This Kind Of In-universe Material Would Probably Work Really Well In Getting Across The Sort Of Piece-meal

Contessa/Eidolon where Eidolon is hyperparanoid the entire time because what if her path to victory really does work on me and this has all been a setup lasting decades and Contessa is hyperparanoid the entire time because her path to victory really doesn't work on him and what if he's gone crazy like Manton did and he's luring me in to kill me and ruin humanity's chance of survival. It would be incomprehensibly bad for both of them. I would read 1.6 million words of it.

Okay, Danny's failure comes from not providing Taylor with proper support and not getting her away from her hostile school environment. That I can agree with.

However, Taylor being uncomfortable when he is confronting her about her possibly criminal behaviour doesn't make it inherently cruel. What Taylor wants to do in that situation itself is something a responsible parent should try to stop. Linking it as a response to his previous behaviour is unfair. This is him trying to be more involved, not just give her 'space' in a way that doesn't help.

can you fucking believe there are people who voted that danny is a good parent in that one poll a while back

Finally, an exuse to fuse some of my favorite pieces of media. I would drop Taylor, Blake and Sylvester in to Slay the princess. It's a visual novel dealing with both body and cosmic horror. Of course, it is also a love story. To save time, the gang will enter the story all at once, taking on differnt roles. Heavy spoilers will follow.

In the story of Stp, a man desperate to save the world from ending imprisons the consept/god of change and splits it in two pieces. One of these pieces is the player character, a bird-man like creature, and one is a princess. The man, known as the Narrator, will attempt to persuade the player into killing the princess, to stop the end of the world.

Taylor will take the role of the Narrator. She is comfortable with "the ends justify the means" rhetoric and will complain constantly about how this all would be so much easier if everyone just worked together. As the Narrator, she can lightly change the environment or at times take control of the player, wich is very fitting for our dear queen administrator.

Blake is the player character. Not only is it his nature to be active and force the world to react, he is once again in conflict with a piece of himself, that is nearly doomed to end in violence. At least he is in a bird themed body from the start. Although Blake is canonically hot, his drive to move forward, slay the bigger monsters and bad Karma will make it easier fir Taylor to push him into a fight with the Princess. They struggle and both die in their first encounter.

The princess herself is an eldritch being, whose form and personality change based on the watcher's perspection of her. Very Stranger. In the base game, when you die, you awake in a new world, with a new voice in your head, and the princess has changed based on your actions. Enter Sylvester!

This time, Blake wakes up with Sylvester's voice in his head. A devastating time for Taylor as well. In this version, as Blake struggles and fights with the Princess, Sylvester tries to shake the box, possibly flirting with the Princess in the process. Sy's dynamic with her resembles either his relationship with Mary or Mauer, depending on Blake and Taylor's reactions.

In the end, when all is revealed, Blake' s empathy and Sy's desire for freedom will win out, and the two will escape Taylor's prison with the Princess, who possibly joins the Lambs in a faraway universe. Thank you for anyone who has read this far, clearly I have fanfiction I need to write. This was a fun prompt and I highly recommend anyone curious to give Slay the Princess a try, it is a wonderful story. Each of Wildbow's protagonists fit the game like a glove filled with glass shards.

Since people liked the last question I asked, here's round 2 for y'all

Each Wildbow Protag is dumped into the last romantic-comedy you've watched/read/played (visual novels are allowed).

How badly do they ruin the romance?

Just the possibility of Venom Victoria is amazing. The following mental struggle between the Wretch, her Warrior Monk philosophy and the symbiote third-wheeling in is simply too good to pass up.

I do think Taylor would enjoy the Batman rogue's gallery more. The struggles between territory, once in a while S9-like attacks and the lack of trustworthy authority figures in Gotham would make her feel right at home.

Hmm.

Odd question, which one fits better for Taylor and Victoria: fighting Batman Rogues Gallery or Spider-Man Rogue Gallery (and why?)

Playing with the idea that none of the bg3 villains are fully honest with Durge. Everyone is hiding some piece of the puzzle and happy to abuse the amnesia situation to their advantage. 'Cept Kressa. She's psycho, but she's an honest psycho. In another life, we might have been friends.

Edit: part 2 here

Ketheric is the first, most obvious example of this. He doesn't even bother to inform the other Chosen you've reappeared. (Myrkul is the god of exhaustion, so this tracks.)

Balthazar also 100% recognizes you and also doesn't even bother. To him, your amnesia means no tedious reunions with annoying Bhaalspawn who are big mad that he stole their brother's name and rib bones.

The Emperor is sometimes overlooked when piecing together Durge's history, but he admits to knowing your past if you reject him in Act 3 (stating "I know everything about you" while threatening to turn you into a puppet like Duke Stelmane). Whether or not he's posturing, he should at least be aware of your past with Gortash, considering you helped kidnap him in the first place. For evidence, see Gortash's interrogation notes, which open with "When we captured you". (Sure, this could refer to Orin, but I simply do not see these two working as a highly functional team. More on this and the timeline below the cut.) Naturally, despite traveling together for months, The Emperor wouldn't want to fill any gaps in your memory that might cast doubt on his trustworthiness or help align you with his enemy.

The Absolute might be lying about respecting you/your plan and preferring you over your replacement. I am of two minds about this. If you were attacked immediately after crowning the brain, there should be no basis for a preferential relationship. In that case, the brain is just stroking your ego and need for approval. However, I have doubts about Durge being taken down during the initial raid.** I think some time must have passed after crowning the Absolute, giving it the chance to develop a working relationship with you that it lacked with the other Chosen, which caused everything to fall apart after you were tadpoled. This also buys us time to kidnap the Emperor and bring it under the Absolute's thrall as described in Gortash's interrogation notes.

**Some of Gortash's other notes claim Durge was lost during the first raid, but his journals are full of contradictions. He leaves the House of Hope out of his memoirs entirely. He seemingly retcons history to present himself in a more favorable light, which probably includes intentionally diminishing the work of his allies (or erasing the painful memory of his nearest and dearest). In any interpretation, the brain definitely hates Gortash the most, and that's good enough for me.

Orin and Gortash paint somewhat conflicting pictures of you pre-tadpole. The difference here might be genuine (the honest perspectives of a little sister vs a business partner or lover) or it could be a manipulative game of tug of war over your budding and impressionable self image.

Now, I like Durgetash - but I like every possible interpretation of these assholes, not just the mutually reciprocated and/or sexy ones. It's conceivable to me that Gortash may have discovered Durge's crush on him via the Prayer for Forgiveness and played up their history in Act 3 as a defensive measure. Maybe Gortash always knew of Durge's feelings and used them to his advantage (Orin outright tells you this, but again, nobody listens to Orin. Sorry sis).

It's also conceivable that he knew Durge was the first to be tadpoled, considering how close their pod was to his workbench. The brain was given orders to transform the party (that were resisted several times), so Gortash's surprise that Durge still lives makes sense, assuming he even knew Durge was with them (he doesn't seem to be checking the scrying eyes at all. What kind of loser tyrant ignores his own surveillance system? I digress). His general relief and preference for them over Orin is also still valid. (I imagine he feels something along the lines of Durge being the one who got away, you don't know what you've got until it's gone, etc etc. Cue hysterical bonding as the long lost love of his life waltzes into his coronation covered in blood to save him from their psychotic sister and the poorly housetrained Netherbrain they left him full custody of. Yes he wanted full custody, but still.)

Puppy eyes aside, Gortash is a blackhearted pragmatist (he will turn on Durge if they give him the stones) and progress is progress. The first True Soul was an incredible breakthrough, and the show must go on. So just imagine the bricks he's shitting in Act 3 if Durge comes back and remembers the Wrong Things from before the nautiloid. What if they want revenge on him? Nope, not good at all. Best to position himself as Durge's only friend and most trustworthy partner. Regardless of how well he treated them before, Durge was willing to piss off Bhaal to spare his life. That's an extremely useful vulnerability right now, because he's about to ask them to do it again!

Lastly, I have no proof, but I strongly suspect that Sceleritas is fibbing about Durge's past as well. Partly because the Slayer form is severely disappointing in-game and canonically excrutiatingly painful, despite Fel claiming you've always wanted it. It honestly sounds like a way to sell an unwanted used car back to it's amnesiac owner who failed to appreciate it before. Bhaal isn't a full deity any longer, so take what you're given (and you'd better damned well like it!) I also call bullshit on tossing a coin to a beggar being the "worst" crime Durge ever committed against Bhaal (*ahem* looking at you, Gortash). Some dialogue with the Oathbreaker Paladin suggests we've tried somewhat consistently to be good in the past, and Sceleritas has a vested interest in making Durge worse, not planting noble ideas in their freshly lobotomized murder-happy brain.

LIKE ON A RAFT

"It was a good ship, sister." STILL FLOATING

Jack Slash goes full barber only to accidentally summon Barbatorem. The two have a standoff, it doesn't end well.

the only thing to complete jack slash's aesthetic would be scissors

If Amy actually did this she would instantly become one of my favorite characters. Insanely good take right here.

Now, being a healer cape is extremely exhausting, just, in general. Mentally, and also physically, because I am not in great shape, and I suspect I never will be. And, uh, being a healer that can heal pretty much anything (except brain stuff), it pretty much quadruples the pressure. You ask me how I cope?

Well, I, personally, sneak around town and turn people into vampires.

But Panacea, you say. That's unethical! And vampires are evil!

And I say you are a fucking moron. One, vampires are entirely sapient creatures, so they are inherently morally neutral. Two, have you seen Brockton Bay? This city has shape-shifting metallic nazis, dragon gangsters and Brandish. What do the normal people have? Nothing, exactly. Regeneration, speed, no aging, cool fangs and ability to climb walls like a gecko for some mild rash in the sunlight is a fucking bargain. And people shouldn't be entering people's homes uninvited anyway, that's just good manners. And a precaution against assholes.

Musings on Haladriel/Saurondriel after the season finale fight. I thought the fight itself was excellent! This more clearly matched my expectations for how Sauron and Galadriel would interact after the reveal. Adrenaline filled combat, with unresolved tensions that could be cut with a sword. Clark and Vickers were both amazing and despite the expected direction, I found myself at the edge of my seat!

Sauron clearly has a peculiar relationship with pain, as he described to Celebrimbor. His closest model for intimacy, Morgoth, made him see pain as a game, to prove whose will is greater. In that context, it's interesting how the closest emotional bonds he is shown to have are with those who push through the pain, and continue to defy him.

Both Galadriel and Celebrimbor score victories in their "contest of wills", Galadriel through turning him down again, and Celebrimbor resisting until his death. All this to say, Sauron has a type, and playing hard to get seems to work on him!

I don't think Sauron hurting Galadriel in that sense means he is unable to love her or it was purely deception. People can hurt the ones they love all the time, after all. :) What struck out to me was that after Galadriel is wounded, he doesn't try to stab her hand or otherwise take away Nenya by force. Even through their game, even though he is twisted, he wants Galadriel to choose him, to hand over her ring of her own free will. And that both leads to her escape and is agonizingly sweet!

I'd consider this worth it. Now if only we got to see apes with rocket launchers...