#{well. not necessarily. but this isn't like. currently happening in any way shape or form. so i figure that's the best tag for it}

[defender-of-jouvente]

[You want to be their rock, don't you?] [Their shoulder to cry on. Someone they can always turn to. A person who can love them unconditionally.] [Don't you?] [Don't you?] [Then put that smile back on your face. They're still watching.]

[djevelbl]

Also just finished watching a video that made me ACTUALLY ANNOYED at the guy who made it and like. ok if you don't want a story told through Minecraft that is made through the lens of content creation in ANY capacity then don't??? watch stories told through Minecraft????? Cuz like. they're mostly like that; even parkciv which is still good IS done through a content creation viewpoint — either as a parody on the medium it was being told through (scripted Minecraft content/Minecraft storytelling) or just as a result of telling the story and like. needing to pay the bills or whatever is a bit up in the air I guess BUT STILL. don't sing praises to a series that's GREAT in all cinematography aspects that JUST SO HAPPENS to be told through Minecraft all the while you're saying "oooh Minecraft storytelling shouldn't be scared of being called cringe just bc it's embracing roleplay to tell it's narrative, it shouldn't pretend to be non-scripted when it so clearly is" which true, JUST TO THEN critique parkciv for...

*checks notes*

... Embracing its medium AND its limitations to tell its story, JUST bc it didn't necessarily strive to be groundbreaking??? What??????

From what I understand, the series the guy was singing praises to like it was his own child at the local school's dance recital, Whitepine (which I'm currently watching so I'll just come back to this once I've finished — let's see if I'll eat my words [doubt it]) is GREAT in terms of visuals, audio and the likes — it obviously takes great care in forming its atmosphere and from the little I've seen the youtubers are genuinely being actors, not just their normal selves masquerading as characters (something that, admittedly, happens A LOT in scripted Minecraft content/Minecraft storytelling like SMPs or solo series [I'm looking at you, later half of the DSMP]). But it isn't Minecraft storytelling — in my opinion, at least.

Minecraft storytelling implies that it includes Minecraft and its mechanics in some way, shape or form that becomes impactful to the story that is being told — it isn't just a REALLY good story that just so happens to use Minecraft as its movie set. This, ultimately, is why I think the guy was wrong — not necessarily in the idea that the stories he critiqued had more room to grow (which parkciv at least does. I haven't watched ParrotX2's Unstable Universe videos and I don't really plan to; they're not my thing) but in what "Minecraft storytelling" should strive to be.

I have a vivid memory — trust me, this is related — of when I was younger (they say, like she's an octogenarian instead of not even being halfway through his lifetime. anyway) having played Minecraft Murder Mystery with my friends in the playground bc I really REALLY liked Gona89's video series on it. This is like, not really the same storytelling but they did have a sort of story — the chemistry between the youtubers felt like watching a series of characters interact with one another, and certain jokes from one video would seamlessly move into the next as well.

And y'know what? IT DIDN'T FUCKING WORK — playing the thing in the playground, that is. Because the thing wasn't made for that; stories have their medium of expression because they're tailored to it, or the medium is tailored to that story — if your Minecraft story can be told perfectly fine when divorced from its primary medium of expression (Minecraft), then it's LITERALLY not a Minecraft story: it just happens to use the game as the backdrop

... Kinda like The Lego Movie: a lot of the mechanics within the movie CANNOT be divorced from lego that easily BECAUSE it's a fucking LEGO MOVIE — partially related but not really the point of this rant: this is why A Minecraft Movie's trailer fucking FLOPPED. It showed absolutely NO POINT in being made bc it's NOT a Minecraft movie (pun accidentally stumbled upon but I shall confidently roll with it, actually), instead it JUST SO HAPPEN to use the videogame as its set.

TLDR: IF YOUR STORY DOESN'T INCLUDE MECHANICAL ELEMENTS THAT ARE INTRINSICAL TO THE GAME YOU USE TO TELL IT, THEN SAID GAME IS JUST THE FUCKING SET. IT'S NOT A MINECRAFT MOVIE JUST BC IT HAPPENS TO BE RECORDED IN MINECRAFT FOR FUCK'S SAKE

[eddiestightywhities]

MORE THAN SEVEN SENTENCES MONDAY

tagged yesterday by pookies @inell and @kitteneddiediaz for seven sentence sunday, so here i am a day late with this silliness xp

this is more from my spanish-speaking pining jealous!eddie fic where our fave babygirl is currently partaking in a bit of internal tommy-bashing—DO NOT READ ON IF YOU DO NOT LIKE THIS CONCEPT. anyways, he honestly doesn't hate the guy in this story... apart from when he thinks about tommy and buck together, and then he really, really does lol

WARNINGS: self-loathing, mild disassociation and self-harm via digging fingernails into skin (kinda sounds heavier than it is imo).

.

Buck is currently not single.

Buck is dating. Buck is dating another firefighter. Buck is dating another firefighter who is a man. Buck is dating another firefighter who is a man who is not Eddie.

Buck’s dating Tommy. Yeah, Tommy fucking Kinard.

Tommy Kinard, the LAFD Air Operations pilot who used to be in the army just like Eddie. Tommy Kinard, who flew him and Eddie to Vegas to watch a live Muay Thai match because they both love Muay Thai. Tommy Kinard, who is into baseball statistics but doesn't necessarily care to watch actual baseball games in the same way that Eddie is into baseball statistics but doesn't necessarily care to watch actual baseball games. Tommy Kinard, who Buck was so desperate to get close to that he practically crippled Eddie to make it happen. Tommy Kinard, who is now well on his likely smug way to becoming Buck's Significant Other—hell, Eddie would be smug if it were him.

Eddie would like to know what exactly it is Tommy has that Eddie doesn't (his sanity, probably).

The only reason he isn't here is because he's on shift, gracias joder. And the reason Eddie is thanking fuck for the fortuitous timing of events is because he's not sure what he would have done if Buck’s boyfriend had joined them this evening. Actually, no—no, that's an outright lie. Eddie would have bailed if Tommy had come over; Tommy always comes over when he can and Eddie just doesn't think he can take seeing him and Buck together anymore. In fact, he thinks he'd rather chew off his own arm. Although he's almost started wishing Pilot Boy had made an appearance tonight, just so Eddie could feign a migraine and be allowed to go home alone and be the Unhinged Depressive Loser that he is in peace.

Only vaguely aware of entering the daydream-like space just to the left of fully present—where the Bad Decisions part of his mind seems to travel to whenever these kinds of feelings surface—Eddie's only partially registering the unhealthy half-moon shapes forming in the heels of his palms from where short fingernails are trying their best to break the skin.

He's left wondering when exactly it was that he started internally referring to his buddy, Tommy, as Pilot Boy. Actually, he isn't all that clear on whether the term ‘buddy’ can even be used any longer, not since the dynamics between Tommy and Buck changed and Eddie stopped hearing from Mr I Fly A Helicopter Because I Am So Much Cooler Than You. And sure, the most likely reason for that is the way Eddie kept brushing the guy off as though he were an unwanted piece of lint on the lapel of Eddie's suit jacket, like the first class asshole Eddie can be when he wants to. Tommy probably gave up the ghost roundabout the same time Eddie stopped sending texts altogether a fortnight-ish ago. But honestly, it's whatever. Because Eddie just cannot find it in himself to give a single shit about whatever buddyship may or may not have been about to blossom between him and the person still in his phone contacts as T-Dawg—not when the sneaky fuck went and stole away his Buck.

Ask Eddie if he cares about how childish he's being.

.

tagging, play or nay: @sortasirius @angela-feelstoomuch @woodchoc-magnum @eddiegettingshot @mazzystar24 @daffi-990 @watchyourbuck @treasurehuntbuck

[unkajosh]

Not an odd parallel at all

So here's the thing. Well, two things.

I'm one of those filthy tabletop game people. (So is my spouse; she has been since before we met, too.) After college, well, we needed to create a new group of people to get entirely too interested in the fall of oddly-shaped pieces of plastic and the lives of fictional elves. We are also, it must be said, on the old side. We remember the Before Times. And in the Before Times, and even a bit after that, game groups were invariably largely male. Indeed, it wasn't at all uncommon for a group of gamers to have *at absolute most* exactly one female member. (Take a look at some of the classic game-related comics-- take a look at the gender groupings in Knights of the Dinner Table or Order of the Stick. These are pretty typical; many groups had zero female members.)

But our post-college group kind of wavered, shifted, stabilized-- and suddenly, we had, and to this day, still have, a majority-female gaming table. There wasn't anything to it, honestly. It just... happened.

So here's the other thing.

The industry I work in isn't really known for progressive politics in many ways. It's one of those things, not restricted to any one company-- it's the entire industry. (It's not just politics, for that matter-- my industry can be incredibly reluctant to, say, upgrade technology. We don't like change much.)

But the specific company I work for? At one location, one particular division-- and not one you'd expect this of *at all*-- is currently majority trans.

That's even more surprising than the first one; I don't know what the current math is on the percentage of trans people in the population as a whole, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that it's less than, oh, ten percent. So if random chance was involved, what are the odds that we'd have one job category at one location be 57% trans?

So how did that happen, anyway?

I'm pretty sure that it's the same reason in both cases.

In our gaming group, as we formed, other women in our community who were tabletop gamers saw that we had multiple women in our group, that we didn't treat them like romance objects or second-class players, that they were comfortable and happy hanging out with us. And the female members of our group, of course, were happy to tell other women about how fun it was. So more asked to join our group. And now our table is so big we can't even fit more people in, and still majority-female.

And, well, I'm not trans, and I'm not in that community, but I'm going to guess that since we started hiring other trans folks, and treating them with respect, word got out that that's what we did-- treat them with respect-- and so other people came to us over some other employer where, say, they might be taking a chance on how they'd be treated.

And I'm glad that it's worked out that way, for them, and for us.

And... I don't know. I think that it illustrates a truth that gets overlooked by some people. If someone says "[Group] isn't interested in [Hobby/Vocation/Activity]," maybe what they aren't seeing is that people don't necessarily feel safe or comfortable or welcome in some spaces, and that if it's clear that that the space is welcoming, then the demographics suddenly start to reflect the people who are really out there instead of the stereotypes.

Or something like that. I don't know. I'm not a sociologist.

But what I do know is that I have a really cool tabletop gaming group.

And I do know that we were able to hire enough people in a location and position that had been pretty painfully understaffed.

And both of these things are good.

And, just between me and all of you, I think that basically treating people with respect got us there.

[addictedtostorytelling]

hey, my question is not related to csi but rather the method you use to "read" the characters. Here's the thing, there's this character in a game that I'd like to understand better but i don't know where to begin. He's not a playable character but he's somewhat important to the story, he's the only one truly interested in ending the curse.

And I know the chances of you actually knowing or even playing the game is pretty low, I'd love if you could help me with this.

hi, @a-carnie-and-a-cop!

so reading characters is a lot like reading real people, in that in order to figure out what they're about, first you have to get to know them.

the trouble is, of course, that whereas with a real life person you were trying to get to know, you could spend actual time with them and ask them questions about themselves and observe their behaviors in different situations/in response to various stimuli, with fictional characters you are limited to what information is available to you in the source material, which sometimes is fairly sparse, particularly if the character is more minor or peripheral to the story.

and god help you if the source material itself is underwritten.

consequently, you will often have to extrapolate a lot from relatively little in order to make heads or tails of why a character is the way they are.

some thoughts on how to go about doing so after the "keep reading," if you're interested.

__

so first things first:

in order to get to know the character, i recommend reading/watching/playing the source material multiple times.

taking notes when you do so also helps.

when looking for information about a character, there are three main areas to focus on, if they are available to you.

the first is the world they inhabit. even in stories that ostensibly take place in "the real world" in present times, you have to spend some time getting to know the setting, in terms of the job the character works, their socioeconomic position, their social status, their educational background, etc. however, in fantasy settings, you also have to learn the "rules of the world" and its mechanics—so, for example, if the character is a mage, what does that mean? what's the lore? how does the magic work? how are characters of this type typically regarded in this fictional society?, etc. every character, whether they are in a more realistic/contemporary setting or a more fantastical or even historical one, has a context, and learning that context can help you to evaluate them.

the second is area to focus on when getting to know a character is their individual background: i.e., when, where, and how they grew up; any early losses they suffered; what their formative experiences were; what their important relationships were like; etc.

this area is of course one that isn't necessarily available to us with every character. sometimes we meet characters as fully formed adults, and we never learn about anything that happened to them when they were younger.

certainly, it is just as true in fiction as it is in real life: the things that happen to people during their early years, when they are vulnerable and impressionable, shape them in adulthood.

so to whatever extent you can, you want to try to find out what kinds of experiences the character had leading up to the point where they currently are in-story. especially with things like family history and personal tragedies, the more you can learn about them, the better.

the third area to focus on in terms of learning a character well enough to analyze them would be how the character operates within their story world at present: i.e., what kinds of choices they make inside of the narrative, what their habits are, how they interact with others, what their current relationships are, etc.

and this is the really important one.

thankfully, even if the story world and the character's background remain more of a mystery to you, you will always have at least some access to what they're currently doing in the story.

so pay attention!

any time they mention a memory, show strong emotion (either positive or negative about something), or take an action with story implications or consequences, you want to make note of it. the same goes for any kinds of tics they may have—for instance, if they light up whenever a particular person appears or they get grouchy anytime a particular topic comes up. watch their expressions and their body language. listen to how they talk. see how they interact with the world they live in. what kind of person they are. how they present themselves. how others view them. what kinds of things they try to keep private. what kinds of things they willingly broadcast.

then, you want to start looking both for patterns and for breaks in patterns.

any time you can say "well, they always do x" or "they usually always do x, except for in this instance, where they did y," that's something you should focus in on.

take sara sidle, for example.

prior to s5 of the show, we as the viewing audience were not privy to her backstory. however, there were still some signposts for us to look at when trying to figure out what her deal was.

something that was true of her from the very beginning of the show was that she tended to get extremely upset over cases that involved violence towards women (such as in episode 01x16 "too tough to die") and more specifically intimate partner violence towards woman (such as in episode 01x10 "sex, lies, & larvae"), particularly of the husband-on-wife variety, as well as cases that involved children who were taken into foster care (such as in episode 01x07 "blood drops").

given that sara could be fairly objective about most other cases, her extreme emotional reactions to ipv and foster child cases were notable—something that stood out about her.

particularly as the seasons progressed, it started to be a pattern with her: any time one of these cases popped up, she would get agitated. it was like clockwork. a very reliable trait.

as an analyst, when you become aware of something like that happening, that's your cue to start asking why—why might she be behaving in this way? what's motivating her?

and of course it was impossible for us as views to fully guess the specifics of her backstory—i.e., that her schizophrenic mother had killed her abusive father and that she had ended up in foster care—prior to when sara finally unveiled them to use in episode 05x13 "nesting dolls."

but even before that point, we could be fairly certain that sara had some kind of history with intimate partner violence in her life—either because she had herself been a victim of it or someone she deeply cared about had been.

ditto for her whole deal with the foster care system.

and that's the thing: usually it's a good bet that if there is some topic or cause or person that the character is consistently getting emotional about, there is something in their past that makes them have that strong reaction. oftentimes, either they or someone they cared about may have had some kind of transformative experience related to that thing.

if the reaction is negative, then often the thing was a trauma.

if the reaction is positive, then often the thing was some kind of positive experience or relationship.

of course, some characters are "louder" about their feelings than others.

for as much as sara doesn't often speak openly about her past (and absolutely did not do so with anyone prior to s5), she has also always worn her heart on her sleeve, meaning that her emotions are visible even when she's keeping quiet about her reasons for feeling them.

however, other characters—like grissom, say—are often less demonstrative, so it may be harder to identify what their "sticking points" tend to be.

in the absence of big, outward displays of emotion, you have to sometimes look at the moments where they are notably quiet—at what they purposefully don't talk about; the things they play closest to the chest and even actively conceal.

and, again, you're looking for patterns.

using grissom as our example, though he never admitted to his love for sara aloud prior to episode 04x12 "butterflied," the facts that he was so consistently protective of her (see episode 01x23 "the strip strangler"), jealous over her relationships with other men (see episodes 03x01 "revenge is best served cold," 03x02 "the accused is entitled," and 03x03 "let the seller beware"), and just kind of always gravitated toward her (see episode 02x23 "the hunger artist") spoke absolute volumes about how he felt about her, even prior to when he made that confession.

to this same end, it can be especially illuminating if you catch a character behaving unusually or irrationally about something—going against their norms, taking actions that from a logical perspective don't make sense, being self-sabotaging or making choices that seem counterintuitive, etc.—because, the things is, when they are well-written, fictional characters, like real life people, are not necessarily always sensible, honest with themselves and with others, well-intentioned, or correct in their assumptions, etc. particularly when it comes down to their deepest-seated desires, fears, doubts, etc., they will, just like the rest of us, oftentimes flail and misstep and even hurt their own causes.

again, looking at grissom, he is typically a very even-tempered, quiet, civil person; however, in situations where sara is threatened, he tends to go more than a little berserk, suddenly becoming imperious, stormy, and irrational (see episode 01x23 "the strip stranger"). he breaks all of his rules for her, and the fact that he does is significant.

so that's another thing to look for as a cue.

of course, just recognizing patterns/broken patterns isn't the be-all and end-all here.

as i like to tell my writing students, just being able to articulate something you have observed about a text and say "here is something that i noticed" is to provide summary, and it's not the same as analysis.

in order to analyze, you have to draw inferences and essentially make "because" statements.

"sara gets worked up whenever she works ipv cases."

okay. there's your summary.

what does that mean? what's the implication there?

"sara gets worked up whenever she works ipv cases, probably because she has personal experience with ipv. she might have herself had an abusive boyfriend at some point, or maybe a family member was abused, like her mother. since she seems to get most upset about husband-on-wife ipv cases, i tend to think maybe her father was abusive toward her mother. that might also be why she sometimes is so reactive toward domineering men."

that's your analysis.

you have to be able to connect the dots.

unfortunately, trying to connect the dots is where things get really difficult, because in order to figure out that kind of "cause and effect" stuff, you have to know just kind of generally how human behavior tends to work.

people (both fictional and real) are messy.

as stated above, they don't always act in ways that are sensible. they don't always do what is in their own self-interests. there is not always a direct 1:1 correlation between x event in someone's past and y behavior in their present. sometimes there is more of a complicated relationship between experience and behavior, especially when trauma is involved.

there are no hard, fast rules.

while nick gets upset about child abuse cases because he was abused as a child, grissom gets upset about them just because he cares a lot about protecting children.

you've gotta look at the individual.

even if two characters behave similarly to each other, they may ultimately have very different motivations for that behavior.

for example, prior to getting together, both grissom and sara believe they are unlovable. however, grissom feels that way because he was experienced a lot of rejection and unacceptance throughout his adult life, whereas sara feels that way due to her family history/genetics/trauma/mental illness, which by and large links back to her childhood.

that's why it's important to find out as much about a character's biography as you can so you can start to see maybe some of those precipitating factors that influence them to be the way they are.

but, even then, it's still not easy to draw those implications.

knowing a bit about psychology helps.

so does practicing empathy.

while you of course don't have to condone a character's actions or agree with their reasons for doing things, you do have to be able to say, "i understand why they'd feel that way or why they'd do x, y, or z thing."

of course, barring cases where they're being written badly/in a way that is ooc for them; then, you just discount the behavior because he would not fucking say that!

it's worth acknowledging here that people-reading can sometimes be difficult for neurodivergent individuals, so if you happen to be someone who struggles with interpreting social cues in real life, it may be an equally challenging endeavor to try and do so in fiction.

that said, one thing that makes fictional behaviors somewhat easier to interpret than real life ones is that fictional behaviors often tie in with the major themes of a work and are designed to have "narrative payoff."

that means you can kind of look at the end to unravel the beginning (of course assuming that the story is concluded or at least the arc in question is).

why does grissom act so hot and cold with sara in s4? well, it may not be obvious as the story is playing out in real time, but once you get to episode 04x12 "butterflied" and hear his confession to dr. lurie, in which he admits that he loves sara but feels as if he can never have her, then you can look back over all of his previous encounters with sara throughout the season and retroactively apply that understanding to those actions.

at a most basic level, he acted the way he did because he was afraid of never being able to have the thing he most wanted.

if you are someone who struggles with understanding why people (both real and fictional) do the things you do, i recommend you try to expose yourself to a lot of different stories, paying attention to the way the characters in them act as you read, watch, or play through them. try to think about similar patterns of behavior that you see between different characters in different works. if you do, you'll start to get a feel for what kinds of things people tend to do when they feel particular emotions or have particular kinds of experiences (e.g., "people who are grieving often cry, close themselves off to the people around them, express anger, put themselves in harm's way and/or take needless risks, experience guilt surrounding the person or thing they lost, etc.").

as stated above, human behavior is always multifarious and individual.

however, there do tend to be "commonplaces," and the more examples you can expose yourself to, the more you can start to recognize those commonplaces when you encounter them in your favorite stories and characters.

tropes are tropes for a reason.

so.

to apply all of the above advice to the character in your game, without knowing the franchise or character specifically, here are some of the questions i recommend you try to answer in order to analyze him:

what is going on with the curse? how does it affect the people in the game? what are some of the possible implications it has on the story world?

what are the reasons why other characters seem disinterested in ending the curse (even though, in theory, it is a bad thing™)?

is there anything in this character's past that could account for him having a different attitude towards the curse than the other characters around him do? does he have any personal experiences with the curse or has anyone or anything he cares about been affected by it in any way?

what is his character like in general? within the story world, is he portrayed as being a protagonist or an antagonist? does he generally seem to care about people/things/causes outside of himself and his immediate sphere of responsibility or not? is there anyone or anything he might be trying to protect? does it seem to be in keeping with everything else that you know about his character for him to care about breaking the curse or is it something of an aberration for him (i.e., is this part of a pattern for him or is it an anomaly)?

what is he willing to do and especially to sacrifice in order to end the curse? what is at stake for him if he fails? what is at stake for him if he succeeds?

what does he say about the curse and/or the state of the story world under the curse? what does he not say? does he get notably emotional about anything curse-adjacent? is he notably silent about anything curse-adjacent?

what kinds of things do you see him doing in his efforts to break the curse?

once you ask yourself these questions and come up with some answers, start looking for those patterns and/or broken patterns i talked about.

then start drawing connections.

"i know x thing happened to him in his past, and it was related to the curse in this way. because of that, he might feel like _________ and be motivated to do y."

in general, it is always good practice when analyzing a character to consider both what their greatest fears might be and what their greatest hopes might be.

what are they afraid of?

what do they want?

that's where their core characterization lies.

of course, one big disclaimer i have to put on everything i've said here is that sometimes fiction is just poorly written and the way that certain characters are depicted doesn't ultimately make sense, no matter how hard you think about things.

another big disclaimer is that sometimes we as the audience will never get enough context to understand the underlying motivations of a character, even if their behavior does seem to have some internal logic to it. like. we may just ultimately have to say, "the way he's acting right now tracks with something, but i don't know what that something is."

it all kind of depends on what the writers/creators of the source material bring to the table and how skilled or unskilled they are at implying depth.

anyway.

if nothing else, the thing to take away from all of this rambling is to just keep asking the question "why might he be doing this?" and trying, to the best of your abilities, based on what information is available in the game, to answer.

that's what i teach my students to do in my literature courses: to interrogate motivations.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

[slimeywooper]

Labmas AU - Unintended Consequences

Chapter 8 - Meeting: Notes

It's best to read the story first before reading these as there's definitely going to be spoilers.

Kudari can easily smell Reader, but he is initially so excited to have some batteries that he doesn't notice how close they really are. The goal of shutting down the laboratory was to meet Reader, but he couldn't help himself when presented with the opportunity of having batteries. So he grabbed some and went into an open room to drain the electricity. He's not actually eating them, but biting into them. When Kudari notices Reader crouching in the room, he loses interest in the batteries, since the person he wants to meet is right there.

The friends that helped Kudari are the Joltik. Not the ones being held in the kennels, but every free Joltik throughout Plasma headquarters. He told a few of them the plan, and they spread the word. Kudari is a very animated character. I will try to describe the movements he makes, but sometimes I might not be able to because, more often than not, he's constantly moving. I don't want to interrupt every sentence with all the little movements I imagine him doing during the dialogue segments.

This is our first glimpse at the dynamic between Nobori and Kudari and it's not pretty. But it is only one aspect of their relationship, and it happens after an emotionally charged event. Add in Colress, and it's a ticking time bomb. Nobori has been dealing with the chaos for so long he's learned to ignore it for the most part.

Reader finds themself in the personal suite. Colress mentions it in chapter 3, but doesn't name the room, just explains that it has a bed for any researcher staying over night. I hope I was able to imply this in the prior chapters, as well as this one, but Kudari is correct that Colress was lying about introducing him to Reader. Reader has no clue that Colress has been telling Kudari that they will meet, as Reader has actually been led to believe the exact opposite.

I know Ghost Pokemon can lay eggs in the games, but I couldn't envision a Ghost hybrid being able to have children. I guess my logic is that the human half is living and the Pokemon half, though not necessarily "dead," is heavily tied to the world beyond our own. Kudari, however, is capable of having children.

The spirits that Nobori interacts with, at least the ones that he can see, don't appear deformed or bloody like in "The Sixth Sense." They resemble how the person looked in life. I recall reading somewhere, probably from someone's near death experience, that people in the afterlife can take on the form they had when they were at their happiest in life. That's how Nobori sees them. Now, they don't appear as clearly as if they were living, he doesn't see them in color, more of a gray scale. But he can make out their shape and facial features.

I will go ahead and spoil that N is not in this story. The line about meeting someone that can talk to Pokemon is just a joke. Sorry N fans. Kudari can speak with Joltik and Galvantula, and Nobori can speak with the Litwick evolutionary line. But every other Pokemon language is incomprehensible to them. They can, however, understand the intent behind the different cries, like if the Pokemon is angry or scared.

Reader is surprised when told by Nobori that Kudari would not like to be watched by him. Though Colress already revealed the hybrids had fought in the past, Reader is under the impression from the way Nobori speaks about Kudari that they are currently, and usually, on good terms. We see this isn't necessarily the case.

[anendoandfriendo]

Ohhh system ask game! We pick 5 because music is such an interesting topic to talk about. Especially for systems!

(Context)

5. What sort of music do people in your system like?

We, well, uhhh most of us share some VERY similar tastes in music —

*Stares at The ¥andere/¥angire plasylist we have sitting on NewPipe currently*

— nah, we don't think that's nearly put together enough yet LOL, how 'bout we give you a list of random bullshit instead, sorry for the long long post in advance haha:

We need to add here that when it isn't THAT STUFF, it's usually its like, polar fucking opposite and so we're also going to throw random examples of that at you all too:

We ALSO ALSO ALSO listen to an amazingly annoying amount of nightcore which is something we would never torture anyone to, because we love it and we still get headaches and vague annoyance and all of that wonderful stuff if we listen to it for too long.

You would think this covers the answer "well, we listen to a bit of everything," but it does not, because we are extremely extremely particular over what kind of SOUNDS things make not necessarily in the music sense but if we can feel it and/or it's rhythms are just Wrong and/or if it's just More Basic Bullshit then we just Cannot listen to it.

And for anyone going "but you have Lady GaGa's song Telephone in here," well YEAH that's because she has consistently had a very unique sound every time we listen to her at all. We cannot stand like, most bullshit that comes from like Miley Cyrus or from emlyn and and besides the few songs from Scene Queen that Shuna happens to like, we can't stand her stuff either.

( Skip starting here if you don't wanna hear our commentary bullshit )

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And we could probably say something about like, how so many (assumed) female musicians are often boxed into this kind of Thing where they all sound fucking similar when it comes to genre etc etc etc. whereas (assumed) male musicians are free to experiment as they fucking like, but we are Too Tired for this shit and we also cannot stand Basshunter consistently nor can we deal with Set It Off on a consistent basis, so while there may be an unconscious bias there on our part we highly doubt that's the only thing at play. We think the problem here/there is the Media Industry(TM) fucking sucks and doesn't allow experimentation in general because it 🚫💰 RUINS THEIR PROFITS OH NOOOOO 💰🚫 ya get what we mean?

And we didn't mean this to become a commentary on what we think of companies and shit in general but Tumblr is Tumblr, and we have also had Thoughts we have not been able to put together.

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( Skip stops here if you don't wanna hear our commentary bullshit )

OUR POINT BEING that we're very particular about the sounds we choose to put in our ears, even if that differs from person to person in this system, and we are Too Tired to think about it on anything besides a scale of "is it aesthetically pleasing to us," in any way shape or form. You can blame our little rant or blame the fact we used to play the violin when we were super fucking young, wdc.

[astromechs]

Hi! I know you've received tons of vol 3 comments but I noticed a few people confused about the film and Gamora's role. After watching it 3 times I think I figured out what's going on and thought it might help other people.

In vol 1 to IW Gamora is a leading character pretty equal to Peter and then you also have Rocket. You'll notice they are the only 3 guardians we get to see childhood backgrounds for. In vol 1 Gamora is particularly important because the information she has and her adherence to wanting to do the right thing once given the opportunity, help drive the story forward and lay the foundation for what's kind of the moral backbone of the team. In IW her relationship with Thanos is pivotal to the story being told and a lot of it is framed around her thoughts and feelings and even some of her choices. That is until she dies at which point everything changes. From then on the main focus for her character is the impact of her death on Peter and Nebula. They are the ones from here on out we get any major exploration of when it comes to her dying and what her life meant. This is particularly evident in EG with Nebula and Gamora's relationship being an important aspect of the time travel and how it's made clear their relationship needs to continue regardless of what happened with Thanos. Then in vol 3 we get a similar scenario with Peter having to deal with his grief while also forming a new understanding of who Gamora currently is. With Gamora having to find a way to understand him and what her future self had been a part of. What they meant and can still mean to eachother is important regardless of what happened with Thanos.

This direction isn't necessarily terrible but it's also not great, because what it does do is take Gamora out of the specific leading role she used to have and instead of shaping the story, she's now connected to it predominantly through her relationship to Peter and Nebula. This puts her emotionally more in the position of Yondu where he predominantly connected through the continuation of his relationship with Peter. This isn't a bad role but it is a downgrade of sorts and it doesn't allow for the full exploration of the aftermath of what was honestly a pretty terrible choice to kill her off in service of Thanos. It also means having a less consistent theme about abuse that's been imbeded in gotg from the start. Plus it left no room for any discussion of what happened after the snap, which I understand Gunn wanting a story that's independent from the wider mcu but reality is you can't have that when team up movies happen and canon intersects. It makes for weaker writing. I saw someone ask him if Rocket was still friends with Thor and he said no. It's funny but also points to the fact that there is no way 5 years led to no differences in relationships for Nebula and Rocket. I can't believe they don't have any other friends or interests. The aftermath of Endgame is also ignored which is really bad writing. The team wasn't going to pop back together problem free after all that turmoil

Basically with vol 3 we see the two most important relationships for Gamora highlighted, especially when it comes to Peter which is awesome. We see her come to understand the team and begin to have a bond. It's also wonderful she gets a moment with Groot at the end because she was like a mom to him. But outside of that not much else about IW and EG gets any closure. More for Gamora but ultimately everyone. So vol 3 is good but changes in story and character structure as well as ignoring important parts of canon leave some holes.

yeah, my stan blinders aside, sidelining gamora from the lead role she originally had makes the whole narrative a bit wonky in vol 3, which i think is part of the issue.

[down-thedrain]

for ruby and swift, 1, 4, 10, 18, 20, 27, 33, 44! :)

O MM FUCKE OKAY (sorry 4 spelling mistakes i'm not proofing this)

1) age, birthday, star sign

ruby was born on may 29!!! she's currently 19 and she's a gemini :)

swift doesn't have a traditional birthday. while she was "born" at some point, it was so long ago that even others that existed around the same time don't remember. she doesn't reeally consider what day she was born too important anyway (because of that, she doesn't really have an age but she physically looks to be in her late 20s)

4) race and ethnicity

swift's a cracker lmao

ruby inherited her skin tone from her dad, but she is half japanese!! it comes from her mother's side and she even has a very slight accent (it's not noticable enough to hear if you didn't already know)

10) any markings, piercings or scars?

ruby doesn't always wear earrings, but her ears are pierced :)

swift actually has white markings all over her body on their legs, torso, arms, and all the way up to skies neck. they're covered by clothing but peak out on her wrists and neck. they curl in a ton of places and occasionally form heart shapes, as well as running mostly vertically but also horizontally in some places. she doesn't really like it when people as to see them unless sky knows them personally

18) any special keepsakes?

it's not a singular thing, but ruby has a huge attachment to her art supplies collection. it consists of mostly regular and colored pencils, markers, paintbrushes, crayons, erasers, highlighters, watercolor paints, stencils, etc. her dad used to love art and liked to draw with her when she was younger, so it was almost like having a bit of her dad with her (plus, since java does a ton of art, she's a really good source of supplies as long as you return it).

and swift.

when python still lived with sky, he had a tendency to. accidentally kill plants. not through any fault of his own, but if it touched a plant, it would wilt instantaneously. it didn't bother him at all (it isn't really a flower person), so large parts of their home (more of a garden area) would be wilted. it was a joke between them that any time a wilted plant was brought back by swift, it would just wilt it again, and so on and so forth. he even had a favorite flower in the garden that he did this to, a daisy that he nicknamed "death-sy".

when python left, swift didn't gain this power. instead, it just caused the rest of the garden to flourish. sure it may look perfect now... but it's like the character was completely sapped from it. ironically, it seemed less lively than ever. something important was missing.

however, one flower stayed wilted. death-sy.. it wouldn't come back, no matter how much swift tried to bring it back. but then they realized that that wasn't bad necessarily. for every life there had to be a death too. sky realized that this singular wilted daisy wasn't just refusing to come back for no reason. it was keeping a piece of python inside it.

so they put it in a pot and kept it safe from whatever cpuld happen, because even though she hated python for abandoning her without saying anything, sky couldn't let it go.

20) clothing/aesthetic?

they're both HUGE cottagecore fans. when ruby shows swift what a flower crown is and how to make it, they start impulse making a ton, and sky thinks it's fun to change up which one she wears :) ruby's also very into lovecore and heart motifs, they're her favorite

ruby does typically wear shorts when she's doing outdoorsy stuff, but she also has a bunch of skirts that she brings out in the spring and summer. they're mostly her favorite colors, that being pink and yellow. she loves spinny skirts even more than regular ones :] she mostly wears t-shorts and loose long-sleeved shirts depending on the season

i will! make a ref of swift/what she wears some day but just casually? they're actually a huge fan of hoodies. she just tries one on and ascends. sky has a preference to bigger hoodies. of course, since she tries to act as refined as sky can, they typically only wear them when she's alone. they're still trying to figure out skies style but for the most part? floral pattern anything and longer dresses are her go-to. it makes them feel more at home

27) what's their family like? who's in it? what's their relationship with them?

ruby's family consists of her mother and her 6 younger siblings: 2 sisters, 3 brothers, and 1 nonbinary sibling. she takes the roll of a second mom, driving her siblings to school, making lunch, etc. she sees her mom as an equal rather than someone above her, and her mom often sees her the same way. her mom is very loving and supportive, but unfortunately has to take a full time job to provide for her 7 kids. even ruby has worked at a variety of jobs in her area sometimes. it leaves her kinda stressed out, but she loves her siblings and has a particularly close relationship with her younger brother ivyn, who likes to talk to her for advice since he's been questioning if he might be gay. he's also the second oldest (he's 17), which means he also babysits his younger siblings occasionally. going down the line, the 3rd oldest is natsuo (guy) (16), then rain (nb) (14), akira (girl) (12), paul (guy) (7), and eve (girl) (6).

if you asked swift who her family was, sky'd likely say something vague like "all the gods are like family to me". in reality, while they do have a good friendship with rynti (god of meadows), they mostly just say hi before walking past. sky isn't related to any of them (she was born from nothing), so they're moreso people she lives with.

as for found family? once they reconnect, python and swift go back to the relationship they had. sorta. it was different now in a lot of ways, but they managed. they definitely have a very sibing-esque dynamic, where they pick on and make fun each on each other but love each other deeply at the end if the day. she also takes on a mentor/cool aunt role with ruby and java, but especially java. they teach each other a lot about each others worlds, and they generally play off each other incredibly well.

33) how have they changed over time?

oh boy

obviously people get more mature as they grow up, but with ruby it really had to happen sooner than most people, especially her, were ready for. when she was younger, she was still super bubbly and happy, but it was without her more serious, if optimistic, world views and sense of cautiousness. her dad dying was really what woke her up to what the world was really like. her parents lived her, but at the same time hadn't at all prepared her for when disaster might happen. she didn't even have time to properly grieve, she was immediately forced into the role of taking care of her siblings. being thrown in this situation was extremely hard for her, more than she would ever want to admit. but it did get easier as time went on. as ivyn was able to help her out more with household chores and her mom was able to get a more stable and higher-paying job. and now, in a weird way, it was that time in her life that gave her the maturity to help lead java down the road of recovery. as a kid, she was very much stuck in a "if you're sad, just be happier" mentality which both wouldn't have worked and would've been toxic and ultimately damaging. however, through the work of essentially becoming a parent, they together were able to work out a recovery plan for java.

java as a whole taught ruby a lot too. before then, most of the people ruby knew were either her family or school friends. she was close with them of course, but outside of just doing schoolwork together, she didn't have much of anything in common with them. learning how to communicate and form bonds to others was a skill she picked up mostly with java, cuz even though she was certainly friendly before then, she suprisingly wasn't very outgoing.

what really changed about her the most was how her naïvete changed into optimism.

/

swift had a lot of hope when she was younger. for a lot of stuff, but particularly they had a lot of hope for humanity. the gods that led them were (mostly) confident and well-organized, and their civilization was only growing with time. they didn't really concern herself with what humanity was doing though, she mostly cared about the people sky lived with and her job. they had a reputation for being wise, seemingly knowing how to stop disputes whenever they arose. of course, she couldn't do it on her own. python was like their second half, two parts of the same whole. of course, python never really got the same recognition. it bothered sky. they didn't like it when stuff bothered her. so they tended to ignore it, brush it off as nothing more than sky being paranoid. it never seemed to bother python, so why should it bother her? they didn't take that kind of thing to heart.

everything changed when python left.

it was different now. to the outside world, everything looked the same. people spread around stuff like "well, it's not like python ever did anything anyways!" that bothered them, but in a new way. she knew it was lighthearted. they knew it was a joke. but sky couldn't brush it off. she took it to heart. they weren't just making fun of skies partner, they were making fun of her. they started to shut off many of the gods that day. rynti stayed skies friend, but it wasn't the same. swift was always bitter, tired, quiet, not the loving friend rynti knew. most days he figured it was better to leave sky alone. the loneliness started to seep in, so they started to build more walls. more and more until sky could barely breathe inside them.

and that hope she had for humanity? it was thouroughly dead.

the stress of being the keeper of both the positive and negative energy of the universe and being alone while doing it led to swift spending more and more time on earth. while she still resented humanity, the planet itself was peaceful enough. they spent years meditating there, trying to regain the strength sky once had. the stress was receeding, sure, but the burn out was a different story. it just kept getting worse and worse every day.

until they slipped.

the burn out was replaced with a new emotion. it was like the stress that game before, but that one was slow, burning. this was loud, intense, rapid. it was panic. sky spent almost all their time on earth now. she couldn't face anyone else. on the rare occasion skies'd visit home, her movements always seemed quicker, frantic. her eyes would dart everywhere, like every eye in the universe was on her. rynti could tell something was very wrong, but there wasn't anything he could so. she never talked to anyone anymore. they couldn't get out a coherent sentence, let alone carry a conversation. sky was in pain, a pain no one could see and no one could help them with.

except python.

when the group was brought together by circumstance, swift didn't know what to think. all they knew is this all sky had. she had to make the most of it.

through reconnecting with python and making a new connection with ruby and java, they were able to express what sky was truly going through at the time. for mere humans, ruby and especially java could understand their stuggles way more personally than anyone else sky knew. gradually, her anxiety steadily got better. they still felt sky had to put on a brave face to hide the true weight of what they're going though, but sky was doing much better with expressing her issues and letting down her walls. she was still stretched thin, but they started feeling more and more like skyself again.

they may be more wary now, but the unbridled love for those around sky and herself has resurfaced.

44) full pokemon team?

ruby:

her signature pokemon would be ribombee, and the rest of her team would be morpeko, quagsire, bewear, arcanine, and either jirachi or vileplume depending on whether or not legendaries would be allowed.

swift:

their signature pokemon would be either reshiram or volcarona, and the rest of skies team would be galarian rapidash, steelix, mega absol, luxray, and milotic.

(my choices don't have any lore significance, they're just pokemon i think they'd like)

that took a lot out of me HOUH

[paigeyintheclouds-archive]

I am currently running on no sleep + I only know of DR, DDLC, and OMORI, so I'll solely be analyzing you on those specific kins (sorry /gen /nm). I've been maybe planning on opening up kin analyses in the near future, but if this is inaccurate in any way, shape or form, please don't hesitate to say so /gen /nm /nf

You most certainly put others first before yourself. You usually do, at the very least. Whether it's in the form of lifting a supposedly heavy burden off of someone's shoulders by doing something for them, completing work and tasks to a solid T, or so on, you rather put the needs and wants of others first before your own

Speaking of work, you're a very hardworker, and a good worker at that! Perhaps... you're too much of a hardworker. Whether this is because of strict parents, past bullying, previous trauma/trouble with past failure or the fear of failure, and/or self-loathing simply getting the best of you, you tend to overstress and overwhelm yourself easily when it comes to any kind of work (but more specifically, academic work). And when that happens, it can greatly affect you emotionally/mentally. Even a sign/hint or the possibility of failure scares you and causes you to self-loathe, making you believe that you're a horrible and/or dumb person (when you're not either one of those things)

You tend to keep self-loathing/self-deprecation more to yourself (whether that be due to the first thing I stated or because it's not that bad and/or frequent), but when it leaks out, it's nothing too heavy. It's not a sprinkle, but it's not overly concerning either

You sometimes see yourself as average. When your self-loathing isn't bad/when you're not distressed, you sometimes find yourself wondering what others potentially see in you. Talent? Skills? What could they possibly mean by that? You're just some average individual and that's it (that's what you might think btw; not what I think /lh /gen /nm)

You enjoy trying new hobbies/things, but can sometimes be a bit hesitant depending on the circumstances and/or overall mood

It doesn't take a whole lot to fluster you and to boost your mood, making it a benefit for others whenever you're feeling down. Of course, this may also most likely apply vice versa; it may not take a whole ton to cause you to become sad either, though this specific tidbit is a hit or miss

You enjoy nature, literature, outdoorsy things, cute things, and anything that has a fresh, reassuring, adorable/neat aura to it

You can be pretty creative, and you'll sometimes experience sparks/spikes in creativity more randomly than intentionally. This isn't to say that you don't welcome said random creativity though!

You're the type to sort of cheer on and boost the moods of those around you. Again, this could be due to the first thing above, but I also think it's because you genuinely cherish your relationships with those around you (platonic, romantic, and familial). You like making others you care about smile and happy; it makes you smile and happy, too!

You probably have a handful of hyperfixations, and if anything, hyperfixating is probably common for you (not /neg)

You're not super outgoing and out there, but you're not necessarily shy either. Mainly in the middle, but you possess a warm, friendly aura to you. You're an approachable, reliable person, even if you don't think so at times

Hmm... that's all I can currently think of? This is probably really bad lol, so sorry! /gen /nm /lh

You’re honestly so accurate about that- I tend to be like the mom friend to anybody first and it usually takes me hours before I say “hey by the way I’m kind of sad too” /lh /neu

Ahahaah... *Looks at Kiyotaka, Shuichi, Izuku/Deku, Hero* You’re very right about that too. I was literally known to all of my teachers to get everything done a day early or on time from the due date and whenever I have to do things like my teachers have to remind me it’s not the end of the world even if I think otherwise. This kind of comes from my dad and as well as being the “gifted kid”

This is right too, but if I do experience extreme sadness or extreme anger than the extreme versions of my self loathing does come out, but usually that resolved itself on my own or with some help

I’ve had many moments where I do consider myself as “boring” so yeah this is also accurate, and I’m glad to know you don’t think of me like that /gen

Also very true about me, I’ve been wanting to learn an instrument since forever but I’m always hesitant because of, a lot, but I’m trying to stop that /gen

The flustered part is especially part, I mean, my partner could say anything romantic or cheesy and I just become a tomato, and yeah the sad part is also true about me (though I try not to be sad because I don’t like to be sad) /lh

So true and so right about me!! I really enjoy things like cottagecore and I do like to write sometimes!! And yes the cute things I love cute things- I’m a sanrio enjoyer <//3 /lh /pos

And that’s true as well! I sometimes go days without feeling like I want to draw or anything but then there’s also days I can’t seem to stop wanting to draw something-

And that’s right!! I genuinely like to make everybody I love feel nice and warm, and whenever it works out I feel all nice too!! It’s cause and affect positivity addition for me- /lh /pos

Ahahaha *looks at DR Omori and now animal crossing* yeah <33 /lh /pos

I have been told I’m like that, and while I do kind of struggle to see how I’m approachable (self loathing), it still does make me go “:0” to hear /lh /nm

Overall this is very right about me, this is a kin call out I’d say <//3 /lh /pos

[sanhatipal]

The Sign of the Mystic,Magic,and an introduction to Hell-benders

Story idea and concepts for WIP novel by Sanhati Pal, part 1 for setting and background

Magic is a manifestation of the power of the emotions in the hearts of living things. A conversion of desores both good and bad into power. At least that's how it begins. The stronger one's lust for life and the stronger their emotions,the more likely they are to manifest their feelings in tangible form,as magic. To do this,though,a baseline level of physical and mental strength is required. Once one achieves this, however, it is easy to produce similar power again without the emotions,by harnessing physical strength. There are,however, those who channel their mental strength as well,into magic. And to achieve a stronger result,most users harness both. Thus technically,magic should not be passed down in families . But in ancient times,some magic users did develop a way to do it, however the methods remainded closely guarded secrets in the few magic bloodlines. A very,very small number of those families still exist,some of which descended directly from those houses, and others which stole the methods to do so from the same. At present,if anyone develops magic powers,it is likely to be in the same primitive way as it originated: through the power of desires. Some magic users can transfer their powers to others, allowing them to use it temporarily,but that spell can't last long.

All magic can be divided into 7 domains. Imagine it like a sphere,so one domain can oppose the other. These would be Heat,Earth,Water,Air,Light,Time and Void. There is also overlap of these domains,so that Fire falls between heat and light. A person's magical realm is predominantly fixed at a point on or inside the sphere,so that while one can master magic from two or more domains, mastering anything from opposite domains is VERY unlikely. Unless you lie in the centre of the sphere,which is nearly impossible,and though one or two such cases have lived throughout history, none are alive right now. But then, there's no way of knowing who stands where,and this is just a hypothesis created by magic scholars.

In times of old,the ancients developed a method to harness their own powers and fuse it with the life force of living things like small animals and large plants,aka a sacrifice,and store it in inanimate objects. Most of these inanimate objects could be used only by magic users, but some did have "leaky" bindings and could be used by ordinary people as well. In ancient cultures like Greece and Egypt,we find many references to the free use of magic. But most of it, nearly 90%,was just a practical application of science that people did not understand,from visions using hallucinogenic drugs to skillfully carried out illusions. The remaining 10%, however,was real,and several magic objects were created at that time.

Most of the more powerful objects however were created in the dark ages in Pagan and Celtic realms. And at the same time,the world witnessed horrific things like alleged witchcraft and mass witch-burnings,but almost all of these,like in the ancient world,were uses of science that the frightened people did not understand. And those who died were merely ahead of their time,or suffering from simple cognitive and mental disorders,or grossly misunderstood and misinterpreted by people who did not know what they were doing. The dark age,though,did have abundant use of magic,and while people were busy killing unrelated folk,the real magic users kept making magic items, several extremely dark, filled with mal-intentions and dark magic. The most powerful thing created

at this time was , however,not dark. It was the staff of a Druid, carved from the purest copper and tied by the life force of all the 13 Ogham trees. The name of the Druid who created this staff has been lost through time,but it is known that he was a kindly man,who wanted to prevent the misuse of magic,and found stopping the creation of new magic items and the destruction or sealing of existing ones a major step towards it. Over a decade or so,the Mystic Staff,as it was called, developed a consciousness of its own,and the Druid used its power to bind all the most dangerous magic items he could come across, into a dimension separated from the rest of the universe. "The Cauldron" was the name he gave,and its door could only be opened by the Staff,and the responsibility of keeping this inventory safe was passed onto a small boy the Druid found worthy,and he asked him to do the same when time came. Over centuries of handing down the Staff,it has finally reached the present bearer, Soverissa Yualë,a young nymph.

A curious feature of the Mystic Staff,as it's called now,is that its stem gets covered in a flowering plant that fits the current Gatekeeper the best. And for Soverissa, it's Jasmine.

There are many in this world that are ignorant of the nature of the items inside the Cauldron,and often associate it with the gate to Tir na nÓg, the golden land of beauty and eternal youth where the faeries reside, described in Celtic lore. That,though,is a lie,and the Gate is nothing but a portal to the dimension storing dreadful weapons,most of them leaky. At present,there is no magic to create any inanimate magic objects,as the Staff prevents it.

Over the ages,the Mystic Staff has become very famous,and several magic organisations have adopted it,in modified forms,as their symbols. An example would be the Mystic Society,an organisation that claims to regulate the use of magic. But in reality they are nothing but a bunch of cunning, corrupt,money-hungry magic users who happened to make their headquarters in a spot so that to access the Gate one has to enter their building. That is why Soverissa Yualë is associated with them,even though she hates them ,to guard the Gate. The Gatekeeper is not a member of the Mystic Society,but keeps an uncomfortable peace. Their symbol is a golden rune resembling the Mystic Staff, encased in a golden diamond shape, against a purple background. To anyone unrelated,the rune will appear exactly like the Mystic Sign,but it's different. While the Staff's stem is straight and spiral-coilded at the til,the Society's rune's stem curves to the right. The organisation is a phony,so....

The real mystic staff, however,still has its consciousness and its power. Not only that,its form is a powerful rune used by several magic users as a hand movement,referred to as The Sign of Mystic. And even more closely associated with the Staff are the ones that call themselves hell-benders. The hell -benders are independent magic users,who don't have magic bloodlines,and are not associated with any magic organisations,whose power has not been guaged by the Societies and agencies,but by the Staff itself. How do we know? When a person attains a very high level of concentrated power which is untainted by forgery of using the Sign without it choosing them,and with a certain quality of character the Staff deems worthy, when they cast a strong spell with all their might,The Mystic Sign itself appears as light in their magic, without them using it as a rune. The sign appears of its own free will,for example a fire user could have a flame shaped like the Staff for a brief second or two before the spell they cast is unleashed. Such magic users are the hell-benders,and all the magic organisations hate them, because the staff chose them. It's not like the Staff grants them power,but deems them worthy enough to use the Staff (though the Gatekeeper won't let them.) Fundamentally,the Gatekeeper is also one accepted by the Staff,by glowing in their arms,and the Sign does appear in their spells too,but they don't call themselves hell-benders,though there isn't much difference. Except one. The Gatekeeper has a fixed role,to guard the Gate and keep the Staff from falling into wrong hands. On other hand, the hell-benders don't have a goal that makes them hell-benders,but simply their personal goals. For example,to protect those close to them,to find answers,to create powerful magic etc,each to their own. But does that mean that all hell-benders are good natured? Not necessarily. They are strong and deemed worthy by the Staff,but we don't know what the Staff deems worthy. There may be very lustful and very evil hell-benders out there, and very passionately good ones too. At present though, there are less than a dozen hell-benders known,and though all of them are reckless(perhaps that's the only common feature),very few are known to be ill-willed.