. Let me have my fun.)

So it starts off like any other M&L game, but the main conflict wastes no time showing up: Mario and Luigi are mad at each other. And the more they try to talk, the worse it gets.

Until it finally escalates to where theyre so distracted by their fighting, Peach gets kidnapped right under their mustaches! And, of course, that leads to them arguing who's fault it is, until someone yells at them to act like the heroes theyre supposed to be and get back on the same page long enough to go rescue the princess!

And then they don’t, because OF COURSE they have different opinions on which path they should take, so they decide to split up and take their own paths.

The game alternates between seeing Mario and Luigi’s chosen paths, because while this does take place in the Mushroom Kingdom, it's specifically in areas weve never seen before.

The paths are also directly paralleled, down to the music played in both settings.

BUT don't go thinking they're going through the whole game alone. By some magic, they have a "spiritual" brother that accompanies them. Which is the entire games dynamic. Solve puzzles with them, fight enemies, the whole thing.

The secret is the spiritual brothers were made from how the brothers see each other, hence why the spiritual brother may be stronger at some things the real one isnt, and vice versa.

This is because while the new areas are not known to us, they ARE known to the Mario brothers, so we can see in some cases, Mario was right about which path to take, and in others, Luigi was right.

But two things:

1. They miss each other almost immediately upon setting off on their own, but just THINKING about apologizing makes them mad all over again. So the spiritual brothers are created as a compromise.

2. Close to the end, they discover neither of them actually remember what it is they're mad about. But STILL upon considering apologizing, they don't.

Giant Bosses: Bowser and Luigi had their turn, now it's Mario’s. Also the only time until the end the bros are actually working together. All ending with a moment where one of them almost cracks, but one or the other walks away saying nothing.

And then finally at the last area, we find out the Big Evil in fact made the other THINK they were mad at each other to distract them.

So of course the brothers hug and make up, go through the final area together, and in one of the craziest twists ever, are given the spiritual brothers' abilities, thus officially back on the same page.

And at the end, someone says something like, "Let that be a lesson. Nobody mess with the brothers, or watch out!"

The game case would be a play off of this, with their baby selves on the inside:

Credit: Alexander Milov

#super mario brothers #mario bros #super mario bros #super mario #mario and luigi #luigi mario #mario and luigi rpg #game idea #pitch #i wrote this on my phone #mario luigi #mario mario #mario loves luigi #luigi nintendo #mario nintendo #luigi loves mario #mario #luigi

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valtharr · 10 days

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In the last few days, I've now had two run-ins with people on this site regarding the idea of a TTRPG's mechanics and rules impacting the roleplay aspect of said game. And from what I can tell, these people - and people like them - have the whole concept backwards.

I think people who only ever played D&D and games like it, people who never played a Powered by the Apocalypse or Forged in the Dark system, or any other system with narratively-minded mechanics, are under one false impression:

Mechanics exist to restrict.

Seeing how these people argue, what exactly they say, how they reason why "mechanics shouldn't get in the way of roleplaying," that seems to be their core idea: Rules and mechanics are necessary evils that exist solely to "balance" the game by restricting the things both players and GMs can do. The only reasons why someone would want to use mechanics in their RPG is to keep it from devolving into

"I shot you, you're dead!" "No, I'm wearing bulletproof armor!" "I didn't shoot bullets, I shot a laser!" "Well, the armor's also laserproof!" "Nuh-uh, my lasers are so hot that they melt any armor!" "My armor's a material that can't melt!" And so on. Because we have rules, the players can't just say "we beat this challenge", and neither can the GM say "you haven't beaten this challenge." Because the rules are clear, the rules are obvious, the rules tell you what you can and can't do, and that's it.

So obviously, when the idea of mechanics directly interacting with the roleplay - generally seen as the most free and creative part of a TTRPG - seems at best counterintuitive, at worst absolutely wrong. Hearing this idea, people might be inclined to think of a player saying "I'm gonna do X", just for the evil, restrictive mechanics to come in and say "no, you can't just do X! you first have to roll a Do X check! But you also did Y earlier, so you have to roll the Did Y Penalty Die, and if that one comes up higher than your Do X die, you have to look at this table and roll for your Doing X If You Previously Did Y Penalty! But, if you roll double on that roll..."

But like... that's not how it works. Roleplay-oriented mechanics don't exist to restrict people from roleplaying, they're there to encourage people to roleplay!

Let's go with a really good example for this: The flashback mechanic from Blades in the Dark (and games based on Blades in the Dark).

In BitD, you can declare a flashback to an earlier point in time. Could be five minutes ago, could be fifty years ago, doesn't matter. You declare a flashback, you describe the scene, you take some stress (the equivalent of damage) and now you have some kind of edge in the present, justified by what happened in the flashback. For example, in the Steeplechase campaign of the Adventure Zone podcast, there was a scene where the PCs confronted a character who ended up making a scandalous confession. One of the players declared a flashback, establishing that, just before they walked in, his character had pressed the record button on a portable recording device hidden in his inner coat pocket. Boom, now they have a recording of the confession.

How many times have you done something like this in a D&D game? How many times did your DM let you do this? I think for most players, that number is pretty low. And for two reasons:

The first, admittedly, has to do with restrictions. If you could just declare that your character actually stole the key to the door you're in front of in an off-screen moment earlier, that would be pretty bonkers. Insanely powerful. But, because BitD has specific mechanics built around flashbacks, there are restrictions to it, so it's a viable option without being overpowered.

But secondly, I think the far more prevalent reason as to why players in games without bespoke flashback mechanics don't utilize flashbacks is because they simply don't even think of them as an option. And that's another thing mechanics can do: Tell players what they (or their characters) can do!

Like, it's generally accepted that the players only control what their characters do, and the GM has power over everything else. That's a base assumption, so most players would never think of establishing facts about the larger world, the NPCs, etc. But there are games that have explicit mechanics for that!

Let's take Fabula Ultima as another example: In that game, you can get "Fabula Points" through certain means. They can then spend those points to do a variety of things. What's literally the first thing on the list of things Fabula Points let you do? "Alter the Story - Alter an existing element or add a new element." I've heard people use this to decide that one of the enemies their group was just about to fight was actually their character's relative, which allowed them to resolve the situation peacefully. I again ask: In your average D&D session, how likely is it that a player would just say "that guy is my cousin"? And if they did, how likely is it that the GM accepts that? But thanks to the Fabula Point mechanic making this an explicit option, thanks to rules explicitly saying "players are allowed to do this", it opens up so many possibilities for story developments that simply would not happen if the GM was the only one allowed to do these things.

And it's only possible because the mechanics say it is. Just how your wizard casting fireball is only possible because the mechanics say it is.

#ttrpg #ttrpgs #tabletop rpg #tabletop rpgs #blades in the dark #forged in the dark #bitd #fitd #fabula ultima

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jinlias · 2 years

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the happiest girl - jennie

– listen to the happiest girl by blackpink, as always, lyrics are not in order!

– toxic relationship!! both you and jennie are each other’s victims, not physically tho!! angst. angst angst angst.

the doors we slammed, the plates we smashed, echo with the sound of madness, i can’t remember why we try.

now, listen you never hit jennie, never hurt her physically, and neither did she, but that doesn’t mean you were never aggressive towards each other, or in general.

“you.. said yes?” she’s in shock, how you took such a big decision without asking her, without even thinking about her.

“of course i said yes, the salary is three times what i make now, it’s good for us” you shrug, dropping your fork and staring at your girlfriend, not understanding why she was making such a big deal of it.

“it’s good for us? it’s good for us, y/n? how is that any good to me?” her voice raises with every word, and at the end of them, she plops back on the chair and crosses her arms, throwing you a glare

“it’s good for you because you’re on my payroll jennie, while you can’t decide what the fuck you want to do with your life, i pay for your food, the water you bathe in, your phone, your bed, fuck, i pay for this house all on my own, i think im allowed to decide whether i want more money for that or not”

“it’s in new york, y/n! my whole family is here!! and for you to call me out-“

“don’t yell at me jennie” your hand slams right on the table, everything on it stumbling from the vibration.

“or what?” she smirks, nothing but cockiness in her stance “you’ll take away my allowance?”

“that’s it, get up” this time, both your hands slam on the table as you push back the chair you sat on and made your way to her, watching her sit calmly, waiting for you. “i said, get the fuck up jennie”

“what, you want this dress back because you bought it for me?” and there it begins, the hold of eye contact while she slips the thin straps of her dress down her shoulders, the piece of silk clothing pooling at her heels when it falls “you bought the underwear too, didn’t you?” but before she can continue her evil version of a striptease, your hand tangles in her hair and your lips with her own.

Don't hold my hand, don't beg me back, don't say that we'll make it through this

the whole argument replays in her head. the silence serves as some sort of consolation, one that you can’t provide her, even as you turn around to face her naked back and wrap your arms around her body. "i'm sorry about earlier baby, i got angry, and i said things i don’t mean”

but she doesn’t even have the energy to verbally forgive you, so jennie only nods, turning around and letting herself be pulled in by your embrace, one full of faux ‘i love you, it won’t happen again.’

she knows it will happen again, she’s certain. usually, the two of you will fuck the anger out of each other. but the arguments are too severe, and she doesn’t know if she loves you too much to do anything about it, or if she’s too tired of arguing and would rather let you get away with everything from now on, and that worries her.

don't make us saints, we're wards of pain, there's no one else to blame this time.

jennie was in no way innocent, or your victim, she had her own fits and toxic behavior, but mostly, she was possessive. and you had this one coworker, whom she always claimed wanted to get with you, when she was to find out you’d seen her today, she would lose her shit.

“i did not cheat on you for fucks sake!!” you slam your coat on the table. the keys go next, your bag was the only thing you placed nicely on the table before she started accusing you

“she posted photos y/n!! you could’ve at least tried to hide it!” she follows you as you begin to head towards your room.

“hide what? hide what jennie?! do you want me to lie to you just because you don’t like my friend? i’m wasn’t doing anything wrong!” you sigh, hands raised in both annoyance and innocence “i went for some drinks with my friend after work. nothing more, nothing less”

“she wants you! and she probably thinks she has a chance with you when you go on more dates with her than your own girlfriend!”

“for the last time. i did not and will not cheat on you. i am done with this conversation. i’m sleeping on the couch tonight”

“fuck you!” but you slam the door of your room on her face, snatching a lone pillow and blanket to sleep with

don’t change the truth, you’re not the one who gets to cry

“oh please, you’re crying?” you stare at her in awe, how she can quickly change emotions and personalities in order to gaslight you “i went to therapy for you jennie you can’t manipulate me”

“i’m sorry, i didn’t mean what i said, please forgive me baby.” it’s been days since you spoke last, the last argument had gotten a little out of hand, mostly from her side, and it had lead to the two of you avoiding each other, made easily by the spacious house you lived in.

you hate her right now, her words hurt you and you hate how she makes it so easy for you to forgive her even after that, but regardless, you cup her head with your hand and wrap your other arm around her body, embracing her and consoling her for the hurt she caused you.

but tonight i’ll be the happiest girl in the world, you’ll see, like it never happened.

you know she loves you, you know you love each other. your arguments don’t mean any other than that, but maybe you don’t love each other enough. the future can only hold much worse versions of the obstacles your relationship has provided so far, and she knows she can only hurt you so much. you know the possibilities of your relationship getting any healthier are minuscule. however, you still hold on to the good things, both of you. the memories you’ve made in your years together, the laughter, the kissing, protecting, the loving. even the times you were both there for each other, helped one another. you love each other too much to let go, even with all the arguing, the lack of trust, being together is much better than without the other, and that’s why the both of you, in the end, say i do.

#jennie imagines #jennie x reader #jennie angst #jennie fluff #blackpink x reader #blackpink imagines #blackpink x you #blackpink angst #blackpink fluff #song fic

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angelmichelangelo · 7 months

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If we did get foot solider Mikey like we deserve what would be the whole plot exactly of it? because the premise is how Mikey feels like a failure and that his brothers don't understand him and that he feels alone how would that be excuted exactly because 1. this adds more layers to Mikey that aren't ever really utilized and 2 Raph and Leo are a big problem in this scenario because they would just blame each other throughout the whole process along with trying to get Mikey back while arguing which would upset him even more since neither can own up to their mistakes and than Donnie has to figure out how to stop everything the fighting the convincing Mikey.

ooh okay! this is just me coming up with an idea on the fly so bare with me.

so imagine the movie opens up not long since the events of the last movie. they’re moving past the whole winters situation and starting to work more as a team, notably leo and raph who are getting along again and donnie is less stressed and it takes off SUCH a huge weight off mikey’s mind because of course he was constantly worrying about whether his family would heal itself again and here they are! happy together. and then comes along that good ol’ turtle luck.

idk how shredder comes back. it’s not really ever established in the first movie, or maybe i cant remember if he died? or disappeared. but imagine he comes back. some freaky magic (either on purpose or on accident by karai depending on whether you want her to be REALLY bad after her truce in the first movie lol) and suddenly they have shredder back on their tails.

the attack comes so out of left field - imagine they’re just goofing off on a roof with a hosepipe (iykyk) and then BAM leo goes down and raph is yelling his name and there’s panic.

they’ve trained for this, but the attack catches them off guard. they’re not prepared and since they’re still finding their footing as a team again, the foot are able to get the underhand.

mikey is calling out attack ideas but leo, in a panic, isn’t taking on board of what he’s saying. neither is raph and nor is donnie, too focused on the foot, each of the brothers don’t pay much attention to what mikey is suggesting. mikey, growing fustrated as he believes his idea would work, doesn’t get a chance to play any of his plans out after he’s knocked off the roof.

the brothers try and catch him but fail, letting their brother plummet to the street below. before they can go down and get him, the shredder appears (maybe in a crack of lightning lol very dramatic) and leo is like “you????”

they fight with the shredder for a bit, leo barking out orders for one of them to slip away and go grab mike but whenever one of them tries to leave the rooftop, it’s futile, they’re stopped by the foot; made to fight and unable to reach their brother to see if he’s alright.

then, just as fast as they appeared, the foot and shredder disappear. leo thinks it’s odd, but now that the foot are out of the way, they’re rushing down to make sure mikey is alright only to realise… he’s gone.

mask, nunchucks and cell phone (for the purpose of donnie not being able to track him) all left behind, it slowly dawns on them what’s happened.

it then switches perspectives of mikey who’s slowly waking up in some cage. unsure of where he is, we see Karai stroll in, looking torn.

she tells mikey something along the lines of “i didn’t want it to have to be this way but you must understand my loyalty to the foot comes before whatever promise i made to you.”

mikey is confused like “who even are you lady? where am I?”

and karai, realising what’s happened reports back to shredder like “uh yeah he’s lost his memory i think” and shredder is like “okay. change of plans”

(he originally kidnapped one of the turtles to draw the rest of them + splinter to him but now he’s having Evil Thoughts)

so he goes to mikey like “um yes you’re a sad lonely mutant. your family didn’t want you, i saved you”

mikey tries to remember but can only recollect the last hazy memories where his brothers weren’t listening to him so he’s like “it must be true?”

ANYWAY the boys are panicking because they need to get to mikey and they’re sure it’s a trap but they don’t care cos they beat shredder before, they’ll do it again but they’re pretty taken aback when they realise getting into foot hq isn’t as easy as they though if shredder was just trying to lure them in. so like. what is his plan with mikey?

meanwhile shredder is training mike with a new pair of chucks, a black mask, he’s feeding him lies about how his family had no faith in him or wanted him in their team. mikey distresses that even if it’s true, he doesn’t want to harm anyone.

and shredder is like “oh yeah no we’re not about that here. we have honour”

meanwhile karai is unsure whether it’s a good idea what he’s doing or not. of course she’s part of the foot but in the shredders absence she was shaping it into something else and so she confronts shredder and this pisses him off and so he starts Plotting.

meanwhile the boys and splinter are making plans to get mikey back and so they sneak in to the foot hq one night, and shredder can see right through their plan but he lets them in (to which again leo is like. this is too easy something is wrong)

it’s then that shredder kills Karai (sorry karai) and shredder alerts mikey like “look what they did!! these monsters have no honor killing my Karai in her sleep like this! we have to avenge her!!”

and mikey doesn’t want to have to kill but he believes in putting his family first so he vows to avenger his “sister”.

so he goes up against leo raph and don who all are trying to get him to snap out of it once they realise what’s happening but mikey has already been warned by shredder that they might pull those kinds of tricks to get him to go with them.

basically they fight and whatever and it goes back and forth between them all, and eventually we have another rainy rooftop scene because they’re my favourite and it’s down to leo and mikey now and mikey is like “you don’t want me! shredder appreciates me!” and leo is like “he doesn’t he’s just USING you!!” mikey is torn and confused because he’s pretty sure his memories are slowly coming back.

leo apologies to mikey for not listening to him before. he apologises for putting him in danger and for the whole situation so far and then so do raph and donnie from where they’re sprawled out from where mike kicked their asses lol

and then just as mikey is about to switch sides, shredder comes out of nowhere and smacks him across the roof and leo is PISSED

all three brothers go back against shredder and they’re failing when suddenly mikey gets back up, the knock on his head giving him his memories back (because movie logic) and this time when he gives his directions and plans, they listen and execute it and they’re able to beat shredder :3

UH yeah that’s it. they go home and eat pizza and give their brother a big fat hug and it’s very happy and nothing bad ever happens to them again.

i literally made this up as a i went along so it’s missing characters and not that good but that’s just personally the kind of thing i’d like to see. idk lemme know your thoughts :)

#ask #anon #tmnt 2007

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