#it really depends on a lot of other factors... the main one (for me) right now being the state of the body.

[krenenbaker]

Okay, after reading it last night, then again this morning, I can say with absolute certainty that

a. I'm definitely not entirely certain of the culprit... yet.

b. I should have expected that Crowley would be the one in that role, haha!

c. THIS IS SUCH A COOL CONCEPT :D

Ooh, I'm excited to learn more information and learn just what happened on this dark and stormy night in the halls of Night Raven College!!

One of Us is Guilty; Prologue

Eight people, nine rooms, seven weapons. One person is guilty, and until they are found, no one is safe; from the perpetrator of the crime, or of being accused.

Characters; Vil Schoenheit, Divus Crewel, Rook Hunt, Azul Ashengroto, Silver, Jade Leech, Cater Diamond

Content; Gender-neutral reader, unreliable narrators

Content Warning; Death (not described), murder (not described)

Word Count; 1.3 K (includes guide on how to participate at the end)

Find this content triggering but still want to participate? Go to this Google Form!

As a reminder, do not put my work — or others for that matter — into AI as it steals. Link to Masterlist

| Prologue |

You were making your way down the main flight of stairs, ready to go crawl into your bed after the long day.

“Attention! Attention!” Crowley’s voice echoed over the PA system, still annoyingly chipper despite the late hour. What was he even still doing here? “Due to the weather, all remaining staff and students are under orders to stay inside the building until morning!” And the PA system cut out.

You groaned, “Seriously? It can’t be that bad–” A loud crack of thunder sounded directly above the building, causing the chandelier to shake. “Okay then,” you huffed, plopping down on the stairs, “I get the message.”

Of course, you would get stuck here for the night, guess that’s what happens when you stay back to study and work on assignments.

But you weren’t the only person stuck in the desolate halls of Night Raven College; seven others were in the same boat as you.

…

Vil was in the lecture theatre, reviewing his notes for the upcoming performance that the Film Research Club would be putting on next week. He too heard Crowley’s announcement and pushed his hair back, massaging his temple. He would not be getting a good night’s rest tonight.

“Tch, no use lamenting over it,” he sighed to himself. Carefully, he put the notes and suggestions away in their designated folder, and he made his way to the main hall. If anyone was still here with him, they might be there; at least he would have some company for the night, and not be alone in the empty hallways.

…

Professor Crewel was grading papers in the teacher’s lounge, and getting a migraine from it as well. “Have those pups learned nothing from me,” he grumbled.

He would much rather be at home in his finest pyjamas, scratching the chins of his dogs, but no, he was stuck here, and would be stuck until the storm passed or Headmaster Crowley got back on the PA system saying it was safe to leave. But knowing his employer, the man had transported himself home, leaving everyone stuck at the college oblivious.

I ought to wring his neck if he did.

…

Rook was in the library, perusing through various books, just looking for something to pass the time. He knew earlier that day that a storm was brewing, he could tell by the clouds and the faint smell wafting on the breeze. He also knew that Vil would be staying late, and he wasn’t going to leave Roi de Poison alone.

After going down a few aisles, Rook finally found a book to his liking. “Hmm, this is new. Ah, how interesting!” Tucking the book under his arm, Rook made his way to the lecture theatre, as that was where he had last seen Vil.

Perhaps un meurtre mystère would make for a good plot for a future performance?

…

Silver had fallen asleep in the cafeteria, apparently he had slept for most of the day. He had only woken up because of Crowley’s voice echoing loudly in the large, empty room.

Did they not notice? Silver rubbed his eyes and yawned. If he was here, there was a possibility of others also finding themselves stuck in the school for the night. The least he could do was make sure others were staying calm, and staying safe. Even outside of his duties he was ever still the protector, and far too kind.

“Hopefully no one got hurt…” he murmured to himself. There was something off, a dark presence of sorts, and it wasn’t just the dark clouds hurling down rain, hail, and lightning outside.

Something doesn’t feel right…

…

Azul was in the alchemy lab, perfecting the most complicated potion that was in his textbook; he had a reputation to upkeep after all, and didn’t want anyone usurping his rank at the top of the class.

There, I just need to add some belladonna and— the suddenness of Crowley’s overly loud voice coming over the PA system caused Azul to add too much, and the potion evaporated. Azul gritted his teeth, but took a step back. Perhaps a walk would help calm him down… he was going to have to replace all of those ingredients tomorrow…

“So close,” he hissed, and he started making his way down the hall, still muttering to himself.

…

Jade was washing the dirt from his hands, having just come back from checking on his fungi in the botanical gardens. He already knew before Crowley made his little announcement that he would be spending the night, which didn’t bother him all that much. Perhaps he could see what was in the kitchen, since he did have that new dish which looked and sounded to be divine.

But that could wait, Azul was most likely still working on that potion of his, and knowing the house warden, he had fumbled with the ingredients at the sudden noise and probably sulking… and Jade could use some amusement at the moment, and a sulking and slightly peeved Azul would do the trick.

…

Cater was in the kitchen, retrieving something for Trey since they were all out in the Heartslabyul kitchen. Of course it was something sweet, but Cater would rather be here than see the outcome of the freshmans’ antics. Sorry freshies, you’re on your own!

But now he was stuck here for the night, and having nothing better to do, and boredom starting to creep in, Cater brought out his phone and started recording. 

“It’s Cay-kun here!~” He gave a peace sign to the camera and stuck out his tongue. “Let’s see who we can find!” And he started chatting to the camera and walking towards the main hall.

…

…

Eventually, everyone had made their way to the main hall; you, Silver, Vil, Professor Crewel, Rook, Azul, Jade, and Cater. But there was no sign of Headmaster Crowley.

“Have any of you pups seen the Headmaster,” Divus asked, turning up a brow, and looked at his students with suspicion.

Everyone shook their head no. Divus sighed, and turned around the corner, in the direction of the Headmaster’s office, but he stopped in his tracks.

Curious, you looked to where Professor Crewel was staring; lying in the middle of the floor was Crowley, and he wasn’t breathing.

Dire Crowley was dead, murdered. And everyone was a suspect, including you.

About this Event

That's right folks, a classic murder mystery in the style of the board game Clue and some inspiration from the book And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.

At the beginning and end of each part, I will be including a link to a Google Form where people can vote for who they think is the murderer, what room the murder took place in, and the weapon that was used. There's also an optional question where you can explain your answer, just do know that everything was randomly chosen by a spinner.

The form will be active for at least 72 hours; it may go on for longer if I'm busy. A new form will be added with each part, just with the suspect, room, & weapon that was voted in the last part being removed if they were incorrect... and may take some inspo from the book I mentioned.~

In future parts there will be dark content, as this is a murder mystery; all of the content warnings will be included at the beginning, and also tagged (ie. cw death). Because of this, I will not be tagging people in future parts just as a precaution.

Now, let the investigation begin!

Link to Google Form

Suspects:

- Silver; the kindhearted knight with a mysterious past, is it just for show?  (Plum) - Vil Schoenheit; the actor who is always pigeonholed into the role of a villain (Scarlet) - Divus Crewel; the alchemy teacher with a penchant for fashion, Crowley's co-worker (Peacock) - Rook Hunt; the enigmatic hunter who always has a hunch of what's happening (Mustard) - Azul Ashengrotto; the owner of The Mostro Lounge, a businessman with dubious morals (Green) - Reader; the 'house-keeper', a role that was imposed on them by the late Headmage (White) - Jade Leech; a student enamored by fungi and seems to have a foreboding presence about him (Orchid) - Cater Diamond; the preppy beau of Heartslabyul, but his smile seems forced (Peach)

Rooms:

- Main hall - Teachers' lounge - Cafeteria - Kitchens - Lecture theatre - Botanical garden - Alchemy lab - Library - Crowley's office

Weapons:

- Revolver - Rope - Dagger - Wrench - Candlestick - Lead pipe - Magic

...

Tags; @afunkyfreshblog, @aqua-beam, @azulashengrottospiano, @eynnwwyjth, @hisui-dreamer, @hydra-sea, @identity-theft-101, @inkybloom-luv, @ithseem, @krenenbaker, @leonistic, @lucid-stories, @officialdaydreamer00, @ryker-writes, @savanaclaw1996, @silvers-numberonefan, @twistwonderlanddevotee, @xxoomiii

[gabbiecasso]

Just me and my reflections on Shikatema

I've been weirdly hyperfixated recently on Shikamaru and Temari, and so I reflected a lot just to properly dissect the reasons myself because I initially couldn't really understand why I liked them when I was really young, more so as an adult (and as demi/ace) LOL so imma yap

As a demi, I've always struggled with romance themes. I always subtly feel like my circuits are frying when I watch anything romance or I often just plainly feel indifferent. Thankfully I managed to spot a few patterns by spending a lot of time in my head; one of them is that I prefer romance when it's not under the spotlight (idk I noticed I always prefer the side pairs more than the main pairs in any story HAHA) I guess that was one of the categories that Shikatema falls under.

I spent more than a decade watching/reading Naruto and it was enough time for me to have a close affinity with these characters and love them for creating such a huge impact in my childhood without the heavy emotional flairs that Naruto and the rest of characters put upfront. They ultimately became my two favorite characters in the series because I share the same traits and tendencies as them. It also wasn't a surprise that two of my favorite characters ended up together because their relationship was slowly developed and it didn't come off like shocking news.

Unlike the other pairs in Naruto where it seems to have characters fixating on someone or characters overshadowing the other, Shikatema operate on a level playing field. They're each strong leaders and strategists in their own right, both competent enough to recognize each other's strengths. They don't feel the need to change the other nor prove their worth. They're their own person and it clearly shows early in the series and even as it progresses to Shippuden.

I personally dislike being the center of anyone's attention or constantly feeding someone attention so I gravitate more to people who are deeply more passionate about purpose/duty/service/something more than about me and my presence. Shikatema has that dynamic where their relationship feels more like a partnership than a romance based on dependency. They both have important (political) roles in their own respective villages, and they know their purposes and the weight that they carry very well—which prolly explains why both are self-sufficient, independent, and capable. They both take their duties seriously and you don't see a scene where one craves for the other's attention (it’s funny how actively and arduously they work on their duty while in each other’s presence so you can definitely say they were literally there for (and with) each other as they fulfilled their roles as diplomat escort/advisor and diplomat/royalty)

Another that I value DEEPLY to my core is individuality, and I've always adored how Shikamaru and Temari preserve their individuality while still thriving together. It's one of the main factors why they see each other as equals and why none of them overpowers the other.

Shikamaru, laid-back and often understated, complements Temari’s directness and assertiveness. His relaxed demeanor helps her stay grounded and objective rather than just taunting in combat or in general LMFAO

Meanwhile, Temari, who is confident and comfortable taking charge, gives Shikamaru's abilities more buoyancy—she openly calls out his BS and he welcomes it because he knows how unassuming, and, at times, self-deprecating he can be. He never seeks the spotlight and often downplays his own abilities and it's where Temari's outspokenness fits the bill (this energy is also quite evident in Shikamaru Hiden)

Both characters also challenge gender norms (I'm inclined to believe that their characters' subtle sexism when they were first introduced in the series was part of the writing, there is an active discussion about this somewhere and I genuinely believe it has its purpose) Young Shikamaru yaps about her being too troublesome because she's incessantly outspoken/spunky. Young Temari yaps about him being too emotional because he didn't seem to receive emotional training.

Yet in the long run, Shikamaru's honesty and vulnerability allow Temari to soften up and witness the act of kindness by someone who wears his heart on his sleeve (which was first seen during the Sasuke retrieval arc at the hospital where Shikamaru had an emotional breakdown) and Temari's unwavering strength and energy nudges Shikamaru into action when he might otherwise hesitate (Temari often banters with him to make him commit to his decisions and not spend too much time in his head)

Both characters also have innate leadership. I noticed that one of my main attraction points is leadership (as an act of service girlie) and these two have that strong nature: Shikamaru leads with his introspective nature, while Temari leads with her assertive nature.

It was evident first during the Chunin exams when they were pitted against each other—both read their opponents exceptionally well and they both show a strong sense of battle awareness while keeping their cool and executing their strategies effectively. It's no surprise that Shikamaru was promoted Chunin and Temari was promoted Jonin & Ambassador (it wasn't clear when Temari was promoted, but in the early episodes of Shippuden, she was already a Jonin & Ambassador who frequently visits Konoha) They both learned to grow as leaders who first serve their people before themselves in their respective villages and it stretches further during the war arc where they serve not just people from their respective villages but the entire Alliance.

Both were also Chunin exam proctors, so ain't that great LOL I think it was one of the many factors why I never doubted their parenting (and Shikadai did grew up to be such a fine and disciplined shinobi with a strong moral code) Both did seem to question each other's parenting styles since Temari favors intense training while Shikamaru advocates leisure (which I believe is a great balance) but both parents have fostered Shikadai's agency; allowing him to come up with his own conclusions and decisions based on his critical thinking because both Shikamaru and Temari share the same values in their youth.

In the series, high intensity emotions are almost always present in every relationship but their relationship has a subdued nature—They don't need long stretches of dialogues to understand each other because all they needed was experiences, and a little observation and deduction.

They didn't need to prove their worth to each other (or to anyone honestly) because it's built on deep understanding rather than overt passion. Altho it had a different interpretation in the manga, both characters even agree that marriage is troublesome LOL (but welp)

Last one is that both are strategists. Chess is my sport and puzzles/tactical games that require mental effort has always been my comfort, I guess it's natural for me to gravitate to these two. (I like any strategic characters who also wear their heart on their sleeve)

They also approach strategy differently: Shikamaru’s intellect makes him highly logical and analytical, often relying on foresight to plan for every possible outcome. Temari is a decisive, action-oriented strategist; often has the courage to commit to a decision quickly. She also heavily thinks on the fly to understand an opponent's motive and naturally adapts.

This was again exhibited during the Chunin exams where Shikamaru's strategic skills allowed him to use his environment to his advantage while Temari displayed her adaptability and quick-thinking capabilities to counter Shikamaru's offenses since she's a heavy thinker herself.

Temari may not be as exceptionally creative as Shikamaru but she highly values intel, reason, and logic in order to come up with a counter. This was exactly the reason why her battle with Shikamaru was further stretched; up to the point where Shikamaru exhausted his chakra.

I deeply adore how both characters value planning, precision, and patience in combat while other characters in the story value power, tenacity, and speed. Irl, I value the same set of values as Shikatema in chess/games/puzzles and so I guess it’s no surprise. I get to just admire the intellectual aspect of their relationship where it allows them to not just connect emotionally but also challenge each other mentally in every screen time they had.

Thanks for coming to my yapping thread if you ever made it in the end LOL

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

Peaceful property is a bl even if it's not. It's also about so many other things although not really delivering on a consistent message.

I thought about adding my thoughts to this thread but it was getting long and I started to get sidetracked so I decided to just make my own post about it and share my thoughts on it. @lurkingshan @bengiyo and @twig-tea all made good point about why this show is faltering with its own themes, and @respectthepetty made a compelling argument that the show knows what its doing.

I think no one is wrong and I land somewhere in the middle with it. As in, depending on what I choose to care about. Much like @respectthepetty, I am bias about this show. For different reasons tho. I like Tay and New a lot so I lead with that instead of my critical thinking. just as a personal aside, I tend to do this when my brain and heart don't align. I ignore when my brain tells me that the show is doing something wrong so that I can enjoy the rest. This works particularly well with QL for some reason. I am after all a person who liked Dangerous Romance even when my brain kept trying to damper my enjoyment with logic. And also sometimes I'm a hypocrite and there's no reason for why I like a show and not another. Ok, there's usually a reason but it's most often not a good one, or a rational one at least. That's just how it is.

Anyway. Because of all the excellent points made by that post I decided to fully engage my brain and I've been thinking about what this show is trying to say and I agree that unfinished business is the main thing in the ghost stories but I would have to shut off my brain completely to not see how class factors into all of it as well.

The ghosts up until now, except the chef, were all lower class and one can argue that it played a part in how they died or what happened after. I'm not including episode 7 for reasons that I will explain in a bit. Even if Ride's unfinished business was about love, the fact that he was the only rider doing deliveries in the rain, at least to me, read as he was driven by the need to make money in the first place. Even in the chef's case, the customer that Peach basically poisoned was rich and it was a part of the headlines about it and the reason for the restaurant getting shut down. Also most of the individual stories didn't get deep into these issues, case of the week usual issues, but it was always an underlying theme. Also as @twig-tea said all the parallels work even better because this disparity also exists between Home and Peach.

All this gets me to how I started this post. This is a bl even if it isn't. The choice to include the tragic bl storyline in the middle of this, in my own brain, can only be explained if I believe this is a bl. (The tragic bit was thematically consistent with this show.) Specifically a gmmtv bl. Cause ultimately they have a tendency to forsake narrative consistency if it stops serving the main romance. It's also the only way I can explain having a bl pair mirroring the other bl pair on screen. So in that way it's consistent with gmmtv. Just brush aside anything that can get in the way of the couple not having a happy ending. This is also how I explain my biggest issue with it. Pangpang. She's the shipper. She's been the shipper from basically the start.

Home basically killed her brother, why would she be the driving force in getting him forgiven? Because of my previously admitted bias, I forgave Home almost immediately. It's New and he didn't mean it, it was an accident and he wanted to call for help and do the right thing but his family interfered and.... I could come up with a lot of reasons because I want to forgive him. So everything else can be ignored. But all this obviously doesn't apply to Pang. So it can only be the bl in the not a bl show.

Now, on full brainy mode, this last episode makes no sense with everything else this show has been saying until now. They used a branded pair to ignore any class disparity between our mains, since the last ghost story didn't really parallel that, and over the forgiveness part, and jump straight into Peach has forgiven Home and will probably now become his saviour. Don't even get me started on the fact that Peach is still broke but saving the rich dude that turned his life to crap will be the most important thing right now. I wonder if gmmtv has ever ignored class disparity between a main couple and instead focused on the richer dude's drama while ignoring the struggle of the other one, all in favour of the main romance and lovey dovey moments 🤔. But I guess I'll reserve full judgement on that until the next episode.

yeah, so basically this is where I am at with this show. My two sides are fighting but come next wednesday my brain will take the back seat for 45 minutes so I can enjoy Tay and New and after that maybe I'll think about it some more.

[larkingame]

hello all! been a moment since we last discussed some things, so I'm coming online to discuss the progress of Larkin's development and make a few announcements :)

over the last ten months, larkin has gone through a lot of changes, some of which I've documented here--but most of it I've kept pretty private. I realized that over the few short years I've been developing the game, I sort of grew an unhealthy dependence on my presence within the 'interactive fiction' community that I really, really needed to take a step back from and break, all in order to ensure that I could enjoy working on what originally started out as a passion project for me.

since july of last year, I've completely reshaped and rewritten how larkin exists as a project, shifted it's genre and started collaborating with a few others to ensure it can be of the highest quality it can possibly be. uptop, i'd like to mention @tapeworrmart who's taken on the immense task of putting together most of the game art for me, @khiita and @ann1a-1 who have both taken on the roles of my editors (and also sounding boards for when I am being absolutely insane) and my production manager phillip, who without his assistance, larkin would barely exist. with that, let's do a progress report. the intended demo of larkin, or what i've taken to calling 'episode one' (yes, i said, 'episode,' more on that in a minute) has stretched to just over 200k words worth of content. it stretches all the way from the earliest versions of larkin's original prologue, to the end of the original chapter two. so far, we've completed 3 out of the intended 20 character portraits, as well as some more art that's slowly been in development.

now, on to the announcements. probably the biggest, and the one I am most ashamed of is--due to the fact that I've been slammed with graduate school work and some other external factors, Larkin as it currently exists is not the best that I think it can be. I'm deeply sorry for this, but I want to ensure that you all are getting the highest quality game you could get from me--and right now, I know it's just not that. Which is why I am unfortunately, pushing the release of the demo back until Friday, June 14th, 2024. Patrons will be granted access to the most recent edit of the demo two weeks earlier on Friday, May 31st 2024. In the meantime, I will be working day and night (quite literally) to get what I'm dropping on you up to par and something that I'm happy with.

To make up for this disappointment, I'm planning on repopulating the blog with a lot of content over the coming months, rewriting new versions of old asks, posting art and short stories.

Next on the agenda and also an equally important announcement. I'm changing the rating of Larkin to Mature or 18+ As I've been writing these past few months, working through a lot of themes and figuring out the story I want to tell, I've found that I think the change in rating is entirely necessary. While I don't think I've ever had that big of a minor fanbase--I think that this is just what I am most comfortable doing. There has consistently grown a little bit more of gore, and trauma exploration, which is the main reason for this change in rating, but, this does allow for the inclusion of something that I've been toying with since the intial release of the game. There is going to be explicit sex scenes in this new version of Larkin--all of which, you the player are able to opt out of, or completely avoid if that's something you want--but I just thought a little announcement would be warranted. This does not mean however, I am comfortable with answering thoroughly explicit asks or getting unsolicited sexual messages. The goal is to keep this game blog mainly tame.

Please respect this boundary of mine.

Third thing to be announced. I've also changed the format in which Larkin will be released. Rather than around the twenty-five chapters in one of a series of 'Books'/'Games', Larkin will be released episodically over four 'seasons' with eight-ten episodes of around 200k-250k words each (though, this is just an early estimate--they could grow longer, as I'm basing this purely off the demo/Episode One)

Finally and a little bit of a fun note: there are now twelve romance options throughout larkin, five male, three female, one non-binary and three gender-selectable. With those upcoming asks, you'll hear more about each in the coming days :)

With all that being said, I wanted to lastly thank all of you for supporting me over the years and putting faith and your interest in this project. truly, the support of all of you means the world to me and I can't wait to share more of larkin with you all.

thank you 💖

[wszczebrzyszynie]

For some reason i couldnt edit that answer (which is a problem considering i had first saved it in my drafts) so instead ill answer it in form of a post...

First, i just imagine space mining Grian to be a bit more serious than the normal one! That combined with intimidation factor. Maybe i should draw him smiling more. Thats really about it. Have a small Grian design exploration... they use all pronouns in the au

the main thing about Martyns plans and Grian disappearance situation is that Martyn actively didnt want to turn Grian in. The whole thing happens after their big space train robbery and so to the world Grian, Scar and Tango are considered a team, and to Martyn a package deal. He knows he can use Grian (who was on top of everything wounded) to get the other two quite easily, even if both Scar and Tango are considered extremely dangerous (which is true for Scar but couldnt be further from the truth in Tangos case... Martyn also believed that Tango was some respected dangerous criminal at first because thats the main joke), Martyn isnt really... scared of them, ultimately. He knows his chances. What he doesnt know is that Grian and one of the other earthians under Rens command, Bigb, got along very well very quick. This is very much the "earthian trust" ive mentioned in the last ask. So while Martyn plans to stage an an arrest to bait Scar to show up, Bigb (whos a former criminal himself working for Ren in the rehabilitation programme, same as Martyn) and Grian plan their escape. Martyn in the beginning underestimates the bonds people can form (himself believing he can leave Ren anytime he wants if it was in some way profitable for him to do so; whether thats true or not is another thing) a lot, which this situation makes him realize, giving him later the kidnapping Jimmy idea. But for now Bigbs betrayal is not something he anticipated and when he does its too late to do anything big. He still uses it to his benefit and tries to track Grian, hoping he would lead him to the other two, but he fails.

Ren had no idea about any of this, obviously. Not exactly because hes naive, hes well aware Martyn does things behind his back that are less than legal, but he... trusts Martyn to be loyal at the end of it. He firmly believes that no matter what Martyn does he would never end up betraying him, letting Martyn do what he wants and acting like hes unaware. If he knew he would not go with Martyns idea. With Bigb the situation is similar, except Ren doesnt think he would do anything even remotely similar to what Martyn does. Its definitely the more... normal kind of trust he has towards Bigb. Story structure wise, this is the first proper introduction to Martyn as a serious threat, as well as how centralized hunting works. Its a big operation far more exceeding whatever Tango has experienced before

And the last thing... this is far more lighthearted. They met at Jimmys; Scott, even with all the teasing, still cares enough about Jim to check up on him. He feels responsible for Jimmy because he knows Jimmy depends on him, without really caring about his troubles emotionally. Scott just thinks this is the right thing to do and therefore Jimmy is a focus of his (space mining Scott has low empathy. To me). The way Scott views Jimmy definitely plays a huge role in that but his intentions arent out of cruelty. And Tango is practically homeless and sleeping either in his car or (temporarily) on Grian and Scars couch, which is something Jimmy cannot deal with, keeping him at his ranch for far longer than his other visitors. The earthian community focused living; even if its temporary, Tango lives with people Jimmy considers his family, so hes a friend too, meaning he will take care of him just as he does of Scar and Grian. As for how their first meeting went - bad! Scott is a very specific person and even if he isnt unkind, he has... a very strong presence in the room. Far more intimidating than even some bounty hunters Tango met. So while Tango is stressed out with Scott around, feeling like every conversation is a test hes failing, Scott... doesnt think anything specific about Tango. He doesnt think highly of him, thats for sure, but he also doesnt care all that much and is far more interested in the Jimmy side of things. All three ate dinner normally except Tango and Scott played a very pathetic game of 5d chess durning it and Jimmy, being used to how Scott is at all times, was unaware of it

[nwarrior777]

Nonborder Identity term and Nonborder flag: The Manifesto

Hello, I am Kris Volyk and i made new identity term because i don't feel myself in any i know. And also i made Pride flag for it

Read under the cut my Manifesto about it and Flag details meanings ❤

i will tell a bit of how i went to it before explaining what it is and what flag elements means

my gender path was a rollecoaster. I went throuth a lot of phases, tried a lot of "labels" on myself. I don't say phase is something bad - my labels fitted me then i was wearing it. Then i identified as agender, i really didn't felt any gender in myself, then i said that i am libraboy i did felt a bit of masculinity, and i indeed felt so Much Gender being xenogender. It was all great, but at some point i felt like i don't feel like anything i know fits.

It started then i moved to new country and felt... I remember in art university we were told about cave people not tearing themselves apart from nature. It was mindset which was about everything being nature and human was not something aside. Humanity wasn't even part of nature, there wasn't parts. Just nature.

And here in new place i feel it more and more every day. I just see these fake structures now, which humans build. All these weird rules. In everything, but in gender you know that ones - make up is for women, clothes which is f or m depends on which sides are buttons. It all just don't make sense to me now.

Things which are gendered still, for me no longer have gender. Beard can be on women, breast can be on men, people can look whatever and wear whatever and do whatever they want. I mean, if who i am talking to is asking to see them as some gender - sure. It's right of human to express their soul as they want and treated respectfully. I am just saying that for me, if i see beard, i will not be surprised at all to hear, that it's * not * a masculine person i see

So what's how i got to my own definition of how i feel now

Nonborder. Identity Definition

Nonborder - is identity, which ties together gender identity and other identities, such sexual and romantic. It's about removing gender concept from elements of life, which are still gendered by society. It's about Love, Freedom and Kindness

Originally it was about gender in my mind, but it is so much more.

The point in the name - non-border: it breaks the concept of gender and identities mentioned above, but, while breaking concept, it is kindly keep the elements of past understandings of identities, because who will keep queer history if not queers.

The main thing in being nonborder is not having gender as a concept in mindset, but, keeping in mind that elements, which were gendered by society, not disappears - nonborder mindset just remove the concept of gender from these elements. Physiology, look, clothes, moves - in nonborder mindset there is no assumption that any gendered element have to mean that human with this element is "matching" with society-decided gender-element role. (example - i am nonborder and if i see human with breast, if it turn out to be man it will be no surprise to my mindset)

So Kindness, it is that a human, being nonborder, translates to others - you see someone and accept their choice of self-expression or factors of their look they don't have control on and go with such pronounces [and analogs in other languages] which that person ask you to use. But here is part about, being nonborder for yourself.

Being nonborder for me, as i feel it, in gender - it's, without gender concept in mind, is more like a fluent vibes. I've made a post about it actually once - it's like, sometimes i feel myself like flower, sometimes like beast and if i will be ever on a beach i will feel myself like a happy whale. I don't feel myself like female, but i don't mind me having breast, i love my red lipstic, and black lipstick and not lipstick, and i am thinking about how to make an outfit with vibe of water dragon because i feel like that lately. I just. Feel.

So yeah. It's pretty much about that. The Feeling.

And, about it not being only about gender - i don't limit myself on who i can have fun with, i dream about long relationships, but i am flirty, etc. I guess it can be called pan and polyamory but i don't feel it fits - i just. Go how it goes. I get fun, and Love is just. About happiness and fun, it can be long fast deep or one kiss on party and never meet again - again, how with gender, i just go how i feel, how my heart go. I have preferences and dreams but like, sometimes my heart surprises me

The Flag. Imaginary meaning

And now quickly about the flag. Will put here image again because it will be hard to go back and for to look for details. It can be counts as image id also, i literally describe what is pictured and meaning

Black background - The Universe

White box in the centre - Boxes, labels, cages of forced rules

The star image in the centre [the star is not a standart 5 point star. It looks like square pillow if you very stretch all 4 point edges, rotated on 45°] painted in bright magenta-pink color [neon lights glow bright in night are usually associated with this color] - Star represent the ex plosi on, break out The Box. It also represent community - stars comes with constellations.

Two same stars on left and right side of the flag - which is again about something Which You Are Not Alone With, community. They are also placed in composition in a way (half out of the canvas) which makes it looks like start add something to the shape of Universe (black background)

The most important part - The Lines

The Lines is same color as stars, are coming from the star in the centre. It is heart-shaped fountain of lines, which goes up, around forming heart shape and connect to one line in the end. Lines are 7 - it is a contour of pride flag

These Lines tells most of the thing: shape of heart - Love and Kindness to yourself and others, Lines also look a bit, with star inside, as chest bones - which represents The Feelings and vibes, which nonborder feels instead of gender concept. Lines going up as fountain from the box - running away from cage, and connecting together going spirall all around box to New Begining - that idea of feeling not teared apart form community and Nature, which we lost but people in caves had

Whoah. It was. A bit hard to write. But, well. I lived my 26 years to came to that. I hope you will find this thing interesting at least or maybe even fitting your feelings. But i am happy even by. Bringing it up. Making flag was. Such an Expirience.

Happy pride month!

[starlightshadowsworld]

I absolutely believe most of the Agency is on the no fly list.

Atsushi: So does the Agency ever take cases outside of Yokohama?

Kunikida: We've taken cases outside of the city in nearby areas. But as far as say, international cases are concerned we do not.

Atsushi: Oh, so if Standard Island hadn't floated to Yokohama, we wouldn't be able to take it?

Kunikida: It definitely depends on the situation and it's severity. But with that case, no it wouldn't been our job.

Dazai: Each country and region has their own version of our Agency. They'll differ in some ways but the main goal is the same.

Kunikida: nods So countries stick with their own to solve these cases. Sometimes they'll reach out but that can introduce different factors and possible risks.

Dazai: It's also a point of pride, they can risk a lot in their image by relying on others for help. You saw what it was like negotiating with the Port Mafia. Now imagine that with a whole country.

Atsushi: shudders Yikes.

Kunikida: So no the Agency doesn't take international cases unless it's truly warranted.

Which is good for us because we're far too busy and it would be a logistical nightmare. Considering most of us are on the no fly list.

Atsushi: Yeah... Wait what?!

Kunikida: My ability's deemed too much of a security risk. Along with Kenji's and Kyouka's.

Kyouka: That and I was an assassin, I'd probably be arrested.

Yosano: I can fly but I'm also wanted in, what was it like 13 countries? Along with the President so Standard Island is the closest I'll ever get to see England, Germany and France.

Kunikida: So is Katai, not like he leaves his home anyway.

Dazai: I'm not grins but not one trusts me to go alone.

Kunikida: I don't even trust you to walk to the train station alone.

Dazai: So mean Kunikida!

Yosano: If it weren't for Perfect Crime you'd be right here with us.

Dazai: Ah, semantics.

Ranpo: I'm not supposed to fly either, but they can just try and stop me.

Atsushi:... I want to be suprised but I'm really not. Hmm, with my bounty, would I also be on the no fly list?

Dazai: Huh, I didn't think of that you could be. Depending on if it was wide spread or not, you could be wanted in a bunch of countries.

Atsushi:... Maybe we should just stay here in Yokohama.

Kunikida: A wise decision.

[bloodyinkandquill]

Slingshot x Reader

fun fact when i play phighting i only ever play slingshot, specifically cozy shot ive never learned how to play any other phighters so i am only sling, oh onetime on conquer i got 308 points, everyone in the server was dumb founded that i managed to be on point that long, anyways have sling dating hcs!

- You’ll be so honest, you are dating the demonification (personification) of a cat, who can also bake

- Slingshot is an amazing partner, so many things about him contribute to that fact, he bakes as a hobby and profession meaning he always has fresh pastries for you? And he can change recipes to be allergy conscious if need be, with the baking he smells divine due to working with sugar and and fruit all day, if you ever steal any piece of clothing he owns that thing smells like Thieves Rest

- He is a huge cuddle bug, if you aren’t a very touchy person he respects that but if you allow whenever he’s not at work he is clung onto your side like a gods damn koala, he also genuinely purrs (hybrid head canons my beloved), you’re not convinced he isn’t a cat in a demon costume, but if he is then that is the cuddliest cat in the whole Inphinity

- His hair isn’t long per say but it is long enough that he puts it up while working, if you have any experience doing any form of updo he lets you braid or even just put his hair into a ponytail for him, he has a collection of hair ties that go with his uniform apron but that he switches out based on certain factors, it really depends

- When he first introduced you to Shuriken and Vinestaff he warned you and was right as the first thing they did was give you a shovel talk*, you tried to take it seriously but they bickered about it like six times and it was a little hard to focus on their words when they had a classic sibling slap fight in the middle of it, but they did approve of you and eventually got used to seeing you at their apartment, since they’re both very family oriented you were almost an honorary family member, technically your lover was also an honorary family member but he was just considered actual family by the siblings

- You better be ready to be shown Slingshot’s entire collection of fancy expensive shoes (i am not a sneaker head forgive any inaccuracies in this) you also better be ready to take better care of your own shoes, cleaning them regularly, wearing specific ones only for certain terrain, and gods forbid you crease them, he will get a random sense of dread, and when he finds out, woo boy, you’re in trouble

- Unfortunately he does have one drawback, being a baker his hours are horrendous, working late to prep pastries for the next day, and then waking up at the butt crack of dawn to also prep pasties, sure he doesn’t work everyday but seeing as between the three workers he’s the one who handles the baking when he does work it’s a lot of work

- His love language is gift giving, specially baked goods, honestly that shouldn’t be a surprise, he makes someone’s favorite pastries or just what they requested or he’ll even what he thinks they’ll like and gift it to them, you receive so many cookies and brownies, though you can’t complain really as free food is free food, especially when it’s made by your lover

- His dates are usually more low key or low energy, since his job is rather busy and has the aforementioned atrocious hours he prefers more calm dates, a lazy day being couch potatos or ordering take out and doing a puzzle, he prefers those dates to be at your place since his roommates are… loud to say the least

- Slingshot’s not as into big long kisses he prefers little kisses, short little mwahs on the lips or nose is his favorite, if you want to he can do more passionate kisses but he prefers short and sweet ones, since he isn’t as kissy he shows his affection with head bonks and rubbing your hand when he’s holding it

i’m debating being a baker, my main hobby is baking it helps me destress and i do it at least once a week but i dunno, my chronic pain may object to that, anyways hope these were good!

*the act of the family member(s) or close friend(s) of a partner giving a threat to the significant other warning to not hurt them, can be comedic or serious

[cinnamonest]

I know nothing about Persona let alone Goro Akechi but after reading the bsf and yan profile post I want to give this man a hug (and my tits). His story seems so sad ;-; and he's so pretty and for what?? 💢

Honestly, as much as I enjoy genshin I never truly found it to have any meaningful or extremely well written characters (which is not a bad thing, I just can't take them seriously when they all look like that lmao). All credit to making me think twice about them goes to writers and artists in the fandom. So the change in content feels soooooo nice. Made me appreciate your writing in another way

I've heard about Persona a LOT for years, but I didn't have a huge drive to play it until your liveposting (p.s I love the LP so much) and especially the posts with that one insane policeman guy who is a loser (affectionate, also giving him my pussy). Any recs? 😅

HE IS MY BABY BOY you're so right he is so pretty 😖😖😖 Akechi is genuinely an excellently written character, and Persona 5 Royal is one of the few games I think fully deserves to be so hyped as it is.

Tbh I think the problem genshin and similar games has is that there's so many characters, you have to essentially go out of your way to dig into lore to get anything beyond surface level from them. This happens a lot in series with lots of characters — like with Danganronpa for example, your experience of a lot of characters completely changes upon playing their free time events. A lot of genshin characters get very little screen time on the main story, so all their characterization is in their quests, lines, and character profile content. Which to be fair, with a game of this nature that's kinda the only way to really do it, so, I'm just glad they give us that extra content tbh. I've played some gachas that would introduce new characters but give very little beyond a design and name which is kinda sad when you want to know more about the lil guy you're playing with.

But AAAAAAAAAAAAAA thank you so much anon I am going to ramble here, but I'll put a tl;dr at the bottom!

Soooo if you want to get into Persona, I'd recommend the series in a certain order with some notes. There's 5 main entries in the series and a lot of spinoffs.

A word of advice in general with marathoning a game series: with any series it's a good idea to play in order of chronological and thus technological progression, especially if you intend to play the series back to back, otherwise going from a more recent game to an older one can damper your experience due to the decrease in graphical quality, gameplay smoothness, and general content quantity.

However for this series, the ideal order to play really depends on the factors of 1) which version of Persona 3 you choose to play, and 2) if you want to play Persona 1 & 2.

Regarding Persona 1 and 2: These are some of those games where your enjoyment will strongly depend on whether or not you're a person who is okay with some of the frustrations, limitations and slowness/jankiness common to old games (they came out between 1996-1999). I know some people don't mind or see it as a sort of vintage charm, while others get very frustrated with that — if you're the latter, I'd recommend saving yourself the frustration and skipping them, but if you like old games or have a high tolerance for jankiness, you could start here. I will also say that, even amongst the vintage/90s games fan crowd, P2 is definitely more popular and considered better than P1. It's also much better on the aforementioned issues.

Also, unless you have an original PlayStation or PSP, you'll have to emulate these.

Regarding Persona 3: there's several versions — the original came out in like 2006, then there was a remake version called P3 FES which added an epilogue (which is being added to the recent remake soon anyway), then a PSP remake called Persona 3 Portable (which has ports on modern consoles), then the most recent remake, Persona 3 Reload, came out just a few months ago in 2024.

Obviously the newest remake has vastly improved graphics and added lots of gameplay content. However, one of the biggest differences is that P3 Portable had the option to play as a female protagonist — this altered a lot of aspects of the game and is exclusive to that version (which has disappointed a lot of people hoping she'd be in the 2024 remake), so you can't play as her if you play Reload (unless, I believe, you play PC, there's a volunteer team currently making a mod for her).

Personally, I bought P3 Reload, and couldn't get into it, so I dropped it. Then I bought P3P on a whim and LOVE it so far. Getting to play as the girl protagonist makes a massive difference in my opinion, and more than compensates for the older graphics/gameplay. It's not just the romance routes either, her dialogue options, interactions, music, and overall vibe is different enough that it changes the feel of the story.

It really depends on what you value more — 2024-tier visual quality/gameplay and the epilogue, versus the Female Protagonist experience, so just pick which you prefer.

For the order thing, if you choose to play P3P (or the original/FES for whatever reason), I'd start here, but if you want to play Reload, I'd play it either last or just before P5 Royal.

Moving on, Persona 4: Golden and Persona 5: Royal are both the definitive editions of their respective games. They're remakes of the originals with a lot of added content, and unlike Persona 3, there's no reason to play the older versions over these. Notably their themes/vibes are kinda opposite of each other (big city world-scale societal rebellion versus small rural town murder mystery), I wouldn't say either story is better or worse, they're not really comparable and more a matter of personal taste.

As for the stories, admittedly if you've read my posts, you've essentially already been spoiled on the identity of the killers, but honestly it's still worth experiencing the story, there's multiple big plot twists before and after the reveals regarding Akechi/Adachi.

I would play Persona 5 Royal last, largely because it's widely considered the best entry to the series and is by far the longest. However if you only intend to play one game, it should definitely be P5 Royal. The only real flaw to P5 is it's much easier than previous games.

From here, there's a few more spinoff games, whether or not you want to play them really just depends on if you enjoy the genre. There's a bit of lore in some of them but nothing critical.

Dancing All Night/Starlight/Moonlight - dancing rhythm games

Arena Ultimax - fighting game, acts as an epilogue to P3&4

Persona Q 1&2

These are Nintendo DS spinoffs with chibi style art. I haven't played these and admittedly don't know much about them, I think they're dungeon crawler genre? It's popular for the aspect of which it involves the characters of the different main games, so you get to see them interact with each other.

The downside is that these games are oddly expensive, I think because there weren't too many copies. I intend to get them eventually.

Persona 5 Tactica/Strikers:

These are P5 spinoffs that put the cast in alternate stories, strikers is the closest to a true sequel from my understanding, tactica is more of a dungeon-crawler. I didn't get them because Akechi isn't in strikers and is just minor dlc for tactica.

The Phantom X

This is upcoming I believe, it's going to be a mobile game with a new cast.

The TL;DR of my advice:

- Play P2 only if you're into vintage gaming

- Play P1 only if you're REALLY into vintage gaming

- Play Persona 3 Portable if you really value the female protagonist/male character romance experience, otherwise play Persona 3 Reload

- If you play the original Persona 3, FES, or P3 Portable: start with that, then P4 Golden, then P5 Royal

- If you play Persona 3 Reload: play P4 Golden FIRST, then both P5 Royal and P3 Reload in either order.

- Play the spinoffs just based on what type of games you like, if any.

[rorah]

Yallo!

A bit random, but do you ever think about how potentially tragic of a character Byleth is, and how it's all dependent on if they get to forge bonds and a new path in life as a professor as we can see from both games?

They get to stray away from the mercenary lifestyle, albeit it was forced at first, and the label that was forcibly placed on them(Ashen Demon) that caused them to be negatively perceived for most of their life. Nobody besides Jeralt, their father, bothered to understand them, because their lack of emoting well would just scare people and make them think they're some emotionless husk. No friends, no support system, just the sword and Jeralt.

Like it's really telling how their first dialogue option in 3Houses is "I'm a demon" factored in with Byleth being surprised in Hopes that people weren't treating them as less when recruited.

Honestly I'd argue Byleth is rather complex in a behavioral sense.

Ah, sorry for the little ramble. As you can see, I am obsessed with this autist.

OOh hello! Not random at all. And if it's random you're coming to the right place because I love randomness 🙌 Thinking about Byleth makes me SOOOOOOOFFFFFTTTTTTT 😭 ngl, they have become one of my favorite characters in the process of trying to figure out their character throughout the several gameplays. And Hopes made it a punch in the guts 💔 but also give us voiced Byleth YAY. Yes, I think about the potential tragic of their character, their past and specially in Hopes that wrecks my heart and makes me cry like a baby in some random dark corner of my room. That notion of their first dialogue with Shez when recruited about everyone in the camp being nice breaks my heart a bit because it implies that even when working for the opposite faction you choose, they didn't get to interact any of the other characters we know. Not Jeralth fault by actively isolating them since he tells them to "try to fit in" when finally joining our ranks and yet, if they're with the "enemy", their mercenary group is still isolated from the main army and don't get to interact much. And if they do, is just the random average soldier who gets freaked out by their unnerving-ness as it's been implied. Byleth haven't grown and developed like they did in houses, so they still struggle.

You're so right about their complexity of their behavior. In my way to discover the Byleth, I found myself relating to them A LOT. But also had to be careful to not "project" too much into them. I like to look at the game's options and considering part of something Byleth would say either way (because there's really not many options to pick, most of them go around the same), character reactions to them, hopes, and also heroes' dialogues. I think Byleth is a beautiful character that deserve more credit and more focus It'd be great for the Autism representation and bring hope to the autists out here lol

[marshmallowprotection]

Now I'm curious how Suit would treat an assistant MC like from the first bad ending

I hugely think it depends on how you want to imagine the situation. When I am trying to piece him together in a situation that does not cause him to be provoked the way he was in Ray Route, I look at V Route as my staple example of what to expect. He's wild, hard to lock down, but one thing is for certain, he's curious about you and he will learn what makes you tick, one way or another.

He doesn't have a reason to lash out at you in that situation, and he wouldn't have a reason to do so in the assistant route. Ray wasn't put in the basement for turning against Mint Eye, and therefore, he didn't wake up there with the instinctual reaction to attack and defend. In a situation where you're the assistant, you're not going to encounter his attitude the same way.

You're an interesting plaything, you are Ray's little dress up doll. You could be a nuisance, you could get in his way, or you could benefit him. There's really no wrong way to imagine it. More than anything, I can see him wanting to pick you apart. A plaything he wants to figure out more than anything else. What makes you tick? What makes you squirm? Can he get something out of being close to you like Ray? Or, are you terrified by him? Would you prefer Ray?

He wants to know what makes you important and why the hell Ray would kidnap you in the first place. What makes you so special? Why would Ray do all of this for you? What's the benefit in putting their safety at risk just to be with you? Is it worth all the trouble? Are you worth the trouble? Can you do anything that will help them take over the RFA or did Ray just intends to keep you at his side?

What's the end goal?

Hell, what's the main goal?

It's not as if he's going to corner you like prey. There is no purpose in doing that because he is not in a situation where he needs to blame you for everything bad that's happened to him and Ray.

You could be a nuisance to him if you get in the way of his work that needs to be done, but I don't think he's going to treat you with the animosity that you see in other situations. Even in those situations, while he's not in the right, most of his actions can be understood as him doing everything he can within his power to make things right, but the only way for him to do that is to be cruel and it defeats the purpose.

Him locking you away in your room being, in part, him knowing that he is the lesser of all evils compared to the other believers. His choice to deny you food, while 100% wrong, does have some basis in being from the fact that he and Ray have been poisoned with food plenty of times, more times than he can count, actually. Him trying to belittle you in front of Rika is another ploy, too. He knows Rika already made up her mind on you, but it doesn't stop him from trying.

His reaction to when that inevitably happens in an assistant situation may look similar, but how he responds will be different.

The circumstantial evidence as to what he will do in a different situation is hard to pin down, but if you take what you have seen him do in other situations, we can kind of wager a few guesses as to what will happen when things go wrong.

But if you're asking me what he'll do before something goes wrong and it seems to be going in his and Ray's favor, that's hard to say. It depends on what kind of person you are, how you respond to what happened to you, and a multitude of other factors.

The MC in the Prologue’s Bad Ending resigns themself to staying with Ray because… “He’s sad… but I’m certain he won’t hurt me.” They stay with him because they know he's lonely, they empathize with that, and all they want to do is to provide him with… kindness.

I have always imagined that this MC is down on their luck and doesn't have a lot of good in their life and despite everything, Ray is one of the first people that’s shown them kindness in a long time, and they decide to stick with him. Even if what he did was wrong and they can acknowledge that, they understand that he's not the true evil in this situation, and even though he should be held accountable for what he's done, seeing what he's living through makes them understand that the situation is far more complex than it appears at first glance.

Suit Saeran is a wild card.

I can narrow down what he'll do sometimes and other times I'm not sure what he would do. I hope this fills in some of the blanks for you at the very least.

[pansy-picnics]

How would the tangled kids react to Varian and Cassandra’s villain arc? Also I love your art 😊

AJDJDJDGG OKAY SO. this is SO fucking good but ive been putting it off for so long bc i wanted to draw something to go with it but i’ve just. never figured out what so inevitably i’m just gonna answer it on its own

this subject in particular is SO FUNNY for me to think about bc i think the kids’ reactions depend a lot on how their parents talk abt it and both of them handle it in COMPLETELY different ways. like uknighted dream is pretty open abt it (obviously they give the incredibly watered down kid-safe version) and they kinda use it as a learning experience? like in very vague terms.

its kinda just like

alina: oh why are you and mama cass fighting in your drawing :(

rapunzel: <:) well yknow how if you shake a bottle of soda, when you open it it explodes everywhere?? well sometimes when we bottle up our feelings and don’t do anything with them or talk to someone we trust, they end up getting all shaken up in there, and eventually theyll explode! mama cass and i used to have a lot of trouble talking about our feelings, and because of all those emotions that got bottled up and shaken around in there, we found it hard to properly communicate with each other at all. but then we realized how much we really cared about each other and how we really wanted to make things work, so we learned to be more honest about how we felt and how to communicate with one another without everything just ‘exploding’, so to speak. and thats why we always teach you how to manage your big emotions, does that make sense? :)

on the other hand VARIAN? literally could not care less. at least not with the ud kids. he still has one of his wanted posters that hugo grabbed as a “souvenir” on their trip, and the automaton he used to fight rapunzel? its still in the corner of his lab and he pulls it apart regularly for scrap metal.

ryder will be wandering around his lab when hes like 7 and hes like “uncle vari whats that”

varian: that’s an automaton buddy

ryder: did you make it?

varian: yeah

ryder: what’s it for

varian: well nothing now it’s just spare parts. but i actually made it a long time ago to fight your mom

ryder: which one

varian: both actually. and technically your dad. but mostly rapunzel

ryder: oh

ryder: did you win?

varian: no it wasnt really that kind of fight. nobody won

ryder: oh that’s boring

ryder: can i try it

varian: absolutely not

when emery comes along though varian is like “okay we are Never addressing this again” bc em thinks varian is SO cool and varian actually cares So much about his newfound image. (very stupid of him for that to be his main priority obviously bc emery is like 4 and if she knew what he did she would probably just be like “okay. can i have apple juice”)

anyways yeah ilmari and the twins don’t really tell her anything either because they don’t really see it as anything worth telling her about, especially in comparison to way more important things like the fact that lance will sometimes sneak you dessert before dinner if you can convince eugene he has a gray hair without him catching on. so obviously emery grows up fairly unaware of anything varian has done but the defining factor is that shes constantly hearing about it out of context and is just left to struggle with that enigma.

like you know the experience of being like 14 years old at the family thanksgiving and you get to sit at the grown ups table for the first time and hear about all their weird beef and inside jokes and also hear your aunt mention out of context that hey your dad went to prison once bc that’s LITERALLY what the tangled kids experience in relation to their parents’ pasts. like the twins forgot about most of what varian told them by the time they grew up, they knew the watered down version of what happened with cass but they never knew the little details right. so they’ll just be hanging out playing checkers together while the adults are sitting across the room chatting over drinks and varian jokes “oh man its just like that one time cass kidnapped me” and all the kids immediately whip their heads around like “WHAT?”

this is ESPECIALLY true with emery who’s parents are notorious for having more insults for each other than pet names. em could just be reading by the fireplace late one night and var and hugo come out for a midnight snack and just start talking like

hugo: sometimes i think maybe objectively we should be evil again. like just for fun

varian: honestly. i took over the kingdom once i could do it again no problem

hugo: you’re probably actually strong enough to do it yourself now 🥺

varian: you want to kiss me so bad it makes you look stupid

emery: ….right so are we just gonna brush over the “again” part or did you guys forget i was here

varian also eventually realizes that by doing this he is replicating EXACTLY how quirin used to be secretive of his own past and how like one day varian just suddenly had to grapple with the knowledge that his dad who baked pies and fed the apple peels to his raccoon probably had a kill count. and obviously varian is absolutely distraught over this revelation

“HUGO HELP ME. I think im becoming my dad” “oh. well hey it happens to all of us it could be worse. besides your dad is hot so like i see it as a win win” “What” “what?”

i should probably also mention that ilmari knew about cass’s villain arc long before they even MET and ilmari actively tries to use this against her when they’re like 13. like “yeah well you cant tell ME what to do i’m gonna tell alina and ryder you tried to stab mom when you were in your 20s” (it doesn’t work btw)

[cazort]

Whenever I post about how I am voting for Kamala Harris and think it's important to vote for Democrats, and my post starts blowing up, I get a lot of negative comments from people who claim to be progressive, saying things like "Voting doesn't matter." or" Both parties are the same".

And here's the thing. I always check out these people's blogs.

And you want to know what? I never, not once, have found any of these people posting anything actionable to move beyond the two-party system. None of them mention or talk about ranked choice voting (RCV) or total vote runoff (TVR). None of them talk about the laws and structural factors that keep the two party system in power. None of them even have a candidate that they recommend voting for as a protest vote. None share and link to articles in high-quality media sources that break out of the right-left binary. And the ones that are calling for really radical solutions like revolution, none of them have a constitution, none of them have a proposed tax policy, none of them have a proposition of the way a radically different (such as growth-free) currency system could work.

And here's the thing. I do all of these things. I've been doing it for decades, since before I was even on Tumblr.

I'm not just voting blue. I'm voting blue AND advancing RCV and TVR. I have written pages and pages on tangible tax policy reform, on local zoning reform (I'm active locally pushing for such reform), transportation funding reform (pushing for it for 20+ years now). I've been involved in prison reform and abolition activism at the local and federal level. I even started a community currency 16 years ago.

Listen to me and listen to other people who are doing the work. We are all saying the same thing. Don't listen to these people who aren't doing the work. They claim to be radical but they're not doing anything at all. I don't know if they're real people or not, but they're butting into my posts and they're telling me and other people not to vote because it doesn't make a difference and doesn't do enough, but like...they're not doing anything at all to push society in a good direction, to solve problems, to build a better world. They're just posting negative stuff on some blog and they're not even posting information on their blog that might help tear down the systems they're supposedly opposed to.

I don't trust any of these people and I don't want you to either.

Seriously, if someone is telling you not to vote, telling you that your vote doesn't matter, scrutinize them. Who are they? What are they advocate? If they are telling you not to vote, what do they want you to do?

99% of the time they don't actually encourage you to do anything positive. And I have a sneaking suspicion that these people don't actually want to tear down the systems they are superficially criticizing, they are secretly trying to support them. I suspect that they actually want you to feel negative about voting and disengage. They want you to feel helpless, and to step back from the political system, to step out. They are serving the people who benefit when you don't vote. And that's the far-right authoritarians.

If you, like me, want a better society in a deeply flawed two-party system, you vote for the better of the two parties AND you take other measures too, supporting RCV (which had massive wins in both Maine and Alaska and could be implemented in more states if we work towards it) and TVR (far superior to the IRV used in Maine and Alaska), and researching and talking about issues and getting involved in issues that aren't being discussed. Join the Strong Towns movement and work to move beyond car dependence. Join the movement to expose the injustice of payroll tax and abolish all payroll taxation including FICA and all the smaller ones too and replace them with other taxes such as carbon tax or other, progressive consumption-based taxes. Start thinking critically about currency, maybe read Greco's book "Money: Understanding and Creating Alternatives to Legal Tender".

I am outside the two party system and have been so my whole life. I am doing the work and have been doing the work for decades now. So listen to me when I tell you to vote blue. Vote not just for Harris but research and look up your house and senate races and your state and local races as well and vote in all of them. It's a small but important step. And don't just stop there, do all of these other things I'm telling you about too. It's a "both...and" scenario.

Don't submit to these people trying to tell you not to vote. Scrutinize them. You will see what they are really about and once you see it you will not be manipulated by them.

[canmom]

knife missile simulator 2024

played through Children of the Sun by René Rother - thanks to @teitomonogatari for the rec! Here's a trailer:

...wait, hold on, that's not right. here's a trailer:

I was hoping for a game that would scratch that Neon White itch, and... kinda?

What we have is a sorta... sniping-based puzzle game is a decent way to describe it. It's a game of clearing a field of enemies with one bullet - feasible because you can steer this bullet with your miiiiind. Every time you hit an enemy you can launch the bullet in a new direction; later you gain the power to steer the bullet in flight with certain restrictions. At the end of the level you get a nice linear visualisation of the path of your bullet, tracing out some kinda crazy zigzag.

This is not really a game about stealth. Your enemies are totally helpless - later they don armour and even generate their own psychic shields, but there is really fuck all they can do to stop the bullet taking them all out in a matter of (without the slowmo) seconds. What it brings to mind to me is the 'knife missiles' from Iain M Banks's Culture novels, both in how the bullet moves and how completely unstoppable it is as a weapon.

Narratively, this is the story of a psychic girl who was raised by an American cult and is now on a one-woman revenge mission to kill every member and finally its leader. The exact beliefs and practices of this cult kind of left vague, but the leader wears a distinctive beard and sunglasses and there's suggestion of human sacrifices and maybe sexual violence depending on how you intepret a particular dream sequence. Probably the major inspiration is the infamous Jonestown, though history furnishes us with no shortage of other possibilities.

As far as the cult theming goes... as this kinda wanky guy says, it is honestly pretty superficial and tends to pull its punches. Given that this is mostly a solo dev effort (with the exception of some illustrations and the dynamic music), it's understandable that it can only go so far with narrative elements - thus we get fragmented comic-like memories wrapped in heavy glitch effects.

Honestly, the main issue that I have as a story is that it didn't seem to be saying anything new - the cult are pretty much stock villains, and while there are some suggestions that the girl gets off on killing and so on, it doesn't really give you that much to get invested in about her as a character. The final twist, in which the cultists appoint her their new leader, mostly merits a 'oh, ok sure lmao'.

As a story about an abusive cult, I think part of the reason it stumbles is that the player is only ever in a situation of overwhelming power. With only vague snatches of what the cult did before the start of the game, you don't really get much of a sense of 'these bastards' - they are more like walking targets. But the game doesn't seem interested in going further with showing your effects on your victims either.

Rather than say more about that, I want to comment on the mechanics. The comparison to Neon White makes a lot of sense: both are games about optimising a route through 3D space with certain restrictions. Both require you to hit every enemy, and exploit those enemies to reach places you otherwise couldn't.

And this is a scoreboard game; it has a fairly involved scoring system factoring in where you hit the enemies, distance travelled by your bullet, time and various other factors. It's not an incredibly hard game - I placed within a few thousand of the top of the leaderboard on most levels, and within the top 100 or even top 10 on a couple, generally speaking just by getting lots of headshots and maintaining my multiplier streak. It usually took a decent number of tries to clear, though, because it is quite a fiddly game - especially with the time pressure, an enemy might move slightly causing you to miss them by a few pixels, or you might slightly screw up the angle and be unable to make a curve shot, etc. etc. Admittedly this is because I tried to play for score from the start - if I had taken my time more and aimed for centre of mass, I'd probably have cleared each level sooner.

Compared to Neon White, where the basic route is usually pretty obvious even if shortcuts aren't, figuring out a viable route is also a challenge here. Conveniently, you can mark the locations of each enemy and it also auto-tags one if you kill it on any given attempt, so you don't have to remember enemy placements, and there is also a pretty informative crosshair which can confirm when you're pointing at a valid target. So, in each run, you gradually figure out more of your path: 'that guy, that guy, go over there to get distance for an armour piercing shot, then those two guys' etc. etc., then keep trying until you nail it.

Neon White's predictability was a huge point in its favour as a speedrunning game - if you screw up, it was nearly always be due to a fumbled input rather than bad luck, and you could rely on enemy placements regardless of your pace. Children of the Sun is also pretty deterministic... but it features a number of enemies who move on cycles or patrol routes, meaning several levels involved waiting for enemies to reach the right position to take your shot, waiting for gaps in moving trains, etc etc. It's usually not a huge obstacle, but the variations caused by small differences in timing added to the sense of 'agh nearly had it'. And since there is no music per se, but musical sounds associated with your actions in game, it doesn't have the same continuous 'flow' when you try a level over and over.

Possibly the reason for these timing-based levels is that it needs them to provide depth, because in general, movement here is much more straightforward. There is no gravity: your bullet travels in a straight line and can squeeze through the tiniest gaps, so generally if your crosshair says you will hit, you will only miss if an enemy moves.

Neon White's movement is in significant part about verticality and gravity: many of your movement tools give you options to gain height or cancel a fall. White's default state is to fall downwards unless he's on a platform; the bullet's default state is to go in a straight line, no matter what.

Additionally, in Neon White there is no slomo, but you can have moments of parabolic motion where you have a chance to line up your next dash or jump. Children of the Sun on the other hand has multiple speeds of slow motion: when the bullet is in flight, when you are aiming, and when you are adjusting trajectory, time advances at different rates. These are very necessary: you'd need esports level flick aiming skills to play the game otherwise. But the sense of speed and rhythm came across a lot more strongly in Neon White.

Why make such a point by point comparison? I'm thinking about this because the THRUST//DOLL project involved a very similar style of movement to the bullet: you pivot with the mouse and click to accelerate in a particular direction. My plan was to have you dodging patterns of moving bullets, but I'm starting to see this would be even more annoyingly hard to predict than the slow-moving cars and trains in Children of the Sun, forcing the player to rely heavily on slomo - which would in turn undercut the sense of speed.

A lot of Neon White's sense of rhythm came from the fact that you didn't have to think too hard about the next place to go. It was often possible to complete levels, and even score a gold, with just one or a few tries. Getting the boxes was more puzzle-y, but generally speaking involved making a plan and executing it - I'll get this weapon from here and jump from here - once you already had all the info.

Meanwhile, Children of the Sun is, at least the way I played it, more about feeling out the route with trial and error, and carefully lining up your mouse while time mostly stands still. Which can totally work - I did complete the game! - but was a different vibe.

One thing I didn't do here was unlock all the challenges. There is a challenge in each level, and each one has a vague hint suggesting what you have to do to get it - typically shooting through particular things or blowing up specific targets. But you only get confirmation when you actually do it, so you need to either mess around until you figure it out, with no indication as to whether you're on the right track, or else look up a guide. The challenges give a decent point bonus so they're important to exploit if you want to get the really high scores. I kind of understand why they took this approach - otherwise it seems like a bit of a box-ticking exercise - but after solving the levels I never felt much inclination to go back and look for the challenge trigger, the way I liked to go back and search for the boxes in Neon White.

The final level of Children of the Sun is something like two levels rolled into one. You have to kill the outer enemy group, which removes a shield covering the inner enemy group, which removes a shield covering the boss. In practice this meant: I had to do the first half of the level many times, with the same strategy every time, occasionally messing up, until I figured out the second part... which naturally involved a bunch of tricky shots and unclear routing. It's the classic problem of a multi-phase boss or a long level without checkpoints.

I don't usually find this bothersome, and I think the reason is that usually there's still room to tighten up your execution of the first phase, and when you get good at it, you can knock it off really quickly and you get the fun feeling of doing something really sick. By contrast, once I'd figured out my route through the first set of guys, there was not much more to learn: I continued to shoot them in the same way. Maybe it's just that the first shot was really annoyingly precise!

The real lesson for me: it's pretty essential for games like this to keep their levels short. But it was fine in the end, I got the bastards >:)

Overall... Children of the Sun was definitely a diverting five hours, and it's definitely interesting to see an implementation of a mechanic I was trying, but I feel like it didn't quite work for me the way Neon White did. Still - I appreciate the rec! I'm always glad to see a game with a unique mechanic and aesthetic, it's a very impressive showing for a largely one-dev project, and I'm excited to see what he comes up with next.

[defilerwyrm]

I have several questions about your medical transition because I'm thinking about what I want myself and how to proceed. Feel free to ignore/not answer any or all.

Did you ever consider meta instead and if yes, what made you go for phallo? And if no, why not?

This may be kind of a weird question but how aware of your genitals are you now? I find it hard to imagine having genitals that are so out there and possibly in the way or touching things. Do they ever annoy you (Not in a "I wish I didn't get surgery" way but just generally)

Were or are you ever worried that getting your ovaries removed (I'm guessing that's included in a total hysterectomy?) could have adverse side effects (like menopause symptoms or other hormonal problems for example) and did/do you experience any of those?

Hope you're having a good enough time and thanks for giving the opportunity to ask those kinds of questions.

I did, heavily! Ultimately what it came down to was that I wanted to be able to top without prosthetics or aids, and I was not lucky enough with bottom growth that that would have really been plausible with meta. The other main factor was that my bottom dysphoria centered on not having a "natal" penis, and phalloplasty was my best option for getting something big enough to satisfy that need. Meta has a lot of advantages, though, such as being able to get a natural erection, so it really depends on your individual needs and wants.

Not very, to be honest, which is a 180 from how it used to be. I have to remind myself to reposition them so as to not get caught between my thighs when I stand, and I'm very aware of them if one of our dogs or cats steps on them or if I get horned up, but other than that they kinda fade into the same general non-attentive awareness I have of my body as a whole. It's very peaceful.

Not one bit. Being sterile was, and is, worth any risk to me. Interestingly, I did have a few months of occasional hot flashes right after having them removed, but from what I gather they were pretty mild: just a few minutes to half an hour of "Man is it hot in here?" and basically nothing else. I will say that the one truly annoying side effect of hysterectomy is I have to pee all the time now, but that's also because I drink about a gallon of water a day, and waking up in the middle of the morning (I work nights) to go piss is just unfortunately pretty common for someone my age of any sex or gender (the good news being that if I can survive till my 60s it should stop on its own then).

Thanks for your ask! Any opportunity to have my experience with medical transition help someone else is a boon to me. :D

[bismuthburnsblue]

YOU SELECTED: NO SLEEVES

Who saw that one coming, huh? certainly not me! a big surprise, but you know what? i will NOT be complaining about not sewing sleeves (though its less about putting them in and more about making a nice pattern, for me) its too early to say, but there might be some fun facing shenanigans coming with this choice!

Onto the collars! Once again, these are generalised a little, ill decide the exact shaping as im doing the patterning (there wont be a lot of variation, just widths and precise angles)

To split this up in a way that gives each option a fair vote, i decided to do this as a mini bracket! this post will contain the first poll, and there will be links to the other two for this round right below it. as usual there will be explanations of what exactly im meaning with each option under the cut- it might really be worth reading for this round, because some of the differences between options kind of only exist as long as i cut them differently (its hard to explain- i did a LOT of research and didnt come to any actual separations on some fronts)

There may also be an additional round for decorative features- piping, contrast accents, fun little shapes! itll depend what option is picked, i think :)

Lapel/Revere Collar vs Peter Pan Collar

Shawl Collar vs Convertible Collar (no stand)

Shirt Collar (with stand): i really struggled to define the difference between this and the convertible collar- theres not one solid answer, honestly. for the purposes of this poll im separating it based on whether its constructed with one piece, or two! if you look at all these images, you'll see that at the neckline, theres a band of fabric sewn in to bridge the divide between the shirt and the collar. the main thing this does is make the collar sit more upright on the neck, versus without which tends to sit flatter along the shoulders. it has a very traditional shirt look, but tends to only look really good when fully buttoned, in my eyes.

You could also have shirt collars that look something like this!! fun shapes and layers, the world is your oyster :)

Wing Collar: Based on my research, these can really be any shape you can imagine, at any angle and any rise. The main unifying factor is how they come to a much stronger point than a regular collar. in general, the ones i like sit pretty flat to the body at the front, folding over softly instead of having a noticeable rise (like a shirt collar does) for me, the point also has to be visible (though it can sit pretty high up round the shoulder) as otherwise it starts to look too much like a shawl collar.